2006: A Barrow Downs Year

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Well, with another year coming to a close, it's always good to take a step back and remember the things that have happened. The things we like, the things we hate, the things we wish never happened. The Good, the Bad, The Phantom and Alien. All things must be thrown into consideration.

So, what has been your highlights, low lights and lights that were somewhere in the middle of this year?
The Silmarillion Chapter by Chapter?
The continuing adventures of the Crazy Captioners?
The vast number of RPGs including the controversial ATM2?
The Mount Zoom Challenge?

Anything and more.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, it will change your life!

Let's get to it...

[Mänwe]

Well I would just like to say a Happy New Year!

[The Might]

Happy New Year to everyone...
And I sincerely hope that the weather in your are has been better then here in Germany...it kinda ruined the whole party...

Now...I'm not really the best to answer here since I have only been a member for a few weeks, but since I joined learned that the Downs are a really nice place and the members are great

I personally mostly enjoined quizzes and the quotes, but the other threads are good as well...

Anyway, hope that 2007 will bring many more interesting events

[High King Fingolfin]

Well, Happy New Year everyone! I must say this has been the year that I really came back to the Downs. It was really Duel of Doom that did that. Though I think the Warg and Warg Rider Appreciation Thread dying off certainly helped too.
Hookbill, you came up with good stuff this year, especially Duel of Doom and the Downer, especially Phantom and Alien.

I'm looking forward to another great year with all of you on the Downs, folks.

EDIT: How could I forget Paper Telephone?

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Fingolfin, I have heard rumours in the East. They say a new scholar will be appearing in the future. Keep your eyes open.

2006 was a wonderful year for me personally, thanks in no small part to the Barrow-Downs and its ability to unite certain people from different sides of the North Sea who would not otherwise have met.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I must say that this year's Barrow Down's Dreams have been very interesting. Many of them have been WW related, but all the same they are always amusing and entertaining and that's what counts!
I also owe much thanks to the Barrow Downer's myspace thread. Thanks to this, my friends list went from about 3 to 15.

The Top Ten Signs You're Addicted to the Barrow-Downs has been a constant amusement! One can't go wrong with this kind of addiction, says I.

But it's not all been smiles this year. There was the Davem saga, a bit of unpleasantness arose all over the Downs for a while that was sort of worrying. And then there was the fact that Boromir 88 always seems to be just ahead of me in the reputation list.

[Kath]

Yes indeed the davem fiasco and the near death of werewolf were two very low points in the year, but we did pick ourselves up from them and though the 'Downs may have changed slightly as a result it now feels just as it ever did.

A personal high note is the Mead Hall thread which I love posting in, and a general one is Hookbill's fantastic newspaper which has me in fits sometimes.

And, as someone said, new friends! I've never seen my LJ so full.

[ninja91]

Although I joined in late May of this year, I only learned to quote two months ago. (idiot )

But I really like the Mouth of Sauron threads, some of which I have started and have gotten terrific feedback on. And also, Crazy Captions is always great.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Ninja, I have not yet learned how to quote. Is that about 4 and a half years now?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

For me, 2006 was a year of bringing lengthy projects to an end. After completing the LotR Chapter-by-Chapter discussions at the end of 2005, the Hobbit threads kept me posting for several months. Also, the Downs' longest-running RPG, 'The Revenge/Reunification of the Entish Bow', finally wrapped this summer, after having slowed down to a crawling pace for months. I'm proud of having brought it to completion!

That leaves a big vacuum in my Downs involvement - there are no longer many discussions that tempt me to be active, so aside from my "minor works" Q&Q posting and an occasional Caption or so, my normal activity is reduced to reading and moderating, for the most part.

The Downs is still an important part of my life, but other things are taking up more time. I don't see myself leaving completely, but it looks like my role is that of an Elf who remains in Middle-earth - fading gradually. However, there's one thing I continue to enjoy - meeting forum friends in real life. During the past year, I visited both Bêthberry and Goldwine, and it was a real pleasure to spend time with them!

[Mithalwen]

The highs were participating in " Red Flows the Sirannon" and reading "Island of Sorrow", the lows...well those you may guess....

[Folwren]

I believe it was early in the year that I finished my first RPG, Red Flows the Sirannon. It was a wonderful experience. Since then, I've done a lot more role-playing. The entire game of Outracing The Flames was played, wherein I created my character Athwen who has now gone on to another great game, Fellowship of the 4th Age. I was also added to the Rohan list of players. That was certainly exciting.
The Golden Perch also opened. I was so excited about that - and still am!

I participated in a few WW games. Those were fun. I'm certainly looking forward to more.

I have discussed my wedding plans with fellow ladies here. ()

The fiasco about davem's banishment put a damper on me for some days, but it appears to have mostly cleared up, and I think things will work out.

God's blessings to everyone and have a wonderful 2007!

-- Folwren

[Formendacil]

2006 was THE year of the Barrow-Downs for me. Largely due to my horrid work schedule and lack of school, the first seven or eight months saw me devoted to the board in a way one might describe as "never ending".

Since then, school has returned to darken my life (actually, that's a lie, since I'm loving it to the point of nausea), and there is no forseeable time in my life when I'll have the same freedom to roam these forums so frequently.

Not that I plan on disappearing any time soon, mind you. Hopefully, you will be stuck with my presence for years to come.

2006 will also be "The Year of the Werewolf" for me. I started playing in late 2005 certainly, but I modded the first game of 2006 (at least, the first senior game), and I played the majority of my games in the following four or five months.

It will be remembered fondly as the year I started RPGing on the 'Downs. When I wandered into the Green Dragon Inn's last few pages, I had no intention or desire of being sucked, almost immediately, into the RPG world so solidly.

2006 will be remembered as the year I had time to do... anything... on the 'Downs. The Mt. Zoom challenge was loads of fun. Middle-Earth Survivor was fun. Crazy Captions was fun. CbCs, when I could keep up, were fun.

Most especially, though, I will remember 2006 as the year I really began to feel "I am addicted to the Barrow-Downs". It was the year that I became truly attached to the 'Downs community, the year I finally found a community where I really, truly, felt a valued and loved member. In 2006, though I had already made some friendships (and a sibling) on the forum, I really became acquainted with the 'Downers. My PM box started getting regular traffic (since slackened), my MSN list went through puberty, I got an LJ because I was tired of off-Downs communications being done as "Anonymous".

(It is also this attachment to the 'Downs community that I personally took the whole Davem debacle hard. Seeing a 'Downer banned, and seeing my beloved 'Downs divided was not an easy time. It was almost enough to drive me away, in a way that school or work or losing a Werewolf game could never do.)

2006 was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the Barrow-Downs-est of times. Thank you all, may God bless you all, and here's to more and merrier in 2007.

~Michael A. Joosten - Formendacil~

[Bêthberry]

Great thread idea, Hookbill, and rousing first post. You belong in show biz or under the big top, Ring Master!

2006 was really my year to sit back and, as Estelyn has said she will in 2007, and become more a fading elf watching Middle-earth than an active participant. Me an elf! Let’s see if I can avoid the nostalgia trip which for me was always a bump in the road to my appreciation of the elves.

Work and real life commitments meant I withdrew from modding Rohan at the beginning of last year and that was quite a change for me, as I had originally registered at the Barrow Downs only after it added an RPG section—way back before TTT hit the screens and back when a thousand new members would register in one month. The witty, clever posting style was also intriuging. I arrived in tow with Gandalf the Grey, and we both began to play in the games. Yet, as luck and chance and other circumstances would have it, the Barrow Downs ended our friendship for causes known only to those who threw the first jibes and then stepped back to watch the play unfold. The loss of that friendship has coloured everything since then for me at the Downs and I wonder from time to time if Gandalf and I would still be gaming together had we not come here. Strange thought--likely not! Yet, for all that, Gandalf was a talented gamer who was honest. When challenged or called out, Gandalf spoke true and never prevaricated, lied, or claimed not to remember. That’s a crucial aspect of gaming, I think, to know when to fold, to recognise that your hand is called, ‘cause if you don’t, then it’s no longer a game of fun and turns into a game of cheat and deception and dishonesty. It’s one of the reasons I have been tempted to incorporate one of The Phantom’s lines from werewolf in a siggie--about hardly lying ever—except he ruined my plans by uncloaking his strategy in the last WW game of last year, the rotter.

So, there’s my davem story.

2006 also saw a second visit with the Ghosted Princess, but alas (possibly) we missed the musical by scant days. As long as the wit and cleverness survive here I will continue to read, although likely I will post less and less as my time is demanded elsewhere. I do look forward to the Silmarillion chapter by chapter discussions, though, as Aiwendil often provides a thoughtful way of looking at the mythology and I truly enjoy alatar’s filmic musings. I am woefully behind in reading LMP’s story but hope to catch up some day. And Mirth, well, Mirth doesn’t require so much time to post, so, as long as the captions keep coming …

I hope the elvish hasn’t come out too much. Maybe I should consider niggling a bit and coming up with a hobbity version of my past “Down time”?

Happy new Downs, Downers, and may the play be fun.

[Thinlómien]

I could very much echo Form. Though I've been a member (and even active member) from late 2004, this last year has been the one I've become truly really active.

2006 was also the year of werewolf. I didn't play very much in 2005. (One game I suppose.)

And 2006 was also the year to get me know a whole lot of 'downers better, thanks to more active BDing and Livejournal.

[Lush]

The 13th is when the Orthodox New Year begins, so I'm not late... And if I am late - I was only being fashionable!

2006 was a year of great disappointments and challenges for me, both on and off the Downs.

I'm glad it's bloody over.

I'd like to think it made me a better person.

Time will tell.

[The Might]

Well, as Nietzsche said, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger