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White Coke
May 29, 2015

OvermanXAN posted:

It's possible but Skarsnik is a legit badass for a Night Goblin, on the other hand...

Skarsnik definitely doesn’t need the help. If anything it’d be to Gnawdell’s advantage if his rivals try to work with Skarsnik since they’ll never see his betrayals coming.

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Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry

Echo Cian posted:

This was a while back, but I double-checked, and the last actual update was the last entry on this list. He's spent two years reposting them. The official LB index ends after the movie and doesn't even include Nicolae: Rise of the Antichrist, so this is the most complete list. (And I just added the posts he's put under that tag since then.)

Last October he was still trying to convince himself to continue. I hope he can, eventually, but I can't say I blame him for having a hard time finding the motivation after 2016...


On-topic, all I've liked from The End is the entry on Gabriel. I might save that. The game is dumb but I always enjoy when those of you who've studied religion have an excuse to speak up. I grew up religious, so naturally I don't know any of this poo poo.

I'll get back to The End review as soon as I can. Holidays and family poo poo have destroyed any of my free time.

Dawgstar
Jul 15, 2017

White Coke posted:

Skarsnik definitely doesn’t need the help. If anything it’d be to Gnawdell’s advantage if his rivals try to work with Skarsnik since they’ll never see his betrayals coming.

Yeah. Trying to backstab Skarsnik is like trying to beat a prick at a pissing contest.

Angrymog
Jan 30, 2012

Really Madcats



Return to town, new characters and return to the dungeon.

The party fled the dungeon with two dead, a new halfling friend, and some loot. Sadly not really enough loot to do anything to benefit their dead friends. Fortunately, when they return, there's a cleric travelling through town (as described in the 'Strategic retreats' section of the DM's guidance.) He offers to cast Cure Light Wounds on Magda for 20gp, which the party can afford, and does so. Whilst he's not prepared to stop his journey and actively help, his two companions, a Neutral Dwarf named Adventurine (it's a gemstone, okay), and a Lawful Cleric called Praying Colin, agree to join the group and help them rescue the village priest. This is just a convenient way to get new characters into the party, rather than something described by the module. A short while later, refreshed, the party return to the cave.



The two surviving orcs from the barracks have now been stationed at the entrance, and are alert; the party probably won't be able to surprise them, and they'll run for reinforcements or to raise the alarm if they get the chance. This isn't something from the adventure, just something that I feel makes sense; the orcs know they've been attacked, and the party have been gone a while.

Alex tries to sneak up to the cave, but gets made by the orcs. They don't have ranged weapons, but decide to actively chase him off rather than just pitch rocks in his general direction. Alex starts sprinting towards where the rest of the party are; they haven't planned an ambush, so he's hoping they'll be ready rather than just loitering. Alex bursts into the clearing, pursued by orcs.

Gaining surprise on the party, the Orcs exit stage left, pursued by adventurers. One is wounded, but not slain.

Once the party have regrouped at the cave entrance they head back in, wary of a sudden attack.

The first two groups that the orcs will alert are the guards in room 5, and the Ferret trainer + ferret in room 6. He's accompanied by one ferret, and will whistle for the second one, currently in room 4, to join the fray once combat has started. The orcs are preparing an ambush, waiting in room 6, planning to attack once the party go into room 5, or get involved in a fight with the beasts in room 4.

The module notes that any fight starting in room 5 or 6 will draw aid from the other room after two rounds, obviously this won't be an issue here because the orcs have all grouped up.

The party go west from the entrance chamber, and at the junction (Area 3) decide to check out the watery cave to the west first just to make sure that there's no ambush waiting there for them.

By a pool in the north east corner you see a flurry of white fur and hear a loud squeak! Your entrance into the cavern is not unnoticed, and suddenly a long sticky tongue shoots out at you from what you thought was a rock on the floor.

A rock chameleon and giant ferret attack the party. The chameleon's attack has a 5-6 chance to surprise, but fortunately, the party weren't. The chameleon's main attack is to tag someone with its tongue then drag them to its mouth. It can also gore with its horn, and bash characters around with its tail.

The first round is a bunch of flailing, and the orcs don't hear anything. The second has mostly flailing, but Adventurine gets gored, Mikhail manages to do 1 damage to the chameleon, and the orcs hear the ruckus. They will take one round to get here, running at full speed.

In round three, Magda hits and kills the ferret, the chameleon is almost slain, and fails to damage Adventurine but does knock her off her feet. 5 guard orcs (1 injured), the ferret trainer, and a second ferret arrive at the end of the round.

Colin kills the chameleon. Mikhail casts sleep at the new orcs, causing 10HD of creatures to drop into a slumber - this is enough to take down all the orcs, himself, Alex, Colin. Magda and Adventurine facepalm, then proceed with the grim business of slaying the orcs and ferret before they wake.

The party decide to make haste, reasoning that they can loot the place dry once they've rescued the priest and dealt with remaining dangers. They reach the end of the corridor, and Adventurine notices the secret door (normally the dwarven ability to find things doesn't cover secret doors, but since these are caves rather than a fully worked dungeon, it makes sense for it to trigger; this would obviously be a GM call) Before heading through the door, they're going to check out the door at the end of the western tunnel. They listen, but don't hear anything, and decide not to go through.

There's a bugbear diplomat and a sycophantic orc in that room; the orcs are trying to get support for their attacks from the bugbears. The diplomat isn't going to be impressed when he sees the slaughter that our party have left behind. If the party had broken in and interrupted, the bugbear would have tried to parlay at 4hp; there's a 50% chance that he actually leaves, and a 50% chance he rounds up some errant orcs and sets an ambush for the party as they leave.

Returning to the secret door, the party go through it and start heading up the corridor. As they approach the corner, area 12 (helpfully named Surprise?), an orc with a bloodied sword walks around it. The PCs stop. The Orc stops. Neither are surprised. The orcs gets initiative, and starts running back the way he came, making sure to keep to the left hand side of the corridor. It's not enough to get him out of the range of the party, who follow/and or use missile weapons. Colin and Mikhail take him down with well-aimed sling stones. The orc leader in room 15 and his cronies don't hear anything.

If the party had fought, but not killed the orc, or otherwise captured him, he'd have begged for his life and offered to help them surprise the chieftain, (giving them a 1-4 chance of surprise) but wouldn't help them fight.

Magda and Adventurine who were chasing him on foot both remembered that he'd stuck to the left hand side of the corridor; neither falls in the pit. The pit isn't very deadly - it does 1d6 damage; still enough to potentially take out a first level character, but the fighters would probably be at the front, and they're most likely to survive the fall. Also, Dwarfs can detect it on a roll of 1-3.

They check room 13, and discover the body of an orc chained to the wall. He's been slowly cut to death by the orc the party just took down. There's nothing to find here apart from some nasty knives.

Turning around the corner, they see at the end of the corridor a door made of stout, dark wood which has a forbidding symbol etched in blood on it.

Blood doesn't work that way. It could be daubed, but not etched.

It's nice of the module to give a warning that they're about to meet the final fight of this level of the dungeon, though if they've been mapping, they might have worked that out already as they're running out of places to go, and all of the doors have led to rooms rather than more corridors, except for the secret one.

Whilst the party are slightly battered and Mikhail has used his spell, they don't want to delay and decide that surprise will be their best option. They've been using torches for light, which means that Mikhail has his flasks of oil left; he prepares them so that they can be easily ignited and thrown. And then the party kick the door in…

15. Orc Chief's Throne Room
This large room is dominated by a heavy wooden throne that stands on a raised area at the eastern end of the room. You can see doors on the north and south sides at the far end, and a heavy black wall hanging covers part of the north wall, with Orcish runes and symbols smeared in blood on it.

By the throne stands a huge, battlescarred orc, wielding a heavy mace. By his right side, behind a heavy table, stands a smaller orc, waving his hands and muttering something. Between you and the smaller orc stand other guards who will block your way if you try to get to their leader. They carry swords, and with their chief, they are going to do their best to bludgeon and slash you to death!

Their red eyes glow with hatred as they advance upon you!


Cue boss music.

The number of orcs in this room depends on the number of characters, and whether the Orc from encounter 12 reached the room. At a minimum there's the chief, the spell caster, and two lieutenants. With 6 characters, there would be another lieutenant. As we only have 5 characters, and the orc from Area 12 is dead, there are two lieutenants, the chief, and the spell caster.

The fight is fairly scripted; in the first round the chief advances to take on the toughest looking warrior, whilst the spell caster casts Shield, and the lieutenants go for other characters. In the second round the caster will use his Magic Missile spell, and in subsequent rounds will just try to shiv a PC. The Orcs don't have to test morale until the chief dies and at least two others are down.

The Orcs are surprised when the party kicks in the door!

Mikhail moves forwards and lobs a flask of burning oil at the chief! It misses and splashes on the floor, creating pool of burning oil that'll last for two rounds. Colin and Alex loose missiles at the spell caster, dealing an amazing 3 points of damage (he has 10hp, the chief 15, and the two guards 6 each). As the caster is standing about 40' away and behind a table, he can't be reached by melee people in the first round. Instead, Magda and Adventurine both target the Chief, with Magda hitting for 9.

Round two, Mikhail tries to hit the caster with his second flask of oil; it does another 3 damage, and will burn next round too. Alex's crossbow bolt finishes him off. Colin wounds, but doesn't injure one of the guards. Between them Magda and Adventurine do enough damage to take down the chief.

The two remaining orcs finally get a go, but they don't have to check for morale yet as per the fight script; they would RAW though. One of them hits Adventurine and takes her down.

The orcs gain initiative but miss Magda; Colin takes down the injured one with another sling stone, Alex misses, as does Mikhail. Magda attacks and kills the last Orc.

Surprise is incredibly powerful; this fight probably have gone differently if the orcs weren't surprised, even if the party had won initiative in the first round; at the least it would have gone on for an extra round, possibly leading to at least one more death.

There are three obvious doors and a secret one leading to the second level of the dungeon. You don't have to worry about the party missing the secret door because Aralic, the captured priest will tell them about it.

Talking of Aralic, he can be found in room 18; he's a level 3 Cleric, but is in a really bad way - has no spells memorised, is low on HP, and is Claustrophobic. He's not having a good time, and really wants to be out of here. He will point out the secret door and tell the PCs that the orcs uncovered some old evil in the caves beyond, but he doesn't know any other details. Once they've all returned to Stallanford he'll beg the PCs to investigate it.

Room 17 is the chief's bedchamber. In addition to coins, the spellcaster's book was stored here - perhaps the chief only let him memorise spells under watch? It contains Magic Missile, Shield and Protection from Evil.

Room 16 is where things get problematic.

Six female orcs and three young are cowering in this room; they beg to be allowed to leave.

Oh, B11, no.

So, this is the orc baby/Always Chaotic Evil problem in the flesh. The module says that the party could take them prisoner, and that killing them would be a Chaotic act. But what happens when they get back to town? Are they placed in a nunnery and the children adopted out? Or are they just hung for being orcs because it's okay when a government does it? What happens if they are allowed to escape? The most obvious is that they get taken in by another band of orcs and continue to have more orc babies; this makes letting them go a rather irresponsible act on the part of the adventurers. It's perfectly natural to want your villains to have more depth, but that doesn't work when they're also presented (as orcs are) as something you can slay without guilt. Orc babies being present in the dungeon make the game complicated in ways that can be interesting in a game with a different premise, but are woefully out of place in a simple dungeon romp; it's a moral gotcha!

This isn't to say that we shouldn't examine the underlying assumptions of D&D, but this probably isn't the module to do it in. If I was running for real I'd probably say that this is a war camp/lair rather than a permanent settlement; the women and children would be safely back at their main village, wherever that is.

Loot and XP
Once the party have finished looting everything (they missed the treasure and XP from room 7, and the treasure from the watery cave - there's a ring on a skeleton in the pool), they have 3739 gp of treasure, and 430 straight xp. The treasure converts to XP once they get it back to town. They also got 2 potions of healing, a sword +1 from the orc chief, and a dagger +1 from the spellcaster. They missed a ring of protection +1 that the Bugbear had. Split between the survivors this translates to 1042 XP. Not enough for anyone to level up, though the Cleric and Thief are close.

Conclusion
On the whole this level of the dungeon is well put together, the loot is proportional to the character's level and the risk level, and there's no stupid gotchas; a much better starter dungeon so far than Haunted Halls. The Orc babies are the only real down spot, because that sort of thing can be divisive and lead to "That's what my character would do!" if when someone decides to murder the helpless orcs.

Next, the party will descend to Level 2, which gets a bit more gently caress You! introducing Paralysis causing monsters. On the bright side, it will allow Colin to use his Turning ability.

Angrymog fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Dec 9, 2018

SirPhoebos
Dec 10, 2007

WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!

Really enjoying the Wilderlands stuff Kingkalamari. I look forward to inane details and Monty Python references that were already old in the 70s.

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.
I've waxed poetic about Clans Eshin and Pestilens, seems only fair to do so about Clan Skryre given I share a profession with them (though I haven't yet replaced any of my limbs with sharp things that shoot lightning. Yet.)

So, when discussing Skryre and when we hear about their weapons in detail later on in the Children of the Horned Rat, it keeps coming up that their most known stuff is very clearly something they saw somewhere else and made their own version, with blackjack and warpstone (on second thought screw the blackjack). While there's something to be said for this, it's kind of unfair to how much BETTER their designs really are. Yes, they explode, because they're based around warpstone and even with Skaven refinement technologies it's not exactly the most stable stuff. But legit, let's consider. The Warplock weapons (pistol and jezzail) are basically reliable and substantially superior to their non-warplock counterparts. The Weapon Teams in theory are ripping off Dwarven war machines but in practice are WAY more practical weapons by virtue of getting very close to man-portability. The only thing Skaven-er than a Doomwheel is a Screaming Bell, and that's an original no question. And claiming a Warp-Lightning Cannon is inspired by a normal cannon in any way other than at some vague level where it's sort of cannon-shaped is kind of silly, because it SHOOTS LIGHTNING.

And this isn't even getting into the true and unquestionable innovation, the equipment of the Engineers themselves. Without going into detail, they had the vision to recognize that there's no reason anyone shouldn't be able to do some magic if you came up with the right machinery and got enough warpstone together. And it works. It works to the level that while they're of course nowhere near the STRONGEST wizards in tabletop in the edition I played (they're pretty weak in principle) I'd argue they're super close to the best hero wizard option since they are SUPER cheap and always come with Warp Lightning, The Best Magic Missile. Though this goes into the fact that wizards are DEFINITELY one of the tabletop Skaven army's strong suits because a LOT of armies would kill for their wizard options being Grey Seers and Warlock Engineers.

Like a lot of Skaven stuff is clearly them talking themselves up and the reality not living up is the point, but Grey Seers are devastating and the magic the Horned Rat gives is top the gently caress notch in tabletop and in the RPG.

Feinne fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Dec 9, 2018

Snorb
Nov 19, 2010

Feinne posted:

(Merits and Flaws in Aberrant)

On the one hand, I'm not too fond of the Merits and Flaws in oWoD, mostly because it was always a struggle for me to pick appropriate ones for a character, whether vampire, werewolf, changeling, or hunter.

On the other hand, Hunter: The Reckoning has what's probably my favorite oWoD Flaw, Incompetent. Pick a skill, and you think you have three dots in it. You don't. If you have to attempt a task that you're Incompetent in, don't roll dice. You automatically botch. Totally worth three freebie points, right?

I wanted to take this Flaw with Firearms, but my friends wisely (and correctly) said I should attach that to Law instead.

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.

Snorb posted:

On the one hand, I'm not too fond of the Merits and Flaws in oWoD, mostly because it was always a struggle for me to pick appropriate ones for a character, whether vampire, werewolf, changeling, or hunter.

On the other hand, Hunter: The Reckoning has what's probably my favorite oWoD Flaw, Incompetent. Pick a skill, and you think you have three dots in it. You don't. If you have to attempt a task that you're Incompetent in, don't roll dice. You automatically botch. Totally worth three freebie points, right?

I wanted to take this Flaw with Firearms, but my friends wisely (and correctly) said I should attach that to Law instead.

In other words, you were a SovCit.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

The Warplock guns are legitimately interesting. They're longer range, no less reliable than their human equivalents, but they lose out on Impact in return for a base +1 damage and AP. In general I'd rather have Impact, but it makes the top end of rat damage higher and the longer range is a huge plus (The basic Jezzail has the range of a Hochland Longrifle at a fraction of the cost; Skryre basic PCs can start with one or a pair of the excellent pistols instead, plus the talents to reload it as quick as a crossbow). There's very little in the game that can actually ignore Damage 5 AP, and that's before talents can get it up to Damage 6 AP2.

While most of the Warlock Engineering/Item construction rules will be useless (I'll get to it, trust me, but it's a long, complex system that generally isn't well thought out for anything but the most basic uses of it) you can add Impact to that bad boy for only the cost of a couple Warpstone tokens a shot for specialist ammo (and, uh, a significantly higher chance of exploding). If you want to go real crazy (and have a 20% or so chance of it blowing up, and make every shot cost like half the cost of the rifle) you can make it base Damage 8 Impact AP.

For reference, that's the damage of a light Imperial artillery shot from a volley gun. As a manRat-portable sniper rifle.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

The jezzails are two-rat aren't they?

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

The Lone Badger posted:

The jezzails are two-rat aren't they?

One rat sniper rifle in the RPG. They're just usually deployed in two-rat teams with one rat as spotter.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


Night10194 posted:

One rat sniper rifle in the RPG. They're just usually deployed in two-rat teams with one rat as spotter.

And triangular pavise/firing stand holder.

Snorb
Nov 19, 2010

Feinne posted:

In other words, you were a SovCit.

Nope. Security guard at a Pepsi plant in Tennessee (who botched an Int/Law roll to justify "heroically" shooting a fleeing unarmed suspect in the back. Twice.)

Everyone in the Hunter team worked at that Pepsi plant; my friend who played the plant's HR manager had an expression that I wasn't sure was shock or disbelief when he realized he was the only character who didn't bring a gun to work.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
At least you didn't have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.

Prism
Dec 22, 2007

yospos
As a minor addition, a jez(z)ail is a real weapon; it's a long-barreled, high-caliber long arm, sometimes rifled, which made them surprisingly long-range and accurate for handmade weapons.

They're also a late 1700s to mid 1800s-era weapon, so they are indeed somewhat ahead of the tech curve by Warhammer Fantasy standards.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you
For Skaven fun here are some voice lines of the Grey Seer Rasknitt from Vermintide 2.

Can you tell which lines he has started eating Warpstone tokens at. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNm022Tlenc

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Prism posted:

As a minor addition, a jez(z)ail is a real weapon; it's a long-barreled, high-caliber long arm, sometimes rifled, which made them surprisingly long-range and accurate for handmade weapons.

Famously used by Afghan tribesmen against the British with great success.

Prism
Dec 22, 2007

yospos

The Lone Badger posted:

Famously used by Afghan tribesmen against the British with great success.

Yep. The British muskets were accurate to about 150 feet. Rifled jezails could be used fairly reliably at five times that range or more, so they used them extensively for sniping and ambush - pretty much what a Skaven with a rifle is going to want to do, since getting in close to absolutely anything to fire seems like a way worse idea than being very far away from anything threatening (besides another Skaven, presumably).

From what I understand about the tabletop stats for the Jezzail, they suit their role admirably.

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.

Prism posted:

As a minor addition, a jez(z)ail is a real weapon; it's a long-barreled, high-caliber long arm, sometimes rifled, which made them surprisingly long-range and accurate for handmade weapons.

They're also a late 1700s to mid 1800s-era weapon, so they are indeed somewhat ahead of the tech curve by Warhammer Fantasy standards.

Quite distinctive weapons too, generally with hand-carved bodies and distinct curved stocks apparently made to make them easier to carry on horseback. Apparently they were sometimes made using salvaged British gun parts since it was harder to get your own, so even fitting the reverse-engineered and improved theme.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Quite distinctive weapons too, generally with hand-carved bodies and distinct curved stocks apparently made to make them easier to carry on horseback. Apparently they were sometimes made using salvaged British gun parts since it was harder to get your own, so even fitting the reverse-engineered and improved theme.

According to Forgotten Weapons the locks were either bought from foreigners or salvaged from foreign weapons, because the lock was beyond local craftsmen. Said local craftsmen could make very nice barrels and stocks though, which they did. They were often heavily decorated since these were prestige weapons.

The Lone Badger fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Dec 9, 2018

Loxbourne
Apr 6, 2011

Tomorrow, doom!
But now, tea.

Feinne posted:

Merits and Flaws

We're not a superhero game, oh no indeed, ignore our big lists of perks/flaws clearly "inspired" by easily-named comic-book superheroes and a flaw that can be easily described as "you don't get magic Hulk pants".

Aberrant really does capture that 90s feel of a comics industry desperately trying to claim the mantle of Serious Literature, doesn't it?

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


With both bad psychological flaws and a corruption system Aberrant has the worst of both worlds.

golden bubble
Jun 3, 2011

yospos

With black powder rifles, the residue from the gunpowder would completely clog up the rifle grooves in two to three shots, and a clogged rifle is nearly impossible to load with a traditionally lead ball. That's why the major armies never used rifles in large numbers until the development of the Minié ball, which reduced the amount of residue and made it possible to load a partially clogged rifle. I assume warpstone bullets have a similar effect on the rifling.

Ratoslov
Feb 15, 2012

Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

Also, y'know, the practical problems involved in issuing the troops ammunition made out of pure cocaine.

OvermanXAN
Nov 14, 2014

Ratoslov posted:

Also, y'know, the practical problems involved in issuing the troops ammunition made out of pure cocaine.

Also money. You are literally using guns that fire money.

JcDent
May 13, 2013

Give me a rifle, one round, and point me at Berlin!

OvermanXAN posted:

Also money. You are literally using guns that fire money.

Metro 2285: The Exodus-Flight

Ratoslov
Feb 15, 2012

Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

I suspect the actual warpstone-content of jezzail bullets that actually make their way to the battlefield is 0%, and they all get embezzled at some step in between being commissioned at the armory and being fired. They're just lead bullets with green paint and glitter.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you
Volo's Guide to Monsters: Goblinoids: The Conquering Host Part 1

Previous Entry



Goblinoids are a trio of races that have been in the game from the start. Generally serving as some of the most basic enemies for the game, many a game starts with the players fighting some goblins.

First we get into the races kinda origin, describing their primary god Maglubiyet the Conqueror, the Mighty One. "He stiffens the spines of cowardly goblins. He rouses bugbears from their lazy slumber. He sets the thunderous step of hobgoblin legions. Maglubiyet takes three races and turns them into one people. "

In ancient times the goblinoids were much more distinct from one another with their own customs and gods. However Maglubiyet came and conquered all their heroes and deities. Those who would not bend to his will were broken and discarded. With his conquest complete whatever the goblinoids were before Maglubiyet came and their gods submitted to him no longer mattered, they were now first and foremost followers of Maglubiyet.

Appearance wise goblin, bugbears and hobgoblins look about as different as halflings, dwarves, and elves. Each race does still have it's own culture, outlook and gods too. But Maglubiyet's will joins them together. When goblinoids of one race encounter another, they don't see each other as strangers or foes. The fact they met means that Maglubiyet wants them to join together grow the host.

Volo posted:

Ahh, the Sly Fox. Soft beds, warm turnip pie — such pleasant memories. Alas, the tavern’s no more. Goblinoids plundered her stores and burnt her to the ground. Those heathens have no appreciation for the finer things!

Goblins


Goblins have an awkward and uneasy spot in the world, they react to this by viciously bullying any creatures they think can. "Cunning in battle and cruel in victory, goblins are fawning and servile in defeat, just as in their own society lower castes must scrape before those of greater status and as goblin tribes bow before other goblinoids."

Beast Masters and Slave Drivers

Goblins know their race is weak, unsophisticated and easily cowed by stronger, smarter and more organized creatures. After all even their god was dominated by a stronger being, and now even their souls are forfeit when the Mighty One calls for them were they will be further dominated. Because of this they try to dominate and bully other creatures whenever they can. For them life's too short, if they don't get the experience of having power over another while they can, they might never get the chance.

Goblins try to trap and enslave any creatures they encounter, but avoid opponents that seem to daunting. They employ many non lethal traps around their lairs to catch the unwary, and the lairs hunting patrols try to capture rather then kill any foes they meet. Goblins that lair near the fringes of civilization test it's defences with petty theft. If it goes unpunished they start to kidnap people as well.

Any creature enslaved by a goblin receives the worst treatment the goblins can dish out while still getting a decent performance from the slaves. Though creatures that are particularly capable or provide unusual services are instead like favored (though occasionally abused) pets.

Nearly any kind of creature that can be forced into service can be found with goblin tribes, but rats and wolves are nearly always present. The two creatures serve a similar role to goblins that dogs and horses do to humans and have lived in concert with goblins roughly as long as their counterparts have with humans.

KHURGORBAEYAG: THE OVERSEER OF ALL posted:

Goblins once had many gods, but the only one who survived Maglubiyet’s ascendancy is cruel Khurgorbaeyag, known as the Overseer. Khurgorbaeyag drives his worshipers to be the masters of others. Only by wielding the whip can they hope to escape its lash. Khurgorbaeyag sometimes makes his presence or his desires known through wrathful signs and magical blessings: the crack of a whip without a visible source, chains or ropes that move of their own accord, or a glowing cage that appears to trap foes or those who displease him. Worshipers of Khurgorbaeyag are sometimes overtaken by sudden onsets of depression, which they take as a sign that they have somehow displeased their god. When they rouse themselves from this despondency, they take up the master’s whip with renewed zeal and seek out more creatures upon which they can wield it.

Khurgorbaeyag’s holy symbol is a yellow-and-red striped whip made of leather. This mark of his authority is used by its wielder against goblins of a lower caste as well as on slaves and enemies. The knowledge of how to make such a whip is enough to elevate a goblin to the master caste of lashers. Often the secret is guarded by one family in a tribe, which enjoys prestige and influence because it controls the supply of whips.

Family Matters
Goblin tribes organize themselves in a four tier caste system made up of lashers, hunters, gatherers, and pariahs. Status of each family in the tribe is related to how important it is to the tribes survival. The higher ranking families keep their status by not sharing their knowledge and skills with the lesser families. This means that the lesser families have no real way to rise up.

The outsiders who don't understand the goblins social structure can be suprised by how the different castes interact with them. A single human warrior might frighten away dozens of gathers, while just two hunters might viciously engage him. A captured group of adventurers might be left trapped in a net with dozens of goblins passing by ignoring them, until a group of gathers shows up.

Lashers
Lashers are the closest thing to goblin nobility. They are the goblins trained in combat and also possessing a useful skill set like "strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining, smelting, forging, and religion." Spellcasters are also members of this caste. Lashers follow the lead of the tribes boss, and enforce their will on the other goblins with whips

Hunters
Hunters are the goblin families that know how to use weapons, but don't possess any other special skills and so enjoy the second highest status. Hunters are normally the best wolf riders and know the most about the land around their home. They are largely responsible for hunting game during peaceful times, and in battle serve as scouts, foot soldiers and cavalry.

Gatherers
Gathers are responsible for collecting food from the surrounding area. Gathering natural resources and stealing what they can. They are also responsible for what farming the goblins do, and checking traps for captured people and beasts. They are not normally armed for combat, but are frequently equipped with capture tools, like nets and nooses on poles for controlling captured creatures. They are also the tribes cooks and in times of war poison brewers.

Gathers and pariahs below them are greatly fearful for their lives in battle. Believing that only hunters and lashers have the special skills known needed to survive. The lower castes are responsible for the goblins reputation for cowardice.

Pariahs
Pariahs are the goblin families considered the lowest of the low. The caste holding "the most dimwitted, least educated, and weakest goblins." They get all the hard and dirty jobs that the other goblins don't want to do. If a tribe has slaves it can pass some this labor onto, the pariah families are quick to enjoy the opportunity to supervise and dominate them, as they don't have status at all.

WHO'S THE BOSS? posted:

Goblins pattern the rule of their tribes after the whip-cracking rule of their god, Khurgorbaeyag, and thus each group has one leader that exerts autocratic control. But as with many tyrannies, the passing of a leader often results in a chaotic transition to the next. Sometimes a goblin boss has the foresight to declare a successor, often a child or other family member the boss has been able to trust. But such a declaration doesn’t always prevent a mad scramble for influence and allies, or secret backstabbing and outright fights over the title. Most often, the victor in such a struggle comes from another family of the lasher caste, and any allies of the previous boss count themselves lucky if their only punishment is demotion to the pariah caste.

Sometimes another creature assumes control of a goblin tribe, by killing or subjugating the current boss and cowing most of the rest of the tribe. If the creature is dimwitted, like a troll or ogre, the lower-class goblins give it obeisance, but before long the upper-class goblins begin to think that whoever can bend the ear of the new leader can act as the real boss. If the creature brushes aside such manipulation, the tribe falls into line behind the new tyrant — better to abide the new rule than conspire against it and be called out as a traitor.

Status Symbols
Goblins love symbols of authority, and a goblin boss will almost always have one. Sometimes it's simple stuff like a crown or throne, but it can also be more distinctive like colorful boots. The castes also eploy symbols to indicate membership or kinship. But these differ from tribe to tribe and so will make little sense to other creatures. We are then given a table of some example status symbols a boss or caste might have. Such as Fragile helmets made from axebeak eggs, War cry tattooed on chest, and Cloaks made of scraps from an elven tapestry.

Booyahgs
Spellcasting is rare for goblins. They typically lack the intelligence and patience needed for wizardry, faring poorly even granted the necessary training and knowledge. Sorcerers are less prevalent among them then many other races, and Khurgorbaeyag seems to dislike sharing his divine power with his followers. And while many goblins would offer nearly anything to be granted the powers of a warlock, the patrons that grant such power know a goblin is unlikely to be unable to uphold their end of any bargain.

Even when goblins are born with the ability to become spellcasters, the knowledge and talent needed typically does not persist beyond a generation. Because they have so little experience with magic, goblins make no distinctions between it's forms just calling it booyahg, and the word is used to describe any of its users. Any goblin with access to booyahg becomes a member of the lashers and often rises to the role of boss.

We then get a variety of example Goblin booyahg users.

Booyahg Caster
A goblin that served under a hobgoblin wizard, peeked at the spell book, and learned a bit of wizardry by aping the gestures and words. These goblns can cast a randomly determined first level spell once a day.

Booyahg Wielder
A goblin that found a magic item like wand of magic missiles, or a necklace of fireballs, and figured out how to use it.

Booyahg Whip
A goblin blessed by Khurgorbaeyag with the power to dominate others. This goblin has 1d3 other goblins that slavishly obey it.

Booyahg Slave
A goblin warlock that serves a patron that can extract payment in flesh if the goblin does not do as promised. This type of goblin is represented by warlock statblocks later in the book with the traits of a goblin added on.

Booyahg Booyahg Booyahg
A goblin sorcerer with wild magic. Every casting they perform even cantrips are accompanied by a wild magic surge. (A feature in the Player's Handbook that involves rolling on a table and a random effect taking place) The goblin is represented by the mage statblock from the 5e Monster Manual with goblin traits and the aforementioned wild magic surges.

Elminster posted:

“Booyahg” means “magic” in the Goblin tongue. Should ye happen upon goblins chanting “booyahg booyahg booyahg,” be warned! There might be a powerful sorcerer lurking in their midst.



Goblin Lairs
Goblins take up residence in "shrouded valleys, shadowy forests, and caves and tunnels beneath the surface of the world." They are capable miners and crafters and so settle in areas they can get the resources for making weapons and armor. The need for iron and other metals can put them in conflict with other races, but just as often they will take over mines already abandoned and scratch at the veins thought to be cleared out.

When they expand the mine they create nerrow, warren-like tunnels. Goblins live in these tunnels and the surface around the area. They guard the territory for miles, with patrols of hunters with warhorns and wolves serving as watch dogs to alert them to intruders.

Outskirts
The area around the lair has several features that are not readily apparent. Wolves serve as perimeter guards that don't give away that goblin live in the area. Hunters create guard posts high in trees and rocky outcrops so they can view the area without being seen. Obvious paths through the territory are turned into ambush points and are frequently set with many traps that the gathers check regularly for new slaves. The area also includes a burial ground for each caste located far from the lair.

Lair Exterior
Anyone that gets past the outskirts is will quickly see the signs of habitation. Most notable goblins at work with other goblins watching over them.

If built in a mine, the lairs forge and furnace will be in the vicinity. While a lair in a forest will have cut timber and the appropriate tools. If the terrain is right there will also be space for simple farming. If there is not enough room underground, the gathers and pariahs are housed in simple huts here near where they work.

Lair Interior
The ideal goblin lair is an abandoned mine with two or three large chambers and a few smaller ones connected by tunnels. This way a tribe can protect its assets while providing some comfort. Most lairs only have a single entrance, though several escape tunnels might be built.

At the entrance if the area is suitable they build a den for their wolves who are free to come and go unless the goblins have urgent need of them. All tunnels in the lair created by goblins or not are likely to be trapped, typically in a way that also collapses the tunnel.

The larger open areas are useful for a number of reasons. And the goblins will hollow out chambers if they need them. Slaves and tamed monsters are kept in large areas with limited access to make them easier to guard. The tribe's boss will claim a large area that treated as a throne room. The lashers and hunters will occupy the other chambers, "enjoying the comfort and safety of underground living as a reward for their status and their value to the group."

NILBOGS: PRANKSTERS WITH POWER posted:

A nilbog (“goblin” spelled backward) is a goblin possessed by the spirit of a mischievous prankster god. Even though goblins dwell at the bottom of the hierarchy in a goblinoid host, the threat of a nilbog appearing in their ranks keeps the bugbears and hobgoblins from inflicting too much cruelty upon their lessers.

A nilbog doesn’t use its abilities indiscriminately. One can be placated if it is provided with comfortable quarters, good food, and free rein to do as it wishes, in which case it holds its power at bay.

Hobgoblins have learned how to guard against the appearance of a nilbog: the crudest, most obnoxious goblin in the host is given the title of jester. This goblin lounges in a hobgoblin warlord’s command center, free to behave as it wishes without risk of punishment or rebuke. For more information on nilbogs, see chapter 3 of this book.

Next time: Goblinoids Part 2 Bugbears

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

golden bubble posted:

With black powder rifles, the residue from the gunpowder would completely clog up the rifle grooves in two to three shots, and a clogged rifle is nearly impossible to load with a traditionally lead ball.

You can do it, you just have to use a ball that is undersized for the barrel. This of course means it doesn't not engage with the rifling and gains no benefit from it.
(You also lose a lot of power to the gasses whooshing past the undersized ball, but that happens whether you use rifling or not)

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.
So to answer one question, a warplock gun has small amounts of warpstone in all the metal components of the gun itself (which is the only reason it can withstand the significantly increased force it has to take), small amounts of warpstone in the ammunition (that's just to make it way nastier to get shot by mostly, but it also probably stops it breaking up when fired) and small amounts of warpstone in the powder (which makes it loving crazy long range and hit super hard). Apparently the gun is totally functional with normal ammunition and powder, but it does degrade the range and strength as you'd expect.

I mean remember that warpstone is raw pure magic, a little bit goes a LONG way. Like to the extent that I'm pretty sure having it in homeopathic amounts in the gunpowder where who knows if there even IS any warpstone in any given shot actually DOES make that powder more powerful just by having had warpstone sorta near it at some point.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2e: Children of the Horned Rat

Ratheim

Rats build cities. The idea that the rats just live in squalor is, uh, actually completely correct, but it's highly advanced squalor where they're crushed by mindless industrial work all day. Totally different from just squatting in caves. They build massive public dormitory-nests and little factories where little rats get crushed in little gears and build little widgets all day. They tend to build their cities where they have fresh water, warpstone, food, and man-things above their heads to menace; they like building into the massive overlarge sewer systems the humans got the dwarfs to build them.

We get a lot on the populations of Skaven cities and warrens and nests but like Sigmar's Heirs, they're too small. For instance, Skavenblight itself, the teeming capital of the race of numberless ratmen whose squeaking hordes choke out the stars themselves...has 250,000 rats. Alright, authors, I gotta ask: Do you just not know that Constantinople, at the time of the first Crusades, may have had a population of a million people? Or is it a matter of 'we got official numbers down in Sigmar's Heirs so uh just put like twice that many rats in, that'll do'? Genuinely curious. Either way most of the stuff on exact numbers of rats is a waste of time, same as it was in Sigmar's Heirs.

Skaven urban planning is undermined by several things: One of them is the actual undermining. Skaven prefer to steal warrens and nests rather than build new ones, and when they build new ones, they tend to be thrown together and prone to collapse. If you can't steal a nest from your neighbors, many Skaven will instead try to hollow out the area under their rivals out of spite to eventually cause the floor and roof to collapse. Skaven nests built entirely by Skaven are close-packed and tight, to let the rats huddle together for warmth more easily and to get the task of building done with faster. Skaven nests for important Skaven are usually built by captured dwarven and human architects, who do things like 'build a foundation' and 'allow for proper ventilation'. Skaven cut corners so much that there's an actual architectural bias against the concept of the right angle in Skaven design.

Temples of the Horned Rat are the only building project Skaven dare not skimp on. These impressive structures are built as prestige projects; donating to a Temple of the Horned Rat shows you have great status and wealth and lets you hold your nose slightly higher in dealings with other Rat Nazis, and this is one of the few things wealthy Skaven will throw money at. Every true temple must be built with a thirteen story bell tower, to honor the destruction of Kavzar, and then a cute little rat maze underneath. The maze is sacred to the Horned Rat, and Grey Seers will run the maze as a way to meditate on his will. The maze is also used to initiate apprentices, because if they can't find their way out they deserve to die; the Horned Rat guides all brave rats who make their way through mazes!

Skaven have no sense of privacy. Privacy is only desired by the very powerful, and even then it's more as a bulwark against assassination (can't be stab-stabbed if no other rat, no-no!) rather than an actual desire to be alone. Skaven are intensely social. Every moment of their life is spent with other Skaven, even if they hate all other Skaven. They built big communal sleeping nests where all the rats get together in a big pile and sleep in whatever shredded cloth, paper, and other soft bedding they could manage to put together. The more important of a rat you are, the higher on the top of the sleeping pile you go.

One interesting bit in the demographics of the Skaven settlements given here is that population is split between the various Great Clans. Also, every settlement gets an adventure hook intended for a Skaven party (generally, some of the settlements built under particularly important human settlements get human plot hooks). I won't be giving all of these because I won't be covering every settlement, but it's good to have this kind of thing; late line WHFRP2e was really consistent about including lots of 'how to use this material in a game' material and it's one of its best features. I missed it in Sigmar's Heirs. The city descriptions are very brief, but that's understandable; they have a lot of 'em.

The City of Pillars, once known as Karak Eight Peaks, should be familiar to anyone playing Total Warhams. Queek is pretty obsessed with the Pillar City, and he should be, because it's the home of Clan Mors! This mighty, massive metropolis of teeming ratmen held by one of the most powerful and largest Warlord Clans has, uh, 95000 rats. In total. As it was stolen from dwarves, the City of Pillars is actually very well built. The plot hook for the Pillar City is sadly not Pillar Rats, enormous muscular rats who possess superhuman powers of posing, but instead a plot about a Warlock Engineer who has left the employ of Skryre in violation of his non-compete clauses in his contract. Your team of shadowrunners Rat Nazis are hired by Skryre to go see what he's building, steal it if possible, blow it up if not, and, ah, 'enforce his NDA', so to speak.

Hell Pit is far in the north of Kislev, despite earlier work implying it was close to the border with the Empire, and it is the home of Moulder Inc. This is where the magic happens. The squishy, icky magic. They make all kinds of horrible monsters in the labs up here in their quest for the ultimate lifeform. The plot hook here is the obvious 'traitor-mice open-free the monster-cages!' plotline, where you have the Umbrella approved 9 'o clock viral outbreak and the PCs are drafted into running about with Things-Catchers trying to scoop abominations against God back into their cages. Your goal is to clean up the outbreak before the Master Moulders notice. If you let it inconvenience them (or Horned Rat forbid, any of the actual rats with rat PHDs get eaten) there will be hell to pay on your performance review.

Mousillon has evil rat people under its streets, trying to conceal themselves as the black knights above all go about their constant villainy and sing FIE ON GOODNESS, FIE. They have been mostly successful. The plot hook here is that Pestilens gets a little too trigger happy and sends out some plagues that risk non-Mousillon knights coming into the city in force and discovering the rats below, which would lead to them and the black knights teaming up to curbstomp the rats. As you don't want to fight swarms of angry badass french people, your PCs now have the choice between finding a way to obfuscate the presence of Rat Nazis, or alternately, make sure the knights find out so that they can sit back from a safe distance and drink some cocaine-laced tea while enjoying the sight of french people curb-stomping their Pestilens rivals.

Skavenblight is like turn of the 20th century Rat Detroit. Machines are everywhere, the place is like a constant Rat World's Fair showing off the excellent advances of PROGRESS-PROGRESS, and huge numbers of rats work the factories and assist the engineers to make sure the wheels of industry never stop turning. They even have organized street-lights and cute little public rat trolleys! That are run on wizard cocaine plutonium and sometimes explode, killing hundreds, but come on! Rat trolleys! It's adorable! I bet they wear little conductor hats. It is a teeming metropolis of impossible population where so many live in- oh you know where this is going, there aren't that many rats living here by population numbers given compared to the fluff. The plot hook here is a boring little thing where a powerful magic relic is stolen from the temple maze and your rats have to go get it back (or steal it for themselves while claiming it was destroyed).

Under-Altdorf is presented as the DARK MIRRRRRRRROR of Altdorf. It has less rats (given the 120,000 population includes many captive laborers) than Altdorf has people, despite being described as 'one of the most populous settlements in the Under Empire'. There's a reference to 'go buy Sigmar's Heirs for more information', which is a lie; there is no more information on this place there. Nor is there really much in the (terrible, incredibly boring) Spires of Altdorf campaign book, which the Under-Altdorf description also helpfully recommends you buy. This is seriously all the description of the settlement, besides 'it doesn't have any warpstone': Advertisements for two other books. The adventure hook here has human PCs investigating rat-murders to find the rat-ninjas killing people to death, fairly standard stuff.

Next Time: Under-Delberez and the Big Squeak.

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.
Let’s pick up the Aberrant Player’s Guide again!

There’s a bunch next on just clarifying the Backgrounds in use, and some more mechanical guidance on how they work. It’s not super interesting for this write-up but it’s probably really helpful.

There’s some new Abilities to cover actions that the original game only sort of did, they’re all pretty normal and boring too. They also make a point of the fact that Attribute Qualities and Ability Specialties are really good. Remember Qualities give you 10 Again if they apply, and that’s the most busted thing that can ever apply.

They’ve got a bunch more Aberrations, and as noted the game didn’t exactly need Merits and Flaws along with having a Corruption mechanic. The Physical ones are all kind of boring, though honestly Physical Aberrations are also the best in a way. Choosing them properly can let you be something really strange and cool, which is what Aberrant should really be about. The Mental ones are pretty much all new and exciting ways you can be crazy, not a fan at all but they do have a whole bunch of insensitive mechanics for mental illness so yay. The Quantum Aberrations are interesting enough I’ll actually talk about them a bit.

Black Thumb causes you to radiate low levels of taint at all times, which will cause plants and small creatures in their presence to slowly wither and die. If you stay in the same place too long, you’ll just render it lifeless and bare. Super a fan. Eufiber Rejection is the same as the Flaw from before. Bad Luck makes you botch with no successes and a 1 or 2 instead of just 1. Dumbo Syndrome causes your powers to be psychosomatically tied to a physical object, without which you are effectively a normal Baseline. If the object is permanently lost or destroyed, you lose this Aberration but gain another point of permanent Taint AND another aberration on top of the one you’d gain from that. Uncontrollable Power is a power that can sometimes just kick off without your consent. When it does, you roll it normally then add your Taint as bonus dice. Uncontrolled Transformation is even moreso on this, you have a distinct Nova and Baseline form and transform in some situation. Vulnerability makes certain attack types do more damage to you than normal. Weakness is a set of conditions where your powers don’t work. Contagious makes you like some sci-fi poo poo where your super immune system attacks people, counting as an aura of the Poison power. Hyde Syndrome is an even more extreme version of Uncontrolled Transformation, your two forms have completely different personalities. Jinx is the Bad Luck aberration, but it hits your allies too! Permanent Power makes one of your Self-range powers permanent, but only if that would actually be inconvenient. It’s an ‘advantage’ at times, but if it’s not also really annoying you can’t pick it. Taint Bleed is Black Thumb’s crazed older brother, making you leak hard radiation that fucks up anything that isn’t a Nova. Have fun living in a mutant swamp because you destroy the world around you!

They talk about the leeway you have in defining powers next. Basically, most of them do not have any defined visual effect or manifestation, so they suggest you take your powers together and what you want your character to be like and just loving lean into it hard. Flight can be crazy angel wings, rainbows that shoot out your rear end and propel you, whatever you want. Quantum Bolts can be fireballs, or again rainbows you shoot out your rear end to destroy your foes. Literally all powers could be rear end rainbows is what I’m saying. And should be. They also point out that you need to think more about the actual effect you want when picking powers, for example if you want to be able to create a sword out of nowhere to fight with that’s probably better done as Claw and not Matter Creation or Quantum Construct.

Next time we’ll be getting into some new Mega-Attribute Enhancements, and we’re also getting ominously close to the true lunacy of this book, the Level 4, 5 and 6 Powers. If you’ve ever wanted to see what the Kamehameha Wave would be like in a Storyteller game, we’re only a few updates away!

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

I am extremely excited for Storyteller Goku. Will he come complete with edgy add-ons?

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.

Night10194 posted:

I am extremely excited for Storyteller Goku. Will he come complete with edgy add-ons?

Let's put it this way, if you've been considering the theoretical 'what if Aberrant fought World of Darkness' and been going 'okay yeah on average Aberrant wins but the big dogs of World of Darkness are pretty bullshit', just WAIT until you see what these High-Quantum powers do. The offensive one I'm discussing is a level 6 (thus requiring Quantum 10) and it is, um, extroverted. I'm not joking when I'm calling it the Kamehameha Wave, that's basically even the art they show to illustrate it. It's the sort of power that makes you have to seriously go 'okay how many aggravated health levels can YHVH take?'

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

It strongly depends but if I had to go with my gut based on the depictions of YHVH I've studied most I'd say the Most High treats all damage as bashing.

Joe Slowboat
Nov 9, 2016

Higgledy-Piggledy Whale Statements



Night10194 posted:

It strongly depends but if I had to go with my gut based on the depictions of YHVH I've studied most I'd say the Most High treats all damage as bashing.

Using a combination of this and the Adamant Skin Gemstone, the Host of Hosts is immune to damage if built optimally.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

Joe Slowboat posted:

Using a combination of this and the Adamant Skin Gemstone, the Host of Hosts is immune to damage if built optimally.

And I am herein only talking about the older version of the Lord, wherein I would describe El-Shaddai as more of 'Omnicompetent' rather than 'Omnipotent', as in the early Second Temple mindset. Wherein if there is a quality, He is the Most of it, rather than being considered truly Infinite, and thus unable to be contained by any game system as per later Christian traditions. A Lord who possesses (maximally) all available feats and powers and character abilities, rather than one who yet transcends the system.

That actually makes me wonder if there has ever been a consideration of whether or not it's technically heresy to depict the Christian version of the Lord in a limited numerical system.

Kaza42
Oct 3, 2013

Blood and Souls and all that

Night10194 posted:

That actually makes me wonder if there has ever been a consideration of whether or not it's technically heresy to depict the Christian version of the Lord in a limited numerical system.

It should only be heresy if you claim/believe it to be true or accurate. If you just present the Lord in a finite matter, I think it's technically blasphemy but not heresy

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

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

I know this isn't how anything works (or I think it isn't, I know a lot more about ancient Judaism than modern Catholic matters of heresy) but I really, really want to imagine some clerk in the Holy Office of the Doctrine of Faith whose job it is to play every single JRPG where you fight God and then stamp yet another Shin Megami Tensei as officially blasphemous.

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Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 5 hours!
That explains why my used copy of Final Fantasy Legend had "With a CHAINSAW!!!" scrawled on the case in red marker.

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