...want more weapons now!!! 
Absolutely, huge thanks to all four refs...
Yep. Everyone, from about-as-young-as-possible to not-so-young, was a pleasure to role play with and a joy to be around.
Indeed, special thanks from Mr Fussy over here!
Top marks to that cook.
I don't think there was anything I specifically didn't like: No real cause to grumble at all.
I've a few "observations", but they are very far from serious issues, just very minor odds and ends.
{Having got to the end of the post I realise that I've written quite a lot, so I just thought I'd come back and emphasise that I'm very much not wanting to have a rant but hopefully provide some useful and constructive feedback}
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It feels like DragonLore is written/aimed at being a very Heroic system ~ PCs are heroes who slay vile monsters and save the world.
Yet a lot of the PCs who were around seemed to be ambivalant about such things.
Obviously it's very much down to individual players to create characters that they will enjoy playing, and I'm certainly not critisising anyone's choice of character. I'm just trying to gently suggest that having a whole bunch of "I don't care" characters isn't likely to lead to much in the way of Epic Action.
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It may well just be due to my "upbringing" in the LRP systems I've played, but the fact that people were changing characters as often as seemed to be happening left me feeling a bit off balance. As if I just didn't have enough time to build up a relationship with someone before they were dead or had wandered off.
Partly, I suppose, it was reflected in the fact that very few characters seemed to care that someone else had died there was little by way of shock or sorrow, just the odd shrug.
It came accross as players thinking "oh well, he'll just start a new character", not as "oh my word, someone's just died!" I realise it wasn't endemic, that there were a few characters who showed remorse but, on the whole, that complete lack of concern for other characters (for other people from an IC perspective) just seemed weird.
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It also seemed that players were changing character when they felt like it. Again I'm not out and out saying "this is a bad thing" (and it's definately not aimed at any person/people in partiular, so I hope no one takes this comment personally).
I am just worried that it sort of makes the concept of attrition irrelevant as well as contributing to the difficulty of
characters being able to "bond" with one another.
If I play "Wizard 1" I could just cast all of my Wound, Heal and Fumble spells in the first couple of fights that I'm involved in. Then I decide to change characters. I play "Wizard 2", who casts all of his spells in the next two fights. I move on to "Wizard 3". Come the end of the event "Wizard 42" is geared up and survives the big last battle by dint of having all of his spells available...
Obviously that's taking things to absolute extremes (and, again, I'll point out that I'm not saying anyone actually did do this), just to make the point that I feel something like this was happening on a lesser scale and that I don't see it as being a good thing. Part of the design of the system implies that characters have limited resources (spells available in this example) and that those are supposed to be streched out to last the whole event.
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Having said that I'd very much love to see some means by which characters can regain those resources. Perhaps sitting around and resting for about half an hour could allow a fighter to recuperate enough that he could manage to use his Knock Back ability one more time?
Perhaps sitting in a medative trance, or burning some incense for a while, or saying prayers to their deity, could allow a spell caster who spends time and effort doing so the chance to recharge a used spell?
Partly because being left without anything funky to use can get a bit boring...
Then again, for all I know, it may well be possible to do these things already but no-one's explored this area sufficiently!
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I realise this may be something of a reccurring issue, and I know you've already said that you don't want the system to involve
a high quantity of damage calls, but it still doesn't feel like the Critical Strike ability is worth having.
Out of interest, and as a general question, has anyone yet played a character with it and found it useful?
My feeling is that if I'm fighting a creature that's got (say) 5 hits per location I'm likely much better off using a Disarm or a Strike Down to get a significant advantage in the fight, compared to using an ability that just means I have to hit it 4 times instead of 5...
It just doesn't feel like a "Critical Hit" I suppose.
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The "Gather Herbs" skills just don't seem worthwhile either.
They are nice role-play/background style abilities to have, but just don't seem to have had anything by way of practical use.
I realise though that may just be because both events so far have had a well stocked "alchemy corner" and the players havn't needed to go picking flowers...
It just seems that they should have some relevance ~ that the people who have spent points on buying abilities should be able to get some actual use out of them. Possibly some form of bonus for brewing a potion with fresh ingrediants?
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On a different tack entirely: What are Rift Demons supposed to be like?
Are they "corrupted people", in that they bleed, have organs and vitals and such (so you could slit their throats, poison them, and generally fight them in the same way you could a Human or an Orc)?
Or are they strange magical beings that are formed in some other way (so they don't bleed, can't be poisoned etc)?
I only ask because I got poisoned while playing one and had no idea if it was supposed to work or not...
I erred on the side of caution/the player and died from it on the day, but thought I'd ask for future reference.
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The "Wound" spell:
I know you've previosuly said that armour protects against its effect, but one of the referees said that he thought it ignored armour and just inflicted a Hit Point. Maybe it's worth having a bit of a conflab and making it clear (one way or the other) in the rules?
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Monstering.
On the first event you had a dedicated {and very keen} Monster team. I was expecting this event to be the same, so it came as a bit of a surprise to be asked if I was up for some monstering.
It wasn't a problem to be asked, on the contrary I was quite happy to do so, it was just unexpected.
I'd just suggest putting out something in advance to let people know that they may be asked ~ or even simply that they are welcome to volunteer their services at any point they feel like it.
That way players will know to bring a few bits of spare kit with them to change in to etc.
I'd also suggest trying to organise monsters in some sort of rota?
Have one team that works (say) from Breackfast to Lunch, then another from Lunch to Dinner and so on.
That way people will know when to quietly pop out to the monster mustering point without needing a ref to round them up.
They'll also be able to avoid the need to constantly change into/out of character costume.
Possibly just too tricky to balance perfectly, but may be worth a try ~ especially if you know in advance that a couple
of players are up for doing 1 shift on Saturday but someone else is keen to do a lot of monstering: It'd let you plan out
when to have large numbers of bad guys and when you've only got a few available.
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Walkie-Talkies; Having seen these used a lot in a couple of systems I've been involved in, I'd highly recomend getting hold of a set. That way the referee who is with the monster team can communicate with the "player ref" very easily.
If the monsters need more time to set things up the players can be told to faff around instead of rushing off down the path.
If the monsters are ready and waiting the players can be given the nod and know that it's fine for them to set out.
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Anyhow, as I said, minor issues, no real fuss or bother, just small tweaks and odd bits of disjointed feedback.
Cheers again, and I really did have a fantastic time ~ even the weather didn't get anyone down.
Looking forward to event 3!
_
Pete