Eric Sneered
Oct. 31st, 2002 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenSo let's talk about some RPGs.
Once Upon A Time
I'm going to sound like a wizened old fic writer but I feel like I need to give some history for those kiddies who weren't around at the time.
Picture it. The Internet. 1994. A little newsgroup we liked to call alt.books.anne-rice, for that was its name.
ABAR was an interesting little place back in the day. This was when getting onto the internet wasn't as easy as pushing a button so I'm going to be a huge snot and say that it gave us a slightly higher population of smart people.
It was also a fairly small little group. I mean imagine how tiny the overlap area is on a Venn diagram of computer users back in 1994 who had internet access, were smart enough to use it and liked Anne Rice.
Oh sure, we had our share of idiots, and that was even before the president of the fan club found out how to get there. But it was fun. We were a family, we abarbarians, and we enjoyed ourselves.
You called them what now?
We were such a tiny, unique little group that we were totally unconnected to fandom, such as it was on the net back then. Oh, sure, yours truly hung out on various other groups (TBQ pauses a sec to remember places like alt.tv.highlander) and so did other abarbarians, but not enough to get the level of meta fandom like you get hanging around the net these days.
Therefore we were all on our own when Susie K introduced the idea of writing VampChron fanfic. Fanfic was a concept most of us could grok, but Susie was the first one who we can actually document as the first.
We didn't know enough to call it slash (I still argue that in VC it technically isn't), we did know enough to use disclaimers and try to hide it from TPTB.
Now after you start getting fanfic going, it doesn't take too long, I guess, for RPGs to soon follow. Enter the RPG.
Louis and Lestat get married
I wasn't a part of this one. This is because I was very dense and didn't realize that the many people writing to me and saying "TBQ! You have to join this game!" were actually giving me invitations. What can I say? Sometimes Angel and I have a lot in common. (Box?)
But this was the first big game - meta-stories done in fun notwithstanding - that hit the group.
Hollywood Vampires
When L&L get married broke up for whatever reason (I guess they, you know, got married) a new RPG hit the scene. Hollywood Vampires. And a big cast list was drawn in. Concept? It's time to film The Vampire Lestat, they're doing it in New Orleans. The VC vamps decide to have some fun. An RPG was born. We didn't know enough to call it slash, we sure as Hell didn't know enough to call it real people slash, but the concept worked with the canon so - why not?
Fanfic writers were called in. It's been so long since the days that I can't even remember the original cast list in its entirety. But![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
catscradle was there, as was versailles_rose, ladybd and darthneko. damoyre? mickanick? Y'all were there at the start too, right?
And, of course, more players who don't necessarily have live journals at this moment in time.
I want to be a fighter
I forget the exact advice but I remember years and years ago reading a D&D magazine that broke down the basics of D&D for a beginner. The big theme of the piece was that no matter what your friends tried to convince you to play, keep repeating "I want to be a fighter" (or barbarian or whatever is the simpliest, non-magic using type player in D&D). Idea being this is how you can keep your life simple and free up your brainpower for learning how to play.
This was me when I got invited to play in Hollywood Vampires. TBQ though I was (for verily I had earned the nickname by then - literally), I felt I didn't know enough about RPGs to trust myself with an important character. So my mantra was "I want to be Santino." Nothing complicated for me, no thanks. I'll take a C level character who, at that time in fanfic history, didn't have many stories written about or including him that weren't penned by yours truly so - walk in the park I thought.
Picture it now, if you will, this cast of characters: Lestat, Louis, Armand, Santino, Marius, David, Daniel, Gabrielle, Jesse, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater.
Oh this was going to be insane.
The RPG where the G stands for Angst
Hollywood vamps started out all over the place. It was up, it was down, it was drama, it was comedy - it was an undead barrel of monkies.
But then a few things started to change. Change one - some players dropped to the wayside, for various reasons.
Change two - we, the about to become Mystic Krewe of Dagger, started doing what we did best, which was ANGST. Out went the silly, out went the stupid. If we could twist the knife in deeper we did it. You know that scene in Galaxy Quest where Signourney Weaver's character yells out "The writers need to die!"? That would be the RPG characters feelings about us, if they weren't, you know, fictional.
This is when my own personal cast list changed. We lost our Lestat, soladybd, who was running the game, asked for players. I told her that I'd be happy to lend a hand with the Stat if she needed one.
Famous last words.
I took over Stat and I'm not entirely certain I ever gave him back. God knows he's never been the same in the books since then ;)
Is this a dagger I see before me?
Hollywood Vamps went through various changes and slowly became Dagger of the Mind. More players were added, includingflambeau. more characters were added too, like Pandora, Eric, Khayman, Johnny Depp and Sting.
It sounds simple to talk about now, but this thing was huge. Way bigger than us at any rate. Let me put it this way - I still get people writing to me, wondering when there's going to be more Dagger put out. Scary, huh?
People loved this thing. And god knows we did. The Mystic Krewe of Dagger (for the benefit of the New Orleans impaired - "Mystic Krewe of _____" is how you name the clubs that put on Mardi Gras parades) was a great group. I made some tight friends in there, many of whom I'm still friends with today. And it's funny for me to sit here and think of how far many of us have come from back in the day when we posted our very first fanfics to abar and wondered if anyone would notice or care.
I mean consider that it was the Dagger Krewe, in Dagger and elsewhere, that helped advance the idea of Marius/David - Susie's little brainstorm from back in the Memnoch days, based on nothing but a hunch that the two guys would get along well - and then last year the QotD movie gets released which basically makes Marius/David canon. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if we didn't really know our own strengths. ;) And of course it gives me a giggle now to think back on the days of Brad/Tom in light of the huge fandoms that LotR and boyband RPS have. (Not saying we started those, just that it's funny to watch the fic world evolve)
Misty, water-colored memories
Who could forget such things as:
Yeah, we're big dorks.
That was then, this is now
I find myself thinking back on the days of Dagger now that I'm in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
wes_visions_rpg, something which has just started to really hit its stride. I mean it's got some of the same components - old guard and new guard fanfic writers coming together to either do the characters they do best or learn how to do ones they've never tried before (or both), in a story that's getting a life of its own, in a group that, well, just clicks damn it.
Now let me preface this by saying I don't mean that as a slam to the various writers who had to leave and/or take a hiatus for various reasons. There's tons of you who wanted to play but had to bow out and you still rock and I still love ya.
But, that being said, I feel like giving a shout out to the Mystic Krewe of Wes Visions, so to speak. We've got old guard fanfic writers, new guard fanfic writers, people of various RPGing experience and we're having fun. We've got angst, we've got humor, we've got slash, we've got het, we've got... okay, no RPS but somehow I'll cope.
It's a fun little group. And I daresay I'm not the only one who's sitting here like a big dork going "Hey - you guys rock." Actually I know this for certain because this pretty much amounts to what we all talk about on IRC together. That is - when we can stop hitting reload long enough to type. ;)
So, call this a little love note if you will. Something written in honor of the anniversary of so many New Orleans get togethers of the Dagger Krewe, and in honor of my new Krewe -wesleysgirl, buffybot, miss_edith, stakebait, wordsofastory, wolfling, pointybird and mpoetess (and the eventually returning kita0610 and possibly guest starring tenebraeli). You guys are way too much fun to play with and I'm glad you're on my team.
Now screw all this sentiment and let's get back to posting. ;)
Once Upon A Time
I'm going to sound like a wizened old fic writer but I feel like I need to give some history for those kiddies who weren't around at the time.
Picture it. The Internet. 1994. A little newsgroup we liked to call alt.books.anne-rice, for that was its name.
ABAR was an interesting little place back in the day. This was when getting onto the internet wasn't as easy as pushing a button so I'm going to be a huge snot and say that it gave us a slightly higher population of smart people.
It was also a fairly small little group. I mean imagine how tiny the overlap area is on a Venn diagram of computer users back in 1994 who had internet access, were smart enough to use it and liked Anne Rice.
Oh sure, we had our share of idiots, and that was even before the president of the fan club found out how to get there. But it was fun. We were a family, we abarbarians, and we enjoyed ourselves.
You called them what now?
We were such a tiny, unique little group that we were totally unconnected to fandom, such as it was on the net back then. Oh, sure, yours truly hung out on various other groups (TBQ pauses a sec to remember places like alt.tv.highlander) and so did other abarbarians, but not enough to get the level of meta fandom like you get hanging around the net these days.
Therefore we were all on our own when Susie K introduced the idea of writing VampChron fanfic. Fanfic was a concept most of us could grok, but Susie was the first one who we can actually document as the first.
We didn't know enough to call it slash (I still argue that in VC it technically isn't), we did know enough to use disclaimers and try to hide it from TPTB.
Now after you start getting fanfic going, it doesn't take too long, I guess, for RPGs to soon follow. Enter the RPG.
Louis and Lestat get married
I wasn't a part of this one. This is because I was very dense and didn't realize that the many people writing to me and saying "TBQ! You have to join this game!" were actually giving me invitations. What can I say? Sometimes Angel and I have a lot in common. (Box?)
But this was the first big game - meta-stories done in fun notwithstanding - that hit the group.
Hollywood Vampires
When L&L get married broke up for whatever reason (I guess they, you know, got married) a new RPG hit the scene. Hollywood Vampires. And a big cast list was drawn in. Concept? It's time to film The Vampire Lestat, they're doing it in New Orleans. The VC vamps decide to have some fun. An RPG was born. We didn't know enough to call it slash, we sure as Hell didn't know enough to call it real people slash, but the concept worked with the canon so - why not?
Fanfic writers were called in. It's been so long since the days that I can't even remember the original cast list in its entirety. But
catscradle was there, as was versailles_rose, ladybd and darthneko. damoyre? mickanick? Y'all were there at the start too, right?And, of course, more players who don't necessarily have live journals at this moment in time.
I want to be a fighter
I forget the exact advice but I remember years and years ago reading a D&D magazine that broke down the basics of D&D for a beginner. The big theme of the piece was that no matter what your friends tried to convince you to play, keep repeating "I want to be a fighter" (or barbarian or whatever is the simpliest, non-magic using type player in D&D). Idea being this is how you can keep your life simple and free up your brainpower for learning how to play.
This was me when I got invited to play in Hollywood Vampires. TBQ though I was (for verily I had earned the nickname by then - literally), I felt I didn't know enough about RPGs to trust myself with an important character. So my mantra was "I want to be Santino." Nothing complicated for me, no thanks. I'll take a C level character who, at that time in fanfic history, didn't have many stories written about or including him that weren't penned by yours truly so - walk in the park I thought.
Picture it now, if you will, this cast of characters: Lestat, Louis, Armand, Santino, Marius, David, Daniel, Gabrielle, Jesse, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater.
Oh this was going to be insane.
The RPG where the G stands for Angst
Hollywood vamps started out all over the place. It was up, it was down, it was drama, it was comedy - it was an undead barrel of monkies.
But then a few things started to change. Change one - some players dropped to the wayside, for various reasons.
Change two - we, the about to become Mystic Krewe of Dagger, started doing what we did best, which was ANGST. Out went the silly, out went the stupid. If we could twist the knife in deeper we did it. You know that scene in Galaxy Quest where Signourney Weaver's character yells out "The writers need to die!"? That would be the RPG characters feelings about us, if they weren't, you know, fictional.
This is when my own personal cast list changed. We lost our Lestat, so
ladybd, who was running the game, asked for players. I told her that I'd be happy to lend a hand with the Stat if she needed one.Famous last words.
I took over Stat and I'm not entirely certain I ever gave him back. God knows he's never been the same in the books since then ;)
Is this a dagger I see before me?
Hollywood Vamps went through various changes and slowly became Dagger of the Mind. More players were added, including
flambeau. more characters were added too, like Pandora, Eric, Khayman, Johnny Depp and Sting.It sounds simple to talk about now, but this thing was huge. Way bigger than us at any rate. Let me put it this way - I still get people writing to me, wondering when there's going to be more Dagger put out. Scary, huh?
People loved this thing. And god knows we did. The Mystic Krewe of Dagger (for the benefit of the New Orleans impaired - "Mystic Krewe of _____" is how you name the clubs that put on Mardi Gras parades) was a great group. I made some tight friends in there, many of whom I'm still friends with today. And it's funny for me to sit here and think of how far many of us have come from back in the day when we posted our very first fanfics to abar and wondered if anyone would notice or care.
I mean consider that it was the Dagger Krewe, in Dagger and elsewhere, that helped advance the idea of Marius/David - Susie's little brainstorm from back in the Memnoch days, based on nothing but a hunch that the two guys would get along well - and then last year the QotD movie gets released which basically makes Marius/David canon. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if we didn't really know our own strengths. ;) And of course it gives me a giggle now to think back on the days of Brad/Tom in light of the huge fandoms that LotR and boyband RPS have. (Not saying we started those, just that it's funny to watch the fic world evolve)
Misty, water-colored memories
Who could forget such things as:
- "Bullshit, bullshit, my line..."
- "Where's 1616 First street?!?"
- "I'm supposed to be caramelly irretrievable"
- "K&B Vodka?? I ask for alcohol and you bring me VITAMINS??"
- Burning the Ponchartrain
- The GAZEBO!!!!
Yeah, we're big dorks.
That was then, this is now
I find myself thinking back on the days of Dagger now that I'm in
wes_visions_rpg, something which has just started to really hit its stride. I mean it's got some of the same components - old guard and new guard fanfic writers coming together to either do the characters they do best or learn how to do ones they've never tried before (or both), in a story that's getting a life of its own, in a group that, well, just clicks damn it.Now let me preface this by saying I don't mean that as a slam to the various writers who had to leave and/or take a hiatus for various reasons. There's tons of you who wanted to play but had to bow out and you still rock and I still love ya.
But, that being said, I feel like giving a shout out to the Mystic Krewe of Wes Visions, so to speak. We've got old guard fanfic writers, new guard fanfic writers, people of various RPGing experience and we're having fun. We've got angst, we've got humor, we've got slash, we've got het, we've got... okay, no RPS but somehow I'll cope.
It's a fun little group. And I daresay I'm not the only one who's sitting here like a big dork going "Hey - you guys rock." Actually I know this for certain because this pretty much amounts to what we all talk about on IRC together. That is - when we can stop hitting reload long enough to type. ;)
So, call this a little love note if you will. Something written in honor of the anniversary of so many New Orleans get togethers of the Dagger Krewe, and in honor of my new Krewe -
wesleysgirl, buffybot, miss_edith, stakebait, wordsofastory, wolfling, pointybird and mpoetess (and the eventually returning kita0610 and possibly guest starring tenebraeli). You guys are way too much fun to play with and I'm glad you're on my team. Now screw all this sentiment and let's get back to posting. ;)
