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Congrats, Old Boy! Good choice Renss.
 
Well, I'm surprised and humbled, to say the least. After my 'retirement', I stepped away to concentrate on other things, with a fair measure of success, but the lure of these forums was always in the back of my mind. Finally, after a break of a few years I picked up CK2 and started thinking about AARs once again. Well, that led me back here, and I've been slowly working my way through some titles. As they say, so much to read, so little time. But that's the positive side of being a 'fan' and not a Mod. I have a few more ticks on the clock to enjoy these tales.

It's extremely gratifying to be recognized as a pillar, or the foundation on which these forums was built. Hell, I came on board back in 2001 when the only game in town was the original EU. Those were interesting days, when what would eventually become AARland was finding its way. My very first AAR, The Papacy - An Alternative History began as a simple log-style report of events, but along the way morphed into a narrative (with thinly disguised forum members as characters), then became interactive, ultimately giving birth to The Free Company and its eight books worth of interactive fiction. So, for those of you out there whining about too many narrative AARs, blame me. However, I'll take credit for founding the interactive part of it. Well, shared credit. Warspite ran a Papal one where members played characters who voted on how his game would progress. Mine was more RPG, with me as the DM. But I digress... :)

For me, writing in the narrative style grew out of my desire to hone my craft and see if I could one day be published. Well, it worked, and now I have over 30 stories and a graphic novel to my credit. And it's all because of these forums. This is the main reason why I have always encouraged writers here to take the plunge. AARland is the perfect place to practice. That's not to deride any other style of AAR. I like them all, and I never judge based on how poorly something may be written. We've all been there at one time or another. There's always room for improvement. And feedback. Feedback means a lot, from the beginner with their first attempt, to the veteran launching their umpteenth AAR.

I see a lot of new faces here, a few old, and a few new forums. Nice to see things still growing. I plan to get around to some more AARs, so bear with me, and many thanks for this honour. Like I said at the beginning. It's humbling.

LD

EDIT: Looks like my verbosity scared everyone off... But then, people like coz1 have heard it before... ;)
 
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And what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Congratulations, LD, and welcome back. I hope you'll find time to do some reading but if not, by all means do a little writing. You'll probably get a comment or two ( :) ) because the forumite habits you helped set are still somehow governing the spirit of the place.

Here's hoping you and yours are well. It really is good to hear from you.
 
And what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Congratulations, LD, and welcome back. I hope you'll find time to do some reading but if not, by all means do a little writing. You'll probably get a comment or two ( :) ) because the forumite habits you helped set are still somehow governing the spirit of the place.

Here's hoping you and yours are well. It really is good to hear from you.

Wow. It's the Maestro. Still kicking, are you? I'm slowly getting my feet wet, and following a few AARs. There's some more authors I plan to read, especially after what I saw when I went through the Inkwell. What are you up to these days? Writing anything? Good to hear from you, too. As for writing something here? You never know...
 
Yes, still here. As for kicking... feebly, I'm afraid, but still moving my feet a bit. 'Special Providence' is still chugging along over in the Victoria forum, five years after I started 'a short little project'. You know I've never been able to shut up...

Do some writing here, Bruce. You can do things here that you'd enjoy, maybe try some experimental things, get the left-handed monkey wrench out of the tool-box. :)

Not as much narrative work being done here these days but 'the kids' are doing some amazing work in other ways. (Go check out this one http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...MERICA-Saves-the-World!-USA-AAR-HOI3-FtM-3.05 by robw963. An artist at work.)

Anyway, time for me to go do some polishing and you to go do some reading. You're in luck: there's a lot of good work to be found. For myself I'm playing Vic2 and getting set to buy March of Eagles (hey, it's Napoleonic, and I could teach that guy a few things about ego, let me tell you :) ).
 
Congrats to you, Lord Durham, and it is good to see some of the old faces popping up again. Hopefully you guys can find a little routine here so we don't lose you again. :D

It is strange though because I still see the likes of you and Director as these pillars of the forum, I've been around nearly as long! ;)
 
The piece I remember most from you, Lord Durham, was The Marsh God. I wish I could provide a link to it, but that may have been removed from the forum because it became a commercial piece. That was especially memorable to me because you had collaborated with an illustrator who helped bring your story to life. I'm a sucker for cool pictures. I did happen to come across this link to it. I sincerely hope it's been successful. I may just need to pick up a copy of it...at 10 bucks it seems like a bargain to me.

Looking at your Inkwell entry...wow...I mean really, just WOW. You're incredibly prolific. And while I'm flattered that Director aimed you at my current AAR, I'm sure I don't need to tell you there are lots of other fantastic works going in AARLand right now...anyway, as I mentioned before, I'm really happy to see you back here.
 
Yes, still here. As for kicking... feebly, I'm afraid, but still moving my feet a bit. 'Special Providence' is still chugging along over in the Victoria forum, five years after I started 'a short little project'. You know I've never been able to shut up...

Do some writing here, Bruce. You can do things here that you'd enjoy, maybe try some experimental things, get the left-handed monkey wrench out of the tool-box. :)

Anyway, time for me to go do some polishing and you to go do some reading. You're in luck: there's a lot of good work to be found. For myself I'm playing Vic2 and getting set to buy March of Eagles (hey, it's Napoleonic, and I could teach that guy a few things about ego, let me tell you :) ).

'Special Providence' yet lives? I must have a look, then. I may take out that left-handed monkey wrench, but the problem is, if I'm writing here, I'm not writing for something else that pays. It's the time management thing, you know. Still...

I can see where March of Eagles would be right up your alley. Me? The upcoming Viking DLC for CK2 looks interesting. I like splitting skulls, and the Old Gods theme reminds me of the evenings spent having long chats with Cthulhu.

Congratulations, LD!

This could do with being engraved on the entrance to the forums.

Yeah, it’s a far cry from the days of a lone title like EU. But hey, I like the idea.

Congrats to you, Lord Durham, and it is good to see some of the old faces popping up again. Hopefully you guys can find a little routine here so we don't lose you again. :D

It is strange though because I still see the likes of you and Director as these pillars of the forum, I've been around nearly as long! ;)

2003? Yep, close. I’m from the Jurassic era myself. Thanks for the Pillar comment. I fondly remember the ‘Milk & Cookies’ sessions with MrT where we brainstormed ideas to make AARland more member-friendly. Glad there’s a few here who still remember those formative days :). And lets not forget people like Warspite, Valdemar, Secret Master, Ariel, and so on… and of course people like you.

EDIT: I just read some of your blog entries, Mr. C. I see you took a crack at NaNoWriMo. You're a brave fellow...
 
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The piece I remember most from you, Lord Durham, was The Marsh God. I wish I could provide a link to it, but that may have been removed from the forum because it became a commercial piece. That was especially memorable to me because you had collaborated with an illustrator who helped bring your story to life. I'm a sucker for cool pictures. I did happen to come across this link to it. I sincerely hope it's been successful. I may just need to pick up a copy of it...at 10 bucks it seems like a bargain to me.

Looking at your Inkwell entry...wow...I mean really, just WOW. You're incredibly prolific. And while I'm flattered that Director aimed you at my current AAR, I'm sure I don't need to tell you there are lots of other fantastic works going in AARLand right now...anyway, as I mentioned before, I'm really happy to see you back here.

Don't tell anyone, but the thread still exists. I found it...

The artist contacted me at the beginning of this year and wants to revisit the graphic novel. There's some art he wishes to touch up. That's fine by me, so we'll reissue The Marsh God when the work is done. So hang on until then. Coincidentally enough, a well-known fantasy blogger just sang its praises in a review last weekend. Head rush. The artist and I are also planning another project, hopefully for later this year.

I've had my share of success along with disappointments. Hooking up with Janet Morris and her 'Heroes in Hell' series was a definite plus. If you are not familiar with that series, you may have heard of another little series called 'Thieves World'. She created one of the most memorable characters to come out of that shared-world collection.

I'll definitely be looking at your AAR. If Director recommends it, then it has to be good.
 
Glad there’s a few here who still remember those formative days :). And lets not forget people like Warspite, Valdemar, Secret Master, Ariel, and so on… and of course people like you.

Secret Master is still around... Just secret, you know. :D I heard from him last month, and I don't know exactly what he's involved with, but I suspect we'll see more of his writing out sometime this year.

Renss
 
It's great to see so many of the old timers kicking around in this thread the last few days.:) You've given the less verbose of us so much fun over the years!
 
It's great to see so many of the old timers kicking around in this thread the last few days.:) You've given the less verbose of us so much fun over the years!

We're like fungus :). Geez, you're just 2 forum months younger than me. We may be the grandads here.

That's the problem with Secret Master, Renss. He's so damned... secret. I'd be curious to see what he's up to.
 
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First of all, a belated congratulations Lord Durham. It is obviously deserved.

Second of all, all this talk of old timers reminds me of my school days when I was always the babby of my year (at one time I was the youngest child to start in my primary school). It's not like today when I'm one of the old stagers on the GAA pitch during training.
 
2003? Yep, close. I’m from the Jurassic era myself. Thanks for the Pillar comment. I fondly remember the ‘Milk & Cookies’ sessions with MrT where we brainstormed ideas to make AARland more member-friendly. Glad there’s a few here who still remember those formative days :). And lets not forget people like Warspite, Valdemar, Secret Master, Ariel, and so on… and of course people like you.

EDIT: I just read some of your blog entries, Mr. C. I see you took a crack at NaNoWriMo. You're a brave fellow...
Yeah, some of those names still ring bells, though it took a long time for me to really get active in the forums, to get out of that teenager mindset of fighting the rules to my current station of enforcing them. :D

If I ever do NaNo again I have promised myself to never use their site again. The "Editor's Pick" thread was a thread on how to artificially bump up your word count and anyone who suggested actually trying to write something worth reading was chased out of the forum.
 
First of all, a belated congratulations Lord Durham. It is obviously deserved.

Second of all, all this talk of old timers reminds me of my school days when I was always the babby of my year (at one time I was the youngest child to start in my primary school). It's not like today when I'm one of the old stagers on the GAA pitch during training.

GAA? As in Gaelic Athletic Association? And here for a moment I thought you were the brother of a certain recently retired hockey player :). There's a lot to be said for age and experience, not that everyone listens :). Thanks for the congrats.

Mister C, it's a bitch becoming part of the system, isn't it? I have some friends who torture themselves each year at NaNoWriMo time. Based on what I've heard from them, and what you said, I think I'll continue passing. Too much other stuff on the go, anyway.
 
GAA? As in Gaelic Athletic Association? And here for a moment I thought you were the brother of a certain recently retired hockey player :). There's a lot to be said for age and experience, not that everyone listens :). Thanks for the congrats.

Yes on the GAA, an you're not the first person to think me more famous on these fora.