Anniversary / New Years Eve

[Tom]

While I wasn't exactly online during the actual anniversary, BattleMaster is now 11 years old.

What a ride it has been. Maybe some of you want to share a memory or two with me here. I know that a couple players have been around from the start or at least almost. For the others, follow me down memory lane:


SpellMaster had been my child for I'm not sure, maybe two years or so? When I had this crazy idea of not telling the background story, but actually creating it. Thus BattleMaster was born - a very simple tool to move armies around a map under player control to create the wars and breathe life into the realms that SpellMaster had in its background.
The original BM was incredibly simple. We didn't even have takeovers. Basically, you could create a character, recruit a unit and go fight.

It became popular. Soon, the East Island was too small and the first additional game world was opened, then the third, and so on. Frankly, I don't remember all the details and timelines, it's been too long. Some things are preserved on the Wiki, if you search for them. For example, the first April Fool's that is documented is from 2003, though I think I did one in 2002 as well.

For the 5th anniversary, I did a couple big things, TradeMaster was launched as half serious and half joking (especially the name). I also wanted to do a "world map", but that didn't happen.


Then there are the sad times, too. There were a couple fights with players and dev team members. People who I enjoyed playing with leaving, accusations that I'd be cheating with my characters, crap like that.

And there were good times. OT has always been a ton of fun, even though it's not going anywere. I've been ruler of a couple realms and always enjoyed shaking up the power balance. Oh, Lasanar - those were the times. The first realm that was essentially ruled by its dukes. Well, officially at least... *grin* And, of course, I will never forget when the tiny Ubent forced Perdan into surrender. Can you imagine that today?


And then there came a time when BM became too tiresome and complex for me and I needed other places to put my ideas. So War Islands was born, as the polar opposite - entirely transparent and simple. And The Dream, and now Beyond the Blight.

And then the return to heavy coding, with moving the entire code to Doctrine now, and re-working a number of things along the way. I want to have less complexity and more emergence in the game, less mechanics and more possibilities. It will be a long road.

Also, I don't want to forget that 2011 was the first time that I met BattleMaster players in real life, if you don't count a few of my friends who played the game at one time or the other.


It's been an interesting 11 years. Here's to the next 11 and to everyone who'll still be here for the 20th anniversary.

[Sacha]

It's been quite a ride for me as well.

Six and a half years since I joined, and I've barely missed a turn since. At some point I was so hooked on BM that one account wasn't enough, and I ended up playing about two dozen different families, usually 2-4 at a time. Not to gain any unfair advantages by OOC spying, just to satisfy by deep, deep craving for BM.

I met some of the coolest people I know here. Kelley, Laura, Evi, Miriam, Tali, Kimmy, Kylie, Natalie, and of course the beautiful Lauren who I had a long-distance relationship with for over 2 years. And I think there were some guys that I like too, but they're not hot and therefor their names are unimportant!

For me, the game itself has lost a bit of its shine... But even if I hated it, I would still come back for the people. That to me is what BM is about. Not to win wars and be the badassest ruler in the game. Not to be a fatcat Duke raking in 1000 gold every week. But the community, and all the awesome (and yes, even the not so awesome) people in it.

Here's to 11 more years, and a bunch more after that!

[Zakilevo]

Well, when I first started, I barely spoke english. So I had a dictionary with me while playing. It was kind of study/play thing. Then I stopped for a year or two but couldn't forget about the game so came back for a bit that was when Abington burned. And when I accidently pressed join the underground in Sirion and kicked out of the realm the very next morning...

I hope I can meet some people who play BM in RL as well . Hope we can get more newer players this year. Cheers.

[Glaumring the Fox]

Been here since 2008, absolutely love BM. Try to be here every turn and keep coming back for the roleplay and how the game world evolves. Its a very interesting game. I love Dwilight and Bel has also been awesome for a long time. Keep going never stop this is a great game.

[James]

I remember the email from Tom saying to try out this idea for a 'background game' that people would be able to play to give some added flavour to SpellMaster. Was only meant to be a little side thing so that there was something other than RP that dictated which realm was at war with which. It soon became quite a different thing... (though I still like the idea that one day it might merge with SM and we have the SpellCasters taking part in the battles - was an idea way back, very unlikely to actually happen now though, but we have scrolls, so I haven't lost all hope!  )

So, I started out with the Tyrant ruler of Itorunt, shortly followed by the ruler of Omsk (As I was the only character in each realm, I was the only option for ruler) I still remember the excitement when a realm first got it's second or third players! As Tom said, things were very different at the start - there were no takeovers, no wear and tear, no limits on recruitment or such like back then. So Ryndhal did march an army of around 1000 men (his income was about 2500 gold/week back then I think) into Sirion City, then marched all the way back again.

Personal circumstances meant I was without a computer as I lived on a friends sofa for about 6 months (and phones didn't access the internet back in 2002...) and when I returned, much had changed. SpellMaster II had died off completely, and there were a lot more people playing BattleMaster.

Itorunt was no longer my Tyranny to control, somehow it was now a monarchy... Many great times were had with Ryndhal (and still are) but I can't really talk about them as some people would probably be upset 

The Colonies and Outer Tilog, a realm with its ups and downs, but always fun and always friendly. Interesting to see how a realm develops over time. Can smile thinking about the variety of characters that have been there.

There have been the lulls in the game at times, but they've never been for long (and I think only once affected all my characters at the same time) and the atmosphere and the people here always make sure I come back.

Always happy to help out whenever I can with whatever I can.

It's been mentioned about finally meeting up with people from BM, there was an idea last year, but not much time. Maybe someone could pick a date and location (just the city for now) and give lots of notice so more people could try to get to a weekend this year or something?

...anyway, I could say much more, and occasionally go into reminiscence mode in one place or another, fell free to contact me if you really want to

[Vellos]

My favorite game I have ever played; cannot give enough kudos to Tom and the dev team, and all the other players, older than me or newer, who have fleshed out the game world.

[Revan]

Anyone else remember when turns were suspended for two weeks across all BattleMaster years ago and it looked like this wonderful game might come to a premature end? I guess that has to do with the sad times Tom mentioned, but it actually turned into a cracking time for RP all round! In particular I recall the RedSpan General, I think it might've been AJ but don't quote me on it, he did this fantastic RP. I can't do it justice, but he was going round the region taking in how everything was frozen and all that. Wish I could remember more of the detail but it's too long ago now! I loved it though :-)

...anyway, I could say much more, and occasionally go into reminiscence mode in one place or another, fell free to contact me if you really want to

Cheers for that! I absolutely love hearing about ancient BM history. Especially stuff I wasn't around for. It all seems so exotic and mythical. This bygone age of great empires and astounding nobles in the earlier days of BM. It's why I still love checking out the Atamara Times on the wiki every so often for a taste of Atamara from absurdly long ago. And it's why all older players should get out on the wiki and get recording the past if they haven't already.

More players, of all stripes, old or new, need to get into action on the wiki. Flesh out the world. Record the lore and history of your realms. Pass it on so that 11 years from now, new players can turn up and discover all that has gone on before them. See the mistakes they should avoid. The models they should follow. Let them ponder how a realm like Abington ever imploded, perhaps how CE eventually went the same way () How on earth Beluaterra ever survived the Fifth Invasion, let alone reached a Tenth etc. etc.

[Tom]

I am all for a "BattleMaster History" project. But my time doesn't allow to do it myself. But if someone wants to play the historian and collect it all, you would have what support I can offer.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

You remember back when Fontan had hundreds of letters a day?

* Artemesia looks at the EC map. 

More recently, for OOC stuff: Remember when we had the server change because the one before kept sputtering out because too many people were logging on or something?