Greetings and welcome to the first official issue of the Forgotten Times! This publication was the idea and creation of Peter (Snowman) Oliva, whose dream of a Forgotten Realms "Netzine" was realized on the [REALMS-PROJECTS] mailing list. With the support of many subscribers, Peter took the project under his wing, enlisted the help of a few others and the Forgotten Times was born. So please, kick back and relax, read on and enjoy. Any questions or comments should be directed to Peter Oliva.

   The Sword Coast is a virtual Mecca of fame and fortune. Many travel to the wondrous cities located in that region seeking their share of wealth. Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep are 2 of the largest trade centers on all of Faerun. Many that seek knowledge often end up in the famous library of Candlekeep. But few have heard of the wonders of the City of Arylon. Between Baldur's Gate and the fair city of Elturel, nestled along the Chiontar River lies Arylon.

   This issue's feature article will delve deeper into this new and mysterious city. Arylon started as a project on the [REALMS-PROJECTS] mailing list, and with much enthusiasm grew to be a full sized and well rounded city. [Continued]

   After much deliberation, we decided we couldn't just call this thing the "Netzine." So we put it to the lists to come up with a title for our online magazine. Then after we had all the submissions, we went back to the list with the top 3 titles that we picked internally. The list picked for us the Title of the Forgotten Times which was submitted by George Stribley. So we are giving George the opportunity to tell us all a bit about himself.

George Stribley
Age: 35
email: strib@channel1.com

I have been playing D&D since I was a freshman at Albion College, back in 1982. In 1986 I graduated with a degree in Physics (with a heavy influx of AI and Computer Science), started working as a junior scientist and computer programmer, and eventually became the Information Systems Manager.

I first got hooked on the Realms when I found a release of the Desert of Desolation series (one of my favorite series of adventures) written for the Forgotten Realms. Unfortunately, I didn't buy into the Realms whole-heatedly until many years later, so now I am scrambling to acquire some of the older, OOP material. I loved the Realms because it is so similar to my own AD&D world, only much richer and more detailed. I guess Greenwood's and Salvatore's writings really clinched it for me.

I have been with my current gaming group for 9-10 years now, we meet every Sunday evening, and have played many different games (like Bureau 13, GURPS Espionage, Iron Crown, and of course AD&D, both Oriental and Western) with different DMs. Currently I am DM'ing an epic campaign in the Realms that currently is running through the Desert of Desolation series, and hopefully will finish with the Against the Giants/Queen of the Demonwebs series. One of the challenges I enjoy is meshing these modules into the Realms. The Desert of Desolation has been particularly challenging because of all of the conflicting info in regards to current canon. It is easy to see that the guys who rewrote the DoD for the Realms started out with the rough ideas for what the Raurin Desert area would look like, but the current information obviously ignored this module when it was written. I may even present my efforts at integration to the list [Realms-L] when all is done.