Overwhelmed, please help with reading material.

[Wobber]

Hello, everyone. I finally managed to get some free time to devote to reading the Great Story Hour forums - I've been thinking of starting a game, but need inspiration and a reminder , how a proper game should look like.
Remember reading Pirate Cat's and getting really addicted to it and ...um, borrowing some of his concepts for the game I was running at the time.

Reason for me starting this thread is that there are so many good threads, written by talented storytellers and gamemasters, that I have problems with deciding where to start, so, could anyone point me in the direction of some good or , what considered, "The Best" Stories?

Thanks in advance.

[Dr Simon]

You can't go wrong with JollyDoc. I also enjoy Nebulous' SHs (because of the pretty pictures) and Goonalon is good for a chuckle (although he hasn't posted much recently).

For interesting campaign settings have a look at Gonnes, Sons and Treasure Runs, Chronicles of Burne (now somewhat defunct) or Chainsmoking Detective/Robot on the Lam (quite a lot defunct).

I also think that Shilsen's Eberron SH, the works of Lazybones and the Viridity and Saizhen SHs are worth a look, but I've not had time to archive binge on them yet.

[el-remmen]

Have you looked through the Story Hour Index stickied at the top of the forum?

This might help you narrow down your choices. . .

Personally, I am partial to Sagiro's Abernathy's Company and Spyscribe's "Welcome to the Halmae" - oh, and of course my own. . . (see sig)

[the Jester]

Though it updates infrequently, Sepulchrave's SH is probably the best one. Look up Cheiromancer's "Tales of Wyre" thread- it complies Sep's story, which is otherwise spread out across like ten different threads.

I'll second Sagiro's as being well worth reading.

And of course, there are my SHs... several of which are linked in my sig. They have the advantage of frequent updates; also, if you want a really long tale, try out my epic saga (that is almost done!), which is also spread through about six threads- but if you start here, you'll eventually work your way through 'em!

[Nebulous]

Some of you guys have written Jordan-esque novels. It's impressive.

[Lazybones]

I haven't read any of the really recent ones, but Sagiro's story is probably the best one I've read that is still being updated.

For authors of inactive/complete ones I'd recommend Sepulchrave, Capellan, (contact), Wulf, and Spyscribe as probably the best on the site IMO. There are a few others that are really good but I hesitate to recommend them since they basically just trailed off posting and died out, leaving the core story unresolved. Sepulchrave's is incomplete and updated about once a year, but it's good enough to demand recognition even with that problem.

[barsoomcore]

Whatever you do, do NOT miss jonrog's Drunk Southern Girls With Guns story hour. It's the reason I started writing story hours, but I've never gotten close to jonrog's genius.

Understand that this was written by the guy who wrote "The Core" and "Transformers", who created the "Global Frequency" pilot and whose new show, "Leverage" is starting up soon. He's a seriously talented writer.

[Iron Sky]

I can't speak to its quality, since I think authors are probably the worst people to ask about their own work(since they usually tend to thing it's far worse or far better than it is), but my story hour has the useful qualities of being:

a) short - only 2 pages worth of posts so far,
b) regularly updated - Wednesdays,
c) finite - the campaign went exactly 31 sessions, so it's maybe 1 novel's worth of story, not 10 (not that there's anything wrong with long stories - George R. R. Martin is one of my favorite authors). I'm up to session 14 so it's a bit under half-way done.

I'm busy trying to read the stack of books on my shelf that I own but have never read or people have loaned me, so I also can't recommend anyone else's story hours.

Thankfully, my ignorance is covered by the above posters - you can trust them to point you to the gems.

[talien]

Originally Posted by Dr Simon

For interesting campaign settings have a look at Gonnes, Sons and Treasure Runs, Chronicles of Burne (now somewhat defunct) or Chainsmoking Detective/Robot on the Lam (quite a lot defunct).

Hey thanks! This is the first time my story hour has ever been recommended to anybody!

[Quartz]

Sepulchrave's Tales of Wyre is a masterpiece. Jollydoc's story hours are required reading, and Cerebral Paladin's Aphonion Tales is a very different campaign, concentrating on politics and strategy rather than action.

[Piratecat]

Originally Posted by Wobber

Remember reading Pirate Cat's and getting really addicted to it and ...um, borrowing some of his concepts for the game I was running at the time.

Cool! I can't think of a better compliment, or use for the campaign log. Thank you.

[Plane Sailing]

"The Best" depends to a certain extent on what you are looking for...

- great dialog?
- cracking humour?
- inspirational adventures?
- a storyhour which reads like a story, or one that reads like an adventuring log?

Different storyhours have different strengths, and there are several wonderful contenders in all those categories (and more).

I hesitate to comment myself now, because I've not been reading storyhours for a several years (more pressure at work!) and although I'd recommend all the grand dames of the genre, there are probably lots of highly worthy storyhours that I've just not seen

Cheers

[Joshua Randall]

I'm echoing a lot of what others said, but... I've got links.

= = =

(contact)'s Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil -- one of the first story hours ever posted on ENW. The author describes its origin: "We knew we wanted the "Return" to be true to the original: A huge, unbelievably deadly dungeon that chewed up player characters like Mama Kass at an all you can eat sushi bar. So I rolled up a happy-go-lucky halfling...."complete

(contact)'s Liberation of Tenh -- a follow-on to the above story, with some of the same characters. Affectionately known as, "Heydricus kills the sh*t out of them." incomplete; abandoned?

(contact)'s The Risen Goddess -- less well known that the other two, this is the most philosophical of the three stories. It begins: "Four adventurers sit around a familiar table in a familiar inn, not too far from a place they must have surely known their whole lives-- if they could only remember any of it." incomplete; abandoned?

I think (contact) conveys the glee of a fun D&D game better than anyone out there.

barsoomcore's Barsoom story -- very well written. You won't know what the hell is going on half the time, but you won't be able to stop reading despite that. complete; part 2 is in progress

Capellan's Company of the Random Encounter -- don't let the name of the story fool you; this is worth reading. don't know status

Capellan's In Hextor's Name -- to paraphrase the author, the story hour is "written from the limited and very, very biased point of view of Kull Redfist, LN Half-Orc Cleric of Hextor, Life's ambition: to become a mighty warrior and crush Hextor's enemies." complete, I think

Destan's Sins of our Fathers and Sins of our Fathers II -- grim, gritty, and utterly compelling, with a definite old school feel to it. incomplete; abandoned

James McMurray's Return to the Tomb of Horrors -- you know about the original ToH, you know about the Return, but you do not know the pleasure of this story hour's approach to it. This is the story hour that made me appreciate high-level play. It's also the first story hour I ever read on ENW. complete

Rel's Faded Glory -- proving that pitting the PCs against challenges 4+ ELs above their level makes for a great game. The story takes place in Old One's campaign setting, which is modeled on ancient Rome. complete

Rune's Oriental Adventures in the Dream -- the most mind-blowingly original campaign setting I have ever seen... "The world: Ah yes, the world... It is flat, but not really. There is no sun; there are no stars, nor moons. Day and night do exist, however. There is seasonal change (how could we have haiku without it?), but that change is sporadic." incomplete; abandoned

Rune was an incredibly imaginative, cool ENWorlder who has disappeared into the ether. He is missed.

Sagiro's Story Hour -- epic in scope, with a large cast of characters. It took me a while to get into this story, but once I did, I was hooked. You will be too. ongoing; sporadically updated

spyscribe's Welcome to the Halmae -- The campaign starts out small, but grows rapidly into a grand series of quests. Read this story because... justice demands it. ongoing?

You can download Halmae as a PDF from the same site that hosts Sagiro's story in PDF, which is a definite plus.

Sepulchrave's Tales of Wyre, or, Lady Despina's Virtue -- you cannot beat this opening: "One of the PCs, a 14th level Paladin, [...] is currently attempting to CONVERT a succubus, and demonstrate to her the error of her ways." ongoing; extremely sporadically updated (like, every six months)

Wulf's Story Hour -- follow the adventures of Wulf Ratbane, dwarven bad-ass. Or would that be bad-axe? In any case, one of the strongest archetypal characters of any story hour on the boards. complete

For a second opinion, check out this thread or this one.

[Rackhir]

Originally Posted by Joshua Randall

(contact)'s Liberation of Tenh -- a follow-on to the above story, with some of the same characters. Affectionately known as, "Heydricus kills the sh*t out of them." incomplete; abandoned?

(contact) did eventually post about this and he basically said that things "had not gone well" for our heroes in the final confrontation or on the route to it. So there's not an official end to the SH, but it is essentially over.

[Joshua Randall]

Originally Posted by Rackhir

(contact) did eventually post about this and he basically said that things "had not gone well" for our heroes in the final confrontation or on the route to it. So there's not an official end to the SH, but it is essentially over.

The campaign is over, but the story itself is incomplete.

[Qwernt]

One I don't see on Joshua Randall's excellent list is "The Knights of the Silver Quill" by Dr Midnight. Infact, I recomend anything written by Dr Midnight - though he has a habbit of getting 1/2 through a story and then dropping out (usually because the game blows up on him)... his WW2 Heros story was particularly amazing but unfortunately incomplete.

He did however complete The Knights of the Silver Quill.

[Neverwinter Knight]

Yeah,

Dr. Midnight is what got me started on ENWorld Story Hours. The main story of Knights of the Silver Quill through Knights of the Spellforge Keep was an excellent read, with lots of classic moments, to which my signature still refers after over 6 years.

Now, THE story hours to read have got to be JollyDoc's & Co. IMHO, these guys epitomize what DnD should be like: a group of friends regularly taking the time to challenge each other and have fun with this great game! As players and DM, these DnD veterans continue to take DnD to the limit. All of this shows in JollyDocs chapters & the writing had truely become awesome over the years.

Not to forget Lazybones stories, which I also enjoyed immensly! Only start them, however, if you have enough time to finish them. His output is amazing.

[Jon Potter]

I'll second (or third) the recommendation for DocMidnight's Knights of the Silver Quill. Very, very enjoyable stuff.

But here's a couple that I cut my teeth on back in the day. I'll steal from Joshua Randall's format and provide you with some links to make you happy.

First: drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hours. Found here and here. This SH (and OotFP, mentioned below) represent my first exposure both to Story Hours and to ENWorld. It got me hooked, kept me coming back, and inspired me to write my own. Status:complete The story continued (and petered out) in additional "Books", but "Books I and II" are what got me.

drnuncheon is one of those ENWorlders who's vanished over the years, much to my chagrin.

I'm sure that someone mentioned "Out of the Frying Pan" which I started reading back when el-remmen went by the name of nemmerle. It's grim, it's gritty and epic at the same time. Status: complete

jonrog1's SH is a must-read if you're into modern at all. DarkMatter D20: Drunk Southern Girls with Guns is a solid blueprint for how to run a modern campaign, IMO. Status: incomplete/abandoned