RFL: Settlers of Hope And Fiona Fei's Ribbon Hunt

By Bixyl Shuftan

The theme of this year's Relay season was "Game On, Cancer." And at the Relay track this year, the camps often had a tribute to a game. Several of the camps had builds inspired by Monopoly, such as the Sunbeamers. And some had actual games such as the Second Life Cheerleading Squad's playable game inspired by Donkey Kong. Two I came across offered prizes for completing games. One was in RFL Encourage: "Settlers of Hope."

Sandie Loxingly told me that the game had been made by her Relay Team "Seekers of Hope." It was based off the board game "Settlers of Catan."

 I would come back later with an alt.  In this SL game, a player had to purchase the HUD for 100L.

 As one goes down the track, one clicks on the people next to the signs to get a resource. You only get one good per station. There's also several games on the track, such as this Bejeweled spinoff.

Usually you get the same kind of good as the station. But sometimes a different one will appear. If you prefer the usual kind, click on the person again once or twice again.

Besides the game, there was a little scenery to explore.

At the end of the course, click on the chest at the end to get a prize. What you get depends on what combination of the six resources you have. For instance, one of each will get you a "Gamer Signs Fatpack." But there are others. Trying a combination not mentioned in the notecard, what I got was a token prize. Oh well, next time.

Oh, and Sandie told me one can get an online version of "The Settlers of Catan" for free on Steam (link).

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RFL%20Encourage/194/113/22

Of the sims, RFL Courage was a unique one, as it was designed by an artist.

Fiona Fei (Fionafei Resident) had designed the exhibit.

One place was meant to say "Pencil and paper games," which certainly described the sim.

Much of the place looked like landscape covered in various scribbling and simple games on paper.

But the place wasn't just scenery. There was also the "Black Ribbon Hunt."

 Clicking on the sign, one would get the first clue, and would find the eight others by finding the eight black ribbons in the sim.

 There were several tiny critters in the sim, that when clicked on would say something, occasionally offering a clue to finding a ribbon.

Some of the ribbons were clearly in plain sight, though others took me a while to find.

 A few of the ribbons had little gifts, such as this overhead, "Game on, Cancer!" (those in furry avatars, don't wear but add).

For getting all of the ribbons, the player gets a tiny "Toontoons" avatar. It seems to be one at random from a couple dozen, in my case getting a female panda.

There are of course more games in the rest of the sims, and a lot to explore. While some people have picked up their camps, there's plenty to look over. But not for long. Eventually the sims will be gone, so look around while you can.

Bixyl Shuftan

Wolf Ridge Asylum

By Bixyl Shuftan

Halloween season in Second Life means plenty of haunts to visit. There are too many for the Newser to write in-depth about, and too many for most residents to visit. So to stand out, some are making an extra effort to give the audience a more exciting time. But Wolf Ridge Asylum is going all-out to give it's visitors a scare they'll never forget. Located in the Geerkil land sim, this isn't a run of the mill spook house, but a three story maze of horrors with traps, reactive mobs, and volunteers playing the part as monsters. But the journey isn't the only reward. There's also a scavenger hunt with a prize for finding all the items.

1-quarter sim... Three stories high... Featuring Hidden Traps and Live Adversaries! All-Fur Radio Media in association with Club EFS present you... The Wolf Ridge Asylum! Come to Geerkil Land at Club EFS for the Halloween Fright of your un-life! Join the party at the club, and then dare the horrors of the Asylum Labrinth! Win prizes and have fun, now until the lights go out on the 31rst!... And be prepared to make the Ultimate Sacrifice!

I met up with one of the staff, Tod Heat (Okori Inaka), the designer and general manager. Speaking to me in Voice, he called Wolf Ridge Asylum a "funhouse for SL-goers" with "traps and live enemies. It was made by the staff of Club EFS, which was nearby, "It's open at nights run by a bunch of furries. You enter a game with scripts. Big Linden prizes. ... something special for the adults once the kiddies go to bed." Unlike most haunts, it's only open at certain times as "people where cheating when it was closed." So when it's not operating, those dropping in not on an approved list will be booted out. Tod did say on Halloween, they'll give some extra time for people to finish up." The location is "music powered" by  All Fur Radio.

Tod called the Asylum an "absolute labyrinth" with all kinds of features, and horrors. Playing it properly requires a HUD. The place has barely visible, or outright invisible, traps that will "kill" your avatar and send it back to the safe zone next to the entrance. There are also animesh and mesh mobs that move about, or pop out from some hidden location. Some of these will react to your presence and will also teleport you back to the start if they touch you. And then there are the "volunteer frighteners," human-controlled avatars like you playing the part of monsters whom will be unpredictable. Will they just sit around, or will they be relentlessly trying to hunt you down like no script-controlled animesh bot ever could?

As an extra incentive to brave this nightmare, there's a scavenger hunt with prizes. Scattered around the Asylum are dozens of raccoons (a scavenger hunt for scavengers?). There are sixty raccoons, fifty regular and ten golden. If you manage to find all fifty of the gray critters, you get a 3000 Linden prize. If you find all of the golden raccoons, you get 5000 Lindens. If you find all five dozen of the regular critters *and* the golden ones, you get a whopping 10,000 Linden dollar prize. At the time of the interview, Tod told me so far no one had been able to collect enough raccoons to get the top prizes.

There is no fee to enter the manor to make a try for the prize, "It's all free." They do accept donations. Besides Tod, others on the team included Kate (Katelynni Resident), Correzz Resident, and MetalWolf Nootan. JB Raccoon came up with the original concept of Wolf Ridge Asylum.

Along with the HUD, I got a short tale of the haunt's supposed origins, a place of refuge and healing that was made following a terrible war that people, human and furs alike, felt had cursed the land. Over time, conditions in the Asylum deteriorated, until an investigation revealed conditions that shocked the most war-hardened veterans among the police and the place was closed. Supposedly few have dared to go in, one who did and managed to escape saying:

"Be warned of the Wolfridge Asylum!! The nightmare begins as you walk in the front doors! No! It's the very grounds itself! Oh, gods. Guns don't work for long! Blades only hamper them!! Light only keeps them at bay! Nothing you carry in there will save you!! The way the Asylum sucks you back and forth in time, forces you relive any tiny mistake you make; to re-live the pains again and again again!! One inmate told me that if you stay too long?... You may just become one of its residents yourself, becoming the very things that chase, punish and torment!! I've seen it myself!! It's all worst on the Pumpkin Month!!! Then, it becomes three times its former power, and it's only growing year by year! There's no end to the pain, suffering and torment!! The Asylum is pure evil! Please!! Please, don't go in! You'll be lost forever!! Forever!! FOREVER!!!"

Both the story and announcements warned, "Be prepared to make the Ultimate Sacrifice!" So what is the "Ultimate Sacrifice?" That's something you may have to find out for yourself.

The Wolf Ridge Asylum is located at Geerkil Land (165/122/2251), and is open Thursday to Sunday from 9PM to 2AM SL time, with the last day open being Halloween, in which it will be open a little longer for people to finish.

Can *you* rescue all of those poor innocent raccoons from the nightmarish horror and walk away with the prize that has eluded everyone else?

Bixyl Shuftan

Note: The notecard I was given told me the times open were from 5PM to 10PM SL time, though I was told differently. Also, I had been told All Fur Radio had been a co-sponsor of the event. I was later contacted by someone saying they were providing the music, but that was all.