Wall of Text
I am a lucid dreamer. Sometimes, when I dream, I achieve lucidity, which is basically the awareness that I am dreaming. I can influence the dream to some degree, but most of the time it's a wild ride through my subconscious.
When the dream becomes too weird or painful (i.e. someone is attacking me in the dream), I can end the dream by closing my eyes hard and then opening them. This immediately wakes me up.
I can usually tell when a dream is about to end by itself. My vision becomes more and more clouded, until I can't see anything, at which point I wake up. Occasionally, one of my eyes closes during the lucid dream, and I cannot open it without waking myself up. The dream ends when both eyes are closed, at which point I open them, waking myself up.
When the dream becomes too weird or painful (i.e. someone is attacking me in the dream), I can end the dream by closing my eyes hard and then opening them. This immediately wakes me up.
I can usually tell when a dream is about to end by itself. My vision becomes more and more clouded, until I can't see anything, at which point I wake up. Occasionally, one of my eyes closes during the lucid dream, and I cannot open it without waking myself up. The dream ends when both eyes are closed, at which point I open them, waking myself up.
Wall of TextI am a lucid dreamer. Sometimes, when I dream, I achieve lucidity, which is basically the awareness that I am dreaming. I can influence the dream to some degree, but most of the time it's a wild ride through my subconscious.
When the dream becomes too weird or painful (i.e. someone is attacking me in the dream), I can end the dream by closing my eyes hard and then opening them. This immediately wakes me up.
I can usually tell when a dream is about to end by itself. My vision becomes more and more clouded, until I can't see anything, at which point I wake up. Occasionally, one of my eyes closes during the lucid dream, and I cannot open it without waking myself up. The dream ends when both eyes are closed, at which point I open them, waking myself up.
With the huge reservoir of literature out there, it is hard to come up with a concept that doesn't resemble something else. This doesn't really mean you can't use the concept. Sometimes you just embrace it. I have a player who wanted to play a sorcerer and went with a "Firestarter" (Stephen King) concept. In my past games, I've had a few literature/movie/tv series inspired characters which worked perfectly fine, from Indiana Jones Halfling to Alias's Sydney Bristow (named Yendys in a fantasy special ops game I ran). Once you start playing the character it always takes on its own personality, and the inspiring background simply remains as inspiration.
What's cliche' about the first one?
It's not really cliche, but it's been done; or at least it somewhat resembles something in a show somewhere.
On a somewhat-related note, that was an absolutely awesome show from beginning to end.
With the huge reservoir of literature out there, it is hard to come up with a concept that doesn't resemble something else. This doesn't really mean you can't use the concept. Sometimes you just embrace it. I have a player who wanted to play a sorcerer and went with a "Firestarter" (Stephen King) concept. In my past games, I've had a few literature/movie/tv series inspired characters which worked perfectly fine, from Indiana Jones Halfling to Alias's Sydney Bristow (named Yendys in a fantasy special ops game I ran). Once you start playing the character it always takes on its own personality, and the inspiring background simply remains as inspiration.
Indeed. I once had a player who made an elven ranger focused on archery (3E) who specifically told me he was trying to play a character like Legolas from Lord of the Rings. Of course the similarity stopped at mechanics, during RP the character was completely different, though I've never found out if that was intentional or because the player had a very warped concept of Legolas's personality (he only played about 3 sessions before it became obvious that scheduling conflicts were going to preclude consistent attendance).
Neat!
Wow! Lucid dreaming sounds incredible! I am intensely jealous. :P
I have incredibly vivid dreams. They are ridiculously detailed, cover massive plots with even-more-massive backstory, and sometimes are literally the scariest things I can possibly imagine. Nightmare Fuel is an understatement.
However, they are always interesting; the downside is, it can be years before I remember having one. Not sure if I have them every night and only remember very few, or if they really do only occur every half-decade or so, but having more interesting dreams I would be aware of sounds much cooler IMO.
I have incredibly vivid dreams. They are ridiculously detailed, cover massive plots with even-more-massive backstory, and sometimes are literally the scariest things I can possibly imagine. Nightmare Fuel is an understatement.
However, they are always interesting; the downside is, it can be years before I remember having one. Not sure if I have them every night and only remember very few, or if they really do only occur every half-decade or so, but having more interesting dreams I would be aware of sounds much cooler IMO.
Neat!Wow! Lucid dreaming sounds incredible! I am intensely jealous. :P
I have incredibly vivid dreams. They are ridiculously detailed, cover massive plots with even-more-massive backstory, and sometimes are literally the scariest things I can possibly imagine. Nightmare Fuel is an understatement.
However, they are always interesting; the downside is, it can be years before I remember having one. Not sure if I have them every night and only remember very few, or if they really do only occur every half-decade or so, but having more interesting dreams I would be aware of sounds much cooler IMO.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
The other 25% are Devas or other races that don't have parents.
ShowIf you immediately write down your dreams after you wake up, you will remember them much better. Something about dreams makes them flee your brain, so even if you remember them and think about them after you wake up you may eventually lose them after a few minutes.
Also, quit smoking the devil weed.
The other 25% are Devas or other races that don't have parents.
My Goblin Sorceror's not an orphan! His parents are out there somewhere, he just doesn't particulary care where. He's too busy being on fire.
But yes, far too many people immediately orphan their characters.
I restrained my frustration and politely explained how it is one of the earliest uses of concepts which became cliche later on. Maybe not the first example of a party of variously specialized heroes, but well known and executed.
A friend of mine complained about LOTR being full of cliches.
I restrained my frustration and politely explained how it is one of the earliest uses of concepts which became cliche later on. Maybe not the first example of a party of variously specialized heroes, but well known and executed.
You mean this wasn't your immediate response?? You fool! If you'd done it right, your friend might actually think before simply assuming he knows stuff all the time, and you wouldn't have to hear dumb complaints like the above anymore! :P
(thats right, the setting is The Plane of Limbo Before it becomes chaos, and they didn't know of the material plane 'til now.
oops. Idea used before in vidio games. Friends didn't like the idea because it was clishe.
Note: this is E3.5
After all, our entire personality is a product of environment right? we ourselves are just rip-offs of other people and ideas, so who cares if our character's are too?
As long as your goal is not to mimic or clone somthing, then it's most likely just as original of a concept as any other.
The whole Drizz't thing wasn't even his creation. He was told he had to write a story about a dark elf, and that's how it spawned.
I didn't want to usurp the Emperor's awesomeness, I decided that my character's dragonmark appeared on his forehead. A glowing eye of doom would feel like a rip-off, but not a glowing forehead of doom.
So basically the "Mark of the Naaru" - the mystical rune that adorns the foreheads of all Draenei and flares to magical life when it's power is tapped - from World of Warcraft, then.
The dragonmark on his eye would glow whenever he uses his abilities. That would be really cool!
Oh wait...
Used in some obscure anime by a character with pretty much one of the worst names in history is not cliché, it's just really unfortunate.
Back in the days of 1e I had a character named Arion* whom I played in a number of different games over the course of several years. I had everything about him detailed, right down to the appearance of his hairstyle, armor and his fighting-style. Imagine my "surprise" when the movie Willow came out and the character Madmartigen turned out to be, in almost every respect, a direct translation of Arion to the screen…right down to his hairstyle, armor and fighting-style.
* I learned later, too, that even the name Arion - which I had carefully crafted for this character, working from the name of the Spanish medieval Kingdom of Aragon - had prior connotations of which I had been blissfully unaware…
OBSCURE?
Pronunciation:
\äb-ˈskyu̇r, əb-\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French oscur, obscur, from Latin obscurus
Date:
15th century
1 a: dark, dim b: shrouded in or hidden by darkness c: not clearly seen or easily distinguished : faint
2: not readily understood or clearly expressed ; also : mysterious
3: relatively unknown: as a: remote, secluded b: not prominent or famous
Specifically, it was the third definition which I was employing.
OBSCURE?
Yup. It is quite obscure, only a bunch of nerds actually care about it ;P
Used in some obscure anime by a character with pretty much one of the worst names in history
"You will take that back!"
"You will take that back!"
And that is what, exactly?
Makes you do whatever he says.
There's the [insert weapon here] user who's only interested in improving their skill with said weapon.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
my parents are alive...sort of my dad was a blacksmith and a wizard/warlord wanted information on a rare(exceedingly so) metal for a ritual to bring a demon god into this realm and my father refused so my whole family was turned to stone and carted off to his pyramid palace no I train as an AVENGER (because 4ed has no duelist class) to save them, and the world from the gods vengeance...
I also thought of creating a drow ranger/drow wanderer character, until I remembered that everyone would think I'm playing a Drizz't clone.
Yeh - the first ranger I played was a half-drow that focused on archery when his enemies were at a distance and two-weapon style up close. The reaction I got when playing him was usually a bunch of Drizz't references.
I had never even heard of Drizz't at that point.
I stopped playing him for a while. A long while.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
So prevalent that every time I meet somebody orphaned in childhood in real life, I wonder what kind of magical powers he's got.
However upon considering it more seriously I don't see any point in performing the titanic feat of magic to rip a 10 miles radius and 5 miles depth chunk of land out of the ground and fix it too the sky while earthmotes are a now dime a dozen in 4e.
passerby: "Oh, so you settled on some earthmote?"
swordmage: "What? No! See, I ripped this floating island out of a the ground through the power of my own personal magic. You should have been there to witness this spectacular display of arance power! Today the place from where I took this flying island is a lake large enough to support three fisher hamlets."
passerby: "And was the earthmote floating over neutral teritory or did you need to pay some government for the right to build your tower here?"
swordmage: "
"I also wanted to aquire a flying ship during my adventures (I know, this one was deeply cliche from the very beginning) until I saw the cover of the second novel from the swordmage trilogy which has the titular swordmage standing on exactly such a ship.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
It's one of the prerequisites for the Mary Sue prestige class :D
Yup. It is quite obscure, only a bunch of nerds actually care about it ;P
It ran on Adult Swim. That kinda makes it not obscure, given their general abuse of anime fans.
Now Seto No Hanayome, Murder Princess, Dead Leaves, Puni Puni Poemy, those could all probably be considered obscure.
Also, Novacat:
I
With the huge reservoir of literature out there, it is hard to come up with a concept that doesn't resemble something else.
A half-vampire tanuki hengeyokai with *****in cape and sunglasses who fights with a shovel and has a magic flying umbrella and once walked up to an enemy paladin and asked "Hi, do you has a flavur?" before blood draining him. Go. Seriously, if there's something like that, I wanna read it (the 4 or 5 characters he could be a composite of notwithstanding).
I feel i should add that there is a reason why Cliched things are Cliched; they work.
Same reason as to why the oldest trick in the book is still in the book! :D
The reactions I would get from the other players as I reacted to various things in oddball ways was amusing.
DM: There appears to be several rats in the kitchen area
Me: They make great pets!
For example…
Potentially Disturbing Content
I had a character named Malakhov who was an orphan.
His mother was a barmaid in a small town and got knocked up by an adventurer. Next time he came through town he finds her swollen with his bastard child. Turns out Mr. Adventurer was of royal blood (another cliché) and when she demanded his support, he beat her senseless and left her to die in the street.
The beating caused her to go into labour but she died while giving birth and the baby was stillborn. As was custom, they buried both of them together the next morning. Three days later a mourner at the graveyard hears a baby crying. The frantically dig up the grave to find the supposedly stillborn alive and nursing from his dead mother.
His mother dead Malakhov became a ward of the town. He was a strange child and not well liked. From an early age he demonstrated a talent for magic, and it was claimed by anothe child - though never proven - that at the age of 7 Malakhov killed a raven which he then raised as an undead and used to spy on people. As soon as he was old enough the council apprenticed him off to a distant mage, though in truth the he was a necromancer who had heard of the boy's talent and origin hoped to harness his obvious necromantic gift for his own ends.
Very quickly he learned all the necromancer had to teach him and assuming - quite rightly - that his supposed teacher was threatened by Malakhov's growing power and planned to kill him Malakhov stole the man's spellbooks and left.
Some wondered why he didn't simply kill the Necromancer. Malakhov had no moral objection to doing so, but he wanted his "first time to be special", and what could be more special than what he did next: tracking down his father, beating the man senseless, killing him and raising his corpse as an undead slave (read: familiar) to serve him forever.
I had a character named Malakhov who was an orphan.
His mother was a barmaid in a small town and got knocked up by an adventurer. Next time he came through town he finds her swollen with his bastard child. Turns out Mr. Adventurer was of royal blood (another cliché) and when she demanded his support, he beat her senseless and left her to die in the street.
The beating caused her to go into labour but she died while giving birth and the baby was stillborn. As was custom, they buried both of them together the next morning. Three days later a mourner at the graveyard hears a baby crying. The frantically dig up the grave to find the supposedly stillborn alive and nursing from his dead mother.
His mother dead Malakhov became a ward of the town. He was a strange child and not well liked. From an early age he demonstrated a talent for magic, and it was claimed by anothe child - though never proven - that at the age of 7 Malakhov killed a raven which he then raised as an undead and used to spy on people. As soon as he was old enough the council apprenticed him off to a distant mage, though in truth the he was a necromancer who had heard of the boy's talent and origin hoped to harness his obvious necromantic gift for his own ends.
Very quickly he learned all the necromancer had to teach him and assuming - quite rightly - that his supposed teacher was threatened by Malakhov's growing power and planned to kill him Malakhov stole the man's spellbooks and left.
Some wondered why he didn't simply kill the Necromancer. Malakhov had no moral objection to doing so, but he wanted his "first time to be special", and what could be more special than what he did next: tracking down his father, beating the man senseless, killing him and raising his corpse as an undead slave (read: familiar) to serve him forever.
every time I meet somebody orphaned in childhood in real life, I wonder what kind of magical powers he's got.
LOL
I made a Drow ranger who focused on dual wielding and his original story was that he was an outcast from Drow society. But the rest of the party found out(eventually) that he was a quadruple agent:
He was only pretending he was an outcast but was really working as a spy for his people who were planing a massive invasion of the surface.
But he was also spying on his own people for the Duergar Empire so when the Drow invaded the surface the grey dwarfs would attack their poorly defended cities, leaving the dark elves with no place to go if their invasion didn't succeed.
And he was also spying on both underground races for the armies of Celestia, so when these invasions were triggered they would route the Drow on the surface and attack the Duergar cities that were left poorly defended in their assualts on the poorly defended dark elf cities.
The other party members were still searching for another group I may have double-crossed the Celestials for when it all went down. The fun thing is that because they thought I was a rip-off of Drizz't they didn't suspect me of anything for the longest time.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
It's probably because if they mention their family is still alive, the DM will capture and/or kill off their family as a plot hook.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
Actually, in my group someone who had a great childhood with loving parents and relatives is the cliche.
Actually, in my group someone who had a great childhood with loving parents and relatives is the cliche.
pfff. by now every single thing about families is cliche.
bad, abusive family that they ran away from cause they hate them? cliche.
caring loving family who allowed their child/sibling to follow his dreams? cliche.
a family that got killed, said character is an orphan? cliche.
divorced family where twins were split up at birth, one is evil? cliche.
has no ever thought of an imperfect family where some members hate the character, and some other family members love them and they are currently conflicted over them? is that cliche?
has no ever thought of an imperfect family where some members hate the character, and some other family members love them and they are currently conflicted over them? is that cliche?
Now it is.
No idea ever thought up will ever be free of a cliche since every idea for a character is based:
- this is a bad guy, or
- this is a good guy, or
- this is a not bad, not good guy
There is going to be something cliche about any character a player makes. 'Oh, you eat babies, like THATS new! Oh, now you don't, what a surprise!' One of my favorite PCs had an alcoholic personality and accent ripped directly from Churchill. Cliche? A little. Fun? Much.
pfff. by now every single thing about families is cliche.
bad, abusive family that they ran away from cause they hate them? cliche.
caring loving family who allowed their child/sibling to follow his dreams? cliche.
a family that got killed, said character is an orphan? cliche.
divorced family where twins were split up at birth, one is evil? cliche.
You missed family that's forcing their kid to marry someone they don't love and so they run away ;)
has no ever thought of an imperfect family where some members hate the character, and some other family members love them and they are currently conflicted over them? is that cliche?
I depends on if you count the one where the prince is next in line to the throne and everybody, including his parents, love him but his younger brother who is lame in every way except his alignment hates him for being so perfect and being born first.
Clichés are only as restrictive as you allow them to be. The "75% are orphans" law, for example. Yes it is a major RPG PC cliché, but you can easily spin it into something different.
For example…
Now I'm slightly biased of course, but I think that is at least a somewhat original take on the "adventurer orphan" trope.
My ranger is an orphan. She's an orphan because she killed her parents with a hatchet - I borrowed the Lizzie Borden story and turned it into what may or may not be a family curse.
Molly Borden
"Elsie Borden took an axe, and gave her father forty whacks.
her mother saw what she had done, so Elsie gave her forty-one."
Nothing but an old children's rhyme, passed down from the earliest days of the town of Guilford, right?
How soon they forget.
Less than three hundred years ago, everyone in the town knew the story of how Harris Borden and his wife were murdered by their daughter Elsabeth. Now, the town has grown much larger, large enough that few realize that the Borden family still lives there to this day, having been haunted by misfortune, murder and tragedy through generation after generation.
Six generations ago, at the close of a major campaign against the local gnoll tribes, some of the local boys came back from the war accompanied by a mercenary carrying a wicked-looking waraxe. All of them were treated as conquering heroes, including the stranger. Unlike the others, however, he quietly declined to tell his war stories. He never did directly say just which side he'd fought for, or exactly where he'd found the axe.
The man married a local girl, reforged his fearsome weapon into a woodcutter's axe and settled down to run an inn at the edge of town. The man's wife eventually gave birth to a daughter named Elsabeth.
As the years passed, business at the inn slowed down, and the man's demeanor became ever darker - he brooded, drank, stayed up late into the night having whispered conversations with mysterious strangers, and constantly queried anyone passing through town about their travels in the gnoll lands. Whether he had originally been a good man, dragged down either by personal demons or perhaps by some lingering taint of evil within the ax, or if he had always been an evil man, Harris Borden became a reviled figure in town, known as a bully and drunkard given to rages and melancholies. It was also occasionally whispered that he beat his wife, or that he was just a bit too fond of his lovely daughter.
It came as no great surprise to most that Harris Borden was found murdered in the main room of the inn the year that Elsabeth turned seventeen. Although he and his wife had clearly been killed with an axe, no weapon was found at the scene. No one in the town at the time had any sort of divination magic, and there were no witnesses other than Elsabeth, who had claimed that she found the bodies shortly after they were killed.
Although Elsabeth was put on trial for the murders of her parents, there was little evidence that she had committed them, and was never convicted.
Eight years later, at the age of twenty-five, Elsabeth married a distant cousin, also named Borden, and bore him four sons. On their second anniversary she gave her husband a newly-forged hatchet to replace one he had recently broken. Two years later, he accidentally severed part of a finger while chopping kindling for the woodstove.
Although their marriage seemed to be a happy one, tragedy and misfortune was to continue to plague Elsabeth's family - their youngest son (Elsabeth's favorite) died of influenza as a child, and Elsabeth herself passed away only two years later, of a broken heart it was often said.
Several years after the death of their father, Elsabeth's second-eldest son, Willam, slew his older brother Levan in a dispute over the ownership of the inn, which closed soon afterward.
One of Elsabeth's granddaughters fell into madness. Two others were married to men who abused them. A great-grandson was stolen from his crib by gnolls during a raid. And so it continued, right up to the present day.
In almost every generation of the Borden family, there has been some sort of tragedy or violence. And to each new generation, three things have been passed down: the dishes used at the old family inn, a tendency for the Borden women to resemble their infamous forebear, Elsie, and the hatchet she gave her husband.
By the time Molly Borden was born, the town of Guilford had grown immensely, and only the oldest people living in the town and a few of her neighbors still knew the history of her family. Yet the family's history still continued to haunt them.
Molly's father possessed an unnatural fascination with his daughter.
And Molly had an unnatural fascination with her father's hatchet.
When Molly was thirteen, a passing neighbor saw her sitting on the front steps of her house, silently staring off into space. Her hands had blood on them. Aware of the family's history, the man rushed into the Borden home and discovered the bodies of Molly's parents on the floor.
The man (who'd always thought kindly of Molly, if not her father) decided that the legacy of the Borden family needed to end. Believing that it was the family's house that held whatever curse or ill-fated fortune had befallen the family, he left the bodies of Molly's parents inside the house and set fire to it. He told the townspeople that he'd seen the smoke from the fire while Molly and his wife were canning fruit for the winter. No one questioned the man's account of events, and Molly, nearly catatonic, was placed in the local orphanage.
Molly remained at the orphanage for several years, although she sometimes wandered away into the nearby woods for hours, even days at a time. People at the orphanage rarely attempted to stopped her or enforce the orphanage's rules on her, as she rarely listened and simply paid them no heed. She was an odd girl, sometimes even slightly disturbing, and as she grew older was more and more often seen wandering amongst the overgrown remains of her family's property. And then one day she was spotted walking toward the edge of town, a bag of food and clothing slung over her shoulder and a wicked-looking hatchet tucked into her belt.
It was nearly two years before she returned to town, clearly having spent that time amongst the local rangers and travelling in the gnoll lands. A longbow hung across her back, a battleaxe at her side, and down the front of both thighs within easy reach, three on each leg, were hung throwing axes. A long coiled braid made from strips of gnoll pelt dangled from her belt pouch, and tucked into her belt was the family hatchet. Although her weapons and gear always looked clean and well-cared-for, including the hatchet, it always seemed to have just the slightest smudge of soot on the head, and a few tiny spots of something that might have been rust...
"Elsie Borden took an axe, and gave her father forty whacks.
her mother saw what she had done, so Elsie gave her forty-one."
Nothing but an old children's rhyme, passed down from the earliest days of the town of Guilford, right?
How soon they forget.
Less than three hundred years ago, everyone in the town knew the story of how Harris Borden and his wife were murdered by their daughter Elsabeth. Now, the town has grown much larger, large enough that few realize that the Borden family still lives there to this day, having been haunted by misfortune, murder and tragedy through generation after generation.
Six generations ago, at the close of a major campaign against the local gnoll tribes, some of the local boys came back from the war accompanied by a mercenary carrying a wicked-looking waraxe. All of them were treated as conquering heroes, including the stranger. Unlike the others, however, he quietly declined to tell his war stories. He never did directly say just which side he'd fought for, or exactly where he'd found the axe.
The man married a local girl, reforged his fearsome weapon into a woodcutter's axe and settled down to run an inn at the edge of town. The man's wife eventually gave birth to a daughter named Elsabeth.
As the years passed, business at the inn slowed down, and the man's demeanor became ever darker - he brooded, drank, stayed up late into the night having whispered conversations with mysterious strangers, and constantly queried anyone passing through town about their travels in the gnoll lands. Whether he had originally been a good man, dragged down either by personal demons or perhaps by some lingering taint of evil within the ax, or if he had always been an evil man, Harris Borden became a reviled figure in town, known as a bully and drunkard given to rages and melancholies. It was also occasionally whispered that he beat his wife, or that he was just a bit too fond of his lovely daughter.
It came as no great surprise to most that Harris Borden was found murdered in the main room of the inn the year that Elsabeth turned seventeen. Although he and his wife had clearly been killed with an axe, no weapon was found at the scene. No one in the town at the time had any sort of divination magic, and there were no witnesses other than Elsabeth, who had claimed that she found the bodies shortly after they were killed.
Although Elsabeth was put on trial for the murders of her parents, there was little evidence that she had committed them, and was never convicted.
Eight years later, at the age of twenty-five, Elsabeth married a distant cousin, also named Borden, and bore him four sons. On their second anniversary she gave her husband a newly-forged hatchet to replace one he had recently broken. Two years later, he accidentally severed part of a finger while chopping kindling for the woodstove.
Although their marriage seemed to be a happy one, tragedy and misfortune was to continue to plague Elsabeth's family - their youngest son (Elsabeth's favorite) died of influenza as a child, and Elsabeth herself passed away only two years later, of a broken heart it was often said.
Several years after the death of their father, Elsabeth's second-eldest son, Willam, slew his older brother Levan in a dispute over the ownership of the inn, which closed soon afterward.
One of Elsabeth's granddaughters fell into madness. Two others were married to men who abused them. A great-grandson was stolen from his crib by gnolls during a raid. And so it continued, right up to the present day.
In almost every generation of the Borden family, there has been some sort of tragedy or violence. And to each new generation, three things have been passed down: the dishes used at the old family inn, a tendency for the Borden women to resemble their infamous forebear, Elsie, and the hatchet she gave her husband.
By the time Molly Borden was born, the town of Guilford had grown immensely, and only the oldest people living in the town and a few of her neighbors still knew the history of her family. Yet the family's history still continued to haunt them.
Molly's father possessed an unnatural fascination with his daughter.
And Molly had an unnatural fascination with her father's hatchet.
When Molly was thirteen, a passing neighbor saw her sitting on the front steps of her house, silently staring off into space. Her hands had blood on them. Aware of the family's history, the man rushed into the Borden home and discovered the bodies of Molly's parents on the floor.
The man (who'd always thought kindly of Molly, if not her father) decided that the legacy of the Borden family needed to end. Believing that it was the family's house that held whatever curse or ill-fated fortune had befallen the family, he left the bodies of Molly's parents inside the house and set fire to it. He told the townspeople that he'd seen the smoke from the fire while Molly and his wife were canning fruit for the winter. No one questioned the man's account of events, and Molly, nearly catatonic, was placed in the local orphanage.
Molly remained at the orphanage for several years, although she sometimes wandered away into the nearby woods for hours, even days at a time. People at the orphanage rarely attempted to stopped her or enforce the orphanage's rules on her, as she rarely listened and simply paid them no heed. She was an odd girl, sometimes even slightly disturbing, and as she grew older was more and more often seen wandering amongst the overgrown remains of her family's property. And then one day she was spotted walking toward the edge of town, a bag of food and clothing slung over her shoulder and a wicked-looking hatchet tucked into her belt.
It was nearly two years before she returned to town, clearly having spent that time amongst the local rangers and travelling in the gnoll lands. A longbow hung across her back, a battleaxe at her side, and down the front of both thighs within easy reach, three on each leg, were hung throwing axes. A long coiled braid made from strips of gnoll pelt dangled from her belt pouch, and tucked into her belt was the family hatchet. Although her weapons and gear always looked clean and well-cared-for, including the hatchet, it always seemed to have just the slightest smudge of soot on the head, and a few tiny spots of something that might have been rust...
You missed family that's forcing their kid to marry someone they don't love and so they run away ;)
darn it.
wait...YOU missed the family that hates the lover you picked and killed said lover so you ran away!
I have last laugh! hahaha.
It ran on Adult Swim. That kinda makes it not obscure, given their general abuse of anime fans.
How is Adult Swim not obscure? Given the things that run on it, I get no other impression.
So, I came up with this great plot, where the father would be the BBEG (a mage who used Shadow Magic), and it would be revealed during a big fight near the middle of the campaign.
Oh, wait...
At least I looked at my notes and the "brillant plot" I had written sunk in before I ran it all and got harrassed by my gaming group.
How is Adult Swim not obscure? Given the things that run on it, I get no other impression.
I believe you're confusing "Obscure" and "Idiotic". Regardless, Adult Swim prolly gets pretty good ratings given that it hasn't been replaced by an 8 hour block of Johnny Test or something, and they're apparently jerks about anime, so if they pick something up, it's probably not obscure, or at least won't be shortly. Hell, Code Geass got a panel at Anime Detour and IIRC that was the only discussion panel limited to a single series. Plus the whole Pizza Hut thing. Really adult swim aside, if it runs on TV outside of japan you can prolly cross it off the obscure list.
Code Geass is definitely on the list of mainstream Animu.
I think the argument is "Just because it's mainstream anime doesn't mean it's still not obscure." I know plenty of people who are well-learned folk that know not a damn thing about anime.
Cliche? Most likely. Loads of fun? Hell yes! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.
I remember the first time I had tried to DM a game of 3.5, back when I was just getting familiar with the cosmology. I remember thinking, "Man, the entire drow culture is centered around Loth, What if she suddenly disappeared? and her clerics stopped receiving spells, their whole society would be in chaos!". I was all ready to run an entire campaign around this idea, when my players promptly inform me that R.A. Salvatore had pretty throughly covered this scenario already.
Actually, the War of the Spider Queen is the only drow series worth reading because it WASN'T written by Salvatore. Good stuff.
I played a half-orc paladin once during v.3.5. A gentle-giant, tormented by a brutish heritage, with a fear of unrequited love, you name it ;). I look back now and feel a bit silly. I normally play my pally's like 'Captain Kirk', man-of-action types (which has it's own cliches but at least I don't feel so silly afterwards ;)).
Actually, the War of the Spider Queen is the only drow series worth reading because it WASN'T written by Salvatore. Good stuff.
He supervised the whole process of it. I didn't like the last book. It didn't seem to conclude everything very well. It felt like it was just a mash-up since they were probably running late on deadlines.
I was in no way suggesting that Code Geass was obscure. Most people I've encountered on the Internet know who Lelouch is.
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Actually, the War of the Spider Queen is the only drow series worth reading because it WASN'T written by Salvatore. Good stuff.
Except for the fact that it's really bad.
The characters are all stupid - and I mean that in the sense that they are all lacking in intelligence, not that I simply don't like them - and there was no reason at all for it to be six books long when it could easily have been a single volume.
Terrible stuff. Avoid at all costs.
I was in no way suggesting that Code Geass was obscure. Most people I've encountered on the Internet know who Lelouch is.
Nearly ALL of the people I have encountered on the internet do NOT know who Lelouch is.
Nearly ALL of the people I have encountered on the internet do NOT know who Lelouch is.
Nearly ALL of the people I have encountered on the internet MAY know who Lelouch is.
Nearly ALL of the people I have encountered on the internet do NOT know who Lelouch is.
Anime and gaming forums are about as representative of the internet at large as is a comic convention of the general populace. I would happily suggest that the overwhelming majority of people on the internet have no idea what anime is, let alone some character from a particular obscure anime series or movie or whatever it is that guy with the stupid name is from.
Anime and gaming forums are about as representative of the internet at large as is a comic convention of the general populace. I would happily suggest that the overwhelming majority of people on the internet have no idea what anime is, let alone some character from a particular obscure anime series or movie or whatever it is that guy with the stupid name is from.
Considering the Internet in general is pretty much the worst possible sample space for any population-based survey, it wouldn't really matter.
I feel i should add that "Obscure" in this sense means "of little or no prominence, note, fame, or distinction." While one could possibly make the claim that Anime in general is Obscure in Western culture (i would challenge that; not all that well known maybe, but not obscure. It's difficult to find anyone in Gen Y who hasn't heard of Pokemon), it's impossible to claim that Code Geass is an Obscure Anime; in the Anime circles it's one of the more famous ones.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
Let's talk Disney animated films. How many protagonists have two living parents?
No biological parents: Cinderella, Snow White, Quasimodo, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Mowgli, Lilo, Stitch, Pinocchio
Parent dies: Bambi, Simba
Father only: Ariel, Belle, Arthur
Mother only: Dumbo, Cody
Not a complete list, but I think can see the trend.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
Often Orphans, frequently.
I can find anything on wikipedia. How many seasons was the Rockford Files? (hint: I bought all six on DVD ;)). Who Is Roger Rabbit? Who dies during DC Comics' Final Crisis event? (didn't care to buy the actual books, since I wasted money on Infinite Crisis).
I have absolutely no idea whatsoever who 'Lelouch' is though. Why? No wikipedia entry. Somebody should get busy ;).
I feel i should add that "Obscure" in this sense means "of little or no prominence, note, fame, or distinction." While one could possibly make the claim that Anime in general is Obscure in Western culture (i would challenge that; not all that well known maybe, but not obscure. It's difficult to find anyone in Gen Y who hasn't heard of Pokemon), it's impossible to claim that Code Geass is an Obscure Anime; in the Anime circles it's one of the more famous ones.
Famous amongst and obscure subculture make it, by definition, obscure to the general populace.
So, an outcast from your society, and wielding dual swords, and an animal pet, takes way to much focus, and you are basically playing in someone else's sand box.
Flying airship? As long as everything doesn't revolve around the flying airship, becomes more of an interesting detail.
And in fact, I've had ideas for a campaign which uses a flying airship (Why do say flying airship, shouldn't airship be enough, after all, what else would it do in the air?)
I love the show Farscape, and recently watched all 4 seasons and the 4 part movie again. It would be great to have a what I see as a free form campaign like that.
So what I thought was this. From levels 1-10, the players are in what they think is a normal campaign. It starts of with them in one of the largest cities in the world. They become members of the Adventures Guild, and go out on assignments. Nothing but straight forward adventures levels 1-6, and at level 7, some intrigue begins to enter surrounding the AG, which cumulates with the players being framed for either a crime or murder. The players escape on one of the guilds airships, and welcome to Paragon level.
So for the paragon levels, it's mostly them flying around, trying to prove their innocence, and having wild adventures.
Paragon tier ends with them proving their innocence, welcome to epic, where they work towards their final goal, whatever that might be. Clues of which can be dropped in, or offered during the paragon levels.
Sure, cliche in many ways, but it's all on how you handle it. In particular I think that if you are running it without giving clues that the players are being set up, and they suddenly find themselves on the lamb, it can be a fun surprise for them, to suddenly have their world turned upside down, especially if they have gotten used to a posh life of Guild Adventures.
ShowNot sure why this is in your post, but I am always interested to talk with another lucid dreamer. In my case, I have never managed to fully control when I am lucid. Once or twice I have been able to make it happen, but usually I just suddenly find myself in control, sort of like waking up one morning and discovering that you can warp reality. When this happens, I have a high degree of control. I can go flying, or conjure righteous babes and do very personal things with them, or build elaborate scenery on a whim.
Unfortunately, I can also lose control if the dream goes on for too long, at which point these dreams have become some of the worst nightmares I have ever experienced. Like waking up one morning to discover you have lost control of your own body. And then doing horrible things (and having horrible things done to you) beyond your control while you look on helplessly.
I once played a character in a Star Wars rpg in early 2003, the game was set in the prequel era. To be original I created a character who was once evil(wasn't sith but an evil jedi) the jedi captured him, wiped his memory and set him off into the galaxy. Game went along well, KOTOR came out. I didn't play it immediately (no xbox/good computer). When I revealed my characters history(err it was revealed to him, as he did not know), my entire party accused me of ripping off Revan. Sigh, this seems to happen all the time.
You are tapping into the social subconscious/"hive mind" there I think.
I get it all the time
.Show
One of the most effective ways to initiate lucid dreaming I know of is to 'cat nap'. First, get realy tired, then doze off but set your alarm to go off before you are deeply asleep (five hours for me). When it goes off, I keep hitting the snooze button over and over, until I subconsciously get into the rhythm. Then, I turn the alarm off and start 'shaking' myself awake at those same intervals.
Eventually you'll be in a half-awake/half-asleep state, where it's easier (I think) to achieve lucid dreaming. As I understand, lucid dreaming is harmless, so I've played around with it over the years; never really studied it in-depth though. Heh. I'm a hobbyist dreamer ;).
My experience with lucid dreaming is that sometimes I think I'm in control and my subconscious mind surprises me. Also, it's best to try this after my wife has left for work in the morning :P.
Eventually you'll be in a half-awake/half-asleep state, where it's easier (I think) to achieve lucid dreaming. As I understand, lucid dreaming is harmless, so I've played around with it over the years; never really studied it in-depth though. Heh. I'm a hobbyist dreamer ;).
My experience with lucid dreaming is that sometimes I think I'm in control and my subconscious mind surprises me. Also, it's best to try this after my wife has left for work in the morning :P.
Famous amongst and obscure subculture make it, by definition, obscure to the general populace.
Like i said, one could make the claim that Anime is obscure, but not that Code Geass is an obscure Anime. Important difference of meaning.
Well, wikipedia has failed me. When I searched for 'Lelouch' all I hit upon was a french movie maker.
I can find anything on wikipedia. How many seasons was the Rockford Files? (hint: I bought all six on DVD ;)). Who Is Roger Rabbit? Who dies during DC Comics' Final Crisis event? (didn't care to buy the actual books, since I wasted money on Infinite Crisis).
I have absolutely no idea whatsoever who 'Lelouch' is though. Why? No wikipedia entry. Somebody should get busy ;).
You mean like this one which is the second entry listed when you do a general search on the name "Lelouch" on Wikipedia? With the third, fourth, and fifth entries on the list also being Code Geass entries that mention they were redirects from or include "Lelouch" in them?
You need to work on your search-fu.
You need to work on your search-fu.
Obviously ;).
Code Geass. Sounds interesting.
I've never had much exposure to anime. As a kid, I loved Battle of the Planets (a 'westernized' 70s anime). More recently, I played Granstream Saga, a game on Playstation (enjoyed the story and the fighting style).
So, I'm certain more modern stuff would appeal to me, provided I found a place to start. The tricky part is finding the stuff that might interest me on DVD, so I can watch it at my own pace.
I'm rambling of course (and off-topic at that). I just didn't want to say a single word and call it a post-- obviously :P.
Obviously ;).
Code Geass. Sounds interesting.
I've never had much exposure to anime. As a kid, I loved Battle of the Planets (a 'westernized' 70s anime). More recently, I played Granstream Saga, a game on Playstation (enjoyed the story and the fighting style).
So, I'm certain more modern stuff would appeal to me, provided I found a place to start. The tricky part is finding the stuff that might interest me on DVD, so I can watch it at my own pace.
I'm rambling of course (and off-topic at that). I just didn't want to say a single word and call it a post-- obviously :P.
Heh. No problem; and sorry if I came off sounding like a jerk there.
Also, if you're interested in Code Geass, you can actually watch the entire first season for free on Bandai Entertainment's official YouTube channel.
Code Geass Season 1 - Japanese Audio, English Subtitles
Code Geass Season 1 - English Audio
Obviously ;).
Code Geass. Sounds interesting.
I've never had much exposure to anime. As a kid, I loved Battle of the Planets (a 'westernized' 70s anime). More recently, I played Granstream Saga, a game on Playstation (enjoyed the story and the fighting style).
So, I'm certain more modern stuff would appeal to me, provided I found a place to start. The tricky part is finding the stuff that might interest me on DVD, so I can watch it at my own pace.
I'm rambling of course (and off-topic at that). I just didn't want to say a single word and call it a post-- obviously :P.
I highly reccomend that you do not buy DVD's as the prices for Anime DVD's are obscene. It would be cheaper to fund a Crack Cocaine habit than an Anime Habit on DVD's.
If you want to be legal about it, grab an online subskwiption. Crunchyroll is pretty good, and Funimation, Bandai and a few others offer intertoob subscriptions that allow you to watch Anime, the price is substantially less than what you would pay for overpriced DVD's.
Of course, there's always the less-than-legal options of which i cannot enumerate on this site due to it breaking the ToS.
But seriously, avoid Anime DVD's like the plague, they're horrendously overpriced.
I highly reccomend that you do not buy DVD's as the prices for Anime DVD's are obscene. It would be cheaper to fund a Crack Cocaine habit than an Anime Habit on DVD's.
If you want to be legal about it, grab an online subskwiption. Crunchyroll is pretty good, and Funimation, Bandai and a few others offer intertoob subscriptions that allow you to watch Anime, the price is substantially less than what you would pay for overpriced DVD's.
Of course, there's always the less-than-legal options of which i cannot enumerate on this site due to it breaking the ToS.
But seriously, avoid Anime DVD's like the plague, they're horrendously overpriced.
Not if you buy them as whole series thin packs. 600+ minutes of good anime entertainment for between 40-60 bucks is worth it in my opinion.
And there really are people who think Anime is still an obscure concept? When Conventions such as Sakuracon get an attendance of 13000+ and Sci-fi cons like Norwescon get an attendance of about 3000, can we really call that obscure?
And cliches are fun. The Dwarven Warrior who is gruff, but with a soft side. The elven Druid. As long as they show up in my PnP games and not in my literature, I'm ok with it.
Maybe you get them cheaper over there in America, but down here in Australia the best deal i ever saw on DVD's was $40 for a 3 DVD pack with 2 episodes on each DVD. Which is a freaking rip-off.
... and what series is this?
Oooooh .... how about this one ... rogue steals something belonging to other PCs .. and the other pcs vouches for him and the rogue becomes an indebted servant of the party, and eventually comes to respect them?
That Yuan-ti pureblood assassin ordered to trail the pcs, but learns that humans aren't as disgusting, stupid and useless as his superiors told him.
All would have been cool pc iontroductions that are way too cliche.
Or that grizzled elven druid (introduced LATER in a campaign when the pcs learn a liitle about the plot) that was present at the time that mythal was corrupted and has been waiting centuries for the emergence of these pcs as the last, best hope for Faerun's survival.
In one game, I played a wizard who was an exiled prince of the Empire whose goal was to acquire power and get revenge on those who cast him out.
This was before I watched Code Geass.
Damn.
Like i said, one could make the claim that Anime is obscure, but not that Code Geass is an obscure Anime. Important difference of meaning.
No. Unimportant semantics.
No. Unimportant semantics.
It's really not, i suggest you go take some English classes if you really don't understand the difference, it's a somewhat important part of the language.
Anime and gaming forums are about as representative of the internet at large as is a comic convention of the general populace. I would happily suggest that the overwhelming majority of people on the internet have no idea what anime is, let alone some character from a particular obscure anime series or movie or whatever it is that guy with the stupid name is from.
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
The King's Vizier secretly seeks the throne.
Your character's master/teacher is killed. You seek revenge.
The orcs/goblins are raiding the village.
A strange blue creature with extra long fingers approaches, offering to trade magic items.
A beloved paladin has turned traitor. He is now a blackguard.
Campaign premise: Need to find the various parts of a powerful weapon that would be put together to slay the Terrible Monster. The Terrible Monster arrived long ago and this weapon was used to defeat it. It was separated to be kept safe and hidden in dangerous places so that only heroes who are worthy can get them. Their worthiness will be proven by having to take various tests of their character and prowess.
Campaign premise: Need to find the various parts of a powerful weapon that would be put together to slay the Terrible Monster. The Terrible Monster arrived long ago and this weapon was used to defeat it. It was separated to be kept safe and hidden in dangerous places so that only heroes who are worthy can get them. Their worthiness will be proven by having to take various tests of their character and prowess.
At which point it turns out that the Terrible Monster is you!
Maybe you get them cheaper over there in America, but down here in Australia the best deal i ever saw on DVD's was $40 for a 3 DVD pack with 2 episodes on each DVD. Which is a freaking rip-off.
But but but! Japan is closer to you! That doesn't make any sense!
Anyway for all you who fear the cliche here is a quote to sooth your soul:
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
-T.S. Eliot, The Sacret Wood, 1920
But but but! Japan is closer to you! That doesn't make any sense!
Anyway for all you who fear the cliche here is a quote to sooth your soul:
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
-T.S. Eliot, The Sacret Wood, 1920
The $40 he's talking about was probably $40 in Australian dollars.
Campaign start: You notice an "Adventurers wanted" job listing among the messages on a wall in the middle of the city square.
"I cast Magic Missile."
Campaign start: You're sitting in a tavern when ...
Have you read the 1001 ways to make a Tavern original thread? (I think that was the name, something along those lines). Some good ones in there.
"You're sitting in a tavern. This is because it ate you."
It's really not, i suggest you go take some English classes if you really don't understand the difference, it's a somewhat important part of the language.
They would seem somewhat redundant to my English degree.
The problem seems to be that you are misunderstanding what I wrote. I was saying it is an obscure thing which is an anime, not it is obscure among anime fans.
The difficulty in understanding is yours, sir, and your clumsy attempt at sarcasm serves only to exacerbate your error.
The King's Vizier secretly seeks the throne.
Again, it’s all in how you use it. I used the “vizier seeks the throne” ploy to great effect in one campaign, in part banking on the player’s preconceptions about the trope.
In this case the king had recently died and the succession was in turmoil. The king’s only heirs were a pair of twins, son and daughter, who each had an equally strong claim. Both claimed that the other had worked with the vizier, who was secretly seeking to claim the throne for himself, in killing the dead king and the campaign centred around the PCs’ integral role as outsiders in helping one or the other - or as it turned out, both - of the twins in their struggle to win out.
In the end it turned out that both twins were evil to the core and working in collusion with one another to sow chaos and cause massive bloodshed and death to make it cement their apparent reconciliation and co-rulership later. The vizier had nothing to do with the King's death but was indeed trying to take the throne, though he was was doing so in order to save it and the kingdom from descent into chaos, evil and civil war.
It was immensely satisfying when the players found out they’d been playing for Team Evil the whole time and that the dreaded Grand Vizier turned out to be the good guy.
It was immensely satisfying when the players found out they’d been playing for Team Evil the whole time and that the dreaded Grand Vizier turned out to be the good guy.
A fine example of why you can use any cliché you know. It's all a matter of making it original again.
There is no cliché that can stand up against the will of a worthy DM.
I'll throw out an old cliché to contribute to the discussion otherwise: The embittered, self-loathing character who eventually finds a path to liking him or herself and becoming a good person.
The problem seems to be that you are misunderstanding what I wrote. I was saying it is an obscure thing which is an anime, not it is obscure among anime fans.
Nonetheless, it was on adult swim. Thus one could reasonably assume people who don't even know what anime is have heard of it.
Essentially calling Code Geass an obscure anime is like calling a revolver an obscure gun, or a ferari an obscure car, or Harry Potter an obscure book. Or hell, D&D an obscure roleplaying game.
Maybe you get them cheaper over there in America, but down here in Australia the best deal i ever saw on DVD's was $40 for a 3 DVD pack with 2 episodes on each DVD. Which is a freaking rip-off
Buy online. Murder Princess. 1 disc, 6 episodes, 20 bucks, 5 days shipping.
Buy online. Murder Princess. 1 disc, 6 episodes, 20 bucks, 5 days shipping.
Better idea; Buy Anime account with Crunchyroll. $60 per year. As much Anime as i can download, with new stuff on a daily basis.
Beat that.
Nonetheless, it was on adult swim. Thus one could reasonably assume people who don't even know what anime is have heard of it.
FYI, Adult Swim does not exist outside the borders of the US.
Essentially calling Code Geass an obscure anime is like calling a revolver an obscure gun, or a ferari an obscure car, or Harry Potter an obscure book. Or hell, D&D an obscure roleplaying game.
You seem to have completely missed the meaning of what I posted as well.
FYI, Adult Swim does not exist outside the borders of the US.
Wrong, we get it in Australia.
Essentially calling Pokemon an obscure anime is like calling a revolver an obscure gun, or a *standar family car* an obscure car, or Harry Potter an obscure book. Or hell, D&D an obscure roleplaying game.
Fix'd :P
Let's get back to discussing cliche character concepts, shall we?
Wrong, we get it in Australia.
Then simply insert the word "everywhere" after "exist".
Edit: Perhaps I can refresh the concept by introducing the use of sarcasm.
Please keep your posts polite, respectful, and on-topic, and refrain from making personal attacks.
FYI, Adult Swim does not exist outside the borders of the US.
regardless, if they pick up a series, it's a pretty good indicator that it's not obscure (the series they produce notwithstanding).
You seem to have completely missed the meaning of what I posted as well.
As far as I can tell, you're asserting that anime as a whole is an obscure genre and therefore being an anime series automatically makes something obscure. My analogies being that I have virtually no working knowledge of guns, but I think I could recognize a revolver. Similarly, there's probably a good number of people who's first reaction to RPG is "Rocket Propelled Grenade" who have nonetheless heard of D&D and people who have seen all of Code Geass but have no idea what anime is.
They knew what Anime was, they just didn't know it was called Anime.
...I don't care if being an orphan is overdone, it's too dangerous otherwise. Besides, could always say that Adventuring is a very dangerous job, so orphans and other unwanted people with no future tend to gravitate to it. At least, that's MY excuse.
A sage has Just The Information You Need yet his price is way, way more than you have, but if you do him a favor ...
The party needs to travel overseas but doesn't have enough money to book passage. Instead, the party will work as crewmen for the journey. The ship gets attacked during the trip.
The key to open the door is on the other side of the dungeon.
You enter a room. The floor is checkerboard.
One will always lie. One will always tell the truth. You are only allowed one question.
The Oracle gives you a Prophecy. It makes absolutely no sense.
One will always lie. One will always tell the truth. You are only allowed one question.
"How much does two plus two add up to be?"
One will always lie. One will always tell the truth. You are only allowed one question.
The lying one is the one telling you this.
One will always lie. One will always tell the truth. You are only allowed one question.
Are you wearing a sombrero?
:D
regardless, if they pick up a series, it's a pretty good indicator that it's not obscure (the series they produce notwithstanding).
As far as I can tell, you're asserting that anime as a whole is an obscure genre and therefore being an anime series automatically makes something obscure. My analogies being that I have virtually no working knowledge of guns, but I think I could recognize a revolver. Similarly, there's probably a good number of people who's first reaction to RPG is "Rocket Propelled Grenade" who have nonetheless heard of D&D and people who have seen all of Code Geass but have no idea what anime is.
My only point was that it is obscure. I only referred to it is an anime cos it is. I could just as easily said "obscure cartoon", "obscure series", "obscure entertainment product", etc. That it was obscure was the only point, one certainly not warranting the electrons that have since been wasted on the topic from those who seem to have taken it personally.
One will always lie. One will always tell the truth. You are only allowed one question.
you grab both of them and toss them through the doors, the one that doesn't scream is on the correct path. if the doors lock, apply brute force as needed.
I almost fell out of my chair. This is my campaign! I swear!
Show
Lot's o' lucid dreaming texts suggest gaining the habit of staring at your hands / palms during your daily life. If you develope the habit enough you should be able to do it in your dreams, and as many artist can tell you; hands are really weird. Even your brain should have trouble rendering them properly to fit with your conscious expectation and your unconscious recognition of what they should loo like. Over time this habit is supposed to allow you to gain more lucid control over ones dreams.
My only point was that it is obscure.
And my point is that it isn't, by any measure I can think of.
Obscure among anime fans is right out.
Obscure in general perhaps, but the fact that it was effectively *****d out to Pizza hut, dubbed in English (and likely other languages, but I can't confirm that), and was one of the approximately 6 anime series that the anti-anime adult swim people decided to run kinda suggests otherwise.
Actually managing to weave this discussion into the topic, I was in a campaign where the basic plot was a bunch of random people getting pulled out of their lives by a magic sphere and given weapons, etc. and sent to kill demigods and usually encountering some kind of (minor) plot twist. This is basically the plot of Gantz (incidentally I do not recommend that series. It lures you in with two episodes of awesome, then everybody starts talking. All the ****ing time). The fun part being that my playgroup (DM included) had never heard of it.
ShowOne of the most effective ways to initiate lucid dreaming I know of is to 'cat nap'. First, get realy tired, then doze off but set your alarm to go off before you are deeply asleep (five hours for me). When it goes off, I keep hitting the snooze button over and over, until I subconsciously get into the rhythm. Then, I turn the alarm off and start 'shaking' myself awake at those same intervals.
Eventually you'll be in a half-awake/half-asleep state, where it's easier (I think) to achieve lucid dreaming. As I understand, lucid dreaming is harmless, so I've played around with it over the years; never really studied it in-depth though. Heh. I'm a hobbyist dreamer ;).
My experience with lucid dreaming is that sometimes I think I'm in control and my subconscious mind surprises me. Also, it's best to try this after my wife has left for work in the morning :P.
Please keep your posts polite, respectful, and on-topic, and refrain from making personal attacks.
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
on another play-by-post rp site i was explaining my new character to a friend. he was a guy who kept dreaming of another world and one day he just never woke fom the dream and remained in that world. he also found himself with powers he never knew he possessed. my friend, she sked if he had a job and i said no,. she then asked if i realized that 9/10 of rp characters were just a bunch of randomly powerful bums. later on we decided we were gonna be brother and sister characters. after making the charcters she asks about where our parents were and i said, just like how 9/10 of us are just randomly powerful bums, 9/10 of us are orphans so no we hav eno parents lol
A man who used be a dark knight but found redemtion and started a new life as a paladin.
a Knight despised by his fellow officers because he wasn't born noble, however since he is a knight he also no longer belongs among the the commoners he came from.
A woman desperatly trying to prove she is as good as the male warriors.
a Dwarf who is secretly half duegar and is ashamed by his parentage.
a bard who wishes to make lovely music but is tone deaf.
a Kobold rogue.
a wizard(it just is old, especially if the wizard is cowardly, or worse the villian or a necromancer its stale and dry)
Nearly ALL of the people I have encountered on the internet do NOT know who Lelouch is.
Nearly ALL of the people I have encountered on the internet MAY know who Lelouch is.
I would agree with this. I know who Lelouch is, even though I have never actually seen Code Gaeass, certainly it is up there with FMA and Death Note in terms of popularity, not nearly the levels of say Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, but still very much in the publicc eye.
Anime and gaming forums are about as representative of the internet at large as is a comic convention of the general populace. I would happily suggest that the overwhelming majority of people on the internet have no idea what anime is, let alone some character from a particular obscure anime series or movie or whatever it is that guy with the stupid name is from.
Considering the Internet in general is pretty much the worst possible sample space for any population-based survey, it wouldn't really matter. I feel i should add that "Obscure" in this sense means "of little or no prominence, note, fame, or distinction." While one could possibly make the claim that Anime in general is Obscure in Western culture (i would challenge that; not all that well known maybe, but not obscure. It's difficult to find anyone in Gen Y who hasn't heard of Pokemon), it's impossible to claim that Code Geass is an Obscure Anime; in the Anime circles it's one of the more famous ones.
yes now see a good example of an obscure character from an obscure series would be say Henrietta (name the series)
Orphans.., I swear 75% of all Pcs are orphans seeking revenge for the killing and slaughter of there parents.
Let's talk Disney animated films. How many protagonists have two living parents? No biological parents: Cinderella, Snow White, Quasimodo, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Mowgli, Lilo, Stitch, Pinocchio Parent dies: Bambi, Simba Father only: Ariel, Belle, Arthur Mother only: Dumbo, Cody Not a complete list, but I think can see the trend.
you really need to count pinocchio as having a father, also bambi belongs in the father only chategory aswell, Arthur (sword in the stone) only had a gaurdian no real parents, Aladin also has a father
protagonists that actually had both parents
the darling children
aurora(sleeping beauty)
Hercules has TWO sets of parents
Mulan
so I think if I were to actually make a complete list ( I wont) of characters that have at least one parent, out of the 44 disney feature films (not counting direct to video releases, I believe it would be less than 75% orphans.
Green Tunics in general
A man who used be a dark knight but found redemtion and started a new life as a paladin.
a Knight despised by his fellow officers because he wasn't born noble, however since he is a knight he also no longer belongs among the the commoners he came from.
A woman desperatly trying to prove she is as good as the male warriors.
Ooh, ooh! What if the dark knight redeems himself by switching places with the second knight who is actually a girl? :D
yes now see a good example of an obscure character from an obscure series would be say Henrietta (name the series)
[]Gunslinger Girl[]
Pandy and Retro gogo!