Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

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

inklesspen posted:

What I find most unbelievable is that he has an editor.

"I asked someone who was only notable to me because of his scathing comedy reviews of books on public websites. How could I have known that he would post a scathing comedy review of my book on public websites?!"

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

quote:

I won't bore you with the details of "this wasn't even anything close to release,"

And, man. It really BUGS me that he's lying about this poo poo, because as presented to me, he told me that it was "just a month or so from release" and really only needed a pass for spelling errors and other minor prettiness editing. So, just.. I can deal with him being childish and petty, but him outright lying pisses me off a little.

I also posted it two places, only one of which was a forum, SA, so A LOT OF PUBLIC FORUMS is his idiot hyperbole again.

Strange Matter
Oct 6, 2009

Ask me about Genocide

Precambrian posted:

While I'm annoyed that someone's bruised ego is making you take down the review, I'm glad that I was reminded of Middenarde, a game supposedly of grim, brutal medieval life where this

*BIRDEMIC*

is a possible situation, entirely supported by the rules.
Is Middenarde the game where you can measure the energy of a serf rolling down a hill in Joules, powering your wizard's diabolical plans? Or am I confusing it with another GRITTY MEDIEVAL GAME?

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

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

Well, he has solved his Google problem. The game will see no public release, so no one will ever google it.

Red Metal
Oct 23, 2012

Let me tell you about Homestuck

Fun Shoe

Strange Matter posted:

Is Middenarde the game where you can measure the energy of a serf rolling down a hill in Joules, powering your wizard's diabolical plans? Or am I confusing it with another GRITTY MEDIEVAL GAME?

no, you roll them down the hill in order to bring them back from the dead

potatocubed
Jul 26, 2012

*rathian noises*
It's a shame he went that way rather than going 'gently caress it, time for peasant madness'. He could have made the Synnibar of our times.

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


More like a goat simulator RPG :goatdrugs:

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

potatocubed posted:

It's a shame he went that way rather than going 'gently caress it, time for peasant madness'. He could have made the Synnibar of our times.

Seriously. When someone points out you made Accidental Exalted, Only More Insane, the best thing you can do at that point is lean into the skid.

Emy
Apr 21, 2009

Strange Matter posted:

Is Middenarde the game where you can measure the energy of a serf rolling down a hill in Joules, powering your wizard's diabolical plans? Or am I confusing it with another GRITTY MEDIEVAL GAME?


You can measure the (kinetic) energy of a serf rolling down a hill in Joules because of physics. You can use it to revive the dead because Middenarde never says the energy you're using has to be electrical.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

This was also the game where you could train birds to put together gunpowder pistols, right?

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


How can you not put this on the blurb on the back of the book?

Strange Matter
Oct 6, 2009

Ask me about Genocide

Red Metal posted:

no, you roll them down the hill in order to bring them back from the dead
Okay that makes much more sense.

Dareon
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin

Aethera Campaign Setting

Part Ten - Kir-Sharaat



Slightly more useful than the nearly-featureless desert of Akasaat, but still not great.

Kir-Sharaat's surface is over 70% land, the entirety of which is covered by one forest. The remaining 30% is oceans and ice caps. The trees draw from deep aquifers, pulling the water up through the standard capillary action, and raining it from pores in the highest boughs. There are thus two climates in Kir-Sharaat: above the branches it is cool and dry, becoming hotter and more humid the the closer you get to the surface.

The trees of Kir-Sharaat can have trunks over a thousand feet in diameter, and the largest and oldest are known as the Heartwoods, and are the center of erahthi civilization. Each Heartwood is where new erahthi grow, and cities quite literally grow around them, although other settlements spring up at the intersections of great branch causeways that snake through the canopy. There are even some Progenitor ruins lodged in the branches, having been lifted into the air as the trees grew. The oceans, meanwhile, are great swathes of mystery. Erahthi sailed them a millenium ago, but their sailing vessels were deemed inefficient, and now there's only the occasional pleasure cruise. No serious efforts to explore the ocean depths have been recorded.

Below the forest canopy lies the Darkwild, home of the zahajin and also some fey that have arrived on the Prime Material plane through thin spots from the Evermorn. Kir-Sharaat has five moons, not counting the one the taur stole in 4003. Any tidal effects from the loss of Thycalese are minimal at the moment, although long-term consequences are still unknown. Kir-Sharaat has gravity 1.5x that of Earth Akasaat, a 36-hour day, and a 1.88-year orbital period. Its original Luthian astronomical designation is Mereta.



Above: Erahthi tree-dwellings. Below: Glowy poo poo.

Kir-Sharaat before the Collapse was a barren desert planet much like Akasaat today. Buried beneath the surface were Progenitor terraforming laboratories, that focused on creating living terraforming engines that could transform the elemental planes into a more habitable form. When the Collapse struck, these living terraformers ran amok, not only bursting through the planet's crust, but through the planar barriers into the Plane of Earth, infesting part of it and becoming the Elemental Plane of Wood. The Heartwoods of Kir-Sharaat are extensions of this terraforming forest, which helps explain why the erahthi are born from them. Kir-Sharaat has changed little in its history, barring the Century War and the changes it has forced on the planet.

Before the war, the erahthi lived scattered across the world-forest. As you may have gathered, Kir-Sharaat is the name of both the planet and the sprawling forest-city that covers it. Each Heartwood tree forms a metropolitan hub, but tens of thousands of smaller satellite villages existed between them along the roadlike branches, each specialized by caste or duty, each community governing itself primarily. Great for interedependency and sharing, horrible to defend. These small communities were abandoned and their populations moved into rapidly-grown housing in the provincial capitals around the Heartwoods. Before the war, erahthi practiced communal ownership of property, but resource scarcity and reluctance to share on the part of the more cosmopolitan erahthi has now resulted in the previously-discouraged concept of personal property rising to the fore. The constant interaction and friction as all these people work together has also begun to erode the erahthi caste system and lead to more independence in the younger generations.

The new growth in the districts was not done to the stringent standards of the older growth, resulting in pollution from poor waste drainage, thin walls, and a lack of privacy. These new closer quarters can also result in the culture speeding up a bit, as projects benefit from shorter supply lines and the greater number of people to speak with results in the shortening or loss of traditional structures of greeting and socialization. Multiple communities of the same caste, once separated by miles of branches, can now meet and blend, and develop a slight ghetto lifestyle where they prefer to live close together and near their jobs, in manners that comfort the elder members by imitating the specialized towns they grew up in. Conflicts among the communities are often resolved by the giving of timely and generous gifts, including the occasional escalating gift war that culminates in bringing both communities together in a grand mutual gift. I don't know enough about ethnic or cultural communities to know which this is trying to parallel or even if this is a thing with anyone. But it seems nice on the face of it.

Erahthi culture is based on a caste system that's been impressed into the society since the first generation and is only now beginning to see change. Each gestating erahthi in a Heartwood is examined rigorously via divinations, aura reading, and other methods. Specialized biomancers of the Problem Solver caste adjust the unborn erahthi's physical attributes, and the young one's caste role is selected and ready for it by the time it is born. This birth-caste forms the basis of their initial education and training. Switching castes was socially taboo before the war, but the depopulation of various castes resulted in a need for others to step in and perform given duties, and today erahthi are allowed to change castes as they see fit. Each caste is considered equal in the eyes of society, although members of a caste tend to see their own caste as more important than others. Additionally, when the Cycle of Rule changes with the waking of another Tritarch, certain castes' numbers swell, causing a temporary imbalance in the society. Currently, the Builder, Leader, and Reaper castes are more prevalent with the influence of Athrakarus on the war effort.

Erahthi characters may take a caste as a racial trait. This is not an exhaustive list of the castes, but does represent the most common. These castes are not as limiting as a human might think of a "job", a single erahthi may be, say, a Problem Solver that focuses on agriculture, technology, and medicine, for instance, but their skills are focused around a narrow range of tasks across these industries. Multi-caste collaborations form and disband as needed for a given project.
-The Builder caste are artisans, craftsmen, and engineers, responsible for maintenance and construction of infrastructure. Builders gain a +2 bonus on all Craft checks.
-Executors are the most common caste, and are highly skilled at following pre-planned instructions, but not improvising or taking initiative. They can construct and assemble, but not design; perform but not compose; etc. An erahthi of the executor caste gets an additional class skill of their choice.
-The Follower caste is unconventional, specifically designed to fill any role at short notice and follow orders to the letter. Erahthi of this caste increase any bonus they may get related to following orders.
-Idea Makers are the innovators and creative thinkers of the society. Often rebellious and idealistic by nature, they're often the first to step outside the caste structure and become adventurers. Idea Makers gain a +1 bonus to both Craft and Perform checks.
-Leaders are natural commanders and administrators. They have very little skill in handling tasks themselves, but they can find the people that can and issue appropriate orders. Characters of the Leader caste increase the bonus they grant when aiding another to +3.
-Placid are the Peacemakers, capable of setting people at ease simply by their very presence. Experts at resolving conflict of all kinds, Peacemakers gain a +2 bonus to Diplomacy and Handle Animal for the purposes of resolving conflict or reducing hostility.
-Problem Solvers... solve... problems. Whether with living things, machines, or sociopolitical systems. They are commonly engineers and doctors, but are often driven to become adventurers after seeing something wrong with the world. They gain +2 to Disable Device and Heal.
-The Protector caste are guards, trained to hold firm and give no ground. They gain a +1 bonus to CMD versus effects that move them against their will.
-The Reaper caste are farmers and garbagemen. No, I'm serious. They reap the food that the people eat, recycle waste, mine aetherite... and slaughter the foes of the people. Reapers make up most of the front-line troops of the erahthi, and gain a +1 bonus to atack rolls against anyone with less than half their HP remaining.
-Seekers are explorers and spies. They gain +1 bonuses to Perception and on Survival to track targets. Also likely to be adventurers.


Tritarch Athrakarus the Warrior, the biggest stamen.

Now, then, the war and the erahthi. Under Indaarin, the war was fought defensively, growing fortifications, healing the wounded, and putting aetherite research towards defensive purposes. Once Athrakarus took over, they shifted to an offensive stance, calling for the total dedication of citizens to the war effort. Citizens were urged to grow their own gardens, scavenge for materials to aid the war effort, and cease working on projects not essential to the war. I'm reminded of propaganda posters from World War II, because both British and American fronts urged people to grow war gardens and collect scrap metal.

Propaganda began to be used during Athrakarus' stint as war leader, and continues to be used to this day, although I would assume the focus has shifted to opposing the taur. Military service during the war acquired a very good reputation, such that even the barest military record creates a positive impression in the populace. A soldier who spent the entirety of the war doing clerical work might still find themselves lauded as a war hero when they got home. Military service can thus be a shortcut to advancement within a caste. The Protector and Leader castes are strongly supported by the war-focused arm of the government, get first consideration when discussing new laws and plans, and their requests are often automatically approved.

While the war against humanity has ground to a halt, Kir-Sharaat still considers itself at war with the taur, and so wartime rations and restrictions have merely lessened. Luxury goods are rare, and the older generations and lower-ranked caste members frown on such extravagance. The younger generation chafes against these frowns as they chafe against many such societal pressures.

This generational gap is at the heart of erahthi internal politics today. Under Athrakarus' guidance, an entire generation was raised without caste designation, trained only minimally, and hurled into the weedwhacker. Very few survived. This "lost generation" is notable in its absence, as most would now be adults in the prime of their lives. Instead, there's a few pitied and isolated members, a large population of older, hidebound erahthi, and the newest generation who is just coming of age. The lost generation often chooses to go off-world as adventurers, further depriving the youngsters of their guidance. The younger generation, growing up as they do without the influence of the lost generation to bridge the gap, has experienced a growing distance from the traditions of the elders. This generation has never known a time without war, and many believe peace is an impossibility. Their enemies can steal moons wholesale, how can you win against something like that?

Despite, or perhaps because of this fatalistic worldview, the young erahthi feel they should enjoy life while they have it. These youthful rebels often indulge in extravagant dress and art or sneak out to illicit jazz clubs at night. Some abandon their birth castes and work cross-caste or even outside the caste system entirely, seeing the system as a mere tradition holding back a progressive society. Young Idea Makers forge new forms of art, while underground newspapers spread unfiltered (and often unverified) news reports of the erahthi Chambers and the human Hierarchy alike. Neophiles flourish in the young, a century of interaction having removed much of the fear of aliens, and music is an especially-desired import from the Hierarchy. Riders send in illicit broadcasts, and physical recordings are smuggled down from orbit. The addition of farcasters has made great strides in the Kir-Sharaat club scene. While they're not prevalent enough for dedicated farcaster stations to be a thing, a performance in one club may be broadcast live at another one.

The growing trend of personal property among erahthi is embodied in how the younger generation interacts with the traditional gifting system. It's normally a whole big social balancing act to watch your neighbors, figure out what they need, and provide it for them at the appropriate time, while also not being so self-sufficient that you deny your own neighbors the chance to give you gifts. But with the introduction of the aetheric unit, you can just buy what you need, no muss, no fuss, no bother. Those erahthi who choose to abandon the caste system also welcome the idea of paying for food and shelter, rather than being pressured into joining a caste to which one will be beholden. Otherwise, Kir-Sharaat functions mostly like a post-scarcity economy. Their large supplies of aetherite, as well as the agricultural skill of the people and the existence of magic, allows the erahthi to produce any necessity easily. This is reinforced by a minimal-impact style of life, where individuals take as little and give as much as they possibly can.

Interactions with the market-based human economy are slightly strange. Off-worlders can request items they need and be happily given them, but with the expectation that they'll begin sharing their own goods with the needy in return, and anything borrowed must be returned before leaving the planet. Some erahthi, however, have taken fully to the human economic models and become cutthroat fat cat investors.

Erahthi government is made up of three Chambers, each of which represents the interests of one of the Tritarchs, and the Council of Song, which forms a buffer layer between the Chambers and the people. There are thirteen seats on the Council of Song, divided into two branches: one seat each for the three Chambers (forming the Ascendant Council), nine for the Provincial caste members who speak for the needs of the social order (the Representative Council), and the Commons Seat, filled by a common citizen to represent the species as a whole and keep the rest of the Council grounded. These councilplants are called from the best and brightest of erahthi society, without regard to caste, age, or previous experience. The Ascendant Council interprets the directives of the reigning Tritarch, and the Representative Council acquires the needed resources for these directives from the castes and individuals of Kir-Sharaat. It seems moderately more complex than it needs to be, to me.

The Chamber of Enlightenment represents the Tritarch Indaarin: Philosophy, reliigion, and the more esoteric sciences. They are especially concerned with religious orders, although the urbanization prompted by the Century War has resulted in most of the monasteries on the planet falling into disrepair or occasionally getting destroyed in battle. This includes the monastery the Chamber used as its headquarters, which the erahthi gassed with defoliants to remove cover from a Hierarchy advance.

The Chamber of Knowledge is the bailiwick of the Tritarch Erathlias: The scientist, explorer, and peacemaker. Although for the past century the Chamber has not been very focused on peace. They've focused on medicine and weaponry, and while there were dissenters to the war among their ranks, they lacked a voice to speak for them during the debates between Indaarin and Athrakarus. Those members of the Chamber who refused to turn their reasearch towards the war soon found their funding drying up, and there is a significant statistical correlation between a scientist refusing to compromise in their work and their later tragic loss to war or accident.

And, finally, the Chamber of War reports, of course, to Athrakarus. After the cease-fire with the Hierarchy, it was expected that the Chamber would stand down and reallocate some of its funding back to the other two Chambers, but instead the Council has used the threat of the taur and the probability of another attack in the near future to increase the Chamber of War's resources even further. Meanwhile, Athrakarus has been doing some shady goddamn things. He reviews the Chamber of War's reports in private, keeping them secret from the other chambers. He's put together a new homeland defense agency, called the Thorn Guard. There's even a rumor that his awakening (Which, I should remind you, violated over three millenia of tradition) was part of a carefully-orchestrated coup.

Two other groups are important in erahthi society today: The Akkari-Kathar are Athrakarus' secret police, hidden within the Thorn Guard, trained in secret facilities and acting as spies, recruiters, and the occasional catspaw in Athrakarus' plans. The Song in Memory, however, is a plucky resistance group whose leadership is made up of prior members of the Council of Song who opposed the war, Athrakarus being awakened early, or the use of erahthi children in war. They quietly recruit like-minded people, and occasionally covertly hire adventurers, mostly for information retrieval, including spelunking in the forbidden Progenitor ruins. One of these missions recovered a mural from a ruin deep in zahajin territory, and while we're not told what the mural portrays, there's a lot of intimations that it could rock erahthi society to its core.

But enough about adventure hooks. Let's talk places. Coethrana Ravine is the site of humanity's first mining operation and where the first shots of the Century War were fired. A 68-foot tall monument stands here, erected by unknown parties in volcanic rock from zahajin territories and inscribed with the word "Memory" in both erahthi and Hymnas. Kir-Hadutal is the largest coastal city, and home to farms that raise giant spiders for silk. Natorva is the only really interesting moon remaining (Although the others are mentioned in this section), having been basically melted into glass in the Collapse. A giant ravine covers most of the planet-facing side, making it look like a slitted eye. At the bottom of this ravine is a thin spot between the Material Plane and the Evermorn.

The ruins of Kir-Arkhal (Which, as a reminder, became ruins when the dreadnaught Iconoclast crashed into it) are fire-scorched and unstable, some portions of it still smolder, and teams attempting to survey the damage have been driven back by burning undead. An erahthi lich is bound to the remains of Kir-Arkhal's Heartwood tree, and assembles the undead in a plan to strike at Athrakarus. On the topic of tragedies of war, a small satellite has been placed in the orbit of Kir-Sharaat's stolen moon. The Thycalese Memorial is engraved with the names of the erahthi who fell in the Century War, as well as images and art commemorating the missing moon.

We get three pages on the Darkwild beneath the branches, the zahajin, and their fey rulers. There's not a lot of solid information, but the place is painted in broad strokes: Dark and wild. Aetherite is everywhere in great deposits: twisting gravity, creating odd telekinetic and force effects, irradiating the neighborhood, and tempting human prospectors who the erahthi are inclined to turn a blind eye to. While the erahthi and zahajin do have a noninterference treaty, it really only covers those two parties. The zahajin themselves are a bit miffed at the plunder of their natural resources, but many have begun to be interested by these strange new beings from beyond the upper branches. As for the Fey Lords, they are described very vaguely as capricious, twisted and marked by aetherite, and remarkably humanlike in appearance. They interbreed with the zahajin, which helps explain some of the latter's fascination with humans. :cthulhu:

San-Kaishan

Not a great map, but it serves its purpose.

San-Kaishan has a population of 1.8 million (98% erahthi, 2% other), including Tritarch Athrakarus, the 20th level fighter/6th rank mythic champion. The city is as old as the erahthi species, planned and grown by the first Council of Song, carefully divided by caste and function. Until the Century War, the city was never overcrowded, despite its otherwise heavy population of around 500,000.

The war transformed the city into a strong military fortification, with plant symbiont artillery bristling around the perimeter. As refugees flocked in from the outlying settlements, the city spread outward in wild tangles of hurried apartment complexes. Crime spread, and the Peacekeeper caste was forced to crack down repeatedly.


The goggles do nothing D:

We get some more info on political parties, the Council of Song, and the Chambers, as well as a few more organizations. The Gift Givers began as a group that provided sponsorship to young erahthi who wished to change castes, and expanded during the war to cover charity to refugees. This built up a lot of good karma and a significant amount of erahthi who feel indebted to the society. Unfortunately, its focus has shifted from caring for all to reinforcing the old ways in the face of humanity's market economy. The Remembered is a cult lead by a psychic who preaches strength through suffering and hardship. He preys on those displaced by war, because the gift economy of the erahthi can leave one flapping in the wind without support.

For the following sections, I will be referring to numbers on the map. In the center of San-Kaishan is the Old Growth (2), the original pre-war city. With structures grown over the course of decades, it is a graceful and organic district, with gorgeous hand-carved art in the walls and vibrantly-colored native flora adorning the "buildings". The very center is occupied by the Dreaming Throne (1) and Province Hall (3), where the erahthi government conducts most of its business. Access to the Dreaming Throne is by invitation only, and the building has no doors, so entry is through Tree Stride or similar spells. Province Hall is for caste-related business. Across the Court of Law plaza (5) is Common Hall (4), where civilian business is represented, each province of the massive arboreal metropolis sending representatives to discuss needs and projects, with runners heading back and forth to Province Hall to discuss issues with ranking caste members. The Court of Law itself is lined with other government buildings, and the plaza is a gathering area where councilors and caste heads make monthly proclamations of legislative changes. It's a bit small for the purpose now, but it harkens back to days when the entire species could fit in a single plaza, and the tradition keeps going.

The Gray Elders (8) is a stand of dead trees, some of the first shoots of the terraforming event, killed by a poisoned taproot during the wars with the zahajin. It's now a favored site for erahthi ascetics to meditate. Elders tuck themselves into hollows and meditate for centuries. The Chamber of Enlightenment checks on them regularly, and if they've died, they're entombed right there with Wood Shape. These anchorites occasionally make prophecies and call individuals for consultations. The Hives (9) are at the very top and outer edge of the Old Growth, serving as the Reaper caste's bailiwick. With unblocked access to sunlight, they grow food here, including keeping bees that produce mysteriously red honey. Composters and incinerators are also kept here, and after the Century War, the Reapers commissioned a massive redesign of the interior spaces, making them into twisting mazes to better represent the accounts of taur maze-ships. This will hopefully acclimate them to the interior of the taur ships so they'll be better prepared when the order comes to reap the invaders.

The New Growth (10) is the refugee housing area, grown rapidly to house the influx. The bark is thin and strained from the growth magics, and new structural defects are found regularly. In a few centuries the place will be as strong as the Old Growth, but the architecture will still be a problem. Lacking the careful, organic approach that fit the Old Growth to its surroundings, the buildings in the New Growth are made of modular sections and appear starkly utilitarian in contrast to the ornate Old Growth. The apartments (11) were never intended for long-term housing, and the Builder caste keeps putting forward projects to tear them down and erect more permanent solutions. The Welcoming Grounds (14) is the primary point of entry to San-Kaishan, used for ceremonial purposes, diplomatic greetings, fireworks displays, and socialization. These days it also serves as a landing strip for non-military aetherships and is the only port for flights to and from the shared colony of Vigilance.

Speaking of Vigilance (Wait, there's still numbers left! None of them are that interesting. 15 is Aetherite Fort Knox and 16 is the mega-slums.), Vigilance is a settlement on the moon Orthaun with a population of about 7500 (38% human, 43% erahthi, 8% phalanx, 6% infused, 4% okanta, 1% other). Part of the Century Accords called for a place of diplomacy between the Hierarchy and Tritach Dominion. Initially nothing but a bunker in a crater, elements within both societies that were invested in the idea of peace bullied their repective governments into expanding the settlement, and virtually everyone there now is there because they feel they can make peace work.

The city is jointly patrolled by Hierarchy Protectorate and erahthi Protector-caste guards, and while the city is technically under erahthi jurisdiction and crimes are handled under erahthi law, a Hierarchy representative is included in any tribunal if a Hierarchy citizen is involved in the proceedings. Serious human criminals are extradited back to Akasaat, although most of the erahthi see that as a slap on the wrist or escape clause.

The Hierarchy and Tritarch Dominion both have interests here, of course, but other factions exist. Department R is a branch of the Riders seeking to upset the Hierarchy status quo. They're not as discerning about who can join them, to the point where their vetting process consists mostly of repeatedly asking "Are you a cop? You have to tell me if you're a cop, it's the law." The Bud and the Leaf is a two-pronged organization dedicated to erahthi interests. The Bud uses the traditional gift economy to get new immigrants to the moon on their feet and evaluates them for eventual membership in the organization, while the Leaf advocates for erahthi interests and recruits entirely from the membership of the Bud, looking for those who could help prevent the Hierarchy from using Vigilance as a stepping stone for invasion. The Bud and Leaf's leader has good intentions, but is often outmaneuvered by extremists who have infiltrated erahthi into a few sensitive positions and could be capable of terrorist attacks.


An actually good map! It just took restricting the area to basically a square mile.

The moon of Orthaun has gravity five times lower than normal (Yes, I know that's not an accurate way of wording that), increasing jumping distances, carrying capacity, and projectile ranges by that same amount. Per-round movement speed is unaffected. A good jump check will send you 300 feet, but you're not going to be landing for half a minute.

The structure of Vigilance is a hybridization of human and erahthi engineering. The windows of the dome are set in living wood frames and made from magically-treated glass coated in colonies of photoreactive algae to absorb radiation and filter sunlight. Most of the working and living spaces are carved into the crater wall for radiation shielding, and the residential areas have viewscreens that can be set to various outside views using static illusions. Travelers debarking from aetherships are advised to dress warmly, as the arrival concourse (2 on the map) is unheated.

The Center of Progress and Development (5) is a diplomatic dick-waving arena featuring art galleries, stages, auditoriums, and free education and apprenticeship opportunities. Cross-Slot and cross-caste training is available to any citizen of Vigilance, which is a great draw to any young person seeking to better their situation. The Century Memorial (6) is a curving walkway followed on one side by a six-foot wall of moon rock inscribed with the names of 179,000 human and 165,000 erahthi civilians killed by military action in the war.

And that's the big trees. Tune in next time for Seraos and the Amrita Belt, and both Mad Max and Gotham City in space.

Dareon fucked around with this message at 22:16 on May 23, 2017

SirPhoebos
Dec 10, 2007

WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!

Sounds like you need to call on Leonard J. Crabs, inklespen.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

inklesspen posted:

I'd also like to thank everyone who includes a post title at the top of writeups, even if it's just an out-of-context quote of terrible game words like ARB tends to do. Makes my job a lot easier.

Sometimes I think it's unfair, and sometimes I realize there's no amount of context that will make "The Native American Healing Shamans are some of the most powerful healing psionics on Rifts Earth, rivaled only by the Gypsy Gifted of Germany." any better.

Not happening. :ssh:

OvermanXAN
Nov 14, 2014

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Sometimes I think it's unfair, and sometimes I realize there's no amount of context that will make "The Native American Healing Shamans are some of the most powerful healing psionics on Rifts Earth, rivaled only by the Gypsy Gifted of Germany." any better.

Not happening. :ssh:

Oh boy, is that a real quote? That's going to be a thing. Can anyone name an RPG that has Native Americans, has magic, and DOESN'T pull this sort of thing? I mean after Rifts Africa it's absolutely expected from Palladium at this point, but :wtc:, not only Magical Native Americans but doubling down with Gypsies? gently caress off, Kevin.

What I'm saying is I'm looking forward to the review :magical:

Edit: Unless that was in one of the previous ones and I missed it, of course.

OvermanXAN fucked around with this message at 06:55 on May 24, 2017

That Old Tree
Jun 24, 2012

nah


As someone with nowhere near the knowledge necessary to tell if it's offensive in any way, Ehdrighor is specifically a Native American-based fantasy setting. It's been forever since I skimmed it, but it seemed fairly cool as a setting. It's not a great take on Fate, though. Unfortunately, I think the guy who made it struggled to get it out the door and it's been a fallow and mostly forgotten property ever since.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine

That Old Tree posted:

As someone with nowhere near the knowledge necessary to tell if it's offensive in any way, Ehdrighor is specifically a Native American-based fantasy setting. It's been forever since I skimmed it, but it seemed fairly cool as a setting. It's not a great take on Fate, though. Unfortunately, I think the guy who made it struggled to get it out the door and it's been a fallow and mostly forgotten property ever since.

Allen Turner is Lakota, so it's definitely going at things better by virtue of not actually approaching from the point of the Mystical Other. He's also working on the new Scion game as well for the same reason.

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.
He supposedly also got hired to write the replacement for THUNDER PLAINS but since I never looked at the Strange again after that poo poo I don't know if that ever came out.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

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



OvermanXAN posted:

Oh boy, is that a real quote? That's going to be a thing. Can anyone name an RPG that has Native Americans, has magic, and DOESN'T pull this sort of thing? I mean after Rifts Africa it's absolutely expected from Palladium at this point, but :wtc:, not only Magical Native Americans but doubling down with Gypsies? gently caress off, Kevin.

What I'm saying is I'm looking forward to the review :magical:

Edit: Unless that was in one of the previous ones and I missed it, of course.
I know that the Ghost Dance is a fairly common hook for "and then, magic returned to the world"

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
It's a real quote from the upcoming Spirit West.

Gypsies were already a thing in Rifts World Book 5, not that such is the only Rifts book that covers them...

Green Intern
Dec 29, 2008

Loon, Crazy and Laughable

Pee Pee Doo Doo I didn't like that someone thought my Serious Medieval Fantasy game was actually quite silly.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 13 hours!

Green Intern posted:

Pee Pee Doo Doo I didn't like that someone thought my Serious Medieval Fantasy game was actually quite silly.

I'm suing you.

Sincerely,

Jack Napier Hydro Assault Joker

SirPhoebos
Dec 10, 2007

WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!

OvermanXAN posted:

Oh boy, is that a real quote? That's going to be a thing. Can anyone name an RPG that has Native Americans, has magic, and DOESN'T pull this sort of thing? I mean after Rifts Africa it's absolutely expected from Palladium at this point, but :wtc:, not only Magical Native Americans but doubling down with Gypsies? gently caress off, Kevin.

What I'm saying is I'm looking forward to the review :magical:

Edit: Unless that was in one of the previous ones and I missed it, of course.

It's posts like this that make me slightly disappointed that Siembieda has all but avoided the Middle East. Where are my exploding camel D-bees and Israeli Skull-bulldozers, Kevin! :arghfist::saddowns:

MightyMatilda
Sep 2, 2015

OvermanXAN posted:

Oh boy, is that a real quote? That's going to be a thing. Can anyone name an RPG that has Native Americans, has magic, and DOESN'T pull this sort of thing? I mean after Rifts Africa it's absolutely expected from Palladium at this point, but :wtc:, not only Magical Native Americans but doubling down with Gypsies? gently caress off, Kevin.

Is Magical Native Americans really a legitimate complaint when they're used in a setting where basically everybody has access to magic?

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

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

MightyMatilda posted:

Is Magical Native Americans really a legitimate complaint when they're used in a setting where basically everybody has access to magic?

Yes. Because it's "This splat are better at Y Magic because of their backwards enlightened native ways." It's the same reason the Uktenna and Bunyip were racist as gently caress.

MightyMatilda
Sep 2, 2015

Kurieg posted:

Yes. Because it's "This splat are better at Y Magic because of their backwards enlightened native ways." It's the same reason the Uktenna and Bunyip were racist as gently caress.

Ah, now it makes sense.

Incidentally, that made me think of a hypothetical situation. What if there was, say, an RPG made in China that states that English people are automatically better at wizardry because they used to believe that diseases were caused by bad smells? I don't know, I just found the concept mildly amusing.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
There's the Dresden Files RPG. Native Americans have the potential for magic, but no more so than anyone else, and sure there's a Native American trained in traditional rites (he's specifically Navajo) on the White Council of wizards, but again he's only one of many people from all over the world representing many different magical traditions.

The only thing really special about Listens-To-Wind from a magical standpoint is that he knows the traditional Native American rituals for combating certain horrors from Native American myth. Skinwalkers are nasty, and bringing one down without the traditional Dinah rites is... difficult, if possible.

Terrible Opinions
Oct 18, 2013



MightyMatilda posted:

Ah, now it makes sense.

Incidentally, that made me think of a hypothetical situation. What if there was, say, an RPG made in China that states that English people are automatically better at wizardry because they used to believe that diseases were caused by bad smells? I don't know, I just found the concept mildly amusing.
Magic comes back into the world and as a result all British people become knights or pointed hat wizards. The American army immediately reforms into militias wielding flintlocks and wearing tri-corner hats.The French become anthropomorphic frogs.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
More than one awful furfic has started that way.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

SirPhoebos posted:

It's posts like this that make me slightly disappointed that Siembieda has all but avoided the Middle East. Where are my exploding camel D-bees and Israeli Skull-bulldozers, Kevin! :arghfist::saddowns:

Yeah, we're unlikely to ever see such a thing - Siembieda doesn't think they can do it right and is concerned about possible backlash. There was a netbook floating around that was "taken down" with the rumor being it might see publication, but that never happened.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Yeah, we're unlikely to ever see such a thing - Siembieda doesn't think they can do it right and is concerned about possible backlash. There was a netbook floating around that was "taken down" with the rumor being it might see publication, but that never happened.

wait, Siembieda hesitated to make a Middle East sourcebook because he thought it might be tasteless?

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.

Terrible Opinions posted:

Magic comes back into the world and as a result all British people become knights or pointed hat wizards. The American army immediately reforms into militias wielding flintlocks and wearing tri-corner hats.The French become anthropomorphic frogs.

At least one of these actually happened in Rifts!

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

unseenlibrarian posted:

At least one of these actually happened in Rifts!

was it the frog one

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.

Leraika posted:

was it the frog one

(It was "England is a land of knights and wizards' sadly, Rifts isn't that inventive.)

SirPhoebos
Dec 10, 2007

WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!

gradenko_2000 posted:

wait, Siembieda hesitated to make a Middle East sourcebook because he thought it might be tasteless?

This is someone who still thinks the Satanic Panic is a thing that needs to be addressed, so it kinda makes sense that the Middle East is the one place he wouldn't go.

Cease to Hope
Dec 12, 2011

Terrible Opinions posted:

Magic comes back into the world and as a result all British people become knights or pointed hat wizards

are you john wick

ZeroCount
Aug 12, 2013


PurpleXVI posted:

And, man. It really BUGS me that he's lying about this poo poo, because as presented to me, he told me that it was "just a month or so from release" and really only needed a pass for spelling errors and other minor prettiness editing. So, just.. I can deal with him being childish and petty, but him outright lying pisses me off a little.

I also posted it two places, only one of which was a forum, SA, so A LOT OF PUBLIC FORUMS is his idiot hyperbole again.

You need to tell him that no matter what else he changes, the Birdlords have to stay in the game.

Joe Slowboat
Nov 9, 2016

Higgledy-Piggledy Whale Statements



Hey thread,
I was wondering if I could get a bit of help - I'm trying to hunt down all the F&F reviews of fantasy (or, I guess, SF) RPGs that were explicitly or guardedly Gnostic in concept.

Currently my list is Kult! (straightforward gnosticism), In Dark Alleys (even more doctrinaire Gnosticism, complete with Demiurge and Sophia), and Mage: The Awakening (a bit less orthodox). Mage: The Ascension is sorta Gnostic but I don't know if that's really a central theme. Are there any others I've missed? Especially the blatant ones, if you can think of any.

This is entirely out of curiosity, I'm interested in seeing how much Gnosticism shows up in RPGs after running into it in the above. Also, a homebrew setting I'm running ended up more Gnostic than I intended and I'm curious if it's just a sort of natural fit, as cosmologies go.

Thanks!

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
NWoD Demon might be good?

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5