Oddball Items...

[Panther Al]

Got in a chat a few days ago with a former player that used to game with me and we started talked about all those oddball things we always hankered for in our game. Not talking about the über this or über that, these are items that don't have a really defined role or are absolute crap, maybe even both. Yet you want them any ways because they are cool.. or they really speak about the character that has them.

So,throwing this out there, what sort of item that fits that definition have you always hankered for to equip your character? Me? In one campaign I was always pestering my DM for a M60A2 Starship... utter crap yes, but it looked cool..

[pmulcahy11b]

Toilet paper. Always bugged GMs by having my character try to find or buy toilet paper, and always gave my players opportunities to find toilet paper.

[Targan]

Porn.

[copeab]

You know you've got a hardcore player when he makes a point to get condoms, but only uses them on his firearms ...

[weswood]

Rayban sunglasses. Worn 24/7.

Or a Schofield single action revolver, cause it looks cool.

[dragoon500ly]

Knives, I'm not talking the small-sword sized battle knives, but everything from Buck Folding Hunters to Leathermans to Gerber Multitools to just about every $%^&%^@$%%# every put out by Swiss Army.

[Adm.Lee]

At last year's Origins game, the group was playing a truck convoy, almost entirely rear-area types. One PC was former infantry (sidelined by leg amputation), and we made it a point that we thought he was SO KEWL, as he had Oakley sunglasses and a boonie hat to go with the sniper rifle.

[HorseSoldier]

ACOGs would probably be pretty scarce in the T2K universe, but some of the old school Colt x4 power carry handle scopes would be a cool bit of kit for the serious gunfighter.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

A 30x30 cube of polystyrene.

Yes, I'm serious.

Need an assault boat? Need an insulated cold-weather shelter? Need to float the team Humvee across a deep river? Need to make a dummy vehicle to spook or decoy with? Warm up a bayonet over a fire and you've got it.

More practically, I've often thought of running a character named "D.J." - he's got a working (compact!) Panasonic boom box and a stash of lovingly cared-for cassette tapes of pop music from all pre-war eras (a crapload of "best ofs") that he keeps wrapped in a flak jacket and carefully stored in whatever ride they have.

He also manages to come up with working "D" batteries periodically when hooking in to the vehicle is out of the question. :D He's a former AFRE disk-jockey pressed into service and he grabbed those items on his way to muster...

[schnickelfritz]

The M202 Rocket Launcher, perhaps?

Or the M247 Sergeant York AAA. Good for blowing up commie supply convoys...everything else, not so much.

Any large recoilless rifle...M40/WOMBAT/MOBAT. You better hit it and kill it, because you just told EVERYONE where you are!

The Ontos tanks destroyer...same vein as above, only worse.

Did the 152mm have the same issues in the M60A2 with the electronics getting all f-ed up every time you fires a conventional round?

-Dave

[Legbreaker]

Did the 152mm have the same issues in the M60A2 with the electronics getting all f-ed up every time you fires a conventional round?

Just go with the 165mm gun. More bang, less buck. :P

[Dog 6]

Lighters......

[dragoon500ly]

Did the 152mm have the same issues in the M60A2 with the electronics getting all f-ed up every time you fires a conventional round?

In a word....YES!!!!!!!! Not to mention problems with residue from the "combustible" cartridge case falling back into the turret. The Starship was the only tank I've ever heard of where the loader was required to not pull another round out of the ammo rack until after the breech had opened.

[Rainbow Six]

A fiddle.

[General Pain]

this strangly reminds of the time we were gonna attack Hawaii , using 1940s style german flying-boats (huge ones) Dornier Do p192/214 -
found here: http://thebigbookofwar.50megs.com/DOX/Aircraft/Seaplane/

We all ended laughing when I said" ...better leave the lead piano at home"

who would even make a lead piano? hehe

[TiggerCCW UK]

In a word....YES!!!!!!!! Not to mention problems with residue from the "combustible" cartridge case falling back into the turret. The Starship was the only tank I've ever heard of where the loader was required to not pull another round out of the ammo rack until after the breech had opened.

I'm possibly being dim, but why was it called The Starship? Is it something to do with the Enterprise?

[HorseSoldier]

The profile of the M60A2 turret was really wonky compared to the previous (and future) marks of the M60, so someone hit upon the name of "starship" for it and it stuck. Probably not directly Star Trek related, but I'm sure not entirely unrelated.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Armour/ShepPics/Danville/IMG_3781.jpg

[TiggerCCW UK]

Thanks, I'd never heard that before :)

[bobcat]

would a zoot suit, M1928 thompson, and violin case count as oddball?

[mikeo80]

In one game I played in, our little unit had found its' way into a typical farm village.

Now, being the budding capitalists that we were, it seemed that everything that was not nailed down was taken. And yes we had crowbars.

But one guy had an unusual pile. He scarfed every plastic shower liner he could find??!!??!!

And once the rain stared, he made some serious cash and trade goodies from everyone who wanted to stay dry....

Not so crazy??? :p

My two cents worth

Mike

[dragoon500ly]

I'm possibly being dim, but why was it called The Starship? Is it something to do with the Enterprise?

The M-60A2 was, at the time, the most advanced tank in the world. Loaded chop full of the latest gizmos and dodads and all promising to be the last word in tank gunnery. The Starship nickname honors this and is also a jab since, linke the Starship Enterprise from the TV series, the M-60A2 was a wonderful idea, made out of PVC pipe and sheet plastic. I've never heard the Starship nickname used in any way except as an insult. The beast spent more time broken down in the motor pool than in operational service. There was also its first tank gunnery in Germany, where 17 of the Starships where on a Table VI Gunnery Table, all with misfires and in front of a rather large party of NATO VIPs as well as several members of the Soviet Military Liaision Mission.......

[TiggerCCW UK]

several members of the Soviet Military Liaision Mission.......

Maybe they thought it was a complicated bluff :)

[dragoon500ly]

They probably thought it was being done on purpose...sorta of an evil captailist plot to encourge the freedom-loving workers to launch their invasion early sort of thing.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Hey, how about a portion of your ammo stocks in paint filled shells?

"They make...pretty colors when they hit."

[Adm.Lee]

My brother's original PC had a rubber duck on a string around his neck.

They talked me into mounting speakers and a tape deck on their no-ammo M1A1, so they could play Wagner or Steppenwolf while attacking.

[boogiedowndonovan]

Hey, how about a portion of your ammo stocks in paint filled shells?

"They make...pretty colors when they hit."

Kelly's Heroes! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5285730640303346804&safe=active#)

[Canadian Army]

A 1985 NASCAR Monte Carlo SS and Hitler's canoe

[bobcat]

i know all the other "riders" here would disagree with this being oddball. but i had one PC searching Europe for his stetson. seems he got knocked out and a commie stole it right of his head.

towards the end of that campaign he got his chance for both a saber kill and to get his stetson back.:D

[Abbott Shaull]

Hey, how about a portion of your ammo stocks in paint filled shells?

"They make...pretty colors when they hit."

Hey I have always thought about that, and the loud speakers. In the T2K world, many people would care, either way when you show up in AFV people tend to leave town quickly unless they legit AT capability....lol

[Abbott Shaull]

Always thought Kelly's Heroes when I think of t2k.

A group of misfits thrown together to survive on one hand, and their enterprising mission on the other hand. What is not love about it.

Kinda like the idea behind the movie "The Postman" and the book to a point. Where someone tries to commit fraud to get feed, to only feel guilty when he realizes that the people he trying to dupe look to him for hope that things may be just getting back to something called normal.

[95th Rifleman]

Swords

Every time I played a T2K char I made a point of hititng the first museum i could find and get a useable, reliable sword. Drove my GM nuts, but it's so damned useful for practical and pyschological uses.

[Legbreaker]

Heh, I can relate to that.
I once fitted a .303 SMLE bayonet to my Steyr AUG. Scared the pants of the unit I was acting as enemy for. The blade was nearly as long as the entire rifle. :D
Only requires an allen key applied to the rear bayonet lug on the F88 which is then slid rearward about an inch.

[Targan]

Swords

Every time I played a T2K char I made a point of hititng the first museum i could find and get a useable, reliable sword. Drove my GM nuts, but it's so damned useful for practical and pyschological uses.

Totally. In my last campaign melee weapons were pretty popular among some of the scarier PCs. Major Po regularly carried a Chinese lion sword with him. The Gurkha PC Tenzin Gurung carried a kukri knife that was one of the larger sizes than normally seen. My brother's PC, the 6'4", massive framed, 230lb Samoan USMC Cpl Urana Ratowi carried a fireman's axe that he found in NYC during Armies of the Night. And the last PC to enter the campaign, our new member Arrissen's SEAL, Lt Cdr H.D. Black carried a variety of melee weapons including a throwing knife, a heavy combat knife, a tomahawk, a Spyderco rescue lockknife and a garotte.

[Adm.Lee]

One of my players once ran both a Gurkha, kukri included, and a SEAL officer with a cavalry saber. He liked to draw that one and announce, "No gunfire" before attacking at night.

[WallShadow]

Heh, I can relate to that.
I once fitted a .303 SMLE bayonet to my Steyr AUG. Scared the pants of the unit I was acting as enemy for. The blade was nearly as long as the entire rifle. :D
Only requires an allen key applied to the rear bayonet lug on the F88 which is then slid rearward about an inch.

To quote Dad's Army Corporal Jones: "They don't like it up 'em!":rolleyes:

[Legbreaker]

To quote Dad's Army Corporal Jones: "They don't like it up 'em!":rolleyes:

No, they certainly don't like the foot and a half of cold hard steel...
The one I had was a Model 1907 which from memory was stamped 1915 and showed some clear signs of having been used. Probably worth a few coins now, but the ex disposed of it when I was away for a few months. :mad:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-weapons/bayonets.htm

[Targan]

The one I had was a Model 1907 which from memory was stamped 1915 and showed some clear signs of having been used. Probably worth a few coins now, but the ex disposed of it when I was away for a few months. :mad:

She did what? Man, that sucks so bad.

[Legbreaker]

I lost a lot of stuff that time around.
Just one of the many reasons she's an ex.

[Abbott Shaull]

I lost a lot of stuff that time around.
Just one of the many reasons she's an ex.

I feel for you. I know how that goes, it is one of several reason why my ex-wife is also an ex. Lord help you if you try to get rid anything of theirs.