MMO Monday - City of Heroes

My next notable foray into the MMO style of game was with one that was a far cry away from anything else I had experienced thus far. Through Asheron's Call and Everquest, my fantasy tastes had been well satisfied (or so I had thought), but NCSoft's City of Heroes reminded me that there was more to my interests than just dwarves, dragons and magic.

It's sleek, blue, near-future design was very appealing. The HUD and menus all made me feel like I was moving through the pages of a Marvel comic book. The characters around me were as varied as those in the comic universe; there were spandex-clad classic superheroes, like my own Ironfist, but there were also cybernetic soldiers, or clunky clockwork robots, or undead heroes, or celestial-born mental masters, or spirits and ghosts and demi-gods and aliens and mutants. Every team I joined had a vastly different composition, and I learned through this game that MMO's meant more than role-playing.

Changing Course and Setting Sail

No video post this week. Instead you're getting an additional written post, you lucky blog-reader, you!

So if you've read last Friday's post, you'll know that I've been facing some difficulty with continuing The Visitors - Season One. My foray into the science-fiction/suspense field of writing was met with wide eyes and high expectations, but after about three chapters into it, only one phrase entered my mind.

I over committed.

MMO Monday - Everquest

MMO Monday - Part Two

Everquest

While this game also released in 1999, months before Asheron's Call, I didn't experience it until it's first expansion was released in 2000. My closet gamer was salivating over what this game offered, though, when I finally got around to investigating it. Unlike Asheron's Call, Everquest offered a full world to explore, not just a single continent. While that world was broken into multiple zones, complete with loading screens and everything, the promise of adventure from landmass to landmass was too much for me to ignore. Not only that, but it also gave me the opportunity to explore other races besides Human, and races that I had, up until this point, only read about in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. Wood Elves, High Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, and more were all available to play, and I couldn't wait.

But what drew me in was the cover art for the first expansion, The Ruins of Kunark. Whoever designed that must have known what captured my attention, because this did immediately as I spied the game box on the shelf at Target so long ago...

Writing Through the Wall

Writing Through the Wall

So I've done it. I've done what I've always wanted to do. I've published a book. Not only that, but I don't have any plans to stop now. I, in fact, have three more books planned between now and the summer of 2015. Cybersaurus: The Awakening wasn't exactly a hit (in fact, very, very few people know about it, in the grand scheme of things), but I am certain that the more books I put out, the more I'll start to get noticed, and the more they may pick up steam.

I've decided shortly after finishing Cybersaurus: The Awakening that I wasn't going to visit Cybersaurus Season Two: Revolution until 2015, and that I would take quarter 4 of 2014 and quarter 1 of 2015 to pursue two other novels. Some friends of mine seemed excited for me to begin writing a suspense and horror novel, and so I set out to do just that, titled The Visitors Season One: Quarantine.

Yet it has taken me an abysmally long time to write Episode One of that season, and the entire time my mind keeps wandering back to Cybersaurus. Is this the Wall that every creative mind encounters? Or is it a general disinterest in my own work?

Experience Points Vlog Post - MMO Mondays & How to GM Videos

MMO Monday - Asheron's Call

MMO Monday - Part One

Asheron's Call

With the newest expansion of the world's most successful massively multiplayer online RPG releasing inside a month, it has inspired me to take a retrospective look at how this genre of video games has influenced how I look at gaming, role playing, and the online community as a whole. I've played my share of online games, and tried subscriptions to various MMOs, World of Warcraft being only one of them.

This post is the first in a four post series that will go through the most influential MMOs in my gaming history, and how they have shaped who I am today. So, for starters, we're going back to the year 1999.

Marvel Movie Line-Up

Marvel Movie Line-Up

Assembling the films of Phase One and Two in preparation for a new Age

As we close in on the end of Phase Two of Marvel's Cinematic Universe, and I fell completely short of my planned reviews of each of the Phase Two films (in fact, I think the only film I actually wrote a full review of from the MCU was the original Thor, simply because it surprised me with its quality). So, in an effort to give some sort of recap, now that we've seen everything leading up to Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, I'll grant you an overall round-up of the MCU, arranged in the order that I enjoyed them, from least to most.

Please note that this does not mean that the film listed first is the one I hated. Far from it, all of these films I found incredibly entertaining in their own degree. Those who know me well know that I often judge a film by how well it accomplished what it set out to accomplish first and foremost, since that is the culmination of the visions of the writer, the director, and the actors, not to mention everyone else involved.

Experience Points Vlog Post - Alien: Isolation, Cybersaurus and the MCU

Alien: Isolation - Early Thoughts

Alien: Isolation - PS3 Digital Version

Early Thoughts

For those of you who know me personally, you know my birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. Last Saturday, to honor this occasion, my girlfriend bought me the digital version of Alien: Isolation on the PS3, since I have yet to upgrade to the PS4. Having bought Aliens: Colonial Marines for full price the week it came out, and not to mention AVP years before that, among nearly a dozen other Alien-themed games from when I was younger, I knew that the list of quality Alien games was much shorter than the list of terrible ones.

The only franchise that comes to mind with a greater disparity is Star Wars, and that is simply because there are so many more Star Wars games to begin with.

Anyways, here is a breakdown of my early experiences with the game. Keep in mind I'm only about two and a half hours into the game, and I will refrain from any major spoilers, focusing instead on the game-play and strong tones rather than plot. Just know that, from what I've seen of the plot so far, it seems to hold up well enough, with much more credibility than Colonial Marines's fan-fiction-like story.

Vlog Post - 10.09.2014

New Vlog post for October 9th, 2014.

Weekly Updates? Ha!

My apologies to my readers about not keeping up with the weekly postings. Trying to do anything productive while moving into a new house is an immense task in and of itself. I will make a post, video or text, tomorrow evening, and likely try to pick up my weekly posts from there. Writing a book during this time has been hard enough, so it's no wonder my blog has been slacking.

I love you all and I'm not done yet!

Vlog Post - Weekly Updates, Moving, & Future Serials

Hooray! A new Vlog post. check it out. As always, any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms, please comment below!

Silent Hill finally gets its due

This post contains mild spoilers for PT. To find out more about information on PT, please look here.

Anybody who knows me understands that I have an indescribably infinite love for well-made horror stories. It is my how to one day write serialized horror/science-fiction, and I'm certain that those stories will be incredibly influenced by the Silent Hill franchise, among my other favorite horror stories.

This year's Gamescom saw the announcement of P.T. on the PS4, a playable trailer that raised a lot of questions and sparked a lot f discussion. Upon experiencing it, we find it to be a disturbingly ongoing walk down an infinite hallway, which gets increasingly unnerving with each new loop.

The pacing is rough, or can be, since what little progression exists is based solely on the nerve of the player as well as their ability to spot and activate the nuances of the environment. Three of the play-throughs that I watched all went between twenty minutes and three hours of play, and none of them reached the end, either because they were too scared, or because they were too frustrated with not finding the clues needed to progress to the next version of the hallway.

After finally finding a short video of the final moments of PT, I'm greeted with a very reassuring sight. Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro are collaborating on the next installment of the Silent Hill franchise, entitled Silent Hills. It is also starring the likeness and voice of Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead.

This is an amazing bit of news that has me incredibly excited for a franchise that has done nothing but disappoint me since Silent Hill 3 (although Shattered Memories was an interesting revision). Del Toro's artistic flair and haunting imagery combined with Kojima's knack for breaking the fourth wall (which is displayed in PT), will combine for, what I expect to be, one of the greatest Silent Hill experiences in the franchise long and storied history. And these are high words coming from someone who is normally much more conservative with his excitement.

Guardians Tomorrow!

Totally hitting up Guardians of the Galaxy tomorrow with the girlfriend. The little one is with her dad for the weekend and its been a while since we've been able to see a film -- well, a good film -- in theaters together. Plus I've been excited for Guardians since it was announced. So opening night isn't soon enough!

It certainly gets the creative juices flowing for future stories, after Cybersaurus is finished up. Sure, there's something alluring about a Firefly type story, but I think I'd be more for a universe like was delivered in Disney's Treasure Planet, or Spelljammer from Dungeons and Dragons. Something about steam-like schooners sailing the stars just tickles me.

Writing Warm-Up: Sad Face, Lock & Bridge

Writing Session Warm-Up with Rory's Story Cubes

The time has come for me to do some more writing in my serialized fiction, and that means doing a warm-up to get the creative gears turning. I've decided to utilize my Rory's Story Cubes, recently purchased and yet to see official use, to create a basic outline for a story I may or may not write sometime in the future.

In this particular case, I've rolled three of the story cubes, and I will use those three cubes to come up with a simple outline for a potential piece of fiction.

Rory's Story Cubes

Potential blog post inspiration? I just picked up these little gems after hearing them discussed on Fear The Boot. They're supposed to help with on-the-spot story or character development. I'm excited to use them, on occasion, in our tabletop role-playing sessions. But they could also pose as a good thing to grease the blogging wheels every so often.

You can find out more about them at the story cubes website.

Cybersaurus: Episode 1.5 - Kenneth

Hey readers! Here's a short written about a couple of side characters from my series Cybersaurus. Kenneth appeared in Episode One as a small role in only a single scene, and I had so much fun writing him, I decided to give him his own scene, as well as a potential, minor subplot that could develop in future shorts, or even find its way into the main series! Enjoy!

Experience Points Vlog Post - 06.17.2014

Experience Points Blog Post - 06.17.2014: http://youtu.be/KgQZrQWYMsY

Cybersaurus: Available Now!

My newest book, Cybersaurus: The Awakening - Episode One is now available from Amazon and from the Kory Stories Bookstore! Get it today for only $0.99!

Massive Updates (plus some minor ones, too)

Hey readers!

Wow, two new posts inside of a week? What's going on!?

I've been really busy setting the groundwork for my coming serial releases, and I wanted to share the results of all that work with you, my loyal blog readers. A lot of things have changed or been added, to here, to the Round 10 Website, and to my new central author website, and I would love for you to check out any and all of them. However, for your convenience, this post breaks them up neatly so that you can skip right to the ones that interest you the most.