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Cross-posting from the trans thread because this thread is obviously full of people who can talk about the WoD in thematic and mechanical context:Tuxedo Catfish posted:It's not exactly the same, but as a disabled person, Promethean speaks to my experience, but I would never in a million years endorse it as a metaphor. It's ultimately about the horror of being completely Other and wanting to become human (which you are emphatically not, at first) through an individual and transformative process -- which is relatable but the exact opposite of how liberatory struggles work in real life. On a similar note, and even closer to home, Demon is incredibly evocative of autistic masking and the constant, exhausting effort to appear "normal" that that involves, with consequences for failure and costs for success that you have to manage all the time. But again, it's not really about metaphor, and gets really ugly if you try to interpret it that way -- it's just about a very personal and very unpleasant experience being acknowledged as the horrific tightrope walk it is, which is validating without needing to be a perfect equivalent.
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Dec 29, 2019 17:04
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I've been watching LA by Night after dropping it a couple of episodes in and it's not bad. It still feels like a couple of the players are going for The Most Toreador or The Most Ventrue but I can't say anybody's bad. I am curious if they're going with the Ministry as portrayed strictly on the show and just being vaguely New Age whatever-ism or wondering if there's not a hook somewhere down the line.
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Dec 29, 2019 20:14
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Cross-posting from the trans thread because this thread is obviously full of people who can talk about the WoD in thematic and mechanical context: Also demons are way better than me at actually understanding social normalcy.
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Dec 29, 2019 21:13
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I began my new decade the way I mean to continue — high and talking about Mage the Awakening. Happy New Year, WoD/CofD thread.
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Dec 31, 2019 13:47
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As my New Year's present to y'all, I have two gifts. First, do you want any specific spoiler on the Tengri or Anunna in Demigod? That's gift #1. Gift #2 will be a set of spoilers for a Nexus product I'll be selling once Demigod and a few other products are out and I can actually do so.
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Dec 31, 2019 14:08
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[Removed. Inappropriate.]
dingo with a joint fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Jan 2, 2020 |
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Dec 31, 2019 14:14
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hey, was there a World of Darkness interest survey released this year?
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Dec 31, 2019 19:40
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Mors Rattus posted:As my New Year's present to y'all, I have two gifts. Nice! For the new year, I'll be getting a triple bypass lol
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Dec 31, 2019 23:19
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I'm gonna be running a game of Vampire. I've never run any ST system game before and it's been a long time since I've played one. I know the lore well enough and I've GMed other games. Anything particular I oughtta know to run a good Vampire game?
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Jan 1, 2020 00:53
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I'm gonna be running a game of Vampire. I've never run any ST system game before and it's been a long time since I've played one. I know the lore well enough and I've GMed other games. Anything particular I oughtta know to run a good Vampire game? Same advice I always give: make sure you and your players are on the same page out of what to expect from the game, and have them create characters together at the same time rather than making a bunch of separate ideas and shoving all the work of how to stick them together into a group on you. As for the same page, there's a big range of expectations from what a Vampire game is going to be, from soul-searching melodrama to gritty power brokerage to blowing poo poo up and being maniacs, and most of them are fine, just as long as everyone agrees that's what you're doing.
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Jan 1, 2020 01:46
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Set out and discuss what your rules on pvp will be before starting. Make sure the players know that there's a reason why coteries don't routinely screw each other.
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Jan 1, 2020 03:25
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Soonmot posted:Set out and discuss what your rules on pvp will be before starting. Make sure the players know that there's a reason why coteries don't routinely screw each other. And define that reason a little bit. Unless you're playing something like a Near Dark chronicle, one thing to emphasize is that for the most part, vampires - especially young vampires - are stuck in whatever city they're Embraced in. Travel is hard for a vampire. Beyond the basic poo poo of "how do I keep from burning to death in the Sun?" There's all kinds of horrible poo poo out there. Werewolves. Changelings. Mages, who look human by can maybe unleash sunlight in the middle of the night. Some kind of weird clay-robot fuckers that nobody wants to have around. And even stranger poo poo. Really this last bit is basically true for all the playable types in the WoD. Every "splat-type" is like a pack of primitive cave-people huddled around a campfire scared to death of the horrible poo poo out there - which is often another primitive pack huddling around a different "campfire." So, you're stuck in this city, which is ruled by a bunch of old fuckers that have had the last few decades/centuries/etc lining everything up to be the way they like it. And unless they've just abandoned you for some reason, your vampire mommy/daddy Sired you for a Purpose. And that Purpose was pretty much to help them obtain their goals. So, you aren't a son or daughter, you're a tool. A valuable tool. An expensive tool. But ultimately a replaceable/disposable tool. The same thing is even more true for whatever Clan and Covenant you're part of. poo poo rolls downhill. As a neonate of some sort, you're pretty much always downhill. And those guys? Are kind of your allies. Because their goals are essentially to gently caress over/displace/etc other old, established fuckers in an eternal game of one-up. And those other old fuckers will happily squish you like the blood-bug you are tp prevent that. So, if you can find a Coterie of vampires who don't instantly see you as either a tool or a threat, you're in a way better position to deal with this poo poo. Because a lone vampire drops the "un" from "undead" pretty loving rapidly.
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Jan 1, 2020 03:58
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Everyone posted:Unless you're playing something like a Near Dark chronicle, one thing to emphasize is that for the most part, vampires - especially young vampires - are stuck in whatever city they're Embraced in. Travel is hard for a vampire. Beyond the basic poo poo of "how do I keep from burning to death in the Sun?" There's all kinds of horrible poo poo out there. Werewolves. Changelings. Mages, who look human by can maybe unleash sunlight in the middle of the night. Some kind of weird clay-robot fuckers that nobody wants to have around. And even stranger poo poo. Really this last bit is basically true for all the playable types in the WoD. Every "splat-type" is like a pack of primitive cave-people huddled around a campfire scared to death of the horrible poo poo out there - which is often another primitive pack huddling around a different "campfire." This is one thing you can do, but far from the only thing you can do. (For example, you could also do a lot with emphasizing that vampires are still people, who get lonely and need validation and bond with one another, and a lot of their malfunctions stem from unhealthy means of satisfying those needs, because the Blood gives them useful yet exploitative tools to do so. Basically the opposite of the above, but it can accomplish the same role of gluing characters together and motivating NPCs.) Like I said above, what's important isn't necessarily which flavor of Vampire you settle on, but just making sure everybody agrees what kind of flavor your game is playing.
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Jan 1, 2020 06:08
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I Am Just a Box posted:This is one thing you can do, but far from the only thing you can do. (For example, you could also do a lot with emphasizing that vampires are still people, who get lonely and need validation and bond with one another, and a lot of their malfunctions stem from unhealthy means of satisfying those needs, because the Blood gives them useful yet exploitative tools to do so. Basically the opposite of the above, but it can accomplish the same role of gluing characters together and motivating NPCs.) Thirding knowing what your players are looking for. I have two players interested in the occult goings on of the world and one whose sorta happy to just go along for the ride so I've built a lot of weird into the story. They are also going to throw you curve balls, like our Malk using his performance skill to sing Whitesnake while approaching an NPC. Have a consensus on what everyone is looking for then let the players do what they will.
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Jan 1, 2020 07:25
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Give your players an index card, have them write down brief summaries of their powers, including page numbers for easy reference. If there's something they'll be doing a lot of, like special fighting techniques, write down which stats they roll for what. Do whatever you can to minimize the amount of rules referencing you have to do. Also 4thing talking to your players about what kind of game they want. Pick like two major themes and have them come into conflict. Like, maybe they're all neonates, so they're still figuring out finding safe havens and hunting. There's also a series of gristly murders taking place, which is drawing police attention to your crew. So now your players have to balance their immediate physical needs with their higher order need for safety and understanding. Maybe they learn something about themselves or the setting when they bust the killer. Maybe one of them IS the killer. Either way, having both an A-plot and a B-plot helps keep things from going stale. edit- VVVVVV to concur, people will feel relieved to hear it said out loud even if it's safe to assume everyone is already on the same page with that. explaining how you intend to reduce seduction to just a simple roll and a fade to black will help new folk feel more comfortable with that part of the game. PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Jan 1, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 16:45
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I'm gonna be running a game of Vampire. I've never run any ST system game before and it's been a long time since I've played one. I know the lore well enough and I've GMed other games. Anything particular I oughtta know to run a good Vampire game? How well do you know the players? I hate that I have to say this, but WoD can bring out the sex weird in people and you may need to establish what's acceptable territory. I joined a pickup group at a local place once and one dude always wanted to describe the sex acts he did on his victims when he fed, it was gross. In a completely unrelated note, I'm sick in bed and flipping through the Mokole book, and two of the premade characters at the end are pulled straight from the books West of Eden and Farseer. I thought I was the only person that read goofy sci-fi books about dinosaurs using monitor lizards as guns, or t-rex Galileos in space, and I'm so delighted that the WoD people read them too.
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Jan 1, 2020 16:53
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Dienes posted:How well do you know the players? I hate that I have to say this, but WoD can bring out the sex weird in people and you may need to establish what's acceptable territory. I joined a pickup group at a local place once and one dude always wanted to describe the sex acts he did on his victims when he fed, it was gross. This too is super important. As ST, when I got my group together for our "Let's talk about the game world a bit and answer questions" session I made it clear that everyone should feel comfortable and that sexual violence (assault, etc) was not going to be something I bought to the game. Make sure you are clear on boundaries regarding what is and isn't okay.
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Jan 1, 2020 17:09
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Since no one had questions, you get to learn about one of my faves. Geser Khan! Geser Khan is the god of, among other things, heroic trickery, fighting demons and being incredibly ugly and gross. He is one of the greatest heroes of Mongolian myth, and the Geser Epic is a living piece of myth and legend with many different versions across Mongolia and Tibet. I am currently working on an expansion to the Tengri content in Demigod, which will go up on the Nexus when Demigod happens. This expansion will cover two different versions of the Geser Epic - a southern Mongolian one that is more heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, and a northern one told by the Buryat Mongols, which is more about demons. Here's some excerpts from it.       This has been one of the most research-intensive projects I've worked on, and when it is done it will, on top of being a usable game supplement expanding on the already excellent content of Demigod (which I am also v. proud of and hope you will all purchase and enjoy) but also, I believe, will be the most complete English-language compilation of the Geser Epic, though it also won't be academically authoritative. (I'm collating some existing translations by scholars of Mongolian history and, in one case, a Buryat shaman and have a friend who will be providing me with information on a German-language translation to cover what I can't find in English, but I haven't and cannot read the original Mongolian versions.)
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Jan 1, 2020 22:58
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That's cool as hell.
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Jan 1, 2020 23:02
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This is super cool. Also, minor typo, but also, the best typo? “Urpooter of Evil” is great, if I assume unintentional.
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Jan 1, 2020 23:05
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Geser Khan is so up my alley for the sort of character type I like to play so I'm really looking forward to Demigod to play one of his offspring, now.
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Jan 1, 2020 23:12
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Joe Slowboat posted:This is super cool. Oh, wow. That went through two drafts and no one noticed. I'll tell Neall about it later.
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Jan 1, 2020 23:16
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Mors Rattus posted:Since no one had questions, you get to learn about one of my faves. this is really cool, holy poo poo. RPGs as cultural preservation is a genius move.
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Jan 2, 2020 01:34
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It's been a great time - I have no idea why this set of stories has never really hit the English world before, because it is absolutely amazing. Though it did take me quite a while to determine if Arhan Hara Shutger was just a flying head or not. (He's not, but it took me halfway through the section of the story about him to realize this.) e: the Buryat epic, once Geser actually achieves adulthood, which is a trip, focuses mainly on his having to defeat a bunch of demons formed by the carving up of the body of one of the two kings of the gods. Arhan Hara is the bit formed from the severed head, while the next chapter is about an evil shapeshifter formed from the severed neck. That'd be Gal Nurman Khan, the dude who gets so happy at his wife cheering him up that he jumps on a chair and smashes his head through the ceiling. Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jan 2, 2020 |
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Jan 2, 2020 01:38
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Geser Khan is amazing. Revered, respected, loved and heroic, yet in a way that does not stop people from calling him a snotty pooty man. We love our snotty pooty man. He's the best. Looks ridiculous though. Seseg Nogoon and her husband are great too. Seseg Nogoon, a practicing swinger solely for the sake of compliment fishing and pointless divine showoffs.
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Jan 2, 2020 01:54
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oh boy I have committed myself to writing up antagonist stats for the world's angriest, most eloquent prematurely born babyquote:Abai Geser showed the bravery of a man, this little fucker here manages to survive full-on assaults from two different gods unharmed because he's made of iron
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Jan 2, 2020 20:20
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prepping my Scion adventure entitled "Baby Fights" in advance
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Jan 2, 2020 20:28
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Mors Rattus posted:oh boy I have committed myself to writing up antagonist stats for the world's angriest, most eloquent prematurely born baby This little bastard vs Baby Yoda for the fate of the universe.
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Jan 2, 2020 22:18
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Mors Rattus posted:oh boy I have committed myself to writing up antagonist stats for the world's angriest, most eloquent prematurely born baby A premature baby just came out of the womb and immediately swore to propagate evil and hate. Man, I don't care if his mother was literally just chopped in half, that's a mean baby.
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Jan 3, 2020 01:23
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I Am Just a Box posted:A premature baby just came out of the womb and immediately swore to propagate evil and hate. Man, I don't care if his mother was literally just chopped in half, that's a mean baby.
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Jan 3, 2020 01:37
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Cryptocoin Miners are literally Changeling:The Dreaming antagonists, change my mind.
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Jan 3, 2020 01:50
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I'm probably overthinking things because that's what I tend to do, but should I not make Banu Haqim an option in character creation in a v5 game? Their clan compulsion seems more explosively bad than the rest and more importantly, most clans seem to be about who the vampires are, while Banu Haqim seem to be about what the vampires do.
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Jan 3, 2020 04:18
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StratGoatCom posted:Cryptocoin Miners are literally Changeling:The Dreaming antagonists, change my mind. They're stuck in their basements looking for imaginary money. They won't encounter enough Changelings to be properly labeled as antagonists. Counterpoint: Disney corporate executives are the worst antagonists for Changelings. They reprogram the dreams and imaginations of children and adults to focus on tasteless, soulless pablum to generate their corporate profits.
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Jan 3, 2020 06:47
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I'm probably overthinking things because that's what I tend to do, but should I not make Banu Haqim an option in character creation in a v5 game? Their clan compulsion seems more explosively bad than the rest and more importantly, most clans seem to be about who the vampires are, while Banu Haqim seem to be about what the vampires do. Eh? Leave it there and see what happens. I feel like if you take it off the table it makes it more enticing for the players who might otherwise totally pass it by. Also what weird poo poo do they do? It's been a minute since I read over the clans for V5.
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Jan 3, 2020 06:54
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joylessdivision posted:Also what weird poo poo do they do? It's been a minute since I read over the clans for V5. V5 - Camarilla posted:Banu Haqim are drawn to feed from those deserving punishment. This is especially true for vampire Blood, the very essence of transgression. When one of the Judges tastes the Blood of another Cainite, they find it very hard to stop. Slaking at least one Hunger level with vampiric vitae provokes a Hunger Frenzy test (See Core Rules p. 220) at a Difficulty 2 + Bane Severity. If the test is failed they attempt to gorge themselves on vampire Blood, sometimes until they diablerize their Kindred victim. This presents many problems as the Banu Haqim integrate with the Camarilla, who tend to see the Amaranth as anathema. It's bad (frenzies are no joke), but the requirement is a hunger point's worth of vitae which I don't imagine you'd be sucking down with any regularity. Well, unless you're like, a Blood Leech. But Blood Leech is an awful Predator type anyway.
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Jan 3, 2020 07:53
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A Renaissance Nerd posted:It's bad (frenzies are no joke), but the requirement is a hunger point's worth of vitae which I don't imagine you'd be sucking down with any regularity. Well, unless you're like, a Blood Leech. But Blood Leech is an awful Predator type anyway. Okay so that's specifically for them feeding on kindred vitae. They can alway just feed on lovely mortals to avoid the frenzy issue suppose? Dunno, I don't see much issue with it unless a player wants to also take whatever Predator type feeds on other Kindred, and even then it's just more work for you as ST to deal with. I say this as someone who said "No thin-bloods as PC" for my game because they seemed entirely too mechanically fiddly for my liking. If you feel like it'll cause too much issue for you, just remove them from being playable but keep them around for NPCs. Or just tell your players "Core book clans only" and ignore the Cam/Anarch books.
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Jan 3, 2020 15:20
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joylessdivision posted:Okay so that's specifically for them feeding on kindred vitae. They can alway just feed on lovely mortals to avoid the frenzy issue suppose? Yeah. The only time you' (in theory) should have a chance to feed on another Kindred is during a Blood Hunt. It's specifically for Kindred blood so it shouldn't come up a lot. (And a weakness that doesn't come up is its own problem, but at least not one that would make an Assamite unplayable at the table.)
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Jan 3, 2020 15:23
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The bane also dovetails with the clan compulsion, which is basically "when you do something I disagree with, I get to drink some of your blood as a punishment." So now your bestial failure turns you into a D&D Paladin who might drain someone dry.
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Jan 3, 2020 20:39
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Nehru the Damaja posted:So now your bestial failure turns you into a D&D Paladin who might drain someone dry. Well, when you put it like that, it sounds pretty badass.
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Jan 3, 2020 21:08
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Vavrek posted:Well, when you put it like that, it sounds pretty badass. Yeah that was my thought. Ultimately you're the storyteller so it's up to you how much you want to potentially deal with this in your chronicle or not. Although the potential for an Asamite who takes the slightest poo poo as an insult and the comedy of keeping them from murdering everything would be pretty funny.
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Jan 3, 2020 21:29
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