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cosmoooc2016-07-25 12:32 pm
wearethecrystalmods) wrote in cosmoooc2016-07-25 12:32 pm
Entry tags:
July Event Summary + Feedback!
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.
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.
Re: POWER UPGRADE REQUEST
no subject