It's been an awfully long time since I communicated with anyone in the Mystara community, but now I finally find myself in the position to get back in touch, and I have to say it feels good. I've actually been lurking for a while now, but I can't hold off on making my presence known again any longer! :embarrass
I have so many questions and things to talk about with you guys, built up over the last five or six years. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
For those that don't know me, and as a recap for those who do: Hi.
My name is Thorfinn Tait. I hail from the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland, but these last five years I have been living in northern Japan. Since I last participated in discussions about Mystara, I have come a long way and changed rather a lot, I think: I graduated university, moved to Japan, and started work as an Assistant English Teacher, helping to teach our language to secondary school kids.That job ended, and I liked it enough here in Akita to stay on doing private work. The job and the pay aren't great, and to be honest I would probably be going home this year, but for one thing: since early last year I have been hopelessly in love with a lovely lass from one of the small towns where I used to work. ;) How things will proceed from here is anyone's guess, but in the meantime - I'm back!
I'm very happy and impressed to see that you all seem to have been busy during my long absence! The Vaults have burgeoned to an immense size, and every section feels more full than I remember it being. It's also very nice to see so many familiar names, although I noted the lack of some others. Can anyone fill me in on who is still around?
By the way, in case you were wondering: it seems I was slow in finding them, but the reason I am able to come back to Mystara now is the PDF files available from SVGames. I spent almost $200 stocking up on them while I was home at Christmas time, and despite their flaws, it's great to be able to access my collection when the actual books are 6000 miles away! Still, I was surprised to see there was so little in the way of an evaluation of them at the Vaults - maybe something I could help fix.
That's all for now. I'll be around, lurking, and working on my latest secret project. ;)
It's great to be back!
Welcome back! (we haven't met before)
By the way, in case you were wondering: it seems I was slow in finding them, but the reason I am able to come back to Mystara now is the PDF files available from SVGames. I spent almost $200 stocking up on them while I was home at Christmas time, and despite their flaws, it's great to be able to access my collection when the actual books are 6000 miles away! Still, I was surprised to see there was so little in the way of an evaluation of them at the Vaults - maybe something I could help fix.
We did have a discussion of X3 in this forum recently, but you're right. It would be cool to have more evaluation/reviews of the old classics. I am slowly using the old X, C and M series in my campaign and if I can find the time, I'll post some brief reviews over time.
Looking forward to hearing more about your secret project!
:-) Jesper
Hi.
It's been an awfully long time since I communicated with anyone in the Mystara community, but now I finally find myself in the position to get back in touch, and I have to say it feels good. I've actually been lurking for a while now, but I can't hold off on making my presence known again any longer! :embarrass
I have so many questions and things to talk about with you guys, built up over the last five or six years. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
For those that don't know me, and as a recap for those who do: Hi.
hey Thorf, welcoem back it's always good to have an old timer back with us again.
I'm very happy and impressed to see that you all seem to have been busy during my long absence! The Vaults have burgeoned to an immense size, and every section feels more full than I remember it being. It's also very nice to see so many familiar names, although I noted the lack of some others. Can anyone fill me in on who is still around?
yeah some othern people have similarly left the fold over the years too. Who are you wondering about in particular?
By the way, in case you were wondering: it seems I was slow in finding them, but the reason I am able to come back to Mystara now is the PDF files available from SVGames. I spent almost $200 stocking up on them while I was home at Christmas time, and despite their flaws, it's great to be able to access my collection when the actual books are 6000 miles away! Still, I was surprised to see there was so little in the way of an evaluation of them at the Vaults - maybe something I could help fix.
yep, always appreciated Thorf
Don't know if you have yet, but you might want to check in with the listers as well. Many (most?) of them don't frequent here regularly, unfortunately, but a lot of the people you might remember still post there.
Like Shawn said, if you have any specific questions or anything, ask away, and we'll try and catch you up to speed!
BTW, Japan? Wow. I've been thinking about teaching English there or in China for a long time now. Can't seem to work up the nerve to do it, though.
I went ahead and posted my message to the list too. I used to be one of those who frequented the list rather than the board, but since I started lurking again it seems there is more going on here.
About the current state of things... The people who I've been wondering about most are DM, Fabrizio, Herve and Geoff Gander. There are many others but their names don't come to mind right now. I'm sure some or all of them (you?) are still around, right?
Another question is what happened to Bruce Heard? Looking at his stuff at the Vault, it looks like he bowed out quite a few years back. And how about Ann Dupuis? Did we lose the links we had with them, or did they get too busy and move on or what?
Lastly, are the almanacs still going? Adding up the years I've been away, it doesn't seem that there has been one for each year, though I'm not surprised given the length of the last few. Wow! There's an absolute ton of reading for me to do to get caught up on that stuff. :D
I went ahead and posted my message to the list too. I used to be one of those who frequented the list rather than the board, but since I started lurking again it seems there is more going on here.
I'd generally agree, though it's hard to say for sure. It's definitely a slow time on the list at the moment.
For my part, though, I prefer the board- at least since they redid them- I guess it really isn't that much different from the list, but for some reason I prefer it.
About the current state of things... The people who I've been wondering about most are DM, Fabrizio, Herve and Geoff Gander. There are many others but their names don't come to mind right now. I'm sure some or all of them (you?) are still around, right?
Most of us. DM posts here and on the lists rather frequently- he has a really long thread running here about the Complete List of Mystara Immortals.
Geoff is still moderating the list, and pops in occasionally. He and Herve are still doing the almanac thing, though it's slowed down quite a bit (if you still want to help out with it, I'm sure they'd appreciate it).
Not sure what Fabrizio is up to these days; he's been gone from the list for quite a few years now. As has Daniel Boise. James "Mystaros" Mishler has popped up again on both list and the boards here after a bit of an absence; he's also currently playtesting a Hackmaster version of Mystara and posting about it on the Kenzer boards. Havard is still here, and a frequent contributor of both lists, as is Shawn. Aaron Nowack is also posting on the MML again, and has just recently produced a quite detailed history of Darokin- though I'm anxiously awaiting the next part of that timeline.
That's all I can think of, offhand that you might remember. Of course, lots of new faces around here as well!
Another question is what happened to Bruce Heard? Looking at his stuff at the Vault, it looks like he bowed out quite a few years back. And how about Ann Dupuis? Did we lose the links we had with them, or did they get too busy and move on or what?
I believe Ann Dupuis is still busy with Grey Ghost games- though I'm not sure. Bruce Heard hasn't been heard of in years- not since around the time TSR/Wizards moved to Seattle and he chose to remain in the Lake Geneva area. I recall seeing a post from him around the time of 3rd Edition where he was inquiring about something... some game related article he was working on (tortles, maybe?) but that was a long time ago.
Frank Mentzer posts occasionally on the Pied Piper forums, or at least did for a bit. I'm sure he could answer some Mystara questions if anyone had any.
Lastly, are the almanacs still going? Adding up the years I've been away, it doesn't seem that there has been one for each year, though I'm not surprised given the length of the last few.
Yeah- the almanac output has slowed down quite a bit, but as you note, the amount of content has gone up substantially. I haven't been much of a contributor since the 1017 almanac- only did some stat conversions and things for the 1018 one- and a lot of other people have sort of slowed or stopped working on them. They are still working, just not as quickly as before.
Anyway, hope this helps catch you up a bit.
Sounds like introductions are not a bad idea; my name is Sheldon Morris and I live in Ontario, Canada. I'm looking forward to you're "latest secret project" ;) .
Shame about Bruce Heard, though. I basically consider his word to be law when it comes to Mystara; I guess I would say he's the godfather of the world of Mystara. Everything he wrote was like a new fragment of a missing Gazetteer.
Ah well, I guess he might pop in and say hi again someday.
By the way, Sheldon, Jesper - nice to meet you both.
And more on my secret project soon... Seeing some of the work that's gone on while I was away, I think it might not be as revolutionary as I had hoped, but I've been working on it on and off for years, so I'll stick at it. ;)