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Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

In Nomine Game Master's Guide: Shout at the Devil

unlike God, Lucifer is active and interested in the day to day. He is an NPC, but also one to use sparingly given his power. He is an enigmatic figure, rare and dreaded. The average demon will not expect to meet Lucifer any more than the average American expects to meet the President. PCs are not average, but even they should be awed by Lucifer and fear him. His appearances should either be very important, or unexpected cameos that fit his sense of humor. Even that should be infrequent, and make them worry about why Lucifer was there. Unlike God, Lucifer's personality is well-defined, and most Superiors are familiar with it. Even the low demons have heard about Lucifer's demeanor and sense of humor. But he is not predictable - while he may be known, no one understands him.



Lucifer has certain traits that should be constant no matter how you portray him. First: he is proud. More proud than anything. He can laugh, but not at himself. He can admit defeat, even graciously, but never humbly. And he always gets revenge. Lucifer suffers no offenses to his dignity, and lack of respect will earn his hatred. Some things he can overlook, but disrespect is not one of them, and nor is wasting his time. This dignity also extends to style. Lucifer does not rant or rave, he does not boast or threaten openly. He hates brute force. He enforces his will while appearing to be a mere bystander. Lucifer likes to present himself as reasonable and personable, to better disarm foes and seduce neutral parties. He rarely uses obvious powers, preferring to make things happen by chance or intermediaries. If he smites someone in a pillar of flame, he is in an exceptionally poor mood. Few have seen him show anger, and fewer survived.

Lucifer is exceptionally devious and manipulative. He always has three or more reasons for anything, and for each real reason he has dozen explanations to tell others. He never allows his true motives to be known until it's too late. The GM is told to just change the rules whenever hte PCs seem to think they know what Lucifer is up to - it's unfair, but Lucifer's not fair. However, he does have a sense of humor. It's a cruel one, a malicious one, and that's why Kobal has such a high position. Lucifer laughs at hypocrisy and lies, and he loves any joke that reveals others for fools. He especially enjoys those that reveal the darkness in humanity. One of the few ways to get out of trouble with him is to make him laugh - but it's no guarantee. And remember laugh with, not at.

Lucifer can come across as a nice guy, but he never is. It's all an act. He may occasionally be benevolent, but only for his own benfit. If he is kind, it is because he needs you somehow. If he does you a favor, there's something in it for him. Barring a variant game, Lucifer is evil. He may be entertaining, stylish and even sympathetic, but he's evil. Not just in the sense of being selfish, either. He's in active rebellion against God, he wants to see God and all His work ruined. He wants to drag the Symphony to its Fate, an eternity of suffering, damnation and erventual oblivion. He is an enemy of all humanity and all angels, and he wants nothing good for Hell, either. Lucifer's evil isn't bloody malice or self-gratifying spite or even suffering for its own sake. Lucifer is a pure, impersonal and final evil, the antithesis of all that is good and right. He may seem less nasty, but he sponsors all the Princes because they contribute to his final solution for the Symphony. He is all the evil in Hell and more.

To make him darker, downplay all the sociable parts of him. When he shows p, bad things happen. When a mass murderer goes free on a technicality, Lucifer is there. When an innocent woman's children are taken from her and given to a molestor, Lucifer is there. When soldiers herd peasants into a mass grave, Lucifer is there. Where suffering and preying on others is a way of life, there is Lucifer. Every conversation shows his malevolence. He sneers, he laughs at suffering, and any deal with him always ends in damnation.

A lighter and more sympathetic devil may be doing what he was designed for. If all is preordained, so was the Rebellion, and Lucifer is just serving God's purpose. Muslims hold that the devil is banned from Heaven as punishment, forbidden to look on the face of the God he loves over all others. This doesn't mean Lucifer needs to be nice - just more compledx, more human. A campier Lucifer is a politician, gladhanding demons or playing chess with God.

Infernal interventions indicate Lucifer's meddling, but it may not be personal interest. Lucifer lacks God's omnipotence, but his influence is pervasive. He has great foresight and can manipulate the Symphony in more complex and subtle ways than anyone that isn't God. It's possible that Interventions happen just because Lucifer would want them to, without knowing about the situation. As a general rule, PCs should never know if Lucifer is directly aiding them. He likes to be unpredictable, after all. Some interventions might even be from a Prince, not Lucifer.

Lucifer isn't God - though he also claims God isn't God. Lucifer may outpower all other Superiors, but he remains finite. However, no one is entirely sure what Lucifer's limits are. He likes to keep people guessing. It's best not to say he can't do things, but just that he has never been known to do something. Lucifer's limits are defined largely by what he's been seen to do and speculation about what he hasn't. If there's a power he may or may not have, only he knows the truth. That said, the following are all believed impossible even for Lucifer. If he could do them, it'd be a huge impact on the War.

First, Lucifer can't exert unlimited power. He has a lot emore Essence than anyoen else, but he still has to use it to inflict his iwll on the Symphony. Thus, he probably can't destroy the Earth or casually obliterate a Superior - though it would take him little effort to destroy all but the mightiest of his peers. Sure, Michael beat him at the Rebellion, but he might not win a rematch. Second, Lucifer cannot steal souls from Heaven or dictate a soul's Fate. Lucifer is believed to be able to do whatever he wants with the damned, and he might be able to force people to reincarnate, disband or go to the Marches on death...but he has no claim over any soul that has achieved its destiny, and he cannot force someone to drat themselves any more than any demon can. Third, while Lucifer can inflict or remove dissonance and Discord from any demon at will, he cannot do this to angels without their consent. Fourth, Lucifer is not known to alter anything's fundamental nature, save Lilith, and even then, only he knows what really got done to her. It is believed that Lucifer might be able to return a damned soul to Earth as a mortal or restore an undead's soul, or give life to the inanimate, but then again, it might be trickery or just temporary. Still, he almost certainly cannot turn a human into a demon or vice versa, or anything of that nature. It's believed that if he did, he might spark a Second Rebellion in Hell, which may be why Lilith remains unique. Lucifer cannot create Tethers - he must rely on humans to do it like anyone else. He can make conditions that will probably lead to Tether formation, but that's about it. And Lucifer cannot transcend the ineffable, probably. He is himself ineffable, as is what he does and does not know, so nothing is quite sure.

Now, what if you want to be a Superior? It's beyond the scope of most games, but players will inevitably ask how it's done. The usual way is to hold a Word that becomes so powerful that your side is compelled to either elevate you or kill you. Only the Council or Lucifer can make someone a Superior - or so they claim. It's rumored that some celestials have transcended their nature on their own and were recognized retroactively. Becoming a Superior is a huge leap in status, allowing you to function on a level out of the reach of lessers. All of their powers rely on this state-change. While you must have a Word to become a Superior, that Word does not strictly need to be powerful - but a weak Word will take much, much more power to elevate, so it is just...not done.

Most Archangels have held their rank since before the Fall and were elevated by God. God can make anyone He likes into an Archangel, but Laurence is His only personal promotion since the Fall, and all other new Archangels have been elevated by the Council. For them to name you worthy, you must have a Word indispensable to the War and have enough power and influence to be indispensable to Heaven yourself. Even then, many potent angels do not want to be a Superior. The Council will only elevate those they agree would be more effective operating independently of their own Archangel and with servants of their own. Those who aspire to the rank must first divest themselves of any unseemly pride. If they are humble enough but still have the drive to make their Word a fundamental part of the War, their service must be beyond exemplary and their own Superior must offer their backing. Any problems with Judgment in the past may also bar the way. These angels tend to be of Master rank or beyond, with extremely potent Words, and already involved in the day-to-day planning of the War with their Archangel. They will have been long since retired from active adventuring.

Only Lucifer can crown a Prince, and while he can do so at will, he only does it with good reaosn. It takes a lot of energy, evne for him, and he won't do it casually. Plus, each new Princes changes the power balance. While Lucifer generally prefers quantity to quality, too many Princes would strain his resources and spread Hell too thin. The infighting between Princes, however, does keep him in power, so he sometimes crowns a Prince to add to it. But too much division weakens Hell to the point that even Baal and Asmodeus can't act coherently, so not too ften. Thus, while the Princes have tended to outnumber and be weaker than the Archangels, it's still a high and mighty station. Lucifer chooses Princes based on political advantage and strategic value. If a Prince will make other Princes not gently caress with Lucifer's plans, that's good. If they'll enhance Hell's place in the War, that's also good. Most Princes raised since the Fall had to reach positions of power and influence before they were crowned. Some have been potent servants, but some, like Haagenti, rose from nothing, while others, like Nybbas or Furfur, managed only one audacious feat in order to impress Lucifer. Lucifer also believes in evolution in action - more Princes have died than live right now. You'd better be able to hold your own.

From here, we get optional rules, few of which are interesting. Expanding the power of free will weakens demons a lot, though. Kyriotates become able to possess only the willing, who must know and acquisce to it - even Saints ot the Undead. The GM can rule that in some circumstances, a mortal will accept possession subconsciously, such as when they pray for divine assistance. If a human would agree if they had full knowledge, the Kyriotate may possess them. Animals may or may not be considered fre willed this way at the GM's option. Celestials can be possessed as normal. Balseraphs cannot compel people to believe them - instead, they add the CD of their resonance roll to the TN or CD (pick one) of a Lying roll. Their dissonance is now caused by having their lie exposed in their presence. Habbalah can inflict feelings but not compel any action the target would not normally do under that feeling. Lilim can sense Needs normally, but the victim must consent before a Geas can be claimed, with the level of knowledge and consent required left to the GM. Shedim do not control their hosts, but only suggest actions ot them, requiring them to be much, much more clever about their corruption. The GM can optionally not require them to perform a worse act each day, or prevent the daily bonus to the victim's Perception roll. Impudites no longer charm people - instead, their resonance acts as a bonus to the TN of their reaction rolls. However, they may drain Essence from anyone the GM rules is favorably disposed towards them.

The only other really interesting rule is perverting resonance. Any angel can choose to use the resonance of their diabolical counterpart (except Malakim, who do not have one). However, doing so causes a point of dissonance which cannot be converted to Discord. The GM may even inflict 2 or more dissonance for it, or rule that only a Superior may remove the dissonance.

The End!

Next up: Corporeal Player's Guide, Liber Canticorum or Revelations 1: Night Music?

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Rand Brittain
Mar 25, 2013

"Go on until you're stopped."
The Libers are all pretty boring, so let's go through the Player's Guides.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Night10194 posted:

This is actually a good idea, because again, the PCs will usually be outnumbered and so rolling fewer dice. A player-favoring critical rule is usually a better idea than the other way around.
And as such, rules which are "neutral" and work the same for enemies and the PCs actually favor the enemies, because the enemies get a lot more chances at the "gently caress You" table or whatever.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

Chapter 2: Character Creation Pt. 1
The chapter opens up with.. uhh..

This artwork, which uhm... yeah.

"Maga are a diverse lot. They come in all braces, nationalities and with all manner of attitudes." Though the thought of all of the Maga being in traction fills me with a deep sense of satisfaction, I'm assuming our illustrious author means "Races". That said the only thing that really differentiates the characters in their art style is skin color, but considering the one canonically hispanic girl in the book is white as driven snow, and being reborn can apparently change your hair and skin color we really can't be sure. As opposed to the fact that being turned into a Maga can change your skin color is something that should probably be addressed properly, surprising no one, the book does not. Anyways, a Maga character consists of a few different parts
  • Path: Your "class", this determines your starting suite of abilities and your base attribute distribution
  • Patroness: Patronesses give you some minor bonuses at start and as you level up, sometimes ability discounts, soemtimes unique abilities, but considering that different Paths have Patroness restrictions this is sort of like "Race"? There are a giant pile of them though.
  • Benefit/Drawbacks: The Merit/Flaw system from World of Darkness.
  • Knowledge: These include not just actual knowledges like Science or Law, but things like "Battle", "Crime", and "Domestic"... no seriously.
  • Gifts: Magic spells of some variety or the other
  • Swag: Not just loot you may have acquired from previous adventures, this also includes contacts, familiars, and thralls... we'll get into those last ones later.

Each class gives you 18 starting attribute points four or five "Starting Talents" and five or six "Starting Knowledges", you also get 30 "Path Points" which you use at start to buy extra knowledges, attributes, benefits, gifts, and swag. Yes, one gigantic pool, also it only costs one path point to increase any of those by one. I can already hear those people with any knowledge of how white wolf games work going "Now wait a minute" and my answer to you is yes, this is broken as hell. Though your starting attributes can't go above a three, your starting knowledges either can't go above 5 or 3 depending on what you read. You can't get gifts above your Level+2, and Swag can only go up to level 5 ever i think?

Leveling up is handled Iron Kingdoms RPG style, at certain amounts of XP you get a parcel of things. Level 2 gives you +1 to an Attribute, +3 skill points(Looks like they missed their find/replace for "Knowledges"), +2 gift levels, and +1 Mana. The major problems with this system are that you only get 4 Attribute rank ups, whereas you get 25 "skill points", also you only get a relatively anemic 17 gift levels across the 10 "Path Levels" Meaning if you want one of those rank 10 spells you had better save the gently caress up. At this point I think it's fairly safe to say "This game was never playtested, these level up bonuses were never balanced, we now enter into uncharted territory, abandon all hope ye who enter here."


Our purple-haired wonder's roomate shows up again, with another black shirt with a pithy saying on it. Collect them all!
Attributes
Do you like charts? Because we have charts, lots of charts.

I love how we have "Super Human", "Superhuman", and "Superhuman". As well as two levels of "Demi Goddess", and the fact that you can apparently have "Olympic Levels" of Brains, Allure, and Luck. Also: remember how I said you only get four attribute rank ups as you level? It's impossible for anyone to get above rank 9 in any attribute.

Anyways, the stats are Might, Agility, Fitness, Brains, Resolve, Allure, Resolve, and Luck.

Might:
Might is how strong you are, and how much damage you do in hand to hand combat.

Rank 4 is roughly about the spot where current human maximums are, though the longest long jump is 30 feet.

Agility:
Agility's chart is bog standard run speed its used in dodging and ranged attacks but they're not on the chart and It's not really worth reproducing.

Fitness:
Fitness determines how much health a person has, as well as how long they can exert themselves how long they need to sleep, and how fast they heal. This is definitely one of the stronger stats in the game but I'm not sure how Ms. Soto would deal with Marathon runners.


Brains:
The Intellect stat. It gives you one extra knowledge point above 1, which can allow you raise knowledges up to 5 at character creation.

Allure: "charisma and forcefulness" higher allure levels allow you to 'allure' multiple people at the same time, and increases the maximum number of thralls you can have at one time. Yup, mind control is a thing.


Resolve:
Resolve is "willpower" and you can "ignore a horror level" equal to half your resolve rounded down.

Spirit:
Do you want to cast spells? Put 5 in this stat. Seriously, every single spell uses spirit to cast, and the intensity of spells is based on how high your spirit is. It also determines how much Mana you have and how long it takes to regenerate mana. In a more sane system at least one of these would be a different thing but...well..


Luck:
In any 24 hour period you have a number of bonus dice to apply to any roll equal to your luck stat.


Paths
Now it's time to go over the different classes, while we marvel at that redhead's nose.


Ariadnian
Techno-mages, I wonder if their magic only works if they make their computers look like they were ordered from Barbie's dreamhouse catalog. Also their quote includes the phrase "Ariadnians more than any other Maga respect humans the most. Human ingenuity for them is something to immolate and advance on instead of something to laugh and look down at." 1:I hope they aren't setting computers on fire. 2: Since when are Witches not human? I thought the entire point was that you were saving humanity from the serpent? Did that change somehow?

Starting Attributes: Might 2 Agi 2 Fitness 2 Brains 3 Allure 2 Resolve 2 Spirit 3 Luck 2.
Starting Knowledge:Arcane, News, Magic, Observation, Technology, and Science
Starting Talents:
Cybermancy: Ariadnian can spend a mana to control any piece of technology with a circuit board. She can also see and decode wireless signals and increase their strength or shut them down entirely.

Imbue Technology:Aradnians can enchant items with mana allowing them to cast gifts. (Including healing gifts that activate when the maga falls "uncurious") This is, however, broken, because to imbue an item you need to pay it's full mana cost+1, but after that you can recharge it for just a single mana point. I shouldn't need to point out that is broken.

Sorcery Code: Ariadnians can use electronics to perform rites instead of circles or sigils

Techno Magic: Ariadnians get 2 dice when using magic on modern devices to improve or enhance them and can spend mana to add 1 dice to any repair roll.


Diva
Oh yeah that's not racist at all. Divas specialize in mind and sense altering magic.

Starting Attributes: Might 1 Agi 2 Fitness 2 Brains 2 Allure 3 Resolve 3 Spirit 3 Luck 2.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Craft, Magic, Performance, and Persuasion
Starting Talents:
B.S. Detection: Diva know when they are being manipulated, and +2 dice to resist attempts to manipulate their thoughts or emotions.

Empath: Diva can read anyone's emotions, and know if they are telling the truth though they can resist with resolve or spirit vs the Diva's spirit or allure. She can also spend a point of mana to extend their empathy to anyone they know regardless of distance.

Magic Mastery: Divas get +2 dice to cast any spell that involve mind control or reading, or manipulate senses and they can't Flub those rolls. And they can add up to 3 dice to such casting rolls for 1 mana a die.

Muse: They can add up to 3 dice to performance rolls for 1 mana a die.

Siren Song: Diva can "sing a gift", dividing their dice amongst the people they want to affect with it but their dodge dice are halved while they're doing so (for.. a reason?)


Domina
These are the black mages, more or less.

Starting Attributes: Might 2 Agi 2 Fitness 3 Brains 2 Allure 2 Resolve 2 Spirit 3 Luck 2.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Battle, Magic, Persuasion, and Ruse
Starting Talents:
Dominate: Anyone a Domina currently has intimidated loses 2 dice to resist their gift and allure skill rolls. They can also spend a mana point to augment an intimidation roll so it acts like a gift, making said intimidation lack for 1 hour per spirit.

Defiance: Since they're Grrrrrrrrrls they get +2 dice to rolls to resist intimidation or fright mechanics.

Magic Mastery: When casting gifts that "cause pain, damage, humiliation, manipulate the mind, sense, or involve mind reading" which is an absurdly large array of abilities, the domina get +2 dice and can boost up to 3 times.

Some Pain, Some Gain: Anytime a Domina damages someone they can spend a mana point to heal one level of health. They can also regain a point of mana whenever they kill someone with a spell, and such dead people are at -2 dice to resist being summoned, controlled, or otherwise "used" by her.


Furie
The more traditional combat/protector maga.

Starting Attributes: Might 3 Agi 3 Fitness 3 Brains 2 Allure 2 Resolve 2 Spirit 2 Luck 1.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Athletics, Battle, Magic, and Survival
Starting Talents:
Amazon Fury: Furies can spend a power point to ignore minuses to rolls due to lost health as long as those rolls involve combat, no duration given for this ability however.

Arcane Athlete: Furies an spend a mana point to buff their agility, stamina, or might by 2 for 1 minute, and they can have 2 or 3 stats buffed at once.

The Call: Furies can spend a point of mana to find someone in imminent danger in a 1 mile radius, or to know if someone that they're sworn to protect is in danger.

Gladius: Furies can make a Magical melee weapon or longbow (chosen at character creation) that ignores all non-magical armor and deals +2 dice of damage for one point of Mana.


Harpy
Broom Jockies (Cigar/cigarette count 3)

Starting Attributes: Might 2 Agi 3 Fitness 2 Brains 2 Allure 2 Resolve 2 Spirit 2 Luck 3.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Athletics, Battle, Drive and Magic
Starting Talents:
Boost: Harpies can spend a point of mana to double their flight speed for 2 rounds in combat and 1 hour out of combat.

Have Broom Will Travel: Harpies start with a free level 3 transport that must be either a flying broom or carpet.

Need for Speed: Harpies can spend a point of mana to either accelerate to their maximum aieral top speed or come to a dead stop, and they get +1 dodge while in flight and can cast gifts on brooms with no minuses to rolls regardless of the situation. I'm getting horrible flashbacks to vehicle mechanics and I haven't even touched the storytellers section yet.

Three Point Landing: Harpies can spend a point of mana to halve damage from any fall or crash while on their broom/carpet.

Wing and a Prayer: Harpies can spend a point of mana to repair their broom or carpet.

Sure... Flight is usually unbalancing in a game unless everyone has it or no one has it, so i'm not sure how this is going to work in a game.


Priestess
The priestesses of the various facets of the Godesshead, the nominal leaders of the Maga.

Starting Attributes: Might 1 Agi 1 Fitness 2 Brains 3 Allure 2 Resolve 3 Spirit 4 Luck 2.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Magic, Observation, Persuasion, and Scholastic
Starting Talents:
Avatar of the Goddesshead: Priestesses can spend a mana point either to get a free 1 dice amp to a gift (We'll go over those later) or get +2 to Allure or Brains for 1 minutes

Coven Leader: Any ritual lead by a priestess gains one extra die and can't flub. And they gain the Commune Rite, Coven Rite, and Opening Rite for free.

Favorite Daughter:Priestesses can ignore one action a day that would normally have them lose favor.

Miracle: If a Priestess is one 6 short of a crit they can spend a point of mana to invoke their god ("Yemaya's will it!) to turn it into a crit.


Regina
Ancient Witches that have been living for hundreds of years already. (cigarette count 4)

Starting Attributes: Might 1 Agi 1 Fitness 1 Brains 3 Allure 2 Resolve 3 Spirit 4 Luck 3.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Antiquity, Magic, Ruse and Savior-Faire
Starting Talents:
Legendary Gift: The Regina chooses one gift she knows. It's cast as if her spirit attribute is one higher, cannot flub it, and regains the mana spent on it if they crit

Life Ward: The Regina ignores one dice of magic damage and two dice of normal damage, and gains an extra dice to resist death.

Riches of the Ages: Reginas start with 3 dots in Lifestyle due to dead ex-lovers, shrewd investments, and "perhaps taxing peasants".

Wisdom of the Ages: Reginas start with 5 extra knowledge points to distribute up to the maximum starting value of 5


Succubus
Oh...oh..

So, Succubi aren't specifically all about Sexin people to death. But they are all about death and draining people, they also tend to make other Maga nervous. Apparently the Maga nickname for them is "Suck-Butts" and... what.


Starting Attributes: Might 3 Agi 2 Fitness 2 Brains 2 Allure 3 Resolve 2 Spirit 3 Luck 1.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Battle, Magic, Persuasion, and Ruse
Starting Talents:
Fly:Succubi can spend a mana point to fly for an hour out of combat at 200mph, or the length of one combat at 2x running speed.

Soul Eating: Succubi can drain someone's life force with a touch, if they aren't willing it requires a battle roll. They make a spirit+Fitness roll vs the Succubi's spirit(only spirit?) if the Succubi wins they drain 1 health, 1 mana, and the victim's spirit and fitness are lowered by one. Anyone who's drained by a Succubi are at -2 to resist her gifts and allure until they are fully restored.

Thrall:Succubi gain 3 ranks of thrall

Vampireic(Yes they spell it that way) They don't need to eat or breathe to live, but they are vulnerable to silver and holy items. They're at -2 dice to resist that damage.

Common Maga Abilities:
All Maga share a few abilities.

Divine Spark:A maga only ages 1 year for every SpiritXLevel years they have lived.

Earth Child: Maga ignore natural heat or cold, they can see through fog, don't get wet in rain, and don't slip on ice.

Maga Sense: Maga can sense any maga within 100 yards per spirit, though there are gifts that can hide from this sense.

Magic Sense: Maga can..sense magic somehow. The rules are confusing as to when and why but it involves a mana point and a spirit roll.

Gift Knowledge: All Maga gain access to the "Vex Gifts" list.


Patronesses
The various goddess forms that the Goddeshead takes. Each Maga is chosen by an aspect of the Goddesshead and shepherded through the ritual of rebirth by that Aspect, involving a mingling of the divine and human blood. There are limitations on Patroness selection depending on the path
Diva: Not War
Domina: Not Healing
Furie: Not Love
Succubus: Not Light
Maga unlock abilities from their patroness at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 but also impose a pledge that the Maga must follow or lose Favor(XP)

There are a LOT of patronesses and I can't copy text out of this document because each line is actually it's own PNG file. (Who the hell composed this document?) so forgive me for doing this shorthand.

Cats
Names:Bastet, "Skemet" and Freya
Of course it's loving cats. You get a familiar, cats instintively treat you with deference, You gain two Claws of Sekmet gifts for free, can grow claws and shapeshift into a cat, the pledge is to not harm cats, and not to do anything you can force someone else to do for you.

Change
Names:Circe, Eris, and Estsanatlehi
The Maga can sense if something has been changed by magic with a touch. All Circe's Laugh gifts cost one less Mana(min 1), they get +1 die to change things back, can resist gifts that change their form, make their gifts harder to undo, and their transmutations can be made permanent for free. Their pledge is to seek change, be change, and "Do not be afraid of no things".

Creation
Names:Yemaya, Mut, Yemoja, Yhi, and Papatuanuku
The character can touch anything and "learn an interesting fact about it" and all Yemaya's Will gifts cost 1 less mana. They get +2 dice to all rolls of creation(!), "cannot not" a roll involving any form of creativit, can spend a point of mana to create something that isn't a weapon, doesn't have moving parts, and weighs less than a pound, and can spend a point of mana to make a level 2 thrall or artifact for 1 hour. Their pledge is to Spread and inspire creativity and never hide your skill.

Darkness/Night
Names:Lilith, Yohaulticetl, Artume, Ratri, and Nott
The character can see in darkness normally and all Nights of Nix gifts cost 1 less mana, they can control their own shadow, they can increase the darkness of an area in a 30 foot radius, they can spend a mana point to attack someone's shadow instead of them(forcing them to use spirit to dodge), and they can spend a mana point to animate a shadow into a level 3 thrall. Their pledge is to Embrace darkness and keep all secrets you're asked to keep.


Death
Names:Hela, Kore, Mictecacihuatl, The Morrigan, Izanami-no-Mikoto, and Kalma
The character can tell if death is near for someone and all Calls of Kali gifts cost 1 less mana. The character can see ghosts, the character can interact with and harm ghosts as if they were alive, they can spend a point of mana to stave off death for themselves or another for an hour, they can temporarily raise the dead for an hour with 1 mana. Their pledge is to "Accept death and do not fear it" which seems somewhat at odds with their level 4 power.

Healing
Names:Corn Woman, Airmed, Serket, Aegle, and Eir
The maga can look at someone and 'detect their health' and all Blessing of the Blue Corn Woman gifts use 1 less mana, the maga can give someone +1 dice of fitness to fight off a disease with a touch, do the same thing with poison, They can spend a point of mana to heal one health, and they can spend a point of mana to cure any disease. The pledge is to heal the land, the sick, and bring hope to the hopeless.

Hunting
Names:Artemis, Sekmet, Banka-Mundi, Pinga, Skaol, and Devana
The Maga can speak to animals and All Arrows of Artemis gifts cost 1 less mana. The Maga gets +2 to investigate rolls, can't flub ranged attack rolls, can spend A mana point to track a magical being for an hour, and can spend a point of mana to transform into a local apex predator for an hour. Their pledge is to protect animals, not be wasteful, and to always be the hunter, not the hunted.

Knowledge
Names:Athena, Isis, Seshat, Lakshimi, Nidaba, and Saga.
The raise one skill that only uses intellect by one point and use all incant of Isis gifts at 1 less mana point. They can speak any language, read any language, can spend a mana point to gain one skill at 3 points that they didn't previously have, and can spend a point of mana to gain knowledge on anything they are touching. Their pledge is to seek and spread knowledge and fight ignorance.

Light/Sun
Names:Ameterasu, Gnowee, Ekhi, Etain, Xihe, and Arinna
The Maga can look directly into bright lights and is immune to Bright Flashes, and All Alms of Ameterasu gifts can be cast for 1 less mana. The maga can turn their hand into a flashlight, can see in any level of light that isn't complete darkness, can spend a mana to deal +1 die of damage for a minute using pure sunlight, and can create a baseball sized mini-sun for an hour with a mana point that they can use for light or as an attack. Their pledge is "Light the way, reverse the sun." gently caress them for not going 'praise the sun' and screwing up the spelling of revere.

Love
Names:Aphrodite, Xochiquetzal, Cliodhna, Hathor, Rati, and Oshun
The Maga gains the Stunning talent for free and all Aphrodite's Arts cost 1 less mana The Maga can detect love, gets +1 allure with someone they're attracted to(?), the character always looks perfect(that's shallow), and the Maga can spend 1 mana to assume the form of someone's true love(male or female) and enough information to pull off a meaningful deception(that's... terrifying). Their pledge is "Believe in Love, Have many Loves, Be Loved" and apparently gently caress with people who are truly in love because screw them.

Magic
Names:Isis, Hecate, Coyolxauhqui, Kamrusepa, Lillith, and Oya
The character gains +1 spirit, all Lilliths Lost Lamentations cost 1 less mana, the Character regains mana as if their spirit were 1 higher than it is, the character ignores 1 point of all magic damage, the character can't flub gifts, and finally can't flub the magic skill(which is used almost exclusively for gifts) The pledge is Study your Lore and study your power.

Nature
Names:Gaia, Ashanti, Nerthus, Bhumi, Nikkal, Pachamama, and Umay
The Maga knows the weather without fail, and all mysteries of mother nature gifts use 1 less mana, they can cause a storm for up to one hour, they can move through any terrain at full speed, they can imbue a fruit with 1 point of mana that can be consumed within one hour to gain a point of mana, and they can increase or decrease the severity of a storm for an hour for one mana point but can't control what it hits. Their pledge is to avenge and protect nature.

Trickster
Names:Apate, Arohirohi, and Mohini
The Maga wins all ties, and all Hecates Helpful Hexes use 1 less mana, the character's lies are -1 dice to detect, the character can't flub dodge rolls, the character can never go below 1 luck die(!!!!!) and can spend a point of mana to create an exact, fully clothed, dead duplicate of themselves. Their Pledge is to have fun, never take anything seriously, and make others laugh.

War
Names:Brigantia, Bellona, Durga, Wadjet, Pele, and Brigantia
The character gets +1 to detect an ambush and all Viva la Victoria gifts cost 1 less mana, the character's non magical attacks deal +1 dice of damage, the characters magical attacks deal +1 dice of damage, the character can't flub non-magical attacks, and the character can spend a point of mana to give their entire party +1 dice to hit and dodge. They.. apparently do not have a pledge.

Wraith
Names:Lyssa, Nemesis, Idrani, and Sekmet
Yeah.. they say Wraith at least 3 times. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Wrath.
They gain the flaw Temper and is at +1 damage dice when angry, and all Bellona's Baleful Blights cost 1 less mana, and levels 2-....6 give an additional +1 damage dice while angry Except there are only 5 levels..so.. whatever. The pledge is "MAKE THEM PAY!"

Women
Names: Hera, Atahensic, and Frigg
The Maga knows if a woman is in trouble in a 1 mile radius, and all Hera's prying eye gifts cost 1 less mana, the Maga can tell if a man has harmed a woman on sight, they know how to deliver children without fail, when attacking a man who has wronged a woman they can spend 1 mana to do 1 extra die of damage, and they can mark a man who has wronged a woman, making all women know that that man is not to be trusted until he has asked all the women who he has wronged for forgiveness. Their pledge is to Protect all women from the transgressions of men.



Cigarette count 5

Knowledge
The first line in the paragraph is "Knowledges are skills" then refer to them only as skills from then on.
Contested rolls have both of you roll dice, more successes win, uncontested skill rolls use the following chart and the DM's adjucation.

The names for the skill rankings are.. dumb. Since apparently you can't be an instructor until you've achieved a literally superhuman level of skill, and you aren't proficient until you've achieved peak human ability.




Antiquity Knowledge of history, this apparently also allows you to operate ancient equipment and "ask in a historical manner"
Arcane Knowledge(arcana), it can also be used with resolve to resist sanity crushing events.
Art ART!
Athletics Running, jumping, lifting, but not dodging.
Battle Attacking and dodging, both melee and range. This is an incredibly stupid idea
Crime Doing illegal stuff(picking locks and pockets) and dealing with criminals.
Domestic Uhh..

quote:

Knowledge of and dealing with situation around the home isn't as trivial as many think. Cooking(brains), Design(allure) are all part of this very complex skill.
The gently caress? Why is this in your "RAWR WOMYN" game? Correction: why does this need to be in any game? These things are unlikely to come up unless you really really want them to come up.
Drive Riding animals, driving cars, flying brooms or planes.
Instinct Used to detect if someone is lying, roll initiative, and an alternative dodge stat to Battle(?)
Languages

quote:

The character can speak extra language other than his native tongue per level this skill is taken.
This skill also gives the character a chance to understand languages they do not know by comparing senate and structure of languages they know as well as body language
Comparing senate? What?
Law Lawyer and Police skills

Magic Used to cast all your spells. Let me repeat that every spell uses Spirit+Magic to cast, It's also used to detect magic and to make artifacts but max this stat out for the love of gently caress.
Management Running a business... also apparently "Battle tactics". You can use the management roll as an action in combat to "remove a failure die from the rolls of an ally"...that's... that's not how the dice resolution system works... okay I re-read the gamemistress chapter and apparently 1s subtract successes and 6s count as two successes, except the dice roll examples sometimes show any combination of the resolution mechanics, and the quick reference sidebars don't mention anything of the kind. gently caress.
Medicine Apparently this covers surgery(agility), general treatment(Brains), "healing the mind"(Allure), and holistic medicine(spirit)(gently caress). Healing damage takes a giant pile of successes and only ever heals 1 health at a time.
News This is apparently the "bullshit up a knowledge roll for something you can't otherwise explain how you knew", so "i read it on wikipedia" turned into a skill set.
Observation Spot
Performance Dancing, acting, juggling, singing, and also apparently gambling?
PersuasionIntimidation, seduction, and regular old persuasion here.
RuseLying, disguises, and hiding/sneaking.
Savior Faire Knowledge(high society)
Scholastics General knowledges but it's described as "your reading, writing, and mathematics skill" in case you need to make contested speed reading rolls?
Science ALL THE SCIENCES

Survival That snake is dead, that snake is loving dead.
Technology Because knowing how to put a computer together means you know how to set up a network means you know how to hack a computer means you know how to put a car together.

Benefits and Drawbacks
Benefits cost path points and you can have a maximum of 5 points of benefits, flaws give back path points and you can have a maximum of 5 points of flaws.

Benefits
Agile Req: agility 3+, you can't flub agility rolls and have +1 dodge dice
Athlete Req: agility, Muscle, Fitness 2+ "You work out regularly and treat your body as a temple" you treat your stats as 1 higher for all lifting, running, and endurance things.
Brilliant Soul: Req: Not Domina, Succubus, or Patroness(dark). Can give an ally +1 dice to a roll for 1 mana, have +1 dice to resist dark magic, and +1 to allure rolls as long as you're "Joyful".

Dark Soul::darksouls: Req... something, though they accidentally copied the requirements from Brilliant Soul. You can spend a mana to give a foe -1 dice, +1 dice to resist light/sun magic, and +1 dice to allure while you're angry.
Elemental Blessing Pick an Element, Air, Earth, Fire, Ice, or Water. ...get a screenshot.

Famous You're famous! you get +1 to allure rols and a free level in lifestyle.
Fairy Req: Not Furie, Succubus, or Ariadnian. You were touched by the fairy part of the godhead. You can see Faeries and you can spend a point of mana to turn invisible or teleport 5 feet, you also gain a free level of art and perform.
Fast Healer You naturally heal twice as fast
Focus You can spend 1 mana to add 1 dice to a resolve roll, and never take penalties due to distractions.
Leader Req: allure 2+ and Management 2+ You can spend a point of mana to give allies within 50 feet +1 to attack or dodge rolls for a combat round.
Likeable You get +1 dice to your first allure roll as long as you're "affable".
Medium You can see ghosts and spend a point of mana to interact with them.
Natural Flight You can fly without a gift at twice your movement speed or 100mph outside of combat. and you are immune to the "Riggers" of such travels.
Night Vision Yup.
Past Life You remember your past life in the Goddesshead, you gain a free rank of Antiquitis and can spend a point of mana to gain your spirit in ranks in a skill you don't have any ranks in for one roll.
Personal Wards You ignore 1 point of damage at all times and gain a +1 dice to stabilize.
Plague You can spend a point of mana to inflict someone with a plague for an hour. Boils give -1 allure, dizziness is -1 agility, sickness is -1 fitness, stinging insects is -1 brains. They can resist with a contested spirit roll.
Polyglot You can speak all languages and gain a free rank in language.
Prophetess

quote:

The prophetess powers are a blessing and a curse. As a Blessing she knows when trouble is going her way and gains +1 Dice to avoid Surprises and to Dodge. The downside is the Goddesses Head sense her vision of possible the futures.
Psychic You can spend a mana point to read peoples thoughts or move ....your resolveX10 pounds in weight at resolveX5 feet.
Quick Recovery You recover mana twice as fast and can use health as mana if you're at 0 mana.
Scrappy Req: Muscle 2+ battle 2+, +1 dice to attack and dodge in hand to hand and you win initiative ties. it also double Furies arcane athelete durations.
Sharp Eyes +2 to rolls to notice visual cues, you can't flub search rolls.
Smite Req: any patroness but healing ...uhh... You can spend a mana point to just deal your spirit in damage up to spiritX5 feet away. That's... better than most spells as long as you're in close range.
Stunning Req: allure+2 "YOU'RE DROP DEAD GORGEOUS EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT CONVENTIONALLY BEAUTIFUL" (sound of head smacking into desk) you get +1 to allure rolls against those attracted to your gender and you can't flub allure rolls

Succubus Supreme Req: Succubus. When you drain someone to death you can spend a mana point to either turn them into a gem (Swallow the gem to gain acess to their skills and memories for an hour) a zombie(level 1 thrall) or into a single inanimate object with no moving parts.
Wealthy 3 free levels of lifestyle and you gain +1 lifestyle at levels 5 and 10.
Well Educated You can't flub brains rolls and you rain your Scholastic and 2 other brain skills by 1.

Worshipped Req Allure 2+ and Spirit 4+ You've got a group of humans that worship you as a divine being. You gain 1 point of max mana per 2 levels of your thrall and contact ratings, you gain 1 free level of thrall or contact, and you roll a d6 every day when you wake up, on a 6 you gain an extra point of luck from their exceptionally devout prayers.

Wait, I think I'm forgetting something.

Oh.

So the Goddess can pick trans-men, if she does they're forcibly de-transitioned. Can shapeshift to a :biotruths: manform that's stronger and fitter than a woman but you lose access to all your womenly magics. Can shapeshift your genitals. Gain magical Gaydar. And if you're a succubus you can soulfuck someone to death with your mandick.

Bieeardo posted:

It's even messier than that. The wording describes changing back to a fully-functional biological male, which seems to indicate she's misgendering trans women here, misusing terminology in a delightfully confusing way, erasing female-to-male trans people entirely and, my favourite, perpetuating the myth that trans people are innately untrustworthy. After all, you can never know what you'll find in their pants until you reach in... and then it's too late.

So Soto's bad at writing, and either way it's loving terrible and dismissive.

Yeah we can be done for today.

Next time: Character Creation Part 2, Flaws, Swag, and Spells.

Kurieg fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Feb 20, 2016

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

Mors Rattus posted:

Next up: Corporeal Player's Guide, Liber Canticorum or Revelations 1: Night Music?

Hooraaaay

I'd vote Night Music just so people can see peak '97 stink, and also Furfur, but I'd just as happily vote a Player's Guide.

Quinn2win
Nov 9, 2011

Foolish child of man...
After reading all this,
do you still not understand?

Kurieg posted:

Wait, I think I'm forgetting something.

This didn't start anywhere good, and went downhill fast from there.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Jesus gently caress I hate this game.

TombsGrave
Feb 15, 2008

I've spent like five minutes trying to coherently react to that... thing... and words that aren't incoherent sputtering are failing me.

CROWS EVERYWHERE
Dec 17, 2012

CAW CAW CAW

Dinosaur Gum

Kurieg posted:


Wait, I think I'm forgetting something.

Oh.

So the Goddess can pick trans-men, if she does they're forcibly de-transitioned. Can shapeshift to a :biotruths: manform that's stronger and fitter than a woman but you lose access to all your womenly magics. Can shapeshift your genitals. Gain magical Gaydar. And if you're a succubus you can soulfuck someone to death with your mandick.



I think this may be A Bad Game.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
It's even messier than that. The wording describes changing back to a fully-functional biological male, which seems to indicate she's misgendering trans women here, misusing terminology in a delightfully confusing way, erasing female-to-male trans people entirely and, my favourite, perpetuating the myth that trans people are innately untrustworthy. After all, you can never know what you'll find in their pants until you reach in... and then it's too late.

At the same time I wouldn't be surprised if trans men show up in the list of enemies, bitter at having chosen to sever themselves from the goddesshead, and empowered by the patriarchal penis-monster that's twisted them away from systerhood.

Cthulhu Dreams
Dec 11, 2010

If I pretend to be Cthulhu no one will know I'm a baseball robot.
Someone mentioned Kobal was trying to get Haagenti to redeem as a joke, is there any further expansion on that?

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

Bieeardo posted:

It's even messier than that. The wording describes changing back to a fully-functional biological male, which seems to indicate she's misgendering trans women here, misusing terminology in a delightfully confusing way, erasing female-to-male trans people entirely and, my favourite, perpetuating the myth that trans people are innately untrustworthy. After all, you can never know what you'll find in their pants until you reach in... and then it's too late.
Goddess drat it I knew I read it right the first time, then someone said I read it wrong. "She is bad at writing and either way it's loving terrible". There.

quote:

At the same time I wouldn't be surprised if trans men show up in the list of enemies, bitter at having chosen to sever themselves from the goddesshead, and empowered by the patriarchal penis-monster that's twisted them away from systerhood.

Not that I can see. For either interpretation.

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

I didn't even think of the "Trans deliberately tricking people" stereotype and now I'm even angrier at this stupid loving game.

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
That is somehow both less worse and also more worse than I thought it would be. It doesn't even seem to be actively malicious just very... :psyduck:

It feels like the kind of thing written by someone who thinks they're being progressive.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

I'm not even gonna try to read and digest that mess, puke.

Random fact I remembered from something someone said in the thread. Kobal's Word used to actually be Black Humor, when I read an alpha document of the game from loooong time ago. It got changed to Dark Humor for obvious reasons, though it's meant to evoke black humor as in extreme schadenfreude. Did not stop some of the other batty poo poo like the first few Rev Cycles had, of course.

Ettin
Oct 2, 2010
Sounds like you need a palate cleanser.



Ancient Enemies: That Is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie

So, Ancient Enemies. Last time we covered the intro and the usual boilerplate stuff, so let's go ahead and check out the next chapter.

Chapter Two: Scions of the Forgotten starts with a fluff story about an Eldritch Society lorekeeper getting stalked by a Dhohanoid. It does not go well for the Dhohanoid. This part of the book that doesn't suck, at least.

The rest of this chapter is a 34-page rundown of how the Society works. Like many "setting" books, those pages are mostly text. I'm going to assume anyone who's curious to know all the details will just get the drat book, and cut it down to the cliff notes and the silly bits.

History: A few decades ago, five years after the Children of Chaos took over Chrysalis Corp, their T99 Division found an ancient ruined city in the Arctic with "a gigantic monolith inscribed with a writing never before seen on this world". They transcribed everything on the monolith, then blew the ruin up because of loving course they did. The book spends two paragraphs describing the Corporation loving this up:

I hope this is plot-relevant later and not something that could have just not been posted:

The T99 Division’s first step was to figure out a way to translate this dead and alien language. For three months, the best and most talented linguists the Chrysalis Corporation had to offer spent all their waking hours pouring over every occult language known to humanity, hoping to get some sort of a foothold on the script. Finally, they had it and the pieces began to fall into place. Over the coming months, they translated every piece of the monolith.

The problem was, none of it made any sort of sense.

After several months of grinding away at the problem, someone finally suggested the obvious. Their cipher was wrong. It was time to start over. Another half year passed while the researchers worked to avoid the traps they’d already fallen into, but finally a real cipher was discovered.
The translations were named the Ta'ge Fragments after the supposed author. They had a secret history of the world, new rituals, and legends about a group of gods called the Forgotten Ones who weren't mentioned anywhere else before. It also went over the Old Ones, and something about the way they were portrayed made even the Dhohanoid scientists reading it question what Chrysalis was up to. Eventually twelve of them were somehow able to recover their humanity long enough to team up, steal the Fragments, wipe Chrysalis' data so hard they smashed hard drives, and cheese it. The three that made it out alive went to ground in Seattle and secretly recruited people to help them finish researching the Fragments. After someone said they were basically a secret society at this point, some chuckefuck decided they needed a name and the Eldritch Society was born.

Then the Founders talked about what to do about Chrysalis. They already knew the government was corrupt enough to be giving the Corporation sad handjobs (accurate), so coming out to the NEG sounded like suicide. Eventually they discovered the Rite of Sacred Union hidden in the Fragments, which joined a person in symbiosis with an eldritch being without compromising their humanity. They managed to rustle up six volunteers. Three died horribly and one ritual just straight-up vanished, but the remaining two became the first Tagers. After a few more attempts, they worked out that the survivors were people with "both an iron will to live combined with a desire to master the extra-dimensional entity that joined with him" and worked out a training program which upped the survival rate. By 2067, they had enough Tagers to wage war against the Chrysalis Corporation.

Then this, one of the rare parts of CthulhuTech that kind of rules:

quote:

Their children off to battle, the Founders stopped to take stock. They had done what they set out to do. They had kept the power of the Ta’ge Fragments from the Chrysalis Corporation. They had formed a formidable resistance to the cult’s predations. All of it would exist long after they were gone. The time had come, as they knew it would. The Founders were each Dhohanoids and it would only be a matter of time before the pull of the Old Ones drew them back. They had already begun to feel it and the dreams were coming more and more frequently. If they wanted their precious Eldritch Society to survive, the Founders would have to go. To be truly safe, they would need to die.

Two of the three Founders decided to be metal as gently caress and go through an assisted ritual suicide. :black101: The third, Marcus St. Xavier, decided to "find his death in nature" and wandered off into the Arctic to see if the isolation would help him "resist the call of the Old Ones" for longer. I'm sorry to whoever on the CthulhuTech staff created Marcus, but "find his death in nature" is code for "I am too much of a lovely baby to go through an extremely metal alien seppuku." Marcus is a lovely baby. The book says that nobody knows what happened to him after that to leave his return a possibility, but I hope he doesn't.

Two pages down!

Founders: The next page talks about the Founders some more and how they've become legends to the Eldritch Society. The first one, Adriana Diotrephes was their top translator. Like Marcus, her name sounds like a refugee from a Gundam fanfic. She was a hyper-intelligent Ciraqen, which means she could teleport. This "became key in both her survival and in the removal of the Ta’ge Fragments when she rebelled," but I kind of feel like if your mission had a 1/4 survival rate and at least one of your members can teleport you hosed up. Maybe it's just me. I wasn't there. I won't judge.

The second guy is Shen Meng Rui. I am just going to post this because it's kinda hosed:

quote:

Then there was Shen Meng Rui, who had started out at the Chrysalis Corporation as a project manager. However, his natural attention-deficit disorder, while it helped make him a highly efficient project manager, had also made him a jack of all trades. He was, among other things, an archaeologist, a theologian, a linguist, and an occultist. It was no surprise that the Children of Chaos had their eyes on him within a few months of starting at the company.

Shen was always looking for the new challenge. He did his best work under pressure, against odds at which others would blanch. All the Chrysalis Corporation had to do was keep presenting him with greater and more exciting challenges. By the time he was exposed to the cult within, Shen was ready to be elevated to a whole new level. Undergoing the Rite, he became a Vrykol, which only exacerbated his ADD tendencies.

You're not a jack of all trades, Shen, those skills describe half the people working dig sites in the Levant. Also, ADHD is a learning disability. Being scattered or having multiple interests is not the same thing. I don't expect designers to read the DSM before they write characters, but you could have Wikipedia'd that poo poo. :eng101:

Marcus St. Xavier was a sorcerer and Thog-Manna and a lovely baby. The names of the other rebels have been forgotten, but the Society are still trying to find their names. I feel like this is something one of the Founders would have known, though? I mean, they worked together. It's not like these three dipshits staged a dramatic revolt and then went "oh, by the way, my name is Marcus St. Xavier and rainbows make me cry" on the train to Chicago.

There are more hints that Marcus could be back one day, and apparently some Tagers hope Adriana and Shen will come back even though there are Tagers alive today who helped them die. I hope they all stay dead.

The Shadow War: The Tager-Dhohanoid slapfight. The War is still secret because the Tagers don't trust law enforcement - the government usually reacts to Tager sightings with monster-hunters in powered armour - but some Tagers are working on it. It's rough, because not only are the Chrysalis Corporation careful to cover their tracks (allegedly), but they still have plenty of politicians in their pocket. Some in the Eldritch Society are spreading information on the internet and financing "documentaries and other forms of legitimate media" to discredit the Corporation, but it hasn't done much so far. All told, even though they've set the Corporation back years, the Tagers are losing the Shadow War.

(There's also a part about how Eldritch Society double-agents who work at Chrysalis - they're usually para-psychics or Outsider Tainted, because nobody asks why you're not undergoing the Rite of Transfiguration if you're a telekinetic with a monster dick, and they usually bail in 6 months-2 years - but this part is inserted in the middle of the above section so it's a little jarring.)

A few pages in and I am already falling asleep. Next time: Skimming this chapter even harder, probably.

unseenlibrarian
Jun 4, 2012

There's only one thing in the mountains that leaves a track like this. The creature of legend that roams the Timberline. My people named him Sasquatch. You call him... Bigfoot.
I read it as it being about trans men both because of the confusing-as-gently caress language and also the general consensus of the commentary on the original tweet where I first saw it. Either way it's awful.

unseenlibrarian fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Feb 18, 2016

Count Chocula
Dec 25, 2011

WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUR ENVIRONMENT
IF YOU SEE ME POSTING OUTSIDE OF THE AUSPOL THREAD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'M MISSED AND TO START POSTING AGAIN

Simian_Prime posted:

Dominic works best as Heaven's police commissioner, telling the PC's that they're "loose cannons" and "out of line". He always threatens to take their Words, but he keeps these Angels on the edge around anyway... Because they get *results*! :dealwithit:

There was literally a show on USA that did this. It was called GvsE and it was awesome. Anyone seen the new Lucifer police procedural?

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



In addition to cigarettes I count three cases of the Witch Adults (on Adventures) fatally transforming people, plus the suspicious frog in part of the partially-melted tank.

Ettin posted:

Sounds like you need a palate cleanser.
Oh god drat it.

Man Whore
Jan 6, 2012

ASK ME ABOUT SPHERICAL CATS
=3



My favorite part about this Bellum Maga game was how the introduction already implies how everyone from small towns are racist rapists who are all idiots. Yeah thanks rear end in a top hat.

Man Whore fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Feb 18, 2016

WINNERSH TRIANGLE
Aug 17, 2011


stardust crusaders lookin' good

quote:


Wild shape (dysphoria) 3/day
Detect gaydar at will, 3 rounds concentration.

WINNERSH TRIANGLE
Aug 17, 2011



Sorry to double post but I'm sickeningly entranced by Daria Pierre Polnareff here's giant muscle-y arm and normal arm, and her giant muscle-y leg and normal leg, on opposite sides.

Hostile V
May 31, 2013

Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

God drat it, the more I look the more the redhead looks like Kakyoin.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

I could kinda see Bellum Maga as a villain group in a (Council-focused) Dresden Files game. There's this rapidly-spreading group of warlocks with outright gleeful disregard for the First, Second and Fourth Laws. Their adherents are gaining magical power way too quickly, we suspect backing by some entity from the deep Nevernever. Winter Court? Current evidence suggests not. Wardens are urged to clamp down as hard as possible before this becomes a permanent threat.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



Or, alternately, you could not use them at all because they're like Kate Beaton's Straw Feminists. In fact Kate Beaton's straw feminists would work better if you had to have them as antagonists of some kind.

I swear, Reign of Steel had a more respectful treatment of feminist issues, and that literally called the group GRRL.

NutritiousSnack
Jul 12, 2011

WINNERSH TRIANGLE posted:



Sorry to double post but I'm sickeningly entranced by Daria Pierre Polnareff here's giant muscle-y arm and normal arm, and her giant muscle-y leg and normal leg, on opposite sides.

i'm glad america called in the military to wipe out her brony rear end

Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

WINNERSH TRIANGLE posted:



Sorry to double post but I'm sickeningly entranced by Daria Pierre Polnareff here's giant muscle-y arm and normal arm, and her giant muscle-y leg and normal leg, on opposite sides.

I love how detailed the women look, but when you look at the soldiers, you can tell there's some wonkiness in the art, like the rifle on the guy on the left and the helmet on the guy on the right.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
Yeah sure, only then can you tell that the art might be wonky.

Man Whore
Jan 6, 2012

ASK ME ABOUT SPHERICAL CATS
=3



I can't tell if the soldier on the right is very concerned about the straw feminists nonchalantly walking towards him or is very unconcerned and just yelling things at people behind the camera.

LatwPIAT
Jun 6, 2011

Kurieg posted:

Ariadnian

Cybermancy: Ariadnian can spend a mana to control any piece of technology with a circuit board. She can also see and decode wireless signals and increase their strength or shut them down entirely.

You mean "any circuit bored in her line of site". :goonsay:

Kurieg posted:

Imbue Technology:Aradnians can enchant items with mana allowing them to cast gifts. (Including healing gifts that activate when the maga falls "uncurious") This is, however, broken, because to imbue an item you need to pay it's full mana cost+1, but after that you can recharge it for just a single mana point. I shouldn't need to point out that is broken.

First, They can imbue technological items with magical spells that go off when the item is used, which raises the question of how you can activate the item when you fall unconscious uncurious. They can "set the perimeters on one the gift activates.", revealing that Soto has managed to spell "when" as "one", making me wonder if she's actually writing this thing with speech-to-text software.

Kurieg posted:

Domina
These are the black mages, more or less.

All Dominas are "Bossy and confident to the point of arrogance they wield magic with the sadist glee of a pyromaniac with a blowtorch.", because when you pick your splat, you should also be forced into a narrow stereotype of a personality, in true World of Darkness fashion.

Kurieg posted:

Furie
The more traditional combat/protector maga.

Starting Attributes: Might 3 Agi 3 Fitness 3 Brains 2 Allure 2 Resolve 2 Spirit 2 Luck 1.
Starting Knowledge: Arcane, Athletics, Battle, Magic, and Survival
Starting Talents:
Amazon Fury: Furies can spend a power point to ignore minuses to rolls due to lost health as long as those rolls involve combat, no duration given for this ability however.

Arcane Athlete: Furies an spend a mana point to buff their agility, stamina, or might by 2 for 1 minute, and they can have 2 or 3 stats buffed at once.

The Call: Furies can spend a point of mana to find someone in imminent danger in a 1 mile radius, or to know if someone that they're sworn to protect is in danger.

Gladius: Furies can make a Magical melee weapon or longbow (chosen at character creation) that ignores all non-magical armor and deals +2 dice of damage for one point of Mana.

Unlike the combat-focused Domina, the Furie is combat-focused. Also, note that their abilities have absolutely no other use than combat. If you play a Furie, all your powers are based on fighting, so I guess you'll just sit around doing nothing when there's nothing to fight (or cast magic, I guess?)

Kurieg posted:

Harpy
Broom Jockies (Cigar/cigarette count 3)

Sure... Flight is usually unbalancing in a game unless everyone has it or no one has it, so i'm not sure how this is going to work in a game.

And they can do nothing else. That's their niche. Flying.

Kurieg posted:

Priestess
The priestesses of the various facets of the Godesshead, the nominal leaders of the Maga.

Avatar of the Goddesshead: Priestesses can spend a mana point either to get a free 1 dice amp to a gift (We'll go over those later) or get +2 to Allure or Brains for 1 minutes

Do you think it's a coincidence that Minerva's Path is probably the most powerful one? I mean, +1 amp to any spell for mana and +2 to an Attribute it far, far more useful that what most other Paths get, like "+2 to art".

Kurieg posted:

Favorite Daughter:Priestesses can ignore one action a day that would normally have them lose favor.

In other words, because you're a priestess you're held to a lower standard and can get away with being a total oval office because the Goddesshead applies unfair standards. Clearly, the Patriarchy's rebellion against the corrupt and oppressive Goddesshead is further justified.

Kurieg posted:

Regina
Ancient Witches that have been living for hundreds of years already. (cigarette count 4)

Life Ward: The Regina ignores one dice of magic damage and two dice of normal damage, and gains an extra dice to resist death.

Riches of the Ages: Reginas start with 3 dots in Lifestyle due to dead ex-lovers, shrewd investments, and "perhaps taxing peasants".

Wisdom of the Ages: Reginas start with 5 extra knowledge points to distribute up to the maximum starting value of 5

Unlike the rest of the Paths, Reginas actually don't have any special magical abilities. Every benefit they have comes from having lived a long life. Also note that one way they can have gained all this money is through "taxing peasants", which gives of a weird classist undertone that in the feminist revolution, it's totally OK to steal money from the poor, as long as you're a woman when you do it. :ussr:

Kurieg posted:

Succubus
Oh...oh..

So, Succubi aren't specifically all about Sexin people to death.

No, but as the text notes, they all like sexing other people to death. Let's see, what other notes did I make about the Succubi? Ah, yes:

"I guess this is an attempt at reclaiming negative portrayals, but I feel it undermines the revolutionary aspect here, especially when taken together with all the other stuff. Conventional standards of beauty are a lie of the Patriarchy, but Circe looks like [previously linked picture] and Selena is conventionally cute with washboard abs. The Patriarchy has waged a war against women, but cannibalistic Succubi who need to drain people's life, often through sex? Actually a thing."

It's also worth noting that the text says Succubi have to drain people, but there's no mechanical enforcement of this. As they can fly without a brooms and carpets, they're also pretty much a huge gently caress-you to Harpies, since they can do what Harpies do about as well and get more abilities. They get thralls, because feminism is perfectly fine with using your sexuality to turn people into slaves. It's like Soto has learned what feminism is about from SubmissiveMenWhoLoveFemdom.com.

Kurieg posted:

Knowledge
The first line in the paragraph is "Knowledges are skills" then refer to them only as skills from then on.
Contested rolls have both of you roll dice, more successes win, uncontested skill rolls use the following chart and the DM's adjucation.

Two things:

One, the game makes you roll for leaping over small logs. Two, it takes four successes to jump a fence. I didn't bother learning the critical rule, but I think that's incidental to the fact that you basically need eight dice to jump a fence consistently.

Kurieg posted:

Domestic Uhh..

The gently caress? Why is this in your "RAWR WOMYN" game? Correction: why does this need to be in any game? These things are unlikely to come up unless you really really want them to come up.

Well, it's been a tenet of Third Wave Feminism that it's no good to demonize the traditionally feminine, and that traditionally female work should not be denigrated or considered "lesser" than traditionally male jobs. Hence there's nothing particularly wrong with including a Housekeeping ability, since Housekeeping is difficult and valuable (but undervalued) work. You could totally write a microRPG about feminism that is crushing brutal is traditionally feminine work is not valued, and teach that Housekeeping is an important aspect of living a good life for men and women alike.

That is not this game.

Lethe, my feminisms are rustled. Can we get a "crying de Beauvoir" smiley?

Hunt11
Jul 24, 2013

Grimey Drawer

Man Whore posted:

I can't tell if the soldier on the right is very concerned about the straw feminists nonchalantly walking towards him or is very unconcerned and just yelling things at people behind the camera.

He looks like he is working in a fast food place and is yelling an order back into the kitchen.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy
Bill Webb's Book of Dirty Tricks

Part 4: Time Wasters

(the point of this chapter is rather self-explanatory)

Fake Secret Door

So we learned from the earlier part that Bill Webb doesn't just let you roll to open a secret door: you have to figure out how to do manually/mechanically manipulate the doohickeys in the door to get it to open. He had a bad experience at a con game where the player party was composed of eight elves, which meant that they'd always find secret doors, since OD&D lets elves find secret doors on a 1 or 2 result of a 1d6 roll.

To extract a measure of payback (and he does explicitly use the word "payback"), you can throw a secret door that does nothing:

quote:

One panel in the hallway has an obvious crack in it. If the crack is inspected, it is noted that there is a thick layer of plaster covering a 4-foot-by-4-foot wall section. Behind the plaster is a strange panel. The stone of the panel is dark gray, contrasting with the lighter gray of the main section of wall. On the panel are 11 buttons.

The buttons do nothing besides push in and out, and neither does the wall panel. The only noticeable effect is that a maximum of three buttons can be pushed in at the same time. Pushing a fourth button causes one of the others to reset in the “out” position.

You're supposed to let the players futz around with this for as long as possible. His con game story ends with the players spending an entire real-time hour and six wandering monster checks before they left the fake door alone.

False Adventure Lead

quote:

Another nasty thing to do to your players is to create a fake adventure lead. This trick is occasionally necessary to ensure your campaign does not feel like it’s being run by a train conductor. After all, if every adventure lead is real, then you are really leading the players around by the nose rather than letting them explore and find things themselves.

He recommends things like fake treasure maps, false rumors, writings that lead nowhere and say nothing once deciphered, and puzzles that reward nothing once solved. The reasoning seems to be that it's more "real" if not every quest the players undertake is a productive one. He cites Harry Potter as an example: one of the Horcruxes was replaced by a fake one.

To his credit, he does say that you should use this trick with caution: if too many storyline leads aren't real, then the players won't want to play for any of them. Perhaps he's missed the irony of that statement in a book filled with false leads.

The example of play is about a con-man that sells the group a treasure map that describes a cave so many leagues from town, except nothing's there. The map is impervious to the Read Languages spell because, as Webb puts it, if the faux-Runic scrawl is just nonsense random gobbledygook then there's really nothing to decode, even when magic is used.

Finally, he says that such things dovetail well with draining the players of their loot, because they just paid the con-man 1000 GP for a fake map.

Magic Key (Does Nothing)

If you give the players a key, and especially a magic key, they will spend hours hunting for its matching lock.

quote:

Imagine a magical mystery key found in Rappan Athuk. I have done this, and had players explore 5 or 6 levels of the dungeon looking for a nonexistent lock. I wanted them in the dungeon, but needed the key as a carrot to keep them looking around.

Unobtainium

This is the one that some of you might be familiar with: show the players a massive treasure hoard, but make it completely impractical to extract. He mentions the massive mithril gates at the start of Rappan Athuk as a specific example.

quote:

Creating large treasures that the players cannot easily obtain is fun, but beware: Six players may be smarter than one GM. You really need to be cautious to prevent them from developing a plan where they actually do get the 2 million gp thing out of the dungeon.

Everything since the end of the houserules section has so far been one big gently caress-you after another, and he just keeps upping the ante when he tells the GM that he should deliberately craft the dungeon in such a manner that creative solutions by the players should not be allowed to work.

His example of play is to prevent a large cave in the middle of the desert. The interior of the cave is encrusted with huge crystals, all sorts of gems, and the interior walls are just one huge vein of raw gold.

And the players cannot access any of it because the crystals are larger than the cave's mouth, the gold needs to be melted down and refined before it will be honored as coinage, the cave will collapse even if you get manage to mine the gold or try to widen the cave's mouth, the cave-in is a save-or-die that still inflicts 6d6 damage on a successful save, and there's only 6 man-days of air if a cave-in happens, a cave-in needs 3d6 days to be tunneled out of, and assuming you survived all of that, you'll leave the cave to find that you're in the middle of a desert.

Extra Heavy Flavor Text

quote:

The players all got geared up every time the GM’s flavor text got heavy. One of the things I have tried to do over the years is to buff up the flavor text in dire and non-threatening situations. If you can make a harmless situation appear to be dire (e.g. “the blue flowers are unlike any you have ever seen before,” or “the wind blowing through the trees sounds like a strange voice whispering on the wind”), you can get players to waste their characters’ spells, sit on the edge of their seats, and better yet, become complacent when the danger is real.

The other thing that stood out to me in this section is that you should never describe a goblin as "a goblin", or a ghoul as "a ghoul".

quote:

Always use descriptive language when talking about a monster. A ghoul is far more intimidating as “a leathery gray-skinned creature with three-inch claws and red, piercing eyes that emits a howl of glee as it hops toward you, its mouth foaming with pus and blood.”

I have had a 6th-level party run away from a single ghoul by doing this.

This is perhaps not explicitly bad GMing advice, but it is almost word for word the same kind of advice that you get in the GM section of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, another old-school D&D retroclone, except that one is focused on Gothic Horror.

Anyway, it is very much a time waster: describe the depth of the pool, elaborate on how the water ripples, and remark about how the color seems just a little bit odd. The players will investigate the pool for a while, and find nothing.

Or maybe there really is a sharktopus waiting to eat them when they get too close to it.

Or maybe they'll take a sip of water in curiosity, only to find that it's perfectly drinkable fresh water.
Or maybe not.

Monkeys Typing Shakespeare

This is pretty much an extension of the False Adventure Lead: every so often drop a scroll or put some dungeon graffiti that either cannot be deciphered via any means because the writings are literally not of any actual language, or it's just random words that the players will spookily wonder and make assumptions about.

Buttons and Levers

This is like the Fake Secret Door trick, but you don't even need elves to gently caress with the players. Just place some random buttons and levers across the dungeon and have the players manipulate them. Except they don't do anything.

Or maybe they actually do and it releases a crushing ceiling trap. And yes, he actually does say this.

Up Next: Part 6: The book's biggest sin yet - a Monty Python reference

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer

Kurieg posted:

Not that I can see. For either interpretation.

Small mercies, there.

Poison Mushroom posted:

That is somehow both less worse and also more worse than I thought it would be. It doesn't even seem to be actively malicious just very... :psyduck:

It feels like the kind of thing written by someone who thinks they're being progressive.

It's the Magical Tranny trope from that sidebar in the Mage20 review all over again, with all its misguided ugliness and then some.

Ettin posted:

Then there was Shen Meng Rui, who had started out at the Chrysalis Corporation as a project manager. However, his natural attention-deficit disorder, while it helped make him a highly efficient project manager, had also made him a jack of all trades. He was, among other things, an archaeologist, a theologian, a linguist, and an occultist. It was no surprise that the Children of Chaos had their eyes on him within a few months of starting at the company.

This is so specific, so laudatory, that it smells suspiciously of author insertion. The kind that a self-diagnosed teenager with a habit of browsing Wikipedia might construct.

Comrade Koba
Jul 2, 2007

gradenko_2000 posted:

Bill Webb's Book of Dirty Tricks

So we learned from the earlier part that Bill Webb doesn't just let you roll to open a secret door: you have to figure out how to do manually/mechanically manipulate the doohickeys in the door to get it to open. He had a bad experience at a con game where the player party was composed of eight elves, which meant that they'd always find secret doors, since OD&D lets elves find secret doors on a 1 or 2 result of a 1d6 roll.


Yeah, when a throwaway gimmick ability for once turns out to be actually useful to the players, that's clearly a bad gaming experience.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

LatwPIAT posted:

Unlike the combat-focused Domina, the Furie is combat-focused. Also, note that their abilities have absolutely no other use than combat. If you play a Furie, all your powers are based on fighting, so I guess you'll just sit around doing nothing when there's nothing to fight (or cast magic, I guess?)

"Traditional combat"-focused is what I mean. Domina's about combat magic, Furie's about beating people to death with magic swords.

However both of them are nowhere near as effective as just turning someone into a frog due to the way the hit point system is designed. I'd say that's intentional but that would also mean that Soto's proficient enough at game design to include something subversive like that.

LatwPIAT
Jun 6, 2011

Kurieg posted:

"Traditional combat"-focused is what I mean. Domina's about combat magic, Furie's about beating people to death with magic swords.

Oh, I wasn't critiquing an oversight - just noting to people who are fortunate enough to have never read this thing that there's significant overlap in niches. Which isn't always a bad thing, but it's strange when most niches don't overlap and some suddenly do. Like, if you were to describe these Paths, it's "well this one fights really good, and this one fights really good with a dominatrix theme".

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Cthulhu Dreams posted:

Someone mentioned Kobal was trying to get Haagenti to redeem as a joke, is there any further expansion on that?

It is a (fairly popular) fanon thing.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Kurieg posted:

"Traditional combat"-focused is what I mean. Domina's about combat magic, Furie's about beating people to death with magic swords.

However both of them are nowhere near as effective as just turning someone into a frog due to the way the hit point system is designed. I'd say that's intentional but that would also mean that Soto's proficient enough at game design to include something subversive like that.
Based on evidence from earlier works, making transforming people into helpless or fatal-for-them poo poo might have intentionally been made really easy, but not for subversive reasons. :gonk:

potatocubed
Jul 26, 2012

*rathian noises*

gradenko_2000 posted:

Unobtainium
This is the one that some of you might be familiar with: show the players a massive treasure hoard, but make it completely impractical to extract. He mentions the massive mithril gates at the start of Rappan Athuk as a specific example.

I ran Rappan Athuk many years ago, and my players made a beeline for every single one of the goddamn 'unobtainable' treasures in that place. The mithril doors, the other mithril doors, the bridge of solid gold that's really just molten gold in a bridge-shaped wall of force...

The problem is that Rappan Athuk doesn't tell you how to stop players from stealing these things. It just says 'they can't have this, and if they do somehow get it the Sultan of the Efreet who is 60th level will show up and kill them and take his pissing bridge back'. (Literally. If the players manage to steal the golden bridge you're supposed to just drop a 60th-level efreet on them.) Since I was trying to be a fair GM instead of an rear end in a top hat I couldn't think of plausible ways to block every attempt to steal the bridge, and I didn't want to arbitrarily kill them for taking the treasure. Luckily instead of selling it and breaking the game over their collective knee they just installed it in their palatial estate.

They broke that game by strip-mining the dungeon and selling the stone.

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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
My approach to that sort of thing in the games I've run has usually been "It's not REALLY made out of [insert exotic, expensive material here], it's just magicked up to look like it to impress visitors. Contractors are cheap, even when they're industrial archmages."

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