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Post by Meph on Feb 13, 2016 14:07:22 GMT
Like the subject says, what other hobbies does everyone else have? I have a few different hobbies and my interests change through out the year. My tabletop gaming runs through the year but in the summer we switch from long sunday nights to a shorter week night game. I have been a computer gamer my whole life starting with my Commodore Vic-20 back in 1980 and have never looked back. I did the whole line of Commodore computers up through the Amiga 4000. In 95 I then moved on to an Intel 486 DX4-100 and continued up to today. I have run the gambit of gaming from early shooters, to RTS games, then settling with Everquest in 99. Between running guilds in EQ and WOW for many years, those took up a LOT of my time and most other hobbies came to a halt for a while. These days my computer gaming is back to the odd RPG and some Rainbow Six Siege. My tabletop gaming history has pretty much been Dungeons & Dragons. Started playing with the Moldvay Basic in 85, then on to 1E AD&D, the 2E AD&D. I bought 3E and 4E books but couldn't get into them. I did play some 5E this fall and wasn't too impressed but as time passes I think part of the problem may have been my players. I have a couple players that seem to want to exploit the rules anyways they can and were taking advantage of our "newness" to the system. I may give it another try this summer. My biggest hobby these days and the one that funds all of my others is my Arcade & Jukebox Restorations. I get great joy out of taking an empty 30+ year old cabinet that is rotted out and restoring it back to original condition. When I am done these machines look like they came straight off the assembly line in 1981. I also take gutted radio cabinets or jukeboxes and convert them to modern digital jukeboxes. 1937 Philco Radio Jukebox Mortal Kombat Restoration Tekken Tag Tournament back to Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo Custom Mame cabinet for a co-worker (thousands of games) Lastly is my own personal collection. I have had too many games in and out over the years to show them all but the cream of my crop is always my pinball machines. Jurassic Park left last year to help fund my Metallica machine. STTNG was my first but I think that will be going soon to fund a Game of Thrones. 2-3 machines is my sweet spot. They are always a hit when people come over. So enough of my wall of text. What other hobbies do you guys have?
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 13, 2016 14:25:57 GMT
Video Games, Magic the Gathering, Programming, Watching Cartoons, RC vehicules, Shooting Videos, Chatting on forums, Tabletop Gaming...
off the top of my head thats about it. i have much more then that but lately i haven't done much of them so. oh and of course, crafting for D&D sessions.
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Post by margaret on Feb 13, 2016 16:33:12 GMT
Reading, medieval re-creation, gardening, bird-watching, sewing, knitting, other textile projects, trying recipes from around the world, playing one MMORPG regularly, surfing the Internet for projects for my grandkids and info that supports my other hobbies, and planning and implementing a variety of projects for the grandkids, which now includes making stuff to enhance the D&D 5 games I am running 3 or 4 times a year for them.
Most of these hobbies, and their accumulated libraries, take up storage space. So I am having to choose my RPG terrain and accessory projects carefully, with an eye to what's most effective and needs the least storage space.
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Post by jennifer on Feb 13, 2016 18:28:51 GMT
Wow very cool! Nice restorations!
My first computer I ever touched was a Commodore 64 in 1982 in 6th grade. Commodore came out to the school and brought 30 computers and set them up in a classroom. Over the coarse of a few days every elementary student in the school go to try them and write their first BASIC program:
10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD" 20 GOTO 10 ... RUNSTOP key
I wanted the Commodore 64 to be my first computer because I fell in love with it at school, but it was too expensive. My grandmother bouhgt me a TI-99/4A because they were on clearance for $49 (because Commodore 64 kicked their butts lol). Anyways so a TI-99/4A was my first computer.
I spent a lot of time typing in BASiC pograms from Family Computing magazines. There were a lot of PEEKS and POKES in the BASIC code, which I totally did not understand (turns out it was machine code), but I liked watching the result anyways.
About a year later my mom bought me a Commodore 64, floppy disk drive and monitor. The monitor was nice because it was the equivalent of S-VIDEO before S-VIDEO even came out : chroma and luma rca plugs instead of just an NTSC rca plug. Resulted in a much crisper image .. Needless to say I was ecstatic!
Then a couple years later I got an Amiga 1000.. again very ecstatic becuase it was the coolest compouter on the market.. basically everything the mac was but in 4096 colors and nice sound! (Also it was multitasking).
Then from there a Pinecom XT clone, then a 286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium 2 and so on.. have the next to the latest CPU these days.. forget what it is.. cost me $325 two years ago. I can't keep up! Anyways I don't run WIndows.. I run Mac OS X on it -- a hackintosh.
All my exposure to computers, I ended up majoring in Computer Science in college. Have 4 years of education in that area. Software Engineering, database development, etc..
Hobbies over the years and now: Computers (of course), Old Time Fiddling (from my Dad's side), Reef Tank, Scrapbooking & Greeting Card making, Cooking, BBQ, Photography (semi-professionally), Terrain & Miniatures as of late (past year), Electronics (breadboard & arduino etc..) [made my first linear power supply a couple months back for my old modified Commodore 64].
I find it interesting about Meph's arcade background because I was really into arcade games back in the early 80's. I made a mame compatible arcade joystick from HAPP parts back in 99.. was a lot of fun. Been wanting to make a tabletop MDF arcade cabinet for a small intel computer or perhaps raspberry pi if it is good enough at emulating the early 80's video games.
I played Everquest for a couple years (some hard core raiding) along with WOW for a couple years (again some hard core raiding).
I too in the early 80's was exposed to Moldvay Dungeons & Dragons.. It was in like 1982 if I recall. Loved it.. bought the discounted AD&D 1st edition books from Target back then for pennies on the dollar due to the stores clearing them out because of the hype about them being satanic or whatever. I'm a Christian but never thought they were satanic .. that's crazy lol.
Like Margaret, I also like sewing, gardening and trying recipes from around the world. e.g. I make Thai Beef Salad, Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Maki from Japan, Siuchian Chick from China, this lentil stew with swirling white cream on the to from India (forget the name of it), German Meatballs, etc..
I also like board games, and print & play board games. Board game apps on the iPad. I gave Magic the Gathering a go and while it was fun, it was quite complicated keeping track of everything during play and the people at the local gaming store weren't so fun to play with.. very competitive because items/money were at stake lol.
Meph, again gorgeous restorations!
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Post by Meph on Feb 13, 2016 18:47:58 GMT
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Post by jennifer on Feb 13, 2016 18:56:03 GMT
Yeah that is what I want Meph, but more narrow upright version. and maybe a bit smaller. For single player not two player.
Like basically the width of the x-arcade single player joystick or the single trackball with buttons... the width of either of those (they are bout the same if i recall).
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Post by runningwolf on Feb 13, 2016 19:17:10 GMT
Lol most of my weekends are taken up at the haunted house either acting, helping with construction, learning more about props or make-up.
It's a non profit charity.
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Post by voodoo on Feb 13, 2016 19:32:14 GMT
Hobbies.... (D&D, board games, crafting) metal detecting, fishing, Archery, shooting sports, bit of bird hunting (turkey, pheasant and dove), bowhunting turkey, and elk. avid reader, writing, camping, traveling, and working with my local animal shelter to help get kittens and puppies adopted out to good homes. Aside from gaming/crafting my faves are metal detecting, fishing and archery. Not much hunting anymore as my dad is older now.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Feb 13, 2016 19:56:18 GMT
I used to have the user name "too_many_hobbies" on usenet...
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Post by sgtslag on Feb 13, 2016 21:15:24 GMT
My hobbies are: D&D (since 1980); collecting/painting mini's (mostly for fantasy gaming, some historical); making terrain; currently designing a multi-purpose gaming table with my nephew, a professional carpenter -- helping and hoping to turn it into a hobby business for him; reading (love ancient/medieval history, the crusades, fantasy, and occasional Sci-Fi); occasional historical gaming from black powder era to sci-fi; Army Men gaming (not historical, just fun to throw made-up forces, organized by color, and bash it out with my now-grown sons); and motorcycle touring with my wife. Back in the late 90's, my young sons asked me about my fantasy gaming figures. My fantasy figures were delicate, so I wanted them to be grown before they played with them. Therefore I made up rules for gaming with nearly indestructible Army Men figures, for them, and that became a hobby business for me. I self-marketed my self-published rules ( Plastic Wars) on the Internet, ran a web site which demonstrated painting techniques, making simple terrain, featured scenarios for the rules set, as well as selling the rules by mail-order. Ran it for around eight years before I shut it all down. We still play the occasional Army Men game, between my sons, and I. I even taught classes on it, through the local Community Education system during that time. My forum name, Sgt. Slag, is from my old Army Men web site. The image I use, is also from that era. Honestly, we live to ride motorcycle in the 6+ months of the year in which we can. We do day trips most weekends during the riding season. We try to get in one long trip (5-10 days) per year, if possible. Touring on bike is incredibly freeing: we stop when we have to, find a motel for a room, and a small, local restaurant (local flavor), for lunch and supper; we see something interesting, we check it out -- no set schedule beyond the start/stop dates. We have had so many trips which were unique, fun, and interesting. The rest of our year is just so we can prep for the next riding season -- almost. My wife used to play D&D with us, but she doesn't anymore. All three of my sons played D&D with me, but my oldest is married, with four children, and serving in the military, in Germany. My other two sons still play D&D with me, and we have a blast with it, year-round. Cheers!
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Post by jennifer on Feb 13, 2016 21:40:11 GMT
Very cool.. I shall look into the Plastic Wars
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Post by sunfishh on Feb 14, 2016 9:54:11 GMT
Aside from working and working and work.
My hobbies are of course playing RPGs. I am really into the whole OSR movement right now and love playing B/X D&D. In addition I have always loved aquariums. I currently have three in my classroom. In addition I SCUBA dive and enjoy studying martial arts.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 14, 2016 15:04:37 GMT
you know.. that cardboard cabinet is awesome... that tells me i really need to go on my homemade arcade machine...
nothing too much, buy a controller off the net, make a cabinet, put a computer and amonitor int ere and start up an emulator with many many games on it. really really simple.
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Post by Meph on Feb 14, 2016 16:05:36 GMT
you know.. that cardboard cabinet is awesome... that tells me i really need to go on my homemade arcade machine... nothing too much, buy a controller off the net, make a cabinet, put a computer and amonitor int ere and start up an emulator with many many games on it. really really simple. It is that easy. The question is, what are you looking for. You can buy an Xarcade controller and set it up just like you said. Simple as pie. Or you can use a 30 year old 15Khz arcade monitor, cap it, get a proper video card that will support 15Khz along with an adapter. Of course you can always use an LCD monitor but that will run at 60Hz, 4 times more than arcade games are meant to run. The lowest resolution you will get is 640x480 which is a lot more than the 240 max you got with arcade games so prepare for picture degradation when the pixels are blown up that big. If you are doing a bartop unit then LCD is a must unless you want to go BIG. If you go the LCD route then you will want to make sure you have your software setup properly and use a scanline generator to get it as close to original as you can. There are lots of arcade sticks out there but most are only "good" for certain types of games. Do you want to run classic 4 way games such as Pacman/Donkey Kong or do you want to run 8 way games like Street Fighter? If you plan to run both on one game are you going to use a switchable stick or trying and do it all using an 8 way stick. Trust me, 4 way games on an 8 way stick isn't good. You will also need a USB interface to connect your sticks/buttons. Do you want 2 player, 4 player, 3 buttons, 6 buttons, how many admin buttons, do you want them to light up, do you want the lighting programmable. There are single player solutions starting at $10 up to multiplayer highly configurable solutions up into the hundreds. Next is the game selection. Are you planning to put every game available in the mame library on it or make a specific playlist? Every game will run you about 9000 games, 8700+ of which you probably never heard of, aren't english, are just hacks and duplicates, are majong/trivia, etc. When I make a machine I will include every game but default to a playlist of about 200-250 of the best, most popular games ever. That suffices most people. Then if they want they can go through the list of every game and add to their playlist over time. Your front end is just as important. Mame is your arcade emulator but what about the front end. Hyperspin is the cream of the crop but requires a lot more configuration and is also very busy. If you want a more low key solution then go with a Mala. How about graphics? Quality printed (3M polycarbonite) aren't cheap. The one on my Super Street Fighter ran me about $75 + the sheet of lexan over it. Instead of a printed vinyl translite for the marquee, I went with screen printed glass. It all adds up fast. Trust me, no matter how easy it might seem there is always something you're not thinking of. If anyone is interested in building something I will gladly help in anyway I can including links to find anything you need. Just to give an idea though, the Arcade Classics machine I posted earlier in this thread was built for my partner at work. The cabinet was rotten on the bottom so I cut the bottom 18" off around the cabinet and replaced it with new 3/4 MDF. I had to strip the old messed up X-men sideart with a heatgun and a lot of patience. Sanded, bondo'd, sanded, bondo'd, sanded, etc the whole cabinet. Then painted it all black. The artwork is all custom. I personally hate it but I made it exactly to his Wife's specs. All told that cabinet cost me about $1300 in parts and I gave it to him for $1400. I lost money considering my time but it's for my partner. These projects add up quickly but if done right you will own it forever.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 15, 2016 3:39:08 GMT
all i know is that emulators makes games looks awesome on tripple X2 sai mode ! or howver it is spelt. i play a lot of emulation on my PC. but ia lways thought it would look great on an arcade machine. i dont think the resolution will be anywhere near as bad as you say. i've been playing on my 32 inch screen for like 5 years now, and honestly there are so many graphic filters on emulators now to fix all those screen resolution problems.
but in all honesty, thanks for the info... but its a project i had never really gone thinking into.
considering its for myself mostly... fighting games are the way to go. beat em up games like final fight and street of rage as well. i definitely dont plan on using the whole mame collection, so many useless game son that. i mean out of 9000, i only ever played about 50 to a hundred and those would be more then enough for me. you know what they say, too much is like not enough. i'm also easily adaptable, so if my arcade sticks aren't able to play a game rihgt, i will simply not add that game to the list. and in the end it wont matter to me cause of what will remain i'll still have tons of games i like.
basically this old project of mine as been going down on the list of things to do, but it has never left my mind. i will definitely do it one day. even if its just for the lol of it all. but i really dont plan it to cost me 1300$ dollars.
but th eprice of things is exactly why this project was kept on the lower end of the list.
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Post by SpielMeisterKev! on Feb 15, 2016 19:10:46 GMT
Howdy, Mountain Bike... Find some dirt! Get on your bikes and ride, Kev!
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Post by jennifer on Feb 16, 2016 3:09:01 GMT
Howdy, Mountain Bike... Find some dirt! Get on your bikes and ride, Kev! Just so long that it isn't this ok?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2016 17:14:37 GMT
OK aside from crafting and painting, my "other hobbies" include cooking, lock picking, video games of course, electronics, and I just started to learn how to weld, and fabricating (or being a "Maker" but we don't have any local maker groups) I know a bit about computers and repair, but I've been out of the game for a while, photography and digital design. I know I missed something...........
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Post by skunkape on Feb 16, 2016 18:58:59 GMT
Gaming both tabletop and computer, crafting terrain (though not as much as I'd like to), computer programming, riding my Harley, but I used to only ride it to work, but now need to change to riding it for pleasure as it would be too dangerous to ride it to work anymore.
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Post by jennifer on Feb 27, 2016 19:59:06 GMT
I mentioned earlier that I played the fiddle. I play both Old Thyme & Celtic fiddle music as well as some swing. I grew up listening to jazz swing violinists like Stuff Smith and Joe Holley. (Thank my dad lol). Anyways, I just recorded some random little thing I made up on the fiddle right now on my iPhone, and uploaded it to soundcloud: soundcloud.com/jennifer-gwinn-261679869/swing-01-by-jennifer
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