Python3 – Generate Random Items with Random Enchantments for Skyrim

📅 February 25, 2022
“How about starting Skyrim with a random item possessing random enchantments?”

A fun twist to playing Skyrim is to begin the game with a random item entered from the console command. This starting item can even contain an enchantment or two for a little extra punch in our pseudo-Nordic fantasy world.

This adds an extra element of surprise and can help shape the hero’s direction in his fantasy life regarding the path to take. After all, if you have a ring of waterbreathing, would you not want to spend more time exploring rivers and lakes?

So, rather than look up codes to enter, let’s create a script that will generate these console codes for us.

This is not a mod. This is a simple — very simple — Python3 script that picks an item (ring or amulet) at random from a dictionary and assigns two random enchantments to it. The script outputs a console command that can then be entered manually during gameplay from the Skyrim console to add the item to the player’s inventory.

This is mainly practice in picking and assembling random dictionary elements, but rather than showing another standard Python example, why not show how this can be applied to a real-world problem in a fun way?

Angband – A Text-based RPG

📅 February 21, 2022
“You are one of several children of an Avarin Ranger.”

Interested in some good, old-fashioned, text-based role-playing fun inside a Bash shell? Angband, available for free from the Ubuntu repository, allows you to relive “the good ol’ days” of hack and slash RPG exploration as you use your imagination to pretend that the at-sign (@) is your noble adventurer questing through strange worlds and the bright, cyan lower-case “t” is a Battle-scarred veteran just itching for an excuse to make mince meat out a newbie milk drinker like you.

Remember those days? If you feel tears welling up behind your thick-rimmed nostalgia-tinted nerd glasses, then you might want to give this game a try.

Modifying the Ducky One 3 Keyboard with Akko Starfish Switches

📅 February 4, 2022
“Starfish?”

Since one of the features of the Ducky One 3 Fuji mechanical keyboard is hot-swappable switches, I wanted to try this out to discover how easy it is to swap switches and what the new typing experience would be like.

After many comparisons, switch spec analysis, and reviews, I employed the tried-and-true scientific method of “I am new to this and have no idea what switches to get just from reading about them” and obtained a box of Akko Starfish switches to play with.

Okay, in truth, I liked the translucent purple/lime green color scheme of the Starfish switches. Real scientific.

So, how did the process go? Did they fit the Ducky One 3 keyboard? Was it easy to replace existing switches? Here are my results.