So, there was this time I made a Tortle Bard because...reasons. I'm sure they were very important reasons, but I can't remember them quite at this moment! One of the things I did was write up a large series of filk songs to act as all my various spell casting. Here is one that I was particularly fond of!
Showing posts with label Gaming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaming. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2021
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Storytime: Flynwann Reflections
I have this wonderful Barbarian/Paladin Halfling character (Flynwann but nicknamed Red) in one of my DnD games. He's a tiny ball of holy rage, a very good and spicy cinnamon bun. During a pretty intense and dramatic moment we ended the game at a cliffhanger, and for days later all I could think about was the characters mindset and mood. I wrote this piece of creative writing after a few days of tumbling it about my head. Enjoy!
Friday, March 19, 2021
DnD: The Land of Ly'Dall
Over the years I have slowly been working on my own custom world and setting for a DnD homebrew game. I have a really great group together right now which is allowing me to explore the stories in such, and it's really helped me have the creative juices flowing! Here is the overview for the world setting I have shared with all my players.
Monday, May 28, 2018
The Six Kingdoms of The Conjured Isles
In the modern day there exist 6 kingdoms which can trace their lineage back to one of the ruling nobility from the empire. All have a tentative claim to the fallen empire, yet none have been able to prove their worth as heir. It is tradition that the heirs of each Kingdom make pilgrimages out before their 18th year, solving problems and living the life of adventurers to prove their worth as heirs and make an effort to claim the Empires former throne.
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Kingdom of Novia - Their lineage traces back to the Emperors younger brother, they have ruled through good times and bad for centuries. Theirs is a kingdom known for its prowess in the field of battle (blades and in court), and their great works of art. Princess Vivianne is the only noble child left of this once thriving kingdom, and she has been kept bedridden by illness for years.
Ergacan Empire - A militaristic kingdom, theirs is might through strength of arms and conquest. Descended from the Emperor's older brother, they are highly competitive and prone to great struggles with their pride. They host a great contest of games every year, inviting athletes from other kingdom a chance at “true honor and glory”. The current Emperor has 5 children, of note is the youngest Prince Philip who is eager to prove his place to his father.
Kingdom of Vil’Cia - a kingdom founded by the court wizard to the Emperor, Vil’Cia is a kingdom where magic rules the day and your ability in the Arcane arts dictate your place. Each city holds vast storehouses of knowledge and schools to educate. Considered a peaceful nation, owing to their magical powers can overwhelm most armies.
Confederacy of Dörr - A gathering of nation states under the banner of an elected council, their founding was from the noble council whom advised the Emperor on the actions of the common folk. While under the banner of freely elected officers to manage them, all those elected to various city and nation councils come from a small collection of noble houses that snip and snipe at each other. Known for their vast trading fleets (on land and by sea), their members are more often found traveling the trade caravans between kingdoms.
Kingdom of Grak - Descended from the nephew to the Emperor, this kingdom makes up for its lack in military and magical might with its technological prowess. Investing in burning the engines of creation, they have harnesses fire and flame to such an extent to be the technological leaders of the Isles. Always planning ahead, they are often overlooked and under appreciated.
Republic of New Yemozan - While originally founded by the Emperors Queen Consort and her lineage, this kingdom had a revolution which saw power taken from the nobles houses and placed in new hands. The original nobles went underground, becoming rulers of a vast criminal empire while the people above them restructured their lives. Known for their unwillingness to answer to a single sovereign, the Republic of New Yemozan practice a city-state ruling system where all the cities and villages in their “kingdom” rule independently; only coming together to decide joint issues once every few years. This area is known for inventive and sometimes dangerous practices as individual freedoms are prized above all else.
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Kingdom of Novia - Their lineage traces back to the Emperors younger brother, they have ruled through good times and bad for centuries. Theirs is a kingdom known for its prowess in the field of battle (blades and in court), and their great works of art. Princess Vivianne is the only noble child left of this once thriving kingdom, and she has been kept bedridden by illness for years.
Ergacan Empire - A militaristic kingdom, theirs is might through strength of arms and conquest. Descended from the Emperor's older brother, they are highly competitive and prone to great struggles with their pride. They host a great contest of games every year, inviting athletes from other kingdom a chance at “true honor and glory”. The current Emperor has 5 children, of note is the youngest Prince Philip who is eager to prove his place to his father.
Kingdom of Vil’Cia - a kingdom founded by the court wizard to the Emperor, Vil’Cia is a kingdom where magic rules the day and your ability in the Arcane arts dictate your place. Each city holds vast storehouses of knowledge and schools to educate. Considered a peaceful nation, owing to their magical powers can overwhelm most armies.
Confederacy of Dörr - A gathering of nation states under the banner of an elected council, their founding was from the noble council whom advised the Emperor on the actions of the common folk. While under the banner of freely elected officers to manage them, all those elected to various city and nation councils come from a small collection of noble houses that snip and snipe at each other. Known for their vast trading fleets (on land and by sea), their members are more often found traveling the trade caravans between kingdoms.
Kingdom of Grak - Descended from the nephew to the Emperor, this kingdom makes up for its lack in military and magical might with its technological prowess. Investing in burning the engines of creation, they have harnesses fire and flame to such an extent to be the technological leaders of the Isles. Always planning ahead, they are often overlooked and under appreciated.
Republic of New Yemozan - While originally founded by the Emperors Queen Consort and her lineage, this kingdom had a revolution which saw power taken from the nobles houses and placed in new hands. The original nobles went underground, becoming rulers of a vast criminal empire while the people above them restructured their lives. Known for their unwillingness to answer to a single sovereign, the Republic of New Yemozan practice a city-state ruling system where all the cities and villages in their “kingdom” rule independently; only coming together to decide joint issues once every few years. This area is known for inventive and sometimes dangerous practices as individual freedoms are prized above all else.
Sunday, May 27, 2018
The Conjured Isles
As most stories go, in the long long time ago there was nothing but Darkness. Within this primordial Darkness was the nature of all things, the potential for things to be born and unborn all at once. From within this Chaos came the idea of existence, of Order and Life. This first blinding thought, this flash of light and inspiration created the Light and illuminated the great expanse. Once illuminated, Chaos could not stand to look upon its ugly form of disorder and mess and began to organize the parts shining in the new Light into spheres and stars and all forms of structure and order. From this became life, became the world of Yemozan. From this starting point, did the Gods come.
Unique to this world, the people and cultures do not speak of creation myths that start with the Gods and Goddesses shaping life and starting the engine of creation. It seems that the deities of this world found it quite by accident and were happy to come into the land with its great people and cultures already taking their first steps forward. Various Gods and Goddesses patronize various races and groups in Yemozan, and their influence has changed them both physically and mentally, but even the Gods insist that they are not the creators of life here on the world. They simply found these conjured isles in their travels across the great universe and were happy to settle on in.
While Yemozan is the official name of the world, named after the first Elven Emperor who united the three lands under his banner and ruled for 500 years, many have taken to calling it The Conjured Isles after the remarking from their deities as well as the peculiar magical nature of the land. Everyone is born with a hint of magic in their blood here, even the simplest child one day wordlessly and without training stumbles upon a cantrip or two they find themselves capable of performing. The land itself at times seems almost otherworldly in its beauty, many of the forests hide fairy rings that lead to the Fey Wyldes or dark catacombs hide secret entrances to the darker realms beyond. Then there is the peculiar incidents that occur all across the land, where people and objects (and sometimes whole towns) simply appear out of nowhere as if conjured by some great magic. These people found are referred to as the Conjured Ones, and though they just began to appear in the span of an instant they seem to come whole cloth with a life and memories of their own as if they had already lived a great deal before.
1000 years ago, the lineage of Emperors faltered and the Age of Kings began. A great darkness swept over the land, a force of evil that the people of the Conjured isles had never seen before. What exactly occurred has fallen into legend and myth, but it is said a great evil force led by the Lord of Dragons rose up in the far north and laid siege to all of Yemozan. The last Emperor, Yemozan the 9th, fought on the field of battle against the Lord of Dragons. Seeing his forces pushed to the brink, and knowing that if they fell here the rest of the world would soon fall, he removed the Crown of Command from atop his head and broke it in half. The release of the magical energy from within overwhelmed and destroyed most of both armies and shattered the land into a series of small archipelagos. Both the Lord of Dragons and Emperor Yemozan had their souls gathered up by the forces of Light and Dark, to be reincarnated in the future to finish their epic battle.
It is 1009 AE (After Emperors) and the Conjured Isles are ruled by Kings and magical nobility all whom claim a right to the Throne of Emperors but cannot prove their claim. The golden chair sits in the ruins of a once glorious castle, untouched by age and so far none have had the proper blood right to sit upon it and claim uncontested rule. Whispers of dark forces gathering to the north are on the lips of every Bard and people begin to wonder if this is the time spoken of in the past; when the Emperor Yemozan and the lord of Dragons are reincarnated and the great battle of Light and Dark are to finally reach their conclusion. It is said in this time heroes will rise from among the Conjured Ones and one of royal birth will finally stake their claim for the Throne of Emperors. Each of the Great Kings and many of the noble houses have sent their children into the world to rally the people and make a claim for their “birthright”, but will they succeed? And what is to become of the land and people in a time of growing darkness and war?
Unique to this world, the people and cultures do not speak of creation myths that start with the Gods and Goddesses shaping life and starting the engine of creation. It seems that the deities of this world found it quite by accident and were happy to come into the land with its great people and cultures already taking their first steps forward. Various Gods and Goddesses patronize various races and groups in Yemozan, and their influence has changed them both physically and mentally, but even the Gods insist that they are not the creators of life here on the world. They simply found these conjured isles in their travels across the great universe and were happy to settle on in.
While Yemozan is the official name of the world, named after the first Elven Emperor who united the three lands under his banner and ruled for 500 years, many have taken to calling it The Conjured Isles after the remarking from their deities as well as the peculiar magical nature of the land. Everyone is born with a hint of magic in their blood here, even the simplest child one day wordlessly and without training stumbles upon a cantrip or two they find themselves capable of performing. The land itself at times seems almost otherworldly in its beauty, many of the forests hide fairy rings that lead to the Fey Wyldes or dark catacombs hide secret entrances to the darker realms beyond. Then there is the peculiar incidents that occur all across the land, where people and objects (and sometimes whole towns) simply appear out of nowhere as if conjured by some great magic. These people found are referred to as the Conjured Ones, and though they just began to appear in the span of an instant they seem to come whole cloth with a life and memories of their own as if they had already lived a great deal before.
1000 years ago, the lineage of Emperors faltered and the Age of Kings began. A great darkness swept over the land, a force of evil that the people of the Conjured isles had never seen before. What exactly occurred has fallen into legend and myth, but it is said a great evil force led by the Lord of Dragons rose up in the far north and laid siege to all of Yemozan. The last Emperor, Yemozan the 9th, fought on the field of battle against the Lord of Dragons. Seeing his forces pushed to the brink, and knowing that if they fell here the rest of the world would soon fall, he removed the Crown of Command from atop his head and broke it in half. The release of the magical energy from within overwhelmed and destroyed most of both armies and shattered the land into a series of small archipelagos. Both the Lord of Dragons and Emperor Yemozan had their souls gathered up by the forces of Light and Dark, to be reincarnated in the future to finish their epic battle.
It is 1009 AE (After Emperors) and the Conjured Isles are ruled by Kings and magical nobility all whom claim a right to the Throne of Emperors but cannot prove their claim. The golden chair sits in the ruins of a once glorious castle, untouched by age and so far none have had the proper blood right to sit upon it and claim uncontested rule. Whispers of dark forces gathering to the north are on the lips of every Bard and people begin to wonder if this is the time spoken of in the past; when the Emperor Yemozan and the lord of Dragons are reincarnated and the great battle of Light and Dark are to finally reach their conclusion. It is said in this time heroes will rise from among the Conjured Ones and one of royal birth will finally stake their claim for the Throne of Emperors. Each of the Great Kings and many of the noble houses have sent their children into the world to rally the people and make a claim for their “birthright”, but will they succeed? And what is to become of the land and people in a time of growing darkness and war?
Monday, December 28, 2015
Video Games: A Year in Review
I love video games, I wish I had more time to just sit back and enjoy them but my life often takes me away. 2015 has been a great year for gaming for me, and I would just like to talk about some of my experiences this year in gaming. These are not everything I've played this year, just some of my favorites.
Fallout 4 - I have sunk WAY too many hours into this game already, and it just came out in December. I love everything to do with this game, I've made 4 distinct characters already to explore different character builds and ways to explore the game. Another Bethesda classic, the open world style of game play for me never gets old and continues to shine. There have been some great improvements in the game from Fallout 3 (love the physics, improved combat mechanics and cool gun customization's), but also some negative changes I'm none to pleased with (dialog system anyone?). I think the hidden gem of this game is the surprise settlement building mechanics, it's a great start and I hope that the DLC coming soon will expand and improve on the basic system in place.
I rate Fallout at 4 power armor suits out of 5.
Bloodborne - Dark Souls/Demon Souls never really appealed to me as a gamer, the mechanics are unforgiving most of the time and not conductive to my style of enjoyment. When I heard of Bloodborne I was like "Oh great, another hard ass game I have to be told I should enjoy if I'm a real gamer". It was this review here that changed my mind on the game, I am a sucker for a good story and I love Victorian Horror and Lovecraft Horror styles. Yes the game is grueling and yes the game is very unforgiving at times...but the lore and story of this game have me hooked. If you love good horror, and don't mind some crazy difficult game play, I cannot recommend this game enough.
I rate Bloodborne at 3 gibbering madmen ranting about the Old Ones out of Gralphfil'agi
Destiny: Taken King Edition - I purchased a PS4 just to get Destiny when it first came out in 2014, and I was super disappointed. I'm not the biggest shooter fan, but the story alone attracted me to this gem and I had followed its development for years. The finished product left me underwhelmed at best, and I traded it away and moved onto other games. When the Taken King edition came out (with the original game + all the expansions and DLC to date), my wife purchased it for me because she remembered how much I wanted the game in the past. I have to say...all the changes have been good. The DLC and expansions fill out the game, re-balancing has been nice. The game controls better, and I do have a more enjoyable time with it overall. The story still feels lacking, and I'm still frustrated with the whole Bungee website thing, but as far as a shooter goes it's the most fun I've had this year.
I rate Destiny at 2.5 ammo clips out of 4 randomly generated wooden crates somewhere on the f^&king map.
Until Dawn - Dude, this game rocks. It's a video game that plays like a classic 80's/90's horror film, the butterfly effect/choice system is cool and its some of the tightest acting/writing I've seen in a game to date. There isn't much to the mechanics sadly, it's a very story heavy game so many action-style gamer's may find it boring. But it's the perfect game to play when you have a bunch of friends over and wanna feel involved in the telling of a great horror story.
I rate Until Dawn 4 jump scares out of AHHHHH!
Pokemon Alpha Sapphire - 7/10, too much water. Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke! This is a remake of the Gen 3 Pokemon classic, and its a fantastic upgrade. New look, new Pokemon, new styles, it's just great. If you've ever played Pokemon you know what you're getting, but that hasn't stopped me from putting in hundreds of hours into the game. If you like Pokemon, you should play this.
I rate Pokemon AS at 675 Pokedex entries out of 712.
Fallout 4 - I have sunk WAY too many hours into this game already, and it just came out in December. I love everything to do with this game, I've made 4 distinct characters already to explore different character builds and ways to explore the game. Another Bethesda classic, the open world style of game play for me never gets old and continues to shine. There have been some great improvements in the game from Fallout 3 (love the physics, improved combat mechanics and cool gun customization's), but also some negative changes I'm none to pleased with (dialog system anyone?). I think the hidden gem of this game is the surprise settlement building mechanics, it's a great start and I hope that the DLC coming soon will expand and improve on the basic system in place.
I rate Fallout at 4 power armor suits out of 5.
Bloodborne - Dark Souls/Demon Souls never really appealed to me as a gamer, the mechanics are unforgiving most of the time and not conductive to my style of enjoyment. When I heard of Bloodborne I was like "Oh great, another hard ass game I have to be told I should enjoy if I'm a real gamer". It was this review here that changed my mind on the game, I am a sucker for a good story and I love Victorian Horror and Lovecraft Horror styles. Yes the game is grueling and yes the game is very unforgiving at times...but the lore and story of this game have me hooked. If you love good horror, and don't mind some crazy difficult game play, I cannot recommend this game enough.
I rate Bloodborne at 3 gibbering madmen ranting about the Old Ones out of Gralphfil'agi
Destiny: Taken King Edition - I purchased a PS4 just to get Destiny when it first came out in 2014, and I was super disappointed. I'm not the biggest shooter fan, but the story alone attracted me to this gem and I had followed its development for years. The finished product left me underwhelmed at best, and I traded it away and moved onto other games. When the Taken King edition came out (with the original game + all the expansions and DLC to date), my wife purchased it for me because she remembered how much I wanted the game in the past. I have to say...all the changes have been good. The DLC and expansions fill out the game, re-balancing has been nice. The game controls better, and I do have a more enjoyable time with it overall. The story still feels lacking, and I'm still frustrated with the whole Bungee website thing, but as far as a shooter goes it's the most fun I've had this year.
I rate Destiny at 2.5 ammo clips out of 4 randomly generated wooden crates somewhere on the f^&king map.
Until Dawn - Dude, this game rocks. It's a video game that plays like a classic 80's/90's horror film, the butterfly effect/choice system is cool and its some of the tightest acting/writing I've seen in a game to date. There isn't much to the mechanics sadly, it's a very story heavy game so many action-style gamer's may find it boring. But it's the perfect game to play when you have a bunch of friends over and wanna feel involved in the telling of a great horror story.
I rate Until Dawn 4 jump scares out of AHHHHH!
Pokemon Alpha Sapphire - 7/10, too much water. Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke! This is a remake of the Gen 3 Pokemon classic, and its a fantastic upgrade. New look, new Pokemon, new styles, it's just great. If you've ever played Pokemon you know what you're getting, but that hasn't stopped me from putting in hundreds of hours into the game. If you like Pokemon, you should play this.
I rate Pokemon AS at 675 Pokedex entries out of 712.
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