However, Sally asked for people to review this event too and I'm impatient, so I'll get the ball rolling. Fistful of pens in hand (very important), we set out for the site near Chester.
Pretty much everything I'd found irritating last time - lack of rulebooks onsite, people discussing rules IC, poor condition site, lack of thinky plot, off-hand booking in on arrival - wasn't the case this time.

There were two main plot threads I noticed - the "event plot" of a Demi-PC's trial, exploring some bunkers and something on Sunday that was locked for one group (not mine) so I don't know much on it; and the "arc plot" as we found out about a lot of big things that were en route to destroying the world. They may be having a race.
This strategy seemed to work well and gave everyone something to do - if you're not interested in this aspect, do some prep work or investigation into the aspect you are. My only minor niggle was that Sunday focussed on one group to the exclusion of all others, which made it hard for some of us to feel involved. I'm sure it'll generate some interesting roleplay going forward, but at the time it gave a pretty anticlimatic ending to a great event.

One thing I really like about the system is it's reactiveness. Last downtime I handed in a request which was answered with "We've never even considered that aspect of the world. Give us a while". This event I got detailed info on it and I'm basically going to have the chance to try and achieve my aim. Likewise in uptime I started to scavange together bits to jury rig something not entirely covered by the rules, and the refs were perfectly happy (actually, giggling, but that's good too) at this.

The props and monster kit were again amazing, and I appreciated getting the feedback as to why we had a huge long time freeze at one point (a pyrotechnic was set up which subsequently failed to detonate). Overall the communication between ref team and players was great and something other systems could learn from. The crew were uniformly impressive, with all crew being well briefed and comfortable in their roles making interaction with them easy and natural. At the end when asked to thank the monster crew, one player protested that he didn't know which ones were monsters and which players. Possibly the best complaint one can have, really.

---------------------

LT - Captain Iolanthe Swan

Riftworld - Jenna Neraid, Clan Sceptre

Brighton Below - Drizzle

Serenity: Broken Ann / Pvt. Cooper / Reavers #7, #12, etc.. {Crew}
Riftworld: Jen Carver, Cyberate Medic
Maelstrom: Dia, Wahotep Freedom Fighters
LT: Countess Anya Von Trugelhof-McTaff, half-fiend and collector of all things blue, including Jackal ritualists

The main change is the number of players which has risen from 5 at event 1 and 7 at event 5 to 19 at Event 10. With that has come a wider spread of interesting characters and skills. This is a good thing, but part of me hankers for the old days when runs for emergency medical supplies were common - it added to the persecuted feel. Not that we dont feel persecuted now!

Having a larger player base also means that disparate groups form within the 'party'. This is a good thing for roleplay and politics, but if a particular piece of plot concentrates on one group then the others might feel excluded. Although I loved my 'leaving with my long term boyfriend who became a dog' scene, it only really included about 3-4 other characters.

However, personal horror has always been Riftworld's strength and I'd hate to see this slip. So the only real way to overcome this potential problem would be to have about double the crew, which I'm sure Fain and Bufflow would do if they could get them! So I'm willing to just live with it, especially now my new character is a 'watch and assimilate data' type.

I have slight concerns about the power curve. In one encounter I took damage that washed over me without a scratch, it would have left the character standing behind me in a pool of blood. Next blow gave me a flesh wound when it might have taken his leg off. The reason is that I've been there since event 1 and he was new that game, and combative characters become harder and harder as events go by. However, this is common to systems that work on XP, especially when kit is worth XP...

In terms of plot, wow, there is loads going on. I never really realised how much until I played a new character who paid attention properly.

Players can definitely influence events. There is a lot happening now that I reckon can be attributed to one PC who really should have had his throat slit when he first showed up. I'm not saying who - FOIP!

This event had better logistics, and a much better site. Although I dont mind Borwick tavern, I like a site with indoor sleeping, bunks, showers that dont turn off all the other water on site, and a decent kitchen. :-)

In summary
Good things
* Loads of plot
* Excellent player interaction
* Wonderful personal horror to make the mind go wibble
* Smooth game running
* Players can make a difference
* More interesting spread of characters with increased numbers
* More likelihood of splits in the group with increased numbers leading to even more roleplay opportunities

Things I like less
* Possible loss of edginess with increased number (might be my old PC not the event - she had largely lost interest in her life and the world around her, I shall report back after event 11)
* Steep power curve
* Over-powered armour system

_____________________________________________________

It is not a competition. It is a web forum.