Darkness Falls

[kenjari]

I had a great time at the Quest game this weekend. It was a terrific game - interesting, exciting, and well-run. rather_amoosing and Jen along with their staff did a great job. From the PC perspective, the game did start out a little on the slow and frustrating side - we ended up spending the majority of our time until just after lunch discussing our information and planning our course of action. However, once the action got started, the game became a blast.

Highlights:

Malghath the Demon Lord:
He was the big foe of the final battle. The costume was amazing, and the use of amplification (and perhaps a bit of processing?) for his voice really completed the effect. gee_tar was perfect in the role, too.

The final battle itself:
It was very tough, what with a demon lord and multiple waves of lava monsters. But it was fun, and even though Malghath's use of otherwordly spells took a huge toll on the PCs, it was entertaining. Also, having a PC group that was capable of casting 20 Divine Wraths over the course of combat was pretty damn cool. The use of the horse camp, costumes, and theatrical lighting really conveyed the feeling of fighting a demon and his minions in a volcanic cavern.

The running battle against the ratmen:
This took up most of Saturday afternoon and covered a lot of ground. It was tons of fun - great combat combined with a lovely trek through the woods.

Finishing up major gameplay on Saturday night, including all the combat turned out to be a huge stroke of luck because it poured all through Sunday morning. The final battle would have been miserable if we had to do it while getting soaked and cold. I was also glad that I decided to bring back my mahiri character (it had been several years since I played her) to this game because not only was there another mahiri present, but also the rightness of our goals and thus the issue of balance was so clear-cut which made the role-playing easier for me. Special thanks to the kitchen staff (redshinma and woodwindy) for making sure that even with my unusual dietary requirements I always had something to eat.
It was great to see everyone, too.

Comments

[rather-amoosing.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you had a good time!

You are astute to pick up on the processing on the Demon's voice! It was going through a gate/expander and compressor/limiter so that sounds only got amplified when they were above a certain threshold, then expanded or compressed to reach a target volume range. This was primarily for practical reasons: to protect the sound system in case the mic fell or got hit by something, to reduce the chance of feedback, and to cut out incidental noise like the wind or the mic scraping against the costume. But I did deliberately set the parameters to distort things a bit, especially in the dynamics of the expansion and compression. I didn't think anybody noticed!

As for the pacing of Saturday morning, that was all the PCs! We sent in PCs turned into werewolves and the response was: we'll put it on the agenda. The mutilated body of a dead Wielder was found and announced and...it was put on the agenda. When some PCs got tired of talking and left the mead hall to explore, staff went with them and encounters happened. Those who stayed and talked were choosing to do so...

[aquafolius.livejournal.com]

Yep. After being told to take a number and wait in line, the dwarves and I ran around while the talking commenced, finding out stuff and killing off ratmen.

Most of the drag for me happened in the evening, when the discussion turned to some of the more gameworld destroying-type stuff, and then it was more of a waiting game while the demon summoning and such took place.

[rather-amoosing.livejournal.com]

Yes, the demon-summoning was part of the downtime-by-design we put in so that people would still be on their feet and able to enjoy the late-night combat of the final battle.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

I did a lot of electronic/experimental music as an undergrad, so I can pick up on sound processing pretty well. And I'm a bit of a geek about sound and timbre in general.
Oh, yeah, I knew that the pacing was due to PC actions, not the GMs and NPCs. On the one hand, it was a perfectly reasonable approach on the part of the PCs. On the other hand, boy was I ready for it when we finally got out and took action.

[iralith.livejournal.com]

>The running battle against the ratmen

I trust you took those scumbags down.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, there was much slaughter. :)
This is the first time in Quest that I have come in as a PC and had to deal with things that I directly caused as an NPC.

[iralith.livejournal.com]

I can see how that would be an odd feeling—I myself am much more used to having to deal with horrible, horrible disasters that I precipitated as a PC, a session or two back . . .

[jenaflynn.livejournal.com]

It was an amazing game overall. Yes, Saturday morning sort of dragged a bit.. In fact the agenda thing sort of surprised me. I think the frustration was pretty obvious on a few PC (and NPC) faces. planning is good, but at some point it's OK to fly by the seat of your pants into action. ;-)