Minecraft FTB Survival Island

   I had taken a little break from playing Minecraft.  More specifically Minecraft Feed The Beast Ultimate Mod Pack.  I had loved Minecraft and moved with my gaming group up to Technic and Tekkit.  I seemed to have enjoyed the single player Technic more than some of the other people in that group.  For me it was all about the challenge level.  It was more difficult than vanilla Minecraft.  The fact that I was AFRAID to take my toon outside after dark in that game made it enthralling.  I also loved the Mo’ Creatures mod.  Stuck in a desert and need food?  Kill a snake and cook the egg it drops.  Horses, foxes, and bunnies added charm and fun.  Some of the monsters like skeletal horses and ogres were downright frightening.  I actually turned ogres off as they showed up on my second night in the game and decimated a significant area of the village I was staying in.  There was so much content to explore.  Volcanoes, wind power, traveling to other worlds (I got myself into trouble with that one).  But before I had finished exploring everything my group moved to Feed The Beast.  

   I have been gaming on my own lately and Feed The Beast is overwhelming in the possibilities.  I really had no idea where to start in the different mods and there were so many of them to choose from.  I would also find items and materials only to look them up and find out I was way too close to the beginning of the game to actually make use of them.  Having no idea where to start and not currently having a server to play on I would lose interest.  One of the things I love to do in any form of Minecraft is build.  I would build little temples, shrines, houses and other buildings.  One of the guys I used to play on a server with built a castle.  It was immense and on the edge of a snowy forest biome and a desert.  Another person built a highway and hidey holes along it.  It was always fun to travel across the world to see what everyone was building.  On one server I built a farm.  The farm took up several chunks and was complete with a large fenced in area for the animals, a mushroom cave, wheat field & other plants, and a farm house.  The farmhouse was so much fun to build.   It had two main stories and a loft with a bed so anyone could stay.  It also had a basement where I kept storage and a bathroom.  Yes I build a bathroom.  This was one of my favorite builds.  I am a bit sad that I did not take any screenshots.  While I can still do this on a single player game, there is no one to show my work to and share it with.  And there is no one else building to go see their work.  So I lost interest for a bit.  

At Spawn

   After several weeks of not playing, but gushing with a friend about how fun it is and what mods she liked, I started a new game.  I just deleted the other saves and decided I would start from the beginning and build up supplies.  I entered a seed.  I selected to have the nice little bonus chest at the start.  I spawned on an island with a single tree.  First of all, thank goodness for the bonus chest.  Second of all, this is great!  This is the perfect challenge to keep me busy.  And it did.  I have since created a small forest atop my island home, mined my way to the bedrock, and created a farm of plants to both sustain my toon’s hunger needs and make up for the fact that there are no sheep.  It takes 48 Henequen Leaves to make one bed.  And that is right, there are no sheep.  No animals at all.  Save the spiders that spawn at night.  I started to toy with Thaumcraft.  But I need feathers and I will be needing leather.  So I have been building up my supplies so I can go on an expedition for the mainland or at least a better stocked island.  This to has kept me very interested and invested in the game.  It also helps that I am looking at one mod to focus on in the moment and not hopelessly looking at the whole of possibilities.  I have already built a little room with an arcane worktable and a desk that shall later be used for research.  I am not sure what direction I shall set out in once I go on my expedition, but I am anticipating many more hours of fun, exploration, adventure, and building.  

Current Island

   Anyone else play Minecraft or one of the mod packs?  What are your favorite activities in the game?  What mods do you love?  Any suggestions for my expedition?  Or what game are you really into at the moment?