Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Arcanum



I like HUDS! I like big flashy things that go boom and dazzle the senses. I also like the ability to be a griefers worst nightmare. This passion for HUDs started when I was very young to SecondLife and owned my very first free tier and very small plot of land.




One day after TP'ing home I saw three people on my land. Now at the time I had no idea what security Orbs were or even ban lines. Yes... I was for all intensive purposes a NOOB! Well I asked them very politely to leave which resulted in me being orbited. I was shocked! I never even knew what being orbited was until then. When I finally made it back they were gone and I vowed from that day forward to always have the bigger gun and learn as much as possible about ToS (Terms of Service) and HUDs.




This started my love afair with collecting weapons to combat greifers and eventually lead me to a place called Arcanum created by Zachh Barkley.


Now by the time I discovered Arcanum I already had over a year of HUD experience and was quite capable of defending myself and my friends.... so I wasn't really looking for Arcanum... it sort of found me. Like in Harry Potter, "The wand chooses the wizard." I was drawn to Arcanum after seeing a friend use a magic wand called "The Wand of Sorcery."

I purchased the Wand of Sorcery at the old Arcanum store and started learning how to use it. Now unlike HUD driven devices the wand is controlled by chat commands. If you memorized all the commands then you can quickly conjure up a spell.... but... if like me you own so many toys you can't remember chat commands for them all then this can prove to be a problem. However, I love the wand! It is loaded with over 20 great magic spells that are visually impressive as well as effective.

The second item I purchased was the "Runemaster God Spell System". Unlike the wand which is a single item held in the hand the runes are 3 symbols (prims) worn on the forehead, upper arm and hand. Like the wand it is chat command driven which means more spells to memorize. The runes are powerful indeed and again in typical Arcanum style...... visually appealing.

Almost a year went by before I purchased my next item from Arcanum. I was at the Treasured Vamps sim one night and got into a nice conversation about HUDs. The person I was speaking to had some special effects that were mind blowing and soon I was asking "What was that?" She told me it was "Wishmaster" from Arcanum and soon I TP'ed over to the new store location (Incantation (159, 135, 21),) looking to buy it for myself.

*GASP*!!! A HUD?!?! OMG YES! A HUD!!!! That's right... the Wishmaster is a HUD and a beautiful one at that. Super fast response from the buttons and the spells are absolutely incredible. It even has FREE add-ons like the Targeting Wand which enables you to lock a beacon on just about anything and then unleash your spells upon them. The ONLY issue I have with this HUD is that above 1,500 meters some spells wont work well. Like the "Bless" spell for example. My girls club is high up in the air and some times I have to try blessing someone 4 times before it finally works. A minor glitch I'm sure Zachh is working to fix. But this HUD is awesomeness in it's purest form and I rarely if ever take it off. I give it 5 stars even with the minor glitch.




Spells and HUD systems aside the Arcanum sim itself is a magical place that is captivating! There is much to explore and if you like being surrounded by magical things then you'll want to tour this sim. I put on my Bellatrix Lestrange style outfit and lose myself in the experience. There is even an arena where Witches and Wizards can gather for battles or just plain old magical fun. There are several hidden portals in the sim that take you to secret places. I had the pleasure of getting a tour with Heed Fate as my guide. The places he showed were beautiful and very majestic.





If you are into magic then Arcanum is for you. You can see on their land decscription that they say they are "Your #1 Magical Resource in SL!". Well I have yet to see a sim top this one..... so they are true to their word. Go check out Arcanum.... you'll be glad you did!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Mortuus by Creep Wolff



One of first few people I met on my journey through MotorWorld and the 5 adjoining sims was Creep Wolff over at CC Custom Choppers in the Route 66 sim. I was immediately drawn in by his well put together avatar, Mohawk, sexy girlfriend and good sense of humor. Not to mention is amazing customer service.




I kept looking at Creeps bikes because he has some great stretched choppers. I TP'ed friends in and they purchased bikes from Creep. But I hadn't made up my mind yet on which CC bike to purchase. Until I ran into some "Roadkill".



My best friend Freyakc purchased Creeps bike called Roadkill and I was blown away with how sinister the bike looked and sounded. I was already talking to Creep about a custom bike for me and my main goal was an evil looking stretched chopper.

I'm a believer in the power of the subconscious mind and I knew that if I just asked myself what I want that the answer would eventually be revealed. Well it did and pretty soon I was in my workshop building a mock up for Creep to check out.

I started by searching for full perm sculpties of skeletons and sinister looking skulls. After some searching I found what I needed then proceeded to positions the parts how I wanted them on the bike. Once the model was done I TP'ed Creep to my shop who said... "I LIKE IT!" YAY!!!!




Creep went to work figuring out how to make my dream a working reality and within a week he and Dawn Ember (his very hot girl) created my new custom ride. I named it Mortuus which is Latin for "Dead".... MU HA HA HA HAAAA!!!






Very rarely do you meet builders like Creep and Dawn. They are super friendly and very open to ideas. I am so fortunate to call them friends and I recommend their work with two enthusiastic Thumbs up! So if you're looking for a good ride then you owe it to yourself to check out CC Custom Choppers at Route 66 (157, 88, 45). If you hang out long enough you're bound to see me hangin' around.