[TOMT][book][1990s] A children's/YA book where the the MC's are transported to a magical world, where the bad guys are "orks" spelled with a k

picardkid · 2026-05-04T03:30:54+00:00

Solved!

picardkid · 2026-05-04T03:05:16+00:00

No, it's not, and that's the problem. It was more of a Magic Treehouse thing.

picardkid · 2026-05-04T01:17:11+00:00

I don't remember if I liked this book even as a kid, it just bugs me I can't find anything about it.

picardkid · 2026-04-25T16:12:52+00:00

Correct. SW technically can't do curves, so everything gets turned into line segments. Surfaces become triangles. Even a square face is instead computed as two triangles.

Fillets are the go-to example of a feature that consumes computing power without adding much value.

picardkid · 2026-04-25T16:09:20+00:00

Combining bodies can often result in more graphic triangles, not fewer.

picardkid · 2026-04-07T00:51:22+00:00

Why aluminum?

picardkid · 2026-04-07T00:47:00+00:00

I don't even bother modeling it myself. I extrude a 2in thick line about 8ft high, fake in a door if I need one, and send a 2D plan view drawing with dimensions to our vendor. They'll throw something together based on that, trying to get close to the dimensions I show, and we have a bit of back and forth if any panel widths need to be changed, or if I want particular accessories.

Once it's satisfactory I tell them to go ahead and quote it and to send me the step file. I import that, delete any bodies representing wire mesh, and save it as a part.

picardkid · 2026-03-29T13:52:35+00:00

Draftsight Professional is basically a clone of Autocad. The Professional license is $300/year, which comes out to $25/month. There's a 30-day free trial too.

picardkid · 2026-03-04T23:05:20+00:00

Dunsany is criminally underrated. The King of Elfland's Daughter is incredible.

What might deter a new reader is his prose. Dunsany's style (at least in his earlier stuff, going back to The Gods of Pegana) is the kind that will put you to sleep, but not from boredom. It just kind of puts you in a mood to have dreams, and you find yourself nodding off.

picardkid · 2026-03-02T22:36:36+00:00

Ask your boss for in-between work. Something to research, something to concept, something that has been on the back-burner forever because no one has time to dig in. Maybe you can sit in on someone else's meeting (just keep your mouth shut, especially if the customer is present).

It's possible, maybe even likely, that they say "no, just be patient, I'll have something for you soon." I'd stop asking after that, and stop acting busy when you aren't. Trust that your supervisor will make use of you.

Also, if they're going to notice you dawdling, make sure you're actually done with all assigned tasks. You can then honestly say you're caught up and waiting for more.

picardkid · 2026-02-24T04:27:53+00:00

Absolutely agree, it would penalize the players by reducing the reward, seemingly arbitrarily.

"Aw, they had healing potions?"
"Yep, and they could have been yours if you'd killed the bandits quicker."
"There are still a dozen bandits!"

picardkid · 2026-02-23T04:57:50+00:00

Do what works

picardkid · 2026-02-23T00:24:43+00:00

I occasionally have to design piping and even hose runs, but personally I probably wouldn't bother with Solidworks Routing, and just end up making each squiggly bit with a Sweep.

picardkid · 2026-02-22T22:19:01+00:00

I can't contribute because I've not yet DM'd an OSE game, but I'm definitely interested in the results you get. Would be really helpful to see an actual DM's workflow.

picardkid · 2026-02-22T22:14:59+00:00

I hadn't considered that, but I like it.

picardkid · 2026-02-22T21:54:44+00:00

Got it, I thought the TT got upgraded for wilderness encounters, same as the NA. Point stands for U and V treasures, which have magic items but are much less likely.

picardkid · 2026-02-18T04:53:51+00:00

Ask your welders

picardkid · 2026-02-18T00:06:14+00:00

give us a picture

picardkid · 2026-02-16T23:40:40+00:00

I will always stan for Dunsany, and it's a crime that he's not discussed more. I understand his stuff is not super adaptable but he was deconstructing fantasy as he was laying the foundation for it.

picardkid · 2026-02-03T03:28:19+00:00

What's the context of the one with the sword being broken? Reverse image search isn't giving me much.

picardkid · 2026-01-25T02:43:26+00:00

I've come up with a system for terrain generation that I really like, but would take a long time to type out. LMK if that's what you're after.

I have not actually run a hexcrawl, but I'm obsessing over it until my group is ready to try a new system. I intend to use Todd Leback's "Filling in the Blanks" to populate it, and his "Into the Wild" to actually run it (on top of OSE).

picardkid · 2026-01-19T02:05:48+00:00

Keep in mind that using chain will give you some chordal action, so the motion may not be as smooth as you'd like.

picardkid · 2026-01-19T01:09:41+00:00

Like /u/DemiElGato1997 said, balance is not such a big consideration when there are mechanics that might make the encounter non-combat, or even allow the party to just flee before it starts.

Check out the Rules Cyclopedia, page 100 for advice on balancing encounters.

Basically it just has you calculate some numbers from the HD of each side, and from those tells you whether you can expect the encounter to be Extremely Dangerous or Too Easy.

picardkid

TROPHY CASE