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What's funny is I wasn't quite doing that in the last campaign I ran and my players still slaughtered the game's idea of a 'level appropriate' encounters effortlessly, because the 'level appropriate' stuff is tuned way, way too easy on the players. 13th Age is a game with a couple good ideas that you play for a campaign or two and then realize it's just kinda dull.
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May 8, 2017 19:41
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Halloween Jack posted:Godlike doesn't address using your power on someone you perceive via television, because it's not an issue. (Sure, someone could set up an experiment with an iconoscope, but who cares?) But Wild Talents has a universal range chart, based on your die pool, and range maxes out at about 5,000 yards. And by default, powers require actual line of sight.
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May 8, 2017 20:01
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Yeah, the On Sight extra implies that you normally need line-of-sight. drat it, now I want to run a post-apoc supers game where the Cataclysm is that someone just magically killed everyone appearing on television at 11:34am this morning. Our universe's Thanos is just some guy watching TV in his bathrobe who couldn't take it anymore. And someone used Suppress Nuclear Fusion to deactivate all the nukes.
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May 8, 2017 20:16
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Halloween Jack posted:Yeah, the On Sight extra implies that you normally need line-of-sight. The big and obvious change would be that now 'live TV' has a five-second delay.
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May 8, 2017 20:20
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I think part of the problem with 13th age is that they really wanted to make a Glorantha game. So they did, and it's 13G.
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May 8, 2017 21:13
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The idea that 13th Age has bad writing is bizarre to me. Having really strong, distinctive writing is what sets it apart from all the editions of D&D it's reacting to.
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May 8, 2017 21:23
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Rand Brittain posted:The idea that 13th Age has bad writing is bizarre to me. Having really strong, distinctive writing is what sets it apart from all the editions of D&D it's reacting to. Claiming things have bad writing, especially fantasy, genre, and pulp fiction is a long standing tradition leveled at goddamn everything. Prose has bad writing like illustrations have "bad painting." It's certainly possible, but without articulating why it's a pretty meaningless jab. Does the dialogue sound like a socially-deficient robot wrote it? Are there moral undercurrents that make Ayn Rand look reasonable? Would the plot have been resolved if someone had done something simple, obvious, and in-character?
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May 8, 2017 21:29
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Rand Brittain posted:The idea that 13th Age has bad writing is bizarre to me. Having really strong, distinctive writing is what sets it apart from all the editions of D&D it's reacting to. it has a clear, effective authorial voice - it's something I like about it, a quality of some of my favorite games, and something I forgot to mention. that said, it's poorly organized, core ideas are brought up in one place and not mentioned in another, and in particular the icon interaction rules are about half absolute incomprehensible gibberish by volume
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May 8, 2017 22:09
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Halloween Jack posted:. This is basically the premise of The Nth Man, where a super teleports all nuclear weapons (and I think nuclear isotopes since people can't make new nukes). Without deterrent, World War 3 begins almost instantly as a conventional war between US, USSR, and China (Europe is invaded early on by the Warsaw Pact).
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May 8, 2017 22:25
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Rand Brittain posted:The idea that 13th Age has bad writing is bizarre to me. Having really strong, distinctive writing is what sets it apart from all the editions of D&D it's reacting to. I don't see where this happened - I see some fairly specific complaints about content, organization or lack thereof, but no one just going 'it has bad writing.'
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May 8, 2017 22:29
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13th Age has some inconsistent writing, which I think really holds it back. It needed a few first-read comprehension editing passes, and I don't think it got them.
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May 8, 2017 22:30
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In general, I maintain 13th Age is a game that could be really, really good with a second edition.
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May 8, 2017 22:31
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Yeah, the review doesn't say it's poorly written, it says it's poorly edited.
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May 8, 2017 22:35
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JackMann posted:Yeah, the review doesn't say it's poorly written, it says it's poorly edited. "but the poor writing, editing, and layout sabotage it."
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May 8, 2017 23:08
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Rand Brittain posted:"but the poor writing, editing, and layout sabotage it." tbf, that's something that may have been edited in after they said that. I'll stand by the idea that many of their ideas are straight up poorly communicated. Can you explain to me how these rules and the following section, "Discovery and Surprise", actually work? What dice do you roll? How do you interpret the results? (This is the latter half of page 182 and most of page 183, if you'd rather consult the book itself.) Icon relationship rolls are one of the flagship ideas and they're just a jumbled mess. that said, you caught me in some of my own bad writing. i think poor writing specifically sabotages their effort to communicate their new ideas, not the entire package, and i think i can be clearer about that.
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May 8, 2017 23:20
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Cease to Hope posted:tbf, that's something that may have been edited in after they said that. I'll stand by the idea that many of their ideas are straight up poorly communicated. No, I'm prepared to admit that icon relationship dice are a complete mess of a mechanic.
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May 8, 2017 23:38
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while i'm here, does someone have the "this game deals with sensitive material" warning for F&Fs handy
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May 9, 2017 00:05
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 Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign Part Six: "This skill grants a clear understanding of the way the military works, including rules of behavior (when to salute, how to address superiors/subalterns, etc.), military procedures and routines, standard issue of equipment, special ordering procedures, proper display of rank and medals, advancement in rank (and the duties that come with it), proper troop formations, how to deal with military bureaucracy, the chain of command, proper channels, who to contact to get things done, and other useful information on matters of military protocol and bureaucracy." Because sentences don't actually need to stop at any point, technically...  We're ready for some generic action! Descriptions of New Skills Like all great Rifts books, we get a bloating of the skill section. If that wasn't enough, they reprint the whole skill list "for easy reference". If you wanted it to be easily referenced, it'd be a hell of a lot shorter...
Coalition O.C.C.s Of course, the core Rifts book already has seven Coalition classes: the grunt, the RPA Elite, the technical officer, the military specialist, the 'borg, the psi-stalker, and the psi-hound. But that's not enough, is it? No. No sir.  "Is that a D-Bee?" "Who cares? We got guns! bangity bang bang!" Coalition Cyborg Strike Trooper Despite thinking ofs full cyborgs as "inhuman", they've done an about-face after doing tests and studies that informed them that cyborgs don't necessarily dehumanize and face to bloodshed. That and they have a lot of wizards to kill in Minnesota. Still, Prosek is hesitant and their numbers are limited. For some reason, the Coalition generally disguises them as normal troops, which has gotta suck for normal troops once their foes learn to take a "nuke 'em all" approach. This is much like their original package in the corebook, only they get to choose between being "light" or "heavy" models. The heavy models are stronger and more agile and have a lot more combat equipment (including the ubquitious concealed ion rod in the leg) and the light is... faster and has a lot of extra sneaking and sensing equipment. They get different skill packages in addition to the basic skill package 'borgs already got, making them more powerful than the old class and a lot better than non-Coalition cyborgs. We get a lot of details on decomissioned cyborgs, like any PC would be like "nope, I don't like being a massive machine powerhouse anymore". About the only interesting notion is apparently cyborgs can retire with some of their weapons intact if they're immigrating out of the nation (to, say, be an adventurer), which seems like a good justification for one as a PC. Which is on the rare chance you get to play one, anyway; their high Mental Endurance requirement only gives a 9% chance of rolling one up.  Face skull, chest skull, ... nipple skulls? CS Commando O.C.C. Less than a 1% chance to roll up one. Just mentioning that up front. So, these are supposed to be the Coalition's elite badasses, though they get fewer skills than the generic Special Forces O.C.C. back in Rifts Mercenaries. Their big-deal thing is supposed to be their special Hand-to-Hand: Commando skill they get. It gives them a variety of fancy special moves, like:
EOD Specialist By Kevin Siembieda and Pat Nowak So, this is an O.C.C. in the tradition of garbage O.C.C.s like the Forger or Safecracker in that it basically takes on singular skill and tries to make it into a class. The sad fact is that this character isn't vastly better at defusing bombs than other classes - only modestly better. The angle they try and give this class, then, is that they're an expert in making traps and homemade bombs. We get over a page in special homemade explosives, most of which is garbage that barely does damage worth MacGyvering up. The main stuff that's useful of which are debuffs like flash grenades and tear gas, or their ability to increase an explosive's damage by 25% (which we're told increases 1d6 x 10 to 2d4 x 10, because Rifts is bad at math). As such, they at least have a use, though it'd still be better to just have another robot pilot on your team if you want to do damage. Naturally, they get a bunch of engineering and demotions skills, and their secondary skill picks are slightly under par. Oh, and you have a 0.5% chance of playing one due to their strict attribute requirements. Fuckin' Rifts. Coalition Juicers ... is just completely reprinted from the last book, Rifts World Book 9: Juicer Uprising, which I might forgive if they were collecting some information from a hard-to-find source, but this information from the previous book in the line. So you can just check my review for that. The only "new" information is that Colonel Lyboc still has a few dozen of these guys after the titular Uprising, so if you want to work for the Coalition's Vic Mackey (only more scummy, somehow), play one of these guys. Still amazing that they reprint information from the previous release. And not just a little, this is three whole pages. Fuckin' Rifts. CS Nautical Specialist By Julius Rosenstein with material by Siembieda Would you believe, even by the end of this book, we've never had any aquatic craft detailed for the Coalition of any sort? But that doesn't stop them from writing up this class, perfectly placed to twiddle its thumbs until Rifts Sourcebook 4: Coalition Navy, which will go ahead and render this O.C.C. redundant. Look forward to it!  Rifts World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign posted:Although officially designated as "Sea Devils," the Nautical Specialists are better known by their nickname "Naughty Boys," much to their chagrin. So, the Coalition mainly just is dipping their toes into aquatic operations, but is planning to dive in fully later. Some Coalition soldiers think getting assigned to this is hitting rock bottom, but a few are taking to it like a fish to water. While it's still technically a part of the army, the idea of a an actual navy is being floated around- ugh, look, this is boring. I've got to make my own fun. The chance of rolling one up is 14%.  "You're not going lock these locks in a helmet like some kind of... cage." Coalition Ranger Coalition Military version of a Wilderness Scout. They're not kidding, this is really just a Wilderness Scout with skulls on, so I don't think there's too much to add. It notes that Rangers tend towards tolerance much more often than their Coalition counterparts, since they come into contact with nonhumans more frequently and often develop contacts amongst local populations... well, those willing to put up with a pawn of a genocidal empire, I suppose. About 28% chance to roll one up.  Hope you're not sick of pictures of action figures saluting yet... RCSG Scientist Rift Control Study Group (RCSG) So, these are scientists, mainly based around St. Louis or Old Chicago, that are dedicated to try and understand and contain rifts. They have a limited understanding of ley lines, but science does not remove the terror of The Gods. So they have a special lore skills pertaining to ley lines, magic, and enchantment (mind control and curses, that is), and despite being scientists, they can somehow float along ley lines and heal faster on them, though they can't cast spells. They get a god number of lore, science, and computer skills, though they're kind of half-assed compared to a rogue scientist. But they can float! So that's a thing. Their requirements are relatively low; you have a 39% chance of rolling one up. (Yep, those are low requirements in this book, because Rifts is bad at math.)  ... there's still more to come. RPA "Fly Boy" Ace So, this is like the SAMAS pilot in the corebook, but instead of getting a SAMAS, they pilot skycycles. Sounds like a raw deal to me. They get a special "Pilot Skycycles" skill that can actually be applied to any small aircraft. They also get a "Pilot Death's Head Transport" which literally and explicitly makes any other O.C.C. bad at flying the giant skull ships, since apparently they're the only ones qualified for it and don't get a penalty at it.  They get a ton of pilot skills and... wilderness skills, since those are the caramel filler of any Rifts class. They get a decent number of skills, but hilariously don't come with a skycycle - they have to requisition one.  I'll not make fun, but instead just point out I already miss this look. Special Forces Yep, they don't have any special unit name or designation other than "Special Forces", much like the Siembieda uses the word "Black Market" as if it referred to a specific organization. In any case, these are guys assigned to covert teams and long-range assignments. They're apparently one part spy, one part soldier. They get a mix of military, pilot, and espionage skills, but ironically still fall short of the competency of the "generic" Special Forces O.C.C. in Rifts Mercenaries. But despite that, you've got less than a 1% chance to be allowed to play one. Fuckin' Rifts. Next: They've got the guts - give 'em more firepower!
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May 9, 2017 00:20
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I am miles behind on F&F, are you doing the Bestiary / Eyes? 13A itself was pretty average for me but those two books are loving amazing.
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May 9, 2017 00:58
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xiw posted:I am miles behind on F&F, are you doing the Bestiary / Eyes? 13A itself was pretty average for me but those two books are loving amazing. I don't like the Bestiary enough to care very much about it and I did a capsule review of 13 True Ways. I don't own any other books. I might later cover them if I get the bug, but anyone who wants to do them in the meantime can have them without stepping on my toes. Cease to Hope fucked around with this message at 05:03 on May 9, 2017 |
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May 9, 2017 05:01
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Eyes of the Stone Thief is amazing and is a written megadungeon campaign that really works, unlike a bunch of OSR stuff (not to say that good OSR stuff doesn't exist, just that there's a bunch to sift through) that is full of so much "here's another deadly trap hohoho" and "here's a wacky thing that randomly happens".
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May 9, 2017 05:09
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Hey folks, we read a game! It was called Purgatory, and it is for MATURE GAMERS ONLY. So you know, be careful about that.
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May 9, 2017 05:34
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I'm curious. Is it possible in RIFTS to fail to qualify for any OCC? Does it have any rules for what happens then?
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May 9, 2017 06:46
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All random rolling in character creation is disgusting and archaic and should be replaced by point buy. e:I will die on this hill 
wiegieman fucked around with this message at 06:55 on May 9, 2017 |
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May 9, 2017 06:51
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JackMann posted:I'm curious. Is it possible in RIFTS to fail to qualify for any OCC? Does it have any rules for what happens then? Good news! The Vagabond OCC has no requirements and is willing to take all! :P
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May 9, 2017 08:01
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RIFTS Funnel: Everyone plays six vagabonds and anyone who survives gets to move to a new OCC.
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May 9, 2017 09:07
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wiegieman posted:All random rolling in character creation is disgusting and archaic and should be replaced by point buy.
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May 9, 2017 09:37
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Asimo posted:Gamma World 7e begs to differ. Gamma World 7e was fantastic and they should have made more.
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May 9, 2017 11:07
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wiegieman posted:All random rolling in character creation is disgusting and archaic and should be replaced by point buy. The random rolling Eclipse Phase added to let its point buy take under an hour begs to differ.
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May 9, 2017 11:36
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wiegieman posted:All random rolling in character creation is disgusting and archaic and should be replaced by point buy. The random rolls in Shadow of the Demon Lord are pretty cool if you use them since (other than if playing a Clockwork) they're all fluff stuff and you still assign stats with points. Randomly roll to see what weird item I start with... A baby! Possibly not mine!
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May 9, 2017 13:37
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wiegieman posted:All random rolling in character creation is disgusting and archaic and should be replaced by point buy.
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May 9, 2017 14:23
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Random rolling isn't terrible if it's designed well, and in the right game. It works in Gamma World because the options are all fairly equal and it fits the gonzo nature of the game. I remember someone saying in... Reign, I think, everything was balanced so that any two rolled characters would be roughly as good as each other. It's terrible when it's "Roll high to not be complete poo poo."
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May 9, 2017 14:24
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I've always held it works fine in WHFRP partly because the Basic Careers are packed with stat-boosting Talents in order to make sure you won't be totally poo poo at whatever you ended up rolling. Also, one of your primary methods of spending EXP is directly enhancing stats, so you're going to get much better at whatever it is your classes end up having you doing as time goes anyway. That said, every single random character generation system has to be taken with a huge grain of 'Also reroll if you genuinely don't like what you get' salt. I'm a little more fond of it than I would be otherwise just because my players happen to really enjoy it as a way to brainstorm ideas for their characters.
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May 9, 2017 14:30
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Random roll lifepath stuff can be really neat as a character story generator, at least. Best thing about Traveler, certainly.
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May 9, 2017 14:32
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Random rolling in games is fine when it's a suggestion and not a rule. I'm very amenable to the whole "Why is there a fine painting in the orc's treasure horde? Idunno, why is it there?" thing that comes out of random rolling. We all tend to fall into familiar patterns without some randomness to suggest alternatives for the gently caress of it. I don't mind random rolling for character creation in Kevin Crawford games too much since you can tweak it. I don't like his preference for strict 3d6-down-the-line though. ::rolls up Silent Legions PC:: ::prostitute with STR 18::
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May 9, 2017 15:35
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The reason it works in Gamma World is you only random roll one thing that matters, but the results are universally hilarious. One you have your two classes you immediately get a free 18/16 in your two primary stats. Then you roll 3D6 for the others but who cares? Goddamnit but I love that game so much.
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May 9, 2017 15:41
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theironjef posted:The reason it works in Gamma World is you only random roll one thing that matters, but the results are universally hilarious. One you have your two classes you immediately get a free 18/16 in your two primary stats. Then you roll 3D6 for the others but who cares? Goddamnit but I love that game so much. "You'll be good at the thing your class demands but everything else is random for flavor" is a good compromise.
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May 9, 2017 15:58
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bewilderment posted:The random rolls in Shadow of the Demon Lord are pretty cool if you use them since (other than if playing a Clockwork) they're all fluff stuff and you still assign stats with points. Lone Wolf and Club. Mors Rattus posted:Random roll lifepath stuff can be really neat as a character story generator, at least. Best thing about Traveler, certainly. Traveller and the old, old FASA Star Trek RPG were pretty solid for that, I remember, yeah. I've got the Central Casting 'Heroes For...' books that are basically third party lifepath systems, and they produce the single most hosed up backgrounds I have ever seen. Extensive, certainly, but narrative gibberish.
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May 9, 2017 16:02
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I'm fond of (but would never actually play) the Lifepath system in Artesia. It tends to end up with you starting off with six siblings, all of whom are dead, along with your entire extended family except for a neice who reminds you of your dead family and drives you into depression whenever she's nearby
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May 9, 2017 16:04
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JackMann posted:I'm curious. Is it possible in RIFTS to fail to qualify for any OCC? Does it have any rules for what happens then? No, some of the corebook classes, particularly to be of the enhanced human classes like Juicer or Crazy, have no requirement. It's possible if you're playing with a specific class list it might happen, but by default you can't. It also bears mentioning that if you're playing a Racial Character Class that excludes any Occupational Character Class choices, you don't have to gently caress around with minimums at all. So yes, if you want to qualify to be a Godling or Dragon Hatchling, that's automatic, unlike wanting to play a Gambler, Safecracker, or Saloon Gal. Of course, bear on mind the odds I have of playing a thing are based on human characters, if you're an Elf, Ogre, or Monkey Boy, the odds will skew appropriately with their stat changes. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 19:24 on May 9, 2017 |
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May 9, 2017 16:38
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