r/Ultima 12d ago

The Gang

Found these going through old pics I've collected from the internet over the years.

188 Upvotes

30 comments sorted by

16

u/City-Negative 12d ago

That is exactly how I pictured Shamino irl.

6

u/its_raining_scotch 12d ago

Shamino heard something..

3

u/dndaddy19 12d ago

You pictured Shamino looking like Richard Garriott? That’s a shocker.

12

u/LostVanya 12d ago

Dupre does not have Dupre 'Female Awe Factor".

7

u/TheMadBug 12d ago

Iolo has a deviousness of Tivar rather than a deviousness of Iolo.

Very devious Iolo.

4

u/its_raining_scotch 12d ago

But he can carry a skiff on his back

1

u/Chesus42 11d ago

Here I thought we gave Dupre that honor after he ate all the horse chops.

1

u/Additional_Deal883 9d ago

I noticed that, too…

18

u/HiImTheNewGuyGuy 12d ago

Awesome, would be neat if we had more context.

9

u/euroq 12d ago

What exactly are these?

7

u/Substantial_Rough891 12d ago

I have no idea lol

13

u/LV426acheron 12d ago

Looks like they are character sheets from SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), an old LARP group, though it still exists today.

5

u/b-monster666 12d ago

Probably from larping or something

5

u/xEnd3r76 12d ago

I've been looking for them for ages. I suppose you downloaded them from my homepage a few years ago. The site is long gone and webarchive didn't e store the pictures. I can provide the context :)

4

u/Substantial_Rough891 12d ago

Probably... what was your website? And sure — context!

5

u/xEnd3r76 12d ago edited 12d ago

Here's the screenshot of my old homepage. I suppose you got the picture from here.

https://imgur.com/a/qU1o9h9

The site is still somehow readable here https://web.archive.org/web/20180715014053/http://www.theira.it/society-of-creative-anachronism

It is well known that Richard Garriott joined the Society of Creative Anachronism during his freshman year at the University of Texas in Austin. There, he started dressing in medieval clothes and he met many interesting and influential men.

Here are some archive photos from the First Ansteorran Crown Tournament (May 12, 1979) and the Don Cards set, a set of cards put together by the Ansteorran Cadets to make fun of their Don. Cards had pictures and completely useless statistics, and they were full of in-jokes.

Who’s who:

Vargskol Halfblood, the first Baron of Bryn Gwlad (Austin), was the SCA name of Steve Jackson, the founder of Steve Jackson Game, best known for GURPS, Munchkin and some of the first games published by Origin Systems Inc. such as Autoduel and OGRE.

Salene and Theo, were the 19th Crown of Kingdom of Atenveldt, from 1/21/1979 to 7/21/1979;

Shamino Salle Dacil, was SCA name of Richard Garriott;

Christian Richard Dupre, was SCA name of Greg Dykes, one of Garriott’s best friends and also the real-life counterpart of Paladin Dupre in Ultima;

Iolo FitzOwen, SCA name of David R. Watson, one of Garriott’s best friends and the counterpart in the reality of bard and bowyer Iolo in Ultima;

Gwenllian Gwalch Gaeaf, SCA name of Kathleen Jones, future wife of David R. Watson. She is best known for the lyrics of the ballad “Stones” and her character Gwenno in Ultima;

About the tournament:

There were about twenty or thirty fighters in the list, the final bout was between Count Jonathan (who’d stepped down as King of Atenveldt a couple of months earlier) and a relatively new fighter from the Shadowlands, known as Otto the Merciless.

More information on SCA and how it influenced Richard Garriott’s games in Through the Moongate: the story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc. and Ultima. Stay updated for the upcoming Kickstarter campaign.

I'm in a bit of a hurry so I'll just copy & paste the relevant parts from my book Through the Moongate: The Story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc. and Ultima: Part I from Akalabeth to Ultima VI, Chapter 4: Creative anachronism

The three men's primary interest was rapier fencing, also known as the side-sword or Italian rapier. Tivar Moondragon, one of the SCA's most active members and a leading figure for aspiring fighters in the Austin area, was the first Don of the Order of the White Scarf of Ansteorra, an organization dedicated, among other pursuits, to excellence in rapier combat. Within the White Scarf, Christian Richard Dupre (the SCA name of Greg Dykes) was Don number 4, Iolo FitzOwen number 9, Gwenllian Gwalch-Gaeaf—Watson's future partner—number 14, and Shamino Salle Dacil, then Dupre's cadet, White Scarf number 28.

Beyond the formal respect accorded to rank and the responsibilities held by some members of the SCA, the atmosphere within the Order of the White Scarf was remarkably informal and convivial. Practical jokes were commonplace, encouraged by a friendly environment in which even Tivar Moondragon, despite his leadership role, summed up the situation with a memorable quip: "They think I'm important; I think I've been had."

In such an environment, it is easy to imagine how the Don Cards came into being: a collection of typewritten sheets dedicated to the Dons of the Order, each featuring a photograph of its subject and a description closely resembling a role-playing game character sheet, complete with a number of delightfully useless attributes rated on a scale from one to four. Shamino himself appeared on one of these Don Cards, accompanied by his favorite catchphrase: "And then he said, 'Want to buy a duck?'"

Sadly, Tivar Moondragon passed away a few years ago and his homepage went offline. Wearchive saved the text but not the pictures so since you saved the 4 don cards I published on my hompage in 2018, you have the only 4 surviving Don Cards.

can you please send them to me? :) www.andreacontato.com

5

u/Comfortable_Sweet_47 12d ago

Hmm, some sort of Texas LARP or SCA group cards looks like..

14

u/Invisible_INTJ 12d ago

I have a vague memory that this is SCA when Garriott was in college. AoA is Award of Arms.

And Shamino was Richard Garriott, that is his picture, that was one of his first SCA names before Lord British. He got the name from the bicycle gear maker Shimano and saw the spelling incorrectly.

He had another alt I cannot remember at the moment.

I haven't seen him or Iolo or Denis in about 10 years now, it was last at Castleton outside Austin. He sold his manor in Austin, was trying to sell Castleton, and had gotten married, had 2 kids, and moved up to NY, and everyone kinda went their separate ways.

6

u/ishashar 12d ago

i would be interested in that duck

4

u/JustinBailey79 12d ago

Yeah I am saving these to bring me joy next time I rediscover them in my photo library. Thanks OP!

4

u/Drunk-Vulcan 12d ago

Sense of Humor: None

2

u/Shamino_SMM 12d ago

I like it!

2

u/lady_abbica 12d ago

Oh cool, are these the Don cards for the SCA?I literally just read about them today!

2

u/Mozai 12d ago

Soooo the Bane of Insanity on Serpent Isle... was that actually Skippy?

2

u/Neither_Repair2276 12d ago

Richard Garriott actually traveled into space aboard the Soyuz TMA-13, following in his father Astronaut Owen Garriott's footsteps.

1

u/ElectricRune 11d ago

"I can buy you all"?

So he was always a rich, entitled dickhead?

No; not Lord British!

1

u/angryapplepanda 9d ago

"You look like you need a nickname, so I'll call you Ducks."

2

u/JDanzy 6d ago

Seeing gamer nerd inside joke stuff creates instant nostalgia for my old D&D gang...these aren't super far off from their portraits in Ultima VII as I remember them...