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Simian_Prime posted:It's ironic that D&D-based games that was laughed at in the 90's as "kid's stuff" is now seen as the innovative force and has the most mass-market appeal(even if just for Millennial nostalgia's sake), and WoD, once the hip, edgy alternative in 90's RPG's, seems like a stodgy company still trying to relive its glory days while not recognizing the basic flaws in its mechanics and fiction. D&D 5 is like the opposite of innovative, though? Which game are you talking about?
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Jan 23, 2017 00:50
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Nuns with Guns posted:I'm just saying the animal taint was in nWoD before long Beast Basically everyone who worked on nCB was someone who Brucato brought in specifically. And Brucato hasn't worked on a CofD book since. And the only time, the only time, Changing Breeds has been referenced since is when Brookshaw pointed out the glaring loophole that since Beasts didn't specifically mention that they have Poochie powers over Ferals, Ferals can no-sell basically everything a Beast does.
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Jan 23, 2017 02:17
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Kurieg posted:Basically everyone who worked on nCB was someone who Brucato brought in specifically. And Brucato hasn't worked on a CofD book since. And the only time, the only time, Changing Breeds has been referenced since is when Brookshaw pointed out the glaring loophole that since Beasts didn't specifically mention that they have Poochie powers over Ferals, Ferals can no-sell basically everything a Beast does. No matter who wins, we all lose.
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Jan 23, 2017 02:20
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There are a fair number of nWoD books with bad writing, there are just very few that are outright poisonous.
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Jan 23, 2017 02:23
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MonsieurChoc posted:D&D 5 is like the opposite of innovative, though? Which game are you talking about? I said *seen* as the innovative force. While you're right that 5e is still backwards, you're not seeing Buzzfeed articles or people on RPG podcasts rushing to talk about their experience with WoD except as an afterthought. You're not going to see Wil Wheaton gushing about Vampire anytime soon, or Dan Harmon set up a series where he and his celebrity friends play Beast (for which we should all be thankful). A lot of that seems based in the difference type of nostalgia the two properties are steeped in; most adults played D&D in grade school and early adolescence, which most regard as an idyllic time. Most people were playing WoD during that embarrassing "I'm a rebel, gently caress you DAD" phase that they'd rather forget. EDIT: Not to say that couldn't change. For most people the nostalgia/novelty factor wears off real quick once they actually play D&D. Simian_Prime fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jan 23, 2017 |
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Jan 23, 2017 04:59
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Could be 'cause D&D has so much math, it's for traditional nerds. Vampire was more for the theatre kids. It's not like sexy vampires have left pop culture at any point since the 90s. But yeah it's odd we haven't seen a resurgence of Matrix/oWoD nostalgia yet. That whole 90s goth thing was so huge, and it brings back so many vivid memories. Or maybe that's because Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, and Neil Gaiman were all in town last weekend and drawing huge crowds. They keep making Underworld movies, but they haven't captured the zeitgeist like Stranger Things and it's D&D nostalgia. I dunno, D&D always seemed too mainstream anyway. The things I thought would have aged the best, oMage and Grant Morrison's The Invisibles, feel the most 90s of all. All that Y2K magick. Anyway, goth will come back. Fashion always does. I see occult symbols and stuff on fashionable clothing but I'm too old to get it. And I'm done defending Beast.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:03
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Thing is, D&D was so thoroughly ripped off that a lot of people who never played D&D have D&D nostalgia. Instead, they played 80s computer games that liberally ripped off D&D.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:11
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For all my whining about math, I loved Baldur's Gate 2.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:20
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Count Chocula posted:For all my whining about math, I loved Baldur's Gate 2. That's the thing about math-intensive games; most of them are just fine when you've got a computer calculating all of the fiddly bits for you. It's why I liked the KOTOR series despite my hat of d20*. *it know no limit
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Jan 23, 2017 06:31
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Simian_Prime posted:That's the thing about math-intensive games; most of them are just fine when you've got a computer calculating all of the fiddly bits for you. It's why I liked the KOTOR series despite my hat of d20*. Ha, I haven't heard that phrase in a while. I suppose there's been no real need to say it for a decade at least.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:34
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wdarkk posted:Ha, I haven't heard that phrase in a while. I suppose there's been no real need to say it for a decade at least. Next I will dress at Billie Jean King, so as to remain topical and current.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:42
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Simian_Prime posted:Next I will dress at Billie Jean King, so as to remain topical and current. Oh, so that's why you were dressed as a 70's relief pitcher.
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Jan 23, 2017 06:46
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Evil Mastermind posted:Oh, so that's why you were dressed as a 70's relief pitcher. *I'm Todd McGraw*
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Jan 23, 2017 06:51
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Is that why I've been driving a Winnebago?
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Jan 23, 2017 11:00
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Simian_Prime posted:That's the thing about math-intensive games; most of them are just fine when you've got a computer calculating all of the fiddly bits for you. It's why I liked the KOTOR series despite my hat of d20*. That's a good point: something like TORG could probably make a cool CRPG, provided you tamp down the "gently caress you for trying to do things" parts of it.
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Jan 23, 2017 16:22
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Despite vidjamagames being the origin of "reskinning," it would have to be a very particular story because it would never be as flexible as the RPG in terms of characters transforming from cosm to cosm. It could be like a really great unofficial sequel to Secret of Evermore, though.That Old Tree posted:RPGnet also seems to have a forum culture that simply shies away from difficult conversations. Simian_Prime posted:I said *seen* as the innovative force. While you're right that 5e is still backwards, you're not seeing Buzzfeed articles or people on RPG podcasts rushing to talk about their experience with WoD except as an afterthought. You're not going to see Wil Wheaton gushing about Vampire anytime soon, or Dan Harmon set up a series where he and his celebrity friends play Beast (for which we should all be thankful). Besides the Red Box being a Christmas hit, D&D created in the right time and place to be a huge influence on the first generation of video game programmers. It's unfortunate that we've reached a point where it's usually wiser for RPG writers to mine game design developed for video games rather than the reverse, and TV shows with a "D&D episode" generally skip the boring and contentious parts of kids figuring out D&D together.
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Jan 23, 2017 16:35
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Count Chocula posted:Could be 'cause D&D has so much math, it's for traditional nerds. Vampire was more for the theatre kids. I dunno, I feel like a lot of iterations of the Storyteller System have collapsed under the weight of their own crunch. Mostly due to ridiculous charm combos and stuff.
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Jan 23, 2017 18:17
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Halloween Jack posted:RPGnet's moderation underwent a big change years ago, because it had a serious problem with people being like "I don't hate gay people, it's just a fact that God will consign them to hell for eternity." Since then, the rules against "personal attacks" and "group attacks" have swollen to the point that you can't meaningfully criticize anything, and they enable the kind of barely-concealed hostility they were designed to quell. All the rules have swollen. The personal-attack rule was amended some time ago to include non-member game designers to make the place more welcoming to industry professionals, but lately that has turned and twisted into a rule-amendment that means actual, legitimate criticism can't be levelled against game designers. The most pertinent example that comes to mind is John Wick. Just look at the reaction someone got for saying that John Wick's GM advice, as a rule, sucks. Really, what isn't a Rule 2 violation on RPG.net? Like, you can't say that someone are yammering a word salad in a discussion. I've also seen warnings and admonishments handed out for raising points in a discussion that people might not want to discuss, for telling people not to put words in your mouth, for having opinions different from the norm, and obvious jokes are treated like serious attempts to encourage illegal action. RPG.net moderation is also painfully opaque; much of how the rules are enforced is based on an established practice that is not written down anywhere, and the only way to complain about moderation is to email an administrator. Disagreeing with or even asking questions about the way the rules are enforced on the forums is something that is not tolerated, with threads - confused and hostile alike - closed and the confused/angry poster sometimes given an additional infraction just for asking questions. Which makes this part of the official rules and guidelines bitterly hillarious: quote:Responses to or queries regarding moderation should be posted in Trouble Tickets This is not something that's allowed!
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Jan 23, 2017 20:54
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I was a theater kid in college too and was all about WoD back then. It felt more revolutionary then, but there's such a wealth of games now that have integrated narrative-based mechanics into their systems far more seemlessly than WoD. For all it's talk of "Storytelling", most of WoD system is grounded in D&D style mechanics - ability scores, combat being the most complex subsystem, resource management. It's like if somebody made a game for "theater kids", but believed that the main concern was "how many attacks can Willy Loman make in a round*?" *three Simian_Prime fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Jan 23, 2017 |
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Jan 23, 2017 20:58
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Simian_Prime posted:I was a theater kid in college too and was all about WoD back then. It felt more revolutionary then, but there's such a wealth of games now that have integrated narrative-based mechanics into their systems far more seemlessly than WoD. Original Storyteller is in that awful place where it's too ill defined and untested to be at all satisfying as crunch, but still too crunchy to be rules light. Neither hot nor cold, merely lukewarm, it is spit out with the greatest of force.
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Jan 23, 2017 21:09
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The Storyteller system: the fluffernutter of tabletop rpgs
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Jan 24, 2017 03:35
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Hey folks, sorry for the long delay. Life has been hectic for a while, but I'm gonna be doing my best to get this review done because I really do love this game a lot. Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 10: The Master Paths A - C At level 7 you get to either pick a Master Path or a second Expert Path. Master Paths gain benefits at levels 7 and 10, and represent a deeper evolution or branching of your character’s talents and skills. You can again pick any Master Path you like, and there are no prerequisites for them. Part of having a Master Path is picking a Quest. Your Quest is another story beat that you’d like to hit. It can be personal or it can be larger in scope, but it should be something very difficult to achieve and represent your character’s biggest step in taking control over the game world. The party as a whole might achieve bigger things, but this is how you will make your mark. Like with Objectives, you’re encouraged to think about Quests as a group and work together to complete your Quests and help each other achieve the pinnacle of achievement. I’m not going to divide the Master Paths up into any themes this time around. Instead, I’ll be going over them in alphabetical order, as the book itself presents them.  Abjurer Specializing in Protection magic, the abjurer is a master of wards and shielding spells. Level 7 Abjurer All level 7 characters get +1 to three Attributes. The abjurer gets an increase in Health and another point of Power, they can speak another language or pick up another profession, and they either discover the Protection tradition or learn one Protection spell. When you cast a Protection spell, your Guarded Casting talent grants you a bonus to Defense equal to 1 + the rank of the spell you cast for 1 minute or until you use the talent again. Level 10 Abjurer A little more Health and an additional spell. You gain Warded, which means that all creatures attacking you take 1 bane, and you make challenge rolls to resist attacks with 1 boon. quote:Acrobat Masters of the Air tradition, aeromancers are capable of casting powerful air spells that aid their allies and scourge their enemies. Level 7 Aeromancer Attribute increase, more Health, +2 Speed and +1 Power. You can speak another language or add a profession, and you either discover the Air tradition or learn another Air spell. You become capable of Air Walk, letting you fly after casting an Air spell for a number of yards equal to 1 + the rank of the spell. Level 10 Aeromancer A little more Health, another spell, and you just straight up become capable of Flight, all the time. quote:Apocalyptist  Arcanist Deeper understanding of the Arcana tradition leads to deeper mastery over magic itself, and this Path allows greater versatility and flexibility in spellcasting. Level 7 Arcanist Attribute bump, a little Health and a point of Power. You get another language or another profession, and you either discover the Arcana tradition or learn one Arcana spell. Your flexibility comes from Arcana Mastery, which lets you expend the casting of an Arcana spell to instead cast any other spell you know of the same rank. Level 10 Arcanist More Health and another spell. You also get Reclaim Arcana, which allows you to roll a d6 when you cast an Arcana spell, getting the spell back on a 6, and Swift Arcana which lets you use triggered actions on your turn to cast Arcana spells.  Astromancer Mastering the Celestial tradition lets you call upon the light of the stars themselves, and astromancers learn to harness the power of light in all its forms. Level 7 Astromancer Standard Attribute increase, more Health and a Power bump, along with either a language or profession and you either discover the Celestial tradition or learn one Celestial spell. You can summon points of light when casting Celestial spells via the Inner Radiance talent, and Intense Light means your Celestial spells do 1d6 extra damage. Level 10 Astromancer More Health and another spell. Blinding Corona, which causes the point of light created by Inner Radiance to blind nearby enemies, and Power of the Sun, which gives you 1 boon to attack rolls on Celestial spells and imposes 1 bane on enemies resisting them. Avenger The Avenger is all about, you guessed it, taking vengeance. When someone is giving a friend of theirs a hard time, they’re capable of making life hell for that enemy, becoming scary combatants that are deadly efficient at focusing on one enemy at a time. Level 7 Avenger The standard +1 to three Attributes, along with a good chunk of Health and another language or profession. You then get your core ability, Vow of Vengeance, which allows you to mark an enemy who hurts you or another creature. This vow gives you 1 boon to all attacks against the marked target, as well as keeping them frightened when you’re around and allowing you to chase them down. Level 10 Avenger More Health and Avenger’s Wrath, which gives you a flat 1d6 extra damage when attacking your marked target.  Bard Far from being the basic class they are in most games, Bards are masters of the Song tradition, and their abilities augment their Song spells, allowing them to further enrapture those affected by their magic, while also growing their abilities as factotums. Level 7 Bard Attribute increase, more Health and a point of Power, plus you can speak another language or add the entertainer or musician profession. You either learn the Song tradition or learn a Song spell, and you get Esoteric Knowledge, which gives you a boon on all Intellect challenge rolls to recall useful information. Level 10 Bard Another spell and some Health, as well as Disarming Charm, which impairs people you have charmed. Additionally you learn Swift Song, which allows you to use triggered actions to cast Song spells. Beastmaster These guys use Primal magic to form permanent bonds with animals, using them as companions in all aspects of play. This is where you’d want to look if you want to play a classic D&D ranger or maybe a druid with a focus on animal friends. Level 7 Beastmaster With the Attribute increase your also get a little Health and +1 to Power, as well as either the Primal tradition or a Primal spell, and another language or a wilderness profession. You get Primal Beast, which enhances the Beast Within spell, and Primal Bond, which allows you to use the Befriend Animal spell to create permanent companion animals that get several bonuses. These include: allowing you to share spell effects with them, giving you a boon to Perception rolls when they’re near, and allowing you to communicate with them telepathically. Level 10 Beastmaster More Health and a spell, and Primal Power, which gives any animal you have charmed a boon to all attack rolls and flat 1d6 more damage with attacks.  Blade The equivalent of a bleed-focused build, the Blade revolves around cutting people with knives and making their blood come out. They do this better than other people with bladed weapons somehow, they don’t really go into specifics. Level 7 Blade You get your Attribute increase, more Health, and either another language or a profession. You also get Bleed, which is your core ability. When you roll over a 20 on an attack roll, the target starts to bleed, dealing 1d6 damage to them at the end of every round that they don’t use an action to stop the flow. Level 10 Blade A little Health and Swift Blade, allowing you to use triggered actions with your daggers or knives. quote:Brute For the person who loves mounts, the cavalier revolves around fighting from horseback. Or really the back of anything that can be ridden. Want to be a rhino rider or a chocobo knight? Go for it. Level 7 Cavalier Standard Attribute increase, a chunk of Health, and another language or a common, military or wilderness profession. You also get Combat Riding, which gives you a boon to attacks made while mounted. Level 10 Cavalier A little more Health and two abilities: Devastating Charge, which gives you 1d6 extra damage on attacks made as part of a charge, or 2d6 extra damage if that attack was made while mounted, and Master Rider, which gives you +2 to Defense and Speed while mounted. quote:Champion This is your battle-priest. They sing, chant, scream or shout things to their allies that bolster them in combat, allowing you to boost the combat abilities of your friends in pretty significant ways. Level 7 Chaplain Attribute boost, a nice Health boost, and either a military or religious profession. You also get Battle Chant, which you can maintain on your turns, and gives your nearby allies a boon to all weapon attacks. You can use this three times per rest. Level 10 Chaplain More Health and Emboldening Chant, which gives your allies affected by Battle Chant an extra 1d6 damage, and Succor, a minor healing ability that expends Battle Chant uses.  Chronomancer Your standard time mage, all about using spells from the Time tradition and messing with the linear flow of time. Level 7 Chronomancer You get your Attribute increase, a little Health and a boost to Power, and either another language or a profession. You either discover the Time tradition or learn one Time spell, and get Quickening, which lets you move up to your Power when you cast a Time spell without triggering free attacks. Level 10 Chronomancer More Health and a new spell, and Precognition, which lets you use a triggered action when you cast a Time spell to gain an insight. You can spend the insight when you fail a roll to try again.  NWS for some nudity Conjurer If you like summoning monsters to help you out, this is the Path for you. It lets you get bonus monsters and makes your monsters deadlier. Level 7 Conjurer Besides your Attribute increase, bit of Health and Power and language/profession, you also get to discover the Conjuration tradition or learn one Conjuration spell. You get Conjure Tiny Monster, which lets you conjure a free tiny monster when you cast a rank 0 Conjuration spell. And you get Frightening Monsters, which gives all your conjured monsters the frightening trait. Level 10 Conjurer Another smidge of Health, and another spell, and Powerful Monsters, which gives all your conjured monsters a boon to all attacks and an extra 1d6 damage. quote:Conqueror
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Jan 24, 2017 05:00
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SotDL keeps looking sweeter and sweeter. I'm going to have to get this one for myself, because so many of its ideas are stuff that I've half-assed into my ongoing Pathfinder game. Also, I love this picture, because it looks like it could be plopped into literally genre setting without changing it. "Cyberpunk Robot with Holograms?" "Industrial Pulp guy in a Spacesuit?" "Armor Person Casts a Spell?"
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Jan 24, 2017 19:29
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LatwPIAT posted:All the rules have swollen. The personal-attack rule was amended some time ago to include non-member game designers to make the place more welcoming to industry professionals, but lately that has turned and twisted into a rule-amendment that means actual, legitimate criticism can't be levelled against game designers. The most pertinent example that comes to mind is John Wick. Just look at the reaction someone got for saying that John Wick's GM advice, as a rule, sucks. Really, what isn't a Rule 2 violation on RPG.net? Like, you can't say that someone are yammering a word salad in a discussion. I've also seen warnings and admonishments handed out for raising points in a discussion that people might not want to discuss, for telling people not to put words in your mouth, for having opinions different from the norm, and obvious jokes are treated like serious attempts to encourage illegal action. In my experience, this seems to happen a lot to forums that try to codify behavior too much. It usually seems to start off reasonably, for example "don't call minorities subhumans", but then people start pointing out other behaviors that are lovely and wondering why they don't get mod action. That seems fair, so the rules expand to cover other shitposting, only then you end up with non-mods trying to police behavior so you rule that only mods should be judging posts. That's when you're hosed, because a) now instead of the forum users taking some of the pressure off the mods by policing things themselves, you're expected to rule on everything, and b) every ruling that isn't 100% a clear violation of an existing rule gets questioned, so you amass all these edge case rulings, that then get brought up with the next ruling. You'll probably also start expanding the mod base just to deal with all the work that's been created, so now you have even more people making rulings and so that gets more convoluted too. Fast forward a few years, and its a byzantine mess of case law and unstated assumptions like you describe. Like, I don't think RPG.net is particularly terrible in this regard, or in general. I pretty much stayed out of any political threads, mainly because I don't really care what nerds as a group think about political topics; I don't think I ever got so much as a warning largely as a result. At the same time, all the rules ever seemed to do was provide a lot of convoluted wordcount for little benefit. It bans racism and stuff, but pretty much any moderated forum can do that if they want to, complicated rules or not. People still throw nerd tantrums over each other's behavior, they just avoid certain phrasings.
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Jan 24, 2017 19:59
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The storm has a name... - Let's Read TORG Part 16d: State of the Union So now that we've seen how things are inside the Living Land, how's the rest of North America holding up? Well, that's where things get a bit odd. There's an ongoing idea throughout the entire Torg line that, despite the fact that all these alternate realities have landed all over the place and overwritten large swaths of the most powerful countries in the world, life in Core Earth is pretty much going on as it always has. Now, I get the idea that stuff gets normalized over time, and that cultures will adapt and so on. But in the Torgiverse, they treat things as if the invasion doesn't affect anything at all about most people's day-to-day lives. At one point the Cyberpapacy takes over Boston, a city which is within half a day's travel of the Living Land border, and yet international and stateside flights are still going into and out of Logan Airport. Movies are still being made in LA even though the Living Land is right there. The book does point out that this complacency is sue to the fact that most of middle America is very far removed from what's happening, but still, see above. quote:Outside the realm of the Living Land, life continues in many ways as it did before the invasion. The United States of America is a besieged country, but only a third of it is dominated by the invaders. The other two thirds, while preparing for war, must also live day to day. Sporting events, plays, schools - all continue to function. For most people in the country, the invasion is far away. There is a mistaken belief that the abrupt slowing down of Baruk Kaah's progress is because the military has created a stalemate (the invasion has slowed because the stelae Baruk Kaah brought from his cosm have run out and he can only move forward as fast as new stelae are produced). The general populace believes that it is only a matter of time before the army pushes the invaders back over the land and up their bridges. That said, there has been a serious upheaval in the US government, to the point where it's more-or-less restructured completely. As was touched on back in the beginning of the book, President Douglas Kent and Vice President Gregory Farrel were in New York City when Kaah attacked. There's been no word from then since the invasion, and the line of succession went to the Speaker of the House, Johnathan Wells. Wells managed to keep the country together as Kaah expanded, and when it became clear that Kaah's territory would overtake Washington D.C. he moved the seat of government to Houston, Texas because it was far enough away from the Living Land that they wouldn't have to worry about an axiom wash. Wells, sadly, didn't live past the original novel trilogy as he was assassinated by an unknown assailant (rumored for a while to be congressman Andrew Decker, who was a secondary character in the novels). The current president is the former Secretary of Defense, Dennis Quartermain, even though there should have been three other people ahead of him in the line of succession. I don't know if that's a research failure or if it was covered in the novels, but either way Quartermain has not been dealing well with the invasion as a whole. Quartermain did a decent job in his previous position, but now that he's president he's become much more conservative and paranoid. In order to help manage the resistance effort, Quartermain has assembled a think-tank-slash-task-force to deal with otherdimensional invaders: the Delphi Council. The Dephi Council is...well, let's put it this way. What's the first image that pops into your mind when I say "shadowy government council"?  Probably something like this, right? The Council's job is to formulate strategies and organize operations to deal with the various Possibility Raiders, Kaah in particular. Which makes sense; that's a needed function in the setting. But because the members of the Council were picked by Quartermain (who, it turns out, may not be mentally stable), they're very reactionary and paranoid. On top of that, good old-fashioned corruption exists with some of the Council members, who are trying to spin things to their financial advantage even while the country is in an extended state of emergency. Two of the Council members are tied to two of the nation's largest munitions manufacturers, and they're already directing cash towards "Doling Aircraft" and "General Automations" to develop weapons that can work in the Living Land. Uh huh. The Council employs vetted mercenaries code-named Spartans to perform operations in the Living Land. The Spartans' primary task is to get civilians out of the Living Land...one way or another. See, the Council has learned about how reality mechanics work by interrogating captured Jakatts. So now the government understands that the High Lords are gaining power by draining Possibility energy from ords. Therefore, logically, if the Council can get people out of the Living Land, that'll reduce Kaah's overall strength, right? So the Spartans' main task is to find survivor colonies and get them out of the Living Land via military escort. And if the survivors don't want to leave, the Spartans have full authorization to kill them. As far as the Council is concerned, it's just a matter of expediency.  Of course, what's considered "expedient" tends to vary between the Council and the Spartans; some Spartan units will just flat-out kill survivors without giving them a chance to leave on their own if they're in the right mood. Further complicating matters is the rise of human Jakatts. Yes, some of the humans who've converted to Keta Kalles have done so involuntarily when they transformed, but just as many (if not more) have converted willingly. In some ways, this is seen as "betraying their country" since they're embracing the religion of the invaders, but it's becoming clearer that not all followers of Keta Kalles follow Baruk Kaah. The government hasn't quite figured out how to deal with the whole situation yet, because it falls under the aegis of religious freedom. That is a really amazing analogy to something that's been going on for years here in the year of our Lord 2017, especially since it was written in 1990. quote:Legal experts secretly questioned on the issue have stated categorically that it would be horrific to classify a citizen as a traitor to his country because of a religious preference. Now, obviously, this is a very tricky situation for the government to navigate, and the Delphi Council has decided to deal with this moral and legal minefield by completely ignoring it. quote:In a special report to the President on the matter, the Council advised that for the duration of the war all Jakatts, no matter what species, be defined as the enemy. "Even if they don't all look alike," said Senator Jesse Bows, "they all think alike, which is even worse. If they wish to worship a heathen god, they have taken the responsibility of their deaths upon themselves." This all came to a head when an infantry division was sent to wipe out a pacifist tribe of human Jakatts outside Fresno. quote:The tribe had made it clear that as civilians they had not sided with he invaders in any capacity. The Council heard about the tribe and decided that it would have to be destroyed. before word of pacifist Jakatts got out and generated sympathy among the American populace. "The last thing we want," declared Colonel Stan East, "is another Viet Nam." Needless to say, the US military is not having a good time of things right now. In addition to a cavalcade of questionable orders coming from on high, they have to deal with the fact that (since most of the military are ords) that every piece of equipment they have down to and including survival knives don't operate under Living Land axioms. To make things even worse, there's the aforementioned problems with the much lower social axiom that result in tactical planning breaking down on a regular basis. As a result of all this, the Pentagon has decided to cease sending armed troops into the Living Land. As the military shifts into a more defensive position, the Pentagon is attempting to figure out a way to get Core Earth technology (or at least weapons) to work in the Living Land. But since this book takes place right at the start of the game line (and therefore at the "start" of the Torg timeline), nobody on Core Earth knows how reality mechanics work yet. Since concepts like axiom levels aren't widely known yet, nobody's sure why everything keeps breaking down in the Living Land. quote:Several theories have been been put forward which range from extrapolations of present day science (called "the reasonable theories") to quite absurd theories, created only because the situation at hand is, really, quite absurd (these theories are called the "crackpot theories.") Because times are strange, "crackpot theories" are considered with equal weight against the "reasonable theories." The names are only given to categorize the two types of theory, and are not meant to suggest one is superior over the other. Well anyway, working theories about why things don't work in the Living Land include the idea that the invaders are hypnotizing people to believe their stuff won't work, that the invaders are ghosts of dead aliens who visited earth millions of years ago, and bloody quantum. Of course, the reason things work differently outside Core Earth is because of axiom levels and such. The book actually spends a paragraph explaining this, as if we hadn't already read the core set and know that. The biggest problem with these theories is that people are spending a lot of money and manpower to solve an unfixable problem. Companies are pumping money from the government to solve the whole "make stuff that works in the Living Land" problem. There have been successful technology tests in the realm, but that's because the people working the tests were P-rated. The companies (and the Council) are slowly starting to figure out the whole Storm Knights thing, but haven't put all the pieces together yet. Further complicating matters are the Common Ground Association. The CGA is a recently formed grassroots movement based around the idea that not all the edeinos are working with Kaah, and that Keta Kalles is just another religion and therefore has protections under US law. Needless to say, the CGA has not exactly been embraced by the populace, and especially not by that portion of the populace who were hit hardest by the invasion. quote:The above-the-board operation is centered at CGA's headquarters in downtown Houston, where the group works busily on lobbying for their cause. The offices have already been bombed once (at night; no one was hurt). and there is no doubt further attacks will continue. Throughout the nation the organization is publicly present in the form of its members traveling door to door to get signatures to support their goals. Obviously the canvassers travel in groups, but even this has not prevented several volunteers from being attacked by zealously "loyal" Americans.  Not relevant at all to modern America. A side-effect of the invasion on American life is that it's created a very strong religious revival, particularly of fundamentalist religion. The realization that the edeinos can gain power from their "alien god" has prompted a resurgence in faith, as people start to wonder "hey, if that god's real..." Unsurprisingly, most fundamentalist sects paint the edeinos as demons and Lanala as Satan; not that hard, given that (when you get right down to it) Keta Kalles is a pretty hedonistic and violent religion. Not helping matters are the humans who've converted to Keta Kalles, either involuntarily (and are acting as undercover agents for Kaah) or willingly (and are therefore "siding with the enemy"). One example of the problems this is causing is the case of Reverend Arnold Butcher, who broadcasts nationwide from North Carolina. The Reverend Butcher is a staunch anti-Keta Kalles zealot, and gives people hope by telling how he and his followers are strong enough in their faith that they've pushed back Jakatt forces. This is a complete lie. Reverend Butcher is a total hypocrite who's incapable of performing miracles, but doesn't let that get in the way of accepting donations from across the nation. What's more, the Council has begun funneling money towards him to keep him on the air, giving people false hope that good ol' Murican faith can keep the invading reality at bay. But that's not all! Along the eastern border of the Western Land (from Idaho down to Nevada), things are beginning to get a little Max Max-y. This region (referred to as The Borderlands has a lot of fighting between the Jakatts and human suriviors. quote:The This is an oddly prescient book, isn't it?  Alright, alright, alright. Meanwhile, Los Angeles is more or less abandoned due to the proximity of the axiom border; most of the inhabitants headed east in case the Living Land overran California. In fact, most of the show biz people moved to Florida, making that the center of the US's movie industry. Between that and the fact that the Living Land is less than a day away, the city's fallen on hard times and is drat near a ghost town. The city government is still in power, but a large chunk of the city is without basic utilities like electricity. Squatters are common now, and tend to shack up in the formerly upscale parts of the city. And that's pretty much it for LA! That said, we now move to Show Biz During the Possibility Wars because that's a thing we need to learn about. While the film industry has (somehow) completely uprooted itself and moved to Florida, it's still going to be a while before film production can get settled in enough to really start putting things out at the old speed again. Cinemas are getting a resurgence due to people's need for entertainment and escapism during wartime, but due to the relocation cinemas are showing popular movies from the 80's and established classics. In fact, newsreels are starting to make a comeback as well, showing news and combat from the Living Land itself. The film and television companies are trying to take advantage of the public's interest, and have begun paying expedition forces to bring cameramen along with them on raids or supply runs. Of course, things will be heavily edited to make them "family appropriate", but still there's a booming industry in Living Land video footage. Another growth industry is academia, particularly in regards to researching the Living Land. Anthropologists, biologists, and zoologists are having a loving field day with the Living Land and self-funded expeditions into that territory aren't that uncommon. I mean, yes it takes a lot of bravery (or stupidity) for someone without combat training to willingly enter such hostile territory for extended periods of time, but the opportunities for learning are amazing. Of course, so are the opportunities for getting eaten by a dinosaur, so those academics who wish to hold expeditions need to go to the government or private corporations in order to get cash and trained personnel. The various scientists have been in contact with the Jakatts and have learned much about the Living Land from them; remember, the Jakatts don't bear humans any ill will, they just follow Kaah's orders. The Council isn't too happy about the idea of people learning that the Jakatts aren't just evil homicidal monsters, so they have a very tight control over what information comes out of the realm and have a tendency to alter studies to fit the image they're trying to project to the world about Kaah's forces (i.e., that they're inhuman monsters who want to kill all the humans and each other). Unscrupulous researchers have begin spinning their findings in this direction in order to get more Council money. By the way, I just want to point out how much I'm compressing the text in this book. This section on academic interest in the Living Land is just over a page long once you pare out the almost-full-page boxed text about a sample guy you can work for, but most of that text is just...noise. Like, do I really need to be told the difference between a "closed expedition" and an "open-ended expedition"? Or, at least, did I really need two paragraphs on the difference? I know saying that Torg's over-writing is pretty much redundant at this point, but it comes into stark relief in the next section: Spreading the Tales of Good Deeds. Why? Because it's a page and a half about how to restore Possibility energy to ords via tales of fighting back against the High Lords. quote:Here's where the Storm Knights come in. They are the heroes of Earth who people can identify with quickly. They are the individuals, like Odysseus and Robin Hood, that tales are told about for years and years. It is the job of the Storm Knights to do heroic deeds so that people can hear the stories, remember the possibilities that exist within the human race, and thus become full once again with possibility energy. When an entire area's population has become full of possibility energy once again then, and only then, can the stelae bounding it be removed safely. And I realize that now is not the time for me to bring this up (halfway through the core set of realm sourcebooks), but despite the whole fight-back-the-High-Lords-and-remove-the-realms idea that's presented as a focus of the game, that whole thing really doesn't come up in the books or adventures. Sure, sometimes you have to stop one of the High Lords from planting a new stelae and expanding their territory, nobody except for Kaah really loses territory in canon. If anything, they keep expanding because the High Lords can just drop more bridges wherever they want so taking back territory is a bit of a moot point. Hell, throughout the whole game line, every single invading reality except for Aysle ends up landing on North America anyway. Sorry, got a bit tangential there. This section also mentions that the PCs should be "doing heroic deeds" as they go looking for eternity shards or whatever. I just find this adorable because being heroes and doing heroic things is kinda the point of an RPG like this. But anyway, we're finally done learning about what the States are like, so it's time to turn our attention to Core Earth Canada! For four pages. One of which is almost a full-page NPC stat block and description. Oh, and another almost-page of artwork.  I know I should be making a "take off, eh?" joke, but all I can think of is "Yakkety Sax". Canada hasn't been hit anywhere near as bad as the States, but that doesn't mean that Canada's having a better time of things. In fact, the Canadian army is split three ways, keeping a perimeter around the Northern Land and trying to keep Kaah from expanding further north. The Canadian parliament barely had time to adjust to the invasion before Ottawa was overrun by an attacking force of Jakatts and gospog, resulting in the majority of the members of parliament being captured and/or killed. In the aftermath, the various provinces scrambled to self-govern until a new parliament could be elected. The center of government was moved to Regina, mainly because it's far away from Kaah's territory. Fortunately, the military managed to keep things together in the interim, managing relief efforts and protecting refugees. Unfortunately, supplies are starting to run low, and Canada's normal allies are all dealing with their own invasions. In the early months of the invasion, nobody was able to help anyone else. But don't worry! The fine people of Japan and the Kanawa Corporation are providing humanitarian aid, arms, and technology to help fight Baruk Kaah's forces. What nice people! In addition, Cyberpope Malraux has sent representatives to negotiate an alliance with Quebec. Now, unlike Kanawa and 3327, everybody knows that Malraux is the evil overlord of the reality that has taken over France. So why is Canada entertaining an alliance? Two reasons: quote:First, the province is primarily of French decent and of the Catholic faith. Although Quebec has not shirked its responsibility in providing resources for the nation, if the country should fall they would be perfectly willing to throw in their lot with a powerful ally who apparently is attempting to put France back in the position of world power it once possessed. Anyway (I say that a lot, don't I?), Canada's also having trouble with refugees and overcrowding. Montreal, Quebec, Ontario, and other cities near Kaah's territory have been evacuated and turned into military posts, and the population has been moved north for lack of anywhere better to put them. Meanwhile, fighting continues around Alberta due to its proximity to the Northern Land. Kaah keeps sending forces out from there not so much to take territory as to keep the Canadian military occupied and not paying too much attention to what's happening deep inside the Northern Land. On top of that, the whole "Borderlands" thing that's happening Stateside is happening here too, with people trying to claim territory around the borders of the stelae zones. And with that, we finish the fluff half of the book. And again, I'm not mad at all this. Yeah, it could be presented better, but there's enough stuff here to give GMs ideas on what you can have PCs do in the realm. Of course, none of that is used later in the game line. God, such a waste... NEXT TIME: Finally! A use for the Direction Sense skill! Evil Mastermind fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Feb 6, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 20:57
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By the way: I'd just like to say that that post was really hard to work on on Friday. I don't think I'll need to explain why.
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Jan 24, 2017 21:01
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I can understand how that might have been hard to write but I actually found it pretty interesting. It has a lot of ideas and I'm sorry that they never seem to be brought up again. But as a Canadian, I have to say... Regina? Really? Regina? Regina has a population (in reality) of slightly under 200,000. You'd think you'd at least use Winnipeg first. (Capital of Manitoba rather than Saskatchewan; it's closer to the Eastern lands but further away from West and North.) That or Saskatoon, which is a city also in Saskatchewan that is a) larger than Regina and b) not already Saskatchewan's capital; this is normal, Ottawa isn't Ontario's capital either. If you're willing to risk going further west, there's Edmonton or Calgary on top of that, both of which are much larger cities that are presumably at least mostly intact since according to the map they're not in any non-Core realms (though Calgary is getting kind of close to some Dominant Living Lands territory). I'm going to assume they picked Saskatchewan, checked what its capital is and didn't bother thinking about anywhere else. Also, the territory up by Fort Providence is completely worthless. That entire territory - which at the time is everything from the boundaries to its west out east to Hudson Bay, as Nunavut wasn't founded when Torg was written, plus some stuff so far northeast it's not on the map Torg provides - has a population of about 70000. Like, total. I don't even know how there's enough people up there to get turned into power sources. Good place for a secret lab, but... Prism fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jan 24, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 21:57
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I mean as a fellow Canadian, not thinking about Saskatchewan is pretty much a hobby of mine, so I can't blame them.
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Jan 24, 2017 21:59
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MollyMetroid posted:I mean as a fellow Canadian, not thinking about Saskatchewan is pretty much a hobby of mine, so I can't blame them. I can't really disagree, but I wasn't the one who picked Regina either.
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Jan 24, 2017 22:01
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Don't look at me, I just report this stuff. And don't feel bad; apart from LA, Detroit, and Philly, there's really nothing about any other US major region or city. What's happening in New England now that it's cut off from the rest of the country? How's the Farm Belt holding up with all these refugees? What about Portland or Seattle? Or San Francisco? 
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Jan 24, 2017 22:05
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Evil Mastermind posted:Don't look at me, I just report this stuff. Oh, I don't feel bad, nor do I blame you. I just think it's hilarious.
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Jan 24, 2017 22:28
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I love it when gaming nerds write stuff about Quebec. It's always some Baskin Robbins flavour of ridiculous.
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Jan 24, 2017 22:57
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By the by if youre in the mood to see how Beast could have been go check out the film Split. I dont want to spoil it but it covers all the bases and sets up an ongoing campaign.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:31
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Bieeardo posted:I love it when gaming nerds write stuff about Quebec. It's always some Baskin Robbins flavour of ridiculous.
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Jan 25, 2017 00:46
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Evil Mastermind posted:I live in Rhode Island. I love seeing writers trying to do a state-by-state "here's what's going on" and then having zero ideas when they get to us. "Something tiny, I guess?"
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Jan 25, 2017 00:59
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Evil Mastermind posted:I live in Rhode Island. I love seeing writers trying to do a state-by-state "here's what's going on" and then having zero ideas when they get to us. Basically the only thing I know about Rhode Island is that Hasbro is there. I mean, there must be something in that state more worthy of being mentioned.
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Jan 25, 2017 01:07
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MightyMatilda posted:Basically the only thing I know about Rhode Island is that Hasbro is there. I mean, there must be something in that state more worthy of being mentioned. To be fair, we're just kinda here with our own idiosyncrasies and are okay with that. I just find it funny that a lot of the time writers won't even try.
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Jan 25, 2017 01:14
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MightyMatilda posted:Basically the only thing I know about Rhode Island is that Hasbro is there. I mean, there must be something in that state more worthy of being mentioned. "Woonsocket" is a pretty good town name. And Providence probably contains things other than a game store located on the set of Fallout: Rhode Island.
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Jan 25, 2017 01:15
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Paragon City and its outlying boroughs from City of Heroes was situated on Rhode Island. I think that was mentioned exactly once in the lore. Edit: I wouldn't be surprised. That game was littered with references like that. Bieeanshee fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 01:31
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That was probably an homage to how the original JSA (and later Young Justice) were situated in "Mount Justice" in Happy Harbor, RI.
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Jan 25, 2017 01:34
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