FATAL & Friends 2016-19: Bad Rules and Hidden Jewels

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Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:

A note: I think the reason Zaire is named after a (defunct) nation instead of a city is that, in its paranoia, it has hidden itself away so that nobody knows exactly where it is. Just somewhere in the former African Union nation of Zaire. Zaire derives from nzere, the Kongo word for the river known as the Congo River, so it kind of makes sense that a resurgent pan-African union might want to return to that name.
Anyways. Not here to debate the relative cultural sensitivity of 90s GURPS writers, but I do like the setting and appreciate the writeup.

For what it matters Reign of Steel was published in March 1997, just before they changed the name back to DROC later that year.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2016 01:58

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# ¿ Jan 26, 2025 09:47

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

LatwPIAT posted:

(The book also suggests to the ST that they should put on a Chinese accent when roleplaying one.)

What the gently caress, did they suggest the ST pull up the corners of his eyes too? God drat.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2016 07:21

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Fossilized Rappy posted:

The only exception is the enigmatic Groom Lake facility near Roswell, and no Steel Disciples that have gone out that way have ever returned (spoilers: we never actually learn what's up with Roswell).

For what it's worth, Area 51 (at Groom Lake, and presumably what they're referring to here) is about 900 miles from Roswell, NM. The closest big city to Groom Lake is in fact Las Vegas. The two sites are related in UFO mythology but not geographically.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2016 21:20

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Mors Rattus posted:

In Nomine: Everything Under Heaven
<Dissonance and Discord>

I always had a tough time keeping those two concepts distinct, because they were both "musical terms starting with dis- that you get when you aren't as good/bad as you're supposed to be". I kind of wish they just had a single system for tracking that kind of damage rather than making dissonance to Discord a one-way transfer.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2016 04:42

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

LatwPIAT posted:

I'm somewhat ignorant of the sorry state of US teen homelessness and violent urban living conditions, but the tone I've been getting from M20 is that living on the streets and living in The Bad Part of Town is this mythologized and romanticized thing that involves an incredibly violent lifestyle where hand-to-hand and armed fights are commonplace, and everyone has graduated the School of Hard Knocks as amazingly cool badasses. And maybe it's like that. I don't live in the US.

It's not.

LatwPIAT posted:

But the impression I get is that this is more of a glorification that over-emphasizes certain elements of what actually living in poverty is like, rather than an accurate representation.

It is.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2016 03:40

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Young Freud posted:

Wait, wait, wait, how do you know this? Is there a chart somewhere that theorizes the growth of cultured tissues?

I think GURPS Bio-Tech has that. The Ultra-Techs might too.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2016 18:39

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Count Chocula posted:

Who does the art for In Nomine? It's cool.

Guy named Dan Smith, who did a lot for SJG in the 90s. They look like hammered poo poo colored like this though. If I remember right Smith's originals for In Nomine were all greyscale and this coloring was done by someone else.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2016 04:26

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Cythereal posted:

I like the idea of In Nomine, and am filing it away as an idea to give a shot in the future if I can get a hold of the book(s).

They're all available digitally if it works for you: http://www.warehouse23.com/products?utf8=✓&keywords=In+Nomine+&x=0&y=0

# ¿ Jan 19, 2016 01:19

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

theironjef posted:

System Mastery 61 - Ralph Bakshi's Wizards RPG

At least we don't have to cover any more Ralph Bakshi games. We may be threatened with his other garbage films in the future, but I don't think there's a Coonskin or Cool World RPG.

Excellent, and I was glad to hear that there were a couple of mechanical jewels bobbing in the slime of the game. Have to imagine that art is pretty heinous, though!

# ¿ Jan 20, 2016 03:40

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Alien Rope Burn posted:

I know one of the big changes is that the original was a much more pointed parody of Catholicism. Even though it's treated as the one true religion in the original (all other denominations / faiths are wrong), you have things like Jesus being the boss' son who's only where he is via nepotism. Supposedly a lot of the stereotypes and jokes don't translate well but it's surprisingly hard to find information on it.

Someone split a thread off to review just In Nomine a couple of F&F ago (I think it was Mors Rattus) and in that thread there was a link to a bunch of PDFs of the French books.

Actually found it, here you go:

http://www.xxiemeciel.com/ins_ebook01.php

# ¿ Jan 21, 2016 04:52

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Nessus posted:

I assume any statblock for Lucifer would permit him to be challenged only in the realms of legal argumentation (with great difficulty) or musical performance (slightly more attainable). Anything else is contrary to the lore.

I don't think either God or Lucifer ever gets statted at all in this game.

edit: And I'm OK with that.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2016 02:50

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

I'm trying to think how you could structure an In Nomine campaign to have the title "Forgot About Dre" and have it make some sense.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2016 04:26

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Mors Rattus posted:

I actually agree - my favorite campaign seed tends to be 'Haagenti and/or Kobal Redeems, Jordi Falls'.

Not least because frankly, Jordi is basically counterproductive already. In this setting, being an angel that despises humanity and wants them all dead doesn't really...work.

Jordi always struck me as bait for Werewolf players.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2016 19:28

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Evil Mastermind posted:

They're on DriveThru and IPR.

Hard copies also on Amazon and some stores stock them as well.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2016 18:40

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Option A, you have to see the character templates for this setting.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2016 21:55

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Mors Rattus posted:

Superiors 2: Take 2
Less publically, Nybbas negotiates with certain ethereal groups. For example, he has close ties to the Japanese kami, thanks to the rise in popularity of anime and manga. (Andrealphus approves of this as well, due to schoolgirls and tentacle porn.)

God drat it SJ Games, you're better than this.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2016 18:09

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Zereth posted:

That's fine. I mostly just waned to make sure Midjack was aware it existed!

Oh, I own it and the entire rest of the In Nomine line though it's been quite some time since I've looked through them.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2016 19:57

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

That angels subscribe to earthly faiths at all always strikes me as really weird. What would an angel need Christ's sacrifice for, they already have a place in heaven and it's just a code of conduct and ethics at that point. Sure, story wise it makes sense for the angels to support religions and maybe even have favorites for people to follow. Maybe the authors thought it would have been just too cynical if the celestial patrons of the faiths didn't actually buy into them.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2016 18:56

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Count Chocula posted:

Does Yves not have one of those 'different ways to play him' bits? You could do The Absent-Minded Librarian, Peter Falk from Wings of Desire (the nicest man in the world), The Enigmatic Puppetmaster or Literally Just Borges/Destiny of the Endless. I'd be inclined to make him genuinely nice. Too many angels are assholes.

Mors Rattus posted:

Superiors 3: Destiny's Child
Variations! Yves as God is...God, or at least a part of God projected to better understand the Symphony and its potential. Yves could easily be an enigmatic divinity watching over the Symphony. From this view, Yves/God sacrificed His universal view for a more detailed, intimate understanding of His creation, and He sees things as His angels do, better understands them and can ultimately guide them down the truest path. Yves as Tyrant, on the other hand, is darker - willing anble to do what must be done to ensure Destiny is all there is. He is the ultimate manipulator and puppet master, using his knowledge to control events such that there is no choice possible between fate and destiny. The ends justify the means. Yves is not heartless, but he will do whatever is needed to get an outcome favoring destiny. He will not hesitate to sacrifice anyone or anything to bring the Symphoyn closer to its destiny, and he will try to ensure people can only make one choice, no matter the cost. He is Heaven's dicator and conspirator, pulling strings and using his knowledge to orchestrate the War. It would take anyone, even the Judges, years to uncover his web of control. He would retain his stoic, calm exterior, but it would be a mask to hide behind. Yves as Madman understands, but that understanding has a price. The moment he saw God and named Him, Yves' mind fractured under the sheer potential. He still remembers parts of the whole, but as time passes, his memory and mind degrade. He is insane, muttering prophecies as Heaven's oracle. His angels catalog his every word, hoping to decode the truth. He sends his servants on random, often pointless missions whose significance is known only to him, if they have any at all. He is watched closely by Judgment, but even Dominic can see the kernel of truth in his rambling. He is confined to his Library, which resembles more an asylum as it mirrors his shattered mind. Michael, honest and pure, distrusts him and fears he distorts God's words. He sees the madness as a virus infecting Gabriel and perhaps Eli, and he wants to keep it from spreading. Yves is a tragic figure, an angel who has seen God's glory but cannot convey it in terms anyone else, even an Archangel, could understand.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 19:57

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Hypocrisy posted:

I feel the opposite. The archangels have pretty much all been decent sorts, at least to humans if not each other. The most hostile ones would seem to be Michael and Dominic and even that feels pretty tame. I guess a bunch are mad at Eli too but all of the archangels accepted his angels when he left.

Jordi is an almost complete peckerhead to everyone and I don't think anything ever really improves him.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 20:49

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Simian_Prime posted:

I can't really blame him. He's the angel who's entrusted the animal kingdom to humanity, and, well...

In a game like this, I think it's good to have one angel who's just completely sick of humanity's bullshit and is one bad day way from Falling and becoming the Demon Prince of Monsters.

So what if he does? He has little interaction with any of the other Archangels besides "HIS ACTIONS MAKE ANIMALS SUFFER, gently caress THAT GUY" and already hates humans for pretty much the same reason. I guess he could encourage wild animal attacks or :krakken:

or something like that if he was the Prince of Beasts, which would at least give him something to do besides be the patron angel of Werewolf players.

Edit: I agree that it would be interesting to have one of the Archs check out but they should be one more engaged with humans.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 21:21

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

PantsOptional posted:

Unless they made more Superiors books that I don't know about, what we've already got is all there is.

That's it. He doesn't get anything else besides a couple of nature preserve Tethers and "Jordi is mad because someone ate a steak" level mentions in the Night Music books, so judge away.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 21:48

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Count Chocula posted:

Anything stopping the legalization of pot from making there be Angels of Weed, or Demons that defect? Or are Weed Demons just another potential Comic Relief Demon, like Gluttony and Media? If you split it off you get to keep Drugs as a real scary Cartel/Walter White type.

Legalization alone wouldn't trigger it since there's a Demon of Alcohol but no mention of a corresponding Angel of Spirits, but you can do whatever you want in your game.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2016 12:33

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Count Chocula posted:

But as written the only way to avoid Hell is to mostly be some straight-edge Henry Rollins warrior type - I know we have Novalis and Eli but they seem like afterthoughts. So who is really going to end up in Heaven and enjoy the delights of the awesome library and the...other places? How many people don't overeat, don't lust, don't do drugs, etc? The only logical thing is either a. Overthrow Heaven, like in a bunch of the media the game is based on or b. Reform Hell so the Demons work with humans to get the Essense.

I feel like my reading is at least supported by the text - especially if it's based on a French parody of Catholicism. It seems to take that whole Catholic guilt angle to its logical extreme, and if you grew up in that environment the only sensible thing feels like rebellion. Plus Hell is sympathetic in like 90% of the things it's ripping off. The Demoms also seem like they come from bawdy medieval parodies, but I don't know enough about that.

They tell you right in the core book how fictional humans reach the fictional afterlife in this fictional setting. If you reach your Fate (the worst thing that you could do or be) you go to hell. Touch your Destiny (the best you could do or be) and go to heaven. Do both or neither in the same life and get recycled for another try. The examples they gave aren't Mother Theresas or Hannibal Lecters, either, so you don't have to be extreme on an absolute scale of morality, just do the best or worst you personally can.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2016 13:01

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Nessus posted:

Speaking of ol' , didn't the In Nomine commentary on him say that his Destiny was to become a great artist and his Fate was... well...

e: FATAL and Friends 2016: It Always Comes Back To Hitler

Yes, it said exactly that.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2016 04:09

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Lilith.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2016 03:37

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Litheroy

# ¿ Feb 6, 2016 05:54

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Kurieg posted:

Yeah that's a thing that happened in the "Elminster - The Making of a Mage" Novel.

And yes, it was written by Greenwood.

It's where we learn that Elminster is actually a fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard/archmage and is descended from royalty and is amazing and super special and all the women in the world want him.

wikipedia posted:

Ed Greenwood wrote Elminster: The Making of a Mage as a hardcover novel in just 16 days,

checks out

# ¿ Feb 7, 2016 23:00

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Keep the Superiors train rolling.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2016 03:19

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

what does your heart tell you

# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 04:49

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

theironjef posted:

This isn't really about RPGs but I had to tell someone that we just got a real podcast setup. We are no longer both hunched over the same old Snowball mic, we have a sound board and stabilizers and pop filters and everything! System Mastery is a real boy!

Awesome.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 06:17

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

unseenlibrarian posted:

Which means that Christopher Lee may have been one of Dracula's handlers.

Checks out.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2016 03:12

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Kavak posted:

Cotton Mather Did Nothing Wrong.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2016 03:24

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Nessus posted:

Regarding the "too much treasure," I believe it was from the days when people had characters and they went around to multiple different campaigns

The only thing more insane than the fact that anyone agreed to allow this in the first place was the amount of gear and level fraud that went on when it did.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2016 04:45

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Nessus posted:

Isn't that the whole idea behind things like "living realms" and the various adventure paths and other organized play stuff for Pathfinder and so on? I mean, doesn't really turn me on, but there seems to be a demand.

I don't know how any of those are structured so I can't directly comment on them. But if you allow people to bring stuff in without verification, you're more likely to get abuse than not. It's okay to have characters persist across different campaigns if you play with the same bunch of people since if you bring out a Screwdriver of +3 TV Repair and the rest of the group knows you never had it you get instantly called out. If you can carry your character into a group who doesn't have that history there's little stopping you from writing down whatever insane stuff you want if the GM doesn't check your character sheet before letting you into their world.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2016 06:03

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Evil Mastermind posted:

Next, we learn about The Victorian Majestic Charter. The Charter was hastily created shortly after the Victorians went over their bridge, both as a means of controlling this new colony and as a desperate attempt to get the Victorian economy moving again (since there's no way for them to get any kind of external resources back home).

The Charter was created and is managed by a consortium of 112 investors, very few of whom actually live in Majestic. The real control is by a board of 12 investors, and they're the ones who are plotting out the expansion and exploitation of the colony.

Majestic Twelve, cute.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2016 22:03

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Everything ethereal really seemed to get short shrift in the core In Nomine and it's nice to see it get expanded so much in this book. Though it really seems like the Ethereal is this whole other game that only touches the rest of In Nomine in a couple of places and honestly could just straight up ignore Heaven and Hell and be better off for the removal.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2016 01:06

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Doresh posted:

The funnier - but highly unlikely - alternative is that he owns a bunch of figuarts and hugging pillows of "himself".

This is now canon.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2016 17:08

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Bieeardo posted:

That's really what strikes me as weird about the whole thing. I was expecting a big digest of Mage, like the other x20 books had, not a Revised style rewrite.

I was expecting moose cocks; we're all being pleasantly disappointed.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2016 04:16

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# ¿ Jan 26, 2025 09:47

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

FMguru posted:

How soon they forget...

ahahaa I have a copy of this.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2016 01:47

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