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The story of Havoc
The Handbook says Nexus is supposed to read like an
interactive novel, so I always wondered what that novel would look
like, from a powerleveler's point of view.
Old story teller (who shall remain nameless):
Gather round children, for I have come to tell a tale. Have any
of you heard of the book of Havoc?
Bothersome child with a stutter:
I've n-n-ne, I've n-n-nev, I've n-n-n, He's news ta me.
Old story teller (who shall remain nameless):
Then I shall read it to you all. *smiles* Havoc, you see, was a
power leveler, in a world known as Altin. His tale is
hardly unique, but it bears repeating none the less. Now, to begin...
Chapter 1. The Apprentice.
Havoc's player was increadibly uninventive, and thus could come
up with no better name than Havoc. Apparantly it took far too much
greater an effort for the poor fellow to make up a name, than to
simply use a catchy phrase. Wanting to do well in the game, and
more or less not caring at all about the roleplaying effects of
his stats, Havoc decided to take a hefty 25 strength to start. This
left his intelligence at a pathetic 4, but he didn't really mind,
because of course, he could just roleplaying being dumb. *coughs*
Havoc (character now), the ogre barbarian, was born in a small
village of ogres, and pretty much was just taught to kill stuff
as a kid. Goblins, wolves, sprites, and even humans, basically just
anything within his club's range, was brought swift death. Obviously
this backstory allowed young Havoc to do whatever he pleased, and
still shrug it off as 'roleplaying'. Havoc was a prodigy of sorts
on Falcion, for he fled through the place in about 5 hours. Normally
apprentices study for weeks at least before leaving Falcion (if
not months), but Havoc joined the forces of Nexus in just a day.
Now Havoc never really spoke much (once he finally gained that extra
Int by accident, forcing him into an unfamiliar talking game that
he mostly used just to complain about things oocly) beyond the words
of "Me want bash", "We go kill?", and of course
"Dis not good." Given this limited vocabulary, Havoc never
established any level of dialog while in training, and thus never
gained any respect from fellow Falcionites. Because of Havoc's success
rate, however, he did gain alot of friends..... one 'might' call
them friends anyway, though they were more like door-to-door-salesmen
type friends. *coughs*
Chapter 2. So now you're a hero?
Upon entry to the ranks of Nexus, Havoc was mostly ignored. Those
who prefered to roleplay didn't like his tier rushing attitude,
and left him out of hunts. Eventually the Nexians gave him a chance
though, and he gained a few tiers. All of a sudden, Havoc was VERY
popular. The desperate amoung Nexus were quick to beckon him into
hunts, so they could use him as a living shield against attacks,
and let him thrash the enemy to a bloody pulp. Havoc was pleased.
*The old story teller stops a moment, flipping through a great
multitude of pages*
Old story teller (who shall remain nameless):
Chapters 3 through 45 basically detail Havoc slaying 497
winterwolves, 813 bugbears, and 241 weretigers. There's a few places
where he grunts, growls, or says one of his famous three word phrases,
but that's basically it.
Chapter 46. Time to try roleplaying.
Having reached the 22nd tier of his guild in around 900 hours of
gameplay now (would have been less, but he died a couple times on
quests because, in his own words "Havoc says out of character,
"Well I was laggin, and those damn clerics didn't do their
job!"), Havoc decides to roleplay a bit. He stands around town
square, grunting at anyone who enters the room, and thinking himself
quite clever when he yells out a few time "Cry Havoc, and let
loose the dogs of war!" He doesn't fully understand the quote,
and he's not sure whether he got it right or not, but its famous,
and his name fits in it, so who cares? Then he spots his big chance
when he hears a broadcast.
### ^Insert Nexus enemy #1 here^: Your guardsmen look sleepy Nexus.
Perhaps I should wake them up? Obviously the so called 'heroes'
wouldn't mind a few mundane losses?
### Havoc: Know this you vile wretch, should you so much as lay
a finger on them, you'll have to do personal battle with me! The
city of Nexus was born of unity, and we watch out for each other.
Those guardsmen do not stand alone, for I stand with them!
A bit more bantering followed this, until finally a battle did result,
which, of course, the heroes won. A few mages died, but that's expected.
Afterwards, Havoc promptly recieved an RP penalty for speaking like
an english major, when he'd been RPing an idiot (well, 8 int now,
who could blame him?) for as long as he'd existed. Havoc fumed over
this, and held it up a divine testament that the GM's infact didn't
care about roleplaying at all. After a scathing letter to Quentin,
telling him how his tyrranical rule was 'bullshit', Havoc decided
to leave for a while.
Chapter 47. Let's try this again.
After a month or so absent, Havoc returned to Altin to try his luck
again. His pretend friends come out of the woodworks to catch up
on old times. (Well, mostly they just relayed all the stuff they'd
done while he was gone, because he never really took part in the
RP situations of the past anyway.)
The GM's (oddly not angry at him for his letters over the last
month, detailing their short comings) decide to give Havoc another
chance at roleplaying, and proclaimed him the Master of the Guard.
Chapter 48. Game Over.
After giving a few official orders under his new title, Havoc felt
he had beaten this game. Not surprisingly, he completely missed
the point of a roleplaying MUD being an ongoing interactive virtual
environment, in which title and tier are only really beneficial
if they pertain to your role in the world. Regardless, Havoc said
good bye to all his 'sort of' friends, and committed suicide.
And the moral of the story children?
Life is ironic, but no life can equal the irony of a powerleveler's.
Bothersome child with a stutter:
Wh-wh-what's th-th-that sposed'a m-m-mea.... m-m-mea.... m-m-mea...
I don't get it.
Old story teller (who shall remain nameless):
Eh? No good huh. Ok, then the moral of the story is, Powerlevelers
have boring lives (we'd assume from their complete lack of imagination),
yet that's not about to stop them from having boring virtual lives
too.
Bothersome child with a stutter:
I wann-nn-nn.... I wanna b-be ju-ju-just like H-Ha-Havoc!
Another nameless, and possibly mindless, child:
Me too! I wanna be just like Havoc!
*cheering errupts from the gathered children, as images of high
tiered glory flow into their minds*
Old story teller (who shall remain nameless):
Well I'm glad you learned nothing from this tale, for is that not
the point of a story?
--Kalron, the almost bard
Staff Comments
As of 24/08/2003, this, and all other articles authored by FireCat which are held on this site, have been released into the public domain. Please feel free to use them as such.
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