Observations of the Fox

I don't often take selfies... ...but I'm relatively happy with the way this one turned out.

I've been working on cleaning the house, 3d printing, and trying to organise illustrations and page layout for "The Law". That's why things have been going slowly here on the blog. So here's an update on those other things I've been doing, and how they tie into my game design projects. This is the advanced transport unit of the Agents of the Law, or at least a variant that occured to me as I was 3D printing the model that will be used for posing illustrations of the vehicle. A biped certainly has a cool cyberpunk anime feel to it, but it moves away from the Judge Dredd vibe (even though recent advances in robotics mght actually make it a feasible design). Despite the coolness of the biped, the larger vehicle was actually designed to be a quadruped. So here's the complete model, with the Lawbringer cycle.  I still think I need to do a reprint of the cycle, probably about 20% bigger than the current model. 

I haven't been posting much lately, because I've been making costuming and props for my regular LARP game. The most recent thing I wanted to produce was something along the lines of these. The first couple of times I used my LARP bow, I ended up with welts and bruises up the inside of my arm when the bowstring hit it repeatedly. So I decided that I needed to make something that added a bit of protection to that area. In ongoing use, I found that the bowstring hit my inner arm far less, so I probably don't need the protection any more, but in the heat of battle, with bowstrings drawn quickly and arrows shot off instinctively, the bracers will still prevent the occasional arm hit from the string. For the material used in this project, I had bought a few leather jackets from local second-hand stores, some black, some dark brown, some light brown, a range of leather thicknesses. On average about $6 each ($4-10) for an assortment of leather ready to go. The first thin...

With the scales cut and painted, and the sleeves of the hoodie marked out, it's now time to sew the scales on, and make the final piece... ...or so I thought. I had hoped I could attach the sclaes to the sleeve with a pair of holes at the top of each scale, and if I had used a more sturdy material for them this might have worked. But as it is, the scales are too flimsy, and bend too easily with only a pair of holes. I also found that the spacing lines marked on the sleeve were probably a bit too far apart, so that means making some further adjustments to the pattern before sewing can properly commence. Each scale is roughly 65mm long, and 35mm wide, and I had made the spacing lines roughly 50mm apart, this was to ensure some overlap...but there just wasn't enough overlap for my liking once the scales actually started being put solidly into place. So for every 2 spacing lines, I've ended up sewing three rows of scales (basically creating rows of scales that ...

Here's a little project I've been working on over the last day or two. I've got some LARP armour I've been building from scratch. It started as an iteration of my long term Iron Man cosplay, but starting heading away from that template, so it became something quite different. A chestplate, and separate abdomen piece. I decided that I needed some arm and leg protection, something flexible...so I went with scales. A bit of research shows that there are numerous ways that armour scales can be connected to one another as lamellar armour, so there's no "wrong" way to do it... especially when this particular armour is designed as a fantasy project. There are three key things that need to be taken into account. First, it needs to be flexible; allowing for good freedom of movement for fighting and running. Second, it needs to be sturdy; not necessarily capable of protecting from full thrusts and strikes from potentially lethal metal weapons, but capable ...

By the time I'm writing this, I've done my workshop at OzComicCon describing props and weapons for Cosplay and LARP. I was pretty nervous in front of a crowd of people I didn't know (except for 3 people in a group of maybe sixty), I asked for questions but few came, so I basically talked for half an hour using a bunch of demo props which were handed around the audience...then I kind of ran out of things to say. But people seemed to enjoy that half hour... Not many people left in the middle of it. Anyway, here's the final piece with a bit of shading. I'm using a flexible metallic acrylic paint on the piece to coat the whole thing, then I added some black ink to the paint for the purposes of really bringing out the "etchings" in the hammer head. I've got two colours of this metallic paint, one silver and one bronze, so I decided to make the knotwork bronze so that it would really stand out. The problem is that the bronze paint is duller and da...

The foam I'll be using for the shaft is the same stuff I've previously used for coreless LARP throwing knives and a metal-cored swordstaff. There are a few consistencies of foam available. If a foam is too hard it doesn't compact when the weapon hits someone, that hurts. If a foam is too soft, it compacts too much and and core within the weapon impacts the target, that also hurts. A moderate foam somewhere between these extremes collapses just enough but not too much. The designation of foam I'm using from Barnes is called S-Foam 50. It mixes in a weight ratio of 100 to 45, so I pull out the kitchen scales and wrap them in a freezer bag to prevent foam getting on them (after all, these scales are normally used to handle food). I turn them on with the mixing cup already on the scale, which means the scales will only measure the chemical, not the cup. The two parts are measured separately, then the two are mixed together.     The mixture takes a minute or so...

I'm trying a new material on this project; it's a surface coating called SR92. It dries as a flexible smooth surface, sticks to foam and resin, and functions as a basecoat when a layer of paint is required. In the bottle, the SR92 has a similar consistency to watered down PVA/wood-glue, It dries with a similar feel as well; I'm actually trying to work out the difference between the two...except that the SR92 it roughly three times the price.  I paint the SR92 on the outside of the yoga block, and will use the same stuff to coat the shaft's hammer. The aim here is to ensure a consistent outer layer of material regardless of what lies within. This will pull the final product together as a single unit rather than looking like assorted bits thrown together. make the final product look more. Coating the shaft will be done a different way.  I'm moulding the shaft by using a length of PVC plumbing pipe cut lengthwise in half. The inside of the pipe is smoo...

When creating an item, it's always good to have a good idea of where you are heading with the design.  For me, that usually means drawing up a couple of sketches and maybe even developing a few 3d models. If I had a 3d printer, I might consider just printing out these 3d models, but I don't. Besides, 3d printers only seem to print in ABS or other hard relatively brittle plastics, for LARP stuff we need soft foams. Perhaps I could print out a negative of the shape, the use that as a mould to cast foam....but as I said, I don't have a 3d printer, so that's not really an option for me. Lots of images are good. The more images you develop, the better the idea you have of your end point. So here's where I'm aiming with the hammer. I know that it won't end up like this, but it's got the right vibe for where I'm aiming.

In just over a week, I'll be running a workshop on how to produce props for LARP and cosplay, with a focus on building techniques that are similar, and those that really need to be kept different. Similarities Both types of prop need to look good Both types of prop need to be generally sturdy Unlike movie props where five different props might mimic five different functions, it would be nice to have mutliple functions in the same prop so you don't have to carry around five copies. LARP Props Need to be soft so they don't hurt people in combat Don't need to be excessively detailed, because those details may get damaged in regular use Cosplay Props Need to look good photographically, and might benefit from added detail Can be stiffer, and might even be better if they are, because they'll be held in single positions while photos are being taken But I need to actually make some props to demonstrate these concepts. That means I get to put together some pos...

I've been making LARP and Cosplay props for years, some of them have survived over time. Others have degraded, been consumed into new projects, lost, stolen,or just broken through use. It's time to start making some new props because I'll need some examples of how it is done for OzComicCon at the end of the month. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to go through the process with a series of tutorials here on the blog if anyone is interested.    

Favourite RPG Accessory This is another one of those vague questions that can be interpreted in a number of ways. Does it refer to my favourite accessory that can be used in an RPG? My favourite real life accessory that happens to be related to roleplaying? My favourite gaming item for use in games? I'm sure that when I read through other people's responses to day I'll see various interpretations, but I'm going to address them all.  My favourite RPG accessory for use in an RPG If you're a regular reader of the blog, you'll be aware that I'm currently playing in one of those old school campaigns where the GM thinks that he needs to be antagonistic and competitive against the players. He seems to aim for total party kills... and despite my character having a D&D (actually Pathfinder) Charisma of 20, "Charm Person" spells, and +15 in Diplomacy and Persuasion type skills, nobody seems to like her. Other players are similar hampered by arbi...