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Night10194 posted:I do have a significant question, though: The two descriptions of ammo dice seem to conflict. Do you include them with attack rolls, or just roll them separately like a Decay dice in MS? You include Decay dice like that with attack rolls, in both Myriad Song and Urban Jungle. But you do need to keep track of which is the Decay die.
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Feb 3, 2019 18:25
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Ratoslov posted:Man, this is an incredibly dire RIFTS book. You can't even make fun of the bugs, they're that boring. It's like they came out of a can labeled ONE (1) WORLD-THREATENING HORDE OF BUGS, UNFLAVORED. Yeah, there's very little that's surprising other than all the ridiculous speedbumps the book puts towards actually opposing them. Thankfully, at least, that's the end of the section on the Xiticix proper and we can move onward to metaplot.
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Feb 3, 2019 18:45
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RiotGearEpsilon posted:You include Decay dice like that with attack rolls, in both Myriad Song and Urban Jungle. But you do need to keep track of which is the Decay die. Don't know how I missed that in Function Dice in MS, but reading it over there it's a lot clearer there, where it's outright bolded and talks about them helping you succeed directly. That explains a lot about the fewer traits Scroungetech gear includes, now. It's not as clear in Urban Jungle, where the original description of Dwindle Dice says you roll them separately and doesn't make it clear in the first mention that you use them normally.
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Feb 3, 2019 18:57
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Yeah, there's very little that's surprising other than all the ridiculous speedbumps the book puts towards actually opposing them. Thankfully, at least, that's the end of the section on the Xiticix proper and we can move onward to metaplot.  It is ridiculous how much I'm looking forward to you getting to the CS-Tolkeen war stuff.
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Feb 3, 2019 19:51
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 Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd Edition) Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Setting Interlude: A History of Face Grabbing Chapter 3: Storytelling quote:Rule, after you have first learned to submit to rule. Chapter Four: Rules I have terrible, horrible, no good very bad news: it’s time to talk about rules. Vampire give the impression that its authors would rather talk about anything else but rules. Because that’s what they do. Before the chapter even begins, there’s an excerpt from the Book of Nod, telling the story of Caine in pseudo-biblical language. Since I haven’t spelled out the mythic prehistory of the setting yet, I suppose I must. As you know, God cursed Caine with vampirism with killing Abel. He founded Enoch, the First City, where he was worshiped as a god. Out of loneliness he created more vampires, but regretted it and forbade the practice. A great Deluge destroyed the City, and Caine took it for divine punishment, leaving forever. His grandchilder rebuilt the City and founded Clans, but vampire overpopulation ignited a war...the first Jyhad. The survivors built what is only known as the Second City. Fearing another war, they forbade the 4th Generation to sire more vampires. But the Second City eventually collapsed after a long and unexplained decline, and the Kindred were forced to flee. Since then, a cycle has repeated itself: as more vampires are created, they inevitably come into conflict, while the elders remain in hiding and consolidate power. Now vampires hide from mortals and each other, and Jyhad is an eternal cycle. But This is the Rules Chapter, Right? Sure. Right after a page of fiction about a vampire about to attack a woman, but chickening out. And a cool picture of Count Orlok. And an overview of the rules that begins with quotes like “You need only learn basic rules, but their permutations evoke the flavor of the game to reflect the true complexity of real life.” And “Rules are like the myths which shape and describe a culture. They define what is important and delineate the possibilities of existence.” And a quote from Plato.  No! No more quotes! I...oh, hi Mom. Hi Dad. Bleeding Jesus Just Tell Me How to Roll Dice Okay, okay! First, Vampire explains how it measures time. A turn is enough time to complete one action--a few seconds in a fight scene, a few minutes in a social scene. Speaking of which, a period of action or roleplaying in a single location makes up a scene. A chapter is several scenes of action and downtime, comprising the typical game session. A story is a story arc within a campaign. Vampire calls a campaign a chronicle, and defines it as a series of connected stories, perhaps with an overarching theme or plot. As for the dice, it’s pretty simple. It’s a d10 dice pool system. Characters have various Traits, rated 1-5. Roll your Trait in dice, and count any dice that meet or exceed the Difficulty as successes. The Difficulty can range from 2-10, with 6 as the standard. One success means you barely made it, three is a complete success, and five is exceptional and impressive. Most rolls are Attribute+Ability (e.g.Dexterity+Firearms, Charisma+Etiquette), so barring superhuman powers, you’re rolling 1-10 dice. An interesting innovation for the time is that different Attribute+Ability pairings are possible, even ones that don’t seem like common sense. Given examples include Stamina+Acting to hold up under prolonged interrogation, Dexterity+Streetwise to slip out of handcuffs, or Manipulation+Brawl to square up and show some mean drunk that you mean business and he should gently caress off. An important rule to single out is the Rule of One. Any 1s you roll count as anti-successes. If you roll more 1s than successes, you botch, a critical failure with nasty consequences. The Storyteller system has often been criticized for this: without going into detail, it produces wonky dice math as your pool increases. It also means that on a Difficulty 10 roll, you’re as likely to botch as to succeed no matter how many dice you’re rolling! The text explicitly calls this out and says you should rarely if ever call for a Difficulty 10 roll.  All that nonsense just to tell me it’s Shadowrun with ten-siders? Special Actions A resisted action is when two people are competing or one is resisting the other--like trying to sneak up on someone, or an exchange of wits. You both roll and the higher number of successes wins. An extended action happens over a period of time. It could be a very long time with each roll representing days of work, like creating a work of art or conducting research. It could also be a race-against-the-clock scenario in one scene, like escaping a burning building. Whatever the case, you keep rolling, and try to accumulate a given number of successes. Failing might mean you have to start over; botching almost certainly does. An action can also be both extended and resisted--a car chase is a good example. Both opponents are in a race to accumulate a given number of successes first. There are also rules for teamwork, where both characters roll and add their successes together, usually on an extended action like collecting information or creating something. Last is the Gooolden Ruuule. Which is: every rule besides the basic die mechanic is just a suggestion. Do what you want. Thanks, Vampire!  Do it! Say “Chubby Bunny!” Next time on Kindred the Embraced: Character creation.
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Feb 3, 2019 20:21
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I dunno if this showed up in every oWoD line because gently caress consistency, but at least in WtA they changed the botch rules slightly from 2E to Revised. As before 1's still count as negative successes, but you can only get a botch if you rolled zero successes to begin with. So even if you roll 9 1's, if you also have a success on that roll then you'll fail but you won't botch.
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Feb 3, 2019 20:27
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Mors Rattus posted:Would it surprise you if I said that no edition before this one has had anything like this sidebar? Not really, at this point.
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Feb 4, 2019 01:10
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NGDBSS posted:I dunno if this showed up in every oWoD line because gently caress consistency, but at least in WtA they changed the botch rules slightly from 2E to Revised. As before 1's still count as negative successes, but you can only get a botch if you rolled zero successes to begin with. So even if you roll 9 1's, if you also have a success on that roll then you'll fail but you won't botch.
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Feb 4, 2019 01:24
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They also added this to Vampire 2nd Edition Revised. (Which was a 3rd Edition. I don't know why White Wolf was allergic to admitting that they did third editions of some of their most popular games.) In my opinion it was a mistake. It's been a long time since I played around with WoD probability, but this seems to reduce the chance of botches to the point that they're no longer a dramatic mechanic worth having, while not actually fixing the wonky dice math created by having ones count as anti-successes.
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Feb 4, 2019 02:20
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 Introduction “Love me some magical steampunk cowboys.” This was a popular copypasta on Amazon reviews for various Deadlands Reloaded books. I could not tell if the person was trolling, for although anonymous he was a Verified Purchaser for many of said books. But strangest of all was the fact that said copypasta was not on Good Intentions, the very sourcebook which contains perhaps the highest amount of magical steampunk cowboys in all of the Deadlands material. For those just tuning in, this is the fourth and final part of an epic adventure quadrilogy known as the Reckoner Series, dedicated to the downfall and/or deaths of the setting’s greatest villains. After the finishing of the Last Sons back in 2012 Pinnacle Entertainment’s resources were running thin among various projects. To do the second half of the series justice they pulled out individual KickStarter projects for Stone and a Hard Place and Good Intentions. Both funded leaps and bounds beyond their minimum goals, and earned a host of tie-in support material and adventures. The theme of Good Intentions is Pestilence, representing the smog-choked steampunk environs of the Mormon nation of Deseret. The corporate businessman/mad scientist Dr. Darius Hellstromme works on a secretive project measuring the ambient Fear Levels in the region, all leading up to a grand conspiracy which will shake the fledgling nation’s foundations to its knees. Foreign US agents and the Mormon Church’s secret police all have their own bones to pick with the good doctor. But said factions’ end goals are not necessarily mutual, thus making for a tangled web of spy vs spy.* *Or like the Last Sons, that’s the intent. In terms of structure the adventure is known as a Plot Point Campaign, the Savage Worlds system’s equivalent to a Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder adventure path. But in addition to a series of main quests known as Plot Points there are optional events, missions, and locations known as Savage Tales. Where it differs from its predecessors is that all of said content takes place within the borders of a single domain: Utah/Deseret. There’s not as much travel between far-flung locations, and in fact expects the PCs to have a “home base” in Salt Lake City. Like its predecessors it has a free PDF showcasing the “player friendly” section of the book, which we’ll be covering for our first post. The Tombstone Epitaph The Tombstone Epitaph is the primary in-game newspaper of the Deadlands setting, whose outlandish “believe it or not” tales of supernatural events and conspiracies cause many to dismiss it as yellow journalism. But those in the know regard it as a mostly-accurate resource for the dark secrets of the Weird West. To surmise, it is October 1882 and as of last year the Union and Confederacy settled into a peace treaty with the formal recognition of the latter’s borders. Last week both nations would extend the same gesture to the Mormon state of Deseret. Immigrant laborers from both countries, and Hellstromme Industries’ contracts with said countries to make use of its transcontinental railroad, point to an uncertain yet promising future for the Latter-Day Saints. Dr. Darius Hellstromme is the most famous denizen of the country, and whose innumerable inventions brought myriad wonders to the populace but at the expense of safe conditions for workers and widespread pollution. Workers’ strikes are put down violently by masked thugs, and there’s little the LDS Church can do on account that Hellstromme Industries employs a huge portion of their nation’s citizenry. The section is peppered with other human interest stories and rumors, from the near-completion of the massive Mormon Temple, excitement for a brutal sport known as Skullchucker, and a professional group of people who hunt giant subterranean burrowing worms known as Rattlers. The final page of the Epitaph is a cool section of in-game advertisements done in the style of late-nineteenth century periodicals. I really like this touch: the previous Reckoner Series’ Tombstone Epitaph issues had these as well, but only in the form of “Help Wanted” adventure hooks for Savage Tales. I kind of miss those, but with how few Savage Tales there are in this Plot Point Campaign that makes sense in context:   Makin’ Heroes This details all the new player-friendly material which is not equipment for Good Intentions. It is quite heavy on the magic, especially a reworking of the Blessed arcane background. Some of the new edges include Scrapper where you start play for free with a limited number of steampunk pseudo-cybernetic augmentations; being multilingual via the Gift of Gab; having an ironclad Secret Identity; and Master Crafter, where you can hastily build Infernal Devices at a portion of the cost provided you have a working blueprint.  METAPLOT ALERT The writers at Pinnacle Entertainment are playing up a new major bad guy in the setting to take the role of the Reckoners’ 4 main servants. Known as the Cackler, the stuff he does in a tie-in comic changes how certain kinds of magic work in the setting circa Stone and a Hard Place. Long story short, practitioners of EVIIIIL MAGIC find it easier to cast spells with fewer Power Points, but Blessed are no longer the most OP Arcane Background in Deadlands on account of the Almighty’s forces being forced to retreat somewhat.Our two new Arcane Backgrounds include the post-Cackler Blessed and the Metal Mage. The former are non-denominational holy men and women who can call down miracles, while the latter are hucksters and mad scientists who discovered that evil spirits known as manitou provide both of their traditions’ powers and thus learn to blend the two styles together. Metal mages are extremely rare, and only a dozen exist within Deseret as the apprentices of the huckster-scientist R. Percy Sitgreaves. Before the events of the Cackler the Blessed had virtual access to every power on their list and did not have to pay Power Points to fuel their spells, albeit they suffered a penalty on their spellcasting skill based on the spell’s rank. The reworked Blessed works much like its original version, save that they use Power Points like everyone else and are limited in how many spells they can learn. In exchange they have a unique ability known as Divine Intervention where they can call down amazing abilities with the spending of a Legend Fate Chip.* *A Fate Chip is Deadlands’ metagame currencies and comes in four varieties of increasing power: white, red, blue, and legend. Metal Mages are an Arcane Background of their own rather than being two combined together, and are kind of overpowered. They have access to most powers on the mad scientist and huckster spell list, including some otherwise exclusive spells such as Hunch and Trinkets. Their Backlash manifests as a mythic beast or totem animal known as a daemon, which can only be triggered on a result of snake eyes on the spellcasting skill die, cannot be averted with fate chips, and takes the form of a Huckster’s Backfire. Their other two unique features include the ability to supernaturally manifest a mad science device with its own Power Point supply akin to the Gadgeteer edge a limited number of times per gaming session, and the ability to convert unrefined ghost rock into more efficient fuel cores. To elaborate, a Backlash is the negative effect which occurs when you roll a 1 on the spellcasting skill die of your relevant Arcane Background. Blessed suffer a Crisis of Faith and temporarily lose access to miracles, mad science gadgets blow up in a damaging radius, etc. A roll of snake eyes indicates a natural one on both said skill and the d6 Wild Die. As the Wild Die is rolled in conjunction with most PC actions, this exponentially decreases the probability of a Metal Mage’s Backlash in comparison to other Arcane Backgrounds.  Divine Intervention is a new “last resort” power the forces of good bestowed on the Blessed to make up for their overall lessened presence post-1881. A Blessed’s player who has a Legend Chip can spend that Fate Chip and roll a Faith skill check with a penalty specific to the form of Intervention. Failure causes varying levels of personal consequences (Crisis of Faith, lose all Power Points, lose the former and the Fate Chip, etc) but on a success the heavens themselves shake! The 11 Divine Interventions are akin to mega-spells in their power and scope. Some have durations lasting in days, some have range and area of effect which can span regions, and some can even impose permanent debilitations on a target. Some of the Interventions include various forms of Divine Wrath which can dim the sun or rapidly destroy a town/region’s food supply over the course of days; the ability to Deny the use of a single skill which is treated as untrained when used by the target; become a Peacemaker where you grant +5 Armor to those in a wide radius and force an opposed Spirit roll for anyone to take any hostile action; or summon the trumpeting Walls o’ Jericho which can wrack the foundations of buildings and other large objects with Armor-ignoring massive damage.  Gear It wouldn’t be a real steampunk adventure without a healthy heaping of new equipment violating the laws of God and Man, and this section delivers in spades! All of the below gear already exists in the 1880 Smith & Robards Catalog product, but a choice selection of ones in line with Good Intentions’ “steampunk and spy games” feel are included. Augmentations are Deadlands’ version of cybernetic implants. Far from prosthetic limbs, they include various sorts of body modifications, and those who install such gear are known as scrappers. But the “cybernetics eat your soul” trope is limited to a one die decrease in Spirit, with the primary strain and maladies of a more physical nature in the form of Drain. Basically a character’s maximum Drain is equal to their innate Toughness, and when said Toughness drops below that value the scrapper suffers Fatigue whose magnitude is based on the difference. There’s no mention either here or in the 1880 Catalog of what happens if someone installs augmentations with a greater total Drain than their body can support, but I presume it has the same effects. Augmentations are grouped based on the affected/replacement body parts. Arms include Mechanical Arms, Metal Forearms, and Piston Arms which can increase your Strength die type for actions related to said limb, and in the piston’s case grant you a powerful unarmed strike. Arm Attachments & Enhancements include the implanting of Firearms and Infernal Devices into the limb, Clockwork Hands and Finger Tools to aid with coordination of delicate tasks, Grapnel Launchers and Reeling Devices for vertical movement and dragging, and so forth. Ear replacements come in the form of either Echo-Locators for reduction of dim lighting penalties or Sound Enhancers to grant bonuses on auditory Notice rolls. Eye replacements do similar things for visual senses such as Microscopic or Telescopic Lenses. Head augmentations are the most invasive and have high Drain, but can install Piston Jaws and Venomous Fangs, an armored Skull Plate to guard against headshots, or even a Cranial Gyroscope which grants a permanent +1 to Agility, Fighting, Riding, and Throwing rolls but can impose reduction of mental faculties. Legs and Leg Attachments grant Strength and Pace bonuses for the base augmentation, but can be outfitted with Spring Heels or Double Motivators to increase mobility further. Finally, Torso augmentations are purely defensive in nature: they range from Abdominal Armor which grants a nice +2/+4 Toughness based on whether it’s light or heavy, and Bellows Springs and Snorkels to assist in respiration in hostile environments. Infernal Devices are basically gadgets and powers of a mad scientist whose manitou-ridden dreams have coalesced into something which can make actual sense for the general public. Instead of Power Points their fuel source is usually ghost rock and they can be used by virtually anyone. The list of said equipment is a short two pages in comparison to the Augmentations, but include some useful gadgets such as armored hats, dusters, and vests; an underwater diving suit; noiseless shoes, owl-eye goggles, and tethered satellites for reconnaissance work. There’s a section of Elixirs and Tonics which can boost the imbiber’s physical capabilities, provide minutes’ worth of clean air via hydrated air tablets, and healing unguents and liquid courage to ease the pain of physical and psychological wounds. Shootin’ Irons, Melee Weapons, & Vehicles are limited to a pair of two full-page tables. The weapons include reprints of Chinese martial arts weapons from the Flood, nifty novelty weapons such as acid guns, smoke pellets, net-launching guns to restrain targets, infinite-shot lightning guns with a long charging time and “grounding” stakes to limit movement, and normal firearms disguised in mundane wear such as hats, canes, and parasols. The vehicles include material from the Deadlands Player’s Guide such as autogyros and steam wagons, but also new vehicles such as motorcycle velocipedes, steam carriages and mining carts, multi-person air carriages, and one-person whirligigs. Thoughts So Far: The new rules really do a great job of reinforcing the feel of “magical steampunk cowboys.” Many gamers agreed that the original Blessed was overpowered even in Reloaded, and I like the new version and its Divine Interventions. It came at the expense of the introduction of a replacement OP caster, although dialing down the Metal Mage’s summonable gadgets and perhaps replacing its snake eyes backlash with something more reasonable should put it in line with the other spellcasters. The new gadgets are fun, and I really like the Scrapper edge and augmentations. The archetype kind of gears towards a combat bruiser with options such as Venomous Fangs, but I can definitely see a “steampunk cyborg spy” archetype with limbs containing hidden compartments and telescopic eyes. Join us next time as we delve into the Marshal’s Territory of Deseret, exploring strange locales and the maladies of Pestilence’s Realm! PS I know that in finishing up the Last Sons I said that I’d do Stone and a Hard Place next, but the honest to God truth is that said adventure is the lowest-rated of the Reckoner Series IMO. For that reason I’m saving it for last.
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Feb 4, 2019 07:28
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Your decision is valid because everything involving Stone is awful and needs to be the capstone to all Deadlands poo poo.
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Feb 4, 2019 07:48
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I want a License to Tamper With The Laws of God and Man.
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Feb 4, 2019 07:52
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 Rifts World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion, Part 5: "Plan C: Let's hope somebody else engages the Xiticix." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijvTiDnWJLE&t=62s Prelude to War The Coalition States - circa 105 P.A. So, the Xiticix aren't exactly getting completely ignored. The Coalition has been slow to realize how big a threat the Xiticix are, presuming they're just one of myriad demons and underestimating their numbers. However, in recent years they've began studying them and have realized what a threat they are, because... well, it doesn't say why. Make up your own reason! It's a multiverse of possibilities!  A proud graduate of the skulltrooper marksmanship academy. The Coalition States have been distributing information on the Xiticix, even externally, because of a secret plan. Having actually done raids into hives (almost always suicidally), they're aware of most of the major Xiticix types, how Xiticix attacks are typically triggered, and that eliminating the Queens is essential. Their only real mistakes is that they overestimate the current Xiticix numbers and growth, and are concerned male Xiticix may be able to "convert" to females in a crisis. However, their estimates that the current population of 1.6-2 million current Xiticix could explode into 30+ million in four years are only really off by a year, and there's enough to be concerned about either way.  The one time a Xiticix was actually outnumbered by Coalition troops? As it is, the Coalition have three potential plans to deal with the Xiticix:
 A Coalition officer's pipe dream of how the Xiticix Killer works out, no doubt. The Xiticix Killer, the Coalition's genetically modified predator designed to kill Xiticix (from Rifts World Book 13: Lone Star, pictured on the cover of that), is still being released in large numbers to middling effect. The whole statblock is reprinted here, but really, the notion that these would do anything is pretty pathetic. While it's a bit tougher than a single Xiticix Warrior, the new multiattack rules for Xiticix and their new flying kicks mean two decent hits and this thing goes down. Granted, this can pretty much do the same to to the Xiticix in melee with its stabbing tentacle. However, Xiticix are rarely going to be encountered alone- and they can just hail down spikes or TK bolts if they have ranged weapons from the air, and the energy bolts the Xiticix Killer can fire are a sad-trombone 1d4 M.D.  "I never trained for this in Hufflepuff!" Lazlo's War So, Lazlo (the idyllic super-magical democratic city-state) has come to the conclusion that the Xiticix have to be dealt with, as originally revealed in Rifts World Book 20: Canada. And since nobody else is dealing with this, they've volunteered to become the "somebody else" of the Coalition's plan. While they find the notion of genociding the Xiticix abhorrent, all attempts to communicate with the bugs have failed. Why doesn't telepathic transmission or tongues work? It doesn't say. Still, there's a significant minority advocating finding a less violent solution, first spending longer trying to figure out a way to communicate with them, or secondly involving numerous plans involving transporting them to another world. However, the main plan (called "Plan A") is to locate and exterminate all Xiticix Queens, larvae, and eggs. In theory, if they can halt reproduction, the Xiticix will be allowed to survive to the end of their eventual lifespan as a "humane" solution. Unlike the Coalition, they have the advantage of magic, so in theory, they can use magic and psionic means to locate down the Queens, and then move soldiers in via spells like teleport or invisibility. Similarly, summoned creatures like elementals could be used for scouting or assassination. As such, their losses are likely to be far lower than the Coalition would face for similar strategies. The main issue is that they don't know how the Xiticix will react to the loss of their Queens. Some of the more hawkish suggest eliminating Warriors and their ilk when possible to limit the retaliatory power of the Xiticix. In addition, they would have to find ways to monitor the hives and make sure new Queens don't emerge.  "DIE CI TIC EIKS or is it DIE ZI TIS ISS or DIE ZI TUCKS eh gently caress it." Plan B is to just to eliminate most of the Queens to isolate and concentrate the Xiticix (as they move to protect the remaining Queens), then aim for "Operation Scorched Earth" where they just go tunnel to tunnel and kill them all. Causalities will be higher, though, and a risk is seen in leaving any Queens alive, even just long enough to wipe out the rest. But Lazlo isn't necessarily just going it alone. The most significant aid they'll have is from local tribes of Psi-Stalkers who are already fighting a covert war against the Xiticix, as well as companies of troops from the Tundra Rangers. Lesser help with come from the Cyber-Knights and adventurers, but not too much in that regard. Northern Gun may offer under-the-counter supplies, unable to offer overt support due to their alliance with the Coalition, but being too close to the Xiticix to ignore Lazlo's efforts. Similarly, the Splugorth might send covert agents to provide quiet support, not wanting bug hegemony over the planet.  This is what the Splugorth think is "covert", apparently... The Coalition and Quebec aren't really willing to support the effort, but won't sabotage it in any way. Emperor Prosek is concerned a successful campaign by the mages against the Xiticix will make Lazlo into a respected power that will attract allies, but is more concerned about the Xiticix and would vastly prefer to see them wiped out. Once Lazlo pulls out, the Coalition will likely start their own offensive to try and wipe out the Xiticix once and for all. Finally, we get a discussion of the impact of Lazlo's offensive. There will be dramatic loss of life amongst the Lazlo forces and their Psi-Stalker allies. Furthermore, the remaining Psi-Stalkers will be robbed of their current "prey", and will need to seek out new supernatural foes to fight. In addition, the Simvan Monster Riders of Canada are likely to make incursions onto Psi-Stalker territories. The "border" that the Xiticix provided will also allow new threats or settlers to cross it. Lastly, the Hive networks still standing will likely be claimed by settlers, Psi-Stalker tribes, or monsters. The Coalition, on the other hand, has a scheme to turn vacated hives into traps, where they could observe the interiors with cameras and release traps like poison gas to eliminate D-Bees and wizards. Chiefly, they want to keep their enemies from making the "hivelands" into their new fixer-upper homes. There's also a digression about how the war on Tolkeen will impact the Cyber-Knights, but there will be time enough for that in Coalition Wars 4: Cyber-Knights. Rifts World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion posted:Ultimately, the Lazlo-Xiticix War contributes to the changing power structure of North America. The future is uncertain. Next: Arborpunks.
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Feb 4, 2019 10:56
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Just going back to Lost Sons for a moment, is there anything in the game for what happens if the party immediately switches allegiance upon revelation of the Robert E. Lee thing? Because there is no way the people i play with would accept that in any capacity
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Feb 4, 2019 11:04
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Has anyone done a writeup on Planet Mercenary? It's a sci-fi RPG with some unusual card systems that's based on a long-running webcomic (which I wouldn't call great, but I find it fun to dip into the long, long archives on occasion, and it's improved over time. Which is just as well, since it started in 2000) about mercenaries in space. From what I've showed it around to people it may have some iffy mechanical issues mostly relating to the resource/currency system (of course) and balance issues between characters. It's a bit of a Rogue Trader thing where it shows a narrow slice of a broad setting, also being military sci-fi. Was Kickstarted a couple years back. I liked it, but I haven't gotten to play it and I'm pretty easily amused.
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Feb 4, 2019 12:48
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Libertad! posted:Thoughts So Far: The new rules really do a great job of reinforcing the feel of “magical steampunk cowboys.” Many gamers agreed that the original Blessed was overpowered even in Reloaded, and I like the new version and its Divine Interventions. It came at the expense of the introduction of a replacement OP caster, although dialing down the Metal Mage’s summonable gadgets and perhaps replacing its snake eyes backlash with something more reasonable should put it in line with the other spellcasters. Pinnacle seemed to like the Blessed changes as well. The Adventure Edition has them with 3 starting powers and 10 Power Points.
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Feb 4, 2019 14:39
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Libertad! posted:
Which makes sense from an in-universe perspective, I have to admit. Too bad the implementation isn't great. If anything they should be more susceptible to manitous loving with them.
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Feb 4, 2019 15:48
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Barudak posted:Just going back to Lost Sons for a moment, is there anything in the game for what happens if the party immediately switches allegiance upon revelation of the Robert E. Lee thing? Because there is no way the people i play with would accept that in any capacity Generally speaking there are no rules or adventures which presumes that the PCs will be working for the Reckoners or any of their Servitor's organizations. And even if the PCs gave the middle finger to the slave-owning traitor I doubt that War's forces will be eager to accept aid from PCs who until this time were fighting and killing Ravenites. Edit: In my thread on this Let's Read over on RPGnet, some gamers suggested that Sitting Bull as a worthier alternative if the PCs are Sioux Nations citizens. As to why he'd be a spirit, perhaps he was assassinated around the PPC's beginning by Ravenites, and investigation into his death leads the PCs to discovering Kang's ghost rock mines and the Ravenites and other stuff. But overall, a lot of the Deadlands writers seemed either unaware or unwilling to confront that there's a non-negligible number of players who want to see the Confederacy go. About a year after this adventure was published one of the lead writers genuinely felt that a non-racist Confederacy was the best way of ensuring player comfort. Matthew Cutter Post 1 posted:The point is that players at the game table shouldn't have to play a game where sexism and racism are constant hurdles for their characters to jump. Matthew Cutter Post 2 posted:Because we decided it would be that way to make the game playable. Period. It has nothing to do with historical facts or anything else. It's to make the game enjoyable to the widest possible range of people. I find this rather interesting on account that this forum post was made around a year after the publication of the Last Sons, which had Matthew Cutter himself as the lead writer. This further reinforces my theory that there were conflicting goals among the writers of said Plot Point Campaign. Said forum posts were made half a decade ago. With the very public and very ugly Charlottesville protests exposing to a wide audience just how many people (especially African-Americans) hate the Confederacy and all it stands for, as well as the types of people who are most attracted to it, I'm hoping that if they're committing to an inclusive setting they at the very least retcon or collapse it in-universe. Dawgstar posted:Pinnacle seemed to like the Blessed changes as well. The Adventure Edition has them with 3 starting powers and 10 Power Points. I like them as well. Previously the Blessed's OP state was supposed to be reigned in by strict RP requirements, but like D&D's Bladesinger that only resulted in haphazard enforcement. Evil Mastermind posted:I think Metal Mages were a late introduction in the oDeadlands stuff too. The idea was that they were basically hucksters who realized that the secret to mad science was actually magic, and leaned into the skid as it were. You could say that the Metal Mages' research was founded upon...good intentions. 
Libertad! fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 4, 2019 23:51
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Honestly the de-racisted Confederacy sounds worse than a Confederacy as lovely as the historically accurate one, because the de-racisted and on-the-rise Confederacy sounds hoooooly poo poo like some serious apologism and "THEY WERE ONLY SLAVERS BECAUSE HARD MEN HAD TO MAKE HARD CHOICES, THEY WERE GOOD DEEP DOWN, HONEST"-wishfulness. Why not just have the Confederacy as historically lovely as it was, surviving only because it's being propped up by foreign powers that don't want to see the Union rise to strength and really challenge them, mostly engaging in shady, underhanded and downright terrorist means of engaging the Union because it knows that if it invites a head-on conflict again, it'll likely get curbstomped, foreign support or no, while the Union is holding off on a full confrontation because it's getting challenged on enough fronts that it's afraid tiring itself out with a fight against the Confederacy would make its other enemies see a chance to jump it. It'd still make the Confederacy as theoretical threat and enemy, without rewriting history to edit out their bad and garbage stuff. Leave the racism as part of it, BECAUSE THAT WAS PART OF WHY THEY WERE poo poo. The South will never rise again, deal with it.
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Feb 5, 2019 00:06
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PurpleXVI posted:Honestly the de-racisted Confederacy sounds worse than a Confederacy as lovely as the historically accurate one, because the de-racisted and on-the-rise Confederacy sounds hoooooly poo poo like some serious apologism and "THEY WERE ONLY SLAVERS BECAUSE HARD MEN HAD TO MAKE HARD CHOICES, THEY WERE GOOD DEEP DOWN, HONEST"-wishfulness. This kind of goes back to the problem of having a setting where large portions are just downright lovely for African-American PCs to exist in. Even the Confederacy had territories in the West here and there. There's also the difference in that unlike say, Red Dead Redemption 2 and movies/vidya which are private usually 1 on 1 media experiences, tabletop is basically collaborative acting. Many GMs at the table may be uncomfortable with RPing a firebreathing white supremacist even if they don't drop the N bomb. And if you're running said games at an FLGS or public space...yeah. In my own Deadlands games I used the RPGnet Dead South alternative, although as time goes on I've toyed more and more of the idea of a "Confederacy collapsed alt-history" in Deadlands, but one where big slave uprisings created "free nation" microstates. So at the very least African-American PCs can have a realm in the continental US to both call their own and a place worth fighting for. I know that New Orleans was in some respects the closest to this IRL, but even then it was still deep in Confederate territory.
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Feb 5, 2019 00:14
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PurpleXVI posted:It'd still make the Confederacy as theoretical threat and enemy, without rewriting history to edit out their bad and garbage stuff. Leave the racism as part of it, BECAUSE THAT WAS PART OF WHY THEY WERE poo poo.
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Feb 5, 2019 00:19
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The very existence of the Confederacy and the entire cause of the civil war is this: white southerners wanted to own black people as property. I say it again: slavery was the whole cause of the civil war. Read Jefferson Davis's commencement speech, then tell me the cornerstone principle of the Confederacy was not racism. In many ways Davis was the proto-Hitler -- he had many of the same failings and rose to power on the same wave of racist demagoguery. The two eternal shames of the United States are these: that the southern states were permitted to continue the practice of slavery after the formation of the nation, and that the victorious Union lacked the strength of character to pull the weed up by its roots.
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Feb 5, 2019 00:38
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PurpleXVI posted:Honestly the de-racisted Confederacy sounds worse than a Confederacy as lovely as the historically accurate one, because the de-racisted and on-the-rise Confederacy sounds hoooooly poo poo like some serious apologism and "THEY WERE ONLY SLAVERS BECAUSE HARD MEN HAD TO MAKE HARD CHOICES, THEY WERE GOOD DEEP DOWN, HONEST"-wishfulness. It's interesting how very little changes in Deadlands if you stick to the Confederacy losing on schedule. There are still zombies and monsters and the Great Quake. You still have two new Native American nations (and I wouldn't leave the Sioux as they are either, but they don't have as much to change). West of the Mississippi is still very wild because the US army would be stretched extremely thin dealing having to ride herd (heh) on the south (throw in some Lost Cause terrorist cells to give the PCs some racists to punch) while also having to keep an eye on Santa Anna in Mexico, as well as having to rebuild themselves after a war. It honestly affects very little to Deadlands because seldom does anybody EVER bother to hang out 'Back East.' Why would you? All the cool stuff is out west anyway. Lost Angels, Shan Fan. the City O' Gloom. Horace Greeley was right. Actually given how thin the CSA's forces were even when the Reckoning happens at Gettysburg, a sudden influx of the walking dead is probably not going to save them for longer than the war went on anyway. Dawgstar fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 00:51
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Dawgstar posted:It's interesting how very little changes in Deadlands if you stick to the Confederacy losing on schedule. There are still zombies and monsters and the Great Quake. You still have two new Native American nations (and I wouldn't leave the Sioux as they are either, but they don't have as much to change). West of the Mississippi is still very wild because the US army would be stretched extremely thin dealing having to ride herd (heh) on the south (throw in some Lost Cause terrorist cells to give the PCs some racists to punch) while also having to keep an eye on Santa Anna in Mexico, as well as having to rebuild themselves after a war. It honestly affects very little to Deadlands because seldom does anybody EVER both to hang out 'Back East.' Why would you? All the cool stuff is out west anyway. Lost Angels, Shan Fan. the City O' Gloom. Horace Greeley was right. Furthermore Deseret can still be an independent Crazy Steampunk Mormon Nation with no US mililtary presence on account that Hellstromme developed what are effectively ghost rock nukes during the Flood adventure. Not that the USA wouldn't try to spy, steal the blueprints, or limit their influence elsewhere in the West, but outright invasion is not going to happen anytime soon. Fun Fact: There was a planned series of Trail Guides (mini-setting/PPCs) detailing Back East for Reloaded, but said projects got scrapped on account of prioritizing other books in the works. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 00:54
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Libertad! posted:Furthermore Deseret can still be an independent Mormon Nation with no US mililtary presence on account that Hellstromme developed what are effectively ghost rock nukes during the Flood adventure. Not that the USA wouldn't try to spy, steal the blueprints, or limit their influence elsewhere in the West, but outright invasion is not going to happen anytime soon. Good point, although in my head I was keeping Deseret anyway. Add to that you've got the Mojave rattlers in the area. Easily I could see the army thinking to let somebody else deal with that nonsense as the army don't have the cool steam wagons and rocket harpoons and whatever. (Or at least not as many nor could they make them as fast as Hellstrome and Smith & Robards can make them.)
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Feb 5, 2019 01:00
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Dawgstar posted:It's interesting how very little changes in Deadlands if you stick to the Confederacy losing on schedule. As I understood it, the way the Civil War goes in Deadlands was basically intended to make sure the North and South are so busy with their cold war that they can't exert much too influence on the West, the region remains largely lawless longer and the Reckoners don't have any large-scale organized opposition, leaving the PCs to do the thing. That all being said, there are myriad ways to have that sort of outcome that don't result in Confederate apologia, but so it goes.
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Feb 5, 2019 01:05
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Alien Rope Burn posted:As I understood it, the way the Civil War goes in Deadlands was basically intended to make sure the North and South are so busy with their cold war that they can't exert much too influence on the West, the region remains largely lawless longer and the Reckoners don't have any large-scale organized opposition, leaving the PCs to do the thing. A friend suggested that since not only do you have unrest south of the Mason-Dixon but also an CSA loyalists who are mad scientists or hucksters or whatever the US Army would have to keep a much tighter focus on the south, which would still negate organized opposition. I'd also probably make a bigger deal of the Great Rail Wars, but also throw in mining barons (like Doomtown's Sweetrock) and big ranchers and use that to speed on the Reckoners' designs as I cannot imagine the Four Horsemen don't pop a boner at wanton capitalism.
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Feb 5, 2019 01:10
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I could also see the argument for the CSA splintering into a lot of successor states to play with something like the same effect but dodging both real life history and whitewashing the Confederacy. Maybe Texas is independent again or nearly so, maybe Florida in a personal love of mine is now split between the CSA-loyal north and the Conch Republic south, things like that.
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Feb 5, 2019 01:35
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Dawgstar posted:A friend suggested that since not only do you have unrest south of the Mason-Dixon but also an CSA loyalists who are mad scientists or hucksters or whatever the US Army would have to keep a much tighter focus on the south, which would still negate organized opposition. I'd also probably make a bigger deal of the Great Rail Wars, but also throw in mining barons (like Doomtown's Sweetrock) and big ranchers and use that to speed on the Reckoners' designs as I cannot imagine the Four Horsemen don't pop a boner at wanton capitalism. War: Military-Industrial Complex Famine: Speculation in food sources and intentional shortages to jack prices causing famines Pestilence: Snake oil salesmen and people spreading plagues they have the cures for Death: Whether it's deaths caused by strikes being put down, or by unions guillotining the rich, Death wins either way
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Feb 5, 2019 01:39
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PurpleXVI posted:War: Military-Industrial Complex The last one reminds me: screw the Pinkertons. They don't get to be the Agency anymore. The Agency can pull from the army and the Marshals (and maybe the Texas Rangers? I dunno). In fact, heck, give the Agency to Bass Reeves who was awesome. You can keep undead Abraham Lincoln around, that's fine, but Reeves was an amazing historical figure who deserves more screen time.
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Feb 5, 2019 01:50
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Ultimately I have to just reassert my opinion that the whole alternate history and metaplot focus is generally not Deadlands' strong point, despite the fact it wants to devote so much of its material to it. Big epic fantasy battles and cosmic conflicts just aren't... really... "Western", for the most part.
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Feb 5, 2019 01:53
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Given how Texas got dragged by the Confederacy I would have had them secede from the CSA once the zombies ate the soldiers, then have Mexico grab Texas back. Have the whole area a bizarro zone where the CSA, USA, Mexico, Native Americans and Texans are actively trying to dominate but failing, all the while being eaten by chupacabra.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:12
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The only alt-history CSA I will tolerate is one where the C stands for "Communist"
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Feb 5, 2019 02:32
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Skellybones posted:Given how Texas got dragged by the Confederacy I would have had them secede from the CSA once the zombies ate the soldiers, then have Mexico grab Texas back. Have the whole area a bizarro zone where the CSA, USA, Mexico, Native Americans and Texans are actively trying to dominate but failing, all the while being eaten by chupacabra. I'd have the CSA collapse due to anarchist carpetbaggers, having been chased from the North, taking advantage of the wide variety of chaos to set-up a communist South. Have Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels show up, too.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:33
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It's been a while and I am going to try a slightly different format. My thoughts will be in italtics Volo's Guide to Monsters: Kobolds: Little Dragons Part 1 Previous Entry  Origin wise a Kobold is a spirit from germanic folklore. D&D does not have much in common with that and instead made them goblins but weaker in OD&D. They then started differentiating them, first making them a bit dog like and ratish, before settling into their current look as tiny lizard people in 3e. This look has been popular with them and the current edition sticks with it, but adds a couple nods to their AD&D depiction, namely their horns and doggish snouts. Kobolds are often dismissed as cowardly, stupid and weak, but they have a solid social structure, that encourages devotion to the tribe and for them to work together to overcome their limitations. For kobolds a perfect world would be one were they were left alone to dig and raise the next generation, while being free to seek the magical means to free their trapped god. In the world they are in, kobolds are bullied and enslaved by other creatures, or when they are living alone, afraid of invasion and oppression by others. While individually they are timid and shy, "kobolds are dangerous if cornered, vicious when defending their eggs, and notorious for the dangerous improvised traps they use to protect their warrens." Kobolds have it hard in life. Expert Tunnelers Kobolds have a natural skill for tunneling. Like dwarves, they seem to have a sense, of which areas of stone are strong, weak, load bearing, or have minerals or access to water. This allows them to create homes were many other creatures would not feel safe. Kobolds use their size to their advantage, making tunnels they can easily pass through, but will be difficult for larger creatures to pass through. They also use their weight, creating stuff such as bridges or ropeways that creatures heavier than a kobold will break if they go on them. If a a tunnel runs along a crevasse kobolds might erect a railing high enough to protect a kobold but low enough to serve as a tripping hazard for a larger creature. It's always good to see when small creatures actually take advantage of their size, when building homes. Other humanoid races normally have little good to say about kobolds, but do admit that they do respectable tunnel work using simple tools. When a band of kobolds is enslaved by more powerful creatures, "the kobolds are usually put to work enlarging their masters’ living area and protecting vital areas of the lair with traps and other defenses." Some human communities will hire kobolds to dig their sewer tunnels, paying them with food and tools the kobolds wouldn’t have access to normally. "If they are treated well and left alone to do the job, the kobolds work industriously and build a network of passages beneath the streets, connecting them to a nearby waterway and greatly improving the town’s sanitation. If the kobolds like the area and aren’t mistreated by the humans, they might build a warren and make a permanent home there, while continuing to expand the town’s sewers as the community grows." While the city kobolds live underground they might make nighttime forays up to the surface on occasion. Roughly one quarter of the towns and cities in the world have kobold communities living under them, but the kobolds are good at staying hidden, and so citizens in the area often don’t know what lies beneath them. "Because the kobolds make sure they stay out of the way of anyone more dangerous than themselves, grow their own subterranean food, and prefer to sneak about at night, the people of a town might go for weeks or months without noticing evidence that kobolds are in the area, and years between actual sightings." I like that Kobolds will actually get into symbiotic relationships with communities. Makes them more than just another gang of monsters to kill. And they do it in fairly different way, rather than just being mercenaries like hobgoblins and orcs would be.  Able Scavengers Kobolds are excel at identifying broken, misplaced, discarded, or leftover items from other creatures that can still be used. They prefer to scavenge objects that have been lost or thrown away, which is easy to do without getting attention. "At the same time, they don’t automatically shy away from trying to grab items that are the property of other creatures, because such objects are more likely to be in good condition and thus more useful or valuable." When they go after items that aren’t free for the taking, kobolds try to remain unseen and don’t give others reason to harm them. "For example, a group of city kobolds might sneak into a cobbler’s house at night to loot it of knives, leather bits, nails, and other useful items, but if they are at risk of discovery, they run away rather than attack anyone in the house. By fleeing before they can be seen or identified, they avoid getting into a situation where the townsfolk would try to hunt down all kobolds and put the tribe’s survival at risk." Tribe first and all that. Aggressive individual kobolds and tribes do exist, but in general kobolds don’t purposely provoke retaliation from the ones they steal from. "It’s better to be cautious and overlooked than to be considered dangerous and a threat." In a few situations, kobolds might abandon this approach. First, because they hate gnomes, city kobolds often go out of their way to target gnomes’ houses and shops. "Even in such cases, the kobolds’ fear of retaliation usually prevents them from trying to directly harm the gnomes, but they might spit in the milk, balance dishes on tables so they’re easily knocked over and broken, or scatter sewing needles all over the floor — petty, vengeful acts that humiliate, injure, or anger the gnomes, but not so much that the gnomes want to hunt down and kill the kobolds." Because of the kobolds’ animosity, gnomes tend to avoid or leave places that contain large groups of kobolds, and conversely kobolds are usually driven out of communities that have a large gnome population. One set of quests that I can imagine involving clearing out kobold warrens would probably involve gnomes that are getting harassed by kobolds and so hire adventurers to take care of it. Second, kobolds always keep an eye out for magic that might help them free their god, Kurtulmak. Typical kobolds don’t know how to use anything with more magical power than a potion, but they all believe that the tribal sorcerer can figure out how to use any such item they come across. When kobolds see an opportunity to separate a magic item from its owner, they are often willing to take the chance of revealing themselves because the potential reward is worth the risk. Other quests I can imagine involve taking back magic items, particularly dangerous ones, that kobolds have stolen. Dragon Servitors Kobolds believe that they were created by Tiamat Goddess of Evil Dragons, "a view supported by their reptilian (they would say draconic) appearance." In every kobold tribe, the legend of the creatures’ origin is passed down from elder to hatchling, giving each individual and every generation a reason to feel pride and self-respect. The kobolds prefer to run away than fight, to live off the scraps of others, and they are often dominated by larger humanoids, but they know that there is greatness within them and they are proud that they were chosen to be the blood-kin of dragons. The pride of kobolds, their dragon heritage. I am one who always loves to play up their pride when it comes to dragons and their relation to them. It's also nice that it's a way for these rather weak creatures, to feel they have the potential for greatness. Kobolds willingly serve chromatic dragons and worship them as if they were demigods. This isn’t casual worship or lip service; kobolds are awed by dragons, as if an actual deity were in their presence. Kobolds fall all over themselves to obey orders from a dragon, even if they are dangerous orders. "Although kobolds usually don’t worship Tiamat directly, they recognize her as the dragon-goddess of all chromatic dragons, and as the master of their racial god, Kurtulmak." KURTULMAK: GOD OF KOBOLDS posted:The god of kobolds was a vassal of Tiamat. When the gnome god Garl Glittergold stole a treasure from Tiamat’s hoard, she sent Kurtulmak to retrieve it. Garl lured his pursuer into a maze-like cavern, then collapsed the exits behind him, trapping Kurtulmak for all eternity. Arcane Magic Users Unlike quite a few other types of humanoids, kobolds don’t fear arcane magic. They see the magic as a connection to dragons, and are proud to be blessed with the ability to wield such power. Young kobold sorcerers are trained by elders, and the training has an almost religious significance. "Most kobold sorcerers are of the draconic bloodline origin and specialize in either damaging magic (which can also be used in mining), augmentation (of materials or allies), or divination (to find raw materials and foresee threats to the tribe)." The primary reason Kobolds care more for arcane magic than divine is Kurtulmak’s imprisonment, which prevents him from easily granting spells and his favor to his followers. Furthermore, kobolds are frail and a single hit from most attacks will kill them, so a tribe has little use for healing magic, and a sorcerer can meet most of the tribe’s other magic-related needs. Kobold shamans and priests of Kurtulmak are rare, but when they reveal themselves, are easily recognized by orange garb decorated with an image of a gnome’s skull. Volo posted:Kobolds are a lot less cute when they learn how to cast fireballs.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:44
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I guess kobolds work on horse rules: if they break a leg, just put them down.
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Feb 5, 2019 04:39
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  Marshal Territory Pestilence’s Realm To start off this section, we delve into the life of one Darius Hellstromme. And how it is love, not money, which is at the root of the Four Servitors’ evil: quote:At its heart, Deadlands is a love story. You read that right. All the Servitors’ tragedies were somehow exacerbated by love—Grimme’s love for his fellow man, Raven’s love for his people, the love forever denied Stone—but in Hellstromme’s case the link is central and ongoing. Hellstromme’s mad quest to rescue his wife’s soul from Hell, although fated to failure (for now), ends up dooming humanity to suffer a literal Hell on earth. Well technically Servitor-Grimme was a facsimile of the real one powered by his 13 unholy apostles, but that’s neither here nor there. Darius Hellstromme was born in London during the latter years of the Industrial Revolution. He was a smart boy with a knack for machinery and landed a job at his uncle’s textile mill. Said uncle insisted to the rest of the Hellstrommes that Darius’ future could be further improved with a military education, and he was enlisted in the military at sixteen years of age. As a Royal Engineer he oversaw many construction projects in occupied colonies from Afghanistan to Egypt. Hellstromme met the love of his life, Vanessa Weatleigh, in China, and she served as a moral and inspirational center in the young officer’s life. This fairytale romance would not last, for while in India her husband became more separated from her due to his work in weapons designs. Vanessa fell into depression, and neither of them were able to adequately express their feelings or understand each other. This lead to several bitter arguments, with Hellstromme accusing her of sabotaging his livelihood. Vanessa fell ill to a tropical disease Hellstromme was unable to cure. When Sikh soldiers stormed their East India Company base, he fought for not just his own life but that of the woman who he finally realized he could not bear to be without. It was all for naught, as she committed suicide by poison. This inciting moment, along with the fruitless violence wrought from the British Empire’s misguided attempts at “civilizing the natives,” made him disillusioned with war. He deserted his post and escaped on a cargo ship, wandering the earth in search of meaning and the possibility of mastering Death itself in hopes of meeting Vanessa again. In 1863 the Reckoning indirectly touched Hellstromme’s thoughts, filling his mind with countless equations which solved themselves. The discovery of the miracle fuel known as ghost rock in the Americas pointed him towards his destiny. The violent and shattered landscape of California proved unsuitable for building a scientific empire, even if it was home to a bountiful supply of the substance. But when word spread of ghost rock veins within the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the good doctor found his bastion. Exiled in a resource-poor desert brimming with dangerous rattlers, the Mormon pioneers were on literal shaky footing. But in 1870 Dr. Hellstromme quickly earned their respect with the creation of the horseless carriage steam wagon, the first vehicle able to outrun the wormlike beasts. This made it possible for the Mormons to trade and settle farther territories and thus gained the goodwill of Brigham Young and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Hellstromme even converted to the faith to further ensure the Mormon’s trust, but he never took another wife, must less several, in all his time in Deseret. His heart was still reserved for one. During this time Hellstromme founded his namesake company and turned Salt Lake City and other towns in Deseret into ultramodern settlements with marvels unseen anywhere else. The capital gained electrical grids and widespread indoor plumbing, and the Nauvoo Legion was outfitted with handheld Gatling firearms and steam-powered vehicles to guard themselves from outlaws, hostile Gentiles, and other threats both foreign and domestic. He also heavily wheeled and dealed in the Great Rail Wars, making various alliances with the political power players of North America to eventually build the first transcontinental railroad and gain exclusive ghost rock contracts with both the Union and Confederacy.  Hellstromme got rich, very rich, from all this. But the wealth and power was not a means to an end on its own. During his years of study he came across various terrible secrets of the world. Hellestromme learned of the various supernatural maladies which swept the world in recent history and the palpable Fear they created. But worst of all was the discovery of the fate of his wife Vanessa’s soul, as well as those of all others who committed suicide: they were in Hell, suffering unspeakable, never-ending torment in what is known as the Wood of Suicides. By making use of rail lines infused with ghost steel and various laboratories experimenting with ambient Fear in localized areas, Hellstromme began funding ways to breach the mortal and metaphysical worlds. He even managed to lead a Wasatch train into Hell once, before inadvertent sabotage and demonic hordes forced a retreat. Now his rail lines are beginning to form complex geometric runic patterns across the Weird West, with Salt Lake City as its nexus. Hellstromme hopes to open a permanent gate to Hell here so that he can mount a series of expeditions to save his beloved. That said process involves transferring her soul into the body of one of his female foremen is something the good doctor mentally compartmentalizes. Naturally, the Reckoners and the forces of darkness are counting on this, where they’ll subvert Hellstromme’s gate to lead an invasion force of their own on Earth! What I’d Change: Although it’s the crux on which Hellstromme’s “Good Intentions” are built, the writers neglected to address a very big “Wall of the Faithless” size cosmological issue here: In Deadlands, perfectly moral and ordinary people who commit suicide go to a place in Hell reserved for them. Although evil spirits known as manitou can kidnap souls in the Hunting Grounds in Deadlands, the adventure does not specifically elaborate on whether this is an actual cosmological decision on the part of the Almighty/Creator/God/etc or a subversion of justice by the Reckoners and other entities of evil. Instead there’s implications that Vanessa and others may in fact be in a “Deadland” of the Hunting Grounds, but you’d have to read other sourcebooks to make this connection. But one way or another, this is great grist for the mill in terms of Hellstromme’s actions for a Game Master to exploit. Although he cares only for Vanessa, if I ran this Plot Point I’d personally have him spin this as seeking to commit a sense of cosmic justice through the use of science. Not unlike a scientist developing a vaccine, he’d advocate that we can use knowledge to eliminate suffering on Earth, so why should the afterlife be any different? The negative fallout of actions wrought from his earthly schemes are but dust in the wind compared to the magnitude of torment wrought by lifetime's’ worth of everliving souls from countless civilizations. Unfortunately Hellstromme’s motivation and his relationship with Vanessa is never discovered through the Plot Point until it’s directly spelled out by an NPC late in the adventure. This is a story element which will be far stronger if sprinkled throughout the campaign, allowing PCs to put the pieces together and see what drives him to do all this. Oddly placed after Hellstromme’s life story is a brief section on prominent factions within Deseret, from rail barons and outlaw gangs to allied organizations which can provide help to the PCs during the campaign. Unfortunately of the six allied groups, only two of them make any regular appearances: the Danite secret police of the LDS Church and the Agency of the United States in the form of a helpful spy Nevada Smith. The Black Chaplains, the Confederacy’s Texas Rangers, the Explorer’s Society/Twilight Legion, and Sheriff Eli Waters of Salt Lake City either don’t make an appearance or are present in one sidebar encounter or Savage Tale at most.  Setting Rules We get six new rules material appropriate for adventures in Deseret. The first one we have covers the GM’s side of Augmentations, such as a list of legitimate and underground operators for the PCs to hire along with a Mishap table on what goes wrong during a botched surgery. After that we have rules for what happens when an individual runs afoul of the LDS Church and finds their name Blacklisted in the Deseret News. The theocratic nation uses public shame as a source of enforcing moral behavior where the law does not, imposing a big -4 Charisma* penalty check along with an equal penalty to Faith in the case of Mormon Blessed. Ghost Rock Fever is a progressive disease for people who spend too much time near the stuff, gaining penalties on most rolls and possiblly spontaneously combusting if they get snake eyes on a Vigor roll. *a secondary attribute which modifies the roles on Persuasion and Streetwise skill checks Relics o’ Deseret are unique magical items tied to the history and folklore of Utah and Mormon Culture. I won’t go over them all, but some of the more interesting ones include cursed Kirkland Bank Notes which afflict one with poverty and cannot leave one’s posession unless you spend it on something;* Joseph Smith’s various personal items such as his scrying Peep Stone, his cap and ball pistol which can supernaturally aim for an enemy’s heart with a Faith roll, and the stones Umim and Thummim which can let one see through lies, illusions, and disguises provided the stones’ wielder is a Mormon. *the general populace in Deseret are aware of said bank notes’ curse Skullchucker is a popular sport favored by the Gentile (non-Mormon) population. It is a team-based competition of five members each who attempt to steal each other’s skulls and throw it in the mouths of skull-shaped statues. Two team members known as Skullcrackers are unable to touch their own team’s skull but are armed with padded armor and clubs or staves to beat up the other team, while the three remaining team players are known as Skullchuckers who can pick up and score with a skull but cannot use weapons. Industrial pollution from Soot fills the air of Salt Lake City, giving it its more popularly-known name: the City of Gloom. It is highly toxic but slow-acting, infecting the lungs of citizenry to cause respiratory problems. Although the GM is encouraged to use this sparingly for PCs, a Vigor roll must be made for every month a person lives in town, with bonuses based on their level of long-term facial protection and Mormon Blessed may substitute their Faith die. The first failed result permanently lowers their Vigor die by one, and the next failed roll imposes the Ailin’ (Major) Hindrance. Said Hindrance imposes a -2 on checks to resist Fatigue from physical exertion, and a Vigor roll must be made at the end of every game session or less they’ll die the next time they fail a Fatigue check. The soot’s effects are reflected in the setting. Most citizens wear masked bandannas if poor or respiratory masks if of means, creating the sensation of a faceless city. Mormons are less likely to become sick, which simultaneously encourages Gentiles to convert but also makes said group resentful of the Mormons’ well, blessed health.  Strange Locales Good Intentions, in both the setting and the adventure serial, is very city-centric. A lot of this section focuses on the City o’ Gloom and its surrounding environs, which is by far the most populated territory in Deseret. There are still many rural areas and small settlements to explore, but unlike the Flood or Last Sons the relative smallness of Deseret means that PCs are rarely too far from anywhere that travel is an issue. The section gives a brief outline over Deseret’s government: it is a theocratic democracy, meaning that the head of the nation is also the Head of the LDS Church. Counties and towns elect their own mayors and marshals. It is not illegal to belong to other faiths, and Deseret boasts a large population of Gentile immigrants as well as Paiute and Shoshone who practice their own indigenous faiths. But the law of the land and the heads of state derive policy and morality from Joseph Smith’s teachings. Although courts are not supposed to favor Mormons over non-Mormons, judges are biased in favor of the former. We have a sidebar detailing a brief history of Mormons and some of their more well-known religious and cultural practices. A lot of the information can be easily found on Wikipedia, although the major differences are that Deadlands excised the culture’s more racially problematic aspects. Instead of believing that Native Americans are descendants of a lost tribe of Israel, the earliest Mormon settlers believed that they themselves were said descendants. No mention is made of the Negro Doctrine or racial preferences for converts, and the Church is on good relations with the Paiute and Shoshone tribes...only for the text to contradict itself when it mentions that the latter tribe is not well-liked because they do yearly raids where they set fire to crops and kill everyone else they come across. City of Gloom: This is by far the most technologically advanced city in the world. Whirligigs and autogyros make regular patrols around the skies, the streets are lit with electrical lamps, steam wagons are just as common if not more so than horses and carriages, and electrical streetcars provide for mass public transit. Factories smelt iron and produce the latest goods of New Science, and it’s not uncommon to see scrappers with metal prosthetics working in factories or as sportsmen. The neighborhood of Junkyard forms the dense “core” of the city but is culturally a settlement of its own, surrounded by outlying suburbs arranged in a grid-like pattern. Interesting places in the city include a Mormon cemetery whose ground is supernaturally sanctified from foul magic, a city tithing office rumored to be under holy protection that literally boils the blood of would-be thieves, a ruined steel mill inhabited by a noisome slimelike monster called Sludge, an orphanage run by a woman who drains the blood of children for black magic rituals, and the Salt Lake Tabernacle which is haunted by the Lost Elder whose scratching of the walls foretells the death of a powerful Mormon. Junkyard: Special enough to get an entry of its own, this mostly-Gentile neighborhood is where the city’s unwashed masses live and breathe with more than a little difficulty in both regards. Dirty, dangerous, and with streets of varying levels of quality, it is the necessary evil of Deseret whose labor and toil fuels the New Science living standards and innovations for the rest of the country. Interesting places in the neighborhood includes a maze of pipes and catwalks known as the Steel Sky which blots out the real sky in some parts of Junkyard, an arena which holds boxing matches for both normal fighters and scrappers, an asylum which unbeknownst to the staff is above the secret lair of the mad surgeon Dr. Gash who experiments on abducted patients, specialized saloons catering to distinguished clientele such as mad scientists and sports players, Smith & Robards Showroom displaying all their latest items, and a local office of the Tombstone Epitaph whose owner Stacey O’Malley is a strong supporter of local labor unions and sister of the famed Lacy O’Malley. One thing to note is that under the entry of one of the local gun shops it mentions that Deseret is under a trade embargo with the Union and Confederacy. This seems odd on account that both nations very recently formally recognized Deseret’s claim to nationhood, and Hellstromme Industries holds a ghost rock trading contract with them.  City o’ Gloom Environs: The outskirts of Deseret’s capital include some important and vital businesses along with a few interesting locations. The Smith & Robards Compound is perched up in the Wasatch Mountains and contains the local Denver-Pacific Rail Depot, while Hellstromme has a private compound and manor of his own near the Salt Flats. Hellstromme has a hangar containing various flying machines, and his hired foreman Ms. Mary Jones was ordered as a “mail-order bride” from Boston. She bears a striking physical resemblance to the late Vanessa Weatleigh and in fact is why Hellstromme chose her for his Hell Gate project. Copper quarries, a Gentle graveyard, and the New Empire Mill provide respective vital services for the City of Gloom. Corrine: This middle-sized settlement is almost all Gentile and thus has an “ungodly” reputation among Deseret’s polite society. It is home to a local Masonic Temple which is trying to make connections among the rich and powerful in Deseret. Corrine’s many saloons, brothels, gambling halls, and other vices are a draw for Mormons looking to blow off steam but is tolerated by the Church as an “out of sight, out of mind” social release valve. Devil’s Canyon: This place gets its name from the rumored monstrous guardian which looks over a lost Aztec treasure stolen by Conquistadores. The rumors are true, and the small fortune of gold is watched over by a nest of vampire-like nosferatu. Fort Bridger: Located outside of Deseret’s borders proper, this Union resupply point is the last port of entry before crossing into Mormon country. The US army maintains a guard here, and their presence is a continuous sore spot between the two nations on account that the fort has harbored criminals on the run from Deseret. Kanab: This small farming village is home to a large sandstone with wavelike patterns etched onto its surface. The boundaries between the physical and spirit worlds are thin here, and the LDS Church stationed a Blessed experienced with the supernatural to keep watch over it. Lakepoint: Originally meant as a lakeside tourist attraction, the presence of underwater monsters soon turned the place into a near-ghost town. The creatures still infest the waters, and the Lake House Hotel is home to squatters and inhabited by a bogie man who terrifies the local children. Long Drop Canyon: This deep rift in the earth is heavily mined by round-the-clock prospectors. Due to its precarious foundations its bottom and center is filled with the bones of dead miners, some of whom reanimate as monstrous skeletons when the living poke their noses around.  Mexican Hat: Nobody knows why the town is called this, although the peculiarities of the name are not what’s on its inhabitants’ minds. In 1873 a horrible disease caused townsfolk to waste to skin and bones before tearing each other to pieces. Being located close to the Arizona border, the Confederacy’s Texas Rangers rode in and put the town to the torch, making the organization violently hated by the rest of the country. To this day the town remains a charred ruin, and it is common practice for the Nauvoo Legion to haul captured Texas Rangers here to lynch. The disease outbreak was the result of Hellstromme capturing live specimens of ravenous undead known as faminites from California. He released them into Mexican Hat to chronicle what would happen, and the end results are that the disease was “a bit too effective.” Mouth O’ Hell This bounty of ghost rock was managed by Hellstromme Industries before a malfunctioning smelter killed the workers in a flood of molten metal. This was no accident, but intentional sabotage ordered by Hellstromme himself who wanted to better conceal a backdoor to one of his most secret underground lairs. Nephi: This farming town used to be nice and quiet before a gang of outlaws known as the Outcasts started harassing the settlement. The local Sheriff managed to fend them off for now, and its steam-powered Infernal Devices made a state-of-the-art irrigation system for the otherwise arid landscape. Ogden: This town’s home to the largest firearms manufacturer in Deseret, owned by one Jonathan Browning. It has a mixture of Mormon and Gentile citizens, and “vice trades” are limited to a single street by local ordinance. Overlook Hotel: This would be a fine place to rest your heels where it not for the staff. Owned and run by a local branch of the Whateley family, these are the kin left behind while the rest moved to the city of Gomorra in California. The family’s infamous for its dabbling in black magic, and they display various “creepy hick” behavior such as the mother/sister who constantly carries an axe around to cut chickens, or the grandfather who then sucks the blood from their stumps. The Whateley’s teenage daughter Marguerite is the only one of her local ilk capable of using magic, and she can communicate with animals and send some of the more venomous ones into the rooms of sleeping guests. Unlike the previous Plot Point Campaigns we covered, this is the breadth and scope of the Whateley’s role in Good Intentions. Provo: This town is home to Brigham Young Academy, which specializes in engineering and New Science. It is a favorite home away from home for President Brigham Young and various Black Chaplains, so local outlaws tend to steer clear of the place. Skull Canyon: This isolated canyon is said to be home to tunnels which stretch for miles, and local folklore claims that a Lost Legion of the Nauvoo vanished here in 1875. The canyon’s home to a colony of 50 rattlers maddeningly hoping to create a hybrid species by infusing their queen with mashed up humans. Their attempts thankfully bear no progress so far, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous! St. George: This hot and arid town is home to Deseret’s major cotton supply and a grand temple the rival of the one in the City o’ Gloom. Brigham Young and high-ranking Mormons get together in a social group known as the Sunday Night Academy here. It seems to be a front for discussing theology as well as the rise in the supernatural since 1863, but in private it is a means for them to meet with members of the Order of St. George. This latter group is the secret arm of the Roman Catholic Church’s monster hunters, and although they disagree on a great many issues they do agree that the forces of evil are at work in the Weird West. The Society’s a way for them to lend each other information and covert aid.  Adventures in Deseret A mainstay of every Deadlands Plot Point Campaign, the tailor-made Adventure Generator is intended to create the founding blocks of a short adventure. It is done by the drawing of playing cards followed by the rolling on a unique table. Although several results give us some unique Mormon Steampunk flair, quite a few details from the earlier Plot Point Campaigns have found their way here. If you draw a Clubs card, you get an Obstacle, which can take the form of an industrial accident, congested traffic, and the like. Drawing Hearts gives you a single NPC or group of them. We get a colorful assortment ranging from drunk miners spoiling for a fight, scientists, spies, pickpockets, etc. Diamonds provide a Fortune, such as a valuable Relic, a discarded weapons cache, a deposit of ghost rock, and so on and so forth. Spades give us Varmints, various supernatural terrors which are up to no good and causing Fear in the area. This section ends with two unique tables: the first one is a d20 table for features and obstacles encountered when traversing the Steel Sky of Junkyard, and possible Complications made while on errands for Smith & Robards delivery service. The PCs end up working for Smith & Robards during the Good Intentions Plot Point Campaign, thus its inclusion. Thoughts So Far: There’s a lot less locations in Good Intentions, although it makes for a more tightly-focused setting. The relics centered around Mormon history and folklore are highly appropriate to the mood and feel. There’s a bit of local oddities and adventure hooks such as the Sunday Night Academy and Devil’s Canyon, although the settlements outside the capital don’t feel like they have as much going on in the realm of interesting conflicts and encounters. Hellstromme’s motivations make him the most interesting of Deadlands’ Big Four in that he’s not a gleeful servant of death and misery like Grimme or Stone. In fact, he’s unaware that he’s indirectly serving Pestilence, and the whole rescuing his wife’s soul from Hell can make for some good role-play fodder and moral dilemmas. I do admit that some details stretch his “good intentions” credibility more than a bit, such as unleashing a faminite plague to see what will happen or destroying an entire mine just to cover a secret passage. Even the ghostfire bombs back in the Flood may have been justified as “needing to do what’s effective, not moral, in war.” This book and the Deadlands’ Marshal’s Guide sets him up as a more self-deluded scientist who refuses to look at the enormity of what his devices have wrought on the world. Join us next time as we cover the first half of the Good Intentions Plot Point Campaign! Libertad! fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 07:48
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Ah yes, love. Hellstromme's love for his wife. Stone's love for gratuitous murder. Raven's love for not having white people gently caress up his continent. Grimm's love for. Well he wasn't initially a cannibal so. His love for [loud coughing into fist].
Vox Valentine fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 08:16
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Rifts World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion, Part 6: "When I'm going up agin dem Xiticix, I'll take two or three o' dem Spider Warriors ta watch my back, if I have any say in da matter."  Killing Xiticix unarmored would definitely be Hard Mode. Psi-Stalkers A Private War So, much of Western Canada is home to "Wild" Psi-Stalkers, psuedoalbino, hairless, edgy mutants that feed on magical energy by hunting and slaying magical beings... or, at least, cutting them for a "counting coup" sort of victory that drains magical energy. (And, as a reminder, they're Psis that stalk monsters, not Stalkers of Psi.) As the Xiticix have spread, they've become the primary targets of the Psi-Stalkers, and the bug-men have come to see them as enemies as well. Given that the Psi-Stalkers A) love fights and B) hate bugs, joining up with with the Lazlo offensive is a natural decision for many. Others prize their independence too much to work for Lazlo, and their presence might gently caress with well-paid battle plans. Apparently some go as far as to prank or steal from Lazlo troops, because... well, they're dicks, I guess. However, they are highly experienced in fighting the Xiticix, and independent tribes might sometimes come to the rescue of Lazlo forces.  "Spider! He is our hero!" Most join up with the cause, but that doesn't mean they do it blindly. Siembieda gives a long diatribe about how if they're treated disprespectully, they'll quickly turn to contempt. Pass-agg GMs, that's your cue to leave rude PCs high and dry!- after all, it's typical for Siembieda to include punishments for ill-mannered PCs. Still, largely they're excited to take down their buggy rivals, and will be the most numerous allies Lazlo will have.  An extreme baldness treatment. It's the nineties, though, and it's time for Psi-Stalkers to have
 "Face the mystic mysteries of my mysteriousness, arrogant bugs!" Rifts World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion posted:The middle-aged looking Oriental approves of Lazlo's plan, and will have his men do whatever is necessary to help. Only he, four of his most trusted and high level Necromancer disciples and two dozen Psi-Stalkers stay out of the conflict. If asked why, he smiles and says he must insure that he and some of his disciples survive, so they may prepare for the next great war against demonkind that will take place in the west (Does he mean China or the Calgary Rift? He won't say).  How inscrutable. We get Li's full writeup, an online of his disciples, and details on his disciple Brok Magnil, a... generic sadist and powermonger... who wants his peers to abandon all this fighting monsters stuff and set up a dark kingdom in Canada. Chances are he'll use the war to desert the Deathbringers and do bad stuff. Also he wants people to call him Deathstrike. Good luck with that, Brok. Rifts World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion posted:G.M. Note: Feel free to develop this malevolent character as a troublesome Non-Player Character and recurring villain. No thanks, I'm good. The two Psi-Stalker R.C.C.s ("Coalition" and "Wild") get a second reprint (they were also reprinted in Lone Star, even though... both are in the core rulebook). We get a few extra details on the fact that the Northern tribes are more gregarious than the "savage and murderous" Psi-Stalkers of the Pecos Empire. This book was really having to stretch to fill its 160 pages. Next: Fishing for content.
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Feb 5, 2019 10:51
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"middle-aged looking oriental" How long ago was this written? Because I feel like no one's used that term, at least in that way, since like the loving 1920's.
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Feb 5, 2019 12:31
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