Huya Gonacall's guide to TEOTWAWKI

I write this in the hopes that some of my hard earned experience can save some of you poor, helpless, unprepared s̶h̶e̶e̶p̶ er, people that is. When I was a starry eyed Aspirant at the convent I thought that mans inhumanity to man was the worse thing I could expect of the world. Well, was I ever wrong. Luckily (I guess?) for me it wasn't too long before I learned that those things that go bump in the night like to bump back, mostly with interest. Now that I know what is coming all I can do is pass on some of my knowledge and hope it sticks. So here are my top tips for surviving what is coming. One : The OODA loop This is critical to your future survival. Sure, some of the things you will see will probably make your blood run cold and make you want to panic. But formualting a plan, then acting on that plan will save you more times than something sharp and pointy will ever do. Either that or be a chew toy. Your choice.. Observe: Gather real-time data, environmental cues, and sensory information from the outside world. In a supernatural crisis, your senses will actively lie to you, or capture things that defy logic. You must adjust what you look for. Track the anomalies : Note what violates physics (e.g., shadows moving against the light, sudden temperature drops, unexplainable static on the radio). Identify the safe baselines : What isn't changing? Keep track of reliable physical boundaries (like running water, salt, solid walls, or specific daylight hours). Mute the panic : Filter out ambient screaming, mass hysteria, and unverified rumors. Focus strictly on immediate, verifiable threats in your direct line of sight. Orient: Filter and analyze your observations through the lens of your culture, heritage, genetics, previous experience, and new information. John Boyd considered this the most critical phase. John Boyd (the U.S Air Force colonel who developed the OODA loop) noted that orientation is the most critical step. In a supernatural event, bias is fatal. If you try to rationalise a paranormal threat using everyday logic, you will not survive. Destroy normalcy bias: Accept immediately that the rules of the world have broken. Do not wait for a government broadcast or an explanation that is never coming. Catalog the "New Rules" : Quickly deduce the operational laws of the threat. Does it only hunt at night? Is it drawn to sound or biological fear? Does traditional metal affect it? Assess your inventory: Look at your gear not just for standard survival, but for exploitability under the new rules (e.g., UV lights, salt, mirrors, or heavy physical barriers) Decide: Formulate a hypothesis or choose a course of action from available options. In a fast-moving crisis, a flawed plan executed immediately is better than a perfect plan executed too late. Pick an immediate objective: Do not try to solve the global crisis. Decide on a singular, micro-action: Shelter in place, flee to high ground, or seal the perimeter. Establish hard triggers: Set clear "if/then" parameters to remove hesitation. For example: "If the threshold line is crossed, I fire." or "If the temperature drops below freezing indoors, we abandon this room instantly." Act: Execute the chosen decision, which naturally alters the environment and generates new data to start the cycle again Action changes the environment. The moment you move, the threat will react, giving you fresh data to restart the loop. Move with violent focus: When you execute, do it with absolute commitment. Hesitation between the natural and supernatural world invites disaster. Check the feedback loop: The second your action is complete, immediately ask: Did it work? Did the entity react the way I expected? Am I safer now or more exposed? Cycle instantly: Take that new data, feed it right back into Observe , and spin the loop again. You may feel like you have to be 'Perfect' in order to survive a crisis but remember perfect is the enemy of `good enough.` Two : Arming up. Given the perfect choice my preferred loadout would be: 12-gauge pump-action platform, specifically either the Mossberg 590A1 or a police-surplus Remington 870 Police Magnum . The rationale for why this specific firearm is the ultimate choice applies to the OODA loop framework in several ways: 1. The Ultimate Catalyst for the "Orient" Phase: Chemistry & Lore In a paranormal crisis, you are no longer just shooting lead; you are exploiting occult vulnerabilities. A pump-action 12-gauge is less a firearm and more a handheld, multi-payload delivery system . Custom Occult Handloads: Because pump-actions rely entirely on manual muscle power to cycle the action, they do not care how much or how little pressure a cartridge generates. You can hand-roll custom shells filled with rock salt (for spirits), crushed silver coins (for lycanthropes), cold iron shavings (for fae), or consecrated ash. A semi-automatic shotgun would instantly jam trying to cycle these low-pressure or irregular loads. Massive Bore Diameter: A 12-gauge barrel is roughly .73 inches wide. This allows you to chamber massive, devastating single slugs for cosmic horrors or heavy physical entities. 2. Streamlining the "Decide" & "Act" Phases: Utter Simplicity When reality breaks, cognitive overload sets in. You cannot afford a weapon that requires complex troubleshooting under cosmic duress. Mechanical Indestructibility: The Mossberg 500/590 series and Remington 870 are mechanically simple. They have no complex gas valves to clean, no batteries to fail, and can be completely stripped down with basic tools. If you drop it in a swamp avoiding a spectral entity, you can pour river water through it, cycle it, and keep moving. Point-and-Click Intimidator: At close quarters—where supernatural ambush is highest—a 12-gauge loaded with buckshot maximizes your chance of a hit on a fast-moving, physics-defying target, even if your hands are shaking from sheer terror. If you are unable to source a shotgun and only have access to handguns then your absolute No.1 pick should be a .357 Magnum revolver with a 4-inch barrel, specifically the Ruger GP100 or the Smith & Wesson Model 686 .A heavy-duty magnum revolver is the ultimate tool for adapting your OODA loop to paranormal anomalies. While preppers universally favor a 9mm semi-automatic like a Glock 19 for standard human-centric disasters due to high capacity and parts availability, a supernatural crisis fundamentally alters the required logic. A heavy-duty magnum revolver is the ultimate tool for adapting your OODA loop to paranormal anomalies. 1. The 'Orient' Phase Advantage: Ammo Versatility & Occult Payloads In a supernatural crisis, you cannot rely on factory metal jacket rounds to stop things that defy biology. Dual-Caliber Logistics: A .357 Magnum revolver natively chambers and fires both hard-hitting .357 Magnum rounds and lighter .38 Special ammunition. This doubles your chances of finding usable scavenged ammo. Manual Cycling (Zero Jamming): Semi-automatic pistols rely entirely on the precise explosive pressure of standard factory gunpowder to push the slide back and load the next round. If you hand-load custom rounds with silver grains, cold iron filings, or salt, a semi-automatic will jam. A revolver relies entirely on your physical trigger pull. It will reliably cycle black powder, low-pressure custom survival hand-loads, or erratic, decades-old ammunition without a single mechanical hitch. 2. The 'Decide' & 'Act' Phase Advantage: Pure Mechanical Certainty Paranormal anomalies induce acute psychological terror. Fine motor skills vanish, and reality breaks. You need a weapon that eliminates human error. No Magazine Failures: In semi-automatics, the single highest point of failure is the magazine spring or feed lips. A revolver completely eliminates the magazine from your logistical equations. Immediate Malfunction Clearance: If a round fails to ignite because a localized supernatural anomaly drops the temperature or dampens physics, your OODA loop demands instant correction. With a semi-automatic, you must clear the jam manually. With a revolver, your action is immediate: you simply pull the trigger again to rotate a fresh chamber into place. Extreme Stopping Power: At close defensive ranges, a full-power .357 Magnum delivers massive kinetic energy, providing the raw stopping power needed to halt physical manifestations or mutated entities that don't feel human pain thresholds. Now I know this is all a bit of a TLDR infodump but sadly `Adapt or Die` isn't just some cutesy bumper sticker for Edgelords. How about a slightly patronising, yet scary PSA to liven things up :) Three : Janie (hasn't) got a gun I guess there is a non-zero chance that anyone reading this may not necessarily be a gun toting, hot, yet scary Ex-Nun such as myself. In that case here are some ideas for reliable melee weapons. While you are busy scouting for these items there a few other things that may help that you will likely run across. To maximize your chances I would HIGHLY recommend scouting in groups of at least three. However, don't get caught in the trap of being sentimental. When the fecal matter hits the rotating cooling device ( note I said when not if ) you don't need to be fast to escape trouble. You just need to be faster than the other people in your party. Four : Know Thine Enemy First up what I like call `The Dummies Guide to things that go bump in the night`. For those of you who are a bit more SHTF/Prepper/Gun Enthusiast minded here are the Big Boy/ Big Girl versions. Unfortunately there is a nest of Vampires just begging for some Shock and Awe via the overwhelming use of firepower so let me leave you with one last thought.