Monday, June 6, 2011

In Which No One Loses an Eye

Today your friendly neighborhood blogfest junkie is participating in Alex J. Cavanaugh's It's All Fun and Games Blogfest.

It’s All Fun & Games Blogfest, June 6, 2011 - list your three most favorite games and why. Board games, card games, RPG, video games, physical games, drinking games - even mind games! If it’s a game you enjoy playing, it’s worth sharing.

So this post is where I reveal some of my geekiness for the world to see. 

3.  Master Detective Clue



Not regular Clue, the Master Detective edition specifically. This game is responsible for a lot of great memories from my childhood and adolescence. This version had added rooms, weapons and suspects. I always chose to play as Miss Peach because I thought she was the prettiest. The game got played so much that pieces got lost, the die had to be replaced, all the note papers for keeping track of your findings got used up front and back, and the box is now falling apart.

One session remains particularly memorable. It was a family gathering during the holidays and there were a bunch of us playing, mostly adults except for me and my younger brother. The adults were all trying to be very clever and strategic. So was I for that matter. Not my brother. My brother made a prediction at the beginning of the game. He guessed at which suspect, weapon and room would be in the envelope. I don't remember exactly which ones they were, except that the room was the gazebo. The game lasted until he got his piece to the gazebo. Then he made his guess... and he was totally, completely right. It was the weirdest thing.

2. World of Warcraft

Hello, my name is Sarah McCabe and I am a recovering WoW addict. It's been 6 months since I last subscribed and it's been 2 1/2 years since I played seriously.

But really, WoW is a great game. I'm not really much of a video game player. Sure, I did some Atari and Nintendo as a kid, but hadn't really played anything since then. Then I married a hardcore console RPG player. He got hooked on WoW and eventually I joined him. It was my first foray into the MMORPG genre of game and WOW! That stuff is addicting. The advantage of this game is that my husband and I can play together.

My main character was a Retribution Paladin which basically means I wore heavy armor and went around hitting things with a very, very big hammer. Like this:

 
Not my character, but similar.

You have NO IDEA have much fun it is to run around the world just whacking things into submission with absolutely no fear of death because your husband plays a healing priest and together you are INVINCIBLE. I had a lot of fun in WoW. It's a game with a very diverse and interesting world and the lore is actually pretty fascinating if you read up on it. But eventually I did tire of it and moved on to...

1. The Lord of the Rings Online

LOTRO is another MMORPG. And really, it was inevitable, with my fawning love of Tolkien, that I would end up there. LOTRO brings Middle-earth to life better than I ever could have imagined and it's pure delight to wander the world of Tolkien's imagining on my Elven Minstrel character. And I admit to feeling a bit of a fangirl SQUEE when encountering members of the Fellowship.

My character, Fionnuala, with Legolas and Gimli in Lothlorien.


Rivendell Valley and the Last Homely House

I love this game for many reasons. First, of course, is the world and the lore. Second, I get to BE an Elf. How awesome is that? I have always loved Tolkien's rendition of Elves, their beauty and wisdom and terrible greatness. I even *gulp* role play my Elf. Third, there's a really fun "outfit" system which basically means there's an abundance of different types of clothing and armor in the game that you can mix and match to chose your character's style. Fourth, there's a player housing system. It's not the best, but you can own and decorate your own house. Here's my character dressed up and sitting by the fire:


Fifth, there's a player music system! What does that mean? Players can use various in game instruments to play music in the game. You can play manually, by typing keyboard keys that correspond to musical notes or you can utilize special abc files that allow multiple people to play songs together. One of my favorite hobbies is converting midi songs into abc files to play in LOTRO. I've done everything from The Beatles to Beethoven. Here's an example of some in game friends and my husband and I playing one of the songs I transcribed:

27 comments:

  1. OMG. The Lord of the Rings online? Why haven't I heard of this before? I'm not worthy, master. I'm, not worthy!

    Great choices!

    Fun & Games Blogfest

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  2. Go ahead and admit you're a WOW addict! The only thing that's saved me is I don't play online games. (Like I need anything else sucking up my time!)
    Great picks! Thanks for participating in the blogfest.

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  3. I totally think these online role plays would have pulled me in deeply had they come five years earlier. As it was, between work, kids and writing, there just was no TIME. Your thoughts on WoW are too funny.

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  4. Ellie, join us. Come to the dark side. ;)

    Alex, WAS a WoW addict, WAS! Now I'm a LOTRO addict. It's totally different!

    Hart, the advantage of the MMORPG is that my husband and I can play together. With four kids we have very little time or money for entertainment and MMOs are a cheap way for us to spend time together after the kids are in bed.

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  5. Strangely, in LOTRO we don't have that combination of your killing machine and my dedicated healer. You've got all the healers, I've got all the tanks. You do have your Champion, but Noledin is strictly DPS, because setting things on fire is fun.

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  6. Ha! I always wanted to be Miss Scarlet. What does that reveal about me? Don't answer.

    The more I read about everyone's video game addiction, the happier I am that I never bought a game console. I would get sucked right down the rabbit hole of WOW.

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  7. Are you sure your brother hadn't looked in the envelope somehow as the game went underway? Or marked the cards somehow so he got it right?

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  8. That.... is a huuuge hammer. I'd play WoW just for that. lol

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  9. Master Detective Clue??? How do I not own that?? I love the original version. The movie was pretty fun, too. Not an on-line gamer at all...but, it looks fascinating! Who wouldn't want to be a Tolkien Elf ~ :)

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  10. I've never played Clue, and I won't divulge how old I am. You have me wanting to try it out!

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  11. I love Clue, I have never played Master Detective. I want to try this game out. I try to stay away from some games because I have so much to do already I'd never get anything done. =)

    Poetry, Quotes and Book Reviews.

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  12. I've always loved Clue. I had no idea there was a LotR online! I don't have the time for video games these days, but that's a world I would love to lose myself in.

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  13. ALL of these are fantastic. Love CLUE! =D

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  14. I'm going to have to check out that Master Detective Clue version. Sounds fun!

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  15. Love your selections as we're video gamers as well. LotR we've only played via LAN. It's be fun online.

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  16. I went for ordinary, run of the mill Clue(do). Well as orinary and run of the mill as murder can be...

    Dave
    Dave Wrote This

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  17. I love Clue, but I didn't know about the Master Detective version. You have me curious! Great choices.

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  18. I've never played WOW because I knew I would get sucked into it! My one brother loves it though and plays fairly often.

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  19. Warcraft is very popular. :D I enjoy clue a lot. Will have to go looking for that edition.

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  20. Clue!! I love that one. I have this fantastic Scooby Doo edition that's a lot of fun. It's just hard to get people to play with me. For some reason, they think I cheat...

    I haven't played the other two. I'm much too afraid that if I start, I'll never stop.

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  21. I love, love, love Clue! It's one game I never lose which makes up for the fact that I lost Monopoly every single time.

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  22. Totally forgot about Clue! Such a fun game. The movie tickles me as well.

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  23. those are noteworthy games, especially the super clue!
    happy belated gameblogfest =)

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  24. This was a fun post. Something I've never tried.

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  25. LOTR roleplaying online?!? Ugh, thank goodness I did not know about this before hand. I would have lost countless hours of my life. No writing would get done because being an elf would be way more fun!

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