Long long ago . . .
Actually, it was late summer 1990.
Dave Hayes (who would become known as Cutter), Keith Akins, and I (Hendo) were friends from high school who were all starting our freshman year at Fitchburg State College, Massachusetts.  During our new student orientation, we spent a weekend at Keith's sister's apartment near campus (as we were commuter students).  On the second evening of that weekend, Dave and I found each other relaxing in an otherwise empty cafeteria.

Dave, having once enjoyed a role-playing adventure with me and Tricia back in high school, just started role-playing an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game with me, without warning.  He started by asking questions about my character (which up until that point did not exist).  At first the questions were basic.  “What race are you?”  “What class or profession are you?”  But soon we began trying to determine a personal history that would result in the character I had envisioned.

Of all the RPG experience I had up until then, I never dealt with a Game Master that encouraged so much character history.  The experience forever changed my view of role-playing for the better.  Now, I will create characters just to explore their background with no intention of playing with them!

Before long, I had developed Stelin Moore, a sharp young thief with plenty of wits and a strong desire for self-preservation.  But, Cutter agreed that one character did not make for a well rounded adventure party, so we began the process again.  Soon, we had created three more player characters:  Luap Sicnarf –the dwarven priest of Magnus on a quest of learning, Radagast –the proud mage, and Stazar –the vagrant warrior (actually the returning first D&D character I played, years earlier).  And all this with no paper or rulebook!

The next day, Cutter encouraged Keith to get involved in the developing game.  I’m having trouble remembering what the name of the PC was, but I’m certain Keith started playing a mage. (He may have taken over Radagast, or perhaps even started playing Dallben –which would make Dallben the longest running PC in the campaign.  Maybe Cutter can clarify my memory?)

So, that’s how it started.  From there, we would gather between classes and adventure on the game world in Cutter’s head –the world soon known as Myrna.  During the following few semesters, others would join the group from time to time, and I even relieved Cutter as GM for a few months to run a brief campaign of my own.

In the end, Stelin Moore retired to care for his wife (Reden Moore) and child (Robin Moore).  Radagast slipped into the mist of NPCdom.  Stazar was never the same after he returned from the land of the dead.  And Luap Sicnarf, the dwarf, became my favorite character.  The only, non-thief I ever really enjoyed, Luap adventured all over the vast world of Myrna and eventually achieved such high status and experience that I decided he was too great for a PC.  He has retired to the life of an NPC, returned to his homeland, and been given a position of high standing among the dwarves.

But then, things changed.  Cutter joined the Air Force, and I transferred to Emerson College in Boston.
 

The Mid- '90s . . .
That first year apart, Cutter tried to re-establish the game via snail-mail.  Keith and I were still involved, and a few other friends as well, including Goose, an old high school friend.  Cutter asked us each to create a nation to add to the universe of Myrna.  Not surprisingly, I developed the dwarven realm of the Unterland (home of Luap Sicnarf).  Goose worked on Here, home of one of his characters.  Other nations that sprung to life at this time included Gedron, Abraxis, Muldavia, and Whytehold.

Alec Baclawski and Goose (with help from the rest of us) also spent much of 1994-97 running a live action role playing (LARP) game called ROOKS.  The setting they chose was Myrna, but specifically the realm of Darknia (actually a variant of the same nation of Multi-Tech origin), which now has a few crossover characters into the Millers Reach game system.

Meanwhile, the postal service just was not good enough for Cutter . . .
Then came e-mail.  Encouraged by Goose, most of us soon had e-mail.  Immediately I began to develop an old RPG idea of mine (Multi-Tech) and played an e-mail based game for a bit.  Seeing the possibilities, Cutter quickly did the same with the Myrna Campaign.  At this point three other friends joined in, Alec, Tricia Cashton and Cord “Kipsta” Awtry.  Each with their own characters, these have joined the mainstay of the party since.  (Other friends and co-workers of Cutter’s have joined, but the business of life has often pulled them away.)

Today . . .
When the e-mail game started, the idea was that Goose, Keith, and I were magically transported to Myrna –that is the characters were our real-life selves!  But, after finding guidance in the form of some rather intelligent wildlife, we were trained in fields that interested us.  This process included a change of name, skill, and in some cases magical physical changes (thus Goose turned into an elf).  In-character, we have been on Myrna long enough to mostly forget our former selves, but major personality traits still prevail . . .    Some of the newer players are playing characters who are native to Myrna.

And that’s pretty much how the game got to be where it is today.  (As I see it, anyway.)

--HENDO, aka Dodger