13 freaking years and still kicking...

[Elijah]

13 years ago today on Friday, June 9th, 1993:

I was 20 years old and just bought a x386 computer that ran MS Windows 3.1, you know back when you boot your computer to a DOS window and then typed “c:> win” for windows to boot up. My modem ran at a blistering speed of 9600 bps. The computer was brand new and cost almost a couple thousand dollars.

I had gotten some promo floppy disk, no not a CD, among some snail mail. It was the first release of AOL. It took a couple hours after work to get it all working right, but eventually I got online for the first time not using some BBS call in number or telnetted from some education institute server to someone’s MUSH. I think I got like 20 hours free with the promo disk, but was wondering what would make me stay on AOL for any length of time at $2.95 an hour for usage.

So one of the first windows that would come up after signing on was the “People’s Connection” menu of chat rooms. I scrolled down the list and saw something that caught my eye, “Red Dragon Inn.” Being a gaming geek, you know the rolling dice type playing 2nd edition AD&D or 1st edition Shadowrun at the time of the early 90s, the RDI sparked an interest. So I went into this “chat” room “Red Dragon Inn.”

Some hottie redhead bartender, RDI Dansr, served me an ale, “~~~~~~~~<(_) Ale for Ecore!” Then I got the feel for the role-play of the environment. A “regular” of the time, Cymranger, came into the RDI and we got our characters talking. I made the SN “E core 008” for my own personal OOC reasons when I first created the account. But when I got into the RDI and was faced with coming up with a character on the fly to use I chose my favorite character ever then, and now still, Baphelocutis, my fighter/mage/cleric platinum draconian I used playing AD&D. Back then there was an SN “REDDRAGON” that owned the RDI and I remember shortly after coming on AOL him handing the proprietorship to Kairee.

Eventually after some interactive role-play with Cymranger that night he told me about the Duel of Swords in the basement of the RDI. I role-played going through the door to the basement of the RDI, then picked the Duel of Swords chat room from the People’s Connection menu, and then role-played going into basement of this tavern to do some fighting. Cym introduced me to RDI Gloin, the man who basically kept DoS running in the beginning in a lot of ways. Cym introduced me to Xenograg, who just beat Falon I believe for the Overlordship. My first duel ever, was Commoner Baphelocutis vs. Overlord Xenograg.

I was hooked quicker than a homeless girl on crack. One month I ended up with an AOL bill for just over a thousand dollars. I guess having to spend almost three dollars an hour to be online we tried to make our time as worthwhile and “vested in the environment” then those who came after unlimited flat rate pricing came to AOL. That is why I have the attitude I do about RoH, I like to see the quality of the game as if you had to pay to play it, and get past the example of you get what you pay for. Back when I first came online there wasn’t even a dueler’s forum even though there was a fledging dueler’s community that was half the RDI community basically then. Since then what the dueler’s community has gone through and accomplished is a testament to life in general. I got my cat, Bella, on July 4th, 1993 a month later, and she is the only thing I still have in my life since then that was in my possession.

I greatly appreciate all the RoH staff that keep this community going today, but today my shout out goes to the old school who got me hooked on this place to begin with.

Kairee: The ultimate redheaded lass character who ran this place for years to help it originally grow strong enough to survive the chaos that transpired in the years after
Dansr: The ultimate redheaded lass bartender who served me my first drink who was often serving drinks and calling duels.
Gloin: This guy was the “Man” of the duels, he was some of the great old characters that are part of the history today, as well as running the sport and maintaining the standings.
Britsh, Doctor, and Panthr: some of the early callers who helped develop a lot of the “environs” of the basement of the RDI.
And all the characters who I met in those early days who I dueled and role played with in both the RDI and the duels both that made “Rhy’Din” a place to not only want to game, but “invest” some of my self in by doing more online in the FFGF at $2.95 an hour besides play a game.

13 freaking years and still kicking, here’s to the dueling in the basement of a tavern idea that got me hooked!

[Heathrdi]

Here! Here!
FFGF.....and 2.95/hour....MAN I feel old

[Skyler]

One month I ended up with an AOL bill for just over a thousand dollars.

::chokes:: A 1k AOL Bill? That's gotta be some kind of record. You could be in the Guiness Book under the title "Largest AOL bill on record." lol

[Elijah]

I had like a dozen storyline folders going at the time that I kept up with almost as well as Alais's player does now. My mistake back then though was writing posts while online. I think for that month too I wasn't working. So between powerdueling and powerwriting with occasional sleep, I hooked a big bill!

[Amaltea]

You know? I still have an AOL 1.1 disk.

[Simini]

1) Hmmm... I thought $2.95 an hour was the lower price, going down to that in early '95-ish from... was it $5.95 per hour? That's what I recall anyway. And no, a $1k bill for a month - while high, don't get me wrong! - wasn't... all... THAT... unusual... errrr... was it? ::looking around, half guilty, half hopeful::

2) Wow, you still have Bella?!

3) I miss the ascii bar!!! All the different mugs and bottles were so fun, Dansr was great at those! It seems the topic of ascii art has come up a lot lately, weird. @}-->-------

4) Cymranger - bestower of Moredhil upon Simini
Kairee - she of the splendiferous legs, hired Simini as an RDI
Dansr - flirtacious bartendress extraordinaire, so fun to work with!
Gloin - I think of Gloin, and I think "excellent rp"
Britsh, Doctor and Panthr - British was one that I didn't get to know well, but Doc and Panthr were always around, working their tushes off to give the rest of us a place to play.

Weird seeing some of these names again. Vixxenish is one that I remember a lot too... hard to get the image of a polka-dotted Arena out of my mind. And Vixx vs Amaltea was, I believe, the first Overlord match that I watched, heheh. At least, it was the first one in which I had a clue about the dueling itself, and wasn't just watching the rp.

Oh and Baph, too. He was on a roll when I started hanging about the RDI in the summer of '94. E core 008 was busy then... tending his garden, I believe.

[G]

Wow, you've been here only three years longer than me.::chuckles:: Dammit, I'm old school now.

[Amaltea]

1) Hmmm... I thought $2.95 an hour was the lower price, going down to that in early '95-ish from... was it $5.95 per hour? That's what I recall anyway. And no, a $1k bill for a month - while high, don't get me wrong! - wasn't... all... THAT... unusual... errrr... was it? ::looking around, half guilty, half hopeful::

I remember it was more than that. Wasn't it like $12 an hour? I think my highest bill was something close to $500. After that I behaved.

[BrigathC]

1) Hmmm... I thought $2.95 an hour was the lower price, going down to that in early '95-ish from... was it $5.95 per hour? That's what I recall anyway. And no, a $1k bill for a month - while high, don't get me wrong! - wasn't... all... THAT... unusual... errrr... was it? ::looking around, half guilty, half hopeful::

I remember it was more than that. Wasn't it like $12 an hour? I think my highest bill was something close to $500. After that I behaved.

I don't remember what the fee was, I just remember getting a staff position as quickly as I possibly could. Host Brig and then as a forum coordinator under Gypsy Lynx's player in a non-RDI area.

[Karnafexx]

I, like many people, gamed alot. I luckily got a slot working for MTV (TY Laura) or else I would have had to quit way back in the day also. Funny, the flat rate saved AOL but lots of people claimed that it had a hand in the demise of the RP there.

First person I ever met and RP'd with was Jonalyn. I lurked for a few weeks or so before getting up the nerve to introduce myself. She eventually led me to the DoS and I was hooked almost immediately. Two of my first three matched were against Shadowrun and MadMadMax and I remember beating Shadowrun only because I didn't know the matrix and basically put any move in =P

It was a bit like heroin back then.

[Tareth Thorn]

It was in the fall of 1993 that I first picked up AOL 1.1 on a single floppy disk, it was glittery. I think I still have it somewhere. I ran it on the good ol' 9600 baud phone line with an external modem on my mom's AT&T branded PC, go go brand new Pentium processor!

Quickly I found the chat rooms and the RDI, along with the massive amounts of member-created rooms. Who else can remember the great guild wars of the early 90s? The Rhy'Din War Council? The rise and fall of the Slaver's Association and DM/SMs with dice rolling?

I spent a lot of time writing at $2.95/hour both in the live rooms and on the boards, once hitting $400 with my AOL bill before the flat rate glut of 1996. I recall beta testing 3.0 and oohing and aahing over the new GUI, beta testing 4.0 and being extremely excited about the longer user names and being able to (gasp) log out and back in without signing off completely. I remember the RhyDin Library and keyword "shareware" and Bellum Sweetflower and "The Lobby" and waiting for hours not just to sign on, but to get into the correct instance of the RDI (we were always in RDI 3).

Only after the collapse of my main gaming group did I come into the duels in 1997, just in time to watch Shanni try to destroy the blue opal and watch the backlash that ensued. It was interesting, here was something to catch my interest in playing again. So I started new, made a lot of new friends and a name for myself and the rest is history.

Now it's been almost 4 years that I've been the 'de facto' coordinator of this fine sport and community. Funny how things evolve eh? I've been roleplaying for longer than some people here have been alive.

Alas, I am old.

[G]

Now it's been almost 4 years that I've been the 'de facto' coordinator of this fine sport and community. Funny how things evolve eh? I've been roleplaying for longer than some people here have been alive.

Alas, I am old.

At least noone has told you "Damn, you've been dueling since I've been in second grade!"

Old. Hmph

[NickOvTyme]

Seems like I can remember when it was $2.99 an hour.

I think I can vaguely remember when Elijah started dueling. Ecore008 or something like that.

I dueled off and on from '93 to '95 and left for good only to come back in 2000.

Now with a wife and two kids...and did I mention there's another on the way?

I haven't had time to duel in about a year and may not have any more time once the new one gets here.

Get back to me in 6 months.

[Alais d Nitesong]

Amaltea wrote:

I remember it was more than that. Wasn't it like $12 an hour? I think my highest bill was something close to $500. After that I behaved.



Yeah, I hit over $900.00 a couple of times. Those were some really bad months!

[Kalamere]

Staff positions were a savior!

That and multiple accounts so that the included hours went further. =)