Some time ago, I ran BareBones Fantasy RPG for Irfan. The campaign is set in the default setting: the Keranak Kingdoms! Late afternoon yesterday, we continued the game with him playing the halfling spellcaster-warrior Jake Hastur and I running the human scholar-scout Finn Riverwyld. We stopped by sundown and resumed the game this morning. Last time, Jake and Finn were commissioned by Duchess Lyla Keranak of Kingsbridge to look for her missing brother Captain Kane Keranak, or at the very least return his signet ring back to her. The duo travelled to the Island of Netharak where he was last seen. After having rested in Mr. Bonewall‘s house at the fishing port of Dronak, Jake and Finn geared up and set out northwest to where Kane was last seen headed. Day One The duo headed into the thick jungle. By noon, Jake had almost wandered into a river with foul […]
Continue readingMonthly Archives: December 2013
Rafe’s 24 Month Birthday (aka Second Birthday)
And so the boy is now two years old! The big T-W-O! Twenty-four months have passed so quickly! [[image:2013_1229_rafe03.jpg:Angel baby:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions So I was looking at Yaya’s 24 month entry to see what kind of things she was up to, and to see pictures of her as a two-year-old. One thing jumped right out – Yaya only had eleven teeth at age 2. Very different from her little brother who probably has close to his quota of twenty milk teeth! It really is interesting to note the differences between the children, both in physical developments as well as interests. Speech status: Adik is trying to speak in full sentences more and more. For example, he has changed from just saying “Have it?” to ask for something to now saying “Let me have it”. We hear “No, YA-YA!!” all the time and he now thinks […]
Continue readingThen Things Get Awesomer and Awesomer!
[[image:toothbrush.gif:Make sure all the molars get mooshed:center:0]]
Continue readingChristmas 2013
So this year we decided to participate in the Christmas tradition. Yaya is old enough now to enjoy it and in fact, she asked for it. So here we go! Our first family Christmas. Also, since we have had a lot of work travels in recent months, we decided to forgo our usual end of year trip (someplace warm, usually) and stayed home instead. So bring it on! We start with the obligatory photo with Santa: [[image:2013_christmas31.jpg:Yaya was happy but luckily Adik did not cry (he thinks Santa is an evil overlord):center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions We begin with a build up to the big day. Progression of the Christmas tree (artificial as Yaya was sad that if we had a real tree, it would die), decorations, and presents under the tree in the week leading up to Christmas. We pretty much wrapped a few presents every […]
Continue readingFirst Snowfall of the Winter
So we actually missed the first snowfall in Ohio (in November) this year while we were away at work in Pennsylvania. But when we were in Pennsylvania (again, for work) in December, snow caught up with us. This entry is basically just some fun photos taken during the snowfall, and afterwards. Most of the photos were taken on the Sunday afternoon (you might remember the Eagles Sunday afternoon game with snow flurries that severely limited visibility on TV?), but some were taken in the days after. [[image:2013_decsnow09.jpg:Let’s play in the snow!:center:0]] As always, please mouse over the pictures for captions. [[image:2013_decsnow01.jpg:Adik wants to know what this stuff is:center:0]] [[image:2013_decsnow03.jpg:He’s intrigued by the stuff and keeps walking to make footprints:center:0]] And yay! Adik still fits into Yaya’s old snowsuit! He has outgrown the lovely one that he received from Abang Reza (and that is now going to be handed off to […]
Continue reading65 Months
65 months! Five years and five months have passed. [[image:2013-yaya65month-07.jpg:Beautiful smile:center:0]] * Mouse over pictures for captions Food status: A few new tastes! Yaya tried hot chocolate (during the snow adventures), finger tasted cookie frosting and also ate circle toast with a little nutella (under a generous slather of regular butter). So three new things. Baby steps, I suppose. But we are pleased with her. Sadly, none of the foods was at all healthy, but on the plus side she did not ask for more after she completed the tastes. Hopefully we will have more to report this next month and in the new year. Yaya is becoming a great big sister – always keen to teach Adik stuff, read to him, etc. She is still the second most dangerous thing for him (note Adik’s black eye from last month’s accident), but on the other hand, Adik is the single […]
Continue readingAmusements at the New Ducky Hotel
So we have spent many days at the new Ducky Hotel in the past three months. We played in the snow, and amused ourselves in all kinds of ways. This entry is just a bunch of fun photos of the activities at the new Ducky Hotel (that would be the Homewood Suites in Lansdale, PA). Our Old Ducky Hotel was in Cranford, NJ. 🙂 [[image:2013_dechotel01.jpg:Smiling as brightly as the sun:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Let’s be pirates! [[image:2013_dechotel03.jpg:Dancing peg-leggedly?:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel04.jpg:Cheese!:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel05.jpg:Arr mateys!:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel06.jpg:Pirates have all the fun!:center:0]] And now let us have fun with Papa and Mama’s shoes! [[image:2013_dechotel07.jpg:Shoe on a leash:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel08.jpg:Pulling it onto the sofa by its laces:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel09.jpg:Doodling on Papa’s sneakers (a new “canvas”, get it?):center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel10.jpg:Coloring the underside of Mama’s shoes:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel11.jpg:Walking around in Mama’s shoes:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel12.jpg:Attack Papa!:center:0]] [[image:2013_dechotel13.jpg:”I clapping!”:center:0]] Also very popular, activities on the sofa: [[image:2013_dechotel16.jpg:Napping on the sofa (with pillows […]
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Paper Minis: Geonosians
I created some Geonosian paper miniature for Star Wars RPG. Geonosians get their own sheet because the general need for it at present thanks to Act 2 of The Long Arm of the Hutt for Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Game which takes place on Geonosis. My own session of Act 2 was renamed “Aggressive Negotiations” that only had one Geonosian Archdukes instead of two Dukes. But the sheet linked below has two differently coloured Dukes to be used with the adventure, as well as 8 drones. Download them here from Google Drive.
Continue readingSelamat Pengantin Baru Cik Ma and Farid
Irfan’s Cik Ma and Uncle Farid got married on the 11th at Pondok Lubuk Tapah; and thus Uncle Farid was upgraded to Irfan’s second Ayah Cik. Since I had an exam the previous day, I arrived just in time for the festivities. Here are some photos from the wedding festivities. [[image:cikma-wedding01.jpg::center:0]] When everyone was busy sometimes Irfan babysat Zara. [[image:cikma-wedding02.jpg::center:0]] Aqad completed, Ayah Cik and Cik Ma were now husband and wife.I photographed stuff in the back. [[image:cikma-wedding03.jpg::center:0]] The newlyweds bersanding at the pelamin. Cik Su F had Cik Ma’s wing. [[image:cikma-wedding04.jpg::center:0]] All the tweens of the extended family also got to pose at the pelamin, even Irfan.Later that day they all played musical chairs under the rambutan tree. [[image:cikma-wedding05.jpg::center:0]] Then on the 15th, the family gathered at Jitra for the festivies at Farid’s place in Jitra. [[image:cikma-wedding06.jpg::center:0]] Atok Irfan took a group photo of the close extended family before […]
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The Gifts of Star Wars Books
Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopaedia Tsing visited with a gift: The Old Repubic Encyclopaedia, with material from the Star Wars MMO game set 3600 years before the movies and more than 300 years after the Knights of the Old Republic/Dark Lords of the Sith comic series. It’s a great treasure trove of information not just for the game, which I do not play. It also has a ton of stuff I can mine for Star Wars RPG sessions set in the present. New ships! Not much but PCs might come across some of these vessels in deep storage for thousands of years, just ready to be explored or to be used as their vehicles. Just make sure there are unknown dangers aboard after being dormant for millennia. Strangely enough, my current desktop wallpaper is of an XS light freighter berthed in a landing bay. You don’t see the Gree […]
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Dinner with Tsing and Michelle
Tsing, Michelle and their kids visited us for dinner last night. Having us as one of their regular stops during their vacation never fails to warm my heart. The last time they were back there were two children in two. This time there’s three! Unfortunately I did not take a photo of baby Ezra because he was busy playing the keyboard, then sleeping.
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Night’s Black Agents: A Romanian Rendezvous
Previously, the Agents completed a week-long mission at Inish Medical, a multinational medical corporation that was using the haemocanis serum derived from blood of certain East European dog breeds to give vampiric abilities to their subjects. Inish appeared to have larger, more diabolical plans for the serum application. It was up to them to discover what. The Agents began a new mission: to gather intel on Romania. Inish took interest in criminal underworld in Bucharest, who helped them acquire special breeds of dogs in Romania before the Heimdall débâcle. They also had a secondary mission: to extract their ally Vienna “Vin” Cesarescu from Inish’s task force – the R-Team – that had a job to do in Romania. Vin was a Romani woman who displayed vampiric symptoms and abilities even before Inish abducted her and forced her to work for them. R-Team would be arriving in Bucharest on Saturday. DAY […]
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BU-77, Fugitive ARC Trooper
I once posted about BU-77 the ARC Trooper, my Star Wars D6 RPG character from the Team: Sabredart campaign, complete with D6 stats. Recently, I found a line art of BU-77 that I drew after became a fugitive from the Republic and wore a new costume he found aboard the Mandalorian Dungeon Ship Lost Hope. So I imported the drawing to GIMP and painted it up a bit. Also, I experimented with layers a bit. I duplicated two extra layers, colourised the first two layers green and red respectively, set them to Multiply and Screen respectively and offset each layer from another by a couple of pixels causing the above effect to happen. The works in progress can be seen below. Boggles my mind that the first two pieces on the left were made almost 10 years ago. The one on the right is the penultimate version before I began […]
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