The Character Background Generator

 

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Happy Thanksgiving!

The View staff would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. We'll be back with our regular content on Monday.

Thanksgiving Coffee Break

Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

Time for some good feels. What about Realms and/or the people you've met through Realms has made you thankful?

Head on back to Facebook and let us know in the comments!

Sliding Picture Puzzle 5 - A Day of Feasting

 If your mobile device is having trouble displaying this puzzle click here.

The image below is a mixed-up puzzle of an image from a Realms event. The numbers on each rectangle show the order that the pieces of the puzzle are arranged in when it is complete. Clicking on a rectangle will move it into the blank spot. Continue to click around, rearranging the pieces until you complete the image. 

One you're done, tell us on Facebook how many moves you were able to do it in and what your time was!

Meme Monday

 by The Meme Team

Morning Coffee Break

Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

Do you remember the first monster you encountered in the Realms? Did you kill them? Negotiate with them? Crack jokes with them? Any fond memories?

Head on back to Facebook and let us know in the comments!

The Magic Item Generator

 

AITA - An Ask Zarine Special Edition Series

Issue #2: Frustrated Front Line Fighter

Dearest Zarine,

I am a front line fighter, and have been one my whole adventuring career. It’s a job that I enjoy, so I make no complaints about it at all. We all have roles to play in a functioning questing party and, of course, the role of the front line is to do the bulk of the work killing the most consistent assault of monsters toward the group. Of course this job would be impossible without an effective dynamic of fighters and support casters working together and because of that there are a number of people that are stationed on that front line killing monsters for most of the quest.

This role necessitates being in long sustained engagements with bad guys and as the quest nears it’s inevitable end and those bad guys get tougher, even to the extent of the Big Bad, those fights get longer and require more sustained effort to win. Most of the questing party at that point are focused on those last few fights, but not everyone.

More times than I can count, right at the end of the quest while most of the party is fighting that final conflict, a few self-motivated individuals slip past that engagement and are the first to make their way to the inevitable magic item that lays at the end. They are then, of course, the first to lay hands on that item and therefore claim it as their own.

For many, many years that was just the accepted order of things. Of course many people did not like it but it was a social norm. What could you do? Then one day I decided to do something.

After the Big Bad was defeated while the sneaky crew was holding the item in their hands, I made the proclamation that I was not going to let the situation alone and I told them that under penalty of death they were going to hand over the item and that the entire questing party would then decide through democratic process who most deserves to walk away with the item.

This resulted in some argument. The sneaky crew did not want to hand over the item. Several other members of the party agreed that although they did not like it, that was the social norm that needed to be stuck with. But most of the group stood behind my declaration and under fear of death the sneaky crew handed over the item and a discussion and vote was held. The item ended up going to a support caster that had worked hard on the front line all day.

So what do you think? AITA for flaunting the norms and threatening members of my own questing party with death over material goods?

- Frustrated Front Line Fighter

**************************************************

Dear Frustrated Front Line Fighter, 

You asked ‘ AITA for flaunting the norms and threatening members of my own questing party with death over material goods?’, but I don't see this as being about material goods. This is about entitlement. In this case, retrieval of the item isn’t the problem, it’s the feeling of entitlement gained by years and years of bad precedent.

Could the sneaky crew have retrieved the item without the help of the rest of the party? Likely not. If they were truly sneaky, would you have ever even known about the item in question, also likely not. So assuming that these despots couldn’t have gotten the item without the help of the frontline fighters, support casters, puzzle solvers, etc, in my not so humble opinion the item does not belong only to them but to everyone who played a part in retrieving it. 

Just because we’ve always played by the ‘finders keepers’ mentality doesn’t mean that we need to continue in that vein. Maybe twenty years ago that attitude was fine, but the Realms has changed since then. Magic items have no real value beyond their actual magical ability, most of which is only situationally useful. There is no reason for someone to walk around with thirty seven magic items that provide them no benefit. Congratulations, you were opportunistic and your reward is you get to carry a bunch of useless crap on your belt. Or better yet, lock it away in a closet where no one gets to use it. That’s your right per the status quo, right? 

Wrong. Status quo means ‘the existing state of affairs’. Well, the existing state of affairs can change any time we want it to. Perhaps we’d now like the societal norm for dealing with loot found on our weekend quests to be ‘giving it to the person who would benefit most as decided by the entire adventuring party.’ But the only way for the status quo to change is for someone to challenge it. 

While your chosen tactic for dealing with the ‘sneaky crew’ might have been a bit harsh, I’ve been around enough to know that sometimes death threats are the only way to get through to people that you are serious. I’ve also never owned a magical artifact, so maybe it’s time to start employing this tactic. Death is cheap in these lands anyways, so if I were them and was truly intent on keeping the items I would have just said ‘alright, stab me then and see how that goes.’ But clearly the sneaky crew either hasn’t been around that long or doesn’t have an angry mob at their disposal. You were willing to kill for your beliefs but they clearly weren’t willing to die for theirs, so you win. 

So are you the arsehole for forcing a change to a bad precedent? No. I’d say they are the arseholes for skipping ahead on the quest and grabbing the item for themselves. You are, however, an arsehoel for mixing up ‘flaunt’ and ‘flout’. I mean, unless you truly meant you were flaunting your norms, in which case, flaunt away. 

Verdict: Not the Arsehole 

So, general plebs of the land, do you think they are an arsehole? No? Maybe? Well, don’t hold back, we all want to know! Feel free to weigh in in the comments. 

Have a query about your potential arseholishness? You can send your questions directly to me  (sarajjessop@gmail.com if you have no other contact information for me) or you can reach me through the View’s offices at  areni.daru@gmail.com . 

Arioch Tales: Ode to Lorelai

By Dan “Baron Diamond” Diamond

G Em

The air is cool and night is coming. 

Am Dm

The calm sea courses its way.

G

The peak of the mountain dazzles With evening's final ray.

Em Am

The fairest of maidens is sitting Up there, a beauty so fair,

Dm

Her golden jewels are shining,

G

She's combing her golden hair.

Em

She holds a golden comb,

Am

Singing along, as well

Dm Em E

And enthralling us all with a spellbinding melody.

G Em Am

The boatman in his small skiff is seized by a turbulent love 

Dm

and no longer marks where the cliff is,  

G

He looks to the Mountain above. 

Em Am

I think the waves must fling him against the reefs nearby, 

Dm Em E

and that did with her singing the lovely Lorelai...

G Em

Does she think of the hearts left hurting 

Am Dm

and lives left in her wake

G Em

Does she cry for the ones left behind

Am Dm

or is she seeking more lives to take?

Em E Am

no one knows but Lorelai, Lorelai.

Author’s Note: the middle verse was a message left by Captain Orion in runes which I was able to decode at a Market Day in Fae. There I also saw Lorelai herself, and was inspired to put some guitar chords to what Orion had left. Later I did some reading and found Orion's message was an excerpt from a long-existing poem, so that became the first verse. Thinking of the presumed fate of the boatman, I added a third verse of my own.

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Albums from the Past - Attunement to the Core

Welcome to Albums of the Past, a new occasional series where we look at pictures and information from an event series that took place many years ago. We'd like to invite any event holders from years past to assist us in creating an Albums of the Past article where we take a prolonged look at once of your past events in a lot of detail.

For our first Album of the Past we're going to look at Attunement to the Core. A World of Warcraft themed event throw by Joe "Elwick" Piepiora and his event holding crew, the Adventurers Guild, which consisted of mostly Southerners from a diverse range of groups, but mostly focused around the nation of Tuath Fusach.

The Splash Flyer used to Advertise the Event Electronically

Attunement to the Core diverged a lot from standard Realms rules. It had a HP system, a MP System, other stats that determined damage. You had to yell out how many points of damage you did when you swung your weapon. There were character classes with completely new abilities and statistics. It was a total departure from what anyone had ever done in Realms before. To help explain the rules, Jason Rosa put up a detailed web page to communicate the changes. Below are some screenshots from it.

A big part of WoW, really any MMORPG, is loot. Attunement to the Core had no shortage of item drops that enhanced player abilities, and of course as the event progressed stronger and stronger items were released. Each item had a label on it explaining its abilities. Here are some screen shots of some of the files that had those labels in them. Many were named in honor of old Realms players, nations, or plots.

The event had a LOT of props. The weapons and items above were a small fraction of the loot that was released, and many, many, many new monster masks and costumes needed to be created in order to represent creatures that had never been played at a Realms event before. Since creating oversized creatures was so important to the feel, a lot of the costuming used skeletons of beach balls and pool noodles with cloth draped over them to create giant bodies.

The following pictures of prop making took place in Ashford, CT in April of 2007 with a lot of help from the old Vinehaeven crew. 

Janna happened to be online when I was writing this article and her household still possesses, in great condition, one of the Epic weapons from the event! Nigel's Defender! She was kind enough to send some pictures along!

Finally, this Album from the Past couldn't be complete without some pictures from the event itself. This event took place at the UCONN Arena before it was remodeled so there was no cement floor but rather dirt and wood chips only. This made for some complicated picture-taking in the dark conditions with all the sediment that would fly into the air. But some good pictures were gotten.

A bunch of Core Hounds hanging out

The players lined up to battle, notice Rel the Shaman with his totems and Gryf the Hunter with his trap.

Molten Giants getting ready for a fight.

For the life of me I can't remember what this was supposed to be.

Notice Jason holding up a Hunter's Mark cast by a Ranger to debuff this mob

Rillan was one of the main tanks at the event, constantly using Taunt

Rhode was a big fan of this Paladin Hammer drop

Cain taking the lead fighting Majordomo Executus

Bud stood on an old desk we found in a classroom to play Ragnaros. That hammer was over 8' long.

The questing party, victorious.

We hope you enjoyed this Album from the Past. If you've got an event a decade or more old that you'd like to showcase contact us at the View, we'd love to put something together with you for more articles like this one!

The Big Bad Guy Generator

 

Morning Coffee Break

Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

What kind of in-character advice would your character give to someone just staring their adventuring career?

Head on back to Facebook and let us know in the comments!

Tales of Teng Hua: The Great Library of Kenmeina Hikō

Legend has it, many centuries ago, there was a great library. In this library, knowledge of all sorts could be found. It is said that any question that has ever been asked, the asker could find the answer in this library. Now, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but maybe it isn’t. This was after all, long, long ago, and we know that mysteries often have a way of being true.

Now, in this library there were many rooms. And in the many rooms, there were many books. There were also many other things. Artifacts of power, works of great art, items of scientific advancement, and things we can’t even imagine.

But why is it called The Great Library of Kenmeina Hiko? Well, legend has it that the Librarian was a being of great power. Kenmeina Hiko knew every book in the library, and all the various items contained within the library. 

What happened to the Great Library of Kenmeina Hiko? Well, The Scorching Dragon tried to happen, that’s what. There was something in the library that The Scorching Dragon wanted. He wanted it badly enough that he was willing to do anything to get it. Kenmeina Hiko got word of this, and as The Scorching Dragon was leading his armies to sack the library, Kenmeina Hiko used a powerful magic to hide the library. 

Now, what it was that The Scorching Dragon was looking for was never figured out, for there were simply too many things for anyone, besides Kenmeina Hiko, to even begin to guess at.

Now, I’m not one to speculate, but...if rumor is to be believed...there have been sightings recently. Strange sightings. Now, I know you have probably heard of the rumors of The Scorching Dragon’s army rising during the night, and looking for things. But I have also heard another rumor, a rumor of a large, ghostly building appearing after the sun sets that is gone by dawn. Is it the Great Library? Well, I couldn’t really say, but maybe, just maybe, we can hope it is.

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

The View Retrospective - More 'An Atypical View'

 

Throwback Thursday - Pictures from 2001

 

Feast of Blackwood

Feast of Blackwood

Feast of Blackwood

Feast of Blackwood

Feast of the Leviathan III

Feast of the Leviathan III

Feast of the Leviathan III

Feast of the Leviathan III

Feast of the Leviathan III

Feast of Chimeron IX

Feast of Chimeron IX

Feast of Chimeron IX

Feast of Chimeron IX

Feast of Chimeron IX

North South War 7

North South War 7

North South War 7

North South War 7

North South War 7

Queen of Hearts VIII

Queen of Hearts VIII

Queen of Hearts VIII

Tournaments of Chiron 8

Tournaments of Chiron 8

Tournaments of Chiron 8

Tournaments of Chiron 8

Tournaments of Chiron 8