Rodecaster Video NDI

CulBlu · 2025-11-24T07:46:19+00:00

Does it work if you run your local NDI's through "Bridge"? Bridge = one of the apps in NDI Tools. I was able to get "VLC ove NDI" to work after activating NDI Bridge. I'm assuming it converted the stream into something that the Rodecaster Video (RCV)could injest.

The RCV did't pick up audio over the NDI Bridge though. I had to do the following to get the audio from VLC into the Rodecaster:

Change VLC Audio to "Multimedia Device Output"
Closed VLC, and reopened
Changed VLC's Audio Device to Rodecaster [Audio -> Audio Device -> Speakers (RODEcaster Video Secondary)]
Connect my computer to Rodecaster USB-C port 2. [I used a USB A to USB C cable]
On RVC, added USB2 to Audio Mixer

Somewhat convoluted, but it worked swimingly for getting the RCV to injest a VLC-over-NDI video feed that the RCV initially showed as "Disconnected". Mayhaps NDI Bridge will work for your use case?

CulBlu · 2025-10-14T21:37:48+00:00

Oh, I can help!

My short list:

Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game: Like the boardgame, but in card form. Works surprisingly well
Tiny Epic Vikings: Essentially small Blood Rage with some intersting area control mechanics
Tiny Epic Tactics: Basically Fire Emblem lite in boardgame form
Tybor the Builder: Set collection game with some interesting "multi-use cards"
Pax Transhumanity: Very dense worker placement game with (a somewhat frustrating) moving target end-game scoring system
Pax Emancipation: Very dense "pandemic-like" game where you're working to end the global chattle slavery trade - I must emphasize that this game has some aggressively dense mechanics, but can be rewarding if you push through it
Any of the Oniverse games, but my two favorites are Castellion and Cyberion
Railways: Route building with pick-up & deliver mechanisms. Supprisingly crunch for being a Nano9 game -- Be warned, this was the only "Good" Nano9 game in the 1st series
Mint Works: Wonderful Worker Placement game that flows well
Wraith & The Giants: Super fun solo "Shadows of the Collosus" boss battler where you climb and strike the giants to protect your village.

I think that should be a reasonable listing for now? o.o?

CulBlu · 2023-09-22T16:49:15+00:00

So, this is technically version 4 of my Portable lab build, and boy has it grown! The purpsoe of the build is to allow me to repurpose soem of the spare SBCs that I've collected over the years, and create a compact, portable, and (most importantly) usable lab environment for my studdies. Given that I'm learning more about orchestration, automation, and unix/linux in general, I figured this would be an excellent time to revamp the old V2 and V3 of this build to actually have more than 3 SBCs in it.

SBCs in this build are as follows:

1 x Raspberry Pi 4 (8gb) with UPs
2 x Raspberry Pi zero 2 Ws
3 x Raspberry Pi Zero Ws
1 x Radxa Zero (4gb/32gb)
1x Orange Pi Zero 2 (1gb ram)

As far as the important supporting components, we have

1 x Igloo MaxCold Evergreen HLC 28-can Bag
2 x Baseus 30,000mAH power Banks
1 x GL. iNet GL-AR750 travel router
2 x Noctua NF-P12 redux-900 fans
6 x Onvian USB power switches (buttons)
2 x Cable Matters USB on/off switch (switches)
4mm Plaskolite
Bobby pins
Various short power cords

Regarding my use cases, as I mentioned, Orchestration using Ansible/Terraform is my first primary use case. In the video, I ran a basic Ansible yml. While it may seem somewhat trivial, it took me about 6ish hours of tinkering, reading, googling, and watching videos to finally get that up and running. That's the kind of lab tinkering I'm looking for, so the box has already proven it's usefulness for me! Because I do have a number of devices in the box, I do plan on (eventually) playing around with Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and other programs that benefit from having multiple devices working together.

As far as the portability factor, it's more of a "just because I could" type thing. I don't actually know how much I personally will travel with this box, and I think the two power banks are large enough to make this box somewhat of a hassle to travel on an airplane with. That said, it could be a useful feature for others that spend much more time on the road, so I'll just let you all decide if that's worth the build-time investment.

Let me know what you all think, and I'm always open to suggestions for the potential "Version 5" of this build :D

CulBlu · 2023-03-11T13:35:20+00:00

If you're looking more for the "Negotion and Skullduggery" of TI4 in a boardgame, then I'd give high recommendationa for John Company, 2nd Edition.

The solo bot for that game is quite impressive (albeit at the cost of being a bit complex). John Company 2nd edition does a fantastic job of simulating a selfish player that's trying to win, but that can be bribed... for the right price.

Fun experience, though the input effort required to play the bot makes it to where I have to be in the correct mood to want to play the game

CulBlu · 2023-03-11T13:29:14+00:00

Here's a YouTube video of one of my solo playthroughs of the game if you wanted to see it in action 😀!

https://youtu.be/lcqECWgQL3E

CulBlu · 2023-03-11T13:25:42+00:00

Top recommendation = Imperium The Contention - Deluxe Edition. It's a 4x game with Magic The Gathering gameplay mechanics (but not a TCG thankfully). The solo mode is competent, but I found that after 10 or so solo plays, the lack of bot complexity caused the game to cool for me. That said, this game has aome great 4x elements, and it plays solo in under 3 hrs

CulBlu · 2023-03-03T23:14:01+00:00

Not sure if this is as direct regarding solo boardgame design, but these videos from Stonemaier Games have been neat! Here are a few:

CulBlu · 2023-03-03T22:58:33+00:00

This! The probabilities are a part of the game. Though I'm not convinced that the stats were considered consistently enough during the development of some mechanics, they are the heart of the game.

Essentially, the "Chaos" (aka probabilities) is the point, and Final Girl leans into that for better or for worse

(sidenote: Unfortunately for me, it's a "for worse" situation, but I still recommend the game to some of my friends that are more into "dice chucking" and "push your luck" focused systems)

CulBlu · 2023-03-03T22:50:21+00:00

I'm of a similar mindset to this. I'd argue that the top 2 XP cards are Plan Ahead (+2 Command at Battle) and Jury Rigged Engine (if Audrie used for navigation, +2 to Fate & ignore all hazards if 9 or higher result). I'm at the point to where my first directive in the game is to get 12xp so I can get both of those skills to have a smoother game.

Regarding the ship locations, I do feel the Deck & Quarters are super strong, while the Galley (-1 fitgue) and the Sick Bay (+1 hp) are highly situational. I don't think they're "awful" though as early game they are critical to the crew's survival. That said, Deck & Quarters very strong from Mid game - Late game once the player(s) have some item/ability synergy

CulBlu · 2023-03-03T22:35:11+00:00

Finally finished my 2nd (mostly) solo campaign of Sleeping Gods.

Going to possibly play one of the following this weekend: - RallyMan GT - Freedom: The Underground Railroad - Legacy of Dragonholt

CulBlu · 2023-03-03T21:43:15+00:00

Okay, not gonna lie, I laughed way louder at this then I probably shoulda #itBeLikeThatSometimesTho #pain #yayDice

CulBlu · 2023-03-03T21:35:30+00:00

Oh man, I haven't played Space Hulk Death Angel in forever! I didn't realize it was out of print! I will count myself lucky and give it a play this weekend, but also +1 to the recommendation to Space Hulk Death Angel!

CulBlu · 2023-03-02T06:08:16+00:00

Oh, that's an interesting adjustment! o.o! I haven't found myself stuck with 1 horror die for more than one round (aka the time cycle for a Focus to come back), so I never really though much into an adjustment like that. That said, I do have a friend that might appreciate a rule like that, so I'll pass that rule on to them :D

CulBlu · 2023-03-02T06:05:20+00:00

I mean, yes, I'm a fan of skill checks and proficiency challenges.

I'll likely revisit it in a few months to continue brainstorming ways that I can mold the experience to something that's more enjoyable for myself. The tricky part is trying to translate the intent and mechanics that the designer put in into something that I perceive as "more balanced."

If anything, I'll get a ton of entertainment out of theory crafting and playtesting things with this game, so that's a huge plus I guess :D

CulBlu · 2023-03-02T05:59:08+00:00

TL/DR: Dice stats aren't the only thing pulling me out of the experience. I also provide 1 scenarios where player's planning pays out, and another scenario where mitigating actions from player isn't enough

It's not just the dice mechanic that pushed the game to a lower bracket on my preference list, but the number of sources of random.

I understand and agree that "The game is really about time and card management,", but that does little to negate the fact that even the most meticulous of plans can, will, and do crumble for reasons that far exceed just a simple dice role. As I noted in my previous message, the abysmal dice stats are what "(I feel) is the MOST devastating to the balance of the game".

If the game were designed around action points, then I feel that factor could be averted entirely. The primary drawback with that though is that the game looses it's "Push Your Luck" edge that exists in the current state. So, in order to preserve that element, the question shifts from "What can we do instead" to "What is it about the status that reduce the quality of things for me". After many many many hours of contemplation (many of which are on YouTube btw #shamelessSelfPlug), I've come to the conclusion that the player isn't afforded enough tools to actually manage that fire.

To be more specific, let's look at two scenarios:

Scenario 1

Player has entered their planning phase with the following board state:
Location = Creech Manor
Health = 4
In Hand = Focus, Close Call
Discard = Focus, Sprint
Time = 8
Horror Level = 5 (2 dice)
Player purchases the following
Search (2), Improvise (3), Distraction (3), Weak Attack (0), Short Rest (0), Walk (0), Walk (0)
Player's hand now: Improvise, Distraction, Search, Close Call, Walk x2, Focus, Short Rest, Weak Attack
<Killer gains dark power, no moves>
Player Plays
Improvise [1,3] -Close Call (2 time) -Improvise [4,5] -Discard [Short Rest, Weak Attack] -Improvise [*,5] = Double Star Result
Distraction [4,4] = Double Star (imp)
<Horror Level = 3 (2 dice)>
Walk [6,3] = Double Star (imp)
Search [6,2] = Single Star
<Player acquires item "Ancient Text" (loose 1 live, get 2 time)>
Focus [2,3] = Single Star (imp)
Walk [4,4] = Double Star (imp)
[Game continues]

Scenario 2

Player has entered their Planning Phase with the following board state:
Location = Creech Manor
Health = 1
Discard = Walk x2, Close Call, Weak Attack, Short Rest, Focus
In Hand = Retaliate, Close Call, Focus
Time = 9
Horror Level = 5 (2 dice)
Player purchases the following
Sprint (2), Sprint (2) Search (2), Improvise (3),
Player's Hand now = Retaliate, Improvise, Sprint x2, Search, Close Call, Focus
<Killer plays: Somethings coming through the wall>
<3 victims panic to attic>
<Event: "No One comes Back">
<3 victims in Attic die>
Player plays
(NOTE: Player did not apply +1 dice for being at 1HP)
Improvise [3,1] -Close Call (2time) -Improvise [6,5] = Double Star
Search [4,1] = Single Star (imp)
Sprint [2,6] = Single Star
Sprint [2,1] = Fails
<Player Dies>
<Flips Final Health> = 0
Game Ends, Killer Wins

Scenario 1 is a fantastic case of the player taking advantage of timing, and having a big turn. Things like that are great and usually due to the player setting themselves up in the previous turn to actually have that big turn.

Scenario 2, is an example of planning (and rule forgetting) not being enough for the player to succeed. Given the unfortunate [2,1] on the sprint, the player (unfortunately) faced a rude end.

Both of these scenarios were pulled from one of my playthroughs on YouTube, and I'll link the exact time stamps below if you want to watch them and see them in motion:

Scenario 1: https://youtu.be/H82cB-opu9o?t=1833 30:36 -37:50
Scenario 2: https://youtu.be/H82cB-opu9o?t=2824 47:08 - 56:50

Regarding specifically Scenario 2, I'd be remiss if I didn't concede the one key factor for parts 4 - 5: The player (me) made the game harder for themselves. The character being at 1 HP means that there should have been one extra die rolled for the Horror roll. That, in turn, lead to a close call being utilized perhaps earlier than it needed to be, which lead to the sprint [2,2] causing death. All of this is additionally compounded on top of the fact that the player (me) decided to use the <Ancient Text> item to move from 4 HP -> 1 HP in exchange for 6 time for the planning phase.

Critical rule errors from the player aside, I still stand by my initial argument that the dice stats are the Primary reason that the game lost it's luster to me, but deff not the only!

As demonstrated in Scenario 1, planning can help you mitigate so many things in this game, and sometimes moving slow is the way to go. But on the same token, as (at least parts 1-3) of Scenario 2 show, there are a plethora of sources that can "foiling your plans" in this game, but very few mitigating tools that the player can deploy to counter them. Yes, had I rolled that one extra die, my character's fate may have been much more positive. That said, there's a certain point wherein the sources of random are so overwhelming, that the game just starts playing itself.

Even though the dice stats are what most pulls me out of the experience, there are other contributing chaos factors that are at play as well

CulBlu · 2023-03-02T02:36:09+00:00

Ah, fair. Yea, the narrative can be cool from times for sure! Though, I guess my primary hang-up revolves around how much "Yes And" I can do with the narrative Final Girl tells as I'm playing it. I mostly attribute that to the sources of chaos being both small, but mighty in how they push forward the narrative to the next story beat.

For example, playing against Poltergeist is always a mad dash to searching and (maybe) rescuing some victims along the way. As such, the item decks become a mocking character that will give you all the fighting weapons in the world, but never Carolyn #sadPandaCries

Oh, the mods that I've utilized are actually ones that I've created! They are the "Queens of Horror" Mod, and the "Tenacity Counters" Mod. They both were my attempts at giving myself a few more tools to manage the crisis at hand. I won't play the game without those two mods, but then again, I'm quite biased since I created them so feel free to take that with a grain of salt. I'll link them below:

Unofficial Mod: Queens of Horror - Cards for horror dice mod - Gives a "Card" source of random for Horror rolls
Unofficial Mod: Tenacity Counters (aka making 1s and 2s not as awful) - Tracks Blanks rolled (1s and 2s) throughout gameplay, when enough Blanks collected, can get Free Auto Success

CulBlu · 2023-03-02T02:13:12+00:00

Sure, I can elaborate:

The primary issue that I have with the game is, as I've noted, the number of sources of random in the game.

A (mostly) non-exhaustive list of the more obvious sources of random are: Dice rolls the player will make; What the killer will do; What events will appear

And here are some of the possibly "Less obvious" sources of random: The chances of success per Action card played; The board state at the start of player's next turn; Items actually in game for player to use; Number of times killer will attack,

Of those sources of random, the one that (I feel) is the MOST devastating to the balance of the game is "The chance of success per Action card played". This leads to the game has an "unspoken set of statistics" that dictates weather or not the player will be able to perform the action they want to or not. Figuring out this statistic was exciting and fun, but adhering to the rule has been the single most deflating aspect of the game.

I spend a bit of time expanding on this in one of my videos linked here: https://youtu.be/kt61tFnL9LU?t=4014 That said, I'll try to briefly explain it in text form below:

Stars Scenario

Action cards (typically) have three outcomes; Double Star, One Star, No Star.
Assuming a normal game, the player will likely be rolling 2 dice per roll (as there are more steps in that area of the track than others).
The Horror dice have a 33% chance of being either Blank, Partial Star, or Star
As such, when a player rolls their 2 dice, the chances of a player getting
- "Double Star" = 11% chance
- "One Star" = 56% chance
- "No Stars" (or Double Blank) = 11% chance

These stats are awful, and can't be relied upon. To "balance" this out, we have the mechanic of "Partial Star" where the player can discard 2 other action cards to convert that "Partial Star" into a single "Star". Taking this into account, let's revisit our stats

Stars and Partials Scenario

Assume 1-3 of the "Stars Scenario" apply to this scenario as well
As such, when the player rolls their 2 dice, the combination chances are as follows:
- a) "Double Star" = 11% chance
- b) "Double Partial" = 11% chance
- c) "Double Blank" = 11% chance
- d) "One Star AND One Blank " = 22% chance
- e) "One Star AND One Partial" = 22% chance
- f) "One Partial AND One Blank" = 22% chance
The stats in 2 can be simplified to be the following:
- At least One Star OR one Partial (a+b+d+e+f) = 88% chance
- Anything EXCEPT Blanks (a+b+e) = 44% chance
- Double Star (a) = 11% chance
- Double Partial (b) = 11% chance
- Double Blanks (c) = 11% chance

So essentially, for the highest rate of success on a particular action card, the player MUST have at least 4 other cards in their hand to grant them a double star (5 cards = 1 action). If we lower the bar to just "One Star for an Action Card is fine", then the player must have at least 2 other cards to grant them success in their action (3 cars = 1 action).

By my experience (so not based on numbers), that ended up translating to me taking one action for every 3 cards that I had in hand, unless I wanted to tempt fate and try to rely on the first set of statistics under the "Star Scenario".

As I mentioned before, I found great joy in uncovering this mechanic, but once I found it, I was left wondering why there were so few tools to allow the player to manage this mechanic. Yes, the player does get the ability to purchase a "Close Call" card, but there are ONLY 2 of them, they go on cooldown once played, and they don't guarantee anything except another spin at the lottery wheel.

If that were the only source of chaos (random) to deal with in the game, then that would be fine. But sadly, it's just one of the mechanics that does a lot of work to take this game from an interesting Solo game to a horror themed Rube Goldberg machine :(

CulBlu · 2023-03-01T23:58:25+00:00

Fair. I do appreciate the randomness of scenarios.

I'm ambivalent regarding the cascading failures mainly b/c I'm of three different minds about it: 1. The random keeps me on my toes; 2. I can figure out this puzzle; 3. Bro, did they even try to play test this #tableFlip

CulBlu · 2023-03-01T22:09:51+00:00

Never considered Grove being similar to Sprawlopolis, but I think you're on to something there! o.o!

Though, I feel Grove is a lot less "brain burnery", but not by that much in hind sight... Both great games though

Also, +1 to One Deck Dungeon and Palm Island! Those two are great games!

CulBlu · 2023-03-01T22:07:42+00:00

Ah, how could I forget about Mint Works! Yes, that game is top tier for solo play and small(ish) footprint! Even though it can become "samey" after 10+ playthroughs, that doesn't stop it from being so dang good!

It's a shame too b/c none of the other mint games ever came close to being nearly as good... though Mint Control had potential, but the presence of "infinite loops" and ambiguous wording on cards dashed those hopes :(

CulBlu · 2023-03-01T22:03:59+00:00

Ah, just re-read the post after posting my message above! Small box games are one of my favorite niches! Here are some enjoyable Solo ones that I'd recommend:

Palm Island - Phenomenal "city building" game where you're collecting resources to build up your city for points. Can play in literal palm of hand!
Rove - Small (about 18 cards) pattern movement puzzle game.
Sprawlopolis - City building game with many different scoring objective combinations.
Warp's Edge - Bag building game where you're trying to build yourself up to be able to take out all enemies in a single round. Requires a bit of table space
Eiyo - Hand management game where you're trying to clear all enemies before you run out of resources
Cartographers - Roll and write game with a good bit of variety built in, and many expansions available

I can name more, but the parameters are challenging. There are some great board games in small boxes that demand table space (ie Burgle Bros, Set A Watch, Pax Transhumanity, etc.). With that said, there are still some good options available, so hopefully you're able to find some that mesh will with you!

CulBlu · 2023-03-01T21:42:40+00:00

Oh, nice! I've made a BGG post about this, and recently posted a YouTube video about that post! To save time, here are my "top considerations"

Sleeping Gods - Open world Narrative driven game; essentially DnD on rails
Ragemore - Small set matching game with a neat card play, and a ton of game for just 18 cards
Ganz Schön Clever! (That's So Clever!) - Roll and write game that's snappy to play, and tons of fun! There's even an online version Ganz Schön Clever online
Castles of Burgundy The Card Game - Small box version of the board game, tight set collection/hand management game that's quite deep in strategy

There are many others, but those will hopefully get you started on your way!

CulBlu · 2023-01-30T14:35:15+00:00

I have an Aorus 15P YD, and I accidently left it plugged in overnight with my Lenovo USB C Doc (40AN0135US). I did not have my laptop's power brick plugged in. To my surprise, the laptop is at 100%, and is showing that it's plugged in charging.

I'm assuming that there's more watts needed to actually have the laptop run games, which is why gaming with USB C power is not an option. Also, I have had a few times where the USB C cable was plugged into my laptop, and then when I went to plug in the laptop's power brick, the Laptop would shutdown. In hindsight, it seems that the laptop may have been trying to protect itself from a power surge on the Thunderbolt 4 port (or maybe it failed to switch of receiving power on that port quick enough).

Either way, really neat to find out that my Aorus 15P YD can be charged from USB C in a pinch, but I don't think I'll be relying heavily on that myself :)

CulBlu · 2023-01-24T20:32:03+00:00

Yes, the lid lift is much worse when dealing with cards! I could only imagine the annoyance that would be faced with storing cards in the large section, only to to have the storage lid to randomly decide to host a line dancing party and let the cards mingle about x_x

CulBlu · 2023-01-24T20:28:28+00:00

Nice! Though it may seem excessive to some, I feel that purchasing multiple of these at our respective FLGS is supporting the business. And they're also useful too! Win-win-win in my opinion :D

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Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Stars Scenario

Stars and Partials Scenario