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Spire part 13 Districts and Factions of High Society This is the Spire, so High Society means Aelfir, and those who serve them. There's a few humans and drow who can claim to be part of this gathering, but it's mostly the high elves who are top of the social food chain. So we know they're magical, and cold, and cruel (or at least unfeeling when it comes to 'lesser' races), but there's another important factor, and that's their masks. To go about unmasked in Aelfir society is an unforgivable breach of ettiquette, so all high elves and those servants who interact with them go about wearing a mask. In the case of servants, it's usually a mask representing their employer, marked with their role in the household. The Aelfir themselves have a multitude of masks - masks for dining, for sleeping, for hunting, for mourning; even masks to wear whilst choosing the mask for the day. They'll always also wear a true mask - unique to them - so that everyone knows who they are, and this will always be someone on their body, if not on their face.  Amaranth Inside the top tiers of Spire, Amaranth is where most of the Aelfir call home. It's beautiful, forbidding and extremely cold - whilst the high elves don't feel the chill, their staff tend to go about in heavy robes, gloves and scarves. The Black Guard keep order in this district; the elite of the regular city guards, clad in blad armour and well-armed. The Ice Caves are where the Aelfir go to slow down, to stop. Here they bath in icy water, slowing their heartbeats and chilling their blood. Oddly, this tends to improve their mood considerably, to the point where they almost seem capable of understanding the emotions of others, albeit as a certain remove. The reverse applies - Aelfir who spend time down-spire, or, gods forbid, on campaign in the deserts of the south tend to go a bit strange. The Spiral Gardens epitomise the high elves, obsessed as they are with art. There's few plants or animals in these gardens that haven't been altered, tweaked or constructed entirely - the aelfir see their art as superior to that created by any god or natural force. Gnoll gardeners (the only gnolls the aelfir will tolerate) carefully tend poisonous bushes and shrubs - often Aelfir parties will include the introduction of an animal into the poison gardens, to succumb to the venom for the amusement of an audience. Ivory Row A hundred years back, when the drow still ruled themselves, Ivory Row was the place to see and be seen, the heart of society, founded upon the efforts of three ivory merchants, trading in unicorn-horn and tygre-tusk. Now the once-opulent mansions are falling into decay, still owned by a trio of landlords unwilling to give up any control. The Sunlight Collective - group of bohemian occultists - follow the progression of twenty-six shifting windows as they make their way in great arcs around the outside wall of the spire. Being part of these groups is a bit of a rite of passage for down-and-out artists. Even the disgraced Warrior-Poet Petals-Cut-By-Rain spent time with the collective before launching her critically-acclaimed We, the Ten Thousand, Stand Waiting Eyes Wet Before The Sunrise (simultaneously a work of polyamourous elven love poetry and an invasion plan for the gnoll city of Al'Arjhama). The Hidden are the squatters and vagrants who live in the abandoned mansions, dodging guards and watchmen and hiding away in ancient servants quarters and making markets in attics.  The Silver Quarter The destination for the rich and famous from within Spire and without. A network of canals, supplied with water pumped up from the base of the Spire is home to roving gangs of boatmen and gondoliers, carrying the well-to-do between the many clubs and gambling dens of this district. The House runs the Silver Quarter. Mesye So, the drow boss of this secret society / crime syndicate employs a staff nearly entirely consisting of disgraced Aelfir - his bodyguards are a cadre of ex-Skalds, the razor-wielding beserk battle-poets, and his messengers are the scions of a fallen high elf house whose founder took her mask off at court, dooming her entire house to a lifetime of shunning. The Order of St Perdita runs lavish charity balls and galas, some of which even escapes the complicated system of money laundering schemes most of it gets tied up in. The Gilded Oyster is devoted to the utmost in debauchery - sulphur benders, drunken brawls, even a room where Aelfir go about unmasked. The Hearts are devotees of the luck goddess Stolz who run the Mermaid casino. Nobody steals from the Mermaid - the last person to do so stole a towel 'accidently' and was struck by lightning and incinerated on the way home. They're reckless and impulsive, as if luck's always on their side - and it often really is. They also perform traditional Stolzian marriages, in which lovers are attached to a special harness and flung off the side of the tower. If they survive (i.e. if the harness is attached to something), the union will be blessed. Luck Priest of Stolz Ordained after they've gambled an important part of their life in order to offer it up to Stolz, if she wants it. Must wear Stolz' sacred vestments - scarves and cloaks of many colours. They refresh when they risk their life or that of their allies. Low Mark stress to re-roll any dice. Once a session find a gambling session with interesting stakes. Medium Make the GM re-roll fallout rolls. Avoid damage in combat through sheer chance. High;  Next: Low Society
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May 18, 2018 23:47
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aww that's a sweet reference to greg stolze.
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May 18, 2018 23:56
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LazyAngel posted:We, the Ten Thousand, Stand Waiting Eyes Wet Before The Sunrise (simultaneously a work of polyamourous elven love poetry and an invasion plan for the gnoll city of Al'Arjhama). Spire is good enough to make me depressed that I'll never have that kind of talent.
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May 19, 2018 00:09
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Impermanent posted:aww that's a sweet reference to greg stolze. Pretty sure Al'Arjhama is an anagram for Al Amarja, the island from Over The Edge, at least phonetically
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May 19, 2018 00:42
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 Mythender Part 3: Overview of Play and Character Creation The book recommends four to five players- three or four Mythenders and one Mythmaster. Other amounts of Mythenders are not recommended; for two or less, the system requires modifications, for more than four, “you will have a horrible time.” Apparently, according to their playtests, the sheer time between one’s turns completely ruins the high-power feel of the game. I don’t think a group of five would be overly difficult with the right people, but it’s a decent guideline. There’s a warning that you should probably play in person, as the author views Mythender as a highly “tactile” game, and that there’s a “fair number of moving parts” to the game. This is partially due to the number of token and dice pool counts that each player maintains. Mythender needs a LOT of dice, all d6, and everyone can easily be rolling 30 or more dice on their turn. As such, the book suggests a maximum size of 12mm dice for most of them, though 8mm dice are also good if you can get them in good quantities. First, each player has Storm Dice. These are a character’s innate power. They are represented by white dice, of which you’ll need around 40. Then there’s Thunder Dice, which show the momentum each character has in battle at a given moment. These are black dice, requiring around 100. Bonus thunder dice can be gained from certain abilities, so you’ll need about 10 of those in a different color. The only other die is the Mythic die, which the book suggests being a larger and heavier die. It represents the Mythic Heart that gives greater power. I’ve got a 16mm metal die that works pretty nicely for the purpose, though an enthusiastic player could ruin a table surface in short order. There’s also a few counters that show the amount of power a Mythender can use on their current action. Thunder tokens are used to wound Myths and cause other effects. The book suggests 100 tokens, but 10 or so ‘fives’ tokens and 20 ‘ones’ tokens should suffice. Might tokens are instead used to fuel special abilities called Gifts, most requiring 1-3 Might to use. About 70 are required. That is a fair amount of material. I used acrylic bits (yellow and white for Lightning, red for Might) as tokens and 12mm dice, and the whole set looks something like this: .jpg) .jpg) Moving onward, we then get to see the character sheet in full:  There’s a lot here that the book will explain in more detail later, but it provides a quick overview. You’ve got spots for your dice and tokens at the corners, a wound track on the left, Gifts on the right, space for your character’s weapons, and a track for how corrupted you are with descriptions for each stage. Most of the subsystems have some quick-reference boxes. The reminders on the sheet are good enough that you can set up a character and play with fairly little time looking at the book itself, which I appreciate. We also get sheets for the Mythender’s backstory, the Bonds between Mythenders, and the opponent Myth’s character sheet, but we’ll get to those when the time comes for them. A lot of this is front-loaded unnecessarily, and the book ends up repeating lot of information several times as a result. So, let’s get on with creating a Mythender: Pick three weapons and a starting gift from the list. Tell everyone else in the party why you you’re not going to kill them yet. You’re done. Well, those are the “quick creation” steps. Weapons are used to make actions, Gifts make them more powerful, and Bonds state what keep this murderous bunch of Mythenders working together. Those aspects are really all that matter mechanically. The full Mythender creation involves making up a load of flavor text, which is what the game really prides itself in. As a preview, there’s three separate steps to a combat action that are nothing but different parts of the description, so it’s kind of a big deal. The book encourages revision in play- perhaps you come upon a new companion who might make a good Weapon, or the form you take at Godly corruption alters as a reaction to circumstance. To assist with coming up with ideas, the author also suggests using popular culture characters as jumping-off points. Let’s look at full Mythender creation down the line. First, you’ll pick one of the Mythic Hearts: Warrior, Crusader, Commander, Bearer (of a Relic), Tempest (Magic-user), and Loremaster. This is the way in which one fights, and where the Mythender believes their power is best expressed. For example, for the Heart of the Crusader, quote:As a Mythender, you understand that your true power to End gods comes from the strength of your unwavering conviction. Each heart has a few questions. For the Crusader, you should determine what ideal you fight for, what injustice is in the world that must be righted, and what is the inevitable result of your crusade will be. Weapon ideas are also presented, such as “My unshakeable faith (Intrinsic) or the Spear of Longinus (relic). Most importantly, each Heart starts off with one Gift. The Crusader gets Bloodlust, which gives them power when they take wounds. Next, we pick a Past from the list: Noble, Child, Mourner, Apostate (former Myth-worshipper), Exile, Abomination (part-Myth, like a demigod). These also gives some questions, like that cruelties the Child has endured, or what the Mourner should have done to prevent their loss (that’s a bit… mean, I must say). There’s Weapon ideas, as before, and some example Bonds. An Apostate might be Bonded to another Mythender who “shows me a new way,” or an Abomination might Bond with another who “sees my humanity.” Then we pick a Fate, which is the type of God you’ll become upon Apotheosis. Examples are Judgement, Death, War, Life, Love, Chaos. This one is pure flavor, used to determine your Personal blight (a sort of Aura you project upon the world and its people), then the Forms you take as corruption progresses, and your miraculous powers. A god of Chaos might cause visions in nearby mortals, turn into a mutated mass as they gain power, and gain the ability to return all things to dust. Each of these three sections- Heart, Past, and Fate- encourage making new categories. One idea is to scrap the default Hearts and swap them for another theme entirely- quote:One fun theme could be to make Hearts based on the classic fantasy adventuring roles: the Fighter, the Cleric, the Rogue (or the Thief, if you’re old-school), the Wizard (or the Magic-User, if you’re way-old-school), the Paladin, the Bard, etc. Yes, yes, we know you’re hip with the classics. Get over yourself. Still, the combination of Heart, Past, and Fate can tell you a lot about who a character is and with what power they struggle. The book gives a few examples of what sorts of characters might embody a Heart-Past combo: Beowulf would be a warrior-noble, Gandalf a tempest-abomination, Batman a loremaster-mourner. One last thing to point out: The book does encourage collaboration in creating characters, since you can get a lot more creative with some input, but has a really good caveat: quote:All that said, don’t jump the gun and offer advice before someone else has asked. Some people just take a bit to think or articulate ideas. Slow your roll and gave them that space. Whatever you do, don’t say “You know what would be more awesome…” That sort of language shuts down people by invalidating their ideas—and that’s not awesome. On the whole, character creation is pretty simple. There’s enough to get you thinking about who your character is, but it won’t get too deep into their head unless you really want it to. They built towards a game that you could start up and run in a convention slot, and it very much supports that aim, but allows more expansion at will. Next time: How to hit things
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May 19, 2018 02:12
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Which splat is the dedication to the historical science of Marxism-Leninism?
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May 19, 2018 02:25
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You know, you want to start with stuff that slows down the 'high power' feel of your game maybe don't design a system to roll 30 loving dice a turn. Double Cross is a good game that feels pretty great in play but rolling and rerolling all the crits in that game already slows it down a ton, I can't imagine it's any faster to read that many dice quick for this one.
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May 19, 2018 02:30
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Night10194 posted:You know, you want to start with stuff that slows down the 'high power' feel of your game maybe don't design a system to roll 30 loving dice a turn. Apropos of a Double Cross reference, I liked it when I read it but I feel like I want a build guide for making a character.
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May 19, 2018 03:05
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no nope there's a certain level of complexity where my attention hits an unsigned integer and rolls over back to zero and that's it right there. when that much effort is required to play a game, it might as well just be friends standing around a table and taking turns narrating whatever TOTALLY BADASS XXXTREME ULTRA-KILL KKKOMBOS they're pulling on sun wukong or whatever edit: again, i don't mean for this to come off as judgment about you. it's been a long time since this thread had a game that was awful in a fun way, instead of being awul in a Beast kind of way, so it's at least amusing to gawk at.
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May 19, 2018 03:52
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Night10194 posted:You know, you want to start with stuff that slows down the 'high power' feel of your game maybe don't design a system to roll 30 loving dice a turn. skimming the pdf of mythender, I was reminded of another problem the game had for me when I first read it. This is going ahead a bit but one of the first sections I skipped to was 'gifts', I figured that these would be the areas where you get to see the neat powers or ideas for characters and the equivalent section in games like Scion or Exalted are often the best parts of those systems. In Mythender, all the gifts are purely mechanistic and pretty much 100% impenetrable unless you've fully read and understood the rules section. It's all stuff like 'spend 1 might to add 2 thunder' or 'you generate X thunder a turn instead of y thunder a turn'. That's probably mythender's cardinal sin for me...it felt like it completely separated the descriptive elements of the game from the actual rules. It's something this review may enlighten me on, perhaps I'm misrepresenting it, but if felt like the things you say your characters do had basically nothing to do with the things on their character sheet.
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May 19, 2018 03:57
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Freaking Crumbum posted:TOTALLY BADASS XXXTREME ULTRA-KILL KKKOMBOS they're pulling on sun wukong or whatever And yeah this is interesting to read and like, this is good clean fun, it isn't about sex crimes. I may fundamentally dislike its central thrust but it's like reading John Locke, not Ayn Rand.
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May 19, 2018 04:02
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Nessus posted:Which splat is the dedication to the historical science of Marxism-Leninism? Brujah, I think.
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May 19, 2018 04:38
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oriongates posted:skimming the pdf of mythender, I was reminded of another problem the game had for me when I first read it. This is going ahead a bit but one of the first sections I skipped to was 'gifts', I figured that these would be the areas where you get to see the neat powers or ideas for characters and the equivalent section in games like Scion or Exalted are often the best parts of those systems. I feel like this is basically Mythender in a nutshell from my reading of it: It's mostly about having a combat system that's very crunchy and elaborate and lets you roll the beloved buckets of dice. The fluff is there to be hugely over the top to justify the buckets of dice and tokens and bigger Mythic Die; when they say it's a very tactile game, they mean a huge part of its appeal and power fantasy is specifically for players who want to roll bigger dice and more numbers. As such, all the actual mechanical powers are there to further that, make your dice economy stronger, your rolls bigger. I can understand the appeal, I've had players whose favorite thing in Exalted was to put as many dice as possible into a roll to do something utterly ridiculous (this was Exalted 2e, and the most fun one of my players ever had was putting an atrocious number of dice into something they then botched. We all laughed for like a minute straight, that was a goofy campaign. Anyways, the point being, I think that this is not a game for people who don't already play a certain kind of RPG, because you need that 'power = stronger dice' association well established before Mythenders makes much tactical or mechanical sense at all. (and even then, not my cup of tea, for all sorts of reasons)
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May 19, 2018 04:44
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I like games with mechanical complexity, but throwing around huge buckets of dice just to say you're throwing buckets of dice just feels inelegant to me. Having to warn you can't have 5 players because there's so much rolling that turns will take too drat long is a huge warning sign.
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May 19, 2018 05:25
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Yeah, I mean, I love Exalted and am an apologist for Ex3 mechanics, but will rarely say 'it seems like Exalted does this more elegantly.' Yet here we are.
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May 19, 2018 06:49
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   Although the Midgard Heroes' Handbook and the Midgard Player's Guide each cover nearly 200 pages worth of material for 5th Edition and Pathfinder respectively, that hasn't prevented the Worldbook from providing new mechanics. Ordinarily the two appendices are split into their own entries, but to avoid repeating myself I figured to cover them both in one sitting. In some cases there are mechanics found only in one version (usually 5th Edition). I assume that this is because existing material is in the other system already, such as the Lust domain which already exists in Pathfinder. For ease of use, (5e) stands for 5th Edition D&D, while (PF) stands for Pathfinder. Character Options  Gnoll Caravan Raider is a background (5e) and is exactly what it says on the tin: it provides proficiency in Acrobatics, Intimidation, Alchemist's tools, and nomadic gear along with the Feature where you have advantage on sifting through and appraising trade goods. In Pathfinder gnolls get two new archetypes: Havoc Runner for Fighters, and Caravan Raider for Rogues. The Havoc Runner has some mobility-based features where you gain increased speed when you move, and you can impose penalty on attack rolls and movement speed to people you hit while running. The Caravan Raider has some bonus feats, but its signature feature is a Shock Bag which is a limited-use-per-day item generator which can replicate an alchemical weapon. We also have a pair of new Rogue Talents (PF) which increase the damage values and save DCs of alchemical weapons, which work great with multiclass Alchemist builds. Paladins get a new Sacred Oath (5e) of the Giving Grave which is all about transcending the mortal coil. It grants some new blood-themed spells as well as more familiar necromancy spells such as animate dead. Its Channel Divinity can compel undead to attack who you want or stun a target for one minute until it takes damage. Its other class features include granting turn immunity to yourself and allies, gain regeneration when below half your hit points, and as a 20th level capstone you resurrect as a death knight if slain. The new Lust Domain (5e/PF) in 5th Edition is possessed by Bastet, Freyr and Freyja, Marena, and Bacchos. It focuses on enchantment spells, grants proficiency in one of Deception/Performance/Persuasion, and its Lustful Gaze channel divinity is a single-target debuff which impacts perception related abilities and at 17th level can obey your verbal commands. In (PF) the already-existing domain has replacement powers akin to a bard's fascination or enthrall abilities. The Hunger Domain (PF) is exclusive to Vardesain and grants the cleric a rounds-per-day bite attack along with feast of ashes as a spell-like ability (which can starve people). Its domain spells are predictably related to food and water creation, buffs usually in the form of bite attacks, and debuffs like energy drain and a new spell Ravenous Hunger (which forces an affected creature to drop what it's doing and eat something nearby). The Serophage Sorcerous Origin (5e) is all about the dark powers of the blood. It includes reduced damage from bludgeoning weapons, the ability to regain sorcery points or add +1/+2 to save DCs (based on level) if you deal 1d4 slashing damage to yourself, and the ability to form a ring of blood from a recently killed creature to absorb incoming attacks or be launched at foes as a weapon. Its greatest feature at 18th level forcefully exsanguinates blood from nearby creatures to restore your own HP or sorcery points. Wizards get a lot of fun here. They have a School of Blood Magic (5e) where they gain learn the memories of a creature whose blood they drink, and absorb poisons and diseases from other creatures into their own body...and can launch it at others as a ranged spit attack! The School of Void Magic (5e) revolves around the alien nature of the Void, where speaking the dread language as part of a verbal component can impose disadvantage to an affected target's next roll, and other features the ability to impose necrotic damage as a per-long-rest ability, and at 14th level can manifest a 20 cubic feet of darkness which imposes necrotic damage and disadvantage on Wisdom checks. Finally, the Void Savant (PF) is virtually the same as the School of Void Magic, save that they gain free Extend Spell metamgic feat a limited number of uses per day. Occultists (PF) can play around with void magic in the form of new Implements, focus powers, etc. As I never got into Occult Adventures, I cannot really comment on this in an educated way on the base class' powers. Their implements can impose madness debuffs, create a warped major image as a Base Focus Power, and various dark magic related Focus Powers like turning into an aberrant alien form, summoning creepy creatures, devouring spells and souls, and free divinations from violent sacrifice. We have a pair of new feats (PF): the first is the metamagic feat Strengthen Caster where you restore HP equal to twice the level of a cast spell, while Rush of Magic grants a free bull rush using your caster level and spellcasting score on all those affected by an elemental damage spell (acid/cold/fire/electricity). Yes, this applies to area of effect spells for multiple targets, the feat states as such. Nonmagical Items (5e) presents five new pieces of gear, most focused on the cultures of the Rothenian Plains. The Centaur Lance is a super-spear which does double the normal damage as a regular spear and provides advantage against mounted enemies. The Kariv Wheel Shield can be used as both a shield and wagon wheel which act as a +3 AC shield (but needs STR 16 or disadvantage on DEX checks due to bulkiness) or if used on a vehicle grants it bonus AC and HP. The Khazzaki Trick-Bow is meant to be used to show off in archery competitions, with half the range of a shortbow yet grants advantage on Charisma (Performance) checks for archery-based endeavors. The Rothenian Spice Kit can be used to brew food during rests to regain one additional hit die with a DC 5 Intelligence check by the cook. Finally the whip-sash is an unassuming Kariv weapon disguised as a normal piece of clothing but can be turned into a whip with a bonus action. Drugs & Poisons (5e/PF) details Requiem, a drug which allows you the ability to cast the speak with dead spell, but with risk of poison damage (5e) or suffering nonlethal damage and penalties on d20 rolls (PF). It can be imbibed as clay to smoke, or smoked in a more powerful form known as bliss which grants contact other plane or speak with dead, save the spirit cannot lie to you. We get a 5th Edition-exclusive poison known as ghoul saliva paste which can cause paralysis on a failed Constitution save, but is very smelly and as such it's hard to sneak up on creatures with Keen Smell trait while carrying it. We have a new vehicle in the form of a Siwali Dune Ship. In 5th Edition you merely add +25% to the base cost of a ship so it can travel on desert sands; it is not in the Appendix proper but in the Southlands chapter. In Pathfinder it's listed as a vehicle in the Appendix, and provides a full stat block for a Colossal multi-purpose desert and water vehicle: it's 12,500 GP to buy and requires longstrider and pass without trace spells for its creation. A rather reasonable price for a magic item of that kind; nonmagical fortresses are 50,000 GP. Magical Items There's quite a bit of magic items here, 23 typical ones and 2 artifacts to be precise. But only half of them are dual-statted for both Pathfinder. I'm not going to repeat them all, just the more interesting ones. The Black Phial (5e) can provide the effect of a Potion of Greater Healing if filled with fresh blood, but this is limited use item. Blood Mark (5e) is an appropriately creepy coin, as a person can fuel its charges with their own blood, and another person can "fulfill the pledge" to restore their HP at the expense of dealing damage to the original donor. The Keffiyeh of Serendipitous Escape (5e/PF) can be worn as a head garment but also laid out into a flying carpet. The Key of Veles (5e/PF) can be used to locate a ley line or shadow road and open the latter by expending a charge. Memory Philters (5e/PF) are favorites of the shadow fey: they impose various emotion-related buffs and debuffs to the drinker, but their creation requires a mortal to sacrifice knowledge of an appropriate memory (memory of failure or embarassment for shame potion, a nice childhood memory for a joy potion, etc). A Nullifier's Lexicon (5e) allows you to communicate in Void Speech and grants the ability to cast certain spells from its pages, but successive castings deal a cumulative 1d6 necrotic damage whose damage value only resets during long rests. The tome can also rearrange reality to your will once a week. The Staff of the First Labyrinth (5e/PF) is a creation from the days of the Moon Kingdom and can banish stricken opponents to an extradimensional maze for a limited time. Our two artifacts are And'Ducyr (5e), the Khazzaki Khan's legendary longbow which generates its own ammunition, grants truesight to one who draws its string (but deals damage if you don't fire it at a creature within your turn), can fire blinding arrows, and grants advantage and proficiency on Charisma and Intimidation/Persuasion/Performance skills respectively. The Spark of Kjord (5e/PF) is a formless power of divinity which was last possessed by a priest of Mavros before his death at the hands of vampires. It grants advantage/bonuses on Charisma checks to rally people to your cause and deals bonus/radiant damage to undead creatures along with the effects of the bless spell. The spark leaves you to inhabit another creature if you die or waver in your convictions against fighting vampiric tyranny. Fun Fact: the Spark of Kjord is a reference to the divine sparks in the Southlands Campaign Setting. Such things were stored ephemeral energy of the mighty titans of Glorious Umbuso. They were meant to be found as rare treasure, usually in a king's vault or well-guarded dungeon, and in game purposes granted the powers of Mythic Tiers. Alternate Magic This details new magic sub-systems. The first we have is Blood Magic (5e) which was created by the evil wizard Taergash the Bloodpurger. His spells are highly sought after by wicked mages of all kinds, and the book cautions against granting these spells to PCs on account that they are "evil options" not suitable for most parties. Red Portal Magic (5e/PF) meanwhile is is a unique form of extradimensional transportation which connects not only to shadow roads but other planes, times, and alternate realities which the book calls out as being possibly other published campaign settings. It has no game mechanics beyond suggestions on their use and the most well-known red portal locations in Midgard. Shadow Magic (5e/PF) is fully detailed in the Midgard Heroes' Handbook/Player's Guide, but for now we get notes on Shadow Corruption: it's basically a debilitative condition gained from spending a long time in the Shadow Realm, pacts with dark beings, etc and is represented in six stages. Lower stages involve minor debuffs in bright light and social penalties, but later stages make you blind/sickened/etc in light until you eventually become a Shadow Thrall. Those unfortunate souls are maddened people obsessed with the Shadow Realm and can be commanded by creatures of shadow. Void Magic (5e/PF) gets a pretty lengthy entry here. Long story short, it's Lovecraftian magic gleaned from aboleth glyphs, but can also come from the howling denizens in the dark spaces between the stars. For 5th Edition we get a pair of feats for Void Magic: Void Channeler which ups the DC for speaking the language to 8 + proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier for its frightened effect and is no longer limited to just hearing it for the first time. The limiting factor is that you take necrotic damage if you use it too often between rests. Void Scribe lets you inscribe a glyph on an object to make it vulnerable to and take necrotic damage the round after. As far as the feats go, Void Channeler's quite good for the debuff effect of frighten, whereas Void Scribe is rather weak. We get discussion of Void Taint, which usually comes from exposure to related magic, monsters, and terrain poisoned by the powers of the Void. It is resisted with a save appropriate to the method of taint, and people with void-related archetypes and feats have advantage on the saving throws. Failure causes affliction with a short-term madness. Further Void-related maladies can make madness effects last longer or gain physical deformities based on a numeric threshold known as Void Taint. The madness effects are generally role-play focused obsessions, but the deformities have mechanical effects: they are generally a double-edged sword, such as constantly producing slime on your skin which grants advantage on checks to slip out of bonds, but advantage on checks for other people to track you. Spells  The final section of the twin appendices do not disappoint. We have 77 new spells for 5th Edition, and about half that amount for Pathfinder. For new magical types, we also have [blood] and [void] descriptors for both 5th Edition and Pathfinder entries. While you'd think that 5th Edition would get most of the exclusive spells, interestingly there are are several Pathfinder-specific options. Two of them are incantations handled as rituals: Incantation of Fealty Given Form (geas/quest to the Duchy), and Incantation of Walking the Shadow Roads (go through a shadow road). Other Pathfinder specific spells include Essence of Instability (radiate an invisible damaging aura), Grasping Water (water sprouts attacking pseudopods), and Halt Vessel (prevents seacraft from moving). Like the magic item section, I will not cover them all. Instead I'll focus on the most interesting ones. Alone (5e/PF) is an enchantment spell which fools the target into thinking its allies vanished to another realm; this prevents them from interacting and gaining teamwork-related abilities and treats them as if they were invisible and silent. Blood & Steel (5e) allows you to charm a construct by pressing your own blood into a handprint on it. Conjure Undead (5e) lets you summon a shadow to do your bidding, but higher spell slots let you summon stronger undead such as wights or ghosts. Conjure/Summon Minor Voidborn (PF/5e) and Conjure/Summon Voidborn (PF/5e) summon an aberration or outsider of a relative power level, and in 5th Edition expending higher level slots lets you summon them in greater numbers. Doom of the Slippery Rogue (5e) covers a 20 by 20 foot section of wall or floor with bacon fat and can cause people to slip or fail on a failed Dexterity save or Strength (Athletics) depending on circumstances. Find Kin (5e) is a low-level ritual which allows you to learn the identity and general location of a random living blood relative of the target. Hobble Mount (5e) deals 2d6 bludgeoning damage (plus 2d6 per slot over 1st level) to a mounted creature which moves more than half its normal movement speed in a round. Ice Soldiers (5e/PF) creates one or more humanoid constructs made from freezing water poured out of a vial, which has respectable statistics for a melee-focused creature. Mammon's Due (5e) summons a burning figure of ash to grab and deal fire damage to creatures in its space to pull them underneath the ground. Open Red Portal (5e/PF) can create a two-way portal on a nearby Shadow Road to take you anywhere in Midgard in the present day, up to 1,000 years in the past, or another plane of existence. Void Rift (5e/PF) opens up a rift into absolute nothingness akin to a black hole, forcefully dragging creatures within the area of effect, deals damage, and either treats them as blind and deaf (5e) or begin to suffocate from lack of air (PF). Also the Lust Domain for 5th Edition has 3 new spells specific to that ruleset. Throes of Ecstasy causes a target to be overcome with sexual euphoria, is incapacitated, auto-fails Wisdom saves for the duration, and suffers 1 to 3 levels of exhaustion based on how long the spell lasted. Lovesick is akin to confusion in that you roll a 1d10 for random behavior: do nothing and sulk like a lovelorn teenager, burst into tears and take the Dash action in a random direction, fly into a jealous rage and attack a random creature, etc. Finally, Kiss of the Succubus can only be used on a charmed creature or one affected by your Lustful Gaze Channel Divinity: it deals 5d10 psychic damage on a failed Constitution save and reduces the victim's HP maximum by that amount until a long rest (or kills them instantly if their HP max is reduced to 0). Thoughts So Far: There's quite a wealth of material in both appendices, especially for spellcasters. I have to wonder how many of the 5th Edition specific material already exists in a Pathfinder book, on account that most Midgard books have been published for that ruleset. If most of them don't exist in earlier products, I can't help but feel that Pathfinder players are getting the short end of the stick here. Some of the abilities seemed to have questionable balance: the Kariv Wheel shield when combined with heavy armor and magical enhancements can push one's AC beyond bounded accuracy thresholds, the Serophage's boost to spell DC is a great deal for just a little bit of damage, and the Throes of Ecstasy is a great setup for a followup Wisdom-save effect...presuming your gaming group would be comfortable with having you cast that spell, as it's technically sexual assault if done against an unwilling creature. As for what I liked: I found that the Oath of the Grave paladin makes for a pretty good martial necromancer archetype. The Rothenian Spice Kit brings back fuzzy memories of Final Fantasy XV's camping mechanic. The memory philters and the methods of their creation were thematically awesome. The Red Portals have great potential for multi-campaign crossovers or "guy sucked from modern world into fantasy realm" adventure ideas. Requiem's dead-speaking properties make it both a useful resource for players, as well as creating an insidious effect for addicts desperate to speak to loved ones as a social scourge. Concluding Thoughts My feelings for Midgard remain just as strong as they were when I first picked the book up six years ago, albeit perhaps with a more critical eye on its problematic elements. Still, the 2018 Worldbook is a worthy successor for fans and newcomers alike. There are very few settings out there like it: it calls upon fairy tale and folkloric elements without taking a stereotypical "kid-friendly" route, it has a diverse kitchen-sink world which feels naturally connected and not disparately crammed together, and its relative rules-neutrality but with system-specific booklets makes it accessible to gamers of various fantasy RPGs. Between this and Northlands, I am probably going to take an extended hiatus from writing Let's Reads for the time being. But I hope that I demonstrated to readers the strengths of Wolfgang Baur's long-running passion project, and hope that you all enjoyed reading this review as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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May 19, 2018 07:26
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Jesus, Mythender, I can't get my friends to stop dropping my dice on the floor when they have 2d6. You want me to get a hundred tiny cubes? That is one misplaced arm away from disaster.
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May 19, 2018 07:48
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Joe Slowboat posted:Yeah, I mean, I love Exalted and am an apologist for Ex3 mechanics, but will rarely say 'it seems like Exalted does this more elegantly.' So wait, is Mythenders the first Exalted Heartbreaker?
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May 19, 2018 10:31
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Nessus posted:Which splat is the dedication to the historical science of Marxism-Leninism? I will End Capitalism (Myth) as a Commander-Apostate, armed with the Communist Manifesto (Weapon, relic), Organizational Skill (Gift) and the Union of Union Organizers (Bond). *rolls 69 dice* *gets tapped by Gaiman for a book colab*
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May 19, 2018 12:03
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And then you transform into the dread god Geriantocracy.
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May 19, 2018 15:14
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Dawgstar posted:Apropos of a Double Cross reference, I liked it when I read it but I feel like I want a build guide for making a character. Here's a brief writeup of how I make a character: - Character concept - Pick two syndromes that work with the concept/you think are cool - most (especially with the release of splatbooks) can combo really well with anything. Big exception is Solaris since a lot of its attack powers rely on <Negotiation> instead of <RC> or <Melee> or whatever. You don't have to use it for its attack powers though, of course. - Pick an attack power that will be the basis of your main attack combo. It should be cheap and not use-limited (so no Limit powers or x/scene ones). Orcus's Earth Fang is a good example. Note its Syndrome (Orcus), Timing (Major) and relevant Skill (<RC>). - Flip through your two syndromes and look for good things to combo onto your main power - keeping in mind that combo boosters have to share a Timing and either the relevant Skill or, if they're marked Syndrome, the relevant Syndrome. Buying up Concentrate for your main attacking Syndrome is always a good idea. - Pick whether your character is going to use Dodge to avoid attacks or Guard to stand against them, and pick a power that lets you boost one or the other. - optional but highly recommended: Ask your GM to let the group pick one or two Simple Powers for free instead of making them take a power slot pick.
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May 19, 2018 16:21
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Yeah, one of the really cool parts about DX is how well most of the Syndromes work with one another. Then you also have lots of room to come up with fluff for all the powers. Even two characters with the same Syndromes can come out massively different.
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May 19, 2018 16:23
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I remember in the review they did the random roll and accidentally created Kotetsu from Bunny and Tiger, I do love DX because especially with the splatbooks basically giving players the ability to create a Persona or Stand, it really gives a lot of power options and not one is better than the other.
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May 19, 2018 16:25
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Also, there's a great deal of stuff where, say, one power set can do a thing more efficiently, but once you hit max in that set you can still add on useful amounts of extra stuff from another power set.
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May 19, 2018 16:31
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JcDent posted:I will End Capitalism (Myth) as a Commander-Apostate, armed with the Communist Manifesto (Weapon, relic), Organizational Skill (Gift) and the Union of Union Organizers (Bond).
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May 19, 2018 17:39
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Leraika posted:Here's a brief writeup of how I make a character: This is very helpful, thank you! Much less complicated than I thought. So is there no benefit to sticking with one syndrome or having three?
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May 19, 2018 18:34
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Dawgstar posted:This is very helpful, thank you! Much less complicated than I thought. So is there no benefit to sticking with one syndrome or having three? One Syndrome opens up some pretty tremendous Pure Type abilities and lets you buy any individual power in the Syndrome higher than you would normally. You can do some nuts stuff with it but it's more complex and you give up the excellent synergies the system has.
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May 19, 2018 18:39
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Dawgstar posted:This is very helpful, thank you! Much less complicated than I thought. So is there no benefit to sticking with one syndrome or having three? Yeah (one syndrome gets you a lot of raw power and three gives you a lot of variety at the cost of some power), but honestly I feel like two is the sweet spot when it comes to versatility, thematics, and ease of building unless I've got a very specific concept in mind. Also, if you want to use a weapon, just skip the power step (or pick a power that creates a weapon) and pick abilities that boost <Melee> or <Ranged> as appropriate.
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May 20, 2018 01:54
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Leraika posted:Yeah (one syndrome gets you a lot of raw power and three gives you a lot of variety at the cost of some power), but honestly I feel like two is the sweet spot when it comes to versatility, thematics, and ease of building unless I've got a very specific concept in mind. Or take, like, Black Dog's Cyber Arm and take stuff to enhance that?
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May 20, 2018 02:13
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Dawgstar posted:Or take, like, Black Dog's Cyber Arm and take stuff to enhance that? Yep! I usually just like playing blasty guys, so I'm always picking a power to build around.
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May 20, 2018 03:34
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All that Double Cross posting sounds like dialogue from a JRPG
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May 20, 2018 05:56
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JcDent posted:All that Double Cross posting sounds like dialogue from a JRPG Given the style of DX, that can only really be a compliment.
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May 20, 2018 06:07
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JcDent posted:All that Double Cross posting sounds like dialogue from a JRPG Reads like it too, sometimes. It's translated, but not really localized. It kinda works, though.
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May 20, 2018 12:17
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The only time I've ever done a one syndrome character in DX, it was entirely worth it because it meant my opening combat move was 'summon a giant robot to pilot'.
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May 20, 2018 20:44
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Spire part 14 Districts and Factions of Low Society - Part 1 Apologies for the delay, but now onto Low Society. These are the poorer areas of the Spire, and unlike the Criminal Domain, many of these districts are dangerous for what they are, not for who lives there. Derelictus Surrounding the subterranean tier which holds Red Row is a mess of broken and crumpled buildings, dead-end tunnels and oily sumps. This is Derelictus, where you live only if you can't make it further up-Spire. It's dark and dirty, a place of back-alley magic and knives in the back. Hemlock Fruit Market Illegal in the Spire, Corpsefruit is imported from the drow Home Nations and sold in Hemlock Market, along with other contraband - cave-squid ink, biomechanical sliver implants and more. The fruit itself is hallucinogenic, and it's claimed the visions are the dreams of the dead beneath the earth in which the fruit is grown. Grist In Grist, on the edge of Derelictus, they've found a new god; huge and bloated and always hungry, always well-fed. Becoming a ghoul is what happens when you eat flesh that thinks, and King Teeth has been a ghoul for a long long time - enough that he can grant some of his powers to his followers. Faithful of King Teeth All it takes is worship at his feet, and paying tribute to him with the flesh of man or elf or gnoll. And sharing his food of course. Refresh when you eat such meats. Low Harden your nails, skittering up walls or swallow enemies whole to slowly digest them in your distended gut. Medium Retch up acidic vomit that will eat through metal, flesh and stone. The Church of Absolution Worshippers of the Hungry Deep, entropy and rot incarnate. Exiled priests, madmen and burnt-out drug addicts gather at the feet of Mother Falling-Ash-On-Snow, whose touch blossoms mould and whose presence dims light. Chosen of the Hungry Deep Lose something irreplaceable to you, and prey to the Hungry Deep. Refresh when you destroy something of beauty (or someone). Low Rot all food in a building or spawn a virulent disease. Rust or rot an inanimate object. Medium Bless your allies, decaying the force of blows against them. Speak nightmares into a foe's ear or birth a swarm of horrid creatures into the world. Perch Perch isn't meant to be there. It hangs off the side of the Spire like a barnicle; an unplanned mess of ropes and tinder, sheltering under the Gutter - an ancient sewer outlet of tremendous size. This is a place of small gods - every citizen worships the spirits of everyday items; ropes, bridges, floors and doors. Indeed, the little gods of ropes are revered above all, as here it's your rope that;ll save you from tumbling to your death. The Graveyard of Small Gods is where the possessions of the fallen are interred, as they still posses a spark of the divine spirit that lives within. Eventually, the priests will permit them to move on, usually to be sold back to the inhabitants of Perch. The Bound are the justice in Perch - the guard won't risk themselves out here. They are police and judge for their community, levying fines, punishment, and in extreme cases the severing of the guilty party's rope-god (and the inevitable death by falling as a result). PC Bound are exceptional individuals, but there are many, many more out there.  Next: More Low Society
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May 20, 2018 21:14
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PurpleXVI posted:So wait, is Mythenders the first Exalted Heartbreaker? Pretty much, with I suppose Godbound being the more successful one (what's the term for a successful Heartbreaker? Just...an RPG I guess).
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May 20, 2018 23:15
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I don't think just being a replacement is enough to be a heartbreaker. You have to have your One Good Idea for fixing the Great Game of Yore, without ever having seen any of the commentary about the game since then, or being familiar with anything that's happened in the industry since it came out.
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May 21, 2018 02:27
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Considering whether Exalted would count for that is making me feel old, just realized the system is almost old enough to vote now. I guess we could steal video game terminology and call it an Exalted Clone (although that usually denotes an almost identical game with different visuals which is kind of the opposite here, we have a game intended to provide a similar 'display' with very different mechanics under the hood).
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May 21, 2018 02:57
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Isn't that what we call 'a genre'?
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May 21, 2018 08:03
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Cultures: Hybrispania Degenesis Rebirth Primal Punk Chapter 2: Cultures  Hybrispania Hybris Remember how I noticed the pattern of the first section being a generic overview of the region? Hybripania says “gently caress that.” When the big one hit, Spain fared pretty well, all things considered. A shard of the asteroid struck the mountains near Toledo... and that was about it. The emergency services sprung into action, convoy leaders became the new rock stars, and the story of Reconquista was joined by the new legend of Reconstruction. However, this is Degenesis, so things can't go too well for too long. Spain, for one, needed power: the ash from Toledo impact (and, one would think, Reaper's Blow) made solar farms useless, and coastal tsunamis washed away their wind farms. The country ran on generators, always hungry for oil. Hybris posted:People who wanted only the best for their country gathered around maps as they had done for centuries. Fingers pointed to faraway and less faraway countries, but rarely to their own. I think the first sentence of the quote falls victim to the translator/writer being a non-native English speaker. There's a lot of difference between “wanted only the best” and “only wanted the best” - and the latter would be more apropos in this place. Gibraltar So apparently the pre-Eschaton humans of Degenesis had built the bridge over the Strait of Gibraltar. With no BJ Blazkovitz to gently caress it up, the bridge stood there until it was hit by asteroids or metheorites. At the same time, the water level fell, and sand and debris collected around the struts to the point where you could almost get to Africa (nice country) without getting wet. The Spaniards used dams, concrete and even the debris itself to build a road to the other continent. Gibraltar posted:During the last few hundred meters, the Africans cheered the Spanish workers on and poured tons of rock into the gap themselves. :sadsmith: The Line The bridge was barely finished and the workers hadn't even stopped shaking hands/exchanging t-shirts/posing for historic photos when the Spanish oil prospectors came. Armed to the teeth, with machineguns in the beds of their technicals, they stormed to the oil fields and started dragging barrels of oil back to Spain. With the lights finally back on, the Spanish were happy. The Africans, however... The Line posted:The Africans, however, were angry. This was theft! They demanded the intruders get their white asses back to their own country. The Spaniards begged to differ. It quickly escalated. Conflagration Now Spanish mercenaries (why not the army?) start shooting left and right; soon entire cities are on fire. Apparently whoever planned the oil acquisition took all the cues from a conquistador rulebook. Back in Span, the pacifists were silenced by the oil lobby and oil money. Apparently, having half of Europe split by an asteroid is just the right time for petrofuel greed to blossom. Africans weren't idle. In fact, people from all over Conflaghation Now posted:It must have been hundreds of thousands that finally attacked the invaders. Mercenaries countered by pumping lead into the crowd until their machine guns glowed and the bandoliers were empty. In the end, they exploded the rigs and retreated under the cover of smoke, controlled at first, panicky later. All of Africa had risen against them and drove them back across the sea, back to Gibraltar. The So something that would have been a relatively trivial trade question in real life became the spark for the most important intra-human conflict in the post-Eschaton era. Turn of the eras “That was 200 years ago,” states the book, which makes it sound like either the Spanish oil thievery went on for about 300 years after the Eschaton, or that we still have 300 years of history to cover. In any case, it's pointed out that Spain is really wet now and there are jungles and poo poo. The fall of Gibraltar is called out as the birth of Hybrispania, as the Spanish had to retreat from the conquering Africans. They were only stopped outside Madrid, in a booby-trapped forest. Thus ended the army phase of Spanish/African conflict. It boiling down into all the unpleasantries of guerilla skirmishes, including stuff like nailing your enemies to the trees. The Spaniard fighters are called Guerreros, and we'll be hearing a lot more about them (dying).  Is this lady a Guerrera? Who knows! Fallen by the Wayside Fighting for freedom is the brain bug of all Hybrispaniards (the book wants us to the entire ungainly word). They revere their martyrs, compose endless songs, and even paint their names on the walls of Castile's fortresses “until even the Guerreros consider it insane.” So it's kind of like a more dangerous, hands-on version of supporting are troops. However, the life of a Guerrero is basically the lovely life of any rural guerilla soldier you care to mention, save for maybe Viet Cong, since the Africans don't have air superiority (air-anything seems to be absent in Degenesis). Guerreros live to fight. Fallen by the Wayside posted:In the jungle, he lives in hastily built camps that do not matter to him. Possessions are a burden, restricting his mobility and making him vulnerable. The forest is his most loyal fighting partner, they become one, and the Guerrero learns to track enemies and to live off the woods. Self-sacrifice is considered the greatest merit, mercilessness towards the enemy is deemed just. All this talk of fight and sacrifice, and not a single glimpse of self-awareness that the Hybris were the ones who cause it all in the first place. So there are many ways for a Guerrero – or Guerrera, Hybris don't have the luxury of Bucharest's Abrami – to die. But the Scourgers have a worse fate in store for them: slavery. Guerrero's don't kill themselves in prison – they wait. Neolybians know that and send the slaves to ore mines – they are too dangerous to be let into the households. At this point, the Balkhani and the Hybri Guerreros are pointed out as lovely slaves. If the people of Purgare turn out to be that feisty, too, that would mean that the three geographical regions closest to Africa are the worst for slavery efforts. Next Time: Guerrera 2: Daughter of Guerrero
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May 21, 2018 14:41
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