Purls and Tails The Chronicles of a Ferret-Owned Knitter

Whew! I just checked one of my "Secret Pal" accounts and learned that my Favorite Color SP has indeed received her package. I was worried, since it contained a vintage apron in it!

That's all for now.

I've been kinda focused on gaming lately. (No kidding! Really, Anne? Huh. I never would've guessed.) It didn't help that today I got (another) email from Ed Bourelle of Skeleton Key Games with a coupon in it. *sigh* Fortunately for me, Randy stood over my shoulder when I asked for help whittling my order down to something reasonable. *grin* I love RPGNow.com; there's nothing like instant gratification.

If you're thinking about buying any SKG products, drop a comment here and ask me about it. I probably have it and I can comment on its value or answer any specific questions. Ed's got good demos of his products up on the RPGNow site as well.

I'd love to turn the small-size tiles that come in each pack into a fridge magnet set. I think it'd be kinda cool.

I messed around with several of the character sheet pages today. I got tired of writing out the class and level of a character on each page, so I'm removing it on as many of the pages as I think I can get away with. The character name still has to be there, in case the sheets get mixed up or come free from their disc-binding.

The one thing I haven't figured out how to do gracefully is to put a copyright notice on the sheets so I can sell them. When I began to design them, I used every bit of space---from margin to margin---that I could. Now, I'd like to up the stakes a little and I'm stumped on how to do it. I've debated making them all into one large PDF file, with an introductory page that has an explanation, some sample page sets and the copyright. I'll need to test that first.

I think that's all for now.

Elijah got me good today.

I've been enjoying having my "sparkling water beverage" ('cause that sounds better than "clear Sam's choice soda") in a rock glass with a lot of ice (for crunching!). I was sitting on my wonderfully comfortable Kingsdown bed, happily filling in D&D sheets (see previous post). I poured a new glass over fresh ice (yum!) and had a sip. I worked for a couple minutes. I realized one of the laundry machines had stopped---being hard-of-hearing, that's not always as easy as it "sounds". I got up and checked; it was the washer.

Well, maybe I can hang some of Randy's shirts while the load finishes in the dryer. I was mid-shirt when I heard a "thunk-ka-chunk" kinda sound.

Suddenly, I remembered that freshly-filled oh-so-tempting glass of clear (thankfully diet) soda on my bedside table. I hollered for Nick to check it out while I completed the shirt---hey, a girl has priorities! When I arrived, the glass was replaced---empty---and there was ice all over the floor by the table. I'm glad now that I'm not the neatest housekeeper because there was a washrag that must've fallen from the bed when I was folding laundry at some point. It caught the majority of the spill.

Elijah was quite proud of his accomplishment. And I couldn't hardly be mad at such an adorable boy, could I? Just to make sure, he played with the woolly-bully ball and was extra cute!

Maxwell has more than recovered from his illness. It's been almost two months now and he's looking so good. He's as big as Kittanning---and his whole body shows he's just beginning to grow. Wow, he's gonna be a big boy!

On the other hand, Octavia's bum isn't any better. Friday's visit to Dr. Bink revealed that her stool is no longer strep-laden. Good. But she's still straining and that's what's making her "poop shute" stick out. He did x-rays to make sure there wasn't some kind of congenital defect causing neurological damage---the x-rays came out fine and also conclusively proved she couldn't have a blockage (which we all felt wasn't possible given the symptoms). At this point, Dr. Bink thinks that the rectal nerves might have been nicked when the anal gland surgery was done before we adopted her; usually this shows up much sooner and it would have been obvious when we selected her. In Octavia's case, this is more recent and we've seen no cause for it.

Kitt's started nipping at the ankles again and I'm not sure why. In the meantime, both Octavia and Maxwell have calmed down. Shortly after we adopted those two, Maxwell almost pierced Randy's ear and he sank his teeth into my arm pretty good. Now though, he's so sweet and gentle.

River is still my champion at using the litter box. She doesn't always make it (wouldn't that be nice?) but she tries more than the others. I've noticed that Max seems to be following her example, which is a good thing.

My new camera isn't focusing right, so pictures have been slower than I'd like. I'll try to get some good ones of Max and Octavia to show their sizes. And his fuzziness!

Finally....that's all for now.

(I wrote this whole thing out earlier and thought I'd clicked "Submit"... I guess not. *sigh*)

I've finished designing all the individual sheets for the new character sheet system I came up with. I'm pretty tickled with the result. Two nights ago, we all tried them out with a character. Randy filled in a set with a favorite character of mine: Detrick De Roejnahir, cleric. Nick used his paladin, Joemvu. I tried my monk, Jhul Mar Rhian. With a couple small tweaks and a new page suggestion, everyone was really excited about the new system.

Our Rollabind discs and punch came Monday, so we were able to punch the half sheets and bind the characters. That worked out really well. We bought 625 small black discs and 50 each of red, yellow, white, green, blue, and purple. Why the colors? Ah, that's where the real geek in us comes in: code!

We decided that of the 8 discs on each binding, the first two would be a "global code" to designate the owner of the sheets. The third disc is an on/off code: red means DM sheets (therefore if the first two discs aren't your code, keep your mitts off!) and black means not DM sheets. The remaining 5 discs are for coding however individuals wish.

I sat down last night and looked at the classes and came up with a strategy for showing them in the binding.

• Fighter: red-red
• Cleric: yellow-yellow
• Druid: green-green
• Rogue: black-black
• Sorcerer: purple-purple
• Wizard: blue-blue
• Ranger: red-green
• Paladin: red-yellow
• Monk: red-white
• Barbarian: red-black

I went a bit further, since I have only 5 discs to use and that means I can code (only) 2 classes and still have one disc leftover. I decided that the last disc could designate how many classes a character has.

• Red: 1
• Yellow: 2
• White: 3
• Green: 4
• Blue: 5
• Purple: 6
• Black: 7

We're hoping to play-test these sheets this weekend. So, I grabbed the group that I'm running through the current campaign and printed up enough sheets to get them moved to the new pages. I had hoped (prior to creating my "brilliant' coding system) to keep each group that adventures together in one set of discs.

This group is made up of four people. Lanara is a 3/4 Wizard Cleric. Stormhawk is a 5 Ranger, Kelza is a 7 Rogue and Namirra is a 7 Sorcerer. The four of them were already pushing the limits of the small discs. Eventually, I separated them out into their own individual books and that's working better.

I spent some time today working on moving these four characters into the new sheets. A couple of the sheets could use some tweaks. And I'm thinking there's at least one more sheet that may be required for clerics.

That's all for now.

I came across the Bahia Bag while browsing Levenger's site the other day. What do you think?

It even comes with a matching drawstring bag:

And with a full zipper across the top: ferret proof.

*sigh*

Unless, you have a ferret like mine. River can unzip my purse and the little Marshall's pouch that I bought. Next time I transport her in that, I'm going to have to use a luggage lock!

That's all for now.

Update: The bag originally linked here is no longer offered. And apparently, in a zealous clean-up, I deleted the pictures I had downloaded and saved. Unfortunately, this post will have to remain picture-less. -A. Nov 2010

No knitting for the past three days. Actually, not since I went to my Stitch-In last Tuesday. I've been so focused on these sheets I'm designing for our roleplaying characters. Actually, it's been a long time since I've been this focused on anything. I'm like that when I get into something; I work on it to the (sometimes unfortunate) exclusion of other things.

I've got one more sheet to complete and then the set is done. We can begin testing it soon. I'm fairly excited about this concept. It can be used with any binding, but we're planning on using the Rollabind System. I first saw this at Levenger and we both were really excited about it. Then I started figuring out how much it would cost if we used as many discs as I suspect we will. Yikes! Randy was the smart one who realized that "Circa" is Levenger's branding of Rollabind's system. I found a retailer in Florida with much better prices and our order is on its way!

For any gaming geeks that might be reading, the sheets I'm desigining will enable a player to assemble a character and grow that character through all kinds of changes---without having to change a whole character sheet with each change. Since the sheets were created around a half sheet of US Letter paper, they'll take up less table space while providing more details than most sheets out there. I've designed them around the Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 edition rules. So far, the sheets we've come up with are these:

Animal Companion -- contains the information for a character's animal companion. Includes character's name, class and level.

Armor & Shields -- details the armor and shield information for a character. A character can have multiple sets of armor and simply flag the "active" set. (Don't forget weight limits!)

DM Summary -- Whenever we start a campaign, there's the inevitable question: Can I bring this person/group? This sheet has the main points a DM might need to consider a player for an adventure or campaign. It includes a block that details whether the character is "Available for play" or "Mid-campaign" with room for notes on that particular campaign. There is a line for the player's name so the DM can remember who plays which characters while considering a pile of sheets!

Familiar -- Very similar to the Animal Companion sheet.

Feats -- No more scribbling lines of feats into tiny lines and wondering where you'll add more. One whole sheet dedicated to Feats! Need more room? Add another Feats sheet!

Finances -- In our game play, we've had several instances of financial manuevering pop up and a more detailed accounting sheet was required. Now a player can track a character's loans, investments, bank accounts and holdings as well as their monetary assests.

History -- No player is complete without a background. And some adventures go a long way to forming a character's personality. But it's not always easy to remember the details. With this sheet, it'll be easy to add to the history of a character.

Inventory and Additional Inventory -- These two sheets are where all the belongings of a character get tracked. The first sheet has room for the character's load limits and boxes for totalling the character's carried weight. The second sheet has a couple more lines instead of repeating this information. Different sets of belongings could be placed on different sheets. A well-established character might own quite a bit of belongings---more than could be brought along on an adventure. Start a sheet for those valuables they collect in their own secret dungeon. For NPCs that keep popping up in adventures (Margarithe!), it's a great way for a DM to keep track of their estates and holdings.

Main -- This is the part of the character we usually start with: Strength, Dexterity, HP, AC and Saves. There's quite a bit of info packed into this half-sheet of paper!

Personal Details -- Is your character Male or Female? What alignment? How tall? Eyes? Hair color? All these questions can be answered on this sheet, with room for a drawing.

Protective Items -- Boots of speed, ring of invisibility, or cloak of concealment. Whatever it is, list it here.

Skills -- Whether disabling devices or moving silently, characters have talents that must be tracked. These skills have a lot of bonuses to be tacked on. The skills actually cross three half pages and have a little room for adding more.

Special Abilities -- Each class has them and they need to be recorded, but where? Here!

Spell Set -- In v3.5e rules, a Wizard or Cleric must prepare their spells each day. As a player, it's tedious to always be selecting which spells to use before you know what you'll need. A "spell set" is a sheet to collect spells for a certain type of expectation. "I'm at home in a safe town, I'll prepare light-weight spells." versus "I'm in a dark, zombie-filled dungeon; I'd better whip out the good stuff!" becomes much easier for a player to manage with "spell sets". Less "work" and more roleplaying!

Spellbook -- A spellbook holds 100 pages. A spell takes a page for each level (4th level takes 4 pages). Five sheets of "Spellbook" will create one full spellbook. Need another spellbook? Buy another book (5 more pages)!

Spellcasting -- This sheet covers the needs of spellcasters. How many per day of each level, what levels of mastery, domains and metamagic.

Spells Known --- Sorcerers know spells without needing spellbooks. But a player has to be able to keep track of what that character knows. This sheet takes care of that.

Weapons -- What weapons is your character carrying? What damage can they do? What bonuses do they impart? This sheet handles them all.

The genius (can I say that since it's my idea?) behind this system is that any page can be added to the character any number of times at any time. Your character bought a mule to carry things? Add an inventory sheet. Add a spellcasting class, add the sheets you need. And even better: no wasting space for characters who don't need some elements---like spellcasting data for a fighter!

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this system. If it play tests well, I'd like to see about getting a "store" on RPGNow.

I usually end with "That's all for now" but I've got another post to write on another topic. *grin* So, tonight:

That's all the D&D for now.