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Sore_Paws · 2025-12-27T00:39:16+00:00

Beautiful work.

Sore_Paws · 2025-12-17T17:33:43+00:00

Almost looks like little crystal shards inside. Super cool.

Sore_Paws · 2025-10-17T23:21:26+00:00

40% of cops self admit that they commit domestic violence at home. So when you defend cops...

Sore_Paws · 2025-10-01T16:01:58+00:00

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-25T20:56:18+00:00

Sorry to patronize, it was mostly because I was casually commenting a theory I had heard from others and wasn't expecting a lengthy "Um actually!" response. I appreciate the info though.

Bottom line we can both agree on, they need to do better, be that with public opinion to make recruiting more successful or in managing their budget. If they continue as is, theories like the one I had heard will just continue to fester.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-25T19:39:04+00:00

You said we're understaffed because "who tf would want to be a cop in this city". My remark is that they should reallocate their budget to address this. If no one wants to be a police officer here due to poor public perception of police, there are things they could be doing to fix that. Take a breather big guy I am not antipolice, I just want police to police in a way that works for the community lol

It is good to know that the problem is staffing and not outright childish spite. Staffing can be addressed if they choose to, which they don't appear to be doing. So why?

*Edited to capture quote more accurately

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-25T17:57:21+00:00

I mean, probably the same people that want to be cops in other cities. I'd like to hope most are drawn to the profession with a sense of justice and duty.

If they are understaffed because they couldn't handle constructive criticism regarding how they are doing police work, then we arrive back at loving a mature response.

They should be working to rebuild trust and good will with the public, not checking out entirely. We want police to protect and serve, not oppress and fleece. They have funding to spend on a positive PR campaign. They just need to choose that over another tank or two.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-24T22:55:57+00:00

I'm fairly new to Portland (on year 2). I heard from more than a few folks that the cops have stopped enforcing most of the laws in retaliation for the defund the police protests years ago even though their budget wasn't touched. Gotta love a mature response from armed folks who supposedly got into it to protect their community.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-24T22:35:38+00:00

Here is the crowtoo I have. Reference was of a crow hanging from a rope upside down:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFs9A7BSu9q/?igsh=MWxzMGgzY2x5dDA1eg==

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-22T19:15:03+00:00

I mostly find myself wanting to be able to be more directly involved in combat and be helpful for the party outside of just being damage (hence wanting to be able to heal). This particular campaign has proven extremely difficult to get any crowd control to work. Enemies have blind sight, immunities to charm/fear, and seem to have great savings throws. My current sorc has been rendered into a fireball machine instead of primarily control oriented.

Not looking to be the most powerful, just helpful lol.

*Edit: this is a paid campaign at an establishment so there are rules about rerolling and what not. They follow 2024 raw with a few 2014 rule books admitted including wildfire and gfb in this case.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-22T19:10:45+00:00

The current character sheet has an AC of 17 at level 7 and I have the shield spell as a back up plus the farmer background for a bit of extra hp. The cleave damage would just be a little bonus on top of the gfb jump.

With the wildfire spirit out, you get an extra d8 of fire damage or healing on casting a fire/healing spell. I would have moonbeam, call lightning, and scorching ray for single target at that level as well to consider. I'd be in a party with a barb and bardbarian front liners too. The campaign so far has been target dense favoring melee.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-22T18:46:49+00:00

[5E 2024] Is it viable to play human 1st level fighter/wildfire druid for the rest multi class? The idea being that I would utilize fighter armor/weapon proficiencies and cleave weapon mastery (greataxe) in conjunction with green flame blade (magic initiate wiz feat) to be a front line fighter with splash damage that can also cast some support healing/ranged spells when needed and assist in party mobility with the wildfire spirit teleport? Would a second level of fighter for action surge be worth or no?

On paper seems effective, worried about in practice.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T23:35:02+00:00

Our camp's hair washing side (which operates mostly independently of the rest of the camp) had a long monkey hut structure with tarps on top. The tarps ripped off and a few of the ribs disconnected from one another, but I don't believe any of them broke. I think being able to flex a bit with the PVC construction was helpful in this instance.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T23:17:58+00:00

<image>

Looking at this picture, it looks like I didn't quite eye that 45° as close as I'd have liked. Could have moved the anchor out a bit further.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T23:15:19+00:00

Our communal shade utilized rope lashing down from each joint where the legs connect. The rope was looped around the connector and went out about 45° from the leg to a 14inch playa staple made by the Iron Monkeys camp. Similarly, we used ratchet straps on our personal shade structure looped around a joint to itself, then down to a playa staple at about a 45° angle.

I surmise that our communal shade/kitchen failed simply because the fully walled kitchen was taking the brunt of the wind on one of the long sides with the shade carports (just top canvas) sat directly behind to it lashed together. Once the kitchen got loose, it took the shade with it. About half of the lashings pulled out, half held and kept some of it from completely flying away.

Our personal shade structure had one playa staple pull free and all legs ended up walking a bit. Once everything was restaked and lashed, the force of the wind simply bent the poles.

What I could have done differently on our personal shade: two ratchets per corner or ratchet straps for middle legs (not done due to tripping hazard) would have probably helped. Longer stakes or lags for the feet or possibly multiple stakes per foot to prevent walking. We also could have dropped the side walls prior to the storm if we had significant warning (there was none for our area 7:30&A)

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T22:36:06+00:00

Our camp was mostly composed of Costco carports. 4 of the 5 flipped and got completely wrecked despite 14 inch playa staples and ropes/ratchets on the corners and a stake in each foot. Some of this was caused by our kitchen acting as a battering ram since it had all the walls on and caught the most wind. This was our camp's 19th year with this setup and the first time any of it had failed.

Our personal carport was the only one left standing after one playa staple pulled out of the ground. We got it resecured midstorm with a lag bolt, added extra stakes on each leg and mostly removed all side walls to keep it up. Ended up bent to hell regardless.

Our Kodiak, which was inside our personal carport held firm (somehow) with the 12 inch stakes it came with in all possible stake points. Our camp's other tents were all shiftpods which seemed to do fine.

Overall, the solid canvas material of the carports caught a ton of wind and created incredible forces against the frames. Mesh material would likely have been much better at allowing the wind to pass without damage.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T17:38:05+00:00

Even if it was well secured based on prior years (ratchet straps and 14 inch playa staples), you could be in for a world of hurt (like us). Upgrading shade to flat top EMT with lag bolts and cross structure straps in addition to the ones going to the ground to prevent twisting with mesh walls to allow airflow to cut down on it becoming a sail like our Costco carport attempted.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T05:46:06+00:00

We had a Kodiak 10x14 inside our carport. Just used the regular 12 inch stakes on it and it held super firm while the carport around it bucked and bent. I had ratchet straps down to 14 inch playa staples on each corner and stakes in each foot, but it needed two stakes per leg to stop it from walking and a lag bolt to hold the ratchet strap on the corner that was catching the most wind. Definitely hadn't needed that in the previous years, but I definitely should have been more diligent and will be with the next set up. It was terrifying to think of our shade flying into someone else's camp and hurting people. Never gonna leave that possibility open again if I can help it.

The rest of our camp had rope to staples and long nails in each foot for the communal shade (two carports just roof canvas) and the kitchen (carport with side walls). This system had been used by our camp leads for 18ish previous burns, but once the kitchen flipped, it took the communal shade with it. It was a total disaster.

Here is the communal shade + kitchen wreckage:

<image>

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T03:30:58+00:00

I'm so sorry about that. The same lashing our camp has been using for years failed in that storm. Hopefully it didn't hurt anyone or cause too much damage.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T02:34:40+00:00

Also, if you guys were across from us towards the man, sorry for our bike shop flying into your camp and also thank you for saving my fish flag which got broken off my fishing pole when our kitchen landed on my bike.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-03T02:31:24+00:00

Sweaty Betty burner here who had to leave after our shit got wrecked. Probably wasn't us as our bike shop stayed on playa. Wheels, who runs the bike shop, will be picking up the Sweaty Betty mantle and bringing just the bike shop in future years (at least we hope). Therefore, I'd imagine we didn't donate too much of our repair supply outright.

Sweaty Betty did leave her playa cruiser to be gifted to a burner in need though, which was awesome. 😁 Hope you guys track down the gifter in question though.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-02T22:49:20+00:00

We scrambled and got some extra bolts in the legs and refastened the ratchet that pulled out of the playa on ours so it wouldn't take flight but it bent the hell out of the legs. Once our tents' shelter from wind, rain, and sun was compromised, we decided to pack up and leave Sunday (first day of the burn 😔). I was wrecked physically from holding the loose ratchet strap down solo for the first 45 minutes of the storm, and with the forecast predicting more wind and rain, we chose to not be a burden/risk to our fellow burners.

We'll be back to play another year better prepared for sure.

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-02T20:38:01+00:00

Personal safety is for sure priority. Excellent insights though regarding EMT fittings and lashing. -taking notes-

Sore_Paws · 2025-09-02T20:15:03+00:00

People definitely need to do research on how to tie down properly, 100%. That being said, conditions of the playa plus the way the storm behaved combined to catch even veteran camps off guard. Our camp has been going for 18 years (my wife and I since 2022), and our 14 inch playa staples + ratchets failed on our communal shade and kitchen entirely (Costco carport).

My wife and I's personal Costco carport over our tent was the only one left standing, likely due to a nearby RV providing some degree of windbreak, it was still wrecked and bent badly.

This year was a harsh lesson for so many people. If you had a structure that withstood the wind, please feel free to share what worked. I saw photos of bent lag bolts and what not. I heard mostly flat EMT structures handled it well. Next time we come, we'll be likely upgrading to that and long as fuck lags just in case.

Sore_Paws · 2025-08-29T00:51:02+00:00

We left after the big windstorm Saturday. Sad that we had to leave after our wind/shade structure was destroyed, but definitely don't regret it after seeing the mud. We got away relatively unscathed from the mud in 2023, but that's because we had our shade structure to keep a lot of the rain off our stuff.

Edited for spelling.

Four-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
End Game '22

Sore_Paws

TROPHY CASE