Meta tags:
description=games, life and the in between;

Headings (most frequently used words):

the, and, captain, this, roaring, silence, games, life, in, between, theseus, his, mother, father, grandmother, minotaur, audio, mining, node, 01, answering, siren, call, my, oil, after, midnight, babblings, from, an, old, portal, master, dunland, doldrums, weeds, thanks, for, epidural, thunderstone, advance, towers, of, ruin, archives, categories, blogroll,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (229), and (105), this (53), with (50), for (49), that (47), game (44), you (36), but (27), time (25), not (25), play (23), your (23), have (22), posted (20), there (20), son (19), what (18), his (18), can (17), was (17), one (16), bit (16), get (15), will (15), level (15), some (15), has (15), out (15), are (14), more (14), into (14), all (14), just (13), yard (13), like (12), now (12), gaming (12), been (12), things (11), from (11), very (11), carter (11), way (11), games (10), mmos (10), dungeon (10), much (10), going (10), playing (10), these (10), randolph (10), him (10), skylanders (9), many (9), when (9), even (9), future (9), could (9), well (9), our (9), next (9), quest (9), comments (8), where (8), make (8), quite (8), father (8), than (8), had (8), expansion (8), how (8), would (8), keep (8), take (8), life (7), monsters (7), about (7), first (7), also (7), their (7), other (7), end (7), myself (7), sure (7), need (7), several (7), every (7), something (7), most (7), who (7), maze (7), content (6), already (6), thunderstone (6), may (6), experience (6), down (6), right (6), heroes (6), village (6), getting (6), did (6), before (6), ready (6), come (6), know (6), don (6), want (6), then (6), man (6), doesn (6), through (6), here (6), lego (6), another (6), evendim (6), zone (6), move (6), blog (5), board (5), advance (5), rules (5), newbie (5), blogger (5), initiative (5), online (5), because (5), each (5), cards (5), after (5), various (5), around (5), table (5), which (5), find (5), turn (5), them (5), off (5), few (5), speaking (5), really (5), they (5), old (5), thing (5), good (5), though (5), mounted (5), combat (5), almost (5), past (5), enjoy (5), bed (5), character (5), captain (5), player (5), skip (5), comment (4), bar (4), roaring (4), silence (4), free (4), dragon (4), gamer (4), world (4), towers (4), ruin (4), minotaurus (4), lord (4), rings (4), parenting (4), 2012 (4), little (4), power (4), hour (4), less (4), players (4), problem (4), certainly (4), record (4), enough (4), never (4), hand (4), made (4), thanks (4), own (4), aware (4), comes (4), grass (4), lotro (4), seem (4), working (4), week (4), jun (4), riders (4), rohan (4), found (4), quests (4), warden (4), being (4), think (4), fun (4), seeing (4), only (4), yet (4), any (4), skylander (4), leveling (4), friday (4), midnight (4), always (4), call (4), able (4), simply (4), minotaur (4), rolled (4), gray (4), started (3), wordpress (3), com (3), full (3), happy (3), unplugged (3), podcast (3), quotes (3), dogma (3), audio (3), mining (3), particularly (3), monster (3), points (3), slaying (3), ways (3), interesting (3), challenging (3), plays (3), along (3), section (3), happen (3), kind (3), words (3), high (3), fairly (3), say (3), new (3), doing (3), coming (3), having (3), whole (3), looking (3), forward (3), years (3), taking (3), point (3), better (3), run (3), skirmish (3), back (3), door (3), mind (3), water (3), day (3), allowed (3), usually (3), far (3), makes (3), currently (3), making (3), interest (3), help (3), child (3), family (3), friendly (3), boss (3), while (3), anywhere (3), done (3), entry (3), different (3), somewhere (3), portal (3), place (3), home (3), case (3), sky (3), long (3), however (3), two (3), between (3), tell (3), managed (3), tend (3), leave (3), does (3), times (3), recently (3), fact (3), hunter (3), jul (3), constantly (3), siren (3), likes (3), episode (3), podcasts (3), design (2), site (2), website (2), required (2), manage (2), log (2), sign (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), create (2), epic (2), anjin (2), warcraft (2), rift (2), heroica (2), tough (2), set (2), until (2), pretty (2), gain (2), familiar (2), offering (2), attack (2), okay (2), friends (2), actually (2), offers (2), rather (2), solo (2), post (2), strategies (2), stream (2), adventuring (2), complete (2), villagers (2), weapons (2), center (2), purchase (2), hire (2), exists (2), hell (2), whether (2), try (2), perhaps (2), veterans (2), box (2), specifically (2), thank (2), bloggers (2), project (2), tricks (2), trade (2), freeloading (2), slacker (2), saying (2), technically (2), certain (2), weren (2), were (2), work (2), answering (2), finding (2), painless (2), possible (2), grinding (2), isn (2), nice (2), people (2), buddy (2), whatever (2), dad (2), away (2), cap (2), soon (2), offensive (2), defensive (2), same (2), clue (2), occasions (2), maybe (2), spent (2), front (2), computer (2), throughout (2), weeds (2), envy (2), chance (2), gets (2), deep (2), green (2), neighborhood (2), elsewhere (2), sidekicks (2), hoping (2), give (2), look (2), again (2), sounds (2), soldier (2), questing (2), easy (2), least (2), running (2), story (2), left (2), wanting (2), video (2), basics (2), rpgs (2), adventure (2), basic (2), fight (2), challenge (2), money (2), smack (2), talking (2), guy (2), lot (2), sit (2), giant (2), honest (2), excited (2), generally (2), daddy (2), got (2), anytime (2), impressions (2), wall (2), still (2), number (2), rpg (2), hit (2), legendary (2), upgrade (2), bedroom (2), unfortunately (2), used (2), friend (2), spending (2), heard (2), base (2), within (2), exploring (2), gone (2), months (2), couldn (2), called (2), hidden (2), treasure (2), limit (2), skill (2), night (2), saturday (2), energy (2), lay (2), fully (2), else (2), tends (2), routine (2), during (2), sessions (2), feel (2), somewhat (2), nights (2), reason (2), favorite (2), cause (2), excellent (2), enjoying (2), big (2), minstrel (2), played (2), mine (2), sadly (2), days (2), haven (2), lost (2), didn (2), works (2), thinking (2), wanted (2), reach (2), age (2), needed (2), rest (2), ears (2), beau (2), songs (2), slow (2), travel (2), check (2), wish (2), definitely (2), moment (2), err (2), see (2), logging (2), become (2), real (2), style (2), hub (2), happens (2), simple (2), house (2), likely (2), block (2), setup (2), mother (2), grandmother (2), team (2), ended (2), die (2), black (2), spaces (2), temple (2), controls (2), creature (2), sidebar (2), name, email, write, loading, collapse, subscriptions, view, reader, report, privacy, account, inventory, hats, slant, chasers, butterfly, blue, kae, bio, break, ardwulf, lair, exile, blogroll, uncategorized, memories, categories, june, july, august, archives, search, older, posts, randomized, killing, hall, lackluster, confidence, crushing, tricky, consuming, hang, thrilled, bringing, combination, satisfying, leveled, higher, considerably, stronger, thus, effective, stays, remainder, assist, purchasing, enjoyed, ages, stats, exist, posing, relate, lucky, variant, lately, clocked, respectable, mention, beginning, discover, meeting, death, leaving, score, win, apparently, seemingly, ending, spill, forth, imagine, sitting, six, represent, party, spells, jewelry, delving, supplies, stacks, arranged, comprises, wares, helpful, shadowy, ominous, top, spills, steady, bent, destroying, blasted, yourself, based, decide, venture, slay, safe, visiting, item, hero, battle, worn, hopes, increasing, odds, worst, mighty, encouragement, appreciated, publicity, priest, kindness, veteran, involved, sharing, freely, should, probably, thanking, due, genes, syp, bullet, qualify, wouldn, written, allow, defense, although, blogging, previously, maintained, primarily, consisted, interviews, basically, ones, questions, barely, lifted, claw, position, uncharted, territory, helping, birthing, process, tovalhalla, host, brand, blogs, foot, comforting, scary, fledgling, launching, blogosphere, completely, alone, unnoticed, internet, epidural, hope, privileges, wait, fall, sauron, anyway, rain, tomorrow, fertilized, prefer, grab, champion, stand, amon, sul, sake, gee, edge, fertilize, opening, hey, wonder, rebel, against, passion, unsettling, idea, crept, himself, patches, dirt, littered, places, eyesore, enjoys, nerf, sword, beheading, weed, stalk, sanctuary, mow, twice, result, manicured, bermuda, carpet, homeowner, potentially, harm, tackle, ordered, xbox, 360, change, pace, scenery, hearing, negative, feedback, concerning, bang, buck, preorder, options, affect, coupled, enthusiastic, impression, current, starting, won, preordering, sucker, ability, summon, landscape, add, excitement, painfully, adding, laughable, rut, progress, latest, rise, isengard, keeping, consider, tolerance, rote, levels, dunlendings, provide, countless, errands, third, sent, fourth, steam, supplement, exciting, orthanc, dunland, doldrums, introduced, choice, spyro, difficulty, slowly, ramps, throwing, puzzles, mobs, occasional, seasoned, kaos, uber, bad, elicits, priceless, joy, couch, yelling, poopy, doody, face, boy, heck, hands, trying, list, drop, brilliant, further, random, share, indoctrination, brainer, goes, books, super, mario, star, wars, kid, titles, available, terms, entered, vocabulary, discussing, car, trip, pardon, pun, poster, stares, room, gravestorm, sink, ever, starter, paying, areas, unlocked, specific, types, everything, offer, fee, admit, struck, gimmicky, plug, console, figures, seconds, digital, avatar, appears, control, demoed, store, once, gimmick, crafted, happier, college, fund, holy, crap, executives, cuts, says, loot, battles, upgrades, healthy, dose, crawling, distinct, classes, abilities, trees, dream, seen, ago, large, studio, office, asked, blank, execs, notes, quickly, suspend, disbelief, start, babblings, master, blink, stumble, late, read, morning, launches, bright, early, bursting, bring, eyes, burning, head, humming, previous, evening, exploits, mere, memory, earlier, rolls, believe, finish, quits, without, fail, weekend, earned, saturdays, wise, understand, tired, year, prove, rested, adult, average, sweet, spot, rushed, unfulfilling, cross, bear, why, aside, extending, abandon, stay, saner, wife, small, hours, oil, logged, forgotten, entryway, purely, visual, perspective, lake, breathtaking, revamped, rewarding, progression, skills, such, relearning, surprisingly, beautiful, diligently, gaining, favor, wardens, annuminas, dreaming, part, duo, ship, guardian, longer, capable, soloing, picked, convince, forged, ahead, angmar, eregion, lovely, dark, mines, moria, desire, tried, pick, reconnect, vibe, cusp, lothlorien, care, morian, began, last, capped, relatively, phenomenon, pulled, handful, wasn, fine, tuning, characters, knowing, release, knew, close, over, best, outfit, woodworker, craft, second, spear, javelin, choosing, legacies, slotting, relics, felt, behind, hobbit, please, remain, chained, mast, continued, chasing, armor, prize, successful, slowing, plan, concerted, effort, means, slower, form, resisting, urge, map, option, hide, necessarily, feature, advantage, middle, earth, staying, rivendell, plans, north, mistymountains, lend, gloin, dwarven, crew, difficult, ignore, lying, said, treadmill, approach, served, keeps, sense, accomplishment, intoxicating, fulfilling, catch, constant, grind, exactly, burns, given, sustain, drive, bottom, drops, momentum, stop, escape, extension, baggage, entering, mindset, waste, exploration, following, particular, chain, speed, bleeds, facet, existence, dictates, daily, half, needs, task, bee, lining, knock, rewards, worth, appealing, opposite, worry, explore, rely, maps, fast, role, hindman, seductively, sings, shores, gist, sing, massively, singing, julian, murdoch, 302, gamers, jobs, conference, systemic, teams, great, diehard, fans, sits, fallow, mmo, franchises, love, ddo, ton, sad, putting, beta, freakin, max, goldenstar, 153, casual, stroll, mordor, slimiest, nastiest, mug, hole, glow, worms, disgusting, hypnotic, frogs, roger, contains, moderate, peril, turns, badly, coordinated, question, percentage, pack, involve, 100, revolving, surely, batch, listening, variety, helps, sane, related, readers, listeners, thought, might, shared, periodically, node, creativity, implementing, entertaining, order, hold, additional, fresh, factor, hurt, mechanics, engaging, components, fodder, building, projects, overall, min, playtime, incorporating, pieces, nifty, items, stashed, mean, those, lines, mazes, encourage, explored, recommended, cardboard, template, reverting, its, original, state, snap, mess, grandma, messing, ladies, open, teamwork, fits, perfectly, ruling, everyone, cool, sided, side, replaced, panels, remove, sections, payer, path, she, field, concept, straightforward, inside, whose, goal, sound, lurking, nothing, thwart, enter, appearances, line, aug, theseus, radar, footer, secondary, primary, main, navigation,

Text of the page (random words):
se goal it is to reach the temple hidden in the center of the maze sound simple enough well there just so happens to be a creature lurking within this maze who would like nothing better than to thwart your every move enter the minotaur the playing field on each player s turn a very cool 6 sided lego die is rolled side 1 and 2 of the die have been replaced with gray and black panels if a number is rolled you move one of your heroes that many spaces if gray is rolled you are allowed to remove one of the gray sections of the maze and place it anywhere else in the maze you d like most likely players will place the gray section somewhere that will block another payer s path to the temple if black is rolled the player then controls the minotaur and is allowed to move the creature up to 8 spaces anywhere he or she likes my son has had a lot of fun messing with his mother and grandmother for some reason he likes to team up with me and take on the ladies in our family seeing how the rules are fairly open ended this teamwork fits in perfectly we ve ended up house ruling a few things but in the end everyone has had a good time if i move here will i be able to mess with grandma you can create your own mazes and the rules even encourage this but so far we ve only explored the recommended setup and speaking of setup the game comes with a cardboard template which makes reverting the maze to its original state a snap i m already thinking of ways of incorporating our lego heroica pieces into this game maybe have some nifty treasure items stashed in the dungeon err i mean maze that can be used to get a free turn block the minotaur s attack or something along those lines age 5 players 2 4 playtime 20 30 min overall impressions minotaurus is a fun if somewhat simple game that may take some player creativity in the way of implementing house rules to keep the game interesting and entertaining the base game is definitely fun for a few plays but in order to hold your child s interest you may need to come up with additional rules to keep things fresh sure the lego factor doesn t hurt this game but at the end of the day if the game s mechanics are not engaging enough the game s components will more than likely become fodder for other lego building projects posted in game parenting minotaurus unplugged play leave a comment audio mining node 01 jul 25 posted by randolph carter i enjoy listening to a variety of podcasts while i m working it helps keep me sane most of these happen to be game related podcasts as i don t know how many blog readers are also podcast listeners i thought it might be of interest to some perhaps not if i shared various quotes from these podcasts i ll try and post these periodically as i have the time here is the first batch i m looking forward to doing mounted combat however what happens if it turns out we re not very good at it because we re badly coordinated people or the fact that we simply don t like it and then it s a question of what percentage of the expansion pack will involve mounted combat if there s 100 quests in this expansion and if 70 are revolving around mounted combat then that player who does not like mounted combat has surely got a problem roger from contains moderate peril episode 68 i don t think i did any of the quests in the water works i think it s the slimiest nastiest mug hole full of glow worms and disgusting giant hypnotic frogs and i do not like that zone goldenstar from a casual stroll to mordor episode 153 the problem i have with some of these big mmo franchises that i love whether it s lotro or ddo or even world of warcraft is that as a guy who is playing a ton of different games it almost makes me sad to see them putting out something as good as riders of rohan because even though i can play this in beta there s no chance in freakin hell i m going to get a max level character through lotro anytime soon i m just not going to get there i think this is a systemic problem with mmos you get these teams that make this great content for end game to keep their diehard fans happy and it sits there fallow for the rest of us julian murdoch from gamers with jobs conference call episode 302 posted in audio mining podcast quotes 2 comments answering the siren s call jul 20 posted by randolph carter beau hindman s siren songs have been playing seductively in my ears for years now for the record he s been singing them a long time in fact he now sings them from the shores of massively in case you haven t heard here s the gist of what he likes to sing about when it comes to your gaming slow down don t worry about your level explore more rely less on maps and fast travel get into the experience role play it up a bit i can t tell you how appealing this play style sounds to me and yet the way i play couldn t be more opposite unfortunately the speed of life that bleeds into every facet of my existence dictates my play style as there is very little down time in my daily routine i m constantly aware of the time where i need to be in the next half hour what needs to get done before i move on to the next task and that s how i tend to play my mmos where do i need to go next bee lining from quest hub to quest hub what quests can i knock out there are the xp and the quest rewards worth it i wish i could check my real world baggage in at the door before entering my gamer s mindset however that s usually not the case when i do find the time to game i m always aware of the time and what little there is of it i constantly feel the need to make the most of it and that there s not a moment to waste sadly exploration following the story of a particular quest chain and simply enjoying the experience of being in an online world all take a hit during these sessions in other words my gaming has become less of an escape and more of an extension of my real life and that s not really what i want i would be lying though if i said i didn t enjoy what i m doing in game this treadmill approach to gaming has served me well for many years and it keeps me logging in that s for sure the sense of accomplishment is intoxicating and quite fulfilling but here s the catch this constant grind is exactly what burns me out on a given game i simply can t sustain the level of drive needed to keep it all going and before i know it the bottom drops out i ve lost the momentum and simply stop logging in so where does that leave me now at the very least i plan to make a concerted effort to slow things down to take more time with the whole questing experience if that means taking a slower form of travel from time to time or resisting the urge to constantly check my map and xp bar well then so bit it speaking of which i wish mmos would come with the option to hide your xp bar not necessarily turn it off that would be a feature i would definitely take advantage of at the moment i m leveling err adventuring through middle earth with a captain he s staying in rivendell but has plans to move north up into the mistymountains to see if he can lend a hand to gloin and his dwarven crew adventure is yet another siren s call i find difficult to ignore for the time being though i ll remain chained to the mast of continued leveling quest grinding and chasing the armor upgrade prize and even if in the end i m not successful in slowing things down it s still nice to know that there are players out there who have thanks beau please keep the songs coming posted in gaming life mmos 6 comments o captain my captain jul 10 posted by randolph carter my green behind the ears hobbit warden i managed to reach level cap with my warden last week being level capped is a relatively new phenomenon for me i ve only pulled this off a handful of times in the past most recently in rift so i wasn t very sure what i wanted to do next seeing how i m not much of one for fine tuning my end game characters and knowing that the release of the next expansion riders of rohan was almost two months away i knew my time with this character was coming to a close for now over the past several days i ve done my best to outfit him and get him as ready as possible for the expansion because he is a woodworker i was able to craft him two second age legendary weapons one spear and one javelin after spending some time leveling these up choosing legacies and slotting relics i felt he was ready for a much needed rest i on the other hand was not i began thinking of who i wanted to play next my hunter exploring the excellent morian water works another favorite zone of mine i have a level 58 hunter i could play he was my first character who i forged ahead with making it all the way to angmar eregion and into the lovely dark and deep mines of moria but somewhere along the way i lost the desire to play him i ve tried several times in the past to pick him back up but i ve never been able to reconnect and get the hunter vibe going again that he s just on the cusp of lothlorien a zone i didn t care for the first time through with my warden doesn t help his cause any i also have a level 50 minstrel he was part of a duo ship with a guardian played by a good friend of mine who sadly no longer plays mmos i know the minstrel is fully capable of soloing these days but the few times i ve picked him up recently haven t been able to convince me of this fact my captain dreaming in evendim when i logged back into my captain a character i had almost forgotten i found him at the entryway to evendim evendim i ll go on record as saying evendim is my favorite zone in the game something that does help his cause from a purely visual perspective lake evendim is breathtaking and the zone has been revamped making for an excellent and rewarding quest progression throughout the zone even though i had no clue what any of his skills did i had managed to lay out his skill bar in such a way that made relearning his tricks of the trade surprisingly painless he s level 34 now enjoying the big beautiful evendim sky and diligently working on gaining the favor of the wardens of annuminas posted in lord of the rings online mmos leave a comment the oil after midnight jun 28 posted by randolph carter on average during the week i get about an hour a day of gaming time as i tend to play mmos where just getting to that sweet spot can take an hour or more many of my gaming sessions feel rushed and somewhat unfulfilling my cross to bear that s why i have set aside friday nights for my extending gaming time i tend to abandon all reason and stay up way past midnight most of these nights this tends to be long after my son and much saner wife have gone to bed it s just me my computer and the small hours of the night generally speaking this tends to make saturdays a challenge for me energy level wise my son doesn t seem to understand the daddy s tired routine where playing keep up with a 5 year old can prove challenging even to a well rested adult every friday i say i m going to go to bed at midnight but i never do when midnight rolls around and believe me i m fully aware of the time i always tell myself i ll just finish up this quest and call it quits but without fail i always find something else to do my mind offers up come on it s the weekend you ve managed to make it through another week you ve earned this time enjoy it and i always do however there doesn t seem to be much more than a blink or two between the time i stumble into bed late friday night read saturday morning and when my son launches into our bedroom bright and early bursting with energy and excited for what saturday will bring that s when i lay there my eyes burning my head humming my previous evening s exploits a mere memory and tell myself that next friday things will be different i ll manage to get to bed earlier and i never do posted in gaming life mmos 1 comment babblings from an old portal master jun 15 posted by randolph carter okay here s a dream i could have seen having not long ago i get called into a large game studio s office and am asked point blank what kind of game i would have them design the sky s the limit they ll make whatever i want as several high level execs sit around the table ready to take notes i quickly suspend disbelief and start in first i d want a game that i could play with my son i d want it to have the basics of most rpgs character leveling loot hidden treasure boss battles power upgrades a healthy dose of dungeon crawling and in this case be co op friendly the sky s the limit right i d also like it to have several distinct classes all with their own abilities and skill trees and at this point one of the executives cuts me off and says mr carter this game already exists it s called skylanders holy crap they re right my son s college fund in a box we ve had skylanders in our home for about 4 months now and to be honest i couldn t be happier with the game i ll admit the game struck me as a bit gimmicky when i first heard of it the base game comes with a portal of power which you need to plug into your game console you then take one of the skylander figures and place it on the portal within seconds a digital avatar of the skylander appears in the game and you are in control of it seeing this demoed in the store is one thing playing it at home is quite another once my skylander was in the game and i started exploring things the gimmick was gone and i was left to enjoy a very well crafted rpg certainly the game is also a money sink somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 gets you in the door but if you ever want to play with more than the 3 starter skylanders you re going to end up paying quite a bit more and certain areas of the game can only be unlocked with specific types of skylanders so if you re wanting to experience everything the game has to offer you will be spending quite a bit more than the entry fee unfortunately this did not work gravestorm we could have used you old friend yet all of this is still a no brainer for me because here s the thing this will be the game that goes down in our family record books as the one that made a video gamer out of my son sure it could have been super mario lego star wars or any number of other kid friendly titles available out there but his will be skylanders a very well done entry level rpg already hit points level up boss fight and legendary upgrade are terms that have entered his vocabulary on several occasions i ve found myself discussing the game and basic strategies with him while we re in the car it s been a trip pardon the pun he has a skylander poster on his bedroom wall with all of the 32 different skylanders something he stares at quite a bit when we re in his room getting him ready for bed indoctrination on my son s wall just some further random impressions i d like to share drop in co op play is brilliant anytime anywhere it s that easy to be honest this is a game i would enjoy playing by myself but seeing how excited my son is to play i generally only do so with him heck daddy s got his hands full trying to ...