Dragon Age: Origins is one of the coolest games I’ve ever seen, RPG or no. Among RPGs it holds up, and even surpasses, some of its greatest predecessors (which were also all made by Bioware in my opinion) . It was more fun than Baldur’s Gate 2 and Planescape, even. Of course the playing style just gets more and more easy to use with each new game they release, such as the intelligently redesigned menu system in Dragon Age. But the game itself makes you care about the characters more than any RPG I’ve seen.

The World (top row): Dragon Age took a traditional Tolkien world of races: Human, Dwarves, Elves; and all those bad guys of course. The screenshot  on the left is from the Dwarven city. What’s cool about the world in this game specifically is the detail of each race choice. When you start the game you are thrown into the midst of 6 very cool stories. On top of that, each race has very serious political and racial tensions, and you can easily change the story by taking one stance or another. I’ve never felt so guilty playing an evil character before. I even went so far as to quit playing the evil dwarf path because I felt like a real bastard, it’s fantastic.

Dragon Age truly begins once you leave your home, for a number of excellent reasons based on who you play of course, and venture out into the world. Here is when you really start to see what the High Fantasy genre has done to video games. The two biggest themes I saw in this game came from two series, The Songs of Fire and Ice (by George R. R. Martin) and The Wheel of Time (by Robert Jordan). In the game, Gray Wardens (ahem, warders?) are an elite force who must save the world. You guessed it, you must join the Gray Wardens.

The Characters (bottom row): The people you meet in the game are the best example of the new age of RPGs. I mentioned above that I thought they took lots of hints from the high fantasy genre, and I’ll emphasize it even more here. Characters are what high fantasy is all about. The depth you get to know people in this game make you care about each and every one of them, for better as often as worse. The interactions between them is hilarious, and the voice actors make it all even better still.

Even characters you don’t get control over have distinct personalities. You end up hating or rooting for most of them as well (Bann Teagan comes to mind). If you only play this game for the interactions between characters, you will still absolutely love this RPG. I would definitely recommend trying it out if you are into fantasy (which you should be, if you are on my blog, right?!).

Oh yeah, and be blown away by this video, I recommend viewing it in HD.

We have a very special treat tonight on TNS! I’m proud to share the prologue of my current draft of The Forest Awakens. This story means a whole lot to me. The main characters are all based on my sisters, nieces and nephews. I was fascinated by how different they each was from one another. It was fun trying to put those personalities into characters in a novel. The prologue starts it all off with a Faerie princess, Lorynne, who is based on my little sister.

The novel is the tale of young Colby Chemil, a kid used to being different. When the headmaster of his school, Kalthero Beldonas, suddenly disappears, the new headmaster’s brutal tactics force Colby to flee to a mysterious forest. As he travels, the forest itself helps guide him to questions about his past. While he is away, his best friends take it upon themselves to find their old headmaster, and discover how he was so quietly deposed.

As always, I hope you enjoy the story. Narrated by David Carroll.

Today is a very blah day in the Leonard household. I thought a little blog post about accomplishing the first of my 2010 goals would make me feel a little bit better. My super-nerd obsession with MUDs is the focus of today’s post.

I’ve told you guys about the little text-based online RPG I run, called Lands of Draknor. Well for the new year David (who is also the narrator for our podcast) and I decided on 3 big changes we wanted to add. The first, which we finished up this week, was a brand new creation system for characters. It’s very cool! I’ll post a screenshot soon and talk more about it!

Hopefully today ends up better than it has started. If anyone wants to try the game, we have a free client to play from!

Deposed is the story of good King Ralon who is abruptly stripped of his throne as the tale begins. Unable to give up, he must find the will to not only stay alive, but win his throne back as well. Desposed consisted of 6 parts. Brought to you in full for the first time! If this is your first time joining us, it’s a great way to sample our podcast. If you like it, check back every Tuesday for part of a new story!

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As always, I hope you enjoy the story.

Samantha has sold a number of new banners from our Etsy shop. She’s gotten so good at photoshop that she pretty much does all my graphic design work. She really has an amazing eye for art. If you didn’t know, she makes jewelry, so go check out her website. I wanted to share her latest creations with everyone. Click on any image to see the full size.

Alas, we have come to it, the final episode of Deposed. Ralon has had enough, and he is ready to take back his throne! Will his plan work, or is Erilyia destined to stay in the hands of a tyrant? Listen and find out!

Remember, next week’s post will be Deposed, all 6 parts, in entirety. If you have a friend you think might like the podcast, it would be a great chance for them to listen to our latest story from the beginning. We always appreciate any support we get from our listeners.

As always, enjoy the story!

I approached this story with some trepidation. Sure, I’d heard the warnings, I knew George R. R. Martin had a tendency to murder his darlings as they say. That’s hard for me. When I read fantasy, I love getting to know characters and rooting for them. I’ll be honest, I was nervous.

Now that that’s out of the way. Don’t listen to anyone else who expresses this concern! Trust me, just read it anyway. It is a breathtaking story with an enormous scope of the world. The imagery is some of the best I’ve read in years. A wide berth of cultures, races, and languages; and all very well executed.

He does kill characters, rather a lot of them, in fact. If you have even a slight love of history though, you will still love this book. It feels like a real story, magic doesn’t save the day, and betrayal knows no bounds. But there are many other characters, and all are just as worth getting to know. Even when you hate them, and you will.

As the title suggests, the series starts with a kingdom that has had peace for some time; one on the verge of disaster. The King of the realm has grown soft, fat and happy as they say. In the world of politics though, softness looks weak, and Kings have many rivals. The book very much is a game of thrones. Martin’s writing will have you both cheering and snearing with equal intensity. I was drawn into the world right from the start. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks for bearing with us over the holiday season. We are very happy to release this latest part after a refreshing break. As a bit of a reminder, the deposed King Ralon has found an unlikely ally in the form of a retired spymaster. With renewed resolve he is determined to see Sildon stripped of the throne. In this part, Sildon must discover what allies might be on his side.

As always, thanks for for listening!