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Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
On the other hand, while that ties in wonderfully to the themes, it's kind of an rear end to actually, you know, play.

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Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
Make a Pixie-Faerie fighter! Do it! Tiny people with big swords!

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Undertakings just feel like the silliest to me, like TV Tropes started delving into criminal psychology, defining killers by a single gimmick. And that makes some sense for supernatural creatures that may have profound reasons to have varying gimmicks, when your subjects are simply "murderers", it seems pretty goofy.

I think it's because it's meant to emulate, specifically, horror movie killers. Thus, Jason the Mask, the Hillbillies from Deliverance are probably Freaks, the Genius is meant to be Hannibal Lecter types... by design. They're /slasher/ movie archetypes. Well, not always slashers, but that sort of thing. They're meant to emulate that archetype.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
Not really? I mean, you can take any number of other merits or fun things for other gimmicks, and you don't have to have an undertaking, and you can have other things on top of it, too. Plus, there's rules for building new undertakings. So really, it's more diverse than you'd think!

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
Okay. Can someone clarify for me what an Institutional Demon is, exactly? Is it just nDemon demons?

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.

oriongates posted:

Unknown Armies, part 21: Weird People

The House of Renunciation


God, this whole thing... Aah, poo poo. Unknown Armies has so many amazing plothooks, but I could never run it. I'd fail horribly if I tried. Unknown Armies is the best game I'll never run and probably won't play in. I mean, the House is an adventure hook all on it's own, and you could run a game just based on this poo poo, even without Avatars and the Clergy and Adepts.

Amazing.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
I know, but god, I'd love to do a game at the global or cosmic level knowing all of this, man... I don't suppose anyone here'd run a game online? :P

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.

oriongates posted:


So, that's it for Unknown Armies, or at least mostly it. I was going to ask, would people prefer I dig out Post Modern Magick and Statosphere and cover a few more Adepts and Avatars or should I move to my next F&F (which will be the Whispering Vault)?

I would absolutely adore more UA, personally.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.

DNA Cowboys posted:

Dreamhounds of Paris: Dramatis Personae 1

Luis Bunuel, Two-Fisted Filmmaker: Spanish filmmaker. Macho filmmaker dedicated to attacking the outdated ideologies of the Church and the bourgeois. He uses the portal to the Dreamlands in the Parisian catacombs to film special effects that would be untenable in the waking world. His section includes a sidebar about the homophobic attitude of many of the Surrealists, along with an advisory that individual groups can treat this dynamic however they’d like.

Claude Cahun, Woman in the Mirror: French writer, artist. She travels the Dreamlands for images and objects to use in her work. Although lesbian, she isn’t shunned like the gay male Surrealists (“greeted more with incomprehension than contempt.”)

Lenora Carrington, Gothic Heroine: English painter. A collage by Max Ernst unlocks her forgotten dreams. Later, “his touch awakens your buried memories of adventures in a nighttime world of bizarre animals and Gothic hallways.” Later still, “Ernst leaves his wife for good--though she still sometimes ambushes the pair of you in cafes to pelt you with cups and saucers.” Her motifs include “weird animals, Gothic manors, green lakes, lunar surfaces, sexually fraught horses.”

Salvador Dali, Cunning Visionary: Spanish artist. Early in life, he’s a dandy: “Together, you, Lorca and Bunel listen to jazz, drink rum, and call the squares putrefactos. The athletic Bunuel dishes out fistic retribution to anyone who makes fun of your outlandish attire and demeanor.” Later in life, he’s a wealthy dandy with a turbulent inner life marked with jealousy, family issues, and obsession. Overall, he’s arrogant, controlling, and unbalanced. Unlike many of the Surrealists, he has a modicum of business sense.

He clashes with Breton and tries to seize control of Surrealism--he’s the wild-eyed iconoclast and Breton is the rule-bound thug. Eventually, his popularity pushes him to turn his back on Surrealism: “Did you finally lose your Instability once and for all, or did you see something in the Dreamlands so horrible that you chose to throw it all away?”

Giorgio de Chirico, Remorseful Pioneer: Italian painter. The first to notice the changes he makes in the Dreamlands are warping it. He tries to combat it by returning to more traditional painting styles, but the new wave of Surrealists are already latching onto his transformative work and calling him an inspirational figure. He looks for redemption while the hardcore Surrealists turn on him for embracing the musty tradition of the past.


Max Ernst, King of Birds: French artist, sculptor, etc. Explores the Dreamlands as LopLop, the King of Birds. Eventually discovers LopLop is an independent entity, who nevertheless approves of Ernst taking his form. Travels to Easter Island to prevent Paul Eluard from doing something terrible while possessed, destroyed eldritch artifacts. Appreciates “birds and bird-people, [...], elephantine robots, exposed internal organs, deconstructed beasts, [...], distorted nudes, fixtures from risen R’lyeh."

Next time: More characters!

I have never had an interest in Surrealism and modern art movements.

Now I do.

Damnit.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
Man. I actually want to learn about this real time period now. Maybe one day.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
Entertainer! Don't you know that bards are the best characters?

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Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.

Doresh posted:

Of course. They wouldn't be evil if they didn't do thinks purely for the evulz.

(Oh, and is anyone okay if I just continue ProfessorProf's TBZ review, or do you guys want a "reboot"?)

Reboot it, I'd say. It's been too long.

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