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As a side note, I'm pretty sure that Blue Rose's injury system came before Unearthed Arcana, since it featured in Mutants and Masterminds, which was published a couple of years before it. It was called the Damage save in 1E, but pretty much worked the same way.
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Aug 15, 2015 17:53
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Lurks With Wolves posted:Yeah, demonizing the desire to transition is a really garbage thing to do. I mean, I'm still going to give them some praise for being a ten year old RPG that's actively trying to be welcoming regarding gender stuff, but this whole plot hook makes it sound like they never actually had a trans person look at it to make sure it wasn't completely out of touch. I probably would have couched it as "hey, maybe a quest to find some non-sorcerous arcana that allows people to reshape their own bodies could be a driving goal for such characters," opening the possibility of achieving that goal without just leaving it as "dare you dabble in the thing the book has repeatedly told you time and again is a BAD loving IDEA y/n?" choice. quote:As an aside, it didn't really sink in that Blue Rose's Roma equivalent are named the Roamers until this post and I am legitimately kind of mad about it now. I was wondering if anyone was going to notice that! When I first made the connection my reaction was similarly "oh come the gently caress on," it's like someone thought they were being very clever about the whole thing but it's just an extra layer of dumb atop the whole thing that's shoehorning fantasy gypsies into your setting wholesale for no real reason. "No no no, they aren't Roma, they're Roamers, totally different thing. Now line up to have your fortune read and make sure none of them pick your pockets!"
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Aug 15, 2015 18:25
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Kai Tave posted:I was wondering if anyone was going to notice that! When I first made the connection my reaction was similarly "oh come the gently caress on," it's like someone thought they were being very clever about the whole thing but it's just an extra layer of dumb atop the whole thing that's shoehorning fantasy gypsies into your setting wholesale for no real reason. "No no no, they aren't Roma, they're Roamers, totally different thing. Now line up to have your fortune read and make sure none of them pick your pockets!" quote:The Sczarni, notorious thieving wanderers, have long run con games around Sandpoint, but under the leadership of Jubrayl Vhiski, they've become much more ambitious--and dangerous. Someone needs to put an end to their brigandry before more than coins and livestock are lost. It's pretty much the ghetto clearance scene from Schindler's List, but done as a colorful fantasy game.
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Aug 15, 2015 18:49
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It's amazing how many people who will swear up and down that they haven't a particle of racial/ethnic animus in their bodies somehow don't notice that hating Roma counts.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:18
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The downright disgust I have seen towards that people is disheartening. My own aunt straight up told me that "gypsies" sustain themselves exclusively through theft, that that is part of their culture.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:24
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I keep finding myself putting together Blue Rose character concepts in the back of my head in idle moments, and I'm not sure how I feel about this.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:35
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FMguru posted:My favorite recent bit of Roma-hating was from the Pathfinder Card Game, which has this as the first challenge I'll give Blue Rose credit where it's due, at no point are you encouraged to go "put an end" to the Roamer menace. Also no art like this anywhere in the book:  So there's that. Crasical posted:I keep finding myself putting together Blue Rose character concepts in the back of my head in idle moments, and I'm not sure how I feel about this. Embrace the magic deer.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:40
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Traveller posted:I really like that, even if it's a long term thing, there is a chance to make things better for the whole post-apoc world instead of WELP WE'LL BE DUSTFARMERS FENDING OFF RADSCORPIONS FOREVER. And if things on Earth are finally back to some kind of normality, you can have some post-apocalyptic space adventures by blasting off into space and checking on the other colonies in the solar system (most of which probably have their own share of Crazed and their cultists, on who knows what they're gonna do when they find out that the solar defense system has been shut down). unseenlibrarian posted:As a side note, I'm pretty sure that Blue Rose's injury system came before Unearthed Arcana, since it featured in Mutants and Masterminds, which was published a couple of years before it. It was called the Damage save in 1E, but pretty much worked the same way. At least M&M 3e has a very wordy way of handling this damage/injury save thing ("The target has a –1 circumstance penalty to further resistance checks against damage."), with no abbreviation like "injury points" or "damage points". Because "You accumulate damage like some kind of Smash Bros character, except without the knockback" would be too easy. oriongates posted:*A Nekomancer: a wizard whose powers revolved solely around cats. This is like one of my dream characters (aside from "Halfling necromancer with three-headed skeleton dachshund"). Doresh fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 19:49
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Kai Tave posted:Embrace the magic deer. Yes, but, d20 system.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:51
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Crasical posted:Yes, but, d20 system. Even better. You can get the "Improved Deer Embrace" Feat. Doresh fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 20:01
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FMguru posted:My favorite recent bit of Roma-hating was from the Pathfinder Card Game, which has this as the first challenge
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Aug 15, 2015 20:04
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FMguru posted:My favorite recent bit of Roma-hating was from the Pathfinder Card Game, which has this as the first challenge Because every epic fantasy adventure can only be improved by taking cues from RaHoWa. Now I feel dirty.
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Aug 15, 2015 20:14
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Terrible Opinions posted:Is the card game being headed up by the same guy that used to run the Pathfinder Society scenarios? I could have sworn they fired him for pulling this poo poo in the past.
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Aug 15, 2015 20:38
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FMguru posted:The card game is an adaptation of their early Rise of the Runelords adventure path campaign. Has anybody done a write-up of Runelords? I ran it a few years back and it was really solid (if you can forgive it being Pathfinder.) In before 
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Aug 15, 2015 20:51
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I would pay good money to see an RPG with a Romani equivalent that does not come off as unbelievably racist. I used to think a lot of American writers simply didn't know they're still a real ethnic group, not just some medieval construct, but they don't have that excuse anymore.
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Aug 15, 2015 21:18
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I want to say the ones in 7th Sea got handled okay - they're nomads in Ussura who meet up every so often and while distrusted by the locals some, they're not portrayed as thieves or anything.
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Aug 15, 2015 21:19
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Kai Tave posted:Embrace the magic deer. I've been adapting it as a setting for my own use, complete with the Golden Hart, but the Roamers and not-Jedi are among the elements I've discarded. The main dynamic I've been drawing on for a central theme is that this very peaceful kingdom of light and Good with a capital G has united the known world through diplomacy and common purpose under the Gods of Light, but now advances in astronomy and shipbuilding have made large-scale exploration of the seas possible, magic has been developed to pierce the wastelands and the magical, actively hostile jungle on Aldis' land frontiers, and probably even more dangerous is the invention of the mechanical clock and printing press. An age of exploration, discovery, and change is upon Aldis, and with it comes chaos and the tests of empire.
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Aug 15, 2015 21:27
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Hackmaster, 12: Spelling with the Alphabet Rather than going right on to the GMG as I had considered, it strikes me that there is actually one list of stuff that might be interesting: the list of spells. They're unusual for both the effects available and for the effects not available, and some are obviously jokes, whereas some are remarkably useful. We'll go through mage spells first, mainly because unlike Cleric spells, they're universal; a mage can get any of these spells, although there's random factors involved in learning them. Apprentice Amplify Illumination: Makes a torch's radius 50% greater (or more, if amped up) without making it consume any more fuel. Only works on combustion-based light sources, so no stacking with magical light. Aura of Innocence: For 5 minutes or more, the target can't be associated with any crime, no matter the evidence. Direct eyewitnesses can make a Mental save, otherwise they're not suspected even then. After the duration, though, people can recall the truth and notice that their judgment was interfered with. Hope you're gone. Buoyancy: Makes a target, animate or otherwise, float on water. If it's already submerged, it rises to the top. If it's a living creature that would rather not rise to the top, it can make a physical save. Feat of Strength: Lets the target perform one action as if they had 18/00 Strength. They have one minute to do it and it only works for one thing - a single attack or something like lifting a gate or breaking down a door. Uh-oh. It's a "let's let the mage eliminate their class weakness" spell. Fire Finger: Shoots a 5 foot beam of flame which automatically hits, does 1d3p+2 damage, and can set flammable garments on fire. Illusory Mural: Creates an illusion of a flat surface with an image on it. If viewed from the side, it becomes obvious it's an illusion; if viewed from the front, the target can use their Painting skill (!) to add perspective to the image to make it convincing and affect the Mental save. Jolt: We've mentioned this one before: touch a target and if they fail a physical save, they get a static shock and drop anything they're carrying. Permanent Mark: Dip your finger in some ink and write on a surface with it, and nothing can remove the writing except detaching that part of the surface. If covered up by other paint, the image continues to be visible as magical radiance; you can amp this up to also turn the ink invisible, so that the message is secret and only seen by magical detection. Phantom Irritation: If they fail a mental save, the target is convinced something is itching at them, and takes -2 to attack rolls. Repair: The typical Mend spell. Repel: The typical Push spell which moves objects around by amounts depending on their size. The general rule is that a 100 pound object moves 1 foot and the two value continue in inverse proportion, but the book also mentions that if you want ridiculous detail, you can assume it inflicts 450 Newtons of force and go do your vector mechanics. Springing: The "jump really high" spell. 10 foot standing, 20 foot forward, 30 foot with a run-up. Journeyman Audible Clamor: The audio illusion spell. Up to 90' away, any sound you've heard, and you only need to concentrate on it if the sound is complex and continuously changing (like conversation or music). Aura of Protection: Oh look, it's Protection from Evil, but for mages. Target is surrounded with a barrier through which supernatural evil creatures cannot pass physically, and gives a penalty to their ranged attacks and spells. However, the target also can't attack such a creature or cast harmful spells on it, and doing so ends the spell. Bar Portal: Slams a door shut and holds it shut, requiring a Feat of Strength (the action type, not specifically the spell) to open. Candlelight: Makes a little magical light with a 15' radius. You can't move it freely, but you can cast it on the end of an object so it moves with the object. Enrage: Target makes a saving throw or rushes at the caster to attack him (or anyone protecting him) in melee, using ranged weapons only if unable to due to an obstacle. The components are "rude words, rude gestures, and a bit of snot or phlegm". Freeze Water: Does this that. Freezes a cubic foot of water over a period of a minute. Once frozen, physics comes back into play, so the water can melt if the ambient temperature would cause it to. Can also freeze other liquids that contain water, "especially daquiris". Perimeter Alarm: Creates a 10' invisible hemisphere which, if contacted, sets off a loud alarm waking everyone in a 300' radius. The caster can choose a password to allow someone to pass through, but otherwise the spell can't discriminate, and extremely small creatures (less than 3' in height) don't set the alarm off (so I guess you could get away with a snake). I really hate this classic Heartbreaker spell, because it completely screws over rogues - although at least the password aspect makes it better than the D&D 5e version where you can just name specific individuals, making it utterly impossible to foil the spell in any way. No, I'm not bitter, why would you ask? Remote Audio Link: Lets the caster communicate with someone if they move up to 200' away for 5 minutes, unaffected by obstacles in the way or surrounding noise. The caster can also, at the cost of concentration taking up their actions, turn themselves into an access point and connect multiple other people together in the same way. Sense Magical Aura: Detect Magic. Detects the power of magic effects, and you can spend extra spell points for a chance of working out the type of magic, although it's expensive (100 SP per 10% chance) Tireless Run: Lets the target creature run for 4 hours without suffering tiredness, then they collpase in a heap. The material component is "a tonic of water, fruit juice, and ground ginger". Virtual Mount: Mount, only instead of summoning an actual horse, it creates a magical force that looks and acts like one, but is emotionless. Yudder's Whistle of Hell's Gate: Blow a dog whistle, and it acts.. like a dog whistle, only on every kind of animal, dire animal, or dog/wolf monster variant. They make mental saves or run away. First Level Bash Door: Instantly smashes open any door that isn't Wizard Locked. Sucks to be you, Feat of Strength guy. Bird's Eye View: Toss a bird's eye into the air and you can spend up to an hour looking down on yourself and the surrounding area from 100' above. You are still actually there, only your vision moves. Your vision can still be obstructed and doesn't become any clearer, so it can be hard to see detail. Also, if the mage is afraid of heights, this triggers a trauma check. Doze: Oh look, it's Sleep from D&D. The "affects a HP total" version. But with a major nerf: if the target isn't in a resting position - in other words if it collapses to the ground - it wakes itself and suffers temporary disorientation instead. Magic Shield: Gives you a shield which acts like a regular medium shield except it can only take up to 18 points of damage, can't be destroyed, and gives no encumbrance or spell mishap chance. The only snag is, it only lasts 1 minute unless you spend SP to lengthen it, but still, this is a pretty good boon, especially for blended mages. Pepper Spray: Acts like, well, pepper spray. Creates a stream of liquid from your finger which you can shoot into an enemy's eyes to give them major attack and defense penalties for 5d4p seconds. Planar Servant: A ghostly servant appears and does what you tell it. It can't do anything sophisticated or fight and has low strength, and leaves instantly if gets hit. Scorch: The basic low level fireball. Throw a 10' radius fireball next to you which inflicts 1d3p+6 damage and sets flammable clothing on fire. Shift Blame: When there's some act that's making people angry, point at someone else, say they did it, and spend the material component (a dab of tar and a feather) and everyone who doesn't make a save blames them. Even after the spell ends, it will probably take compelling evidence to make people change their minds about who did it, because people are like that. Straight out of KoDT, but actually kind of nifty anyway. Shrink: Another D&D staple. It does pretty much the same as shrinking does in every other Heartbreaker. Throw Voice: Makes your voice seem to come from somewhere else. Realizing it's really you speaking requires a mental save with a difficulty based on how reasonable it is that your voice is coming from the other direction. Translate: It's Comprehend Languages. Next. Wall Walk: It's Spider Climb, except the caster climbs, I quote: "with feet flat on the wall and his body horizontal to the ground, ala Adam West's Batman." Next. Second Level Charm: Yes, it's charm, but the target only gets a save every 21 days, minus a number of days equal to their intelligence. It also emphasis that "although the charmed individual believes the caster to be a dear friend, he is not his bitch". Chilling Touch: Touch attack the opponent and they have to make a save or take 1d4 damage and lose a point of Strength. Conjure Warrior Avatar: The caster collapses and a warrior of the mage's race appears, under the mage's control. Its combat abilities are high but not over-the-top for the level (attack is +2), and it will disappear if it hasn't fought anything in 30 seconds. Disguise: It's Disguise Self. Frighten: It's Fear, although it's specific about what the fear is: the target believes that the caster is whatever they're most scared of and that it's chasing them. The caster has to move towards the target for 1' to start the spell, then the illusion takes over. Illusory Leather Armor: We mentioned this earlier. It's like Magic Shield, but it's leather armor, and it's weaker - it can only absorb 10 points of damage; also, you can't wear other armor at the same time, so it's a boon for blended classes. Magic Projectile: Oh, I wonder what spell this is. But being level 2 instead of level 1/cantrip, you can spend extra SP for extra missiles, on the same target or another, and ignore all damage reduction. Perspecillium: look through any sort of hollow tube and it becomes a 50x effective distance scope. Shocking Touch: Touch someone for 1d8p damage. The somatic component is to "walk in place dragging your feet along the floor". Slippery Surface: It's Grease, but with slightly nastier save requirements. Smoke Screen: It's Obscuring Mist but with a greater choice of what shape it is. Torchlight: Like Candlelight, but the light is equivalent to a torch instead of a candle. Third Level Bedazzle: create a cone of light which blinds creatures, behaving based on hit points totals in the same way Sleep does. Cheetah Speed: lets a creature move three times the speed and apply -2 to initiative, but nothing else they do becomes faster. Flaming Missiles: touch up to 5 ordinary physical missiles in the following minute and they catch fire, dealing an extra 1d3p damage and settings things on fire. If not fired the missile consumes itself in 10 seconds and small ammo can't be handled while it's burning, so ordinary arrows need to already be loaded. Ice Knife: conjure a knife to throw or use in melee which deals Cold damage. If thrown into a solid object, it explodes into a shower of ice which delivers a 5' radius AOE attack. If thrown directly at an enemy it deals extra damage to then and then explodes in the same way. You can use it as a melee weapon if you want, but then you'll be in range when it explodes unless you get rid of it. And you need to be wearing leather gloves or holding the knife chills your hands. Pyrotechnic Display: Cast on an open fire to either produce a shower of blinding sparks or a plume of smoke which blocks view and chokes opponents. Rope Charm. It's Rope Trick. Lalala. Unlock: Spend 30 silver pieces making a key and 70 spell points to make target thief redundant. Veil of Darkness: It's Darkness. White Hot Metal: It's Heat Metal. Withstand Fire: Gives resistance to fire, although it's an awkward one; a total DR of 6 that refreshes only every 10 seconds. Possibly a lot of extra bookkeeping involved. Wizard's Lock: Spend 70 spell points to make target enemy thief useless. As with Perimeter Alarm, you must use a password if you want anyone other than yourself to be able to open it. Fourth Level Bottomless Pouch: Cast on a regular pouch and it gains a capacity of 5 cubic feet and weighs only 10% of what it's supposed to. Items must still fit into the throat of the pouch and the spell has to be refreshed every 12 hours or the stored items reappear normally inside the pouch and tear it to bits. Enfeeble: Drops an opponent to Strength 3/01 if they fail a dodge save. Fracture Object: Cracks an object so that it breaks the next time it is used or otherwise relevant. It can only be an object up to 10 pounds and not magical, so it won't work on suits of armor, although it can work on potion vials (ouch!). Light Sleep: A more powerful version of Doze. Magic Projectile of Skewering: Another spell straight out of KoDT (although KoDT got away with referring to "magic missile"). It's like a regular magic missile except it blasts through enemies, with an optional turn of up to 45 degrees each time it hits someone. Lesser Memory Wipe: Everyone in a 20' cube must make a mental save or forget the last minute. Spells are not cancelled, but casters can forget that the spell is active and not take advantage of it. Motion Blur: It's Blur from D&D, except it only works if the defender is actually moving on their own. Prerecorded Audio Message: Leave an audio message attached to any object which is activated by an event of your choice at the time you cast it. The event can be programmed to almost any complexity and the message can be any noise you can make; you can include others if you want to. Reveal Secret Portal: It's the spell that detects secret doors. Skipping Betty Fireball: A 2' fireball which bounces along the ground, 20-30 feet between each bounce. It can't bounce a shorter range than that, so it won't work on targets that are on the ground nearby. The caster can choose the bounce distance between 20-30 metres and turn the fireball by 45' a second. Unfortunately, if the ball hits a wall, it bounces off and starts gimbaling, meaning the mage can no longer control it and it'll continue based on pure uncaring physics. The default duration is 10 skips. Ow. Shadowskin: Turns the target into a shadowy black shape which can easily hide in the dark. Transmogrify: It's Polymorph Self. The mage keeps their own Strength and Hit Points, but can use the new form's attack routines. Also, in one of the more sadistic changes, the GM rolls the duration of the spell randomly (3d4p+6 minutes) and the mage is stuck with it - the spell can't be ended early. Fifth Level Copycat: It's Mirror Image. Disembodied Floating Hand: Mage Hand with a twist - the mage's actual physical hand detaches! This does mean it doesn't require concentration to move the hand around, because it still acts like it's connected. Damaging the hand affects the caster's HP but does not automatically mutilate the hand: if the hand can't be reattached within 5 minutes afterwards then, well, you've lost your hand. Entrancing Lightshow: It's Hypnotic Pattern except to use it you have to spin a "small mirrored ball" and the saving throw becomes stronger if you have a musician playing at the same time. Heat Seeking Fist of Thunder: Zooms towards the nearest heat source (which must be at least as large as a torch) and does damage in a 20' area, also destroying the heat source. Levitation: Same as every other levitation spell. Massive Smoke Screen: A more powerful version of, well, you can guess. Munz's Bolt of Acid: Surprisingly, this is not just Melf's Acid Arrow. You have to cast it on an actual crossbow bolt and if it hits, the target actually has a wound impregnated with strong acid, dealing 2d4p extra damage and then d4p every 5 seconds, counted as a single worsening wound for massive damage calculations. Panic: It's another fear variant: everyone nearby saves or runs away, or takes -2 if forced to fight. Sense Invisible Beings: It's See Invisible but it only works for creatures. It doesn't actually grant sight, just a psychic sense of where things are, and it doesn't require magical invisibility - so someone hiding in the darkness is also detected. Target rogue throws target book against target wall. Summoning 1: Basically a joke. Summon a "small, innocuous animal" which you have no control over. The material component is.. a black top hat. Yup. Higher levels to come!
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Aug 15, 2015 21:36
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Kai Tave posted:I probably would have couched it as "hey, maybe a quest to find some non-sorcerous arcana that allows people to reshape their own bodies could be a driving goal for such characters," opening the possibility of achieving that goal without just leaving it as "dare you dabble in the thing the book has repeatedly told you time and again is a BAD loving IDEA y/n?" choice. Call the Travellers then?
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Aug 15, 2015 21:59
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People already conflate the Irish Travellers with the Roma (and hate both), so that wouldn't be new.
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Aug 15, 2015 22:08
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theironjef posted:
Sir, I am mightily offended that your all your ideas about a blimp-based campaign setting did not include a single reference to Chester Balloonman. 
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Aug 15, 2015 23:14
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FMguru posted:My favorite recent bit of Roma-hating was from the Pathfinder Card Game, which has this as the first challenge Yes, yes, but can I take the Stormtrooper prestige class as soon as I have the Improved Racial Hatred feat, or do I also need to have +6 BAB and Favored Enemy: Ethnics?
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Aug 15, 2015 23:16
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Crasical posted:Yes, but, d20 system. Oh no, I'm 100% with you there. Blue Rose's system is sadly unexceptional at best. Things like Conviction and differing natures are neat little additions but the vast majority of the mechanical framework is d20_system.txt as hell. Blue Rose works best when you decouple the setting from the mechanics (not very hard to do) and run it in the system of your choice, in my opinion.
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Aug 16, 2015 00:12
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Comrade Koba posted:Sir, I am mightily offended that your all your ideas about a blimp-based campaign setting did not include a single reference to Chester Balloonman. God you're right. I guess in that universe he's like the king of the bootleggers. Probably with a mushroom growing out in the shape of an eyepatch over one eye because he was once almost captured and brought low by the Fuzz.
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Aug 16, 2015 00:16
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FMguru posted:The card game is an adaptation of their early Rise of the Runelords adventure path campaign. I thought this was an adaptation of Curse of the Crimson Throne. Which had the weird good minority/bad minority thing going on, with the helpful fortune tellers and carnies opposing the evil thieves and cartels.
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Aug 16, 2015 03:43
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 Chapter 2: Building Character(s)  Okay, this is a mechanics-heavy chapter that outlines who can be found at IOU and what sorts of abilities they have. Our opening fiction has Og up there getting his dorm assignment. Character Types The baseline for a starting GURPS character is 100 character points, for the record. Undergrads range from 100-175 points, starting on the low end as freshthings and growing through their studies (and the oftentimes ridiculously hazardous IOU curriculum), taking 4-5 courses per semester. Two skills are called out as particularly important: Area Knowledge (IOU) and Survival (IOU), and having student life insurance is pretty much a must if one hopes to survive! Graduate Students range from 200-300 points, and spend most of their time either as experiment fodder for the profs in their department or babysitting undergrads. Recommended advantages are Wealth, Luck, and Combat Reflexes, while the Fast-Talk, Scrounging, Teaching, Running, Stealth, and various combat and Thief/Spy skills are all mentioned as essentials. Thesis defense may involve academic rigor, though blackmail, Fast-Talk, and armed combat are also common. Faculty go from 250-350 points, and are in a lot of cases better-paid and credentialed grad students, with tenure being pursued with the same skill set that they defended their theses with. Getting ahead involves assassination (character and otherwise), departmental politics, and the occasional (or not so occasional!) bloodfeud. This is also where The Treatment, a mysterious process which renders IOU's upper echelons much harder to kill, shows up, being available to junior faculty above at level one. Notable advantages include Academic Status, Wealth, Unfazeable, and sometimes Tenure, while the Duty (to the university), Absent-Minded, and Greed disadvantages are common. Sense of Duty (Students) is sadly not nearly as common as Intolerance (undergrads). Specifically called-out skills are Research, Acting, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Merchant, Law, and, again, the Thief/Spy skills, while the Teaching skill is optional. All faculty must be part of a department within one of the colleges. Administrators are around 300 points, and include the various deans, the Bursar, the Chief Librarian, and heads of various departments. The Treatment is mandatory at at least level one, and depending on rank may go to the third and highest level of the Treatment. Everyone has Duty (to the University) at -5 to -10. Important skills include Administration, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Accounting, Merchant, Detect Lies, Psychology, Politics, Acting, Intimidation, Leadership, Tactics, and Thief/Spy and combat skills. Actually being skilled at your job is entirely optional. Everybody here has the Academic Status advantage, and Wealth, Luck, Combat Reflexes, Danger Sense, psi powers, Magical Aptitude, Patron, and Ally groups that range from underlings to outright hit squads are all common. Frequently encountered Disadvantages include Bully, Enemy, Megalomania, Greed, Intolerance (students), and Odious Personal Habits. Gullibility, Sense of Duty (students), Honesty, and Truthfulness are almost entirely unknown. Deans of the various departments start around 500+ points, while the Deans of the major schools like COUP or WUSE will be up to around 1,000 points. Staff range from 0-100 points and are the various nonacademic employees of Illuminati University, from cooks in the dining halls to departmental secretaries. Campus Security in particular tends to be staffed by redshirts, and departmental secretaries tend to be Bimbras or Kajones, pretty but not terribly bright near-humans who are all loyal to the Arch-Dean. Job skills are important, as are Area Knowledge (IOU) and Survival (IOU)- after all, "The building I work in was moved and surrounded by some sort of death maze!" is hardly an excuse for being late.  Ilumni are generally around 200 points and are graduates of IOU, and may simply be visiting their alma mater (ilma mater?), recruiting for jobs, or just hanging around the only place weird enough for them to fit in. They're basically built as senior undergrads with a few more points. They generally have the No Insurance disadvantage (mere mundane health insurance hardly counts at IOU), but can buy it on a sliding scale for a mere 20% of their salary. Visitors range from 25-150 points and fit into one of five groups: Prospective Students who will be treated extremely well (unless they fail a credit check), Academic Visitors from other institutions (who will lack IOU life insurance), Job Seekers (who will have No Insurance and often Mundane Background and Gullibility), Salespeople (who will be at the mercy of whatever IOU students feel like doing to them unless they have a permit), and Intruders (who may be up to any number of nefarious plots). Visiting Faculty are guesting at IOU for a semester or two, teaching a class or working as researchers. They're built pretty much like IOU faculty, but never have Tenure (they might at their university, but not at IOU) or the Treatment. They get IOU life insurance, though, so that's nice. Their Area Knowledge (IOU) and Survival (IOU) will likely be low. Local Citizenry run from 0-100 points, because even IOU has townies. There's plenty of near-campus shops and restaurants, not to mention the Pyramid Mall and its 523 stores. None of them have University advantages, and tend to have skills and advantages relevant to their jobs. Occasionally they'll have weird powers or something, because they do live near IOU, and the Unfazeable advantage is fairly common because of that. Other covers the gamut of random people who might show up at IOU for reasons ranging from teleportation accidents to enjoying the radiation leak from the university's nuclear power plant. IOU's a weird enough place that just about anybody could show up. There's no Illuminati at IOU, because they cost so much to build. Honest. Next time: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Skills!
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Aug 16, 2015 04:24
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I see you down there Foglio, don't think I don't see you.
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Aug 16, 2015 04:34
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I'm still amused by the early cameo of Agatha Heterodyne there, years before her comic saw print.
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Aug 16, 2015 04:44
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So this is what was going on in the school where Infocom's The Lurking Horror took place.
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Aug 16, 2015 05:57
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Given that we've got a caveman, an alien, and a robot shown there in the first image in the book I'm not sure why that one person was confused about getting weird-rear end concepts whenever they ran it?
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Aug 16, 2015 06:04
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Bieeardo posted:I'm still amused by the early cameo of Agatha Heterodyne there, years before her comic saw print. Well, Foglio had already published the original Heterodyne Boys story before then, so I guess he was already noodling around with the characters. I also note Steve Jackson is on the upper right, and that Foglio, unsurprisingly, also managed to work a bare rear end in.
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Aug 16, 2015 06:09
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I think my favorite gag there is "Godiva: Fashion design". If the whole thing has this kind of early Mad Magazine joke density, I think one or two misfires won't be a problem under the sheer mass of gags that work.
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Aug 16, 2015 06:10
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Selachian posted:Well, Foglio had already published the original Heterodyne Boys story before then, so I guess he was already noodling around with the characters. I'm still amazed whenever I see any of his old Magic card art because his older stuff had a very distinctive style and almost all of it was porn.
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Aug 16, 2015 06:31
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Zereth posted:Given that we've got a caveman, an alien, and a robot shown there in the first image in the book I'm not sure why that one person was confused about getting weird-rear end concepts whenever they ran it? The book specifically calls out "raised by Orthodox Jewish ninja werewolves" as not even coming close to qualifying for the "Unusual Background" advantage at IOU.
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Aug 16, 2015 06:32
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Pope Guilty posted:The book specifically calls out "raised by Orthodox Jewish ninja werewolves" as not even coming close to qualifying for the "Unusual Background" advantage at IOU. My only critique of Blue Rose's use of Tarot arcana is that The World isn't about world domination, living gorgeously forever, or understanding time.
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Aug 16, 2015 06:41
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Nessus posted:My only critique of Blue Rose's use of Tarot arcana is that The World isn't about world domination, living gorgeously forever, or understanding time. 
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Aug 16, 2015 06:52
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chiasaur11 posted:I think my favorite gag there is "Godiva: Fashion design".
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Aug 16, 2015 06:52
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 All right, welcome back to this F&F of Freebooter's Fate, the German pirate skirmish game that is pretty drat cool. This time, we're going to be learning about Deep Jungle, the first major expansion to Freebooter's Fate.  Starting off with a great (and, according to the credits mysterious) cover illustration, drawn by Gabor Szikszai and the amazingly-named Zoltan Boros, the book proper begins with a general recounting of the game's progress in Germany. Coming 18 months after the first game, the idea for this book came from a desire to add more variation to the crews and polish up an idea they'd had since the beginning: Amazons. With all the discussion here regarding some of the design choices, I only feel it appropriate to mention that the introduction mentions that, ”female characters are one of our specialties.” I mean, at least they're trying . . . ? Introductory Fiction: Longfall We rejoin our hapless tourist Javier from the introductory fiction of the first book as he contemplates his choices in life. Rather than joining a pirate crew – with Blanche Pascal's hinted as being at the forefront – Javier settled into the simple life of a dockworker, inexorably drawn to the city of Longfall, which at this point is well and truly in control of the pirates. Javier hears a familiar shout, and we get our next taste of Freebooter slang – fighting is so common in the streets that the various skirmishes are simply called ”Tiffies” now. Confronted with a frenzied pirate, Javier is nearly toast, but ends up saved by an unlikely friend – the pirate Krud, who has been a fast friend after both of them got tossed out of a pub for running out of coin, fought off a mugging, and got even drunker on the contents of the now-departed thief's funds. The situation in Longfall is growing a bit more tense – the alliance of pirates that wrest the city from the Empire has disintegrated, leading to a great deal of infighting. The ringleader is the pirate Asqueroso, whose name is mentioned with some degree of trepidation – even other pirates think they're bad. Javier, having relieved his attacker of his purse, heads off to work. Meanwhile, news arrives at the Gobernador's office. Things are not good on Leonera for them, but it's even worse in the colonies on Elsura – the goblins have officially taken control of them, much to the chagrin of those officials who saw it as a easy source of embezzled wealth. Captain Garcia, already annoyed at the brazen antics of the criminal scum in Longfall, considers the whole situation tiresome, the jingoistic plans of the Gobernador short-sighted, and a recent message requiring some of the garrison a trap to finally lose them any hope of regaining Puerto Alto. Returning to Javier, he's busy cleaning his newly-purchased pub – taken from the rather impressive purse he claimed from the pirate from earlier – and he ends up stumbling on a meeting of the important pirate captains. We're familiar with two of them already – Blanche Paschal, the pirate queen, and Captain Rosso, the daring paychest thief – but the next two are new; Asqueroso, who fancies himself the brilliant architect of Longfall, and Regicide Alvarez, whose temper is legendary. Asqueroso has big plans – completely kicking the Empire out of Longfall before driving out the rest of the scum who are keeping it from being a pirate's paradise. Asqueroso explains – in the most condescending and grandiose manner possible, setting him up as a complete pillock – that he's lured the remaining Imperial garrison out of Longfall, and the remaining soldiers could easily be driven out of the fortress. When the captains agree with Asqueroso's plans, Javier sighs – it's likely he'll die if things get any worse. Two weeks later, the pirates are celebrating – the plan was successful, the Empire has been kicked out, and Longfall is theirs. The alliance, however, is already disintegrating – Asqueroso is looking to set himself as the sole leader of Longfall. The Imperial garrison has retreated to one of their forts in the jungle, much to the chagrin of the occupying pirates, and it looks like they'll hold out there for a while. Captain Garcia's expedition, having confirmed that the message was a forgery, is planning on returning immediately to Longfall, convinced that something is amiss. Figuring out the plan of the pirates, he plans to circle around, meet up with Captain Leon, take the long route through the jungles of Leonera, and bypass the coastal defenses. A few lucky guesses leads him to a nearby shipwreck, consisting of Imperial sailors retreating from a pirate ambush and a nasty storm – the source of the original letter. They've got word from the mainland – the Empire is at full-scale war with Maland, and that means that resources are going to be scarce. It's not too long before word reaches the pirates in Longfall regarding their plans, but it sounds like they've still got some time to work on their defenses. Tensions are running high among the various crews as the pirate alliance, already fragile, starts to disintegrate in the form of bar fights. Things are temporarily eased when Long John, the legendary pirate liar, swaggers into Javier's bar and begins telling a fanciful tale of the Febbos, mysterious tattooed women who have been coming out of the jungle, ambushing various patrols and suddenly showing a great deal of irritation at the presence of outsiders. Others confirm the rumors, while someone manages to disentangle Long John's unique word puzzles - ”Fe” for the feathers they wear, and ”bo” for the first thing a pirate would notice. There's rumors of things stirring in the jungle – whether it's the constant cannon fire, the sudden advances of the Imperials into the jungle, or something else, Leonera is becoming a more interesting place – not comforting news for Javier, who was hoping for an easier life than the one that's been thrust upon him. New Rules and Updates Seeing as this is a shorter section than in the first book, I'll just cover the new additions here. First off, terrain is clarified – it's now divided into terrain classes, which all have universal rules to make things easier. Given the emphasis on movement and maneuvering in this game, it's a welcome change – it's here to tighten the already-clear rules for terrain. Terrain can also have traits, similar to characters, which makes it easier to design and describe the board. There's a lot of options here – nothing too complicated, and the rules recommend ”If it looks like it fits the piece, then that's what it does” - you can even mark pieces with a little bit of ”pirate-sign” to indicate what traits and classes it has. The terrain rules are also expanded to include the effects of higher ground on combat – there's a distinct advantage to having the high position. There's also a few new general actions for models – the ability to pull models down from higher terrain, as well as shoulder-charging models off of high places. It's a great way to emphasize how important positioning is – as well as how many ways you can mess with your opponent's positioning. As usual, there are some new traits and special actions – we've now got rules for trained animals, which act like models that can receive orders, but need to be in their controller's authority radius. They're a little dumber than most models – if their controller isn't paying attention, then they risk going out of control and acting randomly. The new traits are the usual expansions – mostly condensing previous abilities down into keywords that are indexed in the book. The most interesting trait, and one that bears examination, is Honour Guard. If a model with that is leading the crew, then deckhands of the type indicated can be designated as part of the honour guard – they are strengthened somehow (usually gaining a new Trait), cost slightly more to hire, and ignore the usual restrictions for hiring deckhands; no need to alternate types when you've got an Honour Guard. It helps make themed crews a lot easier, especially considering the number of Leaders with the trait made available in this book. Next time, we'll talk about the newest crew in Freebooter's Fate – the Amazons.
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Aug 16, 2015 08:05
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HARP: High Adventure Role Playing Part 1 Part 3: Training Packages Before we purchase straight skill ranks with our Development Points, there’s a feature in the game called Training Packages. These are a themed set of skill ranks that you can purchase at a discount. For example, the Astothian Archer package gives you 2 ranks each in Crafting (Bowyer), Crafting (Fletcher), Mundane Lore: Astothian History, Stalking & Hiding and 4 ranks in Weapon Group: Bows. You total all of the skill ranks together, get their total Development Point cost, which can vary based on your character’s Profession and the corresponding Favored Category discount, then apply a 25% discount to the cost. Athan only needs 2 DP per rank for the Crafting, Lore and Weapon Group increases, then 4 DP per rank for the Stalking & Hiding, so that’s 28 DP total for all the skills in the package. Applying the 25% discount for getting the package would then reduce the cost to 21 DP total. The game does give out guidelines for how to use and create your own Training Packages: * No more than 1 Training Package to be learned per level * Any ranks in excess of the level cap will be wasted * The Training Package’s cost must be paid out in full in one go * A Package should not have more than 20 skill ranks * A Package should not have less than 2 ranks per skill * A Package should not have more than 5 ranks per skill * The skills in the package should all the related to some central theme The book includes sample packages like a Martial Arts-theme, the Archer theme that I mentioned, one with scouting/survival skills, another for tracking and sneaking, one with sailor-related skills, a Con Man package full of social skills, and one for a “Sage” type character with half spell-related skills and the other half for lore. It’s not really as fleshed out as it could be, because the examples all miss the critical skills that were mentioned in the skill selection hints. I figure a more relevant Package would be something like “Footman Training” where you have 3 ranks each in Endurance, Weapon Group: Swords, Armor and the three Resistance skills. Or even handle it off-the-cuff: if the player buys at least 2 but not more than 5 ranks in one go, and they can link them all together in a theme, just consider it a new package right then and there and award them the discount. Part 4: Talents Talents are feats. Let’s not beat around the bush. They are exceptional/supernatural/bonus abilities that are purchased for a flat amount of DP ranging from 10 to 30. You have things like Ambidexterity which eliminates the off-hand weapon penalty when dual-wielding, Dark Vision to let you see in the dark, Quiet Stride for a +25 bonus to Stalking checks, Bane to let you deal additional damage to specific creature types, and the aforementioned initiative bonus from Lightning Reflexes. More interesting talents are Dense Musculature that adds +5 to attack rolls and defense at the cost of increased weight and a Swimming penalty, Giantism for 50% more height and weight and a +5 increase to Strength bonus (not even the Strength value) or Reduced Sleep Requirement to make 4 hours sleep the equivalent of 8 hours. “Multi-classing” also rears its head in the Talents section: for 20 DP, the character can purchase the Additional Profession talent, which makes them lose their current Favored Categories and instead gain the Favored Categories of a different Profession. As well, they gain just one of the new Professional Abilities/Talents of the new Profession - a Mage that decides to become a Fighter can select either Lightning Reflexes or Shield Training, but not both. This seems to be something similar to old D&D’s “dual-classing” where from this moment on you start gaining benefits as if you were that new class, except here in HARP you don’t need to “re-earn” your old class. Perhaps one bright spot in this whole deal is that as far as I can tell, while some of these are situationally very useful, none of them are really numerically weighty enough to be critical for combat. Fate Points are a feature of the game also mentioned in this section. Every character starts with 3 Fate Points. They can purchase more Fate Points at 5 DP per point, or the GM can award them more as a reward for “good roleplaying/good gameplay”. A Fate Point can be spent to add +50 to any one roll, which is of course a 50% better chance of success, or even 2 points can be spent for a +100 and a guarantee of at least basic success. They can also be spent to add 50/100 to a character’s defense, or to reduce an incoming attack’s damage roll by 25/50 (more on combat specifics when we get there). One note about the use of Fate Points though is that they should only be used “in situations where success or failure will have an immediate and important impact on the character”, presumably to prevent it from being used in mundane tasks like crafting. Part 5: Items and Equipment Every character starts out with 1d10+10 gold pieces, and it’s a decimal conversion system, so 1 gp = 10 silver pieces, 10 sp = 10 copper pieces, and 1 platinum piece = 10 gp. There are extensive tables of everything. And I mean everything. Significantly, the item tables also denote how long it takes to craft/manufacture something, such as a Bastard Sword taking 4 days to create, while Plate Armor takes 4 months, just so you don’t fall into that old trap of a baseline rate to create something based on its cost that then doesn’t make sense once you expand it out to everything else. The item tables also cover the possibility of piecemeal armor sets, such as only a plate helm while your bracers are chain mail and your boots are of rigid leather, but how this interacts with combat we’ll get into later. With an average of 15 gp/150 sp as starting gold, we could probably buy a set of Studded Leather Armor for 25 sp, a Full Shield for 7 sp, a Long Sword for 18 sp, a Short Bow for 6 sp and some arrows, and then a pack of 20 arrows for 4 cp and still have 92 sp left for various adventuring accoutrements. And finally there are the encumbrance tables: 0 to 30 lbs is unencumbered, 31 to lbs is Light, 61 to 90 lbs is Medium, and 91 to 120 lbs is Heavy. Light encumbrance limits you to a “Fast Sprint” and gives you a -10 penalty to all checks related to Agility and Quickness, and higher encumbrances limit the pace further and increases the penalty by another -10. Your strength modifier directly affects the encumbrance brackets, so Athan with his +6 Strength would be Lightly encumbered at 37 to 66 lbs. For perspective, the armor, shield, long sword, short bow and arrows all add up to a total weight of 60 lbs. Next: Basic non-combat / adventuring tasks
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Aug 16, 2015 10:16
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Part II: The Amazon Crew So, welcome back to this F&F of Freebooter's Fate – this time, I'll be talking about the Amazons, the newest crew to be added to the game. Be prepared for some eye-rolling when regarding the miniatures – while I can confirm that some of the concept art and designs really were designed by women, it still doesn't make it any less grognardy in design. Still, they've got some neat designs here and there, so it's a mixed bag. As far as playstyle, Amazons are quite similar to the Brotherhood, in that they emphasize movement, positioning, and striking where they'll be most effective. Unlike the Brotherhood, however, they're capable of cooperation, have a ton of hit-and-run maneuvers (including access to incredibly rare ”Take a double-move and pause anywhere to shoot someone” action), and rely a lot less on specialists to do their dirty work – their Deckhands are one of their best options. Many of their models tend to have a lot of health, but not a ton of resistance to damage, so your best bet is to make use of terrain for quick, surgical strikes. They get a lot of poison, pretty much all have access to ranged weapons, and are a tactically-rewarding ”glass cannon” style of force. The short fiction that starts off the new Amazon crew is one part characterization, one part infodump regarding the background and reasoning behind why a bunch of Amazons are suddenly showing up in the game. It's a meeting of the Great Council of the Amazons, where the five senior priestesses of the five largest tribes are meeting with the High Priestess – it's a big deal, because this sort of thing only happens when something is going seriously wrong. We get a bit of history and background for the Amazons – they revere the Earth Mother, a fancy name for the flowing harmony of life in the world, and they originally settled on some ruins of long-dead society, which contained many prophecies and details of how to live in harmony with the world. Each tribe sends guardians to the temple, to attend to its maintenance, serve the High Queen and the High Priestess, and see that things keep going well for the Amazons. Unfortunately, all is not well. Something is choking off the life force of the world – the harvests have been poor, many hunters have been killed, and life is just generally going badly. Something has happened to one of the Amayalli – sites dedicated to the Earth Mother that channel her power. It's been choked off somewhere to the West, and that means that all of the tribes need to work together to see that their way of life doesn't die off. There are a few tribes mentioned here: the Ocelot tribe, which is rather more modern and forward-thinking in how they take in any women seeking refuge and train them (as well as getting quite a few honors from the Great Council), the Epatl tribe, which is mostly formed of traditionalists, and the Canahuatli tribe, coastal-dwellers who are skilled fisherwomen and raiders. They also make mention of the Oquichtli, who live near the Amazons and supply them with the occasional man on their raids, along with a great number of women who wish to leave the patriarchial society and join up where they'll be respected. With the council concluded, the Axe of Wrath is raised – it's time for the Amazons to go to war, reclaim their sacred sites, and kill anyone who has managed to anger the Earth Mother. It's a pretty basic introduction, but does a good job showing how the Amazons function – they're not some idealistic society, but tribal hunters and farmers who have their own political rivalries and work. Far from the usual ”primitives” that the genre loves, they know about technology – they just think it's useless and out of harmony with the world. There's also not nearly as much man-hating as you'd expect from the genre – the tribes are split on how to handle them. Most tribes are fine with ignoring other societies so long as they're left alone. Others take in the occasional old male, recognizing knowledge and pointing out how they're the ones with all the power over the occasional shipwrecked sailor who lands on their coasts. Finally, others are all about seeing men subjugated – still, it's a nice mix of ideas and prevents them from being too much of a one-note society. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about Leaders for the Amazons. Pehua is one of the two leaders of the Ocelot tribe chosen to lead the expedition of the Amazons into Leonera. Despite her honour at being chosen for this role, she's quite skeptical as to the reasoning behind it – she was not born to an Amazon tribe, but joined when she and her sister were found in the jungle. Despite wholehearted belief in the rightness of her cause and the strength of the prophecies, she's wondering if this whole mission is a trick – is it one of the other tribes playing a political game, weakening Ocelot so that their lands could be claimed? Is it really necessary to do this? It could have just been a string of bad harvests, and this sort of campaign is going to lead to a lot of her sisters dying. Hell, even worse, they might not even succeed – what would be worse than going back disgraced? All these thoughts are pushed to the side when the group of pirates she's tracking duck into sight – she is a hunter, completely focused on her prey, and the ambush goes off successfully.  Giant headdresses are going to be a theme here. Also, note how the skin tone isn't just ”white person” - good job, painter! As a leader, Pehua is here for incredibly mobility in jungle terrain. She's got a bow that hits like a heavy rifle, is difficult to hit (or even find) in jungle terrain, and has the aforementioned Assault Shot action available. She also has access to the Honour Guard rules – she upgrades the Matqueh deckhands, which I'll discuss later with the Deckhands. Despite her ranged focus, she's got decent staying power in melee, as well – mostly geared towards hit-and-run tactics, but still good. And, because for no reason other than making me cringe, they mention that she's taken a vow of silence until all the men of the world are subjugated, refusing to speak any words until that's been accomplished. It has no in-game effect – she can still give orders, but they're in the form of hand gestures and bird noises, and serves no real purpose for the game. It was so close . . . Yolcameh is the other leader available for the Amazons, as well as Pehua's birth sister and fellow member of the Ocelot tribe. Both of them joined the Amazons with their mother, who was fleeing an abusive husband, and of the two sisters, she's a little bit less serious in her outlook. We join her as she is the first Amazon to set foot on Leonera – in part because she's an eager, irresponsible warrior, and in part because she absolutely hates boats. She's seen as a reckless, indominable warrior – an inspiring figure for the Amazons accompanying her, and has survived more than anyone has the right to. Taking the time to shout out a speech to her warriors, she scares off the game in the jungle, likely annoying her sister, but that's the way she likes to go about things.  Basically the Amazon equivalent of Wolverine. Yolcameh is a melee monster – a little slow (for an Amazon, mind), but with excellent mobility in dense terrain, good ability to draw on cover mechanics, and some really dangerous abilities in a melee. She's also the first model with a new trait that comes up a few times – Indestructible – which gives her a 50% chance of surviving an attack that would kill her and staying in the game. Like Pehua, she can upgrade her deckhands with Honour Guard – in this case, it's the Chicomeh who get the upgrade. Tilting the focus towards heavy-hitting melee, she covers the other angle of the Amazons. Now that you've seen the leaders, let's talk about Amazon Specialists. They're closest to the Pirates in how their specialists are laid out – they tend to have a mix of abilities that fit in theme with the general playstyle, but most have access to melee and ranged combat, hitting hard and moving fast. Tocatl is a great hunter for the Amazons – she was skilled in bringing down tricky prey, and her prowess at stalking dangerous game has let her contribute to the Amazon's mission very well – she's the terror of forest patrols, striking out of nowhere with her twin daggers. Her totem animal is the spider, and she has a weird tendency to eat them when they drop onto her knives. In the fiction introducing her, she ambushes a patrol of Imperial soldiers, killing their sergeant and escaping before anyone can see her, leaving them terrified. Well, almost everyone – remember the creepy spider-masked Brotherhood specialist, Fith'Arach? Well, he notices and becomes just a little bit more creepy by developing a crush on the creepy spider-Amazon.  Rocking a cooler mask than a lot of the Brotherhood. She's got excellent mobility, access to poison, and is hard to detect in jungle environments. Thanks to using two weapons, it's hard for criticals to take out her attacking strength, and while she lacks ranged combat skills and isn't the hardest-hitting Amazon, her mobility and terrain abilities make her a drat good choice for melee backup in a fast moving crew. Occepa is another Amazon adopted into one of the tribes. When she was young, most of the tribe members thought she wasn't cut out for the life, as she never seemed to get the hang of the necessary skills for surviving in the jungle. While she was playing by the river with a doll she retained from her time with the clothskins (the Amazon term for outsiders), she gets attacked by a large crocodile, which steals her doll. Furious at this, she grabs a nearby branch and whacks it, giving the warrior watching over the area time to kill the thing. After getting a tooth from it, she found her totem, and has killed quite a few of the things, fashioning armor from their bones and hide.  I think that the concept is pretty badass, even if it's a nightmare to paint. She's a melee beatstick – slower than most Amazons, she's got a ton of vitality and toughness, compounded by a shield and a heavy club. While she's not exactly stealthy, she's drat good at hitting things and making sure that they stay down. Totol is a hunter – skilled, but slightly overconfident in her abilities. Her story introduces another aspect of Amazon culture in the form of a blood-feud between her and another hunter, Cihuachi. The ritual combat portion is fairly interesting – best of three strikes, wearing conch-shells on the hands to both make visible cuts and reduce the chance of a deadly strike, in the center of a ring of hot coals. We learn a bit about the Amazon concept of honour – they recognize that people are going to fight, so better that it's done in a ritualized, public fashion so that everyone can see the result, rather than endangering others while in a fight. Despite taking the first hit, Totol is confident she can win, and the story ends as she rushes in again.  She's the classic hunter – almost identical in abilities to Pehua, which makes sense given her role as a hunter. She lacks access to Assault Shot, but she's got a heavy bow and slightly better melee capabilities, as well as the ability to spend an action to poison any of her weapons. Macati is a warrior from the Campamocha tribe, and her story starts with her undergoing the traditional ritual for determining the greatest warrior in the tribe – hunting down a deadly giant mantis. She's nervous, but she's looking forward to stalking and killing the ultimate predator – there are some little references to the film Predator, which again shows that this isn't a completely serious game. After stalking the thing for hours, she is nearly killed when it suddenly springs out of hiding. After shattering her obsidian spear in its claws, she decides on an all-or-nothing charge, leaping foward and killing it with her back-up knife. Successful, she hauls the corpse home, having successfully become her tribe's mantis warrior.  While totally impractical in the real world, you have to admit you'd wear a giant mantis exoskeleton if you could. As far as abilities, she's got a combination weapon/armor in the form of hardened mantis chitin plates and a pair of giant mantis arms, controlled via pulleys and rope. She's fairly tough, but the arms are the main part – she's got two, so she's not crippled if she takes a critical to one, and enemies are prone to fleeing when they're in melee with her. She's got no ranged combat capability, but she's also got mantis claws, so I think that makes up for it. Tecuani is a bit of an odd duck amongst the Amazons. When she stumbled on a few onca cubs orphaned by a posse of apes, she felt sorry for them and decided to take them in and feed them. This provides a glimpse into her background – before she joined the Amazons, she'd been chased out of her village for her skill at dealing with animals. Well, the actual event that led to her being chased out was attempting to introduce the fainting goat into her village's herds – they'd declared it unnatural in the form of an angry mob, and so she joined the Amazons. Taking the cubs back to her village, she was given permission to try and train them, and she's been quite successful, even if her earlier experiments led to the nicknames, ”scarleg”, ”scar face”, and ”scar everything” - cats are jerks, you see. She's developed her techniques, and together with the great-grandchildren of the original cubs, she's planning on showing how dangerous the jungles can be.  Notably absent – the scars. Still, decent mini. She's got access to the new trait Animal Handler, and can hire several oncas for the Amazon crew. As animals, they're incredibly fast, pass through terrain easily, and can do some serious damage if they get into melee. If you're not hiring Oncas, she's not worth hiring, but then again, she gives access to cheap murder-cats, so she can lead to a huge model advantage, especiall considering how cheap they are to hire together. The Deckhands of the Amazons are pretty basic. Chicomeh are the warriors of the tribes – in their introductory fiction, they've found a high-born lady who spends a lot of time insulting them after they start laughing at the pointless crap she's lugging through the jungle. They can have their morale upgraded if taken as Yocamleh's honour guard. They've got two knives, fast movement, and good ability to move through terrain. Matqueh are the hunters – in their intro fiction, they show that they're well-aware of how dumb pirates are, especially men around the lightly-clad Amazons, and use that to take out a much larger force. They get blowguns, the ability to use poison, and, if taken as Pehua's honour guard, access to Assault Shot. drat dangerous deckhands, to say the least.  Equipment should tip you off, but just in case – Chicomeh on the left, Matqueh on the right. As far as hiring rules, the Amazons are pretty much identical to standard crews – 1 leader, at least 1 deckhand, and 1 specialist per deckhand. They can choose to hire up to one mercenary, but cannot ever hire male mercenaries – they have their pride, after all. They also get the ability to replace a piece of terrain with a similarly-sized piece of Jungle terrain – they'd never be dumb enough to fight without the advantage there. Next time, I'll be covering the new units available to the Pirates and the Imperial Armada, including the greatest piece of concept art I've ever seen.
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Aug 17, 2015 02:30
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