DM Appreciation Day - DangerousDan

[Howlando]

Dear Players,

January 23 is Dangerous Dan appreciation day. He is an essential member of our community and a dear friend, and I'd like to take a moment to share some brief thoughts about how he's grown with our community.

Daniel has been a DM for 16 years. He arrived to us in the earliest days of Chapter 1 of EFU, "Escape from the Underdark." The server then was dark, dismal, buggy, and poorly balanced (naturally we've squashed all bugs and balance issues perfectly since then). We were not exactly a "newbie friendly" server, and it is a small and private miracle that the very young Daniel managed to last as much as an hour.

Daniel had absolutely no experience with the NWN platform, and - perhaps wisely - rather than learning a single thing about how the game operated he simply jammed the notoriously bad "Recommended" button for his fighter (Ferius Worn) and just blindly ran at anything red. Yes, dear friends, this PC ended up with WF /Spec longsword despite never once using one (Greatsword only). Rather than scavenge up some half decent half-plate, Ferius Worn found some really bad "Worn Leathers" and decided that they would be perfect for his entire career because leathers are cooler than metal. Let's just say that Ferius Worn met various dismal ends to every random under dark ambient monster that you can imagine.

But the role-play was great, and from his first moments there was promise there. As young and fresh DM myself, I used to follow him along in the client, cloaking my presence but trying to subtly adjust monsters and move them away to try to encourage this promising new player... well, it didn't matter, because Dan loved EFU. Soon Ferius was setting up a stew shop in the slums of Lower Sanctuary and unknowingly hosting a terrible devil cult. The plots and intrigue roared, and Worn's escape quest was one of the most memorable escape-quests of v1.

Dan became a DM around the transition from v1 -> v2 and became an important creative contributor to the project of EFU. He was the primary mind behind the genius idea of "The Order." He developed the early technique of applying stone-skin vfx to barrows pillar placeables and lowering them to make flagstones to decorate Mistlocke as well as developed a huge amount of the overall lore-mythos of Ymph. He wrote some of the best Spellguard directives of v4. When present, his writing and ideas were always a huge influence on the lore and settings of EFU.

However, in v6 he truly took off and achieved a higher form as a DM. Many of v6's most epic and beautiful areas are his work. He's matured from flighty artistic genius ideas-man to passionate ideas-man who builds complete areas and runs amazing events / plots. To the extent that you as players are enjoying v6, Dan deserves this credit...

Daniel is a special soul, and I am grateful for EFU that it allowed me to meet him and that we've had the chance to work together off and on for all these years. Let's all take a moment to wish him happy birthday and thank him for all that he does for us.

[Zickery]

Happy birthday, Dan!

Thank you for all you've done making EFU a truly special experience. V6 is incredibly fun and everything you've done for it's contributed greatly to making it one of the best roleplaying experiences around. Thanks for the countless hours of fun.

[Moonlighter]

a true mensch

[Erudiche]

As a pretty new player myself I came into EFU not sure what to expect, but I have been really pleased and impressed with what I have seen.

V6's lore is really very impressive and it's clear a lot of thought, effort, and creative passion went into it. Every interaction I have had with Dan has been very pleasant and every experience I have had with his DMing has been cool and intriguing. Happy Birthday Dangerous Dan, thanks for your work making elf game something worth coming back to.

[Dillusionist]

Bringing professional-level writing to EFU. Not to mention one of the best builder's we've got. Every area is laden with atmosphere.

Happy birthday Daniel!

[Anthee]

Happy birthday, Dan, and thanks for sticking around! :)

[caesaropapist]

dangerous dan's crazy writing and worldbuilding is my favorite part of V6 - and the opportunities to interact with his plots, and the details of the history he wrote is one of the things that keeps me logging in. i was super disappointed when i heard he (and Abala) were taking a much deserved break - hope they're both doing great!

appreciate him (and every other DM) a ton, and am looking forward to his (hopeful) return! happy birthday!

[Providence]

Happy Birthday Dan! Glad you're still here. -Jas

[Don Nadie]

I have said this before, and I'll say it again: Dan's writing is amazing. Flavorful, deep, mysterious, full of great style. Every text is imaginative and strage, and the way the pieces slowly fit together without ever truly fitting... Just incredible. There has been such creativity put in making something that /inspires/ without /revealing/ everything! This lore has nothing to envy from a proffesionally written game or novel.

EFU has many great things, but Dan's writing is, for me, one of the most amazing. Add to this flavorful, super-interesting events, and being a generally neat guy. We are lucky to have you, Dan! So thanks a lot... And happy birthday!

[Halfbrood]

Dan and I have a long history throughout EFU's versions. Meeting early, and becoming fast friends, and working together in later versions on plots, areas and crazy ideas.

EFU would not be the same without him, and every day I am thankful that he remains in not only EFU's life, but my own as well.

[Lannister]

Dan you have made some of the most interesting and captivating stories that I have been able to be a part of. You are an extremely important person to making EFU feel so amazing to play.

Thank you so much for creating such awesome work and also for all the help going through ideas and other dumb stuff we talk about. Everyone is right on the money, EFU would not be the same without you.

[Blue41]

Happy birthday Dan. You're one of the reasons the EFU continues to be one of the places/games/activities that I think about long after I stop playing for however many years I've been here. Happy birthday and thanks for all you do.

[LiAlH4]

A magnificent storyteller. If you want examples of intricate, well-crafted mysteries and secret lore, look no further.

[DangerousDan]

Thanks for the well wishes, all!

[KreShar]

happy birthday! thanks for all the amazing stories over the years!