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Bieeardo posted:Good point. I've had more exposure to Lovecraft than I have Southern Gothic, I'll admit. That may be a Canadian thing, since we have our own uneasily cohabiting cultures to be fascinated with. If you want to check out Southern Gothic but don't really have the time, check Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily" and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find".
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Sep 22, 2014 18:07
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Thanks, I'll try to hunt those down!
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Sep 22, 2014 18:20
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Bieeardo posted:Good point. I've had more exposure to Lovecraft than I have Southern Gothic, I'll admit. That may be a Canadian thing, since we have our own uneasily cohabiting cultures to be fascinated with.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:37
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pkfan2004 posted:If you want to check out Southern Gothic but don't really have the time, check Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily" and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find". Also O'Connor's "Bible Salesman". And then everything else by her and Faulkner. And maybe some Joyce Carol Oates although she isn't necessarily Southern Gothic; at least you'll be able to say you were reading her before she wins a Nobel.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:44
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I made a Master of Shadow once, as a way to sneak playing as a Pokémon Trainer past my GM. The class abilities tied up my actions buffing my shadow, so I spent battles on the sidelines yelling "HAUNTER, USE ICE PUNCH!" 
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Sep 22, 2014 19:38
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The Ghoul is my favourite Monsterhearts skin and the one I'd most like to play, but I immediately thought of Jennifer's Body rather than a serial rapist/murderer. I noticed some of you commenting on your favourite stuff about Skins, so:Ratpick posted:Short Rest for the Wicked basically makes the Ghoul invulnerable: whenever they would die, they can just wait it out, and they'll wake up with all their wounds healed in a couple of hours. Given that characters already have quite a number of escape clauses from death (losing your strings, taking a condition, triggering your Darkest Self) this move basically just adds another way for the character to come back from the dead.
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Sep 22, 2014 20:30
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It's also there because the Ghoul is in large part a skin about death and morbidity, and is literally an undead creature. So what Short Rest for the Wicked does is bring that to the forefront. If a player picks that move, they are going to act way more recklessly and probably deliberately put themselves into a position to die, because people do not generally pick moves if they don't want to see them in play. And the MC is likewise expected to take someone selecting that move as an okay to have them get hit by a loving semi-truck as a hard move or whatever, for the same reason. I've seen players with this move kill themselves just to prove a point, or to force someone else to have to deal with their body (great if you have a Fear or Chaos hunger).
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Sep 22, 2014 20:53
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Alright, now that we're done with the Skins, it's time to move on. Chapter Four Being the MC Part One In case you haven't got that yet, the referee/game master analogue of Monsterhearts is the MC, or the Master of Ceremonies, a term borrowed straight from Apocalypse World. This chapter opens with brief sections titled The Others and The MC which explain the main purpose of the MC: to play the other characters in the story and keep the story moving. However, it's emphatically noted that the MC's job isn't to "create the story:" the story should emerge from the actions of the PCs, and the MC's job is to play the world at large with integrity in relation to the PCs' actions. It also notes that one of the MC's priorities is not to fall in love with their characters: the MC's characters are vehicles for the story, but the action should focus on the PCs and not the NPCs. Sometimes the MC just needs to bite the bullet and throw their dear NPCs at the PCs' mercy. Like in other games that use the PbtA engine, Monsterhearts presents its MC with an Agenda, Principles and Hard Moves. Agenda The Agenda are the MC's list of little imperatives that they must follow in order to create an interesting story. They are:
Principles Where the Agenda tells the MC what their goals are, their Principles tell them what they must do in order to achieve those goals. Basically, they're a list of best practices to make the kinds of stories that Monsterhearts encourages come to life. The MC's Principles are as follows: Blanket the world in darkness Monsterhearts is at its heart a game about melodrama and horror. As such, the MC is encouraged to take a leaf from Gothic horror. If at possible, set scenes at night, or if they happen during the daytime have it raining or foggy. If a scene could take place in a cemetery, set it there. Address yourself to the characters, not the players A simple but effective trick: when the MC's refers to the players by their characters' names, it'll nudge them ever so slightly into the role of their character. Make a move, but misdirect Make a move, but never speak its name This is a very important Principle. The MC has their own list of Moves, but as far as the players are concerned, the MC is just keeping the story moving and throwing interesting twists at them. The MC should never say, "Okay, I'm announcing future badness..." but work that future badness into their narration. Make humans seem monstrous Make monsters seem human Okay, so Monsterhearts has both monsters and humans. It might be easy to cast the humans as the good guys (or at least innocent victims) and have the monsters be the bad guys. However, the MC should keep in mind that sometimes inverting that dynamic is more interesting and there are so many interesting things you can do with it: the school bullies are probably human, but the torment they visit on their classmates makes them monstrous; the police force of the town are human, but when they start a literal witch hunt on the Witch and their family, they become monstrous; hell, the Faery King your Fae player introduced into the game might literally be a monster and an unpredictable force of nature, but even he might occasionally visit the PCs with a boon when it aligns with his agenda. The second part of these Principles is that teenage life almost always involves having to deal with prejudice. In going with the MC's agenda of making the PCs feel unaccepted, the MC should bring to fore the monstrous prejudices present in the community, and make sure those prejudices have teeth. Give everyone a life An important part of portraying a world with integrity is making the NPCs who inhabit it seem like real people. This doesn't mean that the MC should chart out their NPC's entire daily routines, but if it's been a while since an NPC hasn't been in the limelight the MC should think about what they might have been up to. Occasionally the MC should even surprise the players by making it clear that their NPCs also have messy, unpredictable lives of their own. Basically, while the PC's should be the center of attention, you should occasionally hint at other stuff going on in the world. Accept people, but only conditionally Happiness always comes at someone else's expense This might seem like it conflicts with making the PCs feel unaccepted, but it actually works really well with it: sometimes you need to accept the PCs just to give the fact that no one else accepts them some context. Even when someone accepts them, it should come with strings (maybe capital S Strings) attached. So the jocks now accept the Werewolf, but only because they feel he might be a threat to them, maybe the Serpentine finds a boyfriend, but will he accept the Serpentine when he finds out his true nature? These are the sorts of questions the MC should be asking themselves (or maybe even the players!). Secondly, because Monsterhearts is about sad stories, happiness should always come with a price. So the Mortal finally got their lover: who are all the people who could stand to be hurt by it? If one of the other PCs was pursuing the Mortal or their lover, ask them how they feel about it and what they're willing to do about it. Basically, when someone says "I love you," look for the "...but" in that sentence. Ask provocative questions and build on the answers This is a really important part of Monsterhearts: not only does it help you build the world without having to do all the work yourself ("What does your house look like?"), it also allows you to build more interesting drama ("So you think your dad is kind of an rear end in a top hat? Why?"). It also helps you put your PCs in unpredictable and volatile situations that help drive the story forward ("Jamie, it appears that the girl you loved has a thing for the creepy emaciated kid in your school. How does that make you feel?") Whatever answers the MC gets, they should build on those answers and use them as springing boards for future action and drama. Be a fan of your PCs Okay, so in spite of the fact that Monsterhearts is not necessarily supposed to be a heroic game, your PCs are still its stars. Even though your Agenda and Principles encourage you to throw poo poo at them, it's not because you want to see them fail, it's because you want to see how they'll get themselves out of that poo poo. Conversely, it doesn't mean that the MC should do everything in their power to keep the PCs out of harm's way: you can't really appreciate the PCs for their struggles when there are no real struggles for them to experience. Treat your NPCs like stolen cars This is my favorite Principle. Basically, don't get attached to your NPCs. They are yours, so use them to do all the stupid poo poo possible to keep the story moving. You're in control of them for a time, but they're not yours and once you're done with them you have to be able to let them go. Basically, play them recklessly so that you can get all the possible drama, sex and violence out of them. Give your NPCs simple motivations that divide the PCs Simple is the key word here. Make your NPCs straightforward and obvious that the players know how to react to them, and give them obvious goals and obvious means to achieve them. And then make sure those goals divide the PCs and pit them against each other. The idea is that the NPCs' goals are means for you to put the players in the spotlight and make the drama about their differences. Sometimes, disclaim decision making Basically, sometimes you don't want to be responsible for making a decision. That's when you give the responsibility to the players. When the PCs look at you and ask whether the Werewolf just killed the Infernal, you can just look at the Werewolf and ask "Well, did you?"  Picture here just to break up the wall of text. Hard Moves Finally, the MC's got their Hard Moves. Hard Moves are things the MC can do whenever the players look to them to find out what happens next, whenever they put themselves in harm's way, when it's unclear what should happen next, or when a player rolls a 6 or less on a Move. Again, the MC doesn't name the Move they're making, they just weave it into the conversation. The Hard Moves are as follows: Separate them Pretty straightforward. Sometime's you want to separate the PCs and see how they deal with a difficult situation when they're alone. Put them together However, sometimes you really want to see the sparks fly when you put two PCs who are at odds with each other together. Announce off-screen badness Announce future badness This Move basically works straight from your agenda to give everyone a life. Sometimes you'll just think of a perfect scheme that an NPC might have been up to and want to drop a hint about it. Sometimes you'll have the perfect idea of something terrible that might happen in the future and drop a hint about it. Inflict harm (as established) Basically, when your PCs put themselves in harm's way, you can just deal harm to them, as established in the harm rules. Make them pay a price Tell them the possible consequences and ask When there's an obstacle in the players way, tell them what price they must pay to get past it. Sometimes there's not price, but a risk involved. If the PCs are trying to sneak into a warehouse, you could make them pay a price to bribe the guard, or you could tell them that they can totally sneak into the warehouse, but they might get caught and the police might be called in. Leap to the worst possible conclusions When the NPCs don't fully understand what's going on, make them leap to the worst possible conclusion. If the players have been trying to catch a murderer and the police find the latest victim right at the same time as the PCs find it... well, you know what to do. Turn their move back on them Take what the PC was trying to achieve with a move and create some unexpected and terrible consequences. Sometimes a PC takes a swipe at someone meaning to subdue them, only to accidentally hit too hard and end up with a bleeding corpse lying at their feet. Expose a dangerous secret to the wrong person So the Serpentine's been secretly dating the Mortal, and it'd be terrible for the Mortal if the Serpentine's family were to find out. Have the Serpentine's brother find a secret love note the Mortal gave to the Serpentine. Take a String on someone NPCs can hold Strings on PCs. Sometimes a player will roll a 6 on a Move that normally involves the exchange of Strings, and you can have it backfire by giving the NPC the String instead. An NPC returned your sick burn with a witty retort? Give the NPC a String on the PC. A PC's attempt to turn someone on was a bit too transparent? Give the object of their flirtation a String on them. Trigger their Darkest Self This Move should be used sparingly, and only when the situation is perfect. Tell (or ask) them what made them snap and then let them play their Darkest Self. Herald the abyss PCs can gaze into the abyss to find answers to their questions. Sometimes the abyss gazes back at them. Again, just as each PC should have their own way of gazing into the abyss, so should the abyss speak to them in a unique way. If the Infernal gazes into the abyss by consulting their dark power for advice, have the dark power suddenly become an omnipresent voice in their head. If the Witch gazes into the abyss by reading Tarot cards and trying to understand the symbolism, have them assaulted constantly by obviously symbolic events and entities on all sides. After every move, "What do you do?" Whenever the MC makes a Move, it's just to set up a situation for the PCs to react to. Whenever you make a Move, ask the PCs what they do. That's quite a lot of text already, so I'll delve into the rest of the section later. There is one more section I'd like to address though: Chain Reaction. This brief section discusses how Moves, whether PC Moves or the MC's Hard Moves, should always drive the story forward, cascade into each other, and lead to more interesting drama. Whether the players fail or succeed, it should always increase the momentum of the story. This shouldn't be alien to anyone who's played PbtA games before, but the idea is that a failure on a dice roll should never stop the story, but lead the story in a new, unexpected direction. Next time, Managing NPCs, NPC Strings, Advantage & Disadvantage, Blending In, and Under Each Skin. Ratpick fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 21:01
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ThisIsNoZaku posted:Spycraft feats are a lot more powerful, flavorful and character defining than they are/were throughout pretty much all of 3.X. Some are still kind of lovely though, like Weapon Focus is in and still dumb and bad. They also can be really, really  . For those familiar with the Tactical Feats from Complete Warrior, a good chunk of the combat feats look like those, where each feat gives three special moves or a static benefit and two special moves. So if you max out any of the three-feat combat chains, you get seven new special moves plus two miscellaneous bonuses. And this is a game where nearly everybody is getting some level of bonus feats. It definitely gives fighter-types a lot to do (especially if they focus in hand to hand or melee), but the amount of options can realllly overwhelm.What's worse about Weapon Focus is that most weapon types have their own feat chain (see above) that grants interesting and flavorful benefits. For example, Dirty Fighting Moves lets you jab somebody in the eyes, blinding them, throw mud in the face, or rabbit punch them to nauseate a foe. Or you could take +1 to attacks instead. 
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Sep 23, 2014 05:17
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Ratpick posted:Alternately I'd go with the Watchful Golem route of a character obsessed with another character (because that character reminds the Ghoul of the warmth of life and love and poo poo) in a really creepy fashion. Again, it's creepy and unsympathetic, but it's a relatable kind of unsympathetic, and one that lends itself to more nuanced drama than "My character is a murderous cannibal." That’s how my Ghoul has been shaping up, except he's taking it upon himself to protect his town (he's picked up a few Chosen moves too). However, the last time he became a masked vigilante, his girlfriend ended up getting scarred for life because he was too busy beating her kidnapper to death. Since then he's been wracked with guilt and ended up driving away said girlfriend by being smothering and clingy. I'm a little thankful that incident happened before their relationship progressed beyond cuddling.
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Sep 24, 2014 00:11
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 Chapter Two: Skills & Feats Or more accurately, Skill & Feats. This chapter's rather short yet brimming with feats all over the place. The only new skill is Knowledge (Martial), which can help you identify maneuvers, determine disciplines known by a martial disciple, and all-purpose lore about famous battles and mighty warriors and fighting styles and all that jazz. As is to be expected, it's a class skill for the Stalker, Warder, and Warlord, although it doesn't specify if existing classes gain access to it. I'd assume that folks who get Knowledge (all skills) gain it as well. Now we get to our feats, 35 in total. I won't cover them all, instead highlighting a few of the more interesting ones: Advanced Study grants you two new known maneuvers of disciplines known to your martial class. Extra Readied Maneuver is similar in that it, quite simply, allows you to ready one additional maneuver than normal for your class level. Extended Mark doubles the duration of the Warder's Armiger's Mark, effectively double her Intelligence modifier. A very useful feat. Naturally we have feats like Extra Gambit, Extra Ki, Extra Marks, and Extra Stalker Art which expanded uses of the new class' resources and can all be taken multiple times. Extra Stalker Art in particular's pretty good. Deadly Agility is our "substitute Dexterity modifier to damage rolls" feat. This is quite interesting as Paizo's Advanced Class Guide attempted it's own "Dex to damage feat. Let's contrast and compare: The Path of War one: quote:Deadly Agility [Combat] And the Paizo one: quote:Slashing Grace Clearly, Deadly Agility's the superior choice. Applies to more than one kind of weapon, easier prerequisites, off-hand weapons deal full Dex modifier damage. On a similar note, Double Weapon Finesse treats double weapons as light weapons for Weapon Finesse and Two-Weapon Fighting, so your Dex-focused warrior can whip around Darth Maul-style with a two-bladed sword. Deadly Pairing requires access to the Deadly Strike class feature and a Steel Serpent stance, but it allows you and a flanking ally to increase the critical threat range of each other's weapons by 1 (not multiplied by feats or spells, instead added after the multiplication).  Defense Expertise allows you to add your shield bonus to your touch armor class and its enhancement bonus to Reflex saves, a nice feature for heavily-armored warriors. Greater Unarmed Strike increases the base damage dice of your unarmed strike determined by your Base Attack Bonus. It's pretty lackluster in comparison to the Monk, ranging from 1d4 at +3 to +6 BAB to 1d10 at +15 or higher. As Improved Natural Attack no longer applies to unarmed strikes in Pathfinder, I can see how this is a workaround, but it wouldn't be so game-breaking to up the damage dice a little; greatsword-wielding fighters already deal more damage without any feat investment, for example. Guard's Glare is a cool Warder feat which makes any demoralized/frightened/panicked/etc creature under the effect of an armiger's mark unable to move in a direction away from you unless they succeed on a Will save (new save once per round). This is great for the purposes of battlefield control. In fact, it appears that the Warder gets the most love comparatively feat-wise: Powerful Mark increases the penalty by 2 for Armiger's Mark and the Save DC for the area of effect application, and Take the Blow allows a Warder to expend an armiger's mark use as an immediate action to force an enemy's attack to target them instead of an ally within the Warder's threatened area. Martial Charge allows one to initiate a strike instead of a normal attack at the end of a charge. Tactical Rush is another mobility-based feat which allows you to move up to your base speed as a swift action once per encounter. The Martial Training feat tree is numbered I through VI, and it allows members of the non-Path of War classes to learn maneuvers and stances of a single discipline. The discipline's associated skill is now a class skill, and the skill's ability score (Dexterity for Acrobatics, for example) is considered their initiation modifier for maneuvers learned from this feat. Their expertise is inferior to true practitioners such as the Warlord, and their initiation level is equal to half their character level + their initiation modifier. Serene Stride requires access to a Ki Pool and allows you to ignore the Acrobatics and movement penalties on difficult terrain and walk on water Jesus-style. Weapon Group Adaption is a good, versatile feat where you choose one weapon group barring siege weapons (bows, flails, heavy blades, etc) to be considered associated with a chosen discipline. So if your assassin character concept involves a nifty combination of polearms and the cloak-and-dagger arts of the Steel Serpent, your dream can come true! Libertad's Thoughts: Although we covered only 2/3rds of the feats, I looked at them all and I can safely say that each of them is useful on its own for a wide variety of character concepts. There are no nigh-useless, underpowered, or highly situational feats here, which is something I can't say for most 1st and 3rd Party Pathfinder products. Next time, Chapter 3: Systems & Use, the meat and bones of the game mechanics underlying Path of War's maneuver system!
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Sep 24, 2014 03:38
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 I'd like to interrupt these awesome discussions about spies and monsters to bring you a game where you sort of play as both! But really you just wish you were playing Orpheus or getting oral surgery instead. System Mastery 28 - Spookshow: The Game of Ectoplasmic Intrigue
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Sep 24, 2014 18:07
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Belatedly as I'm reminded of your previous podcast, Nexus was interesting in that it was obviously written by people who did convention LARP work. I imagine "game mothers" is a concept there for "significant others or relatives who are willing to help out, but have no interest in gaming". Mostly in Nexus's case that's going to refer to wives and girlfriends, but they don't spell it out like that. It seems solely intended for the Event LARP crowd where you charge people for a convention event or rent space, but who would drop $20 on something unproven like that, as compared to existing LARP organizations...? Honestly, the idea of having a LARP at a sci-fi con where people are dressed up as aliens with the gimmick being aliens among us seems like a neat idea, but I think it'd be better if it were more freeform; i.e. so if somebody dressed as a Klingon wants to play in your game, you can give them a role as a Klingon, handwaving time travel or whatnot. As it is it depends on the lot on people willing to invest in their dodgy setting, and I'd be surprised if that ever really happened. But it seems clear they had a lot of experience in that sort of thing - but the execution has lots of problems.
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Sep 24, 2014 21:26
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My takeaway from reading the book was that the authors had executed successful convention games in the past, but wanted to sell this book as a combination how-to/setting, and so the setting sort of suffers as a bit of a goofball thing. Most of the LARPs I've heard about or been invited to have been either vampires gothing about, or fairly serious historical things. Maybe they didn't think that their deep Court of the Sun King historical sessions would sell well? No way to be sure. Game mothers amazed me as well, because yeah, they're probably supposed to be family members or something but I will be damned if I can imagine someone being into that. I have a girlfriend that is a total non-gamer, and she entertains my podcasting, collecting, magic cards, painting, etc. with dignity and aplomb, but I think if I asked her to come to a convention and just generally sit around and be nice to weirdos crying about having their stun-disc stolen for three days she'd kill me twice before I hit the ground. There are definitely some notes in the book about how to run LARPs from an administrative perspective. Stuff like mailing notes and payments early, mailing thank yous early, making sure to plan convention space at the tail end of your most recent LARP in prep for the next one, etc. It was all pretty much just general good business sense taped on to a weekend of weird gaming. Overall I still stand by my appreciation of that weird book. It's a dumb story, but there isn't even a whiff of cash-in. The authors are deeply invested in trying to get more people in LARPing, and they deeply think they figured out how.
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Sep 24, 2014 21:39
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 Chapter 4 is the Gear Chapter, easily the longest chapter at 100+ pages in an ~500 page book. The way that Spycraft handles equipment is arguably one of the aspects most different from its progenitor. Everything else is either a modified implementation of something from D&D or an addition that lays on top of it, but this throws pretty much it’s entire way of doing items and equipment out the window and uses something radically different. Characters get items from three sources: Gear picks, common items and Wealth. Gear picks are gained from a character’s class levels and divided into Electronic Gear, Gadget, Resource, Security Gear, Tradecraft Gear, Vehicles and Weapons. Electronic picks are all sorts of electronic items like computers, microphones, radios, etc. Gadgets are super tech and cutting edge items. The game gives a build your own system for them or in a historical setting getting items more advanced than the time period allows. Resource picks are lots of support and grab bag selections, ranging from cadavers and crash course training to phone taps, artillery strikes and, my favorite, a bag filled with random guns Security picks are primarily armor, but also includes drones, invitations to exclusive events and secure lodging. Tradecraft gear is all sorts of spy stuff like surveillance equipment, legal like as extraditions and pardons, detention for captured individuals at Faction black sites and dossiers. Vehicles are all forms of transport and the vehicle rule are voluminous and exhaustive. Weapons are the best way to kill the other guy. You get Gear picks from your class, based on it's aptitudes. So soldiers get Weapon and Security (for body armor) picks, the Wheelman gets vehicles, and so on. Your Charisma modifier also grants some bonus picks, the types of which are based on your status as a Faction or Freelance character, or costs you some of your class picks if your modifier is negative. Characters can also choose to not select some Gear picks or common items before the mission and keep them as "Reserve" picks they can use during it. During the mission they can make checks to receive (for Gear) or find (for common items) a needed item in the field. Item picks are also given Calibers, representing how big a deal having them is. For example, a Beretta 9mm handgun is a Caliber I Weapon pick, while a Barrett .50 Rifle is a Caliber V. The game goes over mission Caliber in the GC section, but for now know that the Caliber of a mission determines the maximum Caliber of the gear you can get. Common items are the random crap that everyone can get, like cellphones and junk.  The Intel/AMD rivalry heats up Character wealth is abstracted by a system called... Wealth. You get a number of Wealth points based on your classes, levels and Charisma. This is divided among your Lifestyle (how awesome you house, car(s) and wardrobe are), Possessions (useful personal Gear you own) and Spending Cash (cash on hand during each mission). All new characters have a Reputation of 2 with their organization, or, if Freelance, a Net Worth of $100,000, regardless of level, representing their standing within their circles. More is earned by succeeding on missions. At the beginning of each mission, the team is given a Mission package of equipment necessary for whatever they're doing, they then get to choose Gear picks and common items. This is personalized mission gear provided by your faction/support network and they will expect it back at the end of the mission. Characters can liquidate Wealth, Reputation or Net Worth, make request checks or sacrifice reserve common items to generate extra spending money, and may burn Reputation/Net Worth to gain an extra Gear pick during a mission. People say “Gear Porn” for games that have lots of items their characters can use. But they don’t understand. You don’t understand. But you will. I will make you. You know some games might have a list of weapons like “light handgun,” “heavy handgun”, “shotgun,” etc.? Yeah, not here: Guns you can get posted:Glock 26, Glock 27, Glock 28, Glock 29, Glock 30, Glock 33, H&K P7, Kimber Ultra Carry, Makarov PB, Makarov PM, SiG-Sauer P239, Walther PP/PPK, Beretta 950 Jetfire, Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket, COP, Inc. COP, General Motors Liberator FP-45, Kel-Tec P3AT, RSA OTs-21, Sharps Model 1A, Beretta 92, Beretta 93R, Colt M1911A1, Distinject Model 35, FN Browning High-Power, FN Five-seveN, Glock 17/17L, Glock 18, Glock 20, Glock 21, Glock 22/24, Glock 31, H&K Mk. 23, H&K USP, Luger P08, Magnum Research Desert Eagle, Ruger Mark III, SiG-Sauer P210, SiG-Sauer P220, SiG-Sauer P226, SiG-Sauer P229, Walther P99/Smith & Wesson SW99. Colt Detective Special. NAA Mini-Revolver. Smith & Wesson J-Frame Bodyguard. Smith & Wesson J-Frame Chef’s Special, Smith & Wesson J-Frame LadySmith, Ruger Super Redhawk, Smith & Wesson Model 500, Smith & Wesson Model 629, Colt Police Positive, Colt Python, Colt Single Action Army, Manurhin MR-73, Taurus Model 608, Webley Mk. 6, C.G. Haenel StG.44, Colt Commando, Colt M16, Colt M16A1, Colt M16A2/M16A4, Colt M16A3, Colt M4/M4A1, Colt M4 SOPMOD, Enfield L85A1/L85A2, FN FAL/FN FAL “Para”, GIAT FAMAS F1/G2, H&K G36, H&K G36C, H&K G36K, H&K G3A3/G3A4, H&K G3SG/1, H&K HK33A2/HK33A3, H&K HK33SG1, H&K HK53A2/HK53A3, NORINCO QBZ-95/QBZ-97, RSA AK-47/AKS, RSA AK-74/AKS-74, RSA AK-101, RSA AK-74U/AKS-74U-UBN, Springfield Armory M14, Steyr AUG, AI AW, AI AW Covert, AI AW-50, AI AWM, AMP DSR-1, Dan-Inject IM, FN Ultima-Ratio Hecate II, FN Ultima-Ratio Mini-Hecate, FN Ultima-Ratio UR Commando II, Lee-Enfield SMLE DeLisle Carbine, Lee-Enfield SMLE Number 1 Mark 3, Lee-Enfield SMLE Number 2, Lee-Enfield SMLE Number 4 Mark I, Lee-Enfield SMLE Number 5, Mauser Model 1898, Mosin-Nagant M1891, Remington 700, Simonov PTRD, Springfield Armory M1903, Weatherby Mark V, Barrett M82A1, H&K MSG-90, H&K PSG-1, KAC SR25, NORINCO KBU-88, RSA Dragunov SVD, RSA SVU, Ruger 10/22, Ruger Mini-14/Mini-30, Simonov SKS, Springfield Armory M1 Garand, Springfield Armory M21, Browning Superposed, Charles Daly Field II Hunter, Savage Arms Model 24, Winchester Model 21, Browning BPS Stalker, KAC Masterkey, Remington 870/870P, Truvelo Neostead, Winchester Model 1897, Benelli Super 90 M1 Practical, Benelli Super 90 M1 Tactical, Benelli M4 Super 90, Browning Auto-5, Daewoo USAS-12, Franchi SPAS-12, Franchi SPAS-15, Reutech Striker, Saiga 12K, CZ Skorpion,H&K MP5K,H&K MP7A1,IMI Micro-Uzi, MAC M10, MAC M11, Steyr TMP, FN P90, German State Arsenal MP-40, H&K MP5A4/MP5A5, H&K MP5SD5/MP5SD6, H&K MP5/10 and MP5/40, H&K UMP, IMI Uzi, IMI Mini-Uzi, RSA Bizon-2, Sten Mk. II/Mk. II(S), Thompson M1928, Browning M1918 BAR,Enfield L86A1 LSW, FN Minimi/Minimi Para, NORINCO QJY-88, RSA RPK/RPK-74, Steyr AUG Hbar, FN MAG, German State Arsenal MG-42, RSA PK, Saco M60, Browning M2hB, General Electric M134, RSA DShK, RSA KPV Did you give up after the first few lines of that mess? Did your brow furrow and your lip curl a little in disbelief? Did it make you wonder for a moment if perhaps Gear Porn isn’t merely metaphorical? Now you Understand. And be aware, this is just the small arms in the book. It doesn’t include vehicle weapons, vehicles, vehicle upgrades, weapon upgrades, body armor, body armor upgrades, melee weapons, artillery, missile launchers, grenade launchers, and more which I won’t add because I’m tired of listing poo poo right now.  Not quite the Caliber I was talking about There’s a lot of rules associated with these items as well, the guns alone have a half dozen values like damage, range and ammo capacity without getting into special abilities they can have. Page after page of small print tables with arcane acronyms and numbers. Fun Gear: Cadavers. A swarm of a few dozen random civilians. Bag of Guns: You are issued a sack of random guns. Literally, you roll some dice for every member of the party to find out what you get. Like 15 different explosive detonators. Oh, also there's a table for resistance to damage for everything from paper and pottery to "Military-Grade Alloy." Multiple types of parachute.
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Sep 26, 2014 02:44
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The gear system is one of the places Spycraft 2.0 is HANDS DOWN better than Spycraft 1.0. Holy poo poo were Gadgets and Gear terrible in Spycraft 1, where it was basically impossible for a Soldier to have a pistol, armor, and a rifle, let alone anything else, without spending a bunch of the rest of the party's budget to do it.
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Sep 26, 2014 02:46
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It is the best gear system for any kind of espionage game. You will have the gear you need to accomplish your mission.
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Sep 26, 2014 02:50
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My only real complaints with SC is that A) Leverage is a better game for doing 75-95% of the games you'll run in SC and B) It really feels like a game that should have been run in Silhouette. I mean that and how it was really loving fiddly, but that had mostly to do with all the systems they were trying to bolt on to the core system than anything else.
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Sep 26, 2014 03:39
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I found Cortex+ annoying. I am extremely biased towards fiddly games though.
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Sep 26, 2014 06:31
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Literally every game of SpyCraft I have played in, or seen other people playing in, has always always always involved the GM A). using a variant gear system (generally one produced by Crafty Games themselves), and B). handling all the gear poo poo themselves.
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Sep 26, 2014 06:36
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El Estrago Bonito posted:My only real complaints with SC is that A) Leverage is a better game for doing 75-95% of the games you'll run in SC and B) It really feels like a game that should have been run in Silhouette. Then you aren't the person this game is aimed at. I don't know any more than anyone else the subconscious machinations of the designers, but to me, there is a very particular mindset this game was designed with and is meant to appeal to. I intend to talk about that once I've finished and shown all the pieces. Humbug Scoolbus posted:I am extremely biased towards fiddly This guy gets it.
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Sep 26, 2014 08:39
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I'm not sure that SpyCraft being a game for the sort of person who looks at a 3.X-derived system and goes "okay, but how can we make it even more fiddly?" really counts as a big reveal at this point.
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Sep 26, 2014 09:19
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I was about to say I knew a guy who'd love this sort of thing, but then I remembered that he was merely extraordinarily officious, rather than .
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Sep 26, 2014 09:30
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I love SC, but it has one game that it's good at being: GI Joe. Every time I've played in an SC game that wasn't that it was way too much work for something like a game about guys who rob banks. It is really good at being GI Joe/Metal Gear however. It'd be better if it had been written for Silhouette but that has a lot to do with that system being more in line with SC and not having the baggage that came with d20.
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Sep 26, 2014 10:24
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As SC's target audience, I'd say it's pretty good. We played it mostly as the A Team though. Every missions somehow involved us using a tank.
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Sep 26, 2014 13:37
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:I found Cortex+ annoying. I am extremely biased towards fiddly My main issue with Cortex is that it's basically die v die + a lot of odds obfuscation. As a GM I end up having no idea what d8 + d8 + d12 + d6 is in terms of a difficulty rating vs. d10 + d10 + d4 + d8. Also, odds-wise, is there ever a reason to add a die as opposed to keeping an extra die? Etc. I actually think the way it feels is good, but how it works out intellectually gives me reservations. ThisIsNoZaku posted:Then you aren't the person this game is aimed at. I don't know any more than anyone else the subconscious machinations of the designers, but to me, there is a very particular mindset this game was designed with and is meant to appeal to. I intend to talk about that once I've finished and shown all the pieces. Spending a lot of time at Crafty panels in 2013, I get the impression even the designers are burnt out on this kind of design. When they talked about Spycraft 3.0, they were describing as being solely focusing the game on espionage. They brought up the fact that Spycraft 2.0 is designed to cover a myriad number of genres - spy, action, military, thrillers, etc. - and that when they do 3.0, they want to have a far slimmer volume that they can expand with other genre books, like for military or crime or the like... but that they don't want to have to worry about covering the breadth of genres Spycraft 2.0 does ever again. Also, having been in a demo of what they were planning for Spycraft 3.0 last year, it was vastly lighter. There were no attributes, instead just relying largely on skills, feats, and class abilities, all of which were simplified from their 2.0 counterparts. It also had an "awesome die" system that's similar to the flow of dice between players and GM in Cortex, though I think it's just more parallel evolution out of what they were already doing with action dice in Spycraft 2.0 and Fantasy Craft. If Spellbound for Fantasy Craft ever comes out, I think it'll be the last gasp of this kind of design. I get the impression that Crafty Games literally can't afford to spend the time on this kind of design effort anymore. Mistborn, which is their core game at the moment, is a far lighter narrative game. In that way, Spycraft 2.0 almost feels like the end of an era, an endpoint of hyper-detailed toybox design that's essentially unrivalled in the RPG industry.
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Sep 26, 2014 14:04
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I like Cortex original though. The 'simplification' MWP did for the Cortex+ version is what annoys me.
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Sep 26, 2014 16:57
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My issue with the original Cortex system in Firefly was that Firefly is a pulp show about characters who are broadly competent at what they do. But it made you specialize your skills beyond a low level, and that makes no sense. My issue with Marvel Heroic Cortex is that it explains itself horribly. It repeatedly gets into all the ways you can split, combine, step up, keep extra, and anally masturbate with your dice before it explains "So you form your dice pool out of these traits, then you try to roll a high number and keep an effect die, and effect dice become Assets and Stress that help your allies and hurt your enemies."
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Sep 26, 2014 17:04
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Honestly, the only problem I have with SpyCraft is that if you genuinely enjoy that level of detail, with fifty million guns with ever so slightly different stats, you might actually be better off with GURPS.
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Sep 26, 2014 21:04
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GURPS Action does a pretty good job of being a more accessible Spycraft, actually. Templates that make action movie roles like SC's classes, a really good chase system, simplified gun combat from regular GURPS so fights go faster, a similar system for calling in favors and services from your spy organization, and you can open up the High-Tech book if you want a giant catalog of stuff.
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Sep 26, 2014 21:19
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theironjef posted:I'd like to interrupt these awesome discussions about spies and monsters to bring you a game where you sort of play as both! But really you just wish you were playing Orpheus or getting oral surgery instead. I don't understand - do ghosts have to leave messages to each other to communicate in this game like in the history? How does that work in a group? Or do they just ignore that backstory immediately in the course of the book? hectorgrey posted:Honestly, the only problem I have with SpyCraft is that if you genuinely enjoy that level of detail, with fifty million guns with ever so slightly different stats, you might actually be better off with GURPS. The irony of GURPS from my recollection is that gun stats hardly matter, since most of them will readily kill you dead in 1-3 shots anyway. Spycraft is a vastly more cinematic game that lavishes a lot more detail on the conflicts of action and spy movies. For all its detail, Spycraft is a game where you can fend off gunmen with your honed CQC skills or race at 150 MPH through the streets of Hong Kong, whereas trying to do so in GURPS is likely to result in a long, grueling hospital stay... at best. Lynx Winters posted:GURPS Action does a pretty good job of being a more accessible Spycraft, actually. Does it do a lot for GURPS' general lethality and general inability to defend vs. firearms? Or does one solid hit still result in pain penalties, risk of blood loss, and lengthy healing times?
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Sep 26, 2014 21:47
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hectorgrey posted:Honestly, the only problem I have with SpyCraft is that if you genuinely enjoy that level of detail, with fifty million guns with ever so slightly different stats, you might actually be better off with GURPS. Except for all the GURPS stuff of course. edit:beaten
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Sep 26, 2014 22:12
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To be fair, GURPS does actually come with optional rules for making the game more cinematic and less lethal. That said, the idea of someone taking out a gunman or two with only their bare hands/a knife without either the element of surprise, a shitload of kevlar or superpowers would probably pull me straight out of a game anyway. Even Jason Bourne only pulls it off with the element of surprise.
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Sep 27, 2014 03:38
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hectorgrey posted:To be fair, GURPS does actually come with optional rules for making the game more cinematic and less lethal. That said, the idea of someone taking out a gunman or two with only their bare hands/a knife without either the element of surprise, a shitload of kevlar or superpowers would probably pull me straight out of a game anyway. Even Jason Bourne only pulls it off with the element of surprise. On the other hand, a spy game where I can't Solid Snake kill a helicopter and take out ten armed guards in an elevator with my bare hands and a kitchen knife is a spy game I really want no part of, so it depends on what you want I guess.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:30
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Prison Warden posted:On the other hand, a spy game where I can't Solid Snake kill a helicopter and take out ten armed guards in an elevator with my bare hands and a kitchen knife is a spy game I really want no part of, so it depends on what you want I guess. For my apocalypse world spy hack I ended up just giving the Cleaner an ability that says his melee attacks do area damage. If ten armed guards get in a lift with the Cleaner and he stabs one of them, they all get stabbed.
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Sep 27, 2014 18:46
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Doodmons posted:For my apocalypse world spy hack I ended up just giving the Cleaner an ability that says his melee attacks do area damage. If ten armed guards get in a lift with the Cleaner and he stabs one of them, they all get stabbed. And I thought giving a playbook +1d when not in a battle was nasty. What you've got there is Captain America asking if anyone wants to get out of the elevator.
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Sep 27, 2014 19:00
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Prison Warden posted:On the other hand, a spy game where I can't Solid Snake kill a helicopter and take out ten armed guards in an elevator with my bare hands and a kitchen knife is a spy game I really want no part of, so it depends on what you want I guess.
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Sep 27, 2014 22:06
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Halloween Jack posted:Kojima knows exactly what he's doing. No he doesn't.
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Sep 28, 2014 01:37
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Counterpoint: James Bond movies - just as ridiculous but it's treated seriously. Some days you want to play Thief and kill everyone without them knowing you exist, other days you just want to drive around St. Petersburg in a tank.
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Sep 28, 2014 01:42
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The thing is, driving around St. Petersburg in a tank is more believable than most of the poo poo Spycraft lets you get away with at high level.
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Sep 28, 2014 01:53
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