102 *NOR/Newsletter 2024 Aug 22nd

Hail*NOR/

I had the honor to meet up with my Wednesday D&D night *NOR/friends last month for an amazing time. This has been our second Bash where we have been able to get our families together for a week of gaming and adventures. First off a special thanks to Stelmarii for being a driving force in organizing such a event. I would like to present her with the Golden Aldobora Tree award for all her hard work in herding the cats we are. Secondly an apology for the BASH I hosted in 2017, a single cookout is just not enough time to visit and talk to those that traveled across the country to hang out for a single evening, I had a great time but it could have been so much more… next time:p

The gathering had me thinking about how our relationships have evolved in gaming and the guild over my years in the guild. Back in the day we had ingame chat and pleasantries were exchanged but the connection was minimal, you might remember a player’s name if they left and came back but I didn’t “know” them. Then chat rooms became more important, but text still stifled conversations. Present day we have Discord (and Teamspeak before that), where we find ourselves easily wrapped up in conversations and getting to know each other on a personal level. It’s been great seeing the lazy morning coffee rooms popping up in Discord with easy conversation and not just the means to run a dungeon. In our D&D groups we have voice and video and with several years of weekly interactions it has been an amazing bonding experience, building up to meaningful relationships.

However, with anything great comes some bad. Some players do love the peace and quiet of gaming and texting in game and don’t need the chatter of voice and that’s great, I fall into this category more often than not. But for those that do love to use voice where our opinions and personalities show through, there are bound to be conflicting personalities and that can be hard to navigate. This is a good place to remember to not discuss politics, religion and other triggering topics. Gaming is our escape from reality not our social media rant platform, so please be conscious of yourself.

Another hardship of having these stronger relationships is when someone leaves the guild, it can feel like a betrayal or personal insult and hurtful. But keep in mind its not personal if they leave, players do have to face the real world and some times gaming takes over to much, gaming addiction is real and players sometimes need to step back, or sadly our guild/game is no longer filling the gaming passion they seek, peoples change priorities change. The list is long and reasons many, the important thing is we enjoy our time together and that we all take care of ourselves and families.

To end on a lighter note some crafted gifts were forged and presented at the Massachusetts Bash that I just have to show off! One was for our current Dungeon Master, Emeritus Lasarian, which was presented with a handmade DM screen, it is just beautiful with its personal engraving and foldable ability to rest on one’s bookcase. A second gift was saved for the end of the week and present to your truly! A forged shield replicating the guild’s crest. On the inside scribed with heartfelt wishes. Thank you once again for such a wonderful gift, it has been a beautiful reminder of my time in the guild and the investment we have built with each other.

Thanks Everyone!

Lord Tundrra
*NOR/LD-HC

Guests: Talolan, Stelmarii and Lasarian’s Family, Ojike’s Family, Tundrra’s Family. (Sadly Not Pictured Koram and Son)

102 *NOR/News Dungeons and Dragons Online
by Yavool
August 22, 2024

Hail *NOR/!

DDO’s newest expansion, Myth Drannor, City of Glory is now live! You can access it by going to the Gatekeeper’s Grove and traveling through the green portal. There are two quest lines, part 1 and 2; three side quests; and an explorer area for level 13 heroic characters and level 34 legendary characters. Players can now roll the new Eladrin race and the Wild Mage sorcerer archetype. This expansion is inspired by the 1994 Dungeons and Dragons Advanced Second Edition box set, TSR Forgotten Realms module 1084, “Ruins of Myth Drannor.” For this and other original D&D modules, you can check out: Ruins of Mythdrannor.

Yavool Ramnoth
Lord and Branch Leader, *NOR/DDO – Ghallanda Server
102 *NOR/News Guild Wars 2
by Sofija
August 22, 2024

Hail*NOR/

When you’re reading this, we’ll be traveling the Janthir Wilds in the latest expansion to Tyria. A land once home to the mursaat and their White Mantle followers where we’ll befriend the lowland Kodan in hopes to building new allies to a growing threat. video The lowland kodan will teach us the art of using spears on land. video Plus they will be giving us a plot of land we can call our own homestead. firstlook And we’ll all be able to bring the ferocious Warclaw from beyond the mists where they’ve been fighting in WvW to the core of Tyria giving everyone a new mount bringing new skills to PvE situations. Warclaw Mount

New challenges await us later in the year with the release of the 8^th raid wing. In preparation, Count Beesus is leading raid training. We recently took down 2 bosses of Wing 4 “Bastion of the Penitent”.

Wolf graced us with two new promotions to our pack who both played an important part in our success in taking down those bosses as well as other dangers to the peace of Tyria. Raise a mug in toast to Squire Honor Rhymadee on her promotion and welcome Squire Barleycorn to his introduction into the guild!

Join us for our weekly guild events. Wednesday Wonders where we tackle Fractals or other 5-person challenges. Friday Strikes taking on the various Strikes earning ascended gear and gold along with Raid training. And Sunday Funday for guild events like bounties, treks, and races along with whatever shenanigans we decide to get up to.

Follow those and much more on our DIS-CORD golum channel where we chat, share Fashion War wins, funny Guild Wars 2 videos and memes, and more. Till we meet again, may your mugs be full of ale and your hunts honorable.

Count Sofija
*NOR/CT-GW2
102 *NOR/News The Old Republic
by Gonzowill
August 22, 2024

Hail*NOR/

Night Night, Nightlife! The High Rollers casino event has “rolled” out of Nar Shaddaa for the year.

I can bring them in warm or I can bring them in cold. A new season is upon us, whether you’re new or well “seasoned” there’s plenty of activities to do. This week brought us the beginning of the next installment of Galactic Seasons “The Greatest Bounty”. This season is set around Bounty Hunters with some very cool bounty hunter gear including a helmet of Boushh the Ubese bounty hunter that Princess Leia dresses as from Return of the Jedi. NOR continues to host almost nightly events in SwTOR and would love anyone to join us.

Did you know we have a streaming channel and a local celebrity (well a SwTOR streaming celebrity.) Want to earn exclusive SWTOR drops? “Drop” by Duke Intisar’s stream and earn some cool stuff! twitch.tv/Intisar_nor

Is PvP your jam? Join us Wednesday nights at 9p Eastern for some lowbie (level 10-44) fun. We overlap with our AIE allies, so some of our matches are AIE! (affectionate) and some are AIEEEEEEEE! (agony) The PVP season is still has 25 days remaining in the current season and we host low pressure PVping.

Need a good date night? You can now date Vette or Aric Jorgan. Provided nothing happened to them during your adventuring. The Cartel Market has been expanded to include a new “Inspired by” category for items inspired by Andor, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Mandalorian. The new gearing changes have gone into effect and you can now trade up your Upgrade Caches to get better gear.
B3-S1’s (affectionately known as Bessie,) story continues allowing her influence to be upgraded to level 30.

Special thanks this month to Knight Deus for providing some extra seasoning to my normal article with some fun puns.

Baron Gonzowill
*NOR/BA-swToR