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Ravenloft in general seems to have always gone back and forth and often been rather vague about whether it's an actual world with real people living in it, or if it's just a bunch of set-pieces designed to torture the dark lords with any other 'people' being just part of the set dressing.
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Aug 14, 2020 08:29
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I get the feeling it might even be intended to depend on what the DM feels like. Would be funny that a lot of people there just get sucked up from some world that gets goth enough to act as set dressing for the Darklords. Funny thing is that some versions of Silent Hill would fit right in.
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Aug 14, 2020 08:57
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Ghost Leviathan posted:I get the feeling it might even be intended to depend on what the DM feels like. Would be funny that a lot of people there just get sucked up from some world that gets goth enough to act as set dressing for the Darklords.
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Aug 14, 2020 09:29
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Whoops, missed the ravenloft piece. Coily the Spring Sprite but for romance. "No loooove" they repeat at Lord Soth, his bouquet of roses vanishing from his fingers as he tries offering it to the partner he is interested.
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Aug 14, 2020 09:31
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Everyone posted:Reading through my own version of the module, there's a couple of points that need a bit of elaboration. Feel free to add anything, my posts are long enough and I'm mostly just trying to hit the points I consider salient without distractions, but there are some things I'm skipping like 'why is Oathmaker here' or the skeleton warrior torcs being on Krynn because I don't think most players would even know about the link between skeleton warriors and their torcs. Everyone posted:It's kind of hard to fully answer that question. In some ways, travelers (including the PCs) aside, the only "real" people in Sithicus are Soth, Magda and Azrael, his seneschal/butt monkey. Those three were real living and/or unliving beings from outside Sithicus. Everyone and everything else was formed by the Dark Powers to torment/punish Soth. In the mystical "space" where Sithicus is (assuming "where" has any meaning), there was nothing but fog and mist there. When Soth arrived, there was a whole civilization of elves, kender, etc. The Kender seemed to have somehow been sucked up along with Soth (or that's just what they think and they were created like the elves because Soth hates Kender too), but the elves seemed to have been created out of Soth's memories or something. Yeah, Ravenloft has some weird stuff where the realms primarily exist to torment the dark lords and the residents are of varying degrees of realness depending on how recently they got scooped up by the mist and how many dark power checks they've failed. I mean, think about this, the whole point of this adventure is to restore Soth so he can go back to being miserable and taking out his misery on the elves of Sithicus. The kender vampires are noted as being immigrants that were scooped up by the mists fifteen years ago* and created by Soth experimenting on them in some way. That doesn't make much sense given that Soth doesn't seem like the mad science or wizardry sort, but that's where they came from and they are technically totally loyal to him in that they are bound to him, but they all really hate him and Tickelmop (jfc, that name) might actually help you. Assuming you don't stake her after you catch her stealing your blood in the middle of the night. *According to Ravenloft's timeline this is also how old Sithicus is so maybe they got scooped up with Soth or shortly after he arrived. I can see the dark powers grabbing some kender just to inflict them on Soth. Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 14, 2020 12:34
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When I ran ravenloft the people are "real" in so far as they have memories, wills of their own, etc. but they were brought into existence the moment the realm started. If wiped out they can be backed up from the server but you gotta reset everyone in the node's progress when doing that. Because of this, the realm doesn't just do it immediately, killing a random villager is just as bad as a regular murder, and you gotta get yourself in deep with a real Morrowind "the thread of fate has been severed" scenario to reset an area. This is another thing driving the lords mad, that they are very slowly repeating the same scenario over and over until they resolve their issues.
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Aug 14, 2020 12:45
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I've never read a Ravenloft book, but this all sounds pretty good. Having Kendar anywhere near you counts as torture. I'm sad the Mimic is lonely. What keeps a chair that wants to eat you company? Maybe a magic mirror?
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Aug 14, 2020 13:09
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Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Who’s the chairest of them all?
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Aug 14, 2020 13:28
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Comstar posted:I've never read a Ravenloft book, but this all sounds pretty good. Having Kendar anywhere near you counts as torture. I'm sad the Mimic is lonely. What keeps a chair that wants to eat you company? Maybe a magic mirror? Obviously a mimic table. Together they make you think you're sitting down for dinner, and you are! But not how you think.
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Aug 14, 2020 13:42
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Ravenloft I think works best when you play up its unreality designed to punish (and possibly make good) the lords who rule over each one. I used the Vistani as people unsure of their origin, thinking themselves a mix of inside and outside ravenloft people, who due to the occasional great uncle ceasing to exist when that node gets reset, aren't entirely sure if they'll stop existing when a given realm stops existing. This is why they don't try to actively solve the scenarios themselves but don't hinder players from wandering through and making a mess of things either. Night10194 posted:Obviously a mimic table. Together they make you think you're sitting down for dinner, and you are! But not how you think. Of course not, because <rolls for initiative> the ceiling is actually also a mimic!
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Aug 14, 2020 14:04
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There's another Ravenloft realm called Darkon and if you stay long enough in Darkon, you start believing you've always lived in Darkon, along with memories of your life in Darkon. Darkon itself has a written history documenting periods of time (and written) long before the domain existed, with noble families in Darkon whose ancestors are prominent in those histories. I think what makes Ravenloft really creepy is less its unreality used to punish the lords who rule over each domain and more its reality used to punish the lords who rule over each domain. Its that Ravenloft is filled with actual people, who are as much actual people as people anywhere else, but who only exist because they or their ancestors were brought into existence by the plane for the Darklord.
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Aug 14, 2020 14:33
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Just to be clear, the people of Ravenloft are real people, but they tend towards broad caricatures because Ravenloft tends to change them into being what it wants them to be. The mimic is a weird encounter, I didn't get to fully describe that one because of space. It starts with a description of the room, a hall with enormous tapestries depicting the War of the Lance and above you there's the glimmer of movement because something is up there in the shadows! It's rats. And if you attack them chunks of the ceiling crashes down on you for 1d6 damage. Then if you sit down you get stuck to the chair and the mimic tries to eat you, but if fend it off or try diplomacy (with a murderous chair) then it talks and says that it only attacked because it's starving and asks if it can be friends with the PCs. If you ask it it's name it doesn't have one so it just gives the last name it's heard, possibly one of the PC's. If you make friends with it then it can tell you all about the first floor of the keep and where the monster lairs are or that there's a nightmare stuck in a stable pen.
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Aug 14, 2020 15:02
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"Look, I'm a chair-shaped carnivore, but I'm not a savage"
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Aug 14, 2020 15:33
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The fun thing about Darkon is that it’s common knowledge that the country will eat your memories if you stay, and the people who live there are all afraid to leave for fear of suddenly realizing that your life is a lie.
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Aug 14, 2020 15:42
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As a Domain Lord, I have been cursed by the Dark Powers to never be able to escape The Deck of Encounters Set Two Part 36: The Deck of Gnolls, Golems, and 183: War Party A town is living in fear of marauding raiders - gnolls! The town folk will try to sic the PCs on them, basically. There’s some OK details: it’s the merchants who are freaking out the most; the lord-mayor and head of the merchants’ guild “butter up” the PCs before making their request, etc. It’s still pretty plain. Anyway, these 26 gnolls are practically besieging the town by camping in the hills next to it and monitoring all comings and goings. They’ll be expecting the PCs, and will try to ambush them. And now I have to run a combat with 26 evil gnoll bandits, which is so booooring. Just thinking about it makes me want to pass. 184: Visit to the Wizard’s Tower The PCs need an item that’s supposed to be in a remote wizard’s tower. The wizard hasn’t been seen for years, so it’s ripe for the picking. The tower is in the middle of nowhere, but surprisingly good repair for having been abandoned. It’s also pretty boring except for the top floor, the wizard’s laboratory. It’s guarded by a flesh golem, which attacks and fights until dead or the PCs leave the tower. “If they vanquish the golem, the PCs will find the item they have been looking for. The item is found to be much weaker than the rumors had made it out to be. Most of its power came from the wizard who wielded it.” Decent mini-scenario. The flesh golem is fairly boring, but I like the idea that the PCs might need to make do with a very limited version of an item that they need. (“This manual of the planes can only take us to Pandemonium or the Beastlands. Those are close to Ysgard, right?”) Also, they’ll naturally want to take over the tower, but its remote location limits its usefulness and there are lots of plot hooks that can come from the missing wizard. However, this is not a random encounter, and if I pull it from the deck expecting one, it’s useless. Pass. 185: Beware of Flying Things The PCs run into a quite ruined castle. There’s a three-story stone building in the center of the walls still standing, which is empty except in a large chamber on the top floor, at which point they’re attacked by 10 grell who live in the attic. I don’t much care about the grell, but I accept the “ruined castle” as a random encounter. As a PC, wouldn’t you just get that house renovation itch? Keep. 186: Master Sculptor Master Sculptor posted:Near their home town, the party members notice several fine sculptures. They all seem to be of great warriors and wizards, and the resemblance to their living counterparts is eerily realistic. One statue is of a best childhood friend to one of the PCs, who went on to become a great warrior. Before long, one of the PCs is approached by a messenger from the sculptor, who requests the honor of creating a sculpture of him. The message asks them to come alone to the sculptor’s workshop the next day. >:| sounds like quite a mystery You know what? Sure. I’ll take it. And when the sculptor has the PC posing properly and opens double doors to reveal the gorgon, or more likely is swiftly restrained by the invisible party member(s) that shadowed him, or is otherwise shut down in five seconds, I’ll have him act shocked, just totally in disbelief that anybody saw through his perfect plan for sculpting fame. And then the PCs will have a bunch of adventurers who owe them favors once they bust out the stone to fleshes. Keep.
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Aug 14, 2020 15:43
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Rand Brittain posted:The fun thing about Darkon is that it’s common knowledge that the country will eat your memories if you stay, and the people who live there are all afraid to leave for fear of suddenly realizing that your life is a lie. And people who stay too long are euphemistically referred to as having found their roots, to the extent they'll start to think some random, old enough grave belongs to a deceased relative's grave.
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Aug 14, 2020 15:50
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Kharadron Overlords Gas Power Without aether-gold, also called the Breath of Grungni, Kharadron society would simply not function. It keeps their cities in the air, fuels their warships and powers their weapons. It can be found in the skies across all the Mortal Realms, but actually "mining" it is not easy. In its natural state, it is a sparkling gas notably less dense than oxygen, and it floats over the clouds. It is hard to track down, and magical storms or other weather can move it large distances unpredictably. It becomes solid only after refining and processing, and in its final state it looks like gold with a brighter sheen, though it's much stronger yet easier to shape. The Kharadron do not believe that it is innately magical, though they are fully aware of its many strange and wonderful properties. They perform endless alchemical experiments on the stuff, cataloging the effects on it by temperature, atmospheric conditions, chemical mixture and more. Mining the gas is not a safe process. The skies are prone to shift without warning in ways that even a ship of the line finds difficult to handle, and magical beasts and predators seem drawn to aether-gold veins. Even beyond these megalofins and harkraken, the Kharadron have to deal with competition from the Tzeentchian cults and Grotbag Scuttler clans that both want the stuff for its useful properties...though, fortunately, neither group has mastered the art of refining or weaponising aether-gold yet. The Ironweld Arsenal has also recently started to try using aether-gold, which has led to a great deal of friction. The Kharadron don't want anyone else getting into the aether-gold business, and even if the Ironweld are nominal allies, most mining ships are not going to hesitate to threaten violence if they can find a way to justify it within the Code. Kharadron technology and experimentation with aether-gold is constantly avolving. The Endrineers and Aether-Khemists are always hard at work finding new ways to weaponize the stuff. Recently, they have developed incendiary torpedoes that they cap with slivers of aqthracite to increase their combustibility, handheld anti-magic devices and aetheric lenses that can peer through thick metal hulls. The Endrineers also have a whole subdivision studying ways to defeat predatory Endless Spells, which range from magic-dampening null projectors on ironclads to voidstone mines that tear magic into bits. It hasn't always worked - stories about the fall of Barak-Durmmaz after the Necroquake say it still sails the skies, crewed by the bitter ghosts of its former inhabitants. Many skyports have responded by hiring special elite Grundstok "black marines," specialised in fighting spirits. They wear obsidian armor and wield anti-aetherial weapons such as celestium grenades, aether-vapor projectors and scintillator lenses, which have proven quite able to harm the ghostly sky pirates serving under the vampire Varkos Varactyr. Because the fuel for all this is aether-gold, new vein discovery will quickly mobilize the Kharadron of the nearest port, setting off huge flotillas of warships to cordon off the vein for trawlers and dredgers to start mining. Aerial refineries may even be assembled in especially rich areas, to reduce the delays in purification. Sometimes, huge ranges of sky are devoted to the work; the Goldlanes of Cathmarn Strait and the Aetherstream of Ziffenbrnyar are both huge swathes of air dedicated solely to harvesting aether-gold, seeking new veins and dredging the air for any remnants. All of Kharadron life is centered on the substance. It fuels the stills of the breweries, it powers the armor of the Arkanauts, it pressurizes the harpoon cannons of the cloud whalers. It lights the ports as well as keeping them in flight. Aether-gold's power is the backbone of all of Kharadron technology, even that which does not directly tap into it. Entire reserves of aether-gold can be burned through in weeks if the Kharadron do not temper their work. Some of the more conservative aether-khemists, such as those of Barak-Thryng, believe that the Overlords are burning through the aether-gold veins too quickly. They fear what might happen if it turns out aether-gold is not a renewable resource. If they ever ran out, the Kharadron would be at the mercy of their foes. The prosperous merchants of Barak-Nar and Barak-Ziflin say these concerns are laughable, though. It will be impossible, they say, to ever run out of aether-gold - there have never been any signs of the stuff becoming rarer, and after the Necroquake it seems even more abundant, although all the veins have ended up shifting position. The Necroquake had other, more terrifying effects, however. Even the powerful port of Barak-Nar was scarred by it, its dockyards nearly overwhelmed by ghostly armies. Only a heroic fight by the Grundstok Thunderers and the able leadership of Aether-Khemist Njarn Firewhiskers kept the gheists out of the city, and even so, thousands lost their lives. Over fifty companies filed for bankruptcy, and the damage has yet to be fully calculated. The minor ports of Barak-Durmmaz and Barak-Kling were destroyed entirely, and the accounting of deaths among roving sky-fleets will, in all likelihood, never be finished. The Endrineers Guild of Barak-Nar believe that their port along lost a full fifth of its navy. The sentient Endless Spells have proven even more terrible. A rogue Aethervoid Pendulum cut the ship Sunderer in half and sent its wreckage into the Halls of Endeavor, killing seven major representatives of the Admirals Council of Barak-Zilfin. Fortunately, the highest ruling body of the Kharadron, the Geldraad, was quick in securing contracts to replace lost ships and organizing Musterpesses on unprecedented scales to recruite new Arkanauts. They also approved several key military and societal amendments to the Code to deal with the sudden changes. It was required, given the movement of the aether-gold veins after the Necroquake. Key and reliable veins vanished entirely, threatening the economies of entire ports. Were the Geldraad not so quick to act, they could have easily lost everything. Instead, they seized the chance for new profits. They recognized that danger brought with it opportunity. The old veins had ensured a monopoly of economic might by the ports that had claimed them long ago, resulting in a static ruling body. Now that so many were displaced, the Code allowed new claims to be made on them, as long as the new claimant found them first. Thus began the Gorak-drek, the Great Venture. This has taken Kharadron fleets to new lands and new skies, fighting all manner of foes. Thousands of new exploratory voyages have begun, ranging from mere scouting missions to grand expeditions of conquest. The Spiral Crux in Chamon was the site of massive battles between Kharadron forces seeking to control the new veings there - and with the forces of Tzeentch that had been living there since the Age of Chaos. The Gorak-drek has begun a new renaissance of technological progress for the Kharadron. Barak-Nar has maintained its position as the wealthiest of the skyports, but it has not been easy on them. Many other ports have risen or fallen in the estimations, and Barak-Mhornar has made the difficult and risky decision to leave Chamon entirely, seeking fortune in other skies. None of this has changed the efforts of the Kharadron to gain a total control over trade with the Cities of Sigmar, of course. Kharadron businesses in Excelsis, Hammerhal and Greywater Fastness have all expanded greatly in recent years. They have a surplus of blackpowder weapons and cogwork machinery - primitive, by Kharadron standards, but still useful - that they are happy to trade with the Free Peoples. They see Ironweld technological efforts as something to be laughed at, and the less moral captains have been known to sell fake products to take advantage of that technological gap. This has run into some problems - the Kharadron have yet to figure out a way to sell to the Stormcast. They don't seem to want any luxury goods, and their weapons seem sufficient. Worse, the hidebound traditions of honor that the Stormcast cling to can lead to dangerous misunderstandings. When Admoral Porrbus of Barak-Urbaz tried to buy passage through Zephen Skypass from the Knights Excelsior who were defending it, the Stormcast took it as a naked bribe and shot down one of the admiral's frigates. Ever since, Barak-Urbaz and the Knights Excelsior have been officially enemies. The Kharadron also seek diverse trading deals, and are not above making offers to forces outside the Grand Alliance of Order. Trade with the greenskins is rare, but not unheard of, for example. The Ossiarch Bonereapers have also proven quite open to negotiations. Officially, the skyports of the Kharadron are at war with Mortarch Katakros, but that hasn't stopped the ivory smugglers of Barak-Mhornar from making good money trading looted bones from battlefields to the Stalliarch Lords. It's been getting harder to do, however - the Stalliarchs have been making increasingly heavy demands of the smugglers, and have threatened terrible violence if Barak-Mhornar cannot hold up their side of the deal.  Next time: Life Among The Sky-Ports
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Aug 14, 2020 18:36
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Mors Rattus posted:Endrineers and Aether-Khemists, Aethervoid Pendulum and Arkanauts.  I’ll admit, I didn’t care much about AoS and only started reading these loreposts to see the skydorfs, but... is it all this bad about names?
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Aug 14, 2020 19:17
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Losing the fight over "space marine" resulted in a lot of new nouns.
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Aug 14, 2020 19:36
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Mors Rattus posted:Losing the fight over "space marine" resulted in a lot of new nouns. Somebody working on Warhammer: "We may not be able to copyright 'space marine', but we can sure as heck copyright 'spayce merine'!"
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Aug 14, 2020 19:40
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Ithle01 posted:Just to be clear, the people of Ravenloft are real people, but they tend towards broad caricatures because Ravenloft tends to change them into being what it wants them to be. Figure some of the groups I've run with would recruit the thing and take it with them. If there's one thing a lot of adventuring groups have access to, it's raw (as in freshly killed) meat. "drat. That's a lot of dead orcs. Steve! Dinner time! And after that, we need to cross that chasm to the west, so would you mind turning into a bridge for a bit?" And yeah, that same bunch would very much bring Ticklemop with them, too. A moody, bitter, sarcastic ex-vampire Kender would be adorable. "Hey, Ticklemop, how's the adjustment back to solid food going?" "gently caress you!"
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Aug 14, 2020 19:48
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Falconier111 posted:
Honestly the only one that I find silly there is the Pendulum. Which is a spell so it makes sense it has a silly name.
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Aug 14, 2020 20:14
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When Black Roses Bloom part three Last time we left off we had finished all of Nedraagard Keep save one location, Lord Soth's throne room where his body sits comatose while his mind plays in the six memory mirrors. If that's what you're here for skip to the sixth paragraph. Before we get to the throne room we have an encounter with either Azrael, Soth's murderous and devoted seneshcal, or (sigh) Tickelmop, the kender vampire who is here to help. In the event we meet with Azrael first we find him fooling around with a wand of illusion in an attempt to create an illusion of Kitiara that Azrael will try to use to lure Soth out of the memory mirrors. Unfortunately, Soth is comatose so it requires someone to actually be in the mirror for Soth to even notice this and the adventure points out that this is a terrible plan that Soth will see through immediately because you probably won't be able to create a convincing duplicate of Soth's crush. Azrael's plan is even worse than you would expect because, as a dwarf, the wand isn't even going to work properly for him because of innate dwarven bad-at-magicness. Personally, I think that the PCs might actually be able to fool Soth long enough to try to trick him to leave the mirrors, but let's be honest the first thing he'll do once he's out is likely kill all of you. The other encounter is with Tickelmop. The adventure notes that the DM should be careful to introduce Tickelmop in such fashion that the PCs don't immediately kill her - good advice. Ideally, when they meet her, Tickelmop will come up with explanations for why she looks like a withered crone with a raspy nosferatu voice and she will pretend to have the usual kender cheerfulness. Shortly after meeting the PCs she shows them the medallion that she found inside of a wolf's stomach one day while she was out hunting. The medallion has the black rose insignia of Soth on it, but no gem inside. The gem is back in the wolf's lair (buried in wolf poo poo) which is coincidentally in a large patch of shimmerweed, that's basically garlic for kender vampires, but the medallion itself is at least a clue to the gem's location and Tickelmop wants to show it to Soth to give him some hope of finding his ex-girlfriend. Onto the throne room itself. Soth's throne room is high up in Nedraagard Keep, but due to the lay out you might reach it sooner than some other parts. The study, the vault, and Azrael's bedroom are actually slightly above it. However, the doors to the throne room are locked with the best locks money can buy, -50% to Open Locks rolls, and are sealed with spell immunity so no knock spells either. That is, unless you dispel the spell immunity (seems like something that you shouldn't be able to do). Alternatively, you can get the keys from the guard posts in the vault right above the throne room so it's not like it's hard to get in here. The throne room is a ruin with nothing of any interest save Soth and the memory mirrors. Soth is incorporeal and the adventure says that he cannot be interacted with. Period. Even a wish spell won't do anything. Once again, I feel the need to mention, adventure for characters level 4-6. Soth is mumbling the words to the incantation song that seals the borders of his domain so if you need a clue that you gotta wake him to leave there you go. In the event the PCs arrive at midnight or 2-6 hours after they might encounter his banshee choir. Don't do this. If you do the banshees agro on sight and go full murder mode if they spot you. If you sneak in somehow then the banshees are singing to Soth his life story, but with muddled details that make it sound like the dark powers are just sort of making this poo poo up as they go or maybe the banshees didn't read the backstory too much. You can hear the banshees throughout the entire keep while they do this so there's no way this encounter should take the PCs by surprise, they have ample opportunity to realize walking in here is a bad idea and waits for them inside. The memory mirrors are the only furnishing of any note in the throne room and each one depicts a different scene with faint sounds emanating from them. It's pretty obvious something is going on inside them. These mirrors are mounted on the walls and are totally indestructible because gently caress you if you think we're not doing my plan because I'm the DM. However, the iron frames that mount them on the wall are noted as being destructible. The book doesn't really give you information on what happens if you yank the mirrors out and toss them over the edge of a cliff or down a mist-ravine. In order to use a memory mirror all you do is look at it and imagine stepping inside, Azrael can explain this if he's alive. We'll go over each fantasy in deatil, but first some preliminary info. Warning: there's a lot of info. Each mirror is attuned to Soth and events inside unfold according to a script he sets, but Soth does not control the events once set in motion so the PCs can ruin his fun. Each fantasy is a re-imagined version of an important event in Soth's existence and you ruin it either by hijacking the fantasy and putting it back on the correct course (as in, how it actually happened) or by killing Soth in his fantasy (good luck with that) or by loving it up in some specific fashion. So, there are fight options and a non-fight options for each mirror and the non-fight options require you to Know. Your. Soth! or at least be clever. Once a fantasy is ruined Soth can't reuse a mirror for 24 hours which gives a totally unnecessary time limit to this portion, but at least it's repeatable if you go over the limit. Seems better to just excise that entirely. Each mirror also has a clue to the prophecy Magda delivered to the PCs when they met her earlier. The prophecy is bad even by most fantasy game standards, but not in any interesting way, it's just lame and I'll talk about it later. When Soth has been kicked out of all six mirrors he wakes up. The mirror fantasies are easily the best part of the adventure and if I was going to steal anything from this module it would be this. Inside each mirror the PCs take on illusionary forms suitable for the fantasy they've entered, actual equipment and gear are unaffected despite the illusion, and the PCs may not recognize each other - nor will Soth recognize them if they move from mirror to mirror. In fact, once a fantasy has 'reset' (about every 1d4 hours*) Soth's memory resets so if you fail to spoil a fantasy you can try again without Soth learning anything since last time. Thus, you get plenty of tries to find the correct way to crash his dream parties and the adventure assumes you might need a few chances to reset the fantasies if you hit a roadblock. Any wounds suffered in the mirrors are illusionary and real only in that mirror. Once you leave any wounds fade and if you die it simply ejects you from that mirror with no injuries until it resets. Equipment is not so fortunate and you can damage your gear and use up limited resources like potions or item charges. Casting spells expends them normally. You also cannot pass gear through, but you can take 'real' gear out so if you get a chance you can actually steal Soth's sword or armor and chuck it outside to deprive him of it. Exiting a mirror means finding the portal that appeared where you entered and then stepping through it physically. Just in case it needs to be said, monsters and fights are worth no xp and items found inside can be used normally but disappear when you leave. The mirror fantasies are centered around Soth and the further from him you move the more mist-like and transparent everything becomes so stay on track. One neat little tidbit is that inside the mirror fantasies everything is backwards, like ... in a mirror. Right-handed characters are now left-handed, equipment and clothing is switched, and all writing is backwards. Good luck reading your spell book nerds. Inside the mirrors Soth himself appears as he did in life, a solidly built knight with a fancy mustache (the book says 'neatly trimmed' but we all know that's a rotten lie) and long-flowing blond hair. His sword is a +5 holy avenger and he is a paragon of knightly virtue - until he starts to lose a fight or his fantasy is being ruined. Once that's happening he turns into an under-handed cheater who tries to get what he wants through any means. Also, a word of caution try not to exit a mirror while Soth's banshees are in the room. Okay, finally we get to the mirrors. *This makes absolutely no loving sense because some fantasies are literally days in duration and the book even notes that time passes normally in the mirrors and Ravenloft Mirror One: Ogre Attack Soth and thirteen of his knightly bro's are rescuing the elven lady - and future home-wrecker - Isolde and her thirteen hand maidens from ogres. Soth's wife Gladria and their newborn son Peradur are also present, they were accompanying Soth on a pilgrimage when this event occurred. There's a hint of Kitiara in this scene, on Soth's sword arm is a tattoo of a black rose with the name 'Kitiara' under it, if you ask he says it's an old girlfriend who died in battle before he met his wife. The scene begins with the PCs either going in one of two directions. If they go left (wait, is that mirror left or real left?) they see the fourteen ogres and their captives, the elven maidens, in a forest glade. The ogres are finishing their evening meal of venison while the captives are tied up nearby. If the PCs go right instead of left then they exit onto a winding road with Soth's entourage coming towards them. Soth and his knights will eventually wind up near the elf maidens and become alerted to their plight when one of the maidens screams out after being manhandled by an ogre. When this happens Soth charges into battle ahead of his knights and slaughters the ogres, killing their leader in single combat. After Soth finishes the fight Isolde rushes forward to kiss him, but Soth rejects her because he's a chaste and virtuous knight who only has love for his wife. Speaking of which, after Soth is finished rescuing the maidens he returns to the carriage he left on the side of the road with his wife and child inside and Soth is horrified to discover that two ogres attacked it while he was rescuing Isolde and that they have killed his wife. Oh no! How.. unfortunate. If the PCs follow Soth and Isolde then Soth resumes the pilgrimage and along the way Soth and Isolde fall in love and promise to get married after a suitable time of mourning is observed. Soth's son, Peradur, miraculously survives the attack and gets a new mom. Ways to spoil this: If the PCs rescue Isolde she falls in love with them instead. Alternatively, if Soth is prevented or delayed from joining the fight his knights finish off the ogres and Isolde falls in love with Sir Mikel, one of his knights. You can also prevent the death of Gladria by protecting her to ruin this. In the event of either of these outcomes Soth starts to plot to murder his wife or Isolde's love interest, but who cares you won. You can also ruin this by just making sure the maidens are never rescued at all, but that's not "Good". Personally, I like this encounter because it's simple, but has multiple ways to solve it. One of which is to sneak into the ogre camp and stab all the elven maidens while they're tied up. Mirror Two: Soth's murder trial I promise not to make any O.J. Simpson jokes. In the history of Krynn Soth was found guilty of murdering his wife and sentenced to die by his own sword. In his fantasy Soth's instead killed his wife because she was unfaithful to him with his squire Caradoc* and Soth has pinned her murder on her lover. Even as his idealized self Soth can't help but kill his wife, only this time he's going to get away with it! *Caradoc is Soth's previous seneshal and will go on to betray him after trapping Kitiara's soul in a black gem. This Caradoc is completely different in personality and just exists so Soth can torment his former seneschal by proxy. When the PCs show up they appear as young Solamic knights in full knightly regalia and as a bonus they have keys to all the locations on the map - although they don't actually know this unless they check their illusionary gear. Just a reminder, this is only an illusion and they have all their normal gear. As soon as the PCs arrive they are in an antechamber of a court house and witness the scene inside the courtroom where three high knights are sentencing Caradoc to death. The high knight of the Order of the Rose is a woman who looks identical to Kitiara. The only other person in the court room is Soth and he sits there smugly while his squire takes the fall for the murder he committed. Caradoc witnessed Soth murder Gladria but is so devoted to Soth, his lord, that he won't admit the truth and will instead die with Gladria's ring (a token she gave him) on his finger because. Caradoc blames himself for seducing Gladria away from her wedding vows. Coincidentally, the real Caradoc actually did murder Gladria on Soth's orders, but Soth took the fall anyway. Spoilers: Convince Caradoc to testify and admit the truth, that Soth slew Gladria. Point out that Gladria and Caradoc were lovers with the ring as evidence, this casts enough doubt on the case that he instead gets imprisoned for 'inciting infidelity'. Permit Caradoc to escape, but if you do this he turns himself in later and the PCs are also imprisoned for the duration of the fantasy. If you accuse Soth of murder he challenges you to duel, but if you win that also works (lol good luck he's like a level nine paladin with a +5 holy avenger). If you disrupt the trial you get to try to fight all three high knights and Soth at the same time - I do not recommend this, two of the high knights are insanely strong, more so than Soth, and one of them (oddly, not the fake Kitiara just some rando) has the spell-casting ability of a level 20 paladin. Adventure for characters level 4-6. Killing Caradoc is explicitly noted as not ending the illusion, Soth wants him dead. I like this one well enough. You can have some Phoenix Wright or Matlock courtroom shenanigans and the fantasy is ridiculous enough that you can feel free to make a mockery of this imaginary courtroom in all sorts of ways, but the book mentions that if you get out of hand the three high knights will try to subdue you. Mirror Three: The Cataclysm This takes place on the balcony of the temple of the Kingpriest of Krynn in the moments leading up to the Cataclysm. Soth was given a chance to prevent the Cataclysm, but was so caught up in his wife (Isolde)'s possible infidelity that he turned around and abandoned his chance to save the world. In this fantasy the PCs take on the appearance of followers of the Kingpriest and have free reign to move around the temple while Soth sneaks through it so he can confront the Kingpriest. In Soth's version Soth confronts the Kingpriest in front of an audience of followers and then slays him after denouncing the heretic. Soth then delivers an amazing speech that convinces the masses that he, Soth, is their savior who averted the end of the world. Kitiara appears in this fantasy as a member of the Kingpriest's crowd. She begs the Kingpriest to step off the path he's on, pointing out the new red star in the sky that seems to be getting bigger, and proclaims that 'the black rose' will save Krynn before disaster strikes. Spoilers: This one is fairly straight-forward. Kill Soth or just prevent the assassination, kill the Kingpriest, or talk either Soth or the Kingpriest out of their mission. In the event anyone who looks like an attendant (i.e. the PCs due to the illusion) gets in his way Soth strikes first and isn't too chatty unless you say something really persuasive. In the event you kill the Kingpriest you have all of about five seconds to convince the crowd not to tear you apart, but if you do or if you talk the Kingpriest out of his heresy then Kitiara proclaims you saviors and swoons for you. If this happens Soth goes berserk and tries to kill you, but you succeed in ruining the fantasy. I guess you could also find a way to get the Cataclysm to happen, but that's not really addressed. I like the last part about Soth trying to kill you even after you've won just because nothing in the mirror matters so you can go ahead and let him do it with no consequences. The Kingpriest is a level 20 cleric, but only has 64hp so you can potentially take him down if you get lucky. That being said, this one is a bit too narrow for me and the venue is actually fairly small. One detail I like is that if you do kill the Kingpriest the angry mob tears you apart, but because this is an illusion you just get kicked out the mirror and chalk it up as a win. Okay, I didn't expect this to go on so long so I'm taking a break here and finishing this tomorrow. Holy poo poo, who would have expected a sixty four page adventure to go on so drat long? I'm new to this.
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Aug 14, 2020 20:45
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 Chapter 1: Character Creation (Culture (Misbegotten, Automatons, Neobedouin, and Skyfolk) and Backgrounds)  At the bottom of the Neovictorian social ladder, so far down they barely count as Neovictorians, lie the Misbegotten – mutants. I’ll get into this later, but Neovictorian society has a thing about environmentalism; they make extensive use of heavy industry but refuse to dump any chemical byproducts outside city limits. Since it often contaminates the water, some children are born with gross physical mutation – this isn’t cancer or anything, I’m talking multicolored skin or exoskeletons. Misbegotten are herded into the most horrible blocks in the city, do the most menial jobs, and even undergo sterilization after hitting puberty. It’s a bad scene. Escape is difficult and blending in with the outside world is almost impossible, but you can at least hope for acceptance from the sort of outcasts that staff airships. Misbegotten get +2 Resolve, the minimum available Helios, and your choice from a list of visibly inhuman features, the sort of thing you’d expect out of mutants in any post-apocalyptic setting. They also get access to a special list of mutations you can take as  Automatons sit even further down than the Misbegotten, largely because no one thinks they’re people. While there are dozens of kinds of automatons, all the PC-appropriate types are roughly humanoid – and all of them are sentient due to the special process used to get them working. Most automatons spend their lives pretending to be unintelligent so the Neovictorians don’t dismantle them as malfunctioning machines, but a few manage to go rogue and escape, usually ending up on among the Neobedouins or the several Skyfolk cities that recognize them as people. Automatons start with no cash and use Neovictorian names with a number on the end, though they often try and translate those numbers into other languages to feel special (I have no idea where they learn them); stuff like Maxwell-19 or Amelia-Ocho. All automatons get a specific talent and
 Neobedouin… so, practically every section starts out with some of the band’s song lyrics; I haven’t talked about them because without the music they’re generally pretty silly. But, of course, less than 30 pages in, the book breaks out the g-word in the same lyric Cap’n Robert got in trouble for defending. WORK with me book, I am trying to make you look good. I got my PDF before that particular controversy so they might not have been aware of the issue then, but…  Anyway, Neobedouin live in nomadic tribes that either travel in homemade vehicles or on various animals (the Neovictorians stocked the wilderness with genetically modified animals intended to kill people outside the cities and they’ve tamed some of them); tribes usually roam through a specific territory, but a few families settle in hidden farm villages, oil drills, or some other kind of settlement that produces goods that can’t be obtained through their traditional lifestyle. While each tribe has its own culture, they share a strong artistic tradition, a close family structure, strong opposition to the Neovictorians, and oddly enough a martial art; they meet at frequent festivals to trade goods with Skyfolk or connect with their neighbors. Neobedouin usually end up crewing airships either by losing their connection to the tribe (through deaths or exile) or by being drawn to some aspect of the lifestyle.Neobedouin get +1 to Fortitude and Resolve and honestly a startlingly high Helios budget. They get a bunch of culture-specific backgrounds, too. Neobedouin first names are either the sort of thing you’d find people using today or the names of animals (for men) and plants (for women); last names draw either from the region their home tribe lives in or, less commonly, an animal or plant they “revere” (I’m not sure if this is religious or just a badge of identity). So, Jack Washington and Acacia Brown Bear are both valid Neobedouin names. Yes, they are thinly veiled Native American stereotypes, though leavened by Mad Max with a mild technophilic flair.  However, no one is as technophilic as the Skyfolk. Skyfolk live in a small number of cities on top of mountains or held aloft through various means; most are fiercely independent and define themselves by some powerful or radical ideology, though they share a common emphasis on technological experimentation and advancement. As such, while they dislike each other, they band together and work with the Neobedouin to fight off the Neovictorians anytime they come sniffing around. Skyfolk characters join airship crews all the time; fiercely independent, technically apt, and used to life in the air, Skyfolk naturally gravitate towards them. Skyfolk start with +1 Dexterity and Wits, the highest starting Helios budget of anyone except nobles, and free points in two skills; combined with their access to more backgrounds than any other culture, Skyfolk have the best point value in the game. They take modern American first names and poetic surnames based on meteorological phenomena: Ally Sirocco or Jay Hailstone  Attributes now. You have six: Strength (Strength), Dexterity (Dexterity), Fortitude (Constitution), Presence (White Wolf Presence plus Manipulation), Wits (White Wolf Wits), and Resolve (White Wolf Resolve). What do you think, thread; World of Darkness or Exalted? (Hint: it’s Exalted.) Each attribute starts at +1; you then modify the totals by your origin and add three points as you like (you can’t add more than two to an attribute and have the option of reducing two attributes by one once and adding those points elsewhere in the spread). After that you calculate of bog-standard derived stats before moving on to backgrounds. Backgrounds are skill packages, essentially; you get a number of points to spend on developing your character at the end of character creation and you must spend at least two thirds on skills from your background. They range in size from 5 to 10 skills and are all restricted to certain cultures (or, for the Neovictorians, cultures AND genders). There’s a billion of these, most of which you can probably guess at knowing the genre, so I’ll just pick out a few standouts: 
Anyway, point expenditures. You buy skills with points on a one-to-one basis, though no skill can get above four; every character must buy 20 points worth of skills and gets a few skill points later on from a list designed to make sure someone can fill every necessary role on the airship, plus any skills you get from your crew’s theme. Say, after spending those 20 points a character might take Firearms, Navigation, and Perception from the airship skill list, and since they are running a circus airship – yes, you can do that – they may take Disguise, Craft (costumes), and Performance (mime). You also get 10 points to spread between skills and talents and the opportunity to take a few complications – and despite how important skills are in this game and at this point in character creation it shuttles them off to the chapter with basic game mechanics. Cool. Instead we get a briefing on buying equipment (you start with the clothes on your back, maybe a few mementos, stuff that fits your airship shtick, and nothing else), airship construction (covered later) fate points (also covered later), and finishing touches (covered if you’ve ever read a character creation section in any RPG). After the list of talents and complications, which I’ll cover next time, and a bunch of thinly-veiled band members presented as sample characters, chapter 1 is complete!  Between cultures and backgrounds we’ve covered just about everything we need to come up with character concepts, so I’m going to open up the field for character creation; I need at least two character concepts (to demonstrate how skills balance between characters) and a choice of airship theme: are they part of a circus, band, mercenary company, theater company, or trade company? I’ll probably throw up the results in two updates, once I’ve covered skills, talents, and complications. Ithle01 posted:Okay, I didn't expect this to go on so long so I'm taking a break here and finishing this tomorrow. Holy poo poo, who would have expected a sixty four page adventure to go on so drat long? I'm new to this. I know, right?  I find the kind of deep analysis we do in this thread usually leaves reviews maybe a quarter to a tenth as long as the original text (towards the long end of the scale for story-heavy stuff).
Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 14, 2020 23:17
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I'm sad to say Airship Pirates rates among my worst role-playing experiences, for some reasons that involve the rules and setting and some reasons that involve the GM and group I was with. I played a Misbegotten Navvy. I don't want to get too into the specifics, the GM kept a game blog so if I give too much info I'll basically dox myself. Skyfolk are by far the superior play option by the numbers, they get +1 in both God stats.
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Aug 14, 2020 23:31
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Age of Sigmar Lore Chat: Kharadron Overlords Cash Controls Everything Around Me The Kharadron governmental structure is a bureaucratic maze designed to empower the wealthy and the navally successful. Each sky-port is controled by an Admirals Council made up of those among its fleet who have earned the most or proven themselves most able to lead, and pretty much all Kharadron sailors dream of becoming Admirals some day. Underneath the Admirals Council, the day-to-day life of a sky-port is controlled by its six largest guilds, professional organizations designed to maintain and teach the traditions of a craft or trade and ensure members of said craft operate according to the Code. It is almost universal that these six will include the Endrineers Guild, the Aether-Khemists Guild and the Fleet Service, with the Fleet Service usually being largest and most influential. However, relative authority of each guild varies from port to port, and Barak-Zilfin, for example, has as its foremost guild the Nav-League. Every Kharadron fleet is also subject to a council of managing directors from its port. The fleet's Admiral must answer to this board, and the board holds the right to terminate the Admiral's contract if they fail to deliver on their obligations. Each member of a Kharadron crew is a shareholder in the business the expedition is furthering, to grant them a vested interest in success of the voyage. For example, when a prospector ship finds a new vein, each member of the crew receives a specified amount of shares in the aether-gold, as dictated by their contract. Above the various skyports, the Kharadron are held together by the Geldraad, a council composed of delegates from the six wealthiest sky-ports in the Kharadron culture. Barak-Nar has maintained its position as the Steering Hand for a very long time, and it remains the wealthiest sky-port by nearly a factor of 2, but there's been great shake-ups in the rankings below.  Besides the major guilds, each sky-port also has hundreds of businesses, referred to as guild-companies or chartered companies, which seek profit through the sale of specific goods or services. This ranges from small beard-oil businesses to massive corporations dealing in weapons. Iggrind-Kaz Aeronautics is a recent example of a successful guild-company, famous for its high-quality surge injection endrins, which can harness liquid aether-gold to provide sudden bursts of intense speed. They have been granted permission to build depots in five of the six major sky-ports, forbidden only by Barak-Thryng, whose Admirals Council forbade them permission to trade on the basis of improper and wasteful use of aether-gold. (Not that this stops Barak-Thryng's captains from having the endrins installed elsewhere.) The Code permits guild-companies to trade beyond their own borders, and to that end they often receive funding from the major guilds, who are more limited in where they can do business. In return, the guilds receive a percentage of the profit. The Grundcorps of Barak-Zon have a heavy stake in Thrund Armory, producers of highly accurate and easily maintained aethershot rifles, while Barak-Thryng's guilds profit heavily from investing in their famous ale-brewing companies, whose recipes are ancient and guarded closely. Bugman's Brewery and Grumgar Brothers' Hoppery are some of the wealthiest brewing concerns in the Kharadron ports, and even have branches in the Cities of Sigmar...albeit ones that tend to sell subpar alcohol, often legally unfit for duardin use. The entire lifestyle of the Kharadron is fundamentally drawn from their survival in the Age of Chaos, when many other peoples were enslaved, killed or driven from their homes. By taking to the clouds, they defined an entire doctrine of survival, war and progress. The early skyship designs eventually developed into the Arkanaut-class frigate, a heavily armor-plated vessel able to carry a complement of warriors alongside its crew. The Arkanaut Frigate is still the backbone of the Kharadron fleet, though the larger Ironclads are more often seen as flagships these days. The Kharadron strap as many weapons to their ships as possible, though the older blackpowder guns they relied on in the early centuries have been phased out entirely in favor of aethermatic weaponry. The sky-ports, originally ramshackle air-barges turned into homes, have grown into true cities. Originally, the Kharadron had intended to return to land-based life when it became safe, but the discovery of aether-gold ended those plans forever. The sky-fleets became the core of Kharadron life, transporting cargo and messages across the skies. Besides the fleets that seek out new wealth and guard aether-gold deposits, each port also maintains patrol fleets to protect their airspace and trade routes. Kharadron youth grow up knowing that prestige, wealth and power come from serving in the fleets. Various companies sponsor aeronautical academies to teach them how to sail the skies, but competition to qualify for classes is fierce. Teaching positions are held by retired captains and crew, and they are notoriously strict and ruthless in their grading. This is because the teaching staff all own stock in the fleets sponsoring them, and thus their pay is largely determined by whether or not the ships their graduates crew turn a profit. The Code states that all ships must have a Captain, who has absolute rule over the craft in flight. While aboard a Captain's ship, only an Admiral is permitted to disobey a Captain's orders. Crews are chosen at Musterpress, and a crew may come from different academies within a sky-port; regardless of family, background or education, though, crews are bonded together by strict oaths and Code-mandated rituals. A ship's crew is almost always fiercely loyal to each other and to their ship, with the most successful ships coming from crews that have worked together for decades. Artycle 1, Point 5 of the Code proscribes the method by which a crew may usurp the ship from their Captain. This is considered not mutiny, if it follows procedure, but meritocracy at work. Sub-clauses specifically mandate that a Captain who fails to succeed in their work should be replaced, as relying on past triumphs to cover present failures is not the correct way. A deposed Captain suffers no dishonor - they are merely stripped of their rank and become crew, where they may hope to once more take the ship for themselves if they can achieve sufficient merit that the crew agrees with them. While a Captain has total command over their own vessel, enough ships together must have an Admiral appointed from among the captains to take command of the fleet. The Admiral has even greater authority, and most sky-ports have several Admirals hanging about at any given time, waiting for a fleet to form so they can take command. Other than the Captains and Admirals, most officers aboard ship are not drawn from the Arkanaut academies. Instead, they tend to be specialists trained by a guild. A ship requires several Aetheric Navigators, Aether-Khemists and Endrinmasters, after all. They serve as warrant officers, assigned within a fleet to wherever they are most needed. In battle, they typically serve aboard an Ironclad, but it isn't rare to see Endrinmasters in dirigible suits for rapid response to damage, and multiple Aether-Khemists are often found aboard many of the ships of a prospector fleet. Fleets are typically composed of a number of Arkanaut Frigates and Ironclads, the main ships of the line of the Kharadron, which serve as bombers, gunships or transports depending on the Admiral's orders. An Admiral can select any ship within the fleet to be their flagship, but it's usually the biggest ship they have or the one with the most distinguished service history. Some Admirals often change flagships with each new voyage, to better fit their chartered mission's needs, but not all - others become attached to a particular ship or crew. Alongside these ships, Grundstok Gunhaulers are often hired into a fleet as escort fighters, assault ships or interdiction vessels, and some battles have been won by Gunhaulers alone. The infantry of a fleet will be almost entirely Arkanaut companies, sailors who perform boarding actions and ground assaults as required. Grundstok Thunderers serve when a more professional class of soldier is needed, using heavier weapons and armor to safeguard the rest of the fleet and operating largely at their own discretion. Barak-Zon's military is renowned, and they have been known to entirely forgo heavy user of their ships in favor of focusing wholly on their infantry, relying on their high-speed dirigible suits to deliver their deadly fighters into the heart of the enemy. Besides the Arkanauts and Thunderers, the Kharadron also have the Skyriggers, highly mobile aerial specialists who maneuver around their fleets in battle to flank foes and repair damaged vessels. Each skyport organizes their fleets differently; Barak-Thryng prefers the hun-ghrumtok ("heavy bomber wing") while Barak-Zilfin is partial to the mighromtok ("scout patrol wing"), but their general assembly of officers, troops and vessels is held in common to all, because it's worked.  The Aether-Khemists Guild is a collection of alchemical scientists. They are the ones who understand how to find and follow the trail of aether-gold, and their guild rose to power on the development of tools to siphon off the gas and refine it into something solid and workable. They are trained in use of analytic recogitators, heliotropic distillators and the weaponized gas-masks known as the God's Lung. They also learn how to grade aether-gold quality by smell. There are Aether-Khemists Guilds in every sky-port, but by far the largest lie in Barak-Urbaz, and their skill in harvesting even minute traces of aether-gold is widely envied.  The Nav-League is the guild of the Aetheric Navigators, who hold the secrets of aerocartography. They have mapped the troposphere of Chamon and even part of its stratosphere, and their knowledge of wind, aetheric flow and meteorology are essentially unmatched. They serve to guide the fleets along good trade routes, catching thermals and avoiding aerial dangers. To become one, a Kharadron must demonstrate not only the ability to solve complex math problems but to do so under duress and at speed. The rigorous Navcademies will accept nothing less, because they know that their graduates will need to do so in the middle of magical storms.  The Endrineers Guild apprentices those Kharadron that excel with machinery. Every sky-port has at least one guild-run Endrineering Academy, the most notable of which are the Great Coghalls of Barak-Zilfin. Skilled endrineers can find work as artificers, metalsmiths or shipwrights, but only the best and bravest join the sky-fleets. They serve as Endrinriggers, repairing the machines aboard until they are considered to have gained enough work experience to call themselves Endrinmasters, who oversee entire vessels. The Guild is extremely protective of its machines and the secret knowledge that keeps them operating, and competition between Endrineers of different ports is high, as they seek to undermine each others' work or learn secrets from each other. Next time: The Six Great Sky-Ports
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Aug 14, 2020 23:43
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Don't have a good picture but here is the Status of Wealth pre Necroquake.  Edit putting them side by side to see it better. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Aug 15, 2020 |
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Aug 15, 2020 00:43
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I'd love to see a theater ship. Be Tantalus.
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Aug 15, 2020 00:46
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Leraika posted:I'd love to see a theater ship. Be Tantalus. This feels like the best way to test out the system given Abney Park's gimmick is they're a band that accidentally went back in time and hijack an airship. See how well their gimmick functions.
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Aug 15, 2020 01:26
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Falconier111 posted:
Let's go Theater Ship and try to sneak in references to Final Fantasy 9's theater scene because we're jerks.
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Aug 15, 2020 02:08
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Dedman Walkin posted:Let's go Theater Ship and try to sneak in references to Final Fantasy 9's theater scene because we're jerks. Unfortunately I don’t know jack about FF9 so you’ll have to accept an FF6 reference instead  ...Oh hell, airborn opera house. Servetus posted:I'm sad to say Airship Pirates rates among my worst role-playing experiences, for some reasons that involve the rules and setting and some reasons that involve the GM and group I was with. I played a Misbegotten Navvy. I don't want to get too into the specifics, the GM kept a game blog so if I give too much info I'll basically dox myself. That sucks  . Is there anything you’d like me to cover or avoid?
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Aug 15, 2020 02:28
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The fact this gently caress up Soth's holodeck doesn't kill you, resets if you screw up, and provides you with appropriate cover when you enter is great. What makes this one of the better adventure concepts Ive seen in a long time for D&D is how open ended the solutions are that the writer accounted for, so even my squad of insane murder gremlins of a party who belong in Ravenloft for their own crimes can fix this in their own headcaving way
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Aug 15, 2020 03:09
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...I just found a complication that mechanically obliges player characters to sexually assault people they are attracted to if they fail a roll. The average starting character will fail that roll 2/3rds of the time. I’m not sure I want to review this game anymore. Maybe I should review Accursed instead. Did you know that if you play a mummy in that game, you can eventually get a pyramid and turn it into a giant robot? Or that you can play a snake person, turn back into a human, and somehow keep your opposable tail? That’s a good game.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:26
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Falconier111 posted:...I just found a complication that mechanically obliges player characters to sexually assault people they are attracted to if they fail a roll. The average starting character will fail that roll 2/3rds of the time. Im sorry, what???
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Aug 15, 2020 03:35
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Ithle01 posted:When Black Roses Bloom part three I assume that since everything except Soth is basically an illusion, there are no lasting effects. Like, you can't get the "Kingpriest" to use his Exaction to call down something that can turn Ticklemop back into a normal Kender. Just like death is irrelevant, so his resurrection/empowerment. However, if you do somehow beat/kill Soth in the illusion, you can jack his poo poo. So, instead of having a "+5 Holy Avenger" he has a regular sword now. I wonder if Oathmaker has its powers against Soth in the illusions.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:36
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Falconier111 posted:...I just found a complication that mechanically obliges player characters to sexually assault people they are attracted to if they fail a roll. The average starting character will fail that roll 2/3rds of the time. Sounds like a game that could be friends with FATAL.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:36
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It's a few pages back, but a group of gargoyles is a 'nastiness'.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:38
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Falconier111 posted:...I just found a complication that mechanically obliges player characters to sexually assault people they are attracted to if they fail a roll. The average starting character will fail that roll 2/3rds of the time. *WHAT* And yeah, don't feel obligated for finishing a game.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:43
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I what god dammit why
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Aug 15, 2020 03:45
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Falconier111 posted:...I just found a complication that mechanically obliges player characters to sexually assault people they are attracted to if they fail a roll. The average starting character will fail that roll 2/3rds of the time. welp
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Aug 15, 2020 03:49
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