If you want to play something new, you should try
FUDGE, a nice
freeform RPG system. Also you can check out
SpellCaster, a strategy game with wizards similar
to those in many RPGs.
For playing on the Internet, here is a long list of
Telnet Sites, including Muds, Mushes and Irc.
I used to be a well-known player on some mud, but that mud has since
degenerated and I never bothered getting to know another one. However, to
help out newbies I still have a list of
Items that appear to be common in muds (but don't
expect them everywhere).
Richard Adams hasn't written too many books, but his Watership
Down is still one of my favourites. It's about a bunch of bunnies making
a long trip as their old den gets destroyed by humans. There's no webpages on
this though, as far as I know.
Piers Anthony has written a lot of books in the Xanth series.
Xanth is a land of fantasy filled with night mares, lie berries, pining trees
and similar puns. While I haven't read much of his books, I do have some
information
on him.
Isaac Asimov is really famous and well-known, both as a SF author
and a scientist. He wrote lots of books - here's a
List of them with Reviews; also, I have the
FAQ list available [down]. It's hard to describe his style - you'd just have to
read something; you'll find out, for one, that all his fiction books somehow
relate to each other. One of his best is Nemesis
Michael Crighton is very good at writing thrillers; The
Andromeda Strain is a good example of this. Unfortunately, those guys at
Hollywood usually totally screw up when making films out of them. You can
check out his
Bibliography
here, but I refuse to put any film info on this page.
Jim Henson is, of course, the creator of the
Muppets. Ok, so that's
not really fantasy, but it's good anyways. Maybe you want to read some of their
songtexts.
Also, he's written a few good films, most notably Labyrinth and
Dark Crystal.
Tanith Lee doesn't seem to be that well known,
at least not on the web; this is too bad because she's a good writer. I can
really recommend Kill the Dead and Black Unicorn.
Millennium magazine has some nice
stories and some other stuff.
Larry Niven is slightly more known. His most famous work is
RingWorld, although I must admit I found the ending disappointing.
Other than that, some great books are Inferno and The Magic Goes
Away.
Terry Pratchett is really hilarious; he's the author of the
Discworld Series, a collection
of fantasy novels set on a flat world carried on the back of four elephants
that stand on the shell of a giant turtle swimming through space. If this
sounds silly, it is. But it's also great fun. You can read everything you
want to know about him in the Annotated Pratchett File at the above link. My
personal favorites are Mort and Reaper Man which are about
Death, the grim reaper, and how it affects the world if he goes on a holiday
or gets fired, and Wyrd Sisters, which is a marvelous parody on
Shakespeare. A good example of his humor is his Dwarven Poetry (1), which
unfortunately got lost in a page rebuild. As soon as I find the link I'll put
it back up.
(1) Gold, Gold, Gold (2), that is. Dwarves just love singing about
gold. (2) Yes, that IS the only word in the song.
Wow, that's a lot of stuff about one author! Then again, he IS good. Click
here
for some more information.
Quentin Tarantino doesn't really fit here, I know. I guess I'll be
adding a separate section for films some time soon. Anyway, here's the script
of his masterpiece,
Pulp
Fiction[down].
John Ronald Ruel Tolkien is one of the founding fathers of the
fantasy genre, with his Lord of the Rings trilogy and related works on
the world of Middle Earth. References to LotR and its prequel The Hobbit
are everywhere, and the books are just great. Strangely enough I haven't been
able to find any homepages dedicated to this master writer.
If you like Tolkien, you should also read the parody Bored of the Rings
if you can find it.
Jack Vance has written loads of good books, most notably the
Lyonesse trilogy and the Planet of Adventure series. There's a lot of
Information here, including
a complete bibliography and book cover scans.
Roger Zelazny, finally, is most noted for his ten-book-long Amber
series. I think the first five are really the best; I just couldn't stop
reading them. A list of Amber characters and a timeline will be up here
shortly. If you've read it, you'll probably love this parody,
Death of Ember. Some more info on Zelazny can be found on the
Fanpage. If you want something non-Amber-related, My Name Is Legion
is a good book, too, as is Jack of Shadows.
Last but not least, I'd like to list myself here because of this
Story I'm writing. It's nothing professional yet, but
who knows what may follow?
Computers and all Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter (UDIC)
is a group of people devoted to Origin's Ultima games, a series of rpgs known
for their excellent storylines, and, in the later ones, the graphics, too.
There's an Ultima-like game coming up called
Homeland,
and I'm working on the storyline and conversation scripts.
I like computer programming, although I'm not a professional (yet). Here's a
Load of
Programming Stuff.
The
Games Domain[down] has some more info
on programming, and a lot of games available for download.
Programming is an art, when done in certain ways. If you don't believe
me, take a look at the
Obfuscated C contests.
And, if you want to pull a joke on someone, here are some
jokes with a
Macintosh.
And, in case you still remember those good old Commodore 64's (which I do,
and I love them), you can download some games at
SharkBite,
Hbbuse,
Nerve and
Arnold.
For more information be sure to check out the
Web Directory and the
Commodore Ring.
For some more nostalgia, somebody has compiled a page of
Arcade Classics.
You are vistor number ;
if you have any comments or additions, or want to sign the
guest book, you can reach me via e-mail:
Pieter 'Archmage' Simoons.
This page was made possible by
Geocities: Hollywood
and was last updated on Wednesday, June 4th.
Role-Playing Games
ElfQuest
(Wendy & Richard Pini)
There's a lot of ElfQuest pages on the web. The first you should look at is,
of course,
WaRP's Official Website,
(which is where the picture
comes from). You may also want to check out the
Portfolio
for more pictures.
Geocities: Hollywood
