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SirPhoebos posted:When Kevin says, "You can play the Coalition States!" It's perfect.
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May 2, 2019 03:22
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Night10194 posted:Why is everything magical so terrible in RIFTs? the idea's meant to be 'magic is unpredictable but potentially more powerful' combined with 'they're forcing magic into forms they're not used to wielding to keep pace with their enemies'. I'm not saying those are good ideas in this context, just saying I'm pretty sure that's what Kev's goin for.
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May 2, 2019 04:50
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Are these prices meant to be like, "this is what it would cost you to buy one at the generic Rifts trading post"? If the drat things are actually pretty easy to make but are just rare/not shared, the prices make more sense.
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May 2, 2019 05:00
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 Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 6: "Floating chairs are used by the physically impaired, self-styled nobility and those who just like them." Time for poo poo what floats, and not just on air. Techno-Wizardry Vehicles TW Converted Vehicles are vehicles that are usually converted to a magic power source and given a few magic capabilities. For all the time that's spent on them, though, they're the slight minority - mostly Tolkeen uses plain old vehicles. Given the overblown prices involved, it's not hard to see why. We get a clarification that wizards can't draw P.P.E. from vehicles that store it because- well, we just don't know. Then we get a list of features to add. Chameleon Cloaking System is useful unless you move, which seems like a problem for vehicles. Energy Disrupter Mechanism lets you drive through force fields, Float System, Flight System, Impervious to Fire, Imperious to Energy, and Mystic Alarm are self-explanatory. Weirdly, the Sound Cloaking System won't work if you have a radio built into the vehicle for some reason, and does nothing to cloak the sound passengers make. Does it enhance sneaking rolls at all? We just don't know. Even more weirdly, the Shadow Cloaking System fails if you make any noise (or open the door), even though it's mainly just designed to hide you visibly at night. Super-Stealth Mode lets you miraculously turn invisible and chat at the same time. For some reason De-Icer as a magical feature will run you 120,000 credits, double for large vehicles. I mean, I hate chipping ice off a windshield too, but probably not to the tune of $240,000 dollars. Oh, yeah, all of these are crazy expensive, running from 100,000 to 3,000,000 credits. Notable Techno-Wizard Vehicles We start with Water Vehicles, like the TW Water Sled, which is like a motorized surfboard that'll jet you around at 100 MPH. Don't wipe out. The TW-Self-Propelled Sail Boat is a sailboat with a magically-powered fan that generates wind, which some legit Tooney Lunes imagery. The TW Hover Yacht and TW Underwater Scooter are just magical equivalents of their technological counterparts, of course. The TW Underwater Ley Line Flyer seems to have limited applications, given it'll only work where ley lines and bodies of water intersect, and rivers turn a lot but ley lines don't. But I guess you could cross a lake with it.  "Perseus was such a peasant." TW Floaters are just flying chariots, boats, etc., magically enchanted to float and them pulled by a flying creature like a pegasus or demon. There are some motorized ones that use technological or magical means to blimp around, but there isn't much to say with commentary like this: Rifts Coalition Wars 1:Sedition posted:Simple Air Chariots & Skiffs Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:Air Boats & Large Floaters Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:Self-Propelled Sail Floaters/Air Boats Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:Motorized Floaters & Skiffs  "You say I'm just a lazy wizard? Of course I'm lazy! I'm a wizard!" Also there are a variety of floating chairs so you can get on the go while remaining on your duff. These get entirely too many words.  spin it Lastly, we have the Turbo-Wing Board (130 MDC, 120 MPH), which is like the corebook Wing Board (a flying one-man wing designed to fly along ley lines) but have additional magically-powered jets that let you fly it off of ley lines. It gives bonuses when flying it to those trained on it, including an extra attack - clearly a nod to at least allow them to try and compete (badly) with power armor like the SAMAS. Similarly, the Crescent Wing Board (160 MDC, 60 MPH) is designed to be quieter and can shoot lightning, but it's slower as a result. Double speed on ley lines for either of them, though.  spin it my friend Most of these are fairly generic, and you're supposed to jazz them up with magical features, but you quickly run into the issue that even 3-4 features will push these generally into the 1,000,000+ credit range. Next: I am Iron Man.
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May 2, 2019 11:24
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Alien Rope Burn posted:
Occasionally some of the RIFTS art manages to actually decently sell the game as a cool thing.
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May 2, 2019 12:17
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If this is a backwards attempt at showing how Tolkeen's armory can't compete with the CS', mission accomplished. Forget your giant skull spider and scorpion robot vehicles! He's on a floaty chair!
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May 2, 2019 13:12
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Dawgstar posted:If this is a backwards attempt at showing how Tolkeen's armory can't compete with the CS', mission accomplished. Forget your giant skull spider and scorpion robot vehicles! He's on a floaty chair! And yet they're a major threat to the Coalition States' armies. 
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May 2, 2019 13:33
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Dawgstar posted:If this is a backwards attempt at showing how Tolkeen's armory can't compete with the CS', mission accomplished. Forget your giant skull spider and scorpion robot vehicles! He's on a floaty chair! If this was SenZar the floaty chair would be brimming with air to air missiles and kicking your rear end. I would put a lotta money on SenZar Sorcerer and his missile-laden magic air-throne vs. the CS.
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May 2, 2019 13:37
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I've been waiting for Siege of Tolkeen for so long. Since Alien Rope Burn started to review rifts.
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May 2, 2019 13:47
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What Fire Has Wrought: The Power of Friendship There is nothing more central to Dragon-Blooded relationships and adventures than the Sworn Kinship. This is the heart of the heroic Dragon-Blood, a group that brings together many heroes into a perfected union that is greater than the sum of its parts. No single Dragon sustains Creation – it is all five, working in harmony. Thus too is the Kinship. A Sworn Kinship is family – beyond House, beyond blood. The oath of the Dragons and the spiritual fulfillment it grants supersedes all other loyalties and bonds. Your Sworn Kin are as close to you as your own sisters, if not more. You would invite them to your deepest sanctums, would work with them and help their parents and their children, just because they ask it. Hospitality to your Sworn Kin goes without saying, and to throw one out of your home is like throwing them out of their own. There’s a reason a Sworn Kinship is also known as a Hearth. It is a warm place, where familial love is a matter of course, expected and not discouraged. Hearthmates might fight or disagree, but in almost none do they hate each other without equal affection for each other. Hearths are often named for the place their oath was sworn, such as the Hearth of Eastern Faxai or the Shrine of the Gardener’s Grace Hearth. Others, however, take their names from historic events or great deeds, such as the Three Winters’ Hearth or the Hearth That Slew Roaring Mantis. Hearths form bonds of friendship and camaraderie that transcend House lines. This does divide loyalties between blood and friendship, which the Empress found very useful. As a result, she helped to enshrine the Sworn Kinship tradition into Realm culture. Betrayal of your House in favor of your Hearth is tragic, but not treasonous, by Realm judgment. It is no disgrace, merely to be mourned. The kinship oath is a mystic thing, born from the power of Terrestrial blood and Essence. It is a sacred birthright, natural to the Dragon-Blooded. The greatest gift the Dragons gave to their children was that they might fight together as one, and so swearing the oath of the Hearth is a serious responsibility, never done lightly. It may be sworn quickly, as Dragon-Bloods form ties of friendship quickly and may decide on the spur of a moment that these are the people they would die for, but no Exalt would ever swear it frivolously. A proper oath, sworn with the right concepts and intent in the right order, is binding, sealed by anima and a statement of finality. In the Realm, the kinship oath is considered legally binding, and oathbreakers will face legal consequences and censure from their own House. Hearthmates are kin, after all, and every House considers the betrayal of the kinship oath to be a sign of treacherous and untrustworthy nature, a sign that you would turn on anyone. Most Sworn Kinships are formed early, often during the period of adventuring that most Dragon-Bloods have after graduation. Hearths arise when friendships are forged in battle or difficulty, much of the time, and while it is rarely a hasty decision, there are always exceptions – especially among the young. While various Dynastic families may treat it different ways, everyone knows the Hearth is sacred, and to swear the oath without consideration is to accept a heavy obligation without knowing who you’re dealing with. To renounce the oath is equally grave, for to lose that connection to their souls means to lose a part of yourself. Most Sworn Kinships spend years or even decades working together after the oath is sworn, traveling and facing danger together. They often roam the Realm or Threshold to promote a favored cause, such as hunting Anathema, searching for occult lore, protecting people from monsters or searching out rare and delicious food. Later in life, Hearths often have little time to see each other, between careers and obligations, but correspond and visit each other when they can. They regard their active days wistfully. A Sworn Kinship breaking up is uncommon, though it does happen – especially in plays and stories, where it serves as a tragic element of the climax. More commonly, they just drift apart over time as duty and honor tie them down. They’ll come together every so often to do things like help a client state fight a war or go on a Wyld Hunt or tell old war stories about the good old days. In everyday life, they form a sort of refuge from the cutthroat politics of the Realm, a group of people you can relax and hang out with or go on vacations with without any worries or cares. Retirement, however, does not always mean a Dragon-Blood is physically incapable, and it is a celebrated practice in the Realm for retired Hearthmates to reunite in their elder days to travel and adventure once more. The Sworn Kinships reforged in age are especially well remembered, and it is not rare for a personal oath of rededication to be sworn at those times, though unlike the original oath it has no mystic significance. Crowds that witness this are often moved to tears by the joy of it. The actual form of the kinship oath can take many forms, but it always involves reciting the names of those forming it, a statement of their intent, and a vow of dedication spoken as each participant’s animas flare. When the ritual is over, the new companions can sense the tie in their bones. Hearths typically can’t have more than five members, but GMs can make exceptions for PC groups that are larger. It is possible to join a pre-existing Hearth by swearing loyalty in the presence of all members. Dragon-Bloods can sense the presence of their Sworn Kin and some of their Charms give additional benefits when used on them. The death of one of your Sworn Kin is immediately and unmistakably sensed as a sharp shock in the soul. You may rescind your oath by informing all members of the Hearth, singly or as a group, that the oath is no longer valid. The traditional form of this is ‘The Hearth is shattered,’ in the Realm. All bonds are severed with your former Hearth, giving you an instinctive sense of finality and leaving nothing where your kin could once sense your presence. A deliberate betrayal of one of your Sworn Kin or the Hearth as a whole shatters your ties to them. You lose all Willpower points when you do it, but unlike a formal renunciation, your Sworn Kin do not immediately realize the bond is broken, and will continue to sense your presence until the story’s end. Next time: The fighting retirees
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May 2, 2019 13:57
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Warhammer Fantasy: Paths of the Damned Part 1: Ashes of Middenheim What happened? Well, two things to do for the wrapup of Ashes of Middenheim. First, we'll talk about what worked and what didn't work in the adventure. Then, an update on the party and their new member. Sorry, Fearghus, your class is cool in theory but awkwardly and poorly implemented and none of the materials here are ready for what happens if you have a couple months between adventures. Also the party desperately needs a medic. So Fearghus will be taking his Journeyman piece and heading off on his own journey, glad to have helped his allies do something great but not wanting to be mucked around further by umgi Gods. In his place will be a young Ulrican Priestess who sees her path to a higher position in the cult in helping a bunch of heroes directly favored by Ulric, weird as they might be. First off, let's look at the adventure structure. Note the PCs never actually had any kind of choices to make. They just kinda proceed forward, with the assumption they succeed at every point and success or failure being determined entirely by the pre-determined narrative. There's no attempt to make any provision for PCs to step off the path, so to speak. What would have happened if they'd listened to Pierre and continued to investigate the missing Icon instead of taking the Skull-shaped red herring bait? Could they have stopped Liebnitz early, on their own initiative, as he feared? It was clearly a possibility, otherwise why go to all the trouble to send them off to die in the forest like that? The PCs don't actually have a reason to take the mission from Ranulf besides it sounding important and promising pay (that they never get). Similar, what happens if they go to the cops? Or don't trust the Ordo Fidelus after learning a little about them and absolutely don't let them in on the adventure (the book says they just follow you and find out anyway, BTW). What if they go after Liebnitz immediately instead of bothering with the trial because fucker put them in jail and stiffed them and they don't care about the wider plot? There's a lot of assumptions baked into the critical path and it makes absolutely 0 plans around if you step off it at any point. That also means there's no provisions made for the PCs to do anything clever or be more successful. As dull as the next adventure can be, this is something that will get remedied in Spires of Altdorf; there are provisions made for if the PCs are loving up badly, or if they succeed tremendously well and with surprisingly little actual combat or danger. Spires tries to be way more open ended and just place the PCs in Altdorf with a problem to solve, just its main plot is dull as dishwater and how you try to solve that problem isn't much better. But I suspect that's a general problem with the adventure path. Xath is a really poo poo antagonist who has no presence at all in any of the three stories. Khornate Chaos, especially, just can't sustain a 3 mini-campaign adventure path and you'll see that in the sheer number of side villains and random other plots they have to throw in just to have something resembling actual antagonists in the games. Let's take a moment to also talk about Liebnitz. He's sort of the highlight of this adventure, because he actually does do his job narratively and give the PCs someone they want to smash in the face. He's a total prick, but for most of the adventure he's surprisingly clever for a Khornate and his smugging it up does a lot to conceal one of several fundamental problems with his character. The first is this: What's his motive? Why's he doing any of this? It's obviously partly that he hates Sigmar, but how did he go from Ulric to Khorne? Why does he essentially throw away everything he's done so far in the adventure to pull off the loving stupid ritual in the Temple, which kills him if he completes it? All to summon a single lovely Bloodletter? He doesn't actually have a motive beyond Well He's Kahyoss, They're Crazy And Evil. This is a problem Chaos always seems to have. It tries to pretend its cults are everywhere but the writers just lean on 'well they're so evil and goddamn crazy' so hard that they don't end up bothering with motives. Similarly, it kind of sucks that the PCs never actually counter anything he does; they just sort of get the chance to kick him in the dick because he pretty much decides to stop winning and go full stupid. There's no possibility to expose the Icon's Chaos symbol on the back as fresh paint, or steal it back so that when he tries to dramatically pull it out at the trial he's left sputtering in rage. The PCs don't get to defeat Liebnitz so much as he just becomes a Chaos Idiot suddenly. Which makes his defeat really unsatisfying, despite all the buildup of giving players reasons to fight him. Even if the final encounter wasn't unbalanced horseshit, just killing him when he intentionally exposes himself doesn't feel earned. Brute Squad didn't have a chance to show off anything but their ability to pull a trigger and swing a sword in the climax, despite having a lot of other skills and characters who would have other routes to dealing with and exposing a lovely Medium Priest. I also wonder if the story wouldn't have been genuinely stronger if Liebnitz wasn't a Son of Ulric fanatic who was merely working with a Chaos Cult, blinded by his fanaticism such that he doesn't notice he's letting madmen near the sacred flame (and you'll remember, destroying the Flame of Ulric was one of Archaon's primary war goals) so long as he thinks he's still on the path to becoming Ar-Ulric and also destroying the hated Cult of Sigmar. Making him go generic Chaos Villain in the end just spoils the story; when I was running it, I had to come up with an entire motive for him where he believed that the Teutogen way was mastering Khorne with the power of Ulric, and his big final move was intended to summon demons that he'd then 'heroically' destroy and claim the Sigmarites had sent to kill him (which went awry). Because that would at least make his final move make some goddamn sense. Also, never paying the PCs is going to quickly lead to them finding other work or wandering off. That's just RPG science. The encounters are mostly balanced until the last one, but the way the plot just bulls forward no matter what happens makes it feel very arbitrary at times. The adventure is also weirdly confused about what a PC party's motivation is. Take the Brute Squad: They're decent people, they have things they believe in or want to do, and they're definitely out to fight Chaos, but they're also still a small mercenary company. They're here to make contacts, get paying work, and make a name for themselves. This is not an unreasonable set of motives for a PC party in this setting. The adventure then never pays them, hides their role in saving the city, etc. Some of this is wrongheaded but intentional; the designers want you to feel like you're often scrabbling to get by. But you can't keep assuming PCs are going to invest in risking their necks for nothing wholly out of the goodness of their hearts while also talking up how this is a setting where that isn't usually the whole dealio. Yet the adventure is written as if the PCs will keep doing what they do (and continue on into the next plot line) solely because, uh, they're nice heroes. Brute Squad certainly are heroes, but they've got bills to pay. Speaking of Brute Squad, we'll assume they had a few adventures in and around Middenheim to finish their first careers and promote. You'll notice they don't have all the Trappings of their new Careers yet, only some. They A: Only had so much money and B: I just don't use the Trappings system that way and C: Fiating them everything they'd have to promote would kinda overgear them. All armor upgrades were purchased with the money they had from robbing Heller and getting paid at the end. A few weapons will be treated as things they found in adventures in between. I'll put their update in a separate update because this one would run massively long with it attached and damnit, I'm sticking with this dumb gimmick. Character progression is one of the best parts of this system and an opportunity to actually show it off is golden. Next Time: The Brute Squad, V2
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May 2, 2019 14:35
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Warhammer Fantasy: Paths of the Damned Part 2: Spires of Altdorf The Heroes(?) quote:Name: Liniel of Caledor Captain Liniel, brave warrior-princess of Caledor, has come a long way since she arrived in these dreary human lands only a year ago. For one, she calls herself a captain now, and for two, look at her sweet new hat! During some of the team's side adventures, they ended up aiding a Captain Lydia of the Imperial Pistolkorps, and Liniel found herself deeply impressed with the dashing ex-Highwaywoman and her stylish, engraved pistols. Seeing what a handgun can do to a Gor or Minotaur sealed the deal, and Liniel the elf has decided to supplement her bow with a pair of handguns just as soon as she learns to use them. The hat is another affectation taken from studying humans; they seem to respect hat size and plumage, and as she's still a shrewd businesswoman she knows she needs to impress employers and dress the part of the dashing mercenary princess. She also just like the peacock feather and the way the hat shows off her ears. Liniel has gone into Pistolier rather than Courtier for three reasons. One, the idea of an elf princess in a jaunty Imperial hat with a pair of wheellock pistols and fancy 17th century german uniform clothing amuses me. Two, there's some specific brain-worms in this upcoming adventure where it's intensely socially based but social skills are almost never actually used (we'll loving get to that). Three, she can do Courtier out of Pistolier. Pistolier will give her all her Ranged talents, which also has the side effect of making her bow loving lethal. It's a good career in general. quote:Name: Pierre Rhone Pierre has discovered a lot about himself in the company of the Brute Squad. For one, he's realized how little he really knows about history, despite his desire to unlock the secrets of the past. He's also learned a lot about Verena while abroad in the Empire, and has taken to spending whatever money he can get from the group's purse on buying any books he can and reading voraciously between adventure, trying to fill the gaps in his incomplete education and stopping at shrines and temples to the Goddess of Knowledge to pray she blesses his endeavors. In truth, he's found he believes in the Goddess of Justice and Wisdom as a far higher Lady than some weird woman living in a pond and telling him to hit people with a pointed stick from horseback. While his self-taught nature makes his growing education eclectic and full of weird gaps, Pierre is determined to learn. Dilletante will let Pierre fill in his knowledge skills a little and won't take him long. It's another 1st tier career, available to anyone who can read. It's also notable for its huge number of Exits. He can actually become a wizard out of it, but the Career he's aiming for after it is Verenan Investigator, as it's a good fit for a genius rogue and adventuring scholar. Pierre is here to learn, but also to swing from the occasional chandelier, punch out reactionary lunatics (Investigator learns Streetfighter for proper fash punching in the name of Justice!) and have roguish adventures! quote:Name: Katiya Ivanovna Demechev Katiya Demechev has seen her saber victorious over the forces of darkness more than once, proving herself against the traditional foes of her people. Where once she was a peasant refugee taking up the sword on the walls of Middenheim, now she is a proper warrior of Kislev. She seeks to follow the way of Mount and Blade, becoming a Sister of the Sword and learning the ways of the Winged Lancer in hopes of joining the glorious Gryphon Legion one day. Until that time, she will continue to put her strong right arm and bold saber to use with her new friends, fighting against the forces of evil just as soon as she figures out how not to fall off of Andre, her new warhorse. And gets a lance. And learns to use it. Also needs to find a neat winged back banner. For now, she's got the mail and cool uniform, at least? Katiya was always going to be a Winged Lancer because c'mon, Peasant can go into goddamn Winged Hussar? Hell yeah! She's got the stats for it anyway, and her old Peasant skills still leave her good with people, stealth, and the out of doors even as she becomes equivalent to an Imperial Knight. Heck, Winged Lancers are already more outdoorsy Knights, and that fits her old skills perfectly. Katiya is a great example of how a seemingly purely 'civilian' starting career can still produce a cool hero. quote:Name: Otto Blucher Otto has proven his sword in real combat against far more than some prissy noble as a second in a duel. Now armored in the plate of a long-dead Chaos Champion but with the spikes and awful poo poo filed off, he cuts an imposing and striking figure as the main muscle of the group. He is no longer a glorified thug who beats people for money; now he's a proper Duelist who will learn the ways of the fencing sword and the gun to further his ambitions to be an Imperial Hero. Being blessed directly by his God, Ulric, has also given him a renewed sense of purpose. He'll follow the Brute Squad through anything, reasoning it's blessed by the Lord of Winter, and hopes that the deeds they do will see the name of Otto Blucher enter the annuls of Imperial History. Making some more gold while he's at it wouldn't be bad. Otto is as Otto was. He's just what he was before but better. Duelist will let him branch out and learn some social skills and even more combat styles, and it leads to Champion. Otto isn't a complicated character in mechanics or fiction, but drat if he isn't extremely effective. The +20 Toughness in Duelist will also make him endgame level tough. He doesn't get the same jump in combat effectiveness that Liniel and Katiya, but Duelist is a damned solid 2nd tier fighter and when he becomes a Champion later, watch the gently caress out. And introducing: quote:Name: Solveig Miller Solvieg has always been a huge woman. When it came time to decide what to do with her life, she told her parents she was going to be the Ar-Ulric. They laughed at her, because everyone knows women don't become Ar-Ulric, and told her to get back to plowing the fields at their home in the western Reikland. Instead, she ran away from home to join the temple at Nordland, one of the only Temples of Ulric still admitting female Initiates, and began her journey towards a life of wolves, winter, and axes. Her size helped her to make it through her Initiate period, and to survive being assigned to help defend the Grand Temple in Middenheim during the Siege; she is one of the many Priestesses newly minted in the wake of the war, during the mass ordination of surviving Initiates deemed worthy after the great battle. Solvieg was immensely proud to be made a full Priestess and managed to secure a transfer to service in the Grand Temple, but soon found herself shut out from any Temple business by the chauvanistic rear end in a top hat that was Medium Priest Klaus Liebnitz. She had already been collecting dirt on him in hopes of one day seeing the prick toppled from his position, only to both witness a group of Adventurers killing the hell out of him in the Temple and the holy fire of Ulric blessing their company with her own two eyes. When they began their campaign to discredit and slander the Medium Priest to undo his villainy, she was only too happy to approach a group chosen by Ulric and offer her help, with her already-collected dirt making their job much easier. In return, she asked for a place among them. Solvieg is a surprisingly shy woman, despite being well over six feet in height and built like a steam tank, but she is quietly determined that somehow, some way, she is going to be a High Priestess of Ulric; following a direct sign of the Lord of Battle and joining the Brute Squad in place of their Runesmith seems like a possible route to the God's favor and blessing on her own task. Solvieg rolled insanely good Str and T and when she becomes a Warrior Priestess, she's going to be a hell of a tank and secondary fighter. That's a long way off, but for now, she's another decent social character, a decent second-line fighter who can hold her own, and most importantly, she provides the team with a medic. They really needed one. Besides, there's a really good reason for an ambitious Ulrican woman who has been locked out of conventional advancement in the ranks to join a group of freebooters directly blessed with her God's favor, and what mercenary company would turn away a Priestess of the Lord of Battle? Next Time: Altdorf and Intro
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May 2, 2019 15:20
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What Fire Has Wrought: Grandpa Has A Sword Most Dragon-Blooded don’t make it to retirement. They die of violence, misadventure or murder, well before their hundredth year. Those who live to see it, however, find retirement rewarding. Typically, by the time a Dynast starts to think about retiring, they have accomplished enough to distinguish themselves and bring fame or wealth to their House. Most will have enough personal wealth to support themselves long after they stop receiving a salary, especially because a retiree’s House stipend is drastically reduced. Most retirees choose to do so while they’re still fit enough to enjoy their retirement. Travel is a common pastime, and many use the chance to go see the world and spend time with friends and family they’ve lost touch with. Those that prefer a more active life may try to recapture their youth by setting out with old companions on new adventures. Often, they become hunters, ruin explorers or delve into the underground world of the Mountain Folk. Many, though, prefer a quieter and more leisurely retirement. They focus on their hobbies or projects they hadn’t had time for or couldn’t begin due to political pressures. Those that can afford it often relocate to remote areas where they will not be disturbed. Other retirees decide to make a protégé into their project. They seek out promising students to advise and shape into the next generation of power, usually of their own House but not always, as they may decide to teach the descendants of a Hearthmate or a stranger that impresses them. A pupil’s successes are the successes of their mentor, after all, and it is often a matter of friendly competition among retirees to see whose goes the farthest in life. For young Dynasts, this is an excellent way to benefit from your elder’s resources and wisdom, and the hunt for a respected mentor has driven fierce competition. Not all Dynasts retire quickly, though. Some prefer not to because they think they can still do their jobs or because they lack the funds to support themselves without their salary and stipend to depend on. This is acceptable for a time. However, if age or senility become a risk to their House, there are measures to push Dragon-Bloods into retiring. Diplomats may find their workloads increasing exponentially, while military figures may be given more and more dangerous assignments. Aging Dynasts that suffer this usually choose to retire or end up dying. Either way, their obligations are over. Occasionally, a Great House may offer financial incentives to retire, and many Dynasts hold out in hopes of such a payout. It’s risky, however, because a more callous matriarch may decide that murder is more cost-effective. Imperial law governs inheritance fairly strictly. When a Dragon-Blood dies, half of their wealth and assets are passed on to their spouse, if there is a surviving one, or to their eldest Dragon-Blooded child otherwise. The other half is then divided into shares, which are split amongst the Dynast’s children. Exalted children receive four shares, mortals get one. Few Dynasts rely on inheritance for any financial planning, because a Dragon-Blooded parent may well survive for centuries. It is possible for a Dynast to bypass this inheritance allocation by preparing a will in advance, dividing up their assets however they please. This practice is not customary and is fairly rare. If a will denies any heir a substantial part of what they would normally receive, they’ll usually conspire to forge the will and bribe witnesses to it or find a way to make the will get conveniently lost and have a judge pronounce it invalid. Realm funeral practices for peasants, slaves and the dispossessed are essentially short affairs that end with the cremation of the dead on a wooden pyre and the erecting of a small monument on top of their ashes and bones to placate their lower soul. It is said that Hesiesh is briefly incarnate in the flames, taking the higher soul on to its next life. Dynastic funerals, on the other hand, are grand and expensive. They will often last for weeks before the body is disposed of, using skilled physicians or sorcery to prevent decomposition. However, embalming is rare, often seen as a disruption of the natural cycle. A hero’s plaque carved from jade will be displayed with reverence, then later enshrined with a solemn procession, and the youngest Exalt in the House will usually be called forth to recite the lineage of the deceased. Patricians and wealthy peasants emulate these practices, though usually their funerals are more plain and less well attended. Mourners will come from across the Blessed Isle for a Dynastic funeral, or even from the Threshold. The House will generally commission grand works of art or poetry to commemorate the deeds of the dead, embellishing them as needed. Besides the politics of it, there is a persistent if not orthodox belief among Dynasts that the Immaculate Dragons observe funerals and may be swayed by these accounts to bring the soul of the dead into unity with them rather than guide them to reincarnation. Flattery also helps prevent the lower soul from getting upset, which is usually wise when it’s got the leftover power of an Exalt. Vigils are usually held over the body, which may last days. Especially grief-stricken family or Hearthmates may stay by the deceased’s side until they pass out from exhaustion as a dramatic show of grief. Fasting is also a common way to show respect and grief. Once the vigils are over and all the political dealing is done, the body is prepared for its final departure. Most Dynastic funerals opt for the common cremation rite of Hesiesh, albeit more lavish and elaborate than the peasant version, with a cenotaph prepared bearing the name of the dead and usually their great deeds in life. The remains are placed in a special urn unless the deceased left instructions to scatter their ashes somewhere. There are other funeral rites, however, meant to emulate the other four Immaculate Dragons. They are considerably less common except among Immaculate monks, but pretty much every Dynast knows about someone that chose to be honored in a funeral rite to a specific Dragon. The rite of Pasiap is mummification, the only Realm funerary practice that uses embalming. It treats the body as the Dynast’s final great work, a physical monument left by their soul. The body is prepared by experts, usually from Sijan, in a weeks-long process, and then entombed in a grand mausoleum, which may be personal or, in the case of House Mnemon, part of the great tomb-complex of Mnemon-Darjilis. The rite of Danaa’d is sea burial, with the body sewn into a shroud of canvas if mortal or silk if Exalted. The shroud is weighted and lowered reverentially into the water. House Peleps has a long tradition of these sea burials for naval Exalts, even if they died on land. The rite of Sextes Jylis involves preparation of a grand garden. The body is prepared and laid to rest in a compost mound, placed for maximum geomantic harmony. When the funeral is over, an honor guard is left and, after some months, the mound is reverentially dispersed to reveal only fresh soil, with not even bones left. The decomposition process is hastened by the power of geomantic Essence, see. The soil is then scattered over the garden to join with the Essence of life. The rarest practice is the rite of Mela: sky burial. The deceased is left to the birds and beasts of the air, which pick the bones clean. This is usually done on special towers, but any space open to the sky can be used. The skeleton is collected, broken up and ground into dust, which is then mixed with wheat meal and scattered for the smaller birds. Most Dynasts do not, unlike mortals, have the luxury of dying of old age. They fall in battle or intrigue. For those whose bodies cannot be returned home for the funeral rites, it is the job of their Hearth, legion, crew or other comrades to care for their corpse. A field burial is usually cremation, as it’s fast, though a sky burial isn’t much slower and the bones can be transported back to the Realm for a proper funeral. No matter what, a funeral is held on the Blessed Isle when word of their death arrives, which follows the same forms as normal but without the body. They still get the special cenotaph in their honor. Next time: Land of the Seventh Legion
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May 2, 2019 15:23
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They really repeat and stress that these guys get murdered in Adventure a lot, don't they? I count like three, four times?
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May 2, 2019 15:25
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Night10194 posted:They really repeat and stress that these guys get murdered in Adventure a lot, don't they? I count like three, four times? There was an issue in past editions of elder Exalts being around all the time and taking up a lot of conceptual space. They want you to be aware that no, the PCs are in fact movers and shakers and the elders are either retired, stuck on the island doing politics/business/plotting or dead. Keeping the number of elder DBs down is actually important because there's so many DBs. e: also it is important to emphasize exactly how badass the surviving elders like Mnemon, Ragara and similar are. Even if Ragara is an utter scumbag. Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 15:45 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 15:34
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I just figured they were telling you to live fast and not worry about dying, it's normal.
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May 2, 2019 15:46
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Also that, yes.
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May 2, 2019 15:47
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Yeah anything to avoid the old Chejop Kejak forum arguments honestly e: for anyone who didn't have the 'privilege' of being involved in the old Exalted community, the previous editions had a major Elder Exalt problem (referring to ancient Exalts who as a result of their age could go into Essence 6-10 ranges). Your Solar PCs are supposed to be the brand new badasses here to shake up the world but in 2e there's a shitload of Elder Sidereals, Lunars, Deathlords, etc all variously hanging out that were all way higher Essence that your PC could ever be. Kind of a conflicting theme, you know? Exalted really wanted the players to be free to do all that stuff but the first editions of it still kept to that classic White Wolf habit of populating the setting with a lot of inordinately powerful NPCs that can smack your PCs into the mud. The only question being, would they and if they aren't, why not? And this dissonance really solidified in people's minds with Chejop, the oldest and most powerful Sidereal alive, leader of the anti-Solar faction and the architect of the Usurpation. There were a ton of forum arguments about how this guy, the most powerful Exalt in all Creation who isn't a Deathlord, who personally hates your PCs, who has most of Creation on his side and who was never really described with anything but an extremely loose and open interpretation of his power and what his actual job was, should *logically* be devoting his time to hunting down and murdering Solar PCs constantly the moment they become visible to the Loom of Fate. The very moment you do anything fate-worthy, Elder Sidereal death squads are no doubt en-route to location to punch you into a duck. ZeroCount fucked around with this message at 16:01 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 15:48
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So how many times has Katiya been thrown off her horse as someone mentions Otto's last name?
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May 2, 2019 16:16
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What Fire Has Wrought: Power Armor Sparta Lookshy dates back to when the world was on the brink of destruction. The Shogunate, weakened by decades of internal warfare, was broken by the Great Contagion, a civilization-ending disaster from which none could recover. Right as it hit, nigh-infinite numbers of the Fair Folk poured into Creation, to finish what the Contagion began. The Wyld’s creatures caused widespread chaos before an ancient god-weapon of the Anathema turned the tide. However, while the Shogunate was in ruins, it was not utterly wiped out. The Seventh Legion, under Taimyo Nefvarin Gilshalos, made their way west despite being vastly outnumbered. They gathered as many survivors as possible from the husks of the River Province cities. They came out of the distant East, making their way towards the ancient city Deheleshen, fighting the fae all the way. When they arrived, they found the local daimyo long dead and the city ruined beyond hope of repair. Despite this, Nefvarin had his orders, and he intended to follow them to the letter. Until the day when the Seventh Legion was wiped out, they would serve as provisional governing body in the stead of the Shogun. And this, their descendants teach, was the founding of Lookshy. The city itself is built on the ruins of ancient Deheleshen, on a rocky outcrop at the mouth of the Yanaze. It is both fortress and city, with huge walls patrolled by Dragon-Blooded officers against intrusion by land or sea. Its massive wells and granaries can withstand protracted siege. The secure harbor at the base of the cliff is home to the Lower City and the Lookshyan navy, who protect foreign merchants that come to trade. From there, you can ascend via lift tubes to the many other districts, always under watch of the guards The city is divided into four major quarters, each higher than the last and less friendly to outsiders. The Fourth Ring has outer gates that open onto Lookshy’s farmlands and pastures, and is mostly home to the crafters, mercenaries and merchants. Above them is the Third Ring, home to the more refined artisans, the training schools and the heavy industry. The Second Ring is home to Lookshyan homes, military barracks, warehouses and administrative buildings. The First Ring, also called the Old City, is home to most of the First Age structures of Deheleshen, including the ancient Lookshy Manse, renowned as unbreachable. It is home to the city’s leaders and the offices of the Shogunate Bureaucracy. In the centuries since the Contagion, Lookshy has risen from the ashes of its past to become one of the most powerful city-states in the province. It has changed over the years, in part because of some of its ancient wonders decaying or breaking down, but its masters have developed a reputation for their ancient traditions and fighting skill. It is the largest Dragon-Blooded enclave outside of the Realm, with an unusually high ratio of Exalts to mortals. The General Staff offers heavy incentives to have children, and it is aggressive about recruiting new Dragon-Bloods. Lookshy has always been pragmatic, and large amounts of Exalts are favored over smaller numbers with stronger bloodlines. Unlike the long marriage negotiations of the Realm, Lookshyans are encouraged to marry young and have children as early as a decade after Exalting. The most influential of the Lookshyan Dragon-Bloods are descended from the old, respected military families with political power. They are known, collectively, as the gentes. In theory, all can trace their lineages back to ancient Shogunate aristocrats. In practice, several can’t. Some are not especially wealthy, while others are extremely rich, especially by the standards of River Province. Some are very recent additions to the rolls, while others can trace their lineage back to the city’s founding. All members of the gentes are citizens, though being of a gens offers only a few extra privileges. A citizen who dies with no immediate kin has their belongings devolve to their gens if they have one, for example, otherwise it goes to the government. Still, membership in a gens is highly prestigious. Officially, Lookshy is a pure meritocracy, and the Seventh Legion works hard to prevent the more blatant forms of nepotism, but the gentes undeniably benefit from family power and influence. If a family can be named a gens or not is solely the domain of the General Staff. A group of immigrant Dragon-Bloods might be offered gens status as a bargaining chip, or a minor household might earn it in recognition of one of their members performing some great service to the city, their production of many Dragon-Bloods or their gaining enough wealth and power to attract Legion notice. It is not legally required that all Dragon-Blooded join a gens, but nearly all do. The General Staff, if you’re wondering, are the governing body of Lookshy as well as the directors of their military strategy, policy and law. Officially they are led by a chumyo, who is the general of the Seventh Legion, and consist of the chumyo and their six most senior officers. They are supplemented by the Administrative Staff, a group that fluctuates but is largely composed of two dozen respected officers, Directorate leaders and other noteworthies of the city. The Administrative and General Staff are advisory bodies to the chumyo, but their advice is weighed very carefully, because the General Staff may remove the chumyo by simple majority vote. The current chumyo is Maheka Dazan, a brilliant commander and extremely traditional member of the Mercenary faction of the city. Since the fall of Thorns, he’s been increasingly opposed by Interventionists on the General and Administrative Staff, and he fears they will remove him to advance their cause. The gentes are divided into the Gentes Major and Gentes Minor. Currently, five families are recognized as Gentes Major, but there have in the past been as many as eight and as few as three, which have not always been the same families. Gentes are patrilineal, but women are not meaningfully impeded by this, and Lookshy is generally egalitarian about its treatment of the sexes, including for all senior posts. The most prominent elder of each gens is called the imperator, and is similar to a Realm matriarch save that there is no bias towards either sex. The Gentes Major are deeply entrenched in Lookshy’s leadership, and the overwhelming majority of the General Staff are from them. The gentes use their members’ positions to advance their political agendas, which can lead to different Directorates pursuing very different agendas and handing out budgets to very different projects, even if they appear publicly neutral. As you might guess, this creates an essentially constant imbalance of power. Once a gens has a member on the General Staff, they will tend to leverage it to their advantage, building up even more power. Losing a seat is a massive loss of power, as well. Legal adoptions disproportionately favor the Gentes Major. Lookshy’s politics are dominated by five factions. The Mercenaries are the most conservative and currently most powerful politically. They want to maintain the status quo, seeing it as the optimal path for the city. Yes, the return of the Shogunate is the goal, but they’re willing to wait for a proper heir to show up. In the meantime, they rely on Lookshy’s strong forces and mercenary contracts with other nations to ensure prosperity, and believe the best thing Lookshy can do is to just keep doing what it’s always done in protecting River Province. Interventionists argue that Lookshy should take a more active role in the region, and they interpret Nefvarin’s Directive to mean that the Seventh Legion is not meant to just protect the province but to establish hegemony, strengthening the Legion politically and militarily. They are seen as somewhat radical, but less so than the other factions. Many of their policy decisions overlap with Mercenary positions, especially since standard Lookshyan doctrine allows proactive intervention in foreign affairs if there seem to be consequences for the River Province, and the city has never been shy about training other regional forces. As a result, the Interventionists often seem to just be a natural extension of the army’s tendencies. Isolationists believe that Lookshy has been misinterpreting the intent of the founders, either by accident or by deliberately expanding the scope of ‘the Shogunate’ to include all of River Province. They believe that Lookshy cannot effectively police the entire region and should not be expected to, as they have enough issues in the city itself. Many would even argue the Seventh Legion should shift off its constant wartime footing of hypervigilance to a peacetime economy, pursuing longterm commerce. Most of their support is from the merchant families of the gentes, who have a vested interest in increasing trade and normalizing relations with the city’s traditional foes, such as the Realm. Imperialists believe that the absence of the Scarlet Empress means opportunity, and they want to use the chaos to advance Lookshy and its goals via aggressive expansion. A few have even put forth the idea of allying with key Dynastic Houses to take over the Realm’s lands. They want to make the Seventh Legion into an empire and start a new Shogunate. At present, they are not supported by many within Lookshy. Purists, on the other hand, are the faction of religious zealots. They believe Lookshy has stagnated because the General Staff are too pragmatic and too willing to overlook corruption in the name of survival. River Province, they say, can only be protected if it is saved from its own moral turpitude. They want to cleanse the depravity of the region, such as the open rule of humans by the gods of cities like Great Forks or the hive of criminality that is Nexus. While they are a fringe group at present, the Purists are gaining ground as the Solars return more and more visibly. Next time: Gens Amilar
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May 2, 2019 16:21
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Cooked Auto posted:So how many times has Katiya been thrown off her horse as someone mentions Otto's last name? While Katiya has fallen off of Andre many times while trying to learn, I'm afraid I don't get the connection.
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May 2, 2019 16:30
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Frau Blucher E:vvvvvvvv. GO WATCH IT NOW What are you waiting for. By popular demand fucked around with this message at 16:39 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 16:34
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Thank you. I was wondering if I missed something in a random surname I picked out of nowhere. I need to see Young Frankenstein.
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May 2, 2019 16:36
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Exactly. Felt like mention of random thunderclaps might've been too on the nose. Night10194 posted:I need to see Young Frankenstein. Yes you do.
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May 2, 2019 16:36
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Ratoslov posted:And yet they're a major threat to the Coalition States' armies. "You may have the military edge, Coalition States, but I have lumbar support.  "
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May 2, 2019 17:16
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PurpleXVI posted:Occasionally some of the RIFTS art manages to actually decently sell the game as a cool thing. Ramon Perez is brilliant.
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May 2, 2019 19:43
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Ratoslov posted:And yet they're a major threat to the Coalition States' armies. They'll get some better stuff later. Like, tomorrow. FBH991 posted:I've been waiting for Siege of Tolkeen for so long. Since Alien Rope Burn started to review rifts. I aim to not disappoint! This has been a goal of the reviews for a long time to get to this point. and also if nobody is dead sick of this by the end my work is not done, this train ain't stoppin' for nothin' potatocubed posted:Ramon Perez is brilliant. Yeah, he'll be a highlight of these books going forward. Also reviewing Rifts books has really helped me appreciate Kent Burles, and I also really like Michael Wilson's art, but that'll be later on.
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May 2, 2019 21:07
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Night10194 posted:I just figured they were telling you to live fast and not worry about dying, it's normal. yea 3E has taken a very firm stance of 'you're (for the most part) the big drat heroes, there's some above you in the cosmic sense but go balls out in everything because 99% of the time you guys are the big ballers of your world' and boy is it nice. Plus, yea I like that most of these 'big names' and such have an 'end to the story', not only is it good to avoid 'uuuh actually this province is under control of Big Dicked Lu Shang, he's better than you in every way because he's a 500 year old master warrior' but it also makes for adventure seeds. In my campaign finding the body of a great Dragonblood hero who died in an adventure at sea (and the sweet sweet relics she had with her, shhhh it's all about honoring her family we swear) branched into a major campaign storyline.
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May 2, 2019 23:07
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Cooked Auto posted:Exactly. Felt like mention of random thunderclaps might've been too on the nose. If it ever happens in your area, you need to see young frankenstein the musical. It is better then the original movie and that's no small feat.
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May 3, 2019 02:49
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I aim to not disappoint! This has been a goal of the reviews for a long time to get to this point. Back in the 1990s I was, for my sins, big into rifts (I was young then). I don't think I actually played a session but I read most of the books. Until the end of Siege Against Tolkeen, which practically killed my interest in the whole game line. Not to spoil people, but the end of it is one of the dumbest, most anticlimactic things I've ever seen. It's absolutely the worst.
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May 3, 2019 03:10
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Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 7: "Inside the Juggernaut is the mortal pilot, typically a human (60%) practitioner of magic or psychic who was low level, elderly or of poor health, but the 'brains' of the Juggernaut may also be a D-Bee (40%) with a similar O.C.C. or high level of P.P.E." Tolkeen's Machines of Destruction These are new, golem-ish creations designed to look like giant suits of armor, with smoke or other elemental forces leaking or exhausting out of them. Though they seem to have some intelligence, they can only speak short phrases or single words. Though Techno-Wizardry seems to be involved in their creature, some fear that Bio-Wizardry, Rune Magic, or other eeevil secrets were involved in their creation, possibly provided by a supernatural intelligence, demon lord, or the Splugorth. Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Siege on Tolkeen posted:Frighteningly, King Creed has neither dismissed or confirmed the rumor, saying only, "The Splugorth is no friend of mortal man, but who knows what desperate times may bring upon us?" When they get blown up, they mostly just burst into elemental force, and a human body and a bunch of wires are left behind. Clearly, somebody is sacrificed / implanted to make these, but whether or not they're consenting or retain their identity is unclear. Despite being intelligent, there's so mention of whether or not you can play one - so presumably not. They have no alignment listed, and only their IQ is defined - their Mental Endurance or Mental Affinity are unknown.  No handshakes. The Blazing Iron Juggernaut (910 MDC) is fire-themed damage sponge, able to deal rail-gun level damage with its fireballs or fire fists, but its spikes and laser eyes are nothing worth using. It can also shoot steam to blind the unprotected (boiling water in the face is unredeemingly evil, as people may remember from hydrokinesis) and has a bunch of low-level fire spells.  The Iron Giant's edgy teenager phase. The Thundering Iron Juggernaut (1130 MDC) is air and water themed, being all lightninged, but relies on mini-missiles as its main attack other than its low-level air-themed spells. It has the same steam burst as the Blazing Iron Juggernaut, and can shoot junky lasers and lightning. Once it runs out of missiles, though, its damage is hilariously low (50 damage from a flying kick is its most powerful attack, but uses two attacks) for its MDC value.  Don't try to count the spikes. That way lies madness. The Fury Iron Juggernaut (1340 MDC) is the current top-of-the-line jugglenut, and though its ion cannons are pretty trash, it can deal decent damage with its forearm blades (average 50 MDC) or stunlock people just be running them over repeatedly (a successful "run over" attack does around 21 MDC and subtracts 3 attacks from the target). It also gets some earth and lightning spells. However, despite being told how terrifying it is, it's also terrifyingly... vulnerable to air attack.  "Who puts eyes on a weapon of war and forgets to make them fire lasers? Nobody, that's who!" Lastly, the Ram Rocket Wagon (240 MDC) isn't a juggernaut but instead is just a Techno-Wizard creation. But it gets put in the same section, so here it is. It's literally just a trailer, and requires some sort of creature to lug it around. It has a "ram rocket" that does mini-nuke damage and short-range missiles, and also can fire fire bolts from eyes... built into the ram rocket. That seems like an oversight, since once it fires off all its missiles, it's unarmed, but I'm just a simple suburban reader, not some fancy genius Techno-Wizard. Like the Automatons of Rifts World Book 16: Federation of Magic, most of these suffer from being able to take it, but not dish it out. When your RPG designs can take 27-37 hits from themselves before they fall over, you're in for some massively sloggy fights. Palladium combat is already slow, but these seemed designed to stop the war by making nobody want to play in it. While we'll get to see them a lot, as one of Tolkeen's major new weapons, their origins will never be properly illuminated. Next: Erin Tarn 2: Pedantic Overview.
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May 3, 2019 06:12
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Hey, folks, 800 posts behind, will return next week with YET MORE DEGENESIS. In the meantime, I think I discovered the origin of Morsliebs' name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsleben_radioactive_waste_repository
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May 3, 2019 09:47
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sexpig by night posted:yea 3E has taken a very firm stance of 'you're (for the most part) the big drat heroes, there's some above you in the cosmic sense but go balls out in everything because 99% of the time you guys are the big ballers of your world' and boy is it nice. EDIT: Both in the mechanical power it gave you, and in the fact that entry requirements for essence 6+ started at "be hundreds of years old" so you couldn't even get there yourself anytime soon?
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May 3, 2019 10:38
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JcDent posted:In the meantime, I think I discovered the origin of Morsliebs' name: -Kill bill sirens go off in my head- MOTHER FUCKER.
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May 3, 2019 11:27
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What Fire Has Wrought: Gensetics Gens Amilar, the Air That Rushes Towards Tomorrow, is a relatively new Air-Aspect bloodline to the Gentes Major. Its founder, Vondy Beulen, was a former Realm general who denounced his work and defected to Lookshy with the bulk of his forces during one of the Realm’s centuries-back attempts at invading the River Province. His descendants are now the greatest scholars of Lookshy, renowned for their strategists, engineers, theologians and teachers. Gens Amilar’s reputation for intellectualism and planning have been vital to ensuring the growth and legacy of Lookshy. While Amilars are often brilliant thinkers who are more than willing to try new approaches, they also have a reputation for turning from tradition simply because they find it restrictive and also for ignoring morality in pursuit of knowledge. Their strategists have been known to suggest tactical use of poison and disease, not only for military ends but just to further their study of toxicology or epidemiology, and their sorcerers are known for frequent demon summoning. (Not that that’s especially rare, among sorcerers.) The gens has also produced a number of skilled field occultists, often found exploring the ruins of River Province in search of First Age ordnance to bolster the dwindling stockpiles of the Seventh Legion. They also collect rare tomes and lesser wonders, in hopes of studying them and gaining useful insights. Of the Gentes Major, the Amilar are easily the least invested in maintaining the status quo. Many are Interventionist, with far-reaching plans for River Province. If seeing those through means sacrificing a commitment to archaic traditions and taking a more direct role in the world? That’s fine. Others are Isolationist, seeing the wars of the Scavenger Lands as a wasteful distraction from research. The sohei that draw from the gens have often been intellectuals as well, focusing more on the ideology of the Immaculate Faith than on its effects on real human beings. The Purists have found this to be fertile ground for recruits, and many Amilar sohei are members of the Purist faction in recent years. They seek to increase Lookshy’s influence in the River Province not to materially benefit the city proper but in order to use the Seventh Legion as a sword to enforce the Immaculate doctrine and defeat heretics. Gens Karal, the Fire Burning Brightest, is probably the most well-know of the Gentes Major, a Fire-Aspect bloodline that has become a symbol of Lookshy’s ideals. They are the fire that the people of Lookshy gather around for warmth and safety, able to trace their origins all the way back to the first liaison officer of the Deheleshen camp. They have retained his strong sense of duty, and while they are neither the wealthiest nor most powerful of the gentes, they are easily the most respected. Even their enemies praise them, for their conduct on and off the field is almost always above reproach. They do, however, have quick tempers and a very protective attitude toward the family’s prestige. In a city already known for martial excellence, more Karal scions are career soldiers and officers than any other gens, and the pressure to excel is strong – especially for those that go into the military. Gens Karal is by and large straightforward about its political goals and intentions for the city, but they are by no means bad at politics. They tend to be quite good at navigating the web of allegiances that binds the Seventh Legion and River Province as a whole, negotiating truces with the same skill they perform strategic maneuvers. Operations and Liaison Directorates are their most common employment if they choose not to remain in direct military service after their compulsory tour. They are passionate about the needs of the city’s people and the greater good of the province, but also are often the source of equally passionate opinions about what those needs actually are and how to best address them. They often have very strong opinions about when and how to intervene against aggressors or what side of a trade war to support. Quite a few Interventionist Karals want to extend Legion power and authority in the region, but they’re prone to disagreement over specifics. Most of the family, however, is staunchly Mercenary, happy with the status quo of stability. Regardless of how they may fight over politics in private, though, the gens has a strong tradition of presenting a unified public front to the rest of the city. Gens Maheka, the Earth Unbroken by Armies, is the dependable spine of Lookshy. The Earth-Aspect bloodline has produced some of the finest builders and crafters of the city, descended from one of the original combat engineers of the Seventh Legion. They are renowned throughout the province as creators of elaborate mechanisms, fortifications and artifacts, while their more commercial members oversee the smithies and foundries that produce the tools of the Seventh Legion. No matter what, a Maheka handles problems with utmost care, and they are often very slow to decide on a course of action. Once they decide, though, they use all the force at their disposal to make their vision real. Sometimes, their slowness to act comes at the worst times, and if they are pushed beyond the limits of their moral code, they are often stubborn enough to dig in and refuse to do anything. Other gentes find this extremely frustrating, especially when a fast response is urgent. The Mahekas are well-known conservatives, though they consider it rude to bluntly announce their political opinions. Instead, they allow the other gentes to argue over details while quietly adhering to the letter of Legion ideology and the ways of the Immaculate Faith. Of the five Gentes Major, they are probably the most loyal to the city and its ancient traditions. Many of the city’s sohei and sorcerer-exorcists are Mahekas. They tend to be extreme supporters of the Mercenary faction, seeing it as the best way to be true to the ideals of the Lookshy Directive. They have worked for centuries to achieve that goal, and there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken. Certainly, some of the gens probably does not agree about how best to run Lookshy, but they’re smart enough to keep that to themselves and avoid the disapproval of their imperator. Gens Teresu, the Water Flowing with Jade and Silver, established their control of Lookshy’s naval forces early in its history. The Water-Aspect bloodline derives from a Shogunate admiral who led his command from the North to the Inland Sea in order to join the Seventh Legion at Deheleshen. They maintain their wealth by investing in expansion of Lookshy’s sea trade and the Legion’s influence in other regions, making them vital to the city’s economy. They are the wealthiest and most widely traveled of the Gentes Major, and their shipping empire is what keeps the city going, bringing in riches from the Yanaze River and the Inland Sea. They are on friendly terms with the Guild, working extensively with Guild factors to make money, but the Teresu elders are confident they can keep the upper hand in those dealings. They tend to be rather less concerned with morality than other gentes when business gets involved, and aren’t overly concerned with law so much as appearance and standing. Most outside the family believe they are obsessive about keeping up appearances to the point of improper flaunting of their wealth. Politically, the naval and commercial branches of the family do not agree with each other. The career naval officers are staunchly Mercenary, seeing the current state of Lookshy as acceptable and in no need of change. The merchants, however, are strong proponents of Isolationism. They want to see Lookshy withdraw from its stance as the peacekeeping force of River Province, which they feel drains the city coffers uselessly. They’d much prefer Lookshy refocused on becoming an economic giant. Gens Yushuto, the Wood Whose Roots Grow Deep, is a Wood-Aspect line descended from a sorcerer-engineer of early Lookshy. It sees itself as the nurturing roots of the city, spreading growth and contributing in unseen and often underappreciated but vital ways. They are known for their generosity and humility, with cool heads and excellent social skills that lead them to often serve as mediators in disputes. On the other hand, they are often inconveniently soft-hearted at the most inopportune times. The elders of the gens encourage its members to seek out their own paths, contributing to the city’s greater good in their own ways. They believe self-improvement and personal growth are the best way to maintain Lookshy’s goals and stability, which means they end up having scions that excel in all kinds of jobs. Still, Lookshy is ultimately a martial culture, and most end up serving the Seventh Legion somehow – as infantry, strategoi, justiciars, sorcerers or more. The Yushoto are most common in the ranger corps, as it tends to benefit from their broad skillsets. Due to their open, relaxed approach, Gens Yushuto has no predominant political leanings. The majority are Mercenary, but it’s not a large majority, and every political faction is represented within the gens. Unlike Gens Karal, however, the Yushutos are more open to letting all of their members do whatever they want. The one thing they forbid is to do things detrimental to the Seventh Legion. Thus, no one expects any real political unity from Gens Yushuto. Next time: The Gentes Minor
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May 3, 2019 13:27
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 Etherscope #1: I Hate This Game and That's Wonderful Etherscope was one of many, many pieces of d20 material published in the heyday of D&D 3E. Published by Goodman Games in 2005, it was written by Nigel McClelland and Ben Redmond as a steampunk fork of d20 Modern. It promised “Etherscape adventures in an age of industry, intrigue, and imperialism”. It had high production values for the time and even managed to get a few supplements and a second printing in 2007. Sounds decent enough, right? So why do I hate it? And what's so good about that? I was eliding over it earlier, but when I spoke about “pieces of d20 material” I meant “d20 shovelware”. Etherscope was by no means the only mess published by Goodman Games in that era; remember the Confederate apologia of Broncosaurus Rex? Both authors here are British, probably from Manchester (more on that later), so instead of buying into the Lost Cause this book talks up colonialism and British exceptionalism. I doubt much of it is intentional, but it's still there and reading it still feels kinda slimy. Etherscope desperately wanted to be alternate history with a veneer of steampunk, but as the setting shows it's straight up historical fanfic, and the subtext of the fanfic they wrote is plenty odious. Not only does that include the colonialism and conservatism that likes to pass itself off as “steampunk” (aka cogservatism), but there are also strains of cyberpunk and On top of that the rules text isn't just garden-variety d20 schlock, but instead is a special blend of cluelessness from its designers. This was the part I really enjoyed ripping into. I spent several years posting on the 3E optimization boards (aka 339) and got very good at separating d20 wheat from chaff. And drat does a lot of this look like the scatterbrained concepts of the 3E Monk, CW Samurai, or 3.0 psionic combat. When I said that the tone has an uneasy blend of cogservatism, cyberpunk, and mysticism, all of those are mechanically enshrined. There's a subsystem for getting steampunk-styled attachments, one for exploring cyberspace, and one for using occult powers. None of them interact with each other. The result is that there are just way too many things to occupy limited space on your character sheet. The game has no clue of its gameplay loop, and pinning that down would really have helped to prune and/or refine its individual parts. In short, I love this book as a prime example of “this is exactly what you shouldn't do”. Next: I Won't Try to Write Manc NGDBSS fucked around with this message at 18:05 on May 4, 2019 |
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May 4, 2019 00:48
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Looking forward to the weird cyberpunk poo poo, I reckon that'll be the worst implemented of the three pillars.
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May 4, 2019 00:52
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Yessss, I love complete and total negative example books.
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May 4, 2019 01:08
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Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 8: "The woman who can make demons stop and listen to her words and make empires like the Coalition States tremble." It's time for some more  Erin Tarn . This time in fiction form! When you're King, you can claim any scraps you find to dress in! With the implied cooperation of King Robert Creed's Cyber-Knight bodyguards, Erin Tarn barges into his... throne room? War room? A room he's in. She's arrived to implore that Robbie take his people and flee to the west, but the king won't hear of it. He insists that they need to stand and fight, that they can't run in fear. In it, Robbie is portrayed largely as a petulant maniac, even as he points out Erin Tarn speaks boldly but rarely does anything of substance. Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:"Watch your mouth, woman! I am King now, not one of your school boys!" She eventually talks him down, and for a moment he sounds uncertain, and apologizes to her. Despite the fact he finds her concern touching, he will proceed with the war. It's played as tragic, and it's a decent bit of writing towards the end, but later on- Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:However, despite the gentle moment they shared, King Creed has become cold, calculating and ruthless. A murky reflection of the very man he despises, Emperor Karl Prosek. Yeah, just after reading about how he's conflicted, it takes the time to reassure us that he's just as bad as Mega-Hitler.   I like Burles' art but using him for both magic and Coalition cities means they essentially look the same. We get a very brief overview of Tolkeen - it has a tall fortress wall surrounding it, but also has massive towers and domes. A King's Tower serves as a palace, bureaucratic offices, and has the "University of Learning and Wisdom" at the base. There are three ley lines encircling the city in a triangle, providing potent mystical power. The king of Tolkeen is, of course, Robert Leonard Creed, an arch-mage appointed by the "Circle of Twelve". He's a skilled leader and strategist, but carries a mad anger against the Coalition because... wait, why? I mean, they're bad, but he doesn't really have a backstory or motivation. There are rumors of him seeking an alliance with the Federation of Magic or Atlantis in case you didn't get the fact that he's turning eeevil. Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:But then rumors are as abundant as widows during times of war. The Circle of Twelve is the council of mages that appoints the king, but who appoints them? Well, nevermind that. We'll get some details on a few of them here, but given they all get writeups later, we can wait for those. (We'll be waiting a long, long while.) The primary member to mention is the chief villainous personage of Tolkeen, Corin Scard, who is the supreme commander of Tolkeen's armed forces. Also, he's eeevil, which is emphasized by a rumor that he has the spirit of one of Emperor Prosek's deceased sons in a "soul gem". This has, naturally, put him at the top of the Coalition's wanted list, even though it may not be true. Is it true? We just don't know.  Knights and Nazis can agree on murdering Dragons? We also get some details on Freehold, City of Dragons This is a city ruled by dragons, and other creatures are second-class citizens. While non-dragons aren't necessarily treated badly, they get no authority or participation in government, and the city has a "cold" and "oppressive" feel. They're one of the main allies for Tolkeen, seeking to humble the "impudent humans" of the Coalition. That's literally all we get, despite the fact you'd think this would be one of the key places to define, because... Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Siege on Tolkeen posted:Author's Note: More details on King Creed, Warlord Scard, the Circle of Twelve, the city of Tolkeen, Freehold and surrounding communities will be presented in the books to follow. This is just to whet your appetite and provide some background. Chapter One in the Coalition Wars only sets the stage for the start of the war and things to come. — Kevin Siembieda It's gonna be a looong road ahead.  The unwritten cost of evil sorcery is fashion-blindness. Crisis Timeline By Kevin Siembieda and Bill Coffin NEWS OF THE CENTURY
 Rifts' Youngblood. There are some oddities here: though before the "Book of Ten" was some otherdimensional artifact they had to translate... Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:Little is know about this impressive spell book, not its history, who wrote it or where it originates. Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:The text surrounding these spells appears to cover a range of about a dozen alien languages, none of which are familiar to any of Tolkeen's sages. Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:Sensing that his time was extremely limited, the last thing Gravander did was assemble his apprentices to his bed chamber where he lay dying. One by one, he taught each of them a single Spell of Legend from his extraordinary store of arcane knowledge. (That his entire spell knowledge was not preserved is considered one of Tolkeen's greatest tragedies.) Then he helped them commit these spells to an enchanted book Gravander had won in another dimension and brought home as a trophy. When the last spell was committed to the book, Gravander gave a great sigh and passed away. Tolkeen's finest hero was gone, but his spirit would live on in what would become the first of Tolkeen's mighty arsenal of magic artifacts: The Book of Ten.  Don't worry, there's a bucket of water off-screen for him to rest his tail in... filled with piranhas. There's also just a the weird notion that, instead of slowly being corrupted by hatred as implied so far, King Robert Creed is implied to have been corrupted all along with no preamble here, doing deals with demons over a decade before the Coalition seriously threatens invasion. Creed is already wafer-thin as far as characters go, and this seems to rob him of any unique characterization. Of course, that'll all be completely contradicted later, because this is Palladium, and they have a memory of a... poo poo, what was it? Next: The Hitler Goof Brigade.
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May 4, 2019 16:21
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I don't think 'these people have an ideology and state entirely based on exterminating people like me, so we must prepare to fight and destroy them as best we can' counts as an unreasonable reason to have a grudge against somebody.
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May 4, 2019 16:56
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