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Messages - LightlyFrosted

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1
Development Journals and Discussion / Songs of Experience
« on: April 18, 2017, 12:53:24 am »
Clouds of acrid smoke surround the tinking section of the Hall of Reconstruction, as strained machinery and coal-fired forges wind wire and belch steam, showering the area in sparks, and making a general nuisance of themselves.  Despite this, a rough but clearly practiced voice is audible above the cacophany."In time gone by, in sacred halls,
The heroes heard the dragon calls,
And faced the fire and the flood,
And thus was fought the war of Blood.

And heroes fell to chance and blade,
Despite the courage some displayed,
All with their feet of clay, and flaws,
For not all monsters fight with claws.

And we grew old, as ages turned,
And fat on meat and gold we earned,
And heroes rose, but different now,
As circumstances would allow.But we're no safer now, than then,
Though we are different maids and men,
In dire straits are blades still drawn,
Did we feel safe, for Blood was gone?

And whether or not it is fair,
We must now beard the beast in lair,
For dragons stir from slumber old,
And men are sold in chains for gold.

Rise up you heroes, while you may,
And make this now your age, your day,
If you break faith with us gone by,
Then ask for what did heroes die?"

The song ends, and as the eye-watering smoke clears, the singer is gone, with a flash of light and the telltail 'pop' of arcane teleportation, there is little to prove the singer was there at all.
The following users thanked this post: silverblades

2
Artificers and arcanists sought for insight on large infrastructure project with the goal of securing Leringard Harbour against invasion or dragon attack.Tower Academy faculty in particular sought.Contact T. Keel, Leringard, for more details.*Beneath, a wax seal of a crossed wand and sword, surrounded by a laurel*
The following users thanked this post: miltonyorkcastle, Lance Stargazer

3
Introduce Yourself / It's me! Again.
« on: April 08, 2017, 11:47:13 pm »
Just figured I'd drop back in and see how the old place was going, and see about picking up somewhat where I left off!  Don't know if anyone recalls me all that well, but it's good to be back visiting at least!
The following users thanked this post: miltonyorkcastle, Acacea, cbnicholson, davidhoff, willhoff

4
Poetic License / Elijah Stick, Agent of the Twilight Society
« on: January 27, 2010, 12:35:21 am »
The nights are cold and dark, the wind howls, and until quite recently (in a sense), the sun never shone, but was concealed behind a bilious black cloud of volcanic ash.  Times are lean, and cheer is often far from the minds of those who have to work for a living.  Even as the world rebuilds itself, it tells comforting stories.

Stories of adventure!  Stories of Derring-Do!  Stories of a world ruled by secret societies and adventure!  (Poorly.)  Stories of...

ELIJAH STICK!  AGENT OF THE TWILIGHT SOCIETY!


Hark, for the bard shall soon begin to spin his tale..

((For complete clarity: this is a work of utter fan-fiction.  None of this should be taken as anything in-game, and this is just my attempt to mimic the style of a penny dreadful.  Feedback via PM, if sent, will be rewarded with nice thoughts and pie.  Pie not guaranteed.))
The following users thanked this post: RollinsCat

5
Poetic License / That's Layo! (A song.)
« on: January 05, 2010, 02:22:56 am »
*The crowd is chattering as the musicians - a group of archers on the strings (what with their skill with the bow), a group of fighters on percussion (because hitting things with other things is their schtick), a group of Toranites on brass (because they can occasionally be blowhards.. *innocently*), and a group of druids on woodwinds (because..  well..  wood.  And wind, for that matter) - take their seats.  A wizard wearing black robes made from malar hide, complete with the panther's slender tail, and a white tunic comes out with a slender wand in hand.  Resplendant in his tux with tails, he taps the podium, and begins to play.  The bardic vocalists begin to sing..*

When you wander across continents,
To fetch apples for a pie;
No self-preservation sense,
Just respawning if you die;
With your armour dinged with many dents,
And a twinkle in your eye;
And you then recall just why, my gents,  ("And ladies!" interposes one halfling bardess..  the crowd laughs.)
You first gave Layo a try!

Whether tanning hides,
Or slaying orcs,
Or finding old
Rusty pitchforks,
Or reinventing
Gnomish sporks,
Or whatever else you do...

As you gather treasure,
Gems and gold,
Or face those villains,
Brave and bold,
Or defeating some
Slime, ooze, or mold,
We put forward this as true...

That's Layonara!  Layonara!  Layonara!
Through and through!

*A bow.  Thundrous applause.  Enterprising food crafters sell slices of apple pie to the crowd, and are mobbed with a veritable swarm of halflings.  Much like pirrahna can skeletonize a cow in under a minute, the pie seems to vanish all but instantaneously, leaving the vendors bewhildered, and the poorer for the loss of pie.  Alas.  Now they have to walk halfway across the world if they want to make another...*
The following users thanked this post: EdTheKet, lonnarin, Serissa, cbnicholson, Kenderfriend, Link092, geloooo, RollinsCat

6
Rumour Has It / A Playbill is Posted
« on: November 21, 2008, 02:57:17 pm »
By the Permiffion of His Excellency

The Black Cat Players
Are Pleased to Present:

The Humerouf Tale of Lord Froffenjay
A Comedic Play in Three Acts
Complete With Clowns and Performing Dog

A WORLD PREMIERE by Playwright DARVIAN ASHGROVE!

To Be Prefented in the City of Port Hempftead
In the Month to Come!

CHEER! At the heroism of Forthright, Our Hero, Defeating Froffenjay's Wicked schemes!
JEER! At Froffenjay's ill-begotten wicked plans!
BEER! Made available for purchase thanks to our friends at the Scamp's Mug
The following users thanked this post: lonnarin, Stephen_Zuckerman, Kenderfriend

7
Just for Fun / A Wizard's Musings
« on: September 11, 2008, 01:30:40 am »
Extracted from the journal of a prominent wizard who will remain nameless, here are some useful hints, written, it would seem, as notes for treatises or dialogues, for those who must deal with spellcasters on a day to day basis, occasionally, or at all...

On the Difference Between Wizards And Dragons

"In what way," asks the young adventurer, "Is a wizard different from a dragon?  Scales and fangs and tails and wings aside, they both may have massive strength (the wizard aided by magic, the dragon having it come naturally), they both use magic to some degree of effectiveness, and they both can project some form of elemental damage - the dragon with a breath weapon, the wizard using a fireball spell, or an acid sheathe, or whatnot."

Questions like these simply show the lack of the young adventurer's understanding about how both wizards or dragons work.  Indeed, the role of any upstanding wizard is to instruct, or inform, whereas many dragons spend a good deal of time eating.  If you do not think this sufficient difference, consider this.

If you have just cheeked a dragon, the dragon may well eat you.  If you have just cheeked wizard, the more rambunctious mage may cast a slaying spell, or convert you into a pile of ashes, or perhaps skip the middle man, and simply turn you into a toad.

Either way, you are no longer a cheeky young adventurer.  In this way, dragons and wizards are very much the same.  However, the difference is this.

Regardless of the fact that you have just cheeked the dragon, it may well have just eaten you because it was hungry.  The wizard, on the other hand, has doubtless performed his or her action in order to instruct you.  Or perhaps those around you.  At the very least, your next of kin will think twice about cheeking a wizard in the future.

What?  You disagree?

How well do you like the taste of flies?
The following users thanked this post: Serissa, Stephen_Zuckerman, Nehetsrev

8
Just for Fun / Monsters you WON'T be seeing in Layo anytime soon...
« on: September 02, 2008, 11:29:07 am »
After I posted some spells that got cut from Bioware's Neverwinter Nights to the amusement of some, my source on all things nixed by the Bioware execs mysteriously dried up.  Recently, it's been in contact again, so here are a few monsters you won't be seeing anytime soon...

1.  Garden Slaad:  Made up principally of lettuce, this extra-planar creature was cut from Hordes of the Underdark due to some complaints that the magical item 'Decanter of Ranch Dressing' had also been cut.

2.  Dire LOLcat:  Remarkably prescient about how irritating the meme was going to be, Bioware pulled the plug on this monster concept after it got stuck on 'I Can Has Critical Hitz?"

3.  Plutonium Dragon:  The most powerful possible metallic dragon, it's a pity that this monster got pulled.  I'm sure it would have been the basis for some new, clear adventures...

4.  Heckhounds:  Like hellhounds, but less so.

5.  Grassy Gnolls:  A truly deadly foe, capable of ranged sneak attacks, these creatures were the bane of elected officials everywhere.  Bioware yanked them because the conspiracy theorists saw it coming.

6.  Ketchup Golem:  Easy to slay (particularly with +5 french fries of deliciousness), but you can never get the stain out if it hits you.

7.  Snake Elementals:  An elemental plane of snakes?  Snakes on a plane!  Bioware just couldn't get Samuel L. Jackson to record the monster's sound-bites cheaply, and the cost just addered up.

8.  Abominable Sno-Cones:  'Yeti' had already taken up the slot of 'irritating winter-terrain creature', and taking these beasts into warmer climates meant that they melted all down your hand into a sticky mess.  Sno cone?  Sno way.

9.  Groper:  A variation on the traditional D&D monster the 'Roper', this one just goosed adventurers as they walked by.  It was abandoned for being 'More creepy than frightening.'

10.  Bacardi 151 (tm) Zombie:  About the only type of zombie that Bioware FAILED to include, this was pulled from the pallet after it was discovered that the people 'designing' them had been spending the budgeted money on drinking them instead.
The following users thanked this post: Kethryc, Thak, darkstorme, Lareth

9
Just for Fun / Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned from Layo
« on: January 15, 2008, 08:18:46 pm »
(With apologies to Robert Fulghum)

~Violence Never solves anything~
- Those kobolds will always just get another stick.  Monsters respawn, and everyone else goes back to their bindstone. -

~Don't Talk to Strangers.  At Least the ones who refuse to remove their hoods.~
- They're evil.  Four times out of five. -

~If things seem too good to be true, they probably are.~
- Gee, I get ALL THAT GOLD, and all I have to do is beat up a couple of goblins?  Sweet! -

~Good things come in small packages.~
- Halflings, gnomes, and dwarfs can be really fun to RP with, when they're not trying to chop your kneecaps off. -

~Money can't buy happiness.~
- It can buy platinum full-plate and mithril swords however.  Ask yourself how much happiness is worth. -

~With age comes wisdom and experience.~
- See that old man over there?  He's a level thirty barbarian.  SURE he's a tailor, but all the best tailors tend to be tougher than all of the sailors in the Docks -

~Pie is good for you.~
- Insufficient quantities of pie may lead to reduced attack and damage rolls.  You do the math. -
The following users thanked this post: lonnarin, Marswipp, Serissa, Thak, Stephen_Zuckerman, darkstorme, Nehetsrev

10
Just for Fun / Spells You Won't Likely See
« on: September 09, 2007, 02:34:11 am »
Some spells made it into NWN.  Generally, these are combat spells, but there are a few utility spells that made the cut.  Other spells didn't make the cut, because there was no good way to express their game mechanic - spells like 'Speak with Dead'.  Besides, it'd ruin a number of the murder plots.  And then there are some spells that are just too gosh-darned silly to make it in.

These are the third category.

1.  Isaac's Greater Whoopie Cushion  - Good for prankster mages, bad when in a temple of one of the more poorly-humoured gods.

2.  Chain Lightning-Letter - Take 1d6 electrical damage/caster level, and pass this spell on to ten of your closest friends and relations.  Do not break the chain.  Bob the orc broke the chain and got incinerated.  Or maybe it was the other way around.

3.  True Scent - Originally slated to be included, but made superfluous by 'True Sight'.

4.  Bigby's Crushing Tactical Nuke - Also originally slated for inclusion, but someone complained that casters were overpowered.  Plus, magical fallout is nasty.

5.  Tenser's Bandage - Good for sprains.  But more of a cleric thing.

6.  Tenser's Fermentation - Someone decided that alcohol plus the ability to rend asunder the very fabric of the universe was a bad idea.  Who knew?  (Particularly in conjunction with #4)

7.  Senior Moment - Like cloud of bewilderment, except..  um..  I can't actually remember the difference.  Back in the day, we had more clearly defined jokes...

8.  Baleful Polymorph - Because the ability to turn other PC's into squirrels doesn't actually mean never having to say you're sorry.

9.  Power Word: Play Online Fantasy Roleplaying Game - Bioware hates recursive spells.

10.  Bigby's Impolite Gesture - Because even if that oxen-herder DID cut you off, this is a FAMILY game.
The following users thanked this post: Tobias, lonnarin, darkstorme, ShiffDrgnhrt

11
Good evening - or, whene'er you should happen to read this, be it morning (ye gads!), afternoon, night, or some other time that defies description.

What to say, what to say...

Well, while I have a number of wryly, wittily, or cynically named facades behind which I conceal myself, my name is Drew - or, if you're feeling particularly formal, 'Andrew'.

There's not too much of any great interest about me - I'm currently a university student, living not far from Toronto Ontario and studying theatre.  My current renting situation disallows pets, so to make up for it, I coddle pet projects, the most recent of which being a translation of 'Snakes on a Plane' into musical format.  I've yet to see the movie, but really, do I have to?  Snakes.  Plane.  Bases are covered, no?

Let's see...  I amuse myself with various song and story writing endeavours, most often when I shouldn't (i.e. should be writing something more important, like an essay).  Still, the work gets done, I hand it in, and everyone's happy.  More or less.  Until I get the grade back, at least.

I've been an active D&D gamer since the fifth grade.  In that time, I've played or DM'ed 15 seperate campaigns (if some of them could even earn that title), and I have a couple of Living Greyhawk characters of whom I'm extremely proud, and who are levelling quite nicely.  I have an affection for spell-tossers, but it's expanded to include various rogues and other ne'er-do-wells, as well as the occasional fighter.  The only two character classes I've NEVER played in an F2F game are paladin and barbarian, both for personal reasons.  Theoretically I'm still playing the first campaign that I ever played in, but as it's progressing at one two-or-three-hour-gaming-session per annum, I expect it'll be some time before we hit level three.

I'm a comic-book junkie of sorts, and a fair bit of a geek.  I am naturally predisposed to entropy and clutter, and much as I may make valiant efforts to the contrary, this seems to be the general state of my possessions and effects.  My reading tastes are broad and varied, but range from soft to hard fantasy, science fiction, mystery novels, and most combinations thereof, with tenative toe-touches into other genres in the occasions that I feel both adventurous and bold.

I'm somewhat of an eclectic music-listener, with a liking for everything from metal to classical, and I'm a classical musician, trained in both the piano and violin.  Of course, I also play the electric bass, so my rock and roll is not fully gone, mmm?

In the spare time I have when not sitting in my room feverishly hoping my character will stabilise from the grievous wounds he's sustained in combat - AGAIN - I'm usually found at the gym.  Or pool.  Or possibly the library.  Okay, so there's no one usual hang-out for me.

I may expand upon this pending anyone interested enough to ask for more, but for now it's late, I'm tired, and this is long enough for now.
The following users thanked this post: Thak, Stephen_Zuckerman

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