Nuff' Said

Chainsaw!!!

Man Says He Used Chainsaw to Fight Starving Mountain Lion

Friday, July 17, 2009


CODY, Wyoming — A Colorado man used a chain saw to fight off an apparently starving mountain lion that attacked him during a camping trip in northwestern Wyoming with his wife and two toddlers.

Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine from Windsor, Colo., said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest when he saw the 100-pound lion staring at him from some bushes.

The 6-foot-tall, 170-pound Britton said he raised his 18-inch chain saw and met the lion head-on as it pounced — a collision he described as feeling like a grown man running directly into him.

"It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Wildlife officials said Sunday evening's attack about 27 miles west of Cody was highly unusual because mountain lions are reclusive by nature. Only eight cases of mountain lions acting aggressively toward humans have been documented in Wyoming over the last decade.

"It's very, very rare" for lions to attack, said Wyoming Game and Fish spokesman Warren Mischke. "We're still trying to investigate why this lion would behave this way."

The wounded animal retreated after Britton inflicted a six- to eight-inch gash on the lion's shoulder, leaving him with only a small puncture wound on his forearm.

"You would think if you hit an animal with a chain saw it would dig right in," he said. "I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick."

The mountain lion was shot and killed Monday after it attacked a dog brought in to track the animal, which was 4 to 5 years old. Authorities say it was in poor physical condition and appeared to be starving.

After Britton's confrontation, he and his wife, Kirsta, decided to spend the night in their pop-up camper with their two children rather than risk packing up with the lion still on the loose.

Wildlife agents were called the next morning after Britton told a passing U.S. Forest Service employee about the incident.

Tests for rabies and other diseases came up negative, but officials said they were continuing to analyze the animal for other potential diseases.

LOL

Mon 13 Jul 10:46 AM
Was naked man at a casino a Terminator? Enlarge Photo

A man found naked at a casino claimed he was a Terminator sent from the future.

19-year-old Sean Stanley Smith was arrested on the Nevada border after he was spotted by a motorist wandering around the highway nude. He was ordered by police to stop but proceeded into a nearby casino - where he was then tasered in front of a group of children.


Smith claims he was a Terminator sent back in time from the future - a reference to the film character made popular by Arnold Schwarznegger in the sci-fi franchise. The films usually start with a naked man being transported to the past.

However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator but was in fact suffering from the effects of LSD and marijuana. He was charged with indecent exposure and resisting a police officer.

4th Edition and WoW in a nutshell:

Rethinking Shadow Gates

Back to a gaming subject, a break from dreary politics and policy.

1) The name. I'm not satisfied with Shadow Gates as a title for the project. It doesn't have enough menace. I'm thinking Nemesis Gates not only rolls of the tongue better but is at the same time more ominous. Also it brings in connotations of destruction via the Nemesis Hypothesis and the Harbinger of the Old Ones; Ghroth. Much better suited for a post apocalyptic project.

2) Historical Inspiration. I already knew that I wanted the campaign to take place in the ruins of a once great Human Empire. This has naturally lead to seeking inspiration in similar historical periods like, for example, the Dark Ages. The Confederation (my setting's nod to everyone's favorite Coalition Sates) was originally going to be largely based on the Holy Roman Empire.

Now I see I haven't gone back far enough. Instead I will be using the Frankish Empire of the Merovingian kings and Carolingian Emperors as my main inspiration. Instead of Franks crossing the Rhine into the Roman Empire we will have Yanks, ugly American exiles who left the great sprawling cities of Columbia and San Angeles to live in Coventry, basically a great reservation in flyover country. Now they are picking up the pieces after the Joachite Wreckers have leveled the cities of the ancien regime. Of course the Joachites also (knowingly?) completed a ritual to summon forth powers vastly older than Man and opened the Gates.

While the Cheyenne Commanderie will be modeled after the Exarchate of Ravenna, a last military outpostof the Eastern Empire of Terra Nova. Also there will be winks and nods to the Enclave of Fallout fame.

The Xothians of Mu, Kali, Atlantis, and Lemuria will stand in nicely for the ominously rising Moors. Their hordes of Barracuda fish-men and Gargoyle star-spawn chanting 'there are no Gods but the Old Ones and Lord Cthulhu is the prophet of their return.'

And from the frozen farthest north sweep baying packs of Gnophkeh warriors thirsty for blood and hungry for warm flesh. From the fury of the Northmen, oh Lord, preserve us.

I must stop myself from going on and on, there are so many possibilities; Pendragon of Mars, Serpent Men of the southron jungles, the Risen Empire of the vile Nephren Ka, the fungus from Yuggoth, Dinosaur Swamps...

3) Anyway play will initially focus on adventurous Yankish warriors questing forth into the ruins of ancient cities looking for lost technology or striking deep into the quisling Sorcerous Federation to destroy some nascent threat to the free peoples of Earth.

Independence Day

Freedom is not Free.
Liberty is Purchased with Blood.
Rights grow from the barrel of a Gun.

The best way to celebrate is to go and buy a firearm. Doc Savage out.

Ancient Battles on the Tabletop

Ok, Ulot (my roomate, he's not much of a blogger) and I might be getting into ancients miniatures gaming, depending on if we like the local commuity and can find time. We've settled on Field of Glory in 15mm. I'll be playing my idealized late Principate (193-211) Romans (Septimus Severus) and Ulot will take a late 100's year war free company, (pikes, longbows, bilmen, men-at-arms cavalry).

If this project comes off it should be interesting. I remain curious to see how heavy armored 'Dacian Wars' legionaries and clibinarii 'boiler-makers' will fair against bow, pollax, and chivalry.

Battle!!

Shadow Gates Combat

Ok, here's how combat is going to work in this campaign.

As in RAW BRP, combat runs on % dice. However I'm tweaking this slightly. Firstly, the results of a d% roll are read as 00-99, not 01-00. Secondly, instead of success, special success, critical success etc running off of fractions of your skill I will be using a margin of success system. This will be a simple 'blackjack' roll high but don't bust framework; your margin of success is the tens digit of your d% roll. For example; your skill is 53% and you roll 29, your margin is 2. This MOS will function as a direct damage bonus to attacks in combat, higher skills tend to result in deadlier attacks. Critical successes will remain; any roll that exactly equals your effective skill level is a critical success. While a roll of 99 is always a failure and a fumble.

Parrying, dodging, and other opposed actions will be resolved by comparing margins of success. An attack with a MOS of 3 beats a dodge with a MOS of 2. A critical dodge always succeeds, although a critical strike will still deal 1/2 damage.

I will be using strike ranks pretty much as written. Automatic weapons fire I'm still thinking on. Currently I think I'll have short bursts/semi auto add a bonus to strike (also effectively a damage bonus remember), long burst/semi auto fusillades be area effect, and having an option for suppressive fire to force a willpower test or stay in cover.

Science fiction and Meaning

Bitpig has an interesting rant on why he like Japanese written SF. It still has people in it.

I agree. I like my SF to be operatic. Stories must be about people. And rayguns and rockets :)

Let's talk Characters (Shadow Gates)

Ok I'm thinking of tweaking BRP as written in the handy-dandy, oh so shiny new BRP book. I'm going to be adding a handful of WHFRP/Dark Heresy, a pinch of GORE, maybe even a dash of Palladium...

Anyway, I'm thinking of eight or nine broad classes that determine what Jobs (professions) you can enter and what activities benefit from an experience bonus.

Jobs determine what skills and Talents/Feats/Perks (whatever) one has acces too, and increase in 'Job Rank', which opens up new character advances (skills, attributes, abilites, so on).

So here's a quick sekeleton I've put together;


Fighter 'Man at Arms'

• Boomer (Combat 'Borg; Robocop, Briareos Hecatonchires)
• Samsonite (Augmented Soldier; performance enhancing drugs, organs, prosthetics)
  
• Powered Trooper (Powered Armor operator)
  
• Land Warrior (generalist warrior)
  
• Armored Crew (armored vehicle crewman; tanks, APCs, IFVs, walkers)
  
• Flyboy (combat aviator)
  
• Scout (wilderness path finding, tracking, survival, light infantry)
  
• Assassin (infiltrate, kill, exfiltrate)
  

Skilled Support, tech 'Technical Specialist'

• Field Medic (healer, paramedic)
  
• Tech-Spec (item repair and item craft)
  
• Hacker (opens doors, gets the info, spoofs sensors, etc)
  
• Drone Rigger (gathers intel, fun with remotely controlled robots)
  
• Scavenger (jury rigger and forager)
  
• City Rat? Ganger? (not sure where I'm going with this idea, streetwise maybe)
  

Skilled Support, expert 'Academic Expert'

• Field Scientist (smart guy, TONS of skills)
  
• Field Surgeon (medical doctor, sometimes, you need one)
  
• Field Researcher (three words; research, monster lore, weakness)
  
• Genius Spark (mad scientist! makes gadgets that shouldn't work, but do)
  

Charisma/Persuasion 'Negotiator'

• Face Man (confidence trickster)
  
• Diplomat (negotiator)
  
• Spy (secret agent man)
  
• Fixer (Mr. Connections)
  
• Entertainer (traveling performer)
  

Mystical Support 'Mystics'

• Mystic (dabbler in Magyck and ESP)
  
• Summoner (Evocation Mage; summon and bind)
  
• Lesser Talent (minor ESPer; more skills fewer powers)
  
• Greater Talent (major ESPer; fewer skills, more powers)
  
• Sorcerer (Invoker of Alien Gods)
  
• Enchanter (Enchantment Mage; buff, debuff, control)
  
• Cleric (Invoker of the Gods of Men)
  

Fighter/Tech 'Military Speicialist'

• Special Forces (skilled warrior and leader of men)
  
• Combat Hacker (warrior with electronic war capability)
  
• Military Engineer (construct or tear down defenses)
  
• Field Armorer (warrior jury-rigger)
  
• Road Warrior (wheel-man, speed-demon, transporter)
  
• Tek Paladin (power trooper with scavenging, jury rigging and science!)
  

Fighter/Mystic 'ParaSwords'

• Psi Knight (not a jedi)
  
• Spell Sword (classic fighter-mage)
  
• Spell 'Slinger (battle-mage)
  
• Warrior Nun (fighter-cleric, female)
  
• Battle Brother (fighter-cleric, male)
  

Fighter/Persuasion 'setting appropriate name here'

• Smuggler (Han Solo, Jack Burton)
  
• Six String Samurai (Bard; with a sword, and a steel guitar)
  
• Black Operative (James Bond; wetworks, sabotage, high action, plausible deniability )
  

Mystic/Tech 'MagiTech'

• Techno-Mage (Mad Spark inventor-mage)
  
• Alchymist (transmuter of matter)
  
• Churigeon (bio-wizardry)
  
• Meta-Physician (scientist-mage researcher)
  
• PsychoScientist (psi-scientist)
  
• Psi-Comp. (psychic hacker)