Inside Erin: The AIF Community Newsletter Volume 4 Number 2 - February 2008 A Letter from the Editor Hello all and welcome to my very first "A Letter From the Editor." It occurred to me this month that I have never even written a letter TO the editor of any publication so it seems more than a bit strange to be writing one from this side of things. That being said, I will do my best not to bore you too much. With the pending Erin Awards hanging over our heads and A. Ninny's announcement that he was stepping down as editor, a rather momentous occasion passed without our taking notice of it. Last month marked the third complete year of this newsletter. 36 consecutive issues dealing with the hobby that we all love. A. Ninny lead us through 33 of those 36 issues and I just don't feel that we can go on without once more pausing to express our gratitude to him for all of his hard work over the years. A. Ninny's work in editing the newsletter, organizing competitions, beta testing countless games, and then even somehow finding the time to write a few himself is awe inspiring to me. I only hope that I do not too badly mess up what he has put so much time and effort into. I urge you, if you haven't already done so, to drop him a little line of thanks. Although he would never say so himself, I think we all certainly owe him at least that much. I suddenly realize that I'm talking a bit like he has died or something. He certainly hasn't and in fact, has not even retired. He is still on staff and the old boy has some life left in him yet as evidenced by the first installment of his new series "The Aphrodite Chronicles" which premiers in this issue. Now, on to new business. I've been thinking about a few changes that we could make around here. One thing I was thinking of is that we could offer a cash prize to the winner of the mini-comp this year. I think that this would be -- excuse me a moment. What was that? We don't, really? Hmm, ok. Sorry about that folks. I've just been informed that we don't really have money in the budget to do something like that. It's too bad, I think it would have been a pretty good idea. Oh, what the hell, I believe in this so strongly that I'm am personally willing to take a pay cut to be able to offer the winners a little -- What? What do you mean I'm not getting paid for this? Are you kidding? The next thing you'll be telling me that there's no 401K either . . . What!? Hmm, sorry again. It seems that I should have done a bit of research on this beforehand. It appears that I'm doing a little pro boner work here. Well, it's a good thing I like this stuff then huh? Ok, change of plans. Rather than coming in and changing things up right away, I think we'll just keep the status quo for a month or two. I hope to have some new features for you in the future, but for now I guess it's best to not mess around with a formula that's working pretty well. This month, BBBen will let us know what happened at the Erin awards and who walked away with all the little gold trophies. We have the entries to the seventh Beat the Staff comp and a review from first time game reviewer Jhaerlyn. For those of you who have been following along with my "How to Write a One Night Stand" tutorial, I must apologize for not having one ready for this month's edition. In addition to the admittedly great honor of being asked to take over as editor, an even more exciting event happened this month in the form of a brand new bouncing baby girl in the Dragon household. Well, I haven't actually tried bouncing her yet, but I assume she would. Mother and daughter are both doing fine but it has seriously cut in to my AIF time. I promise it will be back next month. Well, that's about it for this month. One down and only 32 left to catch up with the Ninny formerly known as editor. Thanks for reading and until we meet again, remember to have fun and think dirty thoughts. * * * This Month in AIF by BBBen Well, there are two things to report this month: firstly, the Erin Awards for 2007 have been given out in the official ceremony, and the results are available later in this edition of Inside Erin! I won’t explain all that too much here, except to say that it went well and I’d like to thank everyone who participated in any capacity. On another subject, I was honoured to receive the Badman Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award, something that has only been given to Badman, Choices, Newkid, Chris Cole, A. Bomire and Scarlett Herring before me. It makes me feel like I’ve actually got a bit of work to do to earn the right to truly claim the award, so I guess I’ve got to get Pervert Action: Crisis out as soon as I can! The second issue of note is the change in editor for the newsletter. A. Ninny, after steering at the helm so ably for the past two and a half (or so) years has handed it over to Purple Dragon, and we all thank the both of them for their time and effort. A. Ninny has set up a great format for Inside Erin, so I’m sure Purple Dragon, as our third editor, will have a much easier time of getting going than Ninny did himself (I know, because I took over the Erin Awards from A. Ninny). This is his first issue, so as I write this I look forward to reading it myself. And that’s about all I’ve got to say here for this month (nothing much happened, apart from the Erins). 2008 has just started, and the AIF community has been opening up more and more for the entry of new authors to come to the fore. I hope to see a whole lot of great new games this year… well, I say that every year, but the opportunity is truly there, this year, so let’s all hope it happens! * * * 2007 Erin Awards Results by BBBen The Erin Awards are done for another year, and we have our winners! Thanks to all the voters, this year we had 68 votes, which is the largest ballot yet. This is in large part to the online ballot designed by Knight Errant, so thanks very much to him. Thanks also go to the usual suspects in the Erins judging panel, who came up with the nominees. The awards ceremony was fun as usual, and this year we managed to keep the winners mostly secret, so the suspense was higher than ever! All this info, as well as a transcript of the awards ceremony, will soon be available on the Erin Awards webpage at http://erins.aifcommunity.org/ so you can still check it out if you didn’t manage to attend. Anyway, here are the award winners – hopefully the graphics for the winners will be ready soon and we’ll be able to send them out in due course. (NOTE: These little ‘blurbs’ were mostly written by A. Bomire, with only a few done by myself and A. Ninny.) Best player character: 1. Goblin (A Goblin's Life) Picture your usual AIF hero: tall, good-looking, and smooth with the ladies. Now picture the exact opposite: four-foot tall, green skin, pointed ears and ragged fangs, and you have the oddest AIF hero ever created. Yet for all of his faults, and believe me there are many, Burnout (with BBBen) has created a lovable character you can't help root for as he attempts to complete his goblinhood quest and score with an 'oomie breeder. 2. PC (Crossworlds Part 4 – Scream for Me!) BBBen continues his compelling story arc in "Crossworlds 4 - Scream for Me", and with it he brings the player character that he has created and refined over his previous games. This character has developed from a virtually blank slate to having a distinct personality over the course of the games, and the troubles he faces in CW4 bring these to the fore. Best non-player character: 1. Clara (Second Guest) In “The Second Guest”, GoblinBoy (writing as ShadowDance88), creates the enigmatic and attractive Clara. The game won the 2007 AIF mini-comp category for “Best Characters”, due in no small part to the role Clara plays in the game. She enters the game surrounded by an indefinable air of mystery and maintains a dual role of aloofness and provocativeness that draws the player into her web of intrigue. 2. Ana (HORSE) Ana is the type of girl you wished you worked with (or maybe you do work with her, in which case - lucky you!). She's hot and sexy, and she knows it, but not in the stuck-up way. In fact, she has no problem at all flirting with the player, and the playful sexual interaction she engages with in the course of the game of HORSE makes the game that much more fun to play. Best one on one sex scene: 1. PC/Ana (HORSE) A. Ninny has long proved himself a notable writer in the AIF field, often finishing at, or near, the top of mini-comps and the Erins. His wonderful full game sexual encounter with Ana begins with playful teasing during the game of HORSE, which becomes more and more intense as the game progresses until the ultimate final encounter between the two. The actual game of HORSE is part of the sex scene, with both characters attempting to use sex to throw the other off their game, and the integration of sex and gameplay is very enjoyable. 2. PC/Lisa (CW4) BBBen's character of Lisa is one of the reasons that the game has done so well in this year's awards - finishing first in writing, second in best game, and nominated for several other awards. The interactions between the PC and Lisa are some of the most compelling of the game, and the final encounter between the two is satisfying on many levels, not the least is the sexual hotness of the scene. The scene also manages to create a sexual puzzle by inverting the traditional arousal system and creating a contest between the two characters to see who can hold out against an orgasm the longest. Best threesome/orgy: 1. PC/Molly/others (School Dreams 2 – Forfeit Fantasy) 2. PC/Becky/Mike (SD2) Every author will tell you - writing threesomes or orgies is one of the hardest things to do in any AIF game. Just adding an additional character to a scene more than doubles the amount of descriptions you need to write. Yet GoblinBoy, in typical fashion, thumbs his nose at convention and practically fills “School Dreams 2: Forfeit Fantasy” with threesomes, combining just about every character in the game with every other character in the game. It is no wonder this game came in first and second in this category. Hottest game: 1. SD2 Forfeit Fantasy had an enormous amount of sex, with a dramatic new level of sexual interactivity being introduced by allowing multiple sex acts to take place at once, in combination. The game also explores several kinks that meant School Dreams 2 explored sex in a way that no other AIF game out there has, or could. 2. Second Guest As has come to be expected of GoblinBoy (even though here he is writing as ShadowDance88), this game is full of hot, racy sex. The multiple endings that you can experience have their own sexual encounters as well, with just makes the game that much more enjoyable. Best technical implementation: 1. HORSE A. Ninny won this category for the same game in the 2007 AIF mini-comp, and was a shoe-in for it in the Erin's as well. His implementation of playing a game of HORSE with a hot, sexy co-worker is smooth and seamless, with plenty of opportunity to play the game in different ways. Whether you play straight-up, or try to distract your opponent, it all interacts very well. 2. CW4 In “Crossworld 4: Scream for Me”, BBBen has once again written an excellent game. He brings about the feelings of horror and hazy uncertainty in a manner that is not in your face, something that isn't easy. The scene changes and character encounters are all done smoothly, without any jerky feelings that you sometimes get when things just don't fit right, and the game attempts and achieves many subtle complexities that are not normally seen in ADRIFT games. Most innovative: 1. HORSE Writing stories in games is hard; writing puzzles in games is hard; but writing games in games is harder still. Writing a game within a game without making it seem mechanical and stiff is very challenging, yet A. Ninny shows off the same skills he used in writing the craps game in “Malaise” to create the game of HORSE. The game play is smooth and easy, and it doesn't feel at all forced and awkward as such things can sometimes be. 2. Time in the Dark For sighted people, picturing the dark world of the blind can be difficult, even impossible. Yet Purple Dragon attempts just that in his game “Time in the Dark”. You, the player, are forced to live in the world of the blind, at least for part of the game. This bold step is one reason why this game did so well in this category – the fact that Purple Dragon pulls it off very well is the other reason. Best Use of Multimedia: 1. Ghost Using the program “Daz3D” GoblinBoy actually created his own 3D animated sex pictures for Ghost. Being one of the rare examples of original erotic artwork made for an AIF game, this was sure to guarantee Ghost a win in this category. 2. Casabian Virus The Casabian Virus repeated GoblinBoy's popular feature of including picture "hooks" to allow players to include pictures of their own selection to be used by the game. Though it didn’t include any actual multimedia, this category is “best use of multimedia”, after all. Best writing: 1. CW4 The epic adventures of Janey, Lin, Debbie and the PC come to conclusion in this very well written fifth entry in the series. This game has probably the best atmosphere of all the games released in 2007; you feel as hazy and uncertain as the main character as you try to find out just what is going on, what is real and what is only imagined. The sense of unease and creeping horror you feel is present but not overbearing, culminating in a climax that ties together themes and plot threads from throughout the series. 2. A Goblin's Life How do you make a short, slimy, disgusting goblin likable? Well, take a look at “A Goblin's Life” and you'll see. Burnout (with BBBen) does a great job of writing the dialog and interactions of the Goblin. You get to see the world through his eyes, and the phrases, descriptions and dialog in the game are all written with just that hint of “goblinese” that lends it credence. Best Humour: 1. A Goblin's Life It is no secret why “A Goblin's Life” won the award this year for best character and was runner up for best writing – it is quite simply the funniest game to have been written in a long time. Burnout (and BBBen) have quite capably captured the troubles of the goblin, with laugh out loud scenes as the goblin attempts to complete his quest to score with an 'oomie breeder. 2. The Last Hurrah In “The Last Hurrah”, Priapus Rex presents us with a long-time philanderer who has sworn off straying to his fiancé, but is presented with a seemingly never-ending stream of temptations. The situations are tired and clichéd, but that is exactly the humour of them. They are so over-used that Priapus Rex presents them in a totally outrageous manner, embracing the cliché and then going so far beyond it that you can't help but laugh. Best new author: 1. Burnout Burnout's first game came in second in the 2007 mini-comp, only beaten by GoblinBoy's winning entry. The adventures of the horny little goblin showed great passion and enthusiasm in the writing, and showed the promise of a lot more hot, amusing and distinctive adventures from this new author. 2. Knight Errant Who would think of translating a 2000-year old Greek play into modern AIF? Knight Errant, that's who. Knight Errant's treatment of Aristophanes' “Lysistrata” is one that sent many a player to the pages of their encyclopedia (okay, Wikipedia), a step in the direction of establishing Knight Errant as the thinking man's author. Best beta-tester: 1. A. Bomire A. Bomire is probably the smartest beta-tester in the community. He has great ability to find bugs in a game, but more than that he is able to apply his knowledge of programming to make a guess at what the cause of aproblem is. More often than not his guess is right on the money. Also, he brings a sense of humor and willingness to work to really 'get' the games he tests. 2. A. Ninny What can be said about A. Ninny's beta-testing that hasn't already been said? Despite not winning this year, he is probably the best beta-tester to have worked in the world of AIF. Best short game: 1. Second Guest After winning the 2007 AIF mini-comp, winning the Erin for “Best NPC” and coming in second for hottest game, is it any wonder that “The Second Guest” by GoblinBoy (writing as ShadowDance88) has won the award for “Best Short Game”? If you are wondering, then you probably haven't played the game! 2. HORSE A. Ninny's “HORSE” has already won the award for “Best One on One Sex Scene”, “Best Technical” and “Most Innovative”, and came in second for “Best NPC”. His portrayal of the flirting that goes on between the PC and Ana as they play HORSE (leading to the obvious ending encounter between the two) is well done and enjoyable, displaying why this game did so well in this category. Best game: 1. SD2 In “School Dreams 2: Forfeit Fantasy”, GoblinBoy continues showing the rest of AIF just exactly how it's done – hot, fun sex in a playful atmosphere. This fantasy romp explores more sex than any game since GoddoG's “Fever Cabin”, and does so with GoblinBoy's usual combination of wit and heat. The game pushes the boundaries of the traditional format of sex scenes in AIF and, in true ‘game of the year’ style, attempts and achieves things that no other game would dream of doing. 2. CW4 The Crossworlds series may be the most underrated series of games in AIF. Each builds upon the continuing story of Janey, Lin, Debbie and the player – yet each stands alone. “Crossworlds 4: Scream for Me” is undoubtedly the best written of any of the series (as indicated by the Erin award for “Best Writing”), and finishes the compelling story arc begun way back in “The Sleepover” (now re-released as part of “Crossworlds Part 0: The Girl Next Door”). Yet it still contains the humour and whimsy we've come to expect from BBBen's works, despite its dark nature. Badman Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award: BBBen When BBBen burst onto the scene in early 2004 with “The Sleep Over” and “Janey's Diary”, who knew that the AIF world would see the introduction of one of the longest and compelling story arcs in AIF. For most authors, that would be enough, but BBBen also threw himself into other pursuits – winning the 2004 mini-comp; helping to found a “review group” that would take on the daunting task of reviewing all of the games released into the AIF field; becoming a constant contributing author to the AIF newsletter; providing lots of ideas and suggestions for the improvement of the field, including writing many helpful articles on writing AIF; and finally taking on the somewhat daunting task of coordinating the annual Erin awards. He has proven himself to be something of the AIF Renaissance man, and truly deserving of this award. * * * Beat the Staff #7 Congratulation to A. Bomire for his win in the sixth Beat the Staff competition. That makes an amazing three wins out of the six comps, way to go AB. The challenge for this month was a bit different from the norm. Anyone who has played Ideal Pacific Coast University (IPCU) by Newkid should remember both the gorgeous sunbathing chick and the frustration at not being able to do anything with (to) her. Our entries for this month give some ideas about what might have happened. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive a single non-staff entry this month, reinforcing our decision to take a break from the Beat the Staff competition. It, or something like it, may make a reappearance at some point but for now, perhaps it is best to let it fade into the background for awhile. We are printing the staff entries here for your reading enjoyment, but since there is no one to compete against there will not be a vote this month. For those few of you who haven’t played the game, here’s the setup. PORTILLO ROAD Portillo Road is a small, winding street, which runs through an undeveloped meadow on the back side of campus. Your dorm is located to the west, while another dorm, Paul Johnson Hall, is to the east. Fraternity Row is to the north. The sunbathing chick is a very good-looking girl, with sandy brown hair bleached almost blonde by the sun. She sports a tan that is so golden brown that it almost glows. She wears a white Lycra bikini top. Its wide, triangular cups showcasing their luscious contents. She seems excited, and her nipples tent out in front rather obviously. The fabric appears to be that tan-thru stuff, but since it is patternless, you can actually make out an impression of dark aureoles underneath. The bottom is a white thong that is barely a few finger's width in front, and probably invisible in back. The strings across her hips are made of tiny silver chain. She is sitting on the ground. She is sitting up cross-legged, reading a paperback. > Entry #1: A. Bomire—Staff >yell You yell as loud as you can. When nothing happens, you yell again, jumping up and down and waving your arms. Then you scream loudly while running around Sarah in circles. Sarah sighs, dropping her paperback and looking up at you. "What the hell are you doing?" she asks. "What am I doing?" you respond, a note of hysteria in your voice. "What am I doing?" you say again. "I'm TRYING to get your ATTENTION!" you shout. "I've tried everything else. EVERYTHING!!" You begin pacing back and forth. "I say 'Hi' and you ignore me. I try to give you things..you ignore me. I try asking you questions and even doing rude things to you..YOU IGNORE ME!" You stop, staring at Sarah, waving your arms in the air. "I mean...do something! Say 'Hi'! Ask me to go away! Tell me to get lost, for God's sake! Do something..ANYTHING!” Sarah clucks her tongue. “So let me get this straight – you want to go out with me, right?” You just gape at her, then nod. She nods back, then picks up her book. “I'm gay.” You stare at her for a second. "Oh," you say sheepishly. She ignores you, turning a page in her paperback. “Uh..sorry to bother you.” She continues reading. “Uhm...bye?” Sarah reads her paperback. You clench your fist until the knuckles turn white, then take a couple of deep breaths. Muttering under your breath, you turn away. > Entry #2: A. Ninny—Staff >hit on woman You take a look at the gorgeous but haughty woman who continues sitting and pointedly ignoring you, and you decide that the time has come for you to make your move. You consider some options for opening lines but failing to come up with anything overwhelmingly witty, you sit down on the grass next to her and simply greet her with a "hi." She lowers her paperback and looks at you, a tight-lipped frown crossing her face. "I'm not interested, frat boy," she says. Well, at least she acknowledged you at last. Time to see where this can go. "Really. Why is that," you counter, making it sound like a challenge. “Based on how you’re dressed and how your clothes have been becoming more and more revealing recently, it looks like you’re interested in almost everything.” She pauses to consider this, then responds, "my clothes have nothing to do with you. I’m simply way out of your league." "You know, until just recently I would have probably agreed with you. But I've been on an amazing quest of late that has changed my estimation of who is and who isn't out of my league. Since my adventure started I've made it with the tennis star, two sorority divas, a pair of ditsy cheerleaders from the school across the water, the flaky English professor, the feminist rabble-rouser, the preacher's daughter-turned- stripper, and last but not least, the Dean's wife." She doesn’t pause to think before saying flatly, “I really don’t think that’s likely.” “It’s true, though.” “But have you paused to consider how massively unlikely that is?” “No,” you state firmly, “I haven’t -- just how fantastically amazing it has been.” “Fantastic, unlikely, same thing,” she responds, dripping irony. “Are you hungry? Perhaps you’d like to continue this argument over dinner?” She begins gathering her things. Is she accepting your invitation? Then she sighs meaningfully and says, “look, you seem like a decent guy, but the real reason I’m not interested is that you’re fictional and I’m not.” You really thought you’d heard every blow-off line, but this is entirely new. You decide to explore further. “Fictional? What do you mean, fictional? I don’t think I’m fictional.” “But you are. Not only that, you’re interactive-fictional. That means that you’re not only given your dialog and actions by the author, you’re under the direct control of the reader as well. That explains how you’ve had all that sex and you’re still ready for more.” “That’s not normal?” You ask, surprised. “It’s how I always am. I thought it was part of being 21 and male.” “Well, that’s partially true,” she concedes, “but how many orgasms have you had since your ‘quest’ started?” “I lost count,” you admit. “Check the transcript,” she suggests. “Good idea!” you say excitedly and quickly scroll back through your quest, focusing on each sexual conquest and rereading it fondly. “Look at this one!” You exclaim, “this is how I snuck into the women’s showers and had the tennis star jump me. And here… you point to a particularly hot exchange, is where Denise finally conceded to give me a blowjob.” “And that’s another thing,” the girl says, “real people don’t have transcripts – we have memories. It’s different. Instead of a textual roster of events, we have emotion-colored recollections. But you wouldn’t really be able to understand.” “You don’t have a transcript?” you ask, amazed. “No, I don’t.” “You show up in my transcript,” you say. “Look, here you are, and here again, and again, and here you were in your yellow bikini…” “Weren’t you supposed to be counting orgasms?” she reminds you. After a moment, you reach the beginning of the transcript and the end of your count. “Well, I had about fifty orgasms,” you say. “In how much time?” She asks. “Time?” You say, confused. “What’s that?” “Ah, yes. You don’t have time – only turns. That’s why it’s the same for you to get to the school across the water as to walk right over there. Distance, time, velocity – these are concepts that are meaningless in this world…” “Can I ask you something?” you interrupt. “Huh? What?” “Well, if you’re ‘real’ and not ‘fictional’ as you say, then what are you doing here?” This gives her pause and her eyes begin to look glassy. Finally, you think, you may have gotten to her. “It’s my ex-boyfriend,” she says, “He locked me on this godforsaken bit of lawn when he wrote this. It was his idea of revenge to put me in a game where virtually every female character is getting laid, but I’m not.” She looks down and considers her magnificent body for a moment, then adds, plainly, “at least he thought kindly of my appearance when he put me here.” “He must really think you’re something special to make you look this gorgeous,” you say. “Thanks, you’re actually very sweet, for a fictional boy.” “Listen,” you say excitedly, a brilliant idea suddenly occurring to you, “can’t you see the benefit of having sex with a fictional person? It’s like a fantasy! The sex would be far better than it will be in reality. Look,” you say, scrolling back through your transcript to the encounter with Amanda, the flaky English professor who you seduced by reading her poetry to her, “read this – it’s total fantasy but brilliantly hot and sexy. It’s an example of how amazing fictional sex can be.” She takes the transcript from you and starts reading. As she does, she shifts uncomfortably and blushes from time to time. Sometimes she laughs, when she comes across some of Amanda’s ridiculous poetry, and then she’ll let her mouth drop open and her breathing will become a bit hoarse. Her nipples harden noticeably and she occasionally brushes her fingers across them but tries to make it look like she’s adjusting her bikini. By the time she hands the transcript back to you, her demeanor has shifted entirely. She gives you that unmistakable look of invitation and you close the gap between you and press your lips to hers. > Entry #3: Purple Dragon—Staff >W As you head for your dorm you hear someone behind you say, “Hi” and turn to see who it was. You are surprised to see that the only person there is Sarah in her usual place tanning on the lawn. You look around to make sure no one else is there and then ask, “Did you say something?” Smiling, she says, “Yes, of course, I said hi. Why do you look so surprised?” “Well, after all the times I tried to talk to you and you ignored me, I was beginning to wonder if you could talk at all Sarah.” “You know my name?” “Yeah, I asked around a bit, back when I still cared.” “Ouch,” she says with a wince. “I guess I deserved that. I’m sorry for being rude but I’ve been trying to conduct a little experiment for psychology class and things had to be handled just right.” Wondering where this is going, you ask the obvious question, “What kind of experiment.” “Well, the idea is that once someone gets used to something enough, they stop noticing it at all. I’ve spent most of my free time for the last several weeks out on this lawn trying to find out is how long it would take before people ceased to notice me sitting here.” “Dressed like that?” you ask with a raised eyebrow, “probably forever.” “Oh really?” she says with a smile. “When I first started coming out here, yes. But every day I drew a bit less attention and the longer I stay out, the less attention I get.” “Well I certainly noticed you, even tried to talk to you a couple of times.” “That’s right, you did. But that was when I first came out today. Since then I’ve watched you go in and out of your dorm there a dozen times and you haven’t even glanced my way.” You think about it for a moment and realize that she is probably right, but then again, you have a lot on your mind today. “So what’s changed? Why are you talking to me all of a sudden.” “I’m ready to take the experiment to the next step and I need some help.” “What kind of help,” you ask, not at all feeling like playing the guinea pig. Instead of answering directly she says, “Did you notice that last week when I was out here I took my top off for awhile?” “I think I would have definitely noticed something like that.” “But you didn’t,” she says. “You walked right by without even looking at me. “Bullshit!” “I’ll prove it to you. Have a seat.” Skeptical, but now a bit intrigued (and horny) you sit down next to her on the lawn. Without saying another word she reaches behind her back and unties the strap of her top, letting it slide off her shoulders. Her bikini didn’t leave a lot to the imagination to begin with but you are still not quite prepared for how gorgeous her tits are when they make their appearance. Nipples that were seconds before tenting the front of her top are now pressing into nothing but air and they aren’t the only things that are stiffening. “Ok now, sit very still and just watch” she says. “Oh I’m watching, believe me.” She has the grace to blush a bit as she says, “yeah, well while your watching those try to keep an eye on anyone who passes.” You can’t help but think how stupid this is but you are certainly not going to try to talk her top back on. You see someone out of the corner of your eye and turn your head slightly to see Fixer heading toward his dorm. His path will take him right by you and you smile to yourself, trying to guess what his reaction will be. Your mouth pops open in amazement when he passes less than 20 feet from you without even looking down and disappears into his dorm. “You see?” she says. “I do” you reply. “And I never would have believed it if I hadn’t. Well, you’ve got my attention but what do you need my help for?” “Like I said, I’ve already gone this far. Now I’m trying to see if even something as extreme as human copulation would be sufficient to draw attention to me.” “Huh?” you say, showcasing your brilliant intellectual prowess. “It’s my theory that not even two people engaged in sexual intercourse will be enough to draw people’s attention through the dead zone I’ve created.” “What?” you ask, sure you must be misunderstanding what she is saying. “Let me use little words that you can understand,” she says slowly as if talking to a two year old, “I want you to fuck me.” “Right out here on the lawn? Are you crazy?” “No, I am certainly in possession of all of my faculties,” she says as she leans back. Then she reaches between her legs and pulls aside the narrow strip of material that barely kept herself covered, revealing a bare pussy with enough moisture between the lips to show that, experiment or not, she is obviously getting off on this a bit on some level. “Now, do you want to fuck me or not?” Well you’ve never turned down a request like that before and you should have known that if something like this was going to happen, it would be on a day like today, when it seems like everything with a pair of tits is throwing herself at you. You reach down, pull out your cock and kneel between her legs. “Slowly now,” she instructs “No sudden movements and no noise or it won’t be a true test.” Nodding, you slip slowly between her lips, finding her warm, wet, and tight. It would be quite exciting enough even if you weren’t fucking her on the lawn between two dorms. You try to go slow but soon you are breathing heavily and notice that Sarah is biting hard on her lip and moaning softly into her closed mouth. When her eyes widen and you feel her cunt clamp down on your cock you finally lose it and empty yourself into her. Now spent, you lie between her legs content at last to remain still when you hear someone clear his throat behind you and turn to see the dean standing there. “It’s because of things like this that I will see that miserable fraternity of yours reinstated over my dead body.” You look down at Sarah, who just shrugs. “Oh well,” she says, “back to the drawing board.” > Entry #4: BBBen—Staff > xyzzy You take a step toward the girl and open your mouth to speak, when you see a strange haziness in the air… like the wavy lines of heat rising from the ground, or… Wham! You are suddenly thrown backward and to the ground. You look up to see what hit you, and right in front of you two young women suddenly… well, materialise is the only word for it. One is curvy, with short blonde hair and a tight Star Trek style spandex costume, while the other is petite, with long, red hair and is dressed like some kind of mediaeval princess. “No, still not right,” the blonde mutters, looking at a device covered in flashing lights she holds in her hand, “We’re a long way from Crossworlds Part 4 now.” She looks around and sees the sunbathing chick, saying, “Good looking girl…” then she turns and sees you, and says, “Oh, sorry, buddy. Were you hitting on her?” “I shall give thou ‘hitting’,” the redhead says, slapping the blonde on the back of the head, “We need to get moving, or the brave knight shan’t be able to save the day!” “Yeah, you really don’t get how time travel works, do you?” the blonde enquires, before the princess gives her another slap to the back of the head. “Just get us out of here!” she exclaims, so the blonde mumbles something under her breath and pokes at the weird device she’s holding. The two women dematerialise as quickly as they appeared, and you are left lying on the ground in front of the sunbather. “I’m going to act like I didn’t see that,” she says, and goes back to reading her book. * * * The Aphrodite Chronicles by A. Ninny Dear mortal men and women, Some of my periodic returns were triggered by great need, while other times I’ve come back for a dose of enjoyment, or simply to share myself with the world. I’ve returned when the world needed to be reminded that humans need, and needs to provide, pleasure and love. In the black times when everything having to do with sex becomes taboo – that’s when I’m needed the most. And at times like those I find myself in now, when sex begins to get too cheap, I can remind humans about the value that sex and love rightly command. If there’s a woman you remember or have read about who is famous for creating a moment of liberation: that was me. If there’s a woman whose image is burned in your memory, it’s more than likely that it was me, too. Lady Godiva? That was me. Jezebel? Guinevere? They were me too (I got a bad rap for Jezebel but that's based on the story as told by the buttoned-up puritans who related it hundreds of years later). Mona Lisa. Audrey Hepburn. The model in Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” – well, that's too obvious. When I was Janis Joplin I helped end the closed-eye repression of the 1950s and triggered the free love movement that followed. I am Aphrodite, immortal goddess of love. It’s the Greek name that I use most frequently because that civilization especially understood and appreciated my contribution. The Romans appropriated the Greek traditions and changed my name to Venus, but they abandoned me when they adopted Christianity, a religion that diminished my powers but made me more necessary than ever. And I’m not alone. I can offer you numerous examples of immortals stepping into the very heart of human affairs. Joan of Arc, for instance – that was Athena, the chaste defender of the righteous. If you’ll excuse my colloquialism, there’s a girl who badly needs to get laid. Hera’s here too, right now. She has found herself the very familiar role as a maddeningly jealous wife of a great leader who harbors huge ambitions of power for herself. Sound familiar? Queen Elizabeth I was one of us as well - she was Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Eleanor Roosevelt was Demeter, an Earth-mother goddess and all-around tough cookie. It’s not just the women, of course. Ares is laughing at us right now from behind the smug face of Dick Cheney. “War on Terror”, indeed. This is a desperate and confused time for me to return. Never in my endless memory has sex been at once so cheap and so expensive. Sexual images and thoughts bombard me like never before. This technology thing has appropriated the appearance and sound and feeling of lovemaking and transformed it under bright lights and hi-definition cameras into a perverted shadow of itself. The Internet has taken that perversion and multiplied it a million times over. It offers the illusion that sex is endlessly abundant and in general far more violent than the reality. The ‘ordinary’ media offer stories of men and women making numerous sexual conquests with astonishing ease. Meanwhile, I observe that real men and women feel like they are expected to keep up with their fictional counterparts, but are restrained by fear of spreading disease and a strongly repressive message from many of the larger governments and powerful religions. I suspect interference from one – or more – immortals in creating this environment. It screams of the work of Alecto, Megaara and Tisiphone - the Erinyes – sometimes called the Furies - lesser goddesses whose duty it was originally to punish individuals who commit immoral acts, but who were so overworked that over time changed and now seek to punish all of human society and undermine the foundations of civility, respect, and love most of all. I am returning to human society. I will do whatever I must to seek out the Erinyes and stop or at least slow their plot. I will use whatever human technology is available, and make use of men and women alike in order to reverse the Erinyes’ impact. I will raise the value of true love and real, wonderful sex. This will be global warming of a very different – and endlessly desirable sort. But like real global warming, this is a trend with fantastic momentum and is pushed along by the shifting morals of billions of individual people living in thousands of unique communities and cultures. It may be hopeless, but I have to try. So travel with me – and join my cause. Those who do will be with me for great adventures past and future, experience sex with gods and goddesses, and witness a fantastic struggle – the real fight for the hearts and minds and bodies of humanity. It starts here, today, and even I cannot say with any certainty how it will end. Wising you wonderful love, Aphrodite * * * Game Reviews State of Mind A Review by Jhaerlyn Game Info: State of Mind Released: Decemberish, 2007 Author: Ehlanna Platform: RAGS Size: 5.75 MB Content: m/f, f/f, mind control (rape?) Game Type: Puzzle Fest Length: Medium Reviewed: January, 2008 Extras: Graphics Basic Plot You’re a college student who wakes up the day a report is due, but you can’t find your research material. You DO find a magic scroll that confers on you some “wisdom” that opens the door to using the arcane arts to acquire the paper that you need, and enjoying yourself along the way. Overall Thoughts State of Mind is a pleasant little game that is just challenging enough to be fun, but simple enough to be played in one sitting at work or home, especially if you are on hold with a telephone/cell phone company. I actually enjoyed playing the game several times. If there is a negative to the author’s first “official” RAGS game, I’d say it was that the pictures distracted me from written descriptions and dialogues, which were usually pretty good. A few minor spelling errors are there, but nothing too noticeable or distracting. Puzzle/Game Play This game basically is a series of small puzzles entwined with the over all puzzle of managing your energy and willpower to accomplish the task: to turn in your Paper. And in this game it is a challenge. I’m positive that I only did as well as I did because I had played the incomplete demo-version and so had a good hold on what needed to be done, at least to get the ball rolling. And yet, I barely made it to the end with enough energy and willpower to turn in the paper. Some readers may find the puzzles easy, but personally I found them challenging, yet intuitive. In a way, they made sense in the context of what is going on. Sex Some how wish there was more time for that in the game, but again, it feels like a short game. You HAVE to get done in a certain amount of time. So you can’t bang EVERYONE. But, there is some sex and it’s fairly good. Again, in this area I think the images are a double-edged sword. They are nice pictures, but they also detract from the sex scene. I think this part is really up to the preference of the player. Ehlanna does a good job of providing nice, though concise, descriptions of the action. Technical Technically works very well, there isn’t an EXACT amount of energy and will needed to win, but it’s set up with a range available. I found no bugs. Final Thoughts Can’t think of anything I haven’t already said. It’s worth the download, it’s worth the time to mess around with it. I don’t think you’ll even mind having to play it a few times through to get to the end. I like the fact that there isn’t one specific formula to get to the end. And if you hit every “ride in the park”, you can still win, though it’ll be tricky ;) Curiously, couldn’t decide if sex with someone under a spell would be considered rape or not. Can a person who’s been dominated (magically or otherwise) be said to have his/her own will? Thanks for reading my very first review. Please feel free to critique and give pointers on how to do it better :D Rating: B * * * AIF Wants You If you can write game reviews, articles, opinion pieces, humorous essays, or endless blather, we want you. Contact the Editor for suggested content or just write what you want and send it to us. Submitting your work to Inside Erin: Please direct all comments, articles, reviews, discussion and art to the Editor at aifsubmissions@gmail.com. * * * Staff Editor: Purple Dragon has written five AIF games including Archie’s Birthday - Chapter 1: Reggie’s Gift, A Dream Come True, and Time in the Dark. He has received one Erin award and been nominated for several others. Webmaster: Darc Nite is an avid gamer who heard the call for help with the AIF Newsletter. Staff: A Bomire is the author of several TADS AIF games, including Dexter Dixon: In Search of the Prussian Pussy, Tomorrow Never Comes and The Backlot. His games have won numerous awards and Erin nominations. He was the co-recipient of the Badman Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. A Ninny is an AIF player, author of four AIF games and frequent beta-tester. His Parlour received an Erin for Best “One Night Stand” game in 2004 and his most recent game, HORSE walked away with three Erins at the 2007 awards show. BBBen is an author of a number of Adrift AIF games. His games have received numerous Erin awards and nominations and first place in A. Bomire's 2004 mini-comp. He was also the recipient of the 2007 Badman Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award. Bitterfrost is a longtime IF/AIF player working on his first (and last) game, How I Got Syphilix.