Adventurers Fanmail for Aug/Sep 2004
published Friday 28 January 2005
From: Eric Jensen
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004
Subject: Current story arc
I just sent an email a few weeks ago complaining about how weak the
current portal hopping story arc was. But this twist is just great!
The escape opportunity almost happened too soon. Of course, he might
not escape... This is really good drama; we have no idea what could
happen next. I get the impression this isn't even remotely scripted and
that you are winging it entirely. If not, well you fooled at least one
reader!
...Eric Jensen (Chicago)
Well, by now you know how it turned out...but I will also say that
we haven't seen the last of the Hold of the Sea Princes.
From: Seth Roark
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004
Subject: The New Adventures of the Adventurers
1.) Mongo should end up cooking in the Green Dragon Inn.
2.) Marvel gave us Wolverine's origin. If you do end
up giving up Peldor's, please make it worthwile.
3.) Could the Lawful Neutral Ranger Belphanior cross
our "crazy" elf's path once again?
4.) Give us some sort of Peldor action. Maybe the
younger members of the Thieves' Guild are growing
'insolent' towards him, since he a businessman and
doesn't risk his life anymore. If I remember
correctly Nerof Gasgal, Greyhwak's mayor, left the
Thieving business due to a fear of heights. Rumors
could circulate about Peldor developing a phobia.
5.) In #001 Rob intorduced himself as a healer and an
inventor. Is he ever going to invent anything?
Perhaps something to aid his troops at the
temple/fortress. Especially since we know the Orcish
forces will someday rise and I forsee a battle there.
*wink*
6.) Could Krug's body perhaps been turned into undead?
Just to freak out an original party member at some point
perhaps.
7.) Let's see someone build an army and use it. Rob
has a fortress, but he's never been a big player
before. Maybe against the orcs of teh Pomarj he will.
How about Mongo repopulating Greyspire if the Marucs
and his troops are departed? Allyindar and Lyra could
put in some hefty wards, and the dwarf would have
little problem raising an army. Maybe not of the same
scale, but still formidable.
8.) What about running across the Mad mage of Celene, Lunok?
9.) Back to point #7, Belphanior has found a LOT of sutff,
like all the magical plate mail. He could form a much larger,
core group of warriors for an army to take back his town/area,
or perhaps bitch slap the Sea Princes once and for all.
Especially if he ends up there...
Anyway, you're doing a great job keep it up!
- Seth A. Roark
1) Mongo might do that if he ever settled down. 2) I've addressed
this many times before; the bottom line is that nothing I could write would do
it justice, thus I won't do it. 3) Doubtful. 4) I need to write some kind of
Peldor arc, I just haven't done it yet. 5) Maybe. 6) No. 7) Wait until the
Greyhawk Wars for this. 8) Doubtful. 9) I hope to soon complete an inventory
of all Belphanior's items.
From: john johnsson
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004
Subject: Nenya's and Deryck's school of adventure
School for warriors and wizards!
Felicia and Eduardo and others???
Kinda like hogwart in Harry Potter. :)
Urrrrgh.
From: Basil Considine
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004
Subject: Fanmail
Thomas-
It's been awhile since I've written you some fanmail, but the
recent posting inspired me. Ever since I discovered your writings many
years ago, I've been thoroughly engrossed. Even during the drought
periods when you've taken breaks (or, horrors, announced your
retirement from writing about the Adventurers!), I find myself leafing
back to the website to read through the old episodes, with the added
bonus of being pleasantly surprised when you've started posting
again. Now, every Friday, I have a routine of sitting down to dinner
and popping out the laptop to read the latest episode. You have
given me countless hours of enjoyment.
The current story arcs involving Belphanior and the Greyspire
investigation have definitely piqued my interest. Having Belphanior,
the ultimate badass whose modus operandi is kicking ass and taking
heads, brought down under someone's heel is definitely different and
a bit of a role reversal. Especially after the attack on Xusia's
fortress
and other events showcasing Greyspire's armies, it definitely makes
you edgy to think about what could have just wiped them off the face
of the fortress...
Many thanks for your writings. You have a very devoted reader in me...
Glad you like them! I sometimes wish I could give the readers more
than one episode a week, but I'm just too busy.
From: Loren Haarsma
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004
Subject: Adventurers fan mail
I've been reading your Adventurers series for many years now.
I appreciate the effort and talent that you put into writing
them. The humor, the action, and the plots combine to make
enjoyable stories with characters that seem very "real."
I haven't written to you before, but I was motivated to write
by the Odyssey story line that you are currently working on.
Right now, you seem to be more inspired by the Belphanior and
Mongo story lines that the Odyssey, which is understandable,
but you've got some good raw material in the Odyssey. While I
was mowing the lawn several days ago, I let my mind wander
around that material, and I came up with several ideas which
could be the basis for several episodes. You might have
already thought of different ideas for the Odyssey, or you
might have already thought of similar ideas and rejected them.
But I figured I should email you my short list of ideas anyway,
just in case any of them fired your own imagination. Here they
are, for you to use or ignore as you see fit:
1) Before the Odyssey gets too far away from Oerik, the Scarlet
Brotherhood sends one more ship in one more attempt to take the
Odyssey. This time, as the ships just get in sight of each
other -- and before the magi from the Odyssey can fly out to
destroy the Brotherhood's ship -- the Brotherhood teleports
about a hundred (?) warriors from their ship onto the deck of
the Odyssey. (We saw the Brotherhood teleport warriors to the
City of the Gods during the Rune quest.) Once those warriors
are on deck, anyone trapped below decks on the Odyssey would
find it very difficult to get on deck to join the fight. Magi
on the Odyssey would be unable to use their large-area
destructive spells, since those would kill Odyssey crewmen and
damage their own ship. The "normal" sailors on the Odyssey
would be overwhelmed pretty quickly. Of the adventurers,
Daffodil and Leila should be able to do OK in the fight.
Halbarad, Peyote, Songa, Eyer, Kiel Morgan, and Og should be
able to do more than OK, but they also might come up against
some exceptionally skilled opponents, if the Brotherhood sent
some of their best. But what I'd REALLY like to see you write
is Rillen fight one or two of the very best of the Scarlet
Brotherhood. Such a fight just might improve Rillen's mood,
which has been suffering since the last few battles where the
mages' spells did all the work.
2) As the ship gets farther from Oerik, magic fades. Spell-
casters lose all power. This prompts much debate. Some of
them will no doubt urge that the ship turn right around and
head back for Oerik! Is the loss-of-magic simply due to being
out on the deep ocean, and therefore will magic return when
they reach the far continent? Or is magic tied to the
continent of Oerik, in which case there would be no magic on
the new continent? They don't know. If it is possible that
the new continent will have no magic, then how will the magi
deal with the possibility of never being able to cast a spell
or use a magic item again? Much more crucially, what about the
clerics and druids who face the prospect of living the rest of
their lives on a new continent, cut off from the deities to
whom they've devoted their lives? [Alternate version 2a:]
Perhaps there is one lowly apprentice mage on board who can
still cast spells normally. The higher-level magi and sages
will drive the poor boy or girl crazy doing tests, trying to
figure out why just that one person can still do magic.
[Alternate version 2b:] Perhaps there is just one cleric who
can still do magic normally. What does this say about the
power of this cleric's deity as opposed to the others'? Maybe
this cleric gets arrogant about the situation. Is the fact
that only one cleric can do magic anymore happenstance, or was
it planned?
3) Assassin on board. (This is best done during a time when
magic doesn't work, or with an assassin who has magic items to
prevent scrying and divination magic from identifying him or
her.) With all the families and settlers aboard, there could
easily be one or more assassins among them. One day, one of
the best sages on board is found dead. Perhaps the assassin
leaves a few telltale clues throwing suspicion onto one of our
heroes. How long will it take, how many more will die, how
much tension will rise, how many accusations will fly, before
our heroes cleverly figure out who the real assassin is?
4) Volcanic island chain in the middle of the ocean, halfway to
the new continent. (Like the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific.)
(The island chain could have magic working, or no magic,
whichever you prefer.) Are there intelligent natives? If so,
are they Humans? Elves? Halflings? Pixies? Dragons? Something
completely unknown before? Are they less advanced, or more
advanced than the Oerik civilization? (Maybe they are a
surviving outpost of an ancient, advanced civilization that
collapsed on Oerik long ago.) If there is a primitive
civilization or no civilization on the islands, there could be
ruins of cities and castles on the island, allowing for a real
dungeon-crawl adventure (if you're in the mood to write one).
It makes sense that the Odyssey would stop at such islands to
resupply food, water, etc. But why would they risk a search
party going into the ruins? Lots of things could motivate
them. Simple curiosity as explorers. Hints of powerful magics
in the ruins. Hints that the ruins might give them information
about the continent where they are headed. Evil forces kidnap
one or more of the Odyssey crew and take them to the ruins,
necessitating a rescue....
Well, those are the ideas --- use or ignore them as you see fit.
Once again, thanks for writing your stories and sharing them.
One of the problems with having fans and reading fanmail is that
sometimes, the fans throw out ideas that the writer has already come up with
and/or is working on implementing. If/when those ideas do see the light of day,
the appearance is that the writer didn't come up with the ideas at all. That
being said, I really can't comment on your ideas.
From: DET BUDAPEST MANUELDE
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004
Subject: What happened with Mongo
You have been on the Belphanior story arch for a while now. I am
enjoying
it immensely but I am also very curious as to what happened in
Greyspire.
Any idea when you will move back to that story line?
Episode 860.
From: DET BUDAPEST MANUELDE
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004
Subject: Your Baseball Rants
I was just reading all the news for 2004. I can't help but agree with you
about agents and the amount professional athletes are paid now a days. Plus
they won't do anything unless they get paid for it hence; That's why team
USA Basketball will probably not win the gold medal at the Olympics. The
team three superstars out of all the teams in the NBA. Its really a shame. I
have an idea that could improve professional sports in leaps and bounds.
Only pay the athletes if they win. For example every player will get a base
line salary. Lets just use for example baseball they could earn $1,000 a
game. So a year they make 150,000 ( not sure how many a games in a season
off the top of my head.) Just for playing, now if they win they get a bonus.
Which is where they make there money, add in a bonus for what there good at.
Take pitchers for example each inning with no hits they would get bonus
things like that. So basically the athlete would only get paid for they what
they do not what they might do or what people think they could do. They
would get paid just for results.
Agreed.
From: Jeffery Champ
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004
Subject: The Adventurers
I have been reading your stories for many a year now, and been
getting many of my friends to read them as well. I am currently in Okinawa
Japan, and I have got many of my Japanese friends reading your stories as
well. They are a terrific example of fantasy fiction, and even though you
may not like the "Power" level of your characters, you seem to pull off the
writing so they do not seem to be these godly powered beings, and that there
are still those in the world that could easily crush them. That is
something that many authors do not and will not ever do, especially not with
their main characters. It is a sign of a good author when they care more for
the story then for the preservation of a single character, and I thank you
for the years of joyous reading.
It's not easy keeping the characters in line when some of them are
so powerful. I'm glad that some readers see this struggle.
From: john johnsson
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004
Subject: things
I hope Alindyar will use that electric golem in greyspire.
Also, would be nice to see Alindyar cast some defensive
spells(invulnerability, anti-arrow, stoneskin) before going into
battle.
What happened to stuff gotten from Orzo?
When will you tell us what happened to Cynder ?
Will belphanior going to get his skyship back?
Alindyar will prepare himself as best as he can. I've commented on
the Orzo items before - basically, I let them drop out of sight, as in some
other good guys claimed them, since we don't need ANOTHER dwarf with ANOTHER
throwing-returning hammer in my stories. Cynder's fate will be revealed
sometime, but not in any of the current arcs. The skyship is gone
forever.
From: Jason Horton
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004
Subject: Fan mail response - Belph vs slavers
Hey there - For a while I thought you weren't going to reply - glad to
see it on the website... My point was more that once he was freed he
would break his foot off in the guy's ass rather than getting his own
ass kicked by a couple of slaver guard chumps like that - I understand
that in the box and chained up he was vulnerable but there was a point
where he would have had the opportunity to trash those guys in my
opinion - weaponless or not...
Anyway - keep it coming buddy!
I stand by my original statement: a guy kept confined in a small
cage, without food, water, or the ability to get good sleep, will not be capable
of defeating several strong, healthy guards the instant he gets out of the cage.
From: Ted Manahan
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004
Subject: chapter #832 of The Adventurers
I think you have a general destination in mind,
but are making up the details as you go along. Right?
Lots of fun, as always. Keep up the good work!
Basically.
From: Havard Lindheim
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004
Subject: DCCCXXXIV. A Killer Among Killers
Ah, a happy turn for the readers, this!
Fighting against slavery is a major plus aspect of Belphanior and clearly
makes him as a not-evil guy ("good guy" might of course be stretching it). I
half-expected that the wolf attack was to be a slaughter where most of the
slavers died, and Belph regained his posessions. But no! Too easy!
Now I'm looking forward to more episodes of a Belphanior-naked, using his
body, sword and wits on his way towards the expected triumph.
Tough, I also expect a small glimpse of what happened with Otto et al.
Jolly good show!
(Håvard L, eager Norwegian reader since 1994)
I hope you enjoyed the outcome of that arc.
From: DET BUDAPEST MANUELDE
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004
Subject: ? about Belphanior
Ok I have read and re-read episodes 399 and 400 and a few afterwards. What
episode exactly does Belphanior get the Crystal eye of Svirfnebli. Its
driving me crazy I am not sure how I could have missed that episode but
I did somehow.
It was when he was down in the land of the deep gnomes, beneath Greyhawk.
They gave it to him after the action was over, as a repayment for what he did
for them. See episode 506.
The notes at the end of episode 400 simply mentioned an artificial eye as an idea ---
nothing more.
From: Jason Horton
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004
Subject: AvP
I read your review and I agreed with much of it, but I was sorry
winning a 1-on-1 with the Predator. I mean come on!!!?!!! The marines in
Aliens did reasonably well against the aliens, losing mostly due to
sheer overwhelming numbers (at least that's how I remember it). Marines
vs Predator? They got their asses handed to them...
Anyway, I agree with most of the review as mentioned, but that bothered
me enough to leave a bitter taste...
I think the movie makes it pretty clear that the Predators in the pyramid
are young, inexperienced warriors who are there to prove themselves...as opposed to
the Predator in the first Predator movie, who was probably an adult with many hunts
and kills to his credit. I guess you could take it up with 20th Century Fox.
From: Ted Manahan
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004
Subject: re the latest Adventurers story
Just a note to let you know that I appreciate the latest story arc.
Belphanior is a great character, and I'm curious where this story is
going.
I had a scare this morning when the latest installment wasn't in my
e-mail box. It showed up shortly later, which made my day!
Keep up the good work.
To all readers: if it doesn't show up in your email on Friday,
check the website. If there's nothing new there either, it means the webmaster
has spontaneously combusted (on the other hand, if he's put a message up
explaining that there's no new story, it means _I've_ spontaneously combusted.)
From: Robert Ericksen
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004
Subject: Adventurer's
I just happened to visit your site to tell someone else about the stories
and I saw you were writing again. I was quite pleased and immediately joined
the mailling list.
I like the Gateway idea, kind of like Stargate, one of my favorite SciFi
shows. The ideas and possabilities are almost limitless. I can also
understand your delema with having such high powered characters with so much
magic. My first campaign 20 plus years ago got the same way. We had 6
players with 3 characters each originally although a few died off so we were
down to 15. We didn't always play them all but none the less, they all
achieved high levels and we had a enormous amount of magic so our DM ran
into the same problem with trying to challenge us and make it actually
dangerous. My favorite character was my Bard who became 13th level the hard
way, 8 levels of fighter then 9 levels of thief, then a Bard. My two
favorite items for him were a belt of phasing I got in the Chagmat Dungeon
in an Dungeon Magazine (#64 I think) adventure. It allowed me to go
immaterial or even travel to the Astral & Etheral planes. It was quite handy
for theiving activities. We were low level when we did that and it was
protected by a phase spider who almost killed me but my character had a
personality trait of never backing away from a fight so he kept at it and
perservered. He was quite disappointed whent he only thing in the chest the
spider was guarding was a belt until he discovered what it could do. My
other favorite item for him was his Ring of Elemental Fire which pretty much
made him impervious to fire or any kind, even dragons breath, and gave him
all the fire type spells of magical and clerical nature. He had a lot of fun
teasing a red dragon once! I was able to make him submit to me and then I
rode him for a while and had some fun. But I digress. We had a big party
with a lot of magic so we always wound up on "save the world" campaigns and
they get tiring after a while. He thought the problem was our amount of
magic but the real problem was he was only 1 person trying to out think 6
vwery capable people. He was a great DM with great ideas but our group
always worked together and we knew each other well so we could coordinate
without having to actually discuss it. We were a well oiled fighting force
so I think the odds were stacked against him.
But, back to the real point. Our DM did similiar things to us as you
have now done to Belphanior. We either lost our magic or we were often in
places where it just didn't work. This way, we all had to rely on our
abilities and smarts, not our magic. It was definately good for us, as it was
for Mongo when he worked with Lord Marcus and will be for Belphanior now.
I do have one complaint though. Turkus should have had something on him that
would be useful to Belphanior. They obviously took in plenty of magic items
even if most were pretty low level and as the leader, he would likely have
some. Even something like a +1 ring of protection would be useful to
Belphanior right now. Just my thoughts on it. Belphanior may want to consider
taking some of the weapons from the fallen slavers to equip his people when or
IF he runs into them. Just an idea but it may slow him down too much though...
BTW, I recently re-read the lost tale about how Belphanior found Blackrazor.
You mentioned in the story that he didn't even see the small, greenish
egg-like object hidden in the cob webs. Do you happen to recall what that
was? Just curious...
Thanks for taking up the cause again, I certainly look forward to your
stories every week. I have not found any others that I like as well as yours
so I'm quite pleased you are writing again. Maybe its just that I've grown
attached to your characters, they remind me so much of my playing days.
Either way, I'm happy to have new stories.
It's tough to do good stories with powerful characters, and the
taking-away of magic helps - but I have to be careful not to over-use it. As for
the greenish egg-like object, it was intended as a sly joke on the _Alien_ mythos.
That's why it got buried by a cave-in, within that same episode.
From: Michael Feemster
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004
Subject: Cheers for the Storyline
Thomas,
Great storyline with Belphanior. I like the
cliffhanger aspect of this and the fact that he
doesn't know what has happened. You put in a lot of
questions that need to be answered.
You have complained about writing about high
level characters and lots of magic items. By taking
everything away and having Belphanior living by his
wits makes for a great story.
I think a lot of DMs will use your example in
their games.
Keep up the good work.
Cool.
From: Kyle Kohlhaas
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004
Subject: chapter #837 of The Adventurers
Thomas,
I really enjoyed the past two chapters, very "From Dusk 'til Dawn" like.
And the awakened animals were a cool touch. Don't be in a hurry to get
Belph back with his crew, they - and he - could have some cool
adventures by themselves.
I'm sure the others did, though I may need to tell those in flashback.
From: Charlie
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004
Subject: Just a Fan!
Hi there!
I'm just writing a quick note to let you know that I appreciate you
continuing the Adventurer stories again. I know it takes up some of
your time, but there are thousands of us out there that appreciate it.
Thank you for creating a story line that I myself have been able to read
unlike many books and stories out there.
On a side note, have you considered setting up a donation account
through paypal or something? I'm sure there are some sub'ers that would
help out. I know I would. Just a suggestion for ya. Anyway, Thanks
for keeping the stories going. It's very appreciated. :o)
I haven't gone the "pay for stories" route because I can't figure out
how to do it properly AND fairly AND not alienate readers. Plus there's the legal issues
deriving from my stories being set in the Greyhawk world.........
From: Robert
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004
Subject: Recent Adventurers Stories
Thomas:
Something different this time. I usually write in to tell you how much I
enjoyed certain stories, and let me tell you up front that I am enjoying all the
recent stories -- the Belphanior arc and the Rillen, et. al., arc most recently.
This time I am writing to let you know, as I have in the past, to let you know
how much I appreciate your ability with the turn of a phrase. One that had
earlier stood out in my mind, and has to this day, is the one about Whisper and
Tonya and the "cold wind" that almost swept her away during the plant
people/doppleganger epic. And that truly was an epic, some of your best story
telling. Most recently what has been standing out is your writing of Belphanior
and the characterization. When the head wolf-man commented that the cost of the
battle had been high, Belphanior matter of factly stated "That depends who you
are. I've lost nobody important to me." I loved it! He's not going to get a
philosophical with that guy and commiserate about the soldiers that he's lost.
Also Belphanior pointing out to the wolf-man, unapologetically, and rightfully
so "Let me point out that you attacked me and I was defending myself. Not that
I care, you understand. We just need to be clear that I consider my own life to
be far more important than your food supply." F'ing A, buddy. I want you to
know, Thomas, that I understand that this stuff doesn't write itself, and it is
written and re-written, and you purposefully choose the words and phrases that
you do. I appreciate this character development, which is often as good as the
action. Some writer once said, I believe, that writing was easy. You just sit
down at your typewriter, open a vein and bleed. Thank you for the hard work.
Other comments, clearly wolf-man has NO idea with whom he is dealing. He's
trying to scare Belphanior with his big talk, but if I know Belphanior, people
don't tell him where he can and can't go. With that big talk, wolf-man has
written his own epiteth (sp?) and I wouldn't be surprised to see Belphanior head
back there sometime with his crew and show wolf-man what real carnage is. It is
wolf-man who has a death sentence, not Belphanior.
Finally, I am somewhat surprised that Belphanior is heading off to the Sea
Princes instead of backtracking to try and find his crew. But I suppose it will
be very easy for him to find his crew once he gets his items back, and he's
taking care of that first. I get the feeling the Sea Princes are going to be
very unhappy to see Belphanior again.
Keep up the good work!
Glad you liked it. That entire episode was intended to showcase Belphanior,
specifically his bad-ass aspects.
From: Angelo Diamantidis
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004
Subject: quotes
000++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ "The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we +
+ started, and know the place for the first time." +
+ - unknown +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'm not a poetry savant, or anything, but I do happen to know that the above
quotation is from T.S. Eliot, specifically from LITTLE GIDDING (No. 4 of
'Four Quartets'). In fact, the entire stanza is incredibly powerful:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always-
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one
Thanks. I'll fix it on the site.
From: Dominique Michaud
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004
Subject: some questions...
Hello,
I finished reading book 7 and I was wondering if I missed something. In one
place, Peldor got shrinked (I hope it's the good word...) and a few pages after,
he throw a dagger and search a room! How could he do this if he can hold in a
bag??? And please, answer an other question I asked you some weeks ago : do you
know the anime Scryed and did you use it?
And for back up for book 7 : WOW!!! Unfortunatelly, I was on a public place when
I read it, so it would have been weird if I have talked, but I couldn't stop
reading (and sometimes swearing in my head)! That was a VERY good fight!
I already finished book 8 (like I said, couldn't stop! (: ) and I was wondering
an other thing : at the same time Mongo is very sorry for loosing Flint, nobody
seems to care about what happened to Lyra and Alyndiar. It's strange that they
don't care. I know that they will return, but THEY are not supposed to know,
right?
I find it interesting that Epic 2 emphazises more on dialogues than fights, it
was "repetitive".
I was laughting when, in the other world, there was "twin" of the party with an
evil Ged! And his reaction! (: In the notes, you said that five of the six
player were present for this adventure, i'm gessing, was it the player of Mongo
who's missing? That was weird sometimes that Peldor changes form every now and
then (with his hat), because he almost never did that before that
world-travel...
But I will continue reading, there's a lot of original ideas! Thanks for taking
the time!
Peldor's items shrunk along with Peldor himself. Mongo was closer
to Flint than he was to the drow - they weren't very sociable back in those
olden times. At the reunion, the player of A.ross the country.)
From: Marie
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004
Subject: Ongoing Adventurers Stories
Greetings from the West Coast Tom!
I know how great it feels to get kudos out of the blue, and how bad I am
at thanking people, so even though it is 5:30 in Washington State, THANKS!
I really appreciate that you are writing the stories again. To be
honest I had (and have) always viewed your 'retirements' as temporary.
Never-the-less, you still got the stuff and are still putting out great
material.
I read the stories off the peldor site now, but have been an avid
follower since Ged's second trip to the Suel City. Anyhow, keep up the
good work and all that.
Dave.
p.s. Has anyone turned you on to the "Knights of the Dinner Table"
comic? As a fellow 'former gamer', I suspect that you would enjoy it.
Someday, one of my "retirements" will be permanent...probably when
children arrive in my family. It's safe to say that I'll get to at least
episode 1000 before that happens.
From: Geoff LeBoldus
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004
Subject: the millionaire next door
> "Why is it that someone who makes $200,000 a year is haggling over $500
> vs $600 for the laptop I'm selling them?"
I'm just guessing, but...
this book at Amazon
It's written by a Georgia boy. It's a good read and shows how ordinary
stiffs, though mostly with their own businesses, became millionaires.
Largely, it's because they're frugal. $100 saved is a _big deal_ on any
purchase and is $100 saved for future wealth growth.
You can probably find a copy in your favourite used bookstore.
No comment on your other rants, except I generally find dealerships to be
the worst. I use independent shops who must rely on reputation. You just
have to find the good ones.
I know of this book, and I will probably even read it someday,
but...the person in question routinely eats $30 meals at nice restaurants; he's
not cheap in general, so I didn't understand why he was cheaping out on me. No
matter - the laptop sold to someone who could appreciate it more anyway. For
$500.
From: Dale C. Barnett
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004
Subject: Friday July 23, 2004 Rant (Short-Changed)
I was just re-reading some of your rants, and thought I'd reply to a
question you posed in that rant. I personally have 3 1/2 years of
expierence waiting tables at a local restaurant where I live, just a
small mom and pop joint if you like, but in my personal expierence
neither I, nor any of then co-workers every pulled a stunt like this,
nor have I ever had something like this done to me, and personally am
abhored that someone in the profession of what really is very close to
customer service would be so rude and ignorant. By all means confront
your server about it when it happens, and by all means, raise a stink
with the managment of the place too, thats the kind of thing that will
eventually drive customers away from a place so I'm sure they'd like to
know about it ;).
Anyway, just thought I'd reply to your (rhetorical??) question and say
keep up the good work on the Adventurers.
Well, my girlfriend and I solved the problem by cutting down our meals out.
The only places we go now are the kinds where the waitstaff knows us and we get
free stuff.
From: john johnsson
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 2004
Subject: dwarven throwing hammer
>Didn't Otto get a dwarven throwing hammer and axe in Xusia's fortress?
>Why Doesn't he use them?
>Neysan
Maybe they trade em to some other stuff. OR... They keep them in their
portable hole etc... and next time when mongo and belph and otto party
together and mongo starts throwing his hammer in a fight, Otto TOO
starts to throw a hammer and makes Mongo go :C sad!
Of course, it'd be one-time-only never-to-be-repeated situation. :)
As mentioned already, I flushed those items down the toilet!