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So Eoris is Three Wolf Moon: The RPG?
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 21:38 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 15:56 |
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Count Chocula posted:I know I say this for every modern horror RPG, but Imajica makes the initiation scene seem appealing and Unknown Armies' Mystic Hermaphrodite works well. As for why they're the good guys? Using magic to smash gender roles and the patriarchy sounds more helpful than killing dragons. Except that's not really what they're doing(at least in IDA), they're using magic to enforce their own perceived gender-roles/gender amorphity on people who might very well not want it. Who happen to be comfortable and fine with their standard genders. This is more like these people enforcing their own gender insecurities/instabilities on others, whether they want it or not. It also assumes that there actually is a "patriarchy" rather than it just being someone's favourite delusion. Which is a stance that just plays into too much rabid bullshit for me to even want to entertain its existence in fiction.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 21:46 |
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PurpleXVI posted:Personally I have no issue with people who have weird gender identities/GID/are transsexual, just with those of that group who make those gender oddities the entirety of their identity and become shrill, insufferable fuckfaces as a result. Exactly. You are who you are, whatever you want to be or call yourself. But I don't think I've ever heard anyone use those two with straight face without that person being, well, an insufferable fuckface.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 21:46 |
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PurpleXVI posted:Syrg: Are you supporting the Mundane Patriarchy and their oppression of humanity's true birthright as androgynous girlymen? Actually I'm getting hella mad at that quote as a dude who is going into psychiatry focused on gender issues. I've basically got an uphill battle against a bunch of stodgy old dudes who make things hard to do by keeping antiquated rules/regulations around where they can but NONE OF THOSE ARE WHAT IS BEING DESCRIBED. The only one even remotely rooted in reality is "traditional gender roles" because some people hold firm to "you must be hella-girly/butch as gently caress to be an mtf/ftm, or else you're just pretending", but you're more likely to be denied a diagnosis to keep you off of surgery because what the gently caress an actual diagnosis would make it easier barring a surgeon refusing to perform the operation what kind of hosed up doublethink is this ggergtgsgfdgdgdf Oh look I think I'm angry enough to finish this Doctor Who rules clusterfuck, update in an hour if I don't chew through my tongue.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 21:58 |
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Doctor Who RPG (1985): Still The Worst (or, Character Creation) So when we last left off I mentioned two things about the game: the layout of information is atrocious, and the rules are not really written out in an easy-to-use fashion. We're going to make two star-travelling hobos, one from Earth, one from Gallifrey (thanks, Plaz, for the idea), and show you just how different the two races are in the end... and just how badly these rules are collected. You get your stat points by rolling 2d6 and adding this to 36 for your points pool. Stats begin at 6 across the board, so add up from there. I got the exact same 4+2+36 for each of them, so the statistics came out like this: Kevin Donovan (Gallifreyan) Strength: 11 (rank IV) Endurance: 12 (rank IV) Dexterity: 10 (rank IV) Charisma: 15 (rank V) Mentality: 15 (rank V) Intuition: 15 (rank V) John Lydon (Human) Strength: 15 (rank V) Endurance: 15 (rank V) Dexterity: 16 (rank V) Charisma: 10 (rank IV) Mentality: 10 (rank IV) Intuition: 12 (rank IV) After this, we roll for a Special Ability. Roll 3d6, get the ability given. Getting an 18 means your Game Master can actually make one up for you and/or have you reroll. Another 18 means roll twice on the table and take two... but this can gently caress you, because the dead-middle options are both "No Ability". Neither of our characters ended up with this, however. Donovan is going to have Empathy (it's telepathy, but with emotions instead of thoughts), and Lydon gains Unusual Dexterity, giving him a 5 point boost (and knocking him up to Rank VI). A side-note: there's an Unusual (stat) ability for every statistic but Intuition, which is kind of strange. Also, let me just point out Layout Gaffe #1: the descriptions for all these abilities are back on page 8. We actually create characters on page 26, and all the information on what you're dealing with is at the beginning of the book, divorced from all rules for doing so. On said page the Unusual Stat skills are "Enhanced (stat)". They work in bizarre ways: three of them grant us "some proficiency" in skills relating to those stats, and make them "easier to learn" (this is not explained anywhere I can find in mechanical terms, all that's written down is "+5" near the 3d6 table), Mentality gives us a free MNT-powered skill, and Endurance gives us a booster to HP/makes it harder to fall unconscious, but this is actually written down near the table as well as a bonus to one of our saves (we'll get there). Now. Skills. This is where poo poo gets insane. You see, throughout the book there are little example vignettes which show you how mechanics work, how a game should play out, etc. and near this part of the book one of them goes into the sample character getting Unusual DEX and ranking up to Rank VII in the stat. Then it goes on to say that as a result of this, she gets a free rank VII skill that relies on Dexterity. Nowhere outside of this example is this rule ever mentioned or expanded upon. Is it just rank VII that gets this bonus? Dexterity-only? Do characters get a free rank (whatever) skill for each attribute? Was this from some prior version of the game that never got edited out of the finished copy? This is the kind of poo poo that hampered my writing this, trying to figure out how much of the sample information I was supposed to be working with. Also after every one of the character-creation sections it tells us to go back 10+ pages to the massive play example. I guess I was supposed to be flipping to each part of character creation in the middle of that instead of reading it all as one solid narrative. Oops! Next time we'll actually set down the skills because they're a headache in and of themselves, and my writeups are dry as hell already.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 22:39 |
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hyphz posted:
So the Ziel are basically the 3:16? Just cleansing planets for the hell of it/to 'protect' themselves? Nice.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 22:55 |
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PurpleXVI posted:
After thinking about it, the Androgynes sound like individuals who have suffered abuse and then, in order to find solace afterwards, inflict it upon others. I believe this happens with some surprise sex victims and bullies tend to be the product of physical abuse, so they lash out. Hell, all you have to do is make it that the Androgynes pursue a relationship with someone and talk about philosophical issues involving gender and what-not after sleeping together over the course of several dates. At the end, if the initiator thinks the person would do well as an Androgyne, they offer them the chance instead of inflicting it. Link them to a pleasure cult and you just don't create another SEX MAGICIANS but one that seeks pleasure regardless of boundaries (physical or social) and find power in it.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2012 23:35 |
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Sure, we can get a map. 7th Sea: The Great Creator cupped his hands around his mouth and blew, and the winds were born.  I've done my best to paste the two halves together in such a way that it's at least readable. We start in the west of the Empire, in Ruzgar'hala land. This area is most familiar to visiting Théans, having had some influence from Vodacce, and the locals may even be able to speak with them here, using a mix of trade language and pidgin Vodacce. The first major city is Rahajeel, which is practically a sister city to Porto Spatia in Vodacce. It is a busy harbor which serves as a waystation for the other, larger cities - a good spot to resupply before the next leg of a trip. It is neither truly Vodacce nor Crescent, but a mix of the two, and thus has places to buy wine next door to a kaffe house, among other things. It has plumbing and bathhouses, making it a pretty clean place. It is forbidden for any non-patika religion to conduct services in Rahajeel, though rumor has it that the Inquisition has agents there to enforce the travel ban. A squad of ghazim are also in the city to keep an eye on outsiders, especially suspected church agents or alcohol dealers. The city sells a lot of goods from both Vodacce and the Crescent interior, and it's an excellent place to begin a trip to the Empire for heroes who aren't very religious. The city of Jesalute is the other major city in Ruzgar'hala territory. It has two parts to itself - the western half, which lies inside the Vodacce border, and the eastern half. The western half is home to the Abbey of St. Giovanna, and it's seen as the last outpost of the Church before the Crescent border. Heading into the eastern half requires passing through a well-maintained pass in the Hayalet'dag, where the Vodacce and Crescents maintain an outpost. After that checkpoint, you head into eastern Jesalute. There, the Empire is in its full glory, designed to be dramatically and exclusively Crescent. There is a bustling duck here where it's easy to get passage to Iskander, or to find a dhima vendor who can give proper papers to cross Atlar-vahir territory. The back streets near the dock are dangerous, though, full of black marketeering and slave trading. (Slaves are legal, but the Empire does not want an open slave market right next to Vodacce.) Jesalute is famous for its beautiful gold-domed mosque. A representative of the Ruzgar'hala chief lives in Jesalute, dealing in information and serving as a judge when needed. The chieftain himself occasionally visits the city, but will head back for his warm caves in the mountains at the first sign of winter. Heading westward takes us to Atlar-vahir land. This is home to the city of Alexia, once the site of the famous Library that was burned in the Crusades. It was a beautiful place until 1088, when it was destroyed and burned to the ground. (Unsurprisingly, many of the books ended up being stolen and taken to the west, and are still sought out for return today.) Little by little, though, Alexia was rebuilt. It is now the center of the publishing industry in the Empire, and it is here that one can learn all the skills needed to make books and scrolls, from calligraphy to papermaking. Scribes from across the Empire come here on pilgrimage and rededicate themselves to restoring the Library. Sultan Timur is very big on this project, and hopes to get Bayana Meryan bint Saliha to help make some negotiations with the Vaticine in hopes of getting some of the books back. He's aware this may bring Verdugo's attention, and he hates the man, but he wants to reclaim what is rightfully his. Alexia is not a good place for outsiders, though - the people there hate Vodacce and by extension Théah, and the chieftain of the Atlar-vahir has pledged that the city will never be threatened again by anyone. Ever. Thus, outsiders will be watched suspiciously at all times. There is also the city of Edirne, one of the largest and oldest of the western cities in the Empire. The Atlar-vahir claim it is the Mother of Life's favorite, because it is in such a wonderful location. It's full of mosques, bazaars and the famous Horse Market, where once a year horse-lovers from across the Empire will gather for a huge festival and horse auction. It also has one of the nation's few stadiums, with equipment for many horse and footraces as well as wrestling matches and vurmak tournaments. Vurkmak, google tells me, is a Turkish word for hitting, and seems to be some kind of team sport, perhaps jereed. Edirne is surrounded by fertile plains, and the city has easily got the best market in the entire Empire. Making a good deal in Edirne marks you as a fearsome haggler indeed. It also has the best kaffe houses in the western half of the Empire. We head north now to the Kurta-Kir or Gray Wolf tribe, also known as the Great Tribe. (The book also seems to think they are the Kurtlar-dag, which makes no sense. Those are the mountains.) They are an independent and proud tribe that has produced more Sultans than any other in the Empire. Sultan Timur is of this tribe, and had he not become Sultan he'd likely have been its chieftain. They have only one real major city: Razgrad, which lies at the base of the mountains bordering Ussura. The university in Razgrad is the best in the realm, though Timur wants to restore Alexia to surpass it. Students of Razgrad also receive an education in foreigners, thanks to frequent Ussuran contact and even occasionaly Cathayans. Unlike other parts of the Empire, the people of Razgrad are relatively okay with outsiders. Riding and hunting are common pastimes among the student body, which is coed. However, chaperones are required for all female students to ensure everyone focuses on their studies and that youthful passion doesn't render betrothal negotiations worthless. The ghazim pay a lot of attention to Razgrad - after all, students like to argue and sometimes fail to see the value of tradition, so they sometimes need reminding. Then it's off to the northeast and the lands of the Jadur-rihad. This a mysterious place, thanks to the Cathayan influence. The Adaz'uk, or Mountains of Faith, are home to the Safadim, a group of fanatics who have lived there for centuries. They might be a splinter sect of the Kurta-kir, but it's more likely they were once Yilan-bazlik. They claim that they alone are pure practitioners of patika, untainted by city weakness or western infidels. They also have no regard at all for women as anything other than property. Safadim women do not read, write, sing, dance or hold idle conversation. They must be covered completely at all times outside the house, and must be accompanied. Here we find the city of Erivan, home to the second-largest slave market in all of the Empire. Pirates who prefer to avoid imperial entanglements come to Erivan instead, and the locals tend to ignore their criminal activities as long as things stay quiet. It is because of the slave market that the Safadim treatment of their women was recognized - on occasion, they bring women to the market and engage in normal business. Recently, the women and children they bring apear to be malnourished and abused, something the Market Master won't tolerate. He spoke with the Safadim, but they brushed off his concern, referring to the slaves as 'cattle.' The Market Master said it was their right to treat slaves as they wished, but that he would not do business with them if they wouldn't take better care of the slaves. He didn't want a bad reputation. The local ghazim have been alerted. There is also Trebizond, which is to Ussura what Rahajeel is to Vodacce - a hybrid city where the two groups of people live essentially side-by-side. It's easier to get to Ussura from Trebizond since there's no mountains in the way. It was originally a small kingdom of its own, ruled by a man named Alexius, who would send tribute to the Empire in exchange for independence. Matters proceeded quietly until the Grand Vizier of the time noticed the richness of the goods and decided he wanted the Empire to own Trebizond. He sent spies to undermine the kingdom, and Alexius was forced to choose between turning to Cathay, Ussura or the Empire. He chose the Empire...and paid dearly for it, as the Vizier stole his treasury, installed a puppet ruler and sent loyal army units to occupy Trebizond. Today, it is a shadow of its former glory, dependent on the Sultan's good will and Ussuran trade. It cannot mint its own coin due to laws put in place when it was annexed and needs trade to get any money in. Sidebar time! There are a ton of Syrneth ruins in the Crescent Empire. The Crescents believe the ruin-builders were very powerful and wealthy, and thus deserve respect. The Yilan-bazlik are especially respectful of the Syrneth. No one has any real drive to dig the ruins up - they're dangerous, and some tribes use them as burial grounds, so it's rude to disturb them. The Yilan-bazlik are especially protective of those who loot their sacred sites - which, you know, are the ruines. Their chief has placed a standing bounty for the capture of anyone caught poaching in the ruins. Some whisper that it's actually being financed by the Qatihl'i assassin cult. Only die Kreuzritter are allowd to enter the ruins untroubled, for they protect the ruins from those who would steal their secrets. They are greatly respected for their asceticism and devotion. And now we move to the Yilan-bazlik lands in the Muglak'kum and Shehir'kum. The Yilan-bazlik are the strangest of the tribes, secretive and mysterious. They are known for three things: first, snakes. Second, the desert sands. Third, the Syrneth ruins. They largely live in the lesser Shehir'kum desert, with a few settlements on the edges of the great and terrible Muglak'kum. The desert itself is extremely dangerous, and one could cross it for weeks and see nothing. It is well over a hundred degrees in the day, and below freezing at night. Winds cause huge sandstorms, which can destroy whole caravans. There is little to eat, and all of the reliable oases are guarded by the Yilan-bazlik. Worse, there are rumors of terrible monsters below the sands, of huge beasts lurking in the Syrneth ruins and of strange visions seen by those in the desert. Few who enter the Muglak'kum ever return. The first major city in Yilan-bazlik land is Basra, an ancient city that serves as a contact point for the people of the western Dakalan Islands. It was set an important coastal port for centuries, but erosion caused the place to deteriorate, and rather than fix it, they decided to move further inland and just maintain paths to the shore. The city has since fallen into hard times, no longer a center of commerce. It is really not much of a city, though it is a welcome site for those exiting the Muglak'kum. It's rather like Rahajeel without any Vodacce influence - dangerous for those who rely purely on the law for protection. Next is Kulkadir, the easternmost city of the empire. It was once an obscure fishing village, but with the recent activity in the Mirror, Kilkadir has been growing. It has one of the best fish markets in the empire, thanks to the nearby Cinada Islands, and now that trade is picking p there, bureaucrats and taxmen seem to have appeared from nowhere. There are still strong pirate influences, though, and it's only time before the authorities feel the need to tame the city once and for all. There is also a lot of tension from foreigners - there's quite a few in town, thanks to the rise of Cabora. Urfa is the last major city of the Yilan-bazlik lands, and the largest city in the Muglak'kum. Its was built thousands of years ago around an oasis, and legend says it was built on top of even older ruins...though there are so many ruins in this part of the Empire that no one is sure it's true, and unless somewhere to dig up all the sand, it's impossible to prove. The story persists that the bodies of the Second Prophet and his followers were taken here by the terrible storm that heralded the First Crusade. Some Vaticine claim the bodies lie deep beneath the sounds in a golden mausoleum, with each body wrapped in a shining shroud that keeps them from decaying. Skeptics ask why someone as holy as the Second Prophet would be placed so deeply in a nation of unbelievers. There is a sect, the Keepers of the Shroud, who say that it is because Theus wanted to return the Second Prophet to his birthplace. Others say it is the safest place to keep him until he rises again to protect the world from the Fourth Coming. In any event, it makes Urfa a destination for those seeking the truth. It is not a lavish town, but the food and water are clean and explorers can buy provisions here and tell stories in the kaffe houses. Next time: Zafara, Iskandar and the great minds of the Empire.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 00:20 |
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Angrymog posted:Unfortunately the French don't believe in PDFs Yeah, that's certainly true. Afraid I don't have the books, so won't be able to help you. 
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 00:31 |
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Angrymog posted:Would there be any interest in seeing any of the following - I vote for this. I was a big WoD fan back in the day, so I occasionally got inklings of this game, but never got to see it myself. It'd be nice to contrast and compare.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 01:02 |
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PurpleXVI posted:
Your icon is starting to look less and less like a joke. Read this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...40&pagenumber=1 Anyway, has anyone heard of Engel? It's a German (I think) grimdark RPG about angels who are actually Lovecraftian horrors.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 01:24 |
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BASTARDS & BLOODLINES Blinkling  Also known as hoppers, puplings, and fieldskippers, apparently. As the name suggests, they're a cross between a "blink"dog and a half"ling", so what's a halfdog? Sorry. Now, thankfully, they weren't created when a halfling got really desperate and hosed a blinkdog. No, they were made during a siege upon halfling lands by trolls, and some druid asked her goddess for help. Instead of say, using the power of the many dire bears of the land or revealing the lair of an ancient acid pool, she just took a pack of blinkdogs and merged them with the druid's allies. This created a bunch of "warriors who could move quickly and quietly through the forest and avoid the trolls' heavy blows." Since it sheds no light on how they won, I'll just assume that the trolls got so pissed off by the completely stupid things in front of them and went home to rage about it on the internet or something. Now, apparently because of how FAST AND TELEPORTY they are, Blinklings are held in high esteem by halflings. QUOTE TIME posted:Blinklings are able to breed with other blinklings and halflings. The offspring is always a blinkling, although some individuals have more pronounced canine features than others. Blinklings are found both in halfling communities and blinkdog packs, where they serve as emissaries to other communities. I kind of like that, actually. It's good to see the blinkdogs get some time in the spotlight, even if it is in this sort of book. I knew a fangirl who thought blinklings were adorable posted:Blinklings have the same build and size as halflings but have furry ears like dogs', slightly elongated muzzles with pronounced canine teeth, and tails. Males grow shaggy facial hair that makes them look somewhat like terriers. Most do not have fur over the majority of their bodies, but some have patches on their backs, hands, or feet. Females are slightly smaller and thinner, and almost never have excess hair. Oh, good, I was afraid that it'd be furry if I played a female blinkling. seriously posted:Blinklings have darker skin than their halfling kin, ranging from tan to yellow- or dark brown and black. Their eyes are almost always a deep brown, but hair color ranges widely. Blinkling hair is thick and wild, resisting all efforts to keep it combed or pinned up. Oh god. The next part. Demeanor KENDER FLASHBACKS posted:Blinklings are a cheerful, playful group. They enjoy simple pleasures, such as chasing games and hunting. Though they are energetic and always in motion, they never get bored even with repetitive activities, as long as they require a lot of moving about. Blinkdogs refer to blinklings as "eternal puppies", and the description is apt. Blinklings are not good at activities that require long periods of quiet or concentration. There you have it: Blinklings are manchildren. Or halflingchildren. Halfchildren? Lingchildren? Manling? I don't know. Blinklings are also prone to rash and simple acts, and are almost always chaotic good. Evil blinklings were abused as children. Blinklings are welcome by both blinkdogs and halflings. Oh gently caress, and just when you thought maybe their status as a masturbation aid wasn't necessarily confirmed quote:Blinklings mature quickly, reaching physical and emotional maturity by the age of twelve thankfully they only live like 60 years Blinklings like every class but really respect druids. Their stats? They're basically halflings that can teleport. +2 LA. Burrower  quote:Burrowers are among the rarest of crossbreeds, created only under very unusual circumstances. A melding of gnome and umber hulk, oh god, oh god, no, please no quote:a burrower arises when an umber hulk priest performs a complex ritual to evil elemental gods. Once a priest masters the ritual, they can create dozens of these guys, who are really fast at completing work. They basically cut the labor required by 90%, but Burrowers are treated as the lowest caste of umber hulk. They look like five foot tall gnomes with compound eyes and covered in chitin. They also have two foot long claws and can cut through rock. Burrowers are rarely panicked. Most scholars think it's because they're retards, but the truth is that they just expect that life will only get worse, so there's no reason to rush into anything that they see as ending bad anyway. They enjoy accomplishing hard tasks, and appreciate well made items and food. They admire dedication to a cause, even if it is against their own beliefs. They hold a respect for all religion as a result. They rarely show dedication to such things themselves, being afraid of pissing someone off, having grown up in a society where stepping on toes would likely get you killed. Even though they're raised in a hard life, they don't let it effect their self-esteem. They get along with most spellcasters except sorcerers and other types who didn't study for their powers. They don't understand barbarians. The most likely type of Burrower adventurer would be a cleric. I rather like these guys, especially considering what comes after. Decataur  :| posted:Decataurs are the infertile offspring of centaurs and elves. Within a single sentence. quote:There are two forms of decataur: biped and quadruped. Still no signs of improving. quote:Biped decataurs are the result of unions between male centaurs and female elves, while the quadruped form is born of an elven father and a centaur mother. Why. quote:Despite their obvious physical differences, the two share enough common traits to be considered subraces of a single breed. Why. quote:Decataurs usually result from illicit romances, often consummated with the aid of shapeshifting magic. Oh thank God quote:There are legends of decataurlike creatures existing in far-off lands, with an elven torso and head and the body of a deer or elk. If such creatures do exist, they may well be similar to decataurs but interbreed more regularly with typical centaurs. Appearance posted:Biped decataurs are often mistaken for satyrs or fauns, though they are larger than either. They have the chest, abdomen and head of an elf, with a pair of horse legs and an equine tail. These decataurs are slight of build and appear gangly, though they are graceful in movement. Quadruped decataurs are nearly indistinguishable from centaurs, with an elven upper body and head attached to a horse's body at the waist. Only their thinner frames, lacking the powerful muscles and thick leathery hide of pureblood centaurs, give away their mixed parentage. Thankfully, Decataurs like to use clothes. They refuse to wear belts or pouches, though, because they don't want to look like a steed. Demeanor posted:Decataurs are loners and brooders, preferring to spend their time in a secluded grove or uninhabited section of wilderness. They hate crowds, especially noisy throngs such as are found in markets and big cities. A decataur forced into close proximity with numerous other people either becomes irritable or ignores everyone as much as possible. This can be mistaken for rudeness, fear, or even arrogance, but it is just the decataur's way of dealing with a distasteful circumstance. You don't understand him, guys, it's just his way of dealing with people. He's a loner, guys, so treat Fallowsun nice. It goes on to tell us that they respect everyone's privacy. quote:It is not unusual for decataurs to announce their presence before beginning a fight, not as a matter of honor but to prevent their attack from interrupting a private moment. I was about to make fun of this, but it got me thinking. What if one of the orcs in that camp you just slaughtered was just about to propose marriage to his girlfriend? What if one of the kobolds you just curbstomped had a really, really bad day and was just about to sit down and take a nice, much needed nap? What if that mind flayer you just eviscerated was privately planning the downfall of the entire surface world? Wait, I just realized that any adventurer worth their salt would give absolutely no fucks. Decataurs are almost always neutral good. They are less lawful decataurs than evil decataurs. Decataurs view laws as an invasion of their rights. Evil decataurs take their love of privacy to the extreme and set up a base and arm it with traps. Evil decataurs are right-wing extremists. That's almost enough to make up for the rest. Almost. However, most decataurs are far too teenage to be that radical. quote:Though decataurs are generally raised in loving homes by at least one parent, most run away long before they mature at the age of thirty. They simply cannot stand the close, interconnected communities of elves or the uninhibited relationships of centaur clans. A young decataur often rails and shouts at parents who can't understand why their mere presence and questions of concern send her into a rage. This behavior often haunts decataurs later in life, but as youngsters they themselves do not realize what drives them to seek solitude. Decataur adventurers want to become advisors to groups, if they want to join a group. They hate the notion of being used as a mount. NEXT TIME: SOME GENERIC RACES THAT AREN'T ENTIRELY BAD
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 01:33 |
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PurpleXVI posted:Personally I have no issue with people who have weird gender identities/GID/are transsexual, just with those of that group who make those gender oddities the entirety of their identity and become shrill, insufferable fuckfaces as a result. I am much too happy to get incredibly mad, but please always put compassion first. A little thought should tell you why it seems like some people are fixated on it. Even if you think this, don't parade the thought around. It doesn't help anything.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 01:41 |
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Legends of the Wulin - Fate was not kind to the manuscript... Time claimed what the fires did not. It was incomplete... I had to improvise. Okay, we're maybe two-fifths of the way through the Book of Fire, but we're skipping over that temporarily to consider parts of The Books of Earth and Metal. First, a basic look at combat. Initiative is rolled at the start of each turn. Unlike some systems that suffer no great loss from shifting to a fire-and-forget initiative order, many abilities in LotW are based on initiative values shifting from round to round. This point is also where you declare any Waves you wish to attempt. As I said in the glossary, Waves resolve on your initiative count, and can be interrupted by faster opponents. The most common Wave would be Cover Ground, or movement. Battle maps are divided into zones, general areas where combat can take place. You can always attack people in the same zone, but to attack into other zones you need a weapon with an appropriate ability or to Cover Ground into that zone. Moving between zones requires a Set, but the difficulty is usually 10 or 20, easily accomplished. Higher difficulties exist, like 40 to leap between boulders in an avalanche or navigate halls full of spinning blades. Example: A fight breaks out in a teahouse. The main room of the teahouse is one zone, with others spread around it. The street outside, the kitchen, and the second floor connect to the main room. Alleys behind the teahouse and the teahouse roof may also come into play, but cannot be directly accessed from the main room. The next most common Wave would be Shaping, altering the battlefield to hinder or facilitate moving between zones. Shaping can also do other things like opening windows, breaking objects, and whatnot. Example: Li Kui is fighting on the second floor, and sees a horde of minions streaming towards the teahouse. With a mighty smash, he destroys the stairs, increasing the difficulty to move between the main room and the second floor to somewhere in the 30s (A Set of 2 dice, plus his +10 Might). Unperturbed, the vile pirate Red Tide directs his minions to raise ladders to the windows, reducing the difficulty to move between the street and the second floor from 30 (mostly impossible for normal people in any decent timeframe) to 10. Aside from straight-up damage, you can inflict Marvels and Chi Conditions on the foe. In fact, damage is a sort of Chi condition. Marvels are a specific type of maneuver performed as a Minor Action on your attack (Thus requiring a Set).
As I made clear during the chargen section, everyone has a weapon and armor, even if it's just their fists and a robe. Each weapon provides a bonus to a basic combat stat or two and has an ability that you can activate by Flooding a die from your River. Some have additional abilities, and unarmed fighting has some different quirks to it.
You can also improvise weapons should you be disarmed somehow, but you don't gain the numeric weapon bonuses and need to pay Chi to use any Flood abilities. Those wanting to play Jackie Chan should probably work out something with their Sage based on Rage of the Dragon Kings. Each external kung fu style is considered (and occasionally referred to as) a stance, you can't use two of them at once, although you can switch between them from round to round if you know more than one. They require no Chi expenditure, and you're considered to be using them even out of combat, although very few things capitalize on that. Each style has things it Laughs At (is strong against) and Fears (is weak against). These are based on narrative elements, and can usually be mapped to "is good against these styles, bad against these", but depend heavily on how the attack is described. You can determine what an opponent's style might laugh at or fear with skill checks. Example: Red Tide's Graceful Crane style laughs at straightforward aggression, but fears becoming hobbled and lame. Most of Li Kui's Ravenous Wings style focuses on injuring the opponent, which can hobble the enemy. Red Tide's style would normally fear Li Kui's, but the Iron Ox is as bullish as his namesake, charging forward relentlessly. In this case, Red Tide may be able to gather a Laughs At bonus from that description! Each external style provides bonuses to six stats:
Blossom Harvest is a simple, straightforward style. It is a favorite of peasant rebellions, because it uses everyday objects to train, such as running upstream to build endurance or using farming tools for weapon practice. It can be used with Massive weapons, Staves, and bare fists. It is tough and powerful, but at the expensive of mobility. Blossoming Heroes (As they are known by the peasantry) Laugh at overly-complicated styles, as well as silly little things like being outnumbered and on poor terrain. However, the style's very simplicity works against itself, for it is easy to read with a reactive style and has no tricks to use against supernatural styles (It Fears these things). Advanced fighters can make the style more accurate or even tougher, and turn their own wounds into an even higher damage bonus. They also learn to beat up entire gangs at once, treating their attacks versus minions as affecting the entire zone. Bone-Fed Wolf Fang is a pragmatic style developed by armies to end conflicts quickly. It was loosely based on the gruesome, efficient ways wolf packs take down prey. Unfortunately, many deserters take the style with them into banditry, making it the style most used against the peasantry and earning it the reputation of being a dog's way of fighting. It's used with massive weapons and sabers, prioritizing damage. The style Laughs at honesty and those vulnerable or off-guard, but Fears the hidden or unorthodox, as well as being outnumbered or surrounded. All of its techniques involve the Disorient and Disrupt marvels, increasing Block, Dodge, Strike, and Damage against any targets with those effects, and can let you inflict those Marvels by Flooding a die, as well as making it more difficult for foes to recover from them. Destiny Cloud Fist shares its name and purpose with a Starcraft II strategy (Thanks, HitTheTargets). The style focuses on versatility, the ability to react to any situation. It is only usable unarmed, and is balanced with a small focus on mobility. It Laughs at both excessive yin and excessive yang, as well as those who are too aggressive or too passive without balance. However, zerg rushing can overwhelm it before it has time to adapt, and especially focused unorthodox styles can take it by surprise. Otherwise, the style is primarily focused on mobility. You can increase its Strike or Footwork bonuses, and boost Damage, Block, or Toughness if you spend Chi on Lightfoot. Destiny Cloud Fist is also tuned specifically against Warriors, and you can make opposing Warriors take heavy penalties when trying to affect you with their warrior-specific poo poo. Divine Pattern Long-Strokes is used with weapons with a long reach, establishing the "divine pattern" that anticipates a foe's movements and fills the space they're about to enter with a scything wall of weapon. It uses Flexible weapons, Staff, and Spear, and focuses on accuracy and defense, at the expense of mobility. The divine pattern laughs at reactive styles and anyone who gets trapped in the pattern, but fears both those with more reach than it has and those who can get through the pattern to attack from the calm area around the user. The special abilities granted by the style all focus around ensuring the user's safety. You can increase the already-substantial Block bonus, gain the ability to riposte on a good Block, set the difficulty to enter or leave your zone at your initiative value, deny bonuses that others of higher initiative might get, and Flood a die to prevent foes from using their River on defense. Eight Legends claims to descend directly from the First Emperor, Huangdi. He brought kung fu into the world, teaching it to eight disciples. To practice this style is to follow in the footsteps of the Eight Immortals. It uses the Four Major Weapons: Saber, Spear, Staff, and Sword, and is balanced with a focus on accuracy. Being their progenitor, it laughs at the other traditional styles, as well as anyone using one of the four weapons. However, this superiority means it cannot function well against chains, needles, or other unorthodox weapons and styles. Additional options are limited, only providing increases to Block, Strike, and Damage, but it does provide you with some protection against Priests trying to lay curses and things on you. Flowing Universe is a defensive style focused on the characteristics of water. Using Flexible weapons or bare hands, it sweeps weapons away or flows with their strikes, but the motions don't lend themselves to striking solidly. It laughs at linear movements and deception, but fears being constrained or stilled, as well as being outnumbered. The special abilities increase the defensive abilities of the style, giving you the block-well-riposte of Paired weapons, and letting you Flood a die to boost the style's Block and Toughness even further, as well as giving you another slot in your River that you can use for that specific purpose. You can also boost Strike and gain bonuses to break Waves and use Shaping Marvels. Flying Red Silk is another primarily-defensive style, created by a woman using the principle of 'minimal force'. It uses flexible weapons and swords, but is typically not used with the heavier flexible weapons like flails and chains, but rather brushes, wires, and long sleeves. It laughs at brute force, excessive motion, and overly traditional, straightforward styles. However, deception and overly reactive fighters can leave it baffled. Favors Strike and Block, at the expense of Toughness. Unique so far among the external styles, a significant portion of Flying Red Silk's abilities directly debuff an opponent, penalizing their Block, as well as their Strike if they happen to be slower than you. It can boost its already-high Strike bonus, riposte if you actually get hit, and gains bonuses to any Marvel, but only one type per round. Graceful Crane Style is a dance-like style that emulates the crane's ability to simply slide aside from attacks and let the opponent wear itself out. It uses the Sword or one's bare hands, and focuses greatly on Footwork at the expense of Damage. It laughs at direct linear attacks, as well as stubborn and rigid styles, but fears fluidity and having its movement restricted. Most of the crane's abilities focus on dodging: Increasing Dodge against groups of minions, letting you riposte with dodge instead of block, and reducing or outright nullifying the penalty to dodge attacks described as hard to dodge. Others let you reduce your initiative in order to remove the advantage others would get for having a higher initiative than you, boost your ability with Disorient or Disrupt Marvels, and (my personal favorite) inflict fear, awe or the like instead of physical injuries. Great Ultimate Dragon Style is nearly two styles in one. Focused on speed, most of its abilities rely on having a higher initiative than the opponents. It switches between yin and yang, changing its approach to suit the situation. As such, it laughs at those that use excessive yin or excessive yang, but fears those that strike the balance it cannot attain itself (and deception). It uses Paired, Saber, Sword, or Unarmed. One ability of the style increases its speed to ludicrous levels, but for its other abilities, one must choose each round whether to be in 'Dragon in Heaven' or 'Dragon in Ocean' stance. Depending on which you choose, the bonus provided by the ability changes: Damage/Toughness, Block/Dodge, Disorient/Disrupt Marvels, and Strike/wave-breaking & Shaping Marvel. I'm not explaining it all that well, but it switches between offense and defense as needed. Murderous Shadows is an assassin's style, using stealth, loose clothing, odd angles and movements, and other tricks to keep them guessing. This is what's normally meant when a style laughs at or fears deception. It uses ranged and flexible weapons, and is almost exclusively aggressive, boosting Speed, Strike, and Damage at the expense of Block and Toughness. It laughs at orthodox and reactive styles, but fears brute strength and the simple-straightforward styles that are harder to fool. Most of its abilities focus on the Stealth skill, providing a straight-up boost or letting you always use Stealth for Disorient or Disrupt Marvels, reducing penalties for environmental modifiers to stealth, and gaining Dodge and Toughness bonuses with a successful Stealth Minor Action. Closely related to stealth is the ability to remove the advantage some styles have for a higher initiative. And rounding out Murderous Shadows is the ability to use another weapon type with the style, as well as One Murder Per Heartbeat  , which lets you beat up whole zones full of minions with a single attack.With Ravenous Wings, you are literally Hitchcock's The Birds. This style swarms around its enemies, pecking and harrying, growing stronger as its prey grows weaker. It uses Paired, Ranged, and Unarmed, laughing at sickness and scars, as well as fluidity, because... "the flock can rise and surround water effortlessly"?  However, it fears wholesomeness and health, as well as strong yang energies and fire. The style is mobile and damaging, at the expense of Block.Most of the style becomes stronger when a target is wounded, boosting damage on wounded enemies or increasing Speed or Footwork when you inflict Ripples. It can also add on some debuffs when you inflict a Ripple, bestowing penalties to recover from Disorient or disrupt Marvels and interrupting chi regeneration. Shadow Catching is about speed. So much speed. All the speed. Radical good speed. Ludicrous speed. It uses swords and sabers exclusively, and favors Footwork and speed at the expense of Block. It laughs at versatility and reactive strategies, because it moves too fast for those to counter. However, against those that can match its speed, or strange styles that it can't grasp quickly, it is at a loss. The style can boost its already impressive Footwork and Speed bonuses, as well as increasing Toughness and Strike against opponents slower than the user. The only other ability it can get is +5 to break Waves. Storm God's Fury is yet another speed-focused style, this one bearing all the rage of a storm. It uses Massive, Paired, Saber, and Spear for its weapons, and favors speed and accuracy over blocking. It laughs at fluidness and excessive yang, but fears solidity and yin energies. As with the other fast styles, if you're faster than your opponent, this style provides some bonuses, in this case a boost to Footwork and letting you add a die from your River to a rippling roll. It also boosts its Speed just all by its lonesome. Otherwise, it can slow opponents who take Rippling rolls from you, produce very accurate flurries of attacks, and strike everyone in your zone except your allies (Normally, Area attacks attack everyone, this makes them selective). Subtle Force is not quite defensive, but it aims to disable the opponent and end the combat without bloodshed, a very yin-focused approach. Not quite a distinct style, this is more a conglomeration of methods unified by their philosophy. It uses ranged weapons, swords, and fists, and favors Footwork and Strike over Damage. It is truly a universal style, and does not Laugh At or Fear anything in particular. Note that just because it doesn't laugh at things, that does not mean nothing fears it. The primary ability, and one you can spend 1, 4, or 7 Destiny on, is the ability to create superficial wounds, which will go away after a good night's rest and are never lethal. The additional Destiny costs increase the Damage bonus of the style when rolling for superficial wounds, making you better at knocking someone out than outright killing them. You can also boost Toughness, gain bonuses to break Waves, use Disrupt Marvels instead of an attack (Usually they are in addition to attacks), and force an enemy who uses a set of 0s on his attack or Marvel to accept Interesting Times or take a penalty. It's a very interesting style. I'll stop here for now (dear god it's five full screens in preview ), and cover internal styles, specific bonuses each faction gets with their kung fu, and what the hell is up with unarmed fighting next.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 01:59 |
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Block and Dodge both have the same effect. You'd want to use different ones at different times unless you're hyper-specialized, since appropriately-described attacks can impose a penalty to dodge or block them.
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GorfZaplen posted:
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 03:37 |
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Syrg Sapphire posted:Doctor Who RPG (1985): Still The Worst (or, Character Creation) So does the game reflect the inherent biological superiority of time wizards at all in any way or did it decide to do away with the series it's based on?
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 04:21 |
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It's coming!   The captcha code for this upload was 'good for nothing'. I just need to lay in supplies. A case of liquor... some antidepressants... Give away my guns... And maybe I should finish up one of the other two reviews, huh?
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 04:27 |
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GorfZaplen posted:As the name suggests, they're a cross between a "blink"dog and a half"ling", so what's a halfdog? Sorry. Welsh Corgis.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 05:06 |
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General Ironicus posted:So does the game reflect the inherent biological superiority of time wizards at all in any way or did it decide to do away with the series it's based on? The only difference? Regeneration. That's it. And unlike it tending to be pretty quick in the series, it's gonna take you out of action for up to an hour before your face even changes... and then you get to be crazed for a while afterwards, up to weeks. But if you rolled the right Special Ability you can control it a la Romana! (No mechanics are given for this.)
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 05:22 |
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PurpleXVI posted:hir hir hir hir hir hir hir You know, I've never really minded the whole stupid pronoun thing; it partially sates my irritation at people using a plural pronoun in place of a singular. But this entire thing is just incredibly offensive as someone who identifies as androgynous. Someone already pointed out the constant conflation of sex and gender. Just... argh. Angrymog I would like to see Nightlife, mostly due to everyone mentioning that it's better than oWoD. Eoris sounds like something I dreamt up while drugged and feverish when I was in middle school. It's kind of eerie. Except I never wrote it down. Just think of the money I could have made!! edit: Count Chocula For Engel: I have, and actually nearly bought it several times. I'm fairly certain is is German. I don't remember much besides I liked the artwork. Maybe I could hunt up a copy and rego through it. FelicityGS fucked around with this message at Feb 9, 2012 around 05:34 |
| # ? Feb 9, 2012 05:27 |
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In Dark Alleys Still living secret lives Animists  The summary: You believe in PROPER FOREIGN OCCULTISM and can hence use your WILLPOWER to MANIPULATE THE SPIRITS. The long version: Much more retarded than that! The Chosen posted:Almost every Animist is a first or second generation immigrant from a culture that believes in spirits, magic and magical practitioners. Most have a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who is an Animist. As children, most were respectful of their elders and their people’s ways. Most were smart with an especially good memory. A significant percentage survived a near-fatal injury or illness with the help of an Animist. A significant percentage have suffered from what western doctors would call a mental illness. Stupid western doctors and their "science!" Thinking they know things! The Initiation posted:Animists grew up in communities where the people around them believed there were spirits everywhere. Some spirits live in objects, some float in the air, some live inside people’s bodies and keep them healthy. The people believed in these spirits as strongly as anything they could see and touch. If someone’s car broke down, it was assumed the spirit of the car was angry. If someone had headaches, it was assumed that a ‘misfortune,’ a spirit dedicated to causing trouble, was attacking the person. If a person was depressed, it was assumed that one of his or her guardian spirits had wandered off. So they grew up in communities where education was a thing that happened to other people and their friends and family died regularly of easily treated ailments because they insisted it be cured by rituals instead of medicine! Except, this is IDA, so they were actually right and our foolish western views are wrong. Basically you were chosen by an elder Animist as an apprentice and slowly learned how to do this crazy poo poo. The trick is that all the rituals are just bullshit to appease people and make what you do look more flamboyant, while in fact your power is acquired from doing immensely stupid things that almost kill you. Like starving yourself half to death or taking dangerous drugs. Why this doesn't mean every meth-head or person who's overdosed and survived doesn't have a posse of spirit buddies, I can't tell you. Presumably their WESTERN OPINIONS prevent them from being good at these things. You think I'm kidding right? Just turn the page.  WHITE PEOPLE CAN'T WIZARD Literally: Trying to understand how things work makes them not work, if only you were like the enlightened foreigners who just accept rituals and weirdness instead of trying to use their heads... I'm trying to figure out if this is more offensive to people from foreign countries who actually DO try to think about things, or to every person with a working brain in general. A "typical evening" for animists includes finding lost guardian spirits, curing diseases, helping violent gangs and cursing white people! No, not kidding about those last two. Apparently this is common enough that it's listed under the general Animist behavior. There's also a "DARK SIDE" listed where some animists are, gasp, immoral and will use their skills to stop members of their community opposed to arranged marriages or trying to get a college education! What You Know posted:The fact that your people were subjugated by imperialists, despite your people having powerful Animists, suggests that the imperialist conquerors had their own spiritual power (whether they knew it or not). So I guess white people CAN wizard, just not consciously???? Or did the British Empire have an advance guard of stealthy Androgyne sorcerers working for them without them knowing it? hosed if I know! This isn't elaborated on AT ALL. Bonus insulting scientists section! quote:Aboriginal people pass down knowledge about nature, but it is only the information they find useful for their actual survival. If you want pointless facts about how insects mate or diseases that effect trees, ask an entomologist or a botanist, not an aboriginal person. Hah! Knowing about biology and insects is USELESS if it isn't about what you should eat or avoid! This is all from a sidebar about aboriginal people being in tune with nature is a "myth," mind you. quote:Aboriginal don’t pretend that they fully understand how nature works, and so when they do something to the natural world and something bad happens, they try to never do that thing again. If someone drops a food dish on the floor and the next day there’s a terrible storm, they decide never to let food dishes touch the ground again. Thus they avoid a lot of the western world’s mistakes, but they also fill their lives with pointless prohibitions. They're also like adorable retarded children who'll make up absurd magical laws at the drop of a If you're an Animist you're also forced to have a "cannot into modern society"-disadvantage that means you can't have any jobs other than "prostitute" or "boring factory worker" unless you pony up the points for the special skill "Act American." You literally cannot understand spirits if you understand going to college. Then there's a five-page sidebar about native religions which doesn't seem to be offensive or wrong, just wordy, wordy, wordy. It'd take someone more knowledgeable than me to point out if IDA is somehow wrong about these various things. I guess their stereotypes about the peoples might be insulting but, again, I don't know how true they are, and stuff like "Hmong people don't like physical contact or making eye contact," might actually be right, it doesn't seem straight-up insane or insulting enough for me to call it either way. quote:Cambodian girls who go against cultural norms are often labelled "slut" or "prostitute." This is especially likely to happen when a girl has premarital sex or complains about her domestic situation (even if she is being abused). Why yes, thank you, this is so completely different from other cultures that it needed to be pointed out. And it also makes all Cambodians sound like rampant misogynists! quote:Men, on the other hand, are not looked down upon for having premarital or extramarital sex. Since men are free to have affairs, married women have been known to attack their husband’s mistresses. In Cambodia there has been a rash of attacks by women who poured acid on the faces of husbands’ mistresses to permanently disfigure them. It also feels like he's trying to make Cambodian relationships in general sound like a crazed, free-for-all brawl where acid and knives are thrown around with reckless abandon, women are abused and men are evil people who abuse their cultural privileges to sleep around every chance they get. I take back what I said earlier, some of this stuff IS kind of offensive. But I still can't dredge out any more hidden gems, so let's move on! To... Cannibals! Surprise: This one is actually NOT about tropical flesh-eaters.  Also their art? Kind of awesome! Essentially what's going on here is that you've got some largely-Christian(with some Jews and Muslims involved) sub-sect that goes by Ye Olde Gnostic Shenanigans. The God of the physical world is evil, reject the physical! And as an extension of this they declare that "the taboos of the physical world are meaningless," eating human flesh is just the ultimate "gently caress you" to Evil God and his taboos. Unlike the former two groups, these guys are relatively intellectual and spend a lot of their time studying religious texts and trying to get a greater understanding of what they're actually about, debating theology with their fellow Cannibals, etc. On powers, their low-degree stuff is basically being able to phantom-replicate the limbs and pieces they remove, emulating them to a point that they might as well not be missing anything at all. Though the downside is that they can't really run a marathon in public if they have no legs, as they have to keep their Supernatural Bullshit on the down-low. quote:Cannibals break taboos to break themselves of an emotional connection to the physical world. Usually they break taboos by themselves or with fellow Cannibals. Some Cannibals, however, break taboos with people against their will. Some do so in the belief that it is not immoral to kill, surprise sex, molest or mutilate people’s physical bodies because those bodies either don’t matter or are inherently unholy. Others believe that they are helping people by forcing them to break taboos. But even with this, most Cannibals are on personal quests for enlightenment and don't really involve the rest of the world unless it wants to be involved somehow. Kind of looking forward to seeing what their potential powers are, later on, as both "Ecstatic Rage" and "Nihilistic Rage" are among them. But that's it, really, the entry for Cannibals(and for Faustians as well) is literally only half the length of the Animists or Androgynes, if even that. Probably more like a third of the latter's length. Speaking of Faustians, they're actually kind of awesome. Faustians  And, incompetent art aside? They do look kind of awesome, too. This one is easily summarized and doesn't have any bad writing or horrific ideas. Essentially you were a person with REALLY bad willpower, you gave in easily to drugs or some such, or got yourself into the utmost depths of poo poo thanks to debt or something similar. Maybe got involved with crime. Then at some point where you were utterly desperate for aid, you somehow sent out an unconscious, psychic plea for help, and something answered. A thing called a "Dance" takes up residence in your skull and gives you the mental fortitude not to gently caress your life up again, and in fact to start taking it back. In return, it gives you urges to do certain things. Largely they just consist of guarding some old, abandoned location(often urban) and finding some odd, old objects to take there. Occasionally it gives you an artistic talent, and some of what you create must be brought there as well. It rarely communicates verbally, and only does so incredibly curtly when it does, instead preferring to just give you an incredible URGE to go get those hobos out of that old church down the street... and leaving the means entirely up to you. The Dance is amoral as gently caress and doesn't care if you skin them alive or just pay them to go get drunk somewhere else. On the other hand, disobeying your Dance can get you in trouble. At low levels of disobedience, or if you just shirk your duties for a while, it can strip away the mental fortitude it granted you, leaving you to gently caress up your life again. At high level of disobedience or if you directly try to counteract its goals(destroying whatever location it wants guarded, for instance), it may "try to get you killed," considering that it can give you "urges," I'd assume it mostly does this by trying to make you walk into traffic or do dangerous drugs, that sort of thing. Still, as strange alien entities go, these don't seem too bad to be allied with. Not concerned with human people's survival, but not fixated on getting them killed either. I rather hope these get fleshed out more later in the book, somehow. But even if they don't, this is already enough to base an entire setting or game off on its own. And that's about it for Faustians. Told you they were succinct! Tune in next time for... Heroes! Lost! And the Outcast! The latter of which get some pretty rad art...
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 06:17 |
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Normally the things here don't phase me too much. I'm usually just amused or mildly dumbfounded. The sort of racism that the Animist page uses makes me angrier than the balls out racism of RaHoWa. there are so many things wrong with it, factually and...just loving everything! quote:Aboriginal don’t pretend that they fully understand how nature works, and so when they do something to the natural world and something bad happens, they try to never do that thing again. If someone drops a food dish on the floor and the next day there’s a terrible storm, they decide never to let food dishes touch the ground again. Thus they avoid a lot of the western world’s mistakes, but they also fill their lives with pointless prohibitions. This in particular makes me want to punch something. It's just so many terrible, racist notions mixed together, particularly the "noble savage". There are just so many things in that entry that piss me off that I can't even word it. IDA looks like it can only get more and more offensive. The author talks about these things like he knows about them, yet it's very clear that he knows little at all. gently caress. Also, I bet he got the Hmong one from Gran Torino. Just saying. GorfZaplen fucked around with this message at Feb 9, 2012 around 06:39 |
| # ? Feb 9, 2012 06:36 |
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Wait, half Halfling, a humanoid race, and half Blink Dog...a loving magic dog? WHO FUCKS A DOG?!
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 06:45 |
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Glitterbomber posted:Wait, half Halfling, a humanoid race, and half Blink Dog...a loving magic dog? The post went on to explain that part: they're not from dogfucking, some halflings prayed to their gods for help once and the gods helped by splicing blink dog DNA into them. For some reason.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 06:48 |
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Thuryl posted:The post went on to explain that part: they're not from dogfucking, some halflings prayed to their gods for help once and the gods helped by splicing blink dog DNA into them. For some reason. Gods are fuckin dumb in D&D. "My people need my help...I'm gonna smash this dog into their dna"
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 06:59 |
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Glitterbomber posted:WHO FUCKS A DOG?! Followup question-we-don't-actually-want-answered: how do they gently caress a dog that can cast Blink and Dimension Door as free actions?
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 07:25 |
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Glitterbomber posted:Gods are fuckin dumb in D&D. It's like the telephone game. By the time the worshiper's prayer gets to the God though all the cosmic interference and poo poo it gets a little garbled.  Also I kinda like the Faustian thing. If you don't go all fishmalk it could be kinda interesting to play.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 07:28 |
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Doc Hawkins posted:Followup question-we-don't-actually-want-answered: how do they gently caress a dog that can cast Blink and Dimension Door as free actions? Well, they are intelligent. The dogfucker could just convince them. That aside, blink dogs are awesome, I'd play a blinkling if I couldn't achieve the same effect with a Halfling Totemist. Hell, I'd rather play a Tibbit Totemist.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 07:30 |
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General Ironicus posted:So does the game reflect the inherent biological superiority of time wizards at all in any way or did it decide to do away with the series it's based on? Nah John Lydon must be The Master in disguise, ensuring that there really is No Future. Micheal Moorcock kinda wrote that story, actually, in The Great Rock & Roll Swindle.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 07:48 |
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Glitterbomber posted:Gods are fuckin dumb in D&D. See, I imagine that if you're a DnD god you have very different priorities than your followers. They want a safe, economical solution to being eaten by trolls or bears or whatever. You want to see how much hilarious poo poo you can do them before they stop worshiping you/die. Especially because halflings seem to favor trickster gods, you have to think "what would Loki do?" He would straight up splice the poo poo out of that genome and worry about it
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 07:51 |
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PurpleXVI posted:I'm trying to figure out if this is more offensive to people from foreign countries who actually DO try to think about things, or to every person with a working brain in general. Everyone, all the time. The whole "SCIENCE DOESN'T WORK ON MAGIC" idea is always ridiculously offensive. You know what people who thought magic existed did? TRIED TO FIGURE OUT THE RULES OF IT. They weren't stupid after all. And it's insulting to scientists, engineers and the whole of modern accomplishment for obvious reasons.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 08:37 |
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WhitemageofDOOM posted:Everyone, all the time. There are those universes where science and magic are polar opposites, one can mess up the functioning of the other and occasionally vice versa. But IDA is apparently supposed to be our universe with a sprinkling of pixie dust.  Edit: Also, that is a mildly ironic title/post combo. Dareon fucked around with this message at Feb 9, 2012 around 10:18 |
| # ? Feb 9, 2012 09:16 |
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Engel does have an English translation but it also involves a port to d20 mechanics. The German game has tarot-based resolution, which sounds way more interesting.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 09:57 |
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Hallgerd posted:Engel does have an English translation but it also involves a port to d20 mechanics. The German game has tarot-based resolution, which sounds way more interesting. Huh. Maybe I can try dusting off my German and seeing if I can't find a copy of both; sort of compare-contrast. My reading comprehension was(is) way better in German than my speaking. Gives me something else to do while I job hunt!
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 10:17 |
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Again, IDA fucks up a pretty neat idea in the Animists. It'd be better if that groups shared background consisted of charlatans who were swindling their own people based on their belief that suddenly ran into a true, dyed-in-the-wool spirit who was p. PO'd at them. Oh, and he told all the other spirits about you. So, in order to keep the spirits from ruining their lives, they get roped into working for them. As for that Hmong thing, I'm pretty sure you can replace 'Hmong' with 'American' and the passages would still apply, so this author is a gently caress head. As for a game based around Faustians, I think Vox might be an option.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 11:55 |
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Ray Winninger's UNDERGROUND: Part 6 - I Didn't Ask For This So, Eva has been thoroughly recruited, inducted, examined, and processed by Trans-World Devastation. After attending a short boot camp that evens out her skills, having her mop-top shaved off, and being prepped for Slumberland, she's ready to go into the tube.  But, what does our personnel planner have in mind for Eva's augmentations? Her aggressiveness would be suited for fast-moving, high-intensity assaults, such as airmobile forces. Her natural brawn would be a good basis for developing a "line animal" or fire support specialists, the mobile artillery platforms that wield backmounted ballistic missiles and man-portable howitizers. Her background suggests close-combat, which can be enhanced and specialized into commando work. The personnel planner decides on a conservative approach: heavy infantryman/woman/person. But, before proceeding with budgeting out the abilities, our planner schedules time with a mid-level genetic surgeon who will install the enhancements. In Underground, there's three levels of surgery and, later, reconditioning. As stated earlier, the quality of surgery can enhance or impair the potential of the power. At $1,000,000, the level of surgery is considered a skill level of 12 and will often exceed expectations. $700,000 is considered mid-range surgery, at skill level of 9, with a good chance of success of installation. $500,000 is the lowest rung, with a skill of 7, meaning there's a decent chance of getting impaired enhancements. Special note: Since I've failed to mention it before, Underground uses an opposed die roll challenge, with the player and GM rolling 2D10 + attributes, bonuses, penalties, and difficulties, rerolling doubles and adding them to the sum. Whoever has the higher sum wins. But, Underground also uses an A,B,C,D measurement for success: since most people know how ABCDF grading system works since elementary school it's easy to understand not making the roll is a F, simply making the roll is a D result, and the best result is A. Since the Difficulty for installation test is a flat 4, we can automatically see that, even without rolling, that the mid-range value will get C results and the highest value will receive B results. A successful installation of an enhancement with a C result will add 1 to its power level, B adds 2, with A results adding 3. This is helpful since modified power levels do not incur stress. Just the power levels paid for incur stress. A surgeon's failure to install an enhancement correctly causes a reduction in power level by 2, so it's important to budget at least mid-range for the company to get their money's worth out of enhancements. Powers are purchased by paying a Base Cost then cross-referencing the power's Potency with the desired Power Level. You can't just have Power Level 1, you have to purchase that level. Power Levels have a curve to them, with powers becoming more exponentially more expensive at higher levels. Potency flattens or increased that curve, so a Potency 1 power at Power Level 10 costs 11 points, while Potency 2 is worth 18 points, and Potency 3 costs 24 points for the same level. However, it's possible to change Potency levels, thus reducing the cost of a power, by adding a Limitation.  For example, Regeneration is a Potency 3 and is pretty expensive, but you can heal quickly and regenerate lost limbs. However, Regeneration can be bought at Potency 2, making its enhancement cheaper on the stipulation that its required that you eat human organs in order for your power to work. Likewise, adding a Bonus to the power increases its Potency.  For example, Danger Sense, the enhancement that boosts senses to be attuned to dangerous situations, has a Potency of 2. By taking Potency 3 for the Bonus, Danger Sense stops giving you vague hints and flat out tells you the exact nature of the threat that is endangering your person. The cheapest enhancements and most common enhancements are the boosted attributes, which can boost all individual stats save AURA (since AURA has less to do with genetics). One of the big problems I have with how Underground does boosting attributes is that the Power Level only indirectly enhances an attribute. So, Boosted Strength 10 doesn't add +10 to your base strength, but really just +3. The logarithmic curve pops up here again but what's interesting this time is that the boost's Power Level is inversely proportional to its output. Boosted Strength 4 might only give you a +1 boost, but around level 20, the curve flattens out to a direct +1 Power Level to +1 boost. If someone were to buy Boosted Strength at its Max Rating of 35, the end result would be a +21 to strength. Since I haven't brought up the Unit System before either, I'll post the chart.  Everything in Underground uses Units, which is a logarithmic rating. Every three points on the Unit chart doubles it's actual effect. Incidentally, I found that this is really the result of the opposed die rolls: any bonus or penalty to an opposed die roll usually has a logarithmic progression in probability. What's cool about the Units system is that, once you've translated out what a Unit is with the chart, it makes math simple. Adding or subtracting Units is like multiply and dividing their real numbers. Ray Winninger posted:Because time, distance, and speed are all measured in Units, the following useful equations hold true: This works for almost everything. Need to find out how far you can throw that 200lbs. guy or 2 ton car? Take your STR value, subtract it by the weight in Units and you'll find how many Units you can throw. BTW, with her STR 5, Eva can lift about 300lbs. over her head. With her SPD 3, she can walk about 20 feet in a 4 sec. turn. An Olympic weightlifter would be around STR 6 (although, with some world record holders would be more like STR 7), while Usain Bolt and other Olympic runners would be STR 6. Since we got that out of the way, let's get back to Eva's boosts. Our personnel planner has decided on giving Eva Boosted Strength and Boosted Resilience to enhance her already formidable strength, both at Power Level 15. In addition, our planner wants to increase her ability to score hits, both in close-combat and with firearms, as well as avoid damage, so he schedules Boosted Dexterity 6. These powers will cost the company $6,000,000, but will increase Eva's STR and RES by +4 and her DEX by +3. quote:STR: 9, DEX: 5, SPD: 3, RES: 9, INT: 3, WILL: 3, AURA: 3 However, boosted attributes, for their low cost, have a downside. Boosts generate continual metagenic Stress, since there's no real way to turn them off. In addition, they all have special drawbacks. Boosted Intellect warps the skull until you start looking like something out of a '50s sci-fi movie. A veteran with Boosted Speed or Boosted Dexterity can have their reaction times so jacked up (typically if either stat goes over 7) that they perceive the world as stationary and any slow-moving objects appear blurred or distorted, a phenomenon called the Blivitz Effect.  Boosted Strength and Boosted Resilience add muscle mass, increase cardiovascular health, and spur bone growth to such an extent that it's highly noticeable. When both are combined, the resulting growth spurt is astronomical. Whenever determining the intensity of such growth, we have a handy chart.  Before surgery, Eva's prospective height is now 7 feet tall, and she now weighs around 300lbs. She can snatch lift around 800lbs. without breaking a sweat, and do so with a ballerina's grace. But, TWD isn't finished with her yet. Adrenal Surge is like an alternative to boosted attributes. By "boosting the output of the recipient's adrenal glands" when triggered by anxiety or hazardous situations, the adrenal surge raises Eva's STR and SPD by a single Unit each turn up to the Power Level, with each attribute receiving the bonus on alternating turns. The effect dissipates once the stressful situation has ended or removed. What this means is that, at Power Level 6, after 12 turns of combat or anxiety, Eva's STR has been boosted to 15 and her SPD up to 9. It means that Eva can now hulk out to the point she can start picking up and throwing VW Beetles around. Unlike the attribute boosts, Adrenal Surge only adds Stress when triggered and, fortunately for Eva, TWD sees no point in choosing the limitation for this power. Ray Winninger posted:Limitation: The subject suffers a Light Wound if and when she Surges her STR and SPD to their maximum values quote:Boosted Strength - 23 vs. 21 - D - No Change. quote:STR: 9[, DEX: 6, SPD: 3, RES: 10, INT: 3, WILL: 3, AURA: 3  ...and finds her two feet taller than she started out as. Eva now stands at 7'6" and weighs 380lbs., most of which is muscle. Well, Eva chuckles, knocking her head back. "I got through this process relatively unscathed. I don't see anything wrong with this whole procedure. I'm bigger, that's pretty expected. Didn't think I get this huge, but it's only 6 inches.TWD did me right, they didn't gently caress around with me like I thought they might do."  "Wait a moment."  TWD, at the last minute, added an enhancement that they believe would be beneficial for Eva's close combat capabilities...  Ray Winninger posted:Characters with this Enhancement are engineered to grow an extra limb not possessed by normal humans. The Unit Rating of the Power is the STR that may be exerted through the new limb. The exact nature of the new limb is selected at the time the Enhancement is purchased (extra arms and tails are common). Characters with at least one Extra Limb receive a special -1 bonus to the Difficulty of any hand-to-hand attacks they make. quote:Extra Limb 6. Total Cost $1,700,000. Surgery roll 26 vs. 14, A result, +3 Power Level. quote:Boosted STR 15, Boosted RES 18, Adrenal Surge 6, Boosted DEX 9, Extra Limb (Arm) 9 Next: Eva gets her brain rebuilt by TWD psychologist and we find out the depths of metagenic stress-induced insanity. Can't wait!
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 12:18 |
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Dareon posted:Legends of the Wulin loving owns Now I want to design my own style based around the Mountain - you can switch between offensive and defensive halves which represent the irresistible force of an avalanche or the unmovable weight of the mountain, but you lose the offensive bonuses if you don't move that round, and lose the defensive bonuses if you move at all (also, the style only works if your feet are in contact with a solid surface). Laughs At styles that try to overwhelm or resist it (depending on defence/offence), but Fears fluid styles that can melt around its attacks or slowly erode it. Doc Hawkins posted:Followup question-we-don't-actually-want-answered: how do they gently caress a dog that can cast Blink and Dimension Door as free actions? Non-coercive mind control spells.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 12:45 |
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Young Freud: Ha ha oh my wow. I did not see that coming. I can't wait to see how this is going to end. I also find it pretty interesting that even the "passive" modifications like boosted stats have side effects, that's reasonably creative. I don't think I quite understand how the roll for the modifications functions, though. Does the player take the Difficulty as a penalty while the GM takes it as a bonus, when they do their opposed roll? Or is it really just a flat test vs 4 or some such, no opposed roll?
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 13:58 |
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In Dark Alleys was written by a freshman social sciences student, wasn't it? It reeks of Che tees, breathless introductions to Castaneda and to orgone, and wide-eyed frosh who have traded teen rebellion for anti-intellectualism.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 14:56 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 15:56 |
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Bieeardo posted:In Dark Alleys was written by a freshman social sciences student, wasn't it? It reeks of Che tees, breathless introductions to Castaneda and to orgone, and wide-eyed frosh who have traded teen rebellion for anti-intellectualism. From the IDA site: Cosmology posted:The cosmology was created by taking pieces of every philosophy that has been discredited or suppressed because it has unpleasant things to say about the nature of the universe, from Gnosticism to Freudian Psychoanalysis to Paglian Feminism. So if you can't handle the world of IDA, you're just unable to handle hearing that the universe is a mean place, I guess you're just not hardcore enough. About the Author. He has a BA in psychology! So this stuff is totally a credible analysis of human mentality.
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| # ? Feb 9, 2012 15:34 |
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