Carolina Renaissance Festival keeps alive history and fun
Nobles and royals gather above the heads of the rabble at the opening of jousting for the Carolina Renaissance Festival. (all photos by Ty Johnston)
A pair of Scottish soldiers are upbraided by their officer (he’s the fancy-looking fellow at left) at the Carolina Renaissance Festival.
This past Saturday the Carolina Renaissance Festival kicked off the opening weekend of its twenty-third season, all with 12 theater stages, more than 100 shops, and 25 acres of fun. Located in Huntersville, North Carolina, just north of Charlotte, the festival offers music, games, rides, comedy, costumes, and food. There’s even a falconry show, and what would a renaissance festival be without jousting tournaments.
This is a perfect venue for those of you who like to sashay about in public in your favorite historic costume, but if you should forget your costume or don’t have one, there is a rental office that can provide any look you want. If your costume tastes tend toward the more speculative, the festival offers a Time Travelers Weekend Nov. 12 and 13 where you can dress as your favorite comic book hero, wear that steampunk outfit, appear as a movie monster, or what have you.
The Time Travelers Weekend isn’t the only special event, either, as a Pirates’ Christmas is scheduled as well as a special Halloween weekend, a brewfest, and more.
Think you’ve got a lot of dice? Think again
[caption id="attachment_12106" align="aligncenter" width="742"] Image courtesy of Kevin Cook/DiceCollector.com[/caption] On September 7, 2004, a new world record was set as certified by the folks at Guinness World Records. Kevin Cook earned his certificate verifying him as having the “Largest collection of dice.” The number of dice...
Painting Miniatures and Modding Miniatures – The Basics.
Many of you out there might be like myself and have an addiction to plastic. You collect Dice and 
Minifigures. It can be a consuming hobby that lands in FB groups and Forums looking for the one mini to complete your collection. You might spend loads of time on Ebay looking for deals and steals just to boost up the extras bin or that one exclusive piece you just found out about.
Well if you are like that, then you are like me, Nerdarchist Ted. I cannot fathom a guess as to how many hours I have spent searching for deals on Amazon or Ebay because of my habit/addiction. I have it under control based off of the argument my wallet had with me some years ago. Enough was enough.
As I sat and looked at the hundreds if not thousands of little pre-painted plastic miniatures It begged to question what was I going to do with it all. My friends and I spent years playing Mage Knight. I have loads of them. I spent years playing Heroscape and I had loads of them. I bought loads and loads of D&D minis as well as they were perfectly sized for our Table Top role playing game.
Mage knight there was variety and you had lots of uses for them. With Heroscape unless you were planning to play a 10 player game, not recommended by the way, and everyone wanted the same pieces there was no need to have that many copies of the miniatures.
To Game or Not to Game?
Hello fellow Nerdarchests, I hope to find you all having a great time. I wanted to address an issue some [caption id="" align="alignright" width="350" class="zemanta-img"] The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (TV special) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] of us might have and that is trying to run multiple games...
Dating Sites for Nerds: Because We’re Lookin’ for Love, Too
Romeo and Juliet, painting by Frank Dicksee
Card games, tabletop games, role playing games, they’re all group activities. Even video games often nowadays are played with others, either online or on the couch. Still, for some, gaming of all sorts can be a lonely business if they don’t have that special someone to share it with.
You hear about those online dating sites, but they don’t seem right for you. You check them out and they’re full of beautiful people. Or creeps. And everyone seems to enjoy the same things. Walking on the beach. Walking in the park. Walking the dog. There’s usually lots of walking. And then there are the people who have their who life planned out, or the people who have a laundry list a mile long of all the things their prospective significant other absolutely must have.
Brrp!: Getting your beer on with tabletop RPGs
Dwarfs are always chugging away at a pint of sturdy stout. Halflings and half-orcs aren’t far behind. Even elves have been known to sip a light ale from time to time. Then there are the adventuring parties, the ones who always seem to gather at … you guessed it … the tavern.
Beer seems to flow in tabletop role playing games. From skill checks involving brewing to rules pertaining to how alcohol affects characters’ abilities, it seems some kind of alcoholic drink, quite often a form of beer, is just under the surface, around the corner, or stuffed inside a backpack.
Stairway to Heaven: Fantasy, D&D and rock music
In 1994 the (then) new rock band Weezer released its first album with the eighth track title being a little song called “In the Garage.” The very first line of the song mentions the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The second line brings up a 12-sided die.
That same year a silly movie called “Airheads” hit the theaters. It’s about three stoner rockers who take over a radio station in an attempt to have their song make the airwaves. Towards the end of the movie, Dungeons & Dragons is mentioned.
Nerds throughout the world applauded.
Okay, yeah, such a little thing as bringing up D&D in a pop/rock song or movie might seem hardly worthy of note today, but you’ve got to remember that nerd and geek culture were far less accessible back in the day, and until then about the only time Hollywood had admitted D&D existed was during a scene in Spielberg’s E.T. Comic books, role playing games, even fantasy and science fiction literature, had not become accepted so much by the larger, overall culture, and often seemed shunted off to dark, little stores surrounding college campuses. Fantasy and the other speculative genres were often considered the stuff of children, worthy only of Saturday morning cartoons.
Ty’s Gaming Resolutions for the 2016 New Year
In a matter of days it’s going to be a new year, and like the beginning of every new year, many of us make resolutions. Some of us will try to lose weight or quit smoking. Others will try to be nicer to people or maybe promise to put money into savings. Me? This year I’m going to try to be a better tabletop role-player. How do I hope to accomplish this? By following my resolutions below.
Expanding my horizons in the new year, Part I
Are you going to watch the ball drop to kick in the new year?
I have a tendency to find a role-playing game I like, then stick with it and nothing else for months, even years. Right now I’m enjoying Fifth Edition D&D, so I’ve been playing lots of it. See, I’ve been gaming for 35 years, off and on, and I’ve played all kinds of systems, some good, some bad, and I guess now in my forties I’ve grown a bit … maybe “lazy” would be the right word, though I prefer “skeptical.” I’m usually not interested in learning yet another system, especially if it’s one which I know I won’t be playing more than maybe once or twice. I need to break this habit. There are lots of great games out there which I’ve yet to experience, and a few which I’ve only experienced once or twice. So, one of my gaming resolutions is to play more games that are new to me, to enjoy the experience of different game systems. I’m especially interested in trying out some zombie survival games.
Expanding my horizons, Part II
2015 gamer gift suggestions for the holidays
By the time you read this, Hanukkah will have passed, but Christmas and Kwanzaa and other holidays are still more than a week away, which means there is still time to purchase presents for your favorite tabletop role players and other gamers. But what to get your friends? Rulebooks and dice are the easy answer, but likely your pals will already have those. If you want to get them a different type of present, check out some possibilities below.
Something chocolate this way rolls
Nerd Craft | Making a Doll Furniture Spinning Wheel
A giant miniature spinning wheel!
So probably many of our regular readership would much rather be reading “Wheel of Time” than reading about how I spent my time crafting a spinning wheel, but to those interested in the fine art of nerd craft, please do read on. If you’ve been following my take on the Grimm’s Fairy Tale of Rumplestiltskin I’ve been chipping away at, you may have seen this piece in the background of a shot already.
Nerd Craft: Miniature Crafting a Throne & Crown
Throne and an example of wooden trim used to make decorative elements.
Hey Nerdarchists, I’m still working the next dimensional illustration (sadly this weekend was jam-packed with shooting videos and gaming- I know, you weep for me right?), but I figured I spend the time to show-off some of the miniature crafting I did for the last shoot in a lil segment I’d like to call “Nerd Craft“. The main set pieces were a throne and a crown worn by the king figure.
Famous Wizards of Distinction — Backgrounds and Spells
Throughout the ages, in both myths and fantasies, there are many famous wizards and magic users who rise to a high level of distinction through their associations, actions, backgrounds, spells, and creations. Gathered here is an ever expanding group of some of the Famous Wizards of...
Fantasy Dimensional Illustrations by Ryan Friant
Hello my fellow Nerdarchists, Ryan here. Many of my contributions have been seen on Nerdarchy more than read. I’ve been doing the “How’s to Speeks Goblin” comic strip for the last year, but I’ve decided to change directions and do something completely different for the website- dimensional illustration! If you’re wondering what the heck that even means, I’ll explain it later- promise!
Skesis from Jim Henson’s “The Dark Crystal”
Raised on Fantasy Art
Genre art, specifically fantasy art has always been a huge passion for me. I grew-up on Jim Henson, specifically loving his collaborations with Brian Froud to create films such as Labryinth and the Dark Crystal. Later on I got really into the art of Tony Diterlizzi, who’s art you might recognize from the Planescape box set of the 90’s and other Dungeons & Dragons products, Magic the Gathering cards, and his fantastic children’s books- there are countless other book cover, children’s book and RPG interior artists who’s work I enjoy. Later I would come to also really love the work of Arthur Rackham (a fun bit of lore about Mr. Rackham is that his grandfather was the infamous pirate Calico Jack Rackham) and Rednose Studio. If you’re not familiar with any of these great fantasy artists, do yourself a favor and Google their work. There are many, many other artist’s whose work I admire, but when I think about the artists that most directly influences my art, that’s about my pantheon right there.
My Secret Life Playing Dungeons & Dragons and Other RPGs
Hello and welcome to Nerdarchy readers. Nerdarchist Dave here and this article is going to be a little different than most I’ve written. It’s going to be a lot more personal. RPG Games have been a part of my life for a long time now. I was first exposed them at age 5, but it would be a few years later before I’d start playing Dungeons and Dragons regularly with some friends.
Gaming was great for me. It was a way to escape the real world and immerse myself in a fantasy one where the monsters were less scary. In the real world I grew up in the party house. There were drugs, alcohol and violence on a regular basis. It wasn’t uncommon for the police to show up. At an early age I learned not to have friends over because I never knew what they’d see or be exposed to.
Guide to Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse — It’s All About that Gear
Greetings ghouls and gals. Nerdarchist Dave here and I’m going to try to help you get through a zombie apocalypse. First things first it’s all about the preparation. Once you find yourself in the middle of an invasion from the living dead it might already be to late.
