I'd just like to take some time this morning and thank everyone who took part in the Raid on Maelshyve's Fortress event last night. After a month of planning (which almost all got thrown to the wind in the face of true chaos!), rallying, and drawing interest to it, I think we had one of the wildest events I've ever been a part of in DR. And having spoken to a number of other people afterwards on OOC backchannels, I know I'm not alone in that sentiment.

I hope everyone who came out in some manner, no matter what 'faction' they were with, had a great time. I know the mechanics in that quest area are brutal, and take a while to work through. For those who got frustrated, I entirely understand and thanks for being good sports about the whole thing. To those who died a number of times, whether in various PvP conflicts or just the madness of everything going on from Holy Unicorns of Death to Giant Almost-Maelshyve-Lady, I thank you for being good sports too.

To Team Perverse: If you guys hadn't shown up to play the antagonists and knock people off the bridge, drop glass constructs, and just create all around more chaos, the night would have been less for it. I thought each of you did exceptionally well at what you guys do, while keeping conscientious of how rough the mechanics are there. Thank you for your doing your part.

To the factions and groups: From those who stayed behind and roleplayed out the prayers, or guarded the Standing Stones, the other set of Necromancers, or just people who showed up late and dived right in, we appreciate that everyone was able to take part and do something related to what was going on and increase the level of activity throughout the night.

To everyone who followed my character and his friends into chaos: We were quite surprised at the large turn out, far more than we had anticipated, and you guys really stuck it out with the insanity. A lot of folks I would not regularly see as part of these things came to me afterwards and said they had fun, and that's what the whole point really was. That's always the point. Thank you for coming out.

Last, but certainly not least, to the GMs: As someone who's been pushing this since the end of February, I've been able to see a number of the efforts you guys were putting in to doing something with this(and I imagine there was A LOT more). From watching all sorts of meets, dropping interactions as Divine presences or GM NPCs, to creating new mobs, the crazy NPC Boss, the wild explosion mechs and the Unicorn of Holy Death, I have to tip my hat off to all of you. You really went all out. I hope you enjoyed the insanity as much as we did. Each of you should be proud that your efforts gave so much fun to the rest of us. I hope everyone will speak up about their parts so we know who to give cheers to and buy drinks for at SimuCon.

TLDR version: Everyone is fantastic and did great. I had a blast, buuuuut its Easter today and I think I'm going to take a couple days from playing!

We'll see about getting some logs or synopsis type stuff up within the next few days. I imagine everyone has a lot of crazy stuff to showcase.

>>The entire thing just made me feel like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiWg7L0NJYU

I kind of felt like this during a lot of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJnE4H0idQ

From one of Team Perverse, I just wanted to say I am touched by the sentiment expressed here. We all had a great time and am glad that our efforts were not too much(we tried not to throw orbs except at critical junctures), nor too little (good guys out punch us by a fair bit sometimes!). Lets not stop at just this event, why not have this be the impetuous for even more? Thanks again!

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"If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself." ~ Martin Heidegger

>>From one of Team Perverse, I just wanted to say I am touched by the sentiment expressed here. We all had a great time and am glad that our efforts were not too much(we tried not to throw orbs except at critical junctures), nor too little (good guys out punch us by a fair bit sometimes!). Lets not stop at just this event, why not have this be the impetuous for even more? Thanks again!

I second all of this.

A big thank you to the events team for putting their side of it together and to the other two player camps for keeping everything fun.

This was one of the most fun events, maybe my most favorite really, one of the top of all time. Big props to all of the other people, organizers and the GMs who made it all possible. There was so much fun stuff involved and going on. And I felt like it brought so many different players together that don't always hang out, it was really nice.

I will echo a big thanks to everyone involved. I don't know who to thank first. It was honestly my favorite event of all time, even above the Lyras finale (which was pretty amazing).

I never expected the GMs to get so involved and create such an awesome and chaotic experience (with our own unicorn?!). I know that a bunch of people got Maelshyve messages and there were tons of critters, and an NPC, so it must have been a ton of work.

I also never expected so many players to show up and to have such patience and perseverance. Some of those mechanics were BRUTAL and slowed us way down, but a lot of people stuck it out and figured out what they could do to help. Nice job! I also especially want to thank Oscearo and Janora for making it possible for people to participate from the Temple. Overall everybody really stepped in and found their best role, and that was amazing to see.

I was really pleased with the antagonism from both sides of player teams (Good vs. Perverse). Not too much or too little. Plenty of action without stymying major events.

Finally as an aside, since I am preparing the article for this event, please DM me with any cool moments you might like to share! Did you do something heroic or did you see someone step up? Was there someone at triage who ripped off everyone's wounds or passed out remedies? Was there a fighter who was leveling rooms? What did you do that you were proud of? Email me or tell me on Discord!


- Navesi

navesidr@gmail.com
Navesi#4950

I want to echo what's been said and thank everyone involved.

To be honest, when we were planning this thing, I half expected it all to collapse into a giant disaster. We were very mindful of that issue when working on the planning aspect, particularly surrounding the various difficulties in the area. And then not telling people more details until the day of the actual raid? Finding out about potential GMPC involvement, potential opposition. Geez... I was seriously worried about the consequences and drama that might ensue from this thing.

I was pleasantly surprised in every respect:

Team Perverse - A big thanks. You guys made it fun, dangerous, and exciting, and enhanced everyone's fun. I didn't see anyone operating in bad faith, and you guys had the courage to go up against some pretty intimidating opposition. This is what consensual conflict with RP can be, and it's one of the big things that makes DR so special. You guys rule. I hope none of you felt mistreated - it's pretty safe to say that we were all stressed out of our minds trying to pull this thing off and worried about trolls and such.

Team Philosopher - Bravo to every one of you who stuck your necks out in various ways. It can't have been easy around this trigger-happy crowd and given the awkward place that Philosopher RP has had in the game so far. There were a number of cool RP moments that came out of that connection that I'll definitely remember.

The Raid - Thanks to everyone who showed up and worked together so well. Way, way better than I expected. Given the amount of chaos, bottlenecks, and difficulties we faced, the performance was amazing. Nothing like the cat-herding I expected, with such a complicated series of obstacles to overcome.

The Home Team - Those guarding the Standing Stones, praying at the Temple... it's not glamorous, but all those various elements lent it a feeling that this was a real event happening, and everyone was doing their part, that there were strokes and counterstrokes. Heck, thanks for the guys who thought to drop some constructs at the Stones.

The GM's - You really outdid yourselves on this one. When we were talking about the event, we would have been thrilled with a line or two of messaging showing the gods had heard us at the end. Even after we got wind that there would be some involvement, you really exceeded my expectations.
* The direct messaging from Maelshyve with character names was awesome. Made you feel special and important.
* The waves of head wounds really increased the tension and made everyone in the area feel like part of it.
* The twist about our women combatants being at risk was cool and creepy.
* Ciriasa was awesome. I was laughing out loud because I've never seen so many wounds on a non-empath before. Was fun to have to decide to do a few more things before bleeding out, since there was no point in healing.
* The invasion critter placement was really on point. You challenged us in multiple places without it ever being overwhelming.
* I got to fight alongside a unicorn!

Finally... and this may seem self-serving to some, but whatever. Thanks to the players of my character's companions in the Anduwen Watch and those who worked with us. I've always wanted to be involved in something like this group in DR, and it was really amazing to see how that meeting about what to do next turned into... this. Thanks especially to the player of Perune for pushing hard to make this happen.

- Saragos

This event was a reminder of the things I really love about this game and why I keep playing.

To the players who put themselves on all sides of this event - thank you. Roleplaying with you guys during the event and in the lead up was incredibly fun and made for a really rich experience for me. The momentum, the complications, the push back, the compromises, the factions... all that collective engagement made the game come alive. Also, dropping glass orbs at the end there in the thick of the battle was genius.

To the GMs who took an idea and added all the things that only they could - thank you. I really can't express my gratitude enough. The experience you guys crafted to hook the event into the setting was probably the most fun I've had in DR in years. The stuff inside the fortress was genuinely creepy and it felt like we fought hard to accomplish something worth doing.

And to all the people in the Anduwen Watch who worked on this when it was nothing but us doing a thing and helped carry it through to the end - you know I love you and I'm looking forward to the next one.





Mazrian

I also want to say thank you to everyone who came out for the raid, and for everyone who joined in the events leading up to it.

As a table top GM, I always found the greatest and most rewarding challenge was finding a means to bring all of the players together in ways that were meaningful, tested their most cherished values, and created a lasting effect on lives of the characters. I am in awe of the way our DR GMs helped our community to make that happen. You found a way to weave together many threads into something truly awesome, in ways that highlighted each character's unique reactions to all that took place.

I also want to echo my appreciation for all the different factions that came together (and all the individual characters too), who made the conflicts and cooperation on such an epic scale so much fun. I'm not sure I can ever convey how much fun it was to hover on the edge of madness, as thoughts and whispers of the enemy drowned my character's mind - only to be pulled from the brink of despair by seeing the bright banner, hearing the soaring song or fervent prayers, feeling the healing touch, or glimpsing the shadowed steps of allies working together to protect the plane we all call home.

And I'd like to give a special thanks to CATOFMIDNIGHT for all her oft unheralded efforts on behalf of the roleplaying communities of DR, and to HASTALUEGO for what was undoubtedly an immense amount of work that went in to organizing such an amazing event.

This was the kind of event that makes me want to keep playing DR. I had a lot of fun, and it seemed like everyone on all sides was playing in good faith and having a good time.

Thanks to the GMs who helped make this happen. I enjoyed the creepy Maelshyve messaging and the feeling that we had a task to accomplish (besides the original purpose of consecrating the fallen altar). There seems to be a bit of a loose end with regard to Ciriasa's fate. I look forward to seeing if anything comes of that and any other ramifications of what happened in the Zaulfung.

Thanks also to the players for their patience with the two bottlenecks (the claw and the bridge).

---

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!

Paladin new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Paladin_new_player_guide

armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide

>>Here are some things that could have happened, but didn't (list not complete and somewhat edited to not spoil certain aspects):

This entirely reminds me of what I do when I GM table-top games. That's very impressive, and awesome that so much thought is put into the different avenues everyone's choices can make.

Hahahaha, awesome. This was so cool, I hope we all keep the momentum going!

>>Wow, this is fantastic and extremely amusing to think of what might have been...

We missed out on the Summon My Little Unicorn spell!

Although I got left behind and died early due to the lag, I made a new friend or two as our heads were repeatedly crushed, helping out with triage up top, and dodging team necro. Thanks to everyone for coming and participating, hope we can work out some more fun stuff soon! :D Also, sorry to that person at the empath guild that I scared. lol