[juliebarkley]

My challenge time is split this challenge between before UK/IIK, during UK/IIK, and after UK/IIK. I'm not sure how to plan for this. I'm expecting to be on the internet precious little during the week of the conference(s), and there's no point trying to do habit-forming things when I'm about to head off for a week. So, I'm planning to spend this pre-conference time (about a week) on goal-related things, and after that I don't know. We'll all find out together later.

 

Present pre-conference goals:

• send at least one box of books to FBA (assuming a suitable box can be procured; if not, get them ready to send)
• prep a module of D&D for possible play at the conference. This involves translating a poem, looking up/inventing terms, and getting a bunch of pregen character sheets ready (and translated) so that I can just hand them out to people who have never played (and may never have heard of) D&D. Not intimidating at all (why did I agree to this!?)
• get my phone plan activated
• tidy my room up again
• go through and return as many library books as possible, because they are taking over my floor
• maybe other things; we shall see.

 

[Loveable_Bouncer]

2 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

go through and return as many library books as possible, because they are taking over my floor

When you know you are in the right work field. 

 

Hope your pre-planning goes well!

[Alanna]

Travelling challenges are always tricky. Maybe figure out what habits will help keep you functioning/energised amidst the upheaval? Tidying beforehand is a great idea - it's always nicer to come back to a clean house.

 

Is UK the United Kingdom UK? That's quite a journey from Canada! 

[Sovalis]

I recommend the charactermancer at D&D Beyond for whipping up pregen characters. It's free and will do all of the math and such for you, which will leave you with more time and space to do the translation. 

 

Good luck with your adventures! 

[Mad Hatter]

12 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

• prep a module of D&D for possible play at the conference. This involves translating a poem, looking up/inventing terms, and getting a bunch of pregen character sheets ready (and translated) so that I can just hand them out to people who have never played (and may never have heard of) D&D. Not intimidating at all (why did I agree to this!?)

Cool though! That's an awesome initiative. 

[juliebarkley]

On 7/30/2022 at 2:45 AM, Fairly_Bouncer said:

When you know you are in the right work field. 

...or exactly the wrong one. 😂

 

20 hours ago, Alanna said:

Travelling challenges are always tricky. Maybe figure out what habits will help keep you functioning/energised amidst the upheaval? Tidying beforehand is a great idea - it's always nicer to come back to a clean house.

 

Is UK the United Kingdom UK? That's quite a journey from Canada! 

I'll not be able to work on goals and habits at the same time. For some reason, I never can.

 

Nope. UK is for Universala Kongreso, and it's in Montreal this year.

 

15 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I recommend the charactermancer at D&D Beyond for whipping up pregen characters. It's free and will do all of the math and such for you, which will leave you with more time and space to do the translation.

I'll check it out! I really just want something that can pick everything for me - background, scores, spells. Everything. If I can find some ready-made at level 2, I will assume they are reasonably balanced and copy them over.

 

14 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Cool though! That's an awesome initiative. 

It's going to kill me, but I will be one of the first ones to do it (if I can get players), so that's something.

 

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I have printed and translated a blank character sheet for photocopying tomorrow. This was WAY more work than it sounds like. Partly because concepts like "hit dice", "spell slots", and "sleight of hand" are not the easiest things in the world to translate. Partly because the white-out pen was most uncooperative.

 

Phone plan is now in the process of activation and phone number porting. Fingers crossed that goes well; they said it would take 24 hours before the process is complete.

[Jarric]

This might be more effort than it's worth for your purposes, but I thought I would share an example of adapting character sheets to make them easier for non-players in case they give you ideas. These are sheets made for a comedy D&D show, where the players were comedians and hadn't necessarily ever played D&D before. Each player also got a set of colour-coded dice that match the colours on the sheet, so the DM could say things like "for your damage, roll the red one twice". 

 

 

They are, obviously, very stupid character concepts for comedy purposes

 

[Jupiter]

8 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Nope. UK is for Universala Kongreso, and it's in Montreal this year.

 

Nice, it looks interesting.  

[juliebarkley]

18 hours ago, Jarric said:

This might be more effort than it's worth for your purposes, but I thought I would share an example of adapting character sheets to make them easier for non-players in case they give you ideas. These are sheets made for a comedy D&D show, where the players were comedians and hadn't necessarily ever played D&D before. Each player also got a set of colour-coded dice that match the colours on the sheet, so the DM could say things like "for your damage, roll the red one twice".

That would work too, though I don't think I have enough dice to pull it off. (I didn't think I'd ever say I didn't have enough dice.)

 

13 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Nice, it looks interesting.  

I'm hoping it will be!

 

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My phone plan is activated and working correctly, except that I got some of my setup messages in French, so now I have to figure out how to change that setting. This job is ticked off the list.

 

For the D&D module I'm prepping, I translated pretty much everything I needed to (need to make another pass over the module, but it'd just be a word here and there). So now I have a work order printed out to hand out to the players, and a poem that's a clue for a certain task. Printed and coloured in part of a different puzzle. Printed and edited all the monster stat blocks. Printed all the maps. So really all that's left is to make copies of the translated character sheet, find (or make) stats for pregen characters, and insert them. And get dice and books together and packed.

 

For the sale books, pulled out all the books that obviously ship parcel (because they are more than 2cm thick). Found one box I can fill to ship things.

 

Finished reading my non-fiction book from last time, so I can pick two new books; yay! I was thinking of Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions for the fiction. Wikipedia describes it as a novella, so hopefully short enough that I can get it done before I leave. For non-fiction, there are just so many options because I have no self-control when ordering library books. I'll see what I feel like when I get back.

[Alanna]

On 7/31/2022 at 8:58 AM, juliebarkley said:

Nope. UK is for Universala Kongreso, and it's in Montreal this year.

 

 

Ah so that's the Esperanto conference! Thanks for sharing the link 🙂

 

2 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

I was thinking of Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions for the fiction. Wikipedia describes it as a novella, so hopefully short enough that I can get it done before I leave.

 

I read it for school many years ago - it is super short. It's a quite unique premise - hopefully it's a nice addition to your read list!

 

[juliebarkley]

19 hours ago, Alanna said:

Ah so that's the Esperanto conference! Thanks for sharing the link 🙂

It's a little late to sign up now, if you were interested.

 

19 hours ago, Alanna said:

I read it for school many years ago - it is super short. It's a quite unique premise - hopefully it's a nice addition to your read list!

Excellent!

 

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Nothing done on the sending-books-to-Amazon front.

 

Lots done on the going-through-library-books front. I have 18 to go back (some I want again later) and others added to my keep pile. Still a lot to go through, but I have given myself a headache doing it, so I'm more or less done for the evening.

 

On the D&D front, character sheets photocopied, pregens sourced (mostly), so I just need to copy the stats over. And do a bit more translation work - glancing over the first sheet, I see "darkvision" and "stonecunning", for instance. Sigh. It never ends.

[WhiteGhost]

D&D has a lot of very sepcialized words as you know, which makes translation particularly frustrating.  I feel your pain.

[juliebarkley]

21 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

D&D has a lot of very sepcialized words as you know, which makes translation particularly frustrating.  I feel your pain.

I'm currently working on copying character sheets over, and had forgotten how much writing that is when you have to explain all the special racial/class/background abilities. And more fancy vocabulary. Want to talk about hand crossbows and warhammers? I'M THERE.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not a lot to say. Mostly character sheets. I have three (out of twelve) done. I had somehow in my head thought this was mostly going to be copying numbers over. NOPE. I'm going to take a break and add a few books to my return-to-the-library pile, then try to get at least one more sheet finished.

[Mistr]

Good for you on sorting books to sell and for the library piles.

 

I am impressed that you are going to run D&D in a foreign language. Just setting up a game for new players is a lot of work. Doing it in another language is hardcore.

[juliebarkley]

9 hours ago, Mistr said:

I am impressed that you are going to run D&D in a foreign language. Just setting up a game for new players is a lot of work. Doing it in another language is hardcore.

I'm using a readymade module, which makes things somewhat easier. And I'm going to copy these character sheets when I'm done so I'll have the text for any future games, which will make them a heck of a lot less work.

 

I never make things easy for myself. 😂

 

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Did a little library sorting - can only do about five more or I won't have the arms to carry them.

 

No character sheets - that's tomorrow's goal.

 

This box for Amazon is nearly ready. Picked out books that would fit, printed out labels (took, um, fewer than ten tries...). Now I just have to figure out how to create the order and get a shipping label. That will have to wait for tomorrow, because it's very late now.

 

Started Flatland. So far, quirky and fun, all world-building, no plot.

[juliebarkley]

Today was about running around all over the place: package to mail (not my Amazon box), veg box to pick up, vet trip to learn how to check the cat's blood readings (she has diabetes and we are working on getting the insulin level right). Made it hard to get challenge things done until later in the evening.

 

Amazon box: some of the products had incomplete information, so I had to abandon it early in the day while it processed my updates. Never made it back, though I did drop by the place I thought did UPS dropoff, only to realize it was the wrong location. Good to know before I have to get a heavy box there on foot. I may be able to finish this tomorrow and leave it for someone else to bring to the dropoff, but it not, it's okay. It's packed and almost ready. Close enough.

 

No tidying. Man, it needs it though. However, on a fun note, in order to have the clothes I was wearing clean for my trip, I had to change early. But then I got invited on a night walk, so needed clothes I would wear outside. My SCA and cosplay outfits were recently found and brought in, and were right there, so I dressed for my walk in my white mage costume (from the original Final Fantasy). Just the dress part; not sure where my staff is at the moment.

 

Been working on the character sheets. I fully intend to finish them tonight, but reality is probably going to have something different to say. I have four left as of right now, but I don't have to work till 1pm tomorrow, so that's a plus. We'll see how long I can hold out, because I have a feeling I won't make it.

 

All world-building and no plot seems to be just the way Flatland is. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

16 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

I dressed for my walk in my white mage costume (from the original Final Fantasy). Just the dress part; not sure where my staff is at the moment.

 

The White Mage is powerful and critical, and there has never been a JRPG that can be beaten without one. Because of this, the White Mage is an outfit that demands and deserves considerable respect. Do remember that the staff is merely a symbol... the real power is inside the White Mage you.

[Darth Yoga]

I've run games for quite a few groups of new players with no background in D&D, and I'd advise ruthlessly stripping out inessential character options.  Like if Stonecunning was even relevant to the module, I still wouldn't put it on a basic character sheet, and it definitely doesn't need a name. I'd just say at the relevant point, "Dwarves are very familiar with stonework, so Bjarne and Torvold, you can roll ..." Same with Theives Cant. Same with most background features. Same with most of the cleric spell list.

 

For character sheets, new players need to be able to easily find AC and hit points, and the relevant details for two to five of their best options in combat (to hit bonus and damage, spell save dc, etc). Then two to five other non-combat abilities.

 

I also really like character sheets that put the saves and skills under their relevant stat, and focus on the stat when calling for rolls. Especially if folks might be struggling with language. "Roll your DEXTERITY, for a stealth check." 

 

Also, a cheat sheet with the shapes of the dice is super helpful. They will fish around for ages inspecting the numbers on each die trying to find the d12, because they do not know it is the one with five-sided faces.

[Darth Yoga]

Ah, I apologize if that was perhaps not especially appropriate or useful advice. I got excited about my Special Interest (tm) and I can't sleep, so....

[juliebarkley]

21 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

The White Mage is powerful and critical, and there has never been a JRPG that can be beaten without one. Because of this, the White Mage is an outfit that demands and deserves considerable respect. Do remember that the staff is merely a symbol... the real power is inside the White Mage you.

The outfit has been returned to its rightful place in my closet, ready for the next occasion when a secret identity (or healer) is needed.

 

20 hours ago, Darth Yoga said:

Ah, I apologize if that was perhaps not especially appropriate or useful advice. I got excited about my Special Interest (tm) and I can't sleep, so....

Why would you think it wasn't appropriate or useful? I mean, the stat sheet stuff is not super useful in that I've just gotten all the sheets prepped, so they are what they are, but knowing what kind of problems to expect from someone who's been there very much is. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

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No further progress on Amazon box. This will have to wait until I get back.

 

D&D sheets are now fully translated and ready for use! I'm going to photocopy them so that I have my originals in case the players want to take theirs home with them. And the person who found me the module has kindly pointed out that there are more in the series, so I could theoretically keep it going online for a little while if the players were into it. Whether I would even consider that depends on how much hands-on help they require, because all of the online rolling tools, etc. that I have found are English-only. I have checked my dice supply and I have eight sets, which I thought was a ludicrous amount when packing but is exactly how many I need if I have the max number of players. Now I just have to see if I have four different-sized marbles for a puzzle, and I am good to go!

 

Tidying has not yet commenced (nor has packing, for that matter), but with everything else time-critical out of the way now, I can put some leisurely time into that. Packing is usually pretty easy. We travel light; for a week I should be able to get away with an airport carry-on sized bag. Possibly a small cloth shopping bag as well if I'm a bit tight on space. And I have still not looked at the actual schedule of the event, or figured out what touristy thing I will do on Wednesday (my tour was cancelled). Time to actually anticipate the event itself.

 

Flatland teased me today. The chapter started with, to paraphrase, "up until this point all I've done is describe the world, but now it's time to talk about the meat of my story: my trip to Spaceland!". And then pulled a "but first!" and has continued to describe the residents of the land. But this suggests description time will end soon.

 

All right, my nerd friends. I will be back on the 13th. See you later!

[Jarric]

Hope you have a wonderful trip! Good luck with your D&D game!

[Mistr]

Have a great trip!

[juliebarkley]

On 8/6/2022 at 3:48 AM, Jarric said:

Hope you have a wonderful trip! Good luck with your D&D game!

On 8/9/2022 at 6:34 PM, Mistr said:

Have a great trip!

 

I am back. I am exhausted. Did fun things, met new people, learned some interesting stuff. More info tomorrow. For now, a hot shower, a little reading, and lots of sleep.

[Mad Hatter]

Welcome back! Hope to hear about some of those interesting things when you're less deaded.  

[juliebarkley]

12 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Welcome back! Hope to hear about some of those interesting things when you're less deaded.  

Less deaded now.

 

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I spent the whole day today on tech catchup. I was trying to avoid English all week, so I had read no email, news, internet, social media, etc. But that is not interesting.

 

Okay, let me see. What were some interesting things that happened last week...

• my D&D game went off well. I had six players the first day, but one didn't come back as she didn't sleep in our building later on, and one often went to bed early, so was a spotty participant. But everyone had fun, and I had a request to bring the next adventure to an event in the fall (which sadly I cannot attend, as I am being forced to work).
• I did two walking tours, one of "City of 100 Bell Towers" (church tour) and one of Jewish Montreal (it used to be the heart of Jewish culture in Canada until 1995). The first covered lots of quirky exceptions to the usual rules, like the first French Protestant church in Canada, and an English Catholic one built by Irish immigrants. We also went to Christ Church Cathedral, which was where our tour guide became an Anglican minister about four years ago.
• There was live music every evening, and very varied too. Brazilian salsa, banjo, instrumental... most of it translated into Esperanto, or where some effort was made, at least. There was also a concert of translated songs from the famous Quebecois French rock opera, Starmania. (Tim Rice did an English version called Tycoon.)
• One of the organizers wrote a play, 1910, about Zamenhof's visit to the sixth Congress in Washington in 1910, followed by his visit to Montreal to see family who were living there. It was great fun.
• Went to La Ronde, but only made it on two rides (Le Monstre and Goliath) because the lines were so long, and the first line we were in (for L'Orbite) ended in no ride, as it broke down when we were near the front. They were great coasters though!
• Climbed Mount Royal ("climbed") one day, and went to a nice relaxing pond in another part of the mountain on another.
• Walked a ton; 13999 on the least active day, 27411 on the most. Quickly learned to use the Montreal metro.
• Went out for a stroll with some other people for ice cream, and ended up on the route of the Montreal Pride Parade. They were loud. And in some cases, quite scantily clad (but all within legal limits). But all happy and upbeat.
• Went to talks on Esperanto and indigenous languages (the theme of the conference was indigenous languages, for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages), Toki Pona, and Esperanto and early American science fiction. The latter one was really neat. The speaker was contacted by a science fiction archive group with a diary by Charles Hornig that was written in Esperanto that they couldn't read. So he translated it for them. He learned that at this time in sci-fi (1930s and 1940s) there was a lot of interest in Esperanto, so there are a lot of bits and pieces in different archives that might get thrown out if people don't know what to do with them. And that would be a sad thing. Learned a lot from that presentation. He even found a film with a lot of Esperanto in it which does not show up on any of the lists of such films, so he basically found us a new film! (Conspiracy, 1939)
• Did a short course of Anishinabe, so now I know a few random words and how to introduce myself and where I'm from in Anishinabe. Learned that Chicago is based on the Anishinabe word for skunk, Illinois off the Anishinabe for men (you need the French pronunciation of Illinois to hear it), and Milwaukee means "good land". The Anishinabe for the USA, however, is Big Knife Land (Gichi-Mookomaan-Akiing). Ouch.
• I sang with the children in front of the entire conference during the closing ceremony.
• Bought a bunch of books, met a bunch of new people, saw a bunch of people that I had met before. Am now in a Discord chat with a bunch of Toki Pona speakers (I do not speak Toki Pona, but it looks like I will now learn, as my son is interested in it too), and handed my contact info out to someone who is trying to organize D&D/roleplaying in Esperanto in Eastern Canada/US.
• Congress demographics were a bit unusual. Lots of Canadians, which was expected (there hasn't been a Congress in North America in 40 years). Lots of Americans, but not as many as I'd expected. I ran into roughly as many South Koreans as Americans (there were a lot of South Koreans). But not a single person from Japan or China, the latter of which especially usually has a big showing and had a lot of people signed up for 2020. Hardly anyone from Africa, as many places had trouble getting visas out on time. Other than that, a reasonable number of Mexicans, Brazilians, French, Germans, Hungarians, and other eastern European nations. No one from Russia though. Or the UK, which was a bit odd. It was kind of sad that after waiting two years and organizing a really great event, the visa/passport troubles and just general fears of travel due to the pandemic meant that there were only about 500 people there. I would have expected 800-900 in a better year for a conference outside Europe.
• I was able to achieve my goal of avoiding English. I did have to speak with a tourist from Maine who wandered into our common area, and used English during checkin/checkout when I probably didn't have to. Maybe a couple of other times. But mostly did use French when I had to speak to non-Esperanto speakers (when I didn't accidentally speak Esperanto to them...). And even got to practice Spanish once (though I answered in Esperanto) with one of the Mexican beginners. And my thoughts are not quite fully back to English yet.

I'm happy to say more about any of the above if anyone is interested, but it's really quite a lot now that I'm looking at it, so I'll leave it at that for now.

 

Will come up with an actual challenge for the second half tomorrow now that I'm all rested up and such.