Discuss your creative projects: game development, writing, film making or any thing else, fantasy related or otherwise! Talk about art you like, display your own artwork or stories, or offer help and insight.
Just in case you are interested, I am currently writing a short story loosely based on the original dungeon master. It follows the adventures of Halk, Sonja, Gothmog and Mophus. It is sort of in two parts. The first is their journey to Mount Anaias (sp?) and how they became imprisoned in the HOC. The second part is the tale of their adventure in the Dungeon after being ressurected by Theron. This second part will roughly follow the storyline of the original DM. I have a pretty rough outline and have begun to write the first part (roughly a page into it so far...). When it's a bit more complete, I'll post someup for proper feedback. Watch this space
Cool. I started a DM story a couple of years back - it featured my usual party of four (reincarnated Hissssa, Gothmog, Wuuf, and Gando) journeying through the DM dungeon, with each level of the dungeon as a separate section. The last bit I wrote was them descending into level four. I haven't written anything on it since then though. It's in a thread on the forum, under the title "My DM Story" or similar if you're in any way interested...although it's not very good .
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see your story, especially since you're using one of the same chars I did. We can see if you play him the same way .
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Ameena, self-declared Wordweaver, Beastmaker, Thoughtbringer, and great smegger of dungeon editing!
Lol, yeah, you will be the four person to do this! Hopefully you will keep going where the rest of us have stopped (well, I still edit mine every so often and add bits, but nothing earth shattering)
Interesting as always to see what the similarities and differences will be!
Yeah, funny I took Halk and Gothmog too, so again interesting to see the differences in charatcer there too!
Wasn't Halk already being written as one of the party of Halk, Alex, Syra and Nabi in the official instruction manual?
Back in the days where computer games actually HAD manuals and not stupid .pdf files that you have to waste tons of paper and ink cartridge just to print off...
So the story will "roughly" follow the DM one? I can already see the differences - Mophus will steal the Firestaff, kill all the other party members and use its power to conquer the world, causing his grin to become even wider. Everybody will be intimidated by his psychotic, unpredictable behaviour, and he will lead the world to utter chaos and mayhem!
Well, funny you should mention that, but there will be a secret traitor in the midst of the party. And maybe an answer as to why Mophus died with such a big grin on his face...
ZoKath, you're probably right but I never read instruction manuals for *any* game. I much prefer the tried and tested "randomly-point-and-click-like-a-lunatic-
until-something-interesting-happens" gaming technique. Not very efficient, but hilarious fun!
here is the first 500 wors of my story. feedback welcome...
Dungeon Master
Somewhere in the distant, an unnamed beast howled at the night and a chill wind rippled through the campsite. Sonja shivered, despite herself, and poked the fire with her sword. The flames flickered , sending sparks into the night sky. She flicked back her hair irritably and looked across at her companion. “Damn, it's so cold, even the Trollins are blue with cold.” She caught her companion's eye. “Alright, bluer.” She conceded, with a smile.
Her companion leaned forward into the dim circle of firelight, a broad grin across his grizzled chops. In the firelight, the shadows across his face highlighted the distinctive low-brow and chiseled jowls that marked him as a barbarian from the Northlands. That and the fact he was wandering about with the remains of a small rodent around his waist, and wielding half a tree-trunk. She shook her head, her piercingly blue eyes catching the flames and reflecting them back.
“Not much of a conversationalist, eh Halk?” She quipped. Halk shrugged, his powerful shoulders rising and falling like a continental shift. She sighed and reached for a Screamer-slice from her pack. As she did so,she felt a strange warmth around her neck accompanied by a low hum. Instinctively, her hand flew to the moonstone necklace that rested there, and looked around nervously. Halk, ever the gentleman, stood up, his hands already around the tree-trunk that served as his club. “Wait.” He grunted at her. Sonja gave him a withering look.
“I am not a helpless maiden, you smelly oaf!” She said contemptuously. “Remember how I kicked your butt in the tavern last week? And what about...Mmmpph!”
A hand like a sweaty meat-plate clamped itself around her mouth, cutting her off mid-sentence. She angrily knocked it aside and was about to respond, when she followed Halk's line of vision. At the edge of the circle, barely visible in the shadows, two glowing, red eyes stared silently back at them. Her hand reached down and clamped itself around the pommel of her sword and, with barely a whisper of metal against leather, was out and pointing towards them. Every fibre of her body was taut and ready for fight-or-flight. The moonstone necklace around her neck glowed and hummed urgently, as if warning her of something. As they both watched, the eyes moved forward, and suddenly a patch of the shadows stepped forward, revealing itself to be a cowled figure.
“Wizard!” Halk growled, and spat venomously. “What you want?”
For a few moments, the figure remained silent. When it finally spoke, it did so with a hissing,rasping sibilance. “To help, my friends.”
Sonja felt a terrible chill run down her spine as she recognised the voice. It was a voice which had haunted her childhood nightmares, and still woke her in the night, though she had last heard it when she was barely five years old.
“Gothmog!” She breathed. He turned and fixed his gaze upon her. Beneath the hood, his blackened lips twisted into an evil grimace...
Lol, interesting yo mention traitors etc, mine kinda has a similar set of themes of 'can you trust everyone' running though too so far!
Nice charatceristation and also onterractions so far, especcially with charatcers having a past. Nice to see Syra in the limelight, apparently the main figure from the looks of it. Some a charcter anyone else has seriously honed in on
The tensions and start is definitely interesting. More, please!
oops, misread, and assumed the moonstone was being generically used as a magical device...no, wait, that's chaini...so lol, it is being generically used! : )
Inspired by a thread in the RTC forum I have an idea for a DM story. It's called "Brokeback Dungeon" - a touching tale of forbidden love between Halk and Linflas...
here's the next installment. and, yes beo, the monstone is being used as a generic magic device. I'm taking the idea that the little blue bit on sonja's choker was a moonstone which glows in thepresence of danger (sort of a DM-spidey-sense type of thing...)
Thankyou all for your comments. See what you think of the next 500 words or so...
“Gothmog!” She breathed. He turned and fixed his gaze upon her. Beneath the hood, his blackened lips twisted into an evil grimace.
“The She-Devil!” He rasped. “What an unexpected surprise.”
Sonja remained silent, fighting a thousand emotions running through her mind. She remembered...
...the noise of battle, the smell of burning flesh. It was night, but the sky was ablaze with flames. In the distance, she could see a multitude of Chaos-spawn howling and snarling. Behind them, a tall, cloaked figure with burning red eyes surveyed it all. For a second their eyes locked, and an evil grin spread across it's cowled visage. It raised an emaciated, clawed hand, and she could see the orange-yellow glow as a fireball began to form. Transfixed, she stared, fascinated. Then two hands grabbed her from behind. There was a whumph and her nostrils were filled with the acrid stench of burning flesh...
She jerked as Halk placed a clumsy hand on her shoulder. Her eyes focused on his craggy face, creased with what was probably sincere concern but which looked like an attack of constipation. Roughly, she shook him away and raised her sword, placing the point of it in the centre of Gothmog's chest. “What do you want?” She snarled through clenched teeth. “Come to finish the job you started?”
Halk, never the sharpest sword in the scabbard, blinked stupidly at her. “You know this wizard?” He said, spitting the last word out like an epithet. Sonja shot him a savage glare that even his lack of subtlety could interpret, and turned back. She pressed the point of her sword, expertly applying just enough pressure to draw blood without actually running him through. Gothmog remained unperturbed.
“Believe me, if I had meant to kill you,you would not be here now.” He said calmly. “It would be in your best interests to listen to what I have to say.”
“Why should I listen to you?” She snarled, her eyes shining unnaturally in the firelight. “You helped destroy my village. You killed my family. You left me to burn! I was just a child!” The last words burned with two decades of anger, cutting through the night like firebrands. Halk looked at her face, a fearful mask of vengeance.
“You were in league with Lord Chaos and his hell-spawned minions.” She continued, her voice catching. Gothmog smiled nastily and shook his head.
“Foolish girl, you know not of what you speak.” He said, his voice hardening. “It was I who tried to save your miserable life!”
Halk looked from one to the other, his face a picture of bewildered incomprehension. He had no idea what was going on and, being true to form, decided to follow the advice of his father in such circumstances: “If it doesn't make sense, hit it until it does—or is dead. Either way problem solved.” With a violent scream, he swung the club viciously at Gothmog. “Die vile wiz-aaaargh!”
Without taking his eyes off Sonja, Gothmog had raised his left hand and, muttered something that sounded like a nasty sneeze: “okathra!” a fork of lightening lanced from his claw-like hand, hitting Halk squarely in the chest and lifting him bodily into the air, to land heavily several feet away, dazed and gently smoking. Before Sonja could react, a foot like a clawed mallet connected heavily with her midriff, causing her to double up. Her sword slipped from her grasp as a fist connected heavily with the side of her head. She grunted in pain, and felt the sickly salt taste of blood fill her mouth as she hit the ground. A foot pressed heavily on her chest and she looked up into two burning eyes as Gothmog stood over her, hand raised above his head. A yellow-orange glow played around his fingertips and tongues of flame licked hungrily at the edges. His breathing was hard and laboured, as if unused to physical effort. “Now.” He snarled. “Do I have your full attention?”
Ok. been a few days or so, but here's (a slightly shorter) Part Three...
Sonja stared back at him, her normally beautiful face twisted into a hideous mask of hate. “Get your hands off of me, you damn dirty Vexirx!” She snarled, each syllable dripping with white-hot venom. Gothmog flinched visible at the sound of the last word and, to her surprise a look of indescribable sadness crossed his face. In silence he stood up and turned his back on her. When he spoke, it was with a softer, almost melancholic tone that cut through her anger. Despite herself, she felt compelled to listen.
“That was a name I never expected to hear again.” He began. “I thought I had left it behind long ago.” Halk watched him curiously, not quite sure what to do next, but deciding that maybe doing nothing for now would be an option.
“I wish I could leave it behind.” Sonja spoke, her voice thick with emotion. “But it has haunted my nightmares since childhood. I had rehearsed over and over in my mind what I would do if I ever met you again.”
Gothmog sank down to his knees, as if a great burden crushed him almost to breaking. “When Chaos was first unleashed, I did many things, foolish things, terrible things, in His unholy name.” He looked straight at her. “If I could take them all back again, I would, I swear. But I cannot. I have to live with the blood of thousands of innocents on my hands, with their dying voices screaming inside my head, day and night, day and night!” His claw-like hands went up to his head in an attitude of mortal agony. As Sonja looked upon him, she felt her hatred change to an almost contemptuous pity.
“Do you expect sympathy?” She said coldly. “Or compassion, maybe? I ran out of both a long time ago.”
“I expect nothing from you except a chance to make amends for my past misdeeds.”
Halk snorted contemptuously. “Why should we trust you?”
Gothmog looked at him, then back to Sonja, then lowered his head. “You should not. But I have someone with me who you should trust.” He Reached into the depths of his robe and produced a small, iridescent ball that glinted and sparkled with a myriad of rainbow colours. He placed it on the ground and watched silently.
The ball flickered and buzzed for several tense seconds. Then a grey-white mist formed above it, resolving itself into a young, thin face that Both Halk and Sonja instantly recognised.
“Sonja, Halk.” Gothmog said, his voice now more composed. “Meet Theron. Or what remains of him.”
Sonja and Halk stared, scarcely able to believe their eyes...
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