Hey all,
Thanks for all the great feedback! Most of it isn't too surprising, but it's nice to have so many well-thought-out opinions about what people want to read. A few points of my own, having read this thread:
- The only OOC comment I've included is the "three rings" quip, which I half-heartedly "marked" as OOC by using the phrasing "Aravis may or may not have then uttered..." I agree that it was jarring to include, but I'm a sucker for well-timed LotR humor.
It won't happen again. If I ever include more pure OOC table talk, I'll be sure to offset via formatting, as
StevenAC suggests.
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Zad's comment about Morningstar made me realize that, until now, you've really been seeing an incomplete, slightly cardboard-ish version of some of the characters. Morningstar (for instance) really does have a sense of humor. Her increasing willingness to make jokes, and do things like give herself secret treasure-baths at night, mark a fascinating evolution of her character. When the campaign started she was quite uncomfortable and introverted, untrusting of her party-mates and hating being out under the sun so often. Showing that she's occasionally willing to crack wise with her friends is, I think, something that I didn't do often enough when I was writing purely representational dialogue. (If I felt like putting in a funny one-liner, it would typically go to Dranko, Flicker or Ernie. If I wanted a pessimistic line, Grey Wolf would get it. Etc.) As a result, there may be some lines that people are thinking are OOC, but which really are in character -- and it's been my own failure up until now that's causing the misjudgement.
Porthos, for instance, mentioned that he hadn't imagined Grey Wolf and Aravis as making jokes. Truth is, both characters most certainly have senses of humor, and make jokes quite often. Grey Wolf usually drops one-line asides, half to himself, about how things are likely to go spectacularly wrong. Aravis has a clever and wry sense of humor among his friends, though he's always straight-laced and proper when interracting with strangers. I hope this sort of thing will come out more now that I'm including more authentic speech.
- I think the most recent update (part 192) is best representative of what I should shoot for. I didn't include every single spoken line, not by a long shot. There were about 15 minutes of tape, for instance, where the characters talked about what spells they'd prepare for the next day. Instead of including a lot of boring talk, I gave a quick narrative summary, and included a few choice bits of actual speech that seemed appropriate.
Enough rambling. Thanks again everyone for letting me know what you think. I'm more appreciative than you can know to have readers enjoying my campaign.
-Sagiro