Zepher

"I mean nothing by it except that we're hired as teams for a reason. Sometimes something shiny can catch a hero's eye, and they forget that. Just last quest a strong fighter and loyal party member got separated from the party while he chased down a member of the Wolfgang. He almost had the tar beat out of him by a ambush of Metasimians. Even I myself got defeated by a lowly pirate because my party was unable to assist me... though I was fairly... dull minded at the time. Point is, if you fall and lose the keystone, it will be on my head. I don't want that happening."

I've been on a number of fantastic but slow-moving quests. I too think of myself as a higher level than I am on occasion.

Boomingham grunts. "Might be best for us to all restate our code names. I can hardly remember them. Call me Blackhood the Slayer, if you please." Boomingham rubs his eyes as the two men fight. He listens with interest as they squabble over trading rights and other things. "Don't suppose there's any harm in splitting our numbers politically. Nyx, if you're looking to declare Red, I'll declare Blue. If someone's going to be in charge of the group, in case we get split up, I'd like it to be you. Atramor, Ellaria, I'd like the two of you to declare with me. If they won't hear of it, then I say we declare Blue. He seems a more reasonable fellow. He's got friends outside the city. Can't hurt to side with him." Boomingham turns to Atramor. "Listen, boy-o, I agree you're a smart choice to hold onto the Keystone, but if you do so, you must stick by my side at all times. No wandering off. I mean it. That's the job we were tasked with, and I was hired to make sure we all completed it."

I understand, I'd be so frustrated if the forums went down while I was hosting. I just didn't know if we'd be redoing what was lost, because if so it would have been good time filler.

Scuba, when will we be re-resuming Quest 40? I'm with Jebs. Though quite frankly, everyone should have a bed roll at this point. They're what... 5 gold?

Just to clear things up for people planning ahead. Quest # Final Wren Quest will be departing a few days after christmas. WBD, I love your quests. And I want to have the possibility of Swashbuckler! There are no other Expert Classes I'd consider (except Necromancer, and Boomingham hasn't even met the Zeigfrieds). So many things to do. WBD Quest in the future hopefully, Jebs if he ever makes one that Boomingham would agree to go on, and of course I want to make sure that I end up on a Sandy Quest again some day, because I've only been on one, and they're rather important to go on because a) it's one of the only way to get 7 of the 8 currently existing Expert Classes, b) if you want to be able to actually have your character understand the main plot, they need to attend a few, and c) they're pretty damn awesome.

Scuba, am I missing an action I should be bolding, or are you just waiting to photograph or something? Just making sure we're not both waiting on the other! Looks awesome, Rumble, though I do hope we don't have to wait that long before getting to see it.

Please do elaborate!

The enraged effect used in Quest 38 forced the player to fight from the front row. Also, I hope Sandy/Ellaria hasn't forgotten that Boomingham gave the scroll to himself and then loaned it to her at Atramor's request. I need that scroll when the quest is over. Though I do hope that the next time loot comes up, there will be fewer things for Boomingham to want. Scuba, stop forcing me to show how greedy Boomingham is.

"I realize that I've got our eyes on more than enough people, but better safe than sorry. Unexpected insubordination has cost me more than I'd like to say in the past."

"Sounds good to me. Let's retire. Ogre, I'm putting you on crew watch duty. You keep an eye on them, got it? Just in case, as you said." Boomingham leads the others to their quarters so as to rest up.

"Not much more to say, then. Come aboard deck some time if you feel like it. Fresh air could do you good." Boomingham marches back to the latch, turning to Nyx and Atramor as he goes and hissing to them in his lowest voice, which, again for Boomingham is still far from a normal whisper. "I'm not gonna ask them anything now. I doubt they'd give anything up if they've got motives beyond what we know, but I'm asking you two in particular to keep an eye on them. I've got to keep my eye on the objective, but I trust you two to make sure they don't get out of line." Boomingham hollers up the hatch. "We're coming up, Ogre. Stow that blade of yours!"

If I wasn't on my way to Stivvi, I'd be there! Best of luck, Etzel!

Self/Player Feedback is up!

Boomingham yawns impressively. "Hopefully you'll be as good as you say you are. You'll be taking orders from me. Name's Boomingham." He gives a quick salute. "Now, as your commander, I've got to ask you about this Black Powder. What's it for?" Boomingham leans in and whispers to Atramor. "You know Patricia better than me. What are the chances that she's got these fellows here for some alternative mission. I don't like having men under my command who I may be unable to trust. That's one thing I gotta give the lot at Heroica, when push comes to shove I know I can count on you all."

Yeah, just a tiny Godling bit. And the Chimera.... which was also sort of a God now that I think about it, but he also was only being brought minorly into the mortal plane, and he wasn't the same sort of God. I dig the new Tesni! Also, called the twist Sandy, but am extremely happy it was there to call! Wonderful choice. Notes on my quest in another hour, sorry all! Finally, Sandy, I'm loving the Norn! I wish I had that face. They should hang out with Triad's race (which is a pain to spell out) some time. All-female races unite!

Thank you all! I'll put up player analysis and personal thoughts up later, my family is up for the day, but I'll just start off by saying I had great fun and I'm very thankful to my party! More thoughts in like six hours! Alright, here we go: Self-Critique Writing as different characters is hard. Keeping their world views and voices consistent is even harder. I particularly have trouble with Felton, Hans, and McColt. I like all of them, but I feel the PCs and the players have never really taken a shine to them. McColt has not been written by me for a few months. It is hard to give him the same voice, especially when he didn't really have a reason to talk much this time around. I hope that people take a real interest in those three in the final quest. I hate not giving characters freedom, so I did really only give you one option, since I couldn't build sets for other things. The only thing you didn't have to do was go save Bal.... but I assumed that you would... hence him being in one of the final pictures. I felt like I didn't give you QUITE as many role-play options. With so many NPCs and so few choices, this party lacked the camaraderie that I cherished so much in 19 and 30. However, this may also be because your characters all had different views on life. I feel, at the end, that your characters really did grow, which I was happy with. Instead of the normal growing friendlier, they seemed to grow stronger, which is a different dynamic, but one that certainly worked. Player Feedback Haldor/Scorpiox - I was pleased to have you as a party leader. Haldor, it turns out, is a bit of a hot head, which I liked. You REALLY let your character develop. When characters said things to him, they informed his future choices. That is the sign of a great role player. Real people are the sum total of all the events that have happened to them (I think). When the events inform your character... that's wonderful. And you let it happen. Eventually, it becomes so natural, your character changes without you even thinking about it. That's how real people work too. I think you're starting to channel that through Haldor, so keep it up. You're also starting to drop background clues. I like that. Make sure they fit in with who Haldor is now, but from what I've seen, you've been doing a good job of it. Keep it up! Arthur/Flipz - You are an incredibly dedicated role player. I love it. Arthur is really coming into himself, and you have no trouble helping others to recall events and to roleplay as well. You want everyone to flourish, which is great. Your flashbacks are fun too. I warn you of this, however. Flashbacks and NPCs tying into your story are DANGEROUS. It is the same thing that I said when everyone was getting minions. You end up playing with yourself. Let the other PCs inform your actions. Haldor tried to take Arthur down a peg or two this quest, and we saw it sort of work. THAT'S interesting. That keeps people engaged. Backstory is great, but people can't interact with it, and in a game about interaction, people will skim it if it doesn't really pertain to them or their characters. But when Tesni talks about Grayness and Beacons, and you respond, then they people will become interested in how Arthur responds, and keep responding, and then the ball really starts rolling. NPCs, flashbacks, they're great. But use them sparingly. Your other PCs are the important story elements. Alexis/Masked Builder - You really stepped up role playing for this quest, so thank you! I was so happy to see you so adamant to come on a Wren quest, so I'm glad you had a good time. I want to appease the fans! Alexis still seems pretty quiet to me. She is strong in her stance on Althior, and when she butted heads with Haldor or flirted with Arthur, those were good character moments, but I want to see even more!! You've stepped it up ten notches, now step it up ten more. Give her an opinion on everything. Doesn't have to be preplanned, just think to yourself in every situation, how would Alexis feel? When they save Bal, how would Alexis feel? When Sasha dies, how does Alexis feel? When they discuss grayness or Chaos or party leader aloofness, how does Alexis feel? As you start to find out how she feels and how she reacts, that's when you find the real character. You're well on your way to a very, very cool character, just make her a little more vocal! You've got the Harlot, you've got this notion of WANT and DESIRE that Wren talked about. How does Alexis feel about that? Does she agree, or disagree. Using that as a jumping off point, you get to go even further into her character. It's what I said about Arthur and Haldor, by reacting to the events that occur, you build a character. Cronk/CM - I love Cronk. I really do. He's a extremely unique character. He's dynamic, but not in a fast way. He changes... but subtly. That's wonderful. He has a backstory that you've guarded carefully. All of us have talked about hiding backstory and releasing it over time, and being patient, but most everyone else has given out, thinking a year was enough time. Not you. Cronk hints and tells little snippets. What is this now, six quests? Bravo for your fortitude. It keeps Cronk incredibly interesting.... and he'd probably be interesting even without that. It's also important to note that Cronk sometimes seems to not 100% remember all events or characters, or over-simplifies stuff. It may appear to be a player over-sight, except that in the R&D thread, you make it clear that you know exactly what's gone on. Which makes it a character choice. Cronk clearly sees the world through a lens which is different than the one you see it through. That's one of the strongest signs of strong characters. His interactions are genius, he's steadfast in his views but listens to others, and grows while remaining essentially Cronk. He appeared simple at first glance, and I was afraid, way back when, that while he was adorable and funny he may remain exactly the same and one day grow boring as the rest of the game grew without him. But Cronk DOES grow, in his Cronk way, so he stays relevant and interesting while not losing his personal charm. I could go on and on, but I think you get the gist. Tesni/Peppy - You are a superb roleplayer. I have many compliments for you, many of which are directed towards other players earlier in this post. Like Haldor, you let events effect you. I love that. Like Arthur, you are clearly into your character, and like Cronk, you have withheld your backstory an appropriate amount of time with strong fortitude. You have a unique style that I love. Tesni has very clear cut views on the world, and while she too, like all good characters, is dynamic, she, like I said of Cronk, has retained her core being. Also important to note is the length of your posts. Arthur is characterized with long winded speeches. That's a GREAT and STRONG choice for him. You make another another great and strong choice, that is equally as challenging. Your posts are nearly always short and concise. You tell us Tesni's thoughts without dragging them on. She says what she knows to be true, and then stops talking. That's beautiful. Keeps us engaged, and, more importantly, is true to the character. The fact that Tesni says relatively little, but still is a strong and prominent character who has extremely clear views on the world is a testament to your role playing. :thumbup: Hope to see as many of you as possible in late Decemeber!

It was a standard Hinckwell shield.

S'okay!! I want to hear people's thoughts. I think it was different from some of my other quests. I want to make the final Quest extremely enjoyable, so I need to know what people like and what they don't like.

"Looks like you made short work of of the Orcs. What are you folks doing, tagging along? What exactly is the purpose of this Black Powder I hear is floating around?"

Boomingham turns to the others and shrugs. "Anyone know who these folks are?"

Quest 40 is just the most fun team. So many fun interactions. Atramor and Nyx as the bickering siblings, Boomingham and Nyx's relationship, Boomingham and Atramor starting to get each other, Skrall and Boomingham as the old timers, Ellaria's clear distaste for certain members of the party ( ), Rufindel's elven aloofedness... the list just keeps going. It seems no matter who is talking, they have some dynamic to play up.

"I don't doubt we'll need you, dearest. Follow right on after me. I wouldn't rather having anyone else watching my back."

"No point forcing you into the space. A frightened Ogre wouldn't serve us any good. Stay top side and keep your sword out. If any heads poke out that belong to people you don't recognize, separate them from their body, would you?"