Dungeons and Dragons

Over the weekend my friends and I began a geek journey together. It one of the most quintessentially geeky activities that has ever existed: Dungeons and Dragons.

Cover of the original Dungeons and Dragons Rule Book

Dungeons and Dragons was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. Since that time Dungeons and Dragons has brought nerd friends together, gave them an outlet for their imaginations and protected their virginities better than any chastity belt ever created.

Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game. To play, one player will act as the Dungeon Master. This player will create a storyline, develop quests, and create dungeons filled with enough monsters and traps to make the other players curse them incessantly, while still having fun. The way in which this is done varies between game to game. Some games and decked out with full scale board to cover the dungeons with players using miniature figurines to move their characters around like a board game. When I played with my brother when I was 10, it was all just a lot of him talking with lots of graph paper as references.

Yeah, you try remembering where in this maze you killed the Goblin that probably had the key.

The non-Dungeon Master players create characters to live in the fantasy world your egomaniacal friend in charge has created. These characters derive heavily from the Tolkien mythology. You can play as a dexterous elf thief, or a brave human ranger, or even an eccentric gnome illusionist. You can choice race, battle-class, looks, gender, equipment, etc. Once you have done that you are ready to take on your dungeon. The best Dungeon Masters create quests that are challenging but not impossible. The game isn't fun if you're always going to die. Although, I believe that all Dungeon Masters secretly hope to annihilate all of their friends to get their jollies.

While you may think that is your friend behind the screen, it is actually the face of pure evil.

In the end, whether the players win or lose will come down to their preparation with the right equipment and spells and a significant amount of luck. Nearly every decision in Dungeons and Dragons is decided through dice rolls. You roll to see how strong you character is. The Dunegon Master rolls to see how bad-ass his monsters are. Need to swing you sword at that giant spider? Roll the dice. Need to search a room for traps? Roll the dice. Need to see if you have a successful bowel movement? Roll the dice.

Dungeons and Dragons isn't the only role-playing game out there. In addition to countless other fantasy RPGs, there are some for science fiction, vampire slaying, even Dragonball Z has its over version. Get enough nerds interested in anything and they'll make a role-playing game out of it.

Not going to lie, was so tempted to pick this one up in the middle of my addiction.

Dungeons and Dragons does remain the most popular role-playing game, and it is the one most often referenced in pop-culture. The game has inspired a cartoon series, an Online MMORPG video game and even a really terrible series of movies based on the game.

Come on Jeremy Irons, you're better than this.

Anyways, next time I will chronicle my friends' start as we create our characters. It was an interesting afternoon so ya'll should check it out when it goes up.

Eat like a Hobbit at Denny's

The movie version of The Hobbit, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, comes out on December 14th. In honor of this historic even chain-diner Denny's is having a special "Middle-Earth Menu."

Yes, that's right, starting on November 6 you can enjoy "Hobbit Harvest Pies" or "Lonely Mountain Treasure." Now how is this different than normal pumpkin pie or french toast bites? I have no idea. Regardless it looks like some delicious food for your stomach and your inner geek.

The promotion is supposed to run until sometime in January. A full article discussing the limited-time menu (and a picture of the menu you can enlarge and read) can be found HERE.

So come November 6th get out there and go try yourself some "Radagast's Red Velvet Pancake Puppies." (Extra points go to anyone who can tell me who Radagast is. What are the points for? Who cares?)

Anyway, my inner geek and my inner food lover is excited about this and yours should be too. Look at that "Fried Cheese Melt." It's a grilled cheese with mozzarella sticks on it. Sure it might be a heart-attack waiting to happen, but all I can say is...

Geek and Sundry

Today on NEOHGeek Blog I'd like to discuss a source of nerdy entertainment called Geek and Sundry.

Geek and Sundry is a network of Geeky shows hosted on YouTube. The channel was created by Felicia Day (who you might notice I have a big of geek crush on), who, after the success of The Guild, decided to expand the nerdy internet entertainment base to multiple series.

Geek and Sundry releases content Monday through Friday with a variety of different shows. Felicia Day has her own video blog called The Flog (see what she did there?) on Mondays where you can watch her cute and awkward self do anything from play classic SEGA Genesis games to perform modern day blacksmithing activites.

There's also a Table Top, a game-show of sorts where Star Trek:Next Generation star Wil Wheaton plays board games with his nerdy celebrity (well celebrity-ish) friends.

Here's Wil playing "Last Night on Earth" with musical comedy duo Garfunkel and Oats

There's Sword and Laser which is both a video show and podcast, where they review some really great Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. Dark Horse shows videos of motion comics. Written By a Kid has children tell stories which are then acted and animated by professionals, no matter how ridiculous the story the kids come up with is.

The channel has plenty of other shows that pop up to satisfy almost any nerdy desire (check out the monthy Vaginal Fantasy Hang-outs, where Felicia Day and her friends discuss Fantasy Romance Novels for the female nerd.) I encourage you to check it out and subscribe.

After all, if you subscribe, they get more money and can continue to provide me entertainment. Which is all that really matters anyway.

Easy gaming

So you're casually browsing the internet and find yourself bored. Or maybe you're on your laptop in class and have just stopped caring about what the professor has to say. Maybe you just want to play a game without paying for anything.

Well there are plenty of websites online where you can find games to play: AddictingGames, Newgrounds, Armor Games. My personal favorite free game website is Kongregate.

Kongregate has thousands of games from all kinds of genres. Shooters, tower defense, platforming; you name it they probably have it. And with advancements in technology, these simple Flash-based games can be almost as long as a full size game. You can log hours upon hours in something like Kingdom Rush or Doodle God trying to beat them.

The reason I probably prefer Kongregate to other gaming websites would be the badges. For most of the popular games, Kongregate has set certain goals that if you can pull off, they give you a badge and some points. Now, you can't do anything with these points, so it's all kind of useless, but it's a matter of pride and accomplishment. Points are given based on difficult of the badge, and when they label something as Impossible, it almost is.

To get the Impossible badge in the top-down shooter Frantic, you must survive all 10 levels without being hit. The above picture shows level 2, meaning that's only 1/5 of the difficulty level. This type of game is known as "Bullet Hell"

You can, however, make these points worth a little something if you have a Gamestop Powerup Rewards Account. Kongregate has partnered with Gamestop and has started a daily badge challenge, allowing players to gain both Kongregate points and Gamestop Powerup Points for 1 specific badge a day. Of course, everything in the Powerup Rewards Catalog costs thousands of points, and you only get about 15 per badge on Kongregate, but it you do bored gaming a lot, it can add up.

So next time you have some time to waste, check out Kongregate and throw your life away to Bloon's Tower Defense or something.

Monkeys throw darts at balloons. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I've wasted hours on it.

I'm the one that's cool

Hey everybody, today I have quick post with a fun, geeky music video. Called I'm the One That's Cool.

Brought to you by Geek Princess, Felicia Day, featuring her cast-mates from The Guild, and directed by Jed Whedon, younger brother of Joss Whedon, one of the most successful nerds in Hollywood.

Its a fun little video that I think will speak to everyone who was a nerd in highschool. Enjoy.

ZOMBIE-THON

So I've been looking into upcoming nerd events in between episodes of Battlestar and I discovered something potentially amazing.

I was looking at Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) organizations for potential blog content. LARPing is one of the most intense nerd activities, being a cross between Dungeons and Dragons, Renaissance fairs, and plumbing supply fighting.

Isn't it amazing what can be created with some PVC, pipe foam and duct tape?

Traditional LARPing is usually fantasy-based. Classic elves vs. orcs with swords and magic. It plays out normally like this:

Just imagine them shouting numbers at each other as they swing in some system of damage and health.

Now LARPing is an intensely nerdy activity. It is not for the casual geek. People put in hundreds of dollars into these outfits and weapons. Entire campsites will be turned into Middle Earth (or similar mystical elf lands) for a time and epic wars will be fought.

So obviously, not for everyone. And since I know you are wondering, yes I have LARPed. I was in high school, a lot nerdier than I am now even, and there are no pictures.

Anyways, I was thinking about revisiting that sordid past for this blog when I found a LARPing even that might appeal to the non-nerd human.

Northcoast NERO is hosting a zombie apocalypse- based LARP called ZOMBIE-THON '12. Now, while mainstream society may not like the ideal of acting like a hobbit throwing fireballs, who hasn't thought about being a zombie war?

Zombie-thon is fought with NERF pistols, rifles and bows as well as the standard LARP boffer weapons. For one weekend you will fight the Zombies or die and rise as one yourself. Conserve your ammo, hide from the horde of creatures and kick some zombie ass! How amazing does that sound?

ZOMBIE-THON '12 will be November 9-11 in Camp NEOSA, south of Canton. Cost for being a player for the weekend is $55 though full-time zombies can play for free. Full rules and regulations can be found here.

Come on guys. You know you always wanted to find out if you could survive a zombie apocalypse.

It's Like Crack for Your Eyes

So my plan was to do some segments on video games this week. However, I find myself with an addiction and I cannot focus on my regularly scheduled activity. I have a problem and I need to come clean to you all.

Hello. My name is George Moura, and I am addicted to Battlestar Galactica.

Battlstar Galactica was originally a TV series in 1978 that ran for a season with a spin-off movie in 1980. Bad ratings shut the show down, but it had developed a cult following. In 2004 a new, re-imagined series was produced.

Now a lot of my science-fiction geek friends have raved about this show to me for a long time. But, I'm not a huge sci-fi buff and "killer robots try and kill off the human race in space" sounded like the same old thing. So I wasn't all that interested, but I noticed the series was on Netflix and I decided to give it a shot.

....three days later and I've charged through two whole seasons (35 episodes about 45min each)... My mind is telling me to ignore things like class, work and the desire to eat or sleep so I can watch more of this show.

The basic plotline is as follows. Cylons are machines that the human race created to help them with their lives. The Cylons evolved, fought and nearly wiped out the human race. The last 50,000 survivors run from the Cylons in a space caravan defended by their single warship, the Battlestar Galactica. Meanwhile their tenuous government structure must try and keep the people together. Adding to the trouble are human-looking Cylons that have infiltrated the Galactica's fleet to to deceive and sabotage.

The show is like Star Trek meets The West Wing meets Homeland. It has won a Peabody Award, multiple Emmys and made Time Magazine's list of 100 greatest shows, among numerous other accolades. The series has spawned other geek materials like comic books, board games and an Mass-Multiplayer Online video game (which I may cover later to tie into what was supposed to be my theme this week....and feed my addiction)

Seriously check it out. Even for the non-nerd Battlestar Galactica is well made, dramatic and suspenseful television. It is the crack of Sci-fi. And if I haven't convinced you of its addictive quality, maybe this will:

Origins of Video Geeks

Today we are going to move on from comics and explore a new geek activity. We are going to explore video games.

Video games have come a long way in a relatively short time. The first video screen game was Tennis for Two developed by William Higinbotham in 1958. This game was played on on oscilloscope and it was vaguely reminiscent of the actual game of tennis.

The graphics are awesome...

From there arcade games developed like Pong and Spacewar. In 1975 Atari released their home version of Pong and video gaming exploded from there. A more in-depth history can be found here if you are interested.

Today, video games are everywhere. With the advent of the smart phone we can have full length games in our pockets at all times.

This beast sucked away my life for several days.

So we're going to explore the realm of gaming for a little while on my geek blog. But its important to remember while your playing something like this:

Screen shot of Guild Wars 2 released last month.

That it all stemmed from something like this:

Video games: Preserving Geek virginity since 1958.

The post I will hate myself for...

Sigh....

So today I am going to embarrass myself by posting the most ridiculous video made of me from Comic Con.

It happened as I was browsing around taking pictures of random booths, I took a shot of the interestingly decorated 42 Flavors booth.

Needless to say I was intrigued by by a monster Strawberry.

After taking my shots one of the workers of the booth tried to shoo me inside. I wasn't exactly interested but she promised a free T-shirt and I'm a sucker for anything I don't have to pay for.

Once inside I found myself face to face with a man named Carl, who apparently drank five or six too many Redbulls. Carl threw me in front of a green screen and began excitedly shouting at me to run, jump and do other odd things in front of this screen. Normally I would not participate in things like this, but Carl seemed like his heart was exploding as he was commanding me and who was I to deny a dying man's wish?

So here is the result of my green screen experience.

....Yeah....

I immediately typed in my email address and was promptly ejected from the booth, a little dazed and confused. I didn't even get my free T-Shirt... A pox on you Carl...

Anyways, I didn't even really find out what the booth was about until getting my video email and exploring their website.

Turns out Flavor Monsters is a information campaign from the TRUTH organization against youth smoking. I guess the whole point is that even though tobacco can't be sold as candy, there are still candy-like flavored tobaccos that appeal to young people. The are 42 distinct flavors, hence the 42 monsters.

It is an interesting campaign, and they even have a free game for iOS or Android to fight the monsters and learn more about TRUTH's mission.

But really, this post was to show you I'm willing to embarrass myself for you people. I hope you're happy.

That's it for today nerds. Go try out the Flavor Monsters game. Maybe it will help when the zombie apocalypse comes.

Costuming the Con

Today we are going to examine a sub-culture of Comic Con: The Cos-Players.

You may have noticed in my video from the last post some fully costumed people wandering around the con. Cos-play or costume play is a big draw for some people at comic con. People dress up as their favorite characters from comics, movies, TV shows.

And people go all out. The amount of dedication some people spend on these costumes is unreal, and they definitely deserve to be noted.

Two Sand People from Star Wars

These Sand-People had the most elaborate and beautiful costumes I saw. Everything on them was so perfect and realistic. I attempted to ask them about their costumes, but completely in character they simply grunted wildly at me and raised their sticks.

The Doctor and Madame de Pompadour from Dr. Who episode 2.4 "The Girl in the Fireplace"

Derek Jones and Samantha Kingston dress as the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour above we a little more human about questions (though they did keep their accents while I spoke with them).

When I asked about why they dress up Jones said, "We love the characters. Its our own little tribute to them in a place its acceptable. It feels like Halloween."

"It's just a great way to make new friends," says Kingston. "People will just come up to you to take pictures and talk. It makes you feel like a celebrity at the Con."

There weren't a huge number of people dressed up while I was at the Con. Jones said the big costume party was happening Saturday night at a big party. Sadly, with my one-day pass and lack of funds I had to make due just snapping pics of the ones there that day.

Take a look at the costumed people after the cut.

A Geek Goes to Comic Con

Howdy friends!

Today I will share with you my trip to the Wizard World Ohio Comic Con 2012 in Columbus Ohio. Watch this short video to get a brief overview of my trip to nerd Mecca.

Note: I apologize for the lack of video quality. My camera kicked the bucket when I tried to use it on the trip so its all cell phone footage. Hopefully all future videos will be better.

That's it for today folks. Stay tuned for more Comic Con recaps.

Bazinga.