Argaenothruzil 5e

I've been thinking a lot about different D&D settings lately and what makes them unique. Dark Sun is a post-apocalyptic setting where magic is destructive and halflings have become cannibalistic; Theros is based on Greek mythology where destiny determines your path, the gods are close to mortals and directly affect the world, and heroes adventure for glory itself; Spelljammer is basically D&D in space; Planescape jumps all over the planes of existence; Ravenloft is Gothic horror; Rokugan is Asian wuxia; I'm not really sure what Eberron is, something about noir and robots?

Anyway, with the release of Chris Metzen's Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent campaign that's literally just his own homebrew setting he made as a teenager in published form, I've thought about my own first setting I roleplayed in before I even knew about D&D: Argaenothruzil.

Heroes III Map: "The Darkening"

Every few years, I get on a Heroes of Might and Magic III kick. It's one of my favorite PC games of all time. Playing it is comfy, like the first afternoon of summer vacation in 2001. I remember being on such a kick my first year of marriage when my wife left for a couple of weeks and I had no work or school to do. I remember my entire family getting sick as a dog one February and playing the crap out of it. It's just such a great game, has beautifully nostalgic music, and an incredible map editor. A game that's easy to play but hard to master. I want the "End Campaign" music played at my funera—ahem. Anyway...

Abelhawk's Warcraft III Easter Eggs: Complete Edition

 It's been a fruitful six years since I first started my Warcraft III Easter Egg series. Since that first video went "viral" within that specific audience, I've been able to monetize my YouTube channel, assemble a fun and fulfilling community of Warcraft III enthusiasts, meet an actual Warcraft III developer and collaborate with him, and learn so much about this game that I love so much. I'm so glad I was poking around in the Warcraft III files and found these Easter eggs in the first place. The world needed to see them, and I feel blessed to be the one to be able to fill that niche.

Today, on the six-year anniversary of my first video I posted, I present to you the Complete Edition of my Warcraft III Easter eggs series. Not only does it fix the mistakes I made the first time through and have a much better voiceover for everything, it showcases several never-before-seen Easter eggs and shows a few interesting (and disappointing) changes that Warcraft III Reforged made. Enjoy!

Story: Chatter, Chatter

 As you can probably tell, I've been rooting through old document folders on my computer and sorting through all the ones I haven't posted on the blog yet. This was an experience I had in Scout Camp when I was about 15 or so, and exhibits the indifferent cruelty of youth and the carelessness of boyhood. I made this for a college writing assignment, but this experience had also led to me making an OHRRPG related to this (with Bunky as a boss and everything), which makes me realize I should really make a post about that as well sometime.

Runebook: The Advent of Thebis the Wise

 Another bit of prose that I'm surprised I never posted on here before. I can't remember where I came up with the name "Thebis the Wise," but it always had a nice ring to it. I came up with some basic ideas for a storyline that involved a fictional version of myself getting sucked into a fantasy world and transforming into Thebis the Wise, a prophesied savior of a realm called Brugixia who looked like me except older and with white or gray hair. I remember making a few comics about my Thebis persona and even some Warcraft 3 maps, but I never got too far with it. 

Moon Town: Leonard's Rescue Adventure

 I should probably write a whole post about Moon Town someday, but who knows if I'll get around to it. The short version is that it was probably the most complete Heroes of Might and Magic III map I ever made, and one very dear to my heart. The level was laid out with houses made of rock and told the story of two rivals, Daniel and Leonard. This was apparently a bit of supplemental fiction I wrote in the Moon Town universe from Leonard's point of view. It's pretty funny to see me try to fit in game mechanic references, and to fall into the same trap of talking way too much about food. No idea where the story was going, but I remember enjoying writing it all that time ago, and it may as well see the light of day now.

Poem: Coding Virelai

 Ballades are my preferred poem structure, but I found this one that I made in 2018 about the difficulty of transitioning to a coding career from an editing one. It seems especially poignant now that I've been in the coding career field for a while now and just frankly... don't like it at all.