hey remember this? it was a fun but stressful night, first time running my own checkpoint and boy was it a shit-show! mostly because when you're the first checkpoint you're basically overrun. and we were even running one of two first checkpoints! (1A or 1B ... memory fails me). apparently i am unable to start a new paragraph or format anything! wow, everyone should really sign onto relet's campaign trail. back to j0urney: our fabulous wizarddd extra-ordinare had {walked - he's got bum knees} journey with me a few times and was curious about helping me run a checkpoint so we combined our brainpowers and thought of this: players who wish to complete our checkpoint were to face ACT ONE of the Hero's Journey (a la Joseph Campbell) prior to crossing THE FIRST THRESHOLD (ie our checkpoint/QR scan/stamp from the hot pink checkpoint familiars/sprites/minor deities). This involved a convergence of Masters/Mentors atop the mountain (our checkpoint was at the crest of a small hill, with a convenient single stair on the completion side!) and TRIALS as designated by the whim of the Masters of STRENGTH, AGILITY, and MAGIC. once their skills were mastered and demonstrated to a Master/Mentor they were sent on their way to the next checkpoint. we thought we were prepared - instructions were painted on signs, costumes were summoned from the depths of my closet and custom prop pieces were made, we arrived sufficiently early and set everything up and waited. the flood that occurred was so extreme and chaotic we quickly realized that what seemed like a fairly simple concept at the time was indeed a million times more complicated than what would have worked for this mob-mentality known as the first checkpoint. it's not terribly surprising to me to be caught unawares about this, given that 1) my strategy has never been to arrive with the actual first wave of people to any given checkpoint because i am very crowd-averse and 2) i've never actually made it to a first checkpoint when running! that particular revelation (as many of you have probably read) was very painful (as documented in my insanely long praxis) and probably came at a time when i was feeling the worst about sf0 personally because of particular betrayals. but! enough of that jazz. we managed to (mostly) survive the bell-curve bum-rush (which included people approaching our checkpoint from the exit - even with a very large hand painted DO NOT ENTER sign - reading skills, what ever happened to those?) and had an overall satisfying and amusing experience! LESSONS LEARNED: next time, i'm saving the literary allusion concepts for when i can secure a later checkpoint!