Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

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

Popularity: 20% [?]

I just finished making up a fun little paper based role playing adventure game.  It is called “Storm The Castle”. And it is a free download in a packet of ten pages.

The King has turned evil and is ruining the kingdom, raising taxes, and throwing peasants in prison. It is up to you to be a hero and de-throne him. The only way to do it is by storming the castle!

It comes with a gameboard, player, some tokens and a playbook. You make your way through various parts of the castle like the kitchen, dungeon, etc. And you discover secrets along the way. Just a fun little game and I had a lot of fun creating up the story. Totally free download, print and make.  The game is located here: Storm The Castle adventure game. I do have a youtube video that explains more about the game here: Youtube Video of the Game 

One thing I wanted to point out about this game is that it is a good spring board for learning how to make your own paper based adventure games. By looking over and using my game you can get a good idea on how something like this works. So you will be able to make a similarly structured game of your own. Just create your own story and events.

Popularity: 25% [?]

It has been a while since I wrote anything about my 300 diorama (The Scene is the Battle of Thermopylae). So here is an update.

 The Diorama is coming along great and is almost finished. I have done 95% of the landscaping, have painted the first series of Spartan Warrior Miniatures and have poured the water. I even built a paper long boat for the water. 

Coming up next is the wiring for sound and lighting. I have also been toying with the idea of using a parallel board coupled with a computer so I could make a show out of it. But I will give this some thought.

Also, I have no clue as to what I am going to do with this thing when I am done so I am thinking about putting it on display somewhere. Let me know if you have any ideas about where I might be able to display it. Can’t stay in my house! It’s two feet by three feet and well, I need the room for more projects.

I am thinking about doing a hobbit home or maybe even a complete shire.

 If you want to learn more about the diorama or are considering making your own fantasy diorama I have a complete tutorial that shows the steps I used to make this diorama here: How to Make a big Diorama

I have also created a tutorial on Painting Miniatures where I show you the steps I took with Painting the Spartan Warriors A Guide to Painting Miniatures

Ditto, My cat, seems to have taken a liking to the diorama. If you have an idea for a place where I can display this diorama sorry but Ditto doesn’t go with it

Popularity: 29% [?]