The Electric Tent from Hell

Somewhere in Belmont, NC, a loathsome figure looms menacingly in the backwoods.

It is the grim shell of a mobile home with but one amenity.. electricity. It covers its inhabitants with chill during winter, while providing heat in the summer. Its contents rearrange themselves seemingly of their own accord. Though furnished, the furnishings belong to a time long forgotten, a time of disco and Bee Gees.

And yet, noble adventurers would dare to enter its menacing yaw each Sunday and taunt monsters with their weapons of wit and yore.

Holy Relics

And, lo, the Elder Gods assisted our adventurers with a variety of Holy Relics.

• The Elvis Camel
• The Virgin Camel
• The Satanic Elvis Rabbit
• The Virgin Rabbit
• The Sceptre
• The Holy Bust of Marilyn Monroe
• The Evil Undead Moth
• The Evil Porn Tent

The Adventurers

Please note, this list is likely incomplete, and I'd love to have web sites for all of them. If you are an Electric Tenter (and you'll know if you are), and you want this list updated, please let me know.

• Blackmist
• Delivery Dude
• Pioughd
• Machine
• Erskin Cherry
• Alex
• Tim
• Achbar Ibn Ali

Folklore

Ah, the stories of our adventures... These are submitted by Machine:

• Everyone knows about Machine
• The Action Film
• Heal Me First
• Red-Hot Fun

The Reality

Okay, so we were a bunch of geeks who got together each Sunday to play role-playing games. And, okay, sure, we used to communicate to each other over the modem using the various BBSes in Charlotte, particularly WWIVnet. And, fine, yes, we did make fun of the Elitists of the WWIVnet community. And, well, it wasn't my fault they considered me (Machine) of their members, even though I was also an Electric Tenter.

The Electric Tent was really an old mobile home who's only amenity was electricity. Blackmist's family (The Franks) owned it, and we were invited to play role-playing games in it most Sundays. However, since Blackmist's brother could also use it, stuff would occasionally be missing or rearranged.

When hurricane Hugo hit, several street signs found themselves in the Electric Tent. Well, the helping hands of certain folks associated with the Electric Tent had something to do with their appearance. We used to use a Stop sign as the top of a table. It somehow made sense.

Because of the lack of indoor plumbing, you had to wee in the woods. This didn't go over too well with most women, so ours was usually a male-only thing, although certainly not by purpose.

If it could be said that we had any kind of policy as to who was a member and who wasn't, it really came down to whether or not you were invited to the Tent. If you showed regularly, you were an Electric Tenter. We generally didn't like cliquish attitudes (or elitist attitudes, if you will), so we were pretty accepting. It helped form a most unusual group of folks who probably wouldn't otherwise have gotten together. Sadly, in all the years I've spent playing with the Internet, I've never seen a similar thing happen. Perhaps we should get back to modemming again.

Since there wasn't an air-conditioning unit (either heating or cooling), the temperature was completely dictated by the weather. We could bring in an electric heating unit to keep ourselves somewhat warm for winter, but summers didn't offer anything better than opening the windows and wearing cool garments.

The Truth Behind The Holy Relics

• The Elvis Camel
• The Virgin Camel
• The Satanic Elvis Rabbit
• The Virgin Rabbit
• The Sceptre
• The Holy Bust of Marilyn Monroe
• The Evil Undead Moth