Role Models

 Our second destination this week was to Wyldwood Bayou Grid, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary this month. Wyldwood is best known for two activities, the music events at venues like Hot Daddy's, and for its Roleplay, and it was the latter that we went to see. 

The RP hub region is a very beautiful place to visit, and full of information about how the groups here work, the backstories and rules, times and types of activities they do here. We arrived in our usual raggedy piecemeal manner.

Petlove Petshop: ty whoever tp'd me!

Forest Azure: pet, you have clothes!

Nara Nook: skin would be nice but I am happy just to have clothes

Dorena Bree: me too Nara

Forest Azure: well, nara, you were nothing but skin in the caves

The welcoming committee. Our guides were Fitheach, left, and Tessa, center.

Thirza Ember: That green tea diet seems to be working, Xenon

Xenon Darrow: It is! Of course...all those tannins are making me a bit rusty...

Contessa Lacombe: Hi everyone!  The WWB Roleplay Hub was formed to give the Wyldwood Bayou Grid roleplayers a venue to exchange information and set up roleplaying between their groups and other roleplayers on Open Sim grids. Crossgrid roleplay offers the opportunity for roleplayers to connect their stories to those of other groups and gives all of us the whole Hypergrid as a playground.

Wyld Five

This month, Wyldwood Bayou grid turns five years old, but to know that is only to have the very edges of the story of this vibrant corner of our hyperverse. Best known for its dancing events and roleplay, WWB grew out of a group of friends who had all had experience in Second Life before coming over to Opensim; their story of grid changes probably resonates with most of us, the best bit of it being that they were able to remain together as a tribe, no matter the vagaries of grid shutdowns, lost assets, and the usual craziness of opensimulator.

Kith Whitehawk 

Kith Whitehawk: Our first OS grid was InWorldz. Kira and I build Wyldwood Bayou on Kitley, then once we had to move, due to IW grid removal, settled in Discovery as a spot for the club. Picked Discovery, mainly due to Jay and Ten-Bears. We met Harmony in IW, was a boon that she was in between hosting gigs. Was the best snag ever!

Contessa Lacombe: I met Fit in Inworldz, which was my first OS grid. I picked it because it was all I knew about, but our open OS is so much better! When I first checked out OS, I thought it was very primitive so I stayed in SL, but on a later visit it had grown and I could envision the possibilities. I could have plenty of space to build!

It's a natural part of life that times change, and with experience, confidence and abilities grow. We all yearn for a bit more independence, which is what happened to the WWD group.

Kith Whitehawk: We wanted a place of our own, an independent grid. One where we had control over the ethos and values. We also had an extraordinary opportunity, due to Durham and Fits computer abilities, to have grid stability and a place to call "Our Own Dayum Swamp". We called it Wyldwood Bayou, since even though we lost Kira in 2019, her spirit is ever with us. She started the club on a parcel called WWB in IW back in 2011, and there was never a question of what we were to call our new home.

Gorgeous Norge

 Built by Jimmy Olsen,  Norge is a residential region where lots of his friends have houses, some even farms. Our driver was Xenon Darrow (you may remember our last outing with her at the wheel, on Iceland). Tessa aka Contessa Lacombe provided all the info and was a charming, elegant guide.

Our perfect guide, Tessa Lacombe. 

The pictures may seem a little grey and gloomy, but that's the desired effect here. Jimmy, although located in RL in Brazil, is a huge fan of Norway, and he tries to mirror the RL Norwegian weather and time of day on this region... more about that later! In this picture you see Tessa, easily distinguished with her elfin features and to her left, Forest Azure, dressed in a warm sweater. It's always hard to dress 'right' for a Safari, unless the two destinations have the same theme, which they rarely do. In this case, the first hour was medieval and the second contemporary/Viking Norway, so between us all, we were perfectly appropriate for the whole thing.

Arriving was a tiny bit rocky so, quick note - if you've been having trouble teleporting to Wolf Territories Grid, as a few of us did during this Safari tour, please don't dismay. Many of us have been getting 'Unable to verify' type messages when hypergrid jumping here - it is just a passing glitch. No offense meant.

Wyld Ride

 Fitheach Eun and Tessa Lacombe were on Wyldwood Bayou Grid to welcome us for the second stop of our Safari this week. Wyldwood is well known for its Rockin' the Blues events, its roleplay groups, and its lovely New Orleans build, a popular stop off during carnival season in particular. Today though we were heading for another sim entirely, Wyld Thangs, a region of rides and relaxation.

Fitheach Eun

Neo Cortex: Safari incoming! Take cover!

Contessa Lacombe: runs into the barn... Hey Star! Hi Mal! Hey Forest! Hi Alex!

Thirza Ember: lots of body bits!

Star Ravenhurst: We have a crowd.

Malburns Craftster: Fear and Loadings in the metaverse - has a certain ring to it

Fitheach Eun: Welcome to Wyldwood Bayou’s Wyld Thangs Ride Park. Kith Whitehawk, Contessa Lacombe, Harmony Beningborough and I (Fitheach Eun) built this region as a play-ground for the Wyldwood Bayou Grid. It has always been open to Hypergridders looking for fun. We have an awesome and scary motocross, a skate park with an obstacle course, a beach area, an outdoor cinema and some really beautiful scenery along with 2 music venues where we occasionally offer events.

Star Ravenhurst and Contessa Lacombe consider their options

Fitheach Eun: It’s a great region to tour on horseback, 4-wheeler, or motorcycle. You can bring your own vehicles and rez them in the designated areas. We will take you on a brief tour and then you can choose where you want to play. We also have freebie shops at the Water Park, Skate Park and Vehicle Barn. There is even a Food Court next to the Skate Park. The sign in front of the barn has folders of information on how to fix a number of common Opensim issues. We spent a lot of time re-searching and testing to create those for our music club audiences. Please grab any that interest you.

Wyldwood Bayou Beckons!

Starfleet or shaman, medieval merchant or merman, it's that time again, and you're welcome to the Open Market Roleplay event on Wyldwood Bayou grid. There are two roleplay groups here, Ravenquest and Brigantia. Come along and learn about other RP groups in opensim, and help keep the roleplay community vibrant!

Organized by Contessa Lacombe and Fitheach Eun, this is a chance to share what you know and maybe dip your toe in roleplay. Not a recruitment drive so much as a way to better know what's available out there across the archipelago of grids and groups that actively tell stories in a dramatic immersive way. I asked Tessa how she got started.