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Old 05-18-2017, 08:33 AM   #91
clu2415
 
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

You would want something like the G3KA4 since the collapsing stock doesn't add width. She could probably have the 12" barrel shortened to 8" like the MC-51. That would get the overall length down to 24" collapsed. That could plausibly fit in the bottom of some saddlebags.

I'd have to do some research on an alternate caliber. Nothing is coming to mind right now. 7.62x51 has been widely regarded as being too powerful to fire full auto out of a rifle, so there really hasn't been any development of a full auto rifle with more power than that.

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Old 05-18-2017, 01:33 PM   #92
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Default Motorcycles (Harley or a visually similar type)

As it happens, Ms. Ilana Rubio, the undercover agent with ST 20 who needs commesurately powerful weapons, will also require a powerful motorcycle as part of her undercover persona as an outlaw biker seeking contacts for meth and cocaine supply across the US border from Mexico.

What would be a real-world example of the TL7 Hvy. Bike on p. BS464 and how would the GURPS stats differ, if at all, for a TL8 Harley or similar bike that would mark the rider as a biker flush with disposable income?

The player expressed interest in a Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone motorcycle instead.

As far as I understand, most One-Percenter clubs in the US require riding cruiser-type bikes and the vast majority of them have a strong attachment to American-made motorcyles. Would riding an Italian racer be detrimental to a cover ID as an influential female in an outlaw biker club*?

If such a bike would not ruin the cover, what stats should it have?

*Even if she might not be permitted to officially join, the wives and girlfriends of members may certainly be powerful figures in motorcycle clubs, especially if they have contacts with drug cartels to supply product at attractive prices.
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Old 05-18-2017, 09:10 PM   #93
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Quote:
Originally Posted by clu2415 View Post
You would want something like the G3KA4 since the collapsing stock doesn't add width. She could probably have the 12" barrel shortened to 8" like the MC-51. That would get the overall length down to 24" collapsed. That could plausibly fit in the bottom of some saddlebags.

I'd have to do some research on an alternate caliber. Nothing is coming to mind right now. 7.62x51 has been widely regarded as being too powerful to fire full auto out of a rifle, so there really hasn't been any development of a full auto rifle with more power than that.
The player loved the sound of 'Beowulf' rounds, so he's getting an Alexander Arms SBR upper in .50 Beowulf on an M4 lower receiver. If he desires, it can technically be full-auto, albeit pretty pointless to fire at the maximum rate of fire, due to magazine limitations.
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Old 05-18-2017, 10:11 PM   #94
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Default Re: Motorcycles (Harley or a visually similar type)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
As it happens, Ms. Ilana Rubio, the undercover agent with ST 20 who needs commesurately powerful weapons, will also require a powerful motorcycle as part of her undercover persona as an outlaw biker seeking contacts for meth and cocaine supply across the US border from Mexico.
Unless your group is willing to rewrite "reality" in this aspect, that is a terrible, terrible cover id for a female.

I mean just terrible. Gang rape levels of terrible.

[EDIT]
But on topic: If you are willing to ignore reality on this one and posit all Female 1%er MCs (or even mixed clubs) then...

She'll never hear or see the end of jokes about her choice of bike. She can expect daily pranks, like someone leaving spaghetti on her bike with a note that reads "In case it needs more fuel". Nothing that will damage the bike, but you get the idea.


When I hung out in a bar that saw both 1% and regular bikers, I knew a guy called Honda Bob (he had a Honda Softail). Every day someone would give him a take out order of white rice, or a handful of soy sauce packets, or the like, "in case the nip/jap bike/rice rocket needed fuel". Every day. As though the joke didn't get old the second time.

After 6 months of this Bob finally broke down and spent the money and bought a real Softail (Harley obviously). Within a week the guys in his club gave him a new vest, with the name "Softail Bob" on the back, and he never heard another peep about the honda he used to ride.


Now, while there is a deep love for American made bikes and a deep disdain for foreign trash... it has to be said there are some old foreign bikes that generate instant respect in US MCs.

Old Triumphs, the Ducati Apollo, etc.

The only new non-US cruiser that I know of that has instant "give this biker respect" appeal is the Triumph Rocket III. The guy I know who rides one still gets some flak, but nothing in the league of what Honda Bob had to put up with.


Now... having said all that, the Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone could easily be given cruiser handle bars and get some respect. It's got a good look... aside from the "lean-forward" racer handle bars.


If the Player is dead set against riding American, she might look to the Triumph Rocket III, it's a beast of a machine and most American MCs give it grudging respect.
[/EDIT]

Last edited by evileeyore; 05-18-2017 at 11:07 PM.
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Old 05-18-2017, 11:05 PM   #95
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Okay. I just did 10 seconds of digging on Mexico and motorcycles....

Her choice is terrible unless she wants to be known (and remembered vividly) as the "chick on the monster"... 50% of motorcycles sold in mexico are Italika bikes and Italika only makes cycles up to 250cc engines*.

The Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone is a) a twin 744cc engine and b) in a limited run of only 750 being made. She will stand out.

If that's her aim, she's good. Mexicans seem to prefer the look of racers.


* The largest Mexican made bike was the Carabella twin 350cc made back in 1966 (or so) and the company is gone, having been bought out by Yamaha (I think?).
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Old 05-19-2017, 01:45 AM   #96
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Default Re: Motorcycles (Harley or a visually similar type)

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
Unless your group is willing to rewrite "reality" in this aspect, that is a terrible, terrible cover id for a female.

I mean just terrible. Gang rape levels of terrible.
Ms. Ilana Rubio is a six-foot tall, 159 lbs. supersoldier with ST 20, DX 17, HT 15, High Pain Threshold, DR 2 (Tough Skin) and various other hard-as-nails traits. She's also been trained in Kachin Bando and Lethwei by the same US Army Special Forces veteran NCO combatives instructor as Chase Taylor (their beloved sayagi SGM Than Yamaguchi), as well as having spent the past decade training in Escrima. Her superpowers are top secret, but her record as an undefeated amateur MMA fighter and kickboxer won't be.

Something tells me that even hardened criminals will be very polite to her. And if not, she's more than willing to perform attitude adjustments with her fists of fury.

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
But on topic: If you are willing to ignore reality on this one and posit all Female 1%er MCs (or even mixed clubs) then...
Well, I certainly am not. One of the strongest identifying characteristics of outlaw bikers are their hardcore chauvinism and extreme misogyny. Equal gender rights outlaw bikers are like United Colors of Benetton Nazis, i.e. cartoon levels of silly.

That being said, even outlaw bikers aren't cardboard cutouts. The wives and girlfriends of club members may not be official parts of the clubs, but they can be influential even so.

I had thought that her cover was as the girlfriend of the Sergeant-at-Arms of some chapter of one club or another, a real person in prison secretly providing information to Homeland Security Investigations and backing up her cover as part of the terms of his secret plea bargain deal. Her cover would have been used several times before and been established as someone with contacts among Mexican DTOs.

Mind you, she won't be dealing with outlaw bikers in her role. She'll be dealing with people from Mexican cartels and she'll have one or two other people along who will be covered as male outlaw bikers accompanying her.

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
She'll never hear or see the end of jokes about her choice of bike. She can expect daily pranks, like someone leaving spaghetti on her bike with a note that reads "In case it needs more fuel". Nothing that will damage the bike, but you get the idea.

[...]

If the Player is dead set against riding American, she might look to the Triumph Rocket III, it's a beast of a machine and most American MCs give it grudging respect.
My personal position is that the Ms. Rubio should go with a Harley. On the other hand, it's up to the GM. But I'll certainly point out all the flaws in the choice of an Italian racer instead of an American cruiser, as I did yesterday when the subject came up.
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Old 05-19-2017, 03:18 AM   #97
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
Okay. I just did 10 seconds of digging on Mexico and motorcycles....

Her choice is terrible unless she wants to be known (and remembered vividly) as the "chick on the monster"... 50% of motorcycles sold in mexico are Italika bikes and Italika only makes cycles up to 250cc engines*.

The Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone is a) a twin 744cc engine and b) in a limited run of only 750 being made. She will stand out.
I'm fairly sure that Ms. Rubio is going to stand out no matter what. But I agree that the Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone is probably the wrong bike for her, if only because it doesn't immediately visually convey her persona of tough-as-nails 'MC Old Lady' seeking to expand the guns-for-drugs trade of the club where her incarcerated boyfriend is an important shot-caller.

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
If that's her aim, she's good. Mexicans seem to prefer the look of racers.
Yeah, but do outlaw motorcycle clubs in the Southwest US with Hispanic membership ever use them?

Cruiser handlebars look like the only configuration you could use for driving all day over empty desert highways, but they also look like they'd be adversely affect handling during the inevitable high-speed chase in city traffic.

How much work is it to convert a cruiser configuration bike into a more maneuverable and responsive setup?

Is it something that could be done in less than an hour with a toolkit and spare parts carried in a pickup? Or a couple of days of work?

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
* The largest Mexican made bike was the Carabella twin 350cc made back in 1966 (or so) and the company is gone, having been bought out by Yamaha (I think?).
In her persona as a buyer, she aims to be recognisable as a Latina, i.e. US-born person of Hispanic origin. That means that her bike ought to fit in with outlaw bikers on the US side of the border in Arizona, New Mexico or Texas, not necessarily the most popular Mexican models.

Of course, there is some value in being able to use her bike without wearing clothing that identifies as her cover persona and being able to fade into traffic that way. That being said, if she wanted to disappear, she'd probably change clothing and be picked up in a car by the back-up security element. They might even have a light and unremarkable motorcycle along on a pick-up truck.

Power, handling and speed are fairly important considerations, if only because Ms. Rubio is an adrenaline junkie with a massive competative streak and Driving (Motorcycle) at skill 18.

If the bike could incorporate a hidden compartment with space for a carbine that is 31" in overall length with the stock collapsed (AR-15 type, Alexander Arms Beowulf upper on an M4 lower receiver, 12" barrel, Magpul CTR stock), that would be awesome. Especially if there is space in there somewhere for some extra stuff as well.
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Old 05-19-2017, 06:21 AM   #98
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Default Undercover communications gear

Does anyone know what brand and model of radio, throat mic and earpiece ICE Homeland Security Investigators are using in 2017 on undercover missions? Or the DEA, for that matter?

Or what they think would be nice to have?

What kind of communications gear do the Secret Service use?

Special Agent Ilana Rubio will probably have been issued new communication gear when she transferred laterally from the DEA to the ICE/HSI. I have no idea what she would have been issued, however, or even if undercover agents receive a smaller, more concealable radio than the Motorola XTS 5000 Model III.*

Nor do I have any idea whether they get actually concealable earpieces and throat mics or ones that any competent opposition will spot instantly.

As Agent Rubio is now working for the Onyx Rain task force, where operatives are sometimes permitted to acquire commercial off-the-shelf equipment if it is clearly better suited to their operational requirements than government issue, she might have obtained new covert earpiece and throat mic, if sufficiently advanced models are available.

I'd like to provide manufacturers and model names for all the gear that the character carry, but I have no idea which of the innumerable covert communication kits and accessories that Google shows me are worthless mall ninja toy gear and what is actually usable in the field.

Does anyone know about real high-quality covert headsets, earpieces or throat mics?

*Which, while a fine piece of gear, is hardly compact or concealable.
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Old 05-19-2017, 07:16 AM   #99
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

The Yamaha XT225 is a good example of a cheap, lightweight, durable, seen world over bike that fits easily in the back of a truck, and can soldier on and off road being a dual sport (and has optional kick start even)

I would not want to take it to a serious biker event though. The local truck stop I frequented once hosted 'Bike Day', of the 1500+ motorcycles that showed up, only 4 were metric, and only 1 was a tiny little dual sport in rainbow colors that looked like a plastic Powerwheels toy
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Old 05-19-2017, 08:43 AM   #100
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Something tells me that even hardened criminals will be very polite to her. And if not, she's more than willing to perform attitude adjustments with her fists of fury.
None of which get her into a 1%er MC. Indeed... they'd be somewhat detrimental... unless her "old man" is a mountain in his own right (no 1%er wants to be "the little man 'protected' by his [MISOGYNISTIC SLUR]"). Her old man would have to be huge and brutal and a nasty cuss in a fight.

Quote:
That being said, even outlaw bikers aren't cardboard cutouts. The wives and girlfriends of club members may not be official parts of the clubs, but they can be influential even so.
Influential within the club. No 1%er would let his old lady do business outside of the club in his name, unless it was really weird business that "only women could do"... which I'm really drawing a blank on.

Quote:
I had thought that her cover was as the girlfriend of the Sergeant-at-Arms of some chapter of one club or another, a real person in prison secretly providing information to Homeland Security Investigations and backing up her cover as part of the terms of his secret plea bargain deal.
Which is great for leaning on club members ("I can kick yer butt and my old man is even nastier so sit down, shut up, and listen") but carries no capital outside of the club and even less with 'doing business'.

Quote:
Her cover would have been used several times before and been established as someone with contacts among Mexican DTOs.

Mind you, she won't be dealing with outlaw bikers in her role. She'll be dealing with people from Mexican cartels and she'll have one or two other people along who will be covered as male outlaw bikers accompanying her.
She could be an "old lady" of some huge biker who is doing time. But unless he's well-known for not trusting his own club, she'd never be taken seriously outside of the club.

The misogyny runs so very deep... that unless this was a long established cover, and very oddly shaped club, and she did some extreme things to gain trust (committing multiple murders)...

The problem is that the cartels have cell phones and have dealt with US 1%ers before and are pretty misogynistic themselves. There is nothing stopping them from calling around to find out who these people are (has anyone else dealt with them, etc).

There are just too many problems with the idea of female 1%er.

However... female criminal latin ganger is not uncommon and poses far less of the id spoiling problems above. The Latin Kings (and Queens) have long been a gang that recognizes equal partnership of men and women.

They also do not buy into the "cruiser lifestyle" and are very fond of racing bikes.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Yeah, but do outlaw motorcycle clubs in the Southwest US with Hispanic membership ever use them?
No. American 1%ers have all deeply embraced the cruiser culture. It's all about the long ride, spending hours and days, even weeks on the road. Racers are not conducive to that lifestyle.

Quote:
Cruiser handlebars look like the only configuration you could use for driving all day over empty desert highways, but they also look like they'd be adversely affect handling during the inevitable high-speed chase in city traffic.
Eh. Not so much, Sure it's harder to slide between tightly grouped cars, but it's not a handling reducer.

Quote:
How much work is it to convert a cruiser configuration bike into a more maneuverable and responsive setup?
I'm not sure the difference between cruiser and racer should be more than a +/-1 honestly. I'm not at all familiar with GURPS vehicles, but in Car Wars I wouldn't reduce handling based on the difference between racer and cruiser handlebars. Now if she put ape hangers on there...

Quote:
Is it something that could be done in less than an hour with a toolkit and spare parts carried in a pickup? Or a couple of days of work?
Cruisers have a lot of space under the seat. If it's a touring bike (some are designed for this specifically) then there is a "lot" of play in the baggage areas for hidden spaces.

Quote:
In her persona as a buyer, she aims to be recognisable as a Latina, i.e. US-born person of Hispanic origin. That means that her bike ought to fit in with outlaw bikers on the US side of the border in Arizona, New Mexico or Texas, not necessarily the most popular Mexican models.
If she drops the 1%er nonsense and goes Latin Queen, a racer fits like a glove.

Of course, there is a lot less space on a racer for hidden compartments (pretty much just under the seat unless it's really customized or has touring boxes).


Quote:
If the bike could incorporate a hidden compartment with space for a carbine that is 31" in overall length with the stock collapsed (AR-15 type, Alexander Arms Beowulf upper on an M4 lower receiver, 12" barrel, Magpul CTR stock), that would be awesome. Especially if there is space in there somewhere for some extra stuff as well.
31" is going to be rough to fit into any bike that isn't a touring model with luxurious baggage compartments. A cruiser with a double seat might be able to do it... but a racer?

She's looking at an external holster for anything larger than medium sized pistol. And even if she goes with a cruiser with a long seat (or touring baggage compartments*), it isn't going to be any sort of "quick draw capable".

[EDIT]
* Actually... this could work on a racer. It looks a bit "dumb", but if built just right would allow for a long (31") weapon to sit under the seat and luggage box. And then there's always 'ye olde saddlebags' that if done right could give her just over 31" sideways...
[/EDIT]

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