Fan Mail after chapter 601 was published
[from here down was added on friday 11 feb 2000]
Add my name to the list of loyal followers of your adventures. I admit I am only
now reading in the 200's, but I have been entertained for many weeks now.
I must also admit something else. I thought of all the characters, I was Rob's
biggest fan. Something about a chubby, clumsy cleric makes me grin even now.
Keep em coming! I will catch up someday!
John
Just wanted to say thank-you for the unexpected surprise in my mail box
today. Also wanted to wish you a happy new year, and now that the dreaded
Y2k bug has been squashed, perhaps the world can focus on something much
more meaningful. Good luck with your Cisco training.
> DCI. Prosperity
Hallelujah!
Hei-Hoo - at last !!!
Opening my email. Sick as a dog from the flu. Going through the usual work
annoyances.
What's this? Email from Thomas Miller? Can it be?
Praise the Lord(s)!
Truly a wonderful new year (or more based on your math attitudes)!
Thanks for coming back to the team. I missed them.
Great to see the adventurers back, happy new year and all the best for 2000,
also congrats on the fitness training, hope it keeps up.
As far as the modules go, you might like to give them more of a plug on the
list. Apart from that, I'm just looking forward to more great stories,
Hot damn, good to hear from ya!
I think the Adventurers are easier for you since you had so many real
adventures with the players. I think it is hard for anybody to develop
characters when it is a lot easier for other people to develop
characters in ways you never thought! The best writers, singers,
comedians, etc, watch
other people and how they behave, and then just exaggerate them.
I think you need to play with a group of people again.
It is weird it has been a year since you wrote anything on the
Adventurers.
Time flies.
Excelent episode! I'll be glad to learn what the Adventurers did with their
time -- not to mention reading new episodes. :) I believe I'm hooked.
YES!!! To tell the truth, I'd just about forgotten about the
Adventurers. So, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see 601 in my
mailbox today. I'm so excited to see things going again!
Looking forward to what develops,
Well Tom, it is good to hear from you again. I can't believe it,
I open my mail and what do I find. I almost thought it was a
joke. Wow, hope your time off has served you well.
THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!
Sorry, just had to say that! :)
Good to hear from you again... Look forward to
receiving more stories, at your pace of course...
Good to see the champ back in the saddle.
Good to have you back. A pleasant surprise.
Just wanted to let you know how glad I am to see a new Adventurers out.
Congratulations and many thanks. Best wishes for the new year.
> I added you to the list and also sent out 601 today...hope you
> enjoy it.
Believe me, I did. When I think about those who have waited for it
a year long...
Happy New Year!
Good to hear from you again.
Hey Thomas, good to see you're still writing the Adventurers, id just about
forgotten about them ;P
Woohoo! Your back! Hmmmmm, has it been a year already?
I must say, about time that this has started again. I've been waiting and
waiting. I have to admit I'm kinda glad your other writing projects didn't
work out so well. I enjoy the tried and true Adventurers and would rather
you didn't spread your writing too much. A bit selfish of me I'm a fan of
the Adventurers.
601 sounds like a good start. You do a pretty good job of the "Unknown evil
plotting against the adventurers in the background" story.
Whatever you do is fine as long as you want to do it and
enjoy it. The episode was a bolt out of the blue and very welcome.
If future episodes are delivered the same way I can only say thank you.
Good to hear that you're ok and enjoying life. One complaint when you
mention turning 30 it's like a screw turning for those of us who are 35!!
Good luck in all that you do and Happy New Year
What a great New Year's present !!
Good to see you back. Great teaser episode. 20 foot tall ... greater
cyclops ? spherical ... hive mother beholder ??
Just wanted to drop you a note and say that it was a rare pleasure to
see your email sitting in my inbox when I arrived at work. While I
enjoyed your Omega Team writing, it's hard to beat the depth and
richness of backstory that you've built up with the Adventurers over the
last seven years. All the best for 2000; good luck especially with the
CCIE exam, and have fun.
Been waiting awhile since I finished all your stories. Nice beginning for
the stories. Already you have a evil creature that threatens them and a
reason for them to group together. Can't wait to see what has happened to
Belphanior and Mongo. Those two always get messed up in something. Anyway
keep writing and i'll be happy. Can't wait to read the rest.
First, congrats on your 30th, Happy New Year, and all that hoopla.
Second, excellent job on #601.
Third, Im ecstatic to hear about Greyspire and Helgate. Though i prefer
Forgotten Realms to Greyhawk, I can use these masterfully crafted (way
better than anything I've ever even thought about doing) modules to make my
games a whole lot cooler. Thanks.
Good luck on both the diet and the learning about routers.
Have a great year, and I look forward to more Adventurers!
Hello, and happy new year. I am writing to ask you to place me on your
mailing list. I have been reading your work for about a year and a half now,
and I congratulate you on an incredible body of work. The stories almost
single handedly got me interested in the AD&D universe. Since I am no longer
catching up (when I began reading, you were still working on the later 500
episodes) I would like to be placed on your mailing list. Thanks, and keep
up the great work.
Great to see that the Adventurers are back! I hope you had a great '99
and that you have a good 2000 as well. Just wanted to let you know that
I received 601 and have archived it on my FTP site and will continue to
archive the Adventurers in the future. Going to read it now =).
Welcome back :-)
ALL RIGHT!!!
You're back!
Anyway, now that i know you're actualy writing again (how could I have
doubted you?) please put me on the mailing list.
I don't know how many fans you've got in the Netherlands, but i
considder myself your #1 fan here.
Keep up the great work!
AT LAST (ok I stop screaming :))
At last the Adventurers live again...oh boy does it
feel good...Reading 601 was pure bliss...like visiting
long time friends that you haven't seen in a great
long while...too long a time...I have been reading for
what, 4-5 years now I think...and periodicaly I take
one "book" and start reading again, just for the fun
of it...
But it was also a small (very small I rassure you)
disapointment...I had envisioned so many things for
their return...a huge feast with all the still alive
adventurers...a great cataclysm, the greyhawk war in
full bloom...and a lot more (no I didn't wish for Ged
return...dead is dead after all)...
Only seeing two adventurers (henchmens actually) was a
bit....not enough if you know what I mean...
Oh well at least you started writting again...I just
wanted to say welcome back and tell you "More, I need
More....:)" (yup, I am totaly in withdrawal syndrome
and such a small shot is definitly not
enough)...Please tell me I won't have to wait another
year for the next installment :) But don't hurry too
much. I prefer quality over quantity...More
importantly have fun writting...I know I will have fun
reading...
Hi! I'm sure you get this all of the time but your
stories are GREAT! I'm hooked. I started reading about
a month and a half ago and I just finished #150. I
hope you will keep on writing such great stories.
I do have one minor suggestion. I was hoping that
you would put the party's Oerth-2 alter ego's stats
somewhere on the website. They seemed really cool and
I'd like to know a little more about them. I searched
the monsters page and the Rogues Gallery and I didn't
find them. Also any hope that they will be returning?
Maybe you could do a Crisis of the Infinite Earths
type thing for them if you need a high level
adventure. Also if you need some inspiration, I think
that Grant Morrison (former JLA writer) is doing
something on an alternate earth where all the JLA are
evil.
Well, keep up the good work! Bye.
Hey Dude you write some awesome stories. They are quite interesting and the
ideas that you come up with are amusing and intriguing. Please keep writing
them they let my imagination run wild.
Although I am replying to the survey I would like to take the chance
to thank you for starting to write your adventurers epic again. I am
currently running a play by e-mail campaign and realize now how much work is
involved in thinking and typing these things up. All I can say is 600+
episodes....keep up the good work.
Am I still reading? HELL YES!!
Adventurers 601 was a VERY pleasant surprise. I eagerly await more. :)
By the way, I'd have to say you were a big inspiration to me. I've started
writing in a style very similar to yours (which is roughly the style I
role-play on the net now as well). Though inspired to write and create,
finish is another ball park. :) I'm on my 6th attempt at a story, after ...
*counts* seven RPG campaigns of one sort another (ranging from freeform to
AD&D to my own system that is 5 years in the making...and still not
finished--do I suck or what?? :)
Quite pleasantly surprised to find two episodes so
early this year. I was less than enthused to see
Deryck and Nenya (I was hoping for some mayhem or evil
right away, I guess), but the premonitions of the
future caught my interest...and I can't wait to see
what Belphanior's going to do with his list. More
battling in Helgate will be interesting. I'm hoping
that Belphanior will flex the muscles he couldn't in
Greyhawk and that there'll be death, revenge, and
destruction...and lots of it.
adventurers Is the _Best_ fantasy story i have pretty much ever read!
i read the entire thing in a week last year, and im getting ready to read it
again =)
Its awesome, your skill has done nothing but grow by leaps and bounds and
you are writing something comparable to the work of profesional authors in
fantasy. Keep it up and Way To Go!!
A few topics of note...
1. Magic Power
In battle, I've noticed very little of the usual awe and power that normally
comes with high level mage status. Elminster, Mordenkianen and Raistlin are
capable of wasting cities pretty easily. For gods' sakes, Allyindyar can
use EIGHTH level spells, and he still seems to only an equal of Mongo in
combat! Certainly, Mongo or any of the others are powerful, but
Allyindyar...well, he's ALLYINDYAR! In the necros episode, it was said that
the fireball was needed due to the drows' AWESOME power. My question- what
power? And one very big qustion- why hasn't he gotten his hands on spells
like Trollish Fortitude, Immunity to Normal Weapons/Missiles, Copy (would
have been useful in the spellbook combining episode), Protection From Hunger
and Thirst, Mirror Image ( a great spell that i saw used only a few times),
and of course Cantrips. Another point- why is it that Allyindyar doesn't
cast various protection spells on him before combat? He's been taken down
lots before by physical attacks. Is Belphanior the only with Stoneskin or
something? What happened to the 1st level spell Armor?
2. Racial Level Limits
I noticed that in a peyote episode, you mentioned that you were making use
of racial level limits. Why? Thye make very little sene when you think
about it...why owuld a 500 year old elf know LESS about magic than a 75 year
old human? Why would a half elf, someone whose entire race (if sylvan)
REVOLVES around nature not be able to be higher then an 11th level druid?
It just deosn't make any sense.
3. Good Writing
Aside from the things that I don't like, you do good work. VERY good work.
Here's a fellow writer (besides me...but I'm not very good) that you may hit
it off with. He also knows alot of author sites ou would like.
www.darkicon.com
4. Nope...that's it.
Well mr. Miller it seems you are back for good!
I never got the chance to be added to your mailing list before 1999
because I started reading your stories from the early beginning of
November 1998. So, imagine that it took me about two months to read all
of your stories (with increasing interest I must add) finishing the last
story at the beginning of 1999, only to find out that there wouldn't be
any more stories for a whole year! That was very disappointing to say
the least because I really liked your stories (as did a lot of people
from what I have seen from past surveys).
And that was the second great disappointment after the sacrifice of Ged
who was my favourite character (yes I belong to that small part of your
fan club). I nevertheless have to admit that the choice you made to
sacrifice Ged seemed to fit in the whole thing. For me as a reader the
"wrong" just felt "right". I guess you thought of it in a similar way.
Anyway, I hope that there won't be any more disappointments, at least
for the near future.
Sorry if it got a little bit long, but I wanted to say all these for a
whole year now and a simple "yes" wouldn't suffice.
Until your next survey.... keep up the (really) good work!
for the last couple of months your stories have kept me busy. I finally managed
to go through all 602 of them now only the lost stories are left. It was one
hell of a ride I must tell you and I enjoyed every bit of it.
I hope you will continue to write, aspecially the Hellgate stories were amongst
my favorites so I hope to see more of those. I can't help but love Belphanior
and his crazy ways, his matter of factness with wich he tries to warn his
adverseries that they are about to die is simply adorable, like the time he
teleports back into his castle after exploring the wonders of the City of the
Gods he finds himself momentarily startled by unexpected visitors and says :
"Okay, I'll make this simple. Anyone who doesn't want to die... had better head
on out."
I must say Belphanior almost crept into my own ad&d character that is
unfortunatly a chaotic good character and I got punished from the DM for being
to evil ! Evil is more fun though, therefor I truly hope Belphanior never finds
a cure for Victoria's "illness". Besides wasn't this matter settled when the
divine eye told him in story #525 that there was no cure only distruction ?
Any way I'm glad you took the adventures stories back up this year and I hope
you will eventually get to the 1000th story, won't that be a milestone ?
Just replying to your survey to let you know I am reading your stories.
During the Adventurers off year I was checking back regularly to the Peldor.com
website and enjoyed your weekly updates. I can say it was quite a suprise when
Adventurer's 601 was delivered, being caught up in the holidays I had forgotten
the new year brought about the renewal of the Adventurers storyline. Now I have
another reason to look forward to checking my mail each day. Keep up the good
work, it's great to once again be reading the Adventurers.
Now THAT'S what I call setting the table!! You've got us looking forward to a
bunch of different storylines now, each looks to be very promising. VERY promising.
My thought on Victoria is that she actually likes being a vampire and the power
and security that comes with it (most of the time, that is) especially if you
lie low like she does. She's been doing it right for hundreds (or was that
thousands?) of years and has been able to see and do a lot of shit she would
have otherwise missed out on. Hopefully Belphanior will figure that out and
they won't have a blow up fight, although those are always good for character
development. Bel should like having such a strong ally anyway, and a lover who
is every bit his equal in the ability to deal death. And I think THAT'S one of
the things that Bel really likes about Victoria. I think if she just became
normal he would fairly quickly tire of her and she'd be out.
What Belphanior should REALLY be trying to do is wheedle a wish out of Peldor
(but his tattoo I'm sure those are not for sale and kept in reserve for his
and Tanya's life or death situations) so that he could wish that Victoria be
immune to all harmful effects of the sun (which would allow her to get a savage
all over tan --- oooh yeah! --- that I know she and Bel would enjoy. As far as I
know, the biological reaction that results in a tan --- the rise of melatonin to
the skin's surface, I believe --- is NOT a harmful effect. A burn, of course, is,
but while the two reactions both involve the sun I don't think they are
otherwise related or dependant upon each other) so that she could go out with
him (or by herself) during the day. But again, while it may make their lives
easier, it removes elements that are good for storytelling. After all, what's
life (or a good story) without a challenge? Maybe such a wish wouldn't be
permanent, and would slowly wear off and need to be replenished? That would
keep her power somewhat in balance and would permit her to enjoy some time in
the sun once again.
But speaking of Peldor's wishes, shouldn't he be accidently blowing one of those
every once in a while? He must have incredible discipline to keep from saying
things like "I wish (I/he/she/it/they) hadn't done that." or "I wish you'd stop
asking me about that" or "Man, I wish I had one of those." Or is it the kind of
thing that he must consciously and specifically invoke the power of the feather
before making a wish like that? I guess we'll find out one day.
Robert
Just an encouragement regarding the new storylines, they all sound very
promising. But wasn't there some kind of truce arranged between
Belphanior's lot and the big O? The demon lord was compelled not to
interfere so much in mortal affairs, but surely Belphanior can't go
around detroying temples of Orcus without expecting appropriate
retribution from the fat one.
I often cringed when people wrote suggesting ridiculous storylines or
conjectures, but I suppose their ideas and opinions were often helpful
to you; here's one from me.
My greatest challenge in DMing and greatest pleasure in reading the
adventurers were the pitched battles of large numbers: Thunderdelve, the
orc army in the Horned Society, the deep gnomes versus the kuo-toa, etc.
How just a few well placed spells or heroic actions can turn the tide of
the battle, fantasy meets chaos theory, etc.
What are the possibilities of Lord Marcus' rather significant military
resources becoming a factor in one of these storylines? Obviously, we
know the outcome of the Temple of Elemental Evil line on a larger scale,
but what if the adventurers were forced to hire (through the obvious
connections) some heavy duty numbers, simply because they weren't enough
to do the job to accomplish one of their goals. Whatever that goal might
be would be up to you. Or, on the other hand, people like Nobb and
Ranulf might hire more muscle to deal with the adventurers, especially
as Omak didn't get the job done. The other option is that the Riftcanyon
itself might attract the adventurers for one reason or another, where
they have interests in conflict with the security and sphere of
influence of Greyspire.
Other possible adversaries that haven't really been completely tied up
or have potential:
The Dominatrix must have a grudge against Peldor and Tanya.
Rary the soon-to-be traitor (esp. regarding Alindyar and Lyra).
Perrenland's interest in Helgate and the pass south.
I suppose the Suel lich is going to be addressed, as Deryck and Nenya
have inherited that problem.
When will Belphanior finally make some use of that anti-magic sphere?
And of course, the indomitable Iron Dwarf - I could have seen Ged
somehow bringing peace to the tormented creature, were he not
disintegrated.
Just my two bits. Keep up the good work.
Jason
I like the story arcs you're developing, even the one with Deryck and Nenya.
Hopefully they'll have some company from the main characters, or need to be
rescued by them, because I'm not sure if they have enough star power to carry a
five or more episode arc all by themselves. If anyone can make it happen,
though, you can.
Further comments on re-reading the stories --- nice piece of dialogue regarding
T-rexes from the Isle of the Ape story arc, which went something like "I thought
those things were legendary." "They are legendary. 'Tis our misfortune that
they are not also fictional." Very nice!
Finally, a question on the wispy thing and Belphanior. Somewhere in the back of
my mind I recall Belphanior casting "Find Familiar" and not getting any bites.
Could the wispy thing be Belphanior's familiar? But one that he had to find?
If he hasn't cast it, why not have him do so? He could come up with an imp,
quasit, psuedo dragon or something.
Keep up the good work!
Robert
First, a little background. I first came across your site in March of
1999, rather late, I realize. I downloaded all 600 chapters and read
all 4019 pages (in MS Word format) in about 2 months. I was enchanted.
I've been playing D&D for so long that I still call it D&D (instead of
AD&D or 2nd Edition or whatnot), since 1978, anyway. My friends, Brad,
Serge, Matt and I started out with B2 (The Keep on the Borderlands) like
almost everybody else, I imagine, and proceeded to play through just
about every module TSR came up with thereafter, although we all put
aside pre-written modules by 1988 or so, and started designing our own.
Serge now lives in California, Matt is doing performance art in Italy,
but Brad and I now both live in Portland (Maine) where we still game on
a regular basis, although we now do solo adventures.
Brad is a master DM, and I am the consummate Player, although we have
switched roles on occasion, as lately, when we both came up with very
good ideas for solo adventures at the same time. We have always thought
that writing up our adventures we be a wonderful thing to do, but we've
never really come up with what we thought would make a good story,
until, of course, I started reading The Adventurers. Seeing you bring
your campaign to life was the kick in the ass I needed, so when we
started our next adventure, I started doing what we call, simply,
"write-ups". They started as simple 4 or 5 page reminiscences after
each gaming session, but they were never really a story until I started
actually writing what is rapidly turning into a novel about our most
recent campaign. It wasn't until I had read through your 600 chapters
again that I was properly motivated to do so, so you deserve more than a
little credit for that (or blame, if you prefer :)). So now I have
somewhere around 170 pages written in first person narrative about
Jaccarough Steadywalker, the scandalous warrior/clown/thief, the
fledgling illusionist being guided in his magical studies by his Uncle
Binjy, Captain Binjarb "Highfoot" Steadywalker, First Ring War Mage and
Counselor to his Stunningness, the Duke of Camrion. Strangely enough,
though the world in which Jaccarough has been adventuring was wooden and
generic at first, the more I wrote, the more it came to life, such that
I think if I had never started writing, the campaign would have gotten
boring very quickly. So, congratulations to you, you've been an
inspiration.
That's the short version of my story. I just wanted to let you know
that you have had an influence. Truly, though, the point of this letter
is that, whilst (yes, I said "whilst"...I use the word in conversation
as well, so it's not an affectation) reading your new spells in Chapter
607, something struck me. How many times in the 5 years the Adventurers
were together dd Ged or somebody else cast a haste spell on the
companions? Granted, it probably wasn't dozens of times, and wouldn't
have affected the elves, dwarves, or even really the halflings all that
much, but would Peldor be an older man today if all those years of
hasting were counted? Perhaps Rillen as well? I just did a quick count
and noticed you address this question in the e-mails for chapter 256, so
apparently I'm not the first to think of it. Just for the record,
though, that quick count came up with Ged casting haste on the whole
party 9 times, Peldor hasting himself with his tattoo 9 more times, and
Belphanior hasting himself with Blackrazor 9 times as well (just
realized all those nines were in there...strangely symmetrical...:)).
Actually, I'm not giving you your due. This letter was prompted by
reading of the mass haste spell, but it's real purpose was to applaud
you for your efforts, and to let you know you were sparking at least
some similar efforts out in the great cyber-wasteland.
Kudos...
-tyler
I'm very much enjoying the new stories. While I'm sure that you're starting to
get the e-mails saying "OK! Enough talk! What about some fights?", these
stories are very important to tying up lose ends and getting into some more
character development. As a comic book reader, I admit that I enjoyed the "day
in the life" issues of comics (i.e. Captain America, as Steve Rogers, goes out
on a date with his girlfriend, or Ben Grimm takes a walk down Yancey Street) as
much or more as I enjoyed the "we must save the world" issues. By the way, if
you haven't been reading it you have to pick up every back issue of "Astro City"
you can lay your hands on. Kurt Busiek is a genius. Great character
development in those. Also very good is "Top Ten."
And finally, I'm not too concerned about Belphanior using the time travel spell
to save Ged. After all you said something to the effect of "Ged is gone.
Period. He's not coming back." I'm not too concerned about a "Read my lips: No
new taxes!" turnaround from you.
Robert
Hi,
I recently saw your new episodes. Great stuff, this has got to be the best
serial I've ever read. Please add me to the mailing list.
A few comments and ideas if you don't mind...
The hack and slash is great fun, but the character development is the best
part, especially the maturing of Belphanior (IMO the most enjoyable
character to read about)
Mongo needs to do something more interesting besides throwing his hammer
at everything hostile that passes his way - it's not that exciting the
20th time and never feels like there's a whole lot of skill involved. He
definitely relies too much on his powerful magic items.
- Belphanior relies on items as well, but they are used in more
interesting ways, and besides actively seeking out powerful magic is one
of his main motives. He's also developed into a good swordsman and a wily
tactician. It would be nice if Mongo could be challenged more and have to
use some of the other skills he should have as a high level warrior.
Dropping alignments was a good move. I think levels could be dropped as
well, or characters should resume gaining levels slowly due to all the
epic quests and as they develop. The levels don't really reflect what the
characters are capable of anyway.
Having the anti-magic sphere make a comeback - either being stolen by the
bad guys and used against the party, or as the party's secret weapon
against Xusia would be a nice twist.
Thanks and looking forward to more stories,
Chuan
I read your stories while at uni one year...i found them somewhere from
a friends info...and i must say you resparked the roleplaying light in
me......
They are the best and ultimate collection of roleplaying stories
ever.....totally hilarious...and well written and also full of
characters that make my mind want to read more and more and more...are
the stories still coming?...
I remember reading that they had finished as you had all moved on and
were no longer in constant contact....
Anyway thanks for the best stories from AD&D ever.....
You should publish them...if you haven't already ;)
Trystn
Okkay, I don't know which one of the email addresses I should use, I'll
the take first one. I have read adventure's alot, almost from the start,
but I've been pretty quiet myself... Anyways, I have to mention this
one. The Peyote child story seemed fake. What I mean, it felt like you
had just writed because "you had to"... Dunno what caused the feeling,
tho...
Another thing what didn't seem to work in the episode, was that your
characters are too "logical", you know women, they're NOT logical ;). I
mean that all the problems seem to get fixed up pretty good, quick and
smooth... Whose life is like that? Not mine :)... But then again, you
don't want to change adventurers in to a text version of the Bold &
Beautiful... ;P.
Thought the whole episode was well written and well handled, although I thought
Peyote would have been nicer about the whole thing. Certainly it is a SHOCKING
situation if it happens to you, but I thought he would be much more
surfer/stoner-ish and be cool with it and think it was great. Maybe Peyote is
starting to sober up, because I think his immediate response, although not
inexcuseable, was a bit dick-ish. And if I was Sarah I would have pretty much
beat the crap out of him right there. "What do you mean what do you want me to
do (or want from me)? I just want you to know and acknowledge your fucking
child and have her know who the fuck her father is, you asshole!" And
considering where she was from, and the despotrix's woman-centric view of
things, I was surprised she didn't slander men in general a little more. But
Peyote has ended up doing the "right" thing. The other thing, of course, would
have been for Sarah to say she had to go on a campaign. leaving Caitlin with
Peyote and Peyote having to deal with the kid while Mom was away.
And Daffodil took it pretty well. I was expecting some huge, angst ridden
discussion/argument/fight between them. But she was the level headed one. Her
points, about Peyote not running out because he didn't know, etc., were
excellent and needed to be said in Peyote's defense. Now we'll see if this
messes up Peyote's concentration for the big fight.
Robert
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for an enjoyable and interesting story which you handled well.
o I look forward to the fight between Peyote and Tolvek. I hope that either it
will be a draw (meaning that Peyote retains his position) or Peyote wins because
Tolvek is over-confident or with some divine assistance. Another interesting
possibility would be for Peyote to lose so that he can
(a) Start adventuring again (Hyperion quest, ...) [Yippee]
(b) Go with Sarah back to Hardby and spend some time with Caitlin (I thought
this was a boy's name. There was a fantasy series where Caitlin was the name of
an infamous wizard).
o A baby with Daffodil would be a nice way for Peyote to settle down (assuming
that he wins the contest)
o I like the way that Peyote is taking a little responsibility by offering Sarah
choices (e.g. to stay or money to care for caitlin). My personal opinion is that
although there was no intention by either of them, Peyote should take on full
responsibility of caring for the child if Sarah asks because he was involved. I
am concerned with the permissiveness of the present society. There has been
quite a few stories of teenage pregnancies in the UK. I feel that quite a lot of
people in society nowaday just deny responsibility and blame someone or the
'system'. Hmm... why am I so concerned when this is just a made up story :) ?
Thank you very much for another wonderful and I wish you a prosperous and happy
Chinese new Year (Dragon).
I always look forward to receiving the adventurer's stories.
Philip
Also, a comment - I deleted the Rillen/Songa story without even
reading it. I've noticed I always make time to read the
Belphanior stories, while I read the Alindyar or Mongo stories
when I get a chance; other characters that aren't as regular
(like Peyote or Nenya) I'll read if I happen to have some free
time, otherwise I don't worry about it. The last time I enjoyed
a Rillen story was the fighting tournament ones; the current ones
are mind-bogglingly boring, IMO. Possibly because this is
because there is no great conflict at the heart of the stories
anymore, just random stuff.
Just some feedback; make of it what you will. BTW, one thing I'd
really like to see the Belphanior stories do is move more towards
political/empire-building/warfare type stories, as opposed to the
never-ending jaunts against random enemies-of-the-day. It seems
like sometimes you tend toward that direction, but then jerk
yourself back toward a more standard dungeoncrawl situation, and
I really think it's restricting your writing.
Belphanior needs to get past day-to-day concerns and start
thinking and worrying about where he's going with the power he's
building, what he wants to do with it - and he needs to run into
problems that are inherent to that power, not random encounter
type problems.
Kent
Hi, my name is Martin
and i would just like to tell you that i really enjoy your stories and
that i am using Helgate in my game.
Keep up the good work :)
-Martin
I'm a big fan of fantasy fiction and have spent lots of money in books,
but here in Portugal, where I live there isn't much offer in the ways of
that kind of works in my native language ( the war of the lance was released
here last year ) so I've buying english books. But as a student without a
job the money is scarce, so I turned to the net in serch of reading
material. After 3 or 4 different pages I found something that lit a spark:
fantasy fiction based on AD&D. As I play AD&D i gave it a try: i downloaded
the first four books. When i got home and started reading (I only have
internet in my univercity) it got me!!! Next monday i went to school and
downloaded the rest of the books wich i've been reading since then and
wondering if you still wrote them. So, today i came here and checked if
there were new chapters and my curiosity was rewarded.
So i want to congratulate you for the wonderful work you've been doing
and ask you if you can put me in yor mailing list
Thanks and keep up the good wok
Jonas
Dear Thomas,
I am an avid reader of your adventurer series, and
would like to congratulate you on your triumphant return.
The latest epic looks to be a tour de force. I would
however suggest that you replace Ged somehow - preferably
with a new character who would become permenantly
attatched to the adventurers. To that end, I would
suggest a gnome cleric / illusionist. Given that every
other race is represented in the series, could you give
us gnome players a little inclusion also.
The standard of your writing has really rocketed since
your earlier efforts (adventurers #1 to c. #100) and you
really must have a prodigious memory and mind, to be able
to generate new adventures and escapades that remain
believable.
I think that you have laid the grounds for a very
enjoyable fourth epic with your planning at the end of
the last epic - the sole survivor of Erelhu-Cinilhu, the
Suel Lich, the Iron Dwarf etc. The Drow should be your
primary villain though in my opinion. I think that you
could create a really good unified feel to this epic were
you to use him as a form of an uber-villain whose affects
are the sole thing that is known about him until
the very end.
The new character of Gorgo however is frankly very
disappointing, given that one would have expected you to
have generated a character who is rather unique, rather
than conforming to all of the usual Dwarven stereotypes
(e.g. Gorin for example as an interesting character). It
is surprising that neither Alindyar nor Lyra has received
any apprentices - this is something that you may wish to
add in (it is also a great plot device for campaigns with
lots of intrigue).
Also could you please make a return to the Underdark.
The group of stories in that setting were by far the best
of your early ones, and it would be nice if you were to
return to this scene of an earlier triumph.
It could also prove useful, if Alindyar and Lyra were
turfed out of Greyhawk courtesy of a major nemesis, to
have a quest to set up a defensible tower in the one area
where one would not expect to find them - the place that
they hate the most.
However, I can only wish you the very best of luck in
the series, and would ask that you add me to your mailing
list.
Yours,
Gregory J. O'Neill
I'd like to get the new chapters as you write them.
I really love reading these stories. A friend gave me the URL about two
weeks ago, and I absolutely devoured them all 600+ stories in little
more than a week!
Peldor is one of my favorite characters, with Belphanior coming a close
second. Then there is Alindyar -- I've always liked to play thieves or
mages on MUDs.
At any rate, I hope you keep on writing these stories. I know there are
quite a few people who haven't written to you yet enjoy your writings
immensely.
Myles
Ahh! These solo stories with Halbarad are great. This character is so
much better on his own than with the other Adventurers. I guess the
others tend to take the limelight.
Joe
Hi Thomas!
I enjoy your new stories very much, as much as I enjoyed the old ones. Keep it
on!
I recently read about your second job and lack of time for writing, well, it`sad
that you will have less time for writing, but can fully unerstand your reasons.
Living with other people alwayl becomes a problem on the long run.
But, let`s get back to our sheeps, I mean adventurers. In the aforementioned
address you have wrote, that the "older" adventurers can`t just leave it all and
go to far ends of the world to fight some evil. That`s true in "normal" life,
even in normal phantasy life, but consider the time your heroes are living in,
and who they are. With "World War1" looming on the horizon people in their
positions can`t just sit idle and care for their everyday problems. Great power
and knowledge brings great sorrows. Peldor, Alindyar, Lyra, Rob, Peyote, Nenye
would be one of the best informed people about the happenings in the Great
Kingdom, Iuz and other lands, considering their position in the society. Such
big wars, like Greyhawk wars, do not start just like that in reality, there are
always subtle prewar activities, which usually go unnoticed by the common folk,
but which are carried out by men-in-charge, men like your heroes. So if you
claim to be realistic, try to consider the impact of the political situation in
the world of Greyhawk on your heroes, and how it may influence their actions,
based on their charachters. So, these were my thouths on the topic. By the way,
your stories are getting better and better in style. Maybe you should write a
real novel someday? I`m sure it would be at least as good as any of the phantasy
staff that is published nowadays.
Well, I've got to wrap up. Excuse me for my English, and good bye.
Michael
3) Rillen, Songa and Arnold. Not sure why exactly they are getting negative
press, except for the fact that they are pretty much the most "normal" people in
the group. They don't have flashy magic items or spells, and they are pretty
much low key stoics who usually think before they act, so they don't really have
any really cool personality traits. Take away Alindyar's and Lyra's magic and
you pretty much have Rillen and Songa. But take away Mongo's and Belphanior's
magic stuff and you still have two pretty cool characters because of their
outgoing, impulsive personalities. But don't kill Rillen, Songa and Arnold off.
Team them up with some interesting people and have them fight behind the lines
against Iuz or something suitably cool. I trust you.
4) Deryck and Nenya plotline. Thank God you're bringing in some good supporting
characters. I look forward to meeting them. Are they going to be totally new
characters or are they going to be people we've seen before?
5) Peldor. Your call, man. But I seem to remember you saying once that you
were from the school of thought that said that adventurers were not like
"normal" people, they were a cut above, at least as far as their abilities. I
would also say that they have a different outlook on life. Early on, Peldor was
in it to make money and have adventure. Why continue adventuring. Simple.
BECAUSE HE CAN! Because he has the abilities and the brains to do so. There is
still so much out there to see and do, and I can see him wanting to get out
there and explore it. A version of the Ged scenario. Or, alternatively, the
desire to adventure could be a further manifestation of Peldor's growing sense
of social responsibility. The thing that keeps Peter Parker going as
Spider-Man, besides his Uncle Ben's death, is his mantra "With great power comes
great responsibility." Peldor may be a common thief to some, but I think he's a
very powerful thief. Maybe he gets out there and adventures more to right
wrongs and stop bullies or bad guys or whatever. But to have him just wind down
when he's barely in his thirties is decidedly unheroic, not epic. It is common.
And Peldor has always been UNcommon. And don't forget ¯ this is Peldor of the
unknown origin here. Age could have NO meaning for Peldor, for all we know.
Just some thoughts.
6) I like the storylines you are setting up for the future, and look forward to
your tales of the Greyhawk Wars.
7) Picked up Salvatore's new book "Spine of the World." Haven't read it yet.
Still working through Simon Green's "Hawk and Fisher" books. Cop stories in a
fantasy setting. They're pretty good.
8) Thanks for taking the time to set out your thoughts and address your
readership, Tom. You have always been very open about what is going on in your
life. Those stories (Europe, Mardi Gras, Kiss concert, etc.) and your takes on
what's going on in your life and the world are sometimes as entertaining as your
stories. I look forward to reading your notes section at the end of each story,
and am disappointed when you don't throw in a few comments.
Long message. Hope you had the time to read it all. Take it easy.
Robert
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for another exciting battle which I thoroughly enjoyed.
As I am now too busy to play D&D, reading your stories is the
next best thing. All your stories this year have set the scenes
nicely. The only unreasonable gripe I have is that they are no
longer as long as they are used to :).
The stories which I enjoy the most are the standard monster
bashing, Dungeon exploring / treasure hunting exploits. I also
enjoy anything to do with magic (e.g. I look forward to reading
Alindyar's quest to seek out the master of illusion).
I really admire your determination in working the two jobs to
move yourself into a new home. I think this is the right step
as I have recently moved into my new home last year after
getting married. It is great to have your own place and do
whatever you like. I am amazed how you are able to withstand
the rigour of exercise + working the two jobs with only 5.5
hours of sleep ! This requires tremendous will power and a high
level of self discipline. I know that I would probably not
survive. I have found that proper meditation (total relaxation
of the mind) over say 30 minutes can restore your energy level
much more than normal sleep (e.g. Da Silva Mind Control
technique).
Thank you for taking precious time to write these entertaining
stories.
Your avid reader.
Philip.
Thomas -
You are doing a great job of feeding my Adventurers habit.
The stories are as well written or better than before.
Congratulations on new employment, but, stay sane.
Thanks for the through Ep 700 peek.
Jim
Hello Thomas,
I read your statement and just had to comment about some people griping
about character development. Don't you dare limit character or stunt
character evolution. ;-) I mean that if they remained always the same the
would be too "one-dimensional". Which is what many rpg character tend to
be, unfortunately. People grow old, mature and they get things that demand
more of their attention. What would it take to make you go off gallivanting
to the ends of the earth if you were in Peldor's shoes? He has a job he
likes (well, maybe not all of it :-) ), Tanya and the baby. And they are
your characters to do what you will after all. And from my point of view
you are doing a hell of a job.
I could see them banding together and fight evil as a team again but it
would have to be something really major, something that threatened all of
their existence. Or maybe their children if more of them had offspring.
And what you said about limited time and the reasons for it: I understand
completely because I am doing 12 hour days during week and some weekends
too for the exact same reason. Go for it! If it means less stories then so
be it.
Well, enough rambling. Happy house/apartment hunting.
Best regards,
Jarkko
Couldn't agree more re the Adventurers maturing, settling down, etc. I
for one didn't mind the story focii moving away from Rillen and Songa -
they were happy where they were, and - I include Peldor and Tanya in this
- it's nice to actually see heroes getting to grow old peacefully and
happy from time to time, instead of endless rehashes of the 'the next
even more powerful and nasty ultimate evil shows up to do battle'.
I'm reminded of Valder in the story 'The Misenchanted Sword', who could
have chosen to carve an empire for himself but instead - much like Peldor
- eventually decided to settle down; there was still the occasional
adventure, and life certainly wasn't dull, it just wasn't epic swords-and-
sorcery a la Conan or Hercules. And Valder liked it that way.
Too, if it's adventure and excitement readers want, there's still the
rest of the adventurers - Belphanior, Mongo, Alindyar and Lyra for
example are still young, and likely to remain so for some time! There's
also Gorin's adventures, and Peyote, and Halbarad, and Arnold, etc. I
enjoy seeing how the various Adventurers are 'getting on' with their
lives; it provides a nice break from the hectic dangers they get mixed up
in, as well as making for interesting contrast and a sense of continuity
and history in the world - the 'tapestry of life' and all that.
I'd be inclined to compare the tale of the Adventurers to Tolkien's Lord
of the Rings - it's a wonderfully epic story of a group of people of
various origins and it watches them throughout much of their lives, both
their adventures great and small and their everyday activities.
Except I've spent much more time reading The Adventurers. :)
Regards,
Shane.
I just wanted to send you an email letting you know I look forward to the
seeing the end of the Halloween special. It's fantastic because being set
in an alternate reality, there really is some suspense as to who will live
and who doesn't. Good, fun reading! Also I like your idea of having other
characters start to come to the forefront instead of the core group. For
example, the original adventurers would be able to take on the Temple of
Elemental Evil without much trouble, but newer characters such as Nenya and
Derrick may be a different story. I'm really looking forward to that one.
Anyways, this is more of a "keep up the good work" message rather than just
another bunch of suggestions. I'm glad to see you're writing again. Take
care!
Ken
I usually seems that the "diversions" are what truly round-out a story and
make it all the more interesting.
A good start to what is sure to be another good story arc.
Jim
[from here down was added on monday 10 apr 2000]
Drow vs. trolls. Good story! What made it a better story for me was the fact
that they didn't do the usual and wait until morning to set out. They
recognized that time was a factor (thank you for explaining why ¯ that was also
very nice) and set out right away. I also liked how the townspeople were slow
to volunteer and then somebody stepped up. I'm like that guy. When I hear
somebody complain about something and say that somebody should do something
about that, I step up and say "I'm somebody." I don't let myself get taken
advantage of (there's only so many times I'll refill the printer paper without
someone else stepping up), but I have a pretty strong sense of social
responsibility. Although I don't know if I'd be like that guy in that
situation. Risk getting eaten by trolls?
Keep up the good work!
Robert
Wow, I really liked this adventure. I can always tell in your writing style
if you happen to enjoy the current character and plot that you are writing
because your writing style and "pinache" tends to shine through and it
'feels' like you are enjoying yourself... not just plodding through another
storyline. Correct me if I am wrong.
Steven
This is a good story line with the Drow. You are writing
just enough to keep me wanting more. I am anxious to get back to
Gorin and eventually Mongo. Dwarven fighters are my favorite
characters. Keep up the good writing.
-Jim
Hello Mr. Miller,
You have some unholy pain planned for this Baron Albert guy? Man if this
vampire ever knew what kind of shit that was going to laid on him,he is good
as dead, permently. I like what you have got going for this story arc. I hope
you are not going to kill off Mongo's cousin Gorgo. I hope to see what this
dwarf will be like in some serious ass kicking.
Patrick
Hi Thomas,
Good set-up. You have a nice team setting up here apart from a lack of
priestly power.
I feel that Ys should join in the fun. His immunity to the undead power and
his abnormal strength would be a major boon to the party. He was invaluable
to the party when they went to attack Xusia. I think you probably want to
balance out the forces on either side for a more excting battle.
'Seeing' how deadly a cockatrice is, I suppose Belphanior will be casting a
cone of darkness on them as soon as he gets there. Or what about
teleporting them to a far away place :-) ? I would hate to see any of the
main party (Belphanior, Mongo, Bosco) getting stoned !!
Thanks for the stories.
Philip.
Thomas,
It seems to me Jutokai is going to die.
Wouldn't it be a surprise to find Baron Albert up and active during the day?
That could really mess up their plans. Also, maybe Belphanior could learn
how Albert did it so his beloved Victoria could do the same... That would
solve many of her problems like traveling with Belphanior, expanding her
feeding radius, removing suspicions about her with other towns...
Just an idea.
Bob
This arc is definitely going to be an enjoyable ride!
BTW did you purposely leave off Gorgo's level? I like him. He brings
something a little new and different to the stories. :)
later, Joe
Is it just my imagination or are you planning some cute nasty surprises for
Berlphanior and the crew?
Michael
now that you're back to writing adventurers, here are a couple comments about
the series (after reading 622)
1. Your style is very visual. I'd say it would be fairly easy to turn it into
a comic strip. In fact i'm reading as a comic.
2. It's strange that you never really cared for clerics. Rob was little more
than a dimwit, Ged was half a wizard -and he was the adventurer you choosed
to kill on 500. Aja is more like a necromancer thant a cleric. Peyote is a
secondary character, and he's -well- he's not really a cleric in my view.
I think maybe you dont have sympathy for cleric-types -and a writer likes to
identify with his heroes. I think a cleric is not necessarily a sanctimonius
person repeating the name of his patron. He could be a complex character,
wanting to serve an ideal and
facing agonizing choices along the way ; he could be a kind of visionary -
like Gandalf after his rebirth in Lord of the Rings, feeling things much
before the others understand them. A cleric could be eerie, mysterious,
tormented -and wrathful when finally given
the chance to fight an enemy.
3. Since Ged is gone, the level of conflict between adventurers has been much
reduced. The misundestandings rarely last ; I think it is high time there was
a downright treason among them - one of the adventurers rising to become the
nemesis of the others. Of course it will be hard to accept that from one of
the main characters (Alindyar, Belphanior, Peldor...) but with so many
henchmen/marshals/allies there are options.
By the way, it sure would be nice to have Ged back. Or Ged-2 (yek yek yek...).
Thanks for the time you devote to your readers, I'm eager to read the next
episode!
whew! For a second there, I thought you were going to play a big joke on
Belph and have nobody at home in Baron Albert's house.
later, Joe
Just caught up with your story lines. You are a very talented individual. Some
of your stories, especially ones including Bosco, have left me rolling wiht
laughter. What a fantastic character!
By far, my favorite character is Rob. I know I am in the vast minority on this
one, but there is just something about him that makes me giggle! Heck, he even
inspired me to create my character after him in the now ravenously popular game,
Everquest. (If you have not tried it as yet, I highly advise you to. It to me is
everything 1st edition D&D should have been with awesome graphics.)
Keep up the stories, friend. I will check back regularly for more installments!
John
>Belphanior: This, we didn't prepare for.
I thought I remembered a disguised beholder from the first encounter with
the Baron... but assumed my memory was shoddy when B didn't mention it in
the planning stage. Heh. This should be good.
Loving every minute of chaos in the last and next few stories, Thomas. The
Mongo-Belphanior combo was always one of my favorites. They both like to
kick ass (and chew gum).
mike
Brilliant. What a set-up for an awesome battle. I have thought for a while
that "The Guys" should come face to face with a beholder.
Just to see what they would do. At last. Are you reading my mind?
Anyway, can't wait to find out what happens.
How will you deal with the age old argument: Can a beholders eyestalks
function in it's own anti-magic zone?
Waiting eagerly in anticipation.
Wayne
HAHA! I love it!
A beholder! I had just been pondering the lack of such in your stories
the other day and wondering how you would handle it as it always gave me
trouble both as a DM and as a player... Anyways, looking forward to a
nice big battle royale in the next chapter, keep up the good work bud...
Jason
What's this? All the evil ones have joined together? Too good
to be true, can hardly wait to read more. <g>
PS. The battle was neat, especially the undead talking ... if I'm not
totally wrong this was the first time you actually did that. Then again,
with the screw-up in my previous message ... I better say nothing.
The battle slided a bit easily into Belph's team's winning, but, then
again, it was a big bunch of formidable "heroes."
Joeru
> The reason I reacted the way I did is this: when I first wrote
> this one, several of my proofreaders said pretty much the same
I kinda had that impression. I don't mean to be overly critical or
anything like that, but I do agree with your proofreaders that the
beholder would be better prepared and more powerful than that.
The thing is this is the Adventurers we're talking about. They're larger
than life, they're larger than D&D life even. When DMing a campaign, most
DM's I'd wager would try NOT to kill the party, as long as they don't act
stupidly. The characters in your stories are like characters in a tv
series or a comic book, you can't just kill 'em off! But at the same time
some realism should be followed. Part of the entertainment in the battles
is having a sense that the party is actually in trouble.
> So, if the adventurers were under your control, what would you have
> had them do differently in order to win this battle?
IMHO the key to defeating the beholder is to take it down to the
adventurer's level. In the last dm campaign I played in, the dm had
deemed anyone/anything flying magically unable to carry others (cuz they
figgered someone with a fly spell carrying other people was overpowering)
so I had my character fly and grab onto the beholder's eye stalks. Once on
the ground, magic or no magic the beholder was much easier to deal with.
Otherwise it's practically impossible tor each, between anti-magic
and the beholder flying. Barring that, there are other ways of bringing
it down to earth, Bosco's magic rope as a lasso, a wall of stone cast
above the beholder, etc. Is rock to mud magic? that is is that mud
dispellable? if not, dragging the beholder into that, would help block
some of those rays. Or if lucky a wall of stone falling onto the beholder
and all that falling into the mud.
Another possibliity is the existence of Stormcrest itself. Is it an
artifact? And, it being an artifact, does that make it immune to the
effects of the beholder's antimagic ray?
Also Belphanior has Blackrazor. An invisibility and he could have flown up
and engaged the beholder, since the beholder was preoccupied with others..
I hope you take all this with a grain of salt. You are the author, it's
your world. It's up to you what happens. If beholders explode after
taking 2 points of damage in your world, that's what happens. But at the
same time, I consider your world to be of higher quality than that of the
Forgotten Realms books, and I hope that you continue on that way.
Peace,
gabe
Hi!
Nice story, good fight. Aaa, those are my favorite parts. But you know, for one
of the more fearsome monsters in AD&D your beholder was a wimp. Usually one or
two beholder suffice to wipe out entire mid-level parties, when used properly,
of course. Don't you think it's a little unfair - you let the villains bring out
their heavy artillery, and all that happens are a few unpleasent effects for a
priestess? Maybe you should be more good to bad guys?:)
Michael
Hi!
Well, not the entire party, but some of them! Do you know what I thought
when I read the last sentences in 624, where the beholders descends? I
thought "Well, Thomas Miller seems to get tired of Jutokai, and this is the
best place to bury him" In one of your last stories you wrote, that this guy
has become lazy and so on, so I thought there will be a staff rotation.
Michael
It's great you decided to give Rillen some action too. He was kind of suspended
since he married and retired. You know, real life stories from a fantasy world
tend to be a little boring, 'cause we get enough of this staff everyday. So it's
good that Rillen is going to do what he does best - kick some ass. And with a
good company.
Ciao,
Michael
I have once again changed my e-mail adress. Please add this one to the list.
I have found new stories exelent. Its good to have you back writing stories.
Tread with Belph is especialy good. I can't wait for the attack on temple of
Orcus.
Sasha
Greets,
Whew. Well, it's taken three solid months total, but I've finished reading
all 627 episodes of Adventurers. Damn but that's a lot of reading to do. :)
Alas, now I run into a common problem that arises with someone who needs
constant reading material...what now?? :P
You've done a hell of a lot of work, and I wanted to say that all of it was
great. I'm actually considering going back and reading from the beginning
again! :) Though I should probably re-read some other series just so I don't
overread Adventurers (as I've done with the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony).
Oh well. :) Keep up the good work.
James
PS Although the recent episodes have been great and have expanded the
realism, trials and tribulations of the separate groups of adventurers do
you have any plans for a longer quest (apart from Mongo's treasure quest
obviously). I was reading back over all 600+ episodes recently and
previously one quest/adventure could last for well over 20 episodes. I felt
that this type of length was perfect as it allowed us to consider the
situation ourselves and examine how we would have the characters react in
that situation before finding out what they actually did in the next
episode. Anyway just a small suggestion.... Keep up the good work!
Peter
[from here down was added on monday 24 apr 2000]
I'm a long-time reader of the adventurers and I have loved a most of
what you've written. My personal opinion is that the last Belphanoir
adventure was too predictable....it was almost a forgone conclusion
that he would win somehow...no real surprises.
But this newest adventure with Rillen and Songa (two of my least
favorite characters) is the best story arc you've had in a while.
There is some real danger and they can't just teleport out of danger
when things get ugly.
So just a small note to say thanks and great job.
Eric
Thomas,
I started reading the Adventurers in September after a friend on a
bulletin board (about the Ford Mustang, go figure) recommended them to
me. Wow! I can't believe I've been on the 'net for seven years and not
run across these stories!
I want to thank you for some of the most enjoyable reading I've had
since I first started getting into fantasy. _The Adventurers_ is an
incredible series, and every single episode -- EVERY SINGLE ONE -- is a
treat. All six hundred thirty-two of them!
Keep up the good work, please. It heartens me like you can't believe to
see you discussing episodes up through 1,000. I'll be reading every
single one. Please, add me to your mailing list (emnar@uyema.net).
Speaking of such, I recommended your stories to a friend at work and he
came back from the weekend bleary-eyed -- he'd read all 620 (at the
time) in two days! Come to think of it, he runs the computer I'm
sending this email from...
Regarding a more recent plot, the "golem bomb" trick that Belphanior
used against the Baron Albert was brilliant. I wish more modern
fantasy writers actually *thought* for their characters like that.
I also want to say that I think Ys is one of the coolest names I've ever
come across in fantasy literature. :)
Eric
Spells could have more visual effects. I mean effects like in Belphanior's
spell, Malec-Keth's Flame Fist, when the fire just burned in Belphanior's
hands and then leapt to burn Baron Albert. Other spells could have similar
kind of effects too, just to make them look cool. Belphanior's Wither spell
could be very cool looking when a more creative description of it's effects
would be put to use.
Belphanior seems to be very vulnerable, when without his magic items (e.g.
he wears no armor). Belphanior must have thought of a situation, where he's
magic would be negated (Lao Khan's anti-magic sphere, anti-magic shell).
With this in mind, Belphanior must have developed plans for this kinds of
situations.
Also I've wondered that has Victoria been eavesdropping the conversations
between Belphanior and Otto? You know, the conversations concerning
Victoria's vampric condition and a possible cure for it. Of course
Belphanior has the Blackrazor, but maybe Victoria has found a way to bypass
it's soul detecting power.
Have you ever thought about one of the adventurers turning into evil? It
would result some interesting situations when adventurers would have to
fight their former companion. The logical choice would Halbarad. He's a grim
man, who has all his life tried to do the right thing. He is a loner, a
do-gooder, but not an eternal one in his belief. Maybe he somehow, little
by little,
would loose his faith. Maybe he would see some evil deeds, done by humans,
which would convince him of "the right road". Then he would be somehow
bound to serve some evil force, believing his own methods to prove
right in the end. Maybe he would preserve certain aspects of his honour, he
would want to be faithfull to his new master and that would force him to
fight the other adventurers, his former companions.
And about Cynder. It's will be interesting to see what kind of power does
the Orcus hold over Cynder to command the dragon. As seen in book22, Cynder
was very hostile towards an idea of being controlled by Orcus.
I've noticed too, that also Rillen has a girdle of frost giant strength. I
just wonder how lethal his punches are now. Mongo has, in many occasions,
punhed a hole through his enemies torso. Rillen is also skilled in martial
arts, what Mongo isn't , Rillen's punches and kicks should cause very
extreme
damage.
When Rillen got his staff, his teacher said:
wizened old man: You may find that the staff has...
other powers, ones which you might learn over time.
These powers could acquired by mental deveploment. The staff could allow
Rillen to use some powers, when Rillen would be fit to use those powers
wisely.
Hannu
Hi Thomas!
The Rillen story arc is real good, keep it on. But as a veteran reader, I allow
myself to file a minor objection with you. Your stories are getting too short!
You just start to read, and there is already the end. What about the good ol'
times with 30K+ stories? Would be nice to see some of them again.
With best regards,
Michael
About Lao Khan's anti-magic sphere. With no doubt, Belphanior has reserved
an extra set of chain mail or other kinds of armor for the situations, where
the anti-magic sphere would be used. A shield could be possible too. Also,
in this kind of situations, those artifacts from earth would come handy
indeed. A gun and or couple of hang grenades could change the tide of the
battle, easily. And what kind of method does Belphanior use to open the lead
box? Maybe magic could be used to open the box. The magical method, of
course, couldn't be used to close the box. I was just thinking of a
situation, where Belphanior would reach into his pocket for somekind of a
magical device and then he would just simply push a button and all magic
would neutralized. A sort of single, individual spell, could be the answer.
As well as Drawmij's instant summons, which would cause an item of
importance to teleport into Belphanior's hand which would cause and start
the opening of the box. And then there could be an undead servant to whom
Belphanior would only send a message(via spell of sending) that he should
now do, what he was told to do.
A nice incident would occur if Alindyar would be put into circumstances
where he would forced to use he's his illusions to frighten somebody. The
hole stage could very absurd and illusions would make their own reality, as
Alindyar would want. I know that he normally dosen't want to do something
like this, but you have to remember those runes, which he put to the door of
the so-called "lord of illusions". Though the reasons for such actions were
a bit different, the occurence can be put to a bigger frame, where it would
reflect a kind of a spontaneous side of Alindyar.(Though those runes weren't
exactly about spontaneous actions. More they were about preserving some
magic in magic and myths. As he said: Magic should be feared, as well as
respected and admired.) He wouldn't be so anxious to use his magic for such
purposes, but he would do it anyway.
What happened to Ged's stone golem?
Jutokai seems to have more and more important role in your stories. I like
the way he's been firing his arrows, often making the last stroke for
victory. But what bothers me is that you haven't yet developed his
personality. I went through his lines and I found them extremely neutral.
There weren't many lines, where he said something that would reflect his
feelings or opinions. He might be a man who keeps his thoughts to himself,
but I think he has something more to say.
I would really like a situation, where during a standard dungeon crawl, a
couple like Jutokai and Aja, Belphanior and Victoria, Songa and Rillen etc.
would get into an argument. Their professionality would diminish to a level,
where the only thing of importance would be the winner of the argument.
Especially Jutokai could get fired up with that kind of an argument between
him and Aja, totally new sides of his personality could be revealed.
Hannu
Thomas,
I thought I saw some mushroom looking fungu people in one of the monster
manuals? Maybe not... When you first described the plant creature, I
thought of Little Shop of Horrors, which I just saw part of again sometime
last week...
The fact that the 3 humans would help shows the difference between good
adventurer's and evil or neutral one. They felt obligated to help the fungus
people since the fungus people helped them. Even barbarians know this sense
of obligation...
Good story.
Bob
[from here down was added on monday 15 may 2000]
I'm not usually too fond of Halbarad's adventures, but I find myself
enjoying this one quite thoroughly. Keep up the good work!
--
Eric
My impression of Belphanior has always been that of an outlaw and a
rebel, with a streak of power hunger. It's starting to seem like he's
becoming just a little too cold and calculating. He's not as ambiguous as
he used to be.
For example, he killed a band of adventurers, yet he freed slaves for no
monetary gain. He dabbles in necromancy, yet he risked his neck just to be
at Peldor's wedding in Greyhawk. He places little value on life, but he
would do anything for his friends.
This is the Belphanior I remember. He's still my favorite character, but
he's getting less 3-dimensional.
GS
Now, I've had this question pop into my mind earlier, but I've
always forgotten it before having a chance to send it. So, when
Krug 'turned traitorous' back in the start, and attacked Mongo,
and had Krug succeeded to strike a killing blow, would you have
allowed it? Perhaps the others would've returned with Mongo's
body to a village and raised him from dead, if they had the
money...it's just quite intriguing to think, what would the group
have become without Mongo? Now, you don't write much 'what if'
stories, but man would _that_ be a good and interesting one.
PS. You haven't mentioned anything about Felicia. Then again,
you haven't mentioned much about Peldor and Tanya either. :)
-- Joeru
Just wanted to mention that I've been looking forward to seeing your take on
the Temple of Elemental Evil for a long time. I'm assuming that the recent
appearance of Iuz is leading toward that. Anyway, it's always been one of
my very favorite campaigns, and I hope that the Adventurers will take it
down sometime soon.
Philip
Heh, just wanted you to know I caught the joke about the barbarian, Turok,
being eaten by a dinosaur. Funny, clever stuff. Keep it up.
Ryan
Hey, I know you're setting the stage for some sort of large scale battle, but
I think we should visit Peldor. I'm not talking about the sissy, family man
Peldor, either. We need some classic Peldor!
Yeah, and what about Mongo? He's awesome, too.
Not that I mind the other stories. I like Belphanior a lot, too. Hey, there
should be a story with Mongo, Belphanior (minus his marshals for once), and
Peldor. *grins* The three amigos! It would be similar to that
shape-shifter story line you had going on for a while.
-Brian
PS. Keep up the good work.
Ah, I got a response. Most excellent.
> 651...
>
> About Peldor getting back together with the others...not likely
> given his wife and infant child...I sort of wrote myself into a
> hole there...
Yes, I suppose so. You could always get Peldor into a story by making it
orient around him, though. Something along the lines of him needing help
with something or other, and contacting some people. Of course, he'd
probably go to the Drow first, and then use some sort of scroll to contact
Bel if it was necessary.
I just thought it'd be interesting to see an adventure with some of the
original party running around. They've pretty much gone their own ways, but
I thought it'd be cool to see the original team in action without all the
lackeys and such.
The only problem with the entire team together on one adventure is that
they're all quite powerful individually. Mongo with his hammer, armor, rings
of regeneration/fire resistance, necklace of adaptation; Peldor with his
variety of items and multiple tattoos; Belphanior with his high versatility
and the ability to heal himself with Blackrazor; Alindyar with his extremely
advanced magics; all the rest with their varying high-level abilities..
*shrugs* I suppose that whole war thing I foresee would challenge them,
though. It would be interesting to see their roles. I don't exactly see amy
of them leading armies. It'd probably be best for them to stick it out on
their own. Belphanior would need to defend his town because of it's
desirable location, Alindyar and Lyra would help defend Greyhawk with his
considerable power, Peldor could possibly discover some sinister
assassination/spying plot, Mongo could help out Gorin at Greyspire, Rillen
would be running around with Sonya, and Halbarad, Peyote, and Rob will
probably continue on with their side adventure.
Why am I babbling all of this? I just think we need to see some sort of
story with Peldor like he used to be (I think he's a bit of a softy, now). I
added Mongo and Belphanior in my initial letter because I think they're cool.
-Brian
Although I'm not on the mailing list (I prefer to get groups of stories
and then read them as one), I'm a long-time follower of your Adventurers
stories. I was just getting to the end of my second read-though of the
entire first 600 stories, when I noticed that there were a whole bunch
of new stories on the ftp site. Wow, that was a nice surprise and it
really made my day.
While I was checking out the new reader-art on the web site, a colleague
looked over my shoulder and said "Cool - what is THAT!". I pointed him
to your web site so you may have a new reader soon! (Fortunately, he was
not my boss :)
Anyway, thanks again for providing us with such enjoyable reading, and
I look forward to reading many more of your wonderful stories.
Stuart
In the hope of getting an answer, here it comes. Will we
ever see Cynder again? (I reached #500 while re-reading, and
this _really_ keeps bothering me now.) Telling this isn't
such a big revealment...right?) It'll make every hint of
him being some mysterious person appearing in the stories
the more exciting...I guess.
-- Joeru
[from here down was added on monday 22 may 2000]
Nice writing. :) Waking up to mass destruction and mayhem is fun. :) Can't
wait to see more of Belphanior's World Tour.
Wyrenth
Wow,
Three really awesome things at once. We saw how bad ass Razor Charlies
picture looked but until now he only threw knives and sneered. Way to kick
ass!!!!! We now know how bad Charlie REALLY is. Also, Eduardo is really
coming into his own and thats kewl to see him growing. How about that
Zhao.... nice little touch at the end... "It would have been a waste of
effort. Everything was well in hand."
Steven
Masterful work, Tom. I love your stories.
Tyler
[from here down was added on tuesday 30 may 2000]
Yes! No matter where the Adventurers go and what strange sights they
might see, a good barfight in Helgate is ALWAYS appreciated! :D
--
Eric
Hurrah! Another dungeon crawl :)
Not that the rest of what you're doing isn't interesting, but I sometimes
get nostalgic for the old days of: Open the monster, kill the treasure,
take the door (or whatever :)
Bye for now,
Jamie.
[from here down was added on monday 5 june 2000]
I agree with you on the timing for a break from the regular
characters.... not that you did bad writing (which is exactly the opposite
of reality) it's always good to take a break and bring in some new blood :)
I appreciate your writing and am an avid fan.
I agree with your news article about not reuniting the whole group. Now
that they are in positions of power it would be almost impossible
realistically to get them all together for a "good old fashion dungeon-fest"
as people call it. To be honest, the adventurers have become some of the
most powerful people around and it would have to be one tall mountain, or
crisis even, to make it even semi-interesting. Seeming as these do not come
about every day, or month, or year, I understand your logic totally.
About that demon, what an interesting little turn. Should be interesting
how it pans out when it meets more powerful demons and if it will stay with
the party or jump ship. Congrats on your new job at CNN and keep on keepin
on.
Steven
Good storyline! I, too, am ready to read about another band of
characters. To those who want the ENTIRE party to get back together,
well, why don't they just go back and re-read the 643 previous episodes?
:)
A couple of notes on the episode: first, the imp-as-a-party-member is a
nice touch, and will add uniqueness to this arc of the story. I'd like
to see what he could do against more capable foes.
Secondly, a gripe: in fantasy realms, there are sooooo many parties that
go around killing bandits or hapless civillians going around being
killed by same that you'd think that there would be skeletons GALORE
piled up on the sides of the main roads! Maybe there's some species of
bone-eating monster that cleans up after hours? ;) Oh well, it's
always fun reading about some group of level-0 NPCs getting rent limb
from limb. Catharsis?
Eric
Heh, the old "I got bored dm'ing a big campaign so lets just play hommlett
this weekend" syndrome
Although, it doesn't sound like they are exactly 1st level characters so Im
guessing its a bit beefier this time ;I'm
Cheers
Simon
Dear Thomas,
I think your latest story line is superb, for several reasons:
1) It is an interesting party indeed! Lots of potential for mischief and flat
out
chaos! I tend to play good-neutral characters, but prefer to READ about the
wild ones. Most people seem to agree, hence Belphanior's popularity.
2) Some time on Deryck and Nenya is also long overdue, both of them being
capable in their own right.
3) The classic Temple modules! I absolutely love reading the Adventurers
working through modules that I played or DM'ed. It makes fascinating
reading, seeing the different approaches, the different results, and the thrill
of
watching someone else experience it for the first time.
4) Ditto on your latest reason - not that you need any. But low level
characters make for just as exciting, as possibly more gripping, adventure.
Again, keep up the good work!
Jason
[from here down was added on monday 12 june 2000]
I remember when my party went through that module... I loved it! And your latest
party seems incredibly rough-and-ready, even more so than the original
Adventurers or Belphianor's current crew. I can't wait to see where they take
this. Thanks for a REALLY cool idea. I'm torn between Wembly or Rogar for my
favorite in the party... Friar Tuck gone wrong, or a mage geek. Hee. Thanks
again.
> notes: It's kind of nice having main characters who can't teleport
> across the world, summon allies, blast ghosts into dust with a wave of
> the hand, and so on. I miss that when I write the normal Adventurers.
It does have an appeal after dropping iron golems on temples. :)
Let's see what they can do against the mushroom demoness...!
> Someone pointed out to me that when I use TSR modules like this, I'm
> technically plagarizing/copying/whatever. This may be true, but since
Given that it is the point of such modules to provide a 'DM' with
scenarios to torture the characters of his version of a world,
whatever it may be, I see nothing wrong with this. I do it myself in
additional to mixing in original plots, places, and peoples. Given
the disclaimer at the beginning of your posts I do not see how it
would be illegal to use such a publication as reference material.
Course I am not a lawyer.
Trevor
Hi, Thomas,
Good stuff so far with the interim party and the Temple adventure. My
buddies and I ran through it in high school, and it was perhaps the high
point of my campaign. I'm looking forward to seeing just how far these guys
(and imp?!) can go before we catch up with Belphanior et al. again.
I wouldn't worry at all about using material from the TSR modules. For one
thing, the modules invite the public to incorporate their own original ideas
into a new framework. More importantly, you're really not using much of
TSR's material, and (most importantly) you're neither doing this for
economic gain nor doing anything that would tend to detract from TSR's own
profits. In fact, your perpetuation of these modules' popularity is
probably beneficial to TSR; readers may well want to run their own
characters through the modules and thus may need to buy them. (Now if
they'd only reprint more of them . . .) In sum, this could well be what
copyright folks refer to as "fair use"; brushing off any further plagarism
comments appears warranted.
Love the regular Monday/Thursday release schedule. Keep 'em coming!
Rob
The Village of Homlett!
A great low level adventure. I'm one of your readers who is interested in
seeing how the adventurers deal with the old published modules. Having played
through most of the older AD&D adventures I like comparing your written accounts
with the games I've played in. In particular, I recall when I was in school
liking your Slave Lords stories. Your adventurers were a lot smarter and
luckier than my gaming group was going through A1 through A4. We rolled up a
lot of new characters going through those modules.
I don't know if you want to use this, but when I played the Village of Homlett
adventure our new 1st level PCs(I played an elven enchanter) scouted the
moathouse first. Seeing the patrolling bandits in the courtyard within our
group decided to wait until some of the bandits left to raid some more merchant
caravans. After a few hours of waiting, the DM decided to have the evil priest,
his ogre and about a dozen of his soldiers leave through the drawbridge gate.
Our characters then went in, quickly looted the place (making an treaty with
some bugbears for them to leave the area in return and seal up the alternate
dungeon exit in return for sharing some of our treasure) and then they waited
at the drawbridge gate to ambush the evil priest as he got back. We had a bunch
of pre-loaded crossbows already loaded to rapid fire on the enemy, had a
carpenter we rescued saw halfway through the drawbridge so that it would
collapse and also had flaming oil ready to throw on the enemy party. I think the
evil priest's group lasted about three rounds and barely scratched our
characters who were happily hurling spells and missiles from the moathouse
battlements.
We never went through the Temple of Elemental Evil but I recall it's a rather
thick module. I'm looking forward to seeing how you deal with it in your
writing. I assume you are going to tie in Zuggtmoy escaping with the upcoming
Greyhawk Wars somehow?
Chris
Just a short mail of appreciation for the stories you're writing - you've
got a great style.
Thanks!
Colin
[from here down was added on monday 19 june 2000]
Just wanted to say thanks for continuing to write the Adventurers stories.
They're very well written. I look forward to receiving them. They're the
first thing I read in my mailbox when they come.
Jonathan
I am sure that you received and you are still receiving lots of fanmail.
I am french-canadian so excuse my mistakes if I do some...
I started to read your story last summer. I am at 412 and I have to say
that I felt in love with the Adventurers...the story...the
caracters...of course I have my favorites ( Belph and Peldor). I funny
how I get affected when they die...I am wondering a lot about
Peldor...human...not like the others...he will (maybe) die....sooner and
the crew will be separated for good...anyway
I just wanted to thank you for this story...
I used to play AD&D years a go ...I yes...It misses me now....very
much...because of you!
Regards,
Karim
I can't wait for 650! I hope it's nice and looooooooooooooong! :-)
--
Eric
[from here down was added on friday 23 june 2000]
These were some really cool stories, Thomas. I know what you mean about
missing writing about low level characters. You did a great job of it
though. And somehow managed to make it seem like these were 6 completely
different personalities from the adventurers. I didn't really see any of
Peldor, Belphanior, etc. in the skin of another character, if you know what
I mean. So did all of these episodes make up the T1 adventure? The ToEE is
one of the ones I never managed to pick up.
Anyway, just wanted to tell you to keep up the great writing. Looking
forward to seeing the Belphanior - Mongo interaction again.
mike
Wow! I haven't been with you from the start, but I've read every single
Adventurers' episode several times. 650! Sheesh! (I actually expected you
to have some sort of a poll or another Adventurers' Oscar gala or
something like that. Oh well..)
Oh well, you've been writing now for what? 10 years? 12 years? During
that time, the adventurers have seen just about every foe there is (and
who could forget the tarrasque ;) and even visited another worlds.
I think (and would bet just about every last dime I had[had I any dimes,
that is]) that on some level you're proud of them. I know I'm proud that
I've been there to see their ups and downs, sideways and secret ways and..
you probably got my point, so I'll just finish up by saying that you've
been doing (and keep on doing) a fine job. A damn fine job.
...so keep up the good work!
A faithful reader (adventurers 4ever!),
Markus
PS: I still smile every time I come upon the very first chapter in the
very first Adventurers. Who would've thought that a miscellaneous
character soup like that would turn out so interesting and so variable
products? And with even no name(except what you chose to call them
"temporarily" ;)!!
P.S. Keep up the great stories, I finished reading the first 600 two weeks ago
and have caught up and am now current. I have been going crazy because I am use
to reading 4-5 stories a night. I guess I will have to live with 2 a week now
(I hope) I love everything about the stories and can't wait to read more.
(especially Peldor's upcoming story!!!)
John
[from here down was added on thursday 29 june 2000]
One way you could go:
What sort of treasure could survive the thousands of years of grinding time?
Most items would have rotted away, and even permanent magics aren't
necessarily eternal. Suppose the great treasure is a poem carved in the
walls of a temple, or perhaps a method of meditation lost to the ages. To
the people who created them, either of these might seem to be the greatest
treasure ever created, while Mongo would think it was all crap.
Or perhaps the treasure is a gigantic tomb full of "corpses" which are
actually the stacked-up population of the ancient empire in magical stasis.
Do the adventurers leave them alone, kill them, or try to find them a new
home?
--Ben
<quote>I am seriously beginning to wonder if I can come up with a
treasure (and backstory) worthy of the hype I'm generating <quote>
Gold idols/statues of large size perhaps, coupled with a myriad of
artifacts. Been a long time since we've seen some wands of epic proportions
like Ged's Suel fire wand. How about a magical bow that literally shots
arrows of flame, normal arrow damage + fire damage... been a long time since
we've seen a helm with some freaky ability...
You can do it!
Jason
Hi!
Being an avid reader of the Adventurers saga, and overjoyed at the fact that you
began it anew this year, I thought to make some contribution to your work. I
hope I can be of help.
This lost tomb that Mongo seeks along with others is obviously old. The
questins remains, though, exactly how old it is. It obviously predates the Suel
empire. So what kind of treasure it would hold? What kind of guardians would
guard it? How to make it worth all the hype you've pressed into it?
So old a tomb could contain anything. What did the ancient civilization hold
as treasure? Perhaps the making of steel was a mystery to them, and the emperor
would have a treasure of steel bars and items such as swords and such. This
being the case, the common weapons and armor of that era would be forged of
bronze.
Magic is another question. What kind of mages did the panagaean empire employ?
Wizards? Priests? Psionicists? None at all? (this last is unlikely, since to
hold an empire of that size together, one would need a VERY efficient
information system) Anyway, the type and amount of magic also correlates with
the type of guardians and treasure encountered. (What am I doing, prattling this
obvious drivel away to an experienced DM..?)
But I still hope that you might be benefited by my ideas. Bronze golems,
perhaps... Well, good luck with the writing.
Yours truly, Samppa
On Mon, Jun 26, 2000 at 07:22:43AM -0400, Thomas Miller wrote:
> notes: I am seriously beginning to wonder if I can come up with a
> treasure (and backstory) worthy of the hype I'm generating.
If it weren't that you just did a "letdown" story with Alindyar and
the Lord of Illusions, I'd ask why you'd think you need to - after
all, Mongo&co are dealing with stories that have had *millennia* to
grow. I can't think of anything in the real world with a parallel in
terms of legendary wealth. Maybe Atlantis or the Holy Grail, but
neither are really proper comparison.
Robert
Hello Thomas,
I was wondering, has Belphanior learned the minimize trick with the golem
like Alindyar does? If not, that would be a very good thing for him to
learn. It would allow him to bring the golem without worrying about it's
size and mass for traveling.
I don't like the idea of not bringing either Ys or Angus. I think it's a big
mistake. But, people do make mistakes so this could be even better reading
because of it.
As for the treasure of their quest, there should be at least one or two
awesome artifacts in it. They can be items no one has ever heard of due to
the age of the treasure. You can come up with all kinds of unique items and
even monsters for them to battle. There can even be new spells they never
heard of. Maybe Belph can even find something to help Victoria with sunlight
and/or traveling during the day. Although, any spell book he got from Baron
Albert will probably help him with that. Maybe he can do some reading while
they travel since it seems they will be traveling for quite a while. I don't
know the destination yet but hopefully they can teleport much of the
distance...
I'm sure your story will be excellent.
Bob Ericksen.
>next: at last: the one, the only...Peldor!
Alright! <BG>
>notes: I am seriously beginning to wonder if I can come up with a
> treasure (and backstory) worthy of the hype I'm generating.
Ah, who needs treasure, they could just go to the end of the world, fight
foe after foe, risk it all to gain what they believe is the greatest
treasure in the world just to find out that it's fake.
Uh, but since you wrote these earlier on, does that mean that the notes
are "outdated" too? (Meaning you've done your decision) That'd at the same
time make sense and not, so...
-- Joeru
Thomas- In the latest notes you mentioned that you wonder if the treasure
in the tomb can live up to the hype. My question is: does the treasure have
to be anything that would be of value today? How old is this tomb? Imagine
the shock when the adventurers fight their way to the vault and find it
filled with seashells or something along those lines. Just a thought...
> notes: I am seriously beginning to wonder if I can come up with a
> treasure (and backstory) worthy of the hype I'm generating.
You? Short on ideas?! Hah! Hahahah! That's the best joke you've told yet! ;)
Eric
You aren't sure if you can come up with a treasure (and backstory) to
fill all the hype you're generating?
As I suppose you also don't really want to give Belphanior a fortune
that would give him enough power to seriously disrupt the balance of
world power (anymore than he already has) I would suggest you use the
time-honored technique of making it something that is useless to the
characters but was actually something quite valuable in it's time -
maybe something like paper cash worth billions of dollars thousands of
years ago only now it's not worth the paper it's printed on (although if
Belph and Co. can maybe figure out the secret of making that paper they
might be getting somewhere)... Terry Brooks (Shanarra series) has done a
lot of stuff where the distant past was technologically advanced to the
point of resembling our sci-fi distant future... maybe your emperor
hyperion's treasure can be something like that...
Anyways, just a thought...
Jason
Strange, I've been assuming that they wouldn't actually be able to find
the treasure.
Either it never existed, or no longer exists, or is too well protected,
or whatever...
Or mebbe steel or lead or something else worthless used to be more
valuable than gold....
They've already got so much junk its hard to imagine anything more they'd
want. Its like they're all filling their potential.
Lets see if I can throw out some more thoughts on this...
(disadvantages first)
1) They've already held their own (or at least escaped with their lives)
against some pretty powerful foes, so whatever they fight will need some
big advantages to make it seem like an even fight. [The "Aliens"
halloween xover rocked, BTW.] Keeping the advantages sane is the big
problem, especially since high-level D&D doesn't tend toward sanity...
2) They've got a good set of equipment, allies, & assets that fit them,
so coming up with a *meaningful* treasure is tricky. Unless, of course,
one of them *wants* to have an empire.
But....
(advantages)
They're the Adventurers. Going on quests is what they *do*. IMO, the
journey is more important than the destination.
Well, that looks like all of my 2 cents. Can't wait to read the rest of
this epic,
Strike & Co.
Hi Thomas,
I just hit the 500..or it just hit me...I have got to say that is was
just great....a great quest.
Ged, I will miss him, very much and I think and hope that the team will
miss him as well.
I suppose that the team will not much longer go all together for other
great quest. But I have to say that it seems bizarre that all those guys
and girls who went trough all of those great quests will separate for
good... They formed a very powerful and most entertaining crew.
Hmmmm..it seems that a peldor can growth old...time is runnning...and It
concerned me as well
I also have two questions about the "misty thing".....is it
Victoria?????
Are we going to see Belphanior and Peldor clean Greyhawk after all that
happened??
hmmm one more...About Mardi Gras...I dont know much about it but I have
to say that you gave me the desire to go there...Is it a fixed date??
and I asked some people here and they told me it was dangerous or
something...is it??
Thanks again!!!
The story is simply a master piece.
Karim
Hi Thomas
> Peldor: (shrugs) Being a Peldor isn't all fun and games.
Hooray. Nice to see Peldor still being Peldor, despite all the
responsibilities and hard work!
> Sorry to make such a rant out of this subject, but someone who finds
> my stories and reads all 600+ of them in a week may not realize that
> those 600+ stories represent NINE YEARS of my life (eleven if you count
> the time in which we actually played, before I began writing.) As I've
> grown and changed, so have my stories and my writing style...and so
> have the characters.
Ouch!
I'm sorry to see you wound up like this. I for one totally agree with you. As
I've read your stories over the years I have found myself sympathising with
your point of view. It is sometimes quite strange to see events in my real
life mirrored within your tales.
I think it might soon be time we saw a few couples go through some matrimonial
troubles, if not split up entirely. Nasty, but that's the next stage in a
relationship. Wandering eyes, too much adventuring, getting bored with staying
at home/the castle, former lovers returning from the dead, differing points of
view on an important subject. I think some episodes could benefit from an even
more mature theme.
On a lighter hearted issue, I am not sure if you are going to continue the 'Is
he a god/is he not a god' plot with Peldor. There have been amusing hints
throughout the epics.
Peter
Unfortunately so. However, I was thinking about this a short while back
when you introduced that party that is currently clearing out the Temple of
Elemental Evil. It was very refreshing to read about a party that does not
have all these amazing abilities/items/powers/spells. It gets a bit boring
when you know that if the opponents don't take out the Adventurers first
time round, they're dead (and the problem is that we don't WANT any of the
Adventurers to BE taken out ...). It's the same problem that you have when
you play tabletop AD&D: very powerful characters are boring most of the time
unless you go into intrigue (political or otherwise) where stats become
meaningless. Maybe you will have to start writing about the (evil?) sextet
more as time goes on. Not that I don't enjoy reading about the main
characters, especially when they get back together now and again; almost
seems like old times ...
> Sorry to make such a rant out of this subject, but someone who finds
> my stories and reads all 600+ of them in a week may not realize that
> those 600+ stories represent NINE YEARS of my life (eleven if you count
> the time in which we actually played, before I began writing.) As I've
> grown and changed, so have my stories and my writing style...and so
> have the characters.
I already e-mailed you about a year or two back about reading all your
archived material. I think I discovered your site back in about '96 and I
think there were between 300 and 400 episodes at the time. I read them all
that year and caught up with your writing. Fortunately, there was still so
much development to happen with the characters. It was wonderful to read
them one after the other. At the time, I couldn't get enough of them!
Ahhh, I love nostalgia.
Tell me, do you still have readers on your distribution list from way back
when you first started putting the stories on the internet? How many people
are there?
See ya
Paul
You are DEFINITELY an ingenious writer.
While I semi-enjoyed that other adventuring group (the one with Damien the
Imp), I wasn't particularly thrilled with them.
Then you put out a masterful piece of work like THIS one about Peldor et al,
and it's all good.
That was one of my favorite episodes, even though quite little actually
happened IN the episode, just because it was written so well.
Well done,
Tyler
[from here down was added on thursday 6 july 2000]
> I'm working on the more serious plotlines (an affair would be
> good) but writing is slow these days...
Ha, if you think the amount you produce is slow, then my own writing
efforts could be called glacial! You're not doing that bad
considering you have 30 episodes pre written. ;-)
Nice to hear from you once in a while. Considering the number of SCA
tournaments and battles I fight over in the States, I'll have to make
the effort and visit you en-route one of these days...
Have fun
Pete
Thomas,
I've been a long time reader of The Adventurers, and I'd like to
congratulate you on such a successful (if Herculean) effort. I've really
enjoyed reading the stories over the years (I forget where I first got
started - 60ish? rings a bell). You're doing great and I'm always excited
to see another story in my Adventurers folder.
Your point from a few episodes ago was very true. I DO like getting
the stories on a regular basis, even if it means they are smaller. That was
one of my frustrations early on, in that sometimes we'd get 3 stories back
to back, and then we'd go 3 weeks without one. While I miss the larger
stories, I like the consistency (part of the changing lifestyle, perhaps?).
As far as loose ends go, I'll go ahead and make my pathetic plea. I
realize you've got your own plans stretching out into the future, and I
wouldn't want to hamper your "artistic expression", but hey, you can't blame
a guy for trying (well, you can, but that's a whole different issue). In
looking back to the very early stories, Peldor (always my favorite because
of his attitude, especially where Ged was concerned) seemed to have a very
enigmatic origin. Perhaps now (or a little later) that he has a growing
family, his own vast curiosity will reflect on this and start some
Peldor-ing?
That's it for the whining and begging. Keep up the good work.
Doug
I've been reading your story for some time now and sometimes I've felt that
I needed to write to you on how good your writing is but until I got to the
Org/shapeshifter part I KNEW I had to write to you. I mean you are one of
the best writers i have seen, I've never really been interested in AD&D
fiction before but if there even half as good as you I could get hooked, I
just felt that I had to tell you eventually.
An adoring fan,
Chris
Hi Thomas!
I read your extended comment in the 652 episode about possible changes in the
story line. I for myself like even the "soap-opera" episodes you write, because
they simply add realism to the world of Greyhawk, showing not only mighty heroes
and their quests, but everyday life. But I must admit, the main thing in your
cycle ARE the quests and adventures. You could surely change to other
characters, but I think it would be very disappointing for old fans like myself.
We kind of grew accastomed to these old guys.
Could I suggest another solution, at least a temporary one? There is war coming
closer, and you already used it to destroy one of your "soap-operas" about
Rillen and Songa. Why not try the same with Peldor and Tanya, or even with
Arnold? I mean Greyhawk should be filled with different spies and assasins from
Iuz, Horned Society, Scarlet Brotherhood, Ivid etc. by now, and it surely could
be used for an extended story arc with Peldor and other Greyhawk-based
Adventurers. It actually is Peldors duty as Guildmaster and Oligarch to look in
such business and to set things strait.
Well, I hope my proposals will be of any use, but you are the author, anyway.
All I can say is that I surely will enjoy your stories even if you change to
others characters.
Bye,
Michael
Hi. As you can see from my mail address, my name is David Feldman, and I
guess I am a fan. I stumbled on the peldor.com site one day about a week
and a half ago by one of the wonderful accidents that happen if you allow
yourself to cruise around the web a bit at random. I read the first story,
and then a couple more. And then some more. Now I find myself stealing the
odd 15 minutes at work to get a story or two in. I'm currently at 106. So
without ever intending to get myself involved in reading 650! D&D stories,
apparently I'm hooked.
Your stories really bring me back to my earliest involvement in D&D. I was
going to college when the original white box set was first published, and I
accidently got involved with a group at an open game night at our student
union. I just sat down and the DM gave me just enough info to create a
character. I had no idea what I was doing, and that made for some of the
most fun I've ever had playing D&D. Of course, I had no idea just how lucky
I was, in that I happen to get one of the best DMs to ever run a campaign.
Since those early days I've played with an awful lot of DMs (even including
Gygax) and as the years passed I realize just how good ours was.
Anyway, your stories brought it all back. It's been over 20 years since
I've been in a regular campaign, but I can still remember many of those
long nights just like that happenned last week. And I can just about
picture you and your group playing out many of the sessions that you have
written up.
Thanks for all the hard work that you put in to share these great tales.
Please sign me up for your subscription list.
Sincerely,
David
I was just wondering because he may not be able to leap very far, but what if
he lifts something over his head or pushes something, won't his legs give out?
Greetings.
These stories with Rasimov D'Arkayn sound like they're going to be really
cool. At least a fighter/mage, perhaps a fighter/mage/thief. *rubs his
chin* Possibly a Belphanior out to get the drow.
Anyway, I just thought this sounded cool.
You know, now that I think of it, you could work Peldor into their story line
if you wanted to. A powerful Oligarch as himself wouldn't see fit to allow
some evil drow to run around killing people in the city, especially one
trying to kill a couple of his good friends. Perhaps that wizard Rasimov
killed was under the protection of the Thieves' Guild.
Peldor would just have to be careful -- his regeneration tattoo won't save
him from death dealt by this guy.
- Brian
Heh,
I liked your rant last adventure. I will be sad when the adventurers retire.
You have been so good, you should eventually let them die and then go on
from there, whether it be in war or old age, depending on your mood and how
bored you are with the characters.
I love your writing, this storyline with the dark elf and the stone
golemythingamabober has really caught my interest. Keep up the good work.
Steven
Re: Rasimov not to be taken lightly. Agreed, a smart, devious f/m of
reasonable (11/11, or higher) is no fool. I pity him if he runs in
Belphanior, however. :) (Since you mentioned he was looking for "friends".)
Keep up the good work... I enjoy each Monday/Thursday installment, and
especially enjoyed the "Peyton" episodes.
Cheers, David
[from here down was added on tuesday 1 aug 2000]
>next: could it be...is it...the Lord of Illusions?!?
>notes: Rasimov is definitely a name-level warrior and mage, and not
> someone to be taken lightly...as Alindyar and Lyra shall learn.
Hell yes, these last few episodes have been absolutely fantastic. They
even top a number of your Belphanior stories! And Rasimov, that guy's a
true badass. :P
Keep up the good work!
-- Joeru
All I got to say is (in the immortal words of Bosco)... Wheeeeeee!
Steven
Why not just have them enter a huge chamber, an empty one, with one small
piece of paper in it. The paper says: "Cheers, mates. Better luck next
time!"
-Maketus
This bar fight is exactly why you don't leave your biggest guns home...
I'm sure the party will be fine, if all else fails, Belphanior can use his
weapons or his magic. But, using weapons and/or magic in a bar fight creates
further problems. It's always best to just be able to pummel your opponents
to unconsciousness...
I shared Bosco's concerns about the party make up before Belphanior
mentioned they can go back to Helgate to regroup and plan their next move.
That would be wise...
I am very excited about the bar brawl! You are absolutely correct, every now
and then, you need a good bar fight. I hope to see someone put their head
through the piano like Burt Reynolds did in Hooper. That was probably the
best bar fight I've seen in a movie(a non-western movie anyway). My old
adventuring party, we always started every bar fight that way...
Bob
Hi Thomas
Thanks for the continuing Adventurers which I look forward to every
weekend. It is a while since we last communicated (late April) so I
would like to offer some feedback on your writings over the last few
months.
Firstly, 'the Misadventurers' (641-650). Absolutely brilliant! These
guys are really different, with almost cartoon-like personalities. It
reminded me very much of the initial low level episodes.
Its difficult to pick a favorite, but my vote goes to Damien. And
what a great module to set it in! Hommlet is a true classic from the
golden age of 1st Edition. I note that you want to park this story
arc for a while, but I for one will be looking forward to the sequel
(ToEE?).
I sympathise with your comments about Peldor becoming a respectable
family man who doesn't (or shouldn't) take the risks that make a
tale gripping. Peldor's popularity (I believe) stems from the the
things that made him a different, but not necessarily a better,
person. For example, the continual baiting of Ged (may his soul rest)
in the early episodes; and his inexcusable thefts of famous artefacts.
And on the subject of creating characters with flaws may I comment on
Rasimov d'Arkayn. A tenuous thread (via a Lost Tale I recall) to
introduce a worthy intellectual opponent for Alindyar. Rather like
Professor Moriarty was for Holmes. I always have a lot of sympathy
for the villians because you know that they are going to fail (??
perhaps I should not assume) because they are evil and the author is
rooting for good. I am looking forward to a truly titanic battle of
wits as Rasimov and Alindyar weave their attacks and defences in the
magical and mundane realms.
You have probably come across the 'Assassins' series by Goran Zidar
which I also subscribe to. If not, it is well worth tracking down a
few episodes to appreciate the flavour. Forgive me for attempting to
compare and contrast! Whereas the Adventurers are
mostly nice respectable guys ( even Belph's gang IMO) you would
unhesitatingly cross the road to avoid the Assassins. Goran does not
need to invent twisted evil personalities to contrast his heroes
against. To me at least this gives the Assassins that extra
plausibility - because perfect people are rare.
This is NOT a criticism of your stories. I would not like to see the
Adventurers turn bad, their image has been well established over nine
years of excellent writing. What I am trying to say is that
'Misadventurers' and Rasimov deserve the status of your other great
antiheroes - like Cynder, for example.
Lastly, I have not heard any feedback on 'Arlanni', which is now
a zipfile on my website. I would greatly value an opinion from you or
any of your diligent proofreaders. This is my first and possibly only
attempt at fiction writing, unless you count my doctoral thesis,
which is another thing entirely. I would be really, truly honoured
if you saw fit to mention the link in an episode postscript.
Regards, Jeff
Hi Thomas,
Another great story. This reminds me of my very first adventure at Hommlet
before our onward journey to the temple of elemental evil. I seem to recall
with frustration the group spending much time in bars / taverns drinking
beer and fishing for information than in bashing monsters. It is a shame
no-one got swallowed alive by any of these frogs. Speaking of which, if you
are the DM, how many rounds would you allow the adventurer to survive (how
many HP damage to get swallowed, how many HP damage per round inside the
stomach, any chance of cutting up the frog from the inside ?) inside one of
these frog's stomach before he/she is dead ?
Philip
I don't know about other people, but it seemed a bit too easy to get into
the Drows' house. I mean, both of them are geniuses - wouldn't they be
able to think of the simple feat of using teleport/dimensional door?
To me, it seemed that for all their protections and wards, there was a big
weakness that they should have forseen. As for the illusions in the
house, would one of the world's foremost illusionists illusions be that
easy to discern?
I don't know, it seemed a bit unrealistic. Oh well.
David
I'm glad you are back writing the Adventurers. Your stories really
inspire me creatively in my own games in addition to simply being the
best high fantasy epic around.
I am looking forward to getting caught up on my Adventurers reading.
Kyle
Hello Thomas,
As a long time reader of your stories, I've voiced my opinion only seldomly, and
often, at your request for votes. Adventurers 659, however, prompted me to
chime in again. I would say that this is by far, one of your better episodes:
I liked how you fleshed out the motivations of Jutokai, giving him
real/believable motivations, and logically extending their effect into his
behavior, and how others like Otto reacted to his uncharacteristic ruthlessness.
I liked how your characters display intelligent tactical ability, waiting for
the magic user to identify himself before launching a surgical strike. I think
you're very clever in how you manage to take non-powerhouses, and force them to
adapt to circumstances, rather than wade in with a fireball, and the Hammer of Doom.
I liked the bit of foreshadowing that you have started to include in some(most?)
of your episodes, almost like a signature, it really gets me looking forward to
the next. The spy from Ket was a nice touch, and your recent drow villain also
display the intelligence that makes them more intimidating, and a nice relief
from Ruffian #N, and Ogre #Y. (who also have their place).
I also have to say that I really enjoyed the story arc that included the
"low-level" characters, especially Damien. The dungeon-crawl, is always a
plotline that makes me nostalgic for my old role-playing days.
I look forward to more episodes.
salty dog
"Every once in a while, I get so upset that I have to write a story like this
one. Actually, it turned out a lot tamer than I'd hoped when I sat down to
write it. Oh well, you take what you can get, I guess."
It was still plenty violent. I hope to see an addition to your rants soon.
Sorry I haven't dropped you a line in a while. Just wanted to let you know that
I have been reading and enjoying the stories. I like the quest story, Belphanior
and the Helgate stories, as well as whatever is brewing up in Greyhawk with the
drow survivor. Keep 'em coming!
Robert
Thomas,
First of all, I am extremely impressed that you continue to release good
story after good story, I find I am looking forward to coming in to work
Tuesday and Friday mornings to read the latest. It makes a refreshing change
from the usual crap posted in emails.
Hmmmm....hasn't been a decent death in the Adventurers for a while, I really
thought Jutokai was going to buy it in the bar fight, glad he didn't.
Keep up the great work.
Regards,
Benjamin
Greets.
I agree. As nifty as teleportation and revival can be, used too often really
throws things askew. In the campaign I'm currently running using my
home-brewn system, I managed to keep teleportation down (and can still
control it as long as they use teleportation items and don't learn the
spells for it), but I really messed up as far as death and revival is
concerned. Especially in a certain dificult battle with a powerful priestess
along. :P I'm the type who believes death can be treated, if the body can
be healed quickly enough (kinda like reviving a dead person with CPR), but
the body has to be in livable condition of course (which the spell
convieiently does). I over-did that, though.
I do like how you steered away from it in the course of your writings
though. The one instance that sticks out in my mind is on that island before
everyone went to Hell and back, where Alindyar was slashed to chunky kibble,
yet hung on by a thread. Having a required recovery time in all instances
where critical damage was taken (and healed) is a solid idea. It prevents
the rather gamey drop-to-one-HP-then-cast-Cure4-and-be-perfect-again
syndrome.
Anyway, I'm through babbling now. :> Don't forget to pet your potatoes and
tell them how much you love tissues. *zrp*
Wyrenth
Hello!
How have you been doing? I hope well. =)
Just read story 660, and felt that Belphanior being pissed at being too
long far away from his sweetheart is a good factor you didn't forget. I
still play Add regularly, and my principal character; a lvl 16 elven
magician has a daughter, and no wife to take care of her ( it's too long
a story to tell... at least for now ) is forced not to leave for too
great amounts of time. The daughter is one of the last strands that keep
him sane ( He had a baaad and looong experience with Ravenloft ), and he
treasures her more than his life.
So? What's cooking? Maybe a separation between our favorite vampire
and our destructive elven friend? One of the few things that still
didn't happen in the Adventurers, in fact, is a separation between two
characters. Maybe one coming up? Since you seem to be way ahead of your
writing schedule, I suppose you already know.
Also, on resurrection and teleportation. You seem to share the same
views as my Dm. But we finally both agreed on something about these two
: It's powerful magic, it is annoying, but it is one of the privileges
of going all the way to a certain level, and accumulating experience. Of
course, I do remember you using resurrections quite many times, and at
lower-end levels. But those are past mistakes. Think about it... Now
that the adventurers made it all the way to the top, that they are the
cream of the cream, they should be denied resurrections or
teleportations? What I try to say is that I think an archmage walking
from place to place seems a bit archaic .
Same thing could be said on wishes. You somehow solved the problem
with Peldor ( even though I must say I thought he would be more reckless
) . I know very few persons that would actually have been wise enough
not to use the power of the wish they receiveced very quickly.
Well, those were my two pence for today. Hope you can answer me. )
Max
You wrote:
> I have come to hate teleportation and other such ultra-quick
> methods of transport. This is much like I long ago learned to hate
> another easy-to-abuse magical factor: resurrection. Oh, how I wish
> that I could go back and not overuse this sort of magic like I did.
> It really throws off a fantasy story - in my opinion only, of course.
It's not your opinion only! Most of the campaigns I've been in either
disallowed resurrection magic outright or made it incredibly rare - or
only allowed Reincarnation, since it does have interesting side effects.
In one campaign which had been low-magic, the DM made the mistake of
letting the party mage find Teleport. The campaign instantly changed.
Suddenly we were all over the place. Forgot something? *bamf* Got it.
Need to go somewhere far away or hard to reach? *bamf* Get out of trouble?
*bamf* The only thing left to chance was the success roll.
I don't know one other spell that can so completely change the tenor of
a campaign. Our DM adapted very well after an initial "what have I done"
panic, but even at that the power level rapidly got out of hand, and we
ended up starting again at first level. With no mage. :-)
The big airship Belphanior has is definitely much cooler. As for
your overusing the magic before, well, the Adventurers series has matured
tremendously since you started it (I signed on to the list ca. #250, I
think, and then downloaded the first "book" and caught up from the
beginning). The important thing is that you aren't /currently/ overusing
that sort of magic. The gritty but high-fantasy tone of the Adventurers
has been consistent for quite a while now, and the characterization has
gotten excellent. Don't worry about what you did 5 years ago. You're
cooking now. :-)
Thanks,
James
> notes: I have come to hate teleportation and other such ultra-quick
> methods of transport. This is much like I long ago learned to hate
> another easy-to-abuse magical factor: resurrection. Oh, how I wish
> that I could go back and not overuse this sort of magic like I did.
> It really throws off a fantasy story - in my opinion only, of course.
But you're the author! If you don't like how something is working,
change it...actually, that's what you're doing right now, isn't it?
You just need to come up with something more permanent than "Mongo sez
so"...
Here's an idea for a story arc, though it's extremely barebones. All
teleportation, resurrection, and other ultra-powerful magic stops
working. The group of your choice must go and figure out why.
Perhaps, though, they'll find that the cause is irreversible! What fun
that would be :)
BTW, I'm enjoying this story arc. I love seeing Belphanior whoop
ass. But I think you should try your hand at a few mass battles (army
vs. army). You have a gift for describing hand-to-hand combat; I'd like
to see your talent at work on a larger scale...
--
Eric
Just finished 660(or whatever number it was, I forget), and I must say, I
completely agree with you on the resurrection part. When the players
don't fear death(just a nuisance to be payed off with a visit to a
temple), it takes a certain gleam off adventures. I've had several GMs
who don't like to kill characters. I can (basically) understand this, but
I don't have to like it. I just read an old issue of Dragon, that spoke
of the same thing. A commonly forgotten(especially when it comes to
ressing a dead party member) fact is that Resurrect takes 5 years off the
caster's life. It's not very likely that priests(who've worked VERY hard
for their high-priest statuses) wish to just throw away these years for
some adventuring lad or another. There were other things, too, and if you
care enough, I can dig it up and mail the whole thing to you.
-Maketus
Hello Thomas,
As a long time reader of your stories, I've voiced my opinion only seldomly,
and often, at your request for votes. Adventurers 659, however,
prompted me to chime in again. I would say that this is by far,
one of your better episodes: I liked how you fleshed out the motivations
of Jutokai, giving him real/believable motivations, and logically extending
their effect into his behavior, and how others like Otto reacted to his
uncharacteristic ruthlessness.
I liked how your characters display intelligent tactical ability, waiting for
the magic user to identify himself before launching a surgical strike.
I think you're very clever in how you manage to take non-powerhouses, and
force them to adapt to circumstances, rather than wade in with a fireball,
and the Hammer of Doom.
I liked the bit of foreshadowing that you have started to include in some
(most?) of your episodes, almost like a signature, it really gets me looking
forward to the next. The spy from Ket was a nice touch, and your recent
drow villain also display the intelligence that makes them more intimidating,
and a nice relief from Ruffian #N, and Ogre #Y. (who also have their place).
I also have to say that I really enjoyed the story arc that included the
"low-level" characters, especially Damien. The dungeon-crawl, is always
a plotline that makes me nostalgic for my old role-playing days.
I look forward to more episodes.
[from here down was added on thursday 3 aug 2000]
Several episodes ago you mentioned that somebody who just picked up the
adventures and read all the episodes might not appreciate that this had
occurred over nine years of your life. I can tell you from experience that
firstly it takes a lot longer than a week (you have written quite an amazing
amount as I'm sure you know) and also that I appreciated it greatly and
enjoyed reading them immensely...
I am probably going to go through withdrawal now that I will only be able to
read 2 episodes a week instead of a hundred!
So in case you haven't guessed already I would like to be added to your
mailing list for all future episodes of the adventurers...
Thanks,
Yin
In episode 144 (just after Oerth-2) the adventurers shared the loot from
Zagyg's dungeon(where they stepped into the mirror). They had found 6
strange barrels, and they "decided to leave them in Ged's castle for
safekeeping." I wonder what happened to them ;) Nenya and Deryck might
find them... or?
Just wondering.. did Belphanior ever make his golem size-changeable by
command?(I mean, tell the golem 'shrink', it shrinks and 'grow' -> it
grows) Alindyar did, I think.
Also, what happened to Peldor's Specter of the Winds(got it after the
first party-quests, where for instance Ged got his fire-wand recharged).
(I've been reading the Adventurers again (again ;)). Also, why isn't
Belphanior using his Earth-weapons(or some spell devised from those) in
any combat?
-Maketus
I am a long time fan of the adventurers and thought that I would drop you a
line.
I would like to thanl you for the adventurers, it is probably one of the most
interesting and funny story I have ever read. I believe it is probably the
greatest service that has been done to ad&d because I know it started me and my
friends onto ad&d and Im sure it has for many others as well
Mordallus
Hi!
This is the first time I'm writing.
Just to let you know you have readers even in Croatia.
(That's a small country in Europe near Italy)
I've been reading you since the first episode, of
course I started 1997.
I hope you write a 1000 more.
Elendur,
Bye!
I was just curious to know if you have every rolled the dice to
determine an outcome with the Adventurers after you stopped DMing
the players? And also, thanks for keeping up the great work. I enjoy
seeing Rillen and Peldor settle down. Who says thieve guild politics
cannot be as intriguing as adventures.
Regards,
Roger
[from here down was added on thursday 10 aug 2000]
Flame Strike's the new priest spell? I didn't see Aja using any other
spell than Flame Strike and I've always thought that to be an "old"
spell...
-Maketus
Aye
I hope you do well.
Having just read your latest words, I was troubled
with something.
I mean, you are doing well, but I feel something
misses to me.
Do what you want of it, You choose what you do, ok ?
Something I am really expecting is how the adventurers
will live and act during the world upheavals brought
by the GH wars. Their homes, their families, their
beliefs, their personalities, their actions... All
these within large-scale intrigues and battles, and
how would they like to intervene, to flee, to
negociate or else in front of situations they are
note used to cope with. Would Hellgate stand before
Iuz armies? How would react Belphanior to a guy he
can't cope with as he'd like to ? Would Peldor be a
hero refusing compromises for his adoption city ?
Would
the mushroom-smoking half-elf decide to fight the orcs
invading the Vesve as he is asked to ? Would Alyndiar
become engaged in the conflicts ? How ? Why ?
It is a great way to bright back the flame, and the
complicity of the old adventuring days...
Your players and your writings brought to us
characters. We know them, we love them...
Use this... Have their lives shaken, and do not tell
that the problems are fixed five chapters after. Have
them flee, be separated, worry with problems they are
not accustomed to cope with nor able to cope with. And
worst... Problems that are not only random encounters.
Bring live, talk of what they feel, have them want and
fear things... All this things you players feeled for
their characters...
Do not show you run the story exactly the way you
want.
Now you are not only the DM-scenarist, (well, you are
excellent, no problem) you are also the characters.
Bring the two together to more drama.
The characters bring you a story problem : they tend
to stop and make plans for quieter lives.
Well, that is what the characters want.
So use the Master side of your writing to bring
Adversity, an Adversity that will bring new drama
height and counter their plans.
Shake them in a way that even with their relic stocks
and experience levels, readers will worry with them,
etc.
And maybe... Treat a little more your readers as
players than other DMs.
More, just an idea : and if just before the GH wars
end you jumped in time, and begin anew with the new
generation you are thinking of, and have them from
time to time try to find what happened to some who
disappeared...
Have a sinister and mysterious Belphanior (has he
become a vampire ?) receive and train them...
Mongo disappeared with his hammer and chainmail on
his last tentative to find the panagaean tomb...
Peldor was finally killed by Iuz when betrayed
while spying the half god in his own palace...
Imagine a young quarter-elf druid who wants to prove
his father that he is worth and right, and is does
not agree with his father letting orcs invade the
Vesve.
Or a young thief from GH who wants to avenge his
father (killed by Iuz in a trap, because Iuz had Tanya
murdered)...
Or a nephew of Mongo who wants to know what happened
to the great hero...
And maybe someday a return to the Tomb of Horrors
based on their parents writings...
Maybe the only thing that will not have changed is
that Alyndiar and Lyra are still the same... And
discretely bring the youngs together.
And what if they discovered that for unknown reasons
Belphanior's henchman Otto wanted to kill one of
them...
Well... Space Opera + Epic High Fantasy + Mysterious
Past + Unknown motivations + Enthousiasm...
't would be great...
Really liked your Hydra :)
Well... hoping this confusion of ideas inspired you
(maybe that I even succeeded in telling you what I
feel), and waiting to read from you (as ever from that
day back in 1997 where I typed "+adventurers +stories
+AD&D +campaign" on Altavista)...
Arnaud
I am really enjoying the new episodes. Belphanior's use of the time stop
spell was awesome. I don't know if any Adventurer has cast such a powerful
spell - other than the few wishes that have been used, mostly via magic
items.
Probably doesn't mean much - you gotta do what you gotta do, after all - but
I just thought I'd say I am *really* looking forward to seeing The
Adventurers in the Greyhawk Wars (and afterwards). I'm hopeful that you'll
stick with the 'old guys' at least that long.
One of my favorite TSR modules was City of Skulls. Nothing would be cooler
than a full or partial Adventurer's reunion for that. I suspect you'd have
to upgrade the challenge, though. Even a subgroup (Peldor, Mongo, Rillen,
Belphanior, Alindyar) would overmatch Iuz's foul guardians. Maybe go the
extra mile and end the wars by having the group slay foul Iuz!
Rary The Traitor would also make for a great adventure. The proximity to
Greyhawk would make it an ideal situation to get Peldor and Alindyar
involved.
I also liked the new module Return of The Eight. Ending was silly but
Tenser's castle is way cool. And Tuerny would be a good fight.
I have these modules and the Empire of Iuz source book if you don't already
... would be delighted to loan them to you if any of this sounded good.
Anyway, keep up the great work!
--Sid
> The "best" you'll get is me ending the series at maybe episode 1000.
> The "worst" you'll get is me ending the series "early" and then
> jumping forward 20 years to start with their children. Stay tuned.
How would that be the "worst"? I think it would be interesting hearing
about younger characters.
Archmages who can freeze time and disintegrate 20-headed hydras (that
wiped out an entire fortress singlehandedly, no less) and come out of
it with nary a sweat on their forehead, while entertaining, probably
aren't the most exciting thing to write about...
--
Eric
Another avid lurker-reader as I am, firstly: nice stuff. The highlights
and the calm between storms balance out fairly well, still with
quite a fair deal for what-ifs and future ideas. Speaking of ideas,
well, some things seem to just be brewing up with the current
story arc....
Gorgo seems to get fairly close to the Iron Dwarf in battle lust.
Laden with enough magic items and enchantments, the two would surely
have a grand duel. Perhaps the Iron Dwarf would finally come to his(?)
senses... Unlikely, but who knows.
Belphanior. Everyone's favorite paladin of self. He seems to have
had little use for thiefly abilities for quite a while, short of
the occasional backstab. Admittedly they aren't of so much use, as
B has is own band to lead, though a solo mission (even small) would
be a refreshing reminder of the rogue side.
Well, I knew there was an excuse to bring Bosco along...
B certainly has changed a lot along the years, no longer blowing up
worm heads from within or eating monsters' hearts. Such brash things
belong to the young and reckless, after all, though there's no such
character around any more. Even Bosco isn't up to that stuff, lacking
magic.
Somewhat related to the above, undoubtedly there'll be more of Xusia,
and new powerful minions. Cynder the Dracolich? Hee hee hee... Perhaps
someone will get to blow his head to cinders then.
I'm kind of wondering which one of the three grand red dragons would be
the meanest, Cynder, Farcluun, or Feuerhauch... Most likely not
Farcluun, since that one's already defeated, despite being the biggest
dragon seen until then. Then again, Feuerhauch is long gone as well,
although that battle apparently was far tougher.
Red dragons are cool, (not), though some different color would be
neat for a change. A great blue wyrm should be a majorly shocking
encounter. No help from the numerous items of fire resistance,
either.
The Greek monsters are nice... appropriate with the Oracle. Seeing
the gorgimera as a test of fighting prowess, those remaining should
be quite different. Looking forward to read what happens there.
Greek monster summoning, perhaps. Centaurs? Satyrs? Time will tell.
--
Toothy Cat
Love the stories I have only been reading them for a few months but I
started with the prequel and read every story available before joining the
mailing list. My favorite character is still Peldor and can't wait to hear
how he is doing (I am a father of two small children so I am not worried
about the fact that peldor has settled down, I would still like to hear some
of the perils of being Guildmaster and a father.)
John
It's been awhile, so I thought I might cash in my
thoughts for some change :).
It took me awhile to like the current Oracle story arc;
I expected for it to turn into a boring dungeon
crawl...battles with Mongo just haven't been that
interesting to me since Stormcrest and the Coat of
Arnd. The Oracle mount's hooked my interest, though,
especially with the Sphinx, and I like the premonitions
of the future. And I'm _really_ interested in seeing
what Perrenland's about to do in Helgate.
Basil