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Doresh posted:I dunno, I've read several complaints regarding d20 about how tanks don't work because they have no real way of raising their threat/priority/whatever, or really anything that stops the enemies from just rushing past them, eating an AoE and murdering the squishy wizard who's actually dishing out the damage. First, nobody uses Taunt because it's a full round action that affects only a single target. In short you're doing nothing productive while you draw off one single enemy and have them pound on you - if you succeed at all. You've ruined your action economy. The feat itself is terrible. (If Taunt affected all enemies in a 30' radius or was a permanently on field it might work). "Your complain you don't have a gun so I'm going to give you this nice nerf gun" is not a solution. Second, the threatening guy isn't the guy weighed down by plate armour. It;s the guy able to obliterate all of you in six seconds by wielding the forces of creation. And due to the way full round attacks work, the guy in plate armour is only really threatening if you give him a full round to tear you to shreds because you are stupid enough to stand there rather than run past them. It's only GMs who ignore the opponent's intelligence that have the enemies go mano-a-mano with the guy in the tin suit while there is a wizard on the field who is remotely accessible. (And that includes carnivorous animal intelligence - if the animals are intelligent at all they should know better than to try to bite through plate armour). It's only GMs who treat RPGs as video-gamy that have enemies who will do what the PCs want them to rather than what is actually in their best interests. Admittedly you are right that arrows should be preferable - but once again you shoot the caster - they are both an easier target and significantly more dangerous than the guy slowed down by wearing a lot of metal.
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Feb 8, 2015 18:30
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hi i'm mouse and once in a blue moon i contemplate writing about games i actually sort of like i guess Since it doesn't look like anyone else has done up a thing on it and I'm trying to find something with which to occupy my time right now (other than staring at a slow cooker and/or Cabela's Olde Tymey Dong Hunter 2014 and/or finishing Autumn Peop--nope nope nope not doin' that sorry not sorry), Iiiii'm going to write a bunch of words about Summerland. Summerland bills itself as 'a roleplaying game of desolation and redemption in the Sea of Leaves,' which probably sounds snappier than 'the Last of Us with less angry MUSHROOM PPL and more buried trauma,' but...well. Let's unpack this, mm~? One night, for no apparent reason, a vast and ancient forest appeared across the land as if it had existed there for hundreds of years. Destructively superimposed on all that existed before it, the forest devastated the works of man. Nothing escaped the blanketing of the trees, not even the tarmac of the roads or the buildings of the city centres. Life as we know it ceased: structures collapsed; roads, rail lines and runways were choked; and anything that may have helped with a swift recovery was lost. For a short while a state of emergency was broadcast over all available media, but soon these reassuring words fell silent. As devastating as the Event was, much worse was to follow. It became apparent that this forest, soon to be named the Sea of Leaves, was not like any ordinary, mundane wood. Ancient, foreboding and somehow alive, it was a wild place, full of cunning, dangerous animals, and permeated by the Call, a siren-song, a lure that sucked the weak-minded, the desperate and the lonely into its depths. Within weeks over eighty per cent of people succumbed to the Call and entered the depths of the wood, never returning. so pretty much #mybrand then huh Those that remained clung together however and wherever they could, slowly forming close-knit communities in locations that could be protected from the dangers of the wood. These survivors learnt that only through human connections could the Call be resisted, friendships and family binding each community together in the face of adversity. Within these settlements normal people could forget the lure of the forest, bolstered by the community around them. But they avoided the woods by day, and could not sleep under the trees for fear of the Call. Outside of these communities the landscape was warped, the remnants of humanity’s work still recognisable but now broken and twisted into something new and frightening by the trees. Here the Call was powerful, especially in the deeper, wilder woods. There are people who can go into the woods, but there's a catch because of course there is. (And it's kind of....I like games about coping with trauma! I like weird modern fantasy! I reeeeeally loving like games about weird all-enveloping sentient-ish plant life! ....but, I guess I'm kind of ambivalent about this game's treatment of the whole thing? Because d a m n.) See, the only people who don't just go right under are folk who've gone through some kind of past trauma so awful it literally separates them from the rest of humanity. They're called drifters, because they're so ~damaged~ and fundamentally different from everyone else that the remaining communities straight up won't take them in, so...they drift. Get it?  Eventually, though, people figured out drifters' Broken Human Being Consolation Prize powers, and communities offer fleeting shelter and human contact (or whatever) in exchange for doing stuff. In exchange for these services the settlements offered temporary shelter from the dangers of the forest and a brief exposure to the warmth of a human community. But they would not accept drifters permanently; they were seen as too unstable, too damaged. It seemed that only through healing themselves of their past hurts could the drifters join the communities they served. Doesn't that just warm your heart? This is the intro chapter (sort of! This book kinda....does not have proper chapters.), so they follow up with a little preliminary explanation of stuff -- the PCs are drifters who venture into the Sea of Leaves, it's big and strange and scary and there's everything from feral people to freakishly intelligent animals to coming back and getting caught up in inter-community politics and the end goal is to Next, setting notes! The book notes that the game assumes a North American/European setting with mostly deciduous trees and the kinds of animals you usually get in those kinds of forests, but that you can set it in other regions with different environments or go with weird, alien forests full of flora no one has names for or w/e, depending on the tastes of the GM and players. Last: This is a game, and should be treated as such. Summerland deals with some mature themes such as mental illness, repentance and guilt, so always remember it’s not real! If you and your fellow players start touching on ideas that you’re not comfortable with, bring it up straight away and work it out between you. We’re just giving you an environment for an exciting adventure, and you should always treat it that way, nothing more. Not sure how I feel about a content warning taking the shape of 'this is a game about broken human beings trying to fix their horrific psyche-altering trauma so everyone left in the world stops shunning the--OKAY GANG REMEMBER IT'S JUST A GAME IT'S JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A ROLLICKING ADVENTURE,' but five points to Gryffindor for trying I guess? Next time: character creation, themes, Roll +Triggered By The Horrifying Memory Of My Friend Pleading For Me To Save Him As He Slowly Burned To Death
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Feb 8, 2015 18:41
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Doresh posted:I dunno, I've read several complaints regarding d20 about how tanks don't work because they have no real way of raising their threat/priority/whatever, or really anything that stops the enemies from just rushing past them, eating an AoE and murdering the squishy wizard who's actually dishing out the damage. The issues are that it A) Takes charisma. B) Takes a full round action (preventing you from even moving) C)Only works on reasonably intelligent things that will probably have enough charisma to oppose you D)Only works on one creature and E) Fails instantly and forever if you ever don't succeed on an opposed check. The fact that it exists isn't the problem, the fact that it only works so long as it turns the fighter into a screaming pillar of do-nothing on the battlefield for X Rounds until he fails at which point the monster can go back to murdering the wizard at his leisure is.
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Feb 8, 2015 19:16
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True, that is worse than Pathfinder's Antagonize which, at least in its original incarnation, could force casters into melee attacking you. Much fun to be had.neonchameleon posted:Second, the threatening guy isn't the guy weighed down by plate armour. It;s the guy able to obliterate all of you in six seconds by wielding the forces of creation. And due to the way full round attacks work, the guy in plate armour is only really threatening if you give him a full round to tear you to shreds because you are stupid enough to stand there rather than run past them. It's only GMs who ignore the opponent's intelligence that have the enemies go mano-a-mano with the guy in the tin suit while there is a wizard on the field who is remotely accessible. (And that includes carnivorous animal intelligence - if the animals are intelligent at all they should know better than to try to bite through plate armour). It's only GMs who treat RPGs as video-gamy that have enemies who will do what the PCs want them to rather than what is actually in their best interests. Admittedly you are right that arrows should be preferable - but once again you shoot the caster - they are both an easier target and significantly more dangerous than the guy slowed down by wearing a lot of metal. Oh, that "I become kinda useless if I take more than one step"-part. I must admit that I might be a bit biased towards dirty non-caster peasants. Don't want them to feel too useless. Ningyou posted:Next time: character creation, themes, Roll +Triggered By The Horrifying Memory Of My Friend Pleading For Me To Save Him As He Slowly Burned To Death This sounds like fun. Doresh fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 19:17
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Ningyou posted:Summerland bills itself as 'a roleplaying game of desolation and redemption in the Sea of Leaves,' which probably sounds snappier than 'the Last of Us with less angry MUSHROOM PPL and more buried trauma,' but...well. Let's unpack this, mm~? The description of this started out so interesting. Unexplainable phenomenon with crazy collapse of the world so you get a green post-apocalypse instead of the traditional brown Mad Maxian one. Then randomly it decides that this game is actually about unbearable human suffering and trauma and trying to get over it. Also how broken does someone have to be that a group of hard scrabble survivors would be like "We know you have immunity to the forest magic because your poo poo's all hosed but ummm...we'll take our chances with the killer trees, thanks. Please, leave". Like unless that guy is straight up some kind of homicidal maniac, you'd think you would want to keep him around.
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Feb 8, 2015 19:29
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The impression I got from reading my copy isn't necessarily one of insurmountably intense psychological trauma on the part of the PCs, but the fragility of those surviving enclaves of 'normal' people. I guess I'm perceiving the drifters as falling more into a wandering gunslinger or ronin type, the kind of character with a checkered or traumatic past that they're still running from, who put the straights on edge... and when people start pulling the blinds and locking their doors, the Call starts worming its way in. Then again, the hobby doesn't have a great history when it comes to dealing with psychological disturbances.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:44
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I think the issue when dealing with psychology and trauma isn't having it as part of a world or setting, but when systems start assigning them stats and point values, trivializing them by simply making them something you roll for to avoid doing something crazy/wacky or whatever. I think it's really impossible to convey a lot of the terror and hopelessness of mental illness that way. Hence why it's simply easier, better and more respectful to just say "it exists" and then let people roleplay the loving stuff.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:49
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PurpleXVI posted:I think the issue when dealing with psychology and trauma isn't having it as part of a world or setting, but when systems start assigning them stats and point values, trivializing them by simply making them something you roll for to avoid doing something crazy/wacky or whatever. I think it's really impossible to convey a lot of the terror and hopelessness of mental illness that way Maybe they're just following the psychological leader that is Call of Cthulhu, which came out back in the days roleplaying games wanted to quantify everything.
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Feb 8, 2015 21:07
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Siivola posted:Come to think of it, many games spend basically zero time talking about how this or that enemy behaves in combat, beyond vague generalizations like "ettins pick on the weak" or "kobolds are cowards". An adventure module might lay out some guidelines, but people who prefer to make their own or roll random encounters are kind of on their own. A lot of games drop a pile of guns and bombs and voulge-guisarmes on the players and the special abilities to go with them, but I haven't really seen a whole lot of support for the GM to make really interesting tactical scenarios around those tools. Most of the stuff is just boilerplate "oh just put in some environmental gimmicks like lava or something" when you could spend pages and pages on how different monsters' abilites combo in interesting ways, how to design good battlemaps and all that sort of miniatures gamey crap. I think someone made variant monster moves for Dungeon World that followed the pattern "when X, do Y". Those were pretty cool, and I'd love to see that sort of design space explored more in games that want to include that tactical combat element. Some of the Phoenix Command-based games had notes like "Enemy Type X will spend Y actions aiming per shot" and "when Z of their number have been incapacitated, they retreat". In games like GURPS, a lot of the hints that are valuable for players are also valuable for equivalent enemies. Tactical Shooting, as an example, spends a lot of time describing how to properly enter a room for close-quarters battle, or how to retreat properly. This is just as applicable to the enemy attacking or retreating as the players. It also had some vague notes on which maneuvers unskilled enemies were unlikely to make. That said, how to handle playing the enemy as a referee, outside of the logistics of keeping track of them, is something that very few RPGs provide support for. Even scaling combat encounters is usually not supported by the rulebooks.
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Feb 8, 2015 21:48
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LatwPIAT posted:That said, how to handle playing the enemy as a referee, outside of the logistics of keeping track of them, is something that very few RPGs provide support for. Even scaling combat encounters is usually not supported by the rulebooks. I think it would be interesting to treat the opposition has something that is larger than the sum of its parts. Something that is almost a creature in its own right and reflects the enemy's coherence, giving them an initial edge that starts to break apart as the PCs defeat and isolate them.
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Feb 8, 2015 22:25
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wdarkk posted:I'm not sure where you'd find a heavy-g solid world in our solar system. Define high gravity. Earth has a dense core of molten metal. Terrestrial planets that have cores as dense as Earth's are likely very rare. Higher density means higher gravity. Earth is a high-gravity terrestrial planet.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:10
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In this case? High enough gravity to produce super strong, stocky humans, based on what I think they're referencing.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:19
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Siivola posted:Ignoring the doof with the sword is, I think, fairly reasonable considering that the old lady behind him can plausibly kill everyone in the room with a handful of bat poo poo and some arcane gestures. I didn't go into it a lot, but the basic Order of Battle stuff on squad compositions and things in Albedo goes directly into 'This is how an ILR squad in this kind of section is trained to fight and how it tends to act once in combat.' I think my favorite little detail was that the ILR takes advantage of the uniformly amazing acrobatic/athletic leaping and sprinting of rabbits to cross obstacles and flank enemy positions in coordinated leaping advances. The image of Helghast-looking rabbits (I know their actual uniform was more Soviet, but I couldn't stop imagining them in glowy-eyed overcoats and gas-masks) basically doing tactical ballet towards you with SMGs will never stop being funny to me, even if in setting it was a good idea.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:25
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Night10194 posted:I didn't go into it a lot, but the basic Order of Battle stuff on squad compositions and things in Albedo goes directly into 'This is how an ILR squad in this kind of section is trained to fight and how it tends to act once in combat.' I think my favorite little detail was that the ILR takes advantage of the uniformly amazing acrobatic/athletic leaping and sprinting of rabbits to cross obstacles and flank enemy positions in coordinated leaping advances. The image of Helghast-looking rabbits (I know their actual uniform was more Soviet, but I couldn't stop imagining them in glowy-eyed overcoats and gas-masks) basically doing tactical ballet towards you with SMGs will never stop being funny to me, even if in setting it was a good idea. And all of the grenades, as I recall.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:28
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In fairness, everyone in Albedo uses grenades constantly. The bunnies are just better at designing them. They're used because in the system, you roll deviation instead of 'did you hit at all' and grenades have a realistic kill radius where they're still dangerous (from shrapnel) from like 10m away from the blast.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:32
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Warcraft RPG posted:Stand at Death's Door:(Con +15, Cleave, Toughness, BAB+7, 20 or more HP) you deal extra damage with melee attacks equal to 20-current hit points. Wouldn't you stop qualifying for this feat as soon as you went under 20HP, RAW? It was the first thing I read, and obviously that would be the stupidest way to read the rules. Also that beloved commander feat is terrible. No PC would want to take it, because who would expect and want to be knocked out of combat?
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Feb 9, 2015 02:44
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Qelong, Part 5: Creatures, or "Born on the 1d4th of July" In previous chapters, we were introduced to the skeleton setting of Sajavedra, with only hints as to the forces that players will encounter in the war-torn land. But Creatures (and the next chapter, "Encounter Areas") are what flesh out the setting. This chapter is the "bestiary" of Qelong, but it is more than a mere "monster manual" - Unique NPC's, the movers and shakers of the setting, are included along with more incidental monsters. Yet even "mundane" threats, like soldiers and animals, are described in this book with interesting details. Most of the monsters borrow as much from Southeast Asian folklore as they do from D&D fantasy tropes. Angry Ghosts: Unlife During Wartime The widespread death and destruction within the valley has created a number of undead from the souls of those not buried with the proper rituals. Four unique types of undead, each based off of ghosts from East Asian folklore, present a threat to hapless travelers. In general, all these ghosts are insubstantial, and can only be harmed by magic. They move very quickly (twice as fast as an unencumbered character), and have a Morale of 12 (basically fearless) that can only be lowered by Turn Undead. Araq, beisaq, and qmoc praj ghosts treat Turn Undead attempts by anybody other than a Sajavedran monk as if they had 4 HD higher than normal. It is noted, however, that some angry ghosts can exorcised with proper offerings, or even the death of their foes. Araq Araq ghosts are ancestral ghosts of family homes, driven to madness when their homes or shines are destroyed. They're basically poltergeists, invisible spirits that attack intruders by flinging debris at them. Some Araq can also cast Cause Fear in a radius around them Beisaq Beisaq are hungry ghosts, spirits of improperly buried murder victims. They roam invisibly, looking to eat the rations of travelers in a vain attempt to feed their gnawing hunger. They turn visible, though not material, while eating. They attack with a chilling touch that bypasses armor and can inflict anything from paralysis to Constitution drain depending on their Hit Dice: however, they will only attack if they are disturbed while eating. Daereqlan The ghosts of villagers who were forced to flee into the wilderness to die. The daereqlan possesses the body of a warm-blooded forest animal, adding to its Hit Dice, Armor, and damage, and it adds the animals Hit Dice to its own for the purposes of resisting Turn Undead. Basically a template you can add to any mundane animal to make it nastier. Qmoc Praj The ghosts of women who died in childbirth. They can fly, and their primary attack involves throwing stones (1 attack/Hit Die). Some qmoc praj have a sidekick in the form of a qon praj: a floating, vampiric fetus(!). In addition to granting a Hit Dice and save bonus to Mommy, the qon praj can cast spells ("usually hateful, creepy ones") as a Magic-User of level equivalent to its Hit Dice. The good news is that a human Magic-User can capture a qon praj and gain its benefits by feeding it 1HP worth of blood each night (If you consider having a creepy undead fetus hover around you like The Great Gazoo to be "good news") Armor-Stealers Armor-Stealers are a type of bandit unique to the Qelong Valley. A few desperate villages stumbled upon a racket that involved stealing weapons and armor from heavily-armed travelers and selling it for coin. Most armor stealers prefer to lure their prey into a false sense of security, sedating them with poisoned food or restraining them while asleep, before stripping them of gear. Some more desperate groups just ambush travelers like typical bandits. Most tend to leave their victims alive, though some are not so cautious. A few armor-stealers use an unusual part of the environment, such as a lethal trap or a hungry monster, to do their, dirty work and then they take the gear left behind. One enterprising group lures victims into a pit full of flesh-eating gas, then fishes out the armor with a grappling hook. Bandits Your usual band of thugs that crop up in war-ravaged areas to prey on the weak. Nothing really remarkable, but a decent threat to a low-level party. Cannibals Famine, aakom poisoning, and sheer desperation has lead a number of villagers to feast on human flesh, and once you get a taste for the good stuff there's no going back, baby. There are two general groups of cannibals. The first is a group of people (sometimes an entire village) that has gone all "Cannibal Holocaust": they are individually weak, and rely on numbers and stealth to hunt for victims. Then you have single cannibals that have gone the backwood serial-killer route. These lone hunters have levels in Specialist (the LotFP version of the Thief/Rogue) with a focus on Stealth and Sneak Attack. They carry daggers, garrotes, and blowguns with poisoned darts. Lone cannibals also carry a protective amulet made from the preserved ear of a murdered monk (grants +3 to Armor, but only if you killed and ate the monk yourself) Carrion Beasts A short summary of a few mutated scavengers willing to attack PC's: Dholes (wild dogs), Giant Beetles, Giant Catfish, and Vultures. The aakom-tainted vultures can vomit stomach acid onto enemies, which I'm pretty sure is a shout-out to "Birdemic." Crocodiles Can't have a jungle adventure setting without crocodiles! Om nom nom!!! Elephant Elephants were commonly used as beasts of burden in peacetime Sajavedra, and though used less frequently, they still maintain a presence during the war. The bad news is that a number are running wild, and they have 10 HD, multiple attacks that inflict heavy damage, and the ability to ignore any wound that does less than 4 HP! The good news is that they generally don't attack unless provoked by loud noise or violence. But if PC's are greedy, they can net a few thousand coin (silver pieces, the standard currency in LotFP), for a male elephant's ivory tusks. Forest Folk Members of hunter-gatherer tribes driven deep into the jungle by the "civilized" folk of Sajavedra, the forest folk go about their existence despite the war. They are extremely isolationist and protective of their homes, and will do whatever they can to drive out intruders. Only braves will be encountered, if they are encountered at all. They are extremely difficult to ambush (only a 1 in 12 chance in the forests), and have very high Stealth ratings. In addition, ambushes by forest folk grant them an Aiming Bonus and double damage on all attacks in addition to the normal benefit of an ambush (one free round of attacks). A forest folk party consists of a mix of Fighters level 0-6, accompanied by a shaman (Cleric lvl 1-6). Their weapons are coated with a poison from the purple lotus that causes unconsciousness on a failed save. So intruding into their territory is very dangerous, but they will generally leave unconsicous PC's unharmed, unless they continue to intrude. If a third ambush is necessary, the folk will be armed with the lethal poison of the black lotus. I like these guys: a really dangerous encounter, but not one with simply the intent to murder characters. They're an unfamiliar, but not alien, threat, and a tribe can even be turned into an unlikely ally if diplomatic PC's play their cards right. (They're meant to be human tribesmen, but you can repurpose them as a wood-elf variant if you want to give Qelong even more of a fantasy flavor) The Gaja Simha  There's a pic in the book, but I couldn't find a scan. It's a lot scarier than this, I promise... The Gaja Simha is a unique monster based on Cambodian folklore. It resembles a giant lion with a head of an elephant, covered in black, green, gold, and purple scales. Only one is ever seen, and it's appearance it said to be a sign of oncoming doom. Needless to say, it's been seen a lot in Sajavedra these past 20 years... It's a good thing there's only one, because it's got high armor, 8 HD, and multiple claw and trunk garrote techniques. In addition, it has a number of spell-like abilities it can cast as an 8th level Magic User: Magic Missle (6 times/day), Change Self (disguised as monk), Invisibility, Wall of Fog, Gust of Wind, Dimension Door, and Shadow Monsters. It has Morale 10; if forced to flee, it will return when PC's are next at half their HP or lower. For some reason, it will not return in the sight of the Varangians or Myrmidons, or near the Cylinder. The Gaja Simha is something of an x-factor for Referees to use in their game; it's origins are vague enough to be fit into any ongoing plot. It can play a greater role as either friend or foe in any conflict. Or it could simply be a unique magical beast that the PC's can hunt to sell its parts to a wizard. Insect Cloud A cloud of stinging insects that distracts PC's, causing penalties and interrupting spellcasting. What it says on the tin: a huge pain in the rear end. Lotus Monks One of the major NPC factions in Sajavedra. The Cult of the Lotus is what remains of the monks that maintained the geomantic network of holy sites that kept the Naga Qelong in a state of quiescence. The aakom-pollution of the Cylinder and the destruction of multiple stupas by the war has disrupted the network, and the Naga's corrupt power of Chaos grows stronger every day. In desperation, the monks have formed a cult around the Golden Lotus, a living manifestation of Law which is said to predate even the gods. Ken Hite posted:The Lotus cult plans to "hard reboot" the Valley, using high-level geomantic sorceries. This major re-consecration of the Valley to Law will, ideally, return the Naga to somnolescence as the land's fundamental polarity reverses. Well, that's good! We should probably help these monks... quote:It will, admitted, drain the life-energies of every living thing in the Qelong Valley. Or possibly, in Sajavedra. ... ok, that's not so good. So the monks of the Lotus focus on recapturing stupas, as well as press-ganging villagers into repairing them, in between huffing Lotus blossoms and practicing kung-fu. They're easily spotted by their shaved heads, saffron robes, and eyes turned a golden color (from Lotus abuse). They are always organized symmetrically, appearing only in even-numbered groups set by a strict hierarchy based on level. Lotus monks can do melee weapon damage with their unarmed attacks, rising in damage die depending on their level. They gain extra attacks and an unarmored bonus to the Armor level as they increase in level. They can ignore falling damage, scale sheer walls, and jump at incredible heights and distances. They also gain spell-like abilities as they increase in level, including Light, Breaking Blow (as Knock), Confusion, Blink, and Telekinesis. They make saving throws as elves; all other values are as clerics. Say... it looks like you have a very rough sketch of a Monk class for LotFP. Why, you could even have a player... Kenny posted:This is not a character class. This is a passel of evocative game effects, restricted to slaves of the Lotus with Sajavedran monastic training. Which is, to say, NPC's DAMMIT KENNY WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS?!?  Coming up: From Army Ants to Ogre Mages - Creatures M-Y Simian_Prime fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 03:05
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Green Intern posted:Wouldn't you stop qualifying for this feat as soon as you went under 20HP, RAW? It was the first thing I read, and obviously that would be the stupidest way to read the rules. It says 20 or more max hp. I was just simplifying it. Trust me if it was that stupid I would have pointed it out.
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Feb 9, 2015 03:23
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MartianAgitator posted:Define high gravity. Earth has a dense core of molten metal. Terrestrial planets that have cores as dense as Earth's are likely very rare. Higher density means higher gravity. Earth is a high-gravity terrestrial planet. Given that they defined earth's gravity as "normal" and the only things in the solar system with higher gravity at their surfaces than earth are the gas giants and the sun, I'm gonna go with "higher than earth" here, fishmech. Midjack fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 03:32
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Kurieg posted:It says 20 or more max hp. I was just simplifying it. Trust me if it was that stupid I would have pointed it out. I realized this after I posted. I've come to assume the stupidest, regarding the Warcraft rpg.
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Feb 9, 2015 17:18
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Rangpur posted:In this case? High enough gravity to produce super strong, stocky humans, based on what I think they're referencing. You could certainly create such a race for a campaign set a bit more into the future by making what is essentially the opposite of a Lightworlder. I'm not really sure how likely it would be for humans to settle on sich a planet. I'd assume low-G planets are a bit more comfortable. Night10194 posted:I didn't go into it a lot, but the basic Order of Battle stuff on squad compositions and things in Albedo goes directly into 'This is how an ILR squad in this kind of section is trained to fight and how it tends to act once in combat.' I think my favorite little detail was that the ILR takes advantage of the uniformly amazing acrobatic/athletic leaping and sprinting of rabbits to cross obstacles and flank enemy positions in coordinated leaping advances. The image of Helghast-looking rabbits (I know their actual uniform was more Soviet, but I couldn't stop imagining them in glowy-eyed overcoats and gas-masks) basically doing tactical ballet towards you with SMGs will never stop being funny to me, even if in setting it was a good idea. Why isn't there a tabletop wargame about this? Something about a grim future where there is only bunny hopping? Simian_Prime posted:The Gaja Simha Obscure folk creatures are pretty stylish. Not really an Eldritch horror, but definitely weird.
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Feb 9, 2015 19:52
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Simian_Prime posted:The Gaja Simha 
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Feb 9, 2015 20:39
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Siivola posted:Ayup, it's pretty scary alright. That's the one! Thanks! I have a dead-tree copy of Qelong, but no pdf and no scanner, so I can't post as much art as I'd like. Doresh posted:Obscure folk creatures are pretty stylish. Not really an Eldritch horror, but definitely weird. I agree. I've always been a fan of weird, chimerical folklore monsters.
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Feb 9, 2015 21:06
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Siivola posted:Ayup, it's pretty scary alright. Huh, that looks a lot like a Baku spirit as well. 
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Feb 9, 2015 21:41
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theironjef posted:Huh, that looks a lot like a Baku spirit as well. And speaking of motifs, it's time to get done with the Exodus Survivor's Guide. It all ends here (except not because there's two other "core" Exodus books).  Chapter 5: Combat and Tactics While this chapter takes up a fair chunk of the remaining third of the book, most of it is reprinted standard d20 combat rules since this is Exodus and we have to follow the "reprint all the core rules" methodology to the end. There are a few things that prevent me from completely skipping over this chapter, though, so let's get those out of the way.  Targeted Attacks Targeted attacks, or “called shots” as they are more often called in RPGs, are anything meant to be more specific than just a generic meat shot to wherever (often the torso, which has no special rules for targeting or damaging it). This chart is important because it gives you very important information, such as that you take a -6 penalty to your attack role to shoot someone in the dick, but the result is 50% more damage on a regular hit or three times more damage on a critical hit. And no, I'm not being hyperbolic. Groin (or “servos” on a robot) is indeed one of the listed options for making targeted attacks. Of course, if you want to do something more practical than making everyone in the Wasteland impotent, there are also six other listed types of targeted attack as well. A targeted leg (or attack to whatever the creature or robot uses to move if it has no legs and feet) is the easiest at a -2 penalty to attack rolls, but on a critical hit the target gets a -4 penalty to Dexterity-based skill checks that involve legs, moves at half its normal speed, and cannot run. A targeted arm is a bit more at -4, and on a critical hit you end up removing the target's ability to use any items that have to be used two-handed and induce a -4 penalty to Dexterity-based skill checks that require the use of both hands. These two do provide a bit of a problem, though, when at a -8 penalty you have foot and hand targeted attacks that only induce the skill check penalties on a successful critical hit. This means that it's both better and easier to just go for a shot at the arm or leg rather than specifically the hand or foot. Unrelated to manipulation, a targeted head (or CPU for a robot) attack deals double damage on any hit and also conveys 4 points of Intelligence and Wisdom damage, while a targeted eye/sensor/feeler/whatever the creature uses to sense the world around it shot also deals double damage on any hit and is capable of blinding the target on a critical hit.  Environmental Hazards While d20 Modern has its own radiation system wherein time spent in an area of a certain strength of radiation resulted in saves against a specifc strength of radiation sickness, Exodus throws that out in favor of its own take on radiation. And by “its own take”, of course, I mean something akin to Fallout's take. Radiation is measured by the RAD (Radiation Absorbed Dose) level of an area, and characters that fail a Fortitude save at each time interval listed take the listed amount of radiation damage rather than having the dosage ramp up based on time spent in the area overall as in standard d20 Modern. Weak radiation is 1 to 99 RAD and deals 1d2-1 Constitution damage every three days of exposure, light is 100 to 199 RAD and deals 1d3-1 Con damage every day of exposure, mild is 200 to 299 RAD and deals 1d4-1 Con damage every six hours, low is 300 to 599 RAD and deals 1d6-1 Con damage every two hours, moderate is 600 to 999 RAD and deals 2d4 Con damage every half an hour, high is 1000 to 4,999 RAD and deals 2d6 Con damage every five minutes, severe is 5,000 to 8,000 RAD and deals 3d6 Con damage every minute, and deadly is anything higher than 8,000 RAD, deals 4d6 Con damage every round, and has a 1% of turning a human into a ghul rather than killing them. Another form of environmental hazard added by Exodus is toxic waste. It's basically acid, dealing 1d6 acid damage per round of exposure or 10d6 per round if you're straight up dunked in it, but has the added effect of counting as a source of low radiation. There's also structural failures, because why wouldn't you have those in a ruined post-apocalyptic world (even though a lot of post-apocalyptic roleplaying games I've read don't, surprisingly)? There's a cumulative 10% chance per floor that there is at least some structural damage that should be rolled up by the GM: this 10% starts at the first floor for structures that head upward such as skyscrapers, and at the last floor for structures that go downward such as vaults. It's entirely up to the GM what exactly collapses where as is appropriate to the party, ranging from 1d6 damage if you fail the DC 15 Reflex save to avoid minor falling debris to taking a whopping 12d6 damage if you fail the DC 30 Reflex save to avoid the total structural collapse of an entire floor.  Chemical Addiction Don't do drugs, kids. Not only do they have after-effect penalties as listed in my last Exodus post, but if the d100 says you are in the percentile range to get addicted, you also have additional addiction penalties! Unlike the ability damage that heals over time from drug after-effects, addiction penalties are effectively like the penalties of a template, static minuses that are removed once you “lose” the addiction by making a successful Fortitude save with a DC between 30 and 45 depending on the drug. You can make this check once per day, and every consecutive day adds a +1 to your save unless you end up taking the drug again. Taking the drug again does temporarily remove the penalties for addiction for the drug's duration, but it doesn't remove the addiction outright, and of the after-effects stack with previous usage of the drug. Specific addiction “templates” are -2 Constitution and Wisdom for afterburner, blindness for black sunshine, blindness or deafness for burnout, -8 Dexterity and a -4 to Initiative checks for inferno, a -4 to Intelligence and Wisdom for mindmeld, -8 Strength and -4 Constitution for mutagen, -6 Strength and Dexterity for vigoroids, and -6 Dexterity and -2 to Initiative checks for voodoo.  Advanced Classes On top of reprinting almost all classes the d20 Modern Core Rulebook (the Bodyguard, Investigator, Negotiator, Personality, and Techie are the exceptions that are left out), the Archaic Weaponsmaster (renamed to just Weaponsmaster even though it still only focuses in archaic weapons), Glamourist (renamed Socialite), Shadow Hunter (renamed Bounty Hunter), Street Warrior, and Thrasher from Urban Arcana, and the Dreadnought, Explorer, and Swindler from d20 Future, there are fifteen new advanced classes introduced in the Exodus Survivor's Guide. Some of these new advanced classes don't follow the basic rules of what an advanced class is. Wizards of the Coast codified advanced classes as being ten levels long, usually having a bonus feat at level 3, 6, and 9, and able to be accessed by a character who has focused on the right prerequisites by the time they take their fourth character level. Here there are five level advanced classes and advanced classes that cannot be accessed until further on than level 4, which I assume is a holdout from being more familiar with Dungeons and Dragons prestige classes, but it could be worse. I say “it could be worse” in confidence because I know there are advanced classes with weird layouts like three or seven levels in the next Exodus book.  Desert Ranger: Want to be a mental hero with a combat advanced class, but just can't settle for the +1 to +3 bonus to attack rolls and certain skills against a single target at a time that you'd get with the No, that's not right at all, you silly person. While the level 1 class feature for the Desert Ranger is just getting Endurance as a bonus feat, its main class feature that first appears at level 2 is that D&D Ranger standard of Favored Enemy. The Ranger selects a specific group type – animals, desert reapers (though just what a desert reaper actually is isn't ever explained in this or any of the other Exodus books), ghuls, geckos (which are on their own rather than under animals for some reason), Trans-Genetic Mutants, vermin, or a specific human organization – to have a +1 bonus to attack rolls and Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks against. While the Desert Ranger gets to select another Favored Enemy at level 4, 6, and 8 of the class, the bonus is always just +1. It never progresses any further like the Bounty Hunter's bounty target class feature, and you can't select the same Favored Enemy twice to boost the bonus. In spite of this, though, the Desert Ranger isn't a totally useless class. For stealth-related abilities, level 3 of the class lets you move normal speed while tracking with the feature Swift Tracker, and level 7 has Camouflage which is basically the D&D Ranger's Hide in Plain Sight ability. If combat's more your focus, there's a bit of htat too. The level 5 class feature Combat Shooting lets you basically perform the function of the feat Power Attack with ranged attacks rather than melee attacks and doesn't require you to have said feat, and the level 9 feature Adapted Warfare gives you a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls in either indoor, outdoor urban, or outdoor wasteland environments...which is actually pretty lovely too for a class level 9 ability, but still. The capstone ability for the Desert Ranger is Squad Leader, which makes party members and friendly NPCs within a 20 foot radius of the ranger gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls. This isn't exactly amazing on its own, especially compared to the things the Field Officer from d20 Future can do that could have been cribbed for this class, but what saves it from being useless is that it can stack with the Squad Leader ability of other level 10 Desert Rangers. Assuming your whole party is Desert Rangers, you can just have a big ol' attack buff circlejerk as long as you stay in formation.  Harvester: I remember Harold too, Exodus, thanks for reminding me. Harvester characters are technically the results of someone being gooped in the weird superscience chemicals that make up the Unsurprisingly, the Harvester's class features are all plant-themed. Fungus at level 1 grants 1 PDR because of layers of moss and bark-like skin, Green Thumb at level 2 lets the Harvester grow plants twice as fast as normal and “speak” with plants to learn local environmental conditions by tending to them for two hours, and Bonsai at level 3 causes the growth of a tiny tree on the ghul's head or torso that provides a +4 bonus to saves against disease and poison thanks to its healing nutrients. The tree has its own pool of HP (20, to be precise) and can be struck with a called shot at a -6 penalty to the attack roll, but if it's destroyed it will regrow three months later rather than disappear forever. The biggest class feature of the Harvester, though, comes in Way of the Fruit at level 4 of the class. Every ten days, the tree on the Harvester dumps a piece of lumpy green fruit that provides a random effect when eaten by anyone. This can be either a +2 bonus to one ability score for half a day, a +2 bonus to one saving throw for half a day, induce the nauseated condition for an hour, induce nausea for two hours, induce nausea for three hours, instant curing of all diseases, instant curing of all poisons, instant curing of all addictions, instant removal of any drug after-effects, instant removal of 200 RAD, instant removal of all radiation effects, restore 1d4 HP, restore 1d8+1 HP, restore 2d8+3 HP, restore 3d8+5 HP, or do nothing at all. This is furthered by the final ability of the class, Shape Fruit. This allows the Harvester to make a Will save (DC 15 to 18 for most effects, though some of the more powerful healing ones get up to DC 35) to coerce the tree into making a specific desired fruit.  Made Man: A stereotypical old school mobster, the Made Man is all about serving the Family, maintaining a code of honor amongst thieves, and shooting people up with Tommy guns. It's a somewhat difficult advanced class to get into, because on top of needing a +5 Base Attack Bonus (so that's at least five levels in Strong Hero alone to get), either the Gangster background or Wiseguy occupation, and a rather stunning 50% Reputation with a crime syndicate, you also have to have saved the life of either the head of the Family or some other important Family member in the group. While you might think that last prerequisite might lead to the class having some enforcer themes and defensive capabilities to offset the absence of the Bodyguard advanced class, you'd be totally wrong. This is a straight up combat class through and through: Good Base Attack Bonus progression, average Fortitude and Reflex save progressions, poor Will save progression, poor Defense bonus progression, and d8 hit dice. Two of its class features are of the sort that rank up. Street Cred provides a bonus to Diplomacy, Intimidate, Investigate, and Gather Information checks with anyone who is part of the Family or familiar with the Made Man's status as part of the Family, the bonus starting at +2 at class level 1 and then boosting to 4 at level 5 and +6 at level 9. There's also that ever popular D&D Rogue staple of Sneak Attack, going +1d6 at level 3, +2d6 at level 6, and +3d6 at level 9. For other class features, there are bonus feats at level 2, 6, and 10 that are mostly either melee combat- or firearms-oriented, Soldier at level 3 grants a free Infrequent or lower rarity firearm and concealed mesh suit courtesy of the Family, level 4 has Magnetic Personality as specified bonus feat, Connected at level 7 grants a contact as per the Investigator from d20 Modern Core, Respected at level 8 lets the Made Man get lodging, food, and prostitutes for free in any town or city where the Family holds sway, and Right Hand of the Devil at level 10 makes it so that there's a chance equal to the Made Man's Reputation percent with his Family that members of other gangs (including raiders and slavers) will either run away or grovel rather than fight.  Trade Master: A class designed for someone who really, really loves the Barter skill added to Exodus. The Master Trader isn't entirely poo poo in a fight, though, believe it or not. While the class has a poor Fortitude and Reflex save progression, it has an average Defense and Base Attack Bonus progression and d8 hit dice to toughen it up, as well as a good Will save progression for combat and non-combat issues. Alas, it's also a class that gets one-time bonuses. The first feature you'll encounter by entering the class is Trade Assets, which is straight up 500 coins for free. This class feature is also used twice more, granting 1,000 coins at level 5 and 2,500 coins at level 9. The other most prevalent class feature is Deal Maker. This grants the Trade Master an extra bonus to prices when buying or selling on top of the results from a successful Barter check, which starts out at 5% at class level 2 and increases by a further 5% every even numbered level of the class. There are also two abilities the Trade Master has that put pressure on others. Proper Motivation, gained at level 5 of the class, allows the Master Trader to take a full round action to convince some dumb NPCs (rather than a specific number and level limit, the total people that can be convinced by this ability are measured in HD up to the Trade Master's Charisma modifier plus ten) that they'll be richly rewarded for going and shooting up some other person. They get a +1 to attack rolls for a number of rounds equal to the Trade Master's levels in this advanced class, so it's really a minor boon that ends up being a pain later when you end up having to pay up. More powerful, and somewhat sinister, is the capstone class feature Everyone Has a Price. The Trade Master can make a Barter check modified by their class level opposed to an NPC's Sense Motive check modified by said NPC's class level, and if successful the target must buy something from the Master Trader. It doesn't even matter if they don't have enough money, so using this ability could allow a Trade Master character to fleece their way across the Wasteland and buy whatever their party desires. In between all of those abilities, you've finally got a handful of less bombastic class features. You've got Snake Oil Salesmen at level 2 giving a +2 to Bluff checks made to pass off defective items as properly working ones, Caravan Navigation at level 3 reduces overland travel times by 25%, Superior Barterer grants a +2 to Barter and Bluff checks at level 4 that increases to +4 at level 8, Assistant at level 7 grants a cohort that must have a class level layout of Defensive/Master Trader and have the Merchant occupation, and Deal Shark at level 9 stacks the Trade Master's ranks in Intimidate and Barter for the purpose of making Barter checks.  Mutant Berserker: A simple class for a simple character. This five level Trans-Genetic Mutant only advanced class is designed purely around tanking damage and then dishing damage out, nothing more and nothing less. Full Base Attack Bonus progression, good Fortitude save progression, and d12 hit dice offset by poor Will, Fortitude, and Defense progression reflects the class's nature as a big slab of meat who's too stuffed full of HP to care about how often enemy hits connect. At levels 1, 3, and 5, the Mutant Berserker progresses in two different class features. One improves the Trans-Genetic Mutant's innate damage reduction by +1 each time, while the other is a self-buffing ability known as Adrenaline Rush. Adrenaline Rush is sort of like a D&D Barbarian's rage, except that instead of starting as a +4 buff to Strength and Constitution and a +2 to Will saves, it's a +2 buff across all three physical ability scores. This is boosted to +4 at level 3, and again to +6 at level 5. The other two class features the Mutant Berserker gets both boost Adrenaline Rush. Destructive Rage at level 2 lets the Berserker ignore 5 points of damage reduction or 10 points of an object's hardness with melee rolls during the adrenaline rush, while Berserk Frenzy at level 4 doubles all melee damage made during the adrenaline rush. It's kind of refreshing to take a breather with a class that isn't complicated or long-winded to discuss at all.  Mutant Commando: For those in the audience that aren't all that familiar with Fallout, there is a variation of Super Mutant called the Nightkin that were effectively the elite troops of the Super Mutant Army: just as big and strong as their brethren, but also smart, stealthy, and trained in advanced combat techniques rather than “hit stuff until it looks dead enough”. The Mutant Commando is effectively the Exodus way of handling Nightkin. It's a Trans-Genetic Mutant only class that requires an individual who intentionally statted themselves up to bypass their natural penalties, as Intelligence 12 or higher is needed to enter on top of a +5 Base Attack Bonus. It's an above par advanced class from a progression standpoint, with full Base Attack Bonus progression, good Fortitude save progression, average Reflex save progression, poor Will save and Defense bonus progression, and d10 hit dice. Are its class features quality stuff as well? Definitely. While the level 1 ability Improved Stealth just provides a +4 to Hide and Move Silently checks (doubled to +8 in dimly lit areas) and bonus feats selected from a list focused around melee combat and stealth at levels 3, 5, 7, and 9, at level 2 you get Sneak Attack +1d6 that increases a further 1d6 at levels 6 and 10. Sneak attack on a character that's got full BAB progression and stealth bonuses? Scary stuff, there. Oh, but it gets better. Leave no Enemy Alive at level 4 lets the Mutant Commando get a coup de grace on a foe they knock unconscious as a free action rather than a full round action, and at level 8 this ability is boosted even further by letting the Mutant Commando ignore the attack of opportunity condition that performing a coup de grace normally invokes. Could it get even better than that? Well, hold onto your seats, because Death Strike at level 10...acts as Improved Critical for all attacks. Kind of a lackluster finish after the murderkill abilities.  Prizefighter: A five level class focused on mixing unarmed combat with charismatic actions, the Prizefighter has d10 hit dice, a full Base Attack Bonus progression, average Fortitude, Reflex, and Defense progression, and poor Will save progression that actually does have prerequisites that allow you to take it at character level 4. By contrast, with the Urban Arcana advanced class Street Warrior (which is reprinted in this book, I'll remind you), you have the same full BAB progression and average Defense progression over a whole ten levels rather than five, good Fortitude save progression at the cost of Reflex being knocked down to poor, and you get 5 plus your Intelligence modifier worth of skill points each level as opposed to the jaw-droppingly low 2 + Int the Prizefighter gets. Maybe I’m being too harsh, though. Maybe this class has some amazing abilities packed into this five levels that make up for it being otherwise unimpressively squashed down. We've got free Knockout Punch as a bonus feat at level 1, Improved Knockout Punch bonus feat at level 2, and Whirlwind Attack bonus feat at level 3, as well as an extra talent from the Hand to Hand talent tree at level 2 and 5. Good, good, things that you could have more variety with If you just stayed with a base class are clearly a good sign for an advanced class. Oh, and at level 4 there's a class feature called Work the Crowd that literally does nothing. You make an Intimidate check to get the crowd to jeer your opponent, and...something. It doesn't say, just that it gives the Prizefighter an advantage. Not all is lost, at least, as there are a few serviceable pieces in this otherwise shambling wreck of a class. At level 1 Taunt, which lets you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls for the duration of a fight against an opponent that fails a Will save, and that bonus improves to +4 at level 3. You've also got Contender at level 4 that lets you gain money for engaging in an overseen fighting circuit bout (100 coins per class level of the opponent for winning, 25 per level for losing), and Finishing Blow at level 5 lets the Prizefighter make a Spot check to automatically score a critical hit on a foe that is down to their last quarter of HP.  Rigger: This class is fairly clearly intended to be a replacement for the Techie, which makes sense. The Techie was always a really weird class choice in d20 Modern Core Rulebook, as it has class features that focus on creating robots while the more modernistic Engineer advanced class was put in d20 Future. This isn't “let's discuss Wizards of the Coast's odd decisions”, though, so on to the Rigger. Good Reflex progression, average Base Attack Bonus and Defense progression, poor Fortitude and Will save progressions, and d8 hit dice are the framework we've got here. Surprisingly, while this is clearly meant to be a skill monkey class, it only gets 5 + Int skill points a level, when d20 Modern tends to grant such classes 7 + Int. I can only assume between this and the myriad of 2 + Int classes such as the Mutant Berserker, Mutant Commando, and Prizefighter that someone working on Exodus just hated high ranks in skills. Starting off, a level 1 Rigger gets two class features: Improvised Tools lets the Rigger ignore the penalty to Repair checks made without a tool kit, while Jury-Rig lets the Rigger use the jury-rigging use of the Repair skill without penalty. The latter actually gets boosted to a +2 bonus rather than a penalty at level 3, and again to +4 at level 6 and +6 at level 9. Also on the more minor side, there's Builder as a free bonus feat at level 2, Advanced Rigging at level 6 allows for taking 10 on a Repair check even when threatened or distracted, and Super Rigger at level 10 does the same thing for taking 20. The meatiest parts of the Rigger, though, are the class features meant to to allow for manipulation of technology. The first of these that shows up is Rig Firearm at level 2. With this class feature, the Rigger can jimmy up a temporary fix for a broken personal firearm with a DC 15 Repair check, allowing it to work as it normally would for a number of rounds equal to one plus every point over the DC the Rigger succeeded the check. This feature gets expanded to allow the rigging of heavy weapons for DC 20 at level 5 and then energy weapons for DC 30 at level 9. Rig Vehicle at level 4 takes the same principle and applies it to vehicles, the DC being 25 and the running time being upped from minutes to hours. There's also Persuade Malfunctioning Device at level 7 that is DC 30 for the same thing on generic mechanical or electronic equipment (and is again measured in hours), and at level 8 Rig Technological Device lets the Rigger make a DC 35 Repair check to hack a computer or bypass security devices.  Slayer: It's hard to imagine that a class entirely dedicated to killing things better is one of the worst ones in this book, but here we are. You'd need to take at least eight levels of a full Base Attack Bonus class to get to this five level entry here. You've got d12 hit dice, full Base Attack bonus progression, good Reflex save progression, and poor Will save and Defense bonus progression, but nobody really goes into low level count classes for those numbers, they're here for the class features. And here they're pretty lackluster for something you'd be building a character over eight levels for. Better Critical as a bonus feat for one melee weapon at level 1 and level 3, More Critical as a bonus feat for one melee weapon at level 3 and level 5, and Living Anatomy as a bonus feat at level 2 are the main features of the class. The only class features that aren't "here, we'll pick a bonus feat for you" are Bypass Armor at level 3, which ignores five points of PDR, and Death Stalks the Land at level 5, which makes you spend three full round actions watching a flat-footed, flanked, or helpless character in order to make a save-or-die melee attack.  Sniper: Basically the Slayer, but for firearms. I wish I wasn't joking. Rather than having Bypass Armor, you've got Bypass Cover, which ignores characters in one-half or less cover, and One Shot, One Kill is a replacement for Death Stalks the Land that can hit any unaware target not immune to critical hits but only causes an automatic critical hit rather than a save or die attack.  Steel Disciple Initiate: The Steel Disciples are the only organization that get any advanced class in the Survivor's Guide rather than the Southwest Wasteland Guide, presumably because they are the not-Brotherhood of Steel and everybody loves the Brotherhood of Steel. They're all five levels long, mainly because the Steel Disciple Initiate is meant to be the “first half” of the other classes to the point that both require all five levels in Steel Disciple Initiate to enter. This means that all Steel Disciples members start their careers with this five level class that has a full Base Attack Bonus progression, poor Reflex save progression, average Will and Fortitude save progression, average Defense bonus progression, and d10 hit dice. Hopefully you like items and bonus feats, because that's what comes with the class features. Basic Training at level 1 grants Weapon Focus with one weapon the Initiate is proficient with, Initiate at level 2 grants a free personal firearm or archaic melee weapon that is Infrequent or lower scarcity, Senior Initiate at level 3 grants the choice of Brawl, Defensive Martial Arts, Dodge, Power Attack, Weapon Finesse, or Weapon Focus as a bonus feat, Advanced Training at level 4 grants one Exotic Firearm Proficiency as a bonus feat, and Initiation to BoS (hmm, looks like something got missed in the editing of the book here) at level 5 means the Initiate can enter the Steel Disciples Knight or Steel Disciples Scribe advanced class and gets a free suit of combat armor.   Steel Disciple Knight: Second only to the Cavaliers and Paladins (which aren't covered until the Southwest Wasteland Guide), the Knights of the Steel Disciples are some of the most respected warriors of the Steel Disciples. The framework is a five level class that has full Base Attack Bonus progression, average Fortitude and Reflex save progression, poor Will save and Defense bonus progression, and d10 hit dice. Surprising that the Knight has worse overall progression than the Initiate when it's meant to be a direct improved version of that class that can, indeed, only be entered through said class. Features-wise, the first one on the table is Favored Enemy at level 1, 3, and 5. This mostly works the same as it does in the Desert Ranger – or, indeed, the D&D Ranger – with the exception that there is a limitation on the favored enemies. Steel Disciple Knights can still take ghuls, Trans-Genetic Mutants, or a particularly organization as a favored enemy, but don't get access to any of the wildlife options for whatever reason. Awareness and Exotic Firearms Proficiency (Energy Weapons) as bonus feats follow at level 2, and a free suit of power armor is granted at level 3. Beyond that, Tactical Master at level 4 grants a +1 cover bonus to existing cover bonuses when taking cover, and Bolster Troops at level 5 grants a +1 bonus to saves against fear for all Steel Disciples within a 60 foot radius. Again,  Steel Disciple Scribe: Meet the class that has the distinction of being the only one in Exodus that has d6 hit dice for its level-based HD. Its other framework is poor Base Attack Bonus and Fortitude save progression, and average progression for everything else. And what of class features? At level 1, Research halves the time made to make Research checks when the Scribe is at the archives of a Steel Disciples bunker, and Skill Mastery allows the Scribe to select a number of skills equal to three plus his Intelligence modifier, and be able to take 10 on those skills even if distracted or threatened. Bonus feats at level 2 and 4 (selected from a handful of feats associated with either information or crafting) are accompanied by Exotic Firearms Proficiency (Energy Weapons) as a non-selectable bonus feat at level 2 and a free suit of power armor at level 4. Finally, you've got Technology Master at level 3 granting a +2 to Craft (Mechanical and Electronic) and Knowledge (Technology) checks, and The Collective at level 5 granting a +10 bonus to all Knowledge and Research checks as long as the Scribe is in the archives of a Steel Disciples bunker.  Tribal Shaman: Oh hey, yet another five level advanced class meant to be taken at earlier levels for questionable gains. Those have been so good to us so far, so clearly this one must be good! The Shaman has good Will save progression, poor everything else, and d8 hit dice, so nothing to really dwell on before heading right into the class features. Like the Steel Disciples Scribe, there are two at level 1 of the class. Meditation allows the Tribal Shaman to take a chem and spend an hour in solitude in order to gain a vision. This doesn't actually do anything at level 1 besides blow some chems that don't convey the normal benefit of after-effects associated with the chem, but gets actual benefits later: Brew Tribal Remedies at level 3 reduces the Craft DC of antidotes, healing powder, and any chem the Tribal Shaman meditates with by 5, Blood of the Ancestors at level 4 grants 2d6 temporary hit points to allies whose total levels are equal to the Tribal Shaman's character level for one hour after meditation, and Visions of the Ancestors at level 5 grants a +1 insight bonus to Defense and Reflex saves for a number of hours equal to five plus the Tribal Shaman's Wisdom modifier. The other level 1 class feature, Voice of the Ancestors, allows the Tribal Shaman to perform a chant that grants a +1 inspiration bonus to skill checks and saves against fear effects to all allies within hearing range for as long as the chant is kept up, and then three rounds thereafter. Level 2 brings Strength of the Ancestors, an ability that allows the Tribal Shaman to call upon their ancestors a number of times per day equal to their number of levels in this class. By spending a full round action praying to the ancestors in such a manner, the Shaman gets a +2 bonus to Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom for a number of rounds equal to their total class level, which is actually surprisingly good for a five level class in Exodus.  Tribal Warrior: Finishing off, we've got the Tribal Warrior, a ten level advanced class that can be taken after only a single level in a base class and focuses on combat. It's got a framework of good Base Attack Bonus progression, average Fortitude and Reflex save progression, poor Will save and Defense bonus progression, and d10 hit dice. It also manages to start right out of the gate with a pretty useful starting class feature, Desert Survival. This ability means the Tribal Warrior only has to make saves for searing heat every thirty minutes (rather than every ten minutes) and even then only do so after an hour's grace period, go without water for three days rather than one, and go without food for five days rather than three. While it wouldn't be that big of a deal in an average game, in one where you are expected to keep track of survival conditions – which, of course, Exodus does – it's a nice boon. On top of being able to select a variety of survival, combat, and movement-related bonus feats at the normal-for-advanced-class bonus feat levels of 3, 6, and 9, the Tribal Warrior also gets three other bonus feats as class features. While Better Critical and More Critical are bonus feats at level 4 and 8, Tribal Weapon Master at level 3 is a bit of a unique one. It effectively grants the Tribal Warrior the Weapon Focus feat eight times at once, but for specific weapons: namely, the club, knife, javelin, pipe, rock, shortbow, spear, and unarmed strikes. The two remaining class features are also not poo poo, so we're actually ending on a good note. Ancestral Fury is straight up D&D Barbarian-style rage that can be used once per day at level 5 and twice per day at level 10, as well as any number of extra times per day by spending a Karma Point, and Wasteland Resistance at level 7 grants a +4 bonus to saves against poison and radiation and immunity to radiation 300 RAD or less. Next Time The Exodus trifecta continues with the Southwest Wasteland Guide, the Game Master's Guide to the Survivor's Guide's Player's Handbook. While there will be a few things that fall away from Fallout, such as the Super Mutant equivalent of half-orcs and furry soldiers, it's also the book that covers organizations and locations such as the Families of Las Vegas, the drug-running Khans, the brutal Mutant Army, and of course the Steel Disciples.
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Feb 9, 2015 22:51
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gradenko_2000 posted:stuff on how melee works in MiniSix Yup, it appears that the melee damage calculation is more in line with the old Star Wars rules than the Open D6 rules. I suppose it makes sense, though. If someone is able to withstand tank fire, they may as well be able to dish it out.  Breachworld Part 5 History Leading to Breachworld We finally get into a more detailed description of the world and its history beginning about 130 pages in. The key to the whole setting is the breaches, and that’s where the bulk of the history is focused. Beginning in 2012, scientists discovered gates, which was a piece of technology consisting of two devices at different locations that could transport materials between them instantaneously. It appears to have worked like Portals from the Valve game: you could see the other side and walk through instantaneously. The theoretical physics behind how the gates operated was not fully understood, but testing showed that it was safe and within three years major governments began to create gate centers where travel between distant parts of the globe became as simple as walking down the block.  Within a decade gates had become the primary method of shipping and travel, and other modes of transportation slowly began to atrophy. Initially gate travel was heavily regulated since there was still a fair dose of skepticism from the general public. By 2040 the perfect record of safety had won the people over and gate travel was deregulated by most governments. Gate travel was as deeply enmeshed into the fabric of society as possible. Communications were faster, shipping was cheaper, and a person could become a world traveler without ever having to drive or fly. Walking uninterrupted between the major cities of the earth without ever leaving the comforts of society was a simple possibility. Technology boomed as scientists were able to consolidate their efforts and experiment with miniaturized gate technology. Advances such as fusion reactors became a possibility using well placed, miniature gates. By the 2060s, old concerns about the safety of the gates began to resurface as odd anomalies began to occur. At first a handful of travelers on tight schedules noticed that they arrived seconds or minutes later than instantaneous travel should have allowed. Then it became hours. As the errors continued, sometimes a traveler would emerge from the wrong gate location with no explanation as to why or how. It was still a vanishingly small percentage of all travelers, but the percentage was growing. Scientists petitioned the governments for reform and more funding to understand the gates. The gates had become too much a part of the world to shut down altogether, and they kept in use even after the first confirmed case of a traveler disappearing into a gate and never returning. In 2066 all gates around the world suddenly changed. Instead of linking two distant points, they now allowed one way travel from what appeared to be other dimensions into our own. Alien species of flora and fauna emerged from the thousands of gates, now called breaches, across the world. Since the primary concentration of breaches was in the cities with the most people, millions died in the first few days. It was a total societal collapse. The breaches were too numerous and dangerous to fully contain and governments collapsed while trying. According to the future historians, likely hundreds of years have passed since that day. No one knows exactly how long the breaches have been active thanks to the total collapse of record keeping in the decades following the apocalypse. It seems pretty unlikely that so many years could pass and still leave Breachworld with buildings or working technology. They don’t even have the old Rifts standby about MDC building materials keeping things in working order. In my own campaign, I would just assume it’s more a matter of decades to maybe a century. The Breaches  Now for a discussion of the breaches themselves. The breaches appear like a portal or doorway into another dimension. A person earthside is able to see clearly into whatever dimension the breach leads in from. That’s because it is a two dimensional tear in the fabric of space that allows matter and energy to come through to earth. Matter and energy cannot go out, though. If a person standing earthside tries to enter into the other dimension they can see they will pass through the breach like a hologram and remain solidly on earth. There is no resistance and nothing happens to the earthling. Just outside of the breach is what is called a “Hot Zone” where alien organisms of all sorts congregate and tend to spell danger to unwary travelers. I imagine the larger hot zones, in places where there used to be collections of gates, would be a chaotic mess of competing ecologies. It brings to mind the The War Against the Chtorr more than the world of Rifts. Another quirk of the breaches is that some are a spigot for a substance known as Aether, which is an energy or matter that scientists believe is one of the building blocks of the universe. In practical terms, it allows for magical effects that were not possible before the opening of the breaches. Since the book seems to like to veer more toward harder scifi explanations for soft scifi tropes, I would link the Aether with the Oz Particles of GURPS Technomancer fame. No one knows what an alien staring through the breach into earth actually sees because there is no way to contact them until they step through, and most probably don’t want to talk about it once they’ve become hopelessly trapped on earth. Once an alien does come through the breach, they have the same experience with the breaches as do earthlings. They can stare longingly at their own dimension, but they can never return. I can understand from a thematic standpoint why the breaches operate this way. It helps keep the campaign world grounded and shifts the focus away from gonzo dimensional travel a la Phase World. It even keeps Earth from becoming a valuable dimensional nexus like Sigil or Cynosure. Earth is just a dimensional fly trap and the concerns of things beyond earth are essentially academic. The issue I see is with the mechanism of the breaches themselves. Once things go through the breach, they cannot travel back and there is therefore no pressure from the destination world. Basically, to the other side of the breach, the opening leads to a place of zero pressure. It might as well be an opening into deep space. The atmosphere from other worlds would come pouring into the breaches with hurricane force. If we assume that there were at least 5,000 breaches active when the apocalypse occurred (which seems like a gross underestimate), and if we assume that the average atmospheric pressure on other worlds is around the same as earth’s, then sometime in the intervening hundreds of years the quantity of gases in our atmosphere would have more than doubled. The atmospheric pressure would begin wiping out living things on earth, particularly large fauna. The ecosystem would collapse due to the influx of new gases. More slowly, all of the worlds connected to Earth by the breaches would have their atmospheres drained. It may take thousands of years, of course, but it would essentially be inevitable. It’s pretty easy to handwave this sort of issue away. We may as well just assume that only solid matter has enough mass to make it through the breach or something to that effect. I just highlighted it because it strikes me as a very old school sort of RPG problem. By trying hard to apply ‘realistic’ mechanisms to something that may as well be magic, all hell breaks loose. The Breachworld We finally move into the setting proper. Honestly, there isn’t a whole lot of information given considering the potential. I am going to chalk this up to this being the first book and the stated intent to keep the scale of conflicts more local. The place you plop your characters down in turns out to be a slice of Texas bounded by San Antonio in the southwest, Houston in the Southeast and Dallas in the north. Of course none of these places are named outright, except perhaps Fort Hood, which is known only as Hood in the ruins of America. I am not an expert in Texas geography, so I could be way off base on the things I’m telling you. I got most of my information from Google Earth. There are several active groups in the area that are worth a mention. The largest and potentially the most powerful are The Resistance, which are our pro-human Coalition stand-in. Unlike the Coalition, they aren’t a nation proper but more of a loose terrorist organization. They generally operate in a cell structure in places with large non-human populations, and act as a regular political organization where they are able to show their face. Some towns, such as the aforementioned Hood, are controlled by The Resistance in all but name and nonhuman visitors are rarely welcome. The idea of rounding up a posse of Resistance members to hang or run nonhumans out of a city is kind of a problematic image, honestly, and I think I would end up altering them to take the edge off. The Cooperative is a white-hat organization of scientists and adventurers who work to reclaim the technology of the Golden Age, and thereby bring back the standard of living earthlings once enjoyed. Their most recent advance is the BCD, or Breach Closure Device, which is the first time anyone has been able to close a breach since they were opened. Like The Resistance, they’re not a standard government but a loose organization of like-minded folks. They’ve begun to create BRACS, or Breach Research and Closure Squads. Yup, that’s pretty much what your party will probably end up doing. They don’t have the money to fund major operations, though, so you’ll be mostly on your own. Ironically, they appear to be doing the exact work the Resistance would like done even if their intent is totally different. Rose Armaments is our Breachworld version of Northern Gun or Naruni Enterprises. Caravans of Rose Armaments traders come through regularly and sell of oodles of high tech weaponry for reasonable prices. No one is sure where their home base is, if they are manufacturing their own weapons, or if they are simply selling off an ancient cache found in some ruin. Rumors of far off lands sound more like medieval legends than fact. There is talk of a town of pre-Armageddon people who never seem to age. Others talk about forests where dinosaurs run wild. A common rumor is of a man in the ruins of San Antonio who can bring the dead back to life for a suspiciously low cost. Basically there’s room for any rumor you want the players to hear. Society exists mostly in the form of small farming communities or small city-states. Technology is incredibly variable since a surviving factory or power plant may be enough to raise the local technological level. Usually something significant surviving from the Golden Age is enough to found a city state or regional power around. On the whole, however, people are working at a barely pre-industrial level and farming is the main occupation. It’s not the only occupation, though. There is opportunity to be had combing through ancient ruins looking for functional technology or any books that might make life easier. Raiding is another choice occupation and helps make the world seem smaller by limiting the reliability of travel and communication. The economy has resorted to trade rather than currency. There are simply too many cultures and too many political ideas floating around to agree on a single type of currency. Some of the largest communities have something approaching minted money, but it’s far from a universal, accepted currency. Cattle and horses tend to be the most valuable items commonly traded. Weapons, particularly Golden Age weaponry, are not often traded due to their rarity and potential value. Vehicles do tend to see some trade among raiders and mercenaries, although finding something that can still drive is incredibly rare. Most people just use horses. Now for some of the locations in PA Texas. Really only two major and one minor location are outlined, although quite a few more are shown on the map. I mentioned Hood a couple of times. It’s a town in the ruins of Fort Hood that is totally run by human supremacists. They act in basically the same way as the Spartans: the citizens of the town are soldiers, and everyone else is doing manual labor for them under the threat of violence. There is quite a bit of breach activity in the area near Hood, but a disciplined military and lots of functional weaponry make sure it’s not a real problem. According to the book, exactly 522 humans live there.  The Arena is a community created out of the ruins of Floyd Casey Stadium, home of the Baylor Bears. In the future it’s turned into a community of mostly humans with some Minotaurs and Machine Men thrown in for good measure. There are solid enough walls to be defensible, an area for protected agriculture where the field used to be, and enough housing in the stands area to handle hundreds. Over hundreds of years of slapping habitation together, it looks less like a football stadium and more like a city in miniature. There is plenty of breach activity in the area to keep the defenders busy.  One trading post is outlined, and it’s located along the ruins of Interstate 45 somewhere north of Centerville. It is staffed by a single Grim trader. At any given time, dozens of travelers from all over the area can be found stopped here on their way around the wasteland. Other than an appendix of monsters that I will discuss next time, that’s all the information we get on the setting. It feels a lot like something I would have came up with if I lived in Texas. Not being from Texas, though, it feels kind of strange. If I were to play this game, I would probably choose to set it somewhere more familiar to my players since the limited setting information is probably not enough to overcome their unfamiliarity.
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Feb 9, 2015 22:56
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never stop posting knockoff Vault Boy
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Feb 9, 2015 22:56
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I'm going to go out on a limb and think that a high-grav world is going to have it's own problems. Life span would probably be shortened from stress on your cardiovascular and skeletal system, fluid pooling at the ends of the your extremities, etc. Low G is going to be easier to adapt to then walking around all day with it physiologically feeling like you have an olympic bar and some multiple of your weight on it.
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Feb 10, 2015 01:26
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Tasoth posted:I'm going to go out on a limb and think that a high-grav world is going to have it's own problems. Life span would probably be shortened from stress on your cardiovascular and skeletal system, fluid pooling at the ends of the your extremities, etc. Low G is going to be easier to adapt to then walking around all day with it physiologically feeling like you have an olympic bar and some multiple of your weight on it. Specifically I was talking about this guy, who was basically gene-adapted to live on a high-G world. Jovian Chronicles isn't nearly that galactic yet, though.
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Feb 10, 2015 01:36
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A Buck Godot RPG would loving rule. GURPS could probably do the job the easiest, but I'm not familiar enough with the state of the rules. Along similar lines, did the Foglios ever put out that GURPs sourcebook for Girl Genius?
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Feb 10, 2015 02:04
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Glazius posted:Specifically I was talking about this guy, who was basically gene-adapted to live on a high-G world. Jovian Chronicles isn't nearly that galactic yet, though. Oh thank God, for a minute there I thought you were talking about Space Hercules from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.
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Feb 10, 2015 02:33
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Yeah, but the problem is your typically high grav worlder is going to be small. Like half human sized, especially with really dense muscles. The energy requirements for day to day activities would be extremely high and your body is going to do everything in its power to minimize that.
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Feb 10, 2015 03:47
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Rangpur posted:Along similar lines, did the Foglios ever put out that GURPs sourcebook for Girl Genius? No, they haven't yet. It claims to be in production but SJG lies like that a whole lot.
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Feb 10, 2015 03:58
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Tasoth posted:Yeah, but the problem is your typically high grav worlder is going to be small. Like half human sized, especially with really dense muscles. The energy requirements for day to day activities would be extremely high and your body is going to do everything in its power to minimize that. Sooooo basically Squats?
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Feb 10, 2015 10:57
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BatteredFeltFedora posted:Oh thank God, for a minute there I thought you were talking about Space Hercules from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. My mind immediately went to Charlie-27 from the original Guardians of the Galaxy.
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Feb 10, 2015 15:10
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Fossilized Rappy posted:The capstone ability for the Desert Ranger is Squad Leader, which makes party members and friendly NPCs within a 20 foot radius of the ranger gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls. This isn't exactly amazing on its own, especially compared to the things the Field Officer from d20 Future can do that could have been cribbed for this class, but what saves it from being useless is that it can stack with the Squad Leader ability of other level 10 Desert Rangers. Assuming your whole party is Desert Rangers, you can just have a big ol' attack buff circlejerk as long as you stay in formation. Man, just imagine a whole army of Desert Rangers... quote:
So you can spontaneously decide that your starting ghul was no "true" ghul all along? (Though I admit that would be kinda interesting for a Replicant advanced class) quote:Right Hand of the Devil at level 10 makes it so that there's a chance equal to the Made Man's Reputation percent with his Family that members of other gangs (including raiders and slavers) will either run away or grovel rather than fight. Are there any restrictions in terms of family size? I can see that one be a bit weird if their family is the biggest around, while yours basically consists of you and a few buddies. Tasoth posted:I'm going to go out on a limb and think that a high-grav world is going to have it's own problems. Life span would probably be shortened from stress on your cardiovascular and skeletal system, fluid pooling at the ends of the your extremities, etc. Low G is going to be easier to adapt to then walking around all day with it physiologically feeling like you have an olympic bar and some multiple of your weight on it. Plus low-G worlds have this "I can jump over my friggin' house!"-vibe going on possible colonists just can't resist. Doresh fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Feb 10, 2015 |
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Feb 10, 2015 19:53
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The whole low-g, high-g thing reminds me of reading Heroes Unlimited where the Alien world table had both as options as the planet your character was from, and both resulted in a character that was stronger and tougher than an Earth character. I remember thinking that basically meant we Earthicans got a poo poo deal on planet selection.
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Feb 10, 2015 19:59
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theironjef posted:The whole low-g, high-g thing reminds me of reading Heroes Unlimited where the Alien world table had both as options as the planet your character was from, and both resulted in a character that was stronger and tougher than an Earth character. I remember thinking that basically meant we Earthicans got a poo poo deal on planet selection. I think they just went with the comic book logic of "Every alien is a super hero". That's the only way the super strong Lightworlder makes sense. Though the most likely answer is probably ""There is no logic in Palladium. Only MDC.".
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Feb 10, 2015 20:13
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The storm has a name... - Let's Read TORG Part 11h: Cold chrome, hot lead, premade templates And now we finally get to the most important part of any cyberpunk RPG: the equipment section! quote:“The GodNet brings the benefits of cybernetics to all loyal Catholics. Imbued with the Holy Spirit and the blessing of the Church, cyberware fortifies weak and yielding flesh with the power of God. Blessed are the faithful, for they shall share in the bounty of the Lord.” That being said, technically cyberware is only available for the faithful. Any legal installation surgery must be approved and supervised by a techpriest, and to ensure that you're actually faithful instead of paying lip service for some chrome, there are a few...hidden systems. quote:All of the cyberware systems described here are available at no cost from the Cyberpapacy, but there is a price to be paid: to ensure orthodoxy, or to prevent the use of these systems against the Cyberpapacy, the systems are frequently fitted with homing bugs (homers), and self-destruct devices which can be activated by Malraux’s agents. These devices are activated by radio, and either burn out a cyberware system making it inoperative, or else cause severe damage to the user’s Central Nervous System. In the case of lifesupporting cyberware, death follows quickly as cybernetic hearts and lungs cease their vital functions. Other systems simply burn out and fuse together. At the same time, energy stored in their powercells is blasted through the user’s body causing an attack with a damage value of 18. Of course, getting implants requires surgery, and since this is Torg you have to roll to see how well the surgery went and how long you're going to need to recover. Installing cyberware in someone requires a medicine roll, with the difficulty depending on the system being installed. If the roll succeeds, then the surgery was successful. The patient is out for half an hour after the surgery (yes, they specify how long) and will probably have a wound or two that need to heal normally. Better-than-normal successes can improve your healing rate, whereas bare successes or flat-out failures can damage not just the patient, but the cyberware as well, and can actually cause the patient to flatline on the table. So yes, it's possible for your character to die just by getting a cyberhand. And even if you get your chrome installed without any problems, there are other systems in play to make your life difficult. The first is the possibility of system failure; whenever you're doing something involving your cyberware, a roll of 1 means the GM gets to roll abonus and look it up on the system failures table. Because we haven't had a chart in a while, I guess. Oh, and he gets roll-agains on 10s and 20s like it's a skilled roll.  The other problem is because this is a 90's cyberpunk RPG: the danger of cyberpsychosis. Cyberpsychosis is the dehumanizing side-effect of replacing too much of your body with hardware. Every piece of cyberware in the book has a cyber rating that represents how much of a strain it puts on your headmeats, and your character's cyber rating is the total of all these values. Whenever you suffer a setback result, from cards of social skill use, the GM takes your cyber rating and generates a total with it. This is compared to your Spirit stat, and the result is looked up on the cyberspychosis table.  Interestingly, you can declare you're resisting the cyberpsychotic attack, which is treated as an active defense; roll your Spirit to generate a total, with a minimum bonus of +1. Unfortunately, it doesn't say if this is treated as your action for the turn (like a normal active defence), but if it's not, then there's no reason to not resist the attack. You also have a maximum cyber rating equal to your Spirit+10; if you hit the max, then "cyberpsychosis will doom the character within the span of a few adventures". Unfortunately they don't say what that actually means. There's no "when you hit this number you finally snap and are removed and your character is taken over by the GM" thing, and technically you're only checking for a break when a setback happens, which isn't a guaranteed thing. So I guess the GM is supposed to take the character away after a few sessions? It is possible to reduce your character's cyber value. You can either have systems removed (which requires more surgery, with all the risks that entails), or can be treated with a psychology roll. And now that we're past the general mechanics, we would logically talk about the main manufacturers of cyberware because that shouldn't be in the setting info. Each piece of gear in the book has the manufacturer in the name, which is a nice touch, really. This is the closest thing we have to a real list of "megacorps", though, so let's get through this. BelleVision originally made cosmetic replacement eyes before the Tech Surge, and is now one of the main manufacturers of cybereyes. They're currently dealing with the twin problems of a rival company sort-of stealing their brand name with lower-quality "Belle-View" products, and the fact that a large chunk of their R&D department just defected to Paris Liberté and has set up their own company. Clear Sight Industries is the number one provider of cybereyes and weapon enhancement systems to the Church; in fact they don't sell to anyone else because the company is run by cyberpriests. Recently, however, one of their main product train shipments was seized by the Resistance, and then stolen again by the Sun Kings.  High tech! Compte Industries develops physical enhancement systems. It's a relatively small company, but their systems tend to find their way into Churh Police or Hospitaller operatives. The German government believes that Compte Idustries is actually a Dr. Mobius operation, or secretly a front company for Japanese interests. CyberHam Manufacture is a sort of "guerrilla company" created by ham radio operators who wanted to get into this whole "GodNet" thing on the ground floor. They make cyberdecks and other systems designed to infiltrate Cyberpapal systems. They work out of back rooms and warehouses. Data Audio Systems (DATAS) used to be a manufacturer of audio systems. Now, they lead the way in audio and sensory cybersystems. The company is controlled by the Cyberpapacy, but rumor has it they have a manufacturing facility somewhere outside the main cities. FreeFrance Optics is the company made by the people who defected from BelleVision. They've had to deal with attacks from Cyberpapal forces trying to either kill them as heretics or bring them "back into the fold", i.e. killing them. They've had to relocate recently to get away from these attacks. God's Word Industries are the number one manufacturer of weapons and combat gear for the Church. When you're stripping a dead Church Police agent for his gear, odds are that it'll have "GWI" on the label. Many illegal companies try to duplicate GWI gear, but they can't match the overall quality. Marlenes produces drug-injection systems (including the associated drug), and may or may not be a front of the Sun Kings. The company denies this, of course, but it's probably not a coincidence that their drugs are highly addictive and are sold on the streets with disturbing regularity. MediCo is a straight-up drug manufactuing company, making normal over-the-counter and prescription drugs. They are very concious of their public image, and give to a lot of charities across CryberFrance. Unfortuntely, a lot of those charities are owned by Malraux. MindBody Technologies are the main manufacturers of boosters and chargers, cyber-components that inject drugs into a person's system. And they've even managed to work out the kinks, like drug resouvour leakage and brain damage! NeuroInc develops artificial nerves and skin tissue. Their artificial skin is pretty much impossible to tell from the real thing, but that being said most people don't use it because you want to show off the chrome to show how pieos you are. Pleasure Products Ltd used to make "massage machines", but now makes sensory enhancement systems. And that's pretty much all there is to them. Trigon Products make cyberlimbs. Specifically, they make cyberlimbs for the Resistance and assorted street gangs. They've taken advantage of the increased tech available to create "mobile manufacturing plants", which travel the country staying one step ahead of the Inquisition. True Spirit Enterprises is another maker of sensory systems, but they're also the once who developed Spirit Chip technology. They also copy designs of other companies and sell those designs to the Church. And with that out of the way, let's talk about cyberware implants! To start with, every system needs a power source. Small systems (like cybereyes) use inegrated batteries that can run for about two years before needing to be changed, whereas a cyberlimb runs on a larger battery that only lasts a month or so. Cyberlimb batteries can actually be recharged by plugging them into a wall socket. Chipware sockets require very little power, and actually run off the user's central nervous system. Next up is a brief discussion on costs. Did I mention the books aren't organized very well? Anyway, the prices listed for gear are actually how much it'd cost to get the part from a cyberlegger; the Cyberpapacy does not charge for cyberware, but will only give it to selected members of the church. On to the basic cybersystems! If you have implants, you need NeuraCal to activate them mentally. NeuraCal is a system of artificial nerve cells that are woven into the brainstem, then connected to your various systems. It has a base cyber rating of 5, which is about a quarter of most characters' max rating. If you don't want to get NeuraCal installed, you can use Jaz Packs instead. Jaz is a chemical that temporarily alters your nervous system to allow implant use. It's injected through an apotheduct, which is a patch put on the surface of your skin that you can plug drug packs into for easy dosing. The apotheduct only has a cyber rating of 2, and a jaz pack has a rating of 1 and gives you -3 to your cyberpsychosis results. The down side is that a dose of Jaz only lasts an hour, whereas NeuraCal never runs out. It's worth pointing out that you don't need NeuraCal or Jaz to use an unmodified cyberlimb, but you would need one of them to use an implanted weapon or system. If you don't want to go either route, you can get a control pad built onto your arm. It's worth pointing out that 1) they don't tell you this for another five pages or so, and b) the book doesn't say how this all works with stuff like a cybereye. Do I need Jaz to use the zoom function of my eye? Got me. The other basic cyberimplant is a neural jack, which you need to directly access the GodNet. For the most part, only techpriests or GodNet raiders have these. Everybody else makes do with simple stick-on temple electrodes ("temptrodes") to beam the signals into their brains. Using the GodNet through trodes is very limited (especially compared to what you can do with a jack), but it's good enough for normal users with the added benefit of not having to worry about your frontal lobe melting. Now we start getting into the good stuff with sensory systems. Each "sensory location" can hold up to three systems, with all their various bonuses stacking. But here's the thing: each eye is considered a different "location", so you could have three implants in your left eye and three completely different systems in your right eye without any sort of problems or headaches. And yes, they specificially say you can do that in the book. Not that you'd want to get too nuts, because while sensory systems only have cyber ratings of +1 or +2, they can add up. Regardless, we first get a listing of vision enhancements. Obviously, I'm not going to go through every single one, because they're pretty much what you'd expect: low-light/IR vision, heads-up displays, cameras, and an assortment of pluses to your find skill. There's also one system that lets you see electrical impulses. Next are auditory enhancements, and again there aren't too many surprises here. Sound enhancement and dampening are the main draws, but you can also get enhancements for low- and high-frequency hearing. There are only two taste systems and they're both pretty useless. One lets you identify tastes you've tasted before (+1 to your Perception for "tasting purposes only"), and the other stores 20 tastes so you can identify them if you've never tasted them before. Whatever. The olfactory systems aren't much more interesting. Yeah, there's the standard track-by-scent implant, and a general sense enhancer, but the interesting thing here is The Clamp. It's a system that automatically seals your nasal passages shut for three minutes when it detects an unwanted scent or gas.  Holding your nose...IN THE FUTURE! The last of the five senses only has two tactile systems available: one that gives you +2 Dexterity when doing fine work, and one that lets you sense electrical currents within 10 cm by touching something. There are other assorted sensory systems as well; motion sensors, bioscanners, throat mikes, things like that. Again, it's all pretty much your standard cyberfare. Next on the list are the physical enhancements. This is where your bioware and overall body ehancements are found. Some of the options available include vocal modifications, chemical enhancers or injectors, tendon replacements, and stat boosts, but ultimately there's nothing super-amazing here with the exception of the MB Blocker. MB Blockers are standard-issue implants for Church Police that release pain suppressants and endorphins when the host is hurt. With a Blocker installed, you ignore all K results on damage rolls, all shock damage you take is reduced by 3, and you don't lose your next turn when heavily wounded. Which makes fighting the Church Police a real pain in the rear end. From here we go to Prosthetics and Armor. Interestingly, cyberlimbs aren't common with followers of the Church. The Church prefers to give the common folk simple implants and internal systems, saving the big stuff for the actual Cyberpapal hierarchy. Outside the Church, of course, they're pretty common, but you have to get them installed by a cyberlegger. Limb cyber ratings vary, from +1 for a low-end cyberhand to +6 for the high-end limbs. That being said, there's no real difference between the low-end and high-end versions of the cyberlimb, but I do like that the highest-quality cyberleg is the Trigon Steve Austin. quote:Cybernetic limbs are made from HardPlas: a light, but tough plastic which is also pliable and resistant to damage. Artificial muscle tissues are used to manipulate the limbs, and the limb is covered in NeuraSkin. As with other items of cyberware, street fashions dictate that it is more cool to leave the limb uncovered, coated with chromium plate or painted in other bright colors. If you want to go as full borg as possible, you can also get a full skeleton replacemet. The Trigon CyberSkel basically allows you to up the Strength scores of your cyberlimbs. The "armor" part of this section is just subdermal armor. Get metal plates installed under your skin, get up to +5 armor. The next section is a list of subdermal weapons. Once again, not too many surprises here; you can install a small-caliber pistol, a gas jet, or monofilament blades in your arms. There are two types of arm blades: you can get slicers (which come out of your fingertips or toes), or slashers (which are Wolverine claws). If you saw Johnny Mnemonic, you can also get a monowhip installed in your finger because that's a good idea. We now come to Chipware, which has a few new things that differ from your standard cybersetting. As is the case with this kind of thing, you need special jacks installed to use chipware. As is also the case because it's the 90s, the "chips" look like small plugs rather than actual computer chips or SD cards.  Warning: Choking hazard for children under 3. You can get chips that give you a +1 or +2 to one of your skills or just give you a ton of file storage in your head, but the two main additions here are faith chips and skill chips. We've talked about faith chips before (they make you a devout follower of Cybercatholisism), but spirit chips need some detail. Spirit chips contain the personality and memory of a person who was trapped in Purgatory. The victim's "soul" (for lack of a better term) is permanently uploaded into the chip, and when you slot the chip you gain access to that person's skills and memories. The thing is: the rest of the person is in there too. When not slotted, the inhabitant of the spirit chip is basically in a dormant state, and is awoken when the chip is plugged in. The inhabitant knows how long they've been out, but will need to be told what the current situation is when they wake up. The person who slotted the chip will have access to the inhabitant's skill adds (as long as he has fewer adds than the inhabitant), but uses his own stats to determine the overall score. The big downside to spirit chips (apart from how they're made) is that the chip inhabitant can try to take over the host's body. The inhabitant still has his mental stats as well as his skills, and can make an opposed Spirit roll on the Interaction Results Table. If the inhabitant wins with an unskilled or stymied result, then the chip takes over for the rest of the scene, using its mental stats and the host's physical stats. If the host loses by more than that, then the inhabitant takes over and shoves the host's mind aside, making him a passive observer of his own actions. What's more, the longer the chip is used, the better the chip will be at seizing control. The host can try to retake control under a few different circumstances: quote:• a chip does something contrary to the character’s beliefs (gamemaster’s decision).  The rest of the chapter is just a few pages of generic gear, guns, armor, and vehicles you can get, but I'm not going to get into this stuff because it's just varations on basic gear. There are still a few things that stand out: First, laser and plasma weapons are available. Second, most of the vehicles available vehicles hover. The cars, the APCs, the battle tanks...they all hover. Third, there's a CyberTrain. quote:The CyberTrain is a huge train that runs on a magnetic rail. It is capable of high speeds and is armored and armed with plasma cannons and Hellfire missiles.  :metal: train ever.And now, finally, we have the templates available to Cyberpapal characters. The core Worldbook has three templates:  The GodNet Raider is a computer musician who got transformed during the Tech Surge. His default gimmick is that he sees everything in terms of music, like calling the GodNet "a great piece of music being butchered by a backup band". His tag skill is, of course, cyberdeck operation.  The Jaz Fighter is a straight-up tough-talking street-smart cyber-punk, yo. She's gotten a bit of the old "wire-and-polish" done at a chopshop, and is now ready to take on the "hood-and-frocks". Ridiculous slang aside, the Jaz Fighter starts with a bunch of cyberware and her tag skill is fire combat.  The Obsessed Prodigy is basically Dr. Hachi Mara-Two (she's on the core book cover), only from the Cyberpapacy, but still with the ridiculous hairstyle and outfit. She's your typical "teenage girl who doesn't 'get' life or have social skills yet at college where everyone's ten years older" type, only with cyberware. Her tag skill is science The Cyberpapacy book adds another twelve:  The Amateur Occultist was that kid who was really into tarot cards and runes and such, and didn't let go of that stuff as he grew older. Now that the invasion and axiom wash have happened, he's finding out he was actually more viable than he knew. On the plus side, he can cast spells now! His tag skill is divination magic, and his starting gear includes dark glasses and an overcoat because of course it does. The Consulting Detective ran a sort of unofficial investigative service for people who needed more discretion than your typical private eye would show. When the Cyberpapacy showed up, you were one of the few who doubted, who saw the manipulation behind the light show. Now he uses his tag skill of evidence analysis to help his fellow freedom fighters. The Cyberdecker is basically the GodNet raider, but with different gear and not as pretentious. She was a hacker before everything end now, and now she's like a kid in a candy store with all this new tech around. Her tag skill is cyberdeck operation. The Cyberlegger can get you what you need. Parts, weapons, cyberware that fell off the back of an quote:You woke up one morning to find hi-tech goodies littering your workroom. Stuff you’d only previously read about in cyberpunk novels was piled up high. Passing a mirror you noticed that your glasses had changed. Boy, did you look cool in those flush-fitted mirrorshades. Fitted real well, too. A seamless mesh of flesh and tech. The Dissenting Priest has seen the arrival of Malraux and the Cyberpapacy run roughshod over his own long-held moral beliefs. Even before the Tech Surge and the declaration of Pope John Paul as the Antichrist, you knew what had to be done. And thanks to the sudden increase in divine intervention thanks to your faith (roman catholic) tag skill, you have the means to fight back. The Disillusioned Hero is a poor bastard who went off to fight in the Foreign Legion, then came back home just in time for the invasion to turn everything to poo poo. It wasn't bad enough he saw all his friends killed in combat, now he's a front-line defender of Paris, and all these confused civilians are going to him for help like he knows what the gently caress to do. His tag skill is fire combat. The Hunted Witch is actually the first template who comes from Magna Verita. She managed to escape the Inquisition for years, watching friends and allies who weren't as lucky fall to the forces of the Church. When the initial bridge dropped, she managed to sneak into the new world. The Tech Surge gave her cybernetics, and now she's ready to fight back for real. Oddly, she's the only template with two tag skills: alteration magic and scholar (herbs). The Psychologist was a normal Core Earther who's found herself on the wrong end of the Church. With the mindset of the masses dialed back to a medieval point of view, psychology becomes "brain magic" and people are having none of that. Still, her impressive social abilities and psychology tag skill can come in handy.  Hey Moe! The Renegade Hospitaller is originally from Magna Verita, and didn't adjust well to the Tech Surge. He saw Malraux's new dedication to this strange technology as trouble (especially since Malraux was damning technology up 'til then), and the last straw was when he was ordered to torch a village of innocents. He managed to escape the Church and the so-called Cyberpope, and now fights on the side of the just with his faith (Cyberpapist) skill and heavy weaponry. The Secret Agent was a "military advisor" in Chad when she caught a mortar round. It cost her an eye and an arm, and earned her a desk job in Paris. When the invasion arrived, she was the only one who cared about the Church's covert operations because everyone else was panicking. Then the government collapsed, the Tech Surge happened, and she found herself with some upgrades and able to get back in the game. Her tag skill is stealth.  The Senior Citizen is my honest-to-God favorite template in the entire game line. I'm just gonna quote his background in full. quote:You thought you’d entered your twilight years. Your body had started to give out. First your hearing went, then your hip joint, followed by your legs. You’d always been myopic, so to came as no surprise when you started going blind. as gently caress. Oh, and his tag skill is fire combat.The Street Punk was living on the street long before the invasion happened. She had to scrape for everything, and when the invasion hit things got even worse. Insane Church officers, thousands of displaced citizens, and insane new street gangs make survival harder than ever, and now she has to start learning how to get help from others. Her tag skill is streetwise. More templates would come out in later books, but it's interesting to note that there wasn't a "cyberpriest" template until the Cleric's Sourcebook. -- And that brings us to the end of the Cyberpapacy book! And as silly as it tends to get, it's actually a really interesting take on the cyberpunk genre. It hits a lot of the main points of the genre (corporations controlling everything, constant surveilance, crazy gangs), but by changing every major controlling power to a version of the 16th Century Catholic Church. Tieing all the tropes to the belief structure of the Church leads to some interesting (and scary) concepts, like faith chips and having your soul "damned" to a spirit chip for all eternity. The problem is that the book is really hurt by the line's poor organization, needless detail, inconsistent tone, and the whole problem with having to maintain your personal axioms because no matter where you go outside of France you're going to be operating above the local tech axiom. I mean, it's nice that you can play a cyberwitch or cyberpriest without worrying about Shadowrun style drawbacks, but the constant threat of disconnection is a pretty big issue. Despite everything, I still love the place. As long as I don't have to do any netrunning, and you'll find out why... NEXT TIME: GodNet DLC!
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Feb 10, 2015 21:35
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Alright, I don't really like the Cyberpapacy for a variety of reasons (many of them being that I've developed a strong dislike of Torg from the reviews) but the Senior Citizen is pretty goddamn great.
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Feb 10, 2015 21:40
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