Welcome to Lunar: Middleground

Last updated: December 30, 2010.
Previously updated: July 9, 1998.

Major News: (December 29, 2010) The Middleground “Lost Logs” have been found and posted online

What is Lunar: Middleground

Lunar: Middleground was an IRC RPG run by Brian Peterson (known as “Hahn” or “GMHahn” on IRC). It's based on the LUNAR RPG series by Game Arts/Studio Alex/Working Designs/Xseed for the Sega/Mega CD, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and Sony PSP. The IRC version (usually) took place on Saturday nights starting at 8:00 Eastern on the Espernet IRC network.

What about the story?

The story of Middleground takes place about 10 years after the original LUNAR. Alex and Luna have since then married, and Luna is expecting a child. Mia and Nash have also married, and have had their first daughter, Semila Ausa. The story begins at an anniversary celebration of the defeat of the Magic Emperor, which is being held in Vane. Most of our protagonists, some from Vane and some not, are visiting for the festival. Things get out of hand, however, when the Vile Tribe suddenly launches an attack. The wizards try to evacuate everyone using the magic of transfer, however the magical aura around Vane started behaving strangely when the attack started, resulting in our heroes being transported to the Frontier…

For more information, please either read the logs (for all the details and dialogue), or the summary page (if you just want a quick look-see at what's going on)…

Haven’t I seen this page before?

You may have. Chris Manning, AKA Ronfar, AKA Davis (his character in this RPG) used to run this page. However, he mentioned that he didn’t have the time to do it anymore, so I volunteered to take it over from him. However, he did start this page and a lot of what’s here was his work originally, so if you drop a note to complement me on the page, please don’t forget to drop him one too.

Where are the logs?

Update! After countless years, I found a collection of over 100 log files from this RPG buried on my hard drive (copied from computer to computer as I replaced all my computers since way back when). Most of them are raw an undedited, the names make no rhyme or reason, and there may even be duplicates in the collection. However, I felt like I should zip up these lost log files and place them online for all to download.

Download the Lunar: Middleground lost log files.

Ahh, you’ve been hooked by the story. Either that or you’re a player who wanted to see what he missed when he/she had to leave early. No matter. The logs are right here for you to read. All logs have been edited for clarity by Miko unless otherwise noted, and all logs accompanied by titles have a corresponding summary.

Session1 Happy Anniversary!
Session 2 Welcome to the Frontier
Session 3 The Vile Forbalus
Session 4 Eternal Blue Azura
Session 5 Escape from the Frontier
Session 6 The Sword of Kazan
Session 7 The Greatest Show on Lunar
Session 8 A Blue Destiny

Session 9 Revelations
Session 10 Counterstrike
Session 11 Independence Day
Session 12 Celebrating the New Heroes
Session 13 Separations and Reunions
Session 14 Questions and Answers
Session 15 Fiends’ Arrival

What about the characters?

Lunar:Middleground Characters Page

As of right now, all the playing characters (those acted out by one of the participants) have pictures to go with their descriptions. However, as some of the characters didn’t write descriptions yet, I had to try my best to write them myself, so forgive me if I’m wrong and contact me with the corrections (you’ll know how to find me if you need to). There are also now descriptions of the most important non-playing characters. Again, if I described them wrong, please forgive me and provide me with corrections again. Finally, let me know if I missed anyone. Now that that’s taken care of, only visiting the characters page remains… Also, please note that the characters page features mostly Miko’s artwork. This is only because I’d like a unified look to that particular page. You'll find artwork representing the characters done by people other than Miko on this page and the upcoming summary page too.

Are there any other IRC RPGs out there?

There are plenty of others. However, I sadly don’t know all their addresses and some of them no longer work. The ones listed below are purely here for historical reasons.

First, there is my own IRC RPG, based on my fanfics, called Lunar: A Story Forgotten.

Next is Ghaleon Dragonstar’s Lunar RPG 5: Magic Empire.

If I missed any other IRC RPGs, please don’t forget to contact me.

Are there summaries of the logs available?

Lunar: Middleground Plot Summary Page

I have finally set up a Plot Summary page. While this page will consistently lag somewhat behind the logs, hopefully once I have caught up with the current set it will never lag by more than one or two sessions. Currently, the logs have been summarized up through Session 15.

Middleground Artwork

Lunar: Middleground Artwork Page

Yes, some of the players and some fans of Middleground (such as Miko, Luna/Isis, and TearDragon) have submitted various pieces of art scattered throughout these pages. However, there is so much great art that the people have drawn that I had no choice buy to create a dedicated artwork page for those pieces of work that couldn’t fit on the other pages. Enjoy!

Also, please note that many of the pictures on these pages have been cropped or reduced in size to fit the spaces allocated for them and to minimize download time for the pages. To enjoy them in their full glory, please click on them.