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Man, this is no knock on Horrient because it's been pretty cool so far too, but the Dreamlands Express is better than the main scenario.
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Jan 11, 2018 22:18
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Freaking Crumbum posted:Center for Xenological Studies (CXS) - They're the final drain filter for all of the occult, supernatural, extraterrestrial, and unidentifiable specimens and relics that every other branch of the U.S. Govt recovers. While most other branches have their own team that will nominally review anything that looks valuable, 99% of everything recovered winds up being sent to the CXS for cataloguing and retention. The idea is, by having as many real samples of weird poo poo in the same place as possible, it's more likely that we can put these puzzle pieces together and figure out what they all mean. I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least.
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Jan 11, 2018 22:45
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DicktheCat posted:Can someone put up another invite for the Trad Games discord chat? I didn't get to get into it because I was away from my computer while it was up. https://discord.gg/qCPPy
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Jan 11, 2018 22:48
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Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least.
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Jan 11, 2018 22:57
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Evil Mastermind posted:Fine. Ch-ch-chia?!
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Jan 11, 2018 23:02
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Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least. even better, the book can't decide how many people work there. there's another section not related to this write-up that says they have 35 employees. so, you know, still extremely understaffed, just a hair on the other side of plausibility. the game wants them to be like an Indiana Jones style warehouse where you can find whatever supernatural widget you need, except nobody knows where anything is or what anything does. i think the hook is supposed to be that they're lightly staffed to the players can slip in more easily, but it's definitely explained weirdly.
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Jan 11, 2018 23:05
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Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least. just got done wrestlin this acid spittng wraith from hell, got cursed, seeein these wierd eyes all over the place now. gotta be at my shift at chipotle in 20 #milleniallife
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Jan 11, 2018 23:10
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Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least. I really hope the answer is Yes
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Jan 11, 2018 23:15
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Down With People posted:The cats of the Waking World are kin to those of Ulthar and know the great deeds the investigators have done for them. For the rest of their lives, the investigators find cats that are willing to help them in whatever way a cat can. Seriously, though. I loving love this adventure, "oh hey enjoy making friends with these weirdos and slime goblins on a train OH loving WAIT, NOW YOU'RE FIGHTING A LICH AND HIS DRAGONS. GOOD THING THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP IS STRONGER THAN WIZARDRY." There really needs to be a Mythos game centered entirely around the Dreamlands and awesome adventures like these where humanity's good traits and willingness to fight for their world and friends can steamroll evil no matter how much magic bullshit it's packing. Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least. The plot starts when a part-timer at the CXS sneaks home an alien mind control gadget to use on his boss at [lovely employment location] for a raise and some general leeway. Or starts selling alien gizmos and plasma weaponry in alleyways to pay rent, because he can't find another part-time job to make ends meet.
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Jan 11, 2018 23:43
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Down With People posted:The cats of the Waking World are kin to those of Ulthar and know the great deeds the investigators have done for them. For the rest of their lives, the investigators find cats that are willing to help them in whatever way a cat can.  Hell that's so it's practically :4:
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Jan 11, 2018 23:58
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PurpleXVI posted:The plot starts when a part-timer at the CXS sneaks home an alien mind control gadget to use on his boss at [lovely employment location] for a raise and some general leeway. Or starts selling alien gizmos and plasma weaponry in alleyways to pay rent, because he can't find another part-time job to make ends meet. Doesn't that happen in the first episode of Torchwood?
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Jan 12, 2018 00:08
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The ending of that Dreamlands adventure makes me want to go out and hug someone at random. 
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Jan 12, 2018 00:23
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Goddammit. It happened again. Motherfucker. Is there a way I can just find it or is it invite only, because I'm going to bed after this and goddammit I want to be part of that group. E: how long do those stupid invites last, because it was only a few hours ago that I checked my phone, and I could only get to my computer right now. I guess I'm gonna lurk a little while? I don't know. DicktheCat fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Jan 12, 2018 |
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Jan 12, 2018 01:30
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DicktheCat posted:Goddammit. It happened again. Motherfucker. Well, when generating an invite, it is possibly to make them last forever.
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Jan 12, 2018 01:33
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DicktheCat posted:Goddammit. It happened again. Motherfucker. By default, 1 day.
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Jan 12, 2018 01:42
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senrath posted:By default, 1 day. Really? I just need to keep up on the thread better then. 
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Jan 12, 2018 02:52
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Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least. A government agency being understaffed and underpaid is hardly unrealistic relative to reality.
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Jan 12, 2018 04:40
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Precambrian posted:I just need to ask: how the hell does a black book agency that deals with the entire supernatural and extraterrestrial database of the US Government have part-time employees? Do they work 20 hours here and also pick up some shifts bartending on the side, or are these semi-retirees or something? You'd think the guys sworn to the utmost secrecy would be compensated with full-time employment at the very least. You can be part time and make over $30,000 a year in some technical professions. They're probably not making minimum wage. EDIT: Here's an example. https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/488332000 It's not hard to imagine someone working part time on a black project is making a good amount of money based on the breakdown of the classification system. RocknRollaAyatollah fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Jan 12, 2018 |
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Jan 12, 2018 05:15
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gradenko_2000 posted:A government agency being understaffed and underpaid is hardly unrealistic relative to reality. You better believe this administration would privatize as much of the Mythos Agency as possible. The agency and all its contractors would be staffed by, like, guys with law degrees from Liberty and people who are too thuggish for the police.
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Jan 12, 2018 05:27
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Could even be a couple of disabled employees. John from Xenolinguistics might only have one lung and no legs, so he's only on the roster part time because of the chronic fatigue that goes with his condition, but by god you'll never met someone better at figuring out whether that Grey text is 'Do not open - GREY GOO' or 'Do not open - Ted's stinky tofu burger, gross, seriously ted what the gently caress'
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Jan 12, 2018 06:06
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Angrymog posted:Well, when generating an invite, it is possibly to make them last forever. Also maybe put them in the TG Chat thread?
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Jan 12, 2018 07:19
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At the end of the journey do we see hundreds of cats casting tiny dream artifacts into the Gulf, or is that a human thing?
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Jan 12, 2018 08:23
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Night10194 posted:Man, this is no knock on Horrient because it's been pretty cool so far too, but the Dreamlands Express is better than the main scenario. I mean look it kinda is. The Lone Badger posted:At the end of the journey do we see hundreds of cats casting tiny dream artifacts into the Gulf, or is that a human thing? Nah, that's the service Henri set up for human dreamers on the Express. The Ulthar cats are people of the Dreamlands. Also as cats, they're superior creatures and have no great mental baggage that they need to cast off into oblivion.
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Jan 12, 2018 08:44
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 How about for another system that’s never been (and will likely never be) transladed into English? Between a pretty-good-yet-flawed setting and premise, a bit of chart bloat, utterly unwieldy combat rules and complete obscurity (even in its home country of Poland) Monastyr seems like a perfect fit for the Thread. So, what is this.. Monastyr? Monastyr is a dark fantasy role-playing game set in a fantasy not! XVI-century Europe, surrounded by barely civilized, pagan kingdoms and hordes of devil-worshipping barbarians. So, it’s exactly as our XVI-century Europe (as seen by XVI-century Europeans) but with more wizards. Monastyr (or monaster) is also the word for monastery in Orthodox and Greek Catholic church. That has nothing to do with the game. I mean, the game has a not! Catholic Church so there obviously are monasteries and true, you could make an analogy between the game’s Dominium (a Holy Roman Empire-sque confederation of kingdoms) and ‘a walled place of seclusion/isolation’ but the point of this overly long sentence is that the name seems tacked on like they just needed a seriously sounding, marketable word. The game itself was published in 2004 by Wydawnictwo Portal (Portal Publishing House – currently Portal Games), with little hype and even lesser sales numbers. It still managed to squeeze out two editions (second a being basically ‘revised’ with a hard cover, better quality paper, cleaned out misprints, and a few extra illustrations of varying quality), one nationbook describing the kingdom of Nordia, and four adventure modules. Okay, what can I do in this game? In Monastyr you get to play as a human, middle-aged, white aristocrat, just like you always wanted. The game expects you to play a person in their fourties, one of the few remaining Men of Honor (or Women – girls do exist in this game and the Dominium’s society is surprisingly egalitarian with regards to gender) out to redeem some past mistake. Probably by killing elves. It’s by no mean the only way to play and there’s even an entire half-page dedicated to making your character a (gasp) young person but the game makes it pretty clear that it wants to be a musketeer mid-life crisis simulator. You got me at ‘killing elves’. Do continue. Let’s do it then. One last note before I start, though: Since Monastyr hasn’t been translated to English, all book quotes will be translated by my humble self. Just be warned. The book itself is 260 pages of high quality paper, densely-packed and bound in hardcover and is likely one of the prettiest RPG books I’ve seen this side of Degenesis. The pictures I post throughout this review will be either scans from the revised edition or cut outs from a bit low-ish quality pdf of the first ed. I don’t really want to risk pressing the physical book onto a scanner too much – especially since it belongs to my GM… First look at the world quote:The World is at war. Both here in the kingdoms that make up the Dominium and in the pagan lands of Valdor, kings and princes wage their wars. They fight for every inch of land, every road, every field, every foot of the coastline. Every winter people die in all parts of the world, every spring some ruler musters his armies for a new conflict, every summer, every autumn… All year round the air resounds with the roar of cannons, stampedes of warhorses, noise of battles. The past Nearly all fluff parts of the book – and even some of the rules – are written in-character from the perspective of a minor nobleman. “NPCs narrating their own world” method of writing is quite popular in Polish RPGs (Neuroshima, currently reviewed by Tevery Best uses a similar shtick) but I probably won’t stick to the formula outside of quotes. The priests say that before man came to be, the world belonged to a race of powerful beings called Rodians, living in harmony with the Creator. But in time they came to the attention of jealous demons that lurked in the darkness under the world. The demons corrupted Rodians and made them turn away from the Creator and, in turn, He abandoned and left them at the demons’ mercy. Now all that’s left of the Rodians are stories and ruins – particularly of the Cathedrals they erected in a desperate attempt to return into Creator’s grace. According to the church, humans are direct descendants and pale shadows of the fallen Rodians – although, every now and then, there comes a madman of a heretic claiming human descent from some lowly deviria (which is a blanket term covering the soulless beings, ranging from animals, through orcs and elves, to demons). After the fall of Rodians mankind fell into thrall of demons (sometimes literally ruling over human lands as feudal overlords) until one day, in a mountainous land to the east, the Prophet was born. He was able to rediscover the faith in the Creator and, with the power of prayer (and the power of arms), liberate the first human kingdoms. Centuries later the disparate kingdoms signed The Pact, uniting mankind under the dual rule of the Pope and the Emperor creating The Dominium  The interesting byproduct of this game's obscurity is that this writeup will likely triple the number of Monastyr-related pictures available on the internet The Pact, originally signed by seven kings, now unifies a whole bunch of kingdoms, princedoms and fiefdoms into what is known as The Dominium. Between the Emperor in the northeastern realm of Kord and the Pope in Kartina, to the northwest, the Dominium covers most of the (unnamed) continent. Little is known of the world outside of it: the eastern and northern lands are pagan kingdoms, falling one by one before the armies of Kord, southern mountains mark the near literal end of the world – only icy wastes lie beyond. It is to the north and west where the true danger comes from. Beyond the Ocean lies Valdor – a confederation of pagans, elves, dwarves and orcs – connected to the Dominium by a narrow stripe of land. There you can still see dragons and dark wizards (there is no other kind of wizard) and what’s even worse – humans, still slaved to magic, blind to the light of Karianism (which is the name of the Dominium’s religion) and in a dire need of a liberating crusade. quote:Here, in the Dominium lies the cradle of progress. Here sciences flourish. Untempted by magic, we use our minds and talents to move our culture forward. In Valdor you won’t find muskets, cannons of grand cathedrals. And here you won’t find magic, the Church will protect you from monsters, demons and all else that hides beyond the sea. Agaria Agaria has the dubious honor of serving as the Dominium’s borderland with Valdor. It’s the place where all crusades came to a standstill and is now ravaged by constant raids, counter-raids, brigands and foraging parties. We’ll have a closer look at that place when we get to character creation, as it’s one of possible starting nationalities. Several generations of constant conflict made the Agars grim and humorless folk, a predisposition which is pushed even further by having as their other neighbor… Kara The country founded by Templars and ruled solely by the Inquisition. In a world where devotion and religious fervor are praised, Kara manages to take it to new, terrifying heights in a constant war on heresy, spiritual corruption and bodily comforts. It is pretty much a cross between the Monastyr’s Taliban and all stereotypes about the Spanish Inquisition. It is also, like Agaria, one of the suggested starting countries so let’s not waste words on them here. The Pope Residing in a small land of Kartina, the Pope is the head of Dominium’s only religion and likely the most powerful man in the world. The religion itself, Karianism, is based on the teachings of the Prophet and scriptures deciphered from the walls of ancient Rodian Cathedrals. The faithful are supposed to live modest and moral lives (the definition of “modest and moral” varies depending on region and social class) and abhor magic. Those who achieve sainthood will ascend to heaven to become one with, well, The One. Others will be reborn into the next generation or (in case of the truly wicked) cast into darkness to the mercy of demons. Current Pope, Magnus V, is widely considered one of the greatest minds of the generation, keeping together the various factions of the Church, the squabbling kingdoms of the Dominium, supporting Kord’s northern expansion, waging a sea war against Valdor (and supporting the land war in Agaria), founding universities and centres of learning… And he still somehow finds the time for his personal scientific study of magnetism, because why the hell not? Kord It’s kind of a big deal. After overthrowing the previous great power that was Dor, Kord became the seat of the Dominium’s emperor and the most powerful of its realms. Under the rule of Wolfgang de Calanthe, Kord is the greatest centre of trade, science and art. To the northeast Kord wages constant wars of conquest, razing pagan kingdoms one after another, returning their peoples to the True Faith and adding their lands to the realm. Kord is also available as a starting nationality so we’ll obviously mention them again. The Darkness It is a constant part of the world. We’ve already mentioned the pagans, elves and other monstrosities that dwell outside the Dominium, but demonic forces within are still present. Dark forces hide in remote woods and underground tunnels and caves. But still worse are the forces that every day try to lure good people astray. quote:Have you ever had a moment of weakness? Felt fear? Considered a lie of a betrayal? You must have. You have, therefore, met the Darkness, my lord.. The Future quote:We are in the year 1575 and the Dominium is at the brink of the greatest war since it became united. To the west the Claw Peninsula is on fire from conflicts between the kingdoms, to the north Kord is a step from taking over Doria, whose people are preparing to take action that can only end in tragedy. Doria will disappear from the maps while just a century ago it was an unparalleled power. A first look at game mechanics Pick an attribute (usually in 5-20 range) and skill (they go 1-8) and roll 3d20, deduct your skill value from one of the dice. Every roll below or equal to the attribute is a success, two successes pass the test (or three if the required skill is at zero) Here the game helpfully informs us that any fractions you encounter during character creation / play are to be rounded up. And yes, there will be fractions.. Next episode – character creation. RedSnapper fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Jan 12, 2018 |
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Jan 12, 2018 12:54
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Hoo boy, wasn't this (mechanically) Neuroshima reskinned for gothic horror?
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Jan 12, 2018 12:56
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Lichtenstein posted:Hoo boy, wasn't this (mechanically) Neuroshima reskinned for gothic horror? From what I remember of Neuroshima's rules - yes, but with more self-contradicting combat.
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Jan 12, 2018 13:01
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To maintain their immortality, liches must regularly consume The Deck of Encounters Set One Part 76: The Deck of Liches and Witches 419: Deadline A sage, possibly an existing acquaintance of the PCs, enlists the PCs to carry a message to a reclusive wizard. If they accept, he’ll give them the message, a map, and a 10,000 gp emerald. He also appears to be packing for a long journey. The message reads “Anakara: I’m running a little later than expected--about a year behind. Since I know your short temper, I have taken the liberty of fleeing. (signed) Firinis.” When the PCs reach the tower, Anakara the lich will let them in, and be very angry when he reads the message. Then, in front of the PCs, he’ll scry the sage with a crystal ball and strike him dead remotely with a bolt of lightning. Then he’ll let the PCs leave. ...okay? I can only assume the sage hoped the PCs would pick a fight with the lich and save him. Odd little scenario, but keep. 420: The Drunken Mage The PCs are carousing out in the city when a drunken mage named Nyulak the Dark and Mysterious (level 18!) casts magic missile on a pigeon in the rafters, then staggers out of the bar. He’ll cause a lot of property damage if not stopped, but will be repentant in the morning. So basically a high-level version of Drunken Centaur? Sure. Keep. 421: Trapped “A stormy day drives the PCs toward the ruins of an old, crumbling fort.” Uh… let’s just assume the PCs are willing to play along here, even though that is probably not the case. A sudden storm with an ominous structure in the distance? Alarm bells all over. Speaking of which, the door seals itself behind them when they enter, obviously. And a floating skull comes up to taunt them, saying it will be their doom when the sun rises, unsurprisingly. And there’s a guards and wards spell to disorient them as they try to move around, of course. The place is a lich’s home. According to the card, “the whole point of this encounter is not to disturb the lich, which is sleeping off the effects of its latest magical experiment,” and to find a way out through, like the untrapped upper story windows. Okay, sleeping undead. Very logical. And the PCs definitely are not going to want to loot the place or get the jump on this sleeping master. I appreciate the concept of a random lich lair with magical wards that the PCs need to evade as they explore, but to make this actually interesting would probably involve drawing out the plan of the keep, possible exits, etc., beforehand - otherwise it’s just me, the DM, sort of improv-ing until I decide to let the PCs escape. :| So as a random encounter on this card with no map, I’ll say pass. 422: To Grandmother’s House We Go In a deep, dark forest, the PCs notice a rolled up scroll on the side of the road. It’s a simply-rendered map with no words, but clearly shows the path the PCs are on, and which small side-path to take. “Near where the PCs found the map, they also notice a scrap of red wool and a few drops of blood. All around them are the paw prints of an enormous wolf.” The map leads to grandmother’s house. She will anxiously inquire about her granddaughter who never showed up.  This is more of a joke than an encounter. I kind of appreciate it, but what do you do after the punchline? I think I’ll pass. P.S. Grandma is a level 4 wizard. Now you know. 423: Witch Hunt The PCs wander into a rural community during an equinox or solstice. The townsfolk are busy shouting “Witch!” etc., and waving torches and preparing to burn a woman tied to a stake. She’s screaming and crying. If questioned, the townsfolk say that evil things have been happening, but have no concrete examples. At this point, if not before, all of your players start heavily quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Most likely, they recite the entire witch scene verbatim. Your tolerance for this will determine whether this is a keep or a pass for you.
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Jan 12, 2018 14:45
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I like the idea of a lich sleeping off a potion bender. "One too many rolls on the miscibility table, I tell you..."
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Jan 12, 2018 15:43
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Dallbun posted:423: Witch Hunt I'm choosing to believe the aside about quoting python is on the card. It makes it more amusing to me. Do not inform me if it is otherwise.
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Jan 12, 2018 15:46
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The Lone Badger posted:At the end of the journey do we see hundreds of cats casting tiny dream artifacts into the Gulf, or is that a human thing? Cats don't cast off dream artifacts, but they can push yours over the edge if you position them right. Dreamlands is totally worth it for the chance to learn Cat and have the gratitude of all cat-kind! This is what Cthulhutech should have been all around: cyberpunk gumshoes investigating cults by asking cats for info. I also think that investigators should find 1d3 dead mice on their doorstep from this point on. You know, from cat fans.
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Jan 12, 2018 17:46
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DicktheCat posted:Goddammit. It happened again. Motherfucker. inklesspen posted:Also maybe put them in the TG Chat thread? Okay, I think this one shouldn't expire: https://discord.gg/g6k42JP
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Jan 12, 2018 17:51
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Ctech's inspiration has cats too https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/evangelion/images/7/74/Evangelion_Unit-02%27γ_Code_777.png You know, gently caress it, I've spent five minutes trying to get this joke to work from my phone and I can't. Effing wikia and imgur. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Jan 12, 2018 |
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Jan 12, 2018 17:54
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Dallbun posted:421: Trapped Use this as a low level encounter so the PCs know they can't best the Lich in a fight and make it a game of "Don't Wake Daddy" where if you wake him you die. Even have that skull warn them when they arrive that the Lich is hung over from a potion bender. Some stealth rolls, using illusions to convince the Lich you're a bunch of pink elephants, Scooby-Doo hijinxs.
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Jan 12, 2018 18:33
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LongDarkNight posted:Use this as a low level encounter so the PCs know they can't best the Lich in a fight and make it a game of "Don't Wake Daddy" where if you wake him you die. Even have that skull warn them when they arrive that the Lich is hung over from a potion bender. Some stealth rolls, using illusions to convince the Lich you're a bunch of pink elephants, Scooby-Doo hijinxs. Or give the lich a congenial butler sort who doesn't want to put up with the hassle of his boss waking up and damning adventurers to the torment of ten thousand years and tries to shepherd them out of the fortress of doom.
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Jan 12, 2018 19:36
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Cythereal posted:Or give the lich a congenial butler sort who doesn't want to put up with the hassle of his boss waking up and damning adventurers to the torment of ten thousand years and tries to shepherd them out of the fortress of doom. A loud crash as a manticore lands on the drawbridge behind them. "I forgot to let in the cat!"
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Jan 12, 2018 20:24
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Cultures: Borca, pt. 3 Degenesis: Rebirth Primal Punk Chapter 2: Cultures Ramein Not the instant noodle capital of Europe! However, it used to be capital of the region before a “star” fell on it 20 years ago. A sect of priests called Mechans and a sect of warriors called Pneumancers came into power. Are those classes of Chroniclers? Are they savages? I don’t know and the book isn’t telling us yet. Those two groups played the local Clans (savages) against one another, until Phosphorite Clan had enough and attacked Nullpellia, the new capital. The Pneumancers used their steam weapons (Pneumo Hammers are name-dropped) in the defense – and won. However, Nullpellia was destroyed in the fighting. That’s where the writing totally shits itself: quote:The alliance between the Mechans and the Pneumancers had frayed as well and finally broke. The Mechans had established a devious trap across the Pneumancers’ track, fooling them just like everyone else. Did the Mechans lead Pneumancers into an ambush? Was it a more metaphorical trap? Did the Pneumancers win anyway, driving the priests (Mechans) underground? What the gently caress? Hellvetica Previously the land of the coo-coo clock and the purple cow, Switzerland is now Hellvetica. Alpine fortresses guard passages between game regions: East and West Borca, Purgare, Pollen. Their brutalist bunkers rise out the mountains, bristling with guns and being a successful Dwarf Fortress in general. Hellvetics also collect tolls from people who want to go through their tunnels. Don’t like that? Why don you try and cross the Alps via crossings too hostile for Hellvetics to fortify? quote:but those who dare to do so will need to hide from sharpshooters in the deep snow, dodge slabs of falling snow and ice, even face savage mountain tribes. Does this mean that Hellvetics have snipers shooting random people in the mountains? Do they have a free fire policy where anyone who runs is a savage, and anyone who stands is a disciplined savage? Kinda skimping on the details here, book.  Love the giant concrete Swiss cross there. East Borca West Borca is a technological wonderland, where Scrappers can loot some Bygone tech, bring it to one of the many Chronicler traders and get paid a small percentage of its real worth. However, that’s not the case in East Borca. Chroniclers have never established themselves there and East Borcans live a more primitive life For some reason, they have left the cities untouched, which was all that the vegetation needed to overgrow them and hide any lovely loot under roots and poo poo. So if your Scrapper party of PCs is tired of playing Lawrence of Arabia in the rust and dust of West Borca, it can go play urban jungle explorers in East Borca. Provided they can pay the Hellvetics for passage. Osman Jehammedan town! It’s the Justitian of East Borca, and it has all of that mysterious Arabian niiiights! vibe you want (but can’t have, since Africans hold Istanbul)… but in East Germany. Currently, they’re really afraid of savage Clans that took down Praha. I guess, they are more properly afraid of Chernobog and his invulnerability hax, but the description makes it feel like Jehammedans actually concentrate on the Clans. For their part, the Clans are acting all spooky, raiding cattle, setting traps for patrols and just sending out dudes in spooky antlered headpieces to roam around. Oh, and this: quote:On a misty summer’s day in 2595, Osman’s inhabitants heard a drawn-out howl. It started softly but became increasingly loud within seconds. They looked skywards, pointing to two stripes of clouds approaching them in a wide arc. Where Osmanis laughed and debated, traded colorful fabrics and spices, an instant later, there is only a blinding freball. Did they just nuke Osman?  We don’t know, because the next description takes us toPraha Republika So, Pra Then the Corroded (Chernobog) came, gave the the fortifications the stink eye (probably a laser) and messed up the minefields. The rest was done by the Clans… which begs the question whether the Prahans were actually ready for defense if they got owned so easily. Anyways, the Clans looted everything, including caches of weapons. The Bogeyman So, apparently the Africans are after archeotech as much as Chroniclers and Scrappers are – and now they’re gunning for Borca. In order to keep the Neolybians at bay, Chroniclers spread lies about child eating, blood sacrifice, the usual. However, Neolybians come, throw some trinkets around, and all the villagers are happy to see them anyways. Chroniclers are thinking of doing something more forceful about that… And now, the two smaller inserts, a la Waystones. Purity Sepsis is bad, and spore fields are everywhere, except in Borca – the Festering doesn’t count, apparently. Spitalians are to thank for that – they clean infestation with flame and fungicide. They also don’t shy away from killing Burn addicts and carriers of Seed of Sepsis. quote:Insects are under general suspicion. Apparently, the Pheromancers of Franka are sending spore-carrying bugs to Borca Needle Towers Chroniclers sent out sixteen Fragments – these might be leader classes of the Cult, or murderhobo parties – across the Reaper’s Blow (so, to East Borca?) to take over radio towers and establish communication with Justitian. So, a bridgehead in East Borca. Eight Fragments survived, though I question the need to go straight across the Blow if you can use Hellvetic passages. Anyway, those Fragments drove away savages, established themselves… and quickly started gathering whores, mercenaries and adventurers to create their own dens of scum and villainy. “Surely their Needle Towers are places of danger, submission, adventure and trade,” says the game, not even hiding the reason for bringing these up. Only two of the leaders are known – Chromium and Iridium. The other six Fragments/Fragment leaders are of an uncertain fate. Maybe the players can find out, whooo!  And that’s the end quote! Our journey through Borca was certainly… confusing, wasn’t it? Some of it is the fault of the translator, but the editor should have caught some of stuff even before it came to translating. Next time: Franka
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Jan 12, 2018 21:42
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JcDent posted:Cats don't cast off dream artifacts, but they can push yours over the edge if you position them right. Can a dead Investigator be replaced with the player plsying a grateful cat?
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Jan 12, 2018 22:58
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"I strop his legs a few times, purring loudly." "Make an Oratory roll."
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Jan 12, 2018 23:40
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The Lone Badger posted:Can a dead Investigator be replaced with the player plsying a grateful cat?
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Jan 12, 2018 23:43
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Cats are OP. Best they can swing you is a mangey badger.
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Jan 13, 2018 00:02
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