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The storm has a name... - Let's Read TORG Part 18e: Soldiers and civilians Now it's time for Characters and Creatures, the monster and NPC chapter. And as is SOP with Torg, all the major NPC are mixed in with the generic creatures instead of being listed out separately because God forbid we could organize this stuff in a useful fashion. quote:The chapter is arranged in alphabetical order. Unlike a telephone book, the human characters are listed first name first. You find the description of Mark Dyer under "Mark Dyer," not under "Dyer, Mark." Techno-demons, alphas, demon lords and other types of Tharkoldu are all described in the "Tharkoldu" entry. Individual Tharkoldu, such as Sterret, have their own entries. That said, I'm going to do things a little differently this time and cover all the major NPCs first before getting into the generic monsters. One of the reasons for this is the existence of Reality Solutions Ltd. RSL "investigative, trouble-shooting agency aimed at solving problems, no matter what reality they are from." Which is to say, they're freelance Storm Knights, going as far as being listed in the Yellow Pages. RSL consists of three people: Abbas Sombol studied electrical engineering at the University of Cairo, but was expelled as part of a cheating scandal he was actually framed for by fellow student Sirhan Odemir. When Mobius landed, Abbas was put to work in a pharmaceutical lab under the management of "Dr." Sirhan Odemir. Abbas sabotaged the lab after learning they were making mind-control drugs, which was the moment he transformed and became a Storm Knight under Nile axioms. Abbas fled to L.A. and began working as the masked hero "Street Hawk", where he ran into Mark Dyer while investigating Odemir's attempt to create movies with hypnotic-suggestive film stock. Abbas and Mark founded Reality Solutions Ltd., and were instrumental in slowing the initial invasion (without them, the Tharkold realm would have been much larger out of the gate). And yes, he still patrols as Street Hawk. Mark Dyer is a former member of the Army before being discharged due to an injury he didn't have (the X-rays got mixed up at the hospital). When the initial invasion happened, he was one of many civilians who took it upon themselves to run raids into the Living Land. Mark became a Storm Knight under Living Land axioms after a botched raid there. quote:Mark's mind nearly snapped with the transformation. Seeing life and the world as a Jakatt saw it was not easy for Mark, who was used to seeing life through advertising jingles, sloganeering and 10-second sound bites. His mind recoiled from the harsh spiritual reality of the Living Land. Kreya Keena-Three is a soldier from Kadandra (remember that?) who specialized in destroying Tharkoldu stelae during Kranod's failed invasion attempt, and was drummed out of the military due to killing her superior officer during a cyberpsychosis attack. When the Kadandra leadership learned about Tharkold's attempted invasion of Core Earth, she (like Dr. Mara-Two) was sent there to help out. Unlike the good doctor, however, Kreya was sent through hacked-together replacements for Dr. Mara-Two's original gate tech because she was "useful but expendable". Like any Kadandran character (I think this is the second one ever), she's stranded on Core Earth with no way to get back to her home cosm. Kreya's making the most of it, battling Tharkold forces whenever she gets the chance. Reality Solutions Ltd. is basically your "PC contact group". They're there to give Storm Knights in the area work, but apart from doing an important blink-and-you'll-miss-it task in the timeline at the start of the book there's no real details about what they actually do apart from "fight Tharkoldu". But with that out of the way, let's look at the lead representatives of the various realities in the area. With one obvious exception, they're all presented as contacts and support personnel for PCs. Terri Bender, as stated earlier, is the current mayor of Los Angeles because everyone else in the city's government fled when the invasion happened. Fortunately for everyone involved who matters, she's surprisingly good at her job. Not only has she held the city's infrastructure and the LAPD together, she's managed to keep pressure on the Tharkoldu and has kept Kanawa's involvement in the city to a minimum. The later was mainly just because of a weird feeling she had at first, but the three assassination attempts since then have kind of solidified her doubts. Terri makes regular walking tours of the city (despite the danger of Tharkoldu attacks) to make sure everyone knows that the city government hasn't abandoned them. Interestingly, Mayor Bender may actually be (unknowingly) using the Law of Domination to her advantage with the citizens; people seem to be fiercely loyal to her. This has a downside, though: if something happens to her, the city's will to fight back will pretty much fall apart. Cyberpapal Nuncio Claude Eschlimann is Malraux's representative in the city. Sort of. He was shipped to L.A. due to his rapid rise through the Cyberpapal ranks, which is the kind of thing that ruffles the frocs of the people in the higher ranks. While his cover was to be a representative of the Cyberpapacy, his real job was to screw up Kanawa operations in the area. Eschlimann knew he was being set up to fail, so he made heavy efforts to convert the locals, stop Kanawa and, through that success, get assigned back to France. What he didn't account for was the American (and Kanawa-influenced) news system; while he's a handsome man and a good orator, he's incapable of performing even the simplest interview or sound bite without calling people heathens or saying they're going to hell. Things only got worse when Ellerby Quaff arrived as the Ayslish ambassador, because Ellerby was a) very good at humor, and b) took to the media like a duck to water. Ellerby turned the hate aimed at Eschlimann into mockery, which made the nuncio even madder. Then the invasion happened, and Eschlimann realized his true God-given purpose: to defeat these demons in the name of God, and to save the souls of everyone in the city. Given that his faith has only strengthened since the invasion started, he might be right.  ...or maybe he's just an rear end in a top hat. Ellerby Quaff is the dwarven emissary from Aysle. Ellerby spend over 300 years as a House Vareth slave, but a natural ability for humor got him "promoted" to jester. Fortunately, Ellerby was smarter than he acted (as well as having some magical talent), and made sure to listen in and remember as much as he could from the House's upper management. As a result, he was instrumental in helping slaves escape from the House's clutches. He escaped to Core Earth in the confusion of the invasion, and came to the attention of Tolwyn of House Tankred. Realizing that he was a natural diplomat, he was assigned to L.A. to represent Ardinay's interests. Ellerby quickly became a favorite of the local news media due to his quick, smart wit, which he usually aimed directly at Eschlimann. Post-invasion, Ellerby's job is to protect citizens of those Aysle stuck in the city by the invasion, either via shelter or getting them out of the city. Fortunately, Ellerby maintains a good relationship with Mayor Bender and the LAPD, so he's able to organize regular escorts out of the city. On a more personal level, Ellerby's main goal is to free the Race and human slaves who've fallen under the control of the Tharkoldu. He pays very handsomely for the elimination of technodemons.  Always leave 'em laughing. Yoshiko Nakata originally a computer security analyst back in Marketplace, Yoshiko joined Shiki after her company was gutted and cleaned out during one of the many corporate battles common in that cosm. She managed to steal enough money from a megacorp to buy herself the identity of Yoshiko Nakata; her original name and background are unknown and she prefers it that way. She managed to worm her way into the companies that were prepping for the original invasion, particularly the forces that were assigned to prevent Tharkold's original invasion in the Soviet Union. That got her a job at Ichi Entertainment's North American division as "Executive of Special Operations". From there, she helped prepare L.A. for the (then) upcoming Nippon Tech takeover of the city. When the Tharkoldu invasion happened, Yoshiko managed to retreat into a panic bunker, and has been coordinating outside forces (like Storm Knights and Reality Solutions Ltd.) from there. She ofter contacts Storm Knights as an anonymous source of info and/or jobs, and is willing to offer payment in Nippon Tech supplies. Despite all this, it's still unknown exactly who's side she's on. And lastly, there's Sterret.  It's not my goddamn planet; understand, monkey-boy? Sterret, Demon Prince of Blades is the only demon prince who's formally submitted to Jezrael, and as such has been granted control of the one million Tharkoldu involved in the invasion. Sterret submitted because it figured that the best way to learn how monkey-kind think was to submit to one. After all, Jezrael will more than likely fall just as Kranod did before her, so by keeping his position he can focus on the War and on wiping out the humans/Race. On top of that, Sterret's main tasks are to expand the realm as best he can given the proximity of the other reams, and to destroy any Kanawa assets still in the city. Having run into Reality Solutions Ltd., Sterret knows that there's some sort of force from Kadandra on Core Earth, and is scouring the city to determine the extent of their forces. Really, Sterret wants to personally shred every member of RSL to death as slowly as possible, but it realizes that the larger goals have to come first. It's this dedication to his actual tasks (as opposed to just inflicting violence and worrying about domination/submission politics) that makes Sterret so dangerous. Revenge is great and all, but it's not worth risking the bigger picture on. So it waits. It studies its enemies, and once the Tharkoldu power base is more secure will it strike on a more...personal level. Sterret is also dedicated to learning as much about human culture as it can in order to learn how to defeat it; it spends a lot of time in a magically-created human disguise, just...exploring the city. You know, meeting and talking to people, trying food, listening to music or taking in a movie. Touristy stuff. The more Sterret learns about humanity, the more he wants to see us wiped out. So that covers the major players. Now for the generics! And while we do get generic stat blocks for Tharkoldu of various statures, the LAPD, and such, there are some very...odd creatures thrown into the mix. The problem with a lot of these creatures, though, is that no context is given for them. In the other cosm books, you can at least get how the mosnters fit into the ecosystem or there's a handwavey explanation as to why they're there (like how Baruk Kaah brings in monsters from conqured worlds into the Living Land). But these...they're just there. They're not described as bioweapons, or natural beasts, or whatever. They're just ideas slapped together to be things you can fight. Bloaters are four-legged scrabbly scorpion-y things about two feet long, covered in an exoskeleton which is in turn covered with natural camouflage spots so it can hide easily. The thing is stupidly fast (it can run 100 meters/round in five-round bursts, which maths out to 22 miles per hour), although its preferred method of attacking is to drop on or leap onto its prey. Once it does so, it makes four simultaneous attacks (one with each limb, using the Many-On-One rule); if it hits hard enough it latches onto the victim. Then it injects the poor shlub with poison that rots his flesh for six rounds, at which point either the toxin wears off or the guy's dead. Bochdogs are large (3 feet at the shoulder, 450 kg) dog-like beasts that hunt in packs and have some minor, instinctive magical talent. The talent manifests as strengthened armor-like fur, the ability to fire lightning, and a magical howl that disrupts electronics and cyberware. Darkfangs are creatures of living darkness. They have a manta-ray-like "travel form" and an ogre-like "battle form", and can switch between the two as a simple action. They attack with claws and fangs that completely bypass armor, even magical armor, unless you enchant it with light spells. They can also use shadows to bind or blind opponents. As if that wasn't enough, on a successful attack darkfangs can inject victims with a venom that has a few possible results, such as the target losing any adds they have in the faith or focus skills, or being unable to take actions until they succeed at a skill roll to shake off the effect. At least the venom only lasts for a minute. Direwings are...uh... quote:A direwing is a flying monstrosity that is actually made up often eel-like creatures. The individual creatures are known as tubucules. Each creature starts its life identical to every other tubucule. They each retain their mouths and digestive tracts after joining to form the direwing, but organ specialization starts soon after joining. For example only three of the tubucules accelerate the development of the optic nerves to form eyes. Anyway, direwings get to make up to ten separate attacks each round against up to four targets without worrying about the One-On-Many penalties. On top of that, they can regenerate after you kill them. quote:Each wound a direwing receives kills one tubucule. Four wounds kill four tubucules, and the direwing "dies" and cannot takes any more action as a single entity. With a wet popping and cracking, the central knot unravels and falls apart, but the remaining tubucules are still alive. If four or more remain alive, they sporespray any dead tubucles. Flensers do what they say on the label. These are spindly humanoids with triangular heads and long claw fingernails. Or at least, that's their native form, which is rarely seen; flensers are able to absorb the forms (and memories and skills) of their victims. This process takes three paragraphs to describe, and involves magic-infused nanotech, liquid metal, and other stuff you don't really need to know. The process takes 100 minutes (nice round number there), and to make matters worse flensers can "store" as many as 150 different forms, and can switch between them as a full-round action with a magic roll. It should be pointed out that flensers were created by the Tharkoldu, who lost control of them short after their first field deployment. Forcefoots are huge hair-covered humanoids that live by ingesting "inanimate forces", which they can absorb by touching the source of. They normally keep to themselves, but because they're naturally drawn to energy-producing facilities, the Tharkoldu and Race have hunted them down since even a small pack of forcefoots can shut down a major factory. They're called forcefoots because they have a stomping attack that does mental damage to everyone in 25 meters. They're also capable of generating defensive force fields, scrambling sensors, and shutting down electrical equipment. Gangslaves are Core Earth gangbangers who've fallen under the control (willingly or unwillingly) of Sterret. Sterret was very busy pre-invasion dominating gangs, and there are currently over 25,000 gangslaves under his control. Only 10,000 or so have actually been kitted out with cyberware (or slavechips), but the numbers are still there. The "elite" gangslaves are called CyFlyers, and they're the ones who have a high capacity for cyberware; as a result they're chromed to the gills. Most other gangslaves are just loaded up with high-tech weapons and pointed at targets. Ghuls are corpses that have been animated by Tharkoldu technology. The corpse is controlled by a nanovirus called Relictin-V, which the Tharkolu like to spray-bomb onto battlefields after the fight's over. As long as a corpse has any level of connective musculature or tissue, it'll rise an hour after the virus makes contact. From there, the ghul acts as a standard-issue Romero zombie: a fairly mindless hard-to-kill monster fueled solely by hunger for living flesh. If a ghul doesn't feed for a few hours, the virus will run out of power and the ghul will fall apart. However, since the ghuls are also carriers, anyone killed by a ghul will be infected and rise as a ghul themselves. The more of a corpse a ghul eats, the stronger it gets; in fact, a fully fed ghul can retain enough of its mind to be able to lay traps or lure in fresh victims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcle-JgnFA It's important to note that the Tharkoldu's use of Relictin-V has become so prevalent, the Race now requires that every human corpse must br cremated, even in the field, and has outlawed every other funerary practice to prevent ghul outbreaks. The Tharkoldu have gotten around this by mass-killing their own slaves. Jake Nori is a monster, but he doesn't play one on TV. He's the host of the hot new game show L.A. Challenge, which is basically Running Man but without the safety compliance. The show works like this: desperate citizens are recruited to try and overcome a set of challenges set up throughout the city. You know, simple things like spraying anti-gang grafitti in a gang's turf, driving a motorcycle through Tharkoldu-controlled streets, things like that. The prizes range in value from $5,000 to a million bucks, paid out to the contestant's next of kin as needed. Jake himself comes off on-camera as a happy, sympathetic guy, quick with a joke or truly sorry for the loss of a contestant, just trying to make the best of a bad situation. In reality, Jake's a completely amoral shitstain who's only interested in himself and ratings. This is a man who arranged for the kidnapping and execution of his sister's kids to generate sympathetic media coverage, so you know Kanawa lapped him right up. Jake knows why everyone's watching the show (i.e., to see some poor shmuck get violently killed), so he rigs the contests for maximum carnage. For instance, with the tag-in-a-gang's-turn challenge, he'll let slip to the gang that someone's going to be in their turf at the appropriate time. His goal right now is to get some Storm Knights on the show, since that'd be a huge ratings boost. L.A. Challenge is backrolled by Ichi Entertainment (off the books) and doesn't air on normal television. Instead, it's distributed through "private" channels, with the unedited versions going to high-paying "connoisseurs" around the globe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xStvfbIddM0 Jackwraiths are the ghosts of hackers who died in cyberspace, twisted into madness by Tharkoldu magic. They attack foes by probing their memories, and creating illusory worlds based on their fears and nightmares. The LAPD is, well, the LAPD, only with better guns.  Note that this book came out about six months after the Rodney King riots. Just sayin'. Loons are...uh... quote:The Loon's natural form is a knobby mock-orange body, resting atop three bristly legs, with double-jointed ankles ending in stubby-toed feet. The loon has two arms, which are too short to touch its hips. Its mouth and nasal passage are nearly identical, stacked one above the other and set directly into its body. It has three eyes, a large yellow eye which gives it the best image, and two smaller black-and-white eyes set far apart on either side of the yellow eye. These are used solely to help the yellow eye judge distance and depth. The loon makes a gurgling, whooping sound when it is frightened, which is most of the time. Necros are small flying beasts that "resemble a cross between a vulture and an armadillo". They're carrion feeders who make sure they have a decent food supply by manipulating people into getting killed. They're smart enough to know which beings in an area are the local apex predators, and a flock will lead them to weaker prey. They'll also perch in obvious places to basically intimidate people into going into dangerous territory. Even worse, they're smart enough to mix things up once in a while (tricking people into safer paths, for instance) to keep prey off-balance. They have enough inherent divination magic to be able to track prey from up to 100 meters away. Quon are small(ish) little hunter things that look like scorpions. They seem to be a manufactured critter, because they have liquid metal blood. This nanoblood or whatever it is allows quons to regenerate at a pretty surprising rate. As an action, a quon can make a repair roll against itself, removing damage based on the degree of success. It's tail-stinger is actually a drill with a diamond tip that can hit 3500 RPM, yet only does as much damage as a composite bow.  Whosoever pulls this sword from the facehugger... Shrilleeches are non-corporeal, invisible leeches. No, really. It feeds off the soul of whoever it's attached to, doing very slight spiritual damage. It's only one shock damage every SCENE MISSING, but the real danger is the magical shrieking it emits, which can only be heard by entities (such as Tharkoldu). Skats are (and I quote) "small rocket-propelled pterodactyls." They can fly at Mach 1.4, and use sonic booms to soften up targets before swooping in to attack. Since they like to hunt in packs, this is pretty rough since in addition to deafening enemies they also have strafing lasers. And while they seem to be robotic, it's mentioned in passing that they feed on their kills. And of course, since this is Torg we have to have creature-specific rules for tricking skats into thinking you're dead so you can lure them into attack range. Spinners also have a really dumb description. quote:Spinners look like short bearded dwarves whose eyes have been covered by cobwebs. Their fingers are tapered, nearly twice as long as normal dwarf fingers. The fingers end in spinnerets which can shoot strands of web up to 60 meters. Spinners use their missile weapons skill to hit targets with their webs. Once victims are firmly enshrouded, the spinners egg each other on until a few of them gather the courage to beat the victim to death with their clubs. Swarmrats are...uh...rats that come in swarms. These are Tharkold-native rats, which means they've been mutated by magic, fallout, and god-knows-what-else. There's some mechanics for rolling up swarm size (because of course there are), so a swarm can range from 10 to 250 rats. The biggest problem with swarmrats is that they have a hivemind, and that's a problem because (again, being that this is Torg) there are mechanics that apply to individual rats, mechanics that apply to groups of rats, and mechanics that apply to the entire swarm. See, while each individual rat has its own physical stats, they also operate in "cells" of 10 rats, which has a Toughness stat that overrides the Toughness of the individual rats. On top of that, a swarm's mental stats dependent on the number of cells involved. It's unnessesarily complcated, but that's what happens when you try to use the Torgian "the rules are physics" mentality to try to model a swarm creature. Synthecyclers are a huge pain in the rear end for the inhabitants of LA, especially those who part on the side of the road. They're autonomous drone vehicles that are programmed to wander the streets, hunting for things to break down into raw materials. Once they have enough materials, they head back to their preprogrammed destination so the materials can be used in AutoCAD manufacturing. Thing is, "things to break down into raw materials" includes people. While it's easy for a 'cyler to grab a pile of rubble or someone's motorcycle, it's just as easy for one to run down some poor shmuck on the street and, well. quote:A synthecycler may attempt to run over a character. An overrun uses the synthecycler's land vehicles skill to hit. The reclaimer (a synthecycler's "mouth") is located at the front of the creature. The reclaimus "lips" are a weave of ceramic. metal and synthetic fibers that can expand to fit around the object being reclaimed, the same way a python dislocates its jaw to swallow a large prey.  Ooooh, my caaar! And that's it, apart from talking about Tharkol's gospog. Gospog don't see a lot of use by the Tharkoldu, due to the combination of the cyberdemons wanting to do their own hunting and the fact that Tharkoldu see corpses as a food source. Yeah there's the gospog field in Anaheim, but it's just starting to crank out second-plantings. Really, the gospog are more for a show of power than anything else.
So here's a question: why so many creatures? I mean, there's already a ton of stuff going on in LA between the Tharkoldu themselves, their slaves, the gangs, the Race soldiers, and so on. And while it makes sense for there to be bioweapons and such, there's too many things here that don't feel like they belong. They feel like they're just there for the sake of there being a monster section. I mean, some of these I like. Swarmrats make sense (even though the mechanics suck), and synthcyclers would be good for bringing into the middle of a scene or combat to mix things up a bit. But the rest of it doesn't have any real context so I don't know why they're included. The overall tone of Tharkold is supposed to be "Clive Barker's Terminator", but very few of the creatues listed enforce that feel. They don't feel like they fit here. Honestly, this chapter could have been about a third of its size and been fine. NEXT TIME: Tarnished chrome Evil Mastermind fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Jul 20, 2017 |
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Jul 20, 2017 16:53
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Night10194 posted:Also all that combat stuff looks pretty useless since the real threats in setting aren't something you're going to beat in combat. (By the by, this is one of the reasons I prefer the enemies in Silent Hill 2 to those in 3 and 4, even though 3 is the best from a game design POV.)
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Jul 20, 2017 16:53
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Halloween Jack posted:Indeed. If you have a hard-on for John Woo gunplay in your game, then it should actually be useful and matter. If you're going to have a bunch of fighting styles, most of the enemies should be creatures with two arms and two legs that you can actually fight. Because every normal enemy in SH2 looks like something a dumpy, desperate convenience store clerk with a 3' steel pipe might be able to handle?
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Jul 20, 2017 16:56
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Halloween Jack posted:Indeed. If you have a hard-on for John Woo gunplay in your game, then it should actually be useful and matter. If you're going to have a bunch of fighting styles, most of the enemies should be creatures with two arms and two legs that you can actually fight.
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Jul 20, 2017 16:58
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Covok posted:http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/asimo/teenagers-from-outer-space/ And it's written by Mike Pondsmith. Beauty.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:02
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Mors Rattus posted:hey ARB will you be covering the Rifts graphic novel I just got a copy as a contest prize from my LGS, so I better. I was actually thinking of doing it right after Lone Star even though that'd be out of order, since it's more or less Lone Star: the Graphic Novel. But there are a number of factors making it a challenge compared to most Rifts books so it's gotten pushed back. Right now I'm dealing with trying to do edits on Spirit West which is probably the biggest headache I've had on my plate for awhile, and I may have a special project after GenCon, but we'll see.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:06
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Night10194 posted:Because every normal enemy in SH2 looks like something a dumpy, desperate convenience store clerk with a 3' steel pipe might be able to handle? And really, in pretty much every roleplaying game where combat matters, I prefer humanoid monsters most of the time. I like martial arts, and you can't really display martial arts when you're fighting a gelatinous cube.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:15
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I just got a copy as a contest prize from my LGS, so I better. I was actually thinking of doing it right after Lone Star even though that'd be out of order, since it's more or less Lone Star: the Graphic Novel. But there are a number of factors making it a challenge compared to most Rifts books so it's gotten pushed back.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:37
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Halloween Jack posted:They look just enough like people, just enough like monsters, and just enough like wind-up automatons to be perfectly alienating. point, but there's something amazing about suplexing a full-grown dragon.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:55
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Evil Mastermind posted:
I know it's just a typo, but the idea of a gang getting really pissed off that some schmuck was going to be in their turds is pretty funny.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:55
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Has anyone ever actually made an RPG where fighting big stuff is, you know, the point? Lots of martial arts specifically about climbing, getting at weak spots, that kind of thing? I've never heard of one.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:58
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Well, there was Last Stand.
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Jul 20, 2017 17:59
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OutOfPrint posted:I know it's just a typo, but the idea of a gang getting really pissed off that some schmuck was going to be in their turds is pretty funny.
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Jul 20, 2017 18:32
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Mors Rattus posted:Side note, it's now on Bundle of Holding with a bunch of other Rifts products. I commented elsethread that the Bonus Collection for that is decidedly random but how it's even randomer. Machinations of Doom without Lone Star? Oookay. It's not high art, but since it's Perez doing both the story and art, it's actually a pretty fun little comic.
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Jul 20, 2017 20:03
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OutOfPrint posted:I know it's just a typo, but the idea of a gang getting really pissed off that some schmuck was going to be in their turds is pretty funny. A mean street gang chasing an actual turd burglar? I should probably check what this south park RPG is all about.
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Jul 20, 2017 22:10
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Evil Mastermind posted:Well, yeah, but that's not "bad d20 thinkin'". Come up with a theme, put together your setting, then add a bunch of feats and mechanics that don't have anything to do with the theme. Hey, didn't somebody once post a link to a Molesworth RPG in grognards.txt? I've got it, lads, we'll remake Abandon All Hope but set it in a British boys' school. The jug is a tuough game but it is a pity you canot win by hacking everybode shiv shiv shiv.
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Jul 20, 2017 22:30
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Halloween Jack posted:Hey, didn't somebody once post a link to a Molesworth RPG in grognards.txt?
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Jul 20, 2017 22:36
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DalaranJ posted:Good discussion. Now I want a Tenchi Mayo rpg about strip mall karate gyms that are secretly ancient masters. Aside from TFOS mentioned above, I wonder if FAE could be useful for such a game... Covok posted:X-post from pick-up games thread: And I'm probably gonna be staying awake all night for this.
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Jul 20, 2017 22:51
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Spark That Bled posted:Aside from TFOS mentioned above, I wonder if FAE could be useful for such a game... If that's a late time for you in your time zone, I feel obligated to inform you that no one has expressed any interest in this so far. Excluding you of course. They may have done so quietly but no one is actually said they're going to show up other than you. Consider that in your calculations. I'm still going to be there to run it but there may not be anyone else there.
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Jul 20, 2017 23:14
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Halloween Jack posted:And really, in pretty much every roleplaying game where combat matters, I prefer humanoid monsters most of the time. I like martial arts, and you can't really display martial arts when you're fighting a gelatinous cube.  Night10194 posted:Has anyone ever actually made an RPG where fighting big stuff is, you know, the point? Lots of martial arts specifically about climbing, getting at weak spots, that kind of thing? I've never heard of one.
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Jul 20, 2017 23:19
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Ninja Crusade 2e - The Firebrands: Bad Friends Our host now is Tanaka "Sake" Sakura, a barfly ninja who drinks a lot and is a master of drunken combat. She is best friends with a Blazing dancer called Kaida and another Ink called Sumi Rika, and the three of them excel at pissing off the Imperials, bloodying their noses and skipping town. Sake herself is a short, lean and muscular woman who is much smarter than she appears. She has taken our initiate to a bar, expecting him to pay. (He has no money, and so she is also going to teach him how to eat and run.) She tells us about Bridge to Battle Province - particularly, that the Empire doesn't especially care about it. The only thing it matters for as is as a staging area. It has no value to its nominal ruler besides as a strategic asset against the Serpents and a source of iron. The land is scrubby, rocky and barely fertile, but the cliffs are too steep to make for normal ports. It's a dangerous land where it is fertile, bordered by violent and dangerous rainforest. The people must be stubborn to survive at all - and that's why the Virtuous Body Gardeners love it. They're an independent clan who don't like to spend their time mediating disputes for people, and the locals don't expect them to. They protect it because they can, but they don't rule it. They're just accepted - a part of the area. Most of the Inks are actually locals, and the locals tend be somewhat tattooed as well. Especially criminals, because the area likes to tattoo your crime on your face as a punishment, and the rich like tattoos as status symbols and a way to flaunt wealth without insulting nobles, while soldiers like them to show how tough they are. The village of Heiminmu, the Commoner's Dream, is essentially the symbol of the province - a symbol that the Empire expects nothing but labor and does not reward it. And so, the people find ways to try and forget their pain. The Inks see it as proof that the Lotus Coalition is doing what's right for the wrong reasons - to protect the clans, rather than to free the people. (Not, mind you, that all the Inks agree on this.) They believe that the people of Heiminmu are essentially slaves to the Izou, who keep a military base in the area both to protect the mines and to prevent peasant rebellions. The pair flee the bar, and Sake reveals that they were never in any danger, as the barkeep's son is an Ink. They then hed to Tokatsu, the Pirate's Port. It was once a bustling trade port, but that was before the storms came. There's tunnels all through the town, leading to a cavern under the place, its entrance disguised by illusion jutsu. This was used as a smuggler's port for ninja, pirates and criminals before the Arashi Sea became impossible to sail. Even now, the town is a rough place. Smugglers still use the area, but not nearly so much. Sake and her friends once got in an argument with a Shadow here, apparently. They also pass the spot where the demon spider from last time lived, which is haunted and full of spider spirits. There's another haunted place nearby, the Masaki Shrine, which has the maddened and vengeful ghost of a murdered woman in it. Hiho is their final stop - the headquarters of the clan, once almost destroyed by the Serpents before the original Horikaze saved it. The locals are not servants, however, and every initiate must earn their respect anew. They're fierce, independent people. That's about all we get. Next time: The clan's thoughts and secrets.
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Jul 20, 2017 23:59
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Nessus posted:Slime Killers' Style. Harmless to anything with complicated internal structure. Devastating to anything without. If someone could make a table top Dragon's Dogma I could deffo get into that.
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Jul 21, 2017 01:57
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marshmallow creep posted:If someone could make a table top Dragon's Dogma I could deffo get into that. I mean Dragon's Dogma was the videogame version of playing in the first campaign a really creative, excitable new GM runs. Lots of crazy off the rails plot twists after a mostly ordinary opening, lots of weird holes, and tons of 'Why not, do that awesome thing' stuff. I love Dragon's Dogma. It has the best Dragon Fight in any vidjagame.
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Jul 21, 2017 02:00
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Night10194 posted:I mean Dragon's Dogma was the videogame version of playing in the first campaign a really creative, excitable new GM runs. Lots of crazy off the rails plot twists after a mostly ordinary opening, lots of weird holes, and tons of 'Why not, do that awesome thing' stuff. If my GM surprised me near the end of the campaign by announcing that I had to fight for my true love, the overweight shop keeper, it would not end well for them.
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Jul 21, 2017 02:33
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Barudak posted:If my GM surprised me near the end of the campaign by announcing that I had to fight for my true love, the overweight shop keeper, it would not end well for them. But they're masterworks all! You can't go wrong!
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Jul 21, 2017 02:36
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Halloween Jack posted:The best thing I can say about AAH is that the rules are remarkably simple and easy coming from an outfit that mainly existed to do D20 stuff. The Custodians are all wets and weeds an canot play fairy bells on the great hall's piano.
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Jul 21, 2017 04:30
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Barudak posted:If my GM surprised me near the end of the campaign by announcing that I had to fight for my true love, the overweight shop keeper, it would not end well for them. 'Tis weak to fire!
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Jul 21, 2017 04:33
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Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West posted:Warning!  Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West posted:Violence and the Supernatural Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West posted:The fictional World of Rifts® is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other dimensional beings, often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book. Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West posted:Some parents may find the violence and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion. Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West posted:Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence. Well, it's time for a book with some small issues. Maybe, if you pay attention, you'll see what I'm talking about.   Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West, Part 1: "Something more than, 'Yep, he is an Indian,' followed by a physical description and old cliches." Wayne Breaux posted:Dedicated to Shamanism and Wicca for teaching me tolerance, freedom of choice, and confidence in personal knowledge of right and wrong when a close friend tried to convert me to his religious beliefs. He and I are still friends because of them. The primary writer on this book isn't Siembieda, for the record. It's Wayne Breaux, who you'll primarily know if you're reading my reviews as one of the game line's main artists. Chiefly, he's known as an artist obviously inspired by Kevin Long's style and delivering art similar to - but much looser - than Long's. Wayne Breaux posted:This book is different than most Rifts® supplements in the sense that it focuses on a group of people instead of a specific location or government. Yep. Despite the "World Book" title on the cover, this the book for the indigenous peoples of America, or Native Americans as Breaux at puts it, avoiding terms that Siembieda has used like "Indian" or even (deep breath) "Red Man". However, Rifts has some bad history with representing other cultures. Rifts World Book Four: Africa. Rifts World Book Five: Triax & the NGR. Rifts World Book Eight: Japan. Wayne Breaux posted:I hope to have provided sufficient material to let G.M.s and players create bold, unique characters who, in some small way, are Native Americans traveling through Rifts Earth, instead of cartoon caricatures of Hollywood or comic book "Indians." So, with this I have to mention the notion of the "noble savage" to keep in mind. I've glibly referred to it before, but it's worth bringing up in earnest before we go too much further. In brief, the notion of the noble savage is that humanity is, inherently, innocent and in tune with nature, at least until civilization / colonials / Coca-Cola bottles come along and muck everything up. A lot of it is built on guilt for slavery and colonialism, which is as regrettable and tragic as human stories can be, and I don't mean to diminish that. But the noble savage erases the historical and cultural identity from figures shamefully, and reduces them to symbols. You'll notice that we don't get a lot of characters in this book. Wayne Breaux posted:Since this book is intended as part of the New West® trilogy (Lone Star, New West and Spirit West), I have focused heavily on the beliefs and culture of the Plains Indians. The size of this book and the wealth of information it presents may seem pretty inclusive, but so much more could have been written. Unfortunately, that would have made this a set of encyclopedias, and it would have still been impossible to cover all the people, cultures, beliefs and histories completely. Breaux is a little more thoughtful than Siembieda, but he's still going to fall into some of the same issues that plagued books like World of Darkness: Gypsies. The indigenous people of America will be clumped together, generalized, and portrayed as supernaturally and racially exceptional. There's some more nuance and research than, say, Africa, but the problems remain. Wayne Breaux posted:For example, imagine the clash that might occur between Coalition Reclamation Armies looking for lost military bases and the well-armed Native Americans who simply want to keep the armed invaders out of their land. It would likely be a replay of the Vietnam conflict for the Coalition (or not). Although it is probably a cliche, (and obvious) by now to say this, remember, the possibilities are endless. So it's time to go into this aware of all that. Even I know I can't cover the breadth of cultures that had settled America long before some infamous Italian washed up there. Reviewing this is going to require me to sit down and actually look poo poo up in a way I haven't since Pantheons of the Megaverse. Even so, it's hard for me to figure out where some of this stuff comes from for several reasons. First off, often the names have been changed, which makes it very difficult to research. Secondly, they're mashing together things from dozens of cultures - some of which blend together, like the peoples of the Southwest or the peoples of the Plains regions - and trying to separate that out is a nightmare. Lastly, completely original stuff has been mixed in without any obvious note of what's new and what's actually mythical.  Hoverbikes? Lasers? They shame their people... well, you'll see. And now it's time for Kevin's take: Kevin Siembieda posted:Not only have we homogenized a number of different Native American cultures and beliefs, we have extrapolated, twisted and warped many aspects of those beliefs, myths, magic, gods, legends and people to fit into the world of Rifts®. So while the culture, beliefs and myths of the Native American people were a source of inspiration, the material presented here is not intended to be a true or accurate portrayal of the people or their real culture. Besides, no matter how many books we may have read as part of our research, we don't pretend to be experts. This is a work of fiction — science fiction and fantasy, at that. You know, as much as I start to cringe at Breaux, Siembieda just makes me implode. A lot of jokes are made about cultural appropriation these days, but this is an admission of it as literal text. "It's okay for us to plunder your culture and use it as fodder for our game because it's all in fun, right?" And mind, Siembieda isn't alone, it's something RPGs do almost as a matter of course historically. Even games I've enjoyed like Legend of the Five Rings can be real, real bad about it. And to be fair, cultural appropriation is not in and of itself a wrong. Cultural fusion can be a very positive thing with the right circumstances, and I don't think every Caucasian fellow who tries to write on another culture is necessarily going to get it wrong. But you have to be aware of the pitfalls and be willing to correct when you get it wrong, instead of just being like "Well, we know we're getting it wrong, but getting it right is just too much effort, so meh." Being part of the society that nearly annihilated the cultures and peoples of the Americas means you have to, at the very least, tread carefully, and they don't. They really, really don't. "... don't pretend to be experts." I'm pretty sure that's Palladium Books' unofficial motto.  Kevin Siembieda posted:Furthermore, we hope the term, "Indian" used in this book and others, is not offensive. It is meant as a familiar, general, descriptive term. Furthermore, in the setting of Rifts Earth and the New West™, slang (and cruelty) is commonplace, and much of the (fictional) culture is based on bits and pieces of America's past. A flawed and distorted view of history, often based on old Hollywood movies, TV shows, fictional novels, and comic books that are misinterpreted as "real" accounts of the past, and where the words "Indian," "Red Man," and even "Injun," are commonplace and adopted by the people of Rifts Earth. No disrespect is intended in the words or portrayal of any people or culture. Enjoy. I feel like I need to make a joke here. Let's see. ... the Aristocrats! Nope, I got nothing.  One might wonder why I might go into more serious brass and tacks where I didn't in Africa or Japan. The point of the matter is that it's because Spirit West goes into more serious and earnest detail itself. A book like Africa painted with a broad, inaccurate brush, and that was easy to identify, notice, and sigh at, and most of that book didn't bother focusing on the indigenous people save for what magic powers they got. Spirit West, on the other hand, goes into far more cultural detail, and the attempt is to be lauded, but the results are... well, far less laudable. One other thing I'll bring up is terms like "Native American" or "American Indian". I don't personally like them, but I'm going to be using them a lot because the book doesn't often zero in on specific cultures. It's not that I can't be bothered, but every time I say "Native American" in this text it means that's the book painting with a broad brush, not I. When it's possible and practical, I personally much prefer to refer to individual name for a tribe or culture. It's my personal belief that often these generalized terms can evoke stereotypes more than reality, and that they're a key point in othering pre-Columbian cultures of North America. I do admit to a great ignorance regarding them - as I imagine many Americans are - but I'll be working to try and research when I think it's relevant and do what I can. I won't be able to address any, or even most of the inaccuracies in this book. I simply don't have the time to do that on a mere review. But I'll do what I can practically do. Next: Dare you enter our magical realm?
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Jul 21, 2017 08:20
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Have something light-hearted to offset the coming racist tide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTsbcZpH2VI
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Jul 21, 2017 09:20
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Huh, I'm realizing I guess I stopped grabbing RIFTS books around the time New West came out since I remember literally nothing about it. I mean I know I have some that came out later like Psyscape, but I guess I stopped caring and grabbed a few random ones or something. On the topic of BESM, yeah most of the RPGs they did were either "things that was kind of big in mid-90s anime fandom" or "stuff that aired in syndication/on cartoon network or SciFi at the time". Which means there's some random forgettable crap, since that's just what licensed anime
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Jul 21, 2017 10:41
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Jeee-sus, I'm even more glad to have stopped with Coalition War Campaign now... in no small part because I probably would have considered those disclaimers to be perfectly reasonable.
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Jul 21, 2017 12:44
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Asimo posted:Huh, I'm realizing I guess I stopped grabbing RIFTS books around the time New West came out since I remember literally nothing about it. I mean I know I have some that came out later like Psyscape, but I guess I stopped caring and grabbed a few random ones or something. I think that may explain how Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos got licensed and put out on DVD. I do remember Neil Nadelman on Anime World Order saying that show was "licensed by accident", so...
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Jul 21, 2017 12:47
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Asimo posted:I have a friend who worked in the anime industry back in the day who had some interesting stories about how insane a lot of the demands were. Like companies couldn't just license some big-name title, they often had to wind up getting a bundle of less popular (ie unwatchable poo poo) along with it to drive the overall price up, with the hope that they could make the money back on the high-profile title. I can't help but wonder if GOO wound up having to deal with a few licenses like this; it would at least explain why stuff like "Demon City Shinjuku" or "half of Tank Police" somehow got books, above and beyond GOO's other spendthrift issues.
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Jul 21, 2017 14:14
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Evil Mastermind posted:You know, that probably explains why back in the day the only way you could buy anime was by going to Suncoast video and paying $50 for maybe four episodes on a VHS. I mean, apart from the fact that Suncoast jacked the prices on everything. it was exactly this plus a niche market. Japanese companies were notorious for their practices and when US companies would have difficulty theyd use it as an excuse to just no do anymore contracts whatsoever. Im not sure if in Japan in the 90s we were already in the realm of "Anime is mostly for the people who drop $1000 to have the show on home media" but its definitely the model that they unsuccessfully inadvertently pushed in the states at the time.
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Jul 21, 2017 14:47
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Yeah, it was common practice to require American distributors to buy whole lots of properties, which is why there were American releases of obscure, awful crap like MD Geist and Roots Search. Back in the day, I always figured that the cost of subbing and dubbing was to blame. Now that I think about it, it was ultimately the high cost of anime at the time that pushed me out of the hobby. Paying $200+ to collect 26 episodes of a TV show was difficult to justify when I wanted to, you know, get laid.
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Jul 21, 2017 15:16
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Barudak posted:it was exactly this plus a niche market. Japanese companies were notorious for their practices and when US companies would have difficulty theyd use it as an excuse to just no do anymore contracts whatsoever. Im not sure if in Japan in the 90s we were already in the realm of "Anime is mostly for the people who drop $1000 to have the show on home media" but its definitely the model that they unsuccessfully inadvertently pushed in the states at the time. That's been the physical media model for everything in Japan, regardless of genre, for a long time. The cost of DVD's and BD's is much higher than in the US and it's not for any reason other than companies knowing they can get away with it.
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Jul 21, 2017 15:50
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They must have a thriving community for piracy and fansubs, then, just as American anime fandom did. But for everything not already Japanese.
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Jul 21, 2017 15:56
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Halloween Jack posted:Yeah, it was common practice to require American distributors to buy whole lots of properties, which is why there were American releases of obscure, awful crap like MD Geist and Roots Search. On the other hand, this practice was how Mystery Science Theater 3000 got most of their material.
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Jul 21, 2017 16:43
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Covok posted:If that's a late time for you in your time zone, I feel obligated to inform you that no one has expressed any interest in this so far. Excluding you of course. They may have done so quietly but no one is actually said they're going to show up other than you. Also if it's stupidly late for you let someone know because I really need to meet other Eurotime online players. 
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Jul 21, 2017 16:44
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:That's been the physical media model for everything in Japan, regardless of genre, for a long time. The cost of DVD's and BD's is much higher than in the US and it's not for any reason other than companies knowing they can get away with it. For a while, it was cheaper for the Japanese anime fan to import their series from America and cough up the export fee than to just buy it at their local store, and why some distributors ended up removing the Japanese track to try to discourage this.
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Jul 21, 2017 16:50
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