Greetings traveler,

Welcome to the twenty-first edition of the alcarin.com newsletter.
There is an archive of the previous newsletters in the Townhall and the columns are added to the Town Square, so you can always read it again.
This month's edition is early, because I'll be off on holidays in the Alps tomorrow. I'll be gone from the 26th of July until the 10th of August. During that period I will not be able to answer any email and probably for some time afterwards as well (there will be lots and lots of emails waiting for me so it will take some time to answer them all). On the forums, Jan-Willem van den Broek (Gorath99) will take over as Administrator, for as long as I am gone (thanks JW). The Dunékàr Online RPG will be running slow for that period, because I can't let someone else take over as game master there. As for this newsletter, again there was no time for a Close-Up. Fortunately, the to most people more important item, the column, was finished in time. In this edition, our brave columnist, Wouter van den Zandschulp (Sensor on the Forums) continues the Jonathan saga (thanks Wouter).
Enjoy reading.

This letter's content:
1. What's New
2. Coming Up Soon
3. Column: Men with a Mission

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WHAT'S NEW:

23/07/2002 - uploaded new map of Alcarin and of Cemen (Elfstone Campaign Setting) to the School

19/07/2002 - uploaded new map of Cemen (Elfstone Campaign Setting) to the School

08/07/2002 - new character in the School: Azazel

06/07/2002 - changed Elfstone Timekeeping system and month names

02/07/2002 - new forum: "User Online Campaigns"

Visit http://www.alcarin.com/townhall/updates.htm for the latest updates.

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COMING UP:

Well, this month has brought us some more additions than last month. I've been working on the new maps for Alcarin (the planet) and Cemen (one of the great realms on Alcarin) for the Elfstone Campaign Setting. These are finished. I'll be giving the work on the Geography pages for these maps more priority. I'll work on short descriptions for the places on these maps before I will expand the Geography page for the City of Arquen (this page already has a legend and short descriptions).
Furthermore, my custom rules for mass combat are almost ready. I'm working on a page for them and I expect them to be online in a few weeks. I'm considering creating some custom rules for morale as well.
There is a new forum on the Forums: the User Online Campaigns. On this forum, users can run their own online missions. You may use any system you want, but use a well known system (if you don't, few or no players will want to play). Most regulars know D&D. Of course, you can also run freeform (= no system at all, maybe some basic rules), like the Dunékàr Online RPG.

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COLUMN: MEN WITH A MISSION
A column by Wouter vd Zandschulp; wouter@alcarin.com

"The powerful voice"

The old man had taken Jonathan to a big castle, where a friend of him lived. It appeared to be the mighty Elven king Indoral.
When they arrived, people immediately shouted: "IT'S GANDALF! GANDALF IS VISITING US!!" and let them in.
"Fools... I'm not Gandalf..." the old man mumbled.
When they were inside the castle, the old man said: "Jonathan, you stay here, and do not touch anything. I'm going to find someone that will make you able to express all that creative thinking of yours."
Jonathan heard the Elven king shout: "Ahh... welcome, mighty Gandalf!" while the old man walked in.
A bit later he heard the Elven king shout a bit unpleased, probably figuring out what the man actually wanted. He suddenly heard things like:
"The impersonating of me riding a goat was NOT FUNNY! I don't care about your intentions, and..."
While this conversation was going on, Jonathan was just walking around a bit. He saw the big door, when open being a bridge over the river made around the castle and the big chains that kept it closed.
"Wonderful" Jonathan thought, "so difficult to open from the outside, and yet so easy to open from here, you just have to take the tension of the..."
Immediately Jonathan heard a very hard sound. The way he thought the roll that held the chain was enough to automatically unwind it. Now the bridge was falling down quite hard.
Unfortunately, at the same time a group of enemies of the king was just walking around the castle, looking at means to enter. When they saw the bridge getting opened before them, they found that pretty convenient.
Jonathan just stood there when he saw the evil group storming towards him. In a split second he knew he created a disaster once again and was good for nothing. He knew he at least had to do something, so suddenly he shouted with all he could:
"INVADERRRRSSS!!!"
This caused the defenders of the castle to come out of their rooms quickly. From a strange tower, a bit higher than the others, a nice looking young woman came out and looked very wondered at the person that called that loud.

A tough battle was fought, but the intruders had flown. King Indoral very quickly understood the cause of them braking in.
"NEVER I WILL HELP THAT... THAT... BOY!" he shouted.
Jonathan had a strange feeling this might have been regarding to him.
Suddenly he saw the beautiful princess from the upper tower running towards her father.
"Father... father... may I... may I help him?" she asked.
"But..." her father said.
"He just yelled with a very powerful, impressive voice. It would be a shame if he would be keep using it in the pitiful way he now normally does. And..."
"But... he is dangerous... and... and..."
"I have the qualities to help people using their voice to, father. And I find his voice very interesting, and..."
"You are not going to stop about this ever till I give in, are you?" her father sighed. "Well, you may, if his guardian accepts and is willing to keep him here for a while... AND... if he not uses the me-riding-a-goat-act anymore..."
"I will not use it any more... or any less..." the old man said.
"EVER!" the king shouted.
The old man looked at Jonathan and sighed.
"Okay, okay... you'd better become a very good bard, the things I do for you."

Later that day Jonathans' guardian, the old man, left. Jonathan knew he would miss him terribly and kept wondering why anyone would go through so much trouble to help a good-for-nothing person like himself.

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Well, that's it for this month's newsletter. I hope you enjoyed it.
Lord Gildor
"May the stars guide you on your journeys"
http://www.alcarin.com

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