It is February 2001; a different time in a
different day. A new hand is on D&D's helm and a new
revisioned version of the game has revitalized the entire
hobby after years of stagnation both on the large scale
and small; a mere few years earlier in mid-1998 the Victoria
Rules franchise was hanging by a thread but since then
has recovered magnificently, in both cases perfectly -
if unintentionally - mirroring the gaming world as a whole.
And almost beneath the radar against this backdrop
a minor game begins; a game to be run using this fancy
new 3rd edition as an experiment, perhaps even a one-off
just to see what this new version of the game can do.
So five players sit down with the high hopes and grand
visions of any new campaign but without a great deal of
expectations as to where the game will go in the long
run or whether the system will really work at all; and
thus Beory is born.
In its first year the game got just enough media coverage
to actually be thrown a bone during awards season: the
later-legendary Appppil Pagey drew down the Greenhorn
Trophy against quite reasonable opposition. But - though
Woodfin managed a Futility Award in 2002 and Halfbeard
beat the odds to earn Iron Man status in 2003 - after
that it largely sank beneath the radar again while quietly
building foundations and just surviving.
And yes, against the odds that little game survived.
And survived. And survived, to the point where it eventually
became a big game with its own collection of characters
and chaos, history and heartbreak, stories and superstars.
By mid-decade the awards and honours were rolling in -
heart-and-soul Naug won the game's first Arrow and also
held the Iron Man designation for a couple of years, the
party earned a Laughing Cat, another Rookie of the Year
award rang up alongside a couple of spectacular and well-deserved
Kaylorelle Cup wins for Zagras and Alastair respectively,
and every year she was played the Gold Cup was simply
Appppil's to lose. She didn't lose often.
Beory had arrived. In style.
Later in the decade, as if it wasn't already a major
campaign, Beory's status as such was sealed when it achieved
something none other of our campaigns has yet managed:
complete player turnover within the same continuing game.
By mid-2010 every player from 2001 had been replaced;
ever resilient, Beory soldiered on and actually managed
to draw down its second Arrow award via mighty newcomer
Torm. During this run the game also pulled off a more
dubious achievement when its party in regular weekly play
took a staggering 17 real-world months to complete a single
adventure, albeit a huge one.
And so we reach February 2011, and realize that while
it is admittedly getting long in the tooth Beory has in
fact accomplished something truly amazing: 3rd edition
as a system is designed for campaigns to last at most
up to two years and Beory has done this five times over!
So with this and many good memories in mind we raise a
toast to the ten-year anniversary of Beory - the little
game that could.
And did, very very well.
From
the penalty box, I'm Lanefan Detustre.
