The Heroes Three (Point Five): Keep on the Borderlands - Cancelled

[elvenmageus]

A second reply from one of the players.

I am the player of Linalya. First off i have to side with Brit. We came to you Rory out of respect trying to make this a situation that is now heading where we feared. One of the greatest things i can give to my dm's is to be into my character and involve myself with who she is, is to be cautious with what others do with them. It's why i spend time with my characters and work on the histories. My concern with the way the story hour was, was that i have had dms manipulate my characters in the past and place them in situaitons that they would not have done. The actions sometimes portrayed by Linalya in the story was not what she would have done. Although she may have enjoyed elven wine a few times she was in no means a lush and 2 fisting the drinks. She wouldn't do that. We asked to stop the story hour because we felt that if you were going to take notes, that those notes would transfer to the story hour. As a writer myself i like to be able to expand and experement, but i have not taken any other characters i have gamed with and intergrated them into my stories. The understanding we had with the story hour was for you to write a story but with a little inventiveness. What you have failed to Rory is to expalin to the lurkers the real reasons why we asked you to stop. This is almost an affront to us and makes us look like we are nasty gamers who have no respect for our Dm. Of course we appreciated what you did, but we didn't ask you to put the burden on yourself, you asked to do it. For any lurker out there understand that there was a civil conversation about this last night, but obviously the point was not taken the way we had intended. I have over 15 years of xp in gaming. I have been through my excellent dm's to my ok, to my manipulative dms. I have been a really good rpger to having my not so greates days. We all do, but this situation is now becoming one of a martyr. As i am sure BRit is and those who will read this in the group that will take a chance will be burning with some anger and some resentment. All sides should have been explained and if this is the way you felt last night, maybe you should have said something Rory.
Heather

 

[Insight]

Instead of coming to me individually and pointing out specific passages or quotes or anything, all I get is a generic 'You make my character look like a drunk' and 'My character would never use a crossbow'. That doesn't help, especially when it's way after the fact. I would have far preferred timely, constructive criticism to the way I was approached about this en masse. But the best thing would have been to say nothing, let me finish the story (knowing there was a finite end to it coming very soon), and be done with it. If you weren't reading it anyway, what difference does it make to you?

I'm not going to say anything else on the subject. Sorry for the rest of you who've had to see us bickering about this.

 

[elvenmageus]

Another thought..

Rory i was just reading your reply to Brit. I am somewhat confused and somewhat upset at the same time. You say that you chose to stop the story hour, no one made you stop, true, but since these are our characters of creation, out of respect it should not be picked back up with them. Create your own characters to your specifications and go with it. It's one of the cool things i enjoy about my writing. But as far as the explanations about why this was disbanding, i think you need to go back to the post that began this little tirade. You specifiaccly said that we were not appreciating all the work you were putting into it And as far the remembering everything that happens, i understand, but i watched you take notes, and i tell you that if you feel like you cant remember more that would be more beneficial take more detailed notes. I know you are the dm and have a lot on your plate, but i thought as an aspect to this the notes would be more in depth. Before someone mentions well the girls are the ones who seem to have to worst problem with all this, it wasn't us who originally brought this up. As i stated in my previous post, and it became far more apparent in the reply to Brit, you are trying to express your anger by making us look like we are all the bad guys and you did nothing. You need to step back and look at the entire situation. It's what i did in reading the story hour and i was finding the inaccuracies. Also, so all the lurkers understand this was not just about the story hour. There were other things mentioned in the discussion. We all felt like this was a dm trying to kill us all and that the npcs seemed to be way bolstered then we thought for 1st low level characters. We understand that 1st edition is tougher, but we were updated to 3.5 right? These are just a few points that were brought up. I also have to mnention from what i am understanding this is also carrying over into the other campaign, that of which Brit and i do not participate in. Something i made mention to several others, i personally as a dm would not allow a character to be a vampire. It's way too overpowering when the others are struggling. It's too unbalanced. Anyhoo. I know i will get reemed out for this but had to state a few points to try to make som sense of this mess that seems to be getting nastier.
Heather

 

[resscane]

INsight, maybe you should post some kind of disclaimer on your next story, you know, the standard fiction disclaimer. ... all characters in this story are fictional, any resemblence to another fictional character is totally coincidental. If the fictional characters presented herein do not jive with your view of said fictional character, please do not sue me or tell your mom on me.., Maybe thats a little harsh. The players seem to be taking this a little too seriously. On the other hand the game is supposed to be fun, and if your story hour was causing uneeded grief and stress, maybe it is best you took a hiatus from it or the game. Since good games are hard to find, I suggest the story hour. Keep gaming. Good luck.

 

[Pielorinho]

I'm not going to say anything else on the subject. Sorry for the rest of you who've had to see us bickering about this.

Sounds like a rough situation. Elvenmageus and Jadedsea, would you be willing to join with Insight in continuing this discussion offline? It seems like something better resolved between the three of y'all rather than something hashed out over these boards.

I think I can understand why all of the participants in this are upset, but probably getting together over coffee is gonna lead to a resolution sooner than trading accusations and defenses on a public messageboard.

Good luck in getting it cleared up!
Daniel

 

[Insight]

There's going to be a completely new and different Story Hour coming very soon. For those of you who have enjoyed this story, I hope you will continue to enjoy my work in the near future.

 

[MichaelH]

Thanks to Insight and the players. It was fun while it lasted. I hope you and your group resolve your grievances soon.

Oh, and I am looking forward to your new Story Hour.

 

[elvenmageus]

To Pielorinho

Pielorinho, We attempted to settle the situation in a peaceful manner. We didn't attack en masse as said stated above. In fact the whole situation that blew up was due to insight posting as he did(in a childish manner on would say, he started it). We tried to get what he felt on the manner and instead he shut down, said he was fine, understood, pointed out a few things and then blew up at another player on the way home, from what i heard. We wanted to back up our statements that we felt were important that is why the concerns about one character not drinking a certain way was brought up. It was not some random generic point. I went through and reread the thread and found numerous things that were enhanced far more then they should have been. Again let me state it was not just the story hour that caused the strife. Insight then cancelled attending the other campaign he was in, which seemed to be in retaliation to what occured. Those of us that did bring up these concerns, and let me remind all who have read this, it was not just the story hour it was our understanding that these were our creations, not his and that he would portray them in the manner that occured at the game. I have tried to be patient and see it in a lurkers point of view, but as a member of this situation and was one who interacted, we have not been given a fair shake, because those lurkers that are seeing this on here were not witness to the meeting. Again i will state that insight can go to town creating his own characters for a story, but i will not look kindly to anything that is any shape or form a resemblence to Linalya. Especially if it is this close to after this occuring, too much coincidence. And if i remember insight mentioned something about being relieved about not having to continue the story hour because it was conflicting too much with his time. This was said at the meeting. Last point of note, my own outside view is that insight is still attempting to take on the martyr role. Insight should have let known his true feelings at the meeting so the discussion could have ended better then it had. He was asked how he felt and if he wanted to speak. He held his voice and this is the result.

 

[Menian]

Another Opinion

Okay, I've watched this entire thing play out from beginning to end, from the gaming table to the story hour message boards. Perhaps it is even possible I am to blame for this incident. For those of you who don't know, I am the player of Vaniodorr. I am also the one that alot of the group came to with complaints about the gaming sessions, thus also the one that got the "en masse attack" as the author has stated.

Let me start off by saying that this is more than just a grievance between Insight, Elvenmagus, and JadedSea about the Story Hour. Yes the Story Hour was a part of it, but only a small part of the whole. What Elvenmagus and JadedSea had a problem with is that Rory was using the intellectual property which they had worked on to create for his own gain. Sure it was nothing more than a few "good jobs, I like the story hour" posts on a message board. But when those characters, whose name, race, class, and personality are NOT his property the "poetic" liscences taken with them grew to be to large and thus was causing grief amongst the group. Now in my opinion a gaming table is more important than any stupid story, and or pale attempts at inept writing. I don't care if the story hour was a way for Insight to write every day, if he can't get it right, then he shouldn't be writing. I have known a few well known authors in my day (Laurell K. Hamilton for starters) and had the chance to discuss writing with them at length. One of the first things they always state is that their notes are what writes their stories. And as I stated before JadedSea and Elvenmagus aren't the only ones that had problems with this story hour and the issues of the group. The thing that most stands out that I saw is that someone was borrowing OUR characters and butchering their stories and ideas in a pretty poor attempt at literature.

Now onto this "en masse attack" on Insight. It was not an en masse attack, it was an attempt at a civil and well thought out discussion hoping to clear up the air that was quickly turning dangerously fatal to a gaming group. 5 of the 7 players were not having fun sitting around the gaming table. Insight arrogantly stated that we should have "shut up and let him finish the story hour." Unfortunately, he didn't understand that the Story Hour grievance was just a small part of a whole. Not a single one of us said anything negatory about him, or the story hour, we just asked for a few changes to make the game a bit more enjoyable again for the group. Unfortunately instead of acting like a civilized adult, he sulked in a corner and pouted like a baby muttering under his breath. Instead of voicing his own opinions about the entire situation as we gave him many of oppurtunities during our discussion about it, he just clammed up and didn't say a word. Then the next day he rushes to an online forum and spews out garbage. Unfortunately, I am afraid that has ended his stay with our gaming group on Thursday nights. The group had tried to handle this like adults, but unfortunately the one that needed to act most like an adult has instead shown how childish he truly is.

I am sorry that all of you had to see this explosion of our little group. But instead of airing his grievances in a more suitable environment and as an adult he instead hid behind a message board and a screen name.

Menian

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Just got another reported post, and while I understand the whole it’s my character thing, you all are not doing yourself any good here. This is the second time a moderator has had come by here and I think on that note you can consider this thread closed.


V/R
Brother Shatterstone
PbP (and story hour) Mod