Saturday!
Waaay back in the day, when people still listened to cassette tapes and Appetite for Destruction had not yet aged one year, TSR and SSI released a little game called “Pool of Radiance”.
This game was pretty much the first computer D&D game. Sure, we had the Ultimas and the Bards’ Tales… but Pool of Radiance was Licensed. It was, like, *REAL*. You recognized the archetypes. You recognized the monsters. You had the weapons tables memorized by heart.
More than that, you could finally put together a group of six characters together and take on a massive evil without needing seven people who were able to get their parents to drive them to Brian’s house every Saturday where everybody could play with Brian’s parents in the next room making sure that we weren’t sacrificing animals to forgotten deities.
The rules, of course, had yet to understand why players played (non-human races were pretty much limited to fighters, thieves, or, maybe, magic users… and only thieves could reach a level above “negligible”). But, man, this game was the first game to have achieved what we, until that point, had only dreamed was possible: you could finally spend 5 hours creating characters *ON A COMPUTER*.
And, man, it did *NOT* disappoint. I beat the game, back then. I crowed about it.
That memory is so good, I gave GOG.com $9.99 to re-live recreating characters for a couple of hours.
So… what are you playing?
(Picture is “Untitled” by our very own Will Truman. Used with permission.)
Playing Torchlight 2, which still holds my interest.
Reading The Long Earth, which is holding my interest quiet well. Squeezed in the Dresden novellas Working for Bigfoot, which slaked my Dresden need for a few minutes (it was very enjoyable, just too short).Report
Oh, and if the stars align I’ll go see Man from UNCLE tonight.Report
Saw it last weekend. It was a lot of fun.Report
Picked up Shadowrun: Hong Kong last night. We’ll see how it goes when I can finally boot it up tonight.
The Gold Box games caught my eye but….no Buck Rogers? No Dragonlance? Pools of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds though…Report
I remember being pleasantly surprised by the Buck Rogers games. I ended up enjoying them very much. It’s a shame them and the Dragonlance games aren’t available, but I would assume there’s licensing issues involved.Report
I had Curse of the Azure Bonds, but I could never get past that first tough encounter in the sewers (I think it was with otyughs) and eventually gave up on it. I did read the Azure Bonds and its sequels, though. They were my favorite D&D novels. (Though I’m sure they don’t really hold up).
A few years later, I got Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (the one that lets you create your own game using the gold box engine) and ended up having a lot of fun with that.Report
I’ve been playing the finally released android version of Fallout Shelter. I really don’t care too much for the ‘do a little bit then wait a really long time to do a little bit more’ mechanic popular on mobile games. I do wish now, though, there was a full Fallout base-building strategy game. I could easily imagine an X-Com style Brotherhood of Steel game.Report
Playing: a very difficult book of nyt crossword puzzles. (I almost never completely finish one without cheating. I consider it a success if I can finish more than half of one.)
Reading: Tony Judt’s “Postwar.” Actually, re-reading, I read it for the first time several months ago. I’ve been on a Tony Judt kick for the last month or so.Report
I finally started playing Arkham City, which has been fun so far. I doubt I will do many of the side quests, because I would likely never finish the game if I did, but I hope to play through the story.
I played PoR quite a while back, though I did not ever finish it.Report
My attitude towards the side quests: “Well, I just need one more experience point to upgrade my melee armor…”
And, next thing you know, you’re searching for the Riddler’s Trophies.Report