RangerWickett
Legend
Fanfiction! Turlissa/Farazil all the way.
I know it's been over a year since the campaign sessions actually ended; dare I ask if you've started up another campaign? And is Piratecat's "Defenders of Daybreak" campaign still going? (I know he doesn't update his Story Hour any more, but I'd love to hear what Velendo's been up to.)
I'm not sure what to write here that others haven't already said a lot better than me.
I've just caught up, in the last couple of days, on about the last twenty or so installments. It was an absolute pleasure to read everything through to the epic finale of the campaign.
For the record, I would have been quite okay with the story as it "ended" in the semi-penultimate update. You had me there, for a few seconds, and a few seconds was all it took for me to move from numb disbelief to a state of zen acceptance that, ultimately, going up against a god-killer is just not the sort of thing mortals are going get away with, especially since their enemies had already been in the Underdark for so long before the heroes arrived.
It was, of course, deeply satisfying to be shown the error of my ways.
I loved the hints and implications dropped in the epilogue...just enough for the rest of us to build a little picture of what might have happened to everyone after we parted ways with them.
Like so many other people here, your game has had a deep and fundamental influence on my own DM'ing. Before reading about your game, I had a vague, aspirational fancy of what an epic narrative D&D campaign could look like, and over many years I tried (and failed, frankly) to assemble the right kind of group, and muster the appropriate level of skill to make it so. There's no longer anything vague about my views on what an epic narrative D&D campaign looks like. It's all here, in this thread.
So thanks, and all that.
Belated thanks and congratulations to Sagiro for the completion of the Story Hour, which is truly spectacular in its scope and intricacy. There are many great Story Hours on EN World, and many great authors, but only one sustained a high level of excellence for so many years and reached a satisfying conclusion: Sagiro!
Like others, I have brazely borrowed numerous ideas from Sagiro -- the Het Branoi section (my favorite) is the thematic basis for my just kicked-off campaign.
Also like others, I will happily purchase Sagiro's novels when they are published.
Thanks again for the many years of enjoyment and inspiration.