As none of you probably know, I picked up a new bike over Memorial Day weekend.  I tooled around on it a little Saturday, Sunday, and Monday just to knock the considerable rust off my bicycling skills, and then Tuesday the adventure began.  I started biking to work instead of driving.

This was helpful since my car broke down Saturday, so I had no other easy way to get to work.

The morning commute wasn't too bad.  Nice, cool weather.  Not much traffic.  Lots of down-hill stretches.  (That should have been a warning of things to come...)

Then it was afternoon, and time to bike home.  The return voyage was not quite so fun.  It was hot (something like 95 degrees F.).  There was more traffic.  All those nice, down-hill sections were now torturous up-hill sections.  And instead of being refreshed from a good night's sleep, I was tired from a full day's work.

The trip about knocked me out.  I was a panting, exhausted wreck when I finally got to my door and reached for my car keys...

...which weren't in my pocket... or my backpack... or my other pocket... or the other pouch on my backpack... any of the three times I checked each place.

Damn.

Fortunately, I'd left the garage unlatched, so I could at least get into the shade.  And better yet I keep my box fan out there since I don't really need it inside much.  I had water from the hose.  I was able to call someone at work to rescue my keys for me.  And in the end my little brother came to save me since he was picking me up to go get my (now repaired) car from the dealership.

So I suppose things could have been worse.

I'm biking again today.  Depending on how it goes this afternoon, this may be the last time for a while.  The heat is really killer.  Instead of trying to do the commute to work every day, I may do some weekend and evening riding to build more endurance and take up commuting again in the fall.

Firehawk!


Found on a Google image search.

Now if only I could find a picture of Stephanie Brown (Spoiler) that I could easily modify to look blind.

I found a Madame Xanadu that perhaps I could get someone to photoshop for me so she had blond hair and lighter skin.  We shall see.

Why is there no Draft Pick 2?  Because the internet has failed me on procuring a gender-switched version of The Spectre.

Here's Raven, from one of the covers of the Raven limited series a while back.  My version for the alt draft is supposed to be a bit more martial than the original, and this costume seems more practical for kicking bad guys in the face with telekenetically enhanced strength.

I'm participating in an alternate DC draft over on RPG.net, so I'll be collecting random superhero artwork from across the net.

My first draft pick was Bruce Wayne-- Doctor Fate.

I'm using the costume of the Amalgam character Doctor Strangefate

(Note, this is not mine.  It's the original cover, cropped and edited a very tiny bit)

This weekend is Reaper Con up in Denton.  RFH is running D&D games all weekend.  When we get done, I'll try to post the battle maps we used as images and PDF files.

A couple of maps for the Mythic City game - these are Qing's floors of the old abandoned hotel the group now calls home.  These maps are works in progress, since I don't have modern symbols yet.  There's a deplorable lack of modern gym equipment in the fantasy symbols.

This floor is a home gym with a sparring area and equipment lockers.  There's also a meditation room and a lab/workroom.  The two empty rooms on the right side are a bathroom and a whirlpool room.  (In fact, they might just be joined into one room once I have appropriate symbols to look at.




This is the floor Qing lives on, with a nice master suite, living room, small-ish kitchen with a utility room, and a guest room.  She's got two rooms she hasn't done anything with yet, and a room for her baby just down the hall from her room.  I got around the lack of modern symbols better in this map than the other one, but it still shows a bit.

I think I've mentioned before that I like fictional games-- that is, the games that exist in fictional settings.  As a wee gamer, it always bugged me that my D&D characters played Chess, Poker, or Craps instead of some games developed in their worlds.

(Oddly, it didn't bother me that they wore fashions developed in another world.  I suppose I contain multitudes or something)

Shiftways was one attempt at a fictional game.  I've had a few others that I have chosen not to share just yet.  (because they suck)

Here's another one.  About a year ago, I sketched out a fictional card deck.  Now, with the help of a bunch of folks on RPG.net (in this thread), I've turned my random idea sketched in my notebook at Buck & Loon's into a functional deck of cards, and people far more clever than I are developing unique games for it.

Mark 1 of the deck in PDF form is attached to this post.  It's designed to produce poker-sized playing cards.  The deck has 60 cards, and since I had space, there are three Jokers.

Here's how to read the cards.  There are two Courts, light and dark, roughly analogous to the colors on a deck of standard playing cards.  Within each court, there are three Suits.  The Light Court contains Dawn, Day, and Dusk.  Those are noted by the three sun symbols.  The Dark Court contains Maiden, Mother, and Matron.  Those are represented by the Waxing Crescent, Full Moon Waning Crescent Moon.

(Later versions of the deck might have different symbols)

Where a normal deck would have card pips, my deck has symbols.  1 is a circle, 2 is a line (2 sides).  3 is a triangle.  4 is a square.  5 is a pentagon.  6-10 are doublings of 1-5, so 1 is a ring, 2 is a cross, 3 is a Star of David, 4 is an eight-pointed star, and 5 is a Pentagon and a Star juxtaposed.

I encourage all three or four people who still check my blog to contribute games if they're so inclined.  I think it'd be neat to see.

Goodner Cards v1.pdf (669.33 KB)

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Here's a reasonably good picture of an Asian girl in hot clothes.