Dran

Any D&D players in here?

I originally picked the game up a few years ago with 3e. But struggled to ever actually play because my friends would say, "Let's play D&D!" and then get bored during the often-tedious phase of setting up and explaining to everyone how to roll their characters.
But I've recently picked up some 4e gear and have started to get back into the game.

So any players out there? Or any body looking to get into the game but don't know how?
And, of course, it'd be great if some DMs gave a little advice on running campaigns, and how they keep the setting interesting.

Also; Neverwinter is gonna be awesome.

I was looking through some of the old pics on my photobucket account, and came across some old Sigs I'd made.

They are mostly rubbish, but I kind of felt like dumping them in one place, just so I can see how my skills have improved over time - if at all.

Starting with the oldest ones I still have, up to the newest.
(This actually misses out some of my earliest stuff, which have long since been deleted and lost to time and space.)


Supposed to resemble a dogtag. With Yurina's name, DOB, group, and bloodtype. Perhaps went a little overboard with the blue.


Very simple image. Iida gazing off into space, with the very famous quote by Eleanor Roosevelt dreamily hovering beside.


I honestly have no idea what I was trying to achieve here. Probably was experimenting with different backgrounds and colour balance settings.


I seem to have a bit of a tendency to print poetry or quotations in my sigs. The awful poetry there is my own.


I had the idea of creating a sig which looked like a cloud. Crazy I know. Love the edges, but the background could use a little work.


My current sig, which everyone who knows me will recognise. Really... It's the only one I've ever made that I actually felt proud of - probably why I've used it for so long.


An avatar I created to match the sig. It's okay, but I didn't use it for very long before switching back to the Church of Maasa symbol you see as my current avatar.


My most recent. I've grown very much in love with the use of transparency.


Anyway. Thanks for your time. Any feedback or tips you guys may or may not have is much appreciated. Anyone who feels like trolling and telling me that I'm awful at this are also welcome.

Chapter List

• 
  
• Rural Nights
  
  • Chapter I
  • Chapter II
  • Chapter III
  • Chapter IV
  • Chapter V
  • Chapter VI
  • Chapter VII
  • Chapter VIII
  • Chapter IX
  • Chapter X
  • Chapter XI
  • Chapter XII
  • Chapter XIII
  • Chapter XIV
  
  
  
• Aeolis
  
  • Prologue
  • Chapter I
  • Chapter II
  • Chapter III
  • Chapter IV
• One Shots
  
  • Raindrops

This was posted on the Musume-Central forums last week, but I haven't had a high-enough post count to be able to create this thread here til just now. But here it is. My first (on H!O) fanfic.

First off, I'd like to say that this will be a Berryz Koubou fanfic. Other than, perhaps, the occasional reference there will be no other Hello!Project members in this story.

Now I thought I'd try something a little different when I wrote this. I had originally intended to do a romance story. But quickly decided to try something a little less cliché. So this is my attempt at a thriller story. I have never actually read one before. So I have no idea what the norms of the genre are, this will be entirely from my own mind and written as I imagine it.

So, without further ado. Here is the first chapter of Rural Nights.

* * * * *

The whole bus shakes, throwing the unsuspecting girls to the side, as it drives over a hole in the old road. A cry rings out from the front of the bus where Momoko happened to be sitting, as she grabs her head and starts applying pressure to the bruise caused by the window. The others laugh and make fun of her; while Chinami, who happened to be sitting beside her, makes sure she’s okay.

The girls are being taken to a rural village for several days, where they will be filming a TV Special about being in the country and how different it is to the city life that they have grown accustomed to. They are all quite excited about the trip, as it isn’t the kind of work they get to do very often. Miyabi and Risako sit staring out of the window. There is very little green in Tokyo, so they both take the time to admire the nature view. Saki sat behind Momoko and Chinami in her own world, listening to loud music with her headphones in her ears. Maasa and Yurina, however, sit at the back of the bus chatting away about the kinds of things they’ll hopefully get to do at the village.

“Summer in the countryside… It would be perfect with some fireworks at night, right?” says Maasa in a loud voice.
“Yeah!’ Yurina says. “And to gaze up at the stars! I’ve always wanted to do that!”

The others hear their conversation and turn around, they all start giving their own ideas about what they should do over the next week.

No sooner, however, had their conversation started when the bus pulled to a stop. The road ended here, and they would have to walk the other 10 minutes to get to the travel lodge they’d be staying at. Everyone grabs their bags and gets off the bus and they begin making their way to the top of the village, the camera crew walk in front of the girls, filming them as they walk and adjust to the environment they are in. They walk past several houses and wave to the locals sitting outside, catching a bit of peace in the sun on their day off. “Good Morning!” echoes out every few minutes as the girls greet another person.


The girls enter the building, no-one lives here, but it has been well looked-after. Chinami slides the wooden door along and reveals the main room which, unlike the rest of building, has a very modern feel to it. In fact, the village isn’t very modern at all, most of the houses – this one included, don’t have electricity. The camera man peers into the room and has a quick look around. In the middle of the small room there is a table which is situated in front of a couch. Chinami immediately makes for the couch and throws herself on it. “Wow! It’s so comfortable!”

Across the back of the room, there is a large bookshelf with many books and ornamental objects sitting there. On the top shelf sat a vase, nothing in it, and relatively plain, but for some reason it felt out of place; like it shouldn’t be there. The other girls disappeared off to look through the rest of the building, leaving Chinami in the main room alone. She decides to have a look around the room, and moves towards the bookshelf, reading titles off the spines. Nothing interesting. However, she came to the place where the vase was, and after looking at it for a few moments, she felt a strongly compelling urge to touch it, which she didn’t understand. None the less, her hand reached out, and moved towards the gleaming surface of the vase and as her fingers met the cold surface, which for some reason felt rather sticky, though no essence of anything was present on its pristine body, there was a loud crash.

Chinami jumped at the sound and her nail scratched the vase. She quickly turned around to see what the noise was. There was a lot of noise coming from outside, it sounded like the other girls laughing. She stepped out of the room and looked up and noticed Risako sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She asks, “What happened?”

“You didn’t see?” Miyabi says, laughing, as she comes down the stairs, “She just fell. We were coming back down after checking out our rooms and she just dropped.”
“Ehh? Are you all right, Risako?”

Risako nods her head, but doesn’t really say anything. Chinami notices this and lifts her up, taking her back to the main room and sits her down on the couch. Risako looked very scared, and after about five minutes of the others calming down from the laughter and comforting her, she reveals a disturbing and terrifying truth. “It felt like I was pushed by someone…”

* * * * *

To be continued...