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: