So, I got my wife a MonoPrice Mini Delta 3D printer years ago, when she expressed an interest in learning to do 3D printing. Turned out she wasnt so interested after a while, so I figured Id try put the thing to use. However, I was pretty daunted by the problems with the original firmware, and with the explanations of how to do bed leveling and get quality prints out of it. I did print off some low poly dinosaurs for our son, and game pieces for a friend. Here are a few of the things I printed: far from everything, just what I had handy in a single folder of images:

[Show slideshow] but then there was a clog, and even after unclogging it, I found myself annoyed by the fact I couldnt get the bed leveling and proper calibration done. Off and on, I fiddled briefly and gave up.

Things got better over time. For one thing, some alternate firmware became available! Someone named Demitrios V. (a.k.a. aegean-odyssey) forked the Marlin firmware and made some adjustments to make it work better for this specific model of printer, and once I got the hang of it, this system of calibration helped me out a lot. There were a few speedbumps along the way: I didnt quite understand the auto-calibration process at first, and also learned that because my model is a very early one (as in, I backed the original production on IndieGoGo), theres some alternate steps I have to follow when using the auto-calibration codes. (Which is to say, anytime I make any hardware adjustments.)

I also was getting some warnings about things overheating or underheating—but it turns out that was just an issue somehow related to the start code in my slicer overriding the stored calibration settings.

Now, though? Things seem to be workingpretty well. Theres some small upgrades I am looking to do—I need to print the bed clip upgrades, and want to add some legs to the bottom of the printer, as well. I also have a magnetic build surface I need to add to it, though Im sort of waiting till the old disposable sticky-backed build surface Im using now just gives out (or until theres enough stuff accreted on it that I cant remove and I just decide to junk it).

My current printing project is a Halloween item for my son: megawillbots Halloween Pumpkin Spider Transformer. The (admittedly ugly) feature image for this post is actually the pumpkin slices for that Pumpkin Spider, in the process of being printed. (I only had red and white PLA, not orange, but its being painted anyway.)

I guess Ill update when the thing is fully printed, assembled, and painted—probably with a few images, one at each stage along the way. (I probablywont bother snapping an image when I experiment with smoothing some bits using my Dremel tool, but I will report back about how it goes. I know from experience that the thing needs to run slow or itll melt the PLA and then bad things happen, but maybe Ill be able to get it to work well this time)

I dont have a lot of time to sink into this, but its nice to have the machine functional again. My sons very into Pokemon at the moment, and there are a lot of little Pokémon figures that people have shared on Thingiverse, so Ill probably print off those occasionally for him for now.

I did also back a few Kickstarters for 3D printable STLs, and the one Im likeliest to try print up and paint within the next year or so is the Hexton Hills map tiles STL set. Id like to try run a West Marches-styled game with a map slowly taking shape as players explore it; I figure having a good pile of tiles ready to go would be nice when the day comes. (I was thinking earlier today maybe The Waste Marches would work: a sort of postapocalyptic take on the West Marches style, that is. In any case, a pretty set of hexmap tiles would be fun to print, and the Hexton Hills tiles are also set up for decent printing in PLA. (And if theres a place I can go to paint them, and its not too busy so much the better.)

I was very gratified a few weeks ago to learn of Simon Scotts comments about by story Sojourn, one of the stories from the 2020 collection City of Han that he discussed in a review in Kyoto Journal. He begins this way:

In this era of extreme global hypersensitivity to race and national narratives, it is arguably a high-risk proposition for a Western expat author in Asia to write about such things. Yet two of the authors represented in this volume of expat short stories from South Korea, Gord Sellar and Ron Bandun, fearlessly walk the ideological plank of their own privilege and manage to say something that is provocative rather than condescending about race in Asia.

Scotts analysis is thoughtful and, I think, quite perceptive. (I would think so, hes praising my story, of course, but its obvious hes read and thought about the text.) In the end, he sums it up by saying, that my use of mutant superpowers and marginalization—and how people react to both in a small Korean cram school—was:

a clever way for the author to explore issues of race, perception, discrimination, and the cultural status of foreigners in Korea.

Its heartening to see that at least part of the point of the story got across. Not that I sat down to write something didactic, but certainly the story was informed by the kinds of things Scott mentions.

Meanwhile, it turns out I missed a review last year in the Asian Review of Books, as well, this one by Hannah Michell.She discusses several of the stories, but of Sojourn she writes:

A memorable science-fiction story, “Sojourn”, depicts Korea in an alternate reality where people are divided into mundanes and the gifted—those who have extra-sensory powers. An English teacher with the extra sensory gift of observing microscopic worlds witnesses the gift in a student as she levitates her pencil box. She is terrified of her powers as those with gifts are not celebrated but labeled as “deviants” and may be policed and sent away. It is through this extended metaphor that we are offered a glimpse of the stifling education system which punishes those who do not conform to expectations.

Its nice to feel seen. Or, rather, to feel read.

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I first read this book as a teenager: I think my mother found it among the remaindered books at a local bookstore and brought it home for me, as she had so many other books I fondly remember. Its gonzo parody featuring a samurai cat named Miaowara Tomokato adventuring as he avenges the death of his master—accompanied, at times, by his homicidal little nephew Shiro.

The world of these books—its a series—is a patchwork jumble of pop/geek culture franchises and canonic works tossed it into a blender with Norse mythology and Japanese history, except with (a few) anthropomorphic cats. It opens in 16th century Japan, but then satirically crosses over into a pseudo-Middle Earth (overrun with DD players), a Lovecraftian town named Outsmouth haunted by evil gods such as Isaac Azathoth and KChu, the Hyperborea of Con-Ed the Barbarian, and finally Ragnarok (which Miaowara Tomokato prevents).

Later books go to a long list of places (referentially, as much as geographically): King Arthurs Court, Barsoom, the Star Wars universe, our worlds history, a number of popular blockbuster movies (including The Terminator, Alien, The Magnificent 7, and The Wizard of Oz), Dantes Inferno Samurai Cat apparently ranges very, very widely, literally cutting a wide swathe through whatever caught Rogers felt like parodying.

The writing is very much in the vein of 80s comedic parody writing: if you read Mad magazine, itll feel familiar. In the first book, theres a recurring gag where people marvel at Tomotakos feats and say, What a stud.

Im guessing that alone will should tell you whether or not the text of these books might appeal to you. Its a greasy, delicious cheeseburger, not Wagyu beef, but theres nothing wrong with that as long as you know what youre getting into and are happy to please your internal twelve-year-old for an hour or two. I dont know that I take the idea of a guilty pleasure read seriously: I dont feel guilty reading or being amused by these, even if the most they demand little of me as a reader.

However, I would not be doing justice to the Samurai Cat series if I didnt talk about the art. Its at least half of the appeal, at least for me, because its heavily illustrated, too. (Im still kicking myself for not having picked up both of the portfolios of Samurai Cat art when I could. I have one, though, and since Rogers passing away in 2014, theyve gone up in price significantly—and become more rare on the ground, too.)

Rogers website has gone offline since his passing, but I was able to find some images from a few (now long-gone) sites via the Wayback Machines archive.

Theres some more thoughts after the cut, too, following the images. Continue reading

Hey, finally post thats not about RPG stuff, huh?

Im ending the first week of my month of writing time this year. This is the first time Ive reallyt sat down and done some serious writing since 2018. I just didnt have it in me, somehow, in 2019, and throughout most of 2020 our son was home with us and my wife was recovering from a work-related injury for a chunk of the year, so really, honestly, I guess Id have to say it was some combination of there being no timeand no energy.

This year, though: we worked out a deal where I work days—like the normal semester—except Im spending the time writing fiction, specifically trying to end a novel project. Seriously, the first day of the project was just me sort of installing Dropbox on the desktop Im using these days, sorting through the mess of a fiction folder I have hosted there, and then trying to figure out what was a draft of what from when.

(For that Gin Craze Era novel, there are actually five versions, and Im not sure which—thr 3rd, 4th, alternate-4th, or 5th—is the one I need to return to when I get back to it. I think Ill need to just export PDFs of them and skim them on my iPad. A big reading job in and of itself.)

The happy news? Ive made good progress on A**hole Island, as you can see from the (rarely-updated) progress bar on my website. (Its at 85% now, though I think Im probably closer to 90% done.

This is a novel that expands on a novella I wrote many years ago—so long ago that it was before I was married and had a kid. I expanded it into a novel back in 2018, hit a wall, and then just sort of never managed to get past it. Until now, that is.

Theres three big things I need to do.

I think I can probably do that next week.

Thatll leave me with two more weeks, which I think Ill probably sink into anew novel project I havent mentioned before. Its sort of well, its kind of a mix of Office Space,Erin Brokovich, Glengarry Glen Ross, andAt the Mountains of Madness. Kinda? Its a moving target. But its fresh and not quite like anything Ive written before (though it reminds me a little of the parts of James Morrow and William Browning Spencers work that I enjoyed, among others). So, you know, hey, Ill go with it. Especially since it was pouring out of me a few weeks ago, when I was gearing up to start writing again. (That never hurts.)

I recently posted about my impressions after running a multi-session one-shot with The Fall of Delta Green, and said Id follow up with a post about the adventure itself. I used Gareth Ryder-Hanrahans Fall of Delta Green adventure On a Bank, by Moonlight. By the way, the original PDF of the adventure is available from the Pelgrane Press website, for free. Downloading it is probably helpful if you didnt manage to snag a print copy back in 2018, like I happened to do. (Ah, man, remember Free RPG Day events?)

Anyway, as I was saying, I ran this adventure, but I also adapted it pretty heavily, in a few ways

But I guess this is as good a place as any to pause and mention that the following post contains spoilers.

If youre a GM about to run the game, and any of this seems useful to you, have at. Let me know if it is useful, Id love to hear from you.

If youre a player and you think you a GM might end up running this for your group, dont read it. Youll only spoil your fun, and possibly the groups too. (My players should avoid the Google Document link, in case we revisit these characters, because SPOILERS. And people I play games with in other groups likewise: you never know when we might do a one-shot of this.)

With that out of the way, lets go.

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