July Event Summary + Feedback!

[wearethecrystalmods]

First thing's first: Good work out there! Watching you guys clear out this event was a blast, and you earned every bit of your victory. We've got some information for you to round off the event, starting with that thing that happened at the end of the wrapup log.

Your Reward - One Free Power Upgrade

This event started with a little acknowledgement of Tanabata, a holiday that originated from "The Festival to Plead for Skills" - so what better reward for pulling off Cosmo's first Excursion with aplomb than a power upgrade?

This free upgrade is separate from the usual power request, which can be claimed as usual at the powers page. It's also restricted in scope - this upgrade can only be used to refine or increase control over a power. It cannot add a new power or increase a power's....power or range. So, for example, if a character has trouble controlling any of their powers, this upgrade might grant them a clearer grasp on manipulating it. Or, it could allow a character to use a "smaller" form of an existing power, like being able to just warm things up instead of setting them on fire.

To snag this upgrade, hit up the power upgrade toplevel below.

What Now?

We're still working out how to run Excursions, and what we learned from this event will go into that. We're hoping to have them up sometime within the month of August, mods' capabilities depending.

Also in the works for August is a sort of "fusion registry" and general fusion information page, which has been requested by players and sounds like a very good idea.

Also also in the works for August is the "Outlying Locations" page, which will list and describe the locations that can be reached by warp pad. Two of those are already accessible and will continue to be freely accessible after the event ends! Some information on the post-event status of the Strawberry Fields and Observatory can be found in the event summary below.

Your Feedback

WE WANT IT.

We noticed a couple of things that people seemed to like and a couple of things that could have gone more smoothly (mostly related to time zones/availability/limited participation opportunity), but we also want to hear your perspective. What worked? What didn't? What would you like to see replicated or tweaked for future events in this style? How could this formula be improved for events or for Excursions? (Excursions will be much smaller-scale, featuring about two to five people per adventure, so we predict there'll be less "drowning out" of late comers, but other than that they're planned to make use of both of the systems that this event did.)

The TL;DR

Here's a final summary of what happened during the event. It includes information on the bonuses the combat team won as well as an aggregated description of what the investigation team stumbled across, so give it a thorough read.


Strawberry Fields side

- On the way to the crash site, the retrieval team encountered two monsters - Giant Mothwing and Chameleoid - dispatching and bubbling both.

- The Strawberry Spider appeared as the team began moving the battery back towards the warp pad. Part of the team engaged it in battle to clear the path, while remaining team members transported the battery.

- The battle against the Strawberry Spider was grueling, resulting in Cirno being poofed and many other Gems nearly meeting the same fate, but the team's tenacity and tactics, and the appearance of the fusion Tanzanite, won out in the end.

- Tanzanite did not split apart immediately after his formation, but rampaged briefly, causing some destruction.

- After the Spider's defeat, team members that had climbed the monster to fight it from its own back would find small strawberry plants clinging to them. These plants respond to touch as though they can understand their surroundings, like the ones growing on the Spider. These plants can be divided up and gifted to other gems freely. They will grow if planted, develop "opinions" about people based on how they're treated, and act with intent. Luckily, though, they lack the aggressive behaviors seen before, and seem content to colonize their own small areas and not envelop the surroundings. Waverley Bay is in no danger of turning into a second Strawberry Field.

- On the way back to the warp pad, the team may have noticed that the area where the Chameleoid was defeated has had a large patch of plants burned away by its acidic residue. This revealed an odd gem artifact mostly-buried in the soil; a very large sword in its sheath. The sword can be drawn, but the effort may take a few people or one very large person, because the sword seems to be ten feet long and the handle is proportional. The sheath cannot be pulled from the earth without some serious digging.

- The team may also have noticed that the Giant Mothwing's defeat left many of its intact wing scales scattered around the battlefield. They're flat and glass-like, and about the size of dinner plates. They can be taken home as trophies and from there possibly used to make cool trinkets or weapons if someone has the skill to do so, as the material can hold a very sharp edge.

- The opalization effect on plant life that spread around the initial crash site can now be seen trailing back to the warp pad along the path the battery was carried, but it does not spread out any farther.


Observatory side

- The map still reflects the first floor's layout.

- The statue was broken when the group arrived, but Harley fixed it. The rubble blocking the western room, caused by a piece of the broken satellite striking the Observatory and caving in a wall, is still in place - the team made a temporary tunnel through it, so if the chart room is to be accessible later, characters will have to permanently clear the debris.

- The eastern room holds many small artifacts of Gem culture on Earth. Almost all are tagged with writing in a very precise format but a language unknown to any members of the investigation team. This language is a Homeworld Gem script.

- The western room, which is blocked by debris, seems to have been a work space. It contains many star charts and archived data from the Observatory's operational days, as well as terrestrial maps of specific places on Earth (though none cover a large enough area to be recognizable). Some of these maps have small drawings of what appears to be monumental architecture. Many of the maps, diagrams, and other sundry bits of paper are heavily doodled on and annotated in the same script found in the eastern room. The eastern room also contains bookshelves, which in turn contain astronomical texts from various eras of human history. Many of these books are very old and falling apart.

- The telescope tower is full of various Gem machines and computerish consoles for observing and recording astronomical things. If you know more about astronomy than we do and you ask "do they have a (thing)" the answer is probably yes.


After the event

- The Strawberry Fields and Observatory are now permanently accessible via warp pad.

- The Strawberry Fields will be a location where monsters periodically appear to be freely NPCd by players, like Schroedinger's Forest has been in the past. Monsters here generally become agitated upon seeing Gems.

- The Observatory is back online, as described in the IC wrapup post. Its facilities can be freely used by Gems for stargazing or for...well, a lot of these machines have very specific astronomical applications, but Gems are certainly free to do whatever they want with them. The mountains surrounding the Observatory are uninhabited and very high up.

Comments

WRAPUP QUESTIONS

[wearethecrystalmods]

Have any questions about the new locations, or some other detail we forgot to address? Ask 'em. Get 'em answered.

This toplevel is for detail requests, not feedback. Feedback can go right ahead into its own toplevels!

[kelp_for_brains]

if this is the right place for it, I'm gonna toss out that a toplevel for de-fusing a rampant Tanzanite has been posted in the Strawberry Fields Rumble post.

You guys are... probably gonna wanna split them apart pretty quick.

[nailed_it]

How large/heavy is the rubble still blocking the western room? Could a couple of gems with super strength powers or the like clear it away without too much trouble? And does the wall or whatever the debris came from need to be repaired at all to protect the Observatory from the elements, critters, or gem monsters?

Re: WRAPUP QUESTIONS

[connie_maheswaran]

I'm just curious. I have Connie (as an adult considering what was said) holding the artifact, ready to give it into Tiger's Eye.

Is that alright, or should I just edit it out? What happened IG to the artifact? I can only read and reply via mobile (sometimes the library computer) so its totally possible I may have missed it.

POWER UPGRADE REQUEST

[wearethecrystalmods]

Anyone who was in the Observatory at the time the battery was installed will receive the power upgrade. So, basically, everyone who went to help Tiger out with the whole battery thing.

Specify which power is being upgraded and what the upgrade will do! Remember, this upgrade can only be used to refine or increase control over a power. Think smaller, not bigger.

[topgun_textiles]

Hmmm...

I'd like to increase the control of his beast form connected with his Enhanced Shapeshifting. Before, he would turn into his really huge monster form when he gets angry with no exceptions. But I think after spending so long fighting the changes and losing, he's begun to understand it and is able to stop the transformation from completing once it triggers, and with focus can reverse some of the cosmetic changes. The setback is that he completely exhausts himself doing so, thus requiring ample rest. It's hard to stifle a part of yourself when it fights to get out.

[pishirogane]

Would like to increase control over her Plant Manipulation. Right now, her emotions pretty much control plants as opposed to her so she's been sorta practicing how to make herself feel different things. However, with the upgrade, she'll have a slightly more conscious control over plants as well as a minor improvement trying to control larger plants like trees.

[foolish_seal]

For Minato, let's go with increasing the length of time Messiah can be summoned. Right now, he can only hold it out for thirty seconds or so, and ends immediately if he uses any sort of attack or spell. Through his extensive use of Messiah in fighting the moth and spider, I'd like to increase that to two minutes so long as all Messiah does is menial tasks, and the summon will still end immediately upon attack or spell use.

And yes, he still has to summon with his Evoker. Not enough people have been freaked out by that yet.

[polyturtle]

Requesting an upgrade to Donatello's Speed Reading/Information Absorption ability, so that he can use this ability longer without problem, and no longer falls unconscious after prolonged usage. He will, however, still develop a painful, splitting headache if he continues to use this power.

The upper limit for Donatello to use this ability before he's overwhelmed with pain is 10 minutes, each day. This applies to using the ability for a 10-minute marathon run or at separate, accumulative clips of a few minutes.

[chatwithdeath]

Just requesting better control being a few more seconds to her Time Dilation powers. She can already manipulate it to slow down for thirty seconds to one minute, but tends to be on the lower side of time. So, her control would make it more often last for forty-five seconds.

Re: POWER UPGRADE REQUEST

[cidery]

Apple was at the Observatory and I'd like for her to increase the overall control over Raven's Magic. In short, she will be able to do little things like repair broken items without incurring the good deed spell count backlash.

[modelcivilian]

He would like control over some of his cat tendencies right now. Just so he's not seeing shiny objects and immediately chasing after them, things like that... Give him at least a ten second delay.

[frozenmemories]

I'd like to request more control with her Healing. Right now she's hesitant to use it as she tends to over do it and wear herself out very quickly when using it.

[blurspot]

Time for Reira to be able to use his glove more!

At the moment, Reira's weapon is glove that duplicates the weapons of those he's currently copying or negating-to a weaker extent, mind, and without prior experience with the weapon.

For the upgrade, let's widen the range of copy potential!

I would like for Reira to be able to briefly copy from materials in the area to create a weapon; his limitations are the following:

First, it has to be the stuff in the area, so the chances of creating something that extends or spits fire or anything like that is nil.

Second, he needs to consciously decide what those materials will form. So if he's grabbing from stones and vines, he has to figure out what those things would form on his own.

Third, this doesn't work with living animals. ...Mostly. It might make the weapon look kinda cool but that's it.

And last of all, the time limit! Each weapon has a limit of an hour; and he can only form one at a time. He also, for obvious reasons, can't do this at all if he already has someone else copied or negated-since he should have access to those weapons instead by that point!

Basically this is a fancy way of making it possible for Reira to be able to do something without having to copy someone first.

[domeinion]

Could I give more control to Alice over what she downloads or uploads when she's hooked up to a computer? Basically have her better able to seek out a destination first instead of getting overwhelmed.

[mopocalypse]

Haruka was on the combat team; if default powers count for this, she's been struggling with her shapeshifting for months when she goes anywhere beyond shifting clothes, so maybe a little more sureness on that so she doesn't accidentally mess up her face for good?

[strawberry_roll]

Let's see here...

For Ichigo, I'd like to request a minor upgrade to her Flight. Just being able to move through the air a bit better, start a little faster and stop with more precision. Reflecting over a year's worth of practice, I suppose--!

[nailed_it]

I'd like to refine (increase?) Yang's control over her Thermotherapy. She's aware of it as a power and has gotten acceptable at using it to ease and heal general aches, sores, and pains given how strenuous her lifestyle tends to be. However I'd like to give her better control over the minor injury healing part of it?

Previously, her Thermotherapy could heal minor wounds like cuts and small lacerations but essentially by cauterizing them. Her healing power would still in essence do this, but I'd like for her to have better control over that aspect so that when she does use it like that, while it's still cauterizing the wound, it's more like a sharp pinch and then the other part of her thermotherapy kicks in to help ease the residual pain quickly.

So it's more like your doctor giving you a shot as opposed to somebody just pressing a hot iron on your skin. XD She still won't be able to heal anything more drastic than she was able to before. It'll just hurt less when she does it.

[velvet_mystique]

In Velvet's case, I think I'd like to refine her control of her Gravity Manipulation just a tad. Said power is centered around her; she's always in the middle of the field when it's activated.

Specifically, all I'm looking for is that she finds it a bit easier to manipulate the gravity field around her without getting caught up in it herself. That's something she was already capable of to some extent, but had to concentrate heavily on; this would be fine-tuning her control a little more so that she doesn't find it quite so difficult, and doesn't have to split her attention quite as much.

[onaroll]

For Amelie, I'd like to request an upgrade to her Double Team ability - currently, she's only able to fully manifest her illusion clones; I'd like for her to be able to exert enough control to partially manifest them as well.

[perfectlynormalcthulhu]

For Anri, I'd like to request the ability to not use her Divine Enhancement automatically - essentially giving her the option to not uncontrollably inject pure evil into everything she touches.

[lifeisfun]

For Berry, an upgrade to her Healing Aura power - normally she just sets how large it is, but it'd be nice if she could also be able to set the shape of the aura - so instead of, say, 'three feet around me in a circle', she could do 'three foot circle extending backwards from me'.

[coneyislandcrazy]

Alrighty then!

For Harley I would like her to gain the ability to shrink her mallet to the size of a regular hammer. Perfect for throwing!

Feedback!!

[nailed_it]

So while I can't speak for anyone else, I really enjoyed this first excursion participating in the combat team. I definitely think these'll work best for smaller groups of people, but for such a large group it still seemed like there were decent opportunities for a majority to get in on at least one battle and lots of chances for new CR between characters even if they weren't fighting.

One thing I would like to comment on is that it should probably be made explicitly clear for each excursion, particularly for combat excursions, if there will be mod NPC-ing or if the characters are to NPC things like monster(s) among themselves. Just so that all players are on the same page about the mechanics whether this is their first time participating in an excursion or not. Maybe including an OOC reminder on the excursion log itself just in case somebody missed it on the plotting post or just forgot or something.

Also, for things like monsters, providing images (even if they're just reference photos as opposed to drawn images of each monster) is super helpful for visualization. And stats like how big a given monster is, or how tough parts of its defenses are, texture, color, smell, all that good stuff are even better for working out creative ways to take a monster down and painting a picture. It'd be awesome if stuff like this could be included for each excursion, perhaps in list form on the starters/top-levels of any battle for easy reference? Whatever would work best for the mods.

That's the only thing I can think of that would be great for future excursions. :)

[torya]

We're super glad everything went as smoothly as it did! It was a big change from the usual kind of event but I think it worked out okay for everyone.

This is some super helpful feedback so thank you for taking the time to write it out! The confusion on mod involvement in excursions should be cleared up more when we start putting the final touches on the system but I think in this case it could have been cleared up a little sooner.

And in terms of details, we'll definitely take that on board! The main goal of the combat excursion was to hook you guys in for new CR and also give you the chance to be creative with a monster fight. You all did a great job so if you guys would like more details to go crazy with then we'd be happy to provide them.