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I love the idea that the salient geographical fact of rivers is crossing them, rather than like... going up and down them.
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Oct 19, 2014 16:02
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Look this guy's obvious knowledge of rivers doesn't have that included and he won't have it extended to his fantasy sword and sorcery too much anime epic imaginary's playspace because
Mexcillent fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 16:04
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Attorney at Funk posted:I love the idea that the salient geographical fact of rivers is crossing them, rather than like... going up and down them.
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Oct 19, 2014 18:10
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Stephenls posted:It's one of the reasons the Empress never conquered the Scavenger Lands -- she wasn't able to deploy the Realm Defense Grid against the Confederacy of Rivers' major powers, because it's sufficiently inaccurate that she might have clipped part of the River of Tears greater geomantic working, and disrupting it could have had any number of inclement effects ranging from "The River of Tears dries up" to "All the water in the major river systems in the East spontaneously vaporizes, killing all the major population centers in the whole Direction instantly." Ah yes, holding the uncontested means to assure the complete annihilation of a populace is why her nation failed to dominate a region.
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Oct 19, 2014 18:18
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A_Raving_Loon posted:Ah yes, holding the uncontested means to assure the complete annihilation of a populace is why her nation failed to dominate a region.
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Oct 19, 2014 18:20
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A_Raving_Loon posted:Ah yes, holding the uncontested means to assure the complete annihilation of a populace is why her nation failed to dominate a region. Well, yeah. I mean, the fact that we have much more firepower than we actually need to destroy the entire country arguably has a lot to do with my own country's recent string of military failures, even when the country didn't contain something we wanted to save.
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Oct 19, 2014 18:24
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Nessus posted:Keep in mind that an established part of the setting is that mass death can rip open a portal to the Skeleton Dimension! That leaves aside the economic value of the region too, of course. All the more reason y'all should chose a life of peace and prosperity under the scarlet banner over eternal screaming agony in the skull dimension.
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Oct 19, 2014 18:45
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A_Raving_Loon posted:Ah yes, holding the uncontested means to assure the complete annihilation of a populace is why her nation failed to dominate a region. She doesn't actually want to destroy the whole East. That would be bad. I mean, for starters, Sijanese funerists are who you turn to when you have a massive depopulation and want some magical rites to ensure it doesn't turn into a big shadowland, and Sijan is the first city that's gonna be entirely killed if this hypothetical accident happens.
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Oct 19, 2014 19:59
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A_Raving_Loon posted:All the more reason y'all should chose a life of peace and prosperity under the scarlet banner over eternal screaming agony in the skull dimension. Frankly, calling the Underworld "the Skull Dimension" is one of the best ideas this thread, including but not limited to myself and Loon, have had all month.
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Oct 19, 2014 20:09
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Nessus posted:It isn't like the Empress didn't have a lot of satrapies to exploit even without the Scavenger Lands. At a certain point the risk calculus changes. Hell, a shadowland that big would be like, the biggest shadowland. Maybe EVERYONE gets to fall into the skull dimension then. It's an unknown unknown. Hell, maybe Lookshy throws their remaining superbomb at the Imperial manse, and then THAT'S falling into the skull dimension. At which point her redness crawls into The Imperial Tomb and takes her place atop the skull throne. quote:Hell, maybe Lookshy Also this, with the addition of adding more nations worth talking about the region, is the good way to put obstacles in front of the Realm. A_Raving_Loon fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 23:05
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Nessus posted:Frankly, calling the Underworld "the Skull Dimension" is one of the best ideas this thread, including but not limited to myself and Loon, have had all month. Agreed. I will refer to it as such almost exclusively from now on.
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Oct 20, 2014 05:39
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A_Raving_Loon posted:Also this, with the addition of adding more nations worth talking about the region, is the good way to put obstacles in front of the Realm. Instead it's like "Lookshy." Granted Lookshy appears to have some Sidereals watching out for it, and isn't so much an equal as having counterforce potential, but c'mon, give them some Theban sacred bands or something to back 'em up!
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Oct 20, 2014 05:53
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Roadie posted:There are rivers in specific places on the map. Average-to-bad GMs and players will take this to mean there are no rivers (or at least none large enough to sail on) anywhere on the map that doesn't have visible rivers on it. The problem with Sail is if you're heading overland you can't bring your boat with you in case you find any rivers along the way and constantly stealing boats is a bit pointless when you can just pay a fare. Unless your party is the sort that steals everything, in which case have at it. Fans fucked around with this message at 11:09 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 11:05
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Nessus posted:Frankly, calling the Underworld "the Skull Dimension" is one of the best ideas this thread, including but not limited to myself and Loon, have had all month. Now, thanks to the Hundred Kingdoms conceit, I want to create a character from little-known Shadowland of Skullvania. Thanks!
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Oct 20, 2014 12:19
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Somehow epic science-fantasy with a huge focus on death keeps wrapping around to Warhammer 40k.
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Oct 20, 2014 12:52
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I was thinking more "every Day is of the Dead" than "skulls for the skull throne", myself.
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Oct 20, 2014 13:05
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I was thinking more "every Day is of the Dead" than "skulls for the skull throne", myself. Pastries and marzipan skulls for everyone!
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Oct 20, 2014 13:21
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Fans posted:The problem with Sail is if you're heading overland you can't bring your boat with you in case you find any rivers along the way and constantly stealing boats is a bit pointless when you can just pay a fare. Unless your party is the sort that steals everything, in which case have at it. there's many ways to make your boat sail over earth though, from terrestrial sorcery to propitiating the right god(s) with a nice bloody sacrifice
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Oct 20, 2014 13:22
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Artifact foldable ship! Or just summon your ship like in G Gundam. BURSTING DOWN some priceless gigantic statue before it falls and crushes your enemies 
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Oct 20, 2014 14:55
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Beach boat. Install wheels. All aboard the sailbus.
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Oct 20, 2014 16:54
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Can anyone school me in how riverine traffic works? How does one go upstream? How much less poo poo can you carry, compared to downstream? How wide does a river have to be before using a sail is practical? Also, if I were to fill in part of the map with rivers, how would I decide their course? Would I basically need a contour map? A_Raving_Loon posted:Beach boat. Use a yeddim or two for steering, and this seems entirely believable.
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Oct 20, 2014 17:13
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bartkusa posted:How does one go upstream? I'm not kidding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-drawn_boat
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Oct 20, 2014 18:00
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bartkusa posted:Can anyone school me in how riverine traffic works? How does one go upstream? How much less poo poo can you carry, compared to downstream? How wide does a river have to be before using a sail is practical? The most traditional method was "build a flat bottomed boat upstream, carry things downstream, sell goods along the way". Goods generally including selling the boat as lumber at the last stop, and then riding back up. The stuff you want to move upstream tends to be less bulky and more amenable to transport via pack animal (tools, cloth, etc), whereas the stuff going downstream is raw materials. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatboat for a decent writeup of how it was done on the Mississippi.
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Oct 20, 2014 18:09
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bartkusa posted:How does one go upstream? Demons, lots of them.
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Oct 20, 2014 18:14
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Bribing the river god works, too.
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Oct 20, 2014 18:22
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I was thinking more "every Day is of the Dead" than "skulls for the skull throne", myself. Like, sure, 'the majority of ghosts come from the single unifying incident of "almost everyone died in the Contagion,"' and even having a model lovely Peasant Burg (though even those places should probably have, if nothing else, occasional weird festivals or rites), but come on, spice it up a notch. Or six. Of course, it also occurs to me that if you can prove a Deathlord created the Contagion, you could raise a ghost army of almost arbitrary size... HMMM...!!
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Oct 20, 2014 18:36
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Roadie posted:Demons, lots of them. Rand Brittain posted:Bribing the river god works, too. All good stuff. Thanks!
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Oct 20, 2014 18:40
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Nessus posted:"The vast majority of ghosts are peasant farmers who died in the Great Contagion and un-live in peasant-farming villages, engaging in peasant farming for ghost rice."
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Oct 20, 2014 19:19
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Zereth posted:Wait, do ghosts need to eat ghost food? I thought they'd have just hosed off and started working in Ghost Construction or making Ghost Art or something instead. Or at least harvesting whatever ghosts care about. I think the notion is that most of them aren't sapient enough to do anything but repeat their old patterns.
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Oct 20, 2014 19:25
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Nessus posted:Of course, it also occurs to me that if you can prove a Deathlord created the Contagion, you could raise a ghost army of almost arbitrary size... HMMM...!! I do have dreams of at some point having an Soulsteel alchemical lead the glorious ghostly revolution... ... if it wasn't for that dumb "autosummon and explode any ghost" power Deathlords have, alas.
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Oct 20, 2014 19:27
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Zereth posted:Wait, do ghosts need to eat ghost food? I thought they'd have just hosed off and started working in Ghost Construction or making Ghost Art or something instead. Or at least harvesting whatever ghosts care about. Ghosts don't need food or drink, but still enjoy it, so there is demand for ghost-agriculture.
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Oct 20, 2014 20:41
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Zereth posted:Wait, do ghosts need to eat ghost food? I thought they'd have just hosed off and started working in Ghost Construction or making Ghost Art or something instead. Or at least harvesting whatever ghosts care about. I don't think these were meant to be background elements since they talked a lot about traditions of hospitality that would permit you to play a ghostly equivalent of your friend Turtle who always needs somewhere to crash.
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Oct 20, 2014 20:51
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Couch-surfing across the Skull Dimension is the only good plot hook they ever published.
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Oct 20, 2014 21:10
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Clearly, the entire Skull Dimension looks like Black Velvetopia had hot, steamy sex with Book of Life.
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Oct 20, 2014 21:46
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Zereth posted:Wait, do ghosts need to eat ghost food? I thought they'd have just hosed off and started working in Ghost Construction or making Ghost Art or something instead. Or at least harvesting whatever ghosts care about. So aside from the fact that ghosts can eat and enjoy it there is another major and bad reason there is Ghost Farmers. See the underworld is weird. Its unchanging, lethargic and stratified. It runs on inertia more than anything else. Lets quote an actual book for once, Roll of Divinity 2, Ghosts and Demons: quote:Is it not enough to spend 60 years as a rice farmer toiling in the fields of an unappreciative Dragon-Blooded patron? Does such a farmer really need to spend an eternity in the rice fields of the afterlife, continuing the same drudgery while hoping that something better comes along? Ghosts do the things they used to do in life, because that is just the way ghosts do. Apparently. I believe this is because the authors wanted to set up the same Mortals vs Heroic mortals thing with normal and Heroic ghosts but the end result is just... baffling. And bad. Ghosts are all people that upon death resisted Lethe, they had enough will to continue living or to many things keeping them tied to life. Except the vast majority of them also have no clue what to do with that willpower except farm ghost rice, beg ghost money, operate ghost stores. Even though they don't need ghost rice, ghost money or have a particular passion for ghost storekeeping. Cities of the dead are filled with people who do things simply because they used to do them in life. Only a few ghosts are interesting, lead actual lives with agency and do things to achieve actual goals. The rest is just a sort of greyscale backdrop of nameless npcs. Only this time not because their stories are not relevant to your game as you expect in another game. Because they are literally just not beings with agency. And it all Makes No Sense. Ghosts cling to life or at least, unlife for reasons. The stick around either from a wish to accomplish certain goals or simply because they just refuse to stop being around. The qualifier for being a ghost should mean that they have agency, have things they want to accomplish. The very things that make them ghosts make them Actors, beings with Agency. Strangely the underworld should be more "alive" than creation ever was. Its full of people with willpower and absolutely no need for many of the basic things that dictate the course of life in creation. They don't need sleep, food, they don't suffer from cold or heat. They eat, wear clothing, sleep because it reminds them of being alive, those things are indulgences. Ghosts should be trying to accomplish things, the underworld should be vibrant and "alive". To tie this back to the ghost farmer. Ghost Farmers should be around because Ghost Rice is valuable. And ghost rice is valuable because all over the underworld is restaurants that serve Ghost Rice Porridge literally just like mom used to make. Across from that should be a drat Ghost Steakhouse. And it should be filled with people who are enjoying food because food makes them feel alive. And Ghost Farmer is selling ghost rice not because that is what he always used to do ( though it may well be the case ) but because he is saving up money to get his living son a dower so he can marry into a good life. Ghost Farmer may have failed his son in his life but he'll be damned if he isn't going to try to make it right. If he was just going to let things be and not make a difference he would not have been a ghost. Tzarnal fucked around with this message at 08:00 on Oct 21, 2014 |
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Oct 21, 2014 07:55
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Tzarnal posted:Cities of the dead are filled with people who do things simply because they used to do them in life. Only a few ghosts are interesting, lead actual lives with agency and do things to achieve actual goals. The rest is just a sort of greyscale backdrop of nameless npcs. Only this time not because their stories are not relevant to your game as you expect in another game. Because they are literally just not beings with agency. One subtle thing for the Deathlords (or face-turned Abyssals) to do might be to open up the gates into Creation, not so much to KILL ALL THE LIVING but to make it so that the ghosts can, in fact, set things right. And perhaps they even would!
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Oct 21, 2014 08:56
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Nessus posted:The idea of having sort of mindless background phantasms in odd corners of the underworld makes sense to me, but I agree with your perspective on ghosts. People should be afraid of ghosts in Creation, not because "icky dead people are bad," as that a ghost is a. a being with magic behind him and b. you know he's got a grudge about SOMETHING... maybe it's you!! Alternately, beyond your usual scary ghost problems maybe people in Creation don't want ghosts around because of the fact that they're willful, prone to overindulgence if you let them, and aren't/can't be reined in by things like "need to sleep" or "financial concerns." Sure, having deceased Uncle Li come back from the Underworld to share his wisdom sounds like a good idea until he keeps drinking all your rice wine, constantly browbeats and nitpicks at you about your job and your girlfriend and every single decision you make, makes obscene gestures at the local tax collector, and stays up literally all night playing ghost poker and getting rowdy with his ghost pals while you're trying to get some sleep. Ghosts are basically inconsiderate houseguests that flout mortal society's rules and strictures and also they happen to be dead.
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Oct 21, 2014 09:09
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Kai Tave posted:Alternately, beyond your usual scary ghost problems maybe people in Creation don't want ghosts around because of the fact that they're willful, prone to overindulgence if you let them, and aren't/can't be reined in by things like "need to sleep" or "financial concerns." Sure, having deceased Uncle Li come back from the Underworld to share his wisdom sounds like a good idea until he keeps drinking all your rice wine, constantly browbeats and nitpicks at you about your job and your girlfriend and every single decision you make, makes obscene gestures at the local tax collector, and stays up literally all night playing ghost poker and getting rowdy with his ghost pals while you're trying to get some sleep.
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Oct 21, 2014 09:23
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Okay, lets go check out the Monday Meeting Notes, last week they said "We’re getting edits back and implementing them this week", vague but at least its something. *looks at this week notes, sees the same words verbatim* Not sure what I expected.... Guess if it was me I would put like a percentage or something...
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Oct 21, 2014 11:11
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Or maybe say that editing is taking longer than expected. Or maybe say that you received it back from editing and you are working on it. Those are both better options than copy and pasting last weeks status verbatim. But the dev team has never given a gently caress about trying to be transparent to the customers. Edit: Just checked and that has essentially been the same message for the last four weeks. September 29's update was the first time they mentioned getting everything back from editing. Obviously they are getting things back in sections and working through them as they receive them. But you could be more clear with your updates to give the sense of progress to your customers who are wondering where the hell this book they paid for over a year ago is (and yes, I realize that edges on the KS debate of is a store/not a store). NIV3K fucked around with this message at 12:23 on Oct 21, 2014 |
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Oct 21, 2014 12:10
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