[HoE] Your version of the wasted west.... was: Cost to repack own ammo?

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

>>      I was reading The Wasted West, and it says that you need a few
things to
>> repack your spent shell casings. The first is a bullet press, some lead
(to make
>> the actual bullets), smokeless powder, and percussion caps. Now for 50
units of
>> powder it costs $50, and it costs $100 for the percussion caps. So, not
>> accounting for the bullets and casings, it costs $150 to make 50 rounds,
of $3
>> per round. But, buying new rounds costs $1 each round. Am I missing
something
>> here, or are the costs for the materials out of whack?
>
>Well, mass production usually makes something less expensive, so that's
what I
>attributed it to.  <shrug>

Also assuming that you could find someone willing to sell you bullets.  I
don't care what kinda money you have, no one is going to sell you his only
way of staying alive.

On that note - what kind of setting is everyone picturing for the Wasted
West?  When/if I run it, it's going to be an environment where manufactured
resources are pretty scarce.  Sorta the 2nd Mad Max level of scarcity.
(but not yet as bad as the 3rd.)  Actually, the image I have is of Snake
Pliskin limping down the streets of New York Prison with a spiked bat.  It
was dark, people were using the city parts as best as they could, and there
were mutants in the sewars.

But there weren't many guns, and gas itself was pretty rare.

	The future would hold a time where the Junkers and scientists gain some
stature as they attempt to rebuild (pig-methane powered cars anyone?), but
they get blown away by the winds billowing under the Reckoner's cloaks..... 
	Throckmorton's empire, based on his manufacturing, crumbles when his
plants are destroyed.
	The Road Barons vehicles grind to a stop, becoming giant fossils of steel
and rust.
	The Templars and Law Dogs manage to score victories over the Reckoners,
driving them back into the Void, but the price is steep, and they too are
buried by the sands of time.

	With no burdens of the past upon them, a handful of children turn towards
the future, to start the process again....  as has happened before, and
will happen again...

	Of course, my posse might have something to say about that.  :-)
-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com

Why did the chicken cross the road:

Yoda:
Crossing the road makes not a chicken great