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(Question) So any really old roleplayers still playing?

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'm one of those that came from another shard (GL) to join what became the original Catskills Roleplaying Circle (14 years ago?!). Wondering if anyone is still around from those days or has any fond memories?

Specifically

Shadow Clan Orcs
Glammer Velt Elves
Dark Rychen Drow
The Undead
The Picts
and...(memory is getting patchy now) Kingdom of Winterfell?
and no I'm not leaving The Kinship out of this, but unless I'm mistaken they were never formally a part of the roleplaying circle.



If there are other earlier groups by all means yell them out. Or if you came later when the number of roleplaying groups really started to take off, post a message. I know someone asked about this awhile back, but I never saw any responses. I started redecorating my one remaining guild house into a shrine of sorts to members of my guild who have moved on, and it got me to thinking of who else might be left from those days? What can I say, I'm feeling nostalgic.

For the record my characters were

Dae'Amarth - Glammer Velt Elves
Kyorlen Orb - Dark Rychen Drow

My namesake character, oddly enough, was just a roleplayed mule/slave to Kyorlen Orb in the early days.
 

Zurhet Pebblethief

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Most of those guilds have been scattered to the wind with single members still lurking the shard from time to time.

That I know of currently, an occasional undead has been known to haunt the forests south of Empath Abbey, The Knights Rest that was formerly a haunt of the Knights of Yew and now owned by Aedon Durreah still stands just southeast of the Yew moongate, The Purple Guardians of Honor inhabit the swamps north of Trinsic, a few Fae can be found in the Freehold of Roses in the mountains north of Luna, and a Vampire or two have been lurking in Istas also located in the Northern Krags on Malas.

Us surface goblins make our home wherever we can find a dry spot of hay...
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Oh, I know the guilds are long gone - I watched them slowly die off and they disappeared while I was still very active in roleplaying. Was just curious if there were any of the old timers still about, possibly in different incarnations with other guilds.
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Nobody wants to be called "really old"
bah, I think you're wrong. It's a badge to wear with honor. That we survived and can bore all the young'uns with stories of how hard we had it in the early days. I ran into a 14 year vet I've never met before and we spent an hour talking about how the game evolved.

What would you prefer to be called "classic"?
 

Aedon Durreah

Village of Aegis
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Oh, I know the guilds are long gone - I watched them slowly die off and they disappeared while I was still very active in roleplaying. Was just curious if there were any of the old timers still about, possibly in different incarnations with other guilds.
None of the old folks that I recall are still around. I am still a bit of a child coming in at 2 months till 10 years, but spent a lot of time in the Yew area. Like you, I watched sadly as the great guilds and players drifted away to other lands and pursuits. The ones left were listed above, and of course, you.
 

NBG

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
have not role played in almost 13 years....

Started on Atlantic, moved to Catskills 1st day of server up.

yeah Older than all of you and too old to bother start typing in RP speak again.:sleep2:
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Started on Atlantic, moved to Catskills 1st day of server up.

yeah Older than all of you
hrmm, I too moved to Catskills on the first day with my guild from GL and still have the character I made on that day. I started on GL first week the game went public.

So, older than me, eh? Only one way to be sure, we'll have to saw ourselves in half and count the rings.
 

Aedon Durreah

Village of Aegis
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
hrmm, I too moved to Catskills on the first day with my guild from GL and still have the character I made on that day. I started on GL first week the game went public.

So, older than me, eh? Only one way to be sure, we'll have to saw ourselves in half and count the rings.
*pulls out a saw.*


Oh oh, can I do it?
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
*pulls out a saw.*


Oh oh, can I do it?
Just so you know, there is no truth to the rumor that avatars have kinder toys hidden inside, so put away the saw.

And yes, little known fact, it was this old rumor that led to the whole PK thing. There's a bit of UO history you probably weren't aware of.
 
Y

Yale Mistraven

Guest
Irulia,

I don't visit stratics too often anymore and forgot any old account info so I just made a new one. I don't play much UO these days usually just re-upping in time to refresh the ranger tower west of Shame. I recently played a decent amount during the Shadowlords visit, Magincia's destruction; the closing of that chapter what a few years ago was it? It was pretty fun; I made sure to make all the events as I loved the U4/U5 era of Ultima. Also got some neat items from that time and the dawning of the current EM era.

I was and still am a Ranger of the Heart, our "HQ" was Que's Tavern in Fel east of Kinship Village, and after the crossing, it located in Trammel as described on Stratics here. We encountered and interacted with many of the RP guilds/groups/players over the years. There is still some fiction and stories @spiritwood.net involving this and that from the last several years, the last few from me there would be during the snake wars and a few of the rangers can still be reached there.

I came across this post by pure chance and seeing your name and question really brought back some specific memories. I certainly don't post much anywhere these days but I felt I just had to say hello to you, as well as to Aedon whom I had the privilege to fight next to in battle over some of the years, as well as the same honor to share a drinking table with at Que's and elsewhere. A toast as well to all old my Ranger brothers and sisters, allies, friends, and all the old role-players and fellow UOers that I saw pass before my ranger eyes. Many good memories.

You may not remember this tale Irulia, but I first ran into you many UO years ago (ha-ha we're showing our UO age here!) in Fel, on the edge of the Deep Forest, you had a small tailoring shop/home setup. This was a bit to the SE of the Yew Graveyard vicinity I believe it was, a dozen paces up off the road that passed W-E. My little field stone home at the time was some distance to the NE of you, getting near the Justice Shrine peninsula. You were having some trouble with some Trolls/Ettins and the random Orc Mage and we ran into each other near your home while I was patrolling the forest, doing ranger things and stuff. I remember chatting with you for some time that day, then taking care of the creature problems while you worked. I made sure to patrol your area more often after that, helping keep your area clear of baddies when I was around.

You made me the finest exceptional studded leather armor suit at the time with you name proudly sewn into each piece. You also tailored me some of the finest elven forest green clothing as well to go with it. I wore the heck out of that suit for some time!

The kilt from that suit that bears your maker's mark was later blessed and still to this day is worn with Yale's current ranger attire. I like that piece in his attire as it has this history I mentioned above. I always enjoyed having a good back-story with items in role playing/story crafting so most of the things my characters wear/wield/use have one. I want to say I also have a piece of the armor from that day locked down on display at the ranger tower I have care-taken for many years now, I think it's the gorget? The rest of the suit with you name on it all still exists in a vault, put away as fond memory of those good days of Ultima Online.

Strange as it may sound, whenever I would adjust my armor pieces on Yale and I would put the kilt back on and see Irulia Darkaith on the sewing I'd think back to that day. After some time had past, when that moment would happen I would also wonder if I’d ever get to tell this little story again, especially to the other main character in it. So when I just came across this random path in the internet wilderness, it pulled me towards it and seeing these familiar names, I again thought as Yale might of; fondly, reminiscent, nostalgic and I just had to spend the time to share that little UO moment with you as best I can. Cheers and well wishes to you all.

Yale Mistraven
Ranger of the Heart
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Irulia,

I don't visit stratics too often anymore and forgot any old account info so I just made a new one.

Yale Mistraven
Ranger of the Heart
Thank you so much for the reply Yale. It dawned on me that there probably are still a lot of the old players still kicking around, just not posting on the forums. I only recently started reading and posting on the forums routinely.

This proved true recently when I ran into Rand who happened to set up his town close to where my guild was very active. Upon chatting, it turned out he was one of the old RPers and introduced me to a few others who are of the same account age as me. Hopefully a few more will pop up in the future - call me nostalgic. As well, I was thinking recently how much of the RP history of this shard has been lost as more and more of the old websites vanish (my own website vanished thanks to a glitch with my ISP). I'm going to start a new thread for this, but any guild with any kind of history (3 or more years - RP preferrred), I'd like to write up an in game book and finally get back to building that library I started 12 years ago. So many of the great libraries have fallen with volumes created by players never to be seen again. So if anyone wants to ICQ me (8249606) with the name of your guild, your roster, guilds claim to fame, and any special notes that would be great. I will transcribe it into a book and add it to a public library. (Or if you want to write up your own book and pass it to me in game that would be great too). Hopefully I can keep the memories alive.

OH, and in greater response to your post Yale, yes that was where I had my little 8x8 workshop in Fel, you have a good memory! And I'm so happy to hear that you still have pieces I made. Someone on Atlantic recently contacted me and offered to sell me back a "Fancy Shirt sewn by Irulia D'Arkaith"! *laughs* Apparently those "sewn by" pieces are worth a pretty piece of gold.
 

SlayerofBunnys

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I also started on Catskills the day it started. If I remember right there was a server reset about 6 hours in.

I did some minor roleplaying about a year in with Defenders of Justice (DOJ) after meeting them during a week long dungeon crawl. I always had a tough time as I was trying to talk like Elmer Fudd and I have trouble typing as it is let alone with a lisp. That said "I must wid dis wurld of wabbits". Some wanted to join in the guild wars so we splintered into DDJ and I remember warring the Undead and Shadowclan. Wasn't good at PvP then and never really developed a knack for it. I remember often annoying both friend (especially Huntress, my cross healing partner) and foe by breaking off engagements to kill any bunnies that entered the battlefield.

I never really enjoyed the politics of guilds, so I have stayed clear of them for about 8 years now. Most of my RL friends have moved on. I play sporadically and since about Christmas have been on a lot. But with the weather getting better, I may soon be on sabbatical again.

As for being 'old', let's just say I remember being woken up to watch the lunar landing but doubt that I would win the 'count the rings' competition.
 

Judas D'arc

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Irulia,

Just saw your post. I also played back in the day on Catskills, from the opening of the shard until 2003 or 2004. Though the details are fuzzy, I definitely remember Kyorlen Orb, as well as all of the guilds that you mentioned. At the time, I played the character of Judas, and was part of a guild called the Emerald Empire (EE), who were active in Yew and Trinsic. We spent a lot of time in the early days of Kent's Last Pint, and then moved to Trinsic, and even got the NPC house we used decorated as part of the General Valek seer plot. We weren't original members of the Catskills Role-Playing Circle, but joined a few months into it, had our own board at Ken Masters' old UOTC forums, etc., so you might remember us. I also played in some other groups, like the Highland Sosarians, Winterfell, City of Britain, and the controversial (back in those days at least) RP1 stone. Anyway, those were all really fun days, filled with a lot of great players and in-game interaction, and I still have a lot of great memories.

I actually recently came back to UO a few months ago, but decided against returning to Catskills. I'm sure there is still a lot of great stuff going on there, but I knew it wouldn't feel the same without all of the old friends and history. Instead I've been on Atlantic, which has a fairly active role-playing community. I've encountered a few Catskills RP veterans there, a few from back in our day, and some from later on.

Anyway, in response to your re quest. Unfortunately, I lost my old account info and EA wasn't able to help me retrieve it, so a lot of cool in-game stuff, like a piece of black rock from the old Zog Cabal plot with teleport charges, have been lost to history. I still have all my old files from back in the day, and might have some stuff that interests you. I'm also still in touch with a number of ex-Catskills RP'ers from those times, including a couple of Dark Rychen veterans that you would probably recognize.

I don't come to the Stratics forums that often, but my ICQ # is 6082388 if you (or anyone else) wants to get in touch and say hi.
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Judas! I definitely remember your name, and Ken Masters, though I sadly can't remember any specifics after all this time - though now that you mention EE, that name definitely rings a bell. And yes, the RP stone...it was an interesting idea. For some reason I never thought of Atlantic as being home to RPers, I thought most went to Europa. I will definitely reach out to you. Thanks for dropping a line.
 

Ludes

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Kyra and I are still around... but HoL is down to only about ten people left.

We still love to stay "in character" while playing though.
 
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