Dave Percival

@tetrapod

He/Him. Former Carpenter, occasional gamer + writer, proud dad and husband, hockey nut, fumbling gardener, and home cooking nerd.

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Dave Percival@tetrapod· 24d

My wife has a flight coming up. Naturalky, dutiful husband that I am, I wrote her a love letter.

A letter I wrote my wife, about famous plane crashes in both her destination and departure cities.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· 26d

This is an image that was going around US-based firefighting and flight groups on Facebook. Not only do they completely omit that he was a foreign volunteer, but they have the GALL to use AI generated images. His friends point out that those aren't images of him.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· 29d

Greenhouse Kitty.

My cat Burnzie, a gray tabby, peacefully asleep on a shelf in my greenhouse.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jul 9

Well, this is the funniest meme I'll see today. Pretty sure only my Canadian peeps will get it, but still.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jul 7

Wife put in a dinner request - hot wing poutine. Hot wings, a gravy made of hot sauce and butter, cheese curds, and Cavendish brand tater tots. Garnished w a variety of local onions, and some Mexican parsley. Chopsticks because all my forks are apparently in the dishwasher.

Doesn't look like much, to be honest. But if you could smell it? Holy cow.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jul 5

My players are looking for a new ship (they don't like the jump drive on their far trader). I'm thinking the 400 ton Survey Scout would be a good hook to dangle in front of them - beat up & in a dangerous place, of course. Might name it the Black Pearl & place it as treasure on my "isle of dread"

Drawing of the Donosev Survey Scout - a weird looking ship that sort of looks like a speeder bike from star wars had sex with the letter "L" and then had a weird triangle baby.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jul 2

Progress report - everything assembled, and now it's time to mount on poster board. Have a few additions I want to make (I want to label every cluster and main, as well as add a legend and title), and then it's time to break out the power tools and make a frame.

The Trojan Reach map, on the floor. It's about 2 1/2 feet by 3 1/2 feet or so.

You can see my feet at the bottom of the picture, but each foot is only 5/6 of a foot in length, which is weird.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jul 2

Perusing the Traveller wiki, and found this gem of a planet:

Wikipedia style entry, which (in part) reads:

Dolberg is one of the most stable planets in the Trojan Reach. It is officially classed as Government Type 9, Impersonal Bureaucracy, because there is no standard classification for 'Governed by Giant Psychic Symbiotic Whales'. The human population of Dolberg are descended from the crew of a long range Second Imperium colony ship.

The indigenous population of Dolberg is the Hursuuun, the aforementioned giant psychic symbiotic whales, which lives deep down in the vast oceans. They are the rulers of the planet and speak with the human population via telepathy. The Dolbergers leave all complex decision-making up to their bottom-dwelling giant psychic whale overlords. What career to pursue, what tasks to perform, who to marry, where to live – everything is decided in the lightless depths by alien whales, connected to the Dolberger by the echinoderm lining his or her lungs. The Dolbergers are not slaves or mind-controlled thralls, and are apparently capable of independent thought and action. They simply find it distasteful, and cannot see why everyone does not live as they do.

The Law Level on Dolberg is classification ‘D’, again because there is no official code for 'the criminal code is determined by the incomprehensible whims of alien whales, and you will be torn to pieces by an angry mob if you break any of their equally incomprehensible taboos.'

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jul 1

Halfway done the mounting part. Because I'm just using an inkjet printer, the pages don't align right so I have to make a bunch of cuts to merge it all together. It's most clear in the Pryme system, in the lower right. Still, looks really good for what it is!

Same project, but now mounted on a piece of black poster board.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 30

Art Project.

Printed out subsector maps for the Trojan Reach in Traveller, being cut up and mounted on poster board.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 21

Work on the back deck continues. In this episode, we learn that Dave is the type of guy who would rather keep and refinish, as opposed to throw away and replace. And also, he's absolutely terrible at painting.

It'sa picture of my back deck, with a set of steps repainted, as well as a little table that was once used as a prep station for BBQ.

The colours are an orange ("cheddar cheese"), a forest green ("mother nature") and a very white grey ("rippled rock").

I've missed spots, have lazy brush strokes, and paint has dropped onto other colours below.

Luckily, that's a job for future Dave, and that guy is a total bum.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 14

One whole session later, and they have all the clues, but they haven't really figured out the smoking gun (but my wife was so CLOSE to it before she was interrupted by another player).

More yarn! More faces!

Charlie Day would be proud.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 14

Murder Mystery on a Space Station continues! And we have PROPS.

Bulletin board with suspects connected to each other by string, Charlie Day style.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 10

Setting up a hook for my traveller conversion of the classic d&d module, X1: The Isle of Dread Colonists from the vacuum world of Islent were sent to the jungle colony Keltchner Many of these colonists enrolled in Project X1-I0D, the colonisation of a fog shrouded isle No one knows their fate

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 8

The PCs will pick up the quest in Islent, when they find Rary Barbarossa's (sp?) abandoned spaceship and logs, as well as a giant diamond or pearl which they sell for half a million credits. Then it's off to the colony world of Keltchner!

Traveller map, showing the amber world of Islent, and a route leading to Keltchner, four parsecs away.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 5

I've spent approximately an hour this week searching for the tv remote, which has a tendency to fall between the couch cushions. Desperate times call for inventive measures. And I have offcuts. And zap straps.

An old tv remote control, zap strapped to a foot long or so off cut of a 2x4.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 4

I can't choose.

West End Games' Star Wars D6.

A game I played to death, long before I had ever seen a Star Wars film.

Dungeon Crawl Classics. D&D, Van Art Edition.

Earthdawn. FASA's take on d&d - a fantasy world that makes sense within the rules it sets.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Jun 3

These are my blood sugar readings from my sensor today. Those little ups and downs? That's, literally, me when I'm sitting up, as opposed to lying down. I haven't eaten anything today (bad, I know!) and all I've consumed is some coffee with almost zero amount of sugar/dairy in it.

Blood sugar readings, dipping into the 8.0-11.0 range, going up, and then down, over and over again.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· May 28

My daughter just drew a portrait of me. It should be in the Met. Or MoMA, at least.

A line drawing of yours truly, done by an eight year old.

My finger is in my nose.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· May 15

Every few months my kids elementary school throws a dance, and I have to attend as her parent chaperone. I always get bored, and message my wife as if I'm on the front lines in a Ken Burns civil war movie.

My dearest wife;

I have secured a post away from the front lines. While I can hear the thunderous sounds of battle, I am far enough away from the furor to afford myself some semblance of safety.

A tumultuous cry arouses the spirits, and I fear for my soul momentarily before I reminded that my soul is safe, for it always in your hands.

To recall that the only threat these diminutive warriors pose is merely to my earthly form is comforting, this is true. But still, I cannot help the shivers of terror that race down my spine when the enemy shouts their battle cry:

"Sweet Caroline, ba ba ba".

It is a rebel yell that causes the faces of my compatriots to freeze in a rictus, caught between a grin and a scream.

Oh, it's the chicken dance. This is my song. Gotta go.

Until we meet again,

Your loving and obedient servant.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· May 13

It's @lilcoppertop.bsky.social and my ninth anniversary. Went out and walked around Victoria, and ended up in an upscale Japanese bar/bistro in Cook Street Village. Y'all, look at this whisky sour!

A beautiful whisky sour (vegan!) with a purple and yellow violet as a garnish.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· May 6

That's a mighty fine lookin' jig right there.

A jig made out of scrap lumber, on a table covered w tools and sawdust. The jig is designed to make right angle cuts into a 2x12.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· May 4

I was bored, so I made a spaceship for Traveller. Kind of ship my players would drool over... And I might use it as a replacement for the kind of boring ship found in "The Last Flight of the Amuar" which I might be running soon.

Write up of the Hurricane Class small Trader

Grainy video game picture of a classic traveller far trader.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· May 2

Tell me this doesn't scream "new age cult that secretly worships an Elder God".

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Apr 28

Exhibit A.

A very quick photo of my pink Azaleas, repotted on my back deck.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Apr 25

Sometimes, when I'm bored, I go on Facebook and say stupid shit for giggles. Exhibit A.

Facebook post that ends w yours truly being an idiot.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Apr 21

Writing is getting punchy.

Shot of my word document, describing how scavengers explore the mosslands.

"Rather than exploring an area hex by hex, scavengers instead explore areas that pique their interest (or stoke the ever burning fire for loot, Loot, LOOT!)"

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Apr 19

Made my wife a brunch tray. Of course I had to take it outside to do the photo justice.

A charcuterie with toasted baguette, hummus sprinkled with sumac and olive oil, cashews, gin soaked olives, pickles, blueberries, smoked cheddar cheese, cucumbers, and a poached egg topped with chili garlic sauce.

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Apr 15

This is how I prep individual chapters for #Scavenger. Lots of notes, arrows, and little spurs to refresh my memory.

A scrap piece of cardboard, covered in my messy handwriting, outlining the big ideas of my exploration chapter (at least, the big ideas I need to organise).

Dave Percival@tetrapod· Apr 12

While there are a few TTRPGs I can teach in minutes, the only one I'd say is really "good" is the Star Wars D6 RPG. And while it's very easy to teach, it is also horrendously slowed down by its math, which can require players to roll dozens of dice and add them together each turn! 9/