#SundayStew for October 13th, 2024 - Paella Fusion - Part A

This week's #SundayStew is crockpot Paella and a two-for-one recipe. 

The basic recipe is: 

1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 lbs. chicken breasts or thighs 
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups of chicken broth
1 lbs. of hot smoked sausage, sliced in rounds. 
14 oz. stewed tomatoes
1 cup of uncooked Arborio rice
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup of frozen peas

Cook the chicken in a skillet for 6-8 minutes or until browned on both sides. Place in crockpot. 

In the same skillet, cook onions until clear. Stir in broth, sausage, tomatoes, rice and garlic. Cook for 8-10 minutes, then pour over the chicken in the crockpot. Cook for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. 

Pull the chicken out and place on a plate. Fluff rice and stir in peas. Place the rice in bowls and top with chicken. 

Very often, I don't have hot smoked sausage and Wegmans sells a nice Italian sausage. I do a fusion Paella. Just switching out the smoked sausage for Italian sausage totally changes the meal. But you can take it further. 

Here is the fusion recipe: 

1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 lbs. chicken breasts cut into quarters
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium peppers, sliced 
4 cups of chicken broth
1 lbs. of Italian sausage, diced
14 oz. stewed tomatoes
1 cup of uncooked Acini di Pepe.
1 clove of garlic

Place olive oil in crockpot and layer with the raw chicken breast cut in quarters.

In a skillet, cook onions and peppers until browned. Stir in broth, sausage, tomatoes, and garlic. Cook for an additional 8-10 minutes, then pour over the chicken in the crockpot. Cook for 6-8 hours on low. 

Prepare Acini di Pepe per directions and spoon into bowls. 

Stir the crockpot well, using a fork to shred the chicken. Top the pasta with the fusion paella. 

You can even go a further two steps with tomato sauce and cheese but that can get mighty heavy. 

Oops. Merry Christmas?

I might have made a mistake. I logged into Kickstarter to back a project only to realize that I had already backed this project at a much higher level than I would have done today. 

This project wraps up in December so this could be a Christmas present or maybe a January Birthday present. 

#Mechamonday for October 6th - Locust Again

I managed to complete 3 more Locusts, plus three other mechs. They need some sprucing up, I expected the colors to be brighter.  

As you can see, I use wine corks and sticky tack to mount them. 

If I had time for another project, I'd make a photography station. 

#SundayStew for October 6th, 2024 - All The Stuff That Happened This Week Part B

This is what I meant to do last week. I wanted to talk about all of the progress and setbacks I experienced in the past week. Here is a link to Part A, the recipe. 

First, I had this idea for cute little dice cups. All I needed was lids. The jars are recycled yogurt jars, the glass beads were leftovers from my daughter's fishbowl and the dice are something I had left over from a D&D campaign. 

Well, it seemed pretty simple until it wasn't. I was going to cut the lids from 3 mm thick wood but I accidentally bought a 5 mm sheet of birch project board. 

I did a trial run and it seemed fine. Except I cut a rectangular piece, not circles. I didn't think about what I was asking the laser to do. I used a caliper to measure the interior and exterior dimensions. These are Oui Yorgurt jars. Here are the measurements: 

Interior dimensions: 55.700 mm 
Exterior dimensions: 69.000 mm

Here is the problem of what I attempted to do with the laser. LaserGRBL and Falcon2 attempt to cut by moving back and forth along the X and Y axes. What that means for circles is the laser attempts to blast a series of holes through the target, in the shape of circles. It starts in the bottom corner and blasts a dot-like hole as deep as possible, then moves on to the next dot, and so on.  

This means the laser has to dump 22 watts of power into a pin-prick area and move on. When you are cutting straight lines, the laser moves at a predetermined speed dumping its power into the target. The beam can smoothly slice through wood. 

That is different from firing full power for a brief moment and moving a large distance before repeating. The energy is discontinuous. It took hours of repeated tries to cut circles. Eventually, it worked but I'll never do that again. 

I meant to burn a series of dice images onto the lids. Recently purchased some .svg files on Esty, so I thought this would be easy. 

No. Either I didn't like the images or the license on the image was objectable, most not extending the right to put the image on a physical object or otherwise modifying it. 

I suddenly landed a new project. Make a package of dice images specifically for various projects, from digital products to physical goods. On the left is a sample image. I suspect I will be doing blank dice and numbered dice, both black on white and white on black. These would be .svg files so they are easy to modify. For completeness, I would make a set of .tifs and .xcf files with a transparent background.

And my drive for completeness makes this project "epic scale". I need 6 images of blank dice, 60 images of numbered dice. I can double that for black on white and white on black. I can double that again for the .xcf and .tif files. More if I want to have .png and .jpg. 

Hell. I will probably break this into three different files. The Friends and Family Pack would be 12 .png images priced at PWYW and would be the hardest to modify. The Dev Pack at $7.99 would be blank dice in positive and negative for the user to create stuff from there. That is 12 images in 4-6 file types. The Complete Set of Dice would contain hundreds of files owing to the numbering and would be $24.99. As time permits, I will be completing and loading these to Ko-Fi and DriveThruRPG. 

The licensing would be really friendly for each. If you use them for a blog or digital product, an attribution someplace therein would be required. If you modify the files into something else, say colorize or make them part of a completely different image, then attribution is optional. Placing images on a physical object like a coffee mug, map, or t-shirt requires no attribution. The big hangup is the license does not permit the use of the files to make another clip art package. I don't care if you sell 10,000 books, T-shirts, and coffee mugs using the images, I just don't want someone reselling them in a new clip art package, modified or not.  

In other news, my son spotted a piece of artwork on ESTY that he wanted burned onto a plaque. Ah, another rabbit hole. 

BUT the file has the exact license I want. In fact, the creator asks people to post images of their products made with the image. That is exactly what I want to do with my dice images. 

This is an image of a KC-135 refueler. My son wants it flipped the other way around. The completist in me knows there is only one main door on the left side, so I have to modify this file for accuracy because there isn't a door on the right side. Also the little curved panel under and slightly behind the cockpit is also not visible on the opposite side. 

And that rabbit hole will continue throughout the next few weeks. Tomorrow's post will be about the 6 mechs I got painted. 

#Sunday Stew for October 6th, 2024 - Mock Chicken Soup Part A

Jen and I are down with some sort of cold. So, I am rehashing last week's crockpot meal, this time as a soup. The recipe is 90% the same as my Chicken and Potato Stew: 

2 pounds of chicken breasts, whole
1.5 lbs of baby yellow potatoes
1 lb of matchstick carrots
1 lb of peas, frozen
1 lb of corn, frozen
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
16 oz of chicken stock
3 chicken bouillon cubes
3 vegetable bouillon cubes
1 tsp. of white pepper
Salt to taste

Line the bottom of the crockpot with your chicken. I layer the carrots, onion, corn, and celery on top. I add the bouillon cubes, garlic, salt, and pepper next. The chicken stock is poured over everything, covering them, and setting the crockpot high.

Cook for 4 hours then add the corn and turn it down to low. Cook for 2-3 more hours. With an hour to go, add the frozen peas. I shread the chicken at this point and give everything a good stir.

This is a good time to start the noodles. I use extra wide egg noodles. I cook them separately because they simply won't fit in my crockpot. I ladle them out into bowls and put the mock chicken soup over them. 

Do you know why Fiver doesn't like this recipe? Rabbits can eat carrots, but they are too high in sugar, fiber, and other stuff rabbits don't really like. They will happily eat the green carrot tops, which is a disaster for farmers and gardeners. Rabbits will nibble your carrots down to the orange bits and stop. 

Poor Fiver. 

Here is a link to Part B, the projects. 

Going Off the Rails - Part Six

It's been a while since I wrote about games that went off the rails, but here is another entry. I had a basic scenario where a small town needed an army to defend against a threat. To the west, there was an army fighting but would not directly support the town or kingdom they were in because the true heir to that kingdom had been usurped. Proof of heirhood was rather simple; it was possession of a particular magic sword. The town leaders located the sword and sent the party to go get it. 

The party should have obtained the sword easily. The trouble would come when they returned it and people started making claims to it. The characters would become the protectors of the sword and ultimately kingmakers. 

Of course, this was all contingent on the party, you know, actually doing the deed. And being a typical party, they did not do the need. They fought it hard, and in a moment of weakness, I resorted to railroading. 

The gist of the situation was that the party got lost because they didn't follow the road to the town where the sword was. Lost, they saw the proper town in the distance but believed it was a different town. Somehow, they also missed finding a road to both towns by just a few hundred feet. 

Goddamn it. 

The party set up camp for the third night in a row, just out of sight of the road. I decided to throw a double whammy at them. First, I threw a storm down on them to force them out of the streambed and towards the road. That didn't work, the party made a series of herculean efforts to secure their campsite. 

The second whammy was a group of bears. Lots of them. Somehow, the party won surprise over the bears, in the dark, in a storm, and fled to the road. 

Finally, Victory! 

No.  

One of the characters cast Speak with Animals, rolled a very positive reaction and struck up a conversation with the bears instead of fighting them. Rule One of RPGs should be "Random and Railroading are immiscible." 

Here is how the conversation went. The bears were attracted by the party's pitiful fire, they wanted it. There was a negotiation for "the fire starter". The party was confused but agreed thinking they were giving the bears a bit of flint and steel. 

The bears wanted and took the person who made the fire, "The Firestarter*" was taken back to their cave. The whole party follows and piles into the bear cave all warm and cosy and lets me stew with a bunch of failed plans. 

Sometimes, you have to throw in the towel and decide what you are doing is simply not viable. I made a snap decision to let the bears join their mission and go directly to the Army to plead their case for the town. On the way they obtained horses. It was an impressive display of power, a party of mounted magic using characters guarded by bears. 

In retrospect, this was way more impressive than a sword, even a magical one.  

The party still got to become kingmakers even though the general of the army obtained the sword. Since the sword was far less impressive than a band of bear-clan warriors, it didn't help him much. He remained the general of the army, but the army wanted the support of the Bear-Clan* alongside the general. And if the Bear-Clan* said go save the town, then dammit, that was what the army was going to do. 

This occurs a lot in history, where an army follows a general but the general follows the will of the average soldier. It is weird, but true to life. Great generals don't railroad the troops. 

*Notice that "fire starter" and "bear" suddenly got capitals. This isn't a typo. I tried to make the new capitalization of the words audible and largely it worked on this party.  

My prompts for #Inktober2024

I decided to come up with my own prompts for Inktober. I will be doing these in no particular order. 

My 31 Prompts #Inktober2024 are: 

1. Whisper
2. Galaxy
3. Mosaic
4. Ember
5. Key
6. Serenade
7. Velvet
8. Eclipse
9. Labyrinth
10. Crescent
11. Solstice
12. Jubilee
13. Nebula
14. Euphoria
15. Tapestry
16. Mirage
17. Horizon
18. Cascade
19. Riddle
20. Echo
21. Glimmer
22. Fable
23. Voyage
24. Sanctuary
25. Lullaby
26. Haven
27. Alchemy
28. Chimera
29. Serenity
30. Odyssey
31. Breeze

Of course, I will be posting a day late the whole way. 

#SundayStew for September 29th 2024. Part A

 Ah, #SundayStew. 

I do a lot of things on Sunday. Cooking in the crockpot is one of them. Here is my recipe for chicken and potato stew: 

2 pounds of chicken breasts, whole
1.5 lbs of baby yellow potatoes
1 lb of carrots
1 lb of peas, frozen 
1 lb of corn, frozen
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
16 oz of chicken stock
3 chicken bouillon cubes
3 vegtable bouillon cubes
1 tsp.paprika
1 tsp. of white pepper
1 tbsp of olive oil
Salt to taste

I also call this Fiver's Favorite. He loves his veggie scraps. 

Start with the olive oil on the bottom of the crockpot, then line the bottom of the crockpot with your chicken. I layer the carrots, onion, and celery on top. I add the bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper next. The potatoes go on top. The chick stock is poured over everything. I dust the potatoes with paprika, cover them, and set the crockpot to high.

Cook for 4 hours then add the corn and turn it down to low. Cook for 2-3 more hours.  

Ah... the peas. I didn't forget them. I cook them separately and stir them in last. I shread the chicken at this point and give everything a good stir. 

You can knock on the veggies or add other things like fresh herbs and veggies from the garden. Fiver prefers fresh peas and parsley. I've been tempted to add some oregano but the rabbit always has dibs on fresh oregano. 

You can also add flour or cornstarch at the end for a thicker stew. 

This feeds about 6 with leftovers for lunches. 

This recipe gives me time to do other things, like laundry or better yet, paint figures. That will be Part B later today. It is also fairly diabetic friendly as you can work around the potatoes and skip the flour or cornstarch. 

A 3 Way Hook

It's Tuesday night and I am painting some Battlemechs. I like to listen to books or TV when painting. I have this funny trait that the thing I am listening to is the opposite of what I am painting.  For example, when painting mecha, I listen to fantasy books. 

While waiting for a basecoat to dry, I got wrapped up in Terry Brooks' Wizard at Large. This is the third book in the Landover series. Questor Thews, Wizard at Large attempts to transform his friend Abernathy back into a human. It seemed like the right thing to do because he was the one who turned the Scribe into a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier. 

Things go sideways and hilarity and terror ensue. This is one of my favorite series because it incorporates 80s sensibilities into a fantasy story. Oddly, the series makes some nods to the 80s and 90s but doesn't dive in too deep. There is an odd simplicity to the stories that somehow dodges the passage of time and advances in technology that would normally break a portal fantasy story. 

This gave me a great idea for a D&D hook. Locate Object is a bunk spell, the range is far too short. If this spell would be useful, they get down on their hands and knees and do it the hard way instead of magic. Invariably, if something is far away, the characters look for a sage or high-level Wizard to help. Or a Cleric with Commune.

So here goes the three-way hook. The scenario is, the party needs an item to fulfill some objective. They don't know where it is so they hire a scribe or Wizard to do the job. The characters assume they will be given some trivia about the object and a direction to go to recover the item. 

Wrong!

The sage or Wizard does give them that information on how to find the object but decides to toot his or her horn by pulling out a scrying globe or magic mirror to show the characters exactly what the item looks like and its immediate environs. Pleased, the characters thank the sage profusely. 

And then it happens. 

The sage drops his or her magic item and it shatters. In the discharge of failing magic, the sage disappears and the item itself appears at the feet of the characters. 

Surprise! 

Now, here are the three hooks: 

A) The characters feel obligated to bring the sage back home. 
B) The characters take the item and leave, forgetting about the sage. The enraged sage escapes on their own and hunts the characters down.
C) The owner of the item brings the sage home, searching for his or her stolen possession.  

The beauty of this is the triple hook is, in no way are you pushing the players to pick a course of action. They'll do it themselves by word and deed. Also, it doesn't tie up the DM too much. The forces against the players can have many motivations and goals, so it doesn't turn into a targeted TPK. You can play it for laughs, for growth, for horror, all based on what you discover your players like. 

Imagine the look on your player's faces when they discover the sage doesn't want to go home because they accidentally found the love of their life. Or what if they ran home just days ahead of a demon horde. What if the sage stumbles home and into the party just in time to save them from themselves? 

That is so much fun. 

Let's get ready to paint some #mecha

 I do love a good Locust sculpt, but I have a few more figures queued up for painting. 

Usually, I do a light color as the base, but you can see I used black on the Mechs in the back rank. I've never tried that before. The Battlemaster and the Commando will be dark green, with red and white details, along with a bit of silver and gunmetal. 

The jars of dice are my next laser project. I'll be cutting some 3 mm thick lids for them. The next generation will have laser-etched glass, but I need to buy a rotating stand for that. 

Stupid Solution to Stupid Problem #MechaMonday

I've been working on a few Battlemechs for my Thursday outings to Kingpin Comics and Games. However, I own two 100-ton cats. They are beasts. They keep knocking my painted mechs off the shelf. 

They are savage. They skip the unpainted ones. 

I came up with a stupid solution to a stupid problem. I put the models in a terrarium I had in the garage. 

They've tried half a dozen times to get up there and they can't fit. Problem solved? 

Happy Accident - Fiend Folio times 2!

I made a point of getting Nathan physical copies of the D&D 5e rules. He has two different groups that play and it would be dumb if they couldn't do that due to an internet outage, lost computer, or other silly problem. 

Mechanically, 5e is very different than AD&D or any version of B/X but the lore remains largely the same. Drow are Drow, Goblins are Goblins, and so on. Sure some people would like to change that for everyone but once you put an idea out there, good luck changing it. 

Wayback in 2019, I had a campaign where elves and humans were hostile to one another. I couldn't sell it and no one bought it. 

Once an idea is out there, forget about changing it. 

Anyway, I mentioned to Nathan my world's main antagonist is a Drow named Magarven. You can read all about him here. 

Nathan was put back by the mention of Drow. He thought they were new to 5e. Nope. I grabbed my copy of Fiend Folio. His jaw dropped.

"Is that a Githyanki?!?" 

Hell, yeah it is. 

That was the last I saw or thought about my copy of Fiend Folio. Somehow, that struck me funny. I forgot I even had a copy and ordered one POD from DriveThruRPG. Of course, when it arrived, Nathan tried to return my copy. 

I took some pictures and made him pick one. 

The POD copy is a soft cover, but don't let that put you off. The pages are solid and crisp, the print is excellent and the binding is nice. It is a tiny bit smaller than the original, making it a standard-size book. The price for POD was also amazing, far less than the $20 I paid for the original copy back in the day. 

I hope you can tell from the images, the POD's paper is somewhat thicker and the black is very solid. The thicker paper is nicer from the get-go. The softer black ink in the original is likely due to the age. Even though I bought my hardcover 2-3 years ago, it was printed in 1981. No book will hold up over 40+ years.

Anyway, I thought I would share this title as it keeps bringing joy to new and old players. 

#Mechamonday for September 16th - Locust Again and Home Improvement

As mentioned before, Locusts are one of my favorite mechs. In the image to the right, the painted Locust sculpt is from the Battletech Alpha Strike Boxed Set. There is no official source for more figures, so I purchased a few from Etsy.

Here is the link I used. I am not an affiliate of Etsy or this seller. I just like the product. I gave it 5 stars, I honestly couldn't be happier with these mechs. 

You'll notice these are variants, with long gun barrels on the arms and no chin cannons. When they arrived, I thought of cutting the guns off to match the other model. The obvious bend in the barrels bothered me to. 

I couldn't do it. I want them as they are. 

I decided to fix them. These are obviously resin printed, so fixing them is relatively easy and the technique works on many types of plastic models. 

Step one: get a cup of very hot water. I've seen people say it must be X degrees and then they name some arbitrary number below boiling. 

Stop. Let me offer some free home improvement advice then tell you about using hot water to bend plastic. 

You have three basic choices of water heating: on-demand, electric, or gas. If you have on-demand hot water, you can skip this because that will make as much, and as hot as you like water until the fuel runs out. If you heat water by gas or electricity you have a hot water battery in your home called a hot water tank.

Modern hot water tanks have two heating elements, one at the top and one near the bottom. The cold water comes in from the bottom of the tank and is heated by the first element. The hot water rises and is kept at temperature by the upper heating element. Cold water comes in to replace it and the process continues. This is actually kind of neat. When not in use, the water starts as a column of cold to hot and turns into a column of nearly uniform temperature water. 

Have you ever noticed that your water comes out cool and warms up over time? That is two different processes at work. The obvious one is the water in the pipes is cooler than the water in the tank. The second process is as the tank replenishes the flowing water, and eventually, both heating elements turn on. 

This is very efficient. This is also why I say not to use the hottest water possible for bending plastic. You won't be able to control how hot it can get consistently because of the heating elements. 

If you notice you burn yourself at the sink when the dishwater or shower is running, turn down your hot water tank temperature. It's too hot. Remember, the shower will dump water over your head even if it's too hot. Second, turning the temp down can save you enough over a month or year to buy another mech. 

This ends my home improvement section. 

Ok. Get a cup of hot as you can tolerate water. You'll be holding your fingers in it for about 30-60 seconds. Plan accordingly. 

The reason for no specific temperature is, I don't know what kind of resin you are dealing with and I don't want you to melt it to slag. Repeating this process several times is better than destroying a model with very hot water. 

Also, get a cup of cold water. Again, not as cold as you can get it, but cool.  

Initially, I held my model in the water for a minute. Next, I bent the gun outwards and dipped it in the cool water. In the picture to the left, you can see the guns are less bent but not entirely fixed. 

I repeated the process. Since the water didn't damage the models, I felt comfortable dropping all three into the hot water and repeated the process. 

After the next dip, I thought they looked good enough. I might do it again before priming the models. 

This technique works well with bent airplane landing gear, drogues, and antennas. You may give it a try on slightly warped larger pieces, but only if you can press the model's complex shape against an opposing shape. I have yet to fix a model where 2 halves of the model are warped by pressing them up against each other. 

It is always too much flex to work but you may have better luck. 

As always, you can pick up a copy of this game on DrivethruRPG, but if you hit up brick-and-mortar stores, you can get the physical copy with minis. I will be doing a review of my favorite place to shop and play Battletech soon. 

#MechaMonday for September 9th - Commando

The Commando is a light mech and missile boat. It's an interesting option, as it pairs a single laser with two different missile racks. The range is short and shorter, but it's cheaper than a Locust. And there is something to be said about a low-heat mech. 

The Commando Gallery

You can pick up a copy of this game on DrivethruRPG, but if you hit up brick-and-mortar stores, you can get the physical copy with minis. 

#MonsterMonday - POP-001 Preview

I am on call this week, so I have prepared a couple of posts in advance. I won't be playing this week, so hopefully I can catch you up with the playtest progress. 

This is #MonsterMonday. 

I have 10 main monsters and creatures selected for this adventure. Several are unique. The first monster the character encounters is the Guardians. Here is a preview. 

Iron Temple Guardian

18’ tall iron statues with massive crowns. 

AC: 4, HD: 9 (41 HP) Att: 1x fist 1d6 or 1x kick 1d8 or 2x ensnare or 2x push. THAC0: 12, MV 90’. SV: D8 W9 P:10, B10, S12, ML:12, AL: Neutral, XP: 3,000 NA: 1d4, TT: 2x 500 GPS diamonds (the eyes). 

Guardians are more determined than aggressive. They are usually set to guard an area such as the temple grounds, hence the name. These creatures are larger and more versatile than Iron Golems, but lighter and lankier. They can guard, pursue, or attack as commanded. 

Mundane damage immunity: Requires silver or magical weapons to damage. Blunt and non-metal weapons will bounce. Sharp metal weapons will be absorbed and heal the Guardian for HP equal to the maximum possible damage for that weapon.

Energy Immunity: Immune to fire and cold.

Healed by fire: Each HP of fire damage restores one HP. 

Energy vulnerability: If struck with fire and cold in the same round, they heal as per above but then take thermal shock damage. Thermal shock damage is equal to the maximum possible damage from the cold attack.

Mind Jolt: Scrying or mind reading will be ineffective as they don’t have minds. The caster must save vs. Paralysis or be stunned for the attempt. 

Bonus XP: If a player role-plays a bouncing weapon, give them 50 XP each time. 100, if it is truly funny. 

They pursue at half-normal speed and only use pushing or ensnaring attacks unless attacked, in which case they switch to kicking and punching. They will only punch or kick armed and aggressive attackers. If they flank a target, they switch to ensnaring and pushing again. 

Ensnared creatures are carried by the Guardian. This causes no damage and up to 2 characters can be ensnared. The target(s) can wiggle out of the Guadian’s grip on a successful DEX check or after three rounds of trying. The escaping victim can either slide to the ground or ride on the Guardian’s back or crown. Riding characters won’t be attacked once they escape unless they attack the Guadian again. Up to 3 people can ride the Guardian’s back and one more in the Crown. Typically they are not controllable, but wiley characters can direct them by making reasonable suggestions. 

If an ensnared or riding character successfully attacks the Guardian, they will be dropped and kicked (2d6 falling damage, plus a kick attack).  

Pushing moves a target 6 feet in the direction of the Guadian’s choice and does no damage. 

If an Iron Temple Guadian is destroyed by thermal shock, the parts can be gathered up and placed in a fire to restore the creature. This takes all day and the fire must be kept lit for it to work. This will place the Guadian under the fire-keeper’s command. If many people tend the fire, the last one to add fuel will be in command.  

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG. 

Session 0b: The Land of Adventure

This particular run is called “The Hunt”. It transports special tradesmen and craftsmen to the supporting cities and towns of the Capital Region. The Hunt’s secondary purpose is a yearly survey of the road to ensure there is nothing to inhibit the normal caravan runs. The Hunt contains 14 wagons, 64 men-at-arms, and 6 cavalrymen to protect the wagons. This includes Mercy, Tilly, Misha, Garven, and Kayleb. Tilly and Mercy are assigned to the cavalry while Misha and Garven are assigned the first and last wagons. 

There are 6 mighty 24-foot-long wagons for passengers. Each wagon has an awning and carries tents for camping. There are 4 16-foot wagons, heavily loaded with various goods and cargo for the trip. The caravan has a pair of small kitchen wagons that are little more than rolling ovens. A 12-foot larder wagon carries food. There is a massive war wagon that is the core of the defense. The war wagon is 3 levels high and is covered in metal plates and leather hides (AC 4). 

The war wagon has 6 crossbowmen stationed inside at all times. Each of the other wagons has 1 or two archers or crossbowmen, except the larder and kitchen wagons which have no defenders. The vanguard is made up of 3 mounted men and 6 unmounted men-at-arms. There is a matching group of defenders at the tail of the caravan. The caravan doesn’t have enough men to completely rotate the guards and passengers are encouraged to act as an ad-hoc watch. Mostly, they tend to fire and drink late into the night, which is better than nothing.  

Much of “The Hunt” is high pageantry. The road is well-maintained, well-mapped, and largely free of bandits or raiders. The local bandits avoid all caravans. There is a slight risk of pirate ships as even the pirates avoid the area. 

The main concern is that the road crosses the equator, in the shadow of the Butter-Ripple Needle. 

What the hell is the Butter-Ripple Needle? 

The Butter-Ripple Needle marks the East Pole and was the last Space Elevator built by the High Men and the Iron Men. The four Space Elevators ring the equator. They are ancient. They are commonly known as the Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, and Butter-Ripple Needles in the vulgar language. They were built during the Great Silence when the High Men stopped writing, so the original names are unknown. (Actually, the internet decided and these are their real names.) 

The route will cover 25 six-mile hexes or 150 miles. As mentioned before the area along the road is well mapped, so there is no hex crawling on the road. Off the road is a different story. 

The first town on the road is Iron Tree, 18 miles from the Canvasary. The next stop is the port of Western Gate, two more hexes away. Before the mid-point of the journey is a farming community named Bounty. It is hardly a town, merely a hex-sized collection of farms. 

This a milk run that the party will turn into an adventure. 

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG. 

Session 0a: The Party as the core of the Scenario

I am back to playtesting POP-001, Revenants of the Lost Temple. While on hiatus, I realized I was working backward. I was building a world, instead of an adventure. It’s much easier to think of this from the perspective of the player characters. Basically, what is everyone doing? 

Session 0a: The Party as the core of the Scenario

There are 7 characters taking part in this adventure. The adventure takes place along the western coast of an unnamed country. The goal is to follow the road from the south to the north, from the High Canvasary to the Capital Region. Half the party is being paid to guard the caravan and the other half are paying customers, riding with the caravan. 

Here is a list of characters supporting the caravan:  

Mercy and Tilly, Fighters, 5th level (Detailed here) 

Misha, Magic User, 4th level

Garvin Peace-Bringer, Cleric, 4th level. 

The paying travelers are:

Alice, Elf, 4th level

Alex, Bard, 4th level

Bartholomew, Thief, 4th level.  

The characters met at the High Canvasary. Alex and Alice are a couple while Bartholomew is a mutual friend. Bart is much younger than everyone else. After talking, these three tried to gain employment with the caravan. Since they had already traded money with Kayleb the Caravan Master, he refused to refund them or hire them. Kayleb is a cheapskate. 

Bart, Alex, and Alice have slightly unusual backstories. 

Alex the Bard is from our world and time, specifically Orocovis, Puerto Rico. I was expecting a wild backstory, but instead, I got something thoughtful. Alex had a book that allowed him to travel from his time and place to the Peninsula of Plenty. He used the book to bring in coffee plants. Strangely, coffee is not rare or popular on the Peninsula. He also brought several bottles of booze.  

What he has is nothing special. He also lost his book at about the time he met Alice. Bart has acquired it, but it seems useless to the thief. 

Alice, a native Elf has glommed onto bits of Alex’s world without actually understanding it. She is carrying 25 letters, she is being paid to deliver mail like a mailman. She finds the idea of hand-carrying letters interesting and profitable. She is charming enough to score a drink or meal at either end of her trips in addition to the 10 silver coins she charges for the service. She will charge less, sometimes even nothing if she has at least only paid delivery in the area. Alice thinks the idea is cool. The Kingdom does have a carrier service, but they will open your mail. 

As mentioned before, Bart has Alex’s book. He didn’t steal it but found it interesting and slightly useful. He has traveled to Puerto Rice several times. If asked, Bart will return it. Bart had a habit of swiping horses, he used potions of Animal Control. He has found it is easier to offer to transport horses than steal them. One is less likely to get hung that way. He is traveling to the Capital Region for more potions. 

Bart has a bounty on his head. He encountered some men using magic to steal people and horses. He killed them all with his Animal Control potions. He uses Alex’s book to elude bounty hunters. The bounty keeps growing as more bounty hunters disappear as if they stepped out of the world.  

Tilly and Mecry have their own post and will be skipped. 

Misha the Magic User is a tough one. She often acts as a spy and scout with her spells. She loves being alone. Bart has gravitated toward her as he wishes to know more about magic. They aren’t great friends, but they drink and dine together often. She has been to Puerto Rico several times but doesn’t realize it. 

Garvin is the official deed keeper for Tilly, Misha, and Mercy. He keeps a journal for them all. He is also their financial advisor and agent. It’s an unpaid job but he does require them to tithe with the Southern Orphanage. The three women ensure Garvin keeps a little money and eats daily. He would rather eat dirt himself to feed and clothe the less fortunate. Tilly and Mercy enjoy the company of the children while Misha does not like children at all. This is part of the reason why Misha dines with Bart so much. 

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG. 

Fooling Around with Deck Plans

I've been straightening out the workspace to have my laser and 3D printer ready to go at all times while maintaining a painting and modeling area. If I can manage it, I'd also like to have a small table for all of the ongoing game stuff. 

If big enough, I'd have a permanent setup of Star Smuggler ready to go. 

I keep playing this game, and I've broken it the rules in so many ways. On my next playthru, I plan on using this set of deck plans for my ship. 

This is my Devilfish ship simplified for Star Smuggler. It's 4 times bigger than the original game's ship. The original game created the opportunity to purchase a second, third or fourth ship, but never a larger ship. 

Having run multiple ships at the same time, I know the rules break due to "out-dicing" the enemy. Simply put, the preprogrammed enemies can't split their fire effectively so multiple ships break the game. 

To counteract this, I would create a tiny fleet of enemy ships so you aren't merely facing the Scout, the Battleship, Hoppers in space, and the handful of reskinned Antelopes. 

Speaking of Star Smuggler (again), there is another game called Star Smuggler on Drivethru RPG. I was thinking of checking it out. 

#MechaModay for September 2nd - The Archer and The Locust

 #MechaMonday is here and I am leading with my two favorite mechs - The Locust and The Archer. 

It's been years since I have painted and I started right in with camouflage. We'll see how that goes. I'll get better pictures up soon. 

The reason I like these two mechs is you can get a 2:1 movement ratio. Sure there are pairs of variants that do not have this ratio, but you have to look for them. You can start advancing with the Locust zig-zagging while the Archer lumbers along behind. 

Thanks to the variants, you can pretend to be something you aren't by moving slightly slower. This shouldn't work by the rules, but it sidesteps the rules by repetition. If they see you move 8" and 4" every round, they will assume that you will in the future. The rules don't assume for player assumptions.   

This creates many possible attack positions for the pair: 

• The Locust can move in lockstep with the Archer, forcing your opponent to pick between a sure kill on the closer Locust or trying to kill the distant Archer.  
• The Locust can dash through the enemy and end up at their rear or better, a flank. 
• The Archer can dash forward and end up slightly in front of the slowing Locust.  
• The feint is a good gambit, where the Locust moves to one side dragging the enemy around so the Archer can turn to face a different foe or objective.  

This combo is costly in terms of Locusts but you can wreck formations, cut off individual mechs or make fancy powerplays with low-end mechs. Personally, I like the satisfaction of getting the Archers in front of the Locusts because my opponent has to sweat the dice to kill an Archer while worrying about what the Locusts are really doing. Even if they aren't doing anything.  

The Archer Slide Show

The Locust Slide Show

You can pick up a copy of this game on DrivethruRPG, but if you hit up brick-and-mortar stores, you can get the physical copy with minis. 

Missed It Monday!

Yup, I had an idea and I blew it. I wanted to do Mech Monday and missed it by about 36 hours. I've been gearing up to play Battletech Alpha Strike at Kingping Comics & Gaming. They play every Thursday night. It'll be about 3 weeks until I get enough models painted.

I have a collection of my favorite mechs I'd like to do up. I have 4 Archers and a pair of Locusts. I have 3 more Locusts on order. I hate that I have to rummage through the internet for Locust models. Catalyst is weird because their store isn't very comprehensive. 

These will sport Jade Falcon livery. 

I can't wait. 

 You can pick up a copy of this game on DrivethruRPG, but if you hit up brick-and-mortar stores, you can get the physical copy with minis. 

Mecha Monday - August 12, 2024

I am not where I wanted to be in my comeback, but I am not terribly surprised. Last week was Kitty's Big 50th Birthday. This week is what I like to call "Our 23rd Annual Anniversary". Kitty hates this. 

I also need a haircut. 

The laser is starting to consume all of my free time. I am planning several projects: coasters, plaques, and such. Kitty has requested a couple of Lake George-themed coasters and maybe a map. 

I know I've mentioned Lake George a few times. It's our favorite place to be and we go there 2-3 times a year. We usually travel in 3 seasons: summer, fall, and winter. Spring is too wet for fun while fall is crisp and cool, and the trees are colorful. 

Given the chance we'd move there. 

These first few projects need a couple of preliminaries. I have downloaded an old map and engraved it on a sample wood tile. The tile is much too small for this map and the text is a string of dots. I could have cranked up the laser's power, too. 

The image is also crooked. 

The second preliminary is a target mat for the laser. The laser bed is 400 mm by 415 mm (15.748 inches by 16.3386 inches). Since the whole thing is light and mobile, I need a mat and template so I can line up objects on the bed corresponding to images in the files.  

So that was next. If you blow up the image, you'll see a light gray grid. The file I used to create this image can now be the template for future images.

The target material is a yellow posterboard. In case you are wondering, the settings I used was: 

Power: 3% to 6%. 
Speed: 6000 mm a minute.
Air Assist: Off.   

Each line is 25 mm a part. 

That got me thinking of a new project. I could burn my own maps on to paper. What I really need is a Battletech Map.  

Hmm. That was one long segue into Mecha. 

Yes, I bought more unpainted Mechs! 

The Wolf's Dragoons Assult Star contains an Annihilator, Timber Wolf, Rifleman, Archer, and Blackjack. The two Inner Sphere Command Lances contain an Archer, Marauder, Valkyrie, and Stinger. 

While my favorite mech is the Locust, which seems to be unique to Battletech, my second favorite mech is the Archer, an unseen mech. I can't wait to get painting. 

My favorite local comic shop, Kingpin has a weekly Battletech: Alpha Strike game. Last time I played, I kicked ass. I slaughtered the opposing force. It was my first time playing against 3 guys who play weekly. 

My "slaughter" was not due to any skill but the fact they went after each other for an hour with hammer and tongs, ignoring me. At the end of the game, there were 26 dead mechs. I had 6 mechs surviving. I can't wait to get back and play for real. 

Saturday Night Stock Characters

During COVID, Matt Johnson hosted a series of Collabo Dungeons. Participants selected a room and posted a description and a possible encounter on Matt's website. 

Here is what I posted in 2020. 

Location Seven. The Twins.

There are two women, twins, in the pit. They are identical in all ways save one. One woman wears a lead ring. When they become aware of the characters, they will both shout out for help. When the characters look in the pit, they will hear the following orders:

Twin with the ring: "Kill her! She's a demon!"
Twin without the ring: "Kill her! She's an idiot!"

They are both at the bottom of the pit and represent no threat to the characters in this state. They are both bloodied and bruised from the fall and each has a blackened right eye.

If the party rescues them, they will find out the following information. Twin One, the one with the ring is named Meredith. She entered the dungeon with her friends in search of treasure. She found a gold ring in area 8 and after discerning no purpose to it, put it on. She was pushed by a monster into the pit.

Twin Two, without the ring, was a doppelganger hiding in Area 8. To take on Meredith's form, she ambushed her by pushing her into the pit. Unfortunately for the monster, Meredith grabbed it's wrist as she fell and both ended up at the bottom. As the doppelganger took her form, Meredith shouted "Begone!" which the ring of wishes interpreted as a command against the monster. Since the doppelganger was in mid-transformation into Meredith, the ring fixed it in that form before turning to lead. The doppelganger is now an exact copy of Meredith.

The twins have found combat against each other to be profoundly lethal, as they mirror each other's moves perfectly, hence the matching black eyes. They will not fight each other. They will join the party to escape the dungeon.

At the time, I posted Meredith as unstated. I had envisioned Meredith as a young character, one who needed more wisdom. I supposed that she was an accursed thief or perhaps a mage. In rolling them up, I decided they were fighters. 

Them... They... In the room description, we find out how Meredith became a twin. 

I've given one of them a new name, Mercy. They have matching stats, experience and class, plus a few other surprises. In their time adventuring together, they have found a pair of Bracers of Defence, AC 4. In addition to this, they both have magic swords. These hand-and-half swords are also a matched pair like the Bracers. Each woman is vaguely annoyed that every treasure they find is a matching set. This is because they both want and value the same items. In reality, they have ignored other treasures as worthless because it wasn't what they wanted or valued.  

Meredith wields the sword Nine Lives. It is only +1 but it prevents her from being flanked or backstabbed. If someone attempts to flank or backstab her the attacker must make a saving throw versus parayzation. If the attacker fails this save, Meredith magically spins to face the attacker, negating their bonus. This can happen as many times in a combat round as there are flanking attackers. This does not allow Meredith an extra attack unless the person flees. 

Mercy wields a sword named Calico. This sword also has powerful magic. On the first swing in combat it is a +1 to attack and damage. On the next swing, it is +2. This continues until Mercy receives a +3, at which point the sword resets to +1. Mercy is a brutal fighter. She often draws Calico and makes two flourishing swings, which sets the sword to +3 from the get-go.  

The Bracers and the Swords are meant to be used by a single person, florentine style, not two different people. The Swords' special abilities work together, making the wielder nigh unstoppable. 

The Twins have several other nasty traits. First, Meredith is the original human and is identifiable by the lead ring. This is a helpful trait, sometimes. 

Next, the ring cannot be removed by any mechanism except a wish. Grabbing at the ring will unleash woe on the thief. They must save versus death, or collapse in a seizure for 2d6 rounds. They take no damage but will be horribly sick once the seizures end.  

Heaven help the person who tries to use a tool to get the ring, like a bolt cutter or knife to cut the ring (or finger) off. They will also need to save vs. death. If they succeed, they merely have the seizures described above. If they fail, they burst into flames for 1d6 points of damage per round AND have 1d6 rounds of seizures. Unless someone helps them, they will burn for the entire duration of the seizure. 

The third dangerous trait is Mercy only uses that name in Meredith's presence. In Meredith's absence, she reverts to using "Meredith". Since she is an exact copy of Meredith (except the ring) and knows everything she does. This can cause chaos for a party. Or a lover. Mercy does this to assume Meredith's place as if they were the same person. She does not intend harm to the people she fools, she only wants her rightful place the original woman. 

For this reason, the real and original Meredith is unperturbed by Mercy's behavior and ignores it. She will honor Mercy's promises in her stead and will easily forgive and forget other's missteps regarding Mercy's unseemly behavior. Mercy's adoption of Meredith's place is confusing, not malicious. They are effectively the same person and have the same goals and desires, but do not intend to share anything. 

Mercy and Meredith are pseudo-cursed to stay together. Since they are a matched pair, they always assume the other will be there for them. Separated, they suffer shortcomings from this expectation. Together, they are far more powerful and successful. 

Occasionally, circumstances cause them to come to blows. They will only slap, punch, and kick as their blows land on each other unerringly. They will not use weapons on one another as it would be instantly fatal. This quirk can foil charms, illusions, and other mind-altering magic as they see each other as the same person and will be resistant to interpreted self-harm. 

Content Preview - August 2024

I am back from hiatus and led with a post about the laser I purchased. My intention for the laser is to come up with new and unique content to support my gaming habits. I have no intention of transitioning to "Laser Dude", but the laser will help me transition to new types of content. Models and such. 

Here is a content preview which is my guidepost: 

As you can see, there is a lot of game content there. On the right is Dungeonland hiding under B1 and L1, a trio of favorites. On the other side of the image are the DragonLance modules. I would expect to see a couple of module reviews soon.  

Next to these are two Battletech products. My game plan is to alternate Mech Monday with Module Monday, so I don't burn out on one type of content. This will also drive me to do some painting. I hear some people actually paint models and figurines. I figured I'd give it a try and see if it's as rewarding as I hear. 

If you take black and white pictures,
painting skills don't matter.

Since I lost all of my game books, I have been carefully replacing the best of the best. I was mad at the loss of my D&D 3.x books. I took a step back and rather than replace them with difficult to find, out of print books, I figured I'd dive into Pathfinder. 3.x was my favorite generic ruleset as it was a toolkit for every 'verse. Yes, it's D&D but it can also be Star Wars, Farscape, Top Secret, or anything else you'd care to do. It's a very nice set. 

This isn't say my B/X content will disappear. I am hoping to get a weekly game going using the modules and my OSE sets to supplement content. 

As I figure out how to use this laser, I can squeeze laser content into my gaming and modeling posts. It seems reasonable. I have also signed up to be an affiliate for Creality company so there is an aspect or two monetization here. If I am able to crank out some nice gaming products and accessories, I would be happy to sell them to you. 

There is another aspect of monetization here. If you look to the right, you can see a small image of a game and a massive image of a bottle of wine. Unless something interesting happens, that large image will disappear. These types of links don't perform at all. 

I am formulating an idea for that space. Future you will see a bottle of wine in that space, but it won't be an ad. It will be something else. 

I hope you join me on this new adventure. 

Back with Frickin' Laser Beams!

I am back. And now I have a laser. 

I purchased the Creality Falcon2 22-watt laser with all of the trimmings. I have used a laser in the past, however, that machine was very next-level and way out of my price point. If you have the means, the Epilog series of lasers are amazing. I do not have the means but I set one up for the Buffalo Science Museum in 2013. 

I have dreamed of having my own machine and the Falcon2 was at my price point. 

Delivery was super quick and set up was "easy". I've had this machine for nearly two weeks and thanks to the Crowdstrike issue nuking every computer at work, I didn't get to unbox the Falcon2 for 12 days after delivery. 

I wanted to do an unboxing video, but I was too excited to film it and unboxing videos are not a habit I want to start. I will say the packing is excellent for both shipping and unboxing. They really thought out the consumer angle of this product. 

Setting up the laser is simple, but I would like to share some tips based on my background experience. These tips will draw on my time at Mattel/Fisher-Price and my experience with the Epilog laser. 

First, the Falcon2 has 60% of the power of the Epilog 35-watt system. This means the Falcon2 has less power needs and fewer protective systems. The Epilog is in a massive metal and glass box with specific venting methods set right into the frame. 

The Falcon2 only needs a tent with a fan to separate you from the laser. Additionally, the Falcon2 requires protective glasses despite having a plastic window on the tent AND a shield around the laser. Seriously, you only have two eyes so 3 layers of protection is good. 

Let's start with two issues I had with the tent. The tent sits on a plastic frame. The frame parts appear to be 3d printed plastic. It does require a bit of care assembling. Me and my hulk hands snapped one of the support tubes. 

This was laziness on my part. I could have used a little care or a dot of soap. 

The second issue I had was with the fan assembly for the tent. It comes with a fan shield.

PUT IT ON! 

Fans are devices with spinning blades. Despite everything Star Wars has taught me, they usually have covers. This prevents items like Jedi from jumping through them to destroy your Imperial Plans. 

It is a little-known fact that if you stick your fingers into a tiny fan to see if it is sucking or blowing, the blades always SUCK! 

In addition to the Falcon2 laser, I also purchased a very nice set of bandaids. If I had put the shield on the fan from the start, I could have saved a couple of bucks on bandaids.

Live and learn. 

Now we are to the third issue I had with this product. On my first try, the laser didn't work. It wouldn't even move. This indicates a firmware update is necessary. The process is pretty well documented, you simply load the file on to the provided SD card and stick the card in the SD card slot. This updates the main driver motors. 

Next, you load the laser head file on to the SD card and plug that into the laser head unit using the provided SD to USB-C connectors. It's odd, but it works. 

Having completed the update, the laser head moved and the air assist worked. But the laser would not fire. This one flummoxed me. I reached out to support to get help.  

They were ridiculously fast. I emailed at 9:45 pm and they responded by 5:00 am the next day. I was taken aback by the speed and the comprehensive support. They had me disassemble the laser head and check the internal connectors. This would have been daunting, but for the fact they provided all of the tools necessary to perform this check. They provided tools! 

Sadly, this was not my problem. 

Let's back up a bit and go to the same problem I always have... me. Remember how excited I was to assemble the product? I disassembled the whole thing and started over. This was not that hard. 

Before I go any further, I would like to explain the symptoms as they presented. 

Symptom One: the laser head and arm wouldn't move until I updated the firmware. Also, all of the lights blinked oddly. This was the red herring. After the update, the head and arm would move correctly including home and frame, and all of the lights gave correct/ready indicators including the laser, but the laser would not fire. 

On reassembly, I noticed something was off. There connector box on top of the arm for the laser head. When I pushed the connector in, it felt squishy. It also has a locking tab that would not lock. I couldn't see anything wrong until I used my camera.

In my haste, I bent a pin. It wasn't all that hard to push the pin back into place. I first tried the provided tweezers. That didn't work, they were a smidge too big. 

The next tool I reached for was an X-acto blade. It seemed like it would work, but I had just slashed my finger open on the fan so I put that down. What did do the trick was a clay sculpting tool. It has no sharp edges. 

I pushed the connector in and got the same squish. I thought I was being ham-handed again. Considering I already broke one part and stuck my finger into a spinning fan, this was highly probable.  

I fixed the pin again and took a better look at the problem. 

There are three cable management clips on the arm and the third leaves barely room to push the connector into the plug. Remember I mentioned they sent tools with the laser? 

One was an Allen wrench, the right size to remove the cable management clips. With that one clip removed, the connector was easy to fit, click and all. 

The last step was to put the clip back. I gave myself a lot of slack by homing the laser head and pulling the lines out of the way. The clip went back home and I had good cable management again. 

My Mattel/Fisher-Price training tells me they could have put this in the instructions but this isn't the typical consumer product. It's not like you are expecting a child to survive first contact with the beam.  

Since I was in troubleshooting mode, I simplified testing by loading one of the sample images to the SD card and disconnecting the laser from my computer. One problem at a time, right? 

I was immediately rewarded with the air assist powering up, the laser head homing and framing, and a brilliant blast of light. 

Within a few minutes, I had my first engraving. 

The image to the left shows the final product, not the process. You need to have all of that safety gear in place to use the laser. 

Like so: 

And so: 

And, also so: 

Ok. The smoke and CO detector was not actually provided with the device and is more of a nod to the fire that burned my house down once before. 

While you can read that as humor, it isn't. With the tent and fan in place and one window open, you can run this thing in your home without terrible odor problems. Even if your home includes 3 survivors of a fire who are sensitive to burning smells. So long as you have good ventilation. I would also like to point out the laser doesn't trigger a smoke detector 10 feet away in the same room. 

I suspect when I goof, it will trigger the detector, but I'll have to try harder to do that. Also, the product does have a built-in fire detector, so I'll have to try real hard. 

I polled four people on the smell and got some surprising reactions. 

Me, the guy who was not at home for the fire: It smelled alarming bad, like I was going to send my family into PTSD mode. 

Nathan, the kid who was outside but present for the fire: "The laser smells like smoke."

Catherine, the girl who got out last: "It smells like incense."

Kitty, my wife, ran back into the fire to save the cat and collapsed from smoke inhalation: "I can't smell anything." 

So, it does clearly smell funny but not that bad. 

I'd like to close with a final image, an improperly run speed vs power test. 

I cannot wait to get the hang of this and start making products.