revford

Traveller UWP Decoder Update

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:44:57 GMT

Just a quick update, the decoder was borking over system names with spaces in, all fixed now.

New Traveller Game: The Quantum Dancer

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:55:52 GMT

Last night we got started with our new Traveller game, sorting out characters and homeworlds.

Set not in the OTU but a a galaxy of David's creation, we're setting on on board the haunted Type-S Scout, The Quantum Dancer to explore the edge of the galaxy.

I'll set up a page for the game to hold ship/vehicle stats and equipment for the group once we get rolling, but for now here are the homeworlds.

For Conrad (Levi )and Oleg (Gav) we have:

Labedad Alpha 0705 C482546-A S NI G

For the as yet unnamed Harvey character, we have:

Cipire 0600 B449698-8 S NI G

Once I get the UWPs from David, I'll set up a galaxy search box for this game too.

Traveller

Traveller Search Galaxy, proof of concept

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:14:46 GMT

Another new Traveller tool for the website, it's a search tool to find planetary information.

Searches return UWPs you can click on to get a plain English description, they lead to the decode UWP page I update the other day.

You can search on any part of a UWP, most useful would be a planet name or remark. For example, searching for Green would return all systems with Green in the name, while searching for Ga would return all planets with Ga in the name and all planets with the remark Ga for Garden World.

This is very much a test of concept, it currently only covers a few subsectors of the Spinward Marches and Foreven Sectors. This will improve once I get motivated to enter more data, or talk David into doing some more of it.

As we create our own universes for Traveller games, I'll add search boxes for them too.

Traveller

Tuesday Games

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:06:05 GMT

Tomorrow we should be starting a new late game, David has plans for a Traveller game that should, all being well, become the new regular late game.

It's likely Jak won't be about for the early game this week, so it could be either a start to planning and character generation session for Harvey's Kingmaker (pathfinder) game, possibly with some Zombie action on the side, or just Zombies.

Whichever way about things end up, there are games running all night. :-)=

Audio Player Updated

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:32:45 GMT

Updated the media player slightly, simplified it to a one button that switches between play and pause, rather than two individual buttons.

There is also a movie player in the code, but I've got no movies to post at the mo.

Grab the code from the links at the bottom.

media-player.js
media.css

Traveller UWP decoder updated, now useful

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:38:13 GMT

I've finally made the traveller UWP decoder useful.

It now has two modes of operation, you can access it with a link as before:

Emape 0103 B564500-B N I Ag Ga NI A G

Or just go directly to the page where you'll get a box like this one, where you can enter your own UWP and hit enter to decode.

As a bonus it now translates the remarks to plan text descriptions, to save you remembering what Ag and Ht mean.

I am planning more features, like a searchable database of OTU worlds, but all that is for the future. It's taken most of the year for me to drag my lazy arse back to this and add an entry box.

UWP Decoder

HTML5 and CSS3

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:47:31 GMT

HTML5
I should have mentioned this in one of the previous site update posts, but I've moved over to HTML5 for the site now. This is long overdue as it makes things easier for me and all the modern browsers have great support for it.

The only thing holding me back was a Firefox validator extension, but I've given up waiting on it to add HTML5 support. This means I'm back to having validator links on the pages, they don't hurt so don't worry about them.

CSS3
The code that's causing pages to not validate is still the -moz- variants of border-radius for Gecko. I like the effect too much to give it up to make my code validate. The WebKit browsers no longer require the -webkit- addition. Come on Mozilla, catch up.

It doesn't cause problems for browsers that don't support it. It just gets ignored. But it's still irritating.

So that's it, the site is now updated to the latest web standards and ready for the crazy future world we've all ended up living in.

New Audio Player

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:37:42 GMT

Some fiddling about with HTML5 and Javascript has created a new simple media player for the site.

Thanks to the tag in HTML5 I can move over from the mess of browser and plugin detection scripts I used to have to one simple player. No plugins required.

I've tested it in sensible browsers (Firefox/Chromium/Opera/Safari) on GNU/Linux and MacOS. It should work in recent versions of these and similar browsers for other platforms too.

Mac users will still need to install the Quicktime Components for Free media formats, I use Ogg Vorbis for audio on this site. MacOS doesn't include support for reasons of wanky Apple corporate greed.

Xiph QuickTime Components

Bloodbowl This Week

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:48:59 GMT

One more match this week, with Real Braaaiins defeating the Sixty Whinerz 4 - 0.

Match			Cas For	Pass	Gate	Date
Braaaiins	4 - 0	Whinerz	2 - 0	2 - 2	22,000	2010-08-25

This puts the current standings as:

2010 Blood Bowl League (Autumn)

Team	Race	Coach	TV	W	L	D	GD	CD	PD	Pts
Real Braaaiins	Necromantic	Jak	1,990,000	1	-	-	+4	+2	-	5
Shareef Scimitars	Human	Gav	2,130,000	1	-	-	+4	+2	-2	5
Squeeky Kleen	Skaven	Levi	1,730,000	-	1	-	-4	-2	+2	1
Sixty Whinerz	Orcs	Addam	1,630,000	-	1	-	-4	-2	-	1

Braaaiins take the top of the table on Passing Difference, both matches this season being 4 - 0 makes the table very close so far.

Bloodbowl League

B Movie Madness on YouTube

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:15:50 GMT

YouTube in the UK has now launched a movie section, carrying all sorts of B movies. It's like Harvey's movie collection, but online.

Tons of Jackie Chan, a few MST3K classics and plenty of Zombies.

YouTube - Films

Site Updates

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:54:53 GMT

A few minor code updates to the website today.

WebKit no longer requires the -webkit-border-radius CSS code, it now follows the standard border-radius, so I've updated the website. This leaves the Mozilla -moz-border-radius as the only non-standard CSS I include on the site. Come on Mozilla, your CSS3 is lagging behind Opera and WebKit now. :)

Also a minor change to the RSS feed, the current recommendation is to have the actual items as the last elements in the channel, so I moved the link up to the top. The old layout was valid, but the changes now matches all the RSS Best Practices Profile recommendations.

All this shouldn't make any difference to how the site works, other than it being slightly quicker to load (6 or so fewer lines of code, I don't think anyone could notice the difference) and a step closer to prefect standards compliance (which possibly only matters to me).

Debian Squeeze Frozen

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:23:02 GMT

A few days ago the current testing version of Debian, Squeeze, was frozen. This means its feature are complete and it just needs final testing, bug fixing and polish before it becomes Debian 6.0.

So I decided to update my non-critical machines to see if everything works or if there are any bugs I can report.

Overall, it's looking good. Memory usage seems to have dropped quite a bit, the new grub sets the resolution for my widescreens correctly and automatically, dependency based booting works, all very nice.

A couple of config files moved about. A system wide nanorc was put in /etc that conflicted with my custom one, so I simply renamed it and everything went back to working fine. The config file for DOSBox has moved from .dosboxrc to .dosbox/dosbox-0.74.conf, so I moved mine and all my custom settings came back.

So far so good.

Debian GNU/Linux

Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" frozen

Bloodbowl Award Totals

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:01:36 GMT

For people who don't want to wade through the result tables, here are the outstanding award totals.

The Scimitars were the only team to play in both of the last two seasons, so have two seasons worth of awards. Almost everyone else brought out their heavyweight teams for The Bloodbowl.

Total Awards, Winter and Spring 2010

9	Shadownight All-Stars	20,000 gc
8	Skadayul Bullz	60,000 gc
7	Tolbeck Packers	65,000 gc
6	Sixty Whinerz	100,000 gc
5	New World Wenches	120,000 gc
4	Northern Hawks	150,000 gc
3	Squeeky Klean	162,000 gc
2	Real Braaaiins	220,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	402,000 gc

Bloodbowl League

Bloodbowl League Awards

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:08:04 GMT

As promised, here are the League Awards for the last few seasons, I've not posted.

Totals are given at the end of each season, grab the gold and run.

Winter 2010 Awards

The Good

2010 Winter League
3	New World Wenches	9 pts	10,000 gc
2	Tolbeck Packers	14 pts	30,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	29 pts	50,000 gc
Best Offence
2	New World Wenches	3.0 td/game
2	Shareef Scimitars	3.4 td/game
1	Tolbeck Packers	3.5 td/game	35,000 gc
Best Defence
2	Northern Hawks	2.0 td/game
2	New World Wenches	2.0 td/game
1	Shareef Scimitars	1.3 td/game	87,000 gc
Most Violent
2	Shadownight All-Stars	1.7 cas/game
2	Shareef Scimitars	1.9 cas/game
1	Northern Hawks	3.0 cas/game	30,000 gc
Hard As Nails
3	Shadownight All-Stars	1.7 cas/game
2	Shareef Scimitars	1.0 cas/game
1	Northern Hawks	0.0 cas/game	100,000 gc
Best Passing
3	Shareef Scimitars	2.6 comp/game
2	New World Wenches	3.3 comp/game
1	Sixty Whinerz	5.0 comp/game	50,000 gc
Pass Blockers
3	Skadayul Bullz	2.0 comp/game
3	Northern Hawks	2.0 comp/game
2	Shadownight All-Stars	1.7 comp/game
1	New World Wenches	1.3 comp/game	87,000 gc

The Bad

Worst Offence
2	Sixty Whinerz	1.0 td/game
1	Skadayul Bullz	0.0 td/game
1	Shadownight All-Stars	0.0 td/game	0 gc
Worst Defence
3	Sixty Whinerz	4.0 td/game
2	Shadownight All-Stars	4.7 td/game
1	Skadayul Bullz	6.0 td/game	40,000 gc
Punch Like Girls
2	New World Wenches	1.0 cas/game
1	Skadayul Bullz	0.0 cas/game
1	Sixty Whinerz	0.0 cas/game	0 gc
Tackle Dummies
3	Skadayul Bullz	2.0 cas/game
3	Sixty Whinerz	2.0 cas/game
2	Tolbeck Packers	2.2 cas/game
1	New World Wenches	2.3 cas/game	23,000 gc
Throw Like a Girl
1	Skadayul Bullz	2.0 comp/game	20,000 gc
1	Northern Hawks	2.0 comp/game	20,000 gc
1	Shadownight All-Stars	2.0 comp/game	20,000 gc
Watch The Ball
3	Tolbeck Packers	2.5 comp/game
2	Shareef Scimitars	2.9 comp/game
1	Sixty Whinerz	5.0 comp/game	50,000 gc

Totals

7	Shadownight All-Stars	20,000 gc
6	Skadayul Bullz	60,000 gc
5	Tolbeck Packers	65,000 gc
4	Sixty Whinerz	100,000 gc
3	New World Wenches	120,000 gc
2	Shareef Scimitars	137,000 gc
1	Northern Hawks	150,000 gc

Spike! Magazine Trophy 2010

July 2010

Match			Cas For	Pass	Gate	Date
Klean	5 - 2	Braaaiins	8 - 1	4 - 1	34,000	2010-07-07
Scimitars	4 - 1	Braaaiins	0 - 5	3 - 1	54,000	2010-07-07
Scimitars	6 - 2	Klean	2 - 0	7 - 3	58,000	2010-07-11

That leaves us with Scimitars 2, Klean 1, Braaaiins 0.

2010 Spike! Cup Champions

Shareef Scimitars (Gav)

2010 Spike! Magazine Player of the Year

#13 Kirk of the R'lyeh Reds (Gav)

Second Award

Spring 2010 Awards

2010 Spring League
3	Real Braaaiins	2 pts	10,000 gc
2	Squeeky Klean	6 pts	30,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	10 pts	50,000 gc
Best Offence/Worst Offence
2	Real Braaaiins	1.5 td/game	15,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	3.0 td/game	30,000 gc
1	Squeeky Klean	3.0 td/game	30,000 gc
Best Defence/Worst Defence
2	Real Braaaiins	3.5 td/game	35,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	2.0 td/game	20,000 gc
1	Squeeky Klean	2.0 td/game	20,000 gc
Most Violent/Punch Like Girls
3	Squeeky Klean	1.7 cas/game	17,000 gc
2	Shareef Scimitars	1.9 cas/game
1	Real Braaaiins	4.0 cas/game	40,000 gc
Hard As Nails/Tackle Dummies
2	Squeeky Klean	3.5 td/game	35,000 gc
1	Real Braaaiins	2.0 td/game	80,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	2.0 td/game	80,000 gc
Best Passing/Throw Like A Girl
2	Real Braaaiins	1.0 td/game	10,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	2.5 td/game
1	Squeeky Klean	3.0 td/game	30,000 gc
Pass Blockers/Watch The Ball
3	Real Braaaiins	3.0 td/game	30,000 gc
2	Squeeky Klean	2.0 td/game
1	Shareef Scimitars	1.5 td/game	85,000 gc

Totals

3	Squeeky Klean	162,000 gc
2	Real Braaaiins	220,000 gc
1	Shareef Scimitars	265,000 gc

So there we have it, all the awards for the last few seasons I'd not updated.

Now someone start throwing the ball around, hitting people and get that table moving again. :-}=

I'm not dead

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:33:37 GMT

It's been a while since I last updated, not been feeling too well, but I'm not so bad now.

Over the next week or so I'll get on and bring the Bloodbowl page up to date and post the season end awards that have backed up the last few.

The last three months, the roleplay has been a Pathfinder game that I've been running through both the early and late slots, but starting this week it looks like Jak will be running Mage in the early game.

For now we'll be getting some Zombie games going in the late slot, until we settle on a new late game. David's work shifts mean he may not be able to cover the late game, so unless anyone else wants to jump in, I'll piece something together.

Just for Dr Manda

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:52:37 GMT

ROFL Spiders

Congratulations Zak and Crazy!

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:31:07 GMT

Congratulations to new parents Zak & Crazy, and welcome to the world the twin boys, Dexter and Vincent.

So gaming at Zak's is off tonight, I'm opening the bar here for drinks to celibrate.

The Doctor Returns

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:20:48 GMT

Yes, The Doctor made a fantastic return to the telly last Saturday, it's available here on the iPlayer:

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour

No spoilers, other than "It's Great!", just go watch it. :-}=

Pathfinder: The Embassy, did all the new characters get a Trait?

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:15:09 GMT

Just something else I remembered, did all the new characters pick a Trait? The little half-feat character details from the Character Traits printout?

If not, you're owed one!

You can download a PDF of the Character Traits rules from here:

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Resource Page

Pick one and check it with Jak, as some aren't being allowed, or may not fit the setting and I can't remember which.

Pathfinder: The Embassy

Pathfinder: The Embassy page updated

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:07:05 GMT

Updated the page for The Embassy, now it's become the early game and added all the extra players. Everyone who has levelled up already has their level 7 stats, saves and skills.

Pathfinder: The Embassy