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PurpleXVI posted:Fuses Nightmare to Fist is also just such a clunky-rear end name. Hostile V posted:Fightmare. Fight Terrors
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Jun 15, 2019 06:52
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Nightmare Fusion Fist
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Jun 15, 2019 06:55
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That lovely aircraft reminds me of a last ditch suicide bomber plane Nazi Germany developed at the last stages of the war. Probably about as useful.
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Jun 15, 2019 08:44
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Mobile app won't allow me to edit my post, anyway here's that Nazi plane I referred to:
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Jun 15, 2019 09:59
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Did monty cook play Cultist Simulator and decide to steal all the mystical language and strange concepts and then weld it to his insanely lovely game mechanics?
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Jun 15, 2019 13:55
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By popular demand posted:That lovely aircraft reminds me of a last ditch suicide bomber plane Nazi Germany developed at the last stages of the war. It's a shark flying upright. Look at it. Fins, mouth structure at the base. It's just a shark.
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Jun 15, 2019 14:25
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juggalo baby coffin posted:Did monty cook play Cultist Simulator and decide to steal all the mystical language and strange concepts and then weld it to his insanely lovely game mechanics? Raided the same sources (actual occultism and Modernist literature) but had absolutely no thematic or conceptual structure, just stupid +2 to attacks.
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Jun 15, 2019 15:04
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I'm glad I give the ol' Cookerino absolutely no benefit of the doubt cause I saw the massive set of charts with nonsense linkages to different parts and thought "I bet this all boils down to unuseable garbage or boring incremental bonuses" and boy howdy, our boy did it. He made punching fear into people's brains boring.
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Jun 15, 2019 15:16
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Monte Cook isn't bereft of ideas, but he has no ability to translate them into mechanics. It begins and ends with pluses and minuses. This reminds me of Monte Cook Presents Mike Mearls' Iron Heroes. It was lauded in its day for making Fighters interesting, but almost all the abilities of its dozen Fighter classes boiled down to bonuses, reducing penalties, and building up tokens to spend for bonuses.
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Jun 15, 2019 17:14
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Honestly, Invisible Sun is pretty short on ideas. It's full of little weirdnesses but none of them really mean anything.
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Jun 15, 2019 17:42
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It's like comparing Dungeons the Dragonning to something like Feng Shui. Yeah, sure, Cooke put a guy with a book for a head in there, but he's there entirely to be a guy with a book for a head for one picture. There's no connective tissue to pull it all together and no point to any of it but to look 'evocative'. Being gonzo or weird without just being aimless and hollow takes a lot of effort.
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Jun 15, 2019 17:52
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Night10194 posted:It's like comparing Dungeons the Dragonning to something like Feng Shui. Yeah, sure, Cooke put a guy with a book for a head in there, but he's there entirely to be a guy with a book for a head for one picture. There's no connective tissue to pull it all together and no point to any of it but to look 'evocative'. It's just Numenera 2: Now with Extra Pretentiousness! (Also Numenera is just Monte Cook's World of Darkness 2)
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Jun 15, 2019 18:03
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Wapole Languray posted:Ok this isn't part of the proper F&F, but I figured it'd be nice to put one of the Fortes in full so you can see just how blindingly bad they are: So, the arcs appear to be either, "I am good at punching things," or "My power is out of control,"? Maybe it will be more complicated than that, but it seems real dumb so far.
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Jun 15, 2019 19:18
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Monte finally clued in to what players really care about. Joy: "The boss dropped a better weapon." Despair: "The GM won't let me use my Bluff skill to convince the cleric I'm his god."
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Jun 15, 2019 19:35
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To be fair to Monte, human beings have an extremely simple reward-reaponse loop.
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Jun 15, 2019 19:38
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Night10194 posted:It's like comparing Dungeons the Dragonning to something like Feng Shui. Yeah, sure, Cooke put a guy with a book for a head in there, but he's there entirely to be a guy with a book for a head for one picture. There's no connective tissue to pull it all together and no point to any of it but to look 'evocative'. See also Numenara.
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Jun 16, 2019 00:53
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Night10194 posted:Being gonzo or weird without just being aimless and hollow takes a lot of effort. Relevant Tangent posted:See also Numenara. "Trying to Be Jack Vance" is itself a classic D&D dungeon littered with the dusty skeletons of those who tried and failed
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Jun 16, 2019 01:13
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Hostile V posted:Fightmare. Scare-Knuckle Boxing. Tae Kwan Boo. Along with everything else said, I like that the highest-level power is basically Whirlwind Attack with a damage bonus.
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Jun 16, 2019 05:18
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Halloween Jack posted:"Trying to Be Jack Vance" is itself a classic D&D dungeon littered with the dusty skeletons of those who tried and failed Which is weird considering how little dungeons feature in his work.
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Jun 16, 2019 05:28
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Boodo, Muay Frighten, Craven Maga, Hap-Scream-Do.
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Jun 16, 2019 16:27
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Night10194 posted:It's like comparing Dungeons the Dragonning to something like Feng Shui. Yeah, sure, Cooke put a guy with a book for a head in there, but he's there entirely to be a guy with a book for a head for one picture. There's no connective tissue to pull it all together and no point to any of it but to look 'evocative'. This is utterly tangential, but there was a Marvel comic called The Order a few years ago which was pretty good, but was loaded with writer Matt Fraction's meta-referential and self-aware tics. There's a panel early on where one of the characters punches a giant cyber-bear in the chops and says, "Seriously, y'all, I'm punching a bear in the face! What the hay is going on?" Now, by no means am I against this kind of superhero silliness, but I want it given to me straight. I don't want characters to point out how absurd it is, because that comes with the stink of the author suggesting that they have noticed how absurd it is and need you to know they are above it somehow. Neither do I buy into the idea that some concepts are inherently 'awesome' or 'weird' or 'gonzo' to the degree that they can be used in infinite combinations and never lose their flavour. This mummy is a ninja, and all that guff. I mean, yes, a sentient cyber-bear is a shedload of fun, but no bear is an island. Your wacky ideas exist among a million competing others, and without some kind of inner life or connection to a wider world, at a certain point all you're giving me is bear after bear, book-head after book-head. That was a lot of text to say I agree with you, and I'm apparently sick of bears.
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Jun 16, 2019 17:10
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Hostile V posted:Boodo, Muay Frighten, Craven Maga, Hap-Scream-Do. Caposcarea
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Jun 16, 2019 17:29
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it seems like any nightmare puncher bonuses would be offset by the stat penalties you would get from never getting any drat sleep
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Jun 16, 2019 18:25
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If sleep loss causes loss of reaction time and dulled reflexes like being nice and drunk, Nightmare Fist Technique is simply a more horrifying and more sober spin on Drunken Boxing.
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Jun 16, 2019 18:29
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Have any roleplaying games ever done Drunken Boxing without making it tedious and stupid?
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Jun 16, 2019 20:11
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 Coalition Wars 6: Final Siege, Part 5- "Always seem dark, sinister and dangerous."  "You humans certainly have developed a strange form of torture! I like it!" Beasts of War This is kind of a hodgepodge section supposedly themed around the notion of monsters that Tolkeen has summoned, as well as various battle howdahs and the like for them to wear. Really, it feels more like "Kent Burles drew some cool poo poo and we worked out what the hell it was later." Which is fair enough, but I wish the art was honored a little more. They fee like they tell distinct stories and not just the series of generic gun platforms we get.  "Look, just be confident, be bold... you look great!" Basic Gargoyles get a reprint because they serve Tolkeen loyally. Apparently all it takes to win their loyalty is just the privilege of murdering humans. I'm not sure they need to be "given" that, but apparently, some now consider Minnesota their promised land. "Moose Mountain belongs to the winged now!" Rifts Coalition Wars 6: Final Siege posted:Those who do not fight to the death will consider Minnesota to be their "home." They will be back! For revenge, no doubt. Rifts, the game where PCs have to start arranging a calendar out for returning villains. "Look, you're just going to have to go back to your home dimension and wait, this weekend is all just blocked out for ARCHIE-3..."  "Behold the power of earth, mortals!... and also missiles." We get the EGM Missle Bunker (300 M.D.C.), a missile dispenser, the Weapon Throne (320 M.D.C.), which is a set of manned laser and rail gun turrets, both of which are designed to be carried around by a giant being of some sort. The Lightning Fortress (1000 M.D.C.) is a fort with "lightning throwers" designed to be wheeled around by a team of giant creatures. The Beast Tank (290 M.D.C.) is a howdah with lasers and mini-missiles to be carried by giant quadrapeds.  "Let me tell you about how jet fuel can never melt steel, Earthlings." In addition, we get some new monsters. Chatterlings (170+ M.D.C.) are dragon-like trickster beings from another dimension. They get a variety of illusion spells and mental psionics. Though they were summoned to act as spies for Tolkeen, it turns out they're too self-serving and dishonest to be reliable, and they couldn't be easily sent back. While some have served the kingdom, chances are they're stealing or scheming on the side.  Nanananananabathiiiing! Threno Bat-Things (217+ M.D.C.) were summoned as they supposedly know "some dark soul-twisting magic", but if they do, they're not sharing. Still, they found work with Tolkeen as generally awful sadistic demons. Bored of Witchlings and Black Faeries, two other hovering cruelty dispensers? Get yourself a Threno Bat-Thing! They have some telekinetic psionic powers and sharp hearing, but don't have much to distinguish them from other generically evil torture monsters.   One for Alliance, one for Horde. Both the Wind-Water Sail Ray (210+ M.D.C.) and the Craaphery Demon Snake (225+ M.D.C.) serve similar roles as flying mounts, usually with Techno-Wizard platforms with sensors or weapons attached. The Sail Ray is gentle and generally used for scouting, as they detest conflict. The Demon Snake is an eeevil predator that is only really kept tame by giving opportunities for murder. One of these days, I'd like to see an eeevil herbivore: "only eats pine needles and lichen, but murders humans because it's a real rear end in a top hat." The Unbidden refers to creatures that have come through to Tolkeen. Some were already in contact with Tolkeen's mages but never summoned for various reasons, while a few found their way through the rifts that open during the chaos by chance. We're told Minnesota Aftermath (later renamed Rifts Aftermath) will have more details on some of the creatures that slip through during the magical disasters. It will not. The term will show up later in a Rifts article as general term for accidentally summoned monsters but this notion will be generally forgotten. We also get notified that Tolkeen, for all its cooperation with demons and evil creatures, hasn't worked with Vampires due to their infectious nature. In case that was in doubt? Well, they are supposed to be Hubris Central. Next: Masters of magic.
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Jun 16, 2019 23:52
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Halloween Jack posted:Have any roleplaying games ever done Drunken Boxing without making it tedious and stupid? Weapons of the Gods had an alright one
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Jun 16, 2019 23:55
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Alien Rope Burn posted:
Aw! It's like a charming Power Rangers villain! Possibly with a silly name based on ICBM.
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Jun 17, 2019 00:38
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ZeroCount posted:Weapons of the Gods had an alright one Drunken Monkey was a pretty good defensive style; it also synergized with but didn't require a Silver breath hyperactivity from being a supernaturally huge drunkard, which was nice.
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Jun 17, 2019 03:16
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ZeroCount posted:Weapons of the Gods had an alright one Weapons of the Gods in general had a lot of good ideas. That and Legends of the Wulin. Unfortunately, the core dice mechanic, while cool in theory was actually a huge pain in the rear end. And LotW ripples were another cool idea that kind of fell flat because of the core dice mechanic. I've never read the WotG comics, so I have no bearing for how that game mapped onto them, but when it was just doing general kung-fu stuff it seemed like a cool game. Unfortunately, despite reading the WotG core book like a dozen times I've never actually gotten to play or run a game (I did a game o LotW for about four sessions before we all quit). If I had some actual experience to relate stuff to I would love to do a read through of it, but coming from me it would be just my dumb-rear end uninformed opinion about what works or doesn't. edit: just to give you an idea of what I mean about LotW ripples. I tried a test fight with my players against some fairly easy opposition and it went on for about three hours. By the end we were rolling about 30+ d10s looking for matches and the penalties when you acquired injuries just didn't seem that interesting. Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 04:02
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My understanding is that the comics involved the titular Weapons of the Gods way, way more, and had poo poo like the occasional offhand mention of something like "if you get really, really jacked you can jump up to Heaven and kick in the doors to register your complaints" actually happen frequently. Not that they were storming Heaven every five issues or anything, but the general power level was such that a starting PC in the game would be a nameless background mook in the comic. Not that I've actually read the comics, this is just what I heard thirdhand so I may be wrong.
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Jun 17, 2019 04:22
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Zereth posted:My understanding is that the comics involved the titular Weapons of the Gods way, way more, and had poo poo like the occasional offhand mention of something like "if you get really, really jacked you can jump up to Heaven and kick in the doors to register your complaints" actually happen frequently. Not that they were storming Heaven every five issues or anything, but the general power level was such that a starting PC in the game would be a nameless background mook in the comic. That was more or less my understanding too, the corebook has the titular weapons stated in the back and holy poo poo they are crazy, and this is why I thought the game worked best when it was just being presented as a regular kung-fu game with some occasional high powered NPCs lurking out there on top of mountains.
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Jun 17, 2019 04:35
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Ithle01 posted:Weapons of the Gods in general had a lot of good ideas. That and Legends of the Wulin. Unfortunately, the core dice mechanic, while cool in theory was actually a huge pain in the rear end. And LotW ripples were another cool idea that kind of fell flat because of the core dice mechanic. I've never read the WotG comics, so I have no bearing for how that game mapped onto them, but when it was just doing general kung-fu stuff it seemed like a cool game. How in the gently caress did it take that long to take anyone out, what the hell. Like I have some serious questions as to what yall were doing that would make anything require double-digit numbers of d10s to end a fight. Also I have a couple issues of the original WotG comic and it's super different from the game other than like, NPC and faction names and general wuxia stuff. At one point the main character is flying through a canyon shooting chi beams at giant bees, which is rad as gently caress but also not what the game does. I talked to Brad Elliott a bunch of years ago and asked him about it, and they pretty much just got the license included the stuff that made sense to include and then let Jenna Moran write a whole lot more.
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Jun 17, 2019 07:08
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Lynx Winters posted:Also I have a couple issues of the original WotG comic and it's super different from the game other than like, NPC and faction names and general wuxia stuff. At one point the main character is flying through a canyon shooting chi beams at giant bees, which is rad as gently caress but also not what the game does. I kinda want that game, though.
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Jun 17, 2019 08:30
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Zereth posted:I kinda want that game, though. It's quite possible with the base game, but only after your characters reach mastery or near-mastery of one or two kung fu styles. And you'd have to add the bees yourself.
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Jun 17, 2019 08:44
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Coalition Wars 6: Final Siege, Part 6- "This melancholy vagabond has given up adventuring, and chooses to wander through life as a disheveled and grubby hobo." Tolkeen NPCs By Kevin Siembieda & Bill Coffin Yep, it's taken six books, but it's time to finally get the skinny on Tolkeen's top thaumaturges.  Heavy is the head that forgets to wear the crown. King Robert Creed (10th level Ley Line Walker), leader of Tolkeen, is finally detailed. Despite earlier books waffling on his true nature, finally they settle into the notion of him being a fallen idealist. Appointed as king for his charm and talent, he eventually took a hard line against Coalition aggression, escalating the conflict gradually and becoming more embittered by the conflict. Willing to take any measure to defeat the Coalition, he was the one to put forth calling upon demons and other figures of "dark magic". It turns out he's the one in possession of Poor Yorick, the "oracle skull" from Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, and used it to good effect, but apparently has grown weary of its predictions of doom for Tolkeen. And though it predicts a "swarming horde" from the North, apparently he presumed it meant the Xiticix rather than the Coalition, and never apparently positioned scouts up there. The whole "brilliant maneuver" of Holmes seems more and more forced the more words you read... When Tolkeen falls under Siege, he tries desperately to find a winning solution, but eventually realizes that he's lost and undergoes a nervous breakdown. He tries to evacuate how he can, and gives a public proclamation that the battle is over and it's time to flee. Their demonic allies, disgusted, will generally flee rather than assist with the evacuation. Similarly, hardliners will attempt to leave Creed to die at the Coalition's hands. He helps open a rift and (1d6 x 1000) + 6000 people escape through it! How many escape? Let a random roll determine their fate! Creed's fate is left open for GMs to interpret. If left to his own devices, he'll probably go down fighting. However, if he's knocked out, chances are he'll be rescued and become a guilt-ridden hermit, and may return as a far more humble leader figure in the future. And because this is Palladium and insanity is just a failed saving throw away, he may become so guilt-ridden and shocked as to suffer from amnesia. He calls himself "Erin Roberts" and believes himself to be a survivor of Tolkeen. However, Scard will recognize him no matter what happens in any sort of chance encounter, and attempt to kill him. He has a litany of magic spells, artifacts, and unrollable attributes. It also has "King Creed knows all invocations, levels one through six..." and then... lists all invocations, levels one through six. Which is weird, but I guess it saves double-checking. Then finally we get to the Circle of Twelve, the ruling council under the king.    Corin, Mied, Baarrtk, and Malik.
    Anya, Glorissa, Denwyn, and Rostigor.
    Salkind, Cervega, Kueda, and Maxim.
At least they also leave the council's fates open. Whether that's a good turn on Palladium's part or because they genuinely don't care about what happens to them is anyone's call. But it's a least a decent bone to throw to individual campaigns. Next: The fightin' men of Tolkeen. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 10:56
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Lynx Winters posted:How in the gently caress did it take that long to take anyone out, what the hell. Like I have some serious questions as to what yall were doing that would make anything require double-digit numbers of d10s to end a fight. I had the same experience playing it. Against a handful of equally-competent enemies combat was about normal speed for a crunchy game, but against one powerful opponent it slowed to a crawl as he just picked up a gigantic stack of ripples that never resolved. Like, I think the rippling system in LotW is great in theory, but in practice it's slow as hell.
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Jun 17, 2019 11:02
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So what's the time between end of the war and 'Scard Was Right' shirts?
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Jun 17, 2019 11:45
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Man, Rifts really wants you to know how much obsessing with opposing the not-Nazis makes you evil and just as bad as they are EDIT: Like, holy poo poo, Tolkeen just got obliterated as both a nation and a people. That's what was at stake the whole time. The pro-war 'hardliners' were absolutely right! How do you not realise this when you're the one writing it? ZeroCount fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 11:52
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ZeroCount posted:Man, Rifts really wants you to know how much obsessing with opposing the not-Nazis makes you evil and just as bad as they are No, you don't get it, according to Kevin, what Tolkeen should have done was abandon their city and flee off into the North West, abandoning their infrastructure and becoming a nation of refugees, hounded by both the coalition (who, being genocidal fascists with air transports seem unlikely to let them go) and by the various dangers of rifts earth, so that 20 years from now they can get killed again by the now far more unstoppable Coalition. Obviously, this is a real alternative to war. Obviously. Edit: It's especially hard not to despise people like Lazlo, who seem like they have at least the war-making potential of Tolkeen, who refuse to help out against the genocidal fascists kicking down Tolkeen's door even when the Coalition is super on the back foot, or give even token aid when the Coalition is about to move in and kill everyone. I'd despise them too. "Sure is nice your principles are so important to you that you'll let the skull nazis murder all my friends and burn down my home." Of course, in reality, the success of the sorcerer's revenge seems like it'd have caused the coalition to get swarmed by all its other enemies. Like, you'd think the Federation hardliners would be all abandoning Dunscon because of his failure to meaningfully fight the Coalition while Tolkeen was kicking the stuffing out of them. FBH991 fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 12:46
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