Observations of the Fox

Here's where we left things... It's a bit like the flat polygon models in 3D computer graphics, it only takes on a more distinctive and interesting appearance once textures and colours have been added to the model. I'm making the interior of the tulou with wood, building up a framework and staining it to look appropriately aged and lived in. However, the part that I'm working on at the moment is a stone wall covered with hard packed earth. So I'll be looking for something with a bit of texture, but not too much. The first step is to get the model into position, then apply a layer of a glue that will adhere to both the foamcore surface and the intended texturing material. I'd often use sand or dirt, especially if I were making castle walls built of stone, roughly textured ground, or roads. In this case, the wall is pretty smooth, almost like a cement render, so I need much finer particles. I was cleaning up one of the linishers in the school workshops and found s...

The shrine in the middle is looking alright. So it's time to head back to the outer shell.  I'd preciously cut and scored the foamcore so that I could bend it to the right curvature. Now it's time to add the electronics to the piece before construction work begins. It needs to be done now because it will be harder later to pull the model apart and wire in the lighting.     The next step here is the make some structural elements out of foamcore that will support the outer walls. Thankfullt for this project, the outer walls are circular so they're generally self-supporting. However, they'll still need to be able to support figurines on them because they're intended as miniature terrain rather than a model.    I've cut the end cross sections of the wall, and scored them in much the same way that I've demonstrated earlier in the project. Folding right angles, taping while glue dries, holding them to shape (this time with clamps), and gluing them to the base ...

    (Click Here) So I've been working on a single resource document for Walkabout and Familiar, and a bunch of those little side projects I've been working on. It was only meant to be a basic thing, maybe 16-pages, a zine. But it's kind of blown out a bit because I've tied in a lot of those old cookbook ideas, and really want people to understand what the game system is about, including knowledge about how the bits work and why they were designed to work that way.  Yeah, I've covered a lot of that stuff here on the blog over the years, but I'd like a coherent piece of documentation that ties it all together. I'm not there yet, but if I don't get something up now, I'll miss the TTRPG Game Manifesto Jam, and then it'll just end up as yet another unfinished backburner project. Hopefully I'll get the chance to update it a bit over the next few days.   

I've actually done a decent amount of work on the shrine since my last post about it. However, in the meantime I've been in hospital and there have been a few other issues... So, where were we.. Oh... that's right. We've got the shape of the stonework building. Now to put a roof on it. We're doing that from pieces of wood to build a structure that can be removed as needed. First step is getting the angles. I could do this with trigonometry, calculations on a page, or tricks with compasses, but I'm just going to lay the pieces of wood against the existing structure, line them up and draw the bits I need. With the two pieces overlaid, I get where the shapes will be fitting together and identify where I'll need to be cutting. I've done some rough sketches and have got a good idea of how I want the general shape to look, but I'm allowing room for evolution and unexpected elements to guide the design as necessary. Needing some cross beams for structure, I...

April 2008... seventeen years ago. That's where it all began . 2500 posts ago. I never intended for this blog to become an exploration of two decades in my hobbies of roleplaying and wargaming...or for it to be an archive of my general musings over that time. It's basically been a third of my life, and in that time I've had a few jobs, completed two university degrees, moved house nine times (spending 8 years at one house, two years at a house I know pay a mortgage on, and a succession of other rental properties as my life shifted dramatically a couple of times). I've been bankrupt in that time, have scraped by (often needing two choose whether food, rent, electricity , or medicine were the priority from week to week...knowing I could afford one, maybe a second, while the other two would have to wait), and have occasionally had times when the only methods for survival were the kindness of charity groups, or the turnover of sales on my online gaming shopfront . I've ...

As it stands, two halves able to be divided for better access to the middle, better display options, and easier storage... with a modular section in the middle.The middle section is an interchangeable 10cm x 10cm square.   I've cut a few of these already from 3mm MDF. The first two modular middle sections will be a small temple structure, and a "sacred tree". I haven't decided on the third, but it might be a well, a variant temple/shrine, or a statue to a hero...I'll probably do them all and use them as scatter terrain. For the moment, I'm working on the small temple. Like the wider building, we've got a layout to go onto some foamcore. This is cut out, with V-shaped groove in one side of the foamcore while the other side remains intact. his allows the material to fold well, while maintaining its structural integrity.  When folded, I just use PVA glue, which tends to work fairly well, and once texturing goes over the surface, this reinforces any joints. As...