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Was going to split this up, but gently caress it, let's just blow through this and get to the actual game shall we? The Mistborn Adventure Game Part 2: Setting Information Drivethru RPG Chapter 1 of the MAG introduction details the Final Empire to those uninitiated to the setting. It introduces the man known as the Lord Ruler- the so called "Sliver of Infinity"- who apparently beat a world consuming evil known as the Deepness a thousand years ago before ascending his throne and basically forging the world under his own banner through military might and a never before seen magic. He's sort of this everpresent force of nature, that's both feared and revered. Underneath him is the Steel Ministry, who are basically the Lord Ruler's church, government and central bureaucracy. They're split into several Cantons. There is the Canton of Orthodoxy, which ensures the Lord Ruler's laws are follows. The Canton of Finance confirms and grants trade contracts, maintains trade routes, and taxes the nobility. Canton of Resource catalogues and rations food and provisions. And the Canton of Inquisition hunts down enemies and heretics against the Lord Ruler. The Steel Ministry basically has integrated themselves fully into everyday life, where any contract that anybody makes has to be ratified by the ministry. Within the Steel Ministry, the Obligators serve. Basically, these are the eyes and ears of the place. They have shaved heads, ashen robes, and tattoos surrounding their eyes to indicate their stations. They speak with the voice of the Lord Ruler, and the highest nobility is on high alert when even the lowest obligator is around. Beyond the Obligators are the Steel Inquisitors, who are inhuman monstrosities. Identified by having a pair of steel spikes rammed through their eyes and out of the back of their skull, they are inhumanly fast, can tear a horse in two with their bare hands, and wield incredibly magical power. They're described as being virtually invulnerable, and they are the ones that hunt Allomancers and Feruchemists. They are the ones that murder half-breeds of nobles and slaves, and destroy the crew, and quash rebellions with extreme predjudice. They are the Lord Ruler's sword, and will basically destroy you. The People of Scadrial There are three main ethnic groups in the Final Empire: The nobles, the skaa, and the Terris. They're all human, and difficult to tell apart by sight, and each forms a distinct caste in the Final Empire. There is also the Kandra, an inhuman race of shapeshifters that live secretly amongst humans and follow the laws only as close as they need to in order to maintain their disguise. The book next points out that it's literally impossible to change social status. If you are born skaa, you are skaa, your children will be skaa and your grandparents were skaa. No matter how sharp the Terrisman, he cannot rise above his pedigree. This has led to chafing and heated social tensions that are all starting to boil to the top. The Skaa The Skaa are the underclass of the Final Empire. Numerous and Diverse, they're indentured to life on farms, canal work, or serving in squalor in the cities. They're typically hardier, but they're poorly-educated and superstitious. It's thought that the Skaa are those who opposed the Lord Ruler for the sins of their ancestors. They are considered owned by the Lord Ruler, and rented out by him to his nobles. In cities, most skaa work twelve to fourteen hour days in canneries, forges and workshops, producing the munitions that allow for the army and the nobility to live the life they do. In the manor houses, the skaa serve usually inhumane noble masters. And on plantations, they clear and till the barren earth, trying to grow a crop for the noble they serve, all the while cringing under the whips of their taskmasters. Men are conscripted into the military against other skaa, and women can be taken as playthings, to be used and then killed. They have nothing that cannot be taken away from them. So they attempt to raise rebellion, which fails. Seriously, if a rebellion rises, you start taking bets on when it will fail, not when it will succeed. In a thousand years, there hasn't been a proper threat to the Lord Ruler from the Skaa. Nobles The administrative caste of the Final Empire. The Nobility are the merchants, the well-off, the fancypants of the setting. They throw nightly balls, have rights, and are generally looked fondly upon by the Lord Ruler. This is most likely because they are the decendants of his friends and followers. According to propaganda, they are the only ones that have magic, and it is a birthright for them. But it's not like it's all sun and roses for them either. The byzantine web of their society means that the House comes first, family everything, and the individual is merely a piece to play, use or sacrifice. Noble children are beaten to the brink of death to try to awaken latent magical ability, abandoned to loveless marriages, or given to the Steel Ministry to become Obligators. Those who make it through the gauntlet then have to play the game of politics, where the person who you are talking to is just as likely to slit your throat as he or she is to sleep with you in order to get ahead or drag you down. The skullduggery becomes even more apparent in the Great Houses- the ten most powerful organizations in the Final Empire. The Houses- Venture, Hasting, Elariel, Tekiel, Lekal, Erikeller, Erikell, Haught, Urbain and Buvidas- are locked in a perpetual war against lesser houses and each other over trade, politics and military affairs. Every once in a while, the cold war breaks out into a real one, which usually is accentuated by assassinations, raids and attacks against each other's holding. The Lord Ruler doesn't usually interfere with these disputes either, it's good for the political scene to be shaken up every once in a while. The Terrismen A people who predate the Final Empire, the Lord Ruler hates them with a firey passion. Subject to systematic cultural genocide, young Terris men are euniched and women are forced into breeding camps. All this effort by the Lord Ruler and his Steel Ministry has one singular purpose- to eradicate the magic of Feruchemy and curbing the Terris population. Depite all this, Terris culture has survived. Ruled by a group known as the Synod, they live primarily in the mountains of their namesake, where they keep the history of the world. The highest of these scholars are the Keepers, Feruchemists that have vast knowledges stored away, and who attempt to rediscover Terris culture. For in the past thousand years, the Terrismen have learned much of the world before the Lord Ruler, but they have not been able to discover their own past. Kandra A races of shapeshifters, they are poorly understood and often feared by the few that know they exist. Serving the nobility as spies and infiltrators, they can mimic anyone they want, down to the behavioural cues if they can learn the person or thing well enough. In their natural state, the Kandra resemble shifting blobs of translucent muscle. But by consuming the flesh of a corpse and keeping its bones, the Kandra can assume the creature's form. However, the Kandra cannot grow teeth, nails or hair, so it needs to be on the corpse originally in order for it to be mimicked. Kandra society is high contractually oriented. Regularly drawing up contracts with nobles and others, they serve in various positions, though usually it is to make use of their shapeshifting abilities. Adherence to contract is culturally paramount to all Kandra, even if it would bring resentment and shame. In Kandra society, breaching contract is typically considered treason and gets you killed. Beyond that, they have a very strict No Killing policy, which, if broken, makes the Kandra kill on sight by all other Kandra. Technology, Trade and Commerce Technology in the Final Empire is equivalent to that of approximately 18th century Earth, for the wealthy at least. Travel is done by carriage and sailing ship, they warm themselves beside coal-burning ovens, occupy themselves with balls, and be all dapper with their top hats, waistcoats and pocket watches. Poor and isolated communities can be decades or centuries behind, with cutting edge technology like lamps and looms. Yet despite many of the similarities to 18th century Europe, there are still a great many differences. Gunpowder has been abandoned, and lost by the Lord Ruler's command. Wars are fough with sword, bows and catapults. Non-metallic items and weapons are in high demand, as Allomancers can use the metal you wear as a weapon against you. On the industry side, coal and steam technology do not have their places, so industry is powered by skaa, horse, wind and water. Gas and electricity are non-existant as well, so lamps and limelights are the things that illuminate noble estates. Luthadel itself is the heart of most trade, which usually takes place between noble houses and the Empire itself. There are three currencies that the Final Empire deals with. The first two are the Boxing and the clip, which are the coins. The boxing being a large gold coin and the higher value coin, and the clip being a small copper coin. It's eight clips to a boxing, and while simple meals might cost a single clip, horses, gowns and pure metals might cost hundreds or thousands of boxings. The third currency is Atium, an incredibly rare metal found in nuggets. Atium's value is not just rooted in its scarcity, but in its magical potency as well. Atium grants the Mistborn a vision of the future a few seconds in advance. As a result, these properties make atium the tender of high level trade. A single nugget can be used to seal imperial exchange agreements, settle inter-house conflicts, or seal a contract with a kandra. The World  what they don't tell you is that the rivers and lakes actually are black because of the ash The known world is split into ten regions known as Dominances. Each is a former nation that the Lord Ruler conquered during his Ascension. While cultural differences between the Dominances is minor, each Dominance is known for its own distinct characteristics and industries. Monitored by a provincial noble lord who applies levies and keeps the local skaa productive, the Dominances are very close to autonomous, particularly in the Outer Dominances. However, that is not to say they are completely so- Obligators play a pivotal role in keeping things in check, and Lords and Ladies that try to rise above imperial law typically find themselves face-to-face with a Steel Inquisitor. The Ten Dominances are: The Central Dominance is the 'nicest' of the Dominances. The smallest, yet the most heavily populated, the Central Dominance is the home to the capital city of the Final Empire, Luthadel. The two largest trades in the Central Dominance are business and politics, as it is close to the central bureaucracy of the Empire. It is also home to the Pits of Hathsin, a labour camp where the worst criminals and the most feared enemies of the state are worked to death. Ironically, it is also the most productive region for thieving crews, as there are many targets of opportunity, and plenty of corruption to exploit. The Northern Dominance is home to House Venture. Residing in the second wealthiest city of Urteau, Venture makes much of their wealth in the arable farmland and high demand metals that are located in the region. The Western Dominance is a rough, flat and stony land, peppered with forests and rock formations. The capital of Fadrex is a veritable fortress nestled in shelves of stone to make a natural perimiter. The people of the west are known for their blonde hair- unusual in the Central Dominance- thick beards, and one- to two- decade lag in imperial fashion. For commerce, the Western Dominance makes contracts for mining, transport and agriculture, but it uniquely has massive caverns and coves which are used to stockpile caches for the Canton of Resource. The Southern Dominance is the breadbasket of the Final Empire. The capital Austrex is home to houses Lekal and Hasting, who control many of the massive plantations in the area. The southern ports are hives of pirates, smugglers and traders from the Southern Islands looking to press wares on Luthadel. Runaway skaa usually hide here in order to escape bounty hunters and enforcers. The Eastern Dominance is a scorched wasteland of clay, with only a single ashmount protecting the dominance from the sun's rays. Rich in resources, the people who settle here are under constant siege from robber barons and bandit kings. For the most part, communities are small towns and fortress-like manors. Skaa enjoy more independance out in the East, and there are rumours of towns going entirely without a noble presence. People of the Eastern Dominance are recognized by their unique slang, which is nigh-incomprehensible to "civilized folk". The Terris Dominance is the homeland of the Terris, a massive mountain range in the north. Its capital of Tathingdwen is a massive fortified mountain, and is nearly devoid of a noble presence. Terris is always under close watch from the Ministry, and Inquisitors often roam its borders. For whatever reason, it is the only Dominance to keep its pre-Ascension name. The Farmost Dominance is in the Northwestern part of the empire. An independant folk, the nobles there play fast and loose with imperial rules, sometimes giving land to diligent and loyal skaa. However, it is somewhat necessary, as it is home to large bands of koloss, and so they must be constant alert against an invasion. The Southern Islands Lay across the savage seas, and are where most of the exotic goods originate from. Nobles are sea traders, there are skaa pirates. Places is kinda wind blasted, damp, and humid. The Remote Dominance is basically an untamed wilderness. Large beasts, massive mistwraiths and koloss warbands roam the area. Human presence in the area is mostly among military outposts and small walled camps. The few that live outside of those outposts are to a man survivors, either foolish or savvy enough to risk life in their pursuit of freedom or fortune. Most call them insane, but they are definitely highly skilled and have great fortitude. The Crescent Dominance lies on the far eastern edge of the empire, extending from the Terris Dominance to the Remote Dominance. Largely uninhabited, the few that make their home in the sandblasted expanse are the bandits and nomads, who survive by raiding into the Eastern Dominance. Koloss are sometimes sent to hunt these brigands, as they try to claim small territories and raise themselves up as bandit kings. Monsters of Scadrial There are more that just humans and kandra out there. Beyond wolves, lions and birds of prey, there are a great many beasts that are unique and terrifying. Mistwraiths are enormous nocturnal amalgams of dead creatures, giving them a nightmarish appearance. Rural citizens of the Empire believe mistwraiths consume and impersonate the humans they encounter, so they avoid travelling at night. There are reports from the Outer dominances of massive mistwraiths that display bestial cunning and an insatiable taste for living flesh. More dangerous that the Mistwraiths are the Koloss. Hulking blue humanoid giants, they are the Lord Rulers shock troops and engines of destruction. Few have seen koloss and live to tell the tale, as the creatures are kept in the fringes of the empire, away from civilization, until their god needs them. Young Koloss stand as tall as a man, with folds of azure skin drooping around them, and they don't stop growing until they reach about 14 feet, where their heart cannot support their body and it gives out and kills them. Koloss wander the land in fugue, picking the land clean and solving problems with sudden and deadly bursts of violence using their massive words. When united against a common foe however, they are the most terrifying, as the horde decends into a blood frenzy, and will not stop fighting until they are killed. When unleashed, they destroy everything in their path, including cities, and every living thing inside them. Magic and the Metallic Arts There are three magics in Scadrial, and this will be covered later on, but they consist of: Allomancy the art of consuming metal to grant an effect. Feruchemy is the ability to store traits into metallic objects to be withdrawn at a later time Hemalurgy the act of using metal spikes to steal qualities or abilities of other people and putting them into another being. The three magics are known as the Metallic arts. And while Hemalurgy can be used by anyone with the know how (basically nobody), Feruchemy and Allomancy can only be inherited through bloodline, and even then there is little chance for it to occur. Only those with noble blood can become an Allomancer, and only one with Terris blood can become a feruchemist. The rest of the Introduction Not a hell of a lot here. Tells you the novels and the general New to gaming/New to Mistborn/what's in the book/upcoming splats(hah!) stuff. Not going to cover it, because this update has already gone on long enough. Next up: The actual game
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May 28, 2013 00:40
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RE: The Bunyip, I love how the Red Talon tribebook's approach wasn't the "woe, we have slain our brothers and hastened the Apocalypse" you'd expect from a WW book. Instead, it's just a brief "we showed up, some not-wolves were there, we killed the poo poo out of them for being on our turf". Refreshing.
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May 28, 2013 00:47
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goatface posted:They interbred with thylacines. Marsupials. Literally the most distant mammal relations they could possibly find without laying eggs.
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May 28, 2013 01:14
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 I'd post the cover image, but there is none. More on that next update. Here we go, the Children of Gaia. It’s been said before, particularly during Kurieg’s great review of the Revised tribebook, that the Children of Gaia really don’t make sense as a tribe. After all, this is a game about werewolves fighting giant monsters, and these werewolves don’t fight. While that is certainly true, I don’t think it gets at the core of what’s wrong with the Children of Gaia as a Werewolf splat. Like I said last time, Werewolf is a game all about RAGE, and simply put, the Children of Gaia aren’t angry. It’s not even a point of conflict for them, like the Uktena or the Stargazers. They’re just beyond anger. The concept of this tribe misses the entire point of what a Werewolf werewolf is. That said, I do have soft spot for this tribe. If the oWoD had a robust mortals system, the Children of Gaia would make awesome villains. Just think about it: a friend or family member joins this crazy New Age club that seems almost like a cult to your characters. You investigate and wham! Turns out that not only is it a cult, it’s run by werewolves who want to enlist humanity in destroying civilization and sacrificing them to stop the “Wyrm”, whatever that is. Now you have to fight hippy werewolves. The Children of Gaia also work well as antagonists to a Werewolf group, in a sort of Walter Peck way. Your pack’s trying to do a job, but the Children keep interfering, making things worse. Even if they have a point, stuff needs to happen. But anyway, enough of my sermon, let’s get to the core entry. This is going to be combination of stuff from Revised and 20th Anniversary. While their breeding stock comes from the Fertile Crescent and Phoenicia, the Children of Gaia truly established their tribal identity during the Impergium. They were the Garou that opposed the culling of humanity and successfully petitioned the Nation to step down. Of course, popularity for the impergium was already dwindling due to the difficulty of breaching new cities and the prevalence of silver weapons, but the Children of Gaia prevented the Garou Nation from engaging in a drawn out war.  From Revised, by Ron Spencer Nowadays, the Children of Gaia are committed to two missions: fighting the Wyrm and mediating the divisions between the various tribes and septs. Of course, fighting the Wyrm takes on a different connotation to the Children of Gaia. To them, the Wyrm is to be healed. It was once an essential part of the Triat, after all, but it’s gone crazy. It can be helped, all it needs is love. They’ll still take down fomor and other Wyrm monsters that are a clear and present danger, but their first response is to figure out a way to make peace with the Wyrm. The Children of Gaia are a relatively populous tribe, as they will accept anyone, even moreso than the Gnawers. They’re a popular tribe among metis, since they treat their metis better than any other tribe. They also take most of the male Black Furies. Also, on the sept level, the Children of Gaia are very egalitarian. They do require two elders in each sept, though, the Voice of Gaia (always female) and the Arms of Gaia (always male) to mediate disputes. Other than that, it’s free reign, attracting many homid Garou to their ranks. Their politics more easily extend into the realm of mortal governments, too. They’re responsible for a variety of special interest groups and NGOs, and it is here that the Children of Gaia shine, protecting many natural areas and earning the respect of the Pure tribes for helping Native Americans. They have the largest kin and mortal networks out of all the tribes. They’ve even began initiatives to decrease the Veil to establish a network of mortal insiders. This is of course completely secret, since the other tribes would destroy the Children of Gaia if they ever discovered their transgressions. Appearance: Their wolf forms are gray and brown and instead of radiating an aura of menace, they’re cute and cuddly! Truly, these are misunderstood monsters. In 20th Anniversary, they change this so that they project an eerie calm.  The hardest picture Ron Spencer has ever had to draw. From W20 Kinfolk: While the tribe originated in the Fertile Crescent, they haven’t had a real presence there for years. They now accept kin from any nationality, so long as they’re politically engaged. Totem: Unicorn cares for the Children of Gaia. It’s normally peaceful, but it can be ferocious if threatened. ”Revised edition” posted:Of course I’m teaching humans to respect nature instead of fear it. We destroy what we fear. That’s why you kill humans, isn’t it?  ”W20” posted:We’re Garou. We draw out the toxins from our Mother’s blood, cut away Her cancers, slay the parasites feeding on Her flesh. But once the surgery’s done, you have to bind the wounds back up, too. Stereotypes: Black Furies: They hate men!!!! (Revised) They have a lot of mystic knowledge, and they should share it. (W20) Bone Gnawers: They’re Garou too, so we shouldn’t treat them badly. (Revised) They do care about the Nation, but it’s too bad they’ll sell us out to survive. (W20) Fianna: They’re very emotional, and for that they should be respected. Get of Fenris: They’re assholes. (Revised) They’re badass, but we can’t get along. (W20) Glass Walkers: “Can they survive out of their fishbowls?” (  ) (Revised) They’re logical, but also alien to us. (W20)Red Talons: They’re honest, but too bitter. (Revised) If only they weren’t psycopaths. (W20) Shadow Lords: They’re selfish pricks. Silent Striders: It’s good to be free, but I miss them!  (Revised) I feel sorry for them (W20)Silver Fangs: We need strong leaders. The Silver Fangs aren’t that. Stargazers: We need their wisdom. (Revised) They’re devoted to peace just like us, but they want to forsake all emotion! (W20) Uktena: Looks like we’ve got to heal the divisions between us.  There’s a lot of mistrust between them and the Nation, which is too bad for both. They’re in danger. (W20)Wendigo: We’re trying to help them, but they’re assholes.
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May 28, 2013 04:38
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 Countdown, Chapter 1 - PISCES (part 2) Sorry for vanishing! For the newbies, the old DG posts are collected here, with the first part of this book specifically here (thanks to Syrg for his tireless archival work, as always). Without further ado, let's talk about England's answer to Delta Green, PISCES! PISCES' origins can be traced all the way back to 1893, when the Admiralty first tried hiring seers and psychics for Project Delphi, an attempt to use 'unconventional' means to detect the position of enemy ships. The experiment was a near-total failure, with the notable exception of one Arthur Colby, who showed some impressive accuracy, and had worked with Scotland Yard on unsolved cases in the past. However, one success wasn't enough to justify the resources, and the project was shut down. Still seeing some value to be gained, a young Lt. Commander Fredrick Ramsey, a Mason and a spiritualist, continued the project on his own. His refusal to abandon the ideas from Delphi ended up ruining his career and set him off on a 7 year long journey around the world in search of others with extraordinary mental abilities. This ended with the founding of the Ramsey Institute for Psychical Education, a place where people could have their psychic potential tested, though Ramsey only ever found a handful of people with abilities worth noting. In 1916, during the worst days of WWI, Ramsey was approached by Captain Mansfield Cumming, the father of MI-6. He was interested in resurrecting Delphi to help combat the threat of German U-boats. To that end, he gave Ramsey his own division, dubbed MI-13, where he gathered up the exceptional talents he'd found, along with the world's foremost neurologists and alienists, some scholars of eastern medicine, and a few from the budding science of psychology. From their temporary headquarters in Hampden Castle on the Scottish border, they quickly began to produce some surprising results, sometimes even predicting German troop movements before they'd happened. However, the information gleaned wasn't always actionable; the psychic's visions were often subjective and couched in metaphor, so the military was forced to get independent confirmation before they could act on anything. By the end of the war, Ramsey had been promoted to Commander, while Cummings (who was eventually knighted) continued to be MI-13's biggest supporter until his death in 1923. Cummings' death resulted in an almost immediate gutting of MI-13's budget, forcing Ramsey to cut his staff of 70 down to just 20 of the strongest potentials, which he eventually had to demote to part-time contractors. Things went from bad to worse in late February 1925, when the potentials all reported having disturbing recurring dreams involving strange undersea imagery. These continued to ramp up in intensity until March, when they became so powerful that 7 of the potentials killed themselves. The survivors all made miraculous recoveries shortly after, and reported no more odd dreams. Ramsey was haunted by what'd happened, and his quest for answers led him to believe his worldview was missing a key piece of the puzzle. This was also what put him in touch with a Major David Cornwall in 1926. Cornwall had become a student of the preternatural after his time with the British Expeditionary Force, where his troop had been sent into No Man's Land in 1916 to clear out a nest of ghouls (officially identified as "shell-shocked cannibalistic deserters"). Cornwall knew full well the things he saw weren't human, but never spoke up publicly for fear of losing his position. When in 1926 Cornwall denounced several high-ranking Turkish officials as being members of an occult group called the Brotherhood of the Skin, he was forced into early retirement, where Ramsey found him. Together they spend the next 6 years searching for answers, a search that ended in 1932 with Ramsey's death by heart attack. While attributed to overwork, Cornwall always believed that it had been shock from finding out too much (indeed, Ramsey had in fact deduced what the potentials saw). World War II At this point, MI-13 was on the verge of closure, consisting of little more than Cornwall and a few research assistants. This all changed with the outbreak of WWII, as MI-13's occult contacts made the invaluable for investigating the Nazi's mystical research. They were in fact the first to discover the existance and activities of the Karotechia. What really brought them to prominence was a vision by a former MI-13 psychic in May 1940 predicting an elaborate feint by the German army to allow them passage through the "impassable" Ardennes Forest. Since this seemed like an odd course of action, and since MI-13 had yet to produce any usable intel in the war thus far, this was dismissed outright. Cornwall realized that MI-13 was going to be needed again, so he came up with a plan: he put the prediction in a sealed envelope and left it in the office of Winston Churchill, with instructions to be opened on June 5th. When Churchill opened the envelope and saw that everything that had been predicted has come to pass, he immediately realized the potential MI-13 had. MI-13 was reorganized into an inter-agency task force working with MI-5, MI-6, and the SOE. They were also given a new name: the Paranormal Intelligence Section for Counterintelligence, Espionage, and Sabotage, or PISCES. They were also given their independence: PISCES reported directly to the Prime Minister, and had complete discretion over their funding and resources, meaning more often than not it was MI-5 and MI-6 getting tasked to work on PISCES projects rather than the other way around. PISCES had a variety of resources to provide during the war. Their telepaths and empathics made excellent interrogators. Their clairvoyants could predict troop movements. At SOE's request, they even provided several psychics to act as communicators that couldn't be jammed. Needless to say, PISCES didn't have an abundance of personnel to provide, but those that they could proved to be immensely useful. PISCES also ended up running into several supernatural enemies during the war, most notably Karotechia; PISCES ended up being instrumental in discovering and stopping a number of Karotechia's more apocalyptic plans during this period. Other groups they tangled with included the Black Ocean Society (an ultra-nationalist group in Japan with ties to the Yakuza), the Thuggee (a revolutionary secret society in India), and SMERSH (a Russian counter-intelligence group with occult aspirations). Regarding Delta Green, PISCES wasn't introduced immediately, as neither side was eager to broadcast a belief in the paranormal (they did, however, notice each other's agents by way of their interest in certain obscure files). It wasn't til 1942 that the groups were formally introduced, but their shared findings quickly inspired a working partnership. Their first joint operation was against a Deep One colony off the south of France; they used a spell to summon the Deep Ones, then obliterated them en masse with depth charges to great success. The partnership was broken after the war with the disbandment of Delta Green. Though DG was later reformed, PISCES worried that another breakup could cause the leak of sensitive information, and the US government saw England as a haven for soviet spies. The only relationship going forward was informal and under the table, though to this day the old guard from both groups continue to share the occasional piece of intel. In order to keep relevant during the Cold War (and to allow him to continue with his off-the-books investigations into the Mythos), Cornwall was up front with PISCES' findings and activities during WWII to incoming Prime Minister Clement Attlee. PISCES presently believed that the breakup and unofficial reformation of SMERSH was a sign that they'd found something big, and would need to be kept under watch. The British government were indeed worried about the Soviets, but wanted Cornwall to go further: they insisted that PISCES begin officially studying the 'alien' sciences that SMERSH and Karotechia had been experimenting with. Cornwall was not at all pleased with this (knowing what that power could do), but had little choice. He did, however, insist on relocating to an island in the St. Kilda archipelago, where hopefully any research disasters could be contained. PISCES vs the Mythos PISCES' operations against Karotechia in WWII had only cemented what they'd already known about the greater supernatural threats lurking on the fringes of the world, and it didn't end with the close of the war. In 1948, they discovered a splinter group of the IRA worshipping a fertility god known as The Green Man. During the 1954 Malaysian Emergency, PISCES found themselves tracking a tiny ethnic minority group called the "Chau-chau" that exhibited a flair for cannibalism. Cornwall continued to lead the group through this period up til his retirement in 1955, and he continued to act as a consultant up til his death in 1961. His insistance that PISCES always focus on the 'other war' regardless of whatever else they were tasked with was an enduring legacy which eventually led to what became known as the Severn Valley Campaign. Brigadier Charles Balfour had been investigating the paranormal in England for almost 2 decades, and when he became director of PISCES, he was eager to go after what appeared to be a hotspot for anomalous activity: the tiny village of Goatswood. Taking cues from the US raid of Innsmouth, PISCES raided Goatswood and burned it to the ground, later claiming the entire area under a Ministry of Defense issues Compulsory Purchase Order. Surviving members of the tower were initially housed on an abandoned WWII era carrier scheduled for demolition. Despite calls to let the demolition happen on schedule, Balfour ordered the prisoners moved to their research island, which continues to hold hundreds of Goatswood prisoners to this day. PISCES would return to Goatswood several more times over the years, including investigation of an avatar of Y'golonac in 1974, and the draining of Brichester Lake to research an alleged meteor impact in 1987. PISCES continues to operate today, though few have heard of them outside of the offices of the Prime Minister and the chiefs of MI-5 and MI-6. Many of the lowest ranks of PISCES are even under the impression they work for a super-secret branch of MI-5 nicknamed "the Section". Though they continue to fight the paranormal, they've greatly reigned in their operations and now work almost exclusively within the borders of the UK. However, they've become quite effective at stopping cult activity; the GCHQ gives them access to wiretaps, and the SAS and SBS can be deployed for 'extralegal rendition' of any cultists that are found. England may not know it, but they have a protector in PISCES. A final note But forget all that. PISCES is hosed. During the raid on Goatswood in 1968, several PISCES agents became host to the Shan, who began slowly spreading their influence and working their way up the chain of command. By 1988, a Shan was inside the PISCES director. They found it easy! As with many intelligence agencies, agents were hesitant to place suspicion on their own members; surely these people, who they've known for years, would have no reason to turn, right? Additionally, the Shan used their knowledge of the mythos to ensure their hosts' fieldwork was superb and highly successful, allowing them to easily move up the ranks. At present, the Shans control about 10% of PISCES, but it's the 10% that counts. They have a controlling share of the top executives, they run the Internal Investigations Division, and they handle recruitment and training of new hires. PISCES' prime directive now is to keep the Severn Valley hive safe. Perhaps fortunately, the Shan are religious bigots, hence why they continue to root out and destroy other cults across the UK (this of course helps maintain their cover, as well). They've been slowly working to lower the profile of PISCES, all while reaching out to place more Shan into different government agencies. And you thought Delta Green had it bad. Next time: the terrorist cult The Army of the Third Eye
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May 28, 2013 06:07
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SMERSH? Fertility cults? Is DG incorporating James Bond and The Wicker Man?Kurieg posted:They didn't in their 20th anniversary incarnation. I'd love for somebody to review this. It's rare to see Australia portrayed in RPGs. What's Ned Kelly, an proto-Technocrat? How powerful are the were-sharks, since they can gently caress with the tourist trade? Etc. Count Chocula fucked around with this message at 09:33 on May 28, 2013 |
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May 28, 2013 09:18
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Count Chocula posted:I'd love for somebody to review this. It's rare to see Australia portrayed in RPGs. Unless it's a post-apocalypse game! Then it pops up all the time! See also: The AADA Road Atlas and Survival Guide Volume Four: Australia, Mutants Down Under, Rifts World Book 19: Australia, etc. Wait, it is called Werewolf: the Apocalypse, isn't it...
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May 28, 2013 09:37
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Count Chocula posted:SMERSH? Fertility cults? Is DG incorporating James Bond and The Wicker Man? SMERSH was a real Soviet agency. PISCES, I think, is taken from Gravity's Rainbow; did it mention them having a HQ called "The White Visitation" or anything?
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May 28, 2013 10:31
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House Louse posted:SMERSH was a real Soviet agency. PISCES, I think, is taken from Gravity's Rainbow; did it mention them having a HQ called "The White Visitation" or anything? Not that I'm seeing. The only base they built themselves is the one on the island, which they named Magonia. And yes, SMERSH is totally a real thing. The name is an acronym for a Russian phrase meaning "death to spies", which is pretty badass.
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May 28, 2013 11:38
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I'm so happy to see these Werewolf write-ups: I was a huge fan of Werewolf in my teenage years and having been raised on shows like Captain Planet I always unironically loved the "Planeteers with fangs" angle of the game. That said, in retrospect there is a lot of really terrible stuff there, but also a whole lot of awesome (like the Bone Gnawers, who are almost like Unknown Armies: The Tribe). That said, did White Wolf ever do even a little write-up for the two other lost tribes like they did for the Bunyip? For the sake of completion it'd be nice to know what the Croatan and the White Howlers were like before they got destroyed/corrupted by the Wyrm. The only thing I recall about the White Howlers was something along the lines of "You can play a White Howler in the sense of a member of a long-lost bloodline of the tribe from before they got turned into the Black Spiral Dancers, but you won't gain any tribal gifts unless you join another tribe and you will be constantly hounded by Black Spiral Dancers trying to get you back into the fold and also don't do it because you'll be a total Mary Sue."
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May 28, 2013 11:56
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Ratpick posted:"also don't do it because you'll be a total Mary Sue." And yet, the Kitsune persist in existing. 
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May 28, 2013 12:05
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Ratpick posted:The only thing I recall about the White Howlers was something along the lines of "You can play a White Howler in the sense of a member of a long-lost bloodline of the tribe from before they got turned into the Black Spiral Dancers, but you won't gain any tribal gifts unless you join another tribe and you will be constantly hounded by Black Spiral Dancers trying to get you back into the fold and also don't do it because you'll be a total Mary Sue."
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May 28, 2013 14:54
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Ratpick posted:That said, did White Wolf ever do even a little write-up for the two other lost tribes like they did for the Bunyip? White Howlers tribe book was one of the stretch goals for W20's Kickstarter. Don't know when it's coming out precisely, but it's in the pipe.
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May 28, 2013 15:05
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Count Chocula posted:I'd love for somebody to review this. It's rare to see Australia portrayed in RPGs. What's Ned Kelly, an proto-Technocrat? How powerful are the were-sharks, since they can gently caress with the tourist trade? Etc. I might end up reviewing it later, but as a US Midwesterner I'd probably be missing a lot of local context. I do know that they've got their own Umbra (the Dreamtime) with it's own versions of the Triat and Celestines. The bad treatment of Australia culminates in Breedbook: Mokole when a mighty-whitey werewolf comes down and unlocks lost memories in the Aboriginal Were-Dragons before convincing the local Red Talons that maybe being human isn't so bad after all. Ratpick posted:That said, did White Wolf ever do even a little write-up for the two other lost tribes like they did for the Bunyip? For the sake of completion it'd be nice to know what the Croatan and the White Howlers were like before they got destroyed/corrupted by the Wyrm. The only thing I recall about the White Howlers was something along the lines of "You can play a White Howler in the sense of a member of a long-lost bloodline of the tribe from before they got turned into the Black Spiral Dancers, but you won't gain any tribal gifts unless you join another tribe and you will be constantly hounded by Black Spiral Dancers trying to get you back into the fold and also don't do it because you'll be a total Mary Sue." Croatan got more detailed information in Past Lives and Wild West. White Howlers got more info in Past Lives and they're also getting their own tribe book written by Jess Hartley as a part of W20. Punting posted:And yet, the Kitsune persist in existing. Revised killed a bunch of the Mary-Sue nature of the Kitsune. Removed from the context of an entire book about how loving awesome Asian shapeshifters are, and put in a book with Were-Hyenas, Were-Sharks, and Were-Bears they're just another shapechanger with a more inflated sense of smug self satisfaction. I'm hoping the W20 Changing Breeds continues that trend. At the very least they aren't the Were-Snake Assassins who can't let anyone know about their existence, have their own spirit hierarchy devoted entirely to their service, that started the War of Rage but don't want to let the other Changing Breeds know because it's better that they spend the rest of time at each other's throats than even one of Gaia's Judges die before her time, and also make the Middle Kingdom an even more special place because they're the only exception to the "can't know about us" rule.
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May 28, 2013 15:08
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Terror Australis for Vall of Cthulhu existed... It had a collection of adventures including the Australia section of Masks of Nyarlahotep which had been cut for size.
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May 28, 2013 15:29
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"Old Fellow, That Bunyip" remains one of my favourite CoC 1920s adventures. Portrayal of the Aborigine NPCs was lackluster at best, but the bunyip was spooky in a way that CoC rarely went for. Edit: Man, I saw a copy of Hunter Planet on the shelves once when I was a kid, but didn't think to pick it up, dumbass that I was. Bieeanshee fucked around with this message at 15:53 on May 28, 2013 |
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May 28, 2013 15:44
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 I used to have a copy of this, but I got rid of it a long time ago. As I recall, you played alien tourists who'd come to Earth to bag a few of the local wildlife (i.e. humans).
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May 28, 2013 15:50
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Ars Magica 5th Edition: Realms of Power: Faerie The second kind of faerie wizardry is known as Faerie Bargaining, or the Ars Fabulosa (the Fantastic Art). It's a very recent art, devised in eastern Europe within the last century or so, originating in the Goetic arts. It is primarily concerned with bargaining with and cajoling the fae. Like other forms of summoning, it conveys the faeries to the summoner and can protect against them. Unlike other forms, however, it can neither compel nor bind to service without the faerie spirit agreeing to a bargain. The four powers of the Ars Fabulosa are Summoning, Bonding, Captivating and Dismissing. Summoning is the art of calling out faeries from the surrounding area and holding them in attendance. To some, it appears as though the bargainer creates a faerie or turns a mundane object into a faerie, but most summoners believe that the faerie comes from somewhere nearby and manifests in an appropriate shape. Since it's possible to summon faeries with specific roles, most also believe that the faeries that appear must exist before the summoning. You can only summon faeries that are associated with your Sympathy traits, though again, negative traits are as useful as positive ones. The summoning is a tiring act requiring several minutes of concentration. Unlike most magic, a faerie will always appear, even on a botch. If there is a nearby object appropriate to the faerie, it might animate that, or emerge from the local environment if not. A botch means the faerie is hostile, or perhaps cannot be bound to the terms of any agreements made. Or, perhaps, it is an angel or demon in disguise, or a different faerie than the one desired, perhaps more or less potent than needed or wanted. If you manage not to gently caress it up, though, the faerie must listen to what you have to say and attend you, and you are warded against its powers, though either you or it can choose at any time to end the summoning and send it home. Bonding is the art of creating a mystic bond to a faerie, learning to channel its powers as your own. It must be in range of your voice, and you need a Sympathy Trait that applies to it. If a Bonding attempt succeeds, the bond acts as an Arcane Connection to the faerie for as long it exists. While the bond exists, you may use any of the faerie's Pretenses or stats as if they were your own and may use any of the faerie's supernatural senses. You may utilize the faerie's power to activate any magical abilities the faerie has, while the faerie may draw on your fatigue. Any spell or power you can cast may be placed in the bond, giving both you and the faerie the power to cast it at any time. While bonded, you are immune to Warping from faerie auras, and need not breathe, eat or drink, do not suffer from exposure, can ignore penalties from fatigue and may put off any aging until the bond is broken (at which point it all happens at once). The bond can be formed between the faerie and the caster, or the faerie and anyone or anything the caster is touching. If the bond is tied to an object, it applies to the object's wielder, who must activate it each day with a secret charm. (The bond ends if the charm ever ceases to be secret.) You can only have one bond at a time, and activating a second bond destroys the first. Either the faerie or the bearer may break the bond at will, though faeries rarely do this unless the terms of the bargain allow it. It is possible to bond to a faerie that isn't willing, but nothing stops from immediately ending the bond. Captivating is the art of changing places with a faerie, giving it control of your body while you become the faerie. You can only do this to a faerie in range of your voice, and only if you have a Sympathy trait that applies. It is also a very tiring process. If it succeeds, you basically switch places and character sheets for the duration. You can do whatever you want as the faerie, and it has complete control over your body. You do not trade memories, but do trade minds, so it gains your magic and intellect and you gain its intellect and powers. The only things that do not get exchanged are your personality traits, Confidence, Sympathy Traits and any Faith points you may or may not have. Either party may cancel the exchange at will, and if the other does not want to relinquish control, they may struggle for dominance, with the winner deciding whether or not the exchange ends. Captivating is a potent effect which continuously warps the summoner over time. It is theorized that if the faerie dies while in your body, the exchange becomes permanent, but no one actually knows if that is the case, and others fear that the faerie would return to its body and the summoner would be the one to die. Dismissing is the art of undoing supernatural powers caused by supernatural beings, as well as freeing supernatural beings from bindings. It is a tiring effort, and to use it, you must ask the supernatural being involved a question. Obviously, again, Sympathy Traits must apply. You may cancel effects caused by supernatural beings, deflect supernatural powers if you can act fast enough, end the duration of any effect that targets a supernatural being or release a supernatural being from the terms of a supernaturally enforced agreement. Many believe that doing the last takes the debt onto the summoner, however. Dismissing, as a note, as a great way to make bargains you have no intention of keeping. Of course, the faeries involved will tend to resent this behavior, so typically you want to bribe them with something valuable first. There are several pagan Traditions which practice faerie magic. For example, the the Borrowers are the primary practitioners of the Ars Fabulosa. They are essentially merchants who deal with faeries, selling them goods for blessings. When asked what they borrow, they usually say the powers of the fae, though sometimes the answer is 'the things they sell' instead - not all of what they sell is honestly gained. Borrowers trade in novelties and strange things, usually from distant lands, for faeries will usually accept the idea that distant treasures contain more vitality. So long as they have little competition, a Borrower can do very well on just a few bargains a year, and so they prefer to keep moving constantly. Occasionally they take promising children as apprentices, usually by buying them from the fae that have stolen or claimed them. Borrowers specialize in Summoning, Bonding, Captivating and Dismissing. The Ollamhain (that's pronounced 'ah-luh-vain') are Irish poets, sages and performers. Many deal with the faeries, or the Fair Folk, as the ollamhain call them, and claim special kinship to them. It's far from rare to see an ollamh with faerie blood. Their songs and poems are said to be magical if done correctly. Most are harpists, and often an ollamh will own a magic harp, passed down from father to son for generations. They specialize in Enchantment, Beguile, Dream and Portage. The Volkhvy are Russian wizards of the faerie realm, old pagans beyond the reach of the Church. Their rites are legendary, gathering entire communities to entreat the faerie gods for aid and blessings to survive the winter. They are often extremely confident in their convictions. They specialize in Evocation, mass ceremony, Conjure and Grant. The Wise Folk are not really a tradition so much as a thing. There's just all kinds of faerie-touched people out there who live on the fringes of society. The people call them wise men and wise women, and come to them when troubled, but they are also forced to live apart because they are strange and intimidating. They tend to be good at keeping the supernatural at bay and protecing their communities. It's likely these folks that the Order pictures when the term 'hedge wizard' is brought up. They specialize in Empathy, Ware, Weal and Woe. There's also some advice on how to run adventures in faerie and what traditional flow of stories is like but eh. The End! Choose: Choices are: the True Lineage Houses of Hermes and their secrets (Houses of Hermes: True Lineages), Mystery Cults (The Mysteries, Revised Edition), the Mystery Cult Houses (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults), more depth on Covenants (Covenants), the Societates Houses (Houses of Hermes: Societates), France (Lion and Lily: The Normandy Tribunal), academic life (Art and Academe), nobility (Lords of Men), the Church (The Church) or Germany (Guardians of the Forests: The Rhine Tribunal).
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May 28, 2013 16:21
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I want to end on True Lineages, so for now let's hear about France.
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May 28, 2013 16:45
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Monsters and Other Childish Things Announcement Unless somebody wants me to finish it, I will be skipping the rest of Curriculum of Conspiracy. I don't find the adventure module very interesting, and it's a pain to write up because it's so short and sparse on details. Instead I'd rather skip it and go to the next real book in the line Bigger Bads, which will be followed by The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor. If anybody else wants to do finish Curriculum, or do the other Monsters adventures, Skymaul and Road Trip, I'm totally cool with it. I own neither books, and as I never play pre-made adventures, have no desire to get them. But, so that it isn't a dissapointment, I'm going to give you a preview of what to look forward to in Bigger Bads
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May 28, 2013 16:55
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Selachian posted:
So, is this Bad Taste: The Roleplaying Game, like how the game infers?
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May 28, 2013 17:15
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Young Freud posted:So, is this Bad Taste: The Roleplaying Game, like how the game infers? More or less. It was a comedy game, not intended to be a gorefest. Also, the PCs (as far as I can remember) were far from Predator class. You were a bunch of alien middle managers and desk jockeys on vacation, with no understanding of how things worked on Earth -- and no expectation that humans would actually shoot back. While I never actually played HP, my understanding was that the typical game involved the PCs blundering around trying to figure out Earth technology, zapping a couple of humans, and then getting wiped out in a hail of bullets as the local humans turned on them. Kind of like Paranoia in that a TPK was the expected end state of play, and the fun was in how amusing you could make the inevitable slaughter.
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May 28, 2013 18:06
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Wapole Languray posted:Monsters and Other Childish Things Announcement I downloaded Bigger Bads recently, it's amazing. So many things I wanna use it for! 
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May 28, 2013 18:43
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Selachian posted:
I have this game!
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May 28, 2013 19:18
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I wanna know more about how the world functions according to early medieval understanding of poo poo! Art and Academe
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May 28, 2013 19:22
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quote:Glass Walkers: “Can they survive out of their fishbowls?” ( "Fishbowl" is faux-hippy slang for an office. Surrounded on all sides by glass, looking out at the world from within, etc.
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May 28, 2013 19:49
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France won the coinflip. Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Lion and the Lily: The Normandy Tribunal Four our purposes, France consists of roughly the northern two-thirds of the nation that is actually called France today. The actual nation of France in 1220 is not quite that large - it's a kingdom under King Philip II "Augustus" of the Capetian Dynasty. The other major power in the region is the Angevin dynasty, rulers of Aquitane and England. The Normandy Tribunal is easily one of the most populous areas in Europe, with many great cities. Let's look at their history. In the ancient times, the land was home to the Gauls, who were pagan tribes that revered the boar above all animals, and whose druids may have been forebears to House Diedne. Between 58 and 50 BC, Julius Caesar fought the Gauls and their leader, King Vercingetorix, and conquered his way to Brittany. To this day, Roman ruins can be found. Many druids fled before the Roman wrath, and the Gauls never truly adopted the Roman pantheon, continuing to also worship their own gods. The mix of Gallic and Roman culture flourished for centuries. In the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the British Celts flooded the area, fleeing the collapse of Arthur's kingdom and the invasion of the Picts, Irish and Saxons. They settled in Armorica, now known as Brittany, developing the Breton tongue and often becoming independent. In the mid-3rd century, Christians arrive in Paris, led by Denis and his assistants Eleutherius and Rusticus. They enter the pagan city and preach the gospels, but the Roman governor has them thrown in prison, where they live in prayer for years and convert people via, presumably, windows. Eventually, in 275, the are taken to the Hill of Martyrs and beheaded. However, Christianity flowed through Paris and they were eventually honored by the abbey of Saint-Denis, and Saint Denis is one of the patrons of France and personal patron to the king, as well as Paris. In the 5th century, the Roman Gauls are threatened by the Franks, a group of fierce Germanic tribes. They'd originally been bound by treaty to the Roman empire, and their king, Childeric, helped the Romans defeat the Visigoths. His successor, Clovis, defeated the Roman governor Syagrius in 486, though, and made peace with the Ostrogoths, ruling a great independent empire. He conquered France, and his dynasty flourished, with fourteen great Merovingian kings. Clovis ruled until 511, and he converted to Christianity at the behest of his wife, Clotilde of Burgundy, as well as witnessing the miraculous healing of the blind at the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours. In 496, he swore to God that he would become Christian if he won his battle against the Alemanni - which he did soundly, and was baptized by Saint Remi, archbishop of Reims. Following his death, the Frankish lands were divided among his four sons, and civil war marked the Merovingian period. In 732, a Muslim army invaded from the Iberian peninsula, and the great hero Charles Martel led the battle against them at Poitiers, defeating them. In 754, his son Pepin seized the throne from the Merovingian king, whose hair had been shaved off to destroy his magical powers, and forced the man to become a monk. Legend persists, however, of Merovingian heirs escaping Pepin's coup.  Merovingians: literally magical. The new rulers, the Carolingians, made great efforts to gain Church support. They used the name Louis, from Clovis, for they claimed descent from Blitild, daughter of King Clothar, for their legitimacy. The abbot of Saint-Denis supported them, and in 754, Pope Stephen II declared that any king not of the Carolingian line would be excommunicated, as would be whoever crowned them. The name 'Carolingian' comes from Charlemagne, one of the mightiest kings of history and easily the most beloved king of French history. The empire he built did not long survive him, however. In 987, Hugh Capet became King of the Franks, descended from King Robert the Strong of Brittany and Hugh the Great, effective ruler of France under the weak Carolingians Louis IV and Lothair. It is believed that his rise to the throne was assisted both by the Archbishop of Reims in 991 and the magical scholar Gerbert. He would have been excommunicated in accordance with Pope Stephen's standing law, but he recovered the bodies of Saint Valery and Saint Riquier, earning the throne for seven generations. It is now currently held that the current king, the seventh generation since Hugh, will be the last of the Capetian kings, despite the fact that Philip has a healthy heir named Prince Louis.  Carolingians: also magical. Anyway, back to history. In 845, 120 Viking longships sail to Paris, sacking towns and monasteries on the way. They hold Paris for ransom. This isn't especially rare - Charlemagne fought the Vikings, and they nearly destroyed Aquitane in the late 800s. Many raids are believed to have been guided by Divine hands, for the places the Vikings struck were often hotbeds of sin, and the raid on Paris is believed to have been caused as punishment for the Frankish civil war after the death of Louis the Pious in 840. By the mid-800s, the Vikings had semi-permanent bases in Neustria (that is, the Duchy of Normandy), and these forced King Charles III to come to accord with the Viking leader Rollo in 911. Rollo's land was meant to be a buffer state between the heartland of France and the Scandinavians. In accordance with the treaty, Rollo became Christian, married Charles' daughter and was given the counties of Rouen, Lisieux and Evreux. However, Rollo and his descendants, the earls of Ruda, encouraged immigration from Scandinavia and enlarged their territory. The Franks began to refer to them as the Northmen, and by 1000 this became Norman, and Norman pirates were a fixture of northern France. Incidentally, Rollo's successors include William II the Conqueror, AKA William the Bastard, who took England, and Henry II, who ruled nearly half of France and all of England. Henry's son was Richard the Lionheart, and the present Norman claimant is Henry III. Anyway, the raids into France by the Vikings were actually the source of the Hermetic fears of the Order of Odin - the Vikings sacked a few covenants and had vitkir helping them, see. Anyway, in the late 12th century. a new problem arose. On Good Friday of 1137, William of Aquitane died on pilgrimage, leaving his rather sizable territories to his daughter Eleanor. She married the 16-year-old heir to the throne, massively increasing the royal demesne, especially when King Louis VI died that year and was succeeded by Eleanor's husband Louis VII. The marriage didn't go well, though. Eleanor is widely believed to have been promiscuous and unfaithful, and Louis was more monk than knight, often scandalized by the looser Aquitanian ways. The defeat of the French in the Second Crusade is often blamed on Eleanor countermanding her husband's orders and having too much influence over him. On return from the failed Crusade, Eleanor sued for divorce on grounds of consanguinity and lack of male heir, and Louis eventually agreed to an annulment. She married again, to Henry of Anjou, heir to the throne of England. In 1154, Henry took that throne and placed the French kings in grave danger, for his wife ruled Aquitane - and so now did he, along with his other holdings in Normandy and Brittany. The Angevins now hold a vast empire in French territory, threatening to eclipse French royal power. The marriage, having not been permitted by Louis, was an affront in and of itself, an act of rebellion. It took him some time to respond, though, as the Church tried to impose a truce. Fortunately, Henry's sons were no more loyal than their father was and revolted against his rule, aided by their mother. Eleanor was imprisoned for much of Henry's reign, and the rebellious sons reduced the pressure on France. In 1180, Louis VII died and Philip Augustus, his son by his third marriage, took the throne. Intelligent, able and angry, he has been seeking to consolidate power against the Angevins. He's been received by clear Divine approval - when he was fourteen, his father suffered a stroke and stepped down to him. He fell ill before the ceremony, but his ailing father took pilgrimage to Canterbury and the shrine of Saint Thomas, praying for his health. It was miraculously restored, and he was crowned in 1179, taking the throne the next year on his father's death. Some say he has Carolingian blood, and he has yet to name his heir apparent, despite having a son born in 1187, a daughter in 1197 and a second son in 1200. Some say Philip is not truly royal, for he lacks grace and charm, but he has very enthusiastic about being an administator and diplomat, and he's got an army of bureaucrats. Some see this as insulting to proper nobility, especially since he has been very reluctant to fight in the name of God - he left the Third Crusade early and has not personally participated in the Albigensian Crusade. In any case, the last 30 years have been rather troublesome - Henry of England crowned his son Henry, but refused to cede any power, and his other sons, Richard, John and Geoffrey, rebelled, frequently coming to Philip for aid. Henry the Young died in 1183, and Geoffrey died in 1186, leaving Henry's two other sons to divide the Angevin inheritance. When Henry died in 1189, Richard was made King of England, the worst foe yet. He subdued the rebels of Aquitane, fought Saladin and become beloved as Richard the Lionheart and was even imprisoned on his way home from Crusade. Meanwhile, his treacherous brother John plotted to seize the throne, and while Richard was released and made peace, he died by crossbow in 1199 and John became King, at the urging of Eleanor. This proved good for France - John was absolutely terrible at defending his holdings from Philip, got into the scandal of seizing marrying Isabella of Angouleme despite her betrothal to his vassal, and many of his vassals rebelled against him. After he refused to answer a summons by Philip to answer to charges made against him, a war started in 1202, with one of the strongest claimants to the British throne, Duke Arthur of Brittany, fleeing to Philip's court and helping to fight. Eleanor of Aquitane was nearly captured by Arthur, but John somehow devised a brilliant strategy, capturing Arthur in battle and rescuing his mother. Despite this, Philip is still winning. Eleanor has died of old age, finally, and many of John's vassals have defected. Philip has captured both Normandy and Poitou. John is stuck in England dealing with the Pope's interdict as of 1214, and while he tried to gain alliance with the Holy Roman Empire, France defeated their armies at Bouvines, and in 1215, his barons revolted and forced him to sign the Magna Carta, restricting his authority. Philip could not invade, as England is a papal fief, but he allowed his heir to do so. John's death in 1216 ended the invasion, and the English barons now rally under Henry III, a youth controlled by a regency council. The Angevins are no longer seen as a major threat to France, and the Normandy Tribunal is once more at peace. However, the Albigensian Crusade has been spreading from southern Provencal. The Cathar heresy is prevalent in the south, and many northern knights have gone to assist in purging them. Further, rumor has it that John murdered his rival to the throne, Arthur...or, perhaps, that Arthur somehow lives still, perhaps as a monk or a Hermetic apprentice. He may still live. Next time: Hermetic history in Normandy.
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May 28, 2013 21:25
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InShaneee posted:Not that I'm seeing. The only base they built themselves is the one on the island, which they named Magonia. That didn't mean anything to me, but apparently it's a UFO magazine named after a cloud world where troublesome fairies came from. How appropriate.
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May 28, 2013 21:34
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So I have been very behind on this thread and you people just keep pumping out the content. And so I am going to add more, which I was also behind on doing. That said, now it is time for Rifts:™ England Part 1: “Some Words from the Author”  It is time for another Rifts World Book! This time England. The first several Rifts™ supplements had sort of a gesture of a metaplot with the Mechanoids sourcebook and the interconnections between the plots in Africa and other parts of the world. Of course, these were also Rifts at its rockiest. Well, that may not be entirely true, I haven’t read many of the later books and apparently they have not learned a goddamn thing about layout or organization in twenty years. Here we go with England. The cover isn’t bad except that there are no guns in sight, or anything to suggest it isn’t just some random fantasy scenario rather than Rifts™. The details of it are explained later, it just doesn’t stand out. We proceed from there to Kevin’s usual warning about how all this is made up elfgames and don’t try to railgun your friends, kids. He then goes on to write a brief introductory blurb about the game: Kevin Siembieda posted:Of course, the setting is a future Earth, but I have to keep an atmosphere that is rich in British and Celtic myth, legend, and tradition. I am glad to see that stereotyping is not being limited to non-white cultures, that is very progressive. Kevin Siembieda posted:Those of you who have skimmed through the book may be moaning to yourselves, “Oh no, not another version of King Arthur!” Yes, yes I am moaning that to myself.  Seriously. King Arthur is a rich mythos but its trappings show the weaknesses of those who use them. Also, is that really the only thing that defines England?  Technically the book is about ‘The British Isles and a little bit of France’, as Kevin explained earlier in the blurb but ‘England’ seemed like a catchier title. Also it’s where the Arthur is from, except for all those French guys or whatever. ah, yes, the green hills of unpopulated pastoral england Then we move on to The Return of  Erin Tarn Erin is writing us (Plato) another letter! It’s been two years for you guys, she says, but only six months for me! Amazing. She then goes on to explain how she and her pals only traveled about 100 miles into Mexico and that people underestimate Vampires a lot. She can’t say if a Vampire Kingdom exists but it sure seems likely.  But back to the story, she agreed to take a dimensional rift as a shortcut to the Yucatan and yes she knows better and you’ve told her a hundred times and look it was a mistake, but they got to have an adventure in another dimension, isn’t that cool? The world was Wormwood which shall of course be of importance later, when another book comes out for you to buy. Anyway time was dilated there and only six months passed and she got back to Earth. The rift took them to England of course, to stonehenge which has apparently been rebuilt by spriggans--which, well, they do like stone circles and all. The British Isles are apparently pastorally splendid, with rolling hills and forests and a giant multi-thousand story tree. Apparently it was the Millenium Tree and there are several of them and one of them gave her a gift of a magic twig-wand which totally flabbergasted her druid pal. She needed the wand because she was planning to visit the NGR and other parts of Europe soon, but that will be after she goes to New Camelot to meet Mrrlyn. Yes, Mrrlyn. She has heard some disturbing rumors about him but he is apparently a fan. She winds up with some well-wishing and a little more expository writing about dire supernatural perils in Africa and maybe she’ll go to Asia and whatever. There’s a small plug for Wormwood, coming out in summer 1993! I couldn’t verify the exact publication date well but I think they only missed that one by six months or so. The book proceeds with a section on Millennium Trees which are inspired, in part, by ideas and drawings by Newton Ewell. Or so the heading tells us. Millennium Trees are gigantic trees that stand over a thousand feet (305+ meters, thanks metric Kevin!) tall. They don’t change with the seasons or lose their leaves. The trees grow where they want, though apparently not in North America to date, but only at ley line nexus points because they feed on PPE. None of them have ever made seeds or fruit or whatever and scientists say maybe their lifespans extend over centuries because no real world trees do that. Their life cycle may be supernatural.  Druids and such believe that the seeds were present on Earth before the Time of Rifts, pointing to old legends about world trees and whatever. Others think they were just brought over by accident, which if the seeds are anything like the trees, it’d be like dropping a boulder-sized walnut on the ground and shrugging. Others think they’re an alien terraforming experiment.  The trees are probably intelligent. They don’t communicate in any normal way, but they seem to radiate benevolence and do react to the presence of other living beings, like Ms. Tarn. They heal the sick, reduce the intensity of storms, and sometimes seem to give people dreams or visions. But only those of good alignment. Evil creatures don’t get any love. Which perhaps makes these trees unique in the Rifts universe. And of course there are skeptics who say it’s all delusional perception bias. Testing the hypothesis with a scientific method sounds like commie d-bee talk, citizen. The trees also grow big woody beehive houses for people to live in. the terraforming theory people suggest this as evidence, as part of the tree’s intelligent design. These house-burls have 100 MDC per ten square foot area, the book insists, with the smallest having 5000 MDC total. They look kinda like beehives divided into people-sized apartments and honestly this kind of weirdness is what I like about Rifts, even if all the druids-and-fairy-hugs stuff in this book gets annoying.  prime real estate there sonny, not full of giant angry bees. Defenses The trees apparently have some capability to defend themselves, which is a first for anything remotely good or non-fascist in Rifts-world. But first they explain that leaves and twigs of the Millenium Trees are magical items when they are dropped freely by the tree and replenish their PPE; segue from there directly to the tree being able to cause an MD explosion for...actually pretty stiff damage for breaking off anything. Even just a leaf is 2d4x10 which is enough to kill even most MDC humanoids. And it’s an area attack. Man, that’s a good idea in theory but if I were a tree-hating terrorist I’d just set off a bomb by the tree and then let it counter-explode for way more than whatever I just did. It also says that the trees are usually home to a shitload of fairies who will swarm out like magic bees to defend their tree. It says they’re usually nice to other non-fairy residents, as opposed to their usual prankish nature, and also that all residents of the trees will be big friendly hippies who never abuse their home. With good reason, since it will explode. But it means that powerful supernatural creatures up the wazoo are always hanging around the trees. The trees, in turn, absorb normal ley line storms, but they can also apparently cause them as a means of self-defense. This is followed by a repetition of the original ley line storm rules, along with some modifications like ‘transformed creatures including Myrrlyn and his Supreme Nexus Knights (not even a good band name godduh) grow or shrink or appear distorted’. Illusions disappear, magic goes a bit wild--because magic didn’t suck enough already most of the time. There’s also a table of random events to afflict those not nestled safely in the tree’s branches, including raining slimy things, random euphoria, and a rift opening, you know, good stuff. Stats for the trees explain how tuff they are (pretty tuff at 50,000 MDC trunks) and how they are invulnerable to normal weapons and fire but take damage from mega-damage attacks. Thanks Rifts, I surely never would have guessed. And lastly, a rough inventory of trees, along with the statement that for some reason none of them exist in Asia or the Americas.  this looks a bit more like something Siembieda bought for his home in the 70s than a tree
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May 29, 2013 00:43
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Rifts England was probably my least favorite of all the Rifts books I read. I'd rather not spoil the reason I think this way before occamsnailfile covers it, hence spoiler tags but King Arr'thu and Calliber-X? Some things are too ridiculous even for Rifts.
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May 29, 2013 01:26
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I remember looking forward to, and really wanting to like RIFTS England, but it was an even bigger kitchen sink of crap than the usual fare. Most of it just wasn't of particular interest to wandering adventurers, being explicitly tied to one new OCC or another, or just wasn't particularly interesting to begin with.
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May 29, 2013 01:38
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Rifts England is pretty bad even by Rifts standards. Yes, even worse than any of the books we've written up so far. It's main contender is Rifts Africa, which... I have finished and ready to go as soon as this is done. Yes, it's going to be back-to-back failures as we get cover the "notably awful" portion of this thread. It's a heaping helping of 
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May 29, 2013 01:50
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I don't think I read England, but I did read Africa, and holy poo poo was that bad.
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May 29, 2013 02:32
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Africa was so bad, parts of the book escaped before it hit the printer, but they tracked them down and included them as loose sheets. A quarter or half of it was some filler RCC, easily missed, but the rest included the XP tables for everything in the book statted up as a class.
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May 29, 2013 02:44
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Wapole Languray posted:Monsters and Other Childish Things Announcement Aww, can you give us a one paragraph summary at least? As a rabid hater of school when I was younger, I like the concept of a school that's actually as bad as I thought back then.
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May 29, 2013 02:46
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Bieeardo posted:Africa was so bad, parts of the book escaped before it hit the printer, but they tracked them down and included them as loose sheets. A quarter or half of it was some filler RCC, easily missed, but the rest included the XP tables for everything in the book statted up as a class. You know I forgot about the errata and I don't think I have it anywhere. But there's quite enough filler in this book already; some memory suggests that England was the first book to include character sheets as well but that may be completely wrong, but flipping through the end reminded me of how a Rifts sheet can be five pages long.
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May 29, 2013 03:21
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Is it gauche to do a book up without pictures? I was thinking of doing GURPS Reign of Steel since I found a copy while packing recently, but I'm doing it off a lousy laptop and have no scanner 
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May 29, 2013 03:47
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Not at all. RoS's art was pretty sparse and lackluster, from what I remember. There might be a few bits on the official page, if SJG still has it up; they used to do that kind of thing as teasers.
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May 29, 2013 03:52
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Bieeardo posted:Not at all. RoS's art was pretty sparse and lackluster, from what I remember. There might be a few bits on the official page, if SJG still has it up; they used to do that kind of thing as teasers.
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May 29, 2013 03:56
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Wapole Languray posted:Monsters and Other Childish Things Announcement What did you think of Conspiracy, overall? It was my first published book, so I have to admit I'm fond of it  Reading your writeup was quite cool, I have to say. I've tried to keep up with this thread but it goes so fast, I never have time to read much of it. Thanks for giving MAOCT a write up! It's a great game and every game I've ever run with it has been fun.
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May 29, 2013 04:04
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