My Thoughts on Minecraft

I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember. There is no other activity that consumes more of my spare time than gaming. I am dedicated to my hobby and I would be willing to sacrifice many other things in life just to be able to play games even more.

My adventures with Minecraft started in early 2013. Having heard about the game from several friends of mine, I was curious enough to create an account myself and start playing immediately. I will never forget the day when I entered the rich and fabulous world of Minecraft. I was tossed in the middle of a huge, yet very impressive, challenging randomly-generated world. It was an experience like no other. In case you are not familiar with Minecraft, I would like to tell you that it is nothing like World of Warcraft for example. In Minecraft, you shape the world around you by building or gathering objects. There is also combat to allow you to gather some resources such as food you need to stay alive.

Since I am such a gaming enthusiast, I buy gaming gear from time to time related to some games I used to play in the past or ones that I keep playing until this date. I don’t have any Minecraft Related Merchanise in my possession yet, but I believe that it is all going to change soon when I get my hands on some Minecraft gear. I like to brag about the games I play, so wearing or having something that signifies that I am a Minecraft player would indeed be a splendid idea. There are already several items I am planning to purchase, which means that I am going to make a list of all of them to see in which order I am going to try to get them. I’ll start with something smaller such as Minecraft T-shirts, after which I will consider buying even more items.

What do YOU want?

The Editorial Xvarts are all ears (literally - still working out these new polymorph spells)!  What sort of articles would you like to see in The Oerth Journal?  We have a list of article ideas (page link just over there --->), but let's face it -- that list has been floating around since Erik Mona was editor (whatever happened to that guy, anyway?).  It's OLD.  We want New, Hot, Current, Exciting, and Something with an i- in front of it. 

Do you want the down-low on goblins in Greyhawk?  Tell us!  Wondering about Jallarzi Sallivarian?  Our dedicated staff of Writer-Flumphs are standing (floating, actually) by to bring you details! Want to see a centerfold featuring the Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra or Bigby?  The Xvarts are deadlocked right now - you could be the tie-breaker!

Even better, click here and send us a proposal for your own article!

The state of Canonfire!, 2012

A nice little letter from Cebrion on Canonfire!, specifically regarding that site and plans for the new year, but referencing the Oerth Journal as well.  Two bits are worth repeating here:

"Launching a fully realized "Canonfire! Chronicles"(working title) special features format PDF specifically for featuring fully contained Adventures, select Article collections, Postfest! compilations, map collections, and similar things.As a part of getting this put in place, it may be that The Oerth Journal will be re-tasked, similar to what happened with Dragon Magazine when Dungeon Magazine came onto the scene. As such, The Oerth Journal would be more like Dragon Magazine, featuring all of the varied special interest articles that The Oerth Journal has mostly been known for. Lengthy adventures, really large gazetteer-style offerings that literally could stand on their own as a supplement book, and anything not really fitting the format of The Oerth Journal all that well would be relegated to being featured in Canonfire! Chronicles."

A quick note on this from someone who's been involved in the Oerth Journal for sometime, namely me: there has been a lot of discussion over the years (and I do mean -years-) about creating a sort of "Oerth Journal Presents" imprint to handle exactly the type of content discussed above.  Adventures can be editing nightmares, and reprinting articles from CF (or other sources) has not been seen as within our writ.  The CFC will put the best of Canonfire back into view, and allow the OJ to focus on what it does best: providing, new, high-quality, fan-created content for the World of Greyhawk. It's win all around.

And speaking of "fan-created"...


" It seems to be a popular misconception that only the work of a few people is published in The Oerth Journal in particular, but that is simply not true. Anyone can submit their writing to The Oerth Journal, or to Canonfire!, and the same can be said of Canonfire! Chronicles once it is launched. And don?t forget Postfest! too, as that is a great avenue for getting one's feet wet. That's how I started off myself. Little did I know what I was getting myself into, but don't let that put you off from doing so! :D"

The NEW Oerth Journal!

Issue 26 is now available!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5851594/Downloads_Section/Oerth_Journal/OJ_26te.pdf

Happy Needfest!

Contribution

If there are other sites or boards around the web that you think would be interested in The Oerth Journal, please leave us a note in the comments below, or start your own thread and post a link below! We want to get the word out! I would like to thank Geek Tales for their continuous support and contribution. The same goes for Pai Girl.

What We Got?

Currently submitted to the Oerth Journal: A well-developed & illustrated article on the Free City of Highvale; an article on Shaofeng (may need more development); an article on Secret Societies in Ket; a brief (1-page) magical-item article; and a Geoff adventure (this might not be a real submission. have to look into it. Might be just passing through.)

Page-wise we're looking good; Highvale will clock in at at least 30 pages, I think, Ket is 10, the magic box is 1, Shaofeng is 6 with lots of room for growth.  The adventure is 81 (!!!) pages; font and formatting might drop that to 70 or a little less, but we'll still have to decide what to do about it, assuming it's intended to be published.  I think we might be being used as some kind of courier service.  I feel so dirty.  ;)

Personally, I'd like to see:

• an article about a lesser known deity, or the (unique) servants of a powerful deity - creatures a PC party of moderate level might interact with.  
•  Articles that deal with mechanical issues & offer rules options are always hard to come by.  
•  GH specific races in 4e or Pathfinder format is a simple idea.  
•  4e domains for GH gods, or anything converting GH material to Pathfinder rules.  
• Magic items that aren't artifacts.  
• Spellbooks.  
• New races, though there are so many cliches this would be a real minefield (dragon-people; cat/badger/dog/animal-people; winged people; half-people; submissions from people that capitalize their Races like Elf and Dwarf; races that are outcast and misunderstood; races that are made up of solitary wandering immortal types (actual or functionally) and apparently breed by releasing spores into the air or something; races that are "like orcs, but different"; races that were created by their god (who is new to Oerth); races that were kicked out by their god (who never acted like this before); races from another planet/plane/sphere/dimension....  The uldra, from Dragon magazine, were a race that worked. IMO.
• Short, simple, adventure sites, at least a paragraph, no longer than a page.  Not mapped, just simple descriptions & rumors.  Solid locations on the map, not vague.
• Articles describing one hex of the Darlene map.
• Articles tying old (or new) D&D products to Greyhawk.

And Monkeyboyjones wants "more on Valley of the Mage, Fading Lands (which in my mind are gateways to Ravenloft), Scarlet Brotherhood (in context of them actually being monks), Hepmonaland and what exactly is beneath the Corusk Mtns."

Send for the doctor!

OJ #26 is on the way.  (Whether the post title references a birth or a heart attack is up to you.)  Aside from what I'm told is a minor formatting issue, it's all set (I'm also told this is a "New England" phrase that gets puzzled looks in other parts of the country and particularly overseas) and will be out later this week.

I'll post the link here absolutely as soon as I get it.