31 January, 2013

Quick Review: Kimber Stainless Carry Pro II

Posted by blackcampbell under Firearms | Tags: |
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A friend of mine was divesting himself of some firearms this year, and one of the weapons was a Kimber Stainless Pro Carry II .45ACP. I took the pistol out for a run this week, and while I didn’t put a lot of rounds through it, I did enough to get a good feel for the pistol.

First off — aesthetics: The pistol is lovely. The stainless steel slide and the aluminum frame give it a two-tone silver look. The rubber grips look all right, but I think I’d like to swap to the black and brown grips they use on the Eclipse. It had come with the Hogue rubber finger grips for the front of the handle. Hated them, even though they probably contributed a bit to the excellent performance of the gun. The pistol is a commander-sized 1911, so it’s a 4″ barrel and a normal grip size. Here it is now…

IMG_0146Next, let’s discuss the carry factor. The size is nice — about on par with the Walther PPQ I like to carry. Weight-wise, I was very surprised. The Walther PPQ tips the scales with a full magazine of 115 grain 9mm at about 24-25 oz., the FN FiveSeven with twenty 27 grain about 25-26 oz., and the Pro Carry with eight 230 grain rounds is 32 oz. About half a pound heavier than the other two guns, but still well inside the comfortable to carry all day range. It also fits in the chest pocket my motorcycle jacket — the main requirement for a concealment gun — well enough to be drawn quickly. In short, it’s an excellent choice for carry based on weight to power.

Function: The accuracy of the gun is astounding. For as light as it is, the recoil is very manageable; certainly no worse than any other 1911 .45 I’ve fired. The sights are minimalist — no dots, just black front post between two black back posts…the way I like it. At 10 yards and a steady but not slow pace, I put eight in a 2.5″ group. Most probably never touched paper. At fifteen, which seems to be where I start to see degradation on accuracy for most pistol, I was still getting 3-3.5″ groups. I didn’t try a 25 yard test as I was out of ammo quickly. It’s a blast to shoot.

(Side note — the new eyes [I had LASIK done last week] probably helped with my accuracy. I’m about 20/10 now and could actually make out the 5.7mm hits a friend was making at 10 yards with little difficulty!)

As to the mechanical function – here we run into one of my complaints on Kimber. I doubt the previous owner(s) had put more than 200-400 rounds through the pistol, and the function was still a bit rough. The whole “you need to break it in” thing that shooters put up with is stupid. If you buy a guy and actually need it that night, what bloody good is it if the thing malfunctions because the manufacturer couldn’t do a bit of polishing and testing? I have never had to break in a Tanfoglio Witness (as much as folks love to malign them), nor my CZ, nor the FN, nor the Kel-Tec .32s I’ve owned. They worked.

The Kimber loved to jam up on the first round or two. I swapped mags — not the issue. Once running, it was fine after the first shot or two. the spring, to me, felt weak. The Pro Carry’s supposed to have a 22 lb. recoil spring, but it was about the same strength as my colleague’s Witness .45 (also on the range at the time) — a 16 lb. spring. I had my Witness with a Wolff 20 lb spring. this was not a 22 pound spring. I think this was the issue with the function, which admittedly eased toward the end of the session.

So I ordered up a 23 lb. Wolff spring for it.

Outside of the break-in or weak spring nonsense, the gun ran like a top. Enough so, it is replacing the Kel-Tec .32 I’ve carried in my motorcycle jacket for a decade. It’s not as light, true, but it doesn’t print and doesn’t seem to weigh the jacket down. I’m calling it Wee Jock.

The MSRP on the Kimber is just shy of $1100. It’s not worth that. Find a used one for about $700, it’s definitely worth it. Find it for less than that — jump on it.

UPDATE: My second outing with the Kimber saw no malfunctions, using crappy Blazer ammo. Shot a few rounds of Critical Duty .45, and wow! do you feel the +P with that frame.

 

29 January, 2013

Battlestar Galactica RPG Resources

Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games | Tags: |
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Courtesy of Jim Sorenson, here’s a few things for your BSG game. First, a one sheet character record. He normally pastes a rank pin pic and colonial flag for the character on his…

BSG Char Sheet - Jim version - Blank

Here’s your viper and raptor launch checklists:

Viper Pre-Flight Checklist

Raptor Pre-Flight Checklist

And how about a work order sheet for your rides?

Viper_MKVII Repair - 1

Viper_MKVII Repair - 2

 

Raptor Repair - 1

 

Raptor Repair - 2

 

 

 

28 January, 2013

New Car for JB:007 — Marussia B2

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Here’s an excellent ride for a femme fatale or privileged henchman — the Russian-made Marussia B2.

Russia’s premiere sports car, the B2 is a limited run (500 units), well-designed rocket that is built by Valmet — who also do the Fisker Karma. It uses either a 2.8 liter V6 turbo engine or a naturally aspirated 3.5 liter V6 engine that generates 420 or 300 horsepower, respectively. ThANKS TO IT’S 2425 lb. weight, the B2 can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds and has a top speed nearing 190mph. The interior is cramped, but rich in leather and carbon fiber, and has an excellent sound system. Color, interior appointments, everything is full customizable (for a price) buy the customer. A base model is $130,000.

marussia-b2-13_600x0w

marussia-b2-23_600x0w

 

PM: +2   RED: 3   CRUS: 120   MAX: 190   RNG: 240   FCE: 2   STR: 5   COST: $131,000

GM Information: The B2 receives a +1 on Pursue/Flee and on braking maneuvers.

 

22 January, 2013

The Next Day, or I Got LASIK Done

Posted by blackcampbell under General Ramblings
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I just had LASIK yesterday afternoon, so my vision is still a bit cloudy at closer distances, but is nicely clear at range, already. Expect a drop in posts for the week, unless the vision clears dramatically today.

The procedure was quite and straightforward. I took the offered valium (a good idea, as it turned out, as the eye anesthetic worked like every other kind for me: hits quick, leaves just as fast. It wore off about halfway through the work on the left eye. They lie you down, position the laser, then cover the eye not being worked on. They clap the eyelids open, like Alex in A Clorkwork Orange. They then have you stare at the red targeting laser, then place the automated knife on the eye. It’s a bit disconcerting: it feels very heavy (but isn’t), and your visn goes out on the eye for a second, then is blurry when they lift the corneal flap. The laser pulses for a few seconds and you can smell the tissue burning off. The doctor then smooths the cornea, and it’s a strange, underwater kind of quality to the vision.

They swapped eyes for me, started again, but I noticed the positioning of the knife felt more heavy and uncomfortable. I hadn’t realized yet the drugs were wearing off. The cut was fine; I couldn’t quite feel it, but I could the last few laser pulses. Not painfully, but uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing. Just as fast, it’s over.

Already, my distance vision was improving, but it’s very cloudy — like looking through water — and I’m light sensitive. Blinking a lot helps. Suggestion: don’t keep your eyes closed, but blink as much as you can. I think it cleans the crap out, because you tear. I kept my eyes closed and it got painful while I was trying to sleep. I sat, blinked a lot and kept the eyes open to tear and it went away.

This morning, I woke with some slight haze — to be expected, I was told — and found myself able to read a poster across the room. Close distances, like typing on the iPad, right now, it a bit hazy and slightly out of focus, but not bad. I can’t read small type on the medicine bottles given me by the eye doctor, save the brand name. Over the course of writing this, my vision has improved.

UPDATE: Most of the haziness, which the the eye reacting to the “injury with swelling and fluid, has dissipated by noon. My followup went well and my vision is now 20/15, although I got most of the 20/10 line correct, as well. Near vision was shot all morning, but now I can read text messages on my phone at normal half-arms length and reading the small type on my 13” laptop screen at arms length is also easy. I might actually get away without needed reading glasses for now, although the lowest reading glasses prescription does make small type easier to read.

I took the bike out today, and had no issues with the airflow through the helmet drying out my eyes. There’s no pain, but a slight grittiness feeling in the left one, and I don’t appear to be too light sensitive. The haloing effect I was told to expect while driving was not bad at all — the headlights had a star-pattern to them, but it wasn’t distracting or blinding. Supposedly it goes away after a few months.

Overall, an excellent experience and I can recommend my doctors, ABQ Lasik Specialists, here in Albuquerque.

 

20 January, 2013

3D Printing and the Future of Shopping

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19 January, 2013

Know Your Enemy

Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction | Tags: , |
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17 January, 2013

Hollow Earth Expedition Game Report

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Tonight was a bit more difficult than usual — i was trying to get a pair of new characters linked up with a pair of old characters, but one of the players didn’t show (old character) and one is no longer a part of the group, as he got a job in another town and had to move (new character.)

The new characters were Trevor FitzHugh, a talkative, hard-living pilot and his daredevil sidekick and Hollywood stuntman by day/cat burglar by night “Daredevil” Dan McCoy. We opened with them running guns and ammo to the Nationalists for a group out of Portugal. They get, apparently, set up and the drop is raided by an platoon of Irish volunteers fighting with the Republicans. They have to shoot their way out, and Dan (the player that was here), got to shoot his way out, drawing off the bad guys long enough for “Fitzy” to get the plane moving. Daring leap from horse to plane and boarding the craft? Check!

Unfortunately, in the fighting, Fitzy had taken a bullet, but plays it off until the land in Lisbon a few hours later. Once tied up at the dock in Lisbon, Dan finds Fitzy dead. Dan is now determined to find out who double-crossed them (if so…) He makes contact with a local British reporter and friend of Fitzy’s (and, I imply, a British agent) and finds out his employer has been selling to both sides, despite being in bed with local fascist businessmen. He’s also running the guns of a New York family — old character who’s player didn’t turn up, Jack McMahon.

Jack and Dr. Hannibal Drake, meanwhile, have turned up looking for Ariel Smythe, the femme fatale from the last “volume” which involved the search for Illuminati Treasure. She was responsible for the dead of Uncle Mike. They link up with the family’s broker here in Lisbon, Tom Cullen — a school mate of Jack’s — and are interrupted in their sussing out the situation in Lisbon and whether Ariel has turned up here by a drunk Dan McCoy. The characters’ stories are intriguing to each other and while they’re not working together at the end of the night’s session, they’re at least on friendly terms.

Tom takes Jack and Drake to meet his partner, Spanish businessman-in-exile Roberto Vega, who turns out to be a collector of Columbian and pre-Columbian artwork, conquistador armor, etc. Olmec/early Mayan is his preferred period and one of the pieces is a notebook from about the 1500s from an ancestor of his that catches Drake’s eye. There are drawings of a ziggurat, but the proportions are more in keeping with European architecture than Mayan. A sketch of a brick shows markings, mostly in Mayan, but a six “digit” signature using Roman masonic symbols catches his eye…could this be indications of Roman-period habitation in Mexico?

The night ended with Drake determined to get a better look at the book, Jack determined to find Ariel, and Dan determined to get to the bottom of the gun deal gone bad.

Overall, the pace was solid, if a bit slow for my pulp stuff. the players had a good time despite a series of interruptions, and I think it set the tone for the next “volume” that will lead them to southern Mexico and a run-in with a few old enemies, Jaguar worshipping natives, and possibly the first hints of a hollow Earth.

 

15 January, 2013

“Social Contracts” For Gaming…Who Needs ’em?

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I’ve seen the idea of a “gamer’s charter” or a “social contract” addressed on a couple of blogs and gaming sites, and have found the subject curious. Perhaps I’ve been lucky and most of the gamers I’ve played with, with a number I could count on a single hand being the exception, have been adult, conscientious, and drama-free. Perhaps it’s that early on, I started being careful with the people that I’ve played with. After an encounter with one especially tragic example of the socially inept that — in this case, a 300 pound “ninja” who could do all manner of extraordinary things with his ninja perception and dexterity (yet couldn’t discern two of us slipping past him one day in our apartment annex, locked doors and all) who was creepily attached to us and was bereft of all manner of social skills — I started screening folks before inviting them to the games. I like to meet them in a neutral setting so that we can get an idea if the personalities will mesh, and that our view of the hobby is similar enough that there should be a minimum of friction.

We’ve never laid down rules. I let folks know I have a pet peeve when I’m running or hosting — give me as much notice as you can if you won’t be there, and that I dislike tardiness. It’s just an artifact of growing up in  another time and on the East Coast, where if you weren’t early, you were late. I don’t berate them if they’re a few minutes late — we just start without them, if we’ve finished eating. If there’s any real “rule” laid down, it’s that I supply dinner and except people to throw in if they eat. A few bucks, a fiver, any more and we count each five as a week paid up front. But it’s never been a contract; it’s just a gentlemen’s agreement that naturally evolved ad hoc.

In play, as GM, I try to make sure people get as equal time as I can. I don’t really stomp on scene chewers and time hogs, but shift the focus as unobtrusively as I can. Telling a gamer that they’re sucking up all the air (and I have one right now that would, if I didn’t keep close watch of the group dynamics) is just as rude as letting them do so. As GM, you can find a way to bring the other players into the mix. (I may do a post on this skill later this week…)

I suppose you could count what we do as a social contract in the Jeffersonian mold — an unspoken, but generally understood set of social norms — but most of these are “rules” of generally good behavior. If you pick adult or polite folks to game with, they should bring these generalized rules of behavior with them.

No contracts needed.

 

15 January, 2013

RPG Blog Carnival: New Year, New Game

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This post was written for the second annual New Year, New Game blog carnival hosted by Gnome Stew as part of the 2013 New Year, New Game challenge.

Think of it as a gamer’s New Year’s resolution — it’s a new year, and in the spirit of renewal, perhaps it’s time to try a new game. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean buying and running a new system; it could also mean trying new characters and a new campaign. Back in October, much of my gaming group had dispersed — one player was finishing their degree and had no time, another got a full-time job with much travel, and another moved to Texas, leaving just two of us.

When you lose the better part of your gaming group, it’s time to find new players, and that usually means a new campaign… So this New Year,New Game challenge isn’t quite so hard for me as it could be: I have new players and we need new games. We were lucky — we were able to resurrect the group with three new players in the space of a few weeks. It’s a good group, and has a sharply different vibe from the last.  Our previous group was more of the get-together and game as a social activity. This group is more seriously interested in roleplaying — with one of the gamers being a serious immersion player.

One of the games has continued with the new players. It was well into the plot, the “lead” was the remaining player, and first of the new players was recruited within a fortnight of the group implosion and was interested in the campaign. So the Battlestar Galactica game that has been getting attention in the blog survived. The Hollow Earth Expedition game did not. Oh, we might bring back Hannibal Drake, but the rest of the cast is changing. As a result, I have started a new campaign for the new group.

Beyond that, there’s a few games that have been attracting my attention and I would like to run. One is a homebrew sci-fi campaign that might use Cortex, or might use the Diaspora Fate rules — it’s still in the formative stages. I’ve thought about trying to run Jovian Chronicles — one of my gaming white elephants. It’s got a great setting, but in some ways the setting limits the options of the gamemaster, if they stick religiously to the setting and the metastory of the game. I don’t intend to. I also will not use the game mechanics, but instead will probably turn to Cortex.

Another way of breaking out of my comfort zone is to run one-shot games for the local gaming Meetup group. I’m running a Hollow Earth Expedition-fueled pulp adventure called “The White Ape of the Congo” early in February. After I run it, I will post the adventure notes and an after action report. Another I hope to run is a Serenity game that rips off the movie Deep Rising (a stupid but lots of fun flick) but with the monster being replaced by reavers. I may run a James Bond game later in the year…who knows?

It’s a new year, there’s a lot of new product from the indie publishers, so get our and try a new game!

 

12 January, 2013

After Action Report: Battlestar Galactica RP

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Holidays and illnesses have kept the gaming schedule a bit hit or miss this last month or so, but we’ve completed another adventure in our Battlestar Galactica RPG campaign. This one saw the introduction of a new character — a fresh from training viper pilot who finds herself assigned to Galactica as her first posting, instead of her preferred Pegasus.

The fallout from the campaign thus far is finally starting to hit. Commander Pindarus, the “lead” character, and much of his command staff has been parked on Galactica as a means to cool his career off by jealous officers. (He is also a pawn in a personal tiff between the fleet admiral, Nagala, and his father, now the defense secretary.) Special Agent Chaplain, the Colonial Security Service officer that was investigating Cylon infiltration was exposed as having been an agent himself. The last “episode” had ended with their secret investigation having been outed by a major colonial news service. The assumption in the halls of power is that Pindarus ratted because he didn’t think the brass and politicians were taking the matter seriously. Without proof, however, all they could do was bench him on what is soon to be a spacegoing museum.

Pindarus’ efforts to get the political machine to acknowledge and do something about the toaster threat have, however, paid off. President Aidar is aware of the threat and is quietly shuffling his cabinet to prepare. The most important change for the characters is the return of Pindarus’ father to government. Having been ingloriously binned as presidential security advisor near the beginning of the investigations, the bellicose old man is now in as defense secretary.

This “episode” mostly revolved around the new PC, and her perceptions of what was going on aboard Galactica. To that end, I tried to structure the adventure so that while the other players were doing their own particular things, the new pilot — call sign Billboard — was usually present to witness things. The player of the new character has been documenting her reactions and opinions in a little journal he’s been sending to me. (Got him a few plot points for the effort!) The first thing she noticed was the strong animosity between the former (temporary) XO, now returned to CAG — Dipper (he’s in the miniseries) and the new one, Pindarus’ XO from Aegis, the (too?) young Major Evripidi. She meets the characters from the show that were continued into the campaign — Helo, Boomer, Starbuck. We also see JOlly (mentioned in the miniseries and reutrned in his slightly overweight, gloriously mustachioed glory.) WE’re using the Katee Sackhoff Starbuck, but without the tremendous angsty stuff that made her annoying to me.

The crew is befuddled. The new commander knows the ship is to be decommissioned in a matter of months and they are doing their last CAP of Caprica and Gemenon, before heading to Picon for the refit that would make her a museum and her disarmament at the Zeus Armory. So why is Pindarus running them hard on full-scale combat drills — complete with damage control exercises and boarding repelling operations? Why does he have the chief engineer (a cousin to Billboard) attempting to refit their FTL drive and get the ship rearmored? He says it is to put her back in the condition she was in during the First Cylon War and make her more authentic an experience for the guests.

Also aboard, is the Ministry of Education archivists, designers, and wonks — led by the Deputy Director for Public History, Aron Doral (this time more of a Oded Fehr type.) The man is slick, friendly, and seems genuinely interested in making Galactica a big attraction. They have installed a secondary, civilian network that is unconnected to the ship’s essential functions (save communications…), they’re putting up informative signage and color-coded paths through the ship, here and there, for the tour. I’m trying to give it more of a ship at the end of her life feel than the miniseries had.

Adventure seed here: The new character is put to the test when the ship receives a distress call. They were just entering Gemenese orbit when a Caprica-Gemenon liner was struck by the FTL bubble of another ship jumping in. Disabled and in a rapidly decaying orbit, they are requesting aid. Meanwhile, the vessel that had illegally jumped into orbit outside the prescribed commercial “bullpen” is racing into Gemenese orbit to escape apprehension. Galactica scrambles her alert fighters, including Billboard, to chase and monitor the ship, which is running an IFF transponder that does not register as belonging to any legally registered craft.

The rescue of the liner was done in the background, and directed by one of the characters; Billboard and the alert fighters follow the other freighter to the Gemenese surface — the Gramada Mountains, which another PC tells them is a hotbed of separatists, individualists, and illicit drug manufacturers. (Khammala and canaba are legal and used for “religious purposes” but synthetic opiates, endorphins, and amphetamines are tightly controlled.) The ship is a smuggler, moving synthetic dope from Leonis to Gemenon.

The characters have to capture the smugglers, who are armed with at least one shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile system. Billboard nearly gets splashed, and they get cleared by Pindarus to take out the trucks. Marines in a raptor arrive and eventually take the ship, discovering weapons, drugs, and other violations of the law.

Overall, the adventure ran well. It was mostly interstitial stuff between push adventures, a chance for more character development over action. It was also a chance to set the mood for Galactica prior to the events of the miniseries.

Next week: 1930s pulp using Hollow Earth Expedition!

 

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