LOG ON

The Platinum Dragons Archives

Intro from The Jericho: This is turns 1-10 of our first fledgling attempts to play by email. The module is from Dungeon Magazine and is titled "A Wizard's Fate." I don't remember which issue it is from, sorry.

Send your turn to me only. Later some conversations may be done with open mailing, but I want to start simple. This is your opportunity to introduce your character and begin conversing. You may say several things directed at the other three in the room, or try anything else you want to do. Say as much or as little as you want.

It was necessary to give a basic description of your character so the others could begin responding to him. Feel free to add more or correct things as the others examine you in greater detail.

Turn is due Monday at 10:00pm est. I'll sent out a turn at that point. If I receive everyone's first turn before then, I'll consider sending the turn out early.

Please send me the spell(s) you wish to have memorized at the start if any.

Let's work on getting to know each other better. Feel free to start email correspondences with each other. I encourage it. No gaming strategy, but you may talk about how cool it was when the dragon carried off JK's character during the second turn... Did I say that?

I hope you enjoy the turn,

Jericho

Wow, was this a long one!!! Sorry for the late turn. David was a day late with his and John wrote a novel.......hehe ask him. Maybe he will sell you a copy. You can see how this can get long real quick. We may need to work on that.

We have another player....Kevin Wimberly, Kirk's brother, who is an ex-player with the group. He is experienced in gaming and will fit right in. That gives us 7. Which means we will be splitting the group at the appropriate time. What are your opinions on that? For me, it begins to border on more than I can do. We could have both groups do the same adventure. We could have JK DM one group. Or, if you insist, I can struggle along. Don't forget that I also have a live game every Sunday night and they expect me to be ready for it as well. Ahh, what to do? Suggestions?

I do suggest that you email each other from time to time and get to know the ones you don't know. That is a purpose of this yaknow....keeping our friendships intact.

For my part, this has been a busy week. I'm fighting off an allergy infection/flu/cold type thing which I've had for over two weeks now. We're busy giving even more practice TAAS tests to the kids at school. I've got sixth graders writing notes about the best kinds of condoms to use and whether bi-sexuality is wrong. Needless to say, my stress level has been high. Life continues to be interesting and doing this with you guys, for now is a joy and not another burden.

Due date for the next turn is Friday, at 10:00pm CT.

Looking forward to your turn.

Jericho

Hey guys!

If you want to speak to a person in a private conversation....just turn it in as part of the turn. Say what your character is doing and how he is trying going about it. Then run the conversation in the same way. Send the turn in to me and I'll pass it on to the right people.

Remember that your turn has to fit within a whole. Look at the last two turns and how they have looked. Use them as a guide when doing your turn. The turns are long enough right now, and a couple are perhaps a little too long.

Reason for delay of this turn: David did the "novel" thing stating his thoughts and motivations without actually stating what he was doing. Tim was late with his turn, because AOL has been flooded with multitudes of people trying out the new pricing scheme.

Next turn due Tues. night at 10:00pm CT.

John.....Mom, dad, and I are going to see Rita and Andy and will pass thru either on the 25th or 26th. Probably the latter. If you are in town and want to meet for a meal or something we can try.

David had a car wreck this week. Everyone is fine. Matthew has a bruise on his head. Keep them in your prayers.

Jericho

JK writes: I'll try to write to start writing this so it works better for cutting and pasting. ie no 1st person in the narrative.

Jerry says: This is a good way to describe what I want. Thanks JK.

John writes: Jerry, why Jericho? Any deep meaning?

John is referring to my signing the last turn with my handle. John, not that I know of.....however the fates could decide different.

I didn't receive turns from David and Tim. Guys if you get busy, just send something short or even email us and say you need to drop out for a week cause you're sick and backed up at work and home....etc. We're depending on each other to have fun here so get them in on time...

If anyone feels that a two day turnaround is too fast let me know. I'm not going to make any turns due on a weekend so that those doing their turns at work are not inconvenienced. If that's not necessary let me know.

We are quickly getting into the module so if you have not turned in your combat squares to me, I get to decide if you hit or not by whether I want you to or not...hehe. I think you know what I'll decide....hehe.

I'm planning on going up to Colorado to see the sister the 26th - 31st. I am planning on taking the laptop from school so I can still host and keep up with my online job. That means that the game should not be affected. Let me know when you will be out of touch with a computer during the holidays and we'll work our way around it.

Attached is a sound bite for your amusement.

Jericho (Muhahaha)

Much better turns this time kids! I didn't have to change nary a thing.

Oh, Hello Tim! Out there wherever you are! We're like missing you. I went by your parents house as per your request. It was before school and no lights were on so I didn't ring the bell, but left a note. If you're having online problems, please call me and let us know of the problem.

Kids, missing turns will affect your experience. It will affect it less if you let us know you are gonna miss some turns.

Next turn is due Saturday night at 10CT. Since everyone has a working home address, I don't see a problem with the weekend due date. If you need more time, just send a note. Oh, but then you could have just done your turn in the same amount of time.....hehe.

Jerry

Kevin, please go ahead and give us a little discourse or a progression of conversation so that we can move on after this turn. No use spending a week to get a new character into the group. :)

David and John have both experienced email problems over the weekend. I was busy myself. For these reasons, mainly the third, this turn is late. Expect more of the same throughout the holidays. :) Still no word from Tim. I'll role-play his exit soon with the possibility of re-entering the game should he resurface. (Hi Tim)

Next turn due Wed. 12/18 at 10CT.

Jerry

Sorry once again for the late turn.

Tim hopefully will rejoin us with this next turn.

Everyone meet Kevin who is playing Gideon, assuming he is accepted... hehe.

John dropped by our D&D game Sunday night and it was good to see him. He caught us not playing for once. I wasn't in the mood to DM after Granny's passing two hours earlier so we just goofed off.

This turn is due on Wed. at 10CT. I won't be upset though if it goes longer cause that is Xmas day.

Jerry

No turn from Kevin, John, or David. I know all have been busy and have heard from all three. :)

As far as adding new members, we will use the same rules as in the local game. Anyone may join the group as long as there are no objections from any current member. Should we have a "checking each other out period as we do in the local game" of four weeks before giving new players full status?

Next turn is due on Sunday at 10pm CT.

Jerry

Concerning our discussion on the size of the group and consequences thereof:

JK says: I think if we run two groups of four that they should be able to meet occasionally. Maybe have each group working on different parts of the same quest? Of course with the speed we're going at it might take a year until our paths cross again. Someone new is fine with me.

David says: Regardless of how the game is run, I have these preferences in no particular order of importance: 1) The group stays the same which I play in whether it be 4 or 8. 2) John and I are in the same group. 3) You DM the group I am in. Hope this helps. I'm easy on adding new players. I'll defer to your wisdom on that issue since you have more experience.

John says: Fine by me to include another person, you do most of the work (thanks again!).

Kids, we will therefore be adding Tom's character to the group just as soon as it passes muster with JK. (JK, will you send him a copy of the appropriate files to make a character? Thanks. Tim, also wanted another copy.)

Kevin has yet to get his turn in. Everyone write him and Kirk and yell and scream at them in a fun friendly sort of way.

Kevin! Get in gear!

Kirk! Ya gonna play or not!!!?

Tim is in the process of buying a computer of his own. He says he'll go inactive until about half way through January and then bring in a new different character. This brings me to my soapbox sermon #1. Develop characters you want to stick with! I'm letting Tim change characters this ONE time. It is not my policy, especially during the middle of a module. I expect all of you to stick with the one you have until 4th level when you may proposition me for a second character to play if you feel you must. This way we build characters who bond with each other as you each bond with your character. {Pass the collection plates now}

Tim, please roleplay your exit next turn or I will. :)

I waited this time until I had three players with turns in to proceed. In the future, I'll go ahead when possible. You see, this time if I had proceeded something nasty would have happened to the players that were active rather than the ones who hadn't sent in turns. If that situation arises again, it will be those who didn't send in a turn who will receive the nasty.

If you go out of town or will be inactive for a time, please let me know a set of dates. Remember that if you can't get online or send mail, you can always call me and leave your turn on the phone. At least you can leave a message saying what the problem is.

Next turn due Friday, 1/3 at 10:00CT that's 9MT for you John, and 8PT for you Tom/Tim.

Talk at you soon,

Jerry

Here are some comments from David: to respond to your 'probing': No problem with any of the scenarios you laid out. I'm not real intolerant or anything. Its just my major goal in doing this is to establish regular communication with you and John. As secondary issues I like stability in a game. I do not like constant changes in the group of players (i.e. here this week gone the next here again, etc.). It makes it too confusing and people make mistakes and false assumptions as to players ideas actions and such. In addition, I have no aversion to meeting new people but my primary interest lies in communicating with old friends. New friends are good but guys just out of high school can't really relate to life in the 'real world' yet and probably would like to be with guys their own age as good friends anyway. Although I imagine it would lend itself to opportunities to be a good influence and all that I'm interested in simplicity in my 'discretionary' time.

Those are my thoughts on the issue(s). I'll probably be happy with just about any scenario. Hope this helps.

I agree with David in that we need to strive for some stability. I'm therefore declaring that we will have groups of four. Others may adventure with this group of four until a second group of four forms. We'll proceed in this manner as a group of four is ideal for email gaming in my opinion.

Right now, I see three active players: JK, John, and David. They will be the first three to be in a group. The others of you have not been regular enough yet to be added as a permanent player to a permanent group. The race is on. I'm not gonna tos the others from playing. That's not the idea of online gaming. I'll keep on encouraging them. However, I'm not going to keep the active players waiting on players who may never become dependable either.

Dave, I don't know Tom yet, but everyone else in this group is way past high school. JK teaches at Midwestern while working on a masters degree. Tim is 26 or so and has experienced much of life. Kevin has been a marine and Kirk is a college graduate. JK and Kirk are both married. Everyone here is a close friend of mine and I hope that with time, you can all become friends with each other.

Dave continues: Sorry for the lapse in email. Will you still give your bonuses if we can prove we sent you our turn but it didn't get to you?

Yes, David I will. Also if you are using an internet provider and request it I'll send a quick reply when receiving email from you to let you know it got here. I'm assuming David would like me to do this.

John pontificates: Yea, Yea. We all know the real story with Tim's character. Kolath is just afraid to be near Jus and decided to turn yellow and run.

Kevin? Where are you?

Kirk, thanks for the note, but I've received no call yet to meet. You're a businessman! Take the initiative!

David, don't forget what your stats are in the area of Int. and Wis. Those are awful big words in your quotes. <G> I made an intel. check and oops you missed it.

(This is my official pick on David issue. Sounds like it huh? Dave, I Loooove you Maan!...and I did pick on some others too!)

And Um...JK? You failed a save as well. Go fig?

Attached is a simple drawing of the hill and everyone's position. The rings are the rings of the explosion. Most of the debris seem to lie in expanding rings of rubble. You can read it using "Paint"

The next turn due Sunday 1/5 at 10CT.

See everyone soon!

Jerry

p.s. If you don't hear from me anymore, it means Kirk actually rolled up a character and I had a heart attack as a result. :)

Intro. From The Jericho: We now seem to have the idea of how to word a turn so that the DM doesn't have to change much before running the turn. We're still playing somewhat sporadically. The characters are developing nicely with each one finding a niche within which to role-play.

Jerry says: I apologize to David for making a mistake on his intelligence.

Tom says: So that everyone knows, I am 26 years old, spend 2 years in Germany in the army, and a few months in Desert Storm. I have an associates in electronics engineering, and am working on my bachelors. (though I may not spell very well). Is that well enough out of High School?

Tim says: It's Tim Wybiral...learn to spell my last name correctly!!!!!! It's also Tacoma, not Takoma. And starting either next week or the week after, I will be having a new aol address.

Jerry says: Wybiral.....Got it. Or was that Winebarrel?

Next turn due Tues. Night. I'm sending this Mon. morning. As we played past 1AM last night. I still think we can make a Tue. Deadline.

Kevin expresses his regrets, but his work hours are not matching times that he can get access to his brother Kirk's computer so he apologizes and drops out for now. His dad is putting in a new modem at home within a month or so and hopes to be back on soon.

Remember, that "you" as characters are not required to accept anyone into your group of adventurers, if that is what we have yet. At the same time, remember that it takes time to develop a character as a player. You know your character and how he/she will react to certain things. Balance those two things and roleplay as you see fit. Those who roll up unusual characters are being told by JK and I that they run the risk of not being accepted at which point they are back to the drawing board to roll up a new character. However don't pick on the new guys. Is that enough to wash some mud over the whole issue? Good.

Enjoy the day,

Jerry

John says: I know, I know. This is only the second time it has happened, but...

I admit I have been ignoring my character's desire to refuse allowing characters to just walk in and join the group. I feel that any allowance of this role-playing, albeit appropriate, would keep us in the "Intro Turns" for even longer. It seems it would disruptive with e-mail every time someone comes in -- even without role-playing the questioning and acceptance of the new character.

I had made the personal "assumption" that Sir Gideon had some type of letter with Loren's seal which was recognizable to Nonam. I know that it circumvented "real" character reactions, but it also allowed play to continue uninhibited. If you would allow it, I would like to make the same type of assumption again. If not, please let me know and I will react to Korok's appearance in the next turn.

Jerry says: I agree John, and if you feel you can adventure with the new PC's as they come in, fine let's get it over with and move on. I've used the same reasoning for some of the things I've done so far. However, don't let a PC join up that you don't feel you can't live with. You were here first.

Gentlemen, as things stand now, we have a group of three. These three are a permanent group. Hopefully, Tom will complete this group with four people. At that point, we will work on getting a group of at least three to form a second group. These two groups may get together occasionally or work together on something if they want to. By having two separate groups, I can run the same adventures with both groups and at the end we can compare how each did.

Possible players for the second group could be: Tim (once he gets his own computer), Kevin (once he gets set up with a modem at his parents house), Anthony (once he saves up for a modem) [he does have the disk for the free Juno email software which Scott Carpenter is now using-he emailed me the other day], Kirk, if he ever gets around to rolling up a character, or anyone else who is recruited. We're not going to advertise on AOL or anything, but spread things by word of mouth. I have my doubts about some of the above as to when or if they will join....best intentions don't stack up against real life sometimes as you know. Feel free to recruit a friend if ya want.

Why do I have a feeling that Tim will be begging us to add a fifth sometime soon when most of the others wash out. (No cut to the others, of course. I looove all of you maaaan!)

Ya know, if we weren't friends, I couldn't jibe you guys or open up all these cans of worms, now could I?

I really feel privileged to get to play with your guys again. You too Tom. This is really bringing back memories and I hope creating new ones.

Thanks for everyone turning in their turns on time. Yippee!

Next turn due Thurs. 1/9 at 10pmCT.

Tom - Thanks for the welcome. I hope I can be a good addition to the game...do not fear, I do not start in games that I do not intend to continue playing (barring unfortunate circumstances of course).

John- Your last message came across moderately laced with garbage and was difficult to read. You doing anything different or did I just receive line-chatter?

Jerry- I did nothing different. I'm guessing it was line chatter.

John- What is the free Juno e-mail and does it have non-WF,TX dial-ups.

Jerry- It is a free email service paid for by advertisers. Instead of paying a monthly fee, you have to read advertisements in areas of your interests. Scott Carpenter is using it now and could make you a copy. Email him and ask him about it. Anthony has it as well, but hasn't used it yet. I'll ask him for a copy to send you so you can check it out. Local numbers are being added and they have a 800 number until then.

When desired, I have a few local friends that may be interested in playing. I was also thinking of contacting Sydney Deem in London. Any thoughts?

Jerry- I think it would be great to add Sydney. Guys, I played with Sydney and John in another campaign once. I don't think Sydney ever played in my campaign. He is a great guy and would fit in well. That would give us two in the second group. You are the best judge of your friends. Introduce them to us as you see fit.

Guys, also if someone ever wants to switch to the second group and has someone to take his place in the first group, we can do so if no one objects, but we want to keep movement to a minimum. I suppose, a player could play a character in both groups if he wanted to.

I'm adding Scott Carpenter to our mailing list (Hi Scott) to interest him in playing and so he can read the adventures for his amusement. Most of you know him as David's little brother. Hehe.

I'm selecting/writing the next adventure now and am open to any input as to things you would like to do and places you'd like to visit. This will make more sense when you get the maps and legends for the campaign. Possibilities....Lankhmar, The Floating City, Plateau City, Dirt City, The Underdark, Culverwood, The Scab, Orc hunting in Izen or the Red Hills, etc. Most of the usual plot lines are there. Tell me what you envision your character doing or becoming or wanting to do.

Next turn is due Saturday 1/11CT at 9:00pmCT (I'm changing the time to 9 so I can get the turn done earlier in the evening.

Have a great day,

Jerry

David says: I cannot open the map to look at it. It appears as garbage. You may need to mail me a copy.

Jerry says: Don't worry about it. All it contained was locations of the PC's on the hill just like I showed a couple of turns ago. The only thing I added to that was three concentric rings to represent the elevation in height. There's nothing there critical or even hinted at.

David says: I take it we're not going to see Star Trek?

Jerry says: I guess not. How about Star Wars the weekend of the 29th?

JK says: Where to go next? Maybe Culverwood? Not the part with Parnoth. The magic part. Or maybe one of the cities (Floating or Plateau)

Tom says: Hmmm...Orc hunting in the Izen, that would be interesting. That might give Korok the chance to gain fame and his people would hear about it too...."Korok Kill!"

Jerry says: I'm going to leave this totally up to you for now guys. However, the sooner you decide the better the adventure should be cause of the time factor. :)

Tom says: What information can I get about the Izen, so that I can figure out a little more about the area Korok and his tribe live in.

Jerry says: I'm working hard on getting a book maps made, some in color, of all the significant gaming areas including cities. When that comes out, Kinko's is doing it with Scott Marley's help (he's a current local player who works there) I'll tell you guys how much it took to get the copies done. I'm doing some of the copying myself and all the assembling so that the cost it less. Some of the maps need to be resized significantly and some just will not come out properly unless they remain in color. Are you guys willing to pay a bit for the map booklet? I don't think I can justify paying for all of them.

As I've mentioned before, my computer caught a nasty virus in October and we lost hundreds of files concerning the Wold. Most of it was in hard copy as well, so I type them back in as it becomes necessary. I"ll get a copy of the legend of Izen to you as soon as possible. I'm going to give your ideas to Scott Marley as they develop, because he has spent much effort lately in that area to develop it and has done a fantastic job.

Sorry about this being a day late. Sometimes real life takes over and fun has to wait. It's usually takes me from 30-45 minutes to run a turn.

Next turn due Tuesday 1/14, at 9CT.

See ya then,

Jerry

A note from Tim:

Jerry, Even though I did get my new computer I still don't have a phone line yet. The people I rent the garage apartment from won't let me install a new phone line into the garage. They are old and set in their ways. Tom said I could still send mail on his computer and I am going to chip in with the Aol bill so, can I get into the game again? I promise to be a good boy this time. Tim

Do you guys want to add a fifth player, Tim's second character or have him wait until a second group of four is formed? Input from all four of you please.

The next turn is due Thursday 1/16 at 9pmCT.

See ya soon,

Jerry

John says: Wherever to adventure is fine. Jus may tag along -- if he doesn't think it will be too boring.

Small cost is fine as well.

Let's try this again. This is what I sent last night for my response to turn 13 (or so I thought). Just use it for turn 14.

Jerry says: I'm not sure whether you sent in the same turn twice or I made a mistake so let's assume that I made a mistake. Sorry bout that. :)

David says: I'll be out of town Friday through Monday. I will be back at a PC either Monday night or Tuesday morning. I suspect I'll miss a turn. Gareth will continue searching and finding. f anything needs killing that's fine too....

Jerry says: No prob. Dave. Thanks for the notice. I'd love to kill off, I mean play your PC for a turn., but I think you'll be back in time.

Next turn is due Mon. 1/20.

Have a good weekend.

Jerry

The opinions of the group are in concerning adding another player at this point in time. Putting these comments together, I have come up with this decision which seems to be what the majority wants to happen. We will try to put together a second "group" of three or four players of which Tim will be the first. If we are successful, great! If not Tim, if he wishes, will reenter this game with his new character at the beginning of the next adventure. I hope that this keeps everyone happy.

We have these possibilities for additional players:

John has a few friends he's mentioned who might be interested. Go to it John!

Kirk and or Kevin may be ready soon to play. Tim, start putting on the pressure to them.

Scott Carpenter could be talked into playing. Tim, tell him me should explore the character of Korig III, the grandchild of Korig. That should get him interested.

Tim, I'm not leaving you to do everything. I'll contact them as well, plus they are being contacted by this writing as well as all except John's friends receive this already. If we get three we can begin.

Tim and Scott playing together? AAAUUUUGH!!!!!

Next turn due Thurs. 1/23.

Jerry

I forgot to respond about Tim, but the results are what I would prefer as well.

I will try to contact my friends (except Sidney) by this weekend.

Jerry Only -- By the way... Jus never really wanted to be a fighter, he prefers diplomacy, nature, and the beauty of magic-craft over arms. I know, I know, I'm letting my motives leak out again. At least this time you aren't getting a novel to describe them.

Sorry for the late turn. I've had difficulty getting online to AOL.

Next turn is due Friday, 1/24. John is going out of town and we're going to wait a day on him. :)

Tim has been located. He's back online. Tom, he called me several times over the weekend, but I was out each time :(.

Enjoy the day,

Jerry

Next turn due Tues. Night.

Enjoy.

Jerry

Jerry to Tom: Korok wanted something to do? Ok. <Evil Grin>

No response from John this turn. One suspects that Tina has him in training on how to be a better husband.

Next turn is due on Sat. 2/8.

Jerry

JK says: I'm thinking of playing around with the home page stuff. how's a woldian home page sound? I'll start reading about how to do it and we can figure out what kind of things to put on it. It might be a good way for the people we play with to get the maps instead of always having to mail them. Having a few scanned to disk at Kinko's probably isn't too much. Let me know your thoughts.

Jerry says: Sounds cool to me.

John says: What happened to Turn 17 and 18? And what do you mean no response from John? The last turn I received had a rock falling down a pile -- and I responded.

Due to the missing turn(s), I don't know what Nonam is standing in the center of; I assume it is a room behind the hole exposed by the falling rock.

John, how about you expanding on your novel you wrote the first turn and doing a "log" of our adventures in first person form? Only if you want to. I have the turns which makes a log of sorts.

Sure, send the logs and I will see what I can do (time allowing).

The AOL problem is beginning to be maddening. I have been checking mail almost every day and this is the first turn I have received since Turn 16.

Sorry John that you didn't receive the turns. I'll try to send them again. I've added your work address to the list. You should receive the turns at both addresses now.

I've heard nothing about any new players. John, recruit away. :)

Next turn due Monday 2/10.

See yall soon.

At this point we will go to initiative. There are 2 reasons for this. 1) Korok's fight & 2) the stone about to close off the passage. What this means for now is that you can all send 1 e-mail to everyone instead of just me (this should allow you to all be able to work together now that you need to). Whoever acts first gets the iniative. Keep in mind that you may do one thing in your message. Also keep in mind that whatever you do must be able to be accomplished in a minute or less.

Sorry this was late, but my computer has been down.

I hope everyone got what they wanted on this turn. I went with what you wrote and where you stated that you wished to end up. That was the purpose of the open conversation before this turn. So you could act as a group as JK so aptly put it.

Thanks a bunch to JK for running the last turn. My computer is up and running, but not well. I'm still getting lots of glitches. Had to reconfigure the printer driver tonight. Also the Microsoft Word will have to be reinstalled. No help features or spell checker. Did you do that David? Hehe.

David spend many hours trying last weekend to help me get up and going. I have a knack for creating computer problems Dave has to struggle with. Thanks Dave for everything!

I'm stating that the turn is due on Friday, but if I receive all four responses on one day for the next week or so, I'll do daily turns to try to get things back on schedule. No pressure of course.

See y'all soon!

Jerry

JK says: Well, it's not finished, but it's a good start. All I have done is our current group of heroes. But see how you like it. Oh this works better on netscape than it does on aol's browser - so if you don't have netscape I recommend going to keyword netscape and downloading version 3.0 for aol. but whatever you want to do.

Jerry says: It refers to our new Wold Internet site.

Jerry says: It looks great to me! I can't wait to see if we can put the maps there. All suggestions from you computer programmer type people are welcome as long as you compliment JK for a job well started.

In the meantime, I have the maps run of for your atlas of the Wold, I just need to finish the article that will go with it, put it in a folder and send it to you. So I guess I'm taking orders. Scott Marley, our resident Kinko's employee trainer did the color copies for free for a hamburger one day bringing memories of Jacob and Esau flashing through my brain. Send me your address and I'll send you the Atlas of the Wold in a couple of weeks.

John says: There may have been an omission. I received the below for Korok's response. It was only addressed to me, so I thought he was sending me a copy of what he sent to others. This did not seem to make it into the new Turn 23, so I thought it might never have made it to you. Considering what it contains, I thought it might change the results of the turn.

Jerry says: We have a rule for situations like this that states, No "After the fact" changes. I understand that Tom tried to send his turn to everyone, but it didn't go through. Sorry, Tom. I understand. However, "The Game must go on!"

Dave says: It's amazing the pain and suffering caused by crazy characters with infrared vision.

Dave also says: Did you get any answers from Storm Jerry about the DOS program problems? Hope so. I'll see what I can find out here.

Jerry says: Actually, I've had one busy week and haven't contacted them yet......bad Jerry. I was also afraid that is would put me down without a computer for a few more days...I'll get to it. :(

Kirk says that he wishes to be removed from the address list for now. He is just too busy with school, marriage and work. Sadly I reach for the Pencil of Erasing +1. You guys should do the same.

John says: hehehe, I love this...

Tom says: I was positive that I had sent the message ot everyone. I know the First message I sent, was to just you, since I have the belief the when a person is a long, there shouldn't be cross talk, so I took the action I did. When I got the messages with everyone yelling for me, I had sent the message that had gone to John, unfortunately, when I put everyone else in the CC section, AOL didn't seem to want to see it. Oh well, things like that happen, what can one do.

Jerry says: I understand Tom. I have a suggestion to put it from your mind. Go get Tim and rent Mario Bros. Watch it with him....He'll love it and you'll have done a great thing. Hehe. (very inside joke)

Next turn is due on Tuesday, however as before if everyone responds early, I'll do the turn early, assuming I have my computer and it's not in the shop. This turn was postponed because I didn't want to skip Tom after his not being able to get his turn through to me last time.

Everyone check out the site.

Jerry

JK says: Jerry, I think that now that we are separated that we should not be getting messages bout what the other group is doing. Your call though.

Jerry says: Yeah, I see your point, but it's taking enough time to put out the turn as it is. Everyone enjoy the actions of the other and just do your best to not to let what you read from the other location affect your actions.

The following is a conversation between David and John which lets you guys know what I always had to put up with concerning these two. They never quit bickering. It's like they were married to each other or something:

Only my elfs are painful to you... and my barbarians... and Togmahon...

Rexbard was definitely a straight fighter. Lindorie a quiet, never-in-trouble female cleric. Itoya Tovya a gruff dwarven fighter. And my mage (I forget his name) was much more a fighter with his spells (offensive all the way) than most -- I even remember a time he ran out of spells and pulled his dagger to go engage a dragon.

I think you've just been given the privilege to play with my more "spunky" characters.

JRK

Tom says: I have no problems with every day sessions, I am on here every night. Thanks for thinking of me though... [grin].

The next turn is due tomorrow by early evening if possible so I can get it sent out each day.

Enjoy the day.

Jerry

That's it for today.

Jerry

Hmm......this is getting easy: run turn, prepare to kill characters while separated, retire for the evening with the knowledge of a job well done.....Muhahaha!!!!

Second Hmm....JK 100 xp.

Till tomorrow,

Jerry

JK says: Speed is good. I like it.

John sends the strangest thing: Jus hesitates a moment before handing the note and book over to Nonam. "I'll go look at the cauldron", he says as he turns away.

When he is done examining the cauldron and its surroundings, Jus begins walking towards the remains of the tower base, looking around for anything interesting.

Jerry says: What cauldron? John are you imagining things again?

David says: What!!!! No xp for the rock thing???!!!!???

Jerry says: Sure! One per rock! Great idea Dave, creating a second barrier between the party and freedom. You were so upset that John and JK got a nice rock barrier that you had to have one too!....hehe. JK's was for roleplaying....we'll deal with the strategy stuff later. :) It wouldn't be proper to give XP for strategy until the strategy proves to be a good or bad one.

Jerry says: Be sure that you attempt only one rounds action each round according to the rules. Kill, maim, and have fun!

Jerry says: This Sat. Evening, I will be running an online game at AOL's Americon. TSR's online Gaming Convention. I'm one of the DM's in the RPGA module offering. JK, wanna help? Anthony is gonna help me here at the house, but I could definitely use a partner online. Let me know. It will require you prepping with me and would be nice if you had a macro program and we practiced a bit.

Jerry says: yes I did this in the middle of the night. Dedication. That's me.

Jerry says: Good roleplaying JK and John! Fantastic even. John. 100 xp. See yall later today. :)

Introduction from The Jericho: We experience our first death. The first encounter was the toughest in the module. Sometimes, however, the bear gets you. The module continues to linger on and on and on and on....

Since most of you in your many "I'll do this ifs" mentioned trying for a specific body part I should tell you about the Called Shot. A Called shot is to a body part such as leg, mouth, chest, etc. which is done at -4 to hit (a greater penalty is possible if required by the DM) which results in an injury that keeps the creature from attacking for 1 round. Disarming may also be accomplished in this manner.

If you roll (or in this case I roll for you) a 20, you get to roll to hit again and if successful do additional damage. A natural 20 is always a hit, no matter what.

If a 1 is rolled on an attack the weapon is dropped, bow pops a string, etc. with the result that the next attack is missed while the attacker recovers. During that time, no dex bonus applies to their AC.

All of this is in found in the Players Handbook, 2nd Edition.

Both David and JK rolled a one this round. I had JK attempt to hit AC 6 for a called shot to the belly....normally Mages have to hit AC10 for a magical attack that does not automatically hit an opponent. The result in JK's case was the the spell was off target missing the spider and luckily Gareth. In Gareth's case, his caused his sword to leave his hand. I rolled a 12 sided die for a scatter chart with 12 being the direction that Gareth was facing. I rolled 11 o'clock which put it on the stairs and in the path of JK's miscued spell. Just explaining things so you don't lynch me.

See ya tomorrow,

Jerry

David says: A 1!! 2 ones??!! uh huh ....

Jerry says: Yep, uh huh....

Tom says: We have a rule that says that if a archer wants to avoid taking the chance of hitting a compatriot that is closed with the archer's target, he should announce a called shot to avoid hitting friendly forces. The shot is made at -4, but there is no chance of hitting a friendly party.

Jerry says: So shall it be!

Jerry says: William Shatner is coming to town Sunday to the Wichita Falls 4th Annual Star Trek Festival. David, you're welcome to come use my extra ticket if ya wanna go with me.

See ya'll tomorrow.

Jerry

Well, that was fun.

Guys, just let me know when you need an extra day and we'll slow down for you. No problem. I understand too that doing a quick turn is almost as easy, though, as dropping a quick note saying you don't have time. So I'll try to use some judgment as well.

See yall tomorrow.

Jerry

David says: I am leaving town today and won't be able to read my mail again until Monday. Gareth fights with standard weapons and is glad to lead if someone wants to roleplay in my absence.

Jerry says: Tom, you listening? If'n you want take over David's turns till Monday. If I don't get a turn from you, no prob. I'll do it. :)

Jerry says: John, what was that executable you sent me? I thought I'd ask before running it. Knowing John, my computer would begin thinking it was the HAL9000 unless I make him a 20th level elven king.

Y'all have a good evening.

Jerry

JK says: Save vs. Poison or die from an invisible creature?? Ouch. Seems a little harsh for the 1st battle. Hey Tom, if it makes you feel better, I think Jerry is a big old mean person.

Jerry says: I agree. It wasn't intended as a first battle. It just happened that way.

Sorry this is a bit late. I was very tired last night and put it off until this morning. I hope it's early enough to get something back tonight, but no biggie if we wait until tomorrow. [smile]

David says: I'm back.

John says: Sorry for the 'late' response. The turn didn't arrive in my mailbox until this morning.

Hope my character's frankness in the last turn does not lead to a party breakup. My intent is not to create such a scenario; just to portray the character's discomfort with the, and his, situation.

Jerry says: Sorry for the late turn. It's been a tiring, busy few days. We're giving Standardized Tests to the kids and it's the end of the 9 week grading period and I'm averaging grades this week.

I've sent Tom's new character to JK for approval and should receive the go ahead on it soon.

I should receive your turns later today I hope.

Jerry

John says: Hmmm. The last and this turn seem to demonstrate one of the disadvantages of e-mail campaigns. The actions of the individuals don't mesh seamlessly. i.e. If others want to go to an inn instead of camp, or the fact both Nonam and Jus wanted to search the body. I guess we just have to be forgiving with the storyline.

Jerry says: Hmmm. The last turn seems to demonstrate one of the disadvantages of a human DM. He makes mistakes. Sorry John.

See ya'll tomorrow.

Tom says: "Her cloak comes open, (Jerry says, "What!") and you can see she wears a scimitar at her hip." What was the 'What?' for?

Jerry says: I was imagining a pretty blonde's cloak coming open... [EG]

John says: BTW: I've noticed the address you use is incorrect. Mayhap this is responsible for some of the problems that have occurred in the past. Haven't had any problems lately, just FYI.

Jerry says: Everyone update John's work email address please.

Jerry: What? No dumb blonde jokes? I bet you're all writing them down waiting to see how well she can wield that sword before you start in on her, right? Or are you feeling sympathy toward Tom and antipathy toward me for killing him? I seeee....

See yall tomorrow.

JK says: Using my foreknowledge of Tom's character to speed this up & to keep John from being the only one making all the long speeches ;)

John says: ... then there was evening; then morning; then we all woke up refreshed, alive, and ready to kill the dragons ...

Jerry says: That would be nice. Although what did the dragons do that deserves death?

John says: Once upon a time, a blonde became so sick of hearing blonde jokes that she had her hair cut and dyed brown. A few days later, as she was out driving around the countryside, she stopped her car to let a flock of sheep pass. Admiring the cute woolly creatures, she said to the shepherd, "If I can guess how many sheep you have, can I take one?" The shepherd, always the gentleman, said, "Sure!" The blonde thought for a moment and, for no discernible reason, said, "352." This being the correct number, the shepherd was, understandably, totally amazed, and exclaimed, "You're right! O.K., I'll keep to my end of the deal. Take your pick of my flock." The blonde carefully considered the entire flock and finally picked the one that was by far cuter and more playful than any of the others. When she was done, the shepherd turned to her and said, "O.K., now I have a proposition for you. If I can guess your true hair color, can I have my dog back?"

Jerry says: And there was evening and there was morning of the second day.

Jerry says: I'm working very hard this week on typing in the articles for the New Campaign Folder containing color maps. It looks to be about 100 pages long or so.

Please change your mailing list for Tim.

My whole mailing list follows for you to cut and paste:

Jerry says: JK would you prepare and send out rules for individual experience points please? And briefly explain Hero Points and how they work? Thanks.

Now that we have exited the dungeon and reached a point of reflection, I can hand out some experience.

Story Bonus Experience for all original characters: 500XP

Combat Experience: 650 / 4 = 163XP each for all original characters.

Hero Points: Noman gets 1 for standing over Korok's body while fighting.

Any more? Feel free to ask for them.

Since this is kinda late in the day, we'll say this turn is due Tomorrow. However, I'll check my email tonight and see if we can run a turn or not.

John says: To DDavid: Hope I bring back fond memories with the "Hey guys!" (i.e. Togmahon).

David says: ......Gareth dove under the spider thing to get his sword to continue the fight with only a daggar to fight with. He even grabbed it when it was burning hot. That should be worth something.

Jerry says: I agree. Hmm...Usually a heroic action in the past has involved the risking of yourself for others type of thing, however you could stretch it to say that you were doing this to try to save the party since you realized that this is quite a small group. Ok, I'll give one this time. Normally, I would give XP for this only. Job well done David.

Tom says: Two blondes were walking through the forest, when they came across some tracks. The first blond says "I kknow what type of tracks these are. They're bear tracks."

The other blonde shakes her head. "NO, those are deer tracks."

They begin to argue. "Bear Tracks! Deer Tracks!"

They continue to argue. A few minutes go by, and the two blondes are hit by the train, ending the argument.

Jerry says: Tom, I need a list of spells memorized. I would highly suggest that you move some Ability Scores around and up your Wisdom score to an 17 or 18 because of the bonus spells you receive. (Check under Wisdom in the front of the PHB2.) According to house rules, you may memorize spells outside of your allowed areas if you can provide your god with why you need them. Since this group has no Cleric of any kind, I would allow you to carry CLWounds. The party needs you to carry around 2 CLW's plus one of something else. This is just a suggestion, of course.

Jerry says: Chala receives 200 xp for her exceptional entrance.

Tom says: Is that a interesting way to say I am a Druid?

Jerry says: I love it!!!

JK: I'll send out the stuff you asked about soon, but things are still hectic for me so it might be Sat or Sun

John says: How about Jus' exceptional empathy for the state of Gareth's concern for him. Jus was willing to give up the excitement of exploring the remainder of the tower to ease the burden on Gareth's mind. Instead he told Nonam the scroll should be used to move the stone so they could join the rest of the party. ;-)

Jerry says nothing.

Jerry says: Sorry about the long delay. I was trying to configure my modem to the Windows 95 to play Civilization online and goofed something up. The result is that I'm logging on at 33,??? rather than 28,000 BPS and have the 56,??? upgrade ordered. The Sportster modem people were very good with their tech help. The most friendly I've ever encountered. They actually called back the next day (today), after we got it fixed (yesterday late) to see if everything was still running. They also conferred with AOL about my problem to see that their techs added the scenario to their database. Very Nice.

By Standard rules, only Priests receive bonus spells, and that is why her Wis is low. The other reason is because most of her abilities are at a minimums (Dex is high so she is harder to hit. I can move one point from CON to WIS and 1 point from INT to WIS, giving her two extra 1st level spells.

To what spells she has memorize, I shall go with 2 Cure Light Wounds, 1 Faerie Fire. (The healing sphere one of the accessible spheres for druids.)

Included is a new character sheet.

Jerry says: JK is going out of town until Sat or so to present a paper at a conference that he wrote. We wish him good luck.

Jerry says: JK also just moved into a new house, so congratulations JK.

Tom says: Got a suggestion all. We might want to talk about thinks before we leap, literally. Two people take a leap before even conferring with everyone else before they get any more information about the trap, not a smart way to go...that just a suggestion. I know that there are times when we wont be able to confer about what is going on, like in a fight, or when fleeing, but when we are trying to figure something out, wouldn't it be smart to try to get ideas before jumping?

Jerry says: Anytime you guys feel you need to open up the game to email each other before a turn, for now I'll say go ahead. Just send me a copy. Tom, I understand where you are coming from...the group never actually ever said, "Sure you can join. Come on," or something. Perhaps Nonam took care of that this turn?

I'm finished with all the typing for the Campaign Folder. I still like inking in the Silver Eel Tavern, the one tavern I'm including because of it's importance in any Lankhmarian adventure and preparing it for the folder. After that, I need to prepare the districts of Plateau City and Double check all the locations to see that everything is properly labeled. Then I'm waiting for Scott to run off several more maps in color such as Windhorn Hamlet and Aisildur and then I'll be done. If all goes according to plan, I'll be finished with my part tomorrow or Friday, and should receive the color maps from Scott at the gaming session on Sunday. Then next week, I'll work on assembling the folders and perhaps by next weekend I'll have them in the mail.

I've spent approximately $20 on these folders in their entirety running copies, etc. Scott has donated at least that much to us out of the kindness of his heart. If everyone could see fit to send from $5 to $10 to help cover expenses it would be appreciated. If you can't, I'll understand. If you want to wait until you receive the Campaign Folder, that's cool. If you don't feel you can't help, let me know and I won't mention it anymore.

Tom says: I know, but it is still good practice to get ideas before one just does something, it tends to keep you alive longer. ;)

Jerry says: Yes, living is a good thing.

Jerry says: A little paranoia is also a good thing....hmm?

John says: Hey everyone! Guess what I learned today.... There is a neat, thin column to the right of the messages which sometimes indicates there is more text to read. And when you press the nifty down arrow, new text magically appears!!! WOW! Technology sure is cool (and boy do I feel dumb).

JK says: Jerry wrote <<JK is going out of town until Sat or so to present a paper at a conference that he wrote>> I wrote a conference??? -just giving you a hard time

The conference went well and more importantly my paper was received well. Though it was hardly a big deal... more like a degree requirement.

Tom says: Or, if you use Microsoft's e-mail, it has a scroll indicator on the side. like you said, Technology, ain't neat.

Jerry says: Glad you're back JK and David.

See yall tomorrow.

JK says: Is the statue of a "horned bipedal creature" as described in turn 46 or of a "non-descript human dressed as a guard." as described in turn 47. Maybe a viking? Does it carry weapons? if so what kind? a shield? is it male or female? Just what does the statue look like? A "nondescript human" :(

Jerry says: You have a point. Let's go with a horned bipedal creature pointing at you with one cruel finger and a stony visage bearing a menacing grin. Sorry about that last description. Geez I can't get away with anything...

John says: Been laid up sick. Unable to respond earlier.

Jerry says: No problem, John. I knew that if it wasn't an email problem that something was up.

Tom says: Must be AOL, cause I haven't received anything saying that mail wasn't received.

Jerry says: I did a good thing today. I decided not to go to the U2 concert. I know it would be fantastic and a lifetime experience, but at 400 bucks a shot and needing two tickets, I couldn't justify it. Of course I could have "wimped out" and bought a seat farther back for a cheaper price, but if you can't see the faces, what's different than the video when it comes out? Or the live CD for that matter? Anthony and Erin of the local group are going and he is making fun of me only being willing to sit up close. Everyone please tell me I did the right thing. Thanks. Besides Yes has a new album coming out this summer and should tour.

Jerry says: Please remove Scott Carpenter from your mailing string. Scott (David's brother) is moving back to Wichita Falls for awhile since his chaplaincy is completed in Houston. He's gonna stay here while he searches for a job to do him till he's accepted into med school. He said to thank everyone for letting him read the turns.

Jerry says: We all understand when someone gets sick, or real busy. We all do. When a turn or two is missed and we don't hear from you, first I think to check that I got any turn you sent, because that does happen. Second, I begin to think that you are sick or extremely busy and move ahead. No problem. I'll probably call, though, if I don't hear from you for 3 or more days just to see if you're ok. :) Remember, if anyone ever needs to take off for a week or so, just to let us know. So far, everyone has been very dependable and loyal.

See ya'll tomorrow.

John says: I'm still sick. If I miss a day, feel free to play the character if it helps keep things going. my responses are going to be small until I am alive again.

David says: Leaving for Chicago at 4AM! (Oh joy) I should still be able to check e-mail so expect my turn.

Jerry says: John, I hope you're feeling better.

Jerry says: I'm just thinking out loud, but we could try opening things up a bit allowing you to post as many moves as you want in a day making things seem more like a fluid type real time thing rather than a turn based game. This would allow conversations to take place. It would possibly make things less of a problem if someone got busy, sick, or needed to go out of town, etc. to continue without him.

Now shoot this to pieces guys and tell me what you think. I played in a game that was kinda like this for a few weeks and hated it because some people had conversations about nothing for days, while others went ahead one night just sitting at their computers and doing turn after turn waiting for the return. That was the problem I saw. This group also had 8 players which I thought was too many for this type game.

Well now you have some background as to why I've run the game as I have. I'm always open to ideas as to how to make the game better and more fun. Speak up guys!

David says: Greetings from the windy city. Hope you all are warmer than I. It is in the 20s with a 40 MPH wind. Don't you just wish you were here! I'll be coming home Thursday afternoon or late morning. Lake Michigan is pretty cool.

Tom says: I think you should keep it at the pace you are right now...one of the things I see going on already is that everyone seems to spread out and do their own thing, and that causes more problems than we need with traps, and getting separated. Everyone has been checking bodies and room with out the thought of any danger. One person does this, another does that, and etc...and look what happened someone died....and people were separated. I know it is a little slower, but it keeps everyone together.

JK says: This sounds like the way it should work to me. And as Jerry can tell you, I've said so before. I mean it makes since to need to know what other people in the party are doing before you act. You would in a regular game as you all know.

We might set a limit on turns per day to cut back on the problems Jerry experienced in the other game, but I think we should at least send our turns out to everyone in the group.

Jerry says: I see both sides. Let's keep discussing this and see what we can do if anything to improve our game.

Jerry says: David, I loaded in a new program that runs on the Direct X drivers that some of the other new games run on. I already have Direct X installed. When I tried to install the game it stalled. Tried several times with the same results. So I thought I'd try and reinstall the Direct X over the old one thinking that perhaps this was a more updated version of the driver. It loaded fine. Then it said it would reload windows to activate everything. When the windows popped up I got a message that the Video or video adapter settings were off. I went to the video settings and can't get it to work. I can't set things for 236 colors at all or for small fonts. All I can get is VGA settings at 15 colors and large fonts. Needless to say, many of the programs I have won't run on that. So are you be available to help me this weekend? Or should I take it to the shop? I'll understand if you don't have the time. Or if you get some time in Chicago, call me if you think we can fix it that way.....:)

(Tom and JK, I know I've opened the can of worms now. David and JK will type computer gibberish at us now until my computer is fixed.....hehe.)

Till tomorrow and hoping that I don't get hypnotized reading this large Big Chief Tablet sized text....

Jerry

I happen to like the 'everyone responds to everyone' format. The short time we did it when in combat, things seemed to flow very smoothly. It allowed more coordinated effort in the turn.

HOWEVER, the end-goal during combat is predefined. If this format was continued for all turns, it seems the first to respond may dictate the course (or end-goal) of everyone's actions. Not necessarily worse than what occurs now; but with Jerry being the focal, he has been able to coordinate some of the divergent actions (i.e. If x happens, Jus does y). I could also see a danger in some people (i.e. probably me) responding only 1-2 times per day, and others responding many times per day. This may result in a lopsided play environment where two are 'playing' and the remaining are 'participating'.

Even so... I still enjoyed the 'realism' associated with the everyone-to-everyone messaging. We may need to eventually schedule who >talks in what order, but I would not mind trying it.

Jerry says: Good points John. In combat, I've been actually rolling an initiative with speed factors etc. In non-combat, I've been going with the order I receive it modified by the order in which it seems to make the most sense.

Hmm.....what about designating a difference between a formal "I'm doing this" turn and conversation where the group can discuss what they are doing, the facts of life, religion, who wants to date Chala, etc. We could then put a limit of one "turn" per day, with unlimited conversation that wasn't an actual turn. What do you think?

Jerry says: The computer is fixed after a $92.00 trip to the computer doctor. I bought a new baseball game and it was a bad and corrupted disk. Bad disk. It ruined all my video drivers and two of my other drivers.

JK says: Jerry, how come so many bad things happen to your computer?

Jerry says: It hates me.

JK says: One quick note on the turn discussion: We could still keep it at one response per day, but we could send it to everyone. We could also establish some type of rotating turn order. This would solve the need to send Jerry messages that read like this "If ... then I will..., but if not then.... However, if on the other hand..."

Jerry: Going in turns would slow things down too much. Example: John can't do his turn until Tom is finished. That's too inconvenient. The order of turns will have to stay in my domain as the DM to decide.

I'm also concerned about sending every message to everyone. Actions must be addressed to me cause I'm responsible for the reactions to those actions. If we sent non-combat actions to everyone, someone could, but wouldn't have to react to another's turn. That seems ok. Reacting could save time, in that if the action was received before one's own turn was sent in, they could coordinate their actions, so to speak.

Since combat is supposed to be somewhat simultaneous, we will have to leave it the same, only to me and one round's action per turn. To do otherwise would slow things down too much.

Tom says: Should we start sending messages to each other, I have only been replying to you. Are we going to go to a free style, I do kind of like the idea of the one actual turn a day, with 'unlimited' amounts of talking to determine what we will all do.

Jerry says: Right now, we're just discussing it. I'm not one to go off shooting at the hip to try something. I like to have an idea of how it will work first. Once we've settled on something and agree, we'll talk about trying it.

Let the turning begin....or we can just talk about it for awhile.

I'm sending you a copy of the email I received from RPGA headquarters today. Surprise.

JK says: Who woulda thunk it? WotC buying TSR? Seems funny that the new company can afford the old company (even with TSR's financial problems). But that's what happens I suppose.

Kevin says: Hey Jerry, sorry for the trouble, but my sceen-name is now changed. I was on Kirk's account, but now have my own account. Thanks, Kev'

John says: Is everything OK? Haven't heard from you in a while, and the last turn did not seem to include the paragraphs I had sent (included some other that I did not send).

I am wondering if you are receiving from me or even sending turns that are just not getting through. I haven't checked my home e-mail in a couple of days, but will try to check tonight.

Jerry says: The last turn went out like Saturday. I've been very busy getting ready for TAAS testing. You wouldn't believe how big it is now. It's even going to be tied to our evaluations next year. Sheesh. You as of tonight, have everything I've received back to you.

John and David: What Virus Protection do you use? How do you upgrade? How often?

David says: I use McAfee Anti virus software. They have a web site which is updated at least monthly that you can download from for updates. Your best defense against viruses is to only load proprietary software, DON'T USE SHAREWARE PERIOD (Unless you just love getting your system rebuilt)!, and keep your Anti virus updated regularly. Don't open junk mail in your email, don't download frivolously from the Internet, don't copy from disks copied from other systems. Hope this helps..

Jerry says: That's good and bad to hear. I have McAfee as well, however, their web site is very confusing to me as is their upgrading instructions. Since the crash, I need to download a complete version and the upgrade. I've been putting it off because I've never truly understood their site and always wonder if I have the latest version and stuff.

John says: So was I late for a turn, or what? Why did two of my turn replies show up in the last turn?

Jerry says: No, methinks I was late for a turn this time.

John says: My home mail is having problems again. Don't expect replies to mail sent only to my home address until Microsoft works out whatever problem they are having.

If anyone received my reply about the psionics, please forward it to Jerry. For some reason he received an empty mail message.

David says: McAfee' web site is indeed interesting. I haven't looked at it in a few months. I'll look at it and give you instructions in the next couple of days.

Jerry says: Thanks Dave. I need the latest full version and info on how to upgrade. I am registered for one year of online upgrades. Uh, while we're at it....which decompression program do you use. Winzip was the @#$% program that ruined my computer in October. I've heard that Pkzip is a good one. What do you think. I could download winzip again cause I'm registered with them. I need one of these to uncompress stuff from time to time.

*Jerry says: I have recently been reminded of a rule on PHB2 p.108 which says that scroll containing wizard spells must be read using the Read Magic spell the first time it is read. I realize I set precedent last time by allowing all to read the title of the earlier scroll. So I'm just serving notice that next time, I'll just say it's indecipherable until that occurs. As far as I can tell, this is only for wizard scrolls, not clerical.

Tom says: Yah, seen Tim, he's got a job at Rent-for-own place, and he has been subbing for Clover park. He says hi btw.

Jerry says: Tell him hi back.

Jerry says: I don't know why I reverted to turn 37 and 38. I'm assuming you guys saw past my ignorance.

JK says: Uh, I never said that Nonam took the scroll. Turn 37 read "Jus tries to determine if the objects are harmless by checking for traps and then reaches inside to pull the objects out."

Thus I was asking Jus what the scroll said with my last response and not investigating it myself. So as far as this statement goes: "Jus looks the scroll over and sees if he can make heads or tails of it. (Jerry says: this assumes that Nonam offers it to him. I'm assuming that he is willing. Let me know if he is not. )" I don't see that Nonam has any say in the matter since Jus already had it. Though it is entirely likely that had Nonam picked it up first that he would have been very suspicious of Jus's motives in wanting a magical scroll.

Jerry says: "reaches inside to pull the objects out" means "reaches inside to pull the objects out. Thus you pulled the objects out, then Jus asked for them, then gave them back to you. That is how it will stand. :)

Jerry says: Since no one has commented on our discussion about how to open the game up a bit, I'm assuming it's over. Therefore starting now, you may have extended discussions "in character" about the game. If you are by yourselves it can be private, if you are with the group, send it to everyone who would hear it. All emails concerning the game must be sent to me. We will continue to send in one turn per day. Please designate which is your formal turn.

Something else to try. During non-combat situations, you may send more than one thing you want to do or say. I think we all agree that the game is too slow for our liking. Feel free to push ahead. Danger is what adventuring is all about. Revel in it. DONE

Jerry says: Dave, I'll check on the prices of the Rush tickets today. (Styx too. They are on the 30th of May.) Styx has a new double CD coming out in May with live cuts from last year's tour and new studio material. John, they tour Denver in July 19th. Check out their very informational site at http://www.tiac.net/users/kat/Styx/ Lots of interviews, sound bites, pictures, etc. Even a list digest you can subscribe to. ELO opens for them later in the summer. Pat Benatar opens for them early (yuck!)

Rush has no warm up band this tour. They advertise it as "For the first time an entire evening with Rush" Rush is May 24th.

John says: What's going on???? The past turns -- many of them -- have not had everyone respond. I haven't even seen the past 3 turns before receiving all of them (at work or at home). If some procedural change for sending out turns was made, please let me know.

Jerry says: I think that two things happened. First of all, you didn't receive that one turn. I think it was 37 (which should have been numbered 57). I sent it and 58 again. I do send all emails to all addresses each time unless private. Second of all I have sent turns even though I didn't receive a turn from all 4 players. For instance, I didn't get a turn from Tom this time. I'll only wait so long or everyone begins to ask what my problem is. If you receive a turn without getting the previous one, or the date is wrong, or I don't put in the turn what you wrote, let me know ASAP so we can track down this problem.

Dave says about the Rush concert: Sounds interesting. I'll check the schedule to see what plans are already made that day.

Jerry says: Now about the bad news. They want us to pay through the nose for tickets.

Rows 1-10 $200 Rows 12-15 $150 Rows 20+ $100 Rows 20+ center $125

JK and David, let me know if you are still interested in going. I am interested. If you'd rather go to the Styx concert, I have two tickets on row two at $100 each. If no one wants pay to go, I've asked Scott Carpenter and then Scott Marley to go as my guest.

Jerry says: Things continue to be very busy. I'm doing the best that I can.

David says: Too high for me right now on the Rush tickets. We're closing on 2.5 acres of land this week and need extra cash for emergencies. 20% down and all that. I still haven't looked at McAfee web page. I intend to update mine this week sometime so I'll tell you what I find.

Jerry says: I've got McAfee up and running, but as I mentioned in my personal email to you, I don't know how to upgrade to the registered version of which I'm allowed seeing I paid for it. I also want to know how to upgrade new virus files into the program. Do I just download and copy it into the main program folder or what?

Tom says: Sorry, I had phone problems over here, so I wasn't able to log on All fixed now though.

Jerry says: I'm glad you are back up and online. :)

JK says: 1) p. 145 in the DMG2 gives the pertinent information on the scrolls. It basically says that nothing on the scroll can be read without the 'read magic' spell. However, it says that most scrolls are found in a scroll case which has the name of the spell (and frequently magical instructions as to how to open the case) on it. However, it does say that frequently 'read magic' is needed to read the case, but it is not always necessary. It also suggests that sometimes the cases are written in strange languages so that 'comprehend languages' is necessary to read the case instead of 'read magic.'

Incidentally it also says that scroll maps are indecipherable until 'comprehend languages' is used to read them.

2) I'd love to go to the Rush show, but $100 is too much for me. Esp. since I don't get paid over the summer.

Jerry says: I understand both statements. I guess in the former, the differences is used to create role-playing situations. So be it. Scrolls will have to be checked to see what is needed to read each one as different wizards record, store, and protect their scrolls differently. :)

As far as the Rush concert goes, I think everyone has backed out.

John says: Please forward to anyone you think may want to know. My apologies if I missed someone.

John says:

Hey everyone!

For those that have not heard, Tina had our baby on April 23 at 9:22a.m. She weighed 4lbs. 6.75 ounces with an overall length of 18". After deliberating for a couple of days we decided to call her Liliana Marie. We had a couple of more common ones, but didn't think they would go with our current kid's names Delania and Quinn.

Feel free to reply if any of you have questions.

Now for more detail than any of you want to know but may satisfy your curiosity. Don't worry Dennis, these are details concerning Liliana, not the actual birth; those I'll wait to tell you when I can see you squirm. Please be aware that my cheapo spell checker does not contain a medical word dictionary and the medical terminology is from memory only.

Being so small, Liliana had a high Hermatic. Basically, the ratio of her red blood cells to the other blood fluids was high. She had to be put on an IV for about a day to hydrate her to get this back in balance. However, this high increase in fluids caused some electrolyte, sodium, and potassium imbalances that had to be taken care of. To put it bluntly, they had to get her to urinate. Well the IV corrected everything for the second day. The third day (Friday? It has gone by very fast) she was taken back off the IV, and her balances got off again. Back on the IV again. Now they detected ?creotin? which usually means a kidney problem. Thankfully, another chemical which accompanies the creotin when there is a kidney problem was not present. Nurses and Pediatrician were both baffled. A Neonatalogist (baby specialist) was called in and came in Saturday night. By that time, Liliana was on the IV for almost 24 hours and EVERYTHING was back to normal. So... since lunch today, Sunday, we are back off the IV and feeding her regularly. The specialist went on and had a ultrasound of Lili's kidneys and an x-ray of her intestines just to make sure all is OK. They came back with no identified problems. BIG relief for us parents. The Neonatalogist said her "professional opinion" is that this was just one of those things babies take care of themselves, and that all of this probably originated from the red blood cell problem she had at birth. We now have to have everything stay stable for 24 hours without the IV. The specialist is very confident that we will not have any more problems, but if the 24 hours does not check out successfully, there is some more testing we will have to do for other, more rare, conditions.

That's all for the summary of the gritty details.

Tina and I have been staying at the hospital while this has been going on and will be here until we bring Liliana home. Hopefully this will be Monday or Tuesday, but we just have to wait and see.

Talk with you later, Babylon 5 is about to start...

jrk

Jerry says: Well I think that explains where John has been. We'll play on without him for the nonce. Congratulations John and we'll keep your wonderful new daughter in our prayers. Selah!

Jerry says: Well kids, things have been slow, and even though this is TAAS testing week, I'm going to try (once again, sigh) to pick things up. So you may see me running some turns with only one or two people taking actions. Everyone here is responsible and always does what they can. Just keep remembering that when you don't get a turn, there is usually a reason and many times it's not me that is slow. Nuff said.

David says: Jerry, I did not know that you paid for McAfee. You should call their customer support; or in the documentation it should tell you where to download the new virus files. It should also give any passwords you need. If not your best bet is to call them. I didn't realize you were coming down to see Volcano Saturday. We should have had lunch or something. You have to remember that mules are very understanding once you get their attention. I really can catch on with effort.

Sincerely, Unamware (or maybe Aclueistic)

Jerry says: Ok, will do. I'll call them. Paying for it was the only way to get protection from new viruses as they come out.

Volcano was not worth the money. Rent the video.

Observation, now that we've/I've seen several movies at stadium theaters. Not all sound or look the same. The first movie we saw (ID4) at the theater on Highway 121 was the best overall experience. It also is the only one in what they call a size 24 theater that has been superior in sound. The Star Wars at the AMC Grand in Dallas didn't compare, but I think it was THX movie sound in a Sony type theater since Lucusfilm puts out THX. The (24) size theater in North Richardson near your house was also THX. Kim said that this theater had one of each kind of sound, but the people there assured me that both were the same. Again disappointing sound compared to ID4. I have had one experience besides the ID4 that makes me believe that I was not just imagining things that day. I saw The Saint a few weeks back at the AMC Grand in a (16) size theater. Superb sound there. While a huge action scene was going on all around, a small radio was playing the Love Theme that moved around the room depending on the angle of the camera. That whole movie (sound wise) was superb. I recommend it in that setting highly.

Conclusions: Not sure yet, but I think the difference is in the sound...Sony vs. THX. THX. Now sounds old and antiquated.

Jerry says: I'm having trouble booting up the Master of Orion game again.....sigh since the last time in the shop. I called them several times now, and have made a boot disk to run the game in DOS mode using a program they have called BootAll v1.7. Once booted, I have to go to the windows directory and type Dosstart.bat to enable the CDRom. That enabled the program to run except that I have no DOS Mouse Driver. STORM Computers are going to install that for me in a few days.

Just thought you'd enjoy that story. :)

David says: Sony seems better to me as well. I do, however, disagree about which theater is the best. Is saw ID4 at Tinseltown (121 theater) with you and I also saw ID4 at the AMC Grande in Dallas. I, by a huge margin, give the AMC Grande in Dallas first place. I did not enjoy ID4 nearly as much at Tinseltown (except of course the company). The screen wasn't as crisp and the sound was almost weak in comparison to AMC Grande. You have to sit up high enough to avoid the sore neck thing but as long as you position yourself correctly that is not a problem. I guess its that way at all of them. Tinseltown is the only theater I've been to that has the 24 size theater. AMC Grande had the 16 or maybe 20(?). I must agree, though, about Star Wars sound not being the caliber of ID4. I can see why you would choose Tinseltown 'ID4' to AMC Grande 'Star Wars'. It sounds (no pun intended) that we need to do some more research! Just kills me to have to subject myself to that (Ha!).

Jerry says: Ah, I agree with you 100%. I also didn't like the chair seating arrangement at the North Richardson theater...It wasn't steep enough. The chair in front of you came up all the way to your chest. It didn't effect the line of sight or quality of sound, but was not as ascetically pleasing.

David says: Never a dull moment in the computer world for you is there? Maybe you should upgrade to Window 97 just to make life more interesting (only if you enjoy pain)?

Jerry says: I would pay $200 every 6 months just to have no computer problems. I don't enjoy them at all.

John says: Hey people. I'm not back from the dead, but thought I might as well make a quick response since I was using the computer anyway.

Later, jrk

Jerry says: John, I'm glad everything is going well. I keep you in my prayers.

Tom says: Here's a question. How do priest read their scrolls? It doesn't mention their equivalent spell (if any), I could never figure it out, I guess that its one of those granted abilities. What is your idea on this?

Jerry says: I agree with you Tom. Priest spells are not ever hidden in any way by language or magic.

John continues: Now for the latest update... We are going home today sometime after lunch. There was a couple of things that needed to be checked before Liliana could be released. No problems were found, although we still need to have periodic tests for a while to ensure nothing was missed.

Jerry says: We celebrate the healthy arrival of another future D&D player and BAB5 fan. Not to mention a future son of John....:)

See yall tomorrow.

Tom says: Thanks for your input.

Jerry says: Where is everyone? I know of John's circumstances. Be careful, I might fine you a gold piece...or a Rush concert ticket...Yeah!

David says: Did you not get my last turn? I got a warning message that it did not get through on the first attempt but that happens a lot. I got no failure message so I you should have gotten it. I sent it Thursday morning.

Jerry says: I sent everything I got. This was received on Friday.

JK says: Figured I was entitled to a long turn.

Jerry says: No problem JK. We won't mention the "small" fact that JK's address disappeared from my address macro for an unexplained reason about turn 62. Sorry about that JK.

JK says: John, congratulations on the baby. Hope everything returns to normal for you soon.

David says: One thing I have discovered about Windows95 is that they constantly upgrade it and don't tell anybody. Which means yours works different than mine. Look on the cover and tell me what version you have. Or look in the 'About" box usually located on the help screen to get the same information (probably most likely the best place to look). You can sometimes get Microsoft to trade you a new one if you have an older copy with a lot of trouble.

Jerry says: I tried several of those things to get the version that I have. I was unsuccessful. Any suggestions guys?

David says: Congrats to John. He's a great father and husband. Liliana is a lucky girl.

Jerry says: Amen.

John says: >>A blond and a brunette are driving in a car. The brunette says to the >>blond, "go and check if my blinker is working?" >> >>So the blond goes outside and says, yes, no, yes, no yes, no yes, no >>yes, no yes, no yes, no yes, no yes, no yes, no yes, no yes, no, yes, no >>yes, no yes.

Jerry says: Heard it. Yes.

David says: Amazing.

Jerry says: Muhahahahahaha!!!!!!( hilarious)

The Jericho says: That's what being an adventurer is all about!!!!!

The Jericho also says: Um, David...no one dies yet. Go fig. But I don't blame ya for hanging back. Besides, it's much more humorous this way....the headstrong party of sages, clerics and elves has to be rescued once again by their human sensible fighter....Muhahaa! I loooooove it!

Um, David I suggest we duck, the responses to this are going to last longer than the combat I fear.

John says: Combat rounds are still "respond to everyone", are they not?

Jerry says: I don't think that will work, John. Since combat all happens at the same time, though we play it out as turn based, until I roll initiative for all combatants, no one can know who is first or last. It's better to send to me only during combat and give me lots of "if then" options if that applies to your situation.

David says: Oh well, I guess we'll die together. (party and I; also DM and I) Jerry says: They are ignoring us Dave. Can I kill them now? Huh? Please?

Kevin Says: Isn't that adventurer comment about doors being opened awful close to something I heard a Gold Dragon say once, Jerry?

Jerry says: hmm.....could be.

David Says: I guess we'll hold off on the killing thing ... this time.

Nonam says: pretty stupid, huh?

Jerry says: seems like a good move when it works.

Jerry says: Sorry for not sending a turn yesterday. I have been sick since Friday. This morning, I twisted my ankle and am on crutches for a week or so. That means I don't have to tell you about my trip this week to North Carolina, because I won't be going. My swelling ankle doesn't need 6 hrs. on a cramped airplane.

Congrats on your new home John. Mom, Dad, and myself are probably going to visit Rita the week after school gets out. Perhaps we can work it out to say hi as we pass through either on the way up or back down. :)

JK Says: what's the ac of the skeletons - just to get a general idea of how hard these are to hit.

Jerry says: Well, since they are dead, we'll just keep that little secret to ourselves.

Tom says: Sorry to hear about the ankle. Oh, Timmy-boy says hi to you all!

Jerry says: You called him Timmy boy? Timmy boy????? And you can still use those fingers to type?

Jerry says to John and David (mainly John): Please stop sending me the FW: emails. At first it was humorous getting one or two a week. However, now I get 5-7 a day and it is really cluttering up my mailbox.

Campaign news of import: This will be formally announced when you hit town....but... King Claudia of New Elenna is dead. She committed suicide after it turned out that her half red-dragon twin children were innately evil. The Gold Dragons forced the issue to be investigated. Oratai, High Patriarch of Plateau City performed the spell and was enveloped with the holy presence of Alemi rendering the Alignment Detection to be true without a doubt. The high priests of the rest of the gods were called to the scene. Sometime during the ensuing confusion, Joe The Hand, husband and Consort of Claudia stole the children taking them to his private garden within the castle grounds and lovingly broke their necks. A funeral pyre was constructed immediately to prevent Flame the Red Dragon and Father of the evil twins from getting hold of the remains. Sometime after during the confusion following, Claudia, rest her soul stole away to the throne and fell on her sword.

The Noble Sturtevant, friend of the royal couple, was named regent until an election can be held in two weeks for a new High Lord Mayor. More news will be following to be sure.

The local group has finished its first campaign on the new southern continent last week taking a dwarven hammer and artifact to an ancient race of dwarves across a very bizarre area of grasslands.

All of the above happened the first week back to the northern continent campaign. I wonder what will happen on the second week?

All of this will mean more to you when you get the campaign folders. I've hit a snag there.

JK says: Jerry, I won't be there Sunday night. I probably won't be there the next Sunday either. Also that whole week (sun-sun) I won't be able to check my e-mail so no e-adventure either.

I got Quake despite the many times that I've heard it requires a Pentium to run just to see how it would run on a 486 (thanks to Hastings software rental). It says in the documentation that it won't run at all if you don't have at least a Pentium, and that's what I've always heard. However, it seems to run fine on my 486. Go figure.

Jerry says: Go figure.

David says: FYI on 486's. Intel is coming out with the Pentium 2 series later this year. Pentium 200s will drop at least 75% in price as will all lesser chips. You can then upgrade cheaply. Pentium 2s will be 233, 266 and 300 MHz CPUs.

Jerry says: Oh, well, I've already sprung for a 166.

Jerry says: Tom? We've missed you. Remember guys that we are without JK starting about now until next Sunday or so. I'm assuming that Tom has had a busy couple of days. I'd like us to keep pushing so we can get this initial module finished up. Then we'll have to see if we can add Tim and Kevin. I feel that Tim has had to wait quite a bit longer than we first anticipated.

I just don't see me running a second group. Perhaps JK will want to, though. I would play in a second group, though.

John, if any of your contacts want to play, we need to begin getting their commitments so we can make the best decision. I think groups of 4 are ideal. Is there any disagreement there? Comments from everyone please.

JK says: Jerry, feel free to play Nonam. He has one 'Burning Hands' still memorized.

Jerry says: Ok, I will to a certain extent. I will not reveal riddles etc. while playing so what I can do will be limited.

John says: Most of my contacts said they are not interested. Byron Myrick said he would like to, but is unsure how reliable he could be. I haven't been able to get in touch with Sidney Deem.

Jerry says: I understand John. Then we will more than likely add two players after this module, Kevin and Tim assuming both still want to play. 6 is more than I'd like, but if JK DM's a second group and I play that makes 3 players there. I think I know Tim well enough that he will not be interested in playing just with Kevin and I with JK DMing. Besides we've made Tim wait quite awhile. So unless things change we'll add both of those players for the second adventure.

Jerry says: Tom? If I don't hear from him by tomorrow, I'll call him.

Tom says: Sorry, you were right, busy weekend.

Jerry says: Glad you're back with us. :)

Kevin says: Claudia is dead and Joe Hand killed the babies? How disappointing. Wasn't there anything that could have been bone to guide them to goodness.

Jerry says: Actually I spoke too early. The story released is that Flame killed the babies.

Kevin says: I still want to play, but however it is that I play is fine with me. Big group or small, I am not picky.

Jerry says: Thanks for your cooperation Kevin. It is noted.

John says: Did my last turn get lost again? Or was it overcome by events.

Jerry says: Was this it? "Jus leans toward the woman and whispers 'kizzimic' into her ear."

If so it arrived today.

Jerry says: I hope you guys don't mind me using Nonam to push the tempo a bit.

John says: Cool, don't mind the extra push in tempo at all; maybe you should consider an NPC just to help keep things rolling.

Things are very busy this week. If I miss a day, don't panic. :)

Well Jerry sent me your turns from last time, so I just used those. Also, Tim's address has been deactivated by MCI, so unitl I here something...

Notes from the Jericho: And thus ends our first adventure online. Overall, I was just glad that I had survivors. With all the people jumping in and out for various reasons the start was rocky, but I knew that would probably the case from the email games that I have played in on AOL. The dungeon exploration could have been reduced into 1 or 2 rooms and the movement of the module would have improved. Finishing the module took forever. Nearly a year. When we started, we played only two days a week. So you do the math and see how slow it is. Now, we play weekdays and things are much faster, thank goodness. It was nice to see that David and John can still role-play and well! My two goals for the email campaign have always been to 1) give all the old players who have moved away from Wichita Falls a chance to play again and 2) to use the game as a vehicle to renew friendships and to keep in better touch with some of the best friends of my youth and young adulthood. Both goals accomplished, the game is so far a success.

I think things have become confusing as to where we are. So here's my map of the hallway I described last turn. _____ 1 D___ I I I I D 2 I I I I D 3

Door1 is the door to this hallway that was opened last turn. Everything that we've already done can be reached by going through door 1. Just to make things simple I left the skeleton room, the statue room, the door Jus just opened, and all the rest off because we shouldn't have to go back to any of those.

Door2 is the trapezoidal stone door.

Door3 is the wooden door.

Don't worry too much about the layout of the place. It won't prove to be important, and you haven't passed by anything.

John says, I'll be changing internet providers in August. Hopefully this will improve my e-mail service. BTW: For those that do not know, we will be moving to Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands at the end of August. We will be visiting relatives beforehand. I'll still be able to participate in an e-mail campain, but I don't know how long delays may be.

I'm upgrading my computer this week. So if I don't answer for a while, I probably killed my computer. Movin' up from the DX4 120 to the P200 with 40megs of RAM, yeeha.

JK says, Everybody welcome Kevin back. He'll be playing Chala until he gets a character of his own because neither Jerry or I have heard from Tom in a few weeks.

John says, More Blond jokes as Jerry requested...

>A blonde gets on an airplane and sits down in the first >class section. The stewardess tells her she must move >to economy because she doesn't have a first class >ticket. > >The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm smart, I have a >good job and I'm staying in first class until we reach >Jamaica." > >The stewardess gets the head stewardess who asks the >woman to leave and she says, "I'm blonde, I'm smart, I >have a good job and I'm staying in first >class until we reach Jamaica." > >The stewardesses don't know what to do because they >have to get the rest of the passengers seated to take >off, so they get the co-pilot. > >The co-pilot goes up to the blonde and whispers in her >ear. She immediately gets up and goes to her seat in >the economy section. The head stewardess asks the >co-pilot what he said to get her to move. > >The co-pilot replies, "I told her the front half of the >airplane wasn't going to Jamaica".

JK says- read the long messages from Jerry & John

Jerry says- I appreaciate everyone's patience during my vacation and insanity towards the end of the school year. As someone once said, "I feel much better. I think I'll go for a walk now."

Jerry also says- I requested blond jokes?...

A duck goes into a bar and asks, "Do you have any duck food?"

The bartender answers, "No we don't have any duck food. This is a bar! Get out of here!"

Tne next day the duck returns and asks, "Do you have any duck food?"

The bartender answers, "No! This is not a duck bar. We don't have duck food! Get out of here!"

The next day the duck returns and asks, "Do you have any duck food?"

The bartender loses his temper and says, "I hate ducks! I don't feed ducks! I don't even know what ducks eat! Get out of here! If you ever come back I'll nail your webbed feet to the wall!"

The next day the duck returns and asks, "Do you have any nails?"

The bartender answers, "No I don't have any nails."

The duck then answers, "Well, then, do you have any duck food?"

John says:My family will be moving to the Kwajalein Missile Range with arrival on August 25th. The Kwajalein Island, on which we will be living, is in the Kwajalein Atoll (rim of volcano) in the Marshall Islands which is halfway between Hawaii and Australia at about 155 Deg. Latitude and 9 Deg. Longitude. We will be visiting relatives and having a vacation from July 25th until we leave from California.

The job is not too exiting, mostly maintenance of real-time software for the TRADEX radar on island Roi-Namur. The new software domain -- real-time on real systems -- will provide a learning curve that should keep me interested for a while. In the next year or two, the software and hardware will be going through major renovations which will provide much more excitement.

We will be living on the island of Kwajalein which is the largest island in the Atoll -- a whopping 1.2 square miles. The 40 min. 50 mile commute to Roi-Namur is via bicycles (to and from airports) and airplane (across the Atoll).

Ask your questions, get your answers...

Oh, going for the experience and family-oriented life; base pay is same as now, but with no taxes and paid housing/utilities.

For lots of pictures are enclosed showing where things are and what things look like, see: http://www.aloha.net/~spartan/photos.htm

Or the main Kwajalein High School Web Page: http://www.aloha.net/~spartan/

jrk

Just to let everyone know where we stand, this is our final room.

From Jerry: Guys, what about a live game here in WF when John is in town with John, David, JK, Kevin and I. Could be fun and a great way for you 4 to meet each other.

Along that line, I am extremely interested in finding a web site for us to play live in a private chat room somehow about once a month. It would solidify the group with the socialization, and push the speed. I think that we could cover about a month's worth of action in one 4 hour session.

Also, my next major project is to get the campaign folder online at a website with the intent of getting approved as a TSR approved website with a link from their official site. I think we'd be eligible for that from what I've seen if we can just get our campaign folder online maps included. I would appreciate any help you programmer guys could provide there.

JK please let the guys know of how much AOL space each member gets for free and what you've done so far. I'd like this to be a project for all of us to share as far as you guys are interested, but as usual I'm prepared to go it solo if necessary.

I get RPGA stuff via email now and am going to send this last batch of stuff to you just in case you are interested. This will be a one-time sending. If you want me to continue to send this stuff to you just let me know.

John, I threw away the email stating when you were going to be in town. Please remind me of those dates again. In fact, pass it along to everyone to see if we can get together....assuming you want to.

John, and David. Please notify when you receive your campaign folders. I sent them book rate. Kevin, please call me at 691-1078 and come by to pick yours up.

I called Tom and he has been disconnected from his online server. He didn't seem to excited to continue, but stayed just on the correct side of me not saying just forget it. If we hear from him we'll see about his interest.

I'm finding myself getting "twitchy" fingers every time JK sends out a turn. I must be ready to DM again. Muhahaha!

Tell JK what a good job he is doing. He really is gifted with words. Whoever said History professors were boring. :/ (my students - jk :) )

Well, that's all for now.

Jerry

Congratulations to John for rolling 1% and discovering what the runes say. There was a 15% chance. You can tell him how much you love him after he says the words. If he says the words. Will he do it. Will he say the words. Come on. Say the words. I dare you.

John says, BTW: If ya'll would, also send to my other address. Doing some beta testing stuff...

Kevin says, You are doing great JK, course that could be cause you are also an english expert. Actually, You might just qualify as a genius.

I think he should get a hero point for that. :)

David's the only one who responded. I figured it had been several days, so I decided to send out this turn with just one response.

The first part is from David, and the 2nd part is Jerry's response.

Jerry,

I got my folder. I glanced at it and it looks good. I look forward to checking it out. Thanks for all your work.

JK,

You are doing a great job. About that history, the revisionists seem to have completely changed the way our American histry purportedly happened. They have secularized everything attempting to remove any refernce to the Christian faith of our forefathers. I was wondering what you think about all of that? I'd like to find out what you've learned (in your spare time, of course).

David

JK, pass this forward with the next turn.

Thanks for the kind word about the campaign folder David. It was a huge job. However, as the campaign expands and things change and expand, you will receive supplements. I would appreciate any criticism (as long as it isn't so mean as to harm my fragile ego) as well as areas you would like to find out more about. I'm especially interested in finding someone with more artistic talent than me to do some location specific artwork such as a picture of the Floating City as seen from the shore, etc. Also a couple of the maps really need to be redone, a.k.a. the Continent of Yrth, and the Emerald Kingdom. If any of you guys want to vent your creative juices, I can ALWAYS find something for you to do from legends, to maps, to city locations, to developing villains and adventuring NPC groups, to anything else that one does in an ongoing AD&D campaign. We also could use some help with the website if anyone is interested. Just ask and volunteer. No pressure. We accept whatever you give and don't worry if you don't finish.

Yes, JK, pontificate for us.

Jerry >>

David and I have already carried out the discussion he initiated at some length. So I'll not pontificate at this time.

Jerry also wished me to pass this on: In a message dated 97-07-12 01:48:23 EDT, you write:

<< JK please let the guys know of how much AOL space each member gets for free and what you've done so far. I'd like this to be a project for all of us to share as far as you guys are interested, but as usual I'm prepared to go it solo if necessary. >>

Each screen name gets 2MB. So for each account, you can have 10MB. I've only used about 1MB. You can fit just about an infinite amount of text in a megabyte, but the pictures take up a lot. That stupid little map of the town Rogar is from takes up more than half of the space. >>

Pass this on to the other guys.

Jerry

Notes from the Jericho: We begin a subtle change with this set of in-between turns that led to what I call the True Beginning of the online game...the moment we start to make the game outstanding. It was almost as if we made a group breakthrough about this time. To prove my point, compare any set of 5 turns with any 5 of the turns that take place in the Floating City. The difference is amazing.

David and JK, if you guys will come to consensus about the treasure we can handle it in one turn.

As far as experience goes, we'll go with a story bonus of 2,000xp for everyone who played the whole game, which is Jus, Gareth, and Nonam. As far as monsters go, I'll let JK handle that and email us since he has the module. He can also handle any identifications.

I received Keith's character sheet and it was in pristine form as far as I could see. Keith I need your memorized spells. Sunday, ask me for Domi's priest write-up and you can type it in for me and email it back. Keith if you wish to use Appendix II of the handbook, you may enter the game at 2nd level if you want. You also have the choice of starting at 0 xp or at the amount necessary for 2nd level. I suggest you enter at 2nd level so as to help the group as much as possible.

See your responses tomorrow,

Jerry

Jerry, I'll leave it to you to expedite the appraisal and identification of the stuff. Just tell us what it is so we can get going.

JK's character should be able to handle the identifying. Besides he has the module. I haven't heard from him in a couple of days. Will call him tonight. JK, this is all yours buddy.

How are we going to handle training and jumping levels? Example:

Without monster XP I have 3500+ XP. If I get 500 XP more from monsters or treasure (depending on your answer to my previous email) I will have enough to move to level 3 fighter. Are you requiring training between levels and suspending XP until training is completed? Example: If I hit 4001 XP I can't get any more XP until I train. Also, how about hit points? As I recall from previous email you said to start with maximum HPs. Are we just assuming the max as we move up in level or do we need to roll? If rolling, what are the rules? The facts...just the facts...

Your friend,

Friday

David, I put this in here for the other's benefit....if there are any others...hehe. According to the rules you can advance only one level, but that means you can go through the next level minus one xp. Since you will have only advanced from 1st to 2nd it works out.

Kids, I have added LILASEVEN, one of my online friends from when I was working for Kids!WB as a chat room host. She was curious as to what we were doing.

I can't reach Kevin who is supposedly staying with his parents while some work is being done to his house. I'm not planning on including him in the next adventure. He should have been more responsible to get back with us and explain why his account isn't active with AOL anymore.

Keith is ready to go.

I'm going to allow Keith's roommate to join us as we need bodies. Keith, have him send me a short bio of himself and his gaming xp so we can get to know him. Have him go ahead and roll up a character and send it in asap. I'd like to add him with you on the same turn say about Tuesday or so.

We have a Fighter: Gareth (David) Archer: Jus (John)---played by me until he gets to his island out in the Pacific. Sage: Nonam (JK) Cleric: Tiburon (Keith)

Sorry for no turn on Thurs. Night. AOL wouldn't let me on late and when I tried early this morning, it was shut down for maintenence for a short while and I didn't have time to wait.

I'll type at you all on Monday,

Jerry

Keith, I will be ready to introduce you on Monday or Tuesday. It would be great if your roommate (What is his name again? Sorry, but I'm bad with names, ask anybody) could have his character to me by then so we could introduce you together.

JK, I hope you don't mind my turning your report into a conversation. David, I'll let you go ahead and decide what to do with the unclaimed treasure. Then, I'll total it up any part you are selling, rolling dice to see what kind of price you get.

I'd suggest you wait to do any shopping until we get to the Big Float. But, if you insist, so be it.

Jerry

David says: Jerry, do you want to roleplay the trading and selling of stuff or not? I would rather you gave us a price and we move on. I will, however, be glad to do it if you feel strongly about it. Sorry I missed last turn. I didn't see it before I left work and did not check email over the weekend.

Jerry says: No let's not role-play it. I'd like to be moving on. JK would you total up the total received for the items sold please? We can work out the details if there are any as we proceed below the line.

JK says: OK, here's what I came up with for xp. For the monsters, Gareth and Jus both get 260xp. For spells cast Nonam gets 250xp, (50 more if we count the identify). Nonam and Gareth both had a hero point. So 200 each there. (I don't know if Jus had one or not). So with the 2000 that you gave, I estimate that I have 2695 (2000+450+245(10%bonus). Gareth would have 2706 (200+460+246).

Now Jus gets 10% to his mage class but nothing to his fighter class. And since he never cast a spell it seems to me most should go to the fighter class. Anyway he would have 2260 +any hero points he may have gotten +10% to whatever amount you decide should go to his mage class.

This amount does put Nonam to 3rd level, so should I be one point away from 3rd?

Jerry says: That is correct.

Jerry says: Kevin got messed up by AOL. After billing his MasterCard correctly for two months, they got the number wrong and closed his account when the number didn't match currently listed MasterCard. Kevin got very mad at them and quit AOL. He's currently looking to get started with a web provider. I think he's going to check out Webfire here in town this week. He thinks he can get a trial offer of 1 month to see if it's what he wants. He asks for your patience and hope we'll let him join after he's settled. I told him that with the proper bribe we'd consider it.

Jerry says: Tina's mom says that John and Tina arrived on the island Saturday night alive and well. Hopefully we'll hear from him soon. I'm sure he'll want to know all the "wonderful" things I've done with his character in his absence."

Jerry says: Let's try to handle this name thing in one turn, please. So put forth your names and let's move on. You can always change your name later if you want to. There is a line behind you and the Oathbinder is impatient. Hehe.

See ya'll tomorrow,

Jerry

David says: With previous experience (943), gold, hero point (200), new XP (2706), and 10% bonus, Gareth is above 3rd level experience. So that makes him second level with 4000 XPs. I rolled an 8 for hit points. (Can I add one for the hero point to the roll or is it 20%?)

Jerry says: Hmm......actually hit points is an exception to the rule. Hero points cannot be used in advance to this particular roll. It may be used to reroll the hit points roll, but not to add to it. Sorry for the inconsistency David. It has never come up before. I'll adjust the House Rules to compensate. Thanks. 1xp for finding the inconsistency.

Jerry says: Keith and Tony! There was your entrance. It's up to you from here to introduce yourselves and to become accepted as a part of The Three. Remember guys, we play weekdays. Welcome to the game fellows!

Jerry says: Here is Tony's Hello to everyone. His email address has been given to you. Please add him to your address macro.

Hi Everyone!

First let me thank you all for letting me play in the e-mail game you have created.....

I'm Tony .....I'm Keith's roommate...(don't hold that against me please!) I work at a pizza place with Keith...I like sports (golf, tennis, bowling). I have a great sense of humor...and just like to have fun.

I'm 31 and have been playing RPG's for quite some time. I hope to get to know everyone and I'm sure we'll have a great time gaming!!!!!

JK says: Don't forget that Gareth gets 4 bonus hit points from con. Jus gets none, and I get 2. I rolled a 1 for my hp, so I used my hero point and rolled a 3. So that's 5 with the con bonus. Gives me 11 all together.

Let me know if you need these character sheets back before Sunday.

Jerry says: David and JK, since going up a level causes significant changes to your character sheets, please make the necessary changes to yours and resend it. Include memorized spells and new items attained.

In the Online game, JK, let's make a rule that when you roll new hit points that you get at least half of the possible each level. Keep rolling until you achieve that or above. Example: With a mage, who gets a d4, keep rolling until you get a 3 or 4. Example: With a fighter, keep rolling until you get 6-10. So if you wish, JK, start again and save your hero point.

Well, gentlemen, I'll see you all tomorrow.

Jerry

David says: Hey JK, do you have gold totals yet for that list of stuff?

I will be leaving for Atlanta in the morning on business and I may not have opportunity to get my email until Sunday night or Monday night. I'll try to answer the turn if I see it tomorrow AM before I leave.

Thanks for the notice David. Have a good trip.

Jerry says: I didn't receive a turn from JK today.

Jerry says: I received two emails from John today. He was experimenting with different services to see which would be reliable. I've added both of them to the macro for now so that he can get this turn. I'll catch him up with the turns he has missed as soon as he is ready and he will take back over Jus and try to undo the damage I have done to his character....Muhahaha.!!

John, again let me know when you're ready to catch up. Also let us know when you're ready for us to send you emails and which address or addresses [grin] it will be.

Jerry says to Keith and Tony: Please begin using your character names to identify who is speaking before opening your quotation marks. It keeps me from having to add them when I cut and paste the conversation together. If it's redundant, I'll remove it. Also, I use a block paragraph form, so there's no need to indent. No big deal.

I'm very happy with how things are going. You two guys are naturals.

Jerry says: Hi Lila! Bored yet?

I'll see ya'll tomorrow,

Jerry

Keith says: I forgot that specialization gives you a +1 to hit and +2 to damage when I sent you Tiburon's char. sheet. The correct THAC0 for his Long Sword should be 19 and the damage should be 1d8+2/1d12+2

Jerry says: Keith, each time you change your character sheet, simply send it to me via attachment or email and I'll replace the old one. It easier for me that way.

Jerry says: Tony, did you send in a turn Friday? I didn't get one. [smile]

JK Says: Yes, you have to have the spaces when mailing from aol to aol.

David, I haven't put out the prices yet because I was waiting to sell the items in floating city, but here's what everything will sell for once we sell it: silver spearhead (8gp), ring (Nonam was happy to discover that this was a black pearl ring worth 550gp), short sword (8gp), 1 dagger (non-magical) (1gp), iron cobra (2000gp), scroll with control words for cobra (less case) (included with the cobra or the guy wasn't going to buy it), 2 battle axes (8gp), 3 silver bracelets (these turned out to be dwarven made 800gp), gold broach (The broach was made by none other than Rokstor, the finest Dwarven craftsmen of the last two centuries - 2000gp), gold drinking goblet (this was made in Ailsildur before they were isolated - 300gp), sling w/ 4 bullets (Nonam couldn't get much for this and gave it to a little kid). Grand total 5675gp. Nonam used the money to buy gems as they are easier to carry. He got a brilliant blue marble sized sapphire worth 1500gp, a deep purple golf ball sized oriental amethyst worth 1500gp, and a candy red nickle sized fire opal worth 1500gp. Then he got three teensy tiny green emeralds worth 350gp each. The remainder he changed into 9pp. While he lost a few gp in the conversion process, he assures the group that he bargained well.

Jerry, I rolled the ring on the gems table and the bracelets, broach, and goblet on the objects of art table in the dmg. If you think the prices are too high then just change them.

Jerry says: JK, you missed that Gareth and Jus sold the stuff back in the village while you were recovering from Identifying the items. So they are sold already. The amounts are somewhat high, but....well.....Bring on the Thieves!!!

Jerry says: JK, did you include a 10% cost for exchanging the money into gems? Is the reason for the three gems so that each character gets one? Who gets what is what Gareth and Jus want to know.

John says: Hello one and all from the island paradise of Kwajalein (well... I'm currently at work on Roi-Namur). We have been here since last Saturday (your Friday) and are slowly getting over the shock. The weather is hot and humid, sleep is still in short supply, grocery shopping is a new experience, and our back-ends are not used to riding bikes again.

Other than that, things are good. ;)

We are just about broke from the time we had between jobs; but will probably just squeak through. The frantic fray against our unyielding yard in Colorado Springs, the cost of a day for the family at Disneyland, 3 days in Hawaii, and then -- to top it off -- the purchase of 2 adult bikes and a burly for our primary transportation are weighing heaving on our bank account. (Yes, you're supposed to feel sorry for us for having an -- almost -- 2 month vacation, and no house or utility payments.)

Delania has started pre-school. She has only attended one day, but absolutely loved it. They have a "messy art" class once a week where she was able to cover herself in whipping cream. I guess they now how to cater to children here.

Tina has already met about a dozen people and is quickly becoming friends with the lot.

I can claim the boast that I have eaten at almost all the establishments of both Kwaj and Roi-Namur. Only 1 more Cafe to go to make all 5.

We have set up an account to allow a central point where we can forward all mail from. So, please address all mail (and useless humor - Sara) to:

If any of you are interested; this e-mail service through netaddress is free, remains yours for life, and can be set up to forward mail to multiple accounts (which I am doing).

Let me know if you want to hear more sensless rambling about the Kwaj experience and I'll write more as things progress (I still owe Tina's parents descriptions of our entire trip to TX, CA, and Hawaii).

Later for now, jrk

Jerry says: Well, Robinson Crusoe, sounds like you're really roughing it. Ridden any ostriches yet? (obscure Swiss Family Robinson referencej)

Jerry says: Everyone add John's new email address to your address macro.

John also says: Send the old turns onward to my address. Again, I will be sending e-mail primarily from this address, but the usa.net is a bit more reliable and will forward the mail here.

Later, jrk

Jerry says: I'll mail the old turns tomorrow (Mon.)

Jerry says: John, will this transfer thing allow you to do daily turns?

Jerry says: John, I noticed that Joey Chapa's email address was on your address list. Have you approached him about our game?

David says: 1 XP!! Does that mean if I start a fight I get to be third level?!!??

Jerry says: 1 xp should put you up to third level. That's why I gave it to you...:) David, I think you missed out on a turn. Let me know if I need to resend.

I don't really expect to receive this one back on Monday seeing that no one is at work. If not, I'll wait until Tue night to send the next one.

Jerry

Introduction from The Jericho: During this time, we experience a player explosion. We could easily bring in other ex-players and now have somewhat of a waiting list. I recruit JK to be my partner in Dming the online game and that helps. It is taking from 45 minutes to 2 hours to run a turn. Neither of us mind because of the success we're having. The online game is arriving.

Copyright © 1980-2024 WoldianGames. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Site Map - Contact Us - SRD