Ironworks Gaming Forum - A short history of Ironworks

In the beginning there was the 1, and the 1 said let there be Ziroc and it was so.

And Ziroc said ‘I am Number 2 who is number 1’, and the 1 said you are not a Prisoner ;) . And the 1 said to Z (for that is what he is now known as) ‘Build it and they will come’. And the Z said ‘will I live my life with reference to obscure TV progs and films? but the 1 was silent.

And Z said ‘Let there be blue’ and it was blue. On the 3rd day came Wyvern. And Z was displeased and banished Wyvern to the far off land of Wizards and Warriors, only rarely to be seen outside of that land. On the 5th day came adam. And Z said to adam ‘you are the first man’ to which adam replied ‘my name is adam warlock and I’m not a man!’ On the 7th day Yorick appeared unto Z and said ‘G’day mate, can you tell me how to kill Kangaxx?’ and the Z said ‘have you searched the archives before you ask such a question? And Yorick replied unto Z ‘what &*£$%” archive there are only 6 of us here!’ Z pondered on Yorick’s reply for some time before reaching a decision and Z said ‘Let there be fora (or forums depending on your point of view) and it was so.

And so they came, slowly at first:

Ladyzekke, Draconia, Sazerac (who was banished to be with Wyvern but was allowed to return), Scronan, Sylent, Melusine, Lord of Alcohol, Jerome, Memnoch, Cloudbringer, Sir Tainly, Donut, Tobbin, Gray Mage & Hellfire. These are the only ones now left of the ones known as ‘The First Hundred’

And they were followed by others, a trickle at first, then a torrent, then a deluge:

Epona, Mouse, Stealthy, Charlie, The_Relic, bilqis, Conan, Larry_OHF, LadyAvalon, Wolfgir, Slackerboy, Davros (banished but saved), Ertai (recently returned from RL), Rikard (young but sensible) Father Bronze, Asphyxiate, the three brothers Ramon and others too numerous to mention.

And one day Yorick said ‘G’day mates, Moiraine has been in a car crash – let’s all hug her’ And they did and Moiraine got better.

And one day Moiraine said ‘Bonjour, I’ve got a CD of Yorick’s music and I will send copies to all that want them, and it was so.

And Moiraine met Yorick, and Yorick met Donut, and Donut met Davros, and Davros met Mouse. And Donut infected Yorick and Davros with the Cider Drinking Bug to be spread around the world as they travelled.

And so they played in their own blue world laughing and joking, debating serious and frivolous subjects, answering questions about BGII, never losing their tempers or flaming another member, oblivious to the outside world – until!!!

One day Z came amongst them carrying a box, and he said unto them ‘I’m leaving this box here, please don’t open it because it is very dangerous – do you all understand me? On no account should anyone open it’ and they all nodded because they were in awe of the Z man. But Z did not see the glint in one member’s eye, he did not see the impish grin on the face of the one called CLOUDBRINGER.

That night when everyone on the board slept (but not in the US because they sleep at funny times of the day often sleeping 5 or more hours later that us in Europe) CB made her way quietly to the box and opened it. Before she knew what was happening all the woes of Ironworks flew out of the box, they were in the shape of shiney stars and avatars ‘ooh look, it’s a drow warrior and a waterdeep guard’. When CB looked into the box all that was left was a brightly coloured tin. ‘Look what I’ve found, what is it?’

With a mighty crash Z reappeared amongst them ‘It’s SPAM you fools, you have unleashed SPAM into IW’ CB puffed out her chest ‘It wasn’t me and I am affronted that you would suggest I would ever do such a thing, (snicker).

Z thundered on, 'things will never be the same here, and the server keeps crashing, so I am moving the board.' And Z said ‘Let there be brown’ and it was brown. ‘Let there be General Conversation’ and it was so, ‘let there be ranks and Avatars and post numbers’ and there was SPAM.

And so chaos reigned in the world of IW. Memnoch said ‘Let there be a Spammers thread’ and people spammed, and spammed and spammed like spam in a spam factory on National Spam Day in Spamland. And the SPAM thread reached over 1000 posts on 42 pages until Z put his foot down in case it brought the server down.

And Z said ‘I can’t deal with this alone. Let there be Mods, and so were created the terrible trio of Sazerac, Memnoch and Ertai.

But still there was confusion until Rikard asked the question that lots of people wanted to ask ‘Do you remember the old days when you could actually follow what the hell was going on here’ An old man sitting in the corner mumbled agreement ‘sitting and watching, sitting and watching’. ‘Yes we remember, it was fantastic but let’s get back to the spamming.’

And so the legendary posts were created

‘Nine for Mortal Members’:

If you are a self-confessed spammer put your name here (Memnoch)
Charlie’s Shop of Shite (Charlie)
Sojourner (Yorick)
The Moon’s Hope Inn (Part 1-15) (LadyRae)
Icebreaker (Cloudbringer)
Vicotnik’s Chamber of Laughter (Vicotnik)
Give Moiraine a hug (Yorick)
Ask Black Knight anything (Cloudbringer)
The China Crisis (Rikard)
Rugby - the game they play in heaven (Memnoch)

‘Three that rocked the board’:

To the Menfolk – no need to be so insulting (LadyRae)/Testosterone Home (Mouse) (What were you thinking Mouse? [img]smile.gif[/img] )
Yank bashing thread
A Plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center (skywalker)

‘Five for the short ones in their caves’

Bunnies
Fluffies
Join my clan
Saz – can I have a sig
Aerie – you have to love/hate her

And then on April 11th Z said Let there be darkness and IW disappeared for two weeks and there was much gnashing of teeth. Then there was light until a fight broke out in The Moon’s Hope Inn and Z had to come down from on high to calm us all down.

And things calmed down again until Sept 11th. And Z said let there be a War Forum and there was a riot.

So here we are now, a very different place from when we started. Whether it is a better or worse place is for you to decide, either way it is a busier place and getting bigger.

Vive Les Ironworks!

[ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Donut ]</p>