Pacific Rim

Need I say more?

Didn't think so.

WeRPIn - The Genesis

WeRPIn, short for Web RolePlayers International, is an internet-based tabletop RPG group I happen to be part of.

I've been a long time reader of the webcomic Darths & Droids, which is a tabletop RPG story. & as such, I was heavily drawn into this subculture. However, where I live, nobody even knows what a tabletop RPG is. So my chances of ever actually playing one was nil, at best.

So when Fellonius tweeted, quite unexpectedly, that

And yet another Dungeons & Dragons session is under way. Might be the second to last, actually. Ever(?).
— Fellonius Mellankamp (@FelloniusWizard) May 18, 2013

I yelled out, not at all certain it'd work, that

@FelloniusWizard Me wants in.
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) May 18, 2013

jGazMom, having never tried one herself either, followed suit,

@FelloniusWizard @Anistuffs You’re playing D&D? I’m jealous. I’ve always wanted to try it but never had the courage.
— Jennifer Lyons (@jGazMom) May 18, 2013

After a little bit of discussion with her,

@jGazMom @FelloniusWizard I'm jealous because I've never known anyone else IRL who does so I never even got the chance.
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) May 18, 2013

@Anistuffs @FelloniusWizard There should be a way to play online. That would be perfect for people like us.
— Jennifer Lyons (@jGazMom) May 18, 2013

@jGazMom @FelloniusWizard Me wants in. Me wants in so badly.
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) May 18, 2013

@Anistuffs @FelloniusWizard Me too. :(
— Jennifer Lyons (@jGazMom) May 18, 2013

we were both psyched for a chance at playing this strange & new type of gaming, knowing full well that there was very little chance it'd ever happen.

That is, until Vladimyr tweeted,

@jGazMom @Anistuffs @FelloniusWizard I think this was the software we used: http://t.co/ZneaXXZFiK
— Vladimyr (@SirVladimyr) May 18, 2013

& then, well,

So that was that. jGazMom & I unanimously chose Fellonius as our GM & he got about figuring out Maptool & how to use it as he wanted.

Soon enough, being the nosy naming type that I am, I has the idea to make an official name for this whole shindig of a group.

@FelloniusWizard @jGazMom @FaumeMC We need a name for our international web RPG group. Any ideas anyone?
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) June 1, 2013

@FelloniusWizard @jGazMom @FaumeMC @rsmalec How about WebRPers International? Google says it's clear :)
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) June 1, 2013

@FelloniusWizard @jGazMom @FaumeMC @rsmalec Or WeRPIn for short :P
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) June 1, 2013

@Anistuffs @jGazMom @FaumeMC @rsmalec Werpin, sounds good. But the one with the video recording must have his say as well.
— Fellonius Mellankamp (@FelloniusWizard) June 1, 2013

& finally

@FelloniusWizard Any ETA on the character creation session? #WeRPIn Yeah, I just made that a hashtag. The name's official now ;D
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) June 2, 2013

& the name stuck :)

We also picked up veteran Tabletop RPG players Faume & Rsmalec along the way & jGazMom's son Sam, an equal newbie like her, also came along for the ride :)
So here we were, a group spread across 3 continents, with a maximum time difference of almost 11 hours, attempting to get together to play a Tabletop RPG. Talk about eventful eh?


Our first session took place on Saturday morning (22nd June, 2013) for Fellonius (Sweden) & I (India) and Friday night (21st June, 2013) for jGazMom, Sam, Faume & Rsmalec (all USA). I was so excited for this that I only slept 3 & a half hours that night, wasking up at 4 o'clock in the morning (the session started at 7:30am). Despite my eyelids feeling heavier than a forklift, my brain was too excited to sleep.

It was mainly character creation followed by a little bit of gameplay covering a duration of 4 hours. It went surprisingly well.

#WeRPIn Session 1: GREAT SUCCESS :D It's hard to overstate my satisfaction :) Totally worth not getting a good night's sleep :)
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) June 22, 2013

@FelloniusWizard @Anistuffs @jGazMom @FaumeMC I was SO stressed/tired I almost didn't come. It was amazingly medicinal! Thank you all
— Ron Smalec (@rsmalec) June 22, 2013

We're all quite eager for our next session. Rsmalec & I have recorded some of the footage & will upload them shortly on our channels so look out for that if you're interested in how it all went down :)

In any case, Thank you very much for reading this (if you did that is. If you just scrolled down, you missed some interesting stuff, that's all I'm saying). & have a nice day everyone. I know I did on Saturday :D

Today I did something I haven't done in over 10 years 8O

Today, on the20th of June of 2013, at around 12noon took place one of the most EPIC thunderstorm & torrential rain I've seen in my life.

That's not what it is.

I was luckily in my friend's place at college campus playing Cave Story so I was okay. But the rainstorm continued for more than an hour. Then I decided to return home in case it happens again. The bus was packed like uhh... like a bus in West Bengal (there's seriously no analogy to the level of crowding that happens here). & the streets were waterlogged as heck.

That's also not what it is.

I got down at my stop & started walking trying to avoid getting my partially semi-wet sneakers completely soggy. To do that I had to walk on a low wall for a while. Then as I was getting close to my house, I saw the streets were completely waterlogged. The footpath was about 1-1.5 feet deep in dirty water & the middle of the road had about 2 inches deep water through which cars were plying like normal making waves that raised the 1.5 feet water on the footpath to more than 2 feet (around my knee).

& that's when I did it. I did a calculation considering all my options & then, with a sigh, took off my sneakers & socks & walked through the waterlogged streets for about 0.5 kms to my home while avoiding glass bits, stone chips, bits of bricks, & the likes which were under the EXTREMELY murky waters, just feeling them through the sole of my barefeet while also avoiding the waves made by cars.

THAT is what it is.

I took a few snaps but sadly my phone is old as heck & the shots came out blurry as all heck since I was trying to balance myself in the waves. BTW, the time was 2:40pm, for the curious.

So yeah, Walking Through Waterlogged Streets Barefoot! Whooooooo....

Just a normal morning

Time: 11:30am

Me (sitting at computer browsing the Interwebs): Hmmm! There's something I'm forgetting. What is it? It's something crucial to my well-being & general survival. What could it possibly be? It's right at the tip of my tongue but I can't quite recall it. C'mon brain, think.

Grandmother (from outside): Didn't you eat your breakfast?

Me: ...

P.S. I wasted about 10 matchsticks before lighting one. This time it wasn't entirely my fault though. The matchstick scrubbing part on the side of the matchbox were all used up & stuff.

Redstone Help Required: Specific Clock Circuit

EDIT:
I just need the reset system. I can use a repeater line for controlling a hopper clock to give the output pulse. & then it'll have the start/stop as required. But I can't have a reset (as explained) on that design. & that's all I need. The reset system.


The clock circuit should have the following properties:

1. It can be started & stopped (i.e. mustn't run constantly).

2. It has a fixed run time. If the start signal is given, the clock will operate for this duration & then turn off. If the stop signal is received midway during the run time, the clock will stop & return to it's initial position.

3. It has a 'reset' ability. That's within quotes because it's a different kind of reset than you think. Here's an example to explain.
Say the clock's run time is 30 seconds. I give the start signal, the clock starts running, powering whatever it's hooked up to. If I give the start signal again after just 15 seconds, the clock restarts, i.e. with 30 seconds. The second start signal shouldn't add with the 30 seconds. That's the maximum run time. Any new start signal will reset the clock back to the start of this run time cycle & not add to it.

4. The run time duration can be made to have a large range, from say, 10 seconds to 10 minutes.

5. The stop signal can be neglected if it's too hard to incorporate.

6. Size isn't an issue. Non-buggy running is.

Thank you for reading. I'd be really grateful if you can help me out with this weird request :)

Luck is Complex

So I played this rather awesome puzzle map called Complex by Qmagnet recently.

& on the day of playing it (Saturday, 20th April, 2013), right before I started the LP, the uber-awesome musician Kevin Macleod released an untitled track on his Soundcloud page to ask for help with the title.

Playing with the new Aeon virtual instrument... Now I have a thing with no title. Please help name it! soundcloud.com/kevin-9-1/unti…
— Kevin MacLeod (@kmacleod) April 20, 2013

Now obviously, for a new Minecraft map LP, I was already wondering about which music to use, having heard the trailer music to be rather kickass.

& so, when I heard this track, it was perfect. It fit the map perfectly. It was very similar to the trailer music that Q used.

So I suggested the name 'Welcome to the Complex' :)

@kmacleod How does 'Welcome to the Complex' sound as a title? I'm getting a wandering-through-a-technologically-advanced-place kinda vibe :)
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) April 20, 2013

& believe it or not, he chose it even closer to home, O_____O

My reaction was rather awestruck if I do say so myself. Didn't show it though :P

@kmacleod Hey I noticed you used the name The Complex for the untitled track. That makes me happyface.
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) April 20, 2013

& then I waited for his to release the track. Eventually, 4 days later, I kinda got impatient.

@kmacleod Can I ask how long until you release The Complex? I'm kinda sorta waiting for that to use as an intro/outro to a new series :)
— Ani (Spell 'Awe-ni') (@Anistuffs) April 24, 2013

His answer a few hours later,

@anistuffs Right now. incompetech.com
— Kevin MacLeod (@kmacleod) April 25, 2013

So yeah, I got insanely lucky if I do say so myself :D

Thanks for reading this little Twitter incident. See you all later crickets. Bye :)

Elemental - Minecraft Map Mechanic Idea

Yo crickets, you might be interested to know that R30hedron, one of my good friends, has started a blog of his own some time back called the Rhomblog (name given by me actually - now if I can just figure out a similarly nice name for my blog)

Anyways, he was blogging about some ideas for a Minecraft Fantasy-themed map & he mentioned simulating effects of the classical elements i.e. Earth, Water, Fire & Air (that's a reference to the Avatar Cycle by the way ;) using potion effects, enchantments & mobs.
I think this is a very nice idea & so I've decided to put some of my thoughts in this matter on writing since it's kinda cumbersome for a comment on his post :P

In any case, there are 4 types of things we can simulate elemental stuffs with: Potion Effects, Enchantments for Weapons & Armour, & Elemental Mobs. So let's begin...

Potion Effects

Fire: Fire Resistance

Water: Water Breathing

Air: Speed, Jump Boost

Earth: Strength, Resistance

Weapon Enchantments

Fire: Fire Aspect, Flame (bows)

Water: ??? - Not sure, maybe Smite (holy water for undead)

Air: Knockback, Punch (bows)

Earth: Sharpness, Unbreaking -  wrote Power for bows here as well but then decided projectiles aren't suited for Earth.

Armour Enchantments

Fire: Fire Protection

Water: Respiration, Aqua Affinity (if breaking blocks is allowed)

Air: Feather Falling, Projectile Protection

Earth: Protection, Blast Protection, Unbreaking - maybe also Thorns

Mobs

Fire: Blaze, Magma Cube, Any mob with Fire Resistance effect, Fire Protection Armour or Fire Aspect (Zombies & Skellies only) or Flame (Skellies only) weapons. Passive mobs can also be had using Fire Resistance. Maybe Mooshrooms since they're coloured red.

Water: The problem with water & mobs is that every mob except Iron Golems (if I'm not mistaken) float on water. So the only way to use them as water mobs is to have a fully submerged area with mobs having Water Breathing effect or Respiration Armour. Using the new mob stacking mechanic we can have Squid Jockeys. Passive mobs can be the obvious Squids & other mobs using Water Breathing.

Air: Blazes & Ghasts are the only flying hostile mobs & since Blazes are obviously Fire elemental, the only choice is Ghasts. We can also have Ghast Jockeys or Bat Jockeys (although using bats will probably make them fly away). Mobs having Speed or Jump Boost (along with Feather Falling boots) can also be used. Bats are the obvious passive mobs but other mobs like Flying Chickens & Pigs (riding a bat or jump boosted) or similarly for Sheep (since they kinda look like clouds)

Earth: Silverfish, Creeper, Skeleton, Zombie, Slime - that's a lot of options. Combining them with the enchantment ideas above, you can have a lot of varieties. Passive mobs are Cows, Pigs & Sheep.

Well that's about all the ideas I have for now. If you have any more suggestions, do feel free to tell me or R30hedron in comments on our blogs or on Twitter or on Youtube. Thanks for reading (scrolling?) this far. Blog ya later :D