(This is a noncommercial, fan-generated writeup for The Day After Ragnarok RPG.)
I put together some stuff for The Day After Ragnarok that I was interested in eventually selling, before the game line went on hopefully limited hiatus. Here’s the beginning stuff for one thing that I was working on.
Indianapolis (post-Serpentfall population: about 75,000). Well, it’s seen better days; just like most of what used to be the United States, really. But things could also be worse. On the one hand, it’s in the middle of a lot of roads, which makes it a natural mercantile center; on the other hand, it’s in the middle of a lot of roads, which makes it a magnet for everybody who needed to be somewhere else in a hurry. Sometimes that’s good for the city, like the time that the leadership of the Elks, Kiwanis, and Lions showed up after fleeing Chicago – and brought a remarkably effective regiment of ‘mercenaries’ with them. Sometimes that’s bad, like when all the remnants of the KKK from miles around moved into the sewers and started up quiet contact with Birmingham.
Only… Chicago would politely like those Elks, etc. back, for reasons unknown, and more trade with Birmingham is as welcome as it would be from anywhere else (read: a lot). And then there’s the bitter faction fight between the mayor of Indianapolis and the Governor of Indiana, both of whom think that they’re the one who should be in charge; so far, that fight is mostly going on where nobody will notice. Easier to do it out in the sticks, where it’s easy to hide the bodies. Lots of things go on out in the sticks. Some of it is even legal, for Indianapolis’ rather flexible standards of ‘legal.’
And then there’s John Dillinger. Except that he’s supposed to be dead, and not running a gang that’s raiding one caravan in twenty. He’s certainly not supposed to be running three gangs, each of which attacks the other two on sight.
Still, there’s a lot of money to be made in Indianapolis, if you can figure out who’s going to end up on top. Or if you can make that decision yourself. The resident merchants at the very least will likely pay for stability, no matter who provides it.
Government: Machine (the Governor and the Mayor present an united front)
Problem: Factions
Heroic Opportunity: Mercenary Work
City Aspect: Tense and Mercantile
(Waves from the Indy suburbs)
We’re settled in, if nowhere near finished unpacking.
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In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out why I have a water softener in a place where the water is naturally soft. And why the local ads give pride-of-place to humidifiers, when the humidity has never fallen below 70%.
Water softness depends on just what your source is .. .
For wells, often what looks like (or is installed along with) a softener is a carbon filter or other purification device.
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For city water .. sometimes, unscrupulous sales people sold water softeners to those that don’t need ’em.
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There should be a “call for repair” or similar tag on it, give the vendor a call and ask them why it’s there.
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As for humidifiers, the *outside* humidity will get *really* low in, say, mid-January .. and old-skool furnaces don’t introduce moisture to compensate as the air turns over. The inside of the house can get drier than Gerlach, NV in August. Thus, humidifiers.
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Mew
Forgot to mention – usually, water softeners have a “bypass valve” .. so if you want to confirm that it’s not really necessary, bypass it and see if you notice a change.
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Mew
That last paragraph is a good point. I, for example, get nosebleeds in winter if the humidity gets too low. Nothing major, but very annoying.
City water.
It’s from Lowe’s. I installed the exact same model back in Idaho. Which means he went out if his way to buy something he didn’t need.
And yeah, it’s completely unnecessary.
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OK, that makes sense about humidifiers. It’s all about the baseline you’re used to, I guess. To me, 15% was normal so the furnace never made much difference. Especially with all the water vapor being introduced by people and animals exhaling, dishwashers, etc.
Yeah, people will put in softeners they don’t need because they get told it’ll help…
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Somewhat unusual for someone with the DIY know-how to install one to not know when it’s not needed, but .. like I said, hit the bypass, unplug it, no big.
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If you want the floor space back, well .. then you’re doing some soldering. Or, if PVC pipes, gluing.
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Mew