Over the course of scanning the numerous 'stories' in these forums, I have come to the conclusion that most of the people here dont understand the meaning of the word story.
Yes, I know that these are simply translations of DnD games into text, and im sure that for those involved in the campaigns are the ones getting the most out of the Story Hours. However, for those of us who are looking for a good, entertaining read, there is sadly not much to be found.
For a start, nearly every Story hour writer insists on defining the history and personality of the characters involved before the story even begins. While this does enable the players to have input, it makes for boring reading. For a party with 4 characters, theres 4 pages of preliminary reading that must be done before anything exciting begins to happen.
The same applies to the history/geography/politics of the campaign setting. For the stories to actually be stories all the above mentioned aspects should be defined between the beginning and ending of the story. The characters and the world they live in should be fleshed out as the story progresses and not simply 'defined' beforehand.
You will not find any book written by a sane person that sets out the character out of the context of the storyline. This is for the simple reason that as the reader learns more about the characters intent and past they will be drawn in. It is like a clean slate for the reader, and as the story progresses, the different characters are built up in the readers mind. But if you set about revealing the character in full at the beginning of the story then there is no suspense, no real motive to continue reading.
Another thing I have noticed, is that even after wading through endless pages of uninteresting garbage, the story is nearly always told in a linear form, and thus it takes several pages to get to the good stuff.
Why do you all (sorry about the generalisation) insist on doing this? The key rule to any short story is to start off with the action to draw in the readers and then introduce the plot and intrigue to keep them reading.
For example; instead of narrating the clerics instructions from the high priest, first tell of his entrance into the catacombs and his fight against the cultists. Then relate it back to the instructions he was given by the church etc. and whether he has suceeded in his mission. This way the reader will be drawn in as our hero gets down into the gritty action.
Im sorry if those post sounded a bit harsh. I know that the reason for the untraditional method of storytelling is due to the fact that you are for the most part narrating a DnD game. But I dont see that as any reason for not making it interesting and exciting by telling a proper tale.
For people uninvolved in your campaign, it is much more interesting and enjoyable to read the story as a story, rather than as unassembled ideas.
The best example of a proper story I have seen is The Ruined Ones Scarred Lands story hour. This totally sucked me in and kept me reading because it was set out nicely (with different colours for dialogue) and did not waste time getting into the story with character profiles etc.
I believe if everyone followed this advice the quality of the Story hour forums would be greatly improved.
Thankyou
Yes, I know that these are simply translations of DnD games into text, and im sure that for those involved in the campaigns are the ones getting the most out of the Story Hours. However, for those of us who are looking for a good, entertaining read, there is sadly not much to be found.
For a start, nearly every Story hour writer insists on defining the history and personality of the characters involved before the story even begins. While this does enable the players to have input, it makes for boring reading. For a party with 4 characters, theres 4 pages of preliminary reading that must be done before anything exciting begins to happen.
The same applies to the history/geography/politics of the campaign setting. For the stories to actually be stories all the above mentioned aspects should be defined between the beginning and ending of the story. The characters and the world they live in should be fleshed out as the story progresses and not simply 'defined' beforehand.
You will not find any book written by a sane person that sets out the character out of the context of the storyline. This is for the simple reason that as the reader learns more about the characters intent and past they will be drawn in. It is like a clean slate for the reader, and as the story progresses, the different characters are built up in the readers mind. But if you set about revealing the character in full at the beginning of the story then there is no suspense, no real motive to continue reading.
Another thing I have noticed, is that even after wading through endless pages of uninteresting garbage, the story is nearly always told in a linear form, and thus it takes several pages to get to the good stuff.
Why do you all (sorry about the generalisation) insist on doing this? The key rule to any short story is to start off with the action to draw in the readers and then introduce the plot and intrigue to keep them reading.
For example; instead of narrating the clerics instructions from the high priest, first tell of his entrance into the catacombs and his fight against the cultists. Then relate it back to the instructions he was given by the church etc. and whether he has suceeded in his mission. This way the reader will be drawn in as our hero gets down into the gritty action.
Im sorry if those post sounded a bit harsh. I know that the reason for the untraditional method of storytelling is due to the fact that you are for the most part narrating a DnD game. But I dont see that as any reason for not making it interesting and exciting by telling a proper tale.
For people uninvolved in your campaign, it is much more interesting and enjoyable to read the story as a story, rather than as unassembled ideas.
The best example of a proper story I have seen is The Ruined Ones Scarred Lands story hour. This totally sucked me in and kept me reading because it was set out nicely (with different colours for dialogue) and did not waste time getting into the story with character profiles etc.
I believe if everyone followed this advice the quality of the Story hour forums would be greatly improved.
Thankyou