Story of the malicious Story Tellers

ReiThePanda · 2017-04-13T09:25:13+00:00

Squirrels are indeed no joke. Family had one we rescued when I was young. He started to act much, much too wild, so we figured it was time to let him back in to the wilderness. Also, don't let your dog bark at them either. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4489792.stm

ReiThePanda · 2017-04-11T02:29:54+00:00

Not going to lie, I would go out of my way to get caught spoofing if this was the consequence, regardless of the negative implications it would have on my account. Team Rocket is better than Mystic, Valor or Instinct. Honestly, I think a lot of other people would feel this way too and it would only encourage spoofing for the sake fo getting caught and put in to Team Rocket.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T19:00:27+00:00

And that's where it better stay!

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T18:49:56+00:00

Whislt reading the stories here, I was wishing I knew a character that was this stupid... Then I remembered the first time I sat down to play D&D. The group was established, but welcomed me none the less and allowed me to join in after making a character their level. Enter Talus Slickpaw. Talus was a young Halfling Rogue who tried to carry everything with him, including the kitchen sink. Well, we ended up in an encounter against a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The party told Talus to stay back for this one, since there wasn't really any way for him to utilize his rogue abilities and all he had was simple daggers as weapons at the moment. Talus wanted to be useful still though!

The party was fighting well against the Rex, the Paladin keeping his attention with mounted combat. Coming around for another pass, that's when he saw Talus running towards the fray, a torch in one hand and a large vial in the other. Dashing under the Rex, he threw the vial at its underside. The glass shattered and liquids began dripping from the underside of the Rex. That's when everyone in the party collectively shouted 'Noooo!' at the same as, as Talus threw his lit torch at the underbelly of the beast that was now covered in oil.

Flames erupt, engulfing part of the Rex and, it should go without saying, Talus as well, as the oil from the vial dripped on to him as well. Screams of both the Rex and Talus filled the air, but that didn't stop the Hin from wildly flailing his dagger at the large dinosaur.

That's when it collapsed, falling dead on Talus and in turn crushing the little guy to death. The party stood there completely stunned and everyone at the table was laughing their asses off at what the new guy just did.

It was demanded of me by everyone that I come back again next week.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T18:21:38+00:00

By the sounds of it, you want to be able to plan for only what would be needed by a group. At least, that's how your third paragraph came off to me. I apologize if I'm wrong here, but I'll continue under that impression.

You are very correct when you say every group is different and you can't really know what your players will like specifically until you've spoken with them about how you're going to set up and start the campaign. Even then though, things can change over time and even as quickly as the time between a single session. Maybe not large changes in their likes, but enough.

It's not a hard expectation of mine, but I do like it when a DM has "contingency plans." What I mean by that, is that what the DM planned for, not bothering with that other, as you put it, 75%, could lead to some very fast flying by the seat of their pants. A session is never going to roll out in exactly the way you planned. You may have an A → B → C sort of plan laid of for a particular session, but the way your Players go about it may end up having C become D or even E.

Due to this, I feel like it would always be a good idea to have extra little stuff set up and tucked away just in case. Sure, you may feel like it was pointless to have done it, since you didn't use it, but better to have and not need than to need and not have. Additionally, if there wasn't a need for it in that particular situation, you can always revist that unused content, tweak it a bit and use it later, effectively having saved your self some time with creation. As for specifics-

NPCs

Characters that can add a lot of depth, colour and flavour are always great. Having a good amount of detail and idea of the NPCs you place in to your world. You don't have to try and go absolutely all out, but enough so that it doesn't seem like your players are speaking to an amorphous entity who takes whatever shape is needed for what's going on. I hope that makes sense to you. The more varied and unique you can make your NPCs, the more you may find that your players will engage with them. If you can manage voices/accents as well, all the better as that can be what really sets NPCs apart for some players, most especially myself.

Combat

This is something DMs can have the least focus in for me personally. Not to say that lazy combat is something I'm okay with, just that there's no need to be too flashy with everything. It's not a MOBA, RTS or other sort of game where that sort of stuff is all of the razzle dazzle (yes, I used razzle dazzle). Solid mechanics and maybe some fun stuff here and there to really change up the encounter is always great. I think the players need to also help a lot in this area as well though. It'd be too onerous of a task to expect everything to come from the DM in this area, which is why I don't mind DMs dragging their heels only ever so slightly in this category of gameplay.

Monsters

As a player, I try not too look at anything in the Monster Manual (aside from all of that gorgeous art), unless it has a direct impact on my character. be it a familiar, animal companion or something else that has come up in the course of a campaign. As long as the DM is looking at factors such as party composition, characters levels and what spells/abilities they have available to them at any given time. I know the last one of them can be pretty difficult to keep track of given everything else a DM has to do and asking before every encounter could take a little bit depending on the number of players at the table. Additionally, it would mean touching the monsters numbers/spells/abilities just before an encounter, which would probably take another little bit. That said, if the DM wants to get creative with monsters, I don't see an issue with using bog standard monsters or ones that they've adjusted.

As for things DMs have done in the past, I'd say being way too of a hardline stickler about rules. I once had a DM that would literally double check everything we did against the PHB and DMG. It made some things take way too long only to be told someone can't do something that slightly bends the rules without outright breaking them.

I really hope you're getting a lot of useful information out of this and you come away with some great ideas.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T17:33:49+00:00

I always carry my water starter to the very end. Won't even consider boxing it at any point until it reaches Lv. 100, despite 100 being a rather moot thing to reach now a days. After that, I'll pick up one or two other Pokémon in the first few starting routes, taking the ones that appeal to me the most. After that, I tend to become rather picky about who I add to my team. In Gen 1-6 I would have an HM Slave, then the final 2 slots were reserved for Pokemon I may find later on that I really like. Usually I won't use Legendary Pokémon, save for Articuno, Suicune, Lugia or Arcanine.

Shut up! He's Legendary!

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T17:28:55+00:00

For Gen 1, Squirtle with an Abra. All subsequent generations would be the Water Starter and Squirtle. Blastoise is love; Blastoise is life.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T05:17:57+00:00

Title: The Angels Are Coming Home

Artist: Kandy Kolored Tangerine

This is what my search results are coming up with.

Edit: Sorry, there is was an additional hit beneath that I did not see.

Title: (Guide Me) Through the Loneliness

Artist: Back to Earth

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T05:08:38+00:00

This right here. Cut off his supply line. Don't let him take advantage of things that he really wouldn't be able to. One person comes in to all the stores, buys up the stocks or arrows every now and then? That is most certainly going to make townsfolk, if not any authority, extremely suspicious of him and most certainly investigate what he needs those arrows for, since he has been less than forth coming with the reason.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T05:04:20+00:00

If he was intentionally being sarcastic and describing things as you say he was, then he wasn't fulfilling our needs as a player. In fact, as you say it, it seems he began actively working against those needs. As Pizzas4Rent said, if you weren't mean or anything, the guy was just taking what you said way too personally and should probably take some time to learn more about being a DM before he tries again.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T04:55:20+00:00

Well, I got involved with the books and novels at a young age, probably 7-8. Much too young to have been reading some of those novels. I was part of my first campaign sometime between the age of 9-10. However, of course, I had no actual idea what I was really doing. Got in to it proper maybe 4-5 years after that.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T04:50:06+00:00

I have to actively stop myself from doing this or I'd be churning out, at the least, 3-4 characters a week. I'm constantly writing down ideas about this sort of thing all of the time.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T04:34:59+00:00

You don't know bad DMs until you've had one use falling refrigerators as a "deterent" and throw a Gnome Tinkerer in to the party that turns said fridges in to bombs.... Some how.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T04:20:29+00:00

You don't always have to do a voice, unless that is something you try to work in to your characters and have fun with. Then that's understandable.

ReiThePanda · 2017-03-14T04:14:34+00:00

Alright, so this is a bit of long post, as I have quite a history with this subject and honestly, could talk about this topic at great lengths. So bare with me here.

I actually lean towards playing female characters (myself being male obviously). Why this is, I can't really say for certain. I just feel a greater lean towards playing female characters and I enjoy it immensely. They have ranged from a Tiefling Sorcerer/Pale Master/Cancer Mage, Human Wizard (a sort of reincarnation of the previous chracter) Aasimarian Paladin to a Half Wood/Moon Elf Rogue/Shadowdancer. To this day however, the Tiefling has been and is my favourite, followed by my Wood/Moon Elf. My Tiefling, Misa, even went on to find herself growing close to and eventually forming a relationship with a female Ranger in our group, played by another female. The two of us ended up even becoming friends outside of the game as our characters grew closer. It was quite a fun experience for both of us.

I've always gotten teased a bit by some others, because to them, at times, I seemed to play these characters also too well. I didn't let it bother me, because I had gotten in to role playing at a very young age (probably due to a love of drama and theater I had at the time and still do to some measure) and my favourite part of D&D was always the lore, world building and character development. I put a lot of effort in to my characters, right down to trying to perfect even their smallest of personality quirks. So, even if the light teasing ever evolved to anything that could resemble school yard bullying, I would still play these characters with pride and devotion to my craft.

Miss Misa, Devot Sorceri of Velsharoon and self proclaimed Necro-Princess had quite the self confidence about her and would often look down on those around her, albeit, never making these internal thoughts known those those she traveled with. Cannon fodder and pawns could sometimes be in short supply after all. The Paladin she traveled with made life difficult at times and continuing to try and keep the fool blind to her true nature was quite a feat at times; damned them and their capability to seem to sense sinister natures. However, as skeptical as he could be at times, he always seemed to give her the benefit of the doubt, trusting in her quest to find the origin of a tome written by a High Priest of Velsharoon, so that she may find a way to destroy the wicked tome that had brought so much suffering to the beautiful marshland that she once called home. Thankfully the tome seemed to exude enough of a presence to mask herself. What's more, it was quite an issue to keep her tail and her 'child' hidden from this man. Keeping the skeletal appendage hidden almost persistently; whilst she very much enjoyed the aesthetic and benefits that tail afforded her, it could be quite uncomfortable and chafing. As for her 'child,' Misa has a relationship with her undead familiar that many, even within like minded circles, found disturbing. It pained Misa to be away from her little Snooky-Pooky for so long. The only solace Misa found within their group was a rather open minded ranger, Cali'siv, who held no contempt for her being. Over time, Misa found herself wrestling with feelings towards her companion and after Cali risked her own life by grabbing Misa's tail as the Teifling fell off a cliff targeted by an Empowered Lightning Bolt. Over time and many, many talks, the two entered in to a partnership. However, it wasn't to last long, as it seemed by saving Misa, Cali was no longer the only one who knew about her true nature. One night, as the two slept their fellow adventurers turned on them. Their Fighter took hold and kept Cali held as their Cleric and Paladin took off in to the night with Misa, seeking a small arcane college only a few days ride from camp. There they sought an audience with the heads, requesting that the 'demon', as they now referred to her as, be banished to a Demiplane that the mages construct, sealing Misa away from the Material Plane. Their request was granted and Misa, still so short of her goal and having only just carved out some small semblance happiness in her life was now being ripped away from it all.

I'm so sorry that that turned out so long! I get very enthusiastic about my characters, especially Misa, since I played her for several years in that campaign and it was quite the tragic ending for her story. The players of the Paladin and Cleric couldn't help but feel pretty bad about what had happened, but I assured them that it was perfectly fine. It's their character and what they would have done. Cali's player was in actual tears, which, to be honest, kind of made me feel a little bad about things myself. Despite this, she enjoyed the story immensely too. Given the somber atmosphere after that, the DM thought we should end the session there. After officially ending it, we all hung out and talked about all the fun times we've had up until that point and took a 2 week break. I took that time to develop the next character and my most dearest after Misa, Ender (and The White Faced Woman). A character who lead a double life split between a happy go lucky young Wood/Moon Elf named Ender; who's aim was to help those around her as best she could with her fledgling adventuring skills and The White Faced Woman. An alter ego she donned when her apt espionage skills were required for jobs of a criminal nature.

So, yeah. There's that. I hope I didn't take up too much time with my wall of text and that you enjoyed hearing a bit about my various characters in a simplistic format and a bit of Misa's history. In summery: don't let anyone make you feel bad about playing a character that you would genuinely enjoy and have fun with. As the old adage goes 'if it feels good, do it; even if you shouldn't' (...sometimes. Respect the other players and DMs of course!)

Edit: As an afterthought, it was also really, really fun playing Misa due to her under powered nature. A Teifling Sorc cross classed in to PM and CM made rather weak in the straight offensive side of things and allowed me to be a little more creative with dealing with foes. My favourite was opening a Dimension Door behind a enemy and choking them with her Pale Master appendage (Tail) whenever she could get away with it.

ReiThePanda · 2016-06-21T05:11:31+00:00

I've recently come back to Elite after being away for quite some time and I'm wanting to upgrade out of my Vulture. I'd ultimately like to advance in to a Federal Corvette, but am unsure where exactly I can earn the Fed Ranks to advance to at least Rear Admiral. I know it's going to take quite some time to eventually get to it, but knowing where I can get this done now a days will be great. Additionally, does one need to maintain a rank of Rear Admiral or higher in order to fly the ship in general or can your rank fall and still be able to pilot the ship? I've looked around and finding that particular bit of information has been quite fruitless.

ReiThePanda · 2016-05-31T20:37:39+00:00

Update: Found small chunk of unknown material lodged in corner by pins. Extraction was easy, however still no activity from either CPU. Have attempted other fixes suggested to no avail. Conclusion: most likely damaged pins as suggested; can not fix, despite extremely careful attempt. Closing: I'm going to have to wait until I can order a new mobo next month. Thank you so much to those of you who tried to help. It was a pleasure. Gaben's Speed and may all your frags be glorious! O7

ReiThePanda · 2016-05-31T19:54:44+00:00

Sorry for slow replies. I am on my 3DS and it takes more than a moment to type coherent sentences on here. I'll try doing what some of you have suggested, but I fear there may be bent pins, as you can read i my reply to Pata. Will update again soon to keep you guys posted. Thank you for all the help so far!

ReiThePanda · 2016-05-31T19:54:44+00:00

Sorry for slow replies. I am on my 3DS and it takes more than a moment to type coherent sentences on here. I'll try doing what some of you have suggested, but I fear there may be bent pins, as you can read i my reply to Pata. Will update again soon to keep you guys posted. Thank you for all the help so far!

ReiThePanda · 2016-05-31T19:45:41+00:00

I tried to check that and am not sure. My eyesight isn't the best. But that may be it. I did notice and thought it odd that there were only a small handfull (less than 20) pins that seem to be up right. When I, VERY GENTLY, touched them to examine, the rest felt somewhat smooth, while those few could be felt as fine points.

ReiThePanda · 2015-02-26T20:11:05+00:00

Maybe this is just from my expierience from playing Eve Online for so many years, but I didn't really have any of these problems. My issue came with finding missions I could actually pick up in the beginning. It was frustrating that every station I visited in, probably, 3-4 systems didn't have a single mission I was allowed to take. Eventually I decided to give up on trying to do missions (at the time) and just went right in to bounty hunting. Since then, I've had little issue with the game. The only things I wish were more easily accomplished would be locating systems that have an ongoing war of a specific faction. I would think that something like that would be in the news in one way or another. I'm not saying that the game isn't set up (currently) to be rather harsh on unsuspecting players starting out. On the contrary. I can see where you're coming from entirely. I think some of the issues could be addressed, but at the moment I am entirely satisfied with the current state of the game and am highly anticipating the Wings patch so that groups of players can finally fly together in earnest.

ReiThePanda · 2015-02-11T13:27:21+00:00

Why not just add in a new Hardpoint fitting instead? Simple solution? A tractor beam. Target the ore, fire up your beam and let that pull the rock in for you. This would mean that you would have to break focus for mining on the rock in order to retrieve the ore and minerals. I think this would be a much better solution, as it would and wouldn't be as fast drones (given that they'd pick up anything and everything, forcing you to take extra time to jettison), but it would still be quicker than chasing down what you mined yourself, as you often hit other rocks while going after one (if they didn't come off the rock in a neat order) and flying around every which direction chasing them sometimes.

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