Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size
Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd) dropped me a line about a new project she and her partner, Max Butoh have launched in Second Life – Hell’s Crossing, a homestead region they’ve opened to the public.
Max explains it thus: “It’s for exploration, light role-playing and photography. Periodically the sim will be updated to a new theme, all [of them] based on the common thread of a crossing. Danger may lurk at any turn for the hope of a breath-taking discovery.”
Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size
Intrigued by the idea I hopped over to join Lucy (Max was at work at the time) to take a look around. “We were talking about Game of Thrones,” she explained. “And he mentioned it would be nice to have a Winterfell inspired place, but not exactly that; just inspired by. The next day he had the builds and the sim, and everything set! He just made it happen!”
The result is – right now – a rugged place called Saltcliffe, a place which might easily be one of the Iron Islands, were we to continue the Game of Thrones analogy. A tall table of rock thrusts upwards from the surrounding sea, flat face turned towards a tan sky. It is home to a stone fortress facing a line of knobble topped cliffs beyond which, on slightly higher ground, sits a small wood, a sturdy tavern lifting its roof on the far side of the trees. Small tongues of mossy rock thrust outwards on the west and east sides of the island, whilst a slender wood and rope bridge links it to a smaller pillar of rock as it also rises, flat-topped, from the sea, crowned by a single wood and stone tower.
Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size
But to think this is all there is to the island would be a mistake. Scattered around the island are several statues, all of which carry a slightly sinister air about them, suggesting there’s more here than meets the eye. When exploring the keen-eyed may spot further clues in the form of cavern entrances, stairs which descend behind closed door, or ladders vanishing into the darkness beneath the rocks.
“We’ve no set rules for role-play,” Lucy said as we wandered. “It’s all very free-form and open to whatever mood you’re in. The sim is very serene and peaceful above, but below the castle there’s dungeons and caves with a couple of ‘creepy’ things so you could go either way.”
The dungeons certainly offer hints for some directions role-play can go; do keep in mind this is an Adult rated region. While the ‘creepy’ elements in the caverns and tunnels offer their own ideas for stories and role-play.
Hell’s Crossing – click any image for full size
But it’s not all about role-play; as we chatted, Lucy echoed Max’s sentiments in his description of the region. “We thought it would be nice to have a place people could enjoy and take photos,” she said.
Max isn’t sure how often Hell’s Crossing will change in look or theme; it’ll very much be on the basis of as and when the mood takes him. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what else takes form here over time, and I’ll very much be keeping an eye on the region in the future!
SLurl Details
- Hell’s Crossing (Rated: Adult)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
The place looks great and those builds from Fanatik have a professional look. Besides the look, there isn’t much to do. RP requires somebody else that plays with you. It’s difficult to start a roleplay place from zero, even a casual one. You would have more luck if you build it for yourself and your friends, so that you roleplay there and a little per time someone else joins. However it makes a great start. I can imagine it with experience keys, some quest and some critter inside the dungeons. Take Amazon River as an example. It would be a lot of work of course, but SL is showing more and more potential here for self-made small MMORPG games.
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Hi Pixel! You make a good point about roleplaying in general… the sim was created for anyone to create their own roleplay with friends if they desire, but the common structure of a roleplay sim wasn’t the purpose of creating the environment… it’s a place for exploration, light and free form roleplay and mostly we thought about photography. But you certainly make us think about new possibilities! Thank you 🙂
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Thank you Inara!! It was great to spend some time with you yesterday and chat about the sim and other things. Always happy when you visit and always a pleasure reading your posts 🙂
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Thanks for the invite and spending the time :). Was great to see is place which is both photogenic and offers groups of friends to try-out some light role-play.
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