Introduction
There are a few things that we are doing differently at this event. Some for in-game plot reasons and some for out-of-game Covid reasons. We are deliberately keeping this vague so that you can discover things in game but there are a few categories of things that we feel you should know before the event.
The events this Fall are taking place in an alternate dimension, a pocket realm. For those who are not aware, the Spring 2, 2020 event was supposed to take place at a different campsite. At the Winter Feast that year, we introduced the idea of the Aesthesis as an excuse for why the campsite was going to be different. Spring 1 2020 got postponed and we held a virtual event in the hopes that we would still be able to run Spring 2. We obviously were not able to run in-person events at all in 2020 and here we are in the Fall of 2021, back at our regular campsite and about to run events again.
Oak Harbor is not quite like it usually is. The town has been temporarily merged with the Aesthesis, a realm of possibility and memory. A liminal space tied with Umbra and Reverie but not in or of either realm. Something outside the six realms. As such, things are a bit… weird. Everything looks similar. The buildings are all there. But there is something… off about this place. It’s familiar and yet…
Overall, please remember that it has been a long time since any of us have played or staffed or written for Witchwood. It is probably going to take people a bit of time to get used to this again. Additionally, it has been a long time since many of us have engaged in boffer combat. Please try to make sure you are being safe and be gracious if someone points out an issue. The Aesthesis provides us, both players and staff, with a way to get back into the swing of things with an in-game excuse for any out-of-game weirdness that comes from that.
Gates to Other Realms
Normally in Evren you can open gates only to Firmament and Reverie without unusual efforts, as they are the neighboring Realms. The Aesthesis however has no such limits as it exists separately from the six realms. You can open a gate from the Aesthesis directly to any other Realm. However, because of the fluctuating nature of the Aesthesis, gates that are opened are not very stable and may cause issues. That being said, there are ways that the gates can be made more stable with the help of the Gatekeepers or through other methods that may be found in game.
Death
Death is going to be a bit different. How? Find out in game! (Yes you will still be taxed spirit to come back)
Cultural Knowledge
In order to allow for people coming to game for just one day (thus avoiding staying overnight) we had decided to only run ongoing town-wide plot stuff on Saturdays and to run more self-contained things on Friday and Sunday. While most people said they are going to be there for the whole event, we generally are sticking with this plan. We are taking the opportunity to add to the world by running plots based on Evrish History and Folklore this event. Because your characters in theory grew up hearing about this stuff, we will be giving you short summaries of some of these stories based on your character’s culture. These will be available for you at check in. The plots don’t require this foreknowledge and not everything that you are given will show up in game.
Time
Time is a bit weird around the Aesthesis. Those of you who have been in Oak Harbor feel like you have been here since early in Spring 820 (sometime in 2020, shortly after the winter feast.) The Davernstern Messengers and White Forest Trading Company Sailors that have entered the Aesthesis have mentioned that it’s only a few weeks after that outside of the Oak Harbor area.
This does not mean that the in-game year is going to become disconnected from the actual year. We have a plan for that but find out in game!
Scheduling and Plot Times
We are trying to run a tighter schedule than usual for this event. Many of you have notes about the times that you can expect certain things will happen. We are going to do our best to stick to these times and hope that things work out properly. We will try to keep people informed if the schedule starts slipping globally.
Other Weird Stuff
Staff is making some modifications to our costuming and makeup procedures so that we don’t have to share (to lower the risk of infection). As such, monsters and NPCs might look a little different than usual. Similarly, to allow for physical distancing we will probably have at least one tent area outside of the staff center as an out of game area. We will be asking folks in that area to not be disruptive but you will probably see them. We ask that you mostly ignore these things but if you would like an in game explanation, just blame it on the Aesthesis.