|
Night10194 posted:I don't know, I never actually read the comics. From what I understand, they were written in the 80s and kinda predated the whole 'furry' stigma because furries didn't exist until the INTERNETS. My recollection of the Albedo comics is that they're rather dry, slow-paced mil-SF -- not what you usually think of when you think of modern furry fandom. (At least not compared to stuff of similar vintage like Omaha the Cat Dancer.)
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 18:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:15 |
|
|
That "On Thud and Blunder" article is some pure-strain loving grog. It's like the "contractors on the Death Star" joke from Clerks but dead serious.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 18:34
|
|
|
Evil Mastermind posted:That "On Thud and Blunder" article is some pure-strain loving grog. It's like the "contractors on the Death Star" joke from Clerks but dead serious. Arguing with a nerd is fun. Evil Mastermind posted:Oh, yeah, the whole "but what does the rule MEAN in the game world?" mindset, which always drives me nuts. But again: it's the misunderstanding that "rules are physics", and brings us back to concepts like "what is a hit point in-setting" and poo poo like that. This reminds me of a criticism of Double Cross that I found somewhere. Stats in that game increase your die pool much like WoD, but the game has the balls of not featuring a lifting table. So what does your Strength even MEAN?! Doresh fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Dec 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 18:56
|
|
|
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition It's time to get back in the Shitfarmer Saddle Myriad Song will return after this. I left off on religion, but I've decided it's a lot better to do a brief summary of the Gods and the Empire's approach to polytheism rather than a long description of each, because that can wait for the eventual Tome of Salvation. Morr is the God of Death, Dreams, and Peace. Morr is really important, even if people are scared to death of him. Morr is the god who watches over the souls of the dead, protecting them from being taken from demons or violated by necromancy and bringing them into his realm. His priests tend to be quiet men and women with a great deal of compassion for the grieving and respect for the dead. It is not uncommon to see a Morrite priest quietly helping to support the widows and orphans left behind by men and women buried in Morr's Garden. It is also not uncommon to see the quiet priests and templars take up their holy symbols and stakes and go out to return some vampires to their eternal rest. Interestingly, Morrites tend to have a wicked sense of dry or gallows humor. Manaan is the God of the Sea. Manaan is wild, unpredictable, and essential. People propitiate Manaan because when you're out on the ocean, you don't screw around with the ocean. Even Norse raiders who follow the Gods of Chaos will still offer sacrifices to Manaan before they get out on his turf. Manaan reserves the right to screw you over if he feels like it, like many classical sea gods. His temples tend to be situated in great ceremonial ships floating at anchor in the port towns of the Old World. In one case, in the Kislevite city of Erengard, his ceremonial ship was set afloat during the sack of the city by Chaos Warriors and the priests successfully defended it from every longboat that tried to board, even though the thing was never meant to be seaworthy (or armed); this was treated as a great and direct blessing from the God and was also awesome. Priests of Manaan tend to be called on to try to sooth the wildness of their God, and to try to offer advice to sailors on the many superstitions they'll need to indulge to keep from pissing him off and getting them all killed. Myrmidia is mostly a foreign goddess who is gaining favor in the southern Empire. Worshiped as the primary Goddess in much of Tilea and Estalia (Not-Italy and Not-Spain), she is the goddess of righteous action, careful planning, and the 'science' of warfare. She is pretty clearly meant to be Catholicism+Athena. While she is a war god, she is notably different from Ulric, the northern war god (who I will get to in more detail because his worship contains some of the worst religious stuff in the game) in that she favors the use of new technology and the study of all styles of combat; Myrmidian knightly orders range from wandering strategists who are ordered to help train and lead local militias in battle as they pass, to light infantry specialists who are studying the Elven way of fighting to master skirmishing and scouting in the heavy forests of the Empire. Her priests tend to be community organizers and planners, helping to work with burgomeisters and watchmen to protect their communities. Her growing popularity comes because, well, professional military officers quite like the idea that yes, you should be studying and innovating in combat rather than trying to take on a 9 foot hellviking with divine plate armor in a 'fair' fight as a normal human with a fancy uniform and an arming sword. Myrmidia is the daughter of Morr and Verena, and sister of Shallya Shallya is beloved by everyone in the Old World. The goddess of mercy and healing, not only do annointed Shallyans have some of the only reliable healing magic in all of the Old World, her priests and temples eagerly work to provide for the poor, the sick, and the injured. Almost everyone was born in a temple of Shallya or with a Shallyan midwife, and many will eventually die with a Shallyan cleric or lay-priest trying to ease their suffering and sickness. Shallyan worship is popular enough that a thief who robs a Shallyan is fairly likely to get beaten up by his compatriots and have the goods returned to the temple with an apology (and a beaten up thief who now needs healing, obviously). Shallyan priests and priestesses (despite the popular image, she has plenty of male priests; it's just that people tend to take orphaned girls to the Shallyan temple as wards and so they grow up to be priestesses) tend to be melancholy people of enormous fortitude and empathy. They see the suffering of the world, they do what they can for it, and even though they can't save everyone, they have the toughness and courage to keep trying, even at risk of their own lives or health. Of all the Gods, Shallya is the one everyone agrees really, truly cares. Her priests will never use violence, for the most part, except against followers of the Chaos God Nurgle, the lord of Sickness and Decay; her Lore only gets a single attack spell and it only works on Nurglites, but it ignores absolutely all defenses, stuns them, and basically ruins their entire day. Shallya puts up with a lot, but she does not put up with Nurgle. Verena is the mother of Shallya and Myrmidia, and the goddess of justice and knowledge. Her husband, Morr, often seeks her council in interpreting his dreams and visions. Verenans care about truth, and they care about justice, and they care about both more than they do secular laws; if a law is obviously unjust you will find Verenans at the forefront of arguing it should be changed. And then arguing over what constitutes an unjust law. And then arguing about the historical contexts of their prior arguments and are you really citing more Tilean Classical works, Markus, because we've been over this and they're just hopelessly idealistic about everything and don't really describe accurate historical knowledge (You've seen academics, you know how deep this rabbit hole can go). Vernans can make surprisingly good adventurers, because a character who seeks out knowledge of history, serves the cause of justice, and likes investigating crimes and mysteries basically describes the average PC as it is, just with somewhat less kleptomania. Vernans are very important to the entire legal profession in the Empire, having great influence over the education of jurists and judges. Sigmar is the Big Guy in the Empire (and not worshiped anywhere else). The Heledenhammer, the wielder of the Warhammer for which the setting is named, Sigmar was the first Emperor over 2500 years ago. A chieftan of the Unbergoen Tribe, as a young prince he saved the High King of the dwarves from a goblin ambush and quickly made allies with the dwarven realms. Bringing the humans and dwarves together, he united the human tribes, sought advanced metallurgy and engineering from the dwarves, and smashed the orcs and goblins that threatened to crush his fledgling Empire. He then spent the next 60 years building roads, writing laws, implementing the beginnings of a bureaucracy, and setting up the future electoral system and politics of the Empire. The one thing he didn't do was produce an heir, and one day the old Emperor simply walked off into the forest, leaving his hammer to his Empire and orders to the Counts to pick a first among equals to be an Emperor in his place. A couple centuries later, the story began to go around that he had not gone off to die, but rather to transcend the mortal world and become a God. Sigmarite Worship became the most popular worship in all of the Empire, with the Imperial Pantheon placing Sigmar as the king of the Gods and the ideal Emperor. Sigmarites preach unity and order, calling on the people of the Empire to set aside regional concerns for the good of all and to remember always their friendship with the Dwarves. They preach the defeat of Chaos (and that the defeat of Chaos is possible!) and always add in 'Also kill some more Orcs, Sigmar always liked that bit'. Sigmarite Warrior Priests are one of the standbys of the setting, and adventuring, crusading clerics should be pretty common as a PC archetype. Next Up: More Gods. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Aug 4, 2017 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 19:05
|
|
|
There's a Verena Investigator career which is basically Sherlock Holmes with poofier sleeves. So much about WFRP2e is awesome.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 19:17
|
|
|
wiegieman posted:There's a Verena Investigator career which is basically Sherlock Holmes with poofier sleeves. So much about WFRP2e is awesome. The other great part about the Investigator is you can go into it out of a ton of criminal careers. It is not at all uncommon for a Thief to find religion and go to the Vernans, who will defend you from prosecution so long as you change your ways and use your skills to serve justice. So you can be a 16th century cat burglar turned specialist investigator and security consultant.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 19:21
|
|
|
So basically you're saying I can play Vidocq as a PC? Sold. (The best part of Vidocq's history is that Victor Hugo took a look at his biography and went "There's no way that anyone will believe this was all one guy" which is why he split him into Jean Val Jean and Javert.)
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 19:32
|
|
|
Heck, the Verenan Investigator is actually just a fantastic Career. They're reasonably good in a fight, get huge Intelligence, Willpower, and Fellowship advances, get Keen Senses (which is normally reserved for superhuman stuff like vampires) for a massive +20% to perception checks, have tons of criminal and legal skills both, and can go directly into Witch Hunter for a 3rd tier career if you want a cool hat and a dash of extra badassery. Their only drawback is learning all that means you're going to be in the career for quite awhile, but who cares when you're a tremendously useful jack of all trades adventure-cop? E: They're really an example of what I mean when I say WFRP2e is a game that tells you it's about getting killed in a dungeon as a weird collection of rat catchers, peasants, and thieves, but in reality if you make it through Career 1 (which only takes 5-10 sessions generally) you suddenly become way more competent. I described the game as being the playable backstory for Hero and Lord level characters for the setting, once, and I stick by that. Especially as you eventually get to play that awesome 3rd tier career as you go from an idealistic fencer to a respected military captain, or a scared Bretonnian refugee to a keen-eyed Witch Hunter, etc. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Dec 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 19:36
|
|
|
potatocubed posted:Assuming a nice slow stroll of 3 mph (converted to 4.8 kph) and an increase of +25% with each Trailblazer, a group of 41 people would clock 45,138 kph -- which is 12.5 km/s, which is just slightly faster than the 11.2 km/s required to achieve escape velocity at sea level. I'm actually not sure if the +25% is additive or multiplicative.  It makes things slightly less mad if they're additive... but also considerably less hilarious.Honestly it makes me a bit sad that the creator is "fixing" his game based on my suggestions because... sure, the game has some garbage parts, but it feels like I'd almost prefer him to double down on the madness and broken parts than focus on fixing it. He's definitely better at making Solar charms than Onyx Path or White Wolf. Also, there's probably only one more post left on the core book, but after that, I've got three pre-made adventures and the GM's Guide(the latter of which is mostly just pre-made NPC's to murder or talk to.).
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 20:24
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:Step Two: Understanding Damage Ratings: First we talk about armor ratings, which are a rating you have to beat (not tie, how intuitive!) on your d20 attack roll to hit an armored target. We haven't covered strike (attack) rolls yet, but once again, the organization here probably involves a dart board. We get a recap of how this works in regards to zombies, in case you missed it the first two times. And here I bet you thought because it said 'character creation' we'd be dealing with that! Nope! It's time to discuss S.D.C., or "Structural Damage Capacity", which we all have, being structures and all. I'm pretty structural myself. Damage to S.D.C. is just supposed to be flesh wounds, or- LongDarkNight posted:I've read erotica that was less masturbatory than that. That Old Tree posted:Reminder: In the middle of the slow trainwreck that has been Robotech Tactics fulfillment, KS spat out a 10k+ word "update" (it hit the character limit and had to be broken into two posts) that wanked about Palladium's long gone licenses, threw their partnering company under the bus for nearly everything, and also admitted that no one had figured out where or to whom product needed to be shipped until the factory in China had their first shipment ready and asked what the gently caress was up. Kavak posted:Siembieda strikes me as the tabletop industry equivalent of Rob Liefeld- an abrasive manchild whose success is best explained by being the result of a wish from a genie to be a successful game designer/comic book artist. Doresh posted:You just know that without Palladium, he'd ended up cranking out Heartbreakers. gradenko_2000 posted:I could be completely wrong on this, but didn't Liefeld turn out to be a pretty cool dude socially, bad art notwithstanding?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 20:27
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:Honestly it makes me a bit sad that the creator is "fixing" his game based on my suggestions because... sure, the game has some garbage parts, but it feels like I'd almost prefer him to double down on the madness and broken parts than focus on fixing it. He's definitely better at making Solar charms than Onyx Path or White Wolf. Also, there's probably only one more post left on the core book, but after that, I've got three pre-made adventures and the GM's Guide(the latter of which is mostly just pre-made NPC's to murder or talk to.).
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 20:36
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:Yeah, even when there was a fan backlash about him illustrating (or maybe it was just cover art?) for a new Hawk & Dove, he handled it very graciously (while pointing out that the issues he worked on sold very well). The ideal comic artist is pleasant to work with, turns in art on time, and is a good artist. Liefeld is not the last, but for the most part he is both the first and second. There have been periods of late work and being full of himself, but from what I've been told Liefeld is a pretty pleasant guy to work with who's really just a big nerd, and can turn in pages on the day, with short deadlines. Which apparently are qualities more important than actually good art. (Which makes sense; you can sell bad art - you can't sell good art that hasn't been drawn yet.)
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 21:15
|
|
|
A lot of people grew up on his art, that's why you have people like Joe Maduera who's basically "Liefield with less pouches and better feet." Who was it that drew the captain America with the 30 foot diameter chest, was that Liefield?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 21:21
|
|
|
The storm has a name... - Let's Read TORG Part 15d: Laws of the Land This chapter is the ususal "Axioms and World Laws" chapter, but also includes two new skills that are unique to Aysle. As is always the case, I touched on the axioms and world laws back in the first Aysle post. But let's look at the axioms in closer detail. Magical Axiom: 18 Aysle has the highest magic axiom out of all the invading realms, including the ones added later. The high axiom is what allows everyone in the cosm to inherently know one spell. In addition, enchanting magic is possible, and creatures that can only exist in a world where magic can let them override "physics" (like, for instance, dragons) are relatively common. Social Axiom: 18 When you get right down to it, Aysle is very much a "perpetual Renaissance festival" society. You know, kings and queens, knights, serfs, things like that. Technically speaking it's "medieval Europe", but the standard of living is better thanks to the prevalence of magic. The overall standard of living is comparable to post-Industrial Revolution Europe. When Uthoion was running the show, the various cultures and people were forced to "work together" under pain of pain, but now that Ardinay's back in charge the various countries and such are becoming more independent. Spiritual Axiom: 16 Basically, gods exist and people of faith can tap into their devine power and channel it into the world. That's...pretty much all there is to say about that. Technology Axiom: 15 The best way to describe Aylse's level of technology is "early Renaissance". Technological development has always been a low priority since magic can do all that stuff easier and cheaper. Unsurprisingly, dwarves are the most advanced race in this area, having developed basic steam engines and wheel lock firearms. Yeah, not a lot there really. Let's just move on to the World Laws. I'm just going to go ahead and quote myself on some of the World Laws because there's not much left to say about them: quote:The Law of Observation states that reality in Aysle is defined by what one can observe through the normal five senses. What this means is that in Aysle, what is observed is true. The sun rises and falls not because that's how people observe its path based on the revolution of the planet in relation to a stationary object, but because the sun actually does rise into the sky then fall again. The other two Laws are The Law of Honor and The Law of Corruption, and they work pretty much the same way and function as a sort of alignment system. The Law of Honor states that honor cannot be hidden; the good that you do is reflected in your spirit and will affect the world around you. "Honorable" traits are things like loyalty, keeping your word, bravery, and respect. The Law of Corruption states the same, but for "evil". The evil you do will be reflected on you as well, eventually twisting your body and making you more obviously evil. "Corrupt" acts are things like premeditated theft, cheating, cowardice, or turning traitor. If you become too corrupt, the Law will reveal that person's evil nature in their body and soul. Before Uthorion happened, the Law of Honor was the dominant Law in the land. This was mainly because if someone acted too evil, the Law of Corruption would punish them to the point where you could just look at him and go "yeah, he's evil" and they wouldn't be able to hide their wicked ways.  Case in point Once Uthorion took over, he used his Darkness Device to alter the Law of Corruption in a small, but very effective, way. Now, those who commit evil deeds are able to transfer the signs of their corruption into the land itself, sparing them from the direct wages of sin. Now, no matter how heinous someone acted, the usual obvious signs of their misdeeds never appeared. And in a world where everyone knows that "very evil people will look evil because that's how the world works," this was the perfect cover for the world's assholes. While Uthorion originally changed the Law so that his deeds wouldn't be found out when his Ardinay bodysuit started looking like a crone, word quickly spread and evil got a major upswing in the world. When corruption is passed to the land, things will look very "cursed land" very quickly. The soil will become dry and dusty, trees become twisted and black, and the sky is always overcast. This only affects the land where someone powerful and/or in charge has been going full supervillain, but even so there are large patches of Aylse that been corrupted. In the realm itself, Uthorion's corruption (and the evil of his subordinates) and the return of Ardinay have been affecting the steale zones. Some zones are "light" zones where the Law of Honor is stronger and the Law of Corruption works the way it used to, and there are "dark" zones where Uthorion's version of the Law of Corruption holds sway.  The "Patchwork Realm" There's no real mechanical effect of whether or not you're in is more aligned to Ardinay or Uthorion, but the zone's inclination will have an effect in terms of who's in charge, the types of threats you'll face, things like that. Of course, this being Torg, there are mechanics for determining if a realm flips to one side or the other. quote:To reflect this in the realm, refer to the “Light and Darkness” map. Areas within a stelae triangle can be either light (“L”) or dark (“D”), and they have a difficulty number as well. When making a patchwork check, roll a die. If the final roll (rolling again on 10s and 20s) is equal to or greater than the difficulty number, then the area flips. These are the only two new skills added in the book, and they're mutually exclusive. There are two ways to get the skills: either by buying them during character creation or by earning them later on. If you want to start with one of the skills, you're only able to buy one add in the skill to start with and you have to do it during character creation; you can't buy either of the skills later. After character generation, the only way to get adds in honor or corruption is to earn them through your deeds. Of course, this requires performing an honorable or corrupt act. When you do so, you can make (or may be forced to make) a difficulty 20 roll with your existing skill adds or your Spirit stat. You can't spend Possibilities on this roll, but you do get a modifier based on how honorable or corrupt the original action was. It should be noted that you can't always choose to make a roll; if you're murderhoboing your way across the land and not worrying about collateral damage, the GM might force you to make a corruption roll to see if your deeds catch up with you. For example, not killing an unarmed foe is an honorable act (and would let you roll to get an honor increase), the act is a very basic act of honor and wouldn't give you a bonus because that's just baseline honorable behavior. But if the action was something that had a risk of serious personal harm (maybe pulling someone from a burning building that's collapsing all around you), then you'd get a +5 bonus. The bonus gets up to +20 for "(h)onorable acts which further the will of the gods of honor against ultimate evils, regardless of the danger to life and limb." Likewise, performing moer corrupt acts will affect the roll for that. Simple corrupt acts such as lying, attacking an unarmed enemy, or betraying an ally technically give a +0 bonus, but don't force a roll unless you already have honor levels, in which case they'll give you up to a +5. +20-level corrupt acts are generally crimes against the gods or society in general; mass death, allying with creatures of darkness, and so on. As implied previously, honor and corruption will cancel each other out. If you have three adds in honor and gain a point of corruption, what'll actually happen is that you lose a rank of honor. Once one of the skills bottoms out, you can start earning ranks in the other one. So what do these skills do? They don't work like normal skills in that you roll them to do something (besides get more levels in themselves, I mean). Instead, each rank from 1 to 15 gives you flat mechanical bonuses. Some of them are just free skill ranks, others let you perform new actions. For instance, 1 add in honor gives you an effective +1 to your faith skill. At 2 ranks, you also get +1 to your charm, melee weapons, and first aid skills. At honor 5, you get another free rank of faith and access to the healing miracle. At 10 ranks you get a total of +4 to your melee weapons and can boost your allies once per act. At max honor (15 ranks), you can raise the recently killed once per adventure, with a difficulty based on how honorable the target is. And in the same way high honor makes you more knight-ish, corruption makes you more assassin-y.  The wages of sin pay pretty well, actually And...that's pretty much it. This is a very short chapter, most of which I already covered back in the initial Aysle post. There's not much to really comment on here; I actually like the way the honor/corruption system works in that going in one direction or the other makes you more likely to keep acting that way by making the actions that would increase your standing easier, and they tie nicely into Aysle's general "generic European fantasy" vibe. It's one of the few tone-enforcing subsystems in Torg that I think works well enough. Don't worry, though. The next chapter brings us back to the game's usual bullshit with something that is actually Torgier than the Nile Empire gadget rules. NEXT TIME: God help me, I delve into the magic system. Evil Mastermind fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Dec 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:07
|
|
|
I've started to shudder whenever anyone mentions a magic system. I cannot think of very many games where magic uses separate resolution mechanics and it actually comes out well.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:09
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:I've started to shudder whenever anyone mentions a magic system. Ars Magica Um.... Mage: the A*? Dresden Files came out pretty well Exalted 3e has a good Sorcery system, does that count?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:12
|
|
|
EM, I think you had a little bit of a HTML fart with the quotes regarding the laws.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:15
|
|
|
Kaza42 posted:Ars Magica Isn't the magic system the main focus of Ars Magica, Dresden Files, and Mage since they are games specifically about wizards and wizard-adjacent people?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:16
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:Isn't the magic system the main focus of Ars Magica, Dresden Files, and Mage since they are games specifically about wizards and wizard-adjacent people? Yes. So basically the only games where a separate magic system works well is a game designed around that magic system and the people who use it
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:16
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:When I was running Victorian Fantasy Versus Zombies ages ago in college, the nastiest surprise I gave the players was the zombies were, you know, slow and dumb headshot zombies who only infect after death (though anyone bitten was doomed to rise when they died, from any cause). AFMBE is cool, everybody. Play AFMBE. Enter the Zombie is the coolest book in the series that I've read. Humbug Scoolbus posted:Yeah. CJ Carella originally developed it for Witchcraft and its been used for Armageddon 2.0, Eldritch Skies (cinematic version), Terra Primate, Conspiracy X 2.0, AFMBE, Army of Darkness (cinematic), and Buffy (cinematic). Doresh posted:I also kept a collection of the armor left from all those random assassins that kept buggering me
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:16
|
|
|
Kaza42 posted:Yes. So basically the only games where a separate magic system works well is a game designed around that magic system and the people who use it If D&D would admit it is basically a 'weird wizard show' as Gygax put it it could be so much better.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:18
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:Did they at least buy you dinner first? Nope. Just trying to stab me in the face whenever I tried to get some sleep. Night10194 posted:If D&D would admit it is basically a 'weird wizard show' as Gygax put it it could be so much better. Not to mention the spellcaster bias of later writers. Should've renamed it Arses & Magicas.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:23
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:I've started to shudder whenever anyone mentions a magic system. Hostile V posted:EM, I think you had a little bit of a HTML fart with the quotes regarding the laws.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:26
|
|
|
I think the quote on the law of Magic is missing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:34
|
|
|
Zomborgon posted:I think the quote on the law of Magic is missing. Ooooh, right, I forgot that it was a nested quote in there. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:39
|
|
|
EM, you can't nest quotes. So, the quote that was originally in the laws section disappeared. EDIT: Ninja'd.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:41
|
|
|
Ulthorion's tweak to the World Laws also makes for an interesting reflection on that old bit of sympathetic magic, where the health of the King is reflected in the state of his holdings. Dorian Gray references draw themselves, too.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:43
|
|
|
Bieeardo posted:Ulthorion's tweak to the World Laws also makes for an interesting reflection on that old bit of sympathetic magic, where the health of the King is reflected in the state of his holdings. Given what I know about what's coming up, I can only assume it was by accident.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:47
|
|
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Hell, I still remember when paladins were only a) humans and b) champions of gods of good. senrath posted:At least in 3.5 outsiders can shift alignments based on their actions, it's just that it pretty much doesn't come up and most people forgot it was a thing. Kurieg posted:The 5e revamp rolled back a lot of changes from 4e.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 22:49
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:The worst thing? I learned, by looking around her gallery, that they'd commissioned the woman who draws Lackadaisy to draw it for 1e. Like, they contacted an exceptionally talented artist, and offered money specifically to produce something godawful. Kurieg posted:Komm, Süßer Tod is one of the most sublime moments of EoE. A bright happy sounding song with deeply disturbing lyrics and a German Name that both of the series intended audiences weren't likely to understand while Hideaki Anno murders everyone you love. Alien Rope Burn posted:It's kind of amusing of just how obvious the game just smashes Laws of the Night against Cyberpunk 2020 rules-wise, it's like two different systems that don't work well in the first place being made into a terrible system mashup, from Cyberpunk's "LED fingernails made me want to murder everybody because I rolled real bad" to Laws of the Night's bomb mechanics (I always stopped buying Potence before you get "the bomb", because why). The author tore out Cyberpunk's role skills and instead inserted something like Laws of the Night's influence traits in their place. I guess the space stuff was just there so you could moan about c-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate? But nah, it's just CP2020 with White Wolf LARP rules. That'll end well. That said, it touches on a problem that I also see in CP2020 and a number of other games: PC types that just don't play that well with each other out of the box. Like, a "mechanic" profession makes sense, along with a Media and a Solo, but what are these three characters doing together, at the same place, and the same time? It took a very long time for designers to figure out that just because three characters can be part of the same team on a TV show doesn't mean that they should be together in an Adventuring Party. Alien Rope Burn posted:Solos is such a goofy name now, too. I mean...
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 23:11
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:That said, it touches on a problem that I also see in CP2020 and a number of other games: PC types that just don't play that well with each other out of the box. Like, a "mechanic" profession makes sense, along with a Media and a Solo, but what are these three characters doing together, at the same place, and the same time? It took a very long time for designers to figure out that just because three characters can be part of the same team on a TV show doesn't mean that they should be together in an Adventuring Party.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 23:27
|
|
|
FMguru posted:This is one of the worst RPG design mistakes, especially when it involves the different kinds of characters using completely different rules systems that don't integrate well (the most famous of these is the computer hacker from cyberpunk games, which gives the phenomenon the name "the Netrunner effect"). Parties full of characters who each have their own specialties are always a problem, even with a good GM who makes the effort to make sure every character gets some time in the spotlight. I am reminded of Anima: Beyond Fantasy, where every single power system works differently; ki is nothing like psychics is nothing like magic is nothing like summoning with entirely different ways of building and employing powers for each version. I can only imagine if they'd ever done a sourcebook for the secret supertech rulers of reality where you had to deal with hackers. (Spoilers: the default setting had secret supertech rulers of reality who had an entirely different power system that was never fully described but PCs could buy a merit that let them use hidden supertech if the GM threw it at them.)
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 23:55
|
|
|
unseenlibrarian posted:I am reminded of Anima: Beyond Fantasy, where every single power system works differently; ki is nothing like psychics is nothing like magic is nothing like summoning with entirely different ways of building and employing powers for each version. I can only imagine if they'd ever done a sourcebook for the secret supertech rulers of reality where you had to deal with hackers. D&D 4E tried to fix this by giving everybody a role to play in combat and the ability to jointly participate in non-combat skill tests, and boy oh boy did that trigger the grognard verisimilitude sensor arrays something fierce. vvvv: p much FMguru fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Dec 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 00:16
|
|
|
The Rogue Problem
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 00:18
|
|
|
FMguru posted:It's a valid point worth making, but I was just amazed at how many nerds kept coming back to it to the exclusion of everything else (like discussing the acting, the stunts, the themes, the cinematography, the influences, the art direction, etc etc etc). Like the whole point of the movie was to give them a chance to point out how much smarter they were than the movie. It's seems like such a stunted way to go through life, only engaging art by trying to notice flaws that make you feel better about yourself. And it was like, Christ, dude (in the collective sense).
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 00:43
|
|
|
So is Middenarde supposed to be some fancy way of Middle Earth? And the with the birblords and other shenanigans, it almost seems like what you'd get if you stretched Discworld around a dead planet and stitch the edges up. I kind of like the idea of a 'Surprise! You're on the Disc!' setting.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 00:49
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Yeah, you see this kind of glib reading with a lot of stuff. I really perceived it with Prometheus, where it was like, instead of engaging with this film, people went "Ha ha, Charlize Theron's character got a really long distance figure wrong and then didn't make the right maneuver while fleeing a rolling object!"
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 00:58
|
|
|
I have an older friend (mid, latish fifties, compared to the rest of us averaging around forty) who does this a lot. He's a great guy otherwise, but deeply insecure.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 01:17
|
|
|
FMguru posted:It's OK if the kung-fu guy uses a different system than the psionic guy who uses a different system than the magus, as long as they're all standing shoulder-to-shoulder fighting bad guys. I'm talking about when the hacker tries to break in to Arasaka Regional HQ, and he and the GM play out the hacking rules while the rest of the party sits back and checks Facebook on their cellphones for 30-45 minutes, or when the "face" guy does his fast-talking and streetwising and contact wrangling while the rest of the party waits for him to finish. A party of two combat samurais, a face guy, and a hacker are basically playing three separate and almost non-overlapping games, and that's a real problem.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 01:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:15 |
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:If I remember right, a devil could theoretically become Good, but it's still an Evil Outsider and thus affected by spells and things that affect Evil creatures. Like, Evil is a flavour of midichlorian. This is the kind of very silly, but also very pedantic crap in D&D cosmology that I try to dispense with whenever possible. Yup! Any creature with an alignment subtype is actually made of that alignment, and thus always counts as that alignment in addition to its actual alignment. There was an example Succubus Paladin that used a Holy weapon, which gave her a negative level because she counted as Evil.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 01:32
|
|
