Regarding the feedback for the larp session itself, I'm genuinely shocked you think it wasn't going to be scripted; those visual effects such as the speak to dead and the crystal/foliage and visual effects had to have been prepared in advance! I'm convinced the devs were in on it, and Sven's attitude to their deaths was in keeping with most players in most rpgs. More fundementally, as you note:
During the loading wait, Swen reminds everyone that they're moving into the finale of the adventure, and that if Twitch succeeds, then they'll give them a proper patch update video.
There is simply no way they'd go "No trailer 4 u!" when it's days away, especially with the convention being a trailer dropping before the patch releases. It was previously recorded so they're damned well going to use it. The LARP was fundementally a vehicle to drip feed patch details. This, with the 'things have most likely been previously recorded' belief I have is reinforced by the ranger getting the orb and escaping; with the time of day things hard started, I don't think it would have been dark enough for the meeting with Shadowheart; they'd recorded Shadowheart shanking him and walking off with it in advance. It
had to be him that escaped with it, and it
had to be only him to make that previously recorded scene work.
Now, was the deception good enough? That can be argued sure; cracks were very visible, but I got laughs out of it, especially how the guys got put in charge-and almost immediately died horribly.
