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RE- Space 1889 Savage Worlds: I could see that actually working. The story has potential. Like a few of the other games we've covered, it suffers from being a decent kernel of an idea that the author did their level best to bury under thick layers of boring obsessive half-relevant detail. It was the same with Furry Pirates, which y'know, if you were to change the name to like "Cartoon Pirates" could have some potential. I wouldn't mind playing something like Disney's Robin Hood only set on a pirate ship, that'd be fun! But instead it's 150 pages of someone's book wikipedia entry on the age of piracy, only with Furry replacing Man. In this case it's 120 pages of British colonial boosterism, only they add a section at the end of each column that says "also, on Mars." Like "British are basically taking over the whole planet and really sticking it to those elephant-worshipping Indians. Also on Mars!" Then they top that sundae with literally three pages of diagrams and discussion on the function and design of canals.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:23
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Cythereal posted:Eh, I like Eberron's approach where relatively low-level magic is everywhere to the extent that between a third and half of the civilized world's population can use magic to a degree, to the extent that there's an NPC class specifically for the magical artisans and low-end enchanters who create and maintain all the magic items and commonplace magical effects you see throughout the civilized world. However, high-level magic is far more rare and tend to either be powerful relics or significant investments of major political powers to create. +1 sword? Sure, every large town as an enchanter making them. +3 sword? You found that in an old ruin or someone with a great deal of resources paid for its construction. +5 swords are the domain of true artifacts or a major endeavor of a powerful nation, Dragonmarked House, or organization of comparable power, and they are going to treat it as such. I think the focus on plus values in D&D enchantments is really kind of dumb. A +1 weapon is a solid step up at low level, especially against targets with DR (or no-sale mundane weapons in earlier editions). A plain +5 weapon is... preternaturally sharp, but not much more notable than a workaday +3, especially in the hands of a high-level fighter. On the other hand a holy avenger or intelligent weapon is rare and precious regardless of how many pluses it has, they're the kinds of things you'd carry as status symbols, or keep safely warehoused as you suggested. Hell, the intelligent sword might have a history of mind-controlling guards into escape attempts. If it's possible, and the theme accepts it, I don't see anything wrong with widespread magic and enchantments. Everburning torches or glowing globes for torches, magical sewage treatment, everyone with cantrips... I just prefer an aesthetic that avoids duplicating modern devices. Eberron's lightning rail gets a pass, but people using crystal balls to simulate TV by tuning into live performances feels like the Flintstones.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:26
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theironjef posted:RE- Space 1889 Savage Worlds: I could see that actually working. The story has potential. Like a few of the other games we've covered, it suffers from being a decent kernel of an idea that the author did their level best to bury under thick layers of boring obsessive half-relevant detail. It was the same with Furry Pirates, which y'know, if you were to change the name to like "Cartoon Pirates" could have some potential. I wouldn't mind playing something like Disney's Robin Hood only set on a pirate ship, that'd be fun! But instead it's 150 pages of someone's book wikipedia entry on the age of piracy, only with Furry replacing Man. It's peak GDW. They come up with some interesting concepts but they're often held back by too much detail on unimportant things. It's also telling that their most financially successful book was a book of facts on US military hardware that they put out right before the First Gulf War. Just imagine a game company of grogs who play historical wargames and get mad because your Panzers are the wrong color for the Spring of '43. Alternatively, TG versions of Walter from the Big Lebowski.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:38
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Bieeardo posted:If it's possible, and the theme accepts it, I don't see anything wrong with widespread magic and enchantments. Everburning torches or glowing globes for torches, magical sewage treatment, everyone with cantrips... I just prefer an aesthetic that avoids duplicating modern devices. Eberron's lightning rail gets a pass, but people using crystal balls to simulate TV by tuning into live performances feels like the Flintstones. I like when it's basically used as the Black Mirror of fantasy times. Like in Sigil where everytime someone does something like that (This barmy accountant invented a magic powered copying machine) it's always cursed and dangerous (little does the berk know it's powered by a demon that will kill him while he's sleeping!).
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Apr 28, 2015 18:38
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Bloody infernal machines, I tell you. Nothing but trouble.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:47
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theironjef posted:In this case it's 120 pages of British colonial boosterism, only they add a section at the end of each column that says "also, on Mars." Like "British are basically taking over the whole planet and really sticking it to those elephant-worshipping Indians. Also on Mars!" Then they top that sundae with literally three pages of diagrams and discussion on the function and design of canals. I don't know what the SW version is like, but given that Shane Hensley seems to be one of those publishers who doesn't have his head up his rear end I'm guessing the objectionable parts have been cut.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:50
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:It's peak GDW. They come up with some interesting concepts but they're often held back by too much detail on unimportant things. Case in point: Dangerous Journeys.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:51
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Evil Mastermind posted:I don't know what the SW version is like, but given that Shane Hensley seems to be one of those publishers who doesn't have his head up his rear end I'm guessing the objectionable parts have been cut. Well that and the core concept of Savage Worlds seems to be "simplify" so all the horrible crust that the original book has is probably boiled down to "Victorians in space plus intrigue amongst the gold-skinned Martians and fighting dinosaurs on Venus."
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Apr 28, 2015 18:59
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Bieeardo posted:I think the focus on plus values in D&D enchantments is really kind of dumb. A +1 weapon is a solid step up at low level, especially against targets with DR (or no-sale mundane weapons in earlier editions). A plain +5 weapon is... preternaturally sharp, but not much more notable than a workaday +3, especially in the hands of a high-level fighter. On the other hand a holy avenger or intelligent weapon is rare and precious regardless of how many pluses it has, they're the kinds of things you'd carry as status symbols, or keep safely warehoused as you suggested. Hell, the intelligent sword might have a history of mind-controlling guards into escape attempts. I like to have it both ways. Magic items aren't necessarily exceptional, they're just supplanted mundane items entirely. It helps that I've always run magic items as being things that anyone can make with enough dedication and the right materials. Like you get some hagfish skins and say the right words over them while you sew them into moccasins and bam you've got some slippers of grease or whatever. But the real good stuff is either made carefully by mages and craftsmen, usually by special order, or it gets made because the item was part of something awesome. A factory made magic sword is something you might get from any old bandit, but the Hammer of Nassem is +3 and was created when a hero used it to shatter the Black Diamond a thousand years ago. And I'm a fan of not replacing technology with magic by just keeping the technology. Trains and radio and indoor plumbing might have some magical applications, but they exist as mundane things totally apart from magic (insofar as they don't explicitly manipulate the weirder parts of the 'magic as physics'aspect that most fantasy settings have).
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Apr 28, 2015 19:54
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theironjef posted:I picture it as being pretty tongue in cheek late 80s action. Basically that weird Hasselhoff music video making the rounds right now mixed with The Last Starfighter and Silverhawks. Re: Space 1989: Ooh ooh, pick me! Introducing (dredging up?): http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Modempunk I did some of the initial fluff work when this started as a thread on /tg/. It's, admittedly, a pretty barebones construction and not really deep enough to provide a full write up for. But this is the relevant section (and the entirety of the world building: Modempunk posted:
I ran a very, very brief game of this and its something I'd like to return to. For me the most important themes are youth and punk-rebellion. So the culture war becomes a hotter and more oppressive. My central setting was a mall, with an arcade and a Radio Shack being the PCs haunt. It was fun, but I'm not sure how much staying power it has. As an interactive medium, I think its easy for everyone to be going in different directions and have a different, it might be better served by the slower and more descriptive capacity of forum-play. I also doodled a short story in the setting, but found it felt too nostalgic (for a time during which I was postnatal) and cheesy.
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Apr 28, 2015 20:22
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ZorajitZorajit posted:Re: Space 1989: Ooh ooh, pick me! Introducing (dredging up?): I definitely want the Cosmo Warsaw Pact vs. Space NATO aspect in that. In fact, there would probably be increased open conflict because MAD would now be non-existent since you now have more than one planet to deal with, although you could as well restrict nuclear weapons and open warfare to the off-world colonies, a la Screamers. Also, time to put in the wackier poo poo from this page...https://www.pinterest.com/adavies0160/future-war-198x-abandoned-military-projects-for-wo/
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Apr 28, 2015 20:46
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Heh, you guys have some awesome stuff there. It's way way more serious than I what I was originally thinking (I was thinking spaceships literally steered with arcade controls, pixel-lasers being fired at rubber mask aliens, pink smoke, and +1 headbands), but I'm loving what I'm seeing here all the same.
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Apr 28, 2015 20:49
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Night10194 posted:Also, it has a similar approach to making (incredibly rare) magic items. A sorcerer has to bind a permanent part of the MP into the item to hold an extra dimensional spirit in the suit of armor or weapon or trinket. They never get it back, using their own willpower as glue to bind the spell together. It is also, though, a system that never assumes nor needs PCs to have access to a magic weapon or armor. You'll be plenty badass with platemail and a well made sword and shield, or a solidly crafted musket or crossbow. A magic weapon would just be icing on the cake. It's interesting to see a 'gritty' low fantasy game where the PCs are pretty much badasses at whatever their profession might be from the word go, but the general theme for PCs is that like the printing press and the gun, they're people who may be of lower birth but are simply too talented for the status quo of society to ignore, drawing them into the intrigues of powerful merchant houses and ancient nobles because they're cool guys who can get poo poo done. Hey, this is kinda like The Dark Eye, except all but the most powerful magic items are essentially wands with very few charges that can usually not be recharged. Not terribly useful as a weapon unless you just want to take advantage of your sword being able to fully hurt demons, but demons aren't really too common unless you want to really focus on that stuff. gradenko_2000 posted:This is just pure conjecture on my part, but between Wizards having their roots as artillery units in Chainmail, the rules for establishing holdings and land ownership on reaching Name level, Chainmail itself, and later BattleSystem, it seems like you were supposed to play D&D in dungeon-crawling, single-character-per-player mode up until 9th level, and then play a mass combat game where the Fighter is instead a whole legion of men lead by the single Fighter you used to play as while the Wizard is a still a single character but with (more abstracted?) powerful magics that'd make them the equivalent of the whole legion. As well, the scope and challenge of the game should shift into kingdom management, world-destroying threats, and other such legendary actions. I think the Rules Cyclopedia did it like this: You first get yourself a couple levels inside a dungeon, then proceed to wilderness adventures, start a kingdom, have some interdimensional Spelljammer adventures and finally become a god, which is a whole different kind of game. Bieeardo posted:This is the kind of item creation I like, particularly if their legendary qualities can be instilled or awakened by the characters themselves. Nobody's burning CON, or XP, or precious feat slots, and nobody's putting used +1's and +2's out on the market as they grow out of them. Earthdawn, 3.x's ancestral weapon scheme, and 4E's innate bonuses were much more my thing than random drops or paying a wizard to pimp my blade. I've actually beeing thinking about putting some of the recommended wealth per encounter/level/whatever aside to spontaneously make a weapon magical (including surprise masterwork-ification, because dropping your sword in a fairy pond does some weird stuff), or beef it up if it already magical (the burning-hot blood from a red dragon could give your sword some fire damage or turn it into a sword of dragons bane).
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Apr 28, 2015 21:12
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The god rules from the BECMI/Cyclopedia set were never really meant to be played. I'm sure people tried.
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Apr 28, 2015 21:17
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Halloween Jack posted:The god rules from the BECMI/Cyclopedia set were never really meant to be played. I'm sure people tried. If you give it stats, they'll try to kill it. If you give it rules, they'll try to use 'em.
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Apr 28, 2015 21:27
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ZorajitZorajit posted:Re: Space 1989: Ooh ooh, pick me! Introducing (dredging up?): A one or two post writeup for this might be enough.
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Apr 28, 2015 21:32
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Kavak posted:You've never played in a nWoD chat game The nChangeling hook of "some gently caress's ensorcelling vampires and getting them hooked on goblin fruit, you need to deal with it before the fanged population learns that you're an acceptable substitute." is the best hook, and I want published material expanding on that.
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Apr 28, 2015 22:09
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theironjef posted:
I've thought about sending stuff to you, but I don't want you to rip me off for spare copies of Rolemaster or solo CYOA D6 Star Wars modules. Do you guys have a Google Doc or something listing the games you have books for, even if you might not review a given plop soon or at all?
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Apr 28, 2015 22:43
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Plague of Hats posted:I've thought about sending stuff to you, but I don't want you to rip me off for spare copies of Rolemaster or solo CYOA D6 Star Wars modules. Do you guys have a Google Doc or something listing the games you have books for, even if you might not review a given plop soon or at all? That's actually a good idea. We do encourage people to email us first to see if we already have something (I just turned down Burning Wheel and Fantasy Wargaming: Highest Level of All because we had them already), plus that's the only way we're putting an address out anywhere is via email. I mean we don't even use our last names. I'm all internet paranoid because we're so famous(77 twitter followers I'm like Tom Cruise over here). I'll put together a list of what we've got, in what formats (some folks send us pdfs), and then indicate what was a gift. We like to keep our upcoming stuff a surprise(mostly so the discussion isn't over before the episode even drops, but also so I don't accidentally steal a joke), but a big list of everything we have is harmless. That being said, we heavily prioritize things that are mailed to us, because it's friendly. Deliria, Space 1889, Synnibarr, and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head were mailed in. We still only get one done every two weeks so "soon" is pretty relative. Oh right! Witch Girls Adventures and Noumenon... and Cryptkeeper... we actually have a pretty big backlog of gift pdfs at the moment. Man, we gotta work harder over here. theironjef fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Apr 28, 2015 |
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Apr 28, 2015 23:04
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Evil Mastermind posted:And as of now the rights are owned by Pinnacle Entertainment, who made it a Savage Worlds setting. Pinnacle doesn't have the rights to Space:1889, Heliotrope just let them make a Savage Worlds setting (probably similiar to how Pallidium is letting them make Savage Worlds:Rifts). Another company called Clockwork Publishing got the rights to do a version using the Ubiquity System.
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Apr 28, 2015 23:07
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Dedman Walkin posted:Pinnacle doesn't have the rights to Space:1889, Heliotrope just let them make a Savage Worlds setting (probably similiar to how Pallidium is letting them make Savage Worlds:Rifts). Another company called Clockwork Publishing got the rights to do a version using the Ubiquity System. Gonna start emailing these companies as we finish the review to see if they'll let us remake the game in the Duckman Engine (tm).
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Apr 28, 2015 23:09
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Space 1889 is creator owned and licensed out to other companies like most former GDW properties that you see around. When GDW voluntarily closed its doors in 1996, most properties were given to their original creators. This is why Marc Miller has the rights to Traveller and licenses it out to people. EDIT: Designers & Dragons is a great series by the way even though it's a little too comprehensive at times. RocknRollaAyatollah fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Apr 28, 2015 |
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Apr 28, 2015 23:14
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Halloween Jack posted:The god rules from the BECMI/Cyclopedia set were never really meant to be played. I'm sure people tried. There was at least one adventure module written for the original BECMI immortals set. I remember traveling the planes, looking for the essences of senses, and ending up both in weird logic puzzles on the plane of Earth... and on then-modern Earth. God, those books were obtuse. Great if you needed a basic course on proceeding through the fourth, fifth and sixth dimensions, and it had some wonderfully strange monsters, but virtually unplayable. The (much) later Wrath of the Immortals box was vastly superior, in that it was actually playable.
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Apr 28, 2015 23:51
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theironjef posted:While your knowledge of fake elements predicted by natural philosophers is commendable, I cite Spelljammer as precedent for phlogiston being a medium that fantasy spaceships fly around in. Granted, it was also highly flammable in that. Who the gently caress actually played Spelljammer though? I was in a long running 1889 campaign at least.
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Apr 29, 2015 02:45
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 Artwork: So before I start this chapter, I think I should say a few things. Recently I've noticed that various pieces of sourcebooks (artwork most noticeably) are product identity and as such need written permission in order to replicate. For that reason I got into contact with the author of this book before the review started. The artwork on display in this review is not necessarily the entirety in the book (different pieces have different rights/restrictions on how they can be disseminated), so that's probably the reason why it seems sparse in places. Corrections: Also, Christopher Moore pointed out a few things in the previous chapters which I missed or looked over. For one, the bloodrager's shadow bloodline's ability to see in its own deeper darkness is quite good debuffer option for many creatures as well as shadow step and invisibility, which puts it above my initial view on it. The Path of Eternal Night's Corruption Aura actually has a duration (1/2 nightblade level + Cha modifier in rounds), so it's not necessary a potentially "forever-on" thing for a bunch of free buffs. I was wrong about the Veiled Infiltrator's alternate class feature (all nightblade Arts are replaced with Rogue talent options); I still think that giving up nightblade arts is a loss, although not having access to them in the first place means that they won't require detailed look-overs for prospective players seeing which powers they can and can't use. Additionally, the shadow transference nightblade Art also works against spells with the [shadow] descriptor as well as the [darkness] descriptor; I did not realize that these were two separate types, meaning that it's more flexible than normal (shadow conjuration/evocation/etc it works on). Anyway, on with the review! Chapter 3: Feats Feats is the shortest chapter in the book, clocking in at 4 pages, 10 racial feats and 15 other kinds of feats. Like with nightblade arts I'm not going to cover them all, just the ones which are of note for good or bad reasons. Arcane Veil allows you to convert a prepared or unused 1st or 2nd level arcane spell slot to spontaneously cast invisibility but only lasts for 2 rounds per level of the spell slot. The feat can't be used again for one minute once the invisibility ends. Concealing Trick is a high-level entry feat (13th) which allows you to grant the benefit of hide in plain sight/camouflage/slayer's camouflage class features to an adjacent ally. Also, said ally can benefit from your favored terrain (bonuses while in certain wilderness/urban settings). It's a pretty nice boost, but for personal reasons I always felt that the default class features were too high-level at the level they're gained, but that's more the fault of Paizo than Path of Shadows. Dissolution's Embrace is a racial feat for Wayang (small fey who come from the Plane of Shadow), which allows the character to take 10 on Stealth checks while in dim light or darkness. This goes quite nicely with Stealth Synergy from Ultimate Combat if you're the only person in your party who can sneak worth a drat. Extra Nightblade Art can be taken multiple times and grants an additional Art. A pretty nice feat for most nightblade builds. Eyes of Night might have steep requirements (10 ranks Perception, 120 foot darkvision) but it's worth it for the ability to see up to 20 feet in supernatural darkness such as deeper darkness. Wayangs also get access to the twin sets of Greater and Improved Shadow Magic. Basically Improved grants the shape shadows cantrip (new spell in this book) at will, and they can cast silent image and darkness as 1/day spell-like abilities. Greater allows them to use ghost sound, ventriloquism, and pass without trace all at will, can use darkness and silent image one more day each, and can use invisibility 1/day as a spell-like ability. Ventriloquism and Pass Without Trace at will are very good for distracting enemies and covering one's tracks, so the feats are worth it for rogue-like builds if you can afford them. Lingering Shadows is good because it prevents light-based spells of equal or lower level from countering, dispelling, or raising the light level in the radius of spells with the [darkness] descriptor. Nice for preventing pesky cantrips from dispelling all those "dim light" buffs you're getting from this book! Realistic Illusions only requires Spell Focus (Illusion) and is a great feat. Even when presented with proof that your spell is not real, the target must still make a saving throw (at a +4 bonus). Additionally, those who save yet communicate its fakery to others don't grant the normal saving throw bonus for others to disbelieve. This is a very good choice for any illusion-based character. Recover Senses is a lot like the Rogue's Slippery Mind ability, although it allows the character to reroll a saving throw one round later against conditions which blind/deafen/dazzle or impairs the character's sense of hearing or vision. For abilities which do not allow a saving throw, the duration's halved instead. This is a useful feat to take not just because blindness/deafness is an otherwise permanent spell, but because blindness is a huge impairment to most forms of combat and line of sight spells. Only requiring Great Fortitude, it's a useful feat to take for many situations. Shadowy Disguise is a feat for fetchlings, granting them an additional use of disguise self as well as the ability to alter the audible and tactile senses of the character and equipment in addition to visual features with the spell-like ability. It doesn't really wow me in comparison to the other feats, in that I don't think most disguised PCs are going to let folk get close enough to touch them (I think that touching tactile illusions would count as interaction, but it won't break the illusion immediately when you feel something else). Shadow Gift allows the nightblade to grant the use of a shadow surge to a willing ally. If they can use shadow surges, they can use your gifted one to power their own class features. If not, they can use the base ability to roll twice and take the better result on Stealth checks. The feat can also grant the target other ways of expending a shadow surge if the giving nightblade possesses that ability as well (although it's effective level of power is halved). This feat's pretty cool, especially in a multi-nightblade party, but it's limited by having a minimum class level of 7, the fact that the gifted surge must be spent within 1 hour before it's lost, and can only give 1 shadow surge out at a time this way. Still a good option, though. Shadow Summoner allows creatures with the celestial or fiendish template summoned via the Summon Monster line of spells to have the shadow creature template instead. This is good because shadow creatures can have any alignment, and they can gain concealment in areas of dim light! All it requires is Spell Focus (Conjuration) to take! Another good illusion spell, Tenacious Illusions not only makes it harder to dispel your illusions (DC increases by 2), but they persist for one round even if they're successfully dispelled. Terrifying Ambush is a cool combat feat which requires Weapon Focus and Dazzling Display. Basically if you hit an opponent with your favored weapon during a surprise round, you can roll a free Intimidate check to potentially demoralize all foes within 30 feet (and the struck creature) who witnessed the attack. Good option for Intimidate/demoralize-focused builds. Umbral Striker modifies the Arcane Strike feat in several ways. First, weapons empowered as such also count as cold iron and silver in addition to magical for damage reduction purposes, and the base weapon damage (1d4 for dagger, etc) can be altered to deal cold damage instead of physical damage. A very good way of getting around damage reduction and incorporeal miss chance. Unseen Terror is really cool and reminds me of those times in Batman Arkham series of video games where you'd pick off bad guys one by one, gradually freaking them out in the process. Basically you can use Intimidate checks to demoralize a creature even if they cannot see you. You must still be able to influence it, such as using frightening illusion spells, taunting, making noise and the like. Plus you get a +2 on Intimidate checks while in dim light or darkness. You only need 5 ranks in Intimidate and Stealth to get this, and while it may not be for for all builds this feat gets points for being cool! Thoughts so far: Most of the feats are good and grant something useful beyond static number increases, which I really like. The racial feats are all suited to Fetchlings and Wayang, and I would have liked to see some options for gnomes and halflings on account of their illusionist and stealthy natures. Still, this is a pretty strong chapter overall. Next post I'm going to cover spells, which is by far the longest chapter and the one with the most content. I look forward to showing them off.
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Apr 29, 2015 03:17
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Been reading the Genius bits, even downloaded the pdf, and while I have to agree with the posters who say it doesn't fit the nWoD, I have to say that it sounds absolutely smashing as a pulpy game with more modern bits added. Just one question- could websites be Wonders?
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Apr 29, 2015 03:33
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Rifts World Book Six: South America posted:Warning! Aviso! Rifts World Book Six: South America posted:Violence and the Supernatural A Violência eo Sobrenatural Rifts World Book Six: South America posted:This book may be inappropriate for young readers. Este livro pode ser inapropriado para jovens leitores. Rifts World Book Six: South America posted:The fictional World of Rifts is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other-dimensional beings, often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book. O mundo ficcional de Rifts é violento, mortal e cheio de monstros sobrenaturais. Outros seres tridimensionais, muitas vezes referida como "demônios", tormento, perseguir e presa em seres humanos. Outras formas alienígenas de vida, monstros, deuses e semideuses, assim como a magia, loucura e guerra são todos os elementos deste livro. Rifts World Book Six: South America posted:Some parents may find the violence and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion. Alguns pais podem encontrar a violência e elementos sobrenaturais do jogo inapropriados para jovens leitores / jogadores. Sugerimos critério dos pais. Rifts World Book Six: South America posted:Please note that none of us at Palladium Books condone nor encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence. Por favor, note que nenhum de nós em Livros Palladium tolera nem incentivar o ocultismo, a prática da magia, o uso de drogas ou violência.  "Dinner is served, gentlemen!" Rifts World Book Six: South America (Part 1): "You don't have to rely on your life experiences if you've got imagination." So, first, C.J. Carella thanks playtesters. Actual playtesters, for a Rifts book. One might suspect the apocalypse might have happened in 1994 if we didn't know better, for this certainly would have seemed like a sign of the end times. Carella introduces this, and this book is really Carella's more than any book on the line so far. Kevin Siembieda does meddle a lot more than I remembered, though, it seems almost inevitable at this point. But there's certainly nothing like Siembieda's bizarre anti-Naruni screeds from Rifts Mercenaries or the bizarre statblocks of the Golden Age Weaponsmiths. Carella gets a lot more freedom than he's had before. The result makes this one more interesting Rifts books. You have Carella writing about mythology he loves knotted with Rifts twists. It's an unsophisticated Trapper Keeper-level dream of post-apocalyptic South America, and I love it. Even the felinoids, because it's not just a city of cat people, it's a madman's love letter to cat people and it doesn't even care what you think. But I'm getting ahead of myself.   Intimidating roar cancelled out by cat-junk. C.J. Carella thinks "write what you know" is a bunch of bupkis, because he writes about wizards and stuff, but is glad to see he can turn his personal familiarity with living in Peru and Venezuela into writing about a city of cat people. There'll be a second book of South America stuff, and this book will focus on the northern end of the continent, while the second will be the southern end. Also, since Carella is writing it, it will actually come out! The art in this book is a mix of Palladium artists at the time - Long, Breaux, Siembieda, Petersen, etc. There's even a little hint of Brom, as you've seen. And apologies for google translate's Portuguese, it is what it is. Next: The Heart of Dimness.
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Apr 29, 2015 03:42
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CommissarMega posted:Just one question- could websites be Wonders? I'd say if it's somehow intelligent it could be an Automata wonder, or a website could be a piece of mundane technology grafted onto a software wonder - and software wonders mostly mean AIs unless you're using The Grid.
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Apr 29, 2015 03:57
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CommissarMega posted:could websites be Wonders? You can do anything at zombo.com.
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Apr 29, 2015 04:06
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Since we talk about Pathfinder in here, did anyone ever make a Warlord-alike for it to go with the Tome-of-Battle-alike and the Tome-of-Magic-alike?
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Apr 29, 2015 04:14
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wdarkk posted:Since we talk about Pathfinder in here, did anyone ever make a Warlord-alike for it to go with the Tome-of-Battle-alike and the Tome-of-Magic-alike? Dreamscarred Press' Path to War made a base class that's literally named a Warlord (link to the PF SRD), although I'm not sure how close it hews to the 4e ideal.
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Apr 29, 2015 04:21
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gradenko_2000 posted:Dreamscarred Press' Path to War made a base class that's literally named a Warlord (link to the PF SRD), although I'm not sure how close it hews to the 4e ideal. I'm pretty sure that's closer to the Warblade.
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Apr 29, 2015 04:25
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gradenko_2000 posted:Dreamscarred Press' Path to War made a base class that's literally named a Warlord (link to the PF SRD), although I'm not sure how close it hews to the 4e ideal. The PoW Warlord does have some abilities geared toward buffing his team by being dashing and inspiring, but if you're looking for a 4E-style Warlord who can serve as a group's main healer, this isn't it.
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Apr 29, 2015 04:34
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Path of War's Warder to my knowledge, has some 4E-esque abilities. The Golden Lion and Silver Crane disciplines (the latter which can be traded for if one joins a holy organization) can restore hit points to others either through inspiring battle prowess or divine grace. Also, the Warder has an ability named Armiger's Mark which imposes penalties on targets who attack people other than the Warder. The class also gets a "battlefield attack zone" where they can extend the reach of melee weapons to provoke Attacks of Opportunity on opponents as far as 30 feet away potentially with the right weapon and level. I haven't really got the chance to deeply analyze 4th Edition Fighters and the like, but the way I've heard the class described sounds close to some 4thisms.
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Apr 29, 2015 05:35
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Cythereal posted:I'd say if it's somehow intelligent it could be an Automata wonder, or a website could be a piece of mundane technology grafted onto a software wonder - and software wonders mostly mean AIs unless you're using The Grid. I was thinking of something along the lines of the hypnosis Axiom, maybe combined with the Axiom that allows good fortune. It's like this: Visit HuegMegaBux.com for the secrets to good fortune, which actually happens. People go 'hey, this actually works' and come back, not knowing that each time they do they become subtly more and more into this cult the baddie/PC is setting up. It even comes with its own antagonist/protagonist setup- someone could become Inspired after they're triggered by the site, or Geniuses find out about the sudden outbreak of Beholden (the site IS a Wonder, after all).
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Apr 29, 2015 05:44
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CommissarMega posted:I was thinking of something along the lines of the hypnosis Axiom, maybe combined with the Axiom that allows good fortune. It's like this: Visit HuegMegaBux.com for the secrets to good fortune, which actually happens. People go 'hey, this actually works' and come back, not knowing that each time they do they become subtly more and more into this cult the baddie/PC is setting up. Eh, RAW that would be two separate wonders, the Epikrato wonder for the mind control and then either an Apokalypsi wonder to project it through a computer network or an Automata wonder with the Free Roaming variable (which itself requires having Apokalypsi 1) to be the site itself. Genius doesn't give much consideration to software wonders outside of AIs, so you'd probably need to work that out with your DM. I'd allow it personally.
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Apr 29, 2015 05:56
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Genius: The Transgression, Katastrofi Stuff go boom. If you want a wonder that hurts something, this is your one stop shop to the point that every other axiom has lines about "If you want to use this axiom to make something whose main job is to hurt or destroy things, stop and use Katastrofi." Katastrofi, in short, has no purpose but to destroy things. In this respect it's refreshingly straightforward. Skills are pretty obvious. Crafts by default, Medicine for purely organic weapons or weapons that use poison, Science for energy weapons, and Occult for weapons that hit other dimensions (yes, this is a thing you can do - you can build a laser gun that hits people on the other side of the Veil/Gauntlet/whatever-this-game-line-calls-it). One point of Mania is good for ten shots. Melee and thrown weapons don't need it, and base damage for all Katastrofi wonders is 5. Range-wise, weapon wonders are divided into several bands. Melee (none), thrown, pistol, rifle, light artillery, heavy artillery, and bombardment artillery. Bombardment artillery weapons have no maximum range, so you can theoretically build an intergalactic weapon. You do need some way of pointing extremely long-range weapons, probably an Apokalypsi wonder. Katastrofi weapons can cause aggravated damage, and weapons that do so ignore mundane armor. Supernatural defenses, including Prostasia armor, still work. Dots are simple and self-explanatory. Genius posted:Katastrofi ●: Agonizers, voltaic stunners, and energy-draining rays Katastrofi variables! Adjusted Range lets you adjust a weapon's range up (for a penalty to construction) or down (for a bonus) a band, to a maximum of bombardment and a minimum of pistol. Doesn't say this can't be applied to melee weapons so you can probably do a whipfist or extend-o-sword deal. Armor Piercing lets a weapon ignore armor, for a -1 penalty per three points of armor the weapon ignores. Doesn't affect Durability, just armor. Artillery requires Apokalypsi 1 and a minimum size of 5, but lets a wonder shoot indirectly at targets it doesn't have line of sight to. You probably want some way to aim the thing, either hooking up to a mundane sensor or an Apokalypsi wonder. Attribute Damage lets a wonder exchange levels of health damage it would inflict for attribute damage at a 3:1 swap. Autofire lets you shoot your wonder on burst or sustained automatic fire. Bleeding is like Continuing Damage below, but only works on things that can bleed in some form and can't be washed off. Blinding weapons can target any sense, not just vision. If the effect is successful, its duration depends on whether the wonder is designed to inflict bashing, lethal, or aggravated damage. Aggravated blinding weapons inflict permanent disability if they work, though medical science might be able to cure them. Genius posted:Continuing Damage: Defensive can only be applied to melee weapons and grants a +1 to defense when wielded. Disintegration can only be applied to weapons that cause aggravated damage, and completely disintegrates someone and everything they carry if the weapon kills them. We're now given a brief sidebar about using appropriate wonders (mostly energy weapons) to burn through and vaporize solid materials, and rules for how much they can destroy. Explosive Weapon has a long slew of rules but in short grants an area of effect to the weapon. Explosive Accuracy lets an explosive weapon reduce their area damage to do more damage to the primary target. Extradimensional Attack requires Skafoi 4 and lets a weapon strike targets in one or more other dimensions and can be flipped instantly to choose which dimension(s) it affects. Good Balance and Weight lets oversized weapons be handled and used more easily. Immobilizing Attack has another bunch of rules but lets a weapon work like a tentacle or glue gun or the like. Knockdown lets a weapon... knock down its target. Lingering Area Damage combines the properties of Explosive Weapon and Continuing Damage and can last for a duration measured in weeks. Melee Weapon is self-explanatory. If the weapon has to be turned on (like a lightsaber), doing so costs 1 Mania point but grants a bonus to construction. If it doesn't (like a monomolecular-edged sword), no Mania cost and no bonus. No Visible Attack allows for lasers at frequencies other than visual light, colorless poison gas, and the like. Cannot be combined with melee weapon (though I'd consider allowing it for monofilament style weapons). Only Against Certain Materials is how you get your rust rays, EMP guns, poisons geared to a specific anatomy, and the like. Only works against certain materials or kinds of targets. Orbital requires size 8 or bigger and is for true heavy guns, making such weapons much more effective against massive targets but very inaccurate against small targets. Railgun is a lesser version of Orbital in all respects. In a nice touch I like, "railgun" in this case specifically refers to Victorian and WW1 era artillery weapons so large they were mounted on railway cars. Returning requires Automata 1 and some form of Skafoi, usually 2. Returning weapons automatically return to the user if they leave their owner's possession, assuming they can reach her (Skafoi 4 permits teleportation, for example, lesser dots have to physically travel). Very handy for throwing weapons, but can be used for any weapon. Thrown Weapon is what it sounds like and usually uses either the Limited Uses or Returning variables, or sometimes both. Variable Damage lets a weapon dial down its damage type (from aggravated to lethal or bashing, or from lethal to bashing), reduce its damage type, or overcharge for more damage. Useful for both the overcharge function and for giving a weapon a stun setting. Variable Explosion requires Explosive Damage but lets the genius adjust the weapon's blast radius as desired. Sample Katastrofi faults! Genius posted:1. The weapon’s damage type is downgraded by one step (Aggravated to Lethal, Lethal to Bashing). Bashing
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Apr 29, 2015 07:24
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Rifts World Book Six: South America (Part 2): "Does this mean that the Amazons that gave this river its name are actually the same Amazons mentioned in Greek mythology?" An Overview of South America The Travelogue of Professor Augusto Cudbury of Lazlo This is not Erin Tarn. Instead, we get an introduction by Augusto Cudbury, who has sailed south to explore South America on a ship called the Quester. Why South America? It's not entirely clear. It notes that his travelogue is only partial, since he sent drones back to Lazlo with his transcripts, but only some of them made it back. The Coalition may be behind this, but for the most part-  The First Transcript November, 102 P.A. So Augusto is sailing with Edmund Globetrotter, a shifter, and "the mysterious Claymore", who serves as his local Brock Samson. They ran into some monsters and lost one of their soldiers to an island-sized tentacle beast. Augusto frets about losing somebody already, and decides to use drones to do exploration of islands from now on. The Second Transcript March, 103 P.A. Cudbury is amazed by the sights of the Amazon - which now floods the land and creates the "Thousand Islands" region - but is less amazed by the heat or biting insects. They're approached by gunboats from the nation of Columbia, which Augusto finds out is a human-dominated nation under siege by vampires. Though it's a human supremacist nation, they do treat dwarves equally and respect magic as a resource. To that end, they have techno-magical "anti-monster" cyborgs. He learns a lot about the other nations of South America, including:
Also, apparently there are super-piranha that can tear through power armor, so there's that.  The Third Transcript May, 103 P.A. They encounter a civil war between lizardmen tribes, as dragons are taking over the lizardman lands. They fight a dragon and lose a lot of people, but Claymore mounts it as a trophy to scare away other dragons and lizard-sorts. The Fourth Transcript July, 103 P.A. It turns out the Pantheon of Dragonwright (see Rifts World Book Two: Atlantis) are the evil sorts conquiering the lizardmen. They've had a lot more battles, one of which killed Globetrotter. Things are looking grim and they're trying to make their way to Argentina. The Fifth Transcript August, 103 P.A. Even though they've escaped Lagarto, the dragon kings seem to be harrying them, and a disguised dragon nearly blows up their power plant. However, they run into literal Grecian amazons (get it?), who are apparently from Manoa, a city at war with Omagua and Cibola, which are apparently all alternative versions of El Dorado. An amazon guide accompanies them, and they learn that Cibola is a haven for monsters, cannibalism, slavery, etc., which Augusto recognizes as being like the Splugorth. Fun times! The Sixth Transcript September, 103 P.A. We join after some missing transcripts where the Quester is sinking, after apparently they refused Cibola a slave tribute, and they were attacked by hundreds of monsters on flying platforms which they fight off, only to lose a huge amount of their crew and their ship. They opt to flee south overland, hoping to send their remaining drones with word once they reach safety. Augusto & Co. are never heard from again. I'm not saying that sarcastically in that they show up in a future supplement - nope. They're gone. No Erin Tarnish escapes and returns for them, it seems. On that upbeat note, welcome to South America!  Rifts South America So, almost all of South America's people perished in the disasters, as it thruns out. Also, the Amazon River is now insanely huge. It's still freshwater, though the reasons it hasn't become another sea are mysterious. Blame rifts. Seriously, it suggests there's a rift to the Elemental Plane of Water (a D&Dism not seen before or since in Rifts) that keeps it stocked with freshwater. We get some guidelines on weather and special rules for environmental systems getting overloaded or clogged, which causes robots and armor to overheat and give penalties. There's also rich wildlife and flora, though there's also getting to be a lot of cross-dimensional pollenation (like giant vampire bats). Finally, we get some new languages: Creole (unrelated to the Pre-Rifts language) and the semi-new language of Demongogian (spoken in Cibola and by some vampires). Also, Portuguese is brought up again; otherwise, it's English, Spanish, and Dragonese all about. Next: Columbia's finest.
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Apr 29, 2015 19:01
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Plague of Hats posted:I've thought about sending stuff to you, but I don't want you to rip me off for spare copies of Rolemaster or solo CYOA D6 Star Wars modules. Do you guys have a Google Doc or something listing the games you have books for, even if you might not review a given plop soon or at all? Here's a link to our list of owned titles and then a second sheet for recommended titles. We try to prioritize stuff that's been gifted to the show. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZR5R2H-tSyFo0iKqTI-5-ZfqLtzWzInfu9INOvbazHQ/edit?usp=sharing
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Apr 29, 2015 20:05
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The thing about doing 7th Sea is that just doing the core book could never do it justice, for good or ill, because of all the insane reveals and crazy poo poo that came later, both good and bad. Like, from the core it's just some goofy, silly swashbuckling thing with bad rules. It would later become a goofy, silly swashbuckling thing full of aliens, supertechnology and body-snatching robots.
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Apr 29, 2015 20:18
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