Sagiro's Story Hour Returns (new thread started on 5/18/08)

[Piratecat]

It would have been recently, just after Kay disappeared while we were in Het Brannoi.

 

[Redwald]

Hmm... I'm sure it was this story hour where Arravis was explaining planar theory to Dranko using an onion as an analogy, but when I D/L the thread I can't seem to find any mention of it (aside from a "does it have something to do with onions" from Dranko). Anyone remember whereabouts the whole onion as planar theory post is?

It might have been lost in the board crash. Here's the bit, reconstructed from StevenAC's compiled PDFs :

"But that can't be possible!" Dranko protests. "We fixed Het Branoi."

"Remember when we were talking about the notion of multiple universes?" says Aravis.

"Yeah," says Dranko. "You told me that there's Hell and the Abyss. I remember."

"No, no, this is something else," says Aravis. "Here. Think of an onion."

Dranko raises his eyebrows. "Okay..."

"The onion has all these layers," continues Aravis. "The onion is our universe. Each of the different layers are different planes. Now, if I have another onion over here, it's a different onion, right?"

"Yes..." says Dranko, not seeing where this is going.

"You live in here, in this first onion," says Aravis. "And Kay is in another onion, probably very close to ours."

"Kay is on the other onion, but the same layer of onion skin as we are on ours?" says Dranko, scratching his head.

"With different onion us-es!" says Ernie, thinking he gets it.

Aravis shakes his head, thinking maybe this wasn't the best example. "Please," he says, "whatever you do, don't discuss this theory with other mages. At least, not with my name attached."

"But it's brilliant!" says Dranko. "You've explained planar theory in a way I understand!"

"Aravis's Onion Theory! You could be famous!" says Ernie.

"That's what I'm afraid of," says Aravis.

The exchange is in Part 2, Chapter 7 of StevenAC's PDFs, at pages 300-301.

By the way, Sagiro, I'm jonesing! Hook a brutha up!

 

[MorningstarofEll]

Oh..that made me laugh. I was here lurking because we are FINALLY playing again tonight and I am waiting for Greywolf's player to get out of work so we can head over to Sagiro's.

MISS GAME BADLY.

Anyway, it seemed rude to read congratulations and not respond so I finally joined in order to say Thanks!

to each other?

If so... Wow, I didn't know that was in the works.

Congratulations any which way!

 

[Everett]

Update, yes? Update good. Me eat update raw with cosmic roast.

 

[Serenity]

Wow..uh..Wow!

I just spent this week reading the entire Story hour (Thanks StevenAC for the PDF!!) and all I can say is Wow! Thank you Sagiro and crew for some great entertainment. You all definitely show us how it can (and should) be done!

Can't wait for the next update!!

 

[KidCthulhu]

Anyway, it seemed rude to read congratulations and not respond so I finally joined in order to say Thanks!

Hey, welcome! Come on in, the water's fine.

 

[Brogarn]

Having never read this story hour, I've been spending the past week off an on reading the archives of .pdf's. I just finished Part One and had to come here and say, Wow, Sagiro, you really are a Rat Bastard.

So, what does that say about me that I'm insanely jealous that I don't get to play in his game? Some deep dark inner masochist that has never presented itself before. I must ponder this over coffee and the beginning of Part Two.

 

[Spatzimaus]

So, what does that say about me that I'm insanely jealous that I don't get to play in his game?

It says you're normal. Well, relative to the rest of the people around here, anyway.

Here's the thing, and it's going to sound vaguely stalker-ish. A while back, I realized that whenever I made a new character or big NPC, the first rules of thumb I'd use were based on the story hours on these boards. First, I'd think how this character would fit into Abernathy's Company, or the Defenders of Daybreak, or Wulf's gang, or the Savage Sword of Meepo, or the Halmae guys, or on rare occasions the guys and gal from the Drunk Southern Girls thread. (Oh, and the original Return to the ToEE meatgrinder, of course.) Then, I'd think of how this character would contribute in the encounters these groups had faced.

I made a Half-Elf Psychic Warrior, then immediately wondered what she'd have done against the Necropede, or when the DoD were ambushed in their mansion by Soder's pet. I made a Halfling Paladin, then wondered how badly Wulf would have tormented him. I made a Psion (Constructor) and wondered how useful he'd have been in Het Branoi. And so on.

The reason is that these story hours excel in two (not unrelated) ways:
1> The DM.
Anyone up with generic encounters, facing a lone orc guarding a chest in a 10x10 room. We talk about the ratbastardliness of certain DMs, but really I'm just impressed with anyone who can continually come up with encounters that confound experienced players without being simple unwinnable deathtraps. Sure, there exist certain threads-which-shall-not-be-named, but no one would ever claim these guys are just sponging off everyone else. Besides, it makes me feel better about using concepts, err, "inspired" by these story hours in my own world.
2> The Players.
Many of these have become the Iconic characters to me, the ideal that groups should be aiming towards. It's not because they have good stats or are optimally built; I've just played with way too many people who just viewed their characters as just sets of numbers to screw around with. If the character had any personality at all, it was just a carbon-copy of the player's own. This clearly isn't the case in the good story hours.

Anyway, don't feel strange about being jealous. It's perfectly natural.

 

[blargney the second]

2> The Players.
Many of these have become the Iconic characters to me, the ideal that groups should be aiming towards.

Too true!
-blarg

 

[Tamlyn]

Ok, since we're still waiting on another update, how about some more excerpts from Ernie's journal?