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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Destan" data-source="post: 1199943" data-attributes="member: 12157">First, I think pogre lives on EN World.  This fact is all the most astonishing because I know he's a teacher, coach, and father of three.  Second, pogre, don't think I haven't entertained the thought of throwing my players in a van, driving to Illinois, and kidnapping you and all your wonderful models and figures.Hmm...maybe over the holidays would be a good time - when you least expect it.Did one of my players pay you to post that?  I heard that from them time and again, especially during the early parts of this campaign (the portions recorded here in this story hour thus far).  It's a valid critique.  In novels, often, the heroes have a handful of major battles.  Books don't - usually - address wandering encounters, combats that have no real bearing on the main theme, minor skirmishes, etc.  After a few months I realized that I was not DMing a book; I was DMing a D&D campaign.  Sounds simple, but it was a huge shift in my outlook.  I started throwing more non-deadly encounters in the PC's direction, and let them flex some muscle they had earned through advancement.  Unfortunately, those changes won't really become apparent until the story hour progresses a bit further.Hmm…again, I think my players may be involved in a conspiracy here.  Seule, I think you were the one that offered the good advice to post a disclaimer at the beginning of this thread.  And your advice here, also, is excellent.  I think – no, I hope – that the ‘after the fact’ tales are finished, now.  From here on out I’ll endeavor to write about them ‘real time.’Let me give you my weak excuse as to why I employed that style with the Ippi and Ral fights.  First and foremost, I didn’t feel like writing about those combats.  When I sat down to record an update, I’d find myself surfing the net, thumbing through books, or – generally – doing anything to delay having to tell a tale of an incident I was not interested in.  I could ‘see’  John telling the story to Laughing Luke much better than I could ‘see’ the party actually fighting Ippi.  So, eventually, my laziness won.  I skipped the battle, wrote what I felt like writing, and moved on.  I figured if I didn’t like writing a certain update, chances were high you folks wouldn’t like reading it, either.  The good news is that the upcoming combats do interest me, and I do want to write about them in detail.  So look for more of that in the future.I had to chuckle when I read that last sentence, Seravin.  My players – until very recently – bemoaned the fact that ‘no one was on their side’ and that the entire world was against them.  It’s not true, mind you, but I did realize that was the picture I was painting.  As the party advances in level – and, again, we’re not there yet in the story hour – they begin to learn they do have allies, and some of them powerful ones at that.  Even so, the group is now of fairly high level (not Mostin-Eadric levels, but nearing those two worthies) and still, I think, my players feel they have not yet been granted the ‘proper respect’ by the citizens of Ostia Prim.  I sorta like it that way.You hit on something I really enjoy – giving ‘reasonable’ motives to the bad guys.  My players have commented that they have learned more in this SH than they had known, as characters, during the campaign.  I love the ability to pull the curtains aside and show the bad guys, away from the PC’s; it’s something I couldn’t do when we were actually playing these sessions.  An evil character with logical, if flawed, aims is much more satisfying – in my opinion.Also, along these lines, one of my players last night told me he now likes Poridel.  This particular player didn’t like him as much during the actual gaming.  An interesting by-product of writing on these boards, and one that I enjoy.To think that I can sit in my dark little den in Maryland, USA, and produce something that you and your husband enjoy out there in Japan is, well, so incredibly cool.  It’ll probably stick in my mind all this weekend.  I’ll be walking my kids around Trick-or-Treatin’ and be thinking, “Hey, I wonder if darkdancer has read the latest update aloud yet…”  Then I’ll feel good inside, steal my kids’ candy, and feel even better.Amen.  I must confess – I don’t enjoy reading fantasy that much.  Most of it, in my limited experience, is written on an adolescent level.  Probably one of the driving reasons why I enjoy Martin’s work so much.Still regret that one.  I think I lost a lot of folks from me trying to be too clever for my own good.  Lesson learned.You know, it doesn’t always ‘play’ as well as it comes out in the story hour, in my opinion.  We, like other gaming groups, have to take breaks every once in a while to look up a rule, a spell description, etc.  Debates about rulings and what not do spring up, unfortunately.  I have some very smart players, who are very knowledgeable about the rules, and that can cause headaches at times.  I wouldn’t have it any other way – I want to play the game correctly – but the story hour doesn’t show a 15 minute pause while we try to figure out if someone’s Reflex save is affected by them being magically held.  On the other hand, there’s some instances where the story hour fails to capture the fun we had with a certain encounter or NPC.  That’s just a reflection of me as a writer – hopefully these situations will happen less and less often as we progress.Incidentally, I’d love to play in Sep’s campaign, too. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />My players constantly remind me that I’m not writing a book, per se, but that I’m recording what happened.  This is their story as much as it is mine – if not more.  Some of them take a dim view to me unduly modifying their characters’ personalities or what they might have said – it’s a constant balancing act between writing a good story and remaining true to the campaign.  Really – for me, it’s probably the most difficult aspect of telling this tale.As I mentioned above, I have skipped some details that I didn’t particularly want to write about.  I think that’ll happen less now that we’ve reached a certain point in the campaign’s progression.I must admit I’m of an opposite mindset.  I love low-level D&D with the always-present threat of death.  My characters now teleport about the world willy-nilly, they commune to find the answers to certain hard questions, they banish omnipotent outsiders in the blink of an eye.  I miss the old days of making them buy horses and rations, wondering whether they can safely make a journey from A to B within three tendays’ time, and generally being one-step-from-fleeing during any encounter.Until I read Sep’s, Dru’s and Piratecat’s own story hours, I had a fear of high-level play bordering on the irrational.  I just wasn’t convinced it could be as fun, or as balanced.  Now, thankfully, I know I’m wrong.  And I have those three writers – and others on these boards – to thank for that.Celt, stick with us if you can.  These little Olgotha cats will get high enough in level soon enough.  And you’ll be wondering where their childhood went.  Or maybe not. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I agree.  This is the first time many of my players have been privy to the behind-the-scenes stuff.  Until we hit upon this whole story hour thing, I figured they would either never learn, or I’d just tell them after the campaign finished – at which time, they probably wouldn’t remember/care anyway.Ack!  Be careful, Senor Zad, as it appears my ‘skips’ don’t sit well with many folks.  Further, the Savage Sword of Meepo needs no adjustments whatsoever.  That’s a great yarn, as evidenced by your loyal following – of which I’m proud to be a member.If I could go back and change some things, that would be near the top of the list.  The first session we had was a reunion more than a start of any far-reaching campaign.  We hadn’t played together in years, we had all gone our different ways in terms of geographic location and jobs and whatnot.  I just wanted to have an evening of gaming nostalgia.  Since I only had so much time to prepare, I took the easy road and grabbed the FR pantheon and made it my own.This was a critique offered by John’s player, Matt, on our campaign boards.  I think it worthy enough to repeat here.  John has been one the most common POV’s I use for a number of reasons – 1) he’s easy, 2) he’s a bard, and 3) I’m very comfortable with him.  Matt’s comment goes hand-in-hand with Joshua’s above post.  I had asked Josh to post his input here because it may help others who are writing.  Suffice to say, I intend to branch out a bit more with the characters I use, and I’m gonna make a concerted effort to vary the author’s voice throughout.  This is a tall order, though, so I wouldn’t expect it to happen overnight.Great input, folks!  Each and every post has been helpful.  Please, keep it coming if you have something to say.  Thanks!D</blockquote>

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