Posted by Poetry (but of course, I could be lying!) on March 8, 2000 at 21:27:20:
In Reply to: The reaction I was hoping for.. except from the one who really counted posted by Fescennine on March 7, 2000 at 20:24:00:
You forgot the little bit where you called it a complete waste of time. That always endears mortals to me. Truly.
Your tale had a lot of potential but needed a large amount of editing and perhaps a better ending. Especially after hearing another tale about a famous lich, the little twist at the end wasn't much of a twist. It also was not a tall tale, more like an epic personal history. I personally wanted to see the guy finish the spell onto _himself_ and turn into a lich by killing his sibling, completely without meaning to. As it was, you dragged the ending out, and then it was rather disappointing. Yet another "why I hate magic" and "oh, by the way, this is also the story of famous player X. I made him what he is today!"
I could go on about tale-telling, but I already have in the game. Just read the help files. After some experience with both telling and listening to tales, I find that anything that lasts longer than 10-15 minutes has to be extremely intriguing. This maximum translates into a 4-5k file when it is prepared in advance, including emotes and such, if any. Not only does the tale take some time to read, but one is invariably interrupted in one way or another, lengthening the time just that much more. Longer stories can be told to smaller and favorably-disposed audiences.
So, my advice? Prepare stories in advance. Have someone you trust read the story and tell you if it still needs work. (No, don't send them to me.) Keep your stories short. If you're going to plagiarize, admit it in advance. Another contestant started to tell part of the Pearl by Steinbeck.
Hmm, maybe I should add to the helpfiles. :-P