Wizardru's Story Hour (updated 11/21)

[LordVyreth]

Are you giving him ideas? Don't make me go all Jay and Silent Bob on your !

Hey, I'm just the crunch guy! I've been giving him ideas on what kind of fun things you get to kill! I'm too busy with my own campaign to help him with the Alienist prerequisite-filling plot points!

 

[dravot]

Wow, I didn't know you guys even played a second game as well! What's that one like? Who's playing it, and what are the characters? Any chance we can see a second story hour started?

Scorch is running The Lost City of Barakus. Notes have been sketchy, so it may be hard to put together a full Story Hour on it, but it's fun nonetheless. We're all currently third level, just having leveled last session.

Scorch: Evil DM
Dravot: Keldin of Descott Valley, halfling ranger (archer build)
WizarDru: Ravenspur, gnome sorceror
Valanthe: Aislinn, Human fighter.
Bolo: Micah, dwarf cleric of Heironeous
Kayleigh: Absinthe, elf rogue
Aethramyr: Adson, blind monk (I think human, I forget)

With an Aislinn, Absinthe and Adson, it gets quite confusing, especially in combat. We may need to have a name approval committee for the next game.

We call the game our 'Beta campaign', for times when someone can't make it to the session, or WizarDru is too busy with real life to put together an Alpha session for us. I'm slowly gearing up for the next Beta campaign after Barakus, an Eberron campaign.

 

[old school 1E]

fantastic story hour!!!!!!!!!

Well after about a week of dedicated reading (and blowing off some preparation for my GRE exam in mathematics- an exam I would rate at DC30 easy ) I finally get caught up through the 27 pages of text. I did skip some of the sidebars so that I could get caught up, though, but the plot and character expression was so enticing I just didnt want to wait to find out "what happens next?"

I have to say I really enjoy this story hour. There are two others on here I am currently reading, but both of them I had to pick up midstream as their origins were lost to history. It was a pleasure to be able to read a story hour from the very beginning. Seeing the characters start from their humble beginnings with meager talents, and grow to personas known througout the DM's world, makes me long for gameplay again. What I love the most about the story hour is how the narrative makes the characters so "3-dimensional". As an example, I looked through the rogues gallery at Scorch (I have a penchant for playing what were "magic users" under 1E rules so I was curious about his stats). When I first looked at his alignment (around page 10 of the thread as its currently pruned) he was listed as chaotic neutral. Over the course of the next 7-10 pages, there was a palpable change in the way he dealt with things; at one point I said "his fellow adventurers have affected him a lot! He acts more like chaotic good than chaotic neutral". Sure enough, a link in the SH to an update in the gallery showed the alignment change. The fact that the prose brings the "cold stats" to live is a testament both to the writing and the ability to play your characters.

As an added bonus, its nice to be old enough to get the OOC joke references ("cone of silence" is one that comes to mind). Simply adds more humor and enjoyment to the readings.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the DM's ability to create such a challenging, complex world fraught with twists and turns. It's clear from the get-go that actions of the characters can have consequences, yet the world keeps turning without them. Seeing the detailed maps and scale models really shows a love the DM has for creating some fun and exciting gameplay. As PC's feel blessed that you have such a competent DM.

Now that I have come through these 20-some odd pages, I am torn. Sometime around page 15, the tone of the updates had me saying "crap, there is going to be some epic conclusion with an epilogue that will bring a tear to my eye as the story comes to a close. Why does it have to end?" However, as I got close to the end of the thread, I started saying "please dont let it be over, please dont let it be over, please please PLEASE!!!!!". I guess its another testament to a game setting where great players team up with a great DM.

Anyway, keep it coming! I cant wait to see how the various plot elements unfold.

Seeyas!

-OS1E

 

[Argent Silvermage]

Glad you like it. Your in our area. maybe we should get together for a board game night?

 

[old school 1E]

sure sounds good. I could use it after my (dreadful?) exam this morning. you can email me at pop(underscore)pop(underscore)ret(at)yahoo(dot)com

get someone to write another update too! i'm jonezin' here!

 

[Scorch]

What I love the most about the story hour is how the narrative makes the characters so "3-dimensional". As an example, I looked through the rogues gallery at Scorch (I have a penchant for playing what were "magic users" under 1E rules so I was curious about his stats). When I first looked at his alignment (around page 10 of the thread as its currently pruned) he was listed as chaotic neutral. Over the course of the next 7-10 pages, there was a palpable change in the way he dealt with things; at one point I said "his fellow adventurers have affected him a lot! He acts more like chaotic good than chaotic neutral". Sure enough, a link in the SH to an update in the gallery showed the alignment change.

Thanks for noticing. This is something WizarDru and I had several conversations about around two years ago about how Scorch seemed to be acting more and more good in his actions. There was a turning point in the games and he told me that I should cross off CN and be CG. For the life of me I am not sure what I did at the time.

Now it is a struggle to remain Chaotic. Being thrust into the position of Guild Minister means I have to come up with an organization to replace the one that I abhored. The Grey Guild was a next to useless institution in Scorch's eyes and WizarDru took great pleasure in torturing Scorch with the petty interpersonal BS that it was rife with. Now I have to come up with a lawful and fair organization of magic users, something that would go against the grain of a chaotic character who HATES authority. Then I realized that I could not make such an organization since Scorch believes it is an impossibility given the nature of people. Instead of the mythical fair system Scorch has opted for the more realistic equally unfair to everyone organization. I was very pleased with what I came up with, especially including sorcerers into what was a wizard-centric guild. I even made provisions for multiclasses. Then WizarDru had to come along and knock my feet out from under me and bring bards into the mix... I mean COME ON! BARDS?!?!?

Scorch

 

[Zad]

Now it is a struggle to remain Chaotic.

Remain? REMAIN?!?

Face it dude. The Man ain't keepin' you down. You have become The Man.

Just go ahead and change your name right now to "Scorch, The Man".

Scorch has made the modern equivalent transition from Democrat to Republican as he aged. I think Lawful Neutral with good tendencies puts it best. (He's sure not lawful good.)

get someone to write another update too! i'm jonezin' here!

Sorry to say we won't be playing again until January. Holiday schedules and so on conspire to prevent us being simultaneously available. When we return, we'll be heading into the Far Realms to rescue the Silverring.

That's not to say that another doodle might not get posted, but such things are like rainbows - they just show up when they do.

 

[LordVyreth]

Sorry to say we won't be playing again until January. Holiday schedules and so on conspire to prevent us being simultaneously available. When we return, we'll be heading into the Far Realms to rescue the Silverring.

Well in that case, I would like to petition Wizardru to have him post his plans for the next game in his Rogue's Gallery thread. I'm curious to know what he's got planned for you, and we could either fill in any gaps he has or check to see if he actually plans on using our ideas!

 

[LordVyreth]

Wow, already dropped to page 3! Well, apparently Dru didn't have the time to elaborate on his plans in the Rogue's Gallery thread, but not matter. I had another question, especially for Dru, Scorch, Dravot, Bolo, and any other epic spellcasters I missed. Namely, Epic Spellcasting. Has anyone bothered to go this route yet? If so, do you play it by the book or using house rules? If it is book-standard, how do you handle the XP and monetary costs? They seem pretty extreme even for the mid twenties levels you guys are on.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

I had another question, especially for Dru, Scorch, Dravot, Bolo, and any other epic spellcasters I missed. Namely, Epic Spellcasting. Has anyone bothered to go this route yet? If so, do you play it by the book or using house rules? If it is book-standard, how do you handle the XP and monetary costs? They seem pretty extreme even for the mid twenties levels you guys are on.

Check out this thread for all of your answers.
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110895

Scorch is the only one with Epic spells at the moment. I'm assuming Dravot and Bolo will happen upon some but I have no intentions of trying to create one.