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JcDent
May 13, 2013

Give me a rifle, one round, and point me at Berlin!
Imagine all of the city's cats, suddenly very interested in finding pile of garlic to roll on.

E: When was at a cat cafe in Kyoto, one of the waitresses came in for the feeding time and the cats swarmed her. Of course, nothing bad happened, but it is still one of the spookiest things I've ever seen.

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PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
Actually, if the Investigators have the UNDEAD SLAYER heart from the Dreamlands, couldn't they just bust that out in the caves and incinerate all of the proto-vamps, saving the task force?

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Need to get everyone to kill their lanterns first. May be tricky.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


PurpleXVI posted:

Actually, if the Investigators have the UNDEAD SLAYER heart from the Dreamlands, couldn't they just bust that out in the caves and incinerate all of the proto-vamps, saving the task force?

They absolutely could, and clowning on vampires is one of the rewards for doing the dreamlands segments.

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

PurpleXVI posted:

Actually, if the Investigators have the UNDEAD SLAYER heart from the Dreamlands, couldn't they just bust that out in the caves and incinerate all of the proto-vamps, saving the task force?

Got the lovely image of just lifting up the heart, everyone dousing their lights and the person holding it just yelling "BURN" over and over.

I wonder if you'd get some reward from the task group for that.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.


REPOSSESSION – PART FIVE

OH poo poo!!!


Welcome to the most famous encounter in Horrient. :getin:

The fight with Fenalik can happen anywhere. There's ample instructions to make it work if the investigators choose to spend another night in Sofia or drive out of town. For the purposes of this review, we're on the train.

As I'm sure you've gathered by now, Fenalik is an extremely dangerous enemy. He has all of the powers you'd expect a classic no-frills ancient vampire to have. He has ungodly, superhuman strength. He can crawl along the outside of a speeding train like it's nothing. He can shapeshift into a tiger, a bat or a cloud of mist. He can hypnotise people into being his mindless servants. He can regenerate from almost any injury. This combo-platter of powers means he always gets to fight on his terms. A straight-up fight with Fenalik is dangerous, fighting him alone is suicidal.

However, Fenalik's got his own weaknesses and limitations. He doesn't want a drawn-out fight with the investigators either, and he wants to avoid drawing too much notice to his behaviour. If the rest of the train gets freaked out, they might call for an emergency stop, a situation that could spell the end for the vampire depending on how smart the team is. He goes for hit-and-run attacks and eschews direct confrontation for the most part.

Fenalik's opening gambit will probably be to hypnotise an investigator. While they're sitting in their compartment, they see a pair of mesmerising red eyes staring at them through the window while a raspy voice whispers: it's hot inside, why not open the window, let some air in, let me in, it's hot inside. If they fail an opposed POW roll they will slowly get up and open the window, at which point Fenalik's scabrous arm reaches in and tries to pull them out. They get to make an opposed roll combining STR+SIZ versus Fenalik's STR 160. Failure means they get pulled out into the night screaming – 0/1D3 SAN for onlookers – before Fenalik eviscerates them and tosses their head back in (SAN 1/1D6). Thanks for playing!



Quick, get the team together. You're being chased by a vampire, if you still haven't figured that out for some loving reason. Make your Cthulhu Mythos or Occult rolls. What's a vampire's weakness? Garlic! Of course the kitchen of the Orient Express has garlic. Hustle some out of the confused chefs and hole up in a compartment. Fenalik cannot willingly approach garlic and the presence of the stuff forces him to make all his rolls at Hard difficulty.

For the record, religious symbols can work on vampires, but only if they're ones they believed in in life. Fenalik is old as balls; he doesn't pre-date Christianity but he does pre-date the widespread use of the crucifix as a symbol.

At this point he'll try to negotiate. He'll wheedle, he'll cajole, growling behind the door in an inhuman voice. Just hand over his 'skin' and no-one gets hurt. This might be a good time for the investigators to learn more about the Simulacrum, but Fenalik's got a limited patience for small-talk. Hand over the loving statue or he'll kill one passenger per hour. The best rebuttal to this? Threaten to destroy the statue, one piece per passenger murdered. This is a clear lie, but it's one that Fenalik takes at face value. This strange steel machine they're riding in is proof that modern humanity is beyond his comprehension.

Now the investigators have some room to breathe, it's time to plan their counterattack.



Vampire-Hunting For Dummies

To beat this encounter, investigators need to kill Fenalik or hold out until sunrise. Cowering in the compartment won't work forever – the vampire could hypnotise a guard or someone else into trying to force the door open. Hypnotised individuals act like they're sleepwalking and aren't really dangerous, but they carry a hefty SAN loss when killed since they're innocent people. What will the investigators do when Fenalik sends a hypnotised woman against them? What about a child?

Fenalik will die if he loses all his HP just like anyone else, but he constantly regenerates any damage caused by most sources; only 'permanent' damage can kill him this way. In its most basic form, this can be achieved by scoring critical hits on him with a large slashing weapon like an axe or a wooden stake. In addition, the investigators might have the following tools at their disposal:

The Lover's Heart: Kinda the whole point of this artefact is to make killing Fenalik easier. If the investigators can cut the lights to the carriage and herd him into a corner, that's 1D10 damage per round.

The Mims Sahis: It's a magic weapon, so it hurts Fenalik. In addition, Fenalik doesn't have great memories of the knife, and seeing it stuns him for one round. After that though, he goes totally berserk on whoever's wielding it. Best of luck!

The Accounts of Tilius Corvus: Did the investigators read it? Name-dropping things from the Accounts – like the name Tilius Corvus, the name of his wife, his commander – stuns Fenalik for one round and forces him to make a POW check or temporarily withdraw from battle to regain his composure. Guess you didn't put that as far behind you as you thought you did, eh Tilius?

The Simulacrum: If Fenalik wants the statue, he can have it in his pointy teeth. :black101: Swinging part of it at him like a magic club does a respectable 1D6 damage per hit.

Alternatively, the investigators could go looking for his coffin. During daylight hours, Fenalik normally sleeps in a bloody soil-lined coffin in the rear fourgon, padlocked on the inside and outside. Convincing the guards to let the team rummage around in there will take some doing – especially if Fenalik planned this and has already hypnotised them – but if the investigators get get rid of the coffin, Fenalik has nowhere to go. If they hold out all evening and get to the coffin in daylight hours, Fenalik's in there. He'll fight like a cornered animal, but if they turf him out into direct sun he'll take 1D3 damage per round.

However they do it, when Fenalik dies he doesn't just crumble into dust. He explodes, showering everything in the vicinity with white ash, as his centuries of unholy existence are ended once and for all. Surviving investigators get 1D10 SAN for destroying Fenalik, with 1 more point per dead comrade avenged.

Next time: Constantinople!

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Is there anything to point out why just letting him have the bloody thing would be a terrible idea?

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

The Lone Badger posted:

Is there anything to point out why just letting him have the bloody thing would be a terrible idea?

It won't help. If they don't give it to him, he'll kill them and take it. They give it to him, he'll take it and kill them. Fenalik's killed everyone who so much as looked askance at the Simulacrum prior to this point and he's not about to change that habit.

Poland Spring
Sep 11, 2005
i just can't shake the image of an investigator hollering while grasping the simlacrum by the ankles and just whaling on that lovely vampire, that should stun him just from the sheer absurdity of it all

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

Poland Spring posted:

i just can't shake the image of an investigator hollering while grasping the simlacrum by the ankles and just whaling on that lovely vampire, that should stun him just from the sheer absurdity of it all

Full-on just dropping the Head down a pair of stockings and swinging it around in the fourgon like a flail. :black101:

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
He'll probably kill everyone, anyway.

Edit: Beaten like a vampire by a guy with a head in a sock.

JcDent
May 13, 2013

Give me a rifle, one round, and point me at Berlin!
How much health does he have - and how much damage can he do to an investigator per round?

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

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

Given his utterly absurd strength score? Give him something sharp and he can probably outdamage a rifle, which can take down most investigators in two shots or so.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

JcDent posted:

How much health does he have - and how much damage can he do to an investigator per round?

He's got 17 HP - more than the average person maybe but not insanely so - but he regenerates 1 HP per round if the damage isn't permanent, and if he hits 0 from non-permanent sources he just turns into mist and hides away. As soon as he's regenerated enough he can come back.

His damage bonus, which he adds to most any physical attack, is +2D6. If the team is unlucky and tries to engage in honourable fisticuffs with the dude, he could waste one investigator per round.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Does the book allow for the investigators sleeping in a giant pile of garlic all the way to Constantinople? Because I'd be hiding behind every anti-vampire measure available after the cave.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

Kavak posted:

Does the book allow for the investigators sleeping in a giant pile of garlic all the way to Constantinople? Because I'd be hiding behind every anti-vampire measure available after the cave.

Acquiring a truckload of garlic and hiding in it and somehow continuing the journey to Constantinople inside of it seems like it would involve several non-trivial logistical issues. Then remember that you've got to get all that together before sunset...

Lurks With Wolves
Jan 14, 2013

At least I don't dance with them, right?

Down With People posted:

The Accounts of Tilius Corvus: Did the investigators read it? Name-dropping things from the Accounts – like the name Tilius Corvus, the name of his wife, his commander – stuns Fenalik for one round and forces him to make a POW check or temporarily withdraw from battle to regain his composure. Guess you didn't put that as far behind you as you thought you did, eh Tilius?

Oh. Oh. That... actually makes sense. I probably could have pieced that together sooner if I read the actual text, but still. My mind's kind of blown.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Down With People posted:

Acquiring a truckload of garlic and hiding in it and somehow continuing the journey to Constantinople inside of it seems like it would involve several non-trivial logistical issues. Then remember that you've got to get all that together before sunset...

How much garlic do you need, though? Is a bulb or two around the neck enough?

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

It seems like you kind of really want a couple PCs who can fight some on Horrient, despite the usual 'combat skills aren't that useful in CoC' thinking.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

Lurks With Wolves posted:

Oh. Oh. That... actually makes sense. I probably could have pieced that together sooner if I read the actual text, but still. My mind's kind of blown.

You'll get the full scoop when we get to the historical scenarios! :hist101:

Night10194 posted:

It seems like you kind of really want a couple PCs who can fight some on Horrient, despite the usual 'combat skills aren't that useful in CoC' thinking.

You kinda do, otherwise I think the chance of TPK skyrockets.

Kavak posted:

How much garlic do you need, though? Is a bulb or two around the neck enough?

That's true, since a few cloves stopped him from reaching the Head I don't think you need a lot. However, there's nothing stopping Fenalik from hypnotising randoms and sending them to get you. I guess if he got really pissed off he could start throwing poo poo at you.

Hypnobeard
Sep 15, 2004

Obey the Beard



Night10194 posted:

It seems like you kind of really want a couple PCs who can fight some on Horrient, despite the usual 'combat skills aren't that useful in CoC' thinking.

Whenever my group played CoC we were almost always split 50/50 between fightin' oriented guys and knowledge oriented guys. If nothing else you've got to expect cultists, so you need someone to be able to deal with them while your professors figure out how to stop the ritual and/or put the summoned thing back in the bottle. Worst case you throw enough dynamite at something it'll usually let you at least run off.

When we did Horrient (the original version), I recall we had a couple of WW1 vets with some good rifle skills, and most of the investigators had some kind of weapon (usually a pistol), and by the end we were so paranoid we had 'acquired' some high explosives and automatic rifles which let us escape at least one "deathtrap" as my GM at the time put it.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

It'd be kinda cool to see a horror game with combat rules focused on how the fighters in the party can specifically slow down or drive off the monster of the week when it attacks while you solve the mystery.

A combat system based around buying time and 'We'll hold it off, get that door open!' is something I've never personally seen before.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!
I mean, the tiers of CoC monsters goes:

You can punch it out
You can kill it with a gun
You can kill it with a Tommy gun
You can kill it with a bomb
You can kill it with a plot device

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
Playing an effective Race Bannon in a CoC scenario would probably be a lot of fun.

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
Just grab a slingshot and pop Fenalik right in the mouth with a whole bulb of garlic, that should buy you some time.

But yeah I loving love that the goddamn statue itself is a non-trivial weapon against Fenalik.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
Dismantle the statue and issue everyone a limb.

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Bieeardo posted:

Dismantle the statue and issue everyone a limb.

Won't this lead to cursings?

Ixjuvin
Aug 8, 2009

if smug was a motorcycle, it just jumped over a fucking canyon
Nap Ghost

Night10194 posted:

It'd be kinda cool to see a horror game with combat rules focused on how the fighters in the party can specifically slow down or drive off the monster of the week when it attacks while you solve the mystery.

A combat system based around buying time and 'We'll hold it off, get that door open!' is something I've never personally seen before.

Blades in the Dark has 'clocks' that you fill or empty by making appropriate checks in a given scene. That would totally work for this.

Also Horrient has been extremely fun to read!

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.

Halloween Jack posted:

I mean, the tiers of CoC monsters goes:

You can punch it out
You can kill it with a gun
You can kill it with a Tommy gun
You can kill it with a bomb
You can kill it with a plot device

And generally if you can 'kill' it with a plot device you're not really killing it, just sending it back to wherever it's supposed to be/sleep.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

Josef bugman posted:

Won't this lead to cursings?

Nope! Baleful Influence only affects whoever first touched the Simulacrum piece when it was discovered. After that, someone else handling the piece doesn't transfer the curse.

RedSnapper
Nov 22, 2016
Welcome to Monastyr: Part 2 - Character creation.

Before we get to picking nationality, profession and attributes, our friend, the narrator has a couple of words:

quote:

We’re amongst the last, you know that. Wherever you look you’ll see intrigue and betrayal. Every value displaced by that of coin – stronger than friendship, dignity, decency.. What was once important is now an object of mockery. Those are lousy times, times the times of merchants and politicians and, to tell the truth, I doubt that our days are to ever return.
But. Before the world forgets us for good, we’ve got unfinished business to settle.

Someone give this guy a musketeer hat and we’ll have the narrator

The Great Losers

That’s the PCs. That’s you. You used to have it all – fame, fortune, career, you name it. And you blew it. Weather you shamed yourself with cowardice, let your pride get the better of you, gambled away your family estate, or just called the cardinal a dick, your once promising future took a sudden nosedive. Now you’re in/nearing your forties, and you’ve spent the last decade or two wondering “What if?”

In Monastyr you get to play one of the last Good Men. Men (or Women) of Honor as the narrator calls them. Stubborn relics of another, more honest age. It’s a rotten age we have now – those drat kids care nothing for honor and virtue, all they think about is gold and debauchery.

:corsair: From now on I’ll just use this instead of the pic

Sooner or later you’ll receive The Letter. You’ll discover, for example, that your friend has been unjustly sentenced and is awaiting execution or that your brother’s estate got taken by the Inquisition.

quote:

What will you do with that letter? Burn it? You’re not making your mistake twice. You won’t turn back when fate offers you another chance. You’ll get up and go right the wrongs of your past. (…) You have more experience than a regiment of youths, more courage and grit than all of them combined. And finally you have the will to prove to the whole lousy world that the men of honor are not all gone. :corsair:
It’s a bit less grandiose the way I translated it, but you get the gist.

Character Creation, step 1 (of 10): Nationality

We begin by picking the place of our birth. We can choose between ten countries described in this chapter or choose one of the minor powers (covered in the rear end end of the book). The game notes at this point that you’re supposed to play as an aristocrat and most of the national stereotypes you’ll see below pertain to aristocrats rather than commoners.

Each country comes with two +1 modifiers to your attributes (The game has 8 attributes: Brawn, Agility, Wits, Perception, Credibility, Tenacity, Composure and Faith. The game also doesn’t actually list the attributes before step 4 of character creation) and a choice between two national traits. And that’s the point where those of you reading Tevery Best’s Neuroshima writeup start to see certain.. similarities. Yeah, both games were made by the same people and it shows.

For example, we get the same mechanic that allows you to sell your traits and stats for money (and also buy stats when we get to that point. Monastyr calls this The Retouch

The Retouch posted:

The Dominium is much more than those ten countries and nations mentioned below. I assure you, you can find dozens of equally beautiful lands. To come from them is less of a splendor, those countries mean less on the Dominium’s map, and their people are less famed in history. I will reward your inconvenience. Forget about your nationality and I will give you, my Lord, 1000 Kordins and throw in documents proving you hail from any land you choose – save for the ten mentioned in this chapter.
Yes, you’ll lose the trait, but a thousand Kordins is quite a sum, is it not?
Well is it? Just how much is a 1000 Kordins? Usually we wouldn’t find out until we got to the “estates” part (which is character creation step 9), so let me just skip ahead and tell you: More than a peasant sees in a lifetime, the equivalent value of an average village… or exactly 1/6 of the regular starting money. Also there’s no mention of what happens to ability bonuses that go with nationality – let’s just assume we get 2 * +1 to whatever.

A QUICK ASIDE
Monastyr has two sets of fighting mechanics. I’ll elaborate on them where we get there but here’s a quick primer so I don’t have to rant on them every time they become relevant:

Mechanic 1 – simplified: you and your opponent roll 3d20 (don’t show your roll to the opponent) against your fencing skill, pick and reveal one die to decide initiative (the highest one wins), the guy with the initiative attacks by revealing one of the remaining dice and the defender reveals one of his own: if the attacker’s die is a success and the defender’s a miss he scores a hit, the other way around-defender takes initiative, all other cases-the attacker missed. Not that hard – the important part is you want to roll LOW for your hit dice and high for the initiative die in the first round.

Mechanic 2 – True Clash™: roll 3d20 (this time in the open), pick your initiative die.. and now you turn over your character sheet to where you wrote down all fourteen of the Fencing Actions that you calculated at character creation – the attacker picks one of the attack actions, the defender one of the defensive ones (like parry or parry II), add the action score to the chosen roll, the HIGHER result wins the round.

Two sets of (bad at best) combat rules with success conditions that are polar opposites in the same game wouldn’t even be that bad – but all the combat-related traits, skills and abilities are written only with the True Clash™ in mind. So.. yeah.
OK, let’s get back to it

Each nation gets a half page of description in this chapter (that's where the quotes come from). Later, in the 'World' chapter we get WAY more in-depth, but that's what we get for now:

Kord

Kord nation description posted:

There is no greater honor in this world than being born Kordish.
Kord is the Dominium’s Top Dog. You can tell from how even the games currency is named after the place. Their ruler is the Emperor of the Dominium, they have the biggest country, the largest armies, the most influential diplomats, the richest tradesmen.. and they know it. Proud, persistent and fiercely loyal to their Emperor, the brave sons and daughters of Kord are widely considered a bunch of stuck-up, arrogant pricks.

+1 Tenacity, +1 Credibility

Traits:
Pride– three times per game, when testing credibility, tenacity and composure (once for each attribute) you can reroll the highest dice - handy;
Charisma – advancing social ties (which is one of the things you can do with xp – more on that when the right time comes) costs 20% less – a bit less handy, provided you even want to bother yourself with the retainer mechanic. Most people don’t;

Cynasia

Cynasia nation description posted:

Your life is a theatre.
The renaissance Venice/ Florence, complete with fancy dresses and masquerade balls. Kord may be the powerhouse but it’s Cynasia that has the culture and learning. All new fashions come from Cynasia.. and so do new ideas, which doesn’t always fly with their next door neighbor, the Pope. Cynasian nobles are known as refined, well-educated, great diplomats - and consummate liars and backstabbers.

+1 Wits, +1 Credibility

Traits:
Education – during character creation you get extra 20 points to buy additional skills (on top of 20 skill points everybody gets). You can’t use these points to raise any of those skills above 3. Yes, it’s broken as hell.
Cynasian mind – you raise your skills for 20% less xp. Yep, it’s at least as broken as the other.

Ragada

Ragada nation description posted:

A Ragadan is born a murderer(…) it’s hard to be your friend
Ragadans are a people hardened by decades of bitter war against their ancestral enemies, the Ragadans. A series of civil wars, now turned into a complex network of multigenerational vendettas, made this once rich and powerful state into a hellhole, and made its folk into some of the most dangerous people in the Dominium. Ragada’s main export are Rancors – hardened mercenaries, duelists and brigands with nothing to lose. Could the neighboring powers invade and take over this shitshow? Most likely yes, but the only thing to gain from such a conquest is a damp ruin filled with pissed off Ragadans.

+1 Composure, +1 Agility

Traits:
Clash – every light wound you inflict in a clash becomes a heavy wound. Works with every melee weapon, including your fists. Absolutely deadly or pretty useful, depending on how you interpret the wonky wording (the word ‘clash’ is at different points used to describe fighting at the closest distance, a turn of combat AND the fight itself). Also it has no use outside the True Clash™ advanced combat rules but that will be a recurring thing…
Ragadan distrust – people trying to influence your Ragadan PC get a -4 to all authority and Credibility tests. I don't know how that’s really useful for a player character but at least you can try to talk Ragadan NPCs out of fighting to check if they have the other one.

Agaria

Agaria nation description posted:

There’s not a man in the Dominium dumb enough to try and ambush an Agar.
Agaria was the last country to join the Dominium and now serves as its western border. Beyond lies Valdor with its elves, orcs, wizards and the rest of your regular, fantasy menagerie. The crusades against the pagan lands may have stalled – small clashes and raids do happen but for now both sides content themselves with sitting on their side of the Roaring River and staring menacingly at the other shore – but Agars remain ready. Brave, humorless and loyal, they enjoy the reputation of the toughest fighters in the Dominium.

+1 Agility, +1 Perception

Traits:
Experience – half of your highest fighting skill (usually rapier fencing) is the base for any other melee weapon skill.
Knowledge of magic – an equivalent of a 5 point skill when you try to discern and predict magical effects, identify magic items, and even speak the language of orcs and know their customs; should be called “knowledge of Valdor,” really.

Kara

Kara nation description posted:

Karans have no questions, no doubts, they don’t try to understand. They just believe.
All earthly power ultimately comes from The One so it was only logical to the people of Kara to delegate it to His representatives on Earth. No, not the Pope, silly – the Inquisitorial Synod. Karans aren’t known for their art, science or even imagination (unless it comes to new, interesting things you can do to one’s body in the name of protecting their soul) but they’re drat effective when fighting the forces of darkness. Just make sure your definitions of ‘darkness’ match.

+1 Faith, +1 Brawn

Traits:
Aura of faith – you get a +4 to your Faith when resisting magic. Nifty when you try praying away an incoming fireball.
Passion – in combat, you get to ignore wound penalties until they sum up (down?) to -5. You feel the full effect as soon as you get to -6 or once the combat ends.


Matra

Matra nation description posted:

I’d rather cross a Ragadan then your Lady
At first glance Matra looks like any other country – tradesmen sell their wares, peasants toil the land and pay taxes to their Ladies, who in turn owe their fealty to the Queen, as did their mothers, and the mothers of their mothers before.. Yes, ladies, for this is the Smurfette faction! There is a certain disparity to the people of Matra, almost a curse – their men are, at best, mediocre. Just… average – to the point where, if you want to roll a male Matran, you don’t get to pick an ability. You do get the 1000 Kordins (like when you choose one of the minor nations) so you can go buy yourself something pretty and leave the women to handle all the adult stuff. Female Matrans (Matrons?) receive one of the finest educations in the Dominium and are widely considered as some of the most refined, strong willed and sophisticated people. The game rules handle that by making them stealthy assassins.
:what:

+1 Credibility, +1 Wits

Traits:
Shadow and silence – you get a 4 point hide skill (that you can improve with xp later on). You can only use it in a city but it allows you to sneak all Proper_and_Ladylike :rolleyes:
Assassinate – you can approach someone in a public situation and, having passed a Credibility/Bluff check, stab them with a dagger (for extra damage) or a poison needle or something. Failed check means the target got suspicious but you can still try a regular attack.


Bardania

Bardania nation description posted:

Is there a better proof they never rose above a bunch of brigands?
Look at the map. The spot on the northwestern peninsula, between Nordia, Eliar and Delia is where Bardania used to be. Always the free spirited ones, Bardans eventually got so troublesome for their neighbors that they decided to remove the mountainous country from the map. Bardans responded by becoming even more free spirited and troublesome. Nobles of other lands look down on their Bardan counterparts as peasant-like brigands but no one questions their moxie.

+1 Perception, +1 Tenacity

Traits:
Bardan valor – when testing courage you get to reroll one die per test.
Musketeer –reloading a firearm you takes half as much time (from the default of 10 turns for pistols and 15 for rifles)


Nordia

Nordia nation description posted:

However, first and foremost, you are cursed
Nords are.. not like other humans. Some aren’t sure if Nords even ARE humans. They’re taller, less susceptible to disease, resistant to age, most technically advanced, and (as gossip goes) with a working knowledge of magical crafts. Their country is a mysterious land, where outsiders are rarely welcome, dotted with ruins of their ancient precursors. They’re pretty much the elves of the setting unless you count, you know, actual elves. It is said that the Nords’ ancestors were the first Rodian tribe to bow to demons and offend the Creator and for that they are all damned to hell from the moment of their birth. Nords tend to be fatalistic, stoic isolationists and all around a bummer to be around.

+1 Composure, +1 Faith

Traits:
Regenerate – your wounds heal twice as fast as those of a regular human, leaving no scars. Critical wounds don’t permanently lower attributes.
Exorcism – you get a power to expel demons equal to a Minor Prayer (more on that when we get to magic)


Gord

Gord nation description posted:

They’ve been standing there for years and still they do not yield.
If Nords are the not!elves, Gordians are pretty much the Warhammer dwarves. Live in mountains? Check. Grumpy and humorless? Check. Their homeland is on the edge of the known world, where only their axes draw the line between the forces of Darkness and the civilized world that’s mostly forgotten about them? Check, check and check. Our narrator calls Gord the forgotten borderland and it’s a pretty fitting name. Far away from Kord’s glorious conquests, not as glamorous as the Agar front, Gord stands alone against things that come from the frozen Whispering Sea or the depths under their mountains. People of Gord care little about the rest of the Dominium with their fancy rapiers, feathered hats and etiquette.

+1 Brawn, +1 Tenacity

Traits:
Unbreakable – whenever you’re wounded you automatically beat the roll to check if you pass out.
Gordian sight – you’re better at seeing in darkness. That’s it.

Doria

Doria nation description posted:

Doria is falling.
Dor was the first free human kingdom and the seat of the first Emperors. What Kord now is, Doria used to be for nearly a millenium. A stubborn relic of an age passed, Doria is a place where noble sons still aspire to be KNIGHTS rather than officers. They still wear plate armor, test their skill in jousts and charge into battle with swords and lances, rather than guns and rapiers. Then the upstart Kord introduced their glorious traditions to the wonders of massed musket fire and suddenly, the Dominium’s Emperor is a Kordian, Old Dor, their former heartland, is but a Kordian province and Doria is but a shadow of its former self wondering “How the hell did that happen?” Stubborn and noble, the Dors still cling to their Old Ways. Others tend to look at them with a mixture of pity and respect for that.

+1 Brawn, +1 Credibility

Traits:
Shadow of Dor – a +3 bonus to your general knowledge skill.
Chivalric custom – as long as you behave accordingly to the Ways_of_Old_Dor™ you don’t get negative modifiers to etiquette rolls. Yay

Seriously, I’m willing to give thiss game a pass for many things but their handling of Doria and Matra is just disappointing. I mean, Matran traits aren’t exactly what I’d chose for a faction that’s supposed to be all erudites and socialites but at least they’re useful.

Keeping with the traditions of F&F, I will be making a character based on thread’s votes. So pick a country. The lucky winner will receive a full translation of its character creation page (together with the abilities’ flavor text), and later on, when we get to history and geography, a full transcript of that (which in Kord’s case is over ten pages so please go for something else, ok?)

Next time in Monastyr –professions!

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

You've sold me on the ancient and terrible shadow war Ragadans fight with those bastard backstabbers the Ragadans.

Oh, yeah, and he or she lives for the clash over anyone suggesting they come from a shithole full of Ragadans.

Night10194 fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Jan 16, 2018

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Down With People posted:

Nope! Baleful Influence only affects whoever first touched the Simulacrum piece when it was discovered. After that, someone else handling the piece doesn't transfer the curse.

So is there one person who has to get constantly baleful influenced.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Feinne posted:

And generally if you can 'kill' it with a plot device you're not really killing it, just sending it back to wherever it's supposed to be/sleep.
I appreciate that Silent Legions centers the action on cults, so your nemesis is more likely to be a retired dentist with a black robe and a personality disorder.

Tevery Best
Oct 11, 2013

Hewlo Furriend

RedSnapper posted:

Mechanic 2 – True Clash™: roll 3d20 (this time in the open), pick your initiative die.. and now you turn over your character sheet to where you wrote down all fourteen of the Fencing Actions that you calculated at character creation – the attacker picks one of the attack actions, the defender one of the defensive ones (like parry or parry II), add the action score to the chosen roll, the HIGHER result wins the round.

This gives me very unpleasant flashbacks to combat rules for Dzikie Pola, which had a dozen different manoeuvres for the rapier... and a dozen more for the sabre, if you are a real proper nobleman instead of one of those dirty pantaloon-wearers. I should write that game up when I need a break from Neuroshima.

Also, roll a Passionate Karan. Let's Inquisition it up in here.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Look, I understand the rapier is the weapon of the gentleman. I fenced. You do not need 14 fencing actions in your RPG.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!
I want exactly as many maneuvers as I need to recreate that fight from The Deluge.

I want them in Neuroshima, too.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

All you need for the fight from the Deluge is one guy who took a bunch of showy but useless abilities and another guy who is brutally efficient, can active-defend all the first guy's poo poo, and is just playing with him for a bit wondering what the hell this idiot is playing at before striking to wound rather than kill.

JcDent
May 13, 2013

Give me a rifle, one round, and point me at Berlin!
Fight fire with fire and elves with Nords

Love that civil war joke btw

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Tevery Best
Oct 11, 2013

Hewlo Furriend

Halloween Jack posted:

I want exactly as many maneuvers as I need to recreate that fight from The Deluge.

I want them in Neuroshima, too.

You'll be sorely disappointed as the melee combat rules are by far the worst part of the mechanics.

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