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I hope I don't regret this one. Part 1: “Ultimately, the vampire is a rape fantasy.”  Hey, this book has a lot of awful poo poo in it. Most of it is rape. If reading about rape ruins your day, you might not want to read these posts. Put me on Ignore or something if you have to.Humble Bundle description posted:Vampires have been associated with sensuality and sexuality since their reinvention at the hands of Polidori. His romanticizing of the concept opened the floodgates - vampires became sensual staples of gothic and Romantic fiction. Vampire: The Masquerade followed the precedent set by other avenues of vampire entertainment. Published in 1991, the game brought a new dose of sensuality to a medium whose previous attention to sex involved circling a gender on a character sheet. EH's Amazon.com review page posted:A smorgasbord of thrilling horror and stunning erotica! As a fan of White Wolf's game system and their vampire books, Lucy taylor here has launched a masterpiece for any VAMPIRE fan to relish...from incredible ART, and sensual sex,coupled with bloody vampirism,to the characters no cable tv would dare portray for an audience...I love it! Ah, my favorite LUCITA....PRETTY ISABEL GIOVANNI, written by Ms. Taylor in such a way that it's like you are right there with them! This is my favorite Vampire book to date! Please tell me there will be a sequel! Eternal Hearts is an odd book, to say the least. It’s not a flowery bodice ripper like the title would suggest, and, in my opinion, it fails to be a serious meditation on the place of sex and sexuality within the old World of Darkness’ vampire mythos like its foreword and later descriptions of it imply. It prefers to toss out its core theme when it gets in the way of pure titillation, which comes in the form of Baby’s First 120 Days of Sodom style rape scenes. If you hadn’t already guessed, it was published in 1999 under White Wolf’s Black Dog imprint. The book starts out with an explanation from who I assume is Justin Achilli, the “development liason” for this project. quote:Do vampires... um... gently caress? Short Answer: Because some people find it hot and will buy it. It's porn. Don't think about it so hard. Long Answer: Because vampires have been associated with sex and sensuality ever since Dr. John Polidori's short story, The Vampyre was published in 1819. Before then, vampires were merely nearly mindless blood-sucking zombies. A bunch of well known works are name dropped, including the movie version of Interview with the Vampire, in which Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt "pushed the boundaries of mainstream homoeroticism", and Blade, in which "porn queen Traci Lords looked suitably lurid before having her head blown off". (I don't think the woman who did most of her movies when she was underage and got a bunch of people in trouble because she didn't tell them that is really a contender for the title of "Queen of Porn". But I’m no porn expert.) So it makes sense to write one. Then White Wolf pats itself on the back. quote:Vampire: The Masquerade followed the precedent set by other avenues of vampire entertainment. Published in 1991, the game brought a new dose of sensuality to a medium whose previous attention to sex involved circling a gender on a hobbit's character sheet. Live-Action Role Playing, particularly of the Vampire variety, even went one step further - sometimes the sex happens for real, instead of just "in-game." Sex -- at least metaphorically, under the guise of a vampire's lust for blood - usurped the traditional T&A chainmail bikini thrill that had long dominated hobby gaming. Out with the old, in with the pale, shapely goth androgynes.... If you go to LARPs to feel sexy or get laid, you have issues that you need to be working out outside of a LARP and need to  If someone at a LARP tries to encourage you into having sex with them or seems to be taking the sexual aspect of the game a little too seriously, and the STs won’t do anything about them for one reason or another, that is a bad group and you should  .Anyway, the book goes on to say that they cheated with the whole "kindred get nothing from sex" part and that you should stop thinking about it so hard because this is quote:The Kindred in Lucy's tale understand that sex is a means to an end, whether terror or seduction; they glean only a surrogate satisfaction from it, rebelling impotently against their undead bodies. (I looked up Taylor’s other work while I was writing this. It took me a while to find a description of The Safety of Unknown Cities, the book she won the Bram Stoker award for, that wasn’t just a bunch of quotes from people talking about how great it is. From what I can tell, its plot is similar to this book’s: a bunch of broken people meet up and have a lot of painful sounding sex instead of getting therapy.) Achilli then goes on to talk about Bolton's works, during which he mentions what appears to be the main theme of this book: quote:Ultimately, the vampire is a rape fantasy, but John's luscious bloodsuckers leave you almost begging to be defiled. That doesn't explain Twilight's use and interpretation of the vampire myth. But to be fair, this was written in a pre-Twilight world and that thing blindsided everyone. Trust me when I say that this book is written entirely around that theory. Nearly all of the sex scenes in this book are rape scenes. But as I mentioned up top, it doesn’t do much with that theme. No one muses about what they’re doing. No one laments how awful their situation is, how much of a monster they’ve become, or even thinks for a second about the fact that they’re “rebelling impotently against their undead bodies”. It’s shock for the sake of shocking meant to cater to Vampire players that like “freaking out the normies” with their open sexuality and fetish gear outfits. The fact that there are much better sex scenes in other WoD tie-in books doesn’t help its case either. quote:Welcome to the sanguinary darkness within. Chapter 1 starts off with a woman being beaten, mutilated, and raped by a gang of Sabbat vampires. Lovely. Leading the gang of five Sabbat members is a man that the woman calls the "Beautiful One", who watches the whole thing and masturbates. Once they're done and he embraces her, they wack her over the back of the head with a shovel and bury her, because that's how the Sabbat do. The unfortunate woman is Jean Locklear. Jean is the part-time clerk at an adult toy store, a former stripper, an anorexic cutter, and has more issues than National Geographic. Her favorite past-time is cybering. quote:On the Net, her name was Rapunzel. On the Net, she could be whomever she wished. A transsexual latex freak; a double amputee with a fetish for having her stumps licked; a gently caress-me, suck-me, beat-me-till-I-bleed submissive bitch with a ring in her clit and a brand on her rear end; a porn prince with a kink for whipping pretty boys. Online she was a shapeshifting, genderbending, fuckstruck macho slut who took it up the rear end and down the throat and in the oval office, who strapped on a Secretariat-sized dildo when she did rough trade and fistfucked like the hottest leather hustler... One thing you'll notice right away is this book likes to lay the sex on really thickly. (At least near the start. The book’s sex bits are kind of front loaded.) The way it was written, you would think that the World of Darkness was a place where massive orgies are held right in the middle of busy streets every other day. A good majority of the porn I've seen and read is less subtle than this book. Anyway, Jean wakes up sometime later, still underground, and starts freaking out about it. At first she assumes that she was picked up by the cops for stalking her former boyfriend, Senator Gilbert McNamarra (a hypocritical Republican with commitment issues and a fetish for childplay) again, sent to a psychiatric facility, and some psycho orderly has bound her up and is having his way with her. After a while, she figures out that she's underground and tries to figure out how she got there without occupying her mind with the fact that she's under 6 feet of dirt, horribly mangled, and possibly dead. One of the few things that stands out in her mind is church spires, along with the torture that she went through and the image of the Beautiful One. This gives her the push she needs to start clawing her way out of her grave. quote:Longing. Intense and unutterable. An off-kilter surge of primal lust that spread like the plague through her miswired synapses, the vile allure of the unspeakable. She understood then that she wasn't dead. Jean Locklear might be, but not Rapunzel. By the way, this book is not about Jean.
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Aug 7, 2016 18:36
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Oh dear god.
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Aug 7, 2016 18:52
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"Hmm. Perhaps I have been buried underground because I tried stalking a senator again." YEESH. Chapter one, huh? So I'm just gonna go out on a limb and assume the rest of this is gonna be a trainwreck.
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Aug 7, 2016 19:00
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Also the fact the foreword treats sexualized activity in LARP as a normal thing, and not you know a cause for concern is very telling. As a rule Geeks and Nerds have a hard time reading boundaries, and an even harder time saying "No" because they don't want to cause waves or upset everyone for breaking a Geek social fallacy.
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Aug 7, 2016 19:17
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Thanks a lot, now I can't read this thread at work. 
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Aug 7, 2016 19:19
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Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone Hellene worship is usually handled at sanctuaries located in areas that are appropriately sacred to a god. These sanctuaries are well-defined spaces, usually walled in, known as a Temenos. The Temenos contains the Temple, which reflects the god's splendor. Typically, each has a massive image of the god, an outdoor altar, other statues and usually several votive offerings left for the god. Some temples have scenic views fitting the god in question. There are countless temples across Hellenic space, but each of the gods also has at least one Great Temple in orbit around their patron world. These are the Temple Moons, each artificially constructed to very specific measures - exactly 144km in diameter and exactly 210,000km above the planet's surface. They are something a mystery, however. See, the Temple Moons are, according to legend, older than the Hellenic colonizations. They were there when the Hellenes arrived. Often, they are said to have been placed by the gods themselves as personal homes. In at least one case, the Temple Moon of Heuson, this seems somewhat likely, as it was designed for beings twice as large as most Hellenes. All others are sized for Hellenic beings. The Temple Moons are named because of their massive Temple Complexes, which cover a rectangle of about 2,400 square km. Each complex is a small city, with many large buildings, statues, even parks and lakes...but often, that's only a small portion of the complex, with most being hidden 'underground.' Around 10,000 priests and priestesses staff each complex, maintaining the upkeep and managing the hundreds of thousands of service robots that assist them. Wild animals favored by the gods are often kept in the cities, and in some areas, the plant life has overgrown large portions, even rendering some areas impassable. Miles belowground, in the heart of each complex, is the central temple of the god. This chamber is always 10km long, 2km high and 2km wide. It has a microweather system, complete with clouds and rain, and typically is lit only by the altar's bonfire and the glowing statue of the god in the center, which is always over 1km tall. Some say the gods themselves appear in these statues to offer favor to pilgrims, but most find these rumors laugable. After all, only those favored by the gods are allowed to enter in the first place. Only the most pious and worthy may even set foot on a Temple Moon, as they are guarded by small fleets that are authorized to vaporize anyone breaching the security perimeter around these immense stations. The moons are holy sites protected by all peoples known to the Hellenes for their significance. Not just anyone can visit - only those invited by a ranking priest can gain admittance, and trespassers are captured and executed. To gain permission, a PC must have at least 150 Glory and be known as someone with a great destiny, and must then succeed at a difficult Influence roll, though those favored by the god in question only need 100 Glory and a less difficult roll. Once permitted to land, visitors are ritually washed before they may enter the complex. The actual temple is never entered by anyone but ranking priests, priestesses and oracles. If it is entered, the clothing and belongings of the entrant become pure white and glow faintly. The air tingles with a stange energy, and the god's aspects are felt as a presence. These areas are sometimes said to be the corporeal home of the gods. Any successful sacrifice, votive or sworn oath on a Temple Moon grants double the usual benefit. Kore is the Moon of Aemoton, orbiting planet Megara. It is overseen by the chief priestess Golden-Eyed Kolete, and her assistant, the priest Sweet-Spoken Pelopidas. The moon always has rain somewhere, and dark clouds cover the skies, with constant lightning and thunder. The moon is overgrown by plants and blue-green moss, devoured by large herds of roaming herbivores. The complex is made of wood, almost entirely overgrown by plants and moss. The courtyard is home to an immense tree, one that has been there since the moon was built. It never withers and it bears fruit year-round - many kinsd of fruit, all the best examples of their type. This is the Great Life Tree, and those favored by Aemoton are sometimes granted leave to take a single fruit. To gain this blessing, a hero must bring the temple a seed, sacrificing it by planting it at the base of the tree and making an Influence roll. Success allows the hero to take a fruit infused with cosmic life force. Anyone that eats it is instantly healed of any harm and made whole of any injury. A healthy person that eats it gets the strength of ten, raising all attributes to +10 for one hour. Anteros is the Moon of Aphrosia, orbiting Sikyon. It is overseen by the priestesses Tyche on High and Irene. Anteros is a white desert full of crystalline 'trees' that cast many-colore light across the sands and sing in the wind. There are few plants and animals, largely underground. The complex is made of the same crystal material as the trees, as it is all that can withstand the stinging winds. Under the temple is a single room with a cracked floor, where water bubbles up. It is lit only by a few candles that cast strange shadows. Those who gaze into the glass pool called Deception see the exact nature of any one person they know. It will show that person's likes, dislikes and goals. All that is needed is a bit of blood from a bit lip and a PER roll. Khariklo is the Moon of Apollon, orbiting Delphoi. It is overseed by Reed-like Thamyris. It is an orange planetoid, scoured and marked by craters between deep canyons and high mountains that rise into space, all glowing gold. Large flying beasts rule the skies, and canyons are full of many fish and reptiles in the cool rivers at the canyone floors. The complex is atop a large mesa, gilded with gold, copper and bronze. In one corner is the Lyre of Long-Reaching Apollon, made from the golden shell of a large turtle and strung with perfect silver cords. Those that play the lyre are infused with the power of a star. This takes a Performance roll, but those who do it gain great ability, receiving a number of free rerolls to any skill of their choice. Until they use up those rerolls, they can never completely fail at using that skill. Enyalios is the Moon of Areson, orbiting Sparta. (Presumably New Sparta after Sparta gets blown up. Even the Atlanteans would not dare destroy a Temple Moon.) It is overseen by guard captain Dinos, Shaker of Walls, and the priestess Black-EYed Corine. It is a barren, rockey world of poisonous gas and acid rain, with no natural life. When the green fog is not overhead, the earth heats and releases caustic black smoke that scours flesh. A path of red stone circles the moon, and it is said to be the path each warrior must march in life, though few have made the actual journey. The beginning and end of the path is the entrance to the complex, an underground bunker lit by torchlight. At the foot of the great statue in the temple complex is the Bowl of Areson. It is a simple wooden bowl, stained black by blood. To use it, you must place the heart or head of a great foe inside it, at which point the bowl fills with a red wine that dissolves the offering. Drink the wine and make a CON roll to gain one ability of the foe for several months - a god-granted gift, a Dynamism power, an epithet, a skill, even a talent. Arethusa is the Moon of Artesia, orbiting Tegea. It is overseen by the hunter Orion and the priestess Far-Striding Atalanta. Its dark sky is barely visible at the surface due to a dense rainforest. Millions of small creeks and streams flow across the surface, swelling with the rain and then fading with the white mist that follows. The temple complex is a naturally-formed Parthenon of trees and vines. Aktalon, the Keryinitian Hind, wanders near the complex. He is Artesia's favorite golden deer, and those that can hunt and catch (but not kill) him will win favor with her. To do this requires both Tracking and Animal Handling rolls, and once you succeed, you will gain the power to call on any beast with four legs, any beast tha flies, or any beast that crawls on its belly, and they will obey your will, even fight for you, though Artesia on unnecessary waste of animal life. Once summoned, the animals arrive in minutes and obey for several days. Metis is the Moon of Athenia, orbiting Athenoi. It is overseen by the priest Cimonus and the priestess Far-Seeing Terese. It is covered by a massive body of saltwater, in most places shallow enough to walk in without seing land...provided one is unworried about the ravenous crustaceans. Many archipelagos circle the moon's equator, with the complex resting in the harbor of a large island. Within it is the greatest library in Hellenic space. By beginning Athenia at her altar with an Influence roll, you may gain a pool of Hero Points to use, as well as the Tyche racial ability of the Hellenes, to be used several times. You may spend the points on any roll, yours ot others', as if you have Glory of 300 or more. Once the points are spent, they're gone forever. You may spend 2 of them at a time to rid yourself or another of one Fate Point each time. Hebe is the Moon of Heiria, orbiting Argos. It is overseen by the priest Nikolos the Shepherd and the priestess Haughty Elefteria. It has no large bodies of water, but many small and connected ones - lakes, ponds, shallow rivers, all full of fish and fowl. Thin forests surround the pools, and besides one of these is the complex, shining bright. By praying at a week at its altar, one may gain Heiria's favor. She will either grant any other Temple Moon's gift as long as you satisfy its conditions or otherwise pray and sacrifice, or she will grant entry to a grove of green and purple trees. An altar lies at its center ,and many sacred peacocks wander the area. A hero can make clothing of peacock feathers, gaining the reverence f the gods, allowing them to use any god-granted favor of any Glory level several times. Palikoi is the Moon of Hephaeston, orbiting Thebes. It is overseen by the priestess Machine-Whispering Lana and the machina Boreas 927. It is covered in thermal springs and geysers, and its atmosphers is dry and barely breathable. The salty and sulfurous water on the surface pools after rains, allowing some very hardy and dangerous wildlife to flourish briefly before it boils off. The complex is at the base of a massive volcano, within a bronze and iron cave with walls that can burn flesh. Within a small workroom in the temple is the Bronze Mold, in the shape of a Hellene and made of obsidian, not bronze. If a hero begs Hephaston for permission, they may rest in the mold and have superheated bronze poured in. Those that can withstand the heat and pain with a WIL roll will find a machina double of themselves in the mold the next day, with all of their stats and skills. It will do any task they set it to for several weeks, after which it will fall to pieces, which may be gathered to use in other machines, giving them a bonus to their stats. The hero and machine have a sympathetic relationship, able to transfer damage between each other. The hero may also siphon off the machina's stats to boost their own. However, the machina can never be repaired or healed, due to its unique creation. Angelia is the Moon of Hermia, orbiting Korinthos. It is overseen by Blurry-Armed Leander and Blind-Stepping Maxima. It is a barren, lifeless moon with dense and swirling clouds that defy all weather patterns and even the laws of physics. The complex floats on a series of hovering platforms within the clouds. By praying for one day at the altar there and solving a riddle placed by the goddess, she can grant a gift. Those who gain her gift can point at two locations, using a map, photo, video or whatever, and by moving their fingers together, they may bring the locations together, moving between them as though walking through a door, which will remain open for anyone to use for several minutes. Eirene is the Moon of Hestia, orbiting Khalkis. It is overseen by the priestesses Lenore the Unyielding and Dystoia, and the housecat Ligia. The atmosphere somehow creates a permanent twilight no matter where on the moon you are, and it is full of broad pastures of green and gold, each with copses of sacred white trees and several domesticated beasts and residences. These homes are mostly empty but well cared for by the priests of the moon. Each year, a new cluster of homes is used to act as a symbolic complex, with an entrance to the subterranean temple reconstructed below it. Within the heart of the temple is Hestia's Flame, a great bonfire that gives off a pleasant heat no matter how close you get. The coal in the bottom of the fire can be given to those who please Hestia with song, dance or offerings of personally cooked food. Those who succeed will be granted several embers. Anything cooked or tempered on the embers will be infused with Hestia's fiery essence. When fanned, they burst into a cool blue flame. Once used for an effect, the ember will die and be unusable ever again. Four effects are possible. First, any food cooked on theme is wholesome and invigorating, giving +10 to CON and +30 HP for several rounds. Second, any weapons tempered on the embers become incredibly keen, ignoring all armor, but each ember can temper only one melee weapon or arrowhead. Armor tempered over the flames becomes utterly resolute, increasing its PR by quite a bit. Again, one piece per ember. Last, anyone who bathes in the flames of an ember is healed of any ailment or insanity, no matter how severe. One person per ember. Dike is the Moon of Heuson, orbiting Olympia. It is overseen by Eumenenes, Blameless Son of Ation, and Red-Blooded Avel. Mountains surrounded by dark clouds cover the moon, and thunder is everpresent, though the lightning strikes leave only craters. Predatory birds hunt small mammals in the valleys, and sometimes people. The temple complex is atop the tallest mountain on the moon, made of white marble veined with silver. Below, in the valley, is an ampitheater that hosts important judicial hearings. By praying at the altar in the temple, one may gain one of three gifts from Heuson. First, he can grant any other gift, as per Heiria. Second, he can grant the power to negate any epithet or god-granted favor nearby, or any power or racial ability, several times. Lastly, a hero can be granted a black eagle, which appears when summoned and has metallic golden wingtips. It will attack anyone the hero wishes for several rounds, with massive skill and powerful talons that disregard scale - the eagle can fight battleships. Proteus is the Moon of Hoseidon, orbiting Mykenai. It is overseen by Danae and Grey-Bearded Horace. The moon is covered entirely by blue-green water with massive waves - up to 100 meters tall in the powerful winds. The complex is underwater on a giant undersea mesa, and it is made of living coral. The interior is entirely enclosed, and is the only breathable air on the entire moon, as the winds will literally pull the breath from your lungs. In the eye of a maelstrom opposite the moon is a great rift into Slipspace. In the mouth of this rift is the Great Kraken, Hoseidon's pet. Those who are strong enough to swim to and befrient it may call on it as a loyal ally for several weeks. Those that fail are hurled into the maelstrom and awaken on a distant planet's shores. The beast has been everywhere in Slipspace and will take you there within days, no matter how far the distance. It will also fight for and protect you and your interests for the duration. It is immensely strong, immensely potent, the size of a battleship and with 500 HP. It will win just about any drat fight it wants, as long as you don't expect it to leave space. Next time: The equipment section
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Aug 7, 2016 19:24
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Bieeardo posted:That whole thing reads like a Shadowrun parody ad, but this is just beyond absurd. That jumped out at me too.
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Aug 7, 2016 19:38
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"Lush". Yes. That is obviously a word you use for an RPG.
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Aug 7, 2016 21:24
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Invisible Sun is deep. It's smart. It satisfies women every time. Just like you.
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Aug 7, 2016 21:51
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"Make Magic Magical Again" belongs on a red baseball cap.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:04
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My biggest problem with Glorantha is that it's all about mythology, and it takes that mythology more or less completely at face value. It rarely goes into an examination of how people pick myths that are convenient for them, or social hypocrisy, in a way that makes it all seem kind of false. (Sometimes it kind of hints at looking deeper, like with the idea that maybe all the different Masks of Moonson are just a bunch of different guys claiming the name, but it rarely follows through.) My second-biggest problem is that the people in charge of picking which books get written are a lot more interested in the Orlanthi than I am.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:21
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Well, one of the things is that the stories people tell in Glorantha become what is true. The stories and the truth of myth mutually inform each other. That's really the thing the God-Learners started abuysing and taking advantage of in ways that are really quite fascinating but which started to break things because they were basically anthropologists loving with the building blocks of reality, but had all the cultural biases of, say, 1940s anthropology and incomplete understanding of anything they interacted with. That said: yeah, the Orlanthi are clearly someone's favorites. Personally, I like the Praxians and Trolls.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:24
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Invisible Sun is smart. It's powerful. It makes us go.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:27
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Figured that White Wolf had a Trigger: The Warning somewhere.Too Many Buzzwords posted:If so, then join us. Escape the Shadow of the real world and find the Invisible Sun. Enter a new Actuality of surreal fantasy where mystical characters wield fabulous powers and struggle to discover the secrets of true existence What does that even mean? This is almost like that "Othering the Otherness" joke the guys from System Mastery made. It's like this was written by Peter Molyneux or something.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:41
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 Part 1: Baby’s First World of Darkness quote:What about the humans? That’s a question we get a lot when it comes to the world of Witch Girls. Well in most cases humans are utterly oblivious to the magical goings on. In fact most cannot even comprehend the magic around them even if they see it. Magical Minutia #5: Mortals: Seekers of Truth And just like a WoD book, it starts off not with a comic, but with a written story, complete with crazed rambling thoughts written in the margins.  This intro, and nearly all of the in-character margin notes spread throughout the book, are written by Grady Barns (not his real name), a victim and believer of the “Witchspiracy”. Like every other ignorant small town dweller in this setting and Minerva Winters from Bellum Maga, he is from Digahol, Iowa. He found out about the magical world at 16 when his father went missing, leaving only a pick-up truck full of personal effects and a key on the side of a country road. After “6 months two months”, he was declared dead, Grady’s mom got a drinking and drug problem, and Grady inherited the key. The key opened up a safe full of notes, including one similar to this one, and pictures providing evidence of a hidden magical world. quote:The Key they found was to a safe in his study, a safe I knew nothing about. Upon opening it I found multiple note books, folders pictures and papers. On the very top was a letter that said “If’ you’re reading this I’m either Dead or Worse...”. His father’s notes spurred Grady to start his own research into the supernatural. Over the course of a summer, he learned the witch hunter version of the story of Lilith. In their version, Lilith is a demonic-looking alien who came to Earth and brought magic with her. And things have sucked ever since. quote:Tens of Thousands of years ago a creature came to Earth. No one knew were she came for, but that did say she had horns like a ram, purple skin and that with here came magic. Lilith would eventually die, but not before giving birth to four children. Considering the comic book multiverse stuff that’s now part of the canon, this version might be the more accurate one. He also learned about the other races of otherkin. According to witch researchers and hunters, the other otherkin are small potatoes and are essentially slaves to the witches because they fear their power. Grady didn’t believe what he read completely, so he roped his friends Paul (a stereotypical nerd) and Gator (because he’s from Florida and liked to fight) into helping him get some hard physical proof. Using his dad’s “alpha wave reader”, they got a positive reading from a quiet, bookish girl at their school named Christine Morris. (Magical beings can register on a scale of 0 to 13. Most start at 2. Witches start at 6 because of course they do.) They stalked her for a while and took multiple readings, eventually getting one from her mother, who registered slightly higher than her. Being dumb teenagers, they decided to kidnap Christine to get a confession out of her. (Even in the book where the humans are the heroes, they’re still dumb assholes.) They drugged her with his mom’s sleeping pills, dragged her to an abandoned church, and tied her up. They dumped her bookbag, discovering a bunch of witch paraphernalia and learning that it was a Bag of Holding. That was proof enough for Grady. (Paul brings up a “British Sci-fi Doctor show”, and Gator thinks about using it to steal from Not!Walmart. Aim high, brother.) When she came to and they tried to interview her, she called for her mom. Her mom, in the most detailed and terrifying way Harris can muster, appeared, put Paul into a coma and turned Gator into a rat. quote:There are Fates far worse than death….. Far , Far worse. The margin notes imply that Grady later disconnected Paul’s life support when the doctors weren’t looking because he was stuck in a I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream situation, and that either Christine and Christine’s mom or some other witch killed Grady’s mom as revenge. The end of the note tells the reader where the rest of Grady's research is and begs them to just burn it all and forget about it. But if they don’t, he tells them his rules for researching and hunting witches. quote:Trust no one Macdonald Hartman left a note for Grady at the end, saying that he’s using “Tesla’s machine" to contact him. Apparently, he hasn’t just kept all of the knowledge of the magical world to himself and his buddies and is actively helping magical researchers and hunters. Him and Grady haven’t spoken to each other in three months and he urges Grady to shake off whatever mood he’s in and call him. If he’s dead, then he tells him to enjoy the vacation and that he’s working on a machine with the Phantom Breakers to contact him anyway. Once again, there is no credits section in this book. DriveThruRPG just lists everything as “Various”. But the book is similar to how the others are written and illustrated. So I’m just assuming it’s the usual suspects of Harris on writing and Soto on art. Up next: Character creation Adnachiel fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Aug 7, 2016 |
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Aug 7, 2016 22:42
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Accidental double post
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Aug 7, 2016 22:44
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Rand Brittain posted:My biggest problem with Glorantha is that it's all about mythology, and it takes that mythology more or less completely at face value. It rarely goes into an examination of how people pick myths that are convenient for them, or social hypocrisy, in a way that makes it all seem kind of false. Well, I think that has a lot to with the fact that the mythology of Glorantha is 100%, veritably true and you can even relive it for confirmation and reward. It's like the Guide to Glorantha says when trying to establish the world. I don't remember the exact quote but it's along the lines of "consider that, in a world where the gods are fact and the existence of the afterlife is 100%, then many would take death before dishonor since dishonor in front of their god is much worse than death, objectively" and stuff like that. So, people could pick and choose in the individual society, but it'd be hard to hold constant, I'd feel. It's worth noting I never read the guide more than a chapter in before I feel asleep so take that with a grain of salt.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:56
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I'm going to hold off on judging the game because I don't know anything about it, but I'm going to judge the gently caress out of that press release.Good God posted:It’s not for everyone, but for those of you who want something deep, lush, and intelligent, it’s what you’ve always been waiting for. You know what's "deep, lush, and intelligent"? A loving triffid, that's what. If this press release had a face I would punch it.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:03
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Alien Rope Burn posted:"Lush". Yes. That is obviously a word you use for an RPG. Maybe they mean "lush" like "we're drunk off our asses".
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Aug 7, 2016 23:08
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Evil Mastermind posted:Maybe they mean "lush" like "we're drunk off our asses". What are the odds of this just turning out to be another Heartbreaker? With totally-not-D&D stats and classes, including the obvious trap choice of "I hit things with my sword"?
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Aug 7, 2016 23:14
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Doresh posted:What are the odds of this just turning out to be another Heartbreaker? With totally-not-D&D stats and classes, including the obvious trap choice of "I hit things with my sword"? It's by Sean K Reynolds, so no bet.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:19
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Oh, is this that? I cannot wait to see more of cronks. Crooooooooooooooooooooooonks
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Aug 7, 2016 23:22
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Kai Tave posted:It's by Sean K Reynolds, so no bet. It's by Monte Cook, I think. Looks like the name has been updated on the announcement post to show it's by him, too. Or I assume so, since all I did was copy/paste all the text from the post earlier today
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Aug 7, 2016 23:34
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Covok posted:Well, I think that has a lot to with the fact that the mythology of Glorantha is 100%, veritably true and you can even relive it for confirmation and reward. It's like the Guide to Glorantha says when trying to establish the world. I don't remember the exact quote but it's along the lines of "consider that, in a world where the gods are fact and the existence of the afterlife is 100%, then many would take death before dishonor since dishonor in front of their god is much worse than death, objectively" and stuff like that. Not only is the mythology true and something that rewards you with magical powers for following it, but multiple versions of the same mythology are true, at the same time. Much of this comes from the fact that linear time is a recent invention, and everything before that happened the same way stories are told around a campfire by people who really don't want to bother hashing out when exactly Yelm/Orlanth/Etc. did something great.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:37
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I would be on the side of the Mortals in this new Witch Girls supplement if I wasn't already rooting for Nemesis Earth to get its poo poo together and get rid of their Nazis then visit the prime WG Earth and help even society out.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:41
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 Chapter 7: Campaigns on Yrth Welcome to the final chapter of GURPS Banestorm! It's been a climb, but here we are, finally at the summit. The only way to go now is sliding down the final stretch that is this, the GM's advice chapter.  Game Styles A bit more discussion on just what kind of play you want to do is put through a few more paces here. And in our brief list of styles, we have...
 The PCs On top of how you play, there's who you play, a question whose answers are meant to be aided by yet another series of vignettes.
Magical Inter-World Games GURPS Infinite Earths happens to be one of the only big hardcover-length setting books put out for GURPS Fourth Edition (with GURPS Mars Attacks and Discworld: the Roleplaying Game having finally gone to print, I can't say it's the only other one anymore) and the de facto setting for GURPS 4E as a whole, so it's not really surprising that there is a segment on crossovers between it and GURPS Banestorm. This breaks the normal rules of "no dimensional magic on Yrth. Ever. Ever ever ever", and instead makes it so interdimensional travel has a -25 penalty to the spell skill check. If you need to know more, buy GURPS Infinite Earths, available from Steve Jackson Games today! Changing the World In case you needed permission for some reason, this is the part where it says to the GM that it's okay to allow sweeping changes to Yrth through the actions of your players. Guns become commonplace in one or more nations? Sure! Find a new continent? Okay! Dark Elves do another genocide attempt? Why not, go for it, the world is your oyster!  Epilogue: the Future of Yrth GURPS Banestorm posted:This book’s “present day” corresponds to our own world’s present at the time of publication. But time must move forward, on Yrth as on Earth. So history will continue, and things will change. Next Time in GURPS Banestorm: ...There will probably be another interval mini-book look. But after that, we delve into dark places. Places that start out with content warnings about necrophilia. We may have left the main meat of GURPS Banestorm behind, but there's a decent-sized supplemental left as we enter the kingdom of the undead-loving (in more ways than one) Lazarite cult in GURPS Banestorm: Abydos.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:43
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Doresh posted:What does that even mean? This is almost like that "Othering the Otherness" joke the guys from System Mastery made. It's like this was written by Peter Molyneux or something. It reminds me of nothing so much as Imagine, a game that came out years ago and got pilloried by Darren MacLennan (and maybe Jason Sartin) in one of the long-form mocking reviews they did for RPGnet, sort of a spiritual predecessor to this thread. Imagine had all this dreamy, trippy ad copy saying stuff like "Are you tired of games that don't let you do stuff? Welcome to Imagine, the game where you can do anything and the only limit is your imagination!" It was a high-fantasy D&D heartbreaker with elves and dwarves and halflings and poo poo.
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Aug 8, 2016 00:35
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Doresh posted:Sadly not. There is no "modern" bow, only explosive and incendiary arrows. There's also no 'Mech-sized bow of any kind (not sure of a 'Mech even has enough dexterity to pull a bow string), but you can always get a gun or misisle launcher that looks like a bow. I'm pretty sure that a mech can use a bow. Of course, you might need to be an expert doctor/engineer/martial artist to pull it off, but the point stands.
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Aug 8, 2016 00:36
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Halloween Jack posted:It reminds me of nothing so much as Imagine, a game that came out years ago and got pilloried by Darren MacLennan (and maybe Jason Sartin) in one of the long-form mocking reviews they did for RPGnet, sort of a spiritual predecessor to this thread. Yeah, I still love Jason Sartin's review. He loving savages it, and I remember the game's writer getting all bent out of shape that someone didn't like his game.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:19
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Halloween Jack posted:It reminds me of nothing so much as Imagine, a game that came out years ago and got pilloried by Darren MacLennan (and maybe Jason Sartin) in one of the long-form mocking reviews they did for RPGnet, sort of a spiritual predecessor to this thread. yes but does it have a pretty-race. after all quote:All of them have one speedy-race, one or more brute-race, and one pretty-race (either winged humanoids or kitty-people), as well as the standard elves and dwarves.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:22
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Covok posted:Well, I think that has a lot to with the fact that the mythology of Glorantha is 100%, veritably true and you can even relive it for confirmation and reward. It's like the Guide to Glorantha says when trying to establish the world. I don't remember the exact quote but it's along the lines of "consider that, in a world where the gods are fact and the existence of the afterlife is 100%, then many would take death before dishonor since dishonor in front of their god is much worse than death, objectively" and stuff like that. That's kind of what I mean. The fact that all ideology that anybody actually holds is true at face value makes the whole thing feel fake.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:38
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I read that pitch up until I hit Monte Cook and then stopped. I will make the assumption that it will be 3e with things tacked on. But at least they did name it after a decent The Prodigy song.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:52
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I know I'm still the only person around here who cares about Torg, but someone on RPGNet just posted some stuff from the GenCon events of the upcoming new version (bolding mine):quote:I got back from Gen Con, where I played one of the demo games. By 'demo games' I mean that it was a listed event, with tickets sold. It was run in the Marriot Hotel across the street from ICC, like a lot of other RPGs. Also: quote:3. The game still uses the old logarithmic system with d20. The same chart for d20 results that ran along the bottom of the old templates was on the bottom of every pre-gen. BUT, that +/- result only affects to hit, damage is constant. I'll get into combat later. 
Evil Mastermind fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 02:28
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Rand Brittain posted:That's kind of what I mean. The fact that all ideology that anybody actually holds is true at face value makes the whole thing feel fake. Except Glorantha has ducks, and ducks pay the bills.
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Aug 8, 2016 02:48
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Well, they aren't all true. All myths are true, simultaneously, but that doesn't mean either that they're interchangeable or that you can just say 'well that's not true for me.'
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Aug 8, 2016 02:56
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Mors Rattus posted:Well, they aren't all true. All myths are true, simultaneously, but that doesn't mean either that they're interchangeable or that you can just say 'well that's not true for me.' In fact, trying to exchange them and going "No, see, totally the same" -fucks things up-. (See also the Goddess Swap.)
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Aug 8, 2016 03:13
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All myths are true. They are not all true at the same time or all places. Because they predate linear time and discrete locality.
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Aug 8, 2016 03:23
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Nessus posted:Doesn't seem much different from Mage: The Ascension to me. Yes, well, that's the worst part of Ascension, the fact that the game about ideology frequently works to made that ideology nothing but meaningless set dressing. When I say that it's all true, I'm not talking about literal truth so much as the fact that nobody's mythology is ever bullshit they made up to justify what they want to do, and if they resemble things that people made up to justify sketchy things, well, it's still correct.
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Aug 8, 2016 03:28
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Evil Mastermind posted:I know I'm still the only person around here who cares about Torg, but someone on RPGNet just posted some stuff from the GenCon events of the upcoming new version (bolding mine): I guess that's one way to fix the glass ninja problem :/ I'd probably go the Open D6 ruleset at this point. At least then damage is randomized.
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Aug 8, 2016 03:30
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 17:34 |
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At GenCon I got a chance to try out the world-building system for Spark. Spark is a FATE-like system that is about challenging beliefs. What caught my attention is that the author (Jason Pitre, who ran the session for me and the other players) wrote a setting book that is basically Planescape. Once I finish with Planes of Chaos, I'm going to write both books up for this thread. Link: http://www.genesisoflegend.com/product/spark/
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Aug 8, 2016 04:03
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