The Bird, the Legend (Hatoful GM)

[Hatoful GM]

Well! How about that!

As all of you know, due to irl, I was unable to give this game my full attention. Apologies to those who ended up with a bit less content than intended. More importantly, thank you to Nicha, who was able to pick up more when things got really rough. And Nicha was already handling the lion's share of the work!

This game was intended to be a mechanically involved one. We both spent a lot of time working on events and combats, trying to make them both engaging and interesting. I would also like to thank Vala's player here, as her recent games gave me inspiration to try some of the things I ended up trying in the things I designd.

Even though I'm the GM, I don't want to just go on and on about things if no one's curious about them! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[GM Nicha]

Thank you for being my partner in crime! The game simply wouldn't exist without you

We can't choose when life is going to demand more of us. I know a lot of other GMs who would have cancelled everything, so you finding the time and energy for us during the past month and half is no mean feat!

I hope now you can get some rest and relaxation in!

[Zephrin Hayn]

That's another fine game you've gotten me into! Thanks for everything, I really enjoyed playing and I'm sorry your RL has been so challenging. Hopefully this was a positive distraction for you.

The PC equipment packages were a great idea and I liked the level the gear was pitched at. I find the gear system can be a massive time suck so the approach worked really well imho.

What was your favourite encounter that you designed/ran?

Would we have faced the bosses in the final fight if we had failed to defeat them in the earlier events?

[Vala Roke]

I know that this had been an especially tough time for you and it's very understandable that there were some things you couldn't get to. Thank you very much for running the game! And I'm glad that I had been an inspiration to your game.

What was your favourite event in this game?

[Tomin]

*hugs*

Thanks for all the effort of building the game, the time and energy that you could offer during the game, and the calm assurance that let me not be an anxiety-ball getting into combats here. ^^ RL doesn't schedule around the games (unfortunate, or we could stave it off for a really long time with some planning).

Really nicely built world, story arc, and events, NPCs that felt real... and the unknown, but sadly suspected, fate of Fugaruns T’ed made things engaging. The hints and reveal of our warlord's goals and identity, etc. were fun to reread in the light of later info. It kept things engaging despite my own RL keeping me a bit swamped.

I know you'd planned more engagement to tease that story out. I assume Bevin would have been more active yes?

Is Fugaruns T’ed an anagram/pun that I've missed? I keep thinking it ought to be. XD For that matter, are there other jokes you wanted to spring that didn't get used?

[Hatoful GM]

Thank you for being my partner in crime! The game simply wouldn't exist without you

We can't choose when life is going to demand more of us. I know a lot of other GMs who would have cancelled everything, so you finding the time and energy for us during the past month and half is no mean feat!

I hope now you can get some rest and relaxation in!

Ugh, life! I'm glad I was able to hit the ground running at least, even if then I tripped over an enormous rock a few weeks in.

That's another fine game you've gotten me into! Thanks for everything, I really enjoyed playing and I'm sorry your RL has been so challenging. Hopefully this was a positive distraction for you.

The PC equipment packages were a great idea and I liked the level the gear was pitched at. I find the gear system can be a massive time suck so the approach worked really well imho.

What was your favourite encounter that you designed/ran?

Would we have faced the bosses in the final fight if we had failed to defeat them in the earlier events?

I'm glad you liked them! The idea was to make sure everyone had a gear emphasizing their strength, but weren't totally deficient in other areas. I'm glad it simplified the gear paralysis, too!

My favorite encounter that I designed wasn't one I ended up running: Over the Top. For design, I feel that mechanics should be fun, but also be evocative. I think that one did a pretty good feel of charging across No Man's Land, and doing some rough trench fighting. Since all the other troopers survived, I think it was a bit more Wonder Woman trench fighting, but that's fine too!

And yes, they would have been back. Not full power, but we'd work something out for them...

[Hatoful GM]

I know that this had been an especially tough time for you and it's very understandable that there were some things you couldn't get to. Thank you very much for running the game! And I'm glad that I had been an inspiration to your game.

What was your favourite event in this game?

You're very welcome.

Goodness, favorite event. I really liked Nicha's event to convince the crime bosses. I think that one went very well. For mine... I think the sniper event may have been my best, but the Pandemic one was pretty fun, too. It's perhaps a bit funny to use the mechanics of one game to emulate the mechanics of another game, but that's what I was trying to go for!

[Hatoful GM]

*hugs*

Thanks for all the effort of building the game, the time and energy that you could offer during the game, and the calm assurance that let me not be an anxiety-ball getting into combats here. ^^ RL doesn't schedule around the games (unfortunate, or we could stave it off for a really long time with some planning).

Really nicely built world, story arc, and events, NPCs that felt real... and the unknown, but sadly suspected, fate of Fugaruns T’ed made things engaging. The hints and reveal of our warlord's goals and identity, etc. were fun to reread in the light of later info. It kept things engaging despite my own RL keeping me a bit swamped.

I know you'd planned more engagement to tease that story out. I assume Bevin would have been more active yes?

Is Fugaruns T’ed an anagram/pun that I've missed? I keep thinking it ought to be. XD For that matter, are there other jokes you wanted to spring that didn't get used?

I'm glad! I actually really appreciate how on the ball you were with combats. It's great to have people willing to roll in to whatever's happening, even if they are busy.

Glad you liked all the things! We did try putting a lot into all of them.

For my part, it was mostly rp and individual plots that had to drop. Bevin was part of that. Vala, Apollo, and you all had stuff that got cut. When you tried to call your family, I got the idea of tying them in to the refugee caravan that I knew would be coming later. Alas, rl. Please assume that they and all their animals are well, because I don't want to hurt imaginary animals, either!

Fungarus T'ed... if it's a pun, it's a subconscious one. The most famous Bith in Star Wars is Figrin D'an, so I constructed his name off of that. Incidentally, if anyone here is a fan of XCOM2, his fate was inspired by (spoiler alert!) this scene from it.

The main joke that didn't get used was from Apollo's storyline, which I've already shared with his player. See, Chaos Squad had one more member, a Cathar; thus, taking the role of Meowth. To mix jokes, this Cathar would say "Heyyyy Apollo...", in a way I'd hoped would be reminiscent of Catra from the new She-Ra. The meeting with Chaos Squad could have involved the dueling rules but with slapping instead of blasters, a glue gun showdown, or a big makeout pile.

[Vala Roke]

a big makeout pile.

BLINK!

Using game mechanics to emulate certain neat things and/or board games is a real cool way to go about things. I'm sure that's how I got some of my events in the past. Now that you've mentioned it, the sniper combat was a really neat way to go about a boss fight. The thing I like about events is that they sometimes structurally allow for cool stuff to happen narratively. I suppose some could consider it to be a bit on rails but honestly, sometimes getting that cool vibe/moment to happen is better than leaving it to chance or needing it to be literally spelled out round by round.

So! That's something I might snag in the future, haha!

I have to admit that I find smaller games a bit claustrophobic (not sure if I'm using the right feel here) but most of the events kind of capitalized on having a small group around with a lot of required teamwork, so kudos to that. Actually, the Star Wars system is pretty good for that as there's a lot of teamwork woven in the advantage/threat system.

Also, I'm going to keep reading the guy's name as Fungus Ted.

[Apollo]

Thank you for the game, and for doing the best in a bad situation. I'm very glad you decided to make this game with Nicha, and I look forward to more from you in the future.

A shame we couldn't finish Apollo's story, but I really liked what you had planned, and in Apollo's opinion the encounter should have gone:
a) slap-fight
b) glue-gun fight
c) makeout pile
d) ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Apollo chooses option D of course.

[Tomin]

For my part, it was mostly rp and individual plots that had to drop. Bevin was part of that. Vala, Apollo, and you all had stuff that got cut. When you tried to call your family, I got the idea of tying them in to the refugee caravan that I knew would be coming later. Alas, rl. Please assume that they and all their animals are well, because I don't want to hurt imaginary animals, either!

Nicha dropped them into the awards thread! XD

The main joke that didn't get used was from Apollo's storyline, which I've already shared with his player. See, Chaos Squad had one more member, a Cathar; thus, taking the role of Meowth. To mix jokes, this Cathar would say "Heyyyy Apollo...", in a way I'd hoped would be reminiscent of Catra from the new She-Ra. The meeting with Chaos Squad could have involved the dueling rules but with slapping instead of blasters, a glue gun showdown, or a big makeout pile.

Well, if there's ever a sequel, and a Capt. Apollo reprise, I'll look forward to another round with Chaos Squad for this brand of sillyness.

[Zeline Koth]

Thank you for all the hard work! I enjoyed finding little references in there.

Who was the LARGEST of the Mandalorians though?