It always begins with a loud explosion.

[GideonHawke]

After a long day of fighting back the Trogg invasion of Loch Modan you settle in near the southern guard tower for some wine and cheese, a well earned rest to help recover your strength. All is peaceful, birds are singing, some children run by playing tag, you lay back to relax in the embrace of the sun, a welcome feeling for those who came here from Iron Forge.

You nearly doze off when a Huge BOOOOOM! of an explosion rocks the ground and sends the birds screeching in retreat. The child turn tail and run for their mothers in terror as the guards present arms and prepare to battle the cause of the disruption.

Out of a cloud of smoke and ash steps a carbon covered Dwarf. The guards relax their posture (at least on rolling his eyes) as a Red headed Dwarf Paladin coughs and hacks his way over to a large rock and sits down.

"By Khaz'goroth it never did that before" he says in an exasperated tone, apparently to no one in particular.


Hello all. Yesterday I saw a post on the forum for the Emerald Dream Server in the World of Warcraft game introducing me to TOG. Well, learning of a group of aged gamers like myself was a happy surprise. I was excited and dying to dive right in here, so I rushed over to register and ran into a host of problems doing so, all of which are more due to my haste then anything else. As you can see with this post however, I seem to have finally figured it out.

My real Name is John. I live in St. Louis, Missouri. I am 37, Happily married (to a woman who is far to good for me, but she doesn't seen to realize this and I do not tell her), and a proud father of one 5 year old (going on 30) daughter.

I am a US Navy Veteran. I was an Electricians Mate (Shipboard Electrician) in the Active Duty Navy and served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Years later I decided to return to the service through the Navy Reserves, this time as a Seabee Construction Electrician (Land based Navy) and was activated in 2003 to serve in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Now, due to age and paygrade I am out of the US armed forces all together.

I am a low-voltage systems electrician. Currently, I am a Service Technician for a major alarm company. I work with alarm systems, access control systems, and camera systems primarily. I also work with computers, computer networking, telephone systems, and the like to help maintain our office. Lastly, I am experienced with Cable TV systems as I worked for a major cable TV provider for awhile and I have completely rewired the electrical systems of several houses, added services to others, and repaired a few more. When it comes to wire, I am basically a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Gaming an I have had a very long relationship. My first experiences with it were the table top RPG Dungeons and Dragons. The original "basic" system in the red box. I was hooked, I loved letting my imagination run wild. Over the years I have played several variations of D&D, as well as several of the WoD line of games (Vampire the Masquerade and the like), and various more independent games like Civilry and Sorcery, Conspiracy X, Traveller, etc.

With computers, my first real games were Pirates! (the original Apple IIe version), Covert Action (also Apple IIe) and Wizardry (on the Commador 64 If I remember correctly). I have been playing games, on the computer, on the table, online, etc, for better then 20 years and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon. However, these days work and family tend to put a damper on how much I can play.

Currently, I am only playing one Game, World of Warcraft, mostly on the Emerald Dream Server. I am playing Gideonn, a Dwarf Palidin, currently level 21, who is a Blacksmith (225) and an Engineer (225). I also play the Horde side on the Dark Iron server where I have a Tauren Hunter, level 43, who is also a Smithineer.

I have played most of the Online MMORPGs and so far, World of Warcraft has been my best experience. I have been on various servers and played on and off for about a year, yet I never get board with it. So far, the only other game that seems like a possible compeditor for my time is Eve Online, though Auto Assault (if it is close enough to Auto Duel (an old Apple II game based on Car Wars)) might get me as well. If you happen across a guy named GideonHawke in an online game, there is a good possiblity that it is me, as this is the name I use most often in gaming, so feel free to say hello.

I play a little bit daily. Mostly to stop in check mail, say hi to friends, scan the auction house, etc. I do most of my actual play on Tuesday evenings and all-day Saturday (until the weather improves, bringing more projects on the house with it, and thus less game time).

I joined Emerald Dream because I have not played a tabletop Role-Playing game in years, and was hoping to recapture a bit of the fun of that. I like the RP aspect of Emerald Dream, and currently is the RP and the PvE that I am focusing on. But I joined a PvP server for the challenge. Having played both PvE and PvP nothing is as challanging a PvP game. So I will eventually become more involved in the battle grounds, while PvP out in the environment will likely find me as I begin to venture into contested zones.

As you can tell from my post here, I am often at a loss for words, and a really shy guy. But once you get to know me I really start to open up.

I look forward to participating here, especially with the Templars of Glory, the TOG guild of WoW Emerald Dream. Thanks Cerebrix for post about TOG on the Emerald Dream Forum!

Lastly, I have read the FAQ and AUP and agree to abide by them.

[Jakob_Pavlov]

Wow......nice first post mate!

Welcome to TOG........an over-worked Admin will be along soon to whack you over the head with the TOG-stick!

Have Fun!
Jakob

[monkeysuit]

Hmm, nice entrance. Welcome to tog.

[viking]

Welcome to TOG mate

[mayday]

G'day and welcome to TOG.

Lost for words eh, OMG I'd hate to get ya goin'.

[Xtreme]

From one St. Louis area guy to another (I live in Troy, MO) Welcome and nice book. You left out your SSN and credit history but we can get that later lol

Emerald Dream is a good group. Glad you found them.

[Sereth]

Welcome to TOG!

There's a group of us here in St. Louis playing on Runetotum as alts for when our primary server has too long of a que. When you've been smacked around with the TOG stick of membership and have been made a full member, check out:

http://www.theoldergamers.com/forum/...play.php?f=113

[Smash]

We'll add that one to the Barracks post hall of fame

PR2(AW) former 9 yrs active meself

You will now have full access to all parts of the TOG website

• All TOG member only forums
• All member only areas of the website

Undoubtedly you want to get started and the best place to start is to visit the main forum for the game in which you are interested, have a read of the sticky posts and other threads that catch your attention.

Introduce yourself and ask any further questions you may have.
You will find other TOG members most helpful if you take the time to aks any questions you may have.

The social heart of TOG can be found in “The Lounge Room”, where any topic is being discussed and debated. If you want to know the other TOG members across the whole of TOG visit the Lounge Room.
Want to know when the next real life get together is of TOG members, again the lounge room is the place to be.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy TOG for as long as you choose too, feel free to spread the message to your friends and family who enjoy gaming and don’t forget to have fun yourself!

All the best!

The Older Gamers!

[Lady_Gem]

welcome to TOG mate!

[GideonHawke]

Thanks all for the nice welcome. Odd though, I was worried I was being too brief.

Seriously, I look forward to getting to know everyone as soon as the swelling from the TOG stick "welcome" goes down.

If there are several St. Louis folks on here I would love to hear if anything gaming related is going on around town, as I am completely out of the loop and on my own.

I hope to hook up with some of you World of Warcraft junkies ASAP to smite evil and all that.

Again, thanks for the exceptionally warm welcome!!