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The Farside Gazette                    Vol I, No. 1 Dec. 15th 1994
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The Farside Gazette is published bi-weekly by AsaMaro in
conjunction with (and full permission of) The Farside Staff

The Gazette is written in 100% pure ASCII to assure maximum
compability for all readers using whatever system they use
Subscribe by writing to jderouen@crl.com and including just one
word - Subscribe - in the body of your text
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Welcome to the first issue of The Farside Gazette, the bi-weekly
electronic newsletter dedicated to the best MUD in the known universe,
Farside!

Every two weeks, probably on the 1st and the 15th, we'll attempt to
put out the best in news, stories, and general goings-on that
Farside has to offer.

This issue will naturally be somewhat slim, but, with your help
(Immortal and Mortal alike), each issue will be a little bigger and
a little better than the last.

If anyone out there has ideas and comments regarding The Gazette,
please don't hesitate to write.  We need your input!  We're currently
accepting submissions so if you're a budding young (or seasoned old)
writer, we'd love to hear from you.

People have been asking me this: "AsaMaro, what exactly will
the newsletter cover?" Good question, people. The answer isn't
as clear cut as one might at first suspect.

In a nutshell, we'll cover anything that's of interest to the general
population of Farside.  Anything.  Just tell us what you want, and we'll
try to include it.  If enough people want a fiction piece each issue,
we'll try to include that.  If you want results of quests, we'll try to
include that as well.  If you want . . . Well, you get the idea.  Let us
know what you want.  If we can, we'll include it.

Articles that will definitely be a part of the Gazette include a
bi-weekly player bio, results of major quests, notifications of upcoming
quests, and viewpoint articles from various classes and races that play
in the game.

Marat, a level 29 half-elf mage, has written the first such "viewpoint"
article.  It's the second story below, right after the very first player
bio.

Enjoy!  If you see something you don't like, something you *do* like, or
just anything you want to comment on, write me at jderouen@crl.com.

Thanks,
AsaMaro

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* Farside Bio *
The first bio will be on yours truly.  Not because of my overwhelming
sense of ego (well, maybe a little) but because I felt I should be the
first guinea pig.  No need to subject anyone else to something I
wouldn't first put myself through.  <Grin>
Name: AsaMaro    DeRouen      Age: (Game) 96 (RL) 26
Race: Drow
Class: Martial Artist     Current level: 46

Real Life Interests:
"I'm a freelance writer living in Addison, Texas.  I'm twenty-six years
of age, have been playing Farside since August of 1994, and hope to make
a success of The Farside Gazette.  I've had several articles published
and currently write a regular column for the local (Dallas) monthly
computer magazine Computer Currents.  I've also put out my own
electronic magazine, Sunlight Through The Shadows, for the last year and
a half.  When not spending time writing or MUDding (Gasp!) I like to
listen to Chris de Burgh music, spend time with my loved ones, play with
my cats, and travel.  Not necessarily in that order, though."

Advice To Players:
"Group.  This is probably the most important aspect of playing
successfully in Farside.  If you don't group (especially at higher
levels, when it's a necessity) you'll enjoy little success and will
probably get killed far too often.  You can have the highest damage and
hit rolls in the world, and the lowest armor class imaginable, but
you're really nothing without that cleric to heal you and that warrior
to watch your back."

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*Viewpoint: The Mage *

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE JACK
-or how I learned the finer points of teleportation-

by Marat

In recent weeks (or has it been months?) the note base has been filled
with much discussion on class skills and comparisons. The mages among
us, and I am one of them have piped up from time to time to admit,
declare and whine that we are easily the weiniest of them all. Yes, we
admittedly have neato spells, but no one hits with less force than a
mage.

I will demonstrate that the mage is the weakest link in any chain that
is a group with a reconstruction of how I got most of the points for
my last level. Mind you I had not been invited to join any groups (or
reindeer games) and even my chatting pleas were met with deaf ears. I
was forced to forage for experience points a la carte as it were. I
found that one Farmer Elizabeth, a vendor in New Ofcol could provide
me with anywhere from 17 to 50 points provided I bolstered myself for
the battle.

The process went like this. I would recall, walk one west to avoid
adding to the spam, change out my equipment to the healing type, sleep
and read notes til healed. Then I would partially change out to my
fighting equipment leaving on that which gives me mana and walk to the
spiders. I would kill them to realign my angelic self and hopefully
score some blue potions. Then I would spend several minutes and mana
fruitlessly (well occasionally bearing fruit of the purple kind)
trying to teleport to the large hobgoblin. I usually ended up in a
room of hobgoblin soldiers.

After this, I would teleport to the master binder, go one west,
retrieve my silvery key, open the cabinet, and get a metal wand. The
wand is just to drain points from the inhabitants of the Wayhouse which
I would teleport to next. After filling myself to the brim with
scavenged hit points, I would teleport to Granny in New Ofcol, (a
unique name and one that keeps me from ending up someplace truly
frightening) walk the five rooms to the Farmer's Market, cast all my
spells on myself, rest to heal my mana (again), then attempt to kill
Farmer Elizabeth.

Then I would do it *all* *over* *again*. This illustration of the day in
the life of a mage is not to gain sympathy, but perhaps empathy.  Sure I
could have been a warrior, but at the time I was choosing my character I
was thinking of the romantic image of the magic user.  Dreaming of the
advanced spells I could learn, and not realizing that I would never do
anything more than scratch with my offhand. And that while being able to
teleport is truly wondrous, one must be very careful of the monster
named.

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*News*

Clerics, be sure to check out Snikt's new cleric spells!  There's a lot
of good ones in there, and even non-clerics will benefit greatly from
them.

Winners of Crom's recent area tournament were Diehl (Bantam weight,
levels 1-10), Dyrian (Lightweight, levels 11-20), Leorick (Welterweight,
levels 21-30), AsaMaro (Middleweight, levels 31-40) and Fudd won the
Heavyweight (Levels 41-50) belt.  Each successfully turned back many
challenges to win their respective titles. Congratulations!

In one of his first quests as a Hero, Dazed enthralled and delighted us
all with a "rainbow quest" challenge.  We had to find items with the
colors red, orange, white, purple, green, and amber in them.  The prize
was a level.  Cyclone won.  Soon after, Cyclone went on to become a hero
and now spends his time helping the mortals amongst us and trying to
advance in hero levels.
Congrats, Cyclone!