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Destiny: Rise of Iron – How We Advanced

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Today is happy Destiny day for all of us Guardians out there….yes it’s Rise of Iron release day and I’m sure most of you have already been grinding away to see all the new stuff.

Here’s a quick run down on some of the important things we are getting.

  • Felwinters Peak, the new Social Space with new vendors, a new Cryptarch, and it comes with wolves!
  • 5 main campaign Story ARC Missions, plus other Missions and Quests
  • The Plaguelands, which is the new open patrol area of the revamped snow covered Cosmodrome.
  • SIVA infected Fallen called Devil Splicers are here now
  • The Archon’s Forge, a new arena much like Prison / Challenge of Elders
  • We’ve got new STRIKES!!!
  • Wrath of the Machine, the new Raid, available September 23rd!
  • Yes we have a new PvP mode as well called Supremacy!
  • Iron Banner has been re-worked
  • 4 new Crucible maps
  • New artifacts that were created from scratch!
  • New Max Light Level
  • New Armor, Weapons, and a ton of new Rewards
  • You can now put Ornaments on exotic weapons, and armor, a skin that changes the look of the weapon

Big Light Level Jump

Bungie told us we would be getting a big light level jump but no one really knew what that meant.  Well here is what we got!

Rise of Iron Launch Light Level Increase to: 385

Once the hard mode of the RAID releases the light level will cap at 400

We have a new Record Book

Rise of Iron has a new free Record Book which tracks all activity in Rise of Iron account-wide. As you complete missions, quests, and other activities from the new expansion, you will gain percentage points of completion, and as with past Record Books will receive rewards at set intervals.

These rewards include:

  • Full Iron Lord armor for all Character Classes
  • Multiple new Emblems
  • New Shaders
  • The new Iron Song Ghost Shell
  • And More

Engram Boost

We’ve all been asking those questions of what will our engrams do when we decript them after ROI drops.  Well, Uncommon and Rare (Green and Blue) gear will drop at higher light levels (potentially up to 350 for Rare items). Most of mine were dropping and coming out around 330 for blues and 200 for greens.  Higher for Legendary / Exotics.

Strike Exclusive Gear and Skeleton Keys

Nightfalls and Strike Playlists are getting a new inventory item added to their Loot systems: The Skeleton Key, these keys, which will drop randomly at the end of missions, can be used in Strikes featuring exclusive items to get a guaranteed drop of one of those Exclusive by opening the “Strike Hoard” – a new chest that will be appearing upon completion of Strikes, even outside of the Weekly Playlists.

Weapons, & Armor

From new Iron Banner weapons reintroduced Year 1 guns, Rise of Iron is giving us a lot of new options.

  • Exotics
    • Year 1 weapons returning –
    • We already knew the Gjallarhorn was coming back! If you pre-ordered well then you got it in (Black) and it’s sexy!
    • We also have another Year 1 that was very popular but brought a lot of pain among the Guardians…. The THORN is coming back!  It will have it’s own Exotic quest so get ready.
    • For those of us already sporting Year 1 models, it’s not clear if the updated version will be immediately available through the kiosk or if we’ll have to work for it the same as everyone else.
    • A whole list of new weapons, but I’m saving that for you all to discover
    • One very familiar weapon that every Guardian has used is coming back.  The Khvostov 7G-0X which is the exotic version of this weapon.  This weapon will be the reward from an exotic weapon quest, but this one is different.  This weapon won’t have a single exotic perk that makes it stand out.  Instead, Bungie has added something brand new, a set of perk columns that allows us to turn this primary weapon into a custom killing machine.

New Armor Concept Drawings

The armor just speaks for itself as it’s amazing looking!!! We want it all!!!

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The game has a whole host of new features to discover and this is just a base list of some new items that have come in, so get out there Guardians and go become an Iron Lord

Destiny – Rise of Iron: The OWL Sector ARG

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Strange things are stirring in the Destiny realm as players began noticing a very odd colored swarm surrounding their heads a few nights ago.  What is this mystery, and where did it come from?

Clearly it has something to do with Destiny’s newest upcoming expansion, Rise of Iron, but is this thing harmful, helpful, what is really going on.  One very popular Twitch streamer, SayNoToRage, looks to be Patient Zero who was infected with this strange Destiny virus which has begun to spread through the player-base of Destiny by simply interacting with someone who already has one of the viruses. A number of ways have been confirmed so far, and players have reported a boost to reputation and experience once they have been infected. But what could these Owl Sector infections mean?

These viruses – Brilliance 3.2, Glory 2.1, Splendor 2.6, Magnificence 2.0, and Fortitude 3.1 – seem to be unlocking additional details to the lore of Destiny.  Owl Sector appeared as a subpage on Bungie’s website a couple nights ago shortly after SayNoToRage noticed he had contracted the virus.

You can checkout Bungie’s Owl Sector website which shows a world map with multiple colored nodes on it. Each of these nodes seem to represent a player’s location whose character has been infected by one of the viruses. These different colors correspond to the five different viruses previously mentioned. Ever since the initial outbreak with SayNoToRage, the website looks to have a real-time update and feed showing each infection across the globe.  This has also led to more information getting released through chat logs of the in game NPC’s, like Cayde-6, Ikora Rey, and Zavala who seem to be studying these viruses to determine for themselves what they are.

From what can be gathered from some parts of the chat logs, it looks like the viruses, along with SIVA, were developed on Mars in the Dust Palace by the exoscience group, Clovis Bray.  With Rise of Iron right around the corner and considering how this looks to be a very technologically advanced element of Destiny’s lore, it’s hard to think the SIVA tech wouldn’t be involved somehow.

Guardians look to have quite the adventure ahead of them as Rise of Iron plots a story about the lost SIVA plague, so these viruses we are seeing now could be a precursor to our next journey and potential dangers that are just around the corner.

As for the Owl Sector, it appears that they’re a reconnaissance group responsible for looking over these types of outbreaks. This would tie into the Owl Sector Twitch account’s message that was in SayNoToRage’s Twitch stream when he first contracted the virus. The message read “We’ve detected an unidentified foreign intrusion into your systems, Guardian. Stay calm, we will investigate.”

One question does come up and that is will we see these “Viruses” once the Rise of Iron content releases next week?  At least we won’t have to wait long to find out what is in store for the Destiny realm, and it’s Guardian protectors.

Be safe Guardians and I’ll see you next time.

A Fantasy Writers Process

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tumblr_static_tumblr_static_4eo5pzujbwcg8gws0gcc8oc0s_focused_v3.jpgIt’s hard to start writing a niche genre like fantasy when you’ve got the passion for it, but no idea where to start! Maybe you have an idea, but you’re afraid to take the first step because you’re afraid of failing. While the writing process is frustrating and yes, your story may not work out, but if you do your research and work hard, you will find yourself creating an unbelievable story with a world you can mold to your liking.  It’s going to take a lot of patience, will-power to push through tough areas, and learning a few tips along the way from fellow writers.

This is my “Where Do I Start List” on the most important parts of the writing process that I use all the time.  None of these steps are chiseled in stone by any means but these are all tips / tricks I’ve learned over the years….and taken the good advice of better writers who helped me along my journey.

1. Write down EVERY SINGLE IDEA you have!  When writing a novel it doesn’t matter how silly an idea may sound, you thought of it for a reason so write it down.  These ideas can always stem into another and cause creativity and imagination to be boosted.  Plus this is a great way to keep track of the “Idea Process” which is how you personally pop out ideas.

When writing ideas down it could be as simple as (random word here) or it could be a bit more complex and you take it a step further.  Try something like this below and see if it helps with creating new ideas.

  • “Maybe (insert random name here) came across a clue (insert random stuff here) and discovered a great secret.”
  • “Should (name) be a knight or a king, or just some (random person in the story?)”
  • Keep track of how you use ideas and organize them.  See my post on mind mapping a novel to get some ideas of what to use and how to use this method.

2. Look at the setting of a story first before anything.  If you are a fantasy writer like me, then I’m sure you’ve spent a good bit of time doing this already.  Remember this is your story and you can make it however you like, but it’s always a good thought to look at other writers and see what imaginative thing they’ve come up with.  Does your world rely on magic, or maybe it’s inspired by a real place and you’ve put a twist on it.  Depending on what you choose, your characters must reflect the cultures and upbringing in this world. My novel is set in a fictional world but still close to home with traces of European cultures with kings, queens, monsters, tall tales, and hero’s alike.

3. Character development is an absolute must!!!! Make sure you take your time and plot out each character…give them some love as I’ve seen to many times where a story could have been great but the characters were very underdeveloped and it ruined the story. Pay close attention to those minor characters in the book because they can become key to a great story.  Take a look at a post I did on writing minor characters.

4. Character Names have to tie into the cultures you use in the story.  Think about that for a second as this can go a lot of different ways.  Do you have a made up language like Tolkien, or maybe you’ve pulled from Greek mythology, or just classic names from different cultures.  Most of my book I’ve created comes from a European background with a lot of made up in between.

5. Make a timeline because this helps keep everything consistent throughout the story, especially if you use days/weeks/months in your story. This will also allow you to go into accurate detail about places, seasons, weather, people etc.  My book i’m currently working on, Brothers Three, ranges over the course of a 10 year period for the main story.  This story begins with the birth of three brothers who were separated at birth to disguise who they really were, but picks up when the boys are 10.  The story begins on a spring morning, so I made sure to describe the temperature and what the “Spring” season was like which also affected the terrains and landscapes of course. Always make sure to keep in mind the time of year and how long time has passed in your story so that it’s consistent. A timeline also helps with events leading up to your main story. Every major event in the story, whether it actually occurs during the present or not, should be recorded on the timeline. If something major happened to a character in the past, it should be recorded. If something major happens before a main character is born, record their birth-date on the timeline.  I don’t want to give any spoilers away for my book so I didn’t want to share my timeline but one day in future posts I hope to share that process.

6. Make an outline of your entire plot. Some people argue against this process as there are authors who just write great work as they go along, but in my opinion making an outline worked great for me.  Your timeline you created can help a great deal with creating the outline as you should be keeping track of all major plot points and how they roll across chapters, major / minor characters, minor plots, climaxes, etc.

7. Editing, Editing, Editing!  Once you’ve typed out your manuscript, edit it yourself into multiple drafts….Why? Because you don’t want to lose the thing for one, and you are going to butcher this thing when editing it.  I would take a few chapters at a time, print them out, and use a colored pen (I prefer red or blue) but any color you choose will work to cross out, change words, or fix punctuation. It definitely helped me to have a thesaurus and grammar book for quick reference as well.
These are the main points I like to use when writing and getting things ready to edit. Everyone is different and each has their own methods they will develop and enjoy to use. These are mine and I hope they might work for you on the writing journey.  Good luck to all of you with your own writing adventures!

Blogging Is A Journey

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blog-typeBlogging is a great outlet for writers who want to grow and connect with an audience or just to have an outlet for something you enjoy…”Writing”!  This provides us a way to go in depth over a social media post, aka micro-blogging outlet like Twitter.  I’ve enjoyed blogging for years and it’s given me a place to hangout with others in my little corner of cyber-space.  If you’ve spent anytime at all blogging or writing, you know it can be tough and at times bring some stress with it.

Over the years I’ve learned by being burnt by fire and gleaming knowledge from others who were better writers than I was.  So here is my list of some tips I use that I hope will help you in your blogging journey.

 
1. You never know when a good blogging idea is going to pop up, so put those blog ideas down on paper, or keep a digital list of sorts.  I personally go old school and use a notebook for my blogging ideas along with sticky notes as I use different colors for different topics.  It may sound like madness but it works for me and helps keep me organized for my writing schedules.

2. If you have time and can do it, schedule posts throughout the week.  With my schedule a week or two out is all I can do but most of the time it’s 4-5 days out.  Keep a backlog of posts if you are trying to hit a specific count of posts per week or month that you can quickly choose from as well.

3. Find you some blogging friends that will allow you to do guest blogging, and or co-blogging as that’s a great way to market your content and grow each others sites.

4. Browse through images you want to use for your blog posts and keep a stock in a folder for future posts.  This will help with the last minute search for an image, though lately I’ve been making my own depending on the topic.  See what works best for you and your schedule.

5. Make yourself a list of items to check before you hit that publish button.

6. Break up your posts into multiple parts if they are running long. This will help keep the readers attention and also coming back for those additional parts.

7. Use those comment sections as it can be a gold mine.  Watch for questions and good topics for conversations and even potential notes for future posts.

8. Life happens and if you are like me well then blogging is a hobby, so don’t stress if you don’t make those post counts you wanted.  Best thing to shoot for is consistency but when you can’t don’t sweat it.  I try to post twice a week but that doesn’t always happen.

9. Don’t fret about reusing previous posts or topics either.  You don’t want to repost the same exact post you’ve already used, but when you are in a crunch rework an old one and use that thing.

10. Give yourself some grace. This is a journey full of learning and it’s going to be filled with mistakes, and curve balls so when you find that crazy typo or sentence that doesn’t make sense, don’t worry.  Learn from those mistakes and make this blogging journey fun and something you want to become better at.

These are my bread and butter items I use whether I’m writing a small blog post, or working on my novel series.  I would love to hear from you all on any thoughts or comments you have.  Would you all add anything to this list?

The Wolf Among Us Episode 3 – A Crooked Mile Review

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2499489-wolf+among+us+-+wolf+among+us+-+2014-04-04+12-40-21+(p)63.jpgA Crooked Mile slaps us right in the middle of some pretty amazing and memorable moments to date in this game.  Around every corner Telltale succeeds at introducing new characters in almost every scene which keeps the interest up, and brings some more light and story to characters we’ve only just seen a small glimpse of over the past two episodes. This episode drops some tough choices on you and some crazy consequences to boot, so overall this episode really gives you the feeling of being these characters and owning the story itself!

My biggest beef with episode two was the lack of story / plot progression you had as it just didn’t move forward enough, but A Crooked Mile is just the opposite as this 90 minute episode makes every second count.  This episode also introduces a new character which was a lot of fun, a witch of Fabletown who lives by the old world standards that really brought a sense of magic to the story which tingles the intrigue of where the story is going.

thewolfamongusepisode3acrookedmile_review_1.jpgWithout going into many spoilers here, this episode brings us one of the biggest scenes to date.  Watching Bigby finally bare his superpowers against an army of angry dwarfs is just a taste it seems of what you get to look forward to in future episodes.  This incredible moment in the game lasted about as long as a blink of an eye, so the wait for episode 4 is going to be a nail biter for sure.

One major plot line of the story that is really starting to take shape and become the star of the show is Bigby’s sadness and frustration.  With that being said, time really seems to be limited in A Crooked Mile, and always moving forward, so you can’t see everything or meet everyone.  One thing that really made Bigby’s emotions standout is due to a big change from episode 1 and 2 as you had very limited time to react to conversations which isn’t the case in this episode.  Oddly I like the fact they gave us more time in the conversations and story this time cause there are some brutal decisions to be made throughout.

Wolf-Among-Us-Episode-3-04As great as this episode was to play through I had a little beef in a couple of the scenes as they decided to cut before I had a chance to fully explore the surroundings.  Both of these scenes were packed full of things to explore and items to discover, so one moment I’m happily exploring, the next I was sliding right over into the start of the next scene which was disappointing.

This episode pushes the boundaries of brutal encounters and wacky decisions that really push the story forward and brought almost all the characters to the playing board.  This is one of Telltales best episodes to date on any of the games they’ve written, so I can’t wait to see where they take Bigby in the next episode!

Destiny Lore – Fundament: A World Changed

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FundamentLong long ago, a rocky planet inhabited by the proto-Hive collided into a gas giant named Fundament and shattered.  All of the rocky planet shards that were left scattered across the Fundament ocean, within one of of it’s many layers, and became “continents” in which the proto-Hive took refuge and lived out their existence.  This vast world was filled with five hundred and eleven other intelligent species who also inhabited Fundament’s sea through seemingly similar circumstances.  Surrounding Fundament and within it’s great orbit were fifty-two moons inhabited by a race called the Ammonites.  The Ammonites were bony, six-armed cephalopods who evolved on an icy moon of Fundament. At some point, the Traveler arrived at the planet and became a patron of this race, who helped them build an advanced space travelling civilization with paracausal technology that spanned all of Fundament’s fifty-two moons.  Deep beneath the Fundament ocean dwelled a massive creature called the Leviathan, a great disciple of the Traveler, and one who plays a larger part in this races existence, as it’s a gatekeeper for the darkness being imprisoned in the depths of Fundament.

Life was quick and harsh for the proto-Hive. Their natural lifespan rarely exceeded ten Fundament-years, though proto-Hive who ate “mother jelly” became able to spawn and live longer.  Fundaments environment was harsh and relentless, as the ocean was toxic, the storms constantly raged through the skies, the rain was poisonous and corrosive, and living clouds called Stormjoys would prey upon the populations causing mass conflict amongst the proto-Hive.

The+Alien+Base-Sung+Choi_1920This world was filled with torment and a great fear of a catastrophic event called the “Syzygy” an artificially induced alignment of Fundament’s moons that would create a devastating global tidal wave, the “God-Wave” as the Ammonites called it. One kingdom of the Fundament Ocean was the Osmium Court, ruled by the Osmium King. When the King went mad out of fear of the “Syzygy”, Taox, the teacher of the King’s three daughters, invited the rival Helium Drinkers of the Helium Court to invade and install her on the Osmium Throne. The Helium Drinkers did so, but failed to kill the King’s three daughters: Aurash, Sathona, and Xi Ro. The sisters escaped on a ship, swearing an oath to avenge their father by overthrowing the Helium Drinkers and bringing revenge to their family by hunting down Taox.

Through plotting and planning their revenge the sisters eventually salvaged and reactivated “the needle”, a high-tech ship which had been neglected over the years, but was designed to explore Fundament’s darkest depths. Deep below the sea, the sisters encountered the great Leviathan, who warned them away, and tried to convince them of the darkness the planet had imprisoned, but they continued on and encountered the Worms and made a pact with them to gain immortality and power, taking on the Worms’ parasitic larvae and spreading them among the other proto-Hive; thus the first true Hive were created, and so the sisters were transformed into their new creations as Xi Ro became Xivu Arath, Sathona became Savathun, and Aurash became Auryx.

tumblr_ny4d5t9Q7u1u7keg4o1_1280In just a few short years after the sisters transformed they took the Hive and conquered a large portion of Fundament’s surface population, reclaiming the Osmium Court and harrying Taox off-world. After building their first starships, the Hive followed Taox and encountered the Ammonite civilization that lived among the moons, as well as the Traveler. The Ammonites were far more advanced than anything on Fundament’s surface and were initially able to drive back the Hive’s attacks, especially as Auryx held the Hive back in the hope of achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict.  Savathun denounced her brothers weakness and killed her brother for his futile efforts of peace.  The great Worms hidden in Fundaments depths then vested Auryx and his sisters with the power to defy death so long as they continued their conquest and fed their worms. Auryx returned to life and together he and his sisters defeated the Ammonites, killed the Leviathan, and forced the Traveler to flee.

The three leaders of the Hive transformed Fundament’s fifty-two moons into great colonies for the Hive and set out to conquer the universe in the name of the Darkness and find Taox, who still eluded them. Fundament’s fate afterwards is unknown, though the Syzygy had already taken place before the Hive had begun to war against the Ammonites. It’s likely the “God-Wave” wiped out the remaining of Fundaments surface population. However, the ultimate cause of the Syzygy is unclear. The Worms claimed that the alignment of the moons was caused by the Traveler to prevent the surface civilizations from contacting them, while the Leviathan claimed that the Worms were behind the event in its final plea to the Hive.

We may never know the truth about what causes the Syzygy, or who causes the Syzygy, but one thing is clear, the Hive are still out there and we will see more of them very soon.

Until the next episode Guardians

All Things Geekery Podcast Episode 4 – Stranger Things

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In this episode:

  • Iogro talks about some new changes that will be happening to the podcast over the next few months.
  • We talk Netflix and some of it’s original series
  • **Spoiler** about a new Destiny Lore series coming this year
  • We take an in depth look at Netflix’s original series Stranger Things

 

 

Be sure to subscribe to the All Things Geekery Podcast with any of your favorite podcast apps.  Stop by and drop us a review  so we know how we’re doing.  Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

Subscribe

 

Social Contacts

Iogro Merrybelly / Victus Darkaero

Twitter @iogromerrybelly
Blog @ http://www.ahobbitsjourney.com

Twitter @victus_darkaero

ATG Podcast

Twitter @allthingsgeekry
Blog @ http://www.allthingsgeekery.com

Music Credit Erik Skiff

The Wolf Among Us – Episode 2 Smoke and Mirrors Review

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ss_dedc5e68e74788af4d714392a231d090d2511af9.1920x1080.jpgThe second episode of Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us, titled Smoke and Mirrors, takes us to a whole new level of awesome! This masterpiece of a world that Telltale created is still bouncing with vibrant neon colors, but all the characters this go round are coming in shades of grey!

This episode dives much deeper into the character of Bigby, and no matter whether you play as the nice guy, or as a monster you get to see a personal side to who Bigby really is. You really get to see a lot of the dark, fantastical world of Fables which you find yourself really questioning some of the decisions you have to make, right or wrong.  The writers of this episode did an amazing job of keeping the suspense up, but thrilling you with moments of ease and lush adventure.

Starting this episode you will pick up right where you left off with the shocking events at the end of Faith.  A lot of the drama and suspense in this episode revolves around how Bigby and the other Fables deal with the fallout, and thankfully, a lot of that is fully up to you and the decisions you make. The voice acting in this episode and overall game is top notch and probably some of the best Telltale has put out, which is saying a lot with the games they’ve done.

1392053246Want some villians?  Well, this episode has got plenty of them as they set the foundation for some really nasty ones who you will quickly love and hate all at the same time. SPOILER ALERT – One of the nasties in this game is named Georgie, a strip club owner and pimp with an absolute numbness to human dignity and need.  No matter how you handle Bigby’s interaction with him, through understandable violence or forced restraint, the scene plays out great both ways. A few of the major decisions from Episode 1 also have some nice moments of payoff in Smoke and Mirrors. Particularly how you handled Belle lying to Beast and who you chose to chase out of the bar result in very different scenes that shape both the story and Bigby as a character.

As great as this episode is/was with all the character developments, the one downfall is the overall story didn’t move a long quite as I hoped.  This episode leaves a lot of loose ends still unanswered from episode 1 which I was hoping to tie up, but instead they add more to the mix and leave you with even more questions.  There aren’t any big action sequences that would meet the expectation that episode 1 left after encountering the Woodsman which was a bit disappointing.

wa5Overall The Wolf Among us series continues to bring moments of joy while playing, but at the same time tears away at the multitude of emotions while dealing with people. Sadness is something you see quite often in Bigby’s life as he is alone in this journey, or so he feels. You quickly learn that he has more allies then he realizes after meeting some of the other characters in this game. Telltale makes it more than worthwhile to go back and replay the episode as a complete maniac or a restrained reasonable person.  This is really something I never wanted to do with any of the other adventure games Telltale has made, so good job for sucking me in even further Telltale.

Smoke and Mirrors is a fantastic second step in this already great story. You are going to get 90 whole minutes of memorable characters, scenes and some of the best but agonizing decision moments Telltale has ever made you think about before.  Even with the slight disappointment with the overall story not progressing like I hoped it would….I’m completely sold on this story and can’t wait to finish the rest of the game.

Writing Fantasy – Do’s & Dont’s

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writing-a-bookFantasy is a fun genre of fiction that uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally set apart and crosses paths with science fiction and horror as they all three have sub-genres in the fiction world.

Fantasy is one of those genre’s made up of many creative things and frequently includes elements from the Middle Ages.  Most fantasy is adventure based, with a conflict between good and evil which is usually the common theme of plot.  When you here fantasy you probably think of things like wizards, elves, magic, etc…Fantasy is often based on myths, legends, and folklore, that could stem across multiple cultures.

If you’ve thrown around the idea of writing fantasy then here are a few things to do.  

  • Read a lot of fiction in the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genre’s. Soak up as much as you can about the way the books flow, plot layouts, structure, etc.
  • Do the real world research on any folklore, culture, and traditions those era’s had you want to pull into the book.
  • Ask questions, find writing mentors, learn new ways to bring an idea to the page.
  • If you are setting your story in medieval times or using elements from those times, research medieval life in the real world.
  • Plan your fantasy worlds before you start, figure out all the details you want the readers to know about.  This will help you during the writing process as it will become more natural and eliminate any doubt you might have on the topics.
  • Set limits for your world and hero / heroine of the world, as this creates obstacles within the story for readers to be evolved with and helps get to know the world.
  • Bring your fantasy to life with lots of detail.  Give the readers a chance to meet everyone in the book, and make them feel at home like they are actually in the world you are describing.

Here are a few things not to do when writing fantasy. 

  • Don’t disclose everything you know about the fantasy world you’ve made.  The planning you do up front is for you to make sure the story is told correctly, but that doesn’t mean that every detail you write needs to make it to the book.  All the prep you do up front will give the readers something real to look forward to and enjoy. Give the readers some play room with things that you know about the world but they don’t yet.  Let them come up with there own ideas and conclusions about a specific personality of a person, or maybe a place in the book.
  • Don’t break the rules of the world that you have planned.  This in a way will give the readers a false sense of reading and make them feel cheated like what your telling isn’t worth the time for them to read it anymore.
  • Don’t copy people, places, things from other fantasy authors.  Use your imagination to create this magical universe you want the readers to be a part of.
  • Don’t lose track of the story and where you are at with it. Map the book out, the ideas, and all the fun details you get throughout the days while prepping to write.  It’s fun to create worlds with magical tales to tell but don’t get so caught up with the tiny details that you forget to create the main plot of the story.
  • Don’t forget to save MULTIPLE copies of this story and the details, along with any planning materials you have along the way.  You don’t want to lose that work and not have a backup to revert to.

Battling in Battleborn – A Review

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Battleborn_Incursion_Sentry_Combat_02Battleborn is one of the most chaotic shooters I’ve played, which also managed to frustrate and amaze me at the same time. The single-player and co-op campaign was thin and hit and miss at best, plagued with bad jokes from NPC’s and really uninviting once you get into the game a bit. The multiplayer action tries to mix genres like the mechanics from popular MOBA’s but overall was a huge miss, as they tried to do to much.

Battleborn isn’t lacking diversity in characters as you have two dozen of them to pick from, and each has a fun creative look that makes for an enticing push to try each and everyone of them.  Each of the characters has a huge bag of abilities to pull from as well so that is another good selling point.  What gives each of the toons ability sets diversity is that you begin every new excursion at level one and progress through 10 upgrade choices in the course of a single session, with the twist that you have to choose the upgrades on the fly, like in a MOBA.  This was a challenging feature, but a fun feature to integrate into a game like this.

Battleborn_Incursion_FP_Deande_01.jpgBattleborn has a seven-hour campaign which are mostly repetitive with the exception of only a handful of good story moments. Each mission is made up of continuous waves of almost the same enemy with different boss battles or base defense settings. Using currency (called shards) you collect on each map, you also have to purchase turrets and bots to aid in your attack against giant mechs or base defense, which adds an interesting layer of resource management.  With all that you have to manage during the battling, sadly the story the game tries to tell becomes white-noise and easily forgettable. This is a Gearbox game, so the makers of Borderlands had to add loot but this game gives you new gear in between battles. While Battleborn’s loot carries over from match to match, the bonuses you get out of it aren’t as good the in-match leveling system. Overall I think they did a good job with loot and adding a challenge to the levels of combat.

enuwzwuY2cFfwDSoSzZUPP-650-80While the campaign feels empty and pointless to me, the PvP modes you get are a completely different story.  You get three different modes to choose from each with their own unique challenges.  Capture is a domination-style mode good for fast action and lots of frustration at times. Incursion is a condensed version of the campaign that avoids the insanely long battles, but you do get to take down some enemy mechs with some cool toys if you’ve purchased any.  Lastly you have, Meltdown, which is a mix of MOBA and arena style FPS.  Ultimately this could have been a great idea, but the first person perspective brings the action way too close and the map overlay is way too small to keep track of anyone.  It would have been nice to have a free-for-all, or a team death-match but you won’t find it in this game.

One plus is that all the multiplayer maps are instantly available – unlike the hero roster, which you have to unlock as you go. The heroes you do get to choose from at start a bit lacking.  You can though unlock four new characters by completing the seven hour campaign, and you can unlock more during the multiplayer modes by leveling up your profile. With a few dozen hours into Battleborn I’ve only just touched on the surface of earning access to the cast of toons you get.  It’s a big grind and it doesn’t feel very rewarding for the toons you do get with all the time you have to put in to get them.

Overall this is one hybrid MOBA / FPS that doesn’t excite my gaming fancy and one I won’t return to very often.  With no interesting story to take part in, or the lack of interesting stages it’s a bust on this game for me but I might return one day to see if anything has changed.

Until next time gamers!

Sincerely,

Iogro Merrybelly