Having a little bit of experience being in your position, I know a little bit about the crazy workload that goes into it. So first and foremost I want to say how much I appreciate all of you for your hard work. The setting you took on and the ideas you implemented were ambitious and creative (and that's not even to say anything about all the characters you took on to flesh it out), and even when they didn't work every time, you dealt with those problems in a smooth way and always kept us informed as players. The communication you guys had with us was refreshing and so, so helpful. I always like we were in good hands, even when things had to be changed around. So for all of that I have nothing but the utmost respect for you all. I apologize in advance for the blurb that will follow but I wanted to completely acknowledge the things I loved about the game too. SO BEAR WITH ME.
I will also admit to being one of the people who are sad there won't be another round like it, because it was a very different experience and the setting played so well and was so much fun; especially knowing I would have been there 9000% myself. Knowing very little about the series it's based on, I'm really glad it could offer throwbacks to the canon without making me feel silly for knowing nothing/making me feel at a disadvantage. The circumstances surrounding not being able to utilize the roles were understandable although I do agree that I feel like it's a shame something wasn't able to be done to leave a medium among the living rather than utilizing the letters.
I do feel like you all took on a lot NPC-wise but for the most part you all managed very well and they were engaging and an interesting addition. Although they were not all necessary, their presence was definitely felt and it really felt like they added a great deal of depth to the game behind the scenes. To have that many and not have it feel like they were just slapped in there specifically for X information is really cool and I applaud you all for that.
While I had mixed feelings on Zange actually surviving to endgame, I also feel like it might not have been possible if she wasn't still there, so on one hand I can understand that. My concern was more rooted in wishing that it could have been a fourth player who would have been able to experience the final week and trial who wasn't involved. And honestly I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if it weren't a case where it really was such a small number of people who got to make it that far. If it were a surviving pool of six or so I probably wouldn't have thought much of it honestly.
Endgame was a little interesting going into the last week. I feel like maybe we didn't get enough direction at certain times, especially since there was not a proper investigation or direction on what additional information we were searching for. But luckily we were an active group that relied on GO EVERYWHERE so it didn't feel like we missed anything. But it did actually feel like we might have been able to without combing the entire town. Which... when you have three surviving characters (not counting Zange because of her circumstances) is a tall order. I can't complain too much because we managed decently but it definitely would have been problematic if not for everyone working together well to comb different areas.
Now. About that "villainous" reveal. It was an interesting twist to have a surviving character be responsible and it made for a great twist that I still had the great fortune of being surprised by when Edna died. But I do also know that was in part to other people looking stuff up and then making mention that something was there. It's tough because it was an absolutely entertaining story-line but I do also see how it seems based on the idea that we weren't supposed to know anything about the character when she was, as we thought, one of the player characters and that could be a little messy. Knowing what you were going for, I totally understand the choices you made and on a whole I feel like you tried to handle them the best you could.
I suppose my only suggestion would have been relying more on her actions rather than her history as clues to try and avoid that but again-- for what I got out of it, I don't feel like it was a terrible choice, but more of a situation where there were natural sacrifices made to get a desired effect. And for what it was, I think you did well. It's hard to spring something like that on a group when they're supposed to be gradually leading up to the truth. I just happened to get lucky that I didn't look any further on her during the game.
While I didn't get to experience too much Deadland due to late death/Seraphina not dying, what I did experience was fun and it was really nice to see the cameos of the characters they were snooping into actually in the graveyard, despite the fact that I didn't have a lot of time to dig into it!
Basically-- for every concern I had, I had just as much praise and I am absolutely looking forward to whatever you may do in the future. I know you'll only get better. Thanks for such a great game guys.
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I will also admit to being one of the people who are sad there won't be another round like it, because it was a very different experience and the setting played so well and was so much fun; especially knowing I would have been there 9000% myself. Knowing very little about the series it's based on, I'm really glad it could offer throwbacks to the canon without making me feel silly for knowing nothing/making me feel at a disadvantage. The circumstances surrounding not being able to utilize the roles were understandable although I do agree that I feel like it's a shame something wasn't able to be done to leave a medium among the living rather than utilizing the letters.
I do feel like you all took on a lot NPC-wise but for the most part you all managed very well and they were engaging and an interesting addition. Although they were not all necessary, their presence was definitely felt and it really felt like they added a great deal of depth to the game behind the scenes. To have that many and not have it feel like they were just slapped in there specifically for X information is really cool and I applaud you all for that.
While I had mixed feelings on Zange actually surviving to endgame, I also feel like it might not have been possible if she wasn't still there, so on one hand I can understand that. My concern was more rooted in wishing that it could have been a fourth player who would have been able to experience the final week and trial who wasn't involved. And honestly I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if it weren't a case where it really was such a small number of people who got to make it that far. If it were a surviving pool of six or so I probably wouldn't have thought much of it honestly.
Endgame was a little interesting going into the last week. I feel like maybe we didn't get enough direction at certain times, especially since there was not a proper investigation or direction on what additional information we were searching for. But luckily we were an active group that relied on GO EVERYWHERE so it didn't feel like we missed anything. But it did actually feel like we might have been able to without combing the entire town. Which... when you have three surviving characters (not counting Zange because of her circumstances) is a tall order. I can't complain too much because we managed decently but it definitely would have been problematic if not for everyone working together well to comb different areas.
Now. About that "villainous" reveal. It was an interesting twist to have a surviving character be responsible and it made for a great twist that I still had the great fortune of being surprised by when Edna died. But I do also know that was in part to other people looking stuff up and then making mention that something was there. It's tough because it was an absolutely entertaining story-line but I do also see how it seems based on the idea that we weren't supposed to know anything about the character when she was, as we thought, one of the player characters and that could be a little messy. Knowing what you were going for, I totally understand the choices you made and on a whole I feel like you tried to handle them the best you could.
I suppose my only suggestion would have been relying more on her actions rather than her history as clues to try and avoid that but again-- for what I got out of it, I don't feel like it was a terrible choice, but more of a situation where there were natural sacrifices made to get a desired effect. And for what it was, I think you did well. It's hard to spring something like that on a group when they're supposed to be gradually leading up to the truth. I just happened to get lucky that I didn't look any further on her during the game.
While I didn't get to experience too much Deadland due to late death/Seraphina not dying, what I did experience was fun and it was really nice to see the cameos of the characters they were snooping into actually in the graveyard, despite the fact that I didn't have a lot of time to dig into it!
Basically-- for every concern I had, I had just as much praise and I am absolutely looking forward to whatever you may do in the future. I know you'll only get better. Thanks for such a great game guys.