RPG - No Kingdom for Old Men! (PFS)

 Art Source Click Here

 
In December I started a new campaign called "No Kingdom for Old Men". Its my 1st attempt at running a pathfinder (D&D 3.75) game and so far its going quite well. When I start to put the game together in my mind I really wanted to run a Middle Eastern/Slave style game and was going to base it off the "Legacy of Fire", but Dan ran his first and it ended up that his storyline follows the "Legacy of Fire" at various points so rather than run another version of the wheel I opted for something else.

Also after reading "Legacy of Fire" I discovered that the Storyline is actually pretty weak and I'm happy I didn't run it now. I have still nabbed a few things from it but for the majority it isn't all that usable.

So instead I decided that I would run an alternative version of "King Maker", In the original version of "King Maker" you get given a writ and sent off to clear out a swath of land and become a king, but as we kind of did that in Dans game I decided instead the group would have the opportunity to work for someone else who is trying to set up a town/region and have the group work on his behalf.

I like the idea of the Kingmaker Modules except for 1 part... That the Kingdom Creation rules are complete rubbish! Unless of course you like running a massive excel sheet of Micromanagement Madness as your Kingdom twists and turns in the wind turn from turn. I am sure that the originators of teh kingdom system

During my research phase of creating the game I did find a cool little treasure maker online that I quickly downloaded and now have kicking around for whenever I need to generate items on the market, It randomly generates Magic items either by town size of GP/Power Ratings for Pathfinder... It makes having a changing item market actually viable and non tedious/time consuming!

Click Here and get the latest free version!


The game is slowly developing into the creation that I want to acheive, I cant really say a lot as some of my players read this and that would spoil the surprises I have in store for them, but I can say that my inspiration is a mixture or Rome meets Sparticus meets West Wing... Take from that what you will. :)


Reminds me, I should rewatch west wing!

If you want to read on whats been going on then check out the game Journal for both an informed and funny read.

DIY - Ribbons of Madness!

So Elaine has this girl room of doom (see below) and one of the things she asked me when we started was 'baby, I need a thingy to hold my Ribbons and Bobbin and it needs to be cute". "Of course" I said... "You draw it up and I will build it!", However along the way there were some brain seizures but I'm happy to say they are past now.

I put together the frame and managed to fail at making rounded corners, They started round and then I put my damn Tenon saw through them and made then square, You can I am sure imagine me swearing!

With the frame together I put the ribbon rail in, Rather than use my new router I drilled a hole and used my Tenon Saw to make 2 45 degree cuts, then filed the grooves down and Tack/Glued the rail guides in place.

Groove and Rail for the ribbons :) 

The next step was the rails for the bobbins, I made some 45 degree triangles and glued them evenly down the sides and then chopped 5 bits of rail and drilled holes in them to pop the 7mm dowel in then, I knocked them into the 6mm holes with a light bullpen hammer and now Elaine will have 85 bobbin holders.

 45 degree braces and bobbin rails

Basic overview before placing the last 4 rails in

 

An army of rails!

 Ready to paint!

Fencing - My Personal Grindhouse

Fencing has throughout my life been one of my greatest passions, Back in 1991 when I picked up my 1st post grip foil and said.. "Yes! This is the sport for me..". My father I don't think was that happy as I refused to go back to football. As it turned out we both lost, My parents couldn't afford for me to take part in fencing that year but I hoped that the year after I could, in the year of 1991 I played no sport and that blew.

But 1993 was different, My parents having being driven insane by my being at home sent me to fencing, and damn did I have a great time! For the next few years I fenced and trained my little heart out and when I moved collages because my parents brought their 1st house I still fenced... But for another club.

Over those years I made some great friends and met some even better pillocks, backing in those days fencing was insane, there were so many clubs and all with big numbers, HVHS was packed out, Lower Hutt Fencing had just started under Penny Grant-Taylor, Vic Uni was running, Rongitai Collage had a club as did Heratunga and Aeotea.

After 4-5 years in the sport I eventually put down the weapons I loved as my knees hurt so very muchand women were becoming a lot more interesting to me.

Some 14 years later at the age of 31 I decided that I should return to fencing, I had not played football for a full year and was beginning to pack on the weight, so after I got back from the gold coast i made a flight down to Christchurch to see Daniel Chan, there I spent a lot of money and got myself hooked up with Whites, Masks and 3 of each weapon, Foil Epee and Sabre.

No longer was I a poor student, I had a job and the will to fence... People said at the time... Just go back and try it 1st Baz.. To that I said No! I knew if I went back Id be there to stay for some time... And here I am fast approaching 34 and still back at it.

A lot of the people I remember are gone now, retired from the sword, my original coach is still there though, Kam Smart and its impressive to see he still helps out kids when they need it, It reminds me of when I was a kid and he showed me how effective the "bind" was.

Me, Robert GB and Roger Haymen

Now that I am back at fencing I fond im doing things I'd never have thought of doing, I help train kids from 10 years old and up, I serve on teh Fencing Central council as a General Exec and Web Admin, I fence in 3 clubs and relish silently in the fact that all the pillocks i remember from the old days, are gone.

The most important thing is that I enjoy fencing and have made some very good friends through the sport... and even though the politics are still there, they seem more subdued.

Me, Rainbow and Nancy

As the new year comes in I find I am up for helping where I can again and have been accepted as an Offical Wellington Swords Coach, Im also throwing my hat into the ring for the General Exec on the Fencen Council, This with my UHC and Vic Uni clubs should make for a busy and fun year.

Culliford Vs Clark, in The never ending battle for Master of Arms!

Now... if only someone would hurry up with the Tournament Calander! :)

DIY - My new obsession

Well recently my partner and I had our Christmas break and when your not planning to go away what better thing is there to do than some DIY, We had 2 rooms downstairs that desperately needed some love and attention so destiny decreed that it should be done! (And it was so)

Between the "fixed wall lights", "3 layers of wall paper", Some "rotten" wall Gib, An old chip board tiled ceiling that I think most of the street has and "red" shag pile carpet.... Something had to give... And apparently the thing to give was Elaine, Enough she said... Lets do it!

It appears Santa knew what I was doing before I did because I got a lot of power tools, and most of them were sanders!(And of course my FAVORITE power tool, My cordless drill!)

During the time Lainey also did sone furnature DIY, Heres some pics of that action!

Fol out Bed couch, what a groovy colour... but for 1 dollar... who cares!

 

A work in progress!

 

TADAA! 1 Newly Covered Couch!

What an interstingly shaped cabnet

 As most of Christmas... a Work in progress!

So we started away and cleared the rooms out  things, At this point Id like to say that my Garage was clear of gear, then we moved 2 rooms of stuff into them... I have only just now "ALMOST" re-resolved the zero space issue. Almost...

Here are a few photos of the original layout/scheme of emails room, Note the red Shag pile carpet and the "Blandness of colors"

So once the rooms were clear of objects we started to get into it, The 1st job was the Ceiling of doom, It had to go, so I started to pull the ceiling tiles down, Thankfully who ever put them up was nice and cheap and didn't bother to use glue, What this meant that other than tear the tiles down all I had to was de-staple the joists, which was another bonus... I didn't have to lay up batons!

 

Me tearing out tiles

 

When Tiles fight back!

So many days were spent un-wallpapering the 2 rooms, one of the rooms have wall paper that had kool little toys on it, When I find teh Big Camera I'll post these up below as well.

After the paper was stripped back it was time to take the Architraves off and start laying Gib, now when I approached the issue of Gib I though it would be easy.. and in a way it was... 2 bloody days later it was done, Not plastered, no no no... Thanks to Hugh (Laineys Dad) and Lester we got it all up though. :)

On day 2 though Lester locked his keys in his car, So I showed off my grand theft auto skills and broke into his car, 49 minutes later... I was! Damn I'm a beast! (this didn't include looking on Youtbe for a tutorial)

With the Gib up we started the nightmare that was plastering and sanding, This time Dan helped out, yet again everything took longer than expected and  I spent one of the three days working out the puzzle we like to call "Architraves... How do the go back together? Now 3 days later the wall and ceilings were prepped up and it was FINALLY time for the fun  stuff! - PAINTING.

The Painting was a long and sordid affair, Elaine started with a Spray gun, I cant say that I wall all that impressed,,, However with a darker paint it may have been better/easier to work out where you had already painted. She went with a light green and a dark Blue.

Me, Im a simple guy, I went to the shop, picked out a Grey i liked, then I picked out some textured wallpaper that suited it and I was off like a rocket!

3 or 4 days later we were done, just in time to get the carpet laid, thank god it matched my walls, Elaine was sure from the start of the project, I however blundered my way to success, The lack of wall lights and their new modern looking spotlights certinally helped my room.


Here are some pics of Laineys "Almost finished room, Its only missing the bobbin/ribbon holder and thats en-route at the moment.

I will post pictures of my RPG room when I have the door back on, that should be in a few days :)

All in all a great success and I'm looking froward to any of the next 4 projects they are

• Make a Ribbon/Bobbin holder (WIP)
• Removing the Mediterranean archway. (The only Mediterranean thing in the whole house?!?)
• Redoing the walls and roof in the downstairs hallway leading to the 2 redone rooms
• Giving the downstairs bathroom a make over (New paint and new floor)