Let me add my thanks to @messana, who put together another magnificent game! And thanks also for your patience with all the questions (next time I’ll try to avoid being the last line in the database… )
My (few) frustrations with the game were in the same areas others have mentioned: discomfort with the setting, character development, and real-life time constraints.
Not being familiar with the Jane Austen/Downton Abbey style was intimidating for me, so much so that I considered passing on this round of gaming. In prepation, I reread Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and a little steampunk, which helped a little. Once we got down to it, it got easier to write in something vaguely resembling that style. (It did encourage me to write formally and use way too many words, which is a weakness of mine anyway.)
My biggest problem was developing my character… but I’ve only got myself to blame for that one. I chose to jump in at the last minute and tossed together a quick concept, figuring I could make the rest of it up as I went along. It worked well enough for my first game, right?
Evvy was pretty easy to write for. She knew what she wanted, and had fun doing it. Eudaemonia, in the other hand, was a royal pain in the ass for much of the game. I knew she would probably follow a coming-of-age arc, progressing from a young, timid, overly-proper slip of a girl to a mature, determined woman. But I didn’t really know how that would happen, and other than proving herself a successful member of Society, I didn’t know what she really wanted. Round after round, I struggled to “hear her voice,” when by her nature she was quiet and didn’t “speak up.” The dam finally broke about the time she received word via PM that her intended, @liversnaps_grayson, was part of the wards’ drugrunning gang. Then she had suggestion after suggestion to avoid public humiliation… It got easier to write for her after that. Despite the frustration, I became very fond of Eudaemonia, and her “loss” hit me harder than I thought it might. (Though I had a funny feeling the dice would go against her in the final round, which prompted her grand charge at the end.)
I think I only had partial success in developing her character. It probably would have been better if I’d pushed her into interacting more with other gentlesentients and participating more in society. But, as other players have said, it took me longer than expected to cobble up what I did submit, and other obligations didn’t leave me as much time as I’d have liked to play. (The Intermission came in very handy for me, as my dad’s health took a bad turn at that time and I skipped that round completely. He’s better now, thank goodness!) I’m guessing the process will get a little easier the more I role-play. And I will definitely give the outlining technique a try in the next game-- thanks for the tip!
Big thanks to @penguinchris for the “Eudaemonia’s charge” shoop, and huge thanks to @MrMonkey for remembering Eudaemonia so sweetly in Jean-Rhys’ epilogue. You nearly made me cry!
And I apologize for my epilogue. It’s set up as a “what-if,” so if you would rather think she’s dead, that’s fine. But it gives just a little hope for Eudaemonia (and Damerl too, with @pogo’s blessing,) should the Reader choose to accept it.