Tag: #Featured

The Featured tag is for any posts featured on the Official SecondLife Community Blog.

A look back at My 2020 in SecondLife

While we may not all want to look back at 2020 in the Real World, doing so for my Second Life isn’t half as depressing.

Looking at my previous posts over the last year I was actually busier than I thought. I did quite a bit of RP in SL Gor during first few months of  the year tracking down old friends,

Pondering what adventures are to come with my return to Gor

before moving on to a Prison RP  which had me chasing escapees for a few weeks.

I caught up with one of the escapees in a bar

 

Then along came Fantasy Faire,where this year I was able to have early access the empty lands before the masses arrived.

Empty streets of Fantasy Faire

This was through my involvement with the NeoVictoria Project as opposed to the FF Bloggers (since I didn’t make the official list,maybe next year!)

This gave me a new perspective on the Faire that I wrote about. I also wrote two short stories  based around the Faire as part of their “Faire Folk” challenge, called Under the Pass and Casseopeia. How could anyone not be inspired by the Faire?

I next moved onto a different more futuristic RP, a cyberpunk location inspired by the city of Helix.

The city didn’t survive the RL lockdown,but it has led to a small but thriving group,making a life for themselves in a dusty Martian crater.

Bits of ruined machinery in the dusty crater

Halloween came around fast and all the spooky places sprung up for October and I had great fun blogging some of them.

Shortly before the *actual* date of Halloween arrived I was at a club called Ohana that I’d visited several times in the past and they mentioned Hosting vacancies,so I applied and was taken on after a trial set that went great.

Debut Set at Ohana Rock Club, 19th October

Finally in December I decided I’d try to go along to the SL Book Club readings. I’d seen the Twitter activity about it weekly (who could miss Draxtors enthusiasm?)but never actually got around to attending. I went along two and a half hours early,just intending to have a look and take a Landmark.

I realised I’d unwittingly taken myself hostage,the place was already half full and if I’d left,getting back in wasn’t guarunteed. Fortunately I’d already done my whip around of Christmas advent calendar clicking that day!

Already half-full hours early!

Which pretty much brings this year of Second Life adventures to a close.

However..

I’ve explored more places than I got around to blogging about, so I’ve lots of photos of places that deserve long posts of their own. Maybe I’ll write those next year if the locations are still there in the New Year.

For now I’ve simply made small galleries of some of the different places I didn’t feature on the blog, as well as some one-off snaps,in chronological order:

A storytelling evening at NeoVictoria (3rd January)

Furry Night at Kitty Kaboom (23rd January)

Bikini party at Kitty Kaboom,from PG angle. (13th February)

Hayo as a Tarn (18th May)

Tarns are large birds,ridden by some warriors in the fictional world of Gor.

Sci-Fi Con 2020 (21st May)

 

Ash Falls (15th July)

Murder City (21st July)

SecondLife 17th Birthday explorations via train (24th July)

Pandemonium (7th August)

Delerium (12 August)

 

Tea with Sheree (15th September)

Hayo preparing for Halloween (4th October)

 

Jeep Antics with Sheree and Hayo (11th October)

NeoVictoria 10th Anniversary Roleplays (22-24th November)

 

Boggying with Nyte after my set at Ohana (19th December)

Boogying with Nyte at Ohana

 

SecondLife Book Club (16+23rd December)

This post was featured on the SecondLife Community Blog on 28th December 2020.

Drune Crossroads

Drune is back!

I missed the last incarnation of this place, since it doesn’t seem to stay for long, so I’m pleased I got to visit this time around. Hopefully it’ll still be there for you to visit when you read this.

To set the scene this is the land description:

Drune Crossroads
A drift down memory lane, with an eldritch tone. Cyberpunk Streets, Cyber Punk City, Sci Fi, Bladerunner, Lovecraft

So you can expect lots of bright neon lights, dark alleyways and (non-drivable)flying cars.

The arrival point is an Underground (Subway) station.

exit through the ticket barriers up the escalator as you would a real station.

This takes you up into a waiting room

Now we get to the interesting part, exiting this area takes you out into a main street where you are bombarded with the expected neon and shopfronts.

You then come to what must be the proclaimed “crossroads”.

You may have noticed in the last picture in the previous gallery I passed a blue Christmas tree, this becomes relevant when you reach the crosroads.

There’s different coloured trees in different directions, this helps you keep your bearings, when at street level at least. I picked red and went that way.

Drune has lots of little nooks and crannies full of detail, as I walked I saw a sliding door open slightly and had a peek.

This one was a car repair place,not super interesting from my point of view, but illustrates the detail put into the place.

When I got to the end of the road there was a junction

I headed right towards the pink neon lighting a stairwell and wasn’t surprised what I found..a bar with a some rather evocative statues at the entrance and some fun solo dance furniture.

Heading through to the back I had a look down at the street below

Next I retraced my steps down to ground level and took the opposite alley that took me to a ground level bar with a somewhat classier feel.

I then took a nearby fire-escape style staircase which seemed to go on for ever, when I reached the top I look over the edge…it’s a long way down!

However up at the top is a whole nother way of seeing the city, via a maze of walkways.

When I reached the apparent end there seemed to fortunately be a lift back down

But when I took it down and followed the subsequent corridor..It led to a locked door!

I had no choice but to go back up and walk around the gangways. But as I said, it’s a bit of a maze and couldn’t find the stairs! I decided to abandon my pedestrian approach that I try to stick to when exploring and took the express route back to the ground, that you could only get away with in SL, jump over the railing. The fall seemed even further than it looked.

Back on the ground I’d landed in what at first glance was a sex venue of some kind, til I read the second line “Cosmetic Surgery”, not what you normally might associate red or pnk neon with, also not a roleplay avenue I’d want to pursue!

On the whole another great incarnation of the cityscape, worth visiting for sure, lots to be found with lots of attention to detail.

Arrival point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Real%20Angel%20Estate/33/128/37 Region Rating: Adult
(although it could probaby get away with being rated Moderate, if it weren’t for a few revealing photos on an upper level,since the signage everywhere appears to be merely suggestive and I didn’t find any furniture with adult animations.)

This post was featured on the SecondLife Community Blog on 14th December 2020

What SecondLife is about for me

Last night I watched Mika Snow interview the inspirational Strawberry Singh, blogger turned Linden. Following on from my post yesterday, I’ve another fun dancing snap. As I said yesterday, to me SL is about friendship, it’s also about Fun!

How people have their fun in SL can vary considerably in a world where pretty much anything is possible, but me right now it’s these simple things.

Strawberry echoed this yesterday, when she said that as a newbie, this was mostly what she (and most newbies) did; Made friends, danced and partied.

Ava is now waaay beyond the newbie phase at age 7 in SL, but I still love a good party. So much so I recently took a hosting job at Ohana Rock Club, which is great! The picture above was taken at one of my hosting shifts by Tina Twine, who labelled it “Hip-Grinding at Ohana”. To twist a Forest Gump quote “That’s all I should say about that!”

Ohana arrival point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ohana%20Cove/234/61/25 Region Rating: Moderate.

Featured on SecondLife Community Blog 24th November 2020.

Cocoon

Cocoon is a Cyberpunk Roleplay location, but with a slight difference, as you will see.

Arrival point

The story lore incorporates various races/beings

Don’t forget to collect a visitor tag before you leave the arrival point

Once you arrive in the RP area find the taxi, clicking it will give you a grid displaying various locations to visit.

The various locations are what you would normally expect to find in a place of this genre.

However if you choose the “Main Starport” option on the taxi board, this is where things get a little different. Because here you will find a couple of vehicles that transport you to slightly different themed places.

The Limo-style one takes you to a location referred to as “Luna” and is very clean and utopian in style:

The other transport takes you a considerably more run down location, apparently located on Mars:

There’s certainly a lot to explore here and plenty of scope for RP storylines with the various race and faction options to choose from. Drop by and have a look if Sci-Fi or Cyberpunk are your thing.

A note if you’re going along just to take pictures. The default windlight is quite dark as you can see, so choose a lighter outfit if you’re going to use it. You can see in the first pic my suit was black and found I had to change that as soon as I left landing area because I was pretty much invisible (good for roleplay maybe, not for pictures).

Arrival Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Esperia/236/163/4086

Website: https://darkfuture.wixsite.com/slrp/
(updated Nov 2023)

Featured on SecondLife Community Blog 13th November 2020.

Halloween 2020: This is Halloween

“This is Halloween” quite a self confident name/claim for a location I thought when I saw it on the Destinations, so I had to have a look and see if it lived up to it.

It does certainly give you that kind of feel on arrival, the mandatoryhooded ghoulish figure, twisted trees and some pumpkins.

Behind you are some more trees with an inviting path, so that’s the way I headed

Through the trees and a dark hollow log tunnel, leads you to enchanging night view

and of course, the pumkin patch

Following the paths in any direction take you to a variety of spooky sights, I’ll include a few snaps here, but it’s worth having an explore to feel the spooky atmosphere yourself.

Does it live up to it’s namesake title? Well it has all the expected parts, the conclusion I leave you.

Landing point:http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bonaire03/112/129/22

Featured on SecondLife Community Blog 19th November 2020

Halloween 2020: Forgotten Souls

Forgotten Souls is a “abandoned frontier town” type of place with some older and newer elements thrown in. The landing point drops you outside a cemetery, but you can’t enter directly from this side so I took a wander.

There appeared to be some lights in the other direction, so I headed that way and found what appeared to be an old store of some kind.

Place unsurprisingly a bit of a wreck, but some figures ehead so I headed in that direction

Which lead me to some of what must be the Lost Souls the place is named for.

I took some stairs outside a near building to give me a bit of a better view

Seeing that there appeared to just be wasteland beyond the living corpses I went back the other way to see what else the town had to offer.

First stop was obviously the Cemetery

Further along what could only be called the main street was a foreboding building on the opposite side, the Asylum.

I just had to have a peek inside..

At the end of the street there appears some kind of ruined train carriage

Seems someone was living in it for some time, but evidently now a long time ago.

following the road around I found the rear of the main street had some shop fronts

Looking at the decayed shop buildings, I almost missed a stone staircase hidden in the mist

So up I inevitably went to investigate

At the top I found a half collapsed columned structure and within it a rather disturbing scene.

I retraced my steps back out to the main street and decided to see if there was any mysteries behind the store I saw on arrival. Sure enough I found a lake behind it.

Along with a number of other buildings that I’ll leave you to explore!

Landing point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Forgotten%20Souls/107/119/25

Featured on Secondlife Community Blog 8th October 2020.

Halloween 2020: Pumpkin Town

It’s been a while since I posted anything about my SL adventures, mainly since I haven’t had time for much. So I thought now we’re into “Halloween Month” in SL I should start again with a seasonal wander. So I headed to “Pumpkin Town”.

This place has been going since 2010 but I don’t recall ever visiting before, certainly not since I started blogging my explorations.

So the arrival point is as pictured in various places and typical of a SL Halloween location..pumpkins everywhere of course!

then behind you is a little jetty and cabin the water, maybe I’ll come back to that.

The “what’s behind me” shot

Following the pathways take you through a shopping area:

Usually not my favourite aspect of SL Halloween, but I did actually buy something for a change!

Further along I find my kind of Halloween location, the creepy places!

The gateway to creepy town is a bridge over a murky swamp

I stopped to have a nosey in the house before crossing

On the other side of the swamp there’s the first of the spooky buildings to explore

Around the back there’s view across a misty lake

Then I had a look in the back door of a nearby place, seemed full of all kinds of curiosities:

Back out onto the path I pass another spook place

Before coming to the crest of a hill and overlooking this intriguing place:

So I go down and have a bit of an explore..

appears to be an abandoned old folks home? Walking out the patio doors at the end gives me a view of the green house..what are those?

I head back in and walk around til I find the door leading into the greenhouse and open it carefully..

Not wanting to become dinner, I close the doors again and make a hasty exit! As I wander the path some more I come to an inviting sigh..”Haunted House”

I followed the signs to this rather imposing building:

I won’t spoil any more surprises, you’ll have to come and check it out for yourself!

Landing point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pixeltrix/18/181/52

Pumpkin Town Blog

Oh..I did go back to the little jetty at the landing point..the boat tied up there is crewed by Skeletons!

Featured on SecondLife Community Blog on 5th October 2020

Hellas Crater Expansion

There has been little to write since my last post about the Crater and its denizens. This mainly because we had to find an alternative land rental in SL, so for a while there wasn’t actually a crater at all. As a result there’s now plenty to show you all.

The new parcel is larger than the last one so the crater is able to be larger larger, but it also spans multiple locations via some teleport doors.

New Landing Point

Out the door and through a tunnel (tp gate) and you arrive in the main crater, which is fairly similar to the previous one.

New Crater entry point

The difference in size is immediately evident as soon as you start walking and more buildings than previously making use of it.

The various doorways and entryways tp you to other locations smoothly, such as the stacked storage crates lead to rentals.

I rented the smallest of the crates.

The large crate with the purple neon is the entryway to a bar/club venue called Muses.

Muses bar/club

I mentioned at the start that there were other places connected to the crater, to get to those we go back to the landing point. Instead of going out the doorway and through the tunnel, to the left there is a shuttle:

Shuttle located at arrival point (I had my graphics on Ultra for these photos and had to actually reduce the particle count to make it visible through the dust)

Clicking this sends you to a small transport hub with a number of landing pads

Transport junction

Heading off through the archway takes you to a small cityscape location.

City arrival point

It’s a fairly small place, but for the RP it doesn’t need to be big at all.

The story here is that the route I took to get here is like a supply run for the crater. Some of the not-so-legitimate plants grown in the greenhouse are traded for supplies.

Now we have our locations set up again, the story can continue..

Landing Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kind/182/178/3001

Featured on Secondlife Community Blog 3rd August 2020

Lydius City Inn and Tavern

In a previous post I visited the Tavern outside the walls and another time I had explored inside the city with potential plans to move there.

The decision has now been made for me however, the forest homestead is closing due to funding issues. So everyone based there is moving to the Lydius region, which is Full region rather than Homestead.

So I paid another visit to the City to explore housing and character role opportunities.

So I approached the gates of Lydius to find them surprisingly open and a guard sleeping in the doorway.

Sleeping guard at the open gates

I stated my business and intent to find new lodgings and perhaps run the Inn or Tavern. When I mentioned I already had girls that could work in there in various roles,(which is true I’m still in contact with a couple of them from my old Tavern) he seemed very interested in showing me the places.

The potential issue here however is the differences between an Inn and a Tavern in Gorean lore. Lydius is a BTB (By The Book) region, meaning it’s supposed to stick strictly to the lore.

In Gorean lore the only females you’d find in a Tavern would be those on their knees serving drinks, dancing mostly naked, or on their backs in curtained-off alcoves. Taverns are basically male-only drinking dens. So having a female proprietor would be most irregular.

The Tavern is nearest, with the Inn at far end.

On the other hand an Inn is a much more respectable establishment. More suited to providing accommodation to visiting merchants or similar.

Inside the Tavern. The Inn is pretty much identical.

Neither place is currently used often, mainly due to lack of proprietor and serving girls.

I have to decide if I want to take on the role of innkeeper or not. It may be dependant on the availability of my former serving girls, (or recruiting new ones) since no place can be run properly without them.

This post was featured on the SecondLife Community Blog on 11th June 2020.