gerzel

very reasonable...

brollyferret@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:07:29 GMT

“First they came for the rich. And I did not speak out because I was not rich. Then they came for the property owners, and I did not speak out because I did not own property. Then they came for the right to bear arms, and I did not speak out because I was not armed. Then they came for me and denied me my medical care, and there was no one left to speak for me,”
– Laura Ingraham, protesting the Senate healthcare bill at a rally in DC.

Things I want

brollyferret@gmail.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:50:04 GMT

Things I'd like in the next year.

A living room and kitchen - I'd like to get out of my parents house into my own place, even if it is small.

A Game Group able to handle "thinky" plots - I'd love to be able to run/play in more complex tabletop plots. Used to have a great group for it but I gave them a lot of shit and left them a couple years ago. Wish I hadn't, especially wish I'd treated them better. Hell I still got Keet's copy of FireFly and a fox plushie around here I was going to give him or wes for Christmas that year....perhaps I'll give it to wes as a house warming gift.

[[I fully realize that those in that gaming group are likely to be nearly the only persons to read this in the first place. That said sorry guys for any trouble/grief I may have given you and if you ever have an opening I miss you guys.]]

More Confidence. - This comes down to getting more fit, more education and a job. I don't really care about the money, well it does matter but it is not something I truly want for even when I'm low on it.

I am trying to work on the fitness thing with working out more and eating less, both with mixed results as of late--hopefully it is just the holidays.

As for education I will be attending classes at CCCC this coming spring, probably taking computer courses to get some certification under my belt and to help me learn a programming language.

Also would be nice to clean my room. For xmass my folks are gonna pay for some organizer shelving to replace an old corner desk in my room. I need more shelves to put books/clothes etc.

Insomnia, Morning News Show and Children on the Internet

brollyferret@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:26:11 GMT

Watched an oh-so-rational and oh-so-informative exposé on one of the morning shows talking about the problems of protecting a child from "accidentally" getting to "adult" material on internet enabled devices. With the hosts openly wondering how these software companies could be so cavalier about the issue, and not once mentioning that a parent should watch what their child watches or giving any suggestions what to do after the kid sees something. It all focused on chastising the companies for not making it harder for kids and talking about what products were good for parents to buy.

So I wonder. If any of you out there who read this have any ideas what you might do to keep your sproglings healthy and safe on the Interwebs, if you have/were to have any.

I for one would lock-out and log. Black list if they have been good, white list if they haven't.

Flesh Seeder Adventures for Deadlands

brollyferret@gmail.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:41:53 GMT

I've been working on a Deadlands adventure for the RPG group that I meet with Saturdays. The original idea was for it to be an alternate campaign for me to run with running Shadowrun but it has been taken as a one-shot for Halloween. If you are in that game DON'T READ FURTHER! Though I don't think anyone in that game reads my lj.

I got a week to fully prep this and am running with Pre-genned characters each with their own bits of background as to who they are and how they got to be on the trail. The adventure is still under development and I greatly welcome any comments, feedback, questions or suggestions anyone might have.

The adventure is set in a small town with an old mine, a few small farms and ranches and a missionary orphanage. The PCs are part of a wagon train on the Santa Fe trail that is stopping in the town to deliver goods and load up several wagons of ghost rock ore to take to Tombstone further down the trail. It is a somewhat routine stop on a small introverted but prosperous little town.

Deep under the town in the mine grows a plant/fungus like fearmonger horror that runs the town through small venom sacks implanted somewhere on each of the townsfolks bodies(at least for the adults). It can cause any of the townsfolk to be racked by extreme pain, see/hear through their eyes, and communicate in a limited manner with any of them, but not control them. If a person venture too far from town the sacks burst and the person is in for a slow painful death.

In the mine the “Flesh Seeder” fearmonger takes the form of a living carpet and growth of animal and human flesh, blended together and looking as if it melted and re-gelled with a fur of small fleshy tentacle like apandages covering most of the floor like grass.

The mine still puts out some ghost rock but the main strike has been mined out. This ghost rock is used to pay the few townsfolk who aren't implanted and to pay off for other services such as deliveries of cattle for “speculation.” At least speculation is what is told to the cowboys that deliver the herd. The real seller knows exactly where the herd is going. The local ghost rock has high concentrations of Iron and silver ore mixed in and is of great interest to Dr Hellstrom who sends the herds down making sure to keep things quiet and safe for the town in return for regular deliveries.

The local orphanage is being used by the monster as a front to distribute its seeds across the country. It is able to grow out parts of itself into the close likeness of a child. The thing even learns to think like a child and plays like a child not knowing of its own true nature. The wily fearmonger has been careful to keep a mix of real children among its own stock as its own stock tend to be similar to one another.

The orphanage houses between 20 and 25 children at a time with only 4 to 6 of them being the fearmonger's seeds and the rest being normal orphaned children. The orphanage is being run by a small cloister of nuns, at least according to most any outward examination. On the inside the “nuns” are really working for Hellstrom who not only is interested in the local ore but the methods of the fearmonger itself. The flesh seeder is aware of the nun's loyalties having grown roots out under the ground to keep a close set of senses on the place, but so far it hasn't implanted or moved against them wanting to keep up appearances. In fact Hellstrom keeps close track of all children adopted from the orphanage and when he is able without too much suspicion kidnaps or exhumes them for examination with vivisection being the preferred method usually by a well-trained operative taking thorough notes.

Deadlands Pregens backstories

brollyferret@gmail.com — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:58:49 GMT

Here are some back stories I'm working on for a Deadlands game. I'm making up all the Pregenned characters each with a back story told in the second person. The group is starting off in a wagon train on the Santa Fe trail headed for Tombstone and many onward to the Great Maze.

Name: Devin Masterson
Archetype: Veteran Lawman

Background
Age: 42
A few years ago you were just the sheriff of a normal quiet fair-sized town a-ways off the Santa Fe Trail, used to small farmers, and prospectors working on extracting mineral oils from out of the ground and selling it to various machinist and science folk for their uses. Then one day, evil bubbled up from under the ground. Liquid black demons ran rampant killing everyone in sight and turning them into horrible creatures of petroleum muck and gore.

You took action, rounded up survivors gitin them in a near-bye cave for some shelter and managed to seal the well, and then made your way through the hoard of creatures, many of whom had caught fire in the melee and were sure to add you to the inferno, to get on a horse and to the nearest telegraph office, the next town over, and get some help. Then you headed back to your town to try and get the rest of the survivors out with the help of a few volunteers, most of whom ran off, or died tryin.

By the time you got back to the cave where the survivors where holed up the creatures had almost broken through the barricade. You and the remaining men with you decided to make a diversion to get the creatures off of them and give the surviving townsfolk a chance to escape. Things didn't go exactly as planned and you were trapped between a rock and a black ichorous hellbeast that used to be your barber when the Rangers came and with their fancy gear and, as you were to learn, supernatural know-how managed to stop the remaining horrors in their tracks, killin most, capturing some. You still shudder to think that the boys out from New Mexico have re-opened the derricks, and what ever advantage that new supernatural oil brings to the Confederacy you hope it is worth the price.

When you woke up on that fateful day you were the proud sheriff of a town of three-hundred and thirty-four God-fearing good souls, with your wife, Betsy, about to give you number three-hundred thirty-five any day now. By noon you were fighting for your life trying to warn as many folk as you could. Come evening you had to put both barrels of a shotgun to what remained of your sweet wife holding a twisted visage of your child in her arms.

They call you a hero for saving nearly two dozen souls from that disaster, but every night that day comes back to you, and what you did.

Name: Gabriel Mathers
Archetype: Huckster
Background (Not complete got another couple paragraphs)
You've gotten yourself into some deep deep heaping strangeness and likely trouble. You always were too smart for yer age and you seem to keep working to prove that over and over again. It was on the morning of your thirteenth birthday that your momma gave you a shiny new quarter to buy what you liked when she took you shopin that day, mostly to distract you while she picked out a cake and had it delivered back home. You spent it on a piece of chewin gum and a paperback book of games, by some man named “Hoyle.” Your momma made you spit out the gum on account of her thinking it led to delinquency, but seeing as Hoyle's book had no gamblin games in it she let you keep it, as she enjoyed a few rounds o' solitare an bridge herself.

Little did she know where that book o' games would get you. And less did you, as you read that little paperback for the first time fiddling with a deck and doin things but not quite understandin, but fascinated by it anyways. You cast your first hex when you were just a couple months away from fourteen, and you'll never forget fallin into one shadow, an out another, and the feelin you got deep in your head and down your spine of things out there watchin you do it.

By then your parents were worried about you and decided to send you off to a high and reputable school for boys to prepare you for college. You hated the first couple months in that place getting picked on. Then one day after classes were done your Latin teacher, Prof. Hogart called you to his office. It was an old and dusty room and odd as he usually preferred to admonish boys out infront of the class. You knocked, he called for you to come in, and you did, with his back turned reading to himself from some ledger tellin you to have a seat. You sat and nearly jumped out of your skin when you noticed an old copy of Hoyle's book on his desk. Hogart knew what real mischief you'd been getting yourself into and a hole lot more.

Name: Baron Sasha Orlova III
Archetype: Eastern European Noble Mad Scientist
Background
First off, YES, you are legitimately a baron, granted you don't have any land or holdings attached to the title, and you have two older brothers back home making you third in line for any land or holdings, and the land is in a small cold dreary Eastern European country, but you are a real baron.

Being the third or fourth in line means that you've had a lot of time to do things but often not a lot of things to do. Still you have used your time well; your family having enough wealth and influence to get you into some of the better universities in Europe and you have studied hard working on the practical sciences. Back home several moderately sized but low-grade seams of ghost-rock have been found and it is a state secret, for fear that Russia will simply annex your nation should it become known, that mines have been opened and the small nation is working on building up its industry and military in secret.

You are in the states looking to learn the secrets of ghost-rock and its mining to bring back home. This country would be unbearable if not for your faithful servant Igor.

Name: John Kane
Archetype: Chicago Enforcer/Gunslinger
Background
You grew up on the rougher side of Chicago, and got caught up in the local gangs and criminal elements when you were young. You found you were pretty good with a gun at a young age and learned to keep your head about yourself when using it. The fact that you were as good with your left hand as your right just helped you throw more lead into the air when the bosses needed some fightin to go down, the fact that you worked for the bosses meant you stayed out of Jail.

Recently though you got a bad break. You caught the rap for a copper you gunned down under the bosses' orders. Damned thing was the guy got back up. The Pinks didn't let him take the stand, but they did make sure you got in front of a real judge and jury. Best the bosses were able to do was to arrange you to make a break for it on bail and head South until the heat settles.

You've gotten word that some of your Bosses' got friends that could use a gun out in the Great Maze and you've arranged some working passage on a wagon train heading down the Santa Fe trail towards tombstone as a guard. Tain't much: meals, ammo, tac for your horse and $5 at the end of the trail but it will get you there.

Name: Rev. Jeremiah Swaggart
Archetype: Fire N' Brimstone Blessed Baptist Preacher
Backstory - No BG down yet. - He's got the flaw of randy and big britches and is heading to the Maze to spread the word to miners that need it.

Name: James Lunn Malloy
Archetype: Green Ghost Rock Prospector
Background - No BG yet. He is heading to the Maze to look for ghost rock even though he really doesn't have much of a clue as to what he is doin.

Name: Aubine Billaud
Archetype: Cajun Voodooist
Background - Again none down yet but she is a Voodoo healer following the path of many in her community heading for the Great Maze to help those in need.

The most frightening word you can tell a player isn't “yes” or “no”. It's “maybe.”

brollyferret@gmail.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:56:54 GMT

It is often difficult to do real horror or scares in tabletop roleplaying as the players have an abundance of information about the game that they can see far more than their characters ever could. Thus situations which would put their characters in a sanitarium or the grave with a heart attack would bore the players. There are many different types of fear, horror and scares and thus there are many different approaches to such things in roleplaying games. The biggest thing that most have in common is doubt, as doubt is more often than not the source of fear. Sure, you can have horror and fear by presenting the characters with a gruesome or frightening image or story that leaves no doubt and hits them in the gut, but we'll leave that for another time. There are many ways to put doubt into players' heads but a GM needs to be careful as not to over do it. The players need some control in order for them to feel they are risking something.

Risk is an absolute necessity for a role-played story to be a roleplaying game. without risk or control the players are just along for the ride and all the GM is doing is telling a story and the players are just actors working from a script. If the GM is a great story teller and the players like acting that may be enough, but we're talking about a game not an interactive story here. Risk and doubt are two different things and while risk requires doubt, doubt does not require risk, and both are essential for a good roleplaying game of any genre, that goes double for horror.

The most common source of doubt and risk in RPGs are the dice. Well not all RPGs use dice, but most use some randomizing element be it cards, paper-rock-scissors, a jenga tower or even a vote of some or all the other players. The point of all of these is to put the consequences of the players or GM's decisions to an uncontrolled element and run with the result. This helps us make the story element of a RPG into a game by leaving some parts to our willful decisions and some to chance. Still the dice can't rule over all aspects of the game's plot, both the GM and players need some amount of control. GMs should think long and hard about what kinds of dice schemes they use for their games and when to use them. It is the GM's job to regulate how much control the dice have over the plot, giving them enough to keep the players uncertain of how things will go, but with them able to wield enough control to get them feeling like they have some control over their characters.

The next most common source of doubt and risk for players in RPGs is simply what they don't know about what the GM has planned. This works out as the GM keeping secrets about the game letting them go slowly as things progress and some never letting go at all. “What's behind the door?” or “What's in the box?” are some of the most common and simplest secrets thought of for a GM to keep, but there are other secrets that the GM can use. Such as how strong a monster is, or if the dice really are being used to decide what happens. This can be as simple as simply changing the stats on a well-known monster to a complex game of lies half-truths and behind the screen dice rattling. The GM shouldn't be afraid to change his or her plan mid stream and should make their plans with a certain amount of contingency planning. Good contingency planning ahead of time can give players the feeling that they have control while still keeping them on the right track and the plot running ahead. On the other hand the GM should feel free to leave things unknown, or secretly(or perhaps not so secretly) up to the players so that the GM doesn't know fostering similar feelings of risk, doubt and excitement.

One common but often over-looked source of doubt and risk is the other players themselves. More often than not players in a RPG are working together all with similar or the same goal, such as kill monsters and take their treasure, and inter-player conflict is often minimized to save possible hurt feelings or bruised egos outside the game world. Also the amount of competition between players is often one of the defining characteristics between RPGs and their ancestor tactical games, along with the amount of control of the dice. Still it often works well to let players, at least for a time think that one has the upper hand on the others, only to shift it away at the right moment to another player, perhaps as a reward for some creativity or amusement by the GM or perhaps as sheer randomness. A good GM should work to know his or her group and to set up cross purposes and player competition to build excitement, create risk and foster a healthy amount of doubt in the players minds.

Really when you think about it all games involve control, doubt and risk, without which it might not even be a game at all. Without control the players have nothing to lose with any risk and the game would just be a story being told in part by the dice. Without doubt then the game would simply be a linear plot which the players either are making up themselves or are being told by another person or agent. The sources of risk and doubt can loosely be classified as three groups. Doubt caused by an outside agency, or dice; doubt caused by unknown parts of the game, which for RPGs are determined by the GM; and doubt about the other players' actions and intentions.

My RPG and tabletop games resolutions

brollyferret@gmail.com — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:16:59 GMT

I will play-test my game at least once with a group of players who are entirely new to the game/rules/book.

For games with parts I will include a parts list, including number of cards, tokens, dice, rulebooks, and all other parts that should be in the box or package. Included on this list will be an address or phone number or email, or any combination there-of, for the buyer of that game to request and/or report missing/damaged tokens.

I will have an errata page on the internet. It will have an email to report errors and ask questions about the game and for clarifications of the game's rules.

Any book over pamphlet size will have an index.

All books over ten pages will have a table of contents.

If I can afford to print in color then I will strongly consider using color coding for sections and if I decide against I will have a good reason not to.

My PDFs will have section and chapter bookmarks if they have sections and chapters.

I will play-test all releases.

Bibliographies are wonderful things and I will strive to include them in my books.

If I reference a rule from somewhere else in a book or another book I will include at least a note giving the book and/or page number, preferably both.

If I refer to a table, any table or figure set, in the text of my book I will include a page reference where that table is.

I will always double check my copy before it goes to the printers.

I will have at least one other person check the copy before it goes to the printers.

The rules and guidelines for good editing and style apply the the world of tabletop games and RPGs and I shall strive to use them well.

Clarity of the rules is important.

Consistency of the rules is important.

Great cover art will sell a book. Great editing will sell the next edition.

Punishment !=

brollyferret@gmail.com — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:14:30 GMT

Just because something isn't or doesn't seem as good for YOU doesn't mean that that thing is punishing you.

Bills != Punishment
Taxes != Punishment
Speed Limits != Punishment
Rules you don't like != Punishment

There may be reason to argue for these things to change or be lessened but don't act as if you're being crucified.

The END IS NEIGH!

brollyferret@gmail.com — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:09:54 GMT

That's right!

The end of the world is coming today, if today is indeed July 5th, 1998, which it probably is! The Xists will soon be upon us with their pleasure saucers and deathrays of love to rupture up the just dues paying subgenies, and all their stuff too!, as the Earth(really Mars) fries along with the pink boys under said rays of death.

7 AM IS NEAR!

THE SAUCERS ARE COMING!

Post a day: Bonsai + Fishy?

brollyferret@gmail.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:16:48 GMT

Trying to do a post a day

Still looking for bonsai material, esp soil, and debating merits of mixing it myself vs ordering it online as I can't seem to locate a local supplier.

Also need to figure out where fishpros moved to and get my aquarium back up and running...hope the pump/filter is still good...

I wonder if there are any salt-water species that would work for bonsai... Pretty plant pluss ugly fishy = art?

Bonsai Trees, Pessemisim, Health and Sleep

brollyferret@gmail.com — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:59:27 GMT

Well I am working on getting my hands on a supply of bonsai soil for potting some trees. I got the wires and tools needed to start out with and a couple of good looking pots as well as a slew of roadside test subjects to kill and maim in the name of learning bonsai. I think dad has the seives to make his own soil, need to check with him on that.

I could order the stuff online but it is bulky and I think I probably can get it quicker localy, but my abilities of navigation are nil. Will figure out more tommorow.

Read a nice article in the Skeptic Society Newsletter email about how a moderate level of Optimism is good for one's health. And how pessemism seems to have few to no beneficail effects, at least the high level optimists have poor risk assesment skills. How does one go about becoming a moderate optimist? Perhaps the anti-depressants I'm starting on and the psyciatrist I'll be seeing soon will help?

Tommorow around 11 I have a meeting with offically my personal trainer, as I'll be paying him now, at the gym. I still have a lingering case of con crud from Animazement, but the three sessions of Jade Claw were worth it.

Now for sleep to prepare for tommorow.

PS. I am sending feelers out for people who live in the Chapel Hill/Pittsboro and surrounding area who might want to form a weekly/bi weekly RPG group specifically to play Jade/Iron Claw.

Sonia Sotomayor

brollyferret@gmail.com — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:05:41 GMT

So what's wrong with her?

What wil Mt. Rushlimbaugh be spouting about in the next couple of days/weeks/months?

Or will she get through with strong bi-partisan support?

thought snippet

brollyferret@gmail.com — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:56:17 GMT

I find it ironic that because of the way Gitmo has been handled the just course of action would be to give them trials and if no adequate trial conviction could be passed down we'd have to set them free. I think that probably applies at least to part of the detainees. Because no one will accept them the only just thing may be to give them citizenship in the US and allow them to live here. Though that probably won't happen and we'll have political prisoners, just like other regimes that we are supposedly so much better than.

break down

brollyferret@gmail.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:00:10 GMT

It often seems like I spend a lot of times trying to keep myself from going down into a darker place of mind, and tonight in an arguement over a potatoe wether to bake or microwave I tripped and fell down into there.

Its the nagging feeling that everything I've aspired to for the past decade since high-school has failed. Job, writing, career, studies, health weight...all on the short list. The feeling that the only reason I don't kill myself is that it would be a bother to my parents who have been nice enough to let me live under their roof. I have this feeling every single day and all it takes is one comment about cooking a few potatoes one way than the other and I lose.

It would probably help to see a psycologist go back on anti-depresants but I damn well knwo they cost money, a lot of money, which my parents will pay for, which is the biggest source of guilt which makes the failure even worse.

Pelosi

brollyferret@gmail.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:44:20 GMT

You had better be telling the truth.

Seriously if she knew about it before hand she really should just admit it. It was wrong of her if she did, but that doesn't change how wrong torture was, is or will be and how much that policy has damaged and endagered US lives for likely years to decades to come.

As for the photos not released by Obama. While yes I would generally be on the side of releasing them, depending on what they are they may be inflamatory enough that they would in fact put US troops in danger if opened to the public.

an unconnected bit of bile saved for latter from a slashdot reply

brollyferret@gmail.com — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:48:08 GMT

This is how the US government works. The wealthy class are taught the language of money and law, and given the ability, clout and means to use it(all three are known by the rest of us as capital or simply money). The non-wealthy classes may aspire to become wealthy, but until they do must not know their place and must be kept in the dark as to how the legal system works. This is simple as the language of the legal and financial system is kept so abstruse and threatening that no one without a constant immersion and direct means to use it would ever be willing to try and navigate it. There are of course colleges that teach these things but the cost is kept at a high enough rate that only the cream who are willing to keep the status safely quo are allowed to pass through the rest are generally given such crushing financial debts that they are never able to wield these instruments against their makers.

We have a wonderful financial system. It has replaced the government without the people ever realizing it. No matter how much is blustered about reform and regulation just look who is in office under those elected. Sure you could have voted for the other guy, because the system is so perfect that he'd be in the same pocket just on the other side of the button. All blame is shifted to abstractions-today called "Red" and "Blue"-and the system works right on around all the outrage and indignaty of the unwealthy undeserving majority, the loser classes, while the winners reap all the benefits.

The RIAA is a good scape goat and fine working piece of this machinery slowly but surely shutting down all of the loser ability to speak out in any meaningful way. In concert with efforts to control content on the internet it will soon be that dissent will be funneled through the tightest of information capillaries where the mere effort to squeak it out will be so much that the individual will be seen as stupid and undeserving of being listened to simply for wasting their valuable time.

Animalympics

brollyferret@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:56:22 GMT

dry on the internet

brollyferret@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:03:13 GMT

The following is a bit of dry humor that I posted on slashdot about the internet and wealth. Looking back it was well rated and I liked the writing so I am posting it here to sorta collect it for myself.

The current Internet is too hard to control. Just about anyone can get on and say anything. There is no class structure, no censorship, options for extracting money from users are limited, and getting a cohesive message across to everyone who uses it is downright impossible.

What is needed is a tightly regulated Internet, where only those with enough good wealth are able to control what is being said and payment is extracted in an easy and orderly fashion. One which all information is available to the right people who can use it to properly control the unruly mob and masses of the underclasses.

In the past couple centuries the ruling elites have been lax in their duties and the lower classes have risen, creating a "middle class" and fostering the wrongheadedly dangerous idea that every man is equal no matter where or to whom he was born or in what condition. With a new Internet combined with other mass media such wrong ideas can be properly quashed.

It will also catch some pedophiles so it is for the children and anyone who doesn't want it to be this way is obviously a perverted child molester and unpatriotic coward. Such things go well with the mob and if used properly can make the job of bringing the world back to proper order a much easier one with fewer distasteful things being seen.

---

Remember the formula for wealth is Wi = Wp + Ct^2 or Wealth of an individual(Wi) is Equal to Wealth owned by Previous Generations(Wp) plus Capital(C) multiplied by the square of time(t) the capital has been owned by the individual.

Thus Bill Gates is considered only slightly wealthy because he owns so much capitol. His children will be much more wealthy then he is as they will have grown up with a greater calcification of wealth.

brollyferret@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:47:24 GMT

I'm working on a TFOS game to be run this Saturday if there are enough people around.

Here's the teaser:

You, fair teenager, have been recruited for a new class as a student of Neo-Raleigh Central High Schol. While the televisions and all the great media outlets proudly proclaim the threat from our "banger friends" (robots built to rebuild, or at least remodel after the Great Catastrophe) to be a minimum, there are those who feel that something more needs to be done. Something to be done that involves slick looking, tight fitting battle suits and young athletic bodies!--And that's where our heroes, er classmates, come in, to fight banger robots that have gone berserk and look good doing it!

More under cut including some specific rules and crunchy bits...

Long version:
After the great cataclysm Neo-Raleigh was built from the ashes of old Raleigh North Carolina--ok, well, not exactly from the ashes as the Cataclysm hit other bigger cities far harder, Raleigh was spared most of the destruction, but many places did need a good remodeling, and besides renaming, adding “Neo-” to things, was in-style back then! Anyway! It is a new world of all powerful greedy mega-corporations-much like today's corporations but with more mega-and a gritty underclass striving to live in their shadow.

In order to rebuild, er remodel, after the Great Catastrophe a vast army of intelligent robots called "Bangers" were built to do the work. Yes unemployment was already fairly high but big-bot had stronger, faster, tireless lobbyists so the bots went to work for the betterment of humanity!

While there were the occasional horrifically bloody robot uprisings at first the techs at Goonom Corp have made steady progress and the current generation of Bangers hardly ever breaks down, grows extremely, surprisingly, questionably powerful weapons, or rampages through the city leaving a swath of death and destruction blocks wide--hardly ever, anymore.

Of course after the first few dozen revolts a police force, the Department of Unregulated Robotics or DUR Police, was formed by the government in cooperation with the robotics industry to police the bots. These are the best of the best trained to Industry standards with oversight from the very best executives from the Banger industry, executives that don't rest, don't eat, drink or sleep even for days, years on end to do their jobs; executives who only ask for to borrow the occasional wall outlet and extension cord.

While the televisions and all the great media outlets proudly proclaim the threat from our banger friends to be a minimum and really only something a paranoid would be worried about, there are those who feel that something more needs to be done. Something to be done that involves slick looking, tight fitting battle suits and young athletic bodies!

You fair teenager have been recruited for a new class by a mysterious teacher by the name of Ms. Leo-who also happens to run a lingerie shop and bookstore across town. As part of this class you are made to don a tight spandex jumpsuit with several strategically placed metal bits and get into a suit of strange robot armor to fight the banger menace, after signing the NDA of course...What could possibly go wrong?

Creating Your very own Suit of Robotic Battle Armor!

Like your teenager your suit of robotic battle armor has stats that range from 1 to 6, with the exception of Accessories which can be 0. Roll a die for each stat including accessories and write down the number. Then if you want to adjust you may move points from one stat to another. You may not move points between your teenager's stats and your suit's stats.

Zap: This is how well your battle suit works at shooting things that you can't just reach out and smack.

Smack: This is how well your suit can reach out and smack things. Also useful for lifting heavy things or doing other feats of strength!
While the teenager is wearing the suit, add this stat to the teenager's Bod score for doing things that would normally use Bod.

Speed: This is how fast your suit can move. Also used to dodge bangers and other things trying to zap you.
Complex maneuvers often require both Speed and the ability of the Teenager to keep control. That ability is the teen's Driving and often just dumb Luck.

Crunch: This is how well your suit can take damage once things are able to reach out and smack you or manage to zap you at a distance. Your suit is self repairing and is never really destroyed, it just falls off one awkwardly revealing piece at a time till only a thin layer of oddly conveniently placed bits of scrap metal remain. As a teenager's suit takes damage is loses Crunch and once it has lost all its Crunch the Teenager takes Bonk instead. However there are some attacks that damage the teen directly, such as being rejected for a prom date.
At the end of each turn a teen with a damaged suit should roll a die. If that die is less than or equal to the suit's Crunch score then the suit regenerates 1 lost Crunch Point. A suit has a total number of Crunch Points equal to it Crunch score, which are lost when the suit is damaged.

Styling: This is how cool your suit looks. Racing stripes and flames always make things look better, and if you can afford chrome or other painted styling. Having a suit of robotic power armor is inherently cool and Styling makes it all the more cooler. While the teenager is in the suit use the suit's Styling for the teenager's Looks and

Accessories: This is how many extra gizmos and gadgets you have on your suit. For each point here roll on one of the following tables to see what you get. Accessories is the only stat that may be zero, meaning you have no extras.

Suit Accessories

Airbags
Mounted on the chest and rear of the suit these airbags deploy in the case of a hard collision to soften the crash in an emergency.
When activated Airbags reduce the Speed, and Style of the teen's suit by 2 and give the suit the Bounce power. The Airbags remain activated for 2d turns. Airbags may only be deployed once they may not be turned off, but might be “popped”.

Chainsaw Arm

Cloaking System
A little finicky and unpredictable but it works! Turn your suit invisible!
Each round of use the player makes a luck roll versus a secret roll by the GM. If the teen fails their luck roll then the cloak disengages if the teen is lucky...

Fifth Dimensional Fanny Pack
Even if it is super-science fanny packs just are not cool.
Subtract 1 from the style of a suit equipped with a fanny pack. This only applies for the first one. The pack works just like the 4.th Dimensional Purse in all other respects.

Jet Pack
The suit has built in jets and stubby wings. It can fly!
A Jet Pack allows a teen to fly around about as fast as the suit can move on the ground.

Micro-Fridge
It is a fridge, a little bigger on the inside than on the out but still just enough to fit a 2 liter or a couple of six packs of cola. Temperature can be adjusted from room temperature to nearly 0 degrees kelvin.

Pan Galactic City Blaster
Speakers made by the same people who brought you the Pan Galactic Ghetto Blaster, but designed for use in cars and other vehicles. Includes a hyper-dimensional media storage device that can accept and change through CD's records, tapes, floppy disks, iPuds...you name it.
See Pan Galactic Ghetto Blaster but it accepts more and multiple types of music.

Popcorn Blaster
A pull of the trigger and this device sends forth a stream of hot, fluffy, buttery popcorn. Great for parties!
The blaster uses an external clip of “ammunition” which can be loaded with different flavors(butter, cheeze, caramel, tuna etc.) and a single clip can be shot continuously for 8 rounds. If the teen holds down the trigger for the entire round the blaster produces about a third as much popcorn as is made by a popcorn grenade.

Repair Kit
A built in kit and instructions on how to make field repairs to the teen's and his or her classmate's suits.
The teen may make a Smarts roll against a secret die roll by the GM to repair 1 Crunch on a suit or make repairs on any other object each round.

Rocket Boosters
These are rockets built into the suit to add an extra burst of speed and allows the suit to fly. Careful, they can be tricky to control. Please note that these are single use and there is no off switch.
A player having a suit equipped with Rocket Boosters may activate them at any time while they are in the suit. The GM rolls a die to determine how many turns after the first the boosters remain active. When activated the Teenager must roll their Driving skill vs the suit's new Speed score, if the teenager rolls lower then the suit rockets into the air out of control for the rest of the turn. While active the boosters add +4 to the suit's speed and allow the suit to fly.

Spinners!
Chrome spinner hubcaps are put on your suit, that spin! Besides looking cool, well someone must think they look cool they sell so well, they well, uhm... They don't really do anything besides look cool, and did we mention that they spin? On their own? Oh you can turn them off and on if you like.
A player having a suit equipped with spinners may declare at any time if the spinners are off or on. While the spinners are on add +2 to the suit's STYLING stat. The player must say whether their spinners are on or off before they roll.

Super Splasha 40,000
A high-powered squirtgun, has a two liter reservoir and an adjustable stream that shoots from a foot to a dozen yards.

Toaster, 4 Slots
It makes toast and has an autoloader for white, wheat, pumpernickel or bagels. Can be set to light, medium or dark and toasts in seconds!

Toaster, Oven
It has the ability to toast things placed inside it, about the size of a small shoe box. It can also be used to bake or broil small items of food.

Utility Belt
Not sure what's in it but there sure are a lot of little compartments! Your suit has an array of small pockets and holsters built in all around its body that contain...well you really don't know until you open them up. There was a manual, somewhere; it might have gotten tossed along with the packing peanuts.
A teenager rummaging around in their belt may make a luck roll and ask the GM what they find.

Out of the woodwork, from the Obama Inaugural

brollyferret@gmail.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:21:22 GMT

Well as to be expected the racists and just plain trolls are out in force since Obama won and especially hard out since he was inaugurated as President. I feel like considering why this is.

Well I'm not an expert but as I have heard it racism is often a way to look down upon someone else to take a better stock of one's own place in life. The idea that "I may not be one of the wealthy/powerful/educated/elite but at least I'm not one of *them*." With *them* being what ever class of people is being discriminated against, usually a minority or other under class of people.

In the US of course that common *them* for many is black people, people of dark skin and non-European or mixed decent(believe me making distinctions such as parents from Kenya and parent descended from former slaves is a lost game in this context, at least most of the time).

What Obama has done is take the top position and there-by shatter many of those who take comfort by looking down at black peoples' world view. It wasn't so bad before the Inauguration because I don't think many actually believe that it would go through. They thought the silent majority would rise up, he'd get shot or otherwise some deus-ex-machina should come down and stop it. It didn't.

I think that before they used the idea that they were of the same race or color as the top ruling man in charge in the world as proof that they were part of the elect and elite in life. Using it as a cheerful little pick-me-up line of logic that can be used to plaster over a picture of themselves that they might otherwise find lacking. Obama being elected breaks down a lot of plaster.

I saw these trolls a little leading up to the Inauguration, in forums and random places but now afterwards every day they are out in force. For many their world view called for a race-war and riots over this. That didn't come. It is like giving inconvertible proof that god does not exist to a hard-core evangelist. It is shattering and the pieces don't look too pretty when they are on the ground.

Perhaps we all have plates of glass that each of our world views are built on waiting for a rock to fly through and break them. Perhaps I and others really have gone through and stretched and strained our minds to be limber enough not to take things for granted and to think critically. I think in the end these outbursts of trollness, like all trolling just need to be ignored.

Eventually, they might see that what they are screaming about is a non-issue and that other people really have better things to do.

Am I the only one?

brollyferret@gmail.com — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:50:26 GMT

Am I the only one who is just a little disturbed that the morning news is crowing about how a local man was stopped from entering a high-school and subsequently arrested because he was a sex-offender, but his offense was never mentioned once nor was it mentioned if the offense was known or not? Nor was it mentioned as to why he said he was there in the first place, but the show went on basically praising the system for working.

Do you support the Porn Bailout?

brollyferret@gmail.com — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:36:52 GMT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28545081/

First of all it isn't a bailout it is a bridge loan. Without this vital industry our economy will sag and fall flaccid! We must be perky and firm keep our workers hard and vital and thrust into the future! To that end we need to support the pornographic industry to stimulate our economy.

brollyferret@gmail.com — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:43:57 GMT

Following what is going on over in gaza and getting angry.

Why is Gaza fenced in? Because all concentration camps are fenced in, and we the United States are helping to starve these people.

The Palistinian rockets have managed to kill 1 Israeli person. 350 Palistinains have died. That's a fair trade.

Oh Santa WHY?!

brollyferret@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:53:05 GMT

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BO1A420081225

I shouldn't find this funny.

brollyferret@gmail.com — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:25:56 GMT

R.I.P. Betty