Current Projects

Figured I'd at least post a status update since I haven't posted anything this month.  So what is on the list for the month?

To start off, I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 3.  As such it got me to think about large scale RPG projects again, and the fact that I haven't done one in a long time.  So what I will be doing is a conversion of Borderlands using the Starfinder RPG rules.  The rules on weapons is the best suited for the setting, though I will be making a few additions.

As you may suspect, this will take a bit of time to work out.  But it's not all that I've got going on.

I've got my two jobs, the last semester of college, and my website to work on (which will replace the blog).

Oh and I have to find a job that will make use of the shiny degree I'm about to get.

So least to say that I'm pretty busy, and hope you all will understand if updates are a bit slow in coming.

Cypher System Revised Core Rule Book -- Reviewed

     Alright, I've been beating my head on what sort of project to take on next.  However, Monte Cook Games has provided me with what I needed.  For those who didn't know, a few years ago a Kickstarter was made to fund the series of books by Monte Cook Games.  While the Kickstarter was focused on funding a different book, it also had the goal of funding other books.  Notable of this was the Revised Cypher System Core Rulebook.  I helped to fund this Kickstarter and now I am able to see the fruits of my investment.

     Starting off, the book contains a large amount of information, and is not specialized in applying toward other RPG's made by Monte Cook Games.  In this respect I can draw an analogy with Savage Worlds and Hero system in that the Cypher System attempts to be an "catch-all" system for any genre of game you can think of.

     Now in the art of writing, critiquing is comes with talking about what you like, then after that you gotta talk about where you felt it stumbled.

     The book has a lot of information, and provides an interesting alternative other RPG's because of its unique rule set.  You don't have the standard array of ability scores you may have for characters in other RPG's, and instead you have 3 stats:  Might, Speed, and Intellect.  As you take damage, it is applied to one of these stats, reducing its pool of points.  On the other hand, some actions you take will also reduce these pools as well, such as using "effort" to improve on a die roll.

     Character's do level up, and they sort of have "classes" but these are called "types" and are generalizations of certain builds that a character can fall into.  These types are: Warrior, Adept, Explorer, and Speaker.

     Time is given to each genre of play that you can mold your game to, covering Fantasy, Modern, Sci-Fi, Horror, Romance, Superheroes, Post-Apocalyptic, Fairy Tale, and Historical.  Some optional rules are found for each genre as well, such as Horror having optional rules for Shock and Horror Mode.

     The rules are interesting, but you cannot expect to start your game with an array of powers and abilities that you may find in other games.  And even as you progress in level, don't expect to be able to do all the same things that a D&D character can do.  Is this bad, not overtly.  The game seems to want to take a more cinematic or comic book like focus.  The story that the GM weaves is meant to wrap around the characters.  Your playing the heroes after all.  In a superhero game, the story is focused on your characters, not any other characters but yours.

     In all this is an interesting game system, and I feel that it was well worth backing.

     But...but I do have a few problems with the system.

     First issue that I have is that the book is missing a specific walkthrough on making a character.  Now don't get me wrong, there are examples of the different "type" builds that you can do, and they sort of walk you through the process.  But what is lacking is a more comprehensive step-by-step process to making a character.  More over I'd like examples of this process being applied to a character being made in different genres.  Since the different genres add optional rules for characters, you have to sort of figure out how this all applies.

     This is a bit moot however.  With some trial and error you can figure it all out.  Moreover you can easily find examples of fully made characters to reference online, or just hop into a forum and talk the process over with other gamers.

     Another issue that I have, and this is due to my unfamiliarity with using the system, is the scale of power.  Levels going only from 1 to 6 doesn't seem like it's enough to grasp some concepts and broad genres.  For example, can you make a character like Superman?  Or what about characters like Rand Al Thor in a fantasy setting?

     These questions bring a degree of intrigue to my mind.

     I'll have to experiment, learn the rules well enough that I can work with them.  Of course it will mean needing to make a form fillable PDF out of the character sheet in the book.

     Ultimately, I feel that this was a good investment.  but as I'm on the cusp of potentially joining a new gaming group, so in all likelihood we'll be giving this system a try in the future.  I also picked up a bunch of the Numenera books from Humble Bundle, so there's ample chances to game with this system.

     If you have the chance, check out the free preview PDF of the game book.  Make your own decision.  But, ultimately, I think that it's worth the buy.

Crafting Dice Box Vers. 2

Hi folks, so this post is all about my latest crafting project, a new dice box.  Now this wasn't too difficult of a job, but I did run into a few issues...namely my measuring was off in a few spots so I got creative in how I dealt with it.

To start, I got all I needed from Joann Fabrics.  As you may know they have a bunch of premade boxes, so it was a matter of just picking one.  I happened to like the box they had with a lip on the lid.

I also bought a bag of balsa wood to augment my build.  Now for those who don't know, balsa wood is a very light weight wood, and is like working with foam.  You can cut it with a knife, and considering my limited work space it was what I decided on getting.  Though in the future I'd suggest getting a better crafting wood.

The first thing I did was increase the lip on the lid of the box.  In the image above you can see that I started working on that.  Now I put quite some effort in strengthening the balsa wood here.

• First I sanded where I used contact cement to glue sticks in place, once it was all dry I did some sanding.
• Then I used a glue stick to fill in cracks, and help seal the wood.
• Later I used some wood putty to smooth over cracks.

With the outside done I began planning out the interior.  Now I initially thought I would stain just the outside of the box and leave the inside as it was.  But if there is one common problem I run into it is that I can measure and cut as perfectly as I can, and I'll still be off in my measurements.

I'm certain it has something to do with Math and I not liking each other.

But luckily for me my measurements weren't too off, just off enough to irritate me.

Now in my previous dice box I used felt for the lid and the bottom of the large box, but I figured I'd do something different this time.  I got some foam with adhesive backs, and some cork board (which we happened to have some of).  

I made some dividers with the balsa wood, and wrapped what I needed in foam, I then cut some foam for the bottom of the box where the divided areas would be.

This is where I ran into some trouble.  For my larger dividing wall, I miss judged where to cut the foam.  So when I put the bottom foam in for the main section you could see where the seem was.  In the storage areas this isn't really noticeable.

Well the solution I came up with was to use some wooden dowels and glue them into place to from some runners on the inside of the box.  I then used wood putty to try and smooth out the dowels where they met the wood side of the box.  Unfortunately, the putty didn't exactly blend in.  So I sanded and made the choice to stain the main section of the box, not the smaller pockets.

Once that was all done I got some other foam that I had, cut out spots for the storage sections, and realized that I needed an arm or something to prop the lid open if I needed.  Well I improvised.  I cut a wooden dowel in half, used some thick paper, and wound it around the dowel.  With some super glue I rolled the paper up and let the glue dry to make a holder that I glued half way on one dowel and then the other part would just slide in to form the whole prop.  I also used some extra foam to make some stops for the collapsing pole to fit in and not roll around when the box is open.

In all, the box turned out well.  I may decorate the outside or even add a bit more cork to the rolling tray.  Hell, I'm even thinking of using some of the balsa wood to make a dice tower to store inside the box and clip to the lip of the box when in use.

So, what do you think?  Not too bad, doesn't take up alot of room like the previous one where it was like having a book always open.

One section holds all the vials of my mini-dice, a second section for maybe a miniature or two, or tokens, or something else.  The main section will hold my chosen dice, like my metal dice.

That's it for now!

I've recently gotten my hands on Pathfinder 2nd Edition and I need time to read and comprehend the system.  After all, folks are going to want some conversions for it.