Hey guys,

It has been a long time since I last posted here - however I have not
forgotten about the club. Far from it :)

I know our RP posts have come to an abrupt end. I've spent the last
three years in purgatory - defined as being an overworked, underpaid
accounting trainee with professional exams to study for at nights...:(

Recently however my exams have finished up, my paycheck has reached a
more reasonable level, and my workload is a lot less. One might say I
almost have a normal life again...

The years I spent writing for this RP still stand out as a pretty
amazing period of writing. Interacting with other characters on a
free-form RP provided a lot of practice in developing some of my own
less-traditional fantasy ideas. Not many Fantasy books with De Danann
Druids and a team of gambling-addicted Gods battling the forces of
Sentinel's Shadows Wardens...:)

In more recent years, my second hobby - programming - took an extended
detour into the realm of PHP scripting. One result of this excursion
is that I ended developing a open source game - Quantum Star SE (
http://www.quantum-star.com ).

To the relevant point at hand - I'd like to see this RP and the effort
it represents preserved for others to draw some enjoyment form. A few
ideas were bandied about in earlier months and I'd like to add two to
this list:

1. Restart the RP

A good effort was made before to do this, unfortunately my time was
under pressure and I was unable to maintain regular posts.

2. Format RP into a single text/story

There was some feedback as I remember, again I was unable to
contribute anything of any value. I still have not lost hope of
achieving this at some time! I have a few other suggestions that will
take up time for a month or two - but I'd be willing to help out on
this task afterwards if others are also available to collaborate.

3. Create an indexed reference for the RP, website, and supporting
documentation.

I suggested something along these lines, but never followed it up. If
anything, it's something I'd love to have a good go at in the next few
weeks.

4. Create a Game based on the RP

This is my own new suggestion. I'm currently developing (given all
this sudden free time) an RPG Game Engine which will run PHP Browser
Based Games (something like http://www.lotgd.com - only more complex
). The project was established by myself in June 2004 - just a few
months ago. The Game Engine, entitled "Shadows Rising RPG Game Engine"
( http://www.shadowsrising.net ) is being designed to support multiple
Game Modules, each Module being a collection of plots, items,
character classes, skills, feats, creatures, locations, etc. Each
Module will use the Game Engine to operate to the public, and make use
of several openly available Rulesets such as Wizards of the Coast D20
System, the new Lowdie system, and one or two other "paper and pen"
RPG Rulesets.

At this point I'd like to remind everyone that I'm still a notorious
rambler...:)

My proposal is two-fold. To create a Game Module incorporating the
main features of the "Talisman War" RP including characters,
locations, creatures, races, occupations and the plot setting, i.e.
The quest for the Jewels, the fight against the Shadow Wardens, the
Morrigan and her insane sons, etc. And present as a game for the
Shadows Rising Game Engine - to be available freely under an open
source license. And also to develop a website which maintains all
posts for the RP, to feature Maps, Encylopedia, URI referenced Posts,
a briefer Overview of the main storyline, background documents such as
racial descriptions, character profiles, etc - including Sentinel's
updated docs for the RP.

I'm willing to contribute quite a bit of time on these two areas, and
to host the eventual website for free at its own domain and on a
private server where current club members who wish can be granted
Administrator priveleges for the website. The site would be operated
by a fully automated PHP application I would develop separately,
customised for the site. Both website and game would complement each
other.

These are my two primary motivations for this post. The third is that
I would like to see the novelisation of the RP through to completion
with any help members are willing to give. Hopefully those who posted
on this suggestion are still willing. I wouldn't want to this alone
and end up butchering someone's writing - it would be better to leave
the posts as they are in that case.

In order to facilitate the main three points above I would also like
to request that the original writers for the RP, both past and present
, grant the club permission to use their work for the purposes of the
game, website and novelisation - simply post here or send me an email
to <maugrimtr@...> as a simple record of this. This is
probably more courtesy than necessity. But I'm not in habit of
ignoring anyone's rights over their own creations. I will also make an
effort to contact individuals should they not receive this post. The
license for the game is open source, so your posts will not be useable
in anything outside the game itself. I am also not suggesting any form
of rights transfer - simply a permission of use for specific purposes.

If I am unable to contact certain individuals, but have been contacted
by a majority. I will make use of those individuals posts on the
website - though not the game - and include them on all credit lists.

My apologies for the lengthy post, Maugrim still has issues with
summarising text :). I hope to hear from many of you in the next week,
and hopefully to maintain more regular contact than we currently have.

Padraic O'Bradaig
aka
Maugrim The Reaper
Druid