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Ah, Abney Park. Pity Captain Roberts turned out to be a bigoted rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 12, 2020 20:34
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Robindaybird posted:Ah, Abney Park. Oh no. I listened to them a bit a while back. What happened?
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Aug 12, 2020 20:37
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Joe Slowboat posted:Oh no. I listened to them a bit a while back. What happened? He basically is quite rude to non-English speaking fans on their facebook page, deleting non-English messages as spam, and when asked not to use the G-word (for Roma and other traveling people) because it is a slur, his response was "Well I don't it's a bad word, so it's not a slur". I did like their music, but Roberts is not a nice person.
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Aug 12, 2020 20:59
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lol at Kitiara's soul being literally stuck inside a pile of dogshit.
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Aug 12, 2020 21:44
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I do appreciate the backstory for the Abney Park game boiling down to 'the band went back in time and accidentally hosed things up'.
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Aug 12, 2020 22:16
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Stormcast Eternals Eagles In Flight Prosecutors fly forth on wings of light, moving to outflank the foes of the Stormcast and strike from above. Their mobility provides a lot of tactical use on the battlefield, often forming the key first blow in battle, and they are the most common troops of the Angelos Conclaves. They are able to wield weapons made from pure Azyrite energy in the form of celestial hammers, stormcall javelins and large tridents. They can hurl these at the foe and expect them to reform immediately when needed for the next throw or in melee. The Vanguard-Hunters serve as the elite infantry forces of the Vanguard Auxiliary. They lack the speed of some of their fellow Rangers and the range of others, but they specialize heavily in using the terrain around them as a weapon. They aren't ambushers or spies, but raiders and guerrillas who move around all the time, finding the key locations that the enemy has overlooked. They specialize in breaching guarded positions, destroying artillery and bypassing enemy defenses. They are known to spend a lot of time getting to know the areas they work in, spending more time in the field than nearly anyone else in the Rangers. They supplement their natural skills with the use of the astral compass, devised for them by the Collegiate Arcane to better traverse the Mortal Realms. This allows them to find the spots where they'd be least expected due to the flow of aether, allowing lightning attacks with their boltstorm pistols and brushcutting blades. The Vanguard-Palladors are the speediest and most mobile of the Rangers, mounted atop their swift Gryph-chargers. Forging the bond between mount and rider is hard, but lasts a lifetime, and a Gryph-charger will only allow its rider to wash and clean it. The beasts can move along aetheric flows, crossing the field in near an instant. They serve as shock cavalry, tearing into foes swiftly with their charges. The Gryph-chargers are vicious beasts, and the riders are armed with boltstorm pistols and starstrike javelins to assist them. Their attacks start and end quickly, moving on to find new targets immediately after lashing out.  The Retributors are said to most closely resemble Sigmar in appearance, their armor designed to resemble the God-King so as to strike fear into his foes. They wield immense lightning hammers, each forged to resemble Ghal Maraz. These gigantic weapons are so heavy that only the strongest Stormcast are able to wield them in battle, and they're not well-designed for dueling or prolonged fights. Instead, each blow is meant to smash through heavy armor or the flesh of unnatural monsters. When they strike, the lightning hammers release the charge within them in a huge thunderclap, increasing the force of the blow. Focused attacks by a company of Retributors can annihilate fortifications. This requires expert timing and patience to know when to strike, and the Retributors are often held back for the right moment to strike. They excel against siege weaponry and monsters, after all, but are less able to handle swifter and smaller foes. Protectors are chosen from those Stormcast who have not only great skill in battle but a strong sense of cooperation and awareness of the flow of battle. They are armed with stormstrike glaives - not an easy weapon to learn, but powerful in both offense and defense. They leave a glowing afterimage when swung thanks to the powerful energy fields within them - an energy field that can stop projectiles in the air. The Protectors wield these glaives to form barriers of force, shielding the wielders and those behind them. Protector retinues train constantly together, so they can unify their shields to form walls that protect whole chunks of the battleline. The Knights Excelsior Protectors are known for being able to operate in total sync, matching their motions together like cogs in a machine. The Astral Templars, on the other hand, favor unique and individualistic fighting styles that they train to interlock with each other in patterns that are both protective and beautiful. On top of their defensive utility, Protectors also excel at attacking monsters, as the length of their glaives allows them to strike at the organs hidden deep within the beast. Decimators are skirmishers, specialists in group combat and taking down hordes of weaker foes. They favor large thunderaxes and formations that allow them to attack wildly without fear of hitting an ally. They train extensively to be able to judge the location of allies without looking at them, even in the confusion of battle. Their weapons are armor-cutters, and even sigmarite can't stop them, after all. They favor wild swings, and tend be larger and tougher Stormcast, the better to take on enemies while heavily outnumbered. Some instead bear starsoul maces, huge hammers that send out massive shockwaves whenever they impact. These waves can rip souls from bodies, killing foes as easily as if they were struck personally. After this, we get into the Extremis Chambers. The Dracothian Guard are wave fighters, hitting hard and fading back so the next wave of warriors can charge in. The Stormcast are heavily armored and ride on the powerful Dracoths that help them in their job as shock cavalry. Their charges strike hard and fast, smashing the enemy lines apart between the potent arms of rider and thundering claws of mount. Dracoths, like their Stardrake kin, are naturally drawn to the cause of Order, but lack patience and are eager to fight. Their riders each must pass the Trials of Starwalking, proving themselves equally bold. The Guard split into the Lightning Echelon and Thunderwave Echelon, each subdivided further into two different types of rider. The most aggressive join the Lightning Echelon as the Fulminators, who seek to attack as quickly as possible. They use fluid combat styles, designed to grant them the flexibility to take advantage of any weakness the enemy shows. They are aided in this by the Tempestors, archers and gunners who ride the fastest and most maneuverable Dracoths. They move to find the best angles of fire, supporting the Fulminator advance by thinning the field. The Thunderwave Echelon, on the other hand, have the Concussors, who are chosen (mount and rider) for physical strength and brawling ability. Their job is to tie up the enemy and lock them in place for the rest of the Guard to finish them off. That duty falls to the Desolators, the coldest and most uncompromising of the Dracothian Guard, for theirs is the duty of wiping out what remains of enemy resistance. The Drakesworn Templars are those Stormcast that work with and ride Stardrakes, some of the most magical creatures to emerge from Azyr. Each one is a champion able to shake enemy lines or hold entire flanks. The sheer might of a Stardrake is enough to tear open any armor and rend any muscle. When they ride out in groups, they are essentially unstoppable. Each Stormcast rider, like the Dracothian Guard, must take the Trials of Starwalking. Most who try return alone, with only a few coming back with loyal Dracoths. Rarer still are those who return armed with a solargem. In each of these stones lies the soul of a Stardrake. Once, these stones were returned to the Heavens to be reborn as a new creature. However, the power of Chaos has often kept them sealed and locked away now, hidden in the depths where the original Stardrake died. Solargems are, at least, protected by powerful enchantments. Only those of pure heart can see a solargem, and only those of divine blessing can touch them. Even other Stormcast hold the Drakesworn in reverence as champions of Order. They return their solargems to the night sky, forging a bond with the newly reborn Stardrake. Stardrakes are ancient beings, older and wiser than any mortal, and are staunch foes of Chaos. The are generally very happy to join the Stormcast in their fight, and when a Stardrake is willing to work with their bonded friend, they undergo a series of rituals to strengthen the bond. Each must grow to instinctively sense the will of the other, fighting as one. Theirs is not the path of revenge, however. The Drakesworn Templars and the Stardrakes are not beholden to rage or fury, not like the impatient Dracoths. They serve the Laws of Judgment, which demand the guilty receive trial, and their violence is usually tempered by this understanding. When not in the field, they are most often found in the Drakesworn Temple of their Stormhost, training and praying to both Sigmar and Dracothion - and any other gods they hold dear.  Evocators form the Corpuscant Conclaves of the Sacrosanct Chambers, mages who embody the raw power of the storm. Unlike the Knights-Incantor, this power is inward, not outward - an Evocator absorbs the energy within themself. In battle, their eyes flash and shine with thunder and sparks, and their energies play over their tempest blades and stormstaves, firing off in burning arcs. They can also channel these energies to empower their allies, or can burn projectiles out of the sky as easily as they attack. Electricity sparks from their footprints for a time, and their attacks in melee are followed by bright, flashing arcs of lightning. When they strike, cables of electrical power entangle their foes, burning them and locking them briefly in place for another blow. The most eager Evocators can be found atop Celestial Dracolines, part-cat and part-reptile beasts from the peaks of Azyr. They habitually sharpen their claws on Azyrite realmstone, building up a great deal of magic within their body that can be unleashed when they pounce. This and their terrifying roars make them very dangerous in the field, especially when supported by an Evocator rider that can enhance their electrical power further. Finally, we have the siege engines of the Stormcast: Celestar Ballistas. They were created by the Sacristan Engineers of the Ordinatos Conclaves, magical field artillery designed to defend sacred places. Their original purpose was solely to defend the Anvil of Apotheosis and the palaces of Sigmar against invasion. They were placed in pivots to allow 360 degrees of fire, both in case of infiltration and to shoot down escaping maddened aetheric gheists. However, they are also quite portable, made to be broken down and carried by two Sacristan Engineers (who also serve as its operators). That said, they're still more defensive emplacements than used in protacted sieges of enemy strongholds. Their rate of fire and accuracy are both top notch, able to wound even powerful daemons. Even without engaging their siege enchantments, the ballistas are strong enough to punch through wooden fortifications. Their celestial magic takes them beyond, however. Each ballista bolt is taken to the peak of the Sigmarabulum, where the Sacristans use their magic to call down lightning into the runic bolts. It's a risky process, and several Sacristans have required Reforging due to miscalculated strikes, but they usually consider it worth the risk. Once a bolt is charged, it becomes exceptionally hot and has a minor side effect of inducing celestial visions if touched to bare skin, requiring heavy gauntlets to handle safely. Each bolt is stored in a special cartridge until unleashed in battle, where they are shot with all the force of the lightning contained within them. When they strike true, they then explode with electrical power, arcing out to hit anything nearby. The rest of the book is devoted to wargame mechanics and painting advice; there are special benefits for fielding Hammers of Sigmar, Hallowed Knights, Celestial Vindicators, Anvils of the Heldenhammer, Knights Excelsior, Celestial Warbringers or Tempest Lords, at the cost of locking you in to a specific leader trait and first magic item. The End So, what do you want to see next? The options at present are: Order (Cities of Sigmar, Daughters of Khaine, Fyreslayers, Idoneth Deepkin, Kharadron Overlords, Seraphon, or Sylvaneth) Chaos (Beasts of Chaos, Blades of Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch, Hedonites of Slaanesh, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Skaven, or Slaves to Darkness) Death (Flesh-Eater Courts, Legions of Nagash, Nighthaunt, or Ossiarch Bonereapers) Destruction (Gloomspite Gits, Ogor Mawtribes, or Orruk Warclans)
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Aug 12, 2020 22:30
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Robindaybird posted:He basically is quite rude to non-English speaking fans on their facebook page, deleting non-English messages as spam, and when asked not to use the G-word (for Roma and other traveling people) because it is a slur, his response was "Well I don't it's a bad word, so it's not a slur". I looked it up to confirm and yeah, he has some real pungent “I’m not a racist, but” going on there. Fortunately, as far as I can tell his input in this book was limited to art direction and typesetting so  The book does have some...issues, but they’re more  than  in nature for the most part. e: at least at first blush, who knows
Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Aug 12, 2020 |
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Aug 12, 2020 22:39
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Mors Rattus posted:So, what do you want to see next? The options at present are: Kharadron Overlords. Sky Dwarves, please.
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Aug 12, 2020 22:50
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Mors Rattus posted:The End edit: woops, if we're doing the books in general than definitely Destruction. Not even dinosaur folks are worth elvvves, dwarvves, and Relate'able Protag'onist's. Drakyn fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Aug 12, 2020 |
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Aug 12, 2020 23:20
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sky dorfs or the Gloomspite Gitz
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Aug 12, 2020 23:23
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Mors Rattus posted:
Slaves to Darkness, or Gloomspite.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:38
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Sky dwarves, huh? Okay.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:40
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Falconier111 posted:Sky dwarves, huh? Okay.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:54
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Falconier111 posted:
I imagine the same sort a lot of steampunk settings have in the glossing over the social class and colonial issues of the era.
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Aug 13, 2020 00:17
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Robindaybird posted:I imagine the same sort a lot of steampunk settings have in the glossing over the social class and colonial issues of the era. No, actually. The big villains consciously modeled themselves on Victorian Britain (its in post apocalyptic America) and the game is built on the assumption that you will fight against them in some manner. The first part of character creation is deciding where your character falls in the class spectrum, how it shaped them, and why they decided to run away. The game has three playable races: humans, mutants enslaved by them who found away to escape, and robots built by them to perform menial or humiliating jobs that escaped before their masters figured out they had free will and wiped their memories. Or, instead of playing someone fleeing from that society, you can choose to play as members of one of two cultures with long histories who have been forced to abandon ancestral folkways in order to resist conquest. And then you reach the second part of character creation. I mean, steampunk has that reputation for a reason, but this game wants you fighting classism and colonialism from the word go. The is more along the lines in of “in the backstory, Africa became a peaceful and united world power in the 2050s in a way that implies all African cultures share the same background and values” than “the Victorians were so cool you guys”.
Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Aug 13, 2020 |
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Aug 13, 2020 02:25
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That's actually kind of refreshing. eye-rolling, but refreshing.
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Aug 13, 2020 07:05
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It may be just me, but Stormcast for AoS 1E just look chonky when compared to wizard boys, and not in the "purposeful design to convey physical strength vs. magical" Look: Liberators  vs. Sequitors (magical liberators)  Judicators  vs. Castigators Feels like someone said "maybe we should dial down the chonk." ...yeah, I'd play Stormcast if the rule set held any interest for me, but it has nothing I'd want in a fantasy miniature wargame. E: for example, of the three flavors of Retributors, all of them can take two free (all unit upgrades are free in AoS) starsoul maces per 5 dudes. What do the maces do? Instead of engaging with the combat system in any way, they just deal a random number of unsaveable* wounds. *Mortal Wounds is the dumbest solution to deathstar units as units with at least some save against Mortal Wounds appeared almost immediately. JcDent fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Aug 13, 2020 |
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Aug 13, 2020 08:32
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No matter where you go in the Astral Plane, a silver cord will lead back to The Deck of Encounters Set Two Part 35: The Deck of Graveyards and Gith 178: Into the Graveyard A PC’s pursestrings get cut while they’re out drinking at night, and they see the thief slipping out the back of the pub. They pursue him down alleys and around corners, into a graveyard where the thief tries to hide. Then the thief gets ganked by a ghost which is “offended by the presence of the living.” It won’t pursue them if they retreat but they won’t get back the stolen goods, either. The thief also has a treasure hard in there of 3,000 sp and 2,000 gp. My, that’s a lot of pockets picked. I guess the ghost never minded the thief’s living presence before? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: based on the Deck of Encounters, D&D graveyards are like toxic waste dumps. Don’t keep them in the middle of town where people can just walk into them. Oh yeah, and the thief hideout thing still doesn’t make sense. Pass. 179: Marching Off to War It’s a Dark Sun random encounter, bay-bee! Because when you bought this deck full of stock fantasy encounters that are totally inappropriate to the Dark Sun flavor, you were like, “man, I hope there’s, like, three cards that are specifically written to be used on Athas! That sounds useful!” In a town, the PCs see a recruitment poster for warriors to go relieve a town under siege. By… “an evil force.” (Hey, quick advice - do not sign up for a mercenary job if the recruiter will not tell you what you’ll be fighting.) “Their egos are stroked” by the recruiter, though, and “a large sum of gold” is being offered. Is “gold” really what you meant, writer? This is Athas. That’s like someone offering to pay me with a briefcase full of 18th-century silver dollars. I mean, yes, that’s worth quite a bit, but what the heck is going on? Anyway, the PCs are signing up a bit late, so they have to go meet up with the rest of the relief battalion in a mountain pass a day away. When they get there, the whole group has already been slaughtered. Twenty gith approach “apparently to parlay,” but then attack. If the PCs kill them and reach the town, the rest of the besieging giths retreat immediately, “astonished that anybody managed to get through the ambush force.” So… what the heck is this town, why are gith besieging it, how have they managed to hold off for so long, and why do they have so much money? This is relevant information! Forget it, I’m just gonna go run the first part of DSE2 Black Spine for my Dark Sun town defense needs. Pass. 180: Civilizing the Mountains A Dark Sun encounter. The PCs have been hired by the merchants’ guild (c’mon, make it a specific Merchant House) to map and clear a mountain pass between two towns. When they reach the passes they find three possible routes, but one route is too small, one route is too Not a random encounter. Might work as a rather plain Dark Sun quest, but am I making a deck of Dark Sun quests? No I am not. Pass. P.S. It’s the return of “Dmg by weapon (spear)” in the stat blocks. 181: Back from the Astral Plane The PCs have been mucking around in the Astral, apparently not noticing the “KEEP OUT, PRIVATE PROPERTY” signs, and six githyanki knights have followed them back to take their revenge. Specifically they’ll target the PC who brought them to the plane, most likely a cleric or mage, and demand their death. They’ll try to jump that person when they’re alone, or, if they’re never alone, just bash in the door and attack by surprise when they’re back in their lodgings. “The githyanki have no quarrel with anyone but those who have violated the Astral Plane - their home grounds. Slaying the githyanki invites massive retaliation in 1-4 years as the githyanki organize for war and gather allies.” Dang! It’s odd that the githyanki care this much about Astral travelers. Do people from the Prime just nevertravel in the Astral? That’s kind of an interesting plot element, if true - that the PCs out of desperation or foolhardiness make this transgression into extremely hostile cosmological territory, and that brings consequences. But you would have to establish that situation earlier in the campaign, before the Astral jaunt - if you’re going by normal AD&D assumptions and then pull this out, it’d be weird. I’ll pass. 182: Watch Your Back Thieves and scruffy-looking characters get the hard stare from townsfolk and guards, because there’s a thieving spree in the city and nobody is safe. There’s been a crackdown on the local thieves’ guild (don’t you love the particular assumptions of AD&D sometimes?), and yet the thefts continue. It’s actually five githzerai thieves whose base is in an old warehouse, accessible through a secret door in an alley. They can be tracked by, uh, tracking, or true seeing (Which I guess would help them find the secret door). I don’t quite understand this conceptually - are the githzerai supposed to be much better thieves than the locals, or are they just more willing to thieve everything because they don’t have to maintain a political balance, bribe officials to look the other way,, etc.? More importantly, I’m afraid this is going to lead to an unsatisfying climax, because everything I know about githzerai says they’re going to plane shift out the moment they’re discovered. Or you could adjust the githzerai powers, but I'm still not sure I get why they're githzerai in the first place. Hmm. Pass I suppose?
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Aug 13, 2020 15:50
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Ithle01 posted:When Black Roses Bloom, a Ravenloft adventure for characters level 4-6 (24 total character levels) I will say that "Ticklemop" is the most Kender name ever. Like the writers where doing shots trying to come up with Kender names and this was the winner. Now I almost want to play this adventure provided my party gets a scroll of either Raise Dead of Resurrection so we can bring Ticklemop back from undeath to be a clinically depressed Kender. Oooh, and she's a she, too. So, depressed Goth-chick Kender.
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Aug 13, 2020 16:45
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I don't want to double post so I'll respond to Everyone later, but for now. When Black Roses Bloom Part 2 A couple more background bits then the actual adventure. I forgot to mention this last time, but Sithicus has one unique feature. The only moon in the land is the black moon Nuitari. At night time only evil characters can see it and see by its light so everyone else is in total darkness. In addition to this, eight days out of every 24 the black moon is at its zenith and good spellcasters take a penalty to their spells while evil spellcasters gain a powerful bonus. An interesting feature, but one that probably won't matter unless your DM feels like being a dick. How long are we planning on staying anyway? When the players first enter Sithicus, the realm of Lord Soth, they find the border immediately closing behind them. Just like all of the dark lords Soth can close or open the borders of his realm at will and has kept them closed while he's jacking off in the holodeck. This means you have to solve this adventure to leave! Like I said, it's a rail road from start to finish. Except, wait one second, it turns out you can leave. Sithicus's border is weaker than the others and manifests as a keening wail (like a banshee) that forces you to flee back into Sithicus, but all you have to do is pass a fear check (save vs. paralysis) at -9 and if you do then you can push through. Of course, there's a catch, if you do this you count as having failed a madness check and now have a permanent insanity that manifests whenever you hear music or singing (DM's choice for what the actual condition is). A small price to pay for overthrowing your DM's bullshit plan of forcing you on this adventure. Once you get into Sithicus you find out that's a fairly typical 'dark woods' type land populated by depressed xenophobic Silvanesti elves who exist essentially only to torment Lord Soth and remind him of his long ago dead mistress. Unlike Krynn's Silveanesti elves who are better than you because they're elves these elves live in relative squalor because everything is always worse in Ravenloft. They're still jerks though. I think this place is supposed to be a fantasy version of Eastern Germany or maybe just Eastern Europe in general (like most of Ravenloft), but with the Germans replaced by elves. Because Soth is in the memory mirrors and is no longer being properly tormented the land is falling apart and misty rifts are slowly consuming everything that isn't in Soth's keep. In addition to this, the elves of Silvanesti are starting to forget things and lose their memories and identities because they are intimately tied to this land. So, that brings us to the first encounter in Sithicus, an elf named Quallon. edit: Now that I think it, what with the elves being tied to the land and its ruler there might be some serious blood & soil poo poo implied by this adventure and huh, wow I did not know about that stuff when I was a kid reading about this so this is much more racist than I had at first realized. Naturally, the Vistani are not affected by the memory loss affecting the elves because they are 'Wanderers' and not tied to the land. The more I think it the more I realize that this might not just be regular Roma stereotypes racist, but actually specifically literally Nazi racist. Maybe someone who knows more about this can speak about it, I don't really know what I'm talking about. Quallon first encounters the PCs while he's running away from an imaginary invasion of treants sent by a neighboring dark lord who's realm he was scouting. If the PCs talk some sense into him then he fills them in on what he knows - not much because his memory is deteriorating - but he can help act as a native guide and point you toward the major city of Sithicus, Har-Thelen, that sits outside of Soth's keep. Your next encounter is with Lord Soth's seneshcal, a dwarven werebadger named Azrael. Azrael is leading a group of skeletons and is torturing three elves who he thinks saw Kitiara's ghost. And you just happen to meet him on the road. Azrael is a psychopath who will immediately try to murder you if you stop him from killing these elves and will try to run away by tunneling into the earth in were-badger form if you start winning. He's only got eight skeletons so this is a fight you can easily win. If you capture or try to talk to him Azrael tells you that he's trying to find Kitiara so he can lure Soth out 'his playground' but that's about it. Azrael is sort of a dick, but he's supposed to survive here and isn't expecting a real fight today so he should run away quickly. If you save the elves the players will start to suspect that something weird is going on in Sithicus because they literally don't even know who they are anymore and are useless. If you instead decide to help Azrael you make a powers check (a Ravenloft specific mechanic where PCs who commit heinous deeds gain cursed gifts) and then get nowhere and accomplish nothing. Eventually Azrael gets bored and leaves the PCs in the woods. Anyway, I just want to stop here for a moment and ask: Does anyone else feel a bit weird about a dwarven were-badger who tunnels around like Bugs Bunny? This feels pretty much like fantasy racism, but whatever, this is Ravenloft and we have way more blatant examples of actual racism to work with. Speaking of which, our next encounter is with the Vistani. If - mean when because this is rail-roaded as can be, the PCs carry on to the nearest town (it doesn't matter which) they find a city in disarray. The elves are all no longer able to remember who they are, but if you try to interact with them the adventure specifically points out that they remember they are prejudiced against non-elves and go out their way to be a dick to you. The local Vistani have decided to take advantage of the chaos caused by the memory loss and are wandering through the city looting everything that isn't nailed down. So, basically, this section is just all racism. In the event you decide to ask the Vistani for help they try to pick pocket you (seriously?) and if caught they plead for their life and tell you they can introduce you to their leader Magda. Magda is an old Vistani fortune-teller and she is exactly what you are expecting in terms of Roma stereotypes right down to the crystal ball. Magda hands you a bunch of plot bullshit, tells you an old prophecy about heroes who will save the land in the hour of despair, and then sends you on your way to Lord Soth's castle, Nedraagard Keep. Magda is useful to the PCs for a couple of reasons. First, the Vistani are not affected by the memory loss and so you can actually get useful information from them. Second, she knows some stuff about Soth's castle that you'll want to know. For example, Soth's castle has thirteen skeleton warriors, a reasonably dangerous threat, as guardians and the skeletons each patrol a different section of the castle but they are instructed to leave you alone if you give a specific watch word. The watch words rotate daily, but there are only four of them. Nice security you got there Soth. Azrael is not undead so he also needs to use the pass phrases to get around and if you kept him alive you can learn them from him. There are also thirteen banshees that live in Nedraagard Keep and each has its own lair somewhere inside so stay away from that poo poo unless you want to die because this is a level 4-6 adventure with thirteen monsters that have save or die effects. Most importantly, Magda can tell you the entire story of Lord Soth for when you start to gently caress with his memory mirrors. Of course, despite being heroes of prophecy who are about to save her and her people from dying in this disintegrating realm, Magda expects to be paid for this information because she's a Vistani and there are even prompts in her story where the PCs are expected to throw some coins at Magda for her to continue. After this encounter the adventure assumes you'll head to Nedraagard Keep because what the gently caress else is there to do? Into Nedraagard Keep. Soth's house is a moldering ruin, but it's the only place that isn't falling into misty rifts. There are no misty rifts here so the PCs don't have to worry about randomly falling into a hole, but do have to worry about other things. Namely, the 13 skeleton warriors, 13 banshees, a werebadger with an axe to grind (literally, he has an axe of speed +3. It's cursed though), and Lord Soth himself. Let's break down the two main monsters in the keep. The skeleton warriors are by themselves a minor fight, only 45hp, but they require magical weapons to hit and are 45% magic resistant so they are extra tanky for this level. However, they only do 1d8 damage on a hit and by themselves they're weak, but in a group they can easily grind a party down with their pile of hp and resistances. When you're in the keep every 10 minutes you have a 10% chance to meet one and if you don't give the watch word it goes agro. After this first encounter the warriors start to travel in groups and will become much more dangerous and will patrol more aggressively, 20% to encounter them every 10 minutes. There's nothing, except time and patience, stopping the players from just grinding down the patrols with battles of attrition. The warriors don't leave the keep so you can come back and fight again and again if you have to. The banshees, scantily clad nubile elf maidens with a messed up face, are easily the most dangerous encounters because each one has death wail that forces a save vs. death or you die (that tracks) and that's not something a level 4-6 party can undo so using the same strategy against the banshees as the skeleton warriors is a bad idea. However, they can only use the death wail at night so if you fight them in the daytime all they have to fall back on is a frightening visage that forces you to save vs. fear or run away and some weak melee attacks. By the way, can anyone think of any male monsters that have a fear effect specifically connected to their ugly face or is it just female monsters? Each of the banshees has treasure type D (random treasure from the DMG, actually a good haul) hidden in her lair and each lair is highlighted on the module's map. Every night at midnight the banshees go to Soth's throne room to serenade his comatose form with their singing for 2d3 hours so you can use this window of opportunity to loot their lairs and get around without provoking them. In the event you are stupid enough to be in the throne room at midnight the banshees all immediately try to kill you and will use multiple overlapping death wails to do so. The keep itself is a fun little dungeon with an excellent map included in the module and fairly straight forward encounters that you can readily solve. The dangers tend to come from the two main monster types or from Azrael hunting you down. Tickelmop, a kender vampire, is also wandering its halls and may be encountered by the heroes if you want them to meet a friendly kender vampire who is willing to help them out. For some reason the adventure doesn't assume the PCs will try to murder the klepto vampire which seems like a mistake on the author's part, but Tickelmop is genuinely trying to help you save Soth and she will be friendly to the PCs. Some of the encounters in the keep are: Cursed harp of discord in the music room. Intelligent mimic disguised as a throne that tries to eat you, but can be reasoned with (assuming you don't just kill it immediately) and will talk to the PCs about what it knows. Is both desperately hungry and lonely. Stir-crazy nightmare in the stables. Garden of exotic and valuable plants. Six 'Thornslingers' try to murder you by nettles. They've killed the elven gardener who makes her living selling rare herbs to wizards because she forgot to drink her potion of plant control (still in her bag). On her hand she wrote down two of the skeleton warrior watch phrases to help her despite her failing memory so this is one of the most useful encounters. If you're looking for exotic plants you'll find them here. Defiled statue of Mishikal, if restored it full heals the party and removes all negative status effects and curses. Hell yeah.... except to restore the statue you have to glue together twelve fragments that have been coated in contact poison by Soth. You would think the poison would have degraded over time or that the poison would be noticeable, but this is a classic D&D 'gently caress you' trap. Just wear gloves I guess. It's not that strong a poison anyway, 20 damage on failed save vs. poison, 5 on a success. Temple of Paladine with intelligent good aligned magical long sword named Oathmaker. Did I mention this is for characters of level 4-6? The sword is embedded in a statue of Paladine made from platinum (10,000gp in value) and due to the evil aura of the place it is red-hot. Therefore, the metal statue is also red-hot and will burn you for 2d6 damage when you try to loot what is an insane amount of treasure for this level. The sword calls out to good-aligned PCs and will ask to be freed. Once free it cools down and gives you a ridiculously good magical weapon that can full heal you once per day, make you immune to fear, and give you extra strength. Of course, it's intelligent so there's some drawbacks too. You have to act like a Solamnic knight and can never retreat from battle. Also, it's bonus powers only work in battles against evil knights, otherwise it's just a +2 longsword. Library with libram of ineffable damnation and manual of puissant skill at arms. What is with the treasure in this place? Holy poo poo this is some high tier stuff. The evil book also has a description of Nuitari's effects on magic in Sithicus. Dead thief murdered by trio of gargoyles (some of the only actual monsters in here) that was on his way to looting the six treasure vault. The vaults each have some decent treasure, but one is the lair of a banshee. The sum total of all of the vaults is a lot of cash fro this level, about 7500gp in assorted coins, 15 gems and 6 jewelry of random value, and maybe 9 minor magic items (probably potions or scrolls, but maybe more). Azrael's study, a pittance of treasure and a pet poisonous snake in his boot. If you're in Sithicus because you're following the 'find a rare poison' hook then here is where you get it. Assuming you don't kill the snake when it surprises you. Azrael is occupying the former seneschal's study and it contains a lot of notes about military history of Krynn and stuff related to Lord Soth if you need more info on the man. Azrael's notes are also here, but contain little useful info. Lord Soth's study is attached here, it's covered in a permanent darkness spell with bonus illusions of wet-nosed monsters and has some random scrolls (some cursed), but that's it. That's about it for now. I'll cover the throne room and memory mirrors tomorrow. Those parts are where either Azrael or Tickelmop will help you try to save Soth. Assuming you don't just straight up try to kill either of them immediately. Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Aug 13, 2020 |
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Aug 13, 2020 17:32
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I remember Skeleton Warriors from Baldur's Gate and they were total assholes in BG1, when you just didn't have a lot of magic weapons early on.
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Aug 13, 2020 17:46
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Kharadron Overlords Kharadron life is built around their airships - a mix of small, armed escorts that move quickly through the air and large aerial fortresses they use for daily life. They are by far the most technologically advanced people in the Mortal Realms. They are also among the wealthiest. The Kharadron Overlords are a confederation of duardin city-states united by their skyfaring technology, their cultural legacy and their need for the power of aether-gold. They abandoned the mountain holds of their ancestors long ago, building the sky-ports that are their aerial cities. It was in flight that they survived the Age of Chaos, developing a comprehensive and immense set of documents - the Kharadron Code - to provide rules, guidelines and laws for all aspects of trade and governance. The Kharadron spent centuries isolated from others, trading amongst themselves and holding off aerial hordes of Daemons. Their technology allowed them to prosper, even without the aid of their gods, and when Sigmar emerged from Azyr, they didn't need his hope. Instead, they saw him as an opportunity, a chance to profit and expand. Their isolation ended with offers of trade and alliance, and their massive firepower has now been turned against the foes of Order in return for lucrative trade deals, rare goods and similar offers. Physically, they resemble other duardin - short, stocky, tough, and very proud of their hard work and discipline. Their greatest differences are cultural. The Kharadron, by and large, are not religious. They scorn the traditions of the duardin and their ancestors, outside of places like the skyport Barak-Thryng, where the old ways remained strong. They acknowledge that magic and divinity both exist, but believe that the inexplicable and arcane can be explained, eventually, by rational science. They just have to figure out how to do it. They also take a more fluid view of class dynamics, operating on...well, what they call a meritocracy. Merit is defined by acquisition of wealth and power, of course. Each sky-port is run by an Admirals Council, which serve as leadership for a governmental body made up of the six most powerful Guilds in the city. Rank in this body is attained at all levels by the considerations of peers regarding talent, professional record and potential for increasing the port's wealth. In the end, that last is the ultimate decider. While they do not worship him, the image of Grungni remains common in Kharadron architecture and ship design. He is, for them, a symbol of good luck rather than a figure of worship. The Age of Chaos made it very clear to the Kharadron that they could not rely on Grungni for aid - just their own cunning, toughness and luck. They similarly take a very pragmatic approach to traditional duardin honor. Kharadron are no more likely to betray a sworn oath than any duardin...but they are experts at writing contracts, and they're very happy to exploit any loophole or technicality they can find. The Dispossessed duardin consider the Kharadron dishonorable and have sayings about always checking the contract many times when dealing with them. It's not that their skyfaring cousins are callous, they say, but they are notorious for their willingness to bend morals to the pursuit of profit. Even the Kharadron say that anyone fool enough to sign a contract without understanding it fully deserves whatever they get. The mercenary attitudes of the Kharadron have not fostered great relations with all their allies in the Free Peoples. For the most part, they're friendly and will rely on each other in times of need, but the Kharadron tend to see most non-Kharadron as a bit naive and poorly educated, and some Kharadron consider it good sport to take advantage of that naivete to fill their own pockets or to charge extortionate prices when they know their goods are sorely needed. The skyport Barak-Mhornar in particular is heavily suspected as being the center of a widespread black market in artifacts and cursed items, though the Admirals of the city deny it. Despite this, the Kharadron try to avoid open conflict with trade partners. It's bad for business, and the Kharadron favor logical decisionmaking based on business. Their history tells them that the duardin nearly died in the Age of Chaos because they refused most offers of aid, and they can easily tell that Chaos, Death and Destruction are simply not viable trade partners - and so a world under them is less profitable. They just also expect to be paid for their efforts. (The Kharadron Code was even amended after the Necroquake to note that ghosts are explicitly subject to their normal rules of engagement and that no contract can be valid with any party unable to take and hold a draught of ale.) The Kharadron proudly make the claim of being the strongest air power in the Mortal Realms, and they have few rivals to argue. Their aerial and economic dominance are both ensured by aether-gold. This is a magical substance found as a gaseous metal in the skies of the Realms. It has many uses, but the most vital is that it can be processed into a power source for the flying machines of the Kharadron. Each city funds massive numbers of prospector fleets to seek out new veins of the stuff. The admirals of these voyages are hardened aeronauts, and it is their business sense and decisionmaking that earns money, carefully divided up in highly regimented shares for their crews and patrons. The crews are as much soldiers and explorers, trained to fight the monsters of the skies, daemons and anyone that might get in the way of their work. When the Kharadron go to war, they call on these same crews alongside their specialist Grundstok Marines, experts in repelling boarders and fighting aerial foes.  Next time: History of the Sky Dwarves
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Aug 13, 2020 17:54
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I’ve never been much of a music listener. I’m more of a podcast person. But in high school I briefly got into symphonic metal and a few similar things, including Abney Park. After starting life as a goth band in the late 90s, they (and by they I mean lead singer, songwriter, and manager Robert Brown) tried to become the auditory version of the growing steampunk movement and mostly succeeded. I grew out of that phase pretty quickly but, when I discovered they’d commissioned an RPG of all things, I went ahead and bought it. And forgot about it.  Until I went through my collection looking for something to review, saw its name, googled it, discovered it was highly reviewed (and apparently had functional time travel rules  ), and decided “hey, why not”. Unfortunately, it turns out Robert Brown is kind of those “I’m not racist, but I can say racist things and anyone who disagrees with me is evil” people, but this game was written purely by Cakebread & Walton and also took a better stance, so, it might be worth showing to the thread. It has some major issues – which I will cover when we get to them – but at first blush it looks both mechanically solid and almost the opposite of ol’ Capt. Brown opinions-wise. As in, you know how steampunk has well-deserved reputation for Imperial British apologia? The Victorians are the villains here and the book tries very hard to make the punk label stick. So let’s see if it can pull it off.Introduction; Chapter 1: Character Creation (Neovictorians) Let’s start with layout. I’ve described the layout of every book I’ve reviewed so far as clean, but this is dirty; the background looks like spotted parchment, sidebars are laid out like postit notes, and the book has this intentionally dirty aesthetic that fits the theme pretty well, honestly. At least the text is always visible on the background, something deceptively difficult to pull off. Art is plentiful and varies widely in quality; the art credits list no fewer than 13 interior artists, which is, drat. There’s a lot of it  But anyway, that’s boring, let’s move on to the intro fiction. And the intro fiction is…  it’s not very well written. Passive voice and awkward word choice everywhere. The story features ramshackle pirates (with obligatory tragic backstories) running a ramshackle airship planning to pull a heist off against a powerful Neovictorian nobleman; their opponent is a cartoonishly evil admiral of the Imperial Air Navy (as in, he keeps a genetically modified tiger on his flagship that eats random crewmen). Admiral rear end in a top hat spends the story chasing the air pirates, horribly abusing his subordinates, and menacing independent towns; the pirates set the heist up and carry it off under his nose, living to fight another day. It establishes exactly the kind of people we’re dealing with on all sides.So, introduction. We get an interesting variation on the what-is-an-RPG-section; the main text openly assumes you’re either familiar with RPGs or are playing with someone who is and squirrels away relevant explanations in (clearly marked) sidebars. Get some necessary equipment, don’t read the GM section if you’re a player, a thinly veiled ad for other C&W games… Oh! The book emphasizes that RPGs require cooperation between everyone present to work right and GMs are there to guide the players through a fun story first; while adventures can be dangerous and PCs can die, they should only do so as a natural consequence if players do something particularly wild as opposed to getting drowned by dice. Strong focus on non-adversarial GMing here and elsewhere, good to see.  Basic rules! D6 dice pool determined by combining a relevant attribute and skill. You get a success for every one and six (I’m not sure why those specifically as opposed to, like, five and six) and sixes explode; one success just barely passes the check, more successes boost the results in both size and style, and no successes mean a failure. Very White Wolf. The GM can add penalties by adding d6s of a different color to your dice pool; they don’t explode, but you subtract every success on them from your dice pool and crit fail if you drop into negatives. We get told that the book laid this out for players now to have an idea of how the game runs before character creation and shown a brief example of play before the section ends. Good signs, as whole. The introduction establishes the swashbuckling tone the game wants to define itself by and builds a healthy expectation of cooperation between GMs and players. The example of play does have a few ominous bits; it has the GM throw a bunch of penalty dice at a relatively minor check and shows that one female PC has a creepy stalker. Still, relatively minor, and hopefully it won’t turn into a habit.  Anyway, chapter 1: character creation. We get a brief outline:
I said this book leans heavily into the “punk” part of steampunk, and I really meant it. While your character is more than their background, the book highly emphasizes the importance of class in shaping their abilities, worldview, and goals. Usually for the worse; life for everyone except the narrow class that dominates Neovictorian society really sucks. No matter what culture your character comes from, each culture/class has an entry in this section with possible motivations, backgrounds (the closest thing the game has to character classes), attribute modifiers, name lists, and starting cash (measured in Helios).  Neovictorians live in three enormous cities scattered across the former United States, connected by airship travel and ruled by one Emperor Victor III. Neovictorian society is defined by class and conformity; as a rule, dissidents and innovators end up in the Change Cages, massive prison complexes at the center of every city. Every inhabitant is born in a class and dies in that class, and everyone except the nobility is forced to put up with gruesome living conditions. They also dominate the continent, maintaining a massive military based around an airship navy, so they serve as primary villains most of the time. Lower-class Neovictorians make up the bulk of the population. They grow up in dirt and poverty, live out their lives packed into squalid tenements, spend their days working in dangerous factories, and spend the little money they earn at the company store before dying. The government views the poor as inherently inclined towards criminality and bad behavior, and so their districts are constantly patrolled by Peelers (copbots); the justice system, however, is highly rudimentary and most crimes are either punished by life imprisonment in the Change Cage or exile into the wilderness. Few ever leave voluntarily, since Neovictorians are raised from birth to believe the outside world will kill you and moments, but those that survive getting kicked out or get smuggled somewhere safe often join crews make ends meet.  In order to keep population under control, all Neovictorians are prohibited from having more than two children; while as far as most people know those babies are abandoned beyond city limits, they are in fact taken to workhouses and trained it to be grunt soldiers or servants of various kinds. Neovictorian sexism kicks in here: boys are almost entirely routed into military service and girls are trained to be houses servants for the rich. Male members of the servant class escape from their dangerous, thankless lives by jumping ship; female members find ways to smuggle themselves out. Nobles live in sumptuous circumstances far from the rest of the population; they spend much of their time performing stereotypical Victorian leisure activities, have all their needs attended to by servants and robots, and rarely consider anything outside their little world unless their job requires it. Neovictorian sexism really kicks in here: men can become naval officers, administrators, doctors, or just do nothing (in just under a third of cases), but women are subject to every Victorian gender role restriction you can imagine and then some. Escapees are often naval officers who stepped on the wrong toes, romantics looking to find a new way of life, women escaping bad marriages, or extremely bored dilettantes.  All Neovictorian characters have -1 Fortitude (Constitution, roughly), regardless of class, and get starting Helios budgets divided by class like you would expect. Most Neovictorian first names are the sorts of given names people assume Victorians used, and while they tend to get longer the higher up the social ladder you go, all classes draw their names from the same sources. On the other hand, as Neovictorians descend from modern Americans and have kept their surnames, you can find any last name that might show up today represented among them; the only difference is that upper-class Neovictorians tend to use double-barreled names to indicate shared lineage. In theory. In practice, most surnames that show up look decidedly Anglo and every Neovictorian noble I can find has exactly the sort of surnames you’d expect to find among English nobility; some uncomfortable implications there about who got herded into the cities back when they were founded. And all the Neovictorian art so far covers upper-class women, which… okay? So, we have a few warning signs here, but nothing dealbreaking yet; its heart is certainly in the right place. Next time, we cover Misbegotten, Automatons, Neobedouins, and Skyfolk characters – everyone who isn’t a member of the default culture. Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 13, 2020 22:34
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Kharadron Overlords Young Dwarf Creationism The duardin who would eventually become the Kharadron Overlords settled in Chamon, the Realm of Metal, which in the Age of Myth was heavily worked by Grungni to create perfectly geometric floating continents, all full of priceless minerals, including the realmstone Chamonite, which was a liquid metal that could be used to power machines of great magical power. After doing all that, Grungni left to head to Azyr to fulfill an oath to Sigmar. He believed it was fine - his worshippers needed to become strong without him towering over them. The duardin, humans and gholems (yes, gholems) of Chamon prospered, and the duardin did best of all, excavating great wealth. However, the forces of Tzeentch found purchase in the shifting and changing landscapes of Chamon. His whispers stoked the ambitions of duardin chieftains and human mages, even as he worked to corrupt the godbeast Lode-Griffon that lived in the center of the Realm. It was unleashed upon the realm, forcing the mortals living there to unite to fight it. A great ritual was prepared to turn the beast to gold - but the spell was corrupted by the Gaunt Summoners, and so as the beast was transformed in death, its dying cry tore open a massive portal to the Realm of Chaos. The people of Chamon were overwhelmed by the resulting daemonic invasion. Many duardin empires fell, but the clans that would become Kharadron pursued a desperate plan. They worked with their finest aethermatic scientists and engineers to produce airships to escape the Tzeentchian advance. The endrinspheres they made allowed not only ships but a few whole cities to be pulled into the skies, and the gyrocopters that aided them proved key in clearing out the air of flying daemon pursuit. The dogfights over the years of retreat were horrible, but the duardin succeeded. Their first skyports became fortresses against Chaos. All on the back of the gaseous aether-gold that fueled the endrins. Obviously, much time was spent on chasing aether-gold and finding new ways to extract and purify it, each port gathering as much as they could. Civil war seemed inevitable due to competition over the gas. To avert this, given the constant threat of Tzeentch's forces, the leaders of seven fledgling ports agreed to meet at the island of Madrasta. The Conference of Madrasta lasted many days and nearly broke into battle several times. At last, however, they reached an accord in hopes of mutual prosperity. The old royal lines had failed, and it was declared that no more would the duardin of the skyports be ruled by kings or queens, nor would they call on the gods to save them, like those clans that had fallen in battle. They would rely on good steel and aethermatics, with leadership chosen for talent, not lineage. The first draft of the Kharadron Code was written, with contributions from all of the participating ports. It was built on legal principles of discipline, individual freedoms, profit and communal security. The name Kharadron, meaning 'born from the sundered mountain,' was chosen to represent the new culture, that they would never forget what they had escped. The initial laws were originally developed based on naval rules to maintain order on ships. The Code expanded them into wider artycles (yes, artycles) to handle governance over a society. The Code, in theory, has stipulations for all circumstances, ranging from how aether-gold deposits are to be claimed to how enemies are to be engaged in battle and war. The original version had nine artycles, each with many sections. The most vital were the Artycles of Union, the Seven Rules of Prosperity and the Twelve Points of Election. There have been many amendments over the centuries, and not all sky-ports accept all amendments. (Barak-Thryng's traditionalists refute many of the ones involving worship and gods.) Even when the Artycles are agreed on, though, they are still open to different interpretations, and some Kharadron captains are infamous for their ability to argue the Code to mean whatever they want...especially those from Barak-Mhornar.  Some of the key amendments following the Necroquake (or, in the dialect of the Kharadron, the Garaktormun, or Great Gale of Death) include: quote:Proposed by Admiral Barsa Herelsdottir of Barak-Nar: Artycle 1 - The Rules of Governance, Point 7  Next time: Aether-Gold
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Aug 13, 2020 23:27
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Man they had at least 327 Sub-Amendments for Artycle 7.
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Aug 13, 2020 23:48
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So wait, according to Amendment 3, Footnote 16, it's okay to trade with the Bonereapers? And by extention, most of Death's forces? Also, why do they not use the obviously correct spelling of "amendmynt"?
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Aug 14, 2020 00:32
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Dallbun posted:So wait, according to Amendment 3, Footnote 16, it's okay to trade with the Bonereapers? And by extention, most of Death's forces? They votyd against it.
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Aug 14, 2020 00:44
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Dallbun posted:So wait, according to Amendment 3, Footnote 16, it's okay to trade with the Bonereapers? And by extention, most of Death's forces? That was certainly the proposal. For context: the port the guy proposing it is from is the one that is most hardcore capitalist.
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Aug 14, 2020 01:15
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Mors Rattus posted:artycles No.
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Aug 14, 2020 01:51
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How about "Sigmarticles"?
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Aug 14, 2020 02:08
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From checking that is an archaic way to spell it.
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Aug 14, 2020 02:54
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MonsterEnvy posted:From checking that is an archaic way to spell it. The answer is still no. At least the garbage names they've rolled out for everything in 40k and Age of Sigmar in the last few years make some sense from a trademark perspective, but this is just pointless dumb poo poo.
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Aug 14, 2020 03:48
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As someone who loves archaic spellings and crusty old bullshit, whose favorite novel is written in purposely early 19th century British spelling : gently caress no. Hell nah. Get the gently caress out of here.
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Aug 14, 2020 03:52
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Are the elves actual real people or just dream-constructs?
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Aug 14, 2020 05:58
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The Lone Badger posted:Are the elves actual real people or just dream-constructs? They're Coily the Spring Sprite but for Trees
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Aug 14, 2020 06:10
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Rare photo of GW's creative process:
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Aug 14, 2020 06:10
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Barudak posted:They're Coily the Spring Sprite but for Trees I think he meant Ravenloft.
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Aug 14, 2020 06:11
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Falconier111 posted:In practice, most surnames that show up look decidedly Anglo and every Neovictorian noble I can find has exactly the sort of surnames you’d expect to find among English nobility; some uncomfortable implications there about who got herded into the cities back when they were founded. Realism strikes again as WASPs transform into Neovictorian assholes.
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Aug 14, 2020 06:14
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Falconier111 posted:I’ve never been much of a music listener. I’m more of a podcast person. But in high school I briefly got into symphonic metal and a few similar things, including Abney Park. After starting life as a goth band in the late 90s, they (and by they I mean lead singer, songwriter, and manager Robert Brown) tried to become the auditory version of the growing steampunk movement and mostly succeeded. I grew out of that phase pretty quickly but, when I discovered they’d commissioned an RPG of all things, I went ahead and bought it. And forgot about it. There's also a board game. I actually picked it up years ago when I was an Abney Park fan, I got them to sign their character cards (There's also a Professor Elemental bonus card). The board game has a few cool points (the airship setup and the theory of the combat is cool) but in practice it's pretty lovely
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Aug 14, 2020 06:18
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Ithle01 posted:I don't want to double post so I'll respond to Everyone later, but for now. Reading through my own version of the module, there's a couple of points that need a bit of elaboration. The module describes the banshees this way: quote:So, they're not hideous faces on hot bodies. They're more like really snotty mean girls whose scream can make you die. Oathmaker, meanwhile was "secretly placed there by Paladine to vex Lord Soth." Process that for a second. Oathmaker is not some simple chunk of sharp metal with some magic to it. It's intelligent. It has an Ego, personality. And it's apparently spent the last 20 years or so stuck in something that likely makes it feel like it's being dissolved in evil acid. Because Paladine wanted to annoy Lord Soth. So we now know that this is very much a Dragonlance module because the gods are dicks. Meanwhile, unless the campaign somehow revolves around fighting evil knights everywhere, this thing is basically just a +2 Longsword that hurts you if you try to retreat from a fight. As for the Mishakal statue, figure anybody wanting to glue it together (and they get the glue where, exactly?) is going to clean the pieces thoroughly. Assuming you do all that without dying of poison damage, the statue will specifically heal/cure/remove all damage, insanity, curses, diseases, poisons, blindness or deafness. Alas, no mention of resurrections or regrowing lost limbs. Or return lost Levels, for that matter. Still, that kind of begs the question of what all falls under those aspects. If you get Lord Soth and/or Ticklemop in this room when you glue in the final piece, does that remove their curses (of undead/etc.) as well? Because that would be an interesting "gently caress you" to the Dark Powers of Ravenloft. Luckily, the evil book's description of Nuitari's effect on magic is on its cover and can be read by exposing it to the "light" of that moon. The Lone Badger posted:Are the elves actual real people or just dream-constructs? It's kind of hard to fully answer that question. In some ways, travelers (including the PCs) aside, the only "real" people in Sithicus are Soth, Magda and Azrael, his seneschal/butt monkey. Those three were real living and/or unliving beings from outside Sithicus. Everyone and everything else was formed by the Dark Powers to torment/punish Soth. In the mystical "space" where Sithicus is (assuming "where" has any meaning), there was nothing but fog and mist there. When Soth arrived, there was a whole civilization of elves, kender, etc. The Kender seemed to have somehow been sucked up along with Soth (or that's just what they think and they were created like the elves because Soth hates Kender too), but the elves seemed to have been created out of Soth's memories or something. The module makes a point of noting that the circlets that control the Skeleton Warriors are back on Krynn - along with their actual treasure - and along with the real Dargaard Keep - of which this place is simply a (deliberately) imperfect copy. Soth even named the place Nedragaard Keep, literally "Not Dragaard Keep." As for the Vistani, they're kind of a special case. It's been suggested pretty strongly that they have a special relationship with the Dark Powers. Most of the Dark Lords tend to tread a bit lightly with them due to that and they generally have freedom of movement to cross into other realms that most other do not have. The situation with Magda and her Vistani is different here because Soth has a personal grudge against her. This is pretty good module in terms of Ravenloft themes. In some ways, all the various Dark Realms are twisted versions of the Lords' home and life before Ravenloft. Soth isn't really doing anything the Dark Powers aren't doing to him. They just hate it that he likes his version of fan-fiction based on his story better than he likes theirs. Everyone fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 14, 2020 07:58
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