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LornMarkus posted:Mostly it's the question of consequences or not, really. Some people feel it's no fun if there are never any consequences for their actions and/or failures. The problem, as I see it, comes when the system itself tries to enforce that with static rules like that especially in regards to actions that are not choice based. It's one thing for the GM to assign me a penalty of being captured and roughed up a bit by a gang of thugs when I decide to be crazy and try some one-man-army stuff on them but don't quite succeed. I chose to do that dangerous and silly thing, and as long as the result of my capture isn't something horrific (they amputate your character's legs and/or you now have these permanent stat penalties from trauma) I'm totally cool with it. But if you're talking about mandatory healing times from all damage, your avoidance of which is down to luck during the fight or trying to just avoid a fight completely which you can't always do. That's not a choice and its not even really interesting as a consequence. Thankfully I've already been to the bottom of this well, and it looks like Star Fleet, where the penalty for getting hospitalized is literally to go home and read the dictionary while the Commission Officer (that's the GM) and the rest of the players go out for pizza.
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Jul 17, 2014 18:27
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Bieeardo posted:Personally, I think it's bullshit. As much as I'm not a fan of Campbell, Luke and the others follow a clear Hero's Journey arc, and for my money the focus is on the fantasy heroics. Sure, Mos Eisley is a shithole, but then you've got places like Cloud City... which, okay, wasn't a whole lot nicer when you got past the shiny surface. The focus was still on adventure, and sticking a thumb in the eye of evil, not praying that you don't flub your docking roll, and getting hassled by Hutt legbreakers while your hold's being loaded with tibanna. Not that there isn't room for that style of play, but it's pretty weird when the rules as written seem to sidestep the tone of the source material. The Star Wars game would have been better if it allowed you to start at higher power levels (you could play dirt farmers, or you could play veteran rebel agents, or you could play the Jedi Council) but I guess the D&D-derived zero-to-hero earn-your-fun grind thing was just too entrenched in the hobby at the time. Not entirely - my favorite 80s game (JAMES BOND 007) let you play "00" class agents right out of the box.
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Jul 17, 2014 18:43
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theironjef posted:Of course I also hate games where you take months to heal injuries. I like abstracted simple quick healing because I like the whole party being present during adventures and I am fully aware that puts me on one side of some sort of ideological RPG train tracks. It's sad that even the FFG Star Wars games suffer from this issue - they are very clearly derived from the same base as the 40k RPGs, and so you have stuff like only being able to take two or three blaster "hits" before you pass out for the rest of the scene and have to roll on the d% critical injury table to find out how badly hurt you are, and then you heal 1-2 wounds a day (putting you out of action for 3-14 days). It's doubly weird because up until the combat chapter (and the following super-detailed, reads-like-it-was-also-ripped-out-of-DH gear chapter) the game is all about telling you that the special dice are there to help you narratively interpret what's happening mechanically, and that the story and Star Wars feel are infinitely more important than any kind of rules-heavy system. It would have really benefited from a far less detailed and deadly combat system.
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Jul 17, 2014 19:14
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theironjef posted:Wait, now that I think about it, that just sounds like Star Wars: The Easy Rider, and I'm on board. Greedo Chigurh is a captive bolter gun-wielding hit man, hired by Jabba the Hutt to recover money owed by Han Solo, in No Desert for Old Jedi. FMguru posted:That's a legitimate way to produce an RPG, but it really does create some mismatched assumptions if it's not communicated clearly by the game itself. Totally, and I'll admit that it isn't entirely fair to point and stare from thirty years on. It was the age where everyone started at first level, and if you wanted to be Conan, then you had to be fresh from the slave pits. Unless you were playing one of the rare games with a lifepath system, in which case you were probably an old Conan, full of canny wisdom but one bad roll from a heart attack.
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Jul 17, 2014 19:20
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Most of the modules for Star Wars were built around Rebel missions rather than playing Traveller in the SW universe, though- you were by default heroes fighting the Empire. The simplicity of the core mechanics relative to most of what was out at the time, plus the 1e GM advice, marked it as fairly cinematic. It has the start at Level 1 problem, and a lot of unnecessary cruft, but I see it as the precursor to more properly cinematic games that came later.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:10
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Maxwell Lord posted:Most of the modules for Star Wars were built around Rebel missions rather than playing Traveller in the SW universe, though- you were by default heroes fighting the Empire. The simplicity of the core mechanics relative to most of what was out at the time, plus the 1e GM advice, marked it as fairly cinematic.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:16
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Well, even the first edition had charts for things like grenade scatter direction and travel times from Bespin to Coruscant. That's just how games were designed back then.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:34
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FMguru posted:Star Wars D6 first edition really was good for this sort of light-n-breezy movie style adventure fun. It was the second edition and later the second edition revised that had a whole bunch of extraneous cruft bolted onto it (for the usual "realism" and "verisimilitude" reasons) that made the game the sprawling, joyless slog that the podcast describes. Having also reviewed Ghostbusters for the podcast, I totally believe this, because it was completely stripped down and a reasonably good attempt to produce something fun and cinematic. Very impressive for 1986. Somewhere between '88 and '96 every RPG designer became obsessed with ultra-grit realism and big charts that randomized every little thing.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:56
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theironjef posted:Having also reviewed Ghostbusters for the podcast, I totally believe this, because it was completely stripped down and a reasonably good attempt to produce something fun and cinematic. Very impressive for 1986. Somewhere between '88 and '96 every RPG designer became obsessed with ultra-grit realism and big charts that randomized every little thing. e: And then they used the system almost verbatim for their Metabarons license (like, the text of the Metabarons RPG mentions "snubfighters" multiple times) - which was hilarious because the MB universe was about these nearly godlike space-warriors and their generation-spanning battles that tended to result in planet-scale genocide, which was entirely unsuited to a system where you start out as a turd farmer who has a 30% chance of hitting the broad side of a barn at twenty feet with a laser pistol. FMguru fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Jul 17, 2014 |
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Jul 17, 2014 22:02
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Ratpick posted:When you lie naked with another, you can ask them for a promise. If they refuse, take 2 Strings on them. I like this, just because there are so many ways to interpret that statement. You could just be having a conversation and argue that you can use this. I see now why the dude who GMs my star wars game has really house ruled the poo poo out of it. Rolling a one on the wild die only does anything if you also massively fail your roll, and it's usually "the story just took an unexpected twist," and we only earn Dark Side points for killing, wounding with the force and succumbing to emotion in ways that hurt other people and even then I think Dark side points are a lot tamer. One of our players has like... 17 or something I think.
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Jul 18, 2014 01:14
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 Procrastination time is over now. Now is the time to post. Aquatic Polar Classes Indigo Ice brings us a single new base class and three new prestige classes, so they’re all going to be under this one header rather than split up like I did with the review of the classes in the Cerulean Seas Campaign Guide.  Angakkuq (Base Class) The concept of the angakkuq is drawn from Inuit culture, wherein the term refers to a shaman who gained powers from a spirit guide and had to act as a general mediator between the mortal and spirit worlds, and follows its inspiration relatively well. The Angakkuq’s stats are of a more beefy than average spellcaster, with d8 hit dice, average Base Attack Bonus progression, and high Will save progression tempered by poor Fortitude and Reflex save progressions. The Angakkuq’s divine spells are also a bit below average, only getting up to 6th level and even then not attaining that level of spells until they reach level 16 of the class. This is enough to have access to some pretty damaging magic, of course, but is still less than the Cleric, who nets 6th level spells at level 11 and can get up to 9th level spells. The main class feature of the Angakkuq is her Tupilaq, a spirit bound to an effigy body crafted specially for it. All tupilaq are Medium-size intelligent Constructs with a 20 foot swim speed and 10 foot land speed that level up like an animal companion would. There are three types of tupilaq as well, differentiated at the start purely by their resistances and vulnerabilities. The flesh tupilaq is crafted from animal parts and has damage reduction 3/bludgeoning and vulnerability to acid, the frost tupilaq is made of ice and snow and has DR 5/bludgeoning and vulnerability to steam, and the flora tupilaq is crafted from plants, sponges, and/or coral and has DR 5/slashing and vulnerability to electricity. In Inuit lore, there are also some less scrupulous angakkuq who create tupilaq from the flesh and bones of human children, which inspired the official Paizo tupilaq stats found in Pathfinder Bestiary 3. Rather than ignore that entirely, Indigo Ice goes "oh those are just perversions of the real tupilaq made by evil necromancers. Yeah." On top of leveling up their HD and everything, the tupilaq is also enhanced by the Angakkuq's Enhanced Imbuement ability. At levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18, the Angakkuq can pick an extra ability for their tupilaq to gain. Most of these, such as a +2 to one ability, an additional natural attack, size category increase, or spell resistance, are basically fair game. Each specific tupilaq, however, has three unique imbuements that only it can attain. The flesh tupilaq can attain 1 bleed damage on its melee attacks, a fear-inducing melee attack that frightens foes that fail their save for 3 rounds, or a 25% chance to turn a critical hit into a normal hit, the frost tupilaq can gain a melee attack bonus that forces a foe to make a Fortitude save or be slowed for 3 rounds, fast healing 2, or a cold breath weapon, and the flora tupilaq can get extra damage reduction, a jagged hide that makes its critical hits be x3 rather than the usual x2, or be able to cast enlarge as a spell-like ability. The Angakkuq also gains another ability straight out from level 1 besides tupilaq-craft, and that is Outer Attunement. This is basically a combo clairvoyance/clairaudience spell with a 100 foot radius that starts out at one use per day and gains another use per day at 3rd, 7th, and 10th level. It is further boosted with Improved Outward Attunement, which gives an extra +2 bonus to the spell check for the ability at levels 13, 16, and 20 of the class, for a total of +6. The Angakkuq can also expend a use of Outer Attunement to instead boost one skill check by her Charisma modifier. Perhaps the strangest ability to the Angakkuq has, though, is Spirit's Whisper. This class feature has a different bonus each level it is relevant: at level 2 of the class it lets the Angakkuq add her Charisma bonus to Perception and Sense Motive checks, at level 5 it is Charisma bonus to Initiative roll, at level 8 it's a Charisma bonus to Reflex saves, at level 11 it allows the Angakkuq to get a yes or no answer to a question from the spirits once per day, and at level 14 it allows her to reroll any failed save once per day. Finally, the capstone ability for Angakkuq is Part of the Living World. This boosts the range of Outer Attunement to 1 mile and allows her to increase the bonus to saving throws and skill checks from "Shared Perception" after the throw or check is made rather than before. What is Shared Perception? I don't know, it's literally never mentioned anywhere else in the class features. Maybe it is referring to the effects of Spirit's Whisper, maybe not, who knows.  Congulair (10 Level Prestige Class) Our first prestige class for this book is also definitely the weirdest. Okay, so, a group of abolitionist squid from space crashed into Isinblare on a meteor, and the Congulairs are those who symbiotically bond with these abolitionist space squid to fight against tyranny. The prestige class is obviously meant for combat, with d10 hit dice, full Base Attack Bonus progression, average progression for Fortitude saving throws, and poor progression for the other two saving throws. The one thing that is missing is a lack of gaining any armor or weapon proficiencies. That, of course, is explained by the features of the class. The starting ability for the Congulair is Blessing of the Symbiote. This is more or less a groundwork piece that just notes that the Congulair gets the Cold subtype if they didn't already have it and that the symbiote dies when the host dies. What's actually important starts at level 2 with Gelugarma. See all that Borg-looking stuff in the class image? That's gelugarma, a hardened gelatin created by the symbiote that provides a +3 armor bonus. This bonus increases by an additional +2 at levels 5 and 8. Gelugarma also gets an offense counterpart, of course. At level 2 this is Icesickle, which is...well, an ice sickle. Specifically, it is hardened symbiote gelatin created as a swift action that acts as a masterwork sickle made of ever-ice and overcomes damage reduction that has magic as its overcoming force. This gets upgraded with Icelance at level 4, which allows the gel to become a replicant of a shortsword or short spear as a standard action instead. Icelance upgrades again at level 7 to allow the creation of a spear, great spear, or halberd, and at level 10 it further upgrades to allow the creation of a gel long spear, lance, or ranseur. Any gel weapon melts into nothingness a single round after it leaves the Congulair's hand, making it pointless to attempt to steal them. Both the gelugarma and gel weapons eventually get upgraded with "rimefire", a phantasmal blue aura. Rimefire Armor at level 9 makes the Congulair's armor deal 1d6 + caster level (to a maximum of 15, still assuming the Congulair has caster levels at all) when a foe hits them with a melee weapon or natural attack. And at level 10, Rimefire Weapon makes the Congulair's icelance have the Frost, Icy Burst, and Frostburn enchantments. As it is new to this book rather than a Pathfinder standard, we won't get to learn what a Frostburn magical weapon is until the equipment chapter. Last, but not least, to know about the Congulair's abilities is Frostboon. This is a special power granted by the symbiote at a specific rate – at level 3 the Congulair has one frostboon they can use once per day, at level level 6 it becomes two frostboons that can both be used twice per day, and at level 9 it's three frostboons that can all be used three times per day. The specific frostboons are...
 Cryokineticist (10 Level Prestige Class) The psychic icy guy. Where the Congulair is a pure brute, the Cryokineticist provides a mixture of armed combat and psionic talent. A d8 hit die and good BAB progression will keep this prestige class combat capable, but at the same time it is tempered by poor Will saves (a decidedly strange feature for someone with mind powers) and average Fortitude and Reflex saves. As for powers? Well, they're limited. Limited to the class features, specifically, as the Cryokineticist just has class features flavored as mind powers rather than straight-up attaining psionics in the same way as, say, a Battle Mind would. This starts out with two abilities at level 1. Rimespear is a flexible 15 foot long harpoon of ice (yes, flexible ice) that can be summoned as a move equivalent action, dealing 1d8 damage to foes on a ranged touch attack and, of course, melting into nothingness if it leaves the Cryokineticist's hands. The other, Manipulate Freeze, can be used three times per day on a close source of non-magical ice in order to do one of three tricks – create a massive crackle and pop that temporarily deafens any foe within 120 feet that fails a Will save against it, turn it into a nice ice pack that heals 2 HP per power point expended, or create a 20 foot cube of murky water that both impedes vision and forces a Fortitude save to avoid taking a -4 penalty to Strength and Dexterity until the cloud dissipates. That ice pack healing power? One of only two features this class gets that actually states it needs power points, by the way. Moving on, level 2 introduces two abilities that both progress beyond that level. Convenient, that. Cold Adaptation grants a +4 bonus to saving throws against cold spells and effects plus cold resistance 10, which advances to a +8 bonus and cold resistance 20 at level 7 of the prestige class. Cold Hands is an offensive power by contrast, allowing the Cryokineticist to take a move action to coat one hand (always one, never more) with ice to deal 2d6 points of damage at level 2 of the class and 4d6 at level 8. More fancy ice attacks come in the form of Icebolt (a number of d6s of cold damage equal to the Cryokineticist's class level at a range of 60 feet) at level 3, and Icy Weapon (Cold Hands but for melee weapons or projectiles) at level 4 and 8. Level 5 grants Glaze, which is usable once per day and lasts a number of minutes equal to the Cryokineticist's level in this prestige class specifically. It sort of trumps Cold Hands by being able to do the same damage as a melee touch attack (2d6 at level 5 and 4d6 at level 8), with added abilities on top. Those abilities are a +4 bonus to Charisma while glazed because ice is apparently sexy or something, damage reduction 5/melee, and dealing the Cold Hands damage to foes that strike the Cryokineticist in melee combat. Getting up to level 10 lets the Cryokineticist use this ability three times per day rather than one. This would be objectively better than Cold Hands in all ways if it wasn't for the fact that Cold Hands is unlimited use. Speaking of unlimited use and Cold Hands, though, there is no usage limitation listed for the first level 6 ability, Leech Heat. What does it do? Well, it deals the same damage as Cold Hands (2d6 when you get it, 4d6 at level 9), but has a range of 30 feet and heals 2 (4 at level 9) HP every time you damage a foe! And again, there's no usage limitation listed, or even a windup time for that matter, so we can only presume this is a passive aura. That's pretty crazy! Especially crazy when you see that a level 6 Cryokineticist also gets Penetrating Cold, which makes the Cryokineticist so cold that they bypass cold damage equal to their class level. Of course, not everything can be that crazy. There is yet a third level 6 Cryokineticist class feature: Frostwalk. This one allows the Cryokineticist to move in any direction freely on a trail of ice, but costs a power point a round. The prestige class's level 9 ability, Icy Death, also has an actual limiter. Expending a full round action and psionic focus allows the Cryokineticist to forcibly lower the internal temperature of a creature within 30 feet to lethal levels, dealing 4d8 cold damage every round they can keep up focus. To end this crazy class off, level 10 nets the Cryokineticist two capstone abilities. Flash Freeze is a once per day "gently caress everything" attack that deals 9d6+21 cold damage in a 30 foot radius and entombs any creature in that radius if it is used underwater. Heart of Ice, by contrast, is passive – cold immunity, immunity to the entombed condition, and the ability to swim through solid ice at half the character's normal movement without any adverse issues with doing so.  Cryomancer The spellcaster to the psion and melee fighter of the Cryokineticist and Congulair. A d6 hit die, average BAB progression, average Will save progression, and bad Reflex and Fortitude save progression mark the Cryomancer as pretty bog standard spellcaster as far as those traits go. It is also a prestige class that allows the retention of caster level increase, which never hurts. And the class features? Well, they're okay, but not anything nearly as insane as the Cryokineticist. Cold Affinity grants cold resistance 5 at level 1, increased cold resistance to 10 and +1 caster bonus to all ice-related spells (but at the cost of not being able to cast any steam or fire spells from then on) at level 5, and a change to cold immunity, +2 caster bonus rather than +1, and a -2 caster level penalty to acid or electricity spells at Cryomancer level 9. Icy Knowledge grants knowledge of an ice spell from any class at every even numbered Cryomancer level. Intensify Cold at level 3 increases the maximum amount of damage an ice spell can do by two dice. Are you excited yet? I know I clearly am.  Level 6 brings us to the start of things that are at least conceptually interesting. Create Ever-Ice converts a cubic foot of ice per Cryomancer level into the never melting ever-ice for 24 hours...at the cost of a 12 hour ritual and 25 gold worth of gemstones per cubic foot. Handy. Level 7 Cryomancers get to gain the Cold subtype and special attacks and abilities of an ice elemental once per day for a number of minutes equal to their class level with Body of Ice, as well as take a standard action to deal 2d6 cold damage to adjacent foes that fail a Reflex save thanks to the Rimefire ability. Rimefire can be used a number of minutes per day equal to the character's class level, so presumably everyone should just go bang for their buck and use both level 6 Cryomancer abilities in tandem. Oh, and Icy Ascension is the level 10 capstone and turns the Cryomancer's creature type to Outsider. Wouldn't Elemental [Cold] make more thematic sense? Whatever. Next Time... The rest of the book. Yeah, not a lot of stuff to talk about in heavy post detail once you get past the races and classes.
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Jul 18, 2014 01:32
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Well, here we go again.Rifts Mercenaries posted:Warning! Ugh I know. Rifts Mercenaries posted:Violence and the Supernatural Rifts Mercenaries posted:This book may be inappropriate for young readers. We've done over ten books, you don't have to keep doing this. Rifts Mercenaries posted:The fictional World of Rifts® is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other dimensional beings, often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk, and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demi-god, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book Rifts Mercenaries posted:Some parents may find the violence and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion. If a parent didn't take a look at the core book after seeing the cover image, what makes you think they're going to take a peek at the warning now, over a dozen books into the game line? Rifts Mercenaries posted:Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone nor encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence. But they do encourage you to think and pretend about it all the time, potential maniacs and runaways. Rifts Mercenaries Part 1: "You can pay up and shut up." So this is a book outside of the main lines Rifts has set up at this point (World Book, Sourcebook, Dimension Book) for whatever reason. The important part to remember, though, is this is the first book without a major credit for Siembieda. Though this is CJ Carella's second book for the game line, it really shows as his baby more than Pantheons did. Siembieda is still credited with "additional text and concepts", which we'll see later. The art is largely by Vince Martin and Scott Szczesniak, and I'm going to be blunt and say they're probably some of the worst artists in a Palladium book. It's not really clear if one is a writer and one is an inker, but their collective work is a very typical nineties Jim Lee / Rob Liefeld hash, and just looks rough and amateurish. Wayne Breaux returns, mainly to serve up mecha designs, and there are a smatter of other artists. Carella doesn't do a major introduction, but starts out with crediting David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" science-fiction stories about hovertank-piloting mercenaries, and it's good that he does, because he's going to seriously rip from it. He notes that mercenaries are grey figures, morally speaking, but they're very important to the conflicts on Rifts Earth.  I like this cover pretty well. What? I do. Mercenaries First we get a description and short historical notes on what makes a mercenary, nothing too unexpected. Blah blah. Mercs in Rifts Earth Now we shift to italics to do something Siembieda almost never does: flavor fiction. We get the story of Pedro, a young prince in some kingdom watching mercenaries roll into town, chatting with Arlington, the king's man at arms. Pedro thinks they look crummy compared to shiny clean Coalition soldiers, but Arlington goes on to point out all their equipment is well-maintained and clean, and that they're resourceful fighters. When Pedro wonders if mercenaries make better fighters, Arlington points out that only some survive to swagger. Moving out of flavor fiction, Carella points out most towns down't have the resources to field a proper military, so mercenaries are popular. Also, even big nations like the Coalition or NGR hire mercs to do dirty or risky work. However, he also brings up that mercs aren't necessarily cookie-cutter, and may have their own beliefs or goals. And, of course, the biggest merc operations may be multi-dimensional, demanding bizarre or outrageous prices, and that may have no regard for Earth has a whole. This is weird. The organization, while still a little wonky, is... good. Carella introduces his topic well and thoughtful. I... will I be able to mock this book as mercilessly? Is it good? Well, we'll see.  Mercs in Your Campaign Back in the world of flavor fiction, we have a Governor Ryan negotitating with a "Larsen". Governor Ryan has built up complicated computer projections on the costs and risks in defeating a group of xiticix (the bug people from wayyy back in the core book) near his community, but Larsen looks it over and jams on the delete key, before typing in his price before turning it back. Governor Ryan freaks out at the price, before Larsen asks a juicer named "Pedro" (an older person of the kid from the first scene) to show the Governor a xiticix head, and points to it as evidence that the xiticix are coming in a mere week. Larsen also brings up that his men are already in position to assault the creatures' hive. Larsen is best exemplified by this:  Ryan curses a lot and promises Larsen his money. Well, the fiction is a bit rough, but... it's way more evocative than the Erin Tarn travelogues. I wonder what she would have said- wait, no, I don't. I'm happy with a Tarn-free book. We get some discussion of how mercenaries can be used for PCs or NPCs, and to bear in mind mercs can have personal goals and adventures that don't necessarily involve paychecks. He also points out that being mercs gives the PCs a definite goal, rather than going down what Carella calls "the Road of Random Encounters". He once again covers that mercenary bands will also have their own specialities and goals that make them unique. This is downright reasonable. Don't worry, there'll be another shoe, and its name is Siembieda. Next: Why being a mercenary is a lot like being a carny. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jul 18, 2014 |
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Jul 18, 2014 17:50
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Yay! I love that book, it's so thematic. Of course it's also half useless NPC blocks. Palladium really took to heart the concept of making a bunch of characters using (and ignoring) their own system and then selling that as a book (I'd say it peaked with Villains and Aliens Unlimited). Looking foward to the "cool" Naruni tech.
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Jul 18, 2014 18:23
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Well, here we go again. Please not another set of random exhibit tables. Uh, I guess they'd be random unit/race/gun tables which would be even better, requiring many sourcebooks to be present all at once. At least there won't be any floopers. Did I just jinx the book? I hope not.
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Jul 18, 2014 18:59
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Giggle. Titter. Even funnier than that.
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Jul 18, 2014 19:10
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Rifts Mercenaries feels like peak nineties, somehow, except for maybe Juicer Uprising. It's not that unusual as far as Rifts books go, but just the terrible art and being focused on every... single... NPC... being... bad... rear end. Yeah, enjoy that cover art, because we've got a lot of awful interior art coming up.
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Jul 18, 2014 19:12
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Rifts Mercenaries feels like peak nineties, somehow, except for maybe Juicer Uprising. It's not that unusual as far as Rifts books go, but just the terrible art and being focused on every... single... NPC... being... bad... rear end. Merc Ops has better cover art, just because it has a Juicer about to curbstomp a Crazy.
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Jul 18, 2014 22:19
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Rifts Mercenaries feels like peak nineties, somehow, except for maybe Juicer Uprising. It's not that unusual as far as Rifts books go, but just the terrible art and being focused on every... single... NPC... being... bad... rear end. That may be peak 90s but this is definitely peak 80s... 
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Jul 18, 2014 22:43
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Rifts Mercenaries Part 2: "2. Prostitutes (3). Ladies of the night who sell sexual favors. " Designing Player & NPC Mercenary Companies Which are referred to as "Free Companies", as in Companies (a military unit) which is Free. Ultimately, though, this is the return of the organization rules from Ninjas & Superspies, which we've seen used for circuses in Rifts World Book One: Vampire Kingdoms. So maybe you can cross the rules and get a merc circus once enough of your folks are freakishly shot up.  Step One: The Size and Orientation  This is what happens when you use action figures for your anatomy references. This comes in six categories, each bigger than the last, but also emphasizes the GM isn't necessarily bound by these restrictions and can defy them. So why have them for NPCs? I dunno. In any case, we have:
 It's important to pose for the enemy crosshairs. The size of your merc rabble grants points, which can be used to spend on features. Of course, these are independent, so it'd be possible to min-max and say, have a group that's famous and legendary but only have a single pair of underwear and a butter knife in their armory, or just put all your points into a grand salary and prostitutes and gently caress all else, because who needs to adventure? In any case, our quiz show categories for today are:
Next: Want to play a two-headed giant forger? "No, I swear my height is what is says on the ID..."
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Jul 21, 2014 13:39
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Man, first thing I see is a RIFTs post. It's like I never left... Anyways, some of you may remember I was writing up Alternity, and mysteriously vanished. That writeup will continue, and we shall finally see the ending of the saga of PlaidXII and TheDextrousWaffle... May God have mercy on their fictional souls... (For the previous chargen bits, go here and here) Alternity: Finishing Up (Chargen Part 3)  TheDextrousWaffle is displeased at how chargen's been going... IMPORTANT NOTE: The links are Orokos dice-rolls. So now you know what some of the pretty numbers are. So, last we left off, TheDextrousWaffle was weeping into his coffee, while PlaidXII was already poring through the perks and flaws chapter. Unsurprisingly, Fred The Gecko decides to take Filthy Rich as his sole perk, getting a Filthy Rich score of 12+/11/5/2. To balance this out, he decides to spice the challenge up with Bad Luck. Remember doubling the crit range in D20? This doubles the crit fail range, so if PlaidXII rolls a 19 or 20 on the control die, his character's going to gently caress up spectacularly. This applies to the Filthy Rich as well. TheDextrousWaffle, meanwhile, still has his mind on one thing (Making someone really killy), and buys Reflexes and Tough As Nails as perks (adds +1 step resistance to DEX and STR respectively), balancing it out with... an Alien Artefact and an Ordinary Enemy, leaving him a spare skill point, and the GM rubbing his hands with glee. Alien Artefacts as flaws, naturally, have more bad than good. First up, it's a carried object (EDIT: As an aside, it's perfectly possible to roll a building as your artefact), in the form of a small tool. Wow, really helpful (We'll assume it's a sonic screwdriver of some kind). Its primary purpose is... Transmutation. Oh dear. Secondary purpose? Thankfully nothing. But that still leaves a transmutation power, and, of course, the drawbacks to the tool. A single d8 roll reveals 2 ordinary powers, 2 M drawbacks, 1 S drawback. Looking ahead reveals that S is for a Slight drawback, while M, obviously, is for Moderate. The GM rolls the powers: a 3 and a 1... The artefact can convert 10kg of one element into another (or 1000 cubic meters of gas), and, with use of the Pistol skill, can damage inanimate objects by oxidising/reducing them (IE – burnination) to the tune of d4w/2d4w/3d4w, of Good firepower. PlaidXII grits his teeth, and so does the GM. Unless the drawbacks are really nasty, this isn't really going to be a flaw... Good Firepower will get through a lot of things. Rolling for all three at once, the GM gets 3, 1, and 8. That's Blackouts, Damping Field, and Infamous Device. The GM thinks for a minute, and then makes the Infamous Device the slight drawback... after all, burnination isn't exactly worth infamy now, is it? As such, the GM rules the Blackouts are caused by either getting a crit fail on the burnination roll, or using the element conversion power on gas (that just about adds up to the “once per session” a Moderate flaw has...). The damping field is cut and dry, and rather nastier: Thise's a 75% chance, every time it's used, that it will shut all powered devices within 20 meters off for an hour. The GM secretly resolves to only rarely let this happen when TheDextrousWaffle actively plans to use a power for the purpose of triggering that flaw. Of course, lots of things can be within 20m, especially on a small ship (Life Support, Gunnery, and Shields, for example), so this is definitely the flawed artefact it's meant to be. And, while it's not RAW, it's generally accepted that Flaw Artefacts somehow stick to you like the stink on a monkey's finger. The GM then lets the players pick their motivations, morals, and two character traits, if only to see what their concept is adding up to. Fred The Gecko is apparently all for Helping Others (motivation), is Honourable (moral), and is Flippant, yet Compassionate. Somewhere, a hollywood writer gets a feeling like somebody walked on his script. Grr'Arg, meanwhile, is unsurprisingly, is all about being the best ever at making things very, very dead (Winning is Everything), is Anti-Authority (Alternity's equivalent of Chaotic Stupid), and is Aggressive and Ominous. The hollywood writer suddenly feels like he needs a session with his shrink, because he feels like the buddy movie he's planning has been copied, and he knows that shouldn't matter! Finally, we come to kit. In TheDextrousWaffle's case, the GM takes pity, says that the starting money is “walking around money”, and gives him the starting equipment for a soldier: Assault rifle, pack of rations, battle jacket, and survival gear. He gets a whopping 15 dollars. Good thing the GM was nice, eh? PlaidXII eagerly awaits, knowing that he's going to get a spaceship and a cool pistol and...  The all-important "Rich/Poor" table. ...the GM tells him to make his filthy rich roll, and buy kit from that. The spaceship is a given (complete with high interest loans to pay off), but everything else has to be sorted by Filthy Rich. PlaidXII blanches. He rolls 1d20 + 1d4, and... blanches again. He's going to have to cope with only 10x starting funds. Luckily, diplomats have 5d12 for starting wealth, so maybe... but no, he gets quite a few lowballs, and ends up with 230 dollars. To compare this with what he would have got, that's 170 less than for half the remaining signature kit (a 9mm charge pistol, costing $400), and seven hundred and seventy dollars short of the natty armoured trenchcoat he could have got. TheDextrousWaffle sniggers, and PlaidXII mutters that he didn't want the god-drat charge pistol anyway. He buys a .38 police special ($100), 2 “clips” worth of bullets ($30), and a toolkit ($100). We may end up seeing Fred The Gecko and Grr'Arg again, but next time, we'll be dealing with computers... And the economics thereof. BIG OLD EDIT Ahahahaaa... Alternity's layout has actually tampered with this F&F entry. See those pretty numbers for money? Multiply all of them by 10. This isn't noted in the big black text box with "$$$" as a header (and the dice rolls you see above). Nor is it mentioned in the big greenish-grey textbox about "not going hog-wild". It's mentioned in one line under the header in the normal text of... "Spending Money". Therefore, PlaidXII actually comes out smelling like a rose with 2300 dollars, and TheDextrousWaffle ends up having kit and money totalling 3245 SpaceDollars. Not counting the ship, it was still a better deal to have starting money + starting kit, but kit costs are less of an issue than I've been making out. Although not, as we'll see for the Computer post, a non-issue. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Jul 22, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2014 14:48
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Rifts Mercenaries Part 3: "Safecrackers of a good alignment will NEVER use their abilities to rob, hurt or endanger good or innocent people." New Mercenary O.C.C.s It notes you can use these outside of mercenary campaigns. We have permission from the designer. Unlike previous games, these classes get minor combat bonuses presumably to keep the competitive with the Glitter Boys and dragons out there. It doesn't really work. Bounty Hunter O.C.C. by Kevin Siembieda  TIGER FORCE - a special unit within the GI JOE team - is called up for a secret and highly dangerous mission in the remote jungle! This is a "combination city rat, spy, and wilderness scout" - wait, no the gently caress it isn't, people know what a bounty hunter is, Siembieda, they watched Empire Strikes Back. In any case, they get a mix of surveillance, wilderness, pilot, and weapon skills. It's kind of low on the skill side, but they get a bonus to pull punch (which doesn't work in M.D.C. combat, really) and to initiative (the have a 10% higher chance of going first, whee). On the upside, they get a choice of badass armor and a jet pack (hmmmm) or power armor or magic armor and a bio-wizard symbiote or a plain vehicle (bad, bad choice) or a robot horse. It's an average class only lifted up by the starting equipment. Forger O.C.C. By Kevin Siembieda  Sweating over a hot forge. So, we're in a post-apocalypse game with hundreds and thousands of miles of uncharted wilderness. And so, logically, the guy you'd want on your team is the one that makes fake IDs and false invoices. To be fair, this could be useful in a campaign based around a city like Chi-Town, but even then it's still a niche ability. But that's not even the worst part of it. This class comes with a long, extended set of modifiers, but your base starting chance to make a proper forgery is 20% + 5% per level. 20%. We've got Al the Mighty Toad Dragon over here, he can turn into any shape, turn invisible, fly, and also he is a psychic wizard, but you can make IDs one out of five attempts. Whee!  Oh, the loving kicker? You're actually restricted from getting cybernetics. Getting a cyber-arm drops your Forgery chance by -25%, for no loving reason. Amazingly ridiculous nonbalancing nonsense. Freelance Spy O.C.C. By CJ Carella  Depth perception is for amateurs. This emphasizes the sneaking mission sort of spy, with disguises and hiding instead of boat chases across the Thames. It also notes that ideally, the spy doesn't want a fight. Unsurprisingly, there's an emphasis on Espionage skills and equipment, and a few cybernetic implants. Oh, and they get a pathetic bonus to initiative and rolling with attacks. Otherwise, it's honestly pretty solid, and can do what it's meant to do. Master Assassin O.C.C. By CJ Carella  Palladium Beginner Challenge: What game is this art from? Like D&D, Rifts restricts assassins as evil, and notes some are more honorable and don't harm innocents, while others just don't give a drat. They do sneaking, sniping, and exploding, some cybernetic implants, and a decent amount of skills. The main issue is that the whole MDC system makes it hard to kill anything other than humans in one shot, and then only when they're unarmored. Ultimately, it's not a bad class, but the system works against its core purpose. Safecracker O.C.C. By Kevin Siembieda  Opens every scene with "is there a safe around?" Well, not just safes, but doors too. So, you thought the forger was a corner case of a class? Look out, here comes the safecracker! There's a long tirade for some reason about how good-aligned safecrackers aren't allowed to steal or at least have to give away their goods to the poor... even from the bad guys or monsters. Yyyeah. Way to make a pretty useless class even more questionable. In any case, they work with locks, bombs, and computers... not that they can hack a computer lock, so they may be way out of luck in the high-tech communities of Rifts. They get a decent rounding out of skills and equipment for the job, along with some explosives. Oh, did I mention there's no rules for safecracking? Good luck with that, intrepid safecrackers! Smuggler O.C.C. By Kevin Siembieda  Smuggles empty wooden boxes, mostly. Continuing the theme of super-specialist characters by Siembieda, we have the smuggler! Now, mind, there aren't a lot of borders to sneak stuff into anymore, but I guess they can slip stuff into cities and communities. Probably the most useful class Siembieda has given us so far, as least, with a focus on the sneaky, but surprisingly short on skills. It's kind of bad, but in a blah, meh sort of way than anything spectacularly problematic. Oh, and they get a bonus to initiative when palming or concealing things. Too bad initiative isn't used in skill checks, otherwise that bonus might be useful! Special Forces O.C.C. By CJ Carella  Knife comes with world's biggest can opener. This refers to special forces from large communities like Northern Gun, soldiers that are meant to work with a shoestring and gum, like Rambo. Remember Rambo? Like Rambo. They get piddly bonuuses to initaitve, and a mixture of espionage and military specialities, but get a fantaaastic selection of skills, on par with classes like the Rogue Scholar. They also may have power armor and cybernetics. If you're just aiming to be a trooper, this actually a really strong class for it, which fits. Super-Spy O.C.C. By CJ Carella  Everybody's eyes glowed like this in the nineties. Unlike the Freelance Spy, this is a spy with some sort of super-powers in exchange for being considerably less skilled. They have a lot of spy skills, not unexpected, but don't get many "free" skill picks. On the other hand, they can be a second-class wizard or psychic, a partial cyborg, or even have superpowers from Heroes Unlimited (if you have the rules). A pretty neat take on the idea for Rifts, and nicely flexible. Professional Thief  Tolkeen Jones This doesn't say who it's by, but judging from the use of all-caps, I'm going to presume it's Siembieda. Never quit using your caps lock, Kev. This is supposed to be the sophisticated spy hanging from the harness reaching down to get the gem and all that. They get a lot of sneaking, flipping, and picking skills, but are a little low on the free skill picks. They get all sorts of thief equipment, plus forged papers for several local places. Wait... the Smuggler doesn't get those! That... means the Thief is actually a better smuggler than the Smuggler. G'drat. As with the last O.C.C.s, there are attribute requirements! Strict ones, too, so here are your chances of randomly rolling a human...
We also get a new skill, Combat Pod, which is used to pilot remote drones. It notes you get bonuses "while inside the machine" which isn't what I think they mean. Next: Campaign guidelines... I... wait, is Rifts actually going to discuss how to run a game?!
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Jul 22, 2014 16:54
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Next: Campaign guidelines... I... wait, is Rifts actually going to discuss how to run a game?! Nope, don't believe that for a second! That would imply hope, or good design, or... something!
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Jul 22, 2014 19:43
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JamieTheD posted:Nope, don't believe that for a second! That would imply hope, or good design, or... something!
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Jul 22, 2014 20:37
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Poison Mushroom posted:Every time I see a RIFTS book in this thread, I get tempted to run a game of it in a completely different system. Something like FATE or OctaNe. Yeah, for all that it's a "Rule of cool" system and setting, there's still interesting things. Also, OctaNe would be the best system for the insanity that is RIFTs. I remember playtesting that game, with 12 pissed people at a roleplaying convention. Nearly everyone multiclassed, and there were no less than 4 Elvis Impersonators. It was glorious. Speaking of which, nobody's written about OctaNe, which is kind of a shame. EDIT: Hah, just realised it was actually the Roleplaying Nationals, a thing I'm not even sure exists anymore. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Jul 22, 2014 |
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Jul 22, 2014 20:46
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How do you multiclass in OctaNe?
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Jul 22, 2014 20:55
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Mr. Maltose posted:How do you multiclass in OctaNe? In early drafts of the rules, you just said "I am this, this, and this class", and you had the features of all three. It was a glorious fustercluck and got taken out, as far as I recall (It's been a long while). But the feel of OctaNe, and the relative speed of its rules, works well with the madness of RIFTs. EDIT: A good example would have been the Elvis Impersonators. We had: Elvis Impersonator/Alien Tourist Elvis Impersonator/[Death Metal Magician] Elvis Impersonator/Road Warrior and vanilla Elvis Impersonator EDIT 2: I've got the rules somewhere, lemme hunt it down and double check what they do now. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Jul 22, 2014 |
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Jul 22, 2014 20:57
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Poison Mushroom posted:Every time I see a RIFTS book in this thread, I get tempted to run a game of it in a completely different system. Something like FATE or OctaNe. My main issue comes around to the point where I'm like 'and the system has to be good and support vehicles-' And then I just stare into the distance for a long, long time.
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Jul 22, 2014 21:30
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The thing about Rifts is even the setting isn't really that good. Like, it's not just the rules that are frequently stupid, the setting details and NPCs and factions as presented in the books are also pretty dumb (especially later on in the line when Sembieda starts masturbating to the Coalition). If you want "crazy post-apocalypse mashup time" there are plenty of other games out there that cover that...you've got the most recent Gamma World, Day After Ragnarok, octaNe, Apocalypse World isn't quite as gonzo but you've got playbooks for dolphins in hardsuits and cryonically preserved soldiers from the world before so gently caress it, etc. And that's not counting things like "throw a dozen ideas into a blender, run in FATE."
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Jul 22, 2014 21:51
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ARG! Don't get me wrong, I love Alternity... But that final chargen section? hosed by the fact that the starting money is... multiplied by 10. This is not mentioned in the big old text box (which draws the eye) or the equally big other text box (similarly eye catching)... It's mentioned under a heading titled Spending Money (which is slightly ambiguous, even though it's now clear the intention was "This is how much they can have to spend." [edit edit edit gently caress gently caress gently caress]
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Jul 22, 2014 21:52
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Sometimes I think that it would be cool to run the RIFTS setting in a narrative game, but...no. I don't really want to run the RIFTS setting. More like, imagine that a RIFTS book actually had an index. Take all the cool-sounding words like Psi-Stalker and Cyber-Knight and run a gonzo mashup based on that.
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Jul 22, 2014 21:53
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octaNe is pretty great. I bought it at a con when I was still going through an awkward goth/punk phase and the fact that I could play a Deathrock Witch or Zombie Punk right out of the box was basically a seller for me. (I mean, I'm still going through a goth phase, but I like to think I'm less awkward about it these days.)
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Jul 22, 2014 22:08
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Halloween Jack posted:Take all the cool-sounding words like Psi-Stalker and Cyber-Knight and run a gonzo mashup based on that. I was working on that very sort of idea but who knows if it'll ever see the light of completion.
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Jul 22, 2014 22:20
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In answer to the OctaNe question, multi-Role characters were indeed removed. But now... a re-write. Alternity - Beep Boop! (PHB Part 9)  "Wait... How many children did I have to sell into slavery to get this again?" Now we come to Computers, which shows the balancing factor behind Tech Ops. Yes, Tech Ops by their very nature have a lot more freedom of skill choice (and skills) than a Combat Spec, but they pay for it with specialised equipment. Never is this more apparent than the section to do with Computers. For Progress Level 5 (Modern day, and, obviously, when computers are first canonically used), using a computer is relatively simple. None of the bullshit we're about to see, just Hacking rolls for hacking, Software rolls for programming (which, in PL 5, has limited applications, rules wise), Computer Operation for using the Internet to research, and Hardware to fix the drat thing when it inevitably breaks. Once we hit Progress Level 6, however, we have... The Grid. The Grid is a middle ground between Shadowrun or CP2020's "Hacker's Separate Adventure", and nearly every other system's abstractions, and it feels kludgy. I think one of the reasons I like Alternity so much is that, since I either ran Star*Drive without all this Grid bullshit, and Dark*Matter (which uses PL 5 rules), I never actually had to deal with it. But it's a mess, and there's lots of reasons why. The first is that, RAW, it's going to need Cybernetics (we'll get into Cybernetics next time). The game gives you the option of using "A light version of the Cybernetics rules" if you don't want to cope with Cykosis (the game's nickname for the good old "Six Million Dollar Crazies" we've known since the days of CP2020, possibly before) and Cybernetics in general, but the computer stuff alone is expensive, and, as mentioned, kludgy. First off, you have to get a computer. Even a lovely Marginal PL6 Dataslate (Basically, a tablet computer) costs $300. This has space for 1, count that, one Program. Let's take a look at the basics for Grid Combat and Hacking, shall we? Oh wait, no, you see, most computers, while existing on the Grid, don't have the capability to access the Grid, especially not the humble DataSlate, which is so unbelievably poo poo that it requires you to buy 3Ds (basically, holochips) which you then put programs on (2 Program Slots a 3D, 5 for an X-3D, which are $10 and $25 at Marginal... There is no reason I can find to buy above marginal, because it's the Computer's rating that matters for processor speed, not the storage media's. Also, there is no written benefit to buying Ordinary or above. Whoops.) No, what we'll need, at minimum, hardware wise, a GridCaster ($2000 minimum for a Marginal, 3 Program Slots), and an NIJack ($500, only comes in Ordinary flavour, although PL7 has Subdermal and Wireless at Good quality for $700 and $1000 respectively). Wire comes with it, obviously. So that's between $2500 and $7500 (Marginal to Amazing) for the absolute minimum you need to go play with the big boys on the Grid. Hardware wise. It also doesn't specify if we can use a Mainframe (most powerful), Microcomputer (okay, and less expensive), or Nanocomputer (technically Cyberware, and only allowed with GM permission from PL 7 onwards) to hack the Grid. Great.  A 3D. You will be sick of these quite quickly. But your life will depend on them. Yes, I stressed Hardware-wise, because we still have our Programs to buy. Only between 3 and 10 (if we're using the Gridcaster as our prime example) Programs can be installed at any one time, depending on quality, and you definitely don't want a Marginal one, because we need more than 3 Programs. Just to start with, we need a ShadowForm. Well, we don't need one, but it's a drat good idea (For reasons that are never adequately explained). Even a basic ShadowForm program takes... 2 slots of the three to run. And pretty much everything is done by Computer-Science - Hacking rolls. If you're good at Hacking, you can improve one of the three stats your ShadowForm has (STR, DEX, CON) by half the skill rating. By the way, those stats are mostly for HP type things and Resistance Modifiers to being attacked. Everything is Hacking. Everything is Hacking. I cannot stress this enough. So, you've got a Marginal Gridcaster, and have just used 2 of your 3 slots to... Start doing anything. But guess what, to even scan data in the Grid, you need a Program! That takes up your other slot! And most of the programs you can't use, ever, with a Marginal Gridcaster, because you can't run ShadowForm and the other Program at the same time! Also, you've spent... Between $600 and $2400 for... The ability to go on the Grid, and what is basically Foxit Reader. Congratulations, you've hacked the Gibson! So let us just leave this little segment behind with the note that nobody I've ever met who ran Alternity used the Grid. Ever.  Nope, this isn't a GridCaster. Nor is it an AI. Neither are ever pictured in this book. Let's talk about AIs, instead! AIs turn up around PL 6, and from there, generally only inhabit Mainframes until around PL 9, where they might inhabit smaller stuff (but the most powerful AIs still need the big guns.) They're rated on the same Marginal to Amazing scale everything else is, and, assuming the same kind of system and AI level, will have exactly the same basic stats. No, you don't have one AI slightly smarter or less perceptive than another, and, for obvious reasons, don't have physical stats (they can control robot bodies, but afaik, this doesn't turn up till the sourcebook DataWare... Which we will eventually deal with.) Again, nearly everyone I've met houserules the poo poo out of this when it applies to their campaigns. Spaceship computers come in three flavours, all of them barely mentioned: A stock mainframe with a Marginal processor that runs the systems in general, dedicated computers for various Systems that are generally only Ordinary in PL 6 (Good and Amazing are PL 7), and, at PL 7, a dedicated AI Supercomputer that is neither denoted by quality, or price in this section. This is, funnily enough, my favourite part of the entire Computer chapter, because it has little to no faff. Little to no rules, either... But you've already seen what specific rules have gotten us. Finally, we have Robots. Don't bother with the Robot section in the PHB, it is crap. Robots are the purview of the GMG and DataWare, Citizen, and anyone who says different is obviously not working out that creating stuff is the purview of the GM, and the GM alone! Next time, we deal with Cybernetics, and why that, too, is often houseruled and optional. FATAL & Friends: Reminding you that systems you love are because you didn't stick to RAW.
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Jul 22, 2014 22:58
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Halloween Jack posted:Sometimes I think that it would be cool to run the RIFTS setting in a narrative game, but...no. I don't really want to run the RIFTS setting. More like, imagine that a RIFTS book actually had an index. Take all the cool-sounding words like Psi-Stalker and Cyber-Knight and run a gonzo mashup based on that. You could probably do a pretty sweet two-page seed game ala Ghost/Echo that way.
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Jul 22, 2014 23:04
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God bless you for your Alternity F&F review. My teenaged group didn't run with any of the Grid rules either. Or computer hardware statting even, it was always supplied/stolen as-is and then never mentioned again.
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Jul 22, 2014 23:10
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Gerund posted:God bless you for your Alternity F&F review. My teenaged group didn't run with any of the Grid rules either. Or computer hardware statting even, it was always supplied/stolen as-is and then never mentioned again. I'm actually quite irritable about that now, because, through this writeup, I have come to realise something. Something pretty bad. Alternity is a great generic system (the skill system is quick, and so is the combat, although combat is a little deadly), but, the moment it comes to anything science fiction, like it was built for... It falls down, goes boom. The Computer and Grid rules are kludgy as gently caress. Cybernetics, as we'll see tomorrow, isn't much better. Both are hideously expensive. Starship creation rules were so bad, they released an entire supplement to fix them, and people still houserule it. But despite this, I still like the god-drat system, because these things can be ignored (yes, even Starships can be fudged), and the basic system is mostly fine. It's just that it doesn't do the job it was designed for, and it could have been fixed with proper playtesting.
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Jul 22, 2014 23:20
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Halloween Jack posted:Sometimes I think that it would be cool to run the RIFTS setting in a narrative game, but...no. I don't really want to run the RIFTS setting. More like, imagine that a RIFTS book actually had an index. Take all the cool-sounding words like Psi-Stalker and Cyber-Knight and run a gonzo mashup based on that. I've mentioned it before but a few insane friends of mine have a huge set of documents that represented a D10 Rifts universe, basically taking a lot of the rules for NWOD and Exalted, stripping out some of the cruft, and replacing it with brand news Rifts cruft. It works very well as a narrative game and is deeply playable, plus since it's just a bunch of .doc files we can keep around the Rifts books for inspiration. At the core that's what Palladium books are for a lot of us (at least everyone in that game group) a series of ridiculous art pieces that we all associate with being 14 and thinking that if playing as a Cyber-Knight is rad, playing as a TITAN Cyber-Knight is 15 times as rad! Using D10 makes it really easy to create characters that aren't as oddly constricted by the 800 or so Rifts OCCs. I had a great time playing as a wandering New Mexico Rabbi that was born on a temple/reservation that survived the Rifts by being remote, isolated, and paranoid in the first place. Every spell had a cool story (weather magic? Learned it from the Zia peoples! Technomancy? Picked it up from local traders, use it to make magic bullets for my old hunting elephant rifle!).
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Jul 22, 2014 23:35
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What gets me about RIFTS is how... careless it is. They don't seem to give a drat about making anything consistent or actually fun for the players, but rather how ridiculously badass they can make something. There's some ridiculously cool ideas, but as someone who never played it - it does not look fun to play Robindaybird fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 03:13
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theironjef posted:I've mentioned it before but a few insane friends of mine have a huge set of documents that represented a D10 Rifts universe, basically taking a lot of the rules for NWOD and Exalted, stripping out some of the cruft, and replacing it with brand news Rifts cruft. It works very well as a narrative game and is deeply playable, plus since it's just a bunch of .doc files we can keep around the Rifts books for inspiration. At the core that's what Palladium books are for a lot of us (at least everyone in that game group) a series of ridiculous art pieces that we all associate with being 14 and thinking that if playing as a Cyber-Knight is rad, playing as a TITAN Cyber-Knight is 15 times as rad!
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Jul 23, 2014 03:18
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Halloween Jack posted:Ooh, man, I dunno about that. It sounds like solving 80s design with 90s design. For Rifts that would still be an improvement though.
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Jul 23, 2014 04:21
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