We Are Complete

It has been said on Facebook by one of us, and on the Master's blog, but on Saturday our GURPS group completed a 13 year long epic campaign.

It wasn't long after I returned to California from school that I was brought in on the creation of a new gaming world.  We met a couple times in Napa at a friend's house, and I was shown the huge sketch of the Eurasian-like continent they had drawn out.  Lines of national demarcation had been drawn, and some names had been created, but not yet all, and so we divided the world among ourselves.

NSM started with four countries as well as the history of the world, our photographer also got four as well a forest, our programmer claimed one, and the old school mate got two.  I was given two countries, as well as a group of islands off the north east coast of the continent.

The general feel of the countries had been discussed: the remnant of an empire, the rival neighbors, the desert nation, the northern pillagers, the home of movie-like monsters, and some less trope-based nations.  And the islands became an Elven nation.  Further negotiation gave me a range of mountains and the largest expanse of forest, and soon I was in charge of all the Elves in our world.

NSM had been destroying the old fantasy world provided by Steve Jackson Games, and so we decided when we would begin our new world.  Using the magic of the Internet, and free groups, we had our first adventure in early 2001, and NSM posted a summary of the game.

After a few months of hit and miss scheduling, we made a commitment to the group that the first Saturday (soon to become the second Saturday) of every month would be game day.  And aside from major events, we maintained this routine.

The party evolved from a semi-amnesiac Elf, a woodsman, a music teacher, a low knight, a thug, a voodoo woman, a monk, and a fencing rogue into a tightly knit party of near demi-gods.  The tropes remained, but they became integral to the characters and the plot.

The game evolved with the internet, and we tended to continue the game via email between our face-to-face sessions.

Now, as we wind down the last adventure preparing for the final epilogue, we can look back on what we co-created and I think we can be very proud of it.  And even with those who are no longer taking part, we share a bond that goes back that far.

And now, we have new characters to grow.