Profile for The Creator
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | The Creator |
| Member number | 112 |
| Title | BoE Posse |
| Postcount | 1423 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Article - Filler in Blades of Avernum | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Tuesday, April 20 2004 17:23
Profile
I define filler as a quest/mission that is mandatory to go through but unrelated to the plot or central concept. It's completely fine to have non-essential things that are unrelated, like NPCs, side quests and whatnot. Usually this is a good thing. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Items: Balance and Cool Stuff in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Tuesday, April 20 2004 00:56
Profile
Sounds kinda like that bit in The Forsaken. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Items: Balance and Cool Stuff in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Tuesday, April 20 2004 00:56
Profile
Sounds kinda like that bit in The Forsaken. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| What articles would you like to see? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 17:18
Profile
As you've all probably noticed, Drakefyre and I are locked in an article war. I'm one ahead of him at the moment. :cool: But hey, while we're churning them out, we might as well help out as much as possible. If there's some aspect of design you'd like to see illuminated, post here and one of us will be onto it and typing up an article before you can say "pack of ravenous wolves". Also, it might be interesting to see what everyone's favourite articles are so far. :) -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| What articles would you like to see? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 17:18
Profile
As you've all probably noticed, Drakefyre and I are locked in an article war. I'm one ahead of him at the moment. :cool: But hey, while we're churning them out, we might as well help out as much as possible. If there's some aspect of design you'd like to see illuminated, post here and one of us will be onto it and typing up an article before you can say "pack of ravenous wolves". Also, it might be interesting to see what everyone's favourite articles are so far. :) -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Don't Draw Focus! in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 16:51
Profile
Got a killer idea for a scenario? One of those ones that sets the imagination churning? One that makes people unable to wait to play it? Great! Now, don't mess it up. The most obvious way to get it wrong is to fail to deliver what's promised. A Small Rebellion is a very good scenario - we get promised a dilemma, and that's exactly what we get. There is no clear "right choice". Every character we meet makes us lean one way or the other, and so does every event we take part in. Right up to the point where we are forced to choose, we may not have decided where our loyalties lie. That's a dilemma, and that makes for a great scenario. Compare this to The Za-Khazi Run. It's a great concept - Rush to deliver aid to a besieged fort before it's too late. However, that isn't what we get when we play the scenario. We expect to hurry (after all, the word Run is in the title) - and the scenario forces us to wander and explore. We expect a scenario about saving a beseiged fort - and we get a scenario about wheeling and dealing with sliths, liches and dragons. The only times we think about our actual mission and the cargo we carry are at the very start of the scenario and at the very end. The rest of the scenario could be lifted out and placed in the middle of Avernum 1 and no one would know the difference. This is somewhat related to my article on Filler, by the way. Because as it stands, Za-Khazi Run is mostly made of filler. What would I do if I was making Za-Khazi Run? I would stop drawing focus and go back to that exciting concept. Forget all the distracting subplots with giants and unicorns, I'd make our core story - the run to Fort Cavalier - the star of the scenario. I would force the player to think at every turn "How do I save Fort Cavalier?" instead of making him think "How do I cut a deal with Morog?". First off, the scenario should be shorter. It's just too big to maintain the kind of intensity that it needs to work properly. Secondly, I'd give the party a few companions. These guys can constantly remind you of your mission and give an opportunity for division within the group. Finally, I'd make that time limit much tighter - if you're gonna make me run, make me RUN! The conflicts should remind us of the main story, not distract us from it. Say there's a big bunch of giants blocking our way. We can't beat them in open combat. Our companions speak up. We could try to find a way around them... but that will waste time. Or we could use some of the wands to smash through them... but they need these wands at Cavalier. You have to decide, which is the best way to save the Fort? Further on, there are some people in trouble. You're in a hurry. Do you leave them to die and save the Fort, or rescue them and risk letting many more die? Then, maybe one of your companions thinks you're not going fast enough, and that one person alone could get there much faster. You refuse, and he steals the wands and runs ahead. But then he gets killed and the wands are taken. You have to find them again before it's too late! That is a scenario that I would want to play - a scenario with an exciting premise and that doesn't draw focus from that premise. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Don't Draw Focus! in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 16:51
Profile
Got a killer idea for a scenario? One of those ones that sets the imagination churning? One that makes people unable to wait to play it? Great! Now, don't mess it up. The most obvious way to get it wrong is to fail to deliver what's promised. A Small Rebellion is a very good scenario - we get promised a dilemma, and that's exactly what we get. There is no clear "right choice". Every character we meet makes us lean one way or the other, and so does every event we take part in. Right up to the point where we are forced to choose, we may not have decided where our loyalties lie. That's a dilemma, and that makes for a great scenario. Compare this to The Za-Khazi Run. It's a great concept - Rush to deliver aid to a besieged fort before it's too late. However, that isn't what we get when we play the scenario. We expect to hurry (after all, the word Run is in the title) - and the scenario forces us to wander and explore. We expect a scenario about saving a beseiged fort - and we get a scenario about wheeling and dealing with sliths, liches and dragons. The only times we think about our actual mission and the cargo we carry are at the very start of the scenario and at the very end. The rest of the scenario could be lifted out and placed in the middle of Avernum 1 and no one would know the difference. This is somewhat related to my article on Filler, by the way. Because as it stands, Za-Khazi Run is mostly made of filler. What would I do if I was making Za-Khazi Run? I would stop drawing focus and go back to that exciting concept. Forget all the distracting subplots with giants and unicorns, I'd make our core story - the run to Fort Cavalier - the star of the scenario. I would force the player to think at every turn "How do I save Fort Cavalier?" instead of making him think "How do I cut a deal with Morog?". First off, the scenario should be shorter. It's just too big to maintain the kind of intensity that it needs to work properly. Secondly, I'd give the party a few companions. These guys can constantly remind you of your mission and give an opportunity for division within the group. Finally, I'd make that time limit much tighter - if you're gonna make me run, make me RUN! The conflicts should remind us of the main story, not distract us from it. Say there's a big bunch of giants blocking our way. We can't beat them in open combat. Our companions speak up. We could try to find a way around them... but that will waste time. Or we could use some of the wands to smash through them... but they need these wands at Cavalier. You have to decide, which is the best way to save the Fort? Further on, there are some people in trouble. You're in a hurry. Do you leave them to die and save the Fort, or rescue them and risk letting many more die? Then, maybe one of your companions thinks you're not going fast enough, and that one person alone could get there much faster. You refuse, and he steals the wands and runs ahead. But then he gets killed and the wands are taken. You have to find them again before it's too late! That is a scenario that I would want to play - a scenario with an exciting premise and that doesn't draw focus from that premise. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Filler in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 15:55
Profile
A couple of things I want to establish right now. 1. Sometimes, a designer adds in some sort of mandatory dungeon or quest that doesn't really have anything to do with the storyline and only exists to make the scenario longer. This is called filler, and this is bad. 2. It's not THAT bad. Sure, try to avoid it, but it's not the biggest crime you can commit by a long shot. Bizarrely, it's short scenarios that tend to suffer most from filler. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it's because they don't have enough story. Probably the best example is the Blades of Exile scenario "Burned to the Ground". The basic plot: A logging town is burned down by vengeful forest spirits. Your party comes along to solve the problem. How do you do that? Through one fairly interesting fight with the forest spirits. But as he planned that, I'm sure it struck Wes Lewis (the designer) that this would make for a VERY short and unsatisfying scenario. Nice concept, but how to make it longer? Well, why not throw in a goblin dungeon? And a werewolf subplot? And you have to beat the goblins before you can deal with the werewolf, and you can only take on the forest spirits after you've killed the werewolf - for no reason at all. Now, Burned to the Ground is better than it would have been if it had just had the fight with the forest spirits, and it's still an okay scenario despite being comprised almost entirely of filler - but it's not as good as it could have been. So, what do you do if you NEED to make your scenario longer and don't want to choke it up with filler? I recommend making your villain active. Why have him sit around waiting for your party to come and beat him up? Give him something to do, and automatically your party will have something to do as a reaction to that. These forest spirits burn down the town before you even get there - and then do nothing at all while you go through a bunch of hoops so you can find them and fight them. Why can't they make the trees come alive and attack the town, for example? After you've helped fend them off, you get told to go back to Fort Ganrick and get help - but trees grow up and block the exit. You're trapped. And when you come face to face with the forest spirits, does it have to end there? Perhaps you defeat them, and march off proudly to collect your reward - only to find that the refugees are under attack again. It didn't work. So you have to come to their rescue, and then find the bush that these spirits draw their strength from and destroy it. Now, that is a scenario that would be about the same length as Burned to the Ground, but every mission is related to the central concept and to the main plot. I think that would be a much better scenario. But sometimes you need filler for reasons other than length. Sometimes - rarely, but sometimes - you may find yourself needing it for dramatic purposes. When I made Deadly Goblins, I wanted to spend time building up the menace of the goblins before the party actually encountered them. To do that, I had to make it so the first mission actually had very little to do with the goblins themselves. So I had them go to a hermit wizard who could find the goblins' hideout with his magic. So, yeah, that's filler. I could have made it that everyone already knew where the cave was, but I wanted there to be some expectation for when the goblins actually come into it. But instead of just throwing up something to delay the party for a while, I made sure it was the most entertaining piece of filler I could make. I made this old hermit have a paranoid fear of mushrooms. He has a bunch of traps and barriers to stop any mushrooms from coming to kill him that you have to get past. He has a mushroom torture chamber in the back, and if you search his bookshelves you can find children's books. Because this part of the scenario was connected somewhat loosely to the rest of the scenario, I could do nearly anything I wanted with it. I don't think it's a coincidence that this is the most enjoyable part of the scenario for many people. So there you have it. If you need more length, create more story by giving your villains actions, and if you absolutely need some sort of pause in the story, make it fun and no one will notice. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Filler in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 15:55
Profile
A couple of things I want to establish right now. 1. Sometimes, a designer adds in some sort of mandatory dungeon or quest that doesn't really have anything to do with the storyline and only exists to make the scenario longer. This is called filler, and this is bad. 2. It's not THAT bad. Sure, try to avoid it, but it's not the biggest crime you can commit by a long shot. Bizarrely, it's short scenarios that tend to suffer most from filler. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it's because they don't have enough story. Probably the best example is the Blades of Exile scenario "Burned to the Ground". The basic plot: A logging town is burned down by vengeful forest spirits. Your party comes along to solve the problem. How do you do that? Through one fairly interesting fight with the forest spirits. But as he planned that, I'm sure it struck Wes Lewis (the designer) that this would make for a VERY short and unsatisfying scenario. Nice concept, but how to make it longer? Well, why not throw in a goblin dungeon? And a werewolf subplot? And you have to beat the goblins before you can deal with the werewolf, and you can only take on the forest spirits after you've killed the werewolf - for no reason at all. Now, Burned to the Ground is better than it would have been if it had just had the fight with the forest spirits, and it's still an okay scenario despite being comprised almost entirely of filler - but it's not as good as it could have been. So, what do you do if you NEED to make your scenario longer and don't want to choke it up with filler? I recommend making your villain active. Why have him sit around waiting for your party to come and beat him up? Give him something to do, and automatically your party will have something to do as a reaction to that. These forest spirits burn down the town before you even get there - and then do nothing at all while you go through a bunch of hoops so you can find them and fight them. Why can't they make the trees come alive and attack the town, for example? After you've helped fend them off, you get told to go back to Fort Ganrick and get help - but trees grow up and block the exit. You're trapped. And when you come face to face with the forest spirits, does it have to end there? Perhaps you defeat them, and march off proudly to collect your reward - only to find that the refugees are under attack again. It didn't work. So you have to come to their rescue, and then find the bush that these spirits draw their strength from and destroy it. Now, that is a scenario that would be about the same length as Burned to the Ground, but every mission is related to the central concept and to the main plot. I think that would be a much better scenario. But sometimes you need filler for reasons other than length. Sometimes - rarely, but sometimes - you may find yourself needing it for dramatic purposes. When I made Deadly Goblins, I wanted to spend time building up the menace of the goblins before the party actually encountered them. To do that, I had to make it so the first mission actually had very little to do with the goblins themselves. So I had them go to a hermit wizard who could find the goblins' hideout with his magic. So, yeah, that's filler. I could have made it that everyone already knew where the cave was, but I wanted there to be some expectation for when the goblins actually come into it. But instead of just throwing up something to delay the party for a while, I made sure it was the most entertaining piece of filler I could make. I made this old hermit have a paranoid fear of mushrooms. He has a bunch of traps and barriers to stop any mushrooms from coming to kill him that you have to get past. He has a mushroom torture chamber in the back, and if you search his bookshelves you can find children's books. Because this part of the scenario was connected somewhat loosely to the rest of the scenario, I could do nearly anything I wanted with it. I don't think it's a coincidence that this is the most enjoyable part of the scenario for many people. So there you have it. If you need more length, create more story by giving your villains actions, and if you absolutely need some sort of pause in the story, make it fun and no one will notice. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| How do you make YOUR Scenarios? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 13:58
Profile
I design my scenarios one sequence at a time, and then just link those sequences together. I think the farmhouse was the first thing I did in Deadly Goblins. Revenge was a fun experience - loads and loads of individual bits, and I had little idea how well they were going to work together. Then I linked it all up, played through the bug-infested alpha version, and had a blast. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| How do you make YOUR Scenarios? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Monday, April 19 2004 13:58
Profile
I design my scenarios one sequence at a time, and then just link those sequences together. I think the farmhouse was the first thing I did in Deadly Goblins. Revenge was a fun experience - loads and loads of individual bits, and I had little idea how well they were going to work together. Then I linked it all up, played through the bug-infested alpha version, and had a blast. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Roses of Reckoning (BoA) is Released! in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Monday, April 19 2004 02:15
Profile
I'm sure it would be quite good for a first attempt, but in actual fact this is the author's eighteenth scenario. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Realism in Blades of Avernum | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Saturday, April 17 2004 20:04
Profile
Absolutely. It's so much better than going up to a guy and saying "Name. Job. Mission. Reward." -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Items: Balance and Cool Stuff in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Saturday, April 17 2004 19:30
Profile
Really low damage, but it slays priests. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Items: Balance and Cool Stuff in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Saturday, April 17 2004 19:30
Profile
Really low damage, but it slays priests. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| You dont have to read this Because It's just me being an Idiot in Blades of Avernum | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Saturday, April 17 2004 19:13
Profile
Agreed, Imban. Very agreed. I support Brisbane, as I used to live in Queensland. And they're way more than a semi-decent team. But even the best drop a game here and there, and it can be tough to win at the House of Pain. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Items: Balance and Cool Stuff in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Saturday, April 17 2004 19:08
Profile
I like the Stick of Earthly Pleasure from Nature of Evil. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Article - Items: Balance and Cool Stuff in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Saturday, April 17 2004 19:08
Profile
I like the Stick of Earthly Pleasure from Nature of Evil. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| You dont have to read this Because It's just me being an Idiot in Blades of Avernum | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Saturday, April 17 2004 05:54
Profile
Yeah, they put up a good fight tonight, though. Still, St. Kilda are just too good. Can't wait for them to play Brisbane. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Roses of Reckoning (BoA) is Released! in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Saturday, April 17 2004 05:13
Profile
Oh, I dunno. Teh Grich could probably be ported without a lot of trouble. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| You dont have to read this Because It's just me being an Idiot in Blades of Avernum | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Saturday, April 17 2004 03:54
Profile
99% of Australia IS outback with kangaroos and koalas and all that "stereotypical crap". It's just that only 5% (or something like that) of people live out there. But yeah, I wouldn't trust TV for anything. Oh and by the way if you're not Australian you shouldn't judge our country by what you see lemmy post. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| You dont have to read this Because It's just me being an Idiot in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Friday, April 16 2004 23:03
Profile
If you really want to get at him, ask how his footy team is going. :D -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| You dont have to read this Because It's just me being an Idiot in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Friday, April 16 2004 22:22
Profile
Victorian. That explains everything. "Gunna" is an incorrect spelling of the slang "Gonna" (if slang can be said to have a correct spelling), while "your" should most definitely have been spelled "you're" in that instance. Furthermore, spelling is but one component of intelligible text. Grammar and punctuation are also important, and I'm willing to bet you didn't get in the top 3% for that. Sorry, but if you're going to brag, you have to expect to get shot down. :P -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Sissy teleporting punks in Blades of Avernum | |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Friday, April 16 2004 05:44
Profile
SPARES One of three parodies I've written of BoE scenarios to date. You really do need to play Spears first to fully appreciate it, though. -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
| Sissy teleporting punks in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BoE Posse
Member # 112
|
written Friday, April 16 2004 04:59
Profile
I believe I mentioned that list in my parody of Spears. :P -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |