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It can get way worse with the Reconstruction era. Portray the North as being full of Heroes/ran by Heroes and the Southerners being Beasts. Sherman's March to the Sea was a massive attack on Beast lairs, the hosed up prisons that sprung up were attempts to lure out beasts, etc. And now the Heroes are moving into the south as carpetbaggers. War of Northern Aggression and all that.
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May 2, 2016 04:37
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As bad as Beast is, I feel like they must be aware enough to know to portray slavery and racism as the evils they are. Or, at least, I hope they are aware enough to see that. They have to be, right?
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May 2, 2016 04:42
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LatwPIAT posted:Well Beasts actually are dangerous, thereby "justifying" slavery... this is the biggest problem with Beast. the minority-allegory characters actually deserve all of the poo poo they get. stripped of allegory this is a game where you play gay and transgender people on the run from evil, oppressive hate groups, except one of the splats is the Toxic Avenger whose power is that he forcibly gives bad guys AIDS and another is the Recruiter who gets a retinue of preteen followers
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May 2, 2016 04:42
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 OCCUPATION PACKAGES Occupation Packages are actually somewhat optional; you can just take the points after picking your species and spend them however. The big benefit of the packages is to cover the basics of what you want and then use the leftovers to shape and nudge your character design. It does a pretty good job of that! Some of these occupations are restricted to species or origin. Citizens are, well, citizens who have gotten access to the stars or are just the common populace of where you’re focusing on. For Earthlings, good examples would be journalists, the wealthy going on adventures or bums heading to the stars to find a new life. Human citizens might be making a life on Venus or Mars working at Roosevelt Station or stamping papers in a Martian principality. Most lower caste Martians like Craftsmen or Slaves make good citizen characters as well. Citizens get +1 to any Attribute, +1 to Convince, Craft, Knowledge and Subterfuge and the Traits Face in the Crowd (Minor Good), Friends (Minor Good) and Owed Favor (Minor Good). The package costs 8 points. Diplomats are anyone who leave their planet to make contact with the other worlds for peaceful purposes. Venusian priests can also count as diplomats, as can Martian Priests or Europans who aren’t necessarily Emissaries. Priests get +1 to Awareness, Ingenuity, Presence and Resolve, +2 to Convince, +1 to Knowledge and Subterfuge and the Traits Charming (Minor Good), Empathic (Minor Good), Friends (Major Good), Obligation (Minor Bad), Owed Favor (Major Good) and Voice of Authority (Minor Good) for 14 points.  Venusian Priest up in this motherfucker. Explorers are out there to find what needs to be found. This is one of the most common occupations in the Solar System, either backed by someone or paying out of their own pocket. Maybe you’re working for a corporation, maybe you’re working for a college or maybe you just want to discover the secrets of Mars and Venus. Explorers get +2 to Awareness and +1 to Resolve, +2 to Survival and +1 to Knowledge, Marksman, Science, Technology and Transport and the Traits Brave (Minor Good), Insatiable Curiosity (Minor Bad), Keen Senses (Minor Good), Lucky (Minor Good), Sense of Direction (Minor Good) and Obsession (Minor Bad) for 12 points. Merchants are going to get rich in the stars by selling fuel to people who need it, selling sneakers to the Martians and selling picks to the miners. There are a lot of big companies working in the stars already but there’s still plenty of space for small startups to carve out a niche to themselves. This is also the perfect occupation for Martian Merchants. Merchants get +1 to Ingenuity, Presence and Resolve, +2 to Convince and Transport, +1 to Craft, Knowledge and Subterfuge and the Traits Charming (Minor Good), Empathic (Minor Good) and Wealthy (Minor Good) for 13 points.  Sellin' sand to the Martians. Military can be from any planet or any culture: Italian fascists soldiers, US Army, Martian Royals who have an officer rank or Europan officers. There are some more specific occupations that will be covered later: Rocket Ranger, Deutsche Marskorps War Walker, Martian War-Priest. The book claims that the Maduri Warrior occupation is included here but it, uh, isn’t! It already has info for playing as a Warrior and the Martian Warrior species just plain pairs well with Military. Militaristic characters get +2 to Coordinate and Strength and +1 to Resolve, +2 to Marksman, +1 to Athletics, Fighting, Subterfuge, Survival and Transport and the Traits Brave (Minor Good), Friends (Minor Good), Fighting Man/Woman (Minor Good), Tough (Minor Good) and one of the following: Obligation (Minor Bad), Outcast (Minor Bad) or Phobia (Minor Bad) for 15 points. Miners/Scavengers have some overlap in skills and abilities but they’re different roles. Miners are trying to make a buck while Scavengers are trying to survive *coughIoitescough*. You’re likely to see Martian (mainly Chanari), Ioite or Human miner/scavengers. Miner/Scavengers get +2 to Awareness and Resolve, +2 to Craft and Survival, +1 to Technology and the Traits Gadgeteer (Major Good), Keen Senses (Major Good), Impoverished (Minor Bad), Outcast (Minor Bad) and Resourceful Pockets (Minor Good) for 11 points.  Mine now! Natives are like citizens but with less of a coherent governmental system. The Chanari, Ganymedians, Ioites and your average Venusian are good examples of natives. Natives get +2 to Awareness, +1 to Coordination and Strength, +1 to Athletics, Craft, Fighting, Marksman, Subterfuge and Survival and the Traits Brave (Minor Good), Fighting Man/Woman (Minor Good), Primitive (Major Bad) and Technically Inept (Minor Bad) for 9 points. Scientists are here for Science!, the exclamation point mandatory. Go out and study some stuff in the field. Scientists get +2 Ingenuity, +1 Awareness and Resolve, +3 Science, +2 Technology, +1 Knowledge and Medicine and the Traits Gadgeteer (Minor Good), Man/Woman of Science! (Major Good), Obsession (Minor Bad) and Technically Adept (Minor Good) for 15 points.  I have no idea what I'm doing. Law Enforcement is for solving crimes but in space. Outside of Earth, policing among humanity comes down to military presence or frontier justice by marshal. Martian police are generally specially trained Warriors, Venusians don’t really have law enforcement asides from what the tribe will choose to do as a whole and the Europan navy might be their law enforcement but nobody knows. Generally speaking, if you’re going to play a Law Enforcement character, you’re either a sheriff-type or some kind of military officer if you’re human or a Martian Warrior Cop. Or maybe there’s Space Pinkertons, who knows? Law Enforcement characters get +2 Awareness and Resolve, +1 Coordination and Presence, +2 Convince, +1 Athletics, Fighting and Marksman and the Traits Code of Conduct (Minor Bad), Empathic (Minor Good, Friends (Minor Good), Obligation (Minor Bad) and Voice of Reason (Minor Good) for 10 points. Europan Emissaries are Europans who volunteered to be Emissaries, a job that’s a mixture of spy, anthropologist and diplomat. Your people altered your mind to make you forget/misremember the truth of Europa, gave you basic instruction on how to protect yourself and gave you info on the species of the solar system. You were then released into the world to collect data and retrieve it for your people and go amongst the lesser races. You also have a goo sac that records your memories and another goo sac that will destroy your body if you die. Both of these are installed in your torso. Emissaries get +2 Awareness, +1 to Ingenuity, Presence and Resolve, Convince +2, +1 Knowledge, Medicine, Science and Technology and the Traits Amnesia (Minor Bad), Insatiable Curiosity (Minor Bad), Obligation (Minor Bad), Psychic (Major Good) and Telepathy (Major Good) for 10 points.  Not everything is Europan-friendly. Deutsche Marskorps War Walker Pilots are Germans who survived being put in an Ancient Martian coffin machine that (without anesthetic) installed Ancient Technology into your body that lets you interface with gyroscopic Martian tech. You were one of the 60% who survived training (the other 40% wash out from not being good enough or from interface feedback) and you piloted for the Nazis for a while until you decided to leave the services of the Deutsche Marskorps and strike out on your own with your machine. Let’s talk about the ramifications and implications of letting a PC play as an ex-Nazi! Rocket Age is aware of the seriousness of the war crimes of Nazi Germany and as a game where the PCs are generally good people think it’s not really acceptable for you to have been complicit in them. This is so you don’t make the other players uncomfortable and so your history doesn’t overshadow the plot/make the game world darker. So, from a PC perspective, find a reason for your War Walker Pilot to have gotten away from Nazi Germany that doesn’t involve you having a dark and troubled past. At the very least, you should talk about your character with the other players and the GM. Okay? Okay. War Walker Pilots get +2 Coordination, +1 to Awareness and Resolve, +2 to Transport, +1 to Fighting, Marksman and Technology and the Traits Fighting Man/Woman (Minor Good), Item (War Walker: Panzerspahlaufer or Laufpanzer) (Special Good), Neural Interface (Minor Good), Obligation (Major Bad) or Adversary (Major Bad) and Quick Reflexes (Minor Good) for 14 points. Martian War-Priests are basically any Martians who end up serving the Order of the Sacred Hamaxe in a war band, either as a Priest or as a hanger-on. So while the majority of War Priests are, well, Priests there's still a chance for a Laborer to count as one. The warriors of the Order are the knights-errant of Mars, believing that all Martians are equal (but your job is important) and that all evil should be destroyed. You might not be on the best terms with humans as a result. War-Priests get +2 to Coordination, Presence and Resolve, +1 to Awareness and Strength, +2 to Fighting, +1 to Athletics and Survival and the Traits Code of Conduct (Major Bad), Fighting Man/Woman (Minor Good), Item: Hamaxe (Minor Good), Obligation (Major Bad), Psychic (Major Good), Quick Reflexes (Minor Good) and Tough (Minor Good) for 13 points.  Yes, that is a Hamaxe on his shoulder. Yes, it's a hammer-axe. Yes, it belongs in Red Faction: Guerilla. Rocket Pilots need a few qualities to be good at what they do: the ability to do complicated math quickly, nerves of steel, a keen eye and the kind of craziness reserved for people willingly piloting an atomic missile. You're the backbone of space travel and you don't let anyone forget it. The majority of rocket pilots are humans. Rocket Pilots get +2 Coordination, +1 Awareness and Ingenuity, +2 Transport, +1 Marksman, Science and Technology and the Traits Impulsive (Minor Bad), Item: 3 points towards a ship (Special Good), Keen Senses: Eyesight (Minor Good), Quick Reflexes (Minor Good) and Rocket Man/Woman (Minor Good) for 11 points. Rocket Rangers are the absolute best of the US Army, candidates who are under 25, American citizens, excellent bodies and minds, a good record in the forces and flying colors for a psychological/ethical screening. Then the hard part begins: learning to fly a rocket pack. They're in short supply and they have to learn to fight and survive in any environment but they're skilled at what they do. Rocket Rangers get +2 Coordination, +1 Awareness, Ingenuity and Resolve, +2 Transport, +2 Transport, +1 Athletics, Fighting, Marksmen, Science, Survival and Technology and the Traits Code of Conduct (Major Bad), Fighting Man/Woman (Minor Good), Item: Mark III Rocket Pack (Special Good), Item: RAY Pistol (Minor Good), Item: Rocket Ranger Space Armor (Special Good), Obligation (Major Bad), Quick Reflexes (Minor Good), Rocket Man/Woman (Minor Good) and Voice of Authority (Minor Good) for 13 points.  Mighty Flyin' Rocket Rangers. Venusian Harvititoi are teenage Venusians in the throe of a natural occurrence. When they reach a certain age, they're overcome with an urge to explore and as a result have their own kind of Rumspringa. This can range from living with another tribe to wanting to explore the stars until one day they wish to return with their experiences and become adults. It's not a good thing for Harvititoi to never end in Venusian society. Venusian Harvititois get +2 Coordination and Resolve, +1 Awareness, +2 Athletics and Survival, +1 Craft, Fighting and Subterfuge and the Traits Code of Conduct (Major Bad), Fighting Man/Woman (Minor Good), Insatiable Curiosity (Minor Bad), Item: Venusian Wood Axe (Special Good) for 10 points. NEGATIVE TRAITS Negative Traits are the lesser of the trait list but they have more of an impact on character and role-playing. You can only take up to six points worth in creation and they can also give story hooks. They can also get you Story Points if you give in to "what your character would do" within reason. Let's take a look. Adversary (Minor/Major): Someone wants to hinder you or stop you and it's a very personal grudge, enough for them to butt in. On a minor level, they roughly appear in 25% of adventures and are built with the same amount of points you are. On a major level, they either are more powerful than you (+10 character and +4 story points for their creation) or they appear more often (about 50% of the time). This is something you should talk over with the GM, naturally.  "How am I going to ruin my rival's day this month..." Alien Appearance (Species Minor/Major): You look odd and have trouble interacting with prejudiced people or people who are unused to you. You can't hide your appearance with a disguise or a fake mustache either. You can still take Attractive or Unattractive. At minor, you have a -2 to social rolls with these people. At major, it's-4. Best way to get around it? Make friends! Amnesia (Minor/Major): At a minor level, you're missing some period of time in your past (weeks, days, months). At major, you have total identity amnesia. The proper triggers might jog your memory which requires a Story Point and an Ingenuity+Resolve roll. Argumentative (Minor): You like to argue. Not all the time, just when you think you're right or you think it's wrong to back down. This is a character flaw, not an actual disorder, and if you want to try to not argue it's an Ingenuity+Resolve roll. By the Book (Minor): You feel like you have to follow instructions and order to the letter without deviation. You're not a completely inflexible machine, though: if you really need to say "screw the rules" and go against them, an Ingenuity+Resolve roll can help you and you get +2 to the result if people try to help talk you out of being by the book. Clumsy (Minor): This is pretty under control most of the time unless it's kind of funny. In a stressful situation, though? Make Awareness+Coordination rolls to avoid knocking people/things over, tripping or bumping into people. Annoying, but I would totally say you could turn it into a good thing by barreling into an enemy. Code of Conduct (Minor/Major): You live your life by a set of rules or guidelines. At minor, it's just a guideline that requires an Ingenuity+Resolve roll to break momentarily. At major, it's a code you live your life by, your bread-and-butter outlook, and requires a Story Point in addition to the roll to break it.  Cowardly (Minor): -2 to rolls when threatened with danger, injury or fear effects. You can still run away, defend yourself, call for help or otherwise try to get out of danger. So it might be -2 to crossing that rickety bridge, but if the bridge collapses and you're clinging to it, there's no penalty to climbing the thing and getting to safety. Dark Secret (Minor/Major): This can't really be expressed mechanically, only through role-play and plot. If the secret is revealed, Minor means people may have bad opinions about you and Major may get in a lot of trouble. Sharing the secret doesn't make it go away either, it just makes it worse and makes it more likely to come back to haunt you. Dependency (Minor/Major): You need something to live comfortably but it’s not necessarily an addiction, it could be something medical like insulin. At minor, it’s easily available and can be resisted with a Story Point and dice roll. At major, it’s a medical thing and you lose a point per Attribute per day until you can get it and then heal normally. Distinctive (Minor): You stand out in appearance or behavior or mannerisms. Can’t be taken with the Face in the Crowd Trait. -2 to blending in a crowd or making a disguise and enemies have +2 to trying to find you. Eccentric (Minor/Major): You’re quirky. At minor, you just have a certain way about you that doesn’t imply you have a mental illness. At major, you might appear crazy to people and it might inhibit your social interactions. TALK THIS OVER WITH YOUR GM IF YOU TAKE THIS, IT IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO BE A FISHMALK. Enslaved (Major Species): You are/were being controlled by another as a slave (like a Martian Laborer). If freed, you have -2 to social rolls when asserting your own voice or opinion. Luckily, you can buy this off to signify your growth as a person.  Life among the Laborer caste. The Flowering (Species Minor): For Ganymedians only, this is what happens when you Flower. It’s normally tied to the seasons of Ganymede but hey, space is a weird place and there’s weather on other planets. To simplify, you get a Story Point for triggering this out of season, gain one personality Trait (Argumentative, Clumsy, Forgetful) for a little while and blossom (the pollen might trigger an annoying allergic reaction from your buddies). Forgetful (Minor Bad): Make a roll to recall things when you really need to. If I remember more about this, I’ll add more later. Frenzy (Species Minor): If substantially hurt or provoked and if the character fails a Resolve+Strength roll, the character rages. They will try to destroy/hurt the source of their pain and need to spend five minutes out of its sight to calm down. As long as you’re in frenzy, you are immune to pain unless you take enough to kill you. The hurt only takes hold when the frenzy wears off. Immaterial (Species Major): Can’t touch this. Literally. You can only talk with telepathy or psychic powers and there’s not a lot of creatures who this Trait would apply to, so. You’re really good at hiding though. Impaired Senses (Minor/Major): At minor, you have an impediment that can be overcome with corrective equipment OR a condition like color blindness or being unable to smell that gives you a -2 to Awareness with that sense. The major version is complete loss of a sense meaning it can’t be used for anything and should only be taken with GM permission. You can take Keen Senses but not Major and only if it’s for a different sense. Impoverished (Major): You have trouble keeping money and even if you come into a windfall, debts or fate will keep you from keeping all of it. It’s a constant thing. You start play with your clothes and only a tool kit or a weapon or armor and you can’t buy the Item Trait. Impulsive (Minor): You have behavioral issues and are, well, impulsive. If you give in to impulse at a dramatic moment, gain a Story Point. You can resist your urges with a Story Point and a roll. Insatiable Curiosity (Minor): You can’t leave well enough alone. You have questions you want answers to and pursuing them is a good way to get Story Points. Or you can resist with a Story Point and a roll. Obligation (Minor/Major): You’re part of a group and as a result you owe them your services. At minor, you have to repay a small debt or your duties aren’t so big or your whole party is part of the same group. At major, your membership impacts your free time, where you can go and what you can do. Obsession (Minor/Major): You’re passionate about something, be it Ancient Martian Technology or Venusian Lizards. Minor obsessions are personality quirks/strong interests but you still might make some bad decisions to chase them (which you can resist with a Story Point and a roll). At major level, it’s more of a mad fixation and nothing can stop you which make it more fit for NPCs or villains. This is, uh, not something you should ever take on a major level and it should just be counted as minor if it’s assigned from your occupation. Outcast (Minor): You’re not allowed in a certain group anymore and have -2 to social rolls dealing with them. Owes Favor (Minor/Major): You’re in debt and it can be simple or complex. For minor, the debt is less than $3000 (probably not a good idea, roughly 50K in 2016 inflation) or a favor or aid. For major, the debt is bigger than that. It might not be resolved, it might not come up a lot, but the debt needs to be paid attention to sometimes. Phobia (Minor): -2 to any rolls involving your phobia. You can still take the Brave trait, it’s just a crack in your armor and Brave doesn’t help against it.  Look I'd be scared of space spiders too. Primitive (Major): You’re Technically Inept plus you can’t take the Technology skill and -2 to any other skills using anything more advanced than Iron Age technology. Bows and arrows? Fine. Guns? Trouble. Selfish (Minor): Less “gently caress you, got mine” and more “what’s in it for me?”. You can use this (and use it properly, not to be a dick) to make the story more dramatic and gain story points but if you have to overcome it, you can with a roll and a Story Point. Slow (Minor/Major): You’re out of shape, have an injury or just unable to go fast. As minor, your speed is halved and rounded down (minimum 1). As major, you can’t move without help (like a wheelchair). Maybe you’re paralyzed or just don’t have legs or something. There’s rules for using a wheelchair and you can get around normally except for combat or chase scenes. Slow Reflexes (Minor/Major): This only applies for action rounds. For minor, you always go last in a round regardless of initiative. For major, there is a second action round after the primary round for people with Slow Reflexes. So it’s like “okay, all of the normal characters have Done A Thing. Now it’s time for the Slow Reflexes Round”. Technically Inept (Minor): -2 to using or repairing high tech items and you can’t take Gadgeteer, Rocket Man/Woman or Technically Adept. Unadventurous (Minor/Major): You shouldn’t take this during character creation, this is “you’ve been playing this character for a while and want to retire them/give them an out”. At a minor level, your heart’s just not really in it. At a major level, you’re only around out of obligation to your friends and take -2 to things that take enthusiasm or might put you in danger, a “one last job” sort of thing. Unattractive (Minor): There’s just something about you. -2 to social rolls where your looks would matter. Unlucky (Minor): Thematically, you’re just kind of unlucky but not in the "spank me harder, GM" sense. Mechanically and in actual execution, double sixes is normally an auto-success but instead you reroll and take whatever results. If it’s another double sixes, well then the success stands. Weakness (Minor/Major): You have an allergic reaction to something. At minor, it’s -2 to all rolls when exposed or if it’s an active weakness. At major, take 4 levels of damage upon exposure. You may have noticed that some of these Negative Traits are not worth getting 1/2/3 points back for other uses. You may have noticed that some of the ones you get assigned from your species or occupation are really either just personality traits or plot hooks. This is pretty intentional; the game is designed for your heroes to be more heroic than your average realistic character and they kept away from the types of negative traits that you can just ignore or are just wildly impractical. Because you can only take up to 6 points at character creation, you’re kind of limited from gaming the system by doing things like taking “Relative: Elderly Grandmother” and spending the first session putting her on a one-way boat to New Zealand. The major levels of these traits shouldn’t be taken so lightly either, so is it really worth the extra points or would you just want to get better and get more from actually playing the game? Hint: you want to just play the game and not get so hung up on min-maxing your character. NEXT TIME: All the good traits.
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May 2, 2016 05:08
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The issue with Beast, in my opinion, is that its constructed a no-win scenario where both sides must be bad and then uses actual real despicable things which leaves you with the poo poo-awful taste in your mouth of playing a horrendous monster who is morally correct murdering in-game hapless, and ultimately powerless, but morally abominable people fighting in their own self defense. You can't construct a non-offensive Beast game because at its core it is designed in such a way that it is always offensive. Anything to change this makes the game not-Beast, and inherently, a better game. I'd "fix" Beast by not letting Beasts teach important things. They must be the stupidest, pettiest things like "No white after labor day" which each PC assigns themselves and Beast primarily work to enforce culturally their stupid ideas with endcap encounters against Heroes who are people who really, really care about transgressing whatever petty thing the Beast characters are obsessed with. Beasts can only punish humans, and hurt Heros, in accordance with how much the other cares about something so a human who thinks "man, I bet you could make cool film that doesn't have trained actors" is a lot lower stakes for a Beast of Consumer Movies than taking on Andy Warhol and his cadre of art-house film-makers. I'm the Beast of Holiday Creep. I'm the Beast of Fashion Faux-pas. I'm the Beast of Original Characters, Do Not Steal. Barudak fucked around with this message at 05:18 on May 2, 2016 |
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May 2, 2016 05:10
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Kai Tave posted:I think my question is who looked at the pitch for that and immediately went "oh man, this sounds super great, I'd love to write that!" Reverend Molyneux?
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May 2, 2016 07:10
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Barudak posted:The issue with Beast, in my opinion, is that its constructed a no-win scenario where both sides must be bad and then uses actual real despicable things which leaves you with the poo poo-awful taste in your mouth of playing a horrendous monster who is morally correct murdering in-game hapless, and ultimately powerless, but morally abominable people fighting in their own self defense. You can't construct a non-offensive Beast game because at its core it is designed in such a way that it is always offensive. Anything to change this makes the game not-Beast, and inherently, a better game. Oh man, this is perfect. Me and my friends have a zillion petty aesthetic rules we take seriously, and I used to think there was a grand existential conflict between rock and dance music. But that still makes the Beasts and Heroes deluded unlikable assholes. And Warhol made a Dracula and a Frankenstein movie, so again he did the other splats better.
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May 2, 2016 07:41
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There is no fixing Beast. It's a bad concept at core and anything that'll work is a fundamental rewriting to the extent that it's something else.
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May 2, 2016 07:51
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Simian_Prime posted:I'm predicting worse; the Heroes will be former slaves striking out against a Beast plantation owner who torments former slaves "for their own good." He was just teaching them a lesson about their natural order in the world, amirite  ?!
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May 2, 2016 17:13
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It is both unproductive and kind of weird to write fanfic about how bad the Beast setting will be. Just wait for it to be bad itself, no need to go all 'oooo, what if it's THIS bad' over and over.
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May 2, 2016 17:39
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Mors Rattus posted:It is both unproductive and kind of weird to write fanfic about how bad the Beast setting will be. Just wait for it to be bad itself, no need to go all 'oooo, what if it's THIS bad' over and over. but that just doesn't happen
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May 2, 2016 17:43
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Yes guys, please. The Beast book is bad enough. The Beast Fiction Anthology is bad enough. Let them shove their own feet down their throats, don't do it for them. That said I would not be in any way surprised if a Beast 'taught' Lincoln that slavery was bad. And good lord I would immolate whoever writes it.
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May 2, 2016 17:48
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Stop making jokes about this bad game! What do think this is, some kind of *humor* website? ... But yeah, joke's kinda run into the ground at this point. Simian_Prime fucked around with this message at 17:58 on May 2, 2016 |
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May 2, 2016 17:50
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I think what Mors is trying to say is: Don't be a hero.
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May 2, 2016 18:02
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Simian_Prime posted:Stop making jokes about this bad game! Mostly I just want folks to stop because oh my god this is tedious and unfunny, we're all just standing around and trying to spitball what level of ironic racism would fit into Beast, rather than actually saying anything entertaining. And, y'know, there's really no need to take part in ironic racism when you can just wait to see what Beast does next.
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May 2, 2016 18:07
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I was reading through the F&F archive and I saw that Phil Brucato was going to be doing the Changeling 20th Anniversary book. Has that been released yet?
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May 2, 2016 20:43
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SirPhoebos posted:I was reading through the F&F archive and I saw that Phil Brucato was going to be doing the Changeling 20th Anniversary book. Has that been released yet? Aww, man. I kind of liked Changeling (despite everything). Did no one learn from M20?
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May 2, 2016 20:47
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AmiYumi posted:Aww, man. I kind of liked Changeling (despite everything). ...why?
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May 2, 2016 21:30
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SirPhoebos posted:I was reading through the F&F archive and I saw that Phil Brucato was going to be doing the Changeling 20th Anniversary book. Has that been released yet? Its in the works, the Kickstarter wrapped up a while ago. Also Brucato isn't the developer, its Matt McFarland of Beast fame.
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May 2, 2016 21:49
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Did the KS imply they were going to fix Changeling's problems?
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May 2, 2016 22:15
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Covok posted:Did the KS imply they were going to fix Changeling's problems? The fans of changeling tend to see the problems as features.
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May 2, 2016 22:26
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Given that Changeling's problems begin with its premise and this is explicitly a 20th anniversary nostalgia release, it's unlikely, but at least we might see the pedophilia part tuned down.
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May 2, 2016 22:27
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Mors Rattus posted:Given that Changeling's problems begin with its premise and this is explicitly a 20th anniversary nostalgia release, it's unlikely, but at least we might see the pedophilia part tuned down. I'm afraid to ask.
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May 2, 2016 22:29
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It's almost entirely accidental, to its (very mild) credit. Changeling characters are almost universally under the age of 21, averaging around fifteen or so. In fact, characters are divided by age - sub-12 are childlings who get the highest raw power stat but lowest set of skill thingies, the middle one whose name I cannot recall are 13-18, and then the GRUMPS are 19+, have the lowest power stat but most skills, and are at risk of BANALITY destroying their magical selves. Changelings over the age of 21 have to be constantly on guard that Banality does not overwhelm them and turn them into, horror of horrors, normal adults. Now, entirely unrelated, here is the Satyr changeling type, which is all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll! And the Pooka type, sensual and mysterious! No one put 2 and 2 together during writing, and in fact often the age thing is entirely forgotten by writers.
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May 2, 2016 22:33
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Changelings are divided into two splats, one determined by your fae soul, and another determined by how old youare. Childlings are children, Wilders are teenagers, and Grumps are "Adults" One of the splats are the Satyr, which are all about hedonism, sex, and love. You can be a Satyr Childling.
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May 2, 2016 22:34
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Mors Rattus posted:...why? [Edit:] You know, on a little more contemplation, I realized I'm mainly into the sub-splats that want to murder/eat the "core" Changeling characters and destroy their society. Make of that what you will. AmiYumi fucked around with this message at 22:42 on May 2, 2016 |
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May 2, 2016 22:38
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I thought to its credit that childling/wilder/grump was more of an emotional thing - like, the faerie king dude was explicitly a wilder if an unusually old one - than necessarily literal childishness. But I also wasn't that into Changeling.
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May 2, 2016 23:04
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I just love the idea of codifying Banality as a destructive force. I know it's an immature POV, but it also captures what it's like having a panic attack over mall music or owning too much IKEA furniture. It also ties into the Technocracy's project nicely. It's another one of the 'it it's not for you, it's cool, but it's great at targeting its target audience' thing. I could do without the SCA/medivial worship tho.
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May 2, 2016 23:08
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What does SCA stand for?
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May 2, 2016 23:16
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We are talking about OWoD Changeling, right? 'cause while I never got to play in it I did read a Changeling book once and thought it was pretty interesting. EDIT: SCA is Society for Creative Anachronism. Sword-fighting ren-faire folks, I think.
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May 2, 2016 23:16
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New Changeling good, old Changeling very, very bad.
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May 2, 2016 23:23
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The main thing is that a lot of the problems with oChangeling are easy to miss on a casual read, because you have to actually sit down and think about the age thing (which at least in the edition I'm familiar with was explicitly age-tied), and the weirdness of chimerical reality is hard to get simply because it is written in the most obtuse way.
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May 2, 2016 23:31
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Luminous Obscurity posted:OPP dev David Hill made a post about pitch season and gave an example of a pitch that got passed over in favor of Beast and it played off similar themes of social justice and oppression but was way more tasteful and interesting. I'm not familiar with this, given that at the time I wasn't involved with KickStarters at all. What was it about, and does it have any intention of being made soon? Edit: Nevermind, found the pitch earlier in the thread, but I'd still like to see this became an actual thing in WoD. Kai Tave posted:Maybe a better way to say it would be that the central decision to make Beast "Matt McFarland clumsily attempts to exorcise his anger at Gamergate and MRAs: the Game" is what inevitably sent it to shitville. Matt could be the most well meaning guy in the world (though I'm certainly not going to extend him the benefit of the doubt at this point after how he behaved in response to his critics) but I'm going to suggest that it's extremely unlikely if not outright impossible to create a game with something like that as your foundation and maintain the necessary objectivity to actually make it a good game. When you're at the point of literally dressing your villains in fedoras just to make sure people get the message that HEY THESE GUYS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BAD OKAY then you've probably hosed up. Aren't you and he moderators at RPGnet? Doesn't that ever make things awkward for the two of you? Libertad! fucked around with this message at 23:55 on May 2, 2016 |
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May 2, 2016 23:32
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Covok posted:As bad as Beast is, I feel like they must be aware enough to know to portray slavery and racism as the evils they are. Or, at least, I hope they are aware enough to see that. They have to be, right? They are but that's the problem. Their not blind to social ills just to how metaphors and implications work. Plenty of films/books/ect come off as insanely sexist/racist/whatever despite not intending to because of that too, and they don't start from the same bad place as Beast does.
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May 2, 2016 23:55
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Libertad! posted:Aren't you and he moderators at RPGnet? Doesn't that ever make things awkward for the two of you? I mod a semi popular reddit and used to janitor work on 4chan. I barely know the other people, I suppose it's the same for him
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May 3, 2016 00:03
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AmiYumi posted:It's not like I was into the SCA/Otherkin bullshit parts of the game, I mainly liked the edge cases. Weirdo poo poo in the Deep Dreaming, the "everyone (rightly) hates the sidhe" bits the writers started to clue into near the end of the line, the Redcap book. There was some promising material there, not that you'd know it from the line's fans. Wait, they finally went back to that? That was one of the worst things about Revised for me, getting rid of how nobody was happy with the results of the Accordance War, that the Sidhe were essentially alien invaders rather than Once and Future Kings, and that they were more apt to rule through pillow talk than acts of the Parliament of Dreams.
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May 3, 2016 00:10
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Libertad! posted:Aren't you and he moderators at RPGnet? Doesn't that ever make things awkward for the two of you? I haven't been an active moderator at RPGnet for a number of years now. The only time I really spend there anymore is a longstanding PbP game, and the only active moderator I have any sort of even semi-regular contact with is Ettin. Even when I did mod over there though, it's not like I was going out for beers with everyone else every week, I knew them in the sense that "we post to/moderate the same forum and I recognize these names in the credits of certain RPG books" but that's about it. And my final word on the subject so as not to derail the thread with dumb internet elfgame forum drama is that even if I knew Matt McFarland better than a name on a computer screen my opinion of Beast and of his behavior would remain unchanged.
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May 3, 2016 00:11
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Count Chocula posted:I just love the idea of codifying Banality as a destructive force. I know it's an immature POV, but it also captures what it's like having a panic attack over mall music or owning too much IKEA furniture. It also ties into the Technocracy's project nicely. It's another one of the 'it it's not for you, it's cool, but it's great at targeting its target audience' thing. I could do without the SCA/medivial worship tho.
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May 3, 2016 00:21
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Nessus posted:What's funny too about all of that is that a sterile banal byproduct of international economic and political dickwaving is what finally ended up opening the gates to Arcadia. The Union thanks you for your support. That's something that has always stuck with me as a signal of the fundamental problems with oChangeling. Science is Banal and bad and toxic to changelings to the point that an experimental arcology filled with the dudes who live for the thrill of exploring new frontiers is killing off an entire kingdom of merfolk just by existing in the region. Yet the whole reason changelings are around is because of the world uniting for one moment in an explosive outburst of SCIENCE IS loving AWESOME!
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May 3, 2016 00:27
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There's a bit of fluff somewhere that mentions the Union in general is really, really pissed with the Void Engineers, specifically for fouling projects like that up so spectacularly. ...unfortunately it also goes on to indicate that later space tragedies, like the Challenger disaster, were engineered by rival Conventions in retaliation.
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May 3, 2016 00:33
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