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Rejusu
2012-02-24, 10:31 AM
As the topic says. Only just today I found the story of Eric and the dread Gazebo having never heard of it before despite having been introduced to D&D close to a decade (jesus christ has it been that long) ago. Today I also found the head of Vecna. How did it take me so long to hear of these things? And does anyone else have any examples of stories it took them forever to hear?

Also it's worth noting I couldn't finish reading Eric and the Gazebo at my desk without my co-workers noticing my suppressed laughter. I had to load it up on my phone and read it in the can.

Grinner
2012-02-24, 10:56 AM
I've heard of the Head of Vecna before. I think I saw it on Wikipedia a while ago.

Jay R
2012-02-25, 05:47 PM
Those are the two I know of. It's worth remembering that the tale of the Gazebo is a tale of dysfunctional DMing. Once it became clear that the word "gazebo" doesn't communicate to the player, the DM should have described what the character sees.

...
ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.
ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. Do you know what a gazebo is? It's a wooden open-air pavilion, to provide shade. You're looking at a wooden building, not a monster.

JonRG
2012-02-25, 10:10 PM
This is a few years old, but I only read it semi-recently.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Sameo

Hiro Protagonest
2012-02-25, 10:14 PM
Those are the two I know of. It's worth remembering that the tale of the Gazebo is a tale of dysfunctional DMing. Once it became clear that the word "gazebo" doesn't communicate to the player, the DM should have described what the character sees.

...
ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.
ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. Do you know what a gazebo is? It's a wooden open-air pavilion, to provide shade. You're looking at a wooden building, not a monster.
Reminds me of this (http://www.kodtweb.com/2011/05/20/lair-of-the-gazebo-3/).

This is a few years old, but I only read it semi-recently.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Sameo

That's a good one.

Knaight
2012-02-26, 05:23 AM
Those are the two I know of. It's worth remembering that the tale of the Gazebo is a tale of dysfunctional DMing. Once it became clear that the word "gazebo" doesn't communicate to the player, the DM should have described what the character sees.


I prefer to think of it as hilarious GMing. Though it is only hilarious for everyone but the one player.

Badgerish
2012-02-26, 05:43 AM
It's a two-fold problem, BOTH the player should have requested a visual description of the gazebo, AND the GM should have provided one.

I'm a visual-descriptive GM, I give descriptions then names, if the names are known.

I long to recreate the following story myself, replacing all the standard 'rogue'/'thief' functions with a 150lbs block of lumber. Behold: the timber-rogue!
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4858.15;wap2
(Dwarven Berserker seems a good base for this in 4ed)

Knaight
2012-02-26, 05:57 AM
I'm a visual-descriptive GM, I give descriptions then names, if the names are known.

Wouldn't the term "gazebo" fit into part of the description? It's like "veranda" or "balcony" or "minaret", it's a description of broad scale structure which can then be expanded upon by other details, such as the specific structure, color, etc. Or, if it is less a part of a broader picture, it is a word mentioned in the beginning of a description to denote what is being described, before going into more specific details, at which point non-visual senses are probably going to start being critical.

Hazzardevil
2012-02-26, 06:01 AM
I hadn't heard of Tucker's Kobolds until recently, which is how an army of level 1 kobolds decimate a party of about level 10 adventurers.

erikun
2012-02-26, 08:30 AM
The Story of Noh (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Noh), for those not familiar.

Venusaur
2012-02-26, 12:33 PM
Perhaps the best Call of Cthulhu story ever is the tale of Old Man Hederson (http://forum.spiritsoffire.com/index.php?topic=3954.0)

This does have some language, so beware.

Totally Guy
2012-02-26, 01:10 PM
I tried to pull off the gazebo trick once. A player looked through a keyhole and asked what was on the other side.

"You see the back of a plated escutcheon, with cover!"

Hee hee! (http://www.willowandstone.co.uk/front-door-furniture/plain-round-polished-nickel-escutcheon.php) :smalltongue:

Dusk Eclipse
2012-02-26, 04:13 PM
Does The_Lanky_Burger's "worst D&D session ever" stories count?

Okizruin
2012-02-26, 04:59 PM
I tried to pull off the gazebo trick once. A player looked through a keyhole and asked what was on the other side.

"You see the back of a plated escutcheon, with cover!"

Hee hee! (http://www.willowandstone.co.uk/front-door-furniture/plain-round-polished-nickel-escutcheon.php) :smalltongue:

How'd that go?

Totally Guy
2012-02-26, 05:21 PM
How'd that go?

They asked what an escutcheon was.

Bigbrother87
2012-02-27, 12:04 AM
Here's the best link I could find, with a cursory search, for Tucker's Kobolds. (http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/93582/dd-tuckers-kobolds)

Here's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23784) all (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93633) three (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95189) of "That Lanky Bugger"'s worst experiences, and oh my, do they count as classic tales.

And how could this thread be complete without Silverclawshift's contributions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116836) to epic campaigns, fantastic storytelling, and the games we all hope to play.

Nightmarenny
2012-02-27, 06:06 AM
Perhaps the best Call of Cthulhu story ever is the tale of Old Man Hederson (http://forum.spiritsoffire.com/index.php?topic=3954.0)

This does have some language, so beware.

A Venture Bros reference in the first paragraph and I'm totally in.

dsmiles
2012-02-27, 04:26 PM
I hadn't heard of Tucker's Kobolds until recently, which is how an army of level 1 kobolds decimate a party of about level 10 adventurers.I hadn't heard about Tucker's Kobolds until about a year ago. BEST. ADVENTURE. EVER. EVER!!!

JonRG
2012-02-27, 07:01 PM
Old Man Henderson was great, but


The detective gets a pretty GAR death

I have no idea what this means and Google isn't helping much at all.

Badgerish
2012-02-28, 05:49 AM
GAR = hot-blooded manliness!

It's an anime reference, a search for "GAR Manliness" gets you a host of explanations, but GAR itself its too short to effectively search on.