My Digital to Analog Gaming Conversion

In the 21st century, going from video games to board games feels backwards.  I enjoy escapism entertainment and games (or anything interactive) has always been my preferred medium, followed closely by reading.

I grew up as the personal computer and later gaming consoles first entered people's homes.  Throughout my growing up I played both video games and tabletop games, most notably Dungeons and Dragons of the latter.  On the Atari I played Temple of Apshai, Zork, and many of the adventure/platforming games available on the Atari 800.  But, up until the mid-80's, there weren't any good substitutes for table-top gaming.

Mini Review: Conan the Legend of the Devil in Iron

This is copied from my posting on BGG.

I recently finished playing through the Devil in Iron campaign for Conan. As a disclaimer, I played solo left hand vs. right hand.

How does it work?The book contains 19 scenarios but you'll only play through eight of them during the campaign. At different points in the campaign the next scenario changes depending on whether the heroes win or lose.

Sidebar: Racism and Sexism in the Conan Board Game

This post is a sidebar on the topic of sexism and racism in the Conan board game.  I'm trying to provide context on both sides of the argument (with my opinions clearly stated) to help potential gamers decide if this is a game they'd want on their table.

No disrespect intended to anyone who disagrees with this and I believe it's okay to have a difference of opinion as long as that opinion doesn't impinge on anyone's civil rights.

Review of Monolith's Conan Skirmish Game

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to use jewels as both stamina and health, furrowed his troubled brow.  It is I, a random blogger, who alone *cough* along with many other better reviewers *cough*, can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!

The game Conan, by Monolith, has been out almost two years and the next Kickstarter is months, if not a full year out, from when I'm typing this ultra late to the party review.  With the Kickstarter version, came a full box of stretch goals, and optional purchases of three big box expansions (I discussed them here), an art/campaign book, and a lot of other add-ons miniatures.

Robert E. Howard's character of Conan was written far more intellectual than he's often portrayed in later books, comics, and movies.  In the opening paragraph of his first story, The Phoenix on the Sword, he's described as "black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth."  That emotion breadth of the character (sullen, melancholy, and mirthful) is often dismissed right along with his intelligence.  There's more to Conan and Robert E. Howard than many people pause to take note of.

To help ensure they captured Howard's essence correctly, Monolith hired Patrice Louinet, a notable Robert E. Howard scholar.

And, much like the titular character, the game could just as easily been toss aside as another 'dudes on a map Ameritrash game'.  There are some hidden gems of systems in this game (pun fully intended) and that adds to the experience and makes the game more than just another skirmish game.

Constructing a Better Dungeon

From 1st Edition AD&D DMG. 
Also a case study in why you don't split the party.

Almost nothing short of a pop culture reference can pull a game group out of the moment than a nonsensical dungeon.  Why are there orcs, goblins, giant beetles, and a wight living in these trees?  Is there a food chain or pecking order here or was this the result of randomly selected from dice rolls on a table a la the original printing of B1: In Search of the Unknown.  Oh good, the giant beetle has a magic scroll and the goblins had a magic sword that they didn't use because it's too nice?

The Evolution of Dungeons and Dragons over the Editions

1st Edition Monster Manual

Grimm and I were chatting about D&D on Twitter recently and it got me thinking about the evolution of the game Dungeons and Dragons.  I had recently commented to a friend that D&D always felt like it was designed around combat and the RPG parts were tacked on later.  I feel like this is an easy argument to make considering it's birth from the Chainmail system.

From Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and the most recent 5th Edition - what's changed?

Well, quite a lot and yet not much.

Ten Years of Age of Conan

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I was stuck at load screen for two hours with a hanged game.  Despite my last doom and gloom post, the lead up to the anniversary was nice and the Saga of Zath was a neat idea.  It's also the type of thing that fits perfectly in Funcom's model for AoC (or any game on maintenance) - minimal effort for creating new assets yet still deliver the customers a fun event.

I didn't quite get to 80 on my Saga character (now if I was subbed, I would have - oh the irony) but I don't recall ever just pounding the game with one character for so long.  And I had fun trying to get him there.

The anniversary was, kind of as expected, a rehash of old events with some new vanity items for sale.  Getting log ins for 14 days over the 3 weeks to get the lion makes sense - although it's a shame it's not account wide.  I didn't check the store but I'm sure there's a way of buying something similar.  Likewise, giving loot boxes daily was a nice bonus and is one of the few times I recall getting gifts from Funcom.

While I was tempted to resub, I decided to remain F2P for now for all the reasons I stated before - I don't have time to play enough to justify the expense.

Servers like Saga of Zath won't save AoC but I think they can help get small bumps and remind people that "hey, there's still a fun MMO over here."  But, I also hope they show restraint and only do this one, maybe twice, a year.  Any more than that and it'll just get stale.  I'm not sure I'd jump on and try to level another toon before the fall under a similar rule set.  The interesting question will be - what are some other ways to generate the same buzz in a slightly different manner?  Can you make character clones, like they do for TestLive, baseline their gear and put them on a PVP server?  Do you make a higher level version of Tortage for your characters to experience again?   (Not sure how to do that without needing to create new quests/assets).

Happy Birthday Age of Conan!  Here's to the first 10 years and hopefully many more to come.

Why I'm Letting my AoC Sub Lapse...

An empty battlefield between Tortage and Khitai

People have been saying AoC is going to die since it launched.  At some point, it's even outlived at least one of the games that were supposed to kill it (Warhammer Online).  It's natural that an MMO that doesn't continue to expand will eventually close down.  Evolve or die.  Age of Conan is dying and I have a weird mix of fatalism, apathy, and sorrow about it.

Comparing Some Dungeon Crawler Board Games

In 2015 there were a lot of fantasy based dungeon crawlers on Kickstarter.  I was just getting into hobby board gaming and has just gone a little crazy on Monolith's Conan and late pledged a few of these games looking for something to occupy my time around the time my son was born.  One of my favorite things in Age of Conan, and fantasy in general, is being immersed in a world.  As a fan of Robert E. Howard, AoC was my favorite MMO both for its fun combat but also for the great stories and the characters you meet.  I was looking for more stories and interesting characters in the board game medium.  I was looking for that RPG in a box and looking for something with solo play since I don't have a dedicated game group anymore due to life.

Monolith Conan Expansions

Over a year ago two Kickstarter  campaigns featured the artwork, and in one case, the music of Age of Conan.  They were Monolith's Conan board game and the other was Modiphius' Robert E. Howard's Conan RPG.

What Class Should I Play?

"What class should I play?" is a pretty common question on the forums and in-game, as players try to find what fits them the best.  "Play what you like best" is a pretty typical response. 

To help someone decide, I've made two flow charts, the first uses the roles to take you down to a class and the second takes the attack type of a class to narrow it down to a class.  I've arbitrarily color coded Tanks as gray, healers as light blue, rogues as dark blue, and mages as yellow.

Comparing AoC to Dragon Age Inquisition

I wrote this in early 2015 and never posted it.  With a 4th Dragon Age game being talked about, might as well throw this into the internet ether.

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Robert E. Howard's Hyboria is my favorite fantasy world.  It's a great mix of grim realism, fantastic places, heroes, dark magic, and voluptuous women.  As this is going on an AoC blog, I don't need to further detail what makes this Hyboria so engaging besides its most famous residents.

My second favorite is BioWare's Thedas, the setting of their Dragon Age games.

Thedas is a dark fantasy that has dwarves hiding from their world in their underground kingdoms, elves enslaved and suppressed in ghettos throughout the land under the leadership of a powerful Theocracy.  Mages imprisoned in towers, the world afraid of their powers and guarded by specially trained Templar warriors to strike them down if needed. And then there's the darkspawn, more or less mindless creatures that come up from the crumbling ruins of ancient dwarven cities and destroy everything in their path.  Even the realm's protectors, the Grey Wardens, carry dark secrets.

The third Dragon Age game, Inquisition, came out in December 2014 to mostly positive reviews.  While comparing an MMO to a single player game is challenging as they are very different animals, the games do share some similarities.

Graphics: DAI, being a newer game looks better.  This is most clearly noticed with the waves of the Storm Coast swelling onto the shore (they don't crash) and the foliage of areas like the Hinterlands, where the wildflowers are of many various colors.  The sky and clouds are beautiful and when it rains, you almost feel bad for your avatar and his/her companions as they slog through the muddy roads and climb water soaked rocky hills.

There's clipping around some armors (including one of the crafted ones that's meant for your protagonist) and things often appear too shiny for such a drab world.

Visual Style: The visual style of Thedas is partially low fantasy, and partially refined Baroque depending on the area.  The wooden shields covered with skin, leather and chain armor.  Some of the weapons start to cross into the realm of fantasy where they are impractical, particularly the mage's staves, which go to great lengths to say 'I'm powerful and have no fashion sense.'

Certain armors are meant for certain characters and much is fairly impractical as armor.  The women aren't unnecessarily clad, like AoC, but cleavage flaunting tops don't make much sense for armor, even for a mage, unless she's using her boobs to mesmerize her opponents.  I should note, I never found that spell in the game.

Characters: As a single player game, DAI has an interesting mix of characters for you to meet and interact with as the game progresses.  Not all of these people are good people and you have to choose what you'd like to believe.  Everyone's motivations are different and there's a lot of worldly politics, affectionately called 'The Game' at play, much like R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice stories.

I've enjoyed how Thedas dwarves aren't the stereotypical gruff, beards, big axes, and beer dwarves of most high fantasy.  One of the main companions is a sarcastic, beardless, crossbow toting dwarf who's occupation, besides rogue, is author of popular serials. He refers to one of your allies, an Orlesian (think Baroque era French) scribe alternately as "Scribbles" and "Ruffles" for carrying a note pad and her puffy blouse.

One of the things I enjoyed most in the Dragon Age games is the party banter as you walk around.  The people traveling with you don't always get along and are often quite happy to vocalize it.  Most of it is playful banter between characters, who can even have their own relationships.

The main villain wasn't as fleshed out as you'd hope but was always vexing as his influence stretched across all the areas you traveled.

Story: A story in a single player game is critical while in an MMO, it just guides you to the next quest hub.  In this regard, DAI felt a little like AoC.  There was a large over-arching story arc but as you went through an area, you'd pick up a lot of side quests.  Then I got distracted by those until I forgot the one reason I was stomping around the Western Approach.

Like all Dragon Age games, there are some tough choices to make, but not as many as in previous games.  But, unlike previous games, there are sometimes no way out of choosing between two bad outcomes.

It is an epic tale that has you go from prisoner to leader of a large and diverse army.  You'll make allies and you'll make enemies.  Part of this leadership becomes sending your allies to do various quests (you send them off, and after a time you get the result/reward).  These can open new areas of maps, gather resources, gain influence, or even grant equipment.

Combat: How engaging the combat is can be as an important part of a game as it's story and immersion.  Here DAI fails horribly compared to AoC.  Each character can have a maximum of 8 abilities plus up to 3 potions/grenades.  You can switch between your character and their three companions during combat and, like Dragon Age Origins, can pause combat to issue commands.  While doing that gives you utmost control, it also slows the game down.

Most of combat is clicking away like mad waiting for your cool downs to expire.  I played through as a tank, and would have to keep one or two combos for breaking guard (an auxiliary health bar) available until needed, meaning that besides my two charge abilities, and special main character ability, I had 3 abilities to cycle between.  In AoC terms, it's like fighting mobs using 70% white hits.

One interesting change to most games was DAI's approach to healing.  There, basically, isn't any.  Your party carries some health potions (8 and can go up to 12, if I recall correctly) and then you can craft some different ones (regeneration, or an AOE healing grenade).  After that, your best defense is to use abilities to grant secondary health bars like mage's Barrier spell and soldier's guard abilities.  These secondary (and tertiary if you can get both up) health bars take damage first before your health drops.

Outside of a few boss fights, there's not a lot of really challenging battles besides the High Dragons.  There's 10 dragons sprinkled throughout the world and chances are, the first time you engage one, you're going to get rocked pretty bad.  But once you are powerful enough, you can plow through them without breaking a sweat.  The first one you take down will feel like an accomplishment.

Cities: In AoC you can build a guild city through a lot of grinding.  In DAI you get to upgrade a big keep and make some cosmetic changes to areas through resources gathered.  You can also change your bed, windows, and decorations (because these are important in a RPG).

Game Length: People are saying DAI is about 150 hours to play through.  I finished the main quest and most side quests (like 99%) in about 100-110 hours (stupid dragons).  Part of the "ease" for me, may have been from playing more challenging games like AoC and getting concepts like moving in combat easier.

AoC, if using double XP potions, takes about 100 hours to get from the beaches of Tortage to level 80, so pretty equivalent to "see the world".

Glitches: Does DAI have some game-breaking glitches? Oh yeah!  At one point, after leaving one Zone, if you return, you can't leave again.  Ever, essentially ending your game (until you revert your save game).  There's visual glitches, lag spikes (in a single player game!), and broken abilities.  It should make any AoC player feel at home.

Music: DAI has some rousing epic scores.  But almost too many.  There were more climaxes than your average porno film.  While amazing to listen to, it sometimes felt like too much.  AoC's soundtrack, in contrast, had better atmospheric music with only a few epic hero tracks.

The special edition of the DAI game came with the digital soundtrack. In listening to it, I realized that they took a few songs, rearranged them, and gave them different titles.  For example, the songs Val Royeaux and the Orleasian Theme are exactly the same outside of some subtle arrangement details.  That, my friends, is mailing it in hard. Adding the second violins doesn't make something a new song, that's called a new arrangement.  Ask Vanilla Ice if a subtle tweak to a song turns it into a different one.

Nudity/Sex: DAI has the opportunity for the protagonist to have a romantic relationship with one of their companions.  If you're playing a game for 50+ hours just to see some boobs, I suggest logging in to AoC, make a female toon and run topless through Tortage.  And, being a BioWare game, there's options for same sex relations.  The cinematics for the romances are tastefully done but definitely adult themed (think an R-rated movie or Cinemax on a Saturday night).

Miscellaneous: It had some annoyances (including 'find all of me quests' like shards (think datacrons from SWTOR), mosaics (never completed one), alcohol of Thedas (that either), all landmarks in a zone (found all in most of the zones), etc...

Overall: DAI is a game that was fun to play through and a game, much like Origins, I'll play through again, to see how different options affect the outcome.  I'd read that there are 40 different endings. Will it replace AoC as my go-to game?  No.  The combat isn't engaging enough to entice me to play again and again (for reference, I have 10 80's and the first 3 didn't have double XP potions).  But every once in a while, I need to step away from Hyboria, but only so I can be grateful for what it provides when I come back.  As expansions have been released I haven't had the interest to go check them out.

Shadows of Cimmeria, Er, I mean Vanaheim

 This is a delayed posting copying what I wrote on the forums.

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The new fort or someone who used Atzel's interior designer

If you are a regular reader of the forums you probably have an idea of how the Age of Conan community feels about the first "new" content (quest zones) since Dragonspine in 2013.

If you don't here's a summary: infuriated and underwhelmed.  It's been a while since I've seen multiple threads get to 15+ pages.  It's also weird to see almost everyone agree on anything. 

The furious portion of this was due to the implied nature that this content, while permanent, was part of the Age of Conan anniversary celebration. Instead it was pat content. 3000 Funcom points for the collectors edition and 1800 (or so) for the regular.  Subscribers save 10% in these values. Many of the subscribers, including myself, are wondering why am I paying for a sub when I have to buy new content?

Achievements I'd Like to Eventually See

Update 4.5 brought Age of Conan into 2009 with Achievements.  The Blonde Myth of Aquilonia has a nice write up of the implementation and why it's good for AoC. I agree on both of his main points that this is good for veterans (and new players) while also acknowledging that this won't propel Age of Conan into the WoW-sphere in terms of  game population.

This post is to list ideas for future Achievements that I think would be good to implement.  As I've had about 6 hours on the new system so far, some of these may already be in the game but hidden from view or something I missed as I had my barbarian binge drinking in Tortage like a college student on spring break.

Solo Farming Rares

Someone on the forums had said farming solo instances like Refuge of the Apostate, Isle of the Iron Statues, Forgotten City (Unchained), and Dead Man's Hand (Unchained) for rares was full retard.  I respectfully disagree.  Doing Nightmare Bubbles would be full retard.  Solo farming for rares is just partial retard and everybody knows you never go full retard.  And having done it to get the Children of Yag shield, the Hyrkanian Chest and necklace (on different toons), it is also very tedious.

When I wrote the guide to Dead Man's Hand's main quest line, I ran the instance 18 times to get an idea of how much gold, Esteem Tokens, etc. would be gained.  Dead Man's Hand, while fun, is the most time consuming of these solo instances but each one, if completing the quests in them, takes around 25-40 minutes (although I know people can do them faster if just going for the rares).

Keyboard Commands of Age of Conan

Like all MMO or RPG games, Age of Conan has some a lot key commands.  This post will list some of the main ones that many new players don't know but often ask about in Global.

In general, if you go to Settings -> Controls, you can see most of these as well as change them to whatever you'd like.

This post will probably be updated over time as features are added/removed or people mention different commands that are generally useful to players but not included.

So You Want To Be a Guild Leader?

There's much more to being a guild leader than been the head of a bunch of merry men (and women).  Even if you've been a guild leader in other games, you may be better off learning a little bit about AoC before starting up a new guild or taking over an older guild.  This guide (on the native blog site) has a lot of links back to the forums, resource sites, and other blogs, hopefully providing a useful resource for new guild leaders.

Here's some things to think about as you ponder starting a guild.

"Secrets" of Tortage

Most people have gone through Tortage a few times.  Including characters I've deleted, I'm guessing I have run around the Barachan Isle more than twenty times (including a few times to make notes for guides and such).  Despite its familiarity, it's still one of my favorite places in the game.  Partly due to characters you interact with and partially because the area was so detailed and full of interesting quests.

This post is going to focus on a few special quests.  Special because it requires the completion of another quest before it becomes available, its reward is a blue item, or both.  There's also a few Night bosses sprinkled about White Sands Island, the Volcano, and the Underhalls.

What is Daggamalt?

Old Photo: it's now nerfed to 405 and 68/s.

Taking a mild break from making simple walkthroughs, I thought it'd be fun to look at one of the health potions we all use without thinking.

What is Daggamalt?  We know it to be the level 60 healing potion that everyone knows, loves, and wishes was more potent (which then begot us Potent Daggamalt).  The beer nerd and amateur home brewer in me wanted to look into whether it would be possible to make Daggamalt.

Faction Walkthrough: Hand of Glory (Turan)

One of the only good things to come out of the 2011 Conan movie was the Savage Coast of Turan adventure pack.  This provided another level 50-55 leveling area, two solo instances, a group instance, and a Tier 3.5 Raid that almost nobody did due to difficulty for the rewards given (I think that's changed recently).

This walk through will provide a basic guide to joining the Hand of Glory, advancing in the ranks, and listing the quests available.  It also contains some story spoilers.  This chain has some fun dialog and many of the characters you meet have some fun non-game advancing lines that are worth a read if you're lore hound and enjoy tie-ins, even if its from a relatively bad movie.