Tamaranis

I'd say I agree with Zool on your writing in that you leave your readers wondering. This seems like a unique and complex setting, but you only let us see a tiny portion of it. One could infer about exactly what is going on, but it would be nice to see some background, or aftermath, or something.

Belshayou Keldanstorn saw her opportunity to strike as Kokuryuu shifted in the form of a hyena. The olfactory organs of the new form, more sensitive even than those of a dragon, immediately picked up the scent of the blue, but now it would be too late. The physically inferior hyena would be killed, ending the mighty Kokuryuu, and then there would only be Deleo to deal with. The mortals would be accidently crushed during the fighting likely as not. Heeding Kokuryuu's words, the other three members of the party searched for whatever it was she had detected, but none of them saw anything until electrical currents were arcing in and around the blue's mouth in an immediate precursor to attack. In an instinctive and foolish move, Robby attempted to interpose himself between the attacker and her target. He reached out, hoping that perhaps if he placed an arm in the bolt's path it would be conducted through his body rather than the air. Fortunately for him he reacted ever so slightly too slow. Artificial as it was, his body wouldn't have withstood so much current coursing through it. Also fortunately, Kokuryuu reacted faster. A lesser shifter wouldn't have survived, as there was only a few precious instants in which to change, but Kokuryuu had nearly fully adopted her true form in all its glory when the lightning struck her. She shuddered in pain and seemed to half collapse as her muscles locked up in response to the electrical attack, but the natural resilience of her kind prevented her from being killed. Had she fully understood the danger posed by the mortals, Belshayou might have switched her point of aim in an effort to kill one or both of them before they could retaliate. Instead she kept all the power of her attack focussed against Kokuryuu, and while the single bolt wouldn't kill the halfbreed, it would at least ensure that she would be unable to immediately participate in the battle. This time Robby wasn't confident that the two dragons who were seemingly on his side could win the fight unaided. Kokuryuu was still injured from her battle with Bixelinthrix, and had just suffered the full force of the blue dragon's attack. Deleo had also been hurt badly somewhat recently and had just participated in a duel to the death with another dragon. Come to think of it Gyrfalcon didn't seem to have yet recovered from his use of magic, Robby was the only person on their side not starting this fight with a disadvantage. *CRACK* Belshayou had assumed the small man sprinting towards her was mad, and paid him little heed as she expelled the last of her lightning bolt at Kokuryuu, but when he reached her and she dropped her head in order to simply devour him he had somehow managed to slip under her mouth... And then something struck her in the jaw, very hard, hard enough to knock her head upward and away from the little man. It took her a moment to realize the impossible, that the little mortal had somehow struck that blow. Upon realization, however, her pain was immediately replaced with rage.

I can't comment on actual structure or such, because I just can't... Nice poem though. I think I know how you feel...

I was just now overcome by a feeling of how great this place is and felt the necessity to post here. Yeah, I love this place.

Now there's an excellent prologue if there ever was one, but... The other kids are going to make fun of that name.

Oh, now that's just brilliant. At least a little something good came of it all.

There are many many bad things said about AD&D and role playing games in general. I've played AD&D and other role playing games for six years or so now and I've never known anyone to be hurt because of it, excepting a single occasion, but six years ago I was pretty young and a similar conflict could just has easily arisen over something like monopoly. Come to think of it in the last six years I've witnessed far more damaged caused by monopoly than by AD&D RPing is just pure fun. Sometimes people argue over things, but people argue over everything. *note, no offence to young people or anything, It's just that I was less controlled six years ago than I am now.

On note similar to Rune's: It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. Some people might not agree with it, and I know soldiers are only human, but sometimes it feels llike I'm the only person not blindly lashing out at anything to do with armed forces.

You know, you can start an RPG right now, before your application has been processed.

It could be a good exercise in constructive roleplaying for everyone... I'm not exactly sure how we could go about doing this though, other than just starting an RP thread and yelling at people until they join... As for RPing pointers in general, try to watch for what other players are alluding to, and try to go with it to some extent. As for trying to offer tips... (not to say I've always abided by these things in the past) Keep in mind what you know about other people's characters as much as you can when writing their reactions to your own character. A character who is typically silent and brooding won't be the one to invite you to join them on an adventure, a greedy character won't offer you gold, An old archmage or an experienced hero won't be impressed by bluff and bravado (though they might pretend to be), but some one who's hardly set foot outside their home village might be, etc. Remember you're not the only person writing the story. I didn't see it so much at AM and I haven't seen it here, but at... BnG, say, you sometimes get a whole crew of people who are convinced their character is the central focus of the story and everyone else is supporting cast. Try to react to other characters, maybe get involved in one of their personal struggles instead of trying to drag them into one of yours. Don't power up every two minutes... If you've played computer RPGs before think of there being maybe three character "levels" in the game. Enter with a character at level one, two, or three, depending on what suits the character. Special events or just general improvements over time can take you up a level, but you never go past three. The point of most stories is not for the characters to continually become more powerful. The only story where it was the point that I can think of is Dragon Ball Z, and i don't particularly care for it. rambling now... Of course have fun takes precendence over just about everything, the only exception being to respect the other players/writers...

I was always under the impression that dragons didn't spring from the earth, fully formed.

Robby was lying on the ground, flat out on his back, without the slightest consideration taken for comfort or warmth. He didn't actually need to fall asleep, and the night wasn't cold enough to bother him. As he stared at the stars, he didn't recognize a single constellation. The entire Leptomisan pantheon was missing. This island must have been very far from where he started out, probably on the other side of the world. Deleo went for a fly, and Kokuryuu paced about. Gyrfalcon seemed to be the only one doing any sleeping, and Robby had his doubts. There was a sense about Gyrfalcon that implied he was completely aware of his surroundings, and thus probably Kokuryuu's pacing, however quiet it might be. It didn't bother Robby to wait for living things to sleep, it was an unavoidable necessity. If they didn't sleep they became lethargic, and less capable in almost every aspect. However, it seemed foolish that they were wasting the time they should be spending sleeping. This island wasn't a friendly place, and if violence with other dragons errupted again he didn't want the dragons on his side sleepy. "Can't sleep, Kokuryuu?" Robby asked. "I'm thinking" The dragoness responded. Robby was somewhat surprised that her voice didn't contain the derision he'd started to think was characteristic. "Fair enough," The thoughts of living things often prevented them from sleeping, Robby had learned, sometimes to an unhealthy extent. There was little help for it, unless their minds could somehow be put at ease, and Robby didn't exactly feel comfortable trying to put a dragon's mind at ease just yet. Saying the wrong thing was a big enough risk with humans. Perhaps dragons could go for extended periods without sleep anyway...

School sucks. It really does. I graduated highschool nearly two years ago, and despite everyone's predictions to the contrary, my opinion of it hasn't changed much. There's a poem I vaguely remember that this brought to mind, it went something like I woke up one Tuesday morning To the sound of a Chainsaw Cutting off my left Leg Why did I choose Tuesday, or my left leg I don't know But some one will probably analyize this and come up with a reason That's not exactly right... I actually encountered that poem in school, and I liked it because I felt it supported my argument that I shouldn't be being forced to analyize poetry against my will. Anyway, its not really surprising that you should be taught something that's outright wrong at school, but be careful where you say things like that.

I'm a little off topic now... but really, just join. RP threads are usually just sort of "for fun" anyway. Unless the story is at a particularly crucial point you can't actually do any damage to it. Back on the topic of AD&D... I actually got started when I mentioned it to some friends who thought it would be a good idea to play, and we got some stuff and just sorta played. I think the first adventure we went on was a short one published by TSR, then after that whoever would DM came up with all original stuff. DMing isn't really THAT hard, but you've got to be ready for players that don't do what you expect them to. You could have a nice ruin all ready for the players to explore, but they might not go there. One of their characters might hate lizard men and the party might go and hunt lizard men instead. You could just throw a black dragon at them so they leave the swamp, but some one might take it into their head to slay the dragon... and so on.

That's kinda intersesting... I'm guessing it was just a symbolic thing. The author was probably trying to take a very aggressive stance, because nothing else would serve. Or maybe it was just a clever pun? History before that time was mostly written by men, and since this was a sort of a history written by a woman it might have just seemed like a good title...

The OOC origin of Tamaranis is such that he's a somewhat typical evil, poweful, wizard who lives in a tower somewhere... The specifics of his IC history probably aren't mirrored too often, but something that is perhaps unique is that it is almost impossible for him to become angry. From what I've seen most evil characters are capable of a sort of great and terrible anger which often drives them to do terrible things. When Tamaranis does terrible things it is because he has calmly decided they're in his own best interest. Also most characters, when angry, become several times more deadly and dangerous. In theory, if Tamaranis were to become enraged, it would make him less deadly. He is used to his mind being in perfect order, and wouldn't be able to use his powers to their full extent if it were otherwise.

What's wrong with being crazy? Well there is this: In a recent RP session most of the party was travelling on a track suspended high above a pool of acid. Another party member who was supposed to be watching the entrance fashioned his armour into a sort of slide, and came rocketing towards the rest of the party down the track... Myself to the GM: How easy would it be to just sorta hop over him as he passes Crazy Player to no one in particular: I start flailing my legs in the air! Myself to GM: Is my ice spell powerfull enough to freeze him to the tracks, or create a wall of ice, or stop him in any way? GM: No, not really. Myself: Okay then, is it poweful enough to make him fall off? GM: Yeah, you can do that Myself: Okay, I ice the tracks. GM to Crazy Player: The tracks suddenly get really icy, as you come around a turn you slip and fall to your doom. And so being crazy sometimes lands you in a pool of acid.

Y'know... When no one could take down Rhivannes in the last one, I suggested to Sokhar "maybe you should just kick him in the groin". This just goes to show that if you want to beat a berserked giant, that is in fact how you go about doing it... ... I dunno

"No, no, no. That red light means its off"

This one is real, apparently. And it wasn't suicide either. "That must be one hell of an experience, dying I mean."

"Don't you wanna hear my last words?" "Victory is life."

How is that fair to all the people who legitimately worked off their weenie awards? It's like taking twenty criminals, punishing a dozen or so, then letting the rest run free... It's just not fair!

"Well, one way or another, at least I'll die having fought a dragon..." Robby muttered, clenching his fists. "Don't bother trying to protect me from the poison," He told Deleo, "I can deal with it." The Green's claws and sheer bulk would be an entirely different matter. Robby ran, seperating himself from Deleo, trying to find a position he could attack the green from. The dragon saw him, certainly, but judging from what he'd seen so far, its pride would lead it to ignore him and focus on Deleo. Robby wasn't entirely sure if that would be a mistake or not, he didn't know exactly how much he'd be able to hurt a dragon, if at all. OOC: hey, at least it's a post!

Fighting desperately, Tamaranis lands several telling blows against various assignments, and real life retreats. It does not go far however, just out of sight it lurks. Waiting. My old rank was Weenie Awardee, and for a custom title... I'll get back to you on that.