There are very few games, as I look at them in retrospect, that have had significant, lasting impact on my life. Thief: The Dark Project was my first experience being fully immersed and scared witless in a video game. Final Fantasy 7 displayed just how much power and emotion a cut scene can have. But for me, one game stands out on its own – as it not only had a profound impact on my grades in college (for the worse, I am sad to say) but I also wouldn’t be here, doing what I do for a living and writing this article, were it not for this one game. I am speaking, of course, about Asheron’s Call – the game that I feel in love with and helped me to become an embodiment of Turbine’s motto (Powered by Our Fans).

 
In March 2001, I was nearly at the end of my second term in college, working part time at a Software Etc and trying to figure out what my next game purchase would be. I had beaten Half-life and was becoming tired of Team Fortress Classic and Counter-strike. I wanted something new and different. It was then that my manager introduced me to Asheron’s Call.

 
While it wasn’t the best looking game on the shelf, I had never played anything like it before! I could make my character the way I wanted to make it. I wasn’t bound by classes or the conventions of fantasy. Sure – there were creatures that were analogs for the fantasy mainstays but the game didn’t dwell on them being analogs. It marched forward and developed the characters and cultures to the beat of its own drum. There was always something new to look forward to. Each month, my roommates and I would patiently wait for the servers to come up (despite the mantra of “Never Play on Patch Day”), ready to devour the new quests and dungeons we were certain would be there waiting for us. Each month, the story of Asheron’s Call grew – I had never seen the story of a game evolve like this before. I had never seen a game where the players impacted the course of events.

 
I got a call the week of Christmas, 2002. It was Turbine and they wanted to interview me for a position on one of their art teams. It wasn’t for Asheron’s Call (some no-name project called Middle-earth Online or something) but it was my foot in the door and the beginnings of my time here at Turbine. Eventually, I found my way onto the Asheron’s Call Live team and was put in charge of art. And during my time on the team, was probably one of the most prolific artists AC1 had seen.

 
In total, I have contributed to over 25 live updates. I’ve created over 10 unique monsters and countless variations of existing monsters. I have generated scores of weapons and armor. And, I’ve even done a little bit of quest designing. If I hadn’t played and subsequently fallen in love with the game, I don’t think I would have thought to apply here at Turbine. As AC1 has grown over the years, so too have I. I’ve moved on to other projects – over loves. But I will always fondly look back at the time I spent working on AC1, for all you fine folk in the community.

Hello and welcome to the Release Notes for the January 2008 update of Asheron’s Call! This month we find that the seasons have once again changed, and a chill is in the air. With this change of seasons, we see the arrival of snow once again across the landscape. This of course means that players may run into a snowman or two in their adventures. Be careful though, as not all snowmen are friendly.

Some adventurers have been reporting that they have been having some problems recalling exactly what happened during some of Dereth’s major events. Some feel that Aerbax is involved in this somehow. Perhaps speaking with Asheron could clear things up?

Lets see what else is happening in Dereth this month!

 We have raised the damage of Streak spells across the board. Players using these spells should notice an increased amount of damage when using these spells in combat. Below is a listing of the damage before and after the changes we have made.

 

Streak Damage Before January Update	Streak Damage after January Update
Level 1: 15-30  Level 2: 16-32  Level 3: 18-36  Level 4: 20-40  Level 5: 22-44  Level 6: 26-52  Level 7: 30-60	Level 1: 15-30  Level 2: 17-34  Level 3: 20-40  Level 4: 24-48  Level 5: 28-56  Level 6: 34-68  Level 7: 40-80

Alchemy peas have been added to the game. This will help those who use grenades create their wares in batches now. We suggest all those interested, speak with Janier al-Evv in Xarabydun.
 

With the turning of the seasons, the landscape has once again begun to take on a more winter feel.
 
The events that were started in October, will be turned off this month. This includes the Al-Jalima invasion, the Harvest Reaper spawns, and the the Majestic Pumpkin. 

Frosthaven has once again become an active area. Make sure to check the area out and help the snowmen.
 

Rumors of a Snowman who is need of assistance have been floating around recently. They say he has been seen most frequently in the mountains to the northeast.
 

Since it is the winter season, the presents have returned to Dereth. Have you been good?
 

Some new named creatures have been seen in the Direlands. It is reported that these creatures are not only a bit tougher, but they also drop a unique item upon death, which can be turned in for a reward.
 

Aerbax is up to something strange. Many of Dereth’s citizens have been reporting having some strange visions of events past.
 

A new face has appeared in Fort Tethana. Make sure you investigate why he is here.
 

Players will soon have the ability to purchase a rename for their characters. There are some rules and restrictions to this new feature. Please keep watching the forums for the official announcement.

So there are just some of the things we have in store for Asheron's Call in January. Please remember that along with everything listed here, there are several new quests and exciting things going into the game for the January event.
 

One hundred updates, of those I contributed to forty-seven updates and portions of two expansion packs. Nearly half of the one hundred!

Where to start…they say that you never forget your first love – I am not certain who they are and how they know this is true, I have never been certain – they are right. Asheron’s Call was my first and it is still an important part of the designer that I am now.

My first offering was Danby’s Outpost located on the northern shore of the inland sea. It was a foray into something new, landscaping, npc creation, item creation and quest design. It was a colossal failure. Maybe not colossal to players but to those on the AC team it was more work for them from an armchair designer who meant to do well but had none of the knowledge of skills necessary to accomplish their goals. Without some serious assistance from Annuvin and Crowley it never would have seen the light of day. I learned a lot from that though. I learned that I needed to study the system to become a good designer. So I did.

I started contributing directly to the game in December of 2001, small bits at first little items of quest bits here and there; in February of 2002 I began work on the Gaerlan Arc. After moving to design full-time I earned the illustrious task of handling much of the main story. Over the course of the next 7 months, I drew the story to a close with a massive battle between the beloved character, Candeth Martine and Gaerlan at the top of the latter character’s citadel. When the portal to Ispar was discovered, players had a choice to make; did Martine live and escape through the portal, or die saving Auberean from Gaerlan’s misguided plan? At the ACPL that next year, I think the question of what happened to Martine was the number one question that I was asked. To anyone who is a fan of The Sopranos, the choice is still up to you.

That first year concluded with Oolutanga, also known as Bobo, and my homage to Planet of the Apes. Has anyone every given Brighteyes mushed nanners? These were the fun days, the early days, and though I cannot go back there I can still hold them as dearly as I do. At the 2002 ACPL I met a great many friendly people, all of them playing Asheron’s Call and all of them happy or inquisitive of what we were doing next where we were going. I knew where I wanted to go and in the winter of 2002 with an uncertain future before us we moved to an episodic story arc. This changed into the Olthoi Arc ending with the defeat of the Olthoi Queen from Knorr.

It was a year where the failures of the previous land invasions were learned and we built out the new invasion of Olthoi. We introduced massive assaults overrunning sections of land and making the deus ex machina nature an infirmity as his power was countered by his greatest foe and failure. Paralyzed by this fear, Asheron was removed from the equation and Elysa needed to step forward and become a leader. I remember this very well; I was cornered at the 2003 ACPL and asked why the female characters were so weak. It was a valid question; Elysa has always been a difficult character for me, personally. She was strong, surely, surviving against the Olthoi and struggling through when her husband was killed and the leader of the first people of Ispar to arrive on Dereth. The players were a different sort though, they were not those initial subjects and Elysa was distant from them. Every effort to empower her was met with difficulty. But then there was Nuhmudira.

My intention all along was to re-imagine Elysa, not kill her. When Nuhmudira hired Oswald it was with the intention of assassination, but Elysa was too strong-willed to die. Nuhmudira on the other hand was my favorite lore character next to Antius Blackmoor (who was, in a sense, an extension of me) and I loved writing her fall to Falatacot practices. Nuhmudira was, I feel my strongest character, she had goals and dreams and would stop at nothing to reach them. Plus, she also enabled me to write my favorite quest ever: The Noir Investigation. Forgive me, but this is a nostalgia piece.

The words drip from my fingertips like moisture ringing a glass of cider over rocks in a smoke-filled room on the fringes of Lytelthorpe. Outside of the bar, I hear the discussion ebbing to the posters outside of all major settlements across Dereth, there is unease in those voices, concern over where they come from and who this Dame that needs help is. Dame Brinna O’Shea paid me well to place the signs and keep my mug full and my mouth shut. I sip the cider slowly and watch the throng grow. They’d figure out soon enough that the Royal Guard had the 4-1-1 and then be off to speak to the Dame. With any luck she’d need my help again and then I’d have a few more pyreal to line my pocket.

I still love that quest and the next ACPL, I remember asking the woman who the previous year mentioned weak female characters, what she thought of them now and she said that I had done much better. That made me smile, that is what designing AC was all about – now what designing LotRO is all about; making people smile.

I ended my run with the Burun Arc, tying pieces of the lore of AC1 and AC2 together. It was a fun run, a fun time and Asheron’s Call is still one of my favorite games of all time. I miss it and love it and let me just say thank you to all the folks still working on the game, playing the game and all those who have come and gone. Asheron’s Call reaches a milestone at 100, the first 100, 100 and going strong.

Congratulations Asheron. You done good.

New content and Functionality

The Festival season is upon us once again.  Dereth once again is abound with tricks and treats. Fun is in the air!

 

The Scarecrows have once again begun appearing on the landscape throughout Dereth.

 

The first stages of our proposed improvements to the trade skills will be going in this month. Players who have the Alchemy skill trained will have the ability to create new 7th level protection gems.  These gems will be able to be traded or given to any player and can be used by any player to cast the various Life Magic protection spells on themselves.

 

Viamontian Racial Masks have finally been made. The maskmakers have been hard at work once again.

 

In keeping with our theme of revising some areas of the game for better hunting we have added some new tasks to continue the improvements in the area known as the Valley of Ruin.

Miscellaneous Changes and Improvements

The spellcraft on the upgraded versions of the Composite Bow and Crossbow has been raised to better reflect the level of the players using them.  This raise in spellcraft will affect the weapons ability to cast on strike.

 

A typo in the description of the modified Silifi of the Crimson Night has been fixed.

 

There was a bug that would prevent Alduressa leggings from being picked up off the ground. This has been fixed for the October event.

 

When the October event goes live newly acquired white rabbit slippers should now appear white instead of the off white that appeared after the launch of ToD.  This only applies to newly created slippers and not previously crafted slippers.