Ah. Good to know, I may suggest that my wife when next she comes asking for gift ideas. Thank you.

I read pic threads for the comments and the excitement in this thread is pretty cool.. and sometimes I can actually comment on something.

I bought my dad a Bag of Holding for Father's Day aND he loves it and uses it for everything. He says that the added benefit of carrying it is that when someone recognizes it, it's a ping on his Nerdar... Geekdar? We're torn on the actual name for it but whatever you call it, it works.

Yes it is extremely sturdy. It should be able to hold all 3 cores no problem, plus extras.

You’re going to need something more substantial if you want to try to carry all the books published so far. I use this one: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/410409/Ativa-Mobil-IT-Rolling-Briefcase-Ultimate/

You’re going to need something more substantial if you want to try to carry all the books published so far. I use this one: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/410409/Ativa-Mobil-IT-Rolling-Briefcase-Ultimate/

If I am carrying that many books, I use an old milk crate. Landlord in college worked for Borden, and let us have some of his older ones he had stored in his storage shed. Guess these are antique crates now... at least if they were a car...

If I am carrying that many books, I use an old milk crate. Landlord in college worked for Borden, and let us have some of his older ones he had stored in his storage shed. Guess these are antique crates now... at least if they were a car...

Milk Crates are a good solution. They’re stackable, and you can always put them on a collapsible two-wheel cart. The thing I have is not stackable, and although you can collapse the handle, you can’t remove that entire piece. Milk crates are also very sturdy.

But I don’t have any milk crates, nor do I know of any good solutions to get them. So, I use the best thing that I can get.

You’re going to need something more substantial if you want to try to carry all the books published so far. I use this one: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/410409/Ativa-Mobil-IT-Rolling-Briefcase-Ultimate/

As the books keep coming, nothing short of a forklift and a delivery van will work.

I thought about combining something like a 1x3 kallax ikea shelf with a set of handtrucks. Put a back on it and a front door that can swing all the way open to fold along one side. and can close with a latch. Put foam in the back and on the front door to protect the books from moving too much and slamming around.

I've thought about this a lot. Just a rolling portable bookcase.

This is the primary reason why I host games at my house. Long ago I realized I had too much stuff to take the show on the road.

And, another Traveller session down, two more to go.

Then, hopefully, a short break followed by a bunch of Star Wars!!!

Thanks for sharing! I love seeing pics of our hobby in use. I have some threads of my play area in this forum somewhere. Maybe next time we all get together I will see about getting a nice group photo of us! And then I can be like "Behold my awesomeness of baldness!!!"

Keep up the great work! Looks like you guys are having a blast!

Thanks!

I just picked up another landspeeder from the Disney Store at the local mall. They are now marked at 40% off, which makes them $2.39 before tax.

Where did you get that bag? That's something I would love to transport my stuff.

I've got a laptop bag that's pretty sturdy and of the right size to carry all the books... but then I only play EotE and not the rest.
I'd imagine I'll have to get a wheelbarrow to carry all the books if I get AoR and FaD as well, with their sourcebooks.

This is the setup for my soon to be ending Traveller game. I sit at left, with a laptop connected to the big screen tv showing the Travellermap website (for navigation purposes). The four players sit around the room in the various chairs, etc. How much of this arrangement I'll keep for Star Wars has yet to be determined. I'm seriously thinking of doing this unplugged, so I won't need the laptop nor the big screen tv.

That is a good setup, but you'll most definitely want to do it unplugged. The Galaxy map is too small (one thing I really wish FFG would learn from Paizo's Pathfinder) and doesn't come into play often enough. With range bands a whiteboard is usually better anyway. And using X-Wing ships for starship combat is a lot of fun (just don't get bogged down in the rules for X-Wing). But that's my personal opinion.

Curse you... you made me have a creative thought though...

I could setup a monitor like that and use my action figures to provide a cinematic look at combat (with the camera focused on a table on the other side of the room or underneath a table... oooooh... coffee table with a card table over it). Showcase a cinematic aspect for combat reveal... and it would be hard to tell how far things were so range bands would be awesome. Ok, so... now... I'm not sure how to say to do this. I won't be doing this in my current campaign, but if I ever start a new one, I might just use that...

Last night my players managed to avoid the starship battle that would have led them to the climatic endgame of our Traveller campaign. That means one final week of Traveller, and then Star Wars begins some time toward the end of August.

And so ends our Traveller campaign. It was fun, and I'll tip my hat to the players for holding close to their roles. I tried luring them into situations where the odds were stacked dangerously in my favor, but instead of being big darned heroes trying to take out the bad guys, they grabbed all the money they could and ran. In all the years I've run Traveller, I can safely say this was the most callous group of adventurers I have ever seen. Now that I think about it, this may have been the most callous group I've seen period, including every group of D&D murder-hobos I've ever had the pleasure to DM.

So, Star Wars should be an interesting follow-up game. My goal is to set the up with a chance to do good, starting them out with their choice of Edge of the Empire or Force and Destiny characters, with the notion that sooner or later they take up the cause to help the Rebel Alliance.

More to follow...

Okay you talked about the game.

but how was the IPA?!

P.S. Hopefully they had fun. I hear Traveler can be deadly.

That IPA was quite good. The one in the background - 2XIPA - was pretty good, too. But the winner that evening, for me at least, was the Suburban Almond Smash soda there on the right. Back in the '70s, when I was a kid, my parents would get that quite often. It disappeared sometime in the '90s, but through some distortion of the time/space continuum, bottles of it show up once in a blue moon at a local gas station convenience store. When this happens, I don't question it; I just buy as many bottles as I can.

Yes, Traveller can be deadly. This particular story began with them landing at a starport that was modeled on the inn run by the Bloody Benders. Given the setup, I think it needless to say it began as one of the bloodiest games I have ever run. That took them by surprise, but I also think it may have set the tone a little too dark, which led to the callous behavior I mentioned above.

I always try my best to make it fun, but I realize part of the experience lies with them. It's a give and take. In any case, at least one of them thanked me for a fun session along the way, so I'm happy.

The Friday night group and I will finally be starting our game this Friday evening. Even though half of the group will be out (my wife will be camping with the kids, and another player will be at DragonCon), the remaining two players and I will take the time to make PCs, and do a few encounters.

Make sure you have more beer on hand. And have fun playing the game, I guess.

Fun was had. We spent about 3 and a half hours making characters. Neither was familiar with character creation, so we took our time. One of the players bought Edge of the Empire (and Force and Destiny, too), so that did help speed things up.

They ended up with a Trandoshan Hired Gun/Heavy and a Twi'lek Explorer/Fringer. The Trandoshan is the obvious tank of the bunch. He pumped a bunch of points into brawn and agility, and decided to forego talents, with the thought he can pick them up during play. The Twi'lek, on the other hand, went with almost no combat skills. I think she picked up Ranged Light as an out of career, and that was it. Given her career, I guess she plans on being the group's pilot and navigator.

Since both of these players have played the group's medic recently (in Traveller, and GURPS Infinite Worlds), neither went for any medic skill. My wife played the cleric in our D&D5 game, so she has no interest in that duty again. In fact, she seems to be leaning toward making a rebel spy of some sort. However, I don't have Age of Rebellion, so that might prove difficult, though the character concept she has in mind could easily fit a career other than Spy.

Our fourth player is, as I mentioned, at DragonCon. Should they decide they need a medic, I guess it is his turn. Though I will point out he isn't obligated to take that role, nor is anyone else. Should it come to that, it gives me an in with an NPC medic droid.

And now, a pic from actual play. After character creation, we had about an hour left in the evening, so I ran them through a short combat. Their characters were walking back to the starport, when they were threatened by some street toughs. The Twi'lek tried charming their way past the thugs, but it didn't work. Weapons were drawn, and the PCs gained initiative.

Combat lasted about four or five rounds, and there was the normal confusion associated with the "what the heck does that symbol mean", but I found my cheat sheets and handed them out, so that smoothed things over. The minions focused on the Trandoshan, dealing him close to half his wounds during the course of the encounter. The players managed to take the minions from three down to one, and at which point the minions rolled a despair, running out of ammo.

The Trandoshan has a vibro-greatsword, and I knew he wanted to try it out, so the obvious move from the player's perspective was to charge the remaining minion and cleave him from head to toe. Which he did. Ouch. That's one mean weapon. He did enough damage to finish the minion, and a crit, too.

Here we see the aftermath. The Twi'lek (a Disney mini) and the Trandoshan (a WotC mini) standing over the bodies of the minions. Tiles are from a D&D set, the Deserts of Athas, I think it was called.

Suffice to say, I think they are sold on the system. The guy playing the Twi'lek might take some more convincing. He thought it odd that one could miss, but still get an advantage. I tried to convey to him the "story-telling" aspect of the dice, and I think he bought in at that point.

Next week, hopefully I'll add another player, and the week after, hopefully we'll be playing for real.

Love the Hera fig. And the D&D dungeon tiles.

Thanks. I have a ton of tiles, so I plan on using them for Star Wars when I need to. The Hera figure is from a pack of random figures that Disney sells in some of their gift shops. I think this came from a pack the kids got in the Star Tours gift shop. In hindsight, I should have bought more... to keep for myself.