Humble Bundle - Choose Wisely Bundle

$1 Level

Beholder 2 ($3, 80% off sale)

$9.50 Level

Between the Stars ($20, 35% off, Windows, Early Access)
Kyle is Famous: Complete Edition ($11.25, 25% off)
We Were Here Together ($6.50, 50% off)

$10 Level

Beyond: Two Souls ($10, 50% off, Windows)
Heavy Rain ($10, 50% off, Windows)

So I guess for me it'd be $21 off games for $10. But none of the three games I can play look all that interesting. Pass.

Sat Nov 20 2021

Sleep 0330 to 1145. (8-1/4 hours)

• Trader Joe's

Sun Nov 21 2021

Sleep 0300 to 1200. (9 hours)

• Been converting my Star Trek Voyager DVDs to MP4. Occasionally one of the DVDs has English and Japanese (or maybe it's Chinese). These DVDs don't have surround sound track but they have extra translation subtitles for Asian languages. Poor quality control I guess though I don't remember where I bought these from.
• I didn't notice but as Handbrake runs my MBP slowly loses power. Overnight it's down to 24% battery. Wonder if I'm using the charger that came with the MBP or an older, less wattage charger.

Mon Nov 22 2021

Sleep 0500 to 1330. (8-1/2 hours)

• Did most of a 7-min workout (supposed to be high intensity for 50 seconds, 20 second break, then high intensity again; I wasn't that high intensity). Made me nauseous for like an hour afterwards. Sadge.

Tue Nov 23 2021

Sleep 0430 to 1030. 1930 to 2300. (9-1/2 hours)

• I like how one of the Humble Bundles has a 25% off coupon for Detroit Becomes Human when it is currently on 50% off sale.

Wed Nov 24 2021

Sleep 0615 to 1215 (6 hours)

• Mostly getting ready for Thanksgiving.
• Laundry.
• Wash dishes.

Thu Nov 25 2021

Sleep 0330 to 0800. About an hour napping in car. (5-1/2 hours)

• Visit parents. We had Thanksgiving Lunch - turkey and roast potatoes.
• Dinner was turkey jook.

Fri Nov 26 2021

Sleep 0000 to 0500, 0600 to 1000. (9 hours)

• Breakfast was take out dim sum.
• Walk to the park and back.
• Lunch was chicken and shrimp won ton soup.
• Dinner was Peruvian beef stew. Not quite seco as I've had in restaurants.

This year I had that $10 credit on Amazon I had to spend by Dec 03. Looking through Amazon's lists of stuff on sale is rather frustrating as their filters are poor and the lists seem disorganized. Luckily there are news sites (and Ars Technica turned out to be the best imho) that tell you the best sales, which don't necessarily mean Amazon.

Apple AirPods Max for $420 at Amazon (regular $550). I do want the Max because it has a microphone which is the only thing I miss with my Beats Pro (mic is on the cable so if I walk away I don't have a mic). Still, my Beats works fine so decided I don't need this yet. Hopefully if I break my Beats it's close enough to the next Black Friday that I can use my wired Beats in the meantime (which has better sound but is like a vice squeezing my head).

A replacement WiFi router maybe. Apple sells the Linksys Velop AX4200 WiFi 6 Mesh System ($250 for one). This was not on sale on Amazon though they probably had something similar. Then I checked my MBP which only has WiFi 5 (802.11ac) so don't actually need a WiFi 6 router until my next Mac.

Maybe it was finally time to get an Apple Watch. The Series 7 is pretty nice and on sale for $380 at Amazon (regular $400) but very few choices (possibly there were more choices in the morning and all sold out by the time I checked). SE also looks ok (it's basically a Series 5) on sale for $220 at Amazon but choices severely limited (basically for the 44mm GPS-only there was only gold with a white band, not sure how many guys can pull that off). But Apple is also having a sale, buy an SE and get a $50 Apple gift card so effectively $230.

Then I heard that mom wants an Apple Watch so we'll probably buy her the Series 7 for the extra sensors. If she doesn't want it and we can't convince her to keep it then I might take it myself. Therefore no Watch SE this year.

Eventually I settled for buying a nice book, The Maps of the Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign. Eighth book in a series which I have the previous seven (six in hardcover which is nice because all the many maps are in color).

Wyrd Breach is a bundle for Through the Breach RPG (Wild West + Cthulhu). It's the 2nd edition rules (fully compatible with 1st edition so all 1E supplements and adventures were not updated) plus all the supplements, a few adventure modules (Penny Dreadfuls) and a few short adventures (Penny Dreadful One-Shots).

WYR-30104 Into the Steam (2015)
WYR-30105 Under Quarantine (2016)
WYR-30106 Into the Bayou (2016)
WYR-30107 Through the Breach: Core Rules 2E (2017)
WYR-30108 Above the Law (2018)
WYR-xxxxx From Nightmares (2021)

Penny Dreadfuls

WYR-30206 Fire in the Sky (2018)
WYR-30207 A Stitch in Time (2018)
WYR-30209 The Obsidian Gate (2019)
WYR-xxxxx Days Without Accident (2020)

Penny Dreadful One-Shots

Bubbling Up From Below (2019)
The Iktomi Shuffle (2020)
Jurassic Faux (2017)
The Show Must Go On (2018)
Silurid Showdown (2019)
Uncontainable (2020)

What's missing is the 1E rules and a bunch of adventures. On DriveThruRPG the one-shots are $5 and adventures are $10 to $15 all regular price. I like that the bundle has all existing rules and supplements and enough adventures for a campaign. But in the end decided not to buy it since it's a deck-of-cards based system and I've already had the Wild West horror experience with Deadlands.

Other Products:

WYR-30101 The Fate Master's Almanac (2014) [replaced by Through the Breach 2E]
WYR-30102 The Fated Almanac (2013) [replaced by Through the Breach 2E]
WYR-30403 The Fatemaster's Kit (2014)

Penny Dreadfuls

WYR-30201 In Defense of Innocence (2015)
WYR-30202 Northern Aggression (2015)
WYR-30204 Nythera (2016)
WYR-30205 The Bayou Games (2016)
WYR-30208 Northern Sedition (2018)
A Night in Rottenburg (2016)

Penny Dreadfuls One-Shots

Bad Blood (2015)
The Ferryman (2015)
In the Gutter (2015)
Legacy of Darkness (2015)
Night of the Carver (2015)
Recruitment Drive (2015) [Free RPG Day 2015]

Bad Moon Rising (2016)
Child of Flame (2016)
Dirty Deeds (2016)
Ghost House (2016)
Honor Among Thieves (2016)
Last Remains (2016)
Madman, Interrupted (2016)
A Malifaux Christmas Carol (2016)
No Strings Attached (2016)
Sixteen Tons (2016)

Earthly Desires (2017) [Free RPG Day 2017]
The Hand That Feeds (2017)
Heart of Darkness (2017)
'Til Death Do Us Part (2017)

The Badlands Invitational (2018)

The House That December Built (2019)

The Dead Tide (2020)
Into the Logic Engine (2020)
A Night in Hallow (2020)
Voyage to the Moon (2020)

Beneath the Baumwood (2021)
Price of Progress (2021)

Sat Nov 13 2021

Sleep 0500 to 0900. 2 hour nap. (6 hours)

• Spent a couple of hours distributing new building keys with David. A chance to meet some of the residents.

Sun Nov 14 2021

Sleep 0600 to 1400. (8 hours)

• Brutally killed in this week's fantasy football match. Back to 0.500 at 5-5.

Mon Nov 15 2021

Sleep 2330 to 0430. 1130 to 1230. 2000 to 2100. (7 hours)

• One of those days when I finally feel awake and it's 2130.

Tue Nov 16 2021

Sleep 0300 to 1100. (8 hours)

• Looks like offices are opening in January. Wonder how bad the new desk setups are.

Wed Nov 17 2021

Sleep 0230 to 1030. (8 hours)

• Eye exam. Far sight slightly worse. Possibly baby cataract in right eye. Ordered new normal glasses (for driving).
• Jeffrey's Hamburgers. Last time was in May. Bacon cheeseburger, garlic fries (with cheese), coffee milkshake. Delicious.

Thu Nov 18 2021

Sleep 0230 to 0800. 1900 to 2000. (6-1/2 hours)

• Twitch has been running ads even if I'm subscribed to a channel. Finally got tired of it and will try a Twitch ad blocker. First up is TTV LOL.
• Nordlond Bestiary and Enemies Book for (GURPS) Dungeon Fantasy RPG. There are a lot of reward tiers but the $100 gets all the new stuff (book, vtt, reference cards) in print and pdf as appropriate.

Fri Nov 19 2021

Sleep 0300 to 0930. 1 hour nap. (7-1/2 hours)

• I mostly like the new DDO epic destiny mechanics. They made it the same as heroic enhancements so you can have multiple active destinies.

There's a new edition of Tribe 8 in development so I guess it's time for the Tribe 8 Bundle of Holding. This bundle is for 1st edition with the old Silhouette system which I recall I did not like after reading Heavy Gear RPG.

DP9-801 Tribe 8 Rulebook 1E (1998)
DP9-802 Vimary Sourcebook (1998)
DP9-804 Children of Lilith (2000)
DP9-805 Tribe 8 Companion (1999)
DP9-806 Horrors of the Z'Bri (1999)
DP9-807 Into the Outlands (1999)
DP9-808 Word of the Pillars (1999)
DP9-809 Trial by Fire (1999)
DP9-812 Word from the North (1999)
DP9-813 Warrior Unbound (2000)
DP9-814 Word of the Fates (2000)
DP9-815 Broken Pact (2000)
DP9-818 Word of the Dancers (2001)
DP9-820 Adrift on the River of Dream (2001)
DP9-825 Tribe 8 Player's Handbook 1E (2002)

There are 24 Tribe 8 1E books so the 15 here is 2/3rds. $23 for the set is really good. This is the second time the bundle has been offered and includes 8 more books than the first time, so I guess if it's offered again it'll contain pretty much all the books in 1E. So I'll wait.

The other 1st edition products:

DP9-800 Tribe 8 RPG Demo Game (2001) - 1-page intro
DP9-802 Weaver's Screen and Assistant (1998)
DP9-810 Book of Legends (1999)
DP9-811 Tribe 8 Map Pack (2000) - 10 maps in an envelope
DP9-816 Vimary Burns (2000)
DP9-817 Harvest of Thorns (2001)
DP9-819 Revanche (2001)
DP9-821 Liberation (2001)
DP9-822 Capal Book of Days (2002)

I'm thinking of getting the Mothership KS and my process involves doing more research. This post is about what products exist for Mothership.

MRPG-PSG Player's Survival Guide ($15 print+pdf, $0 pdf) - 44-page core rules
MRPG-WOM Warden's Operations Manual
MRPG-UCR Unconfirmed Contact Reports

MRPG-A01 The Hacker's Handbook ($5 print+pdf, $2 pdf) - 2-page supplement on hacking
MRPG-A02 The Conversion Kit ($?) - conversion kit to bring Mothership 0e campaigns to 1e

MRPG-HM01 Hive Mind #1 ($0 pdf) - 40-page community 'zine with different themed lists of ideas

MRPG-M1 Dead Planet ($15 print+pdf, $8 pdf) - 48-page supplement with misc content
MRPG-M2 A Pound of Flesh ($15 print+pdf, $8 pdf) - 48-page supplement for creating a black market
MRPG-M3 Gradient Descent ($15 print+pdf, $8 pdf) - 64-page dungeon

MRPG-S01 The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 ($5 print+pdf, $2 pdf) - 2-page adventure with three audio files
MRPG-S02 Hideo's World ($5 print+pdf, $2 pdf) - 2-page adventure with audio background music
MRPG-S03 Terminal Delays at Anarene's Folly ($2 pdf) - 2-page adventure with audio file
MRPG-S04 Chromatic Transference ($2 pdf) - 2-page adventure
MRPG-S05 Piece by Piece ($2) - 2-page adventure
MRPG-S06 Cryonambulism ($2?) - 2-page? adventure (not released yet)

And now after researching maybe not as interested. With only one adventure module I'd find it hard to run a varied campaign. I did download and read the PSG -- it's a very well-done book with a fairly tight system and very OSR so not really innovative other than great presentation.

Sat Nov 06 2021

Sleep 0400 to 1030. 30 min nap. (7 hours)

• Journal of the Travelers' Aid Society 2 Kickstarter.
• Car Wars 6E Double Drum Arena Playmat (IndieGogo).

Sun Nov 07 2021

Sleep 0500 to 1200. (7 hours)

• Sonic administration not quite as put together as I'd have expected. I forgot I paid $50 when I preordered two years ago, and it's supposed to be credited to offset first month's subscription. I'll wait another month to see if it's applied. And never mind they didn't do the three months for me like for new subscribers in our building. Overall their billing practices seem as careless as Xfinity.

Mon Nov 08 2021

Sleep 0300 to 1100. 2200 to 2300. (9 hours)

• So apparently have to go through http://www.sonic.com/newmdu and go through sign-up. One of the screens has an "I am an existing Sonic customer" and so the subscription will apply to your existing account ($50 - $10 for 12 months, first three months free). Guess we'll see if this actually works or if they've signed me up for a second account.

Tue Nov 09 2021 Sleep 0530 to 1230. 30-min nap. (7-1/2 hours)

• Mothership RPG Kickstarter looks interesting.

Wed Nov 10 2021

Sleep 0300 to 0930. 1330 to 1530. (8-1/2 hours)

• With my main streamer on vacation I'm actually getting more work done.

Thu Nov 11 2021

Sleep 0900 to 1700. (8 hours)

• Stayed up watching Botez Abroad. They're in Paris and stream started 02:30 my time running almost 6 hours.

Fri Nov 12 2021

Sleep 0300 to 0830. 45 min nap. 2030 to 2130. (7-1/4 hours)

• Today was a bit weird. Tired and sort of working on a P1 bug.

A few current crowd funders I pledged for.

IndieGogo - Car Wars 6E Double Drum Arena Playmat - a 4' x 6' arena playmat so it's pretty big to accommodate 6th edition's vehicle sizes. It looks nice. It's pricey. If it funds it'll be a near thing I think.

Kickstarter - Advanced Lovers and Lesbians - all the extra reward levels from Thirsty Sword Lesbians KS packaged into a small format color hardcover book. I did get all the extra PDFs but a hardcover book to go along with the main RPG would look nice in my bookshelf.

Kickstarter - Traveller RPG: The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society II - another 6 volume digest-sized collection of JTAS-type magazine articles. The previous KS republished a bunch of old JTAS articles, reformatted and updated for current Mongoose Traveller 2E. This KS is all new material. Perhaps as important is the add-ons as I've have a chance to catch up on various printed books and their PDFs. You get a small discount compared to the regular store (which also has free shipping so that should be expected here).

Some interesting Kickstarters.

Kickstarter - Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG 1st Edition Boxed Set - Mothership is an OSR-inspired science fiction RPG more in the vein of stories where it's a few people in a big ship or installation and cosmic horror strikes. There have been beta editions since 2017 and this is the first real edition, much revamped after those years of playtesting. The boxed set looks like is patterned after original D&D and Traveller, small boxes with digest-sized books. It looks cool and might

Kickstarter - Battlelords RPG & Fully Armored: Gear Manual - Gotta admit I've always thought of Battle Lords as one those heartbreaker RPGs that nobody plays and yet here we are with a new supplement.

Kickstarter - Women are Werewolves - "Play as non-binary characters in a family where only the women transform into werewolves. On the next full moon, who will you be?" It's a card-based story game, not an RPG.

Following my OSR GURPS idea I'm taking a couple of those items and applying them to Twilight: 2000 4th edition. It's pretty much GURPS attributes and attribute levels and GURPS skill levels and then use T2K4 modifiers x4. Everything will be T2K4 rules except once you have to make rolls and that uses GURPS, hence why attributes and skills are scored on GURPS levels.


Attributes (4d6, best 3; avg is 12.3)
-------------------------------------

A = 18, B = 14, C = 10, D = 6

ST (use for T2K4 STR) - Close Combat, Heavy Weapons, Stamina
DX (use for T2K4 AGL) - Driving, Ranged Combat, Mobility
HT (no T2K4 equivalent)

IQ (use for T2K4 INT) - Recon, Survival, Tech
Will (use for T2K4 Stress Capacity, CUF)
CHA (use for T2K4 EMP) - Command, Medical Aid, Persuasion

HP = ST (use for T2K4 Hit Capacity x3)
FP = HT (reroll costs 1d6+ENC FP)
Stress = Will (use for T2K4 Stress Capacity x3)
CUF = Will
Rads = 1d6

Starting Skills: A = +8, B = +4, C = +0, D = -4


Encumbrance
----------------------

1 T2K4 Encumbrance Unit (EU) = 3kg

GURPS Basic Lift = STxST/5 in lbs
Basic Lift in kg = GURPS Basic Lift / 2.2
Basic Lift in EU = GURPS Basic Lift / 6.6 = ST^2 / 33

T2K4 C STR = 10 ST = 20/6.6 = 3 EU.

ST 18 = 10 EU, ST 17 = 9 EU, ST 16 = 8 EU, ST 15 = 7 EU, ST 14 = 6 EU
ST 13 = 5 EU, ST 11-12 = 4 EU, ST 10 = 3 EU, ST 8-9 = 2 EU, ST 6-7 = 1 EU

Combat Gear = Light ENC
Backpack = Light ENC

GURPS ENC Levels (mostly used for Pushing Rolls)
None (0) = BL (EU)
Light (1) = BL (EU) x2
Medium (2) = BL (EU) x3
Heavy (3) = BL (EU) x6
Extra-Heavy (4) = BL (EU) x10


Skill Rolls
----------------------

Success = 1 T2K4 success
Success by 4 = 2 T2K4 successes
Crit 4+ = 3 T2K4 successes
Crit 3 = 4 T2K4 successes
Fumble = damages equipment (decrease reliability rating)
Fumble 18 = damages equipment x2
If no equipment then 1d6 FP

Pushing Rolls
1. Spend 1d6+ENC FP
2. If out of FP spend HP (STR/AGL skills) or Stress (INT/EMP skills)

Modifiers: GURPS modifier = T2K4 modifier x4

CUF rolls: use Will, Unit Morale is a modifier like skill (+8 to -4)


Combat
----------------------

1 T2K4 damage = 1d6 GURPS damage (HP or Stress)

Sat Oct 30 2021

Sleep 0330 to 0730, 0930 to 1330. (8 hours)

• Finally got a haircut after about two years.
• KFC for dinner.

Sun Oct 31 2021

Sleep 0200 to 1000. (8 hours)

• Cleaned master bath sinks. It is kind of nice looking at it and not seeing them covered in mold.

Mon Nov 01 2021

Sleep 2330 to 0400. 1600 to 1830. (7 hours)

• 49ers win at Chicago. QB Jimmy G has a really good game although had 0 passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs which doesn't help his fantasy teammates. So far still not regretting I dropped him for QB Ben Roethlisberger who had a steady game and what you want from a QB3.

Tue Nov 02 2021

Sleep 0200 to 1100. (9 hours)

• Fantasy team is 5-3, tied for 3rd place out of 10 teams. #2 offense, #4 defense. This week could be rough as my bench is empty (other than Roethlisberger) and have five Questionable starters (i.e. may or may not play). Luckily no Thursday game so I have until Sat to see if the health picture clears.

Wed Nov 03 2021

Sleep 2200 to 0130. 0630 to 1000. (7 hours)

• Apparently Warehouse 23 store credit expires. Another win for California since gift cards can't expire here and I would assume store credit too. Seems a bit shady that you can give companies money for credit then expires. It's free money for the companies.

Thu Nov 04 2021

Sleep 0330 to 0830. 1230 to 1430. (7 hours)

• Emailed W23 support. They restored my remaining store credit but it expires end of this month. They mentioned that in the FAQ it says gift cards must be redeemed for store credit within one year. But after that no mention when store credit expires.

Fri Nov 05 2021

Sleep 2300 to 0200. 0700 to 1230. (8-1/2 hours)

• W23 account shows another $185 in credit. When I sent the support email I started with $338 credit I got when Pyramid v3 was discontinued. But I vaguely recall I did have credit before that though don't recall from where. Oh well, after spending $95 I still have $275 in credit.
• Used the chat to cancel my Xfinity account. The retention pitch is not such a hard sell since I have a bit more time to think. It came down to if Xfinity had Fiber in my neighborhood maybe I'd reconsider.

Bundle of Holding's Traveller Imperium Tour is almost all material you get with the Classic Traveller CD-ROM from Far Future Enterprises except the CD-ROM contains far more material. I guess in this bundle you get an updated scan of the LBBs, some starship deckplans from the late Loren K Wiseman, and some fan Traveller background material. I think I'd recommend the CD-ROM and buying the extra stuff yourself.

• Classic Traveller Facsimile Edition ($4) - A new scan of the 1981 Traveller RPG (three little black books) with and without OCR.
• The Traveller Book ($15) - The 1982 Traveller RPG in one book.
• The Traveller Adventure ($15) - To go along with the 1982 Traveller there is this one big-book campaign.
• Traveller Starship Plans ($20) - PDF deck plans from Loren K Wiseman for 20-ton Launch, 30-ton Slow Boat, 30-ton Ship's Boat, 40-ton Pinnace, 40-ton Slow Pinnace and 600-ton Subsidized Liner. These were sold independently.
• S12 Forms and Charts ($4) - A Traveller supplement with just what it says: lots of different blank forms and charts.
• Classic Traveller Orientation Pack ($1) - Several fan-books with an introduction, detailed timeline, and errata. Not new material but more like fans compiling material from lots of official sources.
• Alien Modules ($80) - AM modules 1-8: Aslan, K'kree, Vargr, Zhodani, Droyne, Solomani, Hivers, Darrians.
• Third Imperium Guides ($70) - M modules 1-5: Tarsus, Beltstrike, The Spinward Marches Campaign, Alien Realms, Atlas of the Imperium.

Parados StrataGems Bundle ends in two days. $185 of stuff I don't own and can play on my Mac, though that's all retail price. Still, if they were on sale the $18 bundle level would still be a great price so I guess I'll buy this bundle.

$18 Level

Age of Wonders: Planetfall ($50)
Empire of Sin ($40)
Imperator: Rome ($40)

Average Payment Level ($10)

Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Starter Pack ($39) - Crusader Kings II is free so price is for five DLCs at 10% off.
Prison Architect ($30, owned)
Prison Architect - Island Bound ($10)
Prison Architect - Psych Ward: Warden's Edition ($6)
Tyranny ($30, Owned)

$1 Level

Ice Lakes ($15, macOS 32-bit)
Knights of Pen and Paper 2 ($8, owned)
Victoria II ($20, Windows)