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Bieeardo posted:They named the polar bear splat... polar bear. Bra-loving-vo.
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Jan 1, 2016 20:50
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senrath posted:I'm also not sure how you got what you did about troop rules from his summary, though. Instead of, say, 20 soldiers all with their own initiative and attacks, they're lumped into one Troop that has only a couple of (AoE) attacks it can use. If you have more than one Troop they each get their own initiative, not each soldier. I misread that then, my bad. Crossing over into the real world (or a close analogue) still feels weird though, but I guess Pathfinder has a precedent for that
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Jan 1, 2016 20:54
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Nuns with Guns posted:I misread that then, my bad. Crossing over into the real world (or a close analogue) still feels weird though, but I guess Pathfinder has a precedent for that It's sad they never make it the other way around and have Golarion be swarmed with Russian tanks and fighter planes.
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Jan 1, 2016 21:36
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Doresh posted:It's sad they never make it the other way around and have Golarion be swarmed with Russian tanks and fighter planes. That sounds loving amazing for a high level campaign.
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Jan 1, 2016 21:50
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wdarkk posted:That sounds loving amazing for a high level campaign. Surprised they didn't try to adapt Gygax's Sturmgeshutz and Sorcery.
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Jan 1, 2016 21:55
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Nuns with Guns posted:Is this guy really bad at selling the adventure? Because a near-constant march from fight to fight, sideways swarm mechanics that somehow reduce the number of rolls even though all the individual soldiers act on their own initiative, and a final fight vs an 18th-level full caster that you have to kill three times doesn't sound very fun Well, there's the opening adventure that delights in throwing invisible attackers or ambushes at the adventurers, including an ambush that requires a DC 30 Perception check to notice, with the presumption that the PCs are level 1. There's also the climactic battle around the turn to level 2 where a invisible foe just repeatedly summons and lures monsters at the characters while invisible, not that he needs to, he has Stealth +20 while the PCs suffer a Perception penalty... ... welcome to Pathfinder, you gonna die.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:06
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Hc Svnt Dracones: Extended Core Hc Svnt Dracones! The capitalist furry knockoff of Eclipse Phase, the one with blood ghosts and furry slendermans. It got an expansion(the first, unless you count a couple of pre-written adventures. Please don't make me do those, too. Please.) known as the "extended core," promising 200 pages(more like 184) of expanded fluff and rules! 32~ pages of fluff, and the remainder mostly dedicated to the chance to play as fish, bears, horses and mongeese(or mongooses, I have no idea what the proper plural is). It also has Blips, Cogs, Cogsunes and "Exonymphs." I have no idea what any of those are, but doesn't it just sound exciting? We also get a few chapter-start fluff pieces this time around. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be cringing my spine into permanent deformation when I read these.  Why is her nametag just "Elisa" mirrored? That's the laziest way to do "alien" script ever. Either that or she put her clothes on back to front. Victory Victory is the name of the first chunk of fluff we get in the Extended Core. It's a short and extremely pointless piece about an employee on a Jovian-orbit freeport space station doing some people-watching. Mostly it's an extremely long-winded way of going "gee, people are still social in space!" Victory posted:Spacecraft were some of the only truly independent environments in the Sol system, as their ability to move people great distances unseen while transporting all manner of hazardous material made them too large a liability for corps to want to maintain control over. It also keeps up the HSD "tradition" of completely failing to understand everything. In a society with no formal governments, only corporations, why would those corporations NOT want to control small, swift transporters of hazardous and illegal goods? In fact, isn't that likely one of the things they'd most want to control, so no one's sneaking around expensive, potentially stolen, potentially dangerous as gently caress things? I mean, they might not be able to, but not want to? Families Here are all the animals they left out of the core. In total, they seem to be: Bears, Sharks, Dolphins, Rats, Mice, Squirrels, Rabbits, Bats, Horses, Cows, Deer, Goats, Gazelles, Seals, Raccoons, Mongeese and Hyenas. And probably a few variants of those here and there. As usual, we get some weird drat design decisions all over the place, usually tied in no apparent way to what the actual animals are like or what human stereotypes of them are. Bears, for instance, get a bonus to being pretty(Body: Presence) and the sense of smell. Why physical beauty? Bears are mostly known for being tough and strong, not for being particularly gorgeous. Rodents inexplicably have advantages when attacking others in combat(you'd think they'd be small and have an advantage on the defense instead.). It also remains weird that there's only one guy named as the "Creator" of both books, because sometimes it really feels like there's two authors on everything. For instance, the first book really went on about how good the furries were at having a better society than humanity, but even in that book the actual writing hardly supported that idea at any point, and in the write-up for the bears, the entire write-up is actually about how they're discriminated against and considered less prestigious and second-class just because the circumstances of their creation are less clear, literally a sort of caste-based-on-birth sort of thing. Maybe the author just thought it was a cute quirk and not a sign of being a backwards-as-gently caress society. Hc Svnt Dracones posted:All aquatic Vectors share a deviation from the traditional outlooks on certain morphisms, as they work pretty differently when “legs” aren’t part of your natural animal anatomy. Not to mention, do they even remember the loving fluff they wrote just a book back? I'm quite certain that the description of the whole Vector project was that it was basically human fetuses with animal parts grafted on, that the only ones that were outright based on animals were the half-retarded, servant predecessors of the true Vectors. Let me just dig up the drat quote... Hc Svnt Dracones posted:MarsCo chose to approach the problem of intelligence from a different direction: they would turn the human into the animal, instead of the animal into the human. By manipulating cloned human “blanks,” or genetic fetuses built from scratch, and endowing them with the same appearance and features of the previously abolished species of bipedal pets, MarsCo reset the evolutionary clock and emerged with something new. See? If anything the challenge should've been to remove legs, not keep them there. Hc Svnt Dracones posted:Tauric Delphinidae and Selachii members transition to their lateral lower bodies just below the thighs, leaving a gap between the crotch and the lower body that’s absent on tauric snakes. Do I even need to make the joke about it being a poorly-disguised fetish game when the author is giving you pointless detail about their crotches? I also can't get over how stupid the whole "taur" thing is. I mean, this game pretends that there's some vague scientific justification for most of its bullshit, but what the gently caress would the inside of a "taur" even look like? I mean, even a classic mythological creature like a "centaur" only really functions because you don't think about it too hard. If you've got two torsos, do you also double up on all of the torso's contents, like the organs? Or do you just double the size of everything and shunt things "downwards" to make room, so the lower half is basically just one long intestine and maybe the kidneys? I could forgive a lot more of this trash if the game just said: "This is a furry RPG for furries, with some fetish elements in, which is why we're including everyone's favourite fetish: taurs." But, my ranting aside, mostly the stuff about the "aquatics" is pointing out how their "laterals"(in case you don't remember, those poor sods stuck with a human brain and an entirely animal body) are even more hosed and useless than the land animal "laterals" because fins are even less suited for doing stuff meant for hands than paws are. They also sadly nix the option of playing a lateral shark in a suit of powered armor(a "bodyframe"). Hc Svnt Dracones posted:By the time the family Delphinidae left the tanks, millions of humans had died back home, and their new caretakers were forced to look in the eyes of a template they knew to be from a creature of near-human intelligence, and explain what was happening. Somewhere in that conversation so many centuries ago had to have been the revelation that it was unlikely Earth’s dolphin population was going to have much say in whether or not they survived the war. I hate to repeat myself, but goddamn this is stupid. They're NOT HUMANOID DOLPHINS, EVEN BY THE GAME'S OWN FLUFF. THEY'RE CLOSER TO HUMANS IN REALLY ADVANCED FURSUITS. Also for some reason making dolphin vectors made the scientists feel icky because they were messing with the combined genetics of two sapient creatures, rather than one sapient and one not, while they didn't even feel slightly weird about anything else they did. Hc Svnt Dracones posted:Lateral dolphins have luxurious lives compared to most of the landlocked Vector species. They’re among a very small population that can do the jobs given to them, which puts them in high demand. These jobs never appear to be specified, so I have to wonder: What jobs can a dolphin do that a humanoid in a suit or a mini-submarine couldn't? Or even a remote-operated drone? I mean, they're LATERAL dolphins, so at best they can boop stuff with their nose or grab it in their teeth, barring specialized tools, and those specialized tools, if made, would really only let them replicate what you could otherwise do with a hand, claw or tentacle.  I wonder if they've got blowholes on top of their heads, now THAT would require some interesting biological rejiggery. I also thought I'd have to rant at the book for being scientifically inaccurate for lumping orcas in the "Delphinidae" group, but it turns out they actually are. So there's your educational fact for the day. Hc Svnt Dracones posted:The famous blowhole of this family serves little purpose on a biped and was removed in the original Vector design, but some Vectors have had them surgically added above their dorsal fin between their shoulders as a sort of physical statement of dedication to living below the waves. That's right, extreme body modding in this case consists of plugging a hole in yourself, through your spine, leading to your lungs. It might be off-centered, but even then it sounds like a really terrible location for an extra orifice, not that there are any particularly good locations.  Sharks inexplicably get cat/reptile eyes, not sure why, since their eyes are supposedly pretty human-like and have round pupils in every case I've seen. Hc Svnt Dracones posted:so much of Vector genealogy is built from scratch that it’s difficult to point to any one person walking around and say “you, you have a proud heritage of millions of years of evolution” because, by all rights, they don’t. If nature had at any point given the whole “two legged dog” thing a genuine go, it died out long before humans came along. The Vectors themselves aren’t even that; they’re clean designs that incorporate familiar traits and appearances from established genomes, but are at their core a fully artificial creature that began its evolutionary process from ground zero, 700 years ago. But... but... just a loving PAGE ago you made a point of someone doing EXACTLY THIS to a loving dolphin Vector! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Hc Svnt Dracones posted:Sharks eat to feed and more or less leave things alone otherwise. But if, for instance, a group of them was possessed of human intelligence, they would not be subject to those limitations. Include a little good old fashioned technology, and they would be faster, stronger, larger and better equipped for control of more than 70% of any given terraformed planet than any other family That seems to bizarrely assume that "more than 70%" of any given planet terraformed would be oceanic. I mean, yes, I know that Earth is wet, but there's no saying that every other planet has to be just as soggy.  Inexplicable pokeballs in ears. So there's a bit on rats and mice. The rats are dull, the mice were created by the rats for the purpose of slave labour, and the remainder of Vector society didn't do anything because if they liberated them, suddenly they'd have to take care of them for a while. Where's all the profit-motivated corporate charity and benevolence? All of the "logical" behavior that somehow ties profit to doing good and noble things for everyone? Hc Svnt Dracones posted:There is a long standing jab toward family Felidae about having started three separate race wars in their history Man, that's a lot of genocide. I love how the books can't decide if society is centered around species or corporate loyalty, because it feels like it changes from page to page sometimes. Anyway the cats inexplicably tried to kill/subjugate all the rabbits, and lost. Also despite it earlier(literally a page ago) saying that no one tried to save the mice from slavery until the mice rose up and saved themselves, now it's saying that the cats tried to, but failed.    Suddenly this anime atrocity with eyes so big I thought they were loving glasses at first glance. That thing is supposed to be a seal, by the way The write-up on raccoons also has a part where the surviving human scientists, before perishing as total idiots near the end of the fluff in the first book, create raccoons with some genes that they can spread to the other Vectors to eventually "cure" them of Lateralism. Keep in mind, it's basically constantly pointed out how Lateralism is debilitating and kind of miserable for most Vectors. They've got a human brain, but no real ability to interact with the world as a human, they usually can't even wear pants. Also keep in mind that the Vectors have Eclipse Phase levels of genetic modification and re-engineering they engage in pretty much at random, including resleeving. And yet they're outraged and basically burning effigies in the streets just because someone invented a cure for probably their worst genetic issue. Why are the creatures created by genetic engineering, who engage in it on a regular basis, suddenly absolute conservatives about a bit of biology?  What the hell is this monstrosity? Some sort of deer-cat-anime hybrid? There's also a whole bunch of new mutations/morphisms in case you want to look more like your fursona. Want to be a bat with tusks? A shark with horns? A glowing raver raccoon? Go right ahead. You can do that now. I also didn't quote a single thing related to horses and their ilk, but that's because there was literally nothing interesting there. Just more dully bad writing. Next up, though, are Blips, Cogs, Cogsunes and Exo-Nymphs. I'm willing to put money on at least one of those being retarded, and without having read ahead, I suspect that Exo-Nymphs will be the dumbest. Maybe Cogsunes, because that sounds suspiciously like a portmanteau of cog and kitsune.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:08
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The storm has a name... - Let's Read TORG Part 12e: High-level Operational Procedures This chapter is the detailed information on Nippon Tech's axioms and World Laws. This is stuff I always put in the first post for each realm, but I always like to revisit. Plus, you know, it's been a while. Marketplace's Technological Axiom is 24, which is just above Core Earth's. Marketplace's extreme corporate culture has pushed technology at a rapid rate, and 3327 is bringing some of these technologies down the bridge to his realm. The trick is that he has to be careful what technology he lets out to the world at large; things that are above Core Earth's tech axiom would cause contradictions, but not spreading the tech around would result in a poor market. This isn't so much a problem in the realm since everything just seems like a natural extension of current technologies, but as the new stuff gets revealed, it's not hard for other companies to reverse-engineer things and make their own versions. This might lead to an increase of Core Earth's tech axiom if the technologies become too widespread. The book actually breaks down various fields of technology to show where they stand, which is nice because it's the only axiom you can really do that with. That said, remember that is all going to be "high tech" compared to 1990. Marketplace's Medical technologies are incredibly advanced compared to Core Earth, even today. Artificial organs have been pretty much perfected, and are affordable by the types of people who should be able to afford them (i.e., the upper classes). Artificial limbs are almost there, being about 85% functional compared to a normal human limb. As profitable as this field is, it's just a stepping stone on one of 3327's main targets: cybernetic technology. 3327 has a big problem with the fact that Malraux basically stumbled into the highest tech either one of them have ever seen. Cybernetics in Marketplace/Nippon Tech are still in their infancy, and are prohibitively expensive. In an attempt to co-opt Malraux's dumb luck, the Kanawa Corporation has begun purchasing factories and labs in France to take advantage of the higher Tech axiom, and the CyberPapacy corporate world is teeming with Kanawa operatives. It's also worth pointing out that cloning technology exists in Marketplace, but is not in widespread use. Almost nobody knows about 3327's five clone copies wandering around, but nonetheless corporate heads push for better cloning technology because it might prove to be a good solution to Japan's labor force problem. The tech field that's growing the fastest is, surprise surprise, the Military sector. Combat drones and self-controlling robots are starting to appear in modern combat forces. Laser weapons exist, but they're not compact or cheap enough to see real use outside of being mounted on robots defending vital locations. Plasma weapons are still in the prototype stage. It should be pointed out that the Kanawa Corporation sells weapons world-wide for use in the various realities. In order to prevent contradictions, weapons intended for a specific realm are made using materials and manufacturing practices appropriate to that realm. So a crossbow made by Kanawa for use in Asyle can be used without causing a contradiction. Transportation technology has been a boon to the automotive industry. Kanawa-manufactured cars are faster (top speed 280 kph/174 mph), have more features such as GPS and improved safety features, and are more affordable. Air travel in Japan has been improved by the development of "jump jets", which don't need as much space to take off and land, on top of being a lot quieter. This has caused modern airports to be capable of handling more traffic. Interestingly, the only transportation field that hasn't seen much improvement is in actual goods transport. It's just not profitable to try and improve what boils down to large portable boxes above what's available now. It's interesting to note that in terms of predictions, they actually got Communications about right. The "Sony Talkman" is a personal phone the size of an index card. It's not a smartphone, but you can't deny we're pretty close to getting phones to that size. But where they did okay with phones, the game's predictions for Computers are hilariously wrong. quote:Approximately 94 percent of Japanese homes are equipped with a personal computer. The typical home computer system features 32 megabytes of user memory as well as hard copy, communications, and storage peripherals. Almost all home systems have access to one or more computer information networks. Computers are used for shopping, banking and a host of other activities, as citizens try to spend as little time as possible out in the polluted atmosphere. That said, the summary of Daily Life in Japan is actually a bit predictive, if only by accident. The new industrial revolution has been a huge boom to the entertainment industry, with people able to access "thousands of recorded films and video programs via home computer". The video game industry has also advanced, with a lot of manufacturers making laser-disc based games based on the current world situation (like "Lizard-Hunt", a wargame based on the battles between the Living Land and America). quote:And the more traditional video games have maintained their own popularity, also, with complex home units and portable systems available from a wide variety of manufacturers. Zelda V, a video game for Nintendo's 32-bit home system, has sold more than 9 million copies in Japan alone.  There are also apparently flying cars, but they're not mentioned for some reason. The Social Axiom of Nippon Tech is 22, which is also just above Core Earth's. But despite the higher Social axiom, life in modern Japan is worse than it's been in a long, long time. Between the new corporate culture, increased Yakuza activity, and MarSec replacing the cops, the country is in the midst of a serious social crisis. In the months since the invasion, the unemployment, crime, infant mortality, and homelessness rates have more than tripled. The current workforce can't keep up with the accellerated corporate culture, and most workers' skills are becoming outdated practically overnight. And because 3327 has a very subtle control over the government, things aren't going to get any better anytime soon because spending money on social services isn't profitable. The upshot of all this is that the major cities like Tokyo and Osaka have become urban nightmares. Suicide rates, drug use, and crime have all skyrocketed with no relief in sight. The gap between the haves and have-nots widens daily, and the only people who could fix it are in 3327's pocket.   [sub]from Prez #3, a series y'all need to read. Also completely not relevant to Nippon Tech. Marketplace has the second-lowest Magic axiom at 2, just above the Living Land's 0. It also has a very low Spiritual axiom of 8. The world is focused on material gain, and as a result the spirit has suffered in oh so many ways. Magic is pretty much impossible, and miracles aren't much better off. A strange side-effect of the low Magic and Spirit axioms is the strange sense of...wrongness that permeates the realm. Core Earthers are attuned to slightly higher axioms, and don't notice the effect until it's gone. Deprived of the "ambient" magic and spiritual energy, everything feels off. Empty. There's always a feeling of being watched, of disconnection from everyone even in a crowd. People don't make eye contact, and often seem to just melt away into the shadows. You never feel in contol of anything. It's like the feeling of being in an abandoned house, the feel of nobody living there, just writ large. Another strange effect is that the contry is permeated with a thin, cloying fog. It's harmless (although attributed to the pollution now spreading across Japan), but just amplifies the disquieting feeling of the realm. There are three World Laws that drive and reinforce how Marketplace and Nippon Tech operate. As always, everyone in the realm is subject to these laws unless they form reality bubbles around themselves. The first is the Law of Intrigue, which states that deception, lies, and traitorous behavior is easier. The mechanical effects of this are:
Next up is the Law of Profit, which is a more passive law. It states that all goods and/or services bought by "those of means" will cost less and be of higher quality than the goods purchased by anyone else. Once again, I can't sum this up any better than Sir Terry Pratchett: quote:The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Lastly, there's the Law of Vengeance. This law states that revenge is a dish best served cold and fatally. If you take revenge on someone who has wronged you in a serious way, after waiting 48 hours to plan, you gain six possibilites at the end of the act. Ultimately, this all should lead to a world that's a mix of John Woo movies, Sleeping Dogs, Judge Dredd, and Demolition Man. Instead, we got what we got. Talk about wasted potential... NEXT TIME: The moment you've all been waiting for: everybody was kung-fu fighting!
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Jan 1, 2016 22:17
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I had no idea that furry libertarian sci-fi tabletop games were popular enough to warrant an expansion.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:19
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Well, there's the opening adventure that delights in throwing invisible attackers or ambushes at the adventurers, including an ambush that requires a DC 30 Perception check to notice, with the presumption that the PCs are level 1. There's also the climactic battle around the turn to level 2 where a invisible foe just repeatedly summons and lures monsters at the characters while invisible, not that he needs to, he has Stealth +20 while the PCs suffer a Perception penalty... Now, I get inexperienced 3e DMs looking at how you can have spellcasters do annoying bullshit like invisibility stacked with blur with a coating of mirror image on top and think that's a good way to structure an encounter with an enemy spellcaster, but when the actual modules (that many people agree are good) encourage unfair poo poo like that I don't know how anyone expects the game to be enjoyable. The only upside I see to something like that is making a new level 1/2 character in 3.P and integrating them into the party might only take 15 or 20 minutes vs rolling a new character up once the characters get into the double digits PurpleXVI posted:
Looks like the entire image was flipped for some reason because the number 5 on the table is backwards too or they live in a furry mirror universe
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Jan 1, 2016 22:37
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Nuns with Guns posted:Looks like the entire image was flipped for some reason because the number 5 on the table is backwards too Ha ha, wow, I didn't even loving notice that. Good eye.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:39
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PurpleXVI posted:Hc Svnt Dracones: Extended Core Beaten it to it, but yeah, they reversed the art at some point, which is a good way to annoy a lot of artists, since it often makes flaws in the art more obvious. Also, is the name of the book really "Extended Core"? Yeesh.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:45
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Alien Rope Burn posted:which is a good way to annoy a lot of artists, since it often makes flaws in the art more obvious. How does it do that, exactly?
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Jan 1, 2016 22:56
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Covok posted:How does it do that, exactly? Because the art was drawn with everything facing a certain direction, so all the little touch-ups were done with that in mind. The art looks fine, then you flip it and wow that arm looks kind of freakishly long now that you're looking at it fresh, and that shading isn't as good as it looked before, and wow this whole thing looked better before you flipped it. It's something you should do because it helps you find the stuff you do good enough that you really need to do better, but it's not something you should do willy-nilly in an actual printed product.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:13
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PurpleXVI posted:
One might also wonder why dolphin lady has no ears, but this shark dude has long, pointy ones. It' almost like this drawing originally started out as a different species. PurpleXVI posted:I also didn't quote a single thing related to horses and their ilk, but that's because there was literally nothing interesting there. Just more dully bad writing. Next up, though, are Blips, Cogs, Cogsunes and Exo-Nymphs. I'm willing to put money on at least one of those being retarded, and without having read ahead, I suspect that Exo-Nymphs will be the dumbest. Maybe Cogsunes, because that sounds suspiciously like a portmanteau of cog and kitsune. With a bit of luck, cogsunes will be transformers. And man, now it's all coming back to me about the fluff not being consistent at all. They really can't decide between "Capitalistic furries too enlightened to repeat man's mistakes" and "WoD splats, but with furries", can they?
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Jan 1, 2016 23:14
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Covok posted:How does it do that, exactly? Basically because it's flipped, the usual artist shortcuts and optical tricks used to provide a feeling of depth and weight stop being as effective.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:18
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I still love how they have to have a billion little different anatomical variations just hit hit that ultra specific kink each individual designer/player has.  Covok posted:How does it do that, exactly?
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Jan 1, 2016 23:19
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Covok posted:How does it do that, exactly? On top of what everyone else said, flipping a drawing makes all the asymmetrical parts look off. A lot of art is drawn with the intent to flow in a certain direction, so when it's flipped that looks jarring.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:21
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Doresh posted:One might also wonder why dolphin lady has no ears, but this shark dude has long, pointy ones. It' almost like this drawing originally started out as a different species. Oh no! They actually "explain" that in the fluff. Apparently it was an experiment to see whether ears helped sharks hear better... but it didn't, so they didn't bother giving them to any of the other fish. (the real explanation is probably that it looks cooler to the artists) Doresh posted:And man, now it's all coming back to me about the fluff not being consistent at all. They really can't decide between "Capitalistic furries too enlightened to repeat man's mistakes" and "WoD splats, but with furries", can they? The thing is, at least in all of the oWoD games I remember reading, there were usually really distinct mechanical differences from splat to splat, usually noteworthy drawbacks and advantages, unique abilities, etc. Here, despite the comparatively large write-up each "family" of furry gets, the mechanical consequences are pretty minor. +1 sounds like a lot when you're on a 1 to 5 scale, but you're still capped at a max of 3 at chargen, despite it, so the "wrong" +1 won't really keep you from being really good at something, and the "right" +1 won't let you be any better at something than if you didn't have it. The closest you get to unique abilities is that each order of animal has a choice between two equally irrelevant advantages, usually something on the line of being able to get a meaningless reroll in one extremely specific sort of situation, and that each order has a different set of "reclaiming" surgeries it can get(basically, gaining some abilities that its feral source had, like how lizards can gain better regeneration, etc.) but that's also largely pretty minor. If it was actually WoD with furries, it'd probably be more interesting. Hell, even loving Cthulhutech with furries would probably be a step up.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:31
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Evil Mastermind posted:There are also apparently flying cars, but they're not mentioned for some reason. I don't think that car's meant to be flying. The gangsters just aren't very good drivers.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:32
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When I saw it pop up on Drivethru, I immediately thought it was the core book, which is $3, with extras. $14 for a source book seems steep when the core is $11 cheaper. The name doesn't help things either.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:39
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On the subject of the name, what does Hc Svnt Dracones mean? Is it some bastardization of latin?
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Jan 1, 2016 23:41
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PurpleXVI posted:Oh no! They actually "explain" that in the fluff. Apparently it was an experiment to see whether ears helped sharks hear better... but it didn't, so they didn't bother giving them to any of the other fish. First they ban owls outright, and now I can't make a rad shark dude without stupid ears and inaccurate eyes. Or just a shark in power armor (preferrably one with 4 legs for a bit of Gyo flavor). I am so disappoint  PurpleXVI posted:The thing is, at least in all of the oWoD games I remember reading, there were usually really distinct mechanical differences from splat to splat, usually noteworthy drawbacks and advantages, unique abilities, etc. Here, despite the comparatively large write-up each "family" of furry gets, the mechanical consequences are pretty minor. +1 sounds like a lot when you're on a 1 to 5 scale, but you're still capped at a max of 3 at chargen, despite it, so the "wrong" +1 won't really keep you from being really good at something, and the "right" +1 won't let you be any better at something than if you didn't have it. The closest you get to unique abilities is that each order of animal has a choice between two equally irrelevant advantages, usually something on the line of being able to get a meaningless reroll in one extremely specific sort of situation, and that each order has a different set of "reclaiming" surgeries it can get(basically, gaining some abilities that its feral source had, like how lizards can gain better regeneration, etc.) but that's also largely pretty minor. I think they just went to the bare minimum of justifying the splats instead of just going "Here are some general modifications depending on whether your fursona is a predator and/or small" or "Just pick your stats and describe your awesome fursona". And I really wonder what a furried-up Mi-Go would look like.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:46
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It is a horrible bastardization of the Latin phrase 'Hic Sunt Dracones,' famously used by some mapmakers for places they knew nothing about. It means 'here are dragons' or more popularly 'Here be dragons.'
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Jan 1, 2016 23:46
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Covok posted:On the subject of the name, what does Hc Svnt Dracones mean? Is it some bastardization of latin? "Here be dragons." It's such a weird game. I did a double take when Roleplaying Public Radio interviewed the creator, who seemed normal enough. It was just really shocking to see that in my feed. EDIT: Beaten
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Jan 1, 2016 23:47
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Nuns with Guns posted:Looks like the entire image was flipped for some reason because the number 5 on the table is backwards too Yeah, it's an exceptionally bad idea because there's all that text on the screens you probably wouldn't even notice is actual text anymore. Asimo posted:I still love how they have to have a billion little different anatomical variations just hit hit that ultra specific kink each individual designer/player has. I think if you want to make a furry game for furries and all their predilections that'd actually be alright, there's an audience for that. But they deserve a better game than this. Everybody deserves a better game than Hc Svnt Dracones. Or Changing Breeds, for that matter.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:57
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darthbob88 posted:I'm not sure if that's better or worse than what I thought it was, naming the dudes with Inuit ties Nanook of the North. That's the first place my mind went, before correcting itself and doing another double-take. It's probably the same place a lot of readers' minds are going to go too, which... ...these books weren't actually edited, were they? I mean, they may have had an editor's credit, but nobody actually had the guts to hand a hatchet to the writers and tell them to murder their darlings, did they? I don't know why it's this that's doing it to me, and not the litany of other poorly chosen 'ethnic' names that the WoD was scattered with since the beginning. Kumaton posted:I had no idea that furry libertarian sci-fi tabletop games were popular enough to warrant an expansion. Furries have always been a small but absurdly lucrative market.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:09
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PurpleXVI posted:Hc Svnt Dracones Roleplaying Public Radio recently did an interview with the creator and they're running a mini-campaign of the system, though no Actual Plays have been yet posted. It definitely threw me for a loop given the discussion this thread has had over the game.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:28
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Doresh posted:It's sad they never make it the other way around and have Golarion be swarmed with Russian tanks and fighter planes. It's been done, the wizards won. Covok posted:On the subject of the name, what does Hc Svnt Dracones mean? Is it some bastardization of latin? In classical Latin Vs and Us were virtually identical. Also, here's that art flipped around  I think it seems worse because we read left to right, so when the art draws our attention that way it's okay, but looking from right to left at someone's hand sticking in from off panel just seems wrong. Bieeardo posted:That's the first place my mind went, before correcting itself and doing another double-take. It's probably the same place a lot of readers' minds are going to go too, which...  They crowdsourced it. And I think it stands out because otherwise the Ursara are relatively well written. I mean the Sicarius poison spiders are named after a group of Jewish Assassins that opposed the Roman Ocupation of Judea, predating the Hashashin and Ninjas by centuries. But you don't really notice that because it's a bunch of sexist bullshit heaped on top of it. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 00:28
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Outsourced editing. Jesus wept. Nobody on that project had any sense of perspective. Racial Slur of the North is bad on its face, but crypto-Jew-spider-assassins is a whole ick sandwich. Wait. Vaguely guessing from the angle of the eyes on those two characters, they're both looking at a third... which we only see as half of a hand coming in from off-page. Did whoever ordered the flip on that image manage to crop the actual subject out while they were at it?
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Jan 2, 2016 01:50
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Scribendi.com edited a lot of that era of White Wolf's output.
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Jan 2, 2016 01:54
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PurpleXVI posted:They've got a human brain, but no real ability to interact with the world as a human, they usually can't even wear pants. That's only because they can't decide how to wear them.   PurpleXVI posted:They also sadly nix the option of playing a lateral shark in a suit of powered armor(a "bodyframe"). If I can't play this dude, then there's literally no reason for this RPG to exist.  I've seen a lot of dumb art, but this is... special. Magical, one might dare to say. p.s. I'll find an RPG for you that won't make you weep blood next time, I promise. (not really)
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Jan 2, 2016 03:18
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Kurieg posted:Yeah 1920's ish, yes they explain it, and Yes there is, apparently it, like the rest of the reign of winter, is pretty good. Kurieg posted:Despite the popular apeal of Polar Bears, the Nanuq are exceedingly rare. Born almost exclusively to Inuit or Yupik people, the "gift" of a white pelt seems reserved for those who have lived on the ice for ages. But a smattering of "White-White Bears" have been born in recent years, and they face scorn from their "pure-blood" cousins. Seen as interlopers at best, and spiritual opponents at worst, the European bear-folk find themselves chased southward or killed as harbingers of the final age of the Ghost Bears. Also, after seeing it reposted multiple times, I just noticed that shark-dude in that flipped Hc Svnt Dracones image has a bite taken out of his glass. I'm not sure if this is meant to be some kind of fancy-shaped novelty glass or implying that he just couldn't help himself and chomped down on his own drink.
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Jan 2, 2016 06:10
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Fossilized Rappy posted:Also, after seeing it reposted multiple times, I just noticed that shark-dude in that flipped Hc Svnt Dracones image has a bite taken out of his glass. I'm not sure if this is meant to be some kind of fancy-shaped novelty glass or implying that he just couldn't help himself and chomped down on his own drink. It has a garnish of a small surfboard that also has a bite out of it. I'd guess novelty glass.
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Jan 2, 2016 06:12
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Looking at the menu it seems some of the items are 5 and 6 dimensional quarter pounders, for something around 15.XX credits. Which might be a steal? Assuming theyre not some lovely 'novelty' burger to scam tourists with.
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Jan 2, 2016 06:58
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senrath posted:It has a garnish of a small surfboard that also has a bite out of it. I'd guess novelty glass.
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Jan 2, 2016 07:44
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 Wind-Runners: Who Can Tame the Wind? So you know how you guys were complaining about the Nanuq? quote:“His leg is shattered beyond repair,” Marcannon told the attending veterinarian. “I brought him home, but you need to put him down. He’s no good to himself or to me.” Behold the Beast: The really bad part of the book again. quote:They speak to us of a swiftness we can never know except through them, a speed that comes from surging muscles, powerful hindquarters and relentlessly pounding hooves. They endow the role of quarry with nobility. Within their blood courses the essence of the Hunt — but from the view of the Hunted. In their feral forms, they appear as horses, stags or deer, elk, zebra and other species that reach perfection of form only when they run. Yet they also stand for freedom, the reward for surviving a hunt or the sheer joy of galloping far and wide, either alone or with a group. Anyways, the legend goes that All the Wind Runners gathered to talk about what they should do with this crazy new creature named "Man". The wind runners include Horses, Zebras, Elk, and Deer. I'm just going to step aside here and say that these thematic subdivisions are stupid as hell. Genetically, Horses and Cervidae are about as distantly related as you can get with non-carnivorous mammals. Deer are more closely related to Whales and Hippos than they are to Zebra. Not included in this book: Rules for Zebra, Whales, or Hippos. Anyways, back at the meeting of "Four legged animals that are mostly brown except when they're Zebras", horses said that Mankind are touched by the divine, so they will work along side them and teach them the wisdom of the wild. The Deer/Gazelle/Okapi/Elk/Reindeer/Caribou spirits (uggghhhh) all joined together and said "hey these assholes hunt us, gently caress this poo poo." and ran away. quote:A very few others placed themselves in the hands of the Wind Daughters, their patrons. “Let those who we honor most choose our position in the lives of fearful men.” The Daughters turned these Wind-Runners over to Lightning, who called them Sukuku after himself, and then set them in the heart of Africa with instructions to remind the people that life consists of constant changes, that drought gives way to sudden rains, to recall that prosperity spirals downward into failure, and attest that no one can ever rest totally without fear. These few gave rise to the zebras, whose black-and-white coats are constant testimonies to the duality of existence. quote:Unlike many other feral breeds, whose War-Beast stands upright (or nearly so), Wind-Runners often retain the quadruped form that seems to fl ow from the torso of their human form. These are the centaurs of myth, part man and part-horse, wise in the ways of learning and war. In wilder and sometimes two-legged guise, they become the Master of the Wild Hunt or the Horned Man with the body of a giant stag and the head and torso of an antlered man. The herd instinct is strong so they like to stick with their family, friends, and kin. "Kentucky horse farms managed by Wind-Runners and their human companions rarely sell their stock to other humans, but work instead through careful breeding to improve and strengthen the blood." to what end, precisely? Weren't you guys railing against the "Folly of man imposing his will on beasts" earlier? It's okay when you're doing it to your direct spiritual relatives I guess. Eugenics is fun! Cervids sometimes live with their wild herds, or take jobs in wildlife management. Equines gravitate either to the "horsey set" whose lives gravitate around horse racing, dressage, and steeplechases, or the "Ranchero" societies who adhere to the spirit of a bygone century (weren't you guys just complaining about people abusing horses?) In the wild females will group together but males will maybe have one or two friends but treat all other men as rivals. How many loving Wind-Runners are there that they can gather in numbers populous enough to be a herd and for there to be several of them? All Wind-Runners are attractive "sometimes to a fault" and project an aura of tightly coiled power. They look strong but "light" like they could walk on the wind who's name they bear. Also everyone who isn't a loving horse are "caged power and nervous energy, combined with hyper-awareness of their surroundings." They're all also super intelligent and have quick minds because, again, Chiron. "Though not always contemplative or philosophical, these folk excel in strategy and tactics, intuitive flashes of brilliance and associative leaps of though and practical (if sometimes unusual) applications of theory." They mention that the Equestri are usually powerfully built in their human forms, descended as they are from Draft Horse breeds. But there are no draft-horse equestri anywhere in this book. Most Wind-Runners are strict vegitarians, and prefer bland food to keep in "running trim". They're often the prey of wild wolves and other predators, but they mostly win out unless they're being hunted by another shapeshifter." quote:For this breed, as with so many others, the greatest danger comes from Man. The allure of trophy-hunting and the rituals of “manhood” — survival traits turned to vanity — have turned the forests into slaughterhouses. The vast difference between one man with a bow and five men with submachine guns sets a hostile edge to the hunter-hunted equation. In recent years, Wind-Runners have begun to settle that score with increasing ruthlessness. Traps, ambushes and the popular “helpless-human-becomes-trampling-monster” ploy make up for the breed’s traditional lack of aggression. quote:Stereotypes  Uchchaihshravi: The Sharp-Eared Ones These are based off of Uchchaihshravas the 7 headed winged horse of Hindu mythology. To their great detriment, they aren't 7 headed winged death monsters, they're just centaur. According to them, Indra tore off the horse's wings and gave them to humanity, they are the result of that and see it as their duty to return freedom to all horses. They hate all confinement and long to run free and compete with their peers. Appearance: They're almost entirely of Indian or Semitic descent, though those descended from the Arabian horse look middle eastern. Their primal form is just a really big horse. "Anyone who knows horses, and many people who don't, can understand that a sharp spur dig at such a creature would be suicide." Spurring any wild horse would probably be an intensely bad idea, yes. Their War-Beast form is a Centaur. Background: They're gregarious, and form their own societies within human cultures. They instincitvely gravitate to all things equestrian even before their first change. The men often lead even in less patriarchical societies but "females press their advantage, often becoming champion riders or trainers by early adolescence." Breed Favors: Fang and Claw (bite) 1(L), Size 7, Speed 12. Breed Bonus: They can knock people down with their hooves, and have 4 legs which means they move faster! Common Aspects:Alarming Alacrity, Aww!!!, Durga’s Blessing, Fortune’s Favor, Magnificence, Pack Bond, Shadow Bond, Spirit Sight, Stampede Rush, The Wild Cry (Equines), Unsettling Eye, War Heart Form Adjustments: War-Beast:Str+3, Dex+1, Sta+3, Man-1, Size 8, Health+6, Speed+11, +1 to Perception Primal Beast: Str+2, Sta+3, Man-1, Size 7, Health+4, Speed+9, +1 to Perception Rolls. Why the hell is the archetypical Centaur given a Hindu name, even if they apparently stretch from India to Palestine shouldn't the Centaur be Greek? Or at least from Europe? They're smacking together Greek and Indian mythology very sloppily and it bothers me.  Alces: The Horned Harbingers You know why there are two different animals called Elk? Early european explorers came to the Americas, saw a larger deer, and said "yeah that's an elk", but then they saw what was actually an elk, a Moose, and no one actually bothered to make any of this less confusing. Also apparently no one told the artist who drew this what an Elk actually was because she drew this guy with deer antlers. Also these guys are what happens when a god uses the pull out method. quote:Long ago, it’s been said, the Horned God lay with the Great Earth Mother. Where his seed scattered, beasts sprang up with vast antlers like the Lord himself. Although their antlers could not span the sky as his did, they nevertheless challenged the trees to grow to ever-more luxuriant size. The hooves of these mighty beasts shook the grown, and where they struck, springs fl owed and fl owers grew. Such was the creative power of the Elken-volk that Man himself was both humbled and aroused. To capture some of that virility for himself, the bravest hunter stalked the largest elk. They fought until sunrise, shattering the forest as they fought, and when the Great Mother saw what had been done, she turned them both into a single beast and charged him to watch over Nature’s restoration. In time, as dying souls lost their way to the Otherworld, the elk’s descendants took that duty on as well. In the process, some Harbingers became heralds of prophecy. To this day, the Alces roam the forests and hidden places, guarding Nature’s secrets and helping those forests bloom again. Appearance: They're tall and lanky with big bones and handsome faces. Both male and female exude auras of unbelievable fertility. Their primal form is a loving huge moose. 7 feet tall(!) at the shoulder, and 12 feet long. Their war beast form... quote:In War-Beast form, this beast displays his lineage to the Horned God. Growing to eight feet or more in height, the beast bulks up to monumental proportions. Unlike many other Wind-Runners, this beast remains bipedal but bristles with muscles and fur. Both male and female Elken-volk sprout tremendous antlers in the War-Beast shape, and these horns crackle with tiny bolts of lightning across their surfaces. All impressions of thoughtfulness depart from the Alce’s face in this form. All that remains are menace and imminent attack. Background: They occasionally gather in groups, usually of the same sex, for mutual protection. Mating is a formal affair wrapped in age old customs, but pair bonds are short lived. Usually long enough to sire a child or two and then they go their separate ways. "For this reason, unmarried mothers were often called Sky-Bearers by the Scandinavian and Slavic tribesmen who knew the Alces well" My bullshit sensors are going off... Breed Favors: Fang and Claw (antlers) 3(L), Size 10, Speed 10 Breed Bonus: They're freaking huge, also hooves so they knock people down. Common Aspects: Beast Surge, Birth Blessing, Blend In, Earthbond, Keen Sense, Magnificence, Shadow Bond, Slumber’s Touch, Spirit Gift, Spirit Secrets, Spirit Sight, Stampede Rush, Territory Bond Form Adjustments: War-Beast:Str+4, Sta+4, Man-2, Size 10, Health+9, Speed+9, +1 to Perception Primal Beast: Str+3, Sta+3, Man-3, Size 10, Health+8, Speed+8, +1 to Perception Rolls. While I agree that moose are the heavy hitters of the Cervidae world, those are some insane stats, also 3L horns? gently caress. And if you thought it was odd that the god of fertility wouldn't have an absolutely massive schlong, you're not the only one. Because apparently fans of this book got in touch with the author. quote:The original to this didn't have the penis as it was for a book interior. After I read a comment that said, It looks like he has a tribble on his crotch, I knew I HAD to give him his manhood back. So far, everyone seems pleased with the results.   Behold his Deer Dong I could go off at length about how the art director shouldn't have asked for a piece with a horse man thrusting his groin at the camera, or that he probably shouldn't have asked for said artwork from a woman with an unhealthy obsession for my little pony but I'm just going to leave that picture there and move on. Flidaisin: The WIld Watch The Flidaisin are were-deer, all were-deer. Yup let's just slap an irish name onto a breed that steals inspiration from greek culture. They are consummate hunters... of man... killing enough hunters to make sure that their animal kin stay alive. Which seems to me like a bunch of bullshit. Appearance: North American Flidaisin can come from any ethnic background, but tend to have large eyes, alert expressions, and placid seeming natures. Their primal beast form is a larger deer, males have massive racks (12 or 14 point bucks) while females have prominant nubs. (I'm sure their human forms also have massive racks, fortunately they did not make that joke here) Their war beast form, however. quote:The War-Beast (or Cernunnian) form resembles a naked human with the head of a deer. As with the Elken-volk, both male and female Flidaisin exhibit formidable antlers, which form their most effective physical weapons. The more impressive armaments of this breed, however, come from inside their heads. Such beasts are fabulously cunning, and despite their “meek and mild” image, there’s nothing gentle about a Flidaisin in her War-Beast form. Background: They're universally excellent athletes, excelling at running, hurdling, and any other test of endurance. Also in any social grouping the strongest male is the de-facto ruler. Breed Favors: Keen Sense 2, Size 6, Speed 10 Breed Bonus: Males have 3(L) antlers, all of them get the Striking Looks merit in human form, and they have hooves. Common Aspects: Aww!!!, Beast Magic (black deer tend toward Death, Fate and Time; white deer have Life, Spaces and Spirit), Birth Blessing, Blend In, Catwalk, Earthbond, Hare Heart, Mercy’s Touch, Pack Bond, Spirit Secrets, The Wild Cry (Deer), Toss the Scent, Truth Sense, Unnerving Cry, Unsettling Eye Form Adjustments: War-Beast:Str+2, Dex+3, Sta+2, Man-1, Size 6, Health+3, Speed+5, +3 to Perception Primal Beast: Str+2, Dex +3, Sta+3, Man-1, Size 6, Health+4, Speed+10, +3 to Perception Rolls. Whatever, I just want this chapter to be over with.  Takuskansa: The Raging Storm Fun nature fact: while horses were originally native to North America, they died out roughly 12,000 years ago. They were re-introduced to the Americas with Columbus. So the fact that they're doing Native American Centaurs anyway is kind of doubly dumb. Even more so because they're apparently just European centaurs that came over with their horse kin and started breeding into the Native Americans and adopting their culture. Also they all have a strong bond with the spirit realm. Breed Favors: Fang and Claw (bite) 1(L), Size 7, Speed 12 Breed Bonus: All of them have Empathy 3 or higher, also hooves. Common Aspects: Alarming Alacrity, Earthbond, Leap, Magnificence, Mercy’s Touch, Shadow Bond, Spirit Sight, Stampede Rush, Unsettling Eye, War Heart, Warrior’s Restoration Form Adjustments: War-Beast:Str+3, Dex+2, Sta+3, Man-1, Size 8, Health+6, Speed+12, +1 to Perception Primal Beast: Str+2, Dex+3, Sta+3, Man-1, Size 7, Health+4, Speed+12, +1 to Perception Rolls. They're more dexterous than baseline Centaur, that's it. There is no reason for this breed to exist separate from the normal Centaur write up. Also why do they keep depicting people in their war forms doing things that the war form explicitly prohibits them from doing? Next Up: Phil Brucato's The Birds
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Jan 2, 2016 08:22
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PurpleXVI posted:Oh no! They actually "explain" that in the fluff. Apparently it was an experiment to see whether ears helped sharks hear better... but it didn't, so they didn't bother giving them to any of the other fish. They're just ripping off Verg from Blue Submarine No. 6...  But he had ears because he was some sort of shark-hyena-human hybrid or something. Kurieg posted:It's been done, the wizards won. TBF, "Sicarius" is also the Latin term for assassin, murderer, or killer. Well, one of them. There's a movie that came out last year that used the Spanish evolution of the word as it's title, so I'm thinking that it's less some obscure anti-Semitic phrasing and simply that they're pulling it from the Latin and an "-us" ending word sounds more taxonomical than "percussor" and "interfector". Communist Zombie posted:Looking at the menu it seems some of the items are 5 and 6 dimensional quarter pounders, for something around 15.XX credits. Which might be a steal? Assuming theyre not some lovely 'novelty' burger to scam tourists with. It's very likely they wanted to hide that because this is a "serious" game for furries.
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Jan 2, 2016 08:45
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Bieeardo posted:Wait. Vaguely guessing from the angle of the eyes on those two characters, they're both looking at a third... which we only see as half of a hand coming in from off-page. I actually think they might have, because on the next page is the "Victory" fluff, which appears to cover the second half of the image...  It's hard to tell whether there's a full image hidden behind there, but there's definitely something covered up by the text. Communist Zombie posted:Looking at the menu it seems some of the items are 5 and 6 dimensional quarter pounders, for something around 15.XX credits. Which might be a steal? Assuming theyre not some lovely 'novelty' burger to scam tourists with. Hey, there's a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster there, too, if I'm reading the tiny, blurry text, right. Clearly this is a reputable establishment.
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Jan 2, 2016 08:48
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Thank you, that gave me enough to do a proper reverse image search It's some recycled art from the Kickstarter. ... What the gently caress is happening with Armadillo girl's breasts?
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Jan 2, 2016 08:57
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