The blog is not headed anywhere. But the subtitle “View from the Tenth Floor” will be changed starting today as we will no longer be living on the tenth floor. The last two months has been a whirlwind of activity. I have accepted a job offer in Kangar and we’ll be moving there – five hundred klicks away – shortly. This has been a blessing, as we have been wanting to leave Kuala Lumpur for many, many years but there was nowhere to go, not without a job there to ground us and provide us security there. Now there is an opportunity for us to leave the city. A new job beckoned us. The visit to the Cave of Dramatic Lighting was the only hint of the upcoming change, during our prospecting trip to visit the new employer and workplace. We will be leaving behind the Tenth Floor with a […]
Continue readingTag Archives: Irfan
Irfan on the new desktop
When this blog was founded, Irfan was not yet three years old.
He is now an adult with many more leagues to travel.
EOTE: I Was Young When I Left Home
Edged by the Empire Episode 07 I Was Young When I Left Home Previously on Edged by the Empire… Irfan did not use any of his 15 XP to upgrade his character Hondo Pash. He rolled Destiny Points for the PC and the two main NPCs, who are basically auxiliary PCs anyway. Blowin’ In The Wind Recently departed from the port of Silverlake in the Naboo system, the Lava Jaeger flew into Blue Nirvada‘s atmosphere, a frozen ocean world orbiting a blue dwarf star in the Tarabba Sector. However, there was a vicious snowstorm along their flight path toward Obsidian Island, the hometown of Captain Hondo Pash and his 9-year-old sister Yuzy Pash where they grew up. The armoured mercenary gunslinger Giin Lawquane in the co-pilot seat with the BlasTech EE-3 blaster rifle slung on his back asked, “Do we wait it out?” Hondo took a second to ruminate, then […]
Continue reading
Cave of Dramatic Lighting
We visited Gua Kelam yesterday. Gua Kelam is officially translated as “Cave of Darkness” at the plaques we saw at the site. The cave is a tunnel that runs through a limestone hill for about 350 metres. Here are is photojournal of our visit. It had been a wet weekend with rainfall every day, aptly putting the “rain” in rainforest. Water was dripping from the leaves and roots and vines of the foliage above the entrance to the cave. In the 19th and early 20th century, Gua Kelam used to be a passage for tin miners to transport their ore from the mines to their staging area. According to the plaque, many miners perished during heavy rains when the river flooded the cave. The walkway that traversed the entire length of the cave began at the entrance. At first Irfan hesitated at the thought of travelling on a wooden walkway […]
Continue reading
Aidiladha at the Tenth Floor
Another year, another Aidiladha spent in Kuala Lumpur. There was no balik kampung because of insufficient resources. So yesterday we tried to make the best of it. In the morning, we went for Solat Aidiladha at the Pandan Indah mosque. This morning, for some reason the khatib was not firing all engines. Perhaps he was exhausted. Then it was time for salam hari raya between ourselves. First, Irfan salam and kissed Ain. Followed by the same with me, after which, Ain started cooking some nasi lemak in anticipation of impending visitors. In the afternoon, Irfan’s school friend Fikree and his family, as well as his cousins Aiman and Zara, came a-visiting. Apart from savouring the nasi lemak, Irfan, Fikree and Aiman played some Tsuro while Star Wars Rebels was playing on television. Even young Zara was intrigued by the game. Since boardgaming was pretty fun, the crew moved on to […]
Continue reading
A Birthday Once More
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. 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 […]
Continue reading
BareBones Fantasy: The First GM Session
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. They decided to attack. (Initiative […]
Continue reading
Golden Sky Stories: Intro Game
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 […]
Continue reading
EOTE: Family Obligations
Edged by the Empire Episode 06 Family Obligations Previously on Edged by the Empire… 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. […]
Continue reading
Iftar at Some Place Fancy
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.
Continue reading
Iftar at Irfan’s School
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 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.
Continue reading
Call of Cthulhu: Healthcare Blues
Episode 3 Healthcare Blues Last time on Call of Cthulhu (almost two years ago in realtime), Detective D.J. Stark played by Irfan (the youngest Call of Cthulhu player ever? I have no idea) killed his partner who turned out to be a ghoul cultist and prevented an entity called Sharakh-Kheth from emerging from its universe into ours. However he was badly injured – lots of broken bones – and was hospitalised. Three weeks later he was moved from intensive care into a shared hospital ward at Saint Agatha Medical Centre in Brisbane, San Francisco, located all the way in Firth Park Canyon. Doctor Geisler was his doctor. His ward-mates were three other elderly men Beck, Dolce and Nunez. The ward had one window that had an iron grill installed. Stark could see trees outside from the third story of the hospital. Day One In the morning, Eleanor Stark a professor […]
Continue reading
We Keep Going Back To Sungai Congkak
…probably because it’s the picnic spot in the woods that’s closest to us. Still we needed to drive over the hills to reach it. It was Irfan’s school holidays, so Atok and Opah came over for a visit. Sunday morning we went for a picnic. Instead of more pictures of us dipping in the river or having nasi lemak, here follows photos of the surrounding environment. Here are some trees and a gazebo. Someone stat the gazebo. Here are some trees and running water. More water runs through here. Then a challenger appears! We had a great time under the cooling trees and in the even more cooling river. Atok took lots of photos and Opah scored some wild orchids for her garden which she found growing on trees. We’re sure Alya and Rafe would enjoy dipping in Sungai Congkak when they visit in the future.
Continue reading
EOTE Tabletop Day Episode: First Day on the Job
Edged by the Empire Episode 05 First Day on the Job For International Tabletop Day today, Irfan a quick game of Edge of the Empire for Irfan. Then, Farid and Cikma came a-visiting and Farid joined the game. Previously: Hondo Pash and his little sister Yuzy Pash had finally freed themselves of the crime lord Teemo the Hutt. With their newfound friend the armoured bounty hunter Giin Lawquane and two astromech droids R2-8B8 and R5-K2, they began to carve a life for themselves in the spacelanes of the Outer Rim Territories with their YT-1300 light freighter Lava Jaeger. The first stop in their quest for their first freight job: the planet Rodia. The ship set down in Landing Bay 4 in the small town of Port Trammel on Rodia. (Music played: “Approaching Rodia” by Kevin Kiner from Star Wars: The Clone Wars for atmosphere. You can find the mp3 at his website.) Hondo is met […]
Continue reading
Robotech RPG: The Sinkhole Situation
Irfan began a playing a new game today: Palladium’s Robotech RPG. Sila had a copy back in our teenage years. I played less than her friends and her did because I was away from home for most of the time. We were totally into Robotech. Sila taped every episode for me to watch when I’m back from boarding school. We bought and read as many of the Jack McKinney novelizations as we could. And 25 years later Irfan is now playing it. I’m running it. I admit I was curious to see how the system feels like when I’m now 40 years old. He rolled up an RDF Veritech pilot named John Barnes. Actual play report follows: January 7, 2009 RDF Nouakchott Base Flight officer Barnes was an F-22 fighter pilot, assigned to the Robotech Defense Force base outside Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania. His usual missions were flying patrol […]
Continue readingTeluk Senangin Picnic
During the trip back to Sitiawan, Atok and Opah thought it would be great for us to have a picnic at Teluk Senangin, a public beach accessible from the Sitiawan-Pantai Remis road. Because it was Chinese New Year, it would not be wise to have a picnic at Teluk Batik. In fact I don’t believe we have ever been to Teluk Batik during major holiday periods. There were many other visitors to the beach. But it was not packed. There was probably more visitors than usual because it was Chinese New Year and there was litter everywhere. The location did remind me of Teluk Batik before I left Sitiawan. Here are some photos from our excursion to the beach.
Continue reading
EOTE: Return to Mos Shuuta
Edged by the Empire Episode 04 Return to Mos Shuuta The Star Wars RPG adventure continues from the previous session with Act 2 of The Long Arm of the Hutt free downloadable adventure (PDF download, low res version, 2.4MB). The story arc concludes with “Return to Mos Shuuta”, but the module has been extensively modified to account for a lot of changes that took place in the course of several sessions. Irfan rolls the Force Dice and gets 3 Dark Side Points. Kaliklak Hive, Geonosis As Teemo the Hutt‘s agent Zasvid the Brizzit was being taken away from Archduke Poggle the Irredeemable‘s audience chamber in Kaliklak Hive on Geonosis, Hondo Pash the captain of Lava Jaeger, the Twi’lek Numa of the Nabat Militia and the astromech droid R2-8B8 considered their next move. For his transgressions against Teemo’s less-than-savoury enterprise on Ryloth and Geonosis, the Hutt planned to abduct Yuzy Pash, […]
Continue reading