Aeolius
Adventurer
When I recently mentioned my campaign, in the Greyhawk folder over at WebRPG, someone asked why I chose to use an undersea setting. While the lure of the sea is strong, for me, I find it difficult to explain that fascination to others. I did, however, take the opportunity to reflect upon my online gaming background. It made for an interesting timeline, at any rate.
Why did I choose to set a campaign not only in the World of Greyhawk, but also primarily underwater? Good question. My D&D experience having begun in 1980 or thereabouts, I'm a GH fan by default.
In January of 1995, a brief weekend campaign known as “Isle of the Unknown” (IoU) was born. It had been five years since I had finished college and one year since I had married. A high level adventure loosely based on "B1: In Search of the Unknown", the game was designed to rekindle the waning imaginations of the players and DM. There were but five of us that weekend and time passed all too quickly, leaving the adventure unfinished but the imaginations fueled.
Attempting to keep the campaign alive, though great distances separated many players from one another, I began to devise the means to run the game by alternate means. In February of 1995, I began investigating the possibility of playing AD&D by mail, fax, e-mail, and AOL. Alas, my efforts did not come to fruition.
In February of 1995, I became an online chat host for TSR. In May of 1995, I began a new campaign, “Into the Land of Black Ice” (LoBI), a message-based game in the RPG Forum of America Online. I moved the game to TSR’s message-boards on AOL shortly thereafter.
While both campaigns utilized the older First Edition AD&D rules, LoBI was meant to be diametrically opposed to IoU; an arctic clime instead of tropical, a frozen wasteland in place of the sea. Also, as the Land of Black Ice was uncharted territory, I could do as I pleased with the setting. While researching the region, I became enamored with both the "Mysterious Places" of GH.
It was at this time that I began my obsession with night hags, starting with Nigel Findley's "Ecology of the Greenhag" in DRAGON #125 (Sept '87). Xaetra, a night hag NPC, made her first appearance in LoBI in January of 1996, as the mother of one of the PCs (an alu-demon). As I began writing about hags, I discovered that Nigel had passed away eleven months earlier (2/19/95).
In September of 1997, TSR left AOL and established their own website, complete with chat-rooms and message-boards. The message-boards were delayed, in coming online, so I ran the game via e-mail for awhile. The TSR message-boards, an iChat program, proved to be slow and cumbersome. They crashed frequently, causing my players to complain.
In November or 1997, lobi.com was born. Having hastily researched web providers and the discussion groups made possible by MS FrontPage, I took my meager knowledge of web page design and made the next step; running my game on my own site. I started a second Message-Based Game, “Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor’Alq” (BPAA), in March of 1998.
Again, BPAA was meant to be an extreme opposite of my other campaign. I decided to use a second "Mysterious Place", the Pinnacles of Azor'alq, as the setting. Almost on a whim, I decided to set the game underwater. I had started keeping saltwater aquariums and my campaigns already had a reputation for being somewhat unorthodox, so it seemed a natural fit; the perfect amalgamation of my interests in writing, D&D, and marine aquaria.
In July of 1998, I left the TSR team. Their direction and focus seemed quite different than my own, at the time, plus I wanted to spend more time with my own games. In May of 2000, LoBI fell apart, mainly due to player disputes. A five year run for an online game was not too shabby, after all.
In November of 2000, I did something completely unpredictable, for a 1e AD&D diehard old-timer. I converted BPAA over to 3e D&D.
Now 2003 has arrived. BPAA will celebrate its five year anniversary this year, while my marriage will be celebrating its tenth. I now have 765 gallons in saltwater aquariums in my house. The background for BPAA, which began as a one page blurb, has grown to fifteen pages in length. Xaetra is still around, albeit as a spectral hag.
Feel free to peruse my recruiting notice for BPAA, at:
http://www.lobi.com/bpaa/recruit/
Or the campaign background at:
http://www.lobi.com/bpaa/background/
Why did I choose to set a campaign not only in the World of Greyhawk, but also primarily underwater? Good question. My D&D experience having begun in 1980 or thereabouts, I'm a GH fan by default.
In January of 1995, a brief weekend campaign known as “Isle of the Unknown” (IoU) was born. It had been five years since I had finished college and one year since I had married. A high level adventure loosely based on "B1: In Search of the Unknown", the game was designed to rekindle the waning imaginations of the players and DM. There were but five of us that weekend and time passed all too quickly, leaving the adventure unfinished but the imaginations fueled.
Attempting to keep the campaign alive, though great distances separated many players from one another, I began to devise the means to run the game by alternate means. In February of 1995, I began investigating the possibility of playing AD&D by mail, fax, e-mail, and AOL. Alas, my efforts did not come to fruition.
In February of 1995, I became an online chat host for TSR. In May of 1995, I began a new campaign, “Into the Land of Black Ice” (LoBI), a message-based game in the RPG Forum of America Online. I moved the game to TSR’s message-boards on AOL shortly thereafter.
While both campaigns utilized the older First Edition AD&D rules, LoBI was meant to be diametrically opposed to IoU; an arctic clime instead of tropical, a frozen wasteland in place of the sea. Also, as the Land of Black Ice was uncharted territory, I could do as I pleased with the setting. While researching the region, I became enamored with both the "Mysterious Places" of GH.
It was at this time that I began my obsession with night hags, starting with Nigel Findley's "Ecology of the Greenhag" in DRAGON #125 (Sept '87). Xaetra, a night hag NPC, made her first appearance in LoBI in January of 1996, as the mother of one of the PCs (an alu-demon). As I began writing about hags, I discovered that Nigel had passed away eleven months earlier (2/19/95).
In September of 1997, TSR left AOL and established their own website, complete with chat-rooms and message-boards. The message-boards were delayed, in coming online, so I ran the game via e-mail for awhile. The TSR message-boards, an iChat program, proved to be slow and cumbersome. They crashed frequently, causing my players to complain.
In November or 1997, lobi.com was born. Having hastily researched web providers and the discussion groups made possible by MS FrontPage, I took my meager knowledge of web page design and made the next step; running my game on my own site. I started a second Message-Based Game, “Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor’Alq” (BPAA), in March of 1998.
Again, BPAA was meant to be an extreme opposite of my other campaign. I decided to use a second "Mysterious Place", the Pinnacles of Azor'alq, as the setting. Almost on a whim, I decided to set the game underwater. I had started keeping saltwater aquariums and my campaigns already had a reputation for being somewhat unorthodox, so it seemed a natural fit; the perfect amalgamation of my interests in writing, D&D, and marine aquaria.
In July of 1998, I left the TSR team. Their direction and focus seemed quite different than my own, at the time, plus I wanted to spend more time with my own games. In May of 2000, LoBI fell apart, mainly due to player disputes. A five year run for an online game was not too shabby, after all.
In November of 2000, I did something completely unpredictable, for a 1e AD&D diehard old-timer. I converted BPAA over to 3e D&D.
Now 2003 has arrived. BPAA will celebrate its five year anniversary this year, while my marriage will be celebrating its tenth. I now have 765 gallons in saltwater aquariums in my house. The background for BPAA, which began as a one page blurb, has grown to fifteen pages in length. Xaetra is still around, albeit as a spectral hag.
Feel free to peruse my recruiting notice for BPAA, at:
http://www.lobi.com/bpaa/recruit/
Or the campaign background at:
http://www.lobi.com/bpaa/background/
