Years ago there was a game, and the game was good.
Might and Magic by EDO was the game – it was a four-person-party first-person-shooter slash RPG game and it was always (1) a hoot, (2) large, and (3) interesting. It could take you HOURS just to get to this little itty-bitty teeny area only to get your clock cleaned.
Did I mention it was fun?
Note: keep reading, there will be graphics in a bit, down below…
It had a sub-game in the later versions (MM7 and MM8, I believe) called ArcoMage. ArcoMage was a game you played in taverns once you found a special deck of cards and you actually went into taverns just so you could play the game-within-a-game as much as MM itself.
You drew cards that could be played at the expenditure of certain resources and you could build your wall, build your castle, tear down your opponent’s wall, or tear down his castle. Whoever hit the winning conditions of a certain amount of resources in one area or destroyed the enemy castle first was the winner.
A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to find it again, except find it in a board game so I could play with Cruel Wife (Yes, I know – spend time with the wife. On purpose…) face-to-face. Actually I wouldn’t mind playing games w/ her if we could both get off our damned computers. Well the problem is that the game doesn’t exist outside of a computer. You can buy it online and play it on your computer and you can even network it so the two of you can head-to-head… on your computers.
So I said *($&#%^@% that. And now I’m making a board game. Not to sell, but to make three or maybe five copies, give them to people who are special to me, and let them be the only ones of their kind in the world. And it is a worthwhile endeavor.
I know all the original cards but they were old and grainy and kind of cool for the graphics of the time but not good enough if one is going to go through this kind of effort.
click to embiggen
The plan is to build a wooden gameboard/box and to do it in SteamPunk style – with lots of brass and victorian flourishes wherever possible.
Make something well, and make it timeless, I say. Make it something that will be cool in 100 years. I like to think these look cool so far.
click to embiggen
I am currently done with card #68 out of a total of 102 cards. I have to say, it is one hell of a lot of work. I do it an hour at a time after I’m done working for the evening or for several hours a night on the weekends.
I’ll keep you posted if there’s any interest in the progress.
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Education is no substitute for intelligence. I’m amazed that Fox News even thought about putting this on their website.
Studies Find Eating Dirt, Worms Make Us Healthier
Friday, January 30, 2009
Can eating dirt make you healthier?
Several studies called the hygiene hypothesis show that when organisms from bacteria, viruses and worms enter the body from dirt, the immune system becomes stronger, The New York Times reported.
The ongoing studies imply ingesting worms redirects a skewed immune system, curing people with autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.
“What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth is allowing his immune response to explore his environment,” Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, wrote in her new book, “Why Dirt Is Good” (Kaplan). “Not only does this allow for ‘practice’ of immune responses, which will be necessary for protection, but it also plays a critical role in teaching the immature immune response what is best ignored.”
Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and Dr. David Elliott, a gastroenterologist and immunologist at the University of Iowa,said children who grow up on farms and are exposed to worms and other organisms have been found less likely to develop allergies or autoimmune diseases.
“Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat,” Weinstock said.
Let’s use a bit of logic here…
IF THIS WERE TRUE, THEN HUGE SECTIONS OF THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA WOULD BE HOME TO THE HEALTHIEST DAMN PEOPLE ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET.
But then someone will come along that says “Oh but you need to take in parasites in moderation.”
Hey, that looks pretty cool LK! Definitely keep us posted on your progress. I haven’t played Might & Magic but I would swear I played something very much like that card game online somwhere. I’m pretty sure it was one of those flash games that are out there.
[...] PDRTJS_settings_92062_post_5081 = { "id" : "92062", "unique_id" : "wp-post-5081", "title" : "Arcomage%2C+Revisited.", "item_id" : "_post_5081", "permalink" : "http%3A%2F%2Flemurking.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F02%2F14%2Farcomage-revisited%2F" } Well, I got my desire to work on the Arcomage Project again. (Earlier blogaboutit here) [...]