T
Trebr Drab
Guest
Talking about UO's beginnings in another thread kicked my memory core into high gear. This was back in the early days of Alpha and Beta, before UO was released. There were two really active message boards, UO's and Auric's Ultima Moongates. I mean they were really active.
On the Auric's boards, there was a poster by the name of The Hermit Barbasol. He was a roleplayer deluxe, and all he wanted to do was travel to each one of the virtue shrines. He cared not for wealth, nor power. He cared not that he would be weak and risked death on every journey. For there were many other's who posted at the same time of their greatness in combat, that they would "PK" everyone else and dominate as the greatest gamer to ever play in the lands of Sosaria. They were rude and obnoxious as any "PKer" ever was. They roleplayed not for an instant.
And over time, months, The Hermit Barbasol continued to state his desire of simplicity, his modest goal, in his ever humble fashion, to visit each shrine no matter how difficult the task, no matter the dangers in a brutal land of lawless territories to transverse. He just wanted to see and visit each shrine.
And equally, many others made vows and oaths. They would travel with the humble Hermit Barbasol, protect him, aid him in his personal quest of these visitations to the shrines of virtue. They felt they owed him such. If he could not defend himself, they would do so for him. He deserved their swords on his journeys. His saintly personage would find aid wherever he traveled, to achieve this goal so admired.
All the while, as I said, there were those who would conquer all others. Brash statement that "you'll see". These would be the PKers that everyone "feared and ran from", according to them.
But the most numerous posts of carnage came from one named "Blade". Blade was going to kill you. Me. Everyone. He said so all the time, many times a day. He didn't care about anything else. Not roleplay. Not the marvelous UO lore. Not Sosaria. He would be here to do one thing, to kill the players of UO. And he was so typical. Poor spelling, poor grammar, poor attitude.
As much as many posters took to liking The Hermit Barbasol, so too they took to disliking Blade. They were the two ultimate extremes of gamers who would join the adventure that was UO.
And eventually, as must happen, Blade's eyes gazed towards The Hermit Barbasol. He would kill him. Many times. He would be the reason The Hermit failed in his humble yet admirable goal of visiting each shrine. He said so. We were expected to believe it, because he said so.
Now, back in those days, your IP address showed with your posts.
And then, after months of the two extremes in The Hermit Barbasol and Blade posting their own goals in UO, it happened. These two, different IPs, suddenly switched IP addresses. And the cat was out of the bag. They were the same person, posting from home and work, always careful to use the right IP, until this mistake. And it was caught immediately, because of the "fame" of these two posters at opposite ends of the spectrum.
You see, "Blade" as in razor blade..."Barbasol" as in the original shaving cream.
Neither was ever heard from again. No one took credit for it. The story of Blade and Barbasol faded into distant memory.
Just one of the many interesting stories from the days of UO's creation.
On the Auric's boards, there was a poster by the name of The Hermit Barbasol. He was a roleplayer deluxe, and all he wanted to do was travel to each one of the virtue shrines. He cared not for wealth, nor power. He cared not that he would be weak and risked death on every journey. For there were many other's who posted at the same time of their greatness in combat, that they would "PK" everyone else and dominate as the greatest gamer to ever play in the lands of Sosaria. They were rude and obnoxious as any "PKer" ever was. They roleplayed not for an instant.
And over time, months, The Hermit Barbasol continued to state his desire of simplicity, his modest goal, in his ever humble fashion, to visit each shrine no matter how difficult the task, no matter the dangers in a brutal land of lawless territories to transverse. He just wanted to see and visit each shrine.
And equally, many others made vows and oaths. They would travel with the humble Hermit Barbasol, protect him, aid him in his personal quest of these visitations to the shrines of virtue. They felt they owed him such. If he could not defend himself, they would do so for him. He deserved their swords on his journeys. His saintly personage would find aid wherever he traveled, to achieve this goal so admired.
All the while, as I said, there were those who would conquer all others. Brash statement that "you'll see". These would be the PKers that everyone "feared and ran from", according to them.
But the most numerous posts of carnage came from one named "Blade". Blade was going to kill you. Me. Everyone. He said so all the time, many times a day. He didn't care about anything else. Not roleplay. Not the marvelous UO lore. Not Sosaria. He would be here to do one thing, to kill the players of UO. And he was so typical. Poor spelling, poor grammar, poor attitude.
As much as many posters took to liking The Hermit Barbasol, so too they took to disliking Blade. They were the two ultimate extremes of gamers who would join the adventure that was UO.
And eventually, as must happen, Blade's eyes gazed towards The Hermit Barbasol. He would kill him. Many times. He would be the reason The Hermit failed in his humble yet admirable goal of visiting each shrine. He said so. We were expected to believe it, because he said so.
Now, back in those days, your IP address showed with your posts.
And then, after months of the two extremes in The Hermit Barbasol and Blade posting their own goals in UO, it happened. These two, different IPs, suddenly switched IP addresses. And the cat was out of the bag. They were the same person, posting from home and work, always careful to use the right IP, until this mistake. And it was caught immediately, because of the "fame" of these two posters at opposite ends of the spectrum.
You see, "Blade" as in razor blade..."Barbasol" as in the original shaving cream.
Neither was ever heard from again. No one took credit for it. The story of Blade and Barbasol faded into distant memory.
Just one of the many interesting stories from the days of UO's creation.