Kevin C. Wong

July 2024

Bundle of Holding - Ultraviolet Grasslands

Ultraviolet Grasslands bundle is a set $18 for various works by Luka Rejec and his WizardThiefFighter Studio.

  • Ultraviolet Grasslands 2022 ($25) - this version adds another 52 pages of material
  • Ultraviolet Grasslands 2019 ($25) - the original version still sold at the original price

  • Synthetic Dream Machine ($7) - character generator and rules system suitable for UVG
  • The Memorialists - Dead City Memories v1 (PWYW) - "a sandbox set in a vast city being despoiled by an invading army"
  • Magitechnica ($7) - "powers and rules and spells for use with the Synthetic Dream Machine"
  • Zoa of the Vastlands ($5) - "creature generator supplement for the Ultraviolet Grasslands"
  • Rrypo: Get the Head ($7) - "rules-loose science fantasy RPG module, compatible with Ultraviolet Grasslands"

  • Let Us In ($5) - "16-page system-neutral one-shot horror adventure,,,a scenario straight out of a classic 1970s horror flick"

In summary this is an RPG that can be used for the Ultraviolet Grasslands campaign setting so that you don't have to use another OSR RPG to run it.

I have UVG 2019 and even if you discount Let Us In that's $18 for $51 of product so not too bad.

Diary - Jul 20 to Jul 26 2024

Sat Jul 20 2024

Sleep 0330 to 1100 (7-1/2hours)

  • Borderlands 3. We got the first "ending" and now doing the final missions to real ending.

Sun Jul 21 2024

Sleep 0600 to 1330 (7-1/2 hours)

  • I accidentally created a new Discord account (invite link to a browser that wasn't logged into Discord and instead of having me login it created a new account). One of the steps is sending an sms to my phone which then removes the phone from my current account. Now I can't remove it from the new account (phone number can only be associated with one account).
  • I deleted the spurious account. It takes two weeks in case I change my mind. Guess I'll wait.

Mon Jul 22 2024

Sleep 0530 to 1330 (8 hours)

  • Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy to be the Democratic Party's nominee for President. Presumably Kamala Harris will be the nominee.

Tue Jul 23 2024

Sleep 0830 to 1430 (6 hours)

  • Ghostery replaced with a new app entry in the store. Not sure why, maybe developer changed?

Wed Jul 24 2024

Sleep 0145 to 0945 (8 hours)

  • Bought GW10 Epsilon Cyborgs. That pretty much completes my Gamma World 1E to 3E collection. Luckily it was never well supported so only 13 of 15 products bought. 1E reference screen and 2E character sheets missing.

Thu Jul 25 2024

Sleep 0700 to 1400 (7 hours)

  • Since Twitch raised subscriptions I re-upped using iOS which for now costs the same and takes two debit card purchases.

Fri Jul 26 2024

Sleep 0645 to 1415 (7-1/2 hours)

  • Dropping my Chess.com yearly subscription. I didn't really use it and did it to support Chess.com but do I really need to support a successful commercial entity this way? Unlike my Apple One subscription which I do use.

Humble Bundle - Doctor Who Ultimate RPG Collection

Doctor Who Ultimate RPG Collection is pretty much of Cubicle 7's Doctor Who RPGs including the current second edition. The $18 level is first edition books, which have been in previous bundles. The $25 level adds second edition as well as Doctors and Daleks, which is Doctor Who for D&D 5th Edition. $25 level also has the 10th Doctor RPG (1st edition) which was in previous bundles but also has the Limited Edition which is new.

A bit disingenuous in that 45 items includes the 10th Doctor RPG boxed set spit up into 3 books, the 11th Doctor RPG boxed set split up into 2 books (both sets included dice and other accessories omitted from this bundle), and a free adventure.

What's new for me is the 2nd edition RPG books, Doctors and Daleks, and the original RPG Limited Edition Rulebook. I guess good enough to justify $25.

CB7-1304 Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition
CB7-1305 Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition - Starter Set
CB7-1308 DW:RPG 2E Gamemaster's Screen
CB7-1309 A Stitch in Time - 10 episode series (adventures)
CB7-1310 Adventures in Space - creation rules for aliens, starships, space stations, worlds
CB7-1315 The Secrets of Scaravore - 4 adventure campaign
CB7-1334 Sixty Years of Adventure Book One - sourcebook
CB7-1335 Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two

The Einstein Engine - free adventure, 22 pages

CB7-1100a Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space - The Player's Guide
CB7-1100b Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space - The Gamemaster's Guide
CB7-1122 Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space (Limited Edition Rulebook)

CB7-1500 Doctors and Daleks: Player's Guide
CB7-1501 Doctors and Daleks: Keys of Scaravore
CB7-1502 Doctors and Daleks: Alien Archive

Doctor Who Roleplaying Game (12th Doctor)

Time Traveller's Companion
Defending Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook
Gamemaster's Companion
All the Strange, Strange Creatures v1
All of Time and Space v1
Paternoster Investigations
The Black Archive
The Silurian Age
Aliens and Creatures

CB7-1100c Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space - Adventure Book
Adventures in Time and Space (Eleventh Doctor Edition)
Adventures in Time and Space - Eleventh Doctor Adventure Book

Ravens of Despair
Medicine Man
Cat's Eye

The First Doctor Sourcebook
The Second Doctor Sourcebook
The Third Doctor Sourvebook
The Fourth Doctor Sourcebook
The Fifth Doctor Sourcebook
The Sixth Doctor Sourcebook
The Seventh Doctor Sourcebook
The Eighth Doctor Sourcebook
The Ninth Doctor Sourcebook
The Tenth Doctor Sourcebook
The Eleventh Doctor Sourcebook
The Twelfth Doctor Sourcebook
The Thirteenth Doctor Sourcebook

Addendum 2024-08-14: Now that I bought it...

- three items are duplicates included in Doctor Who RPG 10th or 11th Doctor boxed sets.
- Doctor Who Starter Set download is a 2-page PDF so that's unfortunate
- GM's screen is correct but it's part of the 2nd edition GM's Guide which is not included

I've bought other bundles with mistakes in them (that are never fixed) so it's not unusual for Humble Bundle.

Bundle of Holding - BattleTech Readouts

Bundle of Holding has a revived BattleTech Total War (which I bought previously) and a new BattleTech Readouts bundle.

  • Technical Readout: Succession Wars - compilation from TR 3039, 3050 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3075
  • Technical Readout: Clan Invasion - compilation from TR 3050 Upgrade, 3055 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3060, 3067
  • Technical Readout: Jihad - compilation from TR 3050 Upgrade, 3055 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3060, 3067, 3075, 3085, Project Phoenix
  • Technical Readout: Dark Age - compilation from TR 3075, 3085, 3085 Supplemental, 3145, 3150, Irregulars, Prototypes

From the descriptions these seem to be the same material (no changes) as in previous volumes but reorganized into volumes by era (the current BattleTech has solidified the supported eras and each book is for a specific era). Mixed feelings about this since the work is mostly cutting and pasting PDF pages to make a new product.

  • Record Sheets: Succession Wars
  • Record Sheets: Clan Invasion
  • Record Sheets: Jihad
  • Record Sheets: Dark Age

These have the record sheets for the Mechs in the corresponding Technical Readouts. TRs are in-universe "here's the Mech specs and it's history and here's a drawing" -- you can use those Mechs as the game info is there and you can create your own record sheets but the RS books is handier. Alternatively there are Mech design apps that have data files so you can just use the app to load the record sheet and print it (in a similar but not identical format I assume to avoid copyright).

  • Technical Readout: 3085
  • Technical Readout: 3085 Supplemental
  • Technical Readout: 3145
  • Technical Readout: 3150

These TRs include both Mech and non-Mech units (infantry, battle armor, vehicles, aerospace). Possibly the Mechs are also in the TR Jihad and Dark Age books.

  • Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged - Old is the New New
  • Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged - The Cutting Edge
  • Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged - Project Phoenix
  • Record Sheets: 3145
  • Record Sheets: 3150

Corresponding Recors Sheets. I guess 3085 has enough stuff that they wanted to charge fans three times for the corresponding record sheets.

Total bundle price of $38 is pretty good even if you only buy the TRs. With all these you should have variety to run a myriad of combats in any of these four eras (apparently there are eight eras though I'm guessing these are the biggest four).

So with a rules bundle and a record sheets bundle hopefully the next bundle is scenarios and campaigns.

Diary - Jul 13 to Jul 19 2024

Sat Jul 13 2024

Sleep 0400 to 1130 (7-1/2 hours)

  • Fading Suns 4E bundle resurrected from 2022. New is a companion Lost Worlds bundle. In both bundles only one book of adventures so I'm still passing.

Sun Jul 14 2024

Sleep (not sure, about 7 hours)

  • Amazon Prime includes Prime Gaming (the old Twitch Gaming) which you have to activate. Then you can claim free games which can be on Amazon or other stores (e.g. Epic Games or GOG). I think only if it's on Amazon you have to have Prime Gaming active to play them.

Mon Jul 15 2024

Sleep 1 hour, 30m nap, 2h nap (3-1/2 hours)

  • Received my Free League Publishing order for Hostile Waters boxed and The Black Madonna boxed, the latter free from the Twilight 2K Kickstarter and I only had to pay for shipping.

Tue Jul 16 2024

Sleep 0315 to 1115 (8 hours)

  • Prime Day
    • Tempted to buy AirPods Max for $395 but it dies within 6 months so want to wait for AirPods Max v2.
    • No great Mac deals. Hoping for MPB M3 Pro 18 GB 2 TB SSD.
    • Considering buying ASUS ZenWiFi Pro AXE11000 ($320 for 1, it's Mesh system) based on MacStories recommendation.

Wed Jul 17 2024

Sleep 0500 to 1130 (6-1/2 hours)

  • Prime Day deals noted by Ars Technica. Bought a TP-Link Archer AX55 ($80), a cheap yet good WiFi 6 router at a great discount. Don't really need it right now since I don't have any WiFi 6 devices and my old AirPort is mostly working (sometimes is flaky). But as I upgrade devices better WiFi speed will be nice (I have fiber Internet so currently underusing it, I think 400 Mb/s sustained download on my MBP) and the AirPort might die soon.

Thu Jul 18 2024

Sleep 0030 to 0630 (6 hours)


Fri Jul 19 2024

Sleep 0500 to 1230 (7-1/2 hours)

  • Bought the RQ7 bundle.

Spirit of 77 Bundle of Holding

The Spirit of 77 Bundle is $19 for the following from Monkey Fun Studios:

Spirit of 77
Wide World of 77
Spirit of 77 Greatest Hits 1 - adventures (not roles or stories) published in Double Features #1-3
Spirit of 77 Greatest Hits 2 - adventures published in Double Features #4-6

Special Episode 4: Masterpiece 77
Special Episode 5: Wrath of Cons
Special Episode 7: Return to the Cruise Ship of the Damned

Rad Planet: Big Trouble in Little Jupiter
Spirt of the Seventh Realm: The Once, Twice, and Future King

That's pretty much everything published except for:

Special Episode 0: The Cruise Ship of the Damned (free adventure)
Spirit of 77 Greatest Hits 3 - adventures published in Double Features #7-9

Spirit of 77 is a Powered by the Apocalypse game (each "class" has a sheet with all their special abilities, most actions are 2d6 roll high, most everything is player-initiated and the GM has less mechanical things to do than other RPGs). The game and adventures are based on 70's films and tv shows. I played this once at DunDraCon and although fun made me realize that PbtA games are not for me as a player as it depends on PCs to push the story along.

Still for $19 getting almost everything seems worth it.

RuneQuest Humble Bundle

Humble Bundle has a bundle for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (i.e. the latest versino of RQ) which I think includes all the official releases (there is a community program so there are a lot of 3rd party RQ products) up to the last couple.

Included ($18):

CHA-4025/ISS-2006 Guide to Glorantha (Two Volume Set) (2014)
CHA-4027 RuneQuest Quickstart Rules and Adventure (2017)
CHA-4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (2018)
CHA-4029 RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack (2018)
CHA-4032 RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary (2018)
CHA-4033 The Glorantha Sourcebook (2018)
CHA-4034 The Red Book of Magic (2020)
CHA-4035 RuneQuest Starter Set (2021)
CHA-4036 Weapons & Equipment (2021)
CHA-4038 The Pegasus Plateau & Other Stories (2020) - adventures
CHA-4039 The Smoking Ruin & Other Stories (2019) - adventures
CHA-4041 Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology (2023)
CHA-4042 Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia (2023)
CHA-4043 Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers (2023)
CHA-4044 Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses (2023)

CHA-5119 RuneQuest: The Coloring Book (2020)

ISS-2005 Argan Argar Atlas (2014)
ISS-4001 King of Sartar (Revised and Annotated Edition) (2015)

Not included:

CHA-4045 RuneQuest: The Lunar Way (2024)
CHA-4046 The Glorantha Sourcebook 2E

Definite must buy.

Diary - Jul 06 to Jul 12 2024

Sat Jul 06 2024

Sleep 0145 to 0300, two 30m naps (2-1/4 hours)

  • Car pool to mom and dad's.
  • We went to Mattress Firm and helped Mom buy a new twin bed (with box and frame) and queen bed. $1209 with delivery and installation.
  • Had trouble playing Borderlands 3 from here. Lots of connection issues, and later lag issues, even using hotspots. Guess the game requires too much communication compared to DDO which runs fine.

Sun Jul 07 2024

Sleep 0030 to 0930, 30m nap, 1h nap (10-1/2 hours)

  • Second day at parents' and another hot day. Keeping a house cool means air conditioned and dry air, but we didn't keep it that cool so it was kind of warm in the house and I was lethargic.
  • We went to Joy City for dim sum. It's pretty good though they don't have carts -- you order a bunch of items and they bring it out to you as they are made.

Mon Jul 08 2024

Sleep 0130 to 0730, 2 hour nap (8 hours)

  • Woke up early so Buri Buri could check if my unit is the one that is leaking. They didn't find anything nor come back so I guess it's one of the other two units or they didn't find cause of leak.

Tue Jul 09 2024

Sleep 0630 to 1330 (7 hours)

  • Reorganized Notes app notes. On iPad it seemed to always go to All iCloud tab. For consistency with Mac I retitled second tier notes as , made first tier notes Pinned, then put all notes in one folder. On iPad it looks nice as it'll show Pinned notes at top in a distinct section and Notes notes in another section. On Mac the list doesn't have sections and Pinned notes are sorted first without any other indication they're Pinned notes (I think there's supposed to be a Pinned icon but not showing for me).

Wed Jul 10 2024

Sleep 0230 to 0530, 2 hour nap (5 hours)

  • Adorama had a 14-inch MBP 18 GB memory, 2 TB SSD, 96W power adapter with Apple Insider News discount plus tax came out to just over $2500. Tempted but Apple Insider News Adorama discount total always seems to be $50 or $100 low which I find a bit deceptive.
  • I have an Airport Time Capsule bought June 2016 and it's sometimes been flaky. Yesterday and today it dropped WiFi for a few minutes. Might be getting close to dying.

Thu Jul 11 2024

Sleep 2330 to 0900. (9-1/2 hours)

  • Adorama sends a lot of emails (did I forget my shopping cart? no, I emptied it; sales person: did I forget my shopping cart?; ad email which I had said no to when I signed up). Unfortunately their email preferences page doesn't load. I'll start marking them as spam in gmail.

Fri Jul 12 2024

Sleep 0500 to 1230 (7-1/2 hours)

  • Borderlands 3. More killing. Might be a bit too easy since Christopher has restart-scummed legendary items from the vending machines (i.e. restart game then check vending machines on Sanctuary, which can randomly have a legendary item on special sale).

JTAS III Kickstarter

Traveller RPG: The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 3 Kickstarter

$77 gives you the six-volume set (volumes 13-18) in print with slipcase and pdf. $13 per book is about right.

Another $51 adds a 128-page digest-sized book - Institute for Conflict Studies Papers: The Fifth Frontier War and Mid-Jump Crisis Soundtrack with CD. This seems a bit pricey -- I'll maybe get the book in PDF and don't care about the soundtrack.

Add-ons


JTAS 1-6 Bundle (GBP 90) - I have this

JTAS 7-12 Bundle (GBP 90) - also have this and I guess this new bundle will be GBP 90 (50% more) retail

Start Here Bundle (GBP 120) - since I have the core rules 2022 the bundle is more than buying individually
- Traveller Core Rulebook (own)
- Central Supply Catalogue (40)
- Marches Adventures 1-5 (40)
- Reference Screen (15)

Shipyard Bundle (GBP 60) - 25% discount
- Adventure Class Ships (40)
- Small Craft Catalogue (40)

Sword Worlds Bundle (GBP 100) - once again cheaper to buy the books I don't own already
- Sword Worlds (own)
- Rim Expeditions (40)
- Skandersvik (40)

Solomani Rim Bundle (GBP 95) - previous KS I bought a bundle that included Core Rules, Sword Worlds, Solomani Front making three of these current bundle un-economical
- Solomani Front (own)
- Order of Prometheus (40)
- Solomani Adventures 1-2 (own)

Ancient Bundle (GBP 125) - the bundle saves you GBP 5 (4%) so skip and maybe hope for a better price next time
- Secrets of the Ancients (40)
- Mysteries of the Ancients (45)
- Wrath of the Ancients (45)

Mercenary Bundle (GBP 80) - I own these items already
Mercenary (own)
Mercenary Adventures 1-3 (own)

In the end I guess I'll add the Shipyard Bundle.

Apple Music 100 Best Albums: #1-20

#18. Taylor Swift: 1989 (Taylor's Version) - I do love Swift and 1989 is a very good album though Fearless is my favorite.

#8. Amy Winehouse: Back to Black - Never really listened to Winehouse. Not quite my genre and then she died and I didn't feel I needed to listen to her music.

#4. Prince: Purple Rain - This is the album I was thinking of to represent Prince. I didn't realize that some artists have two albums in the top 100; I wouldn't have done that.

#2. Michael Jackson: Thriller - A controversial man but I remember when this album came out and broke all kinds of records.

Diary - Jun 29 to Jul 05 2024

Sat Jun 29 2024

Sleep 0815 to 1415 (7 hours)

  • Freeform app content revamped. Shadowhunters is not there any more.

Sun Jun 30 2024

Sleep 0145 to 0300, 0915 to 1500 (7 hours)

  • Shadowhunters moved to Hulu, which doesn't have a free tier. I still have the last third of s2 and all of s3 to watch but I guess that can wait.

Mon Jul 01 2024

Sleep 0200 to 0700, 1 hour nap (6 hours)

  • Reading up on MediCal. If you are over 55 and are using assisted living or assisted care then after you die they're required to try to recover those costs from your estate.

Tue Jul 02 2024

Sleep 0000 to 0315, 0930 to 1515 (9 hours)

  • Signed up for a free month of Amazon Prime so I can get bbq grill brush delivered this evening in time for 4th of July.

Wed Jul 03 2024

Sleep 0115 to 0300, 0930 to 1500 (7-1/4 hours)

  • Garage WiFi is Ubiquity equipment and supports WiFi 6. You do remote management via their web site and there are a lot of configuration options... good enough for a small enterprise setup.

Thu Jul 04 2024

Sleep 0330 to 1000 (6-1/2 hours)


Fri Jul 05 2024

Sleep 0145 to 0400, two 1-hour naps (4-1/4 hours)


Apple Music 100 Best Albums: #21-40

#36. Beyoncé: Beyoncé - I'm not familiar with her songs but she is very popular.

#31. Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill - Hard to believe this was released two years after I left college. Lots of good songs in this album.

#30. Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? - I know she's popular and very good though I don't recall any of her songs.

#22. Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run - The Boss has a lot of great songs in his career.

Steam Summer Sale 2024

Like GOG, Steam is doing a summer sale. This took longer because there are so many games on Steam and a lot of them are kind of trash. There is no sort by discount or rating (number of reviews but not rating).

Stray ($18, 40% off, Mx Macs) - You're a cat exploring a post-apocalyptic world without humans. Lots of puzzle solving.

Colossal Cave (2023) ($13, 50% off, macOS 10.15) - Roberta Williams redesigns the original Colossal Cave text adventure as point-and-click game (it also has VR support).

World Turtles ($12, 40% off, macOS 10.12) - RTS world-building (no conquest?) where the world is a shallow bowl on the back of a giant turtle which has to be fed and taken care of.