This article is part 3 of a series on Fantasy Fortifications by Toni Šušnjar.

The design of a fortification depends on its purpose and on the threats it is expected to face. A fortification facing only infantry-held weapons, one facing mechanical artillery, and one facing gunpowder artillery will all significantly differ in design characteristics. Some characteristics however will be the same – geography will always provide advantage (or disadvantage) in defending a fort or a city, and thus location has to be carefully chosen. In some cases, location may be good enough to allow the defender to skimp on certain design features – as seen with e.g. Klis fortress, where northern wall is waist-tall at best, thanks to its position on an inaccessible cliff (clissa). In other cases, disadvantageous terrain may have to be compensated with by massive man-made features.

General Design

In order to cope with development of artillery, design of fortifications changed with time. First fortifications, which only had to deal with handheld weapons, were simple wooden palisades. These were later supplemented with earthen ramparts

As siege weapons developed, fortifications grew both in height and thickness.

Continue reading Fantasy Fortifications — Part 3: Design at Mythic Scribes.

This is the second part of a two-part article on how time was perceived and measured in ancient and medieval Europe.

In the last installment of History for Fantasy Writers I addressed years, months, weeks, and days. Now I turn to shorter lengths: days, hours and still shorter periods. I’ll close with a more general consideration of time and the awareness of time.

Hours

We carve the day into twenty-four hours, but in the past the hour was a malleable thing. There were twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of night, regardless of the season. The day began with zero at sunrise. Then came the first hour, the second, and so on. The twelfth hour fell at sunset. A winter daylight hour was therefore shorter than a summer hour.

This feels a little nuts at first, but it’s actually pretty sensible. At least the word midnight makes sense in that system—it’s the mid-point of the night, regardless of how long is the night. All we have to do is abandon the notion that an hour is a unit of time, to consider it as marking portions of a day.

Continue reading History for Fantasy Writers: Do You Have a Moment? at Mythic Scribes.

This article is part 4 of a series on Fantasy Fortifications by Toni Šušnjar.

Building a Fort

Build time of a castle, depending on design and available funds, may last from half a year to half a century. It also depends on the situation before the building: a ruined castle is a half-built castle after all, and rennovating (and/or updating) walls is much cheaper than building new ones. This can be seen with city of Dubrovnik, where (massive) medieval fortifications were, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453., reinforced with outer line of walls to reinforce them against cannon fire.

Both build time and extent of fortifications depend on material (financial, logistical, humane) capacities of the builder, as well as the perceived need. Many castles were never finished for lack of resources.

Builders are professionals; peasants, soldiers and other amateurs were used for muscle work only. This means that they have to be paid, and many in fact travel from a building place to a building place. Beaumaris Castle in England required 400 masons and 1,000 assistants to be built in a nearly record time (from 1278 to 1280).

Types of Castles
Motte and bailey castle

Motte and bailey castle is the earliest and simplest type of a castle.

Continue reading Fantasy Fortifications — Part 4: Types of Castles at Mythic Scribes.

Banks appear in a number of fantasy stories. George Martin’s Iron Bank is probably the best known, but banks and banking families can be found all around the fantasy landscape, especially in modern works. For writers considering including banks and bankers in their own stories, knowing something of the history can help add detail and color.

Money Changers

Europe in the High Middle Ages, say around 1100, had a bewildering variety of coinage (see my article on medieval money), a crazy cobweb of overlapping public authority, and an unreliable network of roads. Banking arose in response to the need of merchants to conduct large-scale business at a distance in that environment.

As you might guess, with so many different coins, knowing how to convert from one currency to another was a fairly technical business. That business was handled by a money changer. In Florence and other north Italian towns, the money changers set up shop at markets and near merchant establishments—any place where there was plenty of commercial traffic. The benches they sat on are called banca in Italian. That’s where we get the term bank.

Money changers knew more than just how to convert currencies.

Continue reading History for Fantasy Writers: Bank on It at Mythic Scribes.

Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of.

In what The Spectator calls “the Year of the Drunken Uncle,” three old guys vie for the presidency amid coronavirus fears and a careering stock market.

Who takes the penalties? Who can't you afford to ignore? And who are the bargain signings that could make all the difference?

With the UEFA Champions League resuming next week, UEFA.com looks at which players have been hitting the heights on the domestic front.

Players who provide excellent value for money are a key component of successful Fantasy sides; check out our suggestions.

UEFA.com runs the rule over some of the most expensive players in the game to assess who's worth splashing out for.

UEFA.com studies the statistics to find out which players are predicted for big Matchday 7 totals.

The UEFA Champions League is back and UEFA.com are here to guide #UCLfantasy managers through the first legs of the round of 16.

Ahead of Matchday 7, UEFA.com looks at some obvious selections and some lesser-owned options.

As the knockout stage kicks off this week, The Scout has put together a squad drawing on players from nine teams.

UEFA.com delves into the numbers and finds clean sheets were at a premium in the first legs.

The start of the knockout rounds provided a reminder there is still plenty of value to be found at the defensive end of the field.

Key differentials were once again to the fore in the round of 16 first legs, although Serge Gnabry took the headlines again.

Erling Braut Haaland and Robert Lewandowski continued to hit the net, although injury means the latter is likely to miss the second leg.

Ahead of Matchday 8, UEFA.com looks at some obvious #UCLfantasy selections and those who could cause a surprise.

As the round of 16 comes to a conclusion, UEFA.com presents a captaincy option for each of the four gamedays.

UEFA.com studies the statistics to find out which players are predicted for big Matchday 8 totals.

With the UEFA Champions League second legs starting this week, UEFA.com studies the domestic form book for pointers.

Home advantage could be key with 13 of the 15 players in The Scout's squad playing second legs on their own ground.

In late 2018, I put out the call to see how many fellow energy nerds I could gather to indulge me in combining my passion for energy analysis and clean power policy with my love of fantasy sports. By the end of January 2019, I had my cast of characters who somehow thought this idea was as fun as I did (isn’t the Internet the greatest tool for finding people who share your interests?) and I released my Draft Preview. Coordinating this draft among 14 different teams with different time zones and schedules chock-full of actually helping to save the planet proved no easy task, but by the end of March we had conducted 5 rounds of picks for a total of 70 selections in this Inaugural Fantasy Energy League!

Fantasy sports and the energy industry might not have much in common on the surface, but I’ve always personally approached these two passions of mine in similar ways: obsessively reading the breaking news, following my favorite experts in the community on social media, and diving deep into the available statistics to create graphs and try to come up with hot takes. I think the fantasy sports model can be used to encourage an academic and educational exercise in the energy industry, so it struck me—I should establish the first fantasy league for the energy sector!

In early December, I put out a call to the online energy professionals community to find participants for the world’s first Fantasy Energy League. Perhaps I saw the pending end of the 2018 fantasy football season and I wanted something to fill the coming void, or maybe I was just curious to see who else wanted to approach energy projections from a gamified lens. Either way, I put out my energy-industry bat signal for the Fantasy Energy League only to see my email inbox and my Twitter feed blow up.

In late 2018, I put out the call to see how many fellow energy nerds I could gather to indulge me in combining my passion for energy analysis and clean power policy with my love of fantasy sports. By the end of January 2019, I had my cast of characters who somehow thought this idea was as fun as I did (isn’t the Internet the greatest tool for finding people who share your interests?) and I released my Draft Preview. Coordinating this draft among 14 different teams with different time zones and schedules chock-full of actually helping to save the planet proved no easy task, but by the end of March we had conducted 5 rounds of picks for a total of 70 selections in this Inaugural Fantasy Energy League!

In early December, I put out a call to the online energy professionals community to find participants for the world’s first Fantasy Energy League. Perhaps I saw the pending end of the 2018 fantasy football season and I wanted something to fill the coming void, or maybe I was just curious to see who else wanted to approach energy projections from a gamified lens. Either way, I put out my energy-industry bat signal for the Fantasy Energy League only to see my email inbox and my Twitter feed blow up.

In late 2018, I put out the call to see how many fellow energy nerds I could gather to indulge me in combining my passion for energy analysis and clean power policy with my love of fantasy sports. By the end of January 2019, I had my cast of characters who somehow thought this idea was as fun as I did (isn’t the Internet the greatest tool for finding people who share your interests?) and I released my Draft Preview. Coordinating this draft among 14 different teams with different time zones and schedules chock-full of actually helping to save the planet proved no easy task, but by the end of March we had conducted 5 rounds of picks for a total of 70 selections in this Inaugural Fantasy Energy League!

First imagined in the 17th century, blimps borne aloft by nothing but nothing are finally ready for lift off, carrying goods and even passengers in gondolas in the clouds

Microsoft has announced many new titles coming to Xbox Game Pass for console and Windows PC in May. The list of games includes DayZ, Final Fantasy IX, and Fractured Minds, Endless Legend and the previously announced Red Dead Redemption 2 for console and Halo 2: Anniversary for Halo: The Master Chief Collection for PC.

Here is the list of games coming soon to Xbox Game Pass for Console:

DayZ (ID@Xbox) – May 7
An unforgiving, authentic, open world game where each one of 60 players on a server follows a single goal: Survive as long as they can, by any means necessary. There are no superficial tips, waypoints, or help given to you. Every decision matters with no saves and no extra lives where mistakes can be lethal. Your choices and decisions will create a gameplay experience that’s completely unique.

Red Dead Redemption 2 – May 7
America, 1899. Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are outlaws on the run. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal, and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. Includes access to Red Dead Online (Xbox Live Gold required).

Final Fantasy IX – May 14
Zidane and the Tantalus Theater Troupe have kidnapped Princess Garnet, the heir of Alexandria. To their surprise, however, the princess herself yearned to escape the castle. Through a series of unusual circumstances, she and her personal guard, Steiner, fall in with Zidane and set out on an incredible journey in this classic entry in the heralded Final Fantasy series.

Fractured Minds (ID@Xbox) – May 19
Fractured Minds is an immersive artistic short game, exploring anxiety and mental health issues. Embark on a journey through the human psyche to experience the everyday challenges associated with these conditions.

Here is the list of games coming soon to Xbox Game Pass for PC:

Endless Legend
Jump in to this 4X strategy game as you lead one of eight unique civilizations, each with their own unique gameplay and story. Food must be grown, industries built, science and magic advanced, and wealth collected. Your planet holds a history of unexplained apocalypse, and the winter you just survived was the worst on record. You have a city, a loyal populace, and a few troops; your power and magic should be sufficient to keep them alive. But beyond that, nothing is certain… Where will you go, what will you find, and how will you react?

Final Fantasy IX
Zidane and the Tantalus Theater Troupe have a plan to kidnap Princess Garnet, the heir of Alexandria. To their surprise, the princess herself beats them to the punch and orchestrates her own escape with their unwitting help, granting her the freedom she yearned for beyond the castle walls. Through a series of unusual circumstances, she and her personal guard, Steiner, fall in with Zidane and his crew, and set out on an incredible journey in this classic Final Fantasy adventure.

Halo Master Chief Collection: Halo 2
Halo 2: Anniversary comes to PC as the next installment in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Following the destruction of the first Halo ring, Master Chief returns to Earth to prevent the Covenant invasion, leading to a battle with long-hidden secrets that will dramatically alter the course of the Human-Covenant Conflict forever.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/443405/xbox-game-pass-adds-dayz-final-fantasy-ix-and-more-in-may/

Sony has released the US PlayStation Store downloads charts for March 2020. Final Fantasy VII Remake topped the PS4 charts, Beat Saber topped the PlayStation VR charts, and Call of Duty: Warzone topped the Free-to-Play Games chart. Fortnite – The Iris Pack topped the DLC and Expansions chart.

Here is the complete list of charts:

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/443430/final-fantasy-vii-remake-tops-the-us-playstation-store-downloads-in-april-2020/

Sony has released the Europe PlayStation Store downloads charts for April 2020. Grand Theft Auto V topped the PS4 charts, Blood and Truth topped the PlayStation VR charts, and Call of Duty: Warzone topped the Free-to-Play Games chart. Fortnite – The Iris Pack topped the DLC and Expansions chart.

Final Fantasy VII Remake debuted in fourth on the PS4 charts. Resident Evil 3 debuted in 10th place.

Here is the complete list of charts:

PlayStation 4

1. Grand Theft Auto V (3)
2. EA SPORTS FIFA 20 (2)
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (1)
4. FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (New)
5. NBA 2K20 (RE)
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (20)
7. EA SPORTS UFC 3 (RE)
8. Minecraft (5)
9. Marvel’s Spider-Man (RE)
10. RESIDENT EVIL 3 (New)
11. MONOPOLY PLUS (RE)
12. Rocket League (11)
13. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (10)
14. Days Gone (RE)
15. TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX | SIEGE (RE)
16. Red Dead Redemption 2 (19)
17. The Crew 2 (13)
18. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (RE)
19. eFootball PES 2020 (RE)
20. Need for Speed Heat (RE)

PlayStation VR

1. Blood and Truth (5)
2. Beat Saber (1)
3. Creed: Rise to Glory (9)
4. Job Simulator (2)
5. RICK AND MORTY: VIRTUAL RICK-ALITY (RE)
6. ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (RE)
7. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (RE)
8. BOXVR (RE)
9. Farpoint (RE)
10. SUPERHOT VR (4)

DLC

1. Fortnite – The Iris Pack (1)
2. Fortnite – Bassassin Challenge Pack (3)
3. GTA Online: Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack (5)
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps – Season Pass (RE)
5. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Season pass (RE)
6. Fortnite: Save the World – Standard Founder’s Pack (10)
7. The Division 2 – Warlords of New York – Expansion (2)
8. Need for Speed Heat – McLaren F1 Black Market Delivery (6)
9. Modern Warfare – Atlanta FaZe Pack (New)
10. Assassin’s Creed Origins – The Hidden Ones (RE)

Free-to-Play

1. Call of Duty: Warzone (1)
2. Fortnite (2)
3. Apex Legends (3)
4. Brawlhalla (5)
5. DON’T EVEN THINK (New)
6. eFootball PES 2020 LITE (4)
7. Destiny 2 (New)
8. WORLD OF WARSHIPS: LEGENDS (7)
9. DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 Lite Version (6)
10. Paladins (9)

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/443431/gtav-tops-the-eu-playstation-store-downloads-in-april-2020-final-fantasy-vii-remake-debuts-in-4th/

Not sure if it was a glitch or intentional, but I got a notice this morning saying that my copy of Final Fantasy Remake Standard Edition had shipped.  That made me happy enough, as I was afraid it might be delayed - had it pre-ordered on Amazon but it shifted to delivery unknown earlier in the week so I canceled it.  But, back on topic - about 3 hours later I got a message that I had a 25 dollar reward.  I did not have anywhere near that many points before so I looked for where they came from.  When I clicked on the Final Fantasy VII Remake purchase, this is what it said:

Total Points: 1142

My Best Buy Visa Purchase Bonus - 83

$10 Dollar Certificate for Final Fantasy VII Preorder - 500

$10 Dollar Certificate for Final Fantasy VII Preorder - 500

Base Points - 59

Did this happen to anyone else?  Considering I preordered it when I still had Gamers Club - so got it for 51.23 ... this has been an especially Cheap Ass Gamer type of purchase.

P.S.  Sigh, I really miss Gamers Club.  Hate spending 64.04 on new releases (that includes local tax).

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/playstation-4/games/products/final-fantasy-vii-remake-deluxe-edition/11094733.html

We officially kick off the 2020 fantasy campaign with our first mock draft. Who went first?

'Final Fantasy VII' is considered one of the best video games. Now, Square Enix is bringing it back with the launch of 'Final Fantasy VII Remake.'

Role-playing epic Final Fantasy VII Remake is an ambitious revisiting of one of the most beloved titles in video game history.

The actor has joined Phoebe Waller-Bridge's acclaimed spy thriller for its third season. She talks to Alexandra Pollard about the joy of not wearing a corset, the limitations of Shakespeare's heroines and why she thinks people should think carefully before changing their pronouns

Everybody loves a good five-a-side summer tournament... but who would take home the miniature trophies if every Premier League side had to enter a team?

Trump expects a sharp bounce-back in jobs. But as bankruptcies pile up, the labor market will need much of the next decade to replace the jobs gone for good.

Celebrities including Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning will take part in chapter-by-chapter readings of J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book.

Our photo of the day comes from beautiful Erawan National Park in Western Thailand.

Daniel Herridges of Strong Towns says, "If your goal is to promote public safety, design for the humans you have, not the ones you wish you had."

During our FnordCon 2 virtual panels, fans of The Fantasy Trip were given a tutorial of a fan project, approved by Steve himself, that really blew us away. Jim Eisert has created a Melee mod for Tabletop Simulator on Steam that is functional and looks great. Not only that, he has made a full multi-part tutorial-video series explaining how to use the platform. This is not only a good demonstration of how to use his mod on Tabletop Simulator, it's also a detailed demo of how to play the game itself. He teaches everything – character creation, movement, hand-to-hand combat, shooting, magic – and provides full battle examples. You can find the entire playlist on Jim's YouTube channel, but he has individual videos for: 

• Tutorial 1: Characters
• Tutorial 2: Movement and Initiative
• Tutorial 3: Engagement
• Tutorial 4: Adjusted DX
• Tutorial 5: Close Combat
• Tutorial 6: Hand-to-Hand
• Tutorial 7: Ranged Combat
• Tutorial 8: Casting Spells
• Tutorial 9: Creation Spells
• Full Battle Part 1
• Full Battle Part 2
• All at Once Melee Demo

Jim is very active in the TFT community, so we expect support to be robust for this already excellent mod. Whether you're just starting out or a veteran TFT player looking to get a game going during the quarantine, check out Jim's videos and give this a shot! (And remember, Melee is now a FREE download on W23 and DTRPG.)

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: You Versus The Universe

They don't want you to peek behind the curtain of reality . . . and for your sanity's sake, they may have a point. GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier is a campaign that pits the heroes against unimaginable forces that would bend reality back toward Earth's true origins – so the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. The battle begins with a download from Warehouse 23!