Aaron recommended that I start a new thread. The title is a tribute to when I was a kid. I used to stutter really badly. It comes back sometimes when I'm tired.
I know there's no way my character can tell Lauren this, but I want to learn the @1 skills first.
So when is my next OkyDoky improvement?
"Lauren, Hey, how's it going? Yeah, let's do it."
John's previous game posts can be found in Crossing the Galaxy: John Cross' game continues. Oh, and for future reference, I always include the player/character name in the thread. This makes it easier for me to find all the game threads, as well as alerting other visitors to the site that this is a game thread. I would have thought this thread had been created to discuss the game world, not to continue the game. But it is what it is, so we'll continue here.
You have no way of knowing when your next improvement will be in any skill. If you're asking about game mechanics as a player, those matters are discussed behind the screens.
You get together at lunch. Derek has just gotten off work. Lauren contacts you telepathically to tell you to meet at Derek's place. She has her own place now, but figures that it's easier to meet where you know than to try to give you directions to the new place.
Lauren says, "O.K., I will go first. One of the absolutely most useful skills I have ever learned has to be tapping the language center of someone else. I think I would have been completely lost when I met the parakeet people had I not been able to do this--their language was all chirps and whistles, and while I could sing something they could understand, it took me a long time to learn it.
"In essence, what you have to do is read the person's mind, but not in the place you would usually look to see what someone is thinking. You have to connect to that part of their mind that processes language, that tells them what words mean and what words to use to say what they mean. You know, I wonder whether it would work to understand someone with aphasia? Well, no point in wondering that now. Let me show you the pattern." A picture comes into your head of how to do this; you now have an example.
"Hmmm--how should we try it? I know. I'll start talking in Parakeet--I'm not very good at it, but probably it's a language neither of you know, so," and at that point she starts singing wordlessly with interspersed clicks and sharp consonants, much like a bird whistling except that she isn't whistling.
You attempt to do what she has described and demonstrated, and in a moment, the sounds coming from her make sense, and you realize that you could put your thoughts into those sounds if you tried.
Once this part is passed, she will ask which of you wants to go next, and what you're going to teach.
--M. J. Young
I took the liberty of changing the thread title. Didn't start a new one, just changed the title.
"Lauren, I don't think there's anything else I know that I could teach you that you don't know already. Unless you want to learn boxing or blacksmithing, that is."
"Blacksmithing might be useful. Teach us something about working with metal."
She settles back to listen.
--M. J. Young
"Actually, I'm on my lunch hour. I got an idea. If you want to learn metal working, come back when I get off work. My boss said that I could come in there after hours and work on my own projects. I'll show you some blacksmithing skills."
I guess that makes it Derek's turn.
"I'll be asleep then," Derek says. "Probably Lauren, too. Can we do it before work tomorrow?"
Making it Derek's turn, he pulls out his laptop.
"O.K., what do you know about computers?"
"Besides that that's one?" Lauren responds. "Not much, really. Only what you showed me when we were with Starson."
"All right, we'll start with some basic programming skills. A computer does what you tell it to do--or what someone else tells it to do. You can change what a computer is going to do if you can speak its language. It can learn a lot of languages, but really whatever languages it knows it translates into something called machine code. That can be very different in different kinds of computers, but the languages used to program them, even in very different worlds, are all very similar. They're designed to compromise between the way people think about doing things and the way machines think about them."
Beginning here, he starts to show you how to create computer programs on his computer.
I won't assume you want to learn this. Are you going to attempt to learn this skill, or are you not paying attention?
--M. J. Young
"Hang on just a second there Derek."
Go to the nearest computer terminal and call my boss. Ask him first if I can have the rest of the day off, and secondly, if I can bring some friends in to show them some metalworking. Showing up for work and not working is kind of a strange way to go about it, but no harm in asking, right?
Assuming that he agrees, take Lauren and Derek into the job site and show them blacksmithing.
I'm not really interested in learning computers. This is the first place I've been in quite a while where they would even exist. I'm looking more for low-tech skills.
Your boss says no, he needs you on a project that came in. He can probably let you go an hour early--two hours if you really hustle--but he can't see getting this done in less than ninety minutes even if you both work together on it and everything works right.
He's not against you using the facilities to show your friends later.
Lauren would like to learn some computer skills even if you wouldn't, but she's willing to wait until you go back to work if that's what you'd prefer.
--M. J. Young
"OK boss, no problem. Just thought I would ask, ya know."
"Lauren, I don't think I can really explain metalworking to you without showing you. (And that's really the way I would feel about it.) Let's meet up tommorrow and I'll take you in there before work. I'm pretty good at it. Did blacksmithing for about 2 years in my last world. Can you and Derek hold off on the computer stuff for the moment? Like I said, I don't have a lot of time, and I'd kind of like to get back to the psionics. That way, Derek can show you everything, and I won't get in the way. Is that cool with you guys?"
If that's cool with them, ask for another quick psionics lesson before I go back into work.
Lauren wants to stick to one psionic trick per lesson, at least until she knows you're getting them. She feels that if she moves too fast too soon, there's a much greater chance that you'll botch, and people will get hurt.
So if you can't teach the metalworking stuff now and you don't want to learn the computer skills, she and Derek will finish their time together with the computer and they'll see you tomorrow morning before you go to work (on Derek's lunch break).
--M. J. Young
"Yeah Lauren, those botches are pretty nasty. I had one happen here. I got pushed through the back of the chair, and it was sticking out of my chest. Damnedest thing I've ever seen in my life. Why do we mess with this stuff anyway? Ya know what though, I prayed to have no botches, and then I couldn't do my non-corporeality at all. I wonder what happened there...... The one that got me though was in my last world (Dancing Princess) I prayed for a woman to be healed, and the world blew up. I think everyone else survived the blast except me. Last thing I remember is they were trying to carry me out of there. Well, with praying, if something bad happened, it's because it was God's will. Therefore, not my fault. I only use the psionics because it's faster than praying for 10 minutes. I think I remember The Architect saying something about biases, and that some worlds support more and other worlds support less. TK pulse and Mind Reading is the only things I've been able to get to work in my last two worlds. I want to learn those kinds of skills. The "Always Works" skills. I might need those."
I read a book written by M. Joseph Young about a woman named Lauren Hastings, who traveled through the galaxy from planet to planet, right? She traveled from planet to planet, not by versing, but by some other means? So, when Lauren recounts her verser story, what do I think of that, in relation to the book that I read? Coincidence? How would I react to hearing the story told more or less word for word from the book that I read? Or perhaps she met M. Joseph Young at some point, and told him the story, and he wrote it as a novel? How does that work?
Two Posts
Just moving this over here.
Backpack
Kabar knife
14 inch hunting knife, and everything that comes with it.
Ronco pocket fisherman
S/W .357 magnum, loaded
250 rounds .357 ammo
three 357 speed loaders, loaded.
Ruger P-89 pistol, magazine currently contains 15 shots 9mm
7 magazines 15 round each for 9mm loaded
250 rounds boxed 9 mm ammo
9 mm holster, with the gun and one spare magazine inside.
crossbow, folded up
30 arrow quiver, loaded with 30 arrows
6 extra arrows, 5 in the side holder, one loose, head wrapped in 1 inch plastic bag
1 Pearl Harbor jumpsuit
100 chlorine tabs
2 quart canteen
three days food
10 four ounce silver crowns
20 two ounce gold pieces
20 two ounce platinum pieces
32 1/2 oz shillings (nickel)
32 1/2 oz pence (bronze)
5 BIC cigarette lighters (one sealed pack)
2 glue grenades
2 fragmentation grenades
The plastic ground tarp that I bought.
Gems, some valuable, some not
Dynamo Flashlight
Two balls of yarn
One set knitting needles
AR-7
One brick (500 rounds) 22 ammo
Fanny Pack
Four 4 ounce crowns (Silver)
Five 2 ounce gold pieces
Five 2 ounce platinum pieces
Four 1 ounce gold coins
Ten 1 ounce silver pieces
32 shillings (nickle)
32 pence (bronze)
Straight razor
5 BIC cigarette lighters
Leatherman multitool in black nylon sheath, on the strap
Gems, some valuable, some not.
Diamond ring, gold setting, $225 original price (B Monster Movie World), fanny pack
Diamond ring, gold setting, $235 original price (B Monster Movie World), fanny pack
It works 1) because there is no fiction, so whenever anyone creates a story he's really reporting something that happened in another universe and 2) no one ever actually gets the multiverse right who is not in the multiverse, the M. Joseph Young didn't get it right but told true stories displaced to a different world. It's a bit like Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. It is true in some universe, but it doesn't happen to be true in ours. He wrote it as if it were true in our universe, so he had the true story displaced to the wrong world. The same thing could be said of Star Wars--there's no "Force" in our universe, so this didn't happen "a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away" except that it did, in another universe in which there is such a thing as "The Force".
So Lauren's stories sound just like stories you've read, although she probably gives different details here and there--things that were not in the books are included in her telling, and things that are in the books she may have forgotten or not mentioned.
"John, I think maybe that praying not to botch is a bit like asking God to keep us from sinning. Or maybe it's more like asking God to give us superpowers. I don't know. But suppose you're on the top of a skyscraper and you're running from some monster you know is going to rip you to shreds if it catches you, and you run out of space. You decide that your best hope is to leap from this building to the one across the street. That might be thirty or forty or even fifty yards. But you pray, 'God, let me make this jump,' and you leap from the edge of the building. So what happens?
"Maybe God answers your prayer, exactly like you asked, and you sail through the air and tumble onto the rooftop across the way. Maybe the monster chasing you decides he is not going to follow, not going to take the risk, and you get away. That's what you wanted, right? Maybe God does that. But maybe he answers your prayer exactly like you asked, but you don't get exactly what you wanted--maybe the monster leaps across the gap, too, and is still right behind you. Or maybe you land on that other building, but the fall is too far and you land wrong and are injured or even killed by the impact. Do we blame God because He didn't do what we meant, but what we said? Then again, maybe we don't make the jump--maybe we realize half a second after we leave the edge of the building that we're not going to get across. Maybe we start praying for God to do something else--send his angels to catch us, perhaps. Maybe He does. Maybe He had a reason for not letting us make that jump--like maybe He knew that the monster would be right behind us when we landed, but would not dare leap down from that height. Or maybe we fall and hit the ground and die. Or maybe we never make the jump, as the monster grabs us before we leave the edge, and tears us to bits. But what then? Can we complain that God did not do what we told Him to do?
"I had a conversation once with Merlin. We were working on setting up the sword in the stone--is that a story you know? Anyway, my argument was that we were setting up something that said God chose Arthur to be King of England, when it was really we who chose him. Merlin made a lot of sense, then. He pointed out that I often told God what I wanted Him to do, and God did it. A great deal of my magic, my prayers, my claiming scripture as true for me immediately, was telling God what I thought He should do--and the number of times He did what I told Him was frightful. But that's because on some level I have become a friend of God, and He looks for my advice. He gives me assignments, jobs to do, people to help, and so when I am trying to do those jobs and I say to Him that for me to do the job I need Him to do thus and such, He comes through, most of the time. What happens the rest of the time? Maybe in some of those cases, God has decided not to take my advice, but to do something entirely different. Maybe He knows something I do not know, and whatever it is I wanted to do, that's not going to work.
"Besides, I don't know that God always wins every skirmish. I know that I still sin; God has not completely conquered that in me. I know that God is not willing that any should perish--and yet people do, so He doesn't always get His way. And remember, in Daniel, the prophet prayed and it took something like two or three weeks before an angel arrived to give him the answer. Remember what the angel said? He said that someone else, someone he called the Prince of Persia, had fought against him and kept him from coming. So maybe when you prayed for that healing, some enemy of God thought it would be better that it not happen, and managed to set off an explosion to remove you before God could grant your prayer.
"And maybe if I hit the pavement, it's because God had already decided that I was no longer needed in that city, and it was time for me to move somewhere else. You were killed in an explosion, and yet you live. For us, death is nothing more than God's way of moving us to the next world. That's true for all these people as well--it's just that for us, we are going to see a few more worlds than they are.
"Anyway, if you pray that you will not botch, isn't that just like praying for something to work in the first place? If God isn't going to let it work, then expecting that He's going to keep it from going bad isn't any different fundamentally from expecting that he's going to make it work right on the first try. Sometimes God doesn't do that. He wants us to use our heads, our brains, to think of alternatives. I've learned that it's easy to become arrogant and even self-centered when everything you can do starts to become easy. You stop thinking of others as people deserving respect. God has allowed you to exercise powers most people would say are impossible. The very fact that you have these gifts is already a miracle. That you have received a miracle makes you responsible to use it wisely for the benefit of others. The feeling that we cannot fail is a bad feeling. It makes us cocky and complacent, and we lose perspective then."
"I've never had a skill that 'always works'. Best I've done, I think, is a few of my light spells--but I've mostly used them against vampires, and sometimes the vampires have used darkness spells to quash them, so I guess they don't always work either."
--M. J. Young
"I don't know about you, Lauren, but if a monster was chasing me on a rooftop, it would be doing it with a chest full of bullets. It was kind of strange though. The woman I was praying for to be healed had been married to a hellspawn for some time. She might very well have been pregnant. If I was killed in the blast, then she certainly was too. And so would have been her unborn child. There was a priest there who could have saved the others. I guess my work was finished. It just kind of irked me though. I was this close to having the gratitude of the king and having a really nice life there. I was already starting to plan my retirement, as it were. Anyway, I probably better get back to work. Come by my place (give her my address) in the morning, and I'll show you some blacksmithing before work tomorrow. Maybe get another psionics lesson in the mix. You guys have a good time."
Go back to work, help the boss with whatever it is he wants me to do. I'm going to try to get my schedule straight with Lauren's and Derek's, to make hanging out with them easier.
Two posts
Will replying again move it up? Let's find out.....
It's a big job for a special order, but working together you manage to push it through well before quitting time, and he lets you go early.
Did you want to talk with him about pushing your schedule earlier?
Lauren is at your apartment as you're leaving for work. She says Derek is going to meet you there when he gets off for lunch, which should be pretty soon. I'm assuming you've pushed this back an hour or so so that you can have time before work to show them some things.
--M. J. Young
I'm assuming that I know Derek and Lauren's schedule well enough to get mine set around theirs
"Hey boss man, if at all possible, I need to change my schedule completely. Not just an hour here or there, but a completely different shift (which would coincide with Derek and Lauren) Is that at all possible?"
Meet with Lauren and Derek, learn psionics.
Your boss is reluctant, and grumbles a bit about it, but in the end he says you can shift your schedule starting tomorrow, if that's what you want. He'll leave a note for Joe to tell him to expect you.
What are you going to show Lauren and Derek in the way of metalworking skills?
--M. J. Young
What are you going to show Lauren and Derek in the way of metalworking skills?
Well, since I actually know next to nothing about blacksmithing, that would be difficult to assess. However, the obvious thing would be low-tech skills. Low-tech blacksmithing, not high-tech laser cutting and whatnot.
Well, "you" obviously 2@1 Blacksmithing Package T5@3 Various tool use skills including hammers, pliers, tongs, and sheers; Identify soft metals T4@0; Smelt soft metals T4@1; Hammer soft metals T4@1; Welding T4@2; Carve soft metals T4@2; Imprint soft metals T4@2; Alloy soft metals T4@3; Draw soft metals T4@3; Identify hard metals T5@1; Smelt hard metals T5@1; Cast hard metals T5@1; Hammer hard metals T5@2; Cut hard metals T5@2; Draw hard metals T5@2; Temper hard metals T5@3; Alloy hard metals T5@3.
You would probably start by showing how to smelt soft metals, or else hammering them, as those are the most basic skills other than identifying them, and identifying takes a lot of time and a lot of samples.
Lauren and Derek thank you for the metalworking, and say they'll see you at lunch for the next installment. Derek has to get back to work, and Lauren has another meeting with Raeph Williams concerning her "identity" here.
--M. J. Young
Well, whatever, I would start with blacksmithing.
"Hey Lauren, what's up with this identity crisis you're having? Ya know, I was thinking about it, and there's gotta be another world. Space travel is popular here. Why not leave this TerraNova compound completely and go to a different planet? Why do we have to stay here?"
Two Posts
When is that holster I ordered going to be here?
How many days did I say, and how many days have elapsed?
"I thought of that. Actually, though, to leave here and go somewhere else, I would need to have an identity and enough money to pay for passage--unless I want to attempt to teleport myself to an unknown location. So even if I'm leaving, I probably need to start by getting my identity settled somewhere, and then I can transfer it when I move.
"Besides, I know that God has sent me to this universe for a reason, and it is very likely that the reason at least starts here. Maybe you and Derek are the reason; but then, God's reasons are often more complex than that, and it seems more likely to me that God sent you and Derek to the same place because whatever it is that we're supposed to do, it's going to take more than one of us to do it."
You show them how to hammer soft metals, which do not require heating (or much heating) to shape with tools. Then it's time for work. They'll meet you at lunchtime for the next lesson.
--M. J. Young
When is that holster I ordered going to be here?
How many days did I say, and how many days have elapsed?
If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking, now would I? I ordered the holster and a pouch which holds 2 speedloaders. When I get that, I will have the 357 behind my back and the 2 speedloaders on my belt. With my jacket and the Verser's Survival Pack over it, I would have to be throughly searched before it would be found, and by that point, the police would already know I had it.....
After a bit of digging, I found this. I have no idea how long it's been since then, but this is when you said it would be here.
The good news is you're not far from the gun store at all. The bad news is they don't have what you want in stock. The good news is they can order exactly what you've described, in either genuine leather or synthetic leather. The bad news is it will take eight to twelve days to get it, no matter which you want.
Speaking of holsters, can I get a shoulder holster for the 9mm? Those are worn underneath your jacket, the gun is on your left side (for right handed draw) and a place for 2 spare magazines on the right side. Again, it would require a search to find the weapon, and if they were trying to search me, they would already know I had the gun.
"OK Lauren, let's get together for lunch. What's the psionics lesson for today???"
Two posts
My skill would be higher with the 9mm, but by its design, the 357 is a much more accurate weapon. How would that be handled? 1@10 skill, with a +10 sit mod or something?
Usually the way I handle a "more accurate" weapon is by extending the range categories. Grabbing two guns at random from Adam's sheet, and cutting out the extraneous material:
PSG-1 ranges 20:80:200:800:+1/8 feet
M29 5.56 ranges 10':50':200':800':+1/8'
With these guns, both are "point blank" in the first ten feet, which means if you're within ten feet of the target you get +20 on your chance to hit. The PSG-1, though, keeps that bonus to 20', and the M29 goes to no bonus or penalty in that range. From 20' to 50' they are again equal, but beyond 50' the M29 takes a -10 penalty for medium range, and the PSG-1 does not get that penalty until 80'. Both weapons go to -25 at 200', and at 800' they start adding penalties above that.
I'm not that expert on guns, but I figure that you can answer the simple questions to define the ranges:
- Point blank: the range which is comparable to sticking the barrel in someone's gut and pulling the trigger, the virtually no-miss range under almost any conditions.
- Short: the range at which an ordinary amateur would not bother to shoot at standard practice targets, because they're too easy to hit and you wouldn't benefit from it.
- Medium: the range in which ordinary practice distances are measured for the weapon, takes a penalty in combat situations.
- Long: the maximum ordinary range for the weapon, the maximum distance at which you might reasonably expect to hit a target.
- Extreme: Any distance beyond long, expressed as a -1 penalty per 1% of the long range distance added to the penalty for long range, and as a damage category penalty to account for reduced accuracy.
I believe the paragraph you've quoted was from "the day before yesterday", the day Lauren arrived. This is her third day in this world.
By the way, did you agree with your boss on your new schedule?
Psionics lesson at lunchtime:
"Well, I've not used this all that much, but I did practice it quite a bit. It seems like the sort of thing that can be very useful but is also extremely invasive. It's another read minds variant, what I call 'search memories'. In essence, you can bypass what a person is thinking now and start rummaging through their past. It's not easy to focus--you learn all kinds of things about people, but memories are not terribly well organized when you come at them from the outside, and so you don't have much control over what it is you learn. Still, I've used it to get background on people, and sometimes have managed to find what I was looking for."
She projects the pattern into your mind; you attempt the skill, and it comes easily to you.
It's now time to study computers again, if you're interested. Derek is going to show Lauren more of that. You do have to return to work this afternoon, and they're expecting another lesson from you in metalwork tomorrow morning.
--M. J. Young
I think I would go into the gun store at some point and check on that order. Maybe I'll get lucky and they got the shipment in early.
Speaking of holsters, whilst at the gun store, I would ask if I can get a shoulder holster for the 9mm. Those are worn underneath your jacket, the gun is on your left side (for right handed draw) and a pouch which holds 2 spare magazines on the right side. Again, it would require a search to find the weapon, and if someone was trying to search me, they would already know I had the gun.
Weapons ranges.
357:
point blank, up to 7 yards (21 feet)
Medium range, Practice distance 50 yards
Maximum 100 yards
9mm
point blank up to 7 yards
Medium range, 25 yards (I usually practiced at this distance)
Maximum 80 yards
I'll let you fill in the rest. Speaking of which, why would your normal practice distance be penalized? That's the distance you're accustomed to shooting at. You'd think it would be bonused.
By the way, did you agree with your boss on your new schedule?
If it puts me on the same schedule as Lauren and Derek, then yes.
Not really interested in computers. I'll give them the metalworking lesson when I get the chance.
Two Posts
Various tool use skills including hammers, pliers, tongs, and sheers
Well, I would use hammers in driving nails into wood, pliers in my electronic work, etc. Do these tool use skills count for that as well?
Yes, tool use is a catch-all category for a variety of mostly 3@ lever and wedge technology applications--pliers, screwdrivers, hammers, saws, drills each have their own individual skill descriptions and biases at T3@, but for most players whose biases are significantly higher than that it's easier to say they have skill in all of them at a specific skill ability level than to list them individually. You might be better at specific tools because of a wider range of familiar applications, but we'll worry about that if it arises (if you're using a specific tool for a specific function that is not subsumed under some other skill--for example, if you're using pliers for metal work I'll roll the metal work, and if you're using them for electrical work I'll roll the electrical work, but if you're using them to open the lid of a jar, I'll roll the pliers skill).
The logic on the ranges goes something like this: you normally practice at a range at which you have a decent but not absolute chance to hit, but you practice under optimal conditions. You'll hit much of the time and miss sometimes. When you actually use the weapon in combat, though, you've got factors working against you. Your target is probably moving and probably shooting back. That means you have to move, too, and you don't have as much time to aim. The way this expresses itself is that you now have no penalty (a standard chance to hit) against targets that normally would be no-miss targets on a range, but you take a small penalty against the targets that would normally be at practice distance--they're harder to hit in the field than they are on the range.
The owner of the sporting goods store laughs. "Another antique holster for another antique weapon, ey? Well, the bad news is I don't have it, but the good news is I don't have to order it, as I have something like that coming in the order that includes your other holster. So it should be here in maybe ten days, maybe sooner."
Early the next morning they're at your shop for the next blacksmithing lesson.
Lauren suggests that since you've changed your schedule, they should meet you here after work, and you can give today's lesson in metalworking (she makes the point that the one you gave that morning is still yesterday's lesson, as you're one behind everyone), and then you can all move to a better location for the psionics and computers lessons--there will be considerably less time pressure, since it will be after work for both you and Derek.
--M. J. Young
All of that stuff made sense, I would just like to interject one point. Not arguing, just giving some extra information since I know guns aren't your specialty. When I did my target shooting at 25 yards with the 9mm, I was shooting what are called "Falling Plate Targets" It's just what it sounds like. A metal plate that falls over when you shoot it. These were about 8-10 inches in diameter. The falling plate represents the size of the head, or a center-mass kill shot. Obviously, most opponents are going to be much larger than these plates. What would be a miss on the plate would would be a hit on a human-size opponent. Most paper scoring targets are likewise. I just thought you might want to know about that, for informational purposes.
The owner of the sporting goods store laughs. "Another antique holster for another antique weapon, ey? Well, the bad news is I don't have it, but the good news is I don't have to order it, as I have something like that coming in the order that includes your other holster. So it should be here in maybe ten days, maybe sooner."
"Well, anybody can disable an opponent with a 1.21 gigawatt laser blaster. It takes some real finesse to wield one of these puppies (Referring to my guns) I also have a crossbow. Sometimes, things don't work the way you would hope, and you can't rely on the technology. Your mind is one weapon they can never take away." (This is gun shop talk. I would expect a reply. Hope would be that the owner either is a member of, or knows people into these kinds of firearms. Compare it to someone who was really into black powder flintlocks in a store that sold military machine guns. Neutral roll would probably be he tries to sell me a laser gun. Who knows? I might accept.)
(Still talking to the gun shop owner)
"Do you have any fully-automatic 9mm handguns?" (Glock makes one of these. John Connor used one in T3. It's a normal looking 9mm handgun with a 30 round clip. Doesn't raise quite as much suspicion as say, an Uzi, although it is quite capable of putting out equal firepower. Kind of a "sleeper gun." Major bonus points if it accepts the Ruger P89 magazines. Who knows? All the Ruger 9mm guns take the same magazine, maybe Ruger makes them in this world.)
(Almost forgot the reason I came in here.) "And of course, I'll take the shoulder holster."
Lauren suggests that since you've changed your schedule, they should meet you here after work, and you can give today's lesson in metalworking (she makes the point that the one you gave that morning is still yesterday's lesson, as you're one behind everyone), and then you can all move to a better location for the psionics and computers lessons--there will be considerably less time pressure, since it will be after work for both you and Derek.
"Yeah, that would work. Come back after work. This place is huge, I'm sure my boss won't mind me finding a quiet corner of the place to do some metal working."
Talk to my boss and see if that would be OK with him. I will, of course, pay for whatever I use.
And ya know what? I was talking about it. Take some of my silver crowns and make a knife out of it. This would be a new use for me. That's the metalworking lesson.
(Doing Therapy)
More than one post
Martial arts styles that use a standard, leather hold-up-your-pants belt?
He laughs at your "1.21 gigawatt laser pistol". "If you know anyone who makes anything that powerful that small, send him my way. I could sell a million of them, I'm sure."
He's not sure if anyone makes a fully automatic nine mill pistol, but he'll look into it if you're really interested. Never had anyone ask for such a thing before.
How much silver are you using to make the knife? It's a good lesson, involving casting hard metals and hammering hard metals. Think in terms of how much you want the knife to weigh, and what you're using besides the silver (e.g., to make the hilt).
Lauren is going to teach you how to project a psionic skill pattern the way she does it. You pick it up easily enough.
--M. J. Young
He's not sure if anyone makes a fully automatic nine mill pistol, but he'll look into it if you're really interested. Never had anyone ask for such a thing before.
"No, not really interested. Thanks though. I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn't use a fully automatic weapon (and I did) I figure if I can't kill the thing with semi-auto fire, I probably couldn't kill it with full-auto fire either. Besides, it's a waste of ammo."
How much silver are you using to make the knife? It's a good lesson, involving casting hard metals and hammering hard metals. Think in terms of how much you want the knife to weigh, and what you're using besides the silver (e.g., to make the hilt).
I was wondering about that myself. I would say probably about the size of the Buck 119 hunting knife. Twelve inches overall, 7 inch blade, 5 inch handle. If I have ever made knives before, I'm betting I would have used a wooden handle. That's probably what I would use. (Wouldn't that also be limited wood working skills? Blacksmiths would make knives wouldn't they? They can't exactly take every knife they make to the wood worker. They would almost certainly get a small amount of the woodworking skill themselves, right? Enough to make knife handles, anyway.)
Maybe 1 pound tops, not counting the wood for the handle.
So, 12 inches of metal, 7 of which is blade, 5 of which is part of the handle, about 1/4 inch thick, with shaped, polished wood for the handle. A Buck 119 (See Also The Scream Trilogy) would be what I had in mind. If the woodworking isn't something that I know, I'll try to teach myself.
(Doing Therapy)
Blacksmiths make knives for tool use, but they don't make wooden handles for these. Most commonly they buy the handles from cabinetmakers and insert the blades. If you've seen a trowel with a wooden handle, you've seen the basic approach. The handle has a drilled hole, and the blade has a barbed spike, and the spike is driven into the hole. More precisely, the blade his held in a vice, and the handle is driven onto the spike. The second most common approach is to make the entire tool from metal, the way table knives are made. The third approach is to sell the blades to others who construct the knives.
You would have experience at all of those approaches. There is another approach, commonly used for steak knives, by which the handle is constructed of two pieces and the blade has a flat extension behind the working portion. The extension is drilled with at least two but not more than four holes, the wooden handle pieces are affixed to opposite sides, and rivets pass through (or more rarely screws pass through one side into the other) to secure the pieces of the handle to the blade. This is a more fragile handle, but a more secure blade/handle connection than the first approach (the blade will not pull out of the handle, but the handle is more likely to break). For some applications, the handle is then wrapped in some sort of tape or spot-wrapped with wire (where the hand won't touch it) to protect the handle.
Wood is rare in the extreme aboard TerraNova. It does not grow here, and it is much cheaper to use polymers, plastics, and epoxies than to import wood. However, you do work for a junk dealer, so you would have access to some of that very expensive wood, if that's what you want to use. Different types of wood are available, but none are cheap.
--M. J. Young
So wood is valuable here, huh? Did I keep those tree branches from Dancing Princess? I know they're not on my sheet, but I could see myself keeping them as souvenirs. Can the dice tell me if I kept 2 tree branches?
There is another approach, commonly used for steak knives, by which the handle is constructed of two pieces and the blade has a flat extension behind the working portion. The extension is drilled with at least two but not more than four holes, the wooden handle pieces are affixed to opposite sides, and rivets pass through (or more rarely screws pass through one side into the other) to secure the pieces of the handle to the blade. This is a more fragile handle, but a more secure blade/handle connection than the first approach (the blade will not pull out of the handle, but the handle is more likely to break). For some applications, the handle is then wrapped in some sort of tape or spot-wrapped with wire (where the hand won't touch it) to protect the handle.
This is what I had in mind. Try to teach myself to carve plastic knife handles. I guess it would be "Carve knife handles" and using wood would be a new use. (What do you think?) Would that 2@1 carve metal count in any way shape or form if I was carving plastic instead?
MJ, I think you goofed. That crossbow that I sold was made of wood. I only got 100 credits for it. Shouldn't it have been worth more than that? I mean I'm sure a solid gold crossbow would sell for a lot more than one made out of iron..... Wood is gold, get it?
(Doing Therapy)
You got 100 credits for a replica of an antique crossbow (it wasn't that old, just made the way old things would have been made). You might have gotten fifty credits for a chunk of seasoned oak in an odd shape, and a few more credits for the scrap metal that comprised the rest.
Carving plastic or wood is significantly different from carving metal, but the skills are similar enough that we can umbrella them--which means that you're not as good when you're carving the softer materials, largely because you're not familiar with the techniques for working with something that soft.
I'm not sure to what tree branches you're referring. I don't remember you taking any tree branches. Refresh my memory.
Your discussion of carving knife handles switched from plastic to wood and back again. Are you making the handles from plastic or from wood? You can mold plastic easier than you can carve it, although you can carve it if you prefer. Plastic does not take screws as securely as wood, though, because it has no grain, so it would make more sense to create a cast and mold the plastic handle around the back shaft of the blade, or to use an epoxy-like polymer (which can be molded like clay and then left to harden).
--M. J. Young
I'm not sure to what tree branches you're referring. I don't remember you taking any tree branches. Refresh my memory.
When I was in Dancing Princess, I took a silver tree leaf branch and a gold tree leaf branch and I was whittling them to see if there was any gold or silver inside the branches. I could see myself keeping those as souvenirs. However, if an oak crossbow body would only be worth 50 credits, then I'm not going to worry about it.
Your discussion of carving knife handles switched from plastic to wood and back again. Are you making the handles from plastic or from wood? You can mold plastic easier than you can carve it, although you can carve it if you prefer. Plastic does not take screws as securely as wood, though, because it has no grain, so it would make more sense to create a cast and mold the plastic handle around the back shaft of the blade, or to use an epoxy-like polymer (which can be molded like clay and then left to harden).
Let's use the epoxy polymer stuff. So it's like Play-Dough then hardens into something stronger than steel. Let's do that. Silver knife, 12 inches, 5 inch handle, 7 inch blade. Handle metal wrapped in Play-Dough polymer.
Can I make a separate knife out of the Play-Dough polymer? Would it take an edge?
You don't have a lot of experience creating edges of that sort. You've created edges on picks and adzes and the occasional axe or pickaxe, but those are made dull and then sharpened with a file. The question then is, how do you intend to put an edge on either of these knives?
You mold a handle for your knife effectively. This is your first time using epoxy polymers, but you do adequately well.
--M. J. Young
You don't have a lot of experience creating edges of that sort. You've created edges on picks and adzes and the occasional axe or pickaxe, but those are made dull and then sharpened with a file. The question then is, how do you intend to put an edge on either of these knives?
No, I think you don't know as much about blacksmithing as you thought. Mike, my other older brother who recently died, was teaching himself old fashioned blacksmithing. Take a wild guess what the first thing he made was.... A knife. I would imagine that blacksmiths probably make swords, knives, all manner of bladed weapons. I watched a video with Mike about how muskets were made using blacksmithing. Since guns didn't exist in the world I was in, a musket would be a new use. However, it would be well within the capabilities of a blacksmith.
In short, making a knife is nothing new to me. Making a silver knife is the new use.
I suppose the thing a blacksmith would have made most would've been nails and horse-shoes
(apologies for the intrusion. I only realised this was a gameplay after I posted)