Hi everyone!

We’re on a short siesta for the July 4th Holiday and to plan Season 2 of the Hearthstone Tavern podcast! All of us hope you have a great time off as well and we’ll see you soon!

Thanks for sticking with us, there’s more to come! Stay safe!

Hope you all are having a great time with the Winter’s Veil event! We also hope you have a very Merry Christmas and holiday season with family and friends this year.

Have fun role-playing the year out, working on achievements and enjoying the company of your friends in-game and in everyday life. Just like in the game, remember the spirit of the year – past the sales, crazy lines and such. There’s a lot to think about and be happy about.

Don’t let the “Greenches” get you down! We will have more podcasts coming up soon and maybe even a few surprises.

So, from the all of us at Hearthstone Tavern – Happy Winter’s Veil! Stay safe!

We mean it!

Thank you for listening to us on Hearthstone Tavern. We hope the segments and discussions help and are both fun and gives you all something to think about. I know that today many folks are doing the family shuffle and things are may get hectic with Christmas just around the bend…

But we want to say “Thank you”.

And a thank you also goes out to the rest of the Hearthstone Tavern folks. Each one does a great job with what they do for the podcast.

“To receive more you must first be thankful for what you already have. Thanksgiving opens the doors for good ideas to flow, while cynicism blocks the door of good ideas.” – Jim Rohn

Being thankful is important. It places your life in perspective sometimes, especially when you may feel there’s nothing “good” in your life. Just taking time to think past the Turkey, the Pilgrim’s Bounty event and all – and just being thankful for what you have. There’s something or someone each day we can be thankful for in our lives.

A sunrise, a cool breeze on a summer day. A smile or a “thank you”. Your guildmates. Your friends in-game. Folks in your RP groups. All in a way are extended family. That player that just helped because he/she could. Same goes for your family, friends at school, work or elsewhere.

Unsung heroes in your day, your life…

Again, thank you all for listening, commenting and role-playing. And just being here.

Thank you!

Your Challenge!: What or who are you thankful for?

We’ve been hacked, folks.

Just when you think it was safe to head back towards Goldshire or the Den…

“Where’eva I go, I makin’ Warcraft look gooooood…”

Yeah… we have been hacked. By a sinister force more vile that the Lich King…

Or even Hogger… (gasp!)

Mr. T and his Mohawk Grenades.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Mr. T is cool and the Mohawk Grenade is a cute idea. It’s also a pain in the tail to work it into role-playing.

But first… let’s commence with the Jibber-Jabber. More here in Warcraft’s promo vid:

Where do you find him?
Journey towards your starter area of choice – look for the Night Elf Mohawk.

After a bit of jibber-jabber, you get the goods! You can get 5, which last a day. It’s a small, throwable aoe that “pops” a Night Elf Mohawk head on you. This goes on from November 16 – and it’s open ended at the present, according to the handy-dandy Mohawk Grenade FAQs page: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/mohawkgrenade.xml

Ok… now what?

From a role-player’s view… my first reaction is quite profound.

“I got nothing.”

How do I RP this off? Do I make sure I have my “Hide Helm” toggled? (by the way… it doesn’t work!)

I can see it now. Come Story Night (my rp event), just over 24hrs as I write this:

Grrrrr… I can already “hear” me blinking when I am trying to host.

Great, so I can’t dodge it. I can, however, right-click and kill the “buff”. But you know that one will be lobbed again… that’s for sure. So, we have a in-game item and game mechanic that could be used as an attempt to wreck roleplay.

Will griefers use it?

Will it disrupt things and wreck my event? By a griefer or otherwise?

Will it tear a fabric in the space-time continuum and leave me in a crumpled heap before Mr. T and the Night Elf Mohawks?

The answer is simple, as simple as the possible Mohawk that may appear on my head… No.

Life will not end, this is all temporary. All in all, I will have more great and fun nights than wrecked ones. Griefers will grief – but not every person is a griefer. We sometimes as roleplayers get a knee-jerk reaction whenever some people see anyone we don’t “know” in game. Like I have said before, it’s better to see new folks as potential role-players – not “troublemakers”. We are all here to have fun, right?

So, the “Shaw” abides.

Whatever happens… happens. Much like in everyday life, there are things we cannot control – so we roll with the punches, roll up our sleeves and do the best we can. You may cannot change what happens, but you can change how it affects you.

Be calm and move on. Ignore it if that works better – better yet, try to find an RP way of adding it. Try to diffuse it by communication if you can. Report as a last resort. I’ll most likely be right-clicking a bunch of those, since I really am not partial to having stuff “forced” on me ICly. Also remember not every person with these are a griefer – some are just folks trying to have fun with a cool new gadget. No harm, no foul.

Heck, I may just shrug it off, or go nuts and go something. You never know. May be good for a laugh. It’s not the end of the world.

A challenge for you all: Find some ways to use the Mohawk Grenade as a RP tool. Surprise me!

Yeah, you will get the here and there griefer, but helping that another new person learn about role-playing makes up for it. The more we support each other, the better the RP and connections. It may be an added pain for a bit, but there’s more good out there than bad. The bad just has better advertising.

Let’s try to change that, ok?

Until next time…

Keep role-playing!

PS: So, slightly related to all this jibber-jabber… what do you think they will have next?

A short story by Harper Sylvan

The taste of brine, sand, and worse covered his tongue. Sunlight stung his eyes even through his tightly closed lids and Carver finally attempted to raise his head. The pounding surf crashed in time with the throb of his head as he forced his eyes open. Carver peered about blearily.

Where was his ship? Where was HE? He patted himself down with practiced caution. All four limbs and wee little toes were present. Carver gave a sigh of relief and a muttered curse as well, his flintlock and sabre were gone. Digging past the cuff of his boot, he drew out a slender blade and slipped it into his belt… and easy reach. He pulled his large-brimmed hat from the sand, slapping it against his leg a few times before setting it at a slight angle atop his head.

Peering about, Carver saw neither crewman or wreckage strewn across the pale pristine sand and cursed again. He strained to recall the night before, but could not even recall the week before.

Somewhere in the distance a bell chimed. It’s silvery peal struck a strangely familiar note and memory flooded back.

The deck heaved under Carver’s feet as the Murk Thresher broke through a swell, sending white spray over the gunwales. Ahead, the billowy grey and green sails of the fat merchantman promised full purses for his eager crew. The Thresher was leaning hard, her sails full as she steadily overtook the trader. “Shorten sail and ready the port guns and bow-chasers!” Carver shouted, and at his word, dozens of bare-footed crewmen darted about the deck in well-drilled chaos.

Captain Carver climbed the small ladder and stepped onto the deck of the forecastle. Eight sailors were currently loading the two forward mounted cannons. Carver watched the merchantman slightly alter course in an attempt to desperately catch enough wind to keep them ahead of the Thresher. They had to have seen his colors and know they had no chance of outrunning him. Carver’s reputation as a Privateer was also not a bloodthirsty one, he wanted coin and leisure not body-counts. Why doesn’t he heave to? Carver thought. What is he carrying that is worth risking his crew for?

Steadily the Thresher closed the distance and still the trader did not strike it’s colors or cut sail. Numerous figures could be seen on the distant deck mulling about. Tugging on his neatly trimmed beard thoughtfully, Captain Carver nodded to the gunner watching him intently. “Put one close enough to mark that pretty paint, Kip.”

“Aye, sir!” the gunner answered as his team heaved up the bronze barrel to set the range. A moment later Kip pulled a length of burning slow-match from his belt pouch and touched it to the priming pan. The bow-chaser roared like an enraged dragon, launching a nine pound iron ball that splashed into the water only a few yards before the fleeing trader.

Long moments passed but the trader still did not slow or show signs of surrender.

“I don’t think we could have made the point any clearer, men.” Carver said simply. “Gun crews ready the first broadside!”

With a deafening roar, the Murk Thresher unleashed her broadside. Choking powder-smoke filled the air as eight cannon and three swivel-mounted guns known as wolves fired almost simultaneously. The stern of the merchantman exploded in a deadly shower of splinters. Bodies flew about like crude, broken dolls and the whole of the large trader shuddered from the impact.

“Reload!” Carver’s voice echoed like a clarion over the silence that followed their first broadside. While across the short span of water separating the two vessels, the trader’s crew silently and inexplicably regained their feet. The merchantman at last altered course, turning impossibly against the wind, it now bore down upon the Murk Thresher.

“Fire!” Carver shouted, unable to keep the note of dread from his voice as the Thresher sent forth a second deadly volley of round shot and grape into the teeth of the oncoming trader.

Then the two ships collided.

Carver held fast to the fore braces as the bone-jarring impact tossed his crew across the deck.  The prow of the merchantman loomed above him, imbedded into the port side of the doomed Thresher. The trader no longer resembled the fine prize it had seemed from afar. Now, within reach, it appeared a skuttled wreck, as if it had been lying on the ocean bottom for years. “Prepare to repel boarders!” he cried over the rising tide of horror he could see in the men around him.

The crew of the trader swarmed down from their nightmarish ship. Walking corpses from the trackless depths, bloated bodies trailing brine behind them as they overwhelmed the panicked freebooters.

Carver stared with rising dread clutching at his heart and dove over the gunwale and into the deep.

A silvery chime sounded from behind him, and a voice almost like a whisper in his ear spoke, “You and yours are mine. There is no escape.”

Captain Carver swam on into the night, terror lending him strength.

The silvery chime echoed again across the shore and Carver dropped to his knees as the trader drifted into view. His own crew began stumbling out of the surf, their lifeless eyes fixed upon him. They had come to collect him.

“You and yours are mine.” the voice echoed again.

Worgen, Goblins and Deathwing, oh my!

Blizzard announced this this weekend (August 21, 2009) at BlizzCon.

Here’s the Intro, we’ll be discussing this soon on the podcast!

An ancient evil lies dormant within Deepholm, the domain of earth in the Elemental Plane.

Hidden away in a secluded sanctuary, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has waited, recovering from the wounds of his last battle against Azeroth and biding his time until he can reforge the world in molten fire.

Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation.

Source: World of Warcraft’s Offical Cataclysm site

Here’s a quick rundown of the podcast:

Prelude
Introductions of cast members
(bios coming – check the murlocs soon!)
Stardancer (Suzanna)
Sullivan (Brent)
Tharion (Richard)
Taldarion (Matt)
Kormok “Mox” (Greg)
Anansi (Michael)
Harper
Lannia (Ria)
Book Review: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, by Christie Golden
How Warcraft books can add to your RP
What are you doing in game?
(a look at what the cast is doing as of late)

Available from Podbean: http://hearthstonetavern.podbean.com/
Also available on iTunes.
- Podcast Time: Approximately 45 minutes