Eirik's Saga

[Guest Guest]

Is this too much for you? If it's not clear that his men were following, then I need to revise that paragraph.

I think this is what is too much:

In all they slew near upon a hundred, and took immense booty, and he returned in the spring after doing this. While Brander, it is said, spent a long time in warfare and raiding, and had great success.

Apart from the slaying of a hundred (despite your math - the leader *always* slays far more than the grunts ), they take "immense booty" which also gives XP. The returning in the spring part is a bit vague - return where to do what? If it's more raiding and plundering, then that's also more XP. And Branwen spending a "long time" in warfare and raiding and having "great success" on top of that really is too much to justify her starting XP.

 

I'm not sure what berelinde's talking about what with starting NPCs gaining tens of thousands of XPs immediately. Unless it's outright cheating, which, apart from being cheating, doesn't work with the story either.

 

Bottom line is, you don't need either of them to slay hundreds when just a few, or even a single decently fleshed-out enemy NPC would do.

[berelinde]

Hey, Miloch, I'm going to start getting confused between you and Eirik, our mysterious guests.

 

I give them tens of thousands of xp through cheating. I'm not ashamed of this.

 

J&K should be something like 5th or 6th level to have done what they claim to have done, and I figure that no one would send a 1st level paladin to chase bandits or a 1st level enchanter to investigate the iron crisis, moonblade or not. Nobody says that anyone else need do this.

[EiriktheScald]

No to mention, that travelling by sea, then down the coast (which is riddled with bandits) to finally meet the PC would require a level of endurance. You wouldn't get this by staying in the confines of a village.

[Miloch]

This is BG1 we're talking about, right? Or did I stumble across a BG2 or maybe even a Duke Nukem forum by mistake?

 

I'd have to agree with "Guest" ():

Bottom line is, you don't need either of them to slay hundreds when just a few, or even a single decently fleshed-out enemy NPC would do.

[EiriktheScald]

I think this is what is too much:

In all they slew near upon a hundred, and took immense booty, and he returned in the spring after doing this. While Brander, it is said, spent a long time in warfare and raiding, and had great success.

Apart from the slaying of a hundred (despite your math - the leader *always* slays far more than the grunts ), they take "immense booty" which also gives XP.

Don't forget, he's in the service of the king; who gets the larger share of the spoils?

 

The returning in the spring part is a bit vague - return where to do what?

He returns to Oman, to report to the king on his travels.

 

And Branwen spending a "long time" in warfare and raiding and having "great success" on top of that really is too much to justify her starting XP.

All sagas embellish, I think you're taking this way to serious. The point is, she continues in this guise; it can't last.

 

Bottom line is, you don't need either of them to slay hundreds when just a few, or even a single decently fleshed-out enemy NPC would do.

That wouldn't be worth telling then, would it?

[Miloch]

Don't forget, he's in the service of the king; who gets the larger share of the spoils?

It's the taking that gives the XP, not the eventual distribution.

Bottom line is, you don't need either of them to slay hundreds when just a few, or even a single decently fleshed-out enemy NPC would do.

That wouldn't be worth telling then, would it?

To me, it would be a far more interesting story than just "they slew hundreds" or "raided and fought many battles" type of statement. This is even true in epics - consider how more interesting are the one-on-one combats with Grendel or his mother in Beowulf rather than Beowulf's backstory of how he vaguely slaughtered legions.

[berelinde]

A young warrior would be more impressed by hundreds.

[Miloch]

Then why do all the great epics usually have single, fearsome adversaries, rather than vague hundreds? There weren't a hundred Grendels, unless you've watched some cheesy spinoff of Beowulf on the SciFi channel.

[Guest Guest]

To me, it would be a far more interesting story than just "they slew hundreds" or "raided and fought many battles" type of statement.

And it would give you more material to dissect and hash out, no doubt. How much time does the writer spend on beowulf's

 

This is even true in epics - consider how more interesting are the one-on-one combats with Grendel or his mother in Beowulf rather than Beowulf's backstory of how he vaguely slaughtered legions.

Doesn't this help my argument. This should be a summary, the more interesting developements occur in the game.

[EiriktheScald]

It seems were both posting anon... Ah well, this doesn't bode well. If all we have to talk about is whether Tempus is Tempus/Tempos or what the character can/cannot do based on XP, then the story has failed it's purpose; and I've wasted my time.

[Miloch]

You can, of course, develop your NPC's story however you like. I was just offering feedback, which you seemed to be looking for in this thread. Though if you're already adamant on what you want for your story, I don't know why you're looking for feedback.

[EiriktheScald]

I must admit to being jaded by the feedback I've received. In my mind, there's no point in developing a story that doesn't resonate with others. Which is the main point I've gleaned from this.

[berelinde]

Do not be discouraged.

 

I still want to read about Eirik, and if this is helping you get into the habit of writing like Eirik talks, then it is serving a purpose beyond merely chronicling a history.

 

My point is that the only person who needs to like what he reads is you.

 

Who cares if he slew one powerful enemy, or a hundred lesser ones, singlehandedly, if he sounds good doing it?

 

Hey, the game has room for romanceable siblings, good drow, a 15 year old romanceable Chosen of Tyr, yet another good drow(romanceable) who likes to dance way too much, a sorcerer with identity issues, a cleric of Lathander with confidence issues, a depressed elf, yet another depressed elf (but this one's an archer, and I don't know if grief is the same as depression), an 6' 6" elven necromancer, and a red-haired monk from Kara Tur. It has room for a skald with an exceptionally long resume.

[Miloch]

Well I did say it looked good early on (and I think I was pretty much the only one in the thread who did). Once that's established, what else is there to do besides quibble over the mundane details? Unless of course, all you want to hear is "Nicely done, lad, that's smashing, carry on, etc." Personally I've never found that sort of feedback too useful, but that's me.

 

It also depends on how you plan to use this background in the game. It's obviously too long to stuff it all in the bio. So I could totally see Eirik lying, pardon me, using skaldic embellishment to tell some of this tale. But an intelligent PC should have a dialogue option to call him out on his claim of singlehandedly slaughtering dozens of pirate kings, or whatever it is. Whether he did actually do as he claims becomes a bit irrelevant at that point - it's the interaction that counts.

 

Hey, the game has room for romanceable siblings, good drow, a 15 year old romanceable Chosen of Tyr, yet another good drow(romanceable) who likes to dance way too much...

No, it doesn't . But again, maybe this is BG2 (also known as Duke Nukem to some modders) you're talking about. BG1 might have room for some of the other characters you mention, and I can live with Drizzt the Cheesehead or a lookalike - as long as I can kill him . But the pedophilia and incest we can do without.

[berelinde]

Just as well, I think Eirik the Modder is planning to leave those parts out. In BG1, Sarevok is still your nemesis, and the only paladin in the game is Ajantis, and he just doesn't look very good in a bustier (but Xzar's too polite to comment on it, thank heavens). Garrick spouts poetry from time to time, but at least he doesn't dance.

 

As for Duke Nukem, I haven't seen him lately, or at least not since play-testing/alpha-testing/modding replaced playing for idle pleasure *sigh*.

 

All things considered, a bard with a suitable sense of presentation is probably the furthest thing from a charicature I can think of in 5 seconds or less.

 

Anyway, I apologize to Eirik the Modder, because my brain has been off on a massive tangent, lately.