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Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




PurpleXVI posted:

But the fact that humanity needed outside interference to set up those systems rather than setting them up for themselves, as part of their own failings... you can't claim this doesn't distinctly change the character of humanity. Because if it doesn't, we'll arrange the exact same structures with the God Machine gone, and the whole battle is somewhat pointless. Humanity isn't necessarily intrinsically wicked or bad or evil, but definitely capable of some horrendously lovely things, which I think is kind of part of what makes it exceptional and wonderful when humans don't do those things, and stand up, and say "gently caress you" to evil things, because being a selfish rear end in a top hat is often an easier path to start down.
I don't know all the fine details of these games but I was re-reading Werewolf 20th which I imagine is contemporary with a lot of this.

In WW20, if you wolf out and take down one of the Wyrm commanders, you don't remove the problem they represent, but you do de-escalate that problem a lot. For instance if you took down the Paranoia one, people would still be paranoids, but there would be fewer, and paranoid thinking would fade as a major motivator for human society. I presume that if you did not fundamentally reorder reality to the point where you are just playing a totally different ball game, something similar would happen if you torpedoed an Exarch.

For the God-Machine though it's more about "this would mean that nobody's sacrificing abused cheerleaders to the oil pit in the woods any more." Which even if it does not objectively change the nature of humanity, improves society somewhat

PurpleXVI posted:

I am positing a humanity that is universally capable of being both assholes and not assholes. I'm not sure what's so staggering about that.
Fair enough, I at least read the original thing more as "humanity is not really capable of not being assholes," probably due to being marinated in grotesque internet cynicism 24/7

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Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Kaza42 posted:

I've looked through it. It seems... surprisingly competent at least from a quick read. There are a few issues though:

1) All stats and HP are rolled, 4d4 (every time they mention this, they call it out as a reference to "4 for $4. Nailed it") and there is no point buy
2) Eating a meal gives a bonus that stacks, and if you eat a meal that aligns with your Order (class) you get Advantage on all attacks for the day. This is crazy strong
3) Given how incredibly important meals are, there are no listed costs or ways to acquire said meals


I do like FEAST MODE, their equivalent to critical hits. Not only do you do crit damage on a 20, but you also get advantage to your next attack. It's a neat little thing to help keep a lucky streak rolling
I'm pretty sure you obtain the meal in question by going to Wendy's and exchanging currency for sandwiches and side dishes

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




The Lone Badger posted:

You mean IRL, right? Purchase a meal from Wendy's and your character gets to enjoy it too!
Yeah it seems pretty clear to me that the idea is that you get Wendy's with your game and experience a bonus, or you eat non-wendy's food and suffer penalty.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




That Old Tree posted:

While I certainly would like CoD to be much lighter in general, I think Demon contrasts to most of the other game lines in that it has more of an Exalted-style problem. Its powers are mostly a giant laundry list of highly idiosyncratic tricks with insufficient siloing. It suffers from "widget paralysis" in a way most of the other CoD games don't. This is a hurdle that plenty of people are willing to overcome who don't even like that they have to, but it's not all that fun unless it is specifically your jam, and it's a hard roadblock for a lot of other people. Despite my ridiculous 50-page Mage cheat "sheet" I just don't have the patience I once did to extensively coach someone through the weeds to get them into an especially complex game, and in all the CoD games I've run Demon is the one that stumbled the most because of this problem. (Mage has a similar but distinct problem that I find less onerous, though that has at least somewhat to do with my Mage bias.)
With Mage at least you can go "OK my guy would be able to talk to and interact with ghosts, so... Moros, which suggests he'd also know Matter and maybe some... Time? That seems cool," and perhaps pick out a couple of distinctive signature spells, things you can sort of map to everyday reality.

I don't know about y'all but very rarely have I been a renegade piece of unthinkably powerful computer equipment or whatever, piecing together things out of stuff I half-stole half-cribbed from others - ah, poo poo, there it is, I figured out the sadbrains analogy at the root of Demon, god dammit.

Anyway, Demon doesn't really have many pop-culture things to use as touchstones, even approximately or vaguely.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Tuxedo Catfish posted:

You joke, but as a high-functioning autistic person who's uncomfortably familiar with masking, Demon is surprisingly relatable. :v:


Control
Person of Interest
The Matrix
Atomic Blonde
Southern Reach Trilogy (more "mortals dealing with God-Machine" but still on-point)
this Panic at the Disco music video

there's probably a bunch of anime that goes to the right aesthetic too but i'd have to dig to find / remember it
On the first, I have mostly a running joke with people that the real root of nWoD games are to reify the sensation of being in a particular mental space, with everything else being set dressing.

On the second, totally-- but the big thing is like, when I hear "Demon," I don't think "techno-gnostic crime thriller," I think "I am some kind of creature from Hell who works for the Devil." It would be like if Vampire had like four or five different sub-splats all trying to withdraw Essence and only one of the sub-splats was particularly focused on drinking blood and the others were like Changeling ravagers, psychic vampires that stole Willpower points, and shitposters who are required to force mundanes to share their emotional state. It would make sense but it would be a major divergence from the folk idiom at its core, not the construction of additional space branching out from that.

e: In a sense the metaphor would probably be stronger if you didn't have "going loud" at all and just had Matrix Agent powers. To be clear this might not make for a better game, but you'd have less of an involved on-ramping.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Dawgstar posted:

I wonder how well The Invisibles holds up under that lens today.
Reading it, it was very clear that Grant Morrison was shouting "TRANS RIGHTS" at the camera on the regular, even if the content became rather dated and quickly, and might be a deal breaker for that.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Halloween Jack posted:

They're loving stupid from first principles. Why do a bunch of cults and corporations and spookshows have a common loving vocabulary? Why is it always broken Greco-Latin? Throw it the gently caress out.
Specialized vocabulary for frequently-occurring concepts makes sense and every WoD game seems to assume some basic amount of intra-gribbly society, which is all you need to start developing jargoon. As for it being broken Greco-Latin, I suspect this one might be down to player convenience, because most of the people reading the game speak English and Greek/Latin roots are weird enough to be distinct, but generally comprehensible/memorable/usable in speech.

Like the one big exception was nWolf and look how that went.

You also have the advantage nowadays that you're not drawing your slang words from a living language, which reduces your odds of accidentally naming one of your main splat groups a Cantonese ethnic slur, etc.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




SunAndSpring posted:

can I just post about the loving book instead of having dipshits tell me "no"
:honk:

I think folks, including the line developer, are kind of signalling "Hey, please do not do a FATAL and Friends of the kickstarter preview rules while the kickstarter is ongoing." Whether this is thread law I do not know, though it kind of makes sense if it were.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Asimo posted:

I reviewed a game that was never even actually released a few years back, but that's a different sort of precedent? Personally I don't think shutting reviews down is a good idea, at least as long as it's clear that it's more of a preview of a WIP than a real proper criticism/review. :shrug:
Personally I'm just like, this is a KS that's ongoing, we're not THAT content thirsty... are we??

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




SunAndSpring posted:

I just wanted to do a bigger game people might actually be interested in and unfortunately Signs of Sorcery is Mage so it’s full of confusing poo poo that I’d get nagged about for misunderstanding it, and apparently I’m “rewriting” the book by giving the bare basics so gently caress it, guess I’ll just leave to, uh, the pros since I can’t seem to please people. Not like my last F&F stuff even made it to the archives for some reason.
I think that's totally understandable tbf. I also understand wanting to get the feedback now. If you pre-wrote stuff you can (imo - and this is what I'd do, not thread law) just drop it after the KS finishes. I'd be leery about doing it beforehand because they probably get some backer dollars for people who want to peek at that stuff.

As for the archive thing I believe inklesspen does updates in waves, if they missed one poke 'em. I imagine they'll see this in time.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




I support Goat Simulator: World of Darkness.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




I don't think you CAN be allergic to gold. It's like titanium, biology just kind of frowns at it and either leaves it there or throws it in the colon.

I mean biologically, obviously, you can definitely get a magic allergy to gold.

What's the issue with insect shamans in Shadowrun? Bugs seem like a robust choice for spiritual connection in general.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Tuxedo Catfish posted:

Insect spirits are uniquely horrifying and monstrous in a way that no other spirit is for Reasons.

Among other things, they ate Chicago.
I see, so it's like insect spirits:Shadowrun::socialists:most RPG writers.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Perhaps the same could be said of all religions!

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Terrible Opinions posted:

The English being less actively evil in this zombie world version of the Great Famine than they were in the real world version of it is kinda weird. If it were true to life they'd be forcing them to work those zombie blighted fields regardless of casualties.
At the risk of being sent to the distant town for ideological self-correction, they seem comparably evil, namely "meh gently caress it but we shan't stop private charities, especially if focused on religious conversion of the Catholic."

They didn't particularly try to stop emigration during the Famine, or at least if they did I never heard of it. They just didn't help particularly, either.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Freaking Crumbum posted:

wired reflexes are so good (at least in 2E and 3E) that unless you expect your character to use magic, you should make room to get those built in. since the initiative system works off "passes" and wired reflexes gives you more passes, it's literally giving you more turns to play than characters without them.
I'm guessing this keeps getting included for the thrill of system mastery.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Servetus posted:

Was there ever a standard rationale for where SINless nobodies were getting the cash to get all the hot cyberware, or decks or drones? I mean you can't fight your way to getting your wired reflexes if you need the wired reflexes to be relevant in a fight. Looking through Shadowrun it seems like you either play one of the Magical 1% or the financial top 10%. But then you get character backstories about growing up on the street. Something doesn't add up.
I would guess a selection effect: You get sufficient funds from doing something stupid and risky to obtain Wired Reflexes, at which point your career is on its way. People whose stupid and risky actions led to their deaths do not become PCs.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Midjack posted:

Can't really do that in tabletop very well though.
Use your regular combat engine. Possibly with identity disks and recognizers.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Those sure are a bunch of war crimes.

I suppose the point was probably more like 'Nobilises can fulfill their various purposes and goals in a horrible way that is not contrary to the underlying principles of reality.' Nevertheless, dang!

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Rand Brittain posted:

3e, in recognition of the blandness of this, would eventually replace Spirit with Persona, so that "control over your Estate" wound up split into two powers, one that lets you control your Estate itself, and one that lets you manipulate the properties of the Estate, so that Domain (Fire) commands fire and Persona (Fire) lets you make things more or less fiery.
What does this mean? The latter seems completely and thoroughly covered by the former.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Rand Brittain posted:

Domain lets you set someone on fire; Persona lets you give them a fiery temper.
I see, so basically:

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Humbug Scoolbus posted:

I can understand why people like it, but I would never play it either. It hits everything I can't stand in game design and setting (I despised High School, why the gently caress would I ever want to even simulate going back?).
A lot - a lot - of people never left high school at all. Not in their heads.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




a computing pun posted:

The other reason Apopcalypse World has sex moves is because - and I can't remember where I read this - the genre AW is emulating isn't Mad Max, it's "what if Mad Max was a HBO prestige drama". Messy, emotional, character-focused dynamics and dysfunctional relationships and deeply personal power struggles and people making decisions out of petty hatred or horniness or ambition. AW is a great fit for "standard" post-apocalypse because you only need to tone down the intensity of one half of the genre concept. But equivalently, to get from AW to get from AW to Monsterhearts you only need to swap out the other half.
I had felt from day 1 hour 1 of hearing about the sex moves that it - and essentially every other situation in a game like this where there is a similar sexytimes power - would work far, far better if it was "intimacy." Which can include sex, but can include another intimate shared experience with another person.

The sex move means that every PBTA game is tainted by association in my own main gaming group. Probably not intentional!

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Halloween Jack posted:

I keep managing to play AW and MH without experiencing any of the nightmarish scenarios people predict. Not that they don't happen, and resources devoted to consent (Safe Hearts, learning Lines and Veils, etc.) are vital. But if someone in your group wants to violate consent and has the GM's support, well, these stories are far older than PbtA.
It's absolutely possible, indeed probable assuming a group with even elementary dipshit-filters involved. This is a sticker shock problem. The thing is that it's not a rare sticker shock problem. Since the rule set is otherwise very strong it is a rather major flaw.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Joe Slowboat posted:

But can you discretely divide the entirety of high school social life into Girls and Gamers and don’t answer that because I’m pretty sure some nerds would with like an argument about jocks not counting idk
I feel like in a world where Kenny Omega came to the ring in an Undertale costume, the nerd/jock dichotomy is dead

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Doctor Zaius posted:

Is anybody interested in doing a review of/know where I might find a copy of Palladium's Macross II game? I came across it wikipedia diving, and he concept of a mid 90s Macross game made by Palladium sounds absolutely wild.
I don't know about Macross II but I have a copy of their Robotech core book I got at Half Price Books back in the day.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Carados posted:

Speaking of Riverdale, I've been kind of interested in running a Monsterhearts campaign with that tone. The characters aren't monsters, more metaphorical monsters. The reality it takes place is super grounded, and any supernatural elements required can be explained with either narrative convience or some technology.

Not that itd ever happen, just a weird idea that I keep having.
That’s just normal high school.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Mors Rattus posted:

The one thing that's always confused me about the Sasquatch is like...is smelling that big a part of Sasquatch lore? Is that a thing? I thought that was just the skunk ape.
Based on my experience in Bigfoot romance adjacent spaces, the stink is not a major part of the dynamic. However, I may be wrong.

As for the pack dynamics thing, it made some sense for Garou in Apocalypse since Garou couldn't really do the "a pack is basically an extended genetic family" thing, due to the low odds on any individual Kinfolk having the first change. However, most of the growling sex werewolf literature seems to make being a werewolf a straight up family condition. The conception of an "alpha" in the space of romance/erotic literature is even more detached from the old wolf studies!

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




So what the gently caress is the point of that list of 0-aspect things? Is it meant to suggest that once you get one shiny point of Aspect you can do all of those things?

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Rand Brittain posted:

I'm not really sure what you're saying. How would a "dictionary full of adjectives" help?
If I read Purple right, the assertion is that the idea that you have the Shiki Tohno "I have a knife that can cut through anything, even abstract concepts!" power, it can be creatively stifling because the answer to any challenge is "I cut through it," and it is like "OK, I guess Purple cuts through it."

While this is probably less of an issue in narrative-style games than it would be if you gave someone in a D&D setting a drawback-less, chargeless tool that lets them kill or destroy any item they see, it doesn't necessarily INSPIRE anything either.

It also creates an environment where the GM has to operate in the free-wheeling improvisational style, which is a limitation because some people can do that OK, some people do it wonderfully, and some people don't do it well at all. In this context, having established limitations on the Cut Anything power, even if they are merely practical ones, gives the GM space to plan and present meaningful choices and challenges which don't boil down to "nuh uh, this guy can't be cut" (which you might be able to get away with for one signature bad guy without it feeling cheap) or "aha but uh when you try to use your ability, SOME BULLSHIT HAPPENS and now A BAD THING!"

e: To more directly address the adjective thing, this is like saying "your power is to Cut Anything you can define," at which point you can use this power for everything. "I cut away his addiction to shitposting." "I cut away the bonds that hold her back." "I cut away the chemical bonds between the HFC atoms in the Antarctic atmosphere, allowing Sodium Lad's power to create atomic sodium at will to create harmless salt while healing the ozone layer!"

Nessus fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Nov 9, 2019

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Stephenls posted:

If the argument here is that TTRPGs shouldn't have stuff like "Knife that can cut through anything, even abstract concepts like 'beauty'," because despite their presence and successful implementation in many works of fiction, the interactive nature of TTRPGs and the almost-invariably semi-competitive nature of the player-GM relationship makes them inevitable sources of strife during play, I feel like the only answer is "But what about people who like that sort of thing in fiction and want it in their games?"

It's in the source material. It's hard to make work in play, but it's in the source material; some players and some games are going to prioritize putting-in-the-poo poo-from-the-source-material-we-like over eliminating potential player/GM strife points. Not every game has to be written for every audience.
They did NOT find the poison trap, and I declare them DEAD. Get out of here, Marcie!

I think it's absolutely fine to include supernal/absolute powers in your games. In this case, the rules are kind of mooshed up with the broad setting pronouncements. Like as I read this I'm comparing it to Chuubo's, and Chuubo's was way easier to get my head around. I know the two are not identical games, but there was an evolution here, and I remember hearing people say "Chuubo's is basically Nobilis with a different power level," or similar things... I ain't seeing it here.

I do think a game in which your characters are all basically Superman is gonna have unique narrative challenges and it would be worthwhile to dig into these, and from the sound of it this version of Nobilis didn't do that so much. (To clarify, this is structuring a story or concepting challenges beyond 'the guys who want to make everything suck! go hit them. or don't?' which is not really very good DMing advice)

Nessus fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Nov 10, 2019

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




PurpleXVI posted:

I mean, he absolutely could have done that with his power, as "defined." He could cut the "danger" out of a situation, he could cut their enemies out of existence, he could cut wounds out of himself, he could cut the distanceb between the plane and its destination, he could cut the momentum out of the plane and its passengers so they come to a perfect halt with no problems on the runway.

The fact that he doesn't use that power more than once, is again kind of part of showing how not-very-human anyone acts in the example-of-play.
I dunno, I think if you had some kind of all-consuming unstoppable power like that, you'd probably figure out a few reliable ways to use it that address most of the issues you need, and you'd only stop and think up new applications occasionally or if (somehow) your power got stopped.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




EthanSteele posted:

All the other ones seem pretty reasonable to pull off and describe how it works, but this one? I think it highlights the limitations of the power, you can solve problems when removing things or splitting things very easily, but adding things is impossible. Going "I cut the lack of choreography" definitely gets the "how?" question and if the player can't say how it works then it doesn't work.

If this was Demon and you had the multilingual pun power you would obviously be able to go "I'm the best dancer in the world because I can cut a rug" which is the good poo poo.
That level of stretch I'd make people play craps to see if God favors their horrible jokes or not. If you make numbers, I guess it works.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Snorb posted:

You also get a Lowlander as a temporary party member; unfortunately for you stat-wise, he's a literal baby. Hilariously, in the Genesis version, he still has equipment slots for a weapon and armor, so you can give the baby Lowlander a laser pistol and heavy battle armor, and he can hold his own frighteningly well. He even has his own unique species portrait on his character sheet (I guess so the game doesn't freak out when you look at his stats and it tries to load nothing; for game purposes he's a level 1 Lowlander Warrior.)
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Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




theironjef posted:

Vampires all look like they're currently loaded with some chaw. I dunno if it's the art style or the rules of 2nd edition VTM.
Art creates the rules, like the circumstance bonus in Exalted for not covering your nipples. That extra die has saved me many times!

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




PurpleXVI posted:

I mean, if that's literally the only thing about them that recalls Roma stereotypes, is it really? The rest of it doesn't feel particularly Roma.
Wasn't the whole hangup with Kender that the authors of Dragonlance had to mentally square the needle between "non-evil... but steals and not for immediate necessities!"

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




PurpleXVI posted:

I like how you say "the" hangup about Kender like there's just one thing wrong with them rather than everything. Generally they were characterized as basically being of goofy child-like intellect and stealing everything not nailed down "JUST BCUZ!!!! LOL!!!!!" essentially as a compulsive hoarding/gathering behavior rather than anything else, and also a guaranteed way to get you murdered at any game table where you declared you were going to roll up a Kender.
Yeah I meant the underlying thing that made them weird and distinctively problematic, instead of the default kind of problematic you would get from saying they're a race of shortass burglers and pipeweed fiends.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Zereth posted:

... This seems counterproductive.
I imagine the idea was that all the guys left over wouldn't have access to level 3 and higher spells, demonstrating the gods had withdrawn their favor.

This is why my thumbnail notes for a D&D-esque campaign setting put the religious action in a vaguely Buddhist situation, where the gods are real but religion isn't just "heed the booming commands of Odin"

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Halloween Jack posted:

The trends created by Pennywise and Annabelle have taught me that when you try to make ordinary things scary, it's a hit-or-miss prospect.

Also that "Evil [Thing]" aesthetics are always lame. People are either afraid of clowns or dolls or they're not, and deliberately making an Evil Clown either detracts from it or adds nothing.
Pretty much. At least one major horror author has fallen completely flat for me because it's like "But puppets are our pals, like in hit video game Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure."

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Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

we'll get there sooner or later




Leraika posted:

Today I found out that more than one person in the world played hit video game Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.
There are dozens of us out there

But it is like even if Cornet was commanding the little bastards from Puppet Master, they are not supernally creepy just because they are little wooden men! The Achewood comic nails it, as it so often does.

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