A Good Day For Illinois: Kotowski Resigns

The biggest gun grabber in the IL State Senate, Dan Kotowski, is stepping down to join a 'Child Advocacy' group in Chicago.  Note the irony below.

A former head of the puppet anti gun group ICHV, He's the one that was caught lying to legislature on .50 cal rifles, attached an anti-gun bill to a bill labeled to reduce the sexual exploitation of children, and ban rifles chambered in .17WMR as 'military style assault weapons'. He also sent the Illinois State Police to the homes of people who diagreed w/ him, threw temper tantrums on the floor of the Senate when his pet anti-gun bills didn't pass, and thinks AR-15's can be 'concealed' in people's tshirts.

About the only good thing he did was support freezing politicians pay. 

Good riddance.

Munchkin Campaign Cont.

Took a break from GM'ing since the spawn wanted to run w/ my PC.  My painter buddy took over, setting aside his two characters for the session. Follow the earlier sessions here.

 

Bartholomew and Trundle decided to take a break from adventuring.  Magyck and Afdar go to the tavern proclaiming they are in need of more adventurers for their party.  They get ignored and Magyck shoots a mug out of a dwarf’s hand, nearly starting a fight.  After she is removed from the tavern by the local constabulary, Afdar finds an Elf Longbowman by the name of Strongbow who is willing to join them for 50 gold and expenses.  Outside, Magyck is chatted up by a young farmer in need of help clearing out rats from their barn.  The pay is good so she accepts. 

At the farm, an old man directs them to the barn.  Giant rats cause a brief scuffle but Afdar’s sword and Magyck’s Cloud of Slumber take care of them.

 Returning to the barn, it has gone from a nice, cozy little cottage to an ancient wreck w/ no one in sight, the fields fallow.  They follow the path into the forest, dark and ominous.  A clearing is ahead w/ someone standing in it, a female.  Afdar moves forward and calls out to her.  She is standing in front of several (4) gravestones, the names being those of the farmer and his family.  Afdar walks in front of her and the zombie attacks him. For some reason he jumps into her arms. 

Strongbow draws his sword and Turns the Dead. It slowly flees and Magyck puts a bolt into its back.  Afdar finds a key lying on the ground.  They decide to return to the house to investigate it.  Inside is as dilapidated as the outside.  Magyck finds a locked trapdoor.  After trying to hit it open, Afdar tries his key into it. It easily opens.  A ladder leads down.  Afdar and Magyck go down, leaving Strongbow to watch from above.

  Downstairs is an earthen basement, the walls covered in nasty looking tools.  A mysterious, heavy wood door off to the side.  Afdar peeks through the door, light from three orbs spills out into the basement.   Calling Strongbow down, Magyck notices a small table off to the side w/ some scurrying forms, rats again, around it.  Figures, moaning, start shuffling towards Afdar.  Magyck throws a tool at one of the orbs, cracking it, and causing the light to dim.  Afdar, attempting to grab one of the orbs, feels they are evil.   The zombie appears to heal from normal attacks. Magyck and Strongbow shatter one of the orbs.  It appears to slow the zombie so the group attacks the remaining two. Shattering them as well. The zombie collapses.  

Finally able to explore the room , there is a circle of runes.  On the table is an open book, written in Elvish.  Written on it is a Paralysis Bolt spell.  A cabinet upstairs has a bag of gold and a sapphire. 

Not a bad haul. 

Afdar however, feels feverish and ill.  A trip to a cleric diagnoses him w/ some sort of infection. A donation to the church heals him.  Now time to settle back into the inn, get some repairs done, and pick up new supplies.

90%

So Miguel puts up the latest NICS numbers.  1.7m for the month of August '15. Yet over and over again we hear that 'gun ownership is dying' and that it's the same people buying more and more guns. 

OK, let's say that's true.  The number that used to be bandied about was '90%' increasing their arsenals.  I say give them that.  Sure.... 90%. 

That means in one month alone, there were 170,000 new gun owners.  The only way that's not an 'increase' is if 170k old gun owners either died or decided to sell all their guns. 

In one month. 

Then look at that evil NRA.  They only represent a tiny number of firearm owners, right?  About 2% by the claims.   Sure.  Let's go w/ that.

That means that there would be 3,400 NEW potential members. Ones who actually sign up and pay dues, not just click 'like' on a FB page.

In one month.

We sure as hell aren't seeing those kinds of numbers coming out of the anti-gun groups, especially on a monthly basis.  Instead we see laughable turnouts, manipulated photographs, and funding by a small number of rich bigots, most of whom are protected by their own heavily armed security.

But gun ownership is dying.

Brady Campaign's Gross Desperation

Got this email from them begging for funds:

I’ve never seen anything like it — two journalists murdered on live TV at the hands of a man who had no business owning a gun. That video shook me to the core….
But I’m not shaken any longer. I’m frustrated and angry because you and I know tragedies like this don’t have to happen.
Brady Background Checks work. Period.
They have already kept 2.4 million guns out of the hands of dangerous people and saved countless lives. Yet while 89 Americans die every day from gun violence, Congress is sitting on its hands. If they voted to expand Brady Background Checks to all gun sales we could dramatically cut the number of gun deaths in our country.

Now THAT people is some of the finest blood dancing I've seen out of the Brady Campaign since they asked for $32 immediately after the VT shooting. 

He completely sidesteps the FACT that the journalist shooter PASSED the Brady Background Check w/o missing a beat or getting any drops on his shoes.

These people are nothing but despicable. 

And In Other Breaking News... Water Is Wet

What does it tell you when a University that has never been overly friendly to firearm rights can't manipulate the data enough to do anything but admit that (shockingly) criminals break the law to get guns.  

  Crime lab co-director Harold Pollack said the study shows that “some of the pathways [regarding guns] people are concerned about don’t seem so dominant.” He said very few inmates indicated using gun shows or the internet. Rather, they get the guns in undetectable ways on the street.

Really? You don't say? 

So criminals are using their criminal friends/family to 'legally' buy them irregardless of waiting periods or FOID cards, stealing them, or getting them from other criminals. 

And this part tells why:

He said the inmates know they run the risk of being caught by police but “were less concerned about getting caught by the cops than being put in the position of not having a gun to defend themselves and then getting shot.”

Why are the 'less concerned'?  Because they're not being prosecuted.  Now these aren't Josh Sugarmann's favorite targets of a CCW holder walking into a prohibited area while carrying, these are individuals w/ no CCW, no FOID, criminal records a mile long...walking out of jail a few hours later and having their charges reduced or dismissed. Over and over and over again.

The people buying the guns and selling them to criminals?  Same thing.  No point in going after the straw purchasers because neither the city, state, nor feds will bother with it. Over and over and over again.

All these vaunted laws to stop criminals and they're not being used to stop criminals.  Instead, according to the anti-gun pundits, we need MORE laws to stop criminals, most of which are designed to hinder, harass, and infringe upon those NOT breaking the laws in the first place. 

Is it any wonder why most firearm owners (at least those who pay attention) oppose any new laws?

The Palladium Books/Robotech RRT Fiasco

Or 'A Troll By Any Other Name'

Some time ago I posted a rant about the delayed Robotech minis game and the response by a small, vocal, incredibly nasty group that had basically taken over the response board, turning it into the equivalent of youtube or yahoo.  Since then, I have spoken personally to the president of the company, Kevin Siembieda about it and the game is slowly coming along. 

He, however, finally got sick and tired of the trolls and posted what amounts to a 'screw off and let the real fans enjoy our game' post. For the most part I agree w/ it so I poked the bear a bit since we know for a fact that the trolls ARE a minority:

The trolls are a small, vocal, and sad minority that have not carried out a single one of their threats of trashing the game at GenCon, lawsuits, etc. Still waiting guys. Come on. Call me a 'White Knight' or some other insult. I'll just laugh as my minis get painted and I enjoy some gaming.

And I got the predictable response from the loudest of the trolls:

 in case you haven't been paying attention us "Trolls" as you call us have already started filing with the BBB and the Attorney generals of various states and the list is growing, so while those of you who sit and turn the other cheek think your getting wave 2, guess again your getting nothing because PB has nothing to send and when the law gets thru with them they will be lucky if they are still a company.

They've 'already started filing w/ the BBB..."

Yeah.  OK.  Three complaints so far out of over 5,300 backers.  Whoop dee frickin do.  I got more complaints than that from the OGRE sheets because I didn't start shipping out the same day as the main game and I hadn't even received them yet. 

AG's?  Yeah. OK. Sure skippy.  These keyboard commandoes have been making the same threats for the last year plus.  None have shown ANY evidence.  Why?  Because no AG is going to bother.

Kevin's shakin' in his boots.  I'm sure.

Just to emphasize the 'Troll' creds.... take a look at the profile.  ONE project backed.  Near 5,900 comments. Almost every one making threats, insults, and ridiculous claims.

Now screw off and let the real fans enjoy our game.

CIL-Con '15 Review

A bit back I was approached by some ladies who asked if I would be interested in running tables at a show they were putting on.  The flyer they gave me said it was called 'CIL-Con' (Central Illinois Con) and was a Paranormal/Horror/Anime/Gaming convention.  They said that w/ my combination of Surplus and Game related materials, I would make a good fit.  Table costs were very reasonably priced so I reserved some and prepped the hippy-mobile for transport.

As it turns out, this was originally planned as a 'paranormal' gathering but they decided to branch out into the anime and gaming areas for overlap.  This showed in the vendors that were present.  They were mostly paranormal and horror including some palm readers, psychics, aura cleansers and similar.  From what I understand, the 'Haunt' community are like 'Undead Heads', they travel and talk.  I know of some in Ohio that had heard of this event and vendors/presenters were from as far away as Alabama. Not bad for a start-up con. Besides myself, there was one other anime seller and the 'EndZone' game store ran a game room.

One of the neatest things though was the 'Mystery Machine' from Scooby Doo.

Friday night had a Velma and Shaggy cosplay team.  Sat. saw a little bit more cosplay w/ several Pokemon and a TMNT turtle:

Sat also had a local professional wrestling group, Zero1 USA, set up a ring and perform some matches for a crowd.  Several of them walked the mall in character hyping it up.  My favorite was 'Norman the Belligerent'.  They were just cheesily choreographed enough to be entertaining. 

Not sure how the various seminars and events turned out since I was behind the table the whole time. 

Pros-  

Very well organized. Tables were marked. Events were clearly listed.  Info booth . Outside of a few things, this was well done.

Advertising- Not only all over town but as I said earlier, this was heard about across the country. 

Uniqueness- Definitely not something normally done around here it was able to attract a diverse audience not regularly catered to.

Cons- 

Advertised as gaming/anime, there were only a few tables for it including mine.  They have said they are going to get more for next year.

Booth manning-  The info table at the main entrance was only sporadically manned Fri night and not at all on Sat.

Sat. Morn and Evening.  Some people mentioned that several of the events in the morning didn't happen. Not sure if this is accurate but it was mentioned.  Also many of the 'paranormal' vendors were bailing really early, like 6pm, hours before the scheduled end.  This looks bad.

Misc. Recommendations (for all my .02 are worth)-

Film Room(s)-  Movies, movies and more movies.  Get a screen, projector and a laptop to show anime, horror flicks, and gamer movies.  Plenty of empty stores that can be dark enough to do this.

Overall they were able to bring in a nice crowd of people that weren't the usual mall walkers.  The diversity in themes definitely brought out the 'Freaks and Geeks' who were able to be themselves in an area that doesn't have a well organized gaming community.   I certainly hope I get invited back next year.

Sunday Gun Day

Took Alpha & Bravo out for their 10/22 christening.  Started out w/ some balloons.

The boy did fairly well w/ adjusting to the iron sights getting 5/9 w/ his first magazine.  The girl decided she wanted to shoot w/o support.  Combined w/ learning the sights and some issues w/ her vision (we have an eye appt.), she did not do very well, only hitting one, and getting very upset. We talked for a bit and I convinced her to stick w/ supports for now and we tried out a pair of my older glasses on her.  It did help some for the next round. 

ZOMBIES!!!!

I found some targets at the 'Con I worked over the weekend.  Thought they would like them and they did:

Still trying to convince her to support both elbows but we all know how well kids listen. I got in a little shooting myself.

We finished up by emptying out their boxes into some cheap soda cans.  The foamy explosions are most fun.  Then back up to the house for some firearm maintenance (wipedown, etc) and putting everything away.

Next chore is getting the scopes on and zeroed for some more practice time.