MMORPG Armageddon?
While catching up on the news this week, I came across an interesting tidbit at Virtual Worlds News: Worlds.com has sued NCSoft, the publisher of such games as City of Heroes, Lineage II, and the ill-fated Tabula Rasa. Worlds.com was one of the early developers of virtual worlds; WebWorld, their earliest, launched in 1994. That’s practically prehistory for the WorldWide Web.
It turns out that, a decade or so ago, Worlds.com filed for two patents. One of them was patent 7,181,690, “System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space.” The capsule version: this is a patent on tracking the positions of avatars via a client-server method.
Which, incidentally, closely describes all of the variety of methods used in many modern MMORPGs, including the 900-lb. gorilla, World of Warcraft.
Categories: Computer and Video Games, Industry News | Comments (6)
Review: Imperium Chronicles
And now for something completely different.
A couple of months ago, I was given a copy of the Imperium Chronicles Basic Rules, along with a request that I review it. After my experience with Dread, I was determined to play a session or two before offering any opinions. Turns out it’s a busy time of year, but we’ve finally completed a short plot, so here’s my belated review.
Categories: Reviews | Comments (3)
Merry Christmas
On the 12th day of Christmas, my GM gave to me:
12 kobolds shifting,
11 pirates talking,
10-foot-pole prodding,
9 swashes buckling,
8 classes coring,
7 traps disarming,
6 members partying,
5 One Rings (wtf?),
4 kicked-in doors,
3 henchmen,
2 skill challenges,
and a sword made just for my PC.
Best wishes to all of you. Hope you get some gaming in.
Myth Direction: the Faerie Courts
A quick thought experiment, today. The Manual of the Planes contains some information about the Faerie Courts, the Seelie and the Unseelie, in its Feywild section. I don’t plan to use that particular take on it in my game, since I have something else worked out. But it did inspire some ideas about a third way.
This probably owes something to The Dresden Files
One of the more obvious bits of the construction was a simple emphasis on the duality: the Seelie Court, the Court of Summer, is right at home in the Feywild, with its preternatural wilderness. So where else should the Unseelie Court, the Court of Winter, be, than the Shadowfell? In fact, I picture the Feywild as an eternal summer, warm and vibrant. The Shadowfell isn’t entirely locked in winter — but certainly parts of it are, as I picture it, a frozen waste of eternal cold.
Categories: Myth Direction | Comments (2)
Renaissance Mentality
Back to the Renaissance. My previous post in this series dealt mainly with England during the Renaissance and how similar changes might apply to a game world. Of course, not all areas experienced the same changes. Today I’ll look at the birthplace of the Renaissance and an intriguing setting in its own right: Italy.
The Renaissance began in Italy in the later half of the 14th century, spurred by a reawakening interest in the art and culture — and the ideas — of the ancient Greeks and Romans that began earlier in that century. But although I say “Italy” for the sake of convenience, it’s important to understand that this is purely a geographic designation. There was no Italy as a political body, at the time; instead, there was an array of city-states, duchies, and republics of various characters. These city-states did not get along — war was common during the period, with the city-states employing armies of mercenaries. Almost all of the war was internal, however, aside from a few incursions by Holy Roman emperors.
Categories: Philosophy and Rants | Comments (2)
