Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Recent Reading

Leave a comment

Hello all, I thought I’d share some of the series that I’ve been reading the past couple of years that I recommend:

Dungeon Heart

A dying dwarven mastercraftsman accidentally becomes a dungeon core, and has to level and expand his dungeon for his own survival and enrichment of the area.

Dungeon Life

An engineer gets isekaied to become a dungeon core in another world. He turns the magical world upside down with his approaches to things based on his gaming knowledge and scientific/engineering approach to magic.


Dungeon Core Online

A book series by Jonathan Smidt where a VRMMORPG is built around the dungeon core genre, with one person on each server secretly acting as the dungeon core and the rest of the server (which is the local population of their IRL town) thinking he’s an AI in a game that makes them real world money while they sleep every night. Shenanigans ensue. Especially when he picked the “Random” them and starts out with the theme of “Demonic Farm,” later followed by “Steampunk Dinosaurs” on another floor.

Library System Reset

A college student picking a major gets yanked out of the magicless Earth and pulled to the Library of Everywhere, that has been shut down for hundreds of years due to a lack of a compatible Librarian. She has to learn and learn fast before the library collapses and overdue book retrievals can get her killed.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

This series has been exploding in multiple formats recently. Carl survives an alien invasion that kills most of the world and forces the survivors into an underground dungeon crawl as reality television, while giving them a magic and levelling system.

Discount Dan’s

A man drunkenly stumbles into the backrooms, and starts a business empire in the floors underneath our reality. Also, when in doubt, it’s a mimic. Including his best friend, a mimic that looks like a blue dog made out of Croc material.

You might have noticed some common themes in my reading! I love dungeon crawls and the dungeon core genre. These can all be found on Amazon Kindle, and have been a lot of fun. Most of them also have Audible versions as well.

Uncategorized

Some random D&D flavor

Leave a comment

Just had some of my old sources of D&D inspiration floating around in my head and thought I’d share. Not nearly all-inclusive, just had to write it down to share.

Nodwick:

A comic about adventuring… from the perspective of the henchman carrying their stuff.
https://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2001-01-01

Never Split the Party:
There’s a few variations of this song, but this is the one I watch.

Acquisitions Incorporated:
One of the D&D podcasts that evolved into a recurring adventuring group at conventions. I prefer their earlier stuff, prior to Scott Kurtz leaving and the original lineup fluctuating a lot. I particularly enjoy the time range when Wil Wheaton was part of the group.


https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZRIC6PMEFmwgc_kj-dZBIBIjyfVvxVK&si=5jDqvx1hUkmsVsdu

Uncategorized

Ping

Leave a comment

Hello all!
Once again, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done anything on here. Whew, 2024? Quite a lot has happened.

I’ve changed jobs a couple times, I moved twice, and became a parent.

I’m still probably not going to post much still for a while (toddlers are a lot of work!), but eventually things should hopefully stabilize. One day I’ll be setting up workshop space, but it’s probably going to be quite a while. Just trying to keep on top of housework after work is a losing battle, so there’s not much time for hobbies.

Uncategorized

It’s been awhile…

Leave a comment

Changes are a-happening again, so I haven’t gotten around to updates here for a bit. I don’t have access to a lot of ability to make things at the moment, so I’m thinking on what kind of content I may do for a bit.

Some things I’m considering:

  • Continuing and/or revamping Ral’s Guide. I know I didn’t get far with it before, but I think it could turn into something down the line.
  • Looking over some of my board game collection. Maybe re-cataloguing what I have, collecting simplified rules explanations, and/or reviewing what I think of them.
  • Talking about some trends in books that I have been reading recently. I’ve been reading a lot of the LitRPG genre and Dungeon Core subgenre lately.

I’ll have to think on it.

Uncategorized

Laser Cutting and Updates

Leave a comment

Recently I’ve joined a local makerspace, and started on broadening my experience on a wider variety of tools. Starting with using a laser cutter. So far I’ve gotten my sign-off to use it, and started a couple small projects. One was straightforward, and just got me familiar with the basics. I made myself an edge-lit acrylic sign, using parts from a kit, and just engraving it and assembling.

Pretty straightforward, gives me some themed lighting, and was good for getting a bit more familiar with some of the process of creating my own engraving.

The other laser project has not been going so well. So far I’ve made two attempts to create a two-layer battleboard for carrying around my laptop at the makerspace. I designed the thing in Autodesk Fusion 360, exported the files, got everything set up, and it seemed to be going well. On the first attempt it turned out that I had some settings a bit too fast and lower power, and the wood was rather thick. I went through several passes with the laser, and it still didn’t cut through. I reserved the machine again later to reattempt (had to use a new section of wood because I couldn’t align it to use the same origin as before).

And then the safety latch on the door started malfunctioning and caused the machine to refuse to fire the laser… but did not indicate that in any way. The machine moved in it’s preprogrammed sequence as if it were fine, but after a bit I noticed I didn’t see any more evidence of cutting. No smoke, no flashes of light from the material burning away… and the power usage needle never spiked from the laser firing. So far I’ve just got a neatly scorched piece of wood, and will probably need to purchase and chop another piece to try again. Uggggh.

I’d have tinkered with the machine, but I’m not one of the responsible parties for that equipment at the makerspace.

On the bright side, one of my other side projects is going pretty well.

I’ve started working on my interpretation of Captain Hook’s hat (from Dustin Hoffman in the movie Hook). My wall of hats for themed gaming has been missing a pirate hat, and to me that is the iconic pirate hat, so I’m making my own (using a simpler hat as a base). I’ll have to break that down more later.

Ramblings From the Sanctum, Uncategorized

COM|POST: Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus

Leave a comment

Recently I played the game Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus, and I really enjoyed it. It’s a turn-based strategy game in the Warhammer 40K universe. The player customizes and commands a squad of Adeptus Mechanicus Tech Priests (heavily modified cyborgs who worship technology) and assorted others to stop a Necron (undead alien techno-zombies) world from awakening from dormancy. It really hits that technomancy vibe for me.

I started playing while they had a free weekend, and decided it was good enough to actually spend money on.

The player chooses a squad of Tech Priests and an assortment of their servants (kinda like hirelings in other games), and sends them on missions. The hirelings you customize entirely by choosing which ones to use. The tech priests you customize by changing out their upgrade trees and choosing which augments (technological upgrades, usually in the form of extra mechanical limbs or attachments) you give them. I chose to specialize each tech priest as I unlocked them, making each one better at a single area of capability rather than making them interchangeable jacks of all trades. One guy’s job was to be super fast and generate as much of the game’s combat resource, Cognition Points, in order to feed the abilities of the other tech priests that required them. Another guy was designed to be a tanky front-liner with an axe. Yet another was specialized as a long range character dealing as much damage as possible.

It was rather addicting, but at least it was satisfying. Plenty of lore dumps, turn-based squad combat, extremely customizable units, and a very thematically appropriate soundtrack. If I ever get into the tabletop game and play as Adeptus Mechanicus, I think I’ll want to play the soundtrack in the background!

Uncategorized

World of Warcraft – Classic

Leave a comment

I, like a number of gamers, decided to give WoW classic a shot.  If you’re interested in meeting up with me, I’m a dwarf named Odrek on the Atiesh server.  Those who know my gaming history know that Odrek is my dwarf fighter who has been around in 1st and 5th editions of Dungeons and Dragons, and I thought it appropriate to add another world to his slowly growing multiverse.

The graphics may be old, and some of the gameplay clunky, but I’m finding it rather charming at the moment, with a decent amount of verisimilitude with regards to the distances one would travel in such a world.

I don’t know why, but I’ve always enjoyed the process of levelling up a character, perhaps moreso than playing an endgame character at times.  While I’m making the climb, I have goals to strive towards.  New skills and armor tiers to unlock!

Since I was spending so much time walking in-game, I was considering hooking my VR treadmill up to it, so I’d get some exercise alongside my character.  I could really go for a VR interface in this game!  I love the feel and art style.  I mentioned this to the devs in the forums, and they said it would be questionable whether such an activity would get my account banned, and I’d much rather not have that happen, so I haven’t got that hooked up.
Anyway, back to the level grind!
FOR THE ALLIANCE!

General Updates:

I’ve sent my 3D printer in for replacement, finally!  Looking forward to getting back to work on the keytar and some other stuff that’s been queueing up.

I’ve ordered business cards, so I won’t have to keep writing down the contact info on bits of paper anymore!  I’ll try to keep some handy, as I keep running across people who perk up when I mention that I do 3D printing, especially in conjunction with tabletop gaming.

Uncategorized

Preliminary Learning Goals

1 Comment

I want to up my game with my technomancy, so it’s time to educate myself more. This list is not fully prioritized or paced yet, but here’s what I currently have my eye on:

Raspberry Pi: I’d like to build a few projects using a Raspberry Pi, but I haven’t gotten around to doing one yet. There are all sorts of cool cases that can be 3D printed for them…. now I just need to find a use case for it.

Simplify3D: I need to learn how to make full used of this slicer software. I’ve been doing pretty well with it, but I recently found out that I’ve been doing something suboptimally, which costs more in print material, wear and tear, and most especially in time. Learning the software more thoroughly should help me save time and be able to print more.

Autodesk Fusion 360: I need to up my 3D modelling game for mechanical parts. I’ve got designs in my head, but I’m still unfamiliar enough with this software that it’s not always easy to render them quickly.

Potential Training:

OBS Studio: I’d like to share some of my gaming, particularly my VR gaming. Letting people see what I see in the hobby. Who knows, I might start posting some videos on a few topics I find interesting.

Potential Training:

Blender: For designing 3D models for prints and for possible game design.

Potential Training:

Unity Engine: For programming games in VR later.

Potential Training:

VR Game Design: I’ve got a couple game concepts I’d like to try to make.

Potential Training:

SCA Fencing Recertification: I used to be certified to fight in SCA fencing combat, but I didn’t attend for a while for various reasons. I want to start going to practice again, and re-up my certification.

Relevance: Gotta be ready when you run out of spell slots.

Japanese Language: I want to visit Japan at some point. I don’t wanna be fully dependent on my tech to navigate and survive. … and yes, it would be nice to be able to understand anime that hasn’t been dubbed in English without reading subtitles.

Relevance: Tech is great, but you gotta be able to survive if it doesn’t work properly.

Uncategorized

Technomancy Skill Upgrade: PC Building Simulator

Leave a comment

I am fond of the concept of games that you can play to teach you useful skills.  I feel that some of my academic skills when I was younger were enhanced by playing educational games.  I’d like to see more (and better implemented) games that teach skills for kids AND adults.

Here is one such game.

PC Building Simulator

It can be found on steam here

This simulator has you playing as a person (you never see them) who has recently been handed their uncle’s failing PC repair shop.  You have to take the failing business and make it work, which is mostly a matter of cleaning, repairing, and upgrading computers to the specifications of your customers.

This simulator teaches you about how to repair and upgrade computers, with the computers and their components being digital recreations of real-world parts.  It goes through the panels you have to remove, wires that have to be connected, part compatibility, etc.

It also makes you learn some about the business side of things.  Making sure you balance how urgent orders are versus how much shipping is.  Completing orders in the right order so that you get paid enough to be able to get upgrades and pay for the parts to upgrade the next computers (since you only get paid upon delivery).

It’s not a thrilling game, but it can be relaxing and educational.  So far I’ve never built a PC from scratch, and I’m glad I’m going through this simulator first.  I’ve already learned simple things from it that can be the difference between whether my next computer is a powerful machine or destroying itself from poor heat management.

The only gripe I have is that it doesn’t show or say anything about anti-static precautions, but I guess it got overlooked since that would be difficult to show on the screen.  Don’t forget to ground yourself to the case before working on computer components!

Otherwise, give this simulator a try!  Between the simulator (and due diligence with research) you might be able to save the money you would have paid someone to build your next computer.