The Creation of Fictional Orcish Tribes

If one were to attempt to create a fictional world wherein Orcs were an actual race, a people with a culture, society and existence of their own, not just a band of monsters who seem to exist only to go to war, then how would one go about creating just such a concept? One would posit certain truths: that they would be a tribal society, that they would exist in areas of poor resources in order to justify their martial nature, and that they would be fractious and given to internecine warfare. How can one take this concept and make it real?

First, let's posit that they reside in a mountain range about the size of the Alps, large enough and infested with enough orcs that the humans wouldn't be able to cleanse them with a few sweeps of their army. Second, let's posit that the lowland tribes are the most prosperous, deal the most with the humans, and have evolved to be smaller and less strong. Therefore we have a difference between the more primordial highland orcs and the more civilized lowland orcs. Let's also posture that the lowland orcs control most of the passes except for the largest one which is manned by a human army, and that they are also herders of sheep and goats which they use for subsistence. Let's also give the lowland orcs mountain ponies so that they have some form of mounted combat.

Now, we would have three main lowland tribes, each covering an area as large as Switzerland along the mountain's edges, while the interior of the mountain belongs to one vast and broken tribe, equivalent to the Mongols but weak and more based on clans than a single tribal identity. These three lowland tribes would be huge, numbering some 30,000 individuals each, and derive their resources from a combination of trade, herding, taking tolls from use of the passes and raiding the southern and northern kingdoms. What are the identities of these three Orcish tribes, however? That's what we need to get into in the next article, as we examine their composition.

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How To Improve In Magic: The Gathering

Besides just reading articles all the time, you should also always keep yourself updated with the available cards in the format through visual spoilers or browsing through discussion forum constantly. When a new format is about to be released, go through the whole spoiler card by card to know every available card in the format, even you did or did not attend the prerelease. Doing so would help you prepare your games and decks against cards in the format, as you know now which card could single handedly destroy your deck or vice versa against another deck.

An example here would be the all-star dredge deck that was amazingly powerful and popular a year back in extended. It was so powerful that every deck prepares multiple sideboard slots against it, but is the deck prepared for these sideboard cards? As the deck revolved around its graveyard, it has to take into consideration all cards that could single handedly destroy it, and how to go against them. You will need to pack permanent removals for Leyline of the Void, Tormod's Crypt or Yixlid Jailer. Is that enough? Do you win when your opponent is tapped out? No because there's lots of Ravenous Traps running around! What if you don't have 3 cards going into your graveyard this turn?

There's still Faerie Macabre to consider! However, when a deck board in such cards which does not interact with itself, it makes the deck weaker against different source of threats. Several pros attempt to attack this angle through a transformation sideboard of heavy creatures and equipment. Doing so would in return caught the opponent who might (or might not) boarded in a million anti graveyard cards, and thus stealing back the sideboard games. This is a basic example of understanding the cards available in the format against you, and vice versa against others, could help you win or lose a game.

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Softball Hitting - A Step-By-Step Approach

The game is tied, bottom of the sixth inning, runners on second and third and you team has two outs and are trailing by one run. As you make your way to the plate the only thought in your mind is the need to simply make good contact. But on the walk you realize that for the past three weeks all you have done is pop up to second base or hit slow ground balls to third. And now the thought of making good contact seems to only be a hope.

The art of hitting in softball is very different than hitting in hardball. Here you are no longer trying to determine what type of pitch is coming your way. You are no longer concerned about the miles per hour that the pitcher is throwing. And the last thought on your mind is what location the ball will be as it passes home plate. Now all you need to do is watch a rather large ball float through the air and make a slow drop towards the plate. Since the pace of the game is slower, the pace of an at bat is also slower.

Since pitch speed is no longer of importance then bat speed is vital. The best way to improve bat speed is to narrow the size of the front foot step to meet the ball. In softball it is important that you control this step. It should only be for a few inches and your front foot should never be picked up off of the field by any measurable distance. Controlling your hitting step will increase your bat speed and enable you to make better contact with the ball.

The one simple and true law of hitting a slow pitched softball is to make contact with the top half of the ball. Any ball that is hit on the bottom half will either be a pop up or a long fly. Both of these types of hits normally will result in another out. And of course this is the exact opposite of what is wanted and expected in slow pitch softball.

By concentrating on the top half of the ball you will be setting yourself up for success. If you miss the top half by just a fraction then you will be making contact with the equator of the ball and will thus hit a line drive. With good bat control you will then be able to hit the line drive to any field or opening that you choose.

Now then, by concentrating on the top half of the ball and making good, balanced contact, you will be able to place the ball to any field you desire. Now you will have the opportunity to drive in runs, turn singles into doubles, and maybe clear the bases with the all important home run. The secret is concentrating on the top half of the ball. Spend time in the batting cages to make this second nature and enjoy a rise in your batting average that will most certainly have more than one beer bought for you by your teammates after picking up the victory.

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Online Role Playing Options

Role playing is an act that is natural to everyone. As children we do it constantly without ever knowing it, from playing doctor, to storming an evil castle, make believe is part of the intrinsic mechanisms in our brains. By engaging in this activity you are stretching your imagination, exercising your ability to think theoretically and to envision scenarios that are beyond the ordinary. Today, one of the best places to engage in these types of role playing games is on the internet.

World of Warcraft is probably the biggest and most popular role playing game around. It is a massively multiplayer graphically based system, which is much like a video game that you would play on a home console, except that your graphical avatar exists in a perpetual world, which is shared by millions of other characters who can log on at any time of the day or night, ensuring that there is always something new to do in the game.

There are hundreds of other graphic based multiplayer RPG games including Asheron's Call, Neverwinter Nights, and Furcadia. These vary in sophistication, with some being built on advanced 3d modeling technology, while others are much simpler, resembling the 16 bit Nintendo RPG's of the early nineties.

Beyond these graphical titles, there are also a number of mixed media, and literature based role playing systems, which attempt to give you a more subtle gaming experience. Many of these are based on forum or chat software systems that allow users to interact with one another, writing parts of a story in tandem. Each player assumes the role of a character and then the story progresses by the player writing about how their character reacts to what is taking place in the virtual world.

Some advanced systems incorporate pictures, videos, and music in order to create a more immersive atmosphere. Facebook and other social networks are often used for these types of games, even though their terms of service often expressly forbid the creation of fake role playing accounts.

http://www.rolepages.com/ is a role playing social network that is designed to give people who want to engage in literary role playing the social networking tools they need to effectively create interactive stories with one another. The author of this article, Jim Slate, is one of the moderators for RolePages.com

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Gaming Chairs Make You a Better Gamer

So I went to London for Christmas and New Year this year and man it was cold! It snowed the whole time so my friend Billy, who I was staying with, had plenty of time to show off his gaming skills to me. We played a ton of games and he whooped me every time! Hate it when that happens! He's got All the latest games and a pimped up Xbox to play them on.

Yeah I was impressed. May be I'm the last gamer in the world to find out about them, but the thing that had me buzzing the most was his brand new Gaming Chair. I kind of knew about them but never seen or used one before. Once I got in it - I was hooked! Did it improve my game? Nope! Did I have more fun? Yup! It was awesome - had hours, no wait, DAYS of gaming chair nirvana!

The guy spends all his time in it. He even sits in it to watch movies on his fat 42" high-def. flat screen! He didn't get a lot of time in it once I caught the Gaming Chair bug though! It's really contagious. If you're a gamer and you haven't bought one yet - you got to get one.

The first thing I did when I got home was to hit the net and check out what's available out there. There are lots of different types and they are really affordable if you know where to look.

Computer gaming chairs might be new to the world of gaming but they are a great way to have a better gaming experience. I mean they're not magic - they won't make you a world-class champion gamer - but they will help you get there if you want to improve, because you won't want to get off the gaming chair once you're in it! Some of these gaming chairs have an amazing sound system built it. The best ones have wireless transmission, sub woofers with integrated vibration systems, swivel pedestal bases, rocker bases and they connect to most of the popular consoles including iPods, TV's and MP3 players too. And the best thing is that you don't have to break the bank to get one.

I bought the Lumisource - 4.1 Surround Boom Chair, which is the same gaming chair as my friend Billy. They had it on special and I got it for less than $140.00!

This gaming chair looks super cool, is easy on the back and butt, light to move around and has all the best features packed into it for less than half the price of an iPhone!

"The 4.1 Boom Chair has a unique silhouette with speakers both aimed right at the user and from the headrest! The unique features of this chair are sound-activated features an ergonomic design, and two PAIRS of 3 inch internal speakers. This chair has an adjustable headrest, breathable mesh, and additional lumbar support for added comfort. The 4.1 features adjustable volume and bass/treble along with a fade knob that controls which speakers you want to sound to come out of, for a custom sound environment." - http://www.lumisource.com/4_1.html

The main features are:

* 2 Pairs of 3 inch 2-way speakers!
* Powerful 4 inch Subwoofer
* Adjustable volume and bass/treble control
* Adjustable Fade between speakers
* Lumbar support/comfort padding
* Adjustable headrest with speakers
* RCA input/output ports

The Gaming Chairs Online site specializes in Lumisource Gaming Chairs only, so you don't have to trawl the site to find the chair that suits you best. I found their site to be really easy to buy from and they did exactly as they said they would. Five days after I bought it a UPS truck pulled up outside my apartment and I was having hours of fun in my pursuit to whoop Billy the next time I go up against him!

Watch out buddy!

To check out all the best Lumisource gaming chairs in one place go to Gaming Chairs Online. They have lots of different types at very affordable prices to suit any budget. They provide a fast, friendly and efficient service and also have a some cool accessories. Have fun!

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Riot Games' Frontier Justice

It might not be perfectly accurate to call what the independent developer Riot Games has done 'frontier justice,' but they're certainly crossing borders into new territory when it comes to taking care of hoodlums in gaming communities, so call it what you like.

The service team at Riot were presented with a problem, a big one. Their game, League of Legends, garners a considerable slice of a niche-within-a-niche genre that first came to popularity in the form of a modification to the Warcraft 3 realtime strategy game. It has a particularly rabid fan base, and because of its free-to-play marketplace payment system, it became somewhat of an independent game development success story. Due to the nature of their product though, and furthermore the nature of the user base from which they got most of their players, the League of Legends ladder became plagued with poor sportsmanship.

Seeing a potential threat to the lifespan of their game, Riot implemented a reporting system that allowed for their moderators to handle customer complaints and reprimand offending players, the ones that ruin or otherwise sour other players' game time. This would have worked, had their problem not been as rampant as it indeed was. They received as many as ten thousand separate griefing complaints every single day. Therein lay their problem.

Not to be defeated, Riot has since developed a system to control poor sportsmanship that is unlike any other to appear in a gaming community. They've dubbed it the 'Tribunal' system. Every player has a rank, a 'Summoner Level' to be specific, and once a player reaches the highest summoner level, they have the ability to become a judge. When a player is a judge, they can randomly pull from all of the case files that are generated when a player or players register a complaint with the system. These case files detail the events of the match and the chat logs, making sure to leave out player names to prevent favoritism. The judge then decides whether or not the player in question was in the wrong, and a punishment is issued, depending on the number of previous infractions the offending player has made.

The system doesn't allow just one judge to make the call though. The case files are made for relatively quick review, so that a good deal of judges can make a decision about a single case, and the punishment (or pardon) is handed down according to the majority decision. To make sure the system runs smoothly, judges themselves are tracked, and if they disagree with the majority opinion too frequently, they lose their judge status and can no longer review cases.

This is quite a change within the world of griefers and the gamers who hate them, and if Riot's system proves to be as strong as it seems to be, there will be imitators, especially since we're starting to witness the dawning of a new independent gaming renaissance, and are thus seeing smaller and smaller companies having to come up with intelligent ways to handle their massive player bases.

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Getting in Character With Free Online Games

If you have always had an imaginative side that likes to come to life, there is no better place to turn than the internet. Through free online games, you can embrace your desire to live out your fantasies, and you can essentially become anyone you want by taking on the roles of different characters. Maybe you have always dreamt of being a hero, like a knight in shining armor, or possibly it has always been a far fetched fantasy of yours to be a secret agent who takes on daring tasks and challenging obstacles to save the lives of innocent civilians. Regardless of who or what it is you want to become, free online RPG games are for you!

RPG games are evolving like crazy and they are becoming one of the hottest gaming genres for people to immerse themselves in on the internet. People love taking on realistic roles that put them in the shoes of someone, or something else. With improved graphics and thousands of games to play, for free, you can bring your wildest gaming fantasies to life with just a few clicks of the mouse! The 7 Deadly Sins Game will let you bring out your inner bad boy. The goal of this intriguing RPG game is to commit all of the seven deadly sins within a given time frame. In one fortnight, you must take on the role of Ed and challenge your skills to come out on top! If sinning isn't exactly up your alley, a game like A Smashing Day Out Game might just do the trick. In this game, you take the lead and make choices that will create an entire story for you. This game is simple, family friendly, and takes RPG to new heights.

If education is on your to do list, you might want to take a break from indulging in RPG games to play some fun, free, and educational typing games that will sharpen your skills. With tons of games online that embrace fun storylines that incorporate timed typing tests into the scheme of things, you can improve your keyboard skills while simultaneously having fun. This category of free games online is great for kids who are just learning computer skills, or adults who want to brush up on their key strokes. Games like the Alphattack Game make it easy to get lost for hours in typing games! Saving the world with timed typing skills is just another task in the every day life of an avid online gamer!

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