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MonsieurChoc posted:As for Street Fighter, having actually played in a pretty fun game for a few months, I'd never call it's mechanics particularly good. But we had fun. 1. It's easy to just ignore entire Techniques. You don't need Focus; you don't really need both Punch and Kick. I'd consolidate Punch and Kick, or find a way to make Punch and Kick fundamentally unique (as Grabs are). 2. Focus users really suffer. They're based on an entirely different set of Attributes, and you simply can't make a Focus-based starting character unless you direct all your points into having Fireball or Yoga Flame and spamming it. More low-level offensive Focus maneuvers are needed. 3. Obviously the Styles (and some maneuvers) are badly balanced. The weaker Styles just need more good maneuvers and for some key maneuvers to be changed (Hundred Hand Slap is exactly like Hyper Fist but crappy, and I daresay Honda is more of an icon in the SF universe than Dee Jay). 4. The Player's Guide is such a loving mess that pretty much everything it introduces should be thrown out.
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May 12, 2016 17:50
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Doresh posted:I think you're missing "Insistence on using a unique, 'flavourful' dictionary that not only replaces most if not all standard roleplaying terms, but also makes it impossible to understand the setting unless you've skimmed the entire book for the random chunks of dictionary entries. Twice." And I'd forgotten that Vampire had three complete sets of vampire terminology to describe all the vampiric things. Oy. I suppose we should also draw a distinction between games that use elaborate made-up terminology for setting elements (camarilla, kindred, rotschreck), which is understandable if deeply irritating if overdone, and games that come up with their own terms for common RPG terms (it's not a campaign it's a Chronicle, those aren't PCs they're Heroic Personae, that isn't a combat round it's an Action Interval, etc.) which are always infuriating. Evil Mastermind posted:One of the original Clanbook: Brujah templates was Vanilla Ice.
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May 12, 2016 17:53
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Kai Tave posted:I don't know if it's a 90s game thing specifically but one reason no one uses premade example characters out of an RPG is that without fail they're always built incorrectly. I don't mean "they aren't at peak optimization," I mean they're built using faulty math, older versions of systems before stuff was changed, have abilities that they couldn't legally take due to lacking prerequisites, and are otherwise riddled with mistakes...and they're frequently terrible at their purported areas of expertise as well. I seem to recall a number of the premade template characters from Shadowrun 1E/2E not being strictly buildable using the rules.
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May 12, 2016 17:57
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And I know that Shadowrun 4E's premade characters were also impossible to legally recreate because they had been made using an early version of the chargen system that had since changed and they hadn't been changed to match. So the Street Samurai pregen for example had more cyberware than a starting character could afford, stuff like that.
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May 12, 2016 18:32
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 Dogs in the Vineyard: Creating Characters quote:You are one of God’s Watchdogs, a young man or woman called to service in the Faith. Your duty is to travel between the Faith’s isolated congregations — its branches — and hold the Faith together. You’ll face danger, sin, betrayal; you’ll represent God’s mercy to the sinner and God’s justice to the downtrodden; you’ll root evil out and balance the line between divine and secular law. Overview You're playing a Dog! Men and women around the 18-22 range, having just finished two months of training. Unmarried virgins, allowed to travel unsupervised thanks to the strength of their conviction protecting them against sin. Try not to come to the table with a character already in mind, if you can. Bounce ideas off your friends as you go. It's supposed to be aa pretty informal process. Background Choose one:
Stats You have a pile of Stat Dice from the previous step - these are now shoved into your four stats. You don't roll them until you use the stat, so you can have, say, "4d6 Will" on your character sheet. The stats:
When you use these Stats, you'll usually use them in pairs. Talking is Acuity + Heart, physical labor is Body + Heart, hand-to-hand fighting is Body + Will, gun fighting is Acuity + Will. Traits These are sort of like Aspects in Fate, or maybe Skills. They can be phrased as words (Horsemanship), or as facts (I've worked with horses and know how they think), or as history (I used to break horses with my dad). You distribute your Trait Dice between any Traits you come up with - book suggests 4-5 Traits. You can put any number of dice on a Trait, but they have to all be the same size. So, "Horsemanship 2d6" is OK, "Horsemanship 1d4 1d6" is not. The more important something is to the idea of your character, the more, bigger dice you have. That doesn't mean the thing you're the best at, note - you could pile d10 dice into a negative if it's the most interesting thing about your character. You could put d4s into your strengths - it just means that when you use those skills, your life tends to get more complicated rather than less. This will all make sense once we get to conflict resolution. There's a special Trait "I'm a Dog", which most characters are encouraged to write down. If you don't, you'll need to create a Relationship with the Dogs later on. Relationships Name a few people you have relationships with. Assign dice to them, same as with Traits. Leave most of them unassigned for now, though, so that you can make new Relationships during play. If you didn't take the "I'm a Dog" trait, take a Dogs Relationship now. You don't need to spend dice to have Relationships with your blood relations. If you meet someone who's related to you, you get a Relationship with them rated at 1d6 for free. If you want it to be more, or bigger, you'll have to spend dice for that. As with Traits, bigger dice doesn't mean they like you more, it just means your bond with them is more central to your character. Smaller dice mean that their relationship with you is more complicated. Belongings Name some things you have, as long as it's reasonable for you to have those things. Every Dog gets a horse, a coat, a copy of the Book of Life, a small jar of consecrated earth, and a gun. You might have more possessions that you want to log as Belongings, there's no real limitations here other than what makes sense for you to have. They have to be things you care about. Write them down as you would Traits. If it's normal, 1d6. If it's excellent, enough that others would notice and comment on it, 2d6. If it's big, 1d8. If it's excellent and big, 2d8. If it's crap, 1d4. If it's crap and big, still 1d4. The only excpetion is guns, which get an extra 1d4 on top of everything else - so, an excellent, big gun has a rating of 1d4 2d8. Finally, your coat. Write down what colors are in it, what it looks like. It's probably worth 2d6. Accomplishment? This is where things get unusual. The GM calls on each player in turn to say something that you hope your character accomplished during initiation:
Once you've made your statement, it's time for a scene. A pivotal scene happens, with the player playing their character and the GM playing whoever or whatever forces opposed them. The stage is set for the scene where they'll find out whether or not they accomplished what they hoped. A conflict plays out, using the full conflict rules. I'll gloss over it for now, except to say that the GM rolls 4d6+4d10 for their pool. Whether or not you win, you get a new d6 trait. If your accomplishment was "I hope that my character won distinction", and you succeed at your conflict, write down "I won distinction 1d6". If you lose, write down "I didn't win distinction 1d6". Either way, you became a more complex person afterwards, and now it's part of who you are. Background Most future Dogs are scouted by a Steward by age 13. There's a spiritual intuition to this, so whether or not a child is suited to become a Dog may not line up with what kind of kid they are. A dedicated Faithful may be obviously unsuited, while a delinquent troublemaker may have the light of destiny about them. From there to 17-19, the Steward guides you, but isn't responsible for you. Then, your formal training begins. The training you undergo at the Dogs' Temple in Bridal Falls City is an initiation, and it isn't easy. First, you are prove your worth, or are culled by fatigue, himiliation, hurt, temptation, fear, and provocation. Then, you learn to ride, shoot, fight, preach, perservere, notice, and survive. Then, you learn scriptire, doctrine, ceremony, and theology. Then, you're initiated, receiving your oaths and being sanctified. The final goal of your teachers is to inspire you - what lights up your soul will be different for each person, but if it hasn't happened by 20, you'll never be a Dog.  While you're doing all of that, your family and hometown are busy making your coat. The women do the work, then men help but do what they're told. Everyone in town puts a stitch in the coat, all the men bless it with consecrated earth. At the end of your two months of training, you get a package containing your coat and letters of blessing from your home. A Dog usually serves for three or four years. The coat takes a beating, and it's your job to maintain, repair, and sometimes replace it. If you end up getting called to higher sacred offices, you can always replace your office's vestments with that coat. Your Steward assigns you a route an companions, based on what is needed. Twice a year or so, you return to the Dogs' Temple. Some Dogs serve faithfully until released, and have recognition and influence after. The men can hold any local-level office they ask for, the women have more freedom than is normally alloted them, and serve as respected spiritual advisors to their husbands. Other Dogs never finish their service - it's a tough job, almost impossible. When that happens, there's no real shame in it. You're guaranteed a place working chores in the Dogs' Temple, if you want. Some Dogs stay Dogs. Their Stewards don't relase them, and they don't ask to be released. Converts Most Converts come from Back East, where the Faith isn't as unviersal. The journey west is cruel, killing one person in ten. Some of the oldest Dogs are men and women who converted as adults. Some Converts come from the Mountain People, too. Your life will be a lot like your fellow Dogs, but there are differences. You face prejudice, both openly hateful and more subtle. Some hold you to a lofty standard for your heritage and have no compassion should you fail to meet it. If you converted recently, things will be even harder, as you have to balance your new faith with the religion of your ancestors that raised you. New Relationships You can write down new Relationships whenever you want, as long as you have available Relationship dice. Relationships aren't always with people, either. You can have Relationships with institutions, like the Dogs or the Faith. You can have Relationships with places. You can have Relationships with sins. You can have Relationships with demons. Ceremony There are a few common ceremonies among the Faith that you'll need to know about to be a Dog:
These can be used as elements of various Faith rituals:
A Dog's Duties Dogs are called upon to do various things. Aforementioned rituals are a big part of it. They also carry mail and news, deliver new interpretations of doctrine, preach, participate in social functions, and even help out with physical labor, if the need is immediate. Most importantly, though, they're there in case things go wrong. When things go wrong, it looks like this:
When you arrive, the branch will be somewhere along that process, probably. The further along it is, the harder it will be to stop it. But you're going to stop it. Keeping the Faith in order is your job. A Dog's Authority You're acting on behalf of the King of Life. Whatever steps you must take, you are permitted, and nobody can complain. If someone has an issue, they can take it up with Him. Brother Zachary is destroying Steward Joseph's branch. Joseph goes to the King of Life for guidance, and is told to see to Zachary's needs, serve him, help him, show him compassion. However, Steward Joseph is only human. Your character comes to town. It's overflowing with sin and resentment. Very soon, Steward Joseph will do something terrible. People will get caught up in it. Bloodshed, sorcery, damnation. You only care what's best for the branch. So, you have Brother Zachary shot dead. quote:Steward Joseph comes in a rage. "All my work, all my time, all my investment in Brother Zachary’s salvation! And for what, you kill him!" Your Character's Conscience and Your Own PCs are capable of sin, but nobody is in a position to judge you save for yourself. As play continues, your stats, traits, and reltaionships may shift, but it's based on your own decisions, not the rulings of the GM. Sin, redemption, and grace are in your actions, not your stats. Your character's conscience is in your hands. Leaving Play At any moment, you can choose to abandon the Dogs, if it's become too much for your character. Or, sometimes they get killed. This will only happen if you've chosen to stake your character's life on something. If this happens, work with the group to compose an epilogue or eulogy. Then, if you want, make a new character. They get as many stat dice as your old character had, distributed however you want, plus an extra 1d6 for your trouble. Same for Traits. Relationship dice are the same as before, but they're all unspent again. Then, equip as needed. Don't forget your coat. Next: The awesome conflict rules.
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May 12, 2016 18:50
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Mage: the Awakening, 2nd Edition Prime is the Arcanum of magic, the Supernal, the Nimbus, truth, Yantras, Mana, Hallows, tass, resonance and revelation. In many ways, it is the meta-Arcanum, the magic that does magic to magic...but it is also the easiest way to tap into Supernal Truth, piercing illusion and lies. It is the Arcanum by which the Supernal knows itself, yet it is weak without the other Arcana to support it beyond that. Prime 1 spells include: Dispel Magic, which can dispel only Awakened magic, and only that below the rank of archmastery. Further, it requires you to use all Arcana involved in the spell you are dispelling, at least at one dot each. A successful casting suppresses the target spell for the duration. With Fate 1, you can selectively dispel only against certain targets of the spell you are dispelling, leaving others intact. For 2 Reach and 1 Mana, the effect is Lasting, though the original caster knows it happened so long as they are alive and didn't relinquish the spell. Pierce Deception sees through all mundane falsehoods you perceive - lies, disguises, the works. Magical illusion or deception causes Clash of Wills. However, this only reveals 'active' deception - you know someone's blonde-dyed hair is dyed or that someone lies when they speak, but you don't know they've been committing tax fraud just by looking at them. You would know their tax return was fraudulent by looking at it, though. For 1 Reach, you also get a symbolic sense of what the truth actually is, couched in Supernal metaphor and symbolism. Supernal Vision lets you study ties to the Supernal. Looking at someone for a turn reveals if they have a connection to the Supernal (and so if they are a mage, Sleepwalker, Proximus or Sleeper, if a place is a Demesne or Verge, if an object is Imbued, Enhanced or Artifact, etc.) and can ask (Potency) questions from:
Sacred Geometry lets the target can perceive ley lines and Nodes, based on your Path. If there are none in sensory range, they feel a tugging towards the nearest. For 1 Reach, they can tell when a Node is on top of a Hallow. With Death 1, you can detect Avernian Gates, and with Spirit 1, Loci. Other Arcana may detect stranger places. Scribe Grimoire allows you to encode a Rote into a Grimoire - either one you know or transferred from another Grimoire on hand. Only one Rote can be inscribed per casting, but a Grimoire can usually hold between ten and fifteen (for a large book), though some can hold barely two (a fist-sized carved stone) or unlimited (a computer database). When the duration ends, the Rote fades from the Grimoire and cannot be recovered. For 1 Reach and 1 Mana, the spell is Lasting. Word of Command allows you to bypass magical trigger conditions, activating a spell or object as if you'd met the criteria, with (Potency) successes if a roll would be required. If the target requires Mana to activate, you must spend it from your own pool. Without additional Arcana, this only triggers Supernal magic and items. With other Arcana, it can trigger relevant items - Spirit for fetishes, Fate for faerie curses, etc. If the target would require Essence or other power points to activate, spend Mana instead. Prime 2 spells include: As Above, So Below imbues your yantras with power. For each level of Potency, choose a single, specific Yantra. Any spell using that Yantra gets 9-again on the casting roll for the duration. For 1 Reach, it gives 8-again. Cloak Nimbus hides the target's Nimbus from effects that would read it, causing a Clash of Wills on any attempt. Anything that fails registers the target as a Sleeper. While under this effect, the target's Nimbus does not flare unless they want it to. Further, their Signature Nimbus is muted, and any attempt to scrutinize it triggers Clash of wills to find any identifiable traits. If the target does anything that would normally flare their Nimbus, such as allowing it to when casting or imprinting it on an object, the spell ends. For 1+ Reach, the target's Nimbus is instead altered. Each Reach lets you choose to display Gnosis, Mana or any Arcanum as lower than the target's actual values, seen by anything that fails to pierce the deception. You cannot, however, make them seem greater than they are. Invisible Runes draws a message in High Speech, visible only to Mage Sight. Anyone trying to alter or overwrite the marks must make a Clash of Wills. Supernal Veil wards a target from all magical detection, causing all passive abilities (like Peripheral Mage Sight) to fail and making active abilities go to Clash of Wills. Wards and Signs gives the target magical shielding. Any spell cast against them is Withstood by (Potency). Only spells directly targeting the subject are affected - if you turn the air into fire, they're still hosed. Likewise, only they are protected, not other targets of the same spell. Words of Truth grants you the power, as long as you say only things that you know are true, objectively, to be heard and understood clearly by all targets, regardless of distance, noise or language. Further, every target knows what you see is true. However, this only works for statements that are both objectively true and which you know before you say them are objectively true. This does not compel the target to act in any particular way, however, though ignoring or refuting you may be a breaking point. In Social Maneuvering, you may use this to remove one Door or to improve an impression by (Potency) steps. (It may be Potency doors; the text is unclear on this point.) For 1 Reach, if a listener goes along with what you say, they gain the Inspired Condition, and if they ignore you, they get the Guilty Condition. Prime 3 spells include: Aetheric Winds calls forth the fury of the Aether to deal (Potency)B. For 1 Reach, this also causes the Heavy Winds tilt. For 1 Reach, Potency can be split between dealing damage and destroying Mana in the target, one for one. Channel Mana allows you to move up to (Potency) Mana between one or more vessels you can touch, including yourself, other mages, Hallows, Artifacts and so on. You must still respect your Mana-per-turn limit. For 1 Reach, you can ignore the limit, channeling as much Mana as you want in an instant action. Cleanse Pattern removes the signs of Awakened interference, such as the dramatic failure effect of a Focused Mage Sight Revelation, and also removes Signature Nimbus. Display of Power calls the Supernal down, allowing the Imagos of spells to be visible to all Active Mage Sight as they are formed, as magical runes and symbols around the caster. This is useful both as a teaching aid and to create the arena of the Duel Arcana. For 2 Reach and 1 Mana, any attempts at a counterspell in the area gets the rote quality due to the obviousness of the Imagos. (This is often used to prevent cheating in duels.) Ephemeral Enchantment causes the target to be able to physically interact with Twilight beings, no matter what Arcana they fall under. For 2 Reach and 1 Mana, an enchanted weapon deals Aggravated damage to a specific Twilight being. For extra Scale factor you can add extra subjects, but each costs 1 Mana. Geomancy lets you freely redirect local ley lines and Nodes as well as freely altering their Resonance. Platonic Form channels mana into an object, making tass representing an idealized form. The created object must be a simple tool or object no more than Size 5 - swords and gems, sure, but no guns or cars. It has default Durability 1 and 1 Mana, paid as part of casting. Potency can be spent 1 for 1 to increase Durability, Mana Capacity (Which can be filled by spending Mana or left empty) and equipment bonus. However, each use of the item as a tool expends 1 Mana as the form is corrupted by the Fallen World. When all Mana is gone, the object dissolves. Channel Mana can 'refill' the tass, but when the duration ends, any Mana in the tass is lost forever. For 1 Reach, the object gives 8-again when used as a tool. For 2 Reach, it is Lasting (though still dissolves when out of mana). Stealing Fire temporarily turns the target into a Sleepwalker if they are a Sleeper. Any breaking points from witnessing magic or quiescence they'd suffer are held in abeyance until the duration ends, at which point they happen all at once. Prime 4 spells include: Apocalypse strips the Lie from the eyes of the target. No matter who they are, their vision is attuned to Mage Sight of your Path and are temporarily immunized to any Quiescence they might suffer. However, non-mage targets cannot turn the Mage Sight off until the duration ends, but still suffer all costs and penalties from it. If they run out of Willpower while the duration is active, they gain the Blind condition as the vision burns out their eyes, or a similar condition if they used other senses. Further, breaking points due to the trauma of the sight are not uncommon. For 1 Reach per Arcana, you may add any one Arcanum you have to the Sight, but must pay Mana to add Common or Inferior Arcana as though activating them yourself. Celestial Fire summons the flames of the Aether to deal (Potency)L, which can hurt Twilight beings. For 1 Reach, it also sets flammable objects on fire. For 1 Reach and 1 Mana, it deals Agg. For 1 Reach, you may split Potency between damage and destroying the target's Mana, one for one. Destroy Tass destroys tass, sublimating the Mana within it out in the world. Hallow Dance lets you suppress an active Hallow or awaken a dormant one. Awakening a Hallow takes Potency equal to its rating, while suppressing one reduces its rating by (Potency), sending it dormant if this makes it hit 0. For 2 Reach and 1 Mana, the effect is Lasting. Supernal Dispellation suppresses any spell less than archmaster's for the duration. With Fate 1, you can suppress a spell selectively among its targets. For 2 Reach and 1 Mana, the effect is lasting, as per Dispel Magic. Prime 5 spells include: Blasphemy removes an area from the Supernal, severing its ties to truth and creating a 'dead' zone of magic. Ley lines in the area dry up, as do Nodes. Hallows with rating less than the Potency fall dormant. Sleepers that spend more than a day in the area gain the Enervated condition (though they retain their souls and do not progress to Thrall). Any attempt to reawaken a Hallow in the area adds (Potency) to the rating for purposes of Withstanding the effect. For 2 Reach, the effect is Lasting, though without major geomantic reworking to maintain it, ley lines will reassert themselves within a month. The effect on Sleepers also ends at that point, but Hallows remain dormant. Create Truth creates a Hallow with rating of (Potency), with Resonance appropriate to the location, your Path and your Nimbus. This causes massive aftershocks in the local ley lines and likely creates new Mysteries. Hallows cannot, no matter what the Potency, have ratings over 5. For 2 Reach and 5 Mana, this is Lasting. Eidolon creates tass in the form of an animate being. It's still tass, with base Durability 1 and Structure instead of Health. It consists of 1 Mana, spent on the casting, and can be up to size 5. Potency can be allocated to raise Durability, Mana capacity or grant you a dot of Retainer. The tass is mindless and cannot act without command from its owner - which is any mage that marks it with their Nimbus, overwriting the last owner and gaining the Retainer dots. When it runs out of Mana, it dissolves, though you can refill it within the duration via Channel Mana. When the duration runs out, it dissolves and all Mana is lost. For 2 Reach, the effect is Lasting (barring loss of mana). With Mind 5, the tass can be made intelligent. Forge Purpose gives the target one of your Obsessions, though if they already hit their Gnosis-based cap on them it triggers Clash of Wills. If you win, you replace their most recently gained Obsession with yours. Even Sleepers can be targeted, however, gaining Arcane Beats to be used should they ever Awaken. Some mages believe this makes them more likely to do so, but mental illness is more likely to happen. For 1 Reach, you can impose a new Obsession rather than one of your own. Word of Unmaking destroys any magic item except for an Artifact. For 2 Reach, the item explodes, rolling its Merit rating or Durability as a pool that deals (successes)L to anyone within 1 yard per dot/Durability. Next time: Space
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May 12, 2016 18:54
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I love, love, love DITV (and really all baker's games). Even though the setting is extremely alien to my personal values I still love it.
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May 12, 2016 19:02
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Doresh posted:But isn't the fanart itself a form of stealing other people's work? They just brought balance to the Weird Transformation Fetish Force. And yes there is definitely a long history of RPG publishers abusing this idea. I recall an anecdote of Siembieda not paying freelance artists who did commissioned work for his books because he owned the characters and robots and whatever being drawn, so obviously he owned the final art too. 
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May 12, 2016 19:20
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FMguru posted:I suppose we should also draw a distinction between games that use elaborate made-up terminology for setting elements (camarilla, kindred, rotschreck), which is understandable if deeply irritating if overdone, and games that come up with their own terms for common RPG terms (it's not a campaign it's a Chronicle, those aren't PCs they're Heroic Personae, that isn't a combat round it's an Action Interval, etc.) which are always infuriating. True, I got those two mixed up a bit. And your PC isn't making a Skill Check, oh no. He's a Dramatis Persona, and he is Challenging the Gods of Destiny at a Game of Fate. FMguru posted:Nah, lots of 80s game did that too, which was infuriating because the #1 way to try and make sense of a complicated and badly-explained chargen system was to try and back-create the sample character. I figure it was one of those things where the chargen rules were tweaked in the final edit but no one bothered to re-do the sample character to match them. Deriving from this are examples for stuff like vehicle or power construction, where the example in question appears to use slightly different formulas than the ones in the actual rules. Asimo posted:To avoid a very long and off-topic discussion: no, not really. An artist still owns the rights to their work even if it's a derivative work, that just makes it trickier to sell or market it later on. If the creator of the original work wants to use your art in a published work they still have to pay for it, or at least get a signed waiver or something equivalent. It always comes down to money at the end. Doresh fucked around with this message at 19:24 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 19:21
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Doresh posted:It always comes down to money at the end.  And if Soto did get permission then it's kind of moot anyway. But again, considering the edits to make them look new and their prior history I'm not holding my breath there.
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May 12, 2016 19:33
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Kai Tave posted:I don't know if it's a 90s game thing specifically but one reason no one uses premade example characters out of an RPG is that without fail they're always built incorrectly. I don't mean "they aren't at peak optimization," I mean they're built using faulty math, older versions of systems before stuff was changed, have abilities that they couldn't legally take due to lacking prerequisites, and are otherwise riddled with mistakes...and they're frequently terrible at their purported areas of expertise as well.
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May 12, 2016 19:33
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Asimo posted:And yes there is definitely a long history of RPG publishers abusing this idea. I recall an anecdote of Siembieda not paying freelance artists who did commissioned work for his books because he owned the characters and robots and whatever being drawn, so obviously he owned the final art too. It's generally believed that Kevin Long walked over him using production sketches as art in books without asking or not paying him for reusing art or modifying his art without permission- possibly all of the above. It's something that I discuss for an upcoming review (the last book that has Long art). But yes, you always have to pay for art rights or otherwise get the artist to sign off on using their work. You can try and have fanart blocked if you think it's a violation of your copyright, but almost nobody does that, even with Patreon and Etsy and all that raising some questions regarding how far can one go in monetizing fanart.
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May 12, 2016 19:35
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Halloween Jack posted:For one, It's easy, and lets the writers insert in-jokes and/or recreate a TV show character as a vampire (or whatever). A Gangrel clanbook has a character that is obviously a female Indiana Jones, and a Toreador one has Rob Liefeld. Over time this went from in-jokey and mildly clever to unbelievably lazy. It reached its terminal point in the Hollow Ones book, where all the characters are blatant ripoffs and just say "You want to be like [movie character], he is your idol." I'm not going to lie, one of the starter character templates in my on-again, off-again cyberpunk heartbreaker is straight-up Dolph Lundgren from Johnny Mnemonic, so I see the benefit in doing this.
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May 12, 2016 19:38
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Asimo posted:To avoid a very long and off-topic discussion: no, not really. An artist still owns the rights to their work even if it's a derivative work, that just makes it trickier to sell or market it later on. If the creator of the original work wants to use your art in a published work they still have to pay for it, or at least get a signed waiver or something equivalent.
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May 12, 2016 19:39
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Hostile V posted:A definite offender of "can't do your job worth poo poo" is Pathfinder's official premade characters. I had to play one at Society to sub in for someone in a higher group and they are not good at what they're supposed to do in the slightest. Well that and what ARB mentioned about them being really useful for filling page count with low effort.
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May 12, 2016 19:46
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Kai Tave posted:And I know that Shadowrun 4E's premade characters were also impossible to legally recreate because they had been made using an early version of the chargen system that had since changed and they hadn't been changed to match. So the Street Samurai pregen for example had more cyberware than a starting character could afford, stuff like that.
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May 12, 2016 19:46
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Mors Rattus posted:Mage: the Awakening, 2nd Edition I love Prime. nothin but platonism, meta-magic, and kamehamehas
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May 12, 2016 21:36
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Zereth posted:I think that was Shadowrun 5e, where the street sam appeared to have bought his cyberware at prices closer to those in 4e, which were waaaaay cheaper. To be fair 4e's premades were garbage too, what with all the cyberwareless combat characters and detectives that own lockpicks that don't know how to pick locks in the slightest.
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May 12, 2016 21:56
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ProfessorProf posted:
So Mormon Judge Dredd, then.
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May 13, 2016 00:33
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Planescape: Monstrous Compendium I’m back with my coverage of the Planescape setting. The first book following the campaign box set is the Monsterous Compendium. TSR released 2 more compendiums for the line, but this one is really the one you need. Interestingly, MC1 has a lot of reprints from the core Monsterous Manual, like Baatezu and Githyanki to name a few. I don’t mind the reprinting because it puts the entries a DM is going to be looking up all in a convenient location. On the other hand, whenever a monster gets imported it’s sometimes really obvious that it was not created to fit into the overall setting. I would like to research what entries are new, and where the reprinted ones first originated and if any changes were made, but my initial google search didn’t net me anything.  Besides not being done by DiTerlizzi (instead it’s by Jeff Easly), it also shows monsters not in the book. The middle is okay-just an Aasimon. The right guy might be a Bebilith? And I got nothing for Mr. Brains Rather than go by alphabetical order, I’m going to first cover the main participants of the Blood War: the Baatezu, Tanar’ri, and Yugoloths. They were originally called devils, demons and daemons respectively, and eventually would revert to those names once the Satanic Scare had passed, but I feel that these names are more appropriate in a setting like Planescape. You’re on their home turf-at least show some courtesy to the fiend about to murder you and use your soul to wipe its rear end. After those three I’ll cover all the other mega-groupings in this Compendium - Aasimon, Animal Lords, Gehreleths, Mephits, and Slaad. After them will be the individual entries Baatezu are the natives of Baator and are the physical embodiment of Lawful Evil. As mentioned in the campaign setting box, the goals of the baatezu are to wipe out the Tanar’ri, and to dominate humanity (yes, it specifically says humanity). Personally, each baatezu is out to promote itself, and while they generally present a unified front, Baatezu will backstab their peers or even superiors if they think they can get away with it Several monsters make up the baatezu race, each connected by a rigid hierarchy. When a Baatezu rises in station, it literally transforms into a different species. The Baatezu can be subdivided into three subcategories: Least, Lesser and Greater. Baatezu share a number of common properties. Aside from Least, they all have a number of spell-like abilities in common that they can use at-will. The most potent of these is Teleport Without Error, although they cannot freely travel to the Upper Planes or the Prime Material. Another major ability, starting with Spinagons, is the ability to summon other baatezu. Aside from Pit Fiends, this ability only works some of the time, meaning an encounter’s difficulty can swing wildly depending on one role. Baatezu also share a common set of immunities and weaknesses, including taking full damage from silver weapons (or half for Greater Baatezu). Lesser Baatezu can be damaged by +1 magic weapons or better, while Greater Baatezu can be hit by +2 magic weapons or better (save Pit Fiends, who require +3 or better). Lesser Baatezu have 30% Magic Resistance, and Greater Baatezu have 50%. Finally, Baatezu can communicate via Telepathy. Skurz, and Abishai during his promotion interview posted:Occupation? Affiliation? Hobbies? It’s one and the same, berk: The Blood War!  At the very bottom of the Baatezu hierarchy are Lemures (120 xp). Technically, these wretched creatures aren’t even considered proper Baatezu, and are still Petitioners from a mechanics standpoint. They are only Semi Intelligent (2-4), have weak attacks, and almost no defenses. On the other hand, they can regenerate indefinitely, and one needs a Holy item of some sort to permanently destroy one. Baatezu leaders use lemures as big dumb hordes.  Slightly higher on the org chart are the Nupperibo (120 xp). Mechanically, they are virtually identical to Lemures, although Nupperibo have an intelligence of Non (0), despite both being described as mindless. One interesting piece of fluff is that while they rank higher (as if anyone would care), a Nupperibo cannot be promoted to higher stations without first being demoted down to Lemure. This detail gets revisited in one of the adventure books. When promoting a Lemure, Baatezu select two and have them fight to the death. The survivor is transformed into a Spinagon, at which point the being is now a Planar. The spinagon-  Uhh...I feel like Tony DiTerlizzi sort of phoned it in for this illustration. And it’s not the only one. He does the same thing for the Abishai (which we’ll see later in this post) and the Nabassu (one of the Tanar’ri.) I don’t know what the reason for this was. Anyway, Spinagon (3000 xp) serve as the messengers and lackeys for superior Baatezu, and act as scouts in the Blood War. They look like small gargoyle-devils. In combat, they can launch up to 12 spines while in flight (2 per round) that burst into flames on impact. A Spinagon’s advancement is decided by those it served, and theoretically can be promoted as high as amnizu. “Stories tell of the pit fiend greth advancing a spinagon to a hamatula.” Most likely though a Spinagon is going to become an Abishai. (couldn’t find pic in google, but it’s basically the same thing as above) Abishai are the lowest of the lesser baatezu. The Planescape MC has three varieties of Abishai: Black (7000 xp), Green (8000 xp) and Red (9000). I do remember that these xp values were fixed from the base Monstrous Manual. All three varieties are gargoyle-devils like the Spinagon, but bigger. (My theory for the  drawings is that TSR sent the same monster description for 4 monsters and DiTerlizzi decided to be passive-aggressive in response). They can regenerate 1 point per round unless damaged by holy water or swords, and their tail attack has a save-vs-poison or die effect. The description says Abishai bestow powerful magics on inexperienced spell-caster, even though they have really weak spell-like abilities. Barbazu (6000 xp) are the next tier of Baatezu, although they take a drop in intelligence (from average down to low). Barbazu serve as shock troops, and typically die in droves in the Blood War. Barbazu can attack opponents with their neck-beard, doing 1d8 damage and has a 25% chance to cause a disease (no details what disease does). Alternatively, Barbazu can attack with a barbed glave, which does 2d6 damage and cumulative 2 bleeding damage per-round per-hit until the wound is bound. Finally, Barbazu have a cumulative 10% chance a round to go into a Battle Frenzy.  The next rank up is shared by the Osyluth and Erinyes. Osyluth (7000 xp) are the Gestapo of Baator. They have the authority to discipline any baatezu save Pit Fiends, which usually entails getting tossed into the Pit of Flames. In combat, their stinger can do 3d4 damage and injects poison that reduces Strength by 1d4 for 1d10 rounds (-3 on saving throw). Also, starting with Osyluth, Baatezu get fear auras of increasing power (with some exceptions) The fluff section shows clear signs that it was written well before Planescape was conceived, saying that there are only 1,000 Osyluth at any one time (this entry also show poor editing, because just one paragraph above it says there are 100 Osyluth). This seems like a paltry police force for a totalitarian state that has its own Universe to itself.  In contrast, Erinyes (7000 xp) are the Lawful Evil version of Succubus. Although they’re all female, they can appear freely as any sex. Erinyes are the only baatezu that can freely travel to the Prime Material, which affords them special status. Because of this Erinyes often refuse promotion, which is...weird that a baatezu has the right to refuse in this instance. Also while Erinyes are Baator’s vanguard in corrupting mortals, there are only 500 ever. Combat wise, Erinyes has a Rope of Entanglement (  ) and a powerful charm person ability that requires victims to make a spell save at half their level or be totally and indefinitely super-duper loyal to the Erinyes. The main limitation is that an Erinyes can only affect one person at a time. The fluff says Erinyes lure their victim back to Baator, where most likely they’ll die and become a Lemure. A strategy that feels really short-sided, imo. The highest ranked lesser Baatezu are the Hamatula (6000 xp) who serve as solitary patrollers on the third and fourth layers of Baator. Their main combat gimmick is to grapple opponents when both claws hit and impaling them on their bodies. Because they are patrollers they can never be surprised. Unlike other Baatezu, Hamatula cannot travel between layers. Scholars believe this is to prevent them from wandering off (Co-incidentally, Hamatula have 11-12 Intelligence). Finally, there’s info on how Hamatula can be harvested for magic item components. As I said, it’s obvious these were not written with the Planescape setting in mind.  Cornugon (10000 xp) are the lowest rank of greater baatezu, and is also the one gargoyle-devil DiTerlizzi bothered to fully draw. Depending on what layer they’re on, Cornugon either are generals over lesser baatezu or fill out the personal armies of Pit Fiends. Cornugon have a few worthwhile spell-like abilities, such as Wall of Fire 1/day. The crunch text specifically states they have 18/00 strength. Their tail attack can cause bleed damage. Alternatively, they can use their whip which stuns the target for 1d4 rounds (paralyzation save to avoid). Defensively, they can regenerate 2 hp a round (all greater Baatezu except Amnizu have this) Cornugon are very loyal by baatezu standards.  Amnizu (11000 xp) are mainly found on the fifth layer, Stygia, and serve as Baator’s petty nobility - ostensibly loyal but constantly scheming to advance. Amnizu get a touch attack that bypasses normal armor and dex bonuses. It does 2d4 damage and causes the victim to forget one whole day’s memory unless he saves versus spell. One of the spell-like abilities they get is Imprisonment 1/day which they receive because they “protect Baator from invaders”. Amnizu command Stygia’s armies, which consist of thousands of Abishai and Erinyes (remember there are 500 Erinyes in all of Baator. Also they report directly to the Dark Eight).  Gelugon (19000 xp) are below only Pit Fiends in rank. They live in frozen Cania, so while the rest of the Baatezu are immune to fire and take 1/2 damage from ice, Gelugon are immune to ice and take 1/2 damage from fire. They have 18/76 Strength. They can attack 4 times a round, (ld4+4/ ld4+4/2d4+4/3d4+4) and their tail can cause paralysis for 1d6 rounds (paralysis save to avoid). 1-in-4 Gelugon carries a spear, which does 2d6 (+4 Str) and can slow for 2d4 rounds if the target fails a Save vs Paralysis. That doesn’t sound like an improvement over going unarmed. Gelugon get Detect Invisibility (always active), something Hamatula and Amnizu don’t get (despite having similar jobs). Gelugon are unique in that they act as both the troops and commanders in their armies; it is unknown how they select their leaders. In order to advance, a Gelugon must serve perfectly for 777 years. That’s the easy part-to actually become a Pit Fiend, a Gelugon enters the Pit of Flames and stays there for 1,001 days. After nearly 3 years of suffering in the pit, the Gelugon emerges as a Pit Fiend.  The Pit Fiends (21000 xp) are the leaders of the Baatezu. They have 18/00 Strength and can make 6 attacks a round. Their bite attack forces a Poison Save or the victim dies in 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is made, the target of the bite is inflicted with a disease (again, no details on what the disease does). The tail attack, after making a hit, can constrict its victim for the same damage until he or she makes a strength check. Pit Fiends have a potent arsenal of spell-like abilities they can use once per round, including Detect Invisibility, Hold Person, Improved Invisibility, and Wall of Fire. In addition to those it can Gate in 2 Lesser Baatezu or 1 Greater Baatezu once-per-round without fail. To top those abilities off are Symbol of Pain, which it can cast once per day, and Wish, which it can use once per year. When not in Baator, Pit Fiends lead large armies of Baatezu across the Lower Planes. Any non-native to the Lower Planes with less than 10 HD that see these armies flees for 1d3 days (those with equal or greater than 10 HD must make a SRorW Save or flee for 1d12 turns. The most important Pit Fiends in Baator are the Dark Eight, who operate out of the fortress Malsheem in Baator’s lowest layer. The Pit Fiend entry does mention that “It is rumoured” that there are beings in Baator even more powerful than Pit Fiends, but no further details are provided in the Planescape MC. Next Time: We did snake-tits first SirPhoebos fucked around with this message at 14:49 on May 13, 2016 |
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May 13, 2016 00:58
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SirPhoebos posted:
plz don't dox me
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May 13, 2016 01:51
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Legend of the Five Rings had "Tropical Fish", a skill solely for the caretaking of exotic fish. Rifts had "Sea Holistic Medicine". Vampire: the Masquerade had "Pottery". Pottery! It was definitely a thing for any '90s game with a decent supplement train. 
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May 13, 2016 02:00
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L5R 1E has one of the most mini-gamey character creation I've ever seen. With the right combo of skills, advantages, dojo, ancestors and schools, there's a billion ways to make a super-broken character at the start. Like a scorpion with the ancestor to see through illusions and gain 2 free raises on perception rolls and then take the different school advantage as a Kitsuki Investigator to get 4 free raises on all investigation rolls at Rank 2 and blackmail everyone everywhere. Or the Akodo Bushi with Bishamon's blessing and the appropriate ancestor to gain 3 free raises on any attack roll all the time. I've done both of those builds, although I only got a chance to play the second. Our group was formed of Masters at L5R character creation.
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May 13, 2016 02:37
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Zereth posted:I think that was Shadowrun 5e, where the street sam appeared to have bought his cyberware at prices closer to those in 4e, which were waaaaay cheaper. The freelancers (because Shadowrun is basically 100% freelancers nowadays) who made the pregens have all stated that they were made before a few rules changes, which is why so many of them are so severely janky.
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May 13, 2016 03:09
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SirPhoebos posted:Planescape: Monstrous Compendium It sucks that the fluff isn't quite right for the setting but  YAY PLANESCAPE! I agree with the Spinagon/Abishai theory- they look really similar googling them, but to be fair the Abishai are supposed to look the same except for their colors.
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May 13, 2016 03:25
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Lurks With Wolves posted:To be fair 4e's premades were garbage too, what with all the cyberwareless combat characters and detectives that own lockpicks that don't know how to pick locks in the slightest. Well, he can't yet, but they have a course down at the Y, and he's always been meaning to learn, and you know the picks were on sale, so, you know...
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May 13, 2016 04:49
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Dogs in the Vineyard: Conflict & Resolution quote:The shopkeeper from Back East? His wife isn’t really his wife. He’s the procurer and she’s the available woman. Their marriage is a front. Overview Conflicts are scenes where dice determines who gets their way at the end of a scene. They also figure out how things proceed throughout, and what changes about the characters afterwards. At the start of a conflict, establish what's at stake. Then, everyone involved rolls dice - all the dice for two of your attributes, based on the type of conflict. From there, you'll Raise by pushing dice forwards to back up your actions. The people you act against push forward dice of their own to See your raise, or they fold, and you win the stakes. Once dice are used to Raise or See they're gone. Eventually, you might run out of dice. If you want to stay in the conflict, you'll have to escalate the situation. A drawn gun says a lot in a debate. The Simple Case The quote at the top. The stakes are: Does your brother shoot the woman? You and your brother meet on the road between his farm and town. Two participants - you, playing your character, and me, the GM, playing his brother. For now, you agree to just talk it out, so the stats used are Acuity and Heart. You have 6d6 between the two, your brother has 7d6. Relationships are factored in whenever the person your Relation is with is your opponent, or is involved in the stakes. Since this is your brother, that's a free 1d6 - but let's say you have a d8 Relationship with him written down. So, he's up to 8d6, you're up to 6d6 +1d8. Traits or Things get brought in later in the process, so for now, that's the roll. You roll: 1 2 2 3 4 4 7. I roll for your brother: 1 1 1 3 4 5 6 6. Raising and Seeing To Raise, you say something you do, and you put two dice forward. It can be any two from your pool - the higher the values, the stronger the Raise. It's like an attack. Once you Raise, your opponent has to See, putting any number of dice forward that add up to the same or more as the dice you Raised with. Depending on how many dice that takes, the outcome is different. If you See with two dice, you Block or Dodge. Say how you defend against the attack, turn's over. If you See with one die, you Reverse the Blow - instead of discarding the die, hold onto it until your turn, then use it as one of your two dice for your next Raise. You turned the attack back onto the attacker, so less of your resources are used up. If you See with three or more dice, you Take the Blow. The attack hits, and you gain Fallout Dice equal to the number of dice you used to See. The size of these dice depends on the nature of the blow - d4s for words, d6 for fists, d8 for weapons, d10 for bullets. You'll roll these at the end of the conflict, and it'll probably be bad. At any point, if you don't want to See a Raise, you can Give instead, losing the stakes but gaining advantage in any follow-up conflict. Back to the Simple Case You start. quote:You: "Hey, Zeke, you don't just go shoot people. Let's talk about this." quote:Zeke: "Get out of my way, boy." quote:Zeke: "In fact, if you had any conscience of your own, you'd be with me." quote:You: "Don't try to tell me about my conscience." quote:You: "You go home and see to your son." quote:Zeke: "Ha! I remember how he use to look up to you! Maybe if you'd been in his life he wouldn't have gone this way." Escalating Hang on, that's not all. If you're at a dead end like the end of that conversation, you can stay in the game by escalating the conflict. Say, for example, you punch Zeke in the face. If you change the kind of conflict - here, from words to fists - you change which stats you're using. If you have any new ones, you roll those too, and add it to your pool. So, if you moved from talking (Acuity + Heart) to guns (Acuity + Will), you'd add all your Will dice, but wouldn't re-add your Acuity dice. So, the scene continues. Fist fighting is Body + Will, so you roll all those dice (say, 7d6 of them) and add them to your pool: 1 3 4 5 5 5 6. You also have a trait "Fist fighting 1d8", so you roll that, and get a 4. With your remaining 1 from before, your new pool is 1 1 3 4 4 5 5 5 6. You push a 4 and a 3 forward to See my 7, then push forward two 5's to Raise. I can't See a 10, so if Zeke doesn't want to give, he has to Escalate to match. He goes into fist fighting as well, rolling Body + Will = 6d6, getting 1 1 2 2 2 5, plus a leftover 1 1 from before. To See that 10 with this lovely pool I'll need four dice - 5 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 10. Zeke takes the blow, taking four Fallout Dice (4d6, because it's a fist fight) and setting them aside for now. I look at the dice on the table. I have nothing left but a 2 and a pile of 1's. You have a 4, a 5 and a 6 all unused. I'm screwed if I stay in the conflict, so I Give. You win the stakes, and Zeke goes home bruised and grumbling. Using Traits and Things You can bring in Traits or Things whenever they're relevant, and get the dice for them, same as Escalating with different stats. Pull out your gun, and you add your gun dice to the conflict. Each Trait or Thing can only provide its dice once in a conflict, no matter how much you use it. Rolling back the scene to where Zeke Gave. This time, he doesn't Give - instead, he raises his gun. That's a change to gun fighting, but he already rolled Acuity (from talking) and Will (from fist fighting), so no extra stat dice. What he does get is a 1d4+1d8 from his gun, and 2d6 from his "I'm a good shot" Trait. Roll the dice: 3 7 2 4. His pool is back up to 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 7. Your highest two dice left are a 6 and a 4, so if I put forward my 4 and 7, I'll force you to take a blow. But, I don't actually want that - that's d10 fallout dice, and you're my brother. So instead, I push a 3 and 4, raising with a 7. I know you can block or dodge that. You have a trait "Disarming Enemies 2d8", so you roll that now, adding a 3 and 8 to your pool. You see with a 6 and 1, then grab the barrel of the gun and jerk it out of my hands, Raising with a 4 and an 8. I have to See with my 7 and two 2s, so I take another blow - 3d6, because even though I have my gun out, you're still just using fists. If you watch the dice, you'll see that I can't win this one. Zeke is finally sent home, humiliated and gunless. Giving If your opponent Raises and you'd have to take a blow, you can Give instead. You lose the Stakes, but you also cut your losses - hold onto your highest remaining die. If there's a follow-up conflict, you can add that die to your pool for it. Don't reroll it - use the number as it stands. Next: Fallout.
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May 13, 2016 13:26
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Asimo posted:A thing to remember about about the lovely premade characters is that they were often made midway through a game's development and any changes made to the rules afterwards usually aren't updated on those sheets, and well, most RPGs don't have any appreciable playtesting so the authors literally don't know what makes a well-designed character or not. I mean this is hardly excuses but it sure does... explain a lot about them. Pathfinder's premades were for individual adventure paths. They have no such excuse.
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May 13, 2016 14:39
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Holy smokes, Dog's conflict system is, like, nothing I've ever seen before. So basically the idea is that, against really thick-headed opponents you can escalate all the way up to lethal force if nobody is willing to give?
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May 13, 2016 14:51
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Strange Matter posted:Holy smokes, Dog's conflict system is, like, nothing I've ever seen before. So basically the idea is that, against really thick-headed opponents you can escalate all the way up to lethal force if nobody is willing to give? And the higher you escalate, the worse the fallout will be after the fact.
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May 13, 2016 14:52
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Strange Matter posted:Holy smokes, Dog's conflict system is, like, nothing I've ever seen before. So basically the idea is that, against really thick-headed opponents you can escalate all the way up to lethal force if nobody is willing to give? You can escalate at first go to lethal force, by giving at the first raise then escalating all the way up to gunplay. It probably won't end well, but you definitely can.
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May 13, 2016 15:02
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Strange Matter posted:Holy smokes, Dog's conflict system is, like, nothing I've ever seen before. So basically the idea is that, against really thick-headed opponents you can escalate all the way up to lethal force if nobody is willing to give? That's kind of the point of the game. You're a Dog, you have unquestionable religious authority and a gun, so naturally you're going to win most conflicts. The question is *how* you're going to win them, when you'll choose to escalate to violence, and what happens as a result.
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May 13, 2016 15:19
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I believe Baker summed up the game as "Young people armed with guns and religion, sent out to solve problems that can't be fixed with either."
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May 13, 2016 15:22
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Halloween Jack posted:I believe Baker summed up the game as "Young people armed with guns and religion, sent out to solve problems that can't be fixed with either." Which to me suggests that the logical answer is to abandon not-Mormonism and bring the not-USA's influence out West. I like the idea of the game, but all this not-Mormon hyper-conservative stuff rubs me the wrong way.
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May 13, 2016 15:24
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Cythereal posted:Which to me suggests that the logical answer is to abandon not-Mormonism and bring the not-USA's influence out West. Not-California here I come! Right back where I didn't start from! Kavak fucked around with this message at 15:28 on May 13, 2016 |
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May 13, 2016 15:26
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Mover posted:plz don't dox me -4 to Will Saves vs Fat-Shaming. (But joking aside, dat art is neat. I love the Pit Fiend and Osyluth) MonsieurChoc posted:L5R 1E has one of the most mini-gamey character creation I've ever seen. With the right combo of skills, advantages, dojo, ancestors and schools, there's a billion ways to make a super-broken character at the start. Like a scorpion with the ancestor to see through illusions and gain 2 free raises on perception rolls and then take the different school advantage as a Kitsuki Investigator to get 4 free raises on all investigation rolls at Rank 2 and blackmail everyone everywhere. Or the Akodo Bushi with Bishamon's blessing and the appropriate ancestor to gain 3 free raises on any attack roll all the time. I've done both of those builds, although I only got a chance to play the second. Our group was formed of Masters at L5R character creation. And here we have an important distinction for 90's RPGs: Is the system broken from the start, or does become broken later on as more and more untested supplements get released? Lurks With Wolves posted:To be fair 4e's premades were garbage too, what with all the cyberwareless combat characters and detectives that own lockpicks that don't know how to pick locks in the slightest. Why, you just have to aim your gun at the lock. Strange Matter posted:Holy smokes, Dog's conflict system is, like, nothing I've ever seen before. So basically the idea is that, against really thick-headed opponents you can escalate all the way up to lethal force if nobody is willing to give? Tenra Bansho Zero has something a little bit like this where normal damage can only ever knock you out, unless you're willing to cross off your wound boxes to stay in the fight and get a bonus for doing so (because wounds in TBZ work as an inverted death spiral).
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May 13, 2016 15:39
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It's worth mentioning that Baker's experience with Dogs in the Vineyard came around to inspire Apocalypse World's extremely quick resolution system, feeling that DitV took people "out of the game" for extended periods of time, and he sought to make the experience with dice as brief as possible for Apocalypse World.
Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 15:55 on May 13, 2016 |
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May 13, 2016 15:50
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Mage: the Awakening, 2nd Edition Space is the Arcanum of distance, separation, sympathy, conjuration, scrying and warding. It expresses distance in its true meaning - not physical, but the distance between souls, the sympathetic ties between places, things and people. Because Space has command over portals, doors and liminal spaces, many of its spells require a Key - an item, password or other thing that either activates a spell or bypasses it. A portal could be keyed to a time, to a bloodline or to people with a particular object. Most of the time, applying a Key costs a Reach, and a Key can have up to (Potency) requirements to be met. Sympathy is the bond that Space manipulates. It's a complex concept, one that mages write about a lot, but essentially, two things become sympathetically linked when they share a strong emotional, physical or mystical connection. Naturally occuring links are sometimes permanent, but just as likely to fade over time. The link formed by a brief affair might fade within weeks of a breakup, while a murder weapon might be linked to killer and victim for years. Sympathetic links manipulated by magic exert a subtle but potent change over the people tied to them. Cutting off the link between two spouses cools the relationship and makes them grow distant. Bonding a person to an object makes them dream about it, think about it and, left to their own devices, cross paths with it. It's not really mind control or even destiny - it's just manipulation of connections. It doesn't control reactions or outcomes. You can ignore the thoughts of the object, for example, if you try to. It's just, sympathetic links have a real and tangible effect on people. Thus, mages tend to be weirded out by people who deliberately try to 'cull' their sympathetic links for safety - it's a choice to deliberately cut off your relationships, not just a mystical decision for safety. Most spells that deal with sympathy target the links themselves, Withstood by their relative strength - deeper bonds are harder to affect. However, mages with Space 2 can also use sympathetic links to cast spells far beyond sensory range, using the lines of sympathy via an Attainment that lets them target sympathetically. In this case, Withstanding is done by Space itself, and weaker connections are harder to use. When targeting sympathetic links, each connection is a different subject for spell factors, so you can target several by increasing Scale.  I'm not totally sure how I feel about the fact that sympathetic names appear to deadname trans people. 'Weird and bad' is a good choice for it. Space 1 spells include: Correspondence tells you (Potency) of the target's sympathetic links, starting with the oldest and strongest. You understand these links the same way the target thinks of them - 'my childhood home' rather than an address. If you can sense the other end of the link, you know that and where it is exactly. For 1 Reach, you can choose to follow a link, learning a sympathetic link of someone the target has a link to when you learn about that person. For 1 Reach, you know the emotional character of the connection in broad terms. For 2 Reach, you can specify generally what connections you want to find - 'an object with strong childhood ties' or 'those she hates,' say. For 2 Reach, if the target is a Keyed spell or Iris, you may use a level of Potency to find the Key rather than a sympathetic link. Ground-Eater causes stutter-step as the target covers more ground than their stride should. Add (Potency) to the target's speed. Watching them move is weird, as they seem to move farther than they should, especially when you blink. You may also use this spell to reduce the target's Speed by (Potency), to a minimum of 1, making distance longer for them. Isolation makes empty spaces seem larger and more foreboding for the target, while crowds seem impenetrably packed. Any attempt the target makes to interact with other people costs 1 Willpower and is at -(Potency). Exposure to this for (Composure) days tends to be a breaking point or cause Conditions like Shaken or Spooked. Locate Object tells you the precise location of the target as long as it's in the spell's area. Nothing but concealing magic can hide it, and that causes a Clash of Wills For 1 Reach, you can keep tracking the target if they leave. The Outward and Inward Eye allows you to see and hear in all directions, from any point within sensory range, simultaneously. It's like 360 degree vision but better - you can also see perceive things through solid objects. Essentially, you can perceive things from any point you would be able to sense on a flat, empty plain. Any attempt to ambush or surprise you is reduced to a chance die barring amazing camouflauge or a great distraction. You may reduce any penalties from range, cover or concealment (but not darkness or poor visibility) by (Potency). For 2 Reach, you may see through an existing spacial warp, Distortion Iris, scrying window or magical potal made by Co-Location, or similar things. With other Arcana, you can look through other portals, too, depending on their nature and the ST's whim.  Note: Connected can only be removed by an Unmaking spell. Space 2 spells include: Borrow Threads transfers up to (Potency) sympathetic connections between you and the targets. You can steal their links or give yours. If someone already has a connection to something you transfer to them, the new one overwrites the old one for the duration. You must be aware of a connection to manipulate it, either due to magic or just knowing the subject. For 1 Reach, you may redirect the connection between other subjects of the spell directly without having to transfer to yourself first. For 1 Reach, instead of transferring connections, you copy them. Break Boundary bypasses a single obstacle restricting the target's movement, such as handcuffs, a locked door or a barred window. The target blinks through the door, the handcuffs pass through their arms, and so on. This can only bypass obstructions of an actual path - you can't blink through a wall, but you can teleport past a fire in the road or across a chasm too wide to jump. If cast on an inanimate object you or an ally must still carry or push the target through the obstacle. For 1 Reach, you can use this to pass through paths too small for you, even if the path were unobstructed - you can drive a car through door, say. For 2 Reach, the target passes through even if unable to move, just appearing on the other side. Lying Maps twists the target's sense of direction, making them certain the best route to somewhere is the one you choose for them. If the target carefully and actively uses a map or GPS, the navigation roll is a chance die, and even a success feels wrong to the target, who still wants to believe the route you planned for them was the right one. Scrying creates a 'window' to the target, rather like a TV screen. You may choose whether the window is one- or two-way. When casting it sympathetically, what you see depends on what sort of sympathetic Yantra you use - a location gives a broad overview, like a wide shot that's static. A person or object is a closeup of the target, following them if they move but giving little detail on the surroundings or who else is there. When cast on someone in sensory range, the window gives you the view of standing right next to them. You may move it reflexively to any angle you like. Casting spells through the window counts as remotely viewing them. With Fate 2, you can make the window selectively one-way, so only specific other people can see back through it. Secret Door hides a door, intersection or other liminal boundary location from mundane perception entirely. All magical attempts to find it cause a Clash of Wills. For 1 Reach, you can specify a Key that allows the location to be seen. Veil Sympathy lets you conceal and suppress the target's sympathetic links, though you must be aware of the links you're hiding. Any attempt to find them causes Clash of Wills. For 1 Reach, you can instead make a sympathetic link appear to direct to someone or something else, causing Clash of Wills to any magical attempt to see through it. For 1 reach, the target can't be used as a sympathetic Yantra, with each level of Potency reducing their potential uses down a step (Material to Representational to Symbolic to none). For 2 Reach, you may suppress all of their links, even the ones you don't know about, and also all links to the subject from others, Withstood by the strongest connection the target has. Ward locks the target down, preventing the space within its area from being manipulated. Magic using Sympathy of Warded targets or areas causes a Clash of Wills, which you are aware of when it happens. For 1 Reach, you may specify a Key allowing magic to be used on the target. For 2 Reach, you can Ward an Iris or its Key, preventing the Iris from opening for the duration, with supernatural attempts to open it causing Clash of Wills. Space 3 spells include; Ban inverts an area of space, so nothing can get out and nothing can get in. Attempts to enter the space place you on the far side, while attempts to leave just drop you back in it. Magic that manipulates space, such as teleporation or crossing the Gauntlet, provokes a Clash of Wills. Even light and air can't pass through - from outside, the space appears to lens as you approach, as light jumps across it. From inside, it's the only light in a world of darkness. Any Arcanum at 2 can allow the Ban to be selectively permeable to specified phenomena of the Arcanum, or create a Ban that only prohibits phenomena of the Arcanum. Co-Location smears distance between (Potency) locations, causing them to overlap. You must use Sympathetic range to overlap locations not in sensory range. Only mages with Space Mage Sight active can see the overlap, seeing it as a jumble of images interpenetrating. To others, all appears normal. Each turn, reflexively, anyone able to perceive the overlap may 'move' one object, person or other being they're touching, including themself, from one location to another, effectively teleporting it. Those able to perceive the overlap can touch things in any of the areas, but can only interact otherwise with things in their own physical location. The other location counts as being remotely viewed for purposes of magic across the overlap, and you can't attack across it or cause telefrag. For 1 Reach, you can make anything in the overlapped areas visible - specified objects or people, or everything, as you choose. The contents of each location are insubstantial to each other, but anyone can 'move' an object they see over, not just people with Space Sight. For 1 Reach, you can restrict the colocation to a 2D plane, creating a stable portal. Anyone who can perceive the portal can use it. It is invisible by default, but the above Reach works fine. For 1 Reach, you can specify a Key to use the overlap. For 2 Reach, those capable of perceiving the overlap can reflexively switch locations twice a turn. Perfect Sympathy causes any action the target takes towards one of their Strong sympathetic connections for the duration to have 8-again. For 1 Reach, when the target is targetted by magic, it causes a Clash of Wills. If you win, you may redirect the spell to one of the target's Strong sympathetic connections. For 1 Reach and 1 Mana, the target gets rote quality on (Potency) rolls that affect one of their Strong sympathetic connections. For 1 Reach, this spell also extends to Medium connections. Warp twists the space someone occupies, dealing (Potency)B. For 1 Reach, it also causes either the Arm or Leg Wrack tilts. Web-Weaver lets you boost sympathetic connections, raising one connection a step per level of Potency, from Weak up to Strong. It can also create a weak connection to anything the target has been in contact with in the last turn. With Time 2, you may use Temporal Sympathy to bolster nonexistent connections to anything the subject touched in the targeted time.  Space 4 spells include: Alter Direction overwrites the concept of direction. You can change (Potency) absolute directions - north, up, and so on. If you redefine down as up, anything not rooted down falls into the sky. Redefine north as south by southwest, compasses point wrong. Objects entering the area at speed abruptly shift direction of travel and momentum, which may require an Athletics or Drive roll to control. The change doesn't have to be reciprocal - if north is south, south isn't always north. It might still be south and you just can't get north from here. Alternately, you can cast this on a single target, changing direction relative to them - their personal down can be 'wherever my feet are pointed', say, so they can walk on walls, or their forward can be 'toward the person holding the gun' so they shoot themself. For 1 Reach, you can even redefine directions as curves, loops or other non-straight shapes, allowing you to lock a straight path in a circle or make your bullets go around obstacles, giving (Potency) as a bonus or penalty to relevant actions. Collapse forces two objects to briefly occupy the same space, dealing (Potency)L damage to all of them. (If targeting just one person, presumably it's different parts of their body.) For 1 Reach and 1 Mana, the damage is Agg. For 1 Reach, the colocated object remains inside them, preventing any natural or magical healing of the damage until it is surgically removed or ripped out. Cut Threads destroys one of the subject's sympathetic links entirely. This is Lasting, but the link can be restord normally. For 2 Reach, the target also loses their sympathetic name for the duration; this is not Lasting. Secret Room makes a space much larger or smaller than it should be. People crushed by a shrinking space take (Potency)L and are forcibly ejected. The Scale factor must encompass the entire area before the spell is cast. The volume is then increased or decreased by (Potency) steps along the Scale factor table. Anyone or anything in the expanded space when the spell ends just appears outside the original, unaltered space. Teleportation moves the target somewhere without covering intervening space. By default, their current location and destination must both be in sensory range, but you can apply Sympathetic Range on one of them. For 1 Reach, you can swap the location of two targets with no more than 1 point of Size difference. For 2 Reach, both ends of the spell can be cast at Sympathetic Range, with the worse link Withstanding. With another Arcanum at 2, you can move things between the physical world and any realm covered by that Arcanum, such as the Shadow or the Underworld. Space 5 spells include: Create Sympathy creates a new sympathetic connection whole cloth. The connection is Lasting, but can fade over time. For 1 Reach, they can't fade - only magic can sever them. This can have very dramatic longterm psychological effects, as the target can never emotionally let go. For 2 Reach, you may apply a new sympathetic name to a target, though it does not replace the original - it's just a second one. This second name is not Lasting and fades when the spell ends. Forge No Chains causes the target to leave no sympathetic traces behind for the duration - no blood, no hair, no skin left behind can be traced back to them sympathetically. Their Space spells cause no links or ripples, and any attempt to scrutinize their Space magic or previously made sympathetic links with Mage Sight add (Potency) to the Opacity. Pocket Dimension creates a space outside space, devoid of all features unless other Arcana are used, in which (without Time) anything within is held in timeless stasis, unaging and unhealing. There is no Twilight within the space. Someone within it can walk endlessly in any direction, but when they turn back they find themselves only as far as the boundary of the Area factor. The dimension is divorced from physical reality unless you choose to anchor it in the world; the only way to reach it is teleportation. Spells within the dimension cause no Paradox, ever, unless cast sympathetically on someone outside it. You are a material sympathetic Yantra to your own pocket dimension. If it is ever destroyed or its duration ends, everything within it reappears in the world at the exact spot they left from. For 1 Reach, you can make an Iris to the dimension in the material world, allowing anyone to enter or leave it. For another Reach, you can specify a Key to that Iris. With Time 2, time flows normally inside the dimension. (It is suggested you also use Matter spells to ensure it doesn't run out of air.) With Death, Mind or Spirit 2, Twilight exists in the dimension for entities attuned to the Arcanum used. Quarantine removes the target from space, causing them to cease existing. A Quarantined house doesn't leave an empty lot - the two neighboring houses are just adjacent now. A Quarantined 12 floor is gone, leaving only a useless 12 button on the elevator. Anyone inside the Quarantined area cannot leave - they just reenter the space. Effectively, you turn the space into a Pocket Dimension that was once part of the Fallen world (and so has its own Time, Twilight and so on). For 1 Reach, you can specify a Key to access in and out of the area. With Mind 4, for as long as the spell lasts, no one remembers that the area or anyone inside it exists, altering memories as necessary to make this work. With Time 5, not only does the area not exist while the spell lasts, it never existed, and any influence the space or anyone inside it had on the world is undone or caused by something else until the spell ends. Next time: Spirit, the Pokemon Arcanum Dave Brookshaw posted:Yes. Dave Brookshaw posted:By the time they're old enough to use anything for themselves, it's irrelevant. Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 16:28 on May 13, 2016 |
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May 13, 2016 15:50
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SirPhoebos posted:Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Mr Brains was bugging the poo poo out of me, because I knew I'd seen it in a monstrous compendium somewhere... until I checked my shelf of Planescape stuff and found it, DiTerlizzi-illustrated, in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II. It's an Eater of Knowledge.
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May 13, 2016 16:35
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Cythereal posted:Which to me suggests that the logical answer is to abandon not-Mormonism and bring the not-USA's influence out West.
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May 13, 2016 16:51
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