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Chronically being on the Wrong Side of the Thrift Shop

 

Today I am going to rant/try to get you to get on a game.
Last week I discovered this beautiful gem called Chronicles of Elyria. A game that has progressive research, deep immersion and permadeath.
The game drops you in an unknown world playing human like Mann, or rather, their souls. Like Ark this game is persistent(as in, your character doesn’t vanish upon logging out, it will actually be taken over by an AI(you can give tasks to it) until you log in) and as such you’ll need things like food, water, shelter and the gods know what more.
Your character will age and eventually die. You are more physically capable when you are young then when you are old, but old age comes with wisdom and as such you are better at the mental stuff of life. You also want to get a family going, which helps you in your next life(s), with finance, resources and getting back to life. Didn’t I mention that? If you die you have to do this spirit walking, the younger you are, the longer the time you have, and family gives you a reason to live and thus extend that meter a bit. So yeah, that’s the game in a very tiny nutshell, you can read more about it here, and even more about it here.
And I am extremely excited about it.
Not so much because of what I named(and really, it does no justice), but more so because I thought of a game like this way back when I first heard of The Sims 2(yes, that game). The game was described as new, progressive and able to live lives from a broad view. That was somewhere in 2003-4. The Sims 2 badly dissapointed me(though, was still enjoyable) because of the things I had dreamed up about that game.

What had I dreamt up? Well, in my mind you could go anywhere you wanted and you could discover things, even new technology. Now, from there(really liking this concept in my head) I expanded upon it when I heard bits and pieces about Spore(it was announced in 2005), namely the parts of being able to piece things together and make new technology happen and progress from the Stone Age all the way up to modern times. I dreamt that there would be this big MMO where players would be free to do what they wanted, and started in(or around) the Stone Age. Progression was up to them. Literally. You wanted bronze swords? Go find, mine and process Tin and Copper and figure out the right mixture to get Bronze, then fiddle with that until you’d get a Bronze Sword. All the while you’d need to survive as well, and others would most likely be jealous of you, etc. Point was, progress could be hard to do. (oh, and all the things would be player created, via a similar interface spore had, some shapes you put together to make item X, which you can use to assemble item Y, and so on and so forth. No pre-made shit from the devs)
Chronicles of Elyria does not do this exactly, however, it DOES keep research in, with which you progress. And it does let you make a Dynasty over your lives(your soul travels to a new vessel when the old one decides to break down permanently). And the best part? No levels, EVERYTHING is skillbased, like it should. A new skilled player can still poke an experienced lesser skilled player full of holes, very much unlike most other MMO’s where a lvl 90 laughs so hard at the level 50 trying to hit him.

 

It’s a very ambitious project, which is already 8 years in the making(albeit with a very small team most of that time), but it has already reached it’s goal. And for my sanity’s sake I hope they succeed in bringing this beast to surface and rock the world. I want my dream to be truly realized by some smart-ass dev and loose myself properly in that game and build myself from stone age to modern age and beyond. And SoulBound Studios(creators of Chronicles of Elyria) has added to that dream; I now want to build a family alongside that progress as well, myself reincarnating every so often to view the progress to new eyes and add to it.
And only for that I wish to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

 

Musica Maestro!

First of we start a bit dolente(sad that is 😉 )with Wrong Side of Heaven by Five Finger Death Punch. I really must warn you here, this thing get’s to me, but is so powerful.

Second of is a popsong from yesteryear, Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Third off is Bliss by Muse

The Goldeneyed Nexus that Danced The Night Away with a Firestarter

 

Another blog. I hear you think; OH MY WORD?! So Soon?! LIES! LIES I TELLS YA!
But no, it is a blog. not a lie(although there may or may not be a lie hidden in this here text somewhere.

So, LARP. (Always a nice subject to start of with)
I have recently decided to cut down on LARP a bit, I lost a bit of my enthusiasm for it.
That combined with a few other things lead to me not going to the coming KoD. Of course, seeing the universe loves me the way it does, it turned out (and pretty much right after the decision being made) that this may be the last KoD.
After a lot of thought after that(and rechecking a few things) I still won’t go, albeit more of the other things rather then wanting to. As for spoilers; I will reveal a thing or two in my next blog(seeing the event still has to take place, and saying a few of those things will be spoiling some of the fun of my readers who still go there).

As for D&D(or rather Tabletop RPG as I should call them); A few new developments.
First off is that the story of Harak and his minions companions is taking off, with us suddenly having to arrange things we haven’t had the need before. Which is really a nice change, and a challenge(for a slightly Excel nerd as I am developing into(thanks all those lists I make at work)).
This resulted in a nice semi-automated book-gobbler. A bit of background on this: In the world we play there are libraries, those have books(duh) which are autogenerated by the DM which gives us a few things to learn asides our level progression. He(and we) found that it was really neat. The only problem with the lists is that they are neatly delivered as a text block, where we like a neat spreadsheet with the data(and some of it at that) nicely sorted and filterable.
That is where the book-gobbler comes in, it converts the text blocks into excel rows with the information we want. If anyone is interested I could do a small explanation on how it works and such.

Beside Harak in D&D 4th Edition I am soon starting with 2 other characters:
Druss, an Aasimar Cleric in the Pathfinder setting.
Goric I Goronthal, (he’s back!) a Dwarven Wizard in the D&D 5th Edition.

Druss(I forgot his lastname) will be a new challenge for me as I have never played a cleric(I am disregarding that one stint, that character is dead to me) and never played Pathfinder(although I do have some experience in D&D 3.5). So I am nervously excited for this one. It will also be a mostly unknown party for me(well, I know the folks, but I have never played Tabletop RPGs with them) save for 1. We will be twin brothers that set out into the world for reason X, so here goes!

Goric is back after being stalled in a new form.
This time he will be a more Urban Dwarf(DM approved subvariant of dwarf, which sacrifices some wisdom for some intelligence(and slightly breaks with tradition)) which gets a +1 to Intelligence and Wisdom instead of a +2 to Wisdom.
The world this time will be the World Capital City of Nexus, a city of the size that baffles the mind, pretty much a country of it’s own. With all it’s associated problems. And that is pretty much all I know of that, so far(the DM is still writing)

And now, music!
I picked some nice music(if I say so myself) for you all to listen to:
Dance the Night Away – The Mavericks

Goldeneye – Tina Turner

Firestarter – Torre Florim

The Nexus – Amaranthe

The island where I can’t sleep without that girl I met before

 

I think I did me a new record. Well over 1,5 years.
Oh well, congratulations to anyone that stuck around for this long. No really, I mean it.

I don’t really know why I don’t update this much, must be something about me I suppose, that or just not a lot to write about(or simple forgetfulness).

Anyways, let’s finish up some things I talked about earlier.
First off, Booyah. My character there(Tahn) is long dead. He never made the next event, but then, I suppose that is what happens when you piss off some high and mighty boss like person.
What happened is that Tahn was ‘summoned'(involuntarily) to the father of some runt the group he supposedly led killed. Turned out he was an Emperor of sorts, oops. So far nothing wrong. He was ‘tasked’ with killing a guy Tahn already heavily disliked, so far still nothing too bad.
By doing this he would ‘join’ his party and gain some powers, didn’t want that but eh. The kicker comes when he was forced to kneel. Duerghars DO NOT KNEEL unless out of respect, and he was forced by the Emperor’s Mistress, bad move.
So, I did what every sensible Duerghar would do, I asked for an audience with the person I was supposed to kill, letting him know I was tasked to do so.
It ended up as Parkinglot Plot(Also see: Khaladani), which is to say very epic. The next day I was singled out, the attackers where after me I think, the chanting of my name might have given it away. I believe I forgot to mention that one of the rewards was being made the Supreme General of the Emperor’s forces.
And so died Tahn of House Porfier, seventh son of Reof, Seventh son of Eler, Son of Ovyr, Son of Dair, Son of Tol. He even got to say goodbye to his wife, whom he remembered by now. His last words being ‘Goodbye my Love, my wife’

Second off: KoD.
My character there, now named Amund Geber, still lives, miraculously, and is focusing more and more on magic research. Not much to say on that department.(mostly cause of spoilers about things 😉 )

Third: Games!
So recently Fallout 4 was released, and I’ll let my steam hours talk for me:
Fallout 4
Don’t think I have to go on about how awesome this game is and what it let’s you do with wandering around a post-apocalyptic world building settlements and choosing your own look, now with the option of playing a voiced female protagonist!

Beside that I still play a game of Battlefield 4 every now and then, and some Ark: Survival Evolved. Both of which are very enjoyable

Und now, musica Meastro!
Isla Bonita – Twilight Guardians, nice metal cover:

I can’t sleep without you – Golden Earring, nice raw voice;

I never met a girl like you before – Edwyn Collins, classic:

Pumpin’ Irony – Blues Saraceno, for when you feel like being a Bad Ass:

The Wanderer – Dion, totally not chosen because it is the title track of Fallout 4, no siree!

I am seeing sloppy canons

 

So yeah…no news for a long time… oh well.

To start off with the biggest thing that happened lately:
My girlfriend and me decided to end the relationship. This due to a number of reasons that led us to both, seperately, come to the conclusion this would be for the best.
I feel very mixed about this, on one end it is a relief for there were strugglings and whatnot, but at the same time I still feel a lot of sadness.
Now for the quirky part(for most outsiders), we decided to still live together as room(house)mates and be awesome at that.

That being said, things are still struggling, again as well with the outside world. Which was what happened last weekend.
Last weekend there was Booyah. Where we play husband and wife. Or rather, used to play. Thanks to a little help from the GMs we ‘solved’ that. We both would get fed a potion where we would all but completely forget whom the other was and what they meant to us, how we filled that in was up to us. We both took a slightly different approach, I remembered her for the recent past more vividly then the past further away(eg. What happened 50 years ago was all me by myself, but everything recent, like the decisions made in the counsil I remember her being there, but all emotional connection was gone, along with a good picture of her in my head), with that I started to wonder why I did certain things, or why I was mad. This because I couldn’t remember her, and therefore the connected reasoning attached to that.
So then the game itself, it was good, fun but a little awkward at times. I had moments of lesser activity, mostly because I was numbed at times. Because seeing your ex, however dear she still is, can hurt when you have no distraction, especially when she looks attractive as she did at times. And that makes a man think, think about things he want and things he wants to shunt away from but can’t.
In the end that led me to a decision, one I hopefully won’t come to regret in coming times, but that, only time will tell the answer.

That being that, in the coming times I will work with Marco and Petra on designing items for our smith part of our characters. Makes things more in depth and more logical how to do them, and more particular the difference between Duerghar and Dragovenian smiths.
All there is left for me is to find out what to do with my character, now that an important part and brakes are suddenly gone I have to revise a good part of his motivations along with goals. I know he will become more stubborn and less friendly to other races(exception being them) as his race demands, seeing how all the experiences with his non-Duerghar wife ceased to exist. This will bring about some interesting things.

As for far-fetched plans, I have a few with him. Some are secret, others a whole lot less.
To start off with, there is this notion that we should be able to incorporate Duerghar in rituals(they can’t now, not without making the ritual fail automatically).
Then there is the most ambitious project of making a zeppelin! or flying airship, haven’t decided which one to go for. For now we have determined a few critical steps which have to be sorted out before anything is viable to begin with. Aside of all the resources we need propulsion and lift. We have a few ideas of how we can accomplish things, but nothing concrete.

Now, music:
Watsky! – Sloppy Seconds:

Johann Pachelbel – Canon (Played by George Winston)

Ed Sheeran – I See Fire

The beginning of a new Heroic Age

 

So, many months later I decided that(with a friendly, but stern, reminder by my girlfriend) my page/blog/whatever could do with an update.
Without further ado, here is the next blog about my life(or parts of it anyway):

…

 

…Actually, I’m not sure where to begin exactly… so I’ll guess I’ll start with what the title says… DnD(yes, yes, I know it does not say so… just read on will you?)

As mentioned in my previous post I was invited into a DnD Part-eh! and our main plot thingy to get to know the setting was a Paladin of Shor(For Shor! (Go ahead, shoot me with new wordplays on this one, I have had 4 trolls dealing with this, so I dare you!)) Borvir. We have rounded up this party a couple of weeks back. After months of playing we ended up with Heroic characters(and not in the sense of DnD but in the world as well) that turned back more to their root and their true nature. *insert old man’s cracking voice* Now listen here.. young whippersnapper, back in them days we Jellbrädians were the biggest, baddest and strongest warriors this cradle of civilization has ever seen, but now all you youngsters are weaklings! PAH! How we ever are still called the best warriors is beyond me… My if I ever *rummaging sounds and heavy things that fall down, then a new face appears* Sorry for interupting this explanation, but we figured the old man had explained all he needed to. *end of scene* And thus we returned a little back towards that, turns out, my ancestors there loved swinging a particularly big hammer around, one on which I managed to lay my hands upon. and it was AWESOME! Then we tickled a big beasty, managed to fly away on him and then we continued to the end battle of the campaign. Much awaited and dreaded for we finally battle this Lord of the Night. It was fun, but my paladin was not too helpful in this particular battle, I did not do enough damage to really damage him, my weapon turned out to having a pretty big downside(stupid warriors not making their highest saving throw) but I did save folks, and overall it was a very fun encounter albeit with a slight taste of not making the fullest out of my puppet.
So, for finishing that campaign and for the fact that my Jellbrädian Paladin of Shor, Borvir Pedersson, I now break my usual format and present you these two songs that befit both him and the Jellbrädians of old(really, this last one you should have had playing while reading the text…tsssk)

Rhapsody of Fire – Holy Thunderforce:

And the song-you-should-have-been-listening-too-the-whole-while-but-probably-didn’t:
Miracle of Sound – Sovngarde Song:

As I have said, I broke my usual layout to salute the brave Jellbrädians with their victory, that many more may follow! For Shor!!
Ahem… We also played some other campaigns along the way, from one-offs about rebellious sadists to full-blown campaigns like our Akktan puppets who now own a castle… yes, a castle. and it is the most awesomest castle EVER. it’s a fact!
And in there, we rule the surrounding country as Viscount Markus von Trisk and his ilk. So far we have found out who we were, killed someone important(or so we ‘d like to believe) and found new strength to face our foes and dispatch them with ease. Now we have the challenging task of making sure our foo…erm…people are safe and our county prospering under our rule. But I am sure we will pull that off, or my name is not Von trisk!

Other then the DnD things I have bought a house, still hanging with Didi as my girlfriend, visited LARPs and I even…wait, what do you mean I bought a house?
Not sure what you do with a house other then renting or buying it, but I bought my own home. All I have to do now is to sign some forms(and adhere to all the rules unfortunately) and then do the fixing up and moving in part. But this is all fuck scary if you ask me, luckily, my girl is there to support me <3 ^^

As for LARP, next week(or rather, end of this one) I will be attending Booyah’s (first?) wedding event as Tahn Dulazuun with my wife Merida. We will see how far this Duerghar fares under all the things Bram will throw at me(because I know the bitch will do that 😀 )

 

Now for music:
Miracle of Sound – halfman’s song:

Brave – Song of Mor’Du:

Ruslana – Wild Dances(Ukrainian FM Version):

Daft Punk ft. Pharell Williams – Get lucky:

Norah Jones & Dolly Parton – Creepin’ In:

My Chemical Romance – Mama:

(It’s Dutch, but enjoy the tunes) Rob de Nijs – Jan Klaassen de Trompetter:

Now for a very special thing: I am posting a cover for a song, not the original, and that’s because I am so in love with her voice!(and I so hope Didi can master this song in Japanese some day <3 <3) original can be found here. Mind that the original posted is a LIVE recording, versus a studio recorded album version in the following video:
Kate Covington(AKA Erutan) – Itsumo Nando Demo:

Enjoy the stills from that must see movie!