A Birthday Once More

21 September 2014 | Hisham | | Board and Card Games, Family Pics
 

It's Irfan's 12th birthday. We were supposed to set something up for him, like allowing him to invite his friends over. But because of low resources, we had to cancel. But Cikma and Ayah Cik The Younger came with a cake anyway, so we held a small gathering. I was not even in the right frame of mind to take photographs so we do not have photos of the cake.

The GOKL group did pass the gift they bought for Irfan, which was the boardgame Tsuro.

I did however take a picture of Irfan unboxing and playing Tsuro.

He didn't know whether to be Ryan Higa, Freddie Wong or Rod Roddenberry
I got kicked off the board by the boy's maneuver. Now it's just his mom and him

We love you Irfan. It's been a rough year what with - among others - the UPSR fiasco and the absolute unreliability of this country's education system at this point in time, but we will strive for a better year for you next year.

Also, many thanks to everyone who wished him a happy birthday over the many online channels available!

 

BareBones Fantasy: The First GM Session

20 September 2014 | Hisham | | Role Playing Games, RPG Actual Play, RPG Irfan Plays
 

Earlier this week, Irfan gamemastered his first RPG session with his friend at his friend's house.

He had took my printed out copy of BareBones Fantasy, created his own pregenerated characters (asking me a few questions along the way), drew a simple terrain map and filled it with opponents.

His friend Fikree, I was told, named his pregenned human spellcaster William Jester. Irfan's own GMPC is a dwarf named Hector Zorin, a warrior with a greataxe, a battleaxe, and a warhammer.

The Simple Scenario

Because I was not present to witness the game being played, I interviewed Irfan for details of what went down in the session.

William and Hector were scouting the woods near the town where they lived because travellers had been disappearing there.

Near a rocky hill surrounded by thick trees they spotted a cave entrance that was guarded by a lizardman.

The session notes and charsheets

Photo of the artifacts used in the event!

They decided to attack. (Initiative order resulted in lizardman first, Hector second and William last.) The lizardman stabbed Hector with his spear (causing 11 Damage). Hector swung his greataxe but missed. William used his spellcasting power to hurl a fireball at the lizardman (using the Offensive Strike spell inflicting 7 Damage on 10 Body Points. 3 BP left).

The lizardman lunged once again, but his spear failed to stab Hector once more. Hector's greataxe sliced the lizardman in two (with 10 Damage) ending the battle.

They decided to explore the cave passage and discovered a crossroad that continued forward and also branched left and right. The passage ahead had a large cache of gold, which was freshly mined, apparently by the lizardmen. There were no lizardmen seen except for two guards waiting at the left and right passages.

Hector and William attempted to sneak past them. (They rolled Scout skill for stealth, but they both failed.) Lizardmen noticed their approach, readied their spears and attacked. (Initiative order: Hector, William, then the two lizardmen.)

Hector had his battleaxe ready but failed to strike a blow on the attacking lizardman. William's fireball blasted second lizardman into fiery bits (with 12 damage, 2 more than needed to kill him).

The first lizardman then succeeded in piercing Hector's body (inflicting 11 Damage, leaving 18 BP left; Hector was a tank - I saw Irfan roll Strength 60, then augmented it by 10 because of his dwarf characteristics). Hector retaliated with his greataxe, but missed. William's fireball attack also missed!

The lizardman thought he would finally be able to kill Hector, but fortunately the dwarf deftly dodged the spear thrust. Then Hector used his warhammer to strike the lizardman's head and slaying him (for 18 damage).

William Jester said, "Can we claim the gold now?"

Hector replied, "Yes." And the session ended.

I asked Irfan what his plans were for the game. He said, after the lizardmen disappeared, travellers were still going missing, so William and Hector will have to investigate further. He hopes to continue the adventure in the future.

I was pleasantly surprised that he was able manage a game session with a solo player. I remember he was very reluctant when I asked him once. Obviously, he needs to work on his worldbuilding skills so I'll be trying to teach him how to do that. (Why are the lizardmen there? Are they really evil? Why hasn't anyone else discovered the cave and the gold within?)

 

Golden Sky Stories: Intro Game

19 September 2014 | Hisham | | GOKL Actual Play, RPG Actual Play, RPG Irfan Plays, Role Playing Games
 

Last night, Doug came over to run a game for Irfan and I before he had to move, and it would be more difficult to meet up at nights regularly.

We played Golden Sky Stories for the first time. Set in rural Japanese township (not unlike a films like Tonari No Totoro) Golden Sky Stories is a tabletop roleplaying game where players take the role of magical animals called henge who are able to change into human form.

It's a great game to be played with children because there's not a single iota of violence, or situations that put the player characters in dire peril. It's all to do with making friends with other henge or little children in a small township in a rural Japanese countryside.

In fact, if you can grasp the situations in Tonari no Totoro where characters experience wonder and express their likes and dislike in childlike ways. The characters are never in any physical danger and there are no villains.

Doug and Irfan and shoes!
 

Diceless System

Task resolution is not achieved by rolling dice, but with points that you use to activate your powers, or increase your characteristics to beat a target number or your opponent's characteristics. It's like GUMSHOE's resource management system without rolling any d6s.

Whatever you need to do can be defined by four characteristics: Henge, Animal, Adult and Child. You also have points in Dreams, Wonder, and Feelings. Dreams allow you to create and strengthen connections with other characters. You also spend Dreams to transform into your human form or partial human form. Wonder allows you to activate your magical powers. Feelings are the points you need to increase your characteristics to beat high target numbers.

Intro Scenario

We generated characters quickly. Irfan was Kamineko the grey sleepy cat who lazes all over the town of Hitotsuna. I played Kuro, the black rabbit who lives in the town school, who thinks he's a dog.

Kuro was digging up (or trying to dig up bones) in a field outside of town when he came across Kamineko who was trying to sleep on top of an old abandoned shrine. Kuro invited Kamineko to help him dig for bones, but the cat henge refused to help the manic, identity-challenged rabbit henge.

Suddenly Kuro discovered that there was another henge in the shrine. It was a fox who identified herself as Suzune. The shrine was hers!

After a conversation that led to Suzune to bash her head on the side of her shrine because of Kuro's insistance that he was a dog, it began to get dark. Kuro and Kamineko thought it was time to get back home and transformed into their half-human forms (by spending Dreams.) Then it started to rain!

Kuro transformed back into his rabbit form and hid in the shrine. But Suzune convinced them all to huddle together under a big tree.

I rabbited!
 

Kuro noticed something strange. There were no clouds in the sky and the full moon was bright. Kuro used her Please power to act cute, rub against Suzune's legs to get her to submit to his cuteness. Suzune began to weep. She said she was lonely and no one had come to her shrine for many, many years. Kuro promise that he and Kamineko would come every day to visit her so she wont be lonely.

Immediately the rain stopped. Suzune was happy, bade her new friends farewell, then waited for the next time Kamineko and Kuro would visit.

The End

After that, we created new Connections and Irfan spent Dreams to strengthen the non-player character Suzune's connection with him.

Irfan had some trouble adapting to the whimsical and childlike aspects of the game, probably because he was more used to firing blasters in Star Wars and using an axe in BareBones Fantasy, but in later talks he appeared to be able to grasp the concepts better. Perhaps he would be able to game better should we play it again.

Many thanks to Doug for running Golden Sky Stories for us!

 

EOTE: Family Obligations

15 September 2014 | Hisham | | Edged By The Empire, RPG Actual Play, RPG Irfan Plays, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

Edged by the Empire

Episode 06 Family Obligations

Previously on Edged by the Empire...

Music by Kevin Kiner

Obligatory opening crawl!

Before the game began, no Obligations were triggered. As before, even if there was only one player, I considered all three main characters as player characters so three Force Dice were rolled, resulting in a Destiny Pool of 3 Light Side Points and 1 Dark Side Points. Irfan finally did some character advancements with the 60XPs he had been saving up, purchasing the Dead to Rights Talent and upgrading skills like Melee, Piloting (Space), Gunnery and Stealth.

The YT-1300 light freighter Lava Jaeger and her crew, Captain Hondo Pash, his kid sister Yuzy Pash, their armoured hired gunslinger Giin Lawquane and the astromech droids R2-8B8 and R5-K2 arrived at Naboo where Imperial Star Destroyer Obdurate was patrolling. Hondo informed them of their cargo of computer parts from Christophsis bound for Silverlake a port city on Naboo.

As they approach the lakeside city after a pair of Z-95 Headhunters fly past their freighter and ignoring them, the weapons lock klaxon blared. Giin - stationed at the top turret - said over the comlink, "What ith going on?" A missile was streaking toward them from the city outskirts. Hondo told him, "Hold on!"

Grinning at a missed missile

After spending one Preparation maneuver, Hondo's Piloting (Space) roll succeeds with a Triumph as net results show!

The Lava Jaeger jinked, the missile missed and Giin (with an extra Boost dice from of the Triumph) blasted the missile out of the Naboo skies.

 

EOTE: The Azurite City Requiem

14 September 2014 | Hisham | | GOKL Actual Play, Modesty Blazing, RPG Actual Play, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

Modesty Blazing

Episode 05: The Azurite City Requiem

In this game I thought I could finish this arc of the campaign in the second session. I failed.

Previously on Modesty Blazing...

Hello and Goodbye

Destiny Pool, not the kiddie pool

Uh oh. How many Dark Side Points?

As explosions wrecked the peaceful evening at Azurite City, the team began to regroup.

The Duros spy Vendrik told them that he had received an encrypted communique via the public channels. It was a code phrase ordering him to leave the planet. The team started to object. They would need his help if things went bad. Vendrik said, "I can't get involved now when the Empire appear to be using underhanded tactics to take over the system. They really want this system. If they knew that the Rebel Alliance is involved with their opposition, they'll call for a Base Delta Zero orbital bombardment killing everyone and everything on the surface of Ghyel. I know because I've seen them do it before on another world."

They said their goodbyes. Nora Romanova would help escort the Duros spy offworld.

Their vehicles wrecked, Zeltron Darter Kel, Trianii Qillian Ryn, Trandoshan John Tray'Essek and the droid VAX-11/750 jogged back towards their headquarters at the Ghyel Ministry of History and Archaeology.

Dark Skies over Azurite

The skies were dark, but seemed darker for the dozens of Lambda-class shuttles being regurgitated by the Imperator-class Star Destroyer hanging above Azurite City. They could be seen flitting between city buildings and were landing at every other open space in the city.

Darter called their employer, the 14-year-old Ghyel prince Zalo Hai whom they had rescued from a three hundred year carbonite slumber in an abandoned remote outpost. Darter reported their findings of the death of Councilman Drazi, the alliance Councilman Zirrus had with an Imperial officer, the homing beacon tagged on a saboteur's airspeeder and apparent Imperial political destabilisation tactics.

"We have to acquire evidence to present to the Council," said Prince Zalo. Suddenly he burst out, "They're here! An Imperial shuttle has landed. Troops are coming. You have to go to-" And then he was cut off. The team considered heading for the Ministry to rescue Prince Zalo, but it would take too long for them to reach it without a speeder.

 

Rafe's 32 Month Birthday

29 August 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

32 months old now! Only four months (less than that, given the actual date I'm writing this entry) until the boy is three years old!

Love this big smile

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Random Encounter Runoff

28 August 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics, Trawling The Net
 

Because of the Random Encounter in the last blog post...

Yes, I know she's not technically shooting at him. Cheated perspective a bit.
 

Random Encounter

26 August 2014 | Hisham | | Comics, Humour, Trawling The Net
 

It's not every day my tweet gets a reply from Joss Whedon.

But it doesn't feed the family. Sigh.

Addendum: Follow-up post created.

 

73 Months

22 August 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

73 months old now! Please don't mind the belatedness (and backdated-ness) of the entry.

Happy Yaya!

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

EOTE: An Ode to Backwater Politics

17 August 2014 | Hisham | | GOKL Actual Play, Modesty Blazing, RPG Actual Play, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

Modesty Blazing

Episode 04: An Ode to Backwater Politics

After saving the life of the long-frozen PRINCE ZALO HAI
of the GHYEL system, the crew of the MODESTY BLAZE has found themselves
contracted by Prince Zalo's descendant LORD ARANI HAI, a Ghyel loyalist.

The GALACTIC EMPIRE, unsatisfied with Ghyel providing raw materials
and manufactured goods to them, has bolstered an Imperialist faction
against the Hais' loyalists with Ghyel as their endgame.

Meanwhile, as the Prince is reintroduced to his people,
DARTER KEL, QILLIAN RYN and VAX-11/750 await the return of
JOHN TRAY'ESSEK and NORA ROMANOVA back into to their fold
at AZURITE CITY SPACEPORT...

It's been awhile since I gamemastered six players in a political intrigue session. Political intrigue is hard. More so when you don't gamemaster the campaign that often. So let's get down to it!

Previously on Modesty Blazing...

"Okay! Multiple DOUBLE Light Side points in the Destiny Pool. Game over. Everyone go home."

A Gozanti cruiser modified to be an unarmed commercial passenger liner manoeuvred herself for landing at the spaceport at Azurite City on the planet Ghyel.

In the passenger cabin of the ship, reptilian Trandoshan hired gun/marauder John Tray'Essek sat beside his blond teammate smuggler/scoundrel Nora Romanova who had just finished her scouting contract in Wild Space and was returning to rendezvous with the crew of the YT-1300 light freighter Modesty Blaze who had set up a temporary base of operations on Ghyel. Unbeknownst to them, in the seat behind them was a Duros known as Vendrik who was listening in to their conversation, learning about the Modesty Blaze crew's contract job attached to the Ministry of History and Archaeology under Prince Zalo Hai in Azurite City.

Waiting for them on the platform below were the Zeltron smuggler/pilot Darter Kel, Trianii bounty hunter/assassin Qillian Ryn and the laconic droid technician/slicer VAX-11/750. They looked at the approaching cruiser. They gazed at the blue morning skies, the white clouds above and the contrail of a rocket which was streaking toward the landing ship! Darter thumbed his comlink on and barked, "Missile incoming. We can't take it out. If you can do something, do it now!"

The perceptive Vendrik heard the call from Tray'Essek's hand comlink. It startled him to know that the pair seated in front of him had immediate intelligence on an incoming missile. Vendrik tightened his seat belt. Nora leapt over Tray and sprinted up the aisle past startled attendant droids (with a successful Athletics roll). She lunged into the cockpit and tried to wrestle the control stick from one of the two astonished pilots. (Brawl check: Success with one Threat.)

The Gozanti veered to the left. The missile grazed the underside of the ship's port engine pylon and exploded. The vessel lost its repulsors and suddenly slammed into the ground kicking up a gigantic plume of dust and debris into the air. The port engine had snapped off and was spiralling away.

The insurance company is going to have a cow, man

"Ferra Sector Lines"

Darter and Qillian were aghast! Had their teammates just been killed by a rocket attack? They must be avenged! Leaving VAX to check on the crash site, Darter and Qillian ran for their Ministry-assigned Seraph-class "Flash" landspeeder, leapt onto the seats and rocketed out into the streets trying to determine the source of the rocket fire.

Because the ship fell only about 200 meters and the acceleration compensators were still active, most of the passengers were unharmed. The befuddled and dazed pilots tried to arrest Nora, but she charmed her way past them. Then Tray and her jettisoned the emergency hatch and jumped onto the tarmac unharmed thanks to the emergency gravity field activated outside the hatch upon a crash. All the other passengers, including Vendrik, followed suit and soon everyone was walking out into the debris and dust as police and rescue speeders arrived on the scene.

Vendrik introduced himself to Nora and Tray, then invited them both for a drink at the nearby spaceport cantina.

 

Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook

09 August 2014 | Hisham | | Books, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

After almost a month waiting, the Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook from Fantasy Flight Games finally arrived. I went to the Pudu post office to pick it up right after a meeting elsewhere in Kuala Lumpur. The Edge of the Empire rulebook allowed us to play in fringe campaigns as smugglers, mercenaries, bounty hunters and the like. Age of Rebellion (below right) allows us to play as members of the Rebel Alliance in their struggle to topple the tyrannical Galactic Empire.

In Edge of the Empire your character has Obligation that would help or hinder the player in a Fringe campaign in terms of how he acts in it and how he is able to acquire resources. In Age of Rebellion, Obligation is replaced with Duty which helps freedom fighters to define why they are in the fight against Imperial forces. Obligation and Duty are compatible with each other, allowing characters from Edge of the Empire to be able to appear in an Age of Rebellion campaign.

Also, this book cover stole the laptop's wallpaper.

Careers you are able to play are Ace, Commander, Diplomat, Engineer, Soldier and Spy, each with three Specialisations. You're also able to mix and match Specialsations (even from Edge of the Empire Careers) to personalise your character.

Check out the new artwork for SpecForce Infiltrators. They look almost exactly like the ones on the cover of Rules of Engagement by West End Games from many years ago!

Here are some familiar starships for you to crash or crash into. Newer ships includes the Gozanti transport and the Consular-class Cruiser. Even Jeff's Corellian YV-969 armed freighter design makes an appearance in the ships section.

The Perlemian Haul, the introductory adventure ready to run for players and written by Gary looks intriguing with lots of plot hooks and ideas. I love the dapper Trandoshan Passk illustrated by Christopher Burdett there a concept resembling the dapper Gamorrean I once drew for Gary.

Finally a big thanks to Ryan for helping with the purchase of the book. I'd never be able to acquire it without his help. And for his help - for eldritch reasons - his own infamous player character Asok Yeesrim appears in the book

Can't wait to give this book a spin!

 

Rafe's 31 Month Birthday

07 August 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

And the boy is 31 months old!

Happy boy

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Dunjonworx Card Game

02 August 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork
 

I drew some tiles for the Dunjonworx Card Game by DwD Studios. Also, I also made door as transparent PNG that DwD Studios can randomly place on the walls of these rooms, creating different door configuration for each room. Links to the product can be found at the end of this blog entry.

I'd like to have this room in my house
Without frogs on them
Is the room overlooking a starfield?
 

Salam Aidilfitri from Sitiawan Again

29 July 2014 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

Semalat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and Eid Mubarak from the ol' hometown.

From the our household, who are spending the Eid at Irfan's Atok and Opah's place. We drove home from KL at 2am.

Everyone except Ayah Cik, Cik Dik, Yaya and Adik! Whom we all miss.

Lumut promenade at the waterfront was all lit up and filled with merry makers and street vendors.

Irfan met Qayyum and they talked about the Transformers. They also saw Transformers the Movie.

The last day before we left, there was a gathering of old ACS schoolmates at Nazri's house. I met old friends I've not seen in more than 25 years!

We casted off early for our journey back toward KL at 3am.

 

Santhe Security Space Trooper

26 July 2014 | Hisham | | Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

Once upon a time I designed and drew a Santhe Security Space Trooper just in case any Star Wars RPG game master would like to run a corporate shenanigans campaign involving a Santhe Corporation or Santhe Security.

Taking a look at it recently I thought that it looked like balls:

Looks real bad.
 

So I thought I'd whip up a new one.

Santhe-Sienar Corp shenanigans?
 

Tendaar in Disguise

25 July 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

Last week, Tendaar the Mon Calamari (from the Age of Rebellion Beginner Box) played by Ivan snuck into Whisper Base wearing an awesome disguise.

I wasn't able to participate in the session but Ivan commissioned an artwork of the pregenerated character in his new disguise. I thought the helmet sells the disguise very well.

The original Fantasy Flight Games Tendaar artwork by Mike Nash can be seen here.

There goes Whisper Base...
 

72 Months (a.k.a the sixth birthday!)

23 July 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

And so the girl is now six years old! 72 months old! Hurrah!!

My big six-year-old

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Iftar at Some Place Fancy

23 July 2014 | Hisham | | Family Pics, Food
 

We rarely ate out for iftar this year. So we thought we'd go to the Kluang Station restaurant before Ramadhan was over. The Kluang Station restaurant was nearby and not in Kluang; though I've been to the Kluang Station restaurant in Kluang.

Ain headed there after work to get some groceries. Irfan and I rendezvoused with her there after Maghrib for dinner after breaking our fast first.

It took a while for the special iftar buffet to end before we could order ala carte.

I got some seafood broth and AIn had nasi lemak.

Irfan had a burger.

Irfan loved that burger.

 

Iftar at Irfan's School

20 July 2014 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

Irfan's school raised enough money to build a dedicated surau not just for the students and staff, but is open for the public. We attended its opening ceremony which also had Maghrib, Isha' and Tarawikh prayers.

The school principle was on hand with the PTA president to commemorate the event with a a plaque.

There was a tazkirah by an uztadh from Al Hijrah TV station.

For iftar, we broke fast with some dates, then we performed Maghrib prayers before having a meal.

After that it was time for Isha', Tarawikh and Witr prayers. The surau is a comfortable sanctuary, which Irfan has used for Zuhur prayers before coming home after school during Ramadhan. Hope he uses it a lot more before the end of the school year.

 

Babs

14 July 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 
Barbara Gordon

I drew Babs.

Specifically the new Batgirl costume designed by Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr.

Also, yay! 1300th entry!