|
gently caress gently caress gently caress. The monkey banging crack whore. The beer has just run out.
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 14:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 08:48 |
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:gently caress gently caress gently caress. The monkey banging crack whore. The beer has just run out. Um...wrong thread?
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 15:20
|
|
|
It's a line from Wraeththu which, among other things, was remarkable for its utterly awful NPC quotes that it sometimes reused for no reason.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 15:24
|
|
|
Nice way to start a page though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 15:53
|
|
|
LongDarkNight posted:That's fair. What's the best way to send you questions for Afterthoughts? The aforementioned gmail account or the afterthought question thread in the /r/Systemmastery subreddit. The worst way is twitter... or I guess like just saying it quietly to yourself in your own house.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 16:08
|
|
|
Evil Mastermind posted:I just can't get over how terrible those character "quotes" are.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 16:29
|
|
|
There's really two schools of thoughts concerning the depiction of Nazis. Steven Spielberg's thought post-Schindler's List is to never use Nazis as Stormtrooper-esque mooks, because it reduced the very real horror of what they done (this one of the big reasons why Crystal Skull had commies and not Nazis). Mel Brooks' is to make them to be so ridiculous and buffoonish that no one would ever take their ideology seriously. You can argue for either method.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 17:45
|
|
|
Robindaybird posted:There's really two schools of thoughts concerning the depiction of Nazis. Isn't there that third school of thought that still shows up in pulp where they got super advanced tech for some reason?
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 18:03
|
|
|
Covok posted:Isn't there that third school of thought that still shows up in pulp where they got super advanced tech for some reason? I think describing that with the word "thought" is too generous.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 18:06
|
|
|
chaos rhames posted:I just email at systemmastery@gmail.com and they always answer my dumb questions about D&D but with.... and why podcasts always talk about ghosts jacking off. So is this the System Mastery thread as well? In which case thanks for answering my question last afterthought. It was the one about seduction. I actually came up with my own answer after I sent the question which was that the Seduction Skill could be interpreted as appealing to someone's selfish or base desires rather than being strictly sexual in how it's used. When Obi-Wan describes Vader as being "seduced by the Dark Side," he did not mean that Palpatine gave Anakin a Force Hand Job. (yeah, try to get that mental image out of your head  )
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 18:10
|
|
|
Another Nazi alternative that a lot of folks uses is "Replace them with a group that uses some of the symbolism but without the direct baggage," like Hydra, etc. Me, the last time I was working on a period game, I just had 1930s Germany ruled by the undying lich of Frederick Barbarossa who's got the whole "Sleeping King under the mountain" myth working for him and took the Weimar Republic as "The Hour of his kingdom's greatest need" in order to return unseenlibrarian fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Jul 7, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 18:14
|
|
|
First part on Limbo is done. Just need to put the artwork in.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2016 19:23
|
|
|
Doubleposting for Chaos Planescape: Planes of Chaos - Limbo (part 1)  Despite being the embodiment of Chaotic Neutral in the Outer Planes, Limbo is still apart of D&D, and so there are rules to let DMs create adventures set on this Plane. This chapter in the booklet provides these rules plus advice that will hopefully keep a DM from frustrating players too much. For example, while the booklet says that portals to Limbo have a tendency to misfire, it tells the DM that this should only happen if it’s a part of the adventure he has planned.  Exasperated Planar to one of the Clueless posted:Of course the place looks different from last time, you berk! We’re in Limbo! A long analogy is provided to try to describe Limbo. The tl;dr version is “Element Stew where the chunks spontaneously form, mutate and dissolve.” The size of these chunks range from miniscule to continent-sized. And how long a chunk lasts can be for a minute to months or even years, but without support any distinct element dissolves back into the chaos. When chunks are a mix of elements, it can be as simple as burning air and up to complete ecosystems and even recognizable structures. As the Travelogue mentioned, a cutter in Limbo can concentrate to create terrain for them to survive on. A lucky few can even do this without concentrating. Limbo is home to whole communities supported in this way. The biggest are the realms of the Powers in Limbo. These realms even stay up while a Power is cavorting about the Multiverse. There are also the cities of the Githzerai. Smaller communities may not have an Anarch to maintain the realm unconsciously, and use rotating watchmen to keep their town from melting back into the Chaos. Knowing the dark of how to shape the chaos of Limbo is one thing, but actually doing it after a portal dumps you into the roiling chaos is another. When a party enters Limbo into unshaped terrain, the DM should have each player make a Wisdom Check to see if they get control of their surroundings. Once a character succeeds, no further checks are necessary (if more than one character succeeds, the controlling character is the one with the highest Intelligence, with ties broken by Wisdom). The booklet encourages the DM to keep in mind what the party would be able to survive when placing them in Limbo’s ‘wilderness’, and it even says to give the players a break if there’s a chance a character gets killed before they have a chance to stabilize the terrain. Specific rules are provided for getting caught in the various types of terrain.  While survival is simple enough once you know how, getting around is another matter entirely. That’s because where everything is shifts about constantly. Two locations may be close to each other one day, but hundreds of miles away the next. There are shortcuts and conduits, even pathways that usually indicate a separate layer (leaving some to argue that Limbo has layers, but like everything else with the plane, the nature changes so much to make these distinctions pointless). But these will also shift where they lead to and where they begin. Thankfully, there is a trick that’ll allow characters to navigate Limbo without having to hope the DM is in a good mood. Every town with an anarch has a magical obelisk in its center called a Guidon. A Guidon resonates with the locate object spell regardless of distance. A caster can even use a spell to see whether a conduit heads in the right direction. If a party doesn’t have a caster, some places sell trinkets with the spell permanently cast on them (no price). Unfortunately, these have a 5% chance of malfunctioning each day when deep in the soup. Anarch Karsten Wholte posted:What’s Limbo like? It’s always exactly what you expect. Controlling Limbo We get additional rules for how shaping Limbo works. A non-anarch needs to concentrate to maintain terrain. While concentrating, a berk can’t cast spells, attack, or use proficiencies, and if he’s attacked he gets no Dex bonus. Anarchs, as previously mentioned, can maintain terrain and act normally. To determine if a player can be an anarch, three things need to occur. First, a player has to be some chaotic alignment to discover whether or not she has the talent. Second, she has to get dumped into the unformed chaos of Limbo. Finally, she has to make a Wisdom check and fail a save-vs-paralyzation. That’s because less experienced, and presumably younger, adventurers are less set in their ways. If a player clears all three steps, she can be taught the chaos-shaping proficiency. One point here that wasn’t spelled out in the Travelogue is that while an Anarch uses her Wisdom score for maintaining terrain, she still needs to concentrate to initially form terrain, which uses her Intelligence score. Through the Githzerai-controlled Anarch’s Guild, an Anarch or group of them can maintain huge cities, but the book is pretty good about telling the DM that you shouldn’t have players messing with this. Shaping the terrain doesn’t negate all the issues that emerge from visiting Limbo. The catch to shaping is that even the greatest Anarch can’t keep track of every detail. And while maybe the Powers could, the ones that inhabit Limbo aren’t the type to care about that sort of minutiae. As a result you get Miniflux. Items that are important to a character, even non-anarchs, aren’t subject to this, but tertiary things can be altered. Your two-handed sword is safe since you use it all the time, but the spare coil of rope in your gear pack is now a meat-pie. The DM may choose to have a character make a Wisdom check when they use an item on an infrequent basis. In short, Limbo is the Elemental Plane of Kender.  And if you thought all of this was bad, well hold onto your alignment chart, because now we get...Magical Conditions For starters, you’re going to need the Tome of Magic. Whenever a Wizard tries to cast a spell, he has to make an Intelligence Check. At least that’s his primary stat, but on a failure, the spell fizzles. If the wizard was in the chaos-soup and fails this check, a wild surge automatically occurs. In stable areas, wild surges occur if the wizard rolls a 20 on his check. Then there are the changes to specific schools: Alteration: When casting an alteration spell, a player must make a percentage roll and consult the following table. This roll is modified by adding the spell-level and subtracting the caster’s level. So a level 9 mage casting polymorph (5th level, iirc) would have a net -4 to his roll.  At the high end, “DM fiendishness is encouraged in devising specific results” with the example of a spell meant to turn the target into a newt instead turning them into a Green Dragon.  yeah, gently caress you too, 90s DM advise Conjuration/Summoning: To start, DMs are encouraged to gently caress with limited wish and wish even more. Otherwise, using the find familiar spell in Limbo attracts 1d4 creatures that the caster can choose, and the “no familiar” result instead brings a special familiar. The downside is if the familiar is intelligent, it’s also going to be some Chaotic alignment. Also, the familiar typically can’t reach the caster, so the wizard has to go to them, which makes selecting a familiar a bit of a pain. Divination: On top of the general failure chances, a caster needs to make a Paralyzation Save. On a failure, the results are so chaotic that no information is gained. Hooray. Illusion: There’s a 10% chance that an illusion becomes real and permanent (or at least as permanent as anything in Limbo). Wild Magic: Wild Mages have to make the same Intelligence check as other wizards, except any failure, even in stable terrain, causes a wild surge. In addition, when a wild mage casts a spell in the chaos-soup, a wild surge occurs regardless of success or failure. On stable terrain, on a successful cast a wild mage rolls twice for level variation and takes the more extreme result. If either roll indicates a wild surge, then a wild surge occurs. Elemental: Elemental magic is extra effective in Limbo. Spells with either duration or area of effect double their value. Instantaneous spells last 1d6 rounds, and single target spells have a radius of 1d10 feet. On the other hand, pseudo-elementals summoned are peak fishmalk. Spell Keys: Given all this bullshit, having a spell key is all but required in Limbo, but as you might guess what the spell key is changes all the time. Thankfully on Limbo a wizard can figure out what the spell key is at any particular time by making a Spellcraft proficiency check. Once a check is made, a caster can create the component right there from the chaos by making a Wisdom check. All this analysis and creating takes time, but exactly how long isn’t mentioned by the book. Power Keys: Rather than test followers and give worthy ones power keys, Limbo’s Powers hand out keys that are in themselves tests. What this all means is that these Powers can rescind their keys whenever they feel like it (read: the DM decides to be a dick). Keys are typically for Charm, Creation and Elemental. As an aside, I’ve always found it funny that Power Keys are included here because it describes what Powers give to their followers when they are travelling to other planes. Sure a key can enhance a spell even in a Power’s home plane, but otherwise a cleric that visiting Limbo and his god isn’t from Limbo, he’s not going to care what keys the Limbo gods are handing out. Inhabitants Speaking of Powers, let’s talk about who lives here. Powers that are generally elemental in nature but don’t focus on a particular element tend to live in Limbo. In particular several “oriental” gods make their home here. These include Agni, Vayu, and Indra from the Indian pantheon and Shina-Tsu-Hiko and Susano-O from Japan. Of the TSR deities, there is the elf-god Fenmarel Mestarine and Tempus from Forgotten Realms. There are rumors of Slaadi Powers named Ssendam and Ygorl, but the Slaadi eat anyone that investigates. Whenever one of these Powers needs a proxy, they select a petitioner at random. The petitioners of Limbo are as chaotic as the universe they live in. They’re basically intelligent clumps of chaos matter, but unlike the background soup, a petitioner usually takes the form of something (even if that forms changes all the time). A petitioner can be persuaded to assist players, but the booklet tells the DM to go full “lolrandom” with these guys, so it doesn’t seem to be worth the bother. The Clueless usually confuse petitioners with Chaos Beasts, which are described in the Monster Supplement. The booklet goes into more discussion on Slaadi behavior. Slaad are best thought of as barbarian hordes. In practice, they seem like a repeat of the Tanar’ri but less interesting. Paradoxically, Slaadi don’t betray their superiors thanks to their obsession with individual strength. If one Slaad can bully another, then that’s just the way it is. As mentioned in the Travelogue, Slaadi hunt in groups, but never cooperate in combat. It is possible for an outsider to earn the respect of a group of Slaadi by beating up enough of them, but they’re just as likely to find an even tougher Slaad to challenge him. Slaadi are anarchs by default, but they never form terrain, since they don’t need to. Aside from Flash Gordoning your way to the top of the Slaad hierarchy, there’s no way to deal with them outside of fighting them. Jebeel Sloom, Limbo Guide posted:Fight Slaad and lose, the story’s over. Fight a Slaad and win, there’s a thousand more standing in line just to prove they’re tougher. The Githzerai technically aren’t native to Limbo, but they’ve been here so long they might as well be. ‘Zerai aren’t evil like the Githyanki, but they are very suspicious of outsiders. They are fanatical followers of an apparently immortal leader, a self-styled God-King named Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith. How Zaerith came to lead the ‘Zerai after Zerthimon challenged (and then was killed by) Gith isn’t explained, but at least the detail of him murdering ‘Zerai that get too high level seems to be forgotten (since I’m sure Githzerai PCs would not go along with that for a minute). The Githzerai frequently organize raids to gently caress with the Githyanki. By the way, if you’re having trouble distinguishing Githzerai and Githyanki, so does the booklet. The ‘Zerai apparently haven’t noticed that the Githyanki are incredibly xenophobic, and so they generally distrust all non-’Zerai because they might be agents of the ‘Yankis. So every “Githyanki” (book’s mistake) city has a foreign quarter where visitors are confined and watched constantly. Outsiders are only allowed to visit the rest of the city with a ‘Zerai escort, and anyone trying to sneak in is open to being straight-up murdered. The book repeats the explanation for how Githzerai can be insanely loyal while also being Chaotic Neutral (“Loyalty of Individuals”), and again I find the explanation fine because otherwise you get dumb nonsense like Kender.  Xaositects are common in Limbo, since it’s basically what they want the rest of the Multiverse to look like. Being Xaositects they have no stronghold or overall agenda. Aside from the Githzerai, other PC races and more unusual races such as orcs and goblins have migrated to Limbo either intentionally or by accident. Like the Githzerai these races have formed cities from the chaos-soup, which are unusually cosmopolitan. The different races in these cities have an uneasy alliance, but the threat of Slaadi hordes coming and eating/raping/assimilating them is enough to keep these cities from exploding into racial violence. Non-intelligent animals are either able to survive in the chaos-soup, or are transplants able to survive on stable terrain maintained by an intelligent creature. It takes an Intelligence of 19 and higher to form animals from chaos-matter. Maintained terrain with “natural wilderness” are especially protective about their wild areas. Next Time: 
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 00:45
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:gently caress gently caress gently caress. The monkey banging crack whore. The beer has just run out. same
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 01:14
|
|
|
wiegieman posted:One reason not to put the Nazis in anything is that there's really no way to have them in without either directly confronting or deliberately avoiding the very large number of people the murdered in cold blood.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 02:29
|
|
|
Nessus posted:The Italians are underutilized. Bellicose and warlike yet it would not even be too ahistorical for PCs, even low-powered PCs, to foil and defeat their armed forces. You mean that it would be very historical and accurate for the PCs to foil the Italian armed forces during WWII.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 02:53
|
|
|
I really like how Rocket Age uses the Nazis and Italians, especially on their conquest of Martian land. Also that's a pretty interesting type of Limbo.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 02:54
|
|
|
Hunt11 posted:You mean that it would be very historical and accurate for the PCs to foil the Italian armed forces during WWII. In fact if you want to be counterfactual, violently dunking the original fascists might have dimmed the prospects of a certain other fellow, and while WW2 is probably not avoidable in the grand sense, the Nazis could well be. It'd also let you flank the prospect of fighting a time-traveller-hardened Kung Fuhrer as part of the obvious solution to this problem.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 03:04
|
|
|
quote:A brave new sourcebook ? This keeps happening on their covers and it is unreadable and makes it look like cheap garbage. Which is fitting, I suppose.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 03:28
|
|
Hostile V posted:I really like how Rocket Age uses the Nazis and Italians, especially on their conquest of Martian land. Also that's a pretty interesting type of Limbo. A world where all terrain is mentally shaped by people is something I've been trying to create/write about for years. It's my preferred form of Ascension in Mage, and I tried writing a short story about it using nanotechnology.
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 03:30
|
|
|
A world where all terrain is mentally shaped by people is Feng Shui's Netherworld.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 03:45
|
|
|
 So first things first: these books are tiny and short- we're talking about standard mass market paperback size, 7" by 4", and the corebook is about 135 pages. Tiny, tiny books, but hey, easy to carry. They're also, like Eclipse Phase, creative Commons licensed, which means I'm kinda surprised to not see more buzz about them, but admittedly, the genre is super-niche. So, what is Cosmic Patrol? We'll quote the book here: quote:Cosmic Patrol is a roleplaying game set in a retro future based on the Golden Age of Science Fiction. If you've ever seen a cover from a classic 1930s-1960s science fiction magazine, then you've got the idea. You and your friends form the crew of a Cosmic Patrol rocketship and blast off for action and adventure across the galaxy. This explanation comes after the opening fiction, a short piece about a Patrol crew confronting a space pirate and his enslaved lizardman troops. There's a brief overview of the setting (Human-like people were found on Earth, Venus, and Mars, and they jointly colonized Mercury, then form a coalition government called "The Great Union") The Cosmic patrol was originally an "Explore the solar system" organization, but as they've moved out into the broader galaxy, they've shifted to a recon and defense force because it turns out they're a new group stepping into the middle of an ongoing galactic war with no real idea of the sides or what they're fighting over. Oops. So there's a standard "What is a roleplaying game" section, then a note about how the game handles GMing. It doesn't. Well, not exactly. instead, each player's expected to take turns being the 'lead narrator' for scenes. (Sort of like Rune. Does anyone remember that game? No? Yeah.) It uses the standard polyhedrals: d4-d20, and suggests getting tokens of some kind for the plot point system. (Notably it doesn't shill any kind of 'official' plot point tokens from the company. Just get beads or whatever, apparently.) The intro chapter closes out with, well, probably the least likely sidebar I've seen for any RPG: An explanation for what a theramin is and why you should look up theramin music to set the mood for the game because it got used in a lot of old pulp space serials. Next up: The Gazetteer.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 16:53
|
|
|
unseenlibrarian posted:The intro chapter closes out with, well, probably the least likely sidebar I've seen for any RPG: An explanation for what a theramin is and why you should look up theramin music to set the mood for the game because it got used in a lot of old pulp space serials. Sold.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 17:04
|
|
|
 Book 3, Chapter 11: The Culture of the Imperium Dune posted:"I see in the future what I've seen in the past. You well know the pattern of our affairs, Jessica. The race knows its own mortality and fears stagnation of its heredity. It's in the bloodstream -- the urge to mingle genetic strains without plan. The Imperium, the CHOAM Company, all the Great Houses, they are but bits of flotsam in the path of the flood."  The Imperium as we know it arose from the ashes of the Butlerian Jihad, a century-long revolution that touched all corners of human civilization, sweeping away a hierarchy in which “thinking machines” were allowed to direct human affairs. The century that followed saw the Battle of Corrin and the founding of the Imperium, the creation of the Landsraad, and the founding of the Spacing Guild. Over ten thousand years later, these three institutions--the Imperial Household, the Landsraad, and the Guild--are still the three pillars of human civilization. The Emperor holds a military hegemony, the Landsraad represents the ruling class, and the Spacing Guild holds a monopoly on faster-than-light travel. The Great Convention The Great Convention, the supreme law of the Imperium, is composed of the Guild Peace and the Articles of Kanly. The Peace lays down acceptable and unacceptable means of conflict in general, while the Articles define acceptable means of conflict between individual Houses. Essentially, the Great Convention allows Houses to wage war on each other without subjecting entire planets and populations to the ravages of total warfare. The most inviolable law is against using atomic weapons on living creatures. (This implies that they keep them around for killing, say, Cybermen and Terminators and whatnot. The game also assumes that this law applies to some other weapons of mass destruction, like chemical and biological weapons.) Investigations into these large-scale violations of the Great Conventions are extremely serious, conducted by the High Council of the Landsraad (which is chaired by the Emperor). Long story short, if found guilty, they can go so far as to disenfranchise a Great House of its status. (This is a departure from the novels, where Paul notes that the penalty for using atomics against humans is “planetary obliteration.”) If found guilty, a Great House’s best bet is to pay the Guild for sanctuary on Tupile, a planet they maintain for defeated Houses to live out their days in comfortable exile. Kanly, or vendetta, are blood feuds between Houses which can last for generations. The Articles of Kanly govern these feuds. The law protects the aristocracy from lethal violence outside of kanly, so only nobles (and their minions) can kill other nobles, and then only after a formal declaration. It begins when a noble initiates a Rite of Kanly. They must petition the emperor and get approval, and the Rites govern the means of attack and counterattack. Negotiations are opened if one House accuses the other of violating the rules, wants to renegotiate terms, or is ready to negotiate terms for surrender. The Emperor appoints “Judges of the Change” to oversee vendettas just as he does changes of fief. Houses who have declared kanly often challenge one another to formal duels. The participants must agree to terms such as the time and place, the weapons that will be used, and if seconds will be fighting for them--a Swordmaster commonly fights for his liege-lord. Duels can be to first blood, surrender, or death, whatever terms the parties involved can negotiate. The most deadly kanly is the War of Assassins. Kanly requires you to name who is and isn’t a valid target, and wars of assassins can go so far as to exterminate a House’s entire lineage. (Brutal, yes, but the point is to limit political violence. Poisoning a baron’s drink, or even killing a baby in its crib, are preferable to poisoning a well or bombing a city. If the aristocracy want to fight over who’s in charge, they can bloody well kill each other.) The negotiations alone can take weeks or months, and the war itself can last for generations. But only the most powerful houses can enter wars of assassins without the affair consuming all of their time and energy until the matter is resolved. It only ends when one House surrenders, or the Judge declares that one side has been thoroughly defeated. The Landsraad investigates violations of the Articles of Kanly just as it does the Guild Peace. Violating the rules of a duel is likely to result in punishment of the offending nobleman, but broader violations may result in sanctions against the entire House. Punishment can range from fines and loss of titles to exile or death. The Faufreluches The faufreluches is the universally enforced caste system of the Imperium. It defines the rights and privileges of each social class concerning marriage, property, and legal protection. Members of the same caste may have vastly different levels of wealth, education, and freedom (depending on the culture of their homeworld), but there are hard limits to social mobility. The regis familia is the highest and smallest caste, consisting of the members of all the Great Houses and their Houses Minor. There are over a thousand Great Houses and at least ten times as many Houses Minor. Most nobles can trace their lineage at least as far as the Battle of Corrin, and even after 10,000 years, the families that are or aren’t part of this cast has only shifted by one or two percent. The na-familia is a special caste of people who, while not nobles, are an indispensible part of a House’s retinue. To be na-familia is a vassal relationship requiring a declaration of allegiance, and they enjoy their status at the pleasure of their liege. You may have noticed that most of the PC classes--Mentat, Swordmaster, and the like--fall into this caste. Bondsmen are commoners sworn to service to a house, generally measured in decades. The bondsmen are generally professionals who comprise a comfortable middle class, though the don’t enjoy the special protections of the nobility and their entourage. Pyons are serfs, plain and simple, with all the quasi-slavery that implies. Although the Imperium is far more industrialized than Europe in the Middle Ages, pyons are bound to the land--or factory, et cetera--where they work, and are bought and sold along with it. Maula are out-freyn: not technically part of the caste system at all. They have no human rights under Imperial law and are at the mercy of their governing House. Some Houses’ laws at least respect their right to life, whereas on other worlds they may be hunted for sport, or else subjected to the most degrading kinds of slavery and exploitation. The lucky ones perform the most undesirable sorts of manual labour. Besides slaves and criminals, this caste includes any who live as outlaws, such as the Fremen and spice smugglers of Arrakis. The hierarchy is as follows: the Emperor, in conjunction with the Landsraad and CHOAM, distributes valuable fiefs among the nobles of the Great Houses. Each Great House has many Houses Minor serving it. The Houses Minor enjoy all the privileges of the noble caste, but all a Great House’s Houses Minor put together typically control only a fraction of its overall wealth. Houses Minor are branches of their patron House and are expected to serve it and further its aims. Na-familia aren’t quite nobility and don’t enjoy shares of CHOAM profits, but they’re highly valued and may be responsible for millions of commoners. There are a few groups within the Imperium whose members are adjacent to the caste system, but move comfortably within it. Representatives from the Great Schools, the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit, are accorded a status which approximates that of na-familia. This status also applies to emissaries from the Bene Tleilaxu and the Ixians, two secretive hermit kingdoms that specialize in biotechnology and advanced electronics, respectively. The respect accorded to such out-freyn dignitaries only extends so far as they don’t offend the Great Houses.  “I am Hans…” “...und I am Franz…” CHOAM CHOAM is the universal corporation that oversees all meaningful economic development. Great Houses have broad authority to control their homeworld’s economy, but since CHOAM regulations apply to all interplanetary trade, CHOAM reaches down into every inhabited world. CHOAM regulates each and every trade good, from melange, the most valuable commodity in the universe, on down to mundane goods like textiles and fertilizer. CHOAM administers all kinds of corporate conglomerates, regulatory committees, and boards of directors under its umbrellas. “Directorships” in such entities are how one becomes truly wealthy in the Imperium; they’re basically voting shares of stock that come with a seat on this or that board or committee. Make no mistake, CHOAM is a tool of the ruling caste. Unlike the aristocracies of early modern Europe, the Great Houses need not fear being supplanted by a bourgeoisie capitalist class--because CHOAM rules simply forbid you from accruing directorships until you are allowed to purchase your way into the nobility. From a storyteller’s and a roleplayer’s point of view, CHOAM is a convenience--you don’t need to keep track of a massive web of bureaucracies, just one big one. It also shows how ossified the Imperium has become over thousands of years. CHOAM has three branches. The Board of Directors, headed by the Emperor and filled out with representatives from the most powerful Great Houses, distributes those valuable directorships, commercial charters, and holdings (including fiefs). There are three types of directorships: ones that can be inherited, ones that end with the holder’s life, and transient ones that fluctuate along with shares. The Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit are entitled to a share of CHOAM profits, but they have no voting power, and must lobby the nobles who hold directorships. The second branch is the Emporium, basically the CHOAM stock exchange, where they trade everything from spice to socks, and you could liquidate and reinvest a Great House’s entire holdings within hours. The third branch is the Regulatory Commission, which polices trade and conducts investigations into any accusations of wrongdoing. Great Schools Outside of CHOAM, training in the Great Schools and their lesser kin are the best way for commoners to climb the social ladder. The Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit are called Great Schools because they’re ancient, unified, powerful, and indispensible to the Imperium. The Spacing Guild doesn’t really get a write-up, though, because they’re secretive and isolated--they’re not protagonists in the novels and they’re not playable characters in this game. The Bene Gesserit was founded as one of the schools devoted to maximizing human potential shortly after the Butlerian Jihad. It is an all-female Sisterhood which, to outsiders, appears to be a semi-mystical order that is a repository for all the occultism that has sprung up around various religions over the millennia, a dark mirror to the Orange Catholic Bible’s intent to reveal and reconcile the core principles of those religions. How ironic, then, that the Sisterhood is atheistic and as merciless as the thinking machines they replaced. Their real mission is the husbandry of the human race, which they accomplish through political manipulation and controlling who breeds with whom. They care about the survival of the species, but not about ideals like liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There’s no getting around it; the Sisterhood’s methods of accomplishing their goals are pitiless and frankly gross. The Sisterhood’s prana-bindu training does allow them to perform incredible feats like metabolizing poisons, entering trances, and superhuman martial arts, but these are parlour tricks compared to their training’s use as a political tool. Bene Gesserit Adepts are extremely perceptive and manipulative, not to mention healthy and attractive. They can read body language like a book, and modulate their own voice and body language to manipulate others. Their sexual skills allow them to seduce anyone, use sex to bend their lovers to their will, and control the sex of their children. Just as importantly, the Sisterhood educates its students in academics, courtly graces, and politics. If you were an patriarch in an aristocracy where intrigue is the norm and assassination is legal, wouldn’t you want the mother of your children to be such a woman? The Sisterhood is vital to the Imperium because of the education it provides to women. Practically all the Great Houses send their daughters for training, and they will return to their families as desirable candidates for political marriages. Other Bene Gesserit trainees are sold to the nobility as concubines and servants, while others are born into the order and act as its agents. The Sisterhood commands a great deal of loyalty from most of its trainees, and after arranging marriages and concubinages, it instructs its members whether to have children, with whom, and what sex the children should be. If they simply wants a man’s genetic material, they’re not above sending an agent to seduce him, get herself pregnant, and return to the Sisterhood to bear her child in secret. (Adepts born and raised within the Sisterhood are often ignorant of their parentage--all the better if, for example, the Sisterhood plans to inbreed them to preserve certain genetic traits.) Bear in mind that not every woman trained by the Bene Gesserit will become a superhuman infiltrator who is fanatically loyal to the Sisterhood. Some don’t advance far in training and some wash out. Nonetheless, they are inextricable from Imperial society. The chief example of how far this influence goes is that the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV doesn’t have a male heir, because the Bene Gesserit decided he shouldn’t. So what’s the point? The Bene Gesserit maintains an ancient Mating Index, a genealogy of all the Great Houses. They’re working on the improvement of the species at a genetic level, and influence politics to prevent the social upheavals that result in wild, unknown mixing of genes. But their ultimate goal is to produce the Kwisatz Haderach. The most advanced Bene Gesserit Adepts are Reverend Mothers, who have used pure spice essence to gain access to their ancestral memories. But they can only access the memories of their female ancestors, not the male. Every male the Bene Gesserit have trained to attempt this has died in the attempt. The Kwisatz Haderach, meaning “one who can be in many places at once,” is a theoretical male, necessarily a prescient prodigy, who can accomplish this feat. Such a man would “bridge space and time” by being able to see clearly into both the past and the future. He would be a “super-mentat” able to perfectly chart a course for humanity’s future. Because, you see, the Bene Gesserit believes that humanity is doomed, otherwise. Despite their best efforts to improve human genetics and prevent catastrophe, the Imperium is a stagnant entity that rejects science and innovation. It’s vulnerable to a sudden upheaval within one of its three pillars. This makes for some very strange gender politics in Dune. The Imperium is a patriarchy, but the marriage and breeding of the ruling class is controlled by an all-female clergy. But the clergy, in turn, degrades its members to the status of livestock in a quest to produce a male saviour. The Sisterhood’s other, instrumental project is the Panoplia Propheticus, the process by which they use religion to manipulate the masses. They’ve spend millennia sending undercover agents to “seed” societies with religious beliefs and cultural ideas that influence their development along lines that benefit the Bene Gesserit. The Missionaria Protectiva is a series of religious memes, including the concepts of mysterious wise women and a prophesied male savior, that exists to allow a Bene Gesserit agent to seek shelter and set herself up as a revered leader if she should ever find herself alone and cut off from support. The other schools All the other schools--those for Mentats, Suks, Swordmasters, Assassins, and other House experts are given such short shrift that there’s nothing for me to even summarize here. Mentat schools train Mentats, the Imperial College trains Suks, and so on. To be fair, the source material makes it clear that these traditions don’t even approach the unity, power, and influence of the Bene Gesserit, but this is a game. Give the people who are interested in those other “character classes” something more to go on. Family in the Imperium Family and marriage in the Imperium is patriarchal and based on the more-or-less nuclear family. Most marriages, and nearly all noble marriages, are arranged. The bride’s family often provides a dowry. Nobles have little concern for romantic love in marriage--they have concubines and consorts for that purpose. Concubinage is widely condoned, even encouraged. Concubines don’t have all the rights of spouses, but command respect (especially if their lover has no spouse). If a concubine is a bound concubine, their children are considered legitimate heirs. A nobleman who hasn’t yet married may have children by a bound concubine, so that he has heirs, while still leaving open the possibility of a political marriage. There’s no rigid rule of succession--the Emperor must sanction a Great House patriarch’s choice of heir. Women can’t inherit, but if a nobleman dies with no male heirs, a son-in-law can inherit. The eldest son is usually considered heir apparent. A named successor enjoys the title heir-designate, and is privileged to use the title na-Baron, na-Duke, etc. devolving from his father’s title. Language Galach, an “Indo-Slavic” language, is the lingua franca of the Imperium. Most homeworlds also have their own languages. Houses also have battle languages, secret languages that include code words, hand signals, etc., for use in war. Various other groups also use variants of chakobsa, a word for a family of languages that derive from the Bhotani assassin clan. It is often written in symbols and pictograms, and incorporates clicking and whirring sounds. Mhirabasa is a diplomatic language of great complexity and precision, used only by erudite representatives of the Spacing Guild, Bene Gesserit, and Great Houses. Religion While the nobility is largely agnostic, the Orange Catholic Bible forms the basis of the civil religion of the Imperium. After the fire of the Butlerian Jihad died down, representatives from the most powerful religions formed the Committee of Ecumenical Translators. Their goal was, as they saw it, to disarm religious fanatics of a dangerous weapon--the idea that any one religion possessed the sole truth. The Committee spent decades working on it, synthesizing the Bible, Quran, Vedas, and many other religious texts. They dispensed with ancient symbols such as the cross, and added new concepts, such as the dictates of the Butlerian Jihad--the chief commandment of the O.C. Bible is “Thou shalt not deform the soul,” which includes the dictate “That shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.” Its cosmology is dualistic, describing a benevolent God and malevolent Devil. The O.C. Bible received a mixed reception upon release. Riots ensued, and many societies continued to practice old religions or found new ones. But Orange Catholicism did provide some sense of spiritual and moral unity to humanity as they continued spreading out and inhabiting new worlds. One spiritual tradition worth mentioning is the Zensunni Wanderers. A fusion of Zen Buddhism and Sufi mysticism, Zensunni exhorted its followers to contemplate and relentlessly seek the truth--very appealing in the wake of a society that had let machines do its thinking. However, as the Zensunni rejected the O.C. Bible, they were forced to wander from planet to planet fleeing religious persecution. One Zensunni splinter group became the Fremen of Arrakis.  I’m tired of pirate foosball. Can’t someone invent video games? Arts and Entertainment Art and culture are part of the means by which a ruling House makes its homeworld a reflection of its ethos--and the means by which it propagandizes its subjects while keeping them content. Houses patronize artists and whole academies and artistic traditions. Imperial culture celebrates the concept of the troubadour, a wandering minstrel who combines playing, singing, poetry, philosophy, and comedy. Celebrations are an institution, from private soirees to vast religious festivals. These are a relief for the common people, and another opportunity for political maneuvering among the nobility. Society also celebrates competitions of all kinds, from the artistic to the athletic. Because of the wide range of House laws, events such as gladiatorial combats are far from unheard of. The Imperium also has more than its share of hedonism and debauchery, even moreso among the upper classes. In addition to tobacco and alcohol, the Imperium has developed a wide range of exotic drugs such as semuta, a hallucinogenic drug whose effects are activated and modulated by atonal electronic music. Despite the best efforts of moralists, prostitution and gambling find their way onto every planet--not surprising for a society that accepts serfdom and slavery. Next time on Dune: Technology of the Imperium. Including equipment lists, and answers to what this game assumes about the Butlerian Jihad.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 19:53
|
|
|
The gender politics of Dune is every more complicated then you get into when it comes to discussions why they want a male savior and not a female one.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 21:26
|
|
|
I'm not an exhaustive reader of Herbert's commentaries and interviews, criticism of his work, etc. But I have read that, among other things, he personally believed the statements from Children of Dune that say aristocracy is the natural, inevitable state of humankind. So it wouldn't surprise me if he took it for granted that patriarchy is also "natural." On the other hand, I read one critical article which points out that the image of the dead and resurrected male savior is common in many religions, as is a male god who gives birth, symbolically or literally, despite lacking a womb. Paul drinking the Water of Life and emerging as the Fremen Mahdi satisfies both requirements. And the BG are all about identifying central, crucial ideas and exploiting them. (Within the narrative, part of the reason they want a male must be that the male side of their genetic memory is the part they can't access. And people always want their god to complete them and give them control over the uncontrollable, don't they?)
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 21:51
|
|
|
 THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER
    THE TELETERRORISTS  ZAWA ZAWA ZAWA Backstory: Jennifer Wilkins, criminal defense attorney, is hit by a car after a very bad day. Because she couldn’t skip out from work early to go to a Crushers game (which Crushers team? Don’t worry about it) due to paperwork, her boyfriend breaks up with her via phone from the game. Then in traffic on the way home from work, she tries to stop a car from cutting her off and gets rear-ended by a cabbie. The airbag smacks her face, she’s stunned and she exits her car in traffic where she’s promptly hit by a speeding SUV. She ends up surviving and becoming a Delta, a Paralyzer. I feel kind of bad for her! Yeah, some of this comes about from her not getting her way but man that’s just a hell of a thing. Except there’s the fact that I’m not supposed to empathize with her, because she’s the bad guy in this premade story. On top of that, the game posits that she’s a jerkbag.  Jennifer knew a guy by the name of Tony Bester. Tony was a Gadgeteer that she ended up helping get a new identity and a new home in Crescent City. Leveraging her blackmail, she brought him in on the scheme. On top of that, she made her way to Evil Unlimited and got in contact with Nicolette Marks who approved a loan to fund her evil plan. The plan in a nutshell: using a costume and a Gadget maintained by Tony, Jennifer will impersonate an Alpha named Medusa who disappeared in 1976. Medusa was a Paralyzer famous for being so powerful that anyone who saw her face was paralyzed. Using maps and blueprints of the city, Tony has hooked a Gadget called a Telemagnifier into the cable and closed circuit television networks in the tunnels beneath the city. The Telemagnifier will increase Jennifer’s power when used to make it work through TVs to affect people throughout the city and she’ll demand money from the city. And if you think this is a convoluted and bad plan now, HOO BOY.  PROLOGUE At noon on a Saturday, the cable TV for every network on every TV in Crescent City will be replaced with a live video of a woman wearing a golden mask tipped with fake snakes (it’s TN 5 Perception to realize that the snakes are fake). Medusa posted:“People of Crescent City: I, Medusa, have returned! I will make this short so there is no misunderstanding. Crescent City will pay me one billion dollars, or I will bring it to its knees. To ease your doubts that this is possible, allow me to offer you a sample of my power.” Medusa posted:“This is merely a sample of my power. I will be contacting your government shortly to arrange payment. For all your sakes, I hope they are reasonable people. Otherwise, there will be death.” If the PCs are Primers, then their reasoning for getting involved is simple: it’s their job. They get to meet Director Reagan (uggggggh) who tells them that they’re part of a low key operations team who have to keep a low profile and only have a few members. If they’re Defiants? Uhm. The book is sort of like “this is tricky” and I agree, this really isn’t a Defiant-friendly mission. So anyway Medusa was a Defiant back then and this is just an insult to Defiance and she’s threatening innocent people. The latter fact should be enough of a reason for them. Alternately they get a call from Truth who is like “hey stop this lady” “why?” “gently caress you why, you’re heroes and stopping her would make us look good”. Right out the gate we have an incredibly flimsy reason for this premade to be played for the target PC demographic.  Call my name and save me from the fall. CHAPTER ONE: ON THE TRAIL So Medusa did a thing. Now what? Time to find her! The two courses of action the game has to offer are to Research Medusa or Investigate the Cable Station. The real Medusa was named Julia Black. Her sister, Janine Tulman, ended up writing a book about her entitled “Medusa’s Sister”. It explains how she was a professor of mythology at the University of Chicago who got powers and put on a gold mask and fake snakes and ran around. That’s pretty much all of the info out there. If the PCs find the book and read it (how and why they find the book is never explained) then they can find out where Janine lives: Dallas. If you track her down and get past the reporters hounding her after the supposed reappearance of her sister (alternate option: give her a phone call/email) you can ask her questions. She’s not friendly to Primers and is more open to Defiants. All she has to say is “yeah, the lady on TV isn’t my sister. Wrong voice, wrong body language, slightly wrong outfit”. That’s it. It’s a dead end that might require you to go to Texas to find out it’s a dead end.  ????? If you go to the Widecom station, the technicians have already found Bester’s Gadget that’s tapping into the cable network and removed it. If you’re a Primer, you can just ask for the evidence. If you’re a Defiant, chances are good that they’ve already turned it over to the police and you’re going to have to steal it. How are you going to steal it? Not accounted for. The Gadget’s purpose is identified on a TN 5 Tinkering roll: it receives signals and patches the signal in but it also amplifies the power of a Paralyzer and transmits them. A Primer can easily run the prints on the Gadget to find Tony Bester’s prints but nobody knows where Bester is. A Defiant’s only clue is a Joker playing card from Caesar’s Palace attached to the Gadget if they don’t know forensics. Knowledge of the Crescent City underworld or a TN 5 Area Knowledge: Crescent City roll will reveal to anyone that the card is the signature of So yeah the only actual course of progression is to go to the TV station to figure out what’s up. This is not really a clear course of action compared to “learn about Medusa”. Follow a dead-end that might involve you going to Texas to find out about Medusa: 1 EXP Find the Wiseguy connection: 1 EXP CHAPTER TWO: EVERYONE’S A WISEGUY So this entire thing is completely against the Wiseguy’s style. He’s known for being efficient and for not threatening innocents and focusing solely on his targets. He also doesn’t use Gadgets. So he’s clearly the fall guy because Bester hates him. Problem: where the hell is the Wiseguy? Reagan or Truth can tell the PCs that he’s been heard to have returned to Lower Southside so he can get revenge on Don Vito Gabriel. In actuality he’s eating at Nanni’s like every night because the Wiseguy apparently doesn’t know how to cook or doesn’t like takeout. Defiance can also point the PCs to the Tuxedo Squad who will tell them he’s generally at Nanni’s because Americano is Nanni. And from there, the Tuxedo Squad promptly leaves and never come into play this mission again. The Primers can just tell the PCs where he is because they’ve had tabs on him and are just letting him murder mobsters.  This map is completely pointless. So the PCs go to Nanni’s, where the Wiseguy is having dinner. If confronted, he will launch into a speech because he’s pretty sure Bester did this.  Eventually Wiseguy will leave the restaurant where he is promptly shot in a drive-by by three mobsters working for Don Vito. He will give his speech here if he didn’t before and his “dying” words will be how he’s gonna hunt those guys down and make them pay. The PCs have the option to track down the mobsters but it’s pointless. Finding out the Universal Enterprises link: 1 EXP. CHAPTER THREE: HOW CAN I HELP YOU?  Off to Universal Enterprises, a staffing company that is actually matching bad guys with bad guys. There are two ways to go about this:  This blurry picture is not one of the ways. Diplomacy: The PCs (lowkey Primers or Defiants) can ask the receptionist at the front desk about Bester. The receptionist will let the PCs see Ms. Martha Nicks (Nicolette Marks) who will lie about her identity and will lie about the fact that this is an Evil Unlimited staffing service. She will turn over a file and give the following speech, perfectly willing to sell out Medusa and Bester and cover up EU’s involvement because their plan runs the risk of compromising EU:  Using the clues that Marks is giving them, the PCs are free to move on to Chapter 4 and try and foil the next part of the plot. Pink Mohawk/Not Diplomacy: Alternately, as Primers or Defiants, they can go in flashing badges or yelling or threatening people or burst through a wall. If Primers, the workers will surrender and comply. If Defiants, they might fight. Either way, after a little bit of a ruckus Marks will walk out of her office in Phase Mode to keep herself safe and speak to the heroes. She can deliver the speech to them and give them the file to make them leave. Alternately, they can threaten her/act belligerent and she’ll try to phase her way to safety and leave the PCs to ask the staff about Bester who will mention they put a Bester file on her desk. Either way, Marks will detonate the devices in the staff and kill all of them. The file will be on her desk if not given to them. They can then look at the file to get info on Medusa and Bester’s plans.  This map is slightly less pointless. Regardless of either path, an EU clean team will strip the building once the PCs leave and leave nothing and no way for them to find out more. So you can act like a detective or regular person and get what you need, or you can be a dick and get a whole mess of mostly innocent people killed due to exploding hearts. That’s a fair choice. Learning about Medusa’s plan: 1 EXP CHAPTER FOUR: THE BIG GAME  ARE YOU READY FOR SOME DEHBAWWWWWWW?! Deltaball, game of…Deltas! Let’s roll down what happens if the PCs aren’t able to figure out her plan or if she’s not interrupted. The Crescent City Crushers are playing the Manhattan Monsters in a game of Deltaball. JFK is going to make a live appearance on the Jumbotron to dissuade fears regarding Medusa. Medusa’s demands have not yet been met. Figuring this might happen, she’s going to attack the game. Bester has tapped into the closed system of the Jumbotron and all TVs in the stadium and Medusa is in their lair, planning to transmit. In the middle of JFK’s speech, Medusa will hijack the TVs and keep everyone paralyzed by repeatedly using her powers. The TV blimp that flies over the game will stop over the field and Bester and the Medusettes will rappel down from ropes and start shooting the players. When the players are dead, they’ll run for the locker rooms to hoverscooters that Bester has parked there and drive them to the subway access tunnels to get back to the lair. The blimp will fly low over the crowd, repeat Medusa’s demands and then cut the control over the TVs and return control to JFK. Then the blimp will explode, killing thousands.  The only point this map has to let you know how expensive the seats are. Stopping her: The PCs know she’s planning to do something at the Deltaball game, can use her powers over TV to attack people and a blimp is involved. It’s viable for the PCs to cut the power to the stadium somehow which foils the whole thing but this might be trouble and accidentally cut power to a chunk of the city. Alternately, they can wait for Medusa to attack at the game. Spoiler: the game wants you to wait for her to attack. You can wait in the crowd or get on the fake Webhead TV blimp (provided because Oliver Megopolous is actually Mr. C and Webhead is a part of Evil Unlimited). Bester is captaining the blimp and the Medusettes are on it and they will all attack if questioned by PCs who snuck onto the blimp. From the stadium, get to the field as fast as you can before they start killing players. Also while she’s using her powers, the PCs have to make a TN 5 Perception roll every round or else get paralyzed. There are 10 Medusettes or 3xPC and if any of them or Bester get captured, they’ll spill the beans about where the lair is and the bomb. This is the optimal course of action. Alternately, you could just kill them. Even when the goons are stopped the PCs have to disarm the bomb on the blimp. If you’re not on the blimp, you can climb up a rappel line. The bomb is easy to disarm and there’s no tricks or making it prematurely detonate/speed up the count: pull out the receiver, pull out the batteries, smash the receiver, cut the blue wires, cut all of the wires, cut one of the wires and then cut the blue wire. It’s TN 5 Demolition to figure out the bomb. Stop the attack: 1 EXP Stop the bomb: 1 EXP  Deltaball is one of those things they mention in the core rulebook but don't explain in the slightest until now. So when they do explain it, it's just the dumbest idea you can execute. CHAPTER FIVE: INTO THE LABYRINTH If you killed all of the Medusettes or Bester or procrastinate, whoops, game over. Proceed to the end state. If they don’t stop any of the attack on the stadium, uhhhhh, there’s no info on what happens. I guess just proceed to the end state. Otherwise, they have a shot of capturing her if they know the location of the lair.  Okay now the maps are just loving with me. The lair is beneath Battery Park and full of equipment and Bester’s workbench. When the PCs enter, Medusa is just about to leave through the other door and will try to paralyze anyone looking at her. Medusa posted:You may have stopped me this time, but I shall return! In the meantime, I’ve left you a little present. I’d be careful while opening it. Medusa’s scooter goes 50 Pace. She’ll drive to the bay, abandon the costume and steal a jetski. She’ll drive across the bay, get on the train and rent a car under her own name with her own credit card. She will then drive to Minnesota and try to cross to Canada where the border is weaker. This is the automatic state if you can’t catch or her can’t find her. Success or failure will get the Primers rewarded for what they did. They’ll get fame and get to be on TV and Medusa will be vilified as a Defiance terrorist. Defiants will get blamed regardless especially if things explode or people died. They get the reward of protecting the innocent, further friendship with Truth and influencing bystanding witnesses to believe in Defiance. Thoughts: Okay, so. No matter what she never gets what she wants. All she does is commit a bunch of terroristic attacks, get people killed and run to Canada empty-handed if she’s not captured. Her plan is absolute rear end. The only thing worse than her plan is the loving structure of this whole thing. If you don’t go down the stupid dead end, you don’t get all of the experience. The other option is not particularly intuitive. This is a poo poo campaign for Defiants, there’s no real reason to get involved besides being told to. Deltaball is a stupid sport. There are two chapters that are just getting exposited at; they’re loving padding with two Important NPCs you don’t see again in this campaign. The entire thing is just not intuitive, it's not logical. The padding just throws off the flow and you can't really trust the players to figure it out because without their hands being held, they won't. HYPOTHETICAL PLAY SCENARIO Cast of Characters
 Yes this is a picture of Reagan drinking with Rex Shepherd. Yes I hate this picture. THE YEAR IS 2000 and Medusa has just unveiled her demands against the city. Jeremy asks what do they do. "What do you mean what do we do?" asks Amanda, "I'm pretty sure this is something for Delta Prime to handle." There are murmurings of agreement at the table. "Yeah this is more of a terror threat," says Eric. Jeremy tells the group that they all have emails from Truth asking them to take care of this problem because the original Medusa was a Defiant and this is making them look bad. "Oh," says Dan. "This is gonna be that kind of mission, isn't it." Catie looks visibly annoyed. Brian shrugs. "Let's go find out about Medusa I guess." Flak starts to load up on a whole arsenal of guns but Plus Ultra stops him, demanding that they keep to tasers and nonlethal weapon for now. He begrudgingly agrees. An internet search brings them to the library where they skim the book about Medusa and find out about Julia Black and Janine Tulman. The group read the back of the book and find that Janine is living in Dallas. "Well we're not going to Texas," says Catie, "so what now?" Everyone shrugs. "It's probably not actually her, it looks like she hasn't aged since the 70s." says Brian. Jeremy hints that maybe they should go look at the cable station. The players waffle; it's probably full of cops and Primers and they're all unregistered Deltas. Jeremy hints harder, borderline recommending. They take the hint and go to the station and end up empty-handed because the police already have the evidence. One of the technicians mentions a strange playing card attached to the device. "Alright, so I guess we have to steal that device" says Catie. Jeremy asks for a Knowledge roll for info about the card. Dan sighs. "We don't have to care about the device, the card is what matters." The group argues for a few minutes, Catie arguing that they should at least investigate and Dan arguing that it's abundantly clear this entire thing is on rails and that the only way to proceed is to just go along with whatever Jeremy is hinting towards at the moment. "After all," says Dan, "looking up Medusa was a waste of time and we came here because Jeremy hinted we should and we have more of a lead, right?" "Please stop metagaming." says Amanda. Eric gets up to refill his drink. Brian rubs his face.  Ratapalooza. They agree to investigate the card and end up meeting the Wiseguy at Nanni's. As his speech goes on and he directs them towards Bester and Universal Enterprises, everyone grows increasingly annoyed and angry. Rough Rider keeps making rolls to see if Wiseguy is telling the truth (he is, as far as he knows it) and they all agree to go look at Universal Enterprises. There is no real roleplaying going on at the moment, just them talking. Then the mobsters shoot the Wiseguy and Dan yells "oh come the gently caress on" when the shooters quickly get too far out of sight for the PCs to catch them and interrogate them. A lively discussion (borderline shouting match) ensues between Jeremy and Dan, who asserts that if he wanted to just be told to go from place to place and be talked at and given bad clues he could have just stayed home and replayed Skyrim. A fifteen minute break is called where everyone can get another slice of pizza and a drink and cool off. They return to the table, already at Universal Enterprises.  YELLIN' Plus Ultra marches up to the receptionist and asks about Bester. They meet Marks and are given the whole spiel. Eric can tell she's not lying but she's definitely being evasive about something. Dan declares "I shoot her with my taser" and everyone else is like "are you loving kidding me?". Marks collapses to the floor of the office, knocked out. Jeremy is somewhat livid, thinking Dan did this to spite him. The players argue but Dan (somewhat reasonably) argues that the lady on the floor just admitted to abetting a terrorist and dragging her feet to give evidence to the police. There's a bit of a pause as Brian starts rummaging through Marks' computer and quickly pulls up documents for Evil Unlimited and other criminal Deltas. The general agreement is that just because Dan's actions ended up having good results doesn't mean he was right to do what he did. Dan just shrugs. Wonderbolt smashes a window in Marks' office and they all escape through it with the knocked-out Marks and her computer. They drop a bound and gagged Marks off in front of the Delta Prime headquarters before they drive right to the stadium. Pete teleports around inside of Deltaball stadium and quickly finds the blimp. The blimp seems pretty normal, but the game is a few days away. So they wait and return the day of the game, Pete leading them over to it and they quickly gang-rush the blimp before it can take off. The fight against Bester and the Medusettes is almost trivially easy and in no time they're all subdued and still alive, not even requiring Wonderbolt to actually use their Blaster powers. Bester immediately blabs the plan and tells them how to disarm the bomb on the blimp. They can't stop Medusa's broadcast from the blimp, but they do the next best thing: fly the blimp to Delta Prime headquarters, park it outside and run before her broadcast begins.  I think this is supposed to be a picture of the Wiseguy? I dunno. I'm not putting these pictures in order, I'm just using them to break up the text. The team hauls rear end to Battery Park and get to Medusa's lair where she's just about to run through the exit door. Slippery Pete motions to Plus Ultra; they grab hands while Medusa monologues. Plus Ultra boosts Pete's teleport, Pete teleports through the door once Medusa closes it (arguing that he's seen the other side of the door while it was open so that counts) and Plus Ultra tasers Medusa as she gets on the scooter. They work on tying her up as Flak, Wonderbolt and Rough Rider explore the lair and find the bomb. Having no idea how to disarm it (even Pete shrugs) they simply dump the bomb in the bay and then visit the Primers one last time to plop Medusa down on their doorstep. Medusa is painted as a Defiance terrorist. She and Bester and the Medusettes all go to jail, but they're painted as evil Defiance masterminds. Despite doing the right thing and stopping them without killing them, the name of Defiance is still smeared. The players come to the conclusion that they should probably just kill the troublemaker next time. Nothing is said about Marks but they check out the office and the area is stripped clean.  Naptime! Nobody ends the game happy. A discussion is had with Dan about his behavior and another is had with Jeremy about his railroading. The combat was brief and unsatisfying, most of the entire session was just going from place to place for info. The group is generally having doubts about playing another premade with these same characters and Dan might just sit the next one out. AFTERWORD   Final Thoughts on Brave New World: Crescent City: Absolutely awful. Not engaging, uninteresting, the Delta powersets aren't worth much time. The premade adventure is garbage, even the setting secrets are just worthless. I could go on, but I can't. This is the first book that just feels like a complete waste of time with no redeeming features. It's not even entertainingly bad. This is just machine-extruded unflavored game product, now with extra preservatives. Would I recommend this book? No, god no, a million times no. I can't even recommend you keep any of the Deltas besides the Stretch and the Timetripper. It's all just a waste of data. Seven down, two to go. We've gone from the downward slide to freefall. NEXT TIME is the sourcebook for all things criminal, BRAVE NEW WORLD: EVIL UNLIMITED. Does it get better? Does it get interesting? Does it get dumber? In order: no, no, yes. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
Planescape: Planes of Chaos - Limbo (part 2) So I mentioned earlier that Limbo may have layers, but only sometimes. What this means practically is that travellers will encounter a barrier that they need to find a planar pathway to cross. That’s it. In all other respects Limbo is a single layer plane. In fact for all the crazy poo poo you might expect in the plane of Chaotic Neutral, the number of detailed locations is surprisingly short. I feel that too much writing went to describing Limbo in general and rules that ultimately amount to “whatever the DM feels like”. Fennimar Only one divine realm is detailed. Fennimar is home to Fenmarel Mestarine, Elven God of Innocent Scapegoats and Outcasts. Which today seems like a weird choice to give the spotlight to (I’d have gone with the trio of Indian deities), but I guess it was the 90s and being a mopey loner was the in thing. Fittingly, Fenmarel is welcome to Arvandor at any time, but he just prefers to be alone and listen to his They Might Be Giants CDs. Fennimar is basically mini-Arvandor, a lonely forest walled off from the surrounding by giant mountains. It’s only concession to the rest of the Plane is that the weather is completely batshit. No rules are given if someone tries to enter this realm from above-presumably once they cross the border they just plummet to the sky. There are very, very few elves here, mostly hermits and victims of the elven tendency to be huge dicks, even to their own. Fennimar is “also a place for elves to come and grieve on the rare occasions when their equanimity abandons them.” dictionary posted:e·qua·nim·i·ty Shra’kt’lor and The Floating City  The Githzerai have two main burgs in Limbo. Shar’kt’lor is the largest ‘Zerai city (pop 2 million) and also the primary military stronghold. The Floating City is their center of magic power and Thief headquarters. Both are ruled by Zaertih Menyar-Ag-Gith, who we get some stats for. Zaerith is a multi-class Fighter 16/Wizard 23, although honestly he should be a Power at this point if the ‘Zerai revere him so much. Zaerith controls his generals by encouraging infighting. The whole “killing high-level Githzerai” thing from the Monstrous Compendium by limiting it to wizards in the Floating City, so PCs don’t have to worry about a high-powered NPC nuking them. Zaerith isn’t concerned about thief character, since he knows that in 2nd edition the Thief class was hot garbage. The description for Shra’kt’lor is really bare-bones. It seems that the assumption is that since the Githzerai are so suspicious they’d never let PCs into the city proper, completely forgetting that one of the PCs might himself be a Githzerai. The Floating City gets a bit more attention-outsiders can go anywhere save Zaerith’s inner sanctum. Players can get magical items from the Floating City and potential anarchs can come here to get the proficiency. Unfortunately since The Floating City is a Thief haven, players will have to deal with potential robbers. Hopefully the DM would play this out as an encounter rather than just magically taking away a player’s gear. Barnstable So you want to guess what gets more attention than largest city of the Githzerai or the religious center of a God-King? A loving HALFLING VILLAGE!!! Barnstable is an example of a community that has no anarch and so needs an active watch to keep the place from disintegrating away. Besides a low-level adventure seed in another booklet from this set, Barnstable has _nothing_ of interest for PC. I’m not even editorializing. Under services it says that players might be able to barter for a pony. Even under “local news”, which every other town has a couple of adventure seeds, here it says that unless you visit while another traveller is around, you won’t learn anything you didn’t already know. Just...*ugh* The Spawning Stone The last locale described is a site. The Spawning Stone is the closest thing Slaadi have to a home domain. The Githzerai call it Uzkrocl, while the Ysgardians call it “Slaadheim” (  ) The Spawning Stone is where Slaadi go to breed, taking turns based on the 5 different varieties. It honestly seems like an attempt to retcon out the gross and rapey parts of the Slaadi fluff. At least that was my thought until it explained why Death Slaadi leave the Stone for the weaker Red Slaadi:The Spawning Stone posted:(some say that it’s because the egg pellets of the red can hatch even within the hide of a death slaad)  Anyway, the Spawning Stone is the one structure that Slaadi bother to maintain, and when the more numerous species are at the Stone it expands to huge sizes. The Spawning Stone is the most fleshed out of all the places described here. Unfortunately, players can’t get here, because “No non-slaadi is allowed within miles of the stone, on pain of death”. This part does talk about a crazed Githzerai that somehow lives among the Slaadi, and can acquire poisons from their skin. No rules are given for how these poisons work. Planar Proverb posted:Never try to fast talk a Slaad Conclusion Of the 5 planes described in this box-set, the write-up on Limbo is the weakest. It feels like the writer forgot that Githzerai were now a player race, and the only hook for a DM is for battling Githyanki. Despite a lot of writing about them, Slaadi remain just dudes to fight. Compare that to how the Tanar’ri are described-DMs and players get a good idea of how to interact with them besides just attacking. And the one realm that gets describes is for such a niche deity. Give me Indra, or Susano-O. Hell, I’d take Tempus, because that would at least have lots of cool fights. As it stands, there’s not enough for me to craft an interesting adventure. And to go back to my last post, there’s something about the rules for magic, how to get around, and terrain forming that rub me the wrong way. There were entire pages I skipped on getting around because they all amounted to “...but these can’t be relied on because KAYOS!”. Well thanks book! It’s one thing for a player to latch onto the Fishmalk role, but it’s entirely different if the book is encouraging the DM to take that role. I dislike that the rules require purchasing an unrelated supplement, but at least the 2nd edition Tome of Magic is a worthwhile addition. That doesn’t excuse that the rules explicitly encourage the DM to gently caress with his players. Compare this writing to what we get for The Abyss. The Abyss is supposed to be the deadliest place to visit on the Outer Planes, but reading through the book it’s clear what to expect and the rules are written to so that the DM can be fair without sacrificing the feeling that things are dangerous. By contrast, Limbo goes full hog on being Chaotic Neutral to the detriment of being a worthwhile place to adventure. On the other hand, “Slaadheim” So that’s Limbo, the Garry’s Mod of Planescape. Next Time: It’s a Mad, Mad Universe SirPhoebos fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Jul 9, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:10
|
|
|
Dang it Hostile V, how can Evil Inc. possibly be dumber than this? Is the entire book filled with descriptions of identical 3x3 rooms?
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:14
|
|
|
Horrible Lurkbeast posted:Dang it Hostile V, how can Evil Inc. possibly be dumber than this?
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:23
|
|
|
Hostile V posted:One of the new Delta powersets is "Forger". You're super good at forging. That's it. Wow. I didn't think anyone was going to come up as more limited than the super-hacker, but there you are.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:24
|
|
|
Hostile V posted:One of the new Delta powersets is "Forger". You're super good at forging. That's it. At first I thought you meant forging as in metalworking, and I was like 'using badass armour and weapons sounds pretty good actually'. Then it sunk in.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:31
|
|
|
Prism posted:At first I thought you meant forging as in metalworking, and I was like 'using badass armour and weapons sounds pretty good actually'.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:38
|
|
|
Hostile V posted:One of the new Delta powersets is "Forger". You're super good at forging. That's it. I just realised that far from being a normal man, am a "Procrastinator"™  Naturally I intend to harness my amazing powers for the benefit of all of humanity, if I can be arsed about it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 00:59
|
|
|
Hostile V posted:One of the new Delta powersets is "Forger". You're super good at forging. That's it. At least it's better than the Forger O.C.C. in Rifts, which is just somewhat better at forging in a post-apocalyptic setting where mainly only baddies use paperwork. It's lousy as a character hook either way, though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 03:13
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:I'm not an exhaustive reader of Herbert's commentaries and interviews, criticism of his work, etc. But I have read that, among other things, he personally believed the statements from Children of Dune that say aristocracy is the natural, inevitable state of humankind. So it wouldn't surprise me if he took it for granted that patriarchy is also "natural." Don't forget also that part of the Golden Path is to make women the militaristic, "dominant" gender for 3,000 years, to "balance out" humanity and make us True Gender Neutral. The following books then descend into outright sex magic that is female-only until, once again, a male counterpart arrives to save us all.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 03:34
|
|
|
This talk of gender politics makes me wonder how Dune would treat a gay character. I don't recall the books ever addressing the possibility.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 03:42
|
|
|
Arguing about Deltaball with Hostile V was the most interesting part of this book and that's really sad.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 03:51
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:This talk of gender politics makes me wonder how Dune would treat a gay character. I don't recall the books ever addressing the possibility. The movie does. To it's great and irritating discredit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 03:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 08:48 |
|
|
That Old Tree posted:Don't forget also that part of the Golden Path is to make women the militaristic, "dominant" gender for 3,000 years, to "balance out" humanity and make us True Gender Neutral. The following books then descend into outright sex magic that is female-only until, once again, a male counterpart arrives to save us all.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 03:58
|
|
