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http://en.cataclysmdda.com/ There is a kickstarter, since the community is trying to hire a developer. The coders just work on it part time. you are NOT required to pay a dime, but the videos are worth watching: game is 100% free whether you pay or not. Will NEVER cost a dime. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/568375735/cataclysm-dark-days-ahead-dedicated-developer There are alot of 'lets play' videos on youtube also. Free and open source (so you can change the code). Its created for fun by a group of people. If anyone knows C and wants to mod it please feel free to post mods. The core group of coders will work to role your mod into the main game. This is one of the most in depth games I have played and its free. Good community of developers. Anyone is welcome to help with development. This is a 'roguelike' game. That means the following: -- randomly generated world every time you play -- permadeath: you die you start over (you can copy your save game to back up if you want) -- its hard. its not fair. you will die unexpectedly. -- no graphics. Its all ASCII. the commands are a bit difficult to follow if you have not played a roguelike before -- they launched a kickstarter to higher a coder (at a pretty cheap price) to add features including some graphics, but yoiu are not required to pay at all. It really is free. even if you dont want to pay, its worth going to the kickstarter page to watch the videos. There are number of lets play youtube videos. the game is fairly difficult to learn. I am having trouble getitng past the first day in the new version. My old strategy doesn't work too well. As stated: you dont have to donate. Features: -- very detailed crafting system. you can make anything from a hammer, to a bow, to guns, you can even build or rebuild cars to drive (and run over zombies) -- no levels. just skills levels. Has positive and negative traits (similiar to fallout) -- more than zombies. lots of sci-fi elements. blobs, flaming eye mobs, wovles, animals, giant bees -- day/night cycle and seasons (tip, get night vision.towns are safer at night cause its harder for zombies to see you). -- can cook, hunt animals for food. need to purify water to drink. need food/water to survive -- lots of locations: towns have lots of types of buildings, military bases, science labs, FEMA shelts, ant hives, plus some harder end game stuff -- complex damage system: damage by body part -- fatigue by body part: you wear a backpack to carry more stuff. you can't dodge as well. Game is in constant development. It was started a few years ago and got modded. The original developer moved on and it got taken over by the modders. There is a good wiki, but its not 100% current (this is all volunteer labor). Some tips to get started: -- go to 'options' make the screen bigger. you can see alot more than is on the screen. you have to quick and come back. if you make it too big for your monitor just make it smaller. do what works for you -- in skill points and trait points. raise to 24. you start with 6 game is hard enough. take it easy on yourself at first -- NPCs are disabled by default since they are bugger. there are negative traits to get points back to use on other stuff related to npcs.get the red ones like that. most are at the bottom. wool allergy doesnt hurt much either, near sighted is good (you start with glasses and its easy to find more. -- get archery as a starter skil. its hard to find a bow,but levle 1 archery and level 1 survival you can craft one. bows are good cause you can craft arrows. note starter bows are not as strong as before, but are buffer later -- train archery by getting rocks and throwing at rabbits, then go and 'B'. to butcher to get to 1 -- bow supplies: smash two windows in town. each window crafts a string. you can find a heavy stick at smashed windows or in woods. can then craft a self bow. go back to your starter location and hit 's' to smash the benches. you can then craft arrows (under ammo). to craft press '&' -- go to the wiki and look in commands -- run away. your not strong at first. you get 1 life -- you can die of thirst and hunger, but water first. do NOT drink water from rivers or toilets. fill up an item, then you have to boil it (press & for crafting, and go to drink. tells how to purify water). read the forum. to learn, but you will get wasted alot before you even make it past the first day.

any fantasy out there that mixes fantasy and sci-fi? Ken Scholes does this to some degree and his 4th book just came out. I think the Marjipoor books do this. I picked Lord Valentines Castle up but I have not read it yet. Non-Earth based fantasy. I like my fantasy in a new world.

Does anyone know of any non-urban fantasy that have political structures where the political structures are different from a fantasy version of western europe? I am getting bored with the constant 'my lady/my lord' my king, etc... bits. Something with different political structures? This is getting old. People seem to get more innovative and away from the traditional sheperd hero, but they stick with the same medievil/royalty structure. Anything with republics? Democracy? Military dictatorships? or anything non-European? Daniel Abraham did this a little bit in his first series. I am looking for stuff that is considerably different and not a small twist. Anything with different levels of technology? Brandon did this to some degree in one of his more recent books. I prefer non-steampunk fantasy. Any fantasy books where technology actually advances over time and things change? One of the recurring motiffs of fantasy is that 1000s of years pass and nothing changes. (unless its steampunk). maybe iron age fantasy? (pre-steel. Roman/Greek, Middle Chinese). Any fantasy at all with African or native american cultures? Orson Scott Card did a fantasy series that combined a US Western and Fantasy. Don't like westerns. Prefer a whole different world.

I have FTL. It is ok. Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead(free). The guys developer it are constantly adding new features. It is a zombie survival game with incredible depths. Very deep crafting system. You can even build cars. Very strategic game. Has a very interesting rpg system. http://www.cataclysmdda.com/ -- injuries/encumbrance based on location on body. Wear a backpack, can't dodge as well. so might want to fight with a bow. -- can craft just about anything including cars, weapons, pots,cooking. -- need to eat and drink. need to boil water or get sick -- illness. need to take dayquil/nyquil to cure flue. -- good/bad trait. may need to wear glasses to see. if glases break you can't see. might have asthma and need an inhaler. -- drugs help, but get addicted. -- lots of weapons -- large number of skills. non-level based. you train skills -- large numbers of survival aspects. can get cold. so can't sleep. need a blanket. seasons. so winter is rough. -- lots of different types of mobs. lots of zombie types, giant worms/ants, cougars, bears, etc... -- lots of special locations to explore they have new releases every few weeks. its open source so if you can code, you can help. good wiki and forums for questions. Don't Starve: Commercial rogue like. on steam. cartoon graphics. You are dropped in the woods. don't die. very complex craftng system.

just saw a youtube video for the 'wasteland' mod. Looks cool. I like the technic pack mods and launchers.

Tales of the Maj'eyal (Tome 4)/. Free rogue like. Nice 2d engine. Turn based. Incredible depth.Very hard. Has permadeath after so many deaths. Has a nice in game chat (though game is single player) so you can ask questoions. It is turn based. So has alot of strategy. It is a rogue like with randomized dungeons. gets regular updates and mods. New class just added a couple of days ago (there are over a dozen). Has a nice unlock system. So you get a smaller number of race/class combos to start then as you progress you can unlock more. Makes the game simpler to learn. toom me about 30 to get halfway through the game. I am kind of careless though... don't remember the url. You can google it. See my post on Rogue Likes for other ones that I like.

For those who don't know... most of these are free turn based RPGs. The basic premise is that dungeon levels are randomized and you have permadeath (most of them have 1 life. So you die you start over). They are designed to be very hard. You can backup your saves manually to 'scum' so you can avoid permadeath. This is good to do when you first learn the game, but the real challenge is in figuring out strategies. Most of these use ASCII graphics. Some of them have mods where you can add some tile style graphics to them. The commands can be tricky to learn, however, most of the games use similiar commands so Here are some that I like. There is a website called roguebasin.com that keeps a huge list of these games. Which ones do you like? Nethack: The original classic. This one has a version with graphics called 'falcons eye'. I don't like these graphics because its essential to have the wiki open to get anywhere in the game and I only saw a full screen version. Though it has ASCII graphics it has incredible depth. I recommand a Dwarf Valkyrie if your new to the game. Read how to start it in the wiki (just google it). There are quite a few 'variants' of this that fans have development. Most of them make the game harder. I'd start with vanilla Nethack. You absolutely need the wiki to play. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead: The original developer of this moved on. So people who mod it took it over. They just put up a wiki. Its a zombie survival game. However, it has so much more that just zombies. Very good crafting system. The guys who took it over are adding alot of content. They just put up the wiki. you may want to check out both the new and old forum for tips. The is the most detailed survival type game I have seen. Don't Starve: Goal is don't die. This is commercial. It costs like $12. It has cartoon graphics. You can play the demo in chrome for about 20 minutes. The full version is up for sale on Steam. It is alot of fun. No way to scum in this one. Tales of the Maj'eyal (also called Tome 4): This has a nice 2d graphics engine on top of it. This game you can play in a mode that gives multiple lives. Vast numbers of race/class combos. To make the game more accessible many class/races are unlocked as you get farther in the game. So its less confusing. Forums have very good instructions by fans with strategies. Due to the 2d graphics this one is more accessible than other rogue likes. Nice auto-explore feature so you don't have to click as much. Took me about 30 tries just to get to level 30 (there are 50 levels total). I still have not unlocked everything. Best feature is that there is an in game chat. So though the game is single player you can talk to other players and ask questions while you play. It is also more forgiving because you get multiple (but limited lives). Ancient Domains of Mystery (Adom): Development restarted through a kickstarter effort. Incredibly complex. Vast numbers of commands. I recommend playing other rogue likes first to get used to the commands. I also recommend playing the 1.1 version if you are not paying for the game. He has released 1.2 prelrease 5 for the public, however, this has alot of bugs. you have to pay $40 to get newer versions. Note that the 1.2 version basically makes the game harder. The hardcore fans thought it was too easy. Angband: Old school dungeon bash. Vast number of 'variants'. I'd recommend playing the vanilla version to get used to it. The variants don't always have alot of documentation. Dungeons of Dredmore: Commercial (costs $10 on steam). Tons of mods. Has graphics. Found the inventory management really annoying. Its all images but I can't keep track of what the images look like. Plus it only has a mouse for moving items around in the pack. I'd prefer a list. Good crafting system.

As Peter stated, Abraham also co-authors a sci-fi series with George RR Martins assistant Ty Franck. They use the pen name 'James SA Corey'. I believe Leviathan Wakes and Calabans war have both been nominated for Hugos. Calaban's War has my favorite sci-fi heroine. She is a grandmother, married, Indian, and swares like a sailor. She can go from cursing out government bureacrats to playing with her grand children on a dime. Abraham and Franck really compliment each other well. They break the writing up by viewpoint characters. Abraham's greatest strength is writing regular people and making them interesting. All of his characters are every man characters. Franck writes more eccentric and wild characters. It works very well. Abraham's fantasy books are pretty different from other other fantasy books. His characters are people that are easy to identify with. They seem like people you could meet in real life.

Tigana has gotten very good reviews. I think I will start with that. I am 38 and have read alot of fantasy/sci-fi books over the years. At this point in my life I am looking for things that are different. All fantasy and sci-fi books don't need action to keep me interested. I also like books with solid prose and complex characters. I think I am leaning toward books populated with regular people. I really like the Daniel Abraham style of books. I can relate more to his characters than I can to a 'rand' (though RJ is and will always be my favorite author) or Aragorn type character. I want to root for these guys, but I understand the regular people better. I was like Brandon when I was younger. I wanted to read about stuff blowing up.

Brandon said he is the best fantasy author right now. I don't know anything about his books. Please recommend some of his best ones? Edit: Sorry. can this be moved to other books? I put it in the wrong profile.

Any word on what will happen to Team Jordan when this done? They are supposed to do the guide which will take some time. I believe the 2 assistants have worked for Jim and Harriet for 15 years. BTW, I watched the Team Jordan sessions from Jordancon on youtube. They are a riot. I don't remember the name of the female assistant, but she has some really funny stories about Robert Jordan. Lets just say we are all lucky that Jim did not bother her bunny, or Brandon would never have been able to finish the books.

Been wondering this for a while. When I do 'word count' in MS Word, how does it count words? Is it every word. So the letter 'I' or 'A' is the same as a longer word? When you have a typed page on word, about how many words is that on a page? I am guessing its double space right? In a hardcover and a paperback book, how many words do you normally get per page? just been wondering this for a while. Non-writers generally don't think in number of words.

Its on National Geographic. Something about watching crazy people prepare for the end of the world is endlessly entertaining. There was a 15 year old kind on last night who gets his stash by stealing it from his mom. He also made a 'mace ball bat' and his mom laughed at him. She threatened to take away his toys. My favorite of all time was when a guy picked up road kill, brought it home to his kids and said 'who wants racoon?' If I have sit down and write a book for NanoWrimo, it will be about the end of the world. The crazy people are prepared (and really excited about it) and the normal people are screwed since we didn't stockpile like the nuts.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. It was ok. I don't get how the sex stuff is exciting to people. I think that stuff is written for women. I got bored. It was not really explicit for those of you wondering. There was another 50 pages after the big final battle which I thought dragged on alot. I doubt I'll read any more books in this series. I did like how she took the real earth and flipped it into high fantasy. I thought that was creative.

Red Country has gotten very good reviews. Not sure when I'll get to it. I don't read as much as a lot of people on this forum. I just started Tom Lloyd's first book (based on great reviews from the Elitist Book Reviews), then I think I want to read Assassin's Apprentice. I also picked up a copy of the Marjipoor Chronicles. I have been meaning to read this for years. January 8th is blocked out for Memory of Light. I am looking forward to and dreading the last book. I have been reading these books since I was 16.

See link. To me this means, you don't actually buy an ebook from Amazon, you just get a license. I don't buy ebooks. Does anyone know if any other devices can do this? I have an Ipad, but I don't buy books. I think I bought 2 apps (a few dollars each). I mainly use it for web surfing. Amazon has track record of bullying business practices. http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/

I saw a theory somewhere that Rand will die. Then get ripped out of the dream world or called back with the horn. This happened with another one of the heroes. It would explain the live/die twice prophecy. Jordan tends to forshadow things like this. So odds are its something that was subtly forshadowed. Possibly many books ago. Remember the one about the Aiel left with a 'fragment of a fragment'. That was explained Tower of Midnight. This surprised me, but made perfect sense. Then there is one with Verin lying. At the end of the 2nd book, no one believed she lied. Then in book 12, she reveals that she is black ajah by lying. 10 books later... really liked that one. Did not see it coming and yet it made perfect sense.

saw the video. Hope I didn't come off as a crazy fan boy. I purchased a copy. I have not read an anthology since the first Legends book. I read it because I wanted to read the Robert Jordan story. The best part about it is that it introduced to Robert Silverberg (he had a Marjipoor Short Story in it) and I probably would not have noticed him if not for the anthology. Hope something similiar happens this. BTW, I have listened to most of the writing excuses and may have missed this topic. Your video gave me an idea. How about talking more about deleted scenes from books and how authors and their editors decide what to cut out. I think I read that some authors will write a lot of scenes just for themselves.

Patrick Rothfuss blogged about this new book for charity. I generally don't like anthologies, but when I see 'Wheel of Time' Short Story, it got my attention. There are a few other authors in t here. Any word from Brandon about this? I am guessing he just hasn't gotten around to posting about it yet. There look to be some other interesting ones in there too. I have not read an anthology since the first Legends book (due to the Robert Jordan story). http://grimoakpress.com/2012/08/unfettered-edited-by-shawn-speakman/

Neal Stephenson leads it, but there are other authors. I downloaded the Mongoliad app for my Ipad. It was $50 to get to the story.

Anyone read this? I am trying to figure out if this is just a book with a bunch of hype or something different. At $50, it is very expensive for a book. When I go to the site and look at the FAQ and videos I see a bunch of really vague hype about how this is a totally new experience. When I look at it, it looks like 1 book, written by several authors, and a message board. I see some vague stuff about how the message board is part of the story, but it sounds like its just a place for people to chat. The reviews of the story are mixed. Is it more than this? It sounds like its alot of hype and basically another book.

Does anyone know how these nominations work? When I see a best editor nomination, I generally don't see the books this person worked on next to their name. How do people tell if an editor had a alot of influence on a book? Or are these nominations done more from word of mouth? People who go to conventions and are in the industry hear what authors say about their editors and those are the ones that get nominated. I would think t hat some books require a lot more editorial work to get really good than others. So I am not sure how you read and have any idea if the editor had any influence. One example, I have is based on what Brandon has said about working with team Jordan. He had to dive into Robert Jordan's world. He submitted a vast number of drafts for all 3 books and the editorial work they did sounds like it was really impressive. However, I would think for other books that Brandon writes such as his latest Mistborn novel he would not need as much editorial help since he is familiar with the universe he is writing in. That is just a guess. BTW, I just started watching Brandon's lectures. I don't know if he discusses this stuff later on. These are very good.

I'd like to see a Lews Therin book, but I think Brandon said that Robert Jordan really didn't provide alot of details about him. I would want this to be short and not tell us everything. I think not knowing alot of things makes the few things that are revealed far more interesting. Maybe something that starts not long before the raid on Shayol Ghul with the good guys losing badly and things falling apart. See the debates and fights amongst the Aes Sedai over what to do. See the collapse and stress that people are under. Hint at some things that happened before. A few incites into Lews Therin, but not a tremendous amount. I would prefer a book that basically focuses on Robert Jordan's notes and does not try to make stuff up to flesh out more details. As far as stories beyond the Aiel Waste, I get the impression that Robert Jordan created that part of the world on background and did not really flesh it out alot. I could be wrong. It is similiar to what George RR Martin did when he talks about areas far from Westeros. It is done to give depth, but is not central to the story. I would also like to know more about the different ages. However, I think this will be in the guide.

I think my Favorite book is The Pillars of the Earth. If you saw the TV mini-series, it pales in comparison to the book. This is a historical fiction and not a sci-fi/fantasy. That being said it is epic and is the kind of book that fantasy readers may like. My favorite author is still Robert Jordan, but that is for the series as a whole.

Dragons Path and Kings Blood by Daniel Abraham: Very good. Very unique story. Abraham is a fantasy author for people who have read alot of fantasy and want something different. He is also good for people who don't really like fantasy and want mainstream style characters and writing in a fantasy setting. Enders Game: Read this 15 years ago, but forgot alot about it so I audio'd it. I like the idea a lot. However, when I listen to Ender's voice, he doesn't strike me as a 7 year old kid. Yes I know he was a supergenious, but it seemed like his wisdom and maturity was just too high for his age. It felt a little off. I do understand what the author was trying to do. That being said I liked it again.