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Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Night10194 posted:

Wait, the Sabbat weren't part of Masquerade from the very beginning?
Not as playable characters, no.

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Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Count Chocula posted:

But I tend to associate the supernatural with music, and vice versa.

Who are They Might be Giants associated with?

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Night10194 posted:

Wait, the Sabbat weren't part of Masquerade from the very beginning?

They were but they weren't really defined as more than a cult of monstrous vampires that probably ate their own elders ritually and largely existed to give the PCs obvious baddies to set on fire. Stuff like the Paths of Enlightenment, the Sabbat clans and disciplines, and their magical chainsaws wouldn't be defined until they got their own books.

Desiden
Mar 13, 2016

Mindless self indulgence is SRS BIZNS

Night10194 posted:

Wait, the Sabbat weren't part of Masquerade from the very beginning?

They were, but their earliest depictions were a little different from what we got. I forget if we had any depiction of the Lasombra or Tzimisce prior to the Sabbat PG, but overall the Sabbat were very much mysterious boogeymen, a lot more in line with something like the Baali or maybe VII for Requiem. Not necessarily in theme as being demon worshippers or whatever, but very much weird guys with alien powers who seem to be able to break rules like the blood bond which are supposed to be impossible (and will show you how, if you want to make a deal with the devil). Their whole schtick of being freedom warriors for Caine against the antedeluvians emerged early on, but not quite at the start.

Personally, as much as I enjoyed the hell out of playing a sabbat in a LARP and running a sabbat game once, I think making them PCs, especially that early on, was a mistake. It basically bypassed a lot of the core themes of the game and that first depiction of them portrayed them as far more competent, savvy, and focused on the objective than the cam, which was typically dysfunctional, myopic, and lying or deluded about the antedeluvians.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

God, there's so much you could do with a world where everything is alive and fighting, with vital force and the joy of sensation being primary themes, and with all kinds of awesome lizard people.

And none of it will be here.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Mors Rattus posted:

God, there's so much you could do with a world where everything is alive and fighting, with vital force and the joy of sensation being primary themes, and with all kinds of awesome lizard people.

And none of it will be here.
None of it will be anywhere. Barely anything happens in the Living Land in published adventures.

That said, at least the Torg Eternity people have acknowledged this problem, and are going to be merging parts of the Land Below with the Living Land so you have something to do besides supply runs, not to mention letting Kaah do stuff besides screwing up.

Ratoslov
Feb 15, 2012

Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

I dunno, the Living Land seems pretty useless as an adventure location to me here, because with those world laws and tech levels really the only adventure available seems to be 'Lose all your kit and your friends, then wander lost in the jungle until you die'.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
The other natives of the Living Land had tool use and engineering, and Kaah seems happy to use 'dead' devices himself. Could either of those be reflected in the Living Land's strangely high Tech axiom?

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:
Rock is a dead thing.. dirt is a dead thing (Living things are in dirt, but dirt itself is dead)... water is a dead thing...

How can you even have clothes or weapons in this society? Does turning a pelt into a toga somehow bypass the world laws? Is metal dead in a way that rocks aren't?

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Ratoslov posted:

I dunno, the Living Land seems pretty useless as an adventure location to me here, because with those world laws and tech levels really the only adventure available seems to be 'Lose all your kit and your friends, then wander lost in the jungle until you die'.
Well, see, that's the whole problem.

They have this great idea: a dinosaur-filled dangerous as hell jungle realm full of fanatical lizardmen, run by an insane genocidal maniac conquistador.

But they never build off that idea. They didn't have Kaah ever try to do anything outside his realm. They never put anything inside the realm itself besides survival colonies. They never stopped to think "okay, so what are the players supposed to do here? What're the hooks? Why go there?"

So, as a result, we get this.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Evil Mastermind posted:

The storm has a name... - Let's Read TORG


Part 16a: The Living Land
Is the tech axiom supposed to be higher than the lizard guys use because they started off with another, more technologically advanced species on their home world? Or is it just "tech axiom as presented does not match with descriptions"?


Either way I wonder why Baruk Kaah didn't use his Darkness Device Darkness Device to tank the number.

seriously his darkness device is just named "darkness device" that's hilarious



Also, adventuring in the Living Land really seems like it'd require Storm Knights to automatically resist axioms and world laws they don't like, hard, so you can actually take your cybered-up razorboy from the Technopapacy there without instantly dying because now your cyber-heart doesn't work or whatever. EDIT: And also as you pointed out, reasons to go there.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

I actually do have answers to most of these questions, but they'll have to wait until I get home from work.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
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#1 Builder
2014-2018

I would've probably given then weird symbiotic critters - not tech in the sense of biotech grown in a lab, but you have a frog you can squeeze to shoot poison globs instead of a tranq gun, say. Make it this weird place, give it lost temples of the weird bug people, maybe have Lanala be real...and desperately trying to get the lizard guys and any visitors to help her deal with this complete fuckin' creep, but having trouble because her sensory organs are...a bunch of violent lizard people.

Ratoslov
Feb 15, 2012

Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

Evil Mastermind posted:

Well, see, that's the whole problem.

They have this great idea: a dinosaur-filled dangerous as hell jungle realm full of fanatical lizardmen, run by an insane genocidal maniac conquistador.

No, I mean, it seems so ridiculously inhospitable that any attempt to actually engage with the setting will end up with you dying before you even see one dinosaur or lizard-man.

unseenlibrarian
Jun 4, 2012

There's only one thing in the mountains that leaves a track like this. The creature of legend that roams the Timberline. My people named him Sasquatch. You call him... Bigfoot.
I am always sad that more people didn't deliberately tank the one adventure that had the bad end of "Kaah gets possessed by someone competent who does the Eideinos equivalent of devil worship' because come on, death god cult with lizards wearing bone armor.

Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

Mors Rattus posted:

I would've probably given then weird symbiotic critters - not tech in the sense of biotech grown in a lab, but you have a frog you can squeeze to shoot poison globs instead of a tranq gun, say. Make it this weird place, give it lost temples of the weird bug people, maybe have Lanala be real...and desperately trying to get the lizard guys and any visitors to help her deal with this complete fuckin' creep, but having trouble because her sensory organs are...a bunch of violent lizard people.

Guess what? This is something the Ulisses Spiele guys are changing:

quote:

The Living Land is a lost world, full of dinosaurs (sorta…our raptors don’t have feathers either) and other unusual creatures, incredible wonders from other worlds and previous conquests, and lizard-men capable of invoking powerful miracles.

Baruk Kaah was the first invader. He struck in New York, but quickly spread his reality to both coasts, the Canadian arctic, and even Mexico! In Original Torg, Baruk Kaah was not taken very seriously, certainly not in the way one of the most experienced High Lords should be seen. In Torg Eternity he’s more like Genghis Khan, leading his armies from the front and focusing his jakatts to power city-destroying miracles.

We’ve made the Living Land more inviting and less annoying to adventure in. Part of this is through the fact that Pure Zones aren’t as strict as they were previously, but also the Deep Mist is not found throughout the realm, but only in parts and when dramatically appropriate.

Most importantly, the Law of Wonders means that remnants of past civilizations appear in the dense jungles and vast plains, and both treasures and information can be gleaned from them. Is this the goddess Lanala’s way of saying Kaah has corrupted her religion? You’ll find out in the accompanying campaign book!

World Laws
The Living Land in Torg Eternity is a thematic mix of the realm seen in Original Torg and the Land Below pocket cosm (and yes, the Land Below continues to exist as well!).

Law of Savagery: Cosm cards can include rampaging dinosaurs and amorous encounters. All Out attacks, when an Approved Action, cause extra damage.
Law of Life: Cosm cards can result in Storm Knights losing their equipment in exchange for Possibilities, but characters find it easier to avoid death when seriously wounded.
Law of Wonders: Ruins from other worlds can be found throughout the land, and act as hardpoints of their respective realities. Incredible relics of magic, technology, and spiritualism can be found there, as well as Eternity Shards!

Side note: Since the edeinos are Lanala-worshippers and love experience everything life has to offer, I don't know why the CIA...I mean Delphi Council didn't do what it always does and introduce them to narcotics. Gotta start them with the natural stuff like marijuana and opium, then work them on to the harder refined stuff like heroin and cocaine, then Kaah's forces would be practically falling apart when you get them hooked on crystal meth and crack.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!
The Living Land was universally voted the least popular cosm, wasn't it? And not because people didn't like the premise, but entirely because of the execution.

Desiden posted:

They were, but their earliest depictions were a little different from what we got. I forget if we had any depiction of the Lasombra or Tzimisce prior to the Sabbat PG, but overall the Sabbat were very much mysterious boogeymen, a lot more in line with something like the Baali or maybe VII for Requiem. Not necessarily in theme as being demon worshippers or whatever, but very much weird guys with alien powers who seem to be able to break rules like the blood bond which are supposed to be impossible (and will show you how, if you want to make a deal with the devil). Their whole schtick of being freedom warriors for Caine against the antedeluvians emerged early on, but not quite at the start.
So, the Sabbat. In the 2e corebook, from what I remember as a starry-eyed kid who got Vampire as his third RPG book ever, the Sabbat were basically bogeymen. Not only were they not playable, there's like less than a full page devoted to describing them.

The Sabbat, also called the Black Hand, controls most of the Northeast US (including Philly and NYC). They Embrace people by torturing them to death first, then burying them, so any who dig their way out are totally nuts and ready to be brainwashed. They're dominated by two clans called the Lasombra and the Tzimisce. The Sabbat acts like a Satanic cult from a horror movie. They love doing stuff like brutal mass-murders, rituals in graveyards, and burning Camarilla vampires alive for stepping on their turf. They enjoy being undead monsters and treating people like food they can play with, like a cat with a mouse. They hate the Camarilla and any vampires who care about acting human. Rumor has it that they allow their young vampires to diablerize the elders to preserve their strength, and that they know how to break the Blood Bond, which tempts some vampires to join them.

That's it. They're crazy Omega Man/Texas Chainsaw Massacre serial killing cultists, with hardly a hint of their being some genius conspiracy running it all. They're basically disposable, slasher movie orcs for you to fight.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Halloween Jack posted:

That's it. They're crazy Omega Man/Texas Chainsaw Massacre serial killing cultists, with hardly a hint of their being some genius conspiracy running it all. They're basically disposable, slasher movie orcs for you to fight.

Honestly they'd have been kinda cool in a 'We need to put down these stupid bastards before they draw the hawthorn and silver down on us.' kind of way if they'd stayed there.

And if humans had had any teeth to make vampires want to stay hidden.

RocknRollaAyatollah
Nov 26, 2008

Lipstick Apathy
The Anarchs got devotions, combination disciplines, as their special power but it didn't do them any favors because they were expensive and the Anarchs didn't have a ritual like the vinuculum to protect groups from blood bonding. Sabbat vampires not only get the benefits of sharing their powers but don't gain blood bonds from learning new out of clan disciplines from pack mates.

The Sabbat were pretty much tailored to being played by a group of players like Werewolf. It's also amusing that they're sold as a chaotic rabble when they're an organization with a stricter and larger hierarchy than the Camarilla that pretty much puts vampires in Chinese Communist style work groups. The Camarilla was pretty much a decentralized, feudal organization that kind of had people calling the shots but in reality people just did what they pleased within a loose framework of rules. You can tell the Camarilla was made first because it was almost an afterthought.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

I kind of love, btw, the premise that Lanala can sense what her followers experience, but that the connection is one-way. She is blind, deaf and mute, and can only communicate her will through subtle expressions of power - but she can see anything they see, feel anything they feel. That feels really cool to me.

Serf
May 5, 2011


Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 9: The Paths of Trickery and War

The Paths of Trickery



Assassin
This Path provides pretty much what you’d expect. If you want to be a sneaky killer or a spy with a license to kill, you can’t go wrong with the Assassin. They get their core ability early on, and when combined with the talents of a Rogue alone they become formidable fighters, and some Master Paths offer even more abilities that enhance the assassin’s skill at quickly eliminating enemies.

Level 3 Assassin
You get your two Attribute increases, some Health and an extra point of Perception. You then get either another spoken language or a common or criminal profession. Assassinate is your defining talent, allowing you to make an attack against a surprised creature or one you are hidden from, forcing them to make a Strength challenge roll. If they fail, they take damage equal to their Health, which remember means instant death in Shadow of the Demon Lord. You also get Disguise Expertise, allowing you to spend an action and use a disguise kit to disguise yourself, and Quick Reflexes, which gives you the ability to spend an action to hide or retreat.

Level 6 Assassin
More health and the ability to Manufacture Poison. This lets you spend a little time and money to create doses of poison, which we’ll go over in a later chapter.

Level 9 Master Assassin
A bonus to Health and Killer’s Eye, which lets you study a creature that is unaware of you. On a successful Perception challenge roll you make all attacks against that creature with 1 boon and you get 2d6 extra damage.



Scout
A pretty close analogue to rangers, scouts are the stealthy vanguard of any party. They can use melee or ranged weapons in equal measure, but are focused around a support role in that their observations make their party more effective. A scout in the right place at the right time can melt an enemy with support from their party members.

Level 3 Scout
Attribute increases, more Health, +1 to Perception and +2 to Speed, which is rare in this game. You can speak another language or get a wilderness profession. You gain Alertness, which gives you a boon to all Perception rolls and you can’t be surprised unless you’re unconscious. Forward Observer gives you a boon to sneaking and hiding when you’re not close to your party, Quick Reflexes allows to to use an action to hide or retreat, and Trackless means you don’t leave tracks on solid ground unless you choose to.

Level 6 Scout
More Health and Reveal Weakness, which allows you to spend an action to target 1 creature within reach. For one round, all allies get 1 boon to attack that creature.

Level 9 Master Scout
Another boost to Health and Low Blow. This talent means that when the target of Reveal Weakness takes damage, you can use a triggered action to attack them.



Thief
Ah the thief. This is a straight continuation of the rogue, with a set of talents to pick from that customize your thief however you like. They have a narrower focus than the rogue, as your choice of thief means you want to really get deep into theivery and subterfuge.

Level 3 Thief
Attribute increase, +1 Perception and more Health, plus either another spoken language or a criminal profession. Quick Reflexes is one you’ll remember, allowing you to take an action to hide or retreat, and you get two choices from the Thievery Talent list (see below).

Level 6 Thief
Another +1 to Perception and a bit of Health, plus Dodge, which allows you to take an action or triggered action and choose one creature you can see. For 1 round, they take 1 bane to hit you and you get 1 boon to resist their attacks. You also get another Thievery Talent.

Level 9 Master Thief
A bump in Health and Opportunist, which allows you to use a triggered action to attack any creature within reach that takes damage. And you get your final Thievery Talent

Thievery Talents

  • Escape Artist: automatically escape from grabs and escape from other bones with an Agility challenge roll
  • Hide in Shadows: you can hide even while being watched.
  • Keen Senses: 1 boon to Perception rolls.
  • Move Silently: you get 2 boons to move stealthily.
  • Open Locks: if you have lockpicks, you can pick most locks automatically. If the GM calls for a roll, you get 1 boon.
  • Pick Pockets: you can use a triggered action to steal things from nearby creatures without them noticing.
  • Scale Walls: you ignore difficult terrain while climbing and you make climbing challenge rolls with 1 boon.
  • Trap Sense: when you search for traps or roll to resist their effects, you make the roll with 1 boon.


Warlock
If you’re familiar with the Blue Mages of Final Fantasy, you’ve pretty much grasped what the warlock does. While they do know a little magic of their own, they focus themselves around snatching spells from the minds of their enemies and using their own magic against them. Warlocks generally either didn’t begin as spellcasters, or they never finished their training, instead preferring the quick and easy way to power.

Level 3 Warlock
You get your Attribute increases, more Health and a point of Power, either another spoken language or a spell and then a choice of a tradition or a spell. Steal Spell is your bread and butter ability, allowing you to make an Intellect attack roll against an enemy’s Intellect when they try to cast a spell. On a success, they fail to cast the spell and if your Power is high enough you gain a casting of the spell that lasts until you expend it or until you complete a rest. You can use this talent once per rest. Additionally, Vanish lets you turn invisible for one round after you take damage, but if you expend the casting of your stolen spell you can extend the duration to one minute.

Level 6 Warlock
The customary increase in Health and either another tradition or spell. Elude Divination is a talent that makes Divination spells used against you fail. Expert Spell Thief gives you two uses of Spell Steal per rest.

Level 9 Master Warlock
At this level, the warlock gets a bump in Health and another point of Power, as well as a choice between a tradition and a spell. Your abilities grow and you get Spell Thief Mastery, which lets you Steal Spell three time, and it now always succeeds and you can cast the spell regardless of your Power. And you get Vanishing Escape, allowing you to teleport a short distance when using Vanish.

Paths of War



Berserker
Whatever you’re picturing, you’re right on the money. Berserkers are warriors who lose themselves in their lust for battle, hacking and chopping away until their collapse in exhaustion. Once they start fighting they can’t stop, and this obsession with the fight frays their sanity and makes them susceptible to losing control and attacking anything and everything in sight.

Level 3 Berserker
Starting out, the berserker gets +1 to two Attributes and a big Health boost. They gain the Berserk talent, which allows them to enter a state of bloodlust for 1 minute. When they come out of it they have to make a successful Will challenge roll or gain 1 Insanity. Berserk grants the following:
  • Health +10
  • Immunity to charmed, compelled and frightened
  • You take 1 bane to attack rolls
  • Your attacks with weapons deal 1d6 extra damage
  • You have to attack each round, using charge if necessary
Fury Unleashed replaces the Madness system for you. When you go mad, you become berserked even if you’re fatigued. While in this state, the GM controls your character until you roll above a 5 on a d6, ending the state. You take some damage if you were fatigued when you went mad. Your last starting talent is Iron Hide, which gives you +1 Defense if you’re not wearing medium or heavy armor.

Level 6 Berserker
Now you get another big boost to Health as well as Ferocious Wrath, which gives you +2 Speed while berserking and gives you 1 boon when attacking frightened creatures. For synergy, you get Frightful Wrath, which frightens creatures who are close by when you start berserking.

Level 9 Master Berserker
A final big Health increase and Reckless Strike, which lets you make attack rolls with 2 banes but deal 2d6 extra damage on a hit.



Fighter
That old standby, the fighter. In Shadow of the Demon Lord, fighters are the undisputed masters of what they do. This is a very solid Path that gives you reliable abilities, good tankiness, and ensures that you’re the toughest threat on the battlefield. If ignored, a fighter is devastating.

Level 3 Fighter
Increase two Attributes by 1, then take a bump in Health and either learn another language or get a profession. You also get a Fighter Talent (see below).

Level 6 Fighter
Even more Health and Durable, which means your Healing Rate is now equal to your Health divided by 3.

Level 9 Master Fighter
Another jump in Health, and Weapon Mastery, a talent that makes it so that when you roll a weapon attack and the roll is 9 or less you get to reroll it, but you must use the second result.

Fighter Talents
  • Defense Expertise: a flat +1 to Defense.
  • Fight with Anything: lets you deal 1d6 with any improvised weapon and gives you 1 boon to attack rolls with improvised weapons.
  • Powerful Attack: you can take a bane on an attack roll with a heavy weapon to deal 1d6 extra damage.
  • Precise Attack: when using a swift weapon you can attack Agility instead of Defense.
  • Shield Bash: when you succeed on an attack with a shield, your next attack against that target gets 2 boons.
  • Swift Reload: you can reload with a triggered action, but take 1 bane to reload and shoot in the same round.
  • Swift Shot: you can attack twice with a ranged weapon without the reload property, but take 2 banes to the second shot.
  • Fight with Two Weapons: when you attack with 2 weapons you make the attack roll with 2 boons.


Ranger
Relentless hunters and trackers, rangers are another familiar Path, but unlike their D&D equivalents they get no magic spells and no animal companion. Those come later on. What rangers excel at is picking one enemy and hounding them to the ends of Urth without fail. They hunt down enemies and eliminate them, or track them over long distances.

Level 3 Ranger
You get your Attribute boosts, and a +8 to Health, which is the biggest in game, rivaled only by a Master Path later on. You add tracker to your professions, and you get Alertness, which means you can’t be surprised and get 1 boon to Perception rolls. You also get Hunt Prey, which lets you use an action to designate one enemy you can see as your prey. When you roll to track, find, or attack your prey you get 1 boon.

Level 6 Ranger
A smaller boost to Health, a +1 to Perception, and two new talents. Expert Guide gives you the ability to always know which way is north, and you can flawlessly retrace your steps. When traveling, everyone shares your Speed. Expert Tracker lets you make an Intellect challenge roll when you study animal tracks, and on a success you learn one true thing about the animal.

Level 9 Master Ranger
In addition to more Health you get Master Hunter, which prevents your prey from hiding from you and gives you an extra 1d6 damage when attacking them. Relentless Pursuit allows you to move up to half your speed when your prey moves.



Spellbinder
Another great Path, the spellbinder is all about focusing magical power into a weapon, making it more reliable and invincible. Later on they can invest greater power into it and deal more damage with it. The practice was invented by the fae to deal with superior iron weapons, but the traditions of the spellbinder have carried on.

Level 3 Spellbinder
Attribute increase, more Health and a point of Power, and you can either discover a tradition or learn a spell. You also get Spellbound Weapon, a rank-0 spell that gives you 1 boon on attack rolls with the weapon, lets you cast spells through it, gives you the ability to teleport it to your hand from up to 1 mile away and you can instantly repair it, even if you only have a single fragment.

Level 6 Spellbinder
Health boost and either a new tradition or a spell. Your Spellbound Weapon can now be affected by Invest Power, which causes it to light up with eldritch fire and deal 1d6 extra damage for 1 minute, all for the cost of expending a rank-1 spell.

Level 9 Master Spellbinder
The customary Health and Power boost, another tradition or spell, and access to Magic Weapon, a straight buff to Spellbound Weapon that gives you another boon when attacking with it and makes it alway deal 1d6 extra damage.

And that’s it for the Expert Paths! I have a little criticism for the Warlock and Fighter, as the former doesn’t let you do enough with Spell Steal, and Fighter needs access to one more Fighter Talent. Other than that, the Expert Paths are really cool, and give you lots of directions to branch off in. But if you thought the Expert Paths had a lot of variety, just wait until you see the Master Paths!

...but let’s have a preview, shall we?



Also, this is the last call for votes on Queegol's Novice Path, and we need to get her an Expert Path too!

Next time: Spradley and Queegol Become Experts!

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Living Land Q&A!

Ratoslov posted:

I dunno, the Living Land seems pretty useless as an adventure location to me here, because with those world laws and tech levels really the only adventure available seems to be 'Lose all your kit and your friends, then wander lost in the jungle until you die'.
Pretty much. It's so self contained it really can't do anything else. Nothing from outside the realm works there, and nothing inside the realm is that effective outside the realm itself.

Bieeardo posted:

The other natives of the Living Land had tool use and engineering, and Kaah seems happy to use 'dead' devices himself. Could either of those be reflected in the Living Land's strangely high Tech axiom?
Those natives have been dead for about a thousand years, but that might have something to do with it, yes. Kaah's use of dead things is something he does on the quiet, and even he knows he's violating Lanala's religion.

Kurieg posted:

Rock is a dead thing.. dirt is a dead thing (Living things are in dirt, but dirt itself is dead)... water is a dead thing...

How can you even have clothes or weapons in this society? Does turning a pelt into a toga somehow bypass the world laws? Is metal dead in a way that rocks aren't?
Edenios don't wear clothes because they don't need them; they find the Living Land's climate perfect for them. As for weapons, they have natural claws, but there's also a special plant that we'll see later that's basically a natural spear. With the right miracle, you can uproot it, use it as a weapon, then replant it and it will keep growing again.

As for clothing and metal; yeah that's one of those points they really didn't think through. Like I said, there are colonies of humans who're stuck in their neighborhoods due to all the jungle popping up around them, but who haven't transformed yet. Their houses and vehicles aren't affected by the same rot that affects food, because apparently (as worded and described) it only affects food. So a tree will rot in hours, but a wrecked car isn't affected.

Zereth posted:

Is the tech axiom supposed to be higher than the lizard guys use because they started off with another, more technologically advanced species on their home world? Or is it just "tech axiom as presented does not match with descriptions"?
Doesn't match presented. Nobody in the home cosm has used technology for like 500 years, and the basic ideas of things like levers aren't things they really get.

quote:

Either way I wonder why Baruk Kaah didn't use his Darkness Device Darkness Device to tank the number.
[/sub]
Probably because after that initial description his intelligence drops pretty sharply due to metaplot needs.

[quote]
Also, adventuring in the Living Land really seems like it'd require Storm Knights to automatically resist axioms and world laws they don't like, hard, so you can actually take your cybered-up razorboy from the Technopapacy there without instantly dying because now your cyber-heart doesn't work or whatever. EDIT: And also as you pointed out, reasons to go there.
You don't have to resist them, but when you're outside your character's axioms you'll disconnect on any roll of 1. On top of that, the Living Land has the lowest Tech and Magic axioms in the game, so unless you can use miracles those are going to risk disconnection too.

On top of that, a large chunk of the realm is a pure zone, so you'll have to keep paying Possibilities to create a reality bubble around yourself or you'll risk transformation.

Halloween Jack posted:

The Living Land was universally voted the least popular cosm, wasn't it? And not because people didn't like the premise, but entirely because of the execution.
Yup. By a pretty wide margin too, I believe.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Desiden posted:

Personally, as much as I enjoyed the hell out of playing a sabbat in a LARP and running a sabbat game once, I think making them PCs, especially that early on, was a mistake. It basically bypassed a lot of the core themes of the game and that first depiction of them portrayed them as far more competent, savvy, and focused on the objective than the cam, which was typically dysfunctional, myopic, and lying or deluded about the antedeluvians.

Yeah, I think they can be enjoyable to play in their existing form, but it may as well be an alternate reality from the core Masquerade game. Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand fits in that reality, but it doesn't fit in the core game in the slightest, which is why it stands out.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Evil Mastermind posted:

You don't have to resist them, but when you're outside your character's axioms you'll disconnect on any roll of 1. On top of that, the Living Land has the lowest Tech and Magic axioms in the game, so unless you can use miracles those are going to risk disconnection too.

On top of that, a large chunk of the realm is a pure zone, so you'll have to keep paying Possibilities to create a reality bubble around yourself or you'll risk transformation.
Yeah, I meant that basically you'd need to make that reality bubble effect a free passive effect.

Count Chocula
Dec 25, 2011

WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUR ENVIRONMENT
IF YOU SEE ME POSTING OUTSIDE OF THE AUSPOL THREAD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'M MISSED AND TO START POSTING AGAIN

Josef bugman posted:

Who are They Might be Giants associated with?

Nerds.

Count Chocula
Dec 25, 2011

WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUR ENVIRONMENT
IF YOU SEE ME POSTING OUTSIDE OF THE AUSPOL THREAD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'M MISSED AND TO START POSTING AGAIN

Mors Rattus posted:

God, there's so much you could do with a world where everything is alive and fighting, with vital force and the joy of sensation being primary themes, and with all kinds of awesome lizard people.

And none of it will be here.

I thought it was the Sword & Sorcery Realm, as opposed to Aysle's High Fantasy. Fight, struggle against weird lizardmen, trip out in a Dark Souls fog...plus there's a bunch of Apocalypse Now flavor there, with PCs getting more crazed and fanatical as they fight enemies who are one with the land. Some Cadillacs & Dinosaurs too... anyone remember that comic/game? Hidden temples, weird secrets... it'd be a fun place to adventure.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Night10194 posted:

Honestly they'd have been kinda cool in a 'We need to put down these stupid bastards before they draw the hawthorn and silver down on us.' kind of way if they'd stayed there.

And if humans had had any teeth to make vampires want to stay hidden.
A couple things I forgot to add:

1. The Sabbat were probably based on the "Children of Satan" coven in Rice's Vampire Chronicles; these were the vampires who rejected humanity, had a sort of anti-Catholic religion, and believed in doing stuff like sleeping in open graves and wearing stolen grave clothes. They didn't exactly revel in mass murder, but believed in feeding without remorse, and in killing vampires who lived among humans. None of them lived longer than about 300 years, because they inevitably go mad, and give their blood to the younger vampires. (Marius later explains to Lestat that actually, spending 300 years living like a hobo in a graveyard is what drives you crazy.)

2. In Requiem 1st edition, the Sabbat role is more or less split into Belial's Brood and VII. The Brood are the My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult types, who get powers from making a connection with "The Adversary" as they lose Humanity points. VII is the inscrutable evil conspiracy; by design, no one knows what they're about, and there was a VII sourcebook that presented several possibilities.

Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Jan 11, 2017

bewilderment
Nov 22, 2007
man what



Fun thing with Shadow of the Demon Lord is that while Warrior 'naturally' leads into fighter, nobody's stopping you from going something like Magician->Fighter->Zealot. And stuff like that can work! As long as you don't pick a weird combination that spreads your stats every which way and focus in just one or two things, you can do pretty well.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I think I'm gonna pick up Shadow of the Demon Lord to look over more carefully on my own. I really like the concept behind its class system so far.

Serf
May 5, 2011


bewilderment posted:

Fun thing with Shadow of the Demon Lord is that while Warrior 'naturally' leads into fighter, nobody's stopping you from going something like Magician->Fighter->Zealot. And stuff like that can work! As long as you don't pick a weird combination that spreads your stats every which way and focus in just one or two things, you can do pretty well.

Hell yeah. One thing I love is a subtle aspect of the boon/bane system where a class like the warrior gets so many boons and bonuses to their attacks, that once you start building into fighter or berserker or spellbinder, you start getting more than enough boons and can trade them for the banes that come with special attacks. Also the warrior's multi-attack system is fantastic. Just one enemy? No need to roll multiple attacks per round, you just chunk all the damage into one blow, or you can spread it around for crowds.

I still maintain that the fighter should get at least one more talent. Hell, the thief gets four!

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

I did some math on SotDL a while back, and I managed to make a fighter type who did something like 8d6 damage, with possibility of more dice on top of that. It's pretty comparable to high-end mage damage, which is always nice to see.

Green Intern
Dec 29, 2008

Loon, Crazy and Laughable


Why hello, Joseph Joestar.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


With what looks like his grandpa with a dyejob on the left.

I mean, we joked about Stardust Crusaders being the Nile Empire's tone done right, but the Japanese audience might have run with that.

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

Kavak posted:

With what looks like his grandpa with a dyejob on the left.

I mean, we joked about Stardust Crusaders being the Nile Empire's tone done right, but the Japanese audience might have run with that.

That is Joseph - you were probably thinking Jotaro.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Robindaybird posted:

That is Joseph - you were probably thinking Jotaro.

No, it looks like a beardless Joseph expy on the right and neonate Johnathan on the left.

EDIT: Why are we wordfiltering tweeen?

Just Dan Again
Dec 16, 2012

Adventure!

Young Freud posted:

WEG managed to get the original core books out and it seemed to gather a following. I'm not sure past the covers how much of the interior art changed, but it looks like, given what we've seen from Revised & Expanded, they had a different art direction.



It's imagery like this that brings me back to the broken promise at the heart of TORG- a group of cross-dimensional Storm Knights, all from different worlds with their own crazy powers, fighting against impossible odds to turn an invasion of Earth into the liberation of half a dozen other worlds from tyranny. You can technically use TORG to tell that story, but good god drat are you going to have to ignore a lot of rules to do it. It's probably the most heartbreaker game I can think of that doesn't make you start out as a poo poo-farmer with a broken sword.

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
Maybe I missed this at a way earlier stage in the TORG review but...

All of the "invading" cosms have their own Three Laws that they enforce, giving their zones and homeworlds a very distinct flavour, right? Does Core Earth have anything like that? Or is it the only cosm with subtlety for inscrutable reasons?

Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

PurpleXVI posted:

Maybe I missed this at a way earlier stage in the TORG review but...

All of the "invading" cosms have their own Three Laws that they enforce, giving their zones and homeworlds a very distinct flavour, right? Does Core Earth have anything like that? Or is it the only cosm with subtlety for inscrutable reasons?

Core Earth is revealed in the Delphi Council sourcebook, which is all about Core Earth. The Three Laws for Core Earth are:

Law Of Prodigy: Starting Core Earth characters can start with the Prodigy package which gives them a tag skill of +6 (meaning they can start with a skill higher than other characters)
Law Of Hope: Characters not from Core Earth have a decreased difficulty to resist Transformation. :confused:
Law Of Glory: Core Earth characters have a +2 bonus to Persuasion when planting story seeds (which allow them to convert Realms back toward Core Earth)

Cthulhu Dreams
Dec 11, 2010

If I pretend to be Cthulhu no one will know I'm a baseball robot.

Young Freud posted:

Core Earth is revealed in the Delphi Council sourcebook, which is all about Core Earth. The Three Laws for Core Earth are:

Law Of Prodigy: Starting Core Earth characters can start with the Prodigy package which gives them a tag skill of +6 (meaning they can start with a skill higher than other characters)
Law Of Hope: Characters not from Core Earth have a decreased difficulty to resist Transformation. :confused:
Law Of Glory: Core Earth characters have a +2 bonus to Persuasion when planting story seeds (which allow them to convert Realms back toward Core Earth)

These are terrible - isn't the objective of the laws to define a genre? And how is there nothing about how earth shits out probability energy?

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Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

Cthulhu Dreams posted:

These are terrible - isn't the objective of the laws to define a genre? And how is there nothing about how earth shits out probability energy?

Interestingly, the upcoming TORG Eternity has changed these a bit.

quote:

Law of Hope: Channels creativity and Possibility Energy to solving crises. Cosm cards often provide additional Possibilities.
Law of Glory: Earth’s heroes often become legends. Players can get a Glory card into their hands, even if it’s still in the deck or discard pile.
Law of the Underdog: Heroes always rise to the occasion, especially if they’re outnumbered and outgunned. PCs can start with an extra card in the pool if outnumbered.

Law Of Glory is suddenly a big deal because Core Earthers no longer have to have the Glory card in their hands to play it. Basically, the Glory card, as written originally in TORG, had to be in your hand to be played whenever a character get a roll of over 60 (which, even given the rerolls on 10s and 20s, is a 2 to 0.01 percent event), at which everyone in the player group gained 3 Possibilities at the end of session and the Glory card would help with generating possibilities in hostile Realms so they could eventually be taken back. So, with 4 cards in a 156 card deck, the chances of a player group of 4-5 have a Glory card in hand when one of the players pulled off a 60+ roll would be probably be near 1 in 100,000 per roll. If there was 100 rolls per session, that means you could go 1000 sessions before the cards were right and someone got a roll over 60.

At least now in TORG Eternity, Core Earthers can greatly increase the chances for a Glory card to activate and don't have to have one in their hand. And, of course, they maybe rewriting the Glory card by dropping the roll requirements and providing more possibilities, so who knows.

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