My Favorite Websites

Do you know what a MUD is? It's short for Multi-User Domain. This one is based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and boy is it fun! The programmers, or Creators as they are known on the Disc, have put elements of the books into this text-based roleplaying game. It takes a while to get the hang of it, and since it's text-base, it's good to have a map - I recommend Airk's maps.
You can be a witch, wizard, priest (there are seven gods to choose from), warrior, thief or assassin. Each guild has specific primary skills and special abilities. I have alts, or characters, in the Witches' Guild, the Thieves' Guild, the Wizards' Guild and the Priests' Guild. I have a lot of fun with this MUD, and the people on it.
I recommend it for Discworld fans, or anyone looking for a MUD that isn't just some "hack and slash" deal. It's a lot of fun to play and there's always something new to find.
Click on the picture at left to go to the MUD website.

I don't know where my friend Valerie got the picture at left, but it's cute, isn't it? Anyway, since she's the only one of my friends who has a website, I put a link to it here. The picture on the right is the fronstpiece from The Wake, the last anthology of Neil Gaiman's famous Sandman series. She has laid out a plan for doing a cross-stitch of it (an enormous cross-stitch), which is a true gesture of fandom if I've ever seen one.
Valerie is a big fan of the work of Neil Gaiman, and of the Animaniacs cartoon (weird combination, isn't it?) and she likes to write short stories. One of her stories, a hilarious parody of Cinderella, can be found on her site. She also wrote and recorded a song that you can download from her page.
I like my friend so much that I gave her two pictures in this blurb instead of just one. You can get to her site by clicking on either one of them.

Frontspiece from "The Wake," DC/Vertigo publishers

Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil. But a foolish samurai warrior, wielding a magic sword, stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future, where my evil is law. Now, the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku.

Those are Aku's words from the opening sequence of Samurai Jack, a truly revolutionary cartoon series by the talented Gennedy Tartakovsky. Unfortunately not many of my friends are fans of the show - which is why I'm glad for The Samurai Site, which includes an extensive forum, episode summaries, news, and a great fan art gallery. The image at left, titled Jack Under a Bamboo, is one of many excellent drawings by Jack in Australia, one of the dedicated Samsite forumites and the site's most prolific artist.

The free online Nation States game is based on the novel Jennifer Government by Max Barry. Barry also invented the game, which is a huge success with over half a million players. It's relatively easy, entertaining, and provides ample opportunity for political roleplaying, if you like that sort of thing. Personally I just like to run my nation and read the hilarious descriptions of other people's nations.
My country, The Democratic Republic of Etheriam, is classified as a "New York Times Democracy" (which I think is pretty good. I also started my own region, called The Etherian Alliance: click it if you're interested in joining! It's password-protected so you'll have to be approved by me before you can get in.
Click on the picture at left to link to NationStates.net and make your own nation.

Miscellaneous Websites

Online Comic Strips

Megatokyo

Fred Gallagher's Megatokyo is one of the classic online comic strips. I'm not going to describe it, because if you don't know about it already you should click on the link and take a look. I mean right now. Go on...

Sluggy Freelance

The granddaddy of online comic strips, and the only one I know of whose cast includes a shape-shifting alien, a distractable, hyperactive ferret and a psychotic mini-lop rabbit. Sluggy, like Megatokyo, is a must-read - but unlike Megatokyo, it's updated on a daily basis. Hooray!

Antihero for Hire

An off-kilter, noirish strip about a vigilante crimefighter in the near future. It's a little like Batman Beyond, one of my favorite cartoons. The art isn't stellar, but the writing is very entertaining.

Real Life

The concept of an online comic strip is really geeky in and of itself. Many online comic strips (such as the aforementioned Megatokyo and Sluggy Freelance) are targeted towards, and have principal characters who are, geeks. But Real Life plays the geek factor to the hilt. And it's especially funny if you're into multiplayer RPGs, LAN parties, and old video games.

Livejournals and Blogs

My Very Own Livejournal!

I call it "Dokugen," which is Japanese for "ramblings." Couldn't think of a better name for it. Basically I just talk about my day and my thoughts and hope someone's interested - what else is a LiveJournal for?

Mock the Stupid

This LiveJournal community is sort of like the Darwin Awards, minus all the death and severe injury and such. People come here to relate first or secondhand accounts of some individual (sometimes the poster themselves) demonstrating just how imbecilic humans can be. It's good for laughs if you read it, and a good place to vent if you post on it.