So. Brand new character, and you're almost done but there's still an important part: the gear

most heavy armor possible and weapons of overcompensating size

Here, I've got my sheet from my SR 4e character.

Extendable Baton 1/(STR/2 + 1)P/—/—/50¥
Fichetti Security 600 4P/—/SA/(1)/30(c)/6R/450¥/(R1)
Hidden Gun Arm Slide —/4/350¥
Smartgun System, internal —/6R/450¥/(R1)
Spare Clips —/4/5¥
Regular Ammo —/—/Ballistic/2R/20¥
Lined Coat (6B/4I)/2/700¥
Glasses (4)/4/—/100¥
Low Light +4/+100¥
Smartlink +4R/+500¥
Image Link -/25¥
Hermes Ikon Response 4/Signal 3/3,000¥
Novatech Navi Firewall 3/System 4/1,500¥
Implanted Commlink 0.2/[2]/—/2,000¥ + Commlink Cost
Programs 47,000¥
Analyze 5 CU
Armor 4 H
Attack 5 H
Biofeedback Filter 4 H
Blackout 4 H
Browse 5 CU
Command 5 CU
Data Bomb 1 H
Decrypt 3 H
Disarm 2 H
Edit 5 CU
Exploit 5 H
Scan 4 CU
Sniffer 1 H
Spoof 6 H
Stealth 5 H
Track 4 H
AR Gloves 3/—/250¥
Nanopaste Trodes 3/2/100¥
Micro-Transceiver (Rating 3)/6/600¥
Fake License (x1) (Rating 2) (6)F 200¥
Fake SIN (x1) (Rating 2) (6)F 2,000¥
Datajack 0.1/[1]/—/500¥
Hot-Sim Modified Sim Module (Implanted) 0.2/[2]/12F/5,000¥
Ball and Jacks ~¥
Pancake Mix (1 serving) ~¥
Miracle Shooter + Subscription 50¥

>a bull roarer
>four javelins
>two slings
>twenty bullets
>two spears
>two hand axes
>one shield
>a satchel
>two bow drills
>four water skins
>a hide bedroll
>a week worth of food

Tactikool

So long as I have a katana as sharp as sin at my side, I'am ready for anything.

Depends on the setting and the character.

Part 2

Depends on character & setting, but I've got a few guidelines, assuming I'm solely responsible for my own logistics (no cart/squire/page, and/or I don't have a military logistics train):

Primary weapon, 1-2 secondaries (smaller), 1-2 utility knives/daggers. No more, because carrying them and fighting when festooned with weapons - especially melee stuff - is way harder than it looks. Tripping over your own sword scabbard or axe handle (it gets caught between your legs when you move during a fight) is infuriatingly common, regardless of how you rig the leather.

A single shield, and ALWAYS with a guige. A single quiver with ~20 arrows/bolts; it's very hard to carry more; clothyard shafts are hugely bulky. ~300 rnds for primary gun (support weapons get more), ~50 for secondary, 2-4 grenades.

2-4 days worth of food in medieval settings, and the same plus a dozen-ish energy bars in modern+ ones. You *can* carry more, but usually don't need to.

~2 quarts water at most Often carry less, esp. in medieval settings, because slung waterskins will shift and move in a fight, throwing off your balance.

Whatever the game equivalent is for a backback/oiled bedroll (ie, waterproofed) and an oiled cloak (or bivy cover) which doubles as a pillow. A good bit of space is taken up by reserve ammo in modern eras. Another chunk is taken up by a spare set of "adventuring" clothes (or spare fatigues), and a set of passable but light "nice" clothes for civilian use, and rags and a bit of torch oil. Other stuff generally includes firestarting materials, light rope, heavy rope, and several individual pouches for cash so I'm not flashing huge sums. NVGs, gas gear, water filters if available.

Armor is the best I can use which I can put on by myself; this *generally* disqualifies true fullplate, which really needs help with the pauldron and rerebrace arming points Helm, cuirass, gauntlets, greaves, elbows & knees, other stuff, in that order.

Finally, comms, if available.

I play kobolds a lot, so I always make sure to carry a lot of string/twine and a whole bunch of bells. That way I have the materials necessary to rig up a simple alarm trap and use that racial bonus to Craft (Traps).

>that duffle folding.

How long were you in the military?

I equip like the Boy Scout I am in every game. fantasy, modern, or future there is a lot of overlap

1 sturdy method of carrying stuff
>backpack
>gear harness
>holsters/sheathes, etc.

1 ranged offensive option usually as small as possible for ease of carry our ease of use in abnormal conditions
>handgun
>short-bow
>at least 10 disposable throw-able weapons

1 melee option(bludgeoning), either concealable or easily disguised. because smashing stuff is good, and so are non-lethal options
>a sturdy walking cane or hiking staff
>collapsible baton
>a sap or bar of soap in a sock or sock-like pouch

1 long length of rope or high strength cordage
>sturdy hemp
>paracord

greater than 3 light sources(including ones that can be left behind)
>torches
>light sticks
>flashlights
>lanterns

several methods of marking things
>pens
>chalk
>paint

communications devices
>comm-links
>phones
>magic rocks

first aid supplies
>healers basic medicine bag
>first aid kit
>small auto-injectors in a case

1 bladed melee option with at least one backup

a means of producing fire

if no equipment is suited for it, a prying/destruction tool.

a small utilitarian knife

socially acceptable clothing of a long-wearing construction

a reasonably nice hat

2 handkerchiefs in contrasting colors

a collection of small maintenance bits for everything listed
>garment patch-kits
>a sharpening stone
>charging cables
>spare batteries
>spare ammo
>cleaning kits

once I have all of these I then consider specialty equipment to fit the build, system, setting, and how I feel about the game.

So, the same gear in every post?

yeah, more or less.

however thats not the important part.

the important part is what gear ISN'T the same.

that may well be more telling

What I'm finding interesting is some of the rationales of why people carry what they do. For example, mentions not carrying a bunch of melee weapons (like in Pathfinder art) because they get caught up in your legs a lot, or waterskins or canteens shifting and throwing off your balance in a fight.

That's not something I've ever really considered for my PCs. I just look at things with the weight they take up, and if the weight is less than my maximum, then it's all good. I don't recall ever considering HOW you carry all that stuff. Like . How can you carry a glaive/pike, a maul, 2 hand axes, a battle axe, and a shield all hanging off your body at once?

I mean, sure, modern load bearing gear could help, but even if you managed to get a Molle vest into D&D, I don't see how it could let you carry 3, 2-handed weapons at the same time plus 2 1-handed backups, without being horrifically awkward.

>because they get caught up in your legs a lot, or waterskins or canteens shifting and throwing off your balance in a fight.
to me, this speaks more about the GM he plays with. than the player himself. but then I am probably projecting.

>gear and harnesses
you can actually make a pretty good load bearing kit from leather and welded rings(I know some people who have) they even look good and work well.

but most players I've seen want to over-prep, I used to do it too when I would try building characters. too many weapons, too much gadgets.

fewer people go hiking these days and even fewer go really Backpacking. a player with experience doing either is more likely to know how INTIMATELY just how fucked encumbrance can really be.

citing as an example the pole weapon can be carried as a staff, and can serve double duties as a 10-foot pole harnessing it is not a viable choice unless you're taller than it is long. the rest CAN fit on a harness together even with some very small degree of ease. HOWEVER unless you have someone or something else carrying your other gear(a hireling or a cart for example) you aren't carrying enough other things to do any other task BUT fight. this means that outside of a fight, that load-out is near worthless. great for a dungeon you're ready for and plan to enter, but literally garbage any other situation.

>to me, this speaks more about the GM he plays with. than the player himself. but then I am probably projecting.

To explain, I've been in the military, larped extensively, have done several years of reenactment (including for the Frazier Arms Museum), and work with choreographing fights professionally. Not meant to brag, meant to provide context. Pretty much everything in my post comes from going out and doing it, and noting what worked and what failed, and applying that to a tabletop character when it's appropriate for the character's training.

There ISN'T a GM making me do that; I'm doing it on my own recognizance because, in my IRL experience, that sort of thing really happens. Hell, I had 4 wooden scabbards broken in a single production of Othello because Montano kept catching them between his legs while passing and breaking them, and tripping onstage once. I've watched a guy with a pollaxe strapped to his back catch the butt end with his ankle and fall into a ravine, and I've seen plenty of IRL soldiers with carrying a long weapon on their shoulders (SAWs or AT4s, usually) get hung up in woods and have to have help to get free. Thus, I don't load up with weapons, because I believe a trained character *wouldn't* generally do that, for precisely these reasons, even if there's no rules for it.

Basically, overloading yourself with long objects (anything from axe hafts to rifles) or heavy pendulums is a bad idea because while you may be able to walk with it, you can't practically fight in it. And in medieval-era games especially, quick-releases don't exist.**

**Your milage may vary: when I play medieval settings, it's always low fantasy; WFRP 2e and low-level D&D. Your local "magic superheroes" D&D game may be different, and thus my choices may not be valid for that setting. Modern stuff is more constrained by real fighting loads for militaries and there's a reason they load like that.

>And in medieval-era games especially, quick-releases don't exist.**
have you ever encountered the "mule" knot or its variants?
it certainly did exist after a fashion.

but I get where you're going, notice where I put the pole weapon in my version of things. a sturdy stick to lean on or test ground with is damn useful once you pick up the knack of carrying it. because of boy-scouts I carry a ~6' walking staff everywhere. I can easily see a person carrying a pole weapon around because of that. if I can walk through a crowd without accidentally tripping people up, a PC almost certainly can too.

you CAN get used to some stupidly awkward things if you do them enough. but that all said, I do prefer a smaller load-out for gear. gotta spend that weight like it's the most precious of gems.(or else you're packing that shit in and out with you for no goddamned reason, AND FUCK THAT ENTIRE CONCEPT)

>have you ever encountered the "mule" knot or its variants?
>it certainly did exist after a fashion.

Yeah (mostly in rappelling), and T-toggles. They all sort of work, and I guess you could call them a quick-release system, but they don't work reliably enough as releases in my opinion to trust one's life to them when time becomes critical. They all have a tendency to get tangled, fail to function, or even release on their own at the worst times.

I should have been more clear that my comment was referencing the modern plastic quick-release, though. My bad. I totally agree that having a pole to walk with is really nice, but I wouldn't double its function with a weapon because you have to drop it to use anything *else*, and recovering a dropped implement under fire is tougher than it sounds, so once it's dropped it's both useless and if you have to run you lose it. Plus wear & tear on it. Different strokes; I certainly wouldn't begrudge somebody carrying an axe Gimli-style and doubling as a walking stick on the tabletop.

>I do prefer a smaller load-out for gear

Yeah, I'm sure we agree on like 98% of this. Every pound you start a march with will feel like five when it's done.

>(mostly in rappelling)
munter rapelling for the win

figure-8s CAN GO SUCK A HARRY WHALE DORK

...I hope you bought a horse along with you, cause I'm not carrying any of that shit for you

Oil. All the time.

MY FISTS

lots of rope

everyone always forgets rope

My typical rogue kit looks something like:
>Dagger +1
>Dagger +1
>Dagger (returning)
>Dagger (silver plated)
>Dagger (cold iron)
>Dagger
>Dagger
>Dagger
>Dagger
>Dagger
>Silk rope (20 ft)

Depending on the amount of starting gold, I might also pick up a couple of daggers.

No lockpics or trap disarming devices? Not even some thread to hold in front of you while you walk through a dungeon (it'll hang up visibly on tripwires, but won't trip them)?

How much of your party has died through your incompetence?

They're still employing him, so the answer must be "not enough".

>Fantasy
It's usually always low-fantasy, a la Game of Thrones (shut up, we have fun), so gear is usually based on how much our game-life counterparts could realistically carry during the length of the haul.

Short trips around town means we're usually in "casual gear", which is far more efficient than saying "I take off gear A, B, E, G, and X, and don gear C, K, M, and W" every time we're in a city. This "Casual set" is my Column A, which is the most basic platform for all other loadouts in the game.
>Basic clothing ranging from tunics to blouses and maybe even loincloths or robes, maybe buy a fancy gown or some shit during balls or ceremonies
>Small side-arm, usually an arming sword, or a dagger or something
>If we have one, horsies
>satchel for gold and jewels and fine silks and shit for trading
>A relatively """unique""" item my character carries around is a small whistle flute the size of his outstretched palm
>Whistle meant to alert my party if he's in danger or to alert the town guards or something if he's being mugged (in this game, 7 ruffians with swords and throwing axes versus 1 man with a dagger is never a fun matchup, no matter how skilled you are)

pt 1

During travel, it's everything from Column A, plus some:
>Horse, or friend's horse (character, like any other sane man, hates travelling on foot with heavy gear)
>Gambeson or maybe even gambeson and mail, depending on where they're travelling and how far
>Longsword and dagger armed
>Sling tucked away in pouch, along with some juicy looking stones
>Food appropriate to length of travel (usually quite light, like dried meats and fish, because he also hates travelling alone and will often hire a cheap guide or if the route is long and dangerous he'll hire a ranger, and can hunt for himself if need be)
>Water (he doesn't skimp out, because you can eat grass if you're really starving, but you can't drink dirt)
>Small skillet, mini-hatchet, needle and thread, high-proof wine, flint and steel, two quilts (one for sleeping on, one for sleeping in), and, seldom used, a walking stick (in case he has to pull a Gandalf on some guards)

pt 2

During times of fierce hand-to-hand combat (Mercenary work, raiding party, war, etc), it's Column A, minus the sack of gold, plus some. Seldom get a chance to fight in all our dedicated war gear though.
>Horsie
>Tunic/Blouse/Robe/Whatevs
>Gambeson on top
>Light chainmail
>Full plate (black, cause I'm cool like that)
>Helmet (Kinda shaped like a fencing mask, where the mask part slightly bulges out like an astronaut's helmet, but it's got these nostril sized holes all throughout the face so I can see through them. If mask face part gets smashed in, the entire face part is a visor I can easily lift or detach to see better, exposing my face, but still covering the rest of my head...Also comes in black)
>Longsword (Color: Black. Also, it's larger and heavier than average.)
>Dagger (Likes: Black, cool kind not gay kind.)
>Sling with stones in pouch
>Usually a cheap, throw-away lance or spear. If he can't buy one off somebody or something, there are times he's just used a long stick he's scavenged right before battle, sharpened to a point. Just runs in on his horse, spears someone, and if it breaks, it breaks, but if it holds, he uses it again. A fire-and-forget weapon
>Character is a Big Guy For You, and thus, likes to fight as such. He's relatively unskilled compared to the higher-end fighters, which isn't to say he's absolutely untrained, but his speed, strength, and quick intellect, backed up by his powerful arsenal are more than enough to at least get him out of the fight alive
>If anything, his skill level's like a decent amateur boxer, while the higher-end guys are like pro boxers
>Plays smart and doesn't care THAT much for honor, though he will fall to its temptations occasionally
>Only fights "fair" if it's a duel or a sparring incident
>Otherwise, his tactic is to blindside enemies using speed, numerical superiority, greater firepower, and he's not averse to hiring a couple mercenaries to stand by his side if he's certain to face danger

pt 3

During fancy parties and such (As a high-end mercenary with minor political pull, as well as some very powerful financiers, my party and I are sometimes invited to important dinners and balls)
>Dark purple coat, blouse, or tunic (Cool kind, not gay kind)
>A sick robe or cloak or something made of velvet or silk (Optional)
>Leather pouch made from the skin of some exotic fish, used to hold gold and jewels
>A dagger. Not fancy or anything. Just a regular old dagger.
>A black beret looking cap with a gleidabjurg feather stuck in it (A gleidaburg is a large, intimidating bird, comparable to a Hass eagle, though slightly smaller)
>Feather's a good conversation starter, because many people don't even believe the bird is real and think it's just exaggeratin
>Feather itself is worth more than the gold and jewels in his pouch combined
>If it's a masquerade, the mask is a simple piece made of blackened horse bone, tied to the face by means of silk or velvet

Shieeeeeeeeeeeeeet, I can't believe I forgot the rope. It's like the roadtrip equivalent of forgetting a spare tire. Truth be told, there HAVE been moments I can recall, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, where rope would have gotten me out of a lot of trouble. I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.

pt 4

If it's a sci-fi setting, I always go for the hardcore, balls-to-the-walls loadout. Even in casual-wear, thanks to modern military science, any ol' Joe can be packing some serious heat under his regular clothes.

>Casual wear
>Black polo shirt made of kevlar-polymer fibers, capable of Type II ballistic resistance. Can also perform as a low-grade stab vest.
>Black khakis, also given the kevlar-plymer treatment
>Glasses (Only cause I have glasses IRL)
>Black "fake" dress shoes (they have rubber soles and are only meant to look fancy while providing actual support to the feet)
>Cheap, black, plastic watch
>Modified electric powered Harley-styled motorcycle (I say "styled" because damn copyright infringement laws)
>Motorcycle is kept in the back of a large, white, windowless van (does not give free candy)
>3D printed, kevlar-polymer compact automatic (not SEMI-automatic, but fully automatic) pistol with telescoping "super plastic" high-explosive "HEAT" rounds (not actually "HEAT" rounds, but you get the idea)
>Can be chambered in .38/.40/9mm/.45/10mm if you use conversion kits
>Can even hold upward of 40+ rounds with the use of extended mags, which don't even stick out that much thanks to telescoping round design
>Cellphone with illegally modified "smart AI" built into software with soothing, calm W.A.I.F.U voice
>Small sample of enriched, weapons grade uranium "good luck charm" sealed in a bullet-proof, transparent, radiation-proof case
>Unmarked bills totalling up to a thousand bucks in 1's, 20's, and 100's

pt 5

>Shootout loadout
>Black kevlar-polymer polo shirt with SlimTech (copyrighted) ballistic and stab resistant flexi-vest capable of Type IV protection...In theory
>Black kevlar-polymer khakis, but no underlying ballistic guards. If I get shot in the leg with a rifle, I'm fucked
>Glasses
>Black "fake" dress shoes
>Cheap, black, plastic watch
>"Smart AI" phone
>Enriched uranium "good luck charm"
>Kevlar-polymer duffle bag
>Electric Harley-styled motorcycle kept in back of windowless van
>Super-plastic full-face motorcycle helmet with integrated reverse camera, amplified audio-visual HUD with recording function, with modified voice amplifier/distorter and a port for illegally modified "smart AI" to interact with (Type III protection, tested and proven)
>Organic BioWear (coopyrighted) fingerprint concealment film
>3D printed Kevlar-Polymer automatic pistol with 10mm telescoping HEAT rounds and conversion chassis for foldable, submachinegun-like frame with at LEAST 200 rounds worth of magazines
>Duffel bag mentioned from before is filled with 40 pounds of black-market explosives, up to and including (HE grenades, flash-fry chemical plasma charges, claymores, poison or gas bombs, timed charges, magnetically charged LASER charges [not as crazy as it sounds, just uses magnets to power laser diodes that can cut through several inches of solid steel after a few minutes, mostly for infiltration of tough places], napalm charges, fragmentation bombs and nanobot "powder" bombs [releases cloud of nanobots that can be ordered to detonate into a massive powder explosion when given the cue], not to mention the humble pipe and nail bomb)

pt 6

>Also in a side pouch of the duffel bag are several E-med syringes, which are super potent cocktails made of genetically modified biomechanical nanomachines that deliver steroids, painkillers, proteins, and other trade-secret ingredients that'll patch a motherfucker right up
>In the back of aforementioned windowless van is the detached warhead to a blackmarket ATS missile, as well as the blueprints to a HIGHLY illegal tactical "clean" bomb, capable of destroying an entire city block in one go. All that's needed is a small sample of highly enriched uranium powder and you're good to go...
>Main tactic is shock and awe
>After days or weeks of scouting and careful planning, infiltrate the weakspots in their perimeter, plant a SHIT LOAD of explosives, breach the territory under all the confusion, extract or eliminate target or objective, then get the FUCK OUT
>Shock and awe
>Usually highly publicized and incredibly dangerous High-risk/High-yield mission, so obviously fallback on hiring lots of trained, expensive professionals and PMC
>Funny, because sometimes those same mercenaries and assassins that we hired to help us out are then rehired to kill me and my crew

/blogpost

Aw, FREAKIN' A. I forgot the part where you said it's a brand new character. Dang it.

Okay, then it's mostly just
>Fantasy
>Longsword
>Dagger
>Gambeson
>Dumb whistle
>Random survival shit like quilts and flint and stuff

>Scifi
>Casual clothes
>Maybe a soft ballistic vest if I'm allowed one
>.45 handgun and Walmart-tier shotgun
>Few military-spec explosives but mostly improvised bombs and explosive charges
>Cheap, rundown, windowless van
>Just regular old smartphone
>Dumb uranium charm (gift)

a knife
a small sword
a 2h weapon (spear/greatsword) OR a buckler
a lightsource
a cloak
a consumption item (drugs, mostly)
a personal item

pack a dagger and a mid-sized main weapon, +armor without innate movement penalty.
i try to keep the weight low enough to not pass the -2 action points threshold

Not a single thing.

5e has a system for just giving you shit based on class & background
otherwise i usually try to grab clothes, a general adventuring kit, rations, etc. and then a weapon, armor, and stuff that might make sense from the backstory (a shovel for a gravedigger, for example)

Depends on the character.

>started an EotE game recently
>Down and Out Commando
>she spent all her money on a Corellian cutlass
>has only a backpack and clothes otherwise

>first session engineers a situation to not only get a free meal but also start a fight
>pistol drawn on her, she just runs the dude through for a free gun

I need 20 pounds of flour at all times.

My buddy, an enginer, is the best/worst at this. He literally pick every. Single. Random. Shit.

The guy actually buy component bag so he can have acces to more random shit. He's the kind of guy that goes to a shopkeeper and ask for tons of seashell, take time one night around the campfire to make calcium Oxyde, and then use it to cause major panic in his enemy.

WE ARE ENGINEERS, FEAR US.

I'm sure his character knows what calcium oxide is

...lime is a very versatile chemical...

it's been in use by the human race for a very long time...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_oxide#As_a_weapon

Are you saying a random character knows you can extract it from seashells and has a source of heat strong enough to do it? (Not a campfire, mages in most settings usually aren't shown producing very hot flames either) And knows its uses? I don't buy it.
This is just another case of I know how to make gunpowder so my character makes some in a medieval setting or I know how to extract poisons from animals so my character does too even if in his background he only lived in a single city his whole life.
Characters have better knowledge than players about using weapons, casting spells and so on, and in return, players should be expected to know how to separate what they know and what their characters should know
Your ellipsis also make you look like a faggot, but that's besides the point

see
the early Romans used it more than a millennium ago.

so...yes.
I do believe that a clever person in a fantasy world is capable of refining and using this chemical.

and if you build it right and supply it with air, a campfire can heat steel to welding temps.

>This is just another case of I know how to make gunpowder so my character makes some
nope. gunpowder is an innovation.
lime has been a human tool far longer.
I bet you'd disallow me from using smoldering pots of feathers as improvised tear-gas(a BCE trick mind you)

>I know how to extract poisons from animals so my character does too even if in his background he only lived in a single city his whole life.
>what are books
>what is a high INT crafting based character
if the toxins can be extracted and someone wrote down the process then there is no reason that a person with a book and no training whatsoever cannot try and perform the extraction.
sure, they're more likely to fail the extraction.

>Characters have better knowledge than players about using weapons, casting spells and so on, and in return, players should be expected to know how to separate what they know and what their characters should know
or they build a character that knows things and you are grumpy because it's harder to GM for them or look impressive with your fire and lightning when the enemy duke just dies because "what he ate interacted badly with something else on his plate"

>more than a millennium ago.
correction.
more than 2
means they had it before then to know it well enough to think that it might work...

>have to break open the entire top of the rifle to reload
WHAT IDIOT DESIGNED THIS THING

>gear
>important

Commendation for the quality post, very informative. We can always use a few more of these.

Personally, I tend to run my games as a "cinematic" narrator, so whatever a player can plausibly describe, I'll usually let them get away with. Rule of Cool is the highest physical law in an RPG universe, IMO.

>telescoping handgun rounds
>extended mags don't stick out thanks to telescoping rounds
...How do you think magazines work?

I've got no problem with that! Engineers are awesome.

Just make sure his CHARACTER is taking enough levels in this to know the info. Player knowledge =/= character knowledge.

probably a visual arts major and not a gunsmith

QUICK think about the Calico M960 and the thought of putting part of the sights ON THE MAGAZINE.

it'll make the design of the deus ex gun hurt less...

it usually isn't, but the selections that are always picked tend to be telling regarding players.

wholehearted agreement here.

Read the same article, of the numbers are right, you need over 800 degrees to decompose it. In a campfire. Welding steel is way easier than that.
People know how to use lime but knowing how to produce it and where it comes from is way different. Most folks were probably only handed it, to know seashells contain lime your character must've been someone who did lots of studies like an scholar or who happened to work even tangentially with it before, be it by working seashore or with a furnace or so on. If you can't prove your character would know that, they aren't allowed to conveniently think about heating seashells. Same goes for the poison, in my example the character had never seen anything about extracting it and would likely just hurt themselves, though they at least know there's poison there so they can try it.
Do they know things? The guy never pointed otherwise, just said he was an engineer. For all we know his character is a religious cleric with no concern for those things. Character knowledge is what matters first

Ideally?
Backpack.
10 foot pole.
Leather armor.
Bedroll.
Lantern.
Oil flasks for about eight hours of light.
Main weapon, whatever that is. Probably a hammer.
Ranged weapon, whatever that is. Probably a shortbow.
Quiver for ranged weapon, around 10-20 bits of ammunition.
Flint and Steel.
20 feet of hempen rope.
Waterskin.
Crowbar.
Thieves tools.
Knife. Small, concealable, different from my main weapon.
Five palm sized rocks, pick up more and keep them in a sack by my waist.

>800 degrees to decompose it. In a campfire. Welding steel is way easier than that.
welding steel is 2000 degrees more or less. I am an engineer, and for a lark I taught myself both SMAW and forge welding...it takes WAY MORE work and heat to weld than it does to make decomposed lime.

it's why the human race has had it so long. if you build a big campfire on a beach with shells you get decomposed lime just because. anyone whose done that could potentially have encountered lime before. no scholarship required.

I do agree that INT or in some cases WIS needs to be high enough for plans like that. it's why I and every other engineer I know(and most of the other STEM guys) who plays always build that way unless we have a specific other goal in mind.

bump for interesting

>it's why I and every other engineer I know(and most of the other STEM guys)

You and every other engineeer are metagamers. You can't just assume that science and physical laws work the same in a fantasy setting.

nope, I recommend you re-familiarize yourself with the term. meta-gaming is "allowing knowledge your character DOES NOT know to influence their behavior". it's not metagaming to make reasonable assumptions about the setting.

the calcium oxide being a prime example. its a chemical that has been used extensively by the human race for millennia. being aware of it's use in the past can be part of reasonable setting knowledge, or it can be assumed to be. being aware of it's creation might mean some basic education in primitive chemistry. hell it might even be a part of some military doctrines in-setting making it knowledge available to even low intelligence characters.

telling [engineers] our first solution is "too advanced" simply means we begin from a lower estimated tech level and solve it again. what you dislike is that it means you aren't as clever as you assume. I will say it myself, "inventing" gunpowder is the easy way. whats fun is limiting yourself to bronze age tech levels and practices to solve problems.

>Tl;Dr you are a whining about something you don't understand

What you don't seem to underside is that these games aren't set on earth and dont have to run using our natural laws. There's absolutely nothing that says those chemicals react the same way they do on earth. You dont automatically get to use your IRL knowledge and the gm doesn't have to allow it. The assumption that because you know it, it must be legal in a fantasy setting -THAT'S metagaming, because if the natural laws are different, there's no reason your character would even know to think of it in the first place.

Engineers are a red flag in ttrpgs anyway. You people shouldn't be allowed at the table in the first place.

>and dont have to run using our natural laws.
EXCEPT that for the most part, they do. water flows down-hill, fire burns lots of things to ash, stone is hard, and mud is squshy. nothing could get done if you couldn't make a majority of the assumptions about a setting and it's physical laws.

>because if the natural laws are different
so your saying I need a 1000+page questionnaire for my GM about the setting every time I want to play a game? no, I think I'll make some base assumptions(or indeed a great many), build my character and let the GM green-light it or not.

>and the gm doesn't have to allow it.
did I ever imply that any of us would try a thing if the GM simply said "no"?

>The assumption that because you know it, it must be legal in a fantasy setting
is English a second or third language to you?
reread, I build characters that know things, I limit their expressions of that knowledge to what would be reasonable given their back-story. things it would be reasonable for them to know like how to make lime or the basic applications of stonemasonry as examples.

oh?
why is that?
or are you just unhappy about not figuring things out?
none of my players complain when I build them a world to play in.

>why is that?

Because none of you STEM fuckers can just shut the fuck up and enjoy the game. You always have to get your rocks off breaking down the settings and rules to their component parts to find ways to break them, the tropes or feel of the game, or the wishes of anyone else at the table, be damned.

Just shut up and play thew game. You know who's most fun to play with? Actors. They create awesome PCs, play off each other improve style, they don't give a single fuck about numbers or math or optimization , and they don't assume that be cause something works IRL, it has to work in a game. They just chalk it up to the given circumstances of the game and move the fuck on. Sure, none of them make money, but they're the best lot of people I've ever played with, and they're your polar opposite in every way that matters.

>and they concentrate on being in character - never a cell phone out at the table

>never a cell phone out at the table
I GM with a phone out.
it helps me arrange tile-sets to match map images.
otherwise I enforce note-cards and small legal pads for notes.

>Because none of you STEM fuckers can just shut the fuck up and enjoy the game.
wrong. on at least 4 counts I know personally and have observed.

>the rest
sounds like negative opinions born of bad experiences, and for that I feel sorry.

>actors
never played with any, sounds interesting.
I may need to find some and see if they'd like to play some games

>side note
try playing with tradesmen some time. a pro-welder or carpenter or general contractor. thats some really neat problem-solving there. they each generate vastly different solutions with good odds.

Fantasy; i generally pack my primary, secondary and knife; camping equipment and rations for myself, armor, and normally a personal journal for rp purposes.

Stuff like Traveller; i pack a city pistol, a sword for honor and boarding and some kind of rifle for general goings down.

in modern style games, i normally pack as much urility shit as i can and bring an SMG or go scout/sniper for the party.

>my preferences are universal
Kill yourself my man

>Modern Nights - Mage the Ascension
***
>Messenger bag
A backpack for urban adults that fits in anywhere without drawing a lot of attention.
>9mm handgun
Affordable, compact, concealable self defense.
>A lighter
Too convenient not to have.
>Charcoal and chalk
For throwing down the Seal of Solomon or whatever else in a pinch.
>Bump keys
Breaking into places/things is much easier and less conspicuous with these.
>Burner phones
To better evade the botnet/NSA/local PD.
>Talcum powder
In various colors with added scents, it helps to create 'illusion powder' consensually.

Whoever designed the guns for Deus Ex I guess. What exactly is wrong with that? Isn't that how break-action shotguns work? I know very little about guns.

>Isn't that how break-action shotguns work?

Only at the most superficial level.

An automatic weapon has a MUCH more complex internal arrangement than a double-barreled shotgun.

When you break open a shotty, really all you're going to see is the hinge where the barrel pivots, two tubes (shell chambers), a 98% smooth plate, and two little pins sticking out of the plate (or 2 tiny holes). All the rest of action is behind that smooth plate. The only things to go wrong with it are getting enough dirt in the opening that somehow you're unable to reclose the weapon, or getting enough dirt in those pinholes that the pins can no longer actuate to strike the primers. Basically, there's not many failure points.

Meanwhile, an automatic weapon is going to have a ton more moving parts, and they take up a LOT more room inside the weapon. Things like a bolt, recoil or buffer spring, some sort of reciprocating action (there's lots of kinds; perhaps the most common use the escaping gas behind the bullet to push a rod *backwards* against the bolt, which cycles the action), plus the trigger mechanism, ammo feed, and the firing selector system. Those things aren't contained in a tiny housing like the shotgun; they take up almost the whole interior of the body of the weapon...which means whenever you break open the weapon, you're admitting dirt into that space, and there's a LOT more parts that can get dirty and fail to function correctly. More failure points.

Look at the image; everything that makes a shotgun work is inside the red square, and is isolated from the environment. On the bottom, is the sort of receiver where if you open it, *every one* of those parts is open to the environment.

People are - not unreasonably - pointing out that forcing one to open the receiver to reload the weapon exposes the weapon's internals to the environment each time you load it. This will lead to unnecessary failures to feed, fire, or extract ammuntion during operations.

>character limit

Note to /k/, yes, I'm ignoring the shell extractor on the shotgun.

The point that, "opening your weapon to the rain, mud, and god each time you load it is bad juju" still stands.

1- cast iron pot
1- small bag of butter
1- long 2-prong fork
1- carving knife
1- long handle spoon
1- soup pot
1- ladle
1- box of salt
1-box of spices
1-waterskein
1-tarp
1-bedrool
50 ft rope
1- harmonica or small, weatherproof instrument
1 weeks worth of rations
1 10 oz bag of Dwarven Kush
1 pack of rolling papers (50)

Vacuum your fucking room, you heathen.

All of these moving parts in a modern assault rifle are COMPLETELY irrelevant to how the assault rifles in Deus Ex work. They're caseless electronically fired weapons. They literally only need about as much complexity as the break-action shotgun just replacing the hammer with a battery and circuit.

Actually scratch that, apparently it's not caseless.

>M392 DMR
>M6H2 Pistol
>2 M9 grenades
>1 Flashbang
>One soft case
>1 Hard case
> Flashlight
>Combat knife
>Holographic tactical eyepiece
>EXO/Atmospheric UNSC BUD

An electronic firing mechanism still requires you to eject spent casings and feed new ones from the magazine unless you want it to be a straight-pull bolt action.

You better be 12-18 you fucking child.

Chestplate and a doppelhander

10 FOOT POLE
NOTHING ELSE
NOT EVEN CLOTHING

The fuck is wrong with you?

Which means that yes, NEA's right and you don't want to open the entire frame of the damn weapon each time you load.

>We shouldn't let smart people play ttrpgs
What fucking bizarro world am I in right now? has nerd culture become so completely normie that actually being smart is now antithetical to being a geek?

I've noticed that no matter the character, system, setting, game, etc I always give the character a crowbar.

No, it's that STEM people in general, and engineers in particular, are incapable of letting shit go when they percieve something to be "wrong" or "off" with thier head canon of a game setting or ruleset. It's totally reasonable form of autism since it's a huge help in thier profession, but it's cancer at the game table unless the person on question is stopped forcibly from doing it.

>Source: am mechanical engineer
>Being smart is fine, just know when to STFU and go with things

*Fistbump*

We're the only free men here

>You know who's most fun to play with? Actors.

You know, I never thought about this, because actors are univerally liberal and liberals are universally wastes of humanity. But now that I think about it, I guess actors would play RPGs, and they'd have some of the most immersive and extended in-character stuff out of any groups ever.

Damn, this almost makes me wish I lived near a coast city where actor types are instead of in real America.

>Damn, this almost makes me wish I lived near a coast city where actor types are
oh, you can ferret them out all over. you just have to know how to look, and where...

You realize he and his ilk will probably concuss them and drag them to death behind a pickup truck, Matt Sheperd style, for the crime of being liberal, right?

good, it'll weed out the ones that are bad at hiding, or least able to survive road-hauling

natural selection at it's finest.

I like you. The more dead liberals, the better.