Can y’all not bring your cringe rapport in here and derail the thread.
Thank you.
14 Likes
Another week, another walk down the memory lane.
Moving ahead from the year 2008, the third public AD meetup I attended was held in London in 2011. I think it was initiated by Jhen of the original Stormwind City Watch? Much like Tardon, she was a rather well-known individual in the community at the time, which helped people take the leap to partake in such an initiative.
Arriving in London on a Friday eve, I remember spending time with a Danish player who was fortunately more versed in traveling in the noodle soup that is the London underground. Did a bit of late night roaming in the city, enjoyed an impressive limbo act on the street, gorged on paella, explored the multifloor M&M’s store.
The meetup itself took place the next day, starting at the London Zoo. We were graced with excellent weather for outdoor activities. I think doing something active helped break the ice with people one hadn’t met before, too.
Judging from the photos in my yellowed folders, this gathering was slightly smaller than the previous two, numbering around eight or nine people. I don’t remember feeling it though, given the overall warmth and loveliness of the group. It was a good size to easily talk with everyone present.
While I’m laughing at some of the goofy photos we took, being mindful of people’s privacy despite the time that has passed, please behold this lush greenery and magic-infused jellies instead.
The London Zoo is so big we couldn’t possibly see everything without annihilating our feet. While I’m not a huge advocate of zoos in general, it was reassuring to learn the place is part of ZSL, a global conservation charity, that spends resources on education and research to help endangered species.
Later in the evening, we headed to Nando’s for dinner. The food was delicious, yet little did I know the evening would end up in ugly tears.
Fortunately, there was only one of us breaking down. To be honest, the mere smell of the sauce made me tear up too. And the person poured that thing all over their food. To this date, I don’t think I’ve witnessed anyone downing so many pitchers of drink afterward or seen anyone so blazing red in the face. Bless their brave soul. I hope their taste puds weren’t charred forever.
After Nando’s, I think a few headed home while others, myself daringly included, were intrigued by a thing called “nightlife” to finish the day on a lively note. Ended up someplace pulsating with live music. We danced, and the energy grew until the sudden realization we had a circle of people around us watching. Instead of being chased out with rotten tomatoes, thankfully, upon leaving the joyful chaos in the late hours, the place’s manager passed me a card inviting us to return and dance once more. Alas this Cinderella had a plane to catch the next day!
Occasionally I wonder if the place still exists; the photo I have of the card is so tiny I can’t read the text. Anyone recognize the logo?
I remember the trip with warmth. Yet for the next several years, I don’t remember anyone organizing more real life meetups. Stay tuned for the next story though, which will focus on the first rendezvous in the northern vicinity.
18 Likes
ohhh it’s the lad from last night o/ o/
The logo on the card reads Stunt Fox.
https://www.stuntfox.co.uk/
2 Likes
odd but still 
not vulparia like at all
1 Like
Thanks Bloodshroud! A shame Stunt Fox doesn’t have a regular venue in London from the looks of their website.
Time has come to leap from 2011 England into the Finnish summer 2016.
Prologue: Having had some changes in my life and with extra time in my hands, I found myself nostalgic about those old real life meetups I’ve been talking about in this thread already. Felt it’d be wonderful to have the opportunity to meet new people who share a common interest that has influenced my life so much; WoW and roleplay.
Yet, I hesitated. I’d never done something like that. Despite perhaps giving the impression of being super outgoing and appearing everywhere, I’m actually not the most social butterfly in the real world. Organizing something like that would be very much stepping out of my comfort zone.
Pondering this, I asked myself; what’s the worst that could happen versus the best that could happen? The probable worst-case scenario: only a couple of individuals turn up and our chemistry is so awkward we’d want to flee after 5 minutes. Best-case scenario: a bunch of people turn up and we have a jolly good time, with fun memories to treasure.
Decided to give it a shot, and see if there’d be interest in a meetup. Proposing it was made slightly easier with the realm having a fairly active Facebook group back then, which I was following alongside an AD art group. It felt less jarring to bring the idea up in a place where people were a bit more open about sharing real life stuff in general VS the faceless realm forums. Having organized in-game community initiatives on Argent Dawn since the dawn of time, I was quite confident though that people could trust me to make the event happen, rather than just mad goofing around with no concrete plan.
So how did it go?
Number wise, we had about 20 people come to the meetup, from Finland and visitors from other countries. That’s plenty!
I reflected on the past meetups, and as an introvert myself, tried to think of ways to help people effortlessly break the ice. Instead of just sitting people down at some pub and expecting conversations to flow nonstop between strangers, I thought it’d be better to have some casual activities people can do together while mingling.
At the outset of our Saturday gathering, we met at a bar that had a games room downstairs, including billiard, darts, football table, etc. In other words, kicking things off with PvP. 
So far so good, people are talking. Nobody has run away yet. After an hour or two, with everyone arrived, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant. Bellies filled, it was time to head to Ropecon, the big roleplay convention in Finland.
Steampunk blacksmiths outside the con area.
Not all the activities were in English, so tried to pick something that’d be easy to follow regardless, such as cosplay performances and historical weapon fighting shows. Beyond that, touring around the place and indulging in the market that had lots of interesting stalls selling a variety of stuff such as artwork/prints, fantasy crafts, clothing, costume props and comics/manga.
While it was nice to visit the con and people bought some cool stuff there, I personally felt the event wasn’t yet big enough to fill the huge convention center it had recently been moved to. Having often attended the convention in its previous, smaller but way prettier location, I missed the charm it used to have in my rose-tinted memories.
That said, I’m interested to visit the convention again, as last year they had over 7100 visitors over the weekend (4000 in 2016). It’s great to see Ropecon growing bigger and bigger after the pandemic, and being in a more central location it’s easier for people to visit. There’s delight in observing people who likely used to attend these events as oddball teens, now going there with their families and so forth. Being a non-commercial event, it’s not the same experience as, say, Blizzcon used to be with big dollar American style flashiness. But the volunteers’ passion for the RPG genre speaks volumes for the growing visitor numbers.
In the evening we returned to the city center, where I had reserved some tables for us at a pub. Drinks flowed, food was shared, and some people immersed themselves in card games.
Shuang, being the artist that he is, brought some pen and paper along so we had a table covered with sketches as well. Waiting for him to get famous so I can sell my drawing from him for millions. Hup, hup! 
The next day, half of us who were still around & up for it gathered at noon for lunch. This would become a tradition for the later meetups. Meeting in the city centre, people could come by and drop off when convenient for them to catch a plane, train or bus back home.
Adding to the sugar rush, the founder of the Argent Archives had brought me some treats. 
Another wonderful person I’ve been in touch with since Vanilla, and these days I’m part of a small DnD group that they DM for. I respect that he’s still keeping the site online out of his own pocket.
With those who had time to spare, we toured around the city in foot visiting some parks and fun shops along the way. Going through the photos, Lintian already rocked long blue dresses in this time period, looking like a real world elf against the sea breeze. 
After the meetup, we organized an in-game photoshoot, with nearly everyone able to attend. The Grizzly Hills provided a suitably Finnish pine forest backdrop!
In conclusion, the meetup was successful enough that it motivated me to organize another - on the same year even! Although some of the attendees may not be present anymore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for attending. I know many of you stepped out of your comfort zone too, and hope the journey into the unknown was worth it. It’s entirely thanks to you that the next meetups came to happen!
Stay tuned for the 2016 Christmas special!
18 Likes
Thank you very much for for the lovely tales of past meet ups!
2 Likes
ooooohhhhh photo i like that idea
Ropecon tickets are up I just got mine 40 Euro nice
1 Like
Nice! FYI to people in general, 40€ is the Early Dragon Weekend Ticket (Friday-Sunday). Day tickets will be on sale at the entry to the convention venue after the event starts, and that’s where I’ll get mine for the Saturday. Last year a single day ticket cost 34€.
5 Likes
ohhh nice! I have something to do on Friday too
1 Like
Ah, the 2016 meet! I have such fond memories of it.
Back then I lived in Siberia, and a flight to Helsinki cost an arm and a leg. So I took a flight to St. Petersburg and a train from there. Along the way I learned that said city was called Pietari in Finnish, which I think is a beautiful name.
I have a tradition: in every city I visit, I buy an angel figurine and gift it to my parents, who collect angel figurines from across the world. The group made a detour to find one for me, and I appreciated that. And Acrona gifted me a key necklace like one that Lintian, the character, used to wear back then, and it’s still among my belongings.
On the way back, St. Petersburg was hit by heavy rain and I reached the hotel room there soaked wet. Thankfully, in Helsinki itself, the weather stayed good all the way through.
You flatter me
This time I plan to bring along an actual elven-style dress — for Ropecon, at least
6 Likes
Thank you for sharing your memories, Lintian! Looking forward to seeing you again next month!
Having freshly returned from the lovely yet windy and soaked fields of England, I’m keeping my knit socks and the fluffy snowflake hoodie on, as it’s time to recall the first AD Christmas Meetup. Gather around, kids. 
After the Helsinki summer meetup, to my great joy, even more people were emboldened to join the next one, held in late November 2016. So many in fact, that we hit the guest limit of the venue reserved for the event with thirty participants! Either people had genuine fun in the summer and word spread, or my bribe coffers were bloated to the brim.
While not showing any faces (perhaps the meetups were just me and my imaginary friends), you might at least appreciate catching glimpses of the dungeon used for the raid. The champagne bowls just a marketing trick, as I’m using pictures provided by the pub.
This was the first meetup with a theme, in this case, a Christmas party. People were welcome to dress up fancy if they liked, but that was optional. Being the mage that I am, sparkling is part of my nature, donning a black glimmering dress.
A variety of gard games were played, such as the Joking Hazard.
Winter Veiling on the table.
Attendees had been asked to bring a small gift, costing less than 10 euros to keep it budget friendly, for the secret santa. Ninthalas, who attended the summer meetup, had kindly promised to be our surprise Santa Claus, with all the red and beard that came with their award-winning performance.
Everyone got exactly what they’ve always dreamed of!
Acrona sketch by Shuang. Thank you Shuang is a very skilled artist, and you can see their work proper here: https://shadoca.carrd.co/
On top of Secret Santa, we also had a Mortal Kombat(?) tournament, masterfully won by Atahalni, who I guarantee you, is such a smily person in real life. Still got that trophy? 
At Sunday noon we first met up at a restaurant for lunch, and then ventured into some fun stores.
With great force, the meetup was drawing to a close.
After the meetup, an in-game photoshoot was organized. Unfortunately it was difficult to find a date that would’ve worked for everyone. Great so many could make it though!
You can spot Acrona next to the goblin Snooki, whose player I clicked so well with that we became fast friends to this day, despite us never roleplaying on WoW together.
I was attacked. How could they.
More tales yet await unwrapping, and next in line is a gang of ADers whisking themselves to London in summer 2017.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Midsummer celebration, and if you can, please consider donating blood because from what I heard donating today, there’s often a drop in the reserves right after the solstice weekend. Party safely!
10 Likes
Aaahhh! I remember the couple of meetups I went to! How wonderfully fun they were! Got to see so many lovely people and actually put some faces to names! I won’t be able to join this time but I’m very excited to see all the pics and stories! Miss you all!
With love,
Janna / Kaitseingel
2 Likes
Still got it, yes! Though I will admit, victory was mine not by masterful skill, but rather masterful luck and the fact that I discovered neutral up-down x spam.
And thank you! I have always told people that these events are great because you get to see that people are not so terrible in the end. Lots of smiles and a great mood in these meets :).
1 Like
Hope you peeps have fun over there.
1 Like
Holy hell, talk about a blast from the past. Wasn’t sure you were still playing the game! You may recall Hargorin, worgen warrior, from at the time Alliance Forward Brigade? You used to be in that guild for a time too! Granted we are talking 2014, 15, 16 I think but still!
2 Likes
Helloo there!
Do you mean Baratide Naval Brigade? Since that’s the only Brigade I have been in with a character named Julia Alice Cooper! ^^ But yes! I never really stopped playing! Just changed characters ehheh!
2 Likes
I think Baratide was after that, I know you were with us for a while after the Blackwind Marine Platoon, though tbh, I’m getting my timeline confused now. But I am pretty sure that it was you. Did Julia Alice Cooper happen to be a redhead with glasses IC? Priestess?
AFB used to be lead by a guy named Lonce Silverhill, after the original guild Band of Blood stopped being mercenaries after the old GM left. The guild lasted for maybe a year or so, maybe two if we’re lucky, but not super long.
Does that ring a bell to you?
Actually yes, it does ring many more bells now!! ^^ That was indeed my character, redhead with glasses, priestess IC but OOC paladin ahaha. I shortly after grew tired of the character and switched to a half elf hunter, then went back to Horde for a while, that’s probably where you lost track of me! Such a small world!
1 Like
Small world indeed, but nice that someone from those days is still playing! I do not play on the Horde at all, but, Desartin here is my main, the IC brother of Hargorin, though lately I have started to play Hargorin again aswell. So, if you ever wish to say hello again, feel free to poke any of these if you see them online