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What's weird is that it's a good setting for any of the PC types. Rogue Traders have daring space combat and tons of opportunities to betray everyone or have yet another Heretek who is so zany as their local techpriest as per their standard game type, the Acolytes of the Inquisition have all kinds of corruption, intelligence work, and intrigue to do, Marines have tons of active warzones that need a few heroes, Black Crusade PCs have an actual organized Chaos war they could join, and Only War Guardsmen have the same war stories as Marines do but from a different perspective and in a different tone.
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Mar 30, 2018 18:51
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Really if anything the Tyranids are the perfect enemy in a W40k based game where you're playing as the Tau, because they're a dark mirror of the idea of the Greater Good. Every Tyranid exists only to perpetuate the Great Devourer, lives because It wills it, and dies because It demands it. All other life equally exists to to be incorporated into theirs, its biomass consumed and its genetic information carefully analyzed to discover ways to create newer and more perfect Tyranids.
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Mar 30, 2018 18:52
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Also they're just about the only enemy where everyone else might actually listen to you going 'Hey we all need to shoot this thing together! We can kill each other later!"
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Mar 30, 2018 18:55
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Night10194 posted:What's weird is that it's a good setting for any of the PC types. Rogue Traders have daring space combat and tons of opportunities to betray everyone or have yet another Heretek who is so zany as their local techpriest as per their standard game type, the Acolytes of the Inquisition have all kinds of corruption, intelligence work, and intrigue to do, Marines have tons of active warzones that need a few heroes, Black Crusade PCs have an actual organized Chaos war they could join, and Only War Guardsmen have the same war stories as Marines do but from a different perspective and in a different tone. True but it might be better to start players on 40k with the 'you're superman' angle. The misery and paranoia can come later. Also Tyranids work best when the defenders keep screaming at them to HATE HATE drat YOU! "Why aren't you demanding skulls and blood?! Do you think that you're better than me!?" By popular demand fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Mar 30, 2018 |
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Mar 30, 2018 18:55
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I just wanna say I love how the new Scion finally does a decent job with the Aztecs instead of making them BLOOD MURDER BLOOD PARTY. Tying together the concepts of sacrifice and hunger as two sides of the same coin is very fitting and makes it clear that 'sacrifice' from Aztecs didn't mean just murdering everyone you saw, most sacrifice concepts came from within.
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Mar 30, 2018 23:15
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sexpig by night posted:I just wanna say I love how the new Scion finally does a decent job with the Aztecs instead of making them BLOOD MURDER BLOOD PARTY. Tying together the concepts of sacrifice and hunger as two sides of the same coin is very fitting and makes it clear that 'sacrifice' from Aztecs didn't mean just murdering everyone you saw, most sacrifice concepts came from within. It's also true to Aztec mythology in real life. The gods didn't demand blood sacrifice because they were dicks, they demanded blood sacrifice because they were sacrificing their own blood to keep the world from ending and expected the same devotion from their followers.
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Mar 30, 2018 23:35
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To be fair, a lot of them were also dicks. But that’s not unusual as we’re going to see with the Theoi.
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Mar 30, 2018 23:53
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I always thought it'd be interesting if the darkening of the Tau was an in-setting development - that contact and conflict with the Imperium is forcing them to be harsher and more ruthless. He who fights monsters, and all that - it's harder and harder to maintain a culture of tolerance and mutual respect when you're dealing with a genocidal death-cult on your borders, and maybe the best option when dealing with humans really is to extinguish all traces of their vile culture and start over from scratch.
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Mar 31, 2018 05:22
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Angry Salami posted:and maybe the best option when dealing with humans really is to extinguish all traces of their vile culture and start over from scratch. As true in 40,000 as it is in 2018!
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Mar 31, 2018 05:42
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Angry Salami posted:I always thought it'd be interesting if the darkening of the Tau was an in-setting development - that contact and conflict with the Imperium is forcing them to be harsher and more ruthless. He who fights monsters, and all that - it's harder and harder to maintain a culture of tolerance and mutual respect when you're dealing with a genocidal death-cult on your borders, and maybe the best option when dealing with humans really is to extinguish all traces of their vile culture and start over from scratch. It is possible that human larvae raised in proper creches with absolutely zero contact with wild humans or human culture until well after adulthood may be able to be true members of the Greater Good.
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Mar 31, 2018 05:55
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The Lone Badger posted:It is possible that human larvae raised in proper creches with absolutely zero contact with wild humans or human culture until well after adulthood may be able to be true members of the Greater Good. The greater good
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Mar 31, 2018 07:11
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 The Northlands Saga Adventure Path We briefly talk about the introduction and the background for the start of this epic saga. The PCs are in service to Jarl Olaf Henrikson; they may be huscarls, as favored servants, close friends, or at the very least wintered with him to make acquaintance with the household. Jarl Henrikson may not be part of the greater clans like the Gats or the Hrolfs, nor is he the Køenig of Hordaland, but due to his authority within the largest city in the Northlands he is a very powerful man. In his youth he was a Viking and warrior par excellence, but in his increasing years he's living out a semi-retirement in the nearby village of Silvermeade Hall. The Adventure Path on the whole spans 16 in-game years between 12 adventures. They are not evenly spaced; the first eight happen within the span of 3 years, then the gaps between adventures get progressively longer to the point that the time between the penultimate and final adventure is 6 years! The idea is that the rare and legendary sagas are not so common as to dominate the PCs' lives, giving time for them to rest on their laurels. This makes it all the more significant when our heroes must leave hearth and home to band together against a great threat. Here and there throughout this Let's Read, I'm going to explain What I Changed in my own games, from otherwise troublesome mechanics to plot points which could use tuning up. The Northlands overall has a lot of content, but aside from a few exceptions a lot of the adventures are mostly stand-alone. Due to this it don't always feel connected beyond a few NPCs at times. I made it so that earlier adventures have events hinting at the later ones; this created a more believable world for my players and made them go "Oh, so that's what this is about!" a few times.  We get a mini-game meant to be run during winter months between adventures. As winters are long and boring in the Northlands, the rare (relatively) warmer days provide relief which locals use to hold intense physical challenges to blow off steam. And those of a more cerebral mind may use the ample time indoors to study, play games, and the like. Each PC rolls an ability check appropriate to their activity or class, and they gain a corresponding amount of Experience (individually) depending on the result. At low levels the experience gained can be significant, but over time it becomes paltry sums midway through the Adventure Path. The adventures are abbreviated as such: NS[X]: Place Title Here. NS1: Vengeance of the Long Serpent is not the "first" one in this book. The 2011 run began with that adventure and carried all the way up to NS4: Blood on the Snow. Level-wise this took PCs from 5th to 10th, but to simulate a 1 to 20 Adventure Path two prequel adventures (both labeled NS0) were made. They seamlessly flow into the rest of the Adventure Path, making reference to characters and events which show up in NS1. NS0: Spears in the Ice Part One, Spring Rites  Jarl Olaf Henrikson has three daughters. Inga, his oldest one, is going to be wedded, and the PCs are summoned to his hall by a herald. Preparations for the Spring Equinox, a holiday dedicated to Freyja and traditionally used for weddings, are underway. Jarl Henrikson gets down to brass tacks and explains that his three daughters wish to gather flowers for the celebrations. He wants the PCs to escort them and see to their safety while they ride to a meadow of flowers outside town. The area around Silvermeade Hall isn't particularly dangerous unless one goes too deep into the woodlands or barrows, so it is not your typical heroic saga. Henrikson comments as such, but mentions that once they become great warriors and see their share of death such slice-of-life memories will be "a boon beyond naming." The adventure goes into some detail over the flower arrangements for the holiday, along with the specifics of the food eaten with the Jarl (black bread, butter, spring greens cooked with white beans and ham hock, pickled flounder, and several pints of beer if anyone's wondering). The PCs also get the opportunity to learn of the eldest daughter's husband, in that he's a member of the Gat family. Jarl Henrikson is trying to make alliances in the even of civil unrest on account of the dispute over Hordaland's leadership. This is an interesting tidbit of politicking, but unfortunately it doesn't evolve into a plot point later on in the Adventure Path. What I Changed: I made it so that Inga's betrothal is to an NPC of my own creation, Arvid Anudsson, son of Anud Curse-Spear. Anud Curse-Spear plays a significant role in NS3: the Death Curse of Sven Oakenfist, and provides the party a built-in excuse to visit his hall.  Pictured left to right: Runa, Fastvi, Inga Jarl Henrikson's daughters await the PCs on horseback. We get some information on how to role-play them during the adventure. Inga is a spoiled arrogant girl who treats the PCs like servants at her beck and call, but a high-status male PC she'll be very polite and flirtatious towards. Fastvi, the middle-youngest, is obsessed with swords and stories of great warriors and will pester the fiercest-looking fighter-type in the group with all manner of questions. She is very impulsive and will get into some minor troubles during encounters unless the PCs reign her in. Runa, the youngest, is quiet and reserved, seemingly talking privately with an imaginary friend named Javik. Appropriate Knowledge checks confirm that her birthing was a difficult one, and that out of desperation Jarl Henrikson requested the aid of a seiðkona (a witch) to ensure both mother and child's safety. Ever since Runa has been "not quite right" by mentioning vaguely o future events yet to come. During the ride to the meadows there are some non-combat scenarios as a means of establishing group dynamics. One encounter has the PCs meet the jarl's other huscarls on the hunt for a bandit. A few of them mock the PCs for being "such brave warriors to escort little girls for flower-picking," although their leader Hallbjorn will be reasonable and try to put a stop to any fights. This is a good means of foreshadowing, for they appear in the next adventure after this, NS0: Wyrd of the Winter King. Hallbjorn Bolverkson appears as a recurring NPC in future adventures beyond that one too. Some other encounters include Fastvi speeding her horse ahead and trampling through a farmer's crops, a family whose cart is stuck in the mud (who the adventure implies are Odin/Thor/Frigga in disguise) and will cursed/bless each party member with a single reroll of a d20 depending on whether they helped or not, and a very friendly dog in the flowerfields who Runa becomes enamored with immediately. All of these non-combat encounters contain Experience Awards for proper resolution and/or good role-playing. There is an exception where in one encounter Inga playfully tries to kiss the PC she's enamored with in secret and XP is gained if the other sisters/PCs don't find out. But if the PCs tries to pursue the relationship further she slaps him and said PC loses 200 XP. I'm pretty sure that encouraging the unfaithfulness of a fiancee shouldn't give you Experience Points.  Unfortunately Runa's strange nature is no mere happenstance. The witch who acted as midwife, Sibbe the Unkempt, had her aid forced at swordpoint by the jarl, and as a result she placed a dark hand-shaped birthmark over Runa's face to maintain an arcane connection. Now she plans to kidnap the Jarl Henrikson's daughters for human sacrifice during the Spring Equinox, which will greatly enhance her own magical power! In order to perform the kidnapping, Sibbe employed two brutish outlaws (Njarni the barbarian and Gufti the rogue) to transport a heavy Andøvan tablet to create a super-powered sleep spell in the meadows. The PCs will feel drowsy as they notice three suspicious characters entering the field of flowers, and must make Will saves each round as the bad guys run to kidnap the girls (who automatically fall asleep) and fight anyone left standing. This is very much an "unbeatable boss fight" type of deal. But at least the book gives good advice to tell players not to waste their reroll boons from the wagon encounter or similar metagame currency in play. Elves will be unaffected but outnumbered, although the AP hasn't taken into account the possibility of an all-elf or mostly-elf party throwing down with the main villains right then and there.  Once they come to, they will find the girls missing and have to follow their tracks. The friendly dog from the earlier encounter will be present to help them out, with appropriate skill checks (Perception, Ride, Survival, etc) in play to catch up with the kidnappers. The rest of the adventure is in a "race against time" format. Sibbe intends to sacrifice the girls on top of a mound in the Barrow Lands, which is 8 hours' travel from the meadow. The PCs have 14 hours total before the girls are murdered. Various complications (getting lost, difficult terrain, certain encounters) may cost the PCs 1 to 2 hours. To make up for this they can can double their overland speed by hustling at the cost of taking nonlethal damage. Personally speaking this is a rather risky take. As 1st level characters, hit points are in short supply and they have no time to rest and regain spells. The addition of a dog DMPC can help during encounters as a minor benefit. Although the encounters leading up to the clash with Sibbe aren't too difficult, you should keep a close eye on the makeup of your party when running this. Going back to the Jarls' hall is not a recommended option, as this is not only putting more time between them and the kidnappers, Olaf Henrikson will be enraged at the PCs' incompetence: quote:To return to their jarl with tales of a sudden magical attack, strange footprints, and missing daughters will see them cast out, and likely challenged to duels of the holmgang between the hazel posts by the older huscarls. The PCs would be branded liars, brought before the next Thing (should they live that long), tried for murder and kidnapping, and then declared outlaws. After that, it will be a race to see who kills them first, the jarl or someone wishing to curry favor with him. Continued in Next Post
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Mar 31, 2018 08:11
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Spring Rites, Part 2 There are a few set-piece encounters marked as numbers on the map above. Given that Sibbe's trail is the top looping line on the above map, I can't see most gaming groups hitting Encounters 11 to 13 unless they get really lost. It's a shame as some of them are cool, and I ran those during the interim between this adventure and the next one to make sure the PCs leveled up. The initial encounters up to the Barrow Lands are standard fare: a swamp troll (which doesn't fight to the death but is very dangerous, with 38 HP and Regeneration), a bunch of drunk cattle raiders who have a weregild (bounty) on them, and bandits and wild boars in the forest. Some of the more interesting encounters include an undead hound blocking a bridge across a moor, a Bearsarker hanging himself on a tree as part of a ritual to Wotan who utters a premonition of later events in the campaign if uninterrupted: quote:The storm will come and Donar’s usurper must be laid low. Ice and cold threaten the world. The glowing stone must be returned for mind’s-worth.” There's also the opportunity to stumble upon a bandit hideout who the huscarls from above were hunting, as well as a bunch of faeries partying in the forest. If the PCs humor them they find their wounds cured, never get lost again in the woods, and wake up 4 hours before dawn (this can take them back in time). As the PCs are on a time-sensitive mission, this will not be a likely occurrence.  Once the PCs reach the Barrow Lands, things get real creepy real fast. Sibbe possesses an Andøvan Barrow Charm to ensure safe passage, but for the PCs their trek through the desolate waste has them run into a skeletal warrior risen from the dead. Accompanied by 4 soldiers, he gestures silently to a 1 on 1 duel with the party (to death, first blood, or unconscious depending on the would-be duelists' apparent health). As long as the PCs act with honor the undead will let the group pass upon completion, regardless of the outcome. The PCs can take the skeleton duelist's treasure if they win and gain XP for dueling him even if they lose. I rather like this encounter. It sets up the fact that they are in a world with different social norms than most settings, and the mechanics reinforce this. The final encounter is a Fight at the Stones. Regardless of the time of day a lightning storm will strike and hordes of undead Andøvans come charging out of barrows to the tor (hill). Sibbe's theft of the amulet, combined with her ritual, has disrupted the natural order of things and encouraged the relic's owners to act. However the Barrow Charm prevents the undead from approaching directly, so the undead king leading the hordes hopes rather to corral the PCs (or make them rush faster) to Sibbe's location. I've heard of kings railroading adventuring parties to the plot hook, but this is ridiculous! As for the showdown with Sibbe, she and her two thugs are within some Andøvan standing stones at the top of the hill. There is mention of environment and how it can be used for advantage: PCs can climb up a slope in the dark for Stealth and cover, pushing someone off the edge/down the slope deals falling damage, and those standing atop the standing stones risk being struck by lightning. For her part, Sibbe is busy preparing for a ritual, with a curse-enchanted Runa helping out as Inga and Fastvi are rendered bound and helpless. Njarni and Gufti stand watch and if they see the PCs' approach will warn the witch so she can buff them each with enlarge person. This is a rather difficult fight. In addition to the 3 foes, Sibbe herself has a Summon Monster II spell, and the enlarged raging barbarian can deal 3d6+12 damage with a greataxe and +7 to hit. If the battle turns against her she will command Runa to briefly attack the party with her fledgling magic in order to cover her retreat. What I Changed: At the time my party comprised of a Skald, a Rogue, a Jotun, and a DMPC dog but I still feared an overwhelming encounter especially as the party was softened up by earlier ones. I changed things around so that the outlaws in the Bandit Hideout encounter were on the path of travel rather than in the forest. They earlier tried to jump Sibbe's party when they recognized the jarl's daughters, hoping to get a ransom but the witch's magic proved unexpected. She took out a few of their number and the survivors aren't exactly keen on fighting. The bandits had a sorceress NPC among them with healing potions, so if things turned violent the PCs had an opportunity to heal. But on the other hand they weren't eager to go into needless combat and had a mutual grudge with Sibbe. Our skald seized on this and Diplomacized the bandits into an unlikely alliance. There numbers gave the party a better shot in the final battle. Whether or not you do it my way, I do suggest sprinkling healing potions in the various encounters on account of 1st level fragility. Resolution The adventure's conclusion can go several ways. If the PCs lose or do not catch up in time, anywhere from one to three of the daughters will be killed (Inga, Fastvi, and Runa in that order). If all three die, then Sibbe will transform into a younger version of herself and becomes a level 8 witch. If the PCs survive (unlikely) the undead will disperse on their own but grow much greater in number over the following months. The PCs' hurried rescue did not go unnoticed. Jarl Henrikson noticed that they and his daughters were staying later than usual. He followed the PCs' trail straight to the mound with a band of warriors and huscarls in tow. He will be happy (less so one or more are dead) if any of the girls were saved, and grant them metal arm-rings as gifts: the more girls saved, the more valuable the rings given. But before our party can leave, the undead warriors gather around the warriors but do not attack. Rather they seek to parley: the boxed text more or less states this so it will be spelled out to the players. Tension builds as their barrow king approaches, taking out a magnificent bronze sword and mimics the putting on of a necklace. If the PCs give him the stolen barrow charm, he will present his sword to the party in exchange. The greatsword is Hægtesse ("Fury"), and has the furyborn property which temporarily increases the enhancement bonus for every iterative attack the wielder makes against the same opponent. The jarl's householders are in awe, including the ones that mocked the PCs during their first meeting. They now hold respect for the PCs that not only saved the jarl's daughters, but the one who faced an Andøvan king and lived to tell the tale. Once safely back at home, the PCs will be further rewarded with masterwork items appropriate to their class. There will be celebrations and characters will ask the PCs to retell their exploits while feasting at the hall. If any of the girls died the atmosphere will be more somber, and they will have lowered standing in Jarl Henrikson's eyes (but not so much to mitigate their ability in saving the other girls). If Runa is alive talk of her sorcerous powers will be vehemently denied by the jarl. He is unwilling to confront this obstacle and threatens a PC who persists to holmgang. Runa can either be tutored secretly to better control her powers, or the trauma of the kidnapping will cause her to try and repress them. The adventure makes mention of multiple possibilities for Runa, although none of this is expanded upon in the later adventures. I presume it's because she can die if the PCs really gently caress up. What I Changed: The PCs managed to save all 3 daughters. I had 2 new players at the time interested in joining the game, and one of them wanted to play a Nûklander witch. I decided to downplay Jarl Henrikson's magephobia and had him hire said PC to be a "consultant in the magical arts." She was also to ensure that Runa's powers do not cause any further harm. Finally the party gets bonus Experience Points depending on how many girls they saved, if they got possession of Hægtesse, stopped Sibbe's ritual, and/or kept Runa's sorcerous secret safe. Concluding Thoughts: Spring Rites has a strong start. Its noncombat encounters pave the way for future events in the campaign and provide a good means of experience advancement. It has an epic feel to it too for a 1st-level adventure: we have a fight among standing stones during a lightning storm, a duel with an undead skeletal champion, and the PCs can get a cool named magical weapon...all at 1st level! Its weak points are the super-sleep railroad (which is a bit too blatant in execution) and the "race against time" isn't ideal for a beginning party. But overall I'd say the good outweighs the bad and gives a strong first impression for players on the mood and feel of the Northlands! Next time we cover Wyrd of the Winter King, where the PCs raid the iceberg palace of one of Althunak's warlords!
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Mar 31, 2018 08:12
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Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Deathwatch and Rites of Battle Climbing over their own dead I have a lot more fluff to cover from Rites of Battle, especially the (pretty good) NPCs and lots of detail on Watch Fortress Erioch, but first it's important to get the last big mechanical thing out of the way after all that fluff: Enemies. This game focuses on combat above any other game in the line, even the power metal space opera Black Crusade or the other military game, Only War. Your Marines are, as a common denominator, good at and expected to enjoy killing poo poo. It's also particularly interesting to see where the out of control scaling leads enemy stats and how it necessitated the creation of new rules entirely. You see, the astute among you might have looked at a Marine's Toughness and Armor; take Brother Sepheron the Apothecary, who isn't even a particularly tough Marine. He's at DR 18 chest, 16 limbs and head. A 'human' boltgun will penetrate 4 of that, but still only deal 6-15 damage (d10+5) and thus only do 0-1 damage to his chest, 0-3 to his extremities. And that's the .75 caliber armor piercing explosive rocket. The humble lasgun or autogun physically cannot hurt him, especially as enemies do not Righteous Fury. A high level Marine can even walk through bolter fire without fear. As we worked out awhile back in chat in the thread, the most powerful Techmarine can hit AV19, Toughness Bonus 17 (Their Machinator Array is not, according to additional material, counted for Unnatural but just added on as an extra 10 Toughness, but a fully bionic location gets +2 Toughness Bonus). That character could walk *naked* through boltgun fire and shrug off plasma rifles, or even withstand hits from Astartes small arms without fear. The system had to come up with solutions to allow enemies to threaten even these power-armored behemoths. While their solutions won't deal with the biggest, buffest of invincible Techmarines (though a Lascannon or Meltagun still will) they can put the fear of combat back into the normal Marines while also giving Marines a convenient way to blow away 200 enemies in a system that would struggle with 20. This solution is the Horde system. Lesser enemies like Chaos Militia or Cultists, small Tyranids, or Tau line infantry can form Hordes. A Horde is a unit with a Magnitude rating that explicitly does not measure their direct numbers, only an abstraction of their current morale, effective fighting strength, and coordination. The higher the Magnitude, the easier the Horde is to hit, but also the more dangerous the Horde becomes. You technically still have to roll for damage against a Horde when you hit it, but in practice a Horde loses a point of Magnitude to any attack that deals at least 1 damage anyway, and most Horde-style enemies will suffer a minimum of 1 damage from any Astartes weapon as is, so rolling for damage is mostly a formality and can often be skipped to speed up combat. A Horde of enemies can make ranged attacks equal to the 10s digit of their Magnitude each turn, and each one is a full ranged shot with one of their weapons (So, say, a Horde Magnitude 30 with Autoguns could fire 3 Full Auto attacks in a turn) and they never run out of ammo or jam, so there's no reason for them not to spray and pray constantly if they don't need to move. A Horde of melee fighters simply attacks every PC who is within or adjacent to it once (or more times, if they have Swift or Lightning Attack), and cannot be Dodged or Parried without special traits. It also gains no bonuses for outnumbering a Marine. Hordes also add +d10 damage to their attacks per 10 Magnitude, max of 2d10. This lets, say, a Horde of Guardsmen Renegades put out 3d10+3 shots instead of d10+3, which now does 6-33 damage and can hurt Brother Serephon or other average Marines. You damage hordes by hitting them with AoEs, flamers, automatic weapons, anything explosive, Psy, or particularly skillful melee. A Melee attack on a Horde will kill 1 Magnitude (And Hordes generally cannot Dodge or Parry, themselves) per successful hit, +1 per 2 DoS, +1 for the whole attack if you used a Powerfield Weapon. Gunfire inflicts 1 hit per hit on target, +1 to the whole burst if the weapon used does Explosive (X) damage. Any weapon with the Blast trait does +1 hits per meter of blast radius. This means the Blast 3 Metal Storm Boltgun rounds you can use will inflict 3 hits per hit on a Horde; consider the Boltgun hits up to 4 times (3 if you're using Errata) and is also X, and you can respectably blow away massed enemies with the right ammo and a bolter. Your frag grenades will also do good work. Flamers do d5+(1 per 3 meters of range) without needing to roll to-hit or anything, so a 30m Heavy Flamer will do 10+d5 hits to a Horde, slaughtering plenty. A Marine with the Storm of Iron Talent (acquired fairly early in Devastator and TacMarine) will double their damage to a Horde after all modifiers if using a flamer or a semi/full auto firearm. A Marine with Whirlwind of Death (Available only at max rank of Assault Marine, for some reason) doubles their melee damage against Hordes after all modifiers. This is one reason I say Assault Marines aren't the best at fighting Hordes and tend to do better against elites; their good and consistent damage doesn't matter much, they get their mass-fighting talent very late, they can't active-defend Horde attacks, and melee simply kills chaff slower than an automatic weapon, explosives, or a flamethrower. Psy Powers will just do PR damage to a Horde, +d10 if the Psy power was AoE (most are AoE), making them quite effective. Any weapon with the Devastating trait in any capacity adds its Devastating number to its anti-horde hits per hit. If a Horde loses 25% of its Magnitude in one turn and isn't immune to fear, it rolls WP or breaks and runs. If it is at 1/2 or worse of its original Magnitude, it gets -10 to this WP test. If it is at 1/4 of its Magnitude at the start of its turn, it simply runs, regardless of tests. Only Fearless enemies will stay to get wiped out to the last. Otherwise, your Marines will be pummeling and breaking units then moving on to someone who isn't running for the hills. Hordes work well in getting your Marines triple digit bodycounts, giving them a good reason to bring AoE and automatic weaponry, and letting you abstract out big units of weak foes. The big damage is also meant to be an abstraction for any attached heavy weapons, so if you throw a 50 Magnitude horde of enemy Guardsmen at your Marines, you don't have to separately attach autocannons, lascannons, or whatever; those are just assumed to be part of the 5 3d10+3 Pen0 ranged attacks it's flinging out there each turn. Hordes are satisfying to fight and lose effectiveness nicely, with the morale rules and loss of Magnitude giving your players a good way to wear them down and force them to remove themselves when they become a foregone conclusion. It's a rules bandaid, but it's a rules bandaid that works and helps evoke the setting better. We don't get a huge spread of enemies in the core book; basically you get 1 or 2 Troops (horde-capable mooks), an Elite or two, and a Master (bosses) for each enemy faction. For Chaos, you have Militia (Chaos Guard, ranged hordes with mediocre Guard gear but decent enough 35% WS and BS) and Heretics (Crazy cultists with a melee focus, poor skill, high WP, and resistance to fear, horde enemies) for the little guys. Then you have the Chaos Space Marine, who is basically a starting PC with about 8-10 more Wounds, +10 WS and BS over average (50 WS and BS), but only a chainsword and boltgun, not weapons designed to kill a fellow Marine as the Elite. And then the Demon Prince as a Master. The Demon Prince has 80 Wounds, a TB of 12, Armor of 12 (TB 8 if hit with something that bypasses Demonic), they cause Cohesion damage by getting near you, have a 75% WS, 3 attacks, ignore your Unnatural T, hit for 2d10+25 Pen 6, and have a bunch of good combat talents. This is a good indicator of what a boss for Marines looks like, and it'll carve the average Marine apart in one or two hits despite all their toughness. This demonstrates what we called 'tink or splat', where almost every weapon and foe you face either seems to do minor chip damage that can barely hurt you unless it's in huge numbers, or just rips your Marine in half if you don't dodge-tank everything (you want to dodge tank everything in 40kRP). At the same time, a well prepared starting party can already rip the Demon Prince apart. Tau have the Tau Commander, whose massive battlesuit grants them 90 Wounds, TB 10, SB 10, flight, AV 9, and all kinds of amazing two-weapon fighting abilities. As well as being personal badasses armed with plasma cannons, missile launchers, and chainguns on their XV-8 Battlesuit that can all be dual-wielded as if they were pistols, they also grant the ability to spend a full action to render the team vulnerable if the team hits Cohesion 0. This will give all Tau fighting under the Shas'O (Commander) Rerolls on all failed BS tests once per round, for the rest of the fight. Don't overextend against a Tau Commander with squad orders, especially since the Tau have a fair number of weapons with Devastating, meaning they damage squad cohesion. So that's the Tau idea of a boss fight: A hero in a mech jump-jetting all over the place blazing away at you with high powered cannons and missiles who then shouts 'THE TIME IS NOW!' and then all their troops blow you apart, if you aren't careful. Tau also have Stealthsuits, and I can tell you from experience these Elite mechsuit pilots are absolute dicks to fight. Their suit can swap between a mode where if you don't detect them they're so invisible they cause you a -30 to hit them (but give you a good chance to detect them due to the sensor interference) or a passive mode where they just get a +10 to Stealth and -10 to be shot at. They also each have a melta gun (anti-tank weapon) or chaingun. Tau Chainguns and Pulse Rifles originally 'only' did 2d10+2 Pen4, but were shifted to d10+12 Pen4 in the Errata, hitting as hard as Marine Heavy Bolters. Stealthy ambush guys who are hard to shoot back at and wearing power armor and equipped with 'light' heavy weapons can mess you up. Finally, you get the Fire Warrior, the only mook that doesn't need to form a Horde to hurt you. They're average in all over ways, but that bears mentioning, and they can still form Hordes to hurt even more. A Marine can't ignore multiple 3d10+12 Pen4 shots in one turn. They can also get swarms of AI-linked gun-drones that are pathetic until there are a lot of them in one place, at which point they get substantially more accurate. Tau can't handle melee; even the unnaturally strong suits will get taken apart by even a non-melee specialized Marine. You want to get in there with your knife or chainsword, and they want to stop you from doing that. Use cover a lot against Tau. Nids start their section off with the Hive Tyrant, a big brain bug. The Tyrant has 120 Wounds, TB 15, AV 10, and hits like a truck filled with other, smaller trucks. It's amazing at melee, has a bunch of biomorphs that can make it poison or give it ranged options, and it's also a powerful psyker. The Hive Tyrant is no easy ask, even for Marines. It can also heal Hordes and draw more Nids in to fight you, but if you kill it it automatically breaks any non-Fearless Nids in the battle. The Tyranid Warrior is a big ole melee threat that's on par with a specialized Marine, and can direct the lesser monsters with its Synapse ability. Think of Warrior Elites as bug sergeants. A Warrior can also use a bunch of short-ranged biological guns or focus purely on killing you in melee, which it's way better at, and they can be given wings and allowed to fly, which makes them much more dangerous. Finally, you have Termagaunts and Hormagaunts, your usual lovely little swarm-bugs, with the former using beetle-firing guns and the latter being all spastic and slashy. Hormagaunts are actually surprisingly dangerous horde creatures, with high WS and good damage; don't get surrounded. Gaunts will also act like stupid animals if they don't have any Warriors or a Hive Tyrant in the same battle, or if you shoot the big bugs first. What you might notice is how many Wounds the big enemies have compared to DH, where a boss would have, say, 20-30. This is because Marine weapons would kill anything with 20-30 wounds extremely quickly, and giving things the DR to survive Marine weapons at those Wound totals would make them impossible to hurt with many other options and weapons. There is an awareness that the increasing weapon damage necessitates more Wounds, but it never applies to PCs; your 19-23 Wounds at start are the highest in the series, and you can still only buy a few additional Wounds (and at proportionally enormous costs of 500-1000 EXP apiece), so once something can get through your DR if you don't dodge it's going to splatter your Marine quickly. I honestly don't understand why it went this way. I've had to tune every encounter to make sure PCs can either take solid cover or have chances to active-defend against anything powerful enough to one-shot them, and if your GM has, say, a Tau Horde with 50 Magnitude focus all their firepower on a single Marine instead of spreading their shots there's not a lot that Marine can do about it if they don't have very solid cover and good luck on enemy to-hit. Surely giving PCs some ablative wounds over time or at least a way to actually meaningfully increase Wounds relative to the damage coming in would have been easier. Next Time: Watch Fortress Erioch
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Mar 31, 2018 23:20
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Just how heretical would it be to steal some Pulse Rifles and duct tape a bunch of them together into a Marine-scale Storm Pulse Rifle?
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Mar 31, 2018 23:43
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The Lone Badger posted:Just how heretical would it be to steal some Pulse Rifles and duct tape a bunch of them together into a Marine-scale Storm Pulse Rifle? Extremely - that's more a Rogue Trader kind of thing. On the one hand, if any Space Marines are going to do it it will be the Deathwatch (especially if your kill team includes one or more Space Wolves), but on the other hand the Space Marines tend to be even more conservative and dogmatic than normal for the Imperium. It's also more or less canon that Tau gear are gigantic maintenance hogs. Say what you will about Imperial gear, but it's designed for long-term use and abuse in the toughest environments by poorly trained conscripts. A Leman Russ tank can run on anything from jet fuel to wood to corpses, lasgun power packs can be recharged by leaving them in the sun for a while or even just sticking them in a campfire, stuff like that. Tau equipment is designed to microscopic tolerances for short engagements close to reliable supply lines. They're sophisticated, elaborate, often significantly better than common Imperial gear, and certified hangar queens.
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Mar 31, 2018 23:54
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The Lone Badger posted:Just how heretical would it be to steal some Pulse Rifles and duct tape a bunch of them together into a Marine-scale Storm Pulse Rifle? The Techmarine upgrade Forge Master (which every single Techmarine will buy if they get high enough; it gives you more stuff for its EXP cost in wargear alone than you'd be able to get buying it separately with Signature talents) has the explicit special ability 'can wield any captured xenotech with no non-proficient penalty', but you'd need to modify it to get around the Marine manual dexterity in their armor, and they also mention 'no Marine would ever favor these weapons'. A pulse rifle is a good gun, but for a Marine's purposes their bolter is probably better, since it has all those variant ammos and can kill Hordes like crazy, even in the weakened Errata form, not to mention your TacMarine might be using Bolter Mastery which just makes Bolters and Heavy Bolters (and, as you alluded to, Stormbolters) insane. Stormbolters merit a little discussion: They're a pair of Bolters stapled together. Even in the Errata, where they lose their auto-fire mode (as does the normal Bolter) the Storm Bolter still has Storm, an ability that makes every hit with it count as 2 separate hits. Also, Marines can wield rifle-sized weapons one handed. A TacMarine with a pair of stormbolters using Metal Storm ammo and with the Storm of Iron trait and Bolter Drill Talent (Can add +1 to the RoF numbers on bolt weapons) pre-errata killed something like 120 magnitude of Nids in a single round in one of my games. Also reminds me of the tendency to fluff up crazy combi-weapons for Ork Meks and Warbosses in my games, like the guy who stapled six Tau pistols into his 'beamy spinnah' (He attacked the Tau solely because he liked their flash guns), or the Mek who managed to build a wave motion cannon out of twenty lasguns and a hand mirror. E: Forge Master using their crazy 'Give a Basic weapon Accurate' talent and a captured Tau Plasma Rifle would be a pretty nuts marksman's rifle. 2d10+9, potentially up to 4d10+9 on a good single-shot, with the option of double-tapping instead, Pen 10, and Tearing with good rifle range? Night10194 fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Apr 1, 2018 |
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Apr 1, 2018 00:01
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NS0: Spears in the Ice Part Two, Wyrd of the Winter King  This adventure takes place six months after the end of Spring Rites. By now the PCs should be 2nd level, and are once again called into service by Jarl Olaf Henrikson. Winter is coming, and the harvest has been poor. Henrikson called the PCs into service plus 60 members of his household to join him on his ship The Long Serpent. and undertake a voyage farther north than any Northlander has ever sailed. Hopefully they will find land with valuables to claim and arctic animals to hunt (walrus tusks, sealskins, whale blubber, etc) that can be used to trade for grain in a worse-case scenario. No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Unbeknownst to the people of the Northlands there was once a vast empire of the Uln in the Far North. When the Ulnat put an end to Althunak's reign of terror, the demon-god's faithful went into hiding. One of the more well-to-do survivors was Prince Uth’ilopiq, who went into suspended animation in his frozen fortress the Ice Palace. As the eras passed the land it sat upon broke off with flowing glaciers; reawakened, Althunak's champion waits as his fell fortress slowly drifts south to lands which know not the dread legacy of the Lord of Ice and Cold. What I Changed: I renamed Althunak's most common title to the Lord of Ice and Stone. Two of his temples in the later adventures are called the First and Second Temples of Ice and Stone, plus it is less of a redundant descriptor. quote:When five days out of the North Sea and into the embrace of the Great Ocean on your journey, Young Ljot yells out that he has spotted land. A small glint of reflected light can be seen on the horizon. Jarl Olaf orders that a course be set toward it. As the longship approaches, a huge iceberg comes into view, less a floating block of ice than an island — a full glacier perhaps — of ice drifting through the sea. Such a large iceberg has not been seen in generations. A closer view spots a break in the valley along with a palace of towering spires. Being a bunch of adventurous Vikings, the jarl is naturally inquisitive as he tells of a legend he once heard of a city of ice filled with treasure floating in the sea. Four of his huscarls, who were NPCs from the Spring Rites adventure, are eager to go explore. It is presumed that the PCs tag along as well, or are told to do so by the jarl for some much-needed experience. The ship's crew levels the oars parallel to the water's surface and up to the iceberg's land so that the huscarls can valiantly "run the oars" with no difficulty, but the PCs have to make an Acrobatics check when doing the same thing or fall in the water and risk exposure to cold weather. The NPCs in question are all Fighters and much more experienced than the PCs, ranging from levels 3 to 8. They do not have stat blocks as the adventure will separate their two groups soon, and the adventure calls out that their wyrd foretells their doom upon this land of floating ice. There's One-Eyed Sven who's a friendly mentor type, Berg Geirson who is the group's Debby Downer pessimist, Young Ljot a shy yet courageous archer, and Hauk Arinbjornson a headstrong mercenary from Vastavikland who hopes to prove himself worthy to serve in Jarl Henrikson's household. But once they get on shore everything goes south quickly. A magical trap within the Ice Palace triggers, causing a huge storm of icy wind sounding like "the Horns of Hel" barrels down the iceberg's southern cliff. It risks burying slow characters in snow, reduces visibility, and once it relents the party finds themselves separated from the huscarls who came ashore. The Long Serpent is nowhere to be found as the supernatural winds blew it far away. One-Eyed Sven's hunting horn sounds from somewhere in the valley (the NPCs rushed far ahead during the storm) as a clue to their current location. What I Changed: Where to begin? First off, the whole "stumbling upon the BBEG's lair by chance" wasn't my style and I wanted a stronger start. I instead remade the adventure hook into rumored reports of warriors raiding coastal settlements via a traveling iceberg. They'd make to retreat, only for an unnaturally early winter to blow in to the area, bringing starvation and making the people more desperate for "protection" and tribute. A messenger from one of these settlements made his way to Halfstead and warned Jarl Olaf Henrikson of the plot. The jarl decides to strike at the iceberg with three longships prematurely before it can sweep into Hordaland, turning the expedition hook into a straightforward raid. I altered the wind trap so that giant icicles were being catapulted from the Palace once the PCs and huscarls made dry land. One of the icicles sunk a longship, prompting the other two to set sail and stay mobile so that they won't be sunk and stranded on the iceberg. There was still unnatural snow, but it gave the PCs an obvious objective ("disable the icicle generator") as well as showing off that the Winter King doesn't screw around. The way to the Ice Palace is rather straightforward. The iceberg has a set of cliffs at the center, but a valley opening in the south allows for an accessible (if steep and treacherous) climb. Most of the encounters are environmental challenges: being quiet to avoid triggering an avalanche, finding a way to cross a chasm spanning icy water, a windswept sky bridge leading to the Palace proper, and a cave full of warring degenerate mephit swarms who quickly fill the valley. During this time the PCs can find the unconscious body of One-Eyed Sven: he triggered an avalanche with his horn, and is damaged to the point that healing magic will not be enough to revive him back into fighting condition. He's the only NPC who can be saved during this adventure, and PCs who take the challenge of keeping him warm and safe throughout its duration will get bonus Experience Points at its conclusion. Young Ljot, however, is not so lucky, blown off the sky bridge to his doom. The Ice Palace  Here's the real meat of the adventure. It's a 53-room dungeon crawl with 3 levels (main level, towers, lower vaults). A good portion of the rooms have encounters or traps of some kind (22 out of the 53), and the adventure does not assume that the PCs will clear out all or even most of them. A fair number of combat involves battling undead zombies, skeletons, and a few cultists of Althunak (zombies with the quote:"Speak the wellspring of life." Answer: "Blood." The palace has cultural legacies of a forgotten civilization and writings in Old Uln, with emphasis on Althunak's favorite things: violence, sacrifice, cannibalism, and winter. There's a fair number of good treasure in the dungeon, such as a +1 flaming short sword, +1 frost longsword, various spell scrolls, a Ring of Protection +2, and even a size-changing folding boat in the pockets of one of undead acolytes. There is also thousands of hacksilver worth of mundane art and jewelry to collect, too. It's a pretty good haul for 2nd-level PCs, but the treasures are rather spread out and given that Prince Uth’ilopiq is a Load-Bearing Boss it's not the kind of dungeon you can explore again. What I Changed: In keeping with the "raid" simulator I had going on, Jarl Henrikson's longship came ashore to the north side where he and a small contingent of warriors made their way up to the Ice Palace via climbing axes and picks. The PCs got there first, but after a particularly unlucky encounter with skeleton warriors they set up camp and the Jarls' forces made their way there. They had NPC Vikings help them in some encounters and restocked supplies in "liberated" sections of the dungeon as an impromptu resting/trading area. It was assumed that there was fighting going on elsewhere the PCs weren't, and given the layout of the Palace it would be counterproductive to bunch up all the allied forces in a single location.  The Throne Room is home to Prince Uth'ilopiq, who became aware of the intrusion upon his icy dominion. The corpse of Berg Geirson, frozen where he stands, is just outside the throne room's doors. While sitting on his throne the Prince can summon figures of undead and axe beaks (ostriches with sharp beaks) from hanging tapestries to attack the party and defend their master. He can also surround his throne with a cube of force which levitates him up to the ice bridge at the second level of the dungeon. Otherwise the Prince prefers hit and run tactics, stalking the PCs via hidden corridors (which are actual rooms on the map) and summoning reinforcements through various tapestries. Prince Uth'ilopiq is a pretty tough customer. He's a level 3 antipaladin, undead, and a hoar spirit on top of that. He has a Cone of Cold that deals 4d6 damage and Save-or-Suck claw attacks which can paralyze someone for 1d4+1 rounds on a failed Fortitude save. He has 70 hit points, 21 AC, and very high saves (fort/reflex/will +10/+9/+13). His only real weakness is that he takes double damage from fire attacks. The adventure strongly implies that the final battle with Prince Uth'ilopiq should be on the bridge. You may have noticed that I haven't spoken of the fate of Hauk Arinbjornson. Well turns out he's alive and is climbing his way up the central spire to make a surprise leap attack at Althunak's favored. This will happen in one of two ways: if the PCs reduce the boss to negative hit points, or if they are struggling and need to get rescued. Either way Hauk's axe embeds in the Prince's skull at leap's end. To avoid falling while climbing Hauk had the axe's leather thong wrapped around his wrist, which ironically pulls them down together to their deaths. Not even a feather fall will work, as the Norns cut the threads of both their foe and companion. As soon as the Prince dies, the magic holding the supernaturally-huge iceberg unravels and the very land violently rumbles. Earthquakes trigger avalanches as bridges, towers, and support structures of the Palace break apart. The adventure does not call for skill checks or risks of damage; it's presumed that the PCs are running like hell. Once the PCs make it to the shore, either they escape with the folding boat or a section of ice breaks off into the sea with them on it. In the latter case they will be adrift for a day before Odrik Ragnarson, the captain of one of Jarl Henrikson's other ships, finds and rescues the party. He will ask for a 10% cut of the treasure recovered from the Ice Palace: the adventure explains that the treasure is technically the Jarl's for them being members of the crew, and the captain has to give up his share too along with expenditures for additional space and supplies to cover the PCs. I can get that justification, but I can see some gaming groups arguing with him all the same. As for the fate of the Long Serpent, the Ice Palace's fell winds blew it mightily off course, and neither Ordrik nor any others know of its fate. The adventure assumes that if the PCs have the folding boat that they will sail south back to Halfstead in hopes of reuniting with the longship. If One-Eyed Sven was rescued, he will run the jarl's household in his absence and grant the PCs a place of high honor at the table for their great renown. And this is how our tale ends. What I Changed: I hate how Hauk's sacrifice is meant to play out: no matter how it's resolved it either feels like a kill-steal or a Deus Ex Machina. I let the PCs hold all the glory as the Skald dealt the last blow. Grievously injured, Prince Uth'ilopiq laughed as he tugged himself forward on the blade, exclaiming how with his death they will all be buried with him. Instead I had Hauk disable the undead controlling the magical ice storms in the tower and had him jump down to fight Uth'ilopiq's other minions during the bridge battle. I also nerfed the Prince's abilities a bit, including removing the Save-or-Suck paralysis, lowering his AC to 15, and making his cone of cold deal half the damage it normally would do (2d6 instead of 4d6). Concluding Thoughts: Wyrd of the Winter King is a pretty fun adventure. The dungeon-crawling aspect may take some tweaking, and the PCs really do need a means of restoring HP and abilities if you run it straight. The load-bearing boss and the fight with Prince Uth'ilopiq establishes a good precedent for the next 2 adventures where the Cult of Althunak plays a major role. One thing I'd mention is that this adventure is very undead-heavy, which is not a standard for the Northlands in general. A cleric or someone who can channel energy can make encounters significantly easier, and certain archetypes such as illusionists and enchanters will be at a disadvantage here on account of common undead immunities. I would also suggest letting the PCs level up as soon as they hit the experience requirements rather than waiting until the end of the session. This is in account of the relative "fast pace" and multiple challenges of the dungeon. Next adventure is Vengeance of the Long Serpent, where our heroes learn the fate of their Jarl and a grave new threat facing the North!
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Apr 1, 2018 00:07
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Scion: Hero More Issues Than National Geographic Hephaestus is the God of Craft and Industry, also called Vulcan. He is the son of Hera, yet Hera rejected him. He is a master of the forge, very strong, but he cannot hide his ugly, scarred face or his withered legs, for which his mother hurled him from Olympus. In vengeance, he made for her a great throne which bound her the moment she sat in it, and he would only release her after Dionysus got him very drunk and convinced him to do it. He was wed to Aphrodite mostly as a joke, and he ignored her affairs until she lay with his brother, Ares, at which point he made a net and trapped the pair in it mid-coitus. Hephaestus is nearly as vengeful and vindictive as he is a genius. The Romans called him Vulcan, and while he was still the smith-god, he was also the lord of the volcanic fire, assuming power over both destructive and constructive flame. Every year he was offered the Vulcanalia, a harvest festival to convince him not to send wildfires. Hephaestus has watched over mortal technology, and while they cannot yet match his automata, they are coming closer. He has claimed circuitry and programming as part of his craft domain, and he has become masterful with them as with the forge. He likes the modern era, which gives him much more freedom to move around, as his wheelchairs are no longer awe-inducing just to look at, even if they do operate on very different principles than most and have strange abilities. Some people don't even stare at him any more, which he honestly is not used to. Hephaestus' Callings are Creator, Trickster and Sage, and his Purviews are Epic Stamina, Fire, Forge and Fortune. Hera is the Goddess of Marriage, also called Juno. She is sister and wife to Zeus, and is Queen of the Gods. She is always watching her husband, but he always manages to slip off for another affair, and the other gods know too well not to get in her way when she's angry. She is the patron both of marriage and married women specifically, and she is called on by spurned wives for vengeance. Rome named her Juno, and she was given rule over community, men and women alike. She was more martial for the Romans, bearing the Aegis, and she ruled over the kalends of each month, as the goddess of beginnings and birth. Hera doesn't like modern Earth. More people means more chances for Zeus to cuckold her, and marriage is declining in social importance, especially in the West, despite her efforts and those of mortal governments. The institution of marriage has changed in fundamental ways from its place in the past, and Hera doesn't like it. People are choosing their own partners, even marrying out of love, and the divorce rate is sky-high! Hera hates this and fights it as much as she can. She's stuck with Zeus, after all, so no one else should be able to get out of an unhappy marriage. So far, her efforts have seen little success. She blames Zeus, mostly from habit. Hera's Callings are Judge, Lover and Leader. Her Purviews are Fertility, Health, Order and Prosperity. Hermes is the God of Boundaries and Travel, also called Mercury. He is the fastest god, and the patron of travellers and thieves. He is a trickster whose image was placed on borders and crossroads - typically in the form of a bust with a large penis. He is the emissary of the Olympians and intercessor between god and mortal, as well as the one that conducts human souls to the Underworld. He was the one that invented the lyre, not Apollo, and he is the master of commerce and trade. He has learned much, and so has become a god of wisdom and magic. The Hermetica, it is said, is a dialogue between Hermes or Thoth and a mortal, to tell them the truth of reality. (Both gods claim the other was the one involved.) As Mercury, he was the Roman god of trade and travel, but Janus assumed the role of boundary god for the city. Hermes loves modernity. He can travel easily, run con games as he likes, and borders are now measured and strictly tracked by satellites. The efforts mortals go to in committing and foiling theft have risen to ever greater heights, and Hermes loves it. His Callings are Trickster, Liminal and Sage, and his Purviews are Death, Deception, Epic Dexterity, Journeys and Prosperity. Hestia is the Goddess of the Hearth and Sacrifice, also called Vesta. She is both eldest and youngest daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and she tends to the Olympian hearths. Mortals honor her first in sacrifice, and she portions it out to the gods. She is the calm, dutiful center of the Olympian court, the one who does not scheme or seek power, and is not offended when she is not counted as Dodekatheon in favor of Dionysus. However, she is omnipresent. In antiquity, she was honored at each Hellnic hearth, and a sacred flame was carried to new colonies, for should the fires ever die or go out, the hearth had to be ritually purified and Hestia had to be reinvoked. The Romans knew her as Vesta, guardian of the family and the home, tended to by the order of Vestal Virgins. It was said that without these priestesses caring for the eternal flame in her temple, Rome itself would collapse. While this can't be proven, certainly the Western Empire fell less than a century after the forcible disbanding of the Virgins by Theodosius I. Hestia remains present still, in every cooking flame, at every kitchen table and in every power plant, for these are hearths as well, providing heat and light to distant homes. Engineers perform quiet rituals and ensure that sacred geometry is present when a new power station comes online. They've lost a lot of the sacred rituals, but they can spot a pattern, and no one wants to have an overheated generator or jammed turbine when a simple ritual might prevent it. Hestia's Callings are Guardian, Healer and Judge. Her Purviews are Fire, Fortune, Order and Prosperity. Persephone is the Goddess of That Which Rises from the Earth. She is also called Kore and the Maiden. She is condemned to eternally shift from Hades to Olympus and back each year, but she has prospered greatly by it, for she shares the willpower of her mother Demeter. Each year she dies and is reborn. She has power over all that grows from the earth and all that dwells within it, thanks to her mother and her husband. She is the love of Hades' life and the hope of the souls of the dead for reincarnation...but she doesn't grant this often, for she knows it's a double-edged sword. Persephone was popular as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, even in Rome, and there she was Proserpina, a mere Latinization of her name. In the modern World, she is no less famous, still revered by millions in the Mysteries. Her name is found in symphony, story, play and art. She blesses the world with life and signals its end in death, and always will, either as Persephone of the Spring or Persephone of the Dead. Her Callings are Liminal, Judge and Leader, and her Purviews are Death, Fertility and Health. Poseidon is God of the Sea, also called Neptune and Earth-Shaker. He is son of Kronus and brother of Zeus. He is master of the seas that surround all land, and his fury shakes the earth itself. He stirs storms with his trident, to batter ships like toys. Fishermen and sailors revere him and big his mercy for sailing on his seas, and those who raise horses pay him respect, for Poseidon gave the horse to man by spilling his semen on the earth. Horses are offered to him as well as bulls. However, he is not a god of civilization or order - it was Athena that broke horses the first time, and Athena who showed men to make ships. Poseidon is a god of sudden and immense change. To Rome he was Neptune, master of all water, assuming the role that had been held by the Etruscan god Consus, and so he also take over as patron of horse racing. Poseidon has changed little over time - only really shifting in the past few centuries. The onset of whaling upset the balance of the ocean, and even now that it's mostly ended, overfishing continues to steal from his domain, and carbon sequestration shifts oceanic salinity. Poseidon has destroyed entire cities for less, but Zeus restrains his wrath for now. Poseidon is not a subtle god, however, and his fury, when it is unleashed, will be very noticeable. Poseidon's Callings are Guardian, Hunter and Leader, and his Purviews are Beasts (Horse), Epic Strength, Earth and Water. Zeus is the God of the Sky, also called Jupiter. He is the son of Cronus, youngest of his siblings, but patriarch, for he went unswallowed and freed them, and he won the sky as his to rule. He has countless children, and has yet to be overthrown by one, even if that is to be his destiny. (He plans not to be.) Rome knew him as Jove and Jupiter, lord of the gods and the king of the royal family once the Empire was established. He convinced the kings of Rome to institute sacrifices, and his Temple of Capitoline Jupiter predates even the Republic. Oaths were sworn in his name, and oathbreakers were believed to be struck by lightning. Zeus is the greatest and wisest of the gods, yet he cannot remain faithful to Hera, and she has never forgiven him. It has left him with many Scions at any given time, and while they could be dangerous to him, given the family history, they are also one of his greatest weapons if properly managed. And who has as much practice herding argumentative, familial cats than Zeus does? His Callings are Leader, Lover and Trickster, and his Purviews are Deception, Epic Strength, Epic Stamina, Fortune and Sky. Next time: From the heights...of Mount Olympus!
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Apr 1, 2018 00:11
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Angry Salami posted:I always thought it'd be interesting if the darkening of the Tau was an in-setting development - that contact and conflict with the Imperium is forcing them to be harsher and more ruthless. He who fights monsters, and all that - it's harder and harder to maintain a culture of tolerance and mutual respect when you're dealing with a genocidal death-cult on your borders, and maybe the best option when dealing with humans really is to extinguish all traces of their vile culture and start over from scratch. At a basic level the Tau will have to get more strict as the numbers of humans in their empire grows due to psykers, You don't have to go to nearly as messed up levels as the Imperium to manage the issue, but there has to be institutions in place to both monitor and properly raise psykers so that they can control their powers and perhaps more importantly, minimize the chance of psykers becoming inadvertent portals to the warp.
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Apr 1, 2018 00:13
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In general the shock with Tau weapons is 'holy gently caress, they have a rifle as powerful as ours' and 'Oh poo poo it can hurt me through my armor, even with only one of them'. You can never dismiss Fire Warriors like you could small squads of heretics. Your Marine weapons are so ridiculously good (and suited to your armor) that they're still better in your hands, but I can't imagine what a nightmare it'd be to fight Tau in, say, Only War where every single rifleman one-shots you. 'It works every time you fire it' only goes so far when your gun only does enough damage to scratch the paint on the other guy's armor. Every OW party I've seen, the first goal of every PC is to get an explosive, a heavy weapon, or otherwise ditch their basic Lasgun for at least a sniper rifle, because they still kind of suck. Meanwhile, OW PCs are fighting, say, Dark Eldar with a ton of Unnatural Agility, high Dodge ratings, decent armor (such that the lasgun will struggle a little) and rapid fire poison splinter guns, or Orks who can shrug off a huge amount of lasgun damage. The humble lasgun is significantly more worthless in the RPG than it was in the TT game, where you still had okay odds to kill an enemy with it (especially with the numbers you had). The Lasgun Guide is thus: Guard Novel: Lasguns are the best weapon in the galaxy Normal Novel: Lasguns are fine as a standard infantry arm. TT Game: Lasguns are absolutely fine as a basic infantry arm, but also the weakest 'reasonable' weapon and so made fun of affectionately. RPG: Lasguns are awful, get something else as fast as possible. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Apr 1, 2018 |
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Apr 1, 2018 00:21
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I got a very special present this year on my birthday. It wasn't something I asked for. It wasn't something I wanted. In fact it was basically the opposite of those things. And by the Faustian pact that grants me eternal life I am bound to spread knowledge of this book to the four corners of the earth. Or something like that. I wasn't exactly looking forward to reviewing another Beast book, because of the whole "Matt McFarland in all likelihood molested an underage girl" thing. But this is the last book that he directly worked on, and like most gamelines as the game progresses the Developer has less direct involvement, so much of this book was being written by people who aren't him anyway. That isn't to say he goes out with a whimper, oh no, we should be so lucky.  Children. He'd be a social worker this time. Yes, it's time for Short Fiction. If it's any consolation I'm reasonably certain that this is a short story written before the Beast Kickstarter was finished as it's an expansion of a story that was included in the Press Release for Beast. After we're introduced to creepy mc-rape-a-child. We cut to the Teacher's Lounge at a school. Dave, is talking with another teacher about a kid name Richard Fries who lashed out and hurt him accidentally. Another teacher is listening in, a Mr. Miliner who is some kind of nebulous behavior therapist but almost certainly a Hero. Then we cut to the Cafeteria where we get the bit of text that was included in the press release. quote:Eve loosened the hoodie. She had pulled it tight around her face, trying to screen out I could continue from here but honestly I can't think of a way to make this interesting anymore. Cause we've seen this before. The resident Hero even uses the same Storm imagery and analogies that the Hero did in the Conquering Heroes short story. In short, Eve meets up with Richard Fries, which, surprising no one is a Beast. And talks with him about how feeding isn't bad and blah blah blah. They go back to Rich's house to play Videogames, creepy mc rape-a-child follows them to Rich's house and tries to steal Eve's Hoodie. Around this time the Hero shows up, not to kill the Beasts but out of genuine concern for the children cause he saw Matt's stand in following them home. He knows they're probably trouble but they're also children. Once Rich sees Coffey stealing Eve's hoodie, he punches him in the leg hard enough to shred the muscles out of his left leg, and the child rapist limps away while the Hero stays with the kids to make sure that they're okay. Heroes portrayed as Sympathetic? Beasts fighting against unrepentant monster beasts? What is this book? Well... it's got a lot of retcons and/or clarifications, changing bits and pieces of beast, in most ways for the better. Particularly in the stuff that wasn't written by Matt. But we've got some "Matt Stuff" to chew through first. Chapter 1: Being a Beast The first chapter opens up with some text that I'm almost certain Matt wrote, maybe I've just been reading too much Beast but this reeks of his authorial voice. quote:You have power, and you have a choice. quote:Will you show people the worst of themselves to remind them of the best? The Devouring So the first Retclarification, Beasts are born Dormant, indistinguishable from normal humanity except in the way that they dream. Their dreams brush against the border of the primordial dream, which alerts other Beasts to their presence. Usually the 'elder' beast then proceeds to confront the dreamer and usher them through their devouring. In some cases the Beast takes a "Sink or Swim" mentality and just devours them with no fanfare or explanation, with no understanding of their Horror or what has been taken from them the nascent dreamers tend to run away from their Horrors (in most cases the devouring Beast then proceeds to make a meal of the 'weak human') but if they manage to escape from their Horrors and the Beast then they awaken hollow and without their soul. Any beasts in the immediate area will be drawn to these 'half-devoured' as their Horrors desperately want to feed on the person who rejected the call. In rare cases an incipient beast will find their own way into the dream and find their Horror on their own. So we've got a halfway point between "Beasts are born and only become whole when they find their soul" and "Beasts are made by other Beasts". I don't hate this, I suppose. But don't worry, there's more than enough stuff for me to hate later. The Horror quote:While the process itself may not have been pleasant, meeting This section is mostly just echoing and clarifying text from the Beast Corebook. Though it makes an effort to distinguish between Beasts who view their Horror as a part of themselves and those who view their Horror as an unwelcome passenger. Those who view their horror as a missing piece of themselves find it difficult to separate what their Horror wants from what they want. When their horror is gorged they find it hard to motivate themselves to do things, when it's starving they're irritable and tense. And those emotions become impossible to ignore once they assume their Horror in their Lair. Those that separate their perceptions from their Horror can resist these sensations, but they're also rarely if ever at ease since their Horror rankles when it's desires aren't met. Feeding It's impossible for a Beast to not enjoy the act of feeding. Feeding draws their horror to the surface and while it shares their flesh they feel it's contentment in the act. But before and afterwards? That's up to the individual beasts. More often than not a Beast gets a rather flexible moral code, the hungrier their Horror is the more willing they are to do horrible things to feed it. If they don't, their horror will go out feeding on it's own which will cause it's own issues. quote:While Beasts often try to rationalize their feeding, they Beasts trying to cling to a moral framework will try to only feed from people who 'deserve it', people who are rich or have power, trying to bring them down to the same level as everyone else. On the other end of the spectrum are the people who were horrible monsters before they were devoured, and use their horror as an excuse. "Oh i never would have done this if my soul wasn't replaced by a dragon" she says while sucking the marrow out of your leg. Even rarer are the Beasts who still consider themselves human, and instead choose to feed exclusively from supernatural creatures. Atavisms & Nightmares Not much new here on Atavisms, but there is some interesting stuff for Nightmares. quote:Learning new The Lair The new stuff here is information on Brood Lairs and Hives. Creating a Brood Lair is an expression of ultimate trust, as horrors can access any chamber that they have access to via the Burrows, and shared lair trait immunity can be revoked if a Beast is feeling threatened. Similarly, when an Apex changes every beast in the hive knows something happened as their Horrors react to the change. The hive shifts as the old trait is removed and the new trait is added, the familiar changes and most Horrors see this as a threat. Anathema Heroes don't understand the power that allows them to place anathema. They don't even know that there's a power there to tap in to. Within their narrative they're uncovering a Beast's long hidden weakness and exploiting it. And that's what pisses off Beasts the most, not that they're being made weaker, but that someone who doesn't know what they're doing is wielding the power of the primordial dream like a blunt instrument, and the primordial dream is more than happy to oblige. That's the last bit of treading old ground, so Next Time: Matt's Last Gasp
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Apr 1, 2018 00:33
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The problem with a book that adds anything 'better' to Beast is that Beast is such a flawed and pointless idea in the first place, in a setting already crowded with monsters, that at best it just seems like 'X other splat, but eh'.
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Apr 1, 2018 00:35
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Still, also in fluff, one of the main reasons the lasgun is the symbol of the Imperium is because it's cheap, absurdly reliable and durable, and its powerpacks can be recharged by sunlight and camp fires. It's the ideal weapon for an organization the scale of the Imperial Guard. RPGs by their nature ignore these reasons, though. Hell, even the bolter is the primary weapon of the Space Marines because it was economical to manufacture and supply as of more recent fluff. They were the Emperor's second choice for them, and replaced volkite guns (powerful energy weapons) because they were much cheaper to manufacture in the numbers the Great Crusade required.
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Apr 1, 2018 00:36
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Night10194 posted:'It works every time you fire it' only goes so far when your gun only does enough damage to scratch the paint on the other guy's armor. Every OW party I've seen, the first goal of every PC is to get an explosive, a heavy weapon, or otherwise ditch their basic Lasgun for at least a sniper rifle, because they still kind of suck. Meanwhile, OW PCs are fighting, say, Dark Eldar with a ton of Unnatural Agility, high Dodge ratings, decent armor (such that the lasgun will struggle a little) and rapid fire poison splinter guns, or Orks who can shrug off a huge amount of lasgun damage. The humble lasgun is significantly more worthless in the RPG than it was in the TT game, where you still had okay odds to kill an enemy with it (especially with the numbers you had). The M34 autocannon remains the queen of the battlefield, as it has since the Inquisitor's Handbook. "Just shoot them with a really big bullet" is a solid strategy.
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Apr 1, 2018 00:40
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Night10194 posted:The problem with a book that adds anything 'better' to Beast is that Beast is such a flawed and pointless idea in the first place, in a setting already crowded with monsters, that at best it just seems like 'X other splat, but eh'.
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Apr 1, 2018 00:55
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So, Kurieg, I read through the player's guide the other day when work was slow, and man let me tell you I look forward to your thoughts on the Fear of Confinement guys because I about had a stroke when I got to their segments. The experience of the book otherwise was remembering how tragic it is that something as novel and interesting as Lair got stuck with Beast, going  at the abject desperation in trying to make Changeling kinship work every time it came up, and a few "that's not bad, I suppose" additions to the setting towards the end.E: wrong K name 
Daeren fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Apr 1, 2018 |
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Apr 1, 2018 00:57
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What are you talking.... (goes to re-read section closer) .... I'm going to have to block quote this entire page for people to believe me aren't I? I completely glossed over that since after reading the Ingumma i was like "yes, sure, imprisonment, good." It's honestly kind of impressive how Matt can ruin even the best concept in the book. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Apr 1, 2018 |
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Apr 1, 2018 01:21
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The Lone Badger posted:The M34 autocannon remains the queen of the battlefield, as it has since the Inquisitor's Handbook. "Just shoot them with a really big bullet" is a solid strategy. The Autocannon never stops being incredible. The IQ Handbook Autocannon is quite possibly the strongest gun in the entire line, at 4d10+5 Pen 6 with a full auto mode. Even the toned down Autocannon in the Only War books is almost as good as the Astartes Assault Cannon, a massive chaingun that requires Terminator armor.
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Apr 1, 2018 01:32
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Kurieg posted:What are you talking.... Ha ha ha ha ha yeah no the second I saw the first paragraph I immediately went into hypervigilance mode and it was completely justified. It made "what if Fear of Black People was a splat" feel like the one that might have had a chance at a reasonable idea in there somewhere, by comparison. It's legitimately the most upsetting/enraging thing in the line to me now. When you post about them I'm gonna go into more detail about my thoughts on the matter - might do that for a few things in the book, really.
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Apr 1, 2018 01:33
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Beast: What If We Made A Game Where You Play A Criminal Minds Villain
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Apr 1, 2018 01:34
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Incidentally, I know I need to get back to Powerchords, but after the horrible post about his crush on his own character it sort of sucked the will to do it out of me for a while, then I got a new job that I've been adjusting to. I haven't forgotten about Philly the Goatfucker and intend to continue it at some point.
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Apr 1, 2018 01:37
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Honestly, Beast feels like a series where the authors constantly fight over what direction to take the series in, to the point that it doesn't really have a direction anymore. It's caused me to become disinterested in Beast, no matter how good it might hypothetically become.
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Apr 1, 2018 01:42
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MightyMatilda posted:Honestly, Beast feels like a series where the authors constantly fight over what direction to take the series in, to the point that it doesn't really have a direction anymore. It's caused me to become disinterested in Beast, no matter how good it might hypothetically become.
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Apr 1, 2018 01:52
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Daeren posted:Ha ha ha ha ha yeah no the second I saw the first paragraph I immediately went into hypervigilance mode and it was completely justified. It made "what if Fear of Black People was a splat" feel like the one that might have had a chance at a reasonable idea in there somewhere, by comparison. It's legitimately the most upsetting/enraging thing in the line to me now. The thing is, "Fear of Imprisonment" would be fine, but that's not what this is. This is "We want to be really coy about rape." drat it I had things to do today, now I have to write this before I'm consumed in a ball of incandescent rage.
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Apr 1, 2018 01:52
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Kurieg posted:The thing is, "Fear of Imprisonment" would be fine, but that's not what this is. This is "We want to be really coy about rape." In the most cowardly, snivelling, hypocritical, self-congratulating way possible too!
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Apr 1, 2018 01:59
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Daeren posted:In the most cowardly, snivelling, hypocritical, self-congratulating way possible too! 
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Apr 1, 2018 02:01
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Kurieg posted:The thing is, "Fear of Imprisonment" would be fine, but that's not what this is. This is "We want to be really coy about rape."
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Apr 1, 2018 02:34
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Nessus posted:You could just, like, not. I mean, this is an option. Your posting honor will not be impunged. Well since the ideal solution is "Have Matt dragged in front of a court of law and introduce the text of Beast as exhibits A through Z" is beyond my reach, I guess I have to do this instead. Anything to get us closer to chapter 3 and the stuff written by people who aren't rapists.
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Apr 1, 2018 03:03
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The basic lasgun joke is 'A lasgun does diddly, but 40 lasguns firing full auto is a shitload of diddly'. Naturally, it's a weapon that looks good on a macro scale and terrible on a personal scale. Surprised there isn't a writeup on Heracles, though I imagine Prometheus will come later? Also, still amused that Aten is basically one of the Egyptian gods' rogues gallery.
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Apr 1, 2018 03:27
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