Month: February 2019
Quellport and the Isle of Seven Bees
A small settlement in the Thendrake Archipelago, Quellport sits on an unusual lagoon in a cluster of islands. Except for the Isle of Seven Bees (the elongated forested island to the upper left of the map), all the smaller islands are generally just referred to as Quellport or the Quell Islands.
Quellport & the Isle of Seven Bees
There are a total of four settlements on the Quell Islands as well as a number of towers and smaller edifices –
- Quellport itself is essentially in the centre of the map sitting on the gentle waters of the lagoon. With a population of about 1,400, Quellport has grown beyond being a fishing and farming community and supports several churches, guilds, and a “tower of arcane knowledge” where a number of wizards and a few clerics who make excursions out to the cube for research or spiritual reasons.
- Quiet Cove on the…
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Knowing When to Move On
Several years ago, when this site was under a different name, I offered a post about that moment when you and a game click. I looked at the subject from two different angles: “love at first play” and building a relationship with a game over time. In either scenario, an assumption remains that said game will be finished. That you’ll experience everything the game has to offer, and once its credits roll, it will be time to make a new bond with a new game.
But what if that game that you’ve loved or grown to love is purposefully put on hold?
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My Monster Manual – Boar, Brain Mole, Brownie, & Buffalo
We have a creeping eyestalk from the Beholder illustration on page 10 in here, looking remarkably phallic without the beholder backing it up.
I also got to add my fun “Cascade Dogs” entry to the blink dogs in this page – I first used Cascade Dogs in a game in the late 80s and have only had two other opportunities to use them since.
Changing gaming tastes (or not)
A few bloggers have been discussing changes in online gaming tastes in the broadest generalised sense (e.g. Bhagpuss, Endgame Viable). If developers follow such trends in terms of the games they create, then apparently we’ve become more casual or less focused on ‘being good’ at games. Gone are the early console era games that actively punished players for daring to try to complete them, restarting at the start every time with no saved game for instance being common once upon a time. Even within the MMORPG genre games are less punishing nowadays, death penalties are generally minor compared to the corpse runs and high repair costs of old.
Death is not such a bad thing
While some bloggers may feel their own tastes have followed this trend, or even gone against it, I personally feel like my tastes haven’t changed much. It may well be that the genre…
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Sword & Shield – Nintendo Announces 2 New Pokémon Games on Switch for 2019
UK LINK / US LINK
Let’s be honest from the start, if your decision to buy a Nintendo Switch wasn’t heavily influenced by the promise of new Pokémon games then you’re probably kidding yourself. Well, if you’re still sat on the fence after the mixed (but largely favourable) reaction to the Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee! games last year, then you might want to consider parting with your pennies before the end of the year as Nintendo has announced 2 brand new Pokémon games will drop before 2019 is over.
The new 8th generation games, which will be called Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield respectively, were both announced today at a special event held in honour of Pokémon day and marks the continued success of the brand which has been going strong ever since first appearing in Japan way back in 1996.
Unlike the previous incarnations of…
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Street Fighting Man
Today I want to talk about Grousemot the Monk leader of Clan Grouse. He was at cap for several years and had to step up each cap change to stay there. He has been a hunter or tokens of the twelve and heart seeds for everyone else but I decided it was time for him to get on the past life path. He was my skater and runner for the events but I have other options for most and hope by the next mid winter festival he will at least be back at cap for the third time.
I have pu the images in order so it gives you a visual clue of what I did to reincarnate Motty in terms of process. The real thing here is the epic past life, the heroic past life benefits feel better after a second reincarnation. Once I have the 3 past lives…
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Stranger Things D&D Starter Set
We should have seen this crossover coming! WotC is set to release a Stranger Things themed D&D Starter Set on May 3rd. According to the Amazon preorder page:
The stranger things Dungeons & dragons starter set contains everything players need to embark on a stranger things adventure including the essential rules of the roleplaying game. It’s a great way for new as well as seasoned dungeon & dragons players to experience the D&D adventure stranger things character Mike Wheeler has created for his friends. Pick your character — will you be will the wise or Dustin the dwarf? Get your fireballs ready as you investigate the mysterious castle and battle The ferocious Demogorgon. Prepare for just about anything, because the game just Got stranger.
The Stranger Things D&D Starter Set will include:
- Stranger things themed of Dungeons & Dragons: embark on an exciting dungeon & Dragons adventure, hunt for…
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Metacognition: Missing You
We’re back with our “thinking about thinking” series! If you’re interested in our previous deep thoughts, check out the Metacognition series. Join us for some deep thoughts (and maybe the occasional not-so-deep thought) about gaming. If you find one you’d like to answer, you can either comment below or write a post and share the link so we can all read your fantastic thoughts!
Have you ever had an emotional reaction to not playing a video game?
Yes, actually.
What a strange thing to think about, isn’t it? After all, there are so many great video games, if one collects a little dust it shouldn’t matter, should it? Except familiar things hold lot of power, especially when those familiar things are enjoyable to us.
Nostalgia is something that we will be talking about in the coming weeks, but in a nutshell, nostalgia isn’t bad. It gives our consciousness a break…
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DDO: Dusting off lowbie quests
The primary goal of my solo Dungeons and Dragons Online character — my Gnome Artificer — was always to see every quest in the game at least once. I think I’ve been pretty good about pursuing that goal, although so far I’ve been going area by area rather than tracking down quests by level via the Adventure Compendium. I’m trying to rectify a few oversights and get every quest done from level 1 through 12 (my current level), so I’m going back to start at the very bottom of my missed-missions list.
And that means a trip back to Korthos Island for Necromancer’s Doom, which I had overlooked somehow at level 1. It’s a forgettable quick dungeon romp, even on Elite, aside from some frozen corpses that turn into zombies if broken out of their icy tomb. I would think they’d be grateful that I freed them, but nope!
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