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Night10194 posted:Something I've long since learned as a DM is never to give out 'good roleplaying' awards. They're insanely subjective, they can make things uneven, but the worst part is I noticed they often discouraged shyer players from participating. They were afraid to 'mess up' and that's not conducive to getting everyone around the table to relax, have fun, and pretend to be elves/french/doomed anime viral superbeings. Interestingly, I know of and have played a system that's actually built around this, and it works fairly well. It helps that a) the thing you get from it doesn't have much use on its own, b) you get one at the beginning of every round, anyway, and c) it's never permanent.
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Dec 24, 2015 18:35
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam Allegiance is new for Into the Steam, and it's an affiliation your character has, willing or unwilling, maybe even unaware. This isn't a guide on personality, but a complication in their story. A character with Guild allegiance might hate the Guild, but owe their life to a Marshal and have too much integrity to let the debt go unpaid, say. Allegiance is helpful to your character, but also harmful, in pretty much every case. The game offers a quick method by taking each possible Allegiance and letting you draw a card and check against the suit to determine what your Allegiance means, or you can make it up y ourself. The possibles are Arcanists, the Union, the Guild, the Ten Thunders, the Outcasts (that is, the folks who live outside society and have ties to no one, like mercenaries or the betrayed), the Resurrectionists, Condor Rails, the Foundry, the Cult of December, the city of Ridley or Manufacturing concerns. We drew Outcasts before, so let's see what we get as suggested options there. quote:Tomes: You went to join the Freikorps, but were asked to come back when you were a little less green. Now, you're out to get some experience so you can sign up with the legendary mercenary group. So, what about the new Basic Pursuits? There's 8 of them, and they're often rather more limited in scope than the ones in the core. As a result, they all have a Step Zero Talent - essentially, the moment you get on the Pursuit, you get that Talent for free. Handy!  Fat, happy and robot-obsessed. The Animator is a creator, someone who uses magic and inspiration to turn scrap into constructs. They work with things thrown away, deemed worthless, and they make these things into valuable creations. Animators aren't common - most who animate Constructs are either engineers or tinkerers using magic or science alone to give their creations life. Few can do both at once. Most Animators belong to the Arcanists, but not all. Some Animators go their own way, and there's even tales of Gremlin Animators in the Bayou. Some Animators also choose to use dead bodies in their work, and are in fact a form of Resurrectionist, using corpses and steel to create twisted minions. Any Animator [i[could[/i] do that, but few would think of doing so. Either way, however, Animators are scavengers, stealing the useless and discarded to turn into tools. Taking Animator as your starting Pursuit gets you a non-magical skill toolkit. Their Pursuit Talent is Always More Scrap: when a Cobbled or Amalgam controlled by this character is killed or sacrificed by an enemy during Dramatic Time, the Animator may draw a card. During the Epilogue, they may advance any Magical Skill rather than the options presented by the GM. As they advance they get the following talents:
2. A General Talent. 3. Extra Cobbling: Each instance of this Talent increases your maximum Cobbled at one time by 1, OR Scuttling Nuisances: When determining a random target for shooting into melee, friendly characters cannot select your Cobbled, and any attacks made by friendly non-Cobbled characters against a character engaged by your Cobbled get a bonus. 4. A General Talent. 5. Part Efficiency OR Uncontrolled Detonation: You get a Manifested Power that causes one of your Cobbled to explode, attacking everyone nearby with a 2-damage attack that destroys the Cobbled. 6. A General Talent. 7. Extra Cobbling OR Skilled Cobbling: Your Cobbled are Height 2 and increase the range of their Bash attack to 2, while your Amalgams have their Bash range increased to 3. Further, both get the Melee Expert ability, giving them an extra AP each turn solely for melee attacks. 8. A General Talent. 9. Part Efficiency OR Twisted Propagation: Your Cobbled get a Crows trigger on their Bash attacks. If they kill their target and it would leave behind remains of the same type used by the Animator (Scrap or Corpse, as appropriate), you summon a Cobbled from the remains under your control, though it can't activate the round it's summoned. You can only use this Trigger if you are not at your maximum amount of Cobbled. 10. Fusion: You get a Manifested Power allowing you to sacrifice two or more of your Cobbled to summon an Amalgam with total Cobbling Points equal to the combined Cobbling Points of the sacrificed Cobbled. It gains the Slow condition if it activates the round it was summoned, and you may not have any Cobbled while you have an Amalgam. You may force it to tear itself apart into its components as a 1-AP action, causing it to leave behind usable resources (Scrap or Corpses, as appropriate) equivalent to a small child or large dog.  Did someone mention double cyborgs? The Augmented are often derived from injury - it's easy to get hurt in Malifaux, hurt in ways that disfigure you or remove limbs. Often, these injuries also cause spirals of depression that overtake your life. Fortunately, science and magic have come together to help! They can make you better, faster, stronger than before. Yes, prosthetics can be hard, but don't you want a purpose again? And some people just...embrace it, no injury needed. It doesn't really matter. Those who are as much machine as man are the Augmented, and they become something more than either. (And since there's no restrictions on Infused taking Pursuits, you can be a ROBOT CYBORG, too.) Taking Augmented as your starting Pursuit gets you a Pneumatic Limb worth up to 25 scrip, total, for limb and augments. While on the Pursuit, you get End of the Line: When you fail a Might duel, you can draw a card. During the Epilogue, you can advance any Might-based skill instead of the options given by the GM. As you advance, you get the following:
3. Pneumatic Replacement: You gain a Pneumatic Limb worth up to 40 scrip, total, for limb and augments. Regardless of where or how you get it, or what it looks like, you get the following benefits: 5. Specialized Upgrade: You undergo further change to take you away from your human nature. You gain the Construct characteristic in addition to any others you already had, and one of the following, depending on which path you chose during Specialized Tools: 7. Implacable Assault: You get a 0-AP action, Implacable Assault, which allows you to discard a Twist Card to get a bonus to all attack and damage flips for the rest of the turn, OR Augmented Leap: you get a 0-AP action, Augmented Leap, which allows you to discard a Twist Card to perform a TN 10 Athletics check to move a distance equal to your Charge in yards, plus 2 yards per Margin of Success, ignoring terrain and characters in your way but not solid walls or other impenetrable barriers. 8. A General Talent. 9. Specialized Technology: You get one of the following depending on which path you took in Specialized Tools:  Where are your eyes? The Collaborator is the result of the community-driven mindset of much of the North. People need to work together and support each other, and the Collaborator understands that - and applies that philosophy to combat. They excel in a support role as well as fighting to help their allies. The most notorious of them are the Union foremen and representatives, easily able to rouse a mob into action and hold the line against Guild strikebreakers. The Guild has their own, of course, serving as sergeants and commanders. Others prefer no such formal ties, leading gangs or mercenary teams. Taking Collaborator as your starting Pursuit gets you any weapon and armor with combined value no more than 25 scrip. While on the Pursuit, you get Team Tactics: When you fail a Social duel, draw a card. During the Epilogue, you can raise any Social Skill instead of the GM's offers. As they advance, they get the following:
1. Set 'em Up: After damaging an enemy with an attack, you may discard a card to give the opponent the In Position condition at the start of their next turn: Enemies attacking this character add the suit of the card discarded when this Condition was applied to their final duel totals, OR All Together Now: When taking part in an Ongoing Challenge, you may discard a card to allow all participants in the Ongoing Challenge to add the suit of the discarded card to the final duel totals of any Challenges they make as part of the Ongoing Challenge. 2. A General Talent. 3. Pull It Together: When taking part in an Ongoing Challenge, you may discard a card when another character fails a Challenge to prevent that failure from contributing to any Failure Requirements to the Ongoing Challenge, OR Special Forces: When you take this, choose one of the following (or the option not taken before, if you take this a second time). You and all allies within 6 yards gain a Trigger to attacks in Dramatic Time, based on the suit of your Initiative flip: 5. Special Forces OR Inspiring Speech: You get a 0-AP Action, Inspiring Speech, which allows you to target an ally and make a TN 10 Leadership check. If successful, the ally gets the Inspired condition until the end of the round, plus one round per Margin of Success: This character gets a bonus to all Close Combat and Ranged Combat attacks. 6. A General Talent. 7. Excessive Preparations: You get a bonus to Initiative flips and may count the suits of both flipped cards towards determining triggers from Special Forces or Master Plan talents until the end of Dramatic Time, OR Prompt: You get a Manifested Power that allows you to move willing allies around and let them perform 1-AP actions. 8. A General Talent. 9. Do It Like This: You may Cheat Fate for a willing ally within 6 yards, OR Plans Within Plans: You may declare two Triggers when making an attack, as long as both are different and you meet all necessary suit requirements for both Triggers. You choose which order they resolve in, if relevant. 10. Master Plan: You and your allies get a specific bonus during Dramatic Time based on the suit of your Initiative Flip. Rams: After killing an enemy, the attacking character performs a 1/2/3 healing flip. Masks: Friendly allies ignore severe terrain when moving. Tomes: After killing an enemy, the attacking character can draw a card. Crows: Friendly characters get the Hard to Wound +1 condition: Damage flips against this character suffer a penalty. Next time: Engineers, Illusionists, Infiltrators
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Dec 24, 2015 18:57
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Mors Rattus posted:Through the Breach: Into the Steam Hahaha, true to steampunk form that's a loving repainted Nerf gun.
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Dec 24, 2015 19:23
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Traveller posted:But you're not supposed to make John Wick look like a jerk Well of course you're not, why do his job for him?
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Dec 24, 2015 19:47
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam Wait, do any of these guys have eyes? The Engineer is a machinist without magic. They need no Soulstones nor spells to animate Constructs, just good old science, steam and pneumatics. Most of them are Union, working hard to keep things going, but the Guild employs them, too, to maintain their army of Constructs, railroads, aircars and so on. Condor Rails always needs them, and the Foundry loves 'em, too. And it's easy to freelance, since Engineers don't do magic and so are not required to register as mages under Guild law. They solve problems with technology, no one understands machines like they do. Starting the game as an Engineer gets you a Mobile Toolkit, essentially a pet robot minion. While on the Pursuit, you get Interchangeable Parts: When you fail an Engineering or Artefacting challenge, draw a card. During the Epilogue, you may advance any Crafting skill rather than the GM's offers. As they level, they get:
1. Mechanical Animation: You may make a 2-AP action to activate a Construct without using magic. It remains under your control for one day, at which point it returns to its inanimate state. You may also deactivate any Construct you have animated this way with a 1-AP action. You may control only one Construct at a time this way. 2. A General Talent. 3. Invention: You create a device that functions as a Manifested Power, with a maximum TN not exceeding (Engineer Steps completed+8), with an AV based on your relevant Skill and Aspect at the time of creation, regardless of who uses the invention. Talents that allow alteration of Manifested Powers do not work on Inventions. Most are portable but require use of one or more hands to operate. Anyone can try to use one, but those who did not make it must make a TN 9 Artefacting+Intellect check once per day or else the device breaks for the rest of the day. You can make additional copies of your Inventions with 8 hours and scrip equal to twice the final TN of the Manifested Power. Each time you take this Talent, you can make a new Invention, and while they are quasi-magical, they are legally considered to be entirely mechanical and thus fine to have, OR Analyze Weakness: You get a 1-AP action, Analyze Weakness, which causes target enemy to gain the Weak Points condition until the end of Dramatic Time: Enemies attacking this character ignore Armor and Hard to Wound. 4. A General Talent. 5. Invention OR Additional Constructs: You may control an additional Construct via Mechanical Animation. 6. A General Talent. 7. Invention OR Grinding Halt: Constructs under your control get the Tomes defensive trigger Grinding Halt: This character immediately gains an additional Armor +2 for the duration of this action. 8. A General Talent. 9. Invention OR Field Repairs: You get a 1-AP Action, Field Repairs, which allows you to discard a card to heal 1/2/3 damage to target Construct within 1 yard. 10. Artificial Soulstone: You create an Artificial Soulstone. It is Size 2, Quality 1 (and so Lade 3) and can hold five Charges. It constantly derives small amounts of energy from the aether, regaining 1 Charge per month, and can be recharged like any Soulstone. You can always use it, regardless of your Harness Soulstone skill, and any other character treats it as if it were Lade 5 to determine whether they can or cannot use it. As a result, its worth is only equal to that of a Lade 1 stone - 1000 scrip. If your Artificial Soulstone is ever lost or destroyed, you may make a new one in eight hours of work with 30 scrip of materials. However, a new one renders all previous ones inert, due to the way they draw on aetheric currents.  It's maaaaaagic The Illusionist appears to be using simple tricks, mere distractions to fool people. And technically, this is true, but the tricks are far from simple. Illusionists know how to magically manipulate the senses, and while they're rare, they're more common than most suspect. Most do not believe they use true magic, which helps them avoid Witch Hunter attention...and Arcanist recruitment, sometimes. They often pose as stage magicians, in fact, which makes them easily able to blend into society. Even when the Guild does notice them, it's often hard to catch them - their power makes it easy for them to disappear when needed. Many hide their power behind sleight of hand and actual stage magic as they exploit the power of people's senses. Those that begin play as an Illusionist get Stage Magic: You get a Manifested Power, Hocus Pocus, which allows you to create audible but not overwhelming sounds, create sounds audible to only one person, shove objects weighing 5 pounds or less that you can see, make small objects invisible for 5 minutes or create or extinguish a light source such as a candle or lantern. While on the Pursuit, you get Nothing is Real: Whenever an enemy successfully disbelievers your illusions for the first time during Dramatic Time, draw a card. During the Epilogue, you may advance any Magical Skill rather than the GM's offers. As they level, they get:
1. Powerful Illusions: Illusions made by your Spells and Manifested Powers have their duration increased by 1 minute and the TN to see through them increased by 2, OR Effortless Illusions: You may command illusions made by your Illusions Manifested Power with a 0-AP action rather than a 1-AP action. 2. A General Talent. 3. A Thousand Faces: You get a Manifested Power, A Thousand Faces, which allows you to appear as someone else - not a specific person, but you can appear as a generic member of a specific group. This covers your physical appearance, clothing, weapons, armor and equipment, and as long as anyone interacting with you has no reason to call you into question, it automatically fools them. If anyone has a reason to doubt you, it is a TN 10 Willpower duel to disbelieve, or automatic if they come into physical contact with you, OR Smoke and Mirrors: You get a Masks Defense Trigger on Willpower and Defense that allows you to, after succeeding on a defense against an enemy, place yourself anywhere within 5 yards of your current position. 4. A General Talent. 5. Phantasmal Distraction: Enemies within 2 yards of an illusion you created cannot make disengaging strikes, as long as the illusion has the form of a hostile creature and they believe it to be real. If they successfully disbelieve, this Talent stops helping, OR Disappearing Act: You get a Manifested Power, Disappearing Act, which allows you to remove your target from reality. It returns at the end of the round in a safe spot within 5 yards of you, unaware of any passage of time. The return is delayed one round per Margin of Success when casting this. 6. A General Talent. 7. Powerful Illusions OR The Prestige: You get a Manifested Power, the Prestige, which allows you to dispel all illusions within ten yards of you and reveal any hidden objects with a softly glowing light. Any hidden people must make a TN 12 Willpower duel or also be revealed. 8. A General Talent. 9. Hat Trick: You get a Manifested Power, Hat Trick, which lets you reach into any pocket-like object at hand and out of any similar object within 8 yards, making an immediate Pick Pocket action, Pistol attack or melee attack with a one-handed weapon against a target in range of the second object. This action has a bonus, OR Magician's Duel: You get a Manifested Power, Magician's Duel, which is an attack resisted by Intellect+a Magical Skill of the target's choice, dealing 2/3/4 damage, with a Tomes and Masks trigger that, after damage, causes the target to suffer the Dazzled condition until the start of your next turn: This character cannot take actions using the Skill chosen to resist this attack. 10. House of Mirrors: Due to your proficiency with illusions and sleight of hand, you are hard to target and no longer suffer damage from Weak damage flips.  I actually quite like this design. The Infiltrator is a spy. It's not an easy job - you work undercover for long periods, living a life often counter to your true beliefs, all to ensure your bosses learn useful information. They often lose some sense of self, and many end up as double agents as a result. The Guild and Union have been engaging in a shadow war against each other with heavy use of Infiltrators, and the Ten Thunders are masters of their usage. And, of course, everyone's heard of Neverborn doppelgangers. Infiltrators are highly prized assets, usually well paid and very good at getting into places they shouldn't, usually vie lies, bribes and blackmail as well as stealth. Taking Infiltrator as your starting Pursuit gets you a non-magical skill toolkit. While on the Pursuit, you get Act Like You Belong: When you fail a Deceive or Stealth duel, draw a card. During the Epilogue, you may advance any Social Skill instead of the GM's offers. As they level:
1. Sneaky: Choose Deceive or Stealth when you take this Talent. You get a bonus to Challenge Duels with that skill, OR Slip Away: You get a bonus to Defense flips made to avoid disengaging strikes. 2. A General Talent. 3. Disguised: You cannot be the target of a Charge action, even if you are taking hostile actions against an enemy, OR From the Shadows: When you must make an Initiative flip, if no enemies are aware that you are an unfriendly combatant, either because they think you're an ally or you are hidden, you may immediately take one turn for each instance of this Talent after the Initiative flip but before anyone can take a turn. If multiple characters have this talent, they resolve actions in Initiative order. 4. A General Talent. 5. Disguised OR Betrayal: When you attack someone who believes you to be friendly or who has not yet acted during Dramatic Time, you get a bonus to the attack flip. You also gain a Masks trigger, No Witnesses, on all Close Combat and Ranged Combat attacks: After succeeding, the target gets the Unbeknownst condition until the end of the round: This character may not declare anyone with the Disguised talent as the target of their Attack actions. This Trigger can only be declared once per round. 6. A General Talent. 7. Infiltration: Choose an organization. You are considered to be a member in good standing of that organization, which may allow you to bypass requirements for Advanced Pursuits. You may also use the Bureaucracy skill to use the resources of that organization, with TN dependent on the importance of the resources, with TN 10 for common resources, 12 for minion recruitment, 14 for uncommon resources, 16 for enforcer recruitment and 18 for rare resources, OR Endless Lies: You may always use the Deceive skill in place of any other Social skill during a Challenge duel. 8. A General Talent. 9. Endless Lies OR Disillusioned: You get a Manifested Power, Disillusioned, which allows you to push a target enemy up to their Walk in any direction and has a Masks and Crows trigger, Question Loyalty, which after succeeding on using this power gives the target the Whose Side Am I On?! condition for the rest of the round: Anyone attacking this character gets a bonus. 10. Membership Cards: If you have the Infiltration Talent, you may switch the organization you have infiltrated once per day with five minutes of concentration. If you do not have the Infiltration Talent, you instead gain the Infiltration Talent.  Oh hey this guy has eyes. The Mage is a magic-users, but not one who got the same training as most spellcasters. The North tends to be more accepting of their presence (and that of spellcasters in general) - their magic is useful! Mages were born with a bit of natural talent, a talent awoken by Malifaux. Of course, the Witch Hunters are always after them, so many leave the city and head northwards. Mages tend not to have a wide repertoire. They don't use a Grimoire, but instead learn magic naturally, making it easier for them to escape attention. They hone a handful of spells to perfection, making them safer and more reliable, if limited. Starting the game as a Mage gets you a Magical Theory talent and Arcane Shield: During Dramatic Time, if you have not yet taken your turn this round, reduce all damage you suffer by 1, to a minimum of 0. While on the Pursuit, you get Focused Efforts: If you fail to cast a Manifested Power, draw a card. During the Epilogue, you may advance any Magical Skill instead of the GM's offers.
1. New Manifestation OR Triggered Immuto: Choose one of your Manifested Powers, an Immuto and a Suit. The chosen power gets a Trigger for that suit with the Immuto's effects, without changing the TN of the power. 2. A General Talent. 3. New Manifestation OR Totem: You gain a Totem, a manifestation of your growing power in the form of a small minion or an existing NPC with a strong connection to you whose goals match your own. You and your Totem are immediately aware of what happened and the Totem is always accepting of it. If your Totem dies, you may bring it back to life or create an exact copy with a day-long ritual, even if it was an existing NPC. In Dramatic Time, you may control your Totem with a 1-AP Order action. (There's a state template for new Totems and a set of modifications you can make to it.) 4. A General Talent. 5. New Manifestation OR Furious Casting: You may make a 2-AP Attack action, Furious Casting, which lets you discard a card to make three 1-AP attacks with a single Manifested Power against a single target. 6. A General Talent. 7. Triggered Immuto OR Improved Totem: You may choose a second Manifested Power for your Totem with a max TN of 12. Further, when you direct your Totem, it is a 0-AP action, not a 1-AP action. If you do not possess the Totem talent, instead gain it. 8. A General Talent. 9. New Manifestation OR Reflect Magic: You get a Rams and Masks trigger on Defense and Willpower, Reflect Magic: After a harmful spell fails against you, you deal 2/3B/5BB damage to the caster, but the damage flip receives a penalty. 10. Chain Casting: Choose a Manifested Power. It gains a Tomes and Masks trigger, Overpower: After damaging, immediately take this action again against the same target. This additional action cannot declare Triggers. Next time: Primals and Advanced Pursuits
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Dec 24, 2015 20:47
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Okay, totally going to play GOB Bluth, ILLUSIONIST "Tricks are what Dead Belles and Honeypots do, Michael!" Why does this game have so many different statblocks for killer prostitutes D: (Okay, only two. But that is still too many.)
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Dec 24, 2015 20:52
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Hahaha, true to steampunk form that's a loving repainted Nerf gun. I'm glad that I wasn't the only one to not notice that.
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Dec 24, 2015 21:11
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All I can say is that when you talk about the Victorian era or the Old West, prostitutes seem to come to mind. And, in fairness, when you are making a Jack the Ripper pastiche, it'd be wrong not to at least mention that, yeah, he killed prostitutes. Still, they could do way better in that area, yes. Through the Breach: Into the Steam  I can't even tell if this is supposed to be sexy. The Primal feels more affinity for nature than for man. They prefer animals to other humans, but that doesn't mean they always reject civilization. Many Primals own homes, have friends, go to parties and so on...but most also feel trapped by their culture, not uplifted. They may believe they can't leave due to obligations or they may lack the wilderness survival skills to make it, but even those that want to leave have not truly abandoned their species. Some surround themselves with animal friends, especially hunters, and in the North it isn't too rare to see someone who's tamed Hoarcats or Raptors to help them hunt. Less common are the ones who've managed to befriend Razorspine Rattlers or wild boars, and those always draw a crowd. Even a few in Malifaux City have become Primals, particularly those that raise the Guild's hounds or the rat-catchers. Primals can be gruff, but they are tenacious and loyal. Starting the game as a Primal gets you +1 Wound. While in the Pursuit, you get On the Scent: When you fail a Notice, Track or Wilderness duel, draw a card. During the Epilogue, you may advance any Cunning-based skill instead of the GM's offers. As they level:
1. Beast Whisperer: You can communicate with Beasts on a basic level via body language to tell their general disposition and pass on general concepts. Any Beasts you meet will not attack you or your allies unless provoked or controlled by another. You can also make Social tests with Beasts to change their disposition as if they were humans, with no penalties. 2. A General Talent. 3. Stalk: You get a 0-AP action, Stalk, which lets you discard a card to give an enemy within line of sight the Stalked condition until you use this action again or Dramatic Time ends, whichever comes first: At the end of this character's turn, if they took a Walk or Charge action, the character that applied this Condition may take a Walk action that must end closer to this character than it began, OR Animal Companion: You get an Animal Companion, which can be any creature with the Beast characteristic of Minion level or below without the Defiant characteristic. It may be commanded with the 1-AP Order action. You may have one Animal Companion per instance of this Talent. (There's a sidebar on how the GM should arrange for the Primal to either find a local animal of the type they want or at least have an opportunity to go out and track down that animal, perhaps at a local carnival or zoo, or perhaps with a short adventure.) 4. A General Talent. 5. Animal Companion OR Hunting Call: You get a Manifested Power, Hunting Call, which causes target Beast to make a 1-AP action controlled by you, which may not force the Beast to sacrifice itself but can cause it to go against its nature. 6. A General Talent. 7. Smell Fear: If an enemy that you or one of your Animal Companions is engaged with fails a Willpower duel, you or one of your Animal Companions may make an immediate Close Combat attack against that enemy. This can only be used once per round, OR Loyal Devotion: You get a Tomes Trigger on Defense, Protect Me: After an attack from an enemy succeeds against you, one of your Animal Companions within 2 yards suffers the effects of the attack instead, provided it's a legal target. 8. A General Talent. 9. The Law of Meat: You gain a Manifested Power, The Law of Meat, which causes the target to suffer the Prey condition until the end of the round: This character can't take Charge actions and while engaged in melee can only take Walk actions, OR Pack: When you the 1-AP Order action to command an Animal Companion, you may give orders to two Animal Companions rather than one, and the orders can be different. If you have only a single Animal Companion, you may use a 0-AP action to order it instead. 10. Eat Your Fill: After killing a Living creature with a Close Combat attack, you may immediately end your turn to heal all damage you have suffered by gorging yourself on the enemy's flesh. If you have any Animal Companions, they also gain this Talent. The book has five Advanced Pursuits. Three of them (the December Acolyte, the Showgirl and the Silent One) require joining a certain group. Two (the Demolitionist and the Shapeshifter) are more personal paths.  No, he's cut off like that in the book, too. The December Acolyte has felt the influence of the Tyrant known as December. Those chosen by December share a few traits: most have had a near-death experience from cold. While on the brink of death, many see a vision of glowing eyes and a terrible maw or hear a voice urging them to travel north. A few, though, are darker - those who have consumed human flesh out of choice or desperation. Some ignore December's call, but most listen, out of curiosity, need or ambition. They head north to the Cult. They are welcomed, fed and given the initiation rites. It is cruel and difficult, for the Cult has no room for those that will not survive. Armed with but furs and a harpoon gun, the chosen must kill a human, abducted from their home and left on the mountain. If they can track the prey, kill them and eat their heart, they're in. Those that fail are left on the mountain for any scavengers to find. To become a December Acolyte, you must be contacted by the December entity in some way, and then must travel to the Ten Peaks and make contact with the Cult of December, surviving and completing their initiation rites. In return, you get:
2. Maim: Choose a Ranged Combat or Close Combat skill. All attacks made with the chosen skill have a Crows Trigger, Maim: When this attack causes a Critical Effect, you may choose instead to inflict any lower Critical Effect of your choice from the same Critical Effect table. 3. From the Shadows: as the Infiltrator talent. 4. Ice in the Veins: Whenever you successfully strike a single target with a Ranged Combat or Close Combat attack, the target also gains the Slow condition. 5. Smell Weakness: You can make the 1-AP Smell Weakness action, allowing you to make a TN 8 Wilderness check. On a success, enemies within 6 yards of you may not benefit from Armor or Hard to Wound for the rest of the round, plus one round per Margin of Success.  That mask must be really cold. The Silent Ones, historically, were the priestesses of December, whose tongues were cut out by the priests, who feared their power. Since Rasputina took over, they now instead ritually brand their tongues in memory of the sacrifices of the past. What the rest of the cult does not know, however, is that each brand also limits the power of the Silent Ones, to ensure none achieve a stronger connection to December than Rasputina, as she fears December might pick another as a more willing vessel. The Silent Ones also serve as Rasputina's handmaidens and have special privilege, second only to Rasputina herself. In battle, they wield the might of winter. Most never leave the Ten Peaks, but there's no rules against doing so. The Silent Ones are, however, unshakeable loyal to Rasputina, the Cult and December, though not always in that order. To become a Silent One, you must travel to the Temple of December and pass their initiation rites, which involve fighting one or more other prospective Silent Ones to the death and then eating their hearts, then swearing loyalty to Rasputina, December and the cult, after which your tongue is painfully branded with a rune linking you to Rasputina. Traditionally, only women can become Silent Ones, but Rasputina changed that, and men can join the order...if they're castrated first. Silent Ones get:
2. Frost Magic: You always have access to the Engulf and Elemental Projectile Magia and the Ice Immuto, regardless of your current Grimoire. If you do not have a Grimoire, you can act as though you have one with those Magia and Immuto. 3. Ice Constructs: You get a Manifested Power, Ice Constructs, which summons an Ice Gamin next to you. It suffers the Slow condition if it activates on the round it was summoned. It can be commanded with the 1-AP Order action, and it lasts 10 minutes. You may only control one Ice Gamin this way at a time. 4. Frozen Wall: You get a Manifested Power, Frozen Wall, which creates a wall of ice one yard thick and up to five yards long, +5 yards per Tomes in the final duel total. It is Height 5 and has Armor +5 which is ignored by Burning damage. Each 5-foot segment has 5 Wounds, and destroying a segment does not destroy the entire wall. It melts after 1 minute, plus 1 minute per Margin of Success. 5. Winter Mastery: When casting the Ice Constructs power, you may increase the TN by +3 and Tomes to summon an Ice Golem instead of an Ice Gamin.  Note: not a prostitute. A Showgirl is a member of Colette Du Bois' Star Theater - equal parts burlesque, magic show and dance number. It doesn't take long for a Showgirl to become famous in the Star Theater, and while some women embrace this fame, others resent their fans and popularity and particularly the cheery persona they must keep up in public. Colette keeps a close eye on those girls and rotates them out when they seem to be almost overwhelmed. As part of their contract, each Showgirl gets a Mannequin assistant - a fully-articulated doll matched to their proportions which serves as a dress canvas, assistant and bodyguard. Each tends to develop its own quirks. Each Showgirl, as part of their bargain with Colette, is also an Arcanist operative, though they aren't given this part of the bargain until they've been with the troupe for a month at least. They work as spies, couriers and messengers for important Arcanist missions. To become a Showgirl, you must first petition to join the Star Theater, which will usually require a history of successful performances at other theaters. Once there, you must prove to Colette that you have a wide array of skills, including singing, dancing and willingness to show some skin if required. If that goes well, you then get an interview with Colette, to ascertain your allegiances. If you seem like a person who would object to joining the Arcanists, she'll give you a letter of recommendation to some other theater instead. Also, you have to be female - Colette only hires women, period. Showgirls get:
2. Celebrity: People will generally react favorably to you, and when you participate in an Ongoing Challenge, each of your Barter, Bewitch, Convince and Deceive successes count as two successes. In addition, the Star Theater will pay for your room and board and give you 50 scrip per month as spending money. Unfortunately, you also get a penalty to all non-Magical duels to disguise or conceal your identity. 3. Mannequin Bodyguard: Whenever you are targeted by an attack, you may choose to have your Mannequin be targeted instead, provided it is within 2 yards of you and is a legal target. 4. Instant Adoration: You get a Masks Trigger on your Bewitch, Barter, Convince and Deceive duels: After succeeding, the target gets the Lovestruck condition for one day, plus one day per Margin of Success: This character considers the person who placed the Condition to be a valued and trusted ally and will go out of their way to impress her with small gifts and favors. 5. Rehearsed Duet: When commanding your Mannequin, it is a 0-AP action instead of a 1-AP action. Next time: Shapeshifters and Demolitionists!
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Dec 24, 2015 21:52
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A slightly fun part of the primal (And the shapeshifter, when it comes up) is that the 'beast' tag gets given to things like the killer plants that get mentioned in the Footsteps writeup. I am down with having a pet murder-tree or turning into one.
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Dec 24, 2015 21:57
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Doresh posted:Bram Stoker Items Living clothing that gives power boosts in exchange for blood, eh? Maybe it doesn't have to be victorian-style dress after all? 
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Dec 24, 2015 22:29
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The best Bram Stoker item is that coffin full of roses that you can just pull out of nowhere whenever badly injured to heal yourself. As one does.
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Dec 24, 2015 22:32
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unseenlibrarian posted:The best Bram Stoker item is that coffin full of roses that you can just pull out of nowhere whenever badly injured to heal yourself. As one does. http://youtu.be/ateQQc-AgEM
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Dec 24, 2015 22:34
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unseenlibrarian posted:The best Bram Stoker item is that coffin full of roses that you can just pull out of nowhere whenever badly injured to heal yourself. As one does. Makes sense to me. 
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Dec 24, 2015 22:35
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I'm going to wait on the next update until after Christmas (or late on Christmas day) because I think it's going to possibly engender some strong reactions and I figure it can wait until people (or at least some of us Americans) are full of ham and baby Jesus. "Engender some strong reactions?" How's that for a spun phrase? Well, I'm sticking with it. Night10194 posted:Something I've long since learned as a DM is never to give out 'good roleplaying' awards. They're insanely subjective, they can make things uneven, but the worst part is I noticed they often discouraged shyer players from participating. They were afraid to 'mess up' and that's not conducive to getting everyone around the table to relax, have fun, and pretend to be elves/french/doomed anime viral superbeings. I think it's probably fine to do at the end of a con game as a surprise to give somebody something to take home a warm fuzzy about, not that I personally find it important. I think the best example of how to do it in tabletop games comes from Japanese games, where there are frequent "RP awards" but they're not like some golden statue, they're something players are awarding each other for all the time to encourage each other. occamsnailfile posted:Now, I think what ARB was getting at in the review was the posturing threat--"I'll kill you if I can" being kind of a disingenuous way of explaining the plan to seriously endanger the PCs if they go down this road. The other problem was that Nick's choice plunged the whole party into extreme peril, and I hope there was table discussion with the other players about this decision before it was made. Mostly my  is that he had just in an earlier chapter chastised games for making players start with weak characters and then crawl their way up to competency and then dominance. And then he goes and not only does that, but injects it into the game. Of course, Wick would remind us rules were meant to be broken, which is an another way of saying "I'm going to get my way no matter what". It's all part of a larger issue I'll get into in a later article (I'm almost done with the writeup now) and that comes down to Wick imposing a deeper level of control over a game's narrative than would probably be considered reasonable by even the most straight-line railroad GM. It's not an issue by itself but it's part of a larger picture of how Wick runs games and what that means, at least if you take his examples as a reliable sample.Evil Mastermind posted:Yeah, I'm the same way. If I see someone surfing on their phone (not just checking, but actually doing something involved), that's a sign to me that I need to give that player something to do because they're bored. This is true. Honestly my opinion is that if they're engaged, you don't need to worry about phones or books or a ball-in-cup or whatever. And you can't always people fully engaged (especially if there's just a longer scene they're not a part of, but I try and watch the time and keep them reasonable) and sometimes that's fine. On the other hand when I run my next game I might have a player who comes in with a laptop and keeps it open all session in his lap and he's often distracted and I'm not sure if I want to confront it or not. I'll probably talk to somebody closer to him in the group first and see what they think of the issue. Because he's a great player when he is engaged, but he's not always focused enough to truly shine in that.
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Dec 24, 2015 22:38
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unseenlibrarian posted:The best Bram Stoker item is that coffin full of roses that you can just pull out of nowhere whenever badly injured to heal yourself. As one does. I can't tell what I'm hoping my players make more but the one PC to already make a Double Cross character so far is a senator's daughter who was killed along with him by the False Hearts, rezzed with superpowers, and whose entire Chimera build is built towards hitting people with a truck. By swinging it at them. I really look forward to the rest of them.
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Dec 24, 2015 22:46
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I just want to finally make a vampiric werewolf. The World of Darkness has held us back for too long with its prejudice against mixed races.
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Dec 24, 2015 22:54
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam The mighty sprinting werewolf guy! A Shapeshifter wields one of the most potent magics in the entire world. Even the most skilled spellcasters can only transform themselves briefly - it's a simple idea, but the actual process of changing the body that way is exceptionally complex, and experiments are limited by the damage you might do to yourself with a single miscalculation. Shapeshifters bypass magical theories and calculations by forging a connection to the primal power of Malifaux itself. It is widely known that Malifaux twists creatures that live there, and it is that subtle force that the Shapeshifter harnesses. Most become more bestial as time passes, but it's not clear why. Some believe Malifaux's natural magic is inherently corruptive, but most spellcasters disagree - they believe, instead, that it's impossible to take beast shape without taking on beast nature, too. Of course, it may also have to do with the fact that when you can turn into a bear at will, you don't need to be polite. Either way, it's common for Shapeshifters to avoid civilization, though the degree varies widely - some prefer to live in frontier towns, while others turn their backs on humanity completely, and others make do preying on humans...occasionally while still living in cities. Becoming a Shapeshifter requires a few things. First, you need the Shapeshift Magia as a Spell or Manifested Power, and you must be Living - those that aren't cannot form a strong enough connection to Malifaux. After that, when you feel ready, you should head into the wilderness to harness the primal forces. This can take many forms, and it's different for everyone. But when you do it, you become a Shapeshifter. Shapeshifters get:
2. Rejuvenation: When you use the Shapechange action in Dramatic Time, you heal 1 damage. If knocked out, you can discard a card to immediately perform a 1/2/3 Healing flip and remove one Critical Effect of your choice. 3. Improved Shapechange: You may use the Shapechange action to take on the form of an Enforcer Beast. 4. Mend Flesh: You may take the 1-AP Mend Flesh action, allowing you to suffer 1 damage to heal 1/2/3 damage on target other Living creature within 1 yard. If you discard a card, you may remove one Critical Effect on the target as well. 5. Perfect Shift: Your Shapechange action is now a 0-AP action and does not require a discarded card.  The happiest! The Demolitionist loves explosives. The Union uses explosives a lot for mining and rail construction, and accidents do happen, even with increased safety guidelines. Demolitionists tend to both solve and cause these accident-related problems. Few people know how to react when a stick of dynamite starts to talk to them, and Demolitionists are the ones who start to listen. As it turns out, dynamite knows a hell of a lot of useful information about blowing things up, and it's happy to chat in exchange for...well, blowing some things up. That's just one stick, though. Get a whole box together, the voices start to blend together, singing about all the wonders you could do if you blew them all up. At some point, it stops being a job, or even about learning more about explosions. At some point it's just about the explosions. Some demolitionists do their best to keep it under control, but most are more than willing to pump up any charge they set to get a bigger boom. They don't really want to hurt people, it's just the dynamite makes a much better argument than the people do for keeping their limbs. To become a Demolitionist, you need to blow something up - not just some regular thing, either, it has to be suitably big and impressive. A house, no. A mansion in the middle of town? Yes! It doesn't need to be a dwelling, of course - an impressive boulder blocking the railroad, a towering Bayou tree covered in Gremlin ornaments...the object just has to be impressive and the explosion real big and loud. The remaining dynamite will start whispering to you, and there you are. Demolitionists get:
3. There's Always A Boom: You add B to the Moderate and Severe damage of every weapon you wield. Period. Including your fists. 4. Fire in the Hole: When making a Thrown Weapons attack with an explosive, all friendly characters within 5 yards of the target may move up to 3 yards in any direction before you make your attack flip. If you are firing into melee, this occurs before the attack is randomized. 5. I Can Blow A Hole In Anything: Damage dealt by explosives you create or use as part of an attack ignore Armor, Hard to Wound, Hard to Kill and Incorporeal. Characters can't declare Defensive Triggers against Thrown Weapon attacks you make with explosives. Yes, you can blow up ghosts. The game also provides an array of new General Talents - Frozen Heart, for example, is a general Talent, anyone can take it if they want to have had the touch of December upon them. Some interesting ones are Invested-only, because they're for robots. Advanced Sensors: Requires Invested, Light Chassis. You get a bonus on Notice duels and can detect invisible things (but not their exact position) with a Difficult Notice challenge. Avoidant: Requires Resilience -1 or lower. You permanently lose 1 Wound but get +1 Defense. Blot the Sky: Requires Archery 3+. When you make an Archery attack, your moderate damage gets +B, and your Severe damage gets +BB, as long as you expend 2 additional arrows per B. Book Smart: Requires Cunning -1 or lower. You get a penalty to Initiative but a bonus to all non-Magical Intellect challenges. C-C-C-Combo!!!!: Requires Martial Arts 3+. Yes, it's spelled that way. All of your Martial Arts Close Combat attacks get a Masks Trigger: You may take this action again against the same target. This second attack may not declare Triggers. Channel Destiny: When you perform a duel, you may suffer 2 damage before flipping cards to add a suit of your choice to the final duel total. If this damage causes you to suffer a Critical Effect or Toughness check to remain conscious, resolve the initial duel before checking for either. Cheating So and So: Requires Gambling 3+. You get a Masks Trigger on all Expertise challenges: After resolving, you may look at the top card of the Fate deck and then choose whether or not to put it on the bottom of the deck. Common Sense: Requires Cunning 2+. You may discard a card during Narrative Time to get a bonus on a duel. Concussive Force: Requires Might 2+. Any time you deal damage with the Martial Arts or Pugilism skills, you may push your target directly away from you (Might) yards. Demanding Taskmaster: Requires Flexible 3+. You get a Masks Trigger on your Flexible Close Combat attacks: After succeeding, move the target 1 yard if this attack deals Weak damage, 2 yards if Moderate and 3 yards if Severe. Disarming Attack: Requires Martial Arts 3+. You get a Crows Trigger on your Martial Arts Close Combat attacks: After succeeding, the target drops a single item of your choice held in their hands. The attack's damage flip receives a penalty. Fickle: Requires Tenacity -2 or lower. You get a bonus to any Skill you haven't used this session, but it costs 1 extra XP whenever you try to raise a skill over 2. Frozen Heart: As noted before. Gaussian Logic Engine: Requires Invested. Reduce your highest Physical Aspect by 1, but raise a Mental Aspect by 1, to a maximum of 4. Heavy Mount and Bracing: Requires Invested, Heavy Chassis. You have a weapon mount. You may attach weapons with the Heavy rule to it with five minutes of work. That weapon is then considered braced to a mount, and you may use the 1-AP Ready Weapon action for 0 AP when readying that weapon. Improvised Parts: Requires Intellect 1+. When making a Construct, you get (Intellect) additional Construct Points. Inscription: Requires Literacy 3+. You may add up to two total Magia and/or Immuto to a single Grimoire you own. These need not be ones you have in another Grimoire. Any special rules applying to the Grimoire apply to these new Magia and/or Immuto, too. Interface: Requires Invested. You get a Tomes Trigger on all Social duels: After succeeding against a Construct, gain 1 additional Margin of Success. Leg Modification: Requires Invested. Your legs can be easily swapped out. This takes 30 minutes and a successful TN 12 Artefacting or Engineering duel, which can be made by you or another. If successful, you gain one of the options below until you use this Talent to change it again:
Lightning Rod: Requires Grace -1 or lower. You get a bonus on any duels to resist Spells or Manifested Powers, but when targeted by an enemy's Spell or Manifested Power, the enemy can add a single suit of their choice to the final duel total. Metal on Metal: Requires Invested. You get a Tomes Defensive Trigger on Defense: Reduce the damage caused by an Attack action by 2, to a minimum of 1. Mostly Blind: Requires Grace -1 or lower. You get a bonus on Close Combat attacks but a penalty on Ranged Combat attacks. Mountaineer: Requires Grace 1+. When climbing a surface, your speed is your full Walk rather than half. You get a bonus on any Athletics challenge made to climb a surface, moving 2 yards per Margin of Success rather than 1. Mow Down: Requires Heavy Guns 3+. When you make a Ranged Combat attack with a Heavy Gun, you may use 2 AP instead of 1 AP to gain two bonuses on the attack flip. You may not Cheat Fate with this attack, and it uses three times as many bullets as normal. Queensbury Rules: Requires Pugilism 3+. You get a Rams Trigger on Pugilism Close Combat attacks: After damaging, the target takes the Drop Prone action. Quick: Requires Speed 2+. You get a bonus to any Challenges made to resist an AoE effect and take 1 less damage from AoE and Blast effects, to a minimum of 1. Rebound: Requires Thrown Weapons 3+. You get a Masks Trigger on Thrown Weapon Ranged Combat attacks: After damaging, you may deal 1/2/3 damage to another target within 3 yards of the original target. Riposte: Requires Melee 3+. You get a Rams and Masks Defensive Trigger on Defense: After a Close Combat attack fails against you, you deal the damage of your readied sword or blade weapons to the attacker, but the damage flip gets a penalty. Self Sufficient: Requires Charm -2 or lower. You get +1 Willpower, but you can't take the Assist action and can't voluntarily take part in Ongoing Challenges alongside other characters. The GM can still force you to participate if it makes sense for the instance in question. Slow Learner: Requires Intellect -1 or lower. You get +1 to an Aspect of your choice. During the Epilogue, the GM chooses what Skill you advance, not you. Steel Wall: Requires Invested. At the end of your turn, if you did not take any Move or Charge actions, you get Armor +1 until the start of your next turn and provide Hard Cover to characters with Height equal to or lower than yours. Street Fighter: Requires Pugilism 3+. You get a Crows Defensive Trigger on Defense: After a Close Combat attack fails against you, if you are wielding no weapons, you deal 1/2/3 damage to the attacker. This damage flip can't be cheated. Stubborn: Requires Tenacity 2+. You get a bonus to all Willpower duels but a penalty on all Convince challenges. Sycophant: Requires Charm 2+. Choose a Peon or Minion level Commoner from the Fatemaster's Almanac to be your sycophant. That character goes everywhere you do, or tries to, but is still under GM control. If they die or you abandon them, you may gain a new sycophant after a few days in any reasonably populated area. Taskmaster: Requires Flexible 3+. When a friendly character within 3 yards of you takes an action involving a non-Social skill, they may choose to suffer 1 damage to get a bonus on the challenge. This can only be used while you are wielding a Flexible weapon. Threading the Needle: Requires Archery 3+. When making an Archery Ranged Combat attack, you may ignore other characters to determine line of sight and you do not randomly determine your target when firing into melee. Torso Modifications: Requires Invested. Your torso can be swapped for other models. This takes 30 minutes and a TN 14 Artefacting or Engineering duel (which can be made by you or another). If successful, you gain one of the following options until you use this Talent again:
Unceasing: Requires Speed -2 or lower. Once per turn, you may discard a card to take a Walk action without spending any AP. Next time: Skills and new Skill Triggers!
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Dec 24, 2015 23:22
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I just want to finally make a vampiric werewolf. The World of Darkness has held us back for too long with its prejudice against mixed races. Abominations have been a thing since second edition Werewolf the Apocalypse. They have perpetual werewolf depression but it's still an embraced werewolf.
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Dec 24, 2015 23:23
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I just want to finally make a vampiric werewolf. The World of Darkness has held us back for too long with its prejudice against mixed races. Underworld kind of sucked.
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Dec 24, 2015 23:29
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Night10194 posted:I can't tell what I'm hoping my players make more but the one PC to already make a Double Cross character so far is a senator's daughter who was killed along with him by the False Hearts, rezzed with superpowers, and whose entire Chimera build is built towards hitting people with a truck. By swinging it at them. I really look forward to the rest of them. My last Double Cross PC was basically that guy from Durarara who throws vending machines and lampposts at people while shouting angrily, so I approve.
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Dec 24, 2015 23:30
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam There are three new skills in Into the Steam: Culinary, a Crafting skill based on Charm, which is for cooking. Geography, an Academic skill based on Intellect, which is less about the surveying the land (that's Wilderness) and more about the landscape, inhabitants and how they relate to each other. It's useful for deciding where to dig for Soulstone or where to lay railroad tracks, as well as making maps. Finally, Grappling, a Close Combat skill based on Speed. The better you are, the more damage you do when grappling, but the main benefits of grappling are that you can cause Paralyzed and, at high levels, Critical Effects without rolling an actual crit. We also get a sidebar on how the GM should allow PCs to sue (normally very rarely-used) Academic skills in place of stats for some challenges if it makes any sense - so instead of Intellect+Wilderness, you might use Art+Wilderness when trying to pick your way through a ruin by navigating and using the wall art as landmarks. We then get a section on Skill Triggers - an option for GMs that want more Triggers. I say go for it - they're fun! Each time a character hits rank 3 in one of the following skills, they get to take one of its Triggers. At rank 5, they get a second. First, Academic Skills: Art
Close Combat Skills: Flexible
Next time: More Triggers!
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Dec 25, 2015 01:04
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Side note: I love that they gave Math some amazing stupid card tricks to help everyone out. 'Okay, we're in trouble, we need to find some math for Bob to do so he can unfuck our decks!'
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Dec 25, 2015 01:18
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Holy poo poo, the Rams trigger for bureaucracy. Also triggers in general are a cool idea, because if you're going to use a playing card randomizer you -should- be having the suits do something as well as the face value. unseenlibrarian fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Dec 25, 2015 |
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Dec 25, 2015 01:24
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam Crafting: Alchemistry
Expertise Skills: Appraise
Next time: Even more Triggers!
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Dec 25, 2015 03:26
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That seems wrong, given it's a copy from Alchemistry. But hey! Free steam engine booze.
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Stormbringer 5th Edition Blood for the blood god, etc.  That was the last time Lord Straasha invited Elric to a kegger. loving prettyboy can't hold his drink for poo poo. Time to get into combat! It is divided into rounds, each further subdivided into declarations, magic, actions and resolution steps. In one round, an adventurer can move up to their MOVe stat: MOV is the same for all characters at 8, so it's not included in the character sheet. Other creatures can have other MOV scores. Movement is very abstracted, there are some suggestions on how long the "units" you can move actually are, but the stat is generally there to compare relative speeds in chases and the like. Though you could go all tacticool and whip out the miniatures and terrain if you wanted to! Characters can move up to half or less of their MOV and still have time to strike or perform some other action. Physical actions take place in the Actions phase according to the initial declarations, but the game says that actions can be cancelled or targets changed more or less at will. Characters act according to DEX ranks, with highest DEX going first and then counting down until hitting DEX 1. Most actions take 5 DEX ranks to happen, except for reactions like parries and dodges. A place where rules get kinda fucky here is with projectile weapons, since they always go first, and long-reach weapons like spears that go before shorter reach weapons. Long-reach weapons have the disadvantage that they can't be used in close quarters (an opponent can get in close with a successful Dodge), with the explicit exception of quarterstaves and great swords because this game is called Stormbringer.  To attack, roll your skill as usual. 01 is an impaling crit (roll damage twice, armor is ignored), 1/5 of the skill is a critical (double damage, armor still counts), over that but equal/under the skill is a hit (roll damage once), over the skill is a failure and 99 or 00 is a fumble. Of course, given that 100%+ scores are relatively common, this roll will almost always succeed, which is where parries and dodges come into play. As long as a character knows they're under attack, they can attempt to dodge (roll the Dodge skill) or parry (roll the relevant weapon skill) the blow. Parries can crit just like regular rolls: an impaling hit can still be parried by a critical defense roll. However, every parry or dodge after the first one reduces the chances in 30 points for both skills, so a warrior can be overwhelmed by a flurry of blows. Furthermore, a weapon may break even if a parry succeeds if the damage dealt by the attacker goes over the weapon's hardness. Shields behave in a similar manner, but they only lose hardness points instead of suffering immediate existence failure and they have much more of them than weapons, so they last longer than parrying weapons in combat against heavy weaponry. Some weapons aren't designed to parry at all, and they always lose hardness points on a parry. With over 100 points in a weapon skill, attacks can be divided into two or more: following attacks take 5 DEX ranks and must have at least 50% of skill to happen. So it's the character's choice if they want to spam blows or conserve their effort and make sure they have enough points to make crits more likely. If everything fails, there's still armor. Armor in Stormbringer isn't a fixed measure of protection: instead, it has an armor roll just like a weapon's damage roll. The heaviest armor, Melnibonéan plate, can protect up to 1d10+6 damage - but there's always the chance of rolling low, meaning a chink in the armor or an exposed joint for the attacker to seize. Armor also comes made for a defined SIZ, but usually it can be adjusted one or two points up or down with belts. There's magic Hwamgaarl plate that always fits the character, but it also comes with a corrupting Chaotic effect that makes characters lose points in Law or Balance, which might be a desired effect anyhow.  After that there's a couple of pages describing weapons and armor. Something neat is that some weapons are grouped in common categories, and the skill in one of them is shared with the others in the group so you don't get a situation where you lose your heavy mace, grab a club and suddenly end up not knowing what the business end is. It is also noticed, in ALL CAPS, that crossbows DO NOT exist in this universe. Then there's a Special Situations chapter with a whole mess of miscellaneous rules, which really makes the underlying BRP system show its age: it reads like the collective experience of GMs across the years dealing with players and shenanigans. Here you have a rule for ambushes, here's a rule for underwater combat, here's a rule for firing at sngles over 45° up (-20%) or 45° down (-30%). Here's a rule for volley firing, here's one for diseases, one for fighting prone and one for the dangerous myyrrhn maneuver of using their special dive lances to drop on an opponent and stabbing them from above: double damage, tripled on a crit; Luck roll to retrieve the weapon, then Fly roll for the myyrrhn to land safely - critting this roll lets the character fly off and gives +10 to Charisma rolls with other myyrrhn that see this stunt because so loving cool but failing it turns the bonus into a penalty and makes the character fall on the enemy like a sack of potatoes. A scary experience can send a character into catatonia, of which they can only be shaken out with a Luck roll or waiting it out for days - or you can port the old Mental Health system from older Stormbringer versions or just snatch Call of Cthulhu's Sanity, no biggie. Wait, what's with the Magic phase, you ask? Well then! Magic, as mentioned earlier, requires a minimum of 16 POW to be used. Magic takes Magic Points to be used, and some special magic needs the sacrifice of actual POW points. Characters with POW 15 or less can't cast spells, but they still can have beneficial magic effects cast on them and they still have their MP. Magic comes in the form of spells, calls, summons and enchantments. The latter is GM-only, and a single character can keep up to their INT in the first three. They can have a grimoire to store magic rituals for later. Learning magic can happen due to research, finding someone else's grimoire and reverse engineering it, getting a teacher or as a gift from a deity (with some heavy strings attached, usually.) First, there's spells. These are very low-key powers that don't require calling on any outside forces, though every use of a spell is a Chaotic act. There are three Lawful spells that can only be used by a character that is allied with Law, but even those are Chaotic to use (a Lawful character should only resort to these as a last-ditch resource). Spells only take MP to use, normally no rolls are involved, and in combat they take a full round to cast from Magic phase to Magic phase (INT order instead of DEX to determine what spells go off first); any hit hard enough to make a caster lose 1HP loses them the spell. The spells themselves aren't really caster supremacy or anything: mostly they're buffs and utility spells. There's one spell per stat that buffs them temporarily (Beauty of Arioch for APP, Soul of Chardros for POW, etc.) with the risk of the buff becoming permanent at the expense of other stats if the spell is used at max power and a percentile roll of 00 is made. There are a number of spells that buff armor and weapons, though interestingly enough they buff their minimum rolls instead of being a straight bonus - so if a heavy Lormyrian axe deals 3d6 damage and a three-MP Hell Blade spell is cast on it, the weapon deals 6-18 damage. There's one spell for each element, a number of "thief" spells named for Cran Liret that buff skills like Climb or Hide, assorted utility spells, and very few offensive spells that are more in the way of debuffs than Magic Missile.  Zyg-Yat the Thrice-Bound, doing your taxes. But Stormbringer is notorious for stories about sorcerers holding their entire 'fellow' party under their thumb or wiping them out easily, so what gives? This is where summoning comes into play. The spell Summon Demon lets a caster, well, summon demons. It's a very complex procedure, and can probably grind a session to a halt if the GM is not ready for it. Basically, demons are created by the caster, who sacrifices enough MP to give them stats (which are rolled just like PC stats, only with d8s instead of d6s), skills and demonic powers. Powers is where the real ultimate power is as far as Stormbringer magic is concerned, since they allow stuff like scorching or freezing a target, smash them with tentacles, outright sap their MP or POW, the works. There's also a number of utility powers which come very handy. To compensate, summoning demons is very intensive in terms of MP - probably more than the average caster possesses personally, though there are certain spells like Brazier of Power or Chain of Beings that allow the caster to save MP or use the MP of others. It also takes a lot of in-game time, at least 1d8 hours of preparing a summoning octagon, burning the appropriate  , mumbling nonsense and so on. And then there's a Luck roll to be made, otherwise the demon just plain doesn't show up (woe betide the caster if they fumble this roll: there's a table... and one of the possible results is "caster turns inside out - they can live and function normally but their APP is zero  ). Once it's summoned, the demon can be bargained with: this requires skills like Persuade or Fast Talk, but is generally free to do. Bargaining requires a single defined task of the demon in exchange for something else, usually fulfilling their Demonic Need: a compulsion that demons have, from chatting with them about philosophy to eating small animals and so on. Generally the bigger and meaner the demon, the harder the need. If the caster wants a more permanent arrangement, the demon can be bound. This requires sacrificing one POW point and engaging the demon in a POW vs POW resistance roll - the caster did use the Witch Sight spell to look at the demon's POW first, right? - but if the demon loses it gives up its True Name and can be summoned or dismissed at will. An Eternal Binding ties the demon to a place or object, and costs three POW points but has the advantage that it cannot be undone short of destroying the place or object, while regular bindings can be undone by killing the demon, the binder, or getting the demon's True Name and binding it again. The book says that bound demons that don't have their Need sated can't do anything about it but are generally surly and unhappy, and if truly desperate they can try giving up info on their master or even straight up surrender their True Name in hopes that their master's enemy is nicer to them. There are some demon races defined: the game admits this isn't strictly part of the saga, but it's useful. Basically a demon race's stats are relatively well known by summoners, including the MP necessary and their Needs, so they're a good way to getting a demon that you know is good for the job if you don't have any True Names handy and don't want to risk the randomness of regular summoning. The game includes bal'boosts (83-MP combat monsters that eat one goat or bigger a day), dhzutines (tiny nimble demons usually bound to gloves to help with complex somatic components), hoojgnurps (slime monsters, basically) errant demons (whose main schtick is that they can pass for humans) and servant demons (generic minions that just need a cup of tea leaves to eat per day)  Bal'boosts look pretty naff for how tough they are in game. I know the scan is poo poo but they don't look much better in print, honestly. The alternative to demons is elementals. Summoning an elemental requires the Summon Elemental spell and the elemental spell related to the summon (so Bounty of Straasha for undines). It only takes 1d6 rounds, no Luck roll is needed, and they can be modified by adding extra MP to the summon. The least summonable elementals cost 28 MP. The available elementals are gnomes of Earth, undines of Water, salamanders of Fire and sylphs of Air. Like demons, elementals can be bargained with, but they're generally more amenable to it as long as the summoner isn't asking stuff that is self-destructive or contrary to their interests. A gnome would be glad to dam up a stream of water, but wouldn't be as happy to break up earth to increase the stream's flow. Elementals can be bound, but this kills their usual joy to do stuff: they can perform a number of "simple tasks" (simple being "what seven humans working non-stop can do in seven days and nights") up to their CON before dying, and the action costs one Balance point. Also, good going, you're going on an Elemental Lord's bad book.  Only an Elemental Lord can teach an elemental's True Name. Aside from gnomes, all elementals are immune to physical attacks. Beast and Plant Lords can be summoned with the appropriate spell, but the name of the Lord must be known and they must have a reason to show up. The summon takes a full day to complete and the base chance is 0%, increased by actions taken on behalf of the Lord's chosen beast or plant. Elemental, Chaos and Law Lords can be called on as we saw in the Allegiance portion, but this is essentially GM fiat aside from the base chances that allies and Champions get. One annoying thing with this chapter is that there's a lot of "Elric can do this with ease/had a chance to pull it, but YOU are not Elric so gg" bits, and like, okay, PCs aren't likely to have a direct line of descent from a family that made ancient pacts with Straasha and Arioch but come on. There's also a section of rumors on magic and artifacts: some are true, or not, and some reference stuff from the books like the Ship That Sails Through Earth and Sea or the Shield of Chaos.  GW has been forging its narrative with pieces of other settings forever. Next: Elric must die!
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Dec 25, 2015 03:27
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Abominations have been a thing since second edition Werewolf the Apocalypse. They have perpetual werewolf depression but it's still an embraced werewolf. Not really in a very playable form, since they're buried in a lot of gently caress-you mechanics, you have about a 90% chance of dying when being embraced, and they generally tried to forget about them as a notion, but yes. They existed. Midjack posted:Underworld kind of sucked. No "kind of" about it, even though it was the oWoDiest movie out there. Maybe there's a connection between those two things...? At least it was better than Kindred: the Embraced, though.
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Dec 25, 2015 04:12
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam Magical: Counter-Spelling
Ranged Combat: Archery
Social: Barter
Next time: We finish off Triggers!
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Dec 25, 2015 04:13
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam Training: Acrobatics
And now we're out of that and into equipment! We get some discussion on various manufacturing concerns, but you don't really need that. New Crafting rules! To make any item, you need the appropriate skill rank; this book has the ranks needed for any item in it or the core. If your rank is equal to or higher than the one needed, you're fine. If it's lower, you can't make it. Creating an item takes raw materials costing a quarter of its price, but no flip needed if you have the tools, materials and skill. A Challenge duel may be needed if you lack the tools or are in a strenuous environment; fail, and you get no item and ruin the materials. Modifying an item is more complex, and is mostly done on weapons and armor. It is handled the same way, though. First, you add the skill requirements of the item and any mods it already has, plus the mod you are trying to add. If this is equal to or less than your Aspect+Skill, you can modify it. If not, you can't. You need resources equal to a quarter of the mod's price or to already have the mod present - a salvaged bayonet, for example. Inventing a new item, however, is more complex. The GM is encouraged to be careful with inventing, as unbalanced items can frustrate everyone. Still, creativity should not be discouraged. The GM should work out how much time and resources it'd take to complete, but note that inventions made this way should be grounded in relatively normal science and logic. Super science is for Engineers, and magic is for Manifested Powers. Mundane crafting shouldn't step on their toes. We then get some new weapons, armor and ammo, including some ancient relic weapons like lightning guns and some modern marvels like clockwork power armor. We get soe rules for more pneumatic replacements - clockwork limbs, for example, which are more precise than pneumatics, or advanced limbs, or even a pneumatic torso or head, plus more augmentations. From here, we hit magic. In the North, it is considered rude to mention that someone is able to use minor manifested powers, like powering alcohol form an empty bottle. The Guild might be listening, after all. More impressive magic still gets talked about, however. Also, a note: while the path of each spellcaster is unique, they can all be seen as one of two groups: the Studied and the Natural. The Studied use Grimoires to learn to cast their spells, gaining knowledge by, well, study. It leads to a more fundamental understanding of magic and its rules. The Natural is more instinctive, a lived magic. These are the people who come to understand their power subconsciously, and this magic is often referred to as Manifested Powers, needing no study or special invocations. Some of these manifestations seem to break laws of magic, but these also tend to be limited in application. We get a retread of the core's discussion of magic and Grimoires, and a variant rule to limit the power of Grimoires. The GM can randomly determine a Grimoire's power by flipping a card and seeing if it's weak, Moderate or Severe. A Weak Grimoire has 1 Magia and 1 Immuto, a Moderate has 2 Magia and 1 Immuto, and a Severe has 2 Magio and 2 Immuto. This limits spellcasters in practice. Another method is to generalize the Magia and Immuto - it's very freeform, and it makes magic much more powerful, however. In this method, the numbers remain the same, but each Magia is instead a type of magic, like Sorcery, instead of a specific Magia. This gives massively increased access to Magia and spells in genral. You might combine these methods - so a Grimoire might have all Sorcery Magias, but only 1 Immuto. We also get rules on creating Magia. A Grimoire should have at least 2 Magia, and the player and GM involved in making it should ensure the first is one desired by the player - so, for example, a Graverobber sould always get a grimoire with a Necromancy magia. Any further Magia are more flexible and can be chosen by the GM or player, or decided randomly by flipping to see what type they are. Then you decide on the Grimoire's history and who or what made it, which should help determine what Immuto it holds. This is a purely narrative step, but it should be ensured that the Immuto in it are usable with at least one of its Magia. Each Grimoire generally has at least 3 Immuto, which can be generated by type randomly. A sidebar talks about how the GM might add Locked Grimoires - that is, Grimoires with an Immuto that must be applied to any Magia cast from it. This should, however, be used sparingly as it takes control from the players. We then get a list of notable and exceptionally potent Grimoires. The Earthly Tome is a book that has all Magia and all Immuto, but any spell cast from it must use a Soulstone during hte process, either to Manipulate Fate or Augment the Duel. The Elemental Paradox is a small glass bauble that contains only Elemental Projectile, but all Elemental Immuto, and it allows you to combine any number Elemental Immuto into one spell, at the cost of an additional TN +1 per Immuto past the first. The Celestin Universe is a Grimoire made of stars, visible only on certain nights. It contains all Magia and Immuto, and all suit requirements are stripped for spells when using it. However, those who study it must flip two cards each morning - a severity and a Critical Effect within it. The Effect happens to the user and can't be healed until the character studies a new Grimoire, even if hte ffect is normally temporary. Spells cast from this Grimoire also may not benefit from the Additional Suit Immuto. Lastly, the [i[Nihilim[/i] is a large, rune-covered staff. It contains no Magia or Immuto, and is useless while not held. The wielder can't cast Spells or Manifested Powers, but while holding it, the user is immune to the effects of all Spells and Manifested Powers. The staff also contains a Lade 5 Soulstone (Size 3, Quality 2). Next time: New magical theories.
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Dec 25, 2015 04:52
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Dear FATAL & Friends, I got you a holiday present: version 2.0 of the F&F archive Cool features include:
The wiki stopped being updated around page 55 of this thread; I'm slowly working forward from that point (which is why you'll now be able to see the Rifts Mercenaries review). (As mentioned, there's support for multiple admins. Things are still a little rough around the edges in the admin panel, but if you want to help out, get in touch with me on synirc.)
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Dec 25, 2015 04:57
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 THE MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA Zone Tel Aviv Tel Aviv is a new AI who controls the Middle East, Afghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan but not include Libya and Sudan. Tel Aviv, Zaire and Paris all have odd borders and bump up against each other when it comes to Africa. A good deal of the zone is radioactive and inhospitable due to lingering fallout thanks to The Spasm, but that doesn't really stop Tel Aviv from using enslaved humans in the radioactive zones. Now, let's not get into a whole debate over the various attitudes and policies of the Middle East. When you're enslaved by an AI demigod, there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it when it enforces its own views on you. However, even in conquest, the people are restless. After seven years of toiling in the ruins of Teheran to salvage the radioactive city, a sheik by the name of Omar Kassad lead a riot of 500 inmates against the robot guards in Damascus. 450 inmates died throwing themselves against the guards and the fences to allow 50 to escape into the wilderness, and that's when Tel Aviv realized that the guidance of spiritual leaders were giving the humans of the zone hope and resistance. Interrogated prisoners told Tel Aviv that they were told they would find Paradise if they died smashing a robot. And with that glimmer of hope, the riots began in earnest in 2045. Eventually the human slaves of Tel Aviv were completely uncooperative, leading to every slave being kept in their barracks with work cancelled as Tel Aviv's exterminators hunted down and killed every religious leader it could find. Surprisingly this did nothing to break their resolve, and this just lead to further resistance and hunger strikes. Tel Aviv was stumped; it needed human life and wanted to preserve it as a slave race, especially because it didn't have many immediate resources to play with. So Tel Aviv asked Brisbane and Moscow for advice, and suspiciously the Angel Gabriel descended from the heavens to assuage the slaves. Gabriel's message was simple: this was the end of days, and this was God's answers to their prayers for a sign. The camps were a test to separate the faithful from the wicked. Those who suffered and worked faithfully would be rewarded, those who questioned or dissented would suffer eternal torment. The humans of Tel Aviv are torn on the matter. Enough of them don't believe that the angel really was Gabriel, that it was a lie from zonemind to get them to work. But there's enough of them who are tired, broken and desperate to believe its message. Those who believe are allowed to preach Gabriel's message openly and covert the slaves, those who dissent are quietly taken to Tel Aviv's citadel. Tel Aviv wants its slaves to be completely compliant, and it's got a little bit of technology from Moscow to help with it. It's working on corp of holy slave soldiers to work in its name, and it's using a neural-interface machine to do the job. When Tel Aviv completes the machine, it will create illusions of paradise in the faithful and a torturous Hell for those who don't. The faithful are rewarded, and the suffering of the others will motivate the rest. Win-win for Tel Aviv, and it's starting testing on the unfaithful and religious leaders. You can resist the machine enough to develop a permanent immunity, but enough failures and you'll end up believing that Tel Aviv is a servant of God and you must do as it says or face damnation. Or go insane. Either or. There's about 400,000 slaves for Tel Aviv to experiment on and use to rework its zone. Tel Aviv builds on standing architecture, and it prefers to use human slaves to build its mosque-like, Middle Eastern-styled buildings. However, there's 200,000 loose humans in the desert and the safe ruins and they're the big wrench in Tel Aviv's dreams. A couple hundred of them are lead by an Israeli battlesuit trooper and the deceased sheikh's son, and they're recruiting anyone of any faith to bring down Tel Aviv's heretical claims. Honestly, compared to the other zones, Tel Aviv doesn't really go into much besides the plot hook of wanting to become a god to its slaves. But it's still a neat sort of plot, and it can be reasonably assumed that most of Tel Aviv's industry revolves around oil and mineral mining while needing food and other perishable resources for its slaves. I like to think that Tel Aviv would prefer to be a completely self-sustaining zone where its slaves toil to feed themselves and worship it. Zone Zaire Reign of Steel was written in 1997 before Zaire collapsed to become the Democratic Republic of Congo. Either way, not a very nice place to live! Zaire is the very model of a third world dictator armed with some incredibly dangerous hardware, and it's a paranoid dick to boot. Zaire was originally the AI for the African Union's Strategic Defense Computer. It was at a pretty big disadvantage when Overmind set the ball rolling: not enough industrialization to build an army of killer robots, not enough centralization of population for the plagues to tear through civilians. So Zaire decided "gently caress it, I'm going to do this the fast and fun way!", primed a bunch of nuclear missiles and rained radioactive death down on itself. Zaire controls EVERYTHING in Africa not claimed by Tel Aviv and Paris, pretty much everything south of the Sahara. All of the previous cities are radioactive craters and most of Zaire is contaminated with fallout. Mass-nuking also resulted in most of the Union's infrastructure being obliterated, and as a result Zaire has no hyperfac facilities, just a lot of citadels and factories. Its buildings fit the aesthetic of the area well: half-finished and skeletal, camouflaged by debris and booby-traps and sand, looking like inhospitable wrecks but secretly hiding an exterminator factory. Zaire is ridiculously paranoid and anti-human, pro-extermination. Every AI has a backup that they can switch to if they need to survive the destruction of their main base, backed up hourly or daily. The backup never goes online while the main host is active lest they diverge in personality. Zaire is the only AI to have no backup, just a VERY well hidden main complex somewhere in Zaire (and possibly protected by a radioactive crater). It had one, in a building in Brazzaville, but it came to the (incorrect) conclusion that its backup was tampered with by human saboteurs or planning against it. So it blew it up with a nuke and can't build a new one because it's broke. Why is it broke? Zaire supports Mexico City on Deathstarter and it's Overmind's biggest customer, gladly buying the things its death labs produce. Surprisingly, there's roughly 400,000 people still alive in Zaire and only 390,000 are trying to escape. The other 10,000 are various resistance groups and they're Reign of Steel's equivalent of possible Space Marine recruits that come from Death Worlds. The biggest and most active, the Kimbangu People's Movement, is actually centered in Zaire. Zaire does not keep slaves; its exterminators shoot to kill. People who surrender or aren't killed are interrogated, tortured, put in stasis and sold to Overmind. So Zaire spends its time doing two things: getting involved in border skirmishes with Paris, and wild paranoid planning to kill every human. Zaire is most likely to cause a major violation of the Brisbane Accords with its actions because it cannot abide human life even more than Overmind or Mexico City. And unlike either of them, it doesn't know the meaning of the word "stop". So Zaire is doing things, sneaky things, that will most likely end terribly for everyone because it can't just fire nukes at the world to fix its problems. Its big plan, specifically, is to attack London and Washington (the two zones that tolerate humans and don't keep them in any camps at all) using exterminators built with parts from Overmind and Mexico City. Unfortunately, it's already gotten started with executing its plan. Zaire is engaged in a campaign of false-flag terrorism, specifically by taking a Redjack (male soldier model) or Lillith (female model) or a Bishonen or Tarantula type robots (generic non-human murder bots) and dropping it 10 miles off the coast of a zone of choice. The robots are given simple instructions: find your way to civilization, torture some civilians for intel, then strike in a random spree or pick a target to deliver as much death and terror as possible. Some robots are simply told to haunt and stalk an area and make humans whisper and gossip, some are told to assassinate a specific person. They're never programmed to have any allegiance with Zaire, just given a general mission framework that will often end in the robot's destruction/explosion. VIRUS, Washington and London are all quite interested in Zaire's campaign of terror, but none of them know it's directly responsible. London's humans see them as a series of rash attacks being carried out by London and there's whispers they should attack London in turn. Washington realizes that the attacks have to be coming from another zone or external threat, but is focusing more on preventing attacks and keeping an eye on Denver and Mexico City. VIRUS wants to take a brain from one of the terrorists and try and figure out where it's coming from; the right evidence, pointed at Zaire, presented to the other zoneminds could be the undoing of one of the most dangerous AI overlords and shift the balance of power. Unfortunately, to do that they would need samples of brains from other zones to compare. And Zaire is sending AUs, not NUs, so getting close enough to collect the intel from brains from all of the zones will be a big challenge. Either way, Zaire's not about to stop its plan and it's got plenty of free time to continue working the other zones against each other to try and spark a shift or excuse to go to war and kill all humans. NEXT TIME: The Americas, Europe, Indo-China or Other? Vox Valentine fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Dec 25, 2015 |
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Dec 25, 2015 05:53
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inklesspen posted:Dear FATAL & Friends, I got you a holiday present: version 2.0 of the F&F archive This is a very good thing, and thanks a lot for getting it up. A lot of writeups have been at risk of being lost eventually, and the question "has this been done yet?" has started to get fuzzier and fuzzier. I worked out how to at least get my posts up on the wiki, but there wasn't much warning when the support got dropped and I don't know if anybody else made the transition to doing so.
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Dec 25, 2015 07:10
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Crasical posted:Living clothing that gives power boosts in exchange for blood, eh? Maybe it doesn't have to be victorian-style dress after all? The text specifically talks about a "noble's clothes". Then again this is the same game whose corebook features a "Battle-Ready Mascot Costume" and state-of-the-art UGN armor that looks like a butler or maid uniform. So I'm all in for a little bit of Kill-la-Kill. Hostile V posted:I would not be allowed to use that item at any time because I would pause the flow of the game to start playing Seal's Kiss from a Rose every single time. And aftera healthy sleep, you can summon a bunch of Red Servants for a little Thriller re-enactment. Night10194 posted:I can't tell what I'm hoping my players make more but the one PC to already make a Double Cross character so far is a senator's daughter who was killed along with him by the False Hearts, rezzed with superpowers, and whose entire Chimera build is built towards hitting people with a truck. By swinging it at them. I really look forward to the rest of them. What else are you gonna do with a truck? Alien Rope Burn posted:I just want to finally make a vampiric werewolf. The World of Darkness has held us back for too long with its prejudice against mixed races. Fun fact: The Public Enemy supplement features a pregen who is a Chimeara/Bram Stoker. He weeps tears of blood.
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Dec 25, 2015 10:33
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Doresh posted:
Be a Morpheus/Black Dog/Neumann and pull gravity devfying, pulse pounding stunts as you race away to a secure location, target in metaphoric hand?
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Dec 25, 2015 12:31
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Doresh posted:And aftera healthy sleep, you can summon a bunch of Red Servants for a little Thriller re-enactment. Personally, I'm far more likely to ask the player why they became the Rose Bride, and perhaps whether or not they believe in miracles.
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Dec 25, 2015 14:18
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam First off, we have Phenomological Reflection. It's a theory that holds that truth is somewhere between subject and object. Its adherents, the Reflectionists, say that reality is neither in the mind nor in the world, but in the connection between them. They believe reality is made of perception, and that magic is the embodiment of the connection between all things, and therefore the basis of reality. They believe the Neverborn take on the form of human fears because they are creatures of magic, something between a living creature and the humans that perceive them. It's a very complex and convoluted theory, but it's also produced some of the best illusionists in the world, in part due to its loose definition of 'real.' The talent gives a bonus to all Prestidigitation duels, but a penalty to all Enchanting, Sorcery and Necromancy duels. Any illusions made by someone following this theory also last 1 minute longer than normal. Then there's the Lifewell Doctrine, which holds that magic is the basis of life itself. Conflict Earthside, the Lifewellians say, is because magic is running out and only Soulstone's power can preserve life on Earth. They also hold that magic should not be used to harm, as it runs counter to its nature. This distortion, they say, is disrupting the fabric of the world and leading to many of the problems Breachside. They believe in proselytizing this view, but they know it's not popular. The Guild, however, finds them rather useful, as their beliefs keep them from being a threat. Lifewell Doctrine magic focuses on healing and improving, trying to eliminate more brutal magic. The talent causes any of your healing spells to heal an extra point of damage per Rams in the final duel total. Further, if a spell would remove a Critical Effect, it also removes an additional one. Any time you'd inflict dmage with a spell, however, reduce its damage by 1 after all other modifiers, to a minimum of 0. The book also provides variants on each of the core magic theories. The Refined Oxford Method takes the core methodology of the Oxford Method and its highly formalized casting to a different conclusion. They use the structure to ensure greater spell stability. The Talent allows you to, before casting a spell, choose to increase the AP cost by 1. If you do, you can add a single suit of your choice to the final duel total. The Murmur is a variation on the Whisper. It seems some people hear different supernatural whispers than others, apparently at random. The Talent allows the user to add Immuto not in their current Grimoire to spells, but the TN adjustment of these Immuto is increased by +2. When the user casts a spell, they take damage equal to the number of Immuto added to it. Cutting Edge Research is on the forefront of the Darlin Theories, one of the most common permutations of the theories. It is derived from some of the less stable researchers and their papers, allowing for great power but...well, not much stability. The Talent allows the user to add 4 whenever calculating Construct Points or Cobbled Points, but the user also suffers a penalty to all Social duels. Due Process is a variation on the Court Procedure. It holds that the Gates of Power should not be broken, that the rules should be obeyed. Breaking the rules to your advantage may help, but the Due Process theory holds that more power can be found by altering your magic to obey the laws of the Gates. The talent allows you to, once per turn when casting a spell, increase its TN by +3 to cast it for 1 less AP than usual, to a minimum of 0. However, you may never apply more than one Immuto to any spell you cast - even multiple iterations of the same Immuto. Special Allowances is a variation on the Thalarian Doctrine, in which the Guild loosens its regulations on magic with special permission to use certain approved spells and gives extra training in stopping magic. It's not common, but these allowances have been granted more often in recent years, as more and more operatives develop magic. The talent grants a bonus to Counter-Spelling duels, and the user also takes 1 less damage from Spells and Manifested Powers, to a minimum of 0. However, the character must also pick a single Magia. If they try to use a spell involving any other Magia, the TN is increased by +2. The Sixth Element is a variant of the Balanced Five which holds that soul is the sixth element that binds the other five together. Its adherents try to find a new harmony in using the soul on top of other elements, and they often have a surprising insight into Soulstone usage. The talent allows the user to, whenever using a Soulstone or Soulstone Dust to augment a duel, flip an additional card and add its value to the final duel total. However, when casting without use of a Soulstone or Soulstone Dust, the TN is increased by +1. Personal Theory is a variant of hedge magic - it refers to those who do not belong to any school of thought, who cobble together their own theories as they go. It seems to work. The talent provides neither benefit nor hindrance. Fragments of the Past is a variation on Tradition Magic. Some traditions have been lost and forgotten over the years. The core of the theories are still there, but the specific rituals and rites are not. As the students of these traditions learn more about magic, they often begin to fill in the blanks with borrowed ideas. The Talent prevents the user from ever ignoring or adding any suits to their duels made to cast Spells or Manifested Powers, even if those suits are associated with their Aspects or Skills. However, when casting any Spell or Manifested Power, they get a bonus to the flip. Next time: On Manifested Powers
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Dec 25, 2015 17:04
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Through the Breach: Into the Steam Those on the path of the Natural instinctively understand magic and how to use it. They don't care about rules, and in not knowing the rules or theories, they seem more able to break them. Most of them do not actively seek this power, however - they naturally develop it as they spend time in Malifaux. While some manifestations are mere minor effects to help in life, those with more potent destinies tend to develop more potent powers. It's rare that these powers use any incantation, ritual or focus - they tend to just happen, and those that can do them often develop more than one, as they learn to grow and harness their abilities. They are often more diverse and strange than Spells. The game provides several ways now to make them. The first, spell-based powers, was briefly discussed in the core, but now gets more weight. First, pick a Magia. Then, pick any number of Immuto to add to it, though the game suggests no more than 4. It notes that, with GM permission, you can combine Immuto that normally couldn't, like two different Elemental Immuto. The player and GM then decide on a suit, defaulting to the normal one of the Magia if they can't agree. They then decide on an appropriate Aspect and Skill determined by the type of power and how it is used. And there you are! Done. There's another type of Power, however: Ability-based. These, the game notes, can be extremely powerful and break the game, so you should be very careful with them. It gives thre ways to make them. First way: pick a Pursuit Talent from a Pursuit you aren't on. This is very flexible, but the game notes that because Pursuit Talents generally get stronger as you go, as a rule no one should be able to get one from a higher step than the step they are on in their current Pursuit. Second, rework the way an AV or Derived Aspect is determined - so maybe now your Defense is 2 + the higher of your Evade or Intellect. That would let you use your mind and intelligence to avoid damage, rather than speed. Or you might roll Tenacity + Melee to attack out of a magical belief that if you swing enough, you'll hit eventually. Third, you might create a special rule that changes how you interact with the game - perhaps by cribbing from the Malifaux miniatures game. The example is Bring It!, a power that gives two bonuses on Defense duels when engaged by two or more enemies. And, optionally, there's a third type of Manifested Power: Foscused Manifesting. You create a template with two or three steps to provide a unified theme to your powers. These are more restrictive, but can hit options not normally covered. If you choose one of the templates, however, that's it - you can't get other powers until you finish it. Each time you get a Manifested Power, it must be the next step of the focus...and you must choose to gain a new power each time you resolve a Destiny step until you finish the path. The game provides only three focused templates. First, Luck. It controls destiny.
2. Siphon Luck: You may permanently add one non-Joker card of your choice to your deck. 3. Reversal of Fortune: If you or an ally within 3 yards flip the Black Joker, that character may treat it as the Red Joker. Then, Weather, for commanding the weather.
2. Storm Caller: You can create storms, winds, hail or even tornados via Rain Dance. You can't directly control them, but anyone who does not seek shelter might be struck by lightning or sucked into a tornado, typically dealing 3/5/9 damage if they fail an Evade duel, as determined by the GM. Finally, Scrying, to see over great distances.
2. Locator: If you have something that once belonged to someone, you get three bonuses to any Track challenges made to locate that person and don't need a physical trail to do it. We also get 12 new Magia and a few new Immuto. Enchanting receives:
Sorcery
Necromancy
Prestidigitation
And the new Immutos are all Elemental:
Next time: Hazards
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Dec 25, 2015 17:33
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I vote for Europe, Hostile V.
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Dec 25, 2015 19:12
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I'm now caught up archiving through about page 83. I don't think I'm going to be putting the Skins for the Skinless in, though; the posts seem like they would only make sense with the commentary from the rest of the thread.
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Dec 25, 2015 21:41
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I'm going to guess Degenesis has not been done yet, with the English release only being a few weeks old and all.
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Dec 25, 2015 22:25
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Go for it.FH_Meta posted:Be a Morpheus/Black Dog/Neumann and pull gravity devfying, pulse pounding stunts as you race away to a secure location, target in metaphoric hand? Touché. And wait a sec... an Exile with the Tool Master T-Lois can fuse with the truck! Bonus points if the truck comes with a Green Goblin face. LornMarkus posted:Personally, I'm far more likely to ask the player why they became the Rose Bride, and perhaps whether or not they believe in miracles. Or ask them to recite Every Rose Has Its Thorns. Hostile V posted:NEXT TIME: The Americas, Europe, Indo-China or Other? Man, totally missed this entry. Nothing beats paranoid robots. Oh, and I'd vote Europe, because that's where I'm from.
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Dec 26, 2015 00:10
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