LOTJ Weekly: A Returning Issue

LOTJ Weekly is something I used to post from time to time in the forums, way back when. Basically, I interview someone from LOTJ about their experiences on the MUD. Sometimes it’s imms, concerning game stuff, other times its old fogies talking about the good old days.

For our returning issue after.. a very long time, I stepped into an AIM chat room with RenegadeJedi.

Altrez: I’m here with RenegadeJedi, a veteran player on LOTJ whose played and done everything. Including being an RPC member.
Altrez: Rj, how are you doing today.
Renegade jedi: Just in case the people lame enough to watch (read?) this have forgotten who I am: ?*
Altrez: Yes. It’s an introduction.
Altrez: A quarter of our players have amnesia.
Altrez: I think. What was I talking about?
Renegade jedi: …I was correcting your grammar, since I’m the resident grammarian (or, at least, the most vocal of such players).
Renegade jedi: You were asking me how I am.
Renegade jedi: The answer’s "good enough" (provided Hun doesn’t make RPC in the upcoming elections).
Altrez: You can copy and paste that again.
Renegade Jedi: …I could, yes.
Altrez: Speaking of RPC, thinking about taking a shot?
Renegade jedi: God, no. I’m barely on LotJ enough to keep up my OOC reputation and give my scant few characters enough playtime to keep them updated.
Renegade jedi: Whoever said that college and "insane amounts of freetime" are synonyms is insane.
Altrez: No kidding.
Altrez: Well, now that the MUD has breathed a sigh of relief, let’s get to some general questions about your experience on LOTJ…
Renegade jedi: Why don’t you run for RPC, Altrez?
Renegade jedi: Hell, I’d vote for you. Maybe.
Altrez: Too much work, I guess.
Renegade jedi: You’d definitely have my vote if it came down to "who has the strangest name," the strategy that saw me faithfully through years of school government elections.
Altrez: Plus, all of that listening to people. I hate that.
Renegade jedi: I can’t judge you; that’s why I’m not doing it.
The "listening to people" thing isn’t that bad. You can make fun of them behind their back(s) as much as you want.
Altrez: I guess there is that. I’ll think about it, depending on popular opinion and possible bribery opportunities.

(Awkward pause filled with sexual tension)

Altrez: Anyway.
Renegade jedi: Anyways!
Altrez: To get things rolling, if you had one moment that really stuck out in your head while playing on LOTJ.. I’d like to hear about that.
Altrez: Keep it PG, though.
Renegade jedi: So no stories about my wild sexploits? Damn.
Altrez: I know, a part of me died inside because we’re missing out.
Renegade jedi: Well, there was this one time back when I was a newb–it happened; ask Walldo!–when I was playing Drel. The Chiss EoT event was just in its infancy, and there was a "mysterious attack" on Naboo. Being the intel weenie loser that Drel was, I was there. Sintaka silenced me so I couldn’t spill the secrets.
Altrez: So you just kind of stumbled into this great chiss conspiracy?
Renegade jedi: Granted, I remember a lot of the stuff from that event; it was the best event I’ve ever been in, and Drel was one of my favorite characters from all the ones I’ve had.
Renegade jedi: It wasn’t so much a conspiracy as it was three Chiss wandering around on Naboo. I was silenced because the "conspiracy" hadn’t happened yet; I got in on the proverbial ground floor.
Altrez: Ah, right.
Altrez: They were still buying armor and jewelry.
Renegade jedi: I don’t remember Naboo selling much back then, but the only thing I remember about equipment from back then is how rigged claneq stormtrooper gear was.
Renegade jedi: …so I’ll take your word for it.
Altrez: man, clan eq. Sometimes you just miss the cream filling.
Altrez: ..of the twinkie that is.
Altrez: we’re still maintaining PG.
Renegade jedi: That’s unfortunate.

Alrez: Was that the same era where the chiss ran around destroying everything, right before the Vohng came to mop up everything that was left?
Renegade jedi: Yes, it was.
Renegade jedi: As I said, that was the most fun event I’ve ever been in.
Altrez: hah. I was pulling a khaeros then, throwing things at chiss with my ghost.
Renegade jedi: …and the mud agrees–our peak player counts were during that event.
Altrez: Yeah, it was great.
Altrez: The excitement, the action. Even inevitable death didn’t make it any less fun.
Renegade jedi: …because when you died you could roll as a Chiss!
Altrez: Perfect.
Renegade jedi: The warrior system never captured that
Altrez: Were you Drel for that whole thing?
Renegade jedi: No, I also played Rhaltus, a Zeltron smuggler. He was a pilot and guard (Zeltrons were super rigged for levels that TL) for Kuat Drive Yards.
Renegade jedi: Kuat was off in the middle of nowhere back then, so KDY was one of the first targets–the /first/ target, maybe–of the Chiss attacks.
Altrez: Nice. Right on the front lines.
Renegade jedi: Another pilot and I survived two attacks then Rhaltus died so the other pilot could survive the third.
Renegade jedi: Yeah, it was the only major battle I’ve been in ICly on the piloting side.
Altrez: Those chiss ships were no joke though.
Renegade jedi: Well, I guess Hobo helped pilot in some battles, but he was an espionage main and stayed away from that stuff for the most part.
Renegade jedi: Yeah, superlasers = wtf.
Altrez: Just like – blamo! Half of your hull gone.
Renegade jedi: …if not a one-hit kill.It could take down the shields on an ISD, IIRC.
Renegade jedi: I’d hate to be in an MC40.
Altrez: I think I remember manning a turret in a battle on one. As a jawa.
Altrez: Still pretty exciting.
Renegade jedi: Yep.

Altrez: So if Drel is your favourite character, do you have a massive screw up hiding somewhere in your past roster? A least favourite, or a joke gimmick?
Renegade jedi: Well, I have some screwed-up characters, but they were screwed up because they didn’t live up to my expectations. I don’t know if I have a least favorite, but I do have a bunch of characters that I can barely remember, so I guess those would be my "least favorite."
Renegade jedi: Hobo–my other favorite character–was a "joke gimmick"; I named him after my first character.
Altrez: I want to guess he walked around with a bindle.
Renegade jedi: Not that I know of.
Renegade jedi: He would either dress as an engineer or a pilot, so he could fake being a moron if needed.
Altrez: So he was with the republic?
Altrez: I kid.
Renegade jedi: Actually, yes.
Altrez: Haha <!– s:P –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt="" title="Razz" /><!– s:P –>
Renegade jedi: He was with the OR for a while, helped the Alliance before it was even a clan, and then ran New Republic Intelligence. …but he was also with pretty much every clan out there, barring the Empire and maybe an engi clan or two over the TL.
Altrez: A true drifter.
Renegade jedi: …he had lots of spyapps.

Altrez: I’ve actually never applied for a spyapp. I figured they were hard to get.
Renegade jedi: They’re not that hard to get. You just have to have a decent-enough reason and the writing ability to turn it into a good app.
Altrez: Were yours mostly all on Hobo?
Renegade jedi: My spyapps?
Renegade jedi: Yes.
Renegade jedi: I’ve had less than half a dozen that weren’t on Hobo, I think. Maybe a few more, but less than ten.
Renegade jedi: Hobo had… a lot. I lost count.
Altrez: Any really interesting betrayals?
Altrez: Or ones you’ve experienced.

Renegade jedi: I don’t know if you were around that TL–the Neru Bas TL–but there was this clan at the end called the Crimson Sect. They were run by an insane ex-Jedi who wanted to purge the galaxy of all life. That ex-Jedi happened to be an ex-friend of Hobo’s (who had very few friends, most of whom he saw die over the course of the TL), so Hobo joined the Crimson Sect and was going to end it (a man doesn’t let another man shoot his dog, or some such) or die trying.
Renegade jedi: I was only a day or three away from finishing my accumulation of all of the codes to their ships when the &quot;surprise, pwipe!&quot; thing happened.
Renegade jedi: To this day, the ban Orion would’ve given me (the Crimson Sect plot was one of his pet projects) would’ve been so worth the look on his face when his EoT event just fizzled.
Altrez: Ahh, I do remember that one. I had a whiphid, and a sith child or some such.
Altrez: That actually would have been a great ending, if you’d gotten the chance.
Altrez: That timeline was interesting too. We had that random force infusion going on. Lots of people randomly getting force.
Renegade jedi: Yeah, I’ve never understood why EoTs always have to be a &quot;defeat&quot; for the players. Shouldn’t it be better, story-wise and morale-wise, for it to be a super-costly win instead of a total loss?
Renegade jedi: Hobo never got force, despite most of the people he knew getting it.Though, he was apparently immune to the force, so I didn’t mind. It made for a fun plot.
Altrez: Yeah, I don’t know if LOTJ has a thing for devestatingly bad endings on the players part?
Altrez: I can’t remember the pbase pulling through with a happy victory for at least one good group.
Renegade jedi: Yeah, all of the EoT events have ended in rape.
Renegade jedi: Chiss dominated, and then were in-turn dominated by the Vong.
Altrez: Must be karma.
Renegade jedi: Crimson Sect was in the lead when the surprise pwipe happened (not counting my secret plan).
Renegade jedi: The True Empire dominated in the mini-TL EoT.
Renegade jedi: Well, I guess the Yevethans did lose fairly.
Renegade jedi: …but that wasn’t so much an EoT as an entire era.

Altrez: Speaking of cosmic balance, you’ve played at least one forcer that I’m aware of.
Renegade jedi: Which one are you aware of?
Altrez: Okay, I lied.
Altrez: But I know you’ve played some.
Renegade jedi: Yes, I’ve played three.
Altrez: I can FEEL it.
Altrez: Aha
Altrez: Have you experienced any really cool force chi moments on LOTJ? Like something you could have pulled right from the movies.
Renegade jedi: My first forcer was Thalus, a Hapan combat that I rolled as an alt to help out Daljo–who was running Hapes at the time. He ended up rolling force. He was about to be taken by the Jedi to the Alliance when the Empire captured the Master that was helping him and gave Thalus the &quot;join or die&quot; choice.
Renegade jedi: Hmm.
Renegade jedi: Thalus had a pretty movie-epic death, I think, discounting the &quot;Orion cheating&quot; part.
Renegade jedi: The other two had ignoble deaths in space when both were ground fighters.
Altrez: That happens a lot with forcers.
Renegade jedi: Well, as I said, Thalus was a good guy scooped up by the Sith.
Renegade jedi: He did some bad things in the Empire, and when he finally managed to escape the Epire–he was captured by the Rebels–he couldn’t live with himself. So, after gearing up and such, he turned himself in to Sasha, the Empress played by Emily, to end it once and for all.
Renegade jedi: Her entire death RP consisted of a say–&quot;You know what I must do&quot;–and then attacking. I beat her down once, but was below half hp/mv/fp because of it… then a copyover hits. She pops back up at full everything, and I’m still weak. She wins easily. No restore.
Renegade jedi: By &quot;death RP&quot; I ment the perm RP. Bad wording on my part.
Renegade jedi: meant*
Altrez: The good old redemption twist.
Altrez: Good thing the Emperor never got a copyover.
Renegade jedi: I wouldn’t know. I went back to playing Hobo after Thalus died. Thalus was the reason Hobo never ended up clanned in the Alliance, actually.

Altrez: I’m not sure how long I usually made these. We’re about a page now. Anything in particular that you’d like to share about LOTJ?
Altrez: Most exciting times? Passionate? Best RP?
Renegade jedi: Most passionate times? I thought you said it had to stay PG.
Altrez: Oh, whoops.
Altrez: Glad you caught me there.
Renegade jedi: I’ve already been over the most exciting times–they were on Hobo and Drel. Mainly on Drel, really… running around Naboo trying to find stuff out, leading Chiss on a merry chase through Arbra…
Renegade jedi: I don’t know what the best RP I’ve had would be. Drel and Hobo weren’t very emotional, so they’re out, as fun as the characters were. I had some good RP on Raltus, a remake of Rhaltus. He was a Zeltron smuggler who started as a youth on day one of the Neru Bas TL… he ended up helping to lead the Republic navy.
Renegade jedi: I also had a lot of fun with the RP on my two forcers last TL, Cam Jhalyn and Vilhar-Todra/Dohal-Viltra.
Renegade jedi: It might just be the recentness of it all, but the best RP has probably been this TL, so I can’t exactly talk about it.
Renegade jedi: I didn’t have an alt this TL until very recently, and the main character I did have was made to be very RP-intensive.
Altrez: Yeah, I found myself with a couple of alts this TL too.
Altrez: It’s been a little slow. But it looks like it’s picking up.
Renegade jedi: It hasn’t been that bad, in my opinion.

Altrez: That’s why I’m talking to you! Your opinion. Anyway, I think that about wraps it up.
Altrez: Anything you want to add?
Renegade jedi: Not that I know of.
Altrez: No.. funny zinger to go out on?
Renegade jedi: This hasn’t been so much of an interview as a mudbiography.
Altrez: Haha! That’s a good one.
Renegade jedi: I guess I’ll end with an inside joke, then: &quot;rule 3, vote for me.&quot;
Altrez: This has been.. an Altrez video. Thank you for joining me RJ.
Renegade jedi: Wait, Video?
Altrez: I mean. ..interview.
Altrez: I’ll edit that.
Renegade jedi: Heh.
Altrez: …in the video. (Edit: Coming to stores near you.)

Behind The Scenes:

Altrez: That was pretty good for picking it up after.. uh. A few years.
Renegade jedi: &quot;That’s what she said&quot;?
Altrez: NOW you give the funny zinger? <!– s:P –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt="" title="Razz" /><!– s:P –>
Renegade jedi: Story of my life <!– s:-( –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!– s:-( –>

tl;dr

Yeah, I skip by just about anything involving RJ so this was a pretty boring read for me too.

Props to Altrez for initiative though.

Good job, maybe I can do one someday, I’m prety old too.

I read it all. I enjoyed it. I laughed, I cried. It was very emotional.

My favorite part: