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Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

To Protect Flavor posted:

Sometimes Rifts seems pretty reasonable, if a little clunky and super 90s (at least, from reading these reviews), but then you get something like time-warping capybara people.

What the Christ?

But that's like the first hilariously stupid enough to actually BE memorable thong I've seen from Rifts in ages!

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Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Mutant Capybara R.C.C.

Part rat, part human, part capybara, these hybrids are good swimmers, but their main power is to manipulate time and space, which implies this is a latent psychic ability of normal capybaras.

All the capybaras we have ever seen have been the same capybara from different timelines. Killing the wrong one at the wrong time will erase the whole species from reality.


Excellent. Those are definitely not the momma.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



To Protect Flavor posted:

Sometimes Rifts seems pretty reasonable, if a little clunky and super 90s (at least, from reading these reviews), but then you get something like time-warping capybara people.

What the Christ?
I hope the capybaras have amazing Charisma, since they get along with just about every other animal in real life. In a shocking twist, they're the Precursors, and technically all this gene twisting was just hybridizing their fallow people with hew-mon DNA. Phase III will begin in the Dinosaur Swamp...

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



I wonder if Carella wrote the capabara section after he knew this was his last gig with Palladium?

occamsnailfile
Nov 4, 2007



zamtrios so lonely
Grimey Drawer
The space-time capybara and the lone vengeance dinosaur should do a buddy cop show. The DA would have to be one of the birdmans of course.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy
I think it was in Rifts Conversion Book I that said that if you didn't like the MDC/SDC system, or if it was too much to keep an eye on the conversions when merging different Palladium games together, that you could just flat out turn MDC values into SDC values at a 1-to-1 ratio and still have it largely work.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

Uhhhh..



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Dinosaurs

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Midjack posted:

I wonder if Carella wrote the capabara section after he knew this was his last gig with Palladium?

I don't think so, given the cites himself as being a staff writer in the very introduction and how excited he is about it.

It's not his last book on the line but is probably the most CJ Carellaest book aside from Nightbane.


Given I have a Commandosaurs mini-comic from 1989, pretty sure they came first.

Though it's not like radical dinosaurs with guns is that revolutionary of an idea. :ssh:

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:
Oh i didn't know it was a real thing, i thought it was some dumb parody thing from RIFTS.

:psyduck:

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 47 minutes!

Midjack posted:

I wonder if Carella wrote the capabara section after he knew this was his last gig with Palladium?
He was in cahoots with Coffin; Land of the Damned 3 was just going to be capybara liches everywhere.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Kurieg posted:

Oh i didn't know it was a real thing, i thought it was some dumb parody thing from RIFTS.

:psyduck:

I was a comic / toy idea invented by Peter Laird of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame that was never actually published except for a few mini-comics and preview stories here and there.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

gradenko_2000 posted:

I think it was in Rifts Conversion Book I that said that if you didn't like the MDC/SDC system, or if it was too much to keep an eye on the conversions when merging different Palladium games together, that you could just flat out turn MDC values into SDC values at a 1-to-1 ratio and still have it largely work.

At the risk of double-posting, yes. I covered it here. There are issues with a 1-for-1 conversion (mainly that old S.D.C. weapons and new M.D.C. weapons don't match up properly) but I've run it with some adjustments and it makes things less of a headache.

Not that it isn't a headache, but less of one, at least.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy

Alien Rope Burn posted:

At the risk of double-posting, yes. I covered it here. There are issues with a 1-for-1 conversion (mainly that old S.D.C. weapons and new M.D.C. weapons don't match up properly) but I've run it with some adjustments and it makes things less of a headache.

Not that it isn't a headache, but less of one, at least.

Thank you! My next question was going to be "has anyone tried doing that, and how does it work in practice?", so nice to hear that that's been attempted, at least.

gourdcaptain
Nov 16, 2012

Alien Rope Burn posted:

At the risk of double-posting, yes. I covered it here. There are issues with a 1-for-1 conversion (mainly that old S.D.C. weapons and new M.D.C. weapons don't match up properly) but I've run it with some adjustments and it makes things less of a headache.

Not that it isn't a headache, but less of one, at least.

Savage Rifts, while keeping Mega Damage as a concept, puts it on the same damage scaling as non-mega damage. They also cut back the weapons that can do mega damage to mostly melee and vehicular/anti-vehicular, although the assignment is wonky in some places.

Then my DM basically house rules everything back to being MDC if it was in Palladium Rifts and made powers free to be MDC, and that seems to work out too so far, although it takes some of the bite out of things with MDC armor. (Did it for a bit of grogginess, but in a fairly harmless way and he's doing the more important stuff like not engaging in CS-boosting.)

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

gourdcaptain posted:

Savage Rifts, while keeping Mega Damage as a concept, puts it on the same damage scaling as non-mega damage. They also cut back the weapons that can do mega damage to mostly melee and vehicular/anti-vehicular, although the assignment is wonky in some places.

Savage Rifts just reflavored the vehicle-scale damage and armor rules from Savage Worlds, which works on the saner principle of "Could you damage a vehicle with this? If not, don't even bother rolling damage".


That odd moment when a weird cartoon you used to watch turns out to be a spin-off to another weird cartoon you've never watched.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

Doresh posted:

That odd moment when a weird cartoon you used to watch turns out to be a spin-off to another weird cartoon you've never watched.

Late 90's DIC was mainlining the good drugs.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

Good stuff. I wonder what the chances for a Hollywood reboot are? Though I guess it would be a bit close to that Power Rangers reboot...

Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

gourdcaptain posted:

Savage Rifts, while keeping Mega Damage as a concept, puts it on the same damage scaling as non-mega damage. They also cut back the weapons that can do mega damage to mostly melee and vehicular/anti-vehicular, although the assignment is wonky in some places.

Then my DM basically house rules everything back to being MDC if it was in Palladium Rifts and made powers free to be MDC, and that seems to work out too so far, although it takes some of the bite out of things with MDC armor. (Did it for a bit of grogginess, but in a fairly harmless way and he's doing the more important stuff like not engaging in CS-boosting.)
The great thing you can do is lobby to remove Mega Damage trait altogether:D

Seriously, I'd keep everything as is in Savage RIFTS but make magic M.D. just to make magic user's a real threat.

Terrible Opinions
Oct 18, 2013



I appreciate that within a span of fewer than ten years there were two cartoons about mummies. Sadly Mummy the Animated Series does not have a kicking rad trailer.

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.
Extreme Dinosaurs wasn't even the only TV series about Toyetic humanoid dinosaurs living on modern 1990s earth.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaucers

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

Okay but why are they dressed like Saiyans?

Serf
May 5, 2011


What about Cadillacs and Dinosaurs?

Terrible Opinions
Oct 18, 2013



What was the one show where the main badguy minions were CG t-rex skeletons?

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

unseenlibrarian posted:

Extreme Dinosaurs wasn't even the only TV series about Toyetic humanoid dinosaurs living on modern 1990s earth.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaucers

Ooh looks like they fell into the mistake of making the carnivores the bad guys when even the slightest of market research would have shown that kids want a T-rex on screen 130% of the time. That weak rear end hadrosaur bullshit probably cost them 30 episodes and a toy deal.

LuiCypher
Apr 24, 2010

Today I'm... amped up!

LuiCypher posted:

I am seriously going to regret doing this, but since it's been abandoned previously and a fellow goon is doing a write-up on Black Crusade, I feel obliged to revive...

DEATHWATCH



It's been a year. Lots of things have happened (FFG and GW went splitsies, I acquired nearly every goddamn Deathwatch book in the aftermath of their fire sale, etc.), but I feel obliged - nay, emboldened - to actually finish this write up. As promised in the linked post, I'll be working on Character Creation this weekend and post it.

On a different note, I feel like Designers and Dragons is a really cool history book that's inspired me to look up a lot of the mentioned RPGs... only to find that we're not groggy enough for some of them!

RocknRollaAyatollah
Nov 26, 2008

Lipstick Apathy


Chapter One: A Place in Time Part 2

The Traditions are the basic laws or rules of vampiric society, kind of like their ten commandments. In Masquerade, a version of these are the basic laws of the Camarilla and the Sabbat.



The First Tradition – Covenant
This tradition sets down that all vampires are descended from Caine and authority is derived through closeness to him. The closer you are to Caine, in age and generation, the greater right you have to rule. Princes use this as their quasi-divine right of undead kings.

The Second Tradition – The Domain
This is the tradition that sets down the rules for territory and hospitality. A powerful vampire can declare themselves Prince of an area and control it for as long as they can maintain it. If a vampire can’t keep control of an area, they can lost it. Vampires that come into the area are supposed to present themselves and in turn the Prince is supposed to take them in as long as they promise to abide by the rules and help maintain the domain. A Prince doesn’t have to let people in, it doesn’t say this, but the spirit of Caine’s original directive hints at this. Fiefdoms and herds are usually divided up, usually this division mirrors a mortal political system like feudalism, but some domains are rumored to follow other systems. Again, it’s not set in stone and you can set things up however you want.

The Third Tradition – The Progeny
The embrace is seen as a big thing and isn’t given out lightly. Vampires are usually supposed to ask for permission to embrace from the local Prince, as they are the ranking elder, and not doing so can lead to destruction. There isn’t a set punishment so sometimes the sire is destroyed and the childe spared, or vice versa. It’s mainly up to the Prince and how it fits into their schemes. A childe spared is indebted to the Prince for instance and sire who is spared is indebted as well. Since there’s no Camarilla or other organization, it’s all based on the local Prince.

The Fourth Tradition – The Accounting
This tradition lays down that a sire is accountable for the crimes of their childe. Due to this and the Third Tradition, embrace is not something that should be done carelessly. This can also cover ghouls, mortals given vampiric blood for temporary vampire powers, but it’s unpopular for being a step too far. Again, local laws vary from Prince to Prince and it’s more akin to Requiem than Masquerade in that regard.

The Fifth Tradition – Destruction
There’s some debate on this tradition, mainly as to why it’s bad to destroy other vampires, but the most standard translation of ancient texts holds that it’s bad for the young to kill the old. Therefore the right of destruction is that of the elders and cannot be done without their permission. Again, most the power of the world is in the hands of the elders and they arbitrarily hold power over life and death. Being as this is the Middle Ages, there’s a subtext of divine right in there as well due to generation. You can understand why the Anarch Revolts happen after this coupled with the War of the Princes.

The Sixth Tradition – The Silence of the Blood
This is essentially the Masquerade. Vampires are to remain hidden and kept their existence a secret because mortals will seek retribution against and the Church might send the Inquisition knocking. A vampire is after all a being cursed by God that lives off the blood of the living so it’s not like they’re going to get any sympathy or admiration from the common folk. Elders don’t like this as well for a number of reason, it puts you outside the traditions by entering mortal society for one, and it often leads to the invoking of the Fifth Tradition, though a court usually decides a punishment that meets the severity of the breach.

Domain Organization
Within Christian domains the courts usually follow a system that mirrors the mortal hierarchy of the region. Even within Christian areas, this differs by local tradition and is influenced by mortal trends or history.

Prince
The Prince is the ruler of a domain and is usually the strongest, eldest, and/or combination of the two vampire in the domain. It’s possible for a regent to rule in their place, Mithras the Prince of London does this, and the Prince or their chosen regent is usually not the eldest Cainite but rules with their support. This is generally seen as a good thing because elders are typically strong and having a strong leader prevents upstart younger Cainites from coming in, trying to take over, and engaging in a perpetual war over control of a domain.

An alternative to this setup is given for Athens, which is ruled by a democracy that elects a triumvirate that leads the city. This system is constantly under strain though because the needs of the many are hard to meet but elders feel the need to at least consider their constituent’s needs.

Keeper
The Keeper maintains the Elysia, the neutral places where vampires can meet, mingle, and openly be vampires without fear of retribution. This is a tough job because vampires tend to squabble and fight so the Keeper has to make sure people are entertained while maintaining security.

An alternative is given for Krakow, where the neonates maintain the Elysia. This is seen as being good for strengthening alliances and weeding out the weak.

Editorial comment: The neonates are the most likely candidates to start poo poo in an Elysia so by keeping them busy with maintaining this institution, they theoretically ensure it’s being run well. It’s kind of like the Japanese elementary school model where the kids clean and maintain the school.

Chamberlain
The Chamberlain is pretty much the Seneschal, the second in command. This position is usually maintained by a trusted advisor, one who is learned and wise, relying on finesse as opposed to brute force. Chamberlains can outlast Princes and in some domains there are multiples.

Paris is given as an example and has such a large population that the Prince needs multiple specialist Chamberlains to maintain their domain.

Sheriff
The Sheriff is pretty much the same as it is in Masquerade. They make sure the laws of the domain are being followed and maintain the peace. They learn the geography of the court and deal with problems, often before they present themselves. The Sheriff’s main focus is on the domain and the Prince will usually have appointed lackeys, usually knights, who they have carry out their petty plans. This isn’t to say that the Prince doesn’t crack heads and occasionally cut them off for the Prince but it’s not their job outside of administering the law and dealing with trouble makers.

An alternative is given for Mongolia, where the Prince will have a Sheriff and the council of elders will have their own. They’re supposed to maintain the peace in the domain and maintain a balance of power between the elders and the Prince.

Misc. Positions
Sometimes domains have their own specialized positions and since there’s no greater organization this happens often.

London’s Own Rat Catcher – This is essentially London’s Charlie Kelly. Their job is to herd and maintain the rats of the city, making sure they’re healthy and edible. They’re corralled into cisterns for the unfortunate vampires in London to eat.

Quanzhou’s Murder of Harpies – This is a group of vampires who keep tabs on the court gossip and rumors of Quanzhou.

Free Lances and Scourges – These are the violent enforcers of the Prince. They usually operate in secret and act as the Prince’s murderer or murder squad. More often than not people don’t know who the Scourge is, it’s all putting the pieces together, and this is another aspect of a Prince’s harsh, arbitrary rules. Scourge is a position in Masquerade for those not familiar with it and it operates on the same principle but they’re usually a known quantity from what I remember.

Elders often meet and conduct business formally or informally. Sometimes elder councils exist, like in the Mongolia example, but it’s not common. Some Princes restrict these types of bodies from forming too. An example is given of a domain in the Holy Land where vampires over 100 years of undeath can meet with another of that age or older. If they do, they are destroyed because the Regent-Prince is that powerful.

Generation
Generation is the lineage of vampires and represents their closeness to Caine. Caine was the first vampire as discussed, cursed by God for the first murder. He murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy and for that he was cursed to wander the Earth for eternity. The lower a vampire’s generation, the fewer steps they are from Caine, the more power they inherently have. Vampires can artificially lower their generation by committing the Amaranth, diablerie. The Amaranth is the greatest crime a Cainite can commit and involves a vampire devouring the soul of another vampire. If the vampire is lower generation, the vampire lowers their generation and can gain new disciplines they would not have access to. It also strengthens the beast and marks a vampire as a soul devouring murderer when looked at through Auspex, a discipline based around aura reading.

The Second Generation – Caine’s children and not much is known about them or their powers. It’s believed they were godlike in power. None of them are known to have survived past the great Deluge.

The Third Generation – These are the mysterious founders of the clans, the Antediluvians, and Caine’s grandchildren. At this level, the blood is so potent that they are virtually gods and can create their own lineages. Most of the Antediluvians are out of the picture, gone or in torpor, but some are still around as discussed. The newest Antediluvian is Tremere, of Ars Magica fame and he’s not well liked for upsetting the apple cart.

The Fourth and Fifth Generations - These vampires, called Methuselahs, are powerful and typically very old. At this level they can still create their own lineages, bloodlines, but they are only variations on a clan. They are still up and about. Penne believes they are the cause for the War of the Princes and she’s definitely not wrong believing that.

The Sixth and Seventh Generation – The Elders and the most notably active of the older power players. They’re pretty powerful but inherently weaker than the lower generations. By the time of Masquerade they’re much rarer than during this time. A seventh Generation vampire is the oldest vampire you can make at character creation in V20 Dark Ages.

The Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Generations – The Ancilla, typically the middle managers within domains. These characters are typically the oldest characters you can make in a Masquerade game at character creation.

The Eleventh and Twelfth Generations – The Neonates and the most common vampires. These are the weakest vampires and are generally held to human levels in abilities and attributes.

The possibility of thin bloods, lower than 12th generation, is presented as possible. It’s difficult to pull off physically and politically but it can happen. In Masquerade the starting generation is 13th generation and that’s a bad thing.


This is a chart for Masquerade but the breakdown is the same. As you can see, the lower generations are inherently more powerful and can do more than higher generation vampires. Having more blood points, it’s a qualitative rating, and being able to spend more lets them use more powers, which can be incredibly powerful when it comes to disciplines.

Wassail
When a vampire loses themselves to their beast, they are consumed by it and it takes over. The vampire pretty much becomes an animal that does nothing but kill and feed.

Golconda
This is vampire enlightenment or salvation. Golconda is a mythical state wherein a vampire makes peace with their beast and is no longer burden by many aspects of the vampiric condition. You essentially get all the boons of being a vampire without any of the curse. This is all hypothetical and Penne posits that the Antediluvians may know the secret and keep it from younger vampires. Vampires who go seeking it out generally end up destroyed.

Antagonists and Other Oddities

Hunters – Hunters and the Inquisition are something vampires have to watch out for. Penne blames the Cathars for bringing down this issue on them.

Werewolves – Penne has never met one but has been assured they exist. A Gangrel has told her they walk among men in plain sight, seeking out mates and hunting the unclean. They are impossible to differentiate from humans and can turn into towering monsters at will.

Witches – Penne remembers, much like Pepperidge Farms, a time when those who practiced magic did so freely but now they live in fear of the Inquisition like vampires. This doesn’t make them allies though and Penne points out the consequences of making that mistake.

Shining Ones – The fae, which she really doesn’t talk about. They mostly live on the edge of human society, in the wild areas.

Ghosts – Penne points out that they’re real and they tend to crop up for vampires due to the occasional murder or accidental death. They’re not pleasant and tend to hound those that killed them.

Deeper Mysteries Still – Secrets, adventure, danger, and the unexplained are always out there. Essentially the type of stuff Arthur C. Clarke or Leonard Nemoy would host a show about that doesn’t have a splat book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_SAKcOuTpU

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

LuiCypher posted:

It's been a year. Lots of things have happened (FFG and GW went splitsies, I acquired nearly every goddamn Deathwatch book in the aftermath of their fire sale, etc.), but I feel obliged - nay, emboldened - to actually finish this write up. As promised in the linked post, I'll be working on Character Creation this weekend and post it.

On a different note, I feel like Designers and Dragons is a really cool history book that's inspired me to look up a lot of the mentioned RPGs... only to find that we're not groggy enough for some of them!

One of my goals after WHFRP is to cover 40krp, because it's a broken, ruined mess for genuinely interesting reasons. I am really looking forward to you covering Squad Mode vs. Solo Mode.

LuiCypher
Apr 24, 2010

Today I'm... amped up!

Night10194 posted:

One of my goals after WHFRP is to cover 40krp, because it's a broken, ruined mess for genuinely interesting reasons. I am really looking forward to you covering Squad Mode vs. Solo Mode.

Oh, gently caress me. Yeah, that's one of their unique innovations that they added to try to make Deathwatch very distinct from the rest of the systems.

In practice, all I've seen anyone do is stay in Solo Mode.

Edit: Fluff-wise, it's a really cool idea though. Thematically, it fits well within the themes of the game. In practice, it's a hassle to work with and unless you spec your Space Marine to be a squad leader you never really get to use any of the abilities unique to your chapter.

LuiCypher fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Mar 10, 2017

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

LuiCypher posted:

Oh, gently caress me. Yeah, that's one of their unique innovations that they added to try to make Deathwatch very distinct from the rest of the systems.

In practice, all I've seen anyone do is stay in Solo Mode.

It's not like even if Squad was a power boost you really needed power boosts. In the very great DW campaign I played in, the GM just said "I always build with the assumption you will win every fight and the actual strategy and drama is picking where and why you apply your 3 person walking trump card in this conflict of billions where everyone is screaming for you."

There will always be one deeply integrated, exciting sounding, but poorly thought out mechanic in every FFG 40KRP game. Cohesion is DW'S.

LatwPIAT
Jun 6, 2011

There's a delightful irony in how Dark Ages tells us that the 12th Generation are considered the last "proper" generation of vampires, with the 13th Generation being thin-bloods who can't embrace or make ghouls, and don't follow the ancient traditions and are surely a sign that Gehenna is approaching.

...when that's roughly how everyone treats the 14th Generation in Masquerade.

RocknRollaAyatollah
Nov 26, 2008

Lipstick Apathy

Night10194 posted:

It's not like even if Squad was a power boost you really needed power boosts. In the very great DW campaign I played in, the GM just said "I always build with the assumption you will win every fight and the actual strategy and drama is picking where and why you apply your 3 person walking trump card in this conflict of billions where everyone is screaming for you."

There will always be one deeply integrated, exciting sounding, but poorly thought out mechanic in every FFG 40KRP game. Cohesion is DW'S.

That's pretty true to the original Black Library source material. All of it.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

That's pretty true to the original Black Library source material. All of it.

I was even a completely statistically average Tactical Marine. His defining trait was painful self awareness of his own insignificance.

We also accidentally caused a Ciaphus Cain story.

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

LatwPIAT posted:

There's a delightful irony in how Dark Ages tells us that the 12th Generation are considered the last "proper" generation of vampires, with the 13th Generation being thin-bloods who can't embrace or make ghouls, and don't follow the ancient traditions and are surely a sign that Gehenna is approaching.

...when that's roughly how everyone treats the 14th Generation in Masquerade.
Darn kids these days! :corsair:

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

gradenko_2000 posted:

Thank you! My next question was going to be "has anyone tried doing that, and how does it work in practice?", so nice to hear that that's been attempted, at least.

I've tried it with the Palladium system a long, long time ago. The answer is that it mostly works fine, you just probably want to either up the damage of existing M.D.C. weapons or lower the damage of S.D.C. weapons because a 1-for-1 conversion creates odd situations where an M-14 is a better gun than the newest Coalition ray gun, or a Vietnam-era bazooka does ten times the damage of mini-missile launcher. You'd probably want to reduce the general M.D.C. values of anything really durable (like 100 M.D.C. or more), but that's just a good general suggestion for the game anyway. What you don't want to do is Palladium's suggestion where you multiply mini-missile damage by 10 because missile systems are already one of the (possibly the) most powerful weapons already.

It doesn't fix a lot of what's wrong with Palladium combat but it solves one major issue where if any M.D.C. penetrates a human-level PC's armor, 99.9% of the time they're dead, so resolution to combat is usually pretty binary (you kill your foes or you're dead yourself) unless one side is packing stun weapons or save-or-suck spells. There's later optional rules where it just might cripple PCs instead, and Rifts Ultimate Edition goes so far as to have no "blow-through" damage with worn armor (so if you take 100 M.D.C. in one shot to your 50 M.D.C. armor, the armor is blown off but you're unhurt). But those are just band-aids on the overt lethality that Mega-Damage leads to.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



LatwPIAT posted:

There's a delightful irony in how Dark Ages tells us that the 12th Generation are considered the last "proper" generation of vampires, with the 13th Generation being thin-bloods who can't embrace or make ghouls, and don't follow the ancient traditions and are surely a sign that Gehenna is approaching.

...when that's roughly how everyone treats the 14th Generation in Masquerade.
What I actually thought was clever in the old Masquerade metaplot is that everyone was right, but for the wrong reasons. What prodded the Antediluvians wasn't raw numbers of vampires, or how weak those vampires were, it was vampires dying a lot of the time. (Presumably this would have led to a rude awakening had the European Inquisition been more successful.)

So 14th and 15th generation vampires weren't a problem in and of themselves; they were a problem because they were hunted and because they were generally frailer both physically and culturally.

RocknRollaAyatollah
Nov 26, 2008

Lipstick Apathy

Nessus posted:

What I actually thought was clever in the old Masquerade metaplot is that everyone was right, but for the wrong reasons. What prodded the Antediluvians wasn't raw numbers of vampires, or how weak those vampires were, it was vampires dying a lot of the time. (Presumably this would have led to a rude awakening had the European Inquisition been more successful.)

So 14th and 15th generation vampires weren't a problem in and of themselves; they were a problem because they were hunted and because they were generally frailer both physically and culturally.

This. Hubris and general stupidity are pretty much the underlying themes of all Old World of Darkness settings.

The thin bloods are actually bad though because embracing too much has deluded God's curse to a point of being inconsequential. A 15th generation vampire is barely a vampire and can even have children. Dhampirs are one of the signs of Gehenna.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!


Rifts World Book Nine: South America 2: Part 15: "The supreme leader of the Shining Path goes by the name 'Mao Hernandez'."

New Babylon

So, this is actually the largest nation detailed in this book, just barely bigger than Cordoba. Known for its wealth, Babylon earns a lot of hate because they're both rich and they super loving smug about it. A union between humanity and a race of D-Bees known as the Amaki, they've actually built high-tech cities complete with skyscrapers and trade widely. They're big into techno-wizardry, parties, and powdered wigs, not necessarily in that order.

History

The Amaki have a very advanced civilization built on "gizmoteering", which is a mix of psionics, techno-wizardry, and bonafide science. Somehow they've survived without getting blown up by the Mechanoids, Splugorth, or other assholes that roam the Megaverse, and so the Amaki that arrived here are actually just interdimensional colonists and explorers. They came for the rich resources, but were moved to help humanity, and it became an unprecedented success for the Amaki. Though there were great losses and a war with Cordoba, they've flourished. The Earth-Amaki hybrid culture has become a renowned pace on the interdimensional music scene, and humans were also allowed to not only become part of the Guilds that lead Amaki on Earth, but actually lead them.

Oh, and they're called "Babylonians" because the Amaki apparently look like old carvings and depictions of Babylonian and Assyrian warriors, which is random enough. Oh, and they're decadent, too.

Government and Society

So their government is "House Rule", which refers to the rule by the trade houses of the Amaki, which include:
  • The House of Arms makes weapons and armor.
  • The House of Sailors makes ships and transports.
  • The House of Engineers makes buildings.
  • The House of Magic dominates magical and psionic endeavors.
  • The House of Health runs health care and medical research.
  • The House of Money deals with banking and currency.
  • The House of the Sword which runs fencing schools.
They also have "chapters" which are specialty sub-houses. One's place in a guild is basically one's standing in society, and competition to go up in rank is fierce. Though skullduggery is in theory discouraged, the real fact of the matter is that it boils down to "don't get caught". Still, even the bottom ranks have one of the highest standards of living on Earth, and the higher ranks are essentially a form of nobility. Society values putting the house's good over your own, and as a result, the few outside the house system are basically hosed. Though conflict between houses can turn nasty, the House of Arms will step in to quell any major conflicts.

Each House has its only military force, though they vary widely in numbers and efficacy. The House of the Sword also has Duellists, who essentially serve as the country's shady poo poo agency.

Foreign Affairs

Though they're unofficially allied with Achilles, most of their contact is only commercial. The Babylonians have a embassy in the Empire of the Sun, and the two nations trade both culture and goods amiably. Though there's technically a peace treaty between Babylon and Cordoba, neither country cares for the other. Most of their contact with Santiago is also just trade. They're worried about the Arkhons, but probably won't go to war with them unless prompted. The Amaki fight the Larhold Barbarians fairly often, like everybody else, it seems. They're helping build a nuclear reactor for Columbia, boycott trade with Lagarto, and the House of the Mind is looking for a mysterious place called Psyscape (soon to come to a World Book near yo- okay no it'll take forever for that to come out).

Amaki Stone-Man R.C.C.

Amaki look like they're made of stone, but are mostly just tough, and often use paint and makeup regardless of their place on the gender spectrum. They also have a elaborate fashion scene ranging from multi-layered dresses to skin-tight jumpsuits. They find humans to be appealing and the most "Amaki-like" race they've met, and sometimes humans and Amaki become involved romantically. Though they can't have children with humans, it's traditional for such couples to adopt.

Oh, yeah, they have numbers too. Though they don't technically have M.D.C., they're tough enough to take 3d6 mega-damage before dropping. All of their physical attributes are pretty solid (get it) with no real weaknesses. They have sharp senses, nightvision, heal quickly, can punch for mega-damage, and have a slightly higher rate of psionics than humanity. They also get a few weapons, language, and musical skills as a bonus on top of whatever class they choose.

So yeah, unlike most of the R.C.C.s in this book, they can choose a O.C.C. as well. They have the unique Duelist and Gizmoteer classes, and can take almost any other class. They can also take classes that are the "equivalent" of psi-stalkers or mind bleeders, but what those "equivalents" are is never explained. Ultimately they're a straight upgrade over humans in most ways, as long as you don't care about having a broccoli-beard.


Apparently, they have unusually flexible spines.

Duelist R.C.C.

Even though all Amaki sword-fight, these are the best bestest sword-fightin'est Amaki. They're raised by the House of the Sword, which publicly is just a swordfighting school that develops duelling celebs but privately contracts its students out as assassins and secret agents. As undercover agents, they usually use ordinary weapons rather than their duellist blades amongst other weapons. Their lifelong dedication generally wrecks their sense of humor, apparently, since they have no time for a valuable education in jokes.

A character has to beong to the House of the Sword to take this class, restricting it largely to Amaki and humans, but because of the way attribute requirements work, it's pretty much Amaki. About 31% of Amaki rolled up can take this class, but 0.6% of human characters will qualify for it. But what do you get for your trouble, then? Well, you get a slightly boosted psi-sword (still crap damage), a "psi-field" that gives you a very minor M.D.C. value, and a smattering of other psychic powers including a psi-shield. You also get "psi-swordsmanship" which lets you use dual weapons (but not two psi-swords at once, even though they badly need the buff), a special disarming move, and a bunch of pretty solid bonuses when using swords. Unfortunately, swords still pretty well stink unless you have a greater rune weapon or the like. Other than that, some combat and physical skills round this out and some below-average skill picks. It's a nicely flavorful class, but the fact that psi-swords require you to max out your level to match up to simple small arms from these books is a big issue this doesn't address.


"Yeah, I'm made of stone, but why take chances?"

Gizmoteer R.C.C.

Psychics that muck with machines, gizmoteers are similar to techno-wizards, but from a psychic end. They're a backbone of Amaki culture, and do everything from mechanics to CSI investigations. And, of course, despite them being vital to the race, they go off on adventures because.

It's not really clear if you can play this class as a human, but Amaki have about a 50% chance of qualifying for it. They can modify machines to give them bonuses to damage, speed, maneuverability - and the rules for these are quantified pretty well, a rarity for Rifts. The higher your level, the bigger the bonus, but... the higher your level, the higher the chance that the item breaks and is destroyed. At really high levels, it just automatically breaks! Given the cost of most technology in Rifts, this is a huge drawback - weapons easily cost upwards of 5-6 figures, and even a modest suit of power armor will run into the millions of credits. Granted, there are ways around this - keep a stock of salvaged equipment from high-tech foes, or use it on disposable weapons like missiles or grenades, but it's still a really stupid, overly punishing drawback for a core ability.

Otherwise, the can make some psychic devices like guns powered by psychic power, armor boosted with extra shields, or "gizmos" that duplicate psychic powers they have, all of which is pretty drat handy. They get some psionic powers like electrokinesis and telemechanics, and a selection of powers they can't use normally, but can build into machines for other people to use. They even get to start out with some free gizmos based on their powers, which is a nice touch. Skill-wise, they get some basic electronics skills and a great selection of free picks. Ultimately, this is a pretty cool class that does unique stuff - a rarity this many books into the line - and only the dumb "stuff breaks" mechanic is the only thing holding it back.

Other Republics

These are small groups and countries in the Silver River Republic that got tacked on at the end are much smaller players.


"We believe in diversity in architecture."

The Southern Federation

Aka "Le Federacion del Sur", this is a small collection of a few cities that were warped in from other worlds... right on top of existing cities, devastating them. Still, a few of them banded together and fought off the Larhold Barbarians, including:
  • A small castle town run by "High Wizards" who apparently have incredible power beyond that of other wizards.
  • The "Experimental Arcology of Patagonia" which is a very high-tech human city.
  • A city warped in from Wormwood (from, unsurprisingly, Rifts Dimension Book One: Wormwood).
They also have rich resources that may have also been rifted in or somehow unearthed by the rifts. And that's all we get on them!


"Mega-damage armor and weapons? I mean, that's nice if you can afford it."

The Shining Path

It notes that this was a Communist group of guerrillas from the 20th and 21st century, but were pretty wrecked by the rifts and the return of the Incas. The Incas have had basically no patience for them, and have driven them into the mountains where many live as bandits with a Marxist veneer. Or so Rifts says, the real ones are Maoists, but so it goes. They're led by a "Mao Hernandez", who claims to have survived since the coming of the rifts and may be some supernatural creature.

This is, of course, based on the real Shining Path, Peruvian Maoists that strive to create a true communist state, but in reality mostly just deal cocaine and murder people. Given the setbacks they keep having, it seems surprising they'd survive for centuries, but then, it seems surprising they keep on even after several decades of repeated failures and defeats in real life.

Italo Industries

A company founded by weapons engineers from Cordoba, this company basically runs San Luis as a company town, and sells to practically all the Silver River Republic nations. Thanks to New Babylon, they've become "... the first Earth company that directly exports to other dimensions!" They support both sides of the Cordoba-Santiago conflict, like Destro, and even brag about it, like Destro.

Nuevo Peru (New Peru)

A small paranoid military junta run out of Iquitos, this is nowhere near the size of Peru, but claims to be the successors of that nation. Mostly, they have made it through mainly by their discovery of a cache of nearly a hundred Glitter Boys. A human supremacist nation, they are a minor ally of Cordoba, but make Cordoba look relatively relaxed by comparison. The Arkhons have considered wiping them out, but the cost seems too high, and so have actually sought a temporary alliance with Peru against the Empire of the Sun. The Junta is actually considering this offer due to the Arkhons' strength, but it seems unlikely they'll agree to it due to the Arkhons' "destroy all humans" policy.

The Local Caudillos

This refers to many small warlords and leaders who lord over a town with high technology or superhuman abilities. Some exist within other nations like Cordoba or Santiago, where they are generally tolerated as long as they don't defy the central government. Many can be quite brutal, but they're often at risk of being toppled by larger forces.

The South American Devil's Triangle

... can be found to the Southeast of the continent, and works like the Bermuda Triangle (as detailed in Rifts World Book Two: Atlantis. The southern mouth of the Amazon is known as "La Peninsula Infernal" or the "Hell Peninsula" as a result.

Languages

Not a country, as it turns out, but a subject. Some of this was covered in Rifts World Book Six: South America, but we get a refresher:
  • Spanish: Yup, it's still a language. Spoken in the Silver River Republics.
  • Creole: A mix of Spanish, Portuguese and indigineous languages, with no official written form, though some people write it phonetically. (Technically, a Creole is any mixed language; this is most likely inspired by Haitian Creole.)
  • Quechua: An Andean language based on the Incan tongue; it's the official language of the Empire of the Sun.
  • Aymara: A variety of indigenous Andean languages that serve as the secondary language of the Empire of the Sun.
  • Arkhon: Unsurprisingly, this is the Arkhons' language, though most races have a penalty to speak it other than Arkhons and mutant felines and canines.
  • Larhold: The language of the Larhold tribe, this has a penalty for any non-Larhold to speak it.

Next: A farewell to arms.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

This. Hubris and general stupidity are pretty much the underlying themes of all Old World of Darkness settings.

The thin bloods are actually bad though because embracing too much has deluded God's curse to a point of being inconsequential. A 15th generation vampire is barely a vampire and can even have children. Dhampirs are one of the signs of Gehenna.

Vampires being convinced they are perfect immortal geniuses with unstoppable plans instants before slamming face first into a wall is the best part about vamps, whatever the setting.

OvermanXAN
Nov 14, 2014

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Gizmoteer R.C.C.

Psychics that muck with machines, gizmoteers are similar to techno-wizards, but from a psychic end. They're a backbone of Amaki culture, and do everything from mechanics to CSI investigations. And, of course, despite them being vital to the race, they go off on adventures because.

It's not really clear if you can play this class as a human, but Amaki have about a 50% chance of qualifying for it. They can modify machines to give them bonuses to damage, speed, maneuverability - and the rules for these are quantified pretty well, a rarity for Rifts. The higher your level, the bigger the bonus, but... the higher your level, the higher the chance that the item breaks and is destroyed. At really high levels, it just automatically breaks! Given the cost of most technology in Rifts, this is a huge drawback - weapons easily cost upwards of 5-6 figures, and even a modest suit of power armor will run into the millions of credits. Granted, there are ways around this - keep a stock of salvaged equipment from high-tech foes, or use it on disposable weapons like missiles or grenades, but it's still a really stupid, overly punishing drawback for a core ability.

Am I the only one who immediately thinks of Truenamers in 3.5 D&D where your core ability gets actively worse as you increase in level?

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RocknRollaAyatollah
Nov 26, 2008

Lipstick Apathy

Night10194 posted:

Vampires being convinced they are perfect immortal geniuses with unstoppable plans instants before slamming face first into a wall is the best part about vamps, whatever the setting.

Everyone with a power trait falls into that stereotype in OWoD, sometimes even comically more so than Vampires. I guess it's a feature, not a failing but towards the end it's like the beginning of Shaun of the Dead except completely serious and drawn out for all of Revised Edition. Whole clans and bloodlines get destroyed and people are just going about their business, wondering where the evil wizards and racist caricature illusionists are in an unconcerned fashion.

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