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Bieeardo posted:I just looked it up. Lower the roll, the better, because after you roll under (skill, etc), you subtract the result from your skill and reference the result on a table to determine the magnitude of its Effect. Conflict resolution turns into dueling Effects, subtracting aggressor from defender and referencing the result. Or not, because it's apparently optional, and has riders, and combat is called out as using something different.
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May 8, 2014 05:43
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<Mikan> does anybody else think Ettin protests too much about Ctech and he's actually one of the authors Ancient Enemies: Tager & Friends As usual this is an introductory post to cover the first chapter. Ancient Enemies posted:This is Ancient Enemies, the core resource book for the Shadow War. In these pages, you will find a detailed exploration of the Eldritch Society, that mysterious secret society that fights against the threats that threaten to destroy the New Earth Government from within. You'll also discover a wealth of information about Tagers, including new Character options and types. Find out what it's really like to join in symbiosis with something from beyond time and space. Go even further to indulge your symbiont and metamorphose, becoming a brand new kind of monster. There's a list of setting terms here, but I'll be explaining them later anyway, so I'm skipping it. After that, it's time for the chapter list again! Here's what you can expect: Ancient Enemies posted:Chapter One: Welcome is what you are reading right now. It's meant to help ease you into the vision for this setting expansion Next up it lists some Source Material. Two sources! Guyver's the first, and let me tell you: If Tagers and Dhohanoids didn't really remind you of Guyvers and Zoanoids yet, you are going to notice pretty quick. The second is Wikipedia and Google Maps. They said this in Mortal Remains and I'm still not totally sure they looked up anywhere that wasn't America, but we'll see! Okay, next up we have the traditional sidebar: Ancient Enemies posted:If You Downloaded This Book Doesn't sound like a loss to me, etc.  Oh, and finally: Ancient Enemies posted:A Note About Metaplot This was in Unveiled Threats too, but I skimmed it there because it wasn't funny. I'm not sure why I included it here, actually. This definitely isn't going to get hilarious later. Next time: Tagers!
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May 8, 2014 06:39
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Also: People posting spoilers has been a thing since like my first post, but if you know what that last post is talking about please don't post it, even in spoiler tags. I'm planning a thing.  Ettin posted:People keep asking me about my previous posts, but the original thread fell into the archives before it got goldmined, so a lot of them can't be read right now. I was thinking of just copying and dumping all my posts into a single CthulhuTech thread for the ages, but there are problems with that, so I'm not sure. Who's got ideas? And still thinking about this! Posting it on the wiki might work but some of the posts rely on emoticons like  which might not translate well; that's why I was thinking of posting and mining a thread for it. I could probably copy the emoticons though.
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May 8, 2014 06:41
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Ettin posted:<Mikan> does anybody else think Ettin protests too much about Ctech and he's actually one of the authors At least I can safely say I've never been accused of writing FATAL.
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May 8, 2014 10:50
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Wapole Languray posted:[*]Bear Flag Empire: California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. Split from the United States and ruled by the probably crazy but still wildly popular President/Emperor Norton the First. I'm so happy they remembered Norton. 
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May 8, 2014 12:20
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Green Intern posted:I'm so happy they remembered Norton. How could they not? Everybody loves Emperor Norton. e: Now that I think about it, that would be a great premise for a historical drama/sitcom/dramedy. "Everybody Loves Norton", coming soon to NBC. Punting fucked around with this message at 12:27 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 12:24
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Zereth posted:Isn't that a more complicated method of getting the same results as "roll under skill, higher is better"? Instead of doing some math you could just take the raw die result and compare it to the table. Unless you failed in which whatever. Absolutely, though the balky 'roll under 10% of your skill rating for a bonus on the Effect table' is still going to want a little math. The rear end in a top hat critical failure rules could just as easily trigger on a natural 1 as a natural 20. Rolling as close to your skill rating without going over speaks more of drama and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat to me than consulting a table to see which degree of success you achieved. Nineties design.
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May 8, 2014 12:57
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quote:As always, you bought the book. It's your game. Play it however you'd like.
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May 8, 2014 13:24
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But how do you make your Mythosian Power Rangers, then? Huh? Huh?
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May 8, 2014 13:33
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Bieeardo posted:It's really cute, in retrospect-- they're just so earnest. "How do I narrate? I don't know how to create drama!" "Here, use this table. You can always trust tables." I think all the "incoherence" Ron Edwards condemned was people reacting to different aspects of D&D in different ways, and since AD&D contradicts itself, so did the games that reacted to it. They were releasing versions of AD&D all the way up through 1995. Must have been maddening.
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May 8, 2014 13:53
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Ettin posted:Also: People posting spoilers has been a thing since like my first post, but if you know what that last post is talking about please don't post it, even in spoiler tags. I'm planning a thing. You know that thing where you start telling a joke and then someone yells out the punchline, or waits until you're done then makes the same joke but spells out the punchline? That's you guys.
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May 8, 2014 14:10
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I don't even know what he's talking about. (But I can guess.) 
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May 8, 2014 14:19
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Ettin posted:You know that thing where you start telling a joke and then someone yells out the punchline, or waits until you're done then makes the same joke but spells out the punchline? [edit] Just to be clear, I wasn't spoiling anything. I was making a joke about that one time a CthulhuTech dev posted angry posts on RPGCodex about how mixing Tagers and Mechs meant you weren't playing CthulhuTech anymore. I was kind of a lame joke but I didn't expect anyone to start making GBS threads their pants over it. If you were planning to make the same joke later that's hardly my fault. Cardiovorax fucked around with this message at 14:27 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 14:21
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Ettin posted:You know that thing where you start telling a joke and then someone yells out the punchline, or waits until you're done then makes the same joke but spells out the punchline? I thought the "no mech piloting" thing was from the core book, along with all sorts of other rules preventing the different splats from interacting. I have no idea what that thing at the end of your first post is referencing.
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May 8, 2014 14:27
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That's literally the spoiler dude. That joke you just made, and then explained in detail. That was it.  E: Well you are missing a part so there's that at least 
Ettin fucked around with this message at 14:31 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 14:28
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 Yeah, whatever.
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May 8, 2014 14:35
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"Hey dudes, let's not talk about the bits the book hasn't covered yet." And somehow people can't even do that, Jesus.
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May 8, 2014 14:37
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Mr. Maltose posted:"Hey dudes, let's not talk about the bits the book hasn't covered yet." Hasn't "you can't be a mech-piloting Taeger" been covered in the corebook? Because it doesn't seem to be new information.
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May 8, 2014 14:39
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Mr. Maltose posted:"Hey dudes, let's not talk about the bits the book hasn't covered yet." wdarkk posted:Hasn't "you can't be a mech-piloting Taeger" been covered in the corebook? Because it doesn't seem to be new information.
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May 8, 2014 14:41
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THIS FIGHT IS DUMB STOP BEING loving DUMB
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May 8, 2014 14:43
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Realpost, stop bickering. At least stop bickering over stupid poo poo. I am not going to hit anyone for spoilers in what is a thread nominally for breaking down games and settings into component parts and talking about them, but I may hit someone for pointless heckling when people are actually providing content. The former is part of the thread and to be expected, the latter is white noise and shitposting.
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May 8, 2014 14:45
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Maybe we could switch subjects to her Michael Jackson glove.
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May 8, 2014 14:46
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Mr. Maltose posted:"Hey dudes, let's not talk about the bits the book hasn't covered yet." Eh, we are all probably getting unnecessarily pissy in here actually. Basically I know people like to talk about upcoming poo poo but I am setting up a multi-post thing and I am hoping nobody will spell it out before the payoff. The mecha thing is the next part of it, but I think I mentioned it briefly in another post since there's an earlier adventure where that was relevant. This is a multi-part thing anyway though so we're good, who cares. 
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May 8, 2014 14:53
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Ettin posted:Eh, we are all probably getting unnecessarily pissy in here actually. Basically I know people like to talk about upcoming poo poo but I am setting up a multi-post thing and I am hoping nobody will spell it out before the payoff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcYyg_y4dsM
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May 8, 2014 14:59
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Does Castle Falkenstein mention the Golden Horde hitting the Arabian peninsula? My knowledge of history isn't the greatest, but I thought they are what caused a massive loss of knowledge and a backslide for the various Islamic kingdoms from their height.
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May 8, 2014 21:59
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Wapole Languray posted:
Huh, interesting. So I guess the Iberian Union never ended, in this universe. Any mentions of what South America looks like? Or Italy/Greece, for that matter? Green Intern posted:I'm so happy they remembered Norton. Norton forever.
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May 9, 2014 00:09
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Six Guns and Sorcery goes over North America extremely thoroughly for Castle Falkenstein. There are some wonderful bits including who Norton's right hand man is.
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May 9, 2014 00:32
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Six Guns and Sorcery goes over North America extremely thoroughly for Castle Falkenstein. There are some wonderful bits including who Norton's right hand man is.
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May 9, 2014 01:01
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FMguru posted:It's pretty much the weird wild west magical steampunk setting that Deadlands tried (and tried, and tried, and tried) and failed to be. One of my favorite supplements for any game. So much legendary Americana, crammed into a single book. I can't imagine how bad Canada ends up being, though. No RPG in the entirety of history has ever handled Canada well.
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May 9, 2014 01:31
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Wapole Languray posted:Speaking of, GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS! So the Euro stuff is fairly interesting as alt-history, but I am not impressed with their treatment of the Orient--that's using the broadly colonialist term that means 'everything east of Europe and sometimes even including Russia' more or less. It's brief, so they don't have much time for nuance, let's just say Dragons of the East did better despite having relatively few actual dragons involved. Still, giving Emperor Norton his own nation is nice.
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May 9, 2014 02:59
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 Bit late to the party on this one, but this makes me all sorts of nostalgic. I actually grew up buying comics from the creator, and played RPGs at his store when I was younger. In retrospect, the Everlasting is a massively flawed game, but we had fun playing it it. Never did any of the dream poo poo or other goofy crap. I have all the books somewhere, and I think I'm in the copious credits of a couple of them.
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May 9, 2014 03:16
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occamsnailfile posted:So the Euro stuff is fairly interesting as alt-history, but I am not impressed with their treatment of the Orient--that's using the broadly colonialist term that means 'everything east of Europe and sometimes even including Russia' more or less. It's brief, so they don't have much time for nuance, let's just say Dragons of the East did better despite having relatively few actual dragons involved. Still, giving Emperor Norton his own nation is nice. Eh, this book is pretty much 100% Europe focused. There are books to cover the Ottoman Empire and the Americas, geographically speaking. The far east is given some background in the Magic and Sorcerers sourcebook, but is generally ignored except as an exotic place to go adventuring, and the same is for Africa. I'd like more, but honestly touching those places can open up a hell of a can of worms, especially in the context of the age if Imperialism, so I'm not surprised they mostly avoided them. PleasingFungus posted:Huh, interesting. So I guess the Iberian Union never ended, in this universe. Pretty sure Portugal is still a thing, the book doesn't mention a lot of nations that would exist at that time. When in doubt, assume they exist pretty much as they did in the real 1870s, and change things to add flavor if you want. Italy is explicitly split between Austria-Hungary in the north and various Papal states to the south. Tasoth posted:Does Castle Falkenstein mention the Golden Horde hitting the Arabian peninsula? My knowledge of history isn't the greatest, but I thought they are what caused a massive loss of knowledge and a backslide for the various Islamic kingdoms from their height. Not mentioned in the corebook from what I remember, though the Ottoman Empire probably has that info. I don't have the book yet as it was made for the short-lived GURPS version of the game.
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May 9, 2014 04:33
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PresidentBeard posted:Besides Death Frost Doom, and Carcossa sort of, have any of the other LotFP supplements been reviewed? I was gifted a large number of them and wanted to do something with them before burning the physical ones and deleting the digital ones. PresidentBeard posted:Is it that good or that bad? I reviewed Vornheim and Better Than Any Man in the last thread. The former was much better and more useful than the latter. Vornheim has an entertaining setting which doesn't go straight for the gross-out shock value stuff you see in other LotFP books, and it's articles and rules for city-based campaigns can be used for multiple Editions and retro-clones. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 05:41 on May 9, 2014 |
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May 9, 2014 05:36
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theironjef posted:Here comes episode 18 of System Mastery. Pressed for new material, we look to the used shelf in our store, and dredge up a 2nd edition copy of Big Eyes, Small Mouth. Ah, the game of playing any anime genre... badly? A lot of it is just when it came out, where when the question is "how do you simulate a genre" gets the answer "you simulate all the physical things in it!" And so it becomes a GURPS lite, only without any grounding to it and with all sorts of math exploits because of the dice curve and wonky point system. Still had a lot of fun with Tenchi Muyo and Silent Mobius games, tho.
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May 9, 2014 12:58
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GURPS Falkenstein had an Ottoman Empire sourcebook too.
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May 9, 2014 15:20
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:GURPS Falkenstein had an Ottoman Empire sourcebook too. Not so much 'too' as "The same book"- The Ottoman Empire book was Dual-statted with GURPS and the regular rules. There was apparently a "Tom Olam goes to visit China" sourcebook planned, but never released.
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May 9, 2014 15:29
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Ah, the game of playing any anime genre... badly? A lot of it is just when it came out, where when the question is "how do you simulate a genre" gets the answer "you simulate all the physical things in it!" And so it becomes a GURPS lite, only without any grounding to it and with all sorts of math exploits because of the dice curve and wonky point system. It's super true. It turns right into a GURPS game. Abilities are literally half of the book as they desperately try to cover any conceivable anime genre, and it's clear sometimes they did it by genre and not by covering necessary ability spreads, as they have a lot of abilities, and a lot of drawbacks, that are near-duplicates. I'd say the concept of doing a book that lets you play the breadth of anime is stupid, since that's like saying it covers the breadth of cartoons, but then again I own all of the Steve Jackson TOON line, so I know that's also been tried already. Anyway next weekend we'll be covering Furry Pirates, so no one else ever has to.
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May 9, 2014 16:23
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Well, Toon is at least focuses around the Looney Tunes / Tom and Jerry sort of cartoons, though I don't know if the supplements try and drag into other genres. One of the big issues with BESM 2e is that it's just trivial to make broken characters - people did it all the time when playing it in my experience, without meaning to. Unless the GM is willing to redline every character sheet, it'll fall apart once somebody actually decides to max out a useful attribute or trait to the exclusion of all else.
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May 9, 2014 16:51
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Well, Toon is at least focuses around the Looney Tunes / Tom and Jerry sort of cartoons, though I don't know if the supplements try and drag into other genres. See my high accuracy, high number of attacks character. And she wasn't even peak broken. Or when I decided, "Hey, let's max out on seduction!  " I was a dumbass teenager, okay. Anyway, that produced numbers the system just wasn't prepared to handle (much like the infamous Diplomacy or Bluff minmaxing D&D 3E builds). I feel especially sorry for the GM that time. But, to give an idea of what the group was like, it was drawn from the AOL Final Fantasy 7 board. Which turned more into a social club for kids who were into FF7 than anything. Not exactly the most mature lot.Anyway, to give an idea, BESM 2E was a roll-under 2d6 system. Maxing out on a single skill plus its stat could get you something like a 18 target number to roll under. Maxed Appearance added an extra modifier to seduction, resulting in a total target number of 24. Even with negative modifiers, that was absolutely nuts. 3E was only barely more balanced. Barely. At least it had the sense to make stats more expensive and switch to a roll-over system. Still, those days I prefer something more specific and with less unnecessary complication. Or FATE which works okay for the action-packed genres. But then BESM was a product of its time and there've been some vast evolutions in tabletop RPGs since.
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May 9, 2014 17:26
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I still just can't get over the disconnected defense roll. If you maximize for defense it basically doesn't matter how accurate your opponent is, since you're not dodging them, you're just dodging your defense value. Oh and Toon basically stayed Tom and Jerry/Looney Tunes forever, though the second book had the best random tables ever in the back, base 6 percentile tables for random toon race with results like "sentient photocopier" and "fire hydrant" on them.
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May 9, 2014 17:31
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