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One of my main problems with most versions of D&D is that it's so equipment-dependent. It's hard to do a simple fictional trope like getting captured and having to fight your way out of jail, because the rules don't really permit a combat built around the fighter now having -8 to his defense stat and doing 1/3rd normal damage. Not unless you just want the PCs to either die, or have a boring slog of a fight with some 0th level prison guards. The only time I remember having fun with "you get captured" was in a 3e game where the monk remembered that he does just as much damage when he's bound hand and foot, so he head-butted a guard to death, undid his bonds, and let us all loose.
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Apr 30, 2019 18:42
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D&D is at its core the dungeon delving game where you get on the equipment treadmill and have a good time. There's a bunch of stuff that it really isn't built to do that people keep trying to do anyway when the solution is pretty much always just to use a different system for what they want to do. As much as you want to do a cool court politics game in D&D, its a game that is fundamentally about fighting and getting loot. At least 5E for the most part is not as bad as previous ones where if you didn't have a +1 sword at level 3 you were hosed.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:08
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Is there a generic system that has something similar to the WHFRP career system? I think it's pretty cool but I'd rather do my own setting stuff.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:11
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wdarkk posted:Is there a generic system that has something similar to the WHFRP career system? I think it's pretty cool but I'd rather do my own setting stuff. I can't think of any games that have done a similar thing (except Zweihander, but don't buy Zweihander), but most of the Career system stuff isn't so heavily setting-dependent that you couldn't just use it as-is. The magic system is heavily Warhammer-flavored, but a lot of it could still be used in many other fantasy settings depending on what kind of tone you want to set.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:16
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EthanSteele posted:D&D is at its core the dungeon delving game where you get on the equipment treadmill and have a good time. There's a bunch of stuff that it really isn't built to do that people keep trying to do anyway when the solution is pretty much always just to use a different system for what they want to do. As much as you want to do a cool court politics game in D&D, its a game that is fundamentally about fighting and getting loot. That Old Tree posted:I can't think of any games that have done a similar thing (except Zweihander, but don't buy Zweihander), Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Apr 30, 2019 |
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Apr 30, 2019 19:19
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Halloween Jack posted:One of my main problems with most versions of D&D is that it's so equipment-dependent. It's hard to do a simple fictional trope like getting captured and having to fight your way out of jail, because the rules don't really permit a combat built around the fighter now having -8 to his defense stat and doing 1/3rd normal damage. Not unless you just want the PCs to either die, or have a boring slog of a fight with some 0th level prison guards. The weird thing is characters actually can do that just fine in Fantasy. When I was playing Joan, I actually had situations where 'you can't wear your armor or carry your greatsword, this is an Imperial city in 2622 and that just isn't done about town' came up. Talents like Streetfighter and the way you don't actually suffer any penalty for fighting an armed opponent when unarmed actually let you have scenes where you punch out the first guy, take his sword, and then deal with the rest. Veteran characters can definitely brawl armed enemies (or hit them with a chair) just fine. Otto could easily have broken out of the cell and then beaten up the guard by himself, it was just quieter and easier for a team with a lockpicker to lockpick out. Also, while this is a 4e thing, the actual street-fighter class in 4e (the Protagonist) has a whole bunch of stuff to let them jam in on an enemy who has a longer weapon when they don't and beat the poo poo out of them or knife them.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:22
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What Fire Has Wrought: Meeting Your Friends Visits are all social gatherings that aren’t parties, but you are hosting someone else. This might be a business thing of any kind, or they might just be in the area and stopping in to say hello and borrow your spare room. Visits are usually arranged in advance, and they start with leisure time. You hunt, enjoy a private performance or otherwise hang out together in a fun way. If the visit is about business, the day will pass without discussing it at all until dinner, when negotiations begin. If the visit takes multiple days, this pattern will repeat each day. Negotiations exclusively are for after dinner, and it is a sign of poor etiquette or desperation to discuss things openly before that. Anything prior is coded language, oblique references and so on, so both sides usually do know what’s going to be discussed, at least. Not all visits have a purpose, though. For these, the visit is more like a small, highly exclusive salon and you just have fun, or pretend to. Traditionally, a host must accept a guest without complaint and provide for all their needs. To fail in this is a mark of shame on you and your House. Obviously they never have to repay you, but tradition dictates they give some kind of gift to you for hosting. Only if a guest greatly outstays their welcome, greatly violates the rules of hospitality or refuses to provide an appropriate visiting gift may you withdraw hospitality, and even then you need some appropriate excuse for why the house cannot take them right now. Of course, those who abuse the rules of hospitality are likely to have their House find reasons to not let them leave home, to avoid the constant embarrassment. Some side notes: The Scarlet Empress made a habit of rewarding the businesses owned by those she wanted to make prominent or whose goods she liked. She would hand out Imperial patents, allowing them to display her personal mon by the door in order to proclaim that they did business with the Empress herself. Great House matriarchs and major bloodline leaders have followed her example, issuing their patents to business in the Imperial City and their prefecture capitals. Everyone in the Realm knows that the number of mons at the door of a business is a sure sign of quality, and the owners of those stores know they can sell at a significant markup. The penalty for using a mon without the appropriate patent to do so is, naturally, death. Gateway, meanwhile, is the favorite game and hobby of the Dynasty. It’s a complex strategy board game played on a tiered board using many kinds of piece, typically in the form of animals carved from gems or ivory (for Dynasts, anyway, who can afford that) or with abstract pieces made of wood or metal for less expensive sets. It can be played by two to five players, and depending on their skill and tactics a game may last hours, days or weeks. Students in secondary school, especially at Pasiap’s Stair and the House of Bells, will often play prolonged games in which only a few moves are made each day to hone their strategic ability, and the game is often played at social events. Legionnaires, children and foreigners often use the board for other, less complex games as well, such as the aggressively-paced Hunting Cat, the treacherous alliance-building Guardian Gate and the allegorical solitaire game called Spirit-Frog. Anyway, marriage. The blood of Dragons is the most valuable asset any House has, and it is the duty of every scion to pass it on. This is a religious and moral obligation, a patriotic duty and a simple fact: Exaltation must not die with you. This simple fact forms the core of the Realm’s web of political connections and alliances, reinforcing its stability and aiding the Houses. Thus, marriage is traditionally a duty matched in seriousness only by the Wyld Hunt. These days, it is a much higher priority than the Hunt itself. In the years between graduation and marriage, a Dynast’s family will negotiate and scheme to find the best possible match, usually of a similar age range. Each family is trying to get the best of the deal – ideally, a son is matched with someone of higher station, and a daughter with someone of strong bloodline. Both families gain political connections out of the deal, but only the wife’s House gains new Dragon-Blooded children. In exchange, the bride’s family will pay the husband’s stipend for the duration of the marriage. This is, of course, generally a poor trade for the husband’s family, so typically the husband is of somewhat lower status than the wife to compensate. Particularly prominent men often have trouble finding good matches, as no one wants their daughter to be overshadowed by her husband. These men often end up married to women of greatly lesser status, for whom the political alliance involved is the main factor and who often pay heavily in dowries. The great majority of Dynasts accept arranged marriages without complaint, never doing more than idly daydream about anything else. Even the few that want to marry for love are rarely able to convince their elders to allow it over a carefully negotiated selection. A handful do manage to succeed, whether by clever negotiation with both families or because they’re too stubborn and insignificant to be worth pushing it over. In these cases, the young couple usually must manage with just the explicit withdrawal of family protests, which are usually rather exasperated and annoyed. Particularly reckless scions, though, try to marry without permission. All Dynastic marriages must be overseen by an Imperial judge – or three judges, if the partner is either a peasant or foreigner. This is normally not a problem, but if attempted without familial permission, finding a willing judge is hard, because they risk retaliation from your House – possibly two Houses. Marriage between a Dynast and slave or a Dynast and one of the dispossessed is entirely illegal short of an exemption granted by the Deliberative or Empress. Marriages usually last until one party dies, but they can be ended prematurely by agreement of both House matriarchs or an Imperial judge if the couple fail to produce offspring after 25 years, or if one partner is guilty of a serious crime, such as attempted murder of the spouse or children, murder of a Dragon-Blood, or treason. Beyond that, though, it is until death do you part. The Realm is largely matrilineal. Children belong to their mother, gaining her social rank and family name. When a man marries, he joins his wife’s family and is expected to show total respect and obedience to his mother-in-law, also called the second mother. Husbands typically retain their family name on marriage, but because peasants and outcastes typically don’t have one, those that marry a patrician or Dynast usually take their wife’s family name. When those of different social status marry, the lower-class spouse is elevated to the social class of the higher, officially. In practice, they’ll probably get snubbed for a bit. Husbands that outlive their wives return to their families after the mourning period ends, but any children remain with the wife’s family, typically to be adopted by her kin. Widowers may choose to remain with the wife’s house with consent from the matriarch, which is commonly given to patrician or peasant husbands, but a Dynast who does so risks the anger of his own family. Sometimes, a talented male Dragon-Blood will be married off to a mortal, that he might return to his own House after a mortal lifetime. Others marry within their own House or to client cadet or patrician families to avoid divided loyalties. A man is expected to transfer all personal loyalties to his wife, her household and her House, but a man Is raised in his mother’s House and will always bear that with him. Now, in a time of chaos, Dynasts may be forced to oppose their birth House directly, either in debate or battle. Some husbands go to great lengths to prove their loyalty to the wife’s House or their mother’s. Others prefer to avoid trouble and just try not to get into situations where their loyalties might be tested. Historically, many husbands in the Imperial Service made a point of putting the Empress over all other loyalties either way, which is now causing them some problems. Social expectation is that you work for your wife’s House still, but a Cathak husband in the Sesus legions might well get fired to keep him from betraying them in a crisis, or be forced to fight his own wife if he works in the Cathak legions. Same-sex couples face a certain stigma over reproduction, but nothing else. If they manage to produce a kid, whether through adoption of an outcaste, undesirable or orphaned child, using a surrogate or using sorcery, then their duty’s handled and there are no problems whatsoever. They become as socially acceptable as any other marriage, with their homosexuality being only an amusing quirk, like raising dogs or collecting swords. This is because the Dynasty accepts that the Dragon-Blooded are hot-blooded and passionate, with many historical Dragon-Bloods choosing their beloved over House and tradition when pushed, often to the extent of killing. Better to keep that from happening and hope for children against the odds than to demand more than is bearable and lose the one you’ve got already. Even so, failure to follow familial obligation is hard to forgive, as in all matters. Thus, a Dynast set on a same-sex marriage has to fight tooth and nail for the privilege, just like any Dynast looking for a love match. Many are unwilling or unable to risk that, or just don’t give a poo poo, and so marry against their sexuality and just have affairs. Either way, in a same-sex marriage, the younger partner marries into the family of the elder, carrying on the masculine role in religious and legal capacities. A mortal marrying into a Dragon-Blooded family takes on the masculine role regardless of age. A sidebar notes that PCs should never be forced into a marriage or betrothal that their player does not want. Players always have an out. Next time: Having Kids
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Apr 30, 2019 19:35
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wdarkk posted:Is there a generic system that has something similar to the WHFRP career system? I think it's pretty cool but I'd rather do my own setting stuff. I was able to do other stuff with the system just fine when I was running a Myth: The Fallen Lords game years ago. It takes some re-fluffing but the careers can be made setting agnostic without too much trouble. The main issue is magic.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:36
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Halloween Jack posted:Is it bad, or is the writer a scumbag? As a game, it's the kind of mediocrity that's borne out of being mostly a straight rip-off of its "inspiration", combined with trying to stuff everything it's ripping off from dozens of books into a single, bloated tome. I wouldn't disdain it for that so much if it was just the system itself—especially since Career-based WFRP was kind of dead at the time—but it flat-out copies quirky inside jokes and setting details. It includes the rat-catchers and the "small, vicious dog" inventory item thing wholesale. They created a mini-supplement so that you could play not-40k with their not-WFRP game, but it's clearly not where their heart lies and because they're lazy it's especially terrible and stupid, even by the standard of a wannabe-40k game. The creator isn't, like, a garbage fire person or anything, but they're a really annoying shill for their game, up to the point of inserting themselves and their product into discussions of serious matters. I can't remember what specific scandal was happening, but they had a lot of "I" talk about their reaction to something terrible that happened to someone else, and oh, by the way, here's this game you might like. They got banned from RPGnet multiple times, and run off from here and I think even RPGSite for just ceaselessly, clumsily advertising every place and any time.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:37
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That Old Tree posted:As a game, it's the kind of mediocrity that's borne out of being mostly a straight rip-off of its "inspiration", combined with trying to stuff everything it's ripping off from dozens of books into a single, bloated tome. I wouldn't disdain it for that so much if it was just the system itself—especially since Career-based WFRP was kind of dead at the time—but it flat-out copies quirky inside jokes and setting details. It includes the rat-catchers and the "small, vicious dog" inventory item thing wholesale. They created a mini-supplement so that you could play not-40k with their not-WFRP game, but it's clearly not where their heart lies and because they're lazy it's especially terrible and stupid, even by the standard of a wannabe-40k game. It was one of the Zak S things, IIRC. The ones before the physical abuse allegations so he was like 'man Zak S is an rear end in a top hat, you should buy MY game instead'. I think it was when someone was trying to manufacture D&Dgate?
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Apr 30, 2019 19:39
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That Old Tree posted:As a game, it's the kind of mediocrity that's borne out of being mostly a straight rip-off of its "inspiration", combined with trying to stuff everything it's ripping off from dozens of books into a single, bloated tome. I wouldn't disdain it for that so much if it was just the system itself—especially since Career-based WFRP was kind of dead at the time—but it flat-out copies quirky inside jokes and setting details. It includes the rat-catchers and the "small, vicious dog" inventory item thing wholesale. They created a mini-supplement so that you could play not-40k with their not-WFRP game, but it's clearly not where their heart lies and because they're lazy it's especially terrible and stupid, even by the standard of a wannabe-40k game. It's also just generally a much shittier version of the setting stripped of most of the stuff that actually made it interesting.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:42
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If you're tired of mediocre rip-offs of Western-style fantasy games, may I suggest you try Kaidan: A Japanese Ghost Story?
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Apr 30, 2019 19:43
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Halloween Jack posted:Considering that reaction rolls and negotiation are built into AD&D1e, the possibility of getting captured and getting free should be considered. There's even a well-known module series, designed for tournament play, with such a scenario built into it. Yeah! in AD&D fighting is something you avoid because you always get messed up, you're supposed to try everything else first and get out with as much loots as possible because that's the really good source of XP, killing monsters gets you a token sum that is definitely not worth the trouble. Intelligence is good because you get more languages and being able to speak orc and goblin is basically a super power.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:55
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That's actually something weird I'm noticing in Ashes of Middenheim and its design: Every combat encounter in the book is a mandatory encounter with no way around it and no options besides combat. Compare that to Liche Lord, which had a shitton of 'get around this by studying the paintings or your historian remembering the right prayer or just by not being a dick and disturbing the sacred urn'. There's relatively little PCs can do to even odds, get the jump on enemies, or outright avoid fights, and as you might notice the example party has no medic and has gotten pretty messed up a couple times. At least the module includes multiple party heals in case of that. Still, the railroading continues into forcing the PCs into combat and only combat at most dramatic moments.
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Apr 30, 2019 19:59
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Night10194 posted:I was able to do other stuff with the system just fine when I was running a Myth: The Fallen Lords game years ago. It takes some re-fluffing but the careers can be made setting agnostic without too much trouble. The main issue is magic. Magic is one issue, but the other issue is that at least one of the people I would hypothetically run this with knows a lot of WHFB lore and I'd be constantly worried he'd make some sort of assumption based on that that wasn't true. God I wish there was a 2d6 or 3d6 based system with the career path, but I know I don't have the game design skills to actually make that.
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Apr 30, 2019 20:03
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What Fire Has Wrought: How To Be A Magic Mom First, pregnancy rules: there aren’t any. Exalted are superhuman and so being pregnant actually just does not cause them any problems whatsoever. Signs don’t even show up until the third or fourth month, and will not become obvious until the seventh. Pregnant Exalts may remain physically active until several weeks before giving birth. Because of their vitality, Exalts never die in childbirth, and stillbirths and miscarriages are considerably rarer than among moratls. That’s the total text devoted to pregnancy. The blood of Dragons is not a physical trait; it is a spiritual quality of Essence. Those who don’t have it cannot pass it on by any means, not even Solar Circle Sorcery or shapeshifting into the form of a Dragon-Blood. Further, it cannot be passed on casually. Progenitive potential in Dragon-Bloods begins building at the moment of the Second Breath and, once it is expended, requires years to regenerate to its peak. Mortal potential remains constant, neither waxing nor waning, though compared to an Exalted parent their potential is weak and fickle, especially in mortal/mortal pairings. No child is 100% guaranteed Exaltation, but the more potent the parents’ blood, the more likely it is. However, if it has only been a few years since your last kid, the odds of your next child’s Exaltation are exceedingly small. These children are highly prejudiced against in Dynastic society, known as “leftover children” because they are, it is said, made from the leftovers of their elder sibling. Even if they do Exalt, the stigma remains to a certain extent, as their bloodline is considered inferior. (This has no basis in reality; their blood is no less potent if they manage to Exalt.) The parents will also face social consequences for “wasting” their potent Essence. It is considered a mark of irresponsibility, often gossiped about. Progenitive Essence passes on involuntarily at the moment of conception, not at birth or Exaltation. This entirely exhausts the Essence of the parents, which must renew itself from nothing over time. Potency is slow to gather at first, with almost none accumulating over the first few years, then accelerates as you near the maximum of the cycle. This gathering of Essence potency is a mystical process, applying equally to children created by non-sexual means such as sorcery as to those formed in the more normal manner. Because males can sire children so much more easily compared to women, promiscuous or unfaithful men draw more censure in the Dynasty than women. Taking lovers is practically expected, and for a man to do so is not remarkable – indeed, even the most faithful man will be assumed capable of adultery. Women can less easily hide pregnancy, so female Dynasts are generally considered above reproach as a matter of course, for if they wasted their Essence, surely everyone would know. Because same-sex or sterile lovers can’t have kids, they are generally considered to be a natural and good part of Dynastic society. Having an opposite-sex affair is somewhat shameful, though politely ignored if you are discreet or in barbaric lands, but a same-sex affair is worthy of remark only if you are extremely indiscreet about it. Preferring same-sex companions is not worth commenting on unless your marriage fails to produce children, which will probably cause rumors. A fresh couple gets about 20 years of grace period before any rumors are likely to start, however. Also of note: because the Scarlet Dynasty and most other Dragon-Blood cultures adhere to the Immaculate Texts, it is considered a matter of simple fact that a trans person’s gender identity is true, period. The Immaculate Dragon Danaa’d was a trans woman, and so being trans is just as holy and proper as anything else. Thus, trans Dynasts marry according to their gender identity, and while they are often incapable of producing biological children, there is no lessened expectation of producing an heir. Adoption or surrogates are common for them as well as any other couple incapable of normal conception. Further, the Realm permits use of sorcery to have children, albeit a bit warily. The Empress enshrined this herself by using sorcery to bear some of her own children, including Ragara and Mnemon, with her first husband, a trans man named Rawar of Arjuf. Since then, trans Dynasts have had Imperial sanction, called the Precedent of Rawar, to use any magic they desire to produce a child. Any child born within a decade of their nearest elder sibling is considered a leftover child and will face prejudice, while their parents will be considered reckless with their Essence. If more than twenty years have passed, people will start hinting that maybe it’s time to have a kid again. Ideally, a Dragon-Blooded marriage produces five children before the parents turn a hundred, if they live that long. It is widely regarded that 12-20 years is the correct period for regenerating progenitive Essence. After the fifth, more kids are welcome but not necessary. Twins, triplets and other multiple births face a strange problem. Only one of them receives the progenitive Essence of the parent, but it is impossible to tell which one. If one Exalts, any others born at the same time are treated as leftover children, but it is not that rare for multiple such children to Exalt, especially if they have excellent pedigrees. When a woman bears a child, there is no question of parentage. It doesn’t matter who the father is, or even if that father is someone clearly not her husband, or even if she’s not married. The child is always legitimate and belongs to her, period. A man has no claim to any child he sires outside marriage. Occasionally, a female Dynast may publicly acknowledge a lover she’s not married to as her official consort. This consort will be legally acknowledged as the father of any children he sires, if male, and may establish as much of a relationship with them as Dynastic society allows any parent. Unmarried men may take patrician or peasant consorts, but outside of House Cynis doing so is seen as sordid and desperate, a sign of masculine intemperance. Men are expected to cut all ties with consorts before marrying and to avoid having children with them. A Dragon-Blooded man having a kid with a peasant or patrician woman complicates things. To prevent having to deal with these legal complexities, the Dynasty has developed the polite fiction of the fictional pregnancy. Typically, what happens is the man will tell his birth House matriarch about the problem, and she will select a female member of the House, typically one in a marriage that can’t procreate, and have them pretend to be pregnant over the next nine months, complete with either a padded waistband or pillow or an extended trip to the Threshold “for her health.” This adds another potential Dragon-Blood to the House, after all, and helps the man avoid the potential wrath of his wife and her family for as long as he can keep the lie going. It is considerably less common for a husband to inform his wife about these little problems, but when he does, she or a member of her House is likely to be the one to wear the pillow, and the husband is also going to face quite a bit of her anger. For the duration of the false pregnancy, he will likely be forced to handle every menial task of household management, carefully attended by a family seneschal to prevent him from actually getting any personal opportunity from it. His travel and social engagements will be extremely restricted, not only for the pregnancy but for years after, and when allowed to participate in Realm society he will be watched like a hawk. Some wives will go so far as to assign their faithless husbands a valet to accompany them indefinitely and carry maiden tea, so that in the future, there will be no excuses for having children outside of wedlock. A young Dragon-Blooded who becomes pregnant before marriage will usually work closely with their matriarch to hide the pregnancy, in order to avoid damaging marriage prospects with the appearance of intemperance. In these cases, another member of her House will probably wear the pillow and adopt the child. No matter what happens, though, Dragon-Blooded parents are rarely very present in their kids’ lives. Many children grow up knowing their servants and tutors better than their parents. This emphatically does not mean the parents do not love their children. Rather, the Realm teaches that the greatest gift a loving mother can give her daughter is a strong House and respected family. The memory of a mother’s caring voice simply cannot match up to it, says the Dynastic culture. Sacrificing one’s relationship with one’s children is considered a solemn and sad duty in the Dynasty, a commendable sacrifice of one’s own desires for the good of the family. It is a common topic of poetry, songs and stories, often ending with the parent realizing, satisfied, that it was worth it to see the benefits the child gains from it in adulthood. Most Dragon-Blooded parents choose to make this sacrifice, though not all. Those who do not are seen as lazy or self-indulgent. However, legally, an Exalted parent has no further responsibility to their children beyond providing tutelage and the necessities of life. Anything after that is given by choice. Next time: Outcastes
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Apr 30, 2019 21:45
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 Inquisitor Welcome back to this F&F of Inquisitor, a skirmish game by the Specialist Games division of Games Workshop. So far, you’ve learned that the action system is complicated and doesn’t guarantee a ton of actions each turn, as well as how movement has a variety of speeds that either allow or disallow you from doing multiple things at once. Since this is set in the grim darkness of the 41st Millenium, it’s now time to discuss violence and how to perform it with your Inquisitorial cell. Shooting is an important aspect of the 40k Experience (Copyright Games Workshop), and so it gets covered in-depth. Weapon tracking is a little more granular than in the more zoomed-out games; you’ll be handling everything from the weight of the weapon (and its ammunition) to a complicated table of ranges available that detail a weapon’s effectiveness at various distances. Ranged weapon statlines are as follows:
Vision Arcs are important - they dictate what that model is aware of, which is actually incredibly important because there’s action stealth mechanics available. Essentially, there’s a 45 degree arc that’s the facing of your dude, and you can freely rotate when performing an action. Shooting tests are deceptively simple - take BS, add modifiers, and roll under. 01-05 always hits, 96-100 always misses. A single firing action (i.e. an action spent firing, no matter how many shots) has all effects happen at once, even if you resolve them for each shot that was fired - so, if your shots knock an enemy out of LOS, the other bullets you shot don’t magically disappear. BS modifiers are as follows:
Pretty exhausting list of modifiers, but it’s . . . okay, it’s a bit annoying in play, but if you position a dude carefully, then you can stack a number of bonuses and really make shots count. Instead of criticals, we have Placed Shots - if you roll 1/10th of the required number to-hit after all modifiers, then you’ve made a placed shot. So, if my modified BS target is 55%, then rolling a 6 or lower would be a placed shot. When this happens, you can add or subtract 20% from the hit location, which comes up later in injuries but, suffice to say, this can be incredibly powerful. Aiming makes Placed Shots even easier - if you Aim, then your chance of a placed shot is BS Target minus Range - so, if Inquisitor Janoslav had aimed before that 55% target (who was 17 yards away), then he scores a Placed Shot on a 38 or lower. This is insanely powerful and part of why aiming can get scary. Pinning is what happens when a model gets shot at. Whenever a model is shot, they need to roll Nerve - if the shot didn’t hit, then they get a bonus. Fail the test, and they dive d6 yards into cover and sit pinned until they can recover. You may choose to fail this test to get your models into cover, and there is no auto-failure caveat - a model with a Nerve of 100 or more is straight-up immune to pinning. Now that we’ve covered most of the basic rules for shooting, we can move on to the more advanced rules for special weapon types. Full Auto allows you to put out an insane volume of fire, at the cost of inaccuracy for individual shots. You nominate a group of enemies, who must be within 5 yards of each other. If you really want to, you can increase the size by adding “blank” targets that follow the 5 yard rule. You then determine range and other BS modifiers using the furthest model in the group, divide your BS by the number of shots you will be firing, and then multiply that by the number of enemy models you’re firing at. After rolling all of your shots (yes, you roll them individually), you then assign them randomly to targets in that group. It’s a rare situation where fully automatic weapons are useful, but when they are, they’re incredibly deadly. It should be noted that Full Auto weapons are changed from how they were originally in Inquisitor: the rules were originally worded in such a way that it could all be targeted towards a single model. As you might imagine, that volume of fire was enough to shred even the hardest of targets - the new version does a better job of making it good for shooting into crowds, but not as effective when attempting to hit a single model with a fully-automatic bit of wargear. Flame Weapons essentially use the above Full Auto rules, with a few changes: for one, you can choose to focus on a single target, and the target’s movement affects how many hits you get. You also cannot fire a flame weapon unless you are walking or standing still. Example time! Sister Bernadotte is interested in incinerating a trio of Heretics who have inappropriately used a magenta folder for a mauvish-red class document, incorrectly omitted the Omnissiah’s Comma, and shot a few desk clerks. Using the Dialogus-approved Heavy Flamer, she shoots at the three of them. Her modified BS ends up being 54% - she has an 18% chance of causing hits. Heretic 1 is foolish, and did not move - she gets d6+1 rolls against him. Heretic 2 is smarter, and started running. She only gets d3 rolls against him. Heretic 3 is sprinting, and she only gets 1 roll against him. Flame weapons are terrifying if you’re pinned down, because you’re generally stuck as stationary. You should also bear in mind that a Heavy Flamer has 8 shots, does 3d6+4 per hit, that was only one shooting action, and flamers cause pinning. Flame weapons will absolutely gently caress a dude up. Blast weapons are fired similar to regular weapons, but if you fail to hit, the difference determines the scatter: d10, +1 yard for every 10% or fraction thereof that you missed by. So, missing by 33 - that’s 1d10+4 scatter. No matter what you roll, however, the blast cannot scatter more than one-quarter of the distance from the shooter to the target. Blast weapons also have two additional bits in their statline - Area, which is how far the blast extends from the point that the shot is centered on, and Blast, which is how many hits a model in the area suffers, -1 hit for each yard of distance between the model and the center of the blast. Thrown Weapons include knives, shuriken not shot out of cannons/launchers/rifles, and other such solid projectiles. They work like other shooting weapons, except you can draw and throw in the same turn, with a general maximum range of Strength/2 - Weight. Additional rules are given for throwing things like barrels and small alien mammals, but the advice is really just “Work with the GM”. Thrown weapons can also be thrown back; if it hits the target, then it’s assumed that it’s sticking in it, and otherwise, it scatters d6 yards, though actually marking this is not required. Thrown Blast Weapons include grenades. Throwing a grenade is always a Risky action, and it takes two actions to properly throw a grenade - one to draw and prime it, and another to throw it. Throwing unprimed grenades is an option given those rules, although none currently exist for cooking off grenades using flamers. Grenades have a unique way of doing range - you mark the point, measure back from it, and if it’s longer than the maximum range, draw a line straight back until it’s in range for the thrower. Then, scatter it in a random direction by 2d10 yards. Grenades can pinball around, which is hilarious. Indirect Fire is similar, except it automatically scatters d10 yards, with -1 for every 10% you pass it by, and +1 for every 10% you fail it by. Melee combat is the other important option for violence in Inquisitor. Melee is . . . somewhat less fiddly in a lot of areas, but also more fiddly in others. It’s the classic “hitting your opponents with weapons at very close ranges,” which can lead to a bunch of edge cases if needed. Melee weapons have three elements to their statline:
To enter melee, you need to Charge - it’s a run action that gives you a free melee attack at +10% WS. If you have to draw your weapon while charging, then you forego the bonus. When two models are within 1 yard of each other, they’re in close combat. The only exception is weapons with Reach 4 or more - they can stop 3 yards from someone and still be in close combat. While in close combat, you no longer have to declare all your actions before rolling Action dice. If you start your turn in melee, you can roll your Action dice, then declare your first action and resolve it, then declare your second action and resolve it, and so on. If you charge as one of your declared actions, you don’t have to declare any actions that would take place after the charge, and you can still perform up to six actions that turn depending on Speed and how well you rolled on the Action dice - it’s a bit like a more violent Pause for Breath that combines movement and charging into melee. This is, of course, offset by the fact that you have limited options when engaging in close combat. Your options while in close combat are as follows:
So, it’s a surprisingly tactical little system, aided by the fact that you’ll have very few models on the board at one time. Attacking, as with all other tests in this game, has numerous bonuses and penalties associated with it. A weapon’s Reach is compared to the defender’s Reach - for every point you beat their Reach by, +10%, and with the opposite subtracting from your WS. Having the high ground gives +10%, attacking a prone opponent does +20%, using your off-hand is -20%, and attacking with two weapons at once is -20%. Critical hits remain - if you roll 1/10th of the required number, then that’s a critical hit - double all damage after rolling and adding all modifiers, which is as hilariously brutal as it sounds. Parrying is how you defend against close combat attacks. Models automatically parry attacks, but there’s a bit of maths involved. The first parry per turn is at base WS. The second is at half, the third at one-quarter, and the fourth is at one-eighth, and so forth and so on. The maximum number of close combat attacks from someone is 12, which would lead to . . . 1/2048 of WS for that final parry, which is a fun example of why these kinds of systems can lead to fun edge cases. Standard roll-under here: if your parry is successful, the enemy’s attack is negated. Parries have a few modifiers which, you should note, are factored in AFTER the above ridiculous excess. Reach is the same as when attacking, Parry Penalty adds/subtracts a bonus because swords are better at parrying than axes, the high ground works in favor of the defender, and having to turn to face your opponent gives a penalty - turning up to 90 degrees to face your attacker is -20% to your parry, and turning more than 90 degrees gives -40%. Using your off-hand weapon to parry gives a -20% penalty, You can also dodge, which is a parry that gives +20% and lets you move 2 yards directly away from your opponent (if in close combat), 2 yards to the left or right (if At Arm’s Length), or 1 yard to the left or right (if currently prone). This movement will take place no matter if you are successful or not, and it’s the only possible way to defend against a pistol. However, you cannot Counter-attack if you dodge. Parrying with two close-combat weapons is pointlessly complicated, but also kinda neat. Parrying with both at once gives +20%, gives the best Reach, Parry Penalty, and Counter-Attack Chance for this. Parrying with only one of them means that the other one is considered “fresh” - i.e. you can still use your full WS when parrying using the other one, so someone with an axe and a sword can parry once with the Axe at full WS and then once with the sword at full WS during a turn. Counter-attacks are why close combat can get risky for the attacker - if you successfully parry by more than the weapon’s Parry Penalty, then you get a free attack action. So, if our modified WS for Inquisitor Joachim’s parry during the turn was 67%, and he parries using a Chainfist, which has a parry penalty of -25%. Rolling a 42 or lower means he gets a free action that can be any of the typical close combat actions. Yes, counter-attacks can be procc’d off of your opponent’s counter-attacks, and an exchange can happen where you’re continually rolling attacks. Combat ends when:
If the active model still has actions when one of these things occur, they Pause for Breath, and then have to declare any remaining actions. Unarmed and improvised melee weapons are covered right at the end. Unarmed attackers (unless given a talent or ability to override this) have Reach 0, and their only parry option is dodging. If the character has any sort of weapon (or can find one, like a chair!), then they have an improvised weapon - it has Reach 1, Parry Penalty -30%. Oh, and tucked in here is the surprising rule that, if it’s not the first turn of a combat, then Reach 4 Weapons count as Improvised weapons unless At Arm’s Length. Combat is good-ish, but really, really requires a GM for adjudication - good thing Inquisitor was designed with that in mind, although it really is kind of a “papering over some flaws” design decision. Next Time: Injuries, Awareness, and Spoooooooky Psychic Powers!
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Apr 30, 2019 21:50
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wdarkk posted:Is there a generic system that has something similar to the WHFRP career system? I think it's pretty cool but I'd rather do my own setting stuff. The rules are still solid as a swords and muskets game, you can just ignore the setting. As well as the classic Hams' Empire setting, I've run games set in the English Civil war and another in Conquistador Mexico.
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May 1, 2019 13:03
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Night10194 posted:Also note this is the second major unpaid job the Brute Squad has taken, where their employer turned out to never have an interest in paying them. This is going to be a Running Theme. I don't think the PCs ever actually canonically get paid for anything they do after the Skaven mission in this book. An awful lot of Hams Fantasy published adventures assume you'll work for exposure. At some point they're going to be too busy murdering all the people who haven't paid them to continue on the adventure path.
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May 1, 2019 13:23
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I wonder how many groups just jumped into Chaos' loving arms and laid waste to the city when the GM broke it to them that the priest is basically untouchable and had indeed 'gotten away with it'
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May 1, 2019 14:32
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One weird little thing that bugs me about WFRP is "Weapon Skill" and "Ballistic Skill." It's just an artifact of when cutting-edge game design meant sounding scientific. It was a really good idea to make Fighting and Shooting basic ability scores in a game full of fighting and shooting, but just call them Fighting and Shooting.
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May 1, 2019 14:49
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What Fire Has Wrought: The Razor’s Edge First, a brief sidebar: the vast majority of Dragon-Blooded are young. While they can live for centuries, few do. Most die in battle or of various misadventures before their first century ends. At any given time, most of the Realm’s DBs are young and of the current generation, outnumbering a smaller number of middle-aged and elder Dragon-Bloods. The outcastes, by the reckoning of the Dynasty, are those Dragon-Bloods who cannot trace their lineage back to the Scarlet Empress and have not been adopted by her or a Great House or married into one. The Scarlet Empress referred to them as lost eggs, the prodigal children of the Dragons who could be brought into the nest of the Realm and rightly guided by that wisest of all living Dragon-Bloods, the Empress. By imperial law, all outcastes are distant kin to the Empress, and therefore they are wards of the state. They are above mortals, but below Dynasts. The Realm recognizes three cartegories of outcaste. First are the Exalted patricians. Second, lost eggs born to peasant, slave or dispossessed classe.s Third, foreign Dragon-Bloods from off the Isle. All are treated rather differently. Patrician Dragon-Bloods occupy a bit of a strange position. They are educated in the same primary school system as Dynasts, and so they are capable of making the jump up from their own class to the Dynasty, either by adoption or fosterage. Adoption is the more common of the two, and it’s a slow, deliberate thing. The new Exalt’s family will negotiate a sponsorship deal with a Great House, often one that is their long-term patron, in which the patrician family gets some combination of wealth, favors and the promise of future support in exchange for the Exalt. The patrician Dragon-Blood is sent to secondary school and faces the challenge of having to outdo their peers, who have had better preparation, get treated somewhat better and often look down on them. Only after graduation from a prestigious secondary school will their sponsor House officially adopt them. If they graduate, there are no problems. Whatever their personal circumstances, though, they never quite shake the stigma of their less prestigious background, and can expect to have a life full of minor snubs. They must work twice as hard as their new family for recognition and make half as many mistakes, though few will openly say so, as that would exceedingly crude and so frowned upon. Marriage prospects will also be somewhat more difficult. A patrician Dragon-Blood that fails to attend or graduate after being sponsored will be accepted as a client, not a full member of their sponsor House. (They’ll almost never be outright rejected unless they are spectacularly incompetent or rebellious.) Clients must earn full adoption, though in most cases as long as they can maintain barely adequate behavior they’ll eventually get accepted into some minor, possibly dying branch of the House within a decade or three. If they impress the House, well, then they’re as welcome as any other adoptee, with only a minor stigma as a “practical” type with “no head for books.” On the very rare occasion that a patrician Dragon-Blood turns out to be entirely undesirable, the sponsorship agreement is rescinded and their family reclaims them, with the full expectation that the sponsors will be repaid for all they offered and more. Even if the patricians are able to do that, the sheer disgrace is crippling for both the patrician family and their Exalt, forming a massive obstacle to any future adoption sponsorships the family seeks as well as the Exalt’s possible marriage prospects. Fosterage is rarer, done only when the patrician family is powerful enough to hold its own in negotiations. It is also sometimes done by cadet Houses, with much the same costs and benefits (that is, a full Dynastic upbringing, superior to what a client House can usually offer their kids) and often eases the social stigma of client House membership. The cost to a patrician family in fosterage is high, as it must match the expected value of a lifetime of service. This may be a hefty fee, contracts to supply a House with goods and services, large political favors, land deals or arranged marriages favorable to the House. If a family cannot afford this, they may promise the fostered Exalt’s services for several decades. Just about any agreement will include a few years of service at least, which will also include tutelage in the responsibilities of an Exalt. In return, the Dragon-Blood receives sponsorship and funding to attend one of the four great secondary schools but will get to retain their own family name, allowing equal education to a Dynast and equal chance to gain connections to be used in later life. The patrician family gains a loyal Exalt and retains control of their Exalt’s bloodline. Many patrician families dream of strengthening their line with the blood of Dragons to such a level that they are adopted wholesale into the Dynasty. It’s rare, but has happened in the past, after all. With the vanishing of the Empress, though, the fosterage system has seen a sharp decline in use. Few patrician families have the wealth or power to arrange it. A less common third option is for a devout patrician family to donate their child to the Immaculate Order. This is an extraordinary show of piety, and the Order knows it. They won’t show any overt favoritism, but if the patrician family is ever disadvantaged through no fault of their own, the local Immaculate leadership will take a strong interest in the situation. Children donated in this manner are treated exactly like any other outcaste that chooses the razor. Lost eggs from the common people gain many privileges not usually available to the common people of the Realm. They are in many ways treated as equals to proper Dynasts in theory. Each is considered to some degree to be the adopted child of the Empress herself, which legitimizes them. However, the status has a price. They must obey their foster mother, and in her wisdom, she decreed that all of her found children must make a choice: the razor or the coin. Whenever a lowborn outcaste appears on the Isle, the Splendid and Just Arbiters of Purpose take charge of them whether they like it or not. They hold all authority over the new Exalt until they move on either to the Cloister of Wisdom or Pasiap’s Stair. A delegation is sent to retrieve them from one of the many officers the Arbiters maintain on the Isle, and only in the most remote parts of the Isle does this take more than a week or so from the time the child Exalts. They then take the child back to their headquarters at the Obsidian Mirror in Juche Province. At the Mirror, new Exalts are schooled in the fundamentals of Dynastic society and the options they have going forward. Those who take the razor will join the Immaculate Order, while those who take the coin serve the legions. By forcing all low-class outcastes to make this choice, the Empress strengthened two of her most potent organs of societal control. After their first full year as Exalts, the outcaste children attend the greatest feast they have ever had: the Feast of the Elect, held annually. Here, the Humble and Munificent Master of Orphans offers each one two silver platters, one containing an elaborately made jade razor (to symbolize the bald head of the monk) and on the other, an ornamental jade obol stamped with the image of the Empress (to represent loyalty to the throne and payment for military service). In the morning, the young outcastes head off for their destinations and new lives. Those who are unable to choose at the Feast are given a few days of grace period, but if they prove unable to decide at all, the Master of Orphans chooses for them. All lost eggs that take the razor are sent to the Cloister of Wisdom, where they are taught as any initiate would be. They dine alongside Dynasts, and while the life is simple, it is often one of the best and most energizing things they have ever done, for they are now accepted as equals to the Princes of the Earth. Unlike Dynasts, however, the lost eggs cannot withdraw from the school for any reason nor refuse to join the Immaculate Order when they finish. Each will serve as a monk, exemplifying the enlightenment their Exaltation represents. They typically receive specialized instruction beyond that of other students, and in their final year they are formally admitted as acolytes of the Order, as are any Dynasts that chose to become monks. Unless they fail their tests and need more training, they become monks of the First Coil upon graduation. Outcaste monks that get expelled from the Order have traditionally been remanded to the Empress for punishment or the assignment of alternative duties of service. Also of note: in the chaos following the Empress’ disappearance, Immaculate monks that encounter newly Exalted children have been quietly sending them directly to the Cloister after preliminary training at a local temple or monastery, rather than reporting them to the Arbiters. The Order deems this a justified action despite being illegal, because as the law seems to be giving way to chaos, they will need all the strength they can get. Next time: The Coin
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May 1, 2019 15:03
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Warhammer Fantasy: Paths of the Damned Part 1: Ashes of Middenheim Getting paid, one way or another So, from Hoffer's testimony and Bauer's claims, the party knows they need to check out the 'sword and flail' tavern to see if they can find anything to back up his story. Helpfully, they still have their credentials from the Watch and two good social characters (Katiya and Liniel are both well above average on Fel and have decent social skills) so Gossiping to find the place is an easy part. Really, all humans having Gossip natively is a deceptively good power for humans; you use this skill a huge amount in almost every game. 'I'm okay at asking around town and chatting with people and getting directions' is a great thing to have in a game where you're often investigating mysteries in communities. Liniel just has it from being a Noble, plus her 50 Fel in Career 1. This is going to be hilarious in the second adventure path, which is full of social mechanics, yet will be doing everything it can to kick Liniel in the dick for investing in social skills. I digress. Find the tavern is easy, and with their good gossiping skills they also find out it caters to soldiers and mercenaries and that the owner seems eager to encourage bar-fights. Hmm! I wonder if he's a Khorne cultist? The Sword and Flail is a rough place, but it's also the only drinking house still standing within a couple blocks of where the Templar's Downfall used to be. Remember them? The place where the Jade Scepter Slaaneshi tried to raise a couple daemonettes to open the gates for the besiegers and got ruined by wizards? It still does good business, and with the suspicions about the place, the party decides to go in just before it opens to try to catch it when it's less populated. There's no option for this (normally if you cause trouble the patrons come at you until you kill or knock out a couple) but c'mon, it's sensible enough. The party also hits on a way to distract Heller, the bartender; Liniel's wearing the clothing of an elf noble. She poses as a potentially really wealthy customer and throws a gold crown on the bartop to get his attention while talking about renting the place out for her mercenary company a couple nights hence. Now, the book assumes you're going to create a distraction or fight the patrons and possibly barkeep anyway, so this is just the Brute Squad doing as they're assumed. While Liniel keeps the bartender busy with false business negotiations (Making a Charm test to do so, we'll say), Pierre and Katiya slip upstairs to look for evidence of him or his establishment being cultists, while Otto and Fearghus search the back rooms for the cult temple Bauer supposedly found. Meanwhile, Liniel notices Heller has a bunch of very fresh scars, which look ritually inflicted; the big bit of evidence that he's a cultist, gained by making a Per test aided by her excellent elven eyesight. Pierre slips into Heller's room and picks his chest (Pick Locks-20, but Pierre has a 30% chance with his 50 Agi) and while he has to use Fortune to do it, he gets it open. You might notice throughout this review just how completely essential Fortune Points are to adventurers. You are expected to be pretty liberal with your Fortune points! They're an important part of the game and the party tosses them around an awful lot. Inside is no evidence of treason, but rather a veritable fortune: 153 Crowns, 2 Shillings, and 11 Pence. Pierre thinks a moment, reasons the man is almost certainly going to turn out to be a cultist, and pockets the money. In true 17th century fashion, if their employers don't pay them the Brute Squad is going to loot. Meanwhile, Fearghus and Otto make the 'Perception Test to Continue Plot' in the cellar and move some barrels aside to find a secret passage into a dark, bloodstained cult temple. Well! The dwarf and human head on down to a surprisingly dangerous but small mandatory combat encounter with two mutated Khorne Cultists. Claws and Teeth are defined by their claws and their teeth. Neither would be especially dangerous, except for one weird thing. Claws' claws inflict a bleed effect that slowly deals wounds every round until your wounds are treated if you take any wounds from his claws. Remember the weakness of this team? No healer? Otto moves up in front so his plate can protect his dwarf bud, and the two engage the mutants. Luckily for them, Fearghus parries aside Claws' strike and then double-furies him, beating him to death with a hammer before he can cause problems. Teeth lasts a little longer due to Otto rolling poorly, but neither mutant actually lands a blow before the skillful Runesmith kills Teeth as well, leaving Otto with 0 kills this fight. Fearghus does a little dwarf strut and indulges in a brief 'Thanks fer yer help, manling, couldn't have done it without ya' before they search the temple. First of all, the temple matches Bauer's description perfectly, except it's relatively empty because he killed the majority of this cult cell before they drove him off. But hidden in a small side chamber, they discover the MacGuffin they need: A terrified baker named Johan Opfer. He was supposed to be the cult's sacrifice, and they were going to kill him to 'reconsecrate' the temple after Bauer desecrated it by, uh, killing a bunch of dudes in it. You'd think Khorne would be cool with that. With their lockpicker busy, they're forced to resort to a Str-30 test to try to break Johan out before they'll have to go get Pierre and have him try. With Fearghus assisting, though, Otto hits a 20 and gets it exactly as he needed it, the two heroes wrenching the poor Burgher's cell door open and helping him out. The team helps him out and up as they reconvene in the taproom, Liniel thanking Heller for his time and promising to be back with the money later to cover her friends sneaking a terrified Burgher and all of Heller's money out the back door before they all leggit. It's a bit of a breather setpiece, but I kind of like this part? It's not hard, but it actually had room for the characters to do stuff like distract people or avoid part of the combat they could get into, and they actually made money! Liniel is real happy with the take, especially as she intends to turn Heller in later and see if there's a reward on him. For now, though, the team heads back to the Temple of Sigmar, only to find the trial is already starting and they have to deal with an annoying setpiece where they have to secretly get Johan through a huge crowd and deliver him to Stolz during the trial. Thankfully, one of the options for getting in is to just talk to the Watch, and waving your paperwork makes it a Fel+20 check. Liniel waves her paperwork and talks past the guards in a hurry, getting the team a police escort and moving them through the crowd easily. The book calls for another 6-8 random Intimidate, Charm, Dodge, etc checks to get the rest of the way through the crowd, with failure being...try again? Okay, so what's the goddamn point? We'll just say the team pushes, chats, and bulls their way through until they get Stolz's attention up on the square and deliver Johan. Liniel wraps a note in a stone (one of the suggested capstone checks) and flings it with her mighty elven Ballistic Skill, and if she didn't have Fortune that 97 she rolled might have brained the High Capitular. Instead she Fortunes and gets a 19, landing it at his feet and getting Johan where he needs to go. The trial is a full setpiece where the players are actually handed different characters to play, playing as Stolz, Liebnitz (which is a little hard, as the player playing him isn't told his full character because secret Chaos cultist), Bauer, etc. It's sort of an interesting idea, but it's also all entirely pointless, because what will eventually happen is that the PCs will testify, corroborating Bauer's story about the cult temple, then Johan will be revealed and will also perfectly back up the story in a way that convinced the judges. But then Liebnitz pulls out his own personal bullshit: You remember the Icon? He pulls out the Icon. And claims it's direct evidence Sigmar was a follower of Khorne, because now it's got Khorne's sigil painted on the back, and thus Bauer must also be a Khornate Yep, that's his plan. Publicly claim the founder of the Empire was a Khornate and that his entire cult is corrupted by Chaos, and that Sigmar was never a God. So whatever you did during the trial? Pointless, it always ends with this. Rioting immediately breaks out, as enough people are outraged and believe his claim to start general trouble all through the crowd. The Sigmarites are forced to withdraw to and barricade their temple, along with the PCs. Pierre has to be bodily held back from trying to kill Klaus Liebnitz, screaming that that was a 2500 year old relic and that this prick must have defaced it himself. Stolz tries to choke the man out when Liebnitz smugs it up about how the cult of Ulric will take over the Empire now and does a little victory lap, before being stopped by his younger priests. That's right, Werner Stolz will absolutely choke an rear end in a top hat, despite being an older man. Now, I think Liebnitz is celebrating a little early here; he thinks he's just restarted the Time of Three Emperors by causing a simple riot. But he is still winning at his overall plans of causing strife in the Empire. I want you to remember that up to this point, his plans have been working. I want you to remember that his cult has been this successful because they were clever and audacious enough to bet against Archaon and fight hard for the Empire, reasoning they could worm their way into real positions of authority and cause strife that way. Just keep in mind how successful the Crimson Skulls have been with their relatively measured approach when we get to the climax, because I will have words about it. In all this bullshit and furor, Father Ranulf (the original guy who hired the PCs to get the Skull) appears at the temple of Sigmar, in secret, and asks for the PCs. He's carrying the magic box they hid the skull in when it was delivered. He's brought it out of the temple because with the Trial, he no longer trusts Liebnitz and he wants to beg the PCs to take this thing far away, to the Collegium Theologica, to be hidden among wizards. They agree, because I think by now it will have started to really sink in that Liebnitz may not just be an Ulrican monodominant rear end in a top hat, but might be with Khorne. It should also be noted that Stolz actually does put the PCs up in dignitary's rooms in the temple and takes the time to personally thank them for their efforts despite all this horseshit going on. They'd like money, too, but honestly, for now? He's probably got enough on his mind to let it slide. Liniel is writing up a bill to deliver later, anyway, once things calm down. The entire city is under curfew to stop the rioting, and the PCs will have to make some stealth, charm, etc tests to make their way across town to the Collegium. While there are a bunch of optional encounters here, the team is goal oriented and just focuses on slipping past Watch patrols and making their way through the patches of rioting, reaching the Collegium and going to find Ranulf's contact, Professor Zweinstein. Of course. When they do reach Professor Albrecht Zweinstein and open the box to deliver things to him, they find there is no magic skull inside. No, there is instead a human head. It's Johan, their witness. Liebnitz was infuriated at that wrinkle in his plans and had the man killed in the chaos. When I ran this, amusingly, my players actually dodged this by accident; as soon as poo poo went down at the trial, one of them yelled 'I grab Johan, he's probably in danger, and we take him with us!' and I had to improvise whose head was in the box instead (I picked Heller, the barkeep, saying Liebnitz decided he had failed him). As a result, while in Middenheim my PC party could always get a free loaf of bread at Johan Opfer's bakery for saving his life. Still, they now have actual proof Liebnitz is Khorney; he definitely stole the skull and also murdered this witness. They head off to tell Schutzmann and Stolz, and the grandees start arguing over who will get together the men to go investigate the Temple of Ulric (where Liebnitz has withdrawn); it's going to take too long, so Liniel suggests the party just go do it themselves. They have some loving business with Liebnitz anyway; he's gonna pay up, one way or another. All four of her friends agree, and the team slips out to confront the Medium Priest themselves. Next Time: Terrible Balancing
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May 1, 2019 16:10
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What Fire Has Wrought: Counting Coins For those that take the coin, life is rather less subtle and rather more brutal than it is at the Cloister. Pasiap’s Stair, after all, is not a nice place. It will forge them into weapons in what was, at one time, the greatest army in the world. Once, any graduate that survived the Stair could be assured a legion post, usually as a scalelord but occasionally very promising recruits might be commissioned at the rank of talonlord. They would then get shipped out to whatever satrapy their legion was assigned to, to crush the foes of the Empress. However, far too many promising outcaste officers were dismissed during the partitioning of the legions, and there’s now little room for outcastes whose loyalties are directly to the throne rather than to the Dynasty. Mortal tours of service in the legion last 20 years, but for a lost egg, a tour is 50 years, as their longer lifespan and greater power required greater commitment to the Empress. While they certainly suffer more than those that take the razor, the outcastes that take the coin have one great advantage. Once their tour is up, they can choose to retire from the legions – and you never retire from the Immaculate Order. Traditionally, any lost egg cashiered from the legions was penalized or assigned new duties by the Empress. In her absence, it is not entirely clear what they’re going to do. Either way, though, an outcaste that does well in the legions may find marriage opportunities in a Great House. They get to decide their own marriages, of course, having no matriarch to advise them, but they must still get the judges to approve, and there’s often not many Great Houses that want to marry outcastes into their line, as they usually have poor pedigree and no real political leverage. Dynastic marriages to outcastes are often because the Dynast involved is disgraced, in love, or both. Senior officers and heroes can leverage their skills at the bargaining table, to be sure, though they will get fewer concessions than most Dynasts. Patrician families have traditionally been better for outcaste marriage prospects, eager to gain Dragon’s blood at all. These marriages make the outcaste a big fish in a small pond, but they don’t gain the status that they’d gain by marrying a Dynast. Those that manage Dynastic marriage are considered Dynasts in all legal respects, not lost eggs. They must complete their tour of service if they haven’t, though, and they’re going to suffer a greater social stigma than adopted patricians face, between their low birth and lack of an upper-class education or training in noble etiquette. At that point, the outcaste’s life comes under control of their adoptive mother and House matriarch, as if they had been born in to the family. This becomes complicated due to the need to adapt to Dynastic society and social rules without the lifetime of preparation a Dynast usually receives, though, or they might disappoint their new family. Alternative to marriage, an outcaste can also be formally adopted into a House. This has traditionally been very rare, as power over adoption was vested in the Empress, who would use the Deliberative to rubber stamp whatever she felt like doing, whether that meant gifting new heirs to a House or saddling them with useless assholes. In her absence, the power belongs to the Deliberative alone, and given they are made of squabbling Dynasts and patrician politicos, they get little done and mostly want to adopt lost eggs as expendable soldiers for the coming civil war. As a result, modern adoption requests are a hell of intrigues and political maneuvers. New Dragon-Bloods are bargaining chips in the House struggles, offered up to various Houses as part of compromise deals or left unclaimed because one group is blocking another from claiming more Dragon-Bloods in the preparations for war. Even in the case of deadlock, though, the offer of adoption may well influence an outcaste’s loyalties in the coming conflict. Not all outcastes who finish their tours of service are elevated to patrician class or Dynastic class by marriage, however. They often take patrician, peasant or foreign spouses, and so over time a number of lost egg households have developed. Usually, what has happened historically is that some major event clears out most of the lost egg households, with the most recent being the formation of House V’neef, in which most of them were declared Dynasts and given to V’neef as adopted children by the Empress. Since then, the population has been slowly rebuilding as legion officers muster out. They are now a powerful wildcard that every House wants to control. Most were not bound by Great House patronage until very recently, as when it became clear the Empress was not returning any time soon, the Great Houses began scrambling to enlist as many outcastes as they could, even those previously considered beneath notice, as long as they could find a way to get control of their loyalties. Adoption has always been a slow process, so some Great Houses have gone for faster methods of recruiting lost eggs. Formerly it was mostly a curiosity, and today it’s still a sign of desperation, but sometimes they will even take the grossly illegal step of forging a Dynastic identity. It takes skill, cunning and insane amounts of courage to attempt, as Dynastic birth and death records are extensively documented for inheritance reasons, and falsifying them is grounds for an entire household to be stricken from the ledgers. With the Empress gone, though, and with her the sole authority to order such a punishment, the identity trade is growing. The first step of an unofficial “adoption” is to have an identity ready for them – usually a young Dynast that died in some kind of misadventure, left unmourned. Once the name is free and a lost egg that roughly fits their description has been found, all that needs to be done is train them until they can pass themselves off as a born Dynast. (Specifically, the one whose name they’re stealing.) Foreign outcastes are often said to have fallen out of the nest, and of all lost eggs, their lot is usually the worst. They may be celebrated lavishly, but their peers often see them as little more than exotic props. Their only real paths to find a place are to join the Immaculate Order, join the legions, or marry into a Great or cadet House. Some foreign Dragon-Bloods are defectors from Lookshy or other more admired foreign lines. This is rare, and while these outcastes are seen as more cultured and capable, they are also less trustworthy, which usually relegates them to the same paths. Foreign outcastes may not be directly adopted into a House by law, and may not marry or be adopted into a patrician family. Typically, the best way for them to get into Dynastic society is a quick marriage to a low-rank Dynast, though they’ll typically still have some trouble adjusting to their new life and will face social stigma for their background. If they are unable or unwilling to find a Dynastic spouse, the only options are, as ever, the razor and the coin. Next time: Sworn Kinships
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May 1, 2019 17:14
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It bothers me to an unreasonable degree that in the otherwise very nice art for the choice of the razor or the coin, the razor is a folding cutthroat razor rather than a square monastic razor that it obviously should be.
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May 1, 2019 17:21
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Warhammer Fantasy: Paths of the Damned Part 1: Ashes of Middenheim BASTARD TOOK MY SKULL The team begins the normal dance of evading Watchmen, though this time there's a more sinister reason: Liebnitz has told the Watch he's fleeing an attempted assassination by radical Sigmarites, and the Watch near the Temple of Ulric are specifically loyal Ulrican fanatics (not Khornates) who believe him and think they're looking out for the priest's safety. They, uh, somehow don't notice the brilliant red light spilling out of the Temple of Ulric that the PCs are treated to in a little scene-setting. The PCs 'must use good timing to evade the Watch patrols in front of the building, about 25 seconds apart' and I would love to know how you time it like slipping past MGS guards in a game system based around abstract declarations of action. We'll just say that they hide under a nearby crate and use it to slowly walk closer between guard patrols until they reach the building, thanks to the transcendent power of The Box. Guards on regular patrols cannot defeat The Box. Now, the PCs make it inside over a low wall and they can hear the immediate ominous Dark Tongue chanting from near the Flame of Ulric. Liebnitz is definitely here, and definitely up to some poo poo, and he's definitely posted the most bullshit encounter in the adventure to watch his back. Two Axe Brothers have been posted at the entrance, and you know, I'm just gonna give you their stats before we get into this encounter. Also note: The PCs can see 5 more of these guys and an armored Liebnitz beyond the gallery they're guarding, so they know a shitload more of these are in the wings along with the Medium Priest. Axe Brother: WS 62 (!), BS 45, S 52, T 46, Agi 51, Int 36, WP 48, Fel 36, Attacks 2, Wounds 14, have Dodge +10, have FULL PLATE ARMOR on all locations, have Strike Mighty, have Frenzy, use two-handed greataxes. They are Ex Squire, Ex Knight, and Knight of the Inner Circle. I want to remind you: The PCs are on their starting careers. Now, our heroes are pretty well geared and reasonably good at fighting. Most encounters in combat up to this point has been doable. Let's just compare that combat array directly to Otto, the best fighter in the party. Each + is where he's spent an advance. Otto Blucher: ++WS 46, BS 31, +S 40, T 31, ++Agi 40, Int 35, ++WP 48, Fel 35, Dodge Blow, Strike Mighty, Strike to Injure, Strike to Stun, Best Hand Weapon and Shield, Full Plate, +Attacks 2, Wounds 11 Remember: Otto is both a really good first tier fighter, and extremely well geared for his level. I want you to look at those stats and see how much they have on him, on an individual basis. And you have to fight two of them, with a party with only one dedicated fighter most likely. Note that when frenzying, the enemy hits for Damage 7 Impact. Even Otto takes 0-9 Wounds per swing. A single blow from these guys can put Liniel or Pierre on crits, and with Impact they're way more likely to land telling blows. Meanwhile, on average, our heroes are doing Damage 3. Katiya does Damage 4, Liniel's bow effectively does Damage 4 due to AP, and Otto is a whopping Damage 5. Vs. DR 9 and the enemy having a 51% chance to Dodge the first swing a turn. You may've worked out the math of this encounter is not exactly in the team's favor here. The biggest gently caress you, too, is this isn't even the full encounter. Say our heroes get lucky with Fury and put these two lunatics down, Liebnitz will be busily and slowly sacrificing the other Knights to Khorne in the center as they go (one per 2 rounds). Any knights still alive when they break through will attack them and those knights are all fully armored and armed, and have the same stats. And Liebnitz will join in, also in full plate armor and heavily equipped for battle. If they wait, he'll eventually kill all the knights, then himself, and summon the actual end boss demon. But that's not the hilarious part: If they WIN, somehow, Liebnitz will choke out the last words of the demon summoning as his blood soaks into the stones and guess what, it summons the end boss demon. You are actually mechanically better off letting the bad guy complete his ritual, with absolutely no ill consequences. The exact same thing happens either way. But wait, there's more! The End Boss Demon is a Bloodletter of Khorne, and I am 100% convinced this pathetic piece of poo poo is why they invented the Demonic Aura talent. Lemme just hit you with his combat array: The Demon of the Skull: WS 55, BS 45, S 50, T 50, Agi 55, Int 45, WP 50, Fel 15, 2 Attacks, Wounds 17, Frenzy, Strike Mighty, Natural Weapons only. The astute among you may notice that compared to a single Axe Brother the demon is a goddamn chump. Yes, it causes Fear, yes it comes after the unending tide of Knightfight horseshit so the party is probably pretty drained, but that thing is not tough for the heroes to outnumber and beat to death. It's at THIS point that the book says to have Schutzmann and backup show up so the party aren't overwhelmed by the tide of demonic power if they're struggling. You know, THIS point, not the Knights. There is this completely insane tendency to totally oversell anything that says 'demon' on it in the fiction for this line. This is a single chump demon the party can kick in the dick. He hits hard, yeah, and he's not a total joke, but he's alone. The issue with the knights is numbers, DR, and defenses. I ran the knight fight completely as written several times for the team and they TPKed three times before they managed to struggle through with both Liniel and Otto Burning Fate. So you know what, I'm just gonna do what I did with my home game and adjust this encounter. First: These knights and Liebnitz are Ulricans (turned Khornate). You know what that means? No helmets. Second, put Liebnitz in Mail, not plate. Third, have the team arrive to find the one fully armored knight ready for combat and Liebnitz with him, but the others busy cutting themselves for the ritual and out of their gear, rapturous and ignoring the combat. Now these are still tough odds: The Knight and Liebnitz are both badasses, but the party outnumbers them and there's a solid chance the heroes hit an unarmored head sometimes (plus Otto can Strike to Stun with a gauntleted fist to hail mary take guys out of the fight instantly). The Knight makes a good boss on his own, after all. The party trades banter with Liebnitz as they fight his knight, and it's at this time the GM realizes something: What is Liebnitz's actual motive and why is he doing this? Like yes, he obviously hates Sigmarites. Yes, he likes fighting. He's a crazy Teutogen racial purist. But like, he was winning already. Why fall back to the Temple and pull this bullshit and reveal himself? The PCs only get a chance to stop him because the dumb gently caress goes full Khornate right as he's winning. Anyway, combat opens auspiciously, with Liniel shooting the Knight in the head after Fating a miss. She gives him a nasty arrow to the face for 3 Wounds before he goes and spends Round 1 going into a Frenzy, as does Liebnitz. The others rush the knight while Liniel yells that Liebnitz is an idiot who should've just paid up and encouraged the PCs to move on, none the wiser. Outnumbering and Charging lets all 4 of the melee characters hit, though the Knight dodges Otto and no-one hits his open head. He still takes 3 wounds from Katiya and is now looking pretty rough. Then takes 3 from Pierre, and then another from Fearghus. A great start! They already wiped 10 wounds off of him. Round two starts with Liniel shooting Liebnitz, since he isn't engaged yet, but bouncing off. The Frenzied knight gets a swing in on Otto, doing 4 Wounds even through all his armor, before hitting Katiya, too. Katiya's 14 Wounds save her, as she takes 10 in one swing, but the Kislevite brushes off the massive axe blow and keeps fighting. Liebnitz is unlucky and misses his swings, and between Outnumber and Aim and Otto's two attacks, the Axe Brother eats another 6 Wounds, the last blow being a Strike to Injure from Otto as the heroic Imperial stabs him straight in the heart and kills him. Now it's just them and the Medium Priest. Who gets Furied in the face by an arrow from Liniel. He actually survives that, albeit with 2 Wounds, and Katiya narrowly parries his attempt to finish her off. 3-1 Outnumber and Aim is too much for him, though, and the Medium Priest eats 3 hits (two from Otto, one from Pierre) and goes down to a Tomb Robber pick to the face. Pierre spits on the body and yells how that was for defacing an ancient relic. As you can see, even with the heroes being a bit lucky, fighting two guys who are doing Damage 7 when most of your team is in leather is uh, dicey. Those attacks could easily have taken them out, and there's one more Damage 7 piece of poo poo coming at them as the demon manifests. The party gasps that Xarthrodux the Red Flayer himself is here, and the demon sheepishly corrects them that no, he isn't Xath. He's just like, his butler or someshit. Seriously, they never explain what this demon is. All of them besides Katiya (who is bleeding. A lot) make their Fear saves, and combat resumes. Liniel narrowly wins Init, using her last Fortune to hit Xath's Butler, and...bounces off. C'mon, Lin. Xath's B makes his own attacks and takes Otto to 0 and Katiya to Crit 2. Luckily, he just destroys her leathers on her body. The party strikes back, and, uh, Xath's B goes down in one round. Have I mentioned he had no armor and no Daemonic Aura? And that they have 3-1 Outnumber for +20 to hit? They, uh, they had those. They got pretty messed up, but they won! Hooray! It only took rewriting the encounter to be marginally less horseshit (though still extremely dangerous; if I was fully redoing it I'd have Liebnitz as boss with some corrupted basic cultists instead of badass knights backing him up) and some serious luck! After Liebnitz, his Knight, and the demon drop, the party is exhausted and wondering what further jackassery is going to waylay them when the Flame of Ulric begins to spill out of its enclosure and engulfs the entire room. The flames do nothing to the PCs, but utterly destroy the bodies of any of the cultists, sacrifices, or traces of demonic blood; not a scrap of ash or blood remains as Ulric kicks Khorne the gently caress outta his house. Schutzmann and Stolz and the others arrive just in time to see the heroes surrounded by the White Flame of Ulric, completely unharmed. If you remember Magnus the Pious, this is pretty goddamn meaningful; it's a direct sign that Ulric the God is divinely pleased with the heroes and showing his favor in an actual miracle as they pose for the cover-shot, surrounded by white fire and bloody and battered but unbowed. This has an actual mechanical effect! Every surviving PC (all of them, in this case) gets +1 Fate and a tattoo on their hand of a bitching wolf holding a grand hammer. It's a symbol of Ulric yelling "HEY YOU LITTLE SHITS, GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULLS. ALL THIS ULRIC SIGMAR SLAPFIGHT poo poo LET A KHORNATE DO A BLOOD RITE ON MY FLAME. CUT IT OUT YOU IDIOTS." Yes, the Elf and Dwarf get this, too. It grants a permanent +10% to Fel with devout followers of Ulric and Sigmar, and +30% to Fel tests to argue for or promote religious unity. While that's a little odd for the Elf and Dwarf, and the two foreigners, it's still a pretty great reward. The book then treats Liebnitz's accusations as discredited, but, uh, they never announce he was a Khornate. They make up a story about him suffering a nervous breakdown due to all this and Ranulf (now Medium Priest) issues a joint public statement with Stolz that the mark on the Icon was fake and put there by Khornate saboteurs. An option is offered for the PCs to spend an adventure making GBS threads all over the dead Medium Priest's legacy to discredit his accusations and then claim he eventually hung himself, and the Brute Squad is all over that poo poo. They are absolutely gleeful in trying to ensure everything he spent his life working for is ruined and that his legacy is ashes in Middenheim (haha title drop). Bauer is quietly released and the OF flees into the night, probably to fall down some stairs elsewhere. By the book, no-one remembers to pay the PCs anything for any of this. They are not going to let that stand. Stolz finds a bill on his desk, helpfully itemizing each act of heroism, with a copy delivered to Ranulf stating the Temple of Ulric still owes the Brute Squad for delivery of one (1) skull. At standard labor rates for mercenaries of their caliber, they have reckoned they are due 100 GC for labor and time, 100 GC for demonic combat, and a 100 GC bonus for city-saving and civil-war preventing. Ranulf and Stolz being reasonable people, and this being a pittance for how much work the heroes did and against the wealth of great temples, the party finds it delivered in a chest with a wolf and hammer the next day. Liniel quietly takes them off the debtor list, and the Brute Squad goes to get plastered. Next Time: Wrapping Up Ashes and final thoughts
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May 1, 2019 18:12
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The moral of the story: never work for exposure when you're more than capable of killing the client.
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May 1, 2019 20:41
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that fight should have been obvious with any playtesting at all. Seriously, if you're writing a module play it at least once.
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May 1, 2019 20:42
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People very much seem to love using grim and perilous as an excuse to throw players into impossible fights to murder them for verisimilitude. DM: "What, you thought you were gonna win so easily? Don't you know what you're playing? Wait why are you so pissed off from this encounter."
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May 1, 2019 20:47
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Hostile V posted:The moral of the story: never work for exposure when you're more than capable of killing the client. What bugs me is Stolz is a totally reasonable, good guy. They just kind of forget they're not making you work for the dick anymore and everyone gets so busy no-one remembers to pay you. Wrestlepig posted:that fight should have been obvious with any playtesting at all. Seriously, if you're writing a module play it at least once. It was obvious to me the second I saw 'oh poo poo this is a 3rd tier fighter' and remembered what I did to 'swarm of reasonably advanced 1st tier characters' as someone that strong when playing. But the insane thing is they seem to think you can win just fine. The devs never actually seem to understand how powerful armor is when writing adventures. Also hilarious: This is the best module in the adventure path. It's all downhill from here. To the point that halfway through book 2 we just said 'playing this is dumb, let's settle this plot quick and then go fight a terrifying orb for an ancient hammer and kill ten billion rats.' E: Something else I should note: Some characters still have dummied out talents and such that don't do anything because this adventure was written basically alongside the core book's playtesting and design, which might be one reason it's so wonky; balance might not actually have been nailed down before it shipped. That last fight is still a legendary dumpster fire, though. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 21:14 on May 1, 2019 |
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May 1, 2019 20:49
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Wrestlepig posted:that fight should have been obvious with any playtesting at all. Seriously, if you're writing a module play it at least once. I have a feeling they did play it. Once. And revised the module based on that one group's experiences. Every group is different, not just in what characters but how the players themselves play and approach problems. Remember that a big part of the origin of Tomb of Horrors was to stop Gygax's son, who was a master of the "I will solve this problem by throwing hundreds of soldiers at it" approach to dungeons.
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May 1, 2019 21:15
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Cythereal posted:I have a feeling they did play it. Once. And revised the module based on that one group's experiences. But see, that's the thing: There's no other approaches given. You have to fight that final encounter, like every other combat encounter in the module. There's no avoiding it, no other solution (besides watching them do the ritual, which is normally an insane thing to do that somehow works out exactly the same as fighting here), no evading, no evening the odds, no way to get a leg up. It's just a straight fight with people with way higher numbers than you. And then the demon pops out and that's supposed to be scary when it's weaker than an Axe Brother or Leibnitz. The book even acts like letting them do the ritual is stupid, even though it's actually the correct choice from a 'don't get murdered' standpoint and works out perfectly. It's just a mess of a climax. E: In general, the adventure books just throw down whatever armor and gear 'should' fit on enemies without actually thinking about it as a major source of character power or a serious gameplay element. There's just this weird lack of awareness that '5 points of damage reduction' is a huge loving deal. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 21:24 on May 1, 2019 |
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May 1, 2019 21:18
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It probably wouldn't be as bad if they were just in mail/the party was actually loving paid so they could get more armor ahead of time to help compensate as well.
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May 1, 2019 21:31
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The Full Plate drop in the tomb is a huge boost to a party's main fighter, at least. Vinny the Elf was wearing that the entire campaign afterwards. Also the team will be dropping their Runesmith between modules because they just don't fit an adventuring party. Fearghus will return to his people, and in return they'll get someone with Heal because holy poo poo do they need one. The other really weird thing to me is, like...these are Chaos cultists, and all the art for the scene depicts them just wearing their robes and waiting to die. If the knights were all unarmored the party still couldn't handle 7 badasses with those stats, but they could handle two at once much more easily. Still, Damage 7 Impact is like endgame damage, too. Real armor will stop that kind of damage a little, but not a lot; it's the difference between 'I can eat 3-4 hits' and 'I go down in 2'.
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May 1, 2019 21:34
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 Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Siege on Tolkeen, Part 5: "Of course, there is something to be said about having everything in one book, but that would have meant 30-50 pages of reprint (with artwork)." Techno-Wizard Weapons So, Tolkeen has built a massive arsenal of Techno-Wizard weapons. And they get numbers! First we start with TW Melee Weapons, which first refers us to The Rifter #2 for the Techno-Wizard weapons in that issue... but then emphasizes that they're unofficial and that the GM has to allow any weapons from that. You have to be careful, because they might... threaten the tightly-honed game balance... of Rifts. We're referred to a number of other books for TW items, like Atlantis, Splynn Dimensional Market, New West, and Federation of Magic. In addition, a number of the weapons from Federation of Magic are reprinted.  Stop hitting yourself. Then we get New TW Melee Weapons (By Bill Coffin and Kevin Siembieda), which is to say most like Coffin wrote them and Siembieda nerfed them. A perfect pairing! TW Demon Claws give you supernatural strength to claw people with, but make using the toilet so much harder. TW Knuckledusters let normal people do 1d6 Mega-Damage, and for some reason cost a godawful 250,000 credits. But there's a discount for two - 450,000 credits! I guess it's for those who find their ~$10,000 vibro-blade isn't bespoke enough. TW Spin-Disks Shooters fire frisbee-sized buzz saws, which should be cool, but they're basically just mega-damage crossbows with trash damage and trash reload time. What's magical about them? I really have no idea! TW Sawstaff is a trashy weapon that inflicts Horror Factor, but those who've seen it used enough become immune, so the GM decides whether or not the Coalition guys are scared or just ironically scared. The TW Chainsaw does good damage and has the same Horror Factor effect, but requires a Strength of 30 and still at that point gives a flat 25% chance to hit "someone or someone nearby". Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:More than one foolish user has sawed himself to death this way. Whoever wrote that can gently caress right off. Speaking of which, TW Throwing Irons will charge you 25,000 credits to do 1d6 to 2d6 Mega-Damage, and no, they don't come back. It's like Techno-Wizards just add an extra 00 to the end of any price they charge. And the art is reprinted from the old Palladium Weapons & Castles Compendium. Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:They also are comparatively silent, except for the swooshing sound as they cut through the air, which makes them a favorite weapon of assassins, thieves, spies and Special Forces. Except even if a Tolkeen assassin tries to cut down a Coalition soldier, catches them unaware, and gets a critical hit... they won't even knock down the soldier's armor by half. Of course, if they catch them outside the armor, they can finish them easily, but you don't need techno-wizard magic throwing irons for that; a cheap vibro-knife will do at that point.  The most arcane of weapons. Techno-Wizard Small Arms/Guns Most of this details - once again - existing weapons from previous books in rapid-fire fashion. They aren't very good save for some specialty anti-monster weapons and save-or-suck effects, as their damage is frequently below par. Speaking of which, we do have some new times. The TW Rocket Staff is literally rockets on a stick; the only really thing wizardly about them is that apparently the rockets are fueled by magic. Damage is solid, but the magic rockets are hilariously overpriced. The TW Plasma Rifle, TW Telekinetic Rifle, and TW Light Flamethrower do crap damage unless used on a ley line, at which point they become average. The Shard Rifle, TK-60 Light Machinegun, and TK-80 Heavy Machinegun do awful damage wherever you go, and are outclassed by standard-issue Coalition rifles. Only the TW Starfire Rifle and TW "Dragonfire" Flamethrower do good damage, though both suffer from a low ammo capacity.  Don't tell Osborn, or he'll sue for copyright infringement. Magic explosives have it a little better. While like most TW weapons, they have low damage, many have effects that can take an enemy out out in one hit. Goblin Grenades like blinding flash, carpet of adhesion, or fear can take somebody out, which makes up for niche ones like extinguish fire or fuel flame or trash damage like lightning bomb or orb of cold. Like magic tattoos, each of this has a goblin face on it that tries to imply the function - blinding flash is a goblin wearing sunglasses, smoke has a goblin blowing smoke rings, for example. No word on what goblins think of that. And yes, they're horrifically overpriced - for example, a "TW Smoke Goblin Grenade" is 4,000 credits while a regular smoke grenade is 50 credits. The book even says: Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Siege on Tolkeen posted:Although excellent for special situations and surprise attacks, it is much more cost effective to make or buy conventional explosive and smoke grenades and bombs. And no, they're not reusable, and yes, they cost (paltry) P.P.E. to activate. Some are useful on account of letting you use busted spells like carpet of adhesion, but others are literally just worse than their technological counterparts. Similarly, though TW Firebombs and TW Flash Freeze Grenades are pretty solid, you're paying 25,000 credits for a one-use boom. Similarly, the TW Shockstorm Landmine does startlingly low damage for a mine (2d6). It might hurt a pixie seriously, but not much more as long as it's mega-damage. A variety of flares return from Rifts World Book 1: Vampire Kingdoms, the TW Animal Repellent Flare (to ward off bats and wolves), the TW Globe of Daylight Flare, and TW Storm Flare. I only really mention this because we get notes like: Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:Note: Shooting the storm flare into the vampire does NO damage and doesn't create a storm. Because if your players try firing a 10,000 credit flare into a vampire for an attempt at a creative use, they deserve to have their hands slapped, NO, bad players.  Finally, the ultimate anti-Coalition weapon. Finally, we get Other Techno-Wizard Devices, most of which are reprinted from Rifts World Book 12: Psyscape. They're generally useful if (once again) massively overpriced, but I'm sure there will be plenty of dead techno-wizards to loot in the near future. TW Silencers, TW Night Goggles, TW Thieves Gloves (they help with palming and escape artist, not really so great with the actual act of stealing), and TW S.C.U.B.A.. Once again, though, the fact that these can cost over 30x the equivalent of their technological equivalents can be a real downer. Next: We all float up here. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 21:40 on May 1, 2019 |
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May 1, 2019 21:38
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Why is everything magical so terrible in RIFTs?
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May 1, 2019 21:44
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I can only guess it's on account of ammo being cheap / negligible? Granted, that's a sort of "but a fighter can swing his sword all day!" weak justification, mind, but it's the only one that makes even a remote amount of sense to me. The 450,000 credit knuckle-dusters or the 25% chance of self-harm with the chainsaw (regardless of skill!) really are something.
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May 1, 2019 22:18
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I wonder if this horrible prices and goofy chances at self-harm are Kevin coming behind Bill, clucking his tongue and chuckling to himself in a grandfatherly way at the hot-blooded RPG writer youth don't get it. Except that's always been the case, so eh.
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May 1, 2019 23:08
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When Kevin says, "You can play the Coalition States!" WE HEIL! (honk) HEIL! (honk) right into Kevin's face. Not to love the Coalition is a great disgrace, SO WE HEIL! (honk) HEIL! (honk) right into Kevin's face. When Erin Tarn says, "They defend the human race." WE HEIL! (honk) HEIL! (honk) right into Erin's face. It's all relative as to what morals are in place, SO WE HEIL! (honk) HEIL! (honk) right into Erin's face. Is not the skull-bot just so good, would you ride it if you could? Yes the skull-bot is so good, we would ride it if we could! Is this not a thoughtful game, a Mega thinking Uber game? Yes this is a thoughtful game, an Uber-Duuber thinking game! We are the new gaming order Heil Kevin's new gaming order Every gamer in this place Will love ol' Kevin's face When we bring to you, this order! SirPhoebos fucked around with this message at 01:51 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 01:46
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:39 |
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SirPhoebos posted:When Kevin says, "You can play the Coalition States!" One from the vaults.
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May 2, 2019 01:57
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