Post/Author/DateTime	Post
UgtarBigStrongie 05-20-07, 05:39 PM	Okay this is for my 8 rogue/ 5 Invisible Blade and I'm a horrible writer and wondering if people could add some creative flare, better writing mechanics and such. It's not finished, but i'll update it. Chapter 1 Ever since my early years of life, or as much as I can remember, I was a slave. My parents being poor con-artists, sold me into slavery just for an extra hundred gold or so. They never showed sympathy, compassion, love. Every time I think back to my childhood the scars on my back begin to burn. They’re from the cruel lashing of countless whips, but I never shed a tear; Weakness was something I was not willing to reveal. I worked in the gladiator arena and cleaned the stalls for the animals which were either slain by the gladiators or came back, well fed. I used to always look at the gladiator’s that came out of the arena and asked them numerous questions and I trained like them. They always use to ridicule me because of being a Halfling and being a slave, but it never discouraged me. In my free time I trained until I crumbled onto the ground. I was never able to become physically strong, but was adept at dexterous feats and began to steal around the arena. Though I never stole for reasons of greed or revenge, but I stole in order to train myself. I learned how open locks from practicing on the animal cells and was soon able to open any lock around the arena, including my goal, the training room. Late at night I snuck into the training room and began to practice with two blades and became adept at using these two weapons. Although, during countless nights I never even considered the possibility that I might have been watched. One night while training, I began to gain too much momentum from the weight of blades and fell to the ground. I was unable to lift myself and I felt a smooth hand grab mine and pull me to feet. He removed the large blades from my hand and replaced them with daggers. He began to tell me how he has been watching me and complimented me on my skill; he even went so far as to compare me to the great Drizzt Do’Urden. He proposed the offer of him buying me from my slave owner and training me to fight in the arena, without delay I yelled, “Yes!” His aged yet still smooth voice replied, “Let me introduce myself, my name is Iuguolo...” I cut him off and yelled in excitement, “And mine is--!” He replaced dominance in the conversation once more and said “I know your name, Avaritia, now come with me.” I followed him out of the arena and was unaccustomed to the city streets of Luskan; a thick fog had covered the cities true horror. While following the man another person had accidently bumped into Iuguolo, but he knew the man’s trick and grabbed him by the throat and held him into the air. The man gasping for air dropped the gold purse which he had foolishly attempted to steal from my master. The man slammed to the ground and quickly scuttled to get back onto his feet and run away into the dark foggy night. After traveling for some time we eventually reached his home, a small stone house near the city gates. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusty key and placed it into the door. He turned the key and the crunching of the key in the door clearly showed its age. He pushed on the door and I stepped into the dark room. He ignited the flame in one of the lanterns and the once dark room was shining with gold. Arena trophies were scattered throughout the home and I stood in awe realizing the man I was standing next to was an arena champion. He pointed a small bed on the ground and said, “Get some rest there will be much training tomorrow.” I took his advice and lay down on the coarse bed made of hay and dreamed of the new future ahead of me. Chapter 2 Slammed onto the ground, I quickly got back onto my feet and began parrying and dodging the seemingly hundreds of attacks from my master. While parrying his attacks I searched for an opportune time to attack, and there it was. He left his chest undefended and I made my precisely placed attack towards his ribcage. Barely dodging my attack he smacked the dagger out of my hand and nonchalantly stated, “Very good, that is enough for now.” Two years had passed since I was taken away from my horrible life as a slave and since then have been trained only to fight. Iuguolo had been a father to me these past years yet he never seemed to share the same feeling. “Your time has come Avaritia, your first match is tomorrow.” Said my master while grasping my shoulder, “The qualification match will be the toughest battle you have faced yet. They have decided to pit you against two dwarven fighters focused on brute strength rather than cunning. Use that towards you advantage which I’m sure you will.” I simply nodded and began heading back to the house and then he grabbed my shoulder once more and said, “There is something I want you to have.”He reached handed me a wooden box carefully carved from wood, “These daggers once belonged to my master and when it was time for my first match them to me. Now it is my turn to give them to you.” Curiously I open the box and light began to shine out brighter than I have ever seen, they light resembled two daggers strangely curved like large claws. “Those blades will go through any armor you encounter and with your ability to feint your enemies, they will easily be slain.” I grabbed each dagger began to swing them around; they were perfectly balanced and felt like a pair of claws rather than a dagger.
amatulic 05-22-07, 01:22 AM	Okay this is for my 8 rogue/ 5 Invisible Blade and I'm a horrible writer and wondering if people could add some creative flare, better writing mechanics and such. It's not finished, but i'll update it. It seems pretty well written to me. What is your purpose here, to write background for a character you will play, or to write a story people will enjoy reading? You can do both, but creating something you can use in gameplay seems, to me, more important. You could, if you want, re-write it as a dialogue between Iuguolo and Avaricia. Start with the scene where they first meet, and have Avaricia reveal his background in the subsequent conversation with Iuguolo. In this way, you let the characters tell each other their stories, rather than having one character narrate it. And by letting the characters themselves tell the story, their personalities will develop and become alive, and the story may take interesting turns you didn't expect. That's been my experience. I can point you to a story I wrote where this worked very well, in which one character I was playing meets a new character I was going to introduce into the game, and they fall in love. Nearly all of it was told by dialogue between various characters. The project of writing this story took on a life of its own and turned into a novelette. I was quite pleased with how well it turned out. It's on the home page in my contact info, if you're interested. -A
UgtarBigStrongie 05-22-07, 02:14 AM	I'm making this story to explain what my character did between levels 1-13 and why it has certain abilities, weapons, feats etc. I more want the story to be enjoyed so when the campaign starts I can add on to it.
amatulic 05-22-07, 10:58 AM	I'm making this story to explain what my character did between levels 1-13 and why it has certain abilities, weapons, feats etc. I more want the story to be enjoyed so when the campaign starts I can add on to it. In that case, all I can say is don't get too focused on explaining the mechanics of your character. In some cases you may want to assume the mechanics (abilities, feats, etc.) are simply intrinsic to him, and instead describe what he does with those mechanics, or how his D&D attributes mold his personality. In my case, I had a Fighter 2 / Marshal 5 / Dervish 4. My story only briefly explained how he got that way (grew up without having to work, studied dance to pass the time, grew up and realized he had to make a living so trained as a mercenary, then a marshal to lead others by inspiration, became dissatisfied because he missed dancing, and finally combined his passion for dance with fighting, becoming a Dervish). The rest of the story focused on developing his character personality, relationships, etc. using the D&D stuff as backdrop. Point being, you don't have to make up the details of an entire campaign for his history unless you really want to. Whatever you decide, the story should make the reader feel like he knows your character personally. You're doing a good job at that so far. I have enjoyed reading your story. -A