WELCOME TO WORLDWIDE LORDNET by Della Moore, Editor WorldWide Lordnet is proudly accepting new members again!! Both Joseph Masters and Seth Able are working HARD to fix any ugly ole glitch that rears its head!! It WAS a rough summer:(! However, a "bug report" now is generally fixed in less than 24 hours...YIPPEE WAHHOOO!! At this time WWLN is operating under version 3.26A of LORD. This allows Joseph to work with the BETA report WWLN had compiled for him AND allows Seth some time to perfect LORD3.50:)!! A reset of the game is planned for September 1 so join immediately and play hard!! I want to take a minute to pay special tribute to those Sysops who have hung in there through all the hard times. They are indeed a VERY special group of people:)!! WorldWide LordNet has formed its own BETA test team to check out the IGMs around. ONLY those with minimal impact on the game, stable and not badly crippled in the shareware version are acceptable for WWLN InterBBS play. Some boards stay in competition quite nicely without running ANY of the IGMs. It is our goal not to force any BBS to run a particular IGM. Rather, we hope to approve enough to offer Sysops a wide choice:)!! Sysop-configurable IGMs and daily multiple-entry IGMs receive MUCH closer scrutiny. PLEASE consider joining WorldWide LordNet. As Uncle Sam used to say, "I want YOU!" Della LNC or HB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WorldWide LordNet keeps score both by average and by total. This allows small, single node boards to compete quite successfully with large, multi-node boards:)!! The last game on WWLN was hard-fought with the leaders changing frequently. The following is a listing of the top ten BBSs in each category in ALPHABETICAL order. The contest was just too close to proclaim an "official" winner. Congratulations to all who played hard and well!!! AVERAGE TOTAL The Bureau Osceola Ia Columbia Spitfire Dallas Tx The Coop Calgary AB Canada The Coop Calgary AB Canada Greyhounds Sumner Wa Farpoint Paris Tx The Grind Stone Midland Tx Greyhounds Sumner Wa Hurricane Black Stump Australia The Grind Stone Midland Tx Mad Hatters Dudley NC The Humble Place Springfield Mo Moore Fun Winfield Ks Mad Hatters Dudley NC Searchlight City Davenport Ia Moore Fun Winfield Ks Shareware Inc La Prairie Canada Shareware Inc La Prairie Canada Sugar River Valley Newport NH Sugar River Valley Newport NH ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH ³ ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ; Steve Newman COLUMBIA SPITFIRE Dallas, Texas ___________ The problem with writing about yourself seems to always be the problem of where to begin. I guess the beginning....well, almost the beginning...is the best place. So let's make the professional part of this diatribe the part of which I speak the least. I always had an interest in music and the arts. My father went for his Ham Radio license back in the mid 50's but Morse code wasn't exactly music to my ears. But I must say the broadcast part of all of this Ham Radio stuff did interest me. So how does one meld music and radio? You guessed it: Broadcasting. At the tender age of 13 I jumped on a bus and headed to downtown San Francisco and entered the city's first "Top-40" station and asked if I could watch the DJ's operate. They obliged and after a couple of hours with my nose pressed against the sound-proofed glass, I knew what I wanted to do. The rest is history and I've been doing the broadcasting thing ever since. Being a broadcaster has some side benefits. One of them is collecting the music. I have quite a collection. Oldies-but-Goodies we call them. When I moved from the hurried San Francisco Bay Area to the more sane Pacific Northwest in 1981, I decided I had to finally catalog this ever increasing inventory of music. How does one do this? With a computer, of course! Shall I go any further? So Steve gets a computer. An Epson XT! Wow, I was setting the world on fire. Then I was gifted a 1200 baud modem from a friend (this person is not my friend any longer!...no, just kidding). The idea of making a phone call and getting files for my computer was absolutely amazing. But it wasn't fast enough, so I stepped up to 2400 baud! Am I telling any of you anything you didn't know already? Probably not. One day I logged onto a Portland multi-node Bulletin Board: Random Access Information Network, R.A.I.N. for short, and started to look for bulletin board software. I downloaded Quick BBS. Quick ain't the word for it and 32,000 security levels evoked quite a loud belly laugh from within. I shelved the software and logged on the next day and found this lonely little file called SF27.ZIP. I download it and, as I've said before in this article, the rest is history. On May 5, 1990, Steve's BBS (original name, huh?) was born. Some of my local callers started to give me brilliant ideas for a name change. Such names as SPIT 'N FIRE and others I don't remember came my way. Finally after some thought the name COLUMBIA SPITFIRE came to mind. I lived in Columbia County and overlooked the Columbia River. I loved my new BBS package so it was a perfect name and one I thought one that could easily be remembered. I had a unique situation where I lived. I was 25 miles West/Northwest of Portland, Oregon. You guessed it. The phone calls were long distance. They'd recently discovered computers out there so the local business was picking up, I'm happy to say. I wanted a few more callers than I was getting when I first started the BBS, so I became--with the help of Frank Lech--a SPITFIRE support BBS and installed a high speed modem, the U.S. Robotics Courier HST 14,400 baud modem. I don't have to tell you how I thrilled at the sight of those download speeds! The SPITFIRE sysops started calling after the word spread that this crazy guy in the woods of Oregon carried all those nifty SPITFIRE utilities. This is where my friendships began. I loved helping the SPITFIRE sysops. I've helped a few, to say the least, over the last 5 years. Well, as when 1200 baud wasn't fast enough, 1 node was no longer capable enough. So I added the second node about June of 1991. It ran under Desqview for quite sometime until I moved into the world of the LAN. I had just perfected Desqview when I made the change, so now I had a whole new set of challenges to face. What would we sysops do if it all just sat in the corner and purred like a kitten? Probably wouldn't be as insane as we are now, right? I must love the insanity of it all. I've always lived in the fast lane so I might as well continue. The area from where I operate looks more like a computer store than an office. I have plans for expansion but that's for another day....another millenia. Now, two states later and a bit poorer, I still have a wall full of computers and, yes, a 3-Node operation we still lovingly call COLUMIBA SPITFIRE. The 3rd Node is my private node but is fully functional and what with the BBS traffic the Dallas Metroplex affords I just might have to hook a phone line up to that one real soon. OH NO! Not LORD on 3 Nodes! Something's wrong with this picture! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SEPTEMBER 1 UPDATED APPROVED IGM LIST: These IGMs work with LORD3.26a. Not all will work with LORD3.50:(!! APPROVED LIST ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BARAK'S HOUSE - Let's face it folks! Seth Able's OWN IGM and the most stable of the IGM's available. No Big adjustments can be made in here and you only get to enter once a day. LORD TRIVIA - The second most stable IGM. No entry after level Six unless it is registered. Allows small increases of gold. Only one entry per day. BACKALLEY CHURCH - The version of this IGM makes a dramatic difference on its impact on WorldWide LordNet. BAC201 is the ONLY version approved at this time. At looooooong last we have a version that stays stable and is not badly crippled in the shareware version. This IGM allows players to get a bit of this and that. With 201 there is no major impact on the game. Allows bonuses only once per day. THE WISE ONE - Newer Versions ONLY.. gold has to be limited to 30,000 gold pieces and experience to 1,000. Versions W1-120, W1-199 and W1-200 are the versions acceptable at this time. If any Sysop is caught running the older versions or having a higher gold or experience limit than specified above will be banned from WorldWide LordNet and this IGM will be dropped from the Approved List. THE ARENA OF LORDS - Gives gold if you can beat Tyr (who is almost as powerful as the Red Dragon itself) But you must have a fairy to be able to fight him. POOL OF TRANSFORMATION - However unstable this IGM is, and I really do NOT suggest running it, it allows you to trade 3 charm for 1 Hitpoint or vice versa. THE LORD STABLES - a place to buy, sell, or keep a horse. LET'S HAVE FUN - Minimal impact on the game, but I think it's FUN to ask the users to do a simple arithmetic problem!! OUTHOUSE - Freeware and funny. Minimal impact on the game. JOURNEY TO SHERWOOD FOREST - Fun and I've only seen minimal impact on the game. LORD COUNTY FAIR - One of the most entertaining IGMs around. The alphabet versions are banned from WWLN. Version LFAIR25 and above are the ONLY approved versions. This is for the sake of stability and fairness:)!! The alphabet versions would NOT stay stable on a wide number of systems. The number versions are far less powerful. THE OLD SKULL INN - Provides HUGE amounts of information on the players in your game. Minimal impact on WWLN. ALADDIN'S BAR - Fun for multi-node boards. NO impact on game as it is just a chat room. Freeware. HIGHWAYMAN - Hard on players, but shouldn't give an unfair ADVANTAGE to boards using it. THE GUILD - Hard to answer very many questions correctly, but stable and fun. Little impact on the game. SOCRATE'S SHOP - I REALLY do not recommend running this IGM for InterBBS play! It simply causes players to fight amongst themselves rather than fighting other BBSs. However, the impact that it has on WorldWide LordNet can be countered with minimal effort. In fact, when a BBS has players fighting amongst themselves, the rest can go sailing right past in the rankings!! LDTRX115 is the ONLY acceptable version at this time. OFF TO THE HORSE RACES - This is a FUN IGM! It allows users to bet on races or be a jockey. IF a player wins, the rewards are pretty high. However, players don't win very often. TALENT FOR THE SKILL - A relatively easy way to increase skills. It's free- ware and has minimal impact on WWLN. FELICITY'S TEMPLE - An IGM that allows increases in a number of different areas. However, it can also cause DECREASES in different areas. It is slightly more powerful than I really like, but players may well be hurt rather than helped. FEL1_5 is the ONLY approved version at this time. The earlier versions are simply too powerful. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! These IGMs have been tested on a multitude of systems by WWLN, but there is NO way to guarantee that they will work correctly for everyone. There are MANY great IGMs in existence that are simply too powerful for InterBBS play. There are also a number of IGMs that will probably be added to the next list. They just need further testing. Any IGM that is so severely crippled in the shareware version to make testing impossible, will NOT be considered for use in WWLN. **************DA STEENKIN RULES************** 1. No spitting on the sidewalk!! It's the law!! 2. ALL nodes joining WWLN must agree to abide by these rules. 3. As LNC..or HB..my decisions are final. 4. ONLY the approved IGMs will be allowed for InterBBS play. 5. Communication with me is through the NC_SYSOP echo. 6. Nodes are asked to poll daily. Packets more than 3 days old are deleted. No contact for a week without notification is grounds for removal from WWLN. 7. The packets for each node are processed at 2:00 A.M. This takes approximately 30 minutes. The BBS is then toggled private to allow nodes to pick up their packets easily. This is CDT. If at all possible PLEASE make your transfers between 2:30 & 5 A.M. Obviously, Australia is exempt from this rule:)!! I won't pitch a cow over this, but it would be a courtesy to me and my users. 8. I am neither God nor babysitter!! Each hub is responsible for their end nodes. The problems within LORD and LNET are now being addressed rapidly!!! MEGAthanks go to Seth and Joseph:)!!! 9. If you feel that a particular node is "cheating" please notify me AND the node itself. 10. Netmail is rarely answered and ALL important announcements come through the NC_SYSOP echo. PLEASE read it on a regular basis. I have neither the time nor desire to carbon copy messages to everyone. See rule 8!! 11. Remember this is a GAME and supposed to be fun:)!! Play nice, play fair and we can keep it that way!!! 12. These rules are subject to modification as deemed necessary. 13. There is no need to kiss my feet or other parts of my anatomy!! E N J O Y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLICATION TO JOIN WORLDWIDE LORDNET Fill this out and send it via netmail to : Moore Fun BBS 1-(316)221-2408 Fido 1:291/71 Voice # 316 221 2397 Please allow 48 hours after sending in your application. Then give me a call voice & we'll get you up and running. I'm generally available on all weekends and weekdays between 6 and midnight CDT. Obviously, that will go back to CST come fall!! BBSNAME:_______________________________________________________ SYSOP NAME:____________________________________________________ NODE ID i.e 1:291/74:___________________________________________ BBS PHONE NUMBER:_______________________________________________ HOME PHONE:_____________________________________________________ CITY,STATE:_____________________________________________________ ALIAS USED IN ECHOMAIL:_________________________________________ HUB [ ] END NODE [ ] INDEPENDENT [ ] CHECK ONE PLEASE! If you are an end node, please include the name of your hub:)!! It's very possible that your hub can get you up and running and you will not need to contact me at all...save a little long distance! W E L C O M E T O W O R L D W I D E L O R D N E T ! ! !