Shattered Kingdoms

This months bonanza was one of the biggest. We would like to get some feedback from those who attended the events. We hope you all enjoyed the weekend!

I had a lot of fun. I did feel like it was a little over crowded with events. I dont know that is a bad thing but if there is one event you want to go to you are going to try to free up the time to make it to that. If there are three you are probably going to pick the one you want the most and see what happens with the others.

Oh, I absolutely loved all of it, well, most of it.

Let me start by saying that while, yes, the postpone is a disappointment, it makes perfect sense within the RP, and I do not begrudge the fact that it happened at all.

That out of the way, I'm going to go over one by one. One, there was genuine open dialogue with vibrant RP in the first event. One based on the history and politics of Pyrathia, but set up in such a way that a completely new character got a chance to be in the spotlight, if for a short time. It felt like a huge change in an evolving world. Interesting Dragon, and the lady, while quiet, provided contrast and intrigue with the Feathered Dragon. Especially in the references to sharing different, but related faiths.

The Colisseum Battles were a bit wonky, but went far far better than I expected. It was fun, the defeats were handled well with the locker system. I think it may have lacked in reward, but I didn't get to see the end of it, so I can't say. In such an event, though, I would make this suggestion. For Colisseum sport such as that, the victor of the entire shindig ought to be given Realm-wide recognition. In which I mean a realm-wide shout of his/her awesomeness. I mean, that's one heck of a praise when numbers are at some of the highest (During Bonanza). As far as organization, perhaps set up a special Noteboard in all of the inns for participants to sign up. The noteboard system's a -little- clunky, but understandable enough that signing up should be easy. Just make sure that the 'read' noteboard gives proper instructions on how to view the actual notes. In these notes, perhaps suggest players call out other specific players for challenges to get a bit of rivalry hype beforehand, and they might prepare better for that epic showdown. My two cents.

Festival of luck.. I was mostly AFK for. I cannot comment too much. Nice reappropriation of assets (Something that I love that you're doing more of) with the fortune teller. I forgot how neat those fortunes were. Also how to get down to her, but I'll figure it out later. I appreciate the free coin for attending, though! That's about all I have to say as I didn't bother with the leprechaun or lightning.

Perplexion Adventures. This was a highlight. Not just because I got second, but because you went through great strides to balance, and provided a fun and vibrant environment. I'll go more into it after I discuss the start of the event. It was clunky. No getting around that. I liked the duffel bags, save for the fact that if you removed your strength mods, you might not be able to lift it, and you'd panic. Also, an echo when we received or had items taken away, if only for us, would be nice. A compromise would be this. Give us all numbered keys that can be worn as necklaces. These necklaces would all give a small-moderate amount of strength so that they can hold the items you wish to give us the players. These numbered keys will open numbered chests to hold our stuff in instead of bags. That's my thought, I don't know how hard to code. There are probably better ideas for armor kits than I have, but I like the vendor approach. After we put all our stuff in the bags/lockers, we'd have no coin. So give us all just enough coin to buy six pieces of armor (All equally price, no matter weight/haggle) and two weapons, one weapon and shield, or one weapon and pill of minor buff. Just make sure that there are multiple vendors to spread out the menus, and offer all sizes. As I said, probably better ideas out there.

Smuggler's Lament I quit halfway through. Again, I like the reappropriation of assets, but in this case, it almost felt a detriment. None onboard that I could find could give a clue about the bonanza event. The few I was with spent most of the time doing the captain's key quest, instead. I did see the end reward though, it looked awesome, not for my character, but that is a heck of a little fun spot, especially for Sadal's faith. If that was created just for this, then I hope they get a lot of fun out of this. I just wouldn't have done the quest at all if someone who had already done it all didn't push me through it very quickly.

Festival of the Beans- Well. I liked the fling mini-game in concept, Thallin didn't really participate much, but that doesn't mean I as a player didn't appreciate the wonderful design of the area. It was fantastic what a warped maze it was. My character did not appreciate the sheer harmless antics and was already put into poor attitude from Kelias. Then again, that one small interaction that offended Thallin got -me- thinking, so I still liked it. The whole bean-mystery was great in concept, but the clues felt very... un-clue-y. Only three beans were needed to get the narrowest field. I don't mind the field was that broad. But when one of the clues is ">500" When we have three other beans that indicate it's at least a four digit number, it feels like a disappointment to find that >500 bean. I still think prayers should have been stated, so as others wouldn't be tempted to say 3335 to someone's 3334, just to be that one closer, but as I saw no evidence of that happening here, might be a moot point. I liked hunting for them, cooperating with players beforehand. It had build-up based in mystery, as befitting the faith. I liked that part. The storytelling was hectic, but those events always are. However, Rowan knocked it out of the park by far! Whoever that player was, fantastic little diddy, even if it made Thallin want to properly consecrate all of those foods with his Pyx.

That's all the insights I have on the entire ordeal. Overall, I enjoyed it! I had the whole weekend off, and sick to boot (Yes, I realize the amusing coincidence of making HF of Disease while sick as a dog) And you, SK, made my mucus filled weekend great. Thank you!

EDIT: I never did go into the wonder of the Perplexion. I know many saw the fact that we were starving and thirsty by the time it started as a bad thing, but you know what that made me do? It made me pay attention when I saw a papaya fruit, when I saw that canteen. I made sure to pick that up, a necessity. I paid more attention to my environment. It felt like a small reward to just come across it. It fit the whole theme of the maze we were in. The riddle portion was a little jarring, but in a good way, during this mad dash with or without friends, we suddenly came to this wall where we had to smooth our rapid thinking and cool it. Setting a nice tone for when you answer, and you're standing before this vibrant setting including waterfall. I just stood there, reading the description due to lack of exit before I remembered something about the waterfall, but it was a nice description, well done. 2/3 prizes were good, that one potion felt a little.. flippant? Of course, I'll take free RP items over coin or power any day, but 10 obsidian is a huge chunk, one able to possibly buy an RP item, but there's not much agency in a single-use consumed item. One meant to be used defensively, such as double heal. Almost disempowered, but still, amazing event. 10/10 actual maze running, would do again.

All I have to say is that whether the events had their kinks or not: the playerbase was willing to go along for the ride, and at the end of the day that's all that counts.

I know that a lot of imms and players put a lot of work and effort into getting the bonanza off it's feet. And that deserves our gratitude.

I like the fact that the Zhenshi RP has been prolongued, there's nothing wrong with stringing along a global RP.

Otherwise great job all!

Great bonanza weekend - it was clear the IMMs all put a lot of effort into it and I want to thank them. Was wondering if any of the stories and poems were saved from the Miran event? Some of those were really neat.

A family crisis led to my being unable to make the Zhensh event. I will look forward to the ongoing RP with the players. Hopefully we have another Bonanza soon to finish it up.

I have all of the Mira stories and songs, and I think Kylias will become a fixture of the game somewhere that will tell about the great Bean Festival -- since, naturally, we can't write any of them down!

Also, the smuggler's lament event was interesting to me. From an outside perspective, I feel like small clues were given to specific people and not everyone was sharing intel, so it ended up being a very small group to access the area to start. It was a little different in that you were to be hunting down the pirates and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to have a "meeting" about it, but perhaps there might have been a small gathering with the Mayor or something to get everyone going in the right direction. The echo seemed to lead to the Pirate Ship offshore, which wasn't really where the action was at all. An official wowza to the amount of time it took to figure out my combination lock puzzle, though ....

The casino is a permanent revamp of the old pirate hold. The games required literal months of scripting frustrations for me but something I thought would really add to the "end game" content. I was determined to pound those little variables into submission for your enjoyment [side effect: Meissa is now much more script savvy]. The location is sort of a PiTA to get to, but hopefully everyone enjoys the festivities (bare-bones versions of roulette, sic bo and mini baccarat).

I loved the Nerina/masked woman events, but had to miss Perplexion and most of the Luck festival. However, I do know that Aelandron is correct: Lots of behind-the-scenes work in bringing this all together.

A note about the Perplexion Adventure- I did have the armor sets ready and then made a huge error and lost them just before the event. I will work something better out for the next one. The reason for not wanting to leave the duffle bags on the ground, or in a locker as you say, was the small possibility of a crash, then all the gear would be lost. I am pleased you enjoyed it and I appreciate all the feedback that was given at the end of the event. Look for another Adventure in a wholly re-imagined arena next bonanza!

I hadn't thought of that. And yes, I remember seeing something about how kits were 'lost'. I thought it was recovered very well, and the chaos that ensued actually added something to the event (The starvation and thirst) that otherwise wouldn't have been there.

I dont know if it would be possible but could you create a corpse like object of each player for them to put their items into or (slay them with no spirit disorientation and rez them with some cool emote like you feel like you are lifted out of your body to find yourself naked.) Corpses save, you also wouldnt have the problem of trying to work out whos corpse was whos or have any issue with weight. The only problem is spirit disorientation, and the fact people are going to be WTF I just got killed for a "safe" event.