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Comrade Koba posted:Not a tabletop RPG, but there's always The Unreal World. Yep, sounds like a typical Friday. e: Also, related to elements of Finnish myth in Tolkien, the world being created from music is very Kalevalan. We also had a brief aside related to this in the Old D&D thread how the idea of an intelligent evil sword may have come from the Kullervo cycle (again, a major inspiration for one of Tolkien's stories). Ratpick fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 14:40
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Forces of Hordes: Trollbloods A Stone Scribe Chronicler is an elder scribe who has spent a long time witnessing the champions in battle, carving their deeds on the krielstones and scrolls. Stories have power in the minds of listeners, and the chroniclers know the heroic tales by heart, telling them to the warriors to restore morale in times of low food, many deaths or impossible odds. One favorite tale is the story of Grindar and Gelfas, who helped in the Orgoth Rebellion. In the Valley of Mist, a small group of trollkin used a fog to ambus hthe Orgoth, and as things began to look grim for Chief Grindar, his son Gelfas arrived with mighty trolls, battling to save his father. Indeed, over the next few days, he gave his life to buy time for reinforcements. By this sacrifice, Grindar was able to achieve a mighty victory against the Orgoth, though his heart was heavy.  Troll Whelps are kind of a consequence of troll regeneration. They are degenerate beasts born from severed limbs or large lumps of flesh. After all, when a troll loses that much meat, it stays alive, regenerating a head, torso and limbs. These tiny 'trolls' follow their 'parents' by instinct. Their rapid growth, while amazing, does not produce a full troll. Instead, they are small creatures with disproportionate limbs matching whatever they were spawned from and not even the brains of a troll. They aren't very dangerous and don't live for more than a few years. Particularly stupid dire trolls may mistake the mfor true offspring, but that is rare and never lasts very long since they don't grow bigger. Most trolls consider their whelps to be just extensions of their own bodies. They tend to let whelps do as they please, but if no other food source is handy, trolls will eat their whelps without care. In fact, they're an excellent source of emergency food to fuel regeneration, and it's not uncommon for a troll to laugh at the antics of a whelp and then snack on it seconds later.  A Trollkin Champion Hero is a famous troll, a great champion whose deeds are told across the kriels, a living legend. They are hardened by countless battles, saving entire kriels. They tempt death in every battle, knowing that if they fall, they will live on in memory. They take comfort in knowing that songs and stone will immortalize them long after their own deaths. Not all are the same, of course - some are berserkers of poor temper who, in peacetime, strain their kin's patience. Others are brooding and introspective, or vain and arrogant. But each is alike in battle, for they all put aside thoughts of safety in order to protect their kith. They cannot turn away from battle.  The Trollkin Runebearer is an elder scribe, studying the stone secrets of Dhunia. Sometimes, they travel across the kriels to study history and learn the connections between events. When they begin to comprehend all this, they unlock the raw power of the trollkin. Warlocks and chiefs seek the mout to understand their destinies, and runebearers may sometimes choose to accompany a leader to help divine their fates. They follow warlocks into battle, using the power of their stones by speaking passages aloud. These tablets glow with magic, becoming weightless and aligning with the warlock's will, allowing the runebearer to help them weave potent magic. Few greater honors are available than to be accompanied by a runebearer, and it is a sign of great respect.  The Trollkin Skinners are not comfortable invillages, living as hunters in the wild. They wear the pelts of their kills and are rarely seen by other trollkin save when they come to trade pelts for supplies. In the wild, they must be ready to survive very hostile environments, facing terrifying monsters that can see through any concealment. They fight satyrs and gorax, and there's only a few chances to take them down before you die. They must use their knives on tendons and internal organs, disabling these beasts as fast as possible. They are often rather eccentric, capable of going years without speaking. Most identify as part of their communities, but some of them see to their survival before any other overall good, especially if not paid. It's not uncommon for some to return home, however, and help their kin, if a bit grudgingly. They heed the call of battle sometimes, serving as advance scouts. Theior skill at killing beasts is also very useful, and they're no less good at taking out smaller prey.  Horthol, Long Rider Hero is a might chieftain, but he has given up leadership of his kriel to serve Ironhide, whom he believes is destined to reshape the world. He is loyal over all else, even as others betray Ironhide or name him World Ender. His bond was forged in the Thornwood, where he was raised to hunt. His kriel fell quickly to the Cryxians, and few of his kin survived - and then, only because of Ironhide. He knew then that Madrak was his true chief. Those who ride with Horthol find it hard to believe that he wasn't born in the saddle. He proved his skill quickly, and the long riders soon welcomed him as brother and leader. Now, he commands Ironhide's cavalry, drawing other riders to the cause. He intends to stand by Madrak even when Rathrok invokes its final doom, even if it means dying to save Madrak Ironhide. Until then, he leads the long riders to victory.  Janissa Stonetide heard the all of stone before her first word. Her earliest memory is the lullaby of the living rock, and by the time she came of age, she knew the deepest secrets of the Gnarls runeshapers. By 20, she was theo ne called on to help the elders with runes. Some traditionalists believe her experience is dangerously close to the wilding of the blackclads, perhaps a legacy of the link between the Devourer and Dhunia. In some respects, she does resemble the Circle's earth-shapers, but she ignores all that, convinced her power is a gift from Dhunia. When she knew she'd learned all she could, she set off for the wilds, seeking the greatest stone formations around. She ignored the borders of the Iron Kingdoms, following the whispers of stone that only she could hear. The highest peaks of the Wyrmwall spoke to her of a time before trollkin, teaching her to strike down her foes with the power of an avalanche. The Bloodstone Marches told of the great rock masses moving beneath the world on a scale impossible to imagine. She learned to compress these rhythms and cause the earth to shake and thrust upwards. When she returned to the Gnarls, however, she found it in shambles, overcrowded by refugees from Crael Valley. She began to understand why she was given her gift, and for the first time, she felt a motivatio beyond the spiritual. She took up the pickaxe Earthsplitter to defend her kin, having made it to explore but, giving it the proper runes, she turned it into a weapon able to sunder any armor. She knows now that the stones speak to her that she might deliver hope to her kith and kriel and bring their vengeance on the foes of the trollkin. The End! Next up, Legion of Everblight, and then we get into the all-faction expansion books.
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Jul 29, 2015 14:52
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The fact that this one character somehow bucks the Trollkin design bothers me.
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Jul 29, 2015 15:27
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Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight The Legion of Everblight has become a dire threat in mere years. They are the ultimate weapon of the dragon Everblight, whose body was destroyed centuries ago but whose athanc survived. He lured the ogrun Thagrosh to free him from his tomb, and then he corrupted and dominated the Nyss elves and some of the ogrun of the mountains. His athanc is implanted in his chosen generals, turning them into warlocks of the Legion, who share thoughts with him. The greatest strength of the Legion is in its dragonspawn, the beasts that are born of dragon's blood, which are exceptionally agile, brutal and tough. If they were not enough, however, the Legion is excellent at supporting and managing them.  The armies of Everblight are unprecedented, blessed by his perfecting blight and accompanied by dragonspawn born of his alien mind. His legion is as devoted as the followers of any god, seeking to die in his name. Toruk's other progency have made blighted slaves, but only Everblight has made it an art, corrupting and reshaping life in his own image. He has forgone physical form to perfct his armies, making in but a few years a force to challenge Toruk's millenia-old undead legions. They have been honed into instruments of his will, their physical bodies reshaped for his purposes. They measure victory only by the destruction and consumption of athancs. Everblight has initiated a plan of conquest at a desperate pace, and while he's capitalized on his bodiless nature, it leaves his legion vulnerable. Without a dragon supporting them, they must rely on speed and numbers to survive, and the plan must move very, very quickly, with blod and rash actions by the timescale of dragons. This is not Everblight's first legion. Long ago, when he still had a body, he dwelled beneath the kingdom Morrdh, binding them to his will and breeding the first of his carefully made dragonspawn. The Lords of Morrdh served his will but did not entirely submit, insisting on retaining free will while he used the dragonspawn to hold up his end of his bargains with them. It was a fertile age of experimentatiion and genesis of dragonspawn, and the wars of Mrrdh proved an excellent testing ground for their forms. In time, Everblight made a host of them, each with a distant acho of his glory. Other dragons' spawn were random creatures, not able to be made in numbers. Despite the supremacy of his methods, though, he was not satisfied. They wer deadly, but had to be close to him to obey any but the simplest command. That was the price of absolute loyalty, and he needed minions of greater will and autonomy. Before he could move on to that stage, however, Toruk found his location and descended upon him, and while he escaped by leading his father to one of his siblings, he realized he had to be careful to avoid discovery again - the dragonspawn gave him away. He spent centuries recovering from his wounds in the Skybridge Mountains, watching the Iosans. In their decline, he saw opportunity, sensing the spiritual void they suffered without their gods. After the Rivening shattered the minds of their priests, he took advantage of the chaos to hide beneath Issyrah. He uses his mental influence to subtly summon elves from the Iosans, beckoning the hopeless and yearning. Those compelled to make pilgrimages to the crused fane of Ayisla found Everblight waiting for them, experimenting in corruption and shaping of their bodies and minds. In time, heh oped to control them entirely, turning them into tools. For centuries, he chose Iosans to study, their families never knowing what hapepned to them. By exposing them to controlled degrees of blight, he was able to maintain a terrible influence over them, gaining near-total mastery over their flesh and remaking them into weapons. Before he could capitalize on this, however, the Iosans discovered his existence. He had to unleash his full strength on them, reducing the city to ruin, but he misjudged the power of his foes in his rage and was taken out, his flesh destroyed and his mind sealed within his athanc, which was imprisoned on a mountain. This defeat was in part caused by his rage overtaking his reason, and it altered forever how he viewed his power and its limits as well as the need for an army.  For years, Everblight know only rage and despair, but eventually, his reason returned to him. He grew aware of the proximity of the Nyss, who lived simpler lives than the Iosans. Their bodies and souls were similar, and he saw a chancer to salvage his plans. When the weakwilled ogrun Thagrosh came close to him, he was compelled to retrieve the athanc and plunge it into his own chest, with the dragon's essence guiding him. He headed down to the valleys to subjugate the NYss. Their society was torn apart, in no small part thanks to the betrayal of the sorceress Vayl Hallyr, who helped the Nyss shards fall to the blight. Everbliught coopeted the strongest, setting them to destroy those too troublesome to convert. When it became clear that resistance brought death, the survivors, including most of the Fane of Nyssor, fled south. Within weeks, Everblight possessed the core of his new legion, already transforming them into something new. Whatever aspects of the Nyss culture were rteains were reshaped to new purpose, while those deemed unimportant were discarded. Soon, the Legion gathered other forces from the nearby regions to the Shard Spires of the Nyss. The ogrun had useful power and fortitude, for example, and they are used to give brawn to the Legion, which is built around a core of Nyss. During the centuries of his imprisonment, Everblight delved into the study of his athanc's limitations and structure, learning more than all his siblings combined. Even Toruk had never been forced into such focused self-examination. Everblight realized he could ivide his own essence into worthy vessels but retain his own consciousness. He had the perfect tool for this in the form of a weapon of Morrdh, originally meant to kill other dragons. Once Thagrosh recovered it, Everblight could begin. His decision to remain forlmless and use proxy hosts was not born solely of fear, though Everblight was aware of the dangers he'd face in his old body. Because his essence is in each of his warlocks, no distance can separate them from their master, and each is instantly aware of his will. Further, they can also communicate with each other over long distances - an unanticipated but welcome effect. Through this network, Everblight can coordinate the legion across vast distance while remaining safe. Even if another dragon killed some of his warlocks and absorbed their shards, it would take all of them being consumed to destroy Everblight utterly. On top of this, each of his generals can command armies of dragonsapwn, manipulating them as instruments of their will just as Everblight once did. This amplifies the force of the armies, and the ability of the spawn to share their senses with their warlocks grants considerable situational awareness. However, EVerblight's minions are not mindless pawns. Each fills a unique role for their skill, and while Everblight can see through their eyes as he likes, he interferes only when he must. e is shaping each one differently, though all must sometimes overcome failures to become greater than their base flesh. In return, they can never fully fathom Everblight's mind and must earn his favor. It is equally important that the warlocks be able to create their own dragonspawn, for Everblight cannot directly create these creatures any more. Fortunately, his mastery of his blight allows him to grant them this secret, imbuing them with the power to create his blood in their own veins. With enough time and blood, any of his spawn can be made. The least of them take little time and blood, but the greatest exhaust and nearly exsanguinates a warlock. Efforts are underway to overcome this by making spawning vessels to transmute base material into dragonflesh. Warlocks can make dragonspawn anywhere, but bases of operation are sometimes needed for their recovery or to produce weapons and vessels. Remote locations are best for these outposts to avoid draconic attention (or human attention, for that matter). Though only a few exceptional Nyss have been granted fragments of Everblight's athanc, this race is certianly favored over all others in his glory. They have cast off servitude to Nyssor to serve as his vanguard, and they are still determining what their new society will be - functioning and surviving as an army has taken priority over other considerations. It's only been a few years since Thagrosh brought them the message of Everblight, but they had to be made into an army immediately, primarily by the ice witch Vayl, first of the willing disciples of Everblight. She rose to unify and lead the blighted Nyss in his name, with Thagrosh's permission. The blight made the Nyss cruler and more predatory, casting aside generations of tradition. The atrocities of the early days were a problem only in that Everblight wanted the largest possible army. Vayl quelled the violence brutally, ensuring that most NYss survived their transformations, then applied her authority to reorganizing them. Many elements of Nyss culture were abandoned, but some were adapted, and several groups remained mostly intact. For example, the raptors, elk-riding hunters, were already strong, as were the rangers that got reshaped into the striders. A group of sacred warriors once known as ryssovass became the Legionnaires, sworn to serve as Thagrosh's inner guard via their traditional fighting style. Most Nyss continued to identify with the tribes they were born into as well as ther extended hunting groups, or shards. Vayl set these to a new purpose by using shards as the core of the legions, each made of 50 to 80 warriors. Each shard is led by a prior, a captain of the Legion with the formal toitle aransor, once reserved for Nyssor's Fane and its elders. Deaconds in charge of large packs in a shard serve as the priors' lieutenants, while smaller groups are overseen by sergeants known as vassals. Some traditions also use titles and ranks specific to their training. Above all others are the warlocks, who speak with the authority of Everblight and can command any of the legion as needed. Some, like Vayl or Lylyth, oversee larger aspects of the Legion, but most act as strike force commanders. The blighted Nyss sorcerers advise them and are just below them in authority. Sorcery has always been part of Nyss life, but Everblight transformed and augmented their power. In addition to the traditional magic of wind and cold, many can control blight energies. They also retain their mastery of written Aeric and so are deeply involved in making important tools and weapons. They are generally smarter and have more initiative than the warriors. Even before their blighting, the Nyss were useful - they were hardy, nomadic hunters and killers able to move quickly across great distances with discipline and self-sufficiency. They endured constant battles against the wilderness and the elements, as well as fights with trollkin, humans and Rhulfolk. Everblight modified his plans to use them, as their nature even better suited his needs in the early days of his armies than civilied Iosans had. They could live off the land for what they needed, constantly on the move save when making new spawn. Suprise and mobility would be their greatest weapons. The blighted Nyss quickly moved outside their territory, falling on remote human and trollkin villages for meat and blood as well as staging grounds for the birth of new warbeasts. The most terrifying of these were the nephilim, dragonspawn birthed from Nyss mothers. While Nyss are the majority of the Legion, there are others, especially the blighted ogrun. They do not coexist comfortably in day to day life, remaining segregated as much as possible, as the Nyss see the ogrun as brutish and violent, especially when they go berserk and Nyss end up dead. The ogrun are brutal creatures, more like the ravening hordes of the past than the noble people the unblighted ogrun are elsewhere. While they retain their loyalty and some traditions, the blight infected them with a savage bloodthirst, and they venerate Thagrosh and Everblight as korune via blood sacrifice. Their command structure is basic and feudal, with ogrun serving those stronger than themselves, who take the title vassal as much as the NYss do. These ogrun can become strong enough to earn the respect of several vassals, becoming deacons, who serve as lieutenants to the war chiefs. Each war chief controls a warband of varying size, but some have gathered hundreds of blighted ogrun. They have nearly absolute authority over their tribes but are united in reverging Thagrosh as korune. He rarely directly gives them orders, but that doesn't change their loyalty. Regardless of their rank, however, they have no authority over the Nyss and must sometimes obey them, though they don't seme to resent it due to their special connection to Thagrosh.  Next time: DRAAAAAGONS
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Jul 29, 2015 16:30
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Ratpick posted:But besides that, there's never a not-Finland in any RPG setting, although given the treatment that Scandinavia gets in most fantasy settings ("They're just a bunch of vikings who live in a land filled with trolls and giants") I can't even imagine what a fantasy analogue Finland would look like. 
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Jul 29, 2015 17:10
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Cooked Auto posted:So wait, the author uses the Swedish folklore term for changelings and then completely fucks it up? The Bortbytingarna troll spends most of the night comically making flapjacks, but can easily be killed by a blunderburshty.
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Jul 29, 2015 17:18
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Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight Almost immediately after the Legion was formed, they fought a lot against the other northern inhabitants. Some of these were very bloody conflicts, but they were all part of Everblight's plan to strengthen himself against other dragons. The remote Khadoran communities were out of touch with the larger garrisons, so retaliation was slow and disorganized, though it gained strength as the Legion became more widely known. Plans changed after Goreshade the eldritch revealed the location of the weakened dragon Pyromalfic as part of a bargain for access to the god Nyssor, should Everblight ever obtain him. Nyssor had already escaped, but Everblight saw no reason not to agree to the bargain. He sent Lylyth to verify the information, and when she did, he wasted no time sending most of his armies to Pyromalfic's lair in the Castle of the Keys. It was a remarkable achievement, as they crossed hundreds of miles through enemy territory, and earned the ire of many, including the Circle Orboros. Despite the hounding of the Circle and having to fight the skorne holding the Castle, the Legion did ultimately defeat Pyromalfic's body and seized its athacn, though at the cost of massive casualties to Thagrosh's forces. Few dragonspawn survived the assault, but that was nothing compared to the recovery of the athanc. Thagrosh consumed it even before the army pulled back, allowing it to fuse with Everblight's athanc and increase his power. The full absorption of Pyromalfic has proved slower and harder than Everblight expected, for his own nature was divided byween his warlocks, and Pyromalfic fought him for mental dominance during the weeks after battle. Evading the Circle forced the Legion to divide themselves, with most of the soldiers heading overland to distract the foe while Thagrosh, Vayl and Saeryn headed underground through secret and dangerous tunnels knopwn only to Everblight, traveling under Ios to reach Rhul. Thagrosh was barely conscious for most of the journey, and only the other warlocks kept the Legion in existence. The blight wracked Thagrosh's body, requriing the magic of Vayl and Saeryn to regulate and contain it so he could complete his transformation into the Messiah. All of Everblight's warlocks were strengthened, and Thagrosh was later able to generate Typhon, the greatest of the dragonspawn, but these were ultimately mere side effects compared to Everblight's own strengthening. Thagrosh summoned the warlocks to him, and they worked to restore the Legion's strength. Key to this was a reunion with Abyslonia, who had been left in the north to create new dragonspawn. These much-needed reinforcements were soon joined by others in a base made in an isolated Rhulic village the Legion seized. Thanks to their tactics, most of the Nyss had survived the battle and retreat, and their accelerated births and growth cycles replaced the dead at a rate impossible for unmodified species. For Everblight, though, it wasn't enough, and he began to modify some of the Nyss further, creating new hybrids out of his desperate efforts, with the grotesques being the most immediately successful, able to be birthed and mature enough to fight within months, not years, though their undeveloped minds comprehend only how to fight and survive. While they could never rise to lead, everblight knew they'd be useful fodder, as in war their short lifespans wouldn't be a problem. Throughout his recovery, Everblight knew the dangers of keeping his warlocks in one place. Though strongest when gathered, they were endangered in the case of a massive attack by many foes, particularly other dragons, and this threat increased when EVerblight sensed a summons sent to his brethren by Blighterghast, as the attack on Pyromalfic had not been unnoticed, especially since Everblight had never joined the draconic alliance against Toruk. With these enemies scheming, Everblight prepared to scatter his power for the next phase of his plan. By keeping on the move and spreading widely, he can ensure that the Legion survives in the long term as they plan the next strike. After that, his plans are uncertain. Some of the warlocks expect orders to retaliate against the Circle Orboros, but they may well be sent against other targets as some plan to fight the dragon alliance. The warlocks have faith in Everblight's infinite powers of adaptation, creativity and survival. There is no question in their minds that Everblight will defeat all other dragons, then Toruk himself, taking his rightful place as the greatest and last of all dragons.   The warlocks serving Everblight are specifically chosen to be instruments of the blight. Within the heart of each is a fragment of his athanc, creating a deep tie between them and their master as well as the dragonspawn that serve them. Though they are all great leaders and warriors with their own ambitions and motives, the dragon's voice is always with them and they can act as manifestations of his will. This allows the egion to act in perfect and instant coordination in a way none of their enemies can. On top of this, they get access to Everblight's knowledge, memories and experiences, as well as providing theirs to the dragon. Through him, other warlocks gain filtered access to the information they need, able to learn things far beyond their own perspectives. They can thus fight on equal or better terms than far more numerous forces. With the exception of Thagrosh, all Legion warlocks are Nyss elves, as Everblight has long studied the elves and learned how to manipulate their essence and bodies. His plans for Ios were indefinitely stopped when his body was destroyed, but his knowledge has borne fruit among the Nyss, most of whom now serve him. While several Legion warlocks were sorcerers before he chose them to be his vessels, the power of the athanc magnified their magical skills massively. Thagrosh, first of his avatars, was able to gain terrifying arcane power despite being of a species with no native ability to use magic at all, and unlocking the potential of the Nyss is even easier. Bearing part of the athanc lets a warlock manifest and shape the blight energy. It's not easy, though, and no mortal can contain even a fraction of it without physiological change. All Legion warlocks those have draconic atrributes to varying degrees related to their resistance to the blight and the size of their athanc shard. Despite the variance, the changes are not random, but part of an ongoing evolution to perfect each warlock according to their nature and role. However, it is the power to create ragonspawn from their blood that is the most potent ability of the warlocks. They need only spill enough blood and they can spawn practically any warbeast the Legion has. Creating larger spawn is exhausting and leaves them temporarily vulnerable, however, so they will generally not do this in the field.  Abyslonia, Terror of Everblight is not a Nyss that's been subtly changed. Rather, her flesh continues to be reshaped by her power, without any sign of stability. She is a unique embodiment of the adaptable Everblight, and her mind and body bear little resemblance to her old self. For the Legion, she is a creature of singular perfection. For most of the chosen, the change is within, opening their minds to the blight and adapting to the presence of the dragon's voice. Abyslonia, however, may have achieved her form by initial resistance. She has little memory of that time save as pain and confusion, and even less of her life before it. This almost blank mental state pleases Everblight, who finds her easy to influence and control. In many ways, she is treated as a favored child, and he spends a lot of time retraining her instincts. Within days of her transformation, she proved entirely devoted to Everblight, and while she initially lacked either memories or language, she demonstrated inhuman cunning and power, with intuitive control over the dragonspawn around her. Her ability to spawn them is greater than any warlock save perhaps Thagrosh, and she can restore her own body or even the most damaged spawn to wholeness with her blight. When Everblight took most of his army to fight Pyromalfic, Abyslonia was left behind to safeguard part of his essence. She continued to create spawn, bringing the reserves to the Legion after most of the others were lost in the battle. Even at her most human, she is more abomination than Nyss, gliding across the battlefield on fresh membranes between her fingers and arms. Her appendages shift and lengthen sickeningly in moments, and chiten and spikes extrude unpredictably from her flesh in battle, leaving gruesome wounds on her foes. Her gimmick is buffing warbeasts ahd her feat allows her to heal herself, than damage herself in order to heal her warbeasts.  Bethayne, Voice of Everblight is never without the monstrous Belphagor. Bethayne serves to fill the spiritual void left by Nyssor's clergy, teaching devotion to Everblight as a god. In battle, she fused with her dragonspawn, Belphagor, to become a perfect yet intelligent killing machine, symbolic of the bond between Nyss and dragon. Before becoming a warlock, she was a young priestess of Nyssor with an unusual spiritual sensitivity and artistic talent. She excelled as she matured, mastering the arts of a priestess, particularly oration, and she dwelt in the Fane of Nyssor. She might have lived out her life peacefully if not for Vayl Hallyr, who met with her by trickery and earned her confidence by discussion. Bethayne became friends with the secret blasphemer, who planted subversive seeds in her mind by discussing her doubts about Nyssor. Bethayn e did not see her again until three years later, as she aided Thagrosh against the Nyss. Bethayne tried to defend the fane as Nyssor's priests fled with the god, and she was shocked to see Vayl among the attackers, speaking of potent draconic god. AS proof, she showed the destruction, which Nyssor had not stopped, and she offered Bethayne a place of power. Bethayne's doubts awakened, and her mind splintered. She tried to commit suicide, but Vayl froze her in place with magic. Bethayne's mind raved until Thagrosh arrived to offer her respite, giving her once choice: forsake her vows and become a warlock, or die. Part of Bethayne welcomed death, but in a moment of weakness, she took EVerblight as her master. When she received her shard, all doubts vanished. She could not know that this bliss only concealed a deeper emptiness as her faith was shattered. Everblight's essence flowed into her, but even he could not fill the void within. In the days ahead, she followed Vayl in conversion and murder of the Nyss, convincing several shards to join the Legion willingly. Each death was a prayer to EVerblight, yet part of her mind had been shattered, yearning to shape lesser materials into the sublime. She began to experiment with dragonspawn, and in a moment of perfection, she was able to sculpt a new creature that embodied her love and fear of Everblight, yet also gave expression to the hole within her soul. Belphagor is a creature unique to her, a masterpiece that Everblight never envisoned. Bethayne is now a confident and audacious priestess-general with a silver tongue and razor-sharp mind. She has no patience for doubt, and when she merges with Belphagor, she can lose herself in the joy of slaughter. Because the beast is born of her essence, she can easily spawn it anew when it is destroyed. With it, she is made whole, experienced true communion with her draconic god. Vethayne's gimmick is magical blasting and buffs, and her feat boosts magical attack and damage rolls as well as warbeast animi. Belphagor's animus creates a choking cloud. Next time: This book brought to you by the letter Y.
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Jul 29, 2015 19:44
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It appears Everblight hates hugs with a passion o_ODavin Valkri posted:I mean more like, if you wanted to play a game where cynicism and doubt are the only truths, why would you use a system and world that hew in the exact opposite direction? It seems that the likes of GRUNT, Night's Black Agents, or even Kriegszeppelin Valkyrie (if run by a scholar of interwar political movements, with all players agreeing) would be better fits for those themes than "there is literally a god of justice and a god of evil" D&D, or worlds and systems designed on that template. This gets especially weird if you have stuff like Pathfinder (and probably 3.x too) giving cities and kingdoms alignments. What does that even mean? Is there a way to detect this alignment? How much corrpution and dickishness can exist in a Lawful Good town? Comrade Koba posted:What's funny is that it wouldn't take much effort to make evil faiths at least somewhat believable in your standard D&D setting. I could understand someone following an evil deity if it watched your back and granted you awesome powers as long as you did as you were told and kept loving poo poo up for people. Also when you die you're totally going to be turned into a badass barbed devil or whatever. Golarion does that - except you don't turn into a Barbed Devil directly. You get tortured into fiendish play-doh that serves as the basis for a barbed devil. Chaotic Evil souls at least go out with a demonic-horde-creating bang. And Neutral Evil... well, you've just handed your soul to the only multiverse faction that actually destroys souls for good by eating them. Good choice. Though that's for the more general alignment. Evil gods include Satan himself (which I guess can get you the barbed devil treatment directly if you're lucky), and Pinhead. Oh, and a giant spider that wants to eat everything. So relatable. There's also this evil goddess of undead, but those gods always sound odd to me. What's the point of whorshipping such a god if landing in their afterlife basically means you f*cked up? Ratpick posted:Hilarious as most RPG references to Scandinavia are, you guys at least get some references. Finland doesn't even register high enough on RPG designers' radars to have a single idea stolen from our myth and culture. It seems that RPG designers don't read a lot of Don Rosa comics. The Quest for Kalevala is my kind of urban fantasy campaign.
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Jul 29, 2015 21:01
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Ratpick posted:I said fantasy. That's a picture of either Iceland or Detroit. You can't fool me.
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Jul 29, 2015 21:10
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Can't be Detroit. We don't have volcanoes and the skyscraper's in good shape.
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Jul 29, 2015 21:53
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Everblight does, in fact, hate hugs. Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight  Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight is Epic Lylyth. She has been reborn after Pyromalfic, and each kill she and her archers make eases her memories. When she went to confirm Pyromalfic's location, she attracted the attention of his guardians, suffering terrible injuries before she escaped. As he believed her death certain, Everblight just sent his Legion to collect her athanc, and grief overwhelmed Lylyth at the abandonment. She pried out her own athanc to escape the pain, and in that moment of clarity, she saw her recent life through a mortal perspective. She was consumed by horror and shame, and as she lay dying, Saeryn and Rhyas arrived. She offered them her athanc, but they had come to claim her once more. Her reunion with Everblight steeled her dark resolve. She has tried to put her experience aside, and she has mostly been able to forget the faces of the dead and the guilt she felt, but her awareness of her own insignificance lingers. She fights tirelessly to prove her worth, and she's realized, deep inside her, that she is important to Everblight only as a receptacle of his athanc shard and no more. Only as long as she is a peerless killer will she have worth. Since Pyromalfic's death, Lylyth's senses and reflexes have sharpened to superhuman levels. She is inhumanly accurate, and her senses can infect those around her to raise their awareness. There is a price for her new gifts, however - she shuns crowds and even her own kind, finding the sensations hard to endure. She prefers to move constantly, avoiding all but the smallest camps except when she must. She is close only to her striders and archers, and she despises humans even more now. She fights relentlessly against the Legion's foes, without ever asking for supplies or support. It's impressing Everblight. She also makes sure to choose demoralizing but vulnerable targets, performing meticulous recon before any attack. Her gimmick is stealth and ranged ambush, and her feat grants a big range boost to her allies along with an extra attack.  Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight is one of two twins. She is the more physical of the pair, a blademaster without peer, found in the lands of the Shyvess shard. Her sister was a peerless sorceress. Thagrosh went to find them, and he found that they had slaughtered their own people to keep them out of slavery. Rhyas froze her own heart against their pleas, convinced it was necessary, and the pair ambushed Thagrosh. He was taken by surprise by their speed and coordination, but Rhyas found she could not kill him. Rather, after letting Thagrosh see how close he had come to death, both Saeryn and Rhyas offered themselves up to the Prophet as servants. Saeryn had foreseen his coming and knew she had a crucial role to play. Rhyas did not understand, but she trusted her sister, and so she accepted an athanc fragment. Her world was shattered and restored, and she has no doubts or guilt now, though she does wonder how her sister was able to hide her plans away. She doesn't dwell on it, but she knows now that Saeryn can do it. Fighting helps her live with that, and she delights in bloodshed. She stands at the upper tier of the chosen, sworn to obey Thagrosh in all things. It was Rhyas who landed the killing blow on Pyromalfic, and she is the embodiment of Everblight's deadly will, writing bloody runes upon his foes with her blade. Her gimmick is being a goddamn ninja, and her feat lets her allies make additional melee attacks and also stab-teleport.  Saeryn, Omen of Everblight is the more detached twin to Rhyas. Though both had magical talent from birth, Rhyas focused on the blade while Saeryn plunged into the depths of her power. She learned that she and her sister shared a single soul, something deeper than any other twins, which amplifies their power and awareness. She had little formal guidance, learning the Aeric runes from a priest but little else, keeping to her sister alone such that even the Nyss thought them introverted. They avoided Vayl Hallyr when she tried to take them as pupils, sensing something amiss even before she became the Betrayer. Saeryn was never a prophet, so she cannot explain the vision she had a year later, save that she thinks it is due to her brief meeting with Vayl. It let her foresee Thagrosh's coming to her shard and also, in a moment of freedom from her sister, that her destiny was to corrupt Rhyas in order to bring about their greatest glory. She had Rhyas destroy Shyvess shard to turn her into a wild and unbridled weapon, rather than out of mercy. When Thagrosh arrived, she and Rhyas defeated him, but Saeryn fought only to test his limits. She used her power to stay Rhyas' hand, making Thagrosh aware of his mortality before submitting to the athanc. This greatly impressed Everblight, and Saeryn was made his herald. She knows that she and Rhyas will be his vanguard, beyond all other Nyss, and she views other warlocks with a mix of respect and reserve. She resents that both Thagrosh and Everblight hold Vayl in high regard. Neither likes the other, but they do have respect for each other's skills, or perhaps wariness. Rhyas and Saeryn are most powerful together, and Saeryn believes they've only begun to test their limits, and that they have not yet fully awakened to their power. She has hidden parts of her mind even from Everblight, believing utterly that while she is with Rhyas, she is invincible.  Thagrosh, the Messiah is Epic Thagrosh. Everblight did not warn him about the painful transformation he'd undergo after consuming Pyromalfic's athanc, a mix of agony and ecstasy as energy suffused him. It brought confusing memories, sensations and physiological change. Thagrosh is no longer an ogrun but something new, closer to and yet distinct from dragons, the true avatar of Everblight. He still doesn't feel comfortable in his new flesh, which shifts to contain his power. The discomfort vanishes in battle, however, where he revels in his new strength. Some part of him understands that his mortal flesh cannot contain draconic might, but when combat comes, he relishes his godlike sensations. Doubts creep only into the corners of his mind, and only in the still moments when he is not fighting. His metamorphosis had come just as he was separating his own mind from Everblight's, reaching an unspoken accord with his master. However, now Everblight's presence is stronger than ever before, as though the dragon lives just beneath his thoughts as a vast, alien presence that sometimes takes over his eyes and mouth. Thagrosh loses himself for hours at a time, subsumed by the dragon, and each time, he feels the draconic mind's pull more strongly. His mood is increasingly controlled by draconic tempers, and he finds it hard to restrain his impulses and fury. It is not enough to win - he must annihilate his foes. His gimmick is still a mix of warbeasts and being an insane personal combatant, and his feat lets his warbeasts advance and attack a second time.  The monstrosities of Everblight's blood come in many forms, each a product of his biological engineeering and will. Many are ancient forms, dating back to Morrdh or Issyrah, while others are more recent. Most are born of a warlock's blood, the form chosen at the time of creation. Even from birth, they have potent weapons and hunger, and they are usually taken hunting immediately to slake that a bit. If given enough meat and blood to eat, even the largest can reach full size in hours. Thus, a lone warlock with a spawning vessel can greatly augment their forces in the field. Some warlocks, like Thagrosh or Abyslonia, can even spawn hardier beasts that mature even faster. Each warbeast is made for a specific role, perfectly designed for that purpose. While they are technically alive, they are unnatural creations, organic machines that need food but not sleep or other normal activities. They just wait, inert yet aware, until they are needed or notice enemies to kill. They are not mindless, and they have sophisticated instincts to aid them in battle, but their potential is only unleashed when directed by a warlock.  A warlock can turn a warbeast into an extension of their own body and senses, directing it effortlessly. Often, they join Legion soldiers as guardians, but they have little ability to make decisions without orders. Shepherds can extend their operating range from the warlock, but even this is limited. The nephilim stand apart in this, born of blighted Nyss women and possessed of both a soul and mind. They have more autonomy and intelligence than any other Legion beasts and are naturally skilled with weapons and tools, able to undertake even complex tasks without direct supervision.  The Stinger is the simplest and smallest dragonspawn, but vitally important for their ease of creation. Once formally known as the Acrar, it is an unnatural weapon bred to fight and die for Everblight. It seldom stirs unless ordered to, then skitters forward for battle, tail flicking with venom. They use their claws to dig into the ground, where they lurk in ambush, then erupt forth to spew noxious venom. Then they fall back to do it again if the prey somehow survives. In just a few seconds, a pack of stingers can reduce even an armored phalanx to a mound of organic goo. Their barbed tails can also be used as vicious melee weapons...but only once, as the stinger breaks off in the foe, taking several vital organs of the dragonspawn with it. This leaves them vulnerable until they have time to recover, and they have no sense of self-preservation, so they don't really care. Their animus lets them move after attacking rather than the other way around. Next time: Disgusting elf-dragon babies.
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Jul 29, 2015 22:57
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Seems like a lot of twin magique going around the Iron Kingdoms. I guess you could use an alignment system as a quick and dirty shorthand for how a kingdom would generally run its railroad. (Kingdom in the generic sense, of course.) A lawful good one would be like Camelot, neutral good perhaps more like Vetinari's Ankh-Morpork, chaotic good all Beowulf with mead halls and feasting and so on. Lawful Neutral would get authoritarian if not necessarily wicked, Lawful Evil would definitely be wicked...
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Jul 29, 2015 23:26
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The more Lawful, the more the kingdom is run by the actual rule of law, with largely-similar situations getting largely similar judgment because someone refers to the Big Book of Law and sees which paragraphs are relevant. The more Chaotic, the more the kingdom is run by force of personality, with individual demagogues, heroes or dictators being free to interpret the law(if it even exists in a codified form) in widely differing ways, even in similar situations. Good, Neutral and Evil would cover whether the authorities in charge are interested in improving the nation, simply follow the rules because that's what they've always done or whether those in charge are simply out to enrich and entrench themselves. Though obviously any attempt at using alignments for more than a general guideline is always going to get loving ridiculous, and not always in a good way.
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Jul 29, 2015 23:29
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Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight The Nephilim Bolt Thrower combines the strength of dragonspawn with independent thought. Their bolt throwers are powerful ballistae, making these nephilim into living siege weapons that use their unnatural senses to detect foes and fire deadly barrages. They normally can't fly, but their draconic blood can cause them to briefly sprout wings from their atrophied stunts, allowing brief flight at a warlock's demand. Anyone unfortunate enough to fight them is likely to be hurled away by the immense bolts of their ballistae, and those that take the full brunt are usually knocked to the ground if they somehow survive. They can also fight in close range with the wicked blade mounted on the ballista. Their animus grants temporary flight.  The Nephilim Protector is the result of refinement of the nephilim birthing process, and Nyss incubators can now birth more than one before their deaths. They are shaped from birth to protect warlocks, and since the Castle of the Keys, the need for them has only increased. Everblight was troubled by allowing so many warlocks to face danger at once, after all. They have an instinctive imperative to guard the warlocks and will unhesitatingly dive into harm's way for them without concern for their own lives. They also make ideal transfer targets for wounded warlocks, as they are bred to endure greater pain than other spawn. They need no rest and do not mentally tire, so they are alert at all times for danger. Their animus keeps allies from being knocked down.  The Nephilim Soldier is born over the course of weeks, bred when a pregnant Nyss drinks a special draught of warlock's blood that transforms the fetus into dragonspawn. They grow to maturity in mere days. Everblight sees them as a vast improvement on frail elves, as they can wield weapons but never tire. They are more independent than other spawn, too, and have some self-will, perhaps due to the unforeseen fact that they have souls. They are uniquely able to interpret orders and adapt to situations, but they also do not fear the athancs of the warlocks and can turn on their masters in the heat of a frenzy. Outsiders see them as warped horrors, but the Legion views them as sublime and holy. Their animus lets warbeasts charge more easily.  The Raek dates back to Morrdh, a hunting predator once used by Morrdh's masters to teriffy and kill foes. They hunted down traitors anywhere they hid, beating them to death with fangs and tail. Everblight has revived them for the Legion, and they are peerless trackers. They cannot be stopped and can get around any barrier to find their prey, ignoring all distractions and having no self-preservation. Their animus lets them parry attacks.  The Angelius is a testament to Everblight's arrogance and confidence. It is a six-winged monster meant to stand over the seraphim and lead the hosts of the Legion to victory. They are the swords of the sky, obliterating foes utterly with their razor tails. They move constantly, hunting for targets. They were first made 2000 years ago, near the end of Morrdh. Everblight had grown too comfortable in his influence, creating the angelius as a guardian and a reminder of his constant gaze, and it served well, but it was noticed by agents of Toruk. Toruk recognized the mark of its creator, finding Everblight's hiding place and nearly slaying him. After sheltering in Blindwater Lake, Everblight realized he could not use the angelus again until the benefits outweighed the risks, and that came when his legion fought Pyromalfic, as he knew the angelii would be needed to defeat his rival. After two weeks of preparation, Thagrosh summoned a seraph and spilled its blood, mixing it with most of his own. The first angelius of the new age was born, and it glutted itself well in the battles that came. Thagrosh has brought even more into the world now, as the time for hiding is over. Their animus shoves enemies away.  The Ravagore is a vehicle for Everblight's breath, and one of his most favored creations. It costs a lot of blood to make, but it's worth it, as even one is devastating. Their bellies glow blue with heat, and they emit this fire from their maws. When they breathe in, a hiss warns those nearby to flee their blighted flame. Those killed by it are most fortunate, for the survivors are caught in a blaze that does not go out easily, crying out for oblivion. So powerful is their inner flame that warlocks can call on their nature to light other fires, as well. Their animus lights weapons aflame to burn Everblight's foes.  Typhon is terrifying even to those used to monsters. It has no resemblance to any natural beast, and it is the ultimate consequence of Everblight's works at making new dragonspawn. Its three heads rip foes apart and spew superheated ash to melt metal and flesh alike. Further, its wounds close almost as quickly as they appear. Typhon is a new triumph, born after the Castle of the Keys. Its origins date back to esoteric theories Everblight derived in his bodiless exile, and he thinks of it as a work of art. He is proud of its form and deadly function as an application of the blight, the culmination of centuries of tinkering and planning. Everblight has long sought to consume another dragon, gaining its power, and it was in his struggle with Pyromalfic that he saw a unique chance to create something new. He compelled Thagrosh to use Rapture to carve a tiny piece of athanc away during the act of fusion, mixing it with his own blood. It was tricky - he couldn't risk weakening Thagrosh further through heavy exsanguination. It worked, however, and Typhon was born. It is part of Everblight and compelled to obey, but it is not part of the divided consciousness. It is a purely draconic nature with a fragmentary soul of its own, tied to Thagrosh by its athanc. However, it can generate its own blighted blood and act independently, with a crude and bestial sense of self. It is as immortal as any dragon, regenerating so long as its athanc is whole - the ultimate success of Everblight. Next time: Twisted elves.
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Jul 30, 2015 00:13
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PurpleXVI posted:The more Lawful, the more the kingdom is run by the actual rule of law, with largely-similar situations getting largely similar judgment because someone refers to the Big Book of Law and sees which paragraphs are relevant. The more Chaotic, the more the kingdom is run by force of personality, with individual demagogues, heroes or dictators being free to interpret the law(if it even exists in a codified form) in widely differing ways, even in similar situations. Good, Neutral and Evil would cover whether the authorities in charge are interested in improving the nation, simply follow the rules because that's what they've always done or whether those in charge are simply out to enrich and entrench themselves. Just read Moorcock. That's where the Law and Chaos thing came from and he shows how both extremes are hosed up, but in interesting ways. So follow Balance. And if you want to run an Eclipse Phase Finnish game, read The Quantum Thief. It has space-Finns living in asteroids and taking vacumn-saunas.
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Jul 30, 2015 00:37
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Or play any Shin Megami game. Although I've got to say my favorite Law/Chaos interpretation in a video game is probably Catherine. Anyway...it's been a while but back to Unknown Armies! Part 23: Yet More Weirdos  quote:In a little town in Alberta, there’s a family in which no one has aged since the mother started sleeping 23 hours a day in 1981. Satan's Chosen Temple Satan's Chosen Temple is the cabal in the book with the most  name of all...unfortunately they're mostly just a bunch of dangerous, misguided, self-centered idiots (i.e. teenagers). Like the GLS they're clueless, but dangerous...but mostly just to themselves. They're solidly street-level antagonists as most Global level characters would easily steamroll right through them and they haven't got the slightest idea of the sort of danger they're playing with. Basically, it's a bunch of teenagers who're into demon-summoning. In 1999, a Hot Topic "Satanist" named Judie Brodie was playing around with a Ouija board in a graveyard and (due to her high natural Soul score) managed to "make contact" with a demon. Of course, in this context, "make contact" meant "immediately get possessed by". Under the demon's control she immediately bolted to the nearest Mexican restaurant and bought and ate 60 dollars worth of cheap mexican food. After spending an hour or so vomiting it back up she managed to retake control of her body and demanded to know which "spirit of the abyss" she had summoned. The demon was canny enough to figure out Judie's preconceptions and gave the vaguely biblical sounding name of "Gazadrel, lord of gluttony". The two worked out a deal...'Gazadrel' would teach Judie how to summon demons, in exchange for being allowed to use her body from time to time. Judie, who had already soured on the whole possession experience, decided she'd prefer to summon demons into the bodies of others instead and Gazadrel didn't have any problem with that. True to her word (Gazadrel actually being the spirit of a woman named Lisa Cisneros who died about 15 years ago) Gazadrel taught Judie how intentional demon summoning worked and Judie started using her contact with the other teenage suburban goths she knew to start making deals with the "underworld". Now she goes by the name Rebecca DeGhoule and rents a run-down house where she and her fellow "devil worshipers" can drink, party and listen to loud music in between (or during) bouts of demon summoning. She's made contact with several demons and worked out a basic set of "rates" where the demons are allowed to possess willing members of her group. Fortunately, 'Rebecca' was at least smart enough to also figure out how to banish demons as well as summon them and she's gotten pretty good at it. This is the only reason the whole "cabal" didn't go up in flames within a week. Still, she's had two impressive failures where the demons managed to escape with the bodies as soon as they got them. One ended up turning into a serial killer. Now, Rebecca makes sure to chain up anyone who's serving as a "host". Rebecca is playing both sides. Her teenage followers give up their bodies in exchange for "dark favor" with Satan and the demons, often willing to pay for the privilege. Meanwhile the demons get a body to fulfill their obsessions and give Rebecca what she wants. Some of them give her bits and pieces of information but she's mostly just interested in cash. Unfortunately demons are not great at conjuring wealth...but at least one knows how to easily fix horse races by spooking the other horses and ensuring the one you want wins. This has gotten her a nice car, enough money to keep the lights on in their "temple" and a couple thousand bucks in savings. So far, Rebecca is the only thing holding the "cult" together because with her gone the demons take over. She's also been fortunate in that the only demons she's made contact with (apart from the two nasty exceptions) have been fairly reasonable and have simple, easy-to-satisfy Obsessions. The moment she accidentally summons a former adept then her and her little group of teenage satanists are likely going to die horribly. quote:Before 1945, there were people who could fly and walk through walls and all sorts of crazy poo poo, but when they dropped the A-Bomb on Nagasaki, the world was reborn. People couldn’t remember anyone having those powers, and there was no record of them outside of comic books. GMPCS  These are various random characters who can be used as recurring plot hooks, allies or antagonists at different levels of play. Jim Smith (Street) Jim is an enigma. He might be a totally normal guy with a bit of brain damage...he might be a weird adept or avatar playing a really long game...the victim of a nasty unnatural event...but who knows? He's got no real ID. He's got a fake (a good fake) driver's license under the name Jim Smith but he goes by just about any name you can think of. He has, as far as anyone can tell, no fixed identity. He fabricates (knowingly or not) new identities with exceptional detail and utter sincerity. Different attitudes, backstories, accents and names. The only thing consistent with his identity changes is that its never the same. Sometime he'll stick to one identity for days at a time, sometimes he'll switch back and forth when he meets someone that knew him in a previous "life". Sometimes he'll switch from one encounter to another and he'll even make up new backstories mid-conversation. One thing most people notice if they interact with him long enough is that he's unusually competent when it comes to violence (Struggle 45%, Gunplay 40%, Initiative 50%), no matter what his "backstory" would indicate. He's also rarely surprised or fazed by magick and will often spontaneously create new identities related to the occult (sometimes containing enough fragments of "truth" to indicate that somewhere in his head is some knowledge of the Underground) when asked about it or confronted with magick, although he never has been seen to actually use magick (despite sometimes claiming to). Molly Wilson (street) Molly is a Street level character who is just barely brushing against the existence of the supernatural. She's got vaguely defined "spiritual" beliefs and sees her job as a cab driver as a kind of quasi-mystical/shamanistic role where strangers are allowed to share their experiences with her (i.e. she's one of those awful cab drivers who tries to make conversation with you). She has no real magickal skills but is good at reading people and getting them to open up and share their experiences with her. Basically, she's a story hook in waiting. She might hear about something she shouldn't, stumble upon something genuinely mystical or just be someone who actually believes the crazy things Street Level PCs are likely to spout instead of dismissing them. Dirk Allen (Global) One of the more powerful and well known Dipsomancers in the Occult Underground, one of Allen's main accomplishments is surviving so long practicing a school of magick that chews up its practitioners almost as fast as Entropomancy. This is partially helped by the fact that Allen has some "real-world" success as a novelist. The guy has had a rough life. His first wife died in the 60's after a research trip for Allen's novels went badly and caused her to catch a strange wasting illness. He started drinking heavily but also managed to write his first successful book, a semi-autobiographical novel called God's A-Bomb based on a cult he discovered in Brazil. After spending some time in rehab he emerged and hung around California a bit before going to Louisiana, getting married again and learning Dipsomancy from someone called "Doctor Ugly Mouth". He wrote his second novel while being targeted by the Brazilian cult. He moved to Chicago to escape and after a divorce wrote his third book, Dead Harlots of the Western Sky (adapted to the movie Witch Hunter in 1990). Now his liver is failing (something most Dipsomancers don't live long enough to suffer from) and he's using what's left of his fortune and magick to try and hold on to life. Somewhere along the way he made a bad enemy, The Freak. Fortunately(?) the Freak doesn't seem interested in murdering Allen directly, it just wants to watch Allen waste away. His life has made him mean too, he's already killed a couple of "apprentices" in rituals to extend his own life and is currently looking for a way to permanently steal a younger body to keep going. The guy is one of the oldest and most experienced Adepts in the Underground, making him a font of knowledge (if you can get his cooperation) and he's got contacts (or at least people he knows...they probably hate him) everywhere. He's also got two Significant vessels (Nixon's coffee cup and the skull of a monk turned wine-glass owned by lord Byron). Selena Ramirez (global) Selena is a clueless reporter who stumbled straight into Global territory when she accidentally ran into the Freak and lived to tell about it. She's the star of an Oprah-esque talk show who has enough shreds of integrity that she prefers to find new and interesting facts rather than making them up. She got interested in the occult when she accidentally stumbled on an Adept's attempt to create a Hand of Glory by kidnapping a corrupt politician and putting him on "trial" in front of a jury made up of his followers so that he could be convicted and then hung as part of a ritual to create a Hand of Glory. She got just enough footage to get good ratings but not enough to prove anything and she got the Hand of Glory itself...which she promptly lost after Alex Able hired the Freak to get it for him. Now she's in waaay over her head and she's not letting that stop her. She's got enough mundane resources and connections and the ambition to make things very hard on members of the Occult Underground in Chicago. Her determination to figure things out is probably going to get her killed by the Sleepers eventually (if some Duke doesn't do it first) but in the meantime she's a great contact for a PC cabal, or even a patron with the player's taking the role of her research and investigation team. The Freak (Cosmic) The Freak is the Godwalker of the Mystic Hermaphrodite and one of, if not the, most powerful Epideromancers in the world. The Freak has managed to keep its position as one of the biggest individual powers of the Occult Underground by being both immensely scary and surprisingly reasonable. After it wiped out a six-man hit squad sent by TNI, it's reached a "truce" with Alex Able where both have mutually decided to leave one another alone. Likewise it has made it clear to the Sleepers that it has no intention of Waking The Tiger and so they leave it be (and even sometimes pay the Freak for assistance). Finally, it's also got a fairly amicable relationship with the Mystic Hermaphrodite itself...the Freak seems to have no interest in Ascending to the Invisible Clergy but it fiercely defends its status as Godwalker from any other contenders, ensuring that the Archetype itself doesn't have to worry about anyone coming to unseat it any time soon. Of course, that's when the Freak deals with the major "powers" of the Occult Underground and the fact that it can deal on more or less equal footing with a billionaire's private army, the Underground's "secret police" and the cosmic representation of mysticism itself shows just how powerful the individual called the Freak really is. The Freak is mostly the subject of rumor, lies and half-truths so very little is known about it. It can change its appearance and gender basically at will with only two consistent features...first an immensely gravely voice (caused by drinking acid to get a Major charge) and it has several slender chains actually strung through the flesh of its torso. If it needs a Significant charge on short notice it simply grabs a chain and tears it free. If you recall, the Mystic Hermaphrodite can use it's 91% channel to gain a Significant charge once per day by changing gender...which the Freak can do at will (and no it doesn't violate the Law of Transaction, Avatars aren't subject to it). This means that the Freak can, and does, get a Significant Charge once per day...and epideromancers have one of the easiest Taboos to keep. This allows it to charge up without the significant injuries involved in significant charges and keep those charges more or less indefinitely. This means the Freak has had free reign to modify its stats and wound points as much as it wants using Epideromancer Significant spells and it still probably has several dozen significant charges at any given time that it can use to heal itself to turn itself into even more of a killing machine than it already is. No stats are provided for the Freak, it's basically meant to be a practically unkillable and nearly unstoppable plot device. Jeeter (Cosmic) Jeeter is a bit like Dirk Allen taken up a notch, the ultimate incarnation of the game's "wizard hobo" stereotype. He's a lovely Entropomancer (30%) and a decent Avatar of the Pilgrim (70%) who's been around the Underground long enough that eventually most people just assume that he must be someone important...once they actually try and get to know him though most give up in disgust. He's got no life, no home and no future and most people who know him long enough have just figured that the only reason he's still alive is that no one has any pressing need to kill him. The guy is basically the Unknown Armies version of Rincewind from Discworld. He's got a bit of luck and a whole hell of a lot of cowardice and (thanks to his status as a high-level Pilgrim Avatar) a knack for running away. He's got nothing to prove and no real goals to speak of...he just survives. The one thing that's notable is his tendency to show up on the periphery of important events...but even then he's never directly involved enough for anyone to bother trying to off him (he's also got 5 Failed violence notches meaning that any sign of actual danger is enough to make him flee immediately...he's not the sort who's going to stand and fight for his beliefs ). Tina Lovac (Cosmic) Tina is not human. She's not like the Freak, she was never human to begin with. She's the final "masterpiece" of a Mechanomancer named Shpresa Dmitrijevíc, who'd had an unfortunate life and weird ideas about the nature of consciousness. At the age of 55 she'd done more than most other people by a fair margin...in addition to mechanomancy, she's been a burglar, a grave robber and a spy for the KGB (which actually turned out to be a front for an Israeli intelligence agency). Unfortunately she hadn't found the "truth" she'd been searching for and she was running out of time. So after an elaborate heist involving a dead person's skin, statues of an ancient aztec god and a Significant clockwork, she'd managed to get the materials she needed (one of the remaining Enigma Machines) for a Major one. Well, she incorporated everything into that clockwork: the statuettes, the significant clockwork, the enigma machine and all of her memories. She completely emptied herself into her new creation, giving it...well giving it a poo poo-ton of points to play with basically. Tina Lovac was the final result. Tina is a self-transforming mechanical monster that can take humaniod shape or transform into just about any configuration of roughly the same volume, including a snake-like shape roughly 22 feet long covered in razors or a handy wheel shape which lets her roll along at up to 35 mph. However, she also has a neat trick, by skinning someone of roughly the appropriate size she can wear the skin and do a passable imitation of the person. If she wants the skin to last she's got to take the time to tan it. She's got a collection of tanned skins available, including her original (and most common), the skin of Shpresa herself who Tina skinned immediately after "awakening" (and fitted with a handy zipper). Tina is a physical powerhouse, with a Body and Speed of 120 (including an 80% Struggle score and fire-arms level hand-to-hand damage.). She's also practically a walking computer with a mind of 85% and about 700 points devoted to Mind-linked skills (mostly intelligence gathering ones like code cracking, languages and analysis). Finally, she's got a 55% Mechanomancy skill. Her one weakness is her need to stay powered...her "power train" is recharged via impact (a questionable design decision to say the least), meaning each point of blunt force impact damage gives her one day's worth of "juice" to keep moving. She can presumably repair herself (this is an aspect of Clockworks that Mechanomancy doesn't really address), but it makes things difficult for her. Although she possesses all of Shpresa's memories she is definitely not her creator. She has no personality to speak of (although she's good enough at faking it) and an utter lack of morality or empathy (meaning no Stimuli or Madness Meters). She has only one goal, instilled in her by Shpresa: learn the truth. She relentlessly pursues this objective, learning anything and everything she can about history, culture, and reality itself...investigating all conspiracies, legends and rumors in the most efficient, ruthless way possible. quote:The world has already ended. Magic only has begun to actually work ’cause reality is falling apart. We're almost done with the book. All that's left are the pre-made scenarios at the end: Bill in Three Parts and Pinfeathers.
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Jul 30, 2015 12:38
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oriongates posted:Or play any Shin Megami game. Although I've got to say my favorite Law/Chaos interpretation in a video game is probably Catherine. Oh yeah, Devil Survivor (Overclocked Remix) is a personal favorite at a metaphysical crossroads for humanity that sees you choosing between becoming the new Messiah or becoming the lord of all demons and making war on heaven itself. Or I suppose you could take one of those in-between paths, but why be wishy-washy?
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Jul 30, 2015 14:16
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Count Chocula posted:Just read Moorcock. That's where the Law and Chaos thing came from and he shows how both extremes are hosed up, but in interesting ways. So follow Balance. No, it came from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions -- Moorcock has said he was influenced by Anderson when he was writing the early Eternal Champion stuff.
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Jul 30, 2015 15:15
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Selachian posted:No, it came from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions -- Moorcock has said he was influenced by Anderson when he was writing the early Eternal Champion stuff. Three Hearts and Three Lions is also pretty directly responsible for the paladin class and the rubbery green regenerating D&D troll.
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Jul 30, 2015 15:17
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oriongates posted:The Freak...has several slender chains actually strung through the flesh of its torso. If it needs a Significant charge on short notice it simply grabs a chain and tears it free. quote:No stats are provided for the Freak, it's basically meant to be a practically unkillable and nearly unstoppable plot device.
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Jul 30, 2015 15:33
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Halloween Jack posted:Some notes on the Freak from Godwalker, for anyone who's interested: The Freak is not invincible, but pinning it down and actually killing it is almost impossible. If you figure out that the 90-pound girl or wheezing old man in front of you is the Freak, you have a couple seconds to live. It's practiced Epideromancy on itself so that it's stronger, faster, and tougher than a human. It's not Superman, but it could shrug off a shot from a handgun and break your neck before you know what's happening to you. If it feels threatened, it immediately uses Still Pond to make itself bulletproof and then Body Melting to pull you apart like dough. The only thing that scares the Freak into blowing town is when it senses that somebody (probably someone who wants it dead) just copped a Major charge. Also, the Freak isn't quite as annoying as most GMPC god-characters. For one, there's only one of it, and for another...remember how Alex Abel is a threat and patron on a cosmic level precisely because he has no magic of his own (i.e. is perfectly effing sane)? The Freak has immersed itself so far into Epideromancy and its Avatar that it can't interact as a human being. Which, given what the cosmology of Unknown Armies is, also means that it's honestly something that doesn't matter to the vast majority of the UG, unless you're trying to pull the Godwalker plot and replace it. That isn't to say it can't be annoying, but it is honestly more akin to a less active Lady of Pain than anything. And matters less than the Lady, given how the entire planet is bigger than one city on the inside of a torus.
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Jul 30, 2015 17:45
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The Freak is also unlikely to care what the average PC group gets up to. Plot to steal a dipsomancer's significant vessel? Start a turf war between rival cabals so you can swoop in and clean up the stragglers afterwards? Chasing a mystical formula written in truck stop bathroom walls across the southwest US? The Freak doesn't really give a poo poo. Unlike a GMPC like Stone from Deadlands the Freak isn't some PC-hunting boogeyman designed to put players in their place, he mainly seems to exist as an example of just how dangerous things can get in the occult underground so don't go getting cocky.
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Jul 30, 2015 19:15
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PurpleXVI posted:Though obviously any attempt at using alignments for more than a general guideline is always going to get loving ridiculous, and not always in a good way. I guess it's handy if you're in a sandbox setting and what to get a rough estimation of a towns mood in two words or less. Let's just hope the Paladin doesn't try to smite a door because the town is evil. LornMarkus posted:Oh yeah, Devil Survivor (Overclocked Remix) is a personal favorite at a metaphysical crossroads for humanity that sees you choosing between becoming the new Messiah or becoming the lord of all demons and making war on heaven itself. Or I suppose you could take one of those in-between paths, but why be wishy-washy? That seems to be the standard for most games of the franchise*. Nocturne allows your half-fiendish murder hobo to eventually become Lucifer's heir. *) Excluding the Persona series. Man, the 3rd game could've a pretty metal bad ending. Doresh fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Jul 30, 2015 |
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Jul 30, 2015 20:26
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LornMarkus posted:Oh yeah, Devil Survivor (Overclocked Remix) is a personal favorite at a metaphysical crossroads for humanity that sees you choosing between becoming the new Messiah or becoming the lord of all demons and making war on heaven itself. Or I suppose you could take one of those in-between paths, but why be wishy-washy? Because "wishy-washy" in SMT is telling YHWH and Satan to get the gently caress out before you summon an army of veritable gods to stomp on them before you finish them off with a magic shotgun. and in the process regrettably kill a few friends
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Jul 30, 2015 20:29
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Traveller posted:Because "wishy-washy" in SMT is telling YHWH and Satan to get the gently caress out before you summon an army of veritable gods to stomp on them before you finish them off with a magic shotgun. Don't you mean Lucifer (the sorta classical devil)? Satan (the giant, partially insectoid demon with 6 breasts) is on YHWH's side.
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Jul 30, 2015 20:31
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In SMT4, following the Neutral path means inheriting the mantle of the Rock; you become the People's Champion, and then give a couple of jabronies the boot.
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Jul 30, 2015 20:33
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Greg Stolze posted:Things the Freak can do that you can't: Go into a gunfight bare-handed and confident. Shift appearance. Make money rapidly by selling psychic surgery. Kill with minimal effort. *Unless you're playing a Mystic Hermaphrodite, and even then, the Freak is capable of both whimsy and mercy toward other MHs that don't pose a direct threat.
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Jul 30, 2015 20:38
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And now you all have me wondering why no one has jumped to produce an SMT licensed RPG, either here or in Japan. (I mean, they have a Log Horizon RPG, and this seems at least as suitable for conversion.)
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Jul 30, 2015 20:39
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I never got the feeling that Intruder was meant to curb players the way of Stone, Divis Mal and other bdazz NPCs. Mainly because his deal was so horribly lovely.Davin Valkri posted:And now you all have me wondering why no one has jumped to produce an SMT licensed RPG, either here or in Japan. (I mean, they have a Log Horizon RPG, and this seems at least as suitable for conversion.) There's been around five different official SMT RPGs out there, IIRC.
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Jul 30, 2015 20:47
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Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight The Legion's ranks are unlike those of other forces. The Legion serves loyally and with a singularity of purpose which other commanders can only dream of. They also bear a cold emptiness due to the spiritual nature of the blight. To outsiders, it seems a fate worse than death - power, but at the cost of an eternity of thankless loyalty and devotion. While ogrun do serve Everblight, the Nyss are his most numerous servants and the most important. The blight enhances their strength and agility, but also some dark traits inherent to their culture - cruelty and rapacity, for example. They have retained much of their cultural identity even as other parts of their society are subsumed or reinterpreted. Many Nyss warrior traditions have survived, sometimes even more rigorously than before. Once peerless hunters, they now turn their capabilities against Everblight's foes. Whether Nyss or ogrun, all Legion troops bear the blight, too. The manner depends on their natural skills, as the blight enhances what is alreadyp resent. It raises physical prowess, instills a sense of loyalty to Everblight and often produces small horns, scales or spikes as well as stripping away compassion and fear in favor of cruelty and cunning. The blight sometimes utterly alters a body to better suit a soldier's role. Sometimes this is animalistic, as with the striders, and sometimes less obvious, such as the turning of the swordsmen into singleminded killers. Everblight's power causes even more unpredictable changes among the ogrun, who have become mroe savage and brutal, even insane and hallucinatory. Other creatures are twisted even more drsatically, such as the grotesuqes or the Forsaken, who lose themselves utterly to the blight. Unlike the perfecting blight, these transformations are sometimes random and spontaneous rather than augmentations. The blight can also amplify magical power or unlock the potential for magic in those who did not have it. Magical skill is rising in the blighted Nyss thanks to the dragon.   The Blighted Nyss Archer Officer and Ammo Porter sometimes lead the archers in battle. These deacons once led entire shards, and now they lead their troops to cripple the foes they cannot kill outright. When brought to battle in number, the archers prefer long lines, firing in unison at the call of their deacon. They find gaps in armor and hide to kill men and beasts. The arrow porters race along the line, carrying as many quivers as possible to hand arrows to the archers before they need them. They move in perfect concert, allowing the archers to fire faster and faster. The deacons use severe discipline, and under their care, the archers have astounding accuracy no matter what the terrain.  Blighted Nyss Grotesques are winged horrors that barely resemble the elves they were created from. They are driven only by hunger and bloodlust in the name of Everblight, striking from the sky in a cloud of talons and wings. Everblight was unsatisfied with his more subtle workings of the flesh, creating out of the Nyss a new species, utterly unlike the elves and not dependent on them for creation. Though initially born of Nyss parents, they now dwell and breed apart from the elves, generating spawn that mature at a terrifying pace. The grotesques live rather like giant ravens, descending en masse to tear apart their foes when called on by the dragon.  Blighted Nyss Legionnaires are an elite tradition once known as the ryssovass, who defended the lands of the Nyss. They wore ornate armor of overlapping plates, fighting easily against superior numbers. It took years to train them in the complex ryssovass fighting style, teaching them to act as extensions of each other, and the metal they used for their armor was highly limited in supply. Under Everblight, it is now much easier to get legionnaires, as his mental corruption makes embracing the needed discipline easier, and metal is more common thanks to Legion raiding. They wield immense blades and serve as Thagrosh's personal guard now, fighting as one and avenging any that fall. They carve through enemies like a threshing blade.  Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters are sorcerers, once proud of their knowledge of Aeric and service to Nyssor, but now turned to the dark magic of ancient Morrdh, which they mix with their once-sacred traditions. Instead of protecting the shards, these new sorcerers devote themselves to murder in the name of Everblight. The hex hunters are assassins, living weapons of magic who have forsaken study to better kill. They use hex razors, weapons recovered from Morrdh ruins, to channel the deaths of their victims into magic. They move with terrifying speed across the field, leaping over any obstacles to reach their prey. When they close ,they lash out with their razors and blight blasts to fuel their magic with deaths.  Bayal, Hound of Everblight is the first of the hex hunters and was instrumental in shaping their magic. Before Thagrosh came, he was already a skilled, ruthless sorcerer who admired the witch Vayl and wielded wind and ice magic. He willingly followed Vayl into the legion, taking command of the sorcerous order that would become the hex hunters. When the Legion headed to face Pyromalfic, Bayal and his followers remained behind in the Thornwood to loot the Morrdhic ruins, finding the secret of making hex razors. Bayal returned to the Legion wearing a Morrdhic mask, and now, he is a near-perfect weapon. The hex hunters follow him slavishly, combining their Nyss lore with the secrets of Morrdh. Next time: WAR ELK
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Jul 30, 2015 21:03
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Traveller posted:I never got the feeling that Intruder was meant to curb players the way of Stone, Divis Mal and other bdazz NPCs. Mainly because his deal was so horribly lovely. Nonetheless he is an incredible, incredible wanker, and the SLA Industries corebook derails its train of thought every time there's an opportunity to wank over Intruder and how he is invincible and perfect and beautiful but also sensitive and sad and brooding and wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank wank.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:17
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Halloween Jack posted:The other thing about the Freak is that it is not enviable. It's not something for your PCs to aspire to, or to aspire to beat.* It's a sad, lonely, pitiful person, and I wonder if Stolze didn't conceive it as a deliberate sendup of Stone, Intruder, Sascha Vykos, and similar Badass NPCs from 90s games. While I think The Freak is handled well, overall, it blows my mind that it doesn't get stats while the Comte does (three different kinds in Statosphere, based on three possible different interpretations)
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Jul 30, 2015 21:26
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Honestly, I think it's because that while the Freak might not be as powerful as the Comte he probably would be more annoying to stat. Figuring out how many wound points he has, how many times he's used Master of Flesh, etc. Partially at least. It's hard not to see that the Freak does get a bit of favoritism and is a little bit of a "pet" NPC, but as people have said at least it doesn't have any kind of real agenda, especially one that is likely to make it cross the PCs. Left on its own its perfectly fine with the status quo and even when others might be in the way it doesn't just automatically start tearing limbs off (see Selina Ramirez) and although the Freak doesn't have stats there are other entities out there that are certainly as dangerous (Tina Lovac comes close, as would a Abominable Servant...not to mention other Godwalkers).
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Jul 30, 2015 21:40
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It does kinda feel like 'And so, uh, what do we do with this guy, then? We can't fight it or oppose it, really, and it has no reason to fight or oppose us, and it has no real agenda besides just Be The Freak'. I mean, I get it as a setting detail, but it just feels a bit pointless as anything but a warning of 'This is what the platonic ideal of getting involved in wizard poo poo looks like.'
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Jul 30, 2015 21:44
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Wizards! No sense of right and wrong.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:47
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oriongates posted:Honestly, I think it's because that while the Freak might not be as powerful as the Comte he probably would be more annoying to stat. Figuring out how many wound points he has, how many times he's used Master of Flesh, etc.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:52
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oriongates posted:
But I could easily see "defeating The Freak" as a future PC goal, and I think it's helpful to have a "can I kill that?" Stat block as a barometer for that, at least for a group of PCs to attempt it and fail, so they realize they have to a) get tougher ( and put themselves through the horrible consequences that getting tough in UA entails) or b) find an indirect, less violent way of unseating The Freak (my fav idea is somehow forcing it to acknowledge its old gender identity and break MH taboo. Self-loathing is a bitch.)
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Jul 30, 2015 21:54
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I don't see any difference between the Freak and any other obnoxious GMPC really.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:56
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Night10194 posted:It does kinda feel like 'And so, uh, what do we do with this guy, then? We can't fight it or oppose it, really, and it has no reason to fight or oppose us, and it has no real agenda besides just Be The Freak'. I think that IS sort of the point. The Freak is what you could be someday if you really apply yourself...or aren't careful.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:57
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Halloween Jack posted:Idunno if Intruder is really there for the GM to use against the players, and he certainly gets the lovely end of the flick-scythe, especially if you know his backstory per THA TROOTH. He is only protecting you from the horror of the Truth, you DarkNight storygamer.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:57
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