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quote:one could read books without opening them For a "dud" talent, assuming that works for any sort of document that has multiple pages and/or a cover, and of course dependent on range and other things, that'd seem pretty useful for espionage. If it's got a bit of range, just have a chat with someone who HAS a document, don't even need to steal it or copy it, and you could read it right out of his pocket or off his desk without him ever knowing it.
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# ? Oct 15, 2016 21:59 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2024 06:32 |
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PurpleXVI posted:For a "dud" talent, assuming that works for any sort of document that has multiple pages and/or a cover, and of course dependent on range and other things, that'd seem pretty useful for espionage. If it's got a bit of range, just have a chat with someone who HAS a document, don't even need to steal it or copy it, and you could read it right out of his pocket or off his desk without him ever knowing it. "Steve, you seem distracted, is something wrong?" "No, I just - uh - hang on a sec." "...Steve, why are you staring at my desk?"
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# ? Oct 15, 2016 22:02 |
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You would think Hoshi would get better at kamikaze attacks. Unless his heart wasn't into it, which could be likely.
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# ? Oct 15, 2016 22:10 |
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I'm pretty sure it was touch range. Looking at it from the opposite direction, there are a lot of potential powers that we would consider potent, but that might as well be Duds in a combat zone. If your power is as dangerous as a handgun, well, everyone has a gun.
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# ? Oct 15, 2016 22:12 |
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PurpleXVI posted:For a "dud" talent, assuming that works for any sort of document that has multiple pages and/or a cover, and of course dependent on range and other things, that'd seem pretty useful for espionage. If it's got a bit of range, just have a chat with someone who HAS a document, don't even need to steal it or copy it, and you could read it right out of his pocket or off his desk without him ever knowing it. True, but just the idea of Roosevelt trolling Hoover out of sheer spite is the best thing.
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# ? Oct 15, 2016 22:34 |
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Godbound Theurgy and Invocations Theurgy - aka the closest thing to standard d20 magic - is a power reserved for Godbound with the Sorcery Word, various supernatureal creatures and the mightest of mortal spellcasters (who more often than not had to make a pact with Eldritch forces that probably just want to screw you over). This type of magic taps into the heavenly power of creation, which lets you mess around with reality and do all the wonderful things high-level spellcasters are known for. Theurgy allowed the empires of old to raid Heaven itself, build their own gods and caused the entire world to go FUBAR. The spells of Theurgy - known as Invocations - are divided into three tiers, or degrees of initiation: the Gate offers basic reality-messing, the Way is more advanced, and the Throne lets you get as close to understanding and controlling the forces of creation itself as a mortal can ever hope to get. It's basically like learning Venderant Nalaberong. Learning a new Invocation requires a lot of time to study (1 week for a Gate Invocation, 1 month for the Way, and 3 months for the Throne). Casting time is standardized for all Invocations of a certain tier, and each can be cast in three ways: slowly as a ritual (taking 1 hour / 12 hours / 1 day), cast quickly in combat (taking 1 round per tier and having you commit Effort for the scene), or cast instantly (which commits Effort for the day and deals 1d6 / 1d12 / 1d20 damage as the powers you're channeling fry your body). Casting instantly really hurts (Throne invocations have a 55% chance of causing 4 points of damage, which is about half of what a Godbound starts with at level 1), but it might be worth it in combat because Invocations always fails if someone hits or otherwise disturbs you during the casting process (no Concentration check for you, sir). Theurgy plays in a much higher league than Low Magic. Almost anything created or enchanted with Invocations is permanent, and you can - among other things - perform dimensional travel, or even create new life. There's theoretically no limit to what Theurgy can do, but the big issue is that it's pretty much impossible to create new Invocations, so even the mightiest Godbound has to content with what he finds in ancient tomes. Speaking of Godbound, much like Low Magic, Theurgy stands little chance against the migt of Gifts. Though unlike Low Magic, there actually do exist very specialized Invocations that can beat Gifts. As is typical in Godbound, lesser foes are generally automatically affected by Invocations, while worthy ones and Godbound can save. Some Invocations have you go a bit Voodoo-ish and require an arcane connection to the target of your curse. This is generally some tiny bit of his body (like blood or hair), or an item that's very important to the target. Once taken from the target, the Theurge has about a day to conserve the arcane connection with a short ritual. It's also a good idea to get as many of these connections as possible, since they are typically only good for one use. Theurgy also generally has problems with making large-scale changes that are truly permanent in nature. Any magitek-like Theurgy artifacts that have survived the Shattering to the present day are probably in bad shape. The Invocations themselves don't follow the standard layout of d20 spells (probably since casting time and duration and such is standardized, and other things like components aren't too important here), and they're just a paragraph worth of text. Their names and effects also remind me a lot of the Sorcery found in Silent Legions, and some are even a bit similar in their effect. Invocations of the Gate
Invocations of the Way
Invocations of the Throne
Conversion Time! Spells from your OSR game of choice can be readily converted into Invocations, assigning a tier based on the spell level (1-3 for the Gate, 4-6 for the Way, and 7-9 for the Throne). Things to avoid are buffs (demigods shouldn't rely on static bonuses, and they shouldn't just be handed extra actions without a caveat), as well as direct-damage spells that are better than the attack Gifts and don't really bring anything new or interesting to the table. Also any damage is capped at 10d6. Speaking of better than Gifts, if you come across a spell that is equal to or better than Gift, you probabl want to nerf it. On the other hand, many OSR spells probably require a buff or two. Most will probably require you to make their duration permanent in order to keep up with the above Invocations. Next Time: A Gazetteer of Arcem - introducing zombie vikings, machine Russians, and Ebberon 2.0
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# ? Oct 15, 2016 22:34 |
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Night10194 posted:Please no. Especially not with the direction some of the non-Original-Creator Gundam stuff made. We don't need an Imperial Japan apologist like the Unicorn author to get together with the weirdo neo-nazis (aside from Fantasy Flight, they did great work mostly) writing 40k these days. Just imagine we could have Age of the New Type, and get reality balls touching in anime form.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 00:58 |
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After War Gundam X was really good, and a very nice argument against the series' fixation with New-Types.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 01:08 |
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Doresh posted:Man, Gundam is like the anti-Disney. The grimdarkest place on Earth. Depends on the show. I mean, the current one is about a PMC made up of orphaned child soldiers, with the latest episode showing someone committing suicide after being crippled by invasive surgery, but there's also stuff like Turn A, which is mostly pleasant and has a relatively low body count (I mean, yes, some of the deaths are utterly horrifying, but there's less of them) or Build Fighters, where kids play with model kits and nobody dies in agony even a little.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 01:57 |
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Chapter 6: Beasts of the World This would be better described as "Here's a bunch of sample locations and plot hooks". They're not particularly interesting, for example the location set in latin america has all the gangs titled "El" or "Los" something. Also there's a fairly racist depiction of Tokyo that I'm just gonna avoid(the Apex is the head of a Zaibatsu for starters). But there is one worth looking into once we've gotten past the two chapter intro bits. quote:Hero quote:Tales of the Dark Mother: Malcom A Serpent’s Tooth quote:This is a legend of the First Nations: quote:Decades after the serpent’s story had warped into its modern form, his hubris echoed, calling Heroes like moths to a light bulb. When the Great Vancouver Fire razed most of the new town and settlers turned to drunken rioting, a mob of Heroes set upon the Beasts. They boarded up the hideouts of the city’s broods, and doused them with stolen whiskey, chanting the Salt-Chuck’s name. Few survived. quote:In 1911, “The Legend of the Salt-Chuck Oluk” was published in a series of articles on Squamish folklore. The stories became popular across the country, and Heroes seemed to wake en masse in the aftermath. Vancouver’s vampires began to take notice. Always vigilant over their precious Masquerade, the vampires grew uneasy at the violence and attention being drawn to the supernatural world. The Raptors saw another opportunity. Masters of exploiting the fear of exposure, the Ugallu convinced the Kindred that the Leviathans were to blame and that it was in their best interest to call a blood hunt to stem the tide of Heroes. This time, it worked. Over the next forty years, the Nightmares of the Depths were nearly wiped out from Vancouver at the fangs of vampires and the swords of Heroes. quote:When I looked inside my Lair, it was flooded. As water and debris flew past, I tried to return to my body. I couldn’t. Giant birds aren’t natural swimmers, but the animal part of my brain tried to glide with the current. My wings tore apart like wet paper, and I blacked out from the pain. I thought my Horror would drown, which is a terrible prospect to an 8-year-old. quote:A rift had torn between the river and the Primordial Dream, as if some plug in reality had dislodged. The immediate assumption was, of course, that a Makara had somehow become Apex of the area, but searching for this Leviathan proved futile. Whatever the truth, it benefited the despised Makara. The river formed paths between Chambers, floodways only accessible to Leviathans. Rumors spread that the workers had dislodged the remains of the Salt-Chuck’s heart from the river, and the pogrom reached a fever pitch. The Raptors pointed their vampire allies at the last brood of Leviathans, hiding near the dam construction site and hoping to find the source of the water. quote:In desperation, the Tyrant reached out with her Kinship, and found a thread she’d never felt before. She pulled, and she was enlightened. As the waves in her mind’s eye receded, the powers of every vampire in her presence failed. Makara still celebrate the massacre that followed. Yeah let's talk about that Kinship then. quote:The Disciples practice their anti-Kinship through a powerful Nightmare. Only Leviathans who’ve swum through the floodways can learn it, and only the Disciples know how to teach it. Unlike other Nightmares, this power benefits from teamwork actions (p. 161), though not all actors need to know it. This power doesn’t work on Beasts, Heroes, or mages. quote:ABRUPTION This is not an interesting place to adventure, this is a great place to stay the gently caress away from at all costs. Next time: The Storyteller Chapter
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 02:49 |
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chiasaur11 posted:Depends on the show. Build Fighters is also openly self-referential to the other series and could be considered a big "what-if" of Gundam characters living in a time of peace, since there's not just background cameos of all major characters from various series, but one of the main characters is inexplicably Ramba Ral, a character from the first UC Gundam series.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 02:51 |
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I know I'm stupid behind on pretty much all my reviews, but I wanted to share this find at the Full Of Old Games game store. It touts itself as "the realistic RPG" and seems to be chock full of charts. I didn't buy it this go-round, though. And yes, that's a copy of "Don't Look Back: Terror Is Never Far Behind". This store is chock full of ancient RPG books and could keep System Mastery going for years. They even have a copy of The Foundation.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 02:59 |
Kurieg posted:Yeah, Makara can just shut off other supernatural powers and force them to acquiesce to their demands and they can never fight back because there's only one way to resolve the Abruption tilt. And they've got hordes of Vampires and Werewolves under their power. Also because the Werewolves are busy being the gophers of the Makara the spirit world is absolutely hosed. Because Mages are completely unaffected by it. Lowercase-h heroic mages taking down the horrible Beast overlords.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:11 |
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Zereth posted:Wow. That sounds less like "look how cool Beasts are" and more of a teamup adventure idea, starring primarily mages and those few other supernaturals who haven't been affected yet they can whip up a defense against the effect for. It's only Beasts and Mages, since you can't play Heroes. And I'm not sure if it can turn off Hunter powers either. But, any Beasts in the area are subject to the lair trait that lets Makara invade their lairs and kill their hearts if they don't play ball. e: Also the mage council in Vancouver explicitly doesn't give a gently caress.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:14 |
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Evil Mastermind posted:I know I'm stupid behind on pretty much all my reviews, but I wanted to share this find at the Full Of Old Games game store. Where is this store and how much would it cost to get there from Northern California?
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:17 |
Kurieg posted:It's only Beasts and Mages, since you can't play Heroes. And I'm not sure if it can turn off Hunter powers either. Use sympathetic magic bullshit to make it so they're mystically considered Not In Vancouver even when physically present, for one thing. EDIT: This is just more evidence that Beast has horribly failed at whatever it's trying to do, anyway. Like, literally the only story hook I can see in this thing is trying to break it. I have no idea what they were trying for.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:21 |
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The simple Mage solution to this problem is either 'guns, many' or 'get the Life 4 guy in here, turn the beasts into rats'. They can also fix the conditions with magic - not resolve, but just remove.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:34 |
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Kavak posted:Where is this store and how much would it cost to get there from Northern California?
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:45 |
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It's not really an interesting setting to engage with. It might be an interesting one to destroy but the idea being that the Vancouver Beasts can just sick an army of vampires and 2e Uratha on you if you try to oppose them. So it's something you'd need to nuke from afar which means avoiding basically everything that got set up. And Abrogation is basically just a less powerful version of Soulless and they excised the nightmare that let Beasts toss that around willy nilly.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:46 |
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It's a bad setting because it has beasts in it. They just somehow managed to make it worse than that.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 03:48 |
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Kavak posted:Where is this store and how much would it cost to get there from Northern California? It's in northern Connecticut, so...
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 04:16 |
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Well if I ever visit my family in Connecticut again...
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 04:16 |
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Evil Mastermind posted:It's in northern Connecticut, so... poo poo, I need to go visit there, I hadn't heard of this one. I mostly go to the new board game shop on the Newington/New Britain border.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 04:18 |
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Spiderfist Island, I wanted to thank you for your work on the Runequest 2nd Edition F&F. I started reading the book itself over a long plane ride last week, and it was shocking how readable it was. While there are some issues with organization (like not actually knowing your "base chance" until much later), and while I don't always agree with how "in-universe" the guild-training character progression mechanics are, this feels like the kind of thing you could read and grasp as a newcomer to the hobby without having to rely on all the built-up cruft of decades of assumed institutional knowledge.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 04:48 |
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BOOK ONE: Part Two Or Even More "Pronoun But" SOCIETY Hey kids, let's play "guess the social class"! So I'm an American and I was born in 1990. I have a much more different view of society than a Victorian British person would. Basically, British society's stratification isn't just money; it's mostly land, property and breeding. In the real life sense, this meant a lot of loving your cousins to keep power in the family. In the sense of this book, this means that by Victorian Upper Class The Upper Class Things ain't great for women. If you're a normal woman, you host parties, balls and look pretty without saying anything. If you have magical aptitude, you get to go off and study that. Or you can go off and become an adventuress. That's it. Middle Class Upper middle class folks are bureaucrats, military officers, educated professionals. The majority of middle class people are magicians, bankers, factory owners, people with a good education. Lower middle class contains shopkeepers, missionaries and clerical workers. The middle class is less beholden to the rules of society and socialization so they can mostly just do their own thing. Women are still expected to get married, pump out an heir and run the home. Women can work but it's viewed as being cruel to them. The main exception is if they know magic, then they're viewed as competent and people will step out of their way. Women are also among the biggest innovators in technology. In addition to going abroad for missionary work amongst the "heathens" by spreading the word of the Aluminat, a lot of middle class people like going to India. This is because they get a taste of social freedom and because their empire is doing poo poo to India, white foreigners are now King poo poo of Calcutta and get to live the upper class dream. Lower Class The lower class makes up 75% of the population of England and the majority of the subspecies. Education isn't good among them and child labor laws don't exist yet. People who would have grown up tilling the lands in the country have fled to London to lose limbs in industrial machinery. Because of this flight to the city, life has gotten harder in the rural environments of London Upper lower class has artisans, bakers, skilled laborers. Women work but tend to get paid less than men. Also your life expectancy isn't great due to pollution, risk and hard living. Etiquette and Fashion Yeah uh. I don't feel like including all of this. It's Victorian England, you know just what's in here. Really the only thing that's interesting here is that it's not frowned up for two married Eldren to divorce or for an Eldren to have a sort of low-key party after their not-Eldren spouse dies, they finish grieving and they put themselves back out in the world. THE WORLD Not all of these appear in the book. Also, Kvenland is lightly cut off there in the north from the picture I took. Today we're going to play a game called "is this a real thing?" and I will be doing my best to make 22ish pages of countries tolerable. EUROPE Great Britain: Britain is at war with Russia in the Crimea. This is the main thing going on. Britain is made of Scotland, Ireland and Wales and is ruled by Queen Victoria who is an Eldren. Sickness, pollution and crime are becoming major problems and the British people are pretty patronizing towards other nations and their beliefs. Ireland: Ireland really doesn't like being part of the United Kingdom and the Time of Troubles and Potato Famine are less than a decade old. Most of this article on Ireland is the history of the acquisition of Ireland. Because Ireland has been suffering and there's a general poverty, a lot of Irish are either leaving for America, Australia or New Zealand or being shipped to London to become cops, soldiers or laborers. Also they have a growing Irish republican movement. France: The Revolution killed most of the Eldren aristocracy. Then Napoleon (now a dwarf) took over the First Republic, turned it into an empire and then lost it at Waterloo before being sent to St. Helena. His replacement, Louis VIII, was chased out of France after a second revolution in 1848 and now France is in a Second Republic ruled by Louis Eugene Cavaignac instead of Napoleon III. Since France has been spent from fighting the Napoleonic Wars and from helping in Crimea, most of France's efforts are directed towards maintaining their colonies and worrying about Prussia. Is this a real thing? Well, originally Napoleon III turned the Second Republic into a Second Empire which necessitated another war. However, it looks like the Second Republic is going to fall apart under revolution because Cavaignac is not a popular ruler. The people feel like he manipulated them and France's poor showing in Crimea isn't making him any friends, so it looks like the rise of the Third Republic is going to happen anyway, just not with another Napoleon involved. Spain: Spain is ruled by Isabela II (a Huldu)who is disliked for her heritage, her religious preferences and the fact that people think the throne should have gone to the late King's brother Carlos due to law. People sympathetic to Carlos have attempted two failed revolutions and might be planning a third. Most of the info on Spain is just a lot about how the government is unstable and basic knowledge of Spain. Is this a real thing? Yes, Isabela II was a real person and Carlos did attempt civil wars against her rule. They succeeded on the third attempt. Portugal: Portugal is dealing with the fallout of the reign of Miguel I and his deposition by Maria II. It's more complicated than that but I'm not really familiar with this history; long story short Maria was supposed to be the Queen and Miguel stole the throne with the help of the Aluminat. The current ruler is Maria's son, Pedro. Portugal's doing alright, all things considered. They're leery of the Aluminat and they still have their colonies. Did this happen? Yes. The Low Countries: Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg are united under the Dutch Republic, aka the Low Countries. Holland's dominance of the seas collapsed and their Indian Companies had the bubble burst and then came Napoleon. Now Belgium has its own independence and the Dutch Republic is learning a lot from Prussia. Belgium is continuing its appalling treatment of its African colonies as well as trying to remain a neutral party between Europe and Russia (Leopold is related to Victoria's husband Albert but he was involved in Russian military affairs). The Scandinavian Confederation: The SC is made up of five nations loosely connected. Denmark, Finland, Kvenland (real country, now defunct with its land divided up), Norway and Sweden are the members of the coalition. Finland is under Russian control while Norway and Sweden are ruled by the same king. The entire confederation was made in response to the German confederation to help protect Scandinavian interests and as a result they're butting heads with the Prussians. The only real interesting thing is Kvenland. Kvenland is an isolationist nation of Beastfolk, Giants and Dwarves ruled by a Giant king. The only reason they're in the Confederation is to keep people from loving with their countrymen. The German Confederation: The GC is made up of many small states leftover from the Napoleonic Wars and the remains of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria was in control of the GC, but now that mostly falls to Prussia under the control of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. But Friedrich is a Boarman Beastfolk, and his subspecies has resulted in powers like Britain dismissing him as any kind of threat. He has the help of Otto von Bismarck to control Germany and King George V of Hanover and his clairvoyant powers supporting Austria. This all pretty accurate except for Friedrich being a Boarman and King George having clairvoyance. Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Otto von Bismarck and George V who is wearing his magical glasses that let him see despite his blindness. No I'm not kidding. The Swiss Confederation: A collection of small groups that are now neutral and revamping their economy to use one currency. Not much happening in Switzerland that I feel is worth mentioning. The Austrian Empire: Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (now a gnome) and Franz Karl I run Austria with Franz letting Metternich do his own thing. Austria's mostly focused on solidifying its power within its area and that's really it. The Italian States: Sardinia wants to unify the states and bring it back together into one kingdom under the control of Victor Emmanuel II. The Kingdom of Two Sicilies, ruled by Ferdinand II, would rather rule all of Italy. Then there's the Aluminat States in the middle and how everything else is ruled by Austria. Greece: Ruled by King Otto, they're trying to steal Constantinople from the Ottoman Empire. Also Lord Byron fought in the Greek War of Independence, which is actually true but hardly relevant to anything. Russia: Russia is controlled by Ekaterina I, or Catherine the Great if you're more Western. She's a Steppegoblin which is basically a type of Eldren. Her first husband, Peter the Great, got her on the throne and then died five years into their marriage. Because she's a Steppegoblin, she's still ruling Russia and for some reason every husband she's had has died within five years of marriage. She's done a good job of making women equal to men and for keeping the serf class oppressed while modernizing Russia. Nowadays her, uh, eccentricities are catching up with her and her daughter Princess Nadja is the face of Russia. Russia is known for being weak in tech and rich in magic, making them a force to reckon with in Crimea. The Ottoman Empire: The good days are far behind the Ottomans despite Sultan Abdulmecid I's attempts to modernize. The war in Crimea is threatening their control over the area around the Black Sea, Greece has become independent, Balkan nationalist movements are threatening more uprising and Russia is waiting to sink its teeth into the empire like an alligator and bust out the death-roll. THE ORIENT Note: you should not call this area "The Orient" anymore. The area contains the Middle East and the Pacific nations as well as India and China. Persia: Originally the hub of science and intellect in the Middle East after the collapse of Europe during the Dark Ages, Persia has had some problems. The biggest problem is wars with Russia, which has been hungry enough for land and resources to push aggressively and cause Persia losses which have made countries start to consider Persia as a target. India: India is being exploited by the British through the East Indian Company and general British rule. Originally the occupation was tolerated, but now the commute between nations has gotten shorter and the British have gotten more pushy and intolerant of Indian culture. A rebellion is certain. China: The Manchu Dynasty (really the Qing Dynasty) is in charge of China. 20 years ago they lost the Opium War to the British who have started to flood the nation with missionaries, trading post and cheap Afghan poppies. China possesses a strong magical background, like the Mandarin Sorcerers, but modern weapons and tactics proved a bit much for them. Nowadays China has to deal with every major power forcing them to trade and keep the borders open. The other thing they have to contend with is Hong Xiuquan and his religious movement rebellion in the aftermath of the Taiping Rebellion. The Taiping Rebels are currently in control of most of South China, but there's 8 more years before they historically lose to the Qing government. British merchants: no sense of right or wrong! Japan: Japan has only relatively recently opened its borders to outsiders and that's only because American Commodore Matthew Perry forced them to at cannon-point. The Shogunate is still the real seat of power and Japan is home to the Oni, a sort of relative of the Ogre subspecies. Also the military is afraid of modernization. Dutch East Indies: Better known as the islands of Indonesia, the Dutch East Indies are controlled by the Dutch East Indian company as the last true hold they have on the area. And it's quite a tight grip despite the threat of piracy. Australia: The Aboriginals of Australia have a proud grasp of the magical art of magnetism aaaaaaand hello English colonists/prisoners. The colonization of Australia has had enough of a grip for 2% of the empire to immigrate to the island, mostly due to crime or because they're looking for gold. New Zealand is also being colonized and their relationship with the Maori isn't great either. THE DARK CONTINENT AKA Africa, you also should not call this area The Dark Continent anymore. Egypt: Only nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon's invasion gave them the chance to become their own sovereign nation without declaring total independence from the crumbling empire. Britain has a fascination with Egypt and has dedicated time to putting money into the Suez Canal, hunting for treasure and Ashanti Empire: The Ashanti Empire of the Gold Coast practices haemomancy and has a good hold on the magical arts along with the help of ex-Dutch East Indian vets recruited into their army. Britain would really like to conquer them. The nominal reason is that they still practice slavery but the real reason is because they're still sore about losing a border dispute. Was this a real place? Well, strip out the blood magic and you'll find that Ashanti Empire still exists, albeit with a different name and in a much smaller form. The entire empire is where Ghana is now but the monarchy of the empire still exists within Ghana as a nation state/traditional state protected by the government after the territory was freed from Britain in the 1930s. Kingdom of Dahomey: Dahomey made a good deal of money off the slave trade which allowed it to expand into a proper power. Now that the trade is dying up, they're turning to opening their borders and selling palm oil. They're ruled by Eldren Queen Sinkutin who has an elite cadre of female warriors and the tenacity of Catherine the Great. Was this a real place? Yes, actually. Dahomey was located in modern-day Benin and existed until 1894 when the French annexed them after defeating them in conquest. They really did make money off slavery, they really were famous for elite female warriors and they were fans of traditional Vodun. Sierra Leone and Liberia: Sierra Leone was settled from escaped American slaves relocated by the British. They have a pretty good hermetic college and magical tradition. Liberia was also colonized by slaves who adopted the American constitution to be the legal basis of their nation. They're doing their best, but both countries have issues with engaging in black market practices such as slavery. They both exist in the modern day and age but unfortunately I'm not as well informed on what they're like to give them a fair shake. The only thing I can tell you is that Raiden from Metal Gear Solid was a Liberian child soldier and I can't really call that historical fact. I really couldn't tell you which nation this is supposed to be because the book doesn't say. Sultanate of Zanzibar: Sultan Mahid bin Sahid rules the Sultanate which has clove plantations and also slaves. That's pretty much it. Kingdom of Merina: Really the only thing of note is that Merina is a country of Dwarves, Gnomes, Huldufolk, Karaka (a type of possible Eldren offshoot that is native to Africa) and Naacal (a sea-faring race of fish people). Also they trade slaves and are ruled by an Indonesian Karaka. Is this a real thing? Yes. The Kingdom of Merina is what is now known as Madagascar. Merina was pretty isolated until 1883 when the French invaded and then became totally annexed in 1896 after a decade of war and debate over Britain over who gets what. Britain walked away with Zanzibar instead of Madagascar. Sorry Zanzibar, should've mentioned this in the entry above. Cape Colony: Formed by the Dutch before Britain got control over it, control over the Cape Colony also includes the Boers and native nations such as the Zulu. Britain is trying to woo the Boers back to the colony (they are currently in the process of settling elsewhere due to not liking British policy) and the Zulu Kingdom is ruled by Shaka Zulu who is now a Lion Beastman because why not. Some people might recognize Cape Colony by the name "South Africa" in the future. THE NEW WORLD Hoo boy. So fun fact: healing magic of the Americas was not used to healing European diseases so the intentional/unintentional genocide of the American Indian still happens. In 1856, pretty much most of North American history happens albeit with some slight changes. The following changes don't get much play later in the chapter so I'll share them here.
Republic of Texas: This also actually happened but it only lasted until 1846. They also support slavery along with California and Yucatan. The Texas Rangers are super sleuths and the government is set up so you can be elected as President indefinitely but you can only run after a term other than yours has passed (Sam Houston has basically won every election he's been able to run in). That's it for Texas! Kinda says a lot about how this game behaves like every other two-bit 19th century AU game: Texas is still its own country but they can't come up with a drat interesting thing about it. Comancheria: The Comancheria is not a proper nation but a confederation of American Indian tribes pushed west of the Mississippi or already living there. The Comanche tribe controls the Comancheria and gather the other tribes regularly to commune. They are not on good terms with the US, Texas, Yucatan, Mexico or California due to ignored treaties, trespassing and general violence. As a result, the US has to tread carefully when dealing with tribes that fall under the control of the Comancheria like the Ute, Sioux and Ute. Also the Eldren of the Comancheria are known as the Armouch/Blood Eldren for allegedly surrendering themselves to the Pale for power and they like to steal children. Y'know, your typical xenophobic rumor that's used as an excuse to steal land through force unless it's actually true but the book doesn't really say if it is. Mexico: First of all, the Aztecs probably came from Atlantis. Second of all, their encounter with the Spanish also didn't go well. Eventually Mexico becomes a republic after the rebellion against Spain lead by Aluminat priest Father Miguel Hidalgo. Also Santa Anna's failures were responsible for the formation of all of these Republics that folded already in our time. Santa Anna is still in charge of Mexico and that's really it to Mexico. Republic of Columbia: Controlled by Simon Bolivar (who is an Eldren because, again, why not), Columbia contains Colombia, Ecuador, New Grenada, Santa Domingo and Venezuela. He made the government's structure with the help of Gnome Alexander Hamilton who is currently hanging out with him and running the government. This could not have and did not happen in real life; Hamilton died in 1804 in a duel against Aaron Burr but whatever now he's helping Columbia write their constitution with all of the ideas he wasn't allowed to use on the US. They're already working on trying to build the Panama Canal ahead of schedule and to overthrow that jerk Walker in Nicaragua. Did this really happen? Yes but it collapsed in 1830 and it most certainly did not have Hamilton. Empire of Brazil: Currently under control of Pedro II, son of Pedro I who had to return to Portugal due to war, Brazil is the hotbed of education and magical learning in South America (so much so that the Hermeticist Guild is considering relocating there). They've overthrown the Argentinean government and Brazil is doing well for itself technologically. The empire is planning on exploring the Amazon deeper using aerostats and steamships to try and find a lost empire. So far they've managed to find tribes of female warriors and the nation of Patagonia, a nation of Cyclops who warn them not to explore further. The State of Buenos Aires: Made from Argentinean land, it's engaged in economic warfare with Argentina while attempting to become as modern and tech-savvy as Brazil. They're not doing so hot but the Cyclops of Patagonia are helping. Thoughts: Oh god why was I so drat thorough summarizing most of this, this was a huge mistake. Did your eyes glaze over reading that because mine sure did. It's all pretty historically accurate up until we get to the Americas and consider the existence of magic but christ that is some dull poo poo. It's painfully dull and unimaginative and just so uninspired. Just, ugh. There was nothing that grabbed me in the slightest and through most of Europe all I could do was think "wow so it really is just our history but with Elves". It's not even suffering from the problem Unhallowed Metropolis had where I wanted to go somewhere else or what you're all mentioning in the thread where a better game would take place elsewhere in the shadow of the British Empire. There is barely anywhere interesting in the world to actually set a game, it's all just business as usual and the grinding march of history will just bring more war and atrocities and the modern day but with Elves. I need to get some Tylenol. See you next time. NEXT TIME: Book Two, character creation. Remember Rocket Age's character creation? Imagine that but not good or interesting.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 06:23 |
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Doresh posted:I did. One of my earlier ones. I'm still embarrassed that I failed to properly highlight how ridiculous the distances are in this hardish sci-fi setting. The Jovians have a space train that goes through their entire territory and takes like eight years for the whole trip. How is anyone supposed to defend that? Cool! Although there's about a dozen supplements that could be covered too, where things get even Gundamier, so I wasn't completely wrong.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:11 |
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Hostile V posted:THE WORLD OH BOY I GET TO CRITIQUE lovely RPG HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY AGAIN! What's the Time of Troubles in Ireland? The real world one was the civil war-y interregnum between the Rurikovich and Romanov dynasties in Russia, while The Troubles were a 20th century thing. If France skips the Second Empire, I can't wait to see what it does after the Franco-Prussian War... Does it actually mention the Belgians in the Congo? Because the Congo Free State wasn't a thing until 1885. Russia having a immortal competent ruler would do some interesting things to its politics and future that this book is not cut out to talk about at all. Really that's the case for all these people that are still alive well after their time- they want to have their cake of real-life steampunk fantasy without baking it. Who is protecting Quebec and stopping the British from marching back in, the US? That could almost be interesting, so I doubt they'll do it. We attacked Mexico specifically for California- hell, we only took Nevada et. al. because they were in the way of California. Why the hell would we leave it independent after that? Why is Sudan in the middle of the goddamn Sahara where modern Chad and Mali are? Why is Ethiopia dead north of the Congo while Abyssinia (WHICH WAS JUST ANOTHER NAME FOR IT) is in the right place? I'm really surprised they remembered stuff like Comancheria in the midst of all this.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:11 |
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HAW! HAW! Napoleon is a dwarf! Gettit? 'Cause he's short!
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:14 |
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Kavak posted:OH BOY I GET TO CRITIQUE lovely RPG HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY AGAIN! 1848's famine and other shenanigans it looks like. It's in the second empire but under a different, less popular ruler. Revolution has not yet come. Doesn't say poo poo about the Belgian Congo. Unfortunately Eldren and Steppegoblins aren't immortal, they just live around 200 years. I do agree and the book acknowledges the disconnect of age and the times and then doesn't do much. I have no idea, they say jack poo poo about Canada itself. I really have no idea. Bad cartography? Same.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:17 |
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Hostile V posted:1848's famine and other shenanigans it looks like. We don't call it that, it's just the Famine or The Great Hunger. There were attempted uprisings in and around 1848 like the rest of Europe, so I guess that's what they were talking about and wires got crossed? quote:Doesn't say poo poo about the Belgian Congo. Well they definitely didn't have colonies then, so that's a mistake.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:24 |
I'm super disappointed that apparently all the Nazis had to do was change the formula in the gas chambers to avoid getting shitloads of hell-bent Stand users out to kill every Nazi, but I guess they had to do something in order to keep the war on anything resembling the broad outline of history. "Moshe Kujo Oraoraoras Hitler to death in Feb 1943" is a little disappointing. I mean, I hope SOMEONE kills Hitler.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:28 |
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In retrospect my headache is making me mix up dates and events vis-a-vis the Congo. That's my bad.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 07:30 |
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Kurieg posted:
Now here's a rhetorical question for a potential "snarky bullshit" section: How exactly are Beasts subverting the classic hero myth? The only relevant twist is "Our heroes are assholes!", but that's about it*. They're still doing the world a service by getting rid of Beasts. *) Then again it's not uncommon for mythical heroes to be brought down by their own hubris. chiasaur11 posted:Depends on the show. There's also this chibi Gundam show I think. Well, if you're making a franchise about death and mysery, you better lighten up occasionally to draw in younger folks! Young Freud posted:Build Fighters is also openly self-referential to the other series and could be considered a big "what-if" of Gundam characters living in a time of peace, since there's not just background cameos of all major characters from various series, but one of the main characters is inexplicably Ramba Ral, a character from the first UC Gundam series. You mean the old guy who was the first Zaku pilot to actually kick Amuro's rear end (whereas things always ended up with a draw or Amurao getting away when battling Char)? That's a weird choice, but I like it. MonsieurChoc posted:Cool! Although there's about a dozen supplements that could be covered too, where things get even Gundamier, so I wasn't completely wrong. True, there's a lot more to cover in the edition before the one I covered. I heard there's one about what would happen if the interplanetary cold war went hot, and it's apparently very stupid. Doresh fucked around with this message at 08:59 on Oct 16, 2016 |
# ? Oct 16, 2016 08:54 |
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Doresh posted:
He was no Zaku pilot, Doresh. No Zaku.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 10:19 |
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chiasaur11 posted:He was no Zaku pilot, Doresh. No Zaku. Man, I could swear this went "This is no ordinary Zaku". Then again, it's been a while since I watched it.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 10:30 |
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Doresh posted:There's also this chibi Gundam show I think. Well, if you're making a franchise about death and mysery, you better lighten up occasionally to draw in younger folks! All that death and misery also makes for parodies taking the best effort to take the wind out of it's sails... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKM_QFgTUEk Doresh posted:You mean the old guy who was the first Zaku pilot to actually kick Amuro's rear end (whereas things always ended up with a draw or Amurao getting away when battling Char)? That's a weird choice, but I like it. Oh man, I'm not sure if that's a trap but I'll fall into it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGleM-B1zI e:fb Doresh posted:Man, I could swear this went "This is no ordinary Zaku". Then again, it's been a while since I watched it. TBF, the Gouf was further evolution on the Zaku, built specifically for Earth ground combat. That's why it has the 60mm handjob of death for working on infantry, ground vehicles, and aircraft. Young Freud fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Oct 16, 2016 |
# ? Oct 16, 2016 10:43 |
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Young Freud posted:TBF, the Gouf was further evolution on the Zaku, built specifically for Earth ground combat. That's why it has the 60mm handjob of death for working on infantry, ground vehicles, and aircraft. My long-term memory somehow turned that particular Gouf into some custom Zaku with an electro-whip. Weird. Doresh fucked around with this message at 11:04 on Oct 16, 2016 |
# ? Oct 16, 2016 10:59 |
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Hostile V posted:Upper Class It's impossible to talk about class in 19th-20th century Britain without even touching on the tensions of people whose income didn't rise to the level of their class. And I don't just mean Austenian stories of upper-crust families suddenly finding themselves penniless, but the many "middle class" people who constantly struggled to maintain their traditions. The Road to Wigan Pier posted:I was born into what you might describe as the lower-upper-middle class. The upper-middle class, which had its heyday in the eighties and nineties, with Kipling as its poet laureate, was a sort of mound of wreckage left behind when the tide of Victorian prosperity receded. Or perhaps it would be better to change the metaphor and describe it not as a mound but as a layer — the layer of society lying between L2000 and L300 a year: my own family was not far from the bottom. You notice that I define it in terms of money, because that is always the quickest way of making yourself understood. Nevertheless, the essential point about the English class-system is that it is not entirely explicable in terms of money. Roughly speaking it is a money-stratification, but it is also interpenetrated by a sort of shadowy caste-system; rather like a jerrybuilt modem bungalow haunted by medieval ghosts. Hence the fact that the upper-middle class extends or extended to incomes as low as L300 a year — to incomes, that is, much lower than those of merely middle-class people with no social pretensions. Probably there are countries where you can predict a man’s opinions from his income, but it is never quite safe to do so in England; you have always got to take his traditions into consideration as well. A naval officer and his grocer very likely have the same income, but they are not equivalent persons and they would only be on the same side in very large issues such as a war or a general strike — possibly not even then.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 14:30 |
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ZeroCount posted:The Modrons are all certified cuties and they're one of the things that have remained unique to D&D. A lot of the D&D outsiders are pretty generic (angels, devils, demons) but modrons are as far out as you get.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 14:55 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2024 06:32 |
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Doresh posted:Now here's a rhetorical question for a potential "snarky bullshit" section: How exactly are Beasts subverting the classic hero myth? The only relevant twist is "Our heroes are assholes!", but that's about it*. They're still doing the world a service by getting rid of Beasts. quote:You mean the old guy who was the first Zaku pilot to actually kick Amuro's rear end (whereas things always ended up with a draw or Amurao getting away when battling Char)? That's a weird choice, but I like it. Within the context of the show he's an old-hat Battler who's retired but stops by the school's hobby club from time to time to see how things are going and give advice/support. He also serves as a surrogate father to the main character because his real dad is away most of the time being a member of the secret gunpla interpol.
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# ? Oct 16, 2016 15:01 |