27th August 2005 - MERPmoot2005 & a BIG "thank you" for DM Aule   his was the first ever NWN community meet which was a great day where nine of us finally met! In attendance were: Myself (DM Kev), Avalyn, DM Aule, DM Olorin, DM Lorien, Luthianna, Clone, Argon, and Guyror. Several of us took pictures, all of which can be found on our Forums here. I didn't take a huge amount but they are quite amusing. Unfortunately I'm not in any of mine, but the others will have some of me in theirs. Guyror was a lucky bugger and escaped being photographed altogether as he had to leave early. It was a great day out and a lot of ideas and thoughts were exchanged which I found very useful. But most importantly, they are all really nice people which has made me think of them beyond irc and I certainly plan on meeting them again. With a bit of luck, there will be another MERP Moot within this year. DM Kev Untold Tales Of Tolkien I + II WCN - Wireplay Community News - Manager Avalyn's MERPmoot Report y first assignment was something I had been preparing for for a long time, I was to journey north in search of a tavern where a reputed group of veteran adventurers were to meet, I had to say I was nervous, I was only a lad of nineteen years, easily the youngest of the group, My journey began as I woke just before the hour of seven, I had packed what little I remembered and began to make my way to this place. It was a long journey, Having to hitch a ride on four carriages just to make it to my destination, in my haste, It seemed I had arrived somewhat early, some hour before anyone else was scheduled to arrive, but I waited and pondered on this group I was to meet. After time the carriage they were reported to be travelling in arrived and I looked about, one strange looking individual walked up to me, I was frightened, was he trying to steal my cookie bag? He walked up to me and said "I recognised you by your cookie bag" I was still hesitant, fearing for my cookies... I laugh and look around. We see no sign of these others we are to meet. So we decide to make our way to this tavern... We talk of simple things as we walk, mostly of this group we are to meet and the directions to the tavern. Finally (with the aid of a map) we find the Tavern, The Eagle and Child. We walk in, expecting to see the what we assume to be an odd group already in there....but nothing. I then receive a message by bird that they are waiting back at where the carriage arrived, we sighed and sent a message in return, telling them to feel free to make their way to the tavern. Time passes as we wait near the tavern, as we try to guess what group is the one we are waiting for, Suddenly, we spot an odd group, young people, old people, and someone who looks so much like his dwarven character its unreal...we decide to follow them, as they havent noticed us... we know its them as they turn in the tavern, we follow them, until they get to the back, where we planned to meet them and they looked around, we appeared from behind them and announced our presence. And so the meeting began... We talked of much, drank and ate merrily, it was a good day... My assignment for much of the day was to make notes of certain things...I shall now give some of the best moments in quote form.. Kev: "If you Kiss me, Youre Fired" Avalyn: "I wanted to make an Idiot Savant with low int, but knew everything" * Argon Coughs "Shiryu!" Kev forcing me to write: "If I make another stupid comment like that, I will be fired" The fact was also noted that Argon looks just like his characters, but with hair, and eats much the same way. It was a Very good day, and everyone there was nice...the food was good....a good steak pie...a good mixed grill and a good chocolate pudding...though if you see a video of a certain someone with chocolate on their face...it was edited to look like that, ok? Avalyn NWN Wireplay Deputy Community Liason and God of Pie s many of you will know, the original general management team for Wireplay NWN, myself and Avalyn, was recently restored. DM Aule pretty much took my place for over a month, making many of the key decisions and making many of the major changes to the mod. However, I would like to take this opportunity to fully praise his efforts and commitment after discovering that I have given absoloutely no recognition of this whatsoever. For this I apologise unreservedly and to reassure him and others that his efforts have been fully appreciated. What I did was very unproffesional and will not happen again. DM Aule is an asset to the NWN community and after meeting him today, he is more than just a script maker via irc, he is also a friend. DM Kev Untold Tales Of Tolkien I + II WCN - Wireplay Community News - Manager must REALLY REALLY thank P 'n' Luth for being so UTTERLY hospitable and sorting out the affordable acommodation at Magdalen College. I'd have been knackered gettin' that arranged from up here Ithink. Thanks! It was great to meet all of you at last. Good god I've spoken to some of you on a near daily basis on Teamspeak for not much shy of a year so I felt i knew some of ye pretty well anyway. What shall i take away from this apart from the sunburn, indigestion (that was my fault entirely) and the confirmation that I look just like my character (oh dear). Well its got to be how lovely Oxford is and how much me feet ache tryin to see as much of it as possible (must be these +2 Ironshods, I'll have to upgrade to +3s). Along with Lorien, Argon and Clone, I stayed overnight. Lorien snuck away early before his park 'n' ride ticket ran out, but the 3 of us went and pestered P n Luth again and we wandered around the city and sat down at the marvellous Head of the River Pub for a few drinks and a meal and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours chatting and joking and laughing at the silly drunken buggers in boats colliding with eachother and punting backwards or in circles on the Isis. One chap spilled an entire can of strongbow........er..... as he hit the water...... but some people have no sense of style or decorum do they *coughs and shifts uneasily*. Kept waiting for Luth's accent to slip but to her credit i think she never uttered one single "Yebuggamarra" that I am aware of. Never mind hinny. We were temporary invaders into your busy but peaceful lives, club-footed tourist yobbos, but you were ever so patient, and despite the 6 hours there and 7 hours back and the utter lack of mystery as to who I was (damn my beard), I look forward to irritating the hell out of both of ye again some day. Tough luck! Yer me mates now... Veld Peace, Love, Ale 'n' Jack May the road rise up te meet ye as the alcohol kicks in!