Sat Aug 22 2020

Sleep 03:30 to 08:30.

• Running out of things to do with our current DDO characters. Might have to reincarnate soon.

Sun Aug 23 2020

Sleep 08:00 to 16:00.

• Backed Twilight 2K kickstarter

Mon Aug 24 2020

Sleep 00:00 to 06:00, 09:00 to 13:00.

• Good start to this week since I got a bunch of sleep.
• Didn't really work today.

Tue Aug 25 2020

Sleep 01:00 to 05:30. 10:30 to 16:30.

• I looked at my bookcase and decided I don't have space for a big box game with no GURPS conversion so cancelled T2K pledge.

Wed Aug 26 2020

Sleep 06:30 to 10:30.

• We're moving back to 3OP, 13th floor. Today we had a chance to go in and get any personal items since the moving company will pack up everything. Kind of wanted to get my extra mouse and keyboard and backups but didn't have the time.

Thu Aug 27 2020

Sleep 03:00 to 08:30.

• Grocery shopping. I'm spending a lot more on groceries than before. Part of it is that pre-Covid mom and dad would give me lots of food and the other part is I'd eat out more (even if it's just lunch at my company cafe).

Fri Aug 28 2020

Sleep 00:30 to 05:00. 17:00 to 19:00.

• Went to Toyota Walnut Creek to get my car serviced.
• Breakfast at Buttercup Diner. Haven't had a hamburger in months.

Once again using Microsoft Teams. Looks like we had 16 people in the meeting.

Roofing. Last thing for them to fix is the roof fire door. They finally agreed to replace it for free. Discussion about whether to pay the second half now or when they fix the door.

Car break-ins. Some discussion, nothing much that can be done. Residents should treat it as if they were parking outside, i.e. don't leave valuables visible in the car and make sure car is locked (though the thief did break windows to get in).

Security camera system. It's kind of limited so would like to upgrade but that needs some sort of Wifi internet installed (right now the cameras are cabled back to office).

Special assessments. There will be a $100 late fee if people don't pay on time.

HOA Election Ballots. Mailed out ballots had a couple of mistakes so new ballots will go out Monday.

HOA Documents. With new management company if you need them (for when you sell or refinance your home) you get it through a service and it can be a few hundred $$$. But I went through the same when I sold my Union City home. It's an HOA income stream.

-----------

Manor, the new management company, took over starting June and so far have not impressed.

GOG is having a Harvest Sale and from the logo it's more of the "aliens harvesting humans" kind of harvest.

Warlords I + II ($3, 50% off) - I was writing about how I missed this Strategic Studies Group classic.
Warlords III: Darklords Rising ($3, 50% off) - Windows only with no indication if it works on CrossOver (though Warlords III: Reign of Chaos is listed as limited compatibility)
Warlords Battlecry ($3, 50% off) - Warlords done as an RTS game. CrossOver does not list this game.
Warlords Battlecry 2 ($3, 50% off) - CrossOver lists this as runs well.

Might buy these. I don't know.

Sat Aug 15 2020

Sleep 06:30 to 12:30.

• Virtual Gloomhaven #2. We manage to complete the first scenario after I thought we had blown it at the end of the last session.

Sun Aug 16 2020

Sleep 06:30 to 07:30, 13:15 to 16:15.

• Lots of work.

Mon Aug 17 2020

Sleep 23:30 to 05:30. 14:45 to 15:45. 15:00 to 17:00.

• Saw that Vlade Divac was fired as Sac Kings GM. pepeHands.

Tue Aug 18 2020

Sleep 07:00 to 11:00.

• Out of food (not literally of course). Went to KFC for fried chicken. Need groceries.

Wed Aug 19 2020

Sleep 03:30 to 08:30. 16:00 to 17:00.

• A lot of flies in my condo. wtf? So far I've kept them out of my bedroom area...

Thu Aug 20 2020

Sleep 01:00 to 05:00. 12:00 to 16:00. 20:00 to 21:00.

• Had to fill up on gas, another week and it would have been 6 months since my last fill up.
• Safeway for groceries.

Fri Aug 21 2020

Sleep 02:00 to 04:00. 11:30 to 16:30.

• Finally figured out the easiest way to copy PDFs to iPad > Books app is via AirDrop. When the iPad receives the file it asks for a destination and you can choose an app or Files. Much faster than copying to Mac > Books app and waiting for iCloud syncing.

I noticed that last month Harpoon V, the latest version of the naval combat game Harpoon, was released on Wargame Vault. I'm not sure if Admiralty Trilogy Group will do print products (excepting PoD), so there is no boxed set just separate PDF books you can buy.

Harpoon V ($20) - The rulebook
Harpoon V Player's Handbook ($4) - Tables from the main rulebook
Harpoon V Jumpstart (free) - introductory rules available at ATG site

America's Navy ($16)
America's Aircraft ($16)

Russia's Navy ($16)
Russia's Aircraft ($16)

As you can see maybe not cheap but it's also a lot of technical, detailed, accurate information which is expensive to generate.

I do own a bunch of Harpoon material, fairy complete really, but I lost track of it. I think it's at my brother's house and maybe I'll never see it again. This maybe the time to start anew, forget about older editions and start collecting Harpoon. It's a miniatures game so maybe playing online is the best way to do it.

Teylen has a blog where he tracks gaming crowd funding projects. It's easier than browsing through Kickstarter and it covers other crowd funding sites.

The Great American Witch (Ends Aug 27) PbtA game about powerful witches. Interestingly has basically one pledge level, $15 for PDF and you will also get a DriveThru RPG coupon code for the hardcover version at no extra cost (i.e. you pay DTRPG printing and shipping and publisher gets no money). Backed.

Twilight: 2000 RPG (Ends Sep 03) A boxed set new edition of T2K produced by a Swedish company. Very tempted after reading many T2K articles in Challenge magazine. GM screen costs 40% the price of of the boxed set, yikes. Backed boxed set no add-ons.

Dames of Asstoria (Ends early Oct) Unfortunately named fantasy rpg where monster girls. Frankly does not look that appealing. I'll hold off but might change my mind.

Sat Aug 08 2020

Sleep 07:00 to 12:00. 16:00 to 18:00.

• Bought Bundle of Holding for Space: 1889. Two bundles for $45. I got interested in the game from reading so many articles in old Challenge magazine.

Sun Aug 09 2020

Sleep 10:00 to 14:00. 19:00 to 20:30.

• Stayed up an extra few hours finishing reading Witchblade comic books I bought in a Humble Bundle.

Mon Aug 10 2020

Sleep 04:30 to 12:30.

• I really needed 8 hours sleep.

Tue Aug 11 2020

Sleep 04:00 to 09:00.

• I've been using Google Chrome sync for a month or two but it's annoying how often it wants me to login (I have a random password) so I turned it off. It's not my main browser so that works for me.

Wed Aug 12 2020

Sleep 02:30 to 07:15. 1-1/2 hour nap. 45 min nap.

• Instacart is one of those apps that likes to send you notification ads. Great. **turns off notifications**

Thu Aug 13 2020

Sleep 05:00 to 08:45. 12:30 to 14:00. 21:00 to 22:00.

• So tired by end of the week...

Fri Aug 14 2020

Sleep 03:00 to 09:15. 16:00 to 17:30.

• Power outage for an hour.

Six Colors is doing a series, 20 Macs for 2020, on the most significant Mac models in history. I haven't read the series but from that idea here are my favorite five early Macs.

Macintosh SE/30. One of my college roommates had a Mac Plus and won an SE/30 in a raffle or something. A cute all-in-one machine with crips greyscale graphics and Hypercard. It's what made me fall for Macs.

Macintosh IIsi. My first Mac was a low-cost color model. 5 MB RAM and 80 MB hard drive. I also bought the math co-processor card which made screen savers scream.

Macintosh Performa 6100. I think this was part of the first lineup with the new PowerPC chips. I bought an Orange PC card to use with a modem but that part didn't quite work out and I never used the co-processor card for DOS.

Macintosh PowerBook 500. Not sure if this is the one. For a while I had a notebook and a desktop through a couple of refresh cycles. Eventually PowerBooks got fast enough that I ditched desktop Macs and it was either this one or a PowerBook 5300 or maybe even the MacBook Pro.

MacBook Pro. The first Intel notebook Mac. Very sexy.

Twitch has a help page on Founders Badges. The first ten people to subscribe to a channel get the badge (it's permanent, though you can turn off all your Founders Badges via settings). For partners it's first 25 people (counting from when the channel became Affiliate so it's still useful to subscribe to an Affiliate channel if you're in the first 25).

When it first started gifted subs counted which was cool as I could gift subs to five lucky people (it's my custom to gift five subs to new Affiliates that I know about). Then Twitch changed it so you had to subscribe yourself which made it hard to tell who counted in the first 10 people (the FAQ hadn't been updated). Through experimentation it seemed to be if you continued a gifted subscription and were one of the first 10 to commit-to-pay then you'd get the Founders Badge when you actually paid at the end of the first month.

Now the FAQ says that the first 10 subs, gifted or not, are eligible for Founders Badges. If it's a self-sub then they get the badge immediately. For the others if they continue their sub before the gift expires they get the badge immediately (once you commit to continue your gifted sub you can't cancel until your payment is charged). If a gifted sub is not continued then Founders Badge goes to the next people who paid for a sub.

At least it's clearer now.

Sat Aug 01 2020

Sleep 05:30 to 15:30.

• Bought Bundle of Holding Dying Earth Compleat, which is pretty much all published works for this line, except for The Excellent Prismatic Spray #1 which is free but the link doesn't work.

Sun Aug 02 2020

Sleep 08:30 to 17:30.

• Twitch lets Tier 3 (and maybe Tier 2) subs modify channel emotes. But the UI is weird: hover over an emote and it pops up three variations, which cover other emotes. It makes it hard to browse which is a more common case for me than wanting to send a variant emote. So not worth upgrading to T2/T3 for this feature.

Mon Aug 03 2020

Sleep 07:00 to 12:00.

• Sonic announced that Fiber Internet is now available and my pre-order will be processed "within a few weeks".

Tue Aug 04 2020

Sleep 04:30 to 10:00. 30 min nap. 1 hour nap.

• Bought Humble Bundle Savage World of Flash Gordon. I just thought what the hell it might be useful some day.

Wed Aug 05 2020

Sleep 05:00 to 09:30. 13:00 to 17:15.

• Christopher and Corina dropped by some mail.

Thu Aug 06 2020

Sleep 06:00 to 14:00.

• Safeway grocery shopping about 21:30. Were a few more people than at 22:15 last time, but still fairly empty.

Fri Aug 07 2020

Sleep 01:00 to 06:00. 17:30 to 19:00.

• Made a big lunch-dinner: steak with cream of mushroom sauce and a pound of penne. So good.

Double Fine 20 Year Anniversary bundle

$1 Tier

• Psychonauts ($10, owned)
• Amnesia Fortnight 2012 (game prototypes)
• Amnesia Fortnight 2014 (game prototypes)
• Amnesia Fortnight 2017 (game prototypes) ($21 for all three, Windows)
• Double Fine Adventure! ($20, 20-episode documentary series, Windows)

Average Pay Tier ($8.76)

• Day of the Tentacle Remastered ($15, owned)
• Broken Age ($15, owned)
• Brütal Legend ($15, owned)
• Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin ($20, VR, Windows)
• Massive Chalice ($20, owned)
• Costume Quest ($10, owned)
• Iron Brigade ($15, Windows)
• Stacking ($10, 32-bit)
• Hack n Slash ($13, early access, owned)
• Spacebase DF-9 ($10, owned)

$9 Tier

• RAD (Windows)
• GNOG ($10, 32-bit)
• 140
• THOTH ($8 with 140)
• Mountain ($1)
• Everything ($15)
• Escape Goat 2 ($10)
• Gang Beasts ($20)
• KIDS ($3)
• Full Throttle Remastered ($15, owned iOS/GOG)
• Grim Fandango Remastered ($15, owned)
• Headlander ($20, 32-bit)

It's surprising how much I already own. The rest are prototypes or small games I'm not too interested in. I'll pass on this bundle.

Old School Gold is a disparate bundle of OSR products.

$10 Tier

• Cinderheim: The Land Under the Demon Sun (Dolorous Exhumation Press, $6) - Desert fantasy campaign setting, system-neutral.
• Class Compendium (Barrel Rider Press, $10) - 50 alternate classes for Labyrinth Lord (which emulates 1981 edition of D&D).
• Golgotha (Fire Ruby Designs, $12.50) - A dungeon-crawling science fiction RPG set on a dead planet in the fringe of known space. Based on The Black Hat rules (also based on D&D).
• Lorn Song of the Bachelor (Hydra Cooperative, $9) - Riverine adventure vs a giant crocodile.

The initial four is not particularly impressive. I'm not so into settings (so Cinderheim doesn't sounds interesting) but am into adventures (so Lorn Song makes up for Cinderheim). Class Compendium also doesn't sound interesting.

$22 Tier

• For Coin & Blood (Gallant Knight Games, $10) - grimdark fantasy RPG where you play anti-heroes. Based on Swords & Wizardry: White Box.
• Golgotha Supplements: The Obsidian Garden; The War Hive; New Player Character Classes (Fire Ruby Designs, $7.50)
• Mothership: Player's Survival Guide; Mothership: Dead Planet; Mothership: A Pound of Flesh (Tuesday Knight Games, $16) - Mothership is a science fiction horror RPG. Dead Planet is a hexcrawl adventure. A Pound of Flesh is a supplement for creating a black marketplace.
• Trilemma Adventures Compendium (Trilemma Adventures, $12) - A collection of 55 one- and two-page adventures with lots of illustrations.

So about $82 of product for $22. But is this stuff that I want? Mothership is interesting and I've seen one good review of Dead Planet. Also a good review of The Sky-Blind Spire which is in Trilemma Adventures compendium and when I looked at the writeup it does look nice. Golgotha looks semi-interesting. Lorn Song maybe interesting based on a different Hydra Cooperative product which had a good review. The other products I have no interest in.

Mothership ($16)
Trilemma Adventures Compendium v1 ($12)
Golgotha ($20)
Lorn Song of the Bachelor ($9)

= $51 * 2/3 = $34 which is about what you can expect to pay on a good Drive Thru RPG sale.

Seems kind of iffy and I think I'm looking for reasons not to buy this bundle so I won't.

Sat Jul 24 2020

Sleep 05:00 to 09:30.

• Regis Philbin (88) died yesterday.

Sun Jul 25 2020

Sleep 05:15 to 15:15.

• Alexandra impromptu 24-hour stream will keep me up all night.
• Worked about 6 hours.

Mon Jul 26 2020

Sleep 10:15 to 16:15.

• Want to use my Apple Cash. Tried buying iTunes credit but Apple jut charges my current credit card.

Tue Jul 27 2020

Sleep 00:30 to 03:30. 13:30 to 17:30.

• Yesterday did not work past the morning. Today worked about 12 hours.

Wed Jul 28 2020

Sleep 00:30 to 04:30, 10:30 to 12:00.

• In "War Against the Chtorr" there are people who are so shell-shocked from the alien invasion that they revert to a simple, herd mentally and live kind of like a herd of cows. Twitch chat when full of meme-ers is like that. After a while there's a certain appeal to giving in and joining the mindless meme-ing.

Thu Jul 29 2020

Sleep 00:00 to 03:30. 10:30 to 14:30. 18:00 to 19:00.

• I realized that Safeway is open until 23:00 so I went shopping at 22:15 and it was emptier than in the morning, though aisles a bit crowded with restocking carts.

Fri Jul 30 2020

Sleep 06:30 to 12:30.

• Finished copying data back to Drobo.