Edge of the Empire: The Desert Search Earlier today, I ran a short one-shot Edge of the Empire RPG session with my colleagues at our language centre using the Beginner Game pregenerated characters. I set up my gear at the lounge in my office, but for some reason I forgot the custom-made dry erase mat. So the poor paperminis had no terrain to stand on. Anyway, here is the story that was derived from the game played by three English language teachers. Dramatis Personae: Pash – male Human Smuggler (Shih Min) Lowhhrick – male Wookiee Hired Gun (Asha) It All Started At The Wheel Star pilot and smuggler Pash and his partner and hired gun Lowhhrick, a bulky and hairy Wookiee, strolled the commercial thoroughfare in the space station known as The Wheel located in the Besh Gorgon star system. Although their attire and gear identified them as dangerous outlaws, […]
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Dinner by the River
It was near lunch time when I received a message from my schoolmate Sam. He was in town on assignment and he brought his family with him. It had been a while since we saw each other, so we made dinner plans. Well, actually, he made dinner plans as I had been busy with work until about 6 p.m. A rendezvous was set at the Api-Api seafood restaurant by the river in Kuala Perlis. We talked of many things throughout dinner. We reminded our children that it had been 11 years since they last visited our house, a time Irfan could not at all recall. This restaurant was built at a mangrove swamp. It had been a while too since I smelled the smells of a swamp. My friends at school and I used to camp overnight in such a place. Thanks for coming, Sam. Hope you come for a […]
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EOTE: Mission to Kijimi
It was the last class of the semester and I had finished the syllabus a week early, so I organised a Star Wars RPG session for the students earlier today. The students used the Legends of the Galaxy pregenerated character sheets which I used in class previously, from all three flavours of the game: Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny. Here’s the story that resulted from the game session: Edge of the Empire Mission to Kijimi Dramatis Personae Sasira, female human Colonist/Entrepreneur – Amira Malea, female human Jedi Warrior/Starfighter Ace – Syuhada Kree, female human Smuggler/Pilot – Anis (Captain of the Portkey Mustang) Byt, male Twilek Technician/Outlaw Tech – Aiman Freya, Chiss Jedi Seeker/Ataru Striker – Wani Wedelia, female human Jedi Consular/Niman Disciple – Raf Arrival on Kijimi The crew of the Portkey Mustang were given a mission by the Rebel Alliance: to journey to […]
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Last Day of Secondary School Ever
It felt as if it was yesterday when Ain and I were looking for a preschool to send Irfan for his early education. Today, it would be the last day of Irfan in secondary school. While I was at work, Irfan taking his last SPM paper which was Science. After the examination, he returned his text books back to the school. Ain was there to take pictures for posterity’s sake as she brought the pack of books by car. Here are photos from his final day as a secondary school student. Five years ago seemed like five days ago. It is now time for Irfan to venture into tertiary education and such.
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Convocation Duty
A couple of years ago, I was assigned to be present for Convocation Duty as a staff member. I did not at all record down the event. This year though I was prepared. Although they prepared breakfast, Ain, Irfan and I consumed some early breakfast before I departed for the main hall. There was not a lot of photos of me in the hall during the ceremony itself, but here are a number of photos from before we marched into the hall. It is not determined if I would be doing this again next year, but I would not say no to another invite.
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SWD6: Tatooine Manhunt
Strikeforce Enteague Episode 09: Tatooine Manhunt It has been many years since I last continued writing an actual play report entry of my oldest Star Wars RPG campaign: Strikeforce Enteague. Where was I? Oh yes. Still back in 1989 real time… Enteague Minor As Cal Tynblade was tossed into a detention cell, Captain Robetre thanked them for allowing him to observe their mission and bade them farewell. Two weeks later, Commander Drew Greyhelm returned to Enteague Outpost with a pair of new recruits. The first was Scurvy H. Sharky, a high-stakes gambler complete with a cape and an axe to grind against the Empire – by literally wielding a vibroaxe. The second wore padded armour covered by voluminous robes. The mercenary sported a flat-top mullet and carried twin automatic slugthrowers. He went by the moniker “Wisecrack”. Bounty hunter Ace Browning Crossfire then felt he had some soul searching to do […]
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Seaside Scenery
Irfan’s SPM examinations is right around the corner, and he has asked me to create some more water colour (and poster colour) paintings so he could study and emulate my style, and perhaps develop his own style. I made the simple painting below for him to study, and I conveyed to him my techniques the best that I could. I even put some flowers at the base of the tree to add some red to the fray.
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Goodbye, Tenth Floor
Almost five years ago, there was a final entry from the Tenth Floor. Less than a year thereafter there was a return to the Tenth Floor. Early this month, we finally said goodbye permanently to the Tenth Floor. It was finally bought by a young lady, a professional, who has substantially more resources than I did at her age. We lived there for almost 14 years and there had many happy memories there. This blog was created four years into our stay there. But on the whole, Ain and I experienced a great deal more sadness and trauma there. The house itself was a dreadful shadow looming over us. It was a huge block of limestone on my shoulders. Its walls cracked even as we lived in it. The bathrooms disintegrated over the years to the point where Ain had to borrow money and pay it back over many years […]
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19th Anniversary Dinner
It has been 19 years since Ain and I were wed. Unlike last year when we had to go see a doctor during our anniversary, this year was fairly uneventful. However, it was the first time we celebrated our anniversary at a Middle Eastern restaurant. I had always wanted to fine in a such a restaurant with the family back when we lived at the 10th Floor. We never had the resources to do so back then. Here are some photos of the happenings of the evening. Next year, it would be our 20-year anniversary.
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Star Trek Adventures RPG Papermini Generator
I have known Wayne “Scarecrow” Peters since the days of the Star Wars Online Journal for which I was a web layout designer and an illustrator back in the early 2000s. I have kept in touch with him on various social media platforms over the years. I discovered last year that Wayne had created an online paper miniatures generator for the Star Trek Adventures RPG! So I made a bunch of paperminis from it. The generator allows you to design your own characters for Star Trek Adventures. I printed out a bunch of Starfleet personnel in the Deep Space Nice-era uniforms. I plan on running something circa the year 2372 or thereabouts. Wayne’s generator provides the option to create characters of various genders, species (still no Horta though), era-based uniform (even Star Trek: Discovery uniforms) and the division colours of the respective uniform designs. Also, one can also customise the […]
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The Parliament of Dreams
Once upon a time, I sent Irfan to school for the first time. It was more than a decade ago and hundreds of kilometres away from here. He had had two years of kindergarten experience beforehand. How trivial that day seem to be now. He is now a young man with his own interests and opinions. After years in both primary and secondary schools, he has learned a lot from the curriculum. Additionally, he has also learned things not in the curriculum that could help him such as human behaviour, etiquette and social patterns. The SPM examination has yet to arrive, but Irfan has underwent his school’s graduation ceremony today at the nearby Hotel Seri Malaysia. Ain and I dropped him off early for him to prepare at the hotel’s ballroom while we headed off for breakfast. We returned an hour later and sat through the rehearsal. Soon it was […]
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STA: Phaser to a Singularity Fight
Star Trek Adventures Phaser to a Singularity Fight This Sunday afternoon, I thought we would just test out Star Trek Adventures. I did not even prepare a scenario. I started with the first encounter and it just snowballed onward from there. And yes, I just saw “The Enemy” several days earlier. In Medias Res Commander Lenaris Los, a Bajoran and an executive officer of Starfleet. (We never did decide which starship he was an XO of.) Commander Lenaris was in the midst of investigating the tunnels of a deserted asteroid station when he came upon a locked door. (Rolling Control+Engineering,) the good commander was able to unlock the door. It whooshed open, revealing something unexpected within: a Romulan Centurion – pointed ears and all. The startled Centurion went for the disruptor pistol on his belt, but (with a successful Daring+Security while securing a couple of Momentum for later used) Lenaris […]
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This Chicken Though…
Obviously this chicken had forgotten where it parked its car.
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Painting Exercise
Irfan asked me for some training in watercolours and poster colours. He had already pencilled the artwork in school and he wanted to see me paint it with poster colours. I showed him how to block the colours and he tried it out himself, starting with the sky. Then, I did some more and he did some more. I told him how to create soft textures with paint washes and how to create rough texture with thick paints. We used a variety of brushes. Additionally I showed him how to use the extra greens, yellows and blues to mix new colours. We did not waste a drop of paint in the palette. Ultimately we came up with the painting below: Good luck for your art paper in your SPM examination, Irfan!
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A Seventeen-Year-Old Irfan
Many years have passed since we were blessed with Irfan. He came into our lives and made it much better than it could have been. He still gifts us with this. Today, this young man turned 17. Although we had an earlier birthday celebration with his grandparents the previous week, we had our own little commemoration at a restaurant nearby. Here are some photos from the evening. Happy birthday, Irfan. We love you very much and we will continue to be proud of you.
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A Friday Lunch With Friends
My colleagues have been expressing a long time desire to sample Ain’s bihun goreng tom yam. They loved it when we offered packets of the food to be sold at my workplace. It has been a couple of years since stopped doing so. Recently, Ain invited the ones who has been asking her about her bihun goreng tom yam the most to lunch. Besides the bihun goreng, she also made nasi lemak ayam goreng pandan. They came over one Friday afternoon, bringing with them their own food, turning the affair into a pot luck party. After Friday prayers I took a photo of our guests. Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the spread on the dinner table. Ain was testing her capacity to cook a meal for a group of visitors with this exercise. It was a success. Therefore, we will see if we can do an Open […]
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