|
The Lone Badger posted:It's interesting how many Adept types would find their magical lives enormously eased if they were rich. Money is a type of magic all its own. A very powerful type of magic, in this modern world. If you want to live the easy life in Unknown Armies and don't particularly care what you have to do to get it, be an Avatar of the Merchant. There's an example in one of the books that, in addition to having fat stacks of cash, has also bought other people's intelligence, health, youth, good luck, charisma... capital accumulates, and to a Merchant everything is capital.
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 15:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:28 |
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:I despise people like you who can only see the world in terms of money. Money is a ghost, haunting the world. That's all. A ghost has made you its slaves. Honestly this comic has affected more of my UA games than anything else out there (and rightfully so).
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 17:25
|
|
|
Is there a SJWmancer? It has a great paradox of fighting for equality but tilting at everything that comes up whether real or imagined, a taboo where you have to die on every hill even if you realize it isn't a good one and a charge scheme that moves from being embedded in tumblr for minor acts and physically being involved in greater and greater efforts for bigger charges. Although I can't imagine what the rituals would look like.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 17:27
|
|
|
Tasoth posted:Is there a SJWmancer? It has a great paradox of fighting for equality but tilting at everything that comes up whether real or imagined, a taboo where you have to die on every hill even if you realize it isn't a good one and a charge scheme that moves from being embedded in tumblr for minor acts and physically being involved in greater and greater efforts for bigger charges. Although I can't imagine what the rituals would look like. Friend, you might want to slow your roll.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 17:30
|
|
|
Tasoth posted:Is there a SJWmancer? It has a great paradox of fighting for equality but tilting at everything that comes up whether real or imagined, a taboo where you have to die on every hill even if you realize it isn't a good one and a charge scheme that moves from being embedded in tumblr for minor acts and physically being involved in greater and greater efforts for bigger charges. Although I can't imagine what the rituals would look like. This is A) Why I could never really play UA, because it can easily turn into Memetown Armies, and B) Everyone knows that the higher level SJW you are, the LESS likely you are to go outside and engage the world in any way.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 17:34
|
|
|
Tasoth posted:Is there a SJWmancer? It has a great paradox of fighting for equality but tilting at everything that comes up whether real or imagined, a taboo where you have to die on every hill even if you realize it isn't a good one and a charge scheme that moves from being embedded in tumblr for minor acts and physically being involved in greater and greater efforts for bigger charges. Although I can't imagine what the rituals would look like. I don't know. Could you make a school around the paradox that unironically using the term SJW just makes you look like the kind of weird jackass that justifies social justice's existence?
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:00
|
|
|
Lurks With Wolves posted:I don't know. Could you make a school around the paradox that unironically using the term SJW just makes you look like the kind of weird jackass that justifies social justice's existence? The only eternal things in the universe are the Comte Saint-Germain and Lewis' Law.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:01
|
|
|
Lurks With Wolves posted:I don't know. Could you make a school around the paradox that unironically using the term SJW just makes you look like the kind of weird jackass that justifies social justice's existence? I mean, Ethics in Games Journalism is a pretty paradoxical statement already.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:05
|
|
|
I like the idea of an Arguemancer. You get charges by engaging in debate and arguments with other people. You get minor charges by winning or losing a real debate, significant charges by drawing it out for at least a hour or two and major charges if you can debate someone important in a topic, in public, to a standstill for a significant period of time. If it results in physical violence, you don't get any charges, it's not about getting someone to attack you. It's about getting the tension and the pressure raising and growing from neither side backing down, from the friction of locking horns. The paradox would be that your opinions don't matter, it's all about keeping the debate going by knowing the fallacies and knowing how to twist and shift words and points of view. Arguemancy powers would generally be more of a social magic; masking lies, diplomacy, provoking/cooling anger, invoking the Dunning-Krueger effect on people. The central taboo of the Arguemancer is that you lose your charges if you boil over or invoke stupid fallacies/things to say. No Godwinning, no comparing your opponent's mothers to farm animals, no getting so pissed you take a swing at them. Also it goes without saying that the parameters would really be different in the Web 2.0 world. I'd say that Arguemancy only works if you can hear the opponent's voice when you're debating them. Vox Valentine fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jun 14, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:19
|
|
|
Mortal Remains Mortal Remains starts with a chapter on Prometheans. Sometimes you run into someone, and you just know: they're not people. They are the Uncanny Valley made manifest. They are made of dead flesh, metal or plastic. They look like people, but they aren't and can never be. They are undead monsters, automatons. And they burn quite well. The scariest thing about these Created? They're fascinated by people. They want to learn about us. Why? To perfect their masquerade as humans? To find weaknesses? Or some other, more alien reason? Hunters have no real answers there. The Created are mockeries of humanity, built of dead flesh and animated by something called the Divine Fire. They see themselves as pilgrims, trying to steal humanity they have no right to claim. But hunters rarely see that - they just see the carnage they leave in their wake. The ones that just blunder through the world, learning and moving on, never draw hunter attention, really. But some of the Created are intrusive - indeed, their quest is intrusive by nature. They enter society with no idea how to function and don't understand basic human behavior. That's not a huge problem in itself - weird, yes, but not threatening. The problem is, they're monsters. They have powers that can easily hurt people, and their mere presence drives people mad over time. They may just want to learn, but when they set up shop, problems happen. And for many hunters, the horror is more visceral even than that. Hunters often have a number of rather understandable misconceptions about Prometheans. First, while they're made of dead flesh and often called the Reanimated, they really aren't undead at all. Stuff that works on undead usually doesn't work on them, and the bodies they're made of tend not to mean much to them. Second, they are exceptionally rare - less than a hundred on the planet at any given time, far more rare than any hunter might expect. Their 'society' is just a collection of rumors and signs painted on walls. They fall into categories, but most hunters will never be able to recognize those categories - hell, most hunters will never meet a Promethean at all. Last, it's easy to mistake them for other monsters. An Ulgan that calls on spirits could easily be mistaken for a mage, a Golem smashing through a wall could be a werewolf or vampire, and any Promethean could be a demon. We get an overview of the Promethean Lineages - Frankensteins, Galateids, Osirans, Tammuz, and Ulgans. They are composed of body parts, removed and reconstructed into a new form. To create one requires a burning, driving obsession that makes all else fall away. This obsession in their creators is terrifying to hunters, because it's familiar - they feel the same obsession when it comes to fighting monsters. These creators, demiurges, will justify anything to do their work - and so will some hunters. Some demiurges are monsters themselves - mass murderers at worst, grave robbers at best. Prometheans suffer from the Disquiet - essentially, a growing madness those who interact with them suffer from. Perhaps they become spiteful, terrified, fascinated, hateful or obsessed. It's one reason Hunters end up going after these things. Of course, if a Promethean completes its pilgrimage, it is Redeemed - it becomes a human being. The Redeemed may not be good people, always, but they are people - fully human - and their transformation is a profound and positive one if you witness it. Even more rare are the Centimani, strange and inhuman freaks that revel in their inhuman nature. Often, they reshape themselves into monstrous forms. Other Prometheans seem to fear them, and they follow no Pilgrimage at all. They often travel with broods of strange monsters that eat Prometheans. Even the conspiracies have no idea what the gently caress is going on there. Prometheans can eat anything, feel little pain, die only when killed with aggravated damaeg, are very hard to poison or strike with disease, heal from electricity and suffer terrible damage from fire. Fire bad. The longer they stay in an area, the more they poison the land, creating something they refer to as a Wasteland. They foul the earth, the air and the water. They make spirits restless, at times. They cause unpredictable fires. It's just not good for anyone near them. Ashwood Abbey tend to end up hunting Prometheans when they find them, usually due to Disquiet. They tend to, once they succumb, see the Promethean as the ultimate quarry. They usually don't care about Wastelands or take offense to the mad obsession of demiurges. Indeed, they can be fascinated by that level of passion, and it's said that the original club included someone trying to build a 'perfect houseboy' out of parts. What does offend them, however, is the idea that these creatures could become human. Inhuman creatures are great sport, but they can't become human. If a Promethean can, why not a vampire? Or a werewolf? If these can all become human, the Abbey just become rich perverts killing people, and that just won't do. Fortunately, most of the Abbey are entirely unaware Prometheans even exist. Some older members, often of the Pursuit, have found letters and notes indicating that some monsters seek to join humanity, but have no idea what they really refer to or that it's actually possible. If they found proof, they might actually get serious for once. The Long Night, on the other hand, already draw a distinction between human and inhuman monsters. Human ones - witches or the possessed - deserve a second chance at redemption. A relapse still means death, but they can give up sin. Inhuman monsters, like vampires or werewolves, deserve only death. They're already gone. But where do Prometheans fit? It's hard to say - most Long Night have never heard of them. They also tend not to find the ones that really follow the Pilgrimage. What they mostly notice, if anything, are Centimani, which they usually mistake for demons. They're happy to destroy those. The Loyalists of Thule seek redemption, and they approach the Created from a more cerebral place. they are more likely to find a Promethean's notes and journals, rather than the creature itself. They can recognize the obsession they read about. Being rather pragmatic, they see little reason to interfere with most Prometheans, unless Disquiet sets in. However, when that happens, they can be among the most dangerous to the creature, being more able to find information on it and how to kill it. Network Zero has the most contact with the created and the least knowledge. They know that some creatures have immense strength, that others can dissolve objects with a touch or hurl lightning. But that's not proof the Created exist - it's proof weird poo poo does. They rarely stick around to give interviews, so Network Zero hasn't exactly connected any dots here. One advantage they have, though? Recordings don't cause Disquiet. Filming one, yes, but not watching the film after. Of coruse, someone stalking and filming a Promethean long enough will still go mad. Null Mysteriis has managed something no one else has: they've discovered Disquiet. They know many supernatural creatures can influence the minds of others - that's what allows some of them to turn 'invisible.' (It's much easier to mess with minds than light.) So, they have supporting evidence that sometimes a mob will just go mad and beat to death a seeming innocent. But they have no idea why. It doesn't seem to be advantageous to the critter causing it. They can only theorize - perhaps these creatures exude some kind of chemical or cause a neurological change that activates the intrinsic fear of strangers, and the Genovese effect and mob mentality do the rest. Others believe this 'Frankenstein effect' is atmospheric, related to a place or environment more than the victim, and the people it happens to just have some kind of genetic or psychic marker that makes them vulnerable to becoming targets. That has some support in the existence of Wastelands, after all, which often coincide with Disquiet. Null Mysteriis is also most prone to succumbing to the mad obsession of the demiurge when they get consumed by studying the nature of life and Disquiet. The Union, in many ways, is the worst thing that can happen to a Promethean. They're reactive, local and often a bit xenophobic. Prometheans only exacerbate them. Toss Disquiet in, and it's easy for the Union to go postal on them. Plus, because of their focus on their homes, they notice Wastelands fast. They go out to investigate and clean up. Of course, it takes a bit of a leap of logic to trace that back to a Promethean, but once Disquiet sets in, it becomes really easy to blame anything on the creature. Usually, that's all the Union ends up caring about, and they know very little about Prometheans at all. Of course, the more circumspect Prometheans tend to avoid their notice if they only pass through an area. The more monstrous ones, though, are easily spotted. Next time: Conspiracies.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:20
|
|
|
pkfan2004 posted:I like the idea of an Arguemancer. You get charges by engaging in debate and arguments with other people. You get minor charges by winning or losing a real debate, significant charges by drawing it out for at least a hour or two and major charges if you can debate someone important in a topic, in public, to a standstill for a significant period of time. If it results in physical violence, you don't get any charges, it's not about getting someone to attack you. It's about getting the tension and the pressure raising and growing from neither side backing down, from the friction of locking horns. The paradox would be that your opinions don't matter, it's all about keeping the debate going by knowing the fallacies and knowing how to twist and shift words and points of view. No, the central taboo has to be admitting you're wrong, to get a properly mentally broken and unpleasant Adept.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:No, the central taboo has to be admitting you're wrong, to get a properly mentally broken and unpleasant Adept. But if you Godwin or just invoke stupid points, you get no charges.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:23
|
|
|
Mors Rattus posted:Null Mysteriis has managed something no one else has: they've discovered Disquiet. They know many supernatural creatures can influence the minds of others - that's what allows some of them to turn 'invisible.' (It's much easier to mess with minds than light.) So, they have supporting evidence that sometimes a mob will just go mad and beat to death a seeming innocent. But they have no idea why. It doesn't seem to be advantageous to the critter causing it. They can only theorize - perhaps these creatures exude some kind of chemical or cause a neurological change that activates the intrinsic fear of strangers, and the Genovese effect and mob mentality do the rest. Others believe this 'Frankenstein effect' is atmospheric, related to a place or environment more than the victim, and the people it happens to just have some kind of genetic or psychic marker that makes them vulnerable to becoming targets. That has some support in the existence of Wastelands, after all, which often coincide with Disquiet. Null Mysteriis is also most prone to succumbing to the mad obsession of the demiurge when they get consumed by studying the nature of life and Disquiet. I really like this bit. Finally, Null Mysteriis has accomplished something.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:56
|
|
|
Dammit Who? posted:If you want to live the easy life in Unknown Armies and don't particularly care what you have to do to get it, be an Avatar of the Merchant. There's an example in one of the books that, in addition to having fat stacks of cash, has also bought other people's intelligence, health, youth, good luck, charisma... capital accumulates, and to a Merchant everything is capital. Thank you, Merchant. You are my greatest ally.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:57
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:No, the central taboo has to be admitting you're wrong, to get a properly mentally broken and unpleasant Adept. That's already an Avatar taboo.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:No, the central taboo has to be admitting you're wrong, to get a properly mentally broken and unpleasant Adept. Man, I can barely stand parts of the internet because of people who are already like this, I would not want one at my table even if that is totally a legit Adept type. Speaking of arguments though, I am never wrong and completely objective about Rifts! Rifts Dimension Book 2: Phase World Part 14: Aliens, Animals, and Alien Animals  Straight from the Fallen Knights we get Creating More Alien Races. This is a chance for Siembieda to include one of his favorites: Random percentile tables. These are loosely based on the rules from Heroes Unlimited, though these are for entire races rather than individuals. First, you roll for what dice you get for attributes. Yes, this is a roll to determine what dice to roll. It is possible to end up with a below-human attribute level but only on a 20% or less. This isnt rolling up a new PC race either though it certainly could be in the hands of an evil GM. The second roll is for Damage Capacity where the new race has a 40% chance of being naturally MD, and only a 20% chance of being sturdy as a basic suit of armor or better. Then you get to the type. Fifty percent of all races will be human-like or bumpy-head Star Trek type races, and all the options are humanoid except for insects or vegetation. To this, you roll for physiological modifications with 66% chance of nothing, the remainder being things like Low Gravity which carries a 1D4x10 MDC/SDC bonus for some reason, or being slightly radioactive and slowly killing everyone around you.  somehow this picture really conveys the uncomfortable costume aspect of Star Trek aliens. Then theres a table to roll on for weird colors/antennae/head bumps and one (optional; 20% it says) table for special racial powers like the ability to fire MDC energy blasts which would be awkward for an SDC race. Then you roll for tech level, then magic level, and never the twain shall meet. Then General Attitude which is sort of like using Random Leaders in Civ: A good chance of them being dicks. Its not a great set of tables but if youre doing space adventure youll need some aliens here and there.  Next comes the Monsters and Animals section. These are some less-intelligent mobs you will encounter. Obviously they only scratch the surface of possible alien biodiversity, but ideally this should give the artists a chance to draw some cool critters. First up is the Arboreal Wailer. These are monkey-like reptilians who live on the Seljuk homeworld. Theyre tougher than chimpanzees but fortunately better-tempered and can be trained. Theyve escaped and become invasive on several worlds with compatible climates. Aside from being scaly monkeys they get their name from being able to focus ultrasonic howls that can inflict MDC. I am amazed the Seljuk ever developed space travel. Theyre not super durable and the wails only inflict 2D6 MDC--oh but wait, they also cause ringing ears and anyone within 50 ft loses initiative, one melee attack (!) and -10% on all skills. These things travel in packs of 8 to 60. Even the minimum size can easily stunlock an entire party, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Unless you want to get et by screaming scalemonkeys. (The babies sell for 3d6X10,000 and even adults go for 1d6x10,000, so if you dont mind trafficking in beings slightly smarter than dolphins and able to scream you to death, theyre worth bank)  i kinda like this picture Next up we get Kreeghor Bloodhounds. The Splugorth created these as punishment for the Kreeghor rebellion and they wreaked a lot of havoc on the local ecology before most of them were exterminated and the remainder tamed in captivity. These are large plated reptilian predators that look a lot like the Kreeghor themselves. They are used as weapons and often released on target worlds to soften them up--they will rampage through small settlements and destroy enormous amounts of foodstock, and they can locate enemies hidden in rough environments. They have 1d4x100 MDC with five attacks per round. Pretty tough, definitely a challenge for a group of PCs, mostly in trying to wear down all that MDC.  this is on one page Lesser Ugglies aka Space Rats are next. These look like tiny octopuses or squids (choose one) and infest space ships all over the galaxies. Some spacers, noting their vague resemblance to the Splugorth, also call them Splugorth babies. These critters can live in a vacuum, they eat anything even vaguely carbon-based (including most plastics) including a lot of MDC materials. The only way to get rid of them is to periodically irradiate the whole ship. Cant psionics sense living things like that? It seems like it might be easier. They have 100 SDC so its really hard to kill them with a shoe (unless its a big shoe) but anything strong enough to cut through the ships hull will splort them instantly. Individually they do 1d4x10 SDC or 1 MDC (math...hard ) per round, but a swarm of ten or more can do 1d4 MDC (or x100 SDC). Theyre pests and their only value is very occasional bounties.  ...and this is on the next. Of course those little squidlings are bad enough, there are also Vampire Ugglies which look exactly like them but are far tougher and immune to radiation. The Vampire ones feed slowly on ISP or PPE, causing losses that dont regenerate naturally until one can leave the environment of the Ugglie. Psionic powers explicitly CAN sense these and are the leading method for locating and destroying them. Fortunately this variant is solitary. Killer Apes exist for lack of a better name. Theyre also called Forsaken Ones and theyre hairy like apes. They are found primarily in the Corkscrew Galaxy, mostly around long-forgotten ruins. This has led to speculation that they are children of the First Race or non-techie Jokaero or whatever. Unlike the supposedly benign First Race, these guys like to swarm down on colonies and eat people while they are sleeping. Theyre as tough as the bloodhounds but less damaging, but they travel in packs supposedly. Theyre worth a lot of money as zoo animals because everybody likes to gaze at the large predators.  i guess youve made a monkey out of me? Next: Weapons and Technology, aka the Giant List of Guns
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
occamsnailfile posted:Man, I can barely stand parts of the internet because of people who are already like this, I would not want one at my table even if that is totally a legit Adept type. This is probably true enough. I was just trying to think in terms of how the Adepts all tend to have incredibly destructive and inconvenient taboos, and a person who destroys their social interactions to derive power from pointless social conflict felt about right.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:07
|
|
|
You can basically already do that as a personamancer, with the added benefit of not being insufferable and hiding behind the weak "it's in-character" excuse.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:34
|
|
|
Honestly, a lot of UA feels like 'This is a neat idea that wouldn't be any fun to play with'. It seems like a better setting for novels than RPGs.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:37
|
|
|
This is the 30,000th post in the combined FATAL & Friends threads. I hope you're all proud of yourselves. To celebrate, I'm finally starting work on the next generation of my off-forums archive for these threads, which will no longer depend on the wiki being kept up to date. Project MIMIR is go.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:39
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:Honestly, a lot of UA feels like 'This is a neat idea that wouldn't be any fun to play with'. It draws a lot on the novels and short stories of Tim Powers in particular, but trust me, it's a lot of fun in play especially if your group likes horror gaming assumptions like frequent character death and going crazy. I think some of the way it's discussed and theorycrafted online, as always, gives a different idea than actual play.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:41
|
|
|
Tasoth posted:Is there a SJWmancer? It has a great paradox of fighting for equality but tilting at everything that comes up whether real or imagined, a taboo where you have to die on every hill even if you realize it isn't a good one and a charge scheme that moves from being embedded in tumblr for minor acts and physically being involved in greater and greater efforts for bigger charges. Although I can't imagine what the rituals would look like. Lurks With Wolves posted:I don't know. Could you make a school around the paradox that unironically using the term SJW just makes you look like the kind of weird jackass that justifies social justice's existence? Mr. Maltose posted:I mean, Ethics in Games Journalism is a pretty paradoxical statement already. Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock's repose to internet feminism justifies internet feminism. Go to hellthread, if you are going to complain about MRA, PUAs, or SJWs or whatever internet thing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:44
|
|
|
occamsnailfile posted:Man, I can barely stand parts of the internet because of people who are already like this, I would not want one at my table even if that is totally a legit Adept type. True. This is NipponTech-levels of "so real it's depressing". quote:
I dunno. Looks more like some kind of evil Kamen Rider. The only race with that much additional bulk I can think of are the Gorn, with Borg being a close second depending on how cumbersome those costumes where. Oh, and maybe those fishead dudes from Next Gen. And why do most aliens have to be humanoid? How will I ever recreate the Mars People from Metal Slug?!
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:45
|
|
|
Doresh posted:And why do most aliens have to be humanoid? How will I ever recreate the Mars People from Metal Slug?! There's one of those in Star Fleet Prime Directive. The My'eni or something. Look like pears covered in tentacles with big expressive eyes. Like, if you were to try and animate the Vermicious K'nids from Charlies and the Great Glass Elevator, you're on the right track. So you just need to play the most horrible of all games.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 19:59
|
|
|
I'm just reminded that Rifts really needs some better random D-Bee tables than the very, very basic table in the core. I imagine some book could have them, but I've never seen any. It seems like such a basic Palladium-ey thing to do that really gets overlooked. But, then, human mutants always get mentioned but never detailed except in an obscure Rifter article, so...
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 20:07
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:I'm just reminded that Rifts really needs some better random D-Bee tables than the very, very basic table in the core. I imagine some book could have them, but I've never seen any. It seems like such a basic Palladium-ey thing to do that really gets overlooked. But, then, human mutants always get mentioned but never detailed except in an obscure Rifter article, so... They have those, they just foolishly stuck them in in Aliens Unlimited and Nightbane.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 20:21
|
|
|
theironjef posted:They have those, they just foolishly stuck them in in Aliens Unlimited and Nightbane. The assumption could just be that you're supposed to pull out Heroes Unlimited or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, yeah, but if that's the case, it isn't made clear. Well, it is for animal mutants, but for human mutants, not so much. Of course, the animal mutants from that don't really match up with the Dog Boys from Rifts, but eh, details!
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 20:29
|
|
|
Mortal Remains The Aegis Kai Doru don't really go looking for Prometheans, but sometimes mistakes get made. They also have nothing against using the artifacts or even body parts of Prometheans as Relics. It isn't commonly known, but the energy that animates the Created - it's called Azoth - can imbue objects, too. These Azothic Objects aren't usually Relics - indeed, they're little more than a really durable tool most of the time. However, Aegis records show that sometimes, under the command of a Created, they will come to life, sprouting limbs and teeth and attacking anyone nearby. They are sometimes known as Pandorans, and rumor has it they're practically uncontrollable, even turning on their masters. Still, most Aegis hunters that run into a Promethean won't know about that - they'll just tend to get hit by Disquiet and assume the thing is associated with a wizard somehow, and then try to torture it into revealing what it knows - or just kill it outright. The Aegis hold Orpheus' Eye (2 dots). Some Prometheans believe the mythic Orpheus was one of their own, returning to life after he was torn apart by the Maenads, but if so, he did it with one eye. The one the Aegis holds feels like glass, but gets warm very quickly. It twitches in the presence of music, particularly soft, haunting or mournful tunes on stringed instruments. When it is held and concentrated on, the person holding it may perceive ephemeral entities in Twilight, though not interact with them. The Ascending Ones guard against monsters and knowledge of monsters, and they're often more likely to help a Promethean than kill it. As a group, they know little about the Created, but some of their potions resist the Disquiet, allowing them to interact without growing mad. They do know about the Pilgrimage - and they regard it as a miracle, something to be celebrated as an expression of Allah's mercy. (Or whatever you want to call Him.) That doesn't meant they help all Prometheans - rather, they try to steer the Created away from dangerous situations that will get them or innocents killed. They try to keep the Created moving, to avoid them drawing mobs down. Of course, not all Prometheans follow a prosocial path, and the ones that don't? Those, with sorrow, the Ascending Ones put down. Those that reject the precious gift of humanity do not, after all, deserve it. Gentle Mind (2 dots) is the Elixir that resists Disquiet. It is a thin, clear, flavorless liquid made partially from strong alcohol. It has a pretty big kick. Once consumed, it renders the drinker greatly resistant to Disquiet and able to reduce powerful Disquiet in others - not cure it, but slow its spread. Cheiron calls Prometheans 'Artificial Organics' and it loves them dearly. They are top priority acquisitions. They don't know a lot about them, but they know they are valuable. They've only found a few, and Disquiet makes them hard to bring in alive, but that's even less of a problem than the Wasteland, which inevitably warps and rots their prisons somehow. They've been trying to figure out how to fight it, but no dice so far. They have, however, found uses for Promethean body parts. The Cheiron Group are one of the few organizations that recognizes different Created Lineages as 'species' of the same sort of creature. They also know that Prometheans contain a caustic liquid which somehow carries memories and information. They aren't entirely clear on how or why, or why extracting it leads to partial amnesia of apparently random events. Not even important ones, often, but things like watching dogs in a park. But hey, that weird 'vitriol' is useful. It goes in a Vitriol Pump (4 dots), which resembles an external insulin pump - a small, plastic device about the size of a deck of cards, worn in an underarm harness with a tube leading into your abdomen. You push a button on a remote, usually worn on the belt or wrist, and it releases a cocktail of low-grade sedatives, saline and a tiny amount of vitriol into your blood. This gives you access to memories in the vitriol - both muscle memory and experiential memory - memories that belonged to the Promethean the stuff was taken from. This lets you draw on that Promethean's skills to assist at skills, giving you three successes...but only if your skill was already at 3 dots or higher. Usually, but not always, it's limited to physical skills. There's enough in the pump for three doses before you need refills, which usually take at least a week to ship and mix. The Lucifuge find the Created frustrating. They're not necessarily evil or even really demonic, and they get visited by mysterious angels (the qashmallim). Are these qashmallim divine? What do they want with Prometheans? The Lucifuge have theories but none of them really work. Thus, the group treats Prometheans on a case-by-case basis. Disquiet doesn't help much. The Lucifuge tend to run into Prometheans being made or patching themselves up, as human dismemberment is sometimes confused with Satanic ritual. They also occasionally, when they attack Prometheans, find themselves under assault from beings of pure light, with crystalline wings and leonine heads. The primary theories the Lucifuge have are that the Created are Satanic but not necessarily evil, or are similar to the Biblical Nephilim. The Lucifuge possess a Castigation rite known as the Gulf of Hades. You see, the Gulf of Hades is the black cavern leading to Hell - so dark that it is not just absence of light, but absence of the concept of light. By tapping into that darkness, the Lucifuge can sap the energy of their targets, shutting down electronic devices utterly - including cars or electronic locks. On a person, it induces near-instant hypothermia and frostbite. On a Promethean? It renders them unable to heal from electricity and drains their willpower. The Malleus Maleficarum tend to mistake Prometheans for vampires. Sure, they can walk in daylight and don't drink blood, but they also don't age or die naturally. They tend to notice the oldest Prometheans, and that ends badly for everyone involved. They have records on the Tammuz...but mostly via the Golem of Prague tale, which was distorted to paint Jews as evil mystics. You'd hope the modern Malleus would be less anti-semitic, but the fact remains that golems are, in fact, real. Official Church stance is that raising dead flesh is Satanic and the mockery of life must be exterminated. Prometheans aren't actually undead, but the Malleus don't know that. They use a Benediction called the Peace of Saint Joseph, which lays the dead to rest - a very useful tool when you fight undead corpses moving around. It actually does work on Prometheans, but far less well than on vampires or zombies. When invoked, it saps the vigor from dead flesh, slowing the target and penalizing any physical actions as long as the creature remains in 30 feet of the user. It lasts for a while, too. Task Force: VALKYRIe tend to just do missions and leave as often as not, rather than camping in an area. They might be called out to deal with a Promethean or the aftereffects of one - Wastelands, angry mobs and so on - and to cover up what really happened, but they don't often run into them randomly. Disquiet, however, can lead to violating the standing orders to capture, not kill. It doesn't help that they often don't have the full data the government has access to. Command knows quite a bit about Prometheans, but they don't share the information with the troops. They aren't told about Prometheans healing from electricity, or that some of them can talk to ghosts. No one is entirely sure why the brass are so tight-lipped about this, either.  Oh right, that part of Promethean no one actually liked. Task Force: VALKYRIe sometimes hands out Gleipnir Restraints (2 dots). Gleipnir was the bond used to restrain Fenris, who could break any chain. It was a thin ribbon made of six impossible things. Gleipnir Restraints are occasionally given for anti-Promethean missions, or any supernaturally strong foe. The brass says they work on a kinetic feedback loop - the moer the target struggles, the more they restrict. The hardest part is usually getting them on the target in the first place. They resemble a strip of black plastic with a fingerprint panel on each end coded to the user. You're gonna have to wrestle the monster to force them on, in most cases. Breaking out of them is no mean feat - the stronger you are, the more it takes to break out. Then we get three example Promethean NPCs - a Greek dude who has no idea who made him and is haunted by spirits he desperately tries to appease, a guy made to be someone's ideal lover who doesn't understand that he's been driving his boyfriends crazy, and a woman who thinks she can perfect herself by murdering people and remaking herself with their body parts because her creator never bothered to tell her what she was actually meant to be doing besides 'becoming perfect.' Next time: Fairy tales.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 20:53
|
|
|
Doresh posted:
Oh, neat! I got a printed copy of the free PDF, before the Core version came out, so I always wondered how these would look like (I just don't feel like paying the full price again for these bits  )
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 21:05
|
|
|
LEVIATHAN: THE TEMPEST The School of the Abyss, or Tehom's Devotion, the Sunken School "We don't fit in this world. Nothing's our size, nothing's strong enough, nothing can give us the truth. If you want to figure things out, you've got to shut your eyes and listen to the small traces of wisdom that still linger, out where no-one's trod them over yet." The School of the Abyss focuses on finding their place in the world by exploring the Deep. The Deep is a part of the Rift, which is the collective soul of the Leviathan bloodline that is being ravaged by the Tempest (the storm caused by Marduk's slaying of Tiamat). It's a physical place you can access through water, and the Deep is far enough into the Rift where the waters of the Primordial Ocean can still be accessed. The reason they bother going that deep into the Rift is because there they're not alien and can find understanding of the self there. Mechanically, it's recommended you favor Empathy, Composure, Social and Mental skills. They generally feel like Tanninim don't really go this route that often because Tanninim are meathead murder machines and they're fine with them not joining their club. The physical effects of joining the School of the Abyss is that your Leviathan form picks up traits befitting deep sea life. They have soft forms, big aware eyes that can shine in the darkness or patches of bioluminescence. They also pick up the wiggly, loose traits of squid, octopi and deep sea life, gaining tentacles and flexible bodies. Playable characters of the Sunken School get a free specialization in Empathy, Survival or Investigation. They also get a discount in advancing in the Vestiges of Vitality and Awareness. quote: School of the Sun: "Talking about how great Mom and Dad are isnt going to make them come visit." "Maybe there are some people who can live without faith. Good for them. But we've always been the representatives of physical gods, incontrovertible proof that there is something greater out there. If you find yourself in doubt, look to your kin. Their faith will lift you up." The School of the Sun believes in better living through religious devotion and they're interested in rediscovering their divine heritage. Their reasoning is that if gods controlled the Primordial Waters and threw them into disarray, then it's going to take the control of gods to fix that. They're interested in old temples and prayers and rebuilding the religions of the Primordial Ocean. Devotees of the Celestial School use their faith to provide solace and direction and reconnection with their ancestors. Mechanically, you should favor Mental and Social skills and attributes like Expression or Persuasion and Languages, but not necessarily Academic or Occult. Resources and Status are important too. Physically, devotees of the Celestial School tend to become grossly incandescent. Their true forms gain light colors, elegant back fins and spines. They mix the aesthetics of sharks, whales and sea serpents into their true forms. Playable characters of the School of the Sun get a free Specialization Skill in Weaponry, Persuasion or Academics. They get discounts on the Vestiges of Vitality and Sanctity. quote: School of the Abyss: "You admit that we're lost, but you expect to find yourself." "We've always looked down on humans. It's easy, when you see them looking at you with those big moony eyes. But they've built this world, while anything our people did is long buried in silt and rotting algae. If I was you, I'd shut up and listen to them more often." The School of Clay recognizes that humanity runs the world now and that the Tribe isn't human. What devotees want to do is find a place for themselves in the world of man, thinking it of less of an imprisonment on an alien planet than a chance for them to change themselves. They study human history and try to reconcile it with that they can find of their own, they explore family trees and DNA records to see where their own blood comes into play. They maintain contact with humans and a lot of the devotees of the school are historians or psychologists. The two main ways of learning from people are to A: be social or B: be an observer. Do what you feel is best, but keep in contact with mankind. Mechanically, they do very well with Social attributes. Presence and Manipulation are thematically appropriate, as are Composure and Stamina or good Intelligence. For skills, go with Politics and Socialize, Academics and Computers, Empathy and Investigation. They also thematically favor Contacts and Allies but at an arm's reach. The people they're most likely to bring into their Cults are blood relatives and they don't necessarily want to risk overstepping their aspirations as observers by influencing strangers with their Wake. They also, thematically, favor firearms as weapons as opposed to natural weapons or melee. Physically, adherents of Malkut's Devotion adopt forms that let them go between sea and land safely. It's less amphibious and more armored, like crabs and lobsters and reef fish. They also tend to gain attributes that lend towards observing: if not an armored body, then a body with camouflage. If not focused, unblinking eyes, they tend to get antennae in addition to normal eyes. Playable characters get a free specialization in Politics, Firearms or Socialize. They get discounts on the Vestiges of Sanctity and Fecundity. quote: School of the Abyss: "Who would leave a world teeming with life to skulk around a dead one?" "If you believe we know better because we're bigger and tougher than mortals, then you've got to figure the Primordials knew best of all. Now those were big, gently caress-off critters, and so clever no human can wrap their heads around them. Don't tell me they didn't see this world coming, and don't tell me they left no clues for us." Protect the Tribe. That's all that matters. Keep yourself safe, keep your cultists safe, keep your family safe. Study your enemies, learn their weaknesses and what you can exploit. Their purpose is defense and their outlet is conflict. Leviathans who join the School of the Reef are often frustrated or confused by the human world. They find themselves restrained by it and they want a release. So they channel it into fighting back against their enemies or building new fortifications for their kind. It's not the healthiest outlet, but it keeps them busy. They also don't really pay too much attention to digging up their past history. To them, the only thing worth knowing is old wars and who won or who lost. But they're not all militia fanatics and guardsmen waiting for a criminal to cross their path. You're as likely to find someone who wants to protect, like a doctor of the Tribe or someone who keeps tabs on their kin and reports if there's a danger within. What's important is that you fight to protect in any way you can. Thematically, Physical Attributes are good. They do good with all Power Attributes and they do good with Presence over Composure. Skills-wise, Brawl and any form of traditional fighting works well. The planners in the school should look towards Academics, Occult and Science for ways to best their enemies. Mental Attributes shouldn't be neglected. While socially you're gonna favor Intimidate, you can't win all battles with force. Being able to think matters. Physically, you're gonna look the part; big rows of teeth, armored hides, rippling muscles, eyes that blaze with calculating fury, natural war-paint in the way your scales reflect. Playable characters get a free Specialization in Brawl, Science and Intimidation. They get discounts on the Vestiges of Predation and Might. quote: School of the Abyss: "They'd be better off if they spent less time gazing at their navels and more time listening to their gut." "There are things more clever and stronger things than us out there, but there's nobody who can take care of business like we can. In a week, I can gather ten people like you, as hard and as dedicated. Now tell me: who can stand against that?." The School of Fog looks for answers in the Tribe and their blood. They take scholarly pursuits by questioning what they know, poring over relics they have, inspecting the legends and observing the social structure of the Tribe. They bump and jostle with the other schools on purpose, asking them questions they don't want to think about or prodding their beliefs. Some of the other schools find that annoying, but they won't stop. They like to think of themselves as the ones who form the lens that turns on the Tribe. The end goal, the ultimate ideal for the School of Fog is to completely figure out a divine lineage to unite the Tribe so that they can know for sure their origins and their history. It's a noble goal, but it's going to be a bumpy ride. Mechanically, they do good with Finesse Attributes, Social Attributes. For Skills, look at Occult and Streetwise and the Social umbrella. For Physical skills, they tend to be slippery or stealthy. Physically, adherents of the school look weird. Many limbs, eyes, heads and flexible, shifting forms are the norm. They adopt alien forms or things that match dead-ends in the fossil record or the thing a marine biologist has night terrors about. Playable characters get a free Specialization in Occult, Stealth or Streetwise. They get discounts on the Vestiges of Elements and Fecundity. quote: School of the Abyss: "What are you hiding from?" 1: pick your Strain, which bloodline you're a part of. 2: pick your School and pick the skill you get a Specialization in. 3: start with 1 point of Sheol, which is your Power Stat. You can raise it up to 3 at the start of play with 3 Merits per dot. 4: pick your Vestiges. Your two favored Vestiges come from the one set by your Strain and the second is one associated with your Strain. Then you can pick three Channels (which are basically powers attached to the Vestige). The first Channel has to be from your Strain's Vestige. The second can be from either favored Vestige. The third can be from any Vestige, which starts giving you access to that one. Picking your Vestiges also gives you access to Birthrights, which is one thing all Leviathans with access to that Vestige can do. 5: give yourself a free Specialization in Athletics: Swimming. Finally, when you're determining Advantages, you have two things to figure out. First is Tranquility, which is the Morality stat. What Tranquility measures is how stable a Leviathan is, kind of like how Geist and Werewolf do it. How in sync are God, Man and Beast? The second is your Ichor, which is the fuel for your powers. Your divine power-fuel is determined by your Sheol. NEXT TIME we can really sink our teeth into the mechanics of Leviathan. Chapter One was the world of Leviathan. Chapter Two was the Strains and the Schools. Chapter Three is Tranquility, Transformation, Ichor, Sheol, your Wake and more. See you there!
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 21:06
|
|
|
NutritiousSnack posted:Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock's repose to internet feminism justifies internet feminism. SJWmancer spotted But yeah, one annoying tendency of new UA players is the desire to create an Adept/Avatar based on (Flavor of the Month).
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 21:30
|
|
|
Mors Rattus posted:Then we get three example Promethean NPCs - a Greek dude who has no idea who made him and is haunted by spirits he desperately tries to appease, a guy made to be someone's ideal lover who doesn't understand that he's been driving his boyfriends crazy, and a woman who thinks she can perfect herself by murdering people and remaking herself with their body parts because her creator never bothered to tell her what she was actually meant to be doing besides 'becoming perfect.' I really liked the example Prometheans, they're solid characters both within the line and as seen from the outside. The 'ideal lover' Galateid is pretty interesting, he explicitly plays on this idea of Disquiet as gay panic or unhealthy closeted sexuality. Creating a being specifically as a sex or romantic object, but rejecting them and trying to destroy them when they want to be treated like a person instead of an outlet for some shameful urge.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 21:55
|
|
|
LEVIATHAN: THE TEMPEST Sheol and Ichor "Sheol" is a Hebrew term that is used to refer to the place of darkness where the dead go, where all dead go. It's a place where the wicked and the righteous go that is free from the light and presence of God/YHWH. So why the hell would you name your power stat after that? Because one use of Sheol refers to a place of unified connectivity of the dead of the tribe, united into one. Though that definition is referring to the Tribe of the Israelites, it looks like Leviathans use it to mean the power of their Tribe in a unified source. It's descending into the grave of the Leviathan collective to draw on the power of the bloodline and of Tiamat. It's a little...weird but I still think Sheol is a cool word. So what does Sheol do? What doesn't it do! Well specifically what it doesn't do is keep you hidden in the human world. A lot of Leviathans who seek integration with the human world keep low Sheol. High Sheol brings a lot of trippy divine dividends but it makes it a lot harder to live in the world of man. What Sheol specifically does is this:
 What does Ichor do? Ichor is used to shapeshift voluntarily, use Vestige powers and turn on Birthrights. Ichor is easy to spend and it requires time and effort to regain. How do you get Ichor back?
Being a Leviathan and not having a cult can be kind of trying for getting Ichor, but it can be done. There's a bit of a strong emphasis on using cultists, and we will be getting into cult mechanics and getting cultist later. So NEXT TIME, we will be looking at two things: Transformations and Tranquility. A reminder: this was made pre-2e, so no Integrity, so...yeah. You know what you're in for, but I'm gonna show you their Karma Meter anyway.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 22:22
|
|
|
Kellsterik posted:I really liked the example Prometheans, they're solid characters both within the line and as seen from the outside. The 'ideal lover' Galateid is pretty interesting, he explicitly plays on this idea of Disquiet as gay panic or unhealthy closeted sexuality. Creating a being specifically as a sex or romantic object, but rejecting them and trying to destroy them when they want to be treated like a person instead of an outlet for some shameful urge. I've been making a making a man With blonde hair and a tan And he's good for easing my... tension
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 22:40
|
|
|
System Mastery fan fiction, I guess.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 23:06
|
|
|
theironjef posted:There's one of those in Star Fleet Prime Directive. The My'eni or something. Look like pears covered in tentacles with big expressive eyes. Like, if you were to try and animate the Vermicious K'nids from Charlies and the Great Glass Elevator, you're on the right track. So you just need to play the most horrible of all games. Oh, it's not that horrible. Maybe if the game was about the Prime teams flirting with green-skinned ladies while the book kept repeating how you'll never be as good as Kirk. "We all know that Kirk did managed to beat the impossible difficulty modifier to create a gun out of a piece of bamboo and a bunch of dirt and rocks, but we'd all admit he's a pretty special case. Now onto a bunch of aliens all written from the perspective of Kirk!" Traveller posted:Oh, neat! I got a printed copy of the free PDF, before the Core version came out, so I always wondered how these would look like (I just don't feel like paying the full price again for these bits Yeah, that sucks. I think I heard talk about the extra bits being released separately eventually, but since that was quite a while ago, it doesn't seem likely. Doresh fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Jun 14, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 23:11
|
|
|
Haha holy poo poo, this is great! We're actually both here listening to it, recording Afterthought and our first chunk of bonus content for Patreon today. theironjef fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jun 14, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 23:12
|
|
|
Mors Rattus posted:
Can anyone expand on this? I never got a chance to read Promethean and am not familiar with its metaplot (such as it is, in NWoD.)
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 23:22
|
|
|
Everything Counts posted:Can anyone expand on this? I never got a chance to read Promethean and am not familiar with its metaplot (such as it is, in NWoD.) One of Promethean's supplements had some stuff on human cloning. If memory serves it wasn't bad, just a bit out of place for most Promethean games and kind of forgettable as a result.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 23:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:28 |
|
|
Luminous Obscurity posted:One of Promethean's supplements had some stuff on human cloning. If memory serves it wasn't bad, just a bit out of place for most Promethean games and kind of forgettable as a result. Promethean started getting into a lot of Sci-Fi stuff with the Zeka and the Unfleshed, and I think they were looking for stuff to fill out the last book.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2015 00:03
|
|