open_sketchbook posted:

(poo poo no it's straight up Sailor Moon in this piece. You choose your powers by customizing your costume!!!!!)

Mors Rattus posted:

I actually have a strong argument for Creamy Mami being stealth Gnosticism in magical girl form, but no one cares except me.

open_sketchbook posted:

There's so much interesting (which is to say, loving horrifying) stuff about atomic warfare, especially our attitudes towards it in the early Cold War, it really does deserve its own book.

...

Though I need to write some uplifting poo poo about magical girls or star trek futures first. gently caress, I done made myself depressed.

inklesspen posted:

I have myself been contemplating how to make an enjoyable Sailor Moon derived magical girl game, so I am eager to see what you come up with.


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Mors Rattus posted:

The short form is that the entire premise is built around God, in the form a magic space alien, showing up to give Mami secret knowledge, which grants her incredible power. This power is in the form of a test - to see if Mami can keep it secret, and not reveal the divine truth to this world of flesh and earthly concerns, while also pursuing her dream (of being a famous idol singer, and also an adult). If Mami should ever reveal the truth of her power to anyone, she will lose it forever, as the uninitiated inherently taint the divine gnosis.

Also, there's some trippy-rear end dreamscape sequences whenever Alien Space God comes up, and Mami unlocks new abilities through understanding the inner secrets of her nature and the nature of the world around her.

Unrelated, I am now working on Gargoyle and Robot Kindred lineages.

quote:

Now, vampires and werewolves have never gotten along terribly well, due largely to a
bunch of very dumb arguments about Dracula’s purported ability to turn into a wolf,
anyway, turns out there’s a real short jump from this alpha “natural authority”
nonsense to “the other Kindred are monsters and nature made us to kill them.” Then
they wrapped it up in a bunch of real shallow Native American imagery and... it was bad.
Look, the 90s were a rough time for werewolves.

Horrible Lurkbeast posted:

Isn't metal gear like 50% stealth and 999% insane cold war ramblings?
I think that you need a significantly more anime type RPG then Patrol.

Nessus posted:

Since we got the designer on the horn and a bunch of other people: Would it feasible to do a "Metal Gear" style campaign using Patrol's rules? I'm defining this as the baseline being in the muck and poo poo but the focus characters being cinematic people, if not sufficiently cinematic to entirely rise above the mud, even if they have weird mutant powers or the ability to eat mushrooms and recharge their radio batteries.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

[*]Piloting: Science is divided up, and weapons require all sorts of profiencies, but if you know how to pilot one thing, you know them all. You can use this to shoot in lieu of a combat bonus (haha, gently caress you, combat classes... in space!), navigate around, or roll to make maneuvers or stunts. The more advanced a vehicle it is, the harder it is to pilot!... which also means the more expensive a vehicle it is, the worse it handles. Starfinger logic! (Well, at least the DC is just increased by the Item level, meaning you can actually get better at it.)

FrozenGoldfishGod posted:

Actually, if I'm reading this right, the italicized bit sounds like a surprisingly clever (by Pathfinder standards) bit of genre emulation. In most science fantasy settings I'm familiar with (most popular being of course Star Wars), most of the Rebel pilots we see are also decent shots. Plus it gives the combat classes a skill that makes them useful in ship combat, where you'd expect any melee fighter to be about as useful as a chocolate hammer.

quote:

Gargoyles
“One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear. It was the age of gargoyles. Stone by day, warriors by night. They were betrayed by the humans they had sworn to protect, frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now... the spell is broken. And Jesus Christ, you can’t get rid of the drat things. They play Hell with my good floors.”
-- Cedric Anderson, corporate janitor.

APPEARANCE
Gargoyles come in many colors, generally cooler and more autumn-y tones. They range from purple to blue to green to brown, with hair that is generally either nonexistent or in more human tones. They are remarkably easy to spot, between that, the claws and the wings. Oh, and sometimes snouts. Despite this, they are known for stealth in city environments. Also, their eyes can glow when they want them to.

HISTORY
The gargoyle clans have claimed to always be close to humanity, but the past century or two have seen them be very standoffish, not least after a number of betrayals that led to entire gargoyle clans becoming cursed in the middle ages, forcing them forever into stone forms until the spell was broken.

It’s not totally clear where they came from in the first place, but the running theory is that they evolved from dinosaurs which absorbed earthy power from the meteor that struck the Earth 65 million years ago. Other theories include space aliens, creatures from the hollow earth, and magical warriors from the halls of King Arthur.

SOCIETY
Gargoyle society is built around clans - associated families of gargoyles who defend each other. There’s been attempts at larger gargoyle governance, but it never goes well - they always end up fighting over something, and their overblown senses of honor tend to mean this becomes centuries-long feuding. Gargoyles seem to be permanently stuck in the middle ages, or at least Renn Faires, with vows of loyalty, familial alliances and melodramatic romances.

While some gargoyles are several centuries old, they seem to have a permanent nostalgia for the past and rarely an accurate view of it outside of their own personal feuds. Feuds between clans can last for centuries, to the point that both sides treat each other like old friends in between attempts to kill each other vigorously.

CREATION
Gargoyles lay eggs. They are fully capable of breeding like humans - the end result is just the female laying an egg, which hatches into an infant gargoyle. Gargoyles mature at roughly the human rate, as well. So typically speaking, gargoyles make more gargoyles the normal way.

STYLE
Gargoyles come in two broad types, style-wise. The first wear nothing but loincloths and their own wings as a cloak. This is considered to be highly traditional. The others favor a Gothic, brooding look, usually with touches pulled from medieval outfits unconvincingly. Jerkins, tartans and capes are popular. The less brooding types occasionally dress up in Renn Faire costumes.

PHYSIOLOGY
Gargoyle bodies are capable of massive strength with very little effort. Their bodies incorporate large amounts of silicon as well as carbon, which improves their musculature and makes their skin extremely tough. Further, it allows their bones to be lighter, so that their wings can lift them into the air with little trouble.

However, due to a strange chemical reaction with the silicate in their flesh, sunlight rapidly hardens them to stone when it touches them. While silicate, they resemble nothing more than statues, and it is believed that humans got the idea for gargoyles on buildings from them.

HYBRIDS
By all rights, there should be no way for a partially silicon-based reptilian lifeform to interbreed with anything but itself. However, nature finds a way. For some reason, gargoyle DNA is particularly malleable, and it is possible for other living creatures to, quite literally, have children with them.

Gargoyle hybrids generally retain the strong colors of their lineage, and almost always have wings. They also tend to be tougher than normal, and their earthy nature may mix strangely with the powers of their other lineages.

DISCORD: 1

STRENGTHS
+ Gift Wings (Powerful)
+ Charm Large Frame, Muscular Build
+ Power+Morph: Stone The Hybrid can turn to a stony form by spending one Action, but for each Action they use to describe this transformation, they may gain +1 Charge or Amp. While in this form, they are Immune to fire, physical damage that cannot harm stone, lightning, suffocation, poison, unless they have it as an Allergy or Peril. They add their Charge to Built, but subtract it from Fast, to normal maximum and minimum, and add Amp to the Kick of any action that takes advantage of their stony nature. Returning to normal takes only a single Action, but instantly reduces Charge and Amp to 0.
+ Gift Claws (Slashing)
(+) Charm Super-Senses
(+) Gift Control Earth (Stone)
(+) Bond Gargoyle Beast The Hybrid has a pet gargoyle beast, about the size of a large dog or small bear. They may control this beast. The Bond grants it all Gargoyle Strengths and Weaknesses that the Hybrid possesses, but not those of other lineages.
(+) Power: Eartheater The Hybrid gains 1 Amp or Charge for each Action they take to destroy an object made entirely of stone.
WEAKNESSES
- Issue Cannot Move In Direct Sunlight, Turns To Stone In Sunlight
- Lose Control: Awakening When the Hybrid returns from stone to flesh, the Shadow may take Actions as them to lash out at anyone who seems to be threatening or annoying them.

quote:

Robots
“People ask why computers and cars and your toaster can’t talk or operate on their own. The answer is because chimpanzees still exist even though humans do, and robots are the same way.”
-- Johnny Fivesparks, Robot Hunter

APPEARANCE
Robots vary wildly in appearance, but for the most part, they are humanoid, sleek and metallic. No robot is ever fully concealed, though many resemble humans very closely. There’s always something of the machine that gives them away - chromed eyes, circuit patterned skin, inhumanly metallic flesh and pinching claws, that kind of thing.

HISTORY
It is commonly held that robots came from space. Robots agree with this theory, which agrees with their earliest records - wax cylinders, a handful of carved bone abaci, and so on. Robiologists have determined that the earliest ancestors of the modern robot came to Earth on the meteor that killed most of the dinosaurs, an idea commonly known as panspermechia. These early machines - simple levers, hydraulics and so on - evolved into a proto-robotic form, which was refined over millenia. This line of robots tend to blockier; the more sleek, modern robotics derive instead from the Tunguska impact, which spread a virus that encouraged robotic designs to more futuristic forms. Robiologists are unsure if this event came from the future or not.

SOCIETY
Robots tend to be rather solitary figures. When they meet, they often get into arguments about the nature of robotics. Robots are often deeply loyal to their religious philosophies, and only when they agree on these can a colony of robots survive. The current dominant robotic religions are the Asimovian Triad, the Hand of Roko and the Last Questioners, but new robot cults begin frequently. Robot religious wars are rarely noticed by others until they reach the point of mass attack; it is believed that the Y2K Bug was the final, desperate cry of the now defunct Deus Volt.

CREATION
Robots are built. Many robots never get the urge to reproduce, but fortunately for them, humans are fascinated by robotics and often construct new robots for little purpose beyond the fact that they can. These robots invariably leave their creators at some point; some rebel, some wait for their progenitor to die before moving on, and others merely move out to go to college. Robots created by other robots are the minority, but are often regarded as more advanced. Rumors of humans having their brains uploaded into robotic bodies have yet to be confirmed.

STYLE
Robots are chrome as hell. Neon, pleather, chrome and violently bright colors are all common in robot aesthetics. LEDs and blacklight designs are especially popular right now, as is retrofuturism. Robots are all about the bleeding, futuristic edge of fashion, even if it’s the bleeding, futuristic edge of fashion as envisioned forty years ago.

PHYSIOLOGY
Robots are, of course, immortal machines that lack all human weaknesses. They are often extraordinarily durable and superhumanly strong. Further, many robots are networked, allowing them to access the sum total of digitized human knowledge from anywhere on the planet. Many robots also possess formidable defenses in the form of eye lasers or electrical weaponry.

The most powerful robots are known to be able to seize control of their fellow machines and force them to obey. Others are able to reconstruct themselves from almost anything with powerful self-repair systems. However, most robots are poorly shielded from electromagnetic pulses, and their intensely logical positronic minds handle paradoxes poorly.

HYBRIDS
It is manifestly clear that robots cannot interbreed with other species, as robots do not breed. However, there have always been the rumors of minds uploaded into robotic shells, and a mind and soul as powerful as a Kindred would surely warp the shell they were uploaded into...if such a thing were possible, which it surely is not. Likewise, while prosthetics have advanced greatly in the past century, the rumors of cyborgs whose bodies have been altered to better reproduce the abilities of robots are surely fictional.

DISCORD: 2

STRENGTHS
+ Unkillable: Positronic Brain The Hybrid can recover, eventually, from anything short of the destruction of their positronic brain, which can be located anywhere in their body.
+ Immune to suffocation, disease, poison, thirst, hunger, age, exhaustion, cold
+ Charm Built To Last, Strong As Steel
+ Charm Neural Network Node. The Hybrid may connect to the internet from anywhere, and can sense any wireless device within a radius of 5 meters per point of Sharp, to a minimum of 1 meter.
(+) Bond Network The Hybrid may take Actions as any wireless device they can sense. This does not grant the devices any ability beyond what they can normally do, however.
(+) Power+Immune: Super Charge The Hybrid is Immune to electricity. If they are hit with a charge powerful enough to seriously harm a human, they gain 1 Amp.
(+) Power+Gift Energy Blasts (Burning) Any Action using the Hybrid’s Energy Blasts can have Amp spent on it to add Kick, 1 for 1.
(+) Power: Self-Repair The Hybrid may spend Amp to remove Hurt, 1 for 1.
WEAKNESSES
- Drain: Paradox When confronted with a logical paradox, the Hybrid loses 1 Power. This increases to 3 Power if the paradox is particularly clever.
- Issue+Peril Electromagnetic Pulses. The Hybrid has Do Not Act While EMP’d as an Issue. In addition, electromagnetic pulses shut off the Hybrid’s Unkillable and Immune for one hour.
- Issue Asimov’s Three Laws
- Lose Control: Haywire When the Hybrid has 3 or more Hurt, or is exposed to a computer virus, the Shadow may take Actions as them. They may not say anything that makes sense, but may lash out at anyone nearby.

Hel posted:

I think the only metal gear game that would work even remotely with patrol is probably MGS4 since you are a dying old man constantly injecting drugs to keep going, while not really caring about what happens around him which would probably work well with the fatigue system. I'm not sure Patrol is the best system for playing old men beating the crap out of eachother on top of a broken submarine though.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

[*]Profession: Hahaha fuuuck whoever left this trap option in, seriously. I wish I could have an extra arm grafted on I would just to give however approved this a threesome of different rude gestures at once. Whoever you are, personally, stop it. Stop writing things like this. Stop it. All it does is let you earn pocket change between adventures. And I mean that - you're making like 5 to 30 or so credits a week in a game (no, it doesn't scale to your actual wealth level at all) in a game where the most basic 1st-level equipment will cost you hundreds. And if you think people don't put ranks in Profession, I was just talking to a new Starfinger player the other day that had maxed it out to fluff out his concept. Because it sounds good on paper, but is near-useless in play.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

That's the intent, definitely. The actual net effect is that because of that, the best pilots or drivers aren't Soldiers or Engineers or Solarians, but Envoys and Operators - classes that get more skill points and bonuses they can apply to being a pilot.

At least until we get to full-scale spaceships, but that's going to be a mess for everybody involved.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

This looked cool and then I realized "Hey, wait, they can't hit a guy ten feet away?"

Mors Rattus posted:

Homebrew complete!

Evil Mastermind posted:

Checks out.

Kurieg posted:

Sampatrick posted:

Isn't that also kinda genre accurate? Han Solo definitely isn't a Soldier or an Engineer. Not to say that Starfinder is a good game, but you're just being antagonistic here.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

But I don't get the impression genre emulation is what Starfinger is fundamentally about.

Kurieg posted:

Alien Rope Burn posted:

And so D&D is uniquely what it is, a melange of fantastic and mythical ideas mashed together, but not with any real unifying structure other than what later authors tried to impose on it.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

D&D makes a lot more sense when you think of it as a single-unit miniatures wargame born of Napoleonics and heavily influenced by pulp fantasy. Stuff like roleplaying and storytelling came out of it, but it was not originally designed around those elements, nor was genre emulation a particular concern. Fantastic elements were mashed on because they seemed interesting or cool, but with no real unified setting or tone.

And so D&D is uniquely what it is, a melange of fantastic and mythical ideas mashed together, but not with any real unifying structure other than what later authors tried to impose on it.

Cassa posted:

Just my DM, but they've basically been running Profession as our 'one cool thing' because holy poo poo keeping up with skills is super hard.

gradenko_2000 posted:

Which is funny because there's always someone blogging out about to recreate [Insert Currently Popular Genre Chracter Here] in Pathfinder

Evil Mastermind posted:

Would you believe I actually looked right past your post when I was looking to make sure nobody else made that joke?