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Masturs of furry industry.
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May 26, 2019 23:47
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Night10194 posted:So, who are PCs in this setting? What do they do? They're furry scientists trying to engineer another apocalypse in the hope that this will be the one that finally wipes the solar system clean.
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May 27, 2019 00:11
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PurpleXVI posted:After this little sidestep, the game goes on to describe the various "families" of animals and in the process completely annihilates my brain with its lovely editing for a few minutes until I understand what they're going for, because it's got subheadings for every "family" with unusual "orders." Like seals and raccoons, for Canidae(which seems like an EXTREME stretch), or hyena and mongoose for Felidae. Okay, they knew enough about hyenas to know that they are closer to cats then to dogs, but not enough to not place them in the same family as cats, rather than the same suborder (the suborder's Feliformia ; the families are Felidae and Hyaenidae). How? quote:PS lemurs are officially related to weasels now. I'm not a biologist, I just spent 60 seconds in wikipedia. quote:Also just to ensure that we have our full quota of Idiot Furry Mistakes on board. Remember when a misplaced digit during the creation of animal people meant that some of them, despite being basically a human fetus with bits grafted on, would emerge fully animal-bodied, i.e. in the case of a snake, as a wriggly scaled worm with no limbs or hands? So, before dying off out of embarrassment, the surviving human scientists made some genetic edits that would, over time, cure this plainly awful disorder. The Vectors, being rational actors wishing to minimize the suffering of their fellows in any way possible almost rioted the humans into early extinction because "THESE HORRIBLE ABOMINATIONS ARE OUR ~BRETHREN~ AND THEIR GENETIC DISORDERS ARE ~BEAUTIFUL~, NOT FLAWS" Second, way do they need to cure the disorder over time, if they can just make combinations whenever? Ain't they good at playing god with genetics? Third, and most importent - "so we fixed a genetic disease..." "CHANGE IT BACK!" ...Really? Like, I mean, "don't fix" is one thing, but after? Gotta say, though - the fact that "money was solved forever as a student bet" bit makes me think they are just taking the piss about everything here.
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May 27, 2019 00:17
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I think the author had an idea as a student and is absolutely certain he could solve money forever if he just had someone to make his ideas real.
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May 27, 2019 00:45
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I am unreasonably bothered by the weird gap in the aquatic tail that I know is only there because the artist isn’t willing to commit all the way on his perversion.
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May 27, 2019 01:00
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So, he asked as the walls of the world started to tear away like a page in book not unlike that scene In John Carpenter's The Mouth of Madness, it's a lizard-shark woman with fused legs that form a shark tail right? And then he wondered, brain collapsing in on itself like a dying star out of self-defense, why the legs weren't just a regular shark's tail and then horrible truth became apparent and Dawgstar was unmoored from reality forever.
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May 27, 2019 02:26
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Dawgstar posted:So, he asked as the walls of the world started to tear away like a page in book not unlike that scene In John Carpenter's The Mouth of Madness, it's a lizard-shark woman with fused legs that form a shark tail right? And then he wondered, brain collapsing in on itself like a dying star out of self-defense, why the legs weren't just a regular shark's tail and then horrible truth became apparent and Dawgstar was unmoored from reality forever.
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May 27, 2019 02:29
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You only say that because you aren't a hybrid sentient birdfish.
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May 27, 2019 03:12
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its the coward's way out
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May 27, 2019 03:23
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I went through that and now I’m wondering why she has shark-tail pants. Like, that just doesn’t make sense. And since she’d probably have to be swimming, what with the whole no legs thing, how she’s gonna fire that gun or keep that hat on. It’s a lot easier to focus on that than the fish loving. From a sanity standpoint. Edit : I just realized that doesn’t even make sense with how sharks’ spines work so that thing couldn’t even really swim. Edit 2 : What is the belt even for?!?!?! Xiahou Dun fucked around with this message at 04:18 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 04:14
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 Rifts Coalition Wars 4: Cyber-Knights, part 3- "Such names are likely to have grown out of nicknames from the knight's youth that could not be overcome: "Sir Charles the Round" (because he's fat), "Sir Tank" (because he's stout but tough and/or unstoppable), "Sir Whitelake" (because he was born on a lake or had a renowned battle at a place called Whitelake), "Sir Lark" (because he has a wonderful singing voice), "Sir Crow" (either because of his unkempt, fly-away black hair or scattered or shrill personality), "Sir Froggy or Squeeky" (because of his voice), "Sir Trek or Hadj or Wade" (because he's always on the move), "Sir Oak or Pine" (because he's tall or strong), "Sir Acorn" (because he's silly or because of some prank as a squire involving acorns), "Sir Slash or Scarface," "Sir Boast," "Sir Giggles," "Sir Weezy" "Sir Mouse," "Sir Shorty," "Sir Gobble," "Sir Ramble or Bramble" "Sir Rose or Violet or even Dandelion," and so on." I knight thee, Kevin Siembieda, as "Sir Ramble". Rise then, and for the love of all that is Cybernetic try to end a sentence.  "I am the goodest of guys! This is how good guys dress!" Cyber-Knight O.C.C. I bet you think a header like that means we'll get the class in short order, right? Not much to explain. it's already in the corebook!  Well, no, the old writeup was about 2 pages. This is 10+ even after I cut out the art. So there's a lot to bring up, starting with the secret origin of the Cyber-Knights. Generally, the Cyber-Knights maintain secrecy of their origins in order to maintain an image of mystery and legend. According to legend (that is, the corebook), great warriors from the Palladium Fantasy world known as the Defilers showed up, and one of their number, Lord Coake, remained with a community they saved to train them as knights. However, though he was a member of the Defilers, Lord Coake arrived on his own (a retcon) and raised a small army to overthrow a demon lord in Wyoming. That demon had (somehow) heard of the Defilers, and assumed by Lord Coake's presence that the army he led was the Defilers. But they weren't! Don't you love it when a little retcon just clears everything up like that? In any case, Coake bases a new order of knights on a Code of Chivalry (presumably, one from the Palladium world, given there is no actual codified Code), and was joined by a Chiang-Ku dragon who helped them develop the Psi-Sword and their anti-tech martial arts based on "aspects of ancient Oriental mysticism". An unnamed Techno-Wizard invented their cyber-armor, which apparently is fused with the human body but requires "years of Cyber-Knight training". How do you train to have metal permanently fused into your body? Swallow larger and larger magnets? Rub metal filings on your skin? Accept the armor into your body with a pure and unconditional love? We just don't know. In any case, Cyber-Knights must not like each other too much, because they go around either solo or in pairs unless there's a major crossover crisis to attend to. I mean, sure, they'll join groups, but for some reason they go around as wandering loners because, uh... they like taking big risks, I guess? I have no idea, it's just Siembieda smearing the notion of wandering Lone Rangers, Zorros, and Black Knights all over with no real justification given. In any case, they're a rainbow Coalition that accepts all races and creeds, and often have a number of deputized allies that they can call upon as well. We're given a listing of all their main supporters, but the chief ones are noble savages (Native Amerians, Sasquatch), pacifistic good guy D-Bee species (D'norr Devil Men, Fennodi, Lyn-Syrial, Yhabbayar Bubble Makers), and... Tyrrvol Sword Fists, for some reason. Well, I suppose they like swords.  "You'll never take him, disembodied leg!" We also get a racial breakdown of Cyber-Knights: Rifts Coalition Wars 4: Cyber-Knights posted:28% Whites (human) Granted, how some of these species work rules-wise is unclear. Does a Grackle-Tooth - being naturally Mega-Tough - get Cyber-Armor? Can D'norr Devilmen, who are generally barred from taking Man at Arms classes, now have an exception for Cyber-Knights? How about Psi-Stalkers, who can't take outside classes at all? And how do N'mbyr Gorilla Men cope with Cyber-Knight training, given that they go into a mega-damage-inflicting fury and loss of control whenever they're "angry, embarrassed, frightened, or frustrated"? Well, we just don't know. Cyber-Knight naming convention is usually "Sir [lastname]", but those with particularly unwieldy last names may be "Sir [firstname]" instead. Some may select a nickname either self-selected (usually) or ascribed to them (less often). As a reminder, Cyber-Knights had an only 80% chance to be psychic in core - fail the roll, and they got no psionics at all. Now, it's changed so they get a Psi-Sword no matter what. In addition, they also get the Psi-Shield power- at half normal cost. (As opposed to their Psi-Sword, which has no cost.) They also get "Meditation" listed as a power, even though that's not a power - it's something any psychic can do to recover their Inner Strength Points. Lastly, it just says players can just decide that they're psychic and don't necessarily have to roll. Moreover, it's implied (but not clearly stated) that Cyber-Knights that can roll for psionic powers randomly (like humans and a number of D-Bee species) get even more psychic powers that they normally would from that. Major psionics also now get a very slightly buffed Psi-Sword.  Cyberripped. We get some extra details on the Psi-Sword. More specifically, experienced Cyber-Knights can learn to make other Psi-weapons as long as they don't have any flexibility or moving parts by spending an extra attack when summoning them- you can't throw them, either. Moreover, they can switch a weapon's type in combat by spending two attacks, but there are zero game effects from doing so. Most weapons are blue-white, but you can make other glowing colors by spending two attacks. Making a pure white weapon is extra-hard and requires 5 attacks to create, and gives a dime penalty to skills while summoned. And while that's all flavorful, it seems mostly to just penalize those who don't just make a standard light tube. I mean, I'm sure some folks might go "I'm so chivalrous I reshape my blade to match my opponent's", you're mostly just sacrificing game effects for flavor. Lastly, at 3rd level they can make a second psi-sword and use them as paired weapons - which is a big buff that almost makes the damage of the Psi-Sword adequate... at very high levels. As a remember, it only does 1d6 to 5d6 depending on your level. Given that's around the base damage of most mega-pistols and has a lot less range, it's not that impressive. In addition, their cyber-armor - previously just a sort of subdermal plating that protected their torso - is now more like a special living metal armor that lives just under the skin and covers everything but the head, forearms, and lower legs. (No idea if it shields the nethers.) At higher levels, it gains the ability to regenerate and adds more M.D.C., but the bonuses are lost. And no, it can't be transplanted because... look, it just can't be, okay?! You have to train by squeezing pennies until your body accepts the metal!  "I will zen you!" "You'll never zen me!" In addition to a new bonus against Horror Factor, they get "Cyber-Knight Zen Combat" in addition to their corebook combat and attribute bonuses. They now get proficiency with paired weapons and shields by second level, but the big addition is "Combat Awareness". At lower levels they get to pick a technological opponent and get bonuses against them and penalize their foe (the big deal is reducing their attacks by 2 flat-out). Later on they get automatic dodge against technological attacks, and can use their Combat Awareness against multiple foes at lowered bonuses. The weirder effect they get is to "Cloud Sensors", which means they can grant penalties to those using sensors to try and track them in combat... but it's mainly just good against lower-level foes. Though high-level foes get penalties to using sensor skills against them in combat, that's... not something you do in combat? They also get Dream Visions. This is not a psionic power, we're told, but comes from... well, it doesn't say. Once in their lives, they get a dream that gives them a glimpse of their destiny or future. It usually comes shortly after they finish their training and set out, and are usually cryptic. In an unusual twist for a Palladium game, we're told that the player should come up with their Dream Vision - if they want, they can leave it to the GM, but they should never be used to punish or change the character unless the player agrees that's appropriate. We get plenty of examples, but generally they point down to hinting at a future important choice the Cyber-Knight has to make. In any case, it's surprisingly even-handed for Palladium, and that may sound backhanded, but I've got to laud what I can.  "Baggy pants, dragon tattoo, scenic garden... I can't not get enlightened!" Some take squires, and it's exactly what you'd expect - they accompany their "sponsor" or live in a training camp, and are taught combat skills and ethics (namely, Chivalry). But we're told only "30%" make it to become knights proper. Which is oddly accurate, because a new Physical Endurance attribute requirement means only 25% of players will have a character that qualifies as a Cyber-Knight (in the corebook, it was 50%, based on their Mental Endurance requirement). Other than that, the rest of the class writeup is mostly just reprinted from the core, save for the addition of their new Horsemanship skill from Rifts World Book 14: New West... which isn't reprinted here, you have to check in that book for that. Ooops. Weirdly, though they note that new skill, it doesn't clarify whether or not they can take Cowboy skills from the same book, despite their love of horsing around. Ultimately, it's a welcome self of improvements for the class, though a good chunk of it is more fluff than effectual. Lastly, we get a note that the Tolkeen conflict has resulted in some Cyber-Knights getting a 100K-500K credit reward on their heads, but many Coalition soldiers still respect or fear them, so many don't bother trying to collect. Everybody loves Cyber-Knights! (A sitcom now on CBS.) Next: "Yeah, but they were all bad."
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May 27, 2019 04:58
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PurpleXVI posted:I also want to point out that we've three for three, by this point, on order/family stereotypes despite the intro saying they didn't exist. Dogs are cosmopolitan, seals are optimists and raccoons are loners. What? Aren't raccoons fairly social animals?
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May 27, 2019 05:49
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wdarkk posted:I am unreasonably bothered by the weird gap in the aquatic tail that I know is only there because the artist isn’t willing to commit all the way on his perversion. Hate the art, not the artist. It’s my impression furry commisions keep some struggling artists in business to do in the very tough field of making a living bybway of illustrations.
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May 27, 2019 06:26
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Battle Mad Ronin posted:Hate the art, not the artist. It’s my impression furry commisions keep some struggling artists in business to do in the very tough field of making a living bybway of illustrations. That's because furries pay bucketloads of money. (By artist standards. Still not very much. )
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May 27, 2019 06:42
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Cults: Anabaptists Degenesis Rebirth Primal Punk Chapter 3: Cults ANABAPTISTS Preface That's a very straightforward title there. It begins with an Anabaptist leader praying in a repurporsed Christian church. He finishes the prayer by slicking back his hair with Elysian oils and murmuring the Anabaptist motto (“strength, faith, insight”). Outside, his mob awaits. quote:Outside, the others are waiting. Men and women braced two-handed swords, long spades, flails, and pitchforks – war weapons for farmers and the suicidal. Many wear loose striped pants and leather jerkins or are equipped with padded shoulder pieces. The broken cross is everywhere: drawn onto the leather in simple chalk lines or worn as iron pendants. Some turn their faces from him; others are positively vibrating from Elysian high. The Anabaptist wonders about how true the faith of his throng is; he's aware that many were brought in by the promise of food and community rather than preaching of being absorbed by God. It is, however, badly phrased and you'd read it as if the Anabaptist himself doesn't believe. Anyways, the people have enough faith to go into battle. quote:The man grabs a sword someone hands to him; he pats another warrior on the shoulder, laughs and makes his way to the front, to his gang. There is boasting, muscle flexing, and the ringing of swords. The weather is mild; he can see clearly. It’s a good day to be devoured by Pheromancers.  I'm 100% into this. Insight Rhebus the Baptist was a man looking for true religion, man, doing meta-analysis (and a few disections) to find a common thread. It didn't matter; he judged all of the religions equally man-made and false. quote:If they had something in common, it was their blindness. If it was fed from a common source... Eventually, something unspecific blew his mind and he found the commonality hiding behind all the religions (or at least Abrahamic faiths). quote:In the thicket of pagan faiths he finally found something called Neognosis. It was the tree in the Garden of Eden; it was the apple and the snake. It was pure, divine insight. I wish someone could tell me if this sounds better in German. The Root of All Evil God created Demiurge “to expand the Paradise ensouled by the divine breath.” However, instruction were unclear and Demiurge mixed God's breath with base matter from the Earth he dreamed up. This created the Bygone world. God wanted to see if the newly created humans (it's unclear who crated them) would withstand Demiurge's corruption. Spoiler alert: they didn't. Rhebus and this flock where the only pure-ish people. He begged God to not destroy the world for its sins. quote:Finally, God took pity upon him. He decided to give Humanity one more chance. “Watch and learn!” The Longest Night So basically, God did the Eschaton by tearing Demiurge out of the Earth and throwing his corpse into the ocean. quote:On one side, the demons and avatars of the Demiurge gathered, remainders of his infamy; on the other side were Rebus and his rebaptized ones. Between the lines were the ignorant ones, waiting to be seduced by one side and redeemed by the other. For that was the deal between the super creatures and the nether creatures: the humans had to prove that they were still God’s people. Victory or death. This is the ultimate showdown, of ultimate destiny, etc. Farmers and Warriors Rhebus – who, like the Jehammedans, predated Eschaton – saw the end of the world as a final revelation, a mercy upon mankind. He wrote books about how God tore away Demiurge's illusion of the perfect world. The land now laid broken and poisoned (by Eschaton and not, like, industrial pollution – albeit the book doesn't point it out). It needed honest human effort to flourish again. That's what Rhebus' hosts set out to do. Soon, they had wheat fields growing among old ruins and old battlefields (I supposed there were battles after the end). This attracted starving people and... zombies? quote:But Rebus had underestimated the magnetism of his newly awakened paradise. Like locusts, famished skeletons attacked the fruits of the fields, eating until their bellies were fat and rounded and they could only crawl and grunt. However, they did not stop eating, striking down the workers, biting them, fighting for torn-out arms and gnawing at fingers. These guys don't seem like people or even Psychonauts, unless there's a great deal of poetic license going here. Anyway, Rhebus noted that his people were good farmers, but bad soldiers. That's why he started drilling, making them attack scarecrows (I mean, it is a straw dummy) before arming them with pitchforks and spades to take back the fields. So it came to be that working Anabaptists would always have warrior Anabaptists to help them. The others saw Rhebus' people as ones who could provide community and food, and their religion wasn't too crazy. The book likes to point out how happy Anabaptists are accept people that aren't really believers at heart. quote:Let those who wanted to believe Rebus’ stories of the rotten paradise and the eternal struggle – paradise or no paradise, this was about survival, and at that, Rebus’ hosts were experts. The Four Rivers of Paradise Anabaptists believed that there were four legendary rivers Perat, Hiddekel, Gihon, and Pischon, all milk-and-honey stuff, that flowed to the tree of knowledge. Rhebus searched for them to regain youth: death brings salvation, but he didn't feel like it was his time yet. However, any real rivers he designated as such turned out to be, well, false. Eventually, Rhebus received insight, that the rivers are metaphorical, flowing within each of us, thus reinventing the humours. They did a lot of testing with plans and old mecidines and whatnot and came up with the Elysian oils. He still died. But before his death, Rhebus had a thing to do: quote:On his death bed he called for his faithful followers, and they came running. Pischon oil and Hiddekel extract: crucible after crucible he emptied over his companions’ heads. He anointed them all. The oil sank into the skin and mixed with their fluids. It cleared their gaze and gave them hope. No longer did they grieve for upcoming losses; now they euphorically waited for their teacher and leader to become one with the Lord. Spiritual combat drugs!  Honestly, why would you ever deal with shitbirds and take Burn if you could get high on God's own good poo poo and be a badass landsknecht that fights mutants? Neognosis quote:Neognosis doesn’t need faith. It’s there. That’s an interesting way to begin a side-section about religion, but OK. If you ignore Neognosis, then it means you’re high on Demiurger’s supply. If you don’t, you get to receive insight. This has something to do with God and world being opposite on macro scale and mind and matter on the micro. Pneuma, God’s breath, used to be pure and matter was dark, but Demiurge mixed them together. Humans are a bits of Pneuma caught in decaying prison of corrupt and dirty flesh. If you’re good follow of Anabaptism, you die and be join back with God. If you’re some shitbird (or a Shitbird), then you are reborn as human, again. Next time: life and times at Anabaptist High
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May 27, 2019 06:52
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Gun Jam posted:Second, way do they need to cure the disorder over time, if they can just make combinations whenever? Ain't they good at playing god with genetics? So just to get into more detail about this, because I know you're gonna loooooooooooove that. The raccoon-folk genes were edited in such a way that whenever they knocked up one of those Vectors who were fully animal-bodied(Laterals), there would be extremely high odds of the resulting baby not being a Lateral, so it was supposed to breed the defect out over time because, for some reason, they reasoned that raccoons were going to be extra-sexy partners so all the Laterals would want to gently caress them(literally the argument is that they have sexy little hands) and thus the defect would be bred out rapidly. quote:Even the use of this particular species was related to that goal; it was thought that perhaps a Lateral with near-human hand dexterity would be a more appealing mate to other Laterals, thus increasing the likelihood of the “cure” succeeding. Like, just to put this into perspective. Imagine there was a genetic disorder causing some humans to be born without arms. Just, not even little flipper hands, NOTHING. And some guy came along and went: "Okay, I'm sorry this happened. But we have a fix so at least their children won't suffer the same disorder." And a huge mob of people were up in arms insisting that being born with half your normal allotment of limbs was God's plan and shouldn't be fought, and that this was presented as the rational decision. I mean, despite not being pro-Life, assuming the fetuses were sufficiently late-stage when the error was discovered(because everyone in this setting is a moron so of course it would be discovered at the last moment), there might be actual ethical qualms with aborting the Laterals because they were created at all. But not wanting to cure their children? That's just sadism. Angry Salami posted:What? Aren't raccoons fairly social animals? It's cute that you think the author actually knows things, his brain is a dark void brimming with anti-knowledge, and occasionally its unholy contents squirm out of his tear ducts or ears, or spill in a vomitous stream from his mouth and fingers, forever erasing a piece of wisdom from the world.
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May 27, 2019 08:06
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I suspect that most of us would have a better time having tea with the Black Tokyo guy than the author of this drek.
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May 27, 2019 08:20
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PurpleXVI posted:Like, just to put this into perspective. Imagine there was a genetic disorder causing some humans to be born without arms. Just, not even little flipper hands, NOTHING. And some guy came along and went: "Okay, I'm sorry this happened. But we have a fix so at least their children won't suffer the same disorder." And a huge mob of people were up in arms insisting that being born with half your normal allotment of limbs was God's plan and shouldn't be fought, and that this was presented as the rational decision. I mean, despite not being pro-Life, assuming the fetuses were sufficiently late-stage when the error was discovered(because everyone in this setting is a moron so of course it would be discovered at the last moment), there might be actual ethical qualms with aborting the Laterals because they were created at all. But not wanting to cure their children? That's just sadism. I have some bad news for you regarding the 'deaf as an identity' community.
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May 27, 2019 08:51
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PurpleXVI posted:So just to get into more detail about this, because I know you're gonna loooooooooooove that. The raccoon-folk genes were edited in such a way that whenever they knocked up one of those Vectors who were fully animal-bodied(Laterals), there would be extremely high odds of the resulting baby not being a Lateral, so it was supposed to breed the defect out over time because, for some reason, they reasoned that raccoons were going to be extra-sexy partners so all the Laterals would want to gently caress them(literally the argument is that they have sexy little hands) and thus the defect would be bred out rapidly. They can't fix this genetic defect, but they CAN make the bearers extra sexy in order to make it (presumably a recessive gene) become less common over time. I propose a Kzin advance scout for the sample character if you're doing chargen.
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May 27, 2019 09:07
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Nessus posted:So you're telling me that these genius geneticists who are able to make raccoon people - admittedly from, I guess, maybe? a modification of the human template, rather than either de novo or by uplifting a raccoon like Rocket taken two or three more steps... It's all from human templates, which makes the whole "relapse into being animal-shaped" even weirder because the template is always a human fetus, which I really don't know why they went with, rather than "animal uplifts," since that would have made a whole lot more stuff make sense. For instance, when they were designing the reptile people, they apparently had a hell of a time making the reproductive systems able to handle a live birth... but wait, why? Under the scales, it's just humans. It's already able to handle a live birth! As for fixing it, oh, they absolutely could. They could have scrapped the ~300 flawed births during the fetal stage and made a new set without the flaw. But it would have been too great a "loss of life," as the author put it, as well as the fact that Vector public opinion was already in full "THESE ARE OUR BROTHERS AND THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL EVEN IF THEY'RE CRIPPLED"-mode refusing to accept the idea of not introducing this misery into the gene pool. You also misunderstand, they make the bearers of an anti-gene for not having arms, and they are presumably extra sexy because of little raccoon hands. They aren't made to be so, it's just like... assumed that a raccoon will be more sexy to a snake. For ?????? reasons. The Lone Badger posted:I have some bad news for you regarding the 'deaf as an identity' community. I'm perfectly aware that these people actually exist, I'm also perfectly aware that they're literally evil idiots that should be sentenced to unimaginable suffering if they intentionally cripple their children.
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May 27, 2019 09:16
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PurpleXVI posted:It's all from human templates, which makes the whole "relapse into being animal-shaped" even weirder because the template is always a human fetus, which I really don't know why they went with, rather than "animal uplifts," since that would have made a whole lot more stuff make sense. For instance, when they were designing the reptile people, they apparently had a hell of a time making the reproductive systems able to handle a live birth... but wait, why? Under the scales, it's just humans. It's already able to handle a live birth! Gotta say, dude, with your casual use of the r-word in this very review and dismissal of ethical concerns around eugenics you’re not exactly presenting yourself as a friend to disabled people everywhere.
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May 27, 2019 09:22
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Flavivirus posted:Gotta say, dude, with your casual use of the r-word in this very review and dismissal of ethical concerns around eugenics you’re not exactly presenting yourself as a friend to disabled people everywhere. Well, if you have a problem with what I write I suggest that you either: #1: Send me a PM about it rather than making GBS threads up the thread. #2: Give me a title to show me just how much you disapprove of me, thus following in the footsteps of at least one(1) luminary. #3: Report my posts and let a a mod handle it. Also yes I'm sure it's truly a "dismissal of ethical concerns" to suggest that someone curing "no-arms disorder" on a genetic level would be a good thing, rather than a loss to the broad tapestry that is human variety and experience.
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May 27, 2019 09:36
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Nice post avatar combo there purpleprose
Poland Spring fucked around with this message at 19:46 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 09:50
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It is super easy to just not use slurs, generally speaking.
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May 27, 2019 12:47
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It feels weird to read Kevin decided to break down the Cyber-Knights by ethnicity in addition to race. Also it's even weirder to read 'Blacks' in a book written in the 00s even as I know Kevin is both old and white.
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May 27, 2019 13:24
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Mr. Maltose posted:It is super easy to just not use slurs, generally speaking. Gotta agree here. Also, I'm not aware of anyone in the Deaf community intentionally deafening children- what I'm aware of is people who consider the cochineal implant a questionable advancement (it really is early stages, with drawbacks) and who don't think it's a miracle cure for the condition. This is especially pertinent because it's not the instant repair or prevention of a fully human-caused birth defect, which is what Laterals are in the setting; the effort to 'permanently cure' deafness via current technology is extremely flawed and contingent and involves surgery on children with imperfect results. I can very easily understand parents not wanting to jump on that train, especially if they, living adults with deafness, don't consider that condition so bad as to need elimination. This further gets complicated by the rhetoric of eugenics which swirls around these kinds of things: the idea that people with congenital hearing loss should not reproduce, or have their reproduction controlled from without, to eliminate that kind of person (and who, again, do not agree that their condition is as atrocious as eliminationists think it is) ... that's eugenics in action. Again, Laterals at their inception were not this. At all. Laterals generations later... I mean, I don't think the setting would actually play out the way it's written at all, period, but I can imagine Laterals who think their condition is not so bad and who would resent efforts to erase them, but here's the thing: I'm only going to take an actual talking animal's word on whether the talking animal condition is acceptable, because they actually live it and I don't. And there are none. So the author using the rhetoric of anti-eugenic resistance in his eugenics furry fantasies is incredibly gross. Joe Slowboat fucked around with this message at 14:48 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 13:36
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There's plenty to say on the subject from either bio-ethics or medical ones, and both as more analogue to abortions and to gene editing... But I gotta say (if we're looking from genetic engineering PoV - both abortions and eugenics are different issues.), "not even armless-ness" is either rather extreme view point, or a strawman satire of one. EDIT: Though, it should be very much the choice of these affected, if to fix it so it won't pass on ; but from the sound of things, it was a choice of the community, before they were even born. Also, the can make sphynx in a lab, or make certain raccoon genetics "more dominent", but can't make sure an undesired gene won't pass on? But hold the phone ; PurpleXVI posted:All Vectors were designed to be able to successfully procreate without hybridizing, in order to ensure that the race as a whole would remain diversified rather than gradually homogenizing into a single, mixed creature who may encounter unexpected genetic problems which might lead to the extinction of the race. - Don't mix races, so there won't be genetic issues (GENES DONT WORK THAT WAY) - No limbs by accident? not an issue, we perfect, no need to fix. ...Y'know, I'm not sure how it's maths out. Gun Jam fucked around with this message at 14:52 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 14:40
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Fangs at the Gate: Tell Me About Lunars The Tell is a distinct mark that appears in any form a Lunar takes. This could be a tail, a blinded eye, a prominent scar, a strong scent or an independently moving shadow. If the Tell is not appropriate to a specific animal form, it will shift into a more suitable appearance that is still identifiable, like an eyeless form getting distinct eye-like markings instead. The Tell naturally conceals itself, however. Trivial characters cannot notice it, and anyone also has to make a fairly difficult Awareness check, though if they've detected the Tell before they get bonus dice. Success means you notice the Tell, and if you've seen it before in a different form, you can tell it's the same person. On a failure, you can't roll again until the Lunar shapeshifts, unless they behave really inconsistently with the shape they're in and you know enough to be able to tell. The Tell can never be fully hidden except with the Charm Subtle Silver Declaration, and at Glowing anima or higher, it is always obvious. If your Tell is a mutation, its concealment doesn't keep folks from noticing your tail, mind. They still notice your weird mutant tail. They just can't tell it's identifying you as Steve the Lunar With A Tail. When a Lunar goes into animal form, any equipment they're wielding, wearing or carrying that can't be used in that animal's shape vanishes into Elsewhere. This includes almost all artifacts, but moonsilver armor will reshape itself for any form you take, as well some specific other artifacts. Banished items return once you enter a shape they can be used in. Animal shapes also cannot perform Martial Arts, and any Martial Arts Charms that are active when you enter an animal shape immediately end. Shapeshifting cannot heal damage or injuries. If you lose an arm in one form, all shapes you take will lack that limb. Changing shapes requires you have enough space to accomodate you. If you're in a space that can't fit what you want to be, you must flurry your shapeshifting with a feat of demolition to make room for it, and if you fail or the feat is impossible, you can't shapeshift into that form. If you are inside another character somehow, you can't shapeshift into something larger than them or otherwise harm them by shapeshifting inside them, but you can attack from inside them which is likely to be damaging enough. So, the Solar Bond! In the First Age, some Lunars forged soul-deep bonds with Solars. Not all Lunars have Solar mates, but those that do can always tell when they meet their mate. They instantly recognize the Solar as their bonded mate, forming a minor Tie towards them with an emotional context chosen by the player, if they don't already have one. Lunars can have any kind of feeling towards their mate, but it is always passionate. If your Tie to your Solar mate is fully eroded, either voluntarily or by social influence, you form a new Minor Tie towards them in a context of your choice at the end of the scene. Many Lunar Charms give bonuses when used to protect your Tie to your Solar mate or act in accordance with it. Taking them as an Ally is likely the best way to ensure your Solar mate is a positive figure in your character's life - otherwise, the Solar shows up in the way the GM decides, and may well be an enemy. If your Solar mate dies, they still count as your mate for purposes of the bond and all related Charms until you meet their next incarnation. The Solar Bond works equally with Abyssals and Infernals. This is the sum total of rules for the Solar Bond. Moonsilver tats! When the Lunars remade their Castes, the moonsilver tattoos were invented as a way to protect themselves and allow them to determine caste. When a Casteless gets tattoos, they choose their caste and align their Essence with it, gaining the caste's powers and attributes, and from that point on, using the caste's XP spending chart rather than the Casteless one. Tattoos can take pretty much any form you want, aesthetically. On top of fixing your caste in place, they also grant total immunity to Wyld exposure and shaping magic that would alter your body, such as petrification or being turned into a duck. You can commit one mote to your tattoos to make them invisible as long as your anima is at Dim. These are not artifacts, and they don't give Evocations. There is no roll required to tattoo a Casteless Lunar in most situations, though a Craft or Occult roll might be called for if you're doing it in really tense situations, like while fleeing the Wyld Hunt. There is no XP cost to learn how to tattoo someone with moonsilver, either - all you need is the moonsilver and a brief lesson on how to do it, which the Silver Pact offers to any interested Lunar. Where Solars get Solar XP and Dragon-Bloods get Dragon XP, Lunars get Lunar XP. As with those, this can be spent on anything but your native Charms, and as with those, you can get two different 2 XP drops - the Expression Bonus and the Role Bonus - each session. Expression Bonus
Lunars suffer the Great Curse in a similar way to Solars. They have a Limit track, and when it hits 10, they enter Limit Break. As their Limit rises, they are haunted by dark passions and become aware of how easy it would be to embrace monstrosity. This is purely roleplaying until they break, however. Lunars can gain Limit by:
Lunar Limit triggers are usually situations that relate to their anger or rage, but not always. Examples include: You destroy, abandon or sacrifice something precious or valuable to you. Someone insults, belittles or deliberately frustrates you. You give advice, guidance or wisdom that is not heeded. The immorality or sins of others hinder or defeat you. A foe exploits your mercy or compassion. You must endure deprivation, poverty or extreme physical hardship due to a foe or in order to achieve a goal. Someone you want to pay attention to you rejects, humiliates or deliberately ignores you. A Lunar in Limit Break is overtaken by a Monstrous Urge. This can happen immediately or be delayed to dramatic moments, as per Solar Limit Break. All Monstrous urges compel the Lunar to behave in a certain way as though they were a Defining Intimacy. If they allow the Lunar to treat influence as unacceptable, the Lunar must do so. Once the break is over, the Lunar's Willpower resets to be equal to their permanent rating. Each Urge lasts either one scene or one session, but can be ended early by a specific condition. Once it ends, the Lunar's Limit resets to 0. Monstrous Urge Examples Avaricious Hoard-Beast Craving: You pick a type of object you value, crave or want, such as currency, artwork or drugs. You seek these out whenever possible for the rest of the session, taking them whenever you can. No matter how much you get, you always need more. If someone tries to part you from your hoard, you must defend it violently, and you will use force to retrieve any that is stolen. This ends early if you harm someone you have a positive Tie towards as a result of it. Bellowing Tyrant Proclamation: You fill with pride. Anyone you can perceive must be made to acknowledge your authority or superiority. Those that do not or who fail to make it sufficiently explicitly must be convinced to do so. This can be verbal berating, challenges to duels or competitions, flaunting your power or wealth or loudly declaring your Lunar nature - all that matters is it has to make them submit. This lasts for the rest of the session, but ends early if you suffer a significant defeat or setback as a result of trying to prove your superiority. Enraged Behemoth Rampage: You go into a fury at the slightest provocation for the rest of the scene. If a physical obstacle is in your way, such as a locked door or the guards of a noble you want to talk to, you will attack the obstacle until it gets out of your way. If you experience an unpleasant sensory stimulus, you will lash out at it until it ends. You may refrain from physically harming someone or something if you have a positive Tie towards it, but instead will attempt to intimidate them into obedience. This ends early if you see that your actions cause an NPC you have a positive Major or Defining Tie towards to fear or reject you. Laughing Devil Spirit: You reveal harsh truths by destroying the illusion of stability for the rest of the session. You do this by intervening in the lives of NPCs to spread chaos, cause problems, encourage conflict and so on. If you have multiple potential victims, you will start with those whose power or privilege gives them the greatest sense of safety or stability. This ends early if your interventions accidentally create a notable obstacle to your or your group's goals. Sinner-Devouring Judgment: You embody divine retribution for the rest of the session. If you witness someone doing something you deem immoral based on your Principles or violating the customs of a culture you belong to or have a positive Tie towards, you must punish them. You choose what form that takes, but it must be a severity at least equal to that of the violation, and it must come quickly. This ends early if someone you want to punish convinces you that your actions have violated one of your Major or Defining Intimacies. Stalking Barghest Omen: Your predator nature fixates on someone fo the rest of the session. You pick an NPC that is present or nearby, and you devote yourself to pursuing and observing them from a distance, with as much stealth and subtlety as possible, making them fear whatever pursues them. You may not directly interact with them except to menacingly reveal yourself at suitably ominous or dramatic moments, but you may indirectly intimidate them by leaving hints or signs of your stalking. If they evade you, you must pursue them. If the GM rules it is unlikely or boring that you'll find them, they may have you pick a new NPC to stalk. This ends early if the person you are stalking confronts you and either beats you in combat or causes a significant setback or complication for you. Terror-Spreading Cruelty: You become a cruel monster for the session. You pursue all goals in the way most likely to terrorize as many people as possible. If you fight off a bandit gang to protect a people, you must inflict as much pain and fear as possible and likely will leave their mutilated corpses as a warning. If you seek a prince's favor by training their soldiers, you will browbeat them and demoralize foes, such as by spreading rumors of their terrifying might through the area. This ends early if you are confronted by a significant foe that wants to defeat you due to the terror you've spread. Untamed Primal Hunger: You pick a sort of living creature, such as a species of animal, any and all animals whose heart's blood you lack, Dynasts or so on. You are driven to hunt and devour your prey completely for the rest of the session, or the rest of the scene if there's enough present in the scene to make it narratively engaging. You don't have to kill them before trying to eat them if you feel like it. If someone tries to stop you from hunting or attacking your prey, you will violently subdue them. You may refrain from harming people you have positive Ties to, but it must be a Tie to a specific person, not just a group they belong to. This ends early if someone you have a positive Major or Defining Tie towards is harmed as a result of your actions or your failure to protect them because of your obsession. Vainglorious Siren Promenade: You crave worship for the rest of the session. Everyone you see must adore or obsess over you. Those who do not, or fail to do so sufficiently, must be won over by whatever means you choose, sch as artistic performance, gifts, seduction, lectures, healing people, destroying things or so on. This ends early if your attempts to win over a dangerous foe give that foe an advantage over you or your allies. Next time: Charms
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May 27, 2019 15:35
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Gun Jam posted:So, per this thing: It's very easy to not think about the implications of your world if you designed it first and foremost as fap material. This is not inherently bad, as what gets us off doesn't always make logical sense. But when you introduce your fiction to a wider audience who aren't wearing Porno Goggles, they'll see past the Sexy Space Whales and ask about the cracks in the foundation.
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May 27, 2019 20:36
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Dawgstar posted:It feels weird to read Kevin decided to break down the Cyber-Knights by ethnicity in addition to race. Also it's even weirder to read 'Blacks' in a book written in the 00s even as I know Kevin is both old and white. It's also just an example of just singularly pointless information. Of what possible relevance could it be that the 28% of Cyber-Knights are white? What could that possibly effect? I mean, I suppose if you have a squad of Cyber-Knights, you could use this as a guide to their general makeup, but it doesn't mean much of anything. When they said earlier that they're getting a lot of recruitment from Mexico thanks to them fighting vampires, that's interesting- that's an easy story hook for a PC or NPC. Saying Cyber-Knights have a connection with, say, the Lyn-Srial community means something. But knowing 18% are Mexican is just a number, it doesn't mean anything, unless you presume they're actually different in a meaningful, in-game sense... but let's not. PurpleXVI posted:Well, if you have a problem with what I write I suggest that you either: People can just criticize here, for the record.
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May 27, 2019 21:14
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Mors Rattus posted:Fangs at the Gate: Tell Me About Lunars Now this is good, and indicates learning from previous skeeve points. The limit break turning Lunars into generic mythical monsters is predictable but there's nothing wrong with it; it's good for the kind of story they want Lunars to tell.
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May 27, 2019 21:21
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Loxbourne posted:Now this is good, and indicates learning from previous skeeve points. The limit break turning Lunars into generic mythical monsters is predictable but there's nothing wrong with it; it's good for the kind of story they want Lunars to tell. My personal favorite is Vainglorious Siren Promenade because it’s 100% NOTICE ME SENPAI and that’s just wonderful.
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May 27, 2019 21:30
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  Monte Cook is a game designer. He has worked on many games throughout his career. He designed many Planescape supplements, the Alternity conspiracy game Dark Matter, and was a major designer on D&D 3rd Edition. He left Wizards but then made even more of a name within the d20 OGL Boom: Arcana Unearthed, Ptolus, Monte Cook’s World of Darkness. Eventually he even joined the new RPG publishing boom in 2012, with his own company. Monte Cook Games created the cypher system, and designed many games using it: Numenera, The Strange, No Thank You, Evil!. He also has published several settings and modules by others using the Cypher system as well. He’s even had a video game, Torment: Tides of Numenera. Monte cook is a big deal in tabletop gaming. Monte Cook is also, like many big deals, absolutely terrible at his job. D&D 3.0 was one of the most infamously broken RPGs to ever release, Ptolus a densely designed doorstopper of one of the most generic fantasy worlds imaginable, MC’s World of Darkness is best described as “goddamn insane”. The Cypher System is infamously broken, blending d20 era design habits, Fate-inspired pseudo storygaming, and Monte Cook’s own lack of any originality or imagination. Numenera, his first game, had 3 classes, built in wizard supremacy, no mechanical support for anything that wasn’t combat, codified antagonistic GMing, and a nonsensical, broken, and completely unfun system combined with a setting that is best codified as “wasted potential”, a warmed over wannabe Forgotten Realms with a sci-fi coat of paint. Then in August 2016 he launched a kickstarter for a new game. A game unlike any other. A game best described as “Pretentious Insane Bullshit”. This is because Monte Cook got a fat swollen grotesquely bloated head full of egomania and his own distilled farts. Monte Cook isn’t a mediocre but successful RPG designer any more, he’s a visionary, an artist, he’s going to release something special. An RPG like nothing else ever made, a boutique RPG experience with features and concepts nobody had ever done before! He never thought to wonder why that was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJOeHfQFBy8 Invisible Sun was kickstarted with moderate success: 664K raised with 1800 backers. It was also mocked, mercilessly. Because everything about it, every word of the kickstarter, was goddamn insane. Madness, the sort of incomprehensible gibberish that leaks from the mouths of those foul beings known as “Idea People”. Invisible Sun Kickstarter posted:Do you dream of escape, but you don’t know from what, or to where? Looking for a chance to escape the insanity of the world, and immerse yourself into something rich, deep, and fantastical? Something that challenges the limits of your creativity and your intellect? Three things become quickly apparent. First, that this game was quite frankly a confusing mess. Second, that Monte Cook was, as previously stated, high as balls on his own farts. And third, that this poo poo was completely goddamn insane. https://imgur.com/IuSUkdr.mp4 The first and only way to get the game was “The Black Cube”, seen above. What is in this?  I don’t blame you if you don’t read that. So, why has this game not graced this fine forum? Why did nobody get this and eviscerate it for our pleasure?  That’s from Monte Cook Games dot Com Webstore. That is real, as of typing this. It is pre-order because they’ve sold out of the physical copies and have to print more But, I did it. I did the thing no sane human should ever do. I have obtained Invisible Sun. God help us all. Next Time: The Key, Character Creation, Cross Indexing, and the Madness of Monte Cook Wapole Languray fucked around with this message at 23:56 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 21:52
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Alien Rope Burn posted:It's also just an example of just singularly pointless information. Of what possible relevance could it be that the 28% of Cyber-Knights are white? What could that possibly effect? I mean, I suppose if you have a squad of Cyber-Knights, you could use this as a guide to their general makeup, but it doesn't mean much of anything. When they said earlier that they're getting a lot of recruitment from Mexico thanks to them fighting vampires, that's interesting- that's an easy story hook for a PC or NPC. Saying Cyber-Knights have a connection with, say, the Lyn-Srial community means something. But knowing 18% are Mexican is just a number, it doesn't mean anything, unless you presume they're actually different in a meaningful, in-game sense... but let's not. There’s a certain kind of person who, while not overtly racist, just has to know everyone’s ethnicity and genealogy and has to ask about it. Wapole Languray posted:
Midjack fucked around with this message at 22:01 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 21:54
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Cubes are passe, it's all orbs now.
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May 27, 2019 21:56
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"The long-forgotten (and perhaps forbidden) number between 12 and 13" A functioning human adult wrote these words on purpose e: sorry, I missed the worst part: thousands of other functioning human adults looked at those words and thought, "Wow, I should give this man large quantities of money." megane fucked around with this message at 22:14 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 22:11
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You're a hero, Wapole Languray. I can't wait to see more of this incredibly overblown mediocrity, since it seems like the ultimate proof that a certain trend in TTRPGs is to mistake polish and presentation for actual innovation and good game design. There's a lot of high-gloss mediocrity out there, and it frustrates me to no end when well-designed, nicely presented indie games that do something new and interesting get overshadowed by the Monte Cook school of design.
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May 27, 2019 22:12
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This game is not mediocre. His other games are mediocre. This game is a loving nightmare. OK so just so you understand what I'm looking at... there are 4 main books in the game. The Key: Character Creation and Advancement The Gate: Mechanics and Rules The Way: Magic The Path: Setting These are not in order. This is 4 separate books. They are meant to be read In any order Page 11 has 4 different footnotes directing to you another book. This is the burden I have taken upon myself.
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May 27, 2019 22:16
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The quick-start free thing to look into for Invisible Sun is just cobbled out of all four books and leaves a ton of gaps for basic-rear end rules and that was enough to make me think "ah, you're a nightmare and someone else's problem". Good luck and godspeed WL. And when I say "cobbled out of all four books" I mean "includes the titles and covers of the books differentiating them".
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May 27, 2019 22:21
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Wapole Languray posted:This game is not mediocre. His other games are mediocre. I already resent him for abusing evocative magic-y terms with abandon. I want 'the key, the gate, the way, the path' to be something interesting and occult, like... Ghostbusters or something, idk.
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May 27, 2019 22:24
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