by Tucker "Temorse" Noyes
But before I do that, I also wanted to thank all the players who came out this weekend. We didn’t have a single issue with combat or rules, despite a large number of newer players. We were so lucky to have such a great group of players who were willing to really delve into a new plot and roll with the punches when some of the content planned didn’t always go quite the way we planned. I know I am not able to see everything that happens at an event, but I wanted to thank James Murphy for helping out with several first aid items that came up, allowing us to not have to pull people from an already thinly stretched staff. I also wanted to thank Stephen Sanford for staying well beyond most of the other players and doing a site walk to pick up refuse left behind, after an already long weekend of fighting. I would like to thank Josh Fitzgerald for being willing to help out with various tasks throughout the weekend, especially in the kitchen.
This year we had a lot of help from a lot of different folks from a lot of different groups. I wanted to start out by thanking our Folkestone friends, Angie Gray, who despite being busy all weekend, was the first person to meet me on site on Friday for set up and finishing a few crafting projects. Jason Gray, for his heartfelt portrayal of Alyn all weekend, including a very somber scene. Zach Senchuck who also showed up early on Friday to do setup, as well as played a villainous rebel leader Ashir. We also had two more important face roles played by Ben Lacasse and Danielle Guilmont, who played Taren and Tren wonderfully throughout the weekend. We also had Kelsey Miranda who not only played a few roles, but also bounced around to both the kitchen as well as helping organizing the NPC area when needed. Michael Zajac who crunchied for us while swapping in and out of the kitchen all day long. Courtney Bibbo who played one of our riddle owls in the forest maze, made a mountain of sandwiches for our NPCs. MJ Rodriguez who was a last minute addition and ended up also being one of our very wise riddle owls as well as last minute prop assembler. To Jeremy Macaluso who was also conscripted last minute and fought for us all weekend as well as helped in the kitchen during down time. Sean Veale and Neil Kusleika who also came out and crunchied for us when they were able.
In addition to all those staff that you saw on the quest, we also had tremendous help in the kitchen this year. Kelly Bonci, once again, managed to pull off a delicious menu of food that fit within the crazy schedule that we throw at her every year, in addition to having multiple amazing desserts. This year she also had an incredible group of people who stepped into help prepare all that delicious food for everyone this year, often taking time out of questing to do so. A massive thank you to Edward Lynch, Josh Whelan, Rose Fitzgerald, Kelsey Miranda, Mike Zajac, and Dano Knobel. We would have had a lot of very hungry PCs without all of your help.
Finally I would like to take a moment to recognize some of our core staff. I often feel like I get a lot more recognition for the Ashen Bounty series, as I tend to do a lot of the posting or marshalling for various things. However the reality of throwing an event is that so much of the work that goes into it comes beforehand and is never seen. All of our players get to see all the create props and costumes that go into the event, and get to play and participate in all the story and encounters that happen, but what they don’t see are the countless hours that a lot of people who are not me put into this event. I try and make sure that any sort of message related to any event we throw is signed by the Ashenmark (or Ashen Bounty) Team, because that is truly what it takes to throw these events, or any event for that matter. So I would like to recognize some of those people for all the hard work that I get to see that you do not.
Alyssa Lee, who although had a major commitment that weekend showed up on Sunday fresh and ready to fight as well as help with a lot of the clean up. Alyssa also did a lot of crafting, helping to make several NPC costumes, including the Secretkeepers mask.
Nataliya Kostenko, who showed up ready to help out wherever needed, whether it was helping out shuttling people back and forth for parking, setting up the next encounter, being a combat NPC, or making some cool spider web obstacles.
Kyle Yazinka, who made the corrupted Archons badass bone weapon, was an amazing combat NPC, played the beloved dog Argo, played the little loved Spirit of Endurance, as well tirelessly worked to keep new encounters set up and taken down.
Nick Quadrini, who also had a major commitment but showed up early Friday morning to do set up, and came back Sunday to NPC and reprise his role as Skyros. Nick also helped out a lot with crafting and was one of the creative minds behind the story of the Brimiri people.
Pi Fisher, who was a logistical guru, managing the entire NPC area, making sure that we had the props we needed and the NPCs were well prepped. Pi also had some great creative input in the writing process, as well as writing all of the regionals for the event.
Kelly Bonci who, in addition to being in charge of running the kitchen herself, including menu, shopping, prep, and clean up while having a very busy schedule also managed to make some beautiful costuming in the hoods used for the Brimiri costuming.
I am going to have a hard time not acknowledging the last two people together, because I don’t actually know exactly what each one did as they did a massive amount of work independently.
Steve Yazinka and Paul Tilton who were responsible for all of the story involving the Arazians and the rebels, including all of the encounters involving them, as well as all of the costuming and props for them. In addition to that they were able to make the costuming for all of the Hollow and for our final boss. They were responsible for all of the props and mechanics related to the Town Building mechanic that everyone loved so much, as well as each playing several characters throughout the weekend.
If you have read this far, I would like to also thank you for taking time to read this and hopefully appreciate all of the hard work of your peers that they have poured into making this event. If I have missed anyone I am extremely sorry, but in my defense, we had such a large number of great people who helped out this year. I cannot find the words to properly express my gratitude for having such a hardworking and dedicated core event throwing team, as well as being apart of such a generous and energized community to supplement that team with, and to throw these events for. I hope we still have many more, and thank you again to everyone who came out this weekend to staff or play.
Tucker Noyes
PS
If you did attend the event, we also super appreciate that you review the event and fill out our PEL:
PEL: https://forms.gle/dCipq4F1TY57JLXB7
Review: https://www.realmsnet.net/events/1697/archive#reviews