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 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
There is an interesting project going on in Colorado and it is still in the early stages of development.
An outfit called Middle Age Productions is trying to bring to reality an authentic middle ages castle and village and use it as a real fairground and tourist attraction. Think of it as something Disney would make -where you are fully immersed in the experience.
It seems like a really cool project and they have a lot of great ideas - even some plans and blueprints. What they are envisioning is a permanent, and authentic, medieval faire ground which I think is a really great idea. If you have ever been to a medieval faire you know what I mean by this. This type of faire ground is usually, in my experience, a temporary thing that gets set up for a few months in the summer or fall and then kind of disappears.
Having a permanent, year round, and authentic structure would be a great tourist attraction. But I do have some suggestions for them. First off they should contact Medieval Manor corporate Headquarters. A Medieval Manor franchise would be a great addition to their site. Secondly I think they should move it out of Colorado. No offense to the state but there are just too many cold months in the year out there. The attraction is going to spend way too much time covered in snow. I just can’t picture the king on skis. (maybe the jester)
Anyhoo, I really shouldn’t criticize, after all how far am I in my plans to build a medieval castle? Theyr’e at least doing it!
The name of the company is Medieval World USA and you can check on what they are doing and learn more about the project at their website Medievalworld.us
And in conjunction with this Wizards of the Coast has released its highly anticipated 4th edition of the game. The official release was yesterday and the books are available on amazon.com which will start shipping them on June 16.
I haven’t played D&D for a very long time but I still have very fond memories of some exciting and epic adventures when I was just a lad. The first version was released in 1974 and I think it was some time in 1975 that I took a ride up to some little shop in Boston to get a copy. It was packaged in a plastic bag and the whole thing looked like somebody made it in their basement. I wish I still had that set because it is probably a collectible now.
Anyway, it’s been over thirty years and they have only released now a fourth edition. It tells you how timeless the game system really is. D &D has had a tremendous impact on the worlds of fantasy, gaming and more. It pretty much created the whole genre of Role Playing.
The 4th Edition was released yesterday but of course there is a bit of a lag in shipping, probably because of demand and the Amazon website says it will begin shipping on June 16th.
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
