Back to the Mac

Rebooting...

My first new Mac in more than a decade arrived yesterday. I bought a second hand macMini from 2014 a couple of years ago to replace the dead iMac 27", but this time I've replaced the laptop. My last Mac laptop was the first unibody aluminium MacBook from 2008. The line subsequently became the MacBook Pro. Along the way, I switched to an SSD and took the RAM to 8GB (double the official capacity), and it still remains a decent machine. Alas, the battery life is dire and getting a decent replacement is challenging, to say the least. It's also locked on MacOS X 10.11 El Capitan. That isn't an issue in itself, but increasingly it isn't supported by software houses. So it was time to get a new one.

It's the little details...

Unboxing a new Mac is always a delight, as Apple has long paid attention to the details of how your new device is presented. There's minimal plastic, and lots of clever folded paper. The computer slowly emerges, and definitely has a wow factor. I went for space grey rather than silver, and it looks lovely. Surprisingly, the Apple stickers are black, which I didn't expect (I've only ever seen white ones for a long time). They look very nice.

More stickers...

The machine started up with a delightful bong (loud and decent speakers) and the screen looks lush. This is a retina grade display, with TrueTone, 1000nits, and a refresh rate up to 120Hz. It's amazing how gorgeous it makes things look.

The keyboard is probably the best Mac keyboard I've used since the PowerBook 190cs I started with back in 1996. It feels light and responsive. I'm glad I missed all the shenanigans with the butterfly scissors.

The machine is smaller than my 2008 13" MacBook, despite being 14". The reason is the bezels. These are very narrow, just like my Asus Chromebook, so you end up with a larger display in the same footprint. 

The port selection is decent, with three Thunderbolt class USB-C ports, an SD card slot, and a HDMI port. Pretty much everything that you need. I'd have liked a single USB-A port, but Apple has never looked backwards in these things. 

  

Accessibility options

MacOS has been pretty solid on accessibility options over the years, but it's nice to see them front and centre in the set-up screens. They aren't an afterthought, which is progress.

The feel of macOS Monterey is much more like iOS in style than I'm used to; although my macMini runs this version of the OS, I've kept it on Mojave because that was the last version that could run 32bit apps. I'd decided to build this new machine clean, and see if I could reach a point where I'd be comfortable upgrading the older machine. The feel took about twenty-four hours to stop jarring. I'm only noticing it now where icons and controls have moved in apps like Safari. It integrates well, flawlessly linking to my iPhone and the HomePods we have.

In honesty, it has more power than I really need, but that's not an issue. I expect this to be in use for at least five years; it's my fifth Mac laptop, and that's been the life that they typically have. As the newer machines are more limited in upgrade capability, I ended up going mid-spec so there was a degree of future proofing.

Coming home.

Switching back to this, I feel like I've come home. I loved my ASUS CT434 Chromebook(*), which was an awesome package for the price, but it always had some limits on what I could do. They were slowly disappearing as ChromeOS developed, but there was always some friction and savvy needed to get the best out of it. The MacBook Pro doesn't have that friction, and it has the software that I need ready immediately. It's familiar (albeit updated) and feels silky-smooth in use. I'm lucky that I could do this.

27 January 2022

(*) In case you're worrying, the Chromebook will go to the eldest once I've power-washed it. That's a ChromeOS term, just to be clear, I'm not planning to get it wet.

Curse of Strahd - S4 Interlude 3 - On the road from Krezk

 

Starting soon after first light, they headed down the road, following the route south from the hill where Krezk sat, then east towards the promised shelter of Vallaki. The woods were unnaturally quiet, most of the time, the peace was only broken by furtive rustles in the undergrowth, like something was following them. Ser Alys and Ser Adon, the half-orc warriors had promised them safety at the end of the road and given them a note of introduction for the Blue Water Inn. They'd almost seemed regretful that they'd led the three of them out from the stygian depths of the library where they had been lost, lacking supplies. 

The cloud was low, with almost no heat in the air. Damp, cold, but fresh. Sound carried; was that a crack of twigs breaking in the forest, or was it just dead leaves or water dripping from the trees. They hurried. Somewhere overhead there was the sound of something large and winged, a warning caw from a crow or a raven. There was a gust of air as if something was close by. And then, to the south, a mournful howl from a wolf, soon answered by others on both sides of the road. They gathered pace, almost running, nervous, hands clutching weapons ready to fight. Out of the mist, the Old Svalich Road twisted round a corner. They were definitely being followed.

Another gust, then soft leaves falling from the sky. A howl. One of them stumbled and as they caught their balance, they realised that it wasn't a leaf, after all, it was a piece of paper. Grabbed up, they started into a trot, and it was only as they crossed the bridge in the road before Vallaki that they took the time to look at the paper and read what was on it. Breath ragged, chests heaving, sanctuary in sight, looming from the mists. And then another howl, close behind. They ran, full tilt. Paper dropped to the floor, discarded in panic. Trampled on moments later by something pursuing, the paper flipped over, revealing the writing upon it.

Come to the Carnival!

COME and CELEBRATE!

Come and have fun!

A proper family celebration, not a forced one!

See the shows!

Visit the market!

Come to the CARNIVAL! 

Back for the first time in years.

In the distance, the haunting noise of a Calliope lifted above the silent woods and the sound of running, snarls and howls.

GM Note - a bit of an unplanned hiatus, but hopefully we're back now

24 January 2022

First Impressions - Elder Oak (B/X Old School Roleplaying Adventure)

An impressive first release.

Elder Oak is an adventure module released by Tuomas Vauhkonen. It's an impressive first release and you can get an A5 zine version from Exalted Funeral or the PDF off Itch.io. The module is 26-pages long and full colour throughout (although it's a pallet of browns and grey/greens). The layout is clear and well constructed. It uses bold to draw out key points, there's no read-aloud text and it is typo-free. The artwork and layout are all by the author and are excellent. There are a few public domain images.

TL;DR: Elder Oak is a fun investigative scenario dealing with the past sins of a community, where a wrong step could result in the village starting to tear itself apart even without the threat of the mysterious attackers. The characters are likely to be left with some dilemmas, and perhaps fending off offers of marriage and support if they want to stay.

The set-up for the scenario, which is aimed at low-level characters is that they arrive at a remote village that is in trouble, having been raided several times by small strange folk. The characters will be asked to help, and thus they are drawn into the events set entrain by the local Preacher when he arrived some forty years previously with his firebrand faith and anger. Everyone in the village has a secret they are ashamed of, secrets that could tear their lives and the village apart.

The players will have to have their characters interact with the inhabitants, explore and discover what is really going on. Smart play will be needed for some elements, and there are dangerous threats that could easily kill characters if they aren't smart.

spoiler break

First Impressions - Xanadu (weird-fantasy adventure for OSE) - spoilers

Xanadu, complete with 8-bit art vibe.

Written by Vasili Kaliman, Xanadu is a 38-page weird-fantasy adventure for Old-School Essentials (so B/X D&D) published in zine format at high-quality levels. The artwork has a distinctive 8-bit flavour and in some ways, it reminds me of older text adventures like the Temple of Aphsai, which I used to play on my TRS-80 clone (a Video Genie). Cartography is by Dyson Logos. It is aimed at characters of Levels 2 to 3.

TL;DR: This is a great adventure; it is dangerous, clever and has some excellent challenges. It's also likely to be very lethal if the players take straight-line solutions and ignore environmental clues. Its layout and construction are excellent. Xanadu is definitely on my list of scenarios to run as a one-shot. Recommended.

It is an exemplar of good design, with brevity to the text that remains evocative, and bold text used to highlight important elements to the Dungeon Master. There is no 'read-aloud' text but the information presented is enough for a succinct summary to be produced on the spot. Stat blocks are pulled out distinctively (shades of D&D 5e). It is rightfully held up within OSR circles as a good example of how to write an adventure. Even if you don't write D&D material, it's definitely worth looking at books like this and the core OSE adventures and how they present information succinctly and helpfully.

The adventure has the characters exploring a temple, which has suffered from a terrible event. The setting is deliberately vague and here are a variety of suggested adventure hooks, and random tables to generate some background about why the cult had its temple there. The adventure doesn't have random encounters (it's suggested that the DM adds their own if they feel they're needed, for example, if the players are starting to go really slowly). It also doesn't have random gold and valuables, just suggesting that they are added on the fly in response to the actions of the players. This I'm less sure of as character progression is built around the acquisition of treasure in B/X and OSE.

spoiler break

Game Pitches for Revelation 2022

The Furnace - City of Mist

Someone is aggressively pushing a new drug on the streets of the City, a drug that apparently makes your wishes come true. Marketed as "Candy", the rumours swirl around town. What will your crew do to protect your neighbourhood from the spread of this narcotic, which seems to affect rifts more than most? An Ill-fated case of sweet temptations and stolen dreams.

5 players, Slot 3
Tags: Adult themes, Noir, Marvel Netflix level supers, drugs, myths, fairy tales

It started out with a kiss... how did it end up like this? - Impulse Drive

Heiress Jacinta Almánzar has disappeared and her family want her back. They suspect that she's been kidnapped so have posted a bounty on her recovery. You have a ship, and debts to pay, so a recovery mission for a missing socialite seems a perfect opportunity, especially when the family are so desperate that they'll cover reasonable expenses. How long can you string this out and help your bank account while making sure no one else gets there first?

Slot 5, 5 players
Tags: Adult themes, SF

Revelation, the Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark convention is happening on 26th and 27th February 2022 and registration is still open. The scenarios above are my pitches.

More details here: http://revelationgames.org.uk/

2 January 2022

Books in 2021

 

The year's over and so is Goodread's reading challenge. I read a bit less in page count this year (20,000 vs 22,000) but that reflects the fact that I've read a lot more RPG material than previous years. I read or listened to 91 books against a target of 52 (one per week); that's slightly up on 2020, partly driven by the Blade Runner graphic novels I discovered at the end of the year.

The ratings I've given books seem to be consistent (same average) between years.

***** Excellent book, would recommend and want to read again

**** Good book, would reread, and enjoyed

*** Decent book, probably won't reread

** I don't like this book

* Awful

I've been remiss and not been posting updates each month as I usually do- if you want to see what I've read you can find it here.

Favourite books for the year were 'A Memory Called Empire' by Arkady Martine and 'Inhibitor Phase' by Alastair Reynolds. 

The saddest read of the year was 'Silverview' by John le Carre, as it is the last new book that I'll ever read from him, one of my favourite authors since I was a teenager.

I seem to have focussed on series or specific authors this year; Kevin Wignall, David Young, Neal Asher and Tom Bradby made up a good part of my total reading.

I've set myself a target of 52 for the year again. 

1 January 2021

Most Played Music from 2021

For the last few years, I've set up a smart playlist on my iTunes account which lists the top 25 tracks played from the releases in a particular year. This stays live and updates as I play more, so it seems a good day to share the outcome.

There are seven different artists on the list; in order of where their tracks appear (highest place first) they are:

1. Public Service Broadcasting (3)
2. Marillion (3)
3. Maximo Park (5)
4. CHVRCHES (7)
5. Faithless (1)
6. The Killers (4)
7. Bear McCreary (2)

Maximo Park is the earliest release in this list (with the album Nature Always Wins) and Marillion the last (Be Hard on Yourself). The CHVRCHES album (Screen Violence) is incredibly catchy and went on repeat a fair bit. The single entry from Faithless was a remix of last year's I need someone, which was one of my favourite tracks from their 2020 album. The Killer's tracks all come from Pressure Machine, which was their muted and introspective release this year, with shades of Springsteen. Bear McCreary's entries come from the soundtrack for Foundation, which is truly excellent.

The most played track overall was People, Let's Dance by Public Service Broadcasting. This comes from their album Bright Magic, which takes Berlin as its focus and moves further away from their trademark approach of stringing samples together with catchy music. It's a fantastic album.

I absolutely love the Marillion release, but it steps outside this as it is the first track from the album An Hour Before It's Dark which comes out at the start of March 2022. The three parts of the track took 2nd through 4th place.

If I had to pick one album for the year, it would probably be the CHVRCHES one, by a whisker, over Public Service Broadcasting but that could easily change with my mood. CHVRCHES is darkly upbeat, and PSB is catchy and introspective.

What were your most played, and what do you love about them?

1 January 2022