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Player's Corner thread: "When and how did you start playing Gemstone?"
- Author: cronuss
- Date: 05-23-2008
- Link to Original: (Click here)
cronuss:
What year did you first play Gemstone and what brought you to the game?
I first started playing around 1995, on AOL.
My friend (known as Kyrandos in GS and on these forums) had been playing for a while and finally told me about it... I was bored enough one night that I said, "Sure, what the hell" and gave it a try.
First thing I did? Attacked the stupid mutt in Wehnimer... heh.
Anyway, we ran around causing havoc and getting into fights right from the get go... I guess not a lot has changed... 
I've quit a ton of times since then but always come back... though after 13 years I'm still only level 40.
Hips:
I started playing in 2002, when Whirlin and Hakaii's players introduced me to the game.
Miss Ismurii:
My parents actually got me into it. I really didn't want to play but they got me started on it when I was 15, summer of 2004. They also got my little brother to play.
I'm sure I was an annoying as hell noob, and yes I have made lots of good progress on my RP. I haven't played in about 6 months now.
But after I got a hold of the game I would go around killing people that I could, which was rather foolish but I was young and it was fun at the time. And yes, I have changed, and for the rumors you read, no one but me played Ismurii the whole time.
Aaysia:
Boredom and random happenstance got me into the game.
I was checking something called ZMud out I think? They had an extensive list of games. I picked gemstone cuz the name was pretty. I know, I'm such a girl.
Rolled up Aaysia, I didn't get to pick her features though they came out pretty okay except for the fact that she was rolled bald =/. Met a character named Artesh that made the simplest thing in the game seem like pure magic... was hooked ever since. I had the best time making friends with Artesh's lil clan of hunting buddies (Rynot, Kirdac, Vasenya, Tamarkk, Loecki etc)
I barely play now, no time and little interest.
iJin:
I started playing around 2002 when I was 12. The player of Penidiamond was my first friend in Ta'Vaalor.
Ta'Vaalor for life!
Farn:
I started in 1995 as well. A friend of mine at high school (we were freshmen, heh) told me about the game and figured I'd like it because I loved Lord of the Rings. He was right.
I can't even remember my first character's name. He was an elf bard, I believe. My friend was Gawmuldor (giant warrior), and he was a dork in-game. Jumping from the treehouse to kill himself, stealing from everyone in sight constantly, trying to attack NPCs ... yeah. He didn't last too long.
Like the original poster, I took plenty of breaks. I also rerolled way too many times, and after finally settling on an incarnation of Farn (I can't remember why I lost the original "Farnam," but I like the shorter name better anyway), I still spent (and do spend) more time exploring or goofing around instead of hunting. Hence, only level 50 after all these years. Good times.
RichardCranium:
August 95. I had been doing some chatroom roleplaying and was searching around on the games on AOL and came across it. I remember the orange backdrop with the warrior leaning on his sword, the dwarf, maybe an elven girl and something else when it would pop up. I was a pretty big fuckup back then. Stealing as fast as I could hit the up button in the gemshop and from the empaths and clerics at the front desk of the thrak inn. Hanging out in the hovel and boulder. Duels at the dinghy. Grouping up in the attic at the abandoned inn. So on and so forth.
Arkans:
When it was free on AOL. Got a ton of my friends to play. Was good times.
- Arkans
Elvenlady:
Stumbled across it in 1996 on AOL, played for about a year, took a long break and returned in 2004 to meet up with the very same characters as Aaysia did and loved them as well as a few new ones along the way.
Misun:
I will probably be one of the most recent players here as I only started playing two years ago as of last month.
It was a dare by Denrit's player. He would always talk about this game and how addicting it was. I would just laugh at him and call him a nerd. So he dared me to give the trial a shot. Made Misun and the rest is history.
Tisket:
Quote: Farn
he was a dork in-game. Jumping from the treehouse to kill himself, stealing from everyone in sight constantly, trying to attack NPCs ... yeah. He didn't last too long.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who had really poor judgement about who I befriended when I first started playing. I picked (or was picked by) a very disruptive individual. Nonexistent RP, doing stupid shit just because he could, killing indiscriminately, talking game mechanics, etc. He just seemed totally freewheeling and fun to me. And I admit I enjoyed his company! Sue me.
Took a four month break and, when I came back, he wasn't playing anymore, at least on that character.
Drunken Durfin:
I believe it was 1993. I was in college, and a philosophy major, so my memory is a bit hazy for a few years there. Might have had something to do with my Bong Manufacturing 101 class.
Friend of mine got me started...I curse his name to this day.
Oniros:
I started in the Summer of 1995. Boredom. AOL. By the end of the summer my parents just about killed me for the AOL bill!
Been on and off ever since.
I took a rogue up to 40 and then had to quit to get a degree, job, and a wife!
Now I am back in my spare time 13 years later!
Oh and I made the mistake of buying a character 3 years ago. He is fine now but it was a tough road making Shirv useable again! Fun challenge.
cronuss:
Quote: Farn
I started in 1995 as well. A friend of mine at high school (we were freshmen, heh) told me about the game and figured I'd like it because I loved Lord of the Rings. He was right.
I can't even remember my first character's name. He was an elf bard, I believe. My friend was Gawmuldor (giant warrior), and he was a dork in-game. Jumping from the treehouse to kill himself, stealing from everyone in sight constantly, trying to attack NPCs ... yeah. He didn't last too long.
Like the original poster, I took plenty of breaks. I also rerolled way too many times, and after finally settling on an incarnation of Farn (I can't remember why I lost the original "Farnam," but I like the shorter name better anyway), I still spent (and do spend) more time exploring or goofing around instead of hunting. Hence, only level 50 after all these years. Good times.
hehe, funny stuff... our stories are pretty similar. we were in Jr. High School at the time, I believe.
We always hung out at the Well in Wehnimer back then (and still do)... I remember stunning tree jumpers when they hit the ground.
I lost my original sorc at one point , too... decayed with no deeds. :P
Celephais:
Sometime around '95 or so, I got a flyer in the mail that said "Go to Keyword: Gemstone" and had a badass picture of some wizard and a gay burly dude (someone post the pic, I've got it somewhere but...)
I was 12 at the time, assumed aura/attunement with nature by the description, was nothing to concern a wizard, and cast my first spell at level 3, assuming minor shock took a serious toll on your nervous system.
My friends and I all decided wearing brigidane was the only option... and I was amazed one day when I leveled up and all the sudden I could swing a fachion in 8 seconds instead of 9.
Martaigne:
Clove got me started in 1995, I blame him and him alone.
I quit in 2000, only to come back last year.
TheEschaton:
Was introduced by my friend DHan66866, a friend of mine from Federation, around the time AOL went flat rate. He played Parthot in GS, I rolled up a giant warrior named Bellophorus. Spent god knows how many hours in the hovel with Tijay et al. Never made it past level 17 with that warrior. Rolled up my current main around 97-98?
Gallows Thief:
I'm not sure of exactly when I started but for the first month I played you would still drop your items when you died. I found the game off an ad that ran on Prodigy.
I know a guy named Allaran helped me out my first week or so. Hung out a bunch with Montro, Morandas and his then wife (in IRL as well) Viandra.
GT
Sthrockmorton:
I started in August of 1996. My dad (Cavyr/Windare/Myanti) got me hooked when I was 11. He immediately adopted me into Micha/Jessta's family with other people like Toreena and Panndoris and I remember her getting pissed at me because I broke and threw away one of her shadowy black alloy grandmaster lockpicks when I was like 5 trainings. Not sure why she gave that to me in the first place.
Anyways, I started with Konti Sabaca, and rerolled him like 20 times because I would never like the training path I chose or the stats that I finally settled for. I got him to 40 twice, and finally quit for about a year and made him go demonic.
Came back a year later and rolled Kontii Slie'phox and one other character (to remain nameless). I've played them since and no one else. I have to give thanks to whoever invented fixskills for making it so I could finally stop rerolling.
Aaysia:
Quote: Celephais
My friends and I all decided wearing brigidane was the only option... and I was amazed one day when I leveled up and all the sudden I could swing a fachion in 8 seconds instead of 9.
Hahahaha. I did such crap when I first started. Aaysia's training was all over the place, picking boxes(and failing miserably because I never trained in disarm). Getting 1 rank here in ohe, 2 ranks in archery etc I made it to about level 5 on my own then Rynot took a look at my training and was like THAT'S WHY YOU KEEP DYING!
I started around 2001.
Renian:
I was introduced by my brother (who plays Gabric), who was introduced by one of his friends (who played Teramarus...at least I think that was his name. That's how it was pronounced). But I was like 8 or some shit at the time, so I was a complete OOC retard while playing, had moronic names, couldn't level for shit and played warriors.
Then puberty struck.
Now I know how to RP, shun retarded names, am capped and play real classes.
Gabric's still around and is currently active (HE'S A WARRIOR LULZ, but he has a glaes spider charm so I guess that's pretty sweet), but he's only level 62. Ha!
Stanley Burrell:
When: Thousands and thousands of years ago.
Why: Because I am a cybernetic chicken ghost.
mgoddess:
My husband (who plays Mingxia) got me to play for a trial month in 2001 before we moved out to Seattle and onto a college budget. Took a break and then started back up mid-2004. Been playing since.
Deza:
I started playing in 95, sometime in the spring cause it was after my grandma died in the beginning of the year and I took it pretty hard. The game, sadly? surprisingly?, kind of helped me through it as I was pretty awkward as a kid and didn't have a lot of friends.
I rolled up Halliana and then Deza and sat myself in the tavern with people like Xodor, Caetlyn, Vorland, Thorolf and the like. 
Those are my favorite memories of the game, really.
I think if it hadn't made me so happy, I would have been in a LOT more trouble over those 500+ bills that came in every month.
Farn:
Wow, looks like '95 was *the* year to start.
Ha, I remember buying all custom-made camo armor (several pieces - greaves, etc.) at Aznell's, thinking it helped me hide better. I was also extremely excited about my first mithril dagger I custom ordered, assuming I'd be able to hit more often but do less damage (back then it had 5 RT just like everything else) and the weapon just plain sucked - I was disappointed.
A friend of mine found a feras falchion and thought he had found the best weapon in the game ever - until it crumbled.
How many hours of my life were spent in the kobold village? Back when levels 0-5 lasted longer than a few hours. I used to claim to live in the hovel or the shanty, can't remember which.
I really miss the newness and sense of discovery, but I still enjoy playing to this day. I've tried other MUDs to re-live the newness, but I always end up saying, "This sucks, the system in Gemstone is way better." Plus, nobody in the other games ever roleplayed.
Sean:
I started Fall of 1996. My freshman year Bio Lab partner introduced me to the game. I've rolled up a lot of characters with a lot of bad names over the years so I don't really remember my 1st characters name. But I spent a lot of time in the hovel hunting till 10 and then rerolling and hanging out with people. Eventually I got the leveling bug and moved to the TR.
cronuss:
Quote: Farn
Wow, looks like '95 was *the* year to start.
Ha, I remember buying all custom-made camo armor (several pieces - greaves, etc.) at Aznell's, thinking it helped me hide better. I was also extremely excited about my first mithril dagger I custom ordered, assuming I'd be able to hit more often but do less damage (back then it had 5 RT just like everything else) and the weapon just plain sucked - I was disappointed.
A friend of mine found a feras falchion and thought he had found the best weapon in the game ever - until it crumbled.
How many hours of my life were spent in the kobold village? Back when levels 0-5 lasted longer than a few hours. I used to claim to live in the hovel or the shanty, can't remember which.
I really miss the newness and sense of discovery, but I still enjoy playing to this day. I've tried other MUDs to re-live the newness, but I always end up saying, "This sucks, the system in Gemstone is way better." Plus, nobody in the other games ever roleplayed.
Hehe, Kyrandos and I (especially Kyrandos) always used to hang around Kobold Village.
Kyrandos used to get in fights there on a daily basis... and was eventually banned. Heh.
fallenSaint:
1996, Stumbled across it on AOL games after I got our first suitable PC. Created the Rogue Giiliith and it's been downhill addiction since then!
Kitsun:
I think I started playing about a year or so before the AOL to web move. A couple friends in High School showed me the game and I thought it was the most silly thing ever watching the screen scroll by. I went home and gave it a shot. They quit a couple months later and here I am now with four post-cappers.
Methais:
January '97 I think. I'd just switched to AOL from Prodigy, and asked some random person what kind of online multiplayer games they had on here, and he suggested Gemstone.
So I checked it out and even though it seemed cool cause it reminded me of some archaic text adventure game I used to mess with on my old 286, I almost quit after a day because I was completely lost and couldn't find my way to anything. If someone hadn't pointed me towards Zepath's maps, I probably would have quit as fast as I started. And then GS would have been dead by 1999.
I got into a fight with some guy in the catacombs when I was level 4 or 5, he killed me, I decayed and went demonic cause I had no idea what deeds were. I was pissed cause I was just about to get my l33t mithril broadsword. So I rerolled again, got my mithril broadsword and thought I was the l33test of the l33t, and thought I was high rollin' cause my bank account had FUCKING TEN THOUSAND SILVERS HOLY SHIT!
Then when I got my vultite broadsword, I was unstoppable. Until I ran into a frost giant invasion outside the Landing, got destroyed and my corpse used for a sled.
Trouble:
I started playing in grad school, so it was around 1995. I was dialing long-distance to AOL over a 1200 baud modem so I didn't play very often until I got home from school and could use AOL locally.
My attention was drawn to it by the ad on AOL's splash page.
I had my only lockout back in 1996, for excessive profanity (30 days).
Farn:
Wow, I remember Zepath's maps. Awesome.
Tisket:
Speaking of mapmakers, I once saw Tsoran in game and it felt like a celebrity sighting. I wanted to flick my lighter and chant his name. lmao.
Trouble:
Quote: Farn
Wow, I remember Zepath's maps. Awesome.
I kept a binder of Zepath's maps and some other reference material (herb charts, god lists, training plans, etc). I still have it and used it in my recent return to GS.
Sablemane:
1995, summer of. I was a HS Senior and just got a hang of this "internet" thing... first AOL subscription and was bored with IM's.
Since then, I've played Fylmord, Mesoj, Enluki, Sablemane, Selupico, and my most recent incarnation.
None made it past level 20 except for my most recent. Though I've had tons of PVP fun, IG drama, and good ol' flame wars with the first, a catastrophic GS romance with the 2nd, victim of bad training with the third, and found my niche with rogues with Sablemane onwards, hence the SN.
Still trying to bring Selupico back but for now stuck with a billings issue.
cronuss:
Quote: Trouble
I kept a binder of Zepath's maps and some other reference material (herb charts, god lists, training plans, etc). I still have it and used it in my recent return to GS.
Hehe, I did the same thing... don't remember if it was Zepath or Tsoran, though.
It's funny, as someone else mentioned, the idea of a text game was silly to me at first. I was in Jr. High School and was into skateboarding, girls, music, etc... (though I've always been a gamer and into computers)...
Yet here I was, printing out maps and even the spell lists for all the classes and putting them into a folder, so I could read over them in my room after I had to get off the computer.
I also remember planning out training paths and plotting out what my AS and CS would be at certain levels on my notebook in History class.
The addiction hit me fast. My first 2 days playing, I played so much that I swear when I closed my eyes at night I could see, "A giant rat scurries in," etc.
Methais:
So anyone remember that blah white screen you played GS in before you discovered the Wizard FE?
Allereli:
Started in '96 after clicking on a picture on the AOL splash page with a warrior and got in trouble with the AOL bills, so my dad got Prodigy, and then the game was available on Prodigy, so I got to play again. Then AOL went flat rate, we switched again, and I actually managed to title. I didn't get over fifty until way after the move to the web. Quit in '01 completely (gave away the account and all my stuff) to deal with personal issues and came back the beginning of last year and started Allereli
edit: I preferred Morandas' to Zapath's maps
Farn:
I remember mapping out places on my own before I found other maps. I taped four pieces of paper together and was just drawing a bunch of squares and lines on them as I went.
I was using a friend's character once to map out an area and he was watching (not sure why I was playing and he was watching instead of the other way around) and while I was drawing a square a greater orc walked in and killed his character. He got mad and said, "This is all because of your stupid-" <grab the map out of my hands> "-MAP!" <tear map>. That was hilarious.
I loved getting lost because it meant I was in new territory and there was more to explore. The best was having Lord/Lady (level 20?! That's insane!) characters protect me while they took me to interesting places like the Colossus.
I hate myself for how nostalgic I get about a game.
But then, not really.
Sablemane:
Quote: Farn
I was using a friend's character once to map out an area and he was watching (not sure why I was playing and he was watching instead of the other way around) and while I was drawing a square a greater orc walked in and killed his character. He got mad and said, "This is all because of your stupid-" <grab the map out of my hands> "-MAP!" <tear map>. That was hilarious.
That IS hilarious.
Fear the rage of the geek.
Stretch:
Quote: mgoddess
My husband (who plays Mingxia) got me to play for a trial month in 2001 before we moved out to Seattle and onto a college budget. Took a break and then started back up mid-2004. Been playing since.
Hilarious. I started playing in 7th grade (winter 1996 / spring 1997) along with a bunch of guys in my class. One of whom was Mingxia and Nightsdawn's 'son' in game. I've played 12-18 months on, 12-24 months off since then. My honor roll of bad names:
Isintari (lvl 2 bard, lvl 11 wizard, lvl 17 wizard)
Cullhaven (lvl 23 warrior)
Galadadril (lvl 5 warrior)
Galadedrid (lvl 11 warrior)
Edaarin (rolled by my brother, who plays Edarin)
Kizun (lvl 38 bard)
Zhijun (lvl 19 warrior)
Kunyin (lvl 18 warrior)
Quote: The Eschaton
Was introduced by my friend DHan66866, a friend of mine from Federation, around the time AOL went flat rate. He played Parthot in GS, I rolled up a giant warrior named Bellophorus. Spent god knows how many hours in the hovel with Tijay et al. Never made it past level 17 with that warrior. Rolled up my current main around 97-98?
et al:
Tijay, Tumu, Tallasse, Mariyna, some dumbass who went demonic on the glacier, Jackanapes, Fourlonn, Teramarus
Quote: Renian
I was introduced by my brother (who plays Gabric), who was introduced by one of his friends (who played Teramarus...at least I think that was his name. That's how it was pronounced). But I was like 8 or some shit at the time, so I was a complete OOC retard while playing, had moronic names, couldn't level for shit and played warriors.
lol @ Teramarus. That guy got his head up his e-ass when he titled.
diethx:
I honestly can't remember exactly when I started. I guess it was sometime in '95 or '96. When did AOL start having unlimited plans? Cuz I know I started before that (my mom reamed me pretty hard once after a several-hundred-dollar AOL bill).
Methais:
Quote: Renian
I was introduced by my brother (who plays Gabric), who was introduced by one of his friends (who played Teramarus...at least I think that was his name. That's how it was pronounced). But I was like 8 or some shit at the time, so I was a complete OOC retard while playing, had moronic names, couldn't level for shit and played warriors.
Is that you Haashek?
Sean:
Quote:
lol @ Teramarus. That guy got his head up his e-ass when he titled.
I thought he was okay until he rolled Ramulus, or whatever his bard was named then he thought he was too cool for everyone else. Some other Kobold people I remember were Wethathals, Icicycle/Maulder, Opaltre/Opalflame, was Jubuls kobolds or TR?, Lotharen who I'm pretty sure is Zimzum now, Xelchor, Mooarf, etc.
yesicj:
I can credit my start to an ad in GamePro (the original splash screen with, I want to say, 3 or 4 characters on it) that I randomly stumbled upon while reading reviews for Genesis games (Streets of Rage 2 ftmfw). That was back in 94-95. I had a slew of characters that I toyed with, but my first character that I ever took past level 2 was my warrior Paralyzer (it sounded like a good idea at the time; shut up). I pretty much owe it to Aur(i?)en for getting me to stick with the game at all: I was really getting frustrated because I had no idea what the hell was going on, and he showed me the ropes and got me set straight. Later, I got one of my buddies (who aptly named his warrior Pulveryzer) to start as well, and we pretty much kept it going until it moved to the web and started to cost money.
A few years later I said screw it, I'll pay the monthly fee. I'm most notorious among my friends who still play (as their original characters, since they're pretty much the only ones I recognize) for frequently disappearing, occasionally for more than a year at a time. It's nice to have people remember you though. That's probably what still keeps me coming back.
TheEschaton:
Jubuls was in the hovel. Oh, and that "some guy who went demonic on the glacier"? My second character, a (magical) rogue named Joxster.
-TheE-
Askip:
If anyone wants Zepaths maps you can find them at http://www.tamcon.com/GS3/gsmaps/
The parent directory has some other old stuff and dead links too.
cronuss:
Quote: Methais
So anyone remember that blah white screen you played GS in before you discovered the Wizard FE?
haha, yes..
i remember when i finally discovered the wizard, and i called my friend, "wow you have to try the wizard!!!"
he responds, "yeah, i have"
me: "AND YOU DIDNT TELL ME ABOUT IT!?!?!?"
him: "didnt think it was a big deal..."
Mighty Nikkisaurus:
Back when I was 13 I was living in Hawaii for a few months.. pretty much the only thing for me to do was swim and surf, which I did a lot of, but I got bored pretty easily so I started poking around online for something to keep me entertained. I went to MSN Zone and they had a free trial for Gemstone III, and I remember thinking Oh hey cool this will be just like Dungeons and Dragons!
So I signed up and first logged in and upon seeing all text and no pictures I thought it was incredibly lame and signed back out. Then boredom and curiosity got the better of me again and I signed back in, rolled up my character, and figured out how verbs and movement worked and I was hooked. My character was Celesta and she was a Faendryl sorceress.
Nitrox was my first IG friend.. when I took a break from playing like a year later he stopped playing but even to this day I talk to him on AIM occasionally. I also hung out with Rothran a ton (prior to being sold.. at least I heard he'd been sold). My brother became interested and I showed him the game, so he rolled up a sylvan ranger and we pretty much just PvPed in game and stirred up trouble. Eventually he decided to try DragonRealms though and he got hooked on it. He still plays DR (he likes the skill and fighting systems better) to this day.
Khariz:
June 1995. Bored in the summer. Pre-AOL. Good Times.
Homeslice513:
I actually started about two months ago.
I have been quite bored of the graphical MMOs and the lack of depth so thought of going back to Dragon Realms though I only played it a short time, I just remembered liking it though at the time paying for text wasn't something I agreed with. I did a 30 day free trial of Gemstone just to see the difference and have been hooked since.
And now I seem to not care about paying too much for text
radamanthys:
AOL-> Boredom-> Red dragon inn -> role playing -> gemstone.
Then a while later found it again when a few of my buddies were playing. (1998?). Had a couple chars then- one died (for good) near the fire ants nest. Took another break and in 2000, I think, I started up Rada, closed him at level 13, I think, and reopened him in 2002. Good level to be at, since I jumped to 15 for GS4.
Farn:
Quote: Methais
So anyone remember that blah white screen you played GS in before you discovered the Wizard FE?
Yeah, that was good stuff. The one thing I don't like about the FEs is that with the all black background, I'm constantly imagining much of the world at night even during the day.
Most of the areas I frequented during the non-FE days I always automatically imagine during daylight hours now, and areas discovered post-FE I always imagine after dusk.
I tried changing the background to all white in Stormfront once, but then a lot of my highlights hurt my eyes, so back to perpetual darkness I went.
To the poster of Zepath's maps link: Awesome.
Sablemane:
This seems as good a place as any to try this:
IF You used to (or still play) one of the following characters, PM me and we'll catch up on old times
Megrail
Blizzrd
Jharadin (the first... you know what I'm talking about)
Spusaf
Yoiko
Tigerlilly
Inhoc
Martagan (got something for you)
Methais:
Did you know that dropping some silvers and tapping them will attract cave gnomes?
Deathravin:
Started playing on AOL in 1995. My buddy intruduced me to it (Tiger something, and Killrathe? something). He just said, "Hey dude, check out this awesome game". He had compuserve so it cost him an hourly fee... But I had AOL! So uber... He got sick of it after 2-3 weeks and I kept playing.
I remember trying to kill the 'small bird' or whatever in landing too. pissed me off. My first character, Deathraven (with the e) got banned for bad language after when I died the first time (I thought I was 100% dead and had to redo my 10 whole days of work) I said 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!' like 20 times.
So I made a new AOL account and started playing my cool new sorc. In icemule, when the thyrils would swarm like crazy.
I got another friend of mine (Surgla, good friends of Algrus - he played Meyhymm for a while too) into it. He liked it and quickly dropped out of school to play. I sort of wish I didn't show him the game all those years ago, but he would have found another reason to drop out.
I got Deathravin past level 40 in those tree spirit mass parties things. Those things rocked man. Just 24/7 fried. I'd play for 12 hours and my buddy who didn't go to school would play for the other 12 (I really didn't encourage him, he knew where the key to my house was and would just break in and play at night and while I was at school).
Deathravin went demonic at level 50ish shortly after the switch to the web I can't remember who exactly did it, but after that I've never given my account info out. Stormj or something... Anyway... Rebuilt him up...
Got him to level 80, but his training was useless, I quit and came back and couldn't level him anywhere. So I rerolled him, took 3 weeks to get a very uber 673 roll with the autoroller, rolled up a new Deathravin, and a week later they announced GS4, with the spanky new feature of skill migration and fixskills!
All told, I've quit maybe 8 times. This time I made a new account, started paying for Plat, and so far have been very happy. I have a level 26 picking/ranged rogue. I have Deathravin (56 Sorc), Darkravin (45 rogue), and Valendros (21 Empath - only of my characters w/ their glaes spider charm). I've got many people to start playing (You're welcome, Roslyn/Rolaren), some have quit some haven't. And I still like the game.
I always come back...
Deathravin:
Quote: Methais
Did you know that dropping some silvers and tapping them will attract cave gnomes?
Or that if you wave cheese around in the catacombs, rats will come flocking?
Deathravin:
Quote: Farn
Yeah, that was good stuff. The one thing I don't like about the FEs is that with the all black background, I'm constantly imagining much of the world at night even during the day.
Most of the areas I frequented during the non-FE days I always automatically imagine during daylight hours now, and areas discovered post-FE I always imagine after dusk.
I tried changing the background to all white in Stormfront once, but then a lot of my highlights hurt my eyes, so back to perpetual darkness I went.
To the poster of Zepath's maps link: Awesome.
I had my background as white up until about a month ago. I'm not sure if I like it better, but you have more options for highlight colors. and I've got somewhat used to it.
CrystalTears:
I started in 1997, two weeks before it went to the web.
My best friend, who played Sido, played GS all the time. I saw him playing it and he told me about it and said that I have two weeks to play around with it on AOL before it went to the web. So I created my rogue.
I got hooked. His "parents" stopped playing, so he started losing interest and quit a few months later. I continued to play, on and off, ever since.
Vesi:
I had moved 3 1/2 hours away from my D&D group and was going nuts not having any real games or gaming friends. (I was married with a child and the only people around me that played were teenage boys... thought that would look odd if I gamed with them) My sister had a laptop at work and she could bring it home for the weekend, so she'd drop it by my house on Friday afternoons and I'd get it back to her by Mon. mornings. This was when it was free on AOL, so I'm not really remembering the year. I had NEVER played anything like GS, so for some dumb reason, every week I'd roll a new character. (yeah... I know and I didn't have the FE either) Then she changed jobs, so no more weekend computer. I FINALLY decided to get my own computer in Feb. 1998 and GS was like one of the first things I did on it. I really don't say I started GS until '98 because of all the rerolls on AOL. I made a character and as I read the boards, I realized that the people my character knew were mostly snert types (ooc, pvp and just not what I wanted from my gaming exp.) so I rolled another character and off I took! I've kept my account open since then, even though I've tried other games. Even though some of those games were fun, I've tended to gravitate back to GS. My oldest that I've had for 10 years is level 48.
One funny newbie story. Someone had given me a feras falchion in rats and one day I was going to take it out of my sheath and it was gone! I was sure someone in the cul-de-sac stole it from me. I remember sitting there wondering who the jerk was. Then about a month later I found out what happened to feras. hehe I could tell so many 'newbie stories'. I did the cheese thing too!
Vesi
Sweets:
I started around late '99, early 2000. I was playing around with rp in chat rooms (Chathouse-East Wing-Castle). Free Form was fun but too many bitch slapping fights would erupt. Everyone had to be "Uber". Whilst browsing Elfwood, I saw a few character portraits mentioning Gemstone III. I have been playing on and off since then. I wish I had kept some of my original characters but I am not willing to pay to 200 to dig them up.
Fioanna, Nanaya, Paia, and Ilonia. Ansherak was the first one to take me by the hand and teach me about armor and other things that would keep me going. Is he still around?
Dwarven Empath:
Don't remember when I started playing Celember. Probably 1997 ish?
Here are some of the guys that had an impact on me:
Darkfly, Kaustic, Kennison, Ooeytooie, Earthdiver, Kylinarr, Zhagan, Eriyan, Oberone, Glima, Silverwolf, Prowldoom
Greenwolf, Risky, Hhooru, Wulfguy, Jameszz and Methais.
Some of the lasses:
Angelique, Celeri, Evl, Gravena, Karyanne, Keelymoon, Mnoeme, Cinchoulie, Devastatra, Kaliopia, Concerta, Emberbrite, Nikkee, Cordelia, Faeryfire, Intros, Kaylisidee, Lissa, Magdolean, Kadesha, Orobini and Prospera.
Just to name a few.
My first actually friend was Anticor. If he came back I might actually play my ranger again.
But Medi is my main at the moment.
Renian:
Posts about TeramarusHoly shit, I didn't realize he was a douche in game, rofl.
Then again I didn't hang out with him IG.
Out of curiosity, do any of you know Tsaabrak?
EDIT:
Quote: Methais
Is that you Haashek?
No.
Itachi:
Quote: RichardCranium
August 95. I had been doing some chatroom roleplaying and was searching around on the games on AOL and came across it. I remember the orange backdrop with the warrior leaning on his sword
Farn:
Man, that picture brings back memories. I miss the pictures that would pop up around town in Wehnimer's, like the town gates and some of the shops. Others show up, but not those, for some reason.
Snapp:
96ish here, whenever it was free on AOL. My brother (Wizricky) and I both started because a friend told us to go to keyword Gemstone. Our friend quit right after, yet we remain.
Seran:
Like many others I have my own beginning back in the foregone days of free playing on AOL in '95 right before beginning highschool. A friend of mine pointed me out to it, and I made an elvish healer that rather quickly found out the joys if searching boxes in the Tartifacts bakery for the odd low quality gem.
I'll never forget meandering my way to Thyrils and talking to all the other folks, thinking that they were the epitomy of combat expertise with how they dispached those godless creatures.
And then I was eatten by a rabid squirrel.
Along those lines, I met an empath by the name of Wisteriia or some such spelling who at the times was quite well known in Icemule. She gave me my beginning in the game, and my thanks go to whoever played the character back then.
KValisk:
My now Ex-husband introduced me to GS when we were dating back in 2000. I took a 6 month break back in 2004 and have been here since.
diethx:
Quote: Methais
So anyone remember that blah white screen you played GS in before you discovered the Wizard FE?
Yeah, heh. I learned about it from one of my friends in the healer's tent. I was like.... WTF?!?!? It made things so much easier. I mentioned it to the guy who introduced me to the game and he's all oh yeah i've used it, it makes the game too little of a challenge. I was like, "...it's a fucking game." I realized what a dummy he was and stopped messing around with him shortly after that, heh.
Mr. Dallas:
A friend of mine got me started around the tail end of '96.
I remember *calling* Simu (yes, they asked me how I got the number) and complaining that my character didn't start in the town where my friend was at, died trying to get to Icemule, and wanted them to simply start me there. Unbelievably, they did
My friend has *long* since given up the game - while I'm still rolling along for 12 straight years.
I remember when the landing net was just a *constant* scroll of buying and selling - while living quite the blissful life in Icemule . . .but eventually outgrew the town and have been in the landing ever since in one form or another.
D.
Beguiler:
I learned about the game from a friend I met on AOL in 1997, and started a little empath in Icemule. Very first thing she did was get killed by a rabid squirrel, and it's been downhill ever since! Have never left, have made lifelong friends both in game and in real life. And I swear, I WILL cap that danged empath if it kills me, and it just might!
SolitareConfinement:
back in the AOL days a friend of mine used to play it...i used to make fun of him, and 2 other friends that played it. i managed to stay making fun of him without playing until gemstone cost i think it was 9.99 a month? like when simu first started charging. at anyrate one day i decided to play his warrior for shits n giggles, we decided to roll up a Sorcerer together to try out sorcerers, got him to level 26, and decided to then finally create my own charecter....
funny thing is none of those guys play anymore the closest level to me is my friend dave with 38 only cuz he converted to GS4 for a month....in a couple weeks im going back to my home town to visit with friends and family and when i go they've all requested to play around on my character so they can see what OTF and the rift is like heh
kinda ironic....i make fun of them for playing and end up playing longer than them and getting higher level than they ever even tried to get to
Gan:
Started in spring of 98. A co-worker of mine introduced me to the game (Forimer). My first group who showed me much of how things worked were the original Kailii, original Hogberth, Lmerri, Kerra.
Since my first character, which was a wizard I just recently resurrected, I've rolled up many others of which Ganalon was #3.
Augie:
The hubby and I (just dating at the time) were poking around on the MSN Gaming Zone in 97. We started just before the move to the web and there were free trials going on.
I had never played D&D before, but he had so he's like let's check this out. I rolled up my first character Dionyses who was a giantman warrior. Since he knew about D&D, he's like OK, put 100 in Con 100 in Strength and just kind of put points here and there and there....it was horrible heh.
Her training was atrocious. She must have trained in a bit of everything. I had her all across the board. And she hunted with 2 daggers (a blue one and a green one) because I thought it looked cool.
I'll never forget the first night I logged in and the little voice used to whisper in your ear telling you tips about the game. One of the first things it said was "Do not go outside of town until you're more skilled" somethin like that. So I am looking around and what do I see? "Obvious Exit: out".
I was like OH NO I am NOT falling for that! The voice just said don't go out! And I stopped to read EVERYTHING that came on the screen. Then after standing in the same room for about 30 minutes waiting for something to happen, Steve said...why not just try going out? So I go out and end up in Icemule.
I started to wander around and somehow ended up somewhere I didn't belong and kept spam scrolling "HELP HELP HELP HELP" until someone walked by and got me to Town Center heh.
I just remember how naive I was back then and how in awe of everything I saw. Now over 10 years later..it's nice to be able to have nice things in game and money and friends and know a lot about the mechanics behind it. But some days I wish I could go back to that naive teenager who didn't want to go out.
Part of the reason why we're quitting -- it's lost it's magic.
Asha:
Introduced in 2002 by the Gemstone Scripts guy Dicate. I think he used to moderate here as Insomniac, I'm not sure.
We were drinking in my old flat and he showed it to me. I thought it looked totally shit and pretended to be interested.
Next day everyone left and I just checked it out in my living room and didn't leave for about 9 hours. It became a great way for a few of my good friends to hang out and arrange to meet in RL where we'd talk about GS when our girlfriends and non GS mates where at the bar etc. Geeks.
I started with a warrior named Afrey, got him to 20 then started a sorcerer who I capped. I got a rogue high end too but in the end sorc all the way.
Drinin:
I had three friends that started playing the summer before freshman year of high school. When my family got our first computer, they talked me into playing. Out of the four of us, I'm the only one that still plays. I've been playing for 12 years.
firegirl:
I think it was around the end of '95. Feelee, Mojoriz, Misfitt, Wakkez, Opitan and me started off in a AOL chatroom (college Students, I think), got bored and decided to try this game through AOL. I was the only foolish one that was paying seriously ridiculous amounts at the time- with Long distance (Canada), the exchange rate and the hourly fee of AOL - my bills were hitting approximately 3K a month. It was pitiful.
I remember some my fondest memories at the beginning with Toemain, Kindhand, Malbeth, Ameretto, Harlak, Fergus, Marigold, Meratek, Tolc, Allisande and Indiosky (sp?). I also remember the AI was such a happening place at that time and there was always a Kobold running loose in town.
I also remember the young players used to get casted sleep on when they went near the HS steps by a group that hung out there until we were all able to enter - bunch of bullies! heh.
I also recall a GM named Wolf (I think).. He used to send messages to us about what to do and not to do. He was pretty nice and sooo patient. He kept us in line with OOC stuff since we were little punks then. HEH.
Farn:
The one thing I do most to remenisce about the "good old days" is to go to the Coastal Cliffs near Wehnimer's and look at the one picture that shows up there and wait for the salty sea breeze to bring me thoughts of far-off lands in that room script. I had a ton of fun on those cliffs with friends and strangers alike.
Sthrockmorton:
I remember before Gemstone, playing Yserbius and Twinion on the Sierra network, did anyone else try those games?
Farn:
Quote: firegirl
I also remember the AI was such a happening place
Yeah, I remember times when there actually were places outside the town centers that were happening places. Now there aren't enough people around so they had to make "super nodes" in towns in an attempt to get people to congregate and socialize with each other.
It's a real bummer to visit a lot of the neat sites out in the boonies and never see anyone there to strike up conversations or share the places with.
I remember meeting lots of different people atop the Colossus, for instance. Some people look back at the free-on-AOL days with disdain because of the influx of people, but I thought it was great having that many people around. You'd always meet people when you were out hunting or using the out-of-town resting spots. Meeting people in hunting area resting spots was great fun. You got to meet people and, as a bonus, there was a very high chance they'd be a future hunting partner.
Now the world is much too big and the population is too small. The world keeps getting bigger, yet the population keeps getting smaller. Butter scraped over too much bread, and all that. I can see why people like River's Rest so much - it's a smaller place, remeniscent of the old game world, I think. Too bad my character there is the one dedicated to playing when my wife plays, and she's not playing currently.
longshot:
I think it was '94 or '95... AOL wasn't free yet.
I found it on the AOL games page. My friends and I rolled up a warrior with a ton of strength. I bought a 2-handed sword, and went to the coastal cliffs to kill people. There was something oddly amusing about knowing there was another person behind the keyboard furiously typing "No! Stop!" and "Help!" until they finally died. I got pulled by a GM, who kindly explained that this wasn't how the game was played.
After AOL went free, I decided to have a real look at the game. I rolled up a warrior, and then realized how badly they sucked. I changed to a ranger, and have always played a ranger. I've quit and restarted a bunch of times.
I liked the landing when it was crazy... people sold wands and statues in TSSW... there were 50 things to buy at once on the amu-net.
I used to hang out in the temple store room. Mortanius, Tessle, Aelphaba, Archpain, Telara, Nylander,... but those are the people I remember.
I liked the game better when there was just the landing and icemule..
Kyra231:
Quote: Farn
I remember mapping out places on my own before I found other maps. I taped four pieces of paper together and was just drawing a bunch of squares and lines on them as I went.
Hah I did the same thing 
Started in late 95 when I was off work for a high risk pregnancy, gave me something to do when I couldn't sleep late at night.
I believe the cleric I had made it to rezzing age never even knowing what 'massies' were until some kind person took me under their wing & explained some things.
Took a break when they went to the web & then back into the addiction.
~K.
The Ponzzz:
'93, played on GEnie Didn't play long though from 93-94 I'd say like an hour or two a month? Quit due to parents getting rid of GEnie.
In '95 I saw an ad in a Prodigy Chatroom and started back up. Then I quit again when parents got rid of Prodigy. Finally in '96 we got AOL and been playing steady every since.
Farn:
After all this remeniscing I just had to reactivate the oldest character on my account. He's in River's Rest - we'll see how he manages in the current player community there (he was quite an oddball back in '96 or whenever it was, which meant he fit right in).
Probably should stay away from Casler so as not to be labeled a "quest chaser" or whatever.
Methais:
I liked the landing when it was crazy... people sold wands and statues in TSSW... there were 50 things to buy at once on the amu-net.
I liked the game better when there was just the landing and icemule..Same here (but I like Teras too). The game actually had life before EN opened. Now every town is as dull as a library.
War Angel:
1996 - AOL days, a friend of mine was IMing someone and he was ignoring her, and finally said he was playing Gemstone, and to either come play or stop IMing. (Heh) Ghostsomething or other ... anyhow, sitting at a table, she typed dance, and did the table thing, but outside the tables, it didn't happen. We were confused. I went home, and set up my own account, running around screaming about the bird in my hand (falchion), the rats killing me, (never played D&D, no clue about the rolls and so forth) and licking my sword until dead. Eventually someone (Gwalmachei? I think) took me aside and explained things to me, somewhat. Spent HOURS on the auto-roller, trying to get above a 700 (I believe thats what I was shooting for anyhow)
Learned as I went, made friends with Fangbeer, Sliccer, Jaltir, Pridering, Zait, Kitochka, Ehrym, Sherilyn(sp?), Lanlan and a bunch of other well folk. Had a blast, went demonic a few times, met my RL husband in gnomes, got married in RL, had a son and took many a break, and play occasionally now.
diethx:
Quote: War Angel
Spent HOURS on the auto-roller, trying to get above a 700 (I believe thats what I was shooting for anyhow)
Oh god... setting up your character in zMUD overnight to get that magical roll. Yeah, those were the days, lol. 
Widgets:
I started...similar to many here when I was in High School, I want to say back in 1996. I had briefly played on AOL when it was still charged by the hour and boy was the phone bill high back then. After I stopped playing very shortly after that, I told my friend about the game in High School when it moved to the Web and we played for quite some time then.
After playing we also dragged another friend in who later played even after me and my best friend stopped.
After many years of hiatus, I then returned well..VERY recently..May 22nd 2008 to be exact. So, in a way it's good to be back and seeing many new faces/changes.
Anebriated:
I have no idea what year I started anymore. First char was a human warrior. I remember I was dropped off into Icemule and the first thing i did was try to attack a NPC around town only to get hauled off to jail and lose my stuff(didnt realize I could get it back). I remember a lot of the old Icemule clique ie Chica, Tayre, Stay and more but I mostly played with a few other younger chars. Unfortionately I dont remember their names anymore aside from Curthieus but I believe they have moved on to Plat since.
I remember when I first learned that there were other towns aside from Icemule. There was a young troublemaker around Icemule who was talking about going to the Landing to buy an enchanted weapon(OMG). So I asked if I could tag along and he dragged me over and left me in awe and completely lost. Who was said troublemaker? our very own Bobmuhthol...
TheEschaton:
700 was the max roll. I once spent a week in the autoroller trying to see if I could get anything over 680 - woke up one morning to a 693. I almost shit my pants.
Made a ranger who rocked on that roll.
Yeah, I used to hate when things got crowded, but now I miss them. Hanging out in the hovel, the trophy room in Thrak's, and later the attic parties in the AI were amazing. I agree that the opening of the EN kinda diluted that - if that never opened, the game would be much more compact, and work well.
-TheE-
diethx:
Quote: TheEschaton
Yeah, I used to hate when things got crowded, but now I miss them. Hanging out in the hovel, the trophy room in Thrak's, and later the attic parties in the AI were amazing. I agree that the opening of the EN kinda diluted that - if that never opened, the game would be much more compact, and work well.
-TheE-
Me too, i'm so fed up with how boring it's gotten that i'm this (| |) close to selling my 200+ alters, gear, and utility wizard and cancelling my accounts. Especially since there's no use in hording all those clothes when I don't even bother hanging out with anyone to show it all off, heh (even if I do hate selling my own designs).
Gan:
I remember using the auto-roller for almost a week and getting a high end roll of 682. Used that on my sorcerer.
I also remember running into Bob down in the catacombs when he was a youngster.
MotleyCrew:
Wow, I'm suppose to remember these things eh...
Let's see, well, first off, GS wasn't my first simu game, Cyberstrike was...wheeee, what fun THAT was back in the day. Played both for free on AOL, so we're looking at 14 - 15 years ago? Gees...I guess I am addicted.
Was with my ex at the time, he played CS and then moved to GS, and I follwed along after I got over the 'text? thats stupid'. heh.
My now RL husband was on my ex's CS team (go GOM!), and he started at about the same time as we did.
Someone please explain. How can this game be so infuriating and frustrating and still be so damn addicting?
Asha:
When Bob was a youngster?
He's still tiny in RL and in game. Bless. xxx
Elvenlady:
Quote: MotleyCrew
Someone please explain. How can this game be so infuriating and frustrating and still be so damn addictiong?
Good question and one I ask myself regularly.
Kyrandos:
Don't remember. ICE Age. '93? I dunno.
Loyrl:
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Jahira:
the auto-roller wad bad-a. bring it back
Loyrl:
Quote: Jahira
the auto-roller wad bad-a. bring it back
Yes it was, when gs4 came out did ppls stats get lowered to fit the new 660 cap or something like that? Is there a site / sheet that will show me what my stats would be at 0?
I miss all the people that GS used to have in the world during the day, 1300+ would rock. Now the amulet is empty compared to then. Nothing scrolls, I don't have to have my thought window my whole screen when I watch the "merchant" channel. People sitting at the AI, Mine Road, Court Yard, Thraks room, the nook in the Inn, upstairs in North Gate East and West tower. .
Ah the good ol' days, will never have them back.
Snapp:
Quote: Loyrl
Hmm, started when my cousin showed me the game on AOL, I was around 10 at the time, so around 1995. He played Sorlentak and I started a warrior named Loryl, then Loyrl, then Zyril.... then he started Octodeath which I took over. Then I started Octodeathe after Octodeath got deleted.
Sorlentak was one of the first friends I made in GS. I think last I heard he was playing Nopus.. is he still around?
-Gerbill
Anferis:
I started playing about 2 and a half years ago when Tepalor got me into it. I mostly talked to Ashonne, Zakyu, Isidith, Uved, and sometimes Medi back then. By talk to I mean them taking turns beating me up.
landy:
Started when it first hit AOL. Took me about a month to hit level 5 back then.
Loyrl:
10 charsssssssssssss?
ViridianAsp:
My best friend kinda pushed me to it, she tried for a year to convince me to play, I finally gave in, in 2000, I started playing and never stopped.
It will be eight years in September.
When I first started it was in GS3, I have to say, I miss it. There was more people to interact with, I remember times when at least 1,100 hundred people were on at once. New pricing and growing pains kind of killed it, I miss it, more and more people are walking away from the game, and it's becoming harder to find roleplay.
Askip:
<< Is there a site / sheet that will show me what my stats would be at 0? >>
Your stats at level zero can be found via INFO START.
Loyrl:
Quote: Askip
<< Is there a site / sheet that will show me what my stats would be at 0? >>
Your stats at level zero can be found via INFO START.
Oh cool, thank you!
cronuss:
My old buddies, off the top of my head:
Slayd, Corneelious, LanLan, Kronious, Kelestra, Huka, Kyrandos, Marikaytte, Nomiculious, and a bunch of others I can't think of right now.
I know Kronious and Huka sold, Corneelious came back for a bit recently and re-quit, some of the others are still around...
Anyone know Slayd or know what happened to him?
Also, some fond memories to add to the thread:
1) As someone else mentioned, the roaming Tree Spirit groups. I still remember trying to get a hit in before all those voln-fu people kicked them to death. Man... that was 24/7 fried, as someone else mentioned. Good times.
2) Stone Giants before they were changed! I remember at level 19, when I finally got Dark Catalyst, going to Stone Giants and struggling to hit them because they were like 15 levels above me. However, all it took was an end roll of 102 or so and bam... the entire screen would scroll from the DC crits. The exp was great and the loot was a mazing... 10-15k boxes on almost every giant. Good times...
I also miss the old Mana Disrupt... 
CrystalTears:
Are you sure Corneelious quit again (the original player that is)? I'm gonna have to ask him.
cronuss:
Quote: CrystalTears
Are you sure Corneelious quit again (the original player that is)? I'm gonna have to ask him.
Yeah.
I signed up last fall for a brief stint and saw him in game... I couldn't believe it. I think I was half-drunk IRL and I just started yelling at him in-game, "Corneeeeeeeeeeeeelious!!!" hehe
We caught up on old times a bit. Talked to him on AIM and found out he had literally re-signed up the same day that I had... I think he rerolled or lost his character, though. I was supposed to help him get back on his feet, but unfortunately I was busy and completely stopped playing... now that I'm playing again, I IMed him on AIM the other day to ask and he said he quit again.
Therealhukaechan:
Ha, whats up peeps. Anyone still on here? I have a feeling I know who crystal tears is.
Shada:
Been playing on and off since last month of GS2 beta. Back when it was only on GEnie, five bucks an hour (non-prime hours!) to connect, and 2400 baud was extra cost. I had been playing Kesmai's Stellar Emperor for a few months before that. GS2 was flaky as hell, and the worst part was that the whole thing would come to a halt for minutes at a time... except for the critters, who got in their attacks every ten seconds like clockwork.
I also remember that in the weeks before beta ended, one of the monster generators (what you young whippersnappers call "spawn points") went nuts and started spewing rock crystals. Monsters had fixed spawns in rooms with trigger points elsewhere in the area, as I recall. GS3 was where they came up with area-based spawns.
I didn't thief back then, but I remember some of the fun of when they implemented pickpocketing. People would go out to the trolls and steal all the goodies off of them, so when someone else came around to kill the troll, it had no treasure. And originally you could steal even the backpacks people were wearing, none of this "a closed bag is safe" care bear bullcrap.
Nearly everyone was using a modem and an 80-column terminal, so if you used the SMILE command followed by the right number of tabs, you could spoof something troublesome on the next line.
The greatest moment was with The Dragon. It was supposed to be Unkillable(tm) and the Simutronics folks took great pride in that. They had it patrol one of the main roads, and every now and then it would snatch someone up and drop him in the nest, whereupon the dragon and its hatchlings would promptly attack and kill the victim. Well, they had recently implemented an early form of fogging, though it may have only been available to guildmasters. One day I was the special of the day, and I hung around a while without departing just for the hell of it. A few people ported over to me, and then proceeded to attack the dragon. And it died. The Simu folks were not amused (but everyone else was), brought it back to life, and I can't remember what else. I'm sure I have the log in a Stuffit file somewhere in the many times copied contents of an ancient hard drive.
GS3 was a major improvement because they took it off of GEIS's craptastic Honeywell mainframes and put it on a Unix box somewhere. But for the longest time (at least two years) the game would detect internal corruption or run out of free memory or something and reboot without warning: GEMSTONE INTERNAL RESTART (usually referred to as an "infernal" restart)
The Abandoned Inn is mostly based on the inn from the GS2 Elanthia, in particular, the marmots in the tunnels below it. Everybody was always asking "what's a marmot?"
ICE was kind of a cool idea to try, because they were (in)famous for having charts for everything, especially crits. It deserved a chance at being implemented on computer. Eventually, though, Simu wanted to go in a different direction, and I'm sure they didn't mind losing the license payments too. I can't remember what they called the lands during ICE age, but Elanthia was the name of the lands in GS2.
I don't know when they added PINs, but it wasn't in GS3 at the start. Shada wasn't my first GS3 character, but she has a character index number below 500, and two laen items. She had another laen shield, but right after ICE was purged from the game, an orc shattered it on a double open roll. That's a one in ten thousand chance.
And for those of you wondering about GS1, I heard that it was their original prototype that ran on an Amiga.
CrystalTears:
Quote: Therealhukaechan
Ha, whats up peeps. Anyone still on here? I have a feeling I know who crystal tears is.
Your name is incredibly familiar. I think you knew my rogue, Karystal.
Sam:
I started a little before AOL went to a flat rate, so '95 or '96. After a few preliminary characters I had my dwarf sorcerer following Treme around and helping Sylvendale get stat growth rates.
I don't remember how many hours I spent using an autoroller, but was ecstatic when I got my 671 roll.
I just found it on AOL games and it pretty much destroyed my obsession with single player console RPGs. After a few years and the switch to the web my mom started getting pissed that I was waking up at 3 AM daily to play during the web-switch exp boost time.. So I eventually sold my dude and bought a lot of weed.. which was probably less detrimental to my well-being than online gaming actually.
Durgrimst:
I think I started in '97
Farn:
I hate this thread. It makes me want to reactivate and make a new character to re-live the good old days. Then I realize that the population is a fraction of what it was when I started (free AOL days, I'm not as cool as the GEnie/ICE/GS2 people) and that levels 1-10 last maybe a day instead of months. Lots of memories in those old low-level hunting grounds, and now people breeze by them without taking the time to even look around.
You know what? Fine. I'll go make my own game.
elan123:
bump an old thread...
because my friend Deza was in it, and I miss her!
Miss the old days!
Sincerely,
Shockon (Vadonn, etc)
Gelston:
I started playing in 1783 after we won independence and were allowed to have the internet.
Wheelerm:
Somewhere around '98. Stumbled across it after spending hours and hours in a chat room on AOL. I thought, "wow, this is neat...it's like a chat room where I can do things! Best of all, it's free!"
Rolled up a giantman warrior named Bludgeoner Van Rageous in Icemule. Played him for a while, quit him...went away for a long time, wandered back, but had to pay this time, played for a while, quit that character...went away for a long time, back again, went away, back again, etc...
This time if I wander away, I'm keeping my character.
Taernath:
I started in 95ish off of Compuserve after searching through their catalog of multiplayer games. My first character was a dark elf ranger (I just finished reading The Crystal Shard, naturally) who promptly bit the dust in some forgotten corner of the catacombs.
My second was a dwarven warrior, who I played until the ripe old age of 7. The second I could start custom ordering in the armory you better believe I made an obsidian greatsword and carried that bad boy everywhere I went. I know my training was a mess, even though I used two-handers I only trained in edged (my greatsword was an edged weapon, you see) so my hunting was pretty painful. That, the fact I didn't know how to remove scars, and my terrible choice in weapons meant that by the time I hit 7 I was pretty much at a wall. I retired him and created my third character, which I still have today. Like someone else mentioned, I spent a LOT of time in the autoroller with him.
I don't play often anymore. The last time I seriously played was 2003ish and it's depressing to return for their free month only to find a ghost town where the Landing I remember was so full of activity. It was a hell of a ride though. "You mean I hit that sea nymph SO HARD I DROVE HEAR HEART OUT THROUGH HER BACK??"
leifastagsweed:
Quote: Taernath
I started in 95ish off of Compuserve after searching through their catalog of multiplayer games. My first character was a dark elf ranger (I just finished reading The Crystal Shard, naturally) who promptly bit the dust in some forgotten corner of the catacombs.
Leifa was my second character ever in October 1995 (Dark Elf Rangers FTW) and I still have her going strong! Ok, granted, she was originally a warrior for about 60 trainings but she always 'seemed' like a ranger so I 'switched professions' (aka went demonic) and had to make her way back as a ranger (on and mostly off over a span of 12 years). But then, I digress...
Elvenlady:
Quote: elan123
bump an old thread...
because my friend Deza was in it, and I miss her!
Miss the old days!
Sincerely,
Shockon (Vadonn, etc)
I bumped into Deza in Ta'Vaalor only yesterday.
GS4-Seomanthe:
I don't remember what year it was when I started, but it was free to play on Prodigy, and then I begged my parents to switch to AOL when the game moved. My best friend's two older sisters had started playing, (Phatall and Kassyopia) and so she got me to start with her. I remember spawning in Icemule and getting killed somewhere on the trail and being ridden like a sled by an ice troll... That was my very short lived first character.
Then I rolled a dark elven bard named Kylaena who lived for good long time but never titled. Quit for a while, came back in I guess 2001 or 2002 and rolled Seomanthe, managed to get to level 23.. Quit for awhile again, and then came back in 2010.
I loved the old days, but I have to say I'm having way more fun now than I did back then, RP-wise. Yeah, the population is smaller, but I never have trouble finding someone to play with, even when I'm up in the wee hours (my wee hours are pacific time now and thus extra wee for most players!)
Overall I'm glad I'm back!
Hulkein:
I believe I started some time in 1996. I was in 6th grade and was on some stupid Moogle roleplay AOL group and one of the members told me to search out Gemstone on AOL so I did. I still remember him showing me around town. I eventually got my best friend to play and we realized another 6th grader played (how random?). The game was so damn fun for a long time.
WRoss:
Quote: Hulkein
I believe I started some time in 1996. I was in 6th grade and was on some stupid Moogle roleplay AOL group and one of the members told me to search out Gemstone on AOL so I did. I still remember him showing me around town. I eventually got my best friend to play and we realized another 6th grader played (how random?). The game was so damn fun for a long time.
I miss that feeling of fun the game was when I was younger. It was a lot better when I didn't understand the mechanics or the limits of a game like this. Ignorance is bliss.
Ralimar:
Quote: Hulkein
I believe I started some time in 1996. I was in 6th grade and was on some stupid Moogle roleplay AOL group and one of the members told me to search out Gemstone on AOL so I did. I still remember him showing me around town. I eventually got my best friend to play and we realized another 6th grader played (how random?). The game was so damn fun for a long time.
Hahahaha, PLEASE tell me this was Mog's Realm....
leifastagsweed:
Quote: GS4-Seomanthe
I don't remember what year it was when I started, but it was free to play on Prodigy, and then I begged my parents to switch to AOL when the game moved. My best friend's two older sisters had started playing, (Phatall and Kassyopia) and so she got me to start with her. I remember spawning in Icemule and getting killed somewhere on the trail and being ridden like a sled by an ice troll... That was my very short lived first character.
Then I rolled a dark elven bard named Kylaena who lived for good long time but never titled. Quit for a while, came back in I guess 2001 or 2002 and rolled Seomanthe, managed to get to level 23.. Quit for awhile again, and then came back in 2010.
I loved the old days, but I have to say I'm having way more fun now than I did back then, RP-wise. Yeah, the population is smaller, but I never have trouble finding someone to play with, even when I'm up in the wee hours (my wee hours are pacific time now and thus extra wee for most players!)
Overall I'm glad I'm back!
Seo, we are nearly on the same time table! Oh and I remember Kassyopia!
JJBummer:
Summer/Fall of 95. I was stationed in Germany playing on AOL dial up and had a game timer to make sure I didn't go over the 20 free hours a month. What did it cost if you went over... $1.99 an hour... or was it more?
Started off on an autogen character and after a few months rerolled him and have played him since.
How many of you remember the Wizard FE enhancements like the modified FE which showed herbs in the help screen or the kill-timer add-on that kept you from being being disconnected while scripting or resting?
Roblar:
Quote: JJBummer
Summer/Fall of 95. I was stationed in Germany playing on AOL dial up and had a game timer to make sure I didn't go over the 20 free hours a month. What did it cost if you went over... $1.99 an hour... or was it more?
All I know it was alot. August 96 for me, bored at my parent's house summer break before heading back for senior year of college. I tried it on Prodigy first and racked up several hundred on their credit card in just two weeks after racing past the minutes credit - not too pleased.
I then tried taking advantage of all the mailed Prodigy/AOL offers, removing and reinstalling them for the free minutes but my own credit card took a nasty hit nonetheless when school started. I still remember the joy of unlimited (cheap) internetz/Gemstone...
AnticorRifling:
Started playing Feb of 2000. I was stationed out in 29 palms, one of my roomates played GS and he got me hooked.
Drew:
Quote: AnticorRifling
Started playing Feb of 2000. I was stationed out in 29 palms, one of my roomates played GS and he got me hooked.
Is it odd that I view someone who started playing this game 11 years ago as a noob?
AnticorRifling:
I know I was just thinking that. Damn I started 11 years ago and I'm wet behind the ears compared to a lot of the posters here.
Asha:
2002 or 3 for me. I can't remember exactly but it was just before I moved to London. With this in mind I think it's safe to say I don't know anything about Gemstone.
AnticorRifling:
Quote: Drayal
2002 or 3 for me. I can't remember exactly but it was just before I moved to London. With this in mind I think it's safe to say I don't know anything about Gemstone.
Agreed, people from that island never know much about much.
Liagala:
I started somewhere around '94-ish, and played for a pretty short time before Mom decided this pay by the hour stuff needed to go. I found it again in '98 somewhere (maybe '99?), not long after I got my first apartment. I remember being all excited, "This is that game that was pretty awesome but Mom made me cancel!" It had moved to the web by then, so I signed up and that was that.
Also, why are we all responding to a thread from 2008 like it was started yesterday?
Unfain:
95 or 96
Rinualdo:
'94 or '95 for me with Praytus. I really miss that character.
Hulkein:
Quote: Ralimar
Hahahaha, PLEASE tell me this was Mog's Realm....
Rings a bell. I was so young I don't remember a ton from it though.
TheEschaton:
I think it was 2.95 an hour, or something absurd, after the first 20 hours. All I know is my dad wasn't too happy at a couple hundred dollar AOL bills in the mid-90s.
Oxxon:
I want to say I started in '95 and played till around '00. Off and on till I really got back into it last year.
Alfster:
I started playing in 96 or 97...I know I couldn't drive yet. That's all I really remember.
Chastittee:
I started in Dec 1995 when I got a computer for Christmas, was home from college on winter break, and stumbled into a GS chat room. Been back and forth ever since.
budartagnan:
Started in '96 when an asshole friend pointed it out. Spend many, many long days and nights in high school grinding away levels on Jeldharr, then sold him and all my stuff when I graduated from high school.
Came back in 2006 for a bit while traveling a lot for work. Stopped after a year or so.
Came back 3-4 months ago again, and having a lot of fun. It's not at ALL the same, but it's still rather enjoyable in a different way.
I miss having lots of people around.
I do appreciate the much better roleplaying environment these days.
Bhaalizmo:
A drinking buddy of mine in Alaska slaughtered hobgoblins on his laptop one night in 95 or 96 while I watched. I signed up the next day and have played off and on since. Currently I'm enjoying having two capped characters script-pwning OTF 24/7 in shattered, but I do miss the larger player base of prime.
Asha:
Come back to us. We miss your face
Bhaalizmo:
Quote: Drayal
Come back to us. We miss your face
I think I'm logged in, rezzbot running. Not sure tho, I'm out onsite fixing an Exchange server problem.
Edit: Oh you mean come back to prime? Nah, u crayzeh. Afk hunting rules. Sides, you don't even know who I was in prime. 
Gravebane525:
I started when it was free on AOL... forget the year. was only in for a month or two when they started charging by the hour to play and my parents made me stop. It was 2000 when I started playing again, out of school, decent job, bank card. bored one day at work one day for some reason the game I played for 2 moths years before popped into my head and I looked it up. been around on and off since then, my buddy calls this my fallback game.
DaCapn:
Quote: Hulkein
I believe I started some time in 1996. I was in 6th grade and was on some stupid Moogle roleplay AOL group and one of the members told me to search out Gemstone on AOL so I did. I still remember him showing me around town. I eventually got my best friend to play and we realized another 6th grader played (how random?). The game was so damn fun for a long time.
I started playing in 6th grade in 1996 and had a friend who's best friend got him into playing (how random?).
+10 points if your name is Paul.
Hulkein:
Haha, coincidental. I am not Paul.
Gnome Rage:
Around 2001.
My dad played when it was on AOL, and it passed down from my oldest brother, to my older brother, to me. lol. family addiction.
Drew:
Explain your avatar please.
Tgo01:
That's how she initiates sex.
Gnome Rage:
Quote: Drew
Explain your avatar please.
I was at my neighbors for their Christmas party. I wanted to put on chain mail.
Allereli:
Quote: TheEschaton
I think it was 2.95 an hour, or something absurd, after the first 20 hours. All I know is my dad wasn't too happy at a couple hundred dollar AOL bills in the mid-90s.
I got in a lot of trouble for this, too, and he made fun of me for it years later. I never told him that I still play.
Gelston:
I stumbled across it when it had hourly charges and said screw that mess. I found it again when it was free a few months later.
shad0ws0ngs:
Lets see. I started GS when I was 13 and I'm 29 next month. It was while the game was still free, I remember, because of some friends leaving once it started costing. I got into it because a few friends of mine were playing and that turned into all of us playing for a while there, up into high school. I don't remember my first character, but I do remember Packrat, so named because I would hide in the little hidden room in the pawnshop and wait for someone to drop something and then make off it with, certain that, even though the pawnshop wouldn't take it, I had something valuable. I couldn't hunt and just wandered around. After a vine near the graveyard pulled me down and I couldn't get up.. ever... I mostly played dark elf sorcerers for the next decade or so, on and off. I tended to quit whenever I got a serious girlfriend.
I remember one of my best friends IRL rolled up a dwarf named Oddjob Randomtask. And another friend who decided he was going to kill his way into a ban and had a lynch mob after him. So on and so forth.
Dragon Dreadnaught:
I'm prolly the biggest noob out of all of the posters here, since I started playing in '06 or '07. My sister's ex-boyfriend got me playing it and he let me create a character on his account, so I had to 'share' the account with him. I would try to play, but he would be playing at the time. So he would fade out and I would log in, only to fade out in a few minutes. I had an elf, not sure what class, named Scavvos at first. Then I created a new character, because he stopped playing and made a new account later. Zeidorn was a paladin, can't remember the race however. This was about the middle of 2007 when I stopped playing until I got my first job after I graduated. Thus Ryador was created on my real birthday. (yes I gave myself a 'present' for my birthday) Played for two years straight until the end of '09, then started playing intermittently for a year. I took a 3 month break during 2010 and started playing steadily until last year, which became intermittent once again.
I play pretty much everyday now, but sometimes I skip... college y'know.
I only have one character, although I want to make another character someday, most likely a type of caster.
loxe:
when i started playing the first time the wizard FE hadnt come out yet. so when was that?
Divone:
I first started playing in 2000, give or take a year. I was in a roleplay chatroom at the Chathouse, The Castle? I can't quite remember the name. One needed the most awesomesauce of avatar pictures, so I frequented Elfwood for some ideas. While browsing I saw portraits of characters from a game called Gemstone III. The rest is history. Not until Divone have I hung on to a character for for more than 13 levels. I played on and off until about three years ago when I decided to make a main character and stick with it.
bremerial:
Started in 1996 with AOL. Now I don't know about you folk in the US but for UK players at that time we had two headaches. (1) Cost an arm and a leg to play with AOL. (2) There was very little - if any that I know of - cable for general homes. It was all dialup, cost a FORTUNE per minute to use. There was no fixed pricing per month...not until years later. To this day I have no idea how I paid for it.
I wish i'd kept logs from back then. My first character was a rogue who was 100% locksmith - Mxenna D'Clancy - God that takes me back! (Only official record of her existence is in a few googled bits of generated information..shame.)
I was no adolescent. I was just into my 30's and a loved gaming. But GS was my first foray into the world of text based gaming. I haven't looked back since.
Oh my first memory? Let me think. Oh yes... wandering out of the gate, getting killed somewhere in hobgoblin territory, not knowing how to summon help, decaying and losing every item I owned! yeah - not fun!
I actually miss the fun of sitting on the porch steps and listening to Blades and others, who seemed ancient to me at the time.
Drevihyin:
I started in 1996 playing on/off until my last permanent retirement from the game a few months ago. I was the original owner of Elendios, Drevihyin and Tralis. Arasleaf was my last fling the novelty of Gemstone had finally worn off.
Roblar:
Quote: bremerial
Oh my first memory? Let me think. Oh yes... wandering out of the gate, getting killed somewhere in hobgoblin territory, not knowing how to summon help, decaying and losing every item I owned! yeah - not fun!
Heh, I remember immediately ignoring advice and wandering outside the gates until I met a hill troll, I was a warrior goddamnit!
I died a few times there and very nice people in the Abandoned Inn brought me back, the items didn't matter since i don't think I knew what I was wearing..
Murkshev:
I had gotten into GS with some friends that I play D&D with in high school in mid to late 95' and played till about May of 96. I then began my 11 year journey from California to Florida and started playing again in May of 07. I had finally stopped moving around, stopped living off the grid and bought a computer.
My first character was a rogue named Flugzeug Hacke. I remember getting pulled two months in and told they didn't like my name cause it was German for airship which was against game rules. Changed it to Dunkel Hacke and I still remember the long lines in the tower picking boxes for hours. When I came back I made another rogue Stoli, expecting the old times.
I am glad that I don't have to run back to get my items any more. I did miss the mass amounts of people running around saying 'chasing' cause it was so easy to bump into new people that really didn't have a clue as to what to do or how things worked.
I remember plenty of times I would come across a dead body and start dragging them back to town. Trying to avoid getting killed myself in the process. I am glad that things are easier now, I mean that there are many ways to get assistance. And lich has made it easiser to navigate the game, I was one that had maps of all the places and had some spots pretty well memorized.
Canon2470-4L:
Started gemstone iii in 1994 via Compuserve with my warrior Heneshiro, swap to AOL shortly after, played throughout college & stop in 1999. Came back in 2003 or 2004 for a few months, then freeze the account until 2011. Now consider active with an average 3-4 hours a week.
Heneshiro was a warrior, rerolled him & went to become a sorcerer Orihsenehii, then ended Orishenehii life too, started Tchzin (rogue) in 1999 & continue since, now with Wichai & a few other younger characters. Surprising, none of my characters are capped LOL...
I don't know how to use LICH or other script application, moving around is purely via zepath's map in the early stage & tsoran's after, only know my way in landing & teras isle, and a bit of solhaven, the rest of the land i have yet to explore hehe...
FaenorDragonfly:
I started playing in 1996 or 97. I had recently moved to Austin from San Antonio, and was doing an internet search for D&D groups, since I was without a group. During my internet surfing I came across Gemstone's website, and decided to give it a try as something to tide me over til I could find a D&D group. I did find one, but never stopped playing Gemstone.
My first character was named Ellaraniel Leafglider, a ranger. My first memories are of being adopted by people who hung out in Helgas. There were crazy adoptions going on those days, everyone was related to someone. Of all the things I miss, I miss learning the game the most. Gemstone really is a pretty neat game, but I am so caught up in grinding and leveling that I never stop to smell the roses anymore.
budartagnan:
Quote: bremerial
I wish i'd kept logs from back then. My first character was a rogue who was 100% locksmith - Mxenna D'Clancy - God that takes me back! (Only official record of her existence is in a few googled bits of generated information..shame.)
I remember Mxenna well. Helped me open hundreds and hundreds of boxes with Jeldharr, both as a warrior then later rerolled into a cleric.
GS4Merchant:
I first started playing Gemstone a few months before they went through the whole Thurfel's RP event and opened up the cellar. My first character's name was Icedragoon, and that's how me and the original Icedraggon/Drakedragon became friends. I played through MSN "The Zone" and remember waiting in the lobby to play when the game was down with tons of others.
I really miss them days of good ole GS was about searching Vortexes for magical items, dueling on the boulder, and drinking at Helgas because it made me feel older. I got hooked when I was 13 and started writing scripts at and caught onto acct building pretty quick... 25 now and am still ashamed I play this game haha but I still love it (even though I don't agree with the price). I met a few people IRL through the game (only to have sex. jk'n) and still keep in touch with them til this day.
True Fact: I only played 30 day trials because my parents wouldn't pay for the game. Until this day I still have never leveled my own character past 30. T_T
Ardwen:
Somewhere I am sure I have lots of logs of Mxenna, used to chat with her in the tower all the time
bremerial:
Quote: Ardwen
Somewhere I am sure I have lots of logs of Mxenna, used to chat with her in the tower all the time
Oh wow. If you find any can you share them with me. Keeping logs just wasn't something I did much of back then, much to my regret. I struggle sometimes to remember all the names of my contemporaries back then. Shoshonna was my best buddy I know. Mustafa was her partner. So they feature prominently in my memory. I picked ices out of necessity in those days. Rogues just did not make the best of hunters and if you didn't train well you were screwed. There was no annual fixskills.
Anyway I'm rambling. If you have any logs with her in then I'll be extremely appreciative!!!
awol0509:
Like many others I started playing GS back in the AOL pay by the hour days. My mom of all people played, and got me into the game. Her character's name was Myantha Thot or something like that.
I can't remember the name of my very first character...something like Ravenwynd. My second's name was Brynnah. She hung out with a character named Moristal, if I recall. Neither of those characters progressed very far because I was only allowed on the computer for an hour at a time each day. I remember setting a stapler on the ENTER key of the keyboard to keep it dialing our internet connection over and over again, and going to make food after school, coming back and playing some GS!
A year or so later I created Dannah. She was adopted by Valiria and Terrachon and had a very large extended family of who I cannot remember most. I remember it was sooo hard to get to level 20, I promised myself I would take a break after I titled, and ended up quitting until like 2004ish. Played for a little while in 2004, then quit and came back last September 2010.
Memories
bremerial:
I picked boxes not ices. Hehe. Proof read brem proof read!
Androidpk:
I don't remember the exact year I started playing, 94 or 95 I think, on AOL. Sagan, Commandant, Boyd, Merryleon, Stormyrain, just some of the names I remember hanging around. Good times. Distinctly remember forking over 600k for a mithril claid and thinking I was paying way too much.
Aphyd:
I started around 1995 as well...I couldn't think of a good name to make my character because all the obvious ones were taken, so I ended up naming my first character Hunterdavis (my RL first and last name heh). Later on I changed characters and names heh.
My first memory was stealing a bunch of Ankroson's (i think i spelled it right) boxes while he was hunting Thyrils...then I got lectured by Cavemann and Ashemu.
Then a few weeks later Pumachow and I got into a huge argument over kill stealing in hobgoblins and we stayed enemies forever because of it..haha
Aphyd:
I also remember buying a Flint Edged Glaes Handaxe and thinking how badass I was that I had a 3x weapon that flared fire.
SHAFT:
Back in 96ish, my buddy kept telling me about a game he was playing and how cool it was. It sounded nerdish, I had no interest. He came over one day and logged into aol to see if his order at the armory had come in. This was when the white screen and black text was the only option. The wizard soon came out and I checked it out. Been back and forth with gs since.
Spent a lot of time in the kobold village and the area where the diseased squirrels are. You'd get diseased and try to get back to town before you died.
He told me I had to get a drake falchion and i was like, what in the shit is a drake falchion? Got one and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I made my first million ripping people off.
Ysamine:
I started back in the 90's. It was right after the game went to the web. I remember struggling the first month. My first character was Jaynah Ranhu (Short for Ranger/Human).
I was fortunate enough to be taken underwing by some really good players. I still remember my first merchant opportunity and not understanding the significance of alters. I turned down going to the merchant because 10000 silvers was half of my bank account at the time.
I took a break for two years but came back in 2001 and have been premium ever since. I have about seven chars I cycle though that are fleshed out and play and another six that I thought I would try out that have not come to fruition yet. Mostly though I play as Ghrayce these days.
Oldtimer:
Quote: cronuss
Anyway, we ran around causing havoc and getting into fights right from the get go... I guess not a lot has changed...
Actually, I don't see people doing this anymore. The mechanics have also changed in that you can't do a lot of the troublemaker activities you once could (like attempting to attack NPCs in town).
Asha:
I feel like such a noob starting in 02
Androidpk:
Quote: Drayal
I feel like such a noob starting in 02
Bow mortal, for you are in the presence of gods!
Loagan:
I remember starting out in Icemule (circ. 1995-1996) with playing a halfing rogue named Grembo. I ran messages around the trace, gettin paid. Then I heard about another town called Whenimer's Landing, and that money was life there. I remember asking people how to get there, and was told I'd have to take my character through the mountain pass. I tried to get there on my own and was killed by a ghost wolf.
Later, I found someone (higher level dude) that was running people there for 10k per person in group runs, turning tricks you know. I told him that I didn't have 10k but that I had a ruby amulet (which were going for about 10k at the time) and he took that in trade. I died on that journey I think because of a giant or something but eventually ended up making it there.
Upon arrival in Whenimer's Landing I hooked up with a gang (because RP was awesome) because some guy just came up and told me to join or get killed. Once I joined up he took me to the jewelers and bought me a dark mithril band, which was what identified everyone in the gang. I remember getting a different amulet than a crystal amulet so that we could have our own network for use for sending thoughts. I hunted the graveyard for a while with the gang, stealing kills and treasure from other people (got killed a few times by a rival gang because of this).
Graveyard Crypts fo life. Word yo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGDb9VHvPY
Alafaya:
I stumbled across GS by accident in '96. My first character was a human ranger named Cinta. Does anyone know who has her by the way? I would be interested in possibly getting her back.
audioserf:
Started about a year, year and a half before AOL went Unlimited. Got in trouble with my parents over huge AOL bills. Played hardcore from Unlimited until about 2001. Sold all of my shit (Bigmond, Daedrek, Tanistor, and Gondar were my original characters), bought a car that I drove through college. Came back in January of 2010 out of nostalgia and have been back since.
budartagnan:
Quote: audioserf
Started about a year, year and a half before AOL went Unlimited. Got in trouble with my parents over huge AOL bills. Played hardcore from Unlimited until about 2001. Sold all of my shit (Bigmond, Daedrek, Tanistor, and Gondar were my original characters), bought a car that I drove through college. Came back in January of 2010 out of nostalgia and have been back since.
Oh hai, I remember Bigmond!
SHAFT:
Anyone remember the Ketch Merchant? The one that had the translucent spidersilk backpacks and the translucent white broadswords? I thought those broadswords were the most badass weapons ever. I still have a blinking fisheye ring from that merchant.
BriarFox:
I started in 1996, after a few of my friends told me about the game. I thought the idea of disks and lockers was incredibly cool. I read Ransom's ranger guide, and eventually I paid Commandant for a sheath through his old website, and thought I had it made after that point. My first character was Asthalan. I never got him above level 24. I sold him on eBay in 2000 or so for $175, and then took a break. I came back in 2003 while I was in college, made Nuadjha, and I've played off and on since then, with three or four "retirements." Finally capped Nuadjha in February of 2011.
Asha:
I'm going for my third and final zero - cap right now.
It seems to be taking longer than the others and it's way less social, but it's still fun.
Taking the journey again is a wonderful change to hunting the same area constantly for the last 6 years.
Roblar:
Has anyone seen Commandant or know his player? I don't think I've run into him for a decade.
I did run into Karess a year ago I think.
A fun memory was a festival near the Landing way back (don't remember which one) and I was short funds so decided to be brave and had them watch me bet every coin I had (a couple million) on a spin of the wheel in the Landing. I would have been devastated if I'd lost as wasn't very rich.
I won and had more for the merchant! Damn, that was nerve wracking.
2Sage:
Around '94 or '95 some people I talked to online started playing MMOs so I tried them out. It seemed like GS was way more active than the others and the only one where I found the resources to plan a character. So its the only one I stuck with. I played until I got my license and a car in 1999.
Looked up the game around 2007 and played a bunch of different professions for a few years. I had a ton of time for it but then I went mostly inactive due to changing job duties. Eventually I just canceled because I was paying for 2 accounts for a long time but barely playing.
I looked up the game again and was asking about it here when someone told me about the free accounts. So I gave it a shot to see if I still enjoy it and its been a lot of fun. I miss the customization you get here. But I know in the long run the free subscription is going to be too limiting for me.
I now see that I just missed what seemed like an awesome premium reactivation deal by like 2 months, which really sucks, because I'd love to be playing on my premium again. But I'm still seriously considering reactivating one character on a regular subscription. I'm reading up on professions trying to decide which one I'd have the most fun continuing with.
Nathala Crane:
1995, 13 years old. I found out about it through someone I RPed with in the Red Dragon Inn chat room, where I played Vampire Hunter D. The very first character I made was "Artea Elfrea," an elf wizard whose name I stole from a Super Nintendo RPG called Lufia. Not long after that, I ended up rerolling into a human warrior named Madmartigan. I was very original, obviously.
Edit: Oh, wow. That's some insane thread necromancy, there.
loxe:
[QUOTE
Edit: Oh, wow. That's some insane thread necromancy, there.[/QUOTE]
Had to look back and make sure I hadn't already replied here.
Starting playing when gs first came to aol for free. Was extremely lucky because we had just gotten a unlimited local calling plan in our area and had 3 different aol dialup numbers, in my local area. I had played for several months before the wizard fe was developed, and refused to get and use it for almost a year because there was a thought by quite a few players I was around at the time that it was "cheating" to use it. First character was a rogue named loxar, the after about a year I created oary and have played him off and on ever since.
2Sage:
Heh, sorry, a lot of stuff I have been coming across is old and this one resonated with me because in some ways I feel new again. Although I generally know what I'm doing I still took some big hits in kobolds because a forest troll wandered over and was wrecking me even in stance defensive. I've saved 25k in a week and a half but decided I'm gonna try to save for some armor instead of getting an imflass weapon. Stuff like that.
LivderaDeralleur:
Know this was a thread necro, but kinda glad - don't think I ever read this before, as it was originally posted in the year or two that I was in the hospital. So much nostalgia!
I started in 1996 when I was 12 - I think I just stumbled across it randomly. It was on AOL when you still had to pay monthly - I, too, had run up horrid AOL bills. I remember my mom threatening to pull the phone cord plug if I didn't get offline and getting upset with her, as she was going to kill my character darnit all! I vaguely remember the dropping items on death mechanic. I also remember scrounging weird items off the ground or items that were left as junk in opened boxes - thought I was super clever with that and probably looked like a hobo.
I think my very first character was named Coquette or something, but I only played her a week or so. Then I rolled up Aislynn, a Sylvan Warrior. My training was atrocious. My stats were probably atrocious. But I was such a newb back then anyhow - I was 12, after all. I did get better as I grew up - figured out stats/skills and managed to title and all, though never did get her past L26.
I hung out at Helga's back then. I had a notebook filled with direction lists to get to/from certain places in the Landing with Helga's as the landmark. Deza, I remember, was Aislynn's in-game 'mom', as that was such a popular fad back then. I recall Wendesa, Drektor, Isaboo, Seecill and others that I'd probably recognize if I saw/read the name.
I remember the happiness and bliss when AOL moved to a monthly plan and I could play GS without worrying about gigantic monthly phone bills. Then I followed it to the web.
When the game moved from GS III to GSIV, I decided to roll up a new character because I wanted to try out a Burghal Gnome. I had really liked the Dhu Gillywack and all and the tinker gnome thing sounded fun. That's when Livdera came about and she steadily became my main character. I do still have Aislynn, though I don't play her much, if at all.
I've rolled up other characters since then and my only real 'break' from the game was 2007 to about 2009, as I got sick, was in the hospital and recovering in that timeframe (also when I went blind, so had to relearn how to use the computer with a screen reader program.) First thing I did was try to find out how to login to play GS once I was well enough - I'd been playing the game for so long and it was one of the few video games I could still play now that I was blind!
Chaoswynd:
For me, I think it was around 1992 back on prodigy. First character was an empath, of all things, named Mournelyth. Played for a few months, maybe half a year, then took a break for a while due to how much money I was spending on prodigy.
Came back when GS went web based and made Chaoscuro, and played until around 2003. Near as I can tell, and based on my premium points, I must've played for around 7 years during that time. Left again, and came back briefly I think in 2008. Left again, and just recently decided to start playing again.
Met a lot of folks along the way, made a lot of very dear friends, lost touch with all of them over the years, and now seems that all of them moved on some time ago. It's been interesting starting over with all the changes that have happened since the beginning, but the game's always been a special place for me, so I'm enjoying myself at least.
Gelston:
Nerds.
Methais:
20 years ago sometime this month.
Quote: Gelston
Nerds.
Luftstreitkr�fte:
Andreaus Shaplanstone, Giantman warrior. Probably 1994 or 1995.
Warriorbird:
I started in 2000, introduced by my ex. She'd gotten me into Dragonrealms, previously, but she missed Gemstone. I'd played MUDs for years before then but it always made me upset how impermanent they were. Simutronics was perfect because their games lasted (and oh how they've lasted.) I left after the divorce, though returned several years after to Dragonrealms (where I met my current girlfriend). Dev idiocy eventually lead us to leave DR, but I've returned and left GS several times since due to policy choices and management changes. My girlfriend's mostly focused on grand strategy and classic WoW servers since then but maybe I'll convince her to return at some point (she was put off by creepy Dhe'nar the first time she tried GS.)
I like that I can pick up right where I left off with Gemstone.
Taernath:
Quote: Warriorbird
My girlfriend's mostly focused on grand strategy
That's a keeper right there.
(she was put off by creepy Dhe'nar the first time she tried GS.)LOL
Tisket:
Quote: Warriorbird
(she was put off by creepy Dhe'nar the first time she tried GS.)
I'm sorry.
Androidpk:
Quote: Warriorbird
I like that I can pick up right where I left off with Gemstone.
I like that too. Asides from forgetting how to play.
ktig:
Nov, 1995. First character was Pharon. She ticked off Kali by selling an amulet imbedded with Call Familiar (I had begged and begged her for one). Felt so bad I rerolled before my 30-day fake AOL account was even up! Come AOL Unlimited and web-move, I created "real" characters and played furiously. The GSIV changes for new races (and professions) never interested me. Play time waned to nothing in 2005 and I finally closed my account in 2008. Reopened it just 2 months ago, Nov 2016. I'm now having a blast all over again with my original set of characters and am surprised by how many people I've re-found. Be damned if I don't miss a couple folks though.
Juicebox:
Like many I started in about 1995 on AOL (keyword Gemstone!). My friend (Mordaz in-game back then) showed it to me while he was visiting from out of state. I subsequently got my entire immediate family into it. Mom, Dad, 3 brothers. I originally rolled like 4 warriors, none of which made it past level 5 (most were banned for excessive pvp in the catacombs... fun times). I settled on my ranger, Lazress, for a while before rerolling him at level 37 in like 1999 (rolled my rogue). Took a break from about 2002 to September of 2016.
Deza:
Hey, I remember Mordaz! And Aislynn! I am loving this thread revival. ��
azim17:
I got sucked in on GEnie - 1991 or 92. FXG, Kayla Kindheart, Talon, Dagmar, Erebor, Strom, Wisraith, Airioch, Lythe...cant remember a many others. No lords/ladies yet or just a couple. Remember a few neat quests - flying in a mechanical dragon to face some arch enemy and a baby dragon being stranded (and eventually killed) atop one of the towers in kelfour. CoL vs. non- CoL (was voln around then?) was a huge deal. People used to have sit ins in the bathhouse (when CoL was in Kelfour/Landing) so younger CoL members couldnt join. (you had to be in the room alone if I remember correctly). Lots of drama/tension. Then, barrow wights were the hardest thing hunted I believe and they were the ones that dropped falchions which was a huge deal. I was a nobody in game and my parents were the ones that made me go demonic after 3 months of GEnie bills. I think I made it to level 6 or something.
Ardenwulf:
Quote: LivderaDeralleur
I've rolled up other characters since then and my only real 'break' from the game was 2007 to about 2009, as I got sick, was in the hospital and recovering in that timeframe (also when I went blind, so had to relearn how to use the computer with a screen reader program.) First thing I did was try to find out how to login to play GS once I was well enough - I'd been playing the game for so long and it was one of the few video games I could still play now that I was blind!
I think it's fantastic that you're still able to play. How does the program work (or, if you give me the name, I can look it up)? And do you use voice recognition? If not, I would strongly recommend checking out the Dragon software.
Azerik:
I can't even remember the year I started playing but it was during AoL. I played for a long time as a sorcerer named Chumpino (I know the name is horrid lol) who was mostly in Icemule. I sold that account after GS4 release and the sorcerer nerf bat. I made Azerik and have been popping in and out over the years. Might be here for a longer haul this time though.
Gelston:
Quote: Azerik
I can't even remember the year I started playing but it was during AoL. I played for a long time as a sorcerer named Chumpino (I know the name is horrid lol) who was mostly in Icemule. I sold that account after GS4 release and the sorcerer nerf bat. I made Azerik and have been popping in and out over the years. Might be here for a longer haul this time though.
I remember that name because I always though he was a chump, purely due to the name.
Nathala Crane:
Wow, I remember Chumpino. He was one of those names I always saw when Teveriel was still hanging around in Icemule, engaged to Hyale if you remember her.
LivderaDeralleur:
Quote: Ardenwulf
I think it's fantastic that you're still able to play. How does the program work (or, if you give me the name, I can look it up)? And do you use voice recognition? If not, I would strongly recommend checking out the Dragon software.
It's JAWS by Freedom Scientific.
And I've definitely heard of Dragon but have no real use for voice recognition. I type a lot faster than a voice recognition would likely pick up commands. I imagine the voice recognition would be more useful for those with motor skill disabilities.
I use a lot of sound effects for combat to know when I'm being attacked and have been hit. Very useful for UAC, as I have a different sound effect for the tier-up messages to know which attack to go for next.
And back on topic - yay nostalgia!
Luxelle:
I started playing GemStone ][ in 1987 when it opened in beta on GEnie.
Why? Honestly, it was because David Whatley kept after me to come and see it, try it. And he doesn't give up easily! So one night I figured I would go JUST to keep him from bugging me about it ever again.
I stayed ... because it was utterly enchanting and magical.
I entered the game, and suddenly had to think up a character name and pick from one of the four professions ... and Luxelle, the cleric, was all I could think of. I was completely unprepared for ANYTHING!
So the original Luxelle, living in priestessy retirement in her old age in the "home village" very far away, became THIS Luxie's (Ancient) Great-Great Auntie, her namesake.
She got retired when I was real busy for a while, then I started SongMaker - also cleric. SongMaker was the one who watched the last night of GS2, but did not travel to the new world, I started a new char from scratch for GS3.
Erous:
Started playing in 1995 when my friend Tom introduced me to it. I hated the game and thought it was absolute misery, but for a few weeks after I stopped he continued to tell me stories about it. So I picked up it again and played every day for several years following and through the net migration. I have been playing the same character name/surname since I started, even with 3 or so permadeaths I kept trudging him along. He started as a giant cleric but I trained him as a sword/board paladin until Paladins were released and I was able to convert him. I took 15 years off and came back, rerolling the same character as a Dwarf Paladin.
My surname used to be on the fame list for family fame, but it looks like they removed family fame some time ago.
Beniah:
Like so many others on here I started playing the game when it hit AOL. I don't recall the exact year but assuming was somewhere around '93 or '94? Rolled up my first character, a warrior named Zoel, and quickly became addicted. My phone bill and aol bills were several hundred dollars a month until a GS friend hooked me up with some kind of backdoor login to AOL that didn't actually recognize you were online and therefore didn't bill you for it. That was brilliant whatever it was and used it until AOL went unlimited. I played a number of different characters and races besides Zoel but never beyond ten levels. Zoel was somewhere in his 20's when I finally understood how stats influenced everything from results to TPs so I set up the autoroller in Zmud, set it for 660 and let it fly. A day later I made Beniah who I played for several years until walking away from the game. Came back briefly six or seven years ago but didn't last. Then returned a few months ago and have been playing steadily. It's only taken about twenty years to get Beniah up to level 58 (how in the world do people cap??) and none of my other rare characters have even made 20. It was such a disadvantage playing a warrior post 20's back in the day but DFRedux (yay) helped change that along with mstrike and cmans. Now it's a blast and I don't enjoy any of the spell castin profs as much.
Now for my original amazing GS experience that got me hooked...
Zoel came into the landing lost and without direction. I'd never played a mud so the whole thing was like "wow, this is amazing". I had no idea what to do and where to go when the now-famous halfling wizard Lord Kodos introduced himself, asked me a few questions and then proceeded to hand me a broadsword which he drew out of a floating disc ("no way!..lol"). He took me down into rats and helped me learn how to fight.
Shortly after when on my own I came across a red crystal (I miss those!) and picked it up having no idea what it was. Well, someone had put a curse on it so I couldn't get this crystal out of my hand no matter what I did. Another older character (Krakenstar??) tried to help me but to no avail. I don't recall if the curse was too strong or why but nobody had an answer. The final choice was to rub the crystal hoping the curse would be removed when the crystal was activated. It wasn't and I experienced my first death in Elanthia down amongst the rats. The elders who were helping me out got me raised quickly and it turned out to be an amazing early GS experience.
I have fond memories of watching characters like Kodos and the warrior Berr who I looked at in awe. Waldo2 was another high level warrior at the time but I could never get over that name. LOL. Kodos would also enchant my first decent armor, some 4x brig.
My worst early memory was when I had saved hard for my first magic-metal weapon, a mithril broadsword (woopee!). I was all pumped up and made my way down to Hill Trolls where got I stunned and killed almost instantly, losing my sword in the process. I remember departing right away and running back down to the AI area to search for that broadsword, hoping a troll picked it up, but to no avail.
So anyway, here I am back in the lands. Beniah still spends most of his time in Icemule where he moved to early in his life. I have a few others running around but all much younger and they don't see the light of day too often. Still relearning things especially with all of the changes. Ensorcelling? Wow! Someone hook me up please =P
Yeah, yeah, Cool story bro.
Luxelle:
Hey, I remember Madmartigan!
Soulance:
I don't remember for sure when I started, I just know it was when it first rolled to AOL. I saw it offered on the login screen and was instantly hooked.
A few high bills by both AOL and my phone company almost broke me (one month was $400 for each) and I was really happy when they came out with unlimited AOL at least. Then, it was a matter of finding the best baud-rate connection with my new, superfast 14.4k and 28.8k modem!
My first character was Enric the Ranger who I enjoyed and saw the start of Twilight Hall with, but he never seemed to level as well as my sword and board Cleric Tyraid.
Between invasions and fighting Pierat for rescues to and from Voln, he leveled pretty quickly.
I think another one I had rolled up was a Wizard named Phaze also but sadly sold the account and can't get the person to give them back.
Leafiara:
I started some time around 1995 or 1996 when it was on AOL and had unlimited play. I'm guessing one of my friends recommended it? I don't think I sought it out myself... I was just in elementary school at the time, so I don't think I interacted much with the community, but I could be wrong since I think I was more outspoken at that age than I am now.
My first character was a ranger who I lost to permadeath, then I made another ranger who I also lost to permadeath, and then the last character I made in that short run was (yep, you guessed it) a ranger. There might have been another ranger in there who I've forgotten, I don't even know. I think they were all Voln, but at very least one of them was since I remember hunting lots of lesser mummies and spectral fishermen. I can't remember if I tried different hunting styles or pretty much just made the same sword and board character over and over with different names and in one case a different gender. I think they were half-elves even then.
I do remember that I tried a crossbow once (without really being trained for it) because I heard about kneeling being really powerful, only to get killed very quickly because I didn't know there was also a DS penalty! I also remember that even back then my characters were always interested in playing instruments even though they weren't bards. I don't think any of them stuck around long enough to be a Lady or Lord since I feel like I would definitely remember that as a huge childhood memory if I did... but I do remember hunting thunder trolls and wind witches, so they must have gotten at least kind of close.
(Can you imagine the world of no Lumnis or adventurer's guild or chrisms? I... I lived through it and I still almost can't imagine it. Plus no fixstats and I probably had low logic and bad experience pulses!)
I also remember being kind of disillusioned with rangers toward the end and wishing they could hit harder, so maybe I stopped right before Spike Thorn? I guess that's another funny link between the past and the present--instead of being a disillusioned ranger who was jealous of rogues and warriors hitting harder since I apparently didn't have enough fun with my spells to make up for it, now I can be a disillusioned cleric who's jealous of empaths hitting harder since I definitely don't have enough fun with my spells to make up for it! (Actually, if anything I have way more fun with my empath's spells... but that's a whole other story.)
Anyway, my last ranger didn't die, but once my parents wanted me to start paying out of my own allowance, well, sorry GS, but there were some shiny new games like Final Fantasy VII and Star Fox 64 coming out... To this day I wonder if she randomly had any really cool old items that I could have still held onto today. (And no, her toy collection doesn't count. Remember the amunet being full of people selling toys for 5k?)
Chaoswynd:
"but I could be wrong since I think I was more outspoken at that age than I am now." I can't even imagine a more outspoken version of Leafi
Leafiara:
Quote: Chaoswynd
"but I could be wrong since I think I was more outspoken at that age than I am now." I can't even imagine a more outspoken version of Leafi
Leafi and I are polar opposites in a lot of ways, like me being a lazy introvert. :P Both then and now, I play GS for a fantasy world, not to be an adventurer version of myself!
Taernath:
Quote: Leafiara
I can't remember if I tried different hunting styles or pretty much just made the same sword and board character over and over
I'm hazy on the exact dates things changed, but back in the day I seem to remember the only viable build was OHE/OHB. Particularly masochistic warriors sometimes went THW or maybe polearms but this was before redux or even guild skills so they'd still get splattered. Ranged skill was in the game but I don't think anything even used it.
LivderaDeralleur:
Quote: Taernath
I'm hazy on the exact dates things changed, but back in the day I seem to remember the only viable build was OHE/OHB. Particularly masochistic warriors sometimes went THW or maybe polearms but this was before redux or even guild skills so they'd still get splattered. Ranged skill was in the game but I don't think anything even used it.
.... that totally reminds me when they released Ranged and completely forgot to make it so certain NPCs were immune to it (or maybe it was the sanct that wasn't working against it initially?) A couple of us actually took some bows and arrows and killed the COL NPCs with them. The Taskmaster still was giving out tasks/promoting people while lying there dead. I do recall the Poohbah was way too hard to kill, though, since most of the characters doing this were not Ranged users inherently, so our AS sucked and the Poohbah's DS was way high. (I totally forget whose idea it was to try this - I just remember being all "cool!" and going along with it - peer pressure!)
Viekn:
Quote: LivderaDeralleur
.... that totally reminds me when they released Ranged and completely forgot to make it so certain NPCs were immune to it (or maybe it was the sanct that wasn't working against it initially?) A couple of us actually took some bows and arrows and killed the COL NPCs with them. The Taskmaster still was giving out tasks/promoting people while lying there dead. I do recall the Poohbah was way too hard to kill, though, since most of the characters doing this were not Ranged users inherently, so our AS sucked and the Poohbah's DS was way high. (I totally forget whose idea it was to try this - I just remember being all "cool!" and going along with it - peer pressure!)
Lol, that's hilarious! Do all NPC's have their own inherent DS but we just never see it because of current sanct/game mechanics?
LivderaDeralleur:
Quote: Viekn
Lol, that's hilarious! Do all NPC's have their own inherent DS but we just never see it because of current sanct/game mechanics?
I'm guessing that sounds like a plausible theory!
And it does seem like it may have been the sanct that was probably acting up when they initially added Ranged - I'm guessing the "fire" verb was being allowed through for whatever reason.
I wish I still had the copy/paste of the Taskmaster being dead and giving out tasks - I do remember having it saved in a .doc long ago, but it's probably perished on some long dead computer hard drive. I vaguely remember the GMs fixed the issue pretty fast and ressurected the Taskmaster eventually. I don't think we got in trouble for it, either. It was probably the same day Ranged was released - everyone was trying it out.
Chaumel:
I don't recall precisely when I started GS originally, it was around 96 or so I'd guess, as it was a year or so before FFVII came out and longswords were the shit because of sephiroth, and thus the wave of people with various versions of sephiroth as their name appeared. I had a few characters on my first account that I have since lost possession of when I gave my account to a friend at the time because I wanted to go play DR, which lasted a couple months before I made my current account and came back. Notable characters back then were Thyson and Jean. When I came back I made Stongarn, Lataro, and a few other characters I've since abandoned. I primarily play Claudaro now.
I've played in and out for years, mostly just a few months here and there when the bug gets me. Most the folks I used to play with have long since left so I pretty much keep to myself when I do play.
Hips:
Quote: Chaumel
Most the folks I used to play with have long since left so I pretty much keep to myself when I do play.
Some of us are waiting for you to come back to Plat :P
Chaumel:
Quote: Hips
Some of us are waiting for you to come back to Plat :P
Michi!
Clearly you should come back to prime "sis".
Hips:
Quote: Chaumel
Michi!
Clearly you should come back to prime "sis".
If you see Lissaya running around Vaalor, that's me. Due to some shitty interactions with people in one of the MHOs based there, I haven't been around much though.
DonBeno:
I started on AOL.. parents were pissed when they got the bill! Darbeis was my first character.. And it was kind of a big deal when you made Lord.. now it don't me squat..
Axhinde:
AOL baby here, also. First ran across GS in '95 I believe. Spent the majority of 1996 skipping school to play GS3. The good ole days.
Yulis:
I may have come across Gemstone II back in the day. I remember coming across some MUD games when I finagled my way onto Genie when I was 8/9 years old and it's possible Gemstone was one of them. I was fascinated with MUD games and found some and played them when I could. I eventually got in trouble for logging on the internet and my mom changed up the password. I dabbled in MUD games for a few years and then forgot all about them.
Fast forward to August 1995 - I had moved states with my mom, younger brother and step-dad. I knew no one and would be starting high school in a new city/state....oh joy. My step-dad had a top of the line Pentium II at the time and AOL was the popular online choice. Gemstone III advertisements banners were out and about and the game was FREE! Fricking sweet!
Sadly...AOL wasn't free and the $500+ phone bill, well, my mom and step-dad were pissed. I didn't know it cost money to be online and they never monitored my time. They said I could have 2 hours a day online and Gemstone III was all my time. Weekends were brutal because I was home all day with only a couple hours I could play. Kurultima was my first character and he was a rogue. I thought it was the best thing being able to pick locks and the crowds of people in the East Tower.....so awesome! I meet many friends and loved the game ever since.
I played consistently for probably 6 years, then I was off and on for months at a time and even had about a 2 year hiatus. I've been back in the game since August 2015 and so far I have no intentions on leaving anytime soon. I'm still working on my wizard that I started back in 1998 maybe......still playing him today and he just recently made level 83.
Warriorbird:
Quote: Hips
If you see Lissaya running around Vaalor, that's me. Due to some shitty interactions with people in one of the MHOs based there, I haven't been around much though.
Run away to Landing like me.
-plays some other Vaalorian
Geijon Khyree:
I may have responded in this at one point, but I think I was August 1995. I ran up a $1300 phone bill through Feb/March as a level 27 warrior. That was beast at the time in some respects and I had a 686 roller gen. The phone bill I think my mom DID deny the charges since I was a minor, I know we never paid them and they didn't hound us. I got a prodigy AND/or compuserve comp account that had web access in 1996. I wonder on this. I played Geion on AOL then I think Geijon on compuserve/prodigy/AOL unlimited on the web move in December 1996. I was 74th in the Gemstone IV conversion, that cut my levels and power with the stat changes plus I got knocked down to like 54th.
I played full time til 2002. I took a break until 2008 with a stop or two. I played a lot in 2009 as a part timer at level 64-66 for Solhaven Cataclysm and quit til November 2010 then I did like 66-72 in 5-6 weeks so I was playing full time again by 2/2011 then I played full time since Oct/Nov 2010 to now.
Methais:
Quote: Hips
If you see Lissaya running around Vaalor, that's me. Due to some shitty interactions with people in one of the MHOs based there, I haven't been around much though.
Vaalor is gay as fuck and all its residents are **** anyway.
Erous:
Quote: Geijon Khyree
I had a 686 roller gen.
ha! I remember spending all weekend trying to get the best rolls.
ShinaraGSIV:
I started playing Gemstone on AOL, though honestly I don't remember what year. I was the assistant manager of an art house movie theater at the time and worked a very odd schedule, and Gemstone provided the perfect distraction to keep me sleepless during my off hours. Especially since I had found an odd little trick that allowed me to circumvent the hourly rate. That trick didn't always work, though, and I can recall signing up for extra work hours or errands just to avoid temptation, heh. My first character was a half-elven ranger named Nekra, which is an anagram for my first name. I am just ever so clever, right? Anyway, I had no idea what I was doing and the numbers racing past me in the giant rat catacombs might as well been Swahili. Mostly I stayed because the people I found were interesting and I loved sitting in the common areas and listening to people talk about the history of Elanthia and the Landing. Later on, I made a bard named Idunn, also half-elven, and then finally my first serious character, another half elf named Felissa, getting help from Mustafo and Cadsreel in setting up a rogue. My favorite folks besides those two were Thalior (first rule of dying, don't, it's embarrassing), Tanri, Dremerie (that woman could TALK, loved her), Arfalax, Skye (Spider Temple hunting at 10th level, hah!), and so many more I'm positively beaming at the memories.
I spent my social times between the Silvergate lounge and the porch, and in the former I met Lord Asylum, and several months later his player came to visit me, and we eventually decided to turn it into something more permanent and I moved to California. About the same time, I decided to try the ranger path again, and rolled up Ysharra about a month after I settled in San Diego. Yes, another half-elf. Hey, I like starting off with some angst. After getting some much-needed help from Kali, I eventually grew to loving the rangerly ways so much that Felissa became all but abandoned. I've taken sizeable breaks in my playing, especially in 2004, when I amicably ended my relationship, moved back home, met someone else, got married, and had my son, who is now seven. Life has been pretty exciting in those years, but I often found myself thinking about Gemstone and the people I'd interacted with, both the characters they'd created and the person driving them, and how often I'd found myself stunned or rapt with the level of creativity and humor of my fellow gamers. Some of Ysharra's companions, Rekarth, Alisaire, Aramana, Juspera, Quinstol, Bevan, Mnar, Jacina, Thrassus, Siwas, Naamit, Mithumbras- just to name a few- had such a profound effect that I felt like levels of -my- creativity changed, as a person, not just in my ranger's persona.
The Dark Alliance/Griffin Sword Saga storyline had a few other names that can't go without mention, and those would be GMs Jharra, Lothwyn, and Voraviel. Those nights of wondering what devilry was brewing (or what might come our way due to our own misbehaving) were some of the best expressive opportunities I've had. Jharra in particular gave us all such a gift- the Gloummerick books, released in early 2003, where several dozen of the players were able to write books about our characters or the history and/or lore of Elanthia. And Voraviel, I realized one night, after looking over some old logs- one way or another, he was a part of both the funniest moments of the game (Maluverre's issues with cave mold, the lobster in Solhaven stealing one of Rekarth's eyeballs, Sluurm fixing up Ysharra's octopus at EG, etc.) as well as the most vibrant- Morvule resurrecting Harith as a banshee, where Jharra also showcased her talent by confronting being a Mularosian who could no longer feel pain.
This turned out to be much longer than I thought when I first started the post, hah! But I feel like I can't leave this out: late one night, a GS friend who I've maintained contact with told me that Simu had a f2p option, so I allowed my temptation and curiosity to win me back over. I rolled up a paladin, since they were new to me, a human this time, hah! And within a month, I was so in love all over again I reactivated my premium account and logged on as Ysharra for the first time in over twelve years. And then I met Leafiara, Severine, Azryen, Gavrien- so many new faces that echoed why I find myself wandering down North Ring Road or Bayside Road once more. Also, Lich made the aspects of the game I'd always struggled with much easier, hah! Despite the fact that as a Macbook user I've never figured out how to get any of the scripts that need windows to work. Anyway, it all boils down to a lot of fun, and a lot of adoration for the most creative folks I've ever met.
-GK
OldSkool:
I began playing in 1995, though by now I don't recall exactly when. AOL was still hourly, but I had an in with them, and was therefore able to spend alot of time playing on GS, which was actually discovered by a good friend of mine one night while I was passed out. I've drifted in and out over the years, and pretty much everyone I've "grown up" with in GS has moved on. I've a ton of fond memories of this game with the likes of (In no particular order) Leifa, Elancia, Kali, Sagan, Plur, Sarvia, Elvinyouth, Lylia, Silvean, Twoflame, Amgard, Jypsie/Jypta, and dozens of others. It's safe to say that, for me, the charm is gone along with most of them. My adult life prevents me from being able to keep up with storylines, and I find a total lack of desire to compete with the crowd of people trying to be heard at such events. Still, I'm loathe to totally walk away from a game I've played for over 20 years, and made some real friends with. Even though I probably devote less than 20 hours a month, I doubt I'll ever truly walk away, though I often enough think that perhaps I should. I've talent and experience in coding/development, and have often thought of trying to get on the dev team, but when I see what a clusterfuck it can be for anything to happen, I really don't think it's worth my effort.
Farn:
Every time this thread comes back, it makes me want to reactivate again. :' ( Do they offer any deals or bonuses or whatever for taking credit for another person's account reactivation? Like a referral or whatever. If so, I'd be happy to give someone credit for my (temporary) reactivation.
Taernath:
Quote: Farn
Every time this thread comes back, it makes me want to reactivate again. :' ( Do they offer any deals or bonuses or whatever for taking credit for another person's account reactivation? Like a referral or whatever. If so, I'd be happy to give someone credit for my (temporary) reactivation.
Start a F2P account to take the edge off.
Gelston:
Quote: Taernath
Start a F2P account to take the edge off.
Don't forget the cool new words to say in a string to get maximum bannage.
Hips:
Quote: Farn
Every time this thread comes back, it makes me want to reactivate again. :' ( Do they offer any deals or bonuses or whatever for taking credit for another person's account reactivation? Like a referral or whatever. If so, I'd be happy to give someone credit for my (temporary) reactivation.
PO TAY TOES.
Qyx:
Started in the mid 1990's. Began playing a bulletin board game called Usurper with a buddy and then Federation (spaceMUD). Stumbled into Gemstone after a few FED friends tried it out. First character named Cyquest. Thought I was the bomb when I got my hands on an an alexandrite sword from Tykel's (I had no idea how the game mechanics worked)... got killed by a random character for not jumping on the trapdoor and dropped my sword (along with my shield). Screamed when some random person walked by and took my sword and without even acknowledging my corpse. Think I decayed... This is my earliest GS memory, been playing on and off ever since. Strange to think I was 16 or so when I started and I'm 36 now. Has it really been around that long?
Barble:
think it was 1991-92ish. Started on genie and moved to Prodigy when it was an hourly fee. I still think of it as GS III sometimes. Wife freaked out when we got a $400 bill. Thank god AOL came along and removed that! Started as a warrior named Glurt....wandered around till around level 30 something?...rerolled as a cleric and been on and off since then as the little drunken dwarf. I attribute a series of college challenges to lack of sleep due to GS.
Remembering some old friends like Dreesen, Zellex, Kaag, Tenser, Hillgren, Birdsongg, Cryheart, Shirkon and others too many to mention and almost all of whom have moved on. It is great when I do see an old name still.
Can't believe how fun it still is...guess it's cuz of the people.
Sildus:
August/September of '95 for me. Keyword GemBeta on AOL. The mac client had a blue picture with the adventurers and GemStone logo instead of the red one that is earlier in this thread. It was my senior year of college, and I had more free time than I should have. I rolled Sildus as a two-weapon wielding dark elf ranger (very original, huh?). He made it to level 8 before getting my ass handed to me started to get old. I switched him over to sword and shield in early October. Sometime in November of '95, they introduced aimed ambushing - prior to that, you could ambush and get the increased crit weighting, but the attack was unaimed. That's when he started with the "typical" ranger training of hiding and ambushing.
My only saving grace was a utility (maybe it was just for mac?) called AOL4free that basically kept your account logged into a "free" area of AOL that didn't count towards your hours. That worked pretty well until maybe January of '96 when AOL caught on? Simutronics was still billing AOL hourly, but AOL wasn't necessarily getting that hourly revenue from everyone. My brother's character got banned along with a few others that I knew about. So, I had to be a little more judicious with my online time for a few months - I created a second paid account on AOL (the monthly account fee came with enough hours that it was cheaper to run a second character than to just tack those hours onto the first account). I also hopped on Genie for a few months and played the DragonRealms beta for a month or two.
By summer of '96, AOL was offering 20 hours/month with the account, so that was a little easier to manage (but I still had a few $200-$300/month bills) until AOL went unlimited in December of '96. I still remember those days as my favorites in-game. I remember events in those first two years ('95 - '97) more vividly than probably anything since.
Since then, I've rerolled Sildus probably 4 or 5 times. I really like the "old" parts of the game, so I never had much reason to go past level 50 or so. He's slowly approaching that level again, so I've been working on other characters more recently. If I could stop gaining experience and still get normal loot, Sildus would probably hunt in the spider temple forever.
ktig:
Quote: Sildus
If I could stop gaining experience and still get normal loot, Sildus would probably hunt in the spider temple forever.
I also wish this was possible. Or better yet, allow capped PCs to re-roll into a new profession (to lvl zero, same race) and keep their appearance, bank account, lockers, etc.
Warriorbird:
Quote: ShinaraGSIV
I started playing Gemstone on AOL, though honestly I don't remember what year. I was the assistant manager of an art house movie theater at the time and worked a very odd schedule, and Gemstone provided the perfect distraction to keep me sleepless during my off hours. Especially since I had found an odd little trick that allowed me to circumvent the hourly rate. That trick didn't always work, though, and I can recall signing up for extra work hours or errands just to avoid temptation, heh. My first character was a half-elven ranger named Nekra, which is an anagram for my first name. I am just ever so clever, right? Anyway, I had no idea what I was doing and the numbers racing past me in the giant rat catacombs might as well been Swahili. Mostly I stayed because the people I found were interesting and I loved sitting in the common areas and listening to people talk about the history of Elanthia and the Landing. Later on, I made a bard named Idunn, also half-elven, and then finally my first serious character, another half elf named Felissa, getting help from Mustafo and Cadsreel in setting up a rogue. My favorite folks besides those two were Thalior (first rule of dying, don't, it's embarrassing), Tanri, Dremerie (that woman could TALK, loved her), Arfalax, Skye (Spider Temple hunting at 10th level, hah!), and so many more I'm positively beaming at the memories.
I spent my social times between the Silvergate lounge and the porch, and in the former I met Lord Asylum, and several months later his player came to visit me, and we eventually decided to turn it into something more permanent and I moved to California. About the same time, I decided to try the ranger path again, and rolled up Ysharra about a month after I settled in San Diego. Yes, another half-elf. Hey, I like starting off with some angst. After getting some much-needed help from Kali, I eventually grew to loving the rangerly ways so much that Felissa became all but abandoned. I've taken sizeable breaks in my playing, especially in 2004, when I amicably ended my relationship, moved back home, met someone else, got married, and had my son, who is now seven. Life has been pretty exciting in those years, but I often found myself thinking about Gemstone and the people I'd interacted with, both the characters they'd created and the person driving them, and how often I'd found myself stunned or rapt with the level of creativity and humor of my fellow gamers. Some of Ysharra's companions, Rekarth, Alisaire, Aramana, Juspera, Quinstol, Bevan, Mnar, Jacina, Thrassus, Siwas, Naamit, Mithumbras- just to name a few- had such a profound effect that I felt like levels of -my- creativity changed, as a person, not just in my ranger's persona.
The Dark Alliance/Griffin Sword Saga storyline had a few other names that can't go without mention, and those would be GMs Jharra, Lothwyn, and Voraviel. Those nights of wondering what devilry was brewing (or what might come our way due to our own misbehaving) were some of the best expressive opportunities I've had. Jharra in particular gave us all such a gift- the Gloummerick books, released in early 2003, where several dozen of the players were able to write books about our characters or the history and/or lore of Elanthia. And Voraviel, I realized one night, after looking over some old logs- one way or another, he was a part of both the funniest moments of the game (Maluverre's issues with cave mold, the lobster in Solhaven stealing one of Rekarth's eyeballs, Sluurm fixing up Ysharra's octopus at EG, etc.) as well as the most vibrant- Morvule resurrecting Harith as a banshee, where Jharra also showcased her talent by confronting being a Mularosian who could no longer feel pain.
This turned out to be much longer than I thought when I first started the post, hah! But I feel like I can't leave this out: late one night, a GS friend who I've maintained contact with told me that Simu had a f2p option, so I allowed my temptation and curiosity to win me back over. I rolled up a paladin, since they were new to me, a human this time, hah! And within a month, I was so in love all over again I reactivated my premium account and logged on as Ysharra for the first time in over twelve years. And then I met Leafiara, Severine, Azryen, Gavrien- so many new faces that echoed why I find myself wandering down North Ring Road or Bayside Road once more. Also, Lich made the aspects of the game I'd always struggled with much easier, hah! Despite the fact that as a Macbook user I've never figured out how to get any of the scripts that need windows to work. Anyway, it all boils down to a lot of fun, and a lot of adoration for the most creative folks I've ever met.
-GK
I approve of all K's!
-Jacinto's player
Turnipator:
For me, I first saw that colorful ad when I was just a kid on AOL, maybe I was like 10 I think. Tried playing a few times, maybe as a moon mage? Anyway, touched my imagination like no other game ever did. Ended up actually playing, for a while, another awesome MUD, Dragons Gate, which was also on AOL. Anyone here play that one? Was way cool, played it off and on until it died in 06. Came back to Gemstone after a memory in 2008, have been playing off and on, more on, like now, ever since. No other game (excepting Dragons Gate) has given me the same enjoyment. Glad, so glad, it's still around, and IMHO better than ever!
eternaldrk:
I found Gemstone on AOL sometime in '95. I'd played a little D&D with friends (despite my mom's fears of us suddenly deciding to do it for real and murdering each other with axes or something), so I thought it was pretty cool. Between GS and my sister always being on the phone with her friends, we ended up with 3 phone lines in the house, lol. Didn't get very far since I was in high school and far more interested in making friends than spending a ton of time leveling. Took a break for a time, then came back in the early 2000's. Farthest I got was almost 30 on a giantman warrior named Vornin. He was Voln all the way, either master or just about to hit it. Voln-fu was my favorite. Hit up the GS get-together in New Orleans just a week or two before Hurricane Katrina came through. Had a blast, wish I'd been less shy and kept in contact with everyone there. I've dabbled playing GSIV off and on over the years and am now thinking about returning. Wish I remembered the people I played with back then. I have logs on a CD somewhere I should probably track down. Now if I could only decide which profession to play...
SylphSorc:
I was very young. Just after Gemstone III went unlimited I got my first account. I remember pissing off some Lord ranger on my first character, a Bard whose name I forgot and was dragged out of town and Spike Thorned then immediately he helped me get a raise. I played non-seriously until 2002 when I was entering the end of my high school years. Moved in with my mom in a new town with no friends. Have had several characters but none over the level of 60. Stopped in 2008 and came back in 2010 after some health issues. Been here ever since. I do have nostalgia for those old days, but I will admit to loving the game even now.
Ysb:
I started on Prodigy in 1995. I left for a while, came back when AOL went unlimited. Left again, came back on the web, left, came back a while for GSIV. Eventually I moved on to WoW, then I returned August of 2015 and have been back since. I still remember fondly the introduction of archery, my first Animal Companion (a ring-necked barrow hawk), the introduction of new towns, and joining a group called the Wolf Clan. I've never had a character get much past 40, so I'm really looking forward to capping before the end of this year.
Nikai:
I remember Spusaf, he helped me along and got me into Voln, cool guy.
Nikai:
I also started in 1995, I made Nikai, and have been on and off since then. Every 5 to 10 years Ill come back and play. I think this time Ill stay longer. Its not the same as before, with more than a thousand people in the lands... Now, I see 120-maybe under 500 depending on the time of day or night. A lot of my friends are gone, except Ardwen (who used to be another character), Cryheart (Hes so old he prolly don't remember hunting with me). I hope the lands stay online for a long time more.
trecendend:
I started playing in 1996 on AOL. I had already been playing another MUD based out of Sweden for about a year which averaged 15 to 30 players online at a time. A friend of mine from high school who had been playing Gemstone always spoke highly of the game and I wanted to try it. My first character made it to level 7 before getting killed without a deed. I stopped playing yet always had fond memories. I returned to Gemstone in December 2014 and, with an exception of one year break, have been playing ever since. The game is so richly detailed and immersive. I can't imagine not playing it!
Galactic:
Interesting.. i am a midwestern so i had the privilege of a general electric account .. however i was only allowed to play at night .. those prices during daytime peek hours were crazy back then
Gigantuarous:
Wow. That was such a long ago. All I know it was before 1995 and I was working with a 9600 baud modem and I had a blast back then (not withstanding the large amount of disconnects). I came in through Genie I think it was (big bucks each month), and then later through AOL, which wasn't bad as I was a a guide on AOL. We could play in a lot of the games as long as we helped to keep the peace in the games. I can't remember everything but it is a lot different today than then. Everyone hovered around the Abandoned inn for healing etc. We had in-game auctions. Back then we had to test out game mechanics ourselves, and figure out what a weapon or piece of armor did. I wish I could go back to those days, but unfortunately you can't turn back the hands of time. You learn to adapt. Well, after a stint from the early 1990's -2004, then returning in 2016, this will probably be my last game I play in. Its still my favorite gaming world.
Candor:
Quote: Galactic
Interesting.. i am a midwestern so i had the privilege of a general electric account .. however i was only allowed to play at night .. those prices during daytime peek hours were crazy back then
For me even the reduced prices were pretty expensive. I had to limit my playing to three or four hours a week for quite some time.
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