Charles of Tours

[OOC]: Good stuff. I've played more of a passive role recently since you all seem to be moving the plot on your own, and (I hope) are having fun doing it. :D Sounds a bit like Mount & Blade Warband xD Also, @Mathew Steel I'm not sure if you've noticed, but your signature image isn't working properly. I can help you fix that if you'd like. :) Edit: Looks like you beat me to it, or my Chrome was on the fritz.

Ah, yes, about that ... I usually speak in an upper-class, east coast Yankee accent, but I can fake several others reasonably well. :)

Hm, I may possibly join in. I do have a lovely voice. :P

The sub-forum has been renamed. I hope this is what you wanted - it is relatively easy to fix if there was a mistake. :) ADDITION: Good luck editing all the references to "Stronghold Europe" on your website. Methinks it will take a while. :(

I'll get on it. Thanks for letting us know, @Lord Stronghold. :)

Kuilis - character approved. Expect to see a lot of mis-spellings without the accent mark. ;) I'll send you a messenge when I think it's a good time for you to join in. :)?

Glynn sighs. "Seems I got my nose broken for nothing. Yet I am still suspicious of them, as you all should be too, and of me, It seems none of us will truly know who is on the Duke's side, until he is returned safely to his castle." *** Somewhere, miles and miles away ... Two hunters sit around a campfire. They carry swords at their sides and sit on large chests. Perhaps they carry gold, weapons, armor, or something less suspicious. One, a shorter-than-average man with brutish features and dark hair, chews ferociously on a prime slice of venison on a skewer. Between bites, he raises his head and talks to his comrade, speaking in the language of the Franks. In a harsh baritone voice, he says: "My lord, I must protest your actions. No good has come with our journey to England. Brother Glynn has gone missing, and we've yet to find this Duke you speak of." The other nods, and scratches his chin. His deep brown eyes ponder the matter as they rest on the setting sun. "I suspect there is trouble in this realm. We will make our way for the castle on foot, as to not draw attention. I promised the old duke, back when he wasn't so old, that I would help his son. And now the whereabouts of that son are unknown. But I have a strange feeling that wherever Glynn is, we shall find the Duke. I do not doubt the abilities of our friend, and I suspect he will keep his guise for as long as possible, and learn the factions at work here. We must find him, or we'll have to redo his work ..." The two finish their supper and rest for their upcoming travels.

@Narrikis: Please post your application here: http://forums.stronghold-nation.com/topic/466-a-call-to-arms-character-creation/ ?The required format is in the original post. We'd be glad to have you aboard, but you may have to wait a little while.?:)

[OOC]: The plot thickens! :D?This is some serious movie-level entertainment going on. Keep it up! Chris and I are sort of cooperatively running the game and have been pulling it in some different directions but with great results. Don't worry, although the Adventurers have stumbled across multiple factions whose motives are unknown, there may be someone who can be trusted (or is it a red herring?) ;)

Glynn nods. "Indeed, our Greek friend is right. But if you must know, I didn't get captured without a struggle. Anyhow, does anyone have an idea on how to escape? I've been sitting here, thinking on it, and haven't come up with any worthwhile plan."

Welcome, @Narrikis! :D

Seems I get the same error message that EaglePrince does when I click on the "Active" posts section.

Thank you everyone! I'm glad to be part of the administrative team, and am glad that the site is back on too. :)

The man puffs slowly on his pipe before calmly answering. "My name is Glynn. I've been accused of spying, but it's a big misunderstanding you see. My master has taken a great interest in Riverbourne's condition. Do not be alarmed, he was a friend of the Duke's father, but I think it would be best if I don't give his name yet. I know who you all really are, or at least that you aren't merchants. But don't worry - even with a broken nose, I can keep a secret." He faintly smiles, then rubs his hands together, waiting for a wave of incoming questions.

From above, the adventurers (now prisoners) hear their not-quite-sober captors singing. It sounds like multiple songs at once because of how off-key most of them are, that coupled with the solid roof that muffles the noise, it is almost impossible to make out the words. Suddenly, in a pile of hay in one of the dark corners of the cell, the adventurers hear a rustling. Upon further inspection - it is the man in the straw hat! "Hullo, friends. Seems like we got ourselves in a bit of a mess, eh?" he says with a very slight Welsh accent. You can now see his face as he lights his pipe. He has sharp blue eyes that could almost be seen without a light, and an old scar covering the left side of his face. He also has a freshly broken nose that he readjusts with an "Ow!" as he stands to greet his new cellmates.

I have my ways ... xD

Thanks for uploading the video, @LordBanshee. I had trouble watching the stream because my internet was having a bad day. :( One minor complaint about the video (and the part of the stream that I was able to watch) was that the sound is very quiet. I usually keep my computer's volume between 5% and 30% depending on what I'm doing, and I have to raise my volume to 50% to hear the video. I hope I don't sound too grumpy, but it's a bit disturbing to have really loud noises happening when the video is quiet. Or maybe I just have acute hearing. :P EDIT: Is it possible to change the settings of your recording software to fix this? Or is it that your computer's sound settings are set to low?

"Thank you sir, she's a grand horse. But I'd stay clear of setting up shop here. There's already a group of merchants in town, and I don't think they'd take too kindly to competition. People are also starting to think it strange that the merchants showed up not too long after the Duke's castle was taken. I suggest you leave this matter to the good people of Riverbourne," he says. He talks slowly as if choosing his words carefully, and he keeps his hands near the pack on his horse.

I did not play because I wanted to watch on Twitch (while eating pizza :)) but my bandwidth was being eaten up and I saw very little gameplay. :(

As an update, I thought I'd say how the planned barbecue has been postponed because of weather. I will now be available at the time of the match, and I would like to try to help with the Twitch side of thing, to give feedback and to let you know if it is displaying properly. :)

Google Chrome users can simply right click on the page, and then click "translate to English" - it is not perfect, but it works. :) Also, good idea to advertise public gaming events on Heaven Games. Maybe we can draw some interest to this website from honorable behavior on the battlefield. :D

Have you tried removing the AI estates? This could be useful for another mission where the player is supposed to attack an enemy castle. I haven't really tried the SHC2 editor yet, but usually you can solve things by working backwards, one step at a time. Of course, being totally unable to remove walls kinda prevents that. :/

Pardon me, I got distracted for a few days. Silly exams. :( I finally watched the video, and I liked it a lot! Keep up the good work. :) Also, did you get a bunch of friends together to "act" it out, or did you use the editor to give the AI commands which you filmed?

Agreed, and they must. Especially after the Stronghold 3 controversy and being tied to whatever agreements with the producer / publisher (I forget which) that disabled them from fixing it completely. I still prefer SH1 and SHC out of preference, but at least SHC2 is playable and even fun, thanks to FireFly recognizing their community. We are small but mighty, and appreciate a pat on the head from time to time. :) I'm getting back into some old DOS games that I can play on my Windows 7 with DosBox. I'm surprised at how well those games run, even on an emulator! The way I see it is that game technology has advanced since then, and in most cases, frontline titles are about the same price or slightly more expensive than they were back in Ye Olden Dayes. However, the new technology should not be merely graphical, it should be mechanical (the game's functionality and playability) and more bug-free too. Sure, there are a bunch of new engines and new bugs to be worked out, but I must say this: if the fault is not that of amateur coders or lazy developers, it must be an "ethical" thing ... Let me explain before you get the torches and pitchforks. :P Every society has ethics, be it basket weavers, hunters, or knights (huzzah for chivalry!). In this case, people who make games should also play them. Playtesters and beta testers are amazing ideas, but the guy who says "this is sellable" ought to do a playthrough of the game. It sounds stupid, right? But back in the days when one guy in a garage, or a group of friends did a game, they played the heck out of it because it was a work of love. One of my favorite DOS games is Norm Koger's Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles, and you can tell the guy who made it was proud of his product, he loved it and wanted to share it with the world (and money was a good thing too!). Bethesda has grown a lot as a company, but their Elder Scrolls games (I was never into Fallout so I can't say the same there) are examples that these people still love making their games. Maybe this is enough to forgive their "lore fudging" and the Paid Mods mess (that's another issue that I actually stood with the "big men" on but I won't derail ...). I still haven't bought Rome 2 Total War because I think it was an ultimate disaster, and I'm glad I did not pre-order. The "evidence" shown before the game's release was total bologna. That I would deem unexcusable, outright lying. When someone says they are making a product which they have made money on already, I think they ought to be committed to their word, at least for honor's sake. The problem is there are so many scams are questionable activities going on, but I think once more honest developers get put in the spotlight, people will flock to them. And listening to the community is very important. If someone makes a title that people want, people will buy it. Again, FireFly did this with Crusader 2. Paradox Interactive (at least the branch that does the Grand Strategy games) is also fairly bound to their word by piling tons of expansions and patches to their games. Heck, they get lots of money from those expansions and DLC, but it's stuff that people want. It's these backhanded tactics that have made me go back to older games, and I think maybe that is a reasoning why people are drawn to older looking games that focus on gameplay more than anything. Minecraft is an example. While some nostalgia may be involved, it also shows that people are less willing to spend lots of money on an unfinished product than before, as better products (that often sell for less or the same, but can rightfully get away with higher tags) are becoming more popular. Games that actually are older usually don't get updates, and if stable in their final state can be very fun. Ultimately I think better advertising wins out. If I am looking for new books or movies or music I will look first at covers that draw me in. Commercial advertising is also a big player, with tons of trailers and teasers that gather interest. But it is always a wise move to do research. If a developer does not want any testers at all during development, something very fishy is going on. Nondisclosure agreements exist, ya know. So look at a company's history and their reliability, and for released products look at reviews, positive and negative. Real positive reviews say more than "this is cool" and real negative reviews say more than "this is horrible." Details matter a lot. Gameplay videos are the best because you can actually see if the game is something you'd like. Sorry for the wall of text, guys. A lot of this may be just common sense, but it's good to spread ideas. "Remember kids, always think twice when it comes to spending money." - Grandpa Chuck, over and out. :P

This Sunday is Mother's Day in the US, and the family is staging a barbecue so I will be unable to watch on Twitch unless it is postponed because of weather. :(