Finding the Right Mod
stargrace 
I love minecraft, but I love minecraft even more with mods. There are two mod launchers I use, one is the ever popular Feed The Beast, and the second one is the TechnicLauncher. Both have an enormous selection of mod packs that you can choose from. I was using Blightfall on the TechnicLauncher, but after a pretty frustrating weekend decided to try out The Dark Trilogy on Feed the Beast. Blightfall had a great quest system and it was a lot of fun but it was also a very challenging Mod, too challenging for me. The entire world was covered in taint, and some of my favourite things to do are explore and build. I felt that this mod really limited my ability to do those things.
The Dark Trilogy has three tiers of mods. There’s technology, magic, and nature. Each tier is as complex or simple as you want it to be. There’s one mod called MrCrayfish’s Furniture Mod that is a LOT of fun, and lets you create furniture such as couches, televisions, a computer, and even a fridge. So far I’ve made a bird bath but not much else. There have also been some changes to my favourite mods, such as Chisel (which is now Chisel 2). Twilight Forest is also included in the bundle, which I’m really looking forward to playing with. First I have to create a portal, which I believe requires a diamond. Needless to say I don’t have any diamonds yet.
I did have fun exploring though. I found the above volcano, and at the time it wasn’t spewing out lava. I noticed there was a lava spawner on the top and it said it was harvestable. SO I decided to hit it a few times with my shovel, and then giant balls of lava started shooting out of it. Never seen my character run and jump so quickly before, teehee. I didn’t want to get burned alive.
I do have a nice base set up, so I should be able to start creating some neat items soon. I did notice there’s almost 9 pages of different food I can make, everything from butter chicken to cherry cheesecake. It may not have a quest journal, but going through the achievement panel will often tell you what mods are available and gives you a sense of progression as you complete them.
As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!