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The next release is the Shadowlands book, as mentioned above.
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Jan 26, 2019 17:53
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Mors Rattus posted:FFG still does big events but the actual games are no longer representative of actual wars, is the thing. So like, one of the big events they did was to have a tournament represent competing to prove your skills so you could sit on the council of elder players that were going to decide if the Unicorn were allowed to keep using meishodo magic. I'm for a winner of a big tournament having some input on the story, but in the old CCG it got ridiculous, especially given how many bandwagon players who would win stuff and didn't actually care about whatever clan's deck they were using so they'd be like 'LOL, just Taint it' or similar. It got annoying. quote:e: and while the Shadowlands are basically Hell Terrain, there are variants within it, yes. In past editions there was an actual city in the center full of Tainted samurai and talky undead, based around Fu Leng's old home fort. Don't forget the awesome goblin city of Big Stink!
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Jan 26, 2019 18:03
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Yeah, FFG seems to be aiming each decision point to be limited and also with clearly delineated options.
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Jan 26, 2019 18:55
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Mors Rattus posted:Yeah, FFG seems to be aiming each decision point to be limited and also with clearly delineated options. I see they learned what NOT to do from watching Games Workshop.
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Jan 26, 2019 19:33
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Were the interclan wars like that in the old editions, too? Because from what I remember hearing about that, and what got reviewed of that, it seemed like interclan warfare and shenanigans almost destroyed the Empire every few years and lead to INFINITE ULTRA VENDETTAS. Also Mantis not being a great clan any longer makes me sad. Make Mantis Great Again.
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Jan 26, 2019 20:31
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PurpleXVI posted:Were the interclan wars like that in the old editions, too? Because from what I remember hearing about that, and what got reviewed of that, it seemed like interclan warfare and shenanigans almost destroyed the Empire every few years and lead to INFINITE ULTRA VENDETTAS. The Imperial laws prohibiting clan warfare have been around since the beginning as far as I know. However, under AEG there were always giant world-shaking events happening including frequent Clan Wars. So while it was theoretically still illegal, you had clans in open total war much more frequently under the old lore. Regarding the Mantis, FFG rolled back the timeline to pre-Scorpion Coup which means that the Mantis haven't become a Great Clan yet. While it's still up in the air over whether they will succeed this time, Yoritomo (the Manti Champion) has been seen on-screen maneuvering to become a Great Clan so we'll probably see some interesting fallout whether or not he succeeds. Yoritomo's attempts actually tie back into the Shadowlands discussion from earlier. See, the Empire right now is in a bit of a Jade shortage - right when the Shadowlands are most active and pushing the Crab harder than before. Yasuki Taka (the leader of the Crab family responsible for trade and supplies) went to ask the Emperor for help. Instead, he met with Kakita Yoshi, a Crane leader, in the Emperor's stead. Yoshi refused to send any soldiers (not wanting to worry the peasants by marching overland or risking a Mantis ambush over sea), weapons (same reason) or Jade (because the law states that other clans get first dibs on jade mined in their lands). Taka leaves empty handed, but gets politely kidnapped by Yoritomo on the way home. Yoritomo reveals that he - being a pirate - has already "acquired" a lot of Jade and weapons and gives it to the Crab in return for their support. Taka agrees, and the Crab become the first to support the Mantis in the bid for Great Clan status. And as an extra bit of irony, it is heavily implied that the Jade Yoritomo gives to Taka was stolen from Crane lands.
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Jan 26, 2019 22:12
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How do you politely kidnap someone?
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Jan 26, 2019 22:21
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“Hey come hang out on my sweet pirate ship and if anyone asks you can totally say I kidnapped you”
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Jan 26, 2019 22:23
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Mr. Maltose posted:“Hey come hang out on my sweet pirate ship and if anyone asks you can totally say I kidnapped you” "Also I have jade and weapons and we can talk about how the Crane are idiots." Everything a Crab wants.
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Jan 26, 2019 22:28
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wiegieman posted:How do you politely kidnap someone? Yoritomo shows up to Taka's room, says he has a business proposition, and then Yoritomo's guards throw a bag over Taka's head and carry him away. Taka didn't really mind, since he was desperate for any deal that could help the Crab. Edit: Actually, most of the fiction in the new L5R canon are well written. Here is a fiction compilation I put together a little while ago. If it fits the thread, I could write up summaries of the fiction so far. Kaza42 fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Jan 26, 2019 |
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Jan 26, 2019 22:31
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Yea the kidnapping is pretty heavily colored as less 'abduction' and more 'hey I have a solution to your problems but I'm a dirtbag pirate and you're a big tough Crab who shouldn't talk to guys like me, so here's this bag on your head and a couple guards to 'kidnap' you so we can talk', with Taka all 'oh, yea, cool, thanks for the assist, dirtbag pirate'. New L5R is actually real good. Like, as a long time fan who's endured some garbo writing I'm really into what FFG has done.
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Jan 26, 2019 23:01
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Yasuki Taka is secretly the strongest and best Crab. He also used to be secretly Kolat, but I don't know if that still holds.
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Jan 27, 2019 00:09
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FFG is legitimately the best thing to ever happen to L5R.
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Jan 27, 2019 00:09
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I always enjoyed the Mantis because they seemed to be the ones mostly treating the whole Rokugan social theater as something to pay lip service to while laughing at and subverting aggressively or sometimes just outright ignoring. Like, they basically seemed to be the ones most flipping the bird at Very Serious Weeb Roleplay.
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Jan 27, 2019 00:33
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FFG's writing and ability to make obnoxious settings enjoyable are admirable. Their formatting and editing not so much. Did they actually put the rules material in a somewhat logical place this time?
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Jan 27, 2019 00:44
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I just wish they hadn't smooshed so many of the interesting minor clans into the Mantis.
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Jan 27, 2019 00:46
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Leraika posted:I just wish they hadn't smooshed so many of the interesting minor clans into the Mantis. yea my one major complaint beyond typical FFG formatting stuff is that they're doing the usual FFG thing where the core book focuses entirely on a very specific view of the game and it's up to you to get splats to add depth. It's not TERRIBLE but it leads to the core book being basically entirely 'play one of the great clans or maybe a Ronin' (they did make Ronin good and not terrible, so points there FFG). Again that's not super bad on its own but yea it meant near all the minor clans and such got shoved to the side. There's a lot of fun to be had as a minor clan in Rokugan, the struggle to prove yourselves means the stakes are instantly much higher for you than they are for Rando Crane-San because chances are people meeting you will be using you as their only guide for 'oh so that's how the Bat clan actually behaves...' PurpleXVI posted:I always enjoyed the Mantis because they seemed to be the ones mostly treating the whole Rokugan social theater as something to pay lip service to while laughing at and subverting aggressively or sometimes just outright ignoring. Like, they basically seemed to be the ones most flipping the bird at Very Serious Weeb Roleplay. Mantis are so fuckin good. They literally got their status as a proper great clan when Mantis and the other minor clans showed up to the second day of thunder and said 'alright fuckboys, give us the great clan status we deserve or we're all going to suicide attack you. You're gonna kill us, but we'll take so many of you out you'll lose this war and we'll all go to hell together.' Every clan but the Crab was all 'loving hell you guys suck' but Hida was all 'aw yes this is the good poo poo you guys rule'. Their entire thing is just 'we play your games but unlike the Scorpion we'll fully acknowledge you hate us and we hate you (cept the Crab, Crab are cool)' so yea if you wanna have fun L5R time but the least amount of Real Weeb Hours you have to go Mantis.
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Jan 27, 2019 02:22
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Libertad! posted:The samurai are the bourgeoise, the Kolat are the lumpenproletariat, and the peasants are the true proletariat. The Kolat have many elements of a bourgeois revolution, but Marx had a whole poetic rant about how there's less difference between that and the lumpenproletariat than one might think. sexpig by night posted:Mantis are so fuckin good. They literally got their status as a proper great clan when Mantis and the other minor clans showed up to the second day of thunder and said 'alright fuckboys, give us the great clan status we deserve or we're all going to suicide attack you. You're gonna kill us, but we'll take so many of you out you'll lose this war and we'll all go to hell together.' Every clan but the Crab was all 'loving hell you guys suck' but Hida was all 'aw yes this is the good poo poo you guys rule'. So now that Wick has been out of the picture for a long time and they're rolling back the timeline, do the Lion have more of a distinct identity? I like the Lion. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jan 27, 2019 |
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Jan 27, 2019 02:34
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Halloween Jack posted:Well, no. In Rokugan, samurai are feudal nobility, and the peasants are serfs.There's no subtext there, and no proletariat. The Lion will always kinda suffer from being 'generic samurai' just because of how their core concept is, but stuff like Ikoma Bard being fleshed out in the core book and some good fiction it is clearer that they're the way they are because they view themselves as the 'soul' of the empire and put a higher standard on themselves. They're described as very spartan and harsh but also deeply family focused, you don't get to gently caress up but it's less "RAH RAH RAH MY GLORY" than it used to be and is more 'you are part of a sacred line, even as some rando side family under the banner of the Lion you are expected to prove greatness for your family, and if you do you'll be honored for it'. More tough love than just...Feudal jocks...
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Jan 27, 2019 03:15
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PurpleXVI posted:I always enjoyed the Mantis because they seemed to be the ones mostly treating the whole Rokugan social theater as something to pay lip service to while laughing at and subverting aggressively or sometimes just outright ignoring. Like, they basically seemed to be the ones most flipping the bird at Very Serious Weeb Roleplay. Well, the Crab, Scorpion, and Mantis are all different varieties of middle finger at Rokugan's mainstream society. Which can be a neat subversion or contrast at times, and other times just be a way to smugly just muddle around as your standard RPG murderhobo. I've seen both.
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Jan 27, 2019 04:33
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 Rifts World Book 20: Canada, Part 12 - "When forced to stay in a city or large town, the demure woodland creature will become tense, irritable, and likely fall into deep depression (reduce all attacks, bonuses, and skills by half unless escaping the place), or becomes obsessed with escaping the madness, deserting friends and allies, and doing whatever it takes to get away." Monsters of the North Instead of doing them in order, I'll start with all of the nominally playable ones. As a reminder, these are "optional", because Palladium generally throws the ball into the GM's court to handle any sort of class balance or suitability. If it ruins your game, that's not their fault. They just wrote up the idea. And had an editor approve it. And printed it in a book. And charged money for it. And reprinted it over and over. But they're not responsible for handling game design. That's the GM's job, of course!  A literal trash monster. First, we have the Armored Slayer, credited to both Eric Thompson and Kevin Siembieda, which means most likely it was Thompson's idea that Siembieda grabbed ahold of. They're brain-and-tentacle collections that make humanoid bodies out of scrap. They then apparently spread mega-damage resin and tendrils throughout the body to control it via telekinesis. Why a humanoid body? Because it was the art we had- er, it's a mystery. They're dim, but feel largely on Potential Psychic Energy like Psi-Stalkers do, though they do it through drooling goo on you and that goo lets them suck up magic energy with their tentacles. The tenta-goo doesn't hurt any, but it is probably the focus of at least one post-apocalypse fetishist. They won't kill their prey unless they're supernatural evil of some sort, however. As such, they're largely benevolent and a grand tragedy that Coalition largely guns them down in droves. Cue tear, wipe cheek. As you'd expect, they're another physical powerhouse, with psionics focusing on the supernatural, and they're dumb and ugly. It's actually a neat idea to have a race that builds their own body out of whatever they can find, but the actual execution is another gentle giant in a game overflowing with them.  Batteries not included. Faerie Bots get an "inspired by Kent Burles", which means Kev did his usual take-unrelated-art-and-add-some-numbers. They aren't real faeries, but instead are tiny monkey guys in tiny spaceships. Which is pretty rad, and is more the kind of thing I'd like to see for D-Bees. But there's a catch. Because of course there is. See, though they're not real faeries, they pretty much act just like faeries, getting into mischief, only with a technological bent where they take machines apart and basically give no fucks because they're emotional babies with technological knowhow, telemechanic psionic powers, basic spells, and a little spaceship. Man, we were so close to a rad thing, but their characterization leaves a lot to be desired, where they're pretty much encouraged as PCs to just go loving around with no particular end goals or motivations, like Kender on overdrive, running around taking apart things and wandering off to their next mechanical harassment. "... even the most well intentioned Faerie Bot is unreliable and troublesome." Why do they ride around in little spaceships? It's a mystery. Where do they come from? It's a mystery. What do they want? It's a mystery. Why do they take machines apart? It's a mystery. How do they make their vehicles? It's a mystery. Etc. Moving on.  This is the fourth or fifth wolfman we've gotten? There are Loup Garou, which are French-Canadian werewolves. Unlike werewolves, though, they're extra eeevil and go around murdering and torturing people because that's what it says under their alignment, and just generally run around making other people miserable or dead. Like other werewolves, they do mega-damage and can only ever be hurt by silver, and are a race, not a curse. And bear in mind only silver does the job - not magic, not psionics, not guns, nothing else can do damage to them. Also, silver weapons do double damage! No, nothing does normal damage to them. Weird, huh? Their big gimmick, though, is that they have to be killed twice; if killed in wolf or wolf-man form, they become crazed human cannibals upon sunrise, and if killed as humans, they become savage wolves at the next moonlit midnight... with all the same vulnerabilities, mind. They're located around Quebec, Newfoundland, and Louisiana, since they supposedly existed before the rifts. And nobody noticed, even though they have all the subtlety of a Tasmanian Devil on crack salt angel dust. In case you're wondering: why, yes. Yes, you can play one if your GM permits. Ridiculously unhurtable unless you have their weakness, in which case they fold easy... or not? They have two Hit Point rolls listed - one gives an average of 95 HP that never changes, and the other gives an average of 57 HP + 7 HP per level. Which is the correct one? Well, it's a mystery.  Its only weakness is dangle hams. The True Sasquatch is something of a retcon. See, Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West had the "Wendigo", which were a mystical fuzzy race that loved Native Americans and had existed on Earth in hiding since ancient times. This book retcons that, saying the "Windigo" are evil demons (like you'd expect), and then splits the previous Wendigo concept in two: the "True Sasquatch", an ancient Stone Age race that hid alongside humanity, and the "Spirit Sasquatch", woodland spirits that are allied with Native Americans. Of the three, only the True Sasquatch are deemed playable. Which is weird, because they're not particularly suitable to most Rifts groups. They've never figured out tools or language, apparently, avoid humanity and organized communities like the plague, and are generally content to live a life of pacifistic vegetarianism in the wild. They're essentially apes, albeit psionic, mega-damage apes. They can at least learn human languages, and they're mega-damage (why? who knows), but they don't have much (average starting around 31-32 MDC). They're sneaky wilderness sorts with some mental psionic powers (if male) or healing psionic powers (if female). They get an automatic dodge, supposedly since they just run and hide rather than fight. Basically, they're conflict-adverse in the extreme, which is an issue for them participating in a game where at least 80% of the mechanics pertain to combat.  Finally, bigfoot shoots back. We get an attempt to make them more playable with the Worldly Sasquatch O.C.C., for those that are more adventurous (75% of which we're told are males) or separated from their kin. They can use weapons and even fight, but are reluctant to. They can only live in a city for 1-2 days (the above normal sasquatch probably won't even make a day, not that such is mentioned in their writeup) without getting depression and crippling penalties... or going to ape escape by any means necessary. They get some broader skills and equipment, but that's all. Most weirdly, we get special rules for humans that get raised by True Sasquatch, "Sasquatch Foundlings". They get all the same skills - which makes them wunderkinds of stealth and wilderness survival but roundly garbage at anything else. Worse off, they get none of the mega-damage, super-strength, or psionics, or any mega-damage weapons or armor to compensate - possibly making them the new worst class in the game, because of this simple caveat: Rifts World Book 20: Canada posted:Likewise, such characters will not use weapons, tools or armor, but are likely to wear animal skins or a poncho. Yep. You have a non-mega-damage character that refuses to wear armor. If you're lucky, you can find a mega-damage poncho, but you still won't hurt much of anyone with your fragile hamburger fists. Congratulations, squatches, your poisonous ideology has doomed your adopted child to an exceedingly short life outside of your care. Tarzan vs. SAMAS: not the best film, but definitely a short one. I've gone overlong, so we'll wrap up the unplayable monsters next time around.  Next: Monsters, for real, except not.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:03
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Probably the best example of the Mantis Middle Finger done right is Yoritomo. He's the big daddy of the Mantis and such a badass pirate kind dude he became a spirit in the afterlife that found honored death boring as gently caress, joined the legion the dead, helped find...I wanna say one of the Unicorn's family spirits when it was lost....and as a reward became the divine spirit of the Mantis Clan itself (each great clan has a kami that speaks for them in celestial court, the Mantis were the only one without one until Yoritomo big dicked his way into it). He was also a deeply honorable man who wanted his people to get the respect and glory he knew they deserved. He wasn't just some rear end in a top hat fuckin around, he was doing what was needed to keep his people alive. He didn't do his 'we're either going to all die here together or you're going to make my clan a great clan' just because it was cool and badass, he did it because for generations they'd been keeping Rokugan's waters safe and playing their part and their big reward for their duty and honor has been spit in the face and told they were just water trash. Mantis, Crab, Phoenix and Scorpion are my favorite clans because they have the most (in my opinion at least) complex relationship with the society they're in. Not to say the other clans are somehow simple or whatever but it feels to me that even the Unicorn don't get the same kind of lens those clans get where they have such explicit conflict between 'our duty is to do this, even if sometimes it makes the rest of our people look down on us' and that's a really classic conflict in samurai media that's fun to explore. Is a Scorpion a 'bad scorpion' if they're altruistic? Of course not, but the question isn't an easy 'do you kick the puppy while cackling evilly or give the orphan your rice ball', the question is 'is there a difference between being a good servant of the emperor and being a good scorpion and being a good person, or will you have to pick which of the three is most important'. Mantis get it the same way. You've spent generations getting spat on, and now you have a seat at the table. What does that actually mean, though? Are you suddenly ACTUALLY a 'better person' because your mon is fancier now? Do you have responsibility to act more 'fitting of your station' than your ancestors did? If you do are you betraying those same ancestors who were more willing to die than to live another day on the bottom rung of samurai society? These are interesting angles and FFG's system actually SUPER encourages those questions with its new desires and duty focus and all that stuff. L5R, it's good.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:05
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sexpig by night posted:Probably the best example of the Mantis Middle Finger done right is Yoritomo. It even goes back to old man Gusai. See, the Mantis weren't even officially recognized as a Minor Clan. They just were some renegades who broke off from the Crab and called themselves Mantis Clan. Then, their "Champion" at the time, Gusai, was talking to the Emperor engaged in a polite battle of wits. The Emperor claimed that the pen was mightier than the sword, and Gusai disagreed. So he drew his sword and held the goddamn Emperor at swordpoint. The Emperor saw his point, but provided a counterargument by signing Gusai's execution script. But, as a token of respect, he signed the warrant for "Gusai, Champion of the Mantis Clan", thereby establishing the Mantis as official and giving them a family name.... at least for a few years. Gusai's grandson tried to emulate Gusai by taking the Emperor's son hostage as part of a coup. Didn't go so well this time, and the Gusai family was eradicated. That's why the current champion is just "Yoritomo", not "Gusai Yoritomo"
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Jan 27, 2019 05:15
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sexpig by night posted:The Lion will always kinda suffer from being 'generic samurai' just because of how their core concept is, but stuff like Ikoma Bard being fleshed out in the core book and some good fiction it is clearer that they're the way they are because they view themselves as the 'soul' of the empire and put a higher standard on themselves. They're described as very spartan and harsh but also deeply family focused, you don't get to gently caress up but it's less "RAH RAH RAH MY GLORY" than it used to be and is more 'you are part of a sacred line, even as some rando side family under the banner of the Lion you are expected to prove greatness for your family, and if you do you'll be honored for it'. More tough love than just...Feudal jocks... Lion are the best fighters and soldiers in the Empire, bar none - except for cavalry, where the Unicorn outclass them. Oh, and one-on-one, where Crane duelists and bodyguards are better than them. And also the Crab, who are better at defending things and taking punishment and hitting hard. Still, apart from cavalry, individual combat, defense, and holding firm, there are no better fighters than the Lion. Well, OK, the Mantis are better archers. But if you set aside ranged weapons, cavalry, defense, and melee combat, you'll find that the Lions are without question the best fighters around.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:24
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Granted, for most editions of L5R, the Lion Clan clearly got the one best of the Rank 1 Techniques. Way of the Lion never really stopped being good. Though its actual "tier" waxed and waned as the editions kept trying to rebalance the schools pretty badly, and the Lion tended to have some real trash towards the top of their techniques, Way of the Lion was real swell. Ultimately the strength of various bushi came down to where the designers completely pratfalled at mechanics (Daidoji Bushi in 4e, Mirumoto Bushi in 3e, Wasp Bushi in 1e/2e...) rather than any thematic intent, while the Lion's balance generally remained steady.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:40
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Kaza42 posted:It even goes back to old man Gusai. See, the Mantis weren't even officially recognized as a Minor Clan. They just were some renegades who broke off from the Crab and called themselves Mantis Clan. Then, their "Champion" at the time, Gusai, was talking to the Emperor engaged in a polite battle of wits. The Emperor claimed that the pen was mightier than the sword, and Gusai disagreed. So he drew his sword and held the goddamn Emperor at swordpoint. The Emperor saw his point, but provided a counterargument by signing Gusai's execution script. But, as a token of respect, he signed the warrant for "Gusai, Champion of the Mantis Clan", thereby establishing the Mantis as official and giving them a family name.... at least for a few years. Gusai's grandson tried to emulate Gusai by taking the Emperor's son hostage as part of a coup. Didn't go so well this time, and the Gusai family was eradicated. That's why the current champion is just "Yoritomo", not "Gusai Yoritomo" oh my god yes I completely left out the whole Gusai thing. Yea that's why Hida was so into Yoritomo's move, Mantis came from the Crabs and even so far removed they share a very similar outlook of 'no one GIVES you honor and respect, you TAKE it with your actions' so yea moves like 'I'm just gonna pull my sword on god on earth' and 'you can wipe us out for sure but then you're gonna die after and we can all be equals in the afterlife' are A+ in the crab books. There was some blurb, I wanna say in 4e, where they talked about this port city the Crab had that had the best sake houses in the empire, not because of any special labels or anything but just because they're always full of Crabs and Mantises swapping stories about who's got the bigger balls and that's super fun to be around.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:50
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Halloween Jack posted:So now that Wick has been out of the picture for a long time and they're rolling back the timeline, do the Lion have more of a distinct identity? I like the Lion. In the fiction so far, the Lion are being characterized as idiots. Akodo Toturi, their Champion, was told that a Scorpion was planning to cheat in their duel, and still took until the last possible second to figure out that the Scorpion was planning to cheat. He decided to go investigate ghosts by himself and not take his wife ( The most recent fiction cliffhanger is The Edict. See, the Emperor recognizes that his eldest son is a shithead and his younger son Daisetsu would be a much better choice. However, Daisetsu isn't old enough yet, and so he plans to name Bayushi Shoju (champion of the Scorpion clan and all around shady dude) as Regent, because the Emperor promised that he would. However, the Emperor calls in Akodo Toturi - the Emerald Champion and Empy's right hand man - to write the edict, claiming that his eyes are too feeble. He also says that an Emperor who trusts others to see for him would be TOTALLY OPEN TO MANIPULATION, because that person could EASILY CHANGE THE WORDS OF THE EDICT and it's not like the Emperor would contest it, because he has to be seen as infallible. It's basically GUARANTEED TO WORK. And... we don't know if Toturi was a big enough idiot to write down "Bayushi Shoju" as the designated regent. I'm betting yes, because Toturi has literally not done anything right that wasn't directly related to hitting something with a sword.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:54
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Is there anyway to see the decisions that were made at the end of each tourney? I've been trying to find out if the Unicorn got to still do their weird amulet magic or w/e but FFG's website has not been forthcoming
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Jan 27, 2019 06:04
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mcclay posted:Is there anyway to see the decisions that were made at the end of each tourney? I've been trying to find out if the Unicorn got to still do their weird amulet magic or w/e but FFG's website has not been forthcoming I don't know anywhere that has compiled all the story choices yet, but they are: 2017 Gencon: Meishodo will be allowed to continue, but only if the Seppun can study it 2017 Worlds: The Lion Clan will pursue Justice 2018 Worlds had a lot more choices: Crab: the Yasuki Family recruits aid from their neighboring allies to reinforce and defend the watchtower. Crane: the Kakita Family (specifically Kakita Kaezin, since Crane won shogun) protects Doji Kuzunobu from threats that lurk in the perilous Kitsune forest. Dragon: the Kitsuki Family investigates the intrigues of the Forbidden City. Lion: the Kitsu Family commands with guidance from the recently departed. Phoenix: the Asako Family seeks the leadership of the Crab Clan, that they might aid in convincing Tadaka to return to the Phoenix—and to help point to where he can be found. Scorpion: the Asako Family seeks the leadership of the Crab Clan, that they might aid in convincing Tadaka to return to the Phoenix—and to help point to where he can be found. Unicorn: the Moto Family rules in the style of their ancestors, bringing foreign traditions to the people of the village.
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Jan 27, 2019 06:50
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FMguru posted:I thought the Lion suffered from D&D's generic Fighter syndrome - Fighters are supposed to be the best at fighting, but then you have Rangers and Paladins and Hexblades and Samurai and all the other variants of Fighter which are "Fighter, plus some other even cooler tricks". They could square that circle by saying that the Lion aren't the best at combat, they're the best at war. They win through having better logistics, better soldiers, and better roads. Everyone else's Ashigaru are just some random peasant given a spear; Lion Ashigaru have had to drill one day a week for their entire lives and have a nice spear and a actually-arrow resistant helmet and dry socks. In personal combat, this means they're really good at fighting alongside other people, and helping their buddies get an opening or exploiting an opening someone else opened up. They say that they might lose one-on-one to a Crane duelist, but in a three-on-three they outnumber them three to one to one to one. I guess that means making them Clan Warlord instead of Clan Fighter, but it's a good place to be.
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Jan 27, 2019 09:49
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Well, the Crab, Scorpion, and Mantis are all different varieties of middle finger at Rokugan's mainstream society. Which can be a neat subversion or contrast at times, and other times just be a way to smugly just muddle around as your standard RPG murderhobo. I've seen both. Don't forget the Unicorn. Ever since they got back from their little excursion, people snark at them "follow the ways of your ancestors" to which they reply, "Um, we are, but thanks." It's just their ancestors learned all about how awesome leather saddles and eating red meat and crossbows and such were. Dawgstar fucked around with this message at 14:07 on Jan 27, 2019 |
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Jan 27, 2019 14:02
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Dawgstar posted:Don't forget the Unicorn. Ever since they got back from their little excursion, people snark at them "follow the ways of your ancestors" to which they reply, "Um, we are, but thanks." It's just their ancestors learned all about how awesome leather saddles and eating red meat and crossbows and such were. I'll always forget the Unicorn.
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Jan 27, 2019 16:56
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I love the Unicorn but they really do seem to get forgotten about a lot.
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Jan 27, 2019 19:06
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OvermanXAN posted:I love the Unicorn but they really do seem to get forgotten about a lot. It is arguable if they had a significant clan-wide story beat until Shinjo came back and carved up all of the Kolat in their ranks.
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Jan 27, 2019 19:12
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Crane duelists will beat anyone in a duel, but in a skirmish...oh, wait, they get probably the best straight-up fighter school, too.
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Jan 27, 2019 19:51
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The FFG Lion gimmick is that they have extremely good strife control. A stressed out Lion doesn't gently caress up - they calm down by making their enemies stress out and gently caress up instead.
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Jan 27, 2019 20:16
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Mors Rattus posted:The FFG Lion gimmick is that they have extremely good strife control. A stressed out Lion doesn't gently caress up - they calm down by making their enemies stress out and gently caress up instead. Ikoma do that, Akodo deal with strife by gaining fatigue (I imagine them having a VERY profound sigh, though it's hilarious to imagine one knocking himself unconscious that way) and Matsu just jump to psychotic fury which is pretty much their default mood anyway. Seriously, always hated the Matsu most in old lore because they seemed to exemplify maximum "samurai as buillies" with a side order of berserker, hope new ones are better. At least one bit of fiction for the new setting had a Matsu actually stop and think rather than be manipulated into killing somebody, which is an improvement, though the Ikoma seem to be changing into the jerks of the clan instead. Which probably explains the "remove stress by pissing off everybody else" trick really.
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Jan 27, 2019 21:02
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 Introduction Howdy pardner, and welcome back to the Weird West! Today we’ll be covering the second of the Reckoner Series mega-adventures for Deadlands. I went into more detail in the opening post of the first adventure, the Flood, but in short as part of the system upgrade to Savage Worlds the fine folks at Pinnacle Entertainment Group saw to making a series of four full campaigns centered around the downfall of the settings’ greatest villains. Known as Plot Point Campaigns, they have the progression and structure of Dungeons & Dragons/Pathfinder Adventure Paths via a main Plot Point. However, they’re interspersed with a host of optional locations and events known as Savage Tales. Savage World Plot Point Campaigns are closer in structure to a video game RPG such as Skyrim or Mass Effect, which has the skeleton of a main quest but a host of side quests. For The Last Sons we cover Raven’s machinations. Whereas Reverend Grimme of the Flood exemplified Famine, Raven is the Servitor of War and the one who broke the Reckoners free in the first place. It is by far the largest of the Plot Point Campaigns in both page count and scope,* and like the Flood also has an epic feel whose resolution will dramatically change the socio-political landscape of a notable region of the Weird West. Whereas the Flood centered around the destruction of the Church of Lost Angels, the Last Sons focuses on helping the Ghost Dance Movement battle the Order of the Raven, the latter of whom seek to reignite a second war between the Sioux Nations and United States. It takes place mostly within the aforementioned region as well as the Disputed Territories of the Union and Confederate border states. As a result Last Sons feels more classically Western in comparison to the Flood’s wuxia-naval-doomsday-cult mashup, if more Native-centric than the classic cowboy feel. *In fact, the designers felt it was a bit too big, and one of their design diaries mentions that if they could go back they’d cut it down to a more manageable size. Some Backstory on the Metaplot: In the world of Deadlands, magic and monsters were widespread and wreaked terror on mortals. The four horsemen of the apocalypse from Biblical lore exist and are known as the Reckoners. But instead of being righteous heralds of God’s will they are wicked entities who seek to plunge the world into a literal Hell on Earth. They were sealed away by a group of Native American shamans known as the Old Ones, and along with them the supernatural in general. But this would not last. A Susquehannock Indian known as Raven was the sole survivor of genocide whose tribe, already decimated by disease, were slaughtered by white settlers in the mid-1700s. Filled with rage and hearing many similar tales from various tribes, he gathered a small army known as the Last Sons. They ventured around North America, accumulating knowledge of sacred spaces and rituals while gaining power from forbidden magic to extend his own lifespan. Raven was willing to do anything to get revenge and prevent white domination of the continent, including tearing a hole into the spirit world and freeing the Reckoners. On July 3rd, 1863, the dead rose on the Battle of Gettysburg. They indiscriminately slaughtered soldiers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line and inadvertently turned the Civil War in the Confederacy’s favor who maintained their independence in the Deadlands timeline. This was but the first taste of stranger things to come, as the collected fears of humanity’s imagination were unleashed into the world. The Reckoner of War claimed Raven as his champion, and the other three Horsemen found their own representatives to hold dominion over certain regions of the North American continent. There’s mention that the rest of the world has been affected by the Reckoner’s release, but for their own reasons they find the American West an ideal staging ground for their plans.  The Tombstone Epitaph’s Guide to the Disputed Territories Much like the Flood, Pinnacle produced a free PDF with all the player-friendly content. The Tombstone Epitaph is Deadland’s primary in-game newspaper, which details the major events, places, and all the wild goings-on that are the grits and gravy of a gaming session’s worth of good adventure. We first open up with an explanation of how a devastating Flood ripped through the southern portions of California’s Great Maze, with the City of Lost Angels suffering the brunt of the damage. Reverend Grimme and a significant portion of his chain of command were killed along with nearby adjoining settlements, and Mexico’s invasion was halted. California is now more or less autonomous territory. Back in America’s heartland, the rail barons are jockeying to claim what territory they can. Although Hellstromme Industries built the first intercontinental railroad and thus is on the path of securing some sweet trade deals with the Union and Confederacy, the other Rail Barons are fighting bitterly over what land and shipping rights remain. Bleeding Kansas is at the forefront of the fighting on account of the two American nations being heavy sponsors of Jayhawkers and border ruffians. These proxy partisans are now tempted with job offers by very rich independent rail barons. What’s going on in the Union? It’s 1880 and the Presidential elections are on everyone’s mind! The incumbent Ulysses S. Grant, whose administration is one of the most corrupt in US history, is running against the rising star James A. Garfield also of the Republican Party. Although Grant touts his ceasefire deal with the Confederacy as one of his greatest achievements while in office, the proxy wars in Bleeding Kansas and the unresolved racial tensions between white settlers and Sioux Natives in Deadwood are making Grant very unpopular among the American public. Speaking of which, the tribes of the Sioux and their allies are faring better in this alt-history than in real life. For one, the prolonged Civil War made the Union soldiers’ presence in the Great Plains far fewer. With the aid of shamans and spirits, Sitting Bull’s forces repulsed US encroachment in the Dakotas in 1872, sparing but humiliating General Armstrong Custer in the process. The Union was forced to sign the Deadwood Creek Treaty, which ceded land rights and significantly cut down on freedom of movement and mining claims for settlers while also recognizing the borders of the Sioux Nations. The town of Deadwood, connected by the Iron Dragon rail line, is the sole ‘safe zone’ for non-Nation citizens, but the recent spate of miners murdered under mysterious circumstances inflamed racial tensions. Deadwood townsfolk and Union citizens are both demanding protection and vengeance. Naturally, James Garfield is seizing on this, casting the Sioux as crazed savages holding American citizens hostage with President Grant too spineless to do anything about it. Add in some “Manifest Destiny” of how the Indians are sitting on a pile of rich ghost rock veins going to waste, and you have the perfect mix of greed and racial fears going on. Garfield’s stump speech was greeted with a standing ovation and a giant leap in poll numbers. During the course of the Plot Point Campaign he wins the election and becomes President. We also talk about the Ghost Dance, a relatively new religious movement growing in popularity among Native American tribes from the Paiute of Deseret to the Sioux Nations and Coyote Confederation. Its leader is Wovoka, a man credited with all manner of miracles. The Union and Confederacy are worried about this spreading faith, fearing the strength of a pan-Indian movement. The rest of the Epitaph section covers smaller local interest places. They include the Colorado town of new Jerusalem which seems to have literally sprung up out of nowhere; a gentleman-thief Stagecoach Robber roaming Kansas in a fancy steam wagon; sightings of Night Trains filled with the souls of the dead who kidnap townsfolk; rising tensions between the Confederacy and the Comanche Native Americans; and a lone eccentric searching for the lost village of Quivira, said to hold clues to the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. The Epitaph ends with The Round-Up, an in-game help wanted section full of adventure hooks and jobs sorted by state or region in the case of Indian Countries. It’s an obvious call-back to the Flood’s GOOD INTENTIONS section and even acknowledges it in-universe. Unfortunately not all of the entries directly link to a Savage Tale sidequest. Some of them are just dangling hooks, and the Last Sons does not make it clear which ones are which.  Makin’ Heroes Opening Text posted:There’s no place in the Weird West untouched by Indian history, culture, and traditions. Before the first buffalo hunters and settlers invaded the Plains, before the railroads and boomtowns laid down foundations of steel and wood, before telegraph wires crisscrossed the landscape like some giant spider’s web, the Indians were here. They built great civilizations all over North America, only to see their cities fall into decline hundreds of years before the first whites set foot in the so-called “New World.” As you can imagine by this quote, the writers of the Last Sons are gently pushing you into making Native American PCs for this Plot Point Campaign and it shows in this chapter. Many of the new roles, Edges, equipment, and other material tie into culture of various tribes, and the Plot Point’s first adventure involves helping out the Ghost Dancers. The Last Sons is trying to evoke a deconstructionist Western feel from the Native perspective, a la Dances With Wolves or Little Big Man. At least initially; it will take a while to explain here, so I’ll cover what I think works and doesn’t work in the main Plot Point Campaign chapter. Without further ado, we get a hefty list of major Native American tribes by region in the Weird West, along with their political relationships with other tribes, the US and/or Confederacy, and in some cases their stance towards with the Ghost Dance Movement. I’ll cover some of the major bases: the Sioux Nations is comprised of the Lakota, who are further divided into seven bands: Hunkpapa, Oglala, Burnt Thigh (Brule), Minneconjous, Sihasapa (Blackfeet), Itazipacola (Sans Arcs), and Oohenupa (Two Kettles). The Northern Cheyenne are also citizens of the Nation despite not being Lakota due to their role as a diplomatic bridge with the Coyote Confederation. The Coyote Confederation was formerly an Indian Reservation in Oklahoma before tribal uprisings during the Civil War managed to gain an autonomous territory. They are made up of the Arapaho, Cherokee, Comanche, Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne. Each tribe’s leader convenes yearly in a meeting to discuss policy, and a mysterious figure known as Coyote acts as the nation’s leader. The indigenous tribes of California banded together under the Necessity Alliance, who make their headquarters in the many twisting channels of the Great Maze. The Klamath are their most populous tribe, and count the Chumash, Miwoka, Coastanoan, and Cabrielino tribes as members. The Pomo and Mojave are independent of the Alliance, either being too spread out in the former’s case or isolated until recent times in the latter’s case. The major tribes of the Disputed Territories include the Crow, Pawnee, and Shoshone people. All of them are on hostile footing with the Sioux Nations and Coyote Confederation, although all but the Crow follow the Old Ways.* The Shoshone are allied with the Paiute, a Great Basin tribe responsible for forming the Ghost Dance Movement, and their warriors often serve as bodyguards for Paiute preachers. *In-game spiritual movement where avoiding use of modern technology grants increased power with spirits The major tribes of the American Southwest include the Apache and Navajo, who allied with each other as a defense pact against hostile white settlers. The Yaqui are a Mexican/Arizonan tribe who have been on hostile footing with the Mexican government, and the Zuni Pueblo are an isolated and secretive group descended from the Anasazi. We also get a host of new role-playing considerations, major language families and what tribal tongues fall under them, and new character concept ideas for Native Heroes. In this last case, this covers general ideas such as scouts as chieftains along with different types of priests and shamans: war leaders call upon spirits to fight and lead the tribe during war, medicine men negotiate with spirits to heal others and ward off misfortune, etc. In regards to spirituality and religion, Deadlands has a bit of a monolithic discussion of indigenous culture. Although the section mentions that there’s no substitute for serious research, we do get some entries which are well, this: Berdache posted:If a young man lacks the salt to be a warrior, has no talent for speaking with spirits, and lacks the speed and skills vital for scouts, he is no longer considered a man by his tribe. He wears women’s clothes, takes a woman’s name, and does a female’s chores. But that doesn’t mean the berdache is disrespected. Far from it. They are among the best craftspeople in a tribe, and in elder years considered as wise as priests in the ways of the world. From what knowledge I know of gender identity among Native American tribes, this entry is inaccurate and the term “berdache” is considered outdated by most indigenous people of the United States. The more proper term is two-spirit and can cover Native Americans who do not conform to Western ideas of gender norms. Various tribes have different levels of acceptance, but two-spirit people were not necessarily banned from warrior and religious roles and can refer to different kinds of LGBT identities. New Hindrances are for PCs of all ethnicities save for Coup Counter, which is specific to indigenous cultures. We have Allergy, where exposure to a certain element can cause Fatigue; Coup Counter, where your first attack in combat must be a “false attack” in melee; Intolerant quite simply means you’re bigoted to a certain race or culture, suffer a Charisma penalty with dealing with them, and cannot use leadership Edges in conjunction with individuals from said groups until you’ve been in contact with them for at least a week; and finally Trouble Magnet causes something to go wrong for your PC at least once per session in addition to the typical troubles PCs face. New Edges are equally open for all PCs and include Gallows Humor, where by saying a joke in-character regarding some horrible situation allows you to substitute Taunts instead of Guts to resist Fear Effects; Two-Gun Kid, where you can apply the bonus from your Marksman edge to two separate targets; new Knacks marking your character’s birth on a certain auspicious event, such as being born under a Shooting Star which increases the distance of your leadership Edges or being contacted by a spirit while in the womb which grants you a single supernatural spell even if you don’t have an Arcane Background; Liquid Courage increases your Vigor and lets you ignore one level of wound penalties when drunk; Patron Spirit is for Blessed where spending fate chips on a power extends its duration; Seen the Elephant for Veteran experience ranked PCs allows them to subtract 4 from the result on a Fear Effects table due to being numb to trauma; and finally Totem Spirit for Shamans, where getting a raise (4 above the Target Number) on a power linked to your totem animal halves the Power Point cost. The Last Sons gets one New Power, and it’s a pretty potent and versatile one at that. Contact Spirit World is available only to Voodooist Blessed, Mad Scientists, and Shamans. Overall it involves opening the caster up to the Hunting Grounds. Said place is the all-purpose “spirit world/afterlife” of the Deadlands setting and appears differently depending on a person’s belief system. Contact Spirit World can be taken at Novice rank, but gives a new use for the spell at every rank thereafter. At Novice Rank a caster can call forth a lesser spirit to demand one service from it. At Seasoned Rank you can Summon Normal Spirit which are more powerful. Veteran rank allows the caster to Spirit Travel and project their soul into the Hunting Grounds while leaving their body behind in a comatose state. At Heroic rank Group Spirit Travel can let the caster take on multiple companions at once equal to their Spirit die. Finally Open Portal at Legendary rank creates a two-way portal to the Hunting Grounds or back to the mortal if in the Hunting Grounds. Summoning spirit results are randomly determined via a die roll, or the caster can pick an individual spirit they know the spirit’s true name. The caster can learn a summon spirit’s true name by getting a raise on their relevant arcane background skill roll, or via learning it from some other person or place. The various uses of Contact Spirit World cost a different number of Power Points, but they share a duration of 1 hour, plus an additional hour per Power Point beyond the base cost spent. In the case of a summoned spirit the entity returns back from whence it came at the end of the normal duration, or until the single task they were summoned for is finished, whichever comes first. Even at Seasoned rank the types of spirits you can summon can be pretty potent, ranging in power from the Holy People who have d12 in several traits and gain a host of powers depending on their clan, to the mighty Wakinyan thunder spirit who are gigantic stormclouds with 28 Toughness and a long-range infinite-use version of the bolt power.  Gear & Goods We start out with some new mundane gear, such as a coup stick used to “count coup” among some the Natives of the Great Plains that can grant improved NPC attitudes among your tribal group per use in battle; peyote which grants a bonus on Tribal Medicine rolls when using Vision Quest and Contact Spirit world; shields which can grant Parry vs melee and Armor against ranged attacks;* snowshoes which negate the effects of traveling in Heavy Snow; and tipis and travois which are survival gear. *it does not specify if bullets ignore these bonuses or not. Infernal Devices are mad scientist inventions whose blueprints and function have been refined to the point that even those without the aforementioned Arcane Background are capable of using them. They all run on ghost rock and tend to explode or inflict other maladies when the user rolls a 1 on the relevant skill die. Our two new devices include a Steam Cart, which is a railroad handcart outfitted with a ghost rock boiler and can be mounted with Gatling guns and flamethrowers, and the Steam Velocipede which is quite literally a motorcycle. Although I realize that steam wagons exist in the core rules of Deadlands and are effectively primitive cars in function, the Velocipede feels aesthetically out of place to my sensibilities in being too “modern” for the Western genre. It effectively renders the classic trope of the trusty horse useless. Secret Services Revisited covers new equipment specific to the Agency and Texas Rangers. In Deadlands, the respective organizations are FBI equivalents for the Union and Confederacy who are also secretly tasked with investigation and putting a stop to supernatural threats. PCs who are members can requisition special equipment which cannot be purchased otherwise, determined based on their Persuasion roll, rank within the organization, and the overall level of rarity and power of said item requested. Although both groups use the same system, their equipment is unique. The Agency has more espionage gadgets, while the Texas Rangers specialize in things which shoot, stab, and explode. This is a major upgrade from the base Deadland’s Player’s Guide, whose only pair of equipment for said organizations respectively include a Men in Black style “memory changer” Mnemomizer, and a Fugitives from Justice in the Confederacy which acts like an FBI’s Most Wanted List. The Agency by contrast gets far more gadgets. They range from automatic keys which can open a lock in seconds, a black duster with hidden compartments, a code wheel used to encrypt secret messages, an Ectoplasmic Calcifier Mk II which can make ghosts and other spirits physical in form and thus vulnerable to regular attacks, an exploding pocketwatch which acts as a timed explosive, or a telegraph tap which can eavesdrop on messages carried through telegraph lines. The Texas Rangers of high enough rank can get a copy of the Special Edition of Fugitives from Justice in the Confederacy, whose Chapter 13 details all manner of monsters and ways to kill them. This grants a +2 bonus on Knowledge (Occult) and Tracking rolls related to such creatures. Beyond this, their gear includes things such as a Bowie Survival Knife which is much like a Swiss Army Knife, a Rains Hand Grenade Mk II which are waterproof and can deal 3d6 damage in a Medium Burst Template (4 hex diameter), an Improved Whitworth Rifle which is a heavy-hitting (3d8 damage) ghost steel rifle; a LeMat Undertaker which is an improved version of the Lemat grapeshot pistol which can accept special rounds (3d6); and finally a Supernatural Phenomena Survival Kit which comes stocked with all manner of folkloric defensive charms (rock salt, wolfsbane, garlic, etc) along with special ghost steel-silver hybrid ammunition allowing for Blessed to more easily imbue powers on them. Thoughts So Far: The player-facing section of the Last Sons has a good amount of material which can be useful for a variety of character types. Very few options are underpowered or situational enough to be useless, and I did like the overview of the various Native American groups and their position within the Deadlands setting. The Contact Spirit World is a very strong power, perhaps a bit too strong, and the Velocipede just rubs me the wrong way. The Agency got a lot of neat spy tools, which although cool feels a bit out of place given the US government aren’t exactly big fans of indigenous autonomy or the Ghost Dance Movement. Join us next time as we visit the Marshal’s Section, covering the war-torn lands of the Disputed Territories and Indian Country!
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Jan 27, 2019 23:51
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Rifts World Book 20: Canada, Part 13 - "Ogopogo is seen each year, but now by white men!" Now time for non-playable "monsters".  Pre-Rifts Earth could invent aquatic cities, but still missed these critters. The Cadborosaurus "a.k.a. Caddie", a mythical sea monster from the real-life Northern Pacific coast of America, and apparently it's was a whole species of "plesiosaurus-type creature[s]" that survived since the dino days. Though they live along North America's West Coast, they roost around Vancouver Island, making it fairly dangerous to brave the waters there. Of course, the rifts made them mega-damage because... they just did, okay? Otherwise, it's what you'd expect. Except... Rifts World Book 20: Canada posted:Unlike whales and dolphins, the Cadborosaurus is a comparatively simpleminded predator. Rifts World Book 20: Canada posted:Where Caddies are a serious danger to seafaring humanoids is that the monster travels in small schools of 3-12 (double during mating season) and they are smart enough to use group strategies and tactics to attack ships and prey, including feints, flanking actions, encircling, dividing the prey/enemy, tag team assaults and coordinated attacks. They also understand enough about boats to recognize when a vessel is damaged and crippled or sinking. Furthermore, Caddies are patient, and have been known to follow crippled vessels for weeks, hoping that it will capsize or sink and they can get at the crew. Occasionally, one or two may even figure out a weakness in a sea vessel (a repair patch, severely damaged section of the hull, etc.) and attack it (again, sometimes on and off for days) to see if they can cripple it further or better yet, sink it. Whiplash In a Single Writeup: The Palladium Books Story.  Birdpoop is the sea serpent's mighty crown. In case sea nessies aren't enough for you, we have lake nessies, too. Ogopogo is a lake serpent that nests in Lake Okanagan. Of course, it hid and only showed up in blurry photographs or Native American legends, but it turns out to be one of a species of interdimensional, scholarly dragons. (How do they learn a lot? They live in one lake.) Having come out of the shadows with the coming of the rifts because... I dunno, it was tuesday, they're helpful to locals and have helped people create safe communities around the lake. We get a whole family of them, most of which are decent except for the one bad seed who for some reason dreams of leaving to see her dreams of conquest and domination. Well, everybody has an edge teenager phase. Not playable despite hatchling rules and an easy story hook (one of the recent hatchlings has gone missing). It's not like they're particularly broken, at least by dragon standards... Like all dragons, they can shapechange, teleport, and turn invisible, though their metamorphosis is limited a barracuda, giant salmon, or "a dusky skinned, black haired human". They can also spray water from their mouths, but that mainly is used to inflict knockdown or murder vampires (which are effectively water soluble, as you might recall). Also it has literal burning blood, though no real rules on it spraying on attackers or the like; resumably stabbing them with things inflicts damage on the thing, but a lot of weapons don't have clear M.D.C. values. So good luck with that. They have to visit water every two months, which will be a problem if one ends up on a desert world, but not really otherwise.  "I have returned to reuse art from Spirit West." The Spirit Sasquatch is the second part of the wendigo retcon; these are basically forest spirits that are like True Sasquatch, only with more magic and Native American themed (i.e. they dress a little like them, use clubs or tomahawks, etc.). Like their indigenous allies, they hate technology because. And we get some heavy, heavy justification for the retcon. Granted, it's a better idea than before, but it's laid on pretty thick: Rifts World Book 20: Canada posted:Post-Cataclysm historians, scholars, trappers, adventurers and Native Americans who are not "Traditionalists" born and raised in the West are likely to mistake the Spirit Sasquatch and/or Windigo Demon for the true, flesh and blood Sasquatch. Ironically, this confusion with a "spirit" and a "demon" only adds to the legend, mystery and fear surrounding the shy, flesh and blood "Big Foot." As a result, most people leave the giant humanoids alone, for fear of provoking and falling victim to their "dark" side. You see, most people believe that these three, distinct beings are just different "magical manifestations" of the same strange supernatural creature. They mistake the ordinary Big Foot as the gentle manifestation, the Spirit Sasquatch being what it becomes when vengeful or trying to defend its people (often believed to be the tribal warriors), and the Windigo manifestation when consumed by hatred, berserker rage and bloodlust. Note: To drive this element of confusion home, even the description of the Wendigo in Rifts® Spirit West is incorrect. It is typical of the how the aspects of both the True and Spirit Sasquatch are constantly and erroneously combined, and often misidentified as the Windigo, especially by people coming from the East, South, or civilized regions. As you will see, the genuine Sasquatch/Big Foot, Spirit Sasquatch, and the demonic Windigo are all very different creatures. Mistaking one for the other, can be a deadly mistake. In a game context, this common confusion and incorrect identification should add a certain amount of suspense, fear and dread (or lack there of) whenever any one of these creatures is "reported" to be in the area. The question must be asked, is it the self-appointed Guardian of Nature known as the Spirit Sasquatch, the gentle humanoid Sasquatch/Big Foot, or the murderous Windigo Demon? G.M.'s have fun with this.[/i] See, it's not just a retcon, it's a representation of in-setting confusion! Of course, it would have been better to just retcon almost all of Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West, but you can't have everything. (You can keep the cool wolf robots.)In any case, spirit squatches protect forests, but those who might "despoil" the forest are usually sabotaged and intimidated rather than killed. They don't like killing people, but are perfectly fine with passive murder like letting somebody fall or getting a human to shoot another human in that sort of ironic pulp horror sort of way. This goes out the window when dealing with demons, though, and they'll easily kill those when the opportunity comes up to do so safely. Their unique power is point-of-view teleporting around, and otherwise are relatively generic mega-damage, high-strength humans with magic and psionics leaning towards stealth and nature. We also finally get rules for bears (suck it, Russia), including some that are mega-damage because... maybe your GM wants you to fight a bear. Fair enough. We also get rules for "canines"; the quotes are mine, because the section starts with foxes. It calls foxes "canines" repeatedly, but in real life they're canids, but not canine. Well, easy to confuse!... or maybe biology is different on Rifts Earth. We also get wolves and sled dogs. We also get giant squids and a reprint of generic dinosaur rules, all of which are mega-damage because you need to die at the hands of tentacles or raptors in the wilds of Canada. We also get a reprint of some psionic powers from Rifts World Book 12: Psyscape for the True Sasquatch so they can have stuff like psionic invisiblity, which is fair enough and takes up two pages. Next: It's time for you face the demon beaver*. * Thankfully, this isn't an OSR book. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Jan 28, 2019 |
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Jan 28, 2019 02:54
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For a Florida perspective, are the Seminole and the Seminole Wars brought up in this new Deadlands bit at all?
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Jan 28, 2019 03:09
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