2059: I shall not attempt to find a way to crowbar in a semi-massive, music-fan-gang versus music-fan-gang stage-versus-stage music/murder battle into the game, no matter how Brütal such a scene would be.
2059a: If I do so, I should not be surprised if the party magician decides to spontaneously change his tradition to that of Brütal Metal and adopt a geas of playing sick electric guitar riffs to cast spells.
2060: But if 2059 and 2059a come to pass, the Magician who just turned to an Ormagöden tradition would probably appreciate making Kat'o Nine Tails as an ally/girlfriend/musical partner/lover.

2057b: While we're at it, Snatch is right out as well.

2061: I should try to limit the number of squatters that are living in the Rigger's Ares RoadMaster.
2061a: I should also try to limit the number of trolls that use the two captain's chairs in the front as toilets of the same vehicle.
2061b: In fact, "Bar Crawl 'Runs" are now officially banned from my table, upon pain of beating.

2062. While shellac is still likely used quite a bit in 2050-2075, I am to stop using this as a basis for claiming the Corps are trying to give everybody "a good shellacking."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac

It was always my understanding that "giving a good shellacking" was the sort of euphemism where the meaning of the word isn't important, but rather the fact that it sounds like, and thus evokes, a different term altogether, and thus the first word refers, by extension, to the connotations of the second.

~Umi

Kind of like "the whole nine yards." Nine yards of what?

Wasn't that the length of .50 BMG belts that US Pilots had in WWII Pacific Theater?

someone tried to claim that, but ammunition hasn't AFAIK been measured in anything other than the numbers of rounds.

it would fit quite appropriately .. "Give someone the whole nine yards!"

someone else tried to say it was cubic yards of concrete / cement for that Gangsta' feel .. but I don't think there's a conclusive answer out there

Nine Nuns with yardsticks?

The phrase dates back to the late 1800s, IIRC, and started as six yards. I can't find the radio story I heard on it a few weeks back, but essentially no one knows where it started, but if had been "the whole nine yards of cement" (or whatever noun) it wouldn't have stuck.

Fabric.

Traditionally, a bolt of raw fabric is nine yards of material wound onto the one spool / board / etc.

Thus, "the whole nine yards" means "all of it, not just part".


<--- grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts .... birthplace of the Americna Industrial Revolution. It was a mill city, centered around the industrial manufacture of textiles - founded in the 1820s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lo...,_Massachusetts

*claps hands excitedly* Weeee obscure trivia

I sense stories behind all of these, but especially 2061b. Please share.

"Hey, Ray, let's have a Social game, like in 'The Hangover' or something." "OK, fine. The guy with the Apps Addiction finds a new one that lets him rate bars. You guys go on a bar crawl." "That sounds good." "And wake up in a ghoul den in nothing but your underwear." "SON OF A..."

You might want to inform...well, everyone. Even Wikipedia and Snopes thinks it dates to WW2.

It's also well reported that Wikipedia is strongly biased in what it cares to include and the materials it allows as "valid" proofs. That something actually and openly exists isn't usually enough (unless it's somebody important's pet subject). However, if there's a book about something that doesn't really exist, that misprints, or that erroneously reports on a subject, it's considered a valid source, even in the face of thorough, well-documented, unpublished, REPEATABLE first-hand research from an expert.

2063a: I am not allowed to set up character arcs for Awakened PCs that are directly inspired by the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica (which for those that don't know, equates to lots of soul-ripping, depressing tragedy, to the point that they wish they didn't have magic).
2063b: Even if I do think it's an awesome idea for a character arc.
2063c: Even if I do think having them go on a Metaplanar quest in what is essentially a witches' Labyrinth.
2063d: Even if having a Shadow Spirit essentially be a Witch would make for an awesome boss fight.
2063e: I also have to keep reminding myself to stop inserting SAN checks into Shadowrun, despite the fact that going through all of the fucked up shit in a Madoka Magica style story would require them.
2063f: I am ESPECIALLY not allowed to do Madoka Magica-style storylines to first-time players who choose to play a magician, as my own form of new-player-hazing.
2063g: ESPECIALLY if they are playing a character who is already a girl who is either in her late teens, early twenties, and in-game, is relatively sheltered at the horrific stuff of the Sixth World.

More groups need a form of new player hazing.

speaking of which...
2064: Having the paranoid hacker covertly orchestrate for the entire run to be a hidden test of the new character without telling anyone is frowned upon. The GM would like to know these things in advance.

2064h. Using anything based on the Haruhi-verse is similarly vetoed with prejudice, pre-emptively and, if needed, also with Thor shots.

Thumbs-up for being able to pull it off, though, even at the GM's chagrin.

*grins* the very first case of cybercombat the groups hacker encountered was an Ares strike teams spider
I don't know what freaked him out the most her obsession with cute faeries combined with aztlan blood sport (Her Ice showed up as faeries with cyberspurs, wearings aztec ritual gown drenched in blood) or when I told him "so she starts her fourth pass" at which point he ripped off his commlink (he refused to use VR up to that point) and shot it...

2065: My AI-in-a-drone body cannot protect my teammates from the terrible secrets of space by pushing or shoving. No matter how many stairs they are standing at the top of.

A quick learner, that one. But do tell him about the "off" feature on most (if not all) commlinks.

"What's the difference between the boy scouts and the army?
.
.
.
.
WRONG!!!
.
.
.
.
.
The boy scouts doesn't have heavy artillery." Robin Williams Good Morning Vietnam

Did anyone else notice that after this post the numbers have actually been buggered up?

2066: I am not allowed to have Horrors (or extraplanar threats, or xenosapient AIs) take the form of bubbly, cute teenage girls, to lure my PCs into a false sense of security.

2067: Just because the 4a Core rulebook mentions about mages trying to get shagged with spirits, DOES NOT mean I can make all spirits pansexual.

2068: I am no longer allowed to make any characters (PCs or NPCs) based on anyone from Black Lagoon.

2069: In fact, I am no longer allowed to take inspiration from ANY anime in Shadowrun.

2070: Even though the prominence of Japanese culture is a staple of the cyberpunk genre, and should therefore not be out of place.

(hell, there was even mention of a popular adult sim TV show called "Tentacle Hour" in Corporate Enclaves...)

Adult Swim would totally do--
Wait, misread. Carry on.



(Next post: Add 100, we got offtrack).

2171. Despite all available evidence, I am to stop telling new players that Elves have a racial immunity to puberty.

2172: I'm not allowed to use the fact that I wrote all but one book on a broke arm as a selling point.
2173: I'm not allowed to let the group get their hands on Paddy's Bus ever again.
2174: I am not allowed to make Harry Dresden Jokes in this thread.

2175: I am not allowed to make a diminutive French assassin with the street-name "Papillon" (french for Butterfly) because of the rationale that "No one suspects the butterfly"

2175b: Same goes for a Spanish fellow with the name "Mariposa."
2175c: Also German and "Schmetterling."

2175d: Austrian and "Schmetterling" is acceptable, however.

2176 : I am not allowed to summon a Spirit of Macho Man.

2176a: If I do, however, I should not be surprised if he gives me a Diving Elbow Drop.

2177b: ... and both looks and sounds like MR. TORGUE from Borderlands 2 ...

(wee bit of misnumbering there Pax)

2177a: I am never to suggest having the troll toss the dwarf like a football in the direction of an escaping vehicle.

2177b: Because "they did it in X-Men" is never a valid explanation.

2178a: In fact, doing ANYTHING based on any comic book superhero shall be met with scrutiny (if not outright banned).

2178b: And by "scrutiny", I mean being shadowed by Knight Errant detectives, gangers, members of the Maximus Ordo, and several GDs.

This Mr. Torgue?

2178: I am no longer allowed to allow players playing Rocker type characters to select the Enemy (Stalker) disadvantage when they let me design the stalker. This leads too much GM amusement at the expense of the players.
2178a: I am -especially- not allowed to do the above if the rocker character's player actively aids me with obfuscating who the stalker is actively stalking.
2179: I must give my players fair warning when including any material from Rigger 4.
2179a: I am not allowed to request GM permission -ever- to let me use material from Rigger 4.
2179b: Even if I -promise- not to play a mechwarrior character due to the Warhammer.
2179c: I am also not to point out that the image they have for the Warhammer in the Rigger 4 rulebook is actually a Hunchback IIC. The BattleTech players at the table already know.
2180: Despite evidence to the effectiveness of such measures, I am not allowed to use any anti-tank weapon as standard anti-troll armament. Because it leads to anti-tank weaponry becoming my -standard- armament.
2181: I am no longer to assume that jade is the best weapon against Oni, because Oni are a troll metatype and this is not L5R.
2181a: I am no longer allowed to play anything resembling one of the three following things: Kuni Witch Hunter, Asako Inquisitor, or Scorpion Kurioban. All of these lead to me violating rule 2181 as well as killing the adept (maho bujin!), the face (Kolat!), and the troll (Oni!) on very flimsy pretenses.

2182: I'm not allowed a Shadowrun/Airship Pirates crossover. Even if it is a chip-incduced dream.
2182a: I'm not allowed to do it in Airship Pirates either, no matter what kind of hallucinogen The Professor has cooked up this time.
2182b: You cannot kill a Ares Citymaster with blackpowder cannons and bayonet rushes.

2183: Naming any heavy aerial assault vehicle or drone "Schmetterling" is right out as well. Even if it does sound like a good name for a bomber (as a local joke claims, everything in German sounds like a name for a weapon...).

I personally like the joke I was referencing.

It went something along the lines of...

Several language professors got together and were discussing the merits of different languages. The Frenchman said, "French, it is so perfect, papillon, it sounds so light and airy." The Spaniard said, "No no, mariposa. It is so beautiful and fluttery, mariposa." And the German crossed his arms said, "And vat is vrong with Schmetterling?"

Then the English language professor goes behind each, coldcocks them, and goes through their pockets for spare words.

Correction, Oni are not Troll Metavariants. They are a Metavariant of the ORK.

Indeed.

I read that as "Cuckolds them" at first, and I was picturing a professor doctor guy sleeping with their wives LIKE A SIR then rifling through their husband's jacket pockets on his way to creep out the back, LIKE A BAWSS.




Jade would probably work okay in the form of a gigantic tetsubo and you clubbed one right in the god damn head with one. Still, 10mm caseless is probably much more practical.

Indeed... Much more practical and much less expensive.

But way down on the "style" meter.

Yeah, well, there is that.

I'm sure that if you really want to, someone can machine 10mm caseless partial jacketed jade rounds.

Ballistically they'd suck balls, but if you're out to exploit someone's Allergy NQ, it might be worth it, provided they don't have access to the Alleviate Allergies spell or armor with a Ballistic rating.

Didn't Rich Wulf do that in his Rokugan 2000 fanfic that got him the author's job with AEG way back when? I seem to remember a ronin with an SMG that fired jade-laced bullets or something. Could just be faulty memory, though.