Coming Soon: Live Blogiversarying (Yes, That’s a Word, Dammit)
Hi again, everyone. This is Averry, breaking character to make a quick announcement.
The one other time I’d stepped out from behind the Garrosh façade, I’d said I wouldn’t be doing it again, and I labored for a while trying to come up with an in-character way to make this announcement. Then my inner Garrosh kicked in and I said, “Eh, fuck it.” It’s just easier to do it this way, so here I am again.
As some of you long-time readers may realize, we’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of the Warchief’s Command Board. Garrosh made his inaugural post on August 28, 2011. (You better believe I just shamelessly linked back to it! Hey, if you’re a new reader, consider that your invitation to hop into the Way-Back Machine and get all caught up. And if you’ve been reading from the start…well…go back and read it all again! I bet it rewards multiple readings. You know, kind of like a Faulkner novel. Only nowhere near as good. Like even remotely.)
I wanted to do something to commemorate the blogiversary, and an idea finally came to me, courtesy of some serendipitous timing. As it happens, August 28 also marks the release date of Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War, Christie Golden’s new WoW novel that sets the stage for Mists of Pandaria.
So here’s my hair-brained scheme. Next Tuesday, August 28, I’m going to be running out in the morning to pick up the novel. Then I’ll be spending the day reading. And then, that night, I’ll be LIVE BLOGGING a new installment of the Command Board that will tie into the events of the novel somehow. I’ve live blogged here once before, and this will work basically the same way: I’ll post an initial setup, then update every few minutes so that the story “unfolds” before your very eyes as you refresh the page.
What will the live-blogging episode be about? How will it tie into the book? I have no idea! I won’t know that until I actually read the book, so I won’t even be in a position to start putting any ideas together until that day. All I know is that I’ll be writing something that night, and it’ll have something to do with the events of Tides of War. Obviously, this is a bit of a gamble, and there’s a more-than-trivial chance that I’ll wind up embarrassing myself. But really, isn’t the chance to watch Averry make himself look like a jackass one of those little pleasures that makes life worth living?
So, consider this your official invitation to attend the debacle in progress – the LIVE BLOG begins at 8:00 PM Eastern time on TUESDAY, AUGUST 28. Come by and watch me fall flat on my face!
Thank you to everyone for reading, following, commenting, and interacting with the Warchief here. I’ll respond to comments on this post (as well as on the About page) as myself, and then otherwise retreat behind my somewhat more temperamental alter ego.
Thanks as always,
Averry
(and Sawyer)
The Warchief's Command Board 
August 20, 2012 at 1:11 PM
I love the “omg what am i getting myself into” tag. XD
August 20, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Well, hey, again…this whole plan of mine has “Averry sets himself up for catastrophic public failure” written all over it.
August 20, 2012 at 3:54 PM
Will you be trying to follow what happens in game as well after realms come back up from the patch that day and the pre-launch event starts?
August 20, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Not immediately. Obviously, the pre-launch events and MoP developments are going to make their way into the blog, but I’m planning to give myself a little lead time between the in-game releases and acknowledging those events in the blog. I’ll need time to play through the content (and, you know, actually enjoy it, rather than going in thinking “okay hurry up hurry up gotta get this done fast so I can go blog about it”), plus I feel like I should give myself a little time just to process things so I can come up with decent, not-completely-forced ideas.
Even with this live blog, I’m not assuming that the events of the post are going to line up time-wise with the events of the novel. They might, but we also don’t know how much of a time period the novel spans. I might link into some early event, or even do something prequel-ish as a lead-in, or…who knows. I’ll figure out what to do and how to fit it into the timeline of the blog once I see what I have to work with. And then, no doubt, turn that idea into a sprawling, overwritten mess. >.>
August 20, 2012 at 6:39 PM
Makes sense since the pre-launch event will be going on nearly a month anyways. I look forward to see what you come up with next week.
August 20, 2012 at 9:42 PM
Let me just take this opportunity, since you’re out of character, to say how awesome the blog has been of late. Its been a bit hard to express that in the comments what with the time travel and all, but I’m quite excited to see where this goes.
Also, I’m curious to see how you’re able to handle the live-blogging. Golden has said this book has a lot of in-game content – enough that she had to work directly with the quest designers to make sure the events matched up. Whatever you wind up doing should be awesome.
August 20, 2012 at 11:07 PM
As far as the tie-in to the book and game content…I don’t know, we’ll just have to see what’s in the book exactly. I’m trying not to paint myself into any corners this early, although I will say it would be very unlikely that I’d play out the actual attack on Theramore this early. But maybe some plot threads that get us there…not sure. I’ve already been dropping in a few small details that will (hopefully) help set up the big kaboom.
And also, thanks very much for the compliment, Wookie; it’s very much appreciated. I know that, given the nature of the blog, some posts don’t really lend themselves to some comments. It’s the one down side that I wonder about at times, in fact — I rather enjoy putting together these semi-serious story arcs, but those are also the stories that tend not to invite comments…and so I’m never sure if people are enjoying those posts and just not commenting, or if they’re reading them and saying, “Get back to the funny stuff already! I came here for psycho!Mylune!”
August 20, 2012 at 11:56 PM
We need another blog about Psycho! Mylune! for uh… Mokvar…
August 21, 2012 at 2:39 AM
No spoilers, but I actually do have one more card up my sleeve for psycho!Mylune…stay tuned…
August 21, 2012 at 1:23 AM
I want to second Wookie’s comments – I love this blog, it is a fantastic read and I haven’t really found a good place to say it with the in character posts. You write a heck of an interesting story, and I look forward to seeing how it develops.
August 21, 2012 at 2:41 AM
Thanks very much, Jemmy. Hopefully there will be a post or two down the line that will give you an opening to chime in again.
August 21, 2012 at 8:48 AM
Yes, also falling in line with wookie and jemmy here!
I’m now reading your blog frequently since your first post (I think BBB has brought me here..)
AWESOME work, the funny parts as well as the more serious stuff. Earth Online chat protocols FTW! 😀
August 21, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Thanks, watchmegetgrown (though, whew, that was hard to type). I’m both amused and pleased that so many people seem to have embraced the whole Earth Online thing, which I originally just cooked up on a lark to give myself a way to throw in a few real-life-ish references. I never figured it would take on so much of a life of its own, but it’s really fun to play with.
August 21, 2012 at 12:42 PM
I love the blog, i never comment, cause im terrible at in charachter stuff. I am also tempted to say stuff like Glory to the Alliance 😦
August 21, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Thanks, Valerijana! But boy, are you lucky I’m staying out of character in my responses on this post. Otherwise I would have to go into all caps and start invoking the rule of F.Y.V.
August 25, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Same as above for me – fantastic story posts, even if I’m going cross-eyed trying to read the backwards writing. It’s been a long time since I read Vonnegut, but it’s superbly fitting for what appears to be going on.
BBB linked to you a while ago, and after reading about Mylune, I promptly went back to the first post and have been reading through in fits and starts ever since. I don’t even have an active subscription right now, but I’m thinking I definitely want to pick it back up before patch day (which had been my plan), and maybe reroll a new Horde lowbie to work on Loremaster with. I did the original Loremaster with my blue-side druid, and keep meaning to do red-side too, but somehow never got around to it. Now that Garrosh and company actually feel like (at least somewhat) sympathetic characters, it might really happen. 😉
Thank you for the time you’ve invested – Locks in Socks was brilliant, the transcripts are amazing, Mylune is a nutcase, D&U are comedy gold, and I could just go on – it’s made for a ton of fun to read.
August 25, 2012 at 3:46 PM
SSSSHHHH!!! I don’t think many people have figured out what’s up with the backwards writing yet!
Thanks very much, Inuki. It’s always great to hear that someone is enjoying the blog, and it always kind of amuses me to imagine that I’ve actually somehow made Garrosh somewhat sympathetic. (This is especially funny to me because I was one of those people who reacted with “Oh God no no no no NO NO NO” when I heard that Garrosh was going to become Warchief.)
Side note, both for you and anyone else out there: In case you do end up rolling a Horde lowbie, or feel like having an extra side character, feel free to drop by Kargath-US. I’ve been considering making a little screw-around guild for friends of blog-Garrosh, using my goblin shaman — on whom the blog character of Spazzle is loosely based. Shoot me a message in some form if you think you’d be interested!
(Side note to the side note: My shaman existed before I started the blog, so his name isn’ actually Spazzle. Eventually, though, I decided it would be fitting to name-change him…except that, apparently, that name is not available! How the hell do *I* not get to use the name “Spazzle”, dammit?!)
August 25, 2012 at 4:02 PM
I still say you should put in a ticket to try to get the name released, since it doesn’t even show up on the Armory. Worst they can do is say no.
August 25, 2012 at 4:06 PM
Oops, I didn’t mean to let the cat out of the bag! (The very first incident put me on the right track, though, if anyone else wants to piece it together…)
You’re welcome! I’m really looking forward to what happens next – the alternate reality is really well thought-out, and I love what-if AUs like that. I still don’t necessarily like the guy as a leader, or think he’s always right, but you’ve definitely made him easier to relate to.
Kargath, hmm? I’ll remember that. 🙂 You’ll have to tell us the name of the guild, or at least the name of a contact character, though, since it’s not Spazzle (yet?). 😛
August 25, 2012 at 7:28 PM
Well, you ARE dealing with someone who grew up reading “What If?” comics. (Along with, yeah, a whole lot of other comics. I swear I graduated to grown-up books eventually!)
As for the guild name…what else could it possibly be? “FYV”!
August 25, 2012 at 8:22 PM
Psst, Garrosh! I think Inuki meant a current guild on Kargath and a current contact person, not the guild you’re thinking about making. 😛
Hint to Inuki: Averry is the man behind the Warchief. Check out Averry@Kargath. 😉