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Davin Valkri posted:So the best way to handle them is with mining charges? Then sell the fragments for a fortune on the rare-earths market. Miners vs vampires!
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Mar 3, 2016 09:33
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Angelic Player's Guide: Holy War The experience of the Fall takes some time. First, you become Outcast, your dissonance causing you to think and act contrary to your nature. You no longer have direction, but you still have a chance to correct yourself. If you do not, you Fall. It is painful, disorienting. First, you feel as if falling from a great height, despite not moving, and you can feel the diminishing power of the Symphony's music within you. Then the pain comes - white fire in every portion of the being. The pain lasts only a moment, but it seems to last forever, twisting and warping you into your polar opposite. As the pain ends, you awaken to an utterly new outlook, and most of the time, you rarely realize how twisted it has become. The Elohim are uniquely strange in their Fall. Habbalah born in Hell have a hard enough time believing themselves angels, and it is even harder to grasp how a Fallen Elohite could persist in this madness. The answer is in their 'repressed' nature. While Elohim must be objective at all times, they still feel emotion and passion, they just can't express it. Even as angels, it's not easy. As an Elohite becomes dissonant, their objective resolve weakens. They begin to slip. Being able to express themselves becomes addictive, and they eventually find it hard to maintain objectivity. They try desperately to keep their raging emotions in check. By the time they are Outcast, their emotions are dangerous, uncontrollable. Once the Fall, it is a breath of fresh air. They can act on and experience all their passions. So, how do they retain the belief that they are angels? It is because they feel they have received Heaven's blessing on their emotions, that they have received a new duty. They will teach others by example what the right way to live is. The Fellen Elohim are, you see, utterlyi nsane, driven mad by their passions. That is how they believe they are still angels. Your friends are likely to notice dissonance before anyone else. They'll try to see what's up, but will not at first be worried about a Fall. Not until you become very dissonant - at which point most of your friends iwll confront you and begin treating you like a junkie. If you become Outcast, most of your friends will probably abandon you, having done everything they could to prevent it and failed. Dominic especially frowns on associating with Outcasts. Seraphim will usually try to help dissonant friends that are helping themselves - but if they think you aren't being honest with yourself and working to fix it, they will lecture you without mercy and may even report you. Cherubim are caring, but favor a tough love approach - the sort of folks who guard the locked door while you go through withdrawal. Ofanim rarely notice dissonance in others and are very bad at helping people with it. Elohim get nervous around dissonance and will go to great lengths to help you get rid of it. Malakim despise dissonance and are unlikely to be even slightly sympathetic to you - they want you to rid yourself of it or die. Kyriotates will give you opinions and how they'd fix it, then leave you to do what you think is right. Mercurians are caring, understanding and will listen for however long it takes, then work to help you get rid of it. Every Archangel reacts to dissonance in their own way. Blandine pays little attention to it unless it gets in the way of her orders. If it becomes a noticeable problem, she usually gives a chance to redeem yourself. If that fails, she calls in Dominic. David does not tolerate dissonance. He gives the less dissonant a chance to fix things...but if they fail, he destroys them. Dominic treats dissonance with even less tolerance than anyone else. The subtly dissonant are watched and given a chance to redeem themselves...but if they stray, they will die. Eli lets his angels do whatever. Gabriel is under too much strain to even notice dissonance, but would be more likely to destroy a heavily dissonant angel than rehabilitate them. Janus is unpredictable - what he does depends entirely on his mood. Jean is a micromanager, but will let you do whatever as long as your work doesn't suffer. If he spots your dissonance, he will tell you what must be done to rmeove it, and will do so as long as you do what he says. Jordi is a primal Archangel, and he destroys any angel that becomes so dissonant as to be unhelpful, but ignores it until that point. Laurence will let dissonance slide briefly, if you seem to be trying to remove it, but if it goes too far, he'll kill you. Marc has a simple rule - if you're acting stupid, you're bad for profits. He'll try to counsel and rehabilitate you, working closely with you to get rid of dissonance...but if you're too far gone or resistant to his help, well, you have to be let go. Michael is actually rather forgiving - if you can get rid of your dissonance and ask forgiveness, he'll be firm but fair. He'll want you to do something hard, but if you succeed, all is forgiven. Novalis is compassionate, doing what she can for the dissonant...but, well, not all of them survive her attempts to save them. Yves ignores dissonance in his angels. No apparent reason.  Most demons aren't understanding enough to notice dissonance in an angel until they become Outcast. At that point...well, an Outcast has no friends and is weak, and dmeons love tormenting them. Those that truly understand, however, learn to recognize symptoms of dissonance. The Fallen are especially good at this. If possible, they try to manipulate you into situations that will cause more turmoil and dissonance, in order to make you frustrated, approachable and suggestible. They want you to be warped, to have Heaven turn its back on you. A dissonant angel is a possible recruit, but an Outcast is a probable one. Once you become Outcast, all efforts get even more active. They'll do all they can to further your decline and reinforce your insecurities. Those that seem to be trying to redeem themselves are attacked - Hell would rather lose a recruit than see Heaven regain an angel. If you do Fall, though, chaos ensues. Every Prince knows how useful the Fallen are, and you'll be up for grabs. The demons who were working on you will fight each other to claim you for their Prince. The Pricnes themselves will work to recruit you, even being civil in their attempts. It's an infernal bidding war, after all. Everyone wants a Fallen angel. Once you do get recruited...well, sometimes you're treated with suspicion, as your loyalty is unproven. You will probably be powerless for a time as your brain is picked for any knowledge you have of Heaven's movements. But sometimes the Fallen are treated with preference. They are very useful, after all, and so can be treated with care and given power. It depends on your Prince. Saminga doesn't do anything but threats, while Baal is generous to the Fallen. Either way, once you Fall you immediately become the infernal analog of your Choir. You lose all attunements, your resonance swaps over, you regenerate Essence at nightfall...and, initially, you can't get to hell on your own. You can, however, follow a demon down to it, or enter it via Beleth's Tower. Once you choose a Prince, you get your Band attunement and access to Rites. Your Prince will create a Heart for you, allowing you to descend to Hell at will. You may receive more, depending on how well you managed the courting process and how useful oyu are to your new Prince in terms of knowledge of Heaven's plans.  Your new demonic comrades, of course, will not be so generous. At best, they will mock and haze you. If you didn't get much power, well, you're going to have to tolerate jokes about tarnished halos for a while. They might welcome you, but they're still demons and you're the new guy. However, if you got a lot of favor or power out of it, they'll resent you. They may team up against you, and make you have to work twice as hard to get anything done. This is especially true if you get endorsed for a Word. Your Prince probably won't even mind much if they kill you - if you can't hold your own, well, gently caress you. Over time, however, the ridicule and resentment fade as you prove your usefulness or establish your strength. This could take months or centuries, depending on how you act. The Malakim are as pecial case. No Malakite has ever Fallen. Ever. They do generate dissonance, of course, but they work hard to avoid it. Most Malakim love their work and have total faith in their duty, Archangel and God. They don't gain dissonance often because...well, they like their jobs and don't need to disobey their oaths. They also active try to get rid of any dissonance, out of both pride and survival instinct. If they can't remove dissonance for some reason, most will immediately turn it into Discord once they get 2+ points - it's shameful, but it's preferable to dissonance. and third, the Malakim police themselves. A dissonant Malakite is a pariah in their Choir, and they watch themselves carefully. If you show too much Discord or dissonance, your Choirmates will hunt you down. And if you become Outcast, their zeal in trying to destroy you is unmatched. They'd rather lose a few incautious Malakim than risk sullying their ranks. Even if you were to get past them, however, Malakim can't Fall. Outcast Malakim who fail dissonacne rolls instead gain Discord. However, it is theoretically possible that a dissonant and Outcast Malakite captured by Hell could Fall. There's no proof that it can't happen. So...it hasn't happened yet, but none of the Malakim are willing to take the chance. Finally, we get new rules for weapons. They're boring. The End! Next up: Infernal Player's Guide, Liber Canticorum or Revelations 1?
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Mar 3, 2016 17:32
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Infernal. Let's ride this to the end.
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Mar 3, 2016 17:39
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I vote Infernal Players' Guide, both because we should round both sides out, and because I can't find my copy any more and would like to be reminded of what's in it. (I think the binding utterly and completely fell apart and I tossed it.) E: You should absolutely include a picture of the amazing cover. PantsOptional fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Mar 3, 2016 |
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Mar 3, 2016 17:39
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 OPPOSITION FORCES, PART 5  Elizabeth Bathory Born in 1560, allegedly died in 1614. Once fed a former lover to dogs when she found out about his infidelity. Most famously, according to overwhelming testimony of servants and other witnesses, Bathory tortured and killed upwards of six hundred serving girls. For what crimes they could prove, the court ordered her sealed within Cachtice Castle. Once she was locked away, she had all the time in the world to study occult methods for surviving her eventual death.  Edom No way. If Edom had access to Bathory, they wouldn't need Dracula. Conspiracy Maybe Bathory became one of Dracula's Brides after her husband was appointed commander of Hungary's armies in 1578. Maybe Dracula was a guest at her torture rituals. If Dracula pulls a strategic retreat, Cachtice Castle might be one of the places he goes. Independent Bathory figured out on her own how to turn herself into a vampire. Faking her own death, she escaped Cachtice as a cloud of mist and began establishing her own faction. She's now in Bratislava behind a financial shieldwall, running a human trafficking circle through the Romanian mafia. If they're feeling lucky, the agents could try to play Bathory against Edom and Dracula. As an independent vampire, Bathory's stats change a bit. She gains the powers Magic and Regeneration - if she bathes in blood, she recovers all Health and gains +6 Aberrance, +6 Health and +1 Damage and takes 1/3rd damage from all attacks until the next sunrise. Her "obey sire" compulsion is replaced with "torture and maim victims". quote:General Abilities: Aberrance 35, Hand-to-Hand 21, Health 21, Weapons 6  Cerneati An ancient race of neanderthal-like sub-giants, swarming underground to telluric nodes of natural radiation. They make good, if unsubtle, muscle for vampires. Not just immune to but actively seeking out harmful radiation, incidents like Chernobyl may have been steps towards preparing the surface world for the cerneati.  Edom Maybe a century of research has revealed the secrets of attracting cerneati to unfortunate targets. Maybe the Seward Serum slowly turns you into one. Maybe that legacy is the secret behind some of the obscure locations outlined later, such as Cross Angel Cold Storage or Slains Castle. Conspiracy Excellent guardians for one of Dracula's capstone adventures. What makes a final dungeon more of a deathtrap? How about deadly radiation? quote:Irradiated Dust: Coated in a film of radioactive dust - treat exposure like anthrax. Ability lost if it's doused in water.  Jenglot There's an old woman named Soraya, in the vicinity of the Vanderpool Glass-House, moving like a bundle of dry twigs and surviving on duck eggs alone. She lives alone aside from her life-long guardian, the jenglot Mama Emas. Mama Emas is only a few inches toll, and feeds on the blood of her descendants. In return, she protects those who would do her brood harm, and Soraya repays her by protecting Mama Emas. Maybe in exchange for a lifetime of service, Mama Emas will reveal the secret to her unnatural life. Any of the legacies may have picked up a jenglot over the years, either having fed on its host for decades or only recently returning to life as a response to Dracula's reawakening. A modern, 'Victorian' jenglot might instead take the form of a porcelain doll, waiting for the overly curious amidst a pile of dusty antiques.  Edom The jenglot were discovered to make for excellent security systems - one might be assigned to a key staff member for their own protection. Jenglots are produced at an Edom research facility, and are supposed to destroyed after the owner dies or retires. However, some have survived. Conspiracy Dracula may have the telluric secret that turns a human into a jenglot. He could use them as bodyguards for key human underlings, or he may be able to make twisted versions that seek out and destroy a family instead of protecting it. quote:General Abilities: Aberrance 8, Hand-to-Hand 6, Health 5  Jin-Gui One of Dracula's Brides (or maybe Dracula himself) took refuge in China after 1894. While there, Daoist sorcery - or the Haiyuan earthquake of 1920, if you want to stay telluric - created a new strain of vampires. Jin-gui are reanimated from preserved corpses, instead of turning immediately upon death. Jin-gui retain fragmented memories of their lives, which could be as long ago as the 5th century BCE. They can maintain a temporary illusion of life, and perform unrivaled feats of arcane sorcery. Best used as a boss fight for one of Dracula's nodes or a Hong Kong Edom cell. Could also be a Chinese government vampire project. quote:General Abilities: Aberrance 18, Hand-to-Hand 12, Health 8, Weapons 12  Lilith The mythological precursor to Lilith is the Babylonian Lilîtu, who drank the life of children. In one medieval tale of Lilith and King Solomon, she has no reflection in the mirror. The point is, watch out.  Independent The word definitely isn't "innocent" here, but she's a bystander to Dracula's war. Lilith maintains a cult of supporters around the world, recruiting women from difficult conditions and delicate positions. A 1-point Human Terrain spend identifies The Anthropologist as a priestess of Lilith. Meeting her allows a 2-point Vampirology spend to determine that Lilith is not, in fact, the ancient goddess, but is someone more recent. Maybe an unrecorded daughter of Vlad, born at the moment he became a vampire. Whoever she is, she desires to get her hands on any artifacts describing the mythological Lilith as part of her PR campaign. She's currently searching for the Zohar of Moses de Leon, to find the remains of an ancient vampire who was also called Lilith. Ally Lilith's enture network is based on the idea of being a viable alternative when Dracula falls. Negotiation brings Lilith to the agents' side, as long a Dracula is posing a visible threat. Tradecraft identifies how deep her organization is buried within the CIA, Edom, and even Dracula's conspiracy. Her name can be invoked on Intimidation checks. Conspiracy Lilith and Dracula are united by the bonds of family - depending on her origins, she could be his daughter, his bride, or just his partner in crime. Dracula's learned from the Lilith of legend, and offers her a place not as his subordinate, but as his equal. Now, she's a double agent controlling many seemingly anti-Dracula assets and posing as Dracula's enemy. quote:General Abilities: Aberrance 50, Hand-to-Hand 33, Health 33 Next: The last pile of supervillains.
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Mar 3, 2016 17:41
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Yeah, I remember a certain webcomic from the old bad webcomic thread that was rather singularly focused on witches and transformation. And in their FAQ there was a outright question of whether or not it was a sex thing, and they're like "Nope! We just think it's fun." And it's actually a depressingly common thing with a lot of the more niche fetishes it seems like, since a lot of people seem wired to think that if you don't have nudity or PIV intercourse then obviously it isn't sexual right? It really is just "Deviantart: the Witchening."
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Mar 3, 2016 17:42
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A lot of this flavor is actually really cool. Edit I should really check if there's a new page before replying. I meant In Nomine's flavor. 
girl dick energy fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Mar 3, 2016 |
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Mar 3, 2016 17:50
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Man, the early drafts for Lose Yourself were really rough
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Mar 3, 2016 17:50
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gradenko_2000 posted:It actually has been retrocloned: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/156530/For-Gold--Glory Excellent.
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Mar 3, 2016 18:09
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Asimo posted:In fairness, it can be hard to tell between no self-awareness and desperate plausible deniability. Certainly, the thing that tends to bug me more about that sort of fetishism tends to be the denial more than the fetishism itself. If WGA positioned itself as a game for transformation fetishists that wanted to live out sociopathic fantasies and said so I'd be like "well that's creepy and I certainly don't want to play it but whatever", but no, it has to act at being a game for kids, and that's where things go past problematic and more into "NO".
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Mar 3, 2016 18:38
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Certainly, the thing that tends to bug me more about that sort of fetishism tends to be the denial more than the fetishism itself. If WGA positioned itself as a game for transformation fetishists that wanted to live out sociopathic fantasies and said so I'd be like "well that's creepy and I certainly don't want to play it but whatever", but no, it has to act at being a game for kids, and that's where things go past problematic and more into "NO". And I think that's why everyone's reaction is so strong - is the recognition is the authors get off to the setting, and the sense you are by-proxy acting out their fetishes, and given it's targeted at pre-teen/teen girls... bleugh.
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Mar 3, 2016 19:42
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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA Magic Sorry if these parts are kind of dry and boring. They're kind of a slog to write too: that's why I've slowed down a bit. The rules are really the least interesting part of Ravenloft anyway. Anyway, magic! we start with General Guidelines detailing how magic is changed in the Land of Mists. Abjuration no longer banish creatures to their home planes. Escape is hard. Instead, the target is thrown at a random location within Ravenloft, although not across Domain borders that have been closed. Astral: any spells that would project someone into the Astral Plane fails. Closed Domain Borders: no spell can enable someone to cross Closed Domain Borders, but natural immunities can (e.g. creatures that have no constitution scores can cross Strahd poison cloud). Conjuration: any summoned creature gets a Will save (with a -2 modifier) to break free of control upon summoning. Likewise, called creatures cannot return to their home, staying stuck in Ravenloft until they find an exit. Attempts to call an Elemental have a 20% chance to call a Dread Elemental instead (a new type of creatures from the Ravenloft monster book). Summoning spells instead summon creatures from the surrounding area. Only creatures native to the Domain can be summoned, and they do not have the Outsider subtype. Elementals and Outsiders with the Mists descriptor are summoned from the Mists themselves and can be summoned anywhere. Detecting Alignment: anything that detects or affects Moral alignment affects Ethical alignment instead. Innocents can be detected and targeted. Death: spells with that descriptor require Powers Check, and people killed by them often return as Undead. Divination is unreliable in Ravenloft, often giving misleading results or failing outright. Scrying works, except it creates a ghost organ at the location scryed which can be seen with a DC 16 spot check and can serve as a conduit of attack on the caster. Enchantment: when forcing a creature to commit an act worthy of a Powers Check, it is the caster who must roll. Ethereal: any spell that normally transport to the Ethereal Plane instead transports to the Near Ethereal. Evil: evil spells all require a Powers Check, but are usually enhanced in some ways. Extraplanar: despite being on the Ethereal Plane, all spells behave as if cast on the Material plane. Creatures from the Material Plane are treated as if they were on their home plane. Sinkholes of Evil A sidebar finally explains this term we've read multiple times by now. Emotions, especially strong ones, create resonance that lingers in the area where they took place. Acts of strong evil, then, create Evil Resonances that will keep haunting that area for ages. These Resonances are Ranked from 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest). All Darklords carry a Sinkhole of Evil around with them. Rules-wise, they create a midifer applied to the DC of Will Saves and to the Turn Resistance of Undead. It goes +0,+0,+1,+2,+3 from Rank 1 to Rank 5. When in the Near Ethereal, these modifiers are stronger: +0,+1,+2,+4,+6. Illusion (Shadow): When casting a Shadow spell, it is 20% stronger (duration, damage, whatever). However, when the Spell ends, a Will save must be made against the spell or it becomes a living Shadow out of the caster's control. Mind Affecting: Undead can project false thoughts to people who scan them, and as mentionne din the Madness section reading the minds of some things will make you go CRAAAAAZY. Necromancy: create more undead but they are harder to control. Likewise, msot Necromancy spells trigger Powers Check (NOW they don't all cause it?) Teleportation: Teleportation is possible, the Mists transport the Caster instead of jumping to other planes. Also, each Domain count as a separate plane. Weather: Darklords who have powers over the Weather can overrule spells that control the weather. And that's it.  Follows a HUGE, YUGE list of spells modified that I'm in no way going to go over, gently caress that noise. Most spells ar ejust variations of "go look at the guidelines" anyway, with most others just saying "this requires a Powers Check". Magic Items Magic items are also affected by Ravenloft. Disruption: Undeads get +2 to their Fortitude save against these items. Creating Cursed Items or Unholy items requires a Powers Check. Evil Intelligent Items have +5 to their Ego score and have a 50% chance to seek the Darklord of a Domain as a "worthier" Master. Cursed Items follow the rules for Curses written earlier in the chapter. A list of modified magic items, like the spell list above. I'm also dodging that. A few modified Artifacts: The Book of Vile Darkness: gives two free levels to Evil Clerics and also any good character make a MAdness roll (DC15) Sphere of Annihilation: using it on a living being requires a Powers Check, and casting Gate on the Sphere doesn't create a Planar Rift, instead it explodes and deals a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Staff of the Magi: Planeshift doesn't work. Talisman of Pure Evil: to qualify as super evil, must be a Darklord or Evil Outsider. Talisman of Pure Good: to qualify as Super Good must be an Innocent. And that's it! I'm free! Next time we get to the cool stuff: the setting!
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Mar 3, 2016 19:44
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I vote the Infernal Player's Guide for sure. It has the amazing trash cover and it's much better written than most of the previous books in the line, only outdone by the Ethereal Player's Guide.
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Mar 3, 2016 20:44
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 Witch Girls Adventures: Respelled: Part 2: Gameplay Rules The book has six chapters, all of which deal with different mechanic systems. There’s no chapter opening bits of fluff. Though they do have a new chapter cover that I think looks kind of nice, compression artifacts aside.  For your nitpicking convenience, the stuff written around the design (from the top going clockwise) is "Vexx, Hexx, Wrexx"; "Hexa Sunt Omnia"; "Mea Est Voluntas Tua Veritas"; "Quod Genus Sunt Tibi Pythonissam"; "Life Death Fire Water Air Earth Life Death Order Chaos Stagnation Change"; and "Mass X En-". The first chapter goes over various gameplay rules. If you’re wondering why this chapter is first and not the stuff addressing character creation like in the first book, Harris explains it’s so they can save the “cool stuff” for later. WGAR posted:The rules of play have been altered and hopefully improved enough to a allow for easier entertaining play . Also we decided to do this first and save the cool things like improved cliques ad more for later.[sic] With no setting and NPC sections in the back, I assume it’s also to make sure the book doesn’t end on a “boring” note. First up: Skill checks. Skill checks are still made using the Attribute die + Skill rank pool. (Ties are a success.) But now there’s a new mechanic where if the maximum amount on a die is rolled and the check is still a failure, the player has a choice of spending either Zap points or a new mechanic called “Adventure Points” to buff up the roll result so that it does succeed. There seems to be no cap on what you can spend, so you can just burn the Zap as long as you’ve got it. Adventure points are not explained or brought up again. The example given for this is someone with a D4 in Body and no points in the Fighting skill trying to punch a monster with a Reflex of 12. They roll a 4 and obviously, the check fails. With this new rule, that player can spend 8 of their Zap to make the roll a success. Standard starting characters, without stat modifications, have a Zap pool of 16. So this hypothetical player just spent half of their magic to succeed on a roll that, odds are, they would have just failed. The better option would have been just to get the physical character in the group to deal with it… or cast a spell, which they probably would have had an easier time doing. Not to mention with higher dies, this is less likely to come up as an option. (Though you probably won’t need it if you have a bigger die. Or, you know, are playing to your character’s strengths and not wasting actions in the hope of getting the chance to change a failed roll.) Next is the Difficulty Ranks chart and Contested Rolls rules and chart. Both are unchanged. So I’m going to skip them. Next is Combat. First is Surprise Rolls, which are the same save for the clarification that it’s a Hide roll versus the resisting character’s Senses. As before, it gives the surpriser a free action and the surprised a -2 penalty to combat rolls and spells. Speaking of actions, new to the system is the Action attribute. This determines how many actions a character can take during a combat round. According to the book, most characters have one, but can gain more through athletic and combat skills. The book points the reader to the Appendix for more information. (Why is it not at the front where it’s being explained? Witch Girls.) There, it explains that the number of Actions a character has, like their Initiative, is determined by their Reflex stat.  Characters can hold actions and go later in the Initiative list with the caveats that they use all of their actions before the end of the combat round and that they go after characters who are taking their actions normally. (e.g. Someone who has Reflex 7 gets to go before someone who decides to go on 7. A character with Reflex 15 with 3 Actions can go at 15, 13, and 9 if they so choose.) Back at the front of book is a list of things that are considered Actions, which are pretty much the same from the previous version. Unlike the previous version (where you got one attack and one non-attack), there’s only one type of Action. So skill rolls, moving, and talking all draw from the same Action point pool as physical attacks, casting, and preparing spells (which gives you a +1 to the Casting roll). So if you’ve only got one Action point and you want to taunt someone during combat, you’ve got to make a choice, my friend. Casting more than one spell in a combat scene also adds a cumulative penalty to each additional spell roll. (-1 for the second spell, -2 for the third, and so on.) I want to say that that’s a typo and Harris meant “round”, but who knows. I also can’t really make out the rules for Move actions, which are copy/pasted from the original. WGAR posted:Move: A character can move 20 ft in a scene on foot, 10 ft in a scene in water, and 50 ft in a scene per calculated 100 mph of flight.  There’s nothing about armor under that bolded armor. It’s after that damage chart which, aside for the first part about unarmed damage, a note that every 3 ranks of Fighting adds +1 to damage dealt (instead of a static +2) and the exclusion of how much damage being unprotected in outer space does, is also copy/pasted from the original, typos and all. (But how will I know how quickly launching Lucinda into space will kill her in this new version?!) In Armor news: Immortals now have 5 points of natural armor instead of “1 to 2”, and there is now a chart for various types of armor.  Also new is non-lethal combat. If you want to knock someone out without killing them, have the target make a Body + Armor vs Damage taken roll. The first successful attack staggers them and gives them a -1 penalty to rolls. The second increases the penalty to -2. The third knocks them out for a D4 roll's worth of combat rounds or minutes if knocking them out will end combat. While knocked out, the only thing a target can do is roll to resist damage. Knocked out characters can wake up with a Hard Tough (which is a talent, not a skill) or Will roll, or an Easy one if they can regenerate. The section on life points begins with a small blurb pointing out that the rules were changed to help make more detailed Immortals in supplements. There’s no supplement dedicated to Immortals yet. (Though there are a couple of character sheets for Immortals scattered about. Though at least one of the supplement books I have was written with the old rules in mind. As much as characters who are made outside of the character creation rules can be. So...  )Humans no longer straight up die when they hit 0 Life and can roll (Hard Body) to stabilize themselves like the supernaturals can. Instead of lowering the Body die, all characters just die if they are not stabilized in 3 rounds. Any additional damage that penetrates their armor while they’re down will kill them. Along with an ally healing them and the Body roll, witches and other otherkin now have the option of spending 5 Zap points to stabilize themselves. Once stabilized, a character can roll to resist damage. No telling if any damage getting through still kills them though. At the end of combat rounds, everyone involved regains a life point. Instead of being tied to the Body die, mortals and the different otherkin all have separate rolls when regaining life points while resting.  Characters with the First Aid skill can make a Difficult skill check to heal themselves and others out of combat. This heals a D4 roll’s worth of health. Healing rates are still doubled when a character is receiving medical care. New with inanimate objects, any object that takes its life points or more in damage from one attack is considered “Devastated” and is damaged beyond repair. Then it shows the Inanimate Object Armor chart from the core. Next is flight rules. You still need the same rolls to fly. The rolls chart for doing different maneuvers is the same one from the core. The rules are completely copy/pasted from the core. Moving on… Experience points are still represented and given out as voodollars. Most of this section is, again, copied word-for-word, with typos, from the original book. The only differences are that the recommended number of voodollars per player per episode has been lowered from 15 to 10, and some entries on the purchase chart (which no longer has the wrong title) have been changed. The required amount of dollars for purchases have been, on a whole, significantly lowered.  The book stresses, however, that All About the Voodollars is still the definitive source for all things voodollars. So if you still want to force your players to make Witch Girls blogs and fansites, you still have a suggested voodollar amount you can pay them. (And presumably potions still cost around $600 for three doses in-verse.) And that’s it for this chapter. There isn’t a lot of art in this book, and some of it is just reused pictures from the core (in color). So there won’t be much material for a horrible picture round-up. Occasionally, however, the book does sneak in a new piece of someone transforming someone. You can probably guess who is featured in them.  Next: Character Creation
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Mar 3, 2016 22:54
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The little touch of the frog with glasses and striped tie is so delightfully petty. Yeah, screw Harry Potter, it's Witch Girls Adventures' time to shine!
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Mar 4, 2016 00:11
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Kumaton posted:The little touch of the frog with glasses and striped tie is so delightfully petty. Yeah, screw Harry Potter, it's Witch Girls Adventures' time to shine! And why do I care? 
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Mar 4, 2016 02:36
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http://www.thebadguyswin.com/2016/03/wtf-dd-the-lamest-weapons-in-rifts/ This is hilarious. Why doesn't Zach Parsons post these in the thread? Did we forget to send him an invite? Does SA have two utterly seperate sites devoted to mocking RPGs?
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Mar 4, 2016 02:38
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I think the surest sign a game is going to be mechanically awful is usually if extra Agility (or any stat) gives you extra turns. I committed this sin when I was younger. It is a terrible one.
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Mar 4, 2016 02:49
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Fossilized Rappy posted:There are two frogs. Did she turn Harry Not-er into two frogs? Are there two Harrys? I'm not sure what's going on. I think it's Harry and Ron
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Mar 4, 2016 02:55
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Night10194 posted:I think the surest sign a game is going to be mechanically awful is usually if extra Agility (or any stat) gives you extra turns. Anything that gives you the equivalent of extra actions/turns in any game, in virtually any context, is something that needs to be extra thoroughly scrutinized with an eye towards how hard it can let you break the game, because it almost always allows you to do that.
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Mar 4, 2016 02:59
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It's hilarious how speed is pretty much the #1 to break any game, every game, forever, and ever. If you can get extra turns or extra actions, you win. Every time.
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Mar 4, 2016 03:01
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Kai Tave posted:Anything that gives you the equivalent of extra actions/turns in any game, in virtually any context, is something that needs to be extra thoroughly scrutinized with an eye towards how hard it can let you break the game, because it almost always allows you to do that. Not just this, it also gives one player more agency and importance compared to another player. So the guy with a bazillion agility gets to act 6 times while his slow bruiser friend only gets 3, which means he gets to play twice as much. Even beyond balance, this is a recipe for the slow bruiser to get bored.
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Mar 4, 2016 03:01
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It's not just RPGs, it's practically any game...board games, video games, card games, find a thing that lets you break a normally restricted action economy and to everyone's great surprise things usually go south in a hurry. XCOM2 recently dropped and just before it went live Firaxis had to tweak something because a dude who does insane YouTube playthroughs of XCOM on a regular basis discovered a way to game the system to squeeze the equivalent of two full rounds of actions in before the aliens got a single one.
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Mar 4, 2016 03:04
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There's a reason why SMT restricts moves that grant extra turns to bosses - though that's still very frustrating to deal with.
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Mar 4, 2016 04:05
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Black August posted:It's hilarious how speed is pretty much the #1 to break any game, every game, forever, and ever. If you can get extra turns or extra actions, you win. Every time. Still not as bad as the worst game design idea, where unspent do-cool-things points become your experience points. 7TH SEA is the most famous offender, but it goes all the way back to early versions of RuneQuest. Kai Tave posted:It's not just RPGs, it's practically any game...board games, video games, card games, find a thing that lets you break a normally restricted action economy and to everyone's great surprise things usually go south in a hurry. XCOM2 recently dropped and just before it went live Firaxis had to tweak something because a dude who does insane YouTube playthroughs of XCOM on a regular basis discovered a way to game the system to squeeze the equivalent of two full rounds of actions in before the aliens got a single one. FMguru fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Mar 4, 2016 |
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Mar 4, 2016 04:29
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FMguru posted:Yep. Anything that gives you additional actions (or worse, lets you stack multiple things that give you extra actions) is a flashing red light that your system is trivially breakable. It's often seen paired with its cousin, "Dexterity as a God stat", where having a high Dex means 1) you are harder to hit, 2) you have an easier time hitting or shooting or casting spells at other people, 3) you get to do things more often, 4) you get to go first more often, and 5) you get a bonus to any physical activity that doesn't involve raw strength and toughness. GURPS had this real bad. Hence why Richard Garfield's next CCG he designed after Magic, Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, had fixed hand size. Play a card, draw a card instantly.
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Mar 4, 2016 05:02
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Aside from WGA being a fetish disguised as a children's game, it's the effed-up non-morale of "People with power should be allowed to (ab)use it as much as they want" that really gets to me.Robindaybird posted:There's a reason why SMT restricts moves that grant extra turns to bosses - though that's still very frustrating to deal with. Doesn't hitting your enemy's weakness give you an extra turn?
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Mar 4, 2016 07:10
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FMguru posted:I'm reminded of early Magic: the Gathering, where players very quickly figured out that cards that let you draw additional cards trivially broke the game, along with cards that let you take extra turns or force your opponent to skip his turn. Very close. What breaks the game is fast mana (which draws get you to) and it's instant ban bait. Why the gently caress the current Eldrazi meta hasn't been entirely banhammered is beyond me. e:The Eldrazi meta right now is like screaming gently caress you at the top of your lungs with every card you play. wiegieman fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Mar 4, 2016 |
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Mar 4, 2016 07:30
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Also, Donate broke the game all nasty-like.
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Mar 4, 2016 07:34
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Doresh posted:Aside from WGA being a fetish disguised as a children's game, it's the effed-up non-morale of "People with power should be allowed to (ab)use it as much as they want" that really gets to me. Yes, though bosses have exclusive moves like "Dragon's Eye" that gives them 3-5 extra turns.
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Mar 4, 2016 07:46
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Robindaybird posted:I think it's Harry and Ron This isn't a bad assumption, honestly. I actually ran across Abby Soto's work prior to seeing WGA thanks to flipping through the (now expurgated) Mary Sue pages on TV Tropes. She generally had a lot of art of Lucinda murdering various pop culture characters, mainly superheroes, but I remember the Hogwarts kids getting some sort of bad end. It's probably still all out there on devart, but I don't feel the need to double check for obvious reasons.
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Mar 4, 2016 08:02
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Alien Rope Burn posted:She generally had a lot of art of Lucinda murdering various pop culture characters, This just perplexes me. Like, why would you expend effort doing that?
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Mar 4, 2016 08:21
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Covok posted:This just perplexes me. Like, why would you expend effort doing that? You're already that deep taking an aggressive dump on things like "game rules", "art" and "the English language" whats an extra couple of seconds to rub in how much more awesome your original character is than other established characters?
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Mar 4, 2016 08:33
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Covok posted:This just perplexes me. Like, why would you expend effort doing that? The complete lack of self-awareness remains a running theme there, yes.
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Mar 4, 2016 08:36
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I have questions about my next Ravenloft updates. Now, the next chapter is an overview of all the Domains in the setting, but it's missing one crucial element: The Darklords. Instead, some (not even all!) Darklords were covered in Secrets of the Dread Realm, a small booklet that came with the DM screen. A move White Wolf used to do all the time. So here's the question: Since the Darklords are such core elements of the setting, should I add them to my summary of next chapter? Essentially adding Secrets into Chapter 4 of the core book.
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Mar 4, 2016 09:58
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Either that or move Chapter 4 to the suppliment. The Darklord shapes the domain, can't talk about one without the other (unless you're gating PC knowledge).
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Mar 4, 2016 11:59
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Covok posted:This just perplexes me. Like, why would you expend effort doing that? Because it's a child's way to demonstrate how cool, powerful, and edgy your character is. Soto isn't a child, but the difference seems to be academic.
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Mar 4, 2016 18:01
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Doresh posted:Doesn't hitting your enemy's weakness give you an extra turn? Yeah, but it doesn't stack. Hitting a weakness makes one of your turn icons blink instead of making it vanish. If all the icons you have left are already blinking, you get nothing (besides the extra damage of the weakness hit). Also, you can lose turns by hitting an immunity/reflection/missing. It's also a core conceit of the system, something not tied to a stat, and, most importantly, SMT is a single-player game that does turns by teams rather than a group system where extra turns are making my guy more useful than your guy, or my guy is getting the spotlight longer than your guy. Basically, not directly comparable. Prism fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Mar 4, 2016 |
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Mar 4, 2016 18:09
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Infernal Player's Guide We open up with some incredibly boring fiction about Nicole, the angel from the core book, and her continuing life problems. We then get a short lecture from Lucifer on how God imposed unnatural light on the natural darkness of the universe, which he wants to return to, and that God wants everyone to obey arbitrary rules. After this, though, we get the fun stuff - Hell's side of the story of creation. So, the Rebellion is known as the Celestial Revolution to Hell. It aimed to remake Heaven as a meritocracy, with power given to the capable. Lucifer took a third of the Host with him in revolting - the other angels were too brainwashed by eons of praising a God that didn't even really exist. Lucifer and his loyalists uprooted themselves painfully, becoming self-sufficient. They found a place of their own, called Hell. But what began it? Well, the Eden Experiment. Lucifer had challenged God to test humanity by creating a perfect environment and seeing how they'd behave. In the end, the experiment failed due to the angel Ophis, who meddled at the orders of Baal. God refused to acknowledge this defeat. Some say that Lucifer tried to reason with God for eons after, only to realize there was nothing there - that he should make his own rules. Others argue that God does in fact truly exist as a personality, and some even hold that He and Lucifer agreed that the demons should be free as part of an even grander experiment, to give Lucifer the chance to prove, once and for all, that humans are unworthy. Others say that no, God really did force the dissident angels to flee or die. whatever happened, Hell was soon full of a large population of free and potent celestials. To protect themselves, the Fallen made a hierarchy to organize themselves. Though some demons wanted and had been promised total autonomy, most acknowledged that they could not rest that way until the angels were defeated. Lucifer made it clear that, though Michael beat him, he was the strongest of the Fallen by far. The battles of early Hell are only spoken of todayi n whispers. But once he proved supremacy, he announced that he had no desire to rule actively - rather, he would name the strongest and fiercest as Princes, given them Words and parts of Hell to rule. Lucifer would have no specific strategy for fighting Heaven, for any one strategy could be predicted. There would be countless strategies, even contradictory ones, to befuddle Heaven. Lucifer would let the Princes do as they would, even work against each other, for in the big picture they would all be working to destroy the Host and humanity. He reserved for himself an advisory role to the Princes and the power to hand out Words and the Princely crowns. The Princes would have the power to make new demons, use any Tethers they happened to find, and rule their Principalities as they pleased. Despite this, there was order in Lucifer's choices, carefully positioned to face Heaven. Andrealphus, once Archangel of Love, was named Prince of Lust and charged with perverting the efforts of Eli. Asmodeus, once an angel of Judgment, was made Prince of the Game and given power over all other demons, that he might counteract Dominic. Baal was named Prince of the War and charged to develop the military might of Hell and thwart Michael. It is said that, had Baal not been busy fighting David in the Rebellion, Michael would have lost and Heaven would have been defeated. Now, though, legend has it that Michael and Baal will only fight, and to the death, come Armageddon. Beleth was named Princess of Nightmares and set to defeat her old lover, Blandine. Belial was named Prince of Fire, and the demons believe that his old Archangel, Gabriel, was driven mad by the sharing of the Word. No single Prince that Lucifer could command could match Raphael, one of the eldest of the host, so he set Gebbeleth, Prince of Secrets, and Mariel, former Angel of Memory and now Princess of Oblivion, to both work against her. Malphas, Prince of Factions, was set to face David. Genubath, Prince of Rapine, was set to oppose Novalis, to fight what she would keep peace in and to take what she would have given. Lucifer sought out Lilith, the first woman made for Eden, and offered her the Word of Freedom, to oppose Marc...though, in truth, the two later found common ground, as Lilith proved more honorable and Marc more flexible than either of their allies would like. Still, Lilith proved able to create the Lilim, to set against the un-Falling Malakim. Meserach, a former angel of the Wind, was named Prince of Sloth and set against his old master, Janus. Vephar, once the patron of sailors, was named Prince of the Oceans and set against Oannes. Jordi was not beneath Lucifer's plotting, but he knew of Jordi's distance from the other Archangels and felt that humanity itself, driven by Hell, would do a fine enough job at frustrating Jordi and turning him against Heaven. Yves, however, was the biggest problem. Lucifer could find no direct answer, and as a stopgap, he named Kobal, former Angel of Laughter, as Prince of Dark Humor and set him to fight Destiny. Lucifer remains proud of how well his Princes slowed Heaven's work and pushed back against them...but it has not been without losses. Eventually, the demons began to act openly on Earth, at first careful to avoid Disturbance. The Grigori debacle entertained them greatly. Each Prince kept their own domain. Gebbeleth vanished, and few noticed or cared. It would be millenia before Hell realized for sure that Gebbeleth must have trapped himself badly and a new Prince of Secrets was named. Oannes, meanwhile, had always out matched Vephar, who was too proud to ask for help and not liked by other Princes. Vephar was trapped and destroyed, the first great loss of either side since the Fall. It showed the Princes that they must cooperate better or be destroyed in detail by the superior individual power of the Archangels. Lucifer called a council of war, and Baal offered forth a plan. Hell mustered as though readying for Armageddon, and demons walked Earth openly. Baal himself was seen preparing for battle. And yet, all of it was a ruse. Distracted, the angels did not react quickly enough when Belial struck directly at the still-weakened Oannes. The volcano Thera exploded, and the Minoan civilization died in fire and floods. The score of Superior deaths was now tied. Michael and Baal's troops battled, and the pride of the angels of War drew the attention of Dominic. Demons still think it is grossly unfair that God spared Michael. He stepped down, and Uriel took over command. Michael roamed the Earth with his angels, inspiring humans to overthrow tyrants. In Hell, a new force emerged - the demon Saminga, who mastered the art of creating mummies and undead. His power grew until he was made Prince of Death. He was a simpleton, not seen as a threat to the other Princes, and he was welcomed warmly - the first and last time a Prince would be. Inspired by the success of the undead, Lucifer continued to make weaker demons in great number, beginning to even out the imbalance between Heaven and Hell. The angels were forced to reconsider their plans. Hell rejoiced when David's most potent angel, Magog, Angel of Fortitude, Fell and took a small army with him. Lucifer came to Magog in is underground citadel and hastily named him Prince of Cruelty...but the tables were turned when the next morning came, and David, with help from Purity's Khalid, pinned Magog in his lair and sealed it up. Hell's aid arrived too late, unable to break the divine masonry sealing away Magog. Lucifer appeared to Khalid privately, praising him as a foe, and planting the seed of arrogance. Centuries later, when Laurence took Uriel's place, Khalid refused to accept it. He was named Archangel, but chose to leave Heaven and become patron of Islam. The demons claim he did it just to spite Laurence and Christianity. Several lesser princes rose and fell - some remain, like Mammon, Prince of Greed. Others do not. The demon Valefor presented Lucifer with a book by a mna named Nostradamus, which claimed to predict the future. Its accuracy doesn't matter - the important thing is it wouldn't be written for centuries. Valefor claimed to have stolen it from Yves' own library. What happened next can only be guessed, but it is agreed that Valefor somehow stole Genubath's Word, and was named Prince of Theft for it. Genubath has not been seen since. Lucifer removed himself from the society of Hell for a time, roaming the Earth in search of a solution to the problem of Destiny. He eventually found the solution in Kronos, Prince of Fate, but Kronos' origins are a mystery. Some say he has always existed, just as Yves has. He is the darkness of Fate, a necessary balance to Destiny. Eventually, he presented himself to Lucifer and was made second in command of Hell. Others deny that Kronos even exists - he is just Lucifer in disguise, or Lucifer's mindless puppet. Either way, Kronos is the most potent of Princes now, hated and feared by most of the Fallen. Eventually, there was a Shedite named Legion, a selfish demon who could not forget the joy of possessing many bodies at once. After luring a former angelic friend into a traop, Legion summoned Saminga, his master, and asked for help with an experiment. Saminga is stupid, but he is curious and enjoys experiments that involve death. The two Shedim vivisected the Kyriotate, and Saminga attached the loose Forces to Legion's soul while Legion jumped back and forth between several willing hosts. At some point, Legion regained the power to possess two at once, then three. Legion rapidly added more Forces, somehow drawing them from his hosts or those they killed, growing in power. He was named Prince of Corruption, and Lucifer waited for more Shedim with the trick, but Legion never shared it. None of Saminga's efforts to reproduce the experiment have ever succeeded. Before long, Legion could possess an entire village. He began to go mad, referring to himself in the plural, and refused to work with other Princes. He rebelled against Hell, and while he didn ot threaten Hell itself, it was clear he had the power to destroy Earth. For the first time ever, Archangels and Pricnes worked together to defeat Legion, who was growing more potent and more insane by the day. He threw several Princes to Hell before he was destroyed, and in doing so, he utterly destroyed Raphael, Archangel of Knowledge. The lessons of Legio nare many, and depend who tells the story. Heaven mourned Raphael, and in the aftermath of Legion, the Princes began to work togther even more. There's a reason it was called the Dark Ages, after all. Haagenti, a demon who'd made a name for himself against Legion, was adopted as Kobal's 'brother' and eventually became the demon of Gluttony. He grew immensely in mere months, tearing through Meserach's forces and eventually consuming the Prince of Sloth himself, soon after being named Prince of Gluttony. This disturbed Hell greatly, especially when Haagenti kept going and didn't stop until he'd eaten Mariel, Princess of Oblivion. He promsied to end his fury at that point, winning Hell's respect with his work on Earth. Lucifer accepted the loss, but felt short-handed. He found the solution in Vapula, Demon of Technology. As the Industrial Revolution flourished, Vapula was named Prince. He rocked no boats, focusing instead on taking Mariel's old territory and building. Now, instead of destroying the knowledge that Jean guarded, it would be perverted to selfish ends. The final new Prince to be named was Nybbas, Prince of the MEdia, who has only recently had his first century with the crown. Even his foes concede he is potent, and still growing. Besides Nybbas, no Princes of true power have been made in a long time. More often, Lucifer crowns lesser Princes - Fleurity, Prince of Drugs, Alaemon, Prince of Secrets and the new Furfur, Prince of Hardcore. The older Princes fear Lucifer spreads the power too thinly. He's achieved a stalemate, sure, but that was never the goal. And what about Armageddon? If the angels win, the demons claim, then all celestials will abandon Earth forever. If the demons win, celestials will be able to act as they please. Do the demons think they have a chance? Well, some do. Some don't. But all agree, it's not here yet. Angels can and od do terrible things. But that doesn't make the demons. Demons can act with kidnness and mercy, but it doesn't make them angels. Demons are different, intrinsically so, and that is what makes them damned. It's all about the nature of self. Most angels will sacrifice themselves if it's for a greater good. They know they're part of something greater. Demons do not sacrifice themselves. They are part of a rebel army. Angels don't look for a reward because they believe God transcends all. Demons know their only shot at a reward is if they win, so they're desperate to make it to the end alive so they can claim it. At heart, angels are selfless and demons are selfish. There's more to it, of course. Demons have a strange, tyrannical mindset that accepts cruelty as necessary. Demons are not mindless agents of evil, either. Self-preservation and self-deception are the biggest parts of a demon's mind. Self-preservation draws from one fact: demons are trying to change the world. God is in charge, God is the status quo. Demons have made a desperate gamble, and they win only if they can usurp Heaven. They have a strong drive to gain power, and with it comes freedom and better odds of surviving. See, demons have to win the War to see any actual reward. So, they want to survive. Every demon places their own survival over everything, even Lucifer himself. Sure, Lucifer's powerful, but he's in the same boat - if he doesn't win in the end, he has nothing. Unlike angels, who acknowledge a power greater than themselves, demons deceive themselves about their place in the world. They will believe in anything they must to survive. This power of self-deception is born of the need to forget that they're the underdogs, that without victory they lose it all. It is also, however, due to the presence of Lucifer. It's one thing to be an angel, with a God who is never seen and only dimly understood, yet who is accepted by all. It is another to be a demon, with a leader who is known primarily for skill at lying and who has as much to lose as you do. Lucifer's personhood makes him a powerful leader, but his shared vulnerability with Hell makes him appear weak. The power struggles of the Princes suggest, subconsciously, that Lucifer could be overthrown like any other. That he's just one of the guys, not a cosmic principle. That's...well, not very comforting. And that's why demons are so good at deceiving themselves. On a cosmic scale, they are foot soldiers in an uphill battle, following an unproven leader. That'd be hobbling, if they weren't so good at lying to themselves. Now, most demons maintain that Lucifer has a cosmic mandate, that the universe needs him, that he will rule the universe. And if they win, well, they were right. But they have to win first This basic insecurity over the cause and the chance at victory is why demons need self-deception. Four main traits rise from these basic motivations: superiority, aggression, manipulation and competiton. Demons believe they are better than humans in all ways. This is direct from Lucifer, who was jealous of God favoring humans. In their dealings, demons always believe they have the upper hand. They are egotists who have nothing but scorn for others, and they will never accept that a human can beat them - any setback is purely temporary and the fault of angels. Demons like to think they're better than angels, but don't really believe it. They usually see angels as worthy foes crippled by adherence to God's plan and their limiting behavioral doctrine. It is the side they chose that makes angels inferior, and any angel can Fall. Superiority, in terms of self-preservation, is about the need to be toughter than the next guy. A strong demon survives, and must believe in their own superiority so that they have the will to win, not just fight. In terms of self-deception, superiority fulfills the need for demons to build themselves up in their own minds. God made humans to be most of the Symphony, and since demons want to rule the Symphony, they must believe they are superior to it. Most demons want to hurt humans because they are taught that this is strength. Those who inflict pai nare strong, those that accept it are weak. They are bullies, satisfied only when hurting others. The most pure example of this aggression is Saminga, who hurts others for the sake of hurting. Other demons are more refined, but even so, most enjoy a good fight. Demons also like hurting angels and even other demons. It's satisfying to hurt an angel because it's like hurting God. It's satisfying to hurt demons, because it makes them afraid, and fear is obedience. Aggression is the primal expression of self-preservation. If you hurt someone, you won. You survived to fight again. Sufficient aggressive posturing can stave off challenges, too. Making an underling fear you means you're safe from them betraying or challenging you, to some extent. In terms of self-deception, aggression is another way to convince themselves that demons will win. They equate aggression with success - the guy with the biggest stick is the one to bet on. That's why Lucifer characterizes the struggle as a War. Militarism is a good way to fire up the hordes. Next time: Hell's fury
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Mar 4, 2016 18:12
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Asimo posted:Because obviously their perfect character is way better than all those *snort* mainstream ones! If I was as much in love with an OC of mine as she is, I'd be happy to include him/her in crossover fan-art for jolly co-operation. Then again, I'm not whatever the hell the creators of WGA can be described as. Prism posted:Yeah, but it doesn't stack. Hitting a weakness makes one of your turn icons blink instead of making it vanish. If all the icons you have left are already blinking, you get nothing (besides the extra damage of the weakness hit). Also, you can lose turns by hitting an immunity/reflection/missing. It's also a core conceit of the system, something not tied to a stat, and, most importantly, SMT is a single-player game that does turns by teams rather than a group system where extra turns are making my guy more useful than your guy. Right. And Persona does this on a more personal level by giving the character a second turn directly, but each enemy (and ally) that has been hit with a weakness will get knocked down, making it impossible to farm further turns out of him till he gets up again.
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Mar 4, 2016 18:16
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