Mark Rand
-
Posts
4,716 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
News
Store
Forums
Downloads
Events
Posts posted by Mark Rand
-
-
The bar is at the corner of Atwood and Sennott Streets, up against an apartment building. (The staff area was originally an apartment.) A parking lot at Sennott and Oakland Avenue serves the bar and several restaurants. Both Atwood Street and Oakland Avenue are one way, toward Forbes Avenue.
Like The Garage Door Saloon, which was once there, Thursday is karaoke night, the only night nobody cares how the patrons dress. The handgag tokens are replaced by karaoke tokens. There's always a couple ready to sing Charly McClain and Mickey Gilley's hit Paradise Tonight and one lady, dressed the part, to sing Patsy Cline songs.
-
9 hours ago, steriaca said:
That would be up to Mark, but I say it depends on the server. Some take their "kabuki stage ninja" outfits more seriously and keep quiet unless they have to talk. Others you just can't shut up.
Agreed. The lady dubbed "Kitten" took the role seriously when acting as a server and still does as a customer. But then, she likes going as a cat burglar to the Steel-City Con, the annual comics, manna, anime, etc. convention at the Monroeville Convention Center.
-
9 hours ago, steriaca said:
The hand gag is borderline kinky, which probably means that teenagers and underage will not have the token honored out of safety and concent.
True. That's another reason for the "UNDER 21" bracelets, which are made of the same material as hospital bracelets. The signs say that it won't happen to those under 21.
-
Some staff members wear fabric ski masks under their knit three-hole ones.
Since the COVID epidemic staffers have worn black surgical masks under their stocking masks.
Some cat burglars handgag their victims before doing anything else. Signs saying that patrons who want to experience it are to take a white plastic token with “MEOW” on it in black lettering and keep it visible. A few servers also do it to regular patrons they like, after which they greet them in a soft voice.
-
On 6/27/2023 at 11:20 AM, steriaca said:
One of the more intresting things about the way the Light Finger Lady gives out free drink tokens. The servers usually reverse pick pocket them to the target. There is a sign somewhere which advises that the staff will use this skill to pass on information on specials and free drink tokens (usually given to drunks to say 'you had enough, but please come back').
These tokens are dark-blue plastic with white lettering.
-
People here still mention a former server who was dubbed "Kitten", by a male customer, for her feline grace, stealthiness, and occasional habit of making cat noises. Some say she married the guy and now visits as a patron.
-
23 minutes ago, Sketchpad said:
A bar that caters to lawbreakers checking IDs for younger beings seems a bit odd to me.
Well, they don't want to loose their liquor license. Besides that, they don't cater just to lawbreakers. They also cater to those who think the cat burglar look is cool. Also, a lot of stealthy types might go there.
-
While most patrons wear gloves in the bar (they want to play the part of cat burglars) most don't wear ski masks. The few that do know how to drink with them on.
Many of the staffers will wear either hip packs or web belts with pouches, supposedly where small tools and loot can be carried.
-
The Light-Fingered Lady is a place in my upcoming campaign. It's a bar that's a neutral ground for burglars and people who like to dress like them.
The staff members, who have their own entrance, dress in black jeans, high-collar turtleneck sweaters (ribbed or smooth), boots that let them walk quietly, leather gloves that are long enough to keep the skin of their hands from being seen, and stocking masks under their ski masks. One staffer is always in the entrance area, checking IDs. If someone's under 21, they get a bracelet that says so. If someone shows a false ID, the ID is confiscated and turned over to the police.
-
If someone were to walk down Fort Duquesne Boulevard from Gateway Center to the Convention Center, they might notice a brick building with a tall metal smoke stack. This is Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal (PACT), which supplies steam heat to a number of downtown buildings through pipes which are 30-feet below street level.
On July 1, 2023, they will cease operations and Cordia Energy, which is expanding the system to uptown, will take over. Meanwhile Cordia is repairing and upgrading the old system, which is over 100-years old.
-
Curtain call: Redevelopment proposed for 31st Street Studios
Mark Belko
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
mbelko@post-gazette.com
Apr 26, 2023
7:34 PM
A massive redevelopment featuring as many as 750 residential units could replace sound stages used for films and TV shows at the 31st Street Studios in the Strip District.
North River Company will brief the Pittsburgh Planning Commission next week on a proposed master plan for the 9.4-acre site bordering Railroad and 32nd streets and the Allegheny River.
As part of the plan, North River eventually intends to phase out the eight sound stages now in use at the site, according to property manager Jace Armentrout.
“They eventually will all be taken down,” he said.
Due to the above, there are plans to build studios at the Carrie Furnace site.
-
WPXI (channel 11)’s offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Fineview section of the city, at the site of the station’s original studio location.
-
Pittsburgh area heliports
Lag III Heliport (Monroeville, Pa.)
Forbes Regional Health Center Heliport (Monroeville, Pa.)
UPMC East Heliport (Monroeville, Pa.)
WPXI-TV Television Hill Heliport (by the station’s antenna tower)
Henke Heliport (2 miles SE of Pittsburgh in Bulger, Pa.)
In my upcoming Pittsburgh-set campaign, there are other heliports, too. All require permission to land. Here is the list of them.
Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown (formerly Pittsburgh Hilton) Rooftop Heliport
The Westin Pittsburgh at Liberty Center Rooftop Heliport (by the David L. Lawrence Convention Center)
Omni William Penn Hotel Rooftop Heliport
Pedestrian tunnels link the Wyndham Grand with Gateway Center Buildings One, Two Three, and Four as well as the Gateway Center Parking Garage. (true)
For my campaign, I’m adding three FBOs (Fixed Base Operators) to Allegheny County Airport. One is Heliscort, a company that offers heli-taxi transport to high level clients (from the 1996 film Skyscraper). They use the Airbus Helicopters H155, which requires 1 or 2 pilots and can carry up to 13 passengers or a 5,073 pound payload. The second is Hawke Aviation, Inc. While their fleet is mostly Cessna prop planes, they have a light twin, a biplane, a helicopter, and a Douglas A-26 Invader. The third is Mid-Atlantic Airlines, a regional airline that covers the Mid-Atlantic states and uses the DC-3.
-
These are actual Pittsburgh heliports. All are privately owned and permission is required for landing.
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Heliport
Allegheny General Hospital Emergency Heliport
City Center Heliport (UPMC Presbyterian University Hospital)
UPMC Mercy Heliport
West Penn Hospital Heliport
UPMC Shadyside Health Education & Research Corp Heliport
St Clair Hospital Heliport
WPXI-TV Evergreen Road Heliport
UPMC St Margaret Heliport
600 Grant Street (U.S. Steel Tower) Rooftop Heliport
UPMC Passavant Hospital Heliport
-
38 minutes ago, wcw43921 said:
I had my own concepts for the WITCH organization--basically they're an all-women group; no uniforms or supertechnology, but lots of women working underground or under the radar, being led by a core team of superpowered women. Would you be interested in seeing them?
Very cool.
-
In regard to this, there is some talk about banning those under 18 from social media.
-
8 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:
Are you, or have you ever worked with or for, the Batman? If not, then you can't have Bat-squat.
True, but I do have arthritis in my knees and a few other joints.
-
7 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:
She and Alfred could have commiserated over their Bat-thritis.
Being 72, I have Bat-thritis, otherwise known as arthritis, too.
-
-
Michelle touched the orb, which is the size of a grapefruit, after she got her medical degree.
Her medicine bundle contains a pigeon’s wing, a stone from a river, a necklace that belonged to her mother, and an akoonah, wrapped in animal skin. An akoonah (taken from the Star Trek: Voyager episode The Cloud) is a device found by Michelle’s medicine man friend to facilitate vision quests, taking the place of psychoactive herbs. It is used by placing one’s hand on the surface of the device and concentrating on an object important to the user.
Out of habit, she carries a sheath knife in her right boot.
I haven’t decided on her animal guide.
Hannah’s dog, Sugar, is actually a gray wolf. She and Tabitha are friends.
-
The PDFs are Hero Designer files.
-
A NEW BEGINNING
3 congregations say ‘farewell for now’ to synagogue ahead of construction
By Jeremy Reynolds
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Squirrel Hill facility.
On a chilly Sunday, nearly 100 members of the Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life congregations and others gathered at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues to bid a ceremonial l’hitraot, or “farewell for now,” to a building filled with memories, now the site of the most deadly antisemitic attack in the United States.
“We do not say ‘shalom’ because there is a finality to that word,” said Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers. “Instead, we say ‘see you later,’ knowing that we will return.”
A couple of hours before the ceremony, police blocked streets to traffic for at least a block in each direction from the synagogue, where a gunman entered and killed 11 people from three different congregations on Oct. 27, 2018. Uniformed members of the city police and Public Safety Department were present in force. It was an emotionally charged event, but not ominous.
Synagogue members shook hands, embraced, laughed and reminisced before and after the ceremony.
While fundraising continues for the building, it is not actually time to break ground. Sunday was about “moving to a new chapter” as the congregation continues to remember and heal, said Rabbi Myers.
Looming over all, however, was the fact that the trial for the accused shooter would begin the next day.
The timing of the ceremony was not coincidental.
“This was a moment to celebrate what’s come before,” said Rabbi Myers, who reminded attendees of all of the positive memories of bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and birthdays and other celebrations. He also led those gathered in readings from the Torah and in song.
Only a few people joined in at first, but the music swelled in volume and warmth by the second chorus: “It is a Tree of Life to them that hold fast to it, and all of its supporters are happy. Shalom.”
Kids in coats hopped to keep warm while adults listened on with solemnity.
The ceremony lasted about 20 minutes.
The Tree of Life congregation was chartered in 1865 and has moved locations a couple of times in Downtown and Oakland before settling in Squirrel Hill in the 1940s.
Currently, Tree of Life congregation members have moved to the nearby Rodef Shalom, but they will return once construction is finished.
Dor Hadash also moved to Rodef Shalom, while New Light is currently in a space in Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill.
To begin anew, the old Tree of Life building will be demolished and a new center will be built that has space for a memorial, a museum, a film screening room and more. It will continue to be a place of worship, and it will also become the new home for the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.
Congregants brought small stones or offerings to Sunday’s ceremony to place on the retaining wall. These will be utilized in a manner to be determined in the new structure.
“We are moving to another chapter,” said Alan Hausman, president of the synagogue’s board. “Today is just ‘see you later.’ ”
There is no update on when ground will be broken or the new facility will be completed, but it is expected to take several years.
“Antisemitism transcends politics,” Rabbi Myers said. “It transcends the U.S. It’s been around for thousands of years. ... We’re saying to the rest of the world evil is not driving us from this building.”
-
22 hours ago, Mark Rand said:
Here's one more. Miss Hannah Russell, a former soiled dove, owns and runs the town’s saloon. Among her employees are Sam, the bartender, and Myra, a soiled dove and the love of the local hapless telegrapher’s life. She keeps a shotgun under the bar and has at least one derringer hidden on her person. Unknown to everyone, she’s a local agent for a temporal enforcement agency.
Miss Hannah is the local station keeper/agent for The Time Patrol (from the Poul Anderson stories). She has a few hidden pieces of technology, including energy weapons, a communicator, and a time cycle. Her horse is patrol-trained and her faithful dog, Sugar, isn't a dog...she just looks like one.
-
While Dr. Michelle is an NPC, she could get kidnapped by bandits wanting to have bullets removed from a friend. Of course, with her knowledge of science, she could have chemicals to make a primitive tear gas-like compound hidden in her medical bag. And, of course, she has a mind-link with Tabitha.
Here's one more. Miss Hannah Russell, a former soiled dove, owns and runs the town’s saloon. Among her employees are Sam, the bartender, and Myra, a soiled dove and the love of the local hapless telegrapher’s life. She keeps a shotgun under the bar and has at least one derringer hidden on her person. Unknown to everyone, she’s a local agent for a temporal enforcement agency.
The Light-Fingered Lady
in Champions
Posted
This is a bit off-subject, but I thought I'd add it in.
Valkyries exist in this campaign and Pittsburgh has a few other special bars.
Piper’s is a nightclub on Penn Avenue in the Strip District that’s popular with the magic-using crowd. Piper, the owner, manager, and occasional bartender, is a white witch. Peggy, her assistant manager, chief bartender, and cousin, is a half-Valkyrie white witch.
Jake’s Blues Bar, on Liberty Avenue in the Strip District, is a great place for blues. While there’s no house band, The Blues Angels play there four nights a week from 9 PM to closing.
Zorba’s, on East Carson Street in the South Side is a Greek Bar. Belly dancers perform there from 9 PM to closing. Safura and Salome often perform there.