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Fivemarks posted:There's also the problem that Shadowrun makes the Dragons SO IMPORTANT That if they die, the Horrors immediately invade and everyone is hosed. This is, personally, stupid.
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Feb 2, 2022 16:52
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Hostile V posted:"The doctor told me that the voices were to remind me of who I was. I asked him why he thought I might forget, and then he said the voices were there to remind me that I was alive. Original?
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Feb 2, 2022 16:53
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Siivola posted:My first impression of the system is that it kinda sucks. After seeing so many sleeker systems, I don't have the patience to learn the ins and outs of all these moving parts. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to seeing how much stuff from the videogame (which I haven't played) is also in the new edition, like those cyber-mantis claw things. It's still very...interesting to me how Cyberpunk v3 just got memory-holed. It really did have some interesting ideas that were kinda prescient at the time! Iron Heart posted:Original? Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Feb 2, 2022 |
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Feb 2, 2022 17:12
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Halloween Jack posted:It's still very...interesting to me how Cyberpunk v3 just got memory-holed. It really did have some interesting ideas that were kinda prescient at the time! CP2013/2020 leaned heavily in the direction of pastiche of the cyberpunk genre, filtered through Pondsmith, (which makes sense: "generic genre RPG" is a completely valid type of game) but CPv3.0 is probably the more mature work in terms of originality. Pondsmith is doing something pretty interesting worldbuilding, and even though it doesn't look good I can't help but respect a grown man who illustrates his book with kitbashes from his doll collection. The actual system isn't very interesting, but I think that's something you see with RED too: Pondsmith, for whatever reason, just seems content with what CP2020 already was and doesn't seem to see the need to make radical changes to how it plays. Now, everyone else seems to think that CP2020 isn't suited to being a universal system perfectly fit to run the Witcher RPG, but we're nobodies and he's Mike loving Pondsmith, so...
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Feb 2, 2022 17:52
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Infinity RPG: Haqqislam Belief Is Power Playing a Haqqislamite is often going to mean playing a deeply religious person, and certainly someone with very strong beliefs on core moral and societal issues. The game suggests that to reflect a religious belief or other strong faith-related code, you might have a variable Trait - essentially, a wildcare Trait that you can change at the start or end of each session to reflect how your outlook has shifted or how your beliefs have influenced your actions, as long as they all tie into, say, Haqqislam. The GM can then invoke that trait to cause problems or conflicts as normal, so you can show the GM what parts of your beliefs you want challenged or what you want to spotlight. Because a variable Trait is able to come up much more often than a normal Trait, the Heat cost to introduce complications related to the trait or affecting it is reduced by 2. So what are the core beliefs of Haqqislam? Well, it's built around a set of core principles, and those principles can take up a lot of your time and effort if you live them to their fullest. The faithful understand that perfection can't be achieved, but that one can steadily improve themselves anyway. Even those who do not truly believe in the principles of Haqqislam are generally going to at least publicly make a show of following them to avoid social ostracization in Haqqislamite society. At its heart, the Search for Knowledge is what everything else is built on. Knowledge and Truth could mean a lot of things for a person - scientific research, personal exploration of memory, meditation and dream journaling, artistic expression, even the study of societal relationships and sociological phenomena. Allah is all-pervasive, without start or end, and so pursuit of any kind of study and improvement with correct intention and purity of heart, you will inevitably find His truth. Truth, for Haqqislam, is not just abstract, either. It is a core belief that all human suffering can be solved - that every probleml, every apparent flaw in the universe, must have a solution that can be discovered by sufficient study and understanding. Allah creates no problem that is unsolvable. Sure, an imperfect humanity cannot exist in a perfect universe - but the universe has the potential to be improved and perfected, just as people do, if tended to correctly. This the mission of the faithful, to find these solutions and improvements. It's a job of immense scope, to be sure, but your personal responsibility to it is only to do it to the best of your ability, and that means finding work you can do and doing it virtuously. Therefore, trade, medicine and terraforming aren't just about Bourak's economy - they are moral duties. They are expressions of faith, ways to develop healthier lives, bring people solutions to problems. Every new discovery and life experience is a chance to understand the universe more. There can be no greater path than that. The concept of "Salik" is core to the identity of Haqqislamites. It was originally a word for Sufi travellers and pilgrims, but grew into an identity for anyone who made the trip to Bourak to live. It is a term now associated with bold (or even foolish) adventure. The Muslim concept of Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, has expanded to the idea of a "lifelong Hajj," the idea that every believer is on a personal journey of discover, whether spiritual or physical. To that end, Haqqislamites consider it important to share their experiences with other people every so often, to help them reflect on their journey and gain counsel from trusted friends. This helps transform simple events into part of the Search for Knowledge. What you share and what advice you ask for can vary wildly, but for Haqqislamites, trust and friendship mean asking for and giving advice. Communal gathering places often have areas set aside for quiet discussion in small groups, and almost all offer cost-free access to psychologists and teachers. Outsiders are often surprised with how deep conversations can get even with casual acquaintances, and how seriously Haqqislamites take it when they ask for or give advice even to new friends. Terraforming as a cultural concept is tied to the idea of "ihya," the bringing of life. Haqqislam has always been very environmentalist, with the idea that the world was given to humanity by Allah and therefore it is the responsibility of the faithful to tend to the world and serve as its steward. Farhad Khadivar had a lot to say about shortsighted abuse of natural resources, and that resonated a lot after the post-oil collapse of the Middle Eastern economies. It only got stronger when Bourak was colonized and terraforming became an important part of survival there. Bringing life to barren worlds is a huge part of Haqqislamite belief, and the idea has expanded to a general belief that it is one's moral responsibility to leave things better than you found them. This belief is engrained deeply in Haqq society, especially when it comes to caring for your home and community. Outsiders are often surprised by how strongly Haqq society supports conservation efforts and terraforming programs, even to the detriment of their own ease of living. On a broader level this is also used to apply a sort of meritocratic approach to trade and usage of space. If a merchant cannot maintain their business in a caravanserai, it is likely that they will not receive an offer to extend their contract but will instead find the space reassigned to someone else who might use it better. This is not seen as cruel, but as proper stewardship over the space by the government that leases it out. The idea also applies to personal development - if you have the chance to educate yourself or improve your own skills, especially in a way that won't harm others' opportunities for growth, you are morally obligated to pursue those chances. This is virtuous and aids the Search for Knowledge. Not improving yourself when you could is both wasteful and immoral. "Sabr" is a principle many uphold in theory, but even in Haqqislam, it is less often practiced. It is the idea of restraint and perseverence in the face of danger. It can be interpreted in many ways, and it can encourage a sort of passive approach that is at odds with the daring of the Salik ideal, but it represents the idea that change for change's sake alone is no virtue, and that one should draw on tradition and the past when it will improve your life, not reject it out of hand. This is a point of agreement between Haqqislam and the Jewish and Christian communities on Bourak, who tend to hold similar beliefs, and even with the NeoVatican of PanO. Many Haqqislamites attempt to pursue Sabr by deliberately incorporating conscious periods of restraint and constraints into parts of their lives. For example, they might choose to fast during daylight hours in pursuit of sabr, or might mark a few months each year to refrain from a favored drug or vice, or engage in deliberate sensory deprivation during parts of the day. The goal is to allow the mind to focus on the divine by removing sensation and distractions of modernity and to reveal unconscious patterns that might be holding you back. All Haqqislamites are also expected to pay Zakat, even if they live outside of Haqq territory. This is a yearly charitable donation of 5% of your wealth and income above a minimum that is roughly equivalent to the demogrant - so basically, you pay it only if you're already assured of your own survival-level income, since that's what the demogrant is for. The zakat goes to the government funds to care for the sick, elderly, refugees and orphans, and any excess from those goes to funding the demogrant program. Nonbelievers in Haqq territory do not pay the Zakat, but instead pay the Jaziya or Jizya, a tax that is explicitly dedicated to supporting the social needs of the community from which it is collected. Both the Zakat and Jaziya are collected by the Diwan al Kharaj, the Tax Office. Regional governments and local communities often hold charity fundraisers as well, if you want to give more. Concealing wealth to pay less Zakat is extremely socially damning and also has legal consequences if discovered - the Kharaj take the Zakat extremely seriously. So what kind of class distinctions exist on Bourak? Well, the Underclass is one that exists by choice. People who do not receive the demogrant within Haqqislam are those who have chosen to reject the social safety net. Typically, this is for one of two reasons - the more common is that they do so for a spiritual reason, attempting to pursue some ascetic interpretation of faith. The other is similar, but done for personal reasons - perhaps a rejection of the idea of government handouts or in pursuit of some kind of mental health system. Haqqislam considers bodily and personal autonomy to be paramount, so if someone denies aid, whether psychological, medical or economic, for any reason, it must be respected - even if that means someone gets isolated and left without money. That said, members of the Underclass are still considered part of the wider society of Bourak, if weird ones, and their community will generally try to reach out to them anyway and maintain contact. Very few people attempt to appear Underclass if they aren't, though many teens and young adults experiment with the lifestyle briefly in pursuit of fringe or alternative interpretations of the faith. Many adults also maintain a friendship with an Underclass ascetic teacher or are associated with Underclass-led subcultures - that kind of asceticism may be rare, but it is often considered admirable. Demogrants receive a basic income to cover all their needs, but it comes with a social expectation that they will continue to pursue the Search for Knowledge somehow rather than using their free time solely on leisure. This can take many forms, but whatever form your pursuit of improvement of self or world takes, you are expected to do it seriously. The Demogrant class are therefore one of the most prolific on Bourak when it comes to producing Maya content - it's one of the easier ways to demonstrate that you are, in fact, trying to improve the world by creating art. Failure to demonstrate that one is devoted to the Search, after all, can result in ostracization or even reduction of one's income to merely subsistence levels, while visibly pursuing the Search will earn respect. Many believers of higher classes attempt to live at the level of the Demogrant, donating any additional earnings to charity; they tend to be less hurried about their pursuit of the Search for Knowledge, though, since it's much easier to feel good about doing when it's voluntary, not tied to your income. The Middle class are often administrators, managers, public servants or otherwise in roles to enable others. This is because if you can't pursue the Search for Knowledge directly, it is considered equally worthy to remove obstacles from others' attempts to do so. Others make a good income as traders, bankers, analysts or similar. It is socially expected for anyone of this level of wealth to donate considerably more than the Zakat requires without complaining, and to attempt to live virtuously, but otherwise there isn't much additional social expectation from the Demogrant level. Those with greater wealth but little desire to deal with the expectations of virtue expected of the wealthy often live at Middle-level, with only their tax collector knowing their true wealth. Lower class people who feel a need for less religious lifestyles will often seek out middle-class work, trading the respect given to the ascetic or artist for a steady paycheck. The Upper faces significantly greater expectation of piety because Farhad Khadivar repeatedly called out wealth and material possessions as distractions, and many of this class try to downplay their wealth because they find the message and expectations somewhat unpleasant. Many claim to just be "upper middle class" or to be supporting other, more devout people and worthy causes. Others put on a show of pursuing a unique path that only wealth can allow them, such as being constant space travellers. Only a small percentage of the Upper class are considered to have actually earned their wealth legitimately, usually because they are known to have made significant sacrifices for the good of their community or the faith as a whole. That said, while the faith may look down on wealth, people do still appreciate comfort and the allure of money, and many lower class people pursue upper class fads and fashions even while deriding the wealthy for their greed. The Elite are often those whose wealth and power has become self-sustaining, with little effort on their part needed to maintain it. Because of this, they are able to donate money at a level that keeps them from being criticized nearly as much as the somewhat less wealthy Upper class - much more than elites of other nations would, but not enough to actually impact their lifestyles significantly. They often hold PR events or manage charitable foundations to put on shows of piety for the masses. Behind closed doors, however, the Haqq elite vary wildly in how much they actually take their religious duties seriously. Actual disregard for the faith is rarer than many firebrands like to claim, though - it's much easier for those who don't have any true belief to just join a corporation and leave Bourak. Still, disapproval of wealth is strong in Bourak's society, and the Elite have to be careful if they want to avoid bad rumors. The Hyper-Elite are so powerful that for many outsiders, they are the face of Haqqislam, and they are under extreme scrutiny from the Haqq media. They are essentially required to put on a show of faith...but actually maintaining virtue and staying on the Search for Knowledge when so much wealth and power is at your fingertips constantly is very difficult, and requires having very good, trustworthy friends and loved ones who are willing to tell you when you're loving up. The book ends with stats for various kinds of Haqq and pirate NPCs, including a number of signature characters from the wargame, like Tarik Mansuri (the first and greatest of the Khawarij supersoldiers) or Leila Sharif (a legendary Hassassin agent). The End! E: options for next are: PanOceania, Yu Jing, Aleph, Nomads, Mercenaries, Tohaa, Combined Army, Ariadna Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Feb 2, 2022 |
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Feb 2, 2022 19:11
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Yeah the story of Hatchetman floats around in various Shadowrun communities because people knew him and knew he became a cyberzombie to save his own life, but before he disappeared proper into the shadows he dumped all of his memories and recorded thoughts out onto the net so people could know what happened to him and why it's not a good idea.
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Feb 2, 2022 20:44
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90s Cringe Rock posted:Weekend at Dunkeys campaign. Sincerely, if you're going to run with a prompt as goofy as "a dragon is president now," this is the minimum level of goofiness an adventure hook should have. Run it like the intersection of Discworld and Snow Crash: as much fantasy satire and 90s cheese as will fit on the page
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Feb 2, 2022 22:49
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Halloween Jack posted:Yeah, Maximum Mike seems to have learned some stuff since the 80s, but still...there are rulesets out there that do all the stuff I think people want a Cyberpunk game to do with less fuss. The DataKrash, veracity, and digital archeology and spelunking that netrunning had become in 203X really speak well to 2020's zeitgeist of hypernormalization, misinformation, and the reality that the internet may not remember things forever or be free. Like, even James Cameron is saying if Skynet wanted to destroy humanity now, it would use deepfakes and not nuclear weapons. LatwPIAT posted:CP2013/2020 leaned heavily in the direction of pastiche of the cyberpunk genre, filtered through Pondsmith, (which makes sense: "generic genre RPG" is a completely valid type of game) but CPv3.0 is probably the more mature work in terms of originality. Pondsmith is doing something pretty interesting worldbuilding, and even though it doesn't look good I can't help but respect a grown man who illustrates his book with kitbashes from his doll collection. My feelings about RED was that it was meant to capitalize on the then-nascent popularity of CP2077, hence why it was written as a prequel to CD Projekt Red and why it walked back to be essentially CP2020 with a newer aesthetic but relatively unchanged and not the transhuman postapocalypse of CPv3.0, fitting with CDPR being fans of the original game. It's probably not a coincidence that this edition shares the same name as the production company making CP2077. It's honestly really funny that there's something like FOUR different continuations to CP2020 (Cybergeneration, CPv3.0, Mekton Starblade Battalion and now Cyberpunk RED) Young Freud fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Feb 3, 2022 |
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Feb 2, 2022 23:21
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Dunk's Will is a whole book full of plot ideas that individual GMs could use in their games. I think that the greater dragons in SR are far more interesting than dragons that show up in most settings because they have skin in the game and are shown to be as petty, biased, moody, and opinionated as any other sentient.
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Feb 3, 2022 00:53
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  This section is by far the largest in the book, so were doing it in several parts, with this post covering the villainous groups. 1e is peculiar in being the only Edition that has no villains that cant be found in later versions, so for listing Edition changes Ill note only the later ones for ease of writing. The transition to 2e added a lot more antagonists, although 3e has a few of which are missing, and in terms of the timeskip made quite a few big changes to several of them. Pretty much every villain missing from the current Edition is due to being previously statted in other supplements (such as Mastermind in Threat Report), the RPGs Patreon page, or in the case of Doc Otaku he retired from supervillainy to run a robotics company. 1e and 2e split antagonists into groups/teams first, then individuals next but were otherwise alphabetical. 3e tends to go back and forth: for instance, the members of the Crime League and Tyranny Syndicate are listed under their respective groups (C and T) although Overshadow, the leader of SHADOW, is listed well before his organization under O. I much prefer 2nd Editions organization. The Annihilists (3e) are the various rulers of the Terminus regions that pledged allegiance to Omega. Although their full number is left to the GM, the four detailed here are the most feared and infamous. Each shares a story of how they came to serve the Lord of the Terminus, usually resulting in helping hasten the fall of their now-destroyed homeworlds. Although they are very powerful (averaging PL 13-14), the Annihilists lack the desire for teamwork, instead preferring to use their privilege to jockey for favor and undermine the others via wargames and schemes. Shadivan Steelgrave is a fallen power armor wearing superhero who instigated a civil war among superhumans due to a prophecy proclaiming planetary destruction. He is now the creator and maintainer of the Omegadrones, once-living creatures turned into brainwashed cyborgs to serve as the Terminus shock troops. Madrigal Martinet was a superhero who sought revenge against the Warlord, a tyrant who slaughtered her people. She ended up making an alliance with Omega to achieve this, and is secretly in love with Mandragora. Mandragora hailed from a world where dragons and humans lived side by side in a modern world, and was proclaimed to be the one who would bring both people together when gaining the powers of dragonfire. He fought against Omega but failed, and swore fealty to him upon defeat in combat. Physician Friendly was a scientific genius who managed to save his world against a threat known as the Nanoknights, but in the end it wasnt a world worth living in. He viewed cosmic destruction as a mercy killing, falling under Omegas sway and becoming his chief torturer and biologist. Physician Friendly is a demented sadist who dresses in a stereotypical doctors outfit, accompanied by robotic Nightmare Nurses. The Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign are cultists who worship the Unspeakable One, aka the Yellow King, aka the Lovecraftian god Hastur. The cults origins began in the Serpent People empire of Lemuria, sprouting up as a hidden group among the otherwise Yig-devout reptiles. When Lemuria fell in war against Atlantis, Yigs example was forgotten, with the Unspeakable One reigning supreme among the Serpent People survivors. When humans evolved the Brotherhood began recruiting them, and when superheroes grew in number in the 20th century the cult clashed often against them. The Brotherhood is rather brief in comparison to other entries: they have a listed goal (summon the Unspeakable One to Earth-Prime who is a Power Level X* entity), stat blocks for PL 4 Serpent People and suggested traits for human cultists, and mention of the Serpent Scepter artifact which is a powerful item that can mind-control reptiles and change targets into Serpent People at rank 20 effects. Although this is extremely powerful by the game rules, it corrupts the user over time. *term for a plot device beyond game statistics. The Crime League arose in the 1940s, where the foes of various superheroes banded together due to there being strength in numbers. They served as archenemies to the Freedom League, both as an organization and to individual members. The Crime Leagues primary goal is profit and self-enrichment as a group, although individuals often have their own personal goals. The core membership that has stayed the same across Editions are Devil Ray (US Navy deserter who absconded with an armored MANTA Suit), Dr. Stratos (weather-controlling meteorologist who thinks himself a god), Medea (of Greek myth, a sadistic and misandrist mage), Orion the Hunter (non-powered but highly skill gun-for-hire who gets a thrill in hunting superhumans), and Wildcard (jester-dressed guy who can control probability but whose luck eventually runs out). Edition-specific members of the League include Dr. Simian (2e and later, ape granted intelligence by experiments in ASTRO Labs, wishes to free the rest of the animal kingdom and take revenge on humanity for their crimes against nature), Hiroshima Shadow (2e only, city spirit who spawned from the atomic bombing of Japan and has an all-consuming hate of Westerners), the Maestro (2e, musician-themed scientist who hates modern music), and Tom Cypress (imagine a cross between Solomon Grundy and Swamp Thing). One special case is the Freebooter, who was a solo villain in 2e. Jared McGinnis is a wheelchair-bound hacker who built a pirate android to go out and commit crimes. His motivations were hacktivism, targeting political and corporate figures whose wealth and influence allowed them to avoid the consequences of the law, although Jareds own elitism burned a lot of bridges with other hacktivist groups. He would eventually join the Crime League as a technical consultant, enjoying the wealth gained, although he still has a bit of a moral compass and the book notes there may be circumstances which cause him to defect. In terms of 3e metaplot, Devil Ray ended up receiving a gift from Dagon which allows him to control aquatic creatures but is gradually transforming him into a monster which he takes pain to reverse; Dr. Stratos designated Captain Thunders son, Thunderbolt, as his new archenemy; Orion seeks to train the newest Lady Liberty into a worthy opponent, viewing her as far below the prior ones example; Medea discovered that Wildcard is channeling a kind of chaos energy and his keeping a close eye on him; Maestro left to become a solo villain but challenged the Devil to a musical contest at a midnight crossroads, winning and gaining youth and inherent musical powers rather than relying upon technology. As for Hiroshima Shadow, his fate is unmentioned.  The Factor Four (2e) are the archenemies of the Atom Family. They were rival explorers during the 1970s who gained elemental powers from a set of mystical artifacts known as the Prime Elements. Their crimes center around gaining access to magical and scientific knowledge and devices in unethical ways, such as kidnapping and theft. The Factor Four are locked into their current forms, which while granting them power makes it difficult for them to interact and operate in mainstream society. They are made up of Professor Fathom (water powers, amoral scientist), Granite (earth powers, the muscle of the group), Pyre (fire powers, getaway driver), and Sylph (air powers, Fathoms wife and the least happy about her new form). The Foundry is an underground arms dealing ring specializing in high-tech weapons and devices they sell to the highest bidder. They operate secret facilities all over the world which are connected by teleportation platforms and heavily guarded by legions of robots. Their leader is Talos, an intelligence android built by the Greek God Hephaestus in ancient times, and was a former friend of Daedalus before becoming resentful at the inventors refusal to build him a mate. This led the robot to conclude that mortals were secretly fearful and jealous of his superior artificial nature. Beneath Talos is Keres, an android specialized for assassination purposes and can take various humanoid forms, and Scylla, an intelligent computer system who digitally oversees the security systems of all Foundry facilities. ECHIDNA is a giant physical AI that forms the core of the Foundrys headquarters and can build a wide variety of robots which it teleports to various Foundry sites. The expendable minions of the Foundry are the Myrmidons, robots which are sold to the organizations many customers and come in various models (basic, stealth, combat, and war). As of 3e the Foundry encountered some worthy competition of weapons designers with a similar organization, the Ghostworks, who are operating out of Emerald City. It is unknown whether Talos will seek to destroy or incorporate them into his organization.  The Labyrinth (2e) is a clandestine gathering of the worlds most powerful and unethical business leaders, led by Taurus who is the minotaur of Greek myth and richest man in the world and who in turns worships Hades, making that deity the technical leader of the organization. The Labyrinths network of businesses can influence world politics via applying for government contracts for various projects, with deep ties in the military-industrial complex and biotech firms. The organizations greatest asset is the DNAscent Process, a series of drug, genetic, and cybernetic therapies that can grant humans temporary (and in rare cases permanent) superpowers, often relating to physical enhancement. The scientists responsible are sequestered between various corporations and Pentagon projects so nobody has the entire blueprint, and Taurus retains a tight control of the approval process so as not to overpopulate the world with superhumans he cannot easily control. Taurus himself is your typical super-strength brick but high ranks in various intellectual skills. Theres a team of operatives the Labyrinth can deploy for sensitive missions: Ms. Scarlet is Taurus second in combat and trains DNAscent subjects in combat training; Dr. Peter Hanks is one of the DNAscent scientists who has a pair of gorilla arms growing out of his sides; Dr. Victor Reeds works on cybernetic enhancements and inventions and has his own inbuilt enhancements; Access is a thief who can move, sense, and speak to machines; Dybbuk is a psychic and former Mob assassin who can mind control and possess people via telepathy; Payback is a Hades-worshiper who has a cybernetic arm granting him super-strength and can nullify the powers of others; Sidetrack is a DNAscent subject who can teleport and blind others with bursts of light; Tamper is a former IRA terrorist and DNAscent subject brainwashed into thinking that hes assassinating sinners on behalf of the Catholic Church and can nullify all manner of technological devices and powers; and Targette is a former gang member and Sidetracks girlfriend, capable of absorbing harm and channeling it back as mental blasts. Larceny, Inc. (2e) are four DNAscent subjects who managed to escape incarceration by the Labyrinth and decided to use their powers to get revenge on the biotech firm responsible for their captivity and make some sweet, sweet cash on the side. Their headquarters are split between three converted lofts, with shell companies purchasing vacant apartments for emergencies. They work well as a team, not suffering from the vindictive one upmanship of some other teams here like the Annihilists and Tyranny Syndicate. Get-Away is the party speedster, a devoted hedonist and thrill junkie; Grab is a professional con artist whose powers allow her to stretch and bounce; Smash is super-strong bruiser with anger issues; and Trap Door is the leader of the team who can teleport and fights with a Kinetistaff that can deliver ranged blasts. Although they are wanted by the authorities, Larceny Inc. has done a lot to disrupt the schemes of the Labyrinth, so theyre more on the anti-hero side of things than being outright villains. The Power Corps (2e) are a simple entry. Eight soldiers who were former minions of the supervillain Mastermind who decided to go on their own, acting as hired muscle. They are identical in terms of stats and have the typical Iron Man assortment of abilities: ranged blasts, radio communication, flight, super-strength, and environmental immunities.  The Psions (2e) are a family of psychics whose patriarch, Artur Zion, is a Jewish man who fled Germany to live in the United States. He naturally hated the Nazis and their proclaimed race-science, although his paranormal research led him to believe that the sudden appearances of super-powered beings represented the next step in human evolution. When his research didnt coincide with these findings, he resorted to desperate measures such as using criminals to create potential paranormals and even experimenting on himself which ended up giving him psychic powers. He soon cultivated a family of psychics who are little more than a cult, teaching them that they are humanitys next step and that the rest of the world is unable to appreciate or understand their greatness. The Psions are a six person group themed around psychic powers. Ironically Professor Psion is the least powerful of them at PL 8 (others are mostly PL 10, generic telepathy abilities). The rest include Empath (emotion control and healing, field leader), Ember (pyrokinetic, doesnt like the other family members), Jump (teleporter, privately doubts the family ideology), Aura (illusionist and telepath, another person most likely to break out of the family), and Argent (telekinetic, Auras twin sister who is torn between furthering the family cause and going on her own independently).  SHADOW, or Secret Hierarchy of Agents for Domination Over the World, is our settings HYDRA equivalent. Its leader, Overshadow, is a former Nazi SS officer who is the long-line of reincarnated lives of the Egyptian sorcerer Tan-Aktor and archenemy of the Scarab. His various non-Aryan heritages made him more clued in to the reality of things, with the text mentioning that personal empowerment comes secondary to ideology and that racial or cultural superiority would be second to his superiority over all humanity. Although SHADOW is now a more generic take over the world organization, it still has many ties and supporters of far-right groups. Such as aiding the South American dictatorships Nazi war criminals escaped to (detailed in Atlas of Earth-Prime), the South African super-soldier program mentioned earlier in this review, and Overshadow has an on-again off-again arms length alliance with Superior (detailed later) who was der Ubermensch and Hitlers Aryan poster boy. So basically theyre still Nazis and Overshadow is an alt-right grifter pretending to be a non-political moderate. SHADOW operates as a comic book terrorist organization. They get up to all sorts of villainous stuff, and their rank-and-file are programmed clones with no identity or individuality, and they have a secret base beneath Antarctica called Nifelheim. SHADOWs upper leadership is the Penumbra, consisting of Overshadow and some other supervillains of various themes (a few of which have stats). Such examples include the Crimson Mask, who leads the Thule Society and assists in occult development, and Ragnarok, a Nordic half-god summoned to Earth by Overshadow and is the heavy hitter of the Penumbra. Two other villains detailed in this book, Taurus and Dr. Sin, are on as advisory members in a keep your enemies closer deal. The various Editions added more to SHADOW over time. In 1e the group didnt even have Overshadow, Nazi origins, or detailed members, being a more general secret criminal empire for the GM to fill in the details. By 2e they were greatly expanded upon, and in 3e the Penumbra members (save one for the GM to create) were given descriptions. Additionally the organizations clone agents gained specialized super-clone designs with themed superpowers along with telepathic communication due to experiments from a mind-virus known as Legion. Additionally, they were listed as a separate entry in prior Editions, but given their relationship to SHADOW Ill include them as part of them. Overthrow began as a leftist terrorist cell during the Cold War to strike out at Western governments, although in modern times they became completely coopted by SHADOW. As the general public is not aware of the rise of SHADOW, the fascists use these supposed anti-capitalists as a front to distract from their parent organizations true plans.  The Tyranny Syndicate are the Freedom League of Anti-Earth, where history and the rotation of the sun are uncannily backward. Here the Centurion became the Praetor, who viewed his powers as giving him the right to rule over the world as a new Caesar. He made alliances with other supervillains, forming the Tyranny Syndicate which soon became the sole global superpower, with most resistance (superpowered and otherwise) ruthlessly squashed. Praetor was eventually betrayed and murdered by the rest of the Syndicate, and their leaders have a high turnover rate: Captain Thunderbolt murdered Praetor, and was then murdered by Dr. Daedalus. The Syndicates members are basically evil versions of the Freedom League, and barring one exception (Madame Sin is evil Raven and has her own stat block) they use the stats of their Earth-Prime counterparts. Their backstories are understandably different: Dr. Daedalus gained immortality by sacrificing his own son to the Underworld, while Deathbolt was Captain Thunderbolts slacker son who stole his fathers powers via the assistance of Praetrix (herself a clone of the Praetors DNA). 3rd Edition expanded on Anti-Earth greatly in addition to providing more metaplot. Lady Anarchy, a former member of the Tyranny Syndicate, went rogue and unleashed a Chaos Storm in Viridian City in the Pacific Northwest, creating a new generation of superhumans to upset the status quo. We also have details on the Panopticon, the Syndicates aerial headquarters that is equipped with orbital weaponry that can fire anywhere on Earths surface. Then theres the Academy, which is basically the Claremont Academy and tasked with indoctrinating young superhumans to be loyal to the Syndicate. We also have three heroic groups on Anti-Earth opposing the Tyranny Syndicate: the Courage Foundation (Crime League but only a few low-level lackeys remain), LIGHT (Libertys Insurgency for Goodness, Hope, and Truth, basically good-guy SHADOW), and Mind-Master (Masterminds good counterpart and sole remaining superhero of Anti-Earth, once got so depressed he tried to destroy this reality via one of Omegas bombs via the Time of Crisis adventure). Thoughts So Far: Overall I like the various villain teams, although some rise to the occasion better. My favorites are the Crime League and Tyranny Syndicate; the former are a great assortment of villains who can easily work as a team or individually for their own plots, with distinct personalities for each of them. The Tyranny Syndicate provides not just an evil Freedom League and an excuse to use that teams stat blocks against your gaming group, but the entire concept of a mirror world allows for the fun idea of making evil doppelgangers of the PCs. The Foundry isnt a team per se, but also have wide reach via providing a source for robot henchmen and all kinds of doomsday weapons to threaten your superheroes and the cities they defend. The Labyrinth also occupies a similar niche via its DNAscent program, and rich evil corporations are a broad enough concept to use for a variety of adventures. A few fell short of the mark for me: the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign is rather lacking in specific members and superpowered stat blocks unlike the other entries, with the human Cultist stat block and Serpent People being too low PL to menace actual superheroes. The Power Corps are fine as nameless powersuit soldiers, but they feel too one-note in comparison to the stronger write-ups of the other teams with individual villains and their backstories. Finally this is more of a personal taste brought by IRL events rather than a mark against them as a concept, but SHADOW hits different now. As an American, seeing 74 million of your fellow citizens vote for a former sitting President who told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by is a very better pill to swallow. So is seeing a large percentage of the Party who still support that President believing in reflavored anti-Semitic blood libel and other racist conspiracy theories.. The clone armies and Antarctic bases feel a bit too cartoonish and Silver Agey, while the no longer racist but still #1 with racists thing and using the apparent threat of left-wing terrorists as cover more closely mirrors how the modern alt-right deploys tactics. SHADOW thus feels in a strange in-between state, where on one hand it makes fascism into a rare and distant threat bound to lose and isnt really that racist, while still having their rather explicit symbology such as the redesigned SS thunderbolt as a logo and the obsession with Nordic naming conventions. I perfectly understand the need and desire to have a punchable Nazi group for superhero games,* but personally speaking its a bit hard to have them as a sort of Silver Age style evil secret group who has to rely on artificial clones when you know that in the real world they can easily find recruits among mainstream society. *The Agents of Freedom sourcebook notes that the SHADOW clones lack of individuality and desires is to make them cannon fodder one can kill with less moral reservations. Join us next time as we cover the first group of Solo Villains!
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Feb 3, 2022 10:11
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Mors Rattus posted:[E: options for next are: I'd like to hear the RPGs take on Nomads. I'm only passingly familiar with the miniatures game but Nomads always seemed like the pointlessly edgy faction with it's catgirls and combat nuns. I'm wondering if there's anything of substance there!
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Feb 3, 2022 10:30
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Creamfilled posted:I'd like to hear the RPGs take on Nomads. I'm only passingly familiar with the miniatures game but Nomads always seemed like the pointlessly edgy faction with it's catgirls and combat nuns. I'm wondering if there's anything of substance there! I also got suggestions of Tohaa and ALEPH from Discord, but dice rolls say Nomads won. Time to learn about anarcho-everything.
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Feb 3, 2022 13:32
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Libertad! posted:The Foundry is an underground arms dealing ring specializing in high-tech weapons and devices they sell to the highest bidder. They operate secret facilities all over the world which are connected by teleportation platforms and heavily guarded by legions of robots. Their leader is Talos, an intelligence android built by the Greek God Hephaestus in ancient times, and was a former friend of Daedalus before becoming resentful at the inventors refusal to build him a mate. This led the robot to conclude that mortals were secretly fearful and jealous of his superior artificial nature. I know it's comics and I love comics, but "we're a group of A.I.s and the most evil thing we can think of doing is participate in midrate capitalism" leaves me chuffed.
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Feb 3, 2022 15:08
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Libertad! posted:The Factor Four are locked into their current forms, which while granting them power makes it difficult for them to interact and operate in mainstream society. They are made up of Professor Fathom (water powers, amoral scientist), Granite (earth powers, the muscle of the group), Pyre (fire powers, getaway driver), and Sylph (air powers, Fathoms wife and the least happy about her new form). 
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Feb 3, 2022 15:30
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Infinity RPG: Nomads Our setup for this book's slightly different than the Haqq one. Here, we still open with a factional overview and look at their military, then follow it with an in depth guide on the three motherships, but after that we're getting an entire chapter dedicated to Social Energy. Which is good, because Social Energy is hot nonsense. Then we get the Nomad chargen section, new gear, and then the Uplift chapter before we dive into genemods and bioengineering rules. Let's dive in. Nomad history begins with the Corregidor Project, a massive orbital prison station that was designed by PanOceania. Essentially, it was a way for PanO member nations to ship off their criminals and unwanted without having to think about what happened to them next. When they realized there was no ethical way to deal with Corregidor, they choose to solve that by not dealing with it: it was voted to privatize the station and grant it independence. All inhabitants were given their freedom, but the station was going to run out of money quickly and everyone was going to die from lack of power, food and air if that happened. Something had to be done if anyone at all was going to survive on the newly independent Corregidor. It would need to be pragmatic, simple and potentially brutal. Fortunately, Warden Luis Orozco was willing to be those things. Orozco realized that if it was to survive in space, Corregidor needed resources and would need to trade for them. It only had one cargo: human beings. Survival would be difficult and require nasty deeds, but Orozco was concerned first and foremost with the idea that there should be future generations to hate his guts for what he did. He looked over the manifest of criminals and divided them into three types: Useful, being those who had skills that would help the prison-ship survive, such as contract killers, gang leaders, con artists or blackmailers, valuable, those who people would pay to get their hands on, mostly organized crime leadership, and Surplus, those who did petty crimes, the poor who had been sent to Corregidor by bad luck, those with mental health conditions, and similar. Surplus criminals were earmarked to be the first to be removed from life support if necessary. Orozco knew he was being an evil man - he just thought it w as the only way to survive. He put the Valuable category up for bidding, and was impartial about who won - if a government wanted those criminals back, they'd better be ready to outbit the Submondo outfits that were ready to pay to get them back alive. This didn't set well with a lot of people, and led to them concluding it might be easier to attack Corregidor and take who they wanted by force. Orozco was lucky there - one of his most valuable criminals was Juan Sarmiento, the much-hated criminal Count of Moctezume and now hero to the Nomad Nation. He was a Mexican crime lord who had managed to escape death again and again, and the bids on his ownership were skyrocketing, but Orozco saw a use for him - he survived, after all, come what may. Orozco set Sarmiento to defending the Red Auction from attack, and while the Corregidoran defense force was a motley crew of poorly trained gang members and former prison guards, Sarmiento's cunning, trickery, knowledge of the ship's terrain and ruthlessness held off all attackers. Sarmiento even took to delivering the auctioned criminals personally, once his name was taken off the bid list. To help fund Corregidor, newly minted General Sarmiento decided to turn his new forces into a mercenary company specializing in black ops and deniable actions. Soon after, the other Nomad motherships were brought online, and the fragile alliance between the three was formed against ALEPH control. The Nomads became targets quickly for PanO and Yu Jing in the Phantom Conflict, which heavily focused on deniable ops to do damage without losing public opinion or starting a war. Sarmiento proved adept at controlling that battlefield, having been a guerrilla fighter and hired killer with a flair for the unconventional. He knew that he had to be brutal, aggressive and force the enemy into having to choose between loss or making moves that would cost them too much monetarily or politically to be worthwhile. While he had a code he followed, he didn't believe in restraint. Sarmiento's forces escalated the Phantom Conflict with unreasonable retaliation, unconventional warfare and as much blackmail as he could get his hands on. That is how the Nomad Nation was born and how it survived - in fire and blood, making it too expensive for their foes to kill them all. While many think about Bakunin and Tunguska as the faces of the Nomads, it should never be forgotten that it was Corregidor and its brutal, cruel and vicious calculus of survival that began it all. And it's not like General Sarmiento went anywhere - he's still the head of the Black Hand, despite the increasing age of his archaic Lhost. Being a Nomad these days is fundamentally about diversity, individualism and the ability to pursue your own desires. They lack a cohesive cultural identity beyond this, as the three motherships are too physically spread out, to say nothing of the commercial missions...but they take what cultural identity they do have very seriously. Bakunians may be hyper-individualistic, Corregidorans may be rough and pragmatic, and Tunguskans may be vicious libertarians, but the one thing they'll all agree on is that they will protect each other and their ability to be that way. Sure, Corregidor's miners often don't really understand the high-flying politics or gender identity theory that comes out of Bakunin, but if you deadname a Bakunian in their presence, they'll be the first to stab you. Nomads are family. Family that fights a lot and often doesn't understand each other, but any outsider is going to find a united front. The commercial missions actually form a home for far more Nomads than many understand - hundreds of thousands of people live out of these space stations, and they tend to be the ones who meet non-Nomads most frequently, as well as people from motherships other than their own. On a Commercial Mission, all Nomads have to work side by side, unable to exist within their own ship-shaped society bubble. While a focus on a specific type of business might favor one ship's populace over another, the missions are almost always a distinct cultural blend, diverse yet clearly Nomad. The people that live on them have to be traders, diplomats and spies in roughly equal proportion, and while some favor one of these roles, anyone that lives on a Mission knows that they have to be able to be all three if duty calls. For most people in the Human Sphere, the inhabitants of the local Mission are the only Nomads they'll ever meet, and while official business may happen in embassies, it's in these small, personal interactions that real influence is gained over hearts and minds. People remember the Nomad that taught them how to hack a streaming service over drinks, the mercenaries who protected them from idiots at a bar, or the friends their kids made on a business trip with the parents. Bakunian social scientists have argued that it is key to win these friendships, to make it too costly in public opinion to target the Nomad Nation in the future. Therefore, visits to the Commercial Missions are designed to be as pleasant and friendly as possible. This includes for criminals and those who like illegal vices, and it's well known to intelligence operatives that the Black Hand uses the Commercial Missions heavily and has a hand in much of the crime there. While many visitors never see the illegal goods and services aboard a Mission, but for those who seek out danger and excitement, there's always the chance to meet with Madame Lu. The name is a title, not a person - it's the standard contact name given for a guide to the underground world of a Commercial Mission. These places are usually pretty tame compared to the Ultraviolet Quarter of Bakunin, but anarchic and debauched by the standards of most non-Nomads. If you want to get something illegal or just escape from the all-seeing eyes of ALEPH, they're the best place to go in your solar system - probably, anyway. No one is entirely clear on where the "Madame Lu" conceit came from - some say it was from an old movie, others from some weird story about a drunk O-12 ambassador; the truth doesn't really matter. The Nomads politically favor other rebels and outcasts on the galactic stage. They are big on solidarity and shared opposition to power, and Nomadic culture has a strong distaste for authority. PanOceania and Yu Jing are quick to label them deviants and similar, and it only reinforces the belief that most Nomads have that authority and the law suck. Even their allies tend to see them as eccentric weirdos, though they have close ties with the Ariadnans, who see in the Nomads a similar scrappy underdog fighting to survive against much more powerful nations. Their strongest and oldest allies are the Haqqislamites, though many Haqq citizens aren't really sure what to think of the Nomads. Usually, they settle on the Nomads having a solid core of good beliefs even if they tend to do stupid or dangerous things a lot. Most Nomads think of the Haqq as too uptight but fundamentally part of the family. The chief enemy of the Nomad Nation is ALEPH. The Nomads take deep pride in their opposition to the AI, seeing it as a soulless machine that the rest of humanity has simply handed control to. They believe ALEPH is removing the human ability to take care of themselves and destroying privacy and freedom in favor of a society that cannot meaningfully oppose its goals. They believe that ALEPH is not as friendly as it seems, and that it's logical that an enemy AI wouldn't try to destroy humanity immediately. Machines are inherently patient, after all, and so it can wait. If no one speaks up against it, humanity is doomed to become its slaves. The Nomads consider themselves vital whistleblowers who ensure that ALEPH cannot render humans docile or extinct. They also take pride in the fact they have succeeded in standing up to ALEPH. After all - they're still here, right? That's proof enough that the AI is not necessary for a successful and happy life. Praxis shows that ALEPH doesn't control all cutting edge tech, too. While PanO or Yu Jing may argue that Nomad quality of life is lower, the Nomads firmly disagree. Because of its ties to ALEPH, most Nomads distrust Maya not just as a datasphere to use but as a source of any information. Some raise this to the degree of superstition, refusing to use Maya for any purpose for fear of their comlog getting infected by an ALEPH-made virus. Nomad culture holds Maya to be strictly inferior to Arachne in any way that matters, and while more Nomads than would like to admit it do consume Mayacasted entertainment, they often won't do so until it's been mirrored to Arachne and is running on safe, reliable Nomad computers. It is essentially impossible to have a discussion about the benefits of Maya versus Arachne with Nomads - the rejection of Maya for Arachne is a point of cultural pride now. There's no room for argument. There are points in Maya's favor, though. Arachne, as a network, is irrational, contradictory and should really not function anywhere near as well as it does. It is inarguably slower than Maya and that it remains stable despite ALEPH's efforts to wipe it out is nothing less than a miracle. Many claim that the reason ALEPH can't get a handle on Arachne is that it is built on mysticism, which the AI doesn't get. That's very much oversimplifying things - ALEPH's own name is Kabbalistically derived, after all, and it's clearly at home with spiritual concepts. The trick is that ALEPH's conception of mysticism is rooted in a very different school of thought than the one that underlies Arachne. ALEPH's understanding is built on sacred geometries and unchanging symbols. ALEPH's understanding of the spiritual is of universal truth, perceived from many different perspectives. Arachne? Arachne's built on the same sort of ideas as chaos magick. There are no universal truths or consistent symbols - meaning only exists insofar as the community or individual user declares it to. Arachne networks are not linear or stable. Connections are constantly shifting, being repurposed, broken down and reimagined organically. Arachne does not operate on mathematical logic but on semiotics and artificial construction of meaning. It defines itself by consensus and intent and is always changing its own internal structure to match the intent of users at that moment. When it was first made, it was modeled on the neural pathways of early Christian martyrs and saints, delivered to the Nomads by the Holy Observance. Because...somehow the splinter Catholic anti-AI movement had those. No, this is still not going to be explained. Indeed, the book specifically notes that no one asked where the maps came from and that it does not matter if they were fake, objectively - the Observance believed them to be real. Faith and intent were what mattered in designing the initial structure, and that same semiotic design philosophy has continued to guide the evolution of Arachne as a datasphere. ALEPH hates it. Despises it. ALEPH could come to understand any system, no matter how illogical, if it would retain consistent meaning from one moment to the next, but not only is Arachne built on what appears to the AI to be logical nonsense, but its fundamental rules are antithetical to ALEPH's own view of reality as having objective truth and consistency. From a user perspective, the differences between Maya and Arachne are relatively small. Maya is faster, yes. Arachne is slower. That's noticeable. Maya also uses learning algorithms to help guide your searches, which will tend to push you towards the content that those who control Maya want you to see - official news channels, major broadcasts, popular shopping options, that kind of thing. And if that's what you want, Maya is going to do a much better job delivering it to you. Arachne provides you with no guidance whatsoever. It doesn't make any guesses about what it thinks you want or should want. Many Nomads thus argue that while Arachne has a slower connection speed, if you want anything besides the algorithm's favorite results, finding them on Arachne is actually faster. The other important difference is the content. Maya's huge but curated. Most of the content you're going to pull off Maya is going to look relatively professional and well-produced, but won't contain some of the wilder user-made stuff unless you really go digging, and pirated content is deleted pretty quickly. Arachne has no rules, on the other hand. You can get anything there, with no particular quality controls or concerns about legality. Mayatapping, the process by which broadcasts are transferred onto Arachne, is pretty easy for hackers, so it's not hard to get at all the Mayacasts you want on Arachne...but you'd better be careful, because there's no promise that they're not going to be full of malware, booby traps or other dangers, placed there either by the hackers for lulz or by the hypercorps that made the content as an anti-piracy measure. Next time: Krug! Krug! Krug!
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Feb 3, 2022 16:09
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 Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit #4: Thursday Night Throwdown Cyberpunk is the genre of cool gunfights against cyborgs that want to slam you through a brick wall, so it's time to see how we can make that happen. Like I mentioned the last time, the rules for fights are split between two chapters, so I'm going to try to stitch them together as best I can. Chapter 5 contains the rules for movement, turns and actions. It doesn't include attacks, but does include grappling and throwing things. Chapter 7 explains everything else including attacks, and even includes rules for staredowns with NPCs, which is a neat touch. And in case you're wondering, chapter 6 covers netrunning, which is the magic system that only Redeye the Netrunner can actually interface with. More on that in a future update. In the Space-Time of The Red If you've ever played D&D, you'll know how a fight goes: Everyone rolls initiative (d10+REF), characters take turns in descending initiative order, everyone gets one move and one action, last one to die wins. Because it's an eighties game, battle map squares have a real size (2 yards) and turns have a set time length (about 3 seconds). The game uses yards instead of feet to make conversions between metric and imperial easier, and as an European, that's very nice. You get the standard array of actions: You can move again, you can attack enemies, you can wrestle with them, you can do anything else you could do in three seconds, or you can elect to hold your action until a specific initiative count. I've never figured out why you might want to, but it's an option. She shot me down, bang bang Guns are easy! Just point one at a target, roll Marksmanship (REF) and check what your gun's DV to hit at this range is. If you roll over the DV, you deal the weapon's damage. For example, let's say Racer wants to shoot the Rent-A-Cop guarding the parking authority's tow yard. He's maybe ten squares away, which is twenty metres. Racer has a shotgun, and shotgun's DV at 20 metres is 20. Her bonus is 14 so she's going to need a 7 or better to hit him. A clarification: Guns are easy, hitting is hard. Every gun has a DV 15 at point blank range, which is 0112 metres. Pistols, shotguns and SMGs fall off quickly, but rifles actually get more accurate between 1350 metres. The provided maps are only 34 metres long, so rifles are the pro choice as long as you can figure out how to sneak them in. Just like in real life! Autofire rules exist: Guns set to burst get their own range tables and deal their damage once per every bullet that hits, which is actually ridiculous amounts of damage. You can also use suppressive fire to force people to succeed on a Concentration (WILL) check or spend their move to duck to the nearest cover. Awkwardly, the Jumpstart Kit has no rules for that cover, so what you can do about getting shot at is kind of fuzzy. That's unless you have REF at full 10, which lets you dodge bullets:  Dr. McNinja, issue 4 When you dodge bullets, instead of the range-based DV the attacker rolls against your Evasion (DEX) roll. This is only a good idea at short ranges, because the range-based DVs get so harsh that trying to dodge would probably make you easier to hit. Mike Pondsmith's Punch-Out!! The major neat thing about melee is that unlike with guns, you can actually make two attacks with a single action! They're done using either your Melee Weapon (DEX) or Brawling (DEX) skills, always opposed by the defender's Evasion (DEX) check. (Defender wins ties, remember.) The difference between the two is that Brawling attacks use your fleshy body and are completely negated by armour, whereas Melee Weapons include both knives and cybernetic limbs and ignore half the opponent's armour. On the other foot, Brawling attack damage scales based on your BODY stat and at 7 you're already dealing 3d6, which is more than any melee weapon in the Jumpstart.  Art by Neil Branquinho Instead of hitting them over and over, you can also spend your action to Grapple someone, which is an opposed check with Brawling or Athletics. If you succeed, next turn you can just choose to choke them for your BODY stat in damage that ignores armour, with no roll required. Pro tip: Mooks in the book have neither of those skills. Alternatively, you can throw a grappled enemy across the map. That causes the same BODY stat to damage as above, but there's no rules for dealing damage with thrown people and there's no hit points for walls. Turns out we can't actually throw a dude through a wall. I'm sorry guys.  Wait so is armour any good It is! It's real good if you're being shot at. You subtract the armour's Stopping Power from any ranged attacks that hit you. A Rent-A-Cop's kevlar vest has SP 7, which makes them annoyingly tough. Racer's Heavy Armorjack has SP 15, which makes her completely impervious to small caliber bullets. On the one hand, I like that armour works pretty much like real-life bulletproof vests do in that it actually stops bullets, but on the other, drat. If you absolutely need to kill a heavily-armoured opponent, I recommend explosives, or simply choking them out over multiple turns. In an interesting realism-based twist, any hit that goes through the armour is going to shave one point off its Stopping Power, permanently. At one point per successful attack it's not going to be a sustainable tactic to bring a big ol' tank down, but it'll add up over a player character's career. What happens if you lose the fight? If you lose over half of your hit points, you'll start taking a penalty to all your checks. With the pregen characters' hp pools and armour, that requires multiple gunshot wounds. If you lose all your hit points, you're Mortally Wounded, take a steeper penalty, and have to succeed in a Death Save every turn until or die. To make the save, roll a d10 under your BODY, with a -1 for every Death Save you've already passed. You can still take turns like normal, though! You don't pass out or anything, you're just dying.  To save a wounded character, you can take an action to administer First Aid (TECH). It's DV15 to heal a Mortally Wounded character to 1 hit point (at which point they stop dying). You can also use the skill to patch up a regular wounded character, who then need to spend some days recuperating to gain their lost hp back. Soft power Finally, a form of combat is staring someone down until someone cracks. It's simple: You and them roll a d10 + COOL + your Reputation scores, and whoever loses can either back off, or accept a -3 penalty to all checks against the winner. Instead of getting into a shootout with the tow yard guard, Racer could simply walk up and browbeat him into standing aside as she gets her car back. With her 9 COOL against the guard's 5, the odds wouldn't be half bad. Oh, and Reputation is simply a score the GM can use to track how notorious characters are. At 4 points, everyone in your local area know you busted Ironmaster's head open in a bar fight. At 7, someone wrote a news story about you. When you meet new people for the first time, the GM should roll a 1d10: If the result is under your Reputation, the person has heard about you. Of course, that's not always a good thing. Ready to rock Welp, that's another long post. The combat rules are fully functional, I don't really mind them. The combat flow will be familiar to anyone who's played D&D (or watched Crit Role), so you don't need to learn a groggy wargame to run a gunfight. On the other hand, it's just as dull a hit point race as D&D, and the armour mechanics might make it even bigger a slog. On the upside, the grappling rules are about as sleek as you can make them, which is nice, and so are the game's autofire rules. Those two are typically the biggest stumbling blocks in any combat engine and I'm always happy when I see them done in an easy manner. The facedown rules are a cool addition, even though they're kinda out of place in the combat chapter. I'm still not sure if the basic skill system is actually any good. For example, hitting things with guns is either super hard if you're not prepared for it, or super easy if you are. Remember how Racer has +16 on checks to drive cars? The Solo character gets that on checks to shoot guns, in this system where point blank shots are DV15. If you want to play Never-Miss the Killer Gunslinger, you can! But look out for the guys in bulletproof vests!  It's the kind of a system where you can't really make a "fair" challenge for the entire crew, which I think is a valid design choice, but really requires the GM to grok the game. I'm not sure Cyberpunk Red actually understands how its rules work, and even if it does, the Jumpstart certainly doesn't explain any of them. Next time: A short talk about consumer electronics
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Feb 3, 2022 16:49
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Libertad! posted:in the case of Doc Otaku he retired from supervillainy to run a robotics company. So he decided to become a regular villain as a corporate CEO.
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Feb 3, 2022 17:15
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There's just a disembodied right werewolf arm coming out of that dude's chair for some reason.
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Feb 3, 2022 18:59
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Kurieg posted:There's just a disembodied right werewolf arm coming out of that dude's chair for some reason. Not wolf but gorilla. He modified himself because he's that kind of mad geneticist and also maybe a reference to Marvel's obscure Headsmen villain which were all about odd body mods.
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Feb 3, 2022 19:03
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Kurieg posted:There's just a disembodied right werewolf arm coming out of that dude's chair for some reason. I just assumed he was snuggling the guy with the red sunglasses.
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Feb 3, 2022 19:16
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Green guy is gonna feel like poo poo later if he just floats there flexing his quads through an entire budget meeting.
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Feb 3, 2022 19:18
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Infinity RPG: Nomads EccentriCon Every four years, the three Nomad motherships meet up in one spot for the Krug, a festival of trading, partying and general socializing. It's important on many levels, and because it's the biggest holiday that all Nomads can expect to not just celebrate but see almost everyone in the Nomad Nation, it's one of the biggest parties in the Human Sphere. Host systems typically dread the Krug, treating as something akin to a natural disaster, just one that brings some trade with it. And make no mistake, business is booming for the host system during the Krug. While it's a truly gigantic problem, it also brings economic opportunity, representing a chance to make trade deals with all of the Nomad Nation. Corporations, businessmen and all kinds of criminals are about to show up, too, to get in on the action. If you're in the right place at the right time, you can make a fortune - assuming you don't mind the risks involved. That said, you can lose it just as easily if you're not careful. The Krug applies the general Nomad philosophy to all business done, after all - no one will stop you from pursuing a chance, but no one's there to save you from your own mistakes, either. For most Nomads, however, the Krug is more about fun than business. It's less one party and more thousands of concurrent, overlapping parties in all three motherships, catering to every possible group. It's considered a point of pride not to attend the same parties during concurrent Krugs, and to try to get as varied an experience overall as possible across your lifetime, but there's a few subtypes of party that are perennial. gRAVE Yard is giant rave that mixes high energy dance music and avant garde AR patinas plus as many party drugs as possible into a grand psychedelic experience. The party usually takes place near Praxis and is run by Dylan Graves, but the name is more to do with the fact that it's the source of several fatalities each Krug. Dylan is aiming for the next one to be his third consecutive Krug in which less than 10 people die at the gRAVE Yard...but due to a rise in nitrocaine experimentation and the interests of several criminal gambling rings, Tunguska's bookiees are pretty sure the odds are against him. Krug-Chug is more of a floating bar crawl that forms up each Krug. The Krug-Chug Train wanders through all three motherships, plus any nearby planets, space stations or ships they can talk their way onto, as long as there's alcohol. The wandering bar crawl is run by mercenary Javier Martinez, who may be gruff but welcomes anyone that loves a good drink and a bare knuckle brawl. (The Krug-Chug is infamously violent, though rarely in ways involving weapons, and those seeking to avoid getting into barfights are best advised to avoid it and stick to bars it's already been through.) For those looking for higher class fare, there's always the Soirees, a series of elegant galas and balls that require obedience to their own unique, Byzantine rules of etiquette. (Fortunately, complimentary software packages for your geist are provided with invites to help track said rules.) It has become a common hobby for hackers to try and subvert Soiree cybersecurity, and they're often the site of blackmail, secret deals and extremely ill-advised hacking runs. That said, the hosts do not easily forgive interruptions, and it's usually a better idea to take a jail sentence than it is to actively enrage the rich and powerful if you're running a hack at the Soirees. Besides fun and trade, however, the Krugs are vital to Nomad plans over the next four years. They represent one of the only times that all decision-making entities in the nation are in the same place, and a lot of critical policy is developed during a Krug. Long-term plans are made, problems are solved, and politicians can review what is and is not working. It's also common for Nomads to change what mothership they live in during the Krug, because having a large but finite population means ensuring biological diversity in the group. (This is part of why the wild parties are encouraged by the leadership - the number of children conceived during a Krug is much higher than anyone likes to admit, and that helps with long-term stability of the genepool according to Bakunin's researchers.) The final thing decided at any Krug is the location of the next one, and doing so is typically an act of great spectacle and fanfare. Rival governments compete, offering bribes and favors to try and keep the Krug away from their system. If you're good enough at negotiations, you might even be able to foist it off on a rival, forcing them to deal with all the wormhole congestion, crime and mayhem that comes with the Krug. Past all this, anything talking about Nomad culture has to be about individual motherships - so before we get there, let's talk about one of their biggest joint protects: the military. Nomad doctrine is simple: fight as dirty as possible, as cheaply as possible. PanOceania can rely on absurd funding, Yu Jing on having the biggest army in the galaxy, but the Nomads? The Nomads fight by targeting below the belt. They lack the money and resources to compete directly in open warfare, and they specialize in guerrilla tactics, salvaging enemy tech and using weird and wild technology developed in the labs of Praxis. But then, Nomads never even consider fighting fair to begin with, so they're not usually too worried about being unable to stand on a level playing field. The three pillars of Nomad military practice are what they call the 3 Ts - technology, tenacity, treachery. By using them, the Nomad Military Force is able to defy the odds and come out on top in any situation, in theory, as long as the motherships work together. Of course, keeping them together is the challenge - like the motherships, the Jurisdictional Commands all operate differently. That said, they are fully aware they all need each other. Corregidor might have the muscle and the tactics, but they rely on Bakunin's technology to operate, and the technology can only be developed with Tunguskan funding. That funding is secured by the work of Corregidoran muscle. It all cycles, it all works if everyone does their part, and it all falls apart when they don't. NMF philosophy encourages lateral thinking to take advantage of all that each Jurisdictional command can offer, at least. True victory is hard to come by, but opportunity is not, if you have cunning and the skill to seize on any advantage. The tactics laid down by the Mexican General early in the Nomad history are simple - winning a war is often going to mean taking heavy losses, so the better way to win is to delay your own loss until your enemy decides that victory is no longer worth the cost. There are no other rules - fairness is a lie, honor is a weakness to be exploited. Every tactic is worth using, no victory is too dirty to contemplate. War crimes are only war crimes if you get caught, and no one's ever truly ready for really unorthodox efforts. NMF combat is rarely pretty, as a result, but it gets results. Each Jurisdictional Command is aware that they're unlikely to get reinforcements if their mothership is attacked, so each attempts to maintain a state of constant readiness. They aren't really conventional military forces - that approach simply isn't workable for the rebels and anarchists that make up much of the Nomad Nation. By most standards, the NMF is an undisciplined mob, plus given more vacation time and personal discretion than a soldier should expect to get. However, the internal culture of the NMF means that vacation time is rarely used, and even during off time, soldiers are expected to be able to drop anything and be ready for a fight at a moment's notice. A Nomad soldier is always armed, maintains physical conditioning at all times, and knows a surprise inspection could come any day. Nomad military training is heavily gamified, with leaderboards dynamically tracking success in training exercises and range statistics. Soldiers compete for weekly high scores, and it's common to see young soldiers bearing their guns even when relaxing at a beach or pool. Official doctrine says that combat should be never allowed to get into the Motherships - and since the Violent Intermission before the Nomad Nation was formally recognized, it never has. The Nomads make sure of that. There's just too many civilians and the ships are too fragile - open warfare inside them would be devastating. Second, any war must be kept as brief as possible. Extended conflict would destroy the Nomad Nation by disrupting their economy and industry, which cannot match those of the superpowers. Siege is simply something that can't be allowed to happen, and drawn-out wars are nearly as bad. Last, the Nomads must seize the initiative and control the battleground, deciding when and where fights happen. They must always be two steps ahead of the enemy, because if they fight where the enemy is ready, they have no hope. NMF tactics are infamously proactive and fast, answering any attack with an overkill of retaliation in hopes that it will dissuade further problems. The Nomads don't like to start wars, but when they fight, they are not afraid to violate the Consilium Conventions, and they will make an active goal of destroying the political will of their enemy to fight, targeting civilian hearts and minds to turn them against the conflict and wielding all financial means to target politicians in the enemy nation. The Nomads beleive in overwhelming retaliation, because as far as they're concerned, anything less than a scorched earth effort to make an enemy regret going after them is asking for trouble from much more heavily armed foes. Next time: Anarchosocialists...in....SPAAAAAACE
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Feb 3, 2022 19:45
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ICON 1.3 is in Prerelease right now. So a big pdf but no bookmarks, not all final art, etc. About to go through it now because I have two games coming up, but the teasers we've seen have been very interesting. Also they added an in-universe collectible card game for your characters to play, which is kind of sweet. For my review purposes I think (people feel free to weigh in) I will finish the character classes and then tie a bow on it.
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Feb 4, 2022 03:13
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Infinity RPG: Nomads A Spaceship Run By Leftist Academics  When Bakunin was christened, several decades ago, many believed it was doomed to failure. After all, how could an anarchist collective of activists, radicals and dissidents, none of whom agreed with each other, survive? But, in fact, it has become the driving social force behind the Nomad Nation, the brewing home of societal and cultural revolution and the epicenter of Nomad memetic warfare against the rest of the Human Sphere. While the rest of humanity may not end up following their lead, few can deny that they have a great influence on how people view the world now. The ship and its people are vibrant, bright and deeply chaotic to look at. The entire thing looks built from spare parts and populated by a random population sample chosen from across all of humanity. Visitors often assume they've shown up during some kind of festival, since the place is always brightly lit up, full of music and public dancing and all kinds of live performances. The ship's bazaars never close and are always bustling, and the AR overlays of the datasphere that permeates the ship encourage visitors to explore and pursue interest. Most of those AR cues are, like the ship's construction, layers and layers of redundancy, failsafes and patches transformed into permanent solutions. Everything may be bright and vibrant, but the exposed cables and vents often seem to mean everything is still being built. It's not - the decision to leave things exposed is aesthetic, not practical. (It'd be deeply foolish to put a spacecraft at such obvious risk, after all.) The design is intended to make the place feel adventurous and new, which most Nomads consider homey, and many of these exposed systems are intended as part of teaching games for children. It's assumed mischevious kids will try to get into everything, so Bakuningives them plenty of superficial systems which they can screw around with with minimal consequence. (Corregidorans often find this endlessly frustrating, because it means Bakunian kids visiting Corregidor get into stuff that actually requires maintenance and quickly get into real trouble, often ending up on punitive maintenance teams for a while.) Are there native plants and animals? It's a spaceship, so no. But plenty of people do raise gardens in their habitation modules, and the favorite plant is cactus - it's tough, hardy and colorful, and some cacti produce tasty fruits or psychoactive chemicals, which the Bakunians appreciate. As for animals...well, there's a rat problem because of the Praxis labs and their biological experimentation. A lot of lab rats have gotten loose over the years, and early on someone decided the solution was to bring in cats. Unfortunately, the cat population exploded, and feral cats are now actually a more common urban pest than rats. Between the rats and food left behind by tourists, the cat population is immense and easily fed. The fact that they eat trash from across the Human Sphere has also made the cats a breeding ground for all kinds of weird intestinal parasites, and the average Bakunian alley cat has multiple different kinds of alien tapeworms and usually suffers from incontinence. The people of Bakunin consider the cats pests, but also have complex cultural beliefs about them. Cats figure prominently in Bakunian urban legends of all kinds, particularly a weird Jungian belief put forth by early philosophers on the ship. Specifically, they theorized that while the inner ego slept in a sheut while a human was dormant in a Cube, the rest of their self, their out persona, would need to be stored somewhere else. Because of the deaths of the Phantom Conflicts, many Bakunians lept from this to seeing the traits of lost loved ones appearing in the behavior of feral cats. (What this means philosophically is rarely examined.) The belief that cats can contain portions of a human soul or spirit is a major part of Bakunian urban legend and superstition now, and it the belief has become common in Bakunian culture, making the majority of the ship resistant to any effort to remove the creatures even if they are filthy pests. It's becoming something of a public health problem, actually. Bakunin's economy is one which caters to the desire to experience things. Its pillars are tourism, entertainment, and scientific research. Bakunin is a common tourist destination at all times, and the tourist industry is the most obvious economic sector, with only the planet Varuna rivaling its popularity for non-seasonal stuff. Bakunin does not offer accomodations on the scale of a PanO resort vessel, sure, but its nightlife is peerless, it is home to more artists and performers than anywhere else in all kinds of genres, and if you like live shopping, there's nowhere with a more active and vibrant marketplace. The tourism industry is largely what determines when and where Bakunin travels, which it does with much greater frequency than the other motherships. It's costly in fuel, but the tourist income offsets that, and Bakunin's route is timed to coincide with holidays and off-seasons for the planets it visits, to maximize how much disposable income and free time the locals have to spend. The ship's business leaders make an effort to cultivate an air of transgressive freedom to get people aboard. That's not to say Bakunin isn't all about both transgression and freedom, but the tourist traps aboard are happy to lie, mislead and embellish if that means more visitors, and generally speaking the place is trying to sell itself on being Space Vegas as well as an anarchosocialist experiment. Tourists are easily marked by a Social Energy patina cue, which tells the locals to apply the tourist premium to all sales, but frankly, many tourists don't need the mark - they act the part, gawking and staring. Tourism may be the biggest industry aboard, but the biggest export is media product. News, entertainment, research services and blackmail dealers all make a killing aboard Bakunin, and Arachne is host to more content than any single person could ever consume or even organize. It's still smaller, on the whole, than the Mayasphere, but Arachne's status as a free and unregulated network has also allowed it to amplify niche voices rather then rely on ALEPH's curation or the sponsorship of corporate overlords. Anything risky, edgy or unfiltered is likely to do better on Arachne than Maya, and most Arachne media channels flow out of Bakunin. This is where you go for hard-hitting docuseries, holomovies pushing the boundaries of the industry's rules, or even experiential sensaseries that will stream emotions and sensations directly into your brain to let you feel what others were feeling. Bakunin's got a massive independent film industry, and more content comes out of the mothership than most entire planets. The music scene is no less vibrant, with tons of live performances that are rarer elsewhere. In the media environment of Bakunin, no topic is taboo or forbidden, though people are free to reject something because it's in bad taste or offensive. The audience is the ultimate arbiter of success, not corporate mandates - and given how much money tends to flow in for the product, most people around the Human Sphere seem happy with what Bakunin produces. (It helps that Bakunians are raised on memetic theory and the tools of packaging ideas in the most persuasive way. Bakunin likes to package ideas into bite-sized packages, setting and following instant trends and setting up catchy iconography and memetic earworms to spread their ideas. Efforts by others to tap into these, especially ALEPH's attempts, tend to be a year or so behind the times and easy to spot.) The bulk of Bakunin's funding, however, is neither in tourism nor entertainment products. It's in science. Praxis and particularly the Black Labs and Black Ships, offer the chance to pursue cutting edge research, unfettered by rules or regulations or even conventional morality. This is an attractive offer for many of the best scientists in the Human Sphere, who can pursue their work without need to consult review boards, ethics advisors or even corporate directors. The work that comes out of Praxis has proven extremely valuable in many fields...but it's also produced many horrific creations and hideous human rights abuses. And, of course, the funding still has to come from somewhere - discovery doesn't pay for itself. Therefore, many of Praxis' researchers split their time between their pet projects and the more lucrative corporate contracts in fields like bioscience, military development or narcotics production. Many people are more than happy to throw money at setting research bounties on Bakunin to get ownership over the strange, eccentric and undeniably effective results that these scientists produce. Next time: A Society of Societies
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Feb 4, 2022 18:10
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I kinda appreciate the folk spirituality around cats
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Feb 4, 2022 22:16
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So it's the Internet, basically.
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Feb 5, 2022 00:26
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Quackles posted:So it's the Internet, basically. It very much seems to be an idealised, successful internet community. I'm guessing the hypercapitalist ship will handle the bitcoin sea-steadying turbo-libertarianism. This ship is the chill idealised-webforums-of-our-youths, chatrooms and DEFCON and SF conventions end of the space.
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Feb 5, 2022 15:17
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Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit #5: Cyber Cyber Cyber Cyber A short update, because I realized I can't squeeze the entire Netrunning chapter into half a post no matter how much I don't care about Cyber Whizzards. Let's talk about cyberware! Also I didn't realize this when I started but Pussy Cartel reviewed the core book back when it was brand new. Because we'll be touching on an iconic part of the Shadowrun lore, here's a link to her review of the matching chapter of the core: Click! Putting the Cyber In the Punk If you know what I mean.  In the neon-lit darkness of the near future, everyone gets cyber mods. People get them to correct medical issues, to plug into their Cybertruck, to cheat at tennis, and simply to look wicked cool. As a Cyberpunk, you're expected to be on the cutting edge of the trends and pack all the coolest, excitingest, most dangerous mods. Not only will they give you the edge you need to survive, people will also take you more seriously. Or something. (Personal conjecture. Game rules sold separately.) But uh, maybe don't just chop off perfectly functional limbs to replace them with katana swords. In the setting there's a thing called Cyberpsychosis that sometimes happens when someone struggling with "psychopathic tendencies" figure they would rather be less human-shaped and more blender-shaped. It can feed into a psychological feedback loop of some kind where the poor sap just disconnects entirely from humanity. When that happens, you get Cyberpsychos, who flip out and kill people I guess? It's enough of a menace that the police keep all kinds of Super-Heavy Action Response Teams with cool backronyms ready for dealing with cybered-up maniacs. Because it's a post-9/11 world, I'm going to read that with a grain of salt, which probably isn't intended. Although there sure are a lot of illustrations of faceless military dudes loving about In the core game, this can apparently also happen to PCs? Thankfully, in the Jumpstar, it can't. They didn't even include the Humanity stat, which is great. In the Jumpstart they explicitly mention that stuff like cosmetic body mods or medical operations like prostheses have no risk of happening, and that therapy is easily available for people who want to get cybered but not flip out. The intent isn't that getting cybered up inherently makes you "less human", but the game wants to still play around in that meat/machine idea space. It's still kind of a weird match with the idea that everyone also gets their eyes replaced with video cameras and installs a calendar app in their brain. Anyway the chapter then collects all of the pregen characters' cyber mods in one convenient place, and let me tell you these are some of the most vanilla mods imaginable. You can get your cybereyes with light enhancement or recording functions or a connection to your smart so you don't have to use the actual sights on the gun. Cyberlegs let you jump good. There's a whole bit about cyberarms. They're cool! But they can't make miracles, because your shoulder is still probably flesh and bone, and will pop right off if you overdo it. Even then, cyberarms are strong as heck, never tire, don't feel pain, have hit points (unlike any other piece of gear in the book) and you can conceal weapons in them. You can replace your fingers with claws! It's illegal but who cares, so are you. Alternatively, you can mount a spool of monofilament wire into a finger and garrote people. It's neat, but also a really weird mod for Forty the Rockerboy:  More like Agent Forty-Seven am I right? And of course you can get the drug implant that boosts your Initiative checks for five turns, which, uh, I don't think actually does anything? Maybe they meant that it moves you up in the initiative order so you can shoot the bad guys before they can shoot you back? Are you supposed to activate it on a hunch that poo poo's going to go down in the next six or so seconds? The real meat of this chapter is in all the setting detail they've included. It paints a picture of a world where cyberware is ubiquitous and fashionable, and not just something you buy to get +1 to skill check and forget about (which is what many do mechanically). You're really encouraged to go all out on the cool and make every detail of your character pop. So when pop into the cyber shop at the mall to get your eyes upgraded, maybe pay a bit extra to get iridescent purple irises. Don't settle for a plain cyberarm, get it airbrushed with sick flames that flicker under blacklight! Get your cyberlegs sculpted into 1980s retro art pieces! Go wild. But not like, too wild because let's be honest, any Edgerunner Cyberpunk out there is probably exactly the kind of high-strung sociopath who would absolutely flip out and start killing people if they did too much cyberware. I don't really have anything more to add to this chapter, since it has so little meat. There aren't even any fully sick mods like having robot mantis arms for chopping people up. But at least it's fun, and it's got the best piece of art in the entire book:  "Métisse" by Sebastian Szmyd Lmao I just noticed her tits are just hanging out, no wonder they cropped the illustration to her face. Next time: I've never actually seen either Hackers or Tron
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Feb 6, 2022 12:15
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I said it once and I'll say it again: Cyberpunk writers, you can have cyberpsychosis be a thing- just admit that it would likely be much more of a "PCP user' type boogieman that police would use to justify arming up and brutality. we all know that the media inflates things completely out of bounds and it's not hard to believe that occasionally a mentally disturbed person would freak out and kill with military grade hardware. basically just remember that in cyberworld ACAB is even more true than here and now.
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Feb 6, 2022 12:55
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By popular demand posted:I said it once and I'll say it again: I suspect the "crazed gunman on PCP"/"mass shooter" was part of Pondsmith's inspiration in the first place, in addition to Bubblegum Crisis boomers and a thematic point about dehumanization under Reaganism.
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Feb 6, 2022 13:33
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By popular demand posted:I said it once and I'll say it again:
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Feb 6, 2022 17:27
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Hostile V posted:...poo poo you make a good point, "cyberpsychosis as a magic word for probable cause/"he was reaching for SOMETHING and I saw a gun"" is a good angle to take. Been a while since I played it, but I think even the 2077 video game has it so that 'cyberpsychosis' tends to be from a bunch of factors like getting your drivers scrambled or having your corporate overlords use you as a field test rather than someone's soul juice leaking out every time the ripperdoc pokes them.
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Feb 6, 2022 17:38
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Pakxos posted:Been a while since I played it, but I think even the 2077 video game has it so that 'cyberpsychosis' tends to be from a bunch of factors like getting your drivers scrambled or having your corporate overlords use you as a field test rather than someone's soul juice leaking out every time the ripperdoc pokes them. There's a couple of different factors with cyberpsychosis in 2077, none of them really relating to the fact you become less human when you overclock your nervous system or put blades in your arms. Like in one instance it comes from the fact some of them were soldiers and are cut off from healthcare once they no longer had a war the corp needed them for, and then sometimes the corp does trigger it not only to field test something but also to motivate people to buy protection or - even better - get implants themselves because you never know, right? Dawgstar fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Feb 6, 2022 |
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Feb 6, 2022 17:51
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Pakxos posted:Been a while since I played it, but I think even the 2077 video game has it so that 'cyberpsychosis' tends to be from a bunch of factors like getting your drivers scrambled or having your corporate overlords use you as a field test rather than someone's soul juice leaking out every time the ripperdoc pokes them. All the cyber psycho victims you go after there have a backstory and all of them are sympathetic.
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Feb 6, 2022 17:52
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Even the rules in Red pretty much support cyberpsychosis not really being "real"; if you get therapy (which I rather suspect includes "medical care and training to help adjust you to the thing you plugged into your nervous system") your EMP loss can be knocked down a ton. So it pretty much makes cyberpsychosis a thing only in those too poor to afford having actual care taken of them. Of COURSE the guy who got their arm blown off and was only able to have it fixed with a cheap probably used cyber replacement then kicked out the door an hour later with maybe some pain meds could develop psychological issues afterwards. And the only social response to the situation is to make an even more heavily armed police kill squad to deal with people instead of any preventative measures.
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Feb 6, 2022 21:47
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Infinity RPG: Nomads We Are All Of Us Bakunians take the Nomad love of individuality and push it near to its limits. There is pretty much nowhere quite as diverse as Bakunin, and yet they are linked by bonds of solidarity. While they think of themselves as individuals first, they still belong to groups, and indeed, many Bakunians define themselves by the groups they associate with - most notably which habitation module they belong to, but not exclusively. Whether you think yourself as a Nomad, a Bakunian, a module member or whatever else first may vary, but most Bakunians have very strong attachments to the groups they feel they are part of, which provide them with their own unique social context. Bakunin my prioritize expression of one's individual nature above other things, but the Bakunian identity, eclectic though it is, is definitely a thing. The commune-like habitation modules form the core of Bakunian culture. Within a module, the great Nomad Nation is not permitted to interfere in how things are run. This includes the environment, which is wholly determined by the members of the commune - if they want to set up a world which is mostly virtual reality, they're free to, though most do not. Rather, the part of reality which most communes tend to manipulate is the societal part - how people should live. Some communes are radical egalitarians that consider gender an outdated construct, and legally that is the case within their module. In others, the only law is rule by the strong, with physical power dominating. Others are simply places operating under the tenets of a specific religion. And logically, you'd think this would lead to conflict. No other place in human history has quite attempted this level of multicultural existence - not the extent of legally allowing individual communes to set up their own internal laws. In practice, it...mostly works. Social Energy kind of helps regulate things by producing economic and social consequences for those who engage in public behavior that others see as unhealthy, so that it's kept to the modules to themselves. The fact that while you may hate a rival module's philosophy, you can always go home to your own, where it has no power whatsoever, has kept things mostly civil, as well. Bakunin is one of the few places in the Human Sphere where people coexist despite mutually incompatible beliefs while not usually coming to blows over it, mostly because any given philosophy can only be enforced within the bounds of the module in which it is practiced, and therefore cannot force itself on those who do not consent to it. (At least one political philosopher has noted that most things can be made to work if you keep the scale small enough, which is what Bakunin modules tends to do - there's not room for more than a hundred people per module, tops, and that'd be pretty cramped.) The one really universal factor about the philosophies of the Bakunian modules is that they don't tend to be good at taking things slow. Bakunin is not a place that knows how to practice moderation in many things, and its fashion, music and food all tend to the extremes. Outsiders often take a while to adjust to how loud and vibrant the place is. The divide between "core" culture and module cultures can be very, very great, though most modules will tend to set up little displays or neighborhoods around their entrances that reflect their nature. You can find communists, neo-anarchists, corporatists and more all within a short walk of each other. And you'd assume that'd make it hard to maintain public order. Correctly, as it turns out. The Moderator Corps that police Bakunin do not have an easy job. Their purpose is to uphold and enforce the Core laws within the Core, but to do so, they have to be able to managed the social expectations of the various modules. Because space is at a premium aboard the ship, the Moderators try very hard to not put anyone in jail - they just don't have that much jail space. It means you get cops who are often much more well-versed in psychology and social anthropology than they are in criminal investigation, and whose main punishment is often punitive reduction in Social Energy levels. However, not all disputes can be solved quite so easily or peacefully...and they're still cops. When they find themselves unable to continue a dialogue with residents or unable to start one, the Moderators don't tend to hold back. Where other nations might consider military, police and anti-terror agency to be different groups, Bakunin puts it all on the Moderators. They can call on support from the Observance or the Morlock Groups, but each Moderator is expected to be a physical powerhouse who can maintain their cool no matter how weird the situation is. The Morlock Groups are...well, technically speaking they're a social program. Technically. Gettign assigned to one of them means that you have washed out of just about any kind of polite society and have been deemed violent or antisocial. To make use of you, Bakunin puts you in the Morlocks and pumps you up with metachemicals to keep you from going off on people until they say so. Many of the Morlock Groups are Chimeras (who have been genemodded to hell and back), and while in Chimera gangs, time served among the Morlocks is respected, few chose willingly to join and pay off their crimes by being the shock forces of the ship. That said, for the still very small Uplift population, joining the Morlock Groups is a way to fit in, because the Chimeras working alongside them are unlikely to question them about their status as people - not when they're a catgirl, a cybernetic boar and a sharkman. Many Uplifts also consider it a way to give back to the ship, even if the pay is bad and conditions are harsh, and many of them require no metachemical controls whatosever - they don't need to be forced to behave, and they don't often need chemical help tapping into violent instincts when the situation calls for it. The Observance is worth talking about specifically, because they're the most unique and bizarre religion aboard Bakunin, which is saying something. The full name is the Observance of Saint Mary of the Knife, Our Lady of Mercy, and they are very technically Christian. They don't proselytize, and prospective members must withstand difficult and exhausting trials to be accepted. They are radicals and fanatics who are not well understood even by their fellow Nomads, but they're considered part of the wider family...just the part you probably don't want to talk to. The part that's good to have around when ALEPH comes calling, because they hate the AI more than anyone and they're often immensely skilled hackers. Yes, they're a weirdo blood cult, but...well, that's just something you learn to accept on Bakunin. Live and let live. Many assume the Observance are all-female, which they prefer. It's not quite true. Rather, the faith is a very bizarre take on the feminine divine, and they believe that biologically male bodies are incapable of complete purity or enlightenment, which means that they cannot become leaders within the Sisterhood. However, they make a distinction between gender and physical sex. If you want to join the Observance and be able to be anything but a Sin-Eater, you will need to get your body changed to be female, but they are not going to question what your actual gender identity is. That doesn't matter to them; what matters is that your body is capable of housing an enlightened and pure mind. If you refuse to exist in anything but a biologically male vessel...you can still join, so long as you are physically able to endure their vision of purity. However, you must be a Sin-Eater. Sin-Eaters are all biologically male, and they seek purity and atonement for the state of biological males through suffering. They are important as the giant muscled protectors of the rest of the order, but they are never allowed to be leadership figures. All this said: most of the Human Sphere is entirely egalitarian on matters of sex and gender, and the Observance's weird obsession with physical sex absolutely is alien and scary to most people. The Observance are fine with that because being feared is a useful weapon. The Observance do not believe their version of salvation is meant for everyone. It is a goal of the worthy - those willing to use any weapon to destroy ALEPH, the digital devil. They are state-sanctioned terrorists and radical cultists, and they don't care that you think so, because the only thing that matters to them is the work of purging ALEPH from humanity. Next time: Neighborhoods in the Core
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Feb 6, 2022 22:07
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More cyberpunk games need to have gun combat inspired by Albert Pyun's "Nemesis". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG2X31cPNxE I feel like it's the right blend of goofy and awesome that'd fit Shadowrun.
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Feb 7, 2022 00:48
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Fivemarks posted:More cyberpunk games need to have gun combat inspired by Albert Pyun's "Nemesis". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG2X31cPNxE I feel like it's the right blend of goofy and awesome that'd fit Shadowrun. None of these people with subdermal armor brought APDS to fight the other people with subdermal armor, smdh.
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Feb 7, 2022 00:56
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Pakxos posted:Been a while since I played it, but I think even the 2077 video game has it so that 'cyberpsychosis' tends to be from a bunch of factors like getting your drivers scrambled or having your corporate overlords use you as a field test rather than someone's soul juice leaking out every time the ripperdoc pokes them. There are three main causes in 2077 IIRC 1) Experimental/trial cyberware loving up your nervous system 2) Lack of proper medical care that your implants require, causing cascading fuckups 3) Purely human issues that lead to someone going Killdozer using the equipment available to them (heavy cyber) There's also a definite correlation between getting tons of highly-visible murder-optimised cyberware and being an rear end in a top hat who enjoys killing people, but the causal link runs the other way. The Lone Badger fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Feb 7, 2022 |
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Feb 7, 2022 01:47
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wiegieman posted:None of these people with subdermal armor brought APDS to fight the other people with subdermal armor, smdh. The majority of the combat operatives in that movie are full-body conversions. All metal and ceramic with almost no meaty bits. 
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Feb 7, 2022 05:03
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