Sagiro's Story Hour: The FINAL Adventures of Abernathy's Company (FINISHED 7/3/14)

[Enkhidu]

Sagiro,

Thank you:

* For finishing! Many of my favorites in this forum over the past decade have petered out before the conclusion, but you persevered.

* For inspiration! If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, know that I have (and plan to continue to) flattered the hell out of you and your group since I sat back in the DM's chair at my table. This story hour has been a veritable firehose of ideas, many of which I have stolen wholesale.

* And for years of enjoyment! It's hard to believe that this story hour has been going for so long, harder to believe that it took you much longer to actually play through it, and hardest to believe that the ride is finally over.

This has truly been a pleasure. Thank you.

 

[Tamlyn]

* For finishing! Many of my favorites in this forum over the past decade have petered out before the conclusion, but you persevered.

Yeah, mine too! <cough> Small Beginnings <cough>

 

[Sagiro]

Ah, the inimitable lyrical stylings of StevenAC!

Not only have your PDF compilations made reading the Story Hour a vastly more enjoyable experience, your efforts made the game itself better. Having a well-organized, easily-accessible archive of all my posts made it so much easier to plan my games, look for old references, and tie distant plots together. Everyone here who has enjoyed experiencing my game second hand has you, in part, to thank for its (relative) coherence.

As for the novels: fair warning to all. They are not going to be a prose retelling of the campaign beat for beat. Not even close. To make a book that works as a book, I've had to cut innumerable side-plots and combats; change, eliminate and add characters; and muck about with the pacing to an absurd degree. It would be more fair to say that I am writing books heavily based on my campaign, but which are in no way beholden to its particulars.

I still hope everyone here buys them when they're done, though.

Thanks for everything!

*standing ovation*

Congratulations, Sagiro, on providing this Story Hour with such an epic conclusion. I particularly like the fact that you didn't go for the "happily ever after" ending. The Company achieved everything they set out to do and saved the world, but the cost was high and even the survivors remain trapped (for the forseeable future, at least) beneath the Iron Barrier, meaning their journey through it really did turn out to be as irrevocable as advertised.

Thank you, as always, for the nice things you persist in saying about me... For your information and/or bogglement, the completed Story Hour will contain well over 900,000 words -- that's nearly twice the length of The Lord of the Rings! And given that Part One, which was initially written in a much more condensed fashion, contains more than half of the campaign's 266 sessions, my guess is a full-length telling of the tale would have ended up over 1.25 million... I'm eagerly looking forward to reading your novels based on the campaign, to flesh out the story of those early days.

I love rereading through the story -- there always seems to be more things to discover. It was literally just a week or so ago that it finally dawned on me just who Aravis's mysterious benefactor in the Crosser's Maze had to be, as I was flicking through the early chapters of Part Three. When I suddenly realised the significance of the line about how he "missed the ocean" (page 62), I'm surprised you didn't hear the forehead-slap all the way over there in Boston. Bringing back Abernathy for a final appearance to tie up the last loose ends was wonderfully well done.

The final(!!) part of the Collected Story Hour should be done soon, and I'll post in your new thread when it's ready. For the moment, let me just offer this little tribute in musical form (for anyone who wants to sing along, here's a karaoke version). I hope you enjoy it!

If you want to make a story...
(with apologies to Sir W.S. Gilbert)

If you want to make a story that will be a thing of glory
in the realm of RPGs,
You must start out with a world, to be gradually unfurled,
that's packed with mysteries.
You must find a bunch of players who will work with you and stay as
their PCs will learn and grow and change,
With all the complications and surprising revelations
that your cunning can arrange.

And ev'ryone will say, As you play your epic way,
"If this campaign builds multi-year plots with dreams and prophecy,
Why, what a very singularly deep campaign
this deep campaign must be!"

Have monsters great and small bringing menace unto all
that the Company hold dear,
And some villains to despise, each of whom's deserved demise
receives a hearty cheer.
Their triumphs will then send them onward to the end
that they're fated to decide;
From humble pawns, they'll become the fatal thorns
in the Adversary's side.

And ev'ryone will say, As you play your epic way,
"If this inventive group shows off all that's good in D&D,
Why, what a very wonderfully fun campaign
this fun campaign must be!"

Then with eloquent expression after every gaming session
you must write up what transpires,
Thus providing the redaction of the table interaction
that your readership admires.
We can relive every moment from their earliest opponent
to the final clash of power;
With the gripping storytelling and the characters compelling
it's a classic Story Hour.

And ev'ryone will say, As you play your well-told way,
"If this campaign has resulted in a tale that's as good as I've ever seen,
Why, what a most spectacularly great campaign
this great campaign has been!"

 

[Sagiro]

I am only too pleased that you (or anyone else) borrowed ideas for you own games. Goodness knows I did the same, from numerous sources.

Thank you for reading!

Sagiro,

Thank you:

* For finishing! Many of my favorites in this forum over the past decade have petered out before the conclusion, but you persevered.

* For inspiration! If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, know that I have (and plan to continue to) flattered the hell out of you and your group since I sat back in the DM's chair at my table. This story hour has been a veritable firehose of ideas, many of which I have stolen wholesale.

* And for years of enjoyment! It's hard to believe that this story hour has been going for so long, harder to believe that it took you much longer to actually play through it, and hardest to believe that the ride is finally over.

This has truly been a pleasure. Thank you.

 

[Sagiro]

Congratulations on an excellent adventure and know that you have a guaranteed book sale from me.

Woo hoo! That's one!

 

[Neurotic]

[MENTION=726]Sagiro[/MENTION], you cannot end yet!!

What about Parthol in this new world? What about Kind Farazil? Did the heroes made it back to the surface and created their own archclass (as opposed to archwizards ) group? What about the dwarves they freed, did they survive? Oh, and did that sidekick they lugged around, you know that half orc that is never there for heroic action...did he manage to live is life fruitfully? Etc etc...


There are numerous subplots and epilogues to write.


Thank for the wonderful story

 

[Krellic]

Now that the dust has settled

Phew..!

Thank you Sagiro for sharing with us the type of game that we'd all like to have a chance to play in and the type of game that we all would like to be a good enough DM to run.

I'll look forward to seein the fictionalised version of it, I suspect that's quite a difficult task making the translation. Very best of luck with that endeavour. Of course if it hasn't got '"By Sagiro" on the front cover there's a good chance I'll miss it...

The problem is of course that now we're all wondering what sort of magical campaign you're running now... ;

 

[Everett]

What about Parthol in this new world?

Parthol gotz decapitated. He be dead as dead can be.

 

[Neurotic]

Stupid of me to forget it

But still, he is (was?) an archmage, who knows where he stashed his soul
And Farazil helped and is a citizen, but what happened afterwards with him?

 

[Everett]

Stupid of me to forget it

But still, he is (was?) an archmage, who knows where he stashed his soul
And Farazil helped and is a citizen, but what happened afterwards with him?

The campaign be over. What happens next is only in your imagination.