I Tried to get Some Stuff Done, and was Almost Successful...

Late post today because I had plans, I worked on said plans, and I didn't quite finish....

...and I was going to post about it here as a bit of a brag.

A few months ago I had picked up a Dungeons & Dragons Tower of Doom arcade cabinet and this weekend it was time to do a light refresh (not quite a restoration). The cabinet was in generally good shape, but it has had it's fair share of dings and dents, along with some half-assed repairs (mostly just a quick slap of paint). The veneer had been peeled off on part of the side, so I first had to remove all of the veneer, which was a pain in the ass. That I got done last weekend, along with some structural filler (i.e. "fancy" wood spackle) and a coat of primer.

This weekend involved getting the finish coats on, some wheels, and replacing the locks and internal marquee lighting. The &^$!@ keys were somehow locked inside the damned thing and I was able to pick one lock, but the other....well luckily I had a small through-hole that I could use a 30" screwdriver to reach through the cabinet and unscrew the back of the one lock. I bought that tool wondering if I'd ever get to use it, and this weekend I was damned glad I had!

I got it mostly done and inside, but I still need to clean the front and do a little touch-up on the paint where I wasn't as careful as I could have been bringing it in. When I get it's future home squared away then I'll be comfortable taking picks, bragging about it, but more importantly...play the damned thing. 

Of course this wasn't my only project this weekend. I had also picked up a can/bottle vending machine for my game room and I man-handled that beast (It's 568 pounds.....) into the house, got it all cleaned up and plugged in. Works like a champ, but the machine is too loud. Ugh, so then I had to man-handle that beast back out of the house (thankfully that part was easier) so it can no live in the garage. So any future gamers at my house will have to go outside to grab a soda or beer.

Sorry guys, that's just how it has to be....

...at least until I can get my other two machines fixed & serviced. They're bottle only though and one is missing the keys, which seems to be a theme this weekend. I had to go get a special lockpick set for that and watch a bunch of videos on how to use said lockpick.

Clearly I'm one of those guys that collect shit of all types....

Any Non-Gaming Gaming Plans for this Upcoming "Season"?

By my rough mental math, and I hate to be the person to point this out (but....), we've got only a good week of gaming left for the foreseeable future. That's right, make sure you have a game scheduled, hopefully, for next weekend, or wait until 2022.

Think about it. We have next weekend free and then it's Thanksgiving. Turkey Day rolls into Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then it's all fricken downhill until Christmas. Holiday parties, Christmas shopping, and all the crap that comes with the social obligations of work, school, church, extended families, etc. Sure, you might have some good blocks of free time, but do they align with those free blocks for the rest of your gaming group? Probably not.

So what are you going to do to get your gaming fix on?

There are always video games, maybe some board games with your family (assuming you're lucky enough to be able to do so. Don't get me started about the 3 hour attempt to teach my in-laws a "quick" game of Munchkin.).

Now for me the holidays is a time I try to work on my gaming projects. "Try" is usually the operative word as I tend to bit off more than I can chew. For example, this holiday season I have on my "to do" list:

1. Build a miniature storage case
2. Work on reformatting my d30 tables for publications
3. Create some player tablemats
4. Create some miniature dioramas
5. Paint my minis (well, some of them)
6. Build some dice-rolling towers
7. Work on my digital gaming table
8. Frame the last of my RPG Art
9. Work on my travel table-side RPG case
10. Add to my Appendix N library
11. Work on my mobile arcade rig(s)
12. Build some table-top terrain

Now some of these items have to wait on my getting myself into a new house where I can setup a small woodshop I can actually use during the winter. Assuming that happens I can get some of these done...if it doesn't then all I can do is refine my blue-prints. 

Oh, and we all already know that I'm not going to get my minis painted. That's a pipe dream for certain!

Everything else, is doable and realistically I'll get about half of this list done between now and the end of January.

Now that I'm publicly stating what I'm working on it'll be really embarrassing if I can't follow-through! 

Assuming that you've made it this far and, presumably, have had a hot minute to think about it, do you have any specific non-gaming (as in not around the table) gaming plans for this "off season"?  

Solicitation of Ideas for my Next PC Sheet/Booklet

[I had a topic for today that was, well topical, but it occurred to me that by opening my mouth...no matter what I write.....I'm just wrong. Having been recently threatened with violence by a noted persona in this industry (and cohorts) for advocating a position of non-violence with regards to......does it fucking matter? I'm (now) just not willing to engage with extremists regardless of their position, which is hella ironic. I had the post 50% typed out, but nope.]

Unless this is your first time reading my drivel here at the Tavern you'll know I was a big fan of HackMaster 4th Edition, which is a rather "crunchy" game. Even in less crunchy games I am a huge fan of a rather detailed character sheet, so much that I usually have to make my own PC sheets because invariably the ones available don't have enough detail.

Modified OSE Sheet Front

Now lately I've been using a modified Old School Essentials PC Sheet. I got permission to share the modified sheet (which you can find here) as long as attached my name to it. Now I've been using that sheet for a year now and while it works pretty good for my needs......it isn't working as well as I want.

What I want is a bit overkill for the GM, but a bit closer to the old HackMaster Character Booklets. Since almost all of my gaming is a variation of B/X or maybe 1st Edition AD&D I'm thinking if I design it right I could conceivably make myself...and this would be "all me" even if I ended up sharing the thing for others to use, a PC sheet to end PC sheets....as it were. OK, that's a bit much because if you've seen the 21 page HackMaster Character Booklet I don't think I need a page showing where my ion stones are and a map of the traps for my personal stronghold, but my Last Will and Testament.....maybe.

Now I'm just in the early phase of this "personal project", which is mostly the "big picture" type idea stuff. Normally I'd be open to a good old-fashioned brainstorming session, but since I've been kicking the idea around for a while so some basic design elements have already been figured out:

• Booklet format (as opposed to loose sheets)
• Roughly A5 or Digest Sized
• Softcover......well has an actual cover
• Available as a PDF with printed hardcopy

Modified OSE Sheet Back

I have a PC Sheet I made for the current version of HackMaster that is a bit of a booklet and made for tablet use, but prints out well. There is one PDF error on the wounds section I never did fix, but since I haven't received a single comment/complaint in the 8 years it's been available....yeah not a priority.

Now I'm fully cognizant that could just take my OSE sheet and turn it into a booklet format, which is probably what I'll do in the short term. As things change I can just re-write the contents from one page in the booklet to another and then I'll have basically a documentation of changes as the PC advances in levels.

I'm thinking though that I might make some aspects a bit generic and allow the user (me!) to enter the details in the PDF for printing. Things like not having the stats listed......then I can enter the stats used in the order they are given for the game system being used. Oh, you use an ascending AC....this sheet can deal with that as well.

As much as I'd like to add a spellbook, the fact that Id have to ass spells as I went along might be a bit much, but a spell planner seems doable.

I have to thank you, dear reader, for making it to this point of the post because you've probably been thinking, "That's great Face, but why the F**k should I give a rat's ass about your PC Sheet booklet?" Well, first off....do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Second, while I'm wanting to do this for my own benefit, I'm not above sharing (ie. I will be putting it up PWYW on DTRPG). Thirdly, there's a greater than 0% chance that one of you has a great idea that I'd be kind of PO'd that I didn't come up with myself, much less include.

So if you have any ideas, not that I'm definitely going to use, but will definitely consider, please share them. Here as a comment is preferred in case anyone else wants to do the same, or in case it gives someone else a good idea as well. Alternatively just shoot me an gmail (FrugalGM).

Flurry of Pre-Con Activity (Best Laid Plans and All)

 

Right off the bat I have to admit I can be kind of an idiot at times, well "idiot" might be a bit rough, but I sometimes have issues conceptualizing time. Usually this manifests by me having issues distinguishing between September and August, like which month is the 8th or 9th month of the year. 

It's an odd thing to be certain, and it makes me feel like an idiot, but usually, usually this is the extent of this temporal-dyslexia. 

For some reason, even though I carry a calendar (on my phone) and keep a huge physical calendar next to my bed (more a financial tool for me), I was laboring under the impression that North Texas RPG Con was this next weekend, instead of two weekends from now.

Now I'm attending as a participant and not a GM, so my workload is much less than my norm, but there are always a few things I have to prep for before a convention. I'm used to travelling to a con, and since NTRPG is a scant three hour drive away, space isn't as big of a deal, but I have to plan on my packing list anyway.

What games am I scheduled to play and what pick-up games would I like to play? Even though I almost never get in a pick-up game, I like to plan and hope. While I have a great tablet and PDFs of most of my game systems, I really want printed gamebooks at the table. To this end I have a bunch of rulebooks printed to roughly Digest size....and I have extra full-size 1st Edition books I can bring. What I'd like to do is standardize my "small print" library and have an actual physical portable game library I can bring with me to the con....

.....so I have some sketches of my library box that I'd like to build....

....and I'll add it to the list. I've got a list of several building projects that just gets longer and longer, but since there are things I want to bring and use at a/the con, the weeks before the convention tend to get more and more hectic. Losing a week to my idiocy isn't a good thing......but finding a week (well, realizing it wasn't lost in the first place) is a bit of a blessing.

Due to work issues I have more time than usual and I've been ticking items off of my build list and working on my skills. If not for the fact I'm a little behind due to the weather (It's been raining off & on here all week) I'd be able to show pics of my GM Thank You gifts I mentioned last week, but obviously they aren't done yet.

What I did finish though are a few boxes for a small Whisky (and Whiskey) tasting event Erik and I are hosting at the con (more like his event I'm sponsoring.....it's a story unto itself....maybe next weekend?). The main box is heavy-assed oak, way overbuilt.....because I used what was on hand...mostly because I screwed up the dimensions on the first attempt of the box. It happens.....I made the main box after making the boxes that go inside and I wrote down the wrong measurements.

Inside the main box are a series of 11 (10 plus a spare) smaller boxes made of solid oak. These have embedded magnets to keep them closed, but when you open them up.... 

There are six 45 dram (roughly 1/3 of a 2oz shot) vials, a pencil, and some notecards. These vials will hold the Whisky/Whiskey for the tasting.

I still need to replace the foam liner seen in the pics with leather because I do not care for the foam. It works in some applications, but not for this one, in my opinion.

Now I'm NOT being self-depreciating or overly critical, but these boxes are not bad....ok even, but an essential part in my own personal learning curve. I've learned so much just from this one project.....

....that I've already applied to the Thank You gifts....which helped teach me a few things that lead me on to the next project, which I should have at the con.

I'm not sure I'm quite to the point where I can make my travelling library to the level I'd like it, but I might be able to scratch another item of my convention build list.....for next year (unless the weather greatly improves...then probably still the next con).

Luckily there is always the next year and the next convention (assuming I don't go to a different convention.....Long Con perhaps....in the meantime) for new projects. I might not be good at figuring out timescales sometimes, but a year is manageable.

This week I have a couple of loose ends (build projects) to wrap up, games to pack up, dice to not forget, and inevitably more ideas to add to my build list.....

Next Up - Minor Magiks & Miscellaneous Arcana

Now that Demi-Options: Halflings is out (next in the line should be Dwarves - but I REALLY want to do evils too!) I'm focusing on Minor Magiks & Miscellaneous Arcana.

If you read this blog regularly, you've seen some of my ideas in "Beta Format" with the magic items I've been popping up once a week or so. Some should make it to the first release in this line (I'm hoping for at least 2 volumes).

I'm currently playing catch up with the artist on the project, as some items were named or basically described but not fleshed out on my end, but Teo Tayobobayo has done some amazing work with what I gave him to go with. I'll post a piece or two up when I can, but in the meantime he's the guy doing most of the covers and maps for the recent Toys For the Sandbox Series releases.

As a total aside (and something that deserves it's own post) I am thinking of Monday evening, October 15th for the Labyrinth Lord game. I'll finalize that over the weekend

I Have a New Appreciation of Projects

I really respect those in our hobby that can sit down and produce a game, a book, a piece of art - really anything that takes time and diligence to accomplish.

Me, I'm used to doing my stuff in bit and pieces.  To the point where its really just bits here and there.  The room renovations I've been working on have been going on for - well, forever it seems.  Done in bits and pieces.

Today was the first time I found to hit it dead on, and nearly completed flooring the first room in a day.  Of course, I had to ignore my 7 month old niece that was visiting, had to get my mother to pick my son up after his 100 degree tour of auxillary service, ate lunch in big bites while taking measurements and used my father's carpentry skills to the hilt as he trimmed the boards that needed it before I installed them.  Yes, I was focused.  An afternoon of clarity.  It won't last for me.

Even getting this typed out has required a degree of cat wrestling, as my girl was neglected all day and wants to get it all in now, either by standing over my mouse or walking on my keyboard.  She is persistent ;)

So to those of you that are persistent, productive, focused and all the other adjectives that define someone as one who gets things done - I tip my hat to you.  Oh, and I'll be reading some of that work the previously mention have produced as I lie in bed tonight before passing out.  Doing this "project" shit is damn tiring.

Just look at how long it took me to complete by Bard class for S&W.  In that time, Greg has written a whole RPG from scratch, tracked down and received free yet amazing art, layout, feedback... and still finds time for the family responsibilities.  Me, I need a clone of myself to split the work :)