|
unseenlibrarian posted:The ideal ending for 'The narrative is the real jerk' is for heroes and beasts to team up and punch it in the face, as personified by Herr Drosselmeyer. But the Narrative only shows up once per week!
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 04:38 |
|
|
Beast shows Heroes (and the people Heroes are supposed to stand in for) as pathetic, stupid, and worthy only of contempt. However, it also tries to juxtapose it with the contradictory idea that Heroes are a serious threat to Beasts, and must be crushed. This contradictory approach actually reminds me of how Nazi propaganda depicted the Jews.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:30
|
|
|
Princess Tutu did such a good job at upturning narrative conceits, both for Magical Girls and general fairytale mythos.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:32
|
|
|
Rand Brittain posted:I still think you could do a lot with Heroes as the super-privileged. I was less referring to that and more to the sort of reflexive taking-the-side-of-the-powerful that society can default to.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:32
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:No, but seriously: a situation where no matter the truth your attacker's word will be taken over yours unless extraordinary efforts are taken is a horrifying one (and one plenty of real people find themselves in). That's getting close to one interpretation of the Tammuz form of Disquiet. "Promethean: The Created posted:Tammuz have an odd relationship with language. It animates them, gives them life and purpose, but when their Disquiet infects people, language fails them. Everything a Tammuz says to someone inflicted with his Disquiet is the wrong word choice, the wrong tone, the wrong body language. Everything is misinterpreted — a joke is a threat, an offer of help a promise of violence. Eventually, the mob forms and brings the Tammuz to “justice,” believing his cries for mercy to be a confession.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:39
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:It'd be better if you were more of a muse. You're just a cosmic workaday guy, a monster that's able to LOOK human to other humans as you go about your business. Beasts as an 'invisible' class of people who are genuinely different from humans (and always will be) but are forced to appear human and hide their abilities for the most part again would fit the metaphor of a marginalized group. You were never human, you're something different that goes and does its thing and isn't really hurting anyone, inspiring stories and legends, maybe occasionally getting to show off what you really are in an extraordinary circumstance or before people who could use knowing there's more to the world than what they see. And then one day one guy looks at you and goes 'gently caress! DRAGON!' and you're like 'what but I'm still glamored' and then a week later a bunch of people with torches are storming your lair in that abandoned house the neighborhood kids tell spooky stories about and you have no idea what's going on or why none of your human guise's friends will believe you that this guy is nuts. Octo: the Dadding.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 19:16
|
|
|
Robindaybird posted:Princess Tutu did such a good job at upturning narrative conceits, both for Magical Girls and general fairytale mythos. The Drossel-Machine Chronicles.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 20:03
|
|
|
Robindaybird posted:Princess Tutu did such a good job at upturning narrative conceits, both for Magical Girls and general fairytale mythos. The last time I ran C:TL I suggested it as required viewing for anyone who wanted to get heavily into the Talespinning stuff.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 20:50
|
|
|
If Beats are horrible monsters who don't know they're monsters in a world that seems to reset its threats every week, you could use them to run an Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Seinfeld game. Or just be honest: Beasts are evil but interesting, and Heroes may be right but they're also boring, so screw them. (This will require changing Beasts to be interesting)
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 23:28
|
|
|
Count Chocula posted:If Beats are horrible monsters who don't know they're monsters in a world that seems to reset its threats every week, you could use them to run an Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Seinfeld game. "I've gotta FEED my HORROR!!" "You have to what?" "FEED... MY HORROR" "Feed your whore?" "MY HOR-ROR!!!" "Because it really sounds like you want to feed a whore."
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 00:01
|
|
|
Nightman: The Comething
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 00:06
|
|
|
With the recent interest in Scion 2e, I like the idea of repurposing Beasts as mythic monsters who fused their essence to the souls of maladjusted mortals to survive into the modern day. The monster creates a twisted symbiotic relationship with the human it bonds with; it gains a human shell to hide its nature, and in return it gives its host some of its power to fulfill petty revenge fantasies. All the hogwash the Beast hears from its "Horror" about heroes and the Monomyth are basically propaganda to goad it into attacking Scions.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 00:14
|
|
|
Beasts are Internet Introverts who like building a lair and killing people, Heroes are stereotypes of Extroverts.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 00:31
|
|
|
Simian_Prime posted:With the recent interest in Scion 2e, I like the idea of repurposing Beasts as mythic monsters who fused their essence to the souls of maladjusted mortals to survive into the modern day. The monster creates a twisted symbiotic relationship with the human it bonds with; it gains a human shell to hide its nature, and in return it gives its host some of its power to fulfill petty revenge fantasies. This feels like it really steps on Geist's toes though. There's already a game about dealing with the crazy, obsessively focused sorta-ghost living in your head and making odd demands.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 00:44
|
|
|
Honestly I think all this discussion points towards Beast being a game that really didn't need to be made. The available concept space is so drat blurry
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 01:02
|
|
|
Never needed to be made at all, hence why I specified it'd be a better idea for a game in its own setting. The WoD is too crowded with supernaturals already, anyway.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 01:03
|
|
|
Beast won't change for you. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 01:08
|
|
|
wiegieman posted:This feels like it really steps on Geist's toes though. There's already a game about dealing with the crazy, obsessively focused sorta-ghost living in your head and making odd demands. Guess I forgot to mention that this idea is just for using them as an Antagonist in a Scion game (which has no connection to the CofD). This isn't about making them playable, it's about making a fun villain for a different game; don't see how this steps on anyone's toes.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 01:19
|
|
|
So according to the strained metaphor, Michael Brown would literally be a Beast.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 01:31
|
|
|
Beast would be better if, instead of an RPG, it was just Nick Lowe's cover of Johnny Cash's 'The Beast In Me'.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 02:43
|
|
|
Plus, it could draw on classic literature like Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde instead of the weird bubbling vat of troubled kid notebooks it crawled out of. better beast posted:
EDIT: how come the werewolves aren't a metaphor for substance abuse like werewolves have historically always been Ominous Jazz fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Oct 25, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 02:56
|
|
|
The Vosgian Beast posted:Nightman: The Comething Nightman has to pay the Troll's toll to feed from this boy's hole.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 02:58
|
|
|
Boy's soul?
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 03:01
|
|
|
Ominous Jazz posted:EDIT: how come the werewolves aren't a metaphor for substance abuse like werewolves have historically always been Vampires already have that pretty comprehensively on lockdown. Mummy update: I'm being stymied by writing out in advance and trying to edit down to something more succinct, and the book is actively fighting my attempts. I cannot wait to get out of the first stretch of this thing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 03:10
|
|
|
slap me and kiss me posted:Boy's soul?
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 03:15
|
|
|
Nessus posted:That's what he said, the boy's hole. The Enigma of Matt McFarlane's Faults?
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 05:37
|
|
|
Concerning the fiction anthology, I thought I read somewhere that like half of the stories were written by people who were p much 100% aware of how hosed up Beasts are. Curious to see if that's the case.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 06:24
|
|
|
Basically, but the remaining half are.... bad.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 06:30
|
|
|
Ominous Jazz posted:EDIT: how come the werewolves aren't a metaphor for substance abuse like werewolves have historically always been Furries.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 08:46
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure werewolf myth started out first as an explanation for berserkers and random atrocities before it was anything to do with substance abuse.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 10:57
|
|
|
ZeroCount posted:I'm pretty sure werewolf myth started out first as an explanation for berserkers and random atrocities before it was anything to do with substance abuse. Ridiculous! Things can only mean one thing and absolutely nothing else.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 11:20
|
|
|
But I'm not sure werewolves have ever been metaphors for substance abuse, unless there's a didactic buffy episode I haven't seen. Mostly it's just suppressed emotions like Jekyll and Hyde. They certainly aren't in any WOD stuff, considering they're dealing with spirits half the time and White Wolf couldn't keep a consistent metaphor to save their lives.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 11:39
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Impossible. Next you'll be telling me vampires are a metaphor for sexual threat, AND for fear of immigration/the Other/the Slavosphere generally, AND disease and social threat, AND queer sexuality, AND you might even advance some preposterous claims that the seniority of the Carmilla story to the Dracula story indicates that the real root might be nascent fear of liberated female sexual choice. rumble in the bunghole posted:But I'm not sure werewolves have ever been metaphors for substance abuse, unless there's a didactic buffy episode I haven't seen. Mostly it's just suppressed emotions like Jekyll and Hyde. They certainly aren't in any WOD stuff, considering they're dealing with spirits half the time and White Wolf couldn't keep a consistent metaphor to save their lives.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 12:00
|
|
|
Put on your robe and magic hat because we are about to gently caress with reality in… Part 4: Character Types- the Paradox Gates In! the book posted:Paradoxes are the mad scientists, the sorcerers, and the breakers of the rules of reality. They are not bound by what others believe to be true.  All paradox abilities come from The Strange, even if a character thinks it doesn’t. The Strange permeates the cosmos, and quickened are attuned to this force and can use it to transgress reality. Since apparently someone on the Monte Cook Games writing staff fell into a worm hole in 1990 and was spat out in 2011, we don’t call paradox powers “spells”. Giving everything new nouns is the hottest poo poo! Paradox abilities are called “revisions”. Except the book says you can totally call them knacks, prayers, spells, or psychic gifts you want to.  Such a good doggie! Paradoxes are the giant nerds of the game and are usually the ones who can gush about science, medicine and the nature of The Strange. The feats that they’re capable of aren’t actually miracles, though to the casual viewer they look that way. They like studying new cyphers, recursions, and Strangers. Cyphers paradoxes like: anything! They’re all so neat! But if they have to be choosy, than they’ll go for things that protect their frail geek frame, let them keep at a distance in a fight while still being effective, and things that make traveling to, and surviving in, recursions easier. The Might and Speed stat pool start at 8 for a paradox. The Intellect stat pool starts at 12. Paradoxes get 6 more points to distribute between the three. Let’s take a look at their abilities! First-Tier Paradox Paradoxes at this tier have an Effort of 1, an Intellect Edge of 1, a Might Edge of 0, and a Speed Edge of 0. They can carry three cyphers at a time. Paradoxes also get all of the following abilities: Knowledgeable: You’re trained in an area of knowledge or technical expertise of your choice. Strange Training: You have general training related to The Strange. You can identify and understand Strange-related phenomena like the effects of cyphers or lore. Practiced with Light Weapons: You can only use light weapons without a penalty. If you try smacking someone with a medium, the difficulty goes up by one step. If you try hitting someone with a heavy weapon, the difficulty goes up by two steps. Translation: You can participate in the process of traveling to another recursion. Paradoxes are most effective at initiating a translation. First-Tier paradoxes also get to choose two of the following revisions at chargen: Closed Mind: You’re trained in Intellect defense tasks and get +2 to Armor against damage that targets your Intellect Pool (that normally ignores Armor). (Enabler) Exception (1 Intellect): I’m going to quote the whole description for this revision: quote:You pick one creature within long range. The target is jolted by a confluence of fundamental forces for 4 points of damage. Levitate Creature (2+ Intellect): Attack roll vs. a target, within long range, who is no more than 2 levels above your tier. If the attack is successful, the target levitates an immediate distance off the ground. They can still take actions but they can’t “gain purchase through physical contact”. Which I guess means they just float there. The effect lasts for one round, but you can spend an additional 1 Intellect to attempt a difficulty 2 Intellect task to keep them afloat. You can’t move the target, but a powerful force like a strong wind or a push can scoot him or her along. (Action to initiate) Premonition (2 Intellect): Learn a random fact from a location or person that is pertinent to a topic you designate. Because “reality is quantum and noncausal, which means a careful observer can discover information leaks.” You can opt to learn a creature’s level instead of a random fact, but if you do this then you cannot learn anything else about the creature ever. (Action) Shatter (2 Intellect): You can make a random mundane object (a rock, coffee mug, the cuckoo clock on the wall) within a long range explode. Anyone in an immediate radius hit by this attack is dealt 1 point of damage. (Action) Second-Tier Paradoxes Paradoxes at this level automatically get the following ability: Reach Beyond (3 Intellect): Same as the Reach Beyond ability vectors can get. (Enabler) Paradoxes can also choose one of the following revisions. In addition, they can replace one of the first-tier revisions with a different first-tier revision. Force Shield (2+ Intellect): You could say that this revision gives your Mage Armor! Hohoho! +1 Armor for 10 minutes. Each Effort applied to this power increased the armor bonus by 1. (Action) Gate Key (4 Intellect): Lock or unlock a door or some other object that can be closed/opened, even if it normally can’t be locked. This includes a drawer, laptop, satchel, book, window, etc. You can also lock/open a permanent or semi permanent recursion gate, including translation gates and inapposite gates. You have to be in physical contact to lock/unlock something. You also need to succeed at an Intellect task (GM sets difficulty) to open something this way that’s locked. Locking an object automatically succeeds and becomes locked at a difficulty level of 4+your tier. (Action) Mind Reading (4 Intellect): You can read the surface thoughts of a creature you can see within short distance for up to one minute as long as it stays in your range. (Action) Plasma Arc (2 Intellect): You make an arc of plasma jump between two targets you can see that are within short rage of each other. Your range on this spell is long. You roll attacks on each target separately. Each target hit takes 4 damage. (Action) Revise Flesh (3 Intellect): You can use this power to move a character up the damage track from debilitated to impaired or impaired to hale. Alternatively, you can grant a character +2 on a recovery roll if you use this ability on a character during a rest. (Action)  Totally not a wizard Third-Tier Paradoxes Paradoxes of this tier automatically get the following ability: Adept Cypher Use: You can carry four cyphers now. Congrats. Paradoxes may also choose one of the following revisions, or take a revision from a lower tier instead. In addition, the paradox can replace one of the lower-tier moves with a different move from a tier lower than third. Energy Protection (3+ Intellect): You choose a discrete type of energy and gain +10 to Armor against that energy for ten minutes, or gain +1 Armor against that energy for one day. This has to be an energy you’re familiar with. The examples given are heat, sonic, and electricity. The book doesn’t say what exactly being familiar means or how one gains the level of familiarity required for this revision. Do you have to get hit by one of those sonic cannons to learn how to resist sound? Anyway, instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty of this revision, you can apply effort to protect more targets. Each level of effort will affect up to two extra targets. You have to be able to touch them to grant the protection. (Action to initiate) Eye for the Strange: You get the ability to see a strange aura around creatures and objects that aren’t native to the current recursion and the ability to detect the spark in native creatures. You can also spend an action concentrating on a nonnative creature to see its original form from its native recursion. (Enabler, Action to inspect a creature) Force at a Distance (4+ Intellect): On a successful attack roll you can catch a creature or object within short range that is up to twice your mass in a telekinetic grip. The target’s level can’t be more than 2 above you. You can move the grabbed creature around up to a short distance in any direction each round. The creature can take actions but not move of its own volition. Each round after the initial attack you can attempt to keep your grip on the target by spending 2 additional Intellect points and succeeding at a difficulty 2 Intellect task. If your concentration lapses, the target drops to the ground. You can also opt to apply effort to increase the amount of mass you can lift with your braaaain. Each level of Effort allows you pick up a target twice as massive as before. (Action to initiate) Psychic Precision: You’re trained in any mental revision or mental ability that comes from a cipher, an artifact, or your focus. Recursion Viewing (5 Intellect Points): the book posted:An observer with the ability to revise reality knows that space and distance is an illusion. It’s the Scry spell, basically. You can concentrate to create an invisible, immobile sensor that lets you see, hear, and smell in an area like you were right there while being somewhere else in the recursion or on a connected prime world. You have to have visited this recursion before, and the GM may call for an Intellect task roll if the location is protected against astral snooping in some way. The sensor lasts for “about an hour”. Creating a sensor like this on a prime world requires you to spend a level of Effort. (Action to create, Action to check) Forth-Tier Paradox The only thing paradoxes get at this tier get are more revisions, but hoo-boy this is where we start getting quadratic, ladies and gents. As always, they pick one from the following list, or a revision from a lower tier. They can also replace one of the lower-tier revisions with a different one from a tier lower than fourth. Gate Exit (9 Intellect): You create one side of a translation gate. It won’t do anything until you open another side in a different recursion. When you do that, the exits connect and create a complete translation gate. Unconnected gates last “about a month” or until they’re destroyed. After two gates link up, they last “about a year” or until they’re destroyed. You destroy a gate the same way you destroy any object, by rolling against its level. This gate has a level of 5. You can make a translation gate permanent by using this revision every day for seven days on either end of the gate. (One hour to initiate) Invisibility (4 Intellect): You bend light around you to become invisible for ten minutes. While you’re invisible you’re treated as trained in stealth and Speed defense tasks. Your invisibility drops when you do something that gives away your presence or position: attacking, performing a revision, using an ability, moving a large object, etc. You can go invisible again with another action. (Action to initiate or reinitiate) Mind Control (6+ Intellect): Touch a creature and control its actions for ten minutes. The target must be level 2 or lower. After you’ve seized direct control, you maintain mental contact with the target and have access to its senses. You can grant it free will or take over as you please. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply Effort to increase the maximum level of the target at a rate of one Effort for one extra level. When the Mind Control revision ends, the creature doesn’t remember being controlled or anything it did while under your command. (Action to initiate) Rapid Processing (6 Intellect): You or a target “experiences a higher level of mental and physical reaction time for about a minute,” aka it’s Haste. The beneficiary of this revision gets to modify all Speed tasks by one step to its advantage, including Speed defense rolls. The target can also take an extra action at any time before the revision’s duration expires (at whatever vague point it ends). (Action) Warp World (5 Intellect): Create a zone of distraction around a creature you can see within long range for one minute. All attacks against the target are modified one step to the attacker’s advantage. All attacks made by the target are modified by one step to its disadvantage. If the target attempts an attack and fails, it auto-hits one of the target’s allies, if an ally is in range. This doesn’t have either an action or an enabler tag on it. I guess by RAW this a nasty auto-hit debuff.  Who's a god boy??? Fifth-Tier Paradox Paradoxes of this tier get the following ability automatically: Master Cypher Use: You can carry five cyphers at a time. Paradoxes may also choose one of the following revisions, or take a revision from a lower tier instead. In addition, the paradox can replace one of the lower-tier moves with a different move from a tier lower than fifth. Draw from Fiction (7 Intellect): Summon a level 5 creature of a kind you’ve previously encountered in a recursion you’ve visited. The creature remains summoned for one minute before being drawn back to its home. It acts on your command. The GM can decide to gently caress with it and give it penalties on some or all tasks for being disoriented. (Yaaay.) Since it’s level 5, it has a TN of 15, 15 health, and inflicts 5 damage. (Action) Exhile (7 Intellect): Banish another creature within long range to its home recursion. If the creature is not native to a recursion, send it to one you’ve previously visited. The target must be level 5 or below, and you must succeed on an attack. If the creature resists, all its actions are modified by two steps to its detriment for one minute. Exiled creatures can’t return to the recursion you exiled them from under their own power for seven days. (Action) Force Focus (6 Intellect and 2 Might): You can exchange your current focus for a focus you possessed in an alternate recursion or connected prime world. This is apparently a horrible drain on both your mind and body. Buuut the upside is it lasts an hour! Also while you retain the forced focus you look like a hybrid of your current appearance and whatever you look like in the other recursion. You can still use your current focus when the forced focus is active, too. (Action to initiate) Knowing the Unknown (6 Intellect): Play a guessing game with your GM! Tap into the power of The Strange to ask one question and get a “general answer.” The GM gets to assign a task difficulty to the question. There’s a general guide for this general answer: the book posted:Generally, knowledge that you could find by looking somewhere other than your current location is level 1, and obscure knowledge of the past is level 7. Gaining knowledge of the future is impossible. Action. True Senses: You can see in the pitch black up to 50 ft. as if it were dim light. You can easily identify holograms, disguises, optical illusions, sound mimicry, and other things that try to trick any and all of your senses. (Enabler) Sixth-Tier Paradox Just revisions again this tier. It’s the same song and dance; pick one new revision or pick off the old lists. You can also replace an old revision with an new one from a tier lower than sixth. Drag Through Hell (9 Intellect): This revision name is more literal than you’d really expect.  the book posted:You send a creature within immediate range that you can see into one of a number of recursions filled with brimstone, hellfire, and demons. On a successful attack on a target of up to level 7, the target is pulled through a transitory inapposite gate and takes 6 points of damage as it is dragged through the hellish recursion behind some unspeakable monstrosity.  Okay, yeah, I have to respect a spell that lets you tie a baddie to a demon the way a kid ties tin cans to a cat. That’s hilarious. You can also concentrate to keep the target translocated with a new action and new attack roll each round. And each round the target remains stuck on Mr. Beelzebub’s Wild Ride, it takes 6 points of damage. If the target returns before it dies, or if the first attack roll failed, all tasks on the target’s next turn are modified by two steps to its disadvantage. (Action) Force Unification (13 Intellect): Rewrite local reality. You can temporarily change one of the rules of the recursion where you’re currently located. It can be a dramatic effect, but the effects only last for a round to a minute. Examples given: “changing the color of the sky, causing an eclipse, halving (or doubling) gravity, changing the speed of light, and similar effects.” Also the GM gets to decide if your brief fundamental breach of the natural laws is “reasonable” as well as dictate how long it will last and what level of task difficulty is needed to achieve it. No guideline of any kind is given for this. (Action) Index Recursion (7 Intellect): You can mentally sense the direction of the nearest recursion gate that you aren’t already aware of. You get to know the location and distance to the gate, and you get to know general information about what kind of recursion it connects to. (Action) Master Translation (5+ Intellect): Do you ever feel like your teammates are too chumpy to help you translate to a new realty? Well then this is the revision for you! When you initiate a translation, you can also choose to hasten or ease it. To trigger this, spend the Intellect cost listed above as you being the translation trance. Now you can apply one level of Effort to ease or hasten the translation instead of decreasing the difficulty of the task. Or you can spend two levels of Effort to both ease and hasten the translation. You have to know the recursion exists, and the GM gets to decide if you have enough information to make the jump. (Action to initiate) Usurp Cypher: Pick one of your current cyphers with an effect that’s not instantaneous. You destroy the cipher and gain its power, which functions for you continuously. (I imagine a paradox taking a big old bite of a cypher.) After you eat that cypher you can’t chow down on another, this ability only works once. (Action to intiate) Aaaand that’s it for the paradox. Here, have another list of random paradox backgrounds for your troubles:  Thoughts on the Paradox: I firmly believe that Monte Cook’s entire house is decorated in wizards: wizard paintings, wizard statuettes, novelty wizard hand soap dispensers, the works. I’d even lay good money down that Monte Cook has an oil painting of Gandalf framed above his bed, which he lays in front of every night, crisscrossing his legs in the air like a teenage girl.  Pictured: Monte Cook in his natural environment Anyone familiar with D&D 3e will know that wizards started out better than fighters, which rapidly escalated to a ludicrous gap in power and abilities. If you thought that the devs heard or cared about any of the identical complaints about the power gap between the glaive and nano in Numenera, then you’ll be severely disappointed. If anything, the difference in the upper-tier powers is even more pronounced! That Road Trip to Hell spell is new, and so is the one that lets you temporarily turn a recursion’s moon into a set of shapely rear end cheeks. Remember at sixth-tier, vectors get such mind-blowing powers as “take another action in a round after you acted” and “do a Tasmanian Devil impression and maybe hit up to five monsters surrounding you (roll for each attack).” The paradox does have a high number of combat powers in this came of wonder and discovery. But they also have a ton of spells with amazing out-of-combat utility that directly facilitate the stated goals of the game: exploration, discovery, and mystery-solving. God, a clever player could find so many ways to exploit being able to secretly ride along in a target’s brain for 10 minutes, seizing control at any time without the target remembering a thing. I can’t think of a situation where someone could possibly look at the vector and paradox and go “Yes, this is a fair and good distribution of power, utility, and evocative abilities!” It's beyond absurd. As a side note: the constant leaning into GM fiat to resolve everything is also getting exhausting after all of these not-spells. It’s like someone understands a feature of rules-light, narrative-focused games is how you can fill in the gaps with stuff that works and you like. The problem is, those gaps should be filled in by the GM and players collaborating on an answer so that impacts the players while also remaining interesting. A lot of rules-light games also have set numbers and specifically-outlined outcomes for each roll, like in Apocalypse World. This entire system relies on a GM consenting to the whole endeavor to begin with and then eyeballing the difficulty fairly, which is sure to lead to problems with inexperienced GMs or ones feeling particularly difficult that day. Next: A new spin on the rogue! Nuns with Guns fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Nov 3, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 12:53
|
|
|
I'm definitely going to call them revisions, or failing that, knacks. That's a thing that anyone has ever done.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 14:05
|
|
|
I'm two (or maybe ten) years late on this, but I greatly enjoyed Valatar's F&F review of Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved. It's still very much caster-dominance because duh Monte Cook, but it's got a lot of interesting ideas and is executed at least competently. He really should have just gone the opposite route of Mike Mearls's Iron Heroes and instead made a core book with ALL CASTERS, rather than trying to keep a full-BAB class in there for tradition's sake. But I would definitely have given this game a playthrough had I the time.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 15:52
|
|
|
 The Great Modron March Part 3: Romper Stompers The March has begun. As I said before, the modrons march in (appropriately enough) clockwise fashion around the planes. Their first visits, therefore, are to the lawful and good planes of Arcadia and Mount Celestia and their associated gate-towns. These places are not particularly thrilled the host a destructive Modron March, but they’re not exactly about to slaughter all of the defenseless modrons either, so it’s a good threat-light environment for PCs to get their feet wet (so to speak). Part two of the adventure, The Unswerving Path, demonstrates a paradoxical outcome of the March: though the modrons are law incarnate, their passage (especially as untimely as this one is) tends to create chaos. This adventure is meant for a party of 2nd to 4th level. As before, the adventure suggests how the factions might get involved, though at this early stage it’s pretty much “find out as much as you can about this weird March.” The adventure begins on Mount Celestia, so step one is getting your PCs there. This shouldn’t prove too difficult in a Planescape game. Mount Celestia is the plane of absolute law and goodness, and it’s actually a very nice and pleasant place for non-evil visitors. It’s chock full of archons who normally protect the inhabitants from any invader daft enough to take a run at the Mount. This time, however, they’ve been ordered to keep their distance; some kind of chaos has infected the modrons, the archon leaders fear, to make them march out of tune like this. Best to avoid any possible taint. The PCs are crossing Lunia, the first mountain, enjoying another beautiful day in God’s country. They are approached by a lantern archon, basically a good-aligned will-o-wisp and the lowest rank of archon. The lantern archon addresses the PCs politely and asks that they accompany it, as its superiors wish to speak with them. It doesn’t know exactly what they want, except that it has to do with the modrons. The PCs are free to refuse (and thus prematurely end the adventure), but let’s assume they follow. The archon leads the PCs along a trail that was not visible before, illuminated by its light. There’s some lovely description of the sweet breezes and beautiful scenery before the archon leads them to a balcony on a great silver and marble arch. They are met there by a sword archon named Alziel, who beseeches them for help (and offers to pay them if they are not honorable souls; archons understand not everyone shares their commitment). She explains that the modrons are marching, nobody knows why, the archons are afraid to come into contact with them, etc. She also explains that the march is heading for the town of Heart’s Faith. The archons are afraid of the destruction the modrons will bring to the town, but are also afraid to directly intervene. That’s where the PCs come in. Alziel asks them to do something to save Heart’s Faith. She will offer 5000 gp if the PCs ask for a reward, but not asking gives them the esteem of the archons, which might be nice to have later. She can also offer knowledge, a pledge of later aid etc. Regardless, if the PCs accept the quest, we’re off to the races. From here the adventure is pretty open-ended, though I’ll hit all the major points. The lantern archon leads them to a point about 15 miles from the town. From here, they can see a massive line of modrons snaking along the coast, and a host of archons circling and bobbing nervously, unwilling to get close. The modrons will reach the town in about 10 hours, so the clock is ticking. The PCs can see how they’ve trampled the ground and greenery into muck. Animals have fled before the march but the plants are trashed. There are modron scouts ahead and a rearguard behind the march, surrounding the command and control group in the middle. PCs should definitely NOT attack the March. The modrons will defend themselves and completely overwhelm them. They’re not hostile if not attacked, though, and PCs will be able to speak to high-ranking modrons if they follow the proper channels. This will begin with a quadrone, the first modron that will actually speak to the PCs. It’ll make space for them to fall in with the March, which never stops for any reason. It will interrogate them on important points (their names, their places of origin, their mission) and unimportant ones (favorite meal, etc.) before passing them on to a pentadrone if it is satisfied that they don’t mean harm to the March. If they impress the pentadrone with cleverness or lawfulness, it’ll pass them to a decaton, the highest-ranked modron that will pay any attention to them. Whatever modron they end up dealing with will relay the following: 1) The only way to reach the gate to Excelsior (Mount Celestia’s gate-town) is through Heart’s Faith 2) The modrons signed an agreement ages ago to march through the roads of Heart’s Faith to get to the gate 3) Therefore, they will continue to follow the preset route, regardless of what the roads look like now. There’s a list of how it will react to various prompts. -Turn aside and bypass Heart’s Faith entirely? Nonsense. We have maps. The only way to reach the gate is through the town, we must reach the gate, therefore we must pass through the town. -Look at new maps and find a better route? Nonsense, our maps are correct, therefore other maps are incorrect. Our maps cannot be incorrect. -Meet with the town’s leaders to renegotiate? Nonsense, if they wanted to renegotiate they would have done so before we left Mechanus. The path is set. We have a long-standing agreement to pass on the roads and will do so regardless of whether the roads are in good repair. Changing those roads was chaotic. Our actions will remind them of this. -Point out that they will bring chaos to the town? Nonsense. The residents should have avoided change, which would have avoided chaos. Our passage will restore order. -Bring up contagion in the March? Nonsense. We repel chaos. We do not contain chaos. There is no chaos in modron minds. -Bemoan the destruction and loss of life? Nonsense. Those who can move will, those who cannot will be trampled. That is one of the laws of the multiverse. We do not make laws, we only enforce them. (This is a pretty uncharacteristically harsh response even for a modron and should be a subtle, early clue that something is up with the modrons). -Ask about law, chaos, and disruption? We are ultimate law. All other law is tainted when compared to us. We are order. All other order disappears when held to our light. We are structure. All other structure crumbles when brought against us. We are perfect law.  The modrons are set. They are not going to be dissuaded from marching. There’s only one thing to do: prepare the town. The PCs can make it to the town first, since the march moves at a steady speed of 6, though it might be exhausting to rush all that way. They can send an archon ahead to warn people, but ultimately the PCs will need to be there. Next we get a little description of Heart’s Faith, including its lammassu militia (the Winged Lions, who are unfortunately absent at a conclave). The town has a huge wooden pier that juts out into the Silver Sea at the base of the mountain. There’s a bazaar in a great plaza (sometimes underwater at high tide) where merchants set up shop, and a great temple at the center of town. The city is on three descending tiers up the side of the mountain. First is the Merchants’ Tier, with inns, banks, guilds, shops, and all the things that pilgrims up the Mountain need. Second is Citizens’ Rest, where the majority of the occupants live. It is beautiful and well maintained and everyone lives in comfort, even the poorest. The third level is Lions’ Pride, which houses the lawmakers and enforcers, such as the Winged Lions.  welcome to scenic heart’s faith This map shows the path the modrons take. As you can see, they split into three, then split again and again before recombining. The middle path, a road called the Ascension, goes straight through, as do the modrons who pass along it. Upon arrival, the PCs are told that the leader of the town (the lammassu Lebes) is far away, but the acting leader is an aasimar named Cauldronborn. He’ll listen to the PCs’ warning and take it seriously, though he didn’t expect to be in charge for something like this. He’s not really prepared for it and will listen to any suggestions PCs have, though he won’t accept stupid plans uncritically. Regardless, soon after meeting him, they are interrupted by a panting boy who dashes in and collapses, saying “My lord! A huge army of modrons advances toward us! We have but a few minutes before they are upon us!” This is a chance for the PCs to take the lead, though Cauldronborn will suggest that they think of the population before the structures. From here on, it’s an attempt to evacuate and protect as many people as possible. You cannot stop the march, but you can mitigate its harm. The adventure provides a number of encounters and suggestions of possible tactics the PCs will employ, and how they will work. Three defenses suggested are: 1) Topple buildings and build barricades to slow the modrons down 2) Try to engage them in philosophical debate to distract or slow them 3) Perform a chaotic action to distract them and force them to try to re-establish order Anyways, after a short time, the modrons arrive, and the excretory material intersects with the air propulsion mechanism. Cauldronborn, despite having had the nature of the March explained to him, firmly believes that the modrons will listen to reason. He’ll stand at the gate and demand to speak to the Quinton leader of the march. He bears the signet that demonstrates that he is the duly appointed authority of the town, and the Quinton will listen to him… for a little while, anyways. After five rounds it will announce “You are halting our progress. Therefore, you are an obstacle. Stand aside or be removed.” He doesn’t take the threat seriously, though the PCs probably do. If they don’t yank him out of the way fast enough, the Quinton raises two arms to attack and strikes like a snake. Cauldronborn’s not dead, but he’s unconscious, and unable to direct the defense of the town. That leaves the PCs in charge. The map has a number of letters on it. Those are various encounters, as detailed below. Area A is where the modrons arrive and the above scene takes place. Area B is an inn frequented by old philosophers. PCs will see them running into the tavern, instead of away. If asked what they’re doing, they’ll say “Why, defending the town, of course!” They have a plan. When the modrons are near, one of them steps forward and shouts “Obey the law! We have a treaty with your kind that you shall leave this structure alone!” The modron leader pauses and replies “We are not aware of any such treaty. We shall proceed.” With a theatrical wink towards the PCs, the old man says “I’ve got the contract somewhere around here. Don’t you break that law until I can prove it to you.” Shockingly, this actually works, a little. The locals head for the hills while the monodrones and duodrones mill around waiting for their section leader to consult the hierarchy. When it returns, it announces that “No such treaty exists. The penalty for attempting to sow chaos through incorrect facts is death.” Five monodrones and two duodrones move to seize the old man. Him and his old philosopher buddies call for PC help, which hopefully they will provide; getting 100 yards away from the march makes the modrons give up, or you could just fight the seven trying to steal him. They won’t be reinforced and the others won’t take revenge (or really notice at all) so if the PCs can beat them they can save the old man. Meanwhile of course the building is utterly annihilated by trampling modrons. At C, twenty guards have decided to make a stand to protect a building that was once the home of the prophet Kralina. They’re standing in a bold line, weapons ready, hearts pure and full of courage. They’re gonna be a smear on the pavement. You have to persuade them to move, which won’t be easy, since they’re fanatical devotees of Kralina. Appealing to the greater good is a good idea. It’s a popular concept here in Mount Celestia. Area D is a big apartment building. The modrons waltz right through the first story, critically compromising the structural integrity of the rest of it, panicking the civilians inside. PCs have seven rounds to rescue three old people and two small children huddled in a bedroom on the top floor before the building collapses and deals 4d6 to everyone still inside. E is the Library. Everyone’s fled except the feeble old librarian, who is holding a tome and shouting about the knowledge that will be lost. The modrons are paused while their pentadrone commander steps forward to confront her, but this statement holds it up. This is one opportunity for the PCs to actually reason with modrons (attacking them is of course futile, though the modrons won’t kill them, just render them harmless and ignore them). If the PCs can appeal logically to the idea of preserving knowledge, the pentadrone will ensure that its subordinates march through the library in an orderly and careful way, avoiding damage to the structure or books and heading out the back door. Otherwise it’s smash time.  TIMMY, NO!!! Area F is the orphanage, the Heart of the Mended Trust. One of Cauldronborn’s runners will summon the PCs here, shouting “There’s no one else! You have to come!” Local wizards have erected a shield of magical force around the orphanage, which the modrons are busy battering down. Children are fleeing out the windows and shimmying down the drainwork, but the building’s getting more unstable. Simply running in to grab as many kids as you can saves 20 of the 50 trapped, with more or fewer depending on your plan. Fighting the modrons here distracts them—and they won’t kill unless the PCs are obviously trying to kill them back. If the PCs can hold off a force of 20 monodrones, 10 duodrones, and three tridrones for five rounds, they’re relieved by a group of warriors who will hold the line long enough for the PCs and children to escape. Otherwise, the modrons trample right through the orphanage and collapse it on the heads of its occupants, presumably kicking any stray puppies they see in the way. Area G is the harbor, where the modrons converge and begin tearing apart the ships. They’re obviously planning to build something. The shipowners cry out and demand help in protecting their ships. At this point, most townsfolk are content to let the modrons go, since they’ve passed the town itself. Guards approaching the ships are cut down by the modrons. PCs with seafaring skill can get on a boat and sail it out of range, where the modrons will ignore it. Eventually, the modrons will use all that wood to construct a bridge leading to the gate that hovers 20 feet above the water. They’ll swim if they have to, but some might go under since they are more sinky than floaty. In about ten rounds, they’ll all be gone, one way or another. So hooray! The village had to be destroyed in order to save it, but hopefully the PCs have preserved most lives. The archons will treat the PCs with utmost respect for their attempts, even if they weren’t all the way successful. The more damage they prevent, the more impressed the archons area, and the lammassu as well—PCs who return to Heart’s Faith will find they have special privileges and are generally well looked upon. This is good for building up a reputation among the planes, and they’ve earned some valuable contacts. Plus whatever monetary reward was negotiated. Also, the mayor of Heart’s Faith orders permanent gates and roads build on the specifications in the modrons’ old maps, to prevent this from happening again. Fool me once, etc. As for the modrons, they march onward. What else could they do? NEXT TIME: Frankenmodrons! DAD LOST MY IPOD fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Oct 25, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 17:25
|
|
|
See, this is what I mean when I insist that modrons are essentially the same as Chaotic Neutral beings; they just skin themselves as follow laws nobody else understands.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 17:26
|
|
|
Uh, DAD LOST MY IPOD, you might want to remove that last bit there. Just sayin'.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 17:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 04:38 |
|
|
Thanks for the heads up. That's what I get for sending stuff to myself from my work account and phone posting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 17:41
|
|