Posts Tagged ‘Jason’

Karl’s Diary

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

From the desk of Karl October 25, 1924
I had an encounter with Security from Callahan Industries. I fought four guards and was able to defend myself with my .38, stopping three of them including one head shot. It is now clear to me that I need more firepower both in rate of fire and caliber effectiveness. To the gun store I go.

Hi readers, I have had the good fortune to be part of an ongoing Call of Cthulhu game. I realized that I needed to stack the odds in my investigator’s favor and started doing research on 1920’s small arms. By the late 1890s people were already experimenting with hollow points in rifles as a means of reducing bullet weight and increasing velocity. The also had the side effect of causing greater wounds.

By the 1920s it was not uncommon for hand loaders to create ammo that was faster and higher pressure than factory ammo for use in stronger, new production revolvers. These faster velocities combined with a hollow point bullet can increase the power level of the handgun with acceptable drawbacks. If your GM allows it, try adding this to your game.

Hollow point ammo: +2 to damage at close and point blank range, +1 to medium range. Increase the armor of your target by 50%. Revolvers only

Over pressure or +P ammo: +1 to damage, lower reliability rating by 5%

Gamers 3.0

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

How would your perception of gaming change if you knew your grandfather was a LARPer? If your Grandmother could calculate THAC0? I was driving in to work today and was thinking about getting my niece her first Pokemon starter deck when it hit me. First generation gamers are now old enough to be grandparents.

First off, nobody panic. Games have been around since the first cavemen played rock, rock, rock (widely regarded as unsuccessful). Even King Tut was a gamer, his game board is on display up in SF this week. And who can resist the old guys in the park playing chess? But we are the first to roll for saving throws. We bold few who enjoy games so much we adopt the title of “gamer” as part of our collective identity. Every generation that follows us is yet another wave of humanity who will ask “Am I in range to cast fireball?”

So what this means to me is that someday if I am lucky, I will get to explain D&D basic to my grandchild. “You see Billy, it came in a red box and a dwarf was both a race and a class.” And watch him scamper off into the next room where he will say that the game really lost its center when the 8.7edition came out. Oh and that the new holominis are so much better than the old holominis.

Yours truly,

Your Girl Friday

~Jason

Introducing Jason

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I used to think I was a nerd. A Kirk vs Piccard Han shot first nerd. I was very wrong. I mistakenly thought these were just labels but now I know that they are ranks to be earned.

I am slowly earning my stripes, with each game played, each mini painted and every new rule memorized. Blogging is a new and awkward experience for me as well. I always thought that a diary was something a person would want to keep secret but that’s another blog.

I know that I will never be a gamer. I lack the energy level, attention to the most minute of details and don’t care for Mountain Dew. I do however enjoy the company of gamers and this job allows me the opportunity to spend time with you folks and get to hear the gamer perspective. When I am old and grey I will fondly think back on the time that Jeff talked about Transformers or the late nights losing yet another game of Dominion.

I still feel out of place here from time to time. I still cant tell the difference between Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines and for this I fully expect to get my truck egged this Sunday. To date I have only painted one mini and as far as rules are concerned, I am still reading my first non Star Wars set (Spinespur). But one tries and if I want to stand a chance in another game of Power Grid I had better do my homework.

Toodles,
Your Girl Friday.

~Jason