Absit Omen RPG
Absit Omen is a play-by-post forum role-playing game set in the Wizarding World Universe, founded in January 2009. Writers create character accounts and take turns posting in threads/topics from their characters' perspective to improvise a scene or story.
History
Absit Omen was founded in January 2009 by Niobe, Natalie, Elle, Alisha, Natasha and Paz, all former members of Specialis Revelio. Specialis Revelio was a long-running Harry Potter RPG with iterations of the site (previously called Hogwarts Magic) as early as 2002. SR was at http://www.specialisrevelio.com/, and had an Adobe Flash portal. SR lost its leadership and had become inactive and former members of that community began to discuss the formation of a new RPG in November 2008.
Members of Specialis Revelio were invited to bring over both old and new characters on January 15, 2009. 30 SR members joined that month, and 6 more the next month. On January 20, 2009, AO opened to the public and the first non-SR members to join found AO via a Google search and word of mouth.
Fun Facts
- AO was almost named "Salvio Hexia" but it was already being used by another rpg. Other candidates: Serpensortia, Absit Prodigium, and Peskipiksi Pesternomi...
- Time moves slowly here. RP Timeline Progression
- In December, Absit Omen began a secret santa in what is now called the Dobby Swap. Since 2021, it moved to January as part of the anniversary celebration.
- Our BBCode Color List original created by Alisha is the top hit on Google when you search for 'bbcode colors'.
Statistics
[Updated 14 Jan 2024]
- 318 writers have made at least one character.
- There have been 1,200 characters made.
- In the first five years, 81% of writers came via ads on RPG directories, 28% from word of mouth, and 19% from Specialis Revelio.
Milestones
2009
- Jan 2009 - Simple Machines Forum v 1.1.7, theme base on Fire by Tamuril.
- Dec 2009 - Upgrade to SMF 1.1.11
2010
- Jan 2010 - Upgrade to SMF 2.0 RC1, including SubAccounts, Thread Tagging, new theme based on DarkBreak by DzinerStudio.
- May 2010 - AO Blog is founded on Wordpress, the AO Lexicon is unveiled.
- Jun 2010 - Upgrade to SMF 2.0 RC3, modified theme based on DarkBreak by DzinerStudio.
- Nov 2010 - Member Boards come to AO
2011
- Jan 2011 - Upgrade to SMF 2.0 RC4 (first testing team), Simple Portal added as AO HQ, Drafts and Footnotes mods added. Custom skins unveiled.
- Oct 2011 - Big Wiki re-organization.
- Nov 2011 - Upgrade to SMF 2.0 Gold Release (second testing team), modified theme based on LaGusta by DzinerStudio. Mods include Member Notepads, Custom BBC and major bug fixes with Tags, Drafts, and SubAccounts
2012
- Jan 2012 - Blog re-opened in the OOC Area's redux
2013
- Jan 2013 - Blog closed, upgraded SMF to 2.0.3
- Feb 2013 - Rules area reorganization from Dozen Pages to Simple Portal Pages
- May 2013 - AO went mobile!
- Sept 2013 - Useful infoboxes are added to the wiki.
- Oct 2013 - Absit Omen adopts a new, original logo [1]
2016
- Increase RPG Rating from 212 to 222 [2]
2017
- Photobucket stops allowing hot-linked images. End of an era. [3]
- Discord server created
2018
- April 2018 - Polyvore closed. End of an era.
2019
- Sept 2019 - New custom-made responsive theme, Pensieve [4]
2020
2021
- Work begins in earnest on a better approach to diversity and inclusion [7]
- Wiki gets a new mobile design.
2022
2023
- Removed character limit and secondary character type. [10]
- Increase RPG Rating to 333 and minimum writer age to 18. [11]
- Started allowing NPC accounts. [12]
- In-character timeline skipped forward five years, after much planning. [13]
2024
- Fall 2024 - Portal redesign
2025
- March 2025 - RP forums redesign
Old banners, ads, logos
2009 banner
2010 banner
2013 banner
2014 banner
2015 Ad
Original logo
New logo as of 2013
Screenshot of the Pensive theme
Screenshot of the recently redesigned portal 2024
Standard advertising button, in use from about 2009 - 2013
Animated advertising button, 2013 - 2024
Animated adverting button, 2024
Rp forum redesign, Mar 2025
Discord and admin account avatar for the 2025 anniversary
