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Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

theironjef posted:

I want to know who's onboard with my vision of a CCG that competes with magic by including five extra cards per pack that can be used for short duration bonuses by being torn up, having stickers on them, or having scratch off sections.

I just can't help but think of Break Keys. For those that missed out, this was a game debuted at Gen Con '03 that took the gaming world by storm!... ahaha, but seriously, I can't even find any images of the things, they were that popular. They were these plastic keys that locked together. Then, you twist them against each other, and the key to break first was the loser! Then, you buy more keys and play again.

That was it. That was the whole game.

Really most of the issue that come with that is making the breakable element more interesting than, say, discarding a card or flipping a coin. Most games that use marking up (like Risk Legacy, which was one of the first board games I heard of with a destructive element) use it as a customization element to "evolve" the game over concurrent play. In that, the destruction serves a purpose in that even if you drop the game for six months and pick it up with new players, you're still continuing the game "campaign". Which is neat.

The practical issue with cards is that having markable elements (or scratchable elements, or whatever) is that in theory you still have to shuffle or sort them, and destructible elements mess with that. There's also the issue that TCGs tend to have limited runs (unless reprinted later on) so presuming the game was successful, the destructible cards would eventually start to vanish from play unless you kept them in production, and they'd be more expensive than their normal counterparts. Also, scratch-off cards might draw some unfortunate comparisons to another sort of state-run card game...

It's the kind of thing that could have parted suckers from their money fifteen or twenty years ago, I think, properly implemented, but is it a good idea...? I'd need to see a convincing use of the gimmick first.

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Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Alien Rope Burn posted:

I just can't help but think of Break Keys. For those that missed out, this was a game debuted at Gen Con '03 that took the gaming world by storm!... ahaha, but seriously, I can't even find any images of the things, they were that popular. They were these plastic keys that locked together. Then, you twist them against each other, and the key to break first was the loser! Then, you buy more keys and play again.

That was it. That was the whole game.
Ahahaha holy poo poo I remember that game! They had a bunch of free ones packed with an issue of...I want to say InQuest magazine.

Even back then it was such an obviously terrible idea.

Simian_Prime
Nov 6, 2011

When they passed out body parts in the comics today, I got Cathy's nose and Dick Tracy's private parts.

theironjef posted:

I want to know who's onboard with my vision of a CCG that competes with magic by including five extra cards per pack that can be used for short duration bonuses by being torn up, having stickers on them, or having scratch off sections.

I just want a CCG that can be destroyed to win.

Combine a CCG with one of those pornographic playing card decks and get Clown Nudes: The CCG.

The destructible cards will have the most scandalous photos, because destroying them is the only rational response.

Kobold eBooks
Mar 5, 2007

EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AN OPEN PALM SLAM A CARTRIDGE IN THE SUPER FAMICOM. ITS E-ZEAO AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I START DOING THE MOVES ALONGSIDE THE MAIN CHARACTER, CORPORAL FALCOM.

Evil Mastermind posted:

I'm already thinking in my head that this FAE thing would have a seventh approach that depends on your type; magical boys/girls get Compassion, and the tokusatsu action types get Bravery. That's pretty much what your hero type embodies.

You can add that stat to rolls when directly fighting the forces of Darkness on top of your normal approach, but you can pass that bonus along to someone else with Create Advantange, or when you're Taken Out instead off you big honkin' attack.

Because while compassion and bravery are powerful, when combined they become even stronger, and one isn't as effective without the other.

I have some discarded notes from a project I abandoned that was something like this. The classes were Magical Prince, Magical Princess, Hero and Tamer and they each keyed off a different stat between Bravery, Passion, Kindness and Community.

That's as far as I ever got with it. :v:

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Evil Mastermind posted:

Ahahaha holy poo poo I remember that game! They had a bunch of free ones packed with an issue of...I want to say InQuest magazine..

Yeah, if you went to GenCon that year, they were part of the swag bag, and my friends made a thing of asking for people's Break Keys and just playing it until they had like a wastebasket's worth of broken keys.

I guess that's how you mastered the game.

The Chad Jihad
Feb 24, 2007


There was a lame card game based off of the Kids Next Door cartoon, that let you make your own cards by putting plastic stickers on them. The game mechanics were pretty abstract so it didn't mean much though

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Kavak posted:

I would totally play "Meduka Meguca: The Rol Plaeyng Gaem"
Obviously this system would require that all dice used with it have failed quality control tests.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

It's time for more Ironclaw: Squaring the Circle

Alright, so thread ideas were for a constable, a charlatan, and a harpoon throwing Otter sea captain. Let's show off character creation and see how they end up looking, plus cover a few things I missed.

Constable Judy will be a Constable of Triskellian, the Constantinople/Rome hybrid ruled by Italian foxes that forms one of the centers of the setting. This means she'll be an urban fox of lower class background: That makes her a red fox (grey foxes are inbred Machiavellian nobles) which gives Keen Ears, Danger Sense, and Night Vision and gets added to Stealth, Digging, and Jumping. Danger Sense lets us demonstrate how good situational Gifts are: She gets a +d12 to all dice pools for avoiding surprise and the like, as well as a +d12 to Initiative checks because she's always ready to go. Keen Ears is a little odder, letting her negate the first highest showing die an enemy gets when they try to sneak quietly past her. Night Vision lets her see in dim light just fine. All good things for a constable. Being an urban fox from a well-to-do place, she'll put her d4 stat in Fox; the leaping about and scrabbling isn't really for her. She'll take a d8 in her Body and Mind; she's strong and very perceptive/clever, necessary to be an imposing soldier and to be handy with a sword or club if trouble gets out of hand. That leaves her with a d6 in Will, Speed, and Career; she's an average soldier, not especially experienced, but still competent on her feet and no pushover. On that note, she'll take the Career of Soldier. This gives her her Career die with Ranged Combat (any non-thrown ranged weapon), Melee Combat (any melee attack that isn't unarmed) and Tactics (a skill that gets included whenever you team up with an ally against the same foe, good for fighting in rank). She also gets the Gift of Resolve (Letting her use her Will to avoid damage as well as her Body and armor), Veteran (Lets her get better bonuses for spending an action to aim or guard), and Hiking (+d12 to all matters of long distance travel). She then gets 13 skill marks, and puts 3 in Observation for a d8 Skill, 3 in Melee for a d8, 2 in Presence to be able to scare the piss out of perpetrators without killing them or show off, then puts 1 in Brawling for insurance, 1 in Dodge to avoid ranged attacks, 1 in Negotiation for dealing with tough problems or angry superior officers, and 1 in Searching for sweeping scenes. Her 3 free Gifts will go into raising her Will so her presence and defense is better, gaining Local Knowledge (Triskellian) (+1d12 to checks about knowing her city), and Legal Authority (Triskellian) to represent she can arrest people and throw her badge around, also giving her another d12 with other Constables. Judy is a persuasive woman and talented fighter who has a lot of social standing and local cachet on her beat. She also gets a longbow, a sword, a shield, and some light armor for being a Soldier.

Mercurio the Rat will be one of Judy's persistent problems, an inveterate scofflaw who works the docks and shadier side of Triskellian. As a rat, he's a born survivor; he gets the Gift of Survival (+d12 to forage and survive in rough conditions), Contortionist (He can Retreat without actually giving up position, something that'll become important when we explain combat), and he shares Judy's Keen Ears. His Rat die also gets added to Digging, Stealth, and Swimming. Being a stealthy sort used to surviving on the streets, he has a d8 Career and Speed, a d6 Species, Will, and Mind, and a d4 Body. Mercurio is an actual Charlatan, this being a Career option, giving him his Career die with Presence, Negotiation, and Deceit. He also gets the gift of Streetwise (+d12 to matters of the criminal underworld), Forgery (+d12 when trying to make imitations or forge documents), and Disguise (+d12 to blend in a crowd or impersonate others). The little bastard could be pretty much anywhere at any time. He'll take 3 ranks in Deceit, 3 in Presence to make up for his low Will, and 3 in Negotiation to mark he's a genuine master of his chosen craft, then fill out with 2 in Melee combat (never know when you'll need your knife), and 2 in Stealth. He'll also take the gift of Sneaky Fighter (+2d8 to attack with knives and other concealable, small weapons), Bribery (+d12 to bribe officials), and Combat Grace (Can use Speed instead of Body to fight). Mercurio is able with a dagger in the dark but he primarily relies on his social skills and abilities as a career criminal and liar to get what he wants. What he wants is money and personal security. Maybe power, but that comes after survival. He also gets a dagger, shortsword, some light armor, and plenty of makeup and disguise clothes as trappings for his career. Notice how many situational d12s he gets when plying his trade, as well as his very strong base abilities with social and persuasive skills.


Captain Otto Brandt has a problem and that problem is that there are whales that haven't been harpooned. As an otter, Otto is a master of the seas and rivers; he gets his Otter die to Dodge, Swimming, and Stealth. He also gets the Gift of Fast Swimming (he can move through wet terrain quickly and easily, in and out of combat, and when he tries to swim in combat it's a normal movement action instead of requiring anything special), Deep Diving (He can use his entire Swimming skill instead of just his Body die to avoid drowning, and holds his breath 10x as long as a normal character), and Contortionist (Same as Mercurio). Being a badass who throws giant spikes at whales, he will take d8 in Body and Speed both (Throwing weapons use both stats!), d6 in Career, Species, and Will, and a d4 in Mind. He does not need fancy theories about how to harpoon a loving whale. He'll have the Career of Sailer, giving him Carousing (+d12 to hold liquor or handle poison), Sailing (+d12 to anything involving botes), and Team Player (When he Assists someone, they get +d12 instead of +d8). He'll also get to include Sailor with Vehicles (Botes, and really anything else, so he's actually set up for swashbuckling coach chases or barrel rides), Swimming, and Weather Sense. He'll put 3 for d8 in Vehicles to be a master of boats, 2 for d8 in Throwing to toss his deadly harpoon with great skill, 2 for d6 in Dodging, 3 for d8 in Leadership to inspire his men, and 2 in Brawling to punch people in the face during shore brawls. He'll take the Gift of Strength (+d8 to melee and throwing attacks, but not defenses, can carry more stuff) to be lean and strong, Improves Strength (Improves the base bonus to +d12), and Brawling Fighter (can parry and generally use fists or claws with no penalty relative to melee weapons). Otto is set up entirely to be a badass and a master of sailing, and he's able to hold his own in a brawl as one of the strongest men on his crew. For comparison's sake for how good he is at harpooning a fool: The average enemy will have 2d6 defense, 2d6+d8 if Guarding, 2d6+d12 if Guarding and a Veteran. Otto's punch is already d12+d8+d6 (or d12+d8+2d6 for his actual claws, since he includes Species with those) and his throw is d12+3d8. The average soldier ain't got nothing on a drunken, angry otter whaler.

Next Time: More on how Gifts and Skills work!

Night10194 fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Mar 9, 2016

Barudak
May 7, 2007

I swear, but I'm having difficulty proving it now, there was a CCG where in each bosster pack there was a completely pointless filler card that did nothing in the game proper except determining who went first or second. Whoever had the most of those cards got to decide, so you better buy as many as you can kids.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Zereth posted:

Obviously this system would require that all dice used with it have failed quality control tests.

They should be whittled out of blocks of wood or be semi-appropriately shaped rocks. Or get a good set and microwave or bake them for a while.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Dangit, something I forgot for the example PCs: Each character gets 2 free Gifts. Personality (You decide on something like Wrathful, Adventurous, etc, and you get a d12 once per session to an action that that personality would feed into) and Combat Save (You can negate the first hit that would kill you each combat, since you're a hero). You also get a Motto. Motto is your standard hook/character blurb mechanic, though they have a silly bit in the book about declaring your motto aloud at the beginning of a session to get in character (I imagine everyone ignores this).

For Judy, Mercurio, and Otto, they'd be 'Protect and Serve', 'Mine, all Mine', and 'gently caress Whales', respectively, with personalities of Friendly, Conniving, and Aggressive.

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

quote:

And if you're really weird, you can have the magical girls start WW3 and play Magical Mad Max-chan or something.

I don't know much about Magical Girls beyond Sailor Moon, but you could probably remix The Wives into magical girls pretty easily. They even have cool names and pure hearts and save the day through redeeming one of their enemies. The Green Place can be their headquarters/kingdom and the Vulvalina and Furiosa can be mentors.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

Kavak posted:

I would totally play "Meduka Meguca: The Rol Plaeyng Gaem"

The only stat is Suffering.

Evil Mastermind posted:

But seriously I really want to take those ideas and what Covok said about FAE and make a "magical teens fighting evil with the power of LOVE" game.

Not just you...

Nessus posted:

I think the big issue is that it seems like there's no reason why you can't do magical girls with a superhero rule set, possibly with some kind of house rule or invoked subsystem to reflect the typical presence of the power of friendship. So you gotta have some kind of selling point, man! Or maybe we need Magical Hero(ine): Now With DeviantArt Magical Girl Pictures.

If you're gonna use a supers system, better not use one that's too crunchy. Both magical girl and tokusatsu is very inconsistant when it comes to power levels. The heroes usually get punched around a bunch until they go all "I have enough!" or "Unforgivable!" and curbstomp the baddie. You certainly never need to know the exact lifting capacity of Kamen Rider Kabuto, or how big of a caliber you need to shoot Cure Black.

This was also lampshaded in the official Sentai parody Akibaranger, where the leader was a loser and massive Sentai otaku who won fights by watching put for enemy speeches and actions that would traditionally signal their defeat.

Kaza42 posted:

This is without a doubt the best idea any SAN system has ever had, and I wish to know more.

Humans are absolutely disgusting for them, and having them run around in cute dresses with cat ears shooting heart-shaped energy beams is threatening their concept of how the universe operates.
But the final straw was when they discovered Hentai.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

No reason we'd be any more comprehensible to the abominations from beyond than they'd be to us.

Covok
May 27, 2013

Yet where is that woman now? Tell me, in what heave does she reside? None of them. Because no God bothered to listen or care. If that is what you think it means to be a God, then you and all your teachings are welcome to do as that poor women did. And vanish from these realms forever.

Doresh posted:

If you're gonna use a supers system, better not use one that's too crunchy. Both magical girl and tokusatsu is very inconsistant when it comes to power levels. The heroes usually get punched around a bunch until they go all "I have enough!" or "Unforgivable!" and curbstomp the baddie. You certainly never need to know the exact lifting capacity of Kamen Rider Kabuto, or how big of a caliber you need to shoot Cure Black.

This was also lampshaded in the official Sentai parody Akibaranger, where the leader was a loser and massive Sentai otaku who won fights by watching put for enemy speeches and actions that would traditionally signal their defeat.

A good supers system for it would probably be Masks (the Powered by the Apocalypse one, not the OSR one).

It's damage system is based around emotional states (Angry, Afraid, Guilty, Hopeless, Insecure), it has a system for influence that can be used to model friendships, its stats are based on self-image (with a move to affect them called "Comfort or Support), it has mechanics to handle working as a team in combat, and its all about growing up and taking on/accepting responsibility in your life (a theme that I remember being a part of Cardcaptor, though it has been years, and likely showed up in Salor Moon too). For the most part, the core playbooks hit the notes well-enough, but not perfectly (this is where the suggestion is weakest).

Covok
May 27, 2013

Yet where is that woman now? Tell me, in what heave does she reside? None of them. Because no God bothered to listen or care. If that is what you think it means to be a God, then you and all your teachings are welcome to do as that poor women did. And vanish from these realms forever.

Evil Mastermind posted:

But seriously I really want to take those ideas and what Covok said about FAE and make a "magical teens fighting evil with the power of LOVE" game.

I mean, I know I won't.

But I want to.

Doresh posted:

Not just you...

Well, if you two are interested, all this talk made me write down the ideas so I didn't forget them and decide to try for a pick-up game tomorrow.

Night10194 posted:

It's time for more Ironclaw: Squaring the Circle!

I remember someone convincing me to do a one-shot of this game once. I was afraid it was a furry game, but I am the type who loves trying new things out. Still convinced it is a furry game, but it isn't overtly sexual or creepy so it isn't much of an issue.

Played a gorilla paladin who bifurcated a bunny bandit.

I remember the system feeling very lethal and combat felt like a really dangerous gambit. Specific encounter/GM ruling or how the system is overall?

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
So you can use it to run Redwall? How are the feasting rules?

potatocubed
Jul 26, 2012

*rathian noises*

Simian_Prime posted:

Combine a CCG with one of those pornographic playing card decks and get Clown Nudes: The CCG.

The destructible cards will have the most scandalous photos, because destroying them is the only rational response.

As I recall XXXenophile was not only a collectible card game with (cartoon) porn art, but also had some cards that had to be destroyed to activate their effects. It was released in the mid-late 90s contemporary with 5th-6th edition Magic, illustrated by Phil Foglio, and I think it bombed.

hyphz
Aug 5, 2003

Number 1 Nerd Tear Farmer 2022.

Keep it up, champ.

Also you're a skeleton warrior now. Kree.
Unlockable Ben

potatocubed posted:

As I recall XXXenophile was not only a collectible card game with (cartoon) porn art, but also had some cards that had to be destroyed to activate their effects. It was released in the mid-late 90s contemporary with 5th-6th edition Magic, illustrated by Phil Foglio, and I think it bombed.

It bombed because it had full deck ante. Yes, all cards were mixed together on the board with no tracking of who they belonged to, and the game ended with a subgame where players would divide up the remaining cards. It was more of a parody of CCGs than a real one and everyone who played it played it single deck between 2.

It was tidied up and released as a regular game called "Girl Genius The Works" and is actually quite good.

Spark That Bled
Jan 29, 2010

Hungry for responsibility. Horny for teamwork.

And ready to
BUST A NUT
up in this job!

Skills include:
EIGHT-FOOT VERTICAL LEAP
Put me down for wanting a game based on tokusatsu and the magical girl genre. I've even been pondering a mechanic for the characters transformations and how their powered forms work.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Covok posted:

I remember the system feeling very lethal and combat felt like a really dangerous gambit. Specific encounter/GM ruling or how the system is overall?

On one hand it is, on the other there are a ton of different 'negate a deathblow' Gifts you can pick up, the average hero is way more skilled than their opposition, and the game mentions lowballing opposition because a single bad hit can put things in the danger zone really quickly. It is basically impossible for an actual PC to get killed in a single blow due to Combat Save, though, so you should generally get a chance to run for it if things are going bad.

Also, yes, the game would work for Redwall if you wanted to do that. Honestly, the system would be fine for conversion to a lot of 'low fantasy' settings. Especially as the game has firm guidelines of what a 'species' and 'class' should be mechanically and it's not hard to build your own.

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.

Count Chocula posted:

So you can use it to run Redwall? How are the feasting rules?

Insufficiently racist.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

It is true there are no species referred to in a blanket fashion as 'vermin' who everyone considers it okay to murder on sight.

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
I always just assumed that the Vermin were basically skaven from warhammer back when I still read Redwall.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Like, the game uses animal-people as characters in place of elves or dwarves or what have you, but it's much more focused on being a good low-fantasy game than weird furry poo poo. The closest you come is the idea of the Species Die and Atavism (magic powers and superhuman feats some characters can perform by drawing on their innate savagery) but that feels more like an extension of the game's focus on the conflict between past and present than anything else. Especially when we get to the factions and one faction is specifically the Atavist Faction, at war with their own kin who split off to take up guns and aggressive modernization instead of painting themselves in woad and listening to druids.

Quinn2win
Nov 9, 2011

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


PEOPLE, PART 1

The NPCs in this book are as flexible and modular as everything else as been. They aren't organized into Edom traitors, Dracula pawns and independent operators - anyone can be multiple things. Once nice side-effect of this is that you can leave players guessing even if they've read the entire book, or run a Dossier campaign before.

The three categories given for NPCs are Asset (involved in the Espionage world), Minion (involved in the Vampire world), or Innocent (neither, but may still be guilty of other things). Any of them could interfere with or aid the agents for any number of reasons. Some of them could be Legacies, if it suits your purposes. Names, roles, appearances and quirks are all malleable.

So, let's get started with...

1940 People
The first category in here is NPCs who could shed light on Edom's 1940 chapter, whether or not they were present/alive for it.



The Acting Director of MI5
Name: Brigadier Oswald A. "Jasper" Harker
Possible role: Legacy tie between 1894 band and modern security state

Acting director of MI5 from 1940 to 1941, when he was replaced by David Petrie. His B division was responsible for counter-espionage and counter-subversion, and he was considered for the head of MI6 before the strain of his workload tested his abilities to their limits. If "Harker" is not a workname, he is a cousin to Quincy Harker.

Innocent
Johnathan Harker made sure that little Jasper never figured out what his uncle was up to. He did his job to the best of his ability, but he never trusted Edom, and that second-guessing took a toll on him over the years. Cop Talk or Tradecraft will get a look at his unclassified papers.

Asset
All the Harkers have been Edom men since the operation began. Jasper's father James uncovered a precursor to the Blomberg Serum, then died in December of 1894. Edom would be the steel core within the Establishment that kept the sun shining on the Empire.

Harker is a candidate for the identity of "D". Research + Vampirology and Traffic Analysis uncovers Harker's efforts to cover for Edom.

Minion
Harker is high enough up to be an irresistible target for the Conspiracy. His lack of knowledge left him vulnerable to Dracula's forces. The reason he wasn't capable of making the head of MI6 was that he was paralyzed trying to serve two masters.

Defining Quirks
  • Imeccably turned out but either harassed from being over-promoted, drawn and brittle, or impressive vigorous for a man in his 50s
  • Uncomfortable in chairs because of his height, often conducts meetings standing up or walking
  • Uses very salty language when there are no ladies present



The Anti-Communist
Name: Ilie Patrescu
Possible Role: Getting people into Romania

Innocent
Patrescu's father fled from Romania to Germany when the Red Army came in in 1944, and his son inherited his politics. Now, as tensions with the Ceausescu regime fade, he runs a travel agency, walls lined with Dracula-themed posters and memorabilia. He knows the non-supernatural details of the 1940 Edom operation, up to and including the MI6 assassination of Döring. He does not know anything about vampires.

Asset
Ilie ran a Romanian information network for MI6, letting rumors trickle back to the British government. Sometimes MI6 needs people inserted into Romania, and he gets a bonus. In addition to the Edom 1940 operation details his Innocent version knows, he has some rumors about a German 'special hunter' who was on the scene at the time. A lot of people were looking his way during the 1977 mole hunt - the outcome of that is up to the Director.

Minion
There is no such person as Ilie Patrescu. Perga Belimance was born in 1918, and was recruited as a Renfield for his cruelty. He served the Waffen-SS with ferocity in 1941, and entered London under the identity of a dead Romanian soldier. He keeps a low profile in MI6, going to a remote country about once a generation to kill five or six people and slake his Renfield thirst, but his appetite has been increasing lately. Military Science notes Iron Guard memorabilia in his office, a Criminology spend recalls a vanished Romanian war criminal, Intimidation to threaten to reveal his whereabouts to Mossad gets him talking.

Alternate Names
Petru Draghici, Florin Lazar, Sophie Cosma.

Alternate Descriptions
  • Mid-50s, hunched shoulders, thick bottle-bottom glasses
  • Early 70s, tall, dresses in late-1950s suits, yellow-stained white moustache
  • Late 60s, sad eyes, soft-spoken, dyed hair

Defining Quirks
  • Drinks incredibly sweet tea
  • Smiles without showing teeth
  • Drums fingers on table

quote:

Investigative Abilities: Bureaucracy, Forgery, Human Terrain, Tradecraft (unless Innocent)
General Abilities: Conceal 5, Driving 4
Alterness Modifier: +1 (-1 if Innocent)
Stealth Modifier: +2 (+0 if Innocent)



The Former Ghlen Org
Name: Sigmund Walther
Possible role: Corrupt fixer holding information on the 1940 and 1977 operations

Innocent
Okay, 'Innocent' is a strong word here. After World War II, he went on to become a 'private contractor' in Berlin, collecting favors and money from the CIA, BND, Mafia, and ex-Nazis. When the Wall went down, he went back to his home town of Wismar to retire, although he still sometimes does small favors for old friends. Network to talk to him, Negotiation and a few sketchy favors to get intel about the '77 mole hunt. Infiltration 7 to get access to his files, if you can find them. If the agents are hurting for money, they can approach him for a job, but the task will always be horrifying - ride shotgun on a human trafficking run, move blood diamonds for Libyan jihadist militia, assassinate a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Asset
Walther could be working for Mossad, the MSS, or the CIA - whichever it is, he knows about vampires. Maybe he transferred the German vampire program to the CIA, maybe he hid it in Argentina, maybe he's working with Edom. If the Director needs an NPC to sell the agents out to any intelligence organization, Walther can do it, but not until they have Dracula on their tail - he only betrays dead men.

Minion
Walther was turned in Romania during his Gehlen Org years. He acquired a Renfield trick or two that gave him the edge, and now runs a Level 3 node, powerful but still deniable. Dracula may have turned him to get access to the German vampire program, if there is one.

Alternate Names
Ernst Telingfeld, Joachim Seelmann, Karl-August Mehlenberg

Alternate Descriptions
  • Late 90s, decrepit husk of a man held together by hate and greed, strands of lank white hair, black liquid eyes
  • Early 90s, swollen joints, hunched over, walks with two canes, fringe of white beard on discolored face
  • Late 70s, self-effacing, neatly groomed, plain charcoal sweater and slacks

Defining Quirks
  • Breaths out raspily
  • Oscillates his head
  • German accent

quote:

Investigative Abilities: Human Terrain, Languages (Arabic, English, French, Italian, Russian), Notice, Tradecraft
General Abilities: Cover 10, Network 20
Alertness Modifier: +0, +2 if Minion
Stealth Modifier: +0



The Iron Guardsman
Name: Michael Anghelescu
Possible Role: Source of information about 1940, possible revenge-motivated ally

Innocent
The Iron Guard was a violent, fascist, anti-Semitic group in pre-WWII Romania. Michael is third-generation Iron Guard, considering himself a Romanian-in-exile despite being from Chicago. The Chicago Iron Guard operates as a local mafia, and could be behind just about anything going on in the area.

Vampire Hunter
The Iron Guard did all of the above things, but also killed vampires - That's what the founder meant when he said his followers might have to perform violent acts that would condemn them to damnation but were necessary to save Romania. The assassinations carried out by the Iron Guard were against vampires (or suspected vampires). Theoretically this would make him an ally, but do you really want to be on this rear end in a top hat's side?

If I were running this I wouldn't touch this option with a ten-foot pole; "this real-world murderous hate group were actually antiheroic vampire slayers" doesn't sit well with me.

Asset
In addition to third-generation Iron Guard, Anghelescu is third-generation CIA. They keep the FBI away from his crime buddies, he does dirty work for them in Romania. May also be a false flag Edom asset.

Minion
Vampirized by his own grandfather, Michael is now also a third-generation Renfield. The Chicago authorities leave his turf alone, because they know better than to cross him. When the Master calls, he and his brood will come running.

Alternate Names
Greg Popescu, Adam Balan, Corey Dalca

Alternate Descriptions
  • Mid-60s (second generation), shaved head, wears camo gear for no good reason
  • Mid-40s - first generation, immortal
  • 20, pale, sunglasses, scared, wants out of the family business

Defining Quirks
  • Invokes the concept of sin or martyrdom at least once per paragraph
  • Talks about "those people"
  • Constantly fingers his cross

quote:

Investigative Abilities: Interrogation, Intimidation, Military Science, Occult Studies (if Vampire Hunter), Outdoor Survival, Streetwize, Urban Survival, Vampirology (if Vampire Hunter)
General Abilities: Athletics 8, Hand-to-Hand 6, Health 6, Shooting 4, Weapons 6
Alertness Modifier: +2, +3 if Renfield
Stealth Modifier: +1

Kaza42
Oct 3, 2013

Blood and Souls and all that

theironjef posted:

I want to know who's onboard with my vision of a CCG that competes with magic by including five extra cards per pack that can be used for short duration bonuses by being torn up, having stickers on them, or having scratch off sections.

I just want a CCG that can be destroyed to win.

Way back, I think it was early 2001, maybe 2000 or so, I stumbled across a bunch of old cards from a game I don't even know the name of. By the time I found it, it was already out of print and forgotten, so I have no idea when it actually came out. From what I remember, you had various heroes and monster cards, and you would play through adventures solo or pit your fighters against each other. Every card had a bunch of scratch-off sections representing randomized damage or loot etc. Once you completed an adventure, you would mail in the scratched off cards and, provided you didn't scratch off more than you were allowed to by the rules, they would send you your rewards. This would range from rare cards to treasure to actual real world prizes. It was just the coolest thing to tiny me, and I went through the huge stash I found in like a week. Sadly, there were no more cards after that because it was old and all the prizes had long since dried up.

It might have been BattleCards? That came out in 1993, and they look very familiar. Could have been a third party ripoff or some similar game.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

I fear I have to pass on that one, due to a combination of work and time zone shenaigans. I fear I'm also not actually too familiar with Cardcaptors, but I have it on my todo-List.

Covok posted:

A good supers system for it would probably be Masks (the Powered by the Apocalypse one, not the OSR one).

It's damage system is based around emotional states (Angry, Afraid, Guilty, Hopeless, Insecure), it has a system for influence that can be used to model friendships, its stats are based on self-image (with a move to affect them called "Comfort or Support), it has mechanics to handle working as a team in combat, and its all about growing up and taking on/accepting responsibility in your life (a theme that I remember being a part of Cardcaptor, though it has been years, and likely showed up in Salor Moon too). For the most part, the core playbooks hit the notes well-enough, but not perfectly (this is where the suggestion is weakest).

Now that sounds neat. And pretty much all magical girl shows also have a touch of slice-of-life, so growing up is a good theme to include.

Night10194 posted:

No reason we'd be any more comprehensible to the abominations from beyond than they'd be to us.

Who's the real cosmic horror, honestly?

Also, a short highlight reel of today's brainstorming:
  • Not-Azathoth used to be a swell and eloquent guy, until the stars aligned and he became aware of Legend of the Overfiend. Wholly unprepared, his mind was utterly shattered, and he has yet to finish his first shout of "Why?!"
  • When Cthulhu rose from his slumber, it was not a boat that put him back to sleep, it was a magical girl dance party that happened to be close by. He shed 1d4 tears for each song until he couldn't take it anymore. Now he refuses to wake up again until the eons have become strange enough for cuteness to die.
  • Not-Hastur feels seriously trolled, because his name happens to be either "Doki" or "Desu" (not sure which would pop up more often).
  • Not-Nyarlathotep tries to fight fire with fire (or is he actually planning to backstab his comrades?) by creating a cult consisting of the most adorable ninja catgirls to ever use Wolverine claws.

Spark That Bled posted:

Put me down for wanting a game based on tokusatsu and the magical girl genre. I've even been pondering a mechanic for the characters transformations and how their powered forms work.

I think in a good system for this kind of game you wouldn't actually have to worry about this. Both genres have dedicated "civilian scenes" and "henshin scenes", and there's rarely a situation where you need to transform, but can't because there are too many eye witnesses (though that seems to be less of an issue with tokusatsu where everyone apparently either knows who the heroes are, or the heroes don't actually give a drat) or your transformation item is gone, but those can just be handled as special types of scenes/sessions.
There are situations where you can be punched out of your transformed state, but that's just a more dramatic kind of defeat.

potatocubed posted:

As I recall XXXenophile was not only a collectible card game with (cartoon) porn art, but also had some cards that had to be destroyed to activate their effects. It was released in the mid-late 90s contemporary with 5th-6th edition Magic, illustrated by Phil Foglio, and I think it bombed.

I think a game with edible cards would be neat. Not because it would be good or anything, but I like the mental image of taking the defeated monster card of your opponent and eating it.

Doresh fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Mar 9, 2016

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
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Infernal Player's Guide: Raising Hell

It's rare for demons to fall in love, especially with angels. But they can! And it's just as easy for a Prince to help them make a child. Only Saminga and Asmodeus will refuse to help this way, but all Princes will exact a terrible price from the angel involved. And we know how mating with humans goes. There are some notes - when demons attempt to use the Song of Fruition, they halve their Celestial Forces to find the TN for the Song, and Calabim add 2 to the CD to see if the child is a Nephilim. Aside from the practical difficulties here, most demons have no interest in mortal offspring - they're an easy target and take a lot of commitment. There's also a much more convenient method for having children with humans. Any demon who either has both a male and a female Vessel or who knows the Corporeal Song of Form may perform the 'succubus trick'. They have sex with a human male in female form, and then, within a few hours of that, assume male form and impregnant a human woman with the man's sperm. It's basically artificial insemination. Calabim, however, can't do it - their entropic aura renders the stored sperm sterile. Children conceived this way are fully human children of the sperm donor and the mother, but only the demon knows this. This has occasionally been used to trick would-be Brides of Satan into believing their child is the Antichrist.

We get the standard mixed party advice, skipping over that. Let's talk about growth. Demons care a lot about advancement and growth, far more than angels do. The first step up for a demonling is imp or grelin status, just useful enough to serve and earn Forces. Some, like Haagenti, serve as familiars for a time, expendable and abused. They're really on their way when they hit 7 Forces and become a full demon with a Heart. They now serve their Prince, sure, but they outrank humans and minor demonlings. The standard 9-Force PC is favored by management and above the rank and file, but they are also visible targets. Further advancement means earning distinctions and seeking a Word, though the best Words go to those that bide their time. The highest a demon can expect to get is Prince, but that never stops the Princes from scheming to increase their own power and ultimately displace Lucifer. The clever, however, recognize that Hell has lost several Princes and Lucifer's still there. Hell is a rigid hierarchy, with a few simple rules: suck up to your boss, beat your competition, try to look useful, cover your rear end and don't get caught.

Most demons have one or more intermediate superiors between them and their Prince. Usually these demons have distinctions, Words or both. Unlike Heaven's more stable hierarchy, the complex politics of Hell result in frequent reorgs and changes of boss. Demons in the rank and file will change superiors regularly. Bypassing this entirely are those demons who are assigned work directly by their Prince. While any demon can call on their Prince, they need a very, very good reason to do so - when a Prince claims their door is always open, they never really mean it. Within the hierarchy, rank is based on power, and usually that's reflected in the chain of command. Power includes the aiblity to command others, after all. The more potent you are, the more minions you get, with their loyalty based on fear, reward, mutual advantage or even admiration. A Prince's special agents rarely have minions, but may have distinctions, Words or other indicators of rank so they can call on demons to help them. Most regular demons will cooperate, as these agents have the Prince's ear. Rank rarely carries between Principalities, however, though most demons will grudgingly help the powerful out of self-preservation. When helping a demon of a hostile Word, you'd better be advancing your own Prince's goals, too, though. And most demons will cooperate with the Game - it's not a survival trait to antagonize them too much.

Within the normal hierarchy, promotion usually means being given more minions - initially human souls, Soldiers, imps and gremlins. As you advance, though, it will include lesser dmeons. At the higher levels, a powerful Wordbound can even have lesser Wordbound serving. For special agents, promotion is more usually reflected in distinctions, attunements, artifacts, information access and permission to use potent relics, as well as the right to invoke their Prince without getting into trouble.

gently caress up, or get blamed for a fuckup, and you will be punished. Princes rarely tolerate failure and can be very creative about showing their displeasure. Minor failures are often punished by Discord, minor soul damage, confiscation of artifacts or lovely mission assignments. Those blamed for major failure, however, can lose Forces, distinctions or attunements, get set on hopeless suicide missions or even be slowly tortured and killed. Even mere demotion can be dangerous, if you get given to serve under someone who used to work for you.

All demons seek power, and the only true route to real power in Hell is a Word - preferably a Word with a wide scope. The most ambitious seek Princedom, while the more cautious settle for enough power to keep rivals at bay but not challenge their Prince. Of course, sometimes you have to ensure the Word you want is available. Because all Words are given by Lucifer, there's no sure route to getting one, or any guarantee that Lucifer gives you the one you asked for. Trying to second-guess him is dangerous - he's unpredictable and it's not even easy to guess at what might please him rather than anger him. There are, however, three main ways to get a Word in Hell. First, you can perform some grand feat that draws Lucifer's attention. Second, you convince your Prince to petition on your behalf. Third, Lucifer just decides on a whim to hit you with a Word.



The fastest way to get a Word is to do something very clever that advances Hell in a big way. There's three main problems. First, oyu need to do something really impressive, and stealing credit rarely works. Second, Lucifer has to notice. Third, you have to survive Lucifer's notice. This is the best way to get a really big Word - but your Prince may not appreciate this ambition, so it can be dangeorus. Nybbas is the shining example here. He went from a mere demon to Prince of the Media in one shot, thanks to his sense of style and the usefulness of television. Many demons have gone for the gold, but so far, no one else has succeeded so spectacularly. Many schemes have broken against Lucifer's superior understanding, leaving the demons involved a laughingstock at best, too.

The safest route to a Word is to get your Prince's favor and have them petition Lucifer for you. This takes a careful walk between ambition and safety. You want a potent Word, but not one so potent it triggers paranoia. Many Princes will also indefinitely use the promise of a Word petition to encourage loyalty without actually doing it, too. Any open Word under your Prince will likely have rival seekers, and many Princes will court more than one candidate for a useful Word, as competition is a good motivator. Each Prince has their own way of picking an ultimate candidate, and any offered must pass Lucifer's scrutiny, or the Prince loses standing. Inter-Prince politics can also get involved, as many Words fit under two or more Princes, and if another Prince learns of the request, they may oppose it or even support it but then ask for control of the new Wordbound. A smart demon tries to subtly befriend other Princes, though paranoia and jealousy makes this dangerus. Lucifer personally interviews all candidates, and may require some kind of competition.



Sometimes, Lucifer just hands out a Word by surprise. Lauren, the current Demon of Strippers, got her Word on his whim, for example. These are often a mixed blessing - often the demon aspired to something different and more potent, or might be completely unsuited to the Word. Lucifer advances his own goals with these gifts, even if they aren't apparent, and no one refuses him.

No matter how you got the Word, however, the granting is done by Lucifer. He asserts his will on your Forces, realigning them to resonate with the Word. Any ceremony is entirely at his whim, but he always makes new Wordbound aware of the change. At least one Word-related Rite is always granted and often there will be a special attunement. The demon will be instinctively aware of these as their personal symphony resonates to their Word's meaning.

Unlike angels, who typically keep the same Archangel forever, Demons can swap Princes several times. Some want to, out of ambition or fear, but mostly it's just that Princes trade demons around like objects. When a demon is traded permenantly, they are usually stripped of any Band attunements, though distinctions or Servitor attunements may be left, depending on the Prince's mood and feelings towards the other Prince. Rites are usually kept, however, unless rmeoved by the new Prince. The transferred demon usually gets the appropriate Band attunement and Rites, and may get more if the other Prince feels like it.

Hell does not especially care what you want out of a trade. Sometimes a Prince just trades away an incompetent or annoying demon rather than trying to fix things. If you want to change Princes, you have to be careful. Most are reluctant to trade away a good demon unless there's something in it for them. There's three main options - get your Prince to give you away, get your desired Prince to buy you or just flee and hope for the best. One way to get traded, if not safely, is to gently caress up for a bit. Causing trouble or screwing up is good cause to be traded...but the main problem is avoiding punishment and being traded to someone worse. Your Prince isn't likely to ask your opinion, after all. Alternatively, get your Prince to see advantage in trading you, such as volunteering to spy for them. Or convince your new Prince to buy you...but that has to be worth their while. Either you have unique talents they can't get at otherwise, or you have information or artifacts of value. Most Princes do not appreciate being pushed by their demons, so getting traded favorably takes a lot of work and planning. In extreme cases, you might just run away, essentially going Renegade until you join your new Prince...and you'd better hope they agree to it. Wordbound demons are rarely traded, as they are more strongly tied to their master's Word, but it is still possible if a Word fits under different Princes. Usually this means a swap of Wordbound for Wordbound and never happens between hostile Princes.

Sometimes, rather than being traded permanently, demons are just loaned, indefinitely or not. They are still considered to serve their original Prince and owe primary loyalty there, but take orders from their new Prince until recalled. Free Lilim under general Geas to a Pricne are also of this category. Since this is not a permanent transfer, the loaned demon usually keeps all abilities. However, they rarely get given new ones by their temp Prince, except for the most exemplary service or for political reasons. Instead, they mostly get taught Songs or Rites or given artifacts.

Renegades often seek out new Princes to serve, especially with the Game on their tails. They normally need to have something of value to pay for the new Heart - possibly just information, sometimes more, or service. They enter the new service with anything they still had from their old Prince that the new one doesn't particularly feel like removing. A Renegade that kept their Heart will not even lose their Rites, though the new Prince might strip them away if they serve a hostile Word.

Moles are those who secretly serve a Prince other than their official one. They might be planted via trade or recruited in secret. It's dangerous, but potentially rewarding. Moles normally only have the powers granted by their nominal master, as someone might notice otherwise. However, those who are low-ranking enough not to meet their nominal Prince might get given powers by their new master, as few demons below Prince level will notice their existence unless they witness their use. Typically, however, a secret Prince iwl lreward with untraceable benefits like Essence, Songs, skills or artifacts.

Orphans occur when a Prince dies. They serve no one, and may or may not be absorbed by antoher Prince. That's how Valefor got most of his early demons - he supplanted the Prince of Rapine and took his servants. They can also become instant Renegades, by declaration of their new Prince...or they might be traded away. When a Prince dies from causes other than another Prince, things get more chaotic. Anyone holding any boon from the dying Prince will feel the change, as the Word reels and the Rites stop working. Some will run to a Prince they think will take them, others take the opportunity to go Renegade and hope the Game assumes they're dead. Powerful Wordbound may fight for the Prince's crown, or other Princes may seek to annex the Principality and its demons. Orphans are usually permitted to keep any attunements or distinctions by a new Prince. In fact, any truly unique and valuable powers of the dead Prince will be hihgly valued, since they can't be earned any more.

Next time: Infernal spirits

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

theironjef posted:

I just forgot that PMs were a potential source for a hot second between email, twitter, site comments, and Facebook. I have your question for the next one, though

How dare you- I mean okay.

Anyway I wanted to thank you for the root beer pulled pork recipe, that was simple and delicious.

Tasoth
Dec 13, 2011
A non-grim Tokusatsu/Magical Girl game feels like Golden Sky Stories would make a good base. Since the focus on it is doing good deeds, having the characters spend a portion of the session making things better for their city as normal people before tackling the big bad seems thematic. Handling the fight would be where all the new rules would have to pop up.

ganonso
Aug 1, 2011
Let's Read Nephilim 2nd Edition Corebook: Part 2 : The Golden Path and the Fall

So where did we leave things last time? Ah yes, the immortal ethereal Kaïms had abducted a population of primitve humans and brought them in their magical continent of Atlantis to understand what makes us speshful. That will be a short post because this part takes only two pages even if they are more revelant to Nephilm backstory than all the cosmogony that came before.

Two descriptions rather antithetical of the Golden Path were developed in the line: The first described in this very corebook says the time was a Golden Age for men who, even if they were subjected to esoteric experiments, lived in “heavenly bliss”. The proponents of this theory in universe are nostalgic of this time where time itself seemed to not move for the Immortals.

The other description was expanded in later experiments (however note that even in the core one of the groups involved in the Golden Path is called the Body Snatchers so that was present from the beginning) described the experiments of the Golden Path as utterly horrific, often involving sensorial deprivation in order to train the Sun Ka of the subjects. It is also mentioned in several places of the line the Kaïms set up a breeding program to create humans with enhanced Sun-Ka, which as the Sun is linked to emotions tended to create unstable but powerful individuals that were the heroes of old.

To show an example of Kaïm’s assholery, let’s hear a story which is not in the core but is very important in the verse.

Once upon a time in Atlantis, a Kaïm named Del observed two of its human subjects making love. As their love was sincere, the Kaïm by observing them attained Agartha and absorbed Sun-Ka into himself to become a perfect child of the world. He took the name Pelagos and intervened several times down the unseen history as the Perfect Artist and the Muses’ Conductor.

Another Immortal whose name is lost to history, decided he would do the same thing with a twist. He fused together two coupling humans. Fused together as with the vampiric discipline of Vicissitude. He made of two individuals a hermaphroditic being he immediately tried to possess.

That did not work. That did not work at all. The Kaïm was destroyed, his Elements-Ka subsumed in the creature that called themselves Ram, a perfect being with a core of Sun-Ka and branches of the Five Elements.

What did the Kaïms do when they discovered this? Did they express regret to the poor creature for creating it? Did they rejoice because Ram proved it was possible to create life with the six fundamental elements? Did they accept the new being as their peer for he was as powerful as they?

You kid. They buried Ram alive in an adamantine block of living stone and sealed the whole thing with a Saurian Artefact that plunged the prisoner into deep and nightmare-filled slumber. After that they endeavored to forget the whole thing.

[timg]http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/6b4479a1812a45658f1c3852c7c42382/illustration-for-the-rosary-of-the-philosophers-rosarium-philosophorum-e8faxd.jpg[/timg]
Ram in the Adamantine Block.

Some Kaîms refused to take part to these horrors. One of them called Prometheus rallied companions and acted. He wandered Atlantis, initiating humans to the magical reality of the world. He and his Immortal followers spearheaded a massive revolt that, even if unexpected could have been tamed.

Except that, in the moment mankind revolted against its jailors, a meteor coming from Saturn fell in the central place of Atlantis. A meteor so large the repercussion of its fall sent the continent sinking beneath the waves. A meteor formed of Orichalcum, a material unknown to Earth.

Now if you remember I said in the previous post the Magical Fields were linked to minerals and metals. Orichalcum is no exception and it was a link to the magical radiation of Saturn which normally could not reach Earth. The effect was immediate, the new Magical Field acted on the others like matter on anti-matter. The Magical Fields were wounded and slowly became unable to sustain the Kaïms.

Now Prometheus and Co could have waited the Earth became inhospitable for the Kaïms but they did not know that with certitude in the first time and they were impatient. So initiated humans took what they could find of the meteor shards so deadly to their former masters and forged thirteen blades with them. Most of these blades became famous later: Excalibur, the Spear of Longinus, Balmung, Gugnir and other mythical weapons. A Kaïm touched by these artifacts became unable to maintain its coherency and was condemned to lose its essence, its Wisdom and memories to the void.

Moreover, an Orichalcum’s wound produced elemental dust: Rare Earths which, mixed with blood and sprayed on an item, could create a prison for the wounded Kaïm. These Stasis enabled their wearers to use elemental magic even if they exposed them to possession. The Kaïms fled Atlantis and dispersed to the four winds, becoming Nephilim in the process. They Fell.

And so begins history.

Next Time: Character Creation: 19 Races Purely Cosmetic, 21 Possible Incarnation's Times

ganonso fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Mar 9, 2016

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
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2014-2018

Infernal Player's Guide: Go To Hell

Hell likes quantity over quality, and so infernal spirits are favorite tools. Two or three can be made for the 'price' in Forces of a single demon, and the successful can grow to be demons on their own. Thus, gremlins and imps outnumber true demons by a large margin. Princes keep some in Hell to do repetitive tasks, but many are sent to Earth to do things that need little skill or initiative. They are never operating independently - either they have one specific task, like harassing a single mortal or randomly inserting viruses into the software made by a specific company, or they are given to demons, Soldiersr or sorcerers as servants. Most Tethers have a large staff of familiars, gremlins and imps, doing everything from monitoring (and stealing from) visitors to housekeeping. They are useful because they can do things mortals and the undead cannot. They can go anywhere, practically undetected, and they can learn Songs and attunements. However, they cause Disturbance like anyone, and an angel can easily take them down. They use and regain Essence like any demon and heal at the same rate, but cannot invoke Superiors or ascend to Hell. They can remain in celestial form on Earth indefinitely, however, and only familiars tend to be given vessels. Those with vessels may swap between them and their celestial form for 2 Essence, causing (Total Forces) Disturbance. They may also take on celestial form the same way anyone can. If their vessel is killed, they go to Limbo. They return to Hell if they cannot fulfill whatever purpose they were sent to Earth for, such as if they are captured or kept from their job, or if the subject of their assignment is kiled or destroyed.

Infernal spirits have as much personality as their limited intellect allows. They have free will, but rarely use it. Most would never even comprehend the idea of Redemption, but they can like or (more often) hate their masters, which affects how well they serve. They can gain Forces with experience, and eventually, they will become demons. They come in two types, both of which can become familiars. Fremlins are the more likely of the pair to have vessels. They are vandals, breaking machines, spoiling food, defacing art and hurting animals. They are typically assigned to places rather than people, and their work usually furthers their Prince's Word in the area. They often learn the Songs of Entropy, Motion, Thunder or Numinous Corpus, and can learn any Song that allows them to affect the physical. They may become Balseraphs, Calabim or Habbalah.

Imps work more closely with humans. They are usually assigned to spy on, protect or harass individuals, though rarely to cause actual physical harm. They get to know their victims deeply, and some humans learn to spot them, though they usually believe the imp is a poltergeist or some other creature. Rarely, an imp may even reveal itself to a human. Sometimes, they are assgined to children, becoming demons as the child becomes an adult, already groomed. Or they may be placed simply as a marker, so other servants can be brought up to date on the target the imp has been watching. Imps often known the Songs of Dreams, Form, Light, Motion or Possession, and can learn any Song that lets them torment or manipulate humans. They can become Djinn, Shedim or Impudites.

Either way, a familiar is just a gremlin or imp specifically bound into a vessel, usually an animal, and given to another person as a Servant. They have some advantages and disadvantages that other infernal spirits with Vessels do not have. If they are killed, they still go to Limbo, but their master will probably send them Essence to help them get out. They can still become demons, though many masters will strip their Forces if they get close, to prevent it. If they do reach 7 Forces, however, they fledge as any spirit of their type would and are no longer a Servant.

Now, Hell was born in mutiny. It is a land of rebels, ruled by the first rebel. And yet, the Princes made sure none would ever rebel agianst them. Lucifer claims that in Hell, everyone is free - including free to dominate and exploit others. You can go as far as your strength, will and cunning will let you. Demons can get a Principality just by being strong enough to claim one. And yet, despite this, Hell has remained nearly as static as Heaven for millenia. For every Nybbas and Haagenti, there are millions of demons who have never advanced at all in centuries. Princes destroy anything that might alter the status quo in a way they don't like, and they kill their best and brightest for fear of threats. Hell, to put it lightly, is a hotbed of discontent. Some believe that if Lucifer ever declared Hell truly open for any to come and go as they like, most demons would leave. Others say that's only the malcontents, and that most of the hordes are quite content, or at least sure there's nothing better in Heaven for them. The discontent is obvious and pervasive, however.

It's not easy to go Renegade, though. However, every Prince has Renegadeso n Earth, more than any would like to admit. Asmodeus hunts them constantly, and Nybbas sometimes broadcasts their capture or execution. The deterrent doesn't prevent a steady stream of Renegades. Even in Hell, some just won't serve. Demons refer to it as 'going Renegade' rather than 'becoming a Renegade' because it's fundamentally different from an angel becoming an Outcast. Demons don't just spontaneously become Renegade after too much dissonance. Most choose it, or are declared so by their Prince or Asmodeus. There is no metaphysical change in their status, no tangible difference, as there is for an Outcast. They just stop obeying orders and leave. Of course, that's a capital crime. Your Prince will kill you if they can, as will Asmodeus. A demon is never randomly a Renegade - it's always someone's decision...just not necessarily their own.

For those who choose Renegade status, however, there's one problem: the Heart. As long as your Prince has your Heart, they can find you and send demons after you. They can strip you of your Rites through your Heart. They can even shatter your Heart themself - they lose the power to track if they do, but you instantly gain three levels of Discord. The only real way to strike out on your own is to steal or destroy your Heart first. Most Princes keep their demons' Hearts locked up, but semi-accessible so that demons have a place to materialize. Usually, it's possible to steal your Heart...but getting out with it won't be easy. And you need to make a Will roll to destroy it. But if you do, it's time to run, because your Prince will know what you've done instantly. Get to Earth and fast. Thus, some demons want to go Renegade but lack the skills or power necessary to do it. They may also be under too much scrutiny - and though anyone might be clever enough to steal a Heart, it's impossible for anoyne but a Superior or the Heart's owner to destroy one. In those cases, Lilith is probably your only option.



When a Renegade shatters their Heart, they retain everything they had before. If your Prince has your Heart and removes your Rites, you do lose your Word-dissonance condition, at least. If your Heart is intact and you ahve it, you can keep the Rites...but any time you use them, your Prince is aware you are alive, and perhaps more than that. Plus, you retain the dissonance condition. If someone other than your Prince gave you Rites, they might not remove them ,depending on who they are, who you are and if you'll reveal their help. Most Princes will immediately strip Renegades of their Rites, even if the Renegade served an enemy Prince. Asmodeus makes it too dangerous to overtly aid a Renegade, after all. Renegades cannot invoke their former Prince, nor return to Hell on their own, though they can follow others. (Don't.) Renegades also are less obvious than Outcasts, as demons are more casual about Discord than angels. However, they do share a problem: death. Like an Outcast, a Renegade who enters Trauma goes to Limbo. In fact, some kill themselves and hide there rather than be captured by Asmodeus. Having an extra vessel makes it easier to get out...but only if you have a Body Bag to store one in. Renegade Shedim have even more problems - they can't go to Hell, so like an Outcast Kyriotate, they make a Will roll every (10*Celestial Forces) minutes they go without a host. Success gains 1 dissonance. Failure gives that and (CD+Celestial Forces) soul damage. This continues indefinitely until death or you find a host. Shedim cannot enter Limbo by any means.

So, why go Renegade? The Fugitive didn't choose it, probably. They hosed up and had to run. The reason isn't important - they're Renegade now. However, they have a small chance of gaining refuge with another Prince, if they can prove their value and survive Asmodeus' anger. The Rebel has decided they know better htan their Prince and don't want to take orders. They still serve the cause of evil, but believe they can do it better. It takes a lot of arrogance and guts, but a few Renegades have proven so effective independently that Lucifer grants them amnesty and a Word. This is the dream, and infernal propaganda claims it proves that Lucifer really does value independent thought and initiative in the worthy. A Renegade too independent to even accept Lucifer's recognition will, of course, get destroyed by Lucifer. The Burn-Out has second thoughts. They aren't ready to join the angels, but they don't want to fight a losing battle. They believe they're locked in a stalemate and aren't about to risk their lives for nothing. A few are even disgusted by what they've been made to do. These are the ones that Asmodeus hunts most, for they might become penitent, given some encouragement. The Penitent is the rarest and most hunted Renegade - a demon that wants to change sides. Maybe they finally feel guilty for their sins. Maybe they realize there's no future for them in Hell. Maybe they just want to be on the winning side and think Hell's losing. Heaven has little use for that kind, of course. Penitents try to avoid demons while looking for merciful angels. Malakim tend not to ask questions or show mercy, though, so until a Renegade finds refuge, they're still on the run from both sides.

Unlike Outcasts, whom some angels ignore or even tolerate, Renegades are all marked for death by the Game. Demons of Asmodeus are obligated to destroy them on sight or drag them back to Hell. Your former Prince also probably wants you dead or captured before the Game gets to you. Other demons might ignore you, might turn you in...but none of them will help you. And to angels, you're still a demon. Only Renegades are so hated that sometimes Asmodeus and Dominic will cooperate to hunt them down. Ther are exceptions, but most Renegades don't want to take sides any more. Most have abandoned Hell and few want to join Heaven. They fight to survive, follow their selfish instincts and care for no one else. They usually go underground, hiding from all celestials. Some band together in small gangs for protection, but these groups rarely last. Demons are too mistrustful and uncooperative, and any group that gets too big and powerful will attract attention. There are rumors of networks of Renegades and Outcasts helping others, though. And there's also rumors that some Princes will employ expendable, untraceable Renegades for jobs that are really, really illegal. They'll be hired through intermediaries, of course, and generally paid in cash or artifacts or even Essence. Only when a Prine is willing to reveal their involvement will Songs or Rites be taught, and a freelance Renegade might really impress a Prince, enough to be offered service...but it's far more likely the Prince just kills the freelancers afterwards. Wordbound demons may also hire Renegades, and some seek aid from the ethereal gods of the Far Marches.

It's not common for Wordbound to go Renegade - they've been screened by Lucifer already. However, even they can suffer burnout or fall out with their Prince, and no demon is safe from Asmodeus' wrath. Wordbound hold their Words at Lucifer's pleasure. Sometimes he will strip the Word of a Renegade, but that's rare. The reason is because Lucifer is allegedly fond of rebels. He never pursues Renegades personally, and will most often let them run as far as they can. If a Renegade can maintain their Word even as a fugitive, it increases the odds of Lucifer recognizing them as worthy, making it up to the Renegade's Prince and Asmodeus to prove they don't deserve another chance. Wordbound Renegades retain all powers of their Word, including Rites. They can still grant those to others, as well. Not that any sane demon but a Renegade would take such favors.

Andrealphus allows relatively easy Heart access, so it's not too hard to go Renegade from Lust. Not many do, however. Andrealphus rarely chases them, figuring Asmodeus will make their lives miserable anyway, and he'll even hire Renegades if he really needs something nasty done.
Asmodeus makes it very hard to go Renegade from his service. Hearts are locked in cells, guarded by a small army of Djinn, at least one of whom is attuned to each Heart, which makes stealing them hard.
Baal stores all of his demons' Hearts in bunkers across Gehenna, near his armories. Getting a Heart out means going through a foot of concrete with no hiding spots. Baal hates deserters, and while he'll ignore Renegades of other Words, he will hunt down any from his own. He is unlikely to employ Renegades.
Beleth keeps her Hearts in nooks in the basement of her Tower. Anyone can take them, but she is attuned to all of them and will know immediately. Still, it's not too hard to smash one and run...as long as you never sleep again. She occasionally hires Renegades, but always secretly, and will actively harass them afterwards.
Belial keeps his Hearts in flaming pits or the Lake of Fire. Any demon immune to heat can get them...but Belial has made it so any demon in contact with their own Heart instantly loses any immunity to heat and fire. This makes getting your Heart out a challenge. Belial always assigns hits squads for his Renegades, and will kill the hit squad if they don't catch the Renegade quickly. This means a lot of his demons go Renegade, but few of those survive. Belial rarely hires Renegades, and always kills them after.
Haagenti stores all of his Hearts in a vault under Shal-Mari. The only way out is past a giant demon able to swallow lesser demons whole. He offers large rewards for killing his Renegades, and larger for bringing them back alive to be eaten. He might, however, hire Renegades in secret.
Kobal enjoys making his Renegades suffer but rarely kills them. He just wants them to keep running. Many turn themselves into the Game rather than suffer his cruelty further. However, a few turn the tables, and if you can impress him, he will call off pursuit. He locks his Hearts in steel cages and assigns stupid demons to guard them. He hires Renegades that amuse him.
Kronos keeps his Hearts in steel drawers in the lowest levels of the Archives. Breaking into a cabinet isn't hard...but there's always other demons around, moving things. Kronos spends little effort hunting Renegades, though. He will employ them, but it never ends well.
Lilith doesn't have Renegades - Geases remain binding everywhere. She is even known to be somewhat sympathetic towards Lilim Renegades.
Malphas locks his Hearts in tunnels under Stygia, assigning demons tow atch over them. If a demon of Malphas seems discontent, one of their friends will be assigned as guard to their Heart. Malphas doesn't really mind Renegades, and has been very successful in ensuring other Princes have more than he does. He is happy to hire and use Renegades.
Nybbas stores his Hearts in lockers watched by cameras 24/7, manned by demons with nothing else to do. It becomes a media event when one of them goes Renegade, with film crews sent to cover the hunt, capture and torture or execution. He doesn't like to work with Renegades, but will if he must.
Saminga believes his demons fear him too much to go Renegade, but stores their Hearts with undead minions in crypts under his citadel, just in case. He will come instantly if his guardians raise an alarm, and he assigns Djinn to chase Renegades. If the hunter dies, he sends another, and another, forever, until the Renegade is caught or killed. He may hire Renegades, through intermediaries, but always kills them after.
Valefor locks his Hearts in boxes in a large safe in a large cage in a vault. He changes up the guards and alarms constantly. He figures anyone that can get in and get out as a Renegade deserves freedom, so he doesn't chase them. He's open about hiring Renegades as distractions, and doesn't mind his demons doing it, either.
Vapula often just locks up his Hearts, but occasionally incorporates them into experiments or experimental defenses...or just leave them scattered around as paperweights. Your Heart's location is a constant variable in Tartarus. Vapula dislikes Renegades, and has fulltime Renegade hunters on staff. His only use for other Renegades is as experimental subjects.



Demons are not incapable of affection, respect or even love. Many were once angels, and even the Hellborn were made to that pattern. Being able to feel these things is part of free will. Most demons hate this. Depending on others is a good way to get betrayed in Hell. It's a weakness. So they put up walls and tell themselves kindness is a lie. Their loneliness exists, but it's buried under layers of ambition, betrayal and self-image. Dissonance can shatter these barriers, letting the pain out. It jangles a demon's personal symphony, even allowing the true notes to enter their mind. Usually, this twists them even further from the divine, creating Discord eventually, but sometimes, it erodes the core of their nature, their sense of self and isolation from others. They gain the Selfless Discord.

Some demons rarely find redemption by other means, but most become dissonant first, unable to defend themselves from doubt. Most often, they get this way via Word-Dissonance...but only for selfless reasons. Those who betray their Prince for selfish reasons are rarely on the path to Heaven. Demons who become dissonant by using their resonance are rarely moved to selflessness. Still, this is why the Game hunts Renegades so much. Asmodeus knows dissonance isn't just bad luck or poor planning - it's a crack in your will that the Host can exploit. As your defenses break down and you begin to question your self-image, encouraged by the Symphony informing you that you're broken, your personality can change. Often this is based on how you got your dissonance.

Some demons ignore the dissonance, pretending nothing is wrong. This is very common in Balseraphs and Djinn. They avoid their Prince to avoid questions, and often convert their dissonance into Word-related Discords - Gluttonous Gluttons, Lustful Lusties, etc. Others blame their Prince for their own failings, especially among more potent demons, Habbalah and Calabim. This kind of dissonance often leads to Paranoia, Anger or Berserk, or to Discords antithetical to the Word you serve. Sometimes, demons under stress from dissonance will display the symptoms of Discord without actually having any, which usually evolves into the Discord being 'mimicked.'

Demons suffering from resonance backlash often concentrate on the stability of their Prince's Word, becoming fanatically loyal to it over their own nature. They may avoid using resonance at all. They often gain Word-related Discords as a result, much like demons in denial. Others gain Discords that oppose their Band nature, or the Cowardly Discord. Yet more demons overcompensate based on their own nature. Balseraphs construct their own universes, Calabim break things indiscriminately, Impudites charm everyone they meet. They tend to gain Discords that exaggerate their Band nature.

Next time: More dissonance

ganonso
Aug 1, 2011
Nephilim character creation has many options. Too much to not make showing it an hassle,; So that would helps me greatly if people could choose one of these five concepts

Crusader against the Minor Arcana Fire Nephilim incarnated in Akhenaten's Egypt, 14th century Paris, Victorian Londond
Kabbalist Air Nephilim incarnated in 1st Century Jerusalem, 15th century Granada and 1940"s
Grail Seeker Water Nephilim incarnated in 1st Century Jerusalem, Arthurian Times and 1940's
Explorer Earth Nephilim incarnated in Alexander's Greece, Constantinople, Suleiman's Istambul
Selenim Sympathizer Moon Nephilim incarnated in Babylon Carthage and Elisabethan London

ganonso fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Mar 10, 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
Kabbalist!

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

Belial and Beleth have the coolest Heart protection setups. Belial's has always been a weird sort of gold standard, and I've seen it come up pretty often across different games.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

How dare you- I mean okay.

Anyway I wanted to thank you for the root beer pulled pork recipe, that was simple and delicious.

Glad to be of service. That stuff is so great. Personally, I'm a big fan of Stubb's Spicy when choosing the finishing sauce.

The Skeep
Sep 15, 2007

That Chicken sure loves to drum...sticks
When I was a kid I had a toy monster truck that had a ramp and a little mold you could press colored foil in to make little foil cars for your truck to smash. of course after the first 5 minutes the foil is useless but you could still use regular old tinfoil to make the cars.

a card game could implement a destruction element similarly. create a process where you go through steps to "build" cards, like a simplified version of model kits. cutting to correct size, drawing out borders and rules, applying stickers for artwork ect. basically encourage kids to make their cards from scratch, and if they happen to want it to look like the pictures on the box, why yes we do sell custom card stock and sticker sheets...

hell, take it a step further. Sell booster packs of stickers, include rare stat stickers that come along with a "sticker licence" card saying you're allowed to use that stickers effect on your homemade cards. but of course that licence can only be applied to one card at a time, better buy some more boosters.

senrath
Nov 4, 2009

Look Professor, a destruct switch!


You're a monster.

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Spiderfist Island
Feb 19, 2011

Seriously WTF even is a RuneQuest


A Brief History of God-Time

Talking about the setting of Glorantha on a grand historical level is tough, because the creation of Time was just 1600-odd years ago. The Elder Races like the trolls and dragonnewts have demigods living and acting in the world who are older than Time itself.

Gods don’t live within Time, though. In fact, the creation of Time was a part of the Cosmic Compromise, which helped to re-stitch the world back together after Chaos, the anti-reality that exists outside of Glorantha, almost destroyed everything that ever existed. The Gods that survived (or were later resurrected) agreed to separate themselves from the world of mortals, and now exist in the God Time (or Godsworld, Or God Plane). The God Time exists separately from the mortal world, and is both the “time” before Year 1 and occurring right now– an infinite, repeating mash of myths and legends. If you’re familiar with the concept of the Dreamtime from Aboriginal Mythology, the God Time is pretty much the same concept. I assume that Greg Stafford, the creator of the world of Glorantha and an anthropology major, was basing it off of Aboriginal Australian cosmology, but it may be based off of another indigenous society.

From my personal perspective the God Time leaves some interesting setting implications for the players that other fantasy worlds don’t have. In many FRPGs, gods are a tricky subject to deal with. In some settings, active gods begin to overshadow the actions of mortals within the world (Forgotten Realms is a culprit of this). Other settings make gods dependent on worship to survive. Settings can also make the actions, motives, or even existence/divinity of the gods an unknown aspect, like in much of the Sword and Sorcery genre. Since Glorantha is a Mythic Bronze Age Fantasy world, interacting with the gods is an expected part of the genre. Sticking the gods on the timeless God Plane and forcing them to act through their worshippers gives back the spotlight and agency to the Mortal World and the PCs while still making them godlike without the need for worship.

The division between the God Time and the Mortal World isn’t entirely cut and dry, though. Mortals can visit the God Time through Heroquests, which can either result in them gaining exceptional magic power and wisdom, or strand them in the middle of Too Many Cooks until they get their soul incinerated or worse by gods or monsters. A God can technically exist in Time, but that violates the Great Compromise, which may cause other Gods to break out the Nuclear Option and also enter Time to stop them (which is allowed in the Compromise). What’s worse is that anything that happens to a God inside Time happens for good, sometimes permanently. Ask the Trolls to find out how bad that can be.

Of course, this is also all false*, all true, and happening right now. And I’m getting ahead of myself. I didn’t even go over how the world was created and why God Time and Time are separate.


Why The Gods Can’t Have Nice Things

Before even before time, there was Chaos, a roiling mass of impossibility and anti-reality. At some point, the Cosmic Court, who created the world out of the elements, appeared. There are five six gently caress you Moon God Five physical elements in Glorantha. Darkness arose first from Chaos, creating the underworld and the very base of the universe. Water then covered the Darkness. Next came Earth, in a great massive block floating on top of the infinite waters. Then Fire / Sky (there is no distinction in Glorantha) covered the universe in a great dome.

In the center of the great block of earth was a giant World-Mountain known as the Spike. It was the very embodiment of the orderly law that created the cosmos. The Sun God, Yelm, was acknowledged as the universal Bright Emperor and with the Cosmic Court ruled over Glorantha.

Then everything was perfect forever until Umath, the primal god of Storm and Wind, showed up and wanted a place in the cosmos. But there was no place left, so he tore himself out a spot between the Sky and the Earth. Yelm got mighty pissed and his courtiers killed Umath, but his children survived and the cosmos remained damaged. This is why the Storm/Wind element is was gently caress you Moon God is dominant in the Middle Air between the earth and the Sky Dome. I’m not sure if Greg Stafford was riffing on Greek mythology for this legend, but Umath and Yelm are interesting from a mythological perspective because they sort of split up the role of Kronos into two aspects, as we'll see right now.

One of these sons was Orlanth, who both wanted vengeance and his own place in the universe. He joined up with other outcast younger gods over the course of many legends, and eventually challenged Yelm, the Bad Emperor, for his birthright. While he lost every contest, in the final trial he showed the strange power of the weapon called Death that he stole from his brother, and sent Yelm and his court screaming into hell.



Allegorical image of Orlanth challenging Yelm in the God Time. From the King of Dragon Pass video game.


After this point everything started to go bad. The end of the BrightBad Emperor’s reign brought freedom, but it also began the strife that led to the God’s War. In the sunless world, the gods fought vicious battles, with humans and the Elder Races often suffering greatly. The laws and taboos of the world were broken, and out of these broken rules Chaos crept into Glorantha in purer and purer forms. Eventually, Chaos in its ultimate forms fully burst into the world, and the world was shattered in what is now called the Great Darkness. Many gods, spirits and mortals died in the Great Darkness, some of whom we can’t even remember because Chaos annihilated them completely. All but one of the Cosmic Court died or disappeared forever. Ernalda, who is Orlanth’s wife, Queen of the World, and an extremely powerful earth goddess, died too.

It was around this point (God Time, remember) Orlanth realized that he had made a huge mistake and needed to resurrect Yelm to save the universe. He decided to travel to the Underworld in search of Yelm and to make things right. Six other people came with him, and the Seven Lightbringers set out on their long quest.



The Lightbringers crossing the sea during the Great Darkness. From the King of Dragon Pass video game.


After many trials, they finally reached Yelm in the court of the dead, surrounded by all the other gods who had died. After surviving their trials and punishments, Orlanth and Yelm came to an agreement: Orlanth promised to let the future be like the past, which included all pasts (God Time, remember). Yelm admitted that Orlanth and the other gods and mortals without a place in the old order had a right to exist. Yelm would become the Bright Emperor again, and Orlanth would be the High King of the gods at the same time (again, God Time). The final act, an unnecessary extension of friendship by Orlanth, caused the enigmatic goddess Arachne Solara to appear and lay out the great Cosmic Compromise that would repair the world, which all the Gods agreed to. As part of the Compromise, all things that had died before would be allowed to live again for half of the time: this is why Yelm rises and sets each day, and why Ernalda becomes dead and cold for half the year.

Just as the Compromise was finished, the hordes of Chaos entered the underworld. The gods, now finally united against Chaos, wrapped them in a great made by Arachne Solara and defeated them all. The web was then cast across the universe, trapping all of Glorantha within time. As Yelm rose into the air, the first day of Time began. The God Time and the Mortal World were separated forever.



later bitches im outa here


Of course, this is also all false, all true, and happening right now. And to be honest, everything above is just a summary of what the Orlanthi, the cultures who worship Orlanth’s pantheon, know happened. If you ask a Peloran, a lovely wizard, or an Elder Race creature you will get a very different story of why time exists, though many aspects like the Great Darkness will remain the same. Such is the nature of the God Time.

In the text of RuneQuest 2E, this story is very, very briefly covered in Chapter I before going into the actual setting history. However, I wanted to cover a more detailed form of the “Monomyth” as it’s sometimes called because it’s such an integral part of the setting. As we’ll later see, aspects of the struggle between Orlanth and Yelm are echoed or alluded to by the various mortal conflicts that happen inside history. And the greatest mortal conflict, the Hero Wars, is about to start between a bunch of backwater Orlanth-worshippers and a Lunar Empire whose heartland is where the Yelm-worshippers live.**


My Uncredentialed Take on All This

As mentioned previously Greg Stafford, the guy who came up with all this, is trained as an anthropologist. He is also an expert on mythology, and these two things combined is probably why Glorantha is able to have such detailed setting mythology while still allowing for cultural and religious diversity. God Time is weird and non-linear, and allows for multiple explanations for the same thing. There’s dozens of Sun Gods besides Yelm, and they’re all equally the Sun (though Yelm is more equal than others). Different groups of Orlanthi know different details to the same myths, or even contradictory myths, and they’re all true. Sure, you can “prove” one myth to be truer than another using a Heroquest, or discover new myths, but the God Time is ultimately subjective yet sacred and eternal.

And that’s the thing: Greg Stafford has said that a lot of Glorantha as a setting is based around the “interaction of the Sacred and Profane” in the sense of the human relation to religion. In RuneQuest 2E much of the magic system, as we’ll see, is all about this interaction between far-off gods and their devotees. The details of legends and rituals are often held secret from foreigners because of their sacred nature, a real-world occurrence in a lot of modern indigenous and historical cultures that Greg is undoubtedly familiar with. And besides, religion is such a source of tangible power in Glorantha that keeping these things secret makes just as much sense to an Orlanthi or Peloran as keeping nuclear launch codes a secret does to us.

As a note: in future sections of the review, I probably won’t be referring to any Glorantha setting material that’s outside of RuneQuest 2E’s core, because there’s a shitload of it and I’m not exactly an expert on what is or isn’t canon anymore. I don’t know how interesting all this tedious analysis is, so feel free to tell me to speed up. And if I got anything wrong on the setting info, please let me know. This was mostly off of memory.


Next Time: Actual Mortal History That Follows Causality



*The Shamanistic societies of the world know that the gods are really just extremely powerful spirits, not uniquely divine. Likewise, the Atheists of the west know that the Gods are just runic emanations that have lost the wisdom to acknowledge the truth of the Invisible God as revealed by Malkion, PBUH. But in RuneQuest 2E’s default region of Dragon Pass, the God Time and the story I just told is what most people know to be true.

**There are other Hero Wars which will occur at the same time, but this one is the war that will occur in RuneQuest 2E’s assumed setting region of Dragon Pass.

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