Lords of Magic Fansite

In my opinion, the most underrated PC game of all time is a 1997 game by Sierra called Lords of Magic. It has a beautifully organized system of factions called "Faiths," spectacular music, fascinating outside-the-box lore, and a unique gameplay style that involves a mix of turn-based exploration and real-time combat.

Lords of Magic Fansite

In 1997, Sierra released a PC game called Lords of Magic. It was really hard, had some awkward bugs, and in general was forgotten among most of the PC gaming community, but it was an amazing game! The setting was classic fantasy, divided into eight faiths: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Chaos, Order, Life, and Death. Each had a different primary race makeup and personality, and each was organized into champions (warriors, mages, and thieves), cavalry, infantry, ranged, scout, three levels of mythical creatures, and a legendary creature. I always loved the unique interactions between the barracks, the thieves guild, the mage tower, the capital, and the Great Temple of each race. Each race also had its own set of spells and artifacts, all of which fit their respective faith perfectly.

In the 2000s, several fansites were made for Lords of Magic, but the sites have since gone the way of all Geocities sites and are hard to access now. So I made my own!

lordsofmagic.wordpress.com

Card Game: Scuttle

I've always loved games that have a high simple/accessible-to-fun ratio, and for a long time I thought it would be amazing if there was a fun, strategic game you could play with a simple deck of regular cards. Eventually, I discovered Cuttle, which checked all the boxes of what I was looking for: Easy to get the materials for, the first combat card game ever, and with interesting mechanics that wouldn't require too much explanation to new players.

Warcraft II Abel Voices Pack download!

A few months ago, I set about recreating all the timeless iconic voice lines from Warcraft II. When I realized how easy it was to set them as the actual sound effects on Warcraft II by simply replacing the files in the GameSFX folder, I realized that I had to complete the set and recreate not just the voices, but all the sound effects.

Unfortunately, the microphone I used to use doesn't work anymore, so the new sounds sound too high of quality to match the voice lines. And some of the sound effects were harder to make than others, but overall, it was a fun project to complete.

If you'd like to have me making all kinds of weird sound effects and imitating all the voices in your own Warcraft II game, simply download the sound files at the link below and follow the instructions in the readme file it contains!  

Click Here to Download the Pack!

365 Memories of 2020

At the end of 2019, I decided I would do a year-long project by writing a single line of memories each day in the coming year. That way I would have an entire year's worth of miniscule journal entries to look back on. I had no idea of all the hard things that would crop up in 2020. But looking back, it was fun to see how many good times I had amid all the trials of the pandemic and quarantine. Below is an image with all of the text of those 365 memories with a picture I took of the sunset. I think it represents the fires of last year, but also the closing of a long day looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.

Lipsyncing Animation Practice

I've been stuck inside for the COVID-19 quarantine, so I thought I'd entertain myself by drawing the eight frames needed to lipsync any vocal sounds and rearrange them to fit songs, quotes, and just recently, a press conference at Blizzcon 2018. I've been getting a bit better every time, and it's been fun to learn some new things about phonetics and phonology in the process. It's amazing how even something like the rhythm of blinking has to be determined when animating vocals... I don't know how the big studios do it so thoroughly. Here are my projects so far:

D&D for Kids (Bonus): Warlock Class

Bonus Magical Class

Warlock

Warlocks are people who "borrow" their magical abilities from a master more powerful than they are, like a genie, a demon, a angel, or a fairy queen. These magical abilities come with a price, however: as long as the warlock wants to keep their powers, they must do whatever their master says. Keeping deals in this way can be risky, but warlocks can enjoy magical power  (see “Magic and Spellcasting” to choose) without even having to study old books to learn it. If you want to be a warlock, choose one of the Class Abilities below to start with.

• Familiar. Your master gives you a familiar, which is a small creature that calls you its master. The familiar can look like any type of small animal like a cat, toad, or bat, and you can see what it sees and cast spells through its hands instead of yours if you want. 
• Level 1 Spellcasting. You learn to cast one Arcane Level 1 spell. Level 1 spells are weak, but they only require 1 action to cast, and you can cast them as many times as you want.
• Level 2 Spellcasting. You learn to cast one Arcane Level 2 spell. Level 2 spells are better than Level 1 spells, but they require 2 actions to cast. Once you cast this spell two times, you have to rest before you can cast it again. Once you cast this spell two times, you have to rest before you can cast it again.
• Level 3 Spellcasting. You learn to cast one Arcane Level 3 spell. Level 3 spells are the most powerful spells, but they require 3 actions to cast. Once you cast this spell, you have to rest before you can cast it again.
• Pact Blade. You can use 1 action to summon a magical weapon into your hand. It can be any kind of weapon, and you can use 1 action to make the weapon disappear or change to a different kind of weapon.
• Epic Ability: Eldritch Blast. You can fire a blast of energy at a monster from far away to hurt it. This ability only costs 1 action, so you can use it up to 3 times in one turn!

D&D for Kids: Magic and Spellcasting

Magic & Spellcasting

Some characters have classes that allow them to know words and gestures for casting magic spells. You may also find magical books or wands that give you magical powers. Below is a list of some spells you can choose from. You can only cast one spell per turn.

If you have an idea for a spell of your own, you can ask your Dungeon Master about it. If the spell is allowed, he or she will tell you whether it's a Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 spell. There are two kinds of spells: Arcane spells, which use power from the magic in the universe and the world around you, and divine spells, which use power from beings like spirits, angels, nature, and gods.

D&D for Kids: Combat

Combat

Adventures often involve heroes fighting evil monsters, and the same can happen to your character! The Dungeon Master will control the monsters, and your character will be able to use his or her abilities to fight with sword, shield, or sorcery to rid the world of them. You don’t have to fight monsters; you can try reasoning with them or sneaking past them. But in the event that combat begins, here’s what you need to know.

D&D for Kids (Bonus): Rare Races

Rare Races

Aasimar

Whereas tieflings are created from dark magic, aasimar (pronounced "awesome-ar") are born with heavenly powers. They are guided by angels who speak to them in dreams in visions, teaching them to use their powers for good. Aasimar mostly look like humans, but they are generally taller and more beautiful, sometimes with golden or jewel-colored eyes, alabaster skin, or silver hair. Aasimar can live up to 160 years old. Aasimar love to destroy anything evil. If you want to be an aasimar, choose one of the Racial Traits below:

• Light Magic. You can make light to shine in the darkness, and you can heal wounds. After you heal someone's wounds, you need to rest before you can do it again.
• Angel Wings. You can cause feathery, glowing angel wings to sprout from your shoulders so that you can fly for 1 minute. After you fly, you need to rest before you can do it again.
• Radiant Power. You can sense evil creatures like vampires, demons, and skeletons nearby, and dark magic can't hurt you.

D&D for Kids: Choosing a Class

Choosing a Class

Your character’s “class” involves their set of skills, what they’re good at, and their calling and job in an adventuring group. Do you want your character to be a knight in armor holding a sword and shield, a wizard with a magic staff, or something else? Choose one of the classes below, then pick a Class Ability to start with.

Each time you play D&D, you’ll gain experience that lets your character grow and gain new abilities. The more adventures and stories you adventure through, the more powerful your hero will become! Below are the classes you can be in D&D. Pick a class, and then choose one of the abilities beneath it as your Class Ability. Whenever you level up through experience, you can gain another use of your Class Ability or choose a new one. When you reach Level 10, you can gain your class’s Epic Ability.

D&D for Kids: Basic Rules & Choosing a Race

I recently joined a Facebook group called "Dads and Dragons," for dads like me who love roleplaying games and playing them with their kids. I've seen a few resources out there for adapting D&D 5e to kids, but none of them were good enough to be standalone publications. Below I've compiled a collection of rule adaptations to simplify D&D 5e for kids 6 and up, rather than 12 and up. I'm leaning on the side of opening the game for fun story opportunities and making kids feel satisfied, like making successes more likely and promoting "fun" abilities rather than decidedly "balanced" ones, but all feedback is appreciated!

Once I've gotten all the rules fleshed out and playtested, I'll release these rules on a PDF. More to come later!

Warcraft 3 Unused Icons and Spells

It's been a long time coming! After doing the research probably a year and a half ago and recording the audio last Fourth of July, I'm finally done with Part 1. I can't tell you how amazing it is to finally have free time again.

4 Random Mini-Projects from the Past (and a Surge of Unexpected Nostalgic Gratitude)

What a rough year. So little free time, so much stress about finances, and so much hinging on my success in this coding certification. Luckily, the course is going good for the most part (I seem to learn by osmosis—even on days I don't pay attention I seem to soak in the knowledge and remember it later), we have WIC, and I just started a D&D group with my wife, my brother, and his wife. A weekly group! I couldn't be happier. Having something like that to look forward to each Wednesday night is a real buzz. Maybe I'll summarize their adventures on the blog every few weeks. It could be a fun thing to showcase, since I'm going to be doing a lot of worldbuilding for it.

Anyway, today I want to just dig up a few old projects from my past to showcase them for you. I found them while looking through old tablet boxes at my parents' house, and I gotta tell ya, those blasts from the past feel real nice. Honestly, one of the things that just keeps me going in life is seeing all the stuff I came up with as a kid. It gives me hope of having continual creativity in years to come.

Adventures in Coding

Well, I've made it through 1/4 of my web development and coding course this year. Two more quarters to go, and then I have an externship at the company who started the program and where my instructors are from for the rest of the year. As usual, time goes by at a breakneck speed no matter what because I'm an adult, but I'll be honest—the hours of the day crawl by agonizingly.

A Year Off

I'm tired. I'm tired of making so many projects that no one sees, and tired of having no time to work on the things that people do care about, like Knight Guy and the Warcraft 3 Easter Eggs series. And with me starting one last school degree this year to get certified in web development and coding, all while working full time, I've decided to take a year off from formal projects.

How to Lose 40 Pounds in 10 Months, and Keep It Off Forever

I never really was one to worry about my weight. I was always a pretty average-sized kid, and when I was a teenager, I ate all I wanted and my body never changed. But after getting married, the pounds slowly started packing on. I didn't really think much of it. I felt fine and took pride in my love of all foods and willingness to lick my plate clean with every meal so nothing was wasted. Besides, all my weight seemed to just go to my gut. I didn't really "look" fat at a glance. But once I hit 210 pounds, I decided it was time to lose some weight. Fast forward to today, nine months later, and I'm 40 pounds lighter! Let me tell you the keys to my incredibly successful weight loss story and you may find something that works for you.

Project: D&D Item Sheet

Since D&D has become a bigger part of my life over the past few months, I've been having a huge interest in compiling resources and making the DMing process as streamlined as possible. My latest venture has been copying all of the items from the Dungeon Master's Guide into a Google Sheet for easy filtering by rarity, item type, etc. After doing this, I decided to have some fun and adapt the artifacts from Heroes of Might and Magic III and the items from Warcraft III into D&D 5th edition as well. They've been one of the most amazing sources of inspiration for me. It's fun to try and adapt things like morale bonuses and Warcraft mechanics into D&D's system. Here are a few examples of the items and my take on what they do in D&D:

Warcraft Resources for D&D 5e

Man, this is one of those projects I just look at and think "Did I really do all of this?" I've definitely got lost in this document. Ever since I discovered Critical Role at the beginning of the year and subsequently bought the core rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons 5e, assembled materials to be a Dungeon Master, and played some of my first games, I've tried to adapt the Warcraft universe to a playable setting. I began by creating my own custom races, and after balancing them with some help from people online, I decided to add deities to help DMs interested in playing a Warcraft setting design clerics. I also realized that I'd better add an items/weapons section to add in the appropriate information for the exotic weapons used by the custom races, and before I knew it, I now had a 16-page document detailing everything from new mechanics to changed spell names to lore considerations in the Warcraft universe.

D&D Spell Cards

I've been really into D&D more and more lately, and am starting a work group to play it with, which is really fun. I just love how 5th edition is so accessible compared to older ones. If you haven't tried it (I don't care what your excuse is), you should! Seriously! It's such an inspiring game for creativity in many forms.