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Young Freud posted:Bees and beekeeping are also staples of Mormonism. They're part of the state flag of Utah. And also the state route marker on road signs instead of the usual badge. It's all a bit weird, tbh.
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May 23, 2018 22:24
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Yeah, if you see Beehives and Seagulls, you're in Utah - lot of Mormon temples have seagull sculptures, now you wonder why a church would honor the most annoying scavenger up? Simple: according to lore, when they first settle in the Salt Lake Valley area, they were besieged by a plague of locust, and God reportedly sent a flock of seagulls to gobble them up, saving them from starvation and ruin. The beehive? Purely gospel, comparing the people to a hive that cooperates and works together. Robindaybird fucked around with this message at 01:21 on May 24, 2018 |
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May 24, 2018 01:16
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the original Mormon name for Utah was Deseret which in the made up language of the lost American tribe of Israelites means honeybee, and was meant to inculcate both diligence and hivelike obedience in early Mormons
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May 24, 2018 01:27
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L. E. Modesitt's Recluce novels also frequently mention bees as creatures of cosmic Order that thrive wherever Order is strong. Nothing magical about them, but does mean that Order nations produce so much honey it's a trade good rather than a luxury.
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May 24, 2018 01:41
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In Fallen London, demons are bees from Parabola, a realm that falls outside the laws of the divine. So it's kinda the opposite.
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May 24, 2018 01:46
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D&D has bees that are also apes, so who knows what that means
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May 24, 2018 03:44
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Cultures: Hybrispania, pt. 4 Degenesis Rebirth Primal Punk Chapter 2: Cultures Renegados When Africans came to Hybrispania, they were driven by vengeance, killing and looting, raising Malaga, Granada, Seville and Cartagena. However, no campaign can be sustained endlessly, and the attrition forced Lion to slow down. When they did stop, they noticed that Hybrispain is quite the place, fertile, beautiful and dotted with Bygone buldings. Renegados posted:They strode through the Mezquita’s portico in Cordoba and marveled at a fountain carried by twelve stone lions in the Alhambra. So the Africans started restoring their conquered territory. Neolybians moved into palaces, and captive Hybrispaniard labour was used for repairs, and to wash all the blood off. Old Andalusia become their home-away-from-home, with Sevile rising to be the second Tripoli. After two hundred years of such life, the pain of Africans who originally invaded Hybrispainia subsided into legend. Locals of the conquered territories work as free people, bound by laws rather than chains. They even socialize with the Neolybians. However, being critical of the new regime – or having the temerity to “chase a thieving African kid from their market stall” - can lead to being sold to slavery (“taking the road to Gibraltar'). Hybrispaniards do not wish to revolt, since the northerners considers the Andalusians Renegados – traitors. Apparently, when La Compeadora took Cordoba, she left a field of impaled skulls. That's... one way to tell your conquered people that you're fighting for them. It remains even after the Africans conquered the city again. Consejeros are the ellected officials of the Andalusians. They keep peace, act as judges, interact with the Africans on official matters – and, of course, vie for power and privilege, offering up their young as guards and pawns. This kind of colloborator-controlled life makes the Guerrero heart bleed. Cordoba Cordoba, as you might have gathered, is a lovely place to live. This troubles Jaafar, the city's Consul. He has abandoned his gardens, blood stains remain uncleaned on the tiles, Mesquite has been converted a hospital for the maimed, “and the Scourges’ crack is audible in his palace, rousing him from his sleep even after all these years.” There are even odds of the Scourge being either a whip or a rifle. The city doesn't fare much better. The streets are dangerous and Guerrero attacks are constant. Compeadora is not aboving using the children to poison wells and rice stocks with discordant Burn (non-discordant Burn is Apocalyptic territory). Most of the Hybrispaniard population – which Jaafar “always treated fairly and kindly” - has fled to Gibraltar and Sevile. The ones who are left are either Guerrero sympathizers or their captives. Even the Consejeros look shifty (even if one would reason them to be considered arch-traitors by Guerreros and thus irredeemable). Jaafar considers the remaining Hybrispaniards suspect. The Scourgers chain families like some sort of post apocalyptic not-so-secret police. Jaafar even had Ignacio, an old friend and Consejero, arrested. However, his desperate pleas over the arrest had sown doubt in Jafaar's heart.  This illustration comes from much earlier in the chapter, but I think it's more fitting in the Cordoba section Outside of the city, Scourgers post the heads of killed enemies. At night, Guerreros leave poles with impaled skulls of Scourgers (I'm sure there are plenty phrenologists who cantell which skull belongs to which side). But theres more than skulls in the fields. “Some days ago,” a Scourger patrol tripped over wire between the poles and fell into a pit of poisoned nails. Anubites (long time no see) are fighting – and praying – for their lives. Cordoba posted:Hope is all that Jaafar has left. Borderlands If Cordoba is hosed up, then so is the rest of the Al Andalus border. Guerreros consider anybody living there to be either an African or a Renegado. Burned-out farms and villages dot the landscape, with ruins throughly tunneled and mined. Also, Primer is still a thing, don't forget. 'Borderlands posted:The discordant fields are very close. Into this hosed up landscape the Scourgers venture out in their Koms buggies. Next time: The stalker packs his bag with ammo, nuts and bolts, some chorizo, and a bottle of sangria.
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May 24, 2018 17:01
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Every single sentence out of Spire is a campaign hook in its own right, and makes me more and more annoyed I didn’t know about it in time for the Kickstarter because I’m a very “physical books only” type with RPGs. They don’t seem to be very forthcoming about if/when physical copies will be available to non-backers, but I get the impression they might not be sure on that themselves. 
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May 24, 2018 18:00
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AmiYumi posted:Every single sentence out of Spire is a campaign hook in its own right, and makes me more and more annoyed I didn’t know about it in time for the Kickstarter because I’m a very “physical books only” type with RPGs. They don’t seem to be very forthcoming about if/when physical copies will be available to non-backers, but I get the impression they might not be sure on that themselves. I'm with you, but I buckled and sprung for the PDF. I don't regret it.
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May 24, 2018 18:28
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Spire is available in physical form from Indie Press Revolution, and several physical locations around the UK (including at UK Games Expo next week, stall 2-82 in Hall 2). It'll also be available directly from the Rowan Rook & Deckard website 'imminently', once they get the logistics sorted out.
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May 24, 2018 19:03
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potatocubed posted:Spire is available in physical form from Indie Press Revolution, and several physical locations around the UK (including at UK Games Expo next week, stall 2-82 in Hall 2). It'll also be available directly from the Rowan Rook & Deckard website 'imminently', once they get the logistics sorted out. There's copies on the shelves at the big Forbidden Planet in London, so I'd expect a few to make it around the UK at least.
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May 24, 2018 19:42
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potatocubed posted:Spire is available in physical form from Indie Press Revolution, and several physical locations around the UK (including at UK Games Expo next week, stall 2-82 in Hall 2). It'll also be available directly from the Rowan Rook & Deckard website 'imminently', once they get the logistics sorted out.
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May 24, 2018 19:52
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LazyAngel posted:There's copies on the shelves at the big Forbidden Planet in London, so I'd expect a few to make it around the UK at least. Aaaaaand I now know what I want as a birthday present for this weekend!
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May 24, 2018 20:01
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Well, now I have a PDF of Spire. Going to go write about an agent of spider peace, a pop idol, and a
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May 25, 2018 00:37
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How long before there ends up being a recruit for a spire game?
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May 25, 2018 00:45
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potatocubed posted:Spire is available in physical form from Indie Press Revolution, and several physical locations around the UK (including at UK Games Expo next week, stall 2-82 in Hall 2). It'll also be available directly from the Rowan Rook & Deckard website 'imminently', once they get the logistics sorted out. That international shipping from IPR is eye-watering, boy.
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May 25, 2018 01:21
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Basically, the game seems like a lot of what I like about Ironclaw (especially the 'there are no monsters, your antagonists are people' element) combined with a weird and evocative setting that seems really fun to write about.
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May 25, 2018 01:27
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Josef bugman posted:How long before there ends up being a recruit for a spire game? Hopefully soon.
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May 25, 2018 01:48
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Subjunctive posted:That international shipping from IPR is eye-watering, boy. Looks fairly typical, tbh. International shipping is a bitch...
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May 25, 2018 02:03
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 Mythender Part 4: Structure of Adventures After a bit of a hiatus, we’re back to Mythender. Here we get a description of how the game generally flows. Mythender is meant for one-shots, and the expected playtime is about 3 hours- a little more if you’ve got a full set of four player characters and/or you’ve got a lot of newbies. The book specifically notes that it can be tight to fit it into a “standard four-hour convention slot.” It seems a lot of their playtesting and such came from conventions, so I’ll take their word on that standard. Thus, it’s good to keep in mind the expectation for who is playing the game- that is, a batch of con-addled newbies. We get a note that Mythenders returning from a previous game are identical to any new Mythender, losing any tokens or Corruption gained in prior adventures, save for any Corruption and Fate that was made permanent. These occur when a Mythender gets killed and resurrects, so death will have truly permanent effects. It’s also fine to change Weapons, Fate, Bonds, and other aspects to reflect past experience. There are two segments of play: The Mythmaster’s Time, when fights occurs, and the Mythenders’ Time, when they have a few moments to interact with the world outside of beating it up. In the Mythmaster’s Time, play begins with description of the battlefield and the opposing Myth. Since the myth always gets the first action in combat, this will transition directly into their attack. Afterwards, the players make their actions, and so on until the fight is resolved. The patronizing quote corner posted:If, for some reason, the Mythenders don’t want to engage in the battle, that’s cool. They can all just choose to die instead. Once the challenge begins, fighting or dying are the only options. We get this wonderful line instead of something less idiotic, perhaps “it is assumed that all players will want to engage in the fight, y’know, that thing the entire game is built around.” Ugh. Anyway, once a fight is done, either another one can immediately begin (never do this unless you want everyone to die a *lot*, since there’s no healing between fights), or we move into the Mythenders’ time. In their Time, each player character heals fully, discards all tokens except Might, and then each get a Moment. In a Mythender’s Moment, they can perform supernatural feats, terrorize mortals to gain power from worship, or seek their sympathy to de-corrupt. We’ll get to the mechanics for those in a later post, but for now just know that Might can be gained or the Corruption-Fate tracks can move around during this time. At the Mythmaster’s discretion, a Mythender may get extra Moments, but at the cost of the next opponent having time to gather power. After all Moments are done, or if the Mythenders just want to challenge the Myth to battle immediately, the next fight begins. There’s one other Time, of sorts, but it’s more a break in the action than anything else. We’ll talk about that when we get to Moments. Again, this is a one-shot centric system, so we get all of the standard narrative sequence in every adventure:
Rising action: the fight proceeds, is won by the Mythenders, and moves into the Mythenders’ Time. The players flesh out characters a bit during their Moments, then begin their next (and final) battle. Climax: The pitched fight with the Greater Myth occurs, and either it dies or all the Mythenders do. This is where most of the actual, strategic gameplay occurs; the rest is building towards it. Denouement: Mythenders either Apotheosize or get some narration about how they go off for their next fight (never retirement- the world will always hunt them), along with some description of how their fight changes the world around them. Starting in medias res is a good decision, since it helps get the pace going- most of the characterization done so far relates to fighting, after all, so you’re free to start the game without figuring out other motivations. Momentum takes it from there. Longer adventures are mostly about adding more cycles of rising action, but usually only one Greater Myth is encountered no matter how long it takes. Variations suggested include starting with the Mythenders’ Time to build up the world more, or having multiple sessions where someone who becomes a Myth also becomes the Mythmaster for the next session. Speaking of those who fall- rather than just sitting out the rest of the adventure, anyone who dies (permanently) before the final fight should create a new character, to be introduced during the next Mythenders’ Time. Often, this is someone who witnessed your deeds and became a Mythender themselves, perhaps a child, spouse, or Companion of yours. The book refers to this as Dynastic play. Usually, such characters have thematic ties to one another. We get some brief suggestions on how to describe the world, but nothing worth mentioning beyond that battles with Myths should alter the world. For some reason, here we also get some suggested rule changes with Mythender counts other than three or four. I guess they forgot that the optional rule section is at the back of the book. This was a bit longer than I expected, and the proper combat mechanics writeup is huge, so: Next time: How to Hit Things (Really, I promise) Also, I just noticed that this will be right next to My Little Pony whenever it hits the archive. Great.
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May 25, 2018 05:55
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Subjunctive posted:That international shipping from IPR is eye-watering, boy. If you're on the Euro side of the pond you might be better off waiting for RRD to get Spire listed on their website. They're UK-based so shipping may well be cheaper.
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May 25, 2018 08:31
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Cultures: Hybrispania, pt. 5 Degenesis Rebirth Primal Punk Chapter 2: Cultures  Here's a crazy prophecy to get us started. Phenomena The forests are heavily boobytrapped and mined - by the Guerreros, of course. But now Jaafar has to contend with anomalies that straddle the middle ground between STALKER and Metro 2033. All of them are preceded to do with the change in the air, and all of them are freaky. Sometimes, they can eat a patrol, too. Distortion Surprise, this bullshit is all the work of Primer! But first, a bit about the different kinds of Pregnotics, the Psychonauts that are considered a part of daily life in Hybrispania. Distortion posted:Though eaten by the spores and driven into loneliness, they have kept a spark of humanity. You'd think they're not exactly Psychonauts – what with the mention of being “eaten by the spores” - previous stuff has told us that Sepsis only works with babies, and Burn affected adults don't really get powers, becoming Sepsis carriers and shroom food in the worst cases. Enigmatics are your run-of-the-mill oracles, helping people through visions. I bet these are the crones mentioned earlier. The Mnemonites are ultimate stealth troops, who can slip through a busy market unseen, and can travel as far as Pollen. Distortion posted:Only when there is but one branch left on the Tree of Destiny, can they be hunted and killed. The Spitalians have not managed it yet. What Tree of Destiny? Who the gently caress knows anything anymore.  The Nodes are the ultimate form, since their prophecies shape the future (somehow). They're also the key to the Distortion (the anomaly generating zone). It's a triangle that centers on the Mirrar Crater. The Northern-Western point is on the Woman of the Mountain, North-Eastern is on Node Enigma close to Cuenca. Some unknown node is the southern point. Enigmatics don't want to enter the territory, escept for the northern border. There are implications that the south corner might have been touched by Discordance. Anyways, the zone is strange. Distortion posted:People stumble into time traps, caught in the metaphysical nets and torn from their world. Ancient Apparently, some poo poo was happening in the Toledo area even in the Bygone era/pre-Eschaton. New Age sects considered the trees marked by the illegible etchings of Pregnotics to be holy sites and it's possible that you might find some time-locked hippies, which is the worst adventure hook. Broken Front La Compeadora was outside of Cordoba when the Nodes created the Distortion (thanks for not stating that in the previous section). Now, the Scourgers are gathering Surge tanks to secure the city gates, and Madrid is unreachable. Guerrero scouts explore the border of the Phenomenon (we totes needed a second name for that); most disappear, with some leaving spotty maps at dead drops. They marked with words “insanita” and “muerte,” because the Distortion is spooky. Time is running out; in time, the Scourgers will get over the shock and push the Guerreros into the Distortion. Broken Front posted:Maybe this is the big chance for the resistance. Or its downfall. Yes, getting caught between the rock and a hard place is deffo the big chance for the resistance. Lisbon – The End of the World Many people forget that Portugal played a part in Napoleonic war and in World War I. Some of those people will notice how deftly it was folded into Hybrispania. Lisbon Bay is filled with shells of mussels, snails, and trilobytes. However, some of those snail shells “are the size of babies”  and a few get even bigger, to the point where even a Scourger wouldn't be able to lift them on his own. Strange how they're not all being ground up in some post-Eschaton industry. However, there is one snail shell that's fuckhuge – bigger than even a fishing boat! Dating by groves in the inner shell shows this one to be thousands of years old, predating Eschaton. Also, the inside is freaky as gently caress. Lisbon – End of the World posted:Those who enter the shell report dizziness and a permanent feeling of déjà vu. In the bulbous front part, the dome, the sound is broken and echoes hundredfold. Those who speak, hear their voice from behind before it becomes a distant thunder echoing continuously. The first coils into the tapering interior are easy to walk, the ground slick, but still easy to navigate. Soon, one loses the knowledge of up and down. The walls seem to vibrate. Memories of past and future attack the intruder while his perception bursts into a thousand fragments. He knowshe has to get out. Who needs Nodes when you can trip the gently caress out in a giant snail shell? Five floors/segments are considered the safe limit for people exploring the shell. Six more await Not all Lisboans have tried to go inside. The pleasantly sane ones live in two-to-three storey buildings decorated with shells, with colorful scarves flying from the windows. They work on building dhows; even the Africans like these nimble ships crowned with blue, triangular sails. The entire city is devoted to ship building. Since the African navy stays in the Medditeranean, the Lisboan shipping has no competition in the Atlantic. They sail up to Briton to sell firewood and oil to Anabaptists. The Leopards is a small group of African merchants who found safe haven here – they plan to sail to Vulture's domain (Britain). “But JcDent-senpai, the conflict in Hybrispania should surely spill over into, ugh, Torture-gal?” you ask. Well, it doesn't, since the “hinterland” is full of canals, which impede buggies. Said canals are filled with trilobytes and mussles that clamp onto swimmers and drown them them by weight.  So much for Portugal, I guess! This makes Lisbon only reachable by sea, because bridges and combat engineers don't exist anymore. Lisboans are content with that; they had always opposed the Spanish invasion of Africa; the whole war is their own drat fault. The Lisbians are presumably also OK with the rest of their country being a channel-ridden trilobyte feeding ground. And that's that for Hybrispania! Next time: JcDent just came back from a trip to Purgare, I'm sure he'll tell us all about discordant Burn infected pizza
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May 25, 2018 12:53
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I'm pretty sure that 'Tree of Destiny' is the scheme of possible futures branching outwards from the present, since it sounds like the Mnemonites use some kind of time powers like all the other Hybrispanian Psychonauts. That's also why they have connections to pre-Eschaton Spain, they've sent stuff back in time. The Mnemonites can't be killed until and unless they get narrowed down to one possible future, where they die, I guess? Something something Schrödinger's cat is magic
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May 25, 2018 13:16
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I like the current juxtaposition between Degenesis and The Spire. They're both heavily setting, culture, and weirdness focused games, but presented in entirely different ways: Degenesis is a massive and impenetrably dense setting scaling all over Europe with little input as to what PC's are meant to do, whereas The Spire is a contained, one city setting rife with with plot hooks and strong, archetypal character options. Which one is better presented is up to the reader and their gaming group (it's The Spire), but it's neat to see how these games, while playing with similar themes, are so dissimilar from each other.
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May 25, 2018 15:24
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I would find it hard to believe any group would prefer Degenesis' presentation, the organization is awful, uses so much vague Nounings that it's going to be a nightmare for a group to create characters and figure out where to start.
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May 25, 2018 16:00
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Joe Slowboat posted:I'm pretty sure that 'Tree of Destiny' is the scheme of possible futures branching outwards from the present, since it sounds like the Mnemonites use some kind of time powers like all the other Hybrispanian Psychonauts. That's also why they have connections to pre-Eschaton Spain, they've sent stuff back in time. I didn't think about that! Time to hand in my nerd license  On related new, I just finished Purgare and started reading Africa. Some wild poo poo there!
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May 25, 2018 16:03
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JcDent posted:I didn't think about that! Time to hand in my nerd license The fact that we're guessing what their powers even do, rather than what kinds of implications can be found, is a dark mark against the game's presentation.
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May 25, 2018 16:54
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Catching up.Halloween Jack posted:Shub-Niggurath, in particular, is an entity that was never really depicted in Lovecraft's own stories, only appearing as references to a dark Cybele sort of figure. There are many different ways to make pastiche of or pay homage to Lovecraft's writing that don't involve spinning Shub-Niggurath out into a sex monster, yet that inevitably happens. Ultimately, a lot of the early Cthulhu Mythos interpretations are going to be flavored by the RPG, which became the "official" interpretation of things, even though it's a very opinionated cherry-picking. I think that if you must do something with Lovecraft's work, the most interesting thing is just to go back to the original stories, and take the parts you find interesting, rather than using the early 1980s filter that Petersen and the gang used. Ghost Leviathan posted:...so Mythender is basically God of War: The Tabletop RPG? It definitely reminds of the God of War sequels, which have this amazing lack of self-awareness and nuance- the first game is like, deliberately supposed to be a Greek tragedy. It's not exactly amazing writing, but there's a bit where it tries to flip the "Killing is awesome!" to "You know, everything that he's trying to get revenge for is his own monstrous gently caress-up.", and the immediate sequels are like "Yeah, but so what. Killing is awesome, no self-reflection!" That's what it makes me think of.
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May 25, 2018 19:24
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Ultimately, a lot of the early Cthulhu Mythos interpretations are going to be flavored by the RPG, which became the "official" interpretation of things, even though it's a very opinionated cherry-picking. I think that if you must do something with Lovecraft's work, the most interesting thing is just to go back to the original stories, and take the parts you find interesting, rather than using the early 1980s filter that Petersen and the gang used.
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May 25, 2018 20:14
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Spire part 17 Districts and Factions of the Occult - Part 2 The rest of the occult factions are more concerned with life, and inevitably, death in Spire. The Guild of Morticians The Morticians, priests of Mehror, God of Snuffed Candles, also run what's probably the most successful business in Spire - that of burial and the afterlife. It's their job to dispose of corpses and in fact it's theoretically illegal for anyone else to do so in the city. Most of the time these are sold to the mushroom farms in the Gardens, but the wealthy pay for their bodies to be given to the birds of New Heaven, at the tip of the spire. The Aelfir, one and all are cremated. The Undying are the creations of the Morticians - it's expensive and available usually only to Aelfir, but they have the art of replacing the heart of the living subject with a totemic item - as long as the heart is kept safe, the owner is frozen at the age at which the procedure is performed, and no longer ages. They don't need to eat, sleep or breath either, but they do go a bit odd over time. And you better trust whoever keeps hold of your heart...  Ghost Plagues are what happens when bodies aren't dealt with, or a lot odd people die in a short space of time (or people are killed by alread-violent ghosts). When the concentration of the dead reach critical mass, they tend to form incorporeal conglomerates with massive psychic powers and violent tendencies. The Necropolis A vast vertical tunnel runs up through the center of Spire, from which run countless corridors and spiral stairs where the Morticians dispose of the bones of those who don't end up cremated or in the Gardens. To those with the Sight a bustling city of ghosts and spirits is revealed, however.  The Cult of Necrofusimancy believe that the Spire isn't a living creature, but the corpse of one, long since petrified and turned to stone. Furthermore, they believe that their necormantic arts can be used to divine and manipulate the city, like any other dead body. The Grand Temple of Mehror is open to those who wish to pay their respect to the deceased, and tends to be quite busy during the day which drives the ghosts away. Money flows in from these pilgrims, as well as from the reselling of mortal remains (highly illegal actually), and donations from the Council (two of whom are undying). They also maintain the Library of Snuffed Candles, which holds the last of things - the only copies of cursed books, illustrated family trees of lost houses, and even the last known speakers of certain languages and dialects, kept in gilded cages. The Midwives Legend has it that the curse that makes the Drow so sensitive to the sun's rays also prevented them from carrying their young to term. The pact with Iskrah, the mother of spiders, means that thier children are now born as transluscent egg-sacs, two months after conception which must be fed blood for another six months until they emerge. Also, some drow get a bit spidery - extra eyes, mandibles, spinnerets and the like. The Midwives - priestesses of Iskrah - take these traits to even further extremes. Next: Districts and Factions of Order
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May 25, 2018 21:46
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hectorgrey posted:Looks fairly typical, tbh. International shipping is a bitch... It’s about double what I’m used to US->Canada, for a single book.
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May 25, 2018 23:35
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Ya, Spire is good. I'd probably play Degenesis, too, though it depends on whether I'll like the rules. The Spire rules read story gamey, with some unnecessary renaming of common game terms (skills to advancements, like PbtA classes being called Playbooks and what bot), but the word is so specific and so charming, I can look it all over. I guess while I will be swayed to play a miniature game by rules alone (Infinity, Malifaux), you drat well need a setting to get me into an RPG.
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May 26, 2018 02:38
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Mythender Part 5: Combat Mechanics I’m going to skip their much-vaunted Tutorial Battle for now. Usually it replaces the first fight in the game, and it’s not a bad way to get newbies acquainted, but we’ll laugh at the stupid things it makes you read verbatim once we learn the mechanics ourselves. So, let me just skip those 35 pages… Okay, another 10 pages of how to describe things, I’ll throw in that info as it’s needed, thanks… ALRIGHT here we are: “Actions in Brief” So, every character takes one action in each round. The Myth gets a turn first, then the Mythenders take turns in any order they choose. If they can’t choose or bicker about it too much, the round ends, so decisiveness is encouraged. The Mythmaster should help them choose, but otherwise keep things moving along. Actions go as follows, for both the Mythenders and Mythmaster:
Some notes on the description: First off, all actions succeed. When you roll, it’s only to gain more power, which might allow you to actually make a dent in the opponent. That’s why description is broken up into two segments- the first sets up what you do, the second follows through with how much it actually hurt. As aforementioned, if you say you shove a spike into Loki’s face, that happens- but he might take it without even flinching. There’s no active defense, either; you might say you parried an attack, but harm is only avoided if your opponent didn’t have the Lightning tokens to cause a wound. Your action has no part in that. Additionally, if you’re attacking, say, a horde of foes, you might kill off a few whether or not you mechanically Wound the enemy, but you can never reduce it to less than a horde before it dies. The “shape” of the foe is maintained. Now, at long last, we get the full writeup on Actions. Buckle up. Section 1: Action Scale In order to talk about what this giant pile of dice is doing, we first need to discuss Scale. Scale describes how powerful, and thus risky, the action is, from Legendary (superhuman), to Mythic (supernatural), to Titanic (world-shattering). Each has different mechanics. Legendary actions are the only type available to Myths, and are the safest type available to Mythenders. For Mythenders, the description of a Legendary action should befit demigods, but are typically just literal interpretations of what could be done with a given Weapon- “Impressive acts of physical violence, stoic resolve, or vast cunning are right on-target. Minor unreal talents, like small effects of sorcery or willworking, are also within the bounds of a Legendary action.” When taking a Legendary action, you’ll roll your current Storm and Thunder dice. Any that come up 4, 5, or 6 are successes. A success on a Storm die gets you more one Thunder die for your next action, and a success on a Thunder die gets you one Lightning token immediately. If you get no successes at all on a Legendary action roll, and thus would get nothing from it, you can reroll it. If the reroll does has same, quit rolling and just take 1 Thunder die or 1 Lightning token, you poor unlucky sod. Again, it’s the safest Scale. A Legendary Action posted:Example: Seeing the winged horses of the valkyrie out of reach of his sword, William kicks at a nearby tree (using his Strongest of my Tribe Weapon). It breaks at the base, and he hurls the newly felled tree at his foes. Mythic actions get into superhero territory- “Leap mountains. Fight in mid-air. Freeze rivers with a word. Cause your weapons to glow with malice.” Mythic actions are rolled the same as Legendary actions, but you also roll the Mythic die. You get more Thunder dice equal to the Mythic die result for your next action. Since you always get at least that one Thunder die, you don’t have the option to reroll. Since you’re rolling the Mythic Die, which represents drawing power from your Mythic Heart, Mythic actions Corrupt you. One corruption box gets checked off (“progressed”), which has a number next to it. If your Mythic die result is greater than or equal to that Corruption number, you must also progress your Fate track. You can also choose to progress Fate even if you don’t have to. A Mythic Action posted:Erik screams, picks up his war-wolf (his Weapon, My War-Wolf, the Son of Fenrir), and hurls it at the dragon’s head. He and it glow with blood-red energy, and the wolf bursts into holy fire as it strikes. Titanic Actions are HUGE, but can damage your body and soul. “go bigger than anyone’s done in the adventure so far. This is your nuclear weapon... They literally and figuratively shake the earth.” The Weapon used may be little more than a metaphor for what you’re doing to the world- if you wanted, your army of peasant farmers could spontaneously reform the region into a new, collectivized government whose mere existence strikes at the oppressive power of Myth. The rolls for Titanic actions are a bit different. Thunder dice and the Mythic die are rolled- Storm dice are ignored. Successes on Thunder dice get 3 Lightning tokens each, but failed Thunder dice are discarded. You also get the Mythic die result in Might tokens. Titanic actions Corrupt just like Mythic actions. A Titanic Action posted:Jonah the Worthy spits at the dry earth. From that springs a geyser, flooding the plains around everyone. A hydra made purely of water bursts forth, slaughtering those in its path. Jonah mumbles words of power, controlling his water-spawn with foul magics (using his Power of the Sea Weapon. Section 2: Charge and Drain When forming the action, you also have the chance to Charge and Drain Weapons and Blights. By the way, Blights are scars on the world that can charge up Mythic power, and you can create them as Effects on your action. Weapons have three pairs of Charge/Drain boxes next to them, Blights have a track of five boxes.  Whenever you use a Weapon, you may check off one Charge box or Drain all currently charged boxes, checking off the paired spiky box. When you drain the Weapon, you get the listed bonus dice (that is, lasting for only this Action) or Might tokens. By default, these are Storm dice, but you can get bonus Thunder dice instead if you’re using a Relic weapon or pay 2 Might tokens. Once a box is drained, it cannot be recharged; the pair stays checked until the end of the fight. Innate weapons maintain any undrained charges after a fight ends for free, doing this with other weapons costs 1 Might. Relic Weapons, as aforementioned, can get Drained Thunder dice for free. Companion Weapons get a free charge when you are Wounded.  When you charge a Blight, you check off 1 box (or 1 per Mythender if you’re a Myth) and get 1 bonus storm die. Myths still only get 1 die. Draining a Blight erases all checked boxes, and you get 1 bonus Thunder die per drained box. Partial draining is not allowed, but unlike Weapons, you can recharge Blights after Draining. You can also charge a second Blight, but you get no bonus from it. You still cannot Drain more than one Blight. So, we do a bunch of charging up, yelling about what we’re doing and rolling a shitload of dice, but what does our spirit bomb do? Section 3: Effects There’s three effects that are always available:
Regarding costs, the Mythenders have an advantage. They can share Lightning tokens for any effects, so long as the current player pays at least half of the cost (and the other players are willing, it’s not compulsory). When you’re Wounded, you check off one Wound box on your track. Here’s a Mythender’s track:  Then, you’ll roll all of your Thunder dice and compare them to the Wound Number in the box you checked off. If you ran out of boxes, the number is six from then onward. Any Thunder dice with results less than that Wound Number are discarded. If you are out of Thunder dice, you die- though, again, Mythenders get to come back. Wounds can be made more or less serious through a few means: You can double down by paying double the Wound Cost, which increases the opponent’s Wound Number by one for that Wound only. When you are wounded, you can pay your own Wound to reduce the Wound Number by one or double the cost for two, to a minimum of the Wound Number on the track. The Grievous Harm Gift can also increase the Wound Number by up to 2, so the highest Wound Number possible is 9. Of course, you can’t roll more than 6 on a d6 Thunder die, so there’s an alteration: For each increment above 6, you’ll also discard that many Thunder dice that came up 6, but otherwise treat the Wound Number as 6. So, if you roll against a Wound Number of 8 and get three 6’s, you discard two of those and are left with exactly one Thunder die. As the game notes, surprisingly soberly for once, regarding causing Wounds with higher numbers than 6: quote:This tends to cause someone to die. A quick note before I close this out: Yeah, that's a lot of explanation, but in play it comes down to the following sequence: A player is chosen to go. They come up with something cool to do with a weapon, check a box or two, then roll the dice. They pick out the successes and grab appropriate tokens, then use their Lightning to maybe make a Blight and probably wound the Myth if they can. The Mythmaster deals with the Wound while people figure out what they're doing next. In all, an action takes around two minutes in most cases, maybe a couple more if people get flowery with their descriptions or really mull over their tactics later in the fight. You're doing a maximum of 25 actions per fight, for reasons we'll discuss later, so it doesn't end up much longer than most combat-centric RPG scenes. Still, there are a lot of tactical options that can seem overwhelming at the outset. Next time: Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power… requires a lot of tokens and math Zomborgon fucked around with this message at 17:04 on May 26, 2018 |
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May 26, 2018 04:30
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People really love throwing their various animals at stuff in Mythender Town. Also I am excited to see this 'tutorial battle' if it's 35 goddamn pages.
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May 26, 2018 11:39
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35 pages of what I assume is cringe-worthy animal throwing and gently caress-yeahs.
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May 26, 2018 12:55
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From reading over the mechanics and trying to understand it, I get the feeling that this is far more of a Dragonball Z system than a system for battling Thor or Anubis. Seriously, the first round is spent with everyone screaming and posing while no-selling every attack thrown in either direction to power up? I think this game would get a lot less crap if it was anime shonen fights than fighting Santa Claus by throwing animals at him.
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May 26, 2018 13:21
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kommy5 posted:From reading over the mechanics and trying to understand it, I get the feeling that this is far more of a Dragonball Z system than a system for battling Thor or Anubis.
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May 26, 2018 16:45
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They should double down on the animal weaponry. Literal swordfish, lemur-chucks, throwing ferrets, snake knuckles! Band name idea: Snake Knuckles
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May 26, 2018 18:46
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oriongates posted:They should double down on the animal weaponry. Literal swordfish, lemur-chucks, throwing ferrets, snake knuckles! Solid Snake and Knuckles.
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May 26, 2018 18:48
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Wolverine claws. By which I mean a pair of wolverines, one strapped to each forearm.
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May 26, 2018 19:28
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