As I'm unpacking from GHC, so many awesome memories are going through my mind, of conversations with friends, Dune Viper runs, RPEX runs, and Grind DMing. Especially Grind. Wow, this was an amazing year for Grind.
So, before I forget them all, I wanted to give some shout-outs for groups and players who made my Grind memorable:
THANK YOU: to everyone who gave us a little grace and patience, as we got into our groove, or smoothed out those little glitches which are bound to happen in a live event.
To the Hedgehogs, who lined up in a neat row so Lucibrawn could use her Great Cleave ability on all 10 of them at once (instead of 3 at a time)... and then explode with 439(?) pts of retribution damage
To anyone who convinced Shazharad to join their party, and got to slide his special slider for the rest of the event. (Shaz is "Helping!") XD
The party who came back on their later run with a letter for Shaz, showing he'd been accepted into Wizard School! (Seriously, that was one of my favorite moments. You deserved your win!)
To the young girl with a snake prop around her neck, who talked to the Snake Swordsmen of Set, and convinced them they were friends of her cousin Sabetha, and shouldn't be attacking each other XD
The Retribution Pali(?) who let the Golem melt his armour down to -100 .. taking retribution damage with every hit, until the Golem exploded
The players who brought out that old Frostnut token, and used it (usually with the Rogue Sneak attack) to do insane amounts of damage to every monster in the room, destroying the 10 Clock Fiends in short order. I really hope that everyone remembered to give Kim their Frostnut token for disposal afterwards, because I completely forgot to collect that particular consumable! (Y'all are an honorable lot, right!?!)
Anyone who got the Ready Player One reference, and challenged Batterak to a game of Joust
That one group (Sat 2:00?) who literally clinched the win at the last second. I remember hitting the "Victory" sound effect RIGHT AS THE TIMER RANG for the end of that Grind.
The Sat 3:00 group who did an (impromptu) Speed Run, and got the secret Calcifer ending!
The players who Took the T-Shirt, and resurrected Chonk, especially when the rest of their party was shouting "NOooooo!"
The parties who refused to even consider the T-shirt, and remained laser-focused on their mission.
Those groups who turned in an UR special to get the "Black Sparks" ability (adding +2 to hit/+2 damage with every Nat 20) and watching the damage stacks build up! I'd have to check with Picc, but I think we had a group which got it up to +32/+32 by the end.
...I think that, of the TPKs we had, all of them ran out of time due to the Molten Core Hounds... that fight was vicious, and causing them to respawn after killing them just dragged it out. The parties which completed Grind were either the ones who refused the T-shirt, or who had Black Sparks on their side, so they could slaughter the final monsters quicker & quicker with each successive nat 20.
Thank you so much to everyone who played, and even those people who tried to get tickets but couldn't... it warms my heart to know that you enjoy the Grind event. I look forward to seeing you all again, next time!
