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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:Warhammer has entirely one sexy vampire, and that's Isabella. Even Vlad looked like a fuckin freak the stronger he got. Mannfred von Carstein says hi. Very smugly.
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Dec 10, 2020 23:52
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Pass for Human says otherwise! Vlad can look like Gary Oldman whenever he wants. He has, in fact, probably crossed oceans of time to be with Isabella and she is totally into it.
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Dec 10, 2020 23:53
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Cooked Auto posted:Mannfred von Carstein says hi. Very smugly.  What, this fuckin guy? Handsome Squidward But Nosferatu?
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Dec 10, 2020 23:54
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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:
He's just going through a phase, trying and failing to get people to take him more seriously as a Dark Lord. He'll be back to his widow's peak and cape in a few years, you'll see.
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Dec 10, 2020 23:55
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Night10194 posted:Pass for Human says otherwise! poo poo gently caress I forgot Pass for Human, and especially that he's described in Vampire Wars as looking exactly like Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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Dec 10, 2020 23:55
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Vlad and Isabella just being genuinely in love and having a completely healthy, mutually respectful relationship while thousands die around them and all of Sylvannia is like 'awww that's so nice' is one of the best parts of Hams Vamps.
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Dec 10, 2020 23:57
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Then again I was thinking more in terms of AoS than Fantasy considering we were talking about Soulbound. Which in that case we have to swap out Isabella for Neferata.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:05
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Night10194 posted:Vlad and Isabella just being genuinely in love and having a completely healthy, mutually respectful relationship while thousands die around them and all of Sylvannia is like 'awww that's so nice' is one of the best parts of Hams Vamps. Vlad made Sylvania rich as hell, they loved that guy. Oh no, I have to go march in my elector count's army and kill a bunch of people to put him on the throne, it must be Tuesday in the Empire.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:08
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Oh, I meant everyone else dying. And then of course, their family drama with their kids was a concern of entire nations, because that's how vampires do. Such is the allure of playing a Hams Vamp. Getting to be someone who Extremely Matters, individually, even if you somehow don't have an army (like a Blood Dragon). It's a fun change of pace from being a ratcatcher.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:09
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Isn't Mannfred literally responsible for all this Age of Sigmar business? Is Vlad still out there?
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Dec 11, 2020 00:14
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Mors Rattus posted:It tires me as well. I wish there was more interactivity with these guys and hope if Soulbound gets to Death, they manage to give that. The rest of your party looking on in horror as your teeth tear into the corpses of the freshly slain bandits. As you turn to them, blood and viscera still dropping from your teeth, you shout "RIGHT HO, GOOD CHAPS. BANG-UP JOB ON THE BATTLE WE HAD. DONT MIND ME, I'M TENDING TO THE BODIES SO THEY CAN BE PROPERLY BURIED. drat DISRESPECTFUL TO JUST LEAVE THEM HERE ON THE ROAD, DON'T YOU AGREE" They smile and nod.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:15
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Yeah that's kind of what I assumed was up with the Flesh-Eaters, that they would have more tattered finery and insisting they're handsome knights. Don Quixote but with cannibalism, basically. Their horrible courts would be awful, but not just a completely uncoordinated gore smear - have a knightly court that almost holds together, except that the meat they serve is not what you'd expect and everything is decaying.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:18
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Nessus posted:Isn't Mannfred literally responsible for all this Age of Sigmar business? Yes, it's Mannfred's Fault (which is why Nagash keeps punishing him.) Vlad and Isabella haven't been mentioned at all, but if I were to do a new Death plotline that's where I'd go.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:32
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ECLIPSE PHASE - THINK BEFORE ASKING - PT 4: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE (2 of 2) Welcome back to Think Before Asking, an adventure for Eclipse Phase 1E. In this update, we’ll finish our business in Phelan’s Recourse, and figure out where that antimatter warhead went. When we last left off, we’d found that Rinlog Wodd was the “home base” of the Landau Landau, the shuttle that carried the antimatter warhead we’re chasing.  The Landau Landau Itakura Shigeme and Landau Landau Itakura Shigeme is the owner and operator of the Landau Landau. She’s originally from the inner-system, but fled to the outer rim to escape hypercapitalism and become and Extropian (a catch all term used by Eclipse Phase for any form of market anarchism). She’s very protective of her clients’ privacy, but can be persuaded to share her passenger and cargo manifest in exchange for “hefty promises” from the player characters. This is a case where the text could be a little more helpful. The author is trying to communicate that Itakura is more interested in trading favors than physical goods (because of the whole reputation economy thing), but concrete suggestions for what she actually wants would really help the GM. If you make friends with her, she’ll share her passenger manifest. Think Before Asking, Page 10 posted:Heidi Powers, Dante Effervesce, Ran Daoning and Mustafa Al-Ikud (A group of biodesigners from Tethys going to Meathab for research. ) But first, the text tells us more about The Passengers The biodesigners came to Phelan’s recourse to trade recipes for drugs. They were popular with the locals, using their skills to benefit the community and accumulating a positive reputation. The text says they “used some of their rep to host a big orgy”, which raises questions about how you actually use reputation in the world of Eclipse Phase. At first glance, it seems like they were just popular people, and used that popularity to invite a bunch of people to their fuckparty. But the text specifically says “used some of their rep” - does that mean they spent it like a currency, paying people to come have sex with them? Or did they “spend” reputation in the same way you spend social capital to make your friends do things? Like how everyone has a chance to pitch something for game night, but if you win the argument it reduces your ability to recommend something in the near future, because “we always do what you want”. This isn’t a question the official Eclipse Phase books answer - it was never clear how exactly reputation worked in the fiction, aside from the mechanical ways it could go up and down. This debate is irrelevant, because the biodesigners are a red herring. They didn’t bring any cargo with them, or leave with any. I just thought it was an interesting aside. The Izulu delegation likewise did not have any cargo. The text says one of them “made a fool of himself at the Stills”, which is a reference to a throwaway line from the Rimward splat about how Phelan’s Recourse has some famous local beverages. These guys are also just here to add flavor. The Titania Christian Engineer’s Union came to Phelan’s on a religious retreat. They visited Zhang Retreat, a secretive gnostic-daoist monastery where nothing interesting really happens. Or so they’d like you to believe. The Titania Christian Engineers Union On the surface, the TCEU looks like a trade organization from Titania, the largest moon of Uranus, responsible for a handful of infrastructure projects in the outer system. That’s a front, which the player characters can pierce with some bureaucratic digging. The TCEU is a cover for a black ops team of Ultimates - a cult of space samurai who often work as mercenaries for other factions in the Eclipse Phase setting. They darkcasted (sent a copy of their minds via a secret data transmission) in from Xiphos (the Ultimate headquarters), grabbed a shuttle to Fornjot (carrying the bomb), killed the inhabitants so that the AI researchers could occupy the place, and hosed off back to Titan and grabbing a darkcast back to Xiphos. They left a nasty trap in New Quebec for anyone following them, by spreading a bunch of rumors leading to the Saint Catherine Tong, one of the main crime syndicates on the frozen moon. Even if the players don’t breach the TCEU’s cover identity, they can still pick up an important clue here. The “engineers” caught a shuttle from the habitat Nicotine Eldritch out to the tiny moonlet Fornjot, carrying crates of unknown equipment. But we’ll get there in a second. If the players follow the automated cargo skiff from Rinlog Wodd, it takes them to Storage Unit 13:14 This floating warehouse - basically just a big cube with teleoperated cargo drones and some lasers for shooting down debris - is owned by the Mechames. These guys are a bondage subculture based on voluntary “slavery” - basically a big S&M LARP vaguely inspired by the Gor novels. The main point of contact for Unit 13:14 is Master Irma C. Bunnel - all the Mechame “masters” sleeve in male morphs with big muscles and human leather codpieces and so on, regardless of their internal gender identity. Bunnel can be bribed to tell the player characters what happened to the container with the bomb: it was delivered to the habitat Nicotine Eldritch. If the players don’t feel like paying the pervert, they can easily hack the Mechames’ database and find out where the crate went. The scenario text calls out the Mechames for their lax information security, courtesy of masochistic slaves deliberately doing a lovely job setting up the firewall so the masters will punish them. However the players found the next link in the chain, it’s time for a visit to Nicotine Eldritch Hab Think Before Asking, Page 12 posted:Nicotine Eldritch is run by the Onuphrio Muralto, a peculiar grouping interested in techno-spiritism, creeping out visitors and interactive architecture. The habitat is mainly built out of black fullerene and graphene compounds, producing what looks like a black, sprawling Victorian ghost house extending in zero gravity. It has balconies in all directions, twisted spires, gargoyles, diamond windows letting in the van Saturn light and even spider webs (actually to catch and analyse nanomachines in the air). The interior is escheresque, with stairs twisting in strange topologies, long hallways where perspective is warped using clever optics and dark Victorian sitting rooms where every side is simultaneously floor, wall and ceiling. Child-like robot creatures, injurons, creep around the mansion using the numerous hidden passages in the walls acting as sentinels, pets and security. The layout slowly shifts when nobody is looking. Faded or glitching holographic paintings not only look at visitors, but somehow seem to represent scenes, friends or acquaintances the hab is not supposed to know about. At this point, the Sentinels may need a little help Getting to Fornjot It’s tough, and a bit of a railroad if I’m being honest. The players can just hire the Fleshly Diatribe again, but “if someone is cautious they will realize the need for stealth”. How do they achieve stealth? There’s only one suggestion in the scenario text: ask Firewall for a cloaked ship. The author says “Getting Firewall to supply the ship is a pretty hefty service” but that it’s available for the mission nonetheless. Which is good, because the book doesn’t give any other options here. There’s a low level trend of this throughout the adventure - stuff that the GM is supposed to make challenging or a hassle, but could accidentally shut down the scenario if the players can’t push through it. Technically, getting services from Firewall is a Networking: Firewall test, and if the players don’t have enough i-rep (the Firewall reputation network) to mach the difficulty level of the request (which for a “hefty service” would be quite high), they’ll be rolling at a significant negative modifier. And if examined too closely, it blows further holes in the metaphysics of the reputation economy. I call in a favor from Firewall to use the ship… while completing a mission for Firewall, something I’m already doing as a favor to Firewall. Regardless, the cloaked ship is named Ship. It’s piloted by an AGI - a thinking machine that’s about as smart as a person, not the kind that can recursively make itself smarter. It has a lot of personality for something that has no personality. Think Before Asking, Page 13 posted:“OK, Ship. Stay outside the 1000 km radius. If we die horribly in there, signal for help. Otherwise wait for us.” So the players either board Ship, or they find some other creative solution, and it’s off to Fornjot. We’ll get there next post, when we explore act 2 of Think Before Asking: Baneful advice from the Wolf’s Father.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:43
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Joe Slowboat posted:Yeah that's kind of what I assumed was up with the Flesh-Eaters, that they would have more tattered finery and insisting they're handsome knights.
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Dec 11, 2020 00:50
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mellonbread posted:"Hindoubills" Well I learned a thing today : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bills_(subculture)
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Dec 11, 2020 01:34
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A little of the fiction I've read for Flesh Eater Courts shows that sometimes the mask slips for them and they come close to seeing what's really going on, but yeah I'd love to see more "tarnished nobility" and "almost doing the right thing" in their fiction. The trouble is that they're based on basically four model kits from old Fantasy and one new character model, so they are a bit limited on how they can actually look on the tabletop. I suspect they're leery of having a bunch of cool art for models that don't actually exist- that can be a real enthusiasm killer, and GW thrives on enthusiasm for new models.
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Dec 11, 2020 01:56
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Night10194 posted:Sanguine is a company where I can always say there's an actual logic to what they're doing, that whatever they're putting out is playtested and pretty carefully designed, and that it functions. Also Albedo remains a fascinating 'path not taken' for Cardinal and similar systems' development. In this business, that's some pretty high praise. Thank you! That warms my heart. I hope you enjoy Bleeding Edge. Do let me know your feedback, I'm quite curious.
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Dec 11, 2020 02:20
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 Red Markets: A Game of Economic Horror Part 4: Emergence Events and the Romero Effect Let's talk about the outbreak. Emergence Events Remember how Blight is magic zombie juice? Here’s another piece of magic zombie tricks: there is no patient zero. More accurately there’s a lot of patient zeroes, none of whom can get tracked effectively, that appeared across the world within minutes to an hour (China, Pakistan, Germany, and Russia are all acknowledged as initial appearance sites, as well as California and the rest of the west coast). So no quarantine, the world was immediately hosed.  Yes, it’s this unreadable in PDF format too; this is 100% zoom. Nobody I've found has a high-res version that’s cleaned up at all. Just look at the pretty colors. Green is Blight-free, blue is contested, red is lost territory. White dots are nuclear detonations, though some are unaccounted for. Gnat gives us a rundown of the world, with a couple weird consistency bits, that is promptly never referenced outside this section again except America and Canada. Separated out as the book does, by region:
The Romero Effect and Responses Cognitive biases and memes kept people from caching on until it’s too late. Gnat breaks down every single one, but the summary is pretty straightforward; nobody wanted to believe the apocalypse was here, people wanted to stay comfortable and not risk anything. But some people definitely responded, right? Some heroes of the outbreak? quote:The civil rights movement aimed at curbing the epidemic of racist police violence accomplished one thing: it made police a lot more enthusiastic about covering up their executions. Hospitals, of all things, survived thanks to the quick hot strain turnover & medical professionalism. Paramedics were massacred, firefighters substituted, firefighters got massacred, cities caught fire. And then we’ve got… another block, that reads differently three years after publishing. quote:True to form, commerce made things simultaneously better and worse. By the time of the Crash, the US had the worst employee sick leave and personal time policy amongst all the industrialized nations. A lot of desperate families careened into the parking lot of their closest camping superstores and mega-groceries to find the buildings fully-staffed - their familiarity with facilities and inventory saved a lot of people. But while it was great if you worked in a gun store or easily defensible industrial complex, there wasn’t much comfort for those working hundreds of other professions. For every big box superstore destined to become an enclave, there were a dozen fast food joints demanding their workers leave the house and flood the area with Vector targets. Essential worker mood there. Schools, prisons, homeless shelters, and mental hospitals are all mass infection zones. Stokes definitely got that one right.  quote:If every so-called “journalist” burned in hell for their part in the Crash, I’d consider the injustice suffered by the few good ones the price of doing business. Journalists helped make everything go to hell, of course, by straight-up lying to everyone about what's going on for clicks. Red Markets hates media. Red Markets also basically called COVID coverage with its criticisms of fake news, sensationalization, and politicization. Social media gets aimed at too; clout-chasing people killed or infected trying to scare people and turn the outbreak into a joke, 4chan troll types "spoofed evacuation orders and safe zone announcements so they could watch people get eaten for the lulz"... yeah, average people aren't any good either. Remember, everyone is awful, guys! Right at the end you get a little block that could come out of coverage published today. quote:The more serious things got - the more undeniably real - the faster the tide of misinformation multiplied. By the time no one could deny what was happening, everyone had lost someone close to the lies. The louder we screamed, the less intelligible things became. ...so the answer was to nationalize the news and strip all the editorializing, which is where “casualties” as a term comes from - couldn’t talk about zombies, so “casualties” became the official, bloodless line, and everyone who died or turned became just casualty numbers. The people abandoned in the Loss just took it as an official name to avoid the stress or anger of using the real word. I actually like this justification for not using “zombie”! It’s also where the “Taker” nickname from the beginning of the book comes from; “taking casualties”. Finally, we’re back into good worldbuilding briefly. I’m continuing to rag on the setting a bit. But Stokes at least to some degree gets the actual progression of a zombie outbreak and the reasons denial crops up, and paints the events worryingly well. This could still probably do with being about 20% shorter, and it wouldn’t lose much of anything in the process. Going forward I'm condensing these setting overviews. Next time: Reaction and Policy, or (choose whatever subtitle you like, they're all applicable to some degree): "How the West was SkyeAuroline fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 03:00
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Flesh-Eater Courts Na na na na na na na na, Bat Man Courtiers are the hulking, mutated monsters created when a mordant is fed on abhorrant blood directly, often over time. The top rank are the Vhargulf Courtiers, huge bat-human creatures who represent the most trusted of the officers of the court and the most likely to serve as its generals when the abhorrants are busy. Even when they fly into battle as a second rather than in charge, they howl and shriek to call forth the ghouls like some kind of marshal or commander. They are also chosen to lead the Royal Mordants that serve as the ghoul elite forces, and some courts honor their lead Varghulf Courtier with the name Marquis Gruelsop after the one in the First Court. In battle, a Vhargulf's fury is greater than any of the mordants, matched and exceeded only by the vampiric kings. They move faster than the eye, and a terrible hunger for flesh and blood grips them at all times. They tear into their foes and force them into their throats at once. Packs of mordants tend to follow them, trying to keep pace and snatching up any meat that gets hurled away from the Vhargulf's mouth. Feeding heals and invigorates a Vhargulf Courtier, repairing damage to their body. They can even feed on magic, consuming the ambient energies left by the dark sorcery of the abhorrants. Necromancy wielded around them strengthens them even beyond their already overly muscled forms' normal.  Crypt Haunter Courtiers are half-rotting creatures, some of the physically strongest of the mordants. The blood of the Ghoul ings transforms them, and specifically these are the ones who get given it directly and with no mixing with human flesh. While a pure drink of vampire blood tends to overwhelm most mordants and drive them to tear themselves apart as they momentarily realize what they've become, the Crypt Haunters are what happens when someone survives. They are reborn with far greater strength, and they become the vanguard of the ghoul oacks. They lead the way into battle, coating themselves in the blood and viscera of those they attack. They lead the ghouls known as Crypt Horrors, who obey them unquestioningly and see them as fearless, armored commanders of great nobility. Crypt Haunters are highly trusted by their kings, and the mordants both respect and fear them. They have great autonomy by mordant standards, and among some courts, the highest of them is given the name Lord Liverbelch and set at the head of a full pack of horrors and ghouls, operating on the field without requiring direction. When they return from battle, it is also the duty of the Crypt Haunters to prepare the royal feasts and test the dishes before they are given to the king. (Translate this into horrific undead monster as you see fit.) Crypt Ghast Courtiers are chosen from the most intelligent mrodants, cunning and vicious, to serve as field commanders. Their bucks hunch over and twist to allow them high mobility, and their first goal is always to curry favor with their ruler and present him with gifts of meat. They are servile and sycophantic, but it often earns them gifts and titles as medals for their service. They see themselves as knights clad in glory, and they typically lead the ghoul 'infantry' and scouts. Most of them derive from sages, heroes or wizards who, in desperation, turned to cannibalism. Some were even once enemies of the Flesh-Eaters, defeated and then transformed by the madness of their foes. Of all the courtiers, it is the Crypt Ghasts who retain the most of their old selves, and this is reflected in quirks that they enforce in the behavior of their underlings. A Crypt Ghast who, in their old life, was particularly gluttonous might lead their servants in massive gluts of flesh that are set up in the manner of the feasts they once enjoyed. Those who were cruel might have their followers torture and carve up the corpses of those they killed, believing them to be living prisoners, while those who were cunning ensure their ghouls hide and ambush with shocking skill. Crypt Infernal Courtiers are chosen from the ranks of the Crypt Flayers, elevating those who perform deeds of heroism. They are honored with banquets in which they are fed from the flesh of zombie dragons. This mutates the Crypt Infernals, putting them through a horrifically painful transformation that leaves with the ability to belch forth toxic clouds, much like the dragons whose meat they ate. They also grow batlike wings, allowing them to fly. They are put in charge of the Deadwatch, the personal guard of the king. Their senses sharpen massively, allowing them to smell enemies miles off, and they become immensely strong. Crypt Infernals are often found flying alongside those Abhorrant Ghoul Kings that prefer to ride to war on the winged mounts they favor, the Terrorgheists and Zombie Dragons. They shriek and dive through the air to earn the king's attention, leading daring attacks on any foe they spot. They dive in, bite, and then fly off, an organ or limb gripped in their mouth and blood dripping from their talons. Few can survive such an onslaught, and those who do are often dragged to the abhorrants to be prisoners. Such prisoners never survive long under the "interrogations" of the Infernals, which often just means tearing their heads open and eating the brains.  Under the courtiers are the masses of mordants. Crypt Horrors are some of the largest, huge creatures who stick their flesh with jagged bones and blades. They believe themselves knights atop noble steeds, though in truth their bodies are simply so large that they mistake their greater height for being mounted. They are loyal, eager warriors that roar with fury and kill with ease. They often have hunched backs, but they still tower over the lesser ghouls, and their strength is enough to tear organs out and smash through armor easily. Each one has been fed a little of their king's own blood, though not enough to mark them as a courtier. This is what causes their bodies to expand so massively. Crypt Horrors typically lead the charges of the Flesh-Eater forces, sprinting ahead of their fellows to break the enemy line. Their unnatural resilience and strength allow them to fight many at once while receiving little damage, as their wounds heal very quickly - sometimes even trapping enemy weapons in their own flesh. This, too, is a result of the vampiric blood within them, but it comes at a painful price. A Crypt Horror is constantly growing, their body twisting unnaturally. They grow extra bones that jut out through their flesh - spare vertebrae, ribs and so on. They must be constantly tended by their fellows to maintain their ability to move, and it is their bones that are most often used to make 'medals' for the favorites of the abhorrants. Because of their loyal service in battle, this care is given freely, as are many tokanes of the court's appreciation. Other ghouls will present skulls, rotting limbs and crude bone clubs as trophies to the Crypt Horrors, honoring their deeds. The Horrors care for these gifts with great love, perceiving them as pennants, medals, swords and armor. They may well tear off enemy limbs in battle to claim as their prizes, and it's a tossup if they're more likely to eat those prizes or beat people to death with them. Crypt Flayers are mordants gifted with bat-like wings and keen eyes. They fly over their field, smelling the air for the scent of fear. They strike without warning, grabbing foes and biting into them as they try to drag them back into the air. Mordants transform into Crypt Flayers when they consume the blood of monsters - specifically, Terrorgheist flesh mixed with the blood of the king and various necrotic fluids. Those ghouls that consume this grow a layer of thick skin over themselves, a sort of pupal flesh sac from which they emerge as a Crypt Flayer. This rebirth enlarges their bodies and elongates their claws. Along with the wings, they grow sharp spines and their eyes glow with light. The mordants consider the Crypt Flayers to be good omens, almost holy beings who have been gifted magical wings by their lord or mighty knights on the back of flying beasts. They are sacred paladins of justice, and their shrieking howls are holy verses recited with virtue and authority. The largest mass, however, are the Crypt Ghouls. These are your standard mordants - hissing, scuttling things with chipped and talon-like nails and bloody maws. They are vile, flesh-hungry beasts that serve as the foot soldiers of the courts, peasant levies and scouts that defend their noble homes. When a mass of ghouls comes upon a victim, they attack as one, a pack of vicious killers who will not rest until they have slain all enemies of the court and brought the harvest home. Their numbers are what make them truly deadly. A single ghoul on their own will typically make a kill and then take their time patiently tearing out flesh until they get all of it. In groups, however, they work themselves into a frenzy of biting and tearing, moving between enemies quickly in an effort to gather as many spoils as they can. They are nearly fearless, as their madness drives off any hint of cowardice, and most would fight to the death rather than risk displeasing their king. In the rare cases when a ghoul's fear overwhelms their loyalty and they flee, the others will quickly run to catch them and take them captive, to be made an example of before the court. Next time: Stuff that's not ghouls, technically
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Dec 11, 2020 03:25
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Is there an explanation for how zombification happens in minutes vs stopping outbreaks turning away refugees/poor transport availability mesh together? With an hours or days long transformation period (Dawn of the Dead) you'd have infected people be the main source of outbreaks spreading as they move from one city or even continent to the next and turning there, but with an almost instant zombie mode (28 Day Later) it's more of a short range propagating wave that's determined by line of sight from the nearest zombie as they wander around.
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Dec 11, 2020 03:45
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Skellybones posted:Is there an explanation for how zombification happens in minutes vs stopping outbreaks turning away refugees/poor transport availability mesh together? With an hours or days long transformation period (Dawn of the Dead) you'd have infected people be the main source of outbreaks spreading as they move from one city or even continent to the next and turning there, but with an almost instant zombie mode (28 Day Later) it's more of a short range propagating wave that's determined by line of sight from the nearest zombie as they wander around. This is where it gets a little more complicated: Vectors and casualties infect differently. "Cold bites" take multiple days, "hot bites" take minutes. I assume the former, being the majority of the zombies, are the reason we have infection carriers sorta-referenced. Getting really ahead of myself, in gameplay terms, cold bites are essentially arbitrary calls by the GM for whatever's narratively convenient, while hot bites turn in d10 combat rounds (which have no defined length of time, but mechanically encompasses the time it takes to shoot a gun/barricade a door/give first aid as explicit examples).
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Dec 11, 2020 03:53
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The time period it takes from bite to completely turning is erratically arbitrary; exposure from a Casualty takes ???? minutes/hours/days while exposure from a Vector takes seconds on average, cold strain vs. hot strain. Hot strain infection: Victim transforms in seconds into a Vector. Vector runs itself to death exposing as many people as it can in a suicide burst before dying of damage or overexertion. Strain goes from hot to cold in a dead host, the Blight dying and infesting the body with secondary nervous system made of cold Blight that allows it to puppet the body. This takes a few days on average. Dead Vector gets up as a Casualty which carries cold Blight in its bites and exposures. Cold strain infection: Cold Blight gets into victim which goes from being an undead virus to a living and active virus again, causing infection symptoms in the victim as it turns hot again. This takes an unknown amount of time but doesn't take more than a few days, maximum. Blight finally goes hot, victim turns into a Vector. Vector goes berserk, cycle above continues. It's both forms, which makes it really hard to crack down on the Blight. Vectors are easy to put down and their outbreaks are dangerous in the short-term, but long-term if they're not taken care of after they crash and die they become a landmine of infection that play the long game and can cause another outbreak eventually.
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Dec 11, 2020 03:56
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SkyeAuroline posted:[*]Africa got spared by “thick jungles, endless savannah, and crap transportation infrastructure”. This is a staggeringly racist way to generalise the entire continent of Africa.
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Dec 11, 2020 04:06
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Night10194 posted:Vlad and Isabella just being genuinely in love and having a completely healthy, mutually respectful relationship while thousands die around them and all of Sylvannia is like 'awww that's so nice' is one of the best parts of Hams Vamps. I told my sister about Vlad and Isabella one time and she asked me point blank "Why are vampires the only valid straight couples?"
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Dec 11, 2020 04:10
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Allstone posted:This is a staggeringly racist way to generalise the entire continent of Africa. I opted not to comment on it too directly. That said, before any potential calls of "she hates the setting so she's exaggerating"... well, the game license lets me, so have the Africa block. The only tiny bit of exaggeration is "Madagascar closed its borders" because Plague Inc., and on reflection, I actually undersold the writing a little. quote:Africa’s thick jungles, endless savannah, and crap transportation infrastructure meant the initial outbreaks that got out of hand never coalesced into the giant stampedes seen on other continents. Mali and surrounding nations fell early, but the Blight never spread quite so far as to take out Libya, Egypt, or the Sudan. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the corner of the area known as the African Loss, a box which starts on the West coast, then bisects the continent laterally until it runs against the lakes of the East African Rift zone. The swamplands and rivers kept the dead from migrating, so the East Coast survived and Madagascar became a literal bastion for the AU. Angola and Zambia are barely hanging on against the corpses trickling down through the Congo’s jungles, but they’re supported by the relative prosperity of every nation further south. This is the only text on Africa in the entire book. I will point out for anyone reading the bolded block and then looking at the provided map that all three named countries are mostly or entirely in the red Loss. Cairo and Khartoum specifically are in the "contested" area... but countries are not just their capitals.
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Dec 11, 2020 04:22
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SkyeAuroline posted:I opted not to comment on it too directly. That said, before any potential calls of "she hates the setting so she's exaggerating"... well, the game license lets me, so have the Africa block. The only tiny bit of exaggeration is "Madagascar closed its borders" because Plague Inc., and on reflection, I actually undersold the writing a little. You would also think that if firearms were going to be a major recipe for not being eaten by these critters, that the intermontane West would have come through it better. Utah if nothing else.
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Dec 11, 2020 04:28
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Nessus posted:I may have missed this in an earlier section, but: Does the blight make the zombs unusually durable or long lasting? In gameplay mechanics, Vectors are killed instantly by headshots or are treated as "management-level NPCs" (the full durability of PCs with the entire hit box array), where "part-time" NPCs (with a single, much smaller hit box pool) are considered standard. Management-level NPCs are a pain in the rear end to kill, but... only as durable as players are, which is to say "still not particularly hard", and Vectors with armor are deeply unlikely. Narratively, Vectors ignore pain and trauma, so "stopping power" in traditional terms is inapplicable; you have to make the body stop moving to put them down. This takes a fair amount of work. Casualties build their own muscle and nervous system that doesn't really care about the harm the Vector took unless the head is destroyed. The Blight strands are effectively immune to damage, the only way to stop them at all is complete body destruction or destroying the brain stem. (There's no straightforward gameplay mechanics to compare to, Dead Weather is its own weird implementation of horde combat.) e: forgot to acknowledge the firearms bit. The problem is ammo and volume. They work well at killing but you'll get more of them in your face every time you start shooting. Plus, nobody has much in the way of munitions factories in Lost areas. SkyeAuroline fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 04:37
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SkyeAuroline posted:I opted not to comment on it too directly. That said, before any potential calls of "she hates the setting so she's exaggerating"... well, the game license lets me, so have the Africa block. The only tiny bit of exaggeration is "Madagascar closed its borders" because Plague Inc., and on reflection, I actually undersold the writing a little. Yeah you're really not exaggerating, it's not great! I think it particularly stands out in 2020 with what we've seen of different countries handling the pandemic.
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Dec 11, 2020 04:46
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Allstone posted:Yeah you're really not exaggerating, it's not great! I think it particularly stands out in 2020 with what we've seen of different countries handling the pandemic.
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Dec 11, 2020 04:56
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Nessus posted:I may have missed this in an earlier section, but: Does the blight make the zombs unusually durable or long lasting?
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Dec 11, 2020 05:02
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Nessus posted:To be fair to the authors, I believe the US and the UK were listed as top three pandemic response nations prior to the recent unpleasantness, and to also be fair, a zombie outbreak would be very different from a respiratory virus. I also think there are a poo poo ton of people who read The Hot Zone in high school or something and have not updated their internal priors. That was kind of my point. The assumption that Africa is an homogenous undeveloped backwater compared to the global north is widespread and lovely. This year it stands out particularly badly because we've seen exactly how much global north exceptionalism is worth in an actual crisis situation. I feel like we really should be prepared to hold people writing an ostensibly political game to a higher standard than the layman! This debate happened fairly publicly when Resident Evil 5 came out.
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Dec 11, 2020 05:19
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 Hello everyone, and welcome to my next FATAL & Friends! This product is a 3rd party campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, but unlike my other reviews this one’s different. Namely, it isn’t for sale on any storefronts. Technically it’s a KickStarter product, but it’s been more or less confined to vaporware status and the creator has not meaningfully communicated with backers in quite some time. The book in question is more or less complete PDFwise, but the only things missing are physical copies and a long-promised Pathfinder 1e conversion. As to why I’m reviewing this, one part of me wishes to show the world what could have been, or will be if good fortune permits. The other part of me, while cynically realistic, still has some care about this setting when so many other backers already wrote it off, and figured to share my thoughts with an audience untainted by crowdfunding woes. Old vs New: Legacy of Mana technically has 4 versions of the 5e product. The first two were very rough drafts, while the third was intended to be ‘complete.’ The final version was meant to add more content, and while it has 32 pages over its predecessor quite a bit of material was excised. And I’m not talking minor changes either, but important details such as the languages of the world, various subclasses, the names of the twin moons orbiting the world, and other such important things ended up removed. Erring on the side of comprehensiveness, this F&F will mark what has been changed where relevant.  Chapter 1: About Imaria & Chapter 2: the World of Imaria The best way to sum up Legacy of Mana would be as a friend of mine put it when I described it to them: “Star Wars, but medieval fantasy.” Having nothing more than a coincidental naming structure with the Seiken Densetsu Mana series, Legacy of Mana is a world where magic is a natural energy source known as mana that flows throughout the planet in ley lines. Humanity became a dominant race due to the Blooded, an aristocracy of magic-enriched dynasties who used their connection to the land as evidence of their right to rule and became the de facto lords in pretty much every human settlement. The tyrannical Illtherian Empire rose to become the dominant power by exploiting anti-magic sentiment, utilizing an order of Knights bearing swords wrought of a metal capable of destroying mana itself. In an interesting change of things the setting takes place after the defeat of the Emperor, and the Empire while surviving is starting to crumble. The focus of the setting is on what occurs in the chaotic aftermath and the gradual return of magic to the world, for good or ill. Or at least, that’s the intent. The first chapter is incredibly brief, going over what makes the setting distinct from other cliche fantasy worlds out there. Make no mistake, it is very heavily “D&D high fantasy,” but the author’s putting things front and center rather than being found later on. Beyond this general overview, there are some other things to highlight: there are no gods in the classic D&D standard, for all forms of magic come from mana, and the closest equivalents we have to religion are those who view mana as a fate-like cosmic phenomena and worship it, and people who worship dragons. Clerics and paladins channel mana based on their faith and emotional state, while druidic magic comes from ambient mana altering their natural biology. The book would later contradict itself by having warlocks as a class making pacts with eldritch entities, although there’s a new ‘patron’ where warlocks become something akin to arcane white blood cells for the planet. Airships and floating continents are also in vogue, although said method of conveyance is restricted to the mysterious skybound kingdoms. Old vs New: The 2 chapters used to be one larger, more comprehensive chapter. The older version of the book went into more detail on how mana is created and flows through the world. It radiates from the twin moons Palonia and Promia down to the planet. Mana in its flowing state are referred to as ley lines, gathering underground in thick clusters known as mana-wells. The wells shoot excess mana through subterranean tunnels up into the surface, suffusing the planet with magic. *which go unnamed in the current version.  History The world of Imaria is divided into six Ages. In the shadowy annals of Pre-History there were long-lost kingdoms of elves, dwarves, orcs, and Neranians (a new race in the book) who battled with each other in seemingly endless struggles. The beginnings of recorded history start with the Age of Baronia, with the discovery of humans. It turned out that humans had something going for them besides short lifespans and high fertility rates: they produced innately-magical members among their race who would later become known as the Blooded, and united all of the other races into peace...by making orcs a common enemy. This is viewed as a golden time by many, although some historians assert that this was an act of opportunistic genocide. The Blooded became the dominant power in worldly politics; historians discovered that they originated from the surface of the twin moons and came down to Imaria via unknown means. Naturally they used their status and magical nature as a divine right of kings minus the divine part, creating a magical aristocracy. The world would become more interesting in the Age of Lunalia, where winged elves astride airships came down from floating continents and used their aerial gifts to establish a world-spanning trade empire. Things became more peaceful, and while the Lunalians exalted the value of open borders and free trade they immediately cut off all contact with the groundbound realms when the Blooded demanded that they be given airships of their own as part of the deal. So much for the invisible hand of the free market, eh? The following Age of Pareth was when everything began to suck. The current generations of Blooded forgot what their ancestors fought for and started acting like stereotypical feudal lords. The nonhumans, meanwhile, started realizing that the human kingdoms could totally kick their rear end with their magic and numbers and started withdrawing and preparing for potential war that soon became a self-fulfilling prophecy. But peace soon came again when the once-meager Lynnvander Blooded house shown the world that #notallnobles are bad and began to lead by example and started smacking down the worst of the warlords. They were successful, ushering in an Age of Lynnvander where peace once returned. The following Age of Iltheria (called the Age of Loss by the elves due to their genocide) would repeat the cycle of history for the worst. A secret paramilitary order wielding swords made of a strange anti-magic metal struck at key strategic points, causing disunity among the Blooded and even bringing down the elven forest kingdom of Crystalfellen. These Iltherian Knights drew upon social outcasts and those who felt that the Blooded had failed them. The Lunalians saw what was going on and went “nah, let’s stay in the clouds for a while,” although most of the other races began to come together upon realization that this threat wasn’t localized. They failed, and the Iltherians came to power as they jailed and executed most of the Blooded, waged genocide against elves and other magical races, and enslaved countless people. Although surviving post-war nations attempted economic sanctions against them, Iltheria’s geographic position and reliance on slave labor (which the nouveau riche class of mundane landholders loved) meant that they came out ahead of such trade wars. The Iltherian Empire did not last long. In a mere two decades they’d start to decline; once you drove all the mages into graves or hiding you couldn’t rely on them as a bogeyman as easily, so intellectuals of all stripes were targeted on the off-chance they were “secret wizards.” Slave rebellions, while rare, became the new go-to, but the Empire relied on their scapegoating a bit too universally and as a result faith in the system gradually weakened. This is not counting the degradation of the land in places due wiping out mana, or sudden hardships faced by communities when nobody could accurately predict the weather, cure resilient diseases, or do any of the stuff magic can easily do. Iltheria’s enemies raised a mercenary army in secret, striking at the capital, assassinating the Emperor, and causing a power vacuum to occur as others sought to clamor for the now-empty position. Iltheria still lives, although they lost a lot of power and territory since that fateful day. The current postwar era is the Age of Arcana. Magic-users are beginning to grow more common as survivors come out of hiding and train new generations bearing supernatural talent. Blooded members in exile attempt to reclaim their noble birthrights to varying degrees of success. Lunalian airships are gradually making contact with the outside world, slavery is banned in most nations, the survivors of genocide and slavery are being given reparations for their suffering, and those former Iltherians who broke away from the system to fight it seek to atone for their misdeeds. In an odd choice of words they call themselves Iltherian Reformists, even though it’s clear that they see no sense in preserving the Empire and even take violent action against them. Shouldn’t they be called Revolutionaries, Redeemers, or even better discard the term Iltherian altogether to show their change of heart? They’re more or less the PC option for players who want cool anti-magic swords and powers but don’t want to be a Lawful Evil dickwad in a spellcaster-free party. There’s mention of a “new unknown evil” at the edges of the world, which...isn’t described, only that there are lots of scary stories going around. Old vs New: The Age of Lunalia was originally called the Age of Iouna, which was oddly-named as said continent (spelled elsewhere as Iounia) has little prominence during this era. There’s still references to this Age in the current version, although I believe it’s a mistake the editors failed to catch. The Iltherian Reformists were formerly called the New Order Iltherians.  Magic, Imarian Life, & Dragons There are technically six types of magic in Imaria, with Arcane and Divine being but two. Magic, no matter what its source, comes from mana. The way in which it is wielded and processed differs, but ultimately stems from the land itself. Alchemical magic doesn’t even require you to be a spellcaster, for it is the natural process of using items and ingredients to trap mana in a certain state, usually for medicinal and poisonous purposes. Anti-Magic isn’t even a type, but is included here for relevance; a metal known as renik has the ability to outright destroy mana from existence, and is typically shaped into swords by Iltherians for offensive properties. “Antimagic” spells such as Counterspell and the like merely staunch the flow of ley lines or slow them to a bare trickle; renik instead evaporates them. Arcane magic is when a person uses their blood to call mana from the environment and reshape it to their whims; sorcerers can do this naturally, while wizards learn to do the same effects via study and practice. Divine magic is the process of shaping mana via the power of belief; as such divine spellcasters don’t need holy symbols to channel their powers, although they can still ‘fall’ if they suffer a crisis of faith. Seers are people who call mana from different places in the timestream, and as such are unaffected by low/no mana zones given that they’re borrowing the mana from a point when it did exist. Seers are named such that their powers give them glimpses into what may be and what has passed. Finally, supernatural magic is when a person’s very biology is reshaped by long-term exposure to mana. It’s an all-encompassing term for those who have natural magical powers due to their race, and also includes druids. As to why sorcerers aren’t lumped in or how this makes it different from arcane magic “casting through the blood…” this isn’t really explained. Old vs New: Seers were originally called psionics and would also cover potential psionic classes that will be made official...any day now...by Wizards of the Coast. Additionally, some sample “in-character text” for various entries has been replaced with new text or moved around. There’s no one-size-fits-all description of how people in Imaria live; different places have their own particular needs, cultures, and traditions, although there are some broad universalities. The Iltherian Empire’s anti-intellectualism caused technological as well as magical regression in places, as scholars who once maintained wondrous devices were executed and their works burned. There has been no conclusive evidence of the existence of gods or how the world itself was created, although there are those who worship mana and the land. Indeed there are people who believe that the world itself chooses champions to safeguard its welfare. Dragons are one of the most powerful beings known and are commonly worshiped, although most went into a deep slumber from the lowering mana levels and Iltherian depredations. There’s also a second draconic race known as Wyrms, artificial creations who are skilled shapeshifters possessed of a free spirit. They use Brass Dragon stats, but as little else is said about them I’m unsure what niche they’re supposed to fill in the setting. Most of Imaria falls in that vague High Medieval/Renaissance level of technological industrialization. Most of society is agricultural, and gunpowder and airships are local specialties. It’s mentioned that Iltheria has “running water, irrigation, sanitation, and lighting” although the vagueness on this makes me ask if the empire’s cities have out and out electrical grids or merely very efficiently-burning fuels for illumination. It kind of goes against their anti-intellectual streak causing technology to be lost, and the book doesn’t describe how they managed to avert this particular problem...or if they’re averting it very well at all. Old vs New: The prior version of this book went into detail on common currencies by continent. The gold/silver/platinum standard is far from universal: the barter system reigns in Krymaris, which housed the Iltherian Empire, and the wild continent of Tensire. Iounia uses gems and precious metals as currency in addition to coins, while the island nations of Phaelan’s Republic have their own local currencies with favorable exchange rates due to trade agreements. Thalagrant differs wildly between the barter system and coins depending on local circumstances. Furthermore, we had a table of Standard and Exotic Languages, numbering a whopping 32! Merchant Tongue is the “common” language of the setting, and there’s multiple languages based on continents, cultures, subraces, and subcultures; Skull Sign is used by member of the Diamond Skull, Slave-Tongue developed among Iltherian slaves to speak in confidentiality, and Mana-Arcane is the language spoken by spellcasters (mostly seers, wizards, and humans). Thoughts So Far: I have mixed feelings about the first two chapters. For one, I like how humans have a specific role in the world and distinctive trait via a moon-born magical aristocracy. Making humanity a high magic race, at least among the upper class, is a rather novel spin and also gives an explanation for how they became a dominant power. I also commend the author’s chutzpah in departing from the necessity of gods and pantheons by making religion a literal matter of faith; by making magic a natural resource which some believe can empower agents to protect the land itself, the setting has more of an eco-friendly/green message as opposed to one such as Faerun or Krynn where the gods are the linchpins of reality cohesion. I have to take points off for inconsistencies and vague descriptions, which I outlined in the above sections. I also find it odd that the Iltherian Empire rose in a time of peace; in terms of real-world history and for narrative purposes it feels as though it would’ve made more sense for them to succeed during the Age of Pareth, where distrust of the Blooded and the infighting among nations would be ripe to exploit. I also do find it stretching belief a bit that the Iltherians were able to single-handedly destroy the elven nation and most of their forest; they were but a military order at this point, and wouldn’t become a proper kingdom until an undetermined amount of time later. Maybe the elves are very small in number or something? Last but not least, none of the PDFs have proper bookmarks or even an index. As the latest 2 versions range from 156 to 188 pages with 8-9 chapters, this makes navigating the books quite hard. Even more so when you’re a reviewer like me, trying to find out what’s changed or been added/taken away. Join us next time as we take a tour of the world in Chapter 3, Lands of Imaria! Libertad! fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 05:20
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Allstone posted:That was kind of my point. The assumption that Africa is an homogenous undeveloped backwater compared to the global north is widespread and lovely. This year it stands out particularly badly because we've seen exactly how much global north exceptionalism is worth in an actual crisis situation. I feel like we really should be prepared to hold people writing an ostensibly political game to a higher standard than the layman! This debate happened fairly publicly when Resident Evil 5 came out.
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Dec 11, 2020 05:26
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FMguru posted:It's also hilariously out of date. One of the biggest and most undercovered stories of the 21st century is just how much progress sub-Saharan African countries have made across all development metrics (per capita GDP, economic growth rates, life expectancy, educational achievement, birth rates, etc etc). And yeah, lots of African (and southeast Asian) countries handled the COVID outbreak better than the big shots of the global north, and with access to a fraction of their resources.
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Dec 11, 2020 05:43
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Nessus posted:To be fair to Red Markets it seems very clear that they are intending to make statements about America. However, it would have been more efficient to just say, "Things are broadly similar in the rest of the world. You cannot go there, because of Capitalism." If you're making statements about the US, as a bare minimum, you don't have to step on the particular rake of 'racist generalisations of Africa'. To go beyond the minimum, you could probably even talk about the US's role in global imperialism, given how much there is to say on that topic.
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Dec 11, 2020 06:21
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The Smoking Ruin Part 9: Overview of Act 4 The Smoking Ruin dungeon is divided into three parts: the Exterior, Ernalda’s Courtyard, and the Interior Buildings. The exterior exploration section serves as a way for the PCs to get a little information on the layout and pick which of the entrances they want to attempt to go in. There’s a tall hill outside the wall that used to serve as a temple to Orlanth that can be climbed to get a bird’s eye view of the ruin, and any Orlanth Rune Spell cast there auto-succeeds. Now, the only rune spell that can really matter if cast on the hill is the common rune spell Divination, but it’s a nice detail nonetheless. Anyways, from there you can see that the Ruins are split into a lush and verdant courtyard in the south third and a number of old buildings in the north two thirds. A GM should probably also point out that there’s some new, relatively recent construction going on where Vamargic is building a temple to Zorak Zoran, and mention some sort of deep shadow or dark presence there, as exploring Vamargic’s layer means seeing Vamaric and the Vamargic fight is very dangerous. More on that later. Of the three gates, two are “guarded” by warring Air and Fire elementals and one of them is massive and practically unopenable and would lead straight into Vamargic’s lair if anyone tried to open it. Lastly, the Southern walls have crumbled around the Courtyard, and anyone can waltz right in there. I’d probably force a climb check or something, the Courtyard entrance is by far the best, requiring nothing to get in and leading the PC’s into the safest part of the dungeon. No matter which entrance the party takes, the primary way they explore the ruins is by rolling on a random encounter table. Now I’ve made my dislike of earlier tables in the book clear, but these tables, these are good tables. There’s two tables: one for the courtyard, and one for the interior buildings; and each has number of modifiers that get applied to them based on the time of day, location within the zone (if the players are exploring the interior buildings, are they checking out the Orlanthi Palace or Vamargic’s lair?), and progression through the dungeon’s special “climactic” encounters. The modifiers ensure that the Vamargic fight comes last unless the PCs ignore all warnings and charge right into his lair, and the tables have some pretty good rewards. The Courtyard encounters have more than 3,000L for adventurers to hoover up, and in the buildings there’s a piece of enchanted gear that can boost your spirit combat a whopping 40%! The biggest treasure is located at the bottom of the courtyard’s well: a shard of the silver mirror that Orlanth presented as a Gift to Ernalda on their wedding day. This thing is a massively powerful magic item that provides its holder free uses of Heal Body and Regrow Limb, along with a one time use of Divine Intervention. If you don’t remember from the corebook, Divine Intervention lets you summon the power of your god (or in this case, Ernalda) to do anything, so long as the GM agrees to it. In the case of Ernalda this would mean something like bringing someone back to life or moving a seriously massive amount of earth. This also drains the mirror of all its power until it’s been the center of worship for at least a year, but boy is it good. It’s so good that it increases your reputation by 25% just for having it, and there’s a ballpark estimate of 300,000L for the price, which is so much money that money stops mattering (though good luck getting that all in one sum). Anyways, this thing is also boobytrapped by Vamargic, and noticing it or trying to take it will start climactic encounter number 1. The first climactic encounter is the appearance of the spirit of One-Eye Bugleg, a granddaughter of Kajak-Ab Braineater who lost her life to Vamargic after he came back as a chaos wight. Because of this, she’s not trapped in the Atonement ritual, and can communicate with others in the world of the living. She will warn the PCs against taking the mirror, saying it will attract Vamargic's attention. Instead, One-Eye wants to free the spirits of her Grandma and family by dancing the ancient dance of the Hombadaka Boko, which is also an interpretive dance portraying a troll’s return to the Wonderhome/Underworld. Back in the Dawn Age, trolls would use this to contact the spirits of the dead, but now in the third age this dance will symbolically fulfill the Atonement that the Dragonewts require of reuniting with Kyger Lytor. The problem, and the reason that she isn’t free, is that One-Eye Needs a living partner for the dance. She’ll try to teach the party the dance, though PCs may also participate through a Sing or Orate roll, and each performance of the dance will free a certain number of troll spirits depending on the level of success. Once the party has freed 15, the dragonewt Atonement curse will end for Braineater’s trolls, but Vamargic and his trolls will remain trapped. The longer it takes to perform the ritual, the more chance you have of attracting Vamargic’s attention and being launched into the boss fight immediately.  The ghost of One-Eye Bugleg The second climactic encounter happens right after One-Eye teaches the party the dance. Treya is still thinking about her grandmother, you see, and wants to do the dance not for the trolls, but for Thinala. She’ll ask One-Eye about making a few adjustments so that the dance returns Thinala from the dead, magic that was once possible at Hombadaka Boko. One-Eye will warn her against it, telling Treya that it will kill her, but Treya doesn’t care. At this point the adventurers can try to talk Treya out of it, or can let her sacrifice herself to resurrect Thinala. If the players don’t like Treya (and mine didn’t), it’s an easy choice- Thinala is a terror in combat, and probably the only way for a beginning adventurer party to actually fight Vamargic without taking massive losses. PCs can also follow along with Treya’s modified dance to exchange their own life for that of a famous ancestor, but uh- they shouldn’t want to do that, I don’t think. People get attached to their characters. This sacrifice is supposed to be the emotional climax of the adventure, but as I’ve said earlier I think it falls a little flat. For one, I’ve been cutting out a lot of the negative stuff about Treya in my Play Along. She frequently comes off as far more incompetent and even a little idiotic as written- a common “comedic moment” in the journey is Treya nearly injuring someone with a weapon that she doesn’t know how to use. Trading your own life for another’s is also a deeply personal decision, one that it feels a little wrong to butt into once someone has made up their mind. I do, however, think the theme of the impact of family comes across better now on a second reading, I’ve certainly gotten tired of typing the word “grandmother.” From Treya to Dappled Light to Bugleg, everyone is at least slightly affected by an ancestor's death in the adventure, and responds to it in different ways. The third climactic encounter is the battle with Vamargic. This can be randomly rolled if the adventurers are being really dumb about it and go right into his temple at night, or it happens automatically when they take the mirror fragment. Let’s talk about this fight. First of all, Vamargic comes with four allies, which can be either Dark Troll Skeletons, Cave Troll Skeletons, or Dark Troll Spirits. The skeletons have pretty low attack ratings, only 45-55% in their clubs, but do absolutely massive damage on hit. A dark troll, if it hits you, is doing on average 12.5 damage to a location, a cave troll 15. Looking at our characters, that is enough to remove any of them from the fight no matter where they are hit unless they have shield or protection up, and even if they do a high roll will still do it. The chances of a skeleton getting a hit and the adventurer failing their defense is only around 10%, but over the course of a fight a skeleton might be able to manage that once. And if a skeleton gets a special or a crit? Bye bye, better use the mirror's Divine Intervention. The spirits are similarly intimidating as they have 17 MP and hit 75% of the time. Spirit combat tends to come down to “who has more MP” once you get a decent percentage in the skill, and 19 MP is the max for an adventurer that’s just out of character creation, though nobody is likely to get that high. If the spirit focuses down one person then they’re pretty likely going to get possessed and turn on the party, which is almost guaranteed character death. A beginner party will still win against these if they don’t have any bad luck, but then you add in Vamargic. Vamargic has 121% skill with a maul. He hits for 2d8+3d6 damage (his damage bonus has been “enhanced by his simmering anger,” which is bullshit). If he has time to prepare, he starts the fight with Protection 6 up, giving him 11 armor on most locations. Oraneva can’t even do 11 damage on a normal attack without some bladesharp or strength. Anyone trying to hit him gets -20% because his flesh is constantly melting off and reforming from the fire and his constant screaming in agony weirds people out. Think you can spirit combat him? He has 180% in that, and his necklace stores over 40 extra MP, which you’re not gonna be able to drain anyways. On top of that, you have to destroy every one of his hit locations to kill him, though he will still take critical afflictions and penalties as normal. As written, Vamargic is going to kill multiple people in your “four to six begginner PC” party. With his four friends, he’ll probably wipe them. The writers of the adventure know this, and there’s pretty much two options to deal with him. The first is to snatch the mirror and run, as Vamargic can’t leave the Ruins. The book even recommends having the players come back much later with more skills, spells, and allies and fighting him then. The other way is to use Thinala. Thinala starts with 130% weapon skill, which she can boost up to a whopping 280% with Axe Trance and Berserk. With her Protection, Strength, and Bladesharp, she’ll probably cripple Vamargic on the first hit, at which point he goes down to half weapon skill, or 60%, which is a far more manageable fight as a beginning adventurer. The problem with that solution is that then you’re just watching the Game Master roll against themself as two powerful NPCs battle for the lives of everyone in the party, and that’s not a fun roleplaying experience. Thinala leaves immediately afterwards to join the Feathered Horse Queen, so the writers knew she would be too overpowered to have as a permanent ally too. Either way, you should probably have your party depart the ruins with the mirror fragment, having witnessed Vamargic and learned the Hombadaka Boko. The Ruins shouldn’t be fully explored on the first visit, especially if Vamargic is still alive. Though the book doesn’t have a writeup for it, the promise of finding things like Korol Kandoros’ tomb on a future visit should be more than enough reason for the adventurers to return despite the danger. Next: Well gently caress, how will our heroes do that fight? Nanomashoes fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 08:35
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Libertad! posted:Having nothing more than a coincidental naming structure with the Seiken Densetsu Mana series, has anyone tried to make a Seiken Densetsu PnP fangame, ever? I've seen multiple Final Fantasy fangames, but never an SD one. Libertad! posted:Legacy of Mana is a world where magic is a natural energy source known as mana that flows throughout the planet in ley lines. Humanity became a dominant race due to the Blooded, an aristocracy of magic-enriched dynasties who used their connection to the land as evidence of their right to rule and became the de facto lords in pretty much every human settlement. Sounds a bit Birthright there, but not quite as interesting.  I'm curious, if this was crowdfunded, what was the original crowdfunding pitch vs what was eventually delivered?
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Dec 11, 2020 10:46
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Flesh-Eater Courts At Least These Ones Aren't Delusional The Royal Terrorgheists are undead creatures created by ancient sorceries of Shyish and bound to the abhorrants. Long ago, they must have been living things, but now, they are rotting, powerful vampire bat zombies. These giant bat-things fly over the field and dive into combat, seeking out the strongest and most powerful foes to feed their insatiable thirst for blood. Smaller foes they eat directly, while larger ones they drag into the air and drink from. As they eat, they grow ever stronger, regenerating physical damage at immense speed. However, their deadliest weapon is not their claws or jaws but their killing shriek. They can unleash powerful, high-pitched screams that shatter the minds of those who hear it and painfully rupture their eardrums. Even more dangerous are the Royal Zombie Dragons. These rotting monstrosities are smelled far before they are seen. Around them, the air chills, as the power of necromantic magic emanates out of their bodies constantly. Their eye sockets are generally empty but shining, though any impression of intellect behind their skulls is false, creaeted simply by the sheer amount of amethyst magic that keeps their bodies able to move. Only the very strongest necromancers can hope to raise and command a Zombie Dragon, and when their master does not command them, they are incapable of even the smallest movement. The power within them reaches its height when they use their mighty breath. Whatever it was in life, in death it is solely a roiling mass of deathly power. Its touch withers flesh and corrodes souls, killing the living and leaving only wasted husks behind.  With the Necroquake, new powers of magic have also been released to the Flesh-Eater kings. Their instinctive command over vampiric magic has allowed them access to a number of unique living spells. A Corpsemare Stampede is summoned with a quick word and a firing off of necromantic light from the hands. This light flows into the ground, cracking it open and releasing five undead horses. These zombie steeds smash forward relentlessly into the first victims they see, smashing anything in their path. In the minds of the summoner, they are a herd of celestial horses made from pure light, and the mordants treat them as a holy miracle delivering the fury of their lord to the enemy. Of course, the horses are rather less directed than the ghouls think. They wheel around erratically, choosing targets essentially at random. The magic that animates the horses makes them nearly unstoppable, and they're impossible to harm, as the living spell constantly regenerates any damage dealt. The only option is to dispel them. Chalices of Ushoran harken back to the ancient kingdom of Ushoran. When he was still whole of mind and body, Ushoran had an enchanted goblet crafted to allow him to bless his subjects. It was made from gold and silver and encrusted with realmstone from all the lands which Ushoran ruled. It is said that the goblet filled itself with the finest vintages of all the domains he saved from tyrants, and so could never run dry. Those who drank of the wine were given a portion of Ushoran's charisma and vampiric power, allowing them to prevent the wounded and sick from dying until a healer could come. The chalice is long since lost, but the abhorrantsh ave discovered how to summon a mirror of it to aid them in battle. The abhorrant version of the Chalice of Ushoran is a gigantic cup of polished bone, rimmed in skulls formed from the bones of those whom Ushoran killed. Instead of wine, it overflows with blood and viscera drawn off the battlefield. These bone chalices are held in the air by the bound souls of the screaming dead, and each fresh kill fills them higher, until the things overflow and drench the nearby ghouls. The necromantic power of this blood blesses the Flesh-Eaters, sealing wounds and restoring life to the slain. In many ways, it does reflect the power of the original chalice - it's just much grosser. Lastly, there's the Cadaverous Barricade. Particularly pious Flesh-Eaters invoke ancestral spirits to help them in battle, invoking ancient pacts made in the Age of Myth. These oaths were sworn to Ushoran and his knights - but the abhorrants can still call on them. These spirits emerge to the battlefield to serve their summoner, though not in the glorious and shining form the vampires imagine. They see these spirits form up as a shield wall around their forces, as the spirits of old once served as the wall guardians of Ushoran's empire. In their place are summoned rotting corpses, animated by the innate hunger and rage of the blood. They claw their way from the earth and drag with them the iron and stone of their old lands. This is the wall that forms to protect the Flesh-Eaters, and their tearing hands grab at anyone foolish enough to get near the giant meat-and-metal wall. The End! Choose: Chaos (Beasts of Chaos, Blades of Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Skaven, Slaves to Darkness) Death (Nighthaunt) Destruction (Ogor Mawtribes, Orruk Warclans, Sons of Behemat) Order (Daughters of Khaine, Fyreslayers, Idoneth Deepkin, Lumineth Realm-Lords, Sylvaneth)
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Dec 11, 2020 18:49
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You know it's time for RATS. These are interesting posts as someone with zero interest in AoS as a game.
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Dec 11, 2020 18:57
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