So, this blog has gone a little quiet for a month or so. What have I been up to?
The chief suspect is Pirates of the Burning Sea. I got quite heavily into it, running the forum for my Nation, and currently chairing the Council of guilds. My addiction seems to be waning though, so we might see a bit more posting here in the future.
Far more importantly, I was lucky enough to get the chance to do a week of work experience in the newsroom of Radio Broadland. It was a massive learning experience for me, and the folks I was working with were wonderful.
Even better, they hired me the next week to do some filming and film-editing for their website. Nikki Fox and myself travelled down to Wembley with Lowestoft FC in preparation for their FA Vase final on the 11th of May. Neither of us had ever done anything like this before, so I think the results turned out quite well, especially considering the only video editor we had was Moviemaker! If you look really carefully, you can see my head reflected on the side of the coach, and yes, that is me waxing lyrical about the joys of bacon.
Not got any more work coming up there currently, but I’m hoping they’ll get desperate enough to call me eventually. I’m missing the place like crazy.
I was recently asked to write an RP report on the recent happenings in Pirates of the Burning Sea. Unfortunately, it turned out they were looking for a straight journalistic report, rather than anything too fancy. But in the interests on never wasting anything, I may as well post my first unfinished draft (the only draft there shall ever be, now) of it here.
Sir Robert Walpole,
His Majesty’s Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Kingdom of Great Britain,
First Lord of the Treasury
Sir,
I pray that this epistle finds you in good health, and enjoying your new role, and that the recent business with the South Sea company has not caused you any personal hardship. Myself, I was fortunate enough to have already moved all my financial stocks into the West Indias, though that was happenstance rather than any foresight on my part. In time I am sure that the economy of our Nation shall be revivified, and once again be the marvel of the modern age! Certainly, we shall never again fall into the trap of speculative “bubbles”.
For our part, here in Port Royal, we have scarcely even noticed the passing of the South Seas Company, bar the heavy financial blow the Mississippi Company took from it. The East India Company goes from strength to strength, and I would council it as a sound investment, at least until my own company becomes listed at Change Alley!
The French have finished the reconstruction of their local capital, Pointe-Ã -Pitre, and I am told it is a majestic sight indeed! With the finest gothic architecture transplanted from Europe, it may well become one of the most popular destinations for travellers and sight-seers. This will not do at all, and so I am pressing the East India Company for more funds for the rebuilding of Port Royal to an equal or greater splendour. It is a shame that our hands are bound by treaty, else we might well look to acquiring Pointe-Ã -Pitre for the crown.
The Astronomer Royal, Sir Isaac Newton, said recently, so the dispatches tell me, “that he could not calculate the madness of people”. If such a man as he cannot, then what chance your humble correspondant? The recent decision by your Parliament to return all captured holdings in the West Indias to Spain and France, has made many here wonder if the House has been paying the slightest attention to our struggles, the sacrifices in bone and oak, through which those ports had been won. I, of course, do not number amongst such people, and continue to be your most obedient servant, but I most surely hope that you gained the greatest of concessions in return, for the loss of those lands has placed us in a perilous place indeed.
As I write, a report lies beside my inkpot. In hurried hand, it tells of a rogue fleet of that most insolent of knaves, the false King William Kidd, which is harrassing our northern territories with newfound impertinence. Spain and France too, once again eye us hungrily. Their perfidy is immeasurable, and I expect, nay dread, the arrival of dispatches with news of their latest act of infamy. I beseech you to send whatever forces may be spared, that our flag may continue to fly over these lands for the greater glory of our illustrious Nation, and his most exceptional Majesty, King George.
God Save the King!
Arkenor Oakshadow, Chairman of the British Council of the West Indias.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — A sad day for fans of role-playing games: The man who co-created Dungeons & Dragons is dead.
Gary Gygax died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. His wife Gail says the 69-year-old had been suffering from health problems for several years.
Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.
It’s considered the grandfather of fantasy role-playing games and has inspired legions of adoring fans. Gygax’s wife says he always enjoyed hearing from them. – Associated Press
Here’s the great man at his best:
Goodbye Gary. The only time our lives directly intersected was that time you commented on that DDO related Youtube post I did (Sadly taken down by the authorities :( ), but you gave my generation the chance to use our imaginations in ways that had never been possible before. Your work will live on. I’ll be rolling some dice in your honour this Thursday, and my cleric will strike down evil in your memory.
There is an extremely good chance that I will be buying Pirates of the Burning Sea tomorrow, when it is released. I know I shouldn’t. I know I have better things to do with my time and money. But, but…
I continue to move stuff from my old site to this one! This is probably only going to be of interest to those who were involved, many years ago, and those interested to see how sometimes, having multiple characters can lead to unexpected results! It’s mostly just my log file of the event, with a bit of explanation.
A consise and accurate retelling of events by Dulcien; Scribe, Smith, and Bowyer to the Green Lodge.
This is an old old thing I wrote in the early days of UO. It’s a write-up of an ingame event I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for!
A rambling (and true!) account by Arkenor of Britain.
I had awakened early that morn. My arcane studies had been halted by the lack of reagents in the shops I frequent. This no doubt due to the bacon-fed coves who purchase in bulk only to sell at marked up prices from their stalls. It had occurred to me, while falling into Morpheus’ grasp the night before, that the old mage who lived in the secret valley nearby might be able to provide what I needed.
The Green Lodge took our first trip to Redwillow last night, and we were most impressed by it. Not least because of the sheer number of chests we found! It’s nice to come out in profit. We met our first giants. Meeting a new monster is always a cause for excitement for us, and we were right glad that half of us were dwarves.
While searching for a lever to open a chest I couldn’t pick, poor Jorreck, bane of all poisons, got solidly stuck behing a rock and had to recall. Later, when turning in the items we were questing for, we had a horrible time. We couldn’t find the research scrolls that we had most definitely picked up (but we weren’t sure by who), and so couldn’t continue with the quest. We must have spent 20 minutes searching for them, and poking the NPC. Finally our ingenious bard, Flere, realised that they must have been left behind the rock when Jorreck recalled out, and of course no-one had looked behind there for fear of getting stuck.
So hurrah, we managed to continue. It made me think about how quick we are to label things bugs, when sometimes it’s just misfortune, or not knowing (forgetting in our case) how the game-world works. Of course, getting stuck behind things (though thats the only time we can remember it happening), and chests that are unopenable, really are bugs.
We shall be returning, I am sure of that. While looking for details on the chest we couldn’t open I came upon a list of the rare loot that can be found in Redwillow, and I think we can find homes for all of it.
