I keep a list of topic ideas. I add to it when something comes to mind, remove items when I have covered them, and I generally keep it ordered with the oldest items on the top. I now have five items at the top of the list that I want to write about but I can’t quite do them justice. Five items that will never happen, but which keep rattling around in my brain.
So I am going to set them free. Pick them up and run with them if you like. Or let them wither on the vine.
My insanity includes the desire for the following things.
1) A Forgotten Realms MMO
I played AD&D in the Forgotten Realms world. I played a Forgotten Realms based MUD for 10 years. I have actually read Forgotten Realms fiction. I want to walk in a 3D rendered version of that world. I do not care so much about the sticking to a particular AD&D rule set… or sticking to any of them… I just want to run free in that world. There is enough lore in the modules and books to create a world and a series of expansions that would make EverQuest look meager in comparison.
Until then, my idea for a T-Shirt: I wanted Forgotten Realms but all I got was crappy old Dungeon and Dragons Online.
2) EverQuest Completely Redone
By Blizzard on the World of Warcraft engine. No, really. Stop looking at me like that, I am not kidding.
WoW = Easy to play, light system requirements, and stylized (thus longer enduring) graphics
EQ = Huge world, awesome lore, cranky old engine, and dated graphics that will never catch up
I want to blend these two in perfect measure and make the ultimate super Norrathian experience! I want Norrath to live forever… in a form I can actually stand to play!
Put down the torches and the pitchforks. Please? I’d take the EQ2 engine even.
I said these were insane right up there in the title, didn’t I?
3) A First Age Middle Earth MMO
Okay, here is the Tolkien world in which I want to adventure. Screw the Third Age and the rise of men. Even the Second Age is full of panty waists, First Age leftovers, and missed opportunities. I want Beleriand near the end of the First Age!
I want the elves at their height, but divided! I want the dwarvish masters of huge underground realms! I want the armies of Morgoth at large! I want the fate of the silmarils in doubt! I want to hang out with a bunch of nerds who actually know what I am talking about!
There are some seriously larger than life names, both good and evil, to play with. Sauron? That Third Age badass? He’s just one of Morgoth’s Lieutenants! Balrogs? You think one was bad? First Age has dozens of them! Dragons? Morgoth was breeding them as pets!
And locations! Who doesn’t want to see Nagothrond, Gondolin, or Angband?
And here is a Middle Earth venue where PvP would completely rock. Monster play in LOTRO? Bah! Kids stuff! I want dwarves, elves and men on one side and orcs, trolls, and more men on the other side. But these sides do not get along among themselves, there being factions within factions, so betrayal is always an option.
I would be such a hard core Noldor. Kinslaying? Won’t be a problem as long as you don’t get between me and a silmaril.
4) EVE Online Converted Into High Fantasy
I am really impressed with the mechanics of EVE Online. The problem is, as has been oft pointed out, that ships in space are very impersonal. But imagine this universe converted to high fantasy… or maybe cyber punk… or steam punk if you want… but some world where your avatar in the game is a person, not a ship.
A skill based system is hardly new. You only have to pick up a copy of Ultima Online for that. But a system with as much depth as EVE has is amazing. There is nothing else like it, and people who play it sense that. It is what draws them into the game. There is a feeling of wonder and fear that EVE’s wide-open system has that must be duplicated in avatar based system.
5) An EverQuest Podcast
Wait, this isn’t actually insane, is it? Why isn’t there one?
So what insane ideas are bugging you?
The Ancient Gaming Noob 