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hectorgrey posted:Because Barbarians are just better, and black people are just dumb in the world according to Howard. And people wonder why I'm not a huge Conan fan... It's worse: white men are the best at everything, including barbarianism, and they have a moral duty to protect other white men from being killed by browns - even if the other white men are their enemies! Despite all that, Howard is my favorite writer  Speaking of Howard-inspired media, I started and abandoned a write-up of the Savage Worlds version Day After Ragnarok in the previous thread, and I'm wondering if I should start it up again. Goons, would you still be interested? Should I c/p my old posts into this thread, or is it enough to pick up where I left off? Thank you in advance. vvv Okay, posting links (if I do it). vvv Pththya-lyi fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 12:50
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Ningyou posted:the pooka resist by pranking the most ostentatious mundanes. Is there any plot beat worse than the prank war? I guess "hero rapes heroine because he loves her so much," but prank wars are stupider. E: Unless the combatants in the prank war are actual children, and it is in a '90s Nickelodeon show. Then it's charming, not awful. Pththya-lyi fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 16, 2014 19:30
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Cardiovorax posted:Also nMage, because every setting that has loving Atlantis as its primary conceit is retarded by default. To be fair, the supplements have backtracked away from Atlantis, stressing that it is a metaphorical legend about a magical ideal, and nobody literally believes it any more than they literally believe in Santa Claus.
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Jan 17, 2014 10:27
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mmj posted:I don't think I've ever posted in this thread, but I've followed it for quite a while, and I would really, really LOVE to see the rest of the Day After Ragnarok review finished. It appeals to the mythology geek and the budding tabletop geek in me, and whoever was talking about finishing it I would really appreciate the person that started that review finishing it because I liked your review style. That was me! I am sorry I let the review fall by the wayside. The was soon to get into the crunchy bits, which I don’t feel experienced enough to judge, and I was starting to feel worried that I was doing wrong. But your words are encouraging, so I do want to start again. pkfan2004 posted:RE: Day After Ragnarok. I do like the idea and I do like it being possibly being WWII pulp/Thundarr and if it's actually good well you bet your rear end I'll pick it up and give it a read. Well, I can assure you that the setting is quite enjoyable. Day after Ragnarok supports so many kinds of adventures, not just Thundarr style wandering through the ruins of civilization. I’ll discuss this more when we come to it, but the game also supports many different styles of pulpy adventure: spy games, resistance fighting, exploration, and – more interesting to me – rebuilding. I am going to continue with the review. You can expect a new post by this evening, so in the meantime why don't you read the previous posts: Part One Part Two Part Three
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Jan 18, 2014 20:48
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And now, after more than six months, I return to The Day After Ragnarok: Part Four: Edges Part One Part Two Part Three Last time I discussed the official Hindrances of DAR, so now I’m going to talk about the Edges. You can take all the normal Edges in the Savage Worlds core book; Hite tells us that the Noble Edge covers Americans and Texan “judges, corporate executives, [and] ranchers.” DAR adds some new Edges, some of which are based on our own history, some of which cover setting-unique elements. Background Edges DAR has four Arcane Background Edges: Magic, Miracles, Ophi-Tech (replacing Weird Science from the Savage Worlds core book) and Psionics. Super Powers aren’t appropriate to the setting, so they’re left out. This is a grimdark setting, and just like most everything else, the arcane is tainted by Serpent venom. In Core Savage Worlds, you get 10 Power Points when you buy an Arcane Background, but DAR Arcane Backgrounds only give you 5 PP; you have to effectively pay twice the Edge cost for the full 10 points. Each Arcane Background picks their powers from a set list. DAR also adds a couple of arcane powers:  Hideous underwater mutant or hideous underground mutant? You can't be both! Magic Requirements: Novice, Knowledge (Occult) d8+, All Thumbs or Anemic Ken Hite posted:Magic is inherently tricky and dangerous, and it imposes a cost on its practitioners over and above any danger to their souls. Their body energies flare and flux and interfere with precision equipment and electrical gear, or simply dwindle and drain slowly into Niflheim. Although all the major nations deny any official magical efforts, there may well be secretive government programs ongoing at Mount Shasta or Ayers Rock, not to mention whatever Stalin has bubbling away behind the Wall of Serpents. The Savage World system can be used to emulate many different kinds of magical traditions and DAR encourages the would-be mage to work with her GM to figure out the methods and trappings she uses. The book gives the examples of “an Aleister Crowley wannabe, a Pennsylvania hex magician, [and] a Kenyan witch-smeller;” the only restriction is that the magic require “ritual components or activities” of some kind. Mages pick 3 from this list: barrier, bolt, burst, detect arcana, dispel, elemental manipulation, fear, obscure, puppet (“requires a voodoo doll with target’s hair or blood”), shape chance (pick one animal per character rank), speak language, and zombie Miracles Requirements: Novice, Knowledge (Religion) d6+, Special In a world where the Norse religion has been definitively backed up by a giant fuckoff snake, you’d expect the other faiths to be on the wane, but nope! People of all religions are harnessing divine powers. Hite suggests that the GM restrict the Miracles background to NPCs by putting practical limits on miraculous abilities – the need to take hallucinogens, rituals that go on for days, purity requirements, etc – that make it hard to be a good miracle worker and an adventurer. Different religions require different Hindrances: Mormons, Christians, Jews and Muslims have to take Holy Roller; Buddhists and Hindus have to take either Poverty or Minor Pacifism; everyone else takes Outsider. (Forcing people to take Holy Roller in order to work miracles in their faith traditions kind of annoys me; I disagree with the notion that being devout means being obnoxious. But I’m not the game designer here, and it’s not like a GM can’t house-rule a different required Hindrance.) If you do get to use miracles, pick two from the list: boost trait (Guts, Healing, Intimidation, Persuasion, Spirit, Strength, Survival, and Vigor only), detect arcana, dispel, greater healing, healing, light, smite, and speak language. Ophi-Tech Requirements: Novice, Knowledge (Science) d8+, not a Luddite Ophi-Tech involves developing and using technology derived from Jormungandr’s remains; it’s the setting’s take on weird science. The player who wants this Edge has to justify her access to this bleeding edge technology; and the easiest way is to have status at Rhodes University or the British government. DAR posted:Rhodes University engineers and scientists are at the forefront of biotechnology, energy, and advanced airframe research based on study of the Midgard Serpent. Although some Rhodes-developed devices have been around long enough for gray-market knockoffs to emerge, virtually all the cutting-edge experimental “ophi-tech” or “ophiurgy” is still in the hands of Rhodes researchers and/or His Majesty’s Government. Not that there’s much difference. Of course, there are also ophi-tech programs at Caltech, Los Alamos, and the Nouvelle-Sorbonne, to say nothing of the Pingfan Institute in Japanese Manchukuo or Science City 14 outside Tomsk. But Rhodes still does it most and best.  You can also buy this Edge after character creation, but it takes two Advances instead of just one. The book gives the example of a member of the Royal Air Force getting a transfer to the Royal Rocketry Air Force. Ophiurgists pick one technological marvel that represents a power from this list: armor, acquatic, bolt, darkvision, entangle, environmental protection, fly, quickness, and speed (vehicles only). The ophi-tech items that produce these powers are discussed at the end of the Gear section. Psionics Requirements: Novice, Blank Stare, Minor Pacifist Both the US and the Soviet Union tried to weaponize psychic abilities in our timeline, but their experiments never bore any fruit (that we know about  ). In the Serpentfall setting, the Soviet Union successfully cultivated a crop of psionicists. Most of the people with the Psionics Edge have been trained at either the Leningrad Brain Institute or the Ukraine’s Makarenko Commune, which means that they are scary brainwashed assholes who are most likely antagonists to our heroes. If you want to be a good-guy psionicist, Hite recommends that you write a “Himalayan lamasery or mysterious glowing meteorite” into your backstory, but I think it would be interesting to play a Soviet defector. The Minor Pacifist Hindrance is the result of the distress a sentient being’s death causes a psi; “The NKVD well and truly grides this Hindrance out of NPC Soviet psis, of course.” Psis pick three from this list: boost trait (Agility, Strength, and Vigor only), dark vision, deflection, invisibility, puppet (requiring three rounds of eye contact), stun, telekinesis. Bump for Languages Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+ You are indeed a cunning linguist. You have a talent for learning not just languages, but also accents and dialects. You start with two bonus languages and can make a Smarts roll at -2 to brokenly speak and understand any spoken language you’ve been exposed to for 1d6 days. Combat Edges Fencing Requirement: Novice, Fighting d6+ +1 to Parry when using a sword. Boring, but useful. The description notes that swords are more useful nowadays because it’s harder to manufacture and distribute ammunition. Martial Arts Training Requirement: Novice, Fighting d8+ You never take unarmed combat penalties because your body is a weapon.  Melee opponents get a -1 penalty to their Gang-Up bonus against you.Improved Martial Arts Training Requirement: Seasoned, Martial Arts Training When fighting unarmed, roll Strength AND Agility and combine them.  Sykes-Fairbairn Requirement: Seasoned, Fighting d6+ KNIFE FIGHT!!!!! You have learned the close-quarters combat techniques developed and taught by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes. (People generally talk about Fairbairn-Sykes or F-S, but I guess Sykes comes first because this is an alternate universe.) +1 to damage with any melee knife, plus the ability to ignore 2 points worth of Called Shot penalties when you have the advantage of surprise or the Drop on your opponent. Improved Sykes-Fairbairn Requirement: Veteran, Fighting d8+, Throwing d8+ Your damage bonus with a melee knife increases to +2; you get the same bonus with a throwing knife. Furthermore, a raise on your knife attack roll gives you a +d8 damage bonus rather than the standard +d6. Professional Edges Airman Requirements: Varies. This Edge works like the Soldier Edge below, except you are part of an air force – probably Britain’s RAF or RRAF or the USAAF. You can be an Aircraftman (Requirements: Novice, Piloting d6+, Shooting d4+), an NCO (Seasoned, Piloting d8+, Shooting d6+), or officer (Requirements: Novice: Smarts d6+, Piloting d4+, Knowledge (Battle) d6+). If you’re part of the RRAF, you have to buy the Ophi-Tech Edge and the bolt Power, which represents your standard issue Marconi gun. Bush Pilot Requirements: Novice, Piloting d8+, Repair d8+ You are a pilot who is not part of an air force. You may very well be a former USAAF pilot who was let go after the war – there are a lot of those guys. You get a Piper J-3 Cub (or equivalent plane) and a place to hangar it on the cheap. Mountie Requirements: Seasoned, Vigor d8+, Guts d6+, Knowledge (Law d6+), Riding d8+, Survival d6+, Tracking d4+ In addition to their normal duties as national police and counter-intelligence agents, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police explores and reclaims the Canadian land poisoned in the Serpentfall. “That means everything from uncovering Soviet spies on the waterfront in Vancouver to fighting plesiosaurs in the Great Slave Lake.” You always start out as a constable, advancing on the Promotion Table like a soldier. You get a shiny badge that gives you +2 Charisma when dealing with those who respect the RMCP’s authority, you have jurisdiction over civilians in Canada, you ignore Difficult Ground and Unstable Platform penalties from snow and ice, and you get +2 to Fatigue rolls to resist the cold. Mounties are awesome, and I will be shocked and appalled if none of you express an interest in playing one. Rhodes Scholar Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8+, Knowledge (Any Two) d6+ You are associated with Rhodes University in South Africa somehow; you could be a full professor, but you could just as easily be a stringer or a paid researcher. You get £20 a month from Rhodes U, and you can call on the University to either give you advice (+2 to a Smarts-based roll) or free equipment to pick up. The pick-up has to be at either a city where Rhodes has a bank account (any English-speaking city or any major French- or Spanish-speaking city) or the site of a Rhodes project. If you’re an Ophi-Tech user as well as a Rhodes Scholar, you can swap one ophi-tech item for another one. The catch is that you’re required to help the university by performing scholarship or helping with expeditions. If you find something cool, you have to turn it in along with any equipment left over at the end of your adventure. To do any less means endangering your stipend – or worse!  Sailor Requirements: Varies Like a soldier, except on a boat or a sub. Officers get a pistol, Royal Navy NCOs get Owen SMGs, and everyone else gets jack for personal firearms. You can be a Junior Seaman (Requirements: Novice, Boating d6+, Swimming d4+), a Naval NCO (Requirements: Seasoned, Boating d8+, Intimidation d6+, Shooting d6+, Swimming d4+), or a Naval Officer (Requirements: Novice, Smarts, d6+, Boating d4+, Knowledge (Battle d6+) Soldier Exactly like a soldier.  You can be a private (Requirements: Novice, Fighting d4+, Shooting d4+, Throwing d4+), an NCO (Requirements: Seasoned, Fighting d6+, Intimidation d6+, Shooting d6+, Throwing d4+) or an Officer (Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+, Knowledge (Battle) d4+). DAR posted:Each step comes with its own opportunities and headaches—it’s not necessarily better or more heroic to You should keep in mind, however, that NCOs get +1 Charisma and Officers get +2. Soldiers are on duty all time; PC soldiers are generally part of a special unit that has more leeway to go around and do exciting stuff, like the British Special Air Service or the USMC Raiders. After each mission, the GM rolls on the Promotion Table to see if a military character gets a promotion. The promoted character moves up a rank on the Military Pay table as appropriate.  yay tables  Ken doesn't think accounting is fun, but understands that a lot of people do. Good for him! Speleo-Herpetologist Requirements: Seasoned, Vigor d6+, Climbing d6+, Guts d6+, Knowledge (Biology) d4+ DAR posted:It is the British Royal Society who have cut into the body of the Serpent at Hereford, and (at hellish cost) brought back living samples of the things, the cultures, swarming in its cavernous belly. The writhing creatures that dwell deep inside the Serpent hold biological—and perhaps magical—secrets on which depend the survival of the free world. It is the speleo-herpetologists, or “snake-cavers,” who go in to get those secrets. A speleo-herpetologist gets +2 to Guts checks involving the Serpent and Serpent-spawn, and deals +1 damage to Serpent-spawn he combats. If he’s Snakebit, the Vigor penalty is only -1. Texas Ranger Requirement: Seasoned, Vigor d8+, Fighting d6+, Riding d6+, Shooting d6+, Survival d6+, Tracking d6+, Like the Mounties, only Texan and without the spiffy uniforms. Rangers are part of a military-style hierarchy, yet are expected to act independently and on their own initiative – “One riot, one Ranger.” Like the Mounties, they have authoritah over civilians and a +2 Charisma badge. They also get a gun and a +1 bonus to their Common Knowledge rolls dealing with threats to the peace in Texas. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that’s all the new Edges. The next section, Gear, is going to be tough for me because I haven’t developed the instinct to make mechanical judgments. I will do my best to do an intelligent analysis, but you all should feel free to help me compensate for my ignorance by providing your own input. And now, I would like some audience suggestions of cool character and party concepts. Will they fight for King and Country? Science? Money? Their people's freedom? Or just because fighting is awesome? If you have the Savage Worlds rulebook, you might build characters yourself, but I’d like to try building a party too. It’s good to be back, goons! Pththya-lyi fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Jan 19, 2014 |
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Jan 19, 2014 06:51
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Hipster Occultist posted:So where the hell is Thor, aka the goddamn hammer-weilding protector of mankind when his mortal enemy is ravaging his charges? This is from the GM's section later in the book - the part discussing the United States: Snorri Sturlusson, Prose Edda posted:Thor shall put to death the Midgard Serpent, and shall stride away nine paces from that spot; then shall he fall dead to the earth, because of the venom which the Snake has blown at him.
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Jan 19, 2014 07:50
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Kavak, you may be interested in one of the setting inspirations: "Thor Meets Captain America" by David Brin.
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Jan 19, 2014 08:13
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drat, I should have recognized that problem with Holy Roller! You all are absolutely right that Judaism is not an evangelical religion. There IS a movement in Judaism known as Noahidism which tries to get non-Jews to follow the Seven Laws of Noah, but the book doesn’t specify that. (The Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Orthodox Judaism also has many mitzvah campaigns, which are efforts to get non-Orthodox Jews to adopt Orthodox practices). It is an easy fix, though: either specify that your Jewish Holy Roller focuses on getting Gentiles to follow the Noahide laws or make Jewish miracle-workers take a different Hindrance. It would be better if you didn’t have to house-rule in the first place, but eh. A more serious problem is with the British supremacy written into the setting. Yes, the British Empire has recovered very well and – with the exception of part of India, which is an independent state – is holding on to its remaining land without any objections by the indigenous people. (There are a lot of anti-imperialist movements in DAR, but the book implies that they're all either anti-Russian or anti-Japanese.) The problem, I think, is that Hite is hewing too closely to his source material – specifically, adventure fiction that shows Britain as the center of the universe. This is a problem with a lot of retro-futuristic fiction, especially steampunk, and I don’t have any easy answers for that criticism. I DO have an answer for the other criticism you’ve raised, which is that the setting doesn’t hew closely enough to the “canon” of Norse mythology, picking and choosing cool elements while ignoring the rest. This is only really a problem if you’re seeking a game that’s all about Norse religion and culture, but DAR isn’t actually about that and doesn’t try that hard to be about that. It takes a bunch of cool ingredients from a bunch of different sources – including Norse mythology – and throws them together in a stew, and I think it’s a pretty tasty stew. It sounds like a lot of you were expecting a different kind of dish, and I’m sorry that you didn’t get what you wanted. Blame the restaurant for writing a misleading description on the menu, not the stew. I’m going to start working on the Gear write-up soon. I guess you’re not interested in making characters or campaign concepts, but that’s okay, I don’t need them.
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Jan 20, 2014 04:48
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I know I'm supposed to be doing The Day After Ragnarok, but I've got so much real-life stuff going on that I'm too preoccupied to think about it, let alone do write-ups. (I only just remembered the write-up today!) So I'm officially stopping. If you want to start your own write-up, you have my blessing.
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Feb 12, 2014 10:08
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Savage Worlds has a Merits/Flaws system, with Disadvantages you can take at character creation. Some (like Outsider or Elderly) impose mechanical penalties, while others (like Cautious or Quirk) are basically a free benny-earning mechanism - all you have to do is roleplay your flaw! Quirk is especially bad because it can describe one of an infinite number of annoying habits; it can easily reward you for being obnoxious if the GM is too permissive.
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Apr 2, 2014 08:00
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Ningyou posted:
Godfucking damnit, this is why libraries are dying, isn't it? They don't try to understand why librarians (or any mature people) do what they do! For example, libraries impose due dates not because the librarians hate borrowers, but because they want to make sure that people other than the current borrower can have access to the book. If you keep a book past its due date, you're forcing the other library patrons to do without the book! The late fee is meant to deter people from keeping the book too long! Now, maybe it's because I'm a ~*mundane*~ who can't appreciate ~*whimsy and wonder*~, but it seems to me that someone who sets up rules to provide equal access to imaginative stories to everyone in a community does more to cultivate imagination than a faerie who hoards books. e: Also, in my (anecdotal) experience there are just as many frumpy, poorly-dressed librarians as there are prim-and-proper ones. Even the prim ones tend to wear pantsuits; I don't think I've ever seen a real librarian wearing the pencil skirt-blouse-bun combo. Pththya-lyi fucked around with this message at 14:47 on Nov 14, 2014 |
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Nov 14, 2014 11:12
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"Mirror-Universe Star Trek Crew" is a good tone to set for Rogue Trader
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Nov 22, 2014 22:57
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For HSD I want you to build McGruff the Crime Dog, Agent of Spyglass. Let's treat this game with all the seriousness it deserves.
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Jan 17, 2015 12:48
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