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Sol got the Mi-Go B Ark.
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Nov 16, 2021 15:49
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Covermeinsunshine posted:They could have go for "Humanity needs to embrace the eldrith to become on par with other races, but it will likely lose itself in the process". I mean, I can play tentacled transhuman punching space fungus. What I can't enjoy when someone tells me to participate in rape-on-rails adventure and read bad metaplot. One of the expansions for Fate of Cthulhu is premised on 'Nyarlathotep wakes up and everything ends, so the various eldritch beings who liked existing empower human champions to do something about that' and has corruption mechanics where your great power comes with a price baked right in.
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Nov 16, 2021 15:49
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Covermeinsunshine posted:They could have go for "Humanity needs to embrace the eldrith to become on par with other races, but it will likely lose itself in the process". I mean, I can play tentacled transhuman punching space fungus. What I can't enjoy when someone tells me to participate in rape-on-rails adventure and read bad metaplot. Eldritch Skies does that really well...and there is no rape in rules.
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Nov 16, 2021 15:53
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Covermeinsunshine posted:They could have go for "Humanity needs to embrace the eldrith to become on par with other races, but it will likely lose itself in the process". I mean, I can play tentacled transhuman punching space fungus. What I can't enjoy when someone tells me to participate in rape-on-rails adventure and read bad metaplot. Covermeinsunshine posted:You could spin it as ancient alien migou being just a bunch of grumpy old people who can't deal with the idea of uppity monkeys being space power so will keep trying to own the libs I mean humans even as climate change I mean chtulhu is going to eat everyone Also some of them are Nyarlathotep/Hastur cultists that team up with humans regularly, gotta have that Legion of Doom teamup 
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Nov 16, 2021 16:26
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I think Cthulhutech would've been better if they had actually toned down the worst "Memetic/Popular" Cosmic Horror themes of "Humanity can't do poo poo ever" and also "Racism and Rape and all the baggage inherited from Lovecraft', and instead leaned more into more anime-esque themes and ideas. And also had less rape. and racism. and islamophobia.
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Nov 16, 2021 17:00
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I can admit to being suckered by a bad game with high production values. When Cthulhutech came out, I really liked the Tagers. I didn't care that it was a ripoff of The Guyver. It was basically the same premise as Werewolf, but you're a Lovecraftian ninja. Also the art was good. Also, I first discovered The Guyver when I was on a family vacation as a child. We were watching whatever was on TV in between the beach and the ice cream store, and the movie was on. We saw the part where a monster swallows the Guyver, and he cuts its chest open from the inside, and walks up out of the corpse like he's coming up a staircase. My parents immediately turned it off, and my brother and I spent years asking for a VHS copy for Christmas because we're both assholes. Welp, that's my story. I never read the manga and didn't actually know much about the franchise, though. I was a little aghast when I saw that they'd just changed Guyver to Tager and Zoanoid to Dhoanoid. C'mon, man! (Random thought: If the Society really has over a quarter of a million Tagers, it should be pretty easy to just raze every Chrysalis Corporation building to the ground.) It was the beginning of the realization that Cthulhutech is part of a whole quasi-genre of media that I hate: stuff that put a Lovecraftian patina on everything because Lovecraft blew up in the mid-00s and is mostly public domain. Very little in Cthulhutech seems like it was done with more than a passing familiarity with Lovecraft. Like, the King in Yellow commands this enormous army rampaging across Asia. Despite the fact that the original book has stories that predict WWII, that's not really his thing. You can go down the line like this for pretty much every Lovecraftian influence in the franchise. Ettin posted:This is all nice and flavourful, but oof. So, everyone's secret double life as a Tager begins with them ghosting friends, family, work, and Twitter for half a year of getting clowned on? I am choosing to believe this setting works like HHGttG, and they can just phone their boss afterwards to say they'd gone mad. quote:If a Tager in your pack kicks the bucket, "his pack" are expected to retrieve the body so the authorities don't find it, and return it to their family (unless, you know, that would make things weird). Tager packs also have their own funeral rituals. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Nov 16, 2021 |
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Nov 16, 2021 17:05
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It's my opinion, though I don't think its fair, that Lovecraftian/Cosmic Horror stuff simply isn't good for a Roleplaying Game, especially if you're being faithful to Lovecraft's works.
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Nov 16, 2021 17:28
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Fivemarks posted:A problem with Cthulhutech is that, despite being inspired by anime where individual characters can be heroic and do make a difference, It leans too hard into "Bad Popular Lovecraft", which is "nothing matters you suck you lose gently caress you". Fivemarks posted:Like, it's majorly inspired by Robotech/the Super Dimensional anime, and in all of those anime, individuals making efforts to be better people manage to solve the problems through communication and the indomitable human spirit. I'm just going to say, I don't think Macross/Robotech's "We got the aliens to understand us and work with us through culture as expressed by music" gels at all with Lovecraftian anything.
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Nov 16, 2021 17:33
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I'd be kind of okay with the Migou being unreasonably hostile to humanity even in the face of a common foe if they were the kind of cosmic unknowable aliens I've seen in Lovecraft stuff before where it's like "oh, we have no common frame of reference with these alien fungus lobster bugs, they can't understand us any more than we can understand them" but in Cthulhutech they're VERY knowable which makes them being blindly hostile even when much bigger things than Humans In Space are going on sort of absurd. Anyway Cthulhutech is the kind of thing I like in theory but the actual execution is either weak, or fuckin gross. I'll look up that eldritch skies thing someone mentioned though.
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Nov 16, 2021 17:41
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Halloween Jack posted:Especially given its racist origins, it would be better to just deliberately rebuke Lovecraft's premise and say that the Deep Ones, the Mi-Go, the metal box things from Uranus, etc. are people and you can communicate with them. In a Lovecraft inspired game at the moment and this is the tone being taken with the other races.
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Nov 16, 2021 18:11
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out of the OG races the Yith are the most knowable because they're a bunch of high-handed cone-shaped anthropologists.
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Nov 16, 2021 18:15
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Deep Ones are pretty knowable, as they're really just people with a severe skin condition.
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Nov 16, 2021 18:21
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I did a F&F of Eldritch Skies back in the day, but I never finished it. I didn't get much feedback on it, I think because it had very little art to draw the eye and was sandwiched between much more exciting F&Fs going on at the time. They've since revised the game, so I'd like to go back and finish it some time. The basic premise of the thing is that humans discovered the truth about Ancient Aliens in the early 20th century, by the 80s it was common knowledge, and by 2000 we have Lunar/Martian colonies and interstellar exploration. So it's more about Earth governments loving around and finding out than some gigantic war against the mythos. It uses Unisystem, which is not the best system ever but IME basically functional, and you can bolt on whatever you want from the many, many Unisystem games and sourcebooks to establish the tone and the level of crunch you want. Among other things, it has rules for part-ghoul and part-Deep One PCs. (Fully transformed Deep Ones and ghouls are considered too alien in what is still a cosmic horror game.) Covermeinsunshine posted:They could have go for "Humanity needs to embrace the eldrith to become on par with other races, but it will likely lose itself in the process". I mean, I can play tentacled transhuman punching space fungus. Their vision of the Mi-Go was as a partly hive-mind species that engineered themselves to be this way in order to survive. They "have become as the Great Old Ones, free and wild and beyond good and evil." It's a portent of what humanity might have to choose over extinction. Anyway, I'm fine with the Mi-Go being hostile to humanity for no reason. They're Belgium and we're the Kongo. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Nov 16, 2021 |
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Nov 16, 2021 18:24
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Just plugging The Innsmouth Legacy books by Ruthanna Emrys , I like them for the 'aliens are people' take.
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Nov 16, 2021 18:24
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Agreed I was gonna recommend those as well.
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Nov 16, 2021 18:30
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Honestly, it’s baffling to me that it took CthulhuTech - a game that leads with its anime - until whenever it is the new edition actually comes out to embrace a “Chinaman on the moon” view of humanity in the face of Lovecraftian alien gods. Do you know how many anime have “monsters are better [Edit: I think I was watching 3 of them last season alone]
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Nov 16, 2021 18:58
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AmiYumi posted:Honestly, it’s baffling to me that it took CthulhuTech - a game that leads with its anime - until whenever it is the new edition actually comes out to embrace a “Chinaman on the moon” view of humanity in the face of Lovecraftian alien gods. Don't give them any ideas or we're gonna get CthulhuTech: Interspecies Reviewers or a CthulhuTech harem anime, and I don't even know how a Mi-Go is gonna trip and accidentally show the protagonist its panties for cheap "comedy" and fanservice.
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Nov 16, 2021 19:08
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How do I get Senpai Nyarlathotp to notice me?! I tried all the chants and slaughtered goats left and right!
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Nov 16, 2021 19:14
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By popular demand posted:How do I get Senpai Nyarlathotp to notice me?! I tried all the chants and slaughtered goats left and right! Nyarly-kun doesn't have time for his kouhai, as he's too busy with his club activities.
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Nov 16, 2021 19:19
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Okay you joke but this is basically just Demonbane (don't watch it, its bad) and Nyaruko-chan (Actually a straight up comedy, its decent).
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Nov 16, 2021 19:21
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Halloween Jack posted:I can admit to being suckered by a bad game with high production values. When Cthulhutech came out, I really liked the Tagers. I didn't care that it was a ripoff of The Guyver. It was basically the same premise as Werewolf, but you're a Lovecraftian ninja. Also the art was good. This is where I was at, cool shapeshifting monster people fighting a secret war for humanity was something right up my alley (The mech part certainly didn't hurt, either.) I have never been so badly disappointed in a game before.
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Nov 16, 2021 19:46
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Fivemarks posted:Okay you joke but this is basically just Demonbane (don't watch it, its bad)  Fivemarks posted:Nyaruko-chan (Actually a straight up comedy, its decent). [Edit: the Nyaruko anime is full of references to the Call of Cthulhu TRPG, bringing us back ‘round as the serpent endlessly devours its tail] AmiYumi fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Nov 16, 2021 |
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Nov 16, 2021 19:55
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AmiYumi posted:Anything that has Dr. Herbert West, Reanimator, piloting a giant robot via electric guitar and crotch-thrusting is by definition good
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Nov 16, 2021 20:12
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Pvt.Scott posted:Deep Ones are pretty knowable, as they're really just people with a severe skin condition. Make this the canon attitude towards re-animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnOUOkcr9c
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Nov 16, 2021 20:50
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Halloween Jack posted:I did a F&F of Eldritch Skies back in the day, but I never finished it. I didn't get much feedback on it, I think because it had very little art to draw the eye and was sandwiched between much more exciting F&Fs going on at the time. They've since revised the game, so I'd like to go back and finish it some time. I backed the original Eldritch Skies Kickstarter and the first version used the Cinematic variant of Unisystem (the same version that the Buffy:the Vampire Slayer RPG used). This is a very fast and easy game system and really isn't that much of a pain. The latest edition of Eldritch Skies is using Savage Worlds.
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Nov 16, 2021 22:00
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The only thing that struck me as odd about the Cinematic Unisystem in the first edition is that they had various combat maneuvers to make it, y'know, cinematic, but it was kinda odd what they kept in and what they left out. Granted, cutting out a lot of the stuff from Conspiracy X and Enter the Zombie was not a bad thing, because in some cases one maneuver was just mathematically better than another.
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Nov 16, 2021 22:11
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By popular demand posted:How do I get Senpai Nyarlathotp to notice me?! I tried all the chants and slaughtered goats left and right! Be more entertaining.
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Nov 17, 2021 05:53
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By popular demand posted:How do I get Senpai Nyarlathotp to notice me?! I tried all the chants and slaughtered goats left and right! Trying raping the goats, too? Apparently Cthulhutech decided that along with showing humanity to be insignificant fleas on the Old Gods' asses and being unsubtly racist, the one thing Lovecraft needed was just a whole lot more rape.
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Nov 17, 2021 07:16
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Oh yeah, for those who might've missed it, or are unaware of it. The Kickstarter for the cyberpunk spin off to MÖRK BORG, called CY_BORG, is up now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jnohr/cy-borg
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Nov 18, 2021 14:02
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Age of Sigmar: Blades of Khorne skull blood skull blood Those drawn to active worship of Khorne and joining the Bloodbound tend to be driven either by desire for power or obsession with martial skill over all else. After all, Khorne doesn't really go in for collective worship or sermons - there is no Khornate preaching nor outreach through words. The Blades of Khorne recruit by showing their own power. They fight and kill and spare only those who join them in doing so. Violence is their message. However, there are a few routes that tend to come up more often than others. Some are borne into Khornate cultures and raised in the glorification of slaughter, often having to eat an enemy's heart as a rite of passage into becoming a warrior for their people. Others look at the works of Khorne and the destruction the Bloodbound cause and decide that dominance and power are the only truths, and therefore it's best to join the winning side. Others don't really choose Khorne so much as just come to really enjoy killing people as they nominally seek vengeance or pursue another cause, until the original cause becomes meaningless. Martial pride is all too easy to turn into worship of violence itself, and that has led many otherwise non-Chaotic cultures to turn towards Khorne as they pursue martial dominance over all else. They develop into peoples who believe might is the only truth and surrender does not exist, going from self defense to conquest to butchery as they draw closer to the Blood God. Once they get there, most never turn back from the Path of Skulls. They seek immortality by becoming the greatest killers, but only the strongest can hope to achieve daemonhood - and only if they are willing to turn on any ally they once had to prove themselves to Khorne. These are the Bloodbound, and they are beyond even the normal warriors of Khornate cultures in their embrace of slaughter. Where others are simply Khornate Slaves to Darkness, only the most dedicated are willing to take on the Trials of Khorne and earn his greater blessing. The rewards are worthwhile, of course - unnatural strength and skill, empowering rage, the nose to smell blood anywhere. Fingers may become claws, mouths may fill with fangs, or they may simply hunger for murder and death. Earning further favor is done through offering up skulls to Khorne, each time getting one step closer to becoming a daemon. The bigger and messier the offering, the better, and Khorne also loves courage, boldness and skill...but he's willing to overlook those traits in favor of enough blood and skulls. While he may grant power to those who offer these things, they know they can't stop - either they will become a Daemon Prince, or they will be killed by another. There are no other end points to the Path of Skulls, and Khorne likes both results. The first Khornates arose at the dusk of the Age of Myth, as Khorne's tendrils of corruption set in among the more warlike peoples of the Realms, causing them to see combat as a way of life, and end in itself. Once they became addicted to violence, it was only a matter of time for them to become more brutal, less honorable, more bloodthirsty. By the time the Age of Chaos was in full swing, the first Bloodbound walked the land. By its end, they and the other armies of the Chaos Gods controlled the majority of land in the Realms, having destroyed countless peoples. Daemons of Khorne relished in the carnage, appearing wherever enough Khornates gathered to draw their power down. Each Bloodbound tribe has developed their own methods of summoning, all of them quite bloody. The Bloodfeast Tribe eat the flesh of those they kill in battle even as they fight, harnessing their hunger and their prayers to Khorne to empower the blood goblets of their Slaughterpriests and bring forth daemons. The Brazen Butchers carve foes into eight pieces and arrange them around the battlefield until daemons emerge. And of course, ritually desecrating a Realmgate always works. Once a Blood Legion emerges into the Realms, they immediately start killing. It's their only job, after all - endlessly fighting and slaughtering whoever they find, except possibly their summoners. When they fall, the daemons will typically ignore their losses and keep going unless they lose a significant number of their force. In those cases, they may seek other groups to join, but if they can't find any, they will just go back to rampaging until they are eradicated, which sometimes leads to very small forces of Khornate daemons attacking people - even single Bloodletters just menacing anyone they can find. Likewised, the Bloodbound tend to treat their existence as a constant campaign, making camps and moving on fairly often after they finish killing or enslaving everyone in reach. They leave behind strongholds to watch over their lands, but they're often little more than a wall raised around huts or giant skulls. Finding new victims is far more important than holding old land. However, while permanent settlements are rare, they do exist. The Jagtooth Forts of Aqshy and the Boneclaw Hills of Ghur are both extremely important strategic fortress networks for Khornate forces, allowing them to resupply before reaching lands held by their enemies. Likewise, a number of places are sacred to Khorne and must be protected, often due to being sites of massive slaughter in the past and now serving as weak points into the Realm of Chaos. In some of these places, like the Bloodswamp or Skull Mount, the Khornates even raise massive structures - monolithic idols and great monuments, for example. Other places, such as the Scablands that once housed the Lympirric Empire, have been near-permanently made wastelands by Khornate forces and serve as pilgrimage sites for those seeking the power of Khorne's judgment prayers or new boons from their god. At the center of the Scablands is the Dripping Gate, once known as the Lympirric Goldflame Gate. It once connected Aqshy and Chamon, but after the Red Century of Slaughter, it was corrupted by Khorne and now leads deep into the Skull Lands. Controlling a corrupted or sacred site of Khorne is a mark of power for a Bloodbound tribe. Having more than one is the sign of a truly respected force. The Goretide, for example, control the Cliff of Skulls, the Eightpillars and the Lavableed Portal in Aqshy, consecrating them all with massive amounts of bloodshed. These are where permanent fortresses and slave camps are raised. Slavery is vital to Khornate cultures, because no proper Khornate would ever lower themselves to doing menial, non-bloodshed-related labor. Slaves raise the skull pyramids, prepare the feasts, move the supply wagons and farm the food. In times when harvests and hunts are poor, the slaves often become the food. Most Bloodbound tribes before the coming of the Stormcast considered their war mostly won, and that the future would simply be endless battle over who was the coolest. Losses to the Stormcast early on remain a major source of anger among them, and many now consider the Stormcast their main foes - worthy in battle and proper targets of hate. Khorne certainly keeps track of all the times his forces have lost to Sigmar's champions, from the fall of Mount Infernus to the destruction of the smallest idol. He despises the new Free Cities and pushes his worshippers to destroy them if at all possible. Khornate attacks have ruined many attempts to found new cities, and many more will certainly follow. Even more than Order, however, Khorne hates magic. The other Chaos Gods grant the powers of sorcery; Khorne never does, and may decide to send daemons to kill anyone fool enough to ask. He considers magic to be the antithesis of combat, a rejection of strength, skill and personal murder. Mages spend their time reading books and memorizing words and not, you know, killing people and offering up their skulls often enough. They usually hate close combat or rely on magical powers to boost their abilities - which is basically just lying about how good you are at killing, an admission that you can't actually do it yourself. Khorne hates any site of magical power, from the flux-cairns of Tzeentch to the groves of the Sylvaneth to the temples of the Seraphon. Indeed, he hates the Seraphon more than just about anyone, for they are essentially made of magic, and most of them don't even bleed - they just evaporate back into starlight and aether. If there is anything Khorne hates more than the space lizards, ith as to be Nagash. Nagash's dead forces do fight eternally, but they lack hatred, rage and blood. They lack the essential traits that make carnage truly worthy. They are animated by magic alone, and that is simply awful. Khorne's tried to destroy Nagash many times, and while his forces have often defeated those of Death and in one case actually did slay Nagash, he always came back again. Khorne has taken the Necroquake as a personal affront, especially because his own forces were unable to prevent it and only the deception and trickery of the Skaven prevented Nagash's total victory. Khorne has become only angrier in the aftermath. The idea of endless spells pisses him off massively, and he has given a new order. Killing all wizards has always been a tenet of Khorne, but in the aftermath of the Necroquake, he has offered up great and fast blessings to any of his followers who brutally slaughter mages, especially if it spreads their body parts across the landscape. Indeed, so real was Khorne's rage that his glare pierced through the walls of reality. Where he saw magic attacking his servants, his presence was felt stronger, the heat of his gaze rising from the earth. The Slaughterpriests felt his power rushing through them, and the first to harness it was Laskhar Bloodspeaker, chief priest of the Goretide serving Korghos Khul. Deep in the Scablands, he invoked the firs Judgement of Khorne, offering up great amounts of blood and his own deep hatred of magic to pull a Skull Altar from the earth. Using it, he sacrificed an entire Tzeentchian cult, and at the offering of the cult's leader, a blazing icon of Khorne appeared in the air and beheaded the sorcerer itself. This proved the key in allowing other Khornate priests to channel Khorne's hate into the Judgements, calling on them in battle to strike down sorcerers and defeat Endless Spells. khorne's also developed another specialized anti-magic tool: the Collars of Khorne, most often seen around the necks of daemonic Flesh Hounds. They are sometimes given to other daemons or even mortal champions, however. Each is forged at the foot of the Skull Throne, heated by Khorne's own hatred and so imbued with a portion of his will. Some say that their power is drawn from soaking in the blood of wizards, while others say it comes from Khorne's hatred of magic going into the metal. What is clear, though, is that magic is repelled by the Collars. Even powerful spells wink out when they target the Collar's wearer, and the things launch mental attacks on spellcasters as they chant, interrupting their words with thunder, laughter and other sounds. The Flesh Hounds especially love to eat wizards, and no magic or illusion can throw them off the scent. Most Collars are simple brass things that, when in use, blaze with Khornate sigils. Some have studs or spikes, and the ones with spikes often have them both on the inside and outside of the metal ring. Once put on someone, their undying heat binds them shut forever, shrinking them to a tight fit so that nothing can ever remove them short of total decapitation. Next time: The Blood Legions Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Nov 18, 2021 |
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Nov 18, 2021 18:47
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Are rival gods giving out sorcery to their followers left and right, making them strong enough to beat yours? Just start giving out, uh, "divine gifts" that definitely aren't sorcery!
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Nov 18, 2021 19:22
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Age of Sigmar: Blades of Khorne blood skull blood skull Khornate daemons are somewhat special in that they actually get rewarded for good performance - a daemon that is strong and nasty enough will be granted the power to rule over the others of their kind or even be elevated to higher types of daemonhood. This encourages them to compete with each other to be the best fighters, often sparring or duelling with each other. Likewise, those who who disappoint Khorne can be demated, reduced to weaker form or even have their immortal nature removed from them and reabsorbed into their master. In theory any other Chaos God can do this too, but it's pretty rare to see the same degree of...call it social mobility among daemons. The top rank are the Bloodthirsters, though they are themselves organized into eight different ranks. There are also eighty-eight unique Bloodthirsters who have special roles directly serving Khorne, such rear end Wroth'kar, the Guardian of the Eight Gates, but they exist mostly outside the structure. The top-ranking Bloodthirsters are the First Host, the Exalted, who are each army-destroying monsters in their own right and serve as Khorne's top generals. They rarely head out to battle personally simply because they rarely see a challenge worthy of them - only the biggest armies or greatest foes are worthy of their time. Under them are the Second Host, the Lords of Murder, who are only somewhat weaker. Each rank that follows is weaker but often specialized in a specific kind of combat. The lowest, the Eighth Host, are the Bloodthristers of Unfettered Fury, the most commonly seen Greater Daemons of Khorne. They often end up in charge of the Blood Legion forces that get sent out into the world. When at full strength, a Blood Legion is eight cohorts, with each cohort made of eight packs of daemons. Each pack will be led by a Herald or Bloodthirster at first, but often a cohort will lose numbers during a campaign due to casualties. However, they can also increase by absorbing other Legion forces or summoning more daemons forth in battle. (Or just finding another legion's packs and conquering them, which is hardly unknown among Khornate forces.) The majority of any given Legion, though, are Bloodletters - vicious and numerous troops who tear into the enemy under command of their Bloodmasters, who are the lieutenants of the cohorts. Those who are mounted on Khorne's bull-monsters are called Bloodcrushers, trampling over their foes. Flesh Hounds serve as flankers who hunt down wizards, while the Blood Thrones operate as unstoppable, hungry weapons. Skull Cannon artillery turn the enemy into a weapon against themselves, hurling flaming skulls at those the daemons have not yet gotten close enough to cut apart. It should be noted that Blood Legions, while often operating in a state of murderous frenzy, are not mindlessly without tactics. They favor aggression and bold offense, because Khorne has little patience fore elaborate tricks, but they aren't idiots. Their speed and precision allows equally for strikes at key weak spots as it does berserk furies, and the daemonic leaders of the legions are gifted with tactical skill as well as martial might. As much as they may love single combat, they know exactly how to hurt their enenmies most, and are good at judging when to control their fury and when to unleash it. They organize into eights and eights of eights because eight is Khorne's sacred number. Some ay it is because he killed eight gods in the moment of his birth, using them to begin the Skull Throne, while others say Khorne must be fed by eight ages of war before he will be satisfied. Whatever the case, eight is his number and the eighth cohort in a legion is always the most potent of the lot. Most Bloodbound hordes also organize in eightfold lines to honor their god. In Chamon, the cults of the Corroded Escarpment sacrifice eight captured warriors to create their brass statues of Khorne, and in Ghyran, the Fleshcarvers can only earn initiation by cutting off two fingers and two toes, that they might have eight of each in total.  A few Legions stand out from the rest. The Reapers of Vengeance are probably the most infamous among mortals. Their commander is of the Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirsters, a daemon named Ka'Kharnn who rose to prominence long ago, when Khorne first fought to expand the Skull Lands. No mortal knows the full story, but legend has it that Ka'Kharnn lead his Blood Hunt to defeat a mighty Exalted Keeper of Secrets who had beaten several Khornate forces, and so he was raised to the Third Host and given command of a legion. His Bloodcrushers were made his honor guard, and ever since, they have been known as Khorne's Reapers for their culling of his foes. Khorne doesn't tend to care how many of them die as long as they win in the end, but he does get upset when his forces are defeated in major battles, especially by trickery or magic. That's when the Reapers of Vengeance come out. Their job is to remember those foes who have made Khorne look bad, embarrassed his forces or otherwise greatly pissed him off. They emerge from the Realm of Chaos to claim the deaths that their enemies denied that day, no matter what it takes. They've fought all across the Mortal Realms, and their legion often ends up divided over many fronts. They unite only when Khorne or Ka'Kharnn have a personal grudge to settle - but when that happens, they are unstoppable. There are many Khornate legends about the battles of revenge fought by Ka'Kharnn, who has eradicated entire nations to the last soul for insulting him - and sometimes to the point of killing anyone who even heard of that nation.  The Bloodlords are rather younger, having risen to fame during a war across Ghur during the Age of Chaos. Specifically, they wiped out of twelve entire orruk tribes for their ac tions during the Ironfang Waaagh!, and they haven't really left Ghur since. They spend much of their time burning down Sylvaneth enclaves and human cities, but when not doing that, they hunt and kill monsters to collect their gigantic skulls. Khorne loving loves gigantic skulls, you see. The many Bloodmasters of the legion compete to gather the most monster skulls and to perform the bloodiest kills in their god's name. They are often seen in the company of Skulltaker, Khorne's personal huntmaster. The legion sees frequent turnover in membership - when a cohort does well, it rises in the ranks, but the most disappointing cohort after a time will be kicked from the Legion and replaced by new hopefuls. Due to their successes in Ghur, the Bloodlords have the privilege of directing their own campaigns. They can choose their targets, and they tend to exclusively pick famous and high-profile foes so that they can keep earning Khorne's favor. It's served them pretty well - they defeated the Colossi of Ghur, beheaded the godbeast Fangthar and offered its skull to Khorne, and have made a mountain of skulls using only orruk warboss heads. They encourage individuality among their cohorts, and each cohort has a special, unique symbol that is branded on all members. When the light of the brand dies, it means that cohort is no longer a member of the Bloodlords. Thus, each group works hard to maintain their position and gather impressive tributes. Now, let's talk Bloodthirsters. These are the greater daemons of Khorne, the generals and warlords that direct the Blood Legions. Each one is a powerhouse of violence, and there are eight kinds in general...plus the unique ones. The most notable of the unique is Skarbrand the Exiled, once Khorne's very most favorite daemon ever. Skarbrand is the one who tore open Slaanesh's palace, who defeated two other Bloodthirsters in single combat and bound their souls into his axes, Carnage and Slaughter, and who was the right hand of Khorne. However, his pride overcame him, and Tzeentch was able to manipulate him into rebellion. Skarbrand attempted to kill Khorne and take his place - but all he managed was a slight chip in Khorne's armor. In return, the god seized the traitor and tore out his ability to reason and think, leaving only blind anger. Then, he hurled Skarbrand out of the Realm of Chaos, exiling him to the Mortal Realms. Ever since, Skarbrand has blindly killed his way across the landscape, unable to think of anything but rage. He has killed many, but he remembers none of it. He has no plan, no greater scheme - he just fights and kills, growing angrier and more dangerous the more wounded he becomes. Most Bloodthirsters aren't that! The most common are the Eighth Host, the Bloodthirsters of Unfettered Fury. They are still incredibly powerful, each armed with a large Axe of Khorne, powerful enough to chop a dragon in half, and a fiery whip studded in brass spikes. They are used to drive on Flesh Hounds and mortal Bloodbound when there's no enemies around for the Bloodthirsters to tear into, and they excel at driving lesser servants to new heights of frenzy. Then we have the Sixth Host, the Bloodthirsters of Insensate Rage. These daemons are tasked with the job of breaking the unbreakable. They wield huge two-handed axes, each the size of a fortress gate, and each able to tear apart an entire enemy unit. They tend to be the least thoughtful of an already fairly unthoughtful breed of daemon, often consumed by their battle lust as they charge headlong into the most well-defended enemies. Above them are the Third Host, the Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirsters. They are the hand of vengeance, sent after those who have insulted Khorne, and also have the sacred task of defeating the greatest enemy champions in single combat. They are relentless when given a target, snaring enemies in their barbed bloodflails and breathing terrifying blasts of flame before using their double-bladed axes to carve up what's left. What about the seventh, fifth, fourth, second and first ranks? Shut up, that's what. Heralds of Khorne are raised up from the strongest Bloodletters to serve as middle management. They must be brutal and skilled, and in gaining rank, their hellblades absorb more power. They come in several types. Bloodmasters are those who perform notably brutal actions and who feel an insatiable need to kill above and beyond the call of duty. They are singleminded in combat, thinking of little but attacking their foes. They don't really serve as leaders except insofar as being an example to follow, having little grasp of tactics or strategy - they just get blessed with extra rage. As their rage builds, however, it emanates out from them and empowers nearby Bloodletters to perform stronger and nastier attacks. Skullmasters, on the ot her hand, are cavalry experts who earned rank through their love of the charge. They adore nothing more than the feeling of skulls breaking under the hooves of their mounts, powerful Juggernauts. They tend to be slightly better leaders than the Bloodmasters by virtue of being good at coordinating their attacks, mastering the art of not just tearing folks apart but letting their bull-like mounts shake the earth and trample over foes. And then there's Skulltaker. There's only one - it's his name and title, the greatest Herald. He is the eternal champion of Khorne, the hunter of skulls, whose duty is collecting trophies. He seeks out the mightest warriors in existence, demanding to fight them in single combat. He will happily just walk up to an enemy camp and holler about it, in fact. Anyone that takes him up on his challenge gets a quick salute and then he tries to kill them. He usually succeeds - there are few who have as much experience in one on one combat as Skulltaker, and he's killed some of the best warriors that have ever lived. He excels at spotting weaknesses in enemy fighting styles and often fights to cripple and blind foes before he takes their heads, preferring to kill helpless victims in his duels. He burns away the flesh when he takes their skulls, leaving only bone behind, and he moves on to new targets quickly. Most skulls he offerrs up to Khorne, but those who fight particularly well he will keep as personal trophies. He shows up as he pleaseas, directed by no one, and occasionally, he'll link up with a Khornate army for a fight. It's never entirely clear why he does it - sometimes it seems to be for a chance at a particular skull, but not always. Whatever the case, he takes no orders, he just appears and helps kill people until the battle is over. Bloodletters are formed when Khorne has a temper tantrum, pretty much. He gets mad and does a shout and fragments of his rage fly out over the Skull Lands and congeal into red, muscular daemons with big horny heads and swords. They are the most numerous Khornate daemons, and they travel in packs. As their numbers increase, they get angrier, and as they get angrier, they fight better. The most vicious daemon, the one with the most kills among the pack, is known as its Bloodreaper. The Bloodreaper serves as a leader, and is typically marked by bigger horns or a bigger hellblade. (Hellblades are long iron swords whose edge is sharpened by the hatred of Khorne and which are especially good at cutting through armor. Some say they are part of the wielder, some that they're made from the soul of another daemon, but either way, no Bloodletter can put their blade down by any means.) Bloodreaper rank is temporary - any member of the pack can earn it by being better at fighting than the last one. Bloodletter packs typically carry brass hunting horns, which they blow to scare foes. They carry standards that bear the names of particularly notable warriors they've killed, written in the blood of dying mortals and draped with guts and entrails. All of these banners have the mark of Khorne on them, and they tend to smell of blood and copper. Some of these flags let them move faster, while others seem to glitch reality, allowing more Bloodletters to appear from nowhere. Sometimes, the packs will join Bloodbound forces, aiding the mortals in battle. This is because they're drawn to places of slaughter and will manifest mid-battle as a sign of Khorne's favor...though if any of the mortal Khornates prove to be less than Khorne desires, they're quick to kill those, as well. They will not tolerate cowards or any with an ounce of mercy. Bloodcrushers are Khorne's cavalry - Bloodletters mounted on Juggernauts. A Juggernaut is basically a giant muscular rhino-bull-thing coated in brass plates. Their charge is powerful enough to smash boulders with ease, and they are vicious creatures that love to impale people on their blade-horns. The force of a Bloodcrusher charge will collapse most enemy lines quickly, leaving decapitated bodies and little else but gore. To become a Bloodcrusher, a Bloodletter must earn Khorne's favor through acts of excessive violence. Once they do, they are taken to the Brass Citadel's stockade, a giant enclosed steppe full of thousands of Juggernauts. The beasts spend their time ramming into each other and running around, and Khornate runes are carved into their metal hides. Their blood is itself molten metal, and they breathe smoke. The new Bloodcrusher must tame one - and they respond only to force. The would-be Bloodcrusher must outwit or overpower their Juggernaut to get it to obey. The most common method is to grab its brass collar or jump onto its back from above, then trying to seize control. The majority of those who try this method end up gored or stomped to death, then eaten, so it's not the best method. Those that survive, however, end up with a very powerful steed that will mostly do what they want. Mostly. A Juggernaut can never be truly broken or tamed, since they're more like a natural disaster with hooves. You mostly try to point them in the right direction. It's the Juggernaut, not the rider, that decides when to charge - and that's typically "as soon as they see the enemy," as this drives their blood to boil. The rider just hangs on and lays about with their hellblade, trusting the Juggernaut to want to kill people. Next time: Artillery, dogs and humans.
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Nov 19, 2021 00:57
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Bloodverbers and Skullverbers Bloodlords rule over a number of Skullbiters and Bloodhunters, commanding endless legions of Skullburners and Bloodthieves and Bloodslashers and Skullhounds and Blooddrinkers and Skullwardens and Skullreavers and Bloodeaters and Bloodfaces and Skullsmashers and
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Nov 19, 2021 01:08
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megane posted:Bloodverbers and Skullverbers I don't understand why they don't just give them other names or whatever. They're still khornates. We can guess they like blood. It reminds me of back in 40k where every single goddamn planet would go to great lengths to ensure you that its inhabitants loved war and killing more than anyone else, to the point that I found myself thinking 'look, just point it out when one doesn't, I'll just assume otherwise.'
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Nov 19, 2021 01:56
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I mean, they're all the same guy. Every Khornate daemon is the same guy, except Skulltaker, who at least is funny because his deal is going YO 1V1 ME and then standing around until someone does.
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Nov 19, 2021 02:04
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I'm not sure why we need an entire book for 'the same guy' over and over. If they can't think of anything, just give Khorne a paragraph or two and let's move on. "These are the fight guys who fight. They're all the same. Let's go." doesn't carry a book.
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Nov 19, 2021 02:13
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Cooked Auto posted:Oh yeah, for those who might've missed it, or are unaware of it. The Kickstarter for the cyberpunk spin off to MÖRK BORG, called CY_BORG, is up now: They're funded 33x and within a few hundred bucks of their entire stretch goal campaign after two days. Wild!
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Nov 19, 2021 02:14
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Night10194 posted:I'm not sure why we need an entire book for 'the same guy' over and over. If they can't think of anything, just give Khorne a paragraph or two and let's move on. "These are the fight guys who fight. They're all the same. Let's go." doesn't carry a book. I do not disagree. Khorne Daemons are the most boring army.
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Nov 19, 2021 02:32
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Mors Rattus posted:I do not disagree. Khorne Daemons are the most boring army. Why cover them then? Why not just write an update or two about 'these are the same goddamn thing' and maybe what else could be done or how this could be improved, then done? Why transcribe it? I mean, if they're not even interesting to you, why bother?
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Nov 19, 2021 02:36
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Night10194 posted:Why cover them then? Why not just write an update or two about 'these are the same goddamn thing' and maybe what else could be done or how this could be improved, then done? Why transcribe it? I mean, if they're not even interesting to you, why bother? words for the word god, text for the text throne
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Nov 19, 2021 02:40
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