During the quarantine I've actually been busier working than not: being a developer in my current company means this is a time to get our multi-year backlog moving as most of the other staff were not going to be busy. Then they were, and so there went what we thought would be a time to get caught up. We will never catch up.
As a direct result of working from home, though, I spend a LOT of time in front of my computer. And my free time I want to be away from the computer, so you can see the conundrum. This is entirely unlike that time a decade or more ago when I got laid off, and spent a few hours each day working on the Traveller Tracker software and actually got it basically working, and in a way other people were using. Someone even forked the project. No idea where that ended up.
Anyway, I do have several general goals.
Software
Traveller Tracker
Turns out we can now do a single .exe for users with the latest .Net updates. So my procrastination may be paying off. I've not touched it much since starting a .Net Core version. It has basic functionality for ship classes and ships, but it is ugly. I want something pretty and useful. So I will start that up again at some point. Not sure when yet.
Ruby Free Trader
I've gotten as far as cloning the Ruby Free Trader program, a Ruby iteration of what I was trying to do. Met up this guy over on COTI, and finally made that step last week. I need to look it over and see one of the to-do things, make a branch and see if I can do something. But as he mentioned, a small step is still a step!
Games
Traveller Solo
It has been more than 6+ months since I last took that up. I would like to try to restart that, expand out my Traveller universe, and play with the rules. There has been an interesting melee discussion over on COTI with some cool ways of handling person to person combat in Traveller. I will be running a Traveller game with live people again at some point, but I can still practice. Plus I like my MTU.
The Fantasy Trip
We were managing to play via Skype most Sundays. But the last few weeks we've not managed to get together. Part of that is due to the father building a studio/gym/workshop/game room in his back yard. So when that is done, we'll be able to play face to face probably. Which brings us to the 2nd reason the games have drifted off: TFT is really a tactical game when it comes to combat, and while the screen sharing sort of works, the boys I think really need the 3D version with the minis and all that. Plus face to face is a lot better - they don't have a webcam so we could not see each other either. I need to tailor the games to everyone, though I am also hoping to get the Monday night crew back to a Labyrinth game, either with their old characters or start all over.
Microlite Supers
Playing a really fun superhero game for the Monday group. I am playing a space cat which is a lot more fun than I would have thought.
His background:
And no, humans cannot completely pronounce his name as there is a bit of body language requiring a tail and mobile ears. Sadly he often just goes by Yummy which is the best approximation humans can get. While not happy, it was easy to train humans to call him that rather than his proper name, Not sure when I'll more fully introduce myself yet.
Yumijan’ Ul’intosa Imuurikasonshinn
Coming from the League of Planets, Yumijan’ is a relatively young member of the League Of Planets (cue Wonder Woman TV series, and Andros as an observer. As I am watching the old series that came up in season 1 and seemed appropriate to borrow). Young being less than 2000 years old. He came to Earth in the Middle Ages, glad he was not a black cat for the times. Seeing that some people, despite overwhelming odds, still managed to care for others, he felt there was something in humanity worth protecting and helping. He as been seen with Ghandi, Kennedy, King and other proponents of peace towards all humanity. He tried with King Henry but that never went well.
Imbued with the cosmic power, he has moved subtly throughout the ages, helping those who help others, usually sight unseen. In the recent uprising, when he saw Rocky, Honey Badger & Melody helping those escape, he joined in and managed to get a collar on as well. He will be helping and guarding them as best he can, but often behind the scenes.
He is a pacifist but, like the Earth cat, can turn on a dime when he feels a more aggressive approach is necessary. And despite being on Earth for almost 1000 years, humans can still confound him.
The League of Planets watches growing civilizations. If the planet becomes a threat to the galaxy, they will step in. The send observers are sent in to watch over centuries, and hopefully guide the planet to a peaceful coexistence to join in with the greater universe when they are ready. Earth has been a contentious system, with a few on the Council ready to have humanity start all over. Those dinosaurs – they had an advanced society that promoted violence and were on the cusp of space flight. A few volcanoes and asteroids stopped them.
Corsairs
A sky pirate RPG I got via Kickstarter that oddly meshes well with the Windward game I am getting at some point this year. I've been reading a bit up on the rules and this will be the next game the Monday group plays. Argh!
Zombicide:Invader
The SF version of Zombicide. My son & I have played 3 rounds: the intro, then lost mission 1, replayed and won mission 1. It is a lot of fun and easy to understand most of the rules. Plus I've painted a few of those minis and they actually came out well.
Wait, there is more
I want to get better at the various mapping software I have. Just have to take the time to read and watch tutorials.
I want to get better at painting minis. As above, just takes practice, time and watching and reading tutorials. And as I have a few hundred minis showing up in less than a year I will have plenty to practice on!
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