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mllaneza posted:Mind War ! It's by "Fact & Fantasy Games" of Maryland Heights MO. Other games by this guy are "Battle of Helm's Deep", "War of the Sky Galleons", "Warriors of the Green Planet"
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Sep 9, 2020 04:28
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FMguru posted:There's a copy up on eBay! $47 + $7 shipping, own it yourself! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mind-War-1976-Richard-B-Jordison-Complete-in-original-packaging-/303641082741 That's a lot of shipping for four sheets of paper with words on them folded in half and stapled. And the original packaging was a ziplock bag. Mine's in the original  The counters are punched though.
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Sep 9, 2020 04:32
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mllaneza posted:That's a lot of shipping for four sheets of paper with words on them folded in half and stapled. And the original packaging was a ziplock bag. Mine's in the original
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Sep 9, 2020 04:45
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FMguru posted:I have a fondness for weird old gaming artifacts of the 1970s and early 1980s, especially from little one-man hobby game companies that probably sold them at just their local con and out of their PO box. Real DIY energy. And nobody knew what you couldn't do, so they tried. Like this series.
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Sep 9, 2020 05:20
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I love these ancient weird-rear end gaming things. Hell yeah.
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Sep 9, 2020 05:26
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Mors Rattus posted:Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Seraphon Seraphon's are so far the only faction I like.
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Sep 9, 2020 09:00
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Ironically those Saurus are undoubtedly superior to 40K Space Marines since they are purpose built to fight Chaos and do not have a stunted social life cut short by crude genetic engineering and invasive indoctrination to mess up their psyches.
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Sep 9, 2020 10:12
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The bodies of dead gods float in the The Deck of Encounters Set Two Part 63: The Deck of Wemics, Whales, and Wraiths 318: Lion Stampede An area of fertile plains, inhabited by wemics. A tribe’s “witch doctor” has accidentally brewed a potion of madness instead of one that was supposed to give him wisdom, then started letting loose with his wand of fear on his people, because if a situation can’t be explained in terms of standard DMG magic items, AD&D doesn’t wanna hear about it. Anyway, it’s just an excuse to have fifty wemics charging the PCs. Why are they all fleeing uncontrollably in the exact same direction? Because, that’s why. If the characters pay any attention they’ll see that there are children present, the wemics mostly aren’t carrying weapons, etc. Horses will still freak out, and “if they are on foot, the PCs must make a Dexterity check each round for three rounds or take 3d18 points of damage.” 18-sided dice, huh? That’s a new one. And obviously a typo. “If the witch doctor can be subdued and cured, the tribe rewards the party with his wand of fear, now down to 8 charges.” Appropriate treasure, anyway. Keeeep...? 319: Thar She Blows While on an underwater adventure, the party finds a sunken ship, with 50,000+ coins - far more than the PCs can carry and swim with. “They must limit themselves to what can fit in belts and pouches.” (Or their bag of holding or whatever, but the card author doesn’t entertain that possibility.) There are also some gems, ruined scrolls, and potions of healing and invulnerability. Nice haul. But while taking it, a PC, at random, by GM fiat, cuts themselves on a rusty nail, which does no damage but draws a hungry killer whale that attacks and tries to eat two of them before it’s satiated. Now, I’m no marine biologist, but I don’t think this is how orca work. Next time, just replace this with a fantasy marine animal with a hunger for human flesh - it doesn’t have to be a real-life creature that exists and has documented hunting habits! Pretty generous random treasure, but that’s okay sometimes. And yeah, the orca is now a, uh, dire shark or something, and maybe foreshadow the nail by describing the wreck as shattered and jagged and so on. So we can keep. 320: Wight Way “The PCs are searching the catacombs [beneath the city] for information on the location of a great magical treasure. The information they have was found in an ancient tomb in an old library. The tome stated that a wizard buried below the city took with him the location of the Hammer of Ironfist, a dwarven thrower +3.” They’re attacked by wights several times during their search, including a greater wight when they finally find the wizard’s tomb. The treasure is a map that may or may not lead to the item they seek. It’s an adventure summary, not an encounter. Pass 321: Barrow Mound The PCs find an old barrow mound. It emanates evil, if you can detect that kind of thing. They “must work for some hours” to clear the doorway and the cave-in beyond it; so whether they try that or just leave, the card assumes that it’ll get dark. And the wights (6 lesser, one regular), attracted by the PCs’ life force, will attack at night. Inside the tomb is “100 gp worth of gold statuary, a tarnished silver drinking cup worth 200 gp, and a rapier +1.” Not particularly descriptive, but I can’t get mad at finding a weak magic weapon in a barrow-tomb. It’s just so satisfyingly traditional. Plain, but keep. 322: Wisp at Play The PCs get hopelessly lost in a swamp, like, for days and days. Then the person on watch at midnight sees a light moving around. It winks out if they make noise, but reappears later. If they follow it it leads them into a patch of quicksand. Because it is a will-o-wisp and that is the one thing that they do. Pass. 323: Wait for the Wraith There’s a little tomb in the mountains that holds a treasure-studded coffin. Inside the coffin is an ex-wizard wraith and a partly-ruined spellbook with some still-salvageable highish-level spells. That’s the encounter. Most of the card is devoted to extraneous detail and very specific reasons why the PCs are there. I’m not even going to relate it. I don’t care. But if you take the bones of the encounter and throw out the rest, fine. Keep. 324: Dalia Sweetsong The PCs are going through the wilderness and “see a lone woman walking in the same general direction they are going.” Women by themselves in the wilderness are (almost) invariably monsters. In this case, a wolfwere. She’s pretending to be a wandering swashbuckler who welcomes company on the road, and can demonstrate her ~5th level fighter swordsmanship. She offers to play the harp at night, which basically slows people, then attacks. That’ll teach you to trust a woman! Pass.
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Sep 9, 2020 15:11
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By popular demand posted:Ironically those Saurus are undoubtedly superior to 40K Space Marines since they are purpose built to fight Chaos and do not have a stunted social life cut short by crude genetic engineering and invasive indoctrination to mess up their psyches. I do love that a Saurus' favourite activity out of combat is standing around statue-still. Maybe just because it's so adorably lizardly. While the desperate search for new trademarkable names mostly produces dreck everyone hates, using the Ork name for their giant stompy robots for giants is interesting.
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Sep 9, 2020 15:30
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By popular demand posted:Ironically those Saurus are undoubtedly superior to 40K Space Marines since they are purpose built to fight Chaos and do not have a stunted social life cut short by crude genetic engineering and invasive indoctrination to mess up their psyches. "..." "Ah. Yes, well, continue standing perfectly still under that shady part of the wall, then."
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Sep 9, 2020 15:33
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Mors Rattus posted:Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Seraphon OH BOY I BET THEY'RE CRAZY ON THE TABLET- Age of Sigmar posted:Koatl’s Claw 
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Sep 9, 2020 15:43
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JcDent posted:OH BOY I BET THEY'RE CRAZY ON THE TABLET- That actually sounds pretty solid, but you've got to be in that special Warhammer mode where you find +1 to hit exciting.
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Sep 9, 2020 16:06
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50% chance of CP refund is also pretty amazing, honestly.
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Sep 9, 2020 16:18
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I like the Seraphon. I also like that they have a lot of fun additional things you could put into any world. The giant floating murder frogs and their army of friendly Lizards seems so weirdly different and fun that I kind of adore it.
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Sep 9, 2020 17:09
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It helped a lot when they introduced the Coalesced in the new battletome back in spring. Before that they were all summoned star demons which, while cool, left them a bit thin narrative-wise.
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Sep 9, 2020 17:17
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JcDent posted:OH BOY I BET THEY'RE CRAZY ON THE TABLET- What does Savagery Incarnate do?
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Sep 9, 2020 17:58
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LeSquide posted:What does Savagery Incarnate do? It gives them +1 to hit on a d6 when they charge, which is a big deal. They can hand it out even to units that didn't charge but it costs.
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Sep 9, 2020 18:13
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Yeah, the cost is why the 50% refund chance is such a big deal, especially because applying that +1 on a unit with a high amount of attacks (for example, Coalesced Saurus Knights or a Coalesced Saurus on Carnosaur, because the Coalesced bonus is extra bite attacks) is a lot of bang for your buck, and refunds mean you can do it more.
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Sep 9, 2020 18:33
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Yeah in universe it pretty much means they are more effective at bitting and more vicious on the charge.
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Sep 9, 2020 18:52
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Ghost Leviathan posted:They have to be smart and flexible, and it shows. Also, they're adorable. For all its sins, total warhammer does sell you on skinks with its art.
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Sep 9, 2020 19:45
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Mors Rattus posted:50% chance of CP refund is also pretty amazing, honestly. Doesn't scream BARELY CONTAINED PRIMAL SAVAGERY, now does it? I think this goon said it best: Dallbun posted:That actually sounds pretty solid, but you've got to be in that special Warhammer mode where you find +1 to hit exciting.
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Sep 9, 2020 19:51
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Seraphon Small Lizard Friends The greatest (and oldest) of the skink leaders are the Starseers, masters of celestial magic. Even among the Stormcast, few can match their talent for the magic of Azyr and especially their ability to read and interpret the prophetic messages of the stars. They work closely with the slann they assist, offering their oracular magic to the efforts of planning out the future of Seraphon activity, and it is the Starseers who convey the slann's eventual decisions to the saurus and skink leadership. In effect, the Starseers run Seraphon society based on slann orders. Even the saurus are deferential to the Starseers, bowing their heads when one approaches. Each Starseer serves as the governor of a ship in a fleet or a district in a city, and they also aid in the construction and shaping of celestite. While they can't match the greatest artifacts of the Old Ones, they are superior to all others in working with the material and maintaining what they do have. Each Starseer constructs their own floating throne, in imitation of the larger palanquins of the slann. They enjoy flying around in these little chairs, and many outsiders believe the Starseers command the Seraphon in their totality. While the Starseers are loyal to the slann, they encourage this belief because it means that many enemies will go after them instead of targeting their masters.  Skinks that become Starseers almost always begin as Starpriests. They are rarely born - only when a spawning pool activates but produces one skink, rather than a lot of them. Even then, it's not definite...but very often, these singular spawnings emerge with an innate talent for magic, and when they do, they are made Starpriests. Their grasp of magic is instinctive, but further expanded by the teachings of the Starseers. Each Starseer has several Starpriest attendants, and often a constellation's best Starpriests will be found serving a slann directly alongside the Starseers. Starpriests are also frequently called on to be diplomats to other species, and they tend to be some of the most talkative and friendly Seraphon, with a knack for understanding outsiders. This is especially common in the Fangs of Sotek, whose embassies are almost always led by a Starpriest. Starpriests are trained in divination and star-reading, but they tend to be more proactive mages than their Starseer teachers. Starpriests are younger and often prefer to wield Azyr's lightning or burning starlight over the more contemplative spells of the Starseers. They are frequently armed with technomagical relics, such as serpent staves, which are able to channel the power of the two-headed serpents. These are a form of zodiacal beast that slithers through the skies of Azyr, and by calling on their power through the staves, Starpriests are able to envenom the jaws and weapons of their fellows, causing horrific wounds with a mere scratch. Underneath the Starpriests are the lesser Skink Priests. The priesthood exists to manage the day-to-day running of Seraphon society, and most Starpriests have many attendant Priests that serve them. Priests are chosen from skinks who have excelled either in battle or in crafting, and they serve as the middle managers, intermediaries and functionaries of Seraphon governance. They carry the word of the leadership the skink masses of their fleets and cities, and each Priest will generally be responsible for several skink groupings. Competition between groupings can grow fierce, as the Priests encourage their followers to build ever greater monuments to the Old Ones or the hit the highest production records on celestite weaponry or industrial tools. In wartime, the Priests organize the skink cohorts for battle, working alongside the Skink Chiefs that function as military c ommanders. The Chiefs oversee strategic concerns, while the Priests maintain morale and motivation. Skink Priests rarely possess much talent for sorcery, but they are trained by the Starpriests in ritual mysticism and sacred rites to the Old Ones. These rites retain mystical power...and the skinks, who are easily distractible in peacetime and prone to thinking too much, often end up led into strange sub-cults by their Priest leaders, worshipping jungle beasts or the serpent god Sotek. The slann tolerate the theological inventiveness of the skinks as long as it doesn't interfere in the Great Plan, so this is almost never discouraged. Many Priests are even given Old One relics and weaponry. Their staves of office are able to shoot lasers, for example. For the common skink, this is proof of the sacred nature of the priesthood, which makes the job of maintaining morale easier and means the skinks tend to be highly devoted to their leaders. Oracles are a rare skink subspecies. All of them are members of the priesthood, but no Oracle is formally inducted or named. Rather, Oracles are created through the direct magic of the slann interacting with their spawning. It's very rare - perhaps once in a thousand years for each slann - but when it happens, the skink that emerges from the spawning pool is immediately noticed, for all of them are born with a distinctive forked tail. This is considered a mark of the favor of the Old One, even among the relatively less superstitious Starborne. Oracles, even Coalesced Oracles, tend to be distant and impassive by skink standards, and they wear highly decorated golden masks. They rarely emote much and prefer to sit still until the influence of their slann master washes over them. When that happens, however, the Oracle's eyes will roll back in their head and they begin to froth at the mouth, the cosmic energies of the slann's mind filling them. In this state, the Oracle will deliver the will of the Slann in the form of orders, pronouncements and, occasionally, gibberish. The Priests around them will quickly carve their words onto gold tablets, and they revered as prophecy and truth. The connection between slann and Oracle is exceptionally strong, and the Starmasters are even able to channel spells through their Oracles regardless of the physical distance between them. Oracles can also cast magic themselves, excelling at dispellation and unraveling of enemy sorcery, often with the aid of powerful magic-disrupting artifacts. Oracles are also the only skinks that can achieve symbiosis with the war-behemoths known as the Pale Death, or Troglodons. These monsters are kept only in the darkest depths of the temple-ships or the swamps and caves around a temple-city. Troglodons are immense saurian beasts, blind but with hearing and smell that mean it doesn't matter, and capable of firing off deadly streams of toxic spit. They are solitary beasts, and like the oracles, their tail splits into a fork at the end, which may be part of why an Oracle is able to instantly tame a Troglodon on contact. They often ride the beasts into battle, using their prophetic visions to guide the monstrous dinosaurs on missions too important or delicate to be entrusted to any that is not in mental contact with the slann. Next time: Skink life and pets
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Sep 9, 2020 22:42
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I love that the lowest priest caste among skinks regularly start up weirdo cults and the higher castes tolerate it as a sort of "eh, at least it'll keep them out of trouble"-thing.
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Sep 9, 2020 23:05
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 Chapter 5: Coteries This chapter uses the term “coterie” to refer to NPC groupings, ranging from members of political cliques to rivals to vague associates. Standard operating procedure, I’ll just briefly touch on the most important or notable groups. Worth noting: the book lays out here that, though the two Methuselahs orchestrate all sorts of crap behind the scenes, they are neither flawless nor omnipotent and their influence is mostly limited to pushing around whoever’s directly under their control one at a time. But the fluff doesn't really bear this out.  We already talked about the primogen. Most of the city’s vampire population is not aware of the organization. They only know that the city’s oldest vampires like to hang out, not that they have an actual organization under them. Of course, that wouldn’t explain why everyone seems to know Elysium and how it’s connected to them, and, well, this is Vampire, of course they’re a conspiracy. Anyway, the primogen, when they work together, have enough influence to smack down any other set of vampires in the city, but they never work together (in part because of the six of them, exactly one isn’t under Methuselah control). Baby Chorus is the book’s pet band, supposedly one of the best rock bands in a city with a lively rock band scene; it includes Kathy Glen on lead guitar, Damien (despite his biography not mentioning this) on rhythm guitar, that Malkavian with multiple personalities on bass, and a mortal on the drums that we get little info on beyond her name and that Damien wants to Embrace her. They used to have a vampire drummer and a saxophonist but they died. Baby Chorus is popular enough that they draw massive crowds, both mortal and vampire, to their shows; they’ve rejected any attempts to get them to sign to a label, but they’ve already released two albums to national acclaim. The only reason the vamp establishment hasn’t brought them down for risking the Masquerade is because apparently the city elders don’t know about them – despite them being a major symbol of inter-clan harmony and cooperation, which you’d think would be pretty noticeable. This chapter includes charts for each coterie that show relationships between each of their members. These… don’t always line up with the fluff. Like, Baby Chorus’s description paints them as friends whose relationship is mostly strained by Damien wanting to introduce lyrics with political themes to an instrumental band, but the chart…  Yeah, that doesn’t seem terribly friendly to me. Then we have Maldavis and her secret supporters. To the original anarch population (and herself), Maldavis is a failure who got a lot of good anarchs killed and couldn’t even go down with a sinking ship right. However, she has no fewer than four powerful backers, including two members of the primogen and a Methuselah (Rebekah) – all of them unaware of their common interest. Those primogen members orchestrated her rise and have yet to fully abandon her; to them, she is still a potential resource worth cultivating. The others like her on ideological grounds, being sympathetic to her cause and what ideology she’s forwarded, plus the leadership skills she demonstrated before losing the fight. She’s an investment for them on a deeper level. A lot of the anarchs who hated her the most died a couple months ago, and the various vamps flooding into the city right now usually only know of her as the leader of the last revolt. Her star might be rising once more! Except it doesn’t matter because all her puppeteers will likely make her decisions for her.  I can see the outline of what the authors seemed to be shooting for in this book; as you go through all this setting information, used to pick up a rough campaign outlined by connecting the dots. You start by introducing your players to the city on a surface level and having them meet various entry-level NPCs. As they establish themselves and begin screwing around in local affairs, they begin unraveling some of the city’s hidden politics and conspiracies, represented mechanically by the Secrets skill:
 We’re not out of the woods yet. The book only has five chapters, true, but it has an appendix: 20 pages of in-depth GM advice on how to run politically-focused games in Vampire: the Masquerade. It is, at once, the best part of the book, the part least connected to Chicago, and the part most wildly orthogonal to everything I want in an RPG.
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Sep 10, 2020 02:21
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Falconier111 posted:She’s the living embodiment of how to fail Jef’s Seduction Test. What does this refer to? I tried Google but there are a lot of Jefs on the internet.
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Sep 10, 2020 09:47
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Loxbourne posted:What does this refer to? I tried Google but there are a lot of Jefs on the internet. Having not actually listened to it myself, I assume it's a reference to the podcast System Mastery. One of the hosts is named Jef (forum name theironjef).
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Sep 10, 2020 09:55
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Loxbourne posted:What does this refer to? I tried Google but there are a lot of Jefs on the internet. Jef of System Mastery has a thing about "seduction" skills, namely he will always call them out if they state that they only work on the opposite sex.
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Sep 10, 2020 09:56
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Nemo2342 posted:Jef of System Mastery has a thing about "seduction" skills, namely he will always call them out if they state that they only work on the opposite sex. There's a difference between what the Seduction skill/mechanics lets you do, and what an NPC wants to use the skill for, though.
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Sep 10, 2020 14:46
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there's always a baked in assumption of heterosexuality in 90% of seduction skills and 90s white wolf was no different. And by RAW a gay or asexual man is going to find her sexually compelling.
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Sep 10, 2020 15:26
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What even is the rationale for Seduction being a distinct skill apart from Persuasion or Charm or whatever? Is this Pickup Artist thinking?
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Sep 10, 2020 16:34
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I think it's a function of both the tendency of early skill-based games to have way too drat many skills in general (and much too narrow and specific skills) and 'hey we're making an Anne Rice inspired vampire game better have a be sexy skill' and generally not thinking through the implications.
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Sep 10, 2020 17:04
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Seraphon The Daily Life Of Geckos Skinks are by far the majority of the Seraphon. They're shorter than duardin and much less stocky, but they're fast, clever and very good at speech, perhaps the best of the Seraphon. (By which I mean they're capable of producing sounds in languages other than their own.) Their small claws are very dexterous amd they excel as artisans, scribes and laborers. Skinks are the primary labor force when a temple-city expands after its formation, and they handle most of the maintenance of Old One technology. Most skinks don't have any actual understanding of how those machines work, but they are good at following instructions on what they need to do to them, and they are exceptionally loyal to the Great Plan, so they're happy to do maintenance without understanding it. Because of their small size and physical frailty, skinks are rarely comfortable being warriors. In desperate times, they will certainly fight alongside the other Seraphon, but given a choice, they tend to dislike physical conflict and avoid it when possible. Their skittishness only becomes more pronounced upon Coalescence, as the purity of Azyrite essence within them fades and dilutes. However, the skinks are a cunning people and have learned to turn their skittishness and tendency to hide to their advantage. Skinks that follow the path of warfare excel as skirmishers, avoiding melee whenever they can in favor of celestite javelins, often made by the warriors wielding them. These javelins are not especially long range, since they're thrown weapons, but they are very deadly in sufficient numbers, and if there's one thing the skinks have, it's sufficient numbers. Other skink fighters prefer boltspitters, technologically advanced versions of a blow dart which fire venomous shots. They're less immediately damaging, but very long range and quite deadly given time to act. If they must enter melee, they prefer fighting at large numerical advantage, overwhelming their foes with sheer number of lizards, pulling them down to the ground and beating them with moonstone clubs.  There are many unique subspecies of skink with special qualities useful in various aspects of the Great Plan, but most of them aren't known for special tricks in battle. The exception is the Chameleon Skink subspecies. They possess the unique power to reduce their appearance to that of a formless shadow, blending with the things around them. Chameleon Skinks are often found as scouts ahead of Seraphon armies, using their stealthiness to find key positions where they can assassinate foes with poisoned blow-darts; their poisons are taken from the many bright-colored frogs, newts and toads that live in the Seraphon world-chambers and jungles. The skinks themselves have no idea where the natural invisibility of the Chameleon Skinks comes from, though they have many different theories. The most popular theory says that the first temple-ships to spawn the breed sailed not by Azyr's light but Ulgu's shadow, and the power of the shadowy realm seeped into their spawning pools. Certainly, the Chameleon Skinks are excellent assassins, able to infiltrate any city or war-camp they need to to get to their targets. In the past, their darts have slain Chaos Lords, Soulblight vampires, orruk Megabosses and even Sigmarite champions when deemed necessary. The skinks are left in charge of breeding and raising most of the warbeasts of the Seraphon, caring for their eggs in incubation chambers and herding them in peacetime. These beasts, like the Seraphon themselves, can be Starborne or Coalesced, depending on where they live and are kept as eggs. Razordons are one of the more common beasts, predatory lizards with sharp spines on their backs. They are able to fire these spines via muscular spasm, serving as a kind of living ballista. An angry Razordon is more than capable of creating a deadly cloud of spines, and even their skink handlers must be careful to avoid being killed in a spiky rain. The Razordons are extremely territorial, and that makes them very valuable in battle, especially as they have an instinct for ambush, waiting to fire until the enemy has gotten into a vulnerable position. A pack of Razordons is capable of breaking nearly any charge.  Salamanders are often more feared by the foes of the Seraphon, however. They're huge, ugly creatures with large, fleshy sacs on their necks that allow them to belch forth massive acid sprays that ignite on contact with oxygen. Yeah, lizards that barf napalm. Their acidic flames are powerful enough to melt armor and flesh alike, quite painfully. They're no less dangerous in melee, as the same acid drips from their jaws at all times, predigesting anything they bite even while it still lives. Salamanders are typically used either as flank guardians or siege weapons, melting through enemy lines and fortifications with equal ease. Many of the tribes of Aqshy worship the Salamanders as primal fire spirits. They harvest and wear the frills found on Salamender necks as symbols of strength and leadership. At some point, a legend was formed claiming the Salamenders were the descendants of the slain godbeast Vulcatrix, but the skinks consider this implausible in the extreme. On the other hand, Fyreslayer magmaholds often contain within their treasure vaults skeletal remains that very much resemble modern Salamanders. This could be explained as conflict between the Seraphon and Fyreslayers in the Age of Myth, of course.  Besides land beasts, the skinks also raise aerial beasts. Terradon Riders are those skinks who fly over the battlefield on agile Terradons, which can remain in the air for days on end, gliding easily on thermal currents. Terradons are hunters, and once they see their prey, they release a terrifying screech and dive at absurd speeds. Shining energy flows in their wake, as they instinctively tap into Azyrite magic to speed their flight. They rip their foes quickly due to their razor-like teeth, and their riders are often tasked to serve as scouts or flank harriers. Terradon Riders avoid getting into close combat whenever possible, preferring to strike and then fall back by relying on their mounts' speed. Typically, a Terradon Rider wields either a javelin or a sunleech bolas. Sunleech bolases are a unique innovation of the Seraphon, weaponizing the small sunleech. These creatures are glowing amphibians that are highly volatile - when they strike anything at speed, they explode. A sunleech bolas is, essentially, a small bag on a string. Inside the bag is a sunleech. It's a simple but effective weapon. However, more than their riders, it is the weapons of the Terradons themselves that are most fearsome. Terradons have extremely powerful legs, able to carry heavy weights over long distances. Skink craftsmen take meteorites and break them into slightly smaller chunks, which they inscribe with magical glyphs and then attach handles to. The Terradons carry these stones into war, dropping them on a signal from their rider. The rocks then explode on impact, bursting with celestial light. These aren't the only aerial cavalry, though - there's also the Ripperdactyl Riders. Ripperdactyls are more vicious and nasty than Terradons, and they are prone to violent and unpredictable rages where they attack anything that seems edible, even if it's much larger than them. The skinks that ride them are often referred to as braves by their fellows, the most courageous daredevils of their species. They wield moonstone spears and drive their mounts into berserk furies to attack the foe. Of course, they need to keep the Ripperdactyls focused on the enemy, and they do this by use of small animals called blot toads. These creatures are summoned onto the field by Seraphon leaders, and their smell attracts Ripperdactyls and triggers their manic frenzies. The enemy rarely notices these small toads, not realizing that the animals are responsible for the insane killer lizards flying down at them. Kroxigor are not warbeasts but true Seraphon - most other species just don't realize it. After all, a kroxigor is twice the size of a human, stronger than a gargant and with scales as thick and tough as sigmarite, plus jaws able to tear through the flesh of dragons. One kroxigor is enough to defeat many lesser foes, and a group of them can defend an entire army's flank. Kroxigor are also heavily used by the Seraphon for construction, since they're very big and very strong. The saurus respect their physical might, but the kroxigor prefer the company of the smaller skinks. Kroxigor tend to think slowly and are often not geniuses, but they adore their little cousins and will happily do any work they can to stay near them. In battle, a kroxigor is often found surrounded by skinks, fighting even harder than normal to protect their tiny friends. Skink Chiefs are the leaders of the skinks in battle, chosen from among the biggest and strongest of the species or the bravest, who distinguish themselves in war. The Chiefs work closely with the saurus to come up with strategies and coordinate the Seraphon armies, relying on their priestly counterparts to handle morale and civil governance. Chiefs are often found riding Terradons or Ripperdactyls, to give them a better view of the field as they trill orders to those below, and their daring is inspirational to their followers. The Priests and Starpriests often have several Chiefs working for them to ensure that in times of war, the chain of communication is never broken. A particularly skilled Chief may even be made the commander of their own army, leading Seraphon forces when the Great Plan calls for more complex or subtle activities than the saurus are good at. Skink Chiefs that choose a Terradon to ride into battle are often called the Masters of the Skies, and they are seen as the most cautious Chiefs. They have a deep empathic bond with their mount that allows them perform feats of aerial acrobatics that no others would even think to attempt without any fears of falling, and so they are often the hardest to hit in battle as well as excellent scouts. Those that prefer the Ripperdactyl are more aggressive, leading hit-and-run raids. They still lack the savagery of the saurus, but they often have a sense of bravado and daring that is rare among the Seraphon, taking joy and pride in being the first to the field and showing off their moves for the others. Next time: Okay, But What If We Put A Laser On It
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Sep 10, 2020 17:18
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For more information on the Forumposter kit, refer to The Deck of Encounters Set Two Part 64: The Deck of Still More Fighters Cards 325 through 432 are by Drew Bittner, who also wrote Fighter’s Challenge II, the Ravenloft Adventure “City of Darkness,” and… “GURPS Magic Item 2”? That’s all I can find with a quick Google search. 325: Death from Above While in some difficult mountains, the high-level PCs are approached by Arkasheyan, a badass wyvern-riding fighter. He’ll offer to help them out and generally insinuate himself into the group, waiting for a chance to betray and kill them - he’s been tracking them, as he “blames the PCs for the death of a friend and is intent on avenging him.” Sure, I assume the PCs have been responsible for the deaths of many friends over the campaign. Arkasheyan’s got some basic magical equipment (a pike +2 and leather armor +1). Also a crossbow with 30 quarrels, 110 gp, and a bedroll. It’s vitally important that the DM knows he has a bedroll. A cover story about why Akasheyan himself is in these mountains would have been more useful than the list of mundane equipment, but fine. Keep. P.S. The front of the card says to refer to the PHBR1 (Complete Fighter’s Handbook) - I assume because this guy is supposed to have the Beast Rider kit? 326: How Much Trouble? The PCs are on the wrong side of the tracks in a city, and bump into a young man “who has a sword and very little else.” The dude, Deroigne, demands a duel of honor, but can be befriended “if handled firmly.” He’s a young swashbuckler who has several other duels lined up today, one of which he is late to. He’s pretty hapless, though, and doesn’t even know where the duel is supposed to be held. If the PCs help Deroigne out, then at the duel, he’ll be “overmatched by a batch of toughs” in the service of the local crime boss he previously offended and arranged the duel with. If they save him they’ll have a friend for life. One of those serious, prickly, pursuing-mastery-of-the-blade type warriors, except he’s rather incompetent? It has some charm. Keep. KIT CORNER: Swashbuckler (PHBR 1: The Complete Fighter’s Handbook) Yeah, the Fighter Swashbuckler kit is different from the Thief Swashbuckler kit. Welcome to AD&D 2nd Edition. These folks get two extra weapon proficiency slots to spend on the stiletto, main gauche, rapier, and sabre, and as their career continues, they need to spend half their weapon proficiency slots on those weapons until they have all four. (Note: Deroigne, the NPC from the encounter, uses a longsword. Could this be why he’s so bad at what he does?) They get Etiquette and Tumbling as bonus NWPs, and get in-class access to Rogue NWPs. They also get a -2 bonus to AC when wearing no, light, or padded armor, and “Third, the Swashbuckler is such a romantic figure that he always receives a +2 adjustment on his reaction roll from NPC members of the opposite sex.” Yep, just like the Rogue version. Also like the Thief version, their downside is that the DM is supposed to gently caress with them. “Life conspires to make things difficult for the Swashbuckler, and the DM should always throw just a little more good-natured bad luck at that Warrior Kit than at any other.” Hooray, extra screen-time for the character who is already being set up to be a scene hog. Really, the Thief version is much better, because you get fighter THAC0 progression for a chosen weapon. The fighter doesn’t get anything nearly so cool. 327: Matters of Honor The PCs are in a meadow, and run into a man wearing armor “like nothing the PCs have ever seen.” Unless they have. It’s samurai armor, and this dude Hiro Takagashi is on a quest to retrieve a family heirloom (a small jade statue), to restore his honor which is threatened for unspecified reasons. If they go with him or search on his behalf, in the very next village they can find out that a merchant had a jade idol to sell to the local baron; they can even catch up with him haggling with the baron over the price! Well, that was easy. Also easy: convincing the Baron to give them the idol. All they have to do is explain that it’s stolen merchandise, and “make a good Reaction check with the baron.” (Surely the PCs would never sell objects seized from another culture, or a tomb, or whatever. That would be wrong.) I feel like there should be something more here. It’s so straightforward. It’s anticlimactic. Pass unless introducing a samurai NPC is something I might be interested in, like if I have an intention for the PCs to travel to the world’s Japan-equivalent someday, in which case this would be a way to seed a friendly contact there. 328: Avast, Matey! A disreputable dockside tavern with some decent flavor text. A pirate named Ecklan is looking for adventurers to help him rescue his daughter, who was kidnapped by a rival who wants her to lead them to Ecklan’s treasure trove. 3,000 gp each for the job! No real twists - if they accept Ecklan’s ship (the Ribald Vulture) catches up to its target (“the Salty Maid”) and boarding action ensues. Whoever beats four pirate goons first gets to rescue Ecklan’s daughter (who is “a lovely young woman,” obviously). Pretty straightforward, but I’m trying to keep my standards low. Keep.
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Sep 10, 2020 17:24
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Kroxigor are still completely  Still one of the most interesting parts of the Lizardmen is that they're a multi-species civilization that gets along perfectly fine.
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Sep 10, 2020 17:34
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Robindaybird posted:there's always a baked in assumption of heterosexuality in 90% of seduction skills and 90s white wolf was no different. And by RAW a gay or asexual man is going to find her sexually compelling. ...you know, I’m kicking myself for not mentioning it, but the book does actually mention gay folks, and not in a purely derogatory way; they talk about “gays” as being part of a subculture no more worthy of judgment than any other. Granted, the treat it as a subculture instead of a sexuality and gay men are just a vulnerable to the succubus, so.
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Sep 10, 2020 17:36
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Mors Rattus posted:Kroxigor are not warbeasts but true Seraphon - most other species just don't realize it. After all, a kroxigor is twice the size of a human, stronger than a gargant and with scales as thick and tough as sigmarite, plus jaws able to tear through the flesh of dragons. One kroxigor is enough to defeat many lesser foes, and a group of them can defend an entire army's flank. Kroxigor are also heavily used by the Seraphon for construction, since they're very big and very strong. The saurus respect their physical might, but the kroxigor prefer the company of the smaller skinks. Kroxigor tend to think slowly and are often not geniuses, but they adore their little cousins and will happily do any work they can to stay near them. In battle, a kroxigor is often found surrounded by skinks, fighting even harder than normal to protect their tiny friends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA_iXKhoujA&t=4258s
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Sep 10, 2020 17:37
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I do love the Lizardmen vortex cutscenes as most of them are just a skink and his kroxigor buddy going on an adventure.
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Sep 10, 2020 17:44
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Hunt11 posted:I do love the Lizardmen vortex cutscenes as most of them are just a skink and his kroxigor buddy going on an adventure. I wish they could have been recruitable. And Kroxigors remain wonderful. Just helping their little buddies out with building things.
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Sep 10, 2020 18:16
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Night10194 posted:I think it's a function of both the tendency of early skill-based games to have way too drat many skills in general (and much too narrow and specific skills) and 'hey we're making an Anne Rice inspired vampire game better have a be sexy skill' and generally not thinking through the implications. The corebooks weren't too (too) (horribly) bad, but the Player's Guides split skills up into an absurd number of specialties.
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Sep 10, 2020 18:58
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These are a bit better than usual, in that they are both random encounters and potentially fun to use in play. The swashbuckler one is fun for a quick one-off and the wyvern riding villain can be fun too.
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Sep 10, 2020 20:13
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