First weekend in June

"First weekend in June", is the same thing as me saying "I went to the Illinois Game Con". I had other alternatives this weekend I entertained. One, I could have gone to Chicago for a TI-99/4A user group meeting. Or two, I could have gone to Marion Kentucky for their big annual rock and mineral show. But my Son and my oldest daughter wanted me to join them at the Illinois Game Con, so I spent time with them there like I do almost every year since it first started. As previous years, I had a goal, and I achieved it. My goal was to see if I could again find an old computer system that I did not own. Particularly I was looking for an old Atari computer like the 400, 800, 600XL, 800XL, or the 130XE. And I was looking for it to be a $100 or less. I checked that box also. I found a box laying on the floor under a table. In it was an Atari 800XL with a 1080 disk drive, 3 Atari 8bit cartridges, 4 joysticks, 4 paddles, and a bunch of manuals. I asked how much and they said $100. I asked if it worked and they replied they had no idea. I asked if they would go to $90 and they said $95... Felt it was way worth the risk. Did not need the paddles or joysticks. I have SOOOO many as it is. But the manuals themselves intrigued me.

I also found a table selling almost nothing but dice, so I ended up making a purchase there too - of special DM dice set.

Drive and 800XL

The RF modulator does not work, but the cool thing about the Atari 800XL is that the computer comes with both an RF modulation video output and an S-video output.  I just happen to also have a S-video setup for my TI-99/4As so I hooked that up and the display worked!  Not a loss there for me as I 100% prefer S-Video and wished I had that option for my Tandy CoCo.  For the CoCo, I had to purchase the RF to HDMI modules that is in this photo above.  But to my surprise, my working video is welcomed by an unpleasant RAM failure.

I reached out to Facebook.  If the memory is socketed, this could be an easy fix. So I opened the 800xl up to see if the memory was socketed.  They are not.

A couple of people suggested to me that a bad power supply could cause this issue.  So I'm going to try purchasing a USB to Atari computer power supply first and see if that fixes the issue.  Crossing my fingers.  If the new power supply works, I got a heck of a great deal this weekend.  If it does not, not such a good deal. 

Oh, by the way, the dice I picked up.

Starting a new Campaign - Start of Character creation

Lets roll some dice

STR 6 4 1 6 = 16
DEX 2 3 3 1 scrap 6 4 3 2 = 13
CON 4 1 3 6 = 13
INT 6 2 4 4 = 14
WIS 6 2 1 2 = 10
CHR 2 2 1 3 scrap 3 4 5 4

Choose Race and Class Eladrin Elf Sorcerers

Dark Vision 60’

•Fey Step: Eladrin can use a bonus action to magically teleport up to 30 feet, a signature ability that often carries additional effects based on their current season 

•Seasonal Changes: Their emotional state is linked to the seasons, influencing their appearance (skin/hair color) and mood, with the ability to change seasons after a long rest.

•Fey Ancestry: Like other elves, they have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and cannot be put to sleep by magic.

Key Aspects of Eladrin Elf Classes:

• Racial Features: They possess Darkvision, Fey Ancestry (advantage against charm), and Fey Step, which allows them to teleport up to 30 feet as a bonus action.

• Seasonal Abilities (Level 3): Upon finishing a long rest, an Eladrin can change their season, altering their Fey Step effect.

o Autumn: Charm creatures after teleporting.

o Winter: Frighten creatures after teleporting.

o Spring: Teleport a willing creature instead of themselves.

o Summer: Deal fire damage to surrounding creatures after teleporting.

•Appearance: They are slender, typically standing 5 to 6 feet tall, with eyes that often sparkle, reflecting their intense fey magic. 

• Emotional Nature: Eladrin are often described as more "alien" or emotional than other elves. Their personalities can be as volatile as the Feywild itself, frequently changing alongside their seasonal state.
• Lifespan: Like most elves, they can live for over 750 years.

Seasonal Skin Colors

• Spring: Typically verdant green, pale green, or rosy pink, often described as "fresh" or "blossoming".
• Summer: Vibrant gold, yellow, or a deep "sun-kissed" bronze. Their skin may even appear to have a "fiery" glow.
• Autumn: Burnt orange, red, or russet brown, mimicking the colors of falling leaves.
• Winter: Pale blue, icy white, or even a somber charcoal/deep purple, reflecting a frozen landscape.

New Dice roller code

Along side of the many platforms I have written my Dice Roller software for, I'm now adding the TI-92 series to the list. These very portable handheld devices make perfect sense to have this code to bring to a game. I should have code and screenshots soon.




I may make a few D&D tools for this device being that it is so powerful, yet compact.

Dice pickups in Oct 12 at FlatCon 2025

I have not posted many dice pickups in recent months (years?). I'm now at four boxes of dice. These dice are unusual enough to post about though.

First are these two cursed and blessed 20 sided dice. Cursed has two 1s and no twenty. Blessed has two twenties and no one.



Next are these two twelve sided dice. One is character class, and the other monster.

These two are magic adjustment dice.

These two are the 2025 FlatCon 6 sided dice


I own dice like the last two, but these are different enough for me to purchase.

I probably need to start cataloging and categorize all of mine like I used to do.

More and more dice.

 My dice collection has really become quite large now.  It is one of those things I don't have to try that hard to acquire as people like buying me dice.   The interesting thing about collecting dice and collecting crystals is that the two hobbies have collided.  Collided that I need my own storage for dice made out of crystals/rock/minerals.  This weekend I gained 9 more sets.  All because I publicly stated I thought it would be great if more would manufacture dice made from crystals. Of course many told me that was a horrible idea.... but, really nobody in their right mind would actually use them in a game.

The main takeaway though is that the price has really gone down and the manufacturing processes has become more streamline. 

So this weekend I got dice made out of the following:

- 2 sets of Lapis Lazuli

- Rhodolite

- Lepidolite

- Moss Agate (much different than my other Agate dice)

- Strawberry Quartz

- Tiger Eye (my favorite)

- Dragon Blood

- Blood Stone

Ya gotta admit that Dragon Blood and Blood Store are perfect for making dice from.

So what I think I'm going to do is make a video of all my crystal/mineral based dice and post soon.

B-day Stuff

It has been a great weekend. I had a great day with the family at Arcadia, I have also acquired 11 new Cubs baseball cards from Anne. Some new Pac-Man game room décor stuff from Maddie, and a new Atari arcade cabinet.  I also acquired some D&D crystal rock dice from Amy. An official D&D log book from Vinnie.  August got me a Mustang sign with 7 awesome Stang's.  Parent's got me a nice telescope to top it off.  So yeah, great birthday weekend.   

Limitless-Con April 1st 2023

 

Dice Set has grown.

Since I very informally started collecting dice, my collection has grown.

When I last posted in Feb 2018, my dice collection has nearly doubled from 17 sets of dice to 30.
https://elfstones69.blogspot.com/2018/02/my-dice-collections.html
At that time, I did not call it a collection, but now it kind of is. So I'm going to start sharing more sets, little by little.

First things first - How do I catalog/describe my dice? I have broken up my collection of dice into 7 dice types, 4 dice functions types, and 4 dice displays types:
Dice Base Types:

4d=   4 sided

6d=   6 sided

8d=   8 sided

10d= 10 sided

10dT= 10 base 10 sided

12d = 12 sided

20d = 20 sided

Dice function types:

N= number

C= compass

B= body

S= situation

Dice display types:

Top or vertical aligned 1=

Bottom, horizontal, and/or underscored. 2=

Pip-scored 3=

Pip only numbers 4=

Here is a listing of my collection:

Set 18 - 11 pcs - Red Pearl
D&D Brand

4d    N1   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
8d    N3   Red Pearl
10d   N23  Red Pearl
10dT  N23  Red Pearl
12d   N3   Red Pearl
20d   N3   Red Pearl
20d   N3   Red Pearl

Set 19 - 9 pcs - multi-color

d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Light Blue
d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Light Blue
d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Orange
d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Orange
d12  N2  White

Set 20 - 7 pcs - Dark Red & Black Pearl

d4   N1  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d6   N2  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d8   N2  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d10  N2  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d10T N1  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d12  N3  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d20  N3  Dark Red & Black Pearl

Huge weekly pick this week

First, I want to ackknowledge that today is the 18th aniversary of Tracy's Death. Went to the grave with my children with with Tracy.

Items that I picked up for game room over the week, including today:

First on the break down, Dice:
- 7 dice set, hand crafted silver with gold accent
- 2 dice set, hand crafted green onyx

Next, Video game system and games.

- Atari 7800 ProSystem Console. I have been wanting this for a long time.

- Additional 10 Controllers:
- - 4 Atari 2600 paddle controllers.
- - 4 Atari 2600 joystick controllers.
- - 2 Atari 7800 joystick contollers.



- 17 Games including
- - Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 varient A (Coleco)
- - Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 varient B (Atari)
- - Donkey Kong Junior for Atari 2600
- - Jr Pac-Man for 2600
- - Pitfall for 2600
- - Warplock for 2600
- - Frogger for 2600
- - Dig Dug for Atari 7800
- - Pole Position II for Atari 7800

What am I working on?

First, I have a lot of new code for GibPascal.  None of it I feel is ready for release.  Why, some of the completed code, I'm not sure I like the standard.  I'm not sure Turbo Pascal did some of this correctly.  Additionally, for some of the math functions, I'm debating best practices.  February is the first month in a while that I did not push out a release of GibPascal.

What else am I doing?  I am also currently working on two large databases that I would be mounting on MrGibson.com.  These database cover a couple of my interests, just not wanting to release yet until more is completed.

I have not received an of the items I ordered for my Santa Cruz, so I have nothing to report there.

Baseball cards are still on hold.  I have not purchased, organized, or cataloged any for a while now.  I do have some money burning a whole in my pocket at the moment though. (classic Topps and Fleer) lol

Nothing new on dice since the last two sets I purchased summer of 2021.  Went looking Saturday, but nothing I couldn't live without.  It is good to see prices of dice come back into check though.  Maybe baseball cards will also.  I'm also been thinking some on building a new dice box, but still not sure what direction I would take with that.  I would like something super usable like the last and as unique as the last.

Top 10 posts since moving to Google blogger

The biggest topic since I started blogging in 2000 has been Arcade games. I had my largest following. Since then I get a fraction of the traffic I once did. I decided to see what are my top 10 since moving to the Google platform for blogging. Now the biggest pulls are video game consoles and dice.

Entry                            Date pub       Page views
PlayStation 1 Classic Game add     Jan 1, 2019    321
Making a custom dice box. Part I   Jan 9, 2018    132
Making a custom dice box. Part V   Jan 14, 2018    97
My dice collections                Feb 8, 2018     77
Making a custom dice box. Part II  Jan 10, 2018    74
Making a custom dice box. Part III Jan 12, 2018    68
Making a custom dice box. Part IV  Jan 13, 2018    67
Day 8 of backyard work             Jun 25, 2018    60
1960 Cubs cards                    Jan 31, 2018    56
PlayStation Classic Controllers    Jan 06, 2019    27

My dice collections

Just post'n about my dice "collection". I don't really *collect* dice. Not like I do with baseball cards, but.... I do love them, so I'm sharing.

First things first - How do I catalog/describe my dice? I have broken up my collection of dice into 7 dice types, 4 dice functions types, and 4 dice displays types:
Dice Base Types:

4d=   4 sided

6d=   6 sided

8d=   8 sided

10d= 10 sided

10dT= 10 base 10 sided

12d = 12 sided

20d = 20 sided

Dice function types:

N= number

C= compass

B= body

S= situation

Dice display types:

Top or vertical aligned 1=

Bottom, horizontal, and/or underscored. 2=

Pip-scored 3=

Pip only numbers 4=

Here is a listing of my collection:

Set 1 - 7 pcs - black           Set 2 - 7 pcs - Royal Purple
                                (CHX 27467)    
   4d   N2 black                   4d   N1 purple trans metal flake
   6d   N2 black 15.7mm            6d   N2 purple trans metal flake 15.5mm
   8d   N2 black                   8d   N3 purple trans metal flake
   10d  N2 black                   10d  N2 purple trans metal flake
   12d  N3 black                   12d  N3 purple trans metal flake
   20d  N3 black 19.5mm            20d  N3 purple trans metal flake
   10dT N2 black                   10dT N1 purple trans metal flake


Set 3 - 7 pcs - Red             Set 4 - 8 pcs - black 
(CHX 25404)                     (Valiant Games DM set)
                                   6d   N2 black 15.7mm
   4d   N1 Red                     6d   N4 black 15.7mm
   6d   N2 Red 15.0mm              6d   N4 black 15.7mm
   8d   N2 Red                     6d   N4 black 15.7mm
   10d  N2 Red                     8d   N2 black 
   12d  N2 Red                     8d   N2 black
   20d  N2 Red                     8d   C- black
   10dT N1 Red                     12d  B- black



Set 5 - 8 pcs - gold pearl      Set 6 - 7 pcs - white
   4d   N1 gold pearl              4d   N2 white
   8d   N2 gold pearl              6d   N4 white
   6d      gold pearl              6d   N4 white
   6d      gold pearl              8d   N2 white
   10d  N2 gold pearl              8d   N2 white
   12d  N3 gold pearl              10d  N2 white            
   20d  N3 gold pearl              10dT N2 white
   10dT N1 gold pearl



Set 7 - 7 pcs - black           Set 8 - 7 pcs - sky blue
                                (CHX 25416)    
   4d   N2 black                   4d   N1 sky blue
   6d   N3 black 14.0mm            6d   N2 sky blue 15.0mm -
   8d   N3 black                   8d   N2 sky blue
   10d  N3 black                   10d  N2 sky blue
   12d  N3 black                   12d  N2 sky blue
   20d  N3 black 19.5mm            20d  N2 sky blue
   10dT N2 black                   10dT N1 sky blue
 


Set 9 - 7 pcs -                 Set 10 - 9 pcs - dark blue pearl
(CXH 25427)
   4d   N1 dark lavender           4d   N1 dark blue pearl
   6d   N2 dark lavender           6d   N2 dark blue pearl
   8d   N2 dark lavender           8d   N3 dark blue pearl
   10d  N2 dark lavender           10d  N3 dark blue pearl
   12d  N2 dark lavender           10d  N2 dark blue pearl
   20d  N2 dark lavender           10d  N2 dark blue pearl
   10dT N1 dark lavender           12d  N2 dark blue pearl
                                   20d  N3 dark blue pearl
                                   10dT N1 dark blue pearl



Set 11 - 5 pcs - purple         Set 12 - 7 pcs - blue
   4d  N2 dark purple              4d   N2  blue
   8d  N2 dark purple              6d   N2  blue
   12d N3 dark purple              6d   N4  blue
   12d N3 dark purple              8d   N2  blue
   12d N3 dark purple              10d  N2  blue
                                   10dT N2  blue
                                   10dT N2  blue


Set 13 - 7 pcs - dark blue      Set 14 - 5 pcs - spare 
(CHX 25406)
  4d   N1 med dark blue            4d   N1 black w red flake
  6d   N2 med dark blue 15.0mm     6d   N2 red w grey flake 15.0mm
  8d   N2 med dark blue            10d  N2 yellow w greenflake
  10d  N2 med dark blue            12d  N2 translucent blue swirl
  12d  N2 med dark blue            20d  N3 brown
  20d  N2 med dark blue
  10dT N1 med dark blue




Set 15 - spare                    Set 16 - 5 pcs - Translucent yellow
  6d   N2 dark brown   15.0mm          4d   N2 Translucent yellow
  12d  N3 dark purple pearl            8d   N2 Translucent yellow
  6d   N2 green        15.0mm          10d  N  Translucent yellow 
  20d  N3 cream                        20d  N  Translucent Yellow
                                       10dT N  Translucent Yellow


Set 17  - 6 pcs - red
  4d   N2 red
  6d   N2 red
  8d   N2 red
  10d  N2 red
  12d  N3 red
  20d  N3 red