Khelp's recent activity

  1. Comment on Modern board games and tabletop - Some of my favorite 'starter' games in ~games.tabletop

    Khelp
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    Sure thing! I'll go ahead and edit the post to include that information for you, that's a good suggestion. Edit: Done!

    Sure thing! I'll go ahead and edit the post to include that information for you, that's a good suggestion.

    Edit: Done!

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Any boardgamers here? What games are you in love right now? in ~games.tabletop

    Khelp
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    In terms of recent additions, we recently go the 'Cities of Splendor' expansion for the base game which adds some interesting, optional variety to an already great game, as well as the 3rd...

    In terms of recent additions, we recently go the 'Cities of Splendor' expansion for the base game which adds some interesting, optional variety to an already great game, as well as the 3rd Expansion for Red Dragon Inn. We also recently picked up a copy of Codenames, which is a sort of word suggestion game, and rather fun. I also picked up another copy of Set, having given my old one to my young nieces. We have also recently started expanding our collection of mini/micro games with some recent additions being: Kittens in a blender (Cutesy, kinda simple but can be fun with the right group), We Didn't Play Test This (Sporadic and random card game, somewhat limited replayability it seems) Love letter, and the Settlers of Catan dice game.

    Regarding other games I've had for a while but still love - Betrayal as others have said is fantastic, as is Splendor. Forbidden Desert/Island are some of my favorite Co-Op board games if you're into that sort of collaborative thing. My personal favorite game right now though is Hive, I've been playing it with my girlfriend and it just gets more and more interesting as we improve.

  3. Comment on Modern board games and tabletop - Some of my favorite 'starter' games in ~games.tabletop

    Khelp
    Link Parent
    Ah, good call there, I'll head right over and post some thoughts in that one as well!

    Ah, good call there, I'll head right over and post some thoughts in that one as well!

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Modern board games and tabletop - Some of my favorite 'starter' games in ~games.tabletop

    Khelp
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I kinda figured as much - everyone likes different stuff, but these are some of my personal favorites. I characterize Tokaido as somewhat noncompetitive (Not outright co-op like forbidden...

    Yeah, I kinda figured as much - everyone likes different stuff, but these are some of my personal favorites. I characterize Tokaido as somewhat noncompetitive (Not outright co-op like forbidden desert/island etc) because most of the games I've played of it, players focus more on maximizing their score rather than minimizing others'. It's pretty rare that someone will take an action only out of spite or to block another player in my experience with this game. I do definitely agree that it's a very pretty game with a very high quality feel to the board and all of the pieces.

    If you disagree though - what would you suggest as alternatives for new players? What are some of your favorites, personally? What about some games for other enthusiasts who might not be scared off by a slightly higher price, or complicated rules/gameplay?

    Mostly I just wanted to start a conversation and introduce people to the idea that board games aren't just monopoly anymore, and maybe find some new games to try myeslf.

    4 votes

  5. Modern board games and tabletop - Some of my favorite 'starter' games

    ~games.tabletop Text 1965 words
    Hello Tildes, one common thread that I've noticed in a lot of the threads I've been browsing under ~hobbies and ~creative is that it seems like a lot of folks are looking for new hobbies and...

    Hello Tildes, one common thread that I've noticed in a lot of the threads I've been browsing under ~hobbies and ~creative is that it seems like a lot of folks are looking for new hobbies and things to get into.

    To that end one great hobby I've picked up somewhat recently is playing and collecting board games. To some of you, the term 'board game' likely inspires thoughts of old school board games like you may have played in your youth (Clue, Connect 4, Shoots N Ladders, Monopoly, Stratego) "Modern" board games can certainly still be as simple as some of those, but we are actually in a sort of second golden age for board games right now.

    What I mean by the above statement is that quite recently (the last 5 years or so) Tabletop and board games have really become popular again, to the point where if you live in a major city there are most likely several places to buy games, and likely even a couple of places you can go to just hang out and play games that belong to the store. Between that, and the popularity of things like Wil Wheaton's TableTop on Youtube, both major game companies as well as small independent folks are creating more and arguably better games than ever in the past.

    Now - to the actual subject of the post title. The games I'll list below vary from things most people have heard of or played (Cards Against Humanity) to somewhat obscure, but they should all be pretty easy to find, and very easy to pick up and get into. I'll try to include as much relevant information for each of them (Price, Number of players, Game type etc) and a brief description of what the game is like to play.

    If anyone has any other suggestions to contribute please do - One of the best parts of the hobby is the community aspect and finding new games to play.

    Let's start with something popular, but not quite ubiquitous yet -
    Cards Against Humanity: (3-Unlimited(?) players, $25 Base game + Expansions, Play time Varies based on player count and house rules, ~1hr is a safe bet, but can be made shorter or longer by adjusting rules)
    Cards against humanity is a NSFW card game described as 'a party game for horrible people' on the box, which is pretty accurate. Gameplay consists of one player (The judge) playing a black card from the top of a deck with a sentence on it such as "I drink to forget ______" after which the rest of the players will play a white card with things like "My ex-wife" or "Random Erections" or "A bigger, blacker dick" written on them. Once all of the players have played their white cards, they are shuffled, read aloud, and the "Judge" decides which of the white cards is their favorite, awarding a point to the player that played that white card. This is a great icebreaker game because it pretty much forces everyone to get outside of their comfort zone and get weird with it. There are many expansion packs, which are generally themed, but some are just general. These include more cards to keep things fresh after you've played through the originals too many times. - Note: Not recommended for Family Game Night.

    Cthulu Dice (3-Unlimited(?) players, $11, Play time ~5-10 minutes):
    Cthulu dice is what is called a "micro-game" it consists of just a single plastic (or metal, if you want to dent your table) die with some symbols on it. It's a variant of the old "put and take" game with a bit of a cthulu twist to it, this kind of game is great because it's simple, portable, can be taught to new players in minutes, and also makes a great drinking game. You can also add house rules or look up other variants to keep things fresh

    Next up - Dixit (3-6 Players, $30 base game plus standalone expansions, Play time ~30-45 Minutes):
    The gameplay of Dixit is somewhat similar to Cards Against Humanity with one player acting as a judge, but from there things get different and rather interesting. Whereas Cards Against Humanity has cards with absurd, obscure, or obscene sentences or words, Dixit has cards with pictures on them. The pictures are generally bizarre, surreal, and kind of whimsical art (Like these examples: https://i.imgur.com/VHtISAZ.png). The way the game is played is the "Judge" player will select a card from their hand and say a single word or phrase that describes something about the picture on the card (It could be a color, an object in the picture, the way the picture makes you feel, what the picture makes you think of, anything that makes sense really) and then plays the card face down. The other players then try to select a card from their hand that matches the judges phrase as best they can in order to fool the other players into picking their card instead of the judges. Once all players have played their face down cards, they are laid out and all players vote on which card they think is the original one played by the Judge, Points are handed out accordingly. Similar to Cards Against humanity, the expansions for this game are additional packs of cards, often following some loose theme to freshen up the game. Most of the expansions contain enough cards that they could be used to play the game standalone. This is a great game to play with people of any age or maturity, it can be as clean or as dirty as the people playing the game but is just generally always a good time.

    For the next few games, the actual mechanics of gameplay can get pretty complex, and so rather than explain what the gameplay is like, I'll just link a relevant episode of TableTop for anyone who is interested enough to check them out.

    Red Dragon Inn (2-4 Players, $35 Plus Expansions, Play time ~30-60 Minutes) Unfortunately, no TableTop of this one, I can expand if there's interest:
    Red Dragon Inn is a game about what the adventurers from DnD do during their 'long rests' at the inn. It's intended to be a drinking game, with players assuming the roles of characters at the inn ( The base game comes with a Wizard, a Rogue, a Priestess, and Warrior ) and are given decks of cards containing context-sensitive actions and abilities. The goal of the game is to be the last person at the inn that isn't broke or passed out from injury or alcohol. The three main resources tracked are a characters health, sobriety, and coins and various cards can affect each of these in various ways. There's also a gambling mini-game that is a lot of fun. The expansions come in 2 types, main releases which consist of 4 new characters (later ones, 4+ seem not to work as well with the earlier ones, and may do better as standalones) as well as single character decks that aren't included in any of the main releases.

    Tokaido(2-5 Players 3+ preferable, $30 + Expansion, Play time ~45-60 Minutes):
    Tabletop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipFRzGYgdk

    Tokaido is a bit different than the rest of the games on this list so far in that it isn't explicitly competitive. At its' core, Tokaido is a game about seeing who can have the best vacation. Each player assumes the role of a different traveler (each with their own benefits and abilities) and proceeds on their way, trying to stop at the different available locations in such a way that they end the game with the most points (how points are scored is kinda complex, Watch the TableTop for this) but it tends to be a nice, low stress game as there's few ways to really 'attack' other players. There is currently one expansion out for it which introduces some new mechanics and does a good job of freshening up the game for players who have had it a while.

    The Resistance/Avalon/Werewolf/Mafia and similar games (Many players, ~$15, Price varies, Play time ~30 minutes, depending on the variant):
    Tabletop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QRczGzXqw

    The Resistance and similar are games about lying to your friends and trying to convince them that you are somebody that you're not. Or maybe they're games about telling the truth and trying to get people to believe you, that all really depends on the cards you draw. These are some of my favorite party games to play in a big group because it can really show you who among your friends has the best poker face. Games tend to go pretty quick so when a player is eliminated it's generally not a big deal (this can sometimes not be the case if the group is way large). Of the different variants I've played, Avalon is my personal favorite of the different variants due to the interesting mechanics that the additional roles bring to the table in this one.

    Finally - Betrayal at the house on the hill (3-6 Players, more is better, $35 plus expansions, Play time ~60+ minutes )
    Tabletop (Part 1 of 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MINNKyE4fjs

    Betrayal is my go-to example of how great a modern board game can be. It's a moderately complex game, but don't let that scare you off - after you play it once you'll get it just fine, and setup is relatively quick and easy compared to a lot of the other sort of "DnD Lite" games that exist (Lookin at you here, Arkham Horror!). The game consists of players exploring rooms in a spooky house, building out the map as they go from a stack of game tiles with rooms on them. The rooms will have different effects and trigger different types of events as the players explore through the house collecting items and discovering 'omens'. These 'omens' tie into the whole point of the game implied in the title, the "Betrayal". What this translates to in real terms is that for the first half of the game, all of the player characters are cooperating, trying to help each other get as many useful items and to position themselves in the house in such a way that when one of the other players inevitably fails the 'omen' check and triggers the 'haunt' and begins the second half of the game that the non-betrayers can survive and/or escape. Survive and/or escape what you might ask? That is one of my favorite parts about this game, in the base version there are over 50 different scenarios depending on a bunch of different factors. These scenarios can be everything from demonic possession, ghosts, werewolves, 'the blob' and many other creatures, monsters, and horrific situations and do an absolutely fantastic job of giving the base game a TON of replayability. On top of that, they released an expansion for the first game (Widow's Walk) which introduced even MORE scenarios, as well as new rooms and an entirely new floor to the house, as well as Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, which has similar gameplay but takes place in that universe.

    I could really keep going all day, but I think this post has gotten well long enough. Let me know in the comments what games you guys play and love, or if you want to hear about some other kinds of games (There are too many to think about even coming close to touching on all of them: Deck building games, Dice building games, Pandemic-like games, Classics like Catan, Ticket to Ride, Dominion, Milles Borne etc etc etc)

    11 votes

  6. Comment on Leathercraft - Tools of the trade! in ~creative

    Khelp
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    In regards to the cost of leather itself, it really depends. I'm still a hobbyist, and don't really sell things much so the overall 'grade' of the hide (Whether it is free of defects such as...

    In regards to the cost of leather itself, it really depends. I'm still a hobbyist, and don't really sell things much so the overall 'grade' of the hide (Whether it is free of defects such as scars, range marks, brands etc) Doesn't matter that much, as long as the dye is consistent. I generally make small stuff like wallets, pouches, and slips so it's pretty easy to cut around larger or more obvious defects for the most part. I've honestly only very recently purchased my first couple of more expensive (~$200) hides because I've had such great luck buying cheap hides from Maverick (Horween seconds, especially but they frequently have good sale prices on some other stuff), and if you follow Acadia leather on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/acadialeather/?hl=en) they run flash sales almost every day on a wide variety of (generally chrome-tanned) hides that are generally very good quality and consistency.

    If you want to work with exotic materials like croc or something like Shell Cordovan or specific leather from a given tannery (Walpier Buttero, or Badalassi Carlo Minerva Box and pueblo, or Waprolux, the material can definitely get very expensive very fast, but there's little need to jump to something like these right out of the gate (Or for quite a while after, IMO)

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Leathercraft - Tools of the trade! in ~creative

    Khelp
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    The cost of entry to the hobby can vary pretty significantly depending on what exactly you hope to make, and how nice you want your tools and materials to be. Like I said at the start of the post,...

    The cost of entry to the hobby can vary pretty significantly depending on what exactly you hope to make, and how nice you want your tools and materials to be. Like I said at the start of the post, some of my most used tools are things that aren't necessarily leather specific, so a things like a rubber mallet or dead blow hammer, a good cork-backed ruler and either a utility knife or X-acto blade for cutting things out may already be laying around.

    As far as leather specific tools, I would advise steering clear of Craftool/Tandy tools for the most part, as their quality is generally quite mediocre for the price. You can certainly start to learn the basics of saddle stitching with little more than the above mentioned stuff, a creaser, a cheap set of chisels, some needles and thread, but as you progress and learn more about improving and refining your work, things like beveled edges and creasing start to matter much more and that's where things start to add up.

    In regards to the cost of leather goods, that exists for a few reasons, first as you mentioned the expertise and time required definitely drive the cost well up for most handmade leather goods, as well as the material costs associated, depending on what is being used. My theory in general though, is that leather goods are made to appeal to people who are interested in "rugged" or "Luxury" goods. The former are willing to pay more for something that will (Read: should, if materials and construction are on point) last for a very long time, without necessarily being concerned with overall "refinement". The latter are interested in status symbols in a nontraditional kind of way. Frequently such goods will utilize "exotic" materials like elephant, ostrich, crocodile, or ray skin, which all present their own unique challenges to work with in additional to significant upfront material costs. To both groups of people - they are considered investment pieces, something you buy once and cry once over in the case of the former, and something to one-up Mr. Jones and his new LV wallet to the latter.

    Regarding an Etsy, I haven't set up a shop for my stuff just yet as this is still very much just a hobby for me, but here's an album of some random recent stuff I've done: https://imgur.com/a/COEqP9X

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Leathercraft - Tools of the trade! in ~creative

    Khelp
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    https://i.imgur.com/4tczjmx.png Shown here is a typical layout of tools used when working with leather mostly to make small goods. I'm quite new to Tildes, but I haven't seen much content here...

    https://i.imgur.com/4tczjmx.png

    Shown here is a typical layout of tools used when working with leather mostly to make small goods. I'm quite new to Tildes, but I haven't seen much content here related to this particular craft.

    When working with leather, some of the tools used are commonly found in your average household (Hammer, xacto/utility knife, ruler, scissors) and many that are specialized, used only (or largely) for leather work. Below I'll go into some detail about what each numbered item is, and what it's used for.

    1. Spreader - This is a thin plastic spreader, primarily used for applying glue in a thin, uniform layer

    2. Aquilim - This is a water based, thin viscosity glue which dries clear. Generally it is applied, given some time to get tacky, then pressed together with another coated piece which it will then adhere to, very tightly.

    3. Seiwa Glue - Another water based, but thicker viscosity glue. Used similarly to Aquilim, but with less propensity for running or getting squeezed out of edges.

    4. Seiwa Tokonole - This is a burnishing compound, similar to gum tragacanth. It's used to make it easier to create smooth, slick edges by applying some compound followed by friction - typically using a shaped piece of wood (Burnishing stick), a canvas rag (my preferred method) or really anything else that will get it heated up.

    5. Layout guide - this was made for me by a fellow on the /r/leathercraft discord. It's used to approximate stitch spacing in the middle of a line - to close up gaps between two areas where the stitch holes have been made mostly.

    6. Precision ruler - A small 6" ruler from GEI, marked in both MM and inches. Pretty self explanatory. I glued a thin backing layer on mine to prevent it from moving around

    7. Indicated dividers - This is a pair of dividers with marks indicating up to 20mm for quick and easy small measurements or marking

    8. Starrett dividers - More robust pair of unmarked dividers, used for marking and measuring - Precisely.

    9. Bone Folder - This is a smoothed over piece of acrylic (traditionally made of bone as the name would imply) used for creasing over folds and slicking out scratches or mistakes.

    10. Barry King Edge Beveler - Made by Barry King Tools, this is used to create a bevel, rounding off sharp corners or burrs from sanding on the grain side of leather. This is useful for edge finishing mostly

    11. Kevin Lee french skiver - This tool is used for removing thin layers of leather from the back of a piece in order to thin it out. This is done so that the edges of things with many layers of relatively thick leather don't end up super thick, as well as for many other reasons.

    12. Osbourne Creaser - This tool is used to make a creased line a set distance from the edge of a work piece, in the case of this one the crease is made roughly 1.5mm away from the edge. This creased line is then often used as a guide for stitches, or just decoration.

    13. PaloSanto Awl - This is my favorite awl, with a handle made of lignum vitae and shaped so that the awl can be held while stitching. An awl is used in conjunction with pricking irons (more on those soon) or a pricking wheel. The irons or wheel are used to 'prick' holes in the surface of the leather, which are then gone over with the awl and pierced through all the way.

    14. Kevin Lee and KS Blade Punch Irons - These are my main sets of chisels/irons - the difference is that chisels (the Stainless Steel Kevin Lee ones) are designed to be hammered all the way through the piece, whereas Irons like the black KS Blade Punch ones are intended to just mark the hole that will later be pierced using an awl. The general purpose of both tools remains largely similar - to mark or create the holes used for stitching.

    15. Armytek Wizard Pro - This is my headlamp/work light. It runs on a rechargeable battery and allows me to work around the awful lighting in my room. The strap is also removable, and the light has a magnet in the tail cap which allows it to be placed down, used as a work light and moved around as necessary.

    16. glass slicker - this is a piece of glass with rounded edges that have been given a very slick texture. This is used for smoothing things out to remove wrinkles/creases, pressing things down after gluing to ensure an even surface finish, and the flat surfaces can be used to skive on in a pinch (You want a surface that is as flat as possible to skive on, but this is sort of small for that)

    17. Wax and Canvas - This is a puck made from a mix of beeswax and paraffin, used for coating un-waxed or lightly waxed threads to keep them from tangling or suffering from abrasion while stitching, but this is mostly only necessary for linen thread. The Canvas here is just used to remove excess wax from the thread.

    18. John James Harness Needles - These are small, blunt-tipped needles that are used for the actual stitching, the type and size used depends on the size of thread and thickness of the leather

    19. Thread - These spools are all Linen thread sold by RMLeathersupply, nothing super interesting or special here really.

    20. Scissors - These are actually curved scissors, intended to be used for trimming fingernails. I use these for trimming thread flush, or cutting any small pieces that are best addressed using scissors, but many people have their own preferences for this.

    21. Utility Knife - Just a plain Milwaukee utility knife, I like the Lenox Ti edge blades. This is my go-to knife for cutting out big chunks of leather, or doing anything abusive because of the convenience of being able to ditch the blades the moment they start to get dull. Leather is right up there with cardboard on the list of "Things that wear down blades fast" so the ability to swap blades for this is quite handy

    22. Japanese Skiving Knife - This paint-scraper looking thing is used similarly to the french skiver above for thinning out bits of leather with the added advantage of being a more versatile tool (and cheap). By virtue of being a knife it can also be used instead of the utility knife above and the pattern knife below and many makers get by just fine using only this one knife.

    23. Riven Knife - Made for me by my friend at Riven Knifeworks (https://www.instagram.com/rivenknifeworks/) this is a pattern knife, used for cutting out intricate details, shaping curves, making edges flush and just about any other kind of precision cutting. It's basically an X-acto knife on steroids.

    24. Right Angle Ruler - This is just a basic square ruler from Home Depot, used to make sure my pieces are cut square.

    25. Cutting mat - this is a "gem" self healing cutting mat from YelloTools and is by far superior to most of the typical (olfa, fisker etc) cutting mats in that it will never catch or chip your blades, and won't mark up your work the same way a scratched up hard plastic cutting mat would.

    26. Pencils - These are just a couple of Rotring mechanical pencils, used for drafting and design, as well as sometimes to make marks on unseen parts of projects. The RapidPro has regular black lead in it, the 800 has blue lead for annotation and marking.

    27. Calipers - 8" Mitutoyo Digital Calipers. More precision than I will ever need, but definitely not a tool I could live without.

    If anyone has any questions about how stuff works or what something is, let me know!

    6 votes