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 Character Creation Continued: The Rest of the Races Yep, let’s finish up the rest of the races, this post shouldn’t be quite as massive as the last. Humans Men, The Earth Children, Children of Edom  Humans are human. Currently the dominant and most populous race, though they are not united by any single nation or polity. What can I say, they’re human. There are great human civilizations, and humans living in primitive stone-age tribes, their hallmark is diversity and flexibility. Racial Attributes Don’t apply. Yes, that’s right. Technically, it’s all 0’s across the board, as appropriate for a typical human, but it doesn’t matter. Racial Abilities
Jinn The Elders, The Children of Fire, Chaos Folk, The Others, Moon Children, The People Under the Mound  The Jinn were the first race born into the world, spawned from the dreams of the Elder Gods made of the raw material of creation. They are, by nature, unlike any other living thing. The Jinn have never built empires or nations, and see such aspirations as strange, the ruling of land and people an inherently amusing and curious concept to the Jinn. Likewise, they do not engage in warfare. While individuals may be fierce warriors as ag group they have no interest in conquest or using violence as anything but a last resort. The Jinn are also, in general, a disappearing race. Though no one knows the exact reason why, most can go their entire lives without seeing a Jinn even once, and there may be only one million left active in the world. The reason this is mysterious is because Jinn are not born, and do not die, like any other being. Instead Jinn live through ever repeating cycles of reincarnation. In a single form they have finite lifespans, though the exact length varies from Jinn to Jinn, sometimes as long as a human, sometimes hundreds of years. Upon their death, their essence returns to their Jar, which is hidden somewhere in the world where they are reincarnated some unknown time afterwards as a new being. Reincarnated jinn lack much of their memories, but retain some bits of knowledge and an innate wisdom. Jinn are physically distinct: Their skin is the color of old parchment, or dark of cold, with hair of any imaginable color or many colors together. The skin of a Jinn appears to be covered in tattoos, resembling flowing script in a mysterious language. These are the written form of the murmurings of the Elder Gods that give each Jinn form. It is said that if all the writings could be collected from every Jinn and organized, you would read a complete history of the world from creation to the modern day. All Jin have a single horn upon their head, growing from a random location. No two Jinn have the same horn in the same spot on their head. These horns can be any shape or form. When Jinn speak black smoke issues from their mouths, and a small perpetual flame burns above their heads. THis flame, and the Jinn’s eyes, change color based upon their moods. Blue for happiness, black for hate, red for rage, and green for any other emotions. A Jinn’s shadow is only visible in moonlight, and moves independently of the Jinn themselves. Jinn have no set height or weight, and vary massively from individual to individual. Jinn act very oddly to most beings: They start sentences seemingly in the middle, or trail off in the middle of speech. They are prone to seemingly spontaneous emotional outbursts, communicate through strange gestures and cryptic phrasing. This is due to the different way the Jinni see the world, and while many try to be more coherent to the younger races, others don’t see why they should bother. Jinn are fascinated by any form of creation or art or performance that involves emotional or spiritual expression, regardless of the quality or morality of the performance. Jinn will listen to a virtuoso singer with the same pleasure as a wailing child, or watch an execution as attentively as a play. Attributes By default Jinn have high ratings in MR, WIL and PER, with a -1 to STR, but similar to humans, the default attributes don’t matter much. Racial Abilities
Lemurian Ape-men, the Tree Folk, The Lawgiver’s Children, Lemures  Once rulers of a great empire of their own in another epoch, modern Lemurians have lost all interest in conquest or temporal power. Instead they prefer to seek personal fulfillment over a grand racial destiny. They do not bemoan their current situation, and are more than happy in their current lot. Overall Lemurians are known as emotionally reserved and peaceful, but have several questionable or distasteful cultural practices largely based upon the fact that the Lemurians are by nature selfish and unconcerned about others. The opinions and beliefs of other beings are of no consequence to a Lemurian. This has led to most of the population of the great Ape-men living on their home continent in isolated tree-cities, uncaring of the affairs of the outer world. Not just… uninterested but actively apathetic, violently so. Lemuria is a fortress island, defended by the most advanced technology in the world, and only those that interest the Lemurians are allowed access. Many a group of refugees or exiles have appealed to the Lemurians for asylum only to be turned away without care. The Lemurians blame the other races for the ruination of the world, and they can deal with the consequences themselves. Lemurians are roughtly the same size as a human, standing 1.8m (Approx. 6’) tall and weighing 90-136kg (Approx. 200-300 lbs). Most have brown or black fur, though rarely they are born with golden or white hides. Attributes Lemurians have a massive +3 in both INT and STR, an respectable +1 in dex as well, making them very well suited to a wide range of skills. Their only real weakness is a -2 MR, as the Lemurians are very much not meant to be using magic and prefer technological solutions to their problems. Racial Abilities
Nethermen Brutes, Throwback, the Misshapen  Nethermen are another slave-soldier race created by the Atlanteans, the precursors to the more successful Andaman. They intended to change human soldiers into a race that is strong, hardy, and easy to manipulate. Instead what they got was an entire race of bloodthirsty, violent, psychopaths who were super-resistant to magic and impossible to control. The Nethermen “problem” was solved by loading as many as they could onto a literal Ark and shoving it out to sea to hopefully never be seen again. It didn’t really work, and Nethermen are now found around the world, though in dwindling numbers. This because they have short lifespans, 50-60 years on average if they aren’t killed, which most are. About half the population are also born sterile, and so the race is on a slow decline to extinction. Most nethermen live in primitive nomadic tribes or small fortified villages in the harshest wildernesses of the world, but some do integrate into human society, often as mercenaries, guards, and general “muscle”. Nethermen are basically neanderthals in appearance, looking like bigger, beefier, and slower humans with mottled brown skin. They do have one notable trait: Their eyes are white, with black sclera, looking “reversed” from other races. Now, personality wise Nethermen are possibly the most alien of the various races. They are, to a man, total psychopaths. They lack the ability to feel fear of any sort, and cannot form emotional attachments with others. Nethermen see everything through the lense of their personal interest. All that matters to a Netherman is their own personal needs and desires. This does not mean they are evil though, Nethermen can operate in “normal” society perfectly well and are able to intellectually understand and even imitate the thoughts and emotions they can’t feel. Just… don’t put too much trust in them unless you’re sure that you’ve giving one the best possible offer. Attributes -1 INT, -1 DEX, -2 MR, they are not very bright, a bit sluggish, and terrible and spellcasting, but christ, +3 STR and +2 CON make them wonderfully suited for a big beefy bruiser. Racial Abilities
And that’s it for the races! Next time: Cultural Packages and Professions!
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May 5, 2017 03:50
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Jinn sound annoying as gently caress to play with or as.
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May 5, 2017 04:01
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Wapole Languray posted:The second effect is more… complex. In essence, Jinn are highly susceptible to powerful magics. Whenever they are affected by a spell with a total effect of 13 or more (Pretty powerful magic) or whenever they are in a powerful magical field such as a Vril Circle or Vril Line whose level is 3 levels or more above the Jinns CON they must make a WIL roll. https://twitter.com/dril/status/435373709344251904
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May 5, 2017 05:20
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Ratoslov posted:Jinn sound annoying as gently caress to play with or as. If you mean the respecing, it's meant to be a downtime thing between adventures/arcs, not something you stop the game for. If the shapeshifting, that also isn't bad at all. Atlantis abstracts out non PC abilities into a single number. So the actual mechanical effect would be you just get +4 to doing "Bat Stuff" for example. And as for the random effects? Very rare, like, you'd have to crit-fail a roll, then it's a 1 in 20 chance for a permanent result most of which are not bookkeeping heavy. Stuff like random stat goes down or up by 1, you grow 5 cm taller, etc. And by time you meet sorcerers who toss around spells that would trigger it and not be trivial to resist, you've facing top-level shitkickers. Like, to get to be able to consistently cast level 13 spells is not easy, at all. For example at Atlantean starts with +4 MR, the attribute that effects casting spells. If he's from Atlantis itself, that's +1 MR for a +5. If he's then a dedicated Sorcerer, that's a starting Magic Skill of, max, +10. You might be able to pick up another MR from Life Paths, for +6, maybe +7 if you're insanely lucky. You can buff both the magic skill (which applies to a single type of magic, not all magic in general) and MR a bit more with Customization Points. The point of this is, you can get to the point where you can have a +20 to casting a single specific type of magic if you basically dedicate your character to it at character creation. TO then have a chance, not a guarentee b y any means, to cast a spell strong enough to make a Jinn have a much smaller change to fail a roll to... have a minor magical effect happen for a few hours/days.
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May 5, 2017 06:14
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Wapole Languray posted:If you mean the respecing, it's meant to be a downtime thing between adventures/arcs, not something you stop the game for. If the shapeshifting, that also isn't bad at all. Atlantis abstracts out non PC abilities into a single number. So the actual mechanical effect would be you just get +4 to doing "Bat Stuff" for example. And as for the random effects? Very rare, like, you'd have to crit-fail a roll, then it's a 1 in 20 chance for a permanent result most of which are not bookkeeping heavy. Stuff like random stat goes down or up by 1, you grow 5 cm taller, etc. And by time you meet sorcerers who toss around spells that would trigger it and not be trivial to resist, you've facing top-level shitkickers. Like, to get to be able to consistently cast level 13 spells is not easy, at all. Really it was more this poo poo: quote:Jinn act very oddly to most beings: They start sentences seemingly in the middle, or trail off in the middle of speech. They are prone to seemingly spontaneous emotional outbursts, communicate through strange gestures and cryptic phrasing. This is due to the different way the Jinni see the world, and while many try to be more coherent to the younger races, others don’t see why they should bother. That's pretty fishmalky.
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May 5, 2017 06:21
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Oh yeah, but really that's more a player issue. Fishmalks, Chaotic Neutral assholes, Paladin-nazi's, there's just players that will take any excuse to be disruptive, and if the player is the type to take "acts a bit strange and cryptic" as the same as lolrandom fishmalk nonsense, then maybe talk to them about it and try to tone it down or play another race?
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May 5, 2017 06:32
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But why would you want to play anything other than the superintelligent gorillas?
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May 5, 2017 08:04
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Take some mind control magic and roleplay as Gorilla Grodd.
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May 5, 2017 15:59
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 Chapter Two and Chapter Five: The Clans of Caine and the Gifts of the Blood Tremere Nicknames: Usurpers, Tremores (“the trembling ones”)  The Tremere are the newest clan on the scene during the Dark Ages and most Cainites aren’t really happy about this. The Tremere were hermetic Mages, members of the Order of Hermes, who saw the writing on the wall as magic started to wane and were looking for a way out. Tremere, the founder of House Tremere of the Order of Hermes, decided the way around this and to prolong his own life was to make his house into vampires. This is an irreversible process, you can make yourself into a vampire in the WoD but you can’t make yourself back into a mortal or a Mage. This caused an outrage among Hermetic mages because Tremere forsake the possibility of enlightenment, ascension as it’s known in the line, for flawed immortality and lesser power. Vampires weren’t too happy about that due to the needing of vampires for the potion that made them into vampires and the possibility that Tremere diablerized an antediluvian, Salubri. He did but they’re doing their best to cover it up. From the word go on their vampire project, the Tremere have been in conflict with the Tzimisce in Eastern Europe and have had to engineer their own discipline, a combination of Hermetic magic and the power of Cainite blood, Thaumaturgy. Thaumaturgy, which is very developed at this point and powerful, has alienated the Tremere even more because of views on witchcraft. There are rumors of blasphemy and diablerie being carried out by the Tremere in their hunt for power, which is only half true. The Tremere have been trying to gain allies in order to survive and have found one in the Ventrue, who are willing to work with the Tremere for magical protection in the War of the Princes. The Tremere are operating very much like they did as mortal Mages, having a top down, pyramid shaped organization that goes back to Tremere. Seniority is determined by age and experience and younger vampires are beholden to older vampires. They are very impulsive as vampires, making moves with only the short term in mind and immediate benefits considered. Decisions the clan makes during this period will come back to haunt them and bite them in the rear end, like the Gargoyles, which we will discuss with the other bloodlines. Appearance:The Tremere tend to dress simply and practically, to blend in and not draw attention to themselves. They take on the attire of the area, for instance in a university town they might dress like simple scholars or in the countryside like Franciscan monks. Haven: The Tremere like to make havens in cities, preferably ones with universities or cathedral schools. If they’re in a good position with the local Prince, they try to dwell by these schools but if they are in a bad position, they are usually relegated to the slums or ghettos. If they live in the countryside, they construct small, secure lairs where they can do their research and they will try to construct it by a place of power. Backgrounds: The Tremere will embrace anyone who is hungry for both knowledge and power, usually alchemists, occultists, theologians, and other scholars. They don’t really care about age or religion but they expect members to follow the rules of the clan and accept the clan’s Hermetic-Neoplatonic theories if they want to learn Thaumaturgy. You don’t have to learn Thaumaturgy as a Tremere but there’s no real way to advance within the clan without learning it and these Tremere are closely watched. An example of this is the embracing of warriors by the Tremere to fight against the Tzmisce on the basis of these warriors being a good fighters and not because they are a good fit for a monolithic organization of Hermetic sorcerers. Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy Weakness: All Tremere are very susceptible to blood oaths due to the process used by the clan to become vampires. What would be one blood bond step for other vampires is two for them, meaning they are completely bound to another vampire at two draughts of blood instead of three. All Tremere must surrender a vial of their blood to the Council of Seven, the governing body of the clan, which they store in a vault of their Carpathian headquarters chantry. If a Tremere disobeys the clan, goes rogue, or betrays them, the Council of Seven can use this blood to exact revenge on that Cainite. Organization: The Tremere are set up as a pyramid, with the Council of Seven at the top, 7 Domain Regents beneath each Council Regent, 7 Chantry Regents under each Domain Regent, 7 Chantry Regents under each Domain Regents, and 7 Chantry Apprentices under each Chantry Regent. The clan is a meritocracy and an apprentice can move up the pyramid in time if they can demonstrate their occult power and can survive the threats from within and without the clan.  Discipline Thaumaturgy Thaumaturgy as covered here is the invention of the Tremere. There are clans that have their own variation of it, the Assamites and Setites, but most of the paths in this book were created by the Tremere. The Tremere were Hermetic mages in life, well at least the founders, and they created this discipline by combining their previous magical research and systems with vitae. There’s a sidenote box that talks about Tremere have theorized that vitae represents prima materia, the pure matter that all other things are generated from. It can be shaped and formed by the user but is destroyed by the elements of nature that represent clarity and perception, the sun and fire. Both of these force vitae into an inert form as they show the mind what the form of things is. In this way they’re pretty much taking vitae and using it in place of quintessence, which is the generic power source of Mage the Ascension. This is in a lot of ways a bastardization of true magic. Thaumaturgy is also static, unlike awakened or true magic, in that use of the powers is always the same when used successfully by a Cainite. The level 3 power of the Path of Whatever will always be the same regardless of generation, other than pumping more blood into it to make it last longer or having a stronger effect. The Tremere consider Thaumaturgy to be a clan secret and severely punish any Tremere who shares its secrets with outsiders. They are aware that some other clans have older arts similar to Thaumaturgy but they know their version is far superior to the others and could be their key to supremacy.  The Lesser Paths These paths are beginner paths and usually control a certain thing or invoke a certain effect. The levels of the discipline just mean the caster can invoke a stronger effect or one that has a greater scope of effect. Creatio Ignis (The Creation of Fire) The caster conjures a flame from the palm of their hand that sheds light but produces no warmth and does not provoke frenzy in other vampires while the caster still holds it. Once the fire is released, it becomes normal fire and deals aggravated damage like normal fire. Every success made on the roll increases the range it can be thrown by ten yards. If the roll is botched, the fire goes to the closest flammable object within 10 feet and if none are present, it ignites the caster for 1 aggravated damage before it goes out. Level 1 of this power produces a flame the size of a candle flame and the 5th level of this power generates a raging inferno. Iter Pernix (The Swift Journey) This power allows the caster to instill targets with the fortitude to move along roads at a speed of 30 MPH for a number of hours equal to the successes rolled on the spell. It doesn’t affect movement in combat, only long distance travel. A botch has the opposite effect, causing slow movement and mounts to become unwieldy. Level 1 of this power only affects 1 being but the fifth dot allows up to 48 mounts, 16 supply wagons, or 4 siege engines to be affected. It may not seem that powerful but at Level 5 it can be pretty useful to an army. Potestas Motus (Power of Motion) This power allows the caster to lift and manipulate items from a distance. The items are controlled as they were held and weapons can be used as such as long as they’re within the Cainite’s line of sight. The caster can use the power to lift themselves and others through the air and violently hurl items with a greater speed and force than they are physically capable of. Each success allows the user to manipulate an item for one turn and the control can be continued with a willpower roll. If the initial test achieves 5+ successes the effect lasts for a scene. At two dots the user can use a weapon with the power, rolling melee + Thaumaturgy for attacks with their strength being their level of Potestas Motus. At 3 dots the caster can lift themselves or another and fly at their unmodified running speed. If the target is unwilling, they can be lifted after an opposed willpower roll each turn. If the roll is botched, the caster is rooted in palce, unable to move or dodge for a turn. 1 dot in this power allows the caster to lift 1 pound and 5 dots allows the caster to lift 1,000 pounds. Potestas Tempestatum (Power Over Storms) The caster can influence and control the local weather. The number of successes made on the test determine how quickly the desired phenomenon can be conjured, with 1 success being a gradual shift over 24 hours and 5 successes being an instantaneous change. Minor changes or influencing changes that build upon existing conditions are easier while unnatural changes are more difficult. Rolls indoors are always more difficult and can only effect the weather outdoors, you can’t make a storm inside. Changes last for 1 scene per success before reverting back to normal. A botched roll on this power causes the local spirits to lash out at the caster, causing adverse weather effects to impact the caster, making their Perception and ranged attack rolls more difficult. This can be stopped if the caster spends a point of willpower to compel the spirits to stop. Conjured lightning will strike the caster on a botch. Level 1 involves the summoning of fog or light breezes, which obscures perception and shortens weapon ranges, and minor temperature changes, while level 5 allows the caster to summon a thunderstorm, roll Perception + Occult to strike a target with lighting for 10 dice of lethal damage. It might seem weak but at level 5 it can be quite potent. The Greater Paths Thaumaturgy is not like most disciplines, which in a fashion come naturally to vampires or vampires of a specific clan. You can’t learned Thaumaturgy through practice and force of will, it takes careful study. This is one of the reasons why Tremere require students to learn a lesser path before learning the greater paths because they are a series of related powers unlocked through mastering common techniques. Potestas Elementorum (The Power of the Elements) The Tremere are no longer able to command spirits as they did as Mages but can call upon elemental spirits in a limited manner through this path. It’s a popular path among Tremere in rural areas because the exploration of nature is easy and accessible but it is useful everywhere. Level One – Strength of the Earth: The caster can temporarily assign three points between Strength and Stamina for a number of turns equal to the successes rolled. It can be extended for a willpower point and ends instantly if the caster is separated from the Earth. Level Two – Wooden Tongues: The caster can converse with the spirit of an inanimate object, who can tell the caster details about events that transpired in its presence. One success gets you a few details about a major event while five gets you a detailed description of events that transpired. Level Three – Animate the Unmoving: The thaumaturge can animate an inanimate object, up to a number equal to their intelligence score, in a fashion similar to Fantasia. Objects can move themselves but not in a way that radically deviates from their structural makeup, a statue can slowly move but can’t do parkour. Each success allows the object to move for an hour as long as it’s within line of sight. Level Four – Elemental Form: The caster transforms themselves into metal, dirt, stone, air, liquid water, ice, or fog. 1 success keeps the caster’s original shape as though solid, 2 successes allows the caster to mimic a natural formation of the element, and 3+ successes allows the caster to use their disciplines in that form. It lasts until sunrise unless dismiss and any major disruption of the form does bashing damage but can’t break it’s coherency. You couldn’t separate part of the body and take it away for instance, the substance will just seep from the container and rejoin the caster. Level Five – Summon Elemental: The caster can summon a classical elemental, a sylph (air), gnome (earth), salamander (fire), or undine (water). The spirit is difficult to control and can possibly attack the caster. The thaumaturge has to be close to a source of the element to call the spirit and then must bind the spirit after summoning it. The higher the successes on the summoning, the stronger the spirit and commanding the spirit has a difficulty equal to 4 + the number of successes on the summoning roll. If you botch the roll, the spirit attacks the summoner, a failure results in the spirit leaving or attacking, on 1 success the elemental does not attack, and on 5 successes it will perform any task it’s commanded to do, even if it takes several nights or is dangerous to the spirit. Potestas Execrabilis (The Accursed Power) When the Tremere were awakened Mages, they looked down on common witchcraft and curses. They believed themselves about such things but now that they’re vampires and bogged down in several wars of their own making, curses are great! In order to use these powers, the caster must be in the presence of the target and loudly proclaim the curse at them. It doesn’t matter if the target understands the curse, just that it’s said at them. The caster also needs a part of the victims being, such as hair, blood, or something else of that nature. The victim can overcome the curse with a difficulty 7 willpower roll, not hard for an elder vampire but your average mortal is going to have some trouble. Level One - Stigma: The target is surrounded by an aura of wrongness that makes Social actions more difficult. Level Two - Malady: The target’s Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina Pools are reduced by 1 per success, up to 3, for a number of nights equal to the caster’s Willpower as the target is afflicted by a mystery malady. This can be psychologically damaging to vampires as they’re afflicted by something vampires aren’t, sickness. Each Willpower test to shake off the curse removes 1 -1 penalty to their Physical Attributes, so if it’s -3 it takes 3 successful tests to shake the curse. If all of the penalties aren’t removed in a single night, they reset the following night. Level Three - Scapegoat: For one night per success, the target is perceived as an enemy or rival by those they interact with. This doesn’t preclude violence against the target but it does make interacting with other difficult and more dangerous. Level Four – Corrupt Body: The target is physically changed, wracked by a malady that reduces their Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, or Appearance to 1 and reduces all their dice pools by 1. When the transformation happens, the target’s dice pools are reduced by 3 for 3 turns. When cast, the number of successes determines the length of the curse, 1 success equaling 1 night and 5 successes equaling 1 year. The target resists at the time of casting, each success limiting the successes of the caster on a 1 for 1 basis. After that, the curse cannot be resisted until its run its course. Level Five - Acedia: This curse is incredibly powerful and causes bad luck and misfortune to infest the target’s pathetic soul for all eternity. It requires a difficulty 8 Willpower challenge to resist is and if the target botches and the caster gains 3 successes, the duration is permanent. Every success is reduced by 1, meaning no successes is a botch, and no automatic successes are allowed. The maximum number of successes they can obtain is 2, even from successes given by Willpower or other sources. Potestas Vitae (The Power of Lifeblood) This path was one of the first paths created by the Tremere in their quest to understand vitae and control it better. It’s also the path they’re most well-known for and other Cainites expect this path when they hear the name Tremere and mention of blood magic. The Tremere at this time are very susceptible to blood bonds so use of some of these powers against others can be quite dangerous for them. Level One – A Taste for Blood: The vampire consumes a drop of blood and can determine an amount of information on the target based on how many successes the caster makes. Although it is only a drop, the use of that blood with this power counts towards blood oaths. With a vampire you can determine what their relative generation is and the size of the source’s blood pool. At 5 successes they can gain detailed information about all aspects of the vitae. On mortals they can determine the mortal’s health or if they’re a ghoul. The caster can also determine if the target is one they’ve tasted from before. Level Two – Blood Awakening: The caster, after touching the target, activates a targets blood, each success equaling 1 point to be used for healing or raising a Physical Attribute in a way the caster chooses. The difficulty for the target to resist frenzy is also increased by a number equal to the number of successes made by the caster, making it possible for the target to frenzy in situations where such wouldn’t normally happen. Level Three – Inner Vessel: The caster temporarily lowers their generation by concentrating their blood. This is an artificial change and does not affect the generation of childer embraced while using this power or generation gained from diablerie but does affect Dominate. The successes made on the activation test are divided between generation, one lower per success, and duration, one hour per success. If no successes are put towards duration, it only lasts a scene. Level Four – Theft of Vitae: The caster pulls vitae from a target who can be up to 50 feet away. One success equals one blood point and each blood point is automatically added to the caster. The blood is ripped from the target, being drawn from their orifices, and each success deals a lethal damage to a mortal this power targets. Excess blood is dropped at the caster’s feet and any blood consumed is counted as step towards a blood oath. Level Five – Cauldron of Blood: The caster touches the target and causes their vitae to burn up inside themselves. In combat this requires a Brawl roll and 1 success instantly kills a mortal. With vampires, each success equals 1 aggravated damage and destroys 1 blood. I will post rituals next, there are a lot, and a write up on some Malkavian stuff I missed from the apocrypha section. After that I just have the Tzimisce, there is a good deal of content, and then the clans and clan disciplines will be done. RocknRollaAyatollah fucked around with this message at 16:48 on May 5, 2017 |
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May 5, 2017 16:40
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The Tzimisce are great conceptually. 'What if Dracula, but also intense body horror and flesh monsters?'
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May 5, 2017 16:41
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I cannot fuckin' wait to cover Tzimisce in the modern nights. Hang on, though, 'cause I have to finish Godlike and then it's a copule books down the line.
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May 5, 2017 16:50
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 Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign Part Three: "The Emperor acknowledges that Doctor Bradford is eccentric and temperamental, but he won't consider installing any of the "safeguards" that his son has suggested for fear that they might interfere with the Doctor's creativity and productivity." Coalition Allies Those who see genocide, nod slowly, and say "That's cool." Isheming (Northern Gun) & The Manistique Imperium So, these are two city-states that have built up largely around manufacturing (notably, weapons manufacturing, because little else is worth Rifts' attention). Due to being generally lower-tech than the Coalition itself and not being overly expansive, they were able to dominate the arms market in the Coalition's shadow. However, now they're too large for the Coalition not to acknowledge, leading to their recent alliance. Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:In both cases, Ishpeming and the Manistique Imperium's cooperation with the Coalition States has created an immediate, short term (1D4 years) economic boom for the two independent nations Because there's no metaplot so tight you can't throw a pointless 1d4 die roll in the middle of it. Naturally, wiping out the Naruni was in the interest of these two nations as foreign competition. Where this will go after that is uncertain - they see tying themselves to the Coalition as a means to avoid confrontation and increase prosperity, but still don't ultimately trust the Coalition leadership. Other Allies of Note
  "You're under arrest, 'Megaman'." Coalition Law "Other than some notable and extreme exceptions, the laws of the Coalition States are fundamentally the same as those of 21st Century Earth, only the penalties tend to be twice as severe." Given that century hadn't happened at the time of this writing, that's not a terribly helpful bit of description. Maybe he meant 20th Century? Well, we don't generally make reading or wizardry illegal, so maybe not. As a reminder, reading, magic, not-state-approved media, and not being human are all essentially illegal. Psionics and cybernetics are allowed but heavily restricted and generally militarized. Apparently the death penalty is pretty popular, but I wonder how you make that twice as severe. The firing squad shoots twice?  So, it notes that Coalition prisons and work camps are particularly hellish places where death is common, though expulsion from the Coalition States is considered an even worse punishment. We get a lot of specific crimes, including specific details on cybernetic crimes. There are a lot of punishments for "illegal" cybernetic or bionic systems, but no details on what exactly constitutes illegal cybernetics. Another highlight is that possession of Erin Tarn's books is punishable by 15-20 years of imprisonment - you know, the books that 69% of the Coalition elite have read? Yeah, that makes sense. It notes that Coalition cities have points of entry guarded by ISS (Internal Security... ?) officers, as well as a psi-stalker or dog boy to "sniff out" the supernatural. They also use undetailed systems to try and sense "unnatural sigantures" and weapons. Anybody who's suspicious is given further questioning or searches, anybody that isn't human or tries to break the rules is generally turned away. Those accepted get short duration passes, around 4-12 hours, and requests for longer stays require a tracking device to be worn. Visitors are also imprinted with a temporary bar code on their forehead to mark them. Usually only humans are allowed, though psi-stalkers or dog boys working for Coalition citizens might be permitted, and augmented humans must undergo special registration and disarmament if necessary. We get a lot of statistics on crime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z36Xadupn5c  "Do I eat it, or...? Yes, that is Peter Laird's co-signature on that, as in Eastman & Laird of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame. He didn't do much art outside of that particular game line, but this is one of the few exceptions. CS & Chi-Town Slang Some of these are already familiar to Rifts players and probably don't need to be explained again - 'borg, burbs, dead boys, dog boys, or psi-net. Others are the kind of words that are invented for a glossary list and probably won't see use again - choppers, demon, ghosts, grungers, sludgies, etc. Did you know that a "retro" is somebody that only uses 20th century or earlier technology? No? Well, it gets mentioned here and probably never, ever again. If they get used again, I'll describe them there, but most of it is just stuff for GMs to use and for future books to forget, just like in Juicer Uprising. I guess they thought it was the '90s and they had to have future lingo, but there's no attempt to actually use it so it falls enormously flat. Next: Of the skulls and for the skulls. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 21:05 on May 5, 2017 |
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May 5, 2017 18:51
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Mors Rattus posted:The Tzimisce are great conceptually. I've always presumed they were Masquerade's knockoffs of the Wamphyri.
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May 5, 2017 18:59
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Fossilized Rappy posted:
I'm glad that I know what the THREAT LEVEL of an alien groin is.
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May 5, 2017 18:59
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I've always presumed they were Masquerade's knockoffs of the Wamphyri. That, and the original Salubri pic was anime enough to make me suspect they lifted the concept from 3x3 Eyes.
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May 5, 2017 19:04
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I've always presumed they were Masquerade's knockoffs of the Wamphyri. They might be but the thing is, they're also literally Dracula in the sense of being noblemen from Transylvania.
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May 5, 2017 19:06
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PurpleXVI posted:I'm glad that I know what the THREAT LEVEL of an alien groin is. The groin of an asexual alien to boot. So, literally, just flesh and pelvic bone.
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May 5, 2017 20:56
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Mors Rattus posted:The Tzimisce are great conceptually.
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May 5, 2017 20:58
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Covok posted:The groin of an asexual alien to boot. So, literally, just flesh and pelvic bone. I think my favorite part is the classification of grays as cetaceans. A gray is a psychic space dolphin.
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May 5, 2017 21:23
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The only problem I have with the Tzimisce is that the "Dracula + Body Horror" concept eventually got so loose and lossy that the Tzimisce didn't have much of an identity beyond "Evil, creepy, always loyal to the Sabbat."
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May 5, 2017 21:27
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I've always presumed they were Masquerade's knockoffs of the Wamphyri. They are, complete with Vicissitude actually being an infection by alien space-ghosts.
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May 5, 2017 21:32
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Alien Rope Burn posted:
The Republic of Japan made various cellphone functions illegal as 'cyberoid' mods for unknown reasons but since they don't ban Erin Tarn's books they're Good Guys. That's more specific than the Coalition's ban which just seems to assume you would know what cybernetics are illegal in a militarized frontier society. More importantly, a lot of the psionic/magical systems in the game can only be sensed by other psionics or magic, with the exception of a few abilities like Dog Boys have. This has always crippled the ability of the CS to combat the invisible (but very common!) elements of the supernatural that surround them and now they just plain have 'systems' because screw you PCs for exploiting an obvious weakness. If the laws are "about the same" as the 21st century US then some pretty shifty authoritarian poo poo is legal though I can't imagine the Coalition smiling on the gays. occamsnailfile fucked around with this message at 21:40 on May 5, 2017 |
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May 5, 2017 21:35
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PurpleXVI posted:I'm glad that I know what the THREAT LEVEL of an alien groin is. Sex = Useless Bieeardo posted:That, and the original Salubri pic was anime enough to make me suspect they lifted the concept from 3x3 Eyes. If that's true, then I'm even more convinced they got the idea for Temporis from Dio. Time manipulation and vampires is such a weird combination that it's hard to see them coming up with it in a vacuum.
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May 5, 2017 22:23
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occamsnailfile posted:If the laws are "about the same" as the 21st century US then some pretty shifty authoritarian poo poo is legal though I can't imagine the Coalition smiling on the gays. If those dog boys in the Juicer Uprising picture are Coalition dog boys, they're at least okay with gay furries. No, I don't automatically assume everyone wearing pteruges is gay. Only if it's obvious there's nothing but dogman dong underneath.
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May 5, 2017 23:18
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Kavak posted:If that's true, then I'm even more convinced they got the idea for Temporis from Dio. Time manipulation and vampires is such a weird combination that it's hard to see them coming up with it in a vacuum. Their clan weakness is 7up so this might check out.
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May 5, 2017 23:38
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occamsnailfile posted:If the laws are "about the same" as the 21st century US then some pretty shifty authoritarian poo poo is legal though I can't imagine the Coalition smiling on the gays. You should be glad that the Coalition hasn't gone full-on Republic of Gilead, considering the situation.
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May 6, 2017 01:01
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occamsnailfile posted:The Republic of Japan made various cellphone functions illegal as 'cyberoid' mods for unknown reasons but since they don't ban Erin Tarn's books they're Good Guys. That's more specific than the Coalition's ban which just seems to assume you would know what cybernetics are illegal in a militarized frontier society. More importantly, a lot of the psionic/magical systems in the game can only be sensed by other psionics or magic, with the exception of a few abilities like Dog Boys have. This has always crippled the ability of the CS to combat the invisible (but very common!) elements of the supernatural that surround them and now they just plain have 'systems' because screw you PCs for exploiting an obvious weakness. Yeah. Technically they have psychics but what psychics can do against a possession or tectonic entity is pretty limited. (This will eventually bite them in the rear end but not in a substantial way.) Later on we'll get the magical faction loosely allied with the Coalition but we're about a decade away from that happening. As far as I know Palladium just doesn't acknowledge the presence of homosexuality (or, indeed, anything other than plain heterosexuality) in any of their books I've read, outside of their bad history from those early insanity tables that would inflict it. 
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May 6, 2017 02:37
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Kavak posted:Sex = Useless The Salubri were inspired from 3x3 Eyes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sH4sWF0LZs
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May 6, 2017 04:03
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Young Freud posted:You should be glad that the Coalition hasn't gone full-on Republic of Gilead, considering the situation. Now you present your PCs with the old squires who hate the Coalition and would love nothing more than to rise up and go back to being Immortan Joe. e: Or more realistically, the sons and grandsons of Immortans Joe, who have gone on to thinking he did nothing wrong whereas those alive at the time have some recognition that their society was  This has its own problems but I'm thinking a situation like in Cambodia, where occupation by the North Vietnamese Army was preferable to the killing fields. Nessus fucked around with this message at 06:31 on May 6, 2017 |
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May 6, 2017 06:28
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Their clan weakness is 7up so this might check out. What do you mean by 7 Up and what clan had The World for a discipline?
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May 6, 2017 07:10
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xanthan posted:What do you mean by 7 Up and what clan had The World for a discipline? True Brujah, with this http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Temporis
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May 6, 2017 07:33
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Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign Part Four: "Personally, Karl Prosek, a pre-Rifts historian in his own right, prefers to think of himself as a combination of the best traits of Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler." The best traits of Hitler...?  Not the best plan the Coalition ever had. The Coalition Army By Kevin Siembieda with additional text, inspiration & concepts by Patrick Nowak Ah, the good old "Nowak wrote this, I was unhappy with it, so I scribbled all over his ideas and took the credit" Siembieda byline. To be fair, I don't really know if that's the case here... but... I'm just making casual accusations based on past behavior. So, as a expansionist group of genocidal fascists, the Coalition is centered around its military, and the highest prestige and benefits are available through it. To most citizens, the military is the greatest source of national pride, but poorer citizens get to see more corruption and abuse of power at the hands of Coalition security and tend to have a wider variety of opinions. Those in the 'Burbs tend to see them mostly as a source of harassment and oppression, which is pretty accurate, though the Coalition forces also tend to be the only thing fending off supernatural predators and their ilk. Of course, the fact they'll shoot anything else that could fend off supernatural predators and their ilk is a part of that. The military also oversees and controls scientific research, approval of technology, education, industry, and propaganda. Most citizens are apparently content with this because things are alright.I have to wonder what's left for citizens to do once the military's done- music, movies, microcode, and pizza delivery? CS Hierarchy So, the head of the Coalition States is Emperor Karl Prosek. We get a lot of  on him, but we'll get his full writeup later on, so I'll skip covering him twice (or thrice, counting his writeup in Rifts Sourcebook). Instead, we'll move on to the Executive Counsel, his group of advisors, lackeys, and bureaucrats. The most powerful man on the Executive Counsel - in fact, the only one with real power outside of Karl Prosek - is the General of the Army, Charles Reed Baxter.Now, when I read that, I was puzzled. Here we are, over twenty books into the game line, and here's this guy, Charles Reed Baxter, head of the Coalition Military, who's never been mentioned before. And don't think he gets a writeup in this book, this book entitled Coalition War Campaign, the very book that you would presume would contain at least a scant or passing detail about the guy behind it all. Oh, sure, we get statblocks for General Cabot and General Underhill reprinted, but not a single detail on the guy actually leading the war campaign. And you may think "Well, certainly by the time they get to their seven-book Coalition Wars series, he pops up." And I'm going to spoil: no. He never shows up in any Rifts book again as far as I'm aware. He's never detailed in any way. And as you know, I've been reading up on these books for awhile, and this is just a whole new level of incompetence. It's as if Darth Vader was only named in the opening scene of A New Hope and then was forgotten about for the rest of the trilogy, save for occasional references to some fellow that works for the Emperor. It's bizarre. All I can guess is that Patrick Nowak wrote this section and then Siembieda promptly forgot about it and never reread it. Indeed, most of the Coalition hiearchy is listed and then never mentioned again. You'd think internal Coalition politics would be important information for somebody running, say, a war campaign involving the Coalition, but Siembieda pointedly doesn't care. I was planning initially to skip these folks because initially I was like oh my god I don't care, but now I'm curious to see if they show up in future books. So let's go over them.
In addition, we get details on the military high command - mostly made up of Chi-Town appointments, with the only interesting outlier being General Sean Oulette, a former Quebecois who is loyal to Chi-Town now and helping oversee operations against Free Quebec. Sacrébleu! General Cabot and General Underhill (both detailed fully later), CS Intelligence Division commander General Ford (never mentioned again), and Psi-Battalion Colonel Carol Black (barely detailed later) make up the group heading up the Tolkeen Campaign. Individual regional commands handle most of the support and logistics, though they rarely handle any actual military operations. Though most of the Coalition is made up for their regular army, there are regional state forces that serve for local defense of individual states akin to a National Guard, though they can be reassigned to campaigns and operations as necessary. There are also some other special groups that get detailed:
Apparently, large armies are rare, generally not exceeding 15,000 or so, and that conflicts are generally between small units due to the destructive power of mega-damage weaponry. The Coalition's new and massive army is supposed to be an exception that will change everything, though. We get some details on "Coalition Strategies", which aren't so much strategies but assets. Their threefold strengths seem to be the blitzkrieg strategy (because Nazis, yeah?), the general fanaticism of their troops, and the extensive training that troops undergo. Then, we get some notions of what the Coalition Military gets up to:
 "Fire! Shoot it now!" "We know, you're literally not helping, Steve." Enlistment & Conscription So, due to the high degree of prestige the military provides and an an ongoing propaganda machine, 1 in 10 Coalition citizens is a soldier. There's the throwaway statistic that half of the Coalition soldiers are 5th-9th level, because I guess the average Coalition soldier just has to be more competent than the majority of PCs. In any case, the percentage crusade continues; 75% of Coalition soldiers are recruits, 20% are mutant animals grown or bred for the task, and 5% are special recruits who are shanghaied or otherwise coerced. Boot camp is designed for indoctrination, combining a constant barrage of propaganda with exhaustion and depersonalization. Granted, not all soldiers end up parroting zealots, but those that voice opinions or demonstrate disobedience tend to be shipped back for reorientation. Those who make a habit of such things tend to get imprisoned or executed. Training is relatively typical, and new recruits tend to get posted to areas with high incidence of contact with the enemy in order to ensure each new soldier gets actual combat experience. Or dies, I suppose! Next: Be honest with yourself. Be certain that your so-called reason is not a selfish excuse. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 21:50 on May 7, 2017 |
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May 6, 2017 13:43
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Isn't a 10% enlistment rate insanely high? I mean, I guess it could work if they have a insanely low tooth-to-tail ratio and wrap up a bunch of other government functions in the military, but it's still kinda nuts.
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May 6, 2017 14:13
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xanthan posted:What do you mean by 7 Up and what clan had The World for a discipline?  It was a joke about Dio looking longingly at that 7up billboard, which is prominently displayed at several times in the episode. The Jojo's OVA was the only animated Jojo's thing made at that point in 90's and the only Jojo's thing available at that time in the US. The Dio Brando inspiration makes sense but I never thought about it before. RocknRollaAyatollah fucked around with this message at 14:43 on May 6, 2017 |
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May 6, 2017 14:29
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Alien Rope Burn posted:The best traits of Hitler...?  Hitler - there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon! Two Coats! Churchill. He couldn't even say 'Nazi'. He would say 'Noooo-zeeehz, Nooooooooooooo-zeeehz!' It wasn't Noses! It was Nazis! Churchill!...Let me tell you this! And you're hearing this straight from the horse. Hitler was better looking than Churchill. He was a better dresser than Churchill. He had more hair! He told funnier jokes! And he could dance the pants off of Churchill!...Churchill!
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May 6, 2017 15:09
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short one for today  13th Age part 19: Something rotten in the state Chapter 8 is a brief encyclopedia of the Dragon Empire, a kingdom about the size of Denmark on an unnamed world. The map includes key features like the main cities of the Dragon Empire, the homes of the icons, and a number of places to explore. The intent is clear: this is where you live, this is where the monsters live, and in between is a bunch of space for the GM to fill however they'd like. The Dragon Empire is vaguely radial, with seven cities all arranged on the coast of the relatively tame Midland Sea. The Midland Sea connects the core of the Empire: while traveling the 100 miles between Axis, the capital, and First Triumph, the "tame" hellhole fortress home of the Crusader, is an adventure, riding a ship more than five times that distance from Axis on one end of the sea to New Port on the other is something that can be easily handwaved. Aside from a pair of dangerous islands in the center, adventuring in the Dragon Empire involves leaving the relatively safety of the coasts. Moving inland means things get more dangerous and mysterious as you go. Underneath and above the land of the Dragon Empire are the Underworld, nominally the realm of the Dwarf King, and the Overworld, which is too fractious and full of danger to be properly claimed by anyone. The Underworld is a series of ever-shifting tunnels and caverns, while the Overworld is an archipelago of solid clouds and mountaintops. The Underworld and Overworld are canonically vague: they change too often and are too full of solid rock or empty void to be properly mapped. There's a lot of canonical vagueness, even on the land. Many of the features described in this chapter are temporary or mobile, or just outlines of the kinds of things you'll find when you go off the map. Even though it affects the same sort of gazetteer presentation as, say, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, this is less an exhaustive treatment of a setting and more a series of random campaign ideas and adventure hooks. This is the entire writeup of Horizon, a magical city and home to the Archmage: quote:Horizon, City of Wonders The home of each icon gets at least a cursory writeup, in frustrating inverse proportion to how interesting it is. Axis, the vaguely Roman city and seat of the Emperor's throne, gets nearly a full page several subheadings, going all the way down into detail on the local entertainment and hobbies. The Cathedral, home of the Priestess, gets a similar treatment, plus a brief writeup of Santa Cora, the surrounding city. On the other hand, Concord and the Elf Queen's Court get less than a half page combined despite being called out as one of the "weird and wonderful places", and get scarcely more detail than that elves live there. The Wild Wood, a sprawling forest and home to the Great Druid, which has a lot of potential both as home base and adventuring destination, gets a single sentence noting that it has lots of trees. The most developed idea in this chapter is that interesting places have a tendency to move around or spontaneously appear. Landmarks have a tendency to get up and move. The ancient ruins are hard to map because they grow back. Hellholes - chaotic pits that lead directly to the demons' prison beneath the Underworld - erupt spontaneously. Omen, a bizarre magical island of pre-Dragon Empire ruins and runaway magical overgrowth in the middle of the Midland Sea, has a tendency to spew fragments into the air, which float away and crash-land unpredictably. Some places are actually living beings. Living dungeons, ruled by bizarre magical biology and urges nobody understands, dig their way up through the Underworld, headed for the surface, unless someone stops them. The Koru behemoths, creatures too unfathomably large to be seen all at once from up close, migrate around the Dragon Empire, carrying nomads and the occasional rough-and-ready settlement lashed to their sides. Clock Land, a floating island, is full of bizarre clockwork beings that build and rebuild themselves and their home. Next: +1 listy burst chapter and our conclusion
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May 6, 2017 19:20
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Ratoslov posted:Isn't a 10% enlistment rate insanely high? I mean, I guess it could work if they have a insanely low tooth-to-tail ratio and wrap up a bunch of other government functions in the military, but it's still kinda nuts. It is for American in the modern era and the Iraq / Afghanistan conflicts, where I think at most it peaked around 1% (and is probably around 0.5-0.75% now). But during World War, it was 12% and Vietnam was nearly 10%. (Mind, accurate enlistment rates are hard to dig up and these could be wrong.) The thing is, the Coalition doesn't have an ongoing war (yet) so it probably doesn't need those numbers, particularly with its high degree of mechanization. Of course, there's the question of how much the military handles and how that might impact rates as well. But it doesn't seem to be out of the question.
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May 6, 2017 22:28
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Mors Rattus posted:The Tzimisce are great conceptually. I always think of Jedah from Darkstalkers as a Tzimisce. 
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May 7, 2017 03:31
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What's a tooth to tail ratio?
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May 7, 2017 03:47
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Subjunctive posted:What's a tooth to tail ratio? In brief, how many people takes to support each fighting soldier, but it also describes the depth of logistical support behind each fighting unit. wiegieman fucked around with this message at 21:38 on May 7, 2017 |
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May 7, 2017 03:55
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