If you ever make it over, let me know. I’ll show you some Roman ruins, Iron Age forts, Neolithic burial sites and (of course) medieval castles in the London/SE region. Genuine offer.
Alnwick is in the NE, but definitely worth a visit ( Bamburgh Castle is close to it as well as Hadrian’s Wall)
The Bloodflower is a beautiful monster. Truly scary.
Alnwick Castle in UK has a wonderful Poison Garden, full of (as the name suggests) dangerous plants. The Bllodflower would fit in just fine to a fantasy version.
NZ sure is a beautiful country.
Planning to visit in a couple of years to marvel at the scenery, meet people, geek out at the LOTR stuff and take in some rugby.
You can buy a chocolate-coated version, but the actual mint cake is pretty much just mint and caramelised sugar. Lots of energy and that “ clean teeth” feel, but pretty unhealthy.
“ That’s the last of the mint cake,” said Sam, wistfully, as they huddled together on the stony mountain slopes of Mordor..
“Oh, Sam,” whispered Frodo, his drawn features breaking in a rare half-smile, “ how I wish we were back in Kendal.”
You can get pemmican in UK but only really in outdoor shops in the more “outdoorsy” areas of the country (Lake District, Highlands etc).
I loved Kendal mint cake as a teenager, but find it a bit too sweet nowadays.
I'm 59 and was also playing the kind of OD&D that this Alex bloke was playing in the 1980s, and I hated fascists then and I still do, whether they're dressed up as Alt-Right, MAGA, NuTSR or whatever crap labels they spout in support of their performative hatred and false victimhood.
And just as...
In late 70s/early 80s UK, the punk scene was hugely important to me (though I no longer have green spikes hair nowadays!) but it’s influence on my D&D was probably more in terms of attitude ( as @Ralif Redhammer suggests) than in actual gaming culture.
I leant a lot on the books I’d read...