Willie Walsh's page

I just bought the Interactive Maps, copied a few key maps into Photoshop, and sent them to a printer.

Yep. I may go a similar, though home-grown route with the maps myself. Did it with the Misgivings, using PosteRazor.

Any GMs out there who've got pics of model scenery, custom, scratch built, anything, they may have used for Spires of Xin-Shalast or later in the campaign arc I'd love to see 'em.

I'm presently pondering how best to prepare the end of the campaign for my players and need some inspiration.

A three-star review at DriveThru RPG. That's pretty good! :)

If anyone else wants to add a review, all feedback is valued.

It's been a pleasure to produce this, which is my first "stand alone" module (i.e., not part of a magazine or larger co-authored supplement). 0one's Black & White floorplans have a real old school look and feel and the addition of an adventure really adds value. (Considering how reasonably-priced the product is in the first place, you're getting plenty of bang for your buck here in the Game Pack version!) I hope people choose to take a closer look and enjoy playing "Spirit of the White Wyvern".

Chef's Slaad wrote:

My personal favorite: Old man Catan (and his incredible edible mushroom men)

Ah, much as I liked that adventure myself, Old Man Katan and the Incredible, Edible, Dancing Mushroom Band was by Ted James Thomas Zuvich, not Wille Walsh. For a list of Walsh's published works, compiled by the author himself, see here.

It's one I get misremembered for quite often, thanks! LOL!

Twinkle, twinkle right at ya, buddy!

Can you masquerade as a door-to-door xylophone salesman...?

How does one move large quantities of bone (and presumably flesh, as I expect the undead status doesn't only relate to skeletal creatures?) about?

Can you clothe, glove and mask them? Cast illusions on them? Mass morph them temporarily?

In that case, I admit I am THAT Willie Walsh, contributor to The Great City: Urban Creatures & Lairs and also to its companion, The Great City Player's Guide. Pleased to meet you! :-)

Well, there are at least two more of us. One is a bishop and the other runs an airline. It causes confusion sometimes, as explained here.

BTW, this product is really worthy of a bump to a higher position on your wishlist, and I ain't just saying that 'cos I have something in there. We're talking really talented writers here, with enough experience of what makes a good game great to sink a minor battleship!

There's a hardback version too, available at Lulu.com . I have one on order.

The preview showing the Harvestman and lair can be obtained from this link at 0one games.

Yep, it's out and about and soon to wreak havoc with unsuspecting player characters! It's fun to be looking at another writing credit. Thanks 0one Games and a big thumbs up to the finished product.

"Telephone Blues", John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.

Willie Walsh wrote:

There's a quick outline of Wolfgang's presentation over at my humble blog.

I made the mistake of clicking on the roleplay link under interests in your blog.

Not quite what I was expecting ....

Not quite what I would describe as a "mistake."

For those wondering, it leads to three blog posts, each about Second Life and nothing unsavoury!

Maybe you were looking for the Dungeons & Dragons category.

There's a quick outline of Wolfgang's presentation over at my humble blog.

... love your adventures

Thank you. Any plans to become an editor of a magazine or of a company that prints really old-fashioned scenarios? ;-D

DitheringFool wrote:

Willie Walsh wrote:

Jason kindly told me it made the top 30, which ain't a bad shot, I hope, after an absence of 11 years...

Hey! Did other people get any kind of indication that they made the top 30 list?!?

I wish that we (as individuals, not a public announcement) could find that out.

I wish I could tell everyone who made it to that level, but all of the rejections had been piled up by this afternoon. I only remembered Willie because of his long list of credentials that I printed out when we were looking through the final batch.

My apologies, but I am afraid that is just about all the confirmation I can give at this point.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

And my apologies for dropping you in it! Me Mammy always said I had a big gob on me.

Wow! I'm imagining a Groundhog-Day type campaign where the player characters are cursed to follow the flight of the red raven though each of the scenarios outlined in this thread. In every reincarnation, the scenario changes to that outlined by a new author. Only when the quest is completed five times can the player characters be set free...

Yes that would be nice to know, but since those thirty were only a number (ie our personal info was removed) it might be a lot of work to figure out that and respond.

Ah. But if no-one could reunite the contact info of the submitter with the submitted material AFTER the acceptance or rejection, how could one receive an email of acceptance or rejection?

This cola is Brand X and Brand X is made by....

Edit... In my albeit a-long-time-ago experience, it actually isn't feasable for an editor to include the whys and wherefores of the reasons behind most rejections of material. They simply have too many submissions to respond to each one individually. It can be frustrating to the author when they say a piece is not acceptable, but that's just part of the process of writing for publication. (I recall being told the reason for an article being rejected was "It just doesn't suit." Try taking some meaning from THAT...!) I think the best thing to do is to take the experience you just gained and build upon it to see if you can produce a more acceptable work later.

For my part, I had fun entering this competition and I hope other people did too. Let's now wait and see what the poor souls who now ultimately have to write 22,000 words come up with.

Wah-hey! I too am an Open Call Losers' Lounger!

Jason kindly told me it made the top 30, which ain't a bad shot, I hope, after an absence of 11 years...

Teen pregnancy rates are down! Condom use is up! Hooray for prophylactics!

..and the number 9.

Good things..?

I'm out of work with stomach ache. But Richard Pett hasn't contacted me in 67 days...

Not that I'm counting.

Good things..?

I'm out of work with stomach ache. But Richard Pett hasn't contacted me in 67 days...

Willie Walsh - you out there old chum?

Willie!

[Song deleted. Some goblin songs are better unsung.]

In Tallaght, a suburb of Dublin, in Ireland. About to put my head in an oven. But it's electric and I'm installing it, so it's okay. I think. Hope.

Willie Walsh, folks... I so miss "Mr Katan and the Mushroom Band," and "Song of the Fens." Walsh had such a great sense of humor...

You can't prove I wrote those. In fact, I'm certain I can prove I didn't. Tee! Hee!

I was the Willie Walsh of my day.... ;-)

Shroomy wrote:

A collaboration between Richard Pett and Willie Walsh, I'm so there...

I'm Intrigued ,I am an old schoolplayer from the early eighties and used to have and play through old dungeon magazines.

what adventures did you write Willie?

Stuff that made people run screaming from the gaming table mostly. Although whether it was from joy or despair I do not know. I can't remember them all but they included:

"Mightier than the Sword"
"Clarssh's Sepulchure"
"In the Court of the Dwarven King"
"Asflag's Unintentional Emporium"
"Huddle Farm"
"The White Boar of Kilfay"
"Iasc"
"Pakkillirr" (don't ask me if that's spelled right!)
"Telar in Norbia"
"Encounter in the Wildwood"
and a few others.

A collaboration between Richard Pett and Willie Walsh, I'm so there...

In that case, how did it all turn out? Good, I hope? And did they pay on time? ;-)

We're very much just chatting about the idea at the moment. It may not come to anything. . . .

Nice to hear from you, Willie. I also loved your adventures - your ideas still make me smile if I think of them. I sincerely hope you are better now, for your own sake (even if we don´t know each other).

Stefan

I have my up days and down days. Only to be expected in a hilly country, I suppose. . . . Glad to have made a few memories.

Great Willie - no worries, drop me a line when you decide. Nice of you to consider it - I'll be strutting about all day now:)
Rich
richandaly@hotmail.com

Strut over to your Hotmail then... I've sent ya summit...

Any chance of persuading my Dungeon Hero back into the fold by suggesting a collaboration?

Rich

Well, Richard, if I thought I would be a reliable collaborator I'd say "Yes" right away. In the circumstances, will a "Maybe" do?

Well, real life can interfere.

It can indeed. Thanks for the kind thoughts. They are really appreciated.

Mr Walsh, a welcome blast from the past. So, why the silence all these years?

Basically acquired ADD for AD&D and when I looked back everything had moved on! And then some!

Depression, self-confidence issues and excuses like "lack of time" and "the nine to five job" are what I trot out as reasons why I've not contributed to the 3.5 game.

Adventures written by Willie Walsh! What ever happened to him, anyway? Why does he not write adventures for 3.5?

I'm alive, I tell you...! A-L-I-V-E! Mwah-hah-hah-hah...!

I was always most impressed with the overseas contributors, such as Willy Walsh. Not only did they send their manuscripts through slower surface mail, they also had to buy International Reply Coupons so that the manuscripts could be returned to them with comments (and queries could be accepted/rejected on the contributor's dime, rather than bankrupting TSR).

I'm not even sure they still MAKE International Reply Coupons, but I'm betting the current Paizo staff have never seen them. Which is all to the good.

Yeah, well it didn't help that the local post office staff didn't know they made International Reply Coupons either...

I apologise about the Bermuda shorts, Wolf. Really don't know what happened. The flowery neckties on the mephits don't seem to provoke much comment though? How strange.

I have had satisfactory dealings with a shop in Galway, Ireland, who may be able to assist. Visit http://www.gamersrealm.ie/ for email details.

About a month and a half ago my friend reintroduced me to the pleasures of D&D, when he bought the new 3.5 core rulebooks. This was after a 10 year absence from the game. In fact, the last thing I bought for AD&D/D&D was Dungeon #57. Before that, I was an avid collector of the magazine, owning most of the issues between #13 and #57. Recently, when my parents visited me, I had them take the musty magazines out of my old bedroom's closet and bring them with (much to my mother's delight).

For the last two weeks, I've been enjoying all of those old adventures, reacquainting myself with several old favorites and re-evaluating authors whose work I disliked when I was much younger (sorry Willie Walsh, I didn't know what I was thinking, though I'm still a little iffy about bermuda shorts wearing lava mephits). Now I know what happened to Willie Walsh from the Issue 37 thread, and Christopher Perkins is still an active writer for Dungeon, but does anyone know what happened to some of my favorites: Peter Aberg, Paul Cullota, David Howery, Steve Kurtz, Randy Maxwell, and Ted Zuvich? They all seemed to have disappeared in the mid-90s.

The bermuda shorts were optional, especially on worlds without any place named Bermuda.

And if you know what happened to Willie Walsh I'd be very pleased if you'd share it with Willie Walsh...

Thanks for the kind thoughts, if belatedly. :-)

Edit: Just to add, I've only recently started playing again too, so I know what it's like to have to relearn everything again.

I really mean it on the kind thoughts, by the way. Every kind thought is very welcome.

Hmmm. Started playing about 1982 and will be 40 next February. My game was the chappies trying to remove the jewelled eye from the idol on the cover of the PHB (vaguely remember a soft cover version, although all copies I owned were hardbacked). Missed out on all following 2nd-Edition AD&D, TSR disappearance and subsequent events, but have been learning and playing 3.5 recently.

I have been playing D&D for several years, and my children are learning the rules now (and dragging my wife into the mess too). I want to know what other longtime gamers think of 3.5 edition, and if a revision was really needed.

I bought the 3.0 PHB and DMG and never opened them.

Then 3.5 came along and I thought we were back to that time when a new revision seemed to appear with disheartening regularity. (Shop assistant said to me in the 2nd Edition AD&D days: "That's £5 for the paint and £15 for the annual." It was almost the truth.)

I've been DMing 3.5 D&D for a whole three weeks now and I find it unsettling to be back roleplaying in general. That was something I did in my 20s and now I'm heading for my 40s. Specifically, the character generation seems much like other games we've played, and the Skills seem okay. The combat rules seem to be discouraging, and I'm feeling DM guilt over not having the exact a, b, c of that intricate combat system and of spellcasting learned properly. I'm not enjoying the learning curve, but I'm going to learn it and the players seem to be having a reasonably good time.

The game strikes me as one made for a generation at ease with video-game level advancement, power-ups and masses of goodies. And why not...? It ain't the 80s any more. (Bleedin' heck! It ain't the 90s either. Where did that decade go?)

I think its a fantasy game made for playing in the times we're in, so yes, a revision was necessary. Good luck to it. :-)

Arnwyn wrote:

Paul McCarthy wrote:

If you are looking for the quintessential Dungeon magazine, this one comes highly recommended.

what with The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, plus adventures by Willie Walsh and Chris Perkins. What a great issue, and still very playable to this day...

(If it included Wolfgang Baur and Steve Kurtz on top of all that, my head would have exploded.)

If I point out that I was an Associate Editor on issue 37, can we at least see your eyes pop out?

Greetings Wolf! Long time no see. :-)

Willie Walsh wrote:

#36 Jul/Aug 92. Asflag's Unintentional Emporium (3-7)

Hi Willie,

I was wondering if you could tell me the proper pronounciation of Asflag. I ran the adventure about a decade ago and pronounced it (w/o thinking) as "Ass-Flag." Despite referring to him as "Az-Flag" for the rest of the session, my players continued to rag on me about the name. ("Does he have a banner w/a butt on it flying above his tower?") To make matters worse, I had intended to have Asflag return as a lich (IIRC, he had died in the adventure leaving his tower behind), so the comedy of his name was that much harder to live down.

Anyway, that's a great body of work. Pronounciation snafus aside, I enjoyed reading or playing a number of your adventures.

Sebastian

Yes, it was "as" you later pronounced it. Although Asflag was metaphorically caught with his trousers down in this adventure, I think your players displayed more cheek...

Thanks for the kind thoughts. They are, as always, very much appreciated.

I'm compelled to put in my vote for Whitelake Mine. My PCs ended up down in that diving bell being attacked by the giant pike, and it was one of the few times DMing where the situation really contributed to building tension and fear. The players felt a certain amount of helplessness, while at the same time not being able to blame the DM. After all, they volunteered to go down there with no effective underwater action capabilites!

Great experience that I still remember to this day, and only one PC ended up drowning / getting swallowed whole after all that build up.

Thanks for that.

I seem to remember getting a photocopy in the mail of the Whitelake Mine module translated into Japanese.

Does anyone remember a time when TSR Inc had materials translated into Japanese...?

Tom Huddle's Green milking cows! - If you can find it, try and get hold of Willies 'Huddle Farm' adventure in Dungeon #12, great memories!

Are you still out in Dublin Willie?

Hi Richard. Glad to meet someone who didn't bite through his pencil and tear up his character sheet after playing that one...

I don't want to hijack another thread, so if you'd like to comment on the endurance course which was WW adventures, please take a peek at http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/generalDiscussion/dungeon37 where the tale is already told. (Someone tell me how to make a clickable link?)

I'm still in Dublin, yes.

Do any of you know of any crazy off the wall things to put PC's through that will make them stop and say "what the???????"

Without chasing them off.

Evangalists who carry their god in a box. They'll let the player characters see him for a small fee.

A gnomish sage, swinging an enlarged butterfly net, in search of elemental air.

Anything with accordians or bagpipes. Caber-tossing pixies come to mind.

Orc underground cavalry who use roller skates.

Giant spider can-can dancers.

We routinely get letters praising your old adventures, Willie.

--Erik

I always appreciate the sentiments expressed by readers of the modules that DUNGEON was kind enough to publish for me, whether they found them an asset or a waste of space! Long may they continue to find a useful place at the gaming table.

Obviously you had a lot old successful ideas that were accepted but never completed. You ought to revisit one of those and see if there's still interest (especially if a lot of the work was already done). Update to 3.5 and finish and then send it (I highly recommend e-mail and computers :-), it'll save you some serious effort). The titles alone of many of them looked very interesting.

I second that notion.

Sound easy when condensed into four lines, doesn't it? LOL

Thanks for your confidence in my abilities. I have the wonderful excuse that the originals were contracted, so I wouldn't think Paizo could look at them (I may be wrong).

If I do ever return to the fold, I would hope that anything produced would be all-new. But I have no plans as yet to do so.

Paul McCarthy wrote:

21 Printed adventures x 5 Ideas = 105 outlines submitted to Dungeon

Busy man, Willie. You must have got sick of writing or burned out. You must LIVE fantasy. How did you turn away from it after writing for so long?

I'll check my records and let you know the actual statistics on scenario ideas, although 105 seems a bit short....(!)

I've dug out my old worksheets from the filing cabinet. Perhaps readers may be interested in the process of how the scenarios were developed and how they fizzled out.

The list includes ones you'll not have heard of before -- these didn't pass muster and were dropped.

Here, in order, is my work output to DUNGEON from July 1985 to October 1998:

"Resubmitted" means a revision was requested by the editor. "Accepted" or "Rejected" indicates the date on which I was in receipt of notification by mail.

"In the Dwarven King's Court".
Outline submitted: ?? ?? 1985
Module submitted: 11 July 1985
Resubmitted: 5 December 1985
Resubmitted: 11 February 1986
Accepted: 12 June 1986

"Stranded on the Baron's Island"
Outline submitted: 17 June 1986
Outline Resubmitted: 15 August 1986
Module submitted: 18 November 1986
Accepted: 3 March 1987

"Huddle Farm"
Outline submitted: 12 May 1987
Module submitted: 3 June 1987
Module resubmited: 18 August 1987
Accepted 13 October 1987

"Caravan to Krolton"
Outline submitted: 15 September 1987
Outline rejected: 13 October 1987

"Roarwater Caves"
Module submitted: 30 October 1987
Accepted: 24 March 1988

"Frinstar Woods"
Outline submitted: 25 March 1988
Module submitted: 19 April 1988
Rejected: 19 May 1988

"Whitelake Mine"
Outline submitted: 2 April 1988
Module submitted: 14 June 1988
Module resubmitted: 3 November 1988
Accepted: 22 December 1988

"Encounter in the Wildwood"
Outline submitted: 2 April 1988
Module submitted: 14 June 1988
Module resubmitted: 7 September 1988
Accepted: 7 October 1988

"Cauldron of Plenty"
Outline submitted: 24 June 1988
Module submitted: 11 August 1988
Module resubmitted: 14 October 1988
Accepted: 17 November 1988

"Rumble's New Coat"
Outline submitted: 26 August 1988
Rejected: 13 September 1988

"Honour Among Thieves"
Outline submitted: 14 December 1988
Rejected: 18 January 1989

"Bear Sound"
Outline submitted: 13 January 1989
Rejected: 2 February 1989

"Tower Point"
Outline submitted: 3 February 1989
Rejected: 21 February 1989

"Three Hags of Inisbeg"
Outline submitted: 8 February 1989
Rejected: 21 February 1989

"The Pyramid of Jenkel"
Outline submitted: 23 February 1989
Outline resubmitted: 16 March 1989
Module submitted: 28 April 1989
Module resubmitted: 2 June 1989
Accepted: 5 September 1989

"A Hitch in Time"
Outline submitted: 21 June 1989
Module submitted: 5 August 1989
Module resubmitted: 20 Octrober 1989
Accepted: 23 January 1990

"Nine Tenths of the Law
Outline submitted: 31 August 1989
Module submitted: 2 November 1989
Accepted: 23 January 1990

"Arrival at Wetmarch"
Outline submitted: 21 January 1991
Rejected: 21 March 1991

"The White Boar of Kilfay"
Module submitted: 16 February 1991
Module accepted: 6 May 1991

"Asflag's Unintentional Emporium"
Module submitted: 8 April 1991
Module resubmitted: 7 June 1991
Module accepted: 12 August 1991

"Plebs"
Module submitted: 19 July 1991
Module resubmitted 6 March 1992
Module rejected: 13 April 1992

"Beachcombers"
Outline submitted: 9 August 1991
Module submitted: 4 November 1991
Module rejected: 28 January 1992

"Headcases"
Outline submitted: 6 September 1991
Outline rejected: 2 October 1991

"Stumpkin's Stout Beer"
Outline submitted: 31 December 1991
Outline rejected: 28 January 1992

"Minding the Shop"
Outline submitted: 10 January 1992
Module submitted: 23 July 1992
Module rejected: 2 September 1992

"Trouble in Corbay Town"
Outline submitted: 27 January 1992
Outline rejected: 17 February 1992

"Sign of Six"
Outline submitted: 12 March 1992
Outline rejected: 21 April 1992

"Live and Dangerous"
Outline submitted: 12 March 1992
Outline rejected: 21 April 1992

"Fraggart's Contraption"
Outline submitted: 18 September 1992
Module submitted: 11 December 1992
Accepted: 29 January 1993

"Dear Waldo"
Outline submitted: 30 January 1993
Module submitted: 27 July 1993
Module was returned for revision on 30 September 1993 but I was unable to move it forward and the project was abandoned.

"Back to the Beach"
Outline submitted: 5 February 1993
Outline resubmitted: 10 March 1993
Module submitted: 23 August 1993
Accepted: 30 September 1993

"The Wreckers"
Outline submitted: 8 November 1993
Outline rejected: 29 November 1993

"Clarssh's Sepulchure"
Outline submitted: 21 January 1994
Module submitted: 27 April 1994
Module resubmitted: 15 June 1994
Accepted: 13 October 1994

"Queen of the Day"
Outline submitted: 28 January 1994
Module submitted: 1 June 1994
Module rejected: 16 September 1994

"Matadors"
Module submitted: 31 January 1994
Module rejected: 11 March 1994

"Briocht"
Outline submitted: 8 February 1994
Module submitted: 30 November 1994
Module resubmitted: 30 January 1995
Accepted: 23 March 1995

"Pakkililirr"
Module submitted: 11 February 1994
Module resubmitted: 22 March 1994
Accepted: 25 April 1994

"Blinky"
Module submitted: 15 March 1994
Module rejected: 5 April 1994

"Lillian's Hoard"
Outline submitted: 4 August 1994
Module submitted: Received the go-ahead for this one on 13 October 1994 I never completed a module.

"The Halfling's Trove"
Outline submitted: 6 September 1994
Module submitted: I received the go-ahead for this one on 23 September 1994 but never completed the module.

"To Albu"
Outline submitted: 13 December 1994
Outline rejected: 27 January 1995

"The Sidhe's Request"
Outline submitted: 17 January 1995
Outline rejected: 23 March 1995

"Vshli's Island"
Outline submitted: 28 February 1995
Module submitted: 28 March 1995
Module rejected: 29 May 1995

"Iasc"
Outline submitted: 14 March 1995
Module submitted: 4 May 1995
Module resubmitted: 24 August 1995
Accepted: 11 October 1995

"Goblin Gultch"
Outline submitted: 28 July 1995
Outline rejected: 14 August 1995

"The Tyrant of Mydthgorod"
Outline submitted: 13 February 1996
Module submitted: 13 April 1996
Module rejected: 16 September 1996

"The Self-Styled King"
Outline submitted: 20 March 1996
Outline rejected: 16 September 1996

"Twice Shy"
Outline submitted: 25 August 1997
Outline rejected: 19 September 1997

"Believe it or not"
Outline submitted: 25 August 1997
A request for a resubmission received 19 September, 1997 wasn't followed up and I dropped this one.

"Art"
Outline submitted: 29 August 1997
Outline rejected: 19 September 1997

"The Terror of Tintown"
Outline submitted: 29 August 1997
A request for a resubmission received 19 September 1997 wasn't followed up and I dropped this one.

"Gabland's Granny"
Outline submitted: 30 August 1997
Outline rejected 26 September 1997

"Devane's Doom"
Outline submitted: 5 September 1997
Outline rejected: 2 October 1997

"De Butler"
Outline submitted: 17 September 1997
Module submitted: Although given the go-ahead on 10 February 1998 but I never finished the module.

"The Silverton Slayings"
Module submitted: 12 September 1998
Module resubmitted: the module was never resubmitted

"The Missing Misfit"
Outline submitted: 26 September 1998
Module submitted: Although given the go-ahead on 15 October 1998, I never finished the module.

And then I stopped.

I think the final count is around the 55 or 56 mark for ideas. But by the time a module idea was submitted and the module written, and rewritten from scratch (pre computer days as well for me.. and air mail the only method of sending the manuscipt available) it added up to a lot of pieces of paper.

21 Printed adventures x 5 Ideas = 105 outlines submitted to Dungeon

Busy man, Willie. You must have got sick of writing or burned out. You must LIVE fantasy. How did you turn away from it after writing for so long?

Real life intervened. That's the reason I stopped writing scenarios. I didn't stop writing, however.

Check out www.irishwriter.cjb.net for my cheap and cheerful Website, where you'll find some non-fantasy material by me.

I'll check my records and let you know the actual statistics on scenario ideas, although 105 seems a bit short....(!)

I have to say that while Comedy adventures are fun to read, I've never had one work out well in play. Players either miss the humor, or find it to be silly to the point of destracting.

ASEO out

It'a a matter of opinion. I'm not much for comedy in Dungeons and Dragons... Whatever floats your boat.

There are different ways to write modules and a jobbing writer has to cover as many bases as possible if he wants to be published.

My personal preference is for humour with a bite to it. Okay, you could laugh at the fable of "The Emperor's New Clothes", but if you think about it the bare-assed one is still a tyrant. What nasties has he perpetrated on his subjects that they're terrified to contradict him that his "invisible clothes" are wonderful?

Humour from our world has a place in the fantastic, otherwise a campaign has a good chance of becoming too stiff and boring.

But as the man says, "whatever floats your boat." My opinions on humour are simply my opinions. I don't think, for example, that I used humour excessively. Instead, I tried to apply what I call the "Whoops!" factor. Someone, even in a fantasy world, messes up. It might not be immediately apparent, but it can cause great background or inject a sense of the bizarre into an otherwise stolid scenario.

I'd like to buy a beer for the person who thought up the portable hole. Now *that's* the kind of humour I *like*.