Oooooooh yeah.
The plastic Wonder 9 problem. Fantastically light, high cap mags, and dog-bite recoil.

Off-topic, but... hyperbole much?  I immediately can think of three 9mm service pistols that give up no more than two rounds of capacity to the Glock 17 (the undeserved benchmark for polymer 9mm) - Beretta 92 (and clones), CZ 75 (and clones), SIG P226.  The G17 shaves about 300 grams off the weight of any of those competitors, but you're still carrying ~650g - and you still have a recoil spring soaking up a lot of the energy.  In terms of recoil effects for anyone who's not shooting for competition split times, the weapon's ergonomics (mainly the height of the barrel's bore axis over the long axis of the forearm) will have a much greater effect than that weight difference.  Hardly "dog-bite."  If you want recoil that feels like a mule kicked you in the hand, shoot a pocket revolver chambered for .357 Magnum.

- C.

If the round displayed in the photo is an accurate indicator, I think the prototype is chambered for .25 ACP.  That looks shorter than .22 LR.

There's also another clue in the "Liberator" nomenclature and the lack of mention of a magazine spring.  I suspect this is a single-shot weapon much like its namesake.

Even if it were semi-auto with a capacity higher than one round, I would not be particularly concerned about recoil in any reliable defensive caliber (which .25 ACP ain't).  I would be very concerned about the barrel's structural integrity.  There are a few factors at work here.  

• First is the degree of precision required to get a fit between the barrel and the bullet that'll engage the rifling and stabilize the round (assuming this isn't a smoothbore, which would vastly hamper accuracy).  

• Second is the barrel's ability to withstand firing pressure without grenading. 9x19mm, for example, generates slightly less than 35,000 psi of chamber pressure - how much pressure is required to cut ABS plastic?.

• Third is the combination of pressure and heat reaming out the barrel with every shot, so the fourth or fifth round is like throwing a hot dog down a hallway. For bonus fun, once you have that gap between the barrel's inner surface and the bullet's outer surface (which may occur on the first round if your barrel's build tolerances were too loose), you're inducing a high-pressure gas leak through that gap, which will further damage the barrel.

End result: until materials science advances to the point that the 3D printer (and its raw materials) can answer all these questions, this won't be anything you'd want to take to a gunfight.

What it is - again, much like the original FP-45 - is an ear gun.  This is something you use in a non-permissive environment to walk up to someone with a better weapon, stick it in his ear, pull the trigger, and loot the body.  And at that point, you may be better off with a non-magnetic knife, which is a multitasker, quieter, and probably will last for more than one stab.

- C.

I seem to recall Tracker7 playing a straight Pointman in my Stargate SG-17 game.  IIRC, we got the characters up to around 8th or 9th level.  Team commander, USAF CRO.  Go anywhere, save anyone.

- C.

Oh, and Koala?  Do me a favor, my main marsupial.  If you really plan to use that FiveSeven for whackin' tangos, trade it in on something with actual decent terminal ballistics, willya?

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19913

Everything Dr. Roberts says about the P90 in that thread is even more true for a pistol that launches those pellets with a shorter barrel and commensurately lower muzzle velocity.

Still rocks for PCs, though, so long as damage is calculated off muzzle energy without regard to actual terminal effects.

Now back to your regularly-scheduled thread.

- C.

It is true that over the last couple of decades, the general thinking in the field has been that citizens are panicky and unreliable and all disaster response operations should be left solely to the professionals.  However, recent research has shown that the pros' opinion of their clientele is unduly pessimistic.  In large-scale disasters, there will be a certain percentage of people who flake, but the majority will get their shit in one bag and attempt to help (witness the immediate citizen response at the marathon bombing, on top of the mass casualty response assets that were already staged - mad props to Boston's EM establishment for being ready for something like this).  There's also an acknowledgement that despite the media-induced belief that "the FEMA shadow government rescue army should show up immediately," the first responders will always be local and they'll always be overwhelmed. Accordingly, I'm seeing a shift in mindset from "tell everyone to stay away" to "how do we manage spontaneous volunteers?"  One part of that is getting people signed up, trained on basic procedures, and briefed on protocol ahead of time so they're already credentialed (identifiable as trusted) and they know enough to keep from becoming victims themselves.  That's where programs like CERT come in.

As far as organizing spontaneous volunteers for a manhunt on an armed terrorism suspect... whole different issue.  First, that falls under law enforcement jurisdiction, not rescue services and emergency management, and (sweeping generalization warning) cops in the northeast get remarkably freaked-out about the idea of anyone but them having guns.  Second, I'm a pretty vociferous 2A advocate, but one of my big gripes about contemporary gun culture is the lack of safety, lack of training, and lack of frickin' clue inherent in many of my fellow shooters.  I shoot more in training every year than the average cop does (on my own dime, thanks) and I don't consider myself qualified to be hunting Chechens through my neighborhood.  Third, without a law enforcement reserve program or something of the sort, there is no way for the cops to pre-screen those spontaneous armed volunteers for training, competence, sanity, coolness under fire, or criminal history.  To say nothing of department liability if one happens to catch a bullet - or put a stray round through a window and pop a six-year-old neighbor.  So the idea of the citizen posses roaming the streets of suburban Boston is charming but Not Gonna Happen.  It might work better in Kentucky...

Now, on the whole FEMA shadow government takeover thing... not really, no.  FEMA simply doesn't have the budget or staff to take over the country, and that's not really their core competency anyway.

ETA: See upthread for Tracker7's very relevant response.  As often happens, he and I are once again operating in "between the two of us, we make one functional human" mode.

- C.

Fine bunch of chaps.  I had Starbuck's and scones with them just the other day.

- C.

Someone ever compromises the power grid, you may wish you were born in Zambia.  lol

Thank you for calling PLA Unit 61398, how may we destabilize your civilization today?

- C.

My current class in my master's program is Critical Infrastructure Protection.  I wasn't sleeping well before I found this thread.

- C.

If anyone's trying to get in touch with someone who may have been in the area, Elizabeth Bear has aggregated some useful links here:

http://matociquala.livejournal.com/2184060.html

- C.

My philosophy on interests is that they serve characterization before mechanics.  If I can get bonuses out of them, that's awesome, but they're really there to tell me something about this person outside the raw numbers.  Often, when I'm doing pre-gens for a one-shot or a demo, I won't bother to explain how or why the character got his particular interests.  At least half the time, the player will come up with an awesome backstory just from that single word or phrase, which always makes me happy.

I'll throw in some examples.  I ran a one-shot over New Year's Eve a couple of years ago.  Homebrew setting, five pre-gens, 4th level.

The grizzled shield-bearer priest (party tank, priestess of the goddess of valor) had:
Heraldry
Art History
Cartography

The nimble warden scout (stealthy elf-blooded knife specialist) had:
Organized Crime
Urban Planning
Owl Nation Culture
Criminal Law

The goblin fencer assassin (gunslinging agent of a trade cartel) had:
Economics
Tradecraft

The elf aristocrat lancer (exiled noblewoman from a decaying elven city-state propped up by necromancy) had:
Necromancy
International Diplomacy

The ruthless sorcerer mage (forensic magician with elementally-enhanced martial arts) had:
Criminology
Meteorology
Northern Barbarians

- C.

And then the gunwhale comes over the gunwale and eats all the pirates:



- C.

Also, Gurkhas.  Maybe riding bears.

- C.

Pay China to take 'em.  I'll throw in a dollar.

- C.

I'm gonna go back to this because I think it's a good point that deserves more attention:

I could be off-base here, but the Ambush tree seems more about being sneaky to quickly subdue your current opponent, while Bushwhack is more about controlling the fight as a whole through numerical superiority.  The Terrain feats as a whole have a general theme of using numerical superiority, teamwork, and environmental factors. It reeks of battlefield control.

My understanding has always been that the Terrain feats are, in part, Tactics feats.  Officially renaming the category would be confusing 'cause "Tactics" is already a reserved word, but I think that more accurately captures the overall design intent.

- C.

Was mentioned earlier and I tend to agree- these things are silly in the hands of secret agents. These are the people that even more than criminals are looking to not have acountability for a weapon.

Thank you for making the token attempt to get us back on something relevant to SC3.  I'm gonna check out of this thread now, as it's pushing far too many of my own political buttons and I have better things to do tonight than repeatedly edit and delete some heated responses.

- C.