 In
the Begining...
In the beginning, there
was light. No, wait, that's too far back. Late Spring of '98 found a group
of adventurers discontent with Rhydin life. They were sick of all the politics,
AA's, DMs, SMs, and the fact that there was no life beyond the taverns
and spars. They sought, in vain, for a forum or guild that shared their
vision of RP beyond politics; role playing above the struggle for dice,
and story lines that challenged and changed a character's very existence.
Late one night, Austin Cushing, Laura Boechat, and Terry Bennett sat down
and hammered out some basic rules for a system that would change the way
we all looked at Role Playing. That system, the Arcane Roleplayers' Consortium,
has evolved since then, driven by a lot of hard work, and the vision that
Laura and Aus continue to follow. ARC was created for two purposes: to
adventure, and have fun. Follow us on the evolutionary journey of
ARC...
Pre-Summer
'98
ARC was just an unofficial
set of rules used to adventure with. These rules, created by Aus, had a
name, though it was not often referred to or used. Laura had begun the
infamous mun guild, MoRE. Both were still members of various RhyDin guilds
and forums, and had no idea where this was heading. Fate took a hand one
night when Aus and Laura were up late with Ter, and the ARC was born from
many hours of revision and addition to these existing rules. The
more we looked at our system, the less we liked RhyDin in general, and
the public sector of role playing.
Summer
'98
ARC evolved into an official
forum somewhere within this time period. While Ter was no longer an active
member of this vision, Laura and Aus worked hard to make this set of rules
into a forum proper. The first ARC website came into being... just the
charter, in text, on a webpage.
Fall
'98
ARC began to grow! We
got a lot more membership, developed the dodge/block system, and more complex
rules. We began to have a more aesthetically pleasing website, with graphics,
and formatting. Most folks weren't going out into public anymore
by this time. Almost everyone had quit their outside guilds and forums,
because ARC was the place to be.
Winter
'98/'99
By this time, ARC was
a fully functioning forum. We had our e-mail going out through eGroups,
and were holding weekly forum classes. Adventures were happening on a regular
basis, and we had several wonderful GMs, and the beginnings of a new world,
Sci-Fi ARC. We began to explore the venue of MS Chat/mIRC, and Aus
programed our own OnlineHost for such areas, much more sophisticated then
AOL's. We had ARC GM tools programs, and were planning our first
big event, the ARC Spring Fair.
Spring
'99 and Beyond
ARC is the official
forum of the RPN (role playing network) of RhyDin, which lists 900+ forums.
We have won the first RWD (RhyDin WebDirectory) gold award. We have a wonderful
play by e-mail going, a forum game room, still have classes going, lots
of great GMs, two other worlds, Sci-Fi and Mutant ARC, with two more in
developement. ARC is the official American online RPG site for B-Movie,
a new RPG which hits the stands in Oct. 99. We had a week long Spring
Fair, which was a lot of fun, and are planning a battle of the sexes for
our anniversary. ARC continues its evolution towards becoming an independent
RPG. What makes us continue to grow? The dedication and devotion of our
members, and the remembrance of our primary goal over everything... adventure
and fun. That's the way it is, and always shall be.
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