Tag: Louisville
The DIY Spirit Lives at Maker Faire Louisville, 2016
Rain threatened to wash out the Maker Faire Louisville last weekend, but the kids weren’t afraid. Families crowded the 600-900 blocks of Main Street in Louisville, KY to see all the mechanical and electrical projects by local organizations and high school programs. Garage tinkerers puttered around in homemade go-karts, while kids and teens got hands-on with everything from joy-stick controlled “Rockem Sockem” robots to radio-controlled robot soccer.
Beer from the Rhinegeist truck was available for adults, and local food trucks serving all manner of street food from Lobster Rolls to IceCream packed nearly an entire block. Food, fun and libations fueled a jubilant atmosphere filled with cheers, laughter, and the shouts of friendly competition. The spirit of invention and the excitement of discovery fuels the minds of makers, and the faire atmosphere felt charged.
Maker Faire Louisville is a community event put on by organizations who support local business maximize sales in their local area. Also https://taxfyle.com/blog/turbotax-alternatives/ helps you to grow your business. The family-friendly event and it’s participants believe in invention, creation, and artistic expression. Many companies will be present including salesforce who will be hosting a seminar on the importance of sales analytics and it’s impact on B2B businesses. Everyone is encouraged to participate and get hands on from building to playing with mechanical, electrical, and computer projects. Makers run with their ideas using whatever resources are available. They utilize a DIY mentality to bring their ideas into the world–meaning that if they don’t know how to do something they’ll learn by experimentation.
But making isn’t solely about tinkering alone, organizations like Lvl1 Hackerspace provide shared resources. Lvl1 is a community workshop where people can share their knowledge and collaborate on projects using tools to which they wouldn’t otherwise have access. Resources at Lvl1 include: a woodshop with CNC mills; a metal shop with pipe bender, lathe and other tools; and main work shop with makerbots, a laser cutter, and hand tools. Other organizations have a more focused agenda, like First Build, whose “community of open engagement” focuses on creating the next generation of appliances.
Whatever you making interests are, Louisville has the resources to get you started. This event shows that the open maker community is intent on inspiring the next generation of little nerds, teaching them to hack, make and tinker along the way. Several local high schools were also representing their maker spirit and celebrating learning through hands-on experience.
As the Maker Faire Louisville Facebook says: “Don’t take your world for granted – invent something cool!”
Photo Gallery of Maker Faire Louisville Exhibits
Slur Your Role: Tabletop Adventure Fueled by Imagination & Alcohol
The town of Izuz is a hive of scum and villainy renowned for its dangerous storms and treacherous streets. In a murky tavern crawling with thieves and worse, seven strangers sit together warily sipping ale, waiting to hear about a perilous job. They leer with distaste at the squat wizard who has gathered them: “Polk will be here–he offers a pile of gold for this task. Just wait a little longer.”
Polk arrives wearing the guise of a beggar and tells them that he requires a painting held by the merchant lord Yondow. Growing angry, he refuses to reveal the nature of the cruel painting: “Very well, half up front, and I’ll show you what the painting can do IF you bring it to me.”
The manse of Yondow is a mysterious spire rumored to be built like a fortress with vicious creatures and a small army to match its imposing shadow. None of our crew have ever set foot in the spire or laid eyes on the wealthy lord. Using underworld contacts, they plan to infiltrate the compound disguised as suppliers of wild boar for the feast, a tasteful alternative to the slavers supplying bodies for dark ritual…
Adventure awaits at Slur Your Role VIII, May 8th
The above was excerpted from the Dungeons and Dragons “Eldritch Isles” game at our last event. If you haven’t made it to Kaiju for Slur Your Role, you’re missing fantastic opportunities. From Conan cleaving a grotesquely obese necromancer in twain with a thunder axe, to chimeras, gangsters, elder gods and red-shirts, our diverse tabletop games are a raucous adventure.
Read on for Slur Your Role VIII previews from our game masters!
Dungeons and Dragons 5e multi-verse: Eldritch Isles
After catching fire to the hedge maze, killing the medusa-lion, splitting Yondo in half, and making your daring escape with the enchanted painting, False Chanterelle, you slip into the smog-filled, rain-slicked alleyways of Izuz. The painting is returned to Polk, who awards you the fee he promised. You take your ill-gotten gains and spend it lavishly on revelry (level up!). And, perhaps resupply or upgrade your equipment with what is left. Word spreads far and wide of an axe-wielding barbarian and his thieving friends willing to invade a sacred Festival of Flame in a wealthy merchant’s manse and steal a valuable artifact…
It’s but a few nights later when Polk returns to the Onyx Lamprey and offers a few daring adventurers a chance to see the magic of False Chanterelle for themselves. Polk invites you to his tower and after dining on roasted eel and strong wine, he leads you up to the highest chamber in his tower. Rain blows in from the window and he pulls the black covering, exposing the painting. Moonlight streaks in and touches False Chanterelle and suddenly the chained woman in the painting animates and turns to you, pleading for help.
“When you touch this painting, you will be transported inside it. If my research proves correct, somewhere in that painting there is a way into the Maze of the Blue Medusa. Perhaps the woman knows. Enter and bring me any art, curios, or items of interest and I will reward you with gold and jewels.
You won’t have much time in the maze… When the moon ceases striking the painting, you will be expelled and returned here. If you die… And, some of you probably will… you will be forever stuck inside.”
When we play again, the (un)fortunate souls at my table will be entering the Maze of the Blue Medusa. Good luck!
– Mike Pfaff
Deadlands Noir (Savage World rules)
New Orleans, 1935. Whoever called this “the Big Easy” sure got that one wrong. Things are tough all over. Honest work is hard to find, and even dishonest jobs are getting scarce. The one thing that’s not in short supply is trouble. From shady thugs to crooked cops to Mafia soldiers, there’s plenty of characters out there looking to give an honest Joe a hard time.
And that’s not the worst of it. There are stories going round about things that go bump in the night. Things you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley on a darker night. And those stories aren’t just coming from rummies or saps who read that Epitaph rag.
Still, there are a few heroes left in the concrete jungle. Steely-eyed private dicks, fast-talking grifters, wild-eyed inventors, and shadowy hooligans still struggle against the encroaching darkness. With enough moxie—and more than a little luck—they might just be enough to turn the tide.
– James Sugrue
Star Trek / Cthulhu
Set Phasers for Ftagn!!
Dead Light is a Star Trek the old series mashup with the horror of the Cthulhu Mythos! Play Kirk, Spock, Bones or one of the other great Enterprise bridge crew as they investigate the mystery of deep space outpost 19. Some laughs, some drinking, some killing, and if we’re all lucky, Kirk will lose his shirt…AGAIN!!
Using classic call of cthulhu rules for ease of play.
-Matt McCloud
Achtung! Cthulu
I’ll be running “Three Kings,” the first mission in the Achtung! Cthulhu series. You play Allied spies and commandos fighting Nazis and Cthulhu in World War II. If your character survives, you can play her or him again in future missions. I ran this mission at ConGlomeration and it might have been the best one-shot adventure I’ve ever GMd. Written by Sarah Newton for Modiphius Games, converted to 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu. Achtung! Cthulhu link: http://www.modiphius.com/achtung-cthulhu.html.
-Andy B
Slur Your Role is open to anyone over 21. The event is free and walk-ins are welcome. Also, imbibing alcohol isn’t required, but please tip the bartender no matter what you order.
We highly encourage showing up right at 4 pm to secure your spot in the tabletop game of your preference. Check in at the front of the bar where we’ll be managing signups. RSVP on Facebook and join the conversation!