A few days ago, I had a terrifying exhange of emails with a dear friend - one Roger (Alacrity) Briant. At the beginning of our conversation, he had expressed an intention to end all of his games, as well as his association with the Red Dragon Inn.

I know that he has since softened that position - and I am glad - but I do fear that one day, it will happen; I know that he has a tremendous amount going on in his life. Selfishly, I hope that he always has a little time for the Inn, but I want to support my friend, no matter what.

That being said, I think that it's high time Alacrity was recognized for what he has brought to this community over the years.

Alacrity was one of the "core group" - one of my senior staff members who joined the Inn way back in the period right after its inception (that's more than a decade ago, folks!). He was here back when there was no rdinn.net - the Red Dragon Inn then was an angelfire subsite, running a forum on EZboards.

Back in the days of the "Wild West" chat, he kept order with his mythical banhammer. Eventually, progress and programming made that almost unnecessary, which was good... but sometimes, I think that he secretly misses it.

Alacrity has been instrumental in the Audalis project. He has been a creative force, an editor, a voice of reason. Much of the cohesiveness you see in our campaign setting can be directly attributed to his influence.

Alacrity has submitted many excellent articles, parodies, and ideas to the Inn's archives. He is as talented of a writer as I have ever had the pleasure to know - easily better than quite a few published, successful novelists. I coninue to hold hope that one day, he will pursue that novel, that he will earn the success he so richly deserves, and that I will be able to say that "I knew him when."

This man has been a rock, a solid presence that we could always count on - that we have taken for granted far too many times. Over time, many of those core staff members have faded into less active roles at the Inn. I myself have flaked out numerous times, gone missing for weeks (or months), yet Alacrity has always stayed here and kept things in order.

From time to time, people feel the need to thank me for creating this site. That's gratifying; I'm glad that you enjoy the Red Dragon Inn. That being said, I have always felt that the true value to the Inn was in the community itself - in our gamers, in our PEOPLE. I have long believed that the community is an organic, changing thing, that people come and go, and that we may cycle up or down, but will always continue, will always be the Inn.

When all is said and done, I honestly don't know how the Red Dragon Inn could long survive without Alacrity. I appreciate his contributions more than he may ever realize, and I hope that the rest of you appreciate him, as well.

I am very thankfull for the existance of this site, and for all of those who work behind the scenes to keep it up and running (mainly) bug-free. I am greatly looking forward to always knowing RDI as a home. I have a great deal of memories, and made a large number of friends on this website, and without it, I think I'd be lost. Thank you all for those of you who contribute, and we truly hope that Alacrity will always have time to come in for a few minutes a day.

Honestly, the work you and the rest of the staff do on this site is astounding when you look at it in its entirety.

I certainly wasn't around to see Alacrity with the banhammer, but I've heard references. You know, I think he needs to make a cameo with a banhammer in one of those RPGMB strips. Then again, not sure what a banhammer would look like. Maybe I should try to photoshop something up...

I appreciate each and every one of you!

But, yes, the Inn without Alacrity would be a gloomier place for sure... Why, I remember way back when when I was just a little toadstool huddled in the basement of this place, lurking, reading, on occassion rolling my eyes, and, more often, laughing my little shroom-butt off... I didn't post, I didn't chat... nuffin'... Hell, I hadn't even participated in anything remotely close to a D&D game of any sort in I couldn't tell you how long even before I started hanging around, here.

Welll, after a few months lurking in the shadows, coming out at night to read posts, and soaking my toes in the coffee maker, I stumbled upon a little game thread called "Continuing Where We Last Left Off"... What a read that was... The DM (a cetain alactrity_fitzhugh) had me intrigued with his opening post, for sure... his PCs (t_catt11, Vanadia, Yanamari, Bromern Sal), also, impressed the living heck out of me with their abilities to pick up on the snippets that Alacrity had laid out for them and, together, weave a tale that had me clicking the links every single time there was an update to the game (or the QA, for that matter)... It was then that I decided that if I was going to get back into RP, again, this was going to be the place I jumped in....

Of course, I didn't even have a username back then but after my first reads in CWWLLO and other threads here and there on the site, it didn't take this little toadstool long to evolve into a funky pink and green hat and get to posting. Now, I didn't even try to get in on CWWLLO at that point - I mean the DM and players all seemed so knowledgable and familiar with each other... even the thoughts of asking was something analogous to showing up at someone else's family reunion, you know? - but I did dip my toes in the Freeform pool, I tacked some "personal creations" up, and, before I realized it Eol Fefalas was logged in almost constantly... Alas, he still hadn't wriggled back into any kind of 'rules based' RP, quite yet, but that wasn't too far off...

I kind of think that the first rules based game I jumped into was actually Grey Sorcerer's "Legacy of the Dark Jedi"... didn't last long, there, as, if i remember correctly, Grey vanished and the game kind of fizzled... but guess what was right around the corner? That's right, friends and neighbors... Star Trek... Jack MacTavish... The Great Crash... and then *flair of trumpets* I somehow stumbled upon a miracle and was asked if I might consider joining up with the CWWLLO crew... *gaspswoon*... Meeee? Play with you guys??? Really?

OH HELLS YES!!!!

I was nervous... I was excited... I was afraid I wasn't up to snuff... and Roger challenged me to play a mage of all things!!! I had never, ever, EVER in all my life played any sort of mage... hell, even the rangers I'd played up to that point kind of had the tendancy to ignore the fact that they had access to spells (I'm just not a huge mana-slinger... *shrug* )... but, between Roger's patience and the assistance of folks like Olan, Addy, Brom, and others, I managed to play that mage pretty darn well... all the way up until he died (which Roger also managed to make exceedingly fun)...

Okay... so, random stream of consciousness ramblings aside... and I've said it before more than once... I LOVE YOU, Big Al, and I'm exceedingly pround to count you among my friends.

P.S. Did I fail to mention that the man has neer been far away with an open ear and/or a shoulder to lean on if I've ever needed it? No? Wellll, he has... and I've appreciated that just as much, if not moreso, than all of the gaming fun.

I didn't touch on the personal side. Alacrity is a superb human being - open, kind, patient to a fault. Hell of a guy.

Well thank you all for the kind words. I have to say that patience is not a word often used to describe me. Short tempered and grim is more likely.

I appreciate everything that has been said of me here. Raising Will takes a lot of energy and time so it is hard for me to take any time for myself. I sometimes feel like I am walking a tight-rope, while juggling melons and people are throwing daggers at me. Let me tell you, I have no ranks in dodge or juggling.

I really hope that one day I can introduce William to the Inn like I did with my daughter (MMV). Time will tell but he does have a Red Dragon Stuffy on his bed at nights (named Dragon sensibly).

I leave you with my favourite quote for my favourite movie

But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

Is that from V for Vendetta? The letter from the prison scene?

I might be totally wrong... could be Titanic.

Yuor first guess was correct.


Titanic! Where's my Banhammer!

Well I guess I’m a little late to the party but as one of the few people who have met Alacrity (Roger) and his family in person I must say to do what he has done for the Inn while raising a daughter, an Autistic son, taking care of a beautiful wife, and dealing with the continual troubles of real life, all I can say to the posts above is simply one word............. DITTO!

Love ya Roger, you are a good friend, and I would miss that if it were to end.