Warhammer 40,000: Apostate Protocol - Final Day Feedback

[Raptorian]

Leona vanishes from the party, stealing a crystal away from Chaos and Imperial alike before disappearing into the warp! The Inquisitor's retinue corners Headmaster Faires before he turns into a warp portal, leading them to his profane master! Pugsley sacrifices himself to keep the Heretic Astartes from escaping, allowing them to secure the kill and stop the spread of Chaos in Hive Promethean for good!

Leave feedback here. Thank you for coming to Apostate Protocol.​

 

[MAXYOURFRIEND]

Big event, huge fun. Had a fantastic experience but gonna break things down into two sections.

The Good
Characters were just peak, no notes. Everyone was playing to be a character, and no one was playing to win. Everything felt organic as hell and the fact that Alessio and Raptorian accommodated so well for that speaks volumes to their ability to tell the story.

Outside of combat, every faction felt like it had a moment to shine, though individuals may have issues that I'll talk about later.

Despite the broken animations, the atmosphere was pulled off pretty damn well. Characters on both the player and NPC side felt authentic and despite some clunk (Sorcerer floor slide) the NPCs generally were really cool to see and interact with.

While there were delays, outside of combat felt fairly snappy and rarely was there a time where I felt like we were waiting too long.
The Bad
As a person who plays the Tabletop Strategy game, I did enjoy it to an extent but I have many notes. The idea of having every player play as a model was neat, but after the player count dropped the lack of power for each individual was felt. Especially during the last fight, each NPC having like 2 wounds and stuff made fighting mobs feel slow, which added heavily to the time needed to play.

I think in the future it would be better to play more off of RPG like mechanics instead of strategy, decrease the health of mobs to speed up combat. Also, I think that something needs to be figured out to speed up round progression. There were a few times where we were sitting around for WAAAAAAAAY long.

Finally, I do think in the end that all the active players got to shine in the story, but I do worry that some of the missing players could have been due to feeling not as involved. I don't know how exactly to fix this either, but I think being more aware of it would be a step in the right direction. Even if that is as simple as having the GM not being directly seen do some side flavor stuff for those not immediately engrossed in the main events.

There's probably more I could add, but I gotta work on finals and stuff so maybe I'll edit or make another post later after I read other people's thoughts.

 

[Deek29]

Main criticism - lack of sequel. Fix it soon pls.

 

[RedHotGinger]

All is ended, so this will be overall feedback rather than episodic.

GOOD:

• The setting felt well realized. Perhaps not so much in scale due to limited resources and actors, but in feeling. We were not noble heroes of flawless design and the world did not treat/expect us to be. The map, though certainly strange, carried the event well barring some minor space issues that aren't really worth mentioning. Its makeup certainly did leverage a further legitimacy to the setting.
• Each present character was of exceptional quality. There was no unneeded LOOC or toxic attitudes present. Even when against eachother for a moment, it felt like everyone was still on the same page - focused on story. Frankly, this is something you rarely see in main, so it was very refreshing.
• Story was good. Nothing revolutionary, but it served a clear and concise purpose. It mostly allowed fresh approaches as we chose and was simple to follow. I would perhaps even say it could have done with more complexity, but it was a great start.
• I enjoyed the soundtracks that were used. Mostly appropriate for the moments, with even occasional beat hits matching to events.
• The general concept of using a custom system was neat, and for all the problems I will mention, it was a tense and even enjoyable experience at times.
• There was the effort made to adapt to player choices. Didn't always happen, but it certainly occurred often enough to be worthy of praise.

BAD:

• The lack of GM resources were apparent at times. People did get left behind at moments, some characters got far less time to shine I would say. Not so much that any went on to be unknown, but enough that certain encounters were likely very boring for those not directly involved.
• Technical issues were common. While not game breaking, it was noticeable. Tons of animation bugs plagued the entire event. The methods of rag-doll NPC's, while functional, certainly brought about a strange sight when coupled with this. Other minor technical issues can be thrown into this.
• Combat is a major mixed bag. Hence its in both sections. The flow was frankly little to no faster compared to standard S2RP. The rolls were rather excessive at times, and the system ensured balance was in a never ending state of flux. Balancing as a result was strained. Another issue was the RP was pushed to the backdrop of Combat. It came after all other things, with actions declared in /looc, with a quick and cast aside time for RP after the rolls.
• The time was CRAZY for these events. Not one day was the start-time not at least an hour off, and today, we pushed well beyond any other event ever has in terms of length. Times need to be more consistent, perhaps posted on the application forum itself so that you know people signing up can make it.
• Slight nitpick, but worth mentioning. I would like to see more on-screen effects. Obviously this wasn't done due to lack of GM's, but it was rare that something happening would occur in a manner you can physically see on your screen. Is this a major problem? No. Its text RP after all. However, I figured it worth mentioning as with proper care into such things, good effects can elevate scenes alot.

All in all, I'd say this event was at least a successful experiment.
Combining all days, and considering all events...
I'd say it was about an 8/10.
I'm tempted to say seven, however, I do feel the characters and RP made up for the shortcomings enough.

 

[LyingFox]

my ass was NOT there for the event

 

[Sushi082]

Considering this is my first ever Short Story I think my opinions are going to be more positive than most, I had a goddamn blast. Only issue being the superficial stuff as mentioned by others. Stuff like the animations, some characters not really getting to do as much (mostly guardsman having do the guarding things stuff, oocly it was y'know...kinda pointless. But made perfect sense ICly) and then combat being a bit off at times.

But I genuinely have not had that much fun in Roleplaying in awhile, throughout the many years I've been doing it. The characters and the story was just enjoyable, stressful moments mixed with grand ones.

Another downside is mostly due to the limitations. Story had to be done which means certain ideas and potential plotlines had to be side lined which made me a little disappointed, but it's completely understandable

Overall I think it's going to make me a little too expectant of other Short Stories, it was that good.

 

[G R U G]

Well, looks like this is the template we're going with. I do like a good Western.

THE GOOD​

The production quality for this event was amazing. Love how the map had been entirely refitted with a 40K coat of grimdark, all the way to there not even being a sky, just the endless halls and corridors of Hive Promethian. The smaller inclusions to give life were great aswell. People standing in lines while a servitor answers them, hivers and gangers being shaken down by enforcers, servo-skulls operating in small booths, everything done made it feel like we were actually navigating a hive city.

The story was solid, a warhammer romp with the usual grimdark horror, corruption -- both political and chaos, bureaucracy, and overall insanity. What made it so special was how the GMs let us run wild with it. Never did it once feel like we were being railroaded into something happening. Everything felt like a natural piece in a large puzzle; and how the characters themselves were able to contribute to this jigsaw was so fun to see. Drama, Betrayal, Comedy, an overall grand experience where player interaction was top priority.

I haven't seen people discussing it enough, but to have such an in depth combat system added such an unbelievably fun element to this event. While a lot of events will also abide by s2rp, most of the time it's the usual 1d20 rolls that tie into the Willard stat sheet; undoubtedly solid, but doesn't go too far. But this? This was something else entirely. Character sheets with stats and class bonuses, weapon stats, special abilities, movement phases, custom die, and so much more. This was a great experiment in what one can truly achieve when it comes to combat.

THE BAD​

But with something this experimental and of such magnitude, shortcomings are inevitable. Never anything too major, but there were occasional balancing issues that revealed themselves, turn orders sometimes taking too long, disagreements to be had on how to properly utilize the system, and small changes made to the enemies mid-combat. Never once did combat feel bad though. Like MAXYOURFRIEND put it,

I think in the future it would be better to play more off of RPG like mechanics instead of strategy,

Technical issues were also popping up throughout the event, but again, nothing too major. Animations breaking, npcs glitching, At most they would either cause the GMs to pause for a minute, or crack a smile amongst the player-base.
A bit immersion-breaking? Yes.
Did they ruin the event? Not a chance.

Time. The times were rough. Some of it was from having to wait for people to show up, some of it was questionable starting hours for the server, and some of it was because we were rping so damn MUCH. Can't really put a specific aspect to blame for this, it was more-so a universal issue between all of us.

and THE UGLY.​

This one isn't aimed at the event holders, but at some of the event attendees. This has been said many-a time, but I feel as if it needs to be said again. If you sign up for an event, PARTAKE IN THE EVENT. I'm not talking about those who joined for a day or two, but had to stand out for irl reasons; those people were completely understandable and valid. I'm talking about those who would sign up, maybe go on for a day, and then go ghost. Treat your event hosters better. The least you can do is say you wont be coming.

I rate this event 1 ogryn out of 25 empty corpse-starch cans. An amazing meal. This event was top-tier, and goes far beyond the expectations we all held. You all COOKED