ADI In The Wasteland

By Theonlyjohnny Resident



ADI, also known as, Atlas Defense Industries, is actually an evil group. ADI's main goal is to dominate the entire North American land. despite being under investigation by others, it still actually sells weapons to, not only the two investigating groups, but anyone who requires a weapon.

Despite being evil, the group still holds common courtesy, and fairness, higher than other combat groups. While others may use speed huds, prim shooting, and other cheap tactics, to their advantage, ADI uses the strength of its soldiers, to their advantage.

Look to the sim, at first, and see how it's designed. Most people would take one look at it and assume ADI has a massive advantage. However, take another look, at the entire sim.

While ADI does hold most of the sim, it doesn't give them an advantage. Firstly, lets take a look at vehicles. Any raiding vehicles will be able to spawn, and get completely set up, in safety, due to the wall. However, ADI's aircraft spawn on top of the building, in the open, with no protection. ADI's tanks and mechs do spawn in safety, but they're only defended by a door.

Now let's take a look at the safety of the infantry. While there are barricades, that defend the defending infantry, the barricades are spread out in a thin line, not giving a lot of protection. Look at the wall defendin the raiders. This wall, and the barricades on top, as well as the buildings, give the raiders a greater advantage.

So, how, you ask, do ADI manage to be one of the best? Well that's simple really. Their training. While most groups will simply train their fresh recruits in the beginning, ADI trains constantly. Many will ask how they train, well, that is classified information. Otherwise ADI would meet its match.

ADI is always recruiting, and not just for combat. You see, at ADI, the weapons and vehicles are not something you can find on the marketplace. ADI makes its own weapons, and vehicles. The people that make them, are known as scientists. ADI is always looking for more scientists.

The combat side is always recruiting as well. ADI has many things to try, there is infantry, mechs, artillery, pilots, and even tank drivers. If you want to experience some combat, and would like to join the winning team, then check out ADI, I swear, you will not be disappointed.

ADI's sim is located at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wasteland/117/17/84

Theonlyjohnny

Trade Winds

By Joshua Xaxier

Back from Davey Jones' locker, Josh was feeling keelhauled by his search for a new adventure, until he decided to weigh anchor and search for new seas to sail.

Praise Neptune! We found "the Sea Serpent mk5" and it was free. Surely, this was the perfect, "one of a kind", mode of transportation for a showman that would be hidden beneath the waves. Returning home, he thought it wise to take it for a test run in Sunweaver Bay, before heading for open waters. As luck would have it, Rita had just drained the bay, to locate property lines for the placement of the new Club Infinity, the reincarnation of Little Dove. Albert, the captain of the bay's fire department, was in a panic, because his beach was now high and dry. We assured him that work was being done and the water level would return on the next day. We opened the world map, to see if there were any nearby water sims, that might have space and allow us to rez the submarine for a test drive. About seven and a half miles West of Sunweaver Bay, there is a group of water sims, dotted with small islands. Zooming in, we noticed one of the isles was named Cartagena. Long before becoming a reporter, Sha had visited an island by that name and had made friends with a pirate there. The pirate took her for a ride on his ship and planted the seed that would, one day, lead her to sailing the Blake Sea. She had forgotten where Cartagena was located and hoped to re-discover it.

 If this was the same, lost island, it would surely make Josh's adventure a double hitter. If it was the same island, we knew that the area's administrators had set rules that would need to be followed, including only using ships from the 17th and 18th centuries, dressing in period clothing and talking like a pirate. Knowing there were no submarines back then, we hoped that, being beneath the waves, would keep us below the administration's radar.
Knowing that Sha had spent a week exploring the Blake Sea and reported finding interesting places on the sea floor, he goes to the Marketplace to see if they had any unique underwater vessels that could be purchased with his limited budget.

We selected the Sabres Edge sim to begin a zig-zag course that would take us through all 11 sims. Ultimately, we found that rezzing ships is allowed on all the sims, but within the first 300 meters of the stealth voyage, we received an IM from Amber Murfin, one of the Estate Administrators. Somehow, she knew I was an outsider and piloting a forbidden vessel. I explained that I was a reporter for the Newser and researching for an article. I said, if required, I could switch to my HMS Phoenix, an 18th century frigate, with 18 cannons, or, with her permission, stay beneath the waves for this one time to finish my research. She granted permission and provided me a notecard with rules of the estate and the web site that listed approved ships http://flotsamnjetsam.net/index.php?topic=500.msg713#msg713

I covered the majority of the sims, using the mk5 sub, but then had it returned to my lost and found, when I lost my connection and got knocked off SL. On returning, I TPd to each of the remaining sims, to confirm that all of them allowed rezzing objects. I enjoyed sailing the estates and will likely return using my frigate.

When going to RP sims, it is polite to follow rules regarding staying in character, based on known history. Keep in mind though, history, like all sciences, is not completely known. If only humans are allowed on these sims, that does not mean there were no furry pirates. It only means the historians didn't write about them or the readers skiped those chapters. After all, how many pirate fans know that the skull and crossbones was used on ships in the Americas, before Columbus got here or that, before they were called pirates, they were Knights of the Temple?

Josh X 

Editor's Note: It looks like officially the rules state "humans (and mers) only," but it seems this rule is seldom enforced. I had gone about the Trade Winds grounds myself as an anthro mouse in a buccaneer outfit ("I be a pie rat") without complaint. That is until Monday March 4 when the place was being filmed for "Designing Worlds" when exactly one resident IMed me saying my avatar was a problem. This could be an issue to some furs, whom would rather take their avatars, and money, somewhere else where their presence is no problem. On the plus side, Trade Winds group chat is full of lively chatter and jokes with playful banter and not an ounce of drama.

Play Knight - Medieval RP in SL

By Becky Shamen

I had mentioned finding a shop at Mont Saint Michel, in my previous article, that sells great medieval armor and how I just had to buy some. When I finished my explorations there, I went home, unpacked my souvenir and put on my shiny new armor. It's nearly perfect, but for one small problem. I was now faced with the age old dilemma of being "all dressed up with no place to go.. In my many adventures, I had been in a few medieval sims, but never crossed paths with any Chevaliers [French for Knights]. Perhaps, I thought, there would be RP sims where knights gain fame and honor, by kickin' canned cans. By now you know, my next move was a visit to the second life destination guide.

A word of warning, before we take one more step here. In the last month, secondlife.com has become more scary than any sim inworld. They now are filled with pop-up adds, that will infect your computer with a host of malware. DO NOT GO THERE without protection. OK, public service announcement done, let's move on.

I did a search of places, using the keyword "knight". That produced a list of about four dozen locations. Of those, the majority seemed to be places to shop. I trimmed the list down to eight places to explore. Two of them actually said they were for role play, with the remaining ones being of questionable value. One was called, AKK Horse Ranch. When playing chess in Texas, the knight is often called a horse, so if I'm looking for knights I better check out horses while I'm at it. Having opened that can of dogfood, I might as well start with discussing horses first.

About  AKK Horse Ranch horses, unlike "breedables" these horses do not require feeding. Knowing that I would not be engaging in any actual RP, just reporting on it, I was only here to see how they looked and how much they cost. Most of the horses come with either a western or English saddle and cost L$2000. They also had a group, called EZ Start Horse, for $500. Their most expensive horse was a skeleton (literally), for $4000.

Next, you'll need the armor, sold separately, ranging in price from $600 to $3600 for beautiful, ornate unicorn armor. They had a floor model that you could sit on, which I did for the included photograph. The sign says it can be resized to even fit tiny avis and the cost of this ready made war horse was a mere $3500 (ouch) and it only came in the one color combination shown. I confess, although I promised myself, after having bought armor, not to spend another penny on this theme, I did return, several more times to drool over it. I saw a free demo, one to customer, good for five uses, which I got and tested. Still in sticker shock, I went back to the marketplace and got demos for four other brands of horse, the working models of which ranged in price from $475 to $1,999. Ultimately, kicking myself in the butt all the way, I returned to AKK Ranch and bought, separately, the AKK '09, in white, for $2000 and Silver chainmail tack for $750. I saved $750 and got the colors I wanted. I figure I got three horses for the price of one, given that I can make copies and have one with armor, one with western saddle and one bareback, which will be handy when I go riding on my property in the Everglades, heehee. Enough about my spending habits. Let's get back on the topic of RP sims.

First of all, when you find a RP sim that sounds good, in most cases, the LM won't take you directly there. Your first stop will be a "Gateway" or welcome area. Clicking signs there, you will get notecards, explaining their history, the rules of play, the type of battle meter required, if any, ie, , , etc. and most will require you to wear a visitor or observer tag, provided free, to be worn until you are a member of their group. Finding only a few good sims to explore, I returned to the destination guide, this time searching "Medieval RP". That search provided many more locations to round out my perspective of this genre.

Our first stop is "The White Armory." This is a large shop with clothing and weapons, which is the gateway to the RP areas. Don't be tempted to use the TP on the right of the entry, labeled "Knight Life Portal". That will only take you to a lame skybox with a horse ride, on a horse that won't follow directions and a carriage ride to a beautiful ballroom that has no dance balls. Instead, walk about the shop, check out the merchandise and look for TP discs on the floor. These discs allow you to select from a list of areas, including; Tipping (jousting), Battlefield, Arena, Cathedral, 99L and Armory. Some of the areas can only be selected by members. They don't sell horses here, so you will need to bring your own. The combat arenas are typical of most other RP sims, with seating for spectators and a scoreboard, showing standings of the contestants as they progress up the levels, as in many sporting events.

Our next stop is called "Usk Medieval Market / Role Play" at Realm of USK (5, 166, 501). These guys are strict about your playing by their rules, so be sure to get and read the notecard. Pay attention to it's governors, the Earl, Elders and Knights. Events and training include Jousting, Archery and Sword. To enter the RP area, you must dress and chat in character and click that you agree to follow the rules. By the way, this realm is humans only, with no Gor, Slavery or flying. I guess that's why I didn't see any of my friends there (grin).

Moving on, we come to "Avilion Nexus: Medieval Fantasy Role Play Community" found at Avilion Nexus (128, 128, 251). To combat here, you will need a combat meter, either Spell Fire, or ACS Avilion Combat system. Both meters are available, for free. You can compete without if it is with a friend and you agree, before hand to do so. Combat areas include a sword fight arena, archery range, mage arena and jousting arena. They also sell weapons, including some mesh ones.

I explored many other sims, but I think I have already given a good picture of this genre, so will close with one last location, for the benefit of my furry friends: Drekiheim - Medieval Fantasy Roleplay (furry friendly) at Turquoise Island (86, 130, 1255). Most of my research is done between midnight and 5am, so it isn't often I meet the locals. At Drekiheim, somebody I never got to see face to face sent me an IM welcoming me as a new face at the sim. I took advantage to ask questions, clarifying things I read in the notecard. This sim has a Nordic, Viking flavor to it. They are "free form" combat, anything goes, provided it fits the historic period (no guns or light sabers please). Battles can take place anywhere but in the Gypsy camp. There are two opposing camps you can join, but that isn't required. However, to get in on the head bashing, you do need to fill out a "Character Sheet" and put it in the dropbox at the welcome center and get approved. A sample sheet can be obtained, to help in creating yours.

If the medieval thing gets you hooked, you might find yourself wanting to live in your very own castle. There are quite a few places that sell them, but I'll just mention two, briefly here. One is Skye Castle Showroom Prefab Castles. These castles are very ornate, have many prims and are expensive. You probably won't want to buy one, but they are worth looking at. The smallest ones start at $2950 and are made from 200 to 300 prims. The other end of the scale cost more than I can count to, are big enough to take up most of a sim and use most of it's prims. My favorite castle showroom is
CASTLE Q Castles: HALF PRICE Birthday Sale Medieval and Gothic. In the past, I bought and lived in both the Q1 and Q2 models. I really liked the two I lived in.

You are not likely to see me engaged in combat, at any of these sims, as I'm a peace loving hippy at heart. But, if you see a cute girl, in silver armor, riding a white stallion, by all means, come chat.

Becky "Sha" Shamen

Reader Submitted: The Blake Sea

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

This is my third article, in a series of reports on adventure tours in SL. Since starting SL, over three and a half years ago, I have always enjoyed discovering new things to do and see here. One of my favorite viewers is Nirans. On each start up, while the program loads, they post "tips." One of the tips says that Chuck Norris has completed SL 3 times. This always makes me ask, how is this possible. Every time I think I've done everything there is to do in SL, along comes something new, to me. There seems to be no end to what you can do here. I once wrote, in a song, "Each time I do discover is like love to me. By the time there's nothing left undone, what a lover I'll be". And so, with love, I offer my report on the Blake Sea.

I mentioned, in a previous article, the Blake Sea is a collection of sims which connects the continents of Satori and Nautilus and extends eastward from there. This eastern portion contains 195 connected sims, covering 12.78 million square meters. We will confine this report to the eastern portion. My expeditions began there after I got a free sailing ship from the marketplace. The ship is a large privateer, called Minerva, with three masts, stay sails and square sails and 18 cannons. It is propelled by the winds in SL.


I needed an area with lots of room, in which to master it's use. Checking the Destination Guide, I found a number of ports in the Blake Sea, from which I could rez my ship and set sail. I found a port, called Diego, which had a pirate theme, which seamed to go well with my ship's design. It didn't take long to discover a couple of drawbacks that came with this choice. For one, there is a sea monster, called Kracken, that frequents the western end of the harbor. Once I found my way around him, I immediately discovered the next peril.

There are four sims, on the West side of Diego, which when entered, announce, in the title bar, their sim name and the warning, "Caution-Pirate Zone!" Later, I learned that these water sims, Kendra, Beaufort, Cannonade and Thunderer, are part a 13 sim group involved in the "All Seas Battle Group." In the shopping area, on Diego, you can join this group, check the schedule of planned battles, as well as buy pirate clothing, ships and other accessories. If you are sailing in the area, in a period ship and have cannons aboard, you are fair game for any ship that wants to use you for shooting practice. Cannon balls are objects that must be rezzed and many of the other water sims don't allow them. On the dock, bellow the shops, there are a number of ship merchants that provide docked show models, so you can see before you buy.

If pirates aren't your thing, you might consider hooking up with the United Sailing Sims, which has numerous yacht clubs in the Blake Sea and hosts regularly scheduled sailboat races, for all classes and sized boats.Want to just sail, without racing or battles?  Blake Sea is open to all and there are many places where you can rez your boats, be they wind, gas or steam powered.  I should mention here, there are rules to follow on the sea. Mostly, they are based on the SL TOS rules, but there is one I should mention. Sailboats have the right of way. Also, you must power down or steer clear of any races in progress. There are hundreds of islands to visit. Some have towns. Many are small and have only one or two homes on them. If you are interested in living by the sea, there are many places available.

Travel on water is not the only way to get around. The Blake Sea is also a great place to fly and there are a number of airports to be found. I even visited an aircraft carrier, just west of the pirate sims. The skies are full of planes, seaplanes and helicopters. I turn heads, when I fly in my Tesla UFO or my H.G.Wells time machine. If it flies, it's allowed. In most areas, you can also free fly, like Superman.
Look in the title bar, at the top of your viewer, for the icons that tell what is not allowed at any given location.

In addition to travel, Blake Sea also has a number of sites of interest. At the South end, you'll find the largest ship in all of SL, the SS Galaxy. The Galaxy is host to many events and, if you are laden with a chest or two of doubloons, you can rent a suite there. In my travels, I came across a large sim, called "Greenhouse", which features every imaginable plant, flower and tree under the sun. When I plan a trip to places, I often use the world map to pan around looking for unusual features. Unlike when you are on the surface, the map lets you see the sea floor. While preparing a map, for this article, I kept noticing an un-natural looking sea floor, just west of the Galaxy. I finally decided to go explore the cause of the appearance. I placed a marker on it and teleported there. On arrival, I found myself under water, surrounded by ancient stone buildings. A glance up at the title bar told me I was in a place called, "My Atlantis". One of the buildings seamed to be a home, was unlocked and nobody on the whole sim, so I went in for a quick peek. Signs revealed that this was connected with "Bloodlines", so I was all the more rushed to get back out. Never the less, it was all a very attractive build and worthy of mention here.

I spent the better part of a week exploring the Blake Sea, in preparation for this article and will surely go back many more times. I could tell you more, but want you to have the joy of discovering it yourself. There are still many islands I have not visited yet and, like many, I find it's just fun going sailing and flying on the Blake Sea. I've provided a map, showing some key places, to help plan your visits. The map shows only the East end of the sea. It continues at least three miles to the West, but that will have to be another story. Have a bon voyage, keep a lookout for me and please don't point any cannons in my direction.

Sha

New Bastogne: WW2 in Second Life

By Grease Coakes

 

Second Life has endless ways to make use of a sim. You can have a rocking dance club, or others use a sim to hold prayers and build an ashram or church. Native Americans use a sim just to hang out at and express their culture and heritage. Another way to use a sim is for fun filled combat. Had a bad day at work? Blast your friend’s head off with a submachine gun, or even better use a bazooka.

 

Vickster Khun created a combat area in a sim owned by her, New Bastogne, which recreates a World War II environment based in France during German occupation in 1944. Nydia Tungsten and JessicaBelle Dayafter gave me a tour of the sim in a 1940’s armored car. When I first warped into the sim I saw a realistic room like a 1940’s office. Walking out, I was in an underground bunker. Jessica was a Lt. Colonel and Nydia was an under officer as a 1st Sergeant. Nydia played as her attaché being the driver while Jessica explained everything.

 

As I was in the back seat I saw destroyed buildings and old posters and cafes in giving the player or myself a historically accurate and terrible war like environment. The builders behind the sim did a great job in creating a realistic World War II recreation. In fact Nydia ran into an old style lamppost on purpose and it actually fell over and the same with chairs and table on an outside café.

 

 There are also sewers to go underground if you wanted to be sneaky and not be in direct combat. The goal of the sim, or rather the combat, was to capture flags and change them to your faction or nation. But of course as a combat sim you need firepower to overwhelm those nasty Germans, or you could be playing as the Germans trying to take control of Europe.

 

Nydia and JessicaBelle showed me where to pick up weaponry and a uniform so I’d be ready for battle. When I got the hang of it, I shot Nydia "killing" her by surprise. Sadly for me she came back and killed me several times going around the sim in fun filled combat. The combat scripts you put on only give you 25 hit points and allow you to put a flag above your head to show you’re an American or another allied nation. The low hit points add realism to the combat sim. Instead of taking 20 bullets before you die you can only take a shot or two before you die and respawn. To not be offensive the German sign is a red field with a cross, not the infamous Swastika used in Nazi propaganda.

 

A SMG isn’t for you? Well good news, there’s more. Unlike the first person shooter "Team Fortress 2" where you can pick a class to use certain weapons you stick with the basic rifle, however you can still use bazookas you just don’t start with full ammo like the solider in TF2. You have to pick up ammo crates to load your bazooka. That way not everyone is going around German occupied France with a bazooka you have to earn it by grabbing the ammo crates.

 

There are also vehicles to use as well to blast other players. You can grab a tank or even a fighter plane to blast away with. The tank gun made holes in the ground with a fiery after-effect and a sound effect of voices yelling German commands to fire. The plane itself was tricky to fly and I crashed into the sim next door. I had to laugh at myself in good fun.

 

JessicaBelle Dayafter wanted to show off the sim she likes roleplaying in and she wanted to vent some frustration at a group of people abusing the sim by bending the rules and not playing fair. Like Blizzard’s game "World of Warcraft," lots of players picked one side overwhelming the other faction. The game loses fun when this happens, in Jessica’s words. In fact when I brought up WoW she mentioned a lot of these unfair players may be also WoW players.

 

JessicaBelle Dayafter: “And all too often people would not use common sense of fairness. Like if you are fighting 3 enemies, coming over with 12 soldiers and 2 tanks is wayyy overkill, and totally unfair.”

 

Also people can become abusive getting too seriously involved in the sim. JessicaBelle Dayafter told me,  “Going back to the topic at hand of insults (sort of), another thing that drove many people off, is certain people take their RP waayy too serious, and bordering on being down right offensive/breaking rules of conduct set in place by LL.” 

 

As an officer, a Lt. Colonel, JessicaBelle tries giving orders, however her orders are often ignored by the other players. So by those upset by the cheating players she suggests going to LL to complain. Part of the problem is however is the managers and owner of the sim aren’t always sure what to do and her suggestions fall on deaf ears. I used the analogy of the NFL how when refs make bad calls against the home team you’ll hear boos resounding from the stands.

 

JessicaBelle Dayafter, "Some examples of shenanigans: spawn camping gathering large a large amount of troops, and waiting within line of sight or right outside the spawn areas, so anyone trying to re-enter battle gets massacred. A lot of it too was slinging insults to each other in combat, and not in a playful/meaningless way."

 

Sounds like some people want to ruin the game for others and bend the game to their will beyond reason and cheat. Which is sad when instead of enjoying the WW II sim in a fair way, they made the sim not fun anymore. This is just common sense or something you learn as a kid that other people do not like it if someone else cheats or plays a game whether a video game or a board game in an unfair way. Or if someone is winning by roll of the dice or just good shooting not to take offense and be a sore loser. That’s something to be reminded of in the holiday season when fairness and kindness show good holiday spirit. 

 

Check out the WW II sim when you get the chance readers of the Second Life Newser I had a fun time goofing off with Nydia and JessicaBelle.  That’s certainly part of the Christmas season just having fun.

 

Grease Coakes

Changes at the New Bastogne WW2 RP

This year, there have been some changes going on at the New Bastogne WW2 Combat Roleplay area.

For one, the layout of the region has been changed, as well as the number of sims increased. Last year, there had been three sims in a reverse north/south arrangement, with the German teams in New Bastogne, the Allies in the bottom edge of the southern sim, and the land in-between as open territory. This simulated the situation with the Allies still in England, making raids into France.

Early this year, the arrangement of the lands was changed with the south sim moved west of Bastogne and renamed “Allied sim,” later changed to Perrone Airport. The German teams moved their bases to a sim east of Bastogne named Schloss Burg Eltz, with the airport to the south. North of Perrone Airport is Saint Quentin. North of New Bastogne and east of Saint Quentin is Huertgenwald, which is still being worked on.

To the south of New Bastogne is the New Fallout sim, which seems to be made into an Eastern European region. Then there’s Tataria to the southeast, which is new. For now, the action remains in New Bastogne, with the two teams staying out of each other’s “home” sim. Across the sims, some railroad track has been laid out, with a trolley occasionally moving along.

Saint Quentin has a club, the Saint Quentin Ballroom, which has two dance parties a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 PM SL time. The club plays 1940’s “big band” music the WW2 RP is known for, on occasion mixed in with other music from earlier times. The club is neutral ground, and players from both sides, and visitors, are welcome. People are requested to wear clothes appropriate for the time period, and visitors are asked not to disturb any players in combat outside the club.

Saint Quentin also has a small weapons store, next the the train station, Saint Quentin Importers, “No need to worry about oil or fuel prices,” joked Allied leader AngusGraham Ceawlin when he announced it’s opening. Then there is the Saint Quentin Cathedral. There are plans for a priest, Father Kravyn, to hold brief services every Sunday, “in addition to weddings, blessings or other types of services upon request.” The blessing of the cathedral and it’s first service is scheduled for April 3rd.

The northern part of the German sim has a large dark castle, with numerous rooms, and a dungeon. Work on furnishing the interior is still in progress (the rumors that the dungeon is not used for interrogations by the Germans but rather hot dates have been neither confirmed or denied).

New Bastogne continues to use two combat systems. The Vice system is used for most of the week, with the newer Blitz in play for Friday and Saturday. This had meant that for these two days aircraft couldn’t do more than scare ground targets, their bombs being unable to damage. More recently, a couple Blitz aircraft were offered to the pilots. For some pilots, however, the changes with the sims have posed a problem. Possibly because of the extra sim crossings, some pilots have found it difficult to stay in the air very long without crashing. Fortunately for them, the weekend raids on the Flying Tiger’s WW2 Pacific sims are still going on.

For the Germans, there has been some changes in the leadership. The leader of the Armee group had to leave New Bastogne. Vickster Khun, whom was in charge of the Luftwaffe group, assumed command. Duarte Koray was placed in command of the Richthofens. Some new players have also risen to prominence. Nohime Runner quickly rose from an entry level pilot to one of leading officers, taking charge of projects such as the construction of the German castle.

Besides the combat, there have also been some races. Last month, there was a horse race in the Saint Quentin sim, with a track set up around the cathedral. There were several contestants, including one Russian Cossack. A few warm-up laps were held, followed by a serious race, which was ran again when it was clear lag was causing some people to miss a turn. The winner was a lady from the German teams. Following the horse race, March has been the scene of tank races every Saturday from 3 to 5:30 PM at New Bastogne (71, 199, 3001).

On Tuesday March 15th, the Saint Quentin Club hosted a party in honor of the one year anniversary of the Bastogne combat RP, “Come Celebrate With Vickster Kuhn, our founder, the vision and continued growth of these wonderful sims.” About two dozen players and visitors attended, with Big Band music played, and a few prizes given out.

At one point, Allied commander AngusGraham Ceawlin spoke up, “I would like to thank all of you for coming in honor of the 1st anniversary of Bastogne. We owe much to Vickster Kuhn for her vision as well as countless others who have contributed their time and talents towards the continued success of New Bastogne and the Bastogne Project.” He asked all to raise a toast to her, and all at the party did, "Prost!" “Congratulations!" “Grats.”

Vickster responded with a smile, “Thank you all. ... Project Bastogne is a success due to the efforts of so many people! Not just our great sim owners Like Zewe Major, Seaone Bunyip, Joe Sparrow, Nohime Runner and Miss Ichi Yazimoto! Our admin team makes it happen! People like Miss Deusen Marx, Angus, Aeryn.... so many others! I'm so happy with the results of all our efforts!”

And so New Bastogne marches into it’s second year. Not completely without problems, but bigger and better than ever.

Bixyl Shuftan

New Allied Base Sim in WW2 RP Area

A few days ago, on Thursday Dec 9, the opening ceremony to the new sim in the WW2 Combat RP region took place. Made for the US, British, and Free French teams, the sim was appropriately named “Allied Base.”

Seaone Bunyip officially opened the sim at 7 PM SL time, “Welcome To Allied Base WW2 Sim. This base is created in honor of the United States Forces and Veterans that fought and died for freedom In France and other theaters in WW2 and therefore will fly the United States Flag. Allied Base Sim is Headquarters for and Administered by the 1st Allied Command Group.”

Seone continued, “Historical notes on the area of this sim represents: This airbase represents the Advanced Landing Ground "A-72 Peronne Airfield France. Bastonge is 120 miles to the North East. Omaha Beach and Utah Beach are 175 miles west. Paris is 75 miles to the SW. Vermand is 5 miles to the East. St Quenten is 11 miles to the South East. Village of Brie is 4 miles to the West. Peronne Airport was a pre-World War II civil airport, consisting of a terminal, hangar, some support buildings and a grass airfield, serving the nearby city of Saint-Quentin.”

“We want to give a big hand to the builders of the sim! A special salute to the best builder on SL, Deusen Marx! A special thanks also goes out to Vickster Kuhn and all the WW2 sim owners. The sim is here for everyone to enjoy! Respect the rules of the WW2 role playing sim and we all can have FUN!” And with that, a ribbon at the opening gate was cut, and the place was declared open. For the grand opening a truce was declared between the two sides. A number from both the German and Allied teams showed up.

Deusen Marx soon told everyone, “I added something to the sim today in secret.” And he revealed a halftrack, though one needed to be “armed” with the Vice combat tag to drive it. The main group of people soon ended up in the bar. “This pub is called Leona's,” Deusen told everyone, “It is named after Vickie's deceased Grandma. I think we should all raise our glasses to Leona. Cheers! To Leona!” And people raised a toast, “Cheers.” “To Leona.” “Health to the new sim.” “And also a toast to our host, Seaone, thank you for your generosity and sweet spirit.”

This was soon followed by some cheerful joking around, such as funny gestures, and discussing the supposed reaction one skunkgirl officer in the German air group got from the Allied side when getting a commission during a medals and promotions event, “They sent a tank to the ceremony.” Later, it was described the tank was blown up, but the driver raised a toast to the newly promoted with a glass of Guiness ale.

After a while, some of the German pilots left. It wasn’t long before they returned, in a squadron of Stukas. Fighters were called up, but the Stukas didn’t have their combat enabled. They were just circling around for photo shoots.

There will be other events for the WW2 Combat RP this December. Among them, Joe Sparrow's yearly Christmas drop, on the 21st, "Every year i take up a plane and drop boxes with gifts in them. It's random as to what theyll get but i do put retail items in. Last year it was on my sim. This year, it'll be here."

And so, the Allied teams now had a little more breathing room, no longer confined to a tiny strip of land on the southern edge of the southernmost sim.


Bixyl Shuftan

The WW2 Combat Roleplay

One of my friends recently invited me to a place and group in Second Life aimed at those with an interest in history and combat gaming, the World War Two Roleplay aka WW2 RP. With several groups participating, the 400th member having recently signed up, it is an active RP with scheduled exercises and impromptu battles with sudden invasions marked by calls for help and reinforcements rushing in. Players fight using tanks, planes, ships, and of course rifles and guns.

Players interested should head to “The Channel” sim at (120, 20, 3479), where they should appear at a sky platform high in the air. Players can find information to read up on the two sides, Axis and Allied, as well as find an American and a German uniform available for free, each with a couple weapons, bazooka, M1 Garand rifle, and BAR for the Allies, and an MP 40 submachine gun, Mauser rifle, and Panzershreck for the Germans. The uniforms also come with a tag, which is to be worm in combat.

A notecard states the administrators prefer you contact one of them. Once a player choses a side, there are teleports down to the three sim battlefield below: The Channel for the Allies, and New Bastogne for the Germans.

There are a few rules for players. Among them, only weapons compatible with the VICE combat system can be used, except on certain days in which an alternative system is agreed on (more on that later). Players are also obligated to use the respawn balls (click and select respawn). Hospitals are considered safe zones, and shooting/ bombing there is prohibited. Harassment (aside from getting shot at by the opposition) and drama are also prohibited, as are discussions about politics. For the Germans, displays of the Nazi flag and plainly visible swastikas are “verboten.”

The landscape between the German and Allied starting areas have a number of flagposts. A soldier going up to one can trigger his side’s flag going up if it isn’t already, a white star on a green field for the Allied and a black cross on a red field for the Germans. While this “capture the flag” gives some idea what areas are held by who, the real objective is to clear the area of the opposition.

Besides the weapons given to beginning players, players can purchase VICE weapons for fighting, if they are of the WW2 time period, such as light machine guns. If a tank is brought onto the field, it must be used by at least two people.

Besides the main WW2 RP group, players can also commit themselves to a side and join one of the military groups. In my case, I was invited to the game area by a friend in the Luftwaffe group: JG 2 aka the Richthofen wing. The main German group is the Armee Heer Wehrmacht. I was sent an invite to join up with them before I tried applying to anyone after the main WW2RP group, which was a surprise to both my friend and a couple officers I talked to later. Those joining the group are given some extra equipment, but are expected to be respectful and listen to officers and NCOs.

I requested to join my freind's group, JG 2. Those wanting to join the Richthofens need to have had some experience in SL flying aircraft. You'll also be asked to attend a lesson on air combat tactics. For those getting in, there’s an Me109 fighter on the ground they can sit in and a temporary plane will rezz. It will vanish when shot down or the player lands. After a while, the pilot will get their own Me109 fighters, one with light machine guns, one with heavy. Heavy machine guns overheat faster, but do more damage. One experienced pilot preferred the heavy guns for the psychological edge, “If he sees you have heavy machine guns, he realizes he can be shot down in just a few hits and may panic.”

Besides their usual three sim region, the Richthofens sometimes spar with the Flying Tiger group. The Tigers are in a place with the following sims: WW2 Pacific, WW2 Battlefield, WW2 Battlefield, WW2 Green Hell. The group meets up at a Japanese carrier in the area, the Shinano, and flies off from there. The JG 2 group also meets up there on occasion for practice flights and training.

For players whom prefer furry avatars, different RP combat groups have different policies citing “historical realism.” On the German side for example, the Waffen SS won’t take them. The Wehrmacht will take furs, but has a policy of not promoting them to higher rank. And the Richthofens don’t care if you have pointed ears and a tail or not (which brings new meaning to the term “flying fox”). Naturally this steers these players to such groups, such as one lady whom became a bomber ace.

It’s notable that the German groups have a variety of player nationalities, French, Portuguese, American, etc, but I have yet to see a German speaking player there (funny to see someone in a Wehrmacht uniform swearing in French).

On weekends, the rules in the air get bent a little with “Freaky Friday.” Aircraft from any era can now be flown in the sim, or even space fighters. Lately on Fridays and weekends, there have been some drills and battles with the new “Blitz” combat systems, which allows for medics to heal wounded players. So far, it is available only to ground units. There are also non-combat events, such as a fencing championship held by the Germans.

As for how the two sides get along, roughly about as well as two opposing sides on a sports match. There’s a small amount of “trash talk,” but not much. And although players look for a slight edge, there is a strong sense of staying within the rules. I’ve even seen a small amount of funning around, an opposing officer RPing being drunk and taken prisoner.

A first class RP that both history and combat buffs will enjoy.

The rules and basic equipment can be found at The Channel (120, 20, 3479). The administrators are: Bradyn Halcali, Albrecht Firanelli, Sephiroth Reiner, Jerrod Mai, Duarte Koray, Neckrr Swords,Hideaki Komachi, Michale Dumont, Centric Koskinen, Reinhard Hiereichter, Octavian Drezetan, and Striker Arabello.

* * * * * * * * * *

UPDATE: The JG 2 group just today came out with their own webpage: Jagdgeschwader 2. This includes some of the history of the WW2 RP.

Bixyl Shuftan

The USS Helena (CA-75)

When people on Second Life construct a build, it’s generally something such as a simple home, or maybe a store. Henry Borgnine, Dave Brouchoud in real-life, chose to do something different and much grander. He set out to recreate the heavy cruiser he served on during the Korean War - the USS Helena (CA-75).

Dave Brouchoud had joined the US Navy at age 17, in September 1951. After Navy Boot camp, he was assigned to the Helena. In 1952, he was stationed in one of the 5” gun mounts. When he was released in May 1955, he had been doing duty as a Radar Operator. He would later serve in the US Army, and his avatar wears an Army uniform.

Henry had been talked into Second Life by his nephew, “I soon realized that ANYTHING is possible in SL. I talked about ‘my dream,’ to once again walk the decks of my ship - and here she is.” Behind him in the water was the Helena, “Much work needs to be done, but I am pleased with what has already happened.”

“A point,” Henry stated, “I am NOT the builder. At first it was my nephew Keystone Brouchard. But he told me about a great builder named RJ Kikuchiyo. He worked on the ship for some time.” Unfortunately, Henry was having trouble staying in the grid, “Second Life kept crashing on me, (there were) hardware problems on my four year old computer.” Reluctantly, he eventually had to stop logging on.

But after some time, he got a new computer, “About a month ago, the computer went south and we now have a nice new Dell with a high end video card. I couldn’t wait to again try SL and bingo. It now works perfectly. I contacted RJ and learned that a new builder was taking over (the building), Bobcatt Nielson.”

The ship isn’t quite complete yet. After seeing the HMS Titanic in Second Life with it’s interior rooms, he hoped to do the same with the Helena, a walk-on bridge, an engine room, and more, “be able to see many of the compartments below decks.” He also hoped to get other features, such as “guns that will turn, radios that will work.” The ship will also be enlarged a little for a more realistic size, “In real life, this ship is a little over 700 feet long.” He was also getting a little help besides from Bobcat, “the owner of this sim is also helping with the build. At the moment I know he is working ... on the ship’s anchors.”


The Helena’s most prominent feature are her cannons, “the big guns you see are 8" the smaller are 5" the real ship also had 3" guns in 7 gun tubs. The 3" are not yet available.”

As the interview was conducted, the ship was getting visitors. Henry politely excused himself for a minute to greet one looking around, then returned, “I like to be here often to meet visitors and answer questions.”

Henry has heard about the Veterans’ groups in Second Life, “(I) was a member of one group. They now know about this ship and have been most helpful in passing the word.” Every comment everyone’s made, Henry told me, “has been positive.”

He’s also heard a little about other military in Second Life, such as the battleship Yamato, and historical combat RP groups, such as the Flying Tigers, “I have visited many military sites with many historical aircraft in display, including one of the B29 Super Fortresses that dropped the atomic bomb.”

When I dropped by the next day, builder Bobcatt Neilson was there. He and Henry talked about using blueprints and images from cruisebooks to help with further building. Bobcat also talked some with me, saying building the ship was a pleasure, “something cool in Second Life that’s not involved with sex or gambling.” He had seen other warships in SL, such as a recreation of the Yamato built by members of the real-life Japanese Defense Force.

Bobcatt had been in the US Army, serving in the first Gulf War, Kuwait, The invasion of Panama, and Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008, “still kinda recovering from Afghanistan’s offroad extravaganzas. ... on canes, but still in rehabilitation, and very stubborn.”

Bobcatt pointed out the region had plenty to see besides the cruiser., such as art galleries and a Jazz club. There’s also the Balsa Regional Airport and the Grayling Army Airfield, “There’s a vet center in Balsa, but it’s just getting built back up. A lot of folks from these regions are vets on deployment.” West Memorial Park is dedicated to former real life residents who have passed away, which recently had a chapel installed. Grayling Army Airfield has a huge variety of aircraft, warplanes and others, but most aren’t flyable to visitors. One that is is the shuttle rocket ride, which will take a visitor up in the air.

Henry also needs some donations for the area the ship is berthed, so a sign next to the ship is available for those wanting to chip in a few Lindens, “In order for the ship to continue to be here, contributions need to keep coming in.”

Henry/Dave Brouchoud also maintains a website for the Helena, at http://www.usshelena.org/

The Helena is at the Trees sim at (77, 233, 29)

“The ship has a fine history and served her country well.”

Bixyl Shuftan