Posts Tagged ‘free’

I’ve been exchanging emails with Paul, a Vue user, who was having difficulty visualising how big objects should be in Vue. He uses real world measurements but his pictures didn’t look right because he was struggling to get the objects to be the right size and making the distances between them realistic. That was messing up the quality of the lighting and making things look a bit weird. He mentioned the Father Ted episode with the Cows…

“Now concentrate this time, Dougal. These (Father Ted points to some plastic cows on the table) are very small; those (he points at some cows out of the window) are far away…”

I’d suggested he use a cube and make it about the right size for a real world object and then size the model to match. Similarly using a cube sized to a distance to help lay out things. He wasn’t really comfortable with that. It was helping but it was slowing him down.

Then I realised he was a football fan so to help him get a sense of scale in his scenes I made him a quick football pitch model. Nothing fancy just two squashed cubes. He knows how big a football pitch should look and can size and space objects using it as a guide. Once he’s happy he can delete it and render the scene.

Since it worked for him I’ve expanded the set to include thirty-four sports grounds and pitches and posted them here tonight for anyone to download. I’ve made a page for them Vue Scaling Objects.

If there is interest I’ll do some more packs: vehicles, people, plants, buildings, planets and animals all strike me as possibly being useful. Leave a comment if you’d like any of those or something else saying which one(s) you’d find helpful…

I’ve added a set of 10 leafless, winter tree gel materials for Vue to my free stuff pages today. Tested in Vue 7 Pioneer, Vue 7.5 Infinite and Vue 8 Infinite.

• DIY, cleaning and gardening done. Now for something less boring instead… #
• RT @guardiantech The clock cannot be turned back | Peter Thompson http://bit.ly/FbCBs #
• RT @CameronCollie How To Lose a Job Via Facebook http://bit.ly/ybe9y via @jearle and @markhughes3000 #
• @richeym Good to see the FA's Respect programme has really been taken to heart at footballs highest levels in reply to richeym #
• @jearle Do you need a rumour starting that tw3.it is under threat? I can start it for you if you want. My rates are reasonable. in reply to jearle #
• @jearle http://tw3.it to be bought by someotherurlshortneruvneverheardof.com. Will that do? I can get it out there for £1m (or nothing) in reply to jearle #
• RT @fieldusThe King, the Moor and the Sheriff. Amusing: http://tinyurl.com/kqqu34 #henrylouisgates #
• impworksRT @fieldus The King, the Moor and the Sheriff. Amusing: http://tinyurl.com/kqqu34 #henrylouisgates #
• Having a quick look at Juitter http://bit.ly/51xSk before heading home #
• RT @lbutlr: http://bit.ly/2bIxya NO BABBYS INZ SHREDDERS!!! via @jearle #
• RT @WeAreConnect Five things to know about Google Caffeine http://tinyurl.com/kpsku2 #
• Awful Library Books http://bit.ly/lm9lI (found via the guardian who didn't think we needed the URL) #
• 2 Sites updated to RT wordpressWordPress 2.8.4 #
• RT @jearle This Fox News report (YouTube) on NHS Terrorists is the single most disgusting piece of propaganda to date: http://tw3.it/MT #
• RT @KimKnox RT: @McKelvie: Graham Linehan's Channel 4 interview on #welovethenhs countering anti-NHS US Right rhetoric http://bit.ly/yBYvN #
• Rare eye complaint a few years ago: From GP to Nurses to Consultant and treated in less than 3 hours for free #welovethenhs #
• Wondering how many people can't claim their blog because #technorati normalise urls and doesn't cope with redirects? #

• RT @wordpress: WordPress 2.8.2: http://bit.ly/12nm2b #
• Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #writer #vue #rpg #
• @SJGames Superfluous O! http://bit.ly/pEDf just after I read the Two Ronnies missing hose http://bit.ly/1p9Wp4 Conspiracy or coincidence lol #
• @DanDiplo lol and incomplete XSLT parsers used to make them very (how can I put it politely) interesting. And variables that don't vary… in reply to DanDiplo #
• A new John Lewis stock pot of slow cooked spicy black-eye beans ment dinner plans were easy http://bit.ly/XpcCS #recipe #food #
• 2 Sites updated without a hitch RT @wordpress WordPress 2.8.2: http://bit.ly/12nm2b #
• @KimKnox They're working hard analysing this to death. A fashion expert focuses on the boots not being done up right has too much spare time in reply to KimKnox #
• @KimKnox Better Paul than Joe who gave me a harsh stare at the deli shelf in M&S on two Sats. I've better things to do than stalk him. in reply to KimKnox #
• @KimKnox lol He was disguised by a forest of facial hair. I guess for a role: would have been a fire hazard on masterchef in reply to KimKnox #
• And Serif Software call me again. At least this time they handled my lack of interest and my not playing along with their script OK. #
• @AlphaComplex Enjoyed the posts but Posting way too often = No follow No more #
• Anyone know if there's a thesaurus of hashtags that are in use? #
• Posted a bit from an old, funny Valkyrie article on how #rpg characters go through doors http://bit.ly/9mmUs #
• @very_true_thing You're right – a few of those games are post Valkyrie I just keep adding to it if I think of a good new one #
• RT @severdia: #joomla 1.5.13 released – upgrade immediately http://bit.ly/25blLU #
• RT @MonteJCook Here's another game site that I enjoy: http://www.gnomestew.com/ #
• @jearle it may be arbitrary but if it make you happy who am I to knock it lol. Congratulations on 1000 followers in reply to jearle #
• @jearle I miss Valkyrie, with all its odd little production difficulties, sometimes. Always sad I never got to do a SLA Industries piece. in reply to jearle #
• @jearle Not really a surprise. It wasn't just Nightfall: Jay told me the slush pile of SLA fan articles could have filled its own mag in reply to jearle #
• @jearle Your stuff every time – helped yours were lots better lol. in reply to jearle #
• @jearle Jay used to worry about being seen as the official SLA rag with an article an issue. He'd email me for funny, grit free articles. in reply to jearle #
• @KimKnox Gratz. 9/10 for cover cheese picture although at least its not Casu Marzu in reply to KimKnox #
• @alyankovic Polka Your Eyes Out but a medley could be even better… #
• Yeh. Vue 8 Announced. Well it will be soon. http://bit.ly/Yzc9T #

How players’ characters approach a simple doors in a setting says a lot about a role playing game. A cautious door approach can indicate a game with high character mortality or it may simply, as in the case of D&D and its many subsequent editions, reveal that every door opened is likely to result in a new encounter. At the opposite extreme in high action low lethality games doors may be simply kicked down, blown up or smashed through.

On another level doors can also let us know quite a lot about a game system. Does a door have statistics for how strong it is, how much armour it has or how easy it is to pick the lock. Do doors have a price tag? This usually means that characters can get rich enough to comission buildings or that the game designer who made the equipment lists is either a quantity surveyor or needs medical help. Finally how many dice rolls will a party make to get through a door?

Here are a few (humerous) illustrations, if I’ve missed your favorite game feel free to e-mail me your suggestions. A version of this list first appeared in Valkyrie but over the years a few more games and settings have been added. The odd game which isn’t an RPG has crept in too (it’s my list so neh if you don’t like that!)

D&D (Original 1st Edition)

Thief uses hear noise to listen at door, finds traps, removes trap from door, open lock and walks through the door.

Call of Cthulu

Open the door, see greater being lose 1d100 San.

Tunnels and Trolls

I roll my bucket of dice the door rolls its bucket of dice.

Munchkin

Open the treasure, kill the door, steal the monster.

AD&D

Thief uses hear noise to listen at door. Barbarian (Unearthed Arcana) smashes door down in frustration

Role Master

Check breaking down doors critical table.

Shadow Run

Street Samurai blow the door away with a GPMG. Decker walks up and politely asks the door to open.
Racoon Shaman walks up to door and asks spirit to open the door. Troll ignores door as inconsequential to its worldview and carries on through it.

Vampire

Agonise over the door. Explore the political, sensual and aesthetic properties of the door.

Champions/Hero

How many points is the door built with?

Munchkin Fu

Open the treasure, kill the door, steal the monster.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Unicorn Games)

If the door doesn’t open with a “woosh-woosh” call the Tellarite Engineer by striking your nipple and talking to the air. When they arrive they will open it using an Engineering Systems (Intellect) Environmental Systems test.

OG The Role Playing Game of Prehistoric Free-Style Role Playing Game System

“You Me Small Rock Bang Tree Thing”.

Traveller

Short lived character blown out of airlock door during character generation shock.

Legend of the Five Rings

Challenge the door to an Ijitsu duel. Raise. Raise. Raise. Pass. Then kill it with a single well-placed blow.

Kobolds Ate My Baby

Kobold hits door with other kobold until door (or kobold) breaks.

Spycraft

Defeat undefeatable biometric lock with false finger prints lifted from evil corporate executives/renegade CIA/terrorists stupidly expensive bottle of imported, designer, micro-brewery beer stolen by a beautiful, double agent working undercover for the CIA/FBI/DEA/MI5/DSS within the organisation of the evil corporate executives/renegade CIA/terrorists who has a cover job at a bank and a couple of friends who havn’t a clue.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Kick the door down with gritty British style.

Star Trek

If the door doesn’t open with a “woosh-woosh” either apply a judicious use of a Scottish accent or break out the phaser rifles and blow it away.

AD&D 2^nd Edition

Thief (Treasure Seeker Kit) uses hear noise to listen at door. Half Ogre (Book of Humanoids) Fighter (Hairy Barbarian Kit – Fighters Handbook) smashes door down with Axe +5 door smasher while wearing girdle of Storm Giant Strength.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Curse Cardassian’s persuade a Ferengi to get the parts in return for trade right in another quadrant. When they don’t deliver on time because of an incident involving a shape shifter and a plasma conduit get the Klingon to force it open.

Twilight 2000

Not much of an issue because 1) there has been a nuclear war 2) all the doors have all been used to make shelters following the instructions in Protect and Survive.

Two-Fisted Tales

Kick door down, draw pistols, roll through both guns blazing, stand up, get knocked unconious by bad guy hiding behind the door.

D&D 3rd Edition

Thief uses only a d20 to open the door not needing any of those other dice that earlier editions were made so complicated by.

OG The Role Playing Game of Prehistoric Free-Style Role Playing Game System

“You Me Small Rock Bang Tree Thing”.

Elite

Begin your new life as Commander Jameson stocks up on Food and Minerals at Lave. Jump to a nearby system. Fight a Krait rendered lovingly in innovative vector graphics. Locate the Coriolis station and approach it. Fly near to the station towards the planet (monitoring altitude carefully). About face so your ship is orientated towards the entrance. Approach at DEAD SLOW SPEED (original manual’s emphasis not mine). Manually control the Cobra’s roll to match the rotation of the Coriolis station. The entry port must be as nearly horizontal as possible. Scrape the sides of the aperture. Lose defensive shields and cargo. Suffer a horrible death as your body is exposed to space. Work har to raise the credits to buy an automatic docking computer so you never have to manually dock again.

GURPS: Doors

Steve Jackson Games could never get that desperate. Could they?

Dark Conspiracy

Drive through the sprawl to the demonground in ’50s cool, retro styled car. Strut from car to door in an outfit straight out of a Meat Loaf / Bonnie Tyler video accessorised with pistol, assault rifle, grappling hook and flash light. Argue with GM when you claim your character has Darkling Empathy. Persuade him you do. Sense nothing on other side of the door. Kick down the door. Find a massive swarm of Michael Jackson style zombies waiting to eat your brains. Make note on the character sheet of the now dead character to back down if the GM catches you cheating with your next character.

Deadlands

Shoot the lock with a six-shooter then swagger in.

Toon

Remove one extra large ACE rubber hammer from pocket and apply to door until it falls down.

Cyberpunk

The fixer obtains a really hot deck, the netrunner takes three hours of play to do the run to get past all the black IC and unlock the door. The cybered up solo fights their way to the door and opens it. The Corporate walks cautiously out of their private rest room and pays everyone.

Trail of Cthulhu

Open door. Wonder why you ever played that other Cthulhu game. See greater being. Lose Mind.

Pantheon

And on the thirtieth day Buzz Saw the god of carpentry and other handicraft invented the door thus putting an end to the reign of terror brought upon the mortals by the goddess of drafts Swanway. Challenge!

Feng Shui

Character use all their chi in a devastating Storm of the Tiger bare handed strike and watch the door disintegrate into splinters.

James Bond 007 RPG

Pick lock. Draw Walther PPK. Open Door. Trip over white cat coming the other way through the door. Get captured by Evil Genius’ henchmen set on world domination. Get taken to Evil Geniu’s secret base. Face certain, slow death in Evil Genius’ secret agent (slow) killing device. Escape when Evil Geniu’s back is turned. Stop Evil Geniu’s not so genius evil plan. Escape from soon to be destroyed base. Get the girl/boy.

Lost Souls

Walk through the door without opening it but only three times a day.

Dr Who

What else is a sonic screw driver for?

Millennium’s End

Set the shaped charge plastic explosive strip round the door. Retire to a safe distance. Detonate it and watch it fall quietly inwards.

Extreme Vengeance

Set Plastic Explosive charges on the door. Retire a short distance. Set off the charges then stride into the room like a manly man.

Hong Kong Action Theatre

Set Plastic Explosive charge on the door. Retire a short run up away. Run at the door, set off the charges and ride the blast wave into the room full of mooks as a grade A stunt.

Sengoku

Kneel before the door and wait patiently for someone to ask you in.

Conspiracy X

Opening the door was the easy part. Covering up what you find on the other side will take all your guile, skill, ingenuity and just a few resource points of used up gear.

The Babylon Project

This joke awaiting approval by JMS.

d20 Modern

Agonise over best door opening method between magic, psionics, lock picking, a lump of C4 or good old brute force. Then do it just the same as in regular d20.

Star Wars

Use the Force. If that fails use a Thermal Detonator.

Babylon 5

Ko’Dath demonstrates airlock accidents are not just a problem for Traveller characters.  The only real question is did G’Kar give her a little push?

7^th Sea

Doors are for the boring. Use a crossbow to fire a grapple to the roof and swing in through the stain glass window. Gain one Drama Dice.

Bushido

Kneel before door and commit seppuku embarrassing the door into opening.

SLA Industries

The Wraith Sniper covers the door from 1000m while the Ebon uses Sense to feel what is on the other side of the door. The media package Brain Waster films the Frother (aka Barbarian in a skirt on drugs) charge in hyped up on UV and Kick Start who tears into it with a flick scythe. The finance package human tries to balance the profit from the film footage with the charge for the damage to the door including bullet tax and form fees.

Wraith

What’s my character’s motivation to bother with the door?

Paranoia

What colour is the door handle?

Mage

Entropy mage twiddles a stick near a door. The door unlocks itself and swings open.

Stargate SG 1

Combat engineer complains at not being allowed to open door with explosives on a sneaky, sneaky mission. Takes door off hinges using powered screw driver instead.

Marvel Universe

Check you have enough counters to open the door while feeling remarkably reasured that this is a newer, better, different type of game from those other roleplaying games. It says so in the book. Which explains why it vanished when it wasn’t a big hit.

Changeling

Wander up to door. Smile sweetly. Walk through.

Lord of the Rings

Oh Please we are just so much a better class of fantasy RPG than to lower ourselves to that kind of door opening scene. I mean we might win an Oscar* and we are consistently voted the greatest book ever. Oh alright then – the Fellowship find a blank bit of cliff by a nasty looking pool. Big G waves his hand and a secret door and some secret elf-letters are revealed but it remains closed. Everyone wonders what “speak, friend and enter” means. Big G doesn’t know. Everyone gets dismayed. Wolves howl in the distance. A couple of pages and some howling wolves later Big G solves it. The door opens. Happy now?

Werewolf

Kick the vampires out of the way, walk through the wraiths, treat the changeling with pure disdain snarl at the mage until they get the message break down the door.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

Whats the point? We know there will be zombies on the other side!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Agonise over teenage troubles and the pressure of responsibility then open the door and kick
some demonic vampire backside while looking cool and without breaking a nail.

World of Warcraft

Millions of paying players, a lock picking skill and an engineering profession but only twenty doors in the whole universe. We’re finding it hard to work out what they are.

* We went on to win 11 of them (more than Star Wars got) not that we were counting.

Spicy Black-eye Beans

This is one of my favourit recipes, so much so that I went and bought a 7 litre stock pot from John Lewis a couple of weeks back so I can cook a double quantity for freezing. Ideally it should be cooked a couple of days in advance and allowed to sit so the deep, rich flavour of the sauce can mature and permeate into the beans.

• 350g Black-eye beans soaked overnight in water
• 2 medium Onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 500ml Vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp Clear honey
• 2 tbsp Treacle (molasses)
• 4 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 4 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 1 tsp Dry Mustard Powder
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 1 tsp Dried Thyme
• 1 tsp Dried Sage
• Pepper
• 1 small Orange
• 1 tbsp Cornflour
• 2 Red Bell Peppers, deseeded and chopped into slices

1. Rinse and drain the beans.
2. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes.
3. Drain and place in an ovenproof casserole dish.
4. Fry the onions in the oil in a frying pan for 5 minutes, then add to the beans and mix well.
5. Put the Vegetable stock, Honey, Treacle, Soy Sauce, Tomato Puree, Mustard Powder, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage and Pepper in a jug and mix well then pour into the casserole.
6. Add the bay leaf at the side of the pot so it will be easy to remove later. Peel three strips of orange rind from the orange and put on top of the beans.
7. Cover the casserole and bake for 1 hour at 150ºC / Gas Mark 2.
8. Extract the orange juice and mix into the cornflour to form a paste. Add the peppers and paste to the beans and mix well.
9. Return to the oven and cook for another hour.
10. Discard the bay leaf and serve with either rice or wraps.

Tiddley-Winks Football is a game played with tiddly-winks in the style of soccer.

Requirements

• A table
• A cloth or blanket
• Two receptacles such as an egg cups to be the “goals”
• Five Tiddley-Winks per player to be their “squad”
• A different coloured Tiddley-Wink to be the “ball”
• A larger flipping disc for each player
• A coin
• A timer

Set Up

• Spread the cloth on the table
• Place the receptacles at opposite ends of the table
• Place the ball at the centre of the table
• Each player sets out their Tiddley-Winks in the half of the table nearest them
• Agree the length of the game and set the timer for the length of the first half(ten minutes each way is a reasonable game)

Instructions

• Toss the coin to decide who goes first
• The winning player flicks the ball where ever they want
• Players alternate flicking one of their squad until one of them lands a squad member on the ball
• When a player lands one of their squad on the ball they may flick the ball
• If the ball lands on one of their squad members they may flick it again
• If the ball lands on one of the other players squad members play passes to the other player who may flick the ball
• A goal is scored when the ball goes into one of the goals
• After a goal has been scored the player who was scored against places the ball back in the centre of the table
  and where ever they want
• When the time is up the first time the field is set up again with players swapping ends of the table
• When the time is up the player with the most goals wins

Expanded and Optional Rules

• Thow ins: If the ball leaves the edge of the table that isn’t adjacent to a goal the player who didn’t flick it
  off the table places it on the edge it left from where it left and flicks it back into play
• Goal kicks: If the ball leaves the edge of the table that is adjacent to a goal the player who didn’t flick it
  off the table places it on the edge it left from and flicks it back into play. If it is brought back into play by the player
  who has the goal at the end it left from they may place it anywhere on the edge.
• Corner Kick: If the ball leaves the edge of the table that is adjacent to a goal the player who didn’t flick it
  off the table places it on the edge it left from and flicks it back into play. If it is brought back in by the player who’s goal isn’t
  at the end it left from they must place it at a corner
• Off Side: If the ball is closer to a players goal than any of that players squad only the opposing squads player
  that last touched the ball may touch it. If any other member of that players squad touches it or is touched the ball is off side and
  the other player has a free flick of the ball
• Foul: If a player touches an opposing player this is a foul. The player who has been fouled flips the ball

Beetle is a game for four players.

Requirements

• Four Beetle Cards (387KBytes PDF)
• A Six Sided Dice
• Four pencils or other drawing implements

Instructions

Each player rolls the dice once.  The player with the highest roll is the starting player.  Ties for the highest score are rerolled until one player has the highest score.

Players take it in turn to roll the dice starting with the starting player and proceeding clockwise round the table.

Each body part can be drawn when a particular number has been rolled and if any parts required for the part rolled have already been rolled.

On a roll of 6 the beetle’s body can be drawn.

On a roll of 5 the beetle’s head can be drawn if the body has already been drawn.

On a roll of 4 the beetle’s eyes can be drawn if the head has already been drawn.

On a roll of 3 the beetle’s Feelers can be drawn if the head has already been drawn.

On a roll of 2 the beetle’s tail can be drawn if the beetle’s body has already been drawn.

On a roll of 1 the beetle’s legs can be drawn if the body has already been drawn.

When a player has drawn a complete beetle with all six body parts they win.

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