[Cyber-Dave]

Yea. The book is BEAUTIFUL. My mother and father in-law bought me the red leather gold edged special edition copy for my birthday. It made me so happy, I shed tears.

[Kernel Kludge]

Hardcover 5th ED.

Got mine yesterday and it's pretty, oh so pretty. 

And also large, did I mention large? Pretty sure you could beat an orc to death with it. Maybe a troll if you used two.

Have you looked at the free-download missions document from DrivethruRPG/Battleshop? If not, you should:
it has the game stats for using all 4 versions of the book as an improvised weapon. If you really want to beat
an Ork or Troll to death with one...I recommend the Mayan Edition, with the slip-case on...

Intriguing 

And in other news, had our first 5E game last Sunday. I'm in love. Sooooo gooood.

[Reaver]

there are not enough swear words in the English language for my frustration ATM.

Even if I add in the German, French, Russia, Spanish, Italian swear words (which is about all I speak in several of those languages ) there is STILL not enough words.



My Book arrived at the game store today.


I am 1000km away.

they don't ship to:

Middle of Nowhere.
B.C.
Canada


either

[CanRay]

Middle of Nowhere.
B.C.
Canada

Hey, I used to be in the Northern Ontarian sister-city! 

[Reaver]

Middle of Nowhere.
B.C.
Canada

Hey, I used to be in the Northern Ontarian sister-city! 

....

<looks at tent>
<looks at satellite tower him and crew finished putting in>
<looks at road...... 30 km away>
<looks at drop off of the mountain top he is camped on, with a satellite tower, and crew>

<Grumbles> "Lucky bastard CanRay got a town! A whole Town! With people that don't smell! And food that isn't out of a can or MRE. I get a tent."


 
 
 
 
 





















but CanRay didn't just make $18,000 for 9 days work either

 

[Reaver]

we get picked up Saturday morning at 8:00am.

But until then, well.... I am extremely bored. there is no work to be done, as everything has be packed up, cleaned up, and prepped. Just the personal tents, the cook pit, and the latrine left standing...

It's already winter up here. Days are -5 to -15c and nights are -20 to -40. been snowing/raining off and on for the last few days, but nothing sticks too long. The wind blows it off..

Have not had a real shower or cleaning in 9 days. and still got All day and night Friday to get through.

the only good, and REALLY REALLY bad thing... this weather keep the rye, beer and Mescal ice cold it's good, cause when sturrcrazy sets in from boredom on a mountain, people get hurt. So we have alcohol..... and now possibly people get killed.


the shittiest job we got right now is "Bitch" duty. That is the 2guys who CAN'T drink for the day at all, and they get the wonderful up of keeping an eye on the other 8.

Guess what job I got tonight?







these Jobs come up all the time, all over the world. Yes you have to put up with the crappiest of the crappy living conditions. Yes an small injury out here can mean death. And because of that, not too many qualified people will do this (set up remote towers)...

I do it for a single reason: 1 job pays the same as the Canadian poverty line for a year. And the job usually only takes 8 to 14 days.
IF I book 10 remote setups in  4 months, I get a very high standard of living and can take 8 months off with out financial worry. Or I can continue to work and make even more obscene money.






and people make fun of tradesmen

[PeterSmith]

and people make fun of tradesmen

I don't.

[CanRay]

"Lucky bastard CanRay got a town! A whole Town! With people that don't smell! And food that isn't out of a can or MRE. I get a tent."

The people smelled.  Bad as well.

[Ravennus]

Middle of Nowhere.
B.C.
Canada

Hey, I used to be in the Northern Ontarian sister-city! 

Sounds like my hometown!

we get picked up Saturday morning at 8:00am.

But until then, well.... I am extremely bored. there is no work to be done, as everything has be packed up, cleaned up, and prepped. Just the personal tents, the cook pit, and the latrine left standing...

It's already winter up here. Days are -5 to -15c and nights are -20 to -40. been snowing/raining off and on for the last few days, but nothing sticks too long. The wind blows it off..

Have not had a real shower or cleaning in 9 days. and still got All day and night Friday to get through.

the only good, and REALLY REALLY bad thing... this weather keep the rye, beer and Mescal ice cold it's good, cause when sturrcrazy sets in from boredom on a mountain, people get hurt. So we have alcohol..... and now possibly people get killed.


the shittiest job we got right now is "Bitch" duty. That is the 2guys who CAN'T drink for the day at all, and they get the wonderful up of keeping an eye on the other 8.

Guess what job I got tonight?







these Jobs come up all the time, all over the world. Yes you have to put up with the crappiest of the crappy living conditions. Yes an small injury out here can mean death. And because of that, not too many qualified people will do this (set up remote towers)...

I do it for a single reason: 1 job pays the same as the Canadian poverty line for a year. And the job usually only takes 8 to 14 days.
IF I book 10 remote setups in  4 months, I get a very high standard of living and can take 8 months off with out financial worry. Or I can continue to work and make even more obscene money.






and people make fun of tradesmen

Reaver, that sounds like a fantastic job to me.
I grew up in Northern Ontario, so what you describe doesn't frighten me any.
You apparently still have Internet/cell access.... And a latrine.

Could you help a fellow Canuck and 'runner out, and tell me what trade you are trained in?
And how one could go about getting that kind of work?

Hell, I have family in BC. I would move there in a heartbeat if I could make that kind of money doing what you are doing.
There must be a Mr. Johnson you can hook me up with. Hell, I'd pull "bitch" duty every night!

[Reaver]

I hold my red seal certification in the following:

Electrical (contruction and industrial)
Industrial instrumentation mechanical
operator (Ewp, Crane)
Welding C level


after that, its ALL personal networking.  I spend about 4 to 7 weeks a year going international volunteer work in developing nations which I have been able to turn into temporary jobs that usually include training for the locals to take over the operation and maintenance of the facilities.

The big thing is that knowledge is only half the work, interpersonal skills and networking makes up a full 60% of my income through "name hiring" with the IBEW (international Brotherhood of electrical workers)

Your best bet is to contact your local trades school. They will provide you with the baseline knowledge that will help you get a start in the discipline. the days of just walking up to a construction/electrical contractor are all but gone (it's rare for anyone to hire someone for thmore specialized trades without foundation training, but it does happen... but comes with it's own risks as well).

For what I do, you can expect to start getting into the really HIGH paying jobs after 3 or 4 years of having your Red Seal. (usually takes 5 years to get yoru Seal).... on the last 8 "extreme remote setups" (that what we call it in the practice) I have had only 1 apprentice with me, and she was a 4th year. She didn't make to the end of the project.



But, to be honest, NOW is the time to get into the trades if you're a young man (or woman... just have thick skin!)... I'm 39 this year.... I don't/Can't be doing this type of work for the next 30 years!?!.... and that's the same for most of these industrial jobs.. it's all guys in their late 30's to early 60's.... we want to enjoy our money and retire... but there is a serious (and growing) lack of qualified workers.... and the wages are only going to go up as more and more "bush jumpers" retire off.

[PeterSmith]

...the days of just walking up to a construction/electrical contractor are all but gone (it's rare for anyone to hire someone for thmore specialized trades without foundation training, but it does happen... but comes with it's own risks as well).

This. A hundred times this. Every single building under construction near my office (two high rises going up, one coming down before going up, that's just within a block of my office) all have "No Gate Hiring" signs. You have to establish your knowledge base *then* have somebody willing to hire you on.

But, to be honest, NOW is the time to get into the trades if you're a young man (or woman... just have thick skin!)... I'm 39 this year.... I don't/Can't be doing this type of work for the next 30 years!?!.... and that's the same for most of these industrial jobs.. it's all guys in their late 30's to early 60's.... we want to enjoy our money and retire... but there is a serious (and growing) lack of qualified workers.... and the wages are only going to go up as more and more "bush jumpers" retire off.

I hear this lament as well. This week I heard of a company looking to manufacturer their clothing in the States, they cannot find anybody here with the skill set. I think what will end up happening in that industry is the companies are going to send people over to Europe, train, then come back. At the same time a school will get some folks to come over from Europe to start training people here. For too long people shunned the idea of going into the Trades, told kids that it was college or bust. That's biting people in the asses, kids who are about to hit post-secondary education are positioned to do well as long as they're willing to get their hands dirty.

[Mara]

I hear this lament as well. This week I heard of a company looking to manufacturer their clothing in the States, they cannot find anybody here with the skill set. I think what will end up happening in that industry is the companies are going to send people over to Europe, train, then come back. At the same time a school will get some folks to come over from Europe to start training people here. For too long people shunned the idea of going into the Trades, told kids that it was college or bust. That's biting people in the asses, kids who are about to hit post-secondary education are positioned to do well as long as they're willing to get their hands dirty.

I know that in New York City, supposedly, there are only 2 guys who know how to work a wrecking ball anymore, and the
younger of them is in his 50's. The thing I would be worried about would be the people who will find a way to bring
tradespeople from europe or asia and pay them less then they would an American doing the same job just to save money
from hiring Americans.

Frankly, though, the things that are dying off in the US:
Tradesmen.
Teachers(from what I am hearing, fewer and fewer people are willing to enroll for Education degrees anymore).
Engineers(most Engineers in the US doing actual engineering work are either older guys, or foreign)
Scientists(same problem as Engineers)

[Reaver]

I hear this lament as well. This week I heard of a company looking to manufacturer their clothing in the States, they cannot find anybody here with the skill set. I think what will end up happening in that industry is the companies are going to send people over to Europe, train, then come back. At the same time a school will get some folks to come over from Europe to start training people here. For too long people shunned the idea of going into the Trades, told kids that it was college or bust. That's biting people in the asses, kids who are about to hit post-secondary education are positioned to do well as long as they're willing to get their hands dirty.

I know that in New York City, supposedly, there are only 2 guys who know how to work a wrecking ball anymore, and the
younger of them is in his 50's. The thing I would be worried about would be the people who will find a way to bring
tradespeople from europe or asia and pay them less then they would an American doing the same job just to save money
from hiring Americans.

Frankly, though, the things that are dying off in the US:
Tradesmen.
Teachers(from what I am hearing, fewer and fewer people are willing to enroll for Education degrees anymore).
Engineers(most Engineers in the US doing actual engineering work are either older guys, or foreign)
Scientists(same problem as Engineers)

we hit that bubble in Canada already a few years ago (2006)...

Back there, the economy was booming, everyone had good jobs, and there was still a demand for labour. So the Government at the time passed the "temporary foreign workers" Act.
this act allowed COMPANIES to apply on a worker's behalf for them to come to Canada and work for that company... at 15% LESS wages then the standard pay (to help companies recover the costs of the application and processing fees). Then the US economy tanked in 2007, dragging our economy with it..... and the companies still brought In foreign labour.... to work our restaurants and other min wage jobs.... stopping Canadians from getting entry level positions.... so now if you are out of work in Canada... there is no entry level jobs left as they are all worker by foreign nationals.

The problem came to a head last year here in BC (TumberRidge to be exact). A Chinese company bought out an old coal mine and was going to retro fit it so it could still produce... and didn't hire a SINGLE Canadian to do the job! Even though they got over 3800 applications from Miners in Canada (some with over 20 years experience!) None of them were "qualified" so the company applied and was approved to bring 300 workers from China...

And then the press, unions and courts got involved..... yea... been a field day.....
all 300 workers where ticketed in multiple trades... most of the tickets issued on the same day.... So that means these guys learned Electrical, Mining, welding, pipefitting, AND carpentry AT THE SAME TIME?!?! (yea, good luck with that!!) The reason none of the Canadians were hired (so say the company) was that none for them spoke Cantonese! Which violates our language laws (French or English are the only official languages in Canada, and is the only Languages you can hire based on.... can't speak English or French? no job)

To make matters worse, when our ulitities inspection crews (provincially run) went to inspect the electrical they had installed before connecting it to the provincial supply, they found over 3000 code violations! (just 1 is enough to refuse you electrical service). Every thing from non-explosion proof fittings, to illegal wiring, to exposed conductors, to a lack of minimum distance..... It was pretty clear to the inspectors that these people did not know electrical work to the North American standards (US and Canada are very close in electrical code, with only a few minor changes)

And, now, we have 300 Chinese workers sitting on their butts while the whole mess is before the courts, the federal government is repealing the "temporary Foreign workers" act. and we have 300 Chinese workers (who don't speak English... or very poorly) applying for citizenship!!!