Found in the comments in a post by Chris Schwarz about Lost Art Press’ book By Hand & Eye, this is really great: Divide into equal parts. Very cool.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Roll20.net for in-person games
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I’ve been running a Dungeons & Dragons 5e game at work during lunch on Fridays, which has been quite fun, but also has a few challenges, one of which has been the participation of a player who frequently works offsite. Since we usually play in a conference room with a beautiful, big screen TV, I thought that using a virtual tabletop might help with that and some other issues. I decided to give Roll20.net a try, and after using it for two sessions, I’d say it’s working reasonably well.
Player view of Roll20 virtual tabletop. (see below for GM’s view.)
If you haven’t heard of Roll20.net, they have some good introductory videos on youtube, including a Crash Course, and overviews for player and GM, and lots of good information in their wiki.
Mythica, a low-budget indie fantasy movie
Those direct-to-DVD movies are usually disappointing, but this review from Alex Bledsoe has piqued my curiosity:
Hmmm. Might be worth checking out.
Thanksgiving prep and snow
I got a bunch of cooking prep done yesterday, including cutting up the turkey, making vegetable stock and brine for the turkey, and then roasting the turkey trimmings and making turkey stock for use today in the stuffing and gravy.
Meanwhile, the snow continued to fall for most of the day, and we awoke to a foot of snow in some places.
A chickadee contemplates its choices.
I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Dungeons & Dragons blogs
So many gaming blogs, so little time. But ENWorld posted a list of particularly useful blogs recently, and I’m finding lots of good content among them. For example, I found DM David’s exploration of the Inspiration mechanic really interesting.
#RPGaDAY DIY edition: Build your own gaming table
Thanks to Autocratik for this series of RPG discussion prompts. And to my friend Tyler for his inspiring responses on his blog, Held Action. And for prodding me into reviving my own blog.
I’m going off-script today with my own topic: build your own game table. It isn’t often that I get to talk about gaming and woodworking in the same breath. I made this table because I needed a big surface that was lower than a normal table, but a higher than a coffee table. I also needed something inexpensive. Here’s my solution.
This table can easily be knocked down and stored when not in use. It’s built from one 4×8 foot sheet of plywood and a couple 2x4s. I built this to be comfortable for folks sitting on a couch or easy chair. You can adjust the dimensions to suit your needs.
Legs and table top cut from single sheet of plywood.
I picked a sheet of plywood with a good side and a patched side. I had the home center make the cut to separate the legs from the table top, and then had them cut the top to width. The rest of the cuts I made with a jigsaw.
Two-by-fours fit into vertical notch in legs.
I used a simple edge-lap joint; grooves on each side of the 2×4 that lock into a vertical notch in the plywood leg piece.
The legs and braces assembled.
Here are the legs and braces assembled. It’s surprisingly sturdy.
Table height was select to work well from low chairs or couch.
This photo shows the height of my table, which is 24″ (half the width of the plywood). It’s low enough that people in easy chairs or on a sofa can see the table easily.
Some useful accessories: elastic tie downs, acrylic sheet or gaming mat.
I used some elastic tie downs to keep the table top from sliding around too much. More recently, I picked up a sheet of acrylic, under which I can place maps or grid paper. I have a preference for wet-erase markers, and they work nicely on the acrylic.
I also picked up a couple large pieces of craft felt to cover the table, which was a nice surface until the cats got to it. I didn’t put any finish on the table, but I’m considering adding some paint (to cover the food stains).
#RPGaDAY 26: Coolest Character Sheet
Thanks to Autocratik for this series of prompts. And to my friend Tyler for his inspiring responses on his blog, Held Action. And for prodding me into reviving my own blog.
My pick for coolest character sheet is Mouse Guard. The sheet has all the information a player needs for playing the game. On one side is the important character and roleplaying information, and on the other is reference information about the conflict resolution system. The sheets are well organized and attractive, as well as very functional.
The sheet is available as a download, along with pregen sheets filled out for the main characters from the Mouse Guard books.
Saturday (finally)
This felt like a very long week. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad to have made it to the weekend. Yesterday, we had a company picnic at the Sandbar. The weather had threatened showers and thunderstorms, but rain held off and the sun came out. We had a good time picnicing and swimming.
Last night, we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I hadn’t seen it since I was little, but I remembered some songs, an inventory and a transforming car (which I used as inspiration for and Adventure! game session a few months ago!). The story itself was a bit strange; the trailer called it Phantasmagorical, but let’s just say that it was clearly a product of the 70s.
Today, I’ve moved the compost pile, weeded in the garden for an hour or more, and we just re-arranged our bedrooms. We’re hoping that DS will be able to sleep better if his original room. He’s been having a hard time since we re-arranged a couple weeks ago. (so we’ve all been having a hard time.)
After all that, I’m hoping for a quiet afternoon. I’m pooped.
Friday morning
I’m pretty tired since I was up past my bedtime. The game session was great with good storytelling and role playing, and we ended around 10:30 pm. On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things in case I had time to make a cucumber salad for the company picnic. After all was said and done, I got into bed at about 11:30 and passed out almost immediately.
Today, DS has his last day of camp, with a presentation for parents at before lunch. Then we are heading to the sand bar for a company picnic. Of course, the weather forecast is dire: showers and isolated thunderstorms. I don’t care if it rains, as long as it doesn’t thunder.
Gaming tonight
Tonight, I’m getting together with a group of friends for the second session of our Exalted 2nd Edition. After last week’s session, I decided my character is too fragile, so I need to make some adjustments. I also need to come up with a decent exalted name.
Poppa VT 