brian-rucker
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Hyperspace Beacon: Advice from a master
I had the pleasure of playing Star Wars Galaxies with Brian "OddjobXL" Rucker for at least five years before his unfortunate passing last week. We never met in person, but he was a great influence on my life despite my having only recently found out what he looked like. One of the great things about the internet is that personality really shines through when you don't have a preconceived notion of who someone is based on how he looks. Brian was one of those people whose personality stood out from the rest of the community because of the stories he created and wisdom he imparted to others. When he played SWG, he posted quite a bit as Mandash Grim on the Starsider Galaxy roleplay website; when a good chunk of those players decided to give Star Wars: The Old Republic a go, he moved with them to SWTOR-RP. On this forum, he talked about how SWTOR influenced RP, even though it was not exactly the way he envisioned it. It's hard to summarize in a thousand words his gaming philosophies, which had such an influence on me, but I'd like to highlight a few key things he wrote that I believe summarize his feelings on something everyone reading this column probably loves: Star Wars MMO storytelling.
Prolific MMO blogger Brian 'OddjobXL' Rucker passes away
The MMO roleplaying community lost one of its most prolific authors this week as Brian "OddjobXL" Rucker passed away at the age of 48. Rucker maintained a blog called The Roleplayer's Redoubt on MMORPG.com, and he was also featured in Massively's The Game Archaeologist, where he talked at length about MUDs, MUSHs, and Star Wars Galaxies. Massively columnist Larry Everett remembers Rucker as "a very prominent member of both of my websites and a personal inspiration to me as a gamer, writer, and roleplayer." Rucker, known as Cap'n in SWG circles, covered roleplaying in dozens of disparate MMO titles. He also offered plenty of sage advice for both newbs and veterans alike. [Thanks to Laura for the tip.]
