Origins 2014 BI Certs

edited

James mention that PCI wants to avoid having the regular con-goers far surpassing others for xp. When I spoke to him at Origins he said it was going to be zero xp awarded, so don’t complain too loudly about the 100

Considering that there was that section in the BI where they mentioned that the Tultipetan rune smiths had figured out how to put runes onto skin, I was really hoping for a rune on the body. A single use fate point (even with the additional uses) is a little disappointing.

I’m of two minds on the 100xp bit. I understand the reasoning but I’m also a bit put out for getting only 100 xp for all the real world time and money I spent to go to the con, not to mention the time spent with my butt in the chair at the BI. I’ll have to give it some thought, but if this is what the future holds I might just pass on Origins and play games at home. I’m not a big Larper as far as Arcanis Larps go so there’s no draw there. And I have yet to read the cert (I’m at work), but when told about the boon my reaction was (along with the guy who told me about it) “I’d rather have the XP.” I didn’t play the first arc so I’m catching up and need all the xp I can get. I was the lowest tier person at our table as I recall and haven’t cracked Tier 2 yet. I was counting on the usual 500xp to get me at least to 1.9. And he’s a 1.5 character so I can’t mine the old mods for xp.

Now that all that’s said I do want to be clear….I bear no ill will towards PCI on this decision. After all it’s just a game and as long as we’re having fun that’s all that matters. And I had a lot of fun at Origins. Just wish I could have gotten 500xp out of the BI….

So, I am still of two minds about the X.P. on the interactives. In general, I would probably go with the, “you sat in two slots worth of module, you get two module’s worth of X.P.” but I would balance that with the chance of getting other unique rewards. I would ask that such decisions be advertised in advance so players can make informed decisions in the future. I specifically played a character in this who is trying to get as much X.P. in as few modules as possible right now because I thought it would count as one module and get 500+ X.P. To find out I probably should have played a different character based on campaign policy changes (something I think it is fair to announce in advance) is a bit disappointing.

I am posting this to demonstrate some of our reasoning, and to give you guys a bit of insight. We certainly hear the concerns and are talking about them.

Exclusivity: People skipped our con events because they could just play them at home and other games HAD to be played at the con. We went back to exclusivity to bring back the special experience of “being there”

Mortal Danger: Heroes will still win, and will overwhelmingly still survive (only 1 under-tier character died, in the last mission, because he didn’t want the flaw). But, in the tough fights, they will feel like they had their butts kicked, because they did. There will need to be some tinkering (no fights with 18 minions that average 20 Stamina a shot) so that it is the big bad that beats your face in, not just some schmucks you are supposed to kill. But that is an adjustment to the balancing act of adventures. The BI was especially brutal on this front.

Limited XP for exclusivity: Arcanicon BI, Arcanicon Delve, Origins BI, Origins Delve. If at 250xp, that would be a [Rank – sorry about that] every campaign year. If at 500 (2 rounds and all) it would be 1.5 tiers. Imagine adding an exclusive event to GenCon. We have a decent number of folks in some spots out west as well. Add Kublai or Ghengis or some other con at 250-350. We have a company making LARP rules for WH, that are adaptable for ARG. We the have LARPS that can encompass combat and mysteries, etc. Those would warrant XP as well. Event travelers could be looking at a full Tier every other year unless the XP for exclusives is constrained.

Three changes at once seems like a ton, especially since the changes are now, and the payoff is later.

This does not mean that we won’t have some other rewards here.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I completely understand the reasoning behind reducing/eliminating the xp for BIs. On the other hand, the point was made that it would have been a good idea to announce this prior to the BI instead of afterwards.

I think in this case what hurt was having the xp reduction and a ‘material’ reward which was underwhelming. Of course a big part of what we go to BIs for is the experience of playing, but after spending $16 and ~10 hours I think most of us were hoping for a little more…especially after hearing about the (largely cursed) treasure trove that came out of Arcanicon this year.

I realize that there is some delicate balancing to do, but in my mind it makes sense to have an above average material reward if the xp is going to be significantly below average. As much as the experience of playing a BI is enjoyable, I suspect that if you were to one day announce that getting to play would be the only reward, you would see a pretty significant reduction in attendance. Most of us accept the higher risk in the hopes of a higher reward.

By no means is this a criticism of PCI. The BI is one of the things that I most look forward to every year, and I hope to be able to continue attending in the future. You guys really are doing good work, which seems at times to be a little thankless.