Happy Halloween everybody.
A web visitor created a nice logo for my website and I thought I would share it with you. He is a fan of my site and an avid catapult builder. Being brown and orange it is perfect for halloween! Here is the logo:
Coming today! I have a whole bunch of Legend of the Seeker stuff that I am going to post. It premieres tomorrow night!
Will
I have been on a Sabbatical for the past couple of weeks and I haven’t done any posting to this blog but I have a whole lot of new stuff and new ideas coming. And I also have a lot of the Legend of the seeker stuff coming too. For now I want to post a picture of a dagger that someone sent to me. If you can offer any information on this dagger please comment or send me an email. Thanks! More stuff coming later today.
I have been finding myself looking around for a new game to play on the pc but am not sure what I should get. I really love, and enjoy, games that are cut from a medieval cloth. I really enjoy being an adventurer, or wizard, while I explore villages, castles, and the mysteries of a new world. Not to mention the occasional encounter with a dragon. Anyway, I am looking for a new medieval world to explore and if you have any recommendations I would love to hear them. You can either email me or post a comment.
For now, what I can give you is a review of some of the medieval role playing games I have enjoyed. Hopefully I can lend some insight. I have arranged them in order of which ones I think are the best. From best to not so best J
Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion – If you are looking for a medieval role playing game to get and you haven’t played this one then you are in for a treat. This is the one to get. It is simply one of the best games in the genre. The game play is smooth, seamless, and remarkable. You can follow any of four professions ranging from fighter to mage, assassin, or thief. And you can blend all four in any way that suits you. This is not kids stuff. It is very involved and very detailed. There are large quest lines that will give hundreds of hours of play. It is worth every penny. Another nice thing about this game is the ability for you to own your own home in every major city. It’s a nice way for you to get comfortable and a great place for you to store all your stuff.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Gothic – This used to be my absolute favorite game (until Oblivion came out). It is quite remarkable and when it came out in 2001 it was a step above everything else in the genre. It has a remarkable story line and it will keep you moving forward towards the conclusion. Game play is a little bit different than your typical game and it takes a little bit of time to get comfortable with the interface but awesome game. This is one of the first games that had a world that was an entity unto itself. Things happened in the world regardless of what you were doing and I remember the first time I played it I was adventuring around and exploring things and I had to keep adjusting the brightness on my monitor because the game seemed to be getting darker. Eventually I caught on and realized night was quickly falling and it was really getting dark! Needless to say it wasn’t long before I was stumbling around in a forest in almost total darkness being chased by wolves! Fun game. Gothic
Betrayal at Krondor – This is based on Raymond Feist’s series of books. When did this come out? 1994? It has been released into the public domain and is now freeware. You can download it from any of several places. When it came out it was a unique game and unlike any other. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and it set the stage for much in the genre. It’s a bit unusual in the way it handles things and the combat is turn based which is unnecessary in today’s games. But the story line is great and adventuring around Midkemia is a lot of fun. Just a fun blast from the past and I have fond memories of exploring the world within. This game loads into DOS so I am not even sure you can play it on new computers. If you snag a copy of this game you may have to dig up an old computer just for playing it. Worth it though. I have a copy of this game on my website if you want to give it a try. Its about ten meg Betrayal at Krondor The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind - This is a pretty good game and it is well done but I found it to be just a bit tedious. The interface and means of interacting with others tended to be a bit too much of a labor for me. Game play often comes to a stop while you interact with a non player character but it’s necessary for the game to move forward. Good game, just not great. - The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition
THE GAMES at Amazon.com
(all three Gothic games together)
I have a new tutorial on my website. It shows you how to make a good looking medieval shield out of cardboard. I make two different shields (A round buckler and a Kite shield). This is a great halloween project to go along with a costumer or a cardboard sword. The tutorial is complete with lots of pictures and a video. Its here: How to make a cardboard shield
If you are thinking about making a cardboard shield you might want to take a look at some real shields to get an idea how to decorate it. I have a page of them here: Medieval Shields
And if you are thinking about a medieval costume for halloween I have a selection of them here: Medieval Costumes
The Tombs of Atuan is the second book in the Earthsea series of books. The first book is A Wizard of Earthsea and I have a review of that book on this blog here: A Wizard of EarthSea.
Before I launch into my actual review of the book I want to talk a little bit about the presentation of the book.
This book has been a classic for a few decades now and it has been reprinted many many times. And it has been redone a few times. The thing about this is that I don’t know anything about the latest prints of the book. But I do know that the version I have is simply beautiful. The cover is remarkable and throughout the book there are beautiful illustrations done to look like wood cuts. I am simply saying that if you are going to purchase a copy of this book or any of the earthsea books you should try to get a hold of this older version. It’s readily available on amazon.com ( The Tombs of Atuan
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin – Book Review
In the world of Epic Fantasy there are two series of books that stand above all the rest as masterpieces. Lord of the Rings is one of those series. The Earthsea Series by Ursula K. LeGuin is the other. This is a review of the first book in the Earthsea series A Wizard of Earthsea.
As far as fantasy novels go this is a bit counter to the norm. This book weighs in at less than two hundred pages which in today’s world is less than half the size of a typical fantasy book. Yet, it is extremely rich and textured with a beautiful story and remarkable themes.
The basic setting for the story is a coming of age story about a young boy named Ged who goes off to wizard school to achieve his potential. Sounds rather familiar? Maybe so but this is where the familiarity ends. The world in which we travel (Earthsea) is an archipelago of different islands and a lot of the story involves travel by boat from island to island and often times Ged travels in a small boat alone using magic to fill the small sail and propel him onward in his travels and his quest.
The book is rich with mythological themes and ideas and one of the central themes is the naming of things. Wizards in Earthsea understand that if you know the true name of a thing you can control it and much of their time is spent learning the true names of things. This skill is critical when Ged, in his little sailboat, faces his first dragon. The book also covers some importance of controlling power, the dangers of pride, and the importance of facing yourself and all your flaws truthfully.
The book is suitable for children and for adults alike and it makes superb reading aloud at bed time. But, while there is no explicit violence, there are some mildly dark themes and scenes so as a parent you may want to pre-read it first if your audience is younger than eight.
The Archipelago and the World of Earthsea books
A wizard of Earthsea is the first book in a trilogy of books called the Earthsea cycle. As a book it stands alone and can be read as an individual work. It has a complete story that comes to a resolution at the end. You can purchase this single book and be satisfied that there is no necessity of purchasing more books to find out what happens next. But, once you are introduced to Ged, the Archipelago, and Earthsea you are going to want to continue adventuring in his world. The second book in this first trilogy is The Tombs of Atuan and the third book is The Farthest Shore.
Many years after the publication of this trilogy LeGuin returned to the world of Earthsea with three more novels in the cycle. They are Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind which was published in 2001. So there are now six books in the series.
A Wizard of Earthsea is a book that introduces us to a remarkable world of magic, wizards, and dragons that is not just fantasy fun. It is also a thought provoking and sensitively written story. LeGuin has paid close attention to the importance and magic of words in the archipelago and she has done the same with her writing of the book. It will cast a spell of enchantment over you. If you are a fan of fantasy books and you haven’t read this one you are in for a treat. This book is the prototype for which much of modern fantasy is based upon. It is a timeless classic.
If you are looking for brand new versions of the book here are the links to amazon.com
The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2)
A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)
The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3)
