Thu Nov 6 17:47:36 2008

At 10 o'clock PM, Day of the Great Gods, 12th of the Month of Futility
on the Theran calendar Borom perished, never to return.

I always feel bad when I kill a Herald. But, I can honestly say that when my mortal did, I didn't know you were one at the time. Once I saw it, I got to like Borom as a player. It was refreshing to see some solid rp. GLWYN

Don't feel bad for killing Heralds, seriously. Nobody joins Herald to avoid PK, nor should they. If it's within your role to do so, then by all means! In all honesty, I really wouldn't mind there being a real enemy for Heralds out there, it would add some interest into being one. Aunkdunell certainly made Borom's life more interesting! But thanks for the consideration, and especially thanks for the compliments.

Splntrd

Sorry about this; it's a couple weeks in the making. Primarily, it comes down to the conflict between my addiction to the game, and a growing disinterest in the character.

I rolled Borom with a couple goals in mind: Heroing, re-learning how to play the game (I've been mostly gone for several years), and learning how to play and gear a classic warrior build.

Some mistakes I made that made Borom somewhat frustrating to play: I forgot to max con early on, so he was somewhat frail. I crafted a fairly solid philosophy for Borom that, because of his personality, never came forward to become a driving force for the character. Thus, Borom became very 2-dimensional; he liked books, booze, and heraldy-things.

This, combined with my being an art student and being bombarded with school and social problems, made logging in with Borom somewhat... not as enjoyable as it used to be.

So it's time to take a break and focus on the real world for awhile, and write a role that will allow me to engage Thera little more head-on next time. I love the depth of gameplay CF has to offer, and I think I now have a better idea of the kind of playing style and level of commitment that will allow me to continue to enjoy it.

Some goodbyes:

Herald Imms: I definitely feel as though the major flaw Herald has right now is that the Imms in charge don't offer a lot of philosophical guidance, so Herald becomes somewhat two-dimensional after a certain point. I can't assign blame for this; it's not in the nature of their characters.

Arvam: Loved seeing you around. I feel like there was a little confusion in respects to how committed Borom was to you, and the answer is: "not". Borom committed himself to helping you come out of hiding, and hoped you would stick around, but was more interested in your presence as a guiding force for Heralds than as a religious influence for himself. That being said, as a player, one of the most amazing things for me was when you showed up out of the blue at the fortune-telling event. That was truly unreal and that experience alone made this character worth playing. It definitely kicked in a nostalgia overload, as you played a huge role in my formative years as a CF'er, before I quit. I understand your life isn't conducive to you being back full-time, but I hope you continue to pop in occasionally.

Iunna: You're another immortal I'm glad to see back. I thought about twisting Borom into following you simply for the fact that if he had a religion I feel like he would have had some better long term goals and a flag to carry. I know you know a lot about the cabal and I feel as though you and I as players have very solid and similar ideas as to how or what the ideal Herald should be, and because of that I kind of wish Iunna the character would take a bigger roll in leading the cabal, and pushing the deeper elements of the cabal's philosophy.

Neltouda: Never knew how to approach you; you would come in and do your occasional events and then disappear for several days. I enjoy your character and wish you were a little more actively involved in the cabal. The last interaction we had seemed a little forced: It's probably just because I don't know you very well, but I still have no idea why Neltouda as a character is a Herald Imm and not just uncaballed, or what Neltouda's philosophical stake in the cabal is beyond booze, gold, and the occasional limerick.

Etielise: Just age-die already. Etielise is pretty kooky, and fun, and just a good sport all around. Another nice character, but I hope you've got something else in mind for the next one. You're like the Lightmage of serial Herald players.

Alietrius: You've got a good thing going. You're a great kingpin, and I enjoy your general enthusiasm for romping around Thera. Congrats on getting Iunna's tattoo, since it definitely seems like you kind of just stumbled onto that religion without really meaning to. I feel like the same thing that happened with Borom happened with you, and you managed to pull through. You achieved all your goals fairly early on, and needed another direction to go in. You're an all-around positive presence and I enjoyed goofing around with you.

Edika: You're very strange. It's obvious you're either very young, or ESL, which is hard to pull off in Herald but you're not doing too badly. I don't think you're new to the game at all, just new to Herald. Keep on trucking.

Celenai: Borom enjoyed your company. You were pretty, and smart, and way out of his league. However, he would never have admitted he liked an elf, although he came close. Compound this with Borom being somewhat socially awkward in any situation that doesn't involve booze, and well. It was a doomed little crush of his.

Tlingit: Sorry I never got to make those provost statues for you.

Flaire: I love your character idea; I want to see how it plays out.

Meir-something: Where'd you go? Get inducted.

Charunycain: Borom wasn't a traditional dwarf in that he didn't have a lot of respect for Tradition and the old ways, and didn't have much loyalty to his fellow dwarves in general. He did, however, have nothing but respect for you. He felt you were a shining representative of a cabal he otherwise held little respect for, and caused him to re-think his bias against it.

Aunkdunell: If you didn't skin my corpse or container-sac me every time you killed me as a lowbie, I really wouldn't have hated you as much. It was like you did these things specifically to aggravate me. I understand you feel like you have to do these things as a ruthless sonuvabitch character, but yeah. You made the game very unfun for awhile; mostly just as a lowbie. I apologize for the one or two times I ranted on you in character, and I especially apologize for the post I made on Dio's that thankfully got deleted. For all of the controversy you sparked, I never once saw you step out of character, and you handled a lot of ####-talking very smoothly. Although that one monologue made you sound like Darkwing Duck.

If no one buys my PBF I'll post my role here. It was a function of my character to avoid killing people in PK, and I'm just new at upper-level PK in general, so don't expect the PK stats to be at all interesting. I'm more interested in my Imm comments than anything.

Special thanks to Cadothu/Odelius for getting me back into the game.

Splntrd

I can't pick a favorite, but you're right up there with Celenai and Ettie. Believe it or not, I looked up to you in game as you were always on point with your RP and always willing to have a good time when you weren't about to logout (I'm sure this is the logging in problem stuff you were talking about).

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm sorry if the Dwarven Etiquette dancing thing was too much... I was honestly just playing along with Arvam and having a great time.

I also got your PBF, so don't worry about that. Hope you don't take too much of a break, but RL does come first so take care of that and come back with an even better role!

It was one of my most enjoyable moments RPing this character; Borom genuinely had fun playing the debutante, but it clashed badly with his intense need to be dwarvish and manly, thus his deep sulking afterwards. He'd rather everyone forgot about it, and he would never admit it, but he had fun being the brunt of everyone's jokes for the next several evenings.

Splntrd

At first I thought you were a real bozo. This is because I drank way too much wine one night and confused you with some actual bozo who was talking at you who couldn't RP very well.

I did in short order get set straight on your non-bozodom and pored through the logs to confirm that I was, in fact, completely wrong.

That got me looking at and watching you more than I probably would have otherwise, and everything I saw was quality. Nice job!

Incidentally, those flaws really are flaws. They hurt, possibly in the groin. If PK/heroing are still a struggle for you, maybe stick more to RP-based flaws.

Didn't really think I'd be getting the roleplay thumbs-up from Nep, I guess I figured you primarily watched more PK-oriented folks, so this is a pretty cool surprise.

I honestly didn't really have a problem with gimpy; it meant I died a little more often I otherwise would have but honestly I didn't die anywhere near as much as I expected to, or even as often as I have in past characters. Maybe chalk that up to more game knowledge, and an insistence on potions this time around. But I agree, I probably won't handicpa myself that severely next time around.

Quick question though, on Borom's RP: I wrote neutrality within the "cycle" very solidly into his role, and I exercised this primarily by avoiding landing kills in PK, and avoiding pre-judging evils. However, Borom tended to hang out primarily with goods, and took a very good-like approach to which mobs he was and wasn't willing to kill, like sentient neutrals. From watching Borom, did he "feel" like a neutral character to you? I know this seems like a somewhat minor question, but Borom's philosophy on neutrality (non-interference, as opposed to Nexun attempts to balance) really interested me and I was constantly worried he was maybe leaning on the side of too "good".

Splntrd

I think he certainly did lean a little good, but overall he felt like a neutral character to me.

I mean, he clearly wasn't evil, and yet, he also clearly was okay with some things that a good character shouldn't be, so...

I don't have a screenshot of your gear handy, but I remember thinking you geared for saves / strength less than I would with that character.

Not sure if that's of any help, but I thought I'd mention it.

>Herald Imms: I definitely feel as though the major flaw Herald
>has right now is that the Imms in charge don't offer a lot of
>philosophical guidance, so Herald becomes somewhat
>two-dimensional after a certain point. I can't assign blame
>for this; it's not in the nature of their characters.

>Iunna: You're another immortal I'm glad to see back. I thought
>about twisting Borom into following you simply for the fact
>that if he had a religion I feel like he would have had some
>better long term goals and a flag to carry. I know you know a
>lot about the cabal and I feel as though you and I as players
>have very solid and similar ideas as to how or what the ideal
>Herald should be, and because of that I kind of wish Iunna the
>character would take a bigger roll in leading the cabal, and
>pushing the deeper elements of the cabal's philosophy.

I'm a little confused, because I think Herald is a pretty straight
forward cabal as far as philosophy, etc. If you feel there's some-
thing we're not doing right, you'll have to e-mail me to clarify.
As far as taking a bigger role, maybe sooner rather than later,
but I'm comfortable where I'm at now. That aside, I liked Borom,
and hoped to see you stick around a little longer. Maybe next
time, eh?

Regarding Neltouda: I think generally speaking it's hard to "become"
a Herald imm vs. ascending to it - Shazirah really had no reason to be
one either, and probably would've done better uncaballed. A lot of
times what ties people like Iunna/Arvam to Herald is longevity and the
general history, and maybe that's just not something you'll necessarily
get from a Nel or Shaz for a couple years. Then again, that's my own
two cents, Neltouda probably has her own ideas.

You quite right on one count, but totally wrong on another. All I am trying to do is conduct as many events as you did and I am running out of ideas. Also trying to do something very unique for me. I always play cookie-cutters, trying something totally different. I will explain later, when I die.

I liked Borom from our limited interactions with Charunycain. With this rager I tried to avoid as much as I could randomly killing out of form herald mages in the Inn, so I just avoided the inn in general even though I have a huge soft spot for the Herald cabal and really think it brings a unique and under-appreciated element to CF. I was glad I wasn't the only dwarf at Beaerinika and Isendor's marriage so thanks for going. You really oozed 'dwarf' from everything I saw which is what all dwarves should strive for!!

Good luck with everything and take care.

I'm sorry our interactions were limited largely to ranking and me pking you. But I found your attuitude and personality both intriguing and refreshing.

Shame to see you go, good luck with your next.

Aw, I'll really miss our banter. It's always fun to have a Dwarf around, especially a witty one like you, to bicker with. I thought we made a pretty good dynamic within the Heralds. Well, I'll miss the character to be sure, great job.

Aunkdunell: If you didn't skin my corpse or container-sac me every time you killed me as a lowbie, I really wouldn't have hated you as much. It was like you did these things specifically to aggravate me. I understand you feel like you have to do these things as a ruthless sonuvabitch character, but yeah. You made the game very unfun for awhile; mostly just as a lowbie. I apologize for the one or two times I ranted on you in character, and I especially apologize for the post I made on Dio's that thankfully got deleted. For all of the controversy you sparked, I never once saw you step out of character, and you handled a lot of ####-talking very smoothly. Although that one monologue made you sound like Darkwing Duck.

Thanks for the props, I appreciate that.

You do understand, that as a dwarf you're on the hated list, especially by an evil outtie, A goodie dwarf at that! You can't blame me for skinning your corpse, water skin trophies can get you things if your timing is right, that and it's cooler than a canteen and more in character. You also carried a ####-ton of nice preps, busting your container is the fastest way for my fingers to get through all the slow potions and fly and teleport etc. That's just part of the game and the looting scene. People like you that know how to round up a ton of preps, are going to lose the sack, sorry, lol. Granted, you did give me an OOC rant in game, and it was pretty harsh too. That coupled with the fact that you would try to avoid me at all costs made me feel bitter towards you in kind. I gunned for you when I could, no doubt.

Some advice though, use more lag, and less flee. You can kill a shaman just like a druid. Lag lag lag. Timing is a lot too, you have a MUCH higher chance of surviving or even winning, if you find me, rather than I find you. Just think about that.

Good luck with your next, and no hard feelins.

Gah. Damn it. Borom was great. I really wish you could've been around more, at least to hero! This leaves Herald in a pretty tight spot. Down to less than half a handful of good Heralds again. The Dwarven fortune telling thing you did is one of my favorite Herald events ever, too. Oh, and thanks for all the presents. Ettie still has them.

I feel worst about the tight spot this puts Herald in, but I have no doubt it will recover; it's not like it's never been here before, and it's not as though we're not just going to roll more Heralds.

Splntrd

nt

n/t

Huh?