The Best of the Best: Story Hours

[Mark CMG]

A lot of these have already been recommended, but since I have this handy I'll just re-post my blanket recommendations.

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Here are some story hours I recommend.

(contact)'s Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil -- note that this is not the original, original thread; rather, it's a reposting of it. complete

(contact)'s Liberation of Tenh -- a follow-on to the above story, with some of the same characters. Affectionately known as, "Heydricus kills the sh*t out of them." incomplete; abandoned

(contact)'s The Risen Goddess -- less well known that the other two, this is the most philosophical of the three stories. It begins: "Four adventurers sit around a familiar table in a familiar inn, not too far from a place they must have surely known their whole lives-- if they could only remember any of it." incomplete; abandoned

barsoomcore's Barsoom story -- very well written. You won't know what the hell is going on half the time, but you won't be able to stop reading despite that. incomplete; abandoned

Capellan's Company of the Random Encounter -- don't let the name of the story fool you; this is worth reading. don't know status

Capellan's In Hextor's Name -- to paraphrase the author, the story hour is "written from the limited and very, very biased point of view of Kull Redfist, LN Half-Orc Cleric of Hextor, Life's ambition: to become a mighty warrior and crush Hextor's enemies." complete, I think

Destan's Sins of our Fathers and Sins of our Fathers II -- grim, gritty, and utterly compelling, with a definite old school feel to it. incomplete; abandoned?

James McMurray's Return to the Tomb of Horrors -- you know about the original ToH, you know about the Return, but you do not know the pleasure of this story hour's approach to it. This is the story hour that made me appreciate high-level play. It's also the first story hour I ever read on ENW. complete (more or less, you'll understand if you read it)

Rel's Faded Glory -- proving that pitting the PCs against challenges 4+ ELs above their level makes for a great game. The story takes place in Old One's campaign setting, which is modeled on ancient Rome. complete

Rune's Oriental Adventures in the Dream -- the most mind-blowingly original campaign setting I have ever seen... "The world: Ah yes, the world... It is flat, but not really. There is no sun; there are no stars, nor moons. Day and night do exist, however. There is seasonal change (how could we have haiku without it?), but that change is sporadic." incomplete; abandoned

Sagiro's Story Hour -- epic in scope, with a large cast of characters. It took me a while to get into this story, but once I did, I was hooked. You will be too. ongoing; sporadically updated

Sepulchrave's Tales of Wyre, or, Lady Despina's Virtue -- you cannot beat this opening: "One of the PCs, a 14th level Paladin, [...] is currently attempting to CONVERT a succubus, and demonstrate to her the error of her ways." ongoing, but possibly abandoned

spyscribe's Welcome to the Halmae -- the aptly named author of this tale keeps it regularly updated, unlike some of those OTHER authors. The campaign starts out small, but grows rapidly into a grand series of quests. Read this story because... justice demands it. ongoing

Wulf's Story Hour -- follow the adventures of Wulf Ratbane, dwarven bad-ass. Or would that be bad-axe? In any case, one of the strongest archetypal characters of any story hour on the boards. complete

For a second opinion, check out this thread or this one.

That's a pretty good list. There's a lot of good ones, and perhaps too many to be able to read them all.

 

[Seonaid]

The only one I read ('cause I don't have a lot of time) has already been mentioned a couple of times: spyscribe's Welcome to the Halmae. It's fun and funny and incredibly well written. And most (all?) of the players are members of the board, so they chime in from time to time. There are tons of "sidebars," explaining the world and the game sessions. Many GMs have yoinked ideas from the campaign and the world (it's that good). Plus, StevenAC has put together lovely PDF versions of it, for your downloading-and-reading pleasure!

 

[RangerWickett]

Liz, you should read my storyhour. You've already said you like my writing style, right?


High Fantasy - The Long Road

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I really enjoyed el-remmen's "Out of the Frying Pan" SH.

Dr. Midnight's "6 in the Chamber" Feng Shui SH kicks ass.

Piratecat's SH was good when it got updates (hint, hint )

I enjoyed JollyDoc's Shackled City SH. I didn't realise that he had one on the AoW AP too.

The X-Path SH was also a good read. I think that was written by Capellan.

Personally I like reading the story hours from a game perspective, in that I read the SH and try to figure out what the characters were doing from a mechanical perspective. I also like the players and DM providing some of the meta-game information on the side that may not be obvious from reading the SH.

After reading the Shackled City AP it was very interesting to read JollyDoc's SH to see how his group tackled it and how it turned out. I also read a Freeport Trilogy SH and it was fun to see how that group's experience differed from my group's.

Olaf the Stout

 

[drscott46]

Let me redirect the question back at you, then. What kind of story hour are you looking for? I've found there are at least two distinct varieties and a plethora of subgroups within these two varieties: Fiction and Journaling.

I could definitely enjoy both types, but perhaps Journaling might be a little more desirable. When I began the first fantasy novels I ever owned, the Dragonlance Chronicles, I was most into trying to connect the story with actual gameplay. (I was dead certain Raistlin had a Constitution of 3.)

Of course, my motivations changed from there, but I've always liked journals of actual play... especially whimsically written ones.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I could definitely enjoy both types, but perhaps Journaling might be a little more desirable. When I began the first fantasy novels I ever owned, the Dragonlance Chronicles, I was most into trying to connect the story with actual gameplay. (I was dead certain Raistlin had a Constitution of 3.)

Of course, my motivations changed from there, but I've always liked journals of actual play... especially whimsically written ones.

Well then, there are certainly plenty of those abounding! You should be able to find more than your fair share, and most of the good ones have been mentioned several times in this thread.

I'd look for one that's complete - or as I suggested earlier - updates regularily enough for you. Then, have fun!

[If you ever want a fictional writing that you can apply game knowledge to try and discern what the dice said - I will add that my Story Hour comes with a rough Personna thread. Not full character sheets, but enough to help you get into the mechanics. But, it is a ficticious writing and I don't always follow the dice. But none of the story ever saw the light of a table!]

 

[Plane Sailing]

Spaceship Zero!

Probably the funniest storyhour I've ever read. Still ongoing (I think)

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I've always liked journals of actual play... especially whimsically written ones.

Then you want either contact's Temple of Elemental Evil or Wulf's Story Hour.

 

[diaglo]

I could definitely enjoy both types, but perhaps Journaling might be a little more desirable. When I began the first fantasy novels I ever owned, the Dragonlance Chronicles, I was most into trying to connect the story with actual gameplay. (I was dead certain Raistlin had a Constitution of 3.)

Of course, my motivations changed from there, but I've always liked journals of actual play... especially whimsically written ones.

well then you want to read the story hour in my sig.

it is a player's journal.

many ENWurlders were involved.

guest appearances too.

Olgar Shiverstone was the DM.

 

[Drowbane]

I am a huge fan of Sep's epic about Wyre and Shemeska's first Planescape SL (haven't dug into the second one yet).