New Years Eve and New Years Day celebrate endings and beginnings. At Lost Isles, we are looking back on 2003, and feeling satisfaction for the progress made. As we look ahead for 2004, we anticipate taking our existing game, and enriching it with more exploration and hunting areas, and fleshing out the skills into a more robust system.
We went into 2003 without a game. Our hardware failed us, and data retrieval companies in Southern California declared it a total loss. We rebuilt, reloaded backups, reorganized, and recoded, and put everything back together in time for our February alpha testing opening. The alpha testing phase was everything we had hoped, with excellent feedback saving us valuable time, and particular testers shining as dedicated assistants to the Lost Isles crew.
Here at the end of 2003, we look back with pride upon the world of the Isles. We have seen people come, and people go, and the core crew is the same group of designers and coders as it was two years ago. One thing each staff member acknowledges is the need to keep our focus on the game, so that we can get the beta testing doors open to the testing public as soon as possible. With this in mind, we will slow the newsletters down from every two months, to every three to four months. This will allow our writers to stay busy composing and editing the lands themselves. We will still update the News page on our website every two months, just so interested folks can check up on what’s being worked on at any given time.
At this time, this writer would like to acknowledge the year-long efforts of our gamemasters: Raef, Shai, Lilin, Estella, Tekhne, Qui, Horak, Chyron, Poncho, Consuela, Qestra, Jayzare, and the efforts of those GMs who have come and gone, and a special thanks to those dedicated testers who have stuck through the ups and downs with us. Here’s looking forward to a productive, exciting and public new year!
Stay tuned for more progress updates in future newsletters, or check out what's new on the Lost Isles website at www.lostisles.com/news.php.
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We went into 2003 without a game. Our hardware failed us, and data retrieval companies in Southern California declared it a total loss. We rebuilt, reloaded backups, reorganized, and recoded, and put everything back together in time for our February alpha testing opening. The alpha testing phase was everything we had hoped, with excellent feedback saving us valuable time, and particular testers shining as dedicated assistants to the Lost Isles crew.
Here at the end of 2003, we look back with pride upon the world of the Isles. We have seen people come, and people go, and the core crew is the same group of designers and coders as it was two years ago. One thing each staff member acknowledges is the need to keep our focus on the game, so that we can get the beta testing doors open to the testing public as soon as possible. With this in mind, we will slow the newsletters down from every two months, to every three to four months. This will allow our writers to stay busy composing and editing the lands themselves. We will still update the News page on our website every two months, just so interested folks can check up on what’s being worked on at any given time.
At this time, this writer would like to acknowledge the year-long efforts of our gamemasters: Raef, Shai, Lilin, Estella, Tekhne, Qui, Horak, Chyron, Poncho, Consuela, Qestra, Jayzare, and the efforts of those GMs who have come and gone, and a special thanks to those dedicated testers who have stuck through the ups and downs with us. Here’s looking forward to a productive, exciting and public new year!
Stay tuned for more progress updates in future newsletters, or check out what's new on the Lost Isles website at www.lostisles.com/news.php.
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The furoguman is an amphibious denizen of Fever Swamp, south of Saotan on the island of Komadas. All furogumen are males, creating a fierce warrior class in the swamp. Their female counterparts, the frog maidens, rely on their inherent magical abilities to survive, rather than physical strength and prowess. The furoguman stands approximately five feet tall, though it prefers standing in a crouched posture, which fully takes advantage of its powerful jumping ability. It is fast in the swamp, with webbed extremities to propel it through the murky waters, and muscular legs and shoulders to aid in its martial skills. All furogumen carry weapons, sometimes naturally found materials such as rocks or sharpened jawbones, but most often, they scavenge weapons from less cautious explorers who come into their domain.
Furogumen appear to have the intelligence of a typical goblin. They travel in packs, except during breeding season when they mingle freely with frog maidens. Frog maidens, which exhibit much higher levels of intelligence and strategy, tend to stick together in crude settlements, urging the furogumen to patrol the fringes of their packs’ territory. Furogumen have a rubbery, amphibious skin in various colors, most commonly greens and browns, but also shades of dark blue and sometimes brownish-orange. Their eyes protrude atop their head, allowing them to see even when submerged almost entirely in the swampy water environments they live in. They have long, whip-like tongues, which are mostly used when feeding, but can be used during combat if they are hard pressed.
Be wary!
I was out minding my business in the north forest with my fuzzy flock of goats – some 280 strong – and a few stragglers meandered down a hill into an especially tight grove of trees. Well, I know every goat in that flock, and these two were among my favorites. Shelblee and Ruckles scooted into some underbrush and all of a sudden there was a cry that I shan’t forget anytime soon.
A bleating cry echoed off the tree trunks, and a pair of sickly yellow eyes blinked at me from under a mass of peat moss. Leaves and twigs sprayed to the side, and this… THING… with a wretched snout burst out from the pile. The horrible thing, which offhandedly resembled a grubber in a distant way, had Shelblee in its long arms. The poor little animal was bleeding and bleating, and the ugly brown goblinoid thing was drooling from its snout.
Now, I’m not normally the bravest sort. I’m a goatherd, and not a bad one, but I don’t deal with the beasts of the world. I leave that to the adventurers and heroes and whatnot. But, in this case, I was enraged. Without thinking, I took my crook and ran screaming toward the little troll. I think it must have been shocked at my display, for it dropped Shelblee, snarled, and ran away. I didn’t stick around to see what happened. I picked up the broken lamb, and dragged Ruckles, who had been half-buried behind a tree, with me up the hill. I rounded the flock and darn near ran them all back to town.
I have learned since that this creature may have been an ochiba, so all you men and women of sheep, and any other sorts who might wander in the North Forest, take care!
This is your warning!
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Get Lost at www.lostisles.com. |
My name is Heno. My mum died when I was really young, but we lived in a small town near Deng. Gilgo adopted me and brought me up. When I was in my early teens, we traveled from city to city. In those days money was scarce. Gilgo drank a lot of it away. Also he kept getting in fights with his lady friends and their husbands and brothers. I didn't know at the time what was going on but I understand it now and it's always made me a bit leery of the ladies. I would never want to do one wrong the way Gilgo did. Some day I might be able to convince that Zari over at the Blue Telia how serious I am, but every time I talk to her I come all over shy.
Anyway we worked as militia guards, in various towns, although merchants would also hire us to do guard work. Once I got a little older, we spent some time tramping the roads, and worked as caravan guards and guides. About ten years ago, when passing through Deng, we were called to help defend against a poru invasion. It was during the final battle that Gilgo had a life-changing experience. He almost died, but he turned back the tide of the poru, and saved Deng. When I found him, he was shaking all over, and he barely spoke for a year. I took the reward and bought the Falling Sun here in Saotan, where it’s safer. Gilgo always was a decent cook and knew how to make a mean brew. He's been a little shaky with people ever since this happened so I do the serving and he stays in back mostly.
I still keep up my fighting skills, and belong to the militia, but the business is important to me. If Saotan ever comes under attack, you know I'll be one of the first out the gates to meet the invaders, and my sword will be as sharp as ever. Until then, if you want a good drink, come by and see me.
Anyway we worked as militia guards, in various towns, although merchants would also hire us to do guard work. Once I got a little older, we spent some time tramping the roads, and worked as caravan guards and guides. About ten years ago, when passing through Deng, we were called to help defend against a poru invasion. It was during the final battle that Gilgo had a life-changing experience. He almost died, but he turned back the tide of the poru, and saved Deng. When I found him, he was shaking all over, and he barely spoke for a year. I took the reward and bought the Falling Sun here in Saotan, where it’s safer. Gilgo always was a decent cook and knew how to make a mean brew. He's been a little shaky with people ever since this happened so I do the serving and he stays in back mostly.
I still keep up my fighting skills, and belong to the militia, but the business is important to me. If Saotan ever comes under attack, you know I'll be one of the first out the gates to meet the invaders, and my sword will be as sharp as ever. Until then, if you want a good drink, come by and see me.
- GM Shai, when Qui's entertaining mass death script failed
"Oh sure.. now it goes!"
- GM Qui, about thirty minutes later, when the mass death script suddenly went off by itself, leaving all staffers in a state of non-life
"You forget you are dealing with dwarves Poncho, we can break anything at least three times."
-alpha tester Ovak, commenting on his uncanny ability to break previously, perfectly-running systems
"There is one scaly madder out there who isn't going hungry."
- GM Shai, observing an alpha tester in his failed attempt to make friends with a creature of Juko Swamp
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