How close to the game should a story hour be?

[James McMurray]

I voted for option three, but I don't know how closely my story hour (shameless plug!!!) fits in. Everyone should mosy on over tot he two links in my sig and find out for themselves.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

Have you read Lady Despine Virtue, and Heritic of Wyre? If so you need not even ask this question, no better example of the perfect game and perfect story hour exist.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I second Darwin.

 

[WizarDru]

Generally speaking, both PirateCat and Wulf's story hours epitomize what I think comprises a good story hour. An excellent story, told well, with appropriate references to the actual game. Piratecat's story hour is usually more of a travelogue, describing the action from a 3rd-person perspective (and thus not colored by individual perceptions), whereas Wulf's is the actual opposite, a very personal perspective from one character on the game (and a very entertaining perspective, to be sure).

Game mechanics should be kept to the side, unless they're the subject of the discussion at hand. Discussing the use of a WindWalk, for example, is fine. Discussing the x.p. cost of creating a Heward's Handy Haversack is not terribly interesting to me. Both story hours have interesting running commentaries and rules discussions on the side. The best reason to mention rules mechanics is when they become a focal point for a combat or situation (such as a badly timed '1' on a save or an attack). YMMV.