Saturday, March 27, 2010

Part 2 of Story

Act 1 Scene 2

The sky is overcast as Link walks down a worn road toward the nearest city. It had been years since he had rode a horse; things had happened that brought back bittersweet memories. Link's hand reaches down and feels the Ocarina. He pulls it up and puts it next to his mouth but stops short. He stares off into the distance.
"How did it become this way? Life used to seem so promising and everything even at it's darkest had hope. I'm glad I'm done fighting. I've lost so much."
He kicks a rock in the road and watches it bounce along the road.

Link looks with disgust at the Ocarina inches from his mouth. Throwing it back into his stachel, he continues down the road as the wind picks up, whipping his and his hair around. The air is hot with the humidity on this day . His armor captures the heat and stings his skin each time he moves. His thoughts start to flow back to his life. Navi, the fairy he once had. The Great Deku tree who sent Navi to help him. The journey they began. Zelda. Saria. Malon. It all seems so far away now. It was all so fun at the time but now it is just my job. Helping people. I used to use the Ocarina all the time to go back and fix things. The last people I fought I couldn't use it once. Then again I didn't need to. Those five crime bosses were easier than anything in the past. like Ganon."
Ganon. Link's stomach twists with the name. He had fought him and defeated him over 10 years ago, but the memories still made Link wake up in cold sweats. That was a face that was unforgetable to Link.
"Ganon made me into what I am today. I fight. I have fought for the past ten years. Everything I learned was to defeat Ganon. I've only become better. But I feel disconneted some way. I know the Tri-Force was there the first time. I just don't feel part of it anymore. I am glad he is dead. Too bad I'm still stuck with this monster."
Reaching back into his stachel he grabs the Ocarina with a crushing grip. He throws it down the road, as it lands skipping and sliding to a stop. The angry grows in his eyes, his jaw clenches shut.
"DAMN the Ocarina! I hate what it has done to me. I should have thrown it away long ago. I had to use it always. Saved Hyrule. Defeated Majora's Mask. It seems like now each time I use it a piece of me dies. The songs haunt me."
He finds that he has started to whistle Epona's song. He stops and fights back the tears. He hadn't thought about Epona for years. "She had got old and he couldn't keep putting her in danger. Epona was the one piece of home I had with me. When I left her with the farmer I could tell how sad she was. I had to fight back the tears. I wouldn't accept any money for her. She was my greatest friend after Navi."
Several leaves blows acrss the path shaking him from the thoughts. He hurries down the road. As he passes the Ocarina he scoops it up and puts in back into his satchel. The blue hue color has faded and worn here he held it a thousand times.
"Navi. There is someone who was always there to help. God. If there wasn't times to tell me to listen that weren't just really bad times. Ha. Me hanging off a ledge over a bottom less pit and she says, 'HEY! LISTEN!' I thought I was going to beat her when I got through it all. But she was with me until the day I left Hyrule. She couldn't take leaving. I wonder if she'll recognize me."
After several more miles, rain begins to fall on him. He continues to jog down the road until in the distance he can see the shoreline of the ocean in the distance. Beyond the ocean, was Hyrule. The first place he saved all those years years ago. The rain soaks him and his armor. The armor gets harder to run in as the clothes get soaked and slows the movement.
As he jogs, Epona's song comes back into his head. He whistles along as his eyes swell with tears in them.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

First Story Idea?

So I'm leaning towards the Zelda idea for several reasons. One issue is that I know how I want it to go and the character development. Another is reason is I want to work on it is I think it is a nice safe place to start.

So I'm going to try to make this work.


Act 1 Scene 1

Location: Inside a dark poorly backroom of a bar. A hall wall an armored figure walks calmly down with a shield and sword drawn. In the background laughing and rowdy noises fill the air.

When walking past a torch the light shines off the hat revealing a green long cap and a blue shield. The shield is worn and faded, whatever symbol had been there long ago has disappeared. The armor is barely audible by those in the back room. The figure stops in front of the door.A single sigh escapes his lips.He turns back to stare at the hallway he just walked through. He has dark circles under his eyes. He hasn't slept for days.
He thinks to himself, "This is the last time. I've been fighting forever.I promised myself I'd return home after this last quest is over."
He takes a deep breathe and unsheths his sword.The Master Sword has all but lost it's power and bite long ago. After a second's pause, he lifts his boot up and kicks. CRACK! the wood splinters under the force of the boot colliding with it.  The five men in there looked shocked at the figure in the door way. Each has a puzzled look on their face until they realized what the nature of the assailant is.
"Who the hell are you? Don't you think it is rude to break down another man's door especially when he has company?"

The five men pulled out their motley assortment of weapons-maces, spears and swords. The two largest men pull out large swords with and grip tightly around the hand. One flashes a quick evil smile and whispers.
"Kill him."
The five men charge the lone figure in the door. The sword and shield become a blur as he blocks and stabs each attacker. The first two fall down with their stomachs split up. The third attacker swings his mace wildly. The figure dips and dodges before rolling back and crouching into a defensive posture. The attacker lunges and revels his side to the figure. In an instant the figure slams his shield into the man's weapon hand and brings his sword into the attacker's side. The blood pours out of the wound. He clutches his side and fails over, screaming in agony.

The last two men slow inch themselves toward the assailant who has dispatched their comrades unfortunate fate.
"Be careful. He obviously isn't a common thug. He's good. He isn't an assassin thats for sure. Any assassin wouldn't  use the front door like him."
"I don't care what he is. He is a murderer."
One man swings his greatsword toward the figure who ducks and rolls. The other attacker takes a quick stab at the man. As he is exiting his roll, the blade descends upon him.Instantly he throws his head to the side, and moves his shield over his face. The blade lands with crushing  force stinging the figure's arm and making him grunting with pain.  He manages to stand up and pull out his hook shot, sending the hook into one's arm and
pulling him towards him. The man screams as the figure eviscerates him and pulls out the hook shot. The last attacker looks around at the fate of his partners. Gripping the sword's handle even tighter, the last attacker nervously glances around and last at the figure.
Not wasting another second, the assailant rushes the last man. The swords collide as the man throws his sword up last second. The figure thrown off but the quick block stumbles back. Pressing the advantage, the last man swings low aiming for the legs, only to find a shield in the way deflecting the swing. The figure pulls his sword back and crouches with his shield protecting most of his body. The two men stare at each other for a second until the man throws himself at the figure. The sword's blade slams against the shield and reviberates with pounding force. The figure throws his shield up and thrusts and swings his sword at the man. Welting under the ceaseless assault, the last man starts to step backwards. As he puts his foot down, it lands on the mace head of his former partner; slipping and losing his balance the figure takes the opportunity to throw all his weight into a cleave.
The last man slumps to the floor blood flowing freely from his head, face and chest. The figure wipes the blade off on the man's clothes and sheaths it.
"I'm going back to Hyrule now," he thinks as he steps over the corpses and into the hallway.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Story Writing Time

While at work yesterday, it being an incredibly slow day with no one being up front to talk to me, I decided I wanted write something. Creative writing is something I don't have much experience with personally so it will be an adventure for all who follow my blog. While original material is my goal, I'm going to start on something simple, similar to fan fiction. 
I have three ideas. One is to do short stories based on my D&D world with Emmilicious and Balin (Emmy's and my character respectfully) and our adventures before D&D. 
The next idea is to write out my Link game idea in more of a narrative idea. 
The last idea is based on Halo and ODST with the story being about a group landing on a unknown planet with a society being similar technologically to the U.S in the early 20th century. 
 These are the ideas I have. I think it would be fun one day to write the story for a game. I think honing my writing skills is one step to making my it a reality. 

On D&D

I have been playing D&D now for about 4 years or so. I played once when I was a lot younger with my two brothers and my father as the DM. I remember we once had to fight a werewolf and use silver weapons. I also remember that the last time we were going to play,  my father and step mother fought about chicken. Anyways. I'm still playing it.
I'm the DM which offers its own rewards and trials I have to spend a long time thinking of what characters want to do and what they MIGHT do. It is hard because most games I'm learning something new about how I want to  run the games and the rules. I haven't had another more knowledgeable person as a DM for years. This places the burden on me for each game to be a new experience for them and a learning experience for me.
 While it is true I love doing running the game; yet at the same time I like playing a character. My favorite class is the cleric. I like to play them like a tank. Currently, he is a 4th level battle cleric named Balin. Emmy plays too which makes the games more fun. She is a rogue named Emmilicious. When I write a campaign I write it with her in mind. In the current campaign, the five in the group (Kyle, Gordon, and Arthur along with Emmy's and my character) just got the Orb of Shadowfall.
  Playing a character  makes my job as the DM harder. My character has to play by the regular rules and I have to avoid giving him power. At the same time, I KNOW everything that is going to happen and how it will happen. This often results in my character being only useful in combat and in healing.So often I'm taken out of the real roleplaying experience because character via proxy knows too much.
In the next couple campaigns I hope really to give the other players more of a choice and be more open to the world for them. It has already become a large area that can be explored and flushed out. It really makes me feel as though what started years ago in the story being hired to help a captain and then the city of Market town has really grown into a world that is vivid.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Zelda Game Idea

I plan to take most of the credit for it despite John giving some input. Here is the idea: Hero of Time.

The idea is this. As we all know (assumption there), Link after defeat Ganon in Ocarina of Time leaves Hyrule. Now sometime between this and Windwaker, Ganon comes back. The Gods in response flood Hyrule. Now we are caught up on the backstory, my game idea takes place in this time.
 Link from Ocarina of Time has left to go fight other evil else where in the world. This has left Hyrule defenseless for the unexpected return of Ganon. Link was about 18ish when he defeats Ganon. Another 10 to 12 years past with him fighting evil in world. I imagine the start of the game is you take up link right as he has to fight some other evil in the world. He quickly dispatches them.
 The feeling you get is Link is tired. Years has past and he is growing weary of fighting and in some ways the Ocarina of Time. The blue color of the Ocarina has slowly diminished and worn away from years of use. Link returns to Hyrule to rest and possibly start a family and hang up his shield and return the master sword to its resting place.
Instead of the place he expects to find free and peaceful, Link discovers that Ganon has returned and quickly took control. Because Link has been gone for so long however, the Gods have begun to forsaken him. He is slowly losing his connection to the Tri-Force.He knows he must fight Ganon again however he knows this time he will need more help. He must recruit people to help him defeat Ganon. Malon is one I can think of. But you get the point.
Through the game, you'd still need to use the Ocarina to travel in time; however, it starts to be less and less time in the past. Even the Master Sword is becoming just a regular sword. He no longer can afford to wear the light tunic he has to put on heavier armor if he wants to live.
This would be a typical Zelda game with the puzzles and using the different equipment. I think though mixing and matching and combining different equipment would be a change. One large change would be the tone. Darker and Grittier. Zelda's have been light. With the title, it places enough distance between the rest of the franchise not to tarnish the image. However, it would be a story about Link and in some extent Zelda.
The end (cause you need to think where you start and how you get there and where there is) would give the games a much needed emotional connection. Link by the time he got to fight Ganon now is just an ordinary man. He no longer is that piece of the Tri Force.The Ocarina of Time, is just an ocarina. He knows that even without the Tri Force, the master sword, that those he picked up along the way will help him. What better way to end the game then have them all fight Ganon and his army and watch all they all fall until it is just Link and Ganon, one on one.
They'd fight. And at the very end both are one strike from victory. However, Ganon is the one who gets that last hit in. Link dies. It is at this time that the Gods know they can flood Hyrule to stop Ganon until a new hero can come along.

That is my idea. Give some feedback if you care to.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

First post to mark the occasion of Day Light Savings

Today was daylight savings. Not the good one. The bad one. Spring forward.I dislike it because it makes you sleep in an hour later to compensate for the fact you had to jump ahead an hour. I'm glad they do it on a weekend cause damn it would fuck up the schedule so much on a weekday. Cell phones and computers do make the switch easier though.
 I do enjoy daylight savings for simple things like how much more time it gives me with the sun. I hate winter because the sun is like, "WHOA EARTH! Your axis is making me spend less time in the north so they receive less direct rays!"
I'm not down with that. Summer makes makes me happier with the amount of sun and the amount of time I get to spend with Emmy. I think one of the biggest reasons I wanted to be a teacher is fear of working during the summers. Partially absurd on my part, partially a smart move, I can't imagine working when the sun is out and its nice.
Happy Day light savings Everyone. Thanks to Emmy for the wonderful picture up top!