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If you don't want to discuss it anymore, sure. I'm just saying that there's intent here beyond the Machinations of the Devil Wick.
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# ? Oct 26, 2013 20:08 |
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# ? Dec 9, 2024 00:53 |
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I think being able to get this far in before going 'wait, what?' is definitely worthy of a long, disappointed stare at the very least. 'By the way, you can cheat' is something that should be addressed at the beginning and not just slipped in edgewise. Otherwise hosed up poo poo like people playing Paranoia straight, or not dragging the doomed highborn manchild scheming out of the narrative and into the mechanics, happens. F&F is familiar with him, and this still raised a few eyebrows.
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# ? Oct 26, 2013 20:12 |
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Test Pattern posted:Here's how you beat The Freak: find a child, ruin its life so badly that the only way it can cope is by turning to extreme body-mod, but that doesn't help so it turns to MORE exteme body-mod and the LITERALLY GOES INSANE FOR BODY-MOD because it can't bear being who it is. It strings chains through its chest, and changes its face, gender and body shape so often that it can barely even remember what it used to look like. At some point, it starts to lose its own identity to the collective idea of a protean, formless body. Eventually, it's barely even a person anymore, just an abstract desire to control every aspect of itself, to change everything so maybe SOMETHING will actually be different, but it can't get away from the yelling and stench of cheap booze in that tiny apartment, no matter what it looks like or what it does with who. It's just a name and a legend and a fear on the streets now, and it's still a scared little child that wants to hurt a scared old man and it's not even sure why anymore. So.... you want to make Sascha Vykos from Vampire: the Masquerade?
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# ? Oct 26, 2013 20:29 |
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Houses of the Blooded is similar to Amber DRPG in that it basically sets everybody at the table against each other, and leaves it to the pass-agg, adversarial GM to herd the That's not to say it can't work - I've seen it work - but these days if I want to worry about playing with my back to the wall, I'd rather pull out a copy of Junta or Illuminati.
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# ? Oct 26, 2013 21:05 |
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d20 Modern Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook - Part 4 Chapter 1 - CHARACTERS Continued Last update was the physical-stat basic classes. This time around, I’m looking at the three others: Smart, Dedicated, and Charismatic heroes. The Smart Hero Brandon Cross, Smart Hero Smart heroes are scientists, researchers, tacticians, and white-collar professionals. They possess heightened reasoning skills and the ability to think their way through complex situations. For secondary abilities, they trend towards Dexterity (for guns) and the other mental abilities to bolster their skill set. They get the bad hit die - 1d6 - but make up for it with the most skill points of any class (9+Int, so probably 13+ per level), and have a massive skill list to spend them on - Computer Use, a bunch of Craft skills, Demolitions, fourteen individual Knowledge skills, Repair, Search, and more. The Smart hero is the lab coat that gets tossed off-screen by the explosion when Batman blasts his way into the villain’s underground techno-lair. Along with their crummy hit die, Smart heroes have bad BAB progression - starting at +0, getting +1 every even level and capping at +5. Their save bonus favours Will, and they have a similarly bad Defense bonus progression (even worse than Strong/Tough heroes). So they’re weak and can’t fight very well, with the trade-off being a huge pile of skills, and some questionably-excellent talents from their trees - Research and Strategy. You’re required to take at least one Research talent before you can expand into Strategy. Research options are Savant, which allows you to add your Smart hero level to a chosen skill’s checks (can be picked multiple times for several skills), or Linguist, which allows you to make an Int+Smart Level check to be able to basically understand any language you come across. The DCs aren’t super-arduous (15 for a language in a group you already are familiar with, 20 for an unfamiliar group, 25 for weird/ancient languages), and if you’re attempting to translate writing you can make a Decipher Script+Smart check, which is great because you’ll have loads of skill points. It’s ambiguously written, too, so you may be able to double-dip on your Int bonus (potentially giving you a +9 at level 1). Kind of neat depending on your campaign, but requires you to dump 3 skill points into learning a few languages. The Strategy tree is the actual combat-useful talent set for Smart heroes. The first option is Exploit Weakness - pick an enemy, spend a move action to make an Int check versus DC 15, and if you pass, you can use Int instead of Str or Dex for your combat rolls (but only against that one enemy). The second talent is Plan, which lets you spend a minute prepping your team before a dramatic situation, and you make an Int check which confers up to a +3 bonus to all skill & attack rolls for the first 3 rounds of the dramatic situation. Finally, there’s Trick, which has you spend a full-round action to make an Int check to potentially daze an enemy for one round. I say potentially because the trick can be resisted with a successful Reflex save, at which point you’ve blown a full-round action for nothing, and can’t try again on that enemy. So the talents are pretty situational/one-time use combat tricks that might help in a pinch but are nowhere near as good as steady damage, avoiding death, or running super fast. At least your bonus feats are weird! You can take things like Builder, Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Meticulous, or Vehicle Expert. The Dedicated Hero Lily Parrish, Dedicated Hero Next up: Dedicated heroes. These are heroes that have chosen to prioritize their Wisdom scores, focusing on common sense, perception, and intuition. They might be devoted to a cause, ideal, or faith, but mostly they possess a faith in their own abilities. They are health care workers, investigators, activists, and clergy. They favour Intelligence and at least one physical ability for secondary focuses. With a 1d6 hit die and mediocre 5+Int skill points, they fall behind Smart heroes in terms of raw knowledge (naturally) but get access to a number of unique and important skills: Gamble, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, and Treat Injury, to name a few. The Dedicated hero is the preacher in the church that Batman crashes through the stained-glass window of, in pursuit of some weird vampire. Dedicated heroes have moderate BAB progression, and actually get two ‘good’ save bonuses (Fort & Will) which is a first for a basic class. They also feature a midline Defense bonus progression, and good Reputation bonus as well. So they’re less fragile and more combat-ready than Smart heroes, at least! They have three talent trees: Empathic, Healing Knack, and Skill Emphasis, all of which are open to them at level 1. Empathic’s talents are tiered: first is Empathy, which gives you a bonus to interaction skills (Bluff, Intimidate, Sense Motive, etc.) provided you can spend a minute observing the target. Once you’ve got that, you can access Improved Aid Another (gives a +1 bonus to aiding, stacks if you take the talent repeatedly), or Intuition, where you can make a Will saving throw versus DC 15 to “get a hunch” from the GM as to whether a specific situation is all right, or going sour. The Healing Talent tree is tiered into Healing Knack (+2 to Treat Injury), Healing Touch 1 which gives +2 hit points when performing first aid/surgery, and Healing Touch 2, which gives another +2 hit points. Finally, the Insightful tree has Skill Emphasis, which gives you a +3 to checks with a chosen skill, Aware, which adds your base Will bonus to Listen or Spot checks to avoid surprise, Faith, which lets you spend an action point to add your Wis modifier to most D20 rolls, and finally Cool Under Pressure, which lets you select several skills and be able to take 10 even when under duress and using them. So there’s some decent stuff there, and since probably one member of your group is de facto going to be playing a Dedicated hero, that’s a bonus. Thankfully you get some cool bonus feats too: Advanced Firearms Proficiency, Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Blind-Fight, Far Shot, Surgery, Medical Expert, and more. The Charismatic Hero Troy Bellarosa, Charismatic Hero This brings us to the final basic class: the Charismatic hero. Naturally, they favour a high Charisma ability, and not much else - the book suggests at least one physical stat, but that’s it. Charismatic heroes are persuasive leaders, attractive celebrities, flirts, fast-talkers, spies, and suave gamblers (though they don’t get Gamble as a class skill!). They have a 1d6 hit die, but 7+Int skill points that they can spend on things like Bluff, Gather Information, Disguise, and Perform. Charismatic heroes are the smug Gotham socialites at the party that Batman crashes into while chasing a weird vampire. Charismatic heroes have ‘bad’ BAB progression, but get ‘good’ save progression in both Fort and Reflex. They also suffer from bad defense bonus progression, though as befits a schmoozing glad-hander, their Reputation bonus is the best of the basic classes. For Charismatic talents, there are three trees: Charm, Fast-Talk, and Leadership. The Charm tree leads off with Charm (of course!), which gives you a bonus to Charisma-based skill checks against a chosen gender (and you can’t choose twice). It’s followed by Favor, which lets you spend action points to request minor aid from anyone you meet, provided you can make a skill check (DC 10 to 30 depending on the difficulty and danger of the task). The GM has heavy control over what favours should or should not be allowed, and “getting a favour shouldn’t replace good roleplaying or the use of other skills”, so depending on how much of a jerk you’re dealing with, this is a bunk choice, or an OK one. Last in the Charm tree is Captivate - this talent allows the Charismatic hero to make a Charisma check to attack a target (which can resist) and if successful, the target fixates on the Charismatic hero, allowing their allies to act around the enemy unnoticed. Fast-Talk’s tree starts with Fast Talk, a simple bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Gamble when attempting to lie or cheat. This gives access to Dazzle - a Charisma-based attack that causes affected targets to suffer a penalty to d20 rolls, and can be taken multiple times to increase the penalty. After that is Taunt, which is a strictly-better version of the Smart hero’s Trick (can be used multiple times, only takes an attack action, can be used if it fails) that dazes an affected opponent. The final Charismatic talent set is Leadership, which begins with Coordinate - spend a full-round action to give a bonus to allies, then Inspiration and Greater Inspiration, which allow your allies to spend full-round actions watching you to gain up to a +3 bonus to attack, damage, and saving throws. Bonus feats for Charismatic heroes include Creative, Dodge, Frightful Presence, Low Profile, and Windfall. So yeah! That’s that for the basic classes. Once you’ve decided on what kind of hero you want to be, you’re tasked with choosing an occupation that explains their background a little bit. STARTING OCCUPATIONS Every character has a starting occupation. This is sort of a background to your character that confers several bonuses at character creation. Each occupation has a pre-requisite that is generally a minimum character age (though there’s one that requires minimum ability scores). They allow you to select a few bonus class skills (or existing class skills to receive a +1 bonus), sometimes bonus feats, and a Wealth bonus increase. There are around twenty occupations, so I’m not going to run through them here - just a couple of examples Adventurer represents your character being a daredevil, big game hunter, or field scientist. It requires age 15+, gives access to two class skills like Bluff, Demolitions, Jump, Pilot, Swim, and Treat Injury (it’s actually a HUGE and variable list), comes with a bonus weapon proficiency feat and a +1 Wealth bonus increase. Dilettantes are characters that have gotten their wealth from trust funds, and have no “real” job, instead devoting their time to philanthropy, a cause worth fighting for, or simply living a fun, carefree existence. They receive only one bonus class skill from a very short list (Gamble, Intimidate, Knowledge, Ride, or Speak Language), but get +1 Reputation and a whopping +6 Wealth bonus increase. Technicians are scientists and engineers of all stripes, require age 23+, and get three class skills (generally practical like Computer Use, Craft, Repair, or Research), and a +3 Wealth bonus increase. VITAL STATISTICS As evident from the previous section, your character’s age matters in d20 Modern. As you age, your stats change as well: when you hit age 40, you take -1 to Str, Dex, and Con, while gaining +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. By the time you hit 60, you end up taking another -1/+1, and at 80 a third ability shift. There are also tables in this section for random height and weight, and all that jazz. ALLEGIANCES She has an allegiance to math, and conspicuous scars. As part of developing your character, d20 Modern provides an optional allegiances system that serve primarily as a roleplaying tool. You can declare your character to be aligned with a person or group, or a larger organization, nation, or belief system, or even a moral or ethical philosophy, and when given the opportunity to deal with someone of the same allegiance, you receive a +2 bonus on Charisma-based skill checks - provided you can ascertain that they *are* of the same allegiance as you (apparently you can’t know this just by looking at them). REPUTATION These guys have a reputation for being mediocrely-drawn! Every d20 Modern character has a reputation that they gain over their heroic career, which takes the form mechanically of their Reputation bonus. This comes into play when your character encounters NPCs in the game - and can be a good or bad thing, depending. Characters with a +4 or better Reputation bonus can be considered famous - or infamous - in their social circles or professions, depending on the NPC they’re interacting with. There’s a convoluted Reputation check procedure that takes into account the PC’s bonus, their relationship to the NPCs, fame, and how knowledgeable the NPC is in their own circles. “Success” at this check indicates you are recognized by the NPC, and depending on whether you’re in their good books, you receive a +4/-4 modifier to Charisma skill checks with them. WEALTH Since having characters tote around bags of gold pieces and star diopsides would ruin the verisimilitude, d20 Modern makes use of a Wealth system to represent how affluent your character is, and how much purchasing power they possess. Every character has a Wealth bonus generated at character creation (2d4), that can be modified by their starting occupation, and the Windfall feat. Wealth decreases as you purchase expensive items, and increases as you gain rewards from your actions. The Wealth bonus is an abstract concept. There is no actual cutoff in terms of monetary value between wealth bonus levels, but they can be roughly correlated to +0 representing being completely impoverished, +5 to +10 indicating middle-class, and +31 or greater meaning you’re Very Rich. The main book covers purchasing several chapters later, but I’m going to skip ahead and throw the purchasing rules from Chapter 4 here anyway, since people are jonesing for them. So, without further ado: PURCHASING EQUIPMENT "Yes, this souped-up spy car will set you back around 3 Wealth points. So as noted before, your starting Wealth bonus is 0+2d4+Occupation+(Windfall)+1 for having ranks in a Profession skill. All objects, from disposable cameras to heavy machine guns, have a purchase DC that corresponds to how pricey they are (4 and 22, in this case). To purchase an item, you need to make a Wealth check using your bonus and if you succeed, you buy the object. You also have to spend a number of hours equal to the purchase DC shopping for the item. You can take 10 or take 20 to represent spending a lot of time shopping for an object. If you fail a wealth check, you can try again, but you have to spend the time shopping. Furthermore, if you fail a Wealth check during character creation, you have to spend some in-game time trying to buy the thing you were looking for (no retries!) Assuming you do manage to buy something, your Wealth bonus will (generally) be reduced, depending on a few things. If you buy an item with DC15 or greater, you lose 1 Wealth automatically. If that item is above your current Wealth bonus, you lose an additional 1 to 2d6 points, depending on just how much of a split between your Wealth and the DC are (1-10 = 1 point, 11 - 15 = 1d6, 16+ = 2d6). So if you have a Wealth bonus of +9, and you buy a handgun with a DC of 16, you go down to +7. Functionally, what this means is you are free to buy as much stuff under your Wealth as you want, and then start making big-money rolls, and if you have a Wealth of +14 or higher, you can basically afford mundane gear endlessly. So your Wealth decays as you purchase more and more expensive gear, which is fine. Regaining Wealth happens in one of two ways: first, when you level up, you make a Profession skill check (or a Wisdom check if untrained) and, if you beat your current Wealth, it goes up by +1 for each 5 points by which you beat the DC. The second way is wealth awards - finding a big treasure, getting a cash reward, et cetera. The means of calculating this are tied to the CR/encounter level system, which pulls a whole host of other issues along with it into the game. All told, Wealth is actually a pretty cool system, but exploitable if you know how to juke your math, and also a bit too nebulous in terms of advancing it along with your narrative. It also fails to take into account looting of equipment, which can fundamentally sidestep the system. Next update: Skills! Maybe also feats?!?!?
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 08:28 |
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Everything Counts posted:So.... you want to make Sascha Vykos from Vampire: the Masquerade? Nah, difference is in the presentation. Vykos is portrayed as a Mary Sue ur-horror who's ascended beyond your petty humanity and is so kewl and badass. Like Marilyn Manson with superpowers. The narrative is so focused on making him look badass that we have no sense of any character beyond that, making him a shallow caricature. The Freak thinks the same of itself, but the narrator has no illusions of how its power has ultimately screwed up its life.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 09:00 |
If somebody were to run a game based on Charnel Houses of Europe would it resemble the classic Twililight Zone episode where ghosts of concentration camp victims tortured/guilted a former camp commandant? That was much closer in time to the Holocaust, and it carried all of Rod Serling's moral outrage.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 09:11 |
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Simian_Prime posted:The Freak thinks the same of itself, but the narrator has no illusions of how its power has ultimately screwed up its life. Totally relevant Greg Stolze quote, from an RPG.net thread titled, "How is the Freak so powerful?" Greg Fuckmothering Stolze posted:Things the Freak can do that you can't: Go into a gunfight bare-handed and confident. Shift appearance. Make money rapidly by selling psychic surgery. Kill with minimal effort.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 09:53 |
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Unknown Armies: still the best game.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 10:23 |
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Majuju posted:d20 Modern Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook - Part 4 Like any good d20 system, the core classes are definitely tiered in power. Fast is at the top because it gets +2 to Defense over other combat ready classes and has Evasion to deal with the fact that people can easily buy, bake, or requisition tons of explosives. I'd say that unlike D&D 3.5, every class has SOME use and the fact that multiclassing is encouraged instead of punished softens the class tiers blow further. I plan on discussing this again when I do my write-up of the d20 Naruto book which I WILL be starting soon(ish) now that Majuju has gotten a decent head start with his d20 Modern write-up. As a side note, my main beef with the Wealth system is that it's super chaotic and that licenses for things are super vague and expensive. Also, the three "mental" iconics have screwy art. Troy keeps changing ethnicity, Lily can't seem to find sensible shoes to save her life, and Brandon has a constant Pixar face. AccidentalHipster fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Oct 27, 2013 |
# ? Oct 27, 2013 16:24 |
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I'd like to note, D20 Modern's Allegiance system is its answer to the much-maligned Alignment system from other D20 games, and works about a million times better, allowing for much greater roleplay and customization. It's one of the things the system got very right.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 16:39 |
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Redeye Flight posted:I'd like to note, D20 Modern's Allegiance system is its answer to the much-maligned Alignment system from other D20 games, and works about a million times better, allowing for much greater roleplay and customization. It's one of the things the system got very right. And therefore will never be seen again in any future D20 games.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 17:03 |
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Well, I think Allegiance is essentially a non-system, for the most part? As far as I know, it mainly affects reaction rolls, and not even in a notable way, and otherwise just affects some build requirements. It's not so much an answer for alignment as I see it, and more a total disposal of it. Granted, that's probably better than the half-assed alignment system used by most variations of D&D. I just remember from all the years of Fantasy Craft games I've played (which uses a near-identical system), it practically never came up, even it games where it was very important (like the game where we were all members of the same church). It wasn't until Fantasy Craft developed classes and feats with mechanics that use the system in new and specific ways, like the Crusader or Inquisitor, that it became an interesting mechanic.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 17:11 |
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Yeah, Allegiance boils down to "hey what does your character believe in? okay other people are probably sympathetic to that, and you're buds with them". Since Alignment is a big steaming turd-pile, anything different is better than the existing version. FANTASY HEARTBREAKERS!!!
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 17:17 |
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The only d20 system I know of that used Allegiance that wasn't a d20 Modern spin-off was Mutants & Masterminds which presented it as an optional rule in 2nd Edition. Allegiance honestly isn't that useful unless the GM makes the game about idea wars but at least it has a point beyond alignment hitting spells (which are dumb and could just be set to only hurt enemies) and alignment class requirements (which are very dumb for several reasons).
AccidentalHipster fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Oct 27, 2013 |
# ? Oct 27, 2013 17:47 |
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Traveller posted:You can lie on your rolls. You can LIE ON YOUR ROLLS. From my old rear end copy of Munchkin: "unless you have a card that lets you cheat or the other players don’t catch you." I hear they took that line out of later editions of the rules. Thank loving god. Early games of that poo poo were insufferable because of that one line.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 17:51 |
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Spycraft 1.0 used something like Allegiance (at least in the 1960's Sourcebook), and it even had tiered feats depending on whether you were Soviet or US Allied. Arcana Unearthed/Evolved just threw out alignment altogether. No Gods! No Masters!
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 17:53 |
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theironjef posted:From my old rear end copy of Munchkin: "unless you have a card that lets you cheat or the other players don’t catch you." SJ Games knew better than that years ago. In the Illuminati card game and INWO CCG both there was a rules section that said "you can play a totally dishonorable game where everyone cheats all the time but be sure everyone knows the deal up front. Also only play this way with best friends or people you will never see again."
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 21:07 |
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theironjef posted:From my old rear end copy of Munchkin: "unless you have a card that lets you cheat or the other players don’t catch you." My introduction to Munchkin was Munchkin Blender with four newbies out of nine and that rule. It was three years before I touched Munchkin again.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 21:16 |
Down With People posted:Totally relevant Greg Stolze quote, from an RPG.net thread titled, "How is the Freak so powerful?" Stolze is making some pretty big assumptions about me and other gamers.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 21:34 |
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theironjef posted:From my old rear end copy of Munchkin: "unless you have a card that lets you cheat or the other players don’t catch you." Illuminati: NWO had a card called "I Lied" that let you break a verbal agreement with another player. It was more of a self-resolving issue, because once you start playing that card, people stop believing you for some reason.
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# ? Oct 27, 2013 21:46 |
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Houses of the Blooded Compel Aspect: The following chapters deal again with Virtues and Aspects. Broadly, they repeat and expand on what we've seen of them so far, and they're another chance for Wick to get on his soapbox and preach. Still, they clarify some things, so you might as well read them if you've not set your copy of HotB on fire yet. Virtues! Mostly, this chapter is about how to use them in game, and when they're good for risk calling. Strength is for all physical risks, as well as unarmed fighting. Strength lets you do things like leaping across rooftops, grabbing wind vanes, swinging down into balconies and rolling through glass doors. You know, swashbuckly, stylish things! Cunning lets you put together facts, think on your feet, spot the important details. You roll Cunning when trying to find clues - but, since this is all about cooperative storytelling, what Cunning lets you do is actually make up the clues yourself. quote:Now, when I say “find clues,” I truly and honestly mean “find clues.” Because right now, I hear a bunch of players saying, “But won’t that mess up the Narrator’s plot?” See, look how you’re being responsible! That’s so cute. And we Narrators really do appreciate it. But don’t worry about the Narrator’s plot. Honestly. I’ve got him covered in the Narrator Chapter. Git. Courage is used to, well, be courageous. Want to do something dangerous? Roll Courage. (What is this, Rock of Tahamaat?) Most Courage rolls are simple risks, and you have to spend a Style point if you fail it and still want to go through with the action. If you make wagers, though, you can turn them into Style at a rate of 2 wagers per Style (if it's a non-dice action) or extra dice for the next roll (if it's a risk.) quote:Courage is often overlooked by the players. “Ah, my character is as brave as I want him to be.” Also, orks have something called Terror. quote:I’m not going to tell you how Terror works because the Narrator will show you that soon enough. Beauty is used to create stuff. Moving, heartrending, passionate stuff, the details of which are still a while away. It's also used for Contract writing (contested Beauty risk) and for debate (contested Beauty risk, people who agree with the winner gain Style, people who agree with the loser lose Style). Wick tells us Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but in the hands of the Fox; if Serpent are Soshi, the Fox are Bayushi, I think. Speaking of Serpent, Wisdom is knowledge. Cunning is Sherlock Holmes examining the guy that walked into the room; Wisdom is Sherlock Holmes knowing that an object is not in the room. Wisdom risks are also used to define the world of Shanri. You can make up an ork out of whole cloth with a good roll and some wagers. You can also add details to other characters: they can spend a Style to veto it, but if they accept it they get one Style. Don't try to drain them of Style this way, that's Bad Form. Prowess is all about martial matters, but in general it's about determining advantage. If Cunning tells you the guy in front of you is lying and hiding a knife, Prowess lets you know he's a capable fighter and that it's better for you to get between him and the door. Prowess risks can also be used to give Aspects to a scene - in particular, Aspects that works as martial advantages. :fakehistoricaltruths: The Aspects chapter opens with a long tirade about how Wick found out about Fate, and how he thought Aspects were the poo poo, but--- quote:My experience with player-vs.-player roleplaying games—and I’ve played in a lot of them—made me realize that Aspects were too open-ended for that kind of environment. In a PvP game, every player is looking for any advantage, looking to exploit any weakness.And, frankly, players can get drat emotional, exploiting every loophole, interpreting vague or unclear rules to far extremes to protect their own characters and crush those they didn’t like. This is PvP after all, and there’s a reason board games don’t have Aspects, but clear and concise rule sets that can’t be “interpreted.” So why allowing lying in the rolls? In a bit. Anyway, Wick limits Aspects to deal with one single thing to stop these damnable PvP players. But you can play them up as broad as they were meant to be, honest! Wick isn't going to stop you! There's a lot of blah blah on the invoke/tag/compel mechanics and how they work with Style. Some things stand out, though, most importantly that you can't tag or compel an Aspect that you don't know about. You have to see the Aspect invoked/tagged/compelled first, then get on a contested Cunning risk with the target (if the target wins, they gain Style: secrets are cool.) So not playing to your full strength all the time makes sense: you can imagine a situation where Dio is dueling some two-bit Blooded that can barely hold on to his sword. Dio could easily trounce him with his Prowess and Swordsman Aspect, but there might be someone else in the audience that Dio wants to shank later. So Dio could not use his Aspect and thus not allow the other guy to spot a weakness in his fighting style (the Swordsman tag), or allow him to see it while keeping his Prowess in check. See, that's actually cool. What's not cool is straight up lying on your rolls, and it's telling that in Blood and Honor there's no mention of it. It's also worth mentioning that tagging only works when there's dice rolls involved, and that you can't compel an Aspect when rolling risks - compelling is strictly for narrative advantage, not mechanical. Incidentally, you can resist a compel, it costs you two Style to do so. Other than that, it's repeating things already mentioned about using Style to invoke/tag/compel, Free Aspects, and Solace Aspects (which are never secret, everyone can see you getting old.) And this gem: quote:Perceptive readers will notice that denying the compel actually costs you three Style: the two Points you give up to deny the compel and the point you would have gotten if you accepted it. Wick is perfectly right, of course. This is not Legend of the Five Rings. Then there's some talk about specific Aspects and what makes a good or bad Aspect. You can already suss out how to build a proper Aspect from what we've seen so far, but there are a couple of sample Aspects that are essentially hotb.txt: posted:DOLT GMs can just slap Dolt on anyone if they feel they're acting in Bad Form. quote:THE RIGHTEOUS FURY OF YOUTH Good Form is giving more and more weaknesses to your character. I'm being evil here though, these are the worst. The rest of the sample Aspects are legit for a game of doomed highborn manchildren (i.e., they won't gently caress you over nearly as much as these two.) There are also Aspects related to the Houses, which can be houseruled so that everyone gets the appropriate Aspect of their House from the start, or even make them Free Aspects. The Wolf Aspect is interesting as it straight up breaks the so far standard form: it only gives you two dice for the invoke, but it has no tag whatsoever because Wolves don't allow themselves weaknesses. At the end of the chapter there's even a number of "character class" Aspects that Wick includes in case you wanted to see something more familiar, because we're all brain-damaged D&D goons. It's where the Swordsman aspect can be found, btw. Two things of note: Swordsman has as compel a "code of honor" that makes you protect others, which is terribly inappropriate for Dio and kind of weird to have for doomed highborn manchildren; and one of the class aspects, Talashan, is only described as "Speaker to the Soil" and related to the unblooded, and Wick can say no more about it. No invoke/tag/compel for it. You can also add Aspects to scenes with two Style points and an appropriate action (like setting a room on fire, then declaring the room is On Fire), and the first one to tag it can do so without using a Style. Or you can add Aspects to other people: specifically, by Insulting them. This is essentially the Ven Dozens: contested Beauty risk where people use wagers to ice burn the other guy. Once someone runs out of wagers or has had enough, they declare "Enough!" and the dice are rolled. The loser gets an appropriate Insult Aspect with a rank equal to the winner's wagers, that can be tagged by others if appropriate to gain bonus dice equivalent to its rank. It's also easier to Insult someone if you're of higher noble rank than them. Dolt is an Insult! The burns fade away, however, and the Insult loses one rank per Season until it's gone. Next: swimming Foxes, and Dio stabs someone in the face.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 00:52 |
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Traveller posted:You can also add Aspects to scenes with two Style points and an appropriate action (like setting a room on fire, then declaring the room is On Fire), and the first one to tag it can do so without using a Style. Or you can add Aspects to other people: specifically, by Insulting them. This is essentially the Ven Dozens: contested Beauty risk where people use wagers to ice burn the other guy. Once someone runs out of wagers or has had enough, they declare "Enough!" and the dice are rolled. The loser gets an appropriate Insult Aspect with a rank equal to the winner's wagers, that can be tagged by others if appropriate to gain bonus dice equivalent to its rank. It's also easier to Insult someone if you're of higher noble rank than them. Dolt is an Insult! The burns fade away, however, and the Insult loses one rank per Season until it's gone. And having Dio as a sample character just gets better and better. Also, is it wrong that I originally thought that this line- Traveller posted:The Aspects chapter opens with a long tirade about how Wick found out about Fate, and how he thought Aspects were the poo poo -said that he thought Aspects were poo poo, and not the poo poo and didn't bat an eyelash at the cognitive dissonance?
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 01:31 |
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Wait, does 'Dolt' even work mechanically? It's an aspect with no invoke, and you can only tag or compel it if you've seen it invoked, tagged, or compelled first and win a contest. There's literally no way for anyone to get into a position to actually use this Aspect.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 01:38 |
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Ratoslov posted:Wait, does 'Dolt' even work mechanically? It's an aspect with no invoke, and you can only tag or compel it if you've seen it invoked, tagged, or compelled first and win a contest. There's literally no way for anyone to get into a position to actually use this Aspect. The GM gave it to the Really, a big issue with HOTB is that, for all of the "no, this is totes cooperative, I swear" stuff Wick throws at us, the GM still had a lot of power the players won't even get close to. Which wouldn't be as bad, if this were a comedic game like Paranoia. But we're meant to play HOTB seriously.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 01:47 |
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Count Chocula posted:If somebody were to run a game based on Charnel Houses of Europe would it resemble the classic Twililight Zone episode where ghosts of concentration camp victims tortured/guilted a former camp commandant? That was much closer in time to the Holocaust, and it carried all of Rod Serling's moral outrage. I remember there were a fair amount of plot hooks in the book when I read it the first time: hunting down Nazi ghosts is only one of them. There's a lot of stuff to do in the various settings, and I think the "default" Charnel houses campaign would be more about trying to move on after the horrors your character lived through, while trying to protect your little enclave in the underworld. I'm going to do this book pretty slowly: while it's pretty well written, it's not exactly a "fun" read.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 01:59 |
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Yeah, the pass-agg GMing advice is straight from Play Dirty, where he suggests punishing people arbitrarily for doing pretty much anything he doesn't care for at the gaming table and forcing them to sit in the proverbial corner. Reviewing Play Dirty has crossed my mind but after Way of the Scorpion the idea feels a lot like corpse-beating.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 02:30 |
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God... Play Dirty. Someone actually asked me to run my game according to his advice. Actually, they wanted me to choose between Play Dirty, Play Unsafe, and Robin's Laws. Just, as an experiment. I think the group voted for Play Dirty, but the game never... Happened. Thankfully. I did read all the way through it, multiple times though... Some of his advice was good. Just... only the stuff of about "Run with whatever the players say" and "Let them define NPCs for you." Sorry for being slow with Shatterzone, came down with some Lung Rot and spent the last few days watching GI Joe and Leverage. Content soon, I've got Mary half statted up.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 02:50 |
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FourmyleCircus posted:God... Play Dirty. Someone actually asked me to run my game according to his advice. Actually, they wanted me to choose between Play Dirty, Play Unsafe, and Robin's Laws. Just, as an experiment. I think the group voted for Play Dirty, but the game never... Happened. Thankfully. I did read all the way through it, multiple times though... Some of his advice was good. Just... only the stuff of about "Run with whatever the players say" and "Let them define NPCs for you." I hope you feel better soon. I was hoping you'd go with my suggestion, but I'm not about to start complaining about free entertainment and Shatterzone sounds like it's complex.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 03:01 |
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Really need to get this done. A Song of Ice and Fire Chapter 8: Intrigue Intrigues are a sort of social conflict system: the same way you use the combat rules to hurt someone, you use Intrigues to convince or deceive them. Two important parts of Intrigues are Exchanges and Influence. Exchanges are like rounds in combat (no, we haven't gotten to the combat rules yet but you've played other RPGs so you know exactly what I'm talking about) where the participants get to do some stuff. Influence represents how much sway you've gained with a character. Getting enough Influence is how you get the other person to go along with whatever it is you're doing. Important Abilities in Intrigues are Awareness (for reading people), Cunning (for quick thinking), Deception (for lying to them), Persuasion (for convincing people), Status (Social position) and Will (will). Your Intrigue Defense, how easy you are to get one over on, is equal to Awareness + Cunning + Status + miscellaneous bonuses. Composure acts like Health and is equal to Will x 3; when Composure is depleted, a character goes along with whomever influenced them. In the first step of an Intrigue, you decide which of the three type the Intrigue will be: Simple intrigues are for situations where one side is a minor NPC and the situation is a relatively unimportant one, or one of the sides would be fairly easy to sway. Standard Intrigues are more involved affairs, often for when players and important NPCs are trying to get one over on each other. The “rule of thumb” is to use a Standard Intrigue whenever going along might be dangerous or uncharacteristic for one of the sides. The most involved type of intrigue are Complex Intrigues. These are for overarching schemes that require multiple smaller steps to pull off- A Complex Intrigue is to a war as a Standard Intrigue is to a battle. The example the book gives is of trying to organize an invasion of a neighboring lord's lands- you have to try and find allies and dissuade your rivals', deal with merchants to secure supplies and gear, etc. For a Complex Intrigue, the GM decides how many victory points are needed for it to succeed. This is the number of standard intrigues you need to succeed at to achieve your overall goal, with a standard amount being 3 but especially complex ones going up to 6. Whenever you succeed at an Intrigue related to the complex one, you gain a VP; if you make no progress, you gain none; and if you manage to bungle it and fail, you lose one instead. Step Two is setting the scene. This is where the GM describes the location and circumstances of the Intrigue, and who will be participating. Step Three is the Objective, where the instigator of the Intrigue states the goal they're trying to achieve. Step Four is Disposition. In this step, each participant describes their general feelings towards the others. Disposition has a lot of important effects, including determining your DR(how easily the other person can influence you), and giving you modifiers to your Deception and Persuasion. The more you like someone, the easier it is for them to influence you (represented by a low DR) and the harder it is for you to deceive them (a Deception penalty) but your sincerity lends a lot of weight to your words (Persuasion bonus). At the opposite end, if you just absolutely despise someone it's extremely difficult for them to convince you of anything (high DR) and you get a sizable Deception bonus but an enormous Persuasion penalty. The book gives a few simple ways to calculate character dispositions besides simply selecting them. Step Five is Initiative, determined by Status rolls by the participants. Step Six is deciding on your Technique, the methods you employ to try and influence your target. Technique decides what specialties are applicable to your roll, and what happens to someone you defeat with this Technique. Bargain involves trying to strike a deal or trade between the two of you. The better your opponents disposition towards you, the better your end of the bargain. Charm means trying to get them to like you. Success improves the targets disposition towards you. Convince is an honest (or honest seeming) attempt to convince someone of something. Succeed and they buy whatever you're selling. Incite is when you try to get the target upset about something. When you succeed, you get them mad about whatever it is you want them to be mad about. Intimidate is an attempt to frighten or cow someone. A successful Intimidate either causes your opponent to flee you, or improves their disposition towards you for as long as they're under your power if they can't Seduce involves trying to create desire for you in another. When you succeed, and the target is into you, their disposition towards you temporarily improves a bunch. Taunt is where you try to goad a person into doing something you want. If the target likes you, they do what you want but their disposition worsens. Someone in the middle will still like you less, but may or may not do what you ask, and if they just hate you, they'll try to get away or attack. Step Seven is roleplaying. This part is totally superflous, so completely unnecessary I'd rather talk about how I noticed I had misspelled superfluous and then decided not to fix it so I could add this aside here. Step Eight is, finally, the actual actions and rolling. People say what they're doing and make their rolls. You can Assist and help another character with what they're doing. You can Consider which I guess is like an “aim” equivalent, where you give up your turn to get a bonus on your next action. You can Fast Talk, where you just blather on to try and confuse someone. Manipulate is where you try to mess with someone's emotions so they act in a way you want, allowing you to pick their technique next round. When you Mollify you restore some lost Composure to another participant. If you Quit, you abandon the Intrigue, possibly suffering some sort of repercussions. You can Read Target to try and suss out another character's Disposition or Technique, plus a bonus die for the rest of the Intrigue, I assume against them but the book doesn't specify. Shield of Reputation involves trying to use your social status to try and instill some respect for you in another. Switch to Combat when you're sick of talking and just want a fucker to die. Withdraw lets you sideline your self for a bit to defend yourself from others better, increasing your intrigue defense. When a character succeeds on an Influence action against another character, they generate Influence. The target subtracts their DR from that amount and the rest is applied to their Composure. Being dropped to 0 or less Composure means defeat. A way to avoid Influence is through Frustration. Whenever a character would lose Composure due to another character's influence, they can take a point of frustration to reduce the influence by their Will in a manner similar to Consequences in Fate. Each point of frustration inflicts a -1 die penalty and a character automatically loses an Intrigue if their Frustration exceeds their Will. If someone won, figure out what the effects are based on the Technique used by the winner. On their turn a character can yield, offering a compromise to the other participants. When you're defeated you can burn a Destiny Point to change the outcome, but not in a way that invalidates the victory. You just get to choose how you lose. If no one has won yet, start over from Step Two. Next is Chapter 9: Combat
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 03:51 |
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So how smoothly does this method of organized Social Combat actually work?
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 05:07 |
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Majuju posted:WEALTH Essentially, the best thing about Wealth is how it scales in terms of gaining equipment. Wealth of 31, putting you into the Ultra-Rich category? You don't even have to bother rolling to acquire just about anything. Buuut, your DC 15 rule means that a pricey item will still ding a point off of your Wealth Bonus the same as a less obscenely wealthy person. Want to outfit a private army with top of the line assault rifles and armor? You can probably get about 6 guys equipped before you start having to cook the books a little. If you somehow succeed on every purchase check, you've equipped about 15 mercenaries and completely bankrupted yourself. That's before you've been able to pay any of them for their actual services. But, I guess now you have a sweet pile of guns and kevlar If your DM lets you somehow keep your Occupation by completely shrugging off the effects that your newfound homelessness should have on your stress levels, access to proper hygiene, shelter, and so on, at least you will probably bounce back into moderate wealth or upper-middle-classness next time you level up. If you're lucky, one of the other PCs let you and your giant pile of state-of-the art guns crash at their place.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 14:21 |
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It's Halloween, motherfuckers! Strange things happen on All Hallow's Eve. I shave my beard so my zombie makeup will stick, and I actually start missing not only this thread, but old White Wolf heartbreakers. It's been too long since I trashed someone else's creative output. Mormon Star Wars started a review of this one which he had to abandon, and I don't blame him. My last review, Immortal: the Invisible War, unearthed an artifact of pompous 90s "modern fantasy" design. Continuing the trend of games with one foot in the grave and their head firmly up their rear end, I present: Look at those loving skeletons! They're having a great time. That lady, though, she's either taking this way too seriously, or deadpanning like a champ until the other three dancers step out from behind her. In this review I'll be looking at both the 1995 edition, which I bought for $2, and the revised 2005 PDF, which costs $26.80. That's a higher PDF price than anything from White Wolf, or by Greg Stolze, apropos of nothing. As the Introduction page gladly tells you, The Everlasting: Book of the Unliving is just the first book in a series covering the "Secret World," that is, just like the modern world but with supernatural creatures in human form hiding behind every perpetually rain-slicked street, improbably gargoyle-bedecked building, and impossibly successful goth nightclub. This book covers ghuls (ghouls), vampires (Draculas), reanimates (Frankensteins), revenants (Crows), and dead souls (Boo Berries). The Book of the Light covers angels, demons, daevas (pagan demigods), grail knights (one, two, five), and Wer (werewolves). The Book of the Spirits covers gargoyles (sin-eating spirits), manitou (shapeshifting totems), the possessed (spiritual warriors possessing expendable bodies), astral spirits, dream spirits, somnomancers (dream wizards), and leviathans (demon dragons). The Book of the Fantastical covers dragons (go gently caress yourself), dwarves (go gently caress yourself), elves (go gently caress yourself), goblins (go gently caress yourself), and orcs (go gently caress yourself). The introduction page also gives an Important Warning that this is all make-believe, and describes the game as "A Series of Legendmaking Experiences." That will be important later because, oh gently caress it, I'm just going to type up the blurb on the back cover: THE EVERLASTING is The Interactive Legendmaking Experience. It features many new concepts: communal protagonists, customizable rules, gamemasterless options, tips on achieving epiphanies, tips on rewarding guides, dream control methods, opening and closing ceremonies, and Personal Mythology. Legendmaking takes you beyond roleplaying and storytelling to a new level of intensity. Each participant chooses from playing card, tarot card, dice, and freeform options the system personally preferred. Your journey into the realms of modern-day fantasy, horror, and mystery begins now. Enter the magical world you have always wanted to visit…the one you live in. You know what? I haven't even reached the table of contents, and I'm totally convinced. If you're a schizophrenic hanging out in a New Age bookstore, I'd bet my Vertigo Tarot deck that this is the perfect game for you. Next time, on The Everlasting I make fun of the author and probably his mother.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 15:50 |
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Yay! The Everlasting! Written by White Wolf veterans who decided that the only problems with the classic World of Darkness were that it didn't take itself seriously enough and that there just weren't enough different types of supernatural creatures and factions knocking around. And that mention of "dream control methods" isn't just for show, kiddies - the games actually includes rules for incorporating lucid dreaming into your campaign. e: vvvvvv V:U is just a 98% identical ripoff of the WoD , the goth-horror RPG equivalent of those off-off-brand Star Warrior action Figures. Everlasting is everything in the WoD, only cranked up past 11 and on to like 35 or 40. Strap yourselves in, we're in for a treat. FMguru fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Oct 28, 2013 |
# ? Oct 28, 2013 15:59 |
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FMguru posted:Yay! The Everlasting! Written by White Wolf veterans who decided that the only problems with the classic World of Darkness were that it didn't take itself seriously enough and that there just weren't enough different types of supernatural creatures and factions knocking around. Reminds me of Vampire: Undeath, which (unfortunately) is not expunged from the net by a C&D from White Wolf as I previously thought. Yet. Also, incorporating lucid dreams is such an idea.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 17:17 |
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Though we still haven't reached the table of contents, I don't want to go further without singling out the credits page for special attention. Everlasting's credit page goes a few steps beyond the White Wolf convention of in-jokey credits pages that thank people for staying up all night whacked-out on Red Bull to get a book finished. First, Brown lists the designers with arcane titles, then puts their real job in parentheses at the end of each section. He himself is credited as the "Inventor and Artisan" and "Scribe," meaning he's the creator and author. Other people responsible for this book--sorry, tome--include a Limner Administer (art director), Limners (artists), heralds (graphic designers), Illumination Administers (layout designers), an Illuminator (layout designer), Wise and Noble Oracles (business consultants), Sages of the Secret World (concept credit), and Errantry and Wisdom (all the playtesters). I believe Crow T. Robot said it best. They might as well credit their stationer, ewer, and vending machine guy! I'll give Stephen Brown credit for remaining Stephen Brown instead of renaming himself something like Ravyn Darkchylde. Aside from that, I suspect he should have saved the legal tender (money) he probably spent on sacred herb (weed) and hired a redactor (editor). On the same page is a Special Thanks section, which is long and includes some very peculiar mentions. No one is surprised to see Gary Gygax on the list, nor fellow White Wolf alumni Bill Bridges and Phil Brucato. His favourite prose writers include not just Ellison, Bloch, Lovecraft, Moorcock, and Tolkien, but Clive Barker and Anne Rice, while the list of comics writers includes not only alt-darlings like Moore, Morrison, Gaiman, and Wagner but innovative veterans like O'Neil and Straczynski. Then it gets weird. He thanks The Artist (formerly known as Prince). He thanks George Lucas and Jim Henson. He thanks Shirley Maclaine and Robert Pirsig, who aren't crazy, just busy legendmaking. He thanks entire comics companies (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse), fictional characters (Lestat and Grendel) entire series (Highlander and Sandman), and individual books (the Bible). Blessed Be, says Brown, and the "blessings of heaven" upon them and their loved ones. Yes, Stephen loves me, for the Bible tells me so. And a special thanks to the company that owns the copyright on the Rider-Waite Tarot, for saving them thousands on interior art. Next time, on The Everlasting: He threw off his long black leather duster. He was dressed all in black--black tee-shirt, black leather boots, pants, and bandanna holding back his long black hair. His face and clothing were all blood-splattered. he wore a shoulder holster with four pearl-handle daggers, two on each side.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 18:07 |
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FMguru posted:Yay! The Everlasting! Written by White Wolf veterans who decided that the only problems with the classic World of Darkness were that it didn't take itself seriously enough and that there just weren't enough different types of supernatural creatures and factions knocking around. This is what happens when you botch your Learning Experiences roll.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 18:10 |
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I'm sure this game will be poo poo, but goddamn if I don't love that Gothic Bollywood art they chose for the cover.Halloween Jack posted:He threw off his long black leather duster. He was dressed all in black--black tee-shirt, black leather boots, pants, and bandanna holding back his long black hair. His face and clothing were all blood-splattered. he wore a shoulder holster with four pearl-handle daggers, two on each side. Please tell me that's not what written in the actual book. Simian_Prime fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Oct 28, 2013 |
# ? Oct 28, 2013 18:36 |
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Simian_Prime posted:I'm sure this game will be poo poo, but goddamn if I don't love that Gothic Bollywood art they chose for the cover. I wouldn't be surprised if it is considering 90s WoD aesthetics. Doesn't help for me every time I see anything pearl-handled, I think of Patton's quote: "Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl-handled pistol."
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 19:36 |
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# ? Dec 9, 2024 00:53 |
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Xelkelvos posted:So how smoothly does this method of organized Social Combat actually work? Sadly, I've never played the game. I have a several friends who play RPGs and are fans of the TV show, and I thought they'd be into it, but they almost never play anything that isn't some kind of D&D knockoff.
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# ? Oct 28, 2013 19:47 |