Tilting at Windmills: Please Hold

Work has been eating basically all my time this whole year, along with getting back to the gym now that I identified the cause of some internal distress that was interfering (50% dairy by weight diet with randomly acquired lactose intolerance, woo!).

And now I've discovered there's a new edition of Savage Worlds, that might address *some* of the issues I had with 1e (namely, attributes not contributing to skills terribly much, and also gear, plus some new improved rules apparently). Going to grab ahold of that, do another First Impressions like I did for Savage Worlds Deluxe, and then determine what (if anything) is required to fix things.

As much work as I've put into this, having to not homebrew stuff is lazier. And, if they still didn't fix it, it'll still mostly apply probably with a few tweaks.

Budget wargaming: dollar store edition pt2

Now, as a follow-up to the last post, we get into 2x 35 packs of army men.

Pros: Models are much more detailed, and larger if you want a slightly bigger scale. Includes some specialty gear like minesweepers, flamethrowers, and mortars
Cons: Models are way bigger than the scale of most gaming terrain and anything else, and completely random. Where the 50 packs came with a squad of fireteams in each, this is just a grab bag. Maybe usable for decoration, or if you buy a vast quantity to hopefully random-chance your way to something resembling a distribution of units with which to assemble a team.

I had really high hopes for these, but they were dashed by the reality of opening the bags and actually getting a good look at the contents. There isn't enough consistency to get them for minis, whether for wargaming or as tokens for a tabletop game on the cheap. Also, they're way larger than most gaming minis and terrain so you can't mix them in with other stuff.

Verdict: Not recommended

Up next in part 3, we look at assorted creatures and dinosaurs, and then in part 4 we get to the point of all this!

Training Thursday: Share the pain

Took both my hubby and my housemate to Krav Maga with me. Both greatly enjoyed the training. Neither was in shape enough for the unusually heavy cardio class we got. They're both going to complain at me tomorrow, I suspect. On that note, I've been taking Krav Maga courses for about 4 months now, after a lifetime of taekwondo (reached halfway between first and second degree blackbelt). Different goals, but I felt like I learned more practical, applicable defensive stuff in the two trial courses than I did in all of my TKD. Of course, I'm picking it up incredibly fast, because just like even historical fencing wasn't really applicable to a real fight, it made you BETTER in the real fight.

Also tried out an imitation chik-fil-a chicken recipe for people who don't want to help them pay for anti LGBT shit (which boils down to "Brine it and use seasonings, dumbass") and it turned out quite good. Soak it in pickle brine for a couple hours, add some seasonings, dunk in flour and then egg and whatever. Just google it, you'll find a bunch of recipes.

There's yer problem

Been going pretty hard at various things. Past couple weeks I've had issues with passing out basically any time I stopped moving or actively doing something and was remotely comfortable.

Now, after another one of these impromptu 3+ hour naps, following a 9 hour rest, I'm suddenly full of things like motivation and energy and stuff again. Remarkable what being remotely awake does.

We now return to your regularly scheduled rambling about guns, military futurism, and game systems nobody cares about.

Tuesday Training: Laser rifles?

Not going to make a thing of this enough to get a tag, probably, but I'm looking for a laser training rifle. I've found all manner of bore sights, at least one drop in laser-bolt for AR-15s, and of course the Laserlyte and SIRT pistols. But I haven't found a good, simple blue-gun rifle with the built-in laser, just a Laserlyte rifle. Maybe upgraded to a green laser for the additional range that grants.

Why? I want to practice. I run dot torture drills anywhere from weekly to nightly using my pistol, with both hands, sometimes in armor. Of late, I've been considering getting some nice targets I can hang around the basement with obstructions of some sort, form it into a poor-man's shoothouse. But, I'd like to run it with a rifle as well, and I DON'T want to use it with my real rifle even with a training laserbolt in it. Airsoft would work, but make a mess, same with my AR-15 style paintball gun.

This doesn't seem like it'd be that hard of a concept. A resetting trigger, and a hard plastic shell of the sort that litter the market from airsoft to toys. Like the laserlyte, close enough is close enough, as long as the simple laser mechanism lets you adjust the aim to properly zero it. The SIRT bolt accomplishes this using your existing gun (available in red and green lasers), but as mentioned having a spare fakegun set up to use as a dedicated trainer appeals.

I'm not averse to doing things myself, and could probably even bring it to market, but this seems like something that should already exist which is a far lazier option to acquire.

Miscellaneous Monday: BAG DAY

Tax season is once more upon us, and I'm maybe in position to actually pick something new up finally? It's been a long, long time since I acquired anything new. At present I have a few thoughts in mind for what to snag if it's in the budget after trying to pay down all my bills.

Option 1: Cheap Pocket Pistols
I'm signed up with Operation Blazing Sword, although I haven't been contacted for training as of yet. The areas I operate in have people with fancier qualifications (which I honestly should go for myself) and/or areas that are just kinda empty. At any rate, if I have someone come to me for training, and they have specific want to defend themselves, my typical advice of "Glocks are the honda civic of guns; a little spendy for brand name but you know they're boring, practical, and reliable" isn't of much help to those without the ~$600 for a new Glock. My remedy for this is to buy a grab-bag of cheap stuff, Hi-point (maybe with carbine), kel-tec, etc. Stuff around $200 or less. I can get two for the price of something nicer, but I get the benefit of being able to give a true recommendation of stuff based on my own experience with it.
Cost: ~$200xQTY

Option 2: 10mm Auto Glock
Glock now has the G40, 10mm auto with longslide and 15 in the mag. This gun makes me suspicious that Glock has been peering into my brain. I want two of them, but one will suffice for not-stupid purposes (I have no dominant eye, right eye aligns with right hand, left eye with left hand, which means that I can dual wield effectively and even aim two pistols down sights at once with a little coordination). Non-stupid purposes include cold weather carry after I pick up a new long-coat, and carry up north in bear country.
Cost: ~$600

Option 3: PLR-16 or other piston drive intermediate-rifle caliber pistol.
I've long had a fondness for giant rifle-pistols, which seem to have picked up the moniker of assault pistols by people that hate black guns. I've discussed my fondness for stupid guns before, but now I actually have a specific purpose for it and some advancements in technology make it only ridiculous, not stupid (mostly). I've got armor that mostly serves as exercise weight, and would like to pair it with something stronger than my Glock 26 if I need gun and don't have time to get the AR-15 out of the gun locker. The smaller size means it's more easily stashed with the armor, possibly even strapped to it in a holster, widespread reflex sights make it easier to aim, and SBR 5.56 now exists tailored to optimizing in short barrels to get the power to the bullet instead of blinding/deafening/setting-on-fire everyone in the vicinity because only half the juice went into the bullet. No pistol brace, probably a pull-sling style notstock.
Cost: ~$400?

Option 4: Bulletproof coat or vest
BulletProofEveryone has some nice looking coats with NIJ IIA or IIIA inserts. I want armor, even though I'm good at avoiding being stupid places doing stupid things with stupid people. If nothing else, I miss the bonus strength and fitness from carrying a heavy backpack everywhere. This was going to be a birthday present to myself already, but wasn't in the budget. Specifically, the Logan overcoat, which includes protection for the upper leg. Alternatively, they have a nice looking softshell, or I might just snag a low profile vest that fits under my loose work shirts.
Cost: $379 (IIA) or $429 (IIIA) for the Logan, $200-600 for vests

Option 5: Expand/improve rifle armor
I have a nice basic plate carrier with curved front plate and flat back from AR500, but it's just not up to snuff. The carrier doesn't hold tightly enough for me to move vigorously in it, which I would expect to do if I actually were to NEED the armor, and also need to do for workouts while using it as an unnecessarily badass weighted training vest. Furthermore, I want to add an abdominal armor panel, side panels, and make some custom DAP panels that hold the curved 6x8 panels along the outside of my upper arms. Picking up a helmet also seems useful, I may just snag a military surplus steel one because the good ones have similar protection against handgun rounds and lack of protection against rifles, and it's $25ish for a surplus steel helmet vs. $180 or so for a PASGT.
Cost: Varies with panel/carrier.

Option 6: Assorted accessories
This probably still includes a surplus helmet, because cheap, but also handles things like getting some much needed glass for the rifle (currently uses BUIS as main sights), a replacement stock to balance the weight out, some new P90 mags for the AR-57 upper I bought ages ago and immediately lost mags for in a series of moves between apartments, possibly stuff to build a second lower so the AR-15s and AR-57 can be their own separate guns (putting the regular carbine stock on the AR-57 because it's not going to sell for anything and no point leaving it un-attached). Alternatively, buy a second lower with the Magpul UBR attached. I could also do with a proper fighting knife, a grappling hook because reasons, trauma kit stuff, and the like.

Meatspace shindig

Freshly returned from my college gaming convention, it was nice to see the folks who really got me into tabletop gaming, as well as hang with my pal who actually introduced me to GURPS.

We tried running some Savage Worlds as things were wrapping up, and when it came to character creation and gear stats, it was gratifying to have everyone look at both and complain about not having enough points to do what they wanted, and general exclamations of "What the hell?!" on the gear listing, which makes my tilting at windmills of trying to rebuild the entire equipment section because the devs did it wrong.

My next step for that is to pause trying to MAKE gear creation rules, and just make gear with the stats those rules should be able to give it in terms of price/performance and still having those things tied to game mechanics in a way that mostly makes sense. Those windmills aren't going to stab themselves.

Friend of mine also took up coding recently, and occasionally asks for suggestions. I'm working out  GM's Assistant tool that can help with generating town populations (stores, storekeepers, and important NPCs, as well as general feel of the town/district), adventure seeds, and names for organizations and establishments, along with convenient storage for relevant information.

Homeowner

Bought a house. It's nice, and has tons of room for project, but damn if these things aren't expensive. Hopefully some of the substantial amounts of time I save driving places will turn into blogging time. I swear I have vaguely interesting things to say into the void of the internet!

Random quote from the internet

In lieu of actual content, have the ramblings of someone from a stream chat. All belong to one particularly witty individual

"I'm from Colorado, where politics are weird. We all own guns, and vote democrat basically every time. We have no idea what we want, but god help you if you take it from us. Whatever it is."

"Utah had a hard couple of decades. We kept dropping nukes on them, even though they were already in the union..."

"You know, a dentist. Drills teeth, caps teeth, can operate and reload a Colt SAA Cavalry faster than any living man, left Johnny Ringo dead in Turkey Creek Canyon without bothering to collect a bounty. Typical dentist shit."

Design things: Themed bars and restaurants

So, I've got a bunch of ideas for themed bars/restaurants knocking about I thought other people might like or have ideas for. I figure I'm probably never going to get to build them myself so I actually don't mind sharing, even if it's just as a humorous hypothetical. The first I came up with on my own, the other two owe at least some inspiration to a variety of sources including the gaming themed 42 Alehouse. (To those not local to Milwaukee, it's a bar/restaurant with walls lined with everything from the full VHS sets of various Star Treks, to all manner of gaming books, to Risk and Settlers Of Catan and everything else. The bar TVs, if there aren't sports on, feature anything from LotR to Star Wars to Wii Games played by patrons).

First up, one I've had for a while, the Legitimate Establishment. It's a 'secret' 1930s speakeasy, a brewpub with the main floor playing a super saccharine, inoffensive restaurant. Main place is something like Mom's, specializing in roasts, stews, and generally homecooked hearty meals. In the basement through one of several secret entrances is the Legitimate Establishment, with dress code (at least a tuxedo T-shirt. Failing to have at least that gets you brought to the back to get "roughed up" and receive a commemorative shirt for the occasion), member's list (On The Dole, the military/police/firefighter's discount). Probably back rooms that can be rented or reserved for private use, poker night or gaming or whatever. Jazz on the jukebox, or played live if possible. Probably some historical cocktails from the period such as can be found. Upstairs would have the "secret" brewery, with tours and classes and such. A number of such places exist, although not quite this exact setup.

Up next is the Adventure Tavern. It's themed like the tavern that every fantasy tabletop RPG starts in, with big imitation monster heads on the walls, old fashioned weapons of various sorts, and so on. TVs would be disguised as everything from magic mirrors to scry spells floating in flames. Food is sports bar fare, simple and hearty, with a rotating menu featuring foreign cuisine from "edible loot". Hawiian, Thai, African, Jamaican, the theme is food, spices, and recipes brought in by adventurers and merchants from distant locales. If there's a jukebox, it's disguised as a crazy gnomish contraption or similar. Special events include Tale Tellin', wherein you share the tales of your adventures, either solo or as a group, in a similar thing to karaoke. Gaming would of course be encouraged. 

This bottle opener tetsubo is actually the jumping off point for the Adventurer's Tavern, from trying to figure out what bar decor would make that fit in. 

http://www.deviantart.com/art/AENiGMA-Cyberpunk-Concept-Art-594268720

Finally, there's the Cyberpunk themed bar. Hidden back in a basement somewhere, lots of cables on the ceiling, glowing neon all over the place. Prices might be listed in the 'currency of the future', such as Nuyen (used by the shadowrun universe and largely equivalent to dollars), or they may just be regular. I think everything in the place will be controlled via phone/tablet apps (Hacking's always a big thing in cyberpunk). Possibly one of those food conveyors, some secret back rooms for gaming for "runners". Food, I'm not sure. Possibly a super robust vegetarian menu since most cyberpunk stuff assumed in the dystopian future, everything would be soy based? The decoration is easy, figuring out extra things for it is hard because it's so close and yet so far from where we are today. Probably gaming tournaments and such?

If you've got thoughts to expand on it, or your own zany bar/restaurant you want to discuss/flesh out, comment away! I might doodle up some concept art for more realistic things for what I'd try to build.

BAG day shopping list

Having worked a full year at the highest pay I've ever received, my check back from Uncle Sam was the largest it's ever been (but not too large). And yet, I've got all my bases filled. I'm also a mite bit empty after paying various things to move to newer, more spacious digs. 

I think this BAG day I will be buying accessories and training things

A SIRT pistol and AR-15 bolt are high up the list.

A heavy, extended set of AR500 body armor, and possibly some manner of battlehat

A bigger safe, or at least a second one. Need some manner of ammo storage/organization in it or in addition.

Optics for my AR-15 and AR-57 (I've got a lot of rail space but in the interests of weight I'd like some kind of combo. Light/laser, optic/laser, etc.)

More mags, more ammo, before the rest of everyone notices that the stupidity of this political season and buys all the everything. Can never have too much, after all.

That said, the local mountain of geese has a nice looking Century Arms Draco pistol...

Right, using this; Also new upper

Been quiet for a while. Had topics but precious little motivation, due to big projects at work beating me down. Those are pretty much all caught up now, and a load off my shoulders. Got a new car, nice compact SUV with decent fuel economy and some good capabilities that I'll possibly get a picture of sometime when I can be bothered.

Also bought a new AR-15 upper back in December, finally snapped a picture of it

An AR-57 and a couple of mags, plus a box of ammo for a steal. I expressed interest in it and the store owners began a bidwar with each other to offer a low enough price to get it off their damn wall.

The ammo's labeled "police and military only" from way back when it was first introduced and ZOMG hype better ban it because it can shoot through tanks its so armor piercing. This lead the bf to ask if it was better than 5.56

"No, no it's not. It's actually worse in almost literally every way. About 1/10 the power, more expensive, less range, strange and slow (but neat!) reloads, and I couldn't be happier"

This gun is basically my stupid fondness for pistol carbines, SMGs, and PDWs given its ultimate form. Now it just needs optics and somewhere to actually test it out.

Gun On Campus: My The Campus

Reportedly someone heard a bolt slam shut on campus and thought they saw the barrel of a gun they thought was an AK-47 in the bathroom. They ran, pulled the fire alarm, and that part of campus was quarantined. No shots or anything, official story about whatever happened still pending.

Given that I suspect 1/3 to 1/2 of the people at the school probably have shotguns or hunting rifles in their cars, an attack on said school seems rather ill conceived.

Further details when they're available, to determine if this is legit or not.

Lessons from my childhood: Cartoons imparting valuable knowledge

Seen on the book of face, possibly from Michael Z Williamson or one of his commentors. The series was often questionable, but it had its moments, and most of those moments involved Mr. Bannon kicking ass.

Lego Cthulu: Horrors for plastic dread.

Some people have made some darn fine Lego Call Of Cthulu stuff.

As a proponent of legos as superb figures for tabletop gaming, I felt the need to share this with what few readers I theoretically have.

Oh right, this thing exists

Hope you all had a happy stuffsgiving and whatnot.

I've got a ton of stuff to talk about but haven't had time or motivation to type it out. Having slept for approximately 4 days straight, I'm feeling a bit more energetic and will endeavor to resume rambling into my empty corner of the internet.

Capitalism: Giving you the means of production

Found on the interwebs. Take that, Marx!

Motor Monday: Opportunity Missed and Motorcycle Musings

On a business trip with my company to see applications of our products (volumetric fillers). We had some time to kill today, so we stopped at a classic car dealership with a side of museum to it right on the way to the hotel. As we were heading out the door I realized I should have taken pictures, but taking pictures isn't usually a thing I do. Oh well. 30s era cars continue to be gorgeous and we all agreed that something with modernized hardware and that kind of styling would be pretty great and we'd all want one if it was reasonable. We all lamented the PT Cruiser as an attempt that did it wrong but at least got a little credit for trying.


So, I've had my bike a few months now, barely put 200 miles on it because I won't ride unless I'm physically sound and mentally present, and I'm often very tired and have a moderate length commute. Went with a new bike because dodging issues and surprises associated with buying used... only to get a recall notice in the mail. Bah. Nothing major, mine didn't have the issue and it didn't cost me anything, so whatever.


Still having trouble figuring out leg armor that plays nice with a gun on the hip. Beginning to suspect I might either have to find a shoulder holster I like (vertical gun position instead of horizontal), belly band, or anything else that moves said gun off my hip, or just suck it up and strap motorcycle pants or chaps or whatever on over the top of it. I guess I can IWB my OWB by wearing a pair of armorpants.

Internet Argument Referee

More at the link. These seem like they'd be rather handy when arguing with the anti-gun forces if not for all that reasoned discourse they're fond of.

Not dead yet, have some art.

Just busy and lacking time and motivation to ramble into my empty corner of the internet. Got a few things knocking around in the noggin, such as a GURPS conversion from Dark Heresy/WH40k in general (other people have done it sort of, but the Did It Wrong in places), along with eleventy bajillion things of saved and forgotten tech tuesday links, and a few more entries on the Diary of a Va'Kree Spacer.

GURPS Metro finally got going mostly in earnest, and I'm spending a lot of time trying to build really fancy detailed maps for everything with the crappy tokens and backgrounds Roll20 has available for free, and starting to draw up my own monsters and things because their selection is so poor (even among potentially purchasable things). In a related matter, if ever you require character portraits, monster drawings or whathaveyou, you need only wave a buck or two and a description at me and I'll be happy to oblige, particularly if I'm permitted to torment my players with said monsters.

Meet a character I whipped up for an upcoming Dark Heresy game, veteran NCO Sergeant Titus, of the Forge World Fabryka. Loyal member of the Imperial Cult, he translates his zeal into very useful pragmatism, because dead men can't serve the Omnissiah. His laspistol does most of the work, but he's quite handy with that sword; he's also quite capable with issuing orders, and more than happy to simply lob grenades into emplacements or blow open walls rather than try to lead glorious charges against the enemy. He also has a fear of open spaces after being forced to lead a charge across open ground to break an advancing enemy formation, losing nearly all of his men and almost being killed himself in the process.

Foreshortening and angle on the legs are a bit off, but I like how this turned out. Drew it up in the northwoods with no internet or refs, so I'd say it didn't turn out too badly.