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Bieeardo, I salute you. Once, a long time ago, on a forum far away, I was given a free copy of Superbabes if I reviewed it, and 'rewards' if I did a playtest review. So, I put a game together. It lasted exactly one session because statting up enemies was such a chore that it was actually more fun to make a spreadsheet to do it for me. Combat was a pain in the rear end, even against mooks. I think I gave up on my eventual Let's Read around Go Places. It just started getting to me. It didn't help that I really didn't want to get into the skills because they get... incomprehensible and are further proof that they were just throwing numbers at the wall. The Super Skills are a special brand of Number-Fail that I can go on about when you've hit them. On a related note, I actually have in my possession one of the adventures for Superbabes. Game of the Century, which was actually part of a series of adventures about a rich man who wanted to buy all the fun in the world, and this time he'd set his sights on Baseball. Notable for containing a sex offender bathmat. Just because Superbabes wasn't creepy enough already. (The Sponge, said sex offender bathmat, is an actual character from the comics.)
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Sep 15, 2013 19:46
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Would it be alright if I posted a Let's Read of MotoBushido? I'm not sure what the policy on starting a read is, and thought I'd check before going ahead.
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Sep 15, 2013 20:16
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FourmyleCircus posted:I think I gave up on my eventual Let's Read around Go Places. It just started getting to me. It didn't help that I really didn't want to get into the skills because they get... incomprehensible and are further proof that they were just throwing numbers at the wall. The Super Skills are a special brand of Number-Fail that I can go on about when you've hit them. Please, do! I'm not great with math, so I usually miss weirdness in that department, but what I've seen on my brief go-overs... whoa, nelly. I've had to take a break for a while, thanks to a big pile of RL crap humping its way up onto my doorstep, but I think I've almost got that sorted out. Skills and maybe a bit more should be posted up soonishly. quote:On a related note, I actually have in my possession one of the adventures for Superbabes. Game of the Century, which was actually part of a series of adventures about a rich man who wanted to buy all the fun in the world, and this time he'd set his sights on Baseball. Notable for containing a sex offender bathmat. Just because Superbabes wasn't creepy enough already. (The Sponge, said sex offender bathmat, is an actual character from the comics.) Oh god. I'm going to have to see if he's in one of the character sourcebooks I've got. I don't seem to have that adventure, but at least one of the others I've got is similarly tasteless.
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Sep 15, 2013 20:53
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Trollhawke posted:Would it be alright if I posted a Let's Read of MotoBushido? Go right ahead; the thread likes to see new reviews. Bieerdo, I deeply enjoy the Superbabes readthrough. The game's just so... awful. I'm sorta reminded of Witch Girl Adventures, just in the greasiness pervading it.
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Sep 15, 2013 22:36
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 The above links to the DrivethruRPG page, where the book is available as a watermarked PDF for $20.00 MotoBushido. Part One - The proper way to live Suggested Listening for part one,: Murder by Death - Comin Home Nathanael Phillip Cole, creator/designer of Motobushido posted:One day on a long ride through the Columbia Gorge, the idea came to me: if Sons of Anarchy had Motobushido, first backed in October 2012 with 222 backers, $11,000 raised for a mean donation of 50$ apiece. The game is the second by alliterated games and the brain child of Nathaniel Phillips Cole, and focuses on a merging of similar ideas - The Motobushi. These motorcycle driving samurai ride in gangs, with their loyalty first and foremost to their captain, or Taicho, who is the final decision maker and leader of their particular gang. They try to live a life of honour, a life of movement, and ultimately, a life with a meaningful send off on the long, winding roads. Most people fear them, seeing them as an artifact of an era gone by and thugs in a civilized age. Others still seek to crush them, the disturbances to the local life unwelcome to their power and hold over their domain. Few still seek to live alongside them, leaving their family and loved ones behind in order to walk this path - a path of sacrifice. All so, as their blade drops from their bloody hands and their valiant seed drives on to join masters final farewell, a Motobushi can die saying he lived with honor, dying for the brothers he rode with and the ideals they believed in.  But enough waiving prose around this game, let's get talking about the book! The book is split into three parts, each of around 50 pages each - The first of these is Motobushi, which introduces the players to the game and goes over how to get the rider out of your head and onto paper. The second of these is Proper ways to die, which focuses on the games mechanics, which are mostly resolved by comparing card sizes (fun fact -Two beats an Ace which came before it). The final section of the book is Sensei, and incidentally this game's name for the GM is as such. It's mostly designed for the GM, but doesn't contain anything the players shouldn't have access to, as most of the game elements are played face up after being bought into play. It looks over how to run the first and subsequent sessions, how to capitalize on interesting things which happen in game (such as a a SC[Sensei character[NPC]] blocking three times, or someone disrespecting the dead). It also includes a playable scenario, Willow Ridge, in which the players attempt to hunt down a traitor (or something similar) in an old, broken down town.The look over doesn't really do the scenario justice, but I'll look over the premade scenario in a seperate update. Introduction! The book begins by establishing that your 'pack' was involved in the Great War, although their side ultimately lost - the specifics of this are left to be determined/found/whatever at the player's leisure. Now the players ride as a group, trying to survive on the open road and, ultimately, get into quick and sometimes bloody duels. The narrative justifying the duel and the impact of the duel afterwards are highlighted just as much as the actual murder. And it chooses to highlight this by an example within which Motobiker A refuses to take poo poo from some random dude who is a tease of murder tools, and so he decides to run him down. But the Final Counsel/Player agenda three points long. These points are:
So how do we start a sess- Riders Salute posted:To perform the salute, stand and hold forth your left hand, arm angled down. Next Time: Sessions(in brief) and Creating Characters.
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Sep 15, 2013 23:29
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 Return to the TOMB OF HORRORS Part 11: WAAAAAAMBULANCE Sorry everyone! I've been really really busy, I just got a new job, and lacking motivation. But there's tons of cool stuff left! I'm only going to do one tower this time, but I promise I'll try to go back to a more regular schedule.  So Tower 7 is next.  This was the "Tower of Health," where Moilians went to get healed from the various horrors that could readily befall members of an Orcus-worshipping society. Moilian medicine was very advanced, with the ability to regrow limbs, heal afflictions, etc. Naturally it's all gone to poo poo now, but the PCs don't know that! And neither do the staff... There are three levels of the tower left; one's empty and desolate and can only be accessed by flying because the bridge that once led to it has fallen away, so we'll ignore it. The entrances are marked by a Moilian caduceus symbol: a bandage-wrapped humanoid figure intertwined with two snakes, who stare at each other above its head. It's ominous and spooky but also pretty evocative and should give the PCs an idea of what's in here. The lobby, 7.2, is shattered, and full of paper debris (if the PCs can read Moilian, it's all ancient medical records). 7.3 was a waiting room, with a huge open window that now looks over the dead city. There's a bunch of viewing chairs, but there's nothing interesting in any of them, except for one which has a pair of Moilian zombies! 7.4 is a convalescent room, containing a steel-framed bed, armoire and mirror. The bed covers are pulled up over a figure, but after the PCs spend a moment freaking out they'll realize it's just the skeletal remains of a Moilian who died before the curse. 7.5 is another such room, but this one's occupied! It's been totally trashed and destroyed, and there's a youthful woman in there wearing a grey robe and a long white coat with platinum blond hair, with her head in her hands. This is Cyndia, a medron magen. Magen are, basically, golems of a sort. They're made of sorcerously charged gelatin poured into a humanoid mold, and they're much more intelligent than golems. They're all purpose-built and their personalities, interests and abilities entirely revolve around their purpose. As the term "medron" would imply, Cyndia and her former co-workers were all nurses and doctors. She's got skill proficiency in healing and herbalism along with 18/75 Strength, and she can cure light wounds three times per day. When the PCs enter, Cyndia greets them, saying (in ancient Moilian, natch) "Hello? Are you feeling poorly? I am a fully functional medron. I can help you with your wounds or hurts. It has been so very long since I have laid eyes upon a living being!" Cyndia is genuinely nice and wants to help the PCs; it's her function, after all. If any PCs are hurt, she will try her best to help them. This includes leading them to the medical stores. If one's really badly hurt, she'll want to take them to Doctor Tarr, the remaining doctor medron, in the operating room, and she'll insist on carrying them. Cyndia will accompany the party if they let her (she really wants to keep living beings alive and hasn't had any to help in a long time) and she is very familiar with the Tower of Health. However, she's not familiar with the city outside at all, and she implicitly trusts everything in the Tower is working properly, which is a very dangerous assumption. She'll use a weapon if they give her one, but she'll never willingly harm a living being. 7.6 is a "deepview chamber" with a "deepviewer," kind of a magical x-ray. It's a huge iron cylinder 30 feet long and 10 wide, with a 3-foot hatch and a cracked crystal screen above it. The patient lies down on a platform which is rolled into the door, the door closes, then the patient is magically paralyzed (so they don't confuse the machine by accident) and the crystal screen shows a silhouette of the person's body with any kind of illness, injury, or even curse shown on it for easy diagnosis. Then the machine reads off the diagnosis, frees the patient and spits them back out. At least in theory. Cyndia, of course, is a strong proponent of it, saying that PCs really should get checked out. She won't force them, but she will say "good deepviewing can only be to your benefit... it will not hurt a bit!" and assuring them that any previous bad experiences they've had with medical equipment in here are down to their lack of experience. Anyone who climbs up onto the platform is automatically paralyzed. The door creaks and tries to close, but can't. Regardless, the platform slides deeper into the machine, into a cargo pod, which hides the patient from sight. Steel-reinforced viewing grids close in around the patient, and the friends outside see the person's body, with injuries glowing green and yellow. Suddenly, the body convulses and gets bright red. The sensor grids closed a little too closely on the patient, and they must save vs. polymorph or take 4d10 damage. The deepviewer says in Moilian "This patient has been severely crushed, and needs medical attention immediately." The patient is then ejected and lands in a heap. If Cyndia sees this happen, she screams and grabs the body, trying to take it to Dr. Tarr for help, or for preservation in the freezing room (of which more later) if the patient died. PCs can stop her with threats of violence, but she's very insistent otherwise. Room 7.7 has a limb regrowing machine. It's a tall cylinder covered in glass pods, some shattered, with a human-shaped indentation in the side. It regenerated limbs and organs, not an infrequent requirement in a city as violent as Moil. The machine has not been maintained in a while and its effects these days are erratic, to say the least. Of course, Cyndia will encourage PCs to try it. If you step into the indentation with a full set of limbs and organs, nothing happens. Stepping in while missing something triggers the machine. The glass pods turn from green to yellow, and the whole machine hums. The smashed glass pods sizzle and crackle and fill the air with a burnt ozone smell. The DM can compare the PC's constitution to a chart, or roll a d20. In either event, this is what happens: 1-6 Subject killed outright. Also, limb doesn't regrow. gently caress you. 7-9 Subject falls into a coma for 1d4 days; withered, useless limb regrown. Haha. 10-14 Limb regrown with a mind of its own; attempts to bring about subject's demise. Snort. 15-17 Normal limb regrown. Neat. 18+ Limb regrown with beneficial supernatural characteristic of DM's choice (resistance to injury, strength, etc. So that's actually kind of cool. And if you don't roll d20 on this you are a bad DM. You can smash more globes to truly gently caress up the machine forever, if you really want to. Sections 7.8 and 7.9 are a stairwell connecting the levels. 7.10 is a deepfreezer; the floor is covered in 3-foot diameter pools, 16 in all, full of glowing bluish fluid. Three of the pools cast strange shadows, as if there's something in there blocking the light. The fluid bubbles and roils, and the room as a whole is VERY cold. This room used to be used to preserve critically ill or injured Moilians until a cure could be prepared. They contained a magically super-chilled fluid, and patients were dipped and frozen. An enchantment prevented cell damage or further injury from the freezing. However, this enchantment has worn off, but not the one that made the fluid super cold. Three of the pools contain Moilians, who simply died when the safety enchantment wore off. Any living flesh that touches the fluid takes 2d6 points of damage per round, and full submerging instantly kills anyone. If you're magically protected from cold you get a save vs. breath weapon, though even on a pass you still take 2d6 damage; a Dex or Str check at -4 each round gets you out of a pool. Fluid outside of the pool boils away almost instantly. Of course Cyndia trusts the fluid implicitly. 7.11 is full of medical supplies. It's magically locked against anyone but a medron. It's lined with shelves inside with a dizzying array of jars, pouches, etc., all of which are frosted and frozen. Some have been smashed and one of the shelves has toppled.  The toppled shelf, of course, rests on a Moilian zombie. Because gently caress you. And the referenced chart:  Hooray! 7.12 is the home of the infamous Dr. Tarr. He's the last of the other medrons, and was once a very competent surgeon. He's in a high-ceilinged room, filled with neatly made beds. It's an OR, in fact. Tarr himself descends from the ceiling when the PCs enter.  Meet the Doctor! He's on the end of an "ectodraulic" appendage of rusted iron. The ceiling is covered in tracks he can move along. He can go anywhere in the room and about 20 feet past it. Tarr's primary function is to perform operations, and he hasn't gotten to in quite a few years; as a result, he's quite mad. He's good at disguising this fact, though, and it won't be apparent right away. He has excellent bedside manner and seems to be a concerned, gentle healer with patients' best interests in mind. He and Cyndia will urge a PC to get on an operating table so he can have a look at the problem. If a PC gets on the bed, Tarr anesthetizes them, and from there will not ever let them go, no matter what. He'll keep putting the other PCs off, saying things like "He really needs a few more days of observation, and all of the tissue cell tests are not in yet!" He'll also try to get the other PCs to submit to examination-- he'd like nothing more than to have a whole party of PCs kept drugged and anesthetized so that he could operate on them until they inevitably die of complications from repeated surgeries, or old age. He'll really try to coax someone to agree to "just a basic checkup and physical," but if nobody will, he gets desperate and attempt to anesthetize the party-- he can shoot sleeping gas from one of his limbs three times per day. He is also a very competent fighter with his array of blades and stuff, due to his knowledge of anatomy. He won't kill any PCs, but he'll stabilize them and then knock them out and put them on tables. Cyndia will help him nonlethally, trying to restrain PCs. It's very hard to attack the iron pipe, so PCs should attack Tarr, but he's a tough customer himself. Nothing they can't handle, I hope. 7.13 is an emergency exit. This tower's not a bad place to rest a while, but it's not secure against the Vestige (always a concern). Cyndia's a great ally, though chances are it'll be hard to convince her to stay with them if they kill Dr. Tarr. No guidelines on that-- DM it how you think is appropriate. Tower 8 I'm skipping. It used to be the Moilian mint, but the insides have totally collapsed, so it's hollow now. Next time: Spiders and bridges!
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Sep 16, 2013 00:22
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Zombie Hospital is probably the first and only thing about that module that has actually given me the creeps. That doctor, ugh.
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Sep 16, 2013 00:36
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I think it's my favorite section, because the PCs will probably jump to get fixed up after the hells they just went through. Plus, that Moilian lady that they picked up earlier would probably help assure them that the processes are completely safe...
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Sep 16, 2013 01:09
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I'm assuming "Doctor Tarr" is a deliberate reference to the Poe story.
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Sep 16, 2013 01:27
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And here I thought his first name was Dahk.
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Sep 16, 2013 01:50
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The above links to the DrivethruRPG page, where the book is available as a watermarked PDF for $20.00 MotoBushido - Rubberside down. Part Two - My riders salute couldn't possibly be followed up (which was why the first part was so short) Suggested Listening for part two: The Last Samurai - Red Warrior This section covers sessions and character creation. For ease of search, type "what you want!" with spaces to find the appropriate section. Sessions! After our Riders Salute, the structure depends on which session it is. If it's the first session, you begin with what's called your "Founding Fathers" - you take control of the guys whom made your pack, for a brief moment, and have a say in the event that started it all. This occurs, usually, back during the great undefined war (The book references the Post-Tokugawa era frequently, so The Boshin War may be appropriate, although basically any major conflict could be approrpiate). The book suggests that the characters defied orders in order to save the life of others, or that the group were the remainders of a suicide charge, for example. For historical examples of each, your gang might be the Soldiers of a disgruntled officer,, the A member of a rebellion ordered by your once leader, or even A Splinter froma] religious communist rebellion. In the end, simply put a group in a position with a tough choice - they may go along with the more loyal choice, after which play out the fall of their forces around them. If it's your second session, your group begins play with a joint flashback, after which your group is restored to session starting form. More on flashbacks will be covered in the mechanics session, but a flashback (beyond showing something else) restores your ki, which are used for making the game more High powered and less raw - using bike stunts, combat techniques and calling upon past deeds are all reliant on Ki. Ki is restored by spending group resources, flash backing, or staying true to your roots. Otherwise, you have to rely entirely on your draws. From the frist session, you introduce the new cast (whom the players will be spending more time as),If it's your second session as this group, feel free to carry on where you left off. After finding a good point to end the session, go around the group and ask if they have learned any Lessons - I can't open narrative talk with anything more than what's on the tin. Mechanically, when you feel your character has learned something, they right it down. At the end of the session, everyone notes what they think they've learned and, depending on whether or not the group agrees, you can either do one of three things with it - Firstly, you can use it as experience, which is immediately put into one of your three alignment trees for advancement upon the appropriate tree, on a 1:1 basis. They may also right down this lesson as a deed, which they can then call upon if the experience is relevant for a boost. Finally, they can alter your position on the alignments scales, which we'll get into during the character creation session. Once you've done all that (and played a session like you would most other games), Rubberside down and bounce. No seriously, it gets the blood flowing and it's an interesting way to lose calories if you don't feel like dancing your way home. Character Creation! I'll hit this right off the bat because it will make some decisions become a lot clearer: If you become too devoted to one ideal, you will be consumed by it and die/leave/piss off/retire. Chronologically, you would need a pack before you have characters, but since packbuilding is a group activity the order of things is First Founding>Character Gen>Pack detail>Gameplay. You can feel free to use a template for this, as a bunch of sensible characters are included, ready to go, with all of the major fluff decisions in your hand. If you don't (we're not going to, but I'll include one of the template dudes after this section), here are the steps (with examples in italics:) Step 1: Balance your alignment Your alignment is made up of three mutually exclusive six-point scales, based on the three ideals of Motobushi(official term), and your adherence to them. Mechanically, the benefits can be summed up by the fact that you have an easier time doing things which coincide with your convictions. So whiel a loner guy might struggle when he has to act for his squad mates, the thinker will have an eaiser time doing thinky stuff. The base alignments are:
Nomad o o o / o o o Brotherhood Water o o o o o / o Steel Will o o / o o o o Destiny Put an slash when each attribute changes - in this example, we can see that Our guy is Nomad/Brotherhood 3, Water 5/Steel 1, and Will 2/Destiny 4. So a monk. In addition, you also (have to? can?) make a statement about how you feel on the subject. In addition, the player on your left/you/right determines some Wrongdoing you can't avenge/Person you murdered for the pack/Person you left behind. For our example, we will build Zatoichi, the famous blind masseur and gambler dropped into our Motobushi template for scientific purposes. As to his alignments, I'd say they were like this: Nomad 4/Brotherhood 2, as he spent most of his time as a drifter helping the innocent and escaping bounties. He's a talented musician and masseur, however, and most of his living relies on other people, which is why it's 4/2 rather than 5/1. Water 1/Steel 5 - if we take early Zatoichi, it's revealed that he was slain many men, and that violence was his first port of call. I choose a heavy steel choice because I feel it would be a fun experience playing out a story of redemption (even if it's damnnation in the eyes of his fellow brothers), as he comes to realize more and more what he feels is right. The first few times lessons based on using nonviolence appear, I would take the alignment shift option and move steel one closer to water, ending at 3/3. Will 2 / Destiny 4 - I really struggled with this one, as second hand knowledge isn't much to emulate off of. But apparently he often stumbles into the events which guide his life, so there's that (also the whole 'connection to the road thing' can cover for 'why the gently caress can a blind man ride'). Step 2:Choose your Birthsign It's not literal (at least it doesn't have to be), but basically it's "What purpose does your life serve?" The best way of explaining this is to examine one from the book, the Gambler: quote:GAMBLER No jokes about Dangan Ronpa. I am absolutely 100% serious about this. Not even the Syoon smilie. The "Ki trigger" is "I've done something related to how I should live my life! I feel so much more Ki'd in with who I am! and you regain ki." The lesson trigger is "I've hosed up massively, despite by norms. I'll use this oppurtunity to learn a lesson". These work Apocalypse World style, where the occurence in game triggers the mechanic, not the other way around. The full list of birthsigns contains the Aesthete, Alpha, Beta(hah!), Comedian, Downright Bastard, Gambler, Heartbreaker, Lover, Orator, Outisder(This raises our "references to Japan not liking things which are drastically different" count to 3), Prince, Sidekick, Spider, Tragic Hero and Wise Mentor. I'm tempted to say "Outsider" for Zatoichi, seeing as he mostly drifted along from place to place, but at the same time Zatoichi is known for his wisdom and guidance, so I go Wise mentor if someone in the group would be okay with that kind of bond. Otherwise, Outsider could work. Step four: Know your role What you do in the gang. Gets three abilities: A primary, secondary, and fratricide ability, the latter of which only occurs when you off one of your own (for good or bad reasons). The only one you need to play is the Taichou, or leader of the pack, and all other roles are optional with gaps fill-able by other guys in the pack who aren't the focus of the story. The list is Taichou(leader), Bosozokou (standard full-fledged member), Hahaoya (Heart/adviser), Kusawake(scout), Migi Ude (Bodyguard come dirty worker), Shigikaaka (Historian/Standard bearer/nerd), Shinigari (Engineer and tech support) and Shinmai(rookie in tryouts). Each comes with a "If you choose this you're giving this message to the gm", some info on how to play them, and where they ride on the pack. Zatoichi'll go Bosozoku for. I'll let the players know that, later on, he might go for Hahaoya or Shinigari, if the survives long enough and the slots open up. Step five: Your fighting style Your style is a)What weapon you use and b)What kind of ultimate technique you can get if you finish an evolution tree. Before reaching your ultimate technique, you pick up techniques as you please from groups sorted by function. A nice touch, I think - tells you on the tine what you're doing with these techniques and lets you decide the flavour. Yes, you must learn techniques in order. Yes, you can use literally any technique with any other technique you know, unless that technique says otherwise. The single sword style literally has Iaijutsu as its ultimate techinque. That is what Zatoichi will use. Step six: Motor cycles  How in the Christ is this the only relevant image from "Sword Fights on MotorCycles?" For something as integral to the lifestyle they live as it is, the info on it is kinda... eh. It's basically how well it handles in various conditions, how badass it looks, and how much damage (or disgrace) it can take before it needs repairing, as well as a basic power. It has some interactions with the duel mechanic which I'll discuss in the mechanics section, but still jeez. Seven types of bike are included, but like everything else (save alignments) in the book the game is okay with you adding more(will look to find the relevant quote). For a Blind Man,riding shotgun is the best choice. As sidecar isn't a viable option, I go with the Standard, a no-nonsense versatile and decent all-rounder. And, one you've put all that in a sheet, you're good! Also Have some Led Zepplin. Next time: Zatoichi in a character sheet, Pack creation(this will be brief), and then we finally get into the meat of the game!
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Sep 16, 2013 02:43
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That 'consistency of glop' table brings back memories of the Food Fight tutorial adventure from first ed Shadowrun. And the good doctor's lower quarters are loving metal. Amechra posted:Bieerdo, I deeply enjoy the Superbabes readthrough. The game's just so... awful. I'm sorta reminded of Witch Girl Adventures, just in the greasiness pervading it. Thanks! It's good to know folks are getting something out of my hardship. But oh god, WGA. I'd put that whole awful thing out of my head a long while ago, but you're right. They're both built on the skeeviest sort of exploitation, aren't they?
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Sep 16, 2013 02:46
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Bieeardo posted:But oh god, WGA. I'd put that whole awful thing out of my head a long while ago, but you're right. They're both built on the skeeviest sort of exploitation, aren't they? I don't know. Superbabes(and the comics it's based on which are... somewhat less skeevy) is at least honest about it. It's the girlie magazine game where everything is out to humiliate you. That's the point of it. Are they doing it well or right? Hell no. Da hell? How and why am I defending Superbabes? Anyway, it at least makes an attempt to be playable without making it too much of an overt fetish game. Too much. Witch Girls Adventures make no apologies and doesn't admit anything. It's trying to be subtle about it's kink content, and hell, it kinda is. Kinda. So, okay two things. First of all, I looked it up and the spelling for the Sex Offender Bathmat who is playing a baseball game to get an early parole is Da Sponge. He's not statted in the adventure itself, so he's either in Knockouts and Powerhouses or one of the other adventures in the series. Secondly, in a moment of masochistic fury, I actually bought both the WGA bundle(which contains the Adventure, the core book, the quick start, an expanded experience system, and the In-Universe magazine(as well as Witch Girl Tales and a Princess Lucinda comic)) and a bit of Chris Field's work... Mostly, the "Guro-Strike" and the Razor Subculture book from the Otherverse America setting. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but at least it all came up to under ten bucks. Part of me really wants to go over the poo poo in the WGA package... but for now, here is the experience chart. 
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Sep 16, 2013 05:13
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FourmyleCircus posted:Part of me really wants to go over the poo poo in the WGA package... but for now, here is the experience chart. Where's the bonus for illustrating someone being transformed and subsequently eaten?
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Sep 16, 2013 05:30
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I think that one's in Guro-Strike. 
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Sep 16, 2013 05:36
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Midjack posted:Where's the bonus for illustrating someone being transformed and subsequently eaten? 4 or 5 funbux, it says it right there. You'd obviously be drawing a Witch Girl Adventure character doing Witch Girl Adventures!
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Sep 16, 2013 05:38
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Wow... Only other time I've ever saw "cosplay your character" as a way to get XP was in Moe-Tan. And that, at least, was tongue in cheek (this is the game, after all, where everyone plays anthropomorphic personifications of random poo poo trying to capture the fandom of otaku on the internet).
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Sep 16, 2013 05:58
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Mr. Maltose posted:4 or 5 funbux, it says it right there. Actually, I think it'd only be 2 funbux as it'd be a group picture by necessity. Though, you could rule that mortals don't count as cha-- the hell is wrong with me?
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Sep 16, 2013 05:58
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Amechra posted:I think it's my favorite section, because the PCs will probably jump to get fixed up after the hells they just went through. Plus, that Moilian lady that they picked up earlier would probably help assure them that the processes are completely safe... I'm just thinking how cool it would be for a high-level party to use this specific part of Moil as a base of operations outside of the adventure. Just make the nurse realise the equipment is broken, bring in some specialists to try to fix it and once everything's working you have a scifi hospital in a medieval fantasy setting. There's probably a spell to cure the doctor's insanity, too.
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Sep 16, 2013 08:44
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FourmyleCircus posted:I don't know. Superbabes(and the comics it's based on which are... somewhat less skeevy) is at least honest about it. It's the girlie magazine game where everything is out to humiliate you. That's the point of it. Are they doing it well or right? Hell no. Da hell? How and why am I defending Superbabes? Anyway, it at least makes an attempt to be playable without making it too much of an overt fetish game. Too much. I don't think Superbabes is honest so much as it is transparent. It doesn't at all admit to what it's about, it's just so blatant about it that it's unmistakable. Though, certainly, I have known folks with sufficient cultural ignorance to have it all fly over their heads, too.  But I think the key element is that Witch Girls Adventures adds children to its kink content, and exults in depicting abusive, disgusting cruelty perpetrated by or upon children. The other difference is that Superbabes is at least modestly self-aware (if shameless). On the other hand, Witch Girls Adventures feels like it's written by people who are just completely devoid of self-awareness (and probably basic ethics). They're both reprehensible embarrassments, but WGA takes the cake, and then vomits it up all over your nicest guests.
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Sep 16, 2013 13:22
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I'll admit it: if I'd somehow got my hands on Super-Babes at release, the skeeviness would have flown straight over my head. The mechanics probably would have sent me right back to GURPS, too. WGA... Christ. It's like someone took one of Bradbury's demonic children stories, like The Veldt, threw in some of Roald Dahl's darker bits, and then tried to extrapolate an entire culture from that sordid little snapshot. It's nonsensical, insulting and ill, even before the corkscrew-twisted power fetishes and their underage vehicles come into play. Speaking of vehicles, that XP table a few posts up looks like a recipe for astroturf. 'Make art' (and upload it to DA!) 'Make a blog' (and help boost our SEO numbers!) People do that sort of thing all the time, but most games don't offer bribes to get the word out.
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Sep 16, 2013 14:46
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Rifts:™ Dimension Book One: Wormwood Part 14 “Monks” Continuing with the classes of Light, we get to the Monk. The ‘monks’ represent a loose-knit organization of splinter sects from the Cathedral who think the Cathedral is too removed from the people and concerned with temporal power, clogged with bureaucracy, etc. Basically your average radical sects. The ‘monks’ want to destroy all monsters and help the innocent, have taken a vow of poverty and disavowed political aspirations. I think it’d be more fun if they had a few competing orders with some variant theologies but that is clearly not going to happen. They’re commoners, rather than the nebulously defined ‘noble’ class that seems to exist. They’re also kung fu monks who train away from temptation and are very obnoxious to the Cathedral. They treat apoks like celebrities for being extra-good monster destroyers.  They have decent PPE and MDC, up to 70, though ‘few monks ever wear armor’  because that just wouldn’t be cool, you can’t be an edgy religio-anarchist wearing armor. They have a few Wormwood powers, and also their own set of abilities called “Powers of Mastery.”  a...monk? Each monk chooses one of three areas: The Art of Defense, the Art of Offense, and the Art of Meditation. Defense characters are kind of pacifistic and tend to be calm and polite. They also get automatic dodge. That thing that juicers have--dodge instead of parry without losing a melee action. They get 2d4x10 extra MDC, half-damage from MDC fire and cold. They can block MDC attacks barehanded, and do a little bit of MDC with punches and kicks. They can also do a “Tumble strike” that gives +3 to dodge and will knock down opponent upon hit, costing the enemy one attack and initiative along with doing regular damage. With no save. This appears to be a single melee attack. Offense characters are bolder and more hot-tempered and blah blah anyway they get an extra melee attack and Acrobatics and Boxing as free skills so that’s like +3 already. They can also do Spirit Punches and Kicks that do MDC--1d4x10 for the punch and 1d6x10 for the kick. The only reason to ever use the punch is that the kick costs initiative for the next round. Both of these count as two attacks. They can also do a ‘Spirit Leap Kick’ which uses ALL attacks for the round and does 3d6x10. Once this attack is done the monk can only defend themselves by parrying or dodging, though they’ve used up all their attacks so not much dodging going on. Lastly, they get a ‘Vital Strike’ which can do one of four things and succeeds on a 17-20, otherwise doing normal damage but still taking up two attacks. The effects of success are 1. Disarm and knock weapon 1d4x10 feet away and gives the monk a temporary horror factor of 12 for ‘seeming in control of the fight.’ 2. Knock down and stun: Lose two melee actions and initiative. 3. Critical Bull’s Eye strike: Double damage on a called shot. 4. Nerve Strike: Paralyze a limb for 1d4 rounds. Offense kinda sucks, your attacks do decent damage but they require a lot of expenditure and leave you with little defense if they work at all, compared to the Defense monk rolling around knocking people over like ninepins. Meditation & Spirit monks are less direct fighters and more career philosophers who can also kill people barehanded. They can generate an ‘inner strength’ that is not related to psionics, and this increases their PS and Speed by 6, which, well, they still don’t do MDC with their hands. 3/day. They can use ‘spirit strength’ which overcomes any sort of physical limitation, including psionic and magical effects. 3/day, since a lot of magic is no-save this is fairly useful. ‘Third Eye’ lets them see invisible, sense magic and evil, +4 to HF, and be immune to possession and mind control, and makes them immune to temptation. Last is ‘Death Strike’. It is used with great reluctance and may kill the user. They must use at least 20 PPE and strike barehanded, automatically. They inflict 2d4x100 damage. If the target survives, the character is paralyzed and unconscious for 2d4 minutes and are woozy for 1d6x10 minutes. Drains all PPE and no other martial arts powers work for 24 hours. They recover after 12 hours or so. This set of powers is fairly useless, extremely damaging super-attack aside. Basically you have a one-hit missile you can use once a day and otherwise have some minor advantages against magic. Of the three, Defense seems like the winner, especially since these monks are allowed to use any weapons they want.  chant...chant for your lives As a class, they’re restricted in their physical skill choices as those are freebies to the different ‘ways’. They get weapons of choice, and use them freely in combination. A good weapon with the Defense monk’s bonuses would make them fairly formidable, while the other two need some degree of barehanded attack and give up a lot to do so. They ‘mostly don’t wear armor’, only things with no prowl penalty because what else is going to make the Knight classes interesting except that they can wear actual armor? Otherwise they're basically a random insertion of kung fu into our catholicism and they seem to congregate in isolated monasteries but you'd only know that from Erin Tarn making a passing mention of one she didn't visit. That is long enough for its own post, given the ability selection there. Take Defense. It’ll save your poorly-armored life.
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Sep 16, 2013 16:12
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You know what I want to see? Kung-Fu monks inspired by Roman Catholic monastic orders. Like, I don't know, Jesuit Fencing or Gregorian Chant-Fighting. And Wormwood was a chance for that. Why didn't they take it?
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Sep 16, 2013 16:31
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Bieeardo posted:I'll admit it: if I'd somehow got my hands on Super-Babes at release, the skeeviness would have flown straight over my head. The mechanics probably would have sent me right back to GURPS, too. I got to hear about it from - as I mentioned earlier - a guy who you could say was its its core audience. As such, that guy's skeeviness and the skeeviness of Superbabes will together walk arm-in-arm in my mind. occamsnailfile posted:Last is ‘Death Strike’. It is used with great reluctance and may kill the user. They must use at least 20 PPE and strike barehanded, automatically. They inflict 2d4x100 damage. If the target survives, the character is paralyzed and unconscious for 2d4 minutes and are woozy for 1d6x10 minutes. Drains all PPE and no other martial arts powers work for 24 hours. They recover after 12 hours or so. This set of powers is fairly useless, extremely damaging super-attack aside. Basically you have a one-hit missile you can use once a day and otherwise have some minor advantages against magic. Of the three, Defense seems like the winner, especially since these monks are allowed to use any weapons they want. I see these monks have modeled their fighting style on Rocket Tag. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Sep 16, 2013 |
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Sep 16, 2013 16:48
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Amechra posted:Kung-Fu monks inspired by Roman Catholic monastic orders. Like, I don't know, Jesuit Fencing or Gregorian Chant-Fighting. Um... I got this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9EBkLByqcQ
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Sep 16, 2013 17:11
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Bieeardo posted:Um... I got this? I think I'm just gonna edit out all the text up there and put this in instead and pretend it's canon.
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Sep 16, 2013 17:49
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That is perfection.
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Sep 16, 2013 18:32
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I don't think Superbabes is honest so much as it is transparent. It doesn't at all admit to what it's about, it's just so blatant about it that it's unmistakable. Though, certainly, I have known folks with sufficient cultural ignorance to have it all fly over their heads, too. gently caress both of them though. You're right. Looking over Game of the Century, there are so many preplanned wardrobe malfunctions and various bits of psychotic messing about that you'd think it was football. Except, in football, being covered in cooking spray is an advantage. Bieeardo posted:I'll admit it: if I'd somehow got my hands on Super-Babes at release, the skeeviness would have flown straight over my head. The mechanics probably would have sent me right back to GURPS, too. I actually want to take a step back and talk about that. Your comment that it's The Veldt + The Witches is pretty spot on actually. They say again and again that it's supposed to be an Addams Family style dark comedy. A couple big name reviews of it even name check Roald Dahl and Charles Addams. Specifically, Paul Dini called it like the work of Charles Addams when he was writing an intro to one of the comics. I doubt any of them have played the game or even know that it exists. As for that extra experience table... Yeah. I know some people that would be well on their way to godhood after that. Given that they're artists who draw constantly... Of course, like everything about this game, it's rear end backwards and promotes selfishness. Group photos should be five, not two, and drawing someone else's character should be worth more than drawing your own. And never mind the fact that it increases the GM's work load by turning him into an art critic. Still, the whole book is that bad. Thankfully, it's short. Unfortunately, it makes 13 Magazine and a couple of the adventures worse because it gives a guideline on how much an allowance point is actually worth.
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Sep 16, 2013 19:40
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Wait wait wait are those rifle-wielding socialist bhuddist monks? Why the gently caress do people need ninjas with that sort of thing around.
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Sep 16, 2013 23:31
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 (The above image links to the bundle on RPGnow, in case you wish to fund their madness. You'll get seven products for seven dollars.) Witch Girls Adventures: All About The Voodollars: Part 1 Knowing The Price Of Salt Helps You Sleep. The core book is already covered, as well as the Playable characters from The Pirates of Buccaneer Hill, so I'll concern myself with the two other supplements. The comics are out of the scope of this thread, even if Witch Girls Tales stats out the cast. First on the chopping block is All About The Voodollars, a twenty four page pamphlet designed to give the setting more depth and realism. Gasp.  The cover, as you can see, is about what you'd expect from this system. Blinged out teens on thrones with skulls. Also, this book alone used to go for seven dollars. So I guess I got my money's worth with this bundle. Yeah, you don't need tags to see that I don't believe that one. It claims to have been edited and proofread by a one Jess Hartley. Don't believe it for a second. I'm kinda glad, I've got about as much grounds to sue them for false advertising as they do to sue Disney over a witch named Lucinda. Anyway, the index contains a side bar by Abby Soto, Princess Lucinda's creator, going on about how she needs to know the price of salt to have a meaningful game, and she's weirded out by the fact that Witches Have Money... so this book was created to help her sleep at night. You might think I'm being fanciful. You'd be wrong. She makes all these points. Oh, and it also contains a picture of three little girls robbing a bank. In the most adorable, non-violent fashion possible. By blowing a hole in the wall and lasering the lockboxes open. Once you get past that, the first actual section is called "All about the Voodollars", and deals with the perks and perils of giving people bonus XP. This is the source of the above chart. But we'll get to that. The layout of this section makes no drat sense. There's a nice big picture of a girl magicking up money on the left side, with a couple paragraphs under it explaining what Voodollars are and why you should give them out for anything fun. And then the chapter head shows up, along with a paragraph that says that just playing with your friends should be reward enough, but hey, XP! After going on about this, it tells you to limit yourself to ten Voodollars per person per game. I think that's what it says. It actually says "To balance encouragement and value, we suggest limiting the number of Voodollars handed out each episode to ten." If it meant you should only give out ten bonus XP points an episode, it becomes a sort of scrabbling Witch-Eat-Witch free-for-all as everyone competes to be the biggest brown-noser. It's about as conductive to a stable group as running Carebears in Amber. I'm just making a screen shot of this next part. Not the worst has to offer, but hell.  How to what them? One more word and we'll have a sentence. How to hate them? How to swim through them like Scrooge McDuck? How to give herself paper-cuts while gently caressing herself with them? And yes, that whole book has that paper texture. It's actually worse on the left edge, with a lot of letters getting soaked up by black boarders. The next section gives directions on making a group fund. They suggest that you make everyone chip in an equal amount so that no one feels entitled. Sane enough. Almost too sane. Moving on... Here's the chart. "Earning Voodollars in new ways". There's a paragraph explaining the chart and it moves onto spending Voodollars in new ways. This too is just a paragraph or two justifying a chart.  Yes, you're reading this chart right. You can give up XP to heal damage, remove spells, or increase your rolls. Because that's exactly what you should be doing with a resource the GM is encouraged to keep a tight hold on. Spending it for temporary advantage so you'll forever be a second banana. The art on this page is a nice color picture of three Hex Scouts fighting a cyclops. I have no idea what that has to do with anything, but hey, it's there. I think the girl with the pink hair and boots is supposed to be a Dwitch. No, you don't know what a Dwitch is yet. I'm going to speed through this next bit because it's uninteresting, minimal setting work. I bring you "New Voodollars", which are print out and cut-out play money to hand over as XP. It comes in color and black and white and tells you all about the person on the bill. The One Voodollar Bill has Hecuba Morbane; the current High Enchantress. Her background text has a few weird values judgments. "In her youth she was on the front lines of holding together the tedious alliances between witches and vampires and even marrying one (Claudius Morbane)". So, it seems witches find having to deal with other sentient species tedious. Good to know. The two dollar bill has Queen Gothel, the evil witch from every fairy tale ever. Also a boarding school headmistress. Nothing to say other than I'm still pretty sure Frau Totenkinder's reaction to meeting her would make what she did to Baba Yaga look kind. The three-dollar bill has Abby Bruja, a political activist with Hags Syndrome and apparently toes for fingers. I know it's just the angle and that the trace job on that photo is terrible, but... Look at that.  The five has a picture of Boddica. She's some sort of war hero who died in World War two. We're walking. The ten has a picture of Josephine Baker... Who apparently was a witch who discovered it late in life and helped preform the ceremony that ended World War Two... and according to this picture looks just like Eartha Kitt. And the twenty dollar bill has a picture of Raven from Teen Titans. Just with the serial numbers filed off poorly. Raven Sinclare is from a parallel universe where superheroes exist, and she's the most powerful Sorceress. Yeah. Each one of those dollar bills was given an entire page, with so much white space you could write a better game in it. We're about to get into actual setting stuff and spells... so I'm going to stop here. Because drat it. I am not reading this whole book in one sitting for a third time.
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Sep 17, 2013 01:39
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I want to suggest that autocorrect turned 'tenuous' into 'tedious', but it seems pretty honest as it is. Google and I had the same reaction to Boddica: did they mean Boudica? Because god drat it, there's appropriation, and there's appropriation. Gich. My skin's crawling already. I've always hated demonic child stories.
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Sep 17, 2013 02:01
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loving Josephine Baker? Seriously? I don't know if I'm more angry about that or the woman literally named Witch but in a different language.
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Sep 17, 2013 02:03
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Mr. Maltose posted:loving Josephine Baker? Seriously? I don't know if I'm more angry about that or the woman literally named Witch but in a different language. I would say the Josephine Baker thing. ForeignWord McLiteralName is a fairly old, very common, and relatively excusable bit of stupidity. Co-opting a figurehead of the civil rights movement for your pretend
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Sep 17, 2013 02:24
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Amechra posted:You know what I want to see? I want to say that Warlords of the Accordlands (which was both a CCG and a d20-based RPG) actually had D&D-style kung-fu monks who were based more on European monastic orders instead of Shaolin.
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Sep 17, 2013 02:32
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Mr. Maltose posted:loving Josephine Baker? Seriously? I don't know if I'm more angry about that or the woman literally named Witch but in a different language. Quick test for this: Read both spoilers below and see which one makes you most want to hit someone. Referencial Names:The fighter class in this game is called "Frank", after the monster from Frankensteins book. Celebrity Guest:The head of the rebel army is cyborg Anne Frank.
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Sep 17, 2013 02:49
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It's just that slight hint of needless exoticism in naming someone Bruja that evens it out for me. I wonder if they looked it up or just played Arkham Asylum. (I may or may not only be familiar with the term thanks to Alan Moore and Jay Hawkins but dammit I didn't write a fetish RPG)
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Sep 17, 2013 02:55
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I'd say a name like 'Bruja' was a teensy bit unsubtle, but this is a game with illustrations of little girls blowing bank safes open and lasering safety deposit boxes open. And that... celebrity guest. (My first exposure to the word 'Bruja' was Vampire back in the early nineties. Imagine my surprise, years later, to discover it meant 'witch' and not 'generically anarchistic vampire'.) Bieeanshee fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Sep 17, 2013 |
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Sep 17, 2013 03:13
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FourmyleCircus posted:
No. Why are you doing this no. I am going to read this and hate you forever. And I write Rifts writeups. I know what it's like to spread some misery but goddamn. The point I'm getting to is hate I guess.
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Sep 17, 2013 03:15
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Alien Rope Burn posted:No. You're not the one who followed his link and bought it, I dunno what you're griping about.
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Sep 17, 2013 03:20
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Dammit Syrg you're going to run this poo poo aren't you.
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Sep 17, 2013 03:21
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