u/Madmaxneo

I am running my first Mothership game this coming Sunday and I have pretty much the normal set of people that come to my Halloween one shots.

One of the players is going to show up late because of some commitment with his mom, so I told him to watch the video and make a character before the game so he can pretty much just join in when he gets here. He would then send me the character sheet before hand so I could look it over. He got the app and did the character on the app, but he is not at all happy with the stats. He said he wanted to be a Teamster but his fear was so low he had to take Android to make it playable.

Like I said this is my first Mothership game. I have been watching a few videos here and there to get more comfortable with how the mechanics work but I have no idea what would be poor, fair, or good stats in this system.

My typical response was that I didn't think it mattered much because it's about playing a character in a bad situation.

My annual Halloween one shot is coming up in the next month and a half and this year I want to do something different other than my typical fantasy games.

I've been eyeing Mothership for awhile. I have the deluxe box ed of the game and several of published adventures on PDF along with a few Crowdfunding campaigns I've backed, but I have yet to run a game.

I've been trying to watch some videos of actual game play but it feels like I am missing something in the play examples I've watched so far.

Out of the modules I have (and the few I have read through) I really like the Mother Lode adventure, but I wonder if it would be creepy enough for the group. I like the idea of a group of techs tasked with decommissioning an abandoned research station.

I have seen a couple videos where they showcase the best horror scenarios they've encountered, but no one has mentioned Mother Lode yet.

One that keeps popping up is The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 and I am debating that but I'd need to run it in 4 to 6 hrs.

I am looking for something that can help put the players on edge for the horror scenario.

Ideas for making Mother Lode extra creepy will help also.

Finally, what was the creepiest Mothership module you ran or played in so far?

EDIT: Forgot to mention that one module mentioned in one of the videos sounds promising and that's Orphans. But I am having trouble finding it for less than $20.....

This is all based on a conversation I had with Gemini so please correct what is inaccurate in what I relate below.

I researched some things and found that my old Acer Aspire 5755-6828 would work for this. But I'd need to install a Linux distro because that laptop only has a legacy bios and apparently the Home Assistant OS requires a UEFI bios.

The problem with this is I've never messed with Linux in any form. So I would not know where to start and what exactly I would need.

Gemini recommended either Debian Linux or Ubuntu Server but I know nothing of either.

Additionally Gemini referenced the issues with using an old laptop and that keeping it plugged in and charging could cause the battery to swell. It mentioned limiting the battery maximum charge to 60% but I am not sure if that laptop bios supports maximum battery charge or not. Also it seems that laptop (no matter how new a battery is) does not hold a charge for long. I have 3 batteries for it, one double and two single batteries. The double lasts the longest but it's still not that long.

Sidenote: I have a really old 8 inch tablet that no longer works because it was designed for Windows 8. I did have it upgraded to Windows 10 at one point but there are issues with that on the tablet as it's disabled all inputs. I am not sure if I could install a Linux distro on that or not. I can power it on but it always gets stuck at the log in screen because for some reason all inputs (touch or peripherals) are disabled. I also can't reinstall Windows 8 because I'm unable to find the original install download because the tablet is no longer supported. I think I will find a Linux reddit to see if it is possible to do this on that tablet. The tablet holds a charge much longer than the previously mentioned laptop does.

I currently use Alexa but it has some annoying limitations (like when it loses Internet connectivity). Another limitation of the entire Alexa system is it begging unable to read and report on additional sensor readings like humidity.

I'm thinking about going with something like Home Assistant and seeing what I can do with it for my home.

I can put together a computer or two with the parts I have but they'll be older boards with the best one using DDR 3 ram and a LGA 2011 cpu.

I don't know much about Home Assistant or all that it can do.

My primary reason for looking into this is that it still works if the Internet goes down or there's a power outage (with the use of UPS for the devices I want you stay online.

I've read that Home Assistant can work with Alexa devices and if that's true it's a huge bonus for me.

I've made this same post on the Wyze forums but there's no responses on it as of yet and I am in need of a good new battery.

I’ve had my wyze robot vacuum now for almost 2 years now. About 4 months ago the battery started to die so I searched and found several replacements. After looking into each one I selected what I though was a good one, I was wrong as it’s already dying only 4 months after getting it.

So now I’m looking for a replacement that can last a year or more. I have not been able to find an OEM battery so it’s looks like all I have are the third party ones, but I’m not sure what ones I can trust.

Any one on here have experience with a good battery or know where I can get one that will last?

Links with suggestions please, if you can.

I am located in the central US, NW Indiana to be more exact.

Note that a Google Web search (along with the AI interjection) keeps recommending the same battery I have that has gone bad within 4 months. It's the Paloextra "6200mAh" battery from the Paloextra store on Amazon. I purchased it at the end of February this year and it's already starting to die.

I have this large metal garden car of an old VW Bug. It's all rusty so I plan on cleaning it up and painting it. It has a "TAXI" sign at the top but am debating removing that for a better Herbie vibe.

I want to refinish it so looks like Herbie the Love Bug from the old movies (favs of mine as a child).

I've been searching for SVGs of all the decals on the car but I only find T-shirt ideas like the 53 in a circle and actual printed out decals that seem to small for what I need them for.

I am looking for the SVG files so I can experiment with the size to get the right fit on this metal car.

For context I have a previous post about router issues and will post the link to it if requested although no responses.

I have Xfinity internet and am on a high speed plan.

A few days ago my internet went down hard. After getting a new router (twice) and a Storm Ready extender I was able to connect to get online. Then last night I decided to rout a coaxial cable from the splitter that comes into the house to my router after disconnecting the cable that goes into the house. At first it worked great and everything came online with a strong connection. I went to work today and stayed connected to all my devices. When I got home I found my internet signal had died again but the Storm Ready extender was providing connectivity throughout my home. I had a real bad headache so I went and took a nap for a little while. When I got up I still had connectivity but the Storm Ready extender was showing as offline. Even in the app it shows as offline.

When the extender is online and working because the router is down a solid white light comes on which means it's online and providing internet. When the router is working it also has a solid white light but the extender's light is off.

Now, on my router the light goes from blinking orange to blinking green and back again every two minutes or so. This indicates it's looking for a signal but can't locate one.

The Storm Ready extender is showing no lights which normally indicates that my router is up and running, but as above it is not.

When I go into the Xfinity app it shows me as being offline, yet some of my connected smart home devices work just fine even when I am away from my home by a few miles. Those devices are saying they are connected to my home network, but the Xfinity app is still showing my network as being down.

The devices that are connected and work just fine far from my home are primarily all my cameras along with a few other things.

This is really confusing because I have some connectivity but the app is showing everything as down and some devices aren't connected at all.

Is there any explanation for any of this?

​ Edit 1: The title should read "... connect to the Internet". Edit 2: The plan is to try and use my phone's hotspot to get the xb8 connected long enough to get the extender/cellular connection up and running.

I have Xfinity Internet and just upgraded to the 2gb plan.

I currently have no Internet due to unknown issues. I also started with the Xb7 gateway but upgraded to the xb8 gateway.

Is there a way to connect some kind of Wi-Fi receiver to my xb8 gateway so that I can trick it long enough to get my extender with the cellular data up and running so I'll have at least some connectivity in my home?

If that doesn't work I'll have to talk with my neighbors to see who has Xfinity and ask them if u can connect my gateway in their house so I can get my extender up and running.

A little background:

Two days ago I noticed my bill was going to go up in September so I contacted Xfinity to see what deals they had. I was put on a 2gb plan for the same price I had ($92 a month) with a 5 year price lock. I checked my speed afterwards and found it at 2.1gbps. I was happy. They are also sending me an xb10 gateway.

The next day at work near the end of the day I realized I lost all connectivity to everything in my home. When I got home I realized my Internet was down. After talking with customer service for 2 hours I went to the Xfinity store to get a temporary replacement gateway until the xb10 can come in and they gave me an xb8. I get home and it won't connect, it just kept flashing yellow for like 2 minutes then flashing green for about 2 minutes and going back and forth. Today I took that gateway back to the store and they gave me another one after verifying the previous one didn't work. They also had me activate the new one at the store. I get home and it connects and works all fine, until about an hour later my Internet goes off again. It came back on again for like 10 mins then died and has not reconnected. I also got a wifi extender with cellular at the store for when the gateway loses connection but I have not activated it yet.

After talking with tech support again they said the signal to my home was intermittent and there's probably an issue with it outside my home.

An hour later a delivery driver delivers a new gateway and extender (was probably a glitch or one of the phone support techs sent that). That was about 9 pm. But that gateway will not activate at all.

I have an in home tech appointment for next week but I need better connectivity than just my phones hotspot for the time being. So I'm looking for a way to connect my xb8 gateway/router long enough to get my extender working.

I've been playing and running RPGs since approximately 1981. I started with basic D&D, then expert, then AD&D. I also played and ran a lot of other systems in the 1980's with Marvel FASERIP being the most dominant.

In 1990 I switched completely over to Rolemaster and had 2 different groups with some incredibly epic campaigns. In the early 2000's I switched to HARP (Rolemaster's younger sibling) and have played it sporadically since.

Fast forward to today and it's been difficult to start a new group that isn't using D&D or PF. It doesn't help that a lot of people that know of HARP have a negative view of it, except for the people that learn about it in my games.

I've been searching for a new system to run this campaign idea that is easier for new people to get into and it looks like Mythras might be the right choice. I have a few of the books in PDF including the 2 we have been looking at today, Mythras Imerative and Mythras 2E.

Today I have one of my players over and we are going through character generation to see if we can do what we want to do with the system, and it seems a little limiting. So I have a few questions.

1. First thing is I noticed in the Imperative book that it lists classes, but they aren't listed in the 2E book. Does that mean there are no "classes" like there are in D&D but are listed for simplicity in the Imperative book?
2. I just noticed there is another book in the list called Classic Fantasy book, is it different from the two I've been exploring?
3. Is it possible in Mythras to create new "classes" along with new spells and special class ranks?

The player is looking to create a Warrior Mage, which is very different than a Fighter/Magic User. A Warrior Mage has a special set of spells that focused on advantages in personal combat, they don't normally have access to normal spells like those of normal mages.

I'll have more questions as time goes on but these are important for character creation. One of the things I prefer for the players in character creation is the ability to truly make character that they want. For that to happen there normally needs to be a lot of flexibility in character creation.

I live in a double wide modular home (1200 sq ft) that sits mostly on a concrete block and the humidity inside my home gets really bad during the wetter months.

First some background on my issues: About 5 years ago I had to have the coils replaced on my central AC. That year and the next the AC ran great, kept the house cool, it didn't try running all the time, and my bill was awesomely low. That winter (about 3 years ago) I had an issue with critters (possums, cats, and possibly racoons) getting under my house and tearing up my flex ducting (my heat was running 24/7 at 69 degs yet the house was 45 degs inside so I called to have it looked at). That next summer I started having issues with humidity so high in my house (75%+) that I had to get a decent dehumidifier, of which did not help my bill any. So for the last few years I dealt with high humidity. Last year my bill skyrocketed to over $400 for two months straight due to the heat and humidity. Earlier this year I got a large window exhaust fan and it has been incredible, except for the humidity getting bad these last few weeks.

During all this I have had about 3 different techs out to look at it since the humidity started getting bad and they all said the same things. Clean off the fins on my outside unit, get it recharged, get a new unit, and replace the inside filters. I made sure all that was done prior to any issues this year and the issues still returned. The only thing I didn't do is get a new unit and the tech last year said the unit is working great and pretty much looks brand new despite being over 15 years old.

This year I put in ventilated skirting panels (I hopefully will not forget to take them out before winter because I don't want my pipes to freeze), but they don't really help much.

I researched and decided to get a 10" exhaust fan that is humidity and temperature controlled (I can install into the skirting) along with a couple of intake vents that auto open when it reaches a certain temp (70 degs F). In doing this research I had been talking with Amazon's AI to figure in everything I need, at one point it mentioned a vapor barrier. Which started me thinking. In my defense I didn't know there was such a thing as a vapor barrier for under modular/mobile homes.

My house sits on a concrete block, but there is about 1' to 2' all the way around that is dirt (currently mud) inside the skirting. I'm wondering if there was a narrow vapor barrier on the dirt that got removed when they repaired the flex ducting 3-ish years ago. I say this because, and to reiterate, I never had an issue with high humidity before techs repaired the issue with the flex ducting.

FYI, right now it is 82% humidity and sunny outside but 92% humidity under my house. The outside temp is 74 (low for this time of year). I currently have my windows open with the exhaust fan on and the inside temp is 75 degs with 74% humidity.

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I am wondering if I should wait on the exhaust fan and intake ducts for now and put in a vapor barrier around the edges of the concrete slap to see if that helps. If so what type of vapor barrier do you think would work? I see various thicknesses from 4 mil to 15 mil but it gets more expensive the thicker the mil. I would also apparently need a good tape that will stick to the concrete to hold that side of the sheet down.

I need recommendations for the vapor barrier and the tape to secure it to the concrete.

EDIT: I know the humidity and temps inside my house because I have a smart thermostat and have a smart temp and humidity sensor I put under my house yesterday.

I started noticing this about a week and a half ago. Every time I get a message notification in my email and click on the link I have to re-enter my password to get access to my Kickstarter messages.

I messaged Kickstarter support about this (no reply yet) but now I am wondering if this isn't a glitch but something they did on purpose.

Is this happening to others and is a bad idea by Kickstarter or is this only me (maybe a few others) encountering this bug?

I live in NW Indiana in a double wide modular home and I am on a tight budget.

A few years ago I started having issues with humidity during the summer months that caused increased central AC usage and much much higher bills. The increased AC usage is due to the unit running longer (last year it ran 24/7 for 10 days straight) to reduce the humidity. At the time the humidity was getting as high as 78% on really hot days.

One of the things I've been told I need to do is improve ventilation for under the home in the summer during the really humid months (which are June and July here). The home didn't have ventilated skirting when I took over but the humidity wasn't as bad back then as it is now. The problem is if I add the ventilated skirting I would need to remove them and replace with regular skirting in the winter to avoid pipes freezing under the house, this is even with using good heat tape. In this case I might actually forget to do this so I'd like to avoid it if at all possible.

I have been looking at optional ideas and I found two things I can install myself that fall within my seriously limited budget.

One is vents that auto open in the hotter and more humid days and the other is a fan that's also auto open and close based on what temps I set it for.

Auto Vent

Auto Exhaust Fan

I would install these into the skirting (I have a few extras) with reinforcing the skirting for the fan and using caulk to seal the units on the skirting.

I am looking for installation tips along with ideas on possible better ways to do this that doesn't cost me to much money (so that I can save some on my bills).

My budget is super tight because: I was fighting with my insurance company to get my roof replaced due to some weather damage. It's mostly fine except my deck roof (attached to the house roof) is not doing so well and has a few warped boards from water damage. They did approve the repair but based on "depreciation" I have to pay $6k in addition to my deductible to get my roof repaired. Unfortunately I would not be able to do that right now due to high credit card balance because I had to get my transmission replaced on my car recently. I may be able to do the roof repair next year because using my credit card is the only way I can do it. There is much more to this story but please remember this post is about getting more ventilation to reduce the heat and humidity under my house.

I have a 2015 Chrysler 200C that I've been working on and doing a chrome delete over the last few years using vinyl, so far it looks great. The reason it has taken so long is because I was learning and messed up a lot at first and also trying different types of vinyl. My next step was to move onto my wheels but come to find out vinyl is not the best option for wheels. Which is what brings me here.

My wheels don't look the greatest because of road rash (before I got the car) and the clear coat on them has been wearing off.

First off I need to choose the proper paint for my wheels. This includes primer and the colors I need (and possibly a clear coat if it is so recommended). I originally wanted a metallic charcoal but will go with a different color. I am also thinking of doing the inside edges of the rim in a dark purple (as I also plan on doing some small areas on the body in a dark purple) but I am not sure if there is an option for odd colors like this for rims (or one that wilk work on rims). If need be I will go with basic matte black (I used matte black vinyl for the chrome delete on the rest of the car).

My next step is proper prep with sanding and whatever else may be needed (maybe a little grinding with a Dremel near the rims edges due to the curb rash). But I want to make sure it is done correctly as I've had issues with applying spray paint to my cars trim (and other areas) before and it's always ended up chipping off. The only time it didn't chip off is when I did the brake rotors and it surprisingly held up pretty good.

Finally I need advice on proper application of each coat (primer, each base coat, and clear) with things like: how many coats, how thick on each coat, and how much time between coats.

I would honestly love to get them powder coated but that isn't in my budget for the foreseeable future in the next few years.

I also do not have a garage but can do them in my driveway or on my front deck (covered). I will probably be doing one or two wheels at a time on the weekends.

I have 19" wheels on my car and they have some curb rash (from before my ownership) and the coating itself is coming off near the center of all the rims.

What is the best way to completely clean off the clear coat and sand down the curb rash without messing up the rims?

I can handle the sanding easy enough but wondering if there are any precautions I need to take so I don't ruin the rims. I am more worried about getting the clear coat off the rims and wonder if sanding would work or if there is a chemical I can use to get it off easier.

Note that I will be doing this myself in my driveway (I will probably take the tires off the car to make it easier).

I want to redo the chrome trim in red on the interior of my car and I do not want to use full sheets so I am looking for a tape roll (about 1/4" width) that I can stretch and bend without ruining the vinyl or causing it to kink so much that I won't be able to get all the wrinkles out.

Using full size rolls would be a huge waste IMHO because there are several areas that it would be an excessive waste for a single line, like around the instrument cluster.

Please provide links if possible. I prefer using Amazon primarily for the free shipping but that combined with their fast delivery is pretty difficult to beat.

I have a 2015 Chrysler 200C that I have been working on a full Chrome Delete.

I have been working on this for about 4 years now. I started with a gloss black but have since moved to a matte black. There are a few areas that I've had issues with but one area in particular I've never been able to get it to stay in place. The area is in the angled corner on the trim for the rear 1/4 windows. A few weeks ago was the very first time I was able to get one side to go on perfect without any peeling or pulling away from the corner. The other side is a different story as it did not go on as good and started to peel up in this last week. See pics below.

I have used VViVid since the start and there is some vinyl that has been on the car going on 3 years with no visible fading.

At first I tried doing this with 3" vinyl rolls but I could not get it to do the corners at all without overstretching the vinyl with an excessive amount of heat. I eventually went to using 1ft width rolls and trimming around the edges, and so far that works great (except for these corners).

What worked on the one side this time was I did not heat or stretch the vinyl in that corner and only used both heat and stretching in the areas around it, but that method only worked in the one corner on the passenger side and not the corner for the drivers side (as you can see in the images).

Last year when I redid the trim on these back windows I used some adhesion for this vinyl but it still peeled up (started within a few weeks) and was looking real bad when I replaced it at the end of this last winter.

I am wondering if using my current method of no heat or stretching in the corner with some good adhesion promoter would work better for the corners.

Is there a better method than what I am trying that will get the corners to stick and not peel up?

Top photo is the driver side corner where it is peeling up and the bottom photo is the passenger side corner (please excuse the wetness as it just finished raining).

https://preview.redd.it/9ynh8d2wafyg1.jpg?width=671&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=547cf5c95d76bb4d54307456e0e7e440f3909edf

https://preview.redd.it/0fmbvc2wafyg1.jpg?width=642&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b324aa2998150a3109ee927c5575af7a7a898f69

https://reddit.com/link/1syl5tg/video/ll9xt2b5d1yg1/player

This is a few years ago and one of the times I forgot her ball so we couldn't play catch. I found a good stick and we started playing fetch but then she got dissatisfied with the stick I found...🤣🤣