The Liberation of Tenh (updated April 24)

[(contact)]

I didn't like Lucius when you first brought him back, but now I find him endearing. NPC? Cohort?

Lucius is Heydricus' second cohort. He replaced Elijah after her unfortunate (and apparently supernatural) beheading.

 

[Zaruthustran]

“I assure you sir, I am no mercenary,” she replies. When she grows indignant, the duchesses’ diction thickens until the word ‘mercenary’ sounds just like ‘masonry’. She is no masonry, she’ll heave you new.

Whoa--I suddenly got a crystal clear image of Auntie Shrew from The Secret of Nimh.

“Excuse me, sir,” Jespo says to the angel, tugging on his robe.

Yeah! Go Jespo!

“When you’re answering these communes,” Lucius looks at the angel, “how often do you just make sh-t up?”

Yeah! Go Lucius!

As he is promising himself for the third time that he will be a gentleman and close his eyes, Heydricus notices a small birthmark on Prisantha’s shapely flank—one he explicitly remembers from a recent dream. “Now how the hell could I know that?” he wonders aloud.

“What is that, Heydricus?” Prisantha says.

“I was just wondering when I would get some of that,” he says, then hastily adds, “Fine tailoring, I mean."

YEAH! Go Heydricus!

Awesome update.

-z

 

[Zaruthustran]

Hey, thanks for the kind words, Z.

Thanks for the entertaining story.

I think that there are any number of authors out there who pretty much smoke this story hour, so maybe your local bookstore just sucks?

Har har.

But seriously, consider the mass-market fantasy authors. You surely blow them away. Then consider the well-known and even talented formula writers such as Salvatore. I think you'd compare favorably.

There is also something to the "D&D story" form that even the best fiction can't replicate: the shared experience that leads to shared expectations. When Piscean casts "time stop" you (the reader) cringe, because you already *know* how bad that can be. Maybe you've had a 17th-level party TPK'ed with that spell, or maybe you just read the description one afternoon and thought, "Wow. I wonder what *that* baby could do?"

Either way, you have an instant and shared connection with the narrative that non-gamers don't, and one that fantasy fiction usually can't create. If you look at my SH, a huge chunk of it is playing on or against those D&D expectations. Part of what makes the LoT fun to read (at least in my opinion) is that it is so very D&D. People scry--> buff--> teleport and "win teh gaem"; assassins can kill people with one shot-- but only if they have 18 seconds to study the bad-guy, etc.

So when a novel says that Lucius is staring at Piscean, you think, "aha, characterization!" When the LoT says that Lucius is staring at Piscean, you think, "oh, snap! That Piscean f-cker is about to get taken out!"

Terrific points and I agree that the shared (and assumed) D&D experience is what makes this story hour so much fun. But the shared experience doesn't preclude mainstream appeal. Look at the success of Scream, Pulp Fiction, Evil Dead, Mulholland Drive, any Kevin Smith film. These flicks are fun if you're ignorant, but fantastic if you get the inside jokes, spoofs, clever innovations, and references.

And even given that it's true that the LoT can only truly be appreciated by the group of longtime gamers that have a solid grounding in geek culture, that's a pretty big group. Especially if the collection is sold in PDF form and/or limited print runs. Sold on Amazon through Advantage, of course (had to get the plug in there--but seriously, it's a terrific way to get your book out)

Case in point: The Gamers. This film is only funny if you're a hardcore game geek. But if you're a hardcore game geek, it's really funny. By any measure The Gamers is successful. Sure, the producers aren't millionaires--but they do make a comfortable income from DVD sales, it's opening doors for them, and--most important--they're bringing joy to all the good size small male and female humans in this campaign setting.

I'm not sure that either the LoT or my writing in general would stand up on its own without those elements, but maybe someday we'll find out. Remember that many of these characterizations (particularly PCs) aren't mine, anyway! Could I write Pris? I dunno, but thankfully I don't have to.

In addition, many of these great ideas aren't mine anyway! The hit squad sent after the Liberators was orignally developed by Incognito (IIRC, I've lost the original emails over time), the He-Man-Heydricus-Haters-Club was an invention of these boards, many of the sub-plots were either sparked or fleshed out by the LoT Plot Thread, etc . . . so, unlike most novels, D&D is a group activity, and that is part of it's appeal for those of us who play. This Story Hour is fun for the same reasons, IMO.

Some editing and exposition would need to be applied to these story hour posts, sure. And you could solicit help from your players and cohorts for characterizaion. I guess there may be legal or ethical issues with profiting from others' ideas, but I'm not a lawyer. I bet your contributors would be satisfied with a mention in the forward. All I know is that this story hour is a rocking good read and I want my non-Internet obsessed buddies to read it. And it'd be nice if you saw some financial reward for this labor of love.

-z

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

absolutely great update. seeing heydricus come face-to-face with the he-man haters' machinations was brilliant; seeing him come face-to-glass with pris was even better.

lucius and crim are some of my favorite characters ever.

thanks!

 

[Joshua Randall]

Ahhh... that hit the spot.

I really needed some Liberatorian goodness after a totally hellish week spent closing on a house and then moving into it. (For more details, please consult the movie "The Money Pit".)

[ObD&Dism] Of course the move would've been much easier had I been able to borrow Heydricus's portable hole. [/ObD&Dism]

Thanks, (contact), for brightening my day.

 

[Lazybones]

Zaruthustran:

While I love the story, selling this or any SH for profit (even c's or Sep's) would likely result in a prompt telephone call from WotC's Legal Department. Even under OGL, publishing a novel using someone else's trademarked content would put you on very dubious legal ground.

 

[(contact)]

Well, yeah, you'd have to file off the serial numbers.

Thanks for the kind words, all. The next couple of updates are all about the ass kicking. People are turned to stone, killed, trapped in the spaces between dimensions, poisoned, shredded with flying glass, put to sleep and disintegrated.

And the bad guys get it even worse.

 

[Rackhir]

Zaruthustran:

While I love the story, selling this or any SH for profit (even c's or Sep's) would likely result in a prompt telephone call from WotC's Legal Department. Even under OGL, publishing a novel using someone else's trademarked content would put you on very dubious legal ground.

I really don't think it would be that much of a problem. Frankly if I'm reading a story I would much rather see a description of the spell cast/action performed rather than just going "He cast a FedEXed, Biggie Sized, whipped-cream exchanged Chocolate Storm". I always find that it jerks me out of my involvement in the story when I hit something like that. It's about the only complaint that I have about Sep's story hour.

I understand why it's done when writing up story hours, it saves a lot of time and effort just giving the D&D description, rather than working up a descriptive paragraph, every time Dabus does a communion. But in a Novel/Novella etc... I'd really rather be reading the description rather than the gaming "shorthand" so to speak.

 

[Zaruthustran]

LoT: the Movie

Well, yeah, you'd have to file off the serial numbers.

Thanks for the kind words, all. The next couple of updates are all about the ass kicking. People are turned to stone, killed, trapped in the spaces between dimensions, poisoned, shredded with flying glass, put to sleep and disintegrated.

And the bad guys get it even worse.

Sweeeet. All in a day's work of being a hero.

Tangent for everyone: if you were casting the LoT Movie, who would you chose to portray Heydricus, Pris, Dabus, Lucius, Crim, and the rest of the crew?

I'd go with...
Heydricus: Hugh Jackman (played Wolverine in the Xmen movies)
Jespo Crim: Alan Rickman (played Snape in the Harry Potter movies). Or Tom Hanks.
Lucius: Johny Depp? Maybe too pretty. Antonio Banderas?
Dabus: A cleaned-up Tom Sizemore. Or an aged Matt Damon.
Thrommel: Ben Affleck.
Gwen: Vanessa Marcil. The babe from that new "Las Vegas" show. See this image (safe for work): http://www.famousbabes.com/pics118/vanessaML/vanessaML007.jpg
Pris: Believe it or not, Alicia Silverstone. She can pull off both "pretty" and "smart-yet-naive."

-z

 

[Barastrondo]

Warning: The girls are hard. I honestly can't think of quite so many Hollywood actresses that are both being pushed in the "young and gorgeous" roles and who have proven acting chops. (For instance, I'd totally choose Susan Sarandon as Gwendolyn, except that you'd never believe she was in school at the same time as Pris.)

Heydricus: Brad Pitt. Good physique, -eating-grin, can still be helpless in a romantic subplot.
Prisantha: Rachel Weisz.
Jespo: Steve Buscemi. Or Rowan Atkinson.
Dabus: Ewan McGregor. He can do anything, including straight-faced sincerity in comedic situations.
Gwendolyn: Parker Posey. Maybe Angie McCormack.
Lucius: Guy Pearce or John Rhys-Meyers (Gormenghast, Velvet Goldmine).
Regda: Vin Diesel.
Thrommel: Keanu Reeves. Or if you'd rather have an actor than a statement, Affleck's not a bad choice.
Belvor: Brian Blessed. Duh.
Piscean: Kenneth Brannagh.

But who to direct? Should I be hopelessly derivative and say Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean, The Ring, The Mexican, Catch Me if you Can)? Yeah. There you go.