Unemployed Assassin

[MechaByrd]

So last semester I tried to get a big "Assassins" game going. I had about 20 ppl on an email list, all saying they would be interested, but none of them came to the start-up meetings. All this after a friend and I had drawn up rules based on other games, and prepared a constitution to be an official U organization [that means free Coke products!].

This semester, It's like Assassin's mania is taking hold, our entire floor, as well as adjacent halls are all starting games. Even someone on my robot team is starting one, after I had invited the team to my game.

Guh, what's going on? My shining charisma fails again. At least I got ample support for my robot team, now that's something to get excited about, it practically sells itself. There's gotta be a place here where weirdos gather, I obviously missed the memo.

Of course I'm going to be joining one of these games. The problem w/ most RB Guns today is that, they look like guns. Plus, to get any distance/accuracy, you need one with a long, bulky barrel. Now where could I get a large, slender, toyish looking, collapsable rubber band gun? The answer is K'NEX of course. LEGO's don't get together so quickly, and the spoked wheel escapement would be bulky. K'NEX has spoked wheels built in, and the two halves would snap together like nothing. Why did I spend so much time scoffing K'NEX as an inferior knockoff, when its almost exclusive use of beams and axles lends itself so well to projectile weapons?

KSGD is my fav place to rant about inconsequential foolishness.

[Rkolter]

I learned from a RB master how to fire rubber bands of any length with deadly accuracy using only my fingers. Prior to that, rubber band guns were my weapon of choice. I had a pair of them that could hold 100 bands each; I could empty them in under a minute.

I wish I still had the pic of this, but at Bill Goodman's Gun and Knife Show back in the late 1980's, a guy was selling a homemade rubber band gatling gun. It fired refrigerator bands (two feet long slack, an inch wide, a millimeter thick. It could hold 240 bands, and could break glass bottles at 50 feet.

The guy wanted $250 for it, which was a lot for me at the time, plus about a quarter for each rubber band. But it was the only lethal RB gun I've ever seen. I still drool about it.

[MixedMyth]

I think for me it would be the Oblivion keyblade that I made out of PVC tubing and duct tape.

[DEVO-Bot]

Although it's been shown to make a poor weapon, how many other people can say they've made one of these?

[MixedMyth]

That's...that's the most beautiful thing I've ver seen.

[Sortelli]

When we played assassin in highschool our rule for weapons was only that they had to be labelled with masking tape. So we had backpacks labelled as "bludgeons" and "letter bombs" stashed in lockers and all manner of everday items turned into killing devices. My favorite was my Batman PEZ dispenser which became a "lethal taser".

When we played the rules said you could only kill your assigned target and never in the presence of a witness, i.e. anyone else who was playing the game. It made for some weird friendships, trying to keep a non-target buddy close to watch your back all the time until it was time to betray him... Heh heh.

What are the rules for assassin in your neck of the woods, Byrd?

[MixedMyth]

On of my friends is actually starting up a variation called Highlander Assassins. Yup! You're all imortals, and there can only be one. ;}

[Xmung]

Although it's been shown to make a poor weapon, how many other people can say they've made one of these?

trojan bunnies are very effective weapons of war - just don't let brockway near one!

[Sortelli]

On of my friends is actually starting up a variation called Highlander Assassins. Yup! You're all imortals, and there can only be one. ;}

Cool. How do you do the beheadings?

[K-Dawg]

I think for me it would be the Oblivion keyblade that I made out of PVC tubing and duct tape.

Holy crap that is good! I haven't even made it far enough in the game yet to get that weapon.

[MixedMyth]

Cool. How do you do the beheadings?

*grin* Unfortunately, it's something that has to be assumed once someone's health levels are depleted, since neck shots are very dangerous and should be avoided. Also, there isn't the level of paranoia that Assassins has because everyone playing wears an armband (emulating that tingle immortals get when there are others around). But it can still be intricate. There are safe areas (like 'holy ground' from Highlander), and you're through if you take someone's head when there are more than two whitnesses around. Also, there are good immortals and evil immortals, so there's politicking that way. Good immortals can band against the evil ones, try to kill them, and then fight to be the last one amongst themselves. That sort of thing.

[MechaByrd]

What are the rules for assassin in your neck of the woods, Byrd?

I don't know really, the dude's got to get back to me on that. [I'll be joining the game the guy from my robo team is running, just because he's a mad linux-coding lunatic from Russia]

Me and some friends drew up rules, based on rules found on the internet, which I can URL you if you please.

Some things to note:
All references to assassins and killing are removed [to fulfill my goal of someday starting a completely useless registered U Org., and to score free Coke products].
Also, there is a wonky play mechanic that employed tokens and/or cards, in an effort to remove the nonplaying referee/gamemaster. [sucks to be him, but this would have made the game unneccesarily complicated, you just need a ref, and that's that]
Excessive safety disclaimers are also to be found. [See first note]

What my club really needed was an already close-knit, like-minded group already living near one another to be the core to begin with. I did not have this, b/c my hall sucks. buh

[MechaByrd]

...how to fire rubber bands of any length with deadly accuracy using only my fingers. ... rubber band guns... that could hold 100 bands each ... empty them ... under a minute.

.... a homemade rubber band gatling gun...

If you have any detailed info, sketches, or URL's regarding the above, I'll be your friend forever. That is, if those designs differ from the sprocket-escapement pistols and Gatlin gun found at surefireproducts.com and backyardartillery.com.

[Rkolter]

...how to fire rubber bands of any length with deadly accuracy using only my fingers. ... rubber band guns... that could hold 100 bands each ... empty them ... under a minute.

.... a homemade rubber band gatling gun...

If you have any detailed info, sketches, or URL's regarding the above, I'll be your friend forever. That is, if those designs differ from the sprocket-escapement pistols and Gatlin gun found at surefireproducts.com and backyardartillery.com.

The deadly accuracy is the result of leaving one side of the band slacker than the other, causing it to spin rapidly as it flies. that's just a finger trick I didn't know how to do.

The rubber band guns I had were the sprocket type that I broke seven of the eight restricting knobs off - one squeeze fired eight bands rapidly. Guns: $5 in a novelty store.

The gatling gun was pre-WWW. You might look around at Bill Goodman's Gun and Knife Show on the internet...? Dunno. I never saw it outside that show. But MAN was it cool...