OK, let us have it.  We try as hard as we can to make everyone happy, but it's just not possible.

Let us know what, problems, if any you had this year.  Please don't name specific judges on the board.  Please do name them in a PM or email to me or Carole Bland (SquirrelQueen).

All right.  Let me brace myself.   shoot.

My players said that my Stahd Von Zarovich sounded like Count Chocula!!

Ooops, you mean NASCRAG complaints...

1.  Your events never line up with window in my schedule!!!!

Next year, Nascrag is the first thing I will reg for.

I believe it wasn't just my table, but when the DM asked for a volunteer I raised my hand.  Then was handed a character sheet.  The rest of the table was basically assigned their characters as well.  It'd be nice to say; "This one is the archetype leader, these 2 are twin sisters, etc."  Give people some say.

Noise was better this year, but we still had to repeatedly ask our GM (who apparently was assigned to run the game at the last minute) to repeatedly speak up. 

My GM asked for volunteers for the first three characters too in the first round, I was surprised by it, but it turned out fine.  Those characters required someone who is not shy, and if you're not willing to speak up to volunteer, probably those characters not for you.  I know not all GMs did it this way though because two other groups I talked to picked all their characters.

The name plates for the two Tara's should have had the full names. Our judges had difficulty with certain events (masks, etc) because of this. Granted, we were swapping character sheets, but why should the judges know?

Rohvar went really poorly in our group. I've heard this from other groups too, that his sheet said he would keep his secrets safe, but he was supposed to divulge them according to the judges. For my group, that made for a Rohvar who just sat there confused. 

The transformation of Rohvar was at a poor point in round 1. We were all quite confused by the preceding events and were trying to get our bearings, understand the next challenge, etc. We basically ignored the fact that Rohvar changed at all. 

Our judges kept reading into their books. Not to pick on them...it's a universal problem with that many people in a room, and I've seen it before. It especially hurt us in the death sequence, with all the ornate descriptions heard in bits and pieces.

IMHO, the encounter at the end of round one was overpowered and overly chaotic. Our caster spent most of the battle feeble-minded (and bored), so we were left to only the Taras and their reflex saves to deal with the acid. Hence, one dead Tara. We were getting pummeled with spells! Our lackey was stuck in the crystal, but since they took his sheet, he never got initiative. It was 4 or 5 rounds before the judges realized the error and gave him a turn. (That probably is why it seemed unbalanced, in hindsight.)

I guess your adventure and my team last year (The Missionary Men) spoiled me. That said, I had fun and will be back again.

It seemed to me that the NASCRAG judges were not as prepared as I remember them being in previous years, at least in the second and third rounds.  There was a lot of laborious digging around in the module trying to figure stuff out, and the occasional "I know what I just said doesn't make sense, but I can't clarify it."  This is vexing in a timed tournament. 

Noise, as always, is a problem.  For our team, the second round was often delayed by neigh-on solid waves of noise coming from all sides, making the GM pause until he could get something out.  I realize little can be done, but yowza.

There were several combats that were important to the adventure this year, and many of them were mangled rules wise.  Now I don't mind handwaving of details that don't matter (this is a good thing, IMO), but when details are enforced, contrary to the rules, inconsistently, and in ways that impede my team's progress, it makes me sad.  More generally, I don't think of Nascrag as a "DnD skirmish tactics" kind of tournament, and when DnD skirmish tactics matter, it jars me out of the proper Nascrag mindset.  Proper roleplaying of a bunch of misfits who don't really trust each other yet, half of whom are cowards, does not lead to optimal T-Rex subdual strategies.  Personally, I'd prefer it if you glossed combat more than you already do.

As a postscript, Nascrag is still better than any DnD open or RPGA adventure I've ever been on - there's just room for improvement. 

martinl_00:

Proper roleplaying of a bunch of misfits who don't really trust each other yet, half of whom are cowards, does not lead to optimal T-Rex subdual strategies.

mikewyman:

 I know not all GMs did it this way though because two other groups I talked to picked all their characters.

If the GMs passed out the characters in different fashions, I can understand the frustration - especially with several comments about one character choice in particular.

My own complaint is our own fault:  after painstakingly juggling the schedule of the events we run to make sure we could finally play NASCRAG this year, one member of Evil Fleet Productions found out on Monday that he wouldn't be able to go to Gen Con.   We didn't want to play with less than our full team, so we bowed out. 

Oh, well.  There's always next year. 

David Wulatin

Evil Fleet Productions

Rest assured that the authors and this year's editor (Dr. Chill) are taking note of your comments.

Yes, we certainly are!

I'd like to know more about how I'm being scored.  i.e. a general rubric or something showing what the judge is looking for.  I'm not even asking to see my score at the end, but I have a feeling I've not been doing a vital thing these past years, so show us how we're being graded please.  That's EDU 101.

Regarding the rules, I was floored when I saw our judges pull out a PHB to look up several things during the last encounter of round 1. Totally not expected after the way things went last year. I went to the bathroom, and they were still working the same issue when I came back.

There was a lot of high-level spell-casting in that combat.  I think these are the highest level characters we've ever had.

I'd like to know more about how I'm being scored.  i.e. a general rubric or something showing what the judge is looking for.  I'm not even asking to see my score at the end, but I have a feeling I've not been doing a vital thing these past years, so show us how we're being graded please.  That's EDU 101.

I would like to second this. It would also eliminate any possible suspicion of favoritism. I heard a few remarks in the mall food court that the teams who were together would do better )ie because their chants were better, etc). For instance, that 'Team Rambo is going to advance'.

Maybe just sour grapes, since I've never advanced, but until I know what it is I'm lacking in, I'll also never improve. It's like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube while blindfolded. Sure, maybe I'll accidentally stumble on the solution, but the chances are slim. Now, granted, all three years my teams were randomly thrown together, but since Nascrag is such a huge 'generics r us' type of org, before this year I hadn't REALLY thought disorganization at the beginning would count against a score. Now, I'm not so sure.

I did find a loose numerical chart somewhere (disruptive, to outstanding) but that /cannot/ be all of it. there must be points for puzzles, time, certain actions, etc?

I don't have any real complaints.  It was absoultely fabulous overall!   But since you asked, I'll contribute my $.02 of constructive criticizm. 

My only real request is to give different types of clues, because the clues to the puzzles weren't usually useful to us.  They all seemed to be geared to helping you understand how to solve the puzzles, but not actually doing it.  The DM gave us all the clues that were there, but none of them helped us - they were to parts of the puzzle we'd already figured out.    

(I'm probably not clear.  Here's an example:  We immediately figured out the key word to break the code in the underwater shop in round 2, but we just couldn't do it quickly.  The clues were all things we knew, like hints to the key word, but that didn't help us do the math.  I guess we really needed graph paper with the alphabet on it) 

I agree that it would be cool to know a little more about how we're being scored,  if it's possible. I think we did very well on roleplaying, but didn't do well on the puzzles.  Is there some sort of general guideline of role playing vs. objectives achieved?  ?  If we could see it for one of the past year's adventures, that would be cool. 

If this isn't possible, no big.  I'm not being psycho-competitive here.. we just had SO MUCH FUN that our group really wants to play the whole adventure next year, and we can only do that by making it to the third round.   

As for the 2 DM thing that others have commented on, it worked superbly one round, and was awkward in another. 

Scoring - hmm - well if you played a Tara you probably scored a LOT of times...no, that's not what you're asking.

Jim Carter assures there's no favoritism.  The score sheets get input into a spreadsheet and automatically tabulated.

Advancing and/or winning Nascrag is a two part thing.

1 Roleplaying

2 Puzzle Solving and objectives

Roleplaying:  Your characters have interactions with the other characters, they are listed on the character sheets.  One of the Taras was jilted by Kiroc, she is hurt.  Her sister is infuriated.  Lootan Worships the ground Kiroc walks on.  Kiroc treats Lootan as a lackey.  Celledrus looks down on everybody a bit.  Etc.

There are also things that happen in the event that should elicit a response from a character.  Kiroc is charged with paternity.  Lootan "finds himself" and actually ends up as arguably the most powerful member of the party, Celledrus discovers his wife is alive, his daughter isn't his, but still loves him and is missing.  The Taras are killed by their mother and then later kill her (it's complicated).  Roleplaying means those incidents should elicit a response.  get in character and grieve, or celebrate, or whatever. 

Stay in character as much as you can.  The Toby winners for each character probably stayed in character at all times.  Never say "my character says" etc.  inhabit the role. 

Puzzle solving and objectives:  You are on a very short clock with puzzles.  We don't want the action to bog down.  If you get a puzzle, drop the roleplaying and focus.  At some point you'll get a clue.  Do you think a puzzle solved with a clue is worth as much as one solved without?

While there isn't a bonus for completing a round, there are points all through the adventure and if you don't get to them you can't score.

Why don;'t we share the score sheets?  Are you kidding?  Two reasons.  We want people to just play.  Not meta-game the scoresheet.  We also don't want to be second guessed for every item on it.  We all review the score sheets at the judges meeting and make modifications.  It's the best we can do.  It's a very subjective thing, a roleplaying tournament.

Roleplaying:  Your characters have interactions with the other characters, they are listed on the character sheets.  One of the Taras was jilted by Kiroc, she is hurt.  Her sister is infuriated.  Lootan Worships the ground Kiroc walks on.  Kiroc treats Lootan as a lackey.  Celledrus looks down on everybody a bit.  Etc.

Well, that answers that. I can stop beating myself up a touch--apparently none of my team actually read their character sheets. Our group had Kiroc still happily flirting with Tara, Kiroc mostly ignoring Lootan, Celledrus jovial with Kiroc, and Rohvar withdrawn. Lootan and the other sister were about right. (So far as I can tell). Neither of our Tara's actually read the song for directions, so. Yeah. *sigh* We still had a great time, but darnit. I'd like to actually play the whole adventure for once!

Okay, not sharing the score sheets is fine by me.  Is there a general guideline for percentage of score from roleplaying vs puzzle solving?   (Not trying to beat a dead horse - just making sure the request is clear.  If the answer is still no, that's cool.)