Proof of Concept: The Jedi Shadow

A while back I took a look at the progression of my main character from Star Wars the Old Republic and saw what he would looks like in terms of the Star Wars RPG. The last time I did this, it was for Saga Edition. It was kinda fun to convert Dunne, my Jedi Shadow with the Tanking spec, into the game and try to compress his build into 20 set levels.  It was also pretty tricky, as I really had to map out what he took, because with a set end-point I had to be choosy about what he picked up, and when.

Now here we are, in the post-Force & Destiny Beta world, waiting for the core rulebook to release, and I wonder if I could make Dunne given the current rules set.  Would he be as fun to play? Can I get a character that captures the essence, and possibly the effectiveness of a "tanking character" in FFG's game?

I dunno about you, but I'm eager to try it out.

Character Generation

We all have to start somewhere; and Dunne started his adventures on the Jedi "homeworld" of Tython.  A fresh twi'lek just off the shuttle, Dunne had his training robes, a training sword, and a novice grasp of the Force to guide him.  He also has about one-and-a-half twi'leks on a one-twi'lek frame, if you catch my meaning; Dunne was pudgy. We won't hold that against him though.

So the be a tank, Dunne will need a good Brawn score, at least at 3. Jedi Shadows, the Tanking-spec for Consulars, use double-bladed Lightsabers. To use them without penalty, Dunne will need an Agility of 3. Many of Dunne's eventual attacks will be based on Move, which uses the Discipline skill which is a Willpower skill.  So he wants a high Willpower.

With 100 Experience Points from the Twi'lek race, I'll buy Brawn up to 3 for 50 XP (1 to 2, then 2 to 3). Willpower up from 2 to 3 for another 30xp. That leaves me with 20xp remaining, and I need to get that agility up. Thankfully, I can start with a Morality score of 50 and get 10 more xp.  That gives me the 30 I need to get Dunne's Agility to 3 and to remove any penalties caused by the Double-Bladed lightsaber's Unwieldy 3 quality.


Twi'leks get a free rank in Charm or Deception.  Given Dunne's kind nature, I'll take the free skill rank in Charm.  He also gets to remove a Setback die from any skill checks caused by arid or hot environmental effects. That will come in handy as he adventures through Tatooine, Oricon, and any other place with hot environments.

Now I have to choose a career. Looking at the book, I find it funny that my best choice to replicate Dunne's "pre-Advanced Career" state is the Consular career. The Niman Disciple will set up Dunne along a perfect track to becoming the great Jedi Master he will eventually be.  I get free ranks in 3 Career skills and two Specialization skills, so here's what I end up with.


Cool and Discipline will help when he is targeted by certain social attacks, and keep him level-headed.  The Consular storyline is all about unlocking hidden Jedi secrets, so Lore will be a big boon for Dunne.

Starting equipment is easy; Ancient Sword (which uses the Lightsaber skill), Heavy Clothing, a Comlink and a Stimpack almost perfectly mirror what he started with way back when I first made him in December of 2011.

Brawn 3, Agility 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 3, Presence 3
Wound Threshold: 13
Strain Threshold: 14
Soak: 4

Skills: Cool 1, Charm 1, Discipline 2, Knowledge (Lore), Lightsaber 1
Abilities: Desert Dweller (Remove 1 Setback die caused by arid or hot environments from all skill checks), Force Rating 1


Equipment: Ancient Sword (Lightsaber, Range [Engaged], Damage 5, Crit 3), Heavy Clothing (+1 Soak), Comlink, Stimpack

Character Progression

Not a bad starting point.  Now the fun stuff. Dunne's first chunk of XP will be spent to get Move and the upgrades needed to deal damage with it. That's going to be a staple of Dunne's attack options, and one he had very early on in the game.  He'll be picking up more in this tree over time.

Dunne's role in the party will be to be the focus of his enemy's attention, and to combat his foes with a combination of lightsaber and Force attacks. Shadow-tanks are big on deflection or shielding away damage, as opposed to mitigating it with high Soak rolls. Finally, Dunne's Force powers include the ability to smash foes with nearby objects, occasionally Force persuade his way through tough conversations, and disappears from sight to sneak by foes.


Niman Disciple is a solid start to this, as with less than your average session's reward of XP he can get a rank in Parry and Reflect and another point of Strain Threshold from a rank in Grit (boy, will he need that). With the purchase of Niman Disciple, Dunne will now be using his Willpower stat for Lightsaber checks, and it opens up the tree to a bevy of talents he will need.  Dunne will be spending a lot of his XP in this tree, but this tree won't give him everything he needs.

To help beef up his Tanking role, he needs a tree that's going to give him more defensive options and build off the ones he gets through Niman Disciple.  After digging through the book I found a solid choice in the Guardian's Protector spec. Ranks in Grit, Toughened, Parry, and even Reflect will help, plus it gives Dunne access to Body Guard (perfect for a protective tank), Force Protection (which will increase his Soak value if he commits Force dice), and more ranks in Center of Being (Increasing the Crit rating of any attack against him). I can actually take useful talents in the Protector tree while dodging around the ones dedicated to Medicine and Stimpack use, which don't really fit into this concept.  I'll probably also drop ranks into Athletics and Resilience, to take advantage of that better-than-average Brawn score.

Use the Force

Looking through Force powers, Dunne doesn't have many but he does have some good ones. The one he'll put the most points into is Move; to stick with the short-range Shadows have in the MMO, I'll keep his Range upgrades to 1, but I'll buy at least 2 Magnitude and Strength upgrades, as well as the Control upgrade that allows him to pull objects out of secure mounts or opponents hands.

Next is Influence; I see only a little going into that one, to give Dunne his ability to Force Persuade his way through some social challenges. I could see getting one Magnitude upgrade, as I recall him actually using Force Persuade on a pair of individuals at a few points in his story.

Dunne's stealth ability won't be able to translate directly in the FFG system.  For one, he's supposed to be able to disappear to everyone, droids included.  That's simply not possible under the current rules set.  I think the key to mimicking it as close as we can lies in the Misdirect Force power.  With the basic power, a Range Upgrade, and two Magnitude upgrades that should give Dunne the ability to waltz by groups of opponents just like he does in the game.  He just has to watch out for droids in this version.  To get the second Magnitude upgrade, he has to go through the Duration upgrade, which makes sense, allowing him to commit 2 Force dice to keep the effective invisibility going.

Progression

I wonder how close to game progression I can get this.  Let's see how it looks after every 100xp, shall we?

100 earned XP: Move power (Basic power, Range Upgrade, Control-Damage targets), Parry, Nobody's Fool, Reflect, Grit, Niman Technique, Defensive Training, Sense Emotions, Reflect (2nd)

Somewhere in here Dunne gets some better equipment, as well as his double-bladed lightsaber. He'll pick up Armored clothing too.

200 earned XP: Influence power (Basic Power, Control - Emotion/Belief), Move Power (Strength Upgrade, Magnitude Upgrade), Misdirect power (Basic power), Lightsaber 2, Knowledge (Lore) 2, Discipline 3, Lightsaber 3

So far so good, after 200 XP Dunne has a solid base.  He's got a few Force powers that are difficult to use with only 1 Force Die, but not impossible if he's willing to risk some Conflict.  Probably time to get his damage taking ability up, and to push for another Force Rating talent.

300 earned XP: Draw Closer, Center of Being, Improved Center of Being, Force Rating, (Misdirect (Range Upgrade, Duration Upgrade)

I like that Draw Closer pretty much perfectly replicates Dunne's Force Pull from the MMO and combines it with a Lightsaber attack. Sure he has Move, but this is a two-part wallop that just looks fun.

Now that he's got Draw Closer, I'll have Dunne pick up a Dantari crystal, so that if he rolls well with Draw Closer he can use any excess Force Points to recover Strain. Mods for his equipment will be a Damage mod and a Crit Rating reduction mod for the crystal, a Superior Hilt customization for the saber itself, and a superior Armor customization for his armored clothing.

Time to get up Dunne's damage taking ability.

400 earned XP: Protector specialization, Toughened, Body Guard, Grit, Toughened, Force Protection, Center of Being, Heightened Awareness, Misdirect (Magnitude upgrade)

500 earned XP: Force Assault, Dedication (Willpower), Grit, Parry, Parry, Resilience 1

So after 500 XP, Dunne looks like this...

Brawn 3, Agility 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 4, Presence 3
Wound Threshold: 17
Strain Threshold: 17
Soak: 5
Defense: 2/1

Skills: Cool 1, Charm 1, Discipline 3, Knowledge (Lore) 2, Lightsaber 3, Resilience 1
Abilities: Desert Dweller (Remove 1 Setback die caused by arid or hot environments from all skill checks), Force Rating 2, Influence (Basic Power, Control Emotion/Belief), Misdirect (Basic Power, Range 1, Duration 1, Magnitude 1), Move (Basic power, Magnitude 1, Strength 1, Range 1, Control - Hurl)

Talents: Body Guard, Center of Being 2, Improved Center of Being, Dedication, Defensive Training, Draw Closer, Force Assault, Grit 3, Heightened Awareness, Niman Technique, Nobody's Fool, Parry 3, Reflect 2, Sense Emotions, Toughened 2


Equipment: Double-Bladed Lightsaber (Lightsaber, Range [Engaged], Damage 9, Crit 1, Breach 1, Linked 1, Sunder, Superior, Unwieldy 3), Armored Clothing (+2 Soak, Defense 1, Superior), Comlink, 4 Stimpacks


Wow, not bad.  The next 50 xp would get Dunne another Dedication talent (Willpower to 5) and another Force Rating. He could also use some more points into Move to round out his ability to smash targets with objects.

If I wanted to get another specialization (and right now, I'm not sure I do), I'd look at Seer or Sage.  Dunne is still a Consular, and his proficiency in the Force is a big part of his story. A higher Force Rating would also allow him to still have a good Force die pool when he has a few of his dice committed to other Force effects.  Looking at the Sage spec, I don't find a lot of abilities that fit Dunne's style.  I do find a bunch of talents that are useful to this spec over in the Mystic's Seer spec. While expensive to cross-class a third time, the talents he will have access to can't be beat; multiple ranks in Uncanny Reactions, Grit, and Toughened, Dodge, Pre-Emptive Avoidance, The Force is my Ally, and of course two opportunities to buy Force Rating, bringing Dunne's total potential Force Rating from his three trees to 5.

Conclusion

Is a 500xp character unreasonable?  I don't think so.  In my Wild Cards game the PCs hit 100xp after about 6 sessions, and that was a 3 hours per night bi-weekly game.  At that rate a PC would be at 500 xp in 34 sessions (64 weeks), so just over a year.  If it were a PC in one of my larger, yet less frequent games, those games generally go 6-7 hours every 6 weeks, and earn 30xp per game.  That's 16 sessions, so about 100 weeks; just shy of 2 years.

But would I want to play such a character?  Does he adequately fit and fill the role he's designed to do?

I dunno.  Anyone wanna run a game and let me find out?

May the dice be with you.

GenConMod: The Jedi Barsen'thor Companions

Here we are at the end of May.  A scant 75 days to GenCon 2014, and the official premiere of my GenCon Module.  Development is coming along, as is the process of turning my three pages of bullet points into something resembling an actual adventure write up.  Testing is going well, too.  I'm learning a lot about my NPCs, and the PCs I've been making.  One item that's become readily apparent is that the tanks are, well,  tanks.  They're stomping around with high Wound Thresholds and high Soak values, taking all comers and dealing out massive damage.  Bowdarr and Lord Scourge are the worst offenders; and I'm pretty sure Qyzen's going to add to that list.  I've been making passes at the stats, adjusting them and tweaking them for better balance. 

There is going to be a disparity between characters, that's apparent.  Some characters are simply going to be better in certain areas, and have more effective XP than others.  Still, as long as the character is effective, it should be okay.  The trick, tho; I have to make this module matter to everyone in the party regardless of their role.  Combat, social, skill challenges; the characters that are focused on more social aspects need to feel as useful and helpful as the ones like Scourge and Qyzen who will wallop anyone up against them.

That's going to be a trick; I look at my adventure path and it's a pretty straight line.  I need to include opportunities for more paths to the pivotal encounters.  Some combat, sure, but also a possibility for diplomacy, deception, and investigation to move the story.

I've got 75 days.

But first, one last group to write up stats for. 

Qyzen Fes

Race: Trandoshan

Career: Hired Gun

Specialization: Marauder

Brawn 4, Agility 1, Intellect 2, Cunning 3, Willpower 3, Presence 2

Wound Threshold: 22

Strain Threshold: 12

Soak Value: 8

M/R Defense: 1/1

Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Coercion 1, Discipline 1, Piloting (Planetary) 1, Melee 2,  Perception 1, Resilience 2, Survival 2, Vigilance 2

Talents: Defensive Stance, Enduring 2, Feral Strength 2, Frenzied Attack 2, Knockdown, Lethal Blows, Natural Brawler, Toughened 3

Equipment: Heavy Battle Armor, Vibro-Greatsword, 2 Stim-packs

As previously stated, Qyzen is a beat-stick.  He's got his vibro-greatsword and the talents to annihilate anything that comes up against him.  I'm actually thinking about removing a rank of Feral Strength and Frenzied Attack, just so he doesn't out DPS the DPSers.  Then again this is a module inspired by the companion character's role and story in The Old Republic.  Qyzen is a devoted hunter and a terror to face in combat.  Plus he worked pretty well as a damage dealer for my Consular in the game, so he could do the same here too.

I've pondered making him as a Big Game Hunter spec from Enter the Unknown to see what he'd look like.  Qyzen would lose a bit of tanking ability, but as a party support character it may work out better.  It's something for me to consider.

Tharan Cederax

Race: Human

Career: Colonist

Specialization:Scholar

Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 5, Cunning 3, Willpower 2, Presence 2

Wound Threshold: 12

Strain Threshold: 13

Soak Value: 3

M/R Defense: 1/1

Skills: Charm 2, Computers 3, Knowledge (Lore) 2, Knowledge (Education) 3, Mechanics 2, Medicine 2, Ranged (Light) 3, Streetwise 3

Talents: Brace, Codebreaker, Grit, Intense Focus, Knowledge Specialization 2 (Education, Lore), Resolve, Stroke of Genius, Well-Rounded (Ranged [Light], Medicine)

Abilities: Holi-daze

Equipment: Armored Clothing, Blaster Pistol, Portable Holographic Projector, Portable Supercomputer (Holiday)

Tharan and Holiday are an odd pairing to be sure.  He's a brilliant scientist who's fallen in love with his creation; his super-computer holographic projection, Holiday.  And she loves him back.  How this relationship works is beyond me, but apparently not Hollywood.  In game, Holiday is the mechanism for Tharan's Medic-ability to put opponents in a fragile hold for 10 seconds. Holiday appears next to a target and dances seductively at them, dazing them.  An interesting ability to try to port over to a game, so I gave it a try and gave Tharan a unique ability.

"Holi-daze": Tharan can project Holiday towards a target out to Short Range and attempt to distract or daze the target.  Make a Computers check opposed by the target's Cool skill.  One success is needed to "hit" the target.  Three Advantage can be spent to immobilize the target until the start of Tharan's next turn.  Triumph can be spent to Stagger the target until the start of Tharan's next turn.  If the target takes any wound damage before the beginning of Tharan's turn, the effects end immediately. 

As a scholar, Tharan is a passable medic, a social protege, and a knowledge-skill titan.  He'll be useful in combat, but players will find more mileage from him by utilizing his non-combat skills in every situation they can.  This also brings up a disparity between role in the game and roles in the tabletop incarnation; a similar one as Guss Tuno from the Smuggler Crew.  Tharan's skill set and background don't really fit the role of "Team Medic" very well, and yet that's the role he plays in the Consular's party.  Since this module is more focused on the characters, and less on their SWTOR roles, Tharan merely dips into the Medicine ability and mostly focuses on his back-story as a brilliant scientist.

Zenith

Race: Twi'lek

Career:Bounty Hunter

Specialization:Assassin

Brawn 2, Agility 4, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 2, Presence 3

Wound Threshold: 12

Strain Threshold: 14

Soak Value: 3

M/R Defense:  1/1

Skills: Athletics 2, Deception 1, Perception 2, Ranged (Heavy) 3, Skulduggery 2, Stealth 2, Streetwise 2, Vigilance 2

Talents: Dodge 2, Grit, Jump-up, Lethal Blows 2, Precise Aim 2, Stalker 2, Targeted Blow

Equipment: Armored Clothing, Modified Blaster Rifle

Zenith is a simple concept; build a sniper.  Pure DPS from start to finish, he's as basic a character concept as Bowdarr.  He does have some uses outside of combat, it's always good to have a character that can utilize stealth in a party.  But at his core, Zenith is all about finding that perfect position to bring down the opposition with a well placed blaster bolt from across the battlefield.

His rifle will be tricked out with some mods, but no where near as much as Risha Drayden's.  She's got a couple talents affecting her rifle anyway.  Zenith's lethality is based off his innate talents, where Risha's is based on her technical prowess.

Felix Iresso

Race: Human

Career: Soldier

Specialization:Commando

Brawn 3, Agility 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 3, Presence 3

Wound Threshold: 19

Strain Threshold: 14

Soak Value: 6

M/R Defense: 2/2

Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Discipline 1, Knowledge (Warfare) 1, Mechanics 1, Ranged (Heavy) 3, Resilience 3, Survival 1

Talents: Armor Master, Durable 2, Grit, Heroic Fortitude, Improved Armor Master, Physical Training, Point Blank, Strong Arm, Toughened 3, Unstoppable

Equipment: Blaster Rifle (Forearm Grip Mod), Heavy Battle Armor, 2 stim-packs

Felix is kind of a better-liked Corso; possibly due to the fact that he isn't as annoying.  The only character in the Barsen'thor's party who translates as a Career from Age of Rebellion, Felix fills the role of a Ranged Tank.  Much like his counterpart in Havoc Squad, M1-4X, Commando seems to be the perfect tree for this gun-toting bruiser.  His soak value isn't that high, but his Wound Threshold is respectable, as is his ability to shrug off critical injuries.

I didn't feel that a high Brawn fit Felix; although I could make a change for the sake of his Soak and Wound Threshold.  Brawn is both strength and toughness, and Felix is a tough customer.  Felix is best utilized laying down fire with his blaster rifle, drawing attention away from the squishier members of the team.

Nadia Grell

Race: Sarkhai

Career: Jedi

Specialization:Consular

Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 4, Presence3

Wound Threshold: 12

Strain Threshold: 17

Soak Value: 3

M/R Defense: 1/1

Skills: Athletics 1, Charm 1, Lightsaber 3, Discipline 2, Negotiate 2, Perception 2, Ranged (Light) 1, Resilience 2

Talents: Ataru 2, Grit 3, Force Rating 3, Force of Will, Jump Up, Makashi, Nobody's Fool, Precise Aim, Second Wind, Sense Emotions, Smooth Talker, Uncanny Senses

Abilities: Force Power Move (Force Point: Move a Silhouette 0 item within Short range up to Max Range. Can hurl objects with enough force to damage targets with Discipline check.  Spend a Force Point: to increase Silhouette able to be targeted by 2. Spend a Force Point: Increase the Range Band by 1.) Force Power Enhance (May roll Enhance power check as part of Athletics, Coordination, Piloting [Planetary], or Piloting [Space]; Spend Force Point to add Success or Advantage to the check.  Commit Force Die: User increases her Agility characteristic by 1.  May make a Enhance power check to make a Force Leap Maneuver to move to any point horizontally or vertically to any location in Short range.  Spend Force Point: increase Force Leap range band by one)

Equipment: Saberstaff, Armored Clothing,2 Stimpacks

Ah, Nadia; I felt so creepy romancing you while playing the Consular.  Probably because I thought of my Consular, Dunne, as my age.  And Nadia's like...17.  She seems that way, anyway.  And a padawan.  My padawan.  

Creepy...Anyway, abilities!  

Nadia is built for close range damage.  Legally, to be able to deal damage with Move she needs to have one Range upgrade.  I'm tempted to remove it for the sake of the module, and give her a Magnitude upgrade instead (allowing her to affect multiple targets at once).  That would probably fit better.  I mean, I could do both, but she didn't really use telekinesis much at range.  She's a close-in fighter, I sort of would like to encourage that.  

Because of her role, Nadia also has Enhance to give her Force Jump.  I also bought down the Enhance line to let her boost Agility by committing a Force Die.  More Agility when it matters, and lowers the number of Force Dice for Move.  I can work with that.  (Assuming the player elects to do it that way...)

First Run

I had originally planned to run one of the final sessions of my Order 65 campaign in mid-June.  Due to some conflicts with the players, I'm going to run my players through the module.  I have to start testing it now.  I have no clue how many times I'll get to run and tweak the module before GenCon, so I'm going to grab every opportunity I can.  

And every run should make the final product better.

That's the plan, anyway.

Interludes in Costuming and Game Writing

It's been a crazy week in the world of DarthGM.  My brother is getting married this coming weekend, and I'm the Best Man.  The week has been filled with travel seemingly all over New England, preparations, machinations, and execution of several surprises. 

Hopefully, all well received.

#GenConMod

In the meantime, I've made progress on the pivotal encounter in my GenCon Module.  Two playtest sessions under my belt has led to some good data-mining and feedback on mechanics and character stats.  I'm debating going into more detail about the encounter, although I suppose it's kinda out there now as to what it is.  Still, I'll keep it "officially" under wraps for a later date.

#PepakuraSWTORJedi

The costuming bug has bit me again, and I've started work on utilizing those foam mats that I have taking up space in my house, purchased so many years ago for a Darth Malgus build.  Inspired by a construction thread over at the RPF, I'm starting work on my own SWTOR Jedi Knight outfit utilizing EVA Foam and Pepakura files.  With the right files, the foam, and a few layers of Plasti-dip, you can make some really impressive costumes.  A bevy of Iron Men have cropped up over the past few years, and a whole host of Specters from Mass Effect, all thanks to the skillful manipulation of those rigid-foam mats folks use to protect their floors from machining equipment and exercise contraptions.  The work is AMAZING, a lot faster than other costume making methods, and a lot cheaper too.  The amount of mileage and wear and tear they can take is much less than hard-plastic counterparts, as expected, but it's also a lot easier to make replacement parts.

I've printed out and assembled the files for the bracers for the Jedi Knight.  I'd like to make the foam bracer sometime next week, and if that works print out and assemble additional parts for construction at an upcoming Build Day.

Ideally, I'll be making the Jedi Knight to get practice with Pepakura and EVA foam construction, and repeat the process to make the Sith Acolyte.  They use almost the exact same armor templates, just that the Sith Acolyte will require the acquisition of an appropriate mask.  If I do it right, I might be able to submit the Acolyte for 501st Legion approval.

#WelcomeToThe21stCenturyPhil

You may have noticed a theme with my sub-headers today.  I'm on Twitter now.  It's weird, and not really conducive to my usually-long-winded approach when it comes to writing out my thoughts and arguments, but it is handy to keep in touch with things.  We'll see how it affects my blog, using #FragmentsfromtheRim and #FFTR as hash-tags for this column.  Feel free to follow me over there, I'm @DarthGM.

Maybe next week, after the craziness of this week, I can finish off the Jedi Consular's team and post up their stats, and come back with revisions for the previous posts.

May the Dice be with you.

Jedi Shadow: An Update

This build has been anything but easy...

Let's start with some reference images.

 

Now let's look at what I've got...

The basic look is there, but it's pretty far from done. Also, these pictures were taken on a very warm day, late at night, and after a while of trying to wrestle with the "unique" design of how the belt closes. I know it's not sitting right, and the skirt isn't hemmed up right, but it's pretty much a preliminary fitting.

 

My fiance had a great idea to embroider the runes with mylar thread.  Awesome plan.  Too bad each rune took her an average of 40 minutes to do, due to how easy mylar thread snaps in a sewing machine.  Still, they do glimmer.

 

The start of my hand wraps.  Again, a long way to go.  I'm using a pair of nice Nike baseball batting gloves as a base.  That way I'll be more assured to have a good grip on the lightsaber.

 

Fun with EL Tape...glowing runes...

And here's my hairy legs in foot wraps.  I've got to clean them up a bit.

I've got a ways to go, and not a heck of a lot of time to do it...I really need to have this done by the second weekend in August to even have a shot at getting this approved for the Legion.

Ah well, onward and upwards...

Costume Updates, Cacophony Style

So it's been a while since I posted anything about any costume or prop, so I'll just post it all!

Flashy

Casting Flashy got...interesting...

We started with a box and a lot of clay.  Next time I do this, I'm going to remember to fill in the clay more, and smooth it out better.

 

We thought that one container/package of mold mix would be enough per side, and we had a third kit in reserve.  I grossly underestimated the amount of volume this box could hold, and ended up using all three kits just to make one half of the mold.  Not just that, but I had to tilt the box and stick one of the empty bottles into the mixture to force the volume of the mix to shift so there would be enough over all of the gun.  

She hardened up nice, and left me with half a mold.  My buddy Erich is heading to Reynold's Advanced Materials later this week, and picking up another 3 mix-kits for me.  Hopefully late next Sunday I'll be able to pour the last half of the mold, and maybe pull a blaster the following Monday.

  
Darth Malgus

My work on Darth Malgus is interesting and entertaining.  I'm having fun experimenting with building his armored parts from Pepakura files and EVA Foam mats. 

 

The don't look too bad, if you ask me...

 

 

There are slightly thnner mats out there, so I may make yet another pair of gauntlets soon.  I guess I'll just have to use these for LARPing or something.

 
Jedi Consular

The Jedi Consular is coming along, dammit. I wish there was more to show, but Sarah has been working on a lot of aspects of it at once, and it's sometimes dizzying to try and keep track of it all.  We're actually pretty well along.  I'd say it's about 60% done.  All the pieces are cut out, and are starting to come together.  We're just finishing up on a lot of the detail work that needs to be done when it's in it's component pieces.  I can show what I'm going to be doing for the glowing runes that run up the seams of the leather over-robe.

I'm cutting them out of leather, so that we can place a material behind them to illuminate them.

EL Tape, my friends.  EL Tape. 

These runes are gonna glow.

For the large runes on the bottom of the Skirt, sarah's basically embroidering them with mylar "mint green" thread over a white shimmery gauze, and then running an iron over them to fuse them together. 

What she's done so far (not pictured here) LOOKS great, but it takes so damn long to do.  Sarah is giving herself a recurring back ache working on this part.  Each rune takes about an hour to do, because the machine needs to chug along at it's slowest possible speed or the mylar thread snaps.  And it snaps a lot.

501st Clone Trooper

My 501s Clone Trooper has actually been down for a while now.  To get into this helmet, I actually cut away the faceplate and have it secured with a series of Rare Earth Magnets and metal brackets.  Well, it wasn't really holding too well that way, so I replaced the Rare Earth Magnets with  Even Stronger Rare Earth Magnets.  This seems to work well.  I also trimmed out the visor a little more so it wasn't completely crushing my nose (which was contributing to the old magnets not being able to hold the face on properly).  The suit is wearable again, even if I do still need to upgrade my ab plate.

Going Forward


Got a bunch of projects to finish up, a few more I want to start, and eventually to start gathering pieces for the lightsaber I want to built. (Boy, is that going to be inexpensive...NOT...)  Most of it will need to wait, tho.  I really need to kick my packing into high gear and get my house packed up. 

TOR Costuming: The Jedi Consular

So here's what I'm working on next...

I have a deadline for another costume; April 7th, 2012.

Unlike the last costume I did, I'm not sure how much I can do on my own, feasibly.  My sewing skills are described as "novice" at best.  Thankfully, I have a fiancee who's sewing skills outsrtips my own.  What I'm not going to do is dump a bunch of fabric in her lap and say "Sew Plz!", I'm going to try to help her with this.

This alone should be an interesting endeavor, because I've come to the unfortunate realization that we don't work well together on projects.  The more involved an endeavor, the worse we get.  We were constantly butting heads on previous costumes.  I don't know if it's the tone of speech I take on when my creative mind is working, or her venting frustrations at me, but we just don't mix well at those times.

For humor's sake, I'll post up how THAT progression goes too...

Anyway, back to the Consular: the outfit is reportedly the High-End PvP gear outfit for the Consular class.  Here's what I figure I need...

Torn Brown Outer Robe with Aurek/Besk "Runes"
Rope-Like accesories for Outer Robe
Big Shoulder Pads (TM) attached to the outer robe
Slate Blue Hooded Inner Robe with Aurek/Besh "Runes" around the hood
Brown Outer Skirt with Large Aurek/Besh "Runes"
Torn Khaki Inner Skirt
Brown Apron/cloth
Front Striped apron/cloth
Blue Gloves with Hand/Arm wraps
Sandals with Foot/Ankle wraps
Tan Outer Tunic
Tan Inner Tunic
Brown Inner Obi/Corset/Belly Wrap
Tan Outer Obi
Jedi Belt with Metal contraption/buckle and odd cylinder thing on front
Double-bladed lightsaber

Later, I begin the disection of putting it all together, with help from a few "Exclusive Resources"...