Mardrax

Oblivion so blindy chased by everyone, afrought with haste Running t'wards their doom with ire drowning out every desire

The drug is called Valkyr, actually, after the valkyries But yeah, that sums up the story of the first game. I've yet to see that movie, just because I loved the games, but I'm highly doubtful as to wether it can live up to anything, even with having played the games through a dozen times. Movified games just don't seem to work

1) Name of Female Pennite - Appy 2) An Object - umbrella 3) Verb, ending in “ing” - raining 4) Adverb - torrentially 5) Noun - sea 6) Adjective - wet 7) A Number - pi Name of Male Pennite - Peredhil 9) Adverb - illustratively 10) Adjective - keen 11) Type of Laugh - snigger 12) Adjective - maniacal 13) Adverb - haughtily 14) Plural Noun - sports trophies 15) Part of Body - ischial bone 16) Adverb - skippily 17) A Color - red 18) Verb, Past Tense - jumped 19) Plural Noun - banananas 20) Verb - cook

The rat in black fled across the verses and the gunslinger followed. An allegory of stories ran together in his mind, forming into fragmented structures only his weathered mind would ever be able to form into a whole. It would make one wonder if the world moving on might have been a good thing. It would make one wonder if the sandblasted figure remembered the face of his father. It would make one force one's brain into seeing the pattern, into enforcing what the human mind thinks of as logic, onto something so ephemeral as the gunslinger's mind, like seeing faces in the planks, like seeing animals in the clouds. But he who seeks sense with his brain has forgotten the face of his father.

Welcome back Squeaker and Tralla Tralla and Squeaker? Squalla? Treaker? Streaker! http://www.themightypen.net/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif *extends lame inactivity excuse for himself as well, and copies it for Appy*

He sat there rowing his imaginary boat all the way across the Channel or a mile or two anyway A little blonde boy bracers, spectacles and all Sweat gleaming on his face Peering at the screen ahead Counting his time -or was it counted for him? "Just 15", he told me "Almost through highschool" "So what'cha doin' here?" "Beats lying in bed all day" He grimaced for half a second as his oars pushed back the thousandth time He sat there, exercising smiling, not a care in the world Rowing with a sarcoma not an eighth of an inch from good old C3 A cord more fragile than silver -more vital- shrugged away by one a decade my junior Relaxing the pull, he stood wiped his forehead with a towel and walked away. "So see ya later!" I hope so Kid, I hope so ------------------------- And another day of seeing applied relativism. Respect. Nothing but deep, deep respect. Feedback as always welcomed. And yeah, I don't show my face around here quite enough anymore (to my liking anyway ) PS, could someone please fix the missing H in the title? [Fixed]

Aww, see what happens when you look away for a second?

Oooh... *gathers self* If you like what Weiss & Hickman have done with Dragonlance, go try out the Death's Gate cycle. Completely different (non TSR) setting, but great stuff, all 7 parts of it. To keep to 'tabletop-novels', I've finished the War of the Spider Queen series last year, which was a definite winner. A 6 book series set up by R.A. Salvatore but with each book written by a separate, relatively unknown author. To switch from the tabletop genre, I can really recommend just about anything by Tad Williams. Memory, Sorrow & Thorn is a great 'classic fantasy' series, and if you can stand a hint of sci-fi mixed in, Otherland is awesome. I've just finished reading Shadowmarch, and am waiting for the sequel to be released paperback to buy it, so here's to hoping it can match the first. For an even larger twist to the fantasy thing, I'd really suggest Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which I'd consider the biggest 'hole' on this page so far. It's... well... saying it's everything I've ever looked for in a fantasy book might be stretching it, but it goes a long way.

Enjoy yourself

Nick couldn't make it back to Santa's old stand fast enough. He'd thanked every single one of his gym classes while on the way there, not making a bigger flaw than leaving a trail of candy canes behind him while dodging all sorts of dropped toys on the floor. Stupid costume. He slammed the "Personnel only" door behind him, clutching his stomach. The lingering smell of smoke was the drop to flood his bucket. He ducked inside a stall, was on his knees a moment later and emptied the 'bucket' out. Every time he'd seen just a tiny hint of blood, he'd had a band aid on it a moment later. He'd never even seen someone else's. The aisle 6 bloodbath was just too much. He emerged from the stall some minutes later, heading straight for the mirror. The boy that looked back at him looked like a cross between Jack Skellington and a Who. After using some toilet paper to wipe his face clean, and flushing, he staggered back out of the "Personnel only" door.

Nick Degras, 10 Fulltime student at what Daddy calls "The Best School In Town", where "Best" probably means "Most Expensive". Fulltime son of Mommy and Daddy. Mommy is a friend of the store's company's wife. Daddy heads a toy production company. This year, like every year since Nick could walk, Mommy has hoisted him into a freshly tailored green-and-red outfit with matching head, and ears to boot to take up a role beside Santa for some time. He wears his uniform with pride and joy.

I wouldn't be able to have any relationship even relating to friendship with someone if I feel that for some reason I can't trust that person in word, deed, and most likely both. In general, I trust people until they give me reason to do otherwise. Trust on the level of blind faith I could have, have had even, but it's rare to the extreme.

Very nicely written indeed So right, a song, so I'll look at it as such. The chorus flows well together with the verses, rhythmwise. I'd just consider making the "eye" a plural in both cases. That'd make for a better rhyme with the "lies", and the rythm I'd sing this with asks for a longer tone there. It might also make for an abundance of "s" sounds in the second half, which you'll probably either love or hate Judging by the last lines of the first verse, you don't seem to mind much You might also consider tossing an extra "Hurricane" line in, immediately after the "eye"s. As for the verses, the second one works perfectly as far as the rythm goes. The first however, gets a bit awkward in places. The "you gained ...", "and warmed ..." and "All the thoughts ..." lines really jar me rhythmically. Not too big problems on the whole, but especially the latter feels awkward. The two lines after seem to ask for seem to ask for an extra syllable in that line, so it would read at the same rhythm as the "And all the ..." line. Also, the second line sounds a tad one the cliché side. You might want to reconsider it. I'd suggest something in the way of "You gathered your powers". That would also make it connect to the "to a place ..." line rhythmically. For me anyway. Rhythm, especially in song, is a highly personal thing, of course, so feel free to disregard stuff as you wish All in all, solid indeed. Good stuff.

I know that pain Rev, you're not the only one pressed for time :\ It's as much of a hint as you want it to be, I was just summarising for Salinye

I could do the bookkeeping, no prob. Can't guarantee having time available to manage other stuff though. Rev has offered to start a poetry class some time back but has gotten distracted from it since. No other initiatives on that part since then. ...Talk about being quick

Dying embers have started forest fires before Salinye. I for one would love to join in on a carnival if I could find the time for it. Deg, the term was taken from Archmage (Which is a game that has brought many from this group together but that has sadly died years back, you'll find references to it throughout the forums if you know what to look for) which means "money" in German, Dutch and possibly other germanic languages. You're among an army of paupers

By all means, take your time. Some people leave writing lying for months, even years before going for that next edit. You're not working on a deadline here

The current Not Chosen default is fine, just let it always show About that though, how about making it show as: Preferred feedback: story: x poem: x To counter it taking up 4 lines as it does now and hence improving the look somewhat as well. Also, while minimising clutter, it might also just show a "preferred feedback:" if story and poem entries are the same, or just add a "general feedback level" pulldown which does that, if the user so desires. Voted to keep just about everything other than Member No. Geld and guild image. As they stand, carnivals seem a thing of the past. No use letting relics linger. Unless carnivals get resurrected again, of course, so that I may actually live to see one Member No I see no point for, other than perhaps giving a view on where people stand in the community from a chronological standpoint, which Joined Date does a far better job at as far as I'm concerned. Guild image. Hard one. First from a purely functional standpoint. What does it do (that I can think of(in my 1 AM state of mind))? -Indicating a guildleader has clear purpose. This is whom every member can walk up to with whatever guild related business. Also, it's a nice way to show someone is willing to go the extra mile for the community. -Indicating a guildmember. --Shows the leader his "underlings". Not necessary. A sticky in the guild's section will do a better job of keeping a list of members, and would give less clutter on the rest of the forum. --Shows the guild to the people, as a living thing, other than just a little (hidden) niche in the forum. Good. Issues with the guild image in a single line: It's a big piece of clutter in a crowded space that completely stings with the surrounding clutter and otherwise the interface of the forum, in being an image (among text) that doesn't adhere to our forum's style. Further comment: The guilds; They gathered dust, were discussed to the point of fatigue, were dusted off and descended, we're awed and oh!'ed and gathered dust again since. *rueful sigh* On other notes, the things to keep: Group, keep for reasons Pat mentioned. Posts gives a nice indication of how active this person is within the community. Joined gives a nice indication of where this person stands within the community from a purely chronological standpoint. Both give reason for new people to pinpoint people whom they could ask certain questions they might want answered in private. They raise figureheads, so to speak, and it's always good to have a few sticking out of the mass. Location, when filled out truthfully, may give community members things in common outside of writing and may even cause them to look eachother up. A good thing, as I know a lot of us would acknowledge. Also, it may bring a better sense of knowing someone, just knowing something as basic as a home base about him, which helps the community be more of a community, especially for new joiners, but undoubtedly for the older ones as well, especially since some of us seem eternally on the move Well, that's my 2 cents.

It's good to see you back, though I don't think I was even around yet when you were last active

Isn't acting what we're all born to do anyway? A stage too wide and deep to even see the play, as some song says, or even old Bill Shakey in some way, I do seem to remember.

"Hiding something? She?" Rachel looked at the miserable piece of woman that was left of Kelly from her barstool perch. "More drunk than I've seen any adult in my days, and for someone in my line of work, that means something. Scared out of whatever wits she'd normally have left after the stupor. Don't you dare fling accusations at people kid. Just because you've sprouted the first hair on your chest doesn't mean you've seen the world, honey. Or how it works. This isn't stress baby, it's terror. You know, it's sad there always has to be someone like you. Someone to toss the blame as far away from themselves as they can get it. Well kid, I'm not falling for it. The only one I've ever heard accuse someone that blatantly was my brother, when my mom found some cookies missing from the jar. Shame I have a wheat allergy. Shame he forgot about it, and it's the same here. Shame you forgot people who get themselves pissed all the up to throwing out their stomach's contents don't stab icepicks in other people's backs. A lot of barf, but no bite, as my mom used to say. You, however, with your tablejumping antics, with your oh-so-witty comments to a woman twice your age, don't seem the slightest bit affected by this whole thing. And all things considered, who of the three of us has the most to gain out of this situation? Mister messenger boy. I bet you've never even worm a suit, other than a prom rental. But it stings, doesn't it? The question is, what stings more? The jealousy? Or a good stab in the back? A push maybe? Off a twelve foot balcony? Or the words that just left your mouth? As a messenger you should know just how much effect your words can have. You disgust me kid, and I'm glad even I was a better person at your age." Rachel downed what was left of her wineglass in a single gulp and turned to order a new one. Bitter words needed washing down. (OOC: vote for Jimmy / Cryptomancer)

After all this, the killer was still walking among them. Rachel and one other had pointed him out from the crowd. The other was dead now. An all too Basic Instinct cliché. Stabbed in the wrong place of course, but you couldn't leave it to a man do a woman's job. Rachel'd always loved that film. Took her away from bad moods after bad clients. And he'd just managed to mess it up. Then again, he was a man in drag. -Half-man, half-woman, entirely coward, obviously.- But still a major threat to her. A stab in the back was still a stab, cowardly or not. And she was still the only other one who'd spoken against him. Rachel sat down on a barstool in a not too crowded section of the bar and started a conversation with a bartender. Her early years had taught her there was no place safer than clearly in sight. (OOC: accusing Dan Gray / Mithrandin)

always

Confusion galore!

Yes, there should definitely be one. If the only concern is lack of space, there are several things I could think of that would lose in the order of preference. Member No., geld (how long is it since we've even had a carnival? none during my days here anyway) and guild membership graphics, to be specific. I voted to give the user some words to fill in himself, as I don't think that would get the level (or lack thereof, rather) of serious attention that the "From" field tends to get. Otherwise, a little pull down with things to select from might be fine as well. Graphics I'm very wary of, since they eat up space, both physical and in terms of bandwith. And I can't think of good, non-cryptic icons anyway. Just a level 1 through 5 would be a no-go I'd think, as new people wouldn't have a clue what's meant by it. People in general don't mind looking something up, but too much is too much, and if we can limit it, why wouldn't we? About defaults, how about a simple "not chosen yet"? Might provide a stimulus for people to use it.