The Dragon Gallery - Part IV
Houston Dragon

Frank 'Parcival' Rieter-Lambers, 2003-12-06

The Dragon Gallery is dedicated the Ultima Dragons who contribute(d) to the ultima community. You will get a look at ‘the person behind the dragon' and his or her love for Ultima. Shadow of Light Dragon passed on the quill to Houston Dragon.

Personalia

Let's see... Born in 1975, giving me the hoary old wisdom of 28 years. Well, considering my family and the way that we moved around as a kid, I always managed to get to see new things and new places. Right now, my traveling feet have brought me from Houston to Atlanta, Georgia, which is a nice enough place.
I'm an IT / Project Manager (I graduated with a bachelor of CS degree awhile back) in my daily job, though that only takes up part of my time. Mainly, I strongly enjoy all forms of entertainment, whether it's taking in the new Master and Commander film, catching Dave Matthews in concert here in Atlanta, devouring the latest John Grisham novel, sitting down to watch a good performance at the Fox Theatre, or just catching a show on TV. Obviously, a great deal of my time and energy is spent towards Ultima Legacy, a free Ultima based roleplaying server, that I am both Admin and Host of. It's a great deal of fun, especially with all the people involved.
Otherwise, as with Shadow of Light Dragon, I -really- enjoy creative writing, and am known to toss more than a few phrases around when the mood hits. =)

Ultima

Oddly enough, I learned about the Ultima Dragons -before- I ever played an Ultima game. At the time, they were the Prodigy Dragons, which later spun off to become the Internet Chapter. To be honest with you, my very first Ultima game was Ultima 8: Pagan, and I was more than confused by the entire thing. What was this huge red hand? Who was Nystul? Why was everyone trying to kill me? Suffice to say, I spent a very short amount of time before making it a point to learn as much about the Ultima series as possible. I am an unabashed Ultima fanatic (to the degree my website had a slight cameo in a humorous Salon.com article mentioning a cultish fanbase =), and enjoy it immensely.

Overall, it was the stories that hooked me, along with the characters. I had played computer games before, but there were few (even today) that really drew you in, and captured you with the immersion. My favorite Ultima(s) to this day are still Ultima 7: The Black Gate and Ultima 7: Part 2: The Serpent Isle. Both put you into a world filled with living, breathing characters, and the answers were never simply black and white, a trait that was notable throughout the series, particularly with the character of Lord Blackthorn. He happents to be my favorite Ultima character, and probably one of the most tragic characters in the series. Here was a man who was respected by many, a noted knight of Britannia, bearer of the Shield of Valour, and who was chosen to act as Regent for Lord British when the king departed for the Underworld. Here also was a man captured by the Shadowlords, who twisted and corrupted the Virtues into tyrannical Laws that drove the kingdom into near ruin. Blackthorn was a tragic hero turned villian who was following good intentions, only to find them leading the path to Hell before him.

As a memorable moment, I remember playing Ultima 5, and being captured in Blackthorn's castle. I honestly could hear the guards and feel the dungeons as my character was dragged in front of him. Prior to this, I had never really seen a game deal with consequences or character deaths in a serious fashion, but when I was pressed for the mantra of Honesty from Lord Blackthorn, at the cost of Shamino's life, I refused, figuring that, after all, we're the good guys, right? We have to escape? Shamino was brutally (well, for the graphics of the time =) executed, and more than that, the character was -removed- completely from the game beyond resurrection. That was both a chilling and exciting moment to know that the characters in the world were as real as my own.

Ultima Internet Community

I joined the UDIC in early 1997, and proceeded to make about the most horrific looking website known to man. Fortunately, a good web editor (and some whaps from fans =) convinced me to tone it down a stretch. Over the last 6 years (how time flies =), I've spent a good deal of time trying to create and compile as much knowledge and information about the Ultima series as possible, and present it in a way that the fans would be able to benefit from. Personally, I think I did a pretty good job. =)
I am not a member of any of the remakes, though I know the majority of the folks creating and working on the projects, and have lended my help as needed. Right now, I'm actually working with the UXO Stratics folks to help them with Ultima knowledge for their website and forums, and have gotten to chat with the UXO development team. It'll be interesting to see how the game turns out.
 
Beyond Ultima

I'm a huge fan of CRPGs and RTS game, notably the Warcraft and Baldur's Gate series. However, my range of gaming is somewhat eclectic, as I'll pretty much play anything as long as it's entertaining and keeps me hooked. Homeworld 2 is one that I'm currently replaying, and on the console side of things, Final Fantasy X, and X-2, are both keeping my PS2 warm, along with the newest Legacy of Kain title.

Pass it on

I'd second the recommendation for Paulon Dragon, who has spent a lot of time maintaining the UDIC FAQ, and who is also a player, and the webmaster, for Ultima Legacy. A great person with a wealth of Ultima lore.