Odyssey Is Here! From: hahn@den.com (Tim Hahn) Date: Fri, 04 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000 =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+^+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ DEN NEWS ISSUE 4 AUG 3, 1995 =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ > > > > ODYSSEY IS HERE < < < Gamer's Den is proud to announce Play-By-Electronic-Mail service for Odyssey, a multi-player strategic fantasy game of diplomacy, exploration, heroic adventure, and military conquest! Anyone able to send and receive Internet email or who has an account with CompuServe can play Odyssey games. TABLE OF CONTENTS Den Notes How Long? Thanks to Playtesters Spotlight: Odyssey Postal Play Gaming Update Slip Line Phoenix See Ya Soon! DEN NOTES As I sit and ponder what to write for this issue of Den News, it strikes me that a year has passed since the last issue of this "monthly" electronic newsletter. Gads! Has it been that long? It's shocking to realize that my vow to hold off on publishing another copy until we released another game resulted in such a blight. Well, I hope to sit in front of the keyboard more often in the coming years. It takes a long time to realize a dream, and for Tim Hahn and myself, Odyssey has been the focus of our lives for the better part of three years. Along the way we received early support from George Cook, Mark Montero, and Robert Watkins. Later on, over a hundred playtesters volunteered their time and energy to help debug, refine, and balance our creation. Now, heralded by the popping off of a cork or two of Dom, I can finally say those magical words... "It's alive!" Ahh, that felt good. Really good. Now I'll shed my lab coat. Recently we hooked up with some neighbors who have one of the cutest company logos around, and together we hope to offer our collection of games to snail mail players across the US. We are also in negotiation with a moderator in the UK for Odyssey postal play. We upgraded our Internet connection to a full time link and have our own WWW and FTP site now. Players using the Internet to submit turns have seen the turnaround times drop to a few minutes. Check out http://www.den.com or ftp.den.com. Hmmm... what else? Phoenix games still draw the serious space gaming crowd and the new pricing model removes financial incentives to drop out when the going gets tough. Dave and Jonathan are STILL working on Industrial Empire. Maybe they should rename it to Empire 2000? Hehe. On a sad note, we finally laid a wreath on our VGA Planets service. To quote one of my favorite fantasy authors there was "no future in it, gentlemen." --- Den News is published by Gamer's Den, and contains up-to-date info provided by players and staff about the goings on at our gaming club, affectionately called the 'Den'. Though "Den News" is a bi-monthly newsletter (changed from monthly), issues may come out slightly earlier or later depending upon activities at the Den. If you are so inclined, we offer free gaming credit to the author of player articles we publish. If you've got Internet access you should check out our web page at http://www.den.com or mail info@den.com. On CompuServe download INFO.DEN in the Vendor library of the PBMGAMES forum. You can contact Den staff directly at support@den.com and on CompuServe at 73613,3472. If you are reading this and you are not playing at the Den yet, you should signup! It costs you nothing to join, and you receive two free turns for Odyssey and Phoenix. SPOTLIGHT: ODYSSEY Odyssey, our grand strategic fantasy game, and the first module, Heroes' Quest, are now commercially available! Odyssey is a multi-player strategic fantasy game of diplomacy, exploration, heroic adventure, and military conquest. It consists of the game system, called Odyssey, and a variety of fantasy modules containing the story-line and backdrop for you gaming. Heroes' Quest is the first module, and it allows 30-50 players to cooperate and compete on a 90x60 provincial map. You create your position complete with characters, items, spells, statuses, and troops when you sign up for a game. Spend your points a few powerful characters or a swarm of novices. Concentrate in arcane disciplines, covert activities, combative strength, pious fervor, or a little of everything. Then pick where you want to set-up in the world, and when the game starts, you will be on your way. As you play, you may pursue heroic quests, amass military might, gain prestige and glory, lay claim to titles and guilds, fight nasty beasts, collect magical items, and carve out your own niche. Work on your own or with a group of players. Your options are virtually limitless in the detailed fantasy world through the combination of hundreds of orders, spells, and features which Odyssey provides. Just use your imagination! The Odyssey rules and the Heroes' Quest module packet are available for free download. Printed copies will be available by mid to late August. Turns process once per week and cost $5.00. Each game can hold up to 50 players and the module is expected to last between 40-70 turns. A sample setup, order submission, and turn result are available for free download. Two games of Heroes' Quest are already accepting signups. Though both offer identical gaming options, the first is a "house" game and the module designer Russell Rice is playing. The second game does not include any Den staff members. Playtesters and anyone interested in testing their mettle against slightly experienced players is encouraged to enter into the house game. Additional games will be created when these two fill up. You can download an online copy of the Odyssey Player's Guide, Heroes' Quest Module Booklet, and sample orders and turns from either our FTP/WWW site or CompuServe: Internet: file://ftp.den.com/pub/den/odyssey/rules.zip (DOS format, zip file) file://ftp.den.com/pub/den/odyssey/hq.zip (DOS format, zip file) file://ftp.den.com/pub/den/odyssey/sample.zip (DOS format, zip file) CompuServe (CIS version of the material): RULES.ODY in lib3 of PBMGAMES (DOS format, zip file) HQ.ODY in lib3 of PBMGAMES (DOS format, zip file) SAMPLE.ODY in lib3 of PBMGAMES (DOS format, zip file) Internet users without access to a zip utility may check our ftp site at file://ftp.den.com/pub/den/odyssey/ for other formats, including plain text. CompuServe users with MACs should see lib1 of the PBMGAMES forum for a zip utility that works on that platform. Players without either CompuServe or FTP/WWW access should email their requests for info to support@den.com. POSTAL PLAY Gamer's Den recently entered a partnership with Llucky Llama who now provide postal moderation for both Phoenix and Odyssey in the United States. Gamer's Den continues to provide email gaming to the networked community. We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with Bob and Debbie Thomson, those two behind the scenes at the growing Llama. If all goes well, snail mail games of Odyssey and Phoenix may start in late-August or September. Anyone interested in postal play should contact Llucky Llama directly at: Llucky Llama Games 80-Q N. Cabrillo Hwy #226-P Half Moon Bay, CA 94019-1667 phone/fax: 415 712 0283/4 We are working with The Madhouse in the UK to provide postal play of Odyssey in the UK. We will pass on more details shortly. Gamer's Den is on the hunt for postal gaming companies to provide Odyssey and Phoenix moderation outside the USA and UK. GAMING UPDATE In May we finally jumped ship from Netcom and got a dedicated SLIP connection with Scruznet. Our new set up provides near instantaneous web responses and reduced turnaround time for forecast responses for turn submissions to a couple of minutes. Our Internet players seem much happier. In Phoenix, we now offer special games for a flat fee. Drop us a line if you are interested. The latest batch of Phoenix winners include Jim Griffith in Phobos-29, and the alliance of Bob Thomson with Keith Thompson in Titania-34. Steve Mann tied Andrew Barton's fastest solo player victory of 21 turns. Both choose the Pini race. SEE YA SOON! So, you made it to the end. Catch you next time. -- Phoenix, Copyright (c) Garrett, Goodman, and Woods 1988-1994 All Rights Reserved Odyssey, Copyright (c) Gamer's Den All Rights Reserved =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ===+ GAMER'S DEN +=== =====+ PO Box 390755 +===== ==+====+ Mountain View, CA 94039-0755 +====+== =====+ Internet: support@den.com CompuServe: 73613,3472 +===== ===+ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +=== =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Referenced By Up