The Long List of Things to Carry to Always be Prepared ----------------------------------------------------------------- This is a not so short list of things that I have found can make life easier for any character. They can even save your life. The equipment list is set for contemporary or near future. Good in RIFTS too. But with a little thought it can be transposed into any genere. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Things to Have on You at all Times: (plus commentary) Leatherman Tool Lighter (preferably a titanium one, or the most permenant you can find) Watch (kinetic or pure solar power) Magnifying glass Matches (shitloads of matches, hurricane or otherwise) Watch (digital with alarm, timer, and calander) Diving watch (improvement over the above since it has a compass, and tells depth) Pocket Knife (ideally a 16+ function Swiss) Solar powered flashlight (small squeeze activated, batteries) Small pair or binoculars (pocket/folding) Gun, .22cal pistol or rifle. (Compact and ideally the AR-12 folding model which stores itself in its stock) 500 rds of ammo is but 2lbs. Gold and small jewels. Gold in ring form is best, necklaces, and ear rings are next. Gloves (leather, nomex, and latex) Pens (permenant, paint, and ball) Pencil and notepads Chalk (can be useful) Duct tape WD40 and penetrating oil Electricians (black) tape Kevlar Twine (a 500' roll is under 3" in diameter and 5" high plus it is very strong, noone I've ever met could break it with arm strength--and I know pro body builders) Sap (to reach out and crush someone) Five or more condoms Light sticks and mini-light sticks (IR and in different colors) Zip-loc plastic freezer bags Pen flares two tubes of super glue/krazy glue Tanto Boot knife Survival Knife Combat knife Throwing Spikes (in case you run out of things to throw or just want something to jam the door.) Any of the above four in carbon fiber (metal detector...) Whip-out baton Vibro-knife Belts to carry this all on. Usually one or two with pouches galore and util suspenders. Or a Load bearing vest/entry vest. 16'+ of 20 guage wire (wrapped around you waist-bonds, etc) Binoculars Night vision goggles Radio, walkie talkie etc. Hand cuffs (MDC is best) Lock picks Lock pick gun (for those you can't pick) Smoke grenades Lots of grenades... WP, frag, concussion, and Plasma... Laser scalpel, or just a scalpel Laser wand Telescoping wand/pointer Pen light Mirror attachment (for seeing around corners) 3" x 5" steel polished mirror (signal mirror that won't break) Laser distancer or tape measure Flashlight (mini-Maglite or Maglite, 3D cell to 5D cell) Can spray paint (bright color--marker) Blaze orange or hunter yellow marking tape (from construction stores) Gas mask (for pesky police raids) Map roll (empty is better than full, but you will still need a place for those maps if you get them) Compass: gyro or magnetic GPS if you have access (military or Majellan are good) Parachute line (about 1/4" dia. and strong as heck--nylon) First Aid kit Anti-venom injectors or snake bite kits Combat drugs (if available) Auto injector (anti-nerve gas or a mix of MgCl [magnesium-chloride] both of which kill people instantly, the later doesn't leave any evidence in a coroners report, it is the electrolyte used in the body.) Auto injector drug dispenser (large capacity full of anesthetic) Vial of red corn syrup (good for faking death photographs) 35mm camera and lots of film plus a flash (manual camera and good in the outdoors) Digital camera (if you can get one) Mini-tape recorder and walkman (with recorder) Headset radio (best with larynx box mic and bone conduction ear piece) Plastic zip restraints (like big plastic bag zippers, but good as impromptu hand cuffs) Whestone Flint and steel, magnesium fire starter, one handed sparker Whistle Medical tubing (to sifon gas tanks etc) Razor (easy to conceal in sock, collar of shirt, pants, underware, etc.) Derringer or holdout (cleaverly concealed like in a big western belt buckle) Garrote Files (like as in metal files, get out of jail free cards) Poncho Road flares Micro-spy-cam Camo sticks Balaclava Guille suit (if you don't know what this is, go to Yahoo) Life vest (it's hard to swim a river with all this gear...) Backpack (to be filled to the brim--see list below) Boots (hiking or running) Hat (floppy bush hat or a small cowboy hat are best, but a ball cap will do) Sunglasses (non-tinted to hide where you are looking or polarized and tinted if out doors) Goggles (to keep sand and stuff out) Rebreather (small 1/5" diameter tube with a mouth bite. It is a loop three feet long that wraps behind the head and attaches to the back--each lime cartridge is good for thirty minutes of air, bigger rebreathers that clip on the chest can have two hours) Tube, collapsable 1-2' long(same purpose) Soap, shampoo, razor Towel and or wash cloth Shorts and or drawers Blanket, bedroll, groundpad (thermal), and or a Sleeping bag (gortex is nice) Tent, tarp (12' x 12'), plastic ground cover, rope IRMSS, RMK, suture gun, protien salves Palm bio unit Bug dope, lots of bug dope. Batteries for everything. Guns, flashlights, radios, NVGs. Sachels, extra pouches, and fish lure boxes Water proof bags (up to ten gallon size) Garbage bags (hefty is best) White gas and stove Mess kit self containing pot set shovel/E-tool Old film canisters Diary Notebooks Big Magnet (computer/hard drive/disk buster... tapes too...) Glass cutter [hardware store] Suction cup (to not drop glass) [auto body store] Dive mask, snorkel, fins, trunks, diveknife, dry suit, wet suit depth line, chalk board/wax pen board Climbing gear/harness Carbiners ascenders/descenders pinions rope, lots of rope (climbing and tying) climbing shoes axe/hammer ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tools (that come in handy or for those who don't know tools, but always wanted a complete list.) Wrenches (box end and open end) Screwdriver (flat, philips, square, hex) Power screwdriver/drill/rachet Rachets (metric and std, small med and large drive with deep throats, narrow necks, extensions, and angle drives) Hammer (ball peen, claw, sledge, dead fall, brass) Crow bar (long and or titanium) Pipe (to add leverage to crow) Breaker bar (big damn socket driver) Laser welder (if available) and rods and flux for joining plastics, ceramics, metals, and dissimalars. Is about two feet long and 4" in diameter weighing 10-15 lbs. Angle/Die grinder (&lots of pads) Rivet gun (plus lots of five sizes of rivets) O-rings puller (internal and external) One-way screwdriver Digital multi-meter Oscilloscope (small would be nice) Frequency generator Soldering gun and solder wire snips hack saw and blades wood saw (circular or hand) Axe and wedges Shovel Tow chains or cables Spade Pick axe Mallet wandpaper and sander wire stripper/crimper vice grips and hog heads channel locks (needle and 3 sizes) pliers (3 sizes) C-clamps (3", 6", 8", 12", and 24" pr bigger) crescent wrench (4 sizes) needle nose pliers (micro, medium and large) fence pliers pipe wrench (four sizes) torgue wrench oil filter wrench transfer punches punches center punches shim punch and some thin bronze and steel material files and rasps (round, square, triangle and flat in coarse and fine) chissels and wedges (ten to twenty) Drill bits (carbide tipped is best) 1/64" to 1/2" by 64ths. Drill bits (A to Z and 1 to 40, plus 40-80 by 2's) BFH micrometer (1", 2", and 3") caliper(6", 12", 18") gage blocks feeler guage radius gages surface gages angle blocks sine bar and tables protractor scale (6" and 12") magnet/clamp nut grabber on 18-36" extension trouble light mirror on extension (12-18") hydraulic jack (2000#) blocks (to put vehicle or work up on) oil and WD40 plus penetrating oil, and locktite graphite chain extra screws, nuts, bolts, cap screws, lag screws, rivets, nails, bits, set screws, wing nuts, in all shapes and sizes. If these run out you're screwed... A 3-in-1 Drill press, lathe, mill would also be nice with about 5000$ put into tools and bits. Grease gun Computer with network and lots of disc space and extra discs. (I'm being pretty generic here I know) (But there are lots of tech levels) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Demolitions Gear You can never have enough explosives, and you should have multiple backups of all this and always rig two fuses C4 en masse, tons of TNT, or whatever blows up and is on hand Electronic and standard blasting caps Electric fuse wire Fast fuse (5000 m/s) Slow time fuse (60 cm/s) or about that Electric timers/detonators Analog timers/detonators Pressure pads/detonators Electric eye detonators Mercury switches Disturbance ball switches hanging pendulum disturbance switches IR motion detectors ($10 wal-mart ones then wire the buzzer to your detonator) hand crank detonators pushbutton hand detonators remote radio detonators (binary coded) remote radio blasting caps (binary coded) trip wire, pins, and nails pull fuse ignitors grenades (see above) cutting charges shaped charges line charges sheet charges primecord dust initiators napalm/plasma mixtures smoke bombs CS/CN/pepper and iritant gasses ----------------------------------------------------------------- Books (More valuable than gold in some time periods or eras.) 'The Way Things Work' both volumes 'Machinists Handbook' Newest edition 'A Barefoot Doctors Manual' a modern Chinese guide to medicine for people in the countryside 'FM 21-76: Survival' U.S. Army Survival Field Manual 'Henly's Formulas' Any of the extensive books of formulas will do. Containing statistical formulae (Z, chi, t, f, and error functions/tables), Mechanical (stress distributions, deformations, etc.), Calculus integral tables, Laplace and Forier transform tables, trignometry, algebra, geometry tables, electronics, and civil engineering. Concise world histories can never hurt. Microfiche volumes of technical journals, and blueprints of famous inventions. Formula for gunpowder and TNT and heck while you're at it, bring a good College Chemistry 101 book and a Chemistry of Materials Text/Handbook. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Things to make: (whew you'd be a rich man if done at the right time) Fire Wheel Lever (other mechanical devices: pulley, incline plane, screw) Container (pottery, wood, basket) Writing and written mathematics The zero Domestication of animals Agriculture The bow Printing press, adding movable type as soon as possible Steam engine Paperclip Hole punch How to make matches (manipulation of sulfur and potassium) Adhesive tape Carbon paper Self sticking notepads White out Pencil eraser Stapler Gunpowder and TNT Fermentation (for alcohol & wine) Distilling (for weak alcohol, petrochemicals, etc.) Glass Lenses Compass Square rigged sale Rudder Rubber (bands, tires, ponchos) Paper (from linnen, then wood pulp) Electricity, electromagnets, wires, and AC/DC generators. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Medicine (Without this you're dead...) Antiseptic medical procedutes: especially for childbirth and amputations Proper urban sanitation: germ theory of disease, washing hands can save lives No bloodletting Toothbrushing Regular baths Delousing of clothes and beds Mosquito control Proper snakebite treatment Nutrition and treatment of deficency diseases-- citrus fruits for scurvy Clean water Surgical anesthesia Penicillin Snakebite kit Asprin Tylenol Peptobismol Antacids Sudafed Antibiotics Iodine and Alcohol wipes (for clensing) Tincture Methiolate Neosporin (shit bring loads and loads of this) Band-Aids Sterile Gauze Sterile Bandages Sterile Medical tape The more you know, the more it is worthwile for you to carry