Storytelling by the fire - Gunnar's Hold

A rousing success this tale, Gunnarsljoth! I told it three times this night, under the watchful eye of Tyr. I could not handle so many invites!

"Great story, bard!" One patron by the fire said.

"Wow, awesome!" Said another.

I will tell this tale of Gunnar's early years again tomorrow (Sunday) randomly throughout the day, then formally at 7pm, 7:30pm, and 8pm Pacific Time. Come, bend a knee with me by the fire and revel in the glory of the Norn!
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The Bears Albescent

My audience demanded it and so it was written, er, spoken!

I will be telling Gunnarsljoth! at 5:30 and 7pm tonight Pacific time. But at 7:30 and 8pm, I will be telling a new tale I learned from Tyr the Skaald, Siftyr!. I will story-tell an encore at 9pm, and the audience may vote on which they want to hear.

Gunnarsljoth!: Hear the tale of two implacable Norn from days long ago, one of them is Gunnar Poundfist himself! Who will best the other in this tale of vicious insults and sharper weapons?

Siftyr!: Why did Sif Shadowhunter refuse to build a hearthstead upon the bodies of Norn? What lurks in her past? How is Gunnar involved, and why is Magni called The Bison?

All tonight around the fire at Gunnar's Hold, American Districts. Look for updates here on GWG, here too, and the party window. PM in GW for an invite!

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I just learned Nifling Angtyr! It is a fine tale of a daughters plan to save her father's ghost from himself and the weapon that spelled his doom! That makes three good tales of the Norn.

I updated the primary post to be most up-to-date and will always update it for the ease of the reader.

Sorry Friar to have missed you. My group of eight was already filled. But there will be other tales, other days. My website contains all the current info. And I always try to accomodate special requests for a particular time that may work for those folks - just send me a PM here or in-game!

Some folks have asked why I don't just tell these grand tales in the local channel. I can appreciate that it would garner a larger audience, but for one important subjective aspect - I think it would be rude to spam the local channel with a 10 minute story. Of course, the other reasons not to do it include the hardship for reading the story being told with all the local chatter interruption, and that fact that local channels have an extensive text filter - a 10 minute story would take 1/2 hour since you can't excessively spam in local.

So, I must stick with groups of eight, which is fine. Keeps it more intimate and concise.

See you around the fire!

I have updated the primary post with two more stories I tell.

i'm deffinatly going to try and show up for one of your stories

I just updated the primary post again. Added some excerpts so you know what I mean by "grand tales of the Norn!", and added another tale to the roster too of course.

Be warned through - it seems some of the less . . . mature folks in local chat have this thing about bashing anyone who may use the words 'role-play' or (gasp) storytelling! Just an FYI - it happens to me quite a bit, and nothing the ignore function doesn't take care of, but let me tell you about hypocrisy.

"Storytime? What are we three again?"
"Stories? How lame/gay/insert random insult here."

I’m surprised at the hypocrisy of their questions and insults. Everyone is a storyteller, so they confuse me.
What? Everyone? You bet! Didn’t you just yesterday tell a co-worker or fellow student about a movie or game or talk about one of your other friends and what they did? Maybe you just watched a movie or TV - all stories. When you logged in, you choose to play a self-directed animated cartoon clearly labeled “Roleplaying Character” - yup, clearly labeled right under the name of the toon. Aren't we all playing a self-directed animated cartoon in a story called Eye of the North?

Every single human since the beginning of speech has been/is/will continue to be a storyteller. We read stories and hear stories all the time.

That's hypocrisy for ya - spew bile through your teeth and you only end up dribbling on your chin.

So, good readers, be warned. Expect some bile dribbling from the chins of hypocrits if you dare say "storytelling" in local chat. Its ok, just get out the napkin and wipe their chins. Just be glad you aren't responsible for changing their diapers too!

Look for me, hear some grand tales of the Norn and the coming ages. That's what's important!

i wanna joooooooooooooooooin! Ill have to try and remember and sit in...and box anyone who dares ruin it :3 *daggershink!*

there should be a guild wars acting troupe xD

I've had several folks say that I inspired them to write up some tales, and hope to do storytelling as well. That's good! There's three whole campaigns and an expansion full of folks who need a shift in thinking about what GW can be if they stepped away from the "must-have-green/title/armor only" mindset.

I thought it would kind of cool to be a "soothe-sayer" in pre-Searing, telling tales of things that would come to pass for the audience. I do have some prophecies mixed in there (from Egil), which is a mix of lore and the GW2 lore provided to PC Gamer by ANet. Needs work though, so I'm working on it.

I attended one of your events and I absolutely loved it! I'm going to see if I can get my alliance together and get a full party for one of your tales.

By the way, are you going to come up with any specifically spooky stories once the Mad King returns? Hearing a tale around Lions Arch's giant caldron might be a fun event!

That would be pretty neat.

And I came the other day, and it was amazing. Once again, I loved it. You are truly inspired.

At this rate you're going to need partners to help tell stories xD

So, I had thought about doing something during the player event, Oktoberfest. Well, assuming all the participants aren't drunk off their rockers enough from all the ale to hear a story!

I'm glad you all liked it. Some of them are very Norn-ish, inspired by old Norse poetry (which can sometimes read like a shopping list), so I continue to work on them to make them fit well in the format and for content.

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I recommend a special tale for the Halloween event at the end of October. A story about the mad king would be nice and than tell the story durring the event weekend.

I've updated (and will continue to update) the schedule a bit as my real life seeks to occupy those spots. In addition, the 11:05 weekend times seem to fall in with "The Intolerants," which is the name I give the players who seem only to spam hate in local about everything (including the very mention that I am seeking to tell stories!). There are a LOT of Intolerants on at that hour, so I will be adjusting those weekend times.

I told a new tale to a test audience tonight, a tale I think is worthy of the Mad King himself! A horrific tale, the First Wendigo! Of course, someone said that I was blaspheming - surely no horrible, spooky tale would be worthy of the Mad King. I replied that I would expect that sort of rhetoric to be spoken after hearing the tale, not before it - otherwise it was the sound of gnats in my ear!

He took up the offer to hear the tale, and afterwards said nothing again of blasphemy. It is a slightly longer tale at 15 minutes, and I know how attention spans for such things is mighty small. I intended to tell this tale during the Mad King's festival, and surely will after some tweaks to get it the spookiest, most horrible story the Mad King has ever heard!

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