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being unable to really deal with a clearly incompetent and unstable man because it'd completely derail the campaign would certainly add to the players' resentment, especially if they're playing a woman
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Mar 4, 2018 03:10
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My players would definitely be looking for a way to ensure he has a convenient accident, preferably non-lethal, that keeps him from going on the expedition. Plot-mandatory NPCs can be done well, like that warrior priest guy from that WHFRP adventure who cheerleads the party and buffs them. This is not that guy.
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Mar 4, 2018 03:27
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Hell yeah boating to the Antarctic with nothing but dynamite and blasting caps hell yeah. Also yeesh that Starkweather guy.
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Mar 4, 2018 03:41
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I mean if you wanted to do flawed but relatable, just have him begging the PCs for help in properly running the expedition. Make it clear he's in over his head and he knows it, so that he goes to the actual player characters for help. Later on, have him man up and do something heroic when there's real danger that noticeably helps the PCs or saves another NPC they like. Bam. Done. E: Basically, in my experience, it's not hard to make PCs like an NPC. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Mar 4, 2018 |
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Mar 4, 2018 04:05
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Night10194 posted:I mean if you wanted to do flawed but relatable, just have him begging the PCs for help in properly running the expedition. Make it clear he's in over his head and he knows it, so that he goes to the actual player characters for help. Later on, have him man up and do something heroic when there's real danger that noticeably helps the PCs or saves another NPC they like. Bam. Done. and dropping his sexism will also go a long way in helping make him less of a Niedermeyer-esque rear end in a top hat. PCs love charming idiots but won't suffer fools.
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Mar 4, 2018 04:25
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 Chapter 1: Yosha Pug's Journal The first chapter of the book is an in character journal written by Princess Yosha Pug, daughter of King Puckington Pug, King of Pugmire. Because your breed is your last name in this world and dogs don't like making "mutts". There's also asides from "Pan Dachshund" who lives outside of the kingdom hunting monsters. Honestly it's rather believably in character as "A somewhat cloistered scholar gushes about a topic that they love" meaning that it's rambling, disorganized, and long winded. The Founding of Pugmire Several hundred years ago King Vinsen Pug founded the Kingdom of Pugmire. He became king because he was one of the first dogs to re-discover the ability dogs possess to sense the invisible demons that used to plague mankind. The area he chose for his kingdom was ignored by the cats and rats because it was a swamp (hence the mire), and many years after Vinsen's death the city was finished and named in his family's honor. Over the course of the years other families have held the throne but the pugs more than most. Anyone can found a noble family, so long as they recover and protect a powerful artifact from the age of man. The Duke or Duchess of the house attends the king's court and has the potential to become the new king or queen when the need arises. If a family loses their artifact they lose their standing. There are plenty of non-noble dogs in the town as well, and some cats and rats in the Riverwall district, which dogs call "the Backyard" because in ancient times that's where dogs went to poo poo. Pan Dachshund interjects here to point out that you should never ever ever trust a cat. And that the idea of any family being able to climb the social ladder to nobility is a better ideal than it is a reality, and since most nobles are corrupt he prefers sleeping out under the stars and blah blah blah he's a ranger archetype what did you expect? The World  Here's a map of the area around Pugmire. The text also mentions the "Royal Pioneers of Pugmire" that were founded by Queen Lilly Springer II, they're basically the Pathfinder Society and an excuse to make parties of disparate characters. And that the area surrounding the town is filled with all sorts of hidden and lost dangers in inscrutable structures that were surely "built by Man to test the daring, intelligent, and pure of heart." Magic There's two kinds of magic, Shepherds are injected with a holy elixir that transubstantiates their blood into the blessing of man and allows them to pray to the old ones to invoke their glory. It's almost 100% nanomachines though. Artisans, on the other hand, find Focuses that man left behind and can use them to harness and project magical energy. Foci, by the way, are things like cell phones, ipads, any number of handheld devices that might come up later on in humanity's development. Cats, by the way, have necromancers and what are functionally 'bards'. Pariahs and Strays Pariahs are dogs that have been cast out of Pugmire either for being "bad Dogs", or because they weren't accepted by their families for being of mixed breed or ignoble birth. They prefer to call themselves "Strays" or "Free Dogs". Any dog that prefers to live outside of the walls of pugmire somtimes gets lumped in with the Pariahs. Some dogs that have been outcast have taken the family name "Mutt" and travel together for protection. Or live in "Mutt Town" on the edge of the fearful forest. Of course the nobles in Pugmire are afraid that the horrible mixed bloods will overrun the town or try to become nobles! Honestly the way that "breed" is your "Race" and the way that the culture of Pugmire has serious issues with miscegenation is one of the issues I have with this game. But I'll have a whole chapter to go over that later. The Monarchies of Mau The "Cat Kingdoms", though they don't really have 'kings'. They were at war with Pugmire about four generations ago. Most dogs treat the cats with contempt because they're all backstabbing assholes. "Stray" cats are apparently called "Moggies". Badgers, Lizards, and Rats Of course there's Badgers and Rats, Redwall was listed as an inspiration wasn't it? Badgers are all barbarian raiders. Rats used to have a kingdom but it's been gone for centuries now, and there are rat cults that have their own ideas about man (We'll get into those later too). Lizards on the other hand, are roaming traders(Sorta Romani-ish?) that claim to come from a desert kingdom across the sea. Monsters and the Unseen So there are, in fact, invisible demons of some kind (they have a statline and everything). But dogs also associate other maladies to them as well. Rabies, for instance, are believed to be caused by the Unseen. Sorry that this one took so long, work's been... busy. Next Time: Character Creation
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Mar 4, 2018 05:01
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Pugmire kinda comes off as a game that originated in a joke that should have stayed a joke.
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Mar 4, 2018 05:05
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Ratoslov posted:Pugmire kinda comes off as a game that originated in a joke that should have stayed a joke. nah it's a perfectly fine game. A bit blandly D&D 'inspired' (it's D&D) but they have some solid ideas to work from. A proper game of it can be very Numenera meets Lord of the Rings.
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Mar 4, 2018 05:16
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 Your Community Community in Glorantha is important. What group you are part of defines your allegiances, ideology, friends, foes, and obligations. Clans, Tribes, Nations, Units, Cults, all push and pull on who your are. You can have multiple relations of course, but always have to have at least one: No man is an island. They can grant aid, allies, contacts, resources, and just good advice. A hero with no community to be a part of is going to have a very very rough time of it. Your rating in your community is indicative of how you can leverage that community to solve problems. A high rating may indicate a deep and powerful connection to a small community, or a relatively small influence in a large one. A clan-chief is incredibly important to his clan, but is only one part of a tribe, and a very minor part of the entire kingdom. One important feature of communities is that they are a two way street: You must support, aid, and take part in your community or else face severe consequences. These come not just from rolling, but as a result of pure roleplaying choices.  Grazelander Heavy Cavalry This Pure Horse People aristocrat wears a long coat made of bronze scales. Under that he wears riding trousers. He wears a bronze helmet that was likely made by Pelorians. He is armed with a long bronze slashing sword (probably made by the Sartarites), which is slung on his back, a thrusting spear, and a composite bow. He has a small round shield faced with bronze. Your Occupation The best way to think of this is your class. This is what you DO, what your professional training is in primarily. Several sample Occupations are listed, which I’m not going over. They aren’t exactly unique or flavorful, so I’m skipping them. If you’re curious, here’s a quick list: Bandit, Fisher, Crafter, Famer, Healer, Herder, Hunter, Sailor, Merchant, Scribe, Scald, Noble, and so on you get the idea. quote:Standard of Living  Sartarite Noble This chieftain or petty king wears a long tunic that goes down to his knees over riding leggings. Over this he wears a long fringed cloak that goes down to near his ankles Your Runes The Runes you choose determine the nature of your magical power and set the baseline nature of your personality. They represent your inner being, your soul as it were, an expression of your true innermost being. To start you select three runes: An Elemental Rune, a Power Rune, and a third of your choice. The third can be a Power, Condition, or Form rune, but you cannot have a second elemental rune at creation, and cannot pick a Power Rune that opposes your existing choice. There are also the Spirit and Law runes, which are required if one wishes to use Spirit Magic or Sorcery, but that will be covered later when we get to magic.  Warrior This professional warrior is equipped by a clan chieftain and serves as one of his bodyguards. She wears a bronze helmet with cheek pieces and a nose guard. She wears bronze greaves, short cuirass of boiled-leather, and short trousers of leather or wool beneath her skirt. Like many warriors in Dragon Pass, she rides a Praxian beast (a sable antelope) quote:When Do I Get My Runes? Runes and Personality Runes have an effect on your personality, and are assumed to be true for your character. This acts as both a guide to roleplaying, and a tool for your gamemaster to use. A hero can be tested if they try to act contrary to one of their runes, weakening their bond with it if they successfully act counter to their nature. But, in the same way one can receive bonuses and augments when acting in accordance with your Runic nature.  Warlock This warlock is a member of one of the magical warrior societies that serves Prince Argrath. Like the thane, she is trained to fight from horseback, and is heavily tattooed. This warlock wears a hauberk of bronze scales with shoulderpieces. The ornately decorated helmet has a crest and side feathers, and even bronze wings. Runes and Time Runes are also associated with the Gloranthan calendar, with each season, week, and day associated with a Rune or combination of Runes that may affect magic. This means that runes corresponding to the current time of year are strengthened, while runes opposed to that are weakened. This is of course optional. If you want to ignore the calendar feel free, or just use the date effects when it would be relevant, not every time magic is used. How do I get New Runes? Yes, you aren’t stuck with the runes you start with! You can get them through what the game is named after: Heroquests! One must find and perform an appropriate Heroquest in order to gain or change a Rune. A major example is that all Orlanthi Kings must have the Mastery Rune, and if they do not must perform a heroquest in order to obtain it.  Thane This noble warrior is the companion of a petty king. He wears a bronze bell cuirass and a decorated bronze helmet with cheek pieces and feathered crest. His exposed throat is covered by a crescent shaped silver-plated gorget, decorated with bands of relief ornamentation. Choosing abilities Now, you get 5 freeform abilities to choose! These can be totally new keywords, or specialized “breakout” abilities that act as modifiers of a keyword. Obviously, this is a VERY open category, and leads into one of the things I like about HeroQuest! See, most games with this sort of freeform character creation system are really really bad at giving you an idea of what a useful or good ability or skill actually is. See 13th Age’s issues with Backgrounds, or Numenera’s crap half-assed skill system. HeroQuest on the other hand, is very interested in making sure you have a full breadth of options ready to pick from and know what a good way to mechanically build them are. One big piece of advice is to avoid superlative abilities. “Veteran Swordsman” is a good Ability. “World’s Greatest Swordsman” is not, because suddenly you have a disconnect from what’s on your sheet and what’s happening in game when you inevitably lose a sword fight at some point. Abilities should be descriptive, evocative, flexible, and help paint a picture of your character without putting up barriers to the fiction.  Dragon Pass militia In Dragon Pass, all free men (and women members of martial cults) are expected to follow their chief into war. This typical militia member wears an open helmet made of leather or bronze and a leather or quilted-wool jerkin to defend his torso. Flaws Characters get up to 3 flaws free. These represent negative aspects of your character, like personality traits, social stigmas, physical weaknesses, dependent or adversarial relationships, or even magical effects like curses. It’s important to note that these are totally optional, and are just there to add flavor to your character. They can be used in a contest to make your character act along with the flaw, be used to justify penalties, etc. but mainly they’re a flavor and roleplaying thing that doesn’t weaken the game at all to leave out. Of note, the book explicitly states that flaws can only hinder the players. No getting a free flaw and trying to spin it into a positive to use as an ability. Assigning Ability Ratings Of course this all fine and dandy, but the Ability name is only part of it: It says WHAT you can do, but the ratings determine how GOOD you are at doing it. Once you have your abilities selected you get to spread 12 points around to boost them as much as you want, or you can keep them for later. Each point raises an ability by 1, but you cannot boost any by more than 10 points to keep you from just dumping everything into one keyword and breaking any sort of progression or power curve totally. During play, Runes and Keywords will take 2 points to raise, due to their breadth. Breakout abilities only cost 1. Which is such an elegant solution and way to incentivize specialization without making breadth of skill a bad idea.  Tarsh Exile This Tarsh Exile is an archer; light infantry feared for their ambushes in the rugged terrain around Kero Fin Mountain. The archer wears a patterned wool tunic, and a heavy wool cloak. He wears fur-lined boots, laced up the front, for warmth. He has a composite bow similar to the Grazelanders, although the Exiles are largely infantry. The Exile has an ornamented quiver, and carries a bronze-headed axe. He has a square, leather covered wooden shield Equipment This is almost always an issue in narrative games: How do you handle loot? Because we all know gamers freaking LOVE gearporn. They LOVE shopping lists and twiddly stats and opening chests for sweet swag. Or at least it seems like they do based on how many books obsess over the stuff. HeroQuest obviously does things differently, but in a good way that still can make equipment important and interesting, without it being over complicated or vague and uninteresting. First, you are assumed to always have access to all the equipment and gear that your abilities say you should be. A Mercenary will reasonably have armor, sword, shield, rations, a pack, waterskin, etc. unless some event happened that explicitly stripped the character of such possessions. For equipment to get a feature slot on your character sheet, you build it as an ability, just like anything else. The important thing is that you make sure said equipment is able to solve more than one problem. If your sword is just a generic sword and only really useful for stabbing people, than it should be covered by some other ability you use to fight with and not take up a whole ability by itself. Instead it should be an item with flexible usage, magical associations, or social cache that lets it justify the breadth and power of an ability.  Esrolian Priestess This priestess wears a tight green bodice that is opened to below her navel to reveal her breasts. She wears a flounced and pleated bell-shaped skirt. Around her neck, she wears a necklace of emeralds. She is barefoot, so that she might have direct physical contact with the Earth. Earth temples throughout the Orlanthi lands (and even beyond) have adopted the Esrolian style. Magic Items Yes there are magical items in Glorantha, and the game actually has some advice on how to make them as abilities! Mostly an Enchanted Item is something that is imbued with Runic power, most often acting both as a mundane item and having some specific magical use. This can be a breakout ability of another one, or if it’s a particularly powerful or important item, an ability all its own. Some items are powerful enough they are actually intelligent to some degree, and so best represented as a Companion, which I’ll cover later in this section. Bones of the Gods One of the most common ways to make a magical weapon is to enchant a Rune metal, which brings out some of that metals latent supernatural power. Each Element has its own Metal associated with it, with the exception of Iron. What metal something is made out of can give a magic item inherent power, beyond any extra enchantments placed upon it. One commonality is that enchanting a rune metal makes it harder and more durable, so even metals normally unsuitable for weaponry are usable.
Quicksilver An archaic term for mercury, it is the metal of Water. When enchanted it is solid, and cannot sink in water. Copper The metal of Earth, it has no special powers, but is by far the most common of all metals. Tin The metal of Sky, it is normally used to make bronze, but can be enchanted on it’s own. If it is, it turns blue and is unnaturally light. Bronze The metal of Air. Like the first God of Air himself, Umath, it is a child of Sky and Earth, Copper and Tin. It is hard and resilient even unenchanted, but can be used to harm things normally immune to physical danger when enchanted. Silver The metal of the Moon. It always has the ability to harm things normally immune to physical damage, but must be enchanted to be formed into an effective weapon. The similarities to Bronze are intentional: The Moon in many ways seeks to replace Air, and so their metals are reflections of one another. Gold The metal of Fire, when enchanted it naturally glows like sunlight. Iron The only metal not associated with a Rune, and the most precious of all in Glorantha. Created using alchemy by the Dwarves in their ancient wars with the Trolls and Elves, the touch of iron burns them. In addition it absorbs and dulls all magic and supernatural power near it, including the wielders. When enchanted it retains its strength, durability, and power against Elves and Trolls, but loses its magic suppressing qualities. Blood of the Gods There are also of course magical crystals and gems that naturally contain some power of the Runes. These were formed from the dropped and dried blood of gods shed in the Godtime. Magical crystals should be given an evocative name, an associated Rune, and some specific use or power.  Dragon Pass Priestess Dragon Pass is colder and relatively poorer than Esrolia. This priestess wears a costume similar to the Esrolian priestess, but adapted for the climate and conditions. Her bodice is not fully opened to reveal the breasts and is looser than the Esrolian version. Her skirt is also more practical than the Esrolian bell-shaped skirt. Relationships Abilities can also be used to represent relationships with NPC’s, Organizations, and similar. These abilities can allow a player to perform actions that would be difficult, inconvenient, or impossible to do with only their own personal abilities. Supporting Characters These are characters controlled by the Game Master that you are connected with in some way by one of your abilities. In order to leverage your relationship, it’s not as easy as just asking them to do a thing for you. Instead you have to contest with your relationship ability in order to see if they will help solve the problem. Generally you don’t want to delegate things too much: The heros the players control should be the center of the action and the main doers of deeds whenever possible, and Game Masters should try to curb over-reliance on supporting characters. Two ways to do this are either by high difficulty for repeated requests, they have their own stuff to do and won’t always be able or willing to help, and by putting the characters at risk due to the players actions. In the risk case, the player may lose that relationship totally, the ability being removed from their character sheet. This could represent the supporting character dying, turning against the players, severing the relationship, etc. The GM should always clearly communicate to players when a Relationship is at risk like this, so they know the possible consequences of relying on others. Noblewoman This Esrolian noblewoman wears a close-fitting tube dress, sewn at the side, and held up by two straps that attach behind the neck. The straps come together at the front and expose her breasts. The dress is made of fine linen or even silk. She wears a white-feathered cape over her shoulders. There are several kinds of Supporting Character that you can have a Relationship ability with:
Patrons are you bosses. These are people of higher rank who hold some authority or influence over the players. They may be a legal authority, financial, religious, or just be a friend who’s super important in society. Patrons can wield influence and power far in excess of your typical hero, but reasonably expects you to fulfill some quid-pro-quo if you expect them to do favors for you. Serving a Patron well directly affects how difficult using the relationship is going to be. Contacts These are your specialists, NPC’s with a specific role or ability useful to the players who are generally neutral or at best professionally cordial. Business partners, academic experts, skilled artisans, etc fall under this category, and they generally expect payment in some form for their services rendered.  Tarshite Noble This nobleman from the capital city of Furthest is the height of Provincial aristocratic fashion. His long beard is well groomed, and has been curled with tongs to create hanging curls. He wears a long tunic that goes down to above his knees and leggings for riding. Over that he wears a long embroidered robe that goes down to his ankles, and has been split for riding. Followers These are secondary characters that travel with the heros, generally forming a permanent part of the retinue and party. These are your hirelings, sentient weapons, spirit guardians, faithful manservants, and animal companions.
These are specific developed characters under the players control who act essentially as an extension of your hero. This is where you get your faithful animal companions, favorite mounts, faithful sidekicks, magical guardians, talking swords, and so on. Companions are built essentially as mini-characters. They start with three abilities, one at 17 and the other two at 13. You can then spend 15 points between the three abilities, spending no more than 10 on any one. These are then improved the same as any other of your Hero’s. Companions can be lost through death, or by breaking off the relationship in some way. You can create a new companion if you lose them, or partake in adventure to revive or retrieve the one you lost. Retainers These are your traditional Hirelings. Faceless servants or helpers, these aren’t important enough to be proper NPC’s and generally act only to augment other abilities with their aid. This are your bodyguards, miscellaneous spirits, baggage handlers, ship crew, and so on.
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Mar 4, 2018 05:32
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Dogs!  Pugmire's magic system stands out a lot, I gotta say. It's got whimsy, easy routes to distinguish character (ware dog-wizards w/ laser pointers), a hint of melancholy when all that pure canine faith is devoted to us idiots who died off without even filling the foodbowl, it's great stuff. And Shepherds? Solid pun 
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Mar 4, 2018 05:34
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The way heroquest does chracters can be a bit funny without seeing an example, but the thing to remember is that if it's something important or worth explaining about your character, it's an ability. Your magic sword that cuts through anything but silver is an ability (probably one that you use as an Augment with your fighting skills) and so is the special parrying technique your father taught you (which would get a bonus for being Specific against anyone who didn't know how to counter it.) Throwing lightning bolts wouldn't be an ability for anyone with a powerful Air rune, because that's what anyone with a high air rune rating could do, but it could be a Breakout ability under your Air rune if you're particularly skilled at that aspect of the rune.
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Mar 4, 2018 06:03
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Ratoslov posted:Pugmire kinda comes off as a game that originated in a joke that should have stayed a joke. I like Pugmire well enough, I just wish it was less up it's own rear end about Pugs and the whole Miscegenation thing.
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Mar 4, 2018 06:09
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wiegieman posted:The way heroquest does chracters can be a bit funny without seeing an example, but the thing to remember is that if it's something important or worth explaining about your character, it's an ability. Your magic sword that cuts through anything but silver is an ability (probably one that you use as an Augment with your fighting skills) and so is the special parrying technique your father taught you (which would get a bonus for being Specific against anyone who didn't know how to counter it.)  This is what a completed character sheet looks like.
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Mar 4, 2018 06:22
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Wapole Languray posted:Warrior Ooooh, cheek pieces! I'm excited about these. Little disappointed we don't get a definitive material on those trousers though. That's the kind of laziness I'd expect from GURPS. I want my endless coloring book pictures of samey-looking warriors to come with some specificity dammit. quote:Thane If his exposed throat is covered, it's not an exposed throat, is it Glorantha? IS IT? This is a house of lies. quote:Tarsh Exile You lace them up the back for cool, or on the side for defrost. PS this poo poo is rad never stop.
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Mar 4, 2018 07:01
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Hmm, I have a Heroquest mechanics question. It seems like having a score of 1W (or even 3W) would be extremely awkward. If a lot of the rolls were default difficulty you'd just constantly fail, and then dump your mastery for success? How is this supposed to play out?
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Mar 4, 2018 07:13
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DalaranJ posted:Hmm, I have a Heroquest mechanics question. Let's take 3W as an example. It happens to be the rating of your ability, "The Toughest Brawler in Whitewall." The opposing rating is an 11, because you're fighting a weak-chinned guard at the end of his shift who's trying to tackle you. You roll an 18, which is a basic failure, but your mastery increases that to a basic success. The guard rolls an 8, which is also a basic success, but your roll was higher and breaks the tie in your favor. You knock his lights out, but that's as far as you'll get with a marginal victory. If you'd rolled a 6, you would have suffered a marginal defeat, because the tie would've broken in his favor. If you're paying attention, you should see that there's only a small range in which this can happen (4-11, to be precise) and only if he rolls both above your roll and under his roll. If you'd rolled a 3, your mastery would increase it to a critical success, and if you'd rolled a 1, your crit and higher mastery level would let you decrease the opposing roll -- and in HeroQuest there's always an opposing roll, even if you're just trying to climb a rough slope or find your way in an unfamiliar forest. By the way, The Toughest Brawler in Whitewall is definitely worthy of a bonus for being Specific when it comes to punching people's lights out, so your effective skill level would be 9W. wiegieman fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Mar 4, 2018 |
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Mar 4, 2018 07:37
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wiegieman posted:and in HeroQuest there's always an opposing roll, This is the part that I missed. As long as there is always an opposing roll the situation is always interpretable by result comparison.
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Mar 4, 2018 07:57
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DalaranJ posted:This is the part that I missed. As long as there is always an opposing roll the situation is always interpretable by result comparison. If you're in a situation that does not suggest a rating for an opposing roll, that's an automatic success with a Minor Victory, which gives +3 to the next applicable roll.
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Mar 4, 2018 08:00
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 Rifts World Book 16, Part Nine: "Each weapon is hand-crafted, so while they may do the same thing, no two look exactly alike." Techno-Wizard Devices Or "mostly just guns", because that's technology in Rifts for you. They're extremely expensive because... they are! I know, I know, you'd think it'd be more complicated to develop batteries, electronics, an armory, lens, and everything else you'd need for a high-powered laser than something that runs off of crystals and magic scratches, but what do I know? Well, what I do know is that this section references a "usual penalty of -6" for firing a weapon with burst fire (even for recoilless weapons... because... ?) that is not the usual penalty but will become the usual penalty in later books. They've also developed TW special energy cells used by some weapons, because we definitely need more arbitrary ammo types added to the setting. Also, we get a reminder that they're "hand-crafted", maintaining my puzzlement as to how Stormspire mass-manufactures techno-wizard weapons.  TW Pistols are fairly unexceptional whether they fire lightning, ice shards, or fireballs. Though a 4d6 TW Firebolt Pistol is solid for a pistol, it remains the fact that the low damage of pistols makes them niche holdout weapons for the most part. Only the TW Jammer stands out - but it's basically just a casting device for negate mechanics, which can knock out a gun or a explosive from going off for 15 seconds, or shut down one system on a suit of power armor. Actually kind of a handy given it's an end-run around normal casting times. Remember the murderhobo buddy system: one negates while the other liquidates.    TW Rifles are a bit more interesting, and some, like the nova rifle or force cannon, actually do decent damage. The storm rifle is one-half boring lightning gun and one-half boring air blower. The sonic rifle has an impressive area knockdown effect, but forgets to specify how much damage it does. The disrupter casts a spell (energy disruption) that doesn't actually exist in the book. Well, that's our Palladium!  Miscellaneous TW Weapons include a fairly damaging "Dragonfire" Flamethrower, grenades that create blocks of ice or explode in flames, and landmine that shoots lightning for a minute to the nearest living creatures or metal objects. Then, we get into stuff that feels more typically "magic item-ey" - a whip of pain that casts agony, a scepter of command that compels the undead (mostly), a firestaff that shoots fire spells, etc., etc.  Just don't ask how to get in. Techno-Wizard Vehicles are mainly designed to travel along or recharge when on ley lines, and are farcically expensive. It's implied there are more affordable models, but gently caress 'em, only the %1 of the post-apocalypse need apply.
 Even sorcerers love to go muddin'. Next: The biotruths of magic.
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Mar 4, 2018 14:59
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It's almost impressive how utterly lacking in design consistency those guns are. They all look like they were made up by someone who's only had guns described to them second-hand, but no two of them look like that in the same way. I guess that means they're "hand-crafted" right megane fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Mar 4, 2018 |
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Mar 4, 2018 17:59
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megane posted:It's almost impressive how utterly lacking in design consistency those guns are. They all look like they were made up by someone who's only had guns described to them second-hand, but no two of them look like that in the same way. Especially the Storm Rifle - I mean, where's the hand supposed to go?
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Mar 4, 2018 18:10
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I'm disappointed by the magical guns in general. Like, most of them are status effect/elemental damage guns, and there's really not much that's magical about them. I do love the "cats?" on the pugmire map. I'd probably play as a cat.
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Mar 4, 2018 18:36
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They're making Monarchies of Mau, the version of the game for cats. My main issue with Pugmire is that it is really, really boring mechanically, because it's...5e. It's just 5e D&D, straight up.
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Mar 4, 2018 19:31
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The Trailblazer looks cool, although I guess you have to climb on the thing to get into any of the cockpits.
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Mar 4, 2018 20:31
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Mors Rattus posted:They're making Monarchies of Mau, the version of the game for cats. My main issue with Pugmire is that it is really, really boring mechanically, because it's...5e. It's just 5e D&D, straight up. Yeah, I have no idea why they decided to take this interesting and cool concept, and then just bolt it onto bog-standard D&D. I think the only thing different on the spell list from the Player's Handbook is that dogs get smell magic instead of detect magic. It's the opposite of inspiring.
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Mar 4, 2018 20:34
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Maybe they were interested in the setting than in game mechanics? I can get something like that.
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Mar 4, 2018 20:47
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If you're more interested in the setting than in game mechanics, use Fate or something; don't just divide all your beagle adventurers into fighters and clerics and wizards and make the ancient wonders of Man run on the exact same system as Bigby's crushing hand.
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Mar 4, 2018 20:49
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Kurieg posted:I like Pugmire well enough, I just wish it was less up it's own rear end about Pugs and the whole Miscegenation thing. To bring it back to Pugmire, it doesn't take a lot of effort to re-write the Pugs and other Noble Breeds as inbred, incompetent antagonists who are leading the the Dog Kingdoms to ruin, and the heroes of the setting as the Strays and Mutts. Pan Dachshund would obviously be re-cast as Pan Jack Russel, and have a MUCH more explicitly negative view of Pugmire society. This just isn't as easily supported by the rules as I'd like, though.
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Mar 4, 2018 21:12
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Yeah, the whole uh - miscegenetation thing is a real sour note on pugmire and imho really doesn't make sense for dogs to have
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Mar 4, 2018 22:48
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It's completely workable to have the noble elite be inbred racists but that should not be presented as a good thing.
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Mar 4, 2018 22:58
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Robindaybird posted:Yeah, the whole uh - miscegenetation thing is a real sour note on pugmire and imho really doesn't make sense for dogs to have Like corgis, sure. Corgis seem like solid animals.
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Mar 4, 2018 22:59
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Nessus posted:Even if uplifted dogs had some degree of perception of differences amongst themselves as both meaningful and something worth maintaining through selective reproduction, you would think fuckin pugs wouldn't be the champion here. The animal that sneezes its eyeballs out? The storyteller's chapter straight up says that when mankind uplifted dogs they also cured all the physical and genetic diseases that came from the ridiculously shallow gene pools some of these breeds have, because not doing that would have been cruel. In a startingly allowance for reality, playing a mutt is probably mechanically better than a pure breed in almost every situation.
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Mar 4, 2018 23:21
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I should clarify that I have oddly strong feelings about dog breeding in general and pugs in particular, and that may be coloring my views. I don't have a problem with Pugmire being a reskinned 5e though - not every setting need their own system.
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Mar 5, 2018 01:46
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Kurieg posted:The storyteller's chapter straight up says that when mankind uplifted dogs they also cured all the physical and genetic diseases that came from the ridiculously shallow gene pools some of these breeds have, because not doing that would have been cruel. The problem with modern pugs and e.g. bulldogs are mechanical. If you cure them, they don't look like pugs anymore. You can't keep the pug look and cure the genetic problems.
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Mar 5, 2018 01:51
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Tibalt posted:I should clarify that I have oddly strong feelings about dog breeding in general and pugs in particular, and that may be coloring my views. I hate to break it to you but 5e is the opposite of a universal system, and indeed does a disservice to the whole magic-as-highly-advanced-lost-technology thing.
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Mar 5, 2018 01:52
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Angrymog posted:The problem with modern pugs and e.g. bulldogs are mechanical. If you cure them, they don't look like pugs anymore. You can't keep the pug look and cure the genetic problems.
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Mar 5, 2018 02:02
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Nessus posted:I don't think this is quite the case because I've seen drawings of pugs and bulldogs from the mid-19th century and they were recognizably the breed while being much less distorted. This is probably easier for bulldog than pug of course. Yeah, and there are efforts to make a separate breed of both of them that are more like the mid-19th century types where they could actually breathe by introducing lines from other breeds, but neither of them are regarded as purebreds by dog breeding associations.
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Mar 5, 2018 02:09
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Mors Rattus posted:I hate to break it to you but 5e is the opposite of a universal system, and indeed does a disservice to the whole magic-as-highly-advanced-lost-technology thing.  But I don't have a lot of experience with 5e, so I'll take your word for it. I'm just throwing out there that, dog breeding rants aside, I don't have a fundamental issue with "Greyhawk But Dogs" - in fact, I often get frustrated when a setting feels the need to re-invent the wheel. But I also think 2nd was a terrible match for spelljammer so maybe I just don't like learning new rule sets even if they're more appropriate.
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Mar 5, 2018 02:43
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5e is probably not the best choice for pugmire, but it beats creating an entire unworkable system from scratch
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Mar 5, 2018 03:29
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 18:57 |
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Rifts 5e Hic Sunt Dracones 5e Fantasy Wargaming: The Highest Level of All 5e
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Mar 5, 2018 07:41
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