|
Halloween Jack posted:To me, the most difficult thing you have to get around for this kind of setting is "Why didn't the war go nuclear?" If aliens showed up, made all our atomic weapons vanish, and the resulting panic set off a repeat of WWII, that would be more plausible than some of the alternate histories that have come and gone. Actually, it does go nuclear in Twilight 2000. It's supposed to be a realistic nuclear war, although more The Day After, or more appropriately Powers Boothe's "600 million screaming Chinamen" bedtime story in Red Dawn, than Threads. Or, it's the World War 3 that both sides' militaries envisioned, with little concern for stuff like fallout. As George Bush said, "nuclear war was not just survivable but winnable". The second edition says that it starts with tit-for-tat tactical strikes, followed eventually by dropping megaton warheads on each others' homelands, but nukes are never fully released, just enough to ruin every major city and destroy most centralized governments. U.S. government barely survives but is reduced to a "civilian" government and a military government fighting for control. I believe that even the backstory has neutral countries nuked to prevent aiding enemy nations, even France, which is the least effected country in T2K that still has a government and industry and such because it went neutral early on but also has a nuclear deterrent (and is the power player in the "sequel" 2300 A.D. because it survives the Twilight War). The Tim Bradstreet pencil art makes things look like it's in the middle of a mild nuclear winter. Halloween Jack posted:Before Wikipedia made it easy to look up any weird prototype weapon you can think of, gun fetishism was huge in RPGs. They probably just thought the G11 was really really cool. Did the US Army issue Pancor Jackhammers? TBF, a lot of the gun stuff came from Soldier Of Fortune or Guns & Ammo or other gun magazines. I've been digging through old gun mags from the '80s and you can easily find a lot of the stuff that came out in Twilight 2000's gun book. Of course, there wasn't a whole lot on the Warsaw Pact weapons: I'm looking at the base book and every NATO standard issue rifle of the major powers is detailed, but there's three flavors of AK (five if you include the "AKR" AKSU and the Hungarian AMD-65, both listed as subguns) but no mention of the Czech Vz-58, which might be important considering that Czechoslovakia is within a few days walking distance of the player's starting area. However, "Chicken plate" ceramics was one of those things service people had heard about, but it was rare because of it's weight restricted it to air crews, vehicle crews, and special forces, and it does show up in some of those games, R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk for one: the "Laminated Doorgunner's Vest" is supposed to be something like the "chicken plate" helicopter pilot and gunner armor. It's interesting that you can dig around on Vietnam militaria sites and come across that or the Army's Variable Body Armor that was actually produced in large numbers (I believe 28,000 sets were produced, but only half of them made it into the field before America ended it's involvement in the war) or the goofy pocket plates they made for the jungle uniforms. Also, you had stuff like this on the open market at the time of first edition and it must have been on radar. That Second Chance Hard CORPS III model that Alex Jason demonstrates here is a rifle plate body armor solution. It stands to reason that there was rifle-stopping body armor out there at the time, even if it's use in military was rare. Like I said, this never comes up in the later books that have done away with the WW3 premise and go into Soldier of Fortune mercenary stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8abGS67Ig&t=4317s First edition Twilight 2000 does have this...  Supposedly, it was a real thing, a prototype Abrams with a remote turret. There's other stuff that comes up like the LAV-75, T-90, and such that are '80s prototypes that never entered production. Also, the Tank Breaker missile a.k.a. what would eventually become the Javelin and the Brunswick Rifleman's Assault Weapon, a rocket-propelled rifle grenade that saw limited use with the Marines in Panama, apparently. Edit: if you want to know the full history of the Pancor Jackhammer, Forgotten Weapons has a pretty detailed video on it. It was submitted of military testing, but those samples were destroyed and apparently the only surviving prototype was sold to Stembridge Gun Rentals (now Movie Gun Services) in the '80s or so, which capitalized on it's uniqueness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKGhqIl4Gw Young Freud fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Jul 4, 2016 |
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 20:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 10:27 |
|
|
Adnachiel posted:With a teacher sponsor that probably has no business being involved in it, even, being half-djinn. Okay, so, is "High Binders" the Neo-Nazi club? When you first posted about them I couldn't find them on the list, but with you mentioning Adani being the sponsor I went back to look at it and that's the only non-class thing she seems to lead. Or am I just missing something obvious?
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 20:52
|
|
|
Roland Jones posted:Okay, so, is "High Binders" the Neo-Nazi club? When you first posted about them I couldn't find them on the list, but with you mentioning Adani being the sponsor I went back to look at it and that's the only non-class thing she seems to lead. Or am I just missing something obvious? No, you got it. The Highbinders' whole schtick, like I've said in other posts, is that they're the setting's Death Eaters: They see anyone who isn't a witch (other magical beings included) as inferior and want to get rid of the masquerade and rule the world. She also sponsors the Chess Club, but the book doesn't go into the school clubs, so it's also mostly an afterthought.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 21:01
|
|
|
Adnachiel posted:No, you got it. The Highbinders' whole schtick, like I've said in other posts, is that they're the setting's Death Eaters: They see anyone who isn't a witch (other magical beings included) as inferior and want to get rid of the masquerade and rule the world. Ah, alright. I haven't followed along actively so I missed that bit. Yeah, wow, that's ridiculous. This game is fractally bad; the closer you look the more you find wrong with it, in increasingly terrible ways.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 22:09
|
|
|
As I keep opening more of these boxes full of books, I can't help but wonder at how much money I could waste on books I never played and, in some case,s never even read while I'm now down to counting individual dollars. Why the gently caress would I want a copy of the Star Trek rpg? Why do I have semi-complete collections of Tribe 8 and Jovian Chronicles when the only times we played no one liked the system? What the gently caress is Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch!? At least I'll always have these abused copies of Continuum and Ghost Dog I got for less than five bucks each.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 00:26
|
|
|
MonsieurChoc posted:At least I'll always have these abused copies of Continuum and Ghost Dog I got for less than five bucks each. If you ever decide you want to sell some of this stuff let me know. I've got a bizare unplayable soft spot for Continuum
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 00:37
|
|
chaos rhames posted:Thats way too many rules for demon pregnancy. I haven't seen it, but I've read about Demon Seed, a horror movie where an AI impregnates a woman. There was a Ghost Dog RPG? I love that movie, and it's what I think of when I hear the phrase 'street samurai'.
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 03:21
|
|
|
It was one of those licensed games published by Guardians of Order around the same time they were publishing games based on various animes (using the BESM rules) that also doubled as "fan bibles" with lots of setting info and illustrations and such. It was the only thing the company ever did that was based on a live-action property, so I wonder what the story is behind that. Strangely, it was written by the authors of Transhuman Space and Heaven & Earth.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 03:32
|
|
|
David Pulver wrote the 2nd and 3rd edition BESM corebooks, so it's not exactly out of left field.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 03:57
|
|
|
It's probably the easiest Jim Jarmusch movie to adapt into a game, though a bunch of games in this thread could do a decent Wings of Desire, and Only Lovers Left Alive is what happens when everyone in your group plays Toreadors. Ghost Dog somehow manages to make the trenchcoat and katanna weaboo we endlessly mock here interesting and sympathetic.
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 04:00
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:It was one of those licensed games published by Guardians of Order around the same time they were publishing games based on various animes (using the BESM rules) that also doubled as "fan bibles" with lots of setting info and illustrations and such. It was the only thing the company ever did that was based on a live-action property, so I wonder what the story is behind that. Unlike the fan bibles, though, it was a full game, and it's kind of a double rarity in that it's for straight crime stories (inspired by Japanese cinema). You wouldn't think straightforward cops or robbers wouldn't be as vanishingly rare as it is - maybe not popular per se, but you'd think there'd be at least one iconic game that covers it other than little-known, dodgy projects like Ghost Dog or Haven: City of Violence. Unfortunately, while the dX system is better when restricted to human levels, it still doesn't actually become good.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 04:15
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Personally, I always interpreted those lines as meaning the Jihad was against brain uploading and that such could make an interesting antagonist in a Dune story - a noble so obsessed with chasing immortality that they'd return to the reason the Butlerian Jihad began. (Of course, when Brian Herbert hired Kevin J. Anderson to finish the series and add a bunch of prequels, that's exactly what it was.) OTOH, I always took it as implied that part of the reason the Great Houses maintain their stockpiles of atomic weapons is in case a robot army (or any other powerful external enemy) ever invaded the Imperium. From what I remember, the unofficial but well-regarded Dune Encyclopedia took a middle ground; I don't think there was a robot empire, but there were whole societies that came to rely on artificial intelligences doing their thinking for them. The Butlerian Jihad was named for a priestess who incited a rebellion against technology when she discovered that some artificial intelligence at the hospital, without any human input being involved in the process at any point, decided to abort her child without her knowledge or consent. The Holtzman who discovered the Holtzman Effect--which makes everything from suspensors to shields to Guild foldships work, and without which the Imperium would be impossible--was a cyborg whose brain was put in a tank after an accident. Bieeardo posted:I recall there being poison/chemical sniffers sophisticated enough to fit on a finger in the first book, as well as cybernetic implants like eyes and the distrans technology they used to turn bats into couriers. There was also distrust for some of that tech, particularly regarding human implantation, and a very brief passage in God Emperor mentions a holographic printout from a 'forbidden computer'. And then late in the series you've got outright cyborgs and poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 04:34
|
|
|
Count Chocula posted:I haven't seen it, but I've read about Demon Seed, a horror movie where an AI impregnates a woman. I've seen it a couple of times over the years. There are some really unsettling scenes, and I'm not talking about the computer seducing its victim with a laser light show and some synthesized smooth jazz.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 04:36
|
|
|
I think the big thing with the Butlerian Jihad was that it was an undeniably religious event in some sense, so it's not going to be fundamentally down to min-maxing societal optimization of whatever sort. It always seemed pretty clear to me that they had some degree of electronics but that they were probably relatively fixed, like the poison snooper being an extremely refined "test on a chip" thing. Wouldn't be shocking if things like that were the sole experts of those two machine-friendly planets though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 04:42
|
|
|
I always assumed it was a crusade against AI, for some reason. I remember downloading a Dune RPG called Jihad (I think it was based on Burning Wheel), then deleting in fear because of the name. Gotta say, Iraq War 2 felt like deja vu after reading Dune as a kid. Same basic plot. It predicted it better than that pro-Blackwater game a few pages back. Any rules in the game for the trippier stuff, like precognition and turning into a giant sandworm and knowing everything in the universe? And all the deep ecology? Always found that made more sense/was more relatable than politics and arguments between Houses and Clans.
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 05:26
|
|
|
Part of the Golden Path was protecting humanity from prescient machines.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 05:39
|
|
|
Bieeardo posted:I've seen it a couple of times over the years. There are some really unsettling scenes, and I'm not talking about the computer seducing its victim with a laser light show and some synthesized smooth jazz. It is unsurprisingly super rapey and outside of that has a dude getting his head exploded in finest 1970s practical effects. I would skip it unless you find yourself asking "what if Josef Fritzl and/or Ariel Castro was a mainframe?" If you do ask yourself that, please go slam your dick in a car door for an hour and then seek therapy.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 05:46
|
|
|
It was, but it was also a rebellion against general social trends of letting machines do your thinking for you. For example, I'm sure the Imperium would never tolerate "black box" algorithmic trading in their economy. The next chapter is actually full of the stuff where the game authors were forced to "fill in the blanks" of the setting based on what made sense to them. How CHOAM works is part of it. There are rules for spice and for prescience, but as you can see from the previous chapters they're sketchy and/or bad. The deep ecology elements are in the GM advice, wherein you're encouraged to present the Entourage with social and practical issues that are more complex than they first appear to a budding colonialist. The thing about this game that's going to disappoint a lot of people is that it depicts the status quo right before the events of Dune. After WotC acquired LUG, the authors were working on a Dune Adventure that would've been on the same scale as The Great Pendragon Campaign and take the PCs through the events of the first novel...but it was scrapped along with the planned D20 version and the entire game line. Ego Trip posted:Part of the Golden Path was protecting humanity from prescient machines.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 05:58
|
|
|
I wish the term wasn't so loaded, because calling anti-technology types 'Butlerian Jihadists' would be fun. There's only so many ways to yell 'Luddite!' Maybe the LessWrong types could adapt it.
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 08:15
|
|
|
Is there a good review of mazes of the blue medusa? I hadn't heard of it until the Ennie Award nominations today.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 08:20
|
|
|
Count Chocula posted:I wish the term wasn't so loaded, because calling anti-technology types 'Butlerian Jihadists' would be fun. There's only so many ways to yell 'Luddite!' They love technology in Dune, except for the computers that tried to kill them all that one time.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 08:21
|
|
|
clockworkjoe posted:Is there a good review of mazes of the blue medusa? I hadn't heard of it until the Ennie Award nominations today. It's a system agnostic mega-dungeon setting, although it's my understanding that given Zak S's roots, it's more directly tailored towards OSR play and specifically Lamentations of the Flame Princess, as the statblocks include AC, Hit Dice, damage and number-of-attacks. I believe Zak S also plays D&D 5th Edition, so there's some compatibility there as well, especially as the book does explicitly use the Advantage mechanic in some of its effects. The main draw would seem to be the high production values, the nice art, and that the book is laid out to minimize the amount of page-flipping one might otherwise have to do in works like these: you have the map/diagram for a number of rooms, and then the specific room descriptions are only ever 2-3 pages away. That as opposed to other megadungeon works where you have a map for 30 rooms on page x, and then the description for room 30 is on page x+30. The PDF version of the book even hotlinks the room markers to the room descriptions themselves.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 08:46
|
|
|
Midjack posted:If you do ask yourself that, please go slam your dick in a car door for an hour and then seek therapy. I did, then KITT laughed and called me his little hood ornament bitch. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 12:54
|
|
|
See, I always figured that it was the "Butlerian Jihad" because they were robot servants. Which is why my City of Villains Mastermind who used the name wore a tailcoat tuxedo and commanded an army of robots.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 13:06
|
|
|
It's kinda funny that they were so scared of prescient machines and then built a society that could be ripped apart by superhuman prescient conquerors/predators instead.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 13:18
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:It's kinda funny that they were so scared of prescient machines and then built a society that could be ripped apart by superhuman prescient conquerors/predators instead. Well hey at least it's ALL NATURAL that way.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 13:54
|
|
|
Demon: Heirs to Hell First up, it should be noted that not all demon-bloods have all the powers available to demon-bloods. Many of these are unlocked by specific merits. Anyway, moving on. Most demon-bloods lack the capacity to hold or even manipulate Aether...but some are able to use Aether to try and supercharge an Embed the same way a demon uses Exploits. However, demon-bloods lack the reliable control of demons, and so they instead produce a unique, dangerous and explosive powers. First, they must draw Aether from the world around them - much easier if there's an angel, demon or active Infrastructure nearby. This requires a Stamina + Occult roll. Once you gather your Aether, you generally have a single action in which to use it, activating your Embed and dumping nitro in the gas tank. To o this, you roll your Embed, then roll the successes on your Embed roll as a dicepool (with a chance die even if you fail). Succeed, and you get...well, something close to what you wanted, with the ST making tweaks and you lacking much control over the result once it gets going. Then, you must roll to avoid the God-Machine's notice. More on that bit in a moment. Even more rarely, some Fractals are capable of actually holding Aether. If they can, they have a max Aether pool of 5 and can spend 1 per turn, regaining Aether by drawing in ambient Aether as above. Doing so more than once a day risks the Machine's notice. These demon-bloods can sense aetheric resonance like demons with Primum 1, but if they do so, they can be sensed, as well. You can use your Aether to supercharge Embeds without having to draw in Aether first, so that's nice. Demon-bloods cannot have compromises, since they have no Cover. However, any time they would risk a compromise, they instead risk drawing the Machine's notice. This is an Intelligence + Occult roll, as you attempt to understand and hide what you are doing. Fail, and the MAchine notices you, advancing you one level on the Demon-Blooded cipher. Succeed, and it doesn't. Simple enough.  Demon-bloods can, all of them, learn embeds. These abilities are less magic and more innate understanding of the universe. No specific Embeds are forbidden, but the ST must approve all choices. Certain demon-bloods have 'Infrastructure Proficiency,' an innate understanding of Infrastructure. When in Infrastructure, they can't become lost and can always find an exit. They can't be surprised by angels or guardians of Infrastructure, though intruders can surprise them. They understand innately how to operate any machinery or mechanisms of the Infrastructure, including vehicles that are part of it. If a roll is needed, they never have an unskilled penalty. They can also instinctively find and recognize the Linchpin of any Infrastructure. Demon-bloods are do not have the same benefits of language and memory as their parents. However, the Language and Multi-Lingual merits for them are special, and they get a one-dot discount to Eidetic Memory. (Demon-bloods also use Integrity, being human.) Certain demon-bloods are uniquely capable of sensing if a demon is lying. They are the only beings that can. See, demon lying has nothing to do with objective or subjective truth, or even with their ability to regulate body response. Rather, it is due to their quantum nature. Anything they say is both true and false until they decide the matter, even if the facts disagree. Some demon-bloods can tap into this quantum understanding. They can't manipulate it like a demon can...but they can collapse the waveform and tell if a demon is actually telling the truth. This requires a Wits + Composure roll against the demon's Cover or Primum (if in demonic form). Offspring begin the game with a single Embed of their choice and one that is their first Key, chosen by the ST. They also begin play with the Noted condition. Fractals begin play with one Embed of their choice, but get two from the ST for free. They also begin play with the Catalogued condition and their first Interlock. Which is to say: yes, Demon-Bloods have a Cipher. I'm not a fan of it, myself. The game notes that you basically can, in fact, remove it without harming the game. But here's why it is there and works. See, demons argue about where the Cipher comes from and have to chase it. Demon-bloods, however, do not chase the Cipher. It happens to them. It is provided by the Machine, in fact. You move a step along it whenever the Machine notices you, rather than suffering a compromise. First you're Noted, getting -1 on 'compromise' checks. You gain your first Key, if you didn't already have it. The Machine knows you exist. Then you're Catalogued, gaining your second Key and first Interlock. You keep that -1 'compromise' penalty. The Machine knows your name, vital statistics and may send an investigator if you die. Then you progress to Examined. You gain your third Key and second Interlock. If you are in danger, the Machine may send an angel to help you, and it cares about your activities. You get -2 to avoid 'compromise'...and any demon that suffers compromise in your vision gets -1 to their compromise rolls, too. Finally, you become Activated. Your Cipher is completed - you gain your fourth Key and third Interlock. Once per session, the Machine can 'nudge' you, forcing you to take one action independent of your will. This action always ends up playing into the Machine's plans. You cause a -2 penalty to demon compromise checks. You no longer cause 'compromise' checks for yourself, at least. This is because the Machine knows you intimately and you're only getting out if it lets you or you die. Certain Embeds never appear in the Demon-Blooded Cipher - stuff like Interference, Voice of the Machine or any Embed that enables direct manipulation of the Machine. Demon-Blooded Interlocks can resemble those of demons, but they almost never cost Aether to activate, as demon-bloods rarely have Aether. Alternatively, the Machine can instead grant Merit dots as an Interlock - up to five dots of Allies, Alternate Identity, Contacts, Fame, Mentor, Mystery Cult Initiation, Resources, Retainer, Safe Place, STaff, Status or True Friend. Unlike other Interlocks, however, these merit dots will disappear if you backtrace the Condition that caused them. Backtracing is the ability to determine how much the Machine knows about you, then alter the data so that the Machine loses track of you, allowing you to move back on the Condition track for the Demon-Blooded Cipher...unless you're Activated. At that point you're stuck. Backtracing requires you to know the Machine exists and have Infrastructure to access somehow. Once you take part in the Infrastructure somehow, they concentrate on erasing themselves. This does not remove any Kerys or Interlocks...except Merit-Interlocks, which vanish with the Condition. This is Manipulation + Occult extended roll. You may choose to point the Machine at another person. If they are stigmatic or demon-blooded, this gives +2 to the backtrace. Supernatural beings other than a demon give +3, and demons give +4. However, if you attempt to backtrace twice with the same Infrastructure, you get -4. So, new merits!
Next time: Examples.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 14:26
|
|
|
Lynx Winters posted:David Pulver wrote the 2nd and 3rd edition BESM corebooks, so it's not exactly out of left field. He's also the author of GURPS Banestorm: Abydos, which is probably going to be going up after I finish the main GURPS Banestorm book due to it being one of the Yrth materials that actually has enough new stuff to it to discuss. I was also thinking of discussion GURPS Fantasy Adventures even though it's 3E rather than 4E, simply because one of the adventures is the somewhat cringey "Sahudese Fire Drill". Fossilized Rappy fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Jul 5, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 15:19
|
|
|
Demon: Heirs to Hell The third and final chapter of Heirs to Hell talks about advice on playing children and dealing with pregnancy storylines, complete with a sidebar on how, in the World of Darkness and especially with demons, gender need not have bearing on ability to become pregnant if the player wants. Demons are extremely weird and flexible to begin with, after all. We also get some sample characters. First is Granny Lorelei, a Latent who was a nurse for Vietnam returnees in the 70s. She's been around a long time and is pretty mellow. She retired early, left her husband and now lives in a seniors community with her friend and lover, Dorothy. Since retiring, she has become a curious explorer, insatiable in seeking out the new and strange. She's in her early 60s now and still going strong. She has unnaturally, impossibly red hair - actually, that's her Stigmata, it's impossible to dye and will never go all the way grey - has a tattoo on her shoulder and, when she remembers to, wears both a yellow and a rainbow ribbon pin on her lapel. She is likely to become a full-blown Offspring soon, thanks to her decision to explore the weird, her determination to find out where the people who've vanished from the local Senior Community Center have been going and her discovery (and subsequent loss) of some weird metal feathers and claws which she wants to convince her family are important. Her other primary goal is get her ex-husband to go and leave her alone for good. Aniyah Mbanefo has had a hard time as an Offspring. She's eight years old, the daughter of a demon who lost his ring. She's had to move six times in five years, and three years back, her father died while investigating Infrastructure. She's been in and out of foster homes since, told by the cops that her father died of an overdose. She doesn't buy it. She's a smart kid, but no one - least of all her - understands what she is or what she's going through. She needs some help. Her Stigmata is that her eyes are reflective at night, in the manner of a road marker rather than a cat. If she were ever to learn about the Machine, she'd view it as a system to resist and defeat, just like the foster care system. Her Embeds are Social Dynamics and (as a Key) Cool Heads Prevail. Jinhun Lee is the Offspring son of a nun who told him he was the result of her unholy seduction by a demon. Technically, this is true, but he never believed her until he turned 14 and met his father. They talked, dad explained some stuff, and then they got in a fight and Dad told Jinhun to leave South Korea before they killed each other. Jinhun wandered to Hong Kong and became a street hustler, who saw the victimization of humans all around him, by demons, the Machine and other humans. He decided he wouldn't be a victim. He's a professional club dancer, earning a lot of money on his undeniable sexuality. He's got some following now and some folks who want him in movies, but he doesn't really think it's what he wants. It'll do for now, though. What he wants is the power over people his father had, so that no one can deny him. To get that, he'll do just about anything. He's heard recently abou a street drug that might give him a demon's power, and he's after it. He isn't really going after the Machine, but he surrounds himself with occultism and has a ton of daddy issues. His Stigmata is that when he cries, his tears are hot candle wax, though they do not burn him as they fall. His Embeds are Knockout Punch and (as a Key) Shift Consequences. Ofelia Madaleno is a Fractal. Her parents did what they could to protect her. It wasn't easy and wasn't perfect, but they loved her and tried to keep her safe. Still, living in constant hiding and fear was stifling. And, well, imagine being a Mexican kid raised to hate angels. At 16, she lost her father to an angel. She escaped, but barely, and only because of his sacrifice. A year later, her mother vanished. She evntually heard how - she got caught, taken back, reprocessed by the Machine. Ofelia almost fell to despair...but ended up going the other way. She teamed up with some mercenaries, learning how to fight. Now, she is a one-woman insurrection against the Machine and wants to become an angel hunter. She's a no nonsense woman in her mid-20s now, fit and fast. She doesn't bother with lies unless she has to to avoid the Machine - the truth is good for alienating others, after all. She's always planning her next job, and the local demons know about her but avoid her, as they don't know how to handle her. She's fine with that - she believes on some level that all demons are angels waiting to happen, potentially. Her Stigmata is a constant smell of ozone, as if lightning had struck her moments before. Her Embeds are Strike First and (as Keys), Merciless Gunman and Unperson. Her Interlock is that she always has access to the Alternate Identity merit when she needs it. Demon-bloods do tend to find each other - there's predators that hunt them, and they can often recognize each other by hte Stigmata and ocmmon experiences. Often, they work together for safety, out of loyalty or friendship or because they know they have no choice but conspiracy or slavery. Art Dawkins was a Brooklyn kid, raised around criminals but never with the connection or ruthlessness to get big. For the last 20 years, he's led kids and teens into crime, teaching them petty theft and con games. He encourages them to exploit the adult tendency to underestimate kids. When they get too old to play at innocence, they often move deeper into Brooklyn's criminal underworld. Because Art's gang is basically a feeder for the organized crime of the area, it's become known as the Little League. If Art resents the joke, he doesn't show it. Five years ago, he recruited his first orphan Offspring. At first, he believed she was just lucky, but eventually realized her power was special, something he could use to make it big. He's been keeping an eye out for kids with weird markings or impossible luck since. Those he can't lure with promises he'll abduct. At first he used threats to keep them in line. Now he uses drugs. Despite this, however, the Little League has grown beyond his ability to control. Recently, he's made contact with a potential partner who he hopes will help him keep order, but he won't say who or what that partner is. Originally, Hell's Fourth Legion was a specialized KGB enforcement arm, composed entirely of Offspring and human psychics. They occasionally stopped enemy counterintelligence, but their main job was to identify and eliminate supernatural beings who were subverting or sabotaging USSR interests in Eastern Europe. Their work in Red Midnight Operation in East Berlin earned them a reputation among demons for ruthless efficiency, and for the rest of the Cold War, mere rumor of their presence was enough to drive demons into hiding and discretion. They lost most of their funding in the 80s, when the Soviet economy collapsed. Officially, they were disbanded after the Soviet Union's fall. In practice, they just became a mercenary company, selling their serivces to the highest bidder. They've made a success of themselves, considering the risks, and over the past few decades they've opened chapters on every inhabited continent. Their current commander is a Fractal, and while they primarily recruit Offspring, they have some unusual specialists, too. The Legion specializes in covert ops against occult targets, but they'll do search-and-destroy or rescue missions for the right price. When the angels came for his ring, Mr. Helix adopted a pair of orphaned Offspring he'd known for their entire lives. He carefully and cautiously (even for a demon) made himself a new Cover: Father Daniel, headmaster of a small orphanage and boarding school he named Saint Jerome's Academy. He hired another demon as an assistant teacher and built up a student body of 25 ordinary kids and six orphaned Offspring. As he feared, local agents eventually learned the truth about Saint Jerome's...but the Agency didn't try to take it over. Instead, they asked Mr. Helix to take in some other abandoned or orphaned Offspring they had on hand. He accepted, and the Academy has flourished in the decades since. The Agency bankrolls them now via charities and philanthropists that exist purely on paper, allowing Saint Jerome's to focus exclusively on demon-blooded kids. The curriculum now includes classes to teach mastery of arcane physics as understood by demons. In return, the Agency uses the existence of the academy as a recruiting tool - Agents can send their kids to Saint Jerome's as a benefit of service. This makes life simpler for demonic parents. It educates their kids and teaches them skills they can't get elsewhere. Many of the students eventually join the Agency, but always willingly and with full knowledge of the risks. Mr. Helix stepped down as headmaster at the end of last term - Father Daniel's Cover has grown old, and he doesn't want to draw too much attention. He longs for someting new, after 30 years of teaching. Mr. Vicars, a ranking Agency member, has taken over as new headmaster. He secretly believes, controversially, that demon-blodos are the key to defeating the Machine and achieving Hell. He's particularly obsessed with Fractals and the children of Fractals, whom he believes will produce a messiah. This'd be a problem enough, but he also intends to militarize the academy. Rather than teach the students a realistic understanding, he believes he's got a mandate to indoctrinate them so that they have only the choice to join the Agency. Many of the alumni and teachers at the academy will not approve of these changes even slightly, but Vicars is a dangerous enemy. Project 4X was founded by billionaire Larry Kirlian to sutdy paranormal phenomena as of several years ago. Its field agents investigate cryptids, fairies, ghosts, demon possession. In some cases they collect data, but they'll take any chance to collect live specimens. They'll work to neutralize the threat of hostile non-human entities, or NHEs, but their primary goal is investigation and collection of specimens. Their scientists examine each subject. They haveh undreds of captive NHEs, and their knowledge grows aily. Some demons suspect something else is at work here, given that they learned about demonic existence so quickly. The truth? Yeah, Project 4X is a front for hunter angels. They actively recruit stigmatics and especially Offspring and Fractals. Many that work for 4X are orphans or activated Latents, but a handful are runaways. They especially prize investigators that hate demons, due to abuse, loss of friends or family thansk to a demon's loyalty to other things or more. Whatever the cause, the Machine directs them against any demon they can find, sending angels to hunt them down while the demon-bloods act as hounds. In some cases, demon-bloods even join the hunting parties, but rarely except to those who have proven their loyalty by helping take down their own parents. Some OFfsprings and Fractals grow up happy, but many fall prey to those that want to abuse them and their powers. They often have little choice but to obey, thanks to threats ot them or those they care about. In some cases, it's debt or drugs or even misguided love of their abusers. The Liberators are a network of demon-bloods that help these abused and exploited fellow Offspring and Fractals escape and get justice. Most Liberators were exploited themselves and many rescues join the network, both to help others and to be protected. In many ways, they're like a large Free Agency, collecting and passing on information about problems and threats too large for them to handle themselves. They can and do punish abusive demons, sometimes by blowing hteir Covers and drawing hte Machine down on them...but if they're faced with an army of cultists gathering Offspring, they're more likely to try and extract the victims if they can and warn the network to stop further abduction. The Griffin-Blackburn family firm descends from Mr. Blackburn and Ms. Griffin, a cheerful pair that have carved a little Hell for themselves out of a mid-sized city, raising a family. They built a small family law firm to support their lifestyles and Covers. They do just about anything...and even offer services in the form of pacts, which they sell to outside Agencies. Once their Fractal children were old enough, the couple hired them to the firm in various capacities - stockbrokers, real estate agents, legal work. When the kids married, their spouses joined, too. The Offspring grandchildren seemed ready to do the same, and Griffin and Blackburn looked forward to the expansion of the firm. There are problems, however. The eldest son wants control, and he knows that he won't have it while his parents are around. A son-in-law has been using their resources to run a Ponzi scheme, and that's going to collapse on him soon. The youngest daughter is sick of her quiet life and her arguments with her dim (if loyal )husband, and she already has her bags packed. The second eldest granddaughter has a ton of gambling debts, and one of the teens has told her byofriend the family secret by accident. Her boyfriend has his own supernatural ties. The youngest granddaughter, meanwhile, is being spied on by the Deva Corporation - specifically, a division that abducts Offspring. Two of the grandsons have fallen in with bad crowds, and a third is far too careless in using his powers publically. This isn't a question of if disaster will strike the firm - it's just when and which one first. Then we get a bunch of adventure hooks. They're nice, I suppose! The End! Next up: Vampire 2e, Werewolf: The Pack (pack and crossover stuff), Demeon: Splintered City: Seattle (Seattle book) or Demon: Flowers of Hell (the Player's Guide)?
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 19:52
|
|
|
Fossilized Rappy posted:A bit late responding to this, but David Pulver totally loves anime and you're right that it's not surprising at all to see him involved with it. The settings he may be most famous for (Reign of Steel, Technomancer, and Transhuman Space) may not be anime on the surface, but he tends to have little things sneak in anyway, even if it's just in the inspiration biographies. He was also one of the writers of BESM, like you said, and he wrote the very anime-inspired GURPS 3E book GURPS Mecha. For example, David Pulver is the guy who never passes up an opportunity to put catgirls in whatever he writes.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 20:16
|
|
|
Kai Tave posted:For example, David Pulver is the guy who never passes up an opportunity to put catgirls in whatever he writes. Usually in a setup where you can buy one over the counter.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 21:17
|
|
|
 Chapter 6: Creatures As we near the end of our trip through GURPS Banestorm, we've got a brief trip through the bestiary chapter at last. Most of the creature entries are brief – a paragraph at best, assuming they don't have some special mechanics to have described – and there aren't a ton of them, but still, some monsters are better than none in my book. Ordinary Wildlife A brief section on a few Earthly animals that are now found on Yrth, on top of all the mentions of them back in the geography chapter.
Vermin Several species of animals considered to be pests followed humans to Yrth as well. Most notably, there are lots of rats, midges and mosquitos in wetlands, and plague locusts in the far west of al-Haz. There are also two fantastical vermin mentioned in this brief segment: the Yrth-native swamp thrimminy, a newt-like amphibian that is infamous for spoiling food stocks, and a rapid-breeding and aggressive swarming desert primate from Gabrook called the d'baajori.  Fantastical Creatures In spite of the name here, not all the entities in this segment are actually fantastical. Some are fantasy monsters, but there are also a few that are simply animals that the Europeans had never encountered by the time of the first Banestorm, either due to being extinct already or found in far-flung corners of the world. Basilisk A freakish chicken-headed snake found deep in the Great Desert, though even there it is exceedingly rare. The basilisk is capable of creating a psychokinetic assault that deals 3d6 toxic damage with a gaze, meaning that a number of precautions against it have been created. It is known that this gaze attack doesn't work through mirrors, that it doesn't work against weasels, and that the basilisk suffers psychological terror at the crow of a rooster or the scent of a herb known as rue. There are also unconfirmed stories of basilisks with wings and poisonous blood. Bushwolf Described as a marsupial with a wolf-like head, kangaroo-like back legs and tail, and tiger striping, it is pretty clear that the bushwolf is actually the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf. As the Europeans and Muslims of the Banestorm era had never even heard of Australia, these things were considered pretty weird when they were encountered in the arid badlands in al-Haz and al-Wazif. Bushwolves typically hunt small prey and are only rarely known to attack lone human wanderers. Caustigus The Acid Swamps of Solfor are thick bayous with acidic water found in the southern Orclands, which seems like something that would have been very interesting to discuss during the whole entry on the Orclands in chapter 4 rather than giving it so little attention. One of the very few things that live in this freaky wetland are the equally freaky monstrosities known as caustiguses. These amphibious and vaguely humanoid monsters lurk beneath the acid's surface, waiting to grab unsuspecting prey with their extremely long four arms and drag it down into the boiling depths. The caustigus has extremely powerful regeneration for everything except for its head, but cannot actively regrow body parts, which means hacking up its arms is typically the best way to win a fight with one. Caustiguses are also startled by bright lights and will quickly retreat from torches or spells such as Flash and Fireball. Demons From Hell they came...or at least from some plane very much like it. For reasons unknown, the demon plane is not entangled in the "quantum sargassum" that surrounds Yrth, allowing them to be easily summoned from or banished back to their nightmarish realm. While their appearance, powerset, and statistics can wildly vary, all demons are linked through their sadistic love of violence and destruction, being one of the only truly born evil things in the multiverse. It's generally a horrible idea to deal with demons, but some people do it anyway. Giant Spider Rarely seen and typically treated as something to scare kids with in bedtime stories, these man-sized trapdoor spiders are only found in the depths of the Great Forest and Blackwoods. They tend to rest in a near catatonic state for months or years on end until something big and potentially tasty makes a racket on top of their burrows. When that happens, the giant spider pops out in a surprise attack, grappling and attempting to sink its massive fangs into the prey item in order to deliver an exceedingly potent paralytic venom.  Gryphon Part eagle, part lion, and all attitude, grypohons are found in the forests and mountains of the Fence of God, Great Forest, and Emperor's Forest. Gryphons can be tamed, but it's a dangerous task given that they will quickly turn their strong beak and wicked claws on anyone who doesn't show enough discipline. Harpy Harpies are large eagles with the heads and breasts of human women. In spite of their features, however, harpies are non-sapient beasts that are actually particularly crude, having a foul temper and compulsive need to spread their waste all over food, drink, and living things. Flocks of five or more of them are found flying around the badlands of al-Haz and al-Wazif, as well as in the mountains that dot the Great Forest and Emperor's Forest. Hellshark A giant shark, meant to be the giant extinct shark Charcharodon megalodon. Not much is stated about them beyond that they're big, voracious, fearless, and even boats and krakens aren't truly safe from them. Hippogriff Horse-gryphons from the Whitehood Mountains, hippogriffs are prized due to their rarity. Their feathers are used in alchemical elixirs and magic spells of unstated types. Hydra These rare cow-sized reptiles with one to sixteen heads are only found in the salt marshes of Cardiel, where they threaten any humans who come close to their lairs. It is unknown whether hydras are a natural or magically created species, or what they do when they aren't actively menacing travelers, and most people generally don't care as long as some monster slayer deals with them if they get too close to civilization. The greatest threat hydras pose is the fact that cutting off one of their heads leads to two growing back after ten seconds unless the neck stump is cauterized, meaning that a swift kill is difficult. Kraken Immense squid that range from 90 to 300 feet long. It is extremely rare to see a kraken surface, and even rarer for one to actually attack a ship, though it has happened enough times to give these deep sea cephalopods a terrifying reputation. It is unknown what the life cycle or daily activities of a kraken are. Nightstalker Nightstalkers are weird 15 foot long nocturnal bears that live in some of the forests of Megalos and Caithness. While they usually hunt large herbivorous mammals found in the same forests, nightstalkers love the taste of human flesh for whatever reason, and are willing to even knock down trees to get at people who attempt to climb away from them. An interview with Janet Naylor in 1990 listed the nightstalker alongside the bushwolf, hellshark, paladin, strider, and treetipper as being based on real world prehistoric creatures, but I'm genuinely not sure what one it would be. It's larger than even Arctodus simus, the legendary short-faced bear, so who knows. Paladin Like Pathfinder Bestiary 2, GURPS Banestorm has a glyptodont. Unlike PB2, Banestorm hasn't gone with the namesake of the clade and has instead given us what seems to be almost certainly the mace-tailed Doedicurus, called the paladin by residents of Ytarria. Paladins are dim-witted and simplistic creatures that trundle slowly across the plains of al-Haz with little regard for those around them. They know that few things will attempt to harass them, and those that do can usually be told off with a wave of their intimidating weaponry, so they take life in stride. Pegasus Shy winged horses from the Whitehood and Bronze Mountains, pegasi are actually slightly smarter than chimpanzees and particularly headstrong and evasive. It is impossible to train or break them like actual horses, and anyone with a pegasus mount has been allowed willingly to ride it and must never forget its willfulness, lest their steed turn on them. Reek Your standard fantasy ooze monster, these brown jelly blobs squish around in the dark and damp corners of Yrth. Touch one and it slithers to envelop you and drip digestive acid all over your tasty flesh. Strider Giant omnivorous birds with wedge-shaped beaks, most likely meant to be some manner of phorusrhacid. Striders are fast, skittish, and extremely dangerous if you force one to fight for its life, with both its powerful beak and huge toe claws being capable of making short work of a human's abdominal cavity. Most of the time, though, they use their arsenal to dig up underground plants and rodents in the badlands and plains of al-Haz, al-Wazif, and southern Cardiel. While you can technically domesticate striders, they're too dumb and easily startled for most tasks, and refuse to be ridden unless under magical coercion.  Treetipper Giant ground sloths. Oddly enough, rather than the classic Charles R. Knight imagery of giant ground sloths, the treetipper art here has a two-toed sloth's head sort of awkwardly plopped onto a ground sloth body, which must have been an RPG art meme at some point as the same thing showed up in Wizards of the Coast's Dark*Matter: Xenoforms. While these huge, slow-moving browsers were once far more widespread and even popular game animals in Caithness, loss of habitat and human population growth have caused them to become extinct in most of their former range and hang on only in the Nomad Lands. Unicorn Legends say that unicorns are wondrous magical beings that have a weakness for virgins, refuse to be tamed, and may even be agents of the divine. In truth, though, they're just clever horned horses found only in the depths of the Great Forest. The only supernatural thing a unicorn can do is heal any poison through its horn, known as an alicorn. Alicorns are worth $100,000 of gold, but rarely sought or traded as elves love the unicorn and many pagans consider them sacred, with both groups often seeking to murder unicorn hunters. Wyvern A pseudo-dragon with two legs, wings, and a venomous barb on its tail. Wyverns are common in mountain forests such as those of Firuz in al-Haz but rarely get close to habitated areas. If human and wyvern do meet, though, these winged serpents make formidable foes: not only does their tail barb deal 1d6 toxic damage and a very long-lasting -4 to Dexterity, they have vicious claws and teeth and are fond of doing body slams to knock foes off their feet.  Dragons Massive, mighty, and mysterious, the dragons have been around longer than even the elves and the dwarves – a Yrth without dragons is a Yrth none have experienced. They are born out of the egg already as large and as smart as a human, and they only get larger and smarter with age. And how old can one get? It's theoretically infinite, as they don't die of old age, but most dragons succumb to violence from either powerful warriors of other species or betrayal by one of their own in a vie for power. Also limiting the spread of dragons is that they almost never mate for pleasure or love and instead typically only create clutches of eggs as a way of sealing a political alliance. Oh, and they need to eat at least two cattle-sized animals a week unless they force their bodies into long periods of torpor, which most hesitate to do out of fear someone will take advantage of their vulnerability in such a state. That tends to limit sustainability as well. Dragon society is one of great selfishness, wherein other dragons and the reptile men are seen as slightly inferior to one's self and all other species as lesser lifeforms that are either food, tools, or sometimes both. Dragons understand livestock rearing and other facets of agriculture but are too prideful to engage in it, meaning that they are either actively hunting food or plundering it from others. Most dragons hoard treasure for some reason or another, be it fascination, fear of scarcity, or simple greed, and dragons that gather together to usurp another of their kind will engage in decades of deliberation concerning the divvying of spoils from these hoards. Two dragons meeting peacefully are usually either scheming or sharing information for future schemes, though a scant few genuinely enjoy each other's company. Dealing With Dragons Pretty much everyone has a reason to hate dragons: they steal forests from the elves, gold from the dwarves, and cattle from the humans, and when things get too heated for them they just wing it to pillage from someone else or disappear into the wilderness and wait for the next opportunity to strike. It's no big surprise, then, that most people are skeptical when a dragon comes with its claws open in supposed peace, but some earnestly engage in bargaining or cooperation, albeit typically out of a desire for food or treasure in exchange rather than altruism. Even more surprising is the fact that some people will even approach a dragon rather than vice versa, typically attempting to persuade it to help in some war or grand scheme. If you're polite and have a big cart of gold with you, this might even actually work, and a dragon that is actually willing to pledge one of their fleetingly rare oaths never breaks it. Templates All dragons share a single meta-trait that grants them a powerful tail, winged flight, a penchant for isolationism, innate Magery at its highest normal level, agelessness, -2 Reputation with dwarves but +2 with reptile men, and a social stigma with non-reptile men as being horrible monsters. All dragons also have fire breath, claws, teeth, and damage resistance, but these traits get constantly upgraded to better versions as they grow. Racial templates are specifically provided for a man-sized hatchling at 29 points, 20 year old or so and 12 foot long young dragon at 133 points, 21 foot long and century-old abolescent dragon at 234 points, two century old and 30 foot long adult dragon at 338 points, and the extremely rare 444 point firedrake at half a millennium or more in age and 42+ feet of total length. The book also states that dragons as individuals can vary from this standard, pointing to the lenses for various dragon attitudes in GURPS Dragons as an easy way to reflect these. While not relevant at all to Banestorm here, GURPS Dragons is interesting in that it was the only dual-edition GURPS book, being both the last Third Edition book and the first Fourth Edition one – even before the GURPS 4E Basic Set! – due to having stats for both editions. Dragons as Pcs Since they have a racial template, you can technically play dragons, so the book cuts the question of "but what if my players want to be a dragon?" off at the pass. It notes that a hatchling is usually murdered by anyone from a band of orcs of a human warrior and adult dragons are treated with suspicion and fear, which makes an obvious problem for most campaigns. It is suggested that if you have a player that absolutely, positively wants to play a dragon, the best ways are either having an all-dragon game that focuses entirely on the constant political intrigue and treachery within dragon society or a "traditional sword and sorcery" (read: D&D) adventure out in the boonies where none of the party members care what species the other is because they care far more about getting fame and loot. Domestic Animals I'm not sure why this section isn't up there with the mundane animals rather than after the dragons, but whatever, here it is.
Next Time in GURPS Banestorm: It is the end, my friend. The GURPS Banestorm book ends with chapter 7, Campaigns of Yrth. Are you excited? This guy sure is:  This is from the Campaigns of Yrth chapter of GURPS Fantasy 3E, not 4E's GURPS Banestorm, but I felt it would be a shame to not have it not appear anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 21:36
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:There are rules for spice and for prescience, but as you can see from the previous chapters they're sketchy and/or bad. The deep ecology elements are in the GM advice, wherein you're encouraged to present the Entourage with social and practical issues that are more complex than they first appear to a budding colonialist.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 22:44
|
|
|
Mors Rattus posted:Demon: Heirs to Hell I vote for more Demon content; it's really great setting. Question, how balanced are the powers? Most of my experience is with Vampire and Disciplines seemed all over the place.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 23:06
|
|
|
I vote for more Demon and Vampire after that.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2016 23:16
|
|
|
Re: Blue Medusa, it's got great production values and spots of brilliance (the whole gallery section with the "cannibal critic" enemies is fantastic), but also a lot of weird poo poo that doesn't quite gel together? I can't imagine actually running it as-is since it's so aggressively strange, but it's great as a source of random ideas you can pull into other, more sensible dungeons. (Just my two cents, at least).
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2016 00:31
|
|
|
Fossilized Rappy posted:
Isn't that picture a hippogriff?
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2016 02:39
|
|
|
Nuns with Guns posted:Isn't that picture a hippogriff? Some weird melding of hippogriff and gryphon, really, what with lion's forepaws instead of eagle claws ... needed to get lion bits in there somewhere, I guess?
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2016 02:54
|
|
|
Kaza42 posted:If you ever decide you want to sell some of this stuff let me know. I've got a bizare unplayable soft spot for Continuum Sorry, but I'm keeping those two. They're also in pretty bad shape anyway. But there's a ton of crap I,d be happy to get rid of! Like the first and second edition corebooks of Changeling the Dreaming! (Dear god why) Or the Conan D20 rpg!
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2016 02:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 10:27 |
|
|
taichara posted:Some weird melding of hippogriff and gryphon, really, what with lion's forepaws instead of eagle claws ... needed to get lion bits in there somewhere, I guess? drat hippogriffgryphs need to pick a side already 
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2016 03:46
|
|