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Gerund
Sep 12, 2007

He push a man


Alien Rope Burn posted:

If it had some central game consequence, that would be neat, but it's just too fiddly to be handy in Spycraft 2.0. Like, I could see doing some weird system where like initiative doubled as some form of HP or resource, but as just something where you punch somebody and they drop 2 initiative is a good example of a significant bookkeeping addition with little actual consquence . The same could be said of the tick system from Exalted 2e... which really is just a phase system, honestly. In theory that kind of thing can be interesting if you're weighing the pros and cons of a low-tick action versus a high-tick action, but in reality it's mostly just charop axis where you drop your speed as low as possible to chip away at your foe's mote pool with cheap pokes.

It's the kind of thing that works better in CRPGs; I'm reminded of Zeboyd's Penny Arcade games where characters have the ability to "knock back" foes in the initiative order, which becomes very important since enemies escalate in power each round. It's possible at a tabletop to make ways to have it easier to track through phase wheels or trackers but you have to have a really compelling reason to add that.

I am always a big fan of importing standard boardgame mutable turn order systems into rpgs. But Spycraft 2.0, as a consequence of being a d20 derivative, is married to the initiative clock and all of the hidden costs that are a given for the sake of tradition.

There would be something to extending an escalation die-esque system into the game with the knock back element, to make turn order a valuable element. As is, its just design for the sake of word count.

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Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Gerund posted:

As is, its just design for the sake of word count.

Best description of Spycraft 2.0 I've ever heard.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Paizo's having a big sale on a bunch of old and out-of-print stuff. There's a lot of Ars Magica, Over the Edge, and, most importantly: Nexus Live Action Roleplaying.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Evil Mastermind posted:

Paizo's having a big sale on a bunch of old and out-of-print stuff. There's a lot of Ars Magica, Over the Edge, and, most importantly: Nexus Live Action Roleplaying.

10 bucks? We got that for 3. We just need 44 copies and we can run that game.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

theironjef posted:

10 bucks? We got that for 3. We just need 44 copies and we can run that game.

Well, copies for 44 players. You'd also need three more GM and some femaleswomen to give everyone backrubs.

Grnegsnspm
Oct 20, 2003

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarian 2: Electric Boogaloo
I like that they dropped some adventure module from 16 dollars down to one dollar but they still think people are going to pay 10 bucks for loving Nexus. I like to imagine it's because they saw our podcast and were like "Hot drat, it's back on the radar! Jack the price up, boys!"

Terrible Opinions
Oct 17, 2013



I'm guessing that it has more to do with Nexus being something they're selling from another company thus making their margins smaller.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Probably. Nexus is brought to us by Chaosium, and I think they're still floating around churning out Basic Roleplaying and boardgame expansions for Cthulhu. Unless there are two companies called Chaosium.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
I got a copy of all the Over the Edge books on sale. Even though I'm broke.

Libertad!
Oct 30, 2013

You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!


Chapter Four, Part One: The Art of the Blade

This is where we look at all the maneuvers and stances up close. As there are about thirty-something maneuvers/stances per discipline, I'm not going to detail them all individually, instead grouping related ones together and pointing out interesting ones.

Much like spells, maneuvers and stances are labeled 1st through 9th in level. There are several maneuvers (around usually 3-4) to gain at each "level," although there is only one special 9th-level maneuver for each discipline.

Black Seraph is our first discipline. It's a brutal art which focuses on charge attacks, pain-related debuffs, and evil and unholy-themed attacks (many of which bear the [Evil] descriptor and/or inflict profane damage). All Black Seraph maneuvers are considered supernatural abilities, and in order to learn the techniques one must take the Martial Training feats or join the Black Thorn Knights martial tradition and swap out one of your class' disciplines in exchange for this one.

Several maneuvers (Voracious Drive at 1st, Voracious Drive at 3rd, Abyssal Drive at 6th, and Charge of the Ravager at 7th) allow the user to make a charge attack without provoking an attack of opportunity plus an additional effect, such as additional damage, sickening an opponent (Abyssal Drive), or making one bonus attack to every opponent within reach of your charge path (Charge of the Ravager).

Low level maneuvers (1 to 3) include such abilities as Gut Strike (strike plus sickened condition on opponent on a failed save), Ravaging Blow (strike fills the enemy with fear on a failed save), Fear Eating Technique (boost restores hit points to user upon successful demoralization of opponent), Intimidating Force (counter with successful Intimidate check vs. attack roll to negate enemy attack), Shadow Feather Strike (strike manifests dark feather-shaped energy which is thrown as a ranged touch attack), and Tendon Rip (strike deals damage plus halved movement equal to initiator modifier in rounds). Stances include Black Seraph's Glare (demoralize as free action against enemies you damaged that round), Savage Stance (+1d8 damage but -2 to attack rolls), and Black Seraph Battle Stance (channel the might of the lower planes grants unholy property to weapons plus constant magic circle against good on self).



Middle level maneuvers (4-6) include get such dark gems as Circle of Razor Feathers (hold weapon up to sky to shower opponents with needles in an Area of Effect attack), Abyssal Lance (strike summons a lance of pure rage to throw at opponent and stun for 1 round on failed save due to wracking pain), Sensory Rip (strike scars the opponent's eyes to blind them on a failed save), and Black Seraph's Wrath (boost adds Intimidate check result to next melee damage). Stances include Walk in the Dark (surrounded by constant darkness and gain darkvision) and Razor Wings of the Black Seraph (form an ethereal image of a fallen angel to gain fly speed, AC bonus, and Whirlwind Attack feat).

The high-tier end (7-8) includes Armageddon Lance (strike like Abyssal Lance, but stronger and panics opponents and deals hp damage to user), Devastating Riposte (counter calls for opposed Intimidate check vs. attack roll, inflicting melee attack + 8d6 damage if successful), Apocalyptic Strike (strike sends shockwaves through the ground to perform an Area of Effect attack and inflict daze on a failed save), and Void Seraph Strike (strike summons claws and wings to devour opponent, dealing damage over 1d4 rounds plus concealment vs. targeted opponents). The only stance includes Vampiric Aura, where at the end of your turn you deal profone damage to all living creatures within a 20 foot radius and heal a like amount.

The ultimate 9th level maneuver is Black Seraph Onslaught, where he inflicts a full attack plus one additional attack, dealing an extra 4d6 damage per successful hit and nauseates them for a number of rounds equal to the attack. People killed by this maneuver are so mutilated to bits that only True Resurrection can bring them back to life.


Libertad's Thoughts: This an aggressively-minded stance, with little in the way of counters but much in the way of inflicting horrible conditions on your opponent. I really like the flavor as well.


Broken Blade techniques require the user to be using discipline weapons or be unarmed. Use of appropriate weapons in conjunction with damage-dealing maenuvers inflict an additional 2 points of damage. Many maneuvers involve some type of battlefield control, where successful use moves either you or the opponent (or both) a certain number of squares.

Low-level maneuvers (1st to 3rd) include Flurry Strike (strike which allows you to make 2 attacks as a standard action), Pommel Bash (surprise elbow strike targets flat-footed Armor Class and deals 1d6 bonus damage), Bronze Knuckle (boost which boosts unarmed damage by 2d6 and ignores damage reduction), Cartwheel Axe Kick (successful Acrobatics check allows user to move 10 feet towards or away from a target without provoking attacks of opportunity, plus 2d6 bonus damage if successful hit), Leg Sweeping Hilt (strike which allows a trip plus an immediate attack if successful), Flat Iron Riposte (counter which throws an opponent 10 feet away on a successful Acrobatics vs. enemy's attack roll), and Steel Flurry Strike (as Flurry Strike but 3 attacks). Stances include Iron Hand Stance (+2 shield bonus to Armor Class as long as you have one free hand) and Broken Blade Stance (gain bonus equal to initiator level on Acrobatics to avoid attacks of opportunity plus bonus attacks on a full attack).

Mid-level maneuvers (4th to 6th) include Broken Blade Riposte (counter which deals 3d6 bonus damage and moves target 5 feet away if they successfully melee attack you), Iron-Breaking Palm (sunder with 3d6 bonus damage plus entangled if broken item is shield), Iron Monger's Throw (CMB check with +4 bonus to throw opponent 20 feet away and 6d6 points of damage), Shards of Steel Strike (attack deals 8d6 damage plus 2d4 bleed damage for several rounds afterwards), Singing Steel Strike (unarmed strike deals 8d6 bonus damage plus deafens target for 1d4 rounds on failed save), and Steel Axe Kick (unarmed strike deals 10d6 bonus damage and dazes target for 1d3 rounds on failed save). Stances include Steel Grappler's Attitude (treated as one size category larger for grapple/bull rush/etc actions and add initiator modifier to such actions when resisting) and Pit Fighter's Stance (deal 2d6 bonus damage when opponent is denied Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, plus can perform one dirty trick action per round as a swift action).



High-level maneuvers (7th and 8th) include Adamantine Knuckle (Boost which ignores hardness of objects and 6d6 bonus damage to all attacks within the round), Spinning Flurry Rush (make 2 attacks against each enemy within your reach as standard action, each attack deals 4d6 bonus damage), Meteoric Throw (can hurl opponent within 25 feet as ranged touch attack dealing 12d6 damage, can be thrown at other opponents and deal damage to them too!), and Spinning Adamantine Axe (one unarmed attack against every foe within reach and 10d6 bonus damage which knocks targets prone and ignores damage reduction). The only stance is Unbreakable Stride Stance, which grants a continual freedom of movement spell effect on the user.

The ultimate 9th-level maneuver is Storm of Iron Fists Strike. The user makes a full attack and each strikes deals 4d6 bonus damage. Afterwards the target must make a Fortitude save (with a higher DC the more successful attacks land) or be reduced to -1 hit points.

Libertad's Thoughts: This really is what the Monk class should have been. There's a lot of ways to crank up the bonus damage and move yourself and opponents around the battle grid to line them up for your fellow party members. The "flurry" maneuvers are pretty much a better Flurry of Blows because they're all standard actions meaning that you can move and attack multiple times in the same round.

Next time we'll cover Golden Lion, Iron Tortoise, and possibly Primal Fury.

nomadotto
Oct 25, 2010

Body of a Penguin
Soul of a Hero
Mind of a Lazy, Easily Distracted, Waste of Space

Torchbearer

Welcome to the other bone zone!
(Pre-Introduction)
Torchbearer. Torchbearer is a really odd duck, as far as games go. Which makes sense, both because of what it's trying to do and because of who made it. The second part is simple: Torchbearer is an RPG by Thor Olavsrud and Luke Crane.

It's very heavily based off of Burning Wheel and Mouse Guard (both by Luke Crane), both of which are really interesting games, one of which has been discussed before. The thing that makes both games so fascinating, at least to me, is how successful they are at creating a sort of portentousness and ritual. To be slightly clearer, they are games that speak in Capital Letters when discussing Items of Merit, and Have Strong Opinions about making sure your Characters are Real People. This is accomplished in a large part by putting in lots of funny (read: fiddly and annoying) rules about things like characters needing to have shoes and hometowns, and friends, family, and things like that. It really helps to make your characters feel alive.

Torchbearer is about that. Torchbearer is also about being lost in a dungeon and knowing exactly how far you are away from running out of food and torches, at which point you are very likely going to die. It's a game about trying to figure out if you can leave behind your wineskin so you can carry that extra bit of treasure to the surface. It's a game where being good at singing and cooking and riddling can be more important than being handy with a sword. It's a game about the Red Box D&D you remember, or heard stories about, when Elf was a class, wizards had random spells, and players cowered in fear from a patrol of Orcs.

Alright, enough nonsense, let's start actually talking about the game. I'm going to follow the structure of the book, because that's how it's designed to be read. This is really annoying if you're trying to make a group of characters for a one-shot (which the book specifically says not to do) and you need to make sure you didn't gently caress up the math. This is also far from the last annoying thing, because the whole book is written like every other Luke Crane-inspired book, which is alternately wonderful and frustrating. The basic structure is

Introduction
Building Characters
Dungeons
Resting (huh? That's a whole section?)
Advancement
GM Stuff

Introduction (before I get side-tracked again)
The very first subsection is a basic overview of the world that torchbearer takes place in. It's short, and outlines a very standard “points of light” setting. The wilderness is large and inhospitable. People crowd together in walled towns for survival. Heaven is high and the Czar is far away etc.

After that comes the statement of purpose, and perhaps the best summary of the game-

“Torchbearer is a riff on the early model of fantasy roleplaying games. In it, you take on the role of a fortune-seeking adventurer. To earn that fortune, you must explore forlorn ruins, brave terrible monsters and retrieve forgotten treasures.

However, the game is not about being a hero. It's not about fighting for what you believe. The game is about exploration and survival.

You may become a hero. You might have to fight for your ideals. But to do either of those things, you must prove yourself in the wilds.

Because there are no jobs, no inheritance, and no other opportunities for deadbeat adventurers like you. This life is your only hope to survive this world”

Inspiring stuff, no?

After that, there's the standard stuff about what is a roleplaying game, the structure of the book, terminology etc. A couple of quick notes-
    1) Rolls are called tests (as in, test skill X means roll Xd6)
    2) The story is going to come out of the game, rather you you having a story to tell at first
    3) Don't be a jerk to other players
    4) Say, “I do X”, rather than “I want to test X”
Then it's time for Luke Crane Dice Convention time. Essentially, rolls are Xd6. For every dice >=4, you get a success (called a success). For every dice <4, that dice is not a success (called a scoundrel). You will never see this terminology (scoundrels) used anywhere else :lukecrane:. The number of successes required is called the obstacle (OB). Other fun dice shorthands are
+/- 1s = Plus or minus one success.
+/- XD = Plus or minus X dice.
Reroll 6s= Every time you get a six, you get another dice. This only happens on certain abilities.
Margin of Success/Failure = Number by which you exceeded (or were short) of the obstacle. If you hit the obstacle, that's a tie.

With that stuff taken care of, we're on to the character making chapter. To try to encourage people to read and reply to this, everyone vote for Stock/Class and a name. For the first, Your choices are
Human/Warrior
Human/Magician
Human/Cleric
Halfling
Dwarf
Elf
I'll figure out the winner and post the next set of character questions when I get to the next section: More Terminology (Character Edition).


The iconic Torchbearer characters, from left to right:
Dwarf, Warrior, Halfing, Elf, Cleric, Magician

Doodmons
Jan 17, 2009
I vote for Warrior. Fighters were the core of old school dungeon crawls and I'm interested to see Torchbearer's take on them.

ZorajitZorajit
Sep 15, 2013

No static at all...
I vote Magician look at that sauve chap!

8one6
May 20, 2012

When in doubt, err on the side of Awesome!

Both the Magician and the Warrior look awesome, but armor always wins at first level.

My vote is Warrior.

Angrymog
Jan 29, 2012

Really Madcats

Female Warrior, called Bradamante

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
So I got my college gaming club to order a copy of Path of War, and now one of my friend is telling me this is the most overpowered thing ever and triviliazes every other classes. How do I prove him wrong?

Terrible Opinions
Oct 17, 2013



Mono class wizard of equal level above 5.

Ratpick
Oct 9, 2012

And no one ate dinner that night.
Torchbearer, gently caress yes! I've had that game for a while now but have yet to find the time to run it. It's basically a roguelike in tabletop form, but beyond that I just love how well the game's mechanics mesh with each other. Much like in Burning Wheel, every rule is there for a reason, but in Torchbearer the various connections between the separate rules elements are more transparent and obvious by simple virtue of the fact that the game's rules are much more compact than the Burning Wheel's.

Oh, and you should totally do a dwarf lady who kicks rear end and takes name. Call her Brunhilde.

Meanwhile, in a completely different indie elfgame...



Monsterhearts
Chapter Five
Teaching & Running the Game

A nice and compact chapter that discusses how to run Monsterhearts and how to teach it to people. I actually wish more RPGs had sections like this, because not everyone picking up an RPG is necessarily intimately familiar with the hobby to begin with, and giving new GMs the tools they need to teach the game to their friends (instead of assuming the old paradigm of veteran players teaching new players) is much more beginner friendly.

Before You Start you obviously need to do some setup work. This is mostly just no-nonsense advice: you need a space and 3-4 hours of free time for you and your friends to sit down and play the game. You should also make it clear to the players that after you've played once you can keep on playing later if the players are on board. You also need copies of each of the Skins, the Reference Booklet, the MC Booklet, pencils, erasers and at least two six-sided dice.

The you go into Guiding Character Creation. The book suggests giving each of the players a couple of the Skin booklets and then going round the table, each of the players reading the flavor text under the Skin's name in the most melodramatic voice possible. When I run Monsterhearts I always say "Remember the first season of Buffy when there was still a silly voiceover before the credits? Yeah, that's the flair we're going for." This not only gives the players an idea of what the Skins are about, but sets the mood for the game. Once all the Skins are introduced, the players should each choose one.

At this point, everyone goes through their Skin booklet to create their character, and at each step the MC should also explain new terms as they come up. Once it's time to choose Stats, the MC should explain what the Stats mean, which Moves they govern, and how rolling the Moves works. Once you get to the Backstory, you should explain what Strings are and how they can be used. Basically, as new concepts come up, the MC should explain them, all the way through the Darkest Self (and what can trigger it) and the Sex Moves.

Teaching the Game has a bunch of useful advice on actually teaching the game:

Teach the mechanics in a concentric way.
Basically, work up from basic concepts to more involved concepts. Basically, start with "You tell me what your character does and sometimes we roll dice to see what happens" before going into Stats and Moves and stuff like that.

Teach the context as you teach the mechanics.
Instead of teaching just the mechanics, it's important to teach what they mean. Instead of teaching turning someone on as "You can roll with Hot to gain Strings on people" explain what the Move means and what it entails, as well as what the exchange of Strings in that Move might mean. Also, whenever teaching that specific Move to new players I like to talk about the fact that the said Move can happen without the character actively doing anything and the key to making that Move is narrating how your character looks to the person they are trying to turn on.

Use examples and demonstrations.
Nothing's more boring than just listening to one person talk all the time. When it's time to teach how Moves work, get those dice out, tell one of your players "Say you're trying to punch a dude, roll those two dice, add them together, and add your Volatile. Okay, so what'd you get?" and walk them through the process.

Teach as you go.
Of course, instead of front-loading your players with all the information to begin with (like going through all the Moves at the beginning of the game) you should get to playing as soon as possible. From there you can teach the players the moves as they come up.

Teach what they need in order to make informed decisions.
On the flip-side, you also want your players to be able to make informed decisions. Before players pick Skin moves (some of which require rolling) you should teach the basics of rolling. If a player picks a Skin move that they later realize they're never using, let them change it.


This book is very sparse on the pictures, so here's one that's sort of related to this section.

After that we get to the First Session.

In addition to keeping their Agenda, Principles and Moves in mind, the MC should do the following things during the first session:
  • Make a homeroom seating chart.
  • Follow the characters around.
  • Learn what they want and what they're afraid of.
  • Wonder what kind of menace might be dwelling withing this town.
The first one is simple: the MC's handouts feature a blank seating chart where the players can place their characters. The MC should then fill in a number of seats on the chart with NPCs who are in their homeroom class and ask provocative questions to flesh out those NPCs. Stuff like "You had a fight with Jamie last week, what was that about?" and so on. This not only gives the MC an idea of who the other people in the class are but also where the PCs stand in relation to the rest of their classmates.

Following the characters around is a very important step: once you know what the characters' normal daily routine is like you know how to shake it up in later sessions. If you haven't established a baseline for normality in the characters' lives, then there's no context for the Menace that you introduce in later sessions.

The MC should be asking a lot of questions, but even more so in the first session, simply to find out what the characters want and what they are afraid of, so they can really pull at the characters' strings (maybe even capital S Strings) later on.

And finally, the Menace that you introduce in later sessions should emerge naturally from the events of the first session, so you should already probe at the players about this as much as possible.

The Party, The Fight, The Disappearance is a short section that describes how the first session should flow: start with a scene in the classroom to establish the PC's place in their classroom politics, follow them around during their daily life, and constantly pick at things that emerge from those scenes for material in future scenes. Also, if at any point it looks like things are slowing down, someone should throw a party, a fight should break out, or someone should disappear. Either way, something happens that gets things moving once again.

Next time we'll be getting to the section with all the cool MC toys in it, like Villains and Menaces, in the appropriately titled chapter Real Monsters.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 4, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
A lot of the understanding of d20 class balance comes from this article:

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5293

And here's a Pathfinder take on the same subject:

http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=11990.0

Ultimately the Path of War kind of things give us fighting classes around Tier 3 by the above articles, I'd say. But I'd have to know more about the friend's argument. The thing is that those sorts of classes are really awesome at fights, but aren't as flexible as a wizard or cleric. They'll deal out damage and harry foes and move effectively, but they aren't going to mind control foes for hours or days, fly and drop lightning bolts from the clouds, teleport across continents, etc.

They do invalidate a good chunk of the fighting classes - but that's because monks, fighters, gunslingers, etc. - are poo poo design. By the time the fighter is actually getting a specialization +2 damage bonus to their weapon, the wizard is putting 10HD of enemies to sleep, flying, or turning the whole party invisible. A lot of d20 players have ideas about balance based more on the formula of previous design and "conventional wisdom" than good game design, where you get formulae like Cleric Spellcasting + Domains + Turn Undead = A Fighter Feat Every Two Levels.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
He claimed that, by the math, the three new classes were just better at everything than everything else. He mostly mentionned the martial classes like barbarians and figthers, but also claiemd many maneuvers were more powerful than equivalent spells.

The big thing that make me think I won't be able to convince him is just how much he hated the idea of getting maneuvers back other than byr esting at the end of the day. He said it made Warlord the most powerful class in the game by far. And that it went against the absic philosophy of DND which is based around dwindling ressources. So yeah. :(

ANyway, thanks for the links! I love reading these kinds of analysis (FATAL and friends is what got me to pay my :10bux: in the first place).

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 4, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

MonsieurChoc posted:

He claimed that, by the math, the three new classes were just better at everything than everything else. He mostly mentionned the martial classes like barbarians and figthers, but also claiemd many maneuvers were more powerful than equivalent spells.

Barbarians and fighters are pretty crap. But that depends - I don't know maneuvers and spells stack up in terms of damage or status effects or the like - but they won't be as versatile. No maneuver will give them knock or glibness or wish.

MonsieurChoc posted:

The big thing that make me think I won't be able to convince him is just how much he hated the idea of getting maneuvers back other than by resting at the end of the day. He said it made Warlord the most powerful class in the game by far. And that it went against the absic philosophy of DND which is based around dwindling ressources. So yeah. :(

Warlock, you mean? Yeah, it can do things all day, but that's not quite as relevant in a game based around the 2-6 round battle. Mostly all a warlock does is shoot monsters passably and maybe fly or sneak a little. It's like saying a knife is more powerful than a revolver, because you can stab all day.

But as we all know, it's not real fantasy adventure unless you have to stop for a nap because your wizards and priests are all tuckered out! :ssh:

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
No, I meant Warlord the Path of War class.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 4, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
Ah, well, similar principles apply.

Golden Bee
Dec 24, 2009

I came here to chew bubblegum and quote 'They Live', and I'm... at an impasse.

Ratpick posted:

Real Monsters.
Do you run MH often? I've run it about as much as I've played it(+/- 5 sessions) and find it's rare to find good GMs, or even interested GMs.

Libertad!
Oct 30, 2013

You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!
Monsieur Choc, does this player complain about spellcasters being overpowered? If not, then it's a fair chance he's one of those types who believes that spellcasters should be better than fighters but instead couches it in other terminology. I see this a lot among 3.X Caster Supremacy advocates, who for some reason can't just come right out and admit what they really want out of a game.

Also, the classes are definitely NOT better at everyone than everything. The majority of maneuvers are combat-based and there's only a few "utility" ones. The out-of-combat stuff the classes can do is mostly by skills. The cannot replicate the effects of stuff like Fabricate, Wish, Planar Binding, and the like.

I'm betting he's never read the book in the first place and has a poor grasp on Pathfinder's game mechanics. In such a case he probably won't listen to reason and is mostly going by knee-jerk instinct. So don't try to sway his opinion, instead try to convince the other gamers that the Path of War classes are not as overpowered as what the primary spellcasters of Pathfinder can do. Yes, there are some cheesy maneuver and archetype combinations, but they're not the majority and spellcasters have far more support in that field anyway.

Libertad! fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Oct 7, 2014

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Ratpick posted:

Real Monsters.

Stupid game, everyone knows that it's basically an Oblina OP festival and Ickus is the class you give your little brother.

Babe Magnet
Jun 1, 2008

Aaahh, I see.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
Thanks guys. I'll see if that helps.

One thing he really kept going back to was the Warlord's Gambits. He especially saw the acrobatics and feint ones as being super broken good.

LuiCypher
Apr 24, 2010

Today I'm... amped up!

Torchbearer

Halfling! I really want to see if its stealth mechanics parse out into anything usable/meaningful.

Ratpick
Oct 9, 2012

And no one ate dinner that night.

Golden Bee posted:

Do you run MH often? I've run it about as much as I've played it(+/- 5 sessions) and find it's rare to find good GMs, or even interested GMs.

I haven't actually run it nor played it all that much: I took part in a one-shot session of the game at a con last year and ran a very short-lived season of it for my university RPG club. Mini-series might actually be more appropriate than season, really, because it only lasted for a couple of sessions.

Having said that, I've been talking to a couple of my friends outside of my usual tabletop group (because as I may have hinted at a number of times, my usual gaming buddies aren't all that big on Monsterhearts given its themes and subject matter) and we've actually got a group set up and we've scheduled our very first session for this very Sunday. I might be posting an after-action report in the Apocalypse World thread at some point.

But yeah, I've loved Monsterhearts ever since I first played it and the short-lived game I ran was one of the most fun I'd ever run, so I'm really looking forward to getting to run it again.

Crasical
Apr 22, 2014

GG!*
*GET GOOD
Seconding LouiCypher. Stealth mechanics seem to be a sticking point in other systems, I'd like to see how Torchbearer handles them.

nomadotto
Oct 25, 2010

Body of a Penguin
Soul of a Hero
Mind of a Lazy, Easily Distracted, Waste of Space

Current votes are:
3 Warrior
2 Halfling
1 DORF
1 WIZZZRD

The next post will be up either tomorrow night or friday night, depending on a variety of random factors. In the meantime, start thinking up a hometown for (y)our hero!

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
One more vote for Warrior. Especially a Warrior of the "Ranger of the North" flavor.

Pick whichever of the lady names would sound best said in hushed whispers.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.



Dark Heresy is done and ready for listening! It's actually pretty darn neat!

Green Intern
Dec 29, 2008

Loon, Crazy and Laughable

Torchbearer-related! I'm voting for a Halfling. Now it's all tied up. God bless democracy.

Piell
Sep 3, 2006

Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer


Young Orc
Halfling

Halloween Jack
Sep 11, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I also vote Warrior because it's my litmus test for any D&Dalike.

Gazetteer
Nov 22, 2011

"You're talking to cats."
"And you eat ghosts, so shut the fuck up."
I vote halfing.

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Not sure how kosher it is to call dibs on RPG's, here, but I foolishly promised a friend that I'd review this loving thing if it got funded, once it got published, and it got funded. Oh boy.

quote:

Creating a Gorean roleplaying game and worldbook will create a resource for fans of Gor and role-players of all kinds for years to come, hopefully another fifty years to come. I am devoted to making this project a reality, having already spent eighteen months researching the books, cross-referencing, extracting information and writing both the guide and the game rules.

I have successfully completed two RPG projects previously, ImagiNation - an RPG about depression and mental illness - and Machinations of the Space Princess, a science fantasy 'old school' game.

Anyone know if this guy's previous RPG's are bad or interesting enough to review while I wait for him to push his great big Gorean turd out?

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Alien Rope Burn
Dec 4, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Considering what a big deal they've been, it's almost a little odd I don't have any experience with the 40K RPGs. Granted, I'd be a lot more interested if there was something like a Necromunda variant or an Ork variant. I guess I'd rather play Cockney than posh; I always found the Imperium rather dull, so the laser-like focus of the RPG on their grim greyfaces has done a lot to dilute my interest.

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