The Blog Devoted to All Things Medieval; Weapons, Armor, Knights, Castles, Books and More ———–Never Give a Sword to a Man who can’t Dance - Old Celtic Saying
I was watching a little bit of the spelling bee last night and was amazed by the spelling skills of the kids. They left me in the dust. Anyhoo in the final rounds a word came up that surprised me: “Rhyton”. It’s an ancient Greek cup in the shape of a horn and often having the shape of an animal on the end. Sounds to me like something that would have been perfect for mead .
I guess I should give up my Mazer and graduate to the more sophisticated Rhyton
A mazer is a plain wooden bowl.
A little update on my mead making:
This weekend I am doing another video tutorial on how to make mead and next weekend I am brewing up five more batches including:
- Cranberry Walnut Mead
- Peach Mead
- Pear Mead
-Chocolate Cherry
- Cherry Vanilla
Hopefully they will be passable come the christmas holidays!
If you are curious about Mead Making you might want to take a look at my website where I have full tutorials and lots of information about the wonderful drink. The Joy of Mead
I have finished the 300 Diorama and it has been a lot of fun. I added lighting both for day and night combat and added some nice sound effects. This video here shows the process and at the end of the video I turn the room lights out so you can see the dramatic lighting and hear the “sound track”. Kind of cool. Next diorama for me will probably be The Shire or a Hobbit House. Not sure yet.
I may get real ambitious and do something big. The 300 Diorama is only 3 feet wide.
I been giving a lot of thought lately to buying a car and it is funny how this kind of train of thought runs around in a persons head. What kind of car would I like? What kind of car would impress the pretty woman next door? What kind of car says “Me”?
It’s rather ironic because I, and you, are part of a culture that spends a lot of time thinking about things like this. There are subtle indicators that we all look for and understand and it really can have an impact. As an example I am a real sucker for a woman who drives a Volkswagen. Not sure if it’s the type of woman that is attracted to a volkswagen or if its the volkswagen. Or for that matter if I have just been brainwashed by Madison Avenue.
Anyway the thought hit me that it would be cool to driver a hummer. And somehow the thought of Conan popped into my head and I wondered “what kind of car would Conan drive?” Would he drive a hummer? Hmm… I am not so sure.
Given the modern day concerns with the environment, global warming, gas prices, etc. would Crom look upon Conan with a pleasing eye as he drove around in his gas sucking status symbol? Or would Crom insist that Conan drive something more eco-friendly? Maybe a hybrid or an electric car?
Dunno, But one thing is for sure. Conan don’t look too happy driving around in a metro. Seems to be a contradiction in terms. It’s just not him.
The New Age of Conan Game (Hyborian Adventures) has some unique features about it. And one of them is the crafting system.
When it comes to games and game playing I am a real packrat. I love to accumulate things and I love to make new things. I enjoy collecting up and questing after unique armor and weapons. For me that is more than half the fun of any game. It’s better than all the fighting!
One unique thing about the new Conan game is the crafting skill of architect where you can make buildings, castles, keeps, catapults, trebuchets and even whole cities. It seems to be pretty cool to me and it will be a lot of fun.
So, if you are probably never going to build a castle in real life you can still experience the thrill of building and owning your own castle in the virtual world of Hyboria! Who’s to say which is more real?
Here is an amazon link to the game and below is a video that shows crafting and the architect skill.
Yup that’s right. Think you are bad enough, or man enough, to take on the world that Conan himself roams? Well, tomorrow, May 23rd Hyboria goes live. It’s the very much anticipated Eidos game called Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. And it is the worlds first +18 Rated game. Whoa! Finally a game that is aimed at the biggest population of gamers: Adults! Yup, plenty of us over 18 who love our video games and want something tough, exciting, challenging and intelligent! No more cartoon games for me.
Now don’t get me wrong, I used to play Warcraft, and I loved it. But hey, they gotta aim at a very broad range of customers and I really got tired of all the little gnomes running around. Hey and once I reached level 70, got my epic flying mount and hit most of the big dungeons I just got tired of the grind. I have been looking for the next game to play and I think Conan might be it.
I had looked into it a while back and was following it closely. And here are some really unique things about this game (dare I still call it a game?)
The folks at Eidos are really touting a revolutionary new combat system where you choose every move you make. No more auto fighting for me.
An extraordinarily detailed crafting system where you can make just about everything from armor to weapons and well complete cities! Yow, This I really love. Crafting has always been appealing to me going all the way back to my early days with Ultima Online.
And here is a big thing: The game starts out as a 1 player adventure! You go through a whole series of things and learning before you hit the mmo aspect of the game. It feels really unique and it takes some of the newbie feel out of logging into an online game for the first week while you still don’t have a clue as to what’s going on.
Anyway, Another big thing for me is the tribute and respect to Robert Howard. I am sure they spent a lot of time researching and paying homage to the world created by Howard. And I think the game is going to have quite a great feel to it. Give it a look if you think you are man enough ! It’s available on amazon at midnight. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Stay up and order it unless you are afraid of creatures that lurk in the night.
Want to see some videos of the game? I have a couple right here: Age of Conan Videos
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