Back in the day

[Duke]

I've been called "oldtimer" by some of the new players in WOK and after some research I have digged out the REAL oldtimers from the net.

Two things stiked me as surpricing. How long has Nestalawe been around??? I thought I was here before you were but it seems that I was waaaay off.

Where did all these people go? Should we become a cult and not tolerate defectors? Chase after these people until the get back into wok?

Check these sites out. They WILL amuse you.

http://www.akhlaq.freeuk.com

http://www.jkhome.freeserve.co.uk/elpresidente.htm

http://members.tripod.com/axxmaster/index.html

[Underdog]

The Nestalawe thing took me by surprise also. I had not realized he had prior experience when he joined the CoN. no wonder he seemed to learn so fast.

[Dameon]

Ha, I remember Sahil and Axxmaster. Actually, both of them were on their way out when I was playing my first game. The first truly good GM (not counting Al, of course!) was GM Scott (Gen Havoc on those grp pages), I always regretted that fact that he dissapeared from WOK completely. And wow, I never would have guessed that Nestalawe was old school either!

[Duke]

Waaaait a minute.

Nestalawe backwards is Ewalasten which sort of sounds like if Mr.T would try to say "Everlasting".

The name also has "al" in it no matter which way you read it (is that called an anagram?)

If we break it down further we can get the parts "Nest" and "Al" and "Awe".

Nest could be like the home or the base if you will. Al is our creator (yes, that is right. He also created us. Just ask your mothers) and finally Awe is sort of Ave which they used to greet people back in ancient Rome.

Sooo, the character is actually Al's original test play alias since he consider it his "base player" and he is satisfied with the way he slipped him into WOK so he greets him nobly with "Ave".

He has also always been here and always will be, hence "everlasting". He also has Ewa in it backwords in the last three letters and that is almost Eva which is the Swedish version of the name "Eve" which indicates some sort of creation character.

Either that or I am losing my mind

[Saladin]

*Give Duke a worried look*

Any clans out there with a sane clan head?

[Nestalawe]

*Leans back into his rocking chair, pipe drooping out of a corner of his mouth, rheumy eyes squinting over those assembled before him...*

Well I'll be dangnabbit, I knew I had played in a game or two way back, but I thought it was even earlier than 2000

I've been all all sorts of pbems, and I played a couple of early WOK 4's, though not very well For the first few turns I didn't realise you could attack, then attack again from the conquered province, so well, that hindered me a bit.

dangnabbit, I remember the name 'Axxmaster' now, he, get the ol' brain cells ticking and ya never know what will turn up eh wot...

Heh, glad to see I survived in Axxmaster's game #01 though, one province left, ooh yeah baby...

I seem to remember getting a bit bored of WOK4 originally, so left for greener pastures, but then came back, ooh, dunno when, have to ask Calidus when I signed back up, seeing WOK5 was around and thought it would be worth a bit of a go... But as for experience from them ol' days, can't say I learnt too much, else I would have a few more VP's by now...

As for my name, I was well suprised I called myself Nestalawe' back then.

Duke you legend, nice breakdown of my name, maybe that is what it has meant all along, I just didn't know... A few people have asked and well, its totally made up, the name of a Faery in a story I started years ago, hmm, I should really finish that one...

But if anyone ever sees the name anywhere, you can be sure it is me, otherwise, let me know and I will bring round the boys to cull the punk

*Starts rocking in his chair, humming some distant country tune while starting off into the distance. Falls asleep drooling, pipe falling into lap, burns crotch, doesn't notice...*

[Duke]

Ok so the name is sorted out.

Next we have the contradictory information from location (London) and e-mail adress (.nz)

Just kidding.

[Count Henri]

Did some digging around the darker recessess of my hard drives...

I finished GMing my first game (yes my true Group01) on 30/01/01... Thats over 2 years ago

Queen Pea took a solo victory for 1 Royal VP after 5 QUITS...

Something else I found of interest another GMs game page. I have NO idea why I copied this particular page to my drive - maybe it had some design element I was interested in...

This is the commentry taken from GM Larry's Group01 Turn 03 page :

What can I say but OH MY LORD! Missiles fill the skys and armies march to their doom. It was a good day to die. QUEEN PEA sets the stage with an attack on PIEBALD, retaliating for his past aggressions. After so vicious a battle there is a hush that falls over Kaomaris. THIN KING is the first to meet the Gatekeeper as KEISER MOJIE slams into his remaining provinces. TRISAO sweeps into MASSIELITA's territory, swiping two of his provinces and also managing to grab a neutral along the way. YAROSUND misses the turn, but fortunately, the Peace Gods smile on him and he is spared any conflict. MASSIELITA takes away QUEEN PEA's newly acquired p17, and continues marching, taking a neutral and a province from the beleaguered PIEBALD. X-WING manages to steal two of LORD FREDO's provinces, while repelling a counterattack. This game is shaping up to be as bloody as I thought it might. Who will be sent to the gatekeeper next? Stay tuned!

That was dated 16/02/01 but thats just the copy date I'd say...

*sniff*

It makes an old-timer nostalgic to hear some of those names...

[Lowebb]

Anyone want to compile a list of the longest serving CURRENTLY ACTIVE players, I believe it may include (in no particular order)

AL,
TK,
NESTY,
DAMEON,
X-WING,
TRISTAO,
CH,
CALIDUS,
UNDERDOG,
BJORN,
LORD FREDO,
DUKE,
EGBERT

Apologises if I forgot you I done this with about 2 minutes thinking. I believe Al, TK, Nick, Bjorn are the only to have started substancally before me, saying that me, underdog, tristao, calidus, fredo, duke and egbert all started abotu the same time (I could be wrong, its hard to remember.)

My first game was with Calidus and Underdog (It may have been underdogs second) I got my ass kicked by whoever it was you shared the vps with underdog

[Count Henri]

Hmmm I joined the Scholars as the 3rd member after Underdog if memory serves...

Hey X-Wing do you realise we have one of the longest running grudges in WOK?

These days TK & Dameon seem to have settled down... So ours may be THE longest running soon...

The current score is CH 2 - XW 1 in the RIP count... I got a free game playing slot available soon so dont join anything until I can OK?

[ThinKing]

These days TK & Dameon seem to have settled down... So ours may be THE longest running soon...

I guess we need to get into a game together soon, Nick.

People think we're mellowing...!!


TK

[Ecrivian]

Anyone want to compile a list of the longest serving CURRENTLY ACTIVE players, I believe it may include (in no particular order)

AL,
TK,
NESTY,
DAMEON,
X-WING,
TRISTAO,
CH,
CALIDUS,
UNDERDOG,
BJORN,
LORD FREDO,
DUKE,
EGBERT

Don't forget, TBert and I, I joined about 2000 under the name Sir Seth and promptly joined Dark Stone! Also TBert had his own clan named Sword of Vengance! Ahh the good ol days!

[gm_al]

Anything from 1999 that is still somewhere can be considered as 'old' - after all WOK started on June 1st 1999.

And if I remember right TK was the first guy ever signing up for a game. And Sahil was the first GM in line after me (he even said hello again sometime last year)

I also realised I actually GMed 16 games myself before turning into producing heaps of new stuff and debugging / improving the old.... maybe Ill get back into GMing some kind of very special game one day ?!

So will the WSC get to mail and try to re-activate all these old WOK chaps long forgotten...?

[Dameon]

I guess we need to get into a game together soon, Nick.

People think we're mellowing...!!

Ack, we can't have that! Actually I just haven't been in many games with TK lately, probably because I try to only play in 1-2 games at any given time. Also, TK has signed up mainly for either WOK 4 games or WOK 5 games that I have GMd, so that limits the chances too. Rest assured if he's ever in a game with me again we will pursue each other heartily.

Old-timer wise, Al & QP were obviously first- TK was in before me too. I remember Roland being in one of the early games I was in, I think he started right around my time before missing a year or so in the mix. I am fairly sure I started up in late 99, if I had to put a month on it I'd say October or so. Not quite from the very beginning, but close!

[Underdog]

OK lets see if I can do this in order.

X-Wing- You are correct it was my second game and I shared it with Edsu. He could have wiped me out but I provided him with crucial spy info that allowed him to finish off the 3rd played left so he split with me.
That next game was the one that you and I went round and round for about 8 turns before Calidus swept in and finished us both at once. That started a Long running feud between you 2 that I thought was absolutely hilarious.

Count Henri- You were actually in the Scholars before me. Not sure how long but I was number 4 to make us official. I believe the other member was named Rage or something to that effect.

Roland- when QP decided to leave as clan head X-Wing took over and changed to Royal Fianna Fail. That is the Royals of old. They are on Kaohalla as that name.

I believe that ends my part of the history. I started in about July of 2000. So I missed the first year or so. I actually made the second champs. Lets see how many I can get right:
Dameon
Egbert
Massie
TK
Bjorn
Edsu
BenIII
Underdog
Crusher Bob
Pemca?
I think that was it but I'm not sure. Dameon could probably give the list correctly.
That game came down to TK, Massie, Dameon and Bjorn. It was fun to watch that one play out. That was also the last time the champs were played as WOK4.
Last year the champs consisted of:
Dameon
Underdog
Calidus
Yarosund
Egbert
Dark Monk
Jadg
Bjorn
Lardmaster?
Massie

Somebody should probably make a list of all these line-ups. I'm sure they will be fun to look at again in a few years.
Duke for your page of records?
I'm sure Al would like to keep track of all this fun stuff.

[Goat Herder]

I started my first game in May 2000 (first contact March 2000-it was quite a time between games back then) and the current player I know of that were before me were:
Al
TK
Dameon
Baron Roland
TBert
Strider
Lord Fredo
Bjorn
and Tristao started in the same game.

Underdog, Duke, CHenri, Massielita & Egbert appeared in a game shortly after that, but any of them could have been around before me.


Does that help anyone trying to work it all out.

[Duke]

I cant remember when I started but I got my current job in february 2000 and I got fired from the job before that 'cos all I did was play internet games and I played in at least one group while working there so I have been around.

I had the same problem as Nestalawe and I tried to figure out how to make multiple attacks in the same turn. I got it explained to me by Nick with a mail where he said something like "look, I can see what you want to do but you have to fill out the form correctly so I will not change this."

Nitpicker

[Bjorn]

I'm too old to remember when I started playing. I know I received an email from Al, asking if I was interested in playing some game he had. I downloaded the rules and decided to give it a try.

I remember very little about the game, as it was a beginner game. I lost all my armies attacking the first neutral and Massie stole all my POP on turn 01. I sent him an email and told him to just take my last province, as I had no armies in it anyway. I figure it was probably Massies second or third game, since he was playing well as a beginner. Of my remaining two beginner games, GM Jadin was abducted by aliens (to use a GM Scott phrase) about turn 5, and GM Scott cancelled my third game when 5 players quit and only 3 of the other 5 were sending in orders regularly. The days when the steamroller ruled!

My first VPs came from my first advanced game. Let's see if I can remember the cast of characters.
Thin King and Lord Fredo got into an early fight that wasted them both for the duration of the game. Axebold was there. Lord Jadin was on the list, but never sent in any orders.
There was some major fighting to the south between Ral Rac, Dameon and Rev Amp. To the East was Massielita and TBert. Anyone on that last was here earlier than I was.

The big difference between now and then is the sheer number of quality GM's. At the time there was only Al, Nick, Scott and Thin King (who later changed to Gm Craig). Scott dropped out and Nick had a Summer job that kept him from running any games for awhile, so I ran a few games for a year until Nick returned. A tribute to Al that he has added tools that make a GMs life easier over time.

[trewqh]

OK, since this subject was brought up and someone actually remembers the name then I will reveal that I played WOK before.

I was RevAmp. (ok, I was also GospodinKruk but that's it... )

And I don't think that I was here before you Bjorn because I remember that in one game a player called The Invisible had sent me a message that said at the end:

I am sending you these thoughts on strategy because I fear Dameon and Bjorn and it is vital to me that you remain strong if they are to be stopped. I request that this letter not reach the hands of Bjorn or Dameon. Those are two folks who certainly need no help. Bjorn has scored three points in two games, while Dameon has won three games so far.

I was here shortly before the clan system was introduced. My first game ever was Nick's 'true beginner' game in which at least 5 players didn't even send one order. And since I didn't have problems such as not knowing how to do multiple attacks I quickly dominated the map (oh yeah, and it was before Nick created Colonial WOK map, the second map ever). At that time also Al suggested the rule of 1VP total for a game with more than 5 quits. I can't remember what was the situation at the end game but I guess that even more players quit before I killed them so I was not to be given any points but Nick awarded me this 1VP (recorded in Kaohalla) for dedication.

I'm not sure when I started but I'd say it was the end of 2000. When the clans were introduced I joined Ar-Sereg and after some time I left Kaomaris without a word ( Sorry Nick and everyone else)

I promise not to do this again, because now WOK is a heck of a lot better place than it was 2 years ago. (err I mean it was nice then but now it's awsome ) The other reason is that then I had a very troublesome modem connection that gave me headaches and cost a fortune.

That's my story,
trewqh (a 19yo old-timer?)