Doesn't the Raptor's ability depend on the weight of the armor?  Add a helmet and suddenly it doesn't work?  Does it read heavy or full?  I would check, but the book is unavailable to me at work.   

This seems like a gadget that would be build into something the size of a Camelbak with a similar weight (7lbs/3kg).

I want one.

Rad.

The word you seek is rocktastic.

It's worth remembering as well that the technology level of the Final Empire wasn't necessarily medieval. They had canneries, for one, which makes the preservation and transport of foodstuff much more reasonable. While firearms don't seem to exist, there's definitely a level of industrialization.

I don't recall mention of any draft animals.  While it might have been vaguely feudal, it almost resembled the ante-bellum south without firearms.

* Monte Cook recently suggested offering a small bonus for characters that sleep comfortably. The idea being players will track a bonus whereas the GC typically needs to track penalties (from, for example, sleeping in armor).

Mr. Cook raises a valid point, though I must note that not all armor is uncomfortable to sleep in.  (I'm looking at you, tactical vest with trauma plates.)

Until they change the RoE, sending the USS Freedom into Somali waters is less than pointless.  The Navy is not allowed to do anything until a hijacking is in progress.

The solution that involves political leadership is to tell the warships to search every small boat they come upon, and sink the ones with the gear for piracy.  I would let AKs slide, the fishing boats end up needing them, but every boat with an RPG launcher on board should just be sunk.  Of course that would require the leftist scumbags who are in charge of the countries with navies to stand up to "human rights" wankers who prefer to see seamen kidnapped and murdered rather than let them shoot at pirates themselves.

Wait, this is your idea of a manly cheerleading outfit?

Not only do the goggles do nothing, I don't know of the mindbleach powerful enough to unsee that.

The Somali pirates certainly could end up working for a terrorist group, or selling a ship to such a group, though I think that risk is small.

In general though, this "war" motif needs to go.  Sometimes it makes sense, terror, mostly it doesn't, drugs and poverty.

Hmm.  I could see a successful Boxer rebellion leading to several punitive expeditions by European powers that could see China carved up the way South America and Africa were.  Perhaps if the rebels waited until the war started in earnest in Europe?  Don't forget a neutral U.S. would still be in the Philippines, but if approached properly would probably be amenable to helping throw the Europeans out of China.

What about simple uppers like cocaine, and some harder stuff like PCP?  Aren't there rules for getting drunk?  Those might be a good start point.

Ok, so Wikipedia has all kinds of info.  Assuming what it has is accurate, I propose the following timeline for our alternate history:

1914: 
WWI Starts
1915:
War Drags On
  Gallipoli
1916:
  Western front stalemated.
  Neutrality becomes the official policy of the US.  Belligerents may purchase, but warships are not allowed in territorial waters.  US Flag carriers prohibited from carrying war materiel or sailing to ports controlled by belligerent countries.
1917:
  Submarine warfare in the Atlantic grows, French cease offensive operations.
  February, Provisional Government gains power.
  March-September, Russian army retreats east to fortified positions that are prepared for winter.
  October, Lenin and Trotsky assassinated in Petrograd.
  November, Russian Civil War begins, Germany advances towards Petrograd and hit the defenses.
  December, Germans begin retreat, Reds suffer heavy losses to White and German forces, US send materiel and allows volunteers to assist the White forces.
1918:
  Western front stalmated, British experimenting with more outlandish land war machines.
  Zepplins make raids over Belligerent Capitols.
  Whites crush Red rebellion, withdraw from the War to continue their political scheming.  Peasants are ignored.That's it for now.  The North Sea fleets of Germany and Britain spent most of the war eyeballing each other rather than have real engagements.  Is there any pressing reason to change this?

Secondary question:

I don't have my books with me right now.  (They're upstairs in the office..)  Did the Crafty-Ones ever stat out the effects of drugs? 

I can't speak with authority, but I suspect they were deliberately omitted, and not forgotten.  Also, some drugs can be tricky.  What ramps most people up can knock some others out. 

Neat.  They actually got it right, most folks seem to think I'm from the midwest somewhere.

Which American accent do you have?
My Results:

Northeastern This could either mean an r-less NYC or Providence accent or one from Jersey which doesn't sound the same.  Just because you got this result doesn't mean you don`t pronounce R's.(People in Jersey don`t call their state "Joisey" in real life)

Full G.I. Joe Trailer (may change to another movie next week)

Still love the underwater base and the digging machine. Like everything else except the suits. Not sure about those...

I'm diggin' the suits.  They make some of the stunts they pull plausible, and are themselves plausible.  I really can't hate on things that aid my suspension of disbelief and aid the action.  Also, I want one.

According to Wikipedia, the theory for MASERs originated with Albert Einstein in 1917.  I think that would put MASER guided Tesla blasters firmly in mad science territory in the 30s.

If you have the February Revolution occur, but for whatever reason, the October Revolution doesn'ty occur, then Kerensky and the Provisional Government would be in charge, and without the Bolsheviks, would probably look something like Finland. The Provisional Government were social democrats, progressives, and constitutional democrats. It's also worth noting that without the October Revolution, Finland might still be part of the Russian Empire.

This I like.  Theories on what would become of the aristocracy following the departure of the imperial family?  Wasn't it the Bolsheviks who killed them?  If the Czar had been forced to abdicate, would there have been a more peaceful transition, or would you still end up with a French Revolution scenario of the gentry that didn't flee being massacred?