I'm a pretty big fantasy fiction fan myself. Goodkind, Jordan, Tad Williams and RR Martin being my current favorites. About a year ago I gave a shot at reading LOTR since it was hailed as the epitome of Fantasy fiction. I stalled around the Council of Elrond for about 8 months and read something else. Frankly I found it boring.
I went on to read some reviews of the trilogy and found one reviewer to say the first 'book' can be pretty hard to get through but after the Council it really picked up. And it did. I found the Two Towers volume to be quite good. 'Book Five' in Return of the King was also really good but again, in 'Book Six', I find myself struggling to finish. While I recognize the brillance of the story and it's ground breaking imagery I have a hard time getting through some of tedious dialog and story. I find myself eying the second book of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn on my desk. This won't be popular with most LOTR fans, but frankly I like some modern fantasy better. To this day nothing has gripped me like RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice.
As to the LOTR movie it will be a huge success if the creators stick to the original image of the movie. If the water it down for children, which I'm afraid they will, I will be very disappointed. I want to see heads fly over Minas Tirith!:)
Like I said I was into RPG's in my school years (and I'm probably older than you think, 27) and some of my best memories are staying up to 5:00am playing D&D with about 8 friends in a small cramped room, junk food everywhere.
I'll admit CCG's are crack. And most of my RPG friends fell to it when it came out. It became harder to keep people interested in D&D and RPG's in general. Now I just don't have the time to waste 1/2 a day+ playing an RPG. I have other interests now and my Shadowrun and Earthdawn manuals are packed away in storage. I can't sell them because of the memories they contain. My Magic cards on the other hand were easy to part with!
Whether you agree with my view or not it's hard to deny that as people get older their free time for entertainment is redused. Only the 'real hardcore' players as you put it 'make' the time. You can't really get a good role playing session in a hour, even if you can get everyone to agree to meet at a certian time. It's much easier to fire up the computer now and play a round of Quake/Rainbow 6/Starcraft/whatever.
Agree with it or not that's just my experience with RPG's.
JoS
I was a big role playing fan back in my school days. But I found as time went on and the internet got bigger and especially the advent of multiplayer FPS and CCG's those weekend role playing sessions turned soon turned into weekend Doom/Magic sessions.
Everyone now days is looking for the 'quick fix' it takes a lot of prep time to start a good role playing session; character creation, story lines, NPC creation, etc. Personally I miss it but just don't have the time to sit down and plan a RPG session for 2 hours. It was easier to fire up the computer and frag some opponents or throw together a deck and find some anonymous newbie at the comic store for a quick hand of Magic.
I haven't been in the RPG scene for about 4 years now. I was surprised that anyone plays RPG's anymore.
Usually you can just get your future employer to pay for any of the 'training loan' costs on the charges you current employer will bill you for if you leave.
"Hey I'd love to work for ya but my current job will charge me $4,000 for the training I just took. Mind picking that up for me?"
If they want you bad enough they pay it.
Slashdot Mirror
Well I for one have given up buying games for Windows and will only buy Linux games from here on out.
:(
I don't think as a rule Linux users are against buying software. If someone puts out an excellent solid game I have no problem forking over the cash.
The only problem I see is that most of the time I can't go into a store and buy a linux version of a game.
I went on to read some reviews of the trilogy and found one reviewer to say the first 'book' can be pretty hard to get through but after the Council it really picked up. And it did. I found the Two Towers volume to be quite good. 'Book Five' in Return of the King was also really good but again, in 'Book Six', I find myself struggling to finish. While I recognize the brillance of the story and it's ground breaking imagery I have a hard time getting through some of tedious dialog and story. I find myself eying the second book of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn on my desk. This won't be popular with most LOTR fans, but frankly I like some modern fantasy better. To this day nothing has gripped me like RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice.
As to the LOTR movie it will be a huge success if the creators stick to the original image of the movie. If the water it down for children, which I'm afraid they will, I will be very disappointed. I want to see heads fly over Minas Tirith!
Like I said I was into RPG's in my school years (and I'm probably older than you think, 27) and some of my best memories are staying up to 5:00am playing D&D with about 8 friends in a small cramped room, junk food everywhere. I'll admit CCG's are crack. And most of my RPG friends fell to it when it came out. It became harder to keep people interested in D&D and RPG's in general. Now I just don't have the time to waste 1/2 a day+ playing an RPG. I have other interests now and my Shadowrun and Earthdawn manuals are packed away in storage. I can't sell them because of the memories they contain. My Magic cards on the other hand were easy to part with! Whether you agree with my view or not it's hard to deny that as people get older their free time for entertainment is redused. Only the 'real hardcore' players as you put it 'make' the time. You can't really get a good role playing session in a hour, even if you can get everyone to agree to meet at a certian time. It's much easier to fire up the computer now and play a round of Quake/Rainbow 6/Starcraft/whatever. Agree with it or not that's just my experience with RPG's. JoS
I was a big role playing fan back in my school days. But I found as time went on and the internet got bigger and especially the advent of multiplayer FPS and CCG's those weekend role playing sessions turned soon turned into weekend Doom/Magic sessions.
Everyone now days is looking for the 'quick fix' it takes a lot of prep time to start a good role playing session; character creation, story lines, NPC creation, etc. Personally I miss it but just don't have the time to sit down and plan a RPG session for 2 hours. It was easier to fire up the computer and frag some opponents or throw together a deck and find some anonymous newbie at the comic store for a quick hand of Magic.
I haven't been in the RPG scene for about 4 years now. I was surprised that anyone plays RPG's anymore.
JoS
Usually you can just get your future employer to pay for any of the 'training loan' costs on the charges you current employer will bill you for if you leave. "Hey I'd love to work for ya but my current job will charge me $4,000 for the training I just took. Mind picking that up for me?" If they want you bad enough they pay it.