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Soulbound: Champions of Destruction Punch Harder The Ironjawz are simple and direct. You know what they're going to do: they're going to put on the heaviest armor they can find and then charge at the nearest enemy they can find, screaming with joy and trying to beat it to death with whatever large metal weapon comes to hand. They want to be the biggest and the strongest, and everyone knows you only get bigger by taking on tougher foes. Older, more veteran Ironjawz are often twice the mass of their younger companions, and their constant pursuit of conflict leads their clans to nomadic life, seeking out new battles wherever they go. Legend has it that the first Ironjawz were a warclan that discovered the power of armor in ancient days, long before Sigmar awoke. Specifically, it is said that they saw the work of the ealiest metal-crafters and seized it, then bullied the spirits of iron and steel into obedience under threat of violence. Ever since, there have always been armored, massive orruks claiming the name Ironjawz. In the modern day, their culture has even produced Gordrakk, the greatest Megaboss alive today, who claims he will batter down the gates of Azyr and invade it when all of the powers of Chaos could not - and he may well be right. The Ironjawz are easily distinguished by their armor, which they are never without. It is often made from plates of scrap metal, beaten into shape by their fists and headbutts and then painted in bright colors to identify their clan. Most of them don't bother with helmets, and the ones they do wear tend to have large grilles on the front so that the orruk within can smell things, like fear or people trying to hide. The edges of the armor plates are usually quite sharp and spiky, with the rusted blades of the armor just as deadly as the choppas and other weapons they wield. The Ironjawz are bold and direct, but this shouldn't be mistaken for stupidity - few are more resourceful or able to turn losses around as easily. They just prefer to take the direct approach of yelling at nearby civilizations to come get some if they think they're hard. Ironjawz usually have pretty simple goals - find an enemy tougher than the last one you beat, and beat them soundly. Then do it again. And again. Ironjawz don't always have consistent target criteria - they've gone after monsters, cities, even gods. They are, however, notably stubborn, and once an Ironjaw picks an enemy, they're unlikely to give up on the idea of fighting them until one side has decisively lost. They don't believe in trickery or plans, really. Theirs is the path of Gork, of cunning brutality, not brutal cunning, and they understand that overwhelming force will defeat any clever strategy if used enough. This isn't to say they don't know how to avoid traps - they do, quite well, and can even set them if they feel it's warranted. They also aren't all just shock troopers - smaller orruks are usually bullied into serving more support roles, as are any local grots. The main thing is that when given a difficult problem, their preferred solution is to tear through it with main force and not worry about the subtleties, and any traps or clever strategems they might use exist solely to get them closer to being able to just have a contest of main strength. Each warclan is made out of five mobs, with 'mob' just being a word they use for a group of orruks that obey a single boss. Five mobs because five makes a fist, which you can count on your fingers. That's handy when teaching the yoofs, after all. There are different kinds of clan Fists - Weirdfists led by Weirdnob shamans, Ardfists, Gorefists, Brutefists...really, whatever kind of fist the boss leading it feels like calling it. Five Fists make up a Brawl, which is about as big as any warclan can feasibly get before splintering. After all, the Megaboss that leads a Brawl must always be ready to dole out punches and kicks to keep the lesser bosses in line, and eventually there gets to be too many to keep track of if you let it get too big. Whatever their size, warclans rarely stay in a single place very long, instead wandering from battlefield to battlefield. They tend to travel in wide circles that they're familiar with, though, so that they can find and adopt the yoofs that emerge from the old battlefields. Others hang out at places marked by the scars of past Waaagh!s or the sites where great godbeasts died at the hands of Gorkamorka. These are holy sites to the orruks, places where they can soak in the power of the Great Green. Inevitably, however, even these more sedentary clans will get bored and start fighting each other if not given an enemy to go after. The Ironjawz are the rawest, simplest expression of orrukness, and even those at the bottom of the pecking order are big, tough sorts known as Ardboys, aspiring warriors who join the Ironjawz from smaller, less Gorky warclans. They each hope to earn the favor of their bosses by proving themselves so that they can join the ranks of the true Ironjawz, called Brutes. Weirdnobs and Warchanters handle the spiritual needs of the warclans, such as they are, so that the rest of the group can focus on just hitting things. That said, even the mystics and priests of the Ironjawz are Ironjawz, and more than ready to get krumpin' the moment the chance presents itself. They don't bother with any mounts or beasts less tough than they are, and so they are drawn to the massive Gruntas, boar-like monsters that they tend to coat in as much metal as the animal can carry and still move at anything like a decent clip, or the massive, draconian creatures known as Maw-Krushas, which the greatest bosses can beat into submission and something approaching obedience. An Ironjaw clan can vary wildly in size, from barely big enough to have a full Fist to a giant coalition of warbands that's barely held together by the charisma and power of their Megaboss. The Megaboss in charge of the clan is the person that the clan's culture will emulate over any other influence, serving as a role model for the lesser orruks to follow. Many clans end up named for their Megaboss - Bigfist's Bigboyz or whatever. Others go for a name that's meant to sound cool and intimidating or based on their home territory rather than being tied to a specific Megaboss, and these tend to be the ones with greater longevity by virtue of not having to change their name whenever the Megaboss changes. Each clan also maintains their own unique colors, which they will typically bully the local grots into painting on their armor and gear, and will have their own traditional battle chants and fight songs. There are few actual cultural differences outside these aesthetic ones between various clans, though they often have very strong rivalries between each other. Each clan is, after all, an outlet for the Gorky need to smash stuff and show off power. The specific traditions matter, but not more than the act of causing destruction itself. Despite their relatively small number of differences, though, each clan knows it's the best clan and that the others are all just posers who need to be krumped so they see the error of their ways. (Or they just like using this as an excuse to fight each other, insofar as an excuse is needed.) Ironjawz will sign on to just about any Waaagh! that seems fun. They join forces with ogors, other orruk cultures and even grots for the simple reason of looking for a good fight to throw themselves into. They rarely ask much about why the fight's happening - that doesn't really matter to them. They just want to fight, and they'll keep going with the Waaagh! as long as there's an enemy. Once they run out of enemies, they'll start fighting each other, and those Ironjawz who are powerful enough to wander as lone champions rather than clan warriors are often swept up into other conflicts. They'll usually end up siding with the group most tied to Destruction on the basis that they seem to be having the most fun, but not always. When they form alliances themselves, it's usually because they've set their sights on a really dangerous foe and want to have the toughest ladz around to help them get the target's attention. Ironjawz actually tend to adapt pretty easily to some Order Bindings. After all, when Sigmar and Gorkamorka first met in the Realms, they said nothing. Sigmar just freed the orruk god from the Living Avalanche Drakatoa, and then they fought each other to a standstill, flattening entire mountains in their brutal, joyful battle. Eventually, they both fell to the ground, too tired to move any more, and laughed madly because they saw a kindred spirit in each other. Ironjawz, likewise, will quickly join a Binding if they find one of the other members impressive or cool, often eager to get a rematch or find bigger foes to fight together. They rarely feel much actual anger or dislike towards the forces of Order or even their cities - their drive to smash cities and fight armies is because they are there and it looks like fun, after all, rather than an ideological distaste for organized civilization. They're happy to fight anything that's big enough to be seen on the horizon. However, it's also worth noting that Gorkamorka eventually left the Pantheon of Order because he kept getting told not to fight things. Soulbound Ironjawz are also prone to getting irritated and antsy if they are kept from picking random fights too much, and may well challenge the rest of the Binding for the title of the boss if they grow annoyed enough. It's usually a good idea to find something they can fight to stay entertained in more complex situations - which fortunately is rarely a problem, given how many enemies exist in the world. We get only three subfactions. The Bloodtoofs are reckless sorts, willing to charge headlong into any portal they find without consideration for the risks involved or the dangers that might be on the other side. They just want to keep on riding their gruntas across the realms, smashing whatever blocks their path for the joy of speed and violence. That they so rarely run into portals that drop them into the Realm of Chaos or the Aetheric Void or other corrupted and likely fatal locations is baffling, though. The Weirdnobs claim that Gorkamorka guides them, while others say they're just absurdly lucky, but whatever the case, they always seem to end up somewhere they can survive and find a fight relatively easily. They were bright red armor with flame decorations, and their goal is to emulate Gorkamorka's pilgrimage of rampaging across the realms, finding the end, turning around, and rampaging all the way back. While many signed on with Grodrakk's Waaagh! a few years back, most of them have ended up forgetting its original goals and are returned to just randomly charging across the world for the thrill of the race. They hold speed to be the highest virtue, even over raw strength, and there are often competitions between their warriors to see who can get the most kills in the shortest time. The Bloodtoofs are known for their far-ranging travels, and many are experts in tracking and survival as a result. They are often deeply familiar with many kinds of terrain and know just how to navigate them all, which makes them very useful to a Binding that plans to go anywhere off the beaten track. The Bloodtoofs that become Soulbound usually do so out of a desire to see new things and find new thrills, having seen so much already. They often feel that Gorkamorka's guidance is no longer protection - it's a leash, keeping them away from new and more exciting lands. By joining a Binding, they give up those protections in return for the power and magic to withstand even the transformative nature of Tzeentch's Labyrinth, allowing them to race their gruntas across places even the rest of their clan has never seen, from the starry void to the stormfields of Azyr. The subfaction bonus is Hunt and Crush: When you enter a realmgate, teleport, crash-land, hurl yourself via catapult or otherwise travel recklessly and with no regard for your own safety, you will always end up at your destination unscathed, somehow. Further, once you arrive, you are fuckin' pumped as hell and get a bonus to Melee until you next Rest. Lastly, your Archetype always has the Loyal Companion (Grunta) on its list even though Grunta is usually not a valid selection for Loyal Companion. Da Choppas believe that Gorkamorka has given them a divine mission: smash statues, burn gardens and otherwise commit vandalism across the realms, to teach the so-called "more refined" cultures that they are, in fact, very boring. The clan is quite numerous and extremely enthusiastic about its cause, as well as evangelical about it. They believe every warclan must participate in the smashing and mud-throwing, to the point that if they find an orruk clan that isn't doing anything, they are likely to start attacking them and shouting about the cause until their target either joins up or beats them up. Only once the local orruks are sufficiently rowdy do da Choppas move on. They're surprisingly attentive to detail, too, carefully painting blue-and-white checkerboard patterns on their armor so that everyone knows who they are. The warclan is ultimately led by the burned, severed head of its old Megaboss, as interpreted through the Weirdnob that carries said head around on a stick. While many artists and architects weep at the devastation da Choppas wreak, the clan itself is convinced that their cause is holy and beautiful, and that the graffiti-laden, mud-covered piles they leave behind are legitimate and transformative art pieces. They may lack in artistic technique, but they more than make up for it with enthusiasm. Their evangelical nature leads them to gather up groups of not just Ironjawz but as many Destruction peoples as they can find to join the crusade of vandalism and hooliganism, and the more ambitious ones believe they can spread their way even to humans, duardin and aelves. These evangelists are the most likely Choppas to become Soulbound, seeing it as a natural extension of their mission, and even if Soulbound to Order, they are likely to try and convince people to take up the paint bucket and hammer to "re-do" their works of art. The subfaction bonus is Rabble Rousers: You double Training and Focus for any roll to incite a riot, bar fight, Waaagh! or other form of spontaneous mass violence. Also, you deal double damage to structures, objects, vehicles, and inanimate objects generally. The Ironsunz wear bright yellow to make themselves easier to spot in any terrain, because they love showing off. They are one of the most dominant clans at the moment thanks to Dakkbag Grotkicker, their current Megaboss, who has taken control of several areas of the Gnashka Plateau of Ghur for hunting. His predecessor thought he was a coward because he's more thoughtful and prone to planninbg than most Ironjawz, but he took over by getting the guy - and many of his rivals - eaten by a Maw-Krusha. Specifically, the one he now rides at the head of the Ironsunz armies. He prefers to surround himself with bosses that share his preference for thinking, though he's careful not to pick anyone who seems smarter than he is. While some say his methods aren't Gorky enough, Dakkbad tends to resolve that complaint by beating up anyone that complains. The Ironsunz have taken to following his methods, planning their attacks hours or even a whole day in advance. They have also taken to a slower advance, making a show of taking a leisurely stroll towards the enemy...at least until they get within charging range, when they suddenly burst forward at high speed. It's a strategy that takes the kind of patience that few other Ironjawz have, but it gives the enemy plenty of time to admire the shiny armor and big muscles of the Ironsunz. Ironsunz tend to understand the implications of being Soulbound more than other Ironjawz do, because they're that little bit more thoughtful and introspective. Some eagerly sign up because they understand the many new fights they're going to get to be part of, while others see it all as a hassle that'll never go away and are more resistant. Many of the more reluctant Ironsunz offered a spot in a Binding will warm up to the idea, though, when they realize that the Soulbound are legendary figures to more than just their own kind. Being a hero and legend across all of reality is something most Ironsunz could never hope for, even as they dream of spreading their reputation far and wide. Of course, this does mean that they'll expect their team to take on missions that are big, loud and let them show off. The subfaction bonus is Alright, Get 'Em!: Once per combat, you can use the Seize the Initiative Action as a Free Action. Further, when you Charge, your Speed is considered to be Fast, allowing you to reach a target up to two Zones away.  Brutes are the ideals of the Ironjawz, simple warriors who want for little but battle. They wear heavy, fist-beaten armor, but it never slows them down, just makes them hit harder when they ram into foes, tackle them to the ground and start tearing them to bits. They solve their problems with massive force, and any problem that one Brute can't beat into submission will probably go down to them and their friends piling in to take it on together. If smashing doesn't work, you aren't smashing hard enough. Even the Kruleboyz and Bonesplitterz tend to defer to them when teaming up, allowing them to have first pick of any loot and taking the lead in battle, because this is easier than trying to fight them over it and it's usually simple to get them to agree to a plan. After all, everyone knows what Brutes want: to find bigger and stronger things to fight so that they can grow bigger and stronger themselves. Brutes are casually willing to step into the way of the enemy and protect their allies without even needing to be asked, because all they want is the fight anyway. Brutes prefer their own company more than anyone else's, but that's mostly because they assume other Brutes are the best warriors around and therefore the most fun to hang out with. If anyone wants to challenge that idea, the Brutes will usually happily accept them as fellow warriors when they prove themselves and will be just as happy in their company. They tend to look at joining a Binding as just another way to meet strong fighters and team up with them, and few really understand the details of what they sign up for until afterwards. If there are any problems that come from their decision, well, they can smash those problems later. Brutes must be Ironjawz orruks and start with Body 4, Mind 2, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Weapon Skill, plus a decent selection from among Awareness, Beast Handling, Determination, Fortitude, Intimidation, Might, Nature, Reflexes, Survival, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Duff Up Da Big Thing (Brute only, when fighting creatures larger than you, you get +1 Damage per step of Size difference), plus three from among Battle Rage (claims to be in this book; isn't.), Immense Strikes, Intimidating Manner, Iron Will,  Warchanters are Ironjawz for whom the frenzy of the Waaagh! is a constant, a beat that never leaves their ears. They burn with green energies as they pound that rhythm out on and with whatever they happen to have with them - fists, Gorkstikks and Morkstikks, even their own heads. They aren't Weirdnobs, possessed by the magic of the Great Green, but their music is unnaturally potent, able to drive their fellows into a terrifying frenzy. Many of them have taken to the cult of the Earthquake God, as the rumbling of Kragnos' hooves on the earth appeals to them, but just as many claim to be led by the dances of Gorkamorka or their own internal drum. They often have much in common with the Bonesplitterz, even admiring them for their brutal power or working alongside them. They are rarely leaders in their own right, being far too busy maintaining the rhythm that powers everyone to tell them what to do. They are always valued, though, and whoever ends up in charge of a Destruction teamup is likely to grab the Warchanter and take them along as advisor and beacon to call out others to their cause. Some Warchanters sense more than just the beat of the Waaagh! in the world around them. It is unclear even to the gods what, exactly, makes someone worthy of or capable of joining a Binding - it's certainly not a quality every person has. The Warchanters, however, sometimes have the power to hear the distant heartbeats of those destined to one day join their Binding - even if they've never met each other before, even before any Binding has been made. Once part of a Binding, the Warchanter is often able to feel the heartbeats of their entire Binding, and can mix them together into a harmonious rhythm and song. This aligns the entire Binding on a very, very deep level, so that even the non-Orruks in the team can feel the Waaagh!'s call. Warchanters must be Ironjawz orruks and start with Body 4, Mind 1, Soul 3. Their Core Skill is Entertain, plus a small selection from Awareness, Athletics, Devotion, Entertain, Guile, Intimidation, Intuition, Might, Reflexes or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Beat Da Drum (Warchanter only, as an Action you can bang out a rhythm that causes all allies in Medium range to get a bonus to Melee, Accuracy and damage.), plus two of Ambidextrous, Blessed (Gorkamorka or Kragnos), Observant, One of the Ladz, or Relentless Assault. They start with a Gorkstikk and Morkstikk (functionally two Warhammers), hand-beaten warplate (Heavy Armor), and something to drum on, like a hollow bone, some iron cunks, or the face of whoever last tried to stop you drumming.  Weirdnob Shamans are not the typical wizard, being large, muscular and just as Gorky as any Ironjaw. Their form of magic is usually quite physical, channelling the power of the Waaagh! through their own bodies and vomiting it up as magical spells. Their magic is unpredictable, dangerous and usually entertaining to the others of their clan. Even the Weirdnob usually is not very good at explaining how they decide to do things or why, for they are close to the pure, elemental impulses of the Waaaagh! itself. Sometimes, they just wander off for a while, then wander into the camp of some alliance of Destruction peoples, declaring that they're here to help. While the Ironjawz are not usually known for their respect for magic or wizards, the Weirdnobs are often able to bully them into it, wielding their spells in the same way a Brute wields a fist. Because the Waaagh!'s power unites the peoples of Destruction into something resembling a cohesive whole, most Weirdnobs feel a sense of familiarity with the concept of a Soulbinding, and some of them are deeply interested in the Binding Ritual as a way of understanding the Waaagh! itself. Usually, they attempt to learn through the hands-on experience of becoming Soulbound, which may or may not work out as they intend. Sometimes, their power sends the Great Green's energy roaring through the souls of their Binding, and other times it just makes everyone feel kind of queasy, but they're always useful - unpredictably useful, but useful. Weirdnob Shamans must be Ironjawz orruks and start with Body 2, Mind 4, Soul 1. Their Core Skill is Channelling, plus a good selection from among Arcana, Awareness, Channelling, Determination, Guile, Intuition, Lore, Medicine, Nature, Reflexes, Theology or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talents are Spellcasting (Weird) and Unbind, plus two from Acute Sense, Contortionist, Forbidden Knowledge, Orientation, Silver Tongue or Witch-Sight. They begin with a stikka (a Dagger), a Waaagh! Staff, heavy robes decorated with skulls and bones (Light Armor), 100D worth of loose teef, and a pouch full of soil from the land where the Waaagh!'s power first overcame you. Next time: Kruleboyz
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Apr 3, 2022 20:34
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 KonoSuba TRPG Part 3: People will point and laugh at your low Stats Now that we're through the introductory fiction, we can finally get to the first section of actual rules! We start out with the traditional "what is an rpg?" explanation, as well as the usual "the GM's arbitration is final, it's everyone's responsibility to have a good time at the table, here is a glossary of terms," etc. It then goes into the details of making a character, and choosing whether to use one of the pre-gen sheets or to build one completely from scratch. At a glance, the pre-gens are... alright, not obviously unbalanced. It's a bit difficult to tell though, because the two-page character sheets are spliced together into one landscape format sheet and then flipped 90 degrees to fit on a single page, with a tiny unreadable font for anything with a lot of fine rules text. Also I think at least one error filling it out? Whatever, gotta make room for the character portraits!  this formatting is totally worth it for a full page of that perfect mug  It is also entirely possible to make your own characters from scratch, which was briefly gone over in the little sidebar previously but now has a bit more mechanical detail. A lot of these decisions about race and starting class define your character's ability scores, and once again in an rpg book, we're given basically no indication what any of these DO at all before we write them down. These won't be explained until the next section another 80 pages from now, and even then not very well. So I'll take the liberty of doing that right now as best I can. There are seven ability stats:
These ability stats are generated by picking your Race, with your racial scores range from 7 on the low end to 10 on the high end, so it's not hugely min-maxed and any race can be viable in any combat role with some charop. You get five points to add on top however you want, as long as you don't go above 13. These are your Base Ability Scores, and aside from a couple things, these aren't used much. More importantly, you divide these scores by 3, rounding down, to get your Base Ability Bonus, which at this stage ranges from +2 to +4 or so to the relevent 2d6 roll. Does that sound kinda piddly? It is, because your Base Ability Bonus is only part of it. There's also your Class. Classes, especially the one you start as, determine a fair bit about your character. First off, your starting HP is your Base Strength Score, plus some amount given by your starting Class. The same applies to MP, it's your base Mind score plus a class-specific starting bonus. So for example, if I have a base Strength of 12 and a base Mind of 7, and I start as a Warrior (26HP, 20MP), my fresh Level 1 character will have 38 HP and only 27 MP. The more frontline fighter classes tend to favor more health, and casters favor more mana. Your class ALSO contributes to your base ability bonuses. All those +2s and +3s and such? Your current class adds a bunch of those to the relevent scores, about +6 worth. For our previous example, the Warrior class adds a +2 to STR, DEX and AGI, making us hit more, get hit less, and run further into the thick of the fray. Perhaps most importantly, Classes give access to Skills. As mentioned previously, Skills range from powerful physical attacks, to magic spells, extra +1s to Ability Bonuses, passive mechanical buffs to certain actions, or stuff that modifies how other Skills work, and are a big way you mechanically customize your character. At character creation, you pick a few Skills: one out of four starting Racial Skills, two General Skills that are open to anyone, and some Class Skills. Skills can have multiple levels for those who want to keep investing in a Skill to make it more powerful, and at the start you get five levels' worth of Skills to pick up. Classes also determine what equipment you can use, and at character creation you have 500 KE to spend on your starting equipment. Most items have a weight listed, and your weight limit is your base Strength score, so if you want a lot of heavy armor you wanna be strong. The details on equipment will be a bit later, but the gist of it is that armor provides Physical Defense, a number that you subtract from incoming physical damage, and weapons determine the damage dealt by your own physical attacks. After that, there's a couple more derived stats. Movement speed is STR+5 meters+any modification from your equipment or Skills, and your Action Points are AGI+PER+equipment and Skill shenanigans. Action Points determine the initiative order, going from highest to lowest, so agile perceptive people will usually go first in combat. At this point you're mostly done. All that's left is giving your character five Blessings, figuring out your character's Background and RP stuff, drawing a little anime doodle of what they look like, and maybe giving them a really tryhard name if relevent. Congratulations, you've made your very own isekai character, freshly dumped into Fantasy World! Now, just what, who, and why the hell are we? Next Part: Races, Classes, and Skills
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Apr 4, 2022 01:10
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Mors Rattus posted:Soulbound: Champions of Destruction Ain't that the truth, these things can really krump things. Brutes can be built either as dual-wielders with Relentless Assault or two-handers with Immense strikes, and they kick rear end either way. Their true power becomes apparent when fighting opponents who are larger than they and have higher Body attribute. They have Species bonus giving them +1D against enemies with higher Body, Core Talent giving them damage bonus against larger enemies and can take a talent giving them bonus to Melee against larger enemies. So they roll more dice, get successes more easily, and do more damage on each hit against big, tough things. And if they want to go death-or-glory they can pick up Battle Rage to boost their Melee even higher at the cost of Defense. Warchanters are pretty good also, since anything that affects all allies also affects them and they have Soul 3 for two points of Mettle. Plus, they have enough xp for Weapon Skill Training 2, and can pick up Relentless Assault and Ambidextrous, so they can fight really well. Weirdnobs have pretty bad talents overall, but very good skill selection, since it includes Weapon Skill, Reflexes and Determination, and they have enough xp to get Channelling Training and Focus to 2 and still have enough left to invest in those.
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Apr 4, 2022 11:21
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Soulbound: Champions of Destruction Rat Fink The Kruleboyz descend spiritually (and generally lineally) from a group of orruks who, in ancient times, got lost in the swamps of Ghur and nearly died. It's not that rare for folks to get lost in the swamps and then swallowed up by sinkholes or deadly plantlife, but the orruks survived and adapted. They might not be as personally adaptive as troggoths, but their fungal nature allowed them to change, to alter their own bodies to survive. They became lankier and taller to hide among the foliage, with an oily coating on their skin drawn from their diet of toads and squigs that kept the plants from easily grabbing them. They weren't quite as strong, and culturally, they developed towards the Morky side of things because they found that thinking and planning helped them master the predators of the swamp. They began to use fear as weapon, to poison their tools and draw on any dirty trick that'd help them win. Now, they are a separate society, a third cultural influence among the orruks who are patient, clever and secretive. The Kruleboyz have expanded out to the bogs and marshes of the realms, claiming those lands that best fit their favored tactics. They have gone unnoticed for most of their history because they don't tend to let intruders survive but also haven't been as expansionist as their less Morky cousins. Unlike most orruks, they prefer to take captives, sometimes for food, sometimes as bait for a trap, sometimes for the fun of watching them try to survive in the swamp and fail. With the rise of Kragnos, they have decided the time to emerge and conquer has come, and they now seek to show the world that orruks are not fools, that everyone has been underestimating them, and that hiding in cities like cowards will not save them. The Kruleboyz describe the ideas that their society is built around as da kultur, and it is built on three pillars. First, brain beats brawn, and planning will always get you a bigger win than not planning. It is very clear to the Kruleboyz that you will always have a better chance to win if you can bait the enemy into exposing themselves or manipulate others into clearing your path. Second, if someone thinks they're better than you, humiliate 'em. If someone has big shiny armor and weapons, they're just asking for you to steal it so they know they aren't better than you. Third, fight dirty. Honor isn't real and just gets people killed, so leave it to your enemies to care about. They deserve to lose if they put their faith in ideas like that. Like the other orruk cultures, the Kruleboyz organize into warclans, but also have a tribal suborganization within those clans. Tribes, for the Kruleboyz, are basically like guilds - cross-clan subcultures that specialize in a particular kind of fighting. The Badstabbaz tribe are the muscle, the Deffspikerz are the ranged support, the Gitsnatchaz are kidnappers and trappers, and the Beast-Breakaz are monster tamers. Each clan contains a mix of these tribes that follows the clan's Killaboss, but because of their specialties, a Deffspiker from one clan may have more in common with a Deffspiker from another than a Gitsnatcha from their own clan, and there's often string rivalries within a clan between the different tribes. Usually, the Kruleboyz prefer to go to war with the entire clan acting as one, but smaller groups sometimes form for raiding, known as Klaws, which may draw from some or all of the clan's tribes depending on who the orruk in charge can get to follow them. The Kruleboyz claim to be the meanest and smartest killers around and will go to some effort to prove it, which often leads to them hunting and trapping stuff they don't need so they can prove they're mean by tormenting it. That said, they aren't xenophobes, and when an orruk or even a non-orruk wanders into their swamps and seems to be properly Morky, they will quickly get adopted as one of the clan. (This is part of why they were so fast to accept Kragnos.) The main test is if the newcomer can survive the initial traps and cruel pranks the orruks throw at them. Kruleboy society encompasses a mix of grots, hobgrots and even a handful of troggoths, who often show up to help them fight, along with the many kinds of swamp beasts the orruks have tamed. They also often trade with the Hashut-worshipping duardin of Chaos through their hobgrot friends, though the duardin are nowhere near close enough to actually help fight rather than just provide the orruks with industrial goods. Like the Ironjawz, there's hundreds of clans out there that have relatively few internal cultural differences but distinguish themselves largely by their leaders. The clans will absorb each other or split apart frequently based on the strength of their Killabosses and their ability to keep people in line. Killabosses are seen as folk heroes to be emulated, and are often advised by a small council of Swampcallas. The tricks a clan uses are those favored by their boss, and while older and more established clans do have traditions they won't abandon for a new Killaboss, younger clans will often entirely swap their tactics and traditions when a new leader comes to power. Most Killabosses tend to take inspiration from their surroundings, and so many clans end up with similar traditions - skareshields painted to resemble local apex predators, for example, and poison usage based on what's available in the region. The Swampcallas also will tend to terraform any conquered territory into marshes resembling the home range of the clan. The Kruleboyz believe that a prophecy is coming true - the rise of a Waaagh! that will eclipse all others and unite all of the Destruction peoples in the ultimate rampage, heralded by the sound of hoofbeats. This means they're eager to join forces with the rest so they can be at the head of this prophesied Waaagh!, but even without that, they're still a pretty common sight aiding the other orruk cultures. After all, they're no less susceptible to the Waaagh!'s call than any other orruk - it just manifests as ingenuity and creativity rather than blind fury for them. Historically, they tend to be more secretive and quickly retreat to the swamps once the fights slow down, but these days it's growing more and more likely that they don't, and instead push everyone to keep going bigger and better. Of all the Destruction peoples, the Kruleboyz are least likely to join up with Order, not out of ideological reasons but because most of them are just assholes and unlikely to be put up with. Where other Destruction types tend to be cheerfully friendly but casually violent, the Kruleboyz are, y'know, cruel and sadistic. The peoples of Order aren't going to forget their tendency to take captives and enslave or eat them. However, the forces of Order do also contain the Khainites, so it's not like Order isn't able to deal with cruelty. Those few Kruleboyz that end up in Order Bindings are often terrifyingly effective thanks to their surprise tactics and viciousness. Typically, they end up in the situation because it provides them with a lot of material benefits and they reason that it doesn't actually reduce much in the way of acceptable targets - sure, they can't go after the peoples of Order, but it's not like limiting themselves to Death and Chaos is a problem. Plus, there's a ton of new mischief they can get up to when allowed into cities. Some Kruleboyz can be very casual about joining Bindings, perhaps because culturally they don't tend to view things as permanent. You use what shows up until it's gone, they say, but you rarely think hard about where it came from or how to replace it...and if worse comes to worst, technically nothing stops them from just killing everyone else and going home. (This is not a situation that basically ever comes up, but it's how they internally justify that a Binding is not permanent and they haven't just become a goody-goody.) Subfactions! The Grinnin' Blades are the heralds of the swamp. Their arrival is shown only by a rising mist that obscures the land, revealing only their bright red skareshields leering out at the foe. The fog chokes those who breathe too deeply, filling them with horrible visions as the orruks laugh at them. The mists are called up by magic and infused with psychoactive substances, and it's one of the big reasons the Grinnin' Blades are doing so well these days. Their range has spread across much of the Ghurish Heartlands, and they are now the largest of the Kruleboy clans. They're not happy with that, though - they need more. In ancient days, their Swampcallas used the glimmerings of Excelsis to do prophesy, predicting the rise of a lost and ancient power that would burn every city and fortress in Ghur. They have recently decided that power is Kragnos, and most of the clan has sworn themselves to him to make themselves the bringers of apocalypse. The Grinnin' Blades are the warclan that believes most strongly in the prophesied Great Waaagh!, and so they're naturals to sign up with a Destruction Binding in the hopes of causing it. They're also very close with Kragnos and his prophet, Grobsprakk, so they sometimes join Bindings at the direct orders of...well, Gobsprakk, at least, since Kragnos is a giant tantrum baby who needs Gobsprakk to translate for him. However, they are sometimes found in Order Bindings - usually because the orruk in question is a dissident to the main clan and doesn't think they're going in the right direction, or is a defector who wants to find power that isn't fundamentally tied to Gobsprakk and Kragnos. The subfaction bonus is Out of the Mists: You are always surrounded by stinky scare-mist. As an Action, you can call it up to make your Zone Lightly Obscured for one minute. If you spend 1 Mettle when you do this, enemies in your Zone must make a Determination roll or become Frightened of you while in the mist. The Big Yellers prefer yellow skareshields and, unlike most Kruleboyz, have no patience for stealth or sneaking. They tend to bang their crossbows against scrap gongs to herald their approach, and they are famous for their ingenious if ramshackle war engines and their large number of Deffspikerz. They hail originally from Chamon's Ayadah region and are close allies of the Gloomspite, which means they deal heavily with grots for materials. The Big Yeller smiths often have grot assistants, who help them get to fiddly mechanisms that they can't normally reach. In fact, the Big Yellers are big fans of making grots do work generally, because their greatest cultural value is being lazy. They want to do whatever takes the least work, and their inventiveness is usually turned towards labor-saving devices and things that let them not walk. The Big Yellers especially hate having to walk places, which is why they excel at using crossbows and ranged weapons, so they can fight from a distance. While a Waaagh! can convince them to get up and run, even then, it doesn't usually last long. Big Yellers become Soulbound usually because it seems like the alternative to having to do extra work. It's a lot easier to use peer pressure and threats to get them to sign on than bribery. However, once they join a Binding, many Big Yellers find that while their adventures may be tiring, they also give plenty of chance to show off their inventions. If there's one thing a Big Yeller likes even more than not needing to do extra work, it's showing everyone else how smart they are to have created a device that kept them from having to do that extra work. Most Big Yellers that become Soulbound find they come to really love having audiences the realms over, even if they only joined grudgingly at first. The subfaction bonus is Only Da Best: You love to tinker with your gear so you have an excuse not to walk around. You may give up your free Move in a round to add one of the Cleave, Penetrating, Rend, Restraining or Spread traits to one of your weapons until the end of your next turn. You may only have one of these options active at a time. The Skulbugz make their home in Shyish, where they've taken over the afterlife of Chitinia. Once, it was the afterlife of some culture that lived in mangrove forests and valued insects as a symbol of industry, but the Skulbugz drove those ghosts out of the place long ago, leaving only their bug demigods behind. The swamps of Chitinia are home to massive megapedes and morkskeeters, larger than any natural insect, plus lots of smaller but deadly ones like the deathcrawler beetle. The Skulbugz have adopted a lifestyle of care and even worship for these insectile beings, much like the ghosts that preceded them, and often tattoo skull markings on their own heads to emulate the bugs and sleep in wriggling mounds of insects. Despite the best efforts of the orruks, they have been unable to tame the giant insects, though that doesn't stop some of them from trying to ride rhinox beetles to war. Instead, though, they mostly milk them for poisons, which are used in some religious rituals (for example, Skulbug yoofs become adults in a rite of passage involving tasting a poison that puts them in a hallucinatory coma), while others are weaponized in the grand traditions of the Kruleboyz. They are always surrounded by eerie rumors due to their love of bugs and spooky home, and also always surrounded by bugs. Skulbugz maintain that spiders aren't bugs, but they still get along well the Spiderfangs, and more than a few have been kidnapped by Skitterstrand arachnaroks to be put into Spider God Bindings with little memory of what occurred. When they sign up to become Soulbound by choice, it's usually as part of an effort to find, protect or befriend some new kind of bug. Which probably means they're surprisingly fond of Sylvaneth, who also work closely with bugs a lot, but may also mean they want to meet rare insects like the Azyrite lightning bug. (Their success rate in taming these critters is, well, variable at best.) The subfaction bonus is Crawly Swarms: You have bugs living all over you. As a free action, you may pick a creature in Close range. They cannot apply Focus to rolls due to distraction from the bugs crawling up their legs and in their armor. (I assume you're limited to one target at a time, but it doesn't strictly say.) Also, after each Rest, you milk your bugs for one dose of Basic Poison for free.  Gutrippaz are the main infantry of the Kruleboyz, and the best of them are some of the finest spearmasters in the realms. (The worst are some idiot yoofs with spears.) They rarely place much value on their gear and are quick to discard it for better arms and armor, but they pretty much always rely on a stikka (read: a spear) and skareshield, to better keep them at arm's length from the enemy. Stikkas are usually pretty crude, easily put together from scrap metal, some string or wire and a stick, but in the hands of an expert they are great for making a thousand shallow cuts - the better to prolong the suffering. Skareshields are designed to resemble apex predators, but are tough enough to also be usable as a makeshift club in a pinch. The Gutrippaz are usually pretty proud of being part of the Badstabba tribe, which they hold to be the most traditionally orruk-y of the Kruleboy tribes, but in truth most of them aspire to greater things and are always looking for ways to stand out. The cleverest find ways to work with other orruks, proving their leadership skills while letting their less Morky cousins have the fun of fighting at the front lines or teaming up with grots so that they seem more muscular and dangerous by comparison. To get into a Binding, a Gutrippa has to be one of the best when it comes to stabbing and scaring folks. They have to impress a god, after all. Most favor the slow kill over the fast one still, though their companions can convince them otherwise, and often the ones that agree to join up are doing so because their ambitions have been thwarted at home. For some reason, they can't climb the traditional social ladder of the Kruleboyz and need another method - possibly they lack political support, or maybe they're the rare sort of Kruleboy that doesn't actually want to be in charge and is sick of being pushed to be more ambitious. Whatever the case, they aid their Bindings in the best way they know how: stabbing people and making them hurt. Gutrippaz must be Kruleboy orruks, and start with Body 4, Mind 3, Soul 1. Their Core Skill is Weapon Skill, plus a fair selection from Awareness, Crafting, Fortitude, Guile, Intimidation, Might, Reflexes, Stealth, Survival or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Scare Taktikz (Gutrippa only, as an Action you can pick a target out to Medium range and roll Intimidation against their Determination, causing them to become Frightened for rounds based on your successes if you win. Also, once per turn when a creature within Medium range becomes Frightened, you can Charge them as a free action. Yes, this works on ones you scare with this.), plus two of Born Survivor (Survival Training and Focus 1 needed, when you take damage from a Hazard, you treat it as one level less severe than it is. Yes, this makes you immune to Minor Hazards.), Observant, Opportunist, Patient Strike, Savvy or Vanish. They begin play with a wicked stikka (a Spear) or a hacka (a Battleaxe), a slitta (a Dagger), patchwork Light Armor scavenged from the swamp, a Skareshield, two doses of Basic Poison, and a heavy, swamp-stained cloak.  Hobgrot Slittas are the main hobgrot warriors, and the most commonly seen in Kruleboy encampments. They are often con men first, warriors second, but they're still of Gorkamorka and still feel the call to Waaagh! in ways no human ever could. They tend to be more organized than their fellows, practicing more traditional military tactics learned from the various peoples they trade with, and they're often better armed...for a certain value of "better." Most notably, most Slittas carry several Duardin-crafted "bangstikk" explosives. Their organized demeanor usually falls apart once the battle begins and they get too excited to maintain discipline, though. At that point, they're likely to just lay about joyfully with their knives and start hurling their bombs wildly. Hobgrot society encourages scheming and dealmaking, which means they end up getting caught up in everyone else's fights because they happened to be nearby trying to trade. Usually, they're pretty good-natured about this, which tends to make the orruks and ogors they're trying to offload crap to like them more, even if the hobgrot would, in truth, rather not be involved. Hobgrots tend to do well as Soulbound. Their training as traders and plotters adapts well to dealing with many cultures, and their ability to find value in what everyone else thinks is useless can help their Binding get lots of stuff done. However, they're rarely amazing warriors, and that can make it a challenge to earn divine attention - especially that of the gods of Destruction. Typically, doing it means using their heads and, often, stealing from or conning bigger and nastier targets until someone's impressed enough to offer them work. Hobgrot Slittas must be hobgrots and start with Body 2, Mind 3, Soul 2. Their Core Skills are Guile and Weapon Skill, plus a good selection from Athletics, Awareness, Ballistic Skill, Beast Handling, Crafting, Dexterity, Guile, Intuition, Lore, Medicine, Nature, Reflexes, Stealth, Survival, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Secret Cache (Hobgrot Slitta only, you have a cache of stuff hidden around. When you take this, roll Guile and note the successes. You tell the GM secretly where your stash is, and it can be split over multiple spots, as long as each has at least one success associated with it, or you can leave it vague, as you prefer. During the game, you can declare that you're taking stuff from your cache, saying it has one or more pieces of Common gear in it. Each success is worth 100D of gear. If you want Rare gear, each piece costs 1 additional success on top of its cost, or 2 successes for Exotic. Whenever you have the chance to do Endeavors, you can roll to replenish your cache, but you have a max value equal to (Mind+Guile Training) successes, and your cache may draw unwanted attention and robbers; if it's robbed, you have to replace it during downtime.), plus three from among Ambidextrous, Backstab, Dead Tricksy, Diplomat, Eidetic Memory, Hurler, Observant, Relentless Assault, Savvy, Silver Tongue, or Sleight of Hand. They begin with a pair of slitta-knives (Daggers), some Duardin-made Medium Armor, three Bangstikks, 60D in whatever currencies you've managed to scrounge up, and a list of all your recent deals, including who owes you what.  Man-Skewer Boltboys are innovators in the combat arts, developing them in ways most orruks never even think about. They are sharpshooters, armed with massive crossbows designed to fire two feet of solid metal directly at anyone they find annoying. They are the main force of the Deffspikerz tribe, and while most humans would never believe an orruk capable of it, they are expert snipers. They especially love shooting out legs or nailing enemies to trees, to better impress on them how badly they're beaten - but if required, they'll go for a quick kill. The forces of Destruction have relatively few archers or ranged fighters besides them, which makes them quite valuable to any group, as long as they don't find the idea of killing from a distance to be cowardly. (Most do not, they're just rarely good at it.) While ogor guns are more powerful, the crossbows of the Boltboys are quieter, faster and generally more accurate, and the Boltboys often excel at using them to hunt monsters, crippling them so the rest of their crew can go in for the kill. Of course, to become a powerful leader as a Boltboy, you need gear that can hold up. Often, the machines of the Boltboys are ramshackle things, thrown together from old ballistas or crossbow bits, and it is the orruks who want to advance beyond that which most often become Soulbound. Some do so because their new allies will help them get ahold of potent new weapons, others because they want to learn how to make the things more directly. If the idea of an orruk armed with a Lumineth longbow or Kharadron rifle is scary...well, that's just too bad for their enemies, isn't it? Man-Skewer Boltboys must be Kruleboyz orruks and begin with Body 3, Mind 3, Soul 1. Their Core Skill is Ballistic Skill, plus a decent selection from Athletics, Awareness, Ballistic Skill, Determination, Dexterity, Guile, Intuition, Nature, Reflexes, Stealth, Survival or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Pick 'Em Off (Man-Skewer Boltboy only, if you don't Move, Run or Charge on your turn, you get a bonus to Accuracy and ranged damage), plus 4 of Backstab, Born Survivor, Covered in Mud (you have Advantage on opposed rolls to hide in wetlands or stalk someone through swamps and forests, and you always know how to navigate jungles and swamps and can't become lost in them), Hail of Doom, Observant, Patient Strike, Pierce Armor, or Point Blank Range. They begin with a man-skewer crossbow (a Great Crossbow), a jaggedy blade (a Dagger), some patchwork scavenged Light Armor, four doses of Basic Poison, and a pouch full of the teeth from your best kill.  Murknobs are veterans of the Kruleboyz, given power and prestige by their Killaboss for their deeds in battle. They are honored with the chance to carry a belcha-banna, a magical battle standard resembling a massive mouth. The tongues that hang from these mouths are real, harvested from monsters by the Murknob. Traditionally, they use miredrakes and get the tongues enchanted by their clan's Swampcallas to let them roar as if still alive when the Waaagh! flows through them. The roar is powerful enough to tear apart enemy magic, too, as well as sicken anyone that smells the dead tongue's breath. If the tongue ever rots away completely - well, you can always cut a new one. Many Murknobs have recently taken to modeling their bannas on Kragnos, whom they see as the biggest and most powerful predator of Ghur. The Murknobs have unwittingly become the focal point for the cult of the Earthquake God, setting up and taking charge of it on behalf of their god, who really couldn't care less. Almost all orruks respect them, for they are tough by Kruleboy standards, and the ogors like them for their butchery skills, so they're generally popular as leaders. Many Murknobs have taken to leadership well, and it's relatively rare for one of them to leave their people and join a Binding. Usually, it happens to declare their intent to go out and conquer, and it means their clan will follow them to battle soon after. The Murknobs are champions, though, not Killabosses - they're confident, but they also know their clan can survive without them. This makes them the perfect representatives of their people out in the world. They can afford to give up their duties to the clan to join a Binding, and they know it. Of course, not all of them leave on good terms with their clan, either. Some aren't really given their belcha-bannas so much as they steal them and run off to find power elsewhere. Murknobs must be Kruleboyz orruks and begin with Body 3, Mind 2, Soul 4. Their core skills are Devotion and Weapon Skill, and they get a small selection from among Athletics, Determination, Devotion, Guile, Intimidation, Might, Reflexes, Stealth, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Blessed (Kragnos), plus one of Combat Ready, Fearless, Intimidating Manner, Iron Will, Opportunist, or Trophy Hunter (Intimidation Training 1 required, once per turn when you kill a non-Minion foe, you can tear a trophy from the corpse and brandish it, giving allies in your Zone your Intimidation Training in bonus dice to their next attack). They begin with a cleaver (mechanically a Sword), a Belcha-Banna, stolen Medium Armor with a gutplate depicting Kragnos (or themselves, since most haven't actually seen Kragnos and are guessing), and the severed head of the last idiot who wandered into your territory.  Swampcalla Shamans are the orruks that have most deeply embraced the nature of swamp and bog. They spend their free time submerged in the waters of their home, usually surviving on sludge-snakes, toads and other animals while communing with the land. They can sense a swamp from miles away by the twitching of their tongues, and while their magic is drawn from the Waaagh!, it is very sophisticated and refined. They specialize in curses and the transmutation of air, water and souls into swampstuff with their noxious power. They are instinctive geomancers, but their method of dealing with the spirits of the land is closer to bullying and intimidation than soothing or diplomacy. They use the leylines to transform their homes into bigger and better wetlands, growing potent and semisentient fogs to help protect it, and they especially love to transform and dissolve cities. This makes them pretty popular with the forces of Destruction, who can always appreciate a good city collapse, even if it's slower than smashing. Only the Gloomspite seem to like the swamps afterwards, though. Every Killaboss has at least one Swampcalla as an advisor and tactician, and often when the boss is taken down and replaced, the new one will keep the Swampcalla around - even if the new boss isn't a Kruleboy. After all, a wise orruk can always tell that the Swampcallas channel the breath of Mork. Swampcallas, unlike most Kruleboyz, are actually quite attached to their possessions, particularly the trophies they claim from their kills. They often are just as possessive of their fellow Soulbound when they join a Binding, seeking to protect them aggressively as a symbol that they are more than just your typical orruk. Plus, a Binding is useful for getting ahold of other magical toys and building a bigger rep. Swampcallas are natural fits for Destruction Bindings as the spokesorruks for Mork, of course, but their geomantic talents are just as useful for Order. Sure, they might be rude or gross about it, but they often have a new and enlightening perspective for the Lumineth and Sylaveneth, who use gentler techniques, and everyone can agree that a good swamp is much better than a Chaos-blighted waste. Swampcallas must be Kruleboyz orruks, and begin with Body 2, Mind 4, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Channelling, plus a small selection from among Arcana, Channelling, Crafting, Dexterity, Fortitude, Guile, Intuition, Nature, Reflexes or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talents are Spellcasting (Swamp) and Unbind, plus two from Amphibious (when swimming, you are Fast, and you cannot drown except due to magical causes. Also, you have Advantage on all rolls to remain hidden when fully underwater.), Guts, Iron Stomach, Loyal Companion (Helper-Grot), Poison Brewer (Crafting Training and Focus 1 required, when you take an Endeavor to make a poison, fungal brew or other elixir that harms others, you get 4 rolls per downtime period spent on it, not 3.), or Witch-Sight. They begin with a bogbark Quarterstaff, filthy and dirt-encrusted robes (Light Armor), a Vile Cauldron, and 160D worth of talismans, charms, accessories, teef and trophies. Next time: Ogors
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Apr 5, 2022 13:33
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Finally time for ogors. I have one player ready to make a ogor named fiery guy who's one goal is to kill and eat the mayor of flavor Town.
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Apr 5, 2022 14:36
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The mayor of flavor Town had better respond to the challenge by announcing the most violent eating contest in way of a duel to the death.
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Apr 5, 2022 16:05
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Kruleboyz affinity for Kragnos, prophecy not withstanding I guess, has always stuck me as odd considering dude seems to be stuck at max Gork at all times forever.
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Apr 5, 2022 16:13
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Everyone knows what I think of Kruleboyz, so I won't reiterate. But of this batch, the worst power is the Hobbgrot cache. Unless you go super vague with it, it feels like it would tie you to a geographic location real bad, and Soulbound are the caliber of hero that would travel reality balls extensively. Not that it's a new issue. Dark Heresy's Enemy/Ally rules were a little nonsensical considering that you'd probably travel and Hams hardly has the centralization of data spread to make the same factions to love/hate someone as small as an Acolyte across the cosmos.
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Apr 5, 2022 18:55
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Caidin posted:Kruleboyz affinity for Kragnos, prophecy not withstanding I guess, has always stuck me as odd considering dude seems to be stuck at max Gork at all times forever. Kragnos was teleported into their swamps and beat a bunch of them up and they still respect power. Plus Gobsprakk the Mouth of Mork has gone out of his way to promote Kragnos as part of his plan to manipulate him and those who follow him.
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Apr 5, 2022 18:59
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MonsterEnvy posted:Kragnos was teleported into their swamps and beat a bunch of them up and they still respect power. Plus Gobsprakk the Mouth of Mork has gone out of his way to promote Kragnos as part of his plan to manipulate him and those who follow him. I mean I know the story around it basically, it's just the relatively patient but really sadistic orcs who favor cunning and traps over brute strength becoming the enthusiastic support pillar of a dude who... well I dunno his opinions on being a turbo dick exactly but mostly is a nigh unstoppable ever raging dipshit who constantly rams into everything face first is thematically weird. Like I guess that shaman he's hooked up with could just be constantly making jerk off motions when he isn't looking or whatever.
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Apr 5, 2022 19:17
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That's basically what's happening, yeah. I can't imagine hooking up a Kruleboy to a party though. At the very least the other Orc types exist to just punch stuff, if you're not going for the obvious fun hype man of the Bonesplitters and scapelling out the racism. Unless you play these guys as essentially Waluigi.
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Apr 5, 2022 19:29
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I actually am running a heroic game that has a Kruleboy in the party - specifically, a Big Yeller with a penchant for philosophy who has decided that the most efficient way to be an rear end in a top hat is to raise the general floor of behavior so that he can get the same torment results from knocking over someone's drinks and farting aggressively, because that's less work.
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Apr 5, 2022 19:41
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  KinRise, Part 2: Teenage Wasteland This brief chapter details some human communities and factions. Here’s the story of  It’s still loving unbelievable to me that they didn’t just let McDevitt or Santo do the cover art It’s only been a year or so since the Spasm War ended, but the survivors are starting to create permanent settlements. Only a few have working generators and hydroponics, but they’re creating some stability in the wasteland. That doesn’t mean anything is getting back to normal. Human settlements are filthy, stinking places, full of people who are sick, wounded, and traumatized. Much more common than settlements are temporary squats, where clusters of people seek food, shelter, and safety from the scavvy gangs. They move on when supplies dry up or threats appear, often after just a few days. The takeaway for PCs is that most people are scared, desperate, and armed. Try not to spook the normies. Rathole is a settlement of 900 people near the ruins of Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded by Lord Flesh, a charismatic military leader of unknown origins. Flesh is the kind of person we all hoped would be extinct after nuclear war: a libertarian. He founded Rathole as a haven of free trade, where anyone can buy anything for the right price. Rathole has no economic base of its own, but people are willing to cross the desert to trade here. The Brotherhood and the Commune would both love to conquer Rathole, but its high clay walls, barbed-wire pits, and heavily-armed militia have easily repelled all attempts thus far. Lord Flesh is an alcoholic who stays hosed up most of the time, but he’s a shrewd leader nonetheless. Several surviving Commune leaders have holed up here, acting as his advisors. Life in Rathole is paradoxical: everyone’s looking out for themselves, but they band together against outside forces. Murderers and thieves will find themselves exiled into the desert. Sullivan is the largest and most prosperous human community in the United States, with a population of 10,000. Its infrastructure survived the Spasm War because it was a small town in Missouri with few people and no strategic targets nearby. (Sullivan is a real place, best known as the hometown of real Deadwood villain George Hearst.) Sullivan welcomed survivors from St. Louis and other cities, understanding that more mouths to feed was worth the influx of skilled personnel. They’ve got working hydroponics, running water, and spotty electricity, and they’re even working on sewage treatment. Sullivan is the only community large enough for Kin to blend in with the locals. As more and more Kin flock to the city, they may soon become too much for the locals. The city’s leaders are affiliated with the Commune and a faction called the Reconstructionists, and most of its people are ignorant of the Kin. Its status as the last functioning human city makes it a target for the Complex and the Brotherhood, but its large and well-armed guerilla army is a tough nut to crack.  Alex Storm is perhaps the rarest kind of person in the world. He’s a Crowley, not actually a Sorcerer, with a working occult library. Storm isn’t particularly ambitious, but his knowledge of biology and chemistry makes him an invaluable and influential leader in Sullivan. He’s affiliated with the Commune, and he can research spells for friendly Sorcerers.  Sarah Long has been the mayor of Sullivan since before the war. Every advancement they’ve made is thanks to her leadership. She’s the leader of the militia and the police, and a master martial artist. She’s a member of the Reconstructionists. Dogtown is an isolated, tight-knit farming community of 600 people hidden in the Ozarks. The surrounding hills are riddled with a network of caves which the Dogtowners have fortified and used to store food and supplies. After Dogtown refused their offer of “protection,” the Complex began raiding them and stealing their children. The townsfolk are wary of the Kin, but they’ve realized that they need help to fight the Complex.  Ezekiel Lamb is a potent Sorcerer and the leader of Dogtown. He’s a crusty old man with a long wizardly beard, and he tells good stories. He used to use only White Magic, but he’s resorted to Street Magic spells in defense of the town. Lamb is looking to strike a deal with the Commune so that protecting Dogtown doesn’t depend solely on him.  Caleb Matthews is Dogtown’s other resident Sorcerer, and an rear end in a top hat. He got that burn scar on his neck from a duel with a Commune Sorcerer. He’s in a relationship with Jessica Flambeaux, who persuaded him to join the Complex. They’re ready to challenge Ezekiel for leadership of Dogtown, and if Ezekiel doesn’t get outside help, they’ll probably win.  Jessica Flambeaux is a Vampyre and an agent of the Complex. She has flaming red hair and wears 80s makeup with a flame motif. Flambeaux and Matthews plan to deliver Dogtown to the Complex and retire to a life of wealth and status. Besides being a Fiery Redhead, Jessica’s only other character trait is that she’s horny for Animates. If there are any Animates in the party, she’ll feed your Frankenstein. Caleb is aware of this and will try to “neutralize” any Animates who get near her.  Gunner is an armed camp of 430 people in the mountains of Washington State. Most of its homes are built underground, hobbit-style. It’s difficult to find, but Gunner’s mushrooms are highly prized by traders. A fraction of Gunner’s population are aware of the Kin, and the Commune is making inroads there. Gunner’s biggest weakness is their reluctance to develop technology. They’re affiliated with the Reconstructionists, but they just want to establish a stable central government so that they can live in peace. They haven’t figured out that when supplies run out and wild game gets scarce, traditional farming isn’t an option anymore. Gunner is named after Cal Gunner, a traumatized veteran who retreated to the mountains before the Spasm War. In the aftermath, the crazy survivalist didn’t seem so crazy. He taught Gunner’s people how to survive, and they elected him their leader. Those are a few of the permanent settlements scattered across the former US. The badlands between them are hunting grounds for the scavenger gangs, also called scavvy gangs or scavvies. Scavvies are statted up like street gangs from the corebook, including the pointless Face mechanics. Scavvy gangs loot and destroy any community they can without regard for the future of the human race. They fight each other as much as anything, and the largest gangs are made up of smaller ones that squabble amongst themselves.  The Eyesuckers take their name from their initiation ritual. They’re extremely anti-Kin, and new recruits have to eat the eyes of a dead Kin. The gang is composed of about 400 people, most of whom are in their 30s, roaming around southern New York state. After discovering a cache of military weapons, they’ve become one of the best-armed and best-trained gangs in the badlands, able to fight and win battles with Complex thugs. Eyesuckers are typically armed with pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles, as well as stakes and other tools for fighting Kin. Eye Chew, formerly Robert Jackson, is the leader of the Eyesuckers. He lost an eye and a couple of fingers to a Werewolf attack, which is why his gang is so fervently against the Kin.  The Guteaters are the biggest and most dangerous gang in the badlands, made up of 5,000 Herd and 250 Sorcerers. They’re fanatically loyal to Mother Earth, attacking her enemies without fear or remorse. The Guteaters were originally groups of children who banded together for survival, and the average member is about 16 years old. They usually attack in groups of 10-20, armed with crude melee weapons and the occasional firearm. Mother Earth has taught her Sorcerers how to summon Wildlings, Demons who can grant the Armour Edge to a group of Guteaters. The Guteaters’ biggest weakness is that they’re spread too thin to act as a single combined army. They obey Mother Earth without question, but even she has no way of coordinating every group of Guteaters in the badlands. Still, wherever there are Guteaters, they can put together a large strike force on short notice. Their leader is Flashflinger, a teenage Sorcerer who is so arrogant and boastful that he only obeys Mother Earth herself. Every Guteater is marked by a black flame tattoo on their forehead.  The Stormdogs are fighting a desperate, losing battle against Mother Earth. Made up of about 300 humans, they use hit-and-run tactics to harry the Guteaters wherever they can. They’re trained and disciplined, armed with rifles and blades, able to inflict 10-to-1 casualties against the Guteaters on defensible terrain. The Stormdogs’ greatest strength is their leadership and organization. They convene monthly war councils to give each group its marching orders, then disperse and operate independently. They have a clever system of setting up camp that allows them to stay on the move, ahead of the Guteaters and the extreme weather in the Badlands. The Stormdogs take their name from their leader. Stormdog is a capable tactician, but as moody and violent as you’d expect from a gang leader. And that’s the Stormdogs’ biggest weakness: they may fight Mother Earth, but they’re still scavengers who raid settlements and kill on a whim. Stormdog’s willing to make deals with Kin, but also willing to betray them if it suits him.  In addition to all the Kin-hating scavengers running around, Stakes are still a thing in postwar America. For one, the Van Helsing Society survived the Spasm War. Otis Eberhardt, son of founder Wallace Eberhardt, traveled around the country recruiting surviving members into his army. Unlike his father, Otis is not a Sorcerer because he didn’t get the chance to experiment with magic before the war happened. Otis is trying to establish a base of operations outside New York City so that he can send scouting parties to recover his father’s grimoires. It’s something of a contradiction, but Otis has convinced his followers that becoming Sorcerers is the only way to fight the Kin. Some Kin believe that Otis is actually trying to revive Solution 2000, the faction which believed that Sorcerers should eliminate other Kin and rule the world. If no one intervenes, the Kin will soon have another major threat to worry about. The American Institute of Supernatural Studies is also still around. It was a loose network to begin with, so its members have integrated into local communities and exchange information along the trade routes. Meanwhile, Hexenbanner just ceased to exist. The organization relied on its money and connections, all of which vanished in a burst of electromagnetism and nuclear fire. That’s it for the scavvies and the stakes, so we’ll get into the Herd political factions that exist in the Badlands.  Here we loving go, let’s just get this poo poo out of the way. The Gypsies aren’t ethnic Roma, but they certainly correspond to a lot of Roma stereotypes, and I’m not talking about the bandannas and peasant blouses. The Gypsies are merchant clans which trade with communities across the country. They’re the only way for most people to barter for needed goods and communicate with other settlements.. If anything, the Gypsies are organized more like a mafia. They travel in groups of 100-500 people, called bands, each ruled by a Father. The Fathers form a ruling body called the Council, which only convenes to rule on big-picture issues like disputes over which band owns which trade route. The fathers kick up 10% to a mysterious boss-of-bosses called the Grandfather, who seems to be based in Rathole and might be Lord Flesh himself. Bands are self-governing but quite able to act as a syndicate. If any community crosses them, they can bring it to its knees by cutting them off from trade. Postwar America would be in much worse shape without the Gypsy bands, but there is a dark side to this arrangement. Besides goods, Gypsies traffic in information. They have some kind of agreement with the scavvy gangs not to share information about them, so they won’t sell you intel on the guys who are raiding your home. Most settlements rely on isolation and natural defenses to protect themselves from raiders. The bands won’t trade with a town that won’t let them in, and settlers are worried that the Gypsies are selling their information to their enemies, which they very well might be. This is why most people see them as a necessary evil. The Gypsies don’t accept Kin within their ranks, but they have some remarkable abilities. First and foremost, their trade routes run through the Chasms, and they’re the only humans known to travel the Wormholes. Their well-armed guards don’t entirely explain this. They partake in something like the Omerta spell to swear loyalty to their Fathers, so it’s rumoured that the bands contain Covens of Witches. The Grandfather employs a network of mysterious “runners” to communicate with bands and settlements, and rumour has it that some of these are Kin. The bands have no concept of personal wealth. Status and hierarchy is complicated, as in any family, but mostly based on skill and achievement. Individual Gypsies have names denoting their talents, like Strongarm or Bladetongue. Bands have family names related to trade, like Longwalker and Gunbringer. They speak their own language, a mixture of English, Spanish, and for some reason, Chinese and Japanese. Oh, and carny cant so that no one can understand them. I wasn't kidding about the stereotypes. Below the Fathers are the Traders. Traders are always the most attractive women in the band, empowered to barter on its behalf. Hurting them is a quick way to get cut out of trade. Below the Traders are Explorers, who search the wilds and cities for stuff they can trade. They’re equipped with radiation suits and anti-Kin weapons, if the band has any. Below the Explorers are Guards, made up of the fittest young men in the band. Guards protect Traders, Explorers, and the whole band as it travels. They’re alert, trained, and equipped with military weapons and body armour. Everyone else in the band is a commoner, tasked with fixing up goods for sale and all the menial tasks that the band needs done. So that’s the Gypsies. You could just call them “The Traders” or whatever, take out a few weird stereotypes that don’t make much sense anyway, and nothing of value would be lost.  In the year 2525, your thesis advisor will still be a creep. The Reconstructionists are part of a top-secret government project to rebuild the United States in the aftermath of nuclear war. Along the way, they got infiltrated by multiple Kin factions. It’s quite a story. The Reconstructionists were established in 1974 and given all the money and manpower they needed. Most of the funding was squandered on corruption or boondoggle projects. Hey, this was when the government was throwing money at every charlatan with a pack of Zener cards. Daniel Web took over the Reconstructionists in 1985. He saved the project, but made powerful enemies and burned all his political capital. It’s the Reagan administration, dummy! We only kept this shop open so we could rob the till! With his funding cut off, Web found new political patrons in the Failsafe Coalition. By the decade before the war, the Reconstructionists had built two Caches. Y’know, like Vaults from Fallout. But a few traitors in the Coalition leaked information to the Complex, who got their own hooks in the project. The next Cache was firmly under their control. Web learned about the Kin and ordered a full investigation, but it was too late. When Target Alpha found out about Kin factions infiltrating the federal government, they brought the hammer down. All the Kin in the Reconstructionists were assassinated or forced into hiding. Web lost his job…and joined the Failsafe Coalition as a civilian. They continued preparing for war, but were taken by surprised when it actually happened. This entire fiasco would’ve made a good sourcebook, in my opinion. After the Spasm War, the Reconstructionists relied on Coalition Sorcerers to activate their regional branches. (Their EMP countermeasures failed or were sabotaged; it doesn’t matter now.). They’re 5,000 strong, spread across the country and headquartered in Sullivan. The Reconstructionists are benevolent types who want peace and prosperity for everyone who isn’t a mohawked, football-padded, people-eating psycho. The Reconstructionists are opposed to the Complex, Mother Earth, and all the other Bad Guys in the setting. They believe that Kin are a vital part of the new world order, so they don’t lack for muscle. But that whole “new world order” thing is going to be a problem. The Failsafe Coalition was absorbed into the Reconstructionists, and some of those Kin still secretly believe that a utopian future requires Kin to rule the Herd for their own good. I mean…they were right. Their entire ideology was rooted in the fear that the Herd would nuke themselves, and they were factually loving correct. This is eventually going to cause conflicts with the folks who just want indoor plumbing again. The Reconstructionists are specifically called out as a good tool for jump-starting your campaign. The PCs aren't likely to be at odds with them, and they can give you food, shelter, and whatever else in exchange for performing dangerous missions. This will bring the PCs into conflict with the Complex, the Brotherhood, and other Bad Guys. Taking their marching orders from a faction may become stifling after a while, but it's a good start.  Randolph Clegg has led the Reconstructionists since before the Spasm War. Once a high school biology teacher, he became Daniel Web’s right-hand man. Clegg is willing to work with Kin, but at the same time, he’s justifiably paranoid about Kin infiltration and hoards vital information.  Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Nightlife’s history assumes that the downsizing of the military in the 90s would continue. By the time of the Spasm War, the remaining soldiers were often employed as riot police. Most military bases were bombed in the war, and surviving units dissolved into the local population. Communities were happy to take in people with training in weaponry, tactics, and logistics. Soldiers who couldn’t or wouldn’t settle down became brigands. The Army of New America is the only remnant of the US Armed Forces. It was created by General Leonard Brovins, who went around scooping up those ex-military raiders into his army. He declared martial law, appointing himself head of the US federal government, and summarily executed anyone who opposed him. As far as the Army of New America is concerned, they’re the legitimate government of the United States. Their goal is to rebuild the US as a totalitarian military dictatorship, “to return to the glory of Sparta.” They say that a lot. The Army has 3,000 of the least fuckable douchebags in the Badlands. Their officers are tough, brave, and competent, and they’re all well-trained and well-armed. But their biggest advantage is understanding the value of technology. They “recruit” as many technical personnel as they can lay their hands on. They also have the best communication network in America, even better than the Gypsy bands, and Brovins can send a message and get a reply within 36 hours. How he does it is a mystery, but since they noted his supply depot was hardened against EMP, I’m guessing it’s as simple as a cache of working radios. The Army’s biggest weakness is that they’re at war with everyone. None of the other factions want these shitheads calling the shots.  As far as we know, General Leonard Brovins is the highest-ranking survivor of the US Armed Forces. Brovins had a brilliant career in the Army and was expected to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but his career imploded in scandal after the Med Wars. Brovins was the mastermind behind the plan to dump pathogens on the protesters. He was offered early retirement or a bullshit post at a supply depot in Kentucky, and he went to Kentucky–that’s why he survived the war. (Is he some kind of parody of Leonid Brezhnev? I guess not.) Brovins was always an authoritarian, and bitterness hardened him into outright fascism. He was already planning a half-baked military coup before the Spasm War, and now he has the chance to turn what’s left of the United States into a military dictatorship.  Oh great, it’s these assholes again! It turns out all of the worst people in the world survived the war, like cockroaches. Brett Stephens is probably still writing columns somewhere. Target Alpha went through a lot of shakeups in the years leading up to the Spasm War. Carmichaels was succeeded by Laura Stevens, who had a much lighter touch with the Kin. They recruited more ENOs and gave them more trust and authority, until they were infiltrated by the Complex. The infiltrators got close enough to Stevens to decide policy and eliminate political rivals within Target Alpha. But Stevens was no fool. She figured out what was going on and drew on her CIA contacts to help her clean house. Instead, the CIA tried to shut them down completely. Stevens and a handpicked team of agents purged Target Alpha of its infiltrators, then turned their attention to the CIA. In a few months, all former ENOs were dead or imprisoned and most CIA Kin assets were assassinated. Target Alpha had gone from an iron-fisted secret police, to a much more lenient policy, to the spearpoint of a violent purge of any Kin operating under the aegis of government. This culminated in their showdown with the Reconstructionists and its Kin infiltrators. After shutting down the Reconstructionists, Stevens retired and passed the baton to Carlos Ramirez, who had led Control Teams above and below the border with Mexico. Target Alpha had seized a couple of Caches built by the Reconstructionists. When the Spasm War began, Ramirez took as many agents as he could to his secret headquarters. They only have about 200 agents, but they do have a high-tech headquarters and all the advanced Kin-fighting weaponry you could want. Their operatives have military weapons with anti-Kin rounds and whatever weird James Bond weapons from the sourcebooks that the City Planner feels like giving them. Most surviving operatives are fanatically anti-Kin, though a fraction believe that it’s just the Complex that’s to blame. Target Alpha’s biggest asset isn’t their Vampyre-slaying laser guns or whatever, it’s their technology and technical expertise. Surrounding communities will probably be willing to help them in exchange for help getting power and water and food.  Carlos Ramirez was the director of Target Alpha’s Southwestern US division before succeeding Stevens as director. He realizes that he doesn’t have the manpower to take on both the Brotherhood and all of the surviving Kin. Reports of Commune Kin helping survivors are giving him pause for thought, but for now, Target Alpha is still an enemy of all the Kin. You may have noticed that these factions are spread all over the former United States and not just the general vicinity of New York. This leads me to wonder how people travel around. All those electric cars died, so people are either equipping individual cars with solar cells, rebuilding and using old cars, or traveling on foot or with pack animals. None of these things seem really viable for, say, a trade caravan moving goods between desperately poor, far-flung settlements. The book even mentions that the Reconstructionist Sorcerers used the Limo spell to get in touch with their regional operatives, but I can't find anything in the book about actual for-real cars. Nightlife has never cared about vehicle rules. Next time: You’ve heard about the Herd, now ken about the Kin. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Apr 5, 2022 |
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Apr 5, 2022 20:07
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JcDent posted:But of this batch, the worst power is the Hobbgrot cache. Unless you go super vague with it, it feels like it would tie you to a geographic location real bad, and Soulbound are the caliber of hero that would travel reality balls extensively. I quite like the Cache. You are allowed to keep it vague and have some stuff on the Hobgrot's person. Like you can have the party enter an area, and the Hobgrot can go "Oi I actually left a stash here in the past I should grab it"
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Apr 5, 2022 20:15
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r/confessions posted:I like to creep around my home and act like a goblin
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Apr 5, 2022 20:20
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Setting the game only one year after the nuclear war seems pretty soon for all these factions to be so well developed. Some of them have the excuse of being formed before the war, but that's a short timeframe for restablishing communications and asserting control over swathes of territory. The "Gypsies" and their trade routes are quite similar to those car tribes from the old Cyberpunk game, who make supply runs across the wastelands between the megacities.
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Apr 5, 2022 20:25
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mellonbread posted:Setting the game only one year after the nuclear war seems pretty soon for all these factions to be so well developed. Some of them have the excuse of being formed before the war, but that's a short timeframe for restablishing communications and asserting control over swathes of territory. The Nomads? I can see that. And happily at least in RED I can't recall any Roma stereotypes. I can't for earlier editions either but I'm not willing to say never because, well, game designers.
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Apr 5, 2022 22:01
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KonoSuba TRPG Part 4: Roll to determine how you got stuck in an MMO Now that we've gone over how to create a character, we can get into what kind of characters you can actually create. To do that, we need to tackle Races and Classes. And to tackle THOSE, we need to talk about Skills. Here is the example the book gives, the spell Cure:  A Skill is made of the following parts:
It's all fairly mechanically rigorous and codified, vaguely D&D 4E actually. Your Race gives you a small list of Skills to choose from at character creation for a little bit of customization at the start, and Classes gate rather a lot of combat Skills. Speaking of Races, the selection is a bit... paltry. Despite being something of a parody of the fantasy genre, KonoSuba doesn't have much in the way of weird fantasy races. I can't recall seeing so much as an elf really standing out, although presumably they're there somewhere. Arianrhod, the game this is essentially a re-skin of, has five races to choose from I believe, while KonoSuba has only three. First off, we have the Reincarnated Person. These are the classic isekai protagonist, some loser from our world who dies and finds themselves in the afterlife's waiting room where they're made an offer by the goddess Aqua. They could go on to the boring afterlife where nobody can eat food or get laid or anything, oooooooor... they can be reincarnated into the fantasy world, recruited into an epic struggle against the local Demon King, and granted some fantastical magical boon to aide them on their journey. Their stats give them slightly higher DEX and INT than average, representing a certain amount of deftness and unique knowledge you gleaned from your former life, and slightly lower than average MND, accurately representing how the average isekai protagonist is a vacuum of charisma. They get to pick one of various racial skills that give them a slight edge in the early game, such as: -your starting weapon hits a little harder than anything you could immediately buy, a gift of the Goddess Aqua -a piece of starting armor defends againt physical and magical damage better. This is nice as vanishingly little starting gear gives magic defense. -an extra Blessing from being literally God's Chosen Hero -once per session, you can add +3 to a check, representing you drawing on some useful modern Earth knowledge you have from your previous life like... I dunno, crop rotation or something Next we have the Native Inhabitant. These are the poor bastards who were born and raised in this wonderful world and have to deal with all these videogame assholes falling out of the sky and causing trouble. Mechanically they're all one homogenous category, but allegedly this group includes humans as well as all the various elves and dwarves and the more civilized monsters that inhabit polite society. Pick this race if you want the cat-ears option, the worldbuilding is sketched broadly enough that most anything can fit here. Statistically they're average across the board, with slightly higher STR, so a bit heartier than the other selections, a choice that can easily be customized to suit any playstyle. Their choice of starting skills tend to focus on passive buffs that scale well but aren't terribly flashy, such as: -a +2 to hit with an equipped weapon. Any weapon, even one you've never used before. A gift of the gods for those who live in a more casually violent fantasy world -a +3 to your Action Points, improving combat initiative -constant passive 3 Physical defense -or just three more +1s to distribute around your base ability scores, to better customize whether you're a slime or a superintelligent spider or something Lastly, there's the Crimson Magic Clan, which is localized as "Crimson Demons" in pretty much every other KonoSuba product I've ever seen, but not this one for some reason. They're... well they're an entire society of terrifyingly powerful sorcerers that act like middle school edgelords. They usually have stupid overwrought fantasy names and tend toward monomaniacal fixations and bloviating about how powerful and important they are. How did such a race come into being? Some bored accountant got isekai'd centuries ago, gifted the power of Creation by the goddess Aqua, and decided that the best way to battle the Demon King would be with an army of living artillery platforms, so he genetically engineered a race of super-mages. It's not the stupidest thing he ever created by a long shot. Stats-wise they're the only race I'd call "min-maxed," having abnormally low STR, PER and LUK, corresponding to being a bit physcially atrophied, as well as being heedless to the danger of their own terrible ideas. They make up for this with very high INT and MND, having a knowledge base and force of personality made for magic. Their selection of starting racial Skills are also pretty magic-focused: -a little more starting MP -a little more damage to all your spells -a little easier to pass magic checks - a +4 to one base ability score, with a different score getting -1, allowing you to further focus your character at the expense of neglecting something else An interesting thing about your chosen Race is also how it connects to the really rudimentary Life Path system, which is really just picking stuff off the ubiquitous d66 tables and getting some roleplaying prompts. The Background table is actually kinda funny. For Native Inhabitants, it's pretty standard fantasy setting fare, like your parents were adventurers or merchants or scholars or one of them was a Devil or something. For Crimson Demons, it's much the same, but more magic-y, "my parents were sorcerers or worked for the Adventurer's Guild appraising dangerous artifacts" that sort of thing. If you're a Reincarnated person? It's a table of how you got isekai'd. It's literally a table to decide if you got vehicular homicided by Truck-kun or hit by a meteorite or stabbed in a back alley or just honest-to-god opened up a wardrobe door to Narnia. Now, your Race gives you a little bit of starting customization, but most of your bells and whistles will come from your Class. There are sixteen Classes in all, though honestly that's a little deceptive. Four of those classes are REAL starter Classes, with fully fleshed out skill lists. Four of them are Advance Classes, that you can only take once you hit Level 10, basically Prestige classes. Seven of them are what I would call dip-classes, little focused subclasses with three Skills each if you want some special mechanical doodadsor unique flavor. And then there's the Adventurer Class. This Class is for people who want to system mastery the game in half, because its gimmick is it has only one native skill: an additional Blessing, kinda like that one Reincarnated starting skill. Instead, it learns Skills from all the other non-Advanced Classes, letting you build your character a la carte. It even says that, with GM permission, it can learn the Skills of enemies not normally available to PCs. Jesus Christ. I'm not going to go into minute detail on every Class, because I want people to buy the book and not just copy my notes, plus the main Classes have 20 Skills each and I don't want to transcribe that many stat blocks. However, I will give an overview. First, the four big ones: Warriors focus on Strength, Dexterity and Agility, and are built around getting into the thick of things, with lots of crushing physical attacks and Skills focusing on survivability, tanking for allies, and being an unstoppable god of war that can decapitate six guys with one sword swing. These skills tend to be pretty cheap on MP, which is good because you don't have much. Also, a lot of your effectiveness depends on your equipment, so you're gonna need cash to get armor to negate all the damage you're gonna soak and good weapons to squeeze the most damage out of your special abilities. Priests are essentially Final Fantasy white mages. They focus on Dexterity, Intelligence and Mind, and have a wide range of Spells to buff party members, remove debuffs, and generally heal and defend. They also come with a little bit of optional Blunt Weapon skill if you wanna go a little more martial with it, as well as a selection of abilities targeted at attacking the demonic and undead. Decent armor, but a little squishy, and mediocre damage outside of specific circumstances. Wizards focus on Intelligence, Perception and Mind, and are Blasters to the core, with several elemental damage Spells, as well as various Skills to buff their spellcasting in various ways, kinda like metamagic feats. They can deal astonishing damage to multiple targets at a distance, which is good, because they're kinda glass cannons, and good luck if you come across something that has magic defense. Thieves focus on Dexterity, Agility and Perception, so they hit fast, hit accurately, and avoid being hit in turn. They have lots of ways of quickly getting around the battlefield, dealing high single-target spike damage, and inflicting debuffs via tripping and poison and Indiana Jones whip bullshit. They also have a lot of utility skills related to dealing with traps and stealing loot from enemies. That said, their versatility in terms of Skills can make any given build kinda situational. Next part: Secondary classes, Advance Classes, Gear, and Cheats Asterite34 fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Apr 6, 2022 |
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Apr 6, 2022 03:19
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mellonbread posted:Setting the game only one year after the nuclear war seems pretty soon for all these factions to be so well developed. Some of them have the excuse of being formed before the war, but that's a short timeframe for restablishing communications and asserting control over swathes of territory. You're not wrong, but I find this kind of weird refreshing compared to the common (read: copied from Bethesda Fallout) setting where it's been 500 years since the bombs dropped, entire societies have sprung up and yet every last one of them still lives in the burnt out ruins of the old world.
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Apr 6, 2022 14:04
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Big Mad Drongo posted:You're not wrong, but I find this kind of weird refreshing compared to the common (read: copied from Bethesda Fallout) setting where it's been 500 years since the bombs dropped, entire societies have sprung up and yet every last one of them still lives in the burnt out ruins of the old world.
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Apr 6, 2022 14:32
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I don't think Cyberpunk's Nomads invoke Roma stereotypes in any way, beyond the fact that nomadic people get labeled "Gypsies" everywhere in the Anglophone world. It's a shame that "cyberpunk" and "post-apocalypse" got cleaved into two distinct subgenres, when they're very much joined at the hip, which is why the Nomads are there. Usually I'm a fan of keeping your post-apocalyptic timeline vague, but it's a little odd in KinRise. We don't know how many decades in the future the Spasm War happened--probably not that many, since Target Alpha has only gone through a couple administration changes in that time--and then the post-apocalypse is set 12-18 months? I think? After the war. In this case, it's kinda necessary to the whole KinRise thing, since nobody can grow food. Squatters are looking for canned goods, and the Dogtowners are still living on Grandma's canned peaches down in the cellar. The only exceptions are, well, in the next update.
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Apr 6, 2022 16:12
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Halloween Jack posted:In this case, it's kinda necessary to the whole KinRise thing, since nobody can grow food. Squatters are looking for canned goods, and the Dogtowners are still living on Grandma's canned peaches down in the cellar. The only exceptions are, well, in the next update. Nightlife-related question: Is there anything worth trying to salvage of the game's mechanics? Character creation seemed like kind of a chore.
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Apr 6, 2022 19:08
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Dawgstar posted:Nightlife-related question: Is there anything worth trying to salvage of the game's mechanics? Character creation seemed like kind of a chore. I really like the way you can just activate new kin abilities by paying the humanity cost on the fly.
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Apr 6, 2022 19:16
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Nightlife is not a terrible system, the skill list could use some pruning and some stuff could be tightened, but overall it works pretty well.
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Apr 6, 2022 19:27
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Dawgstar posted:Nightlife-related question: Is there anything worth trying to salvage of the game's mechanics? Character creation seemed like kind of a chore. The thing I like most about it is that it's a very clean percentile system. Looking at combat, since that's the most complicated part of most games: your skill % is also your initiative. The tens digit of your roll is your damage bonus. For a game released in 1990 it was very good at clearing out D&Dish cruft, like rolling a bunch of funky dice for damage and nothing else. The combat rules in general aren't very complicated. There are big lists of guns, but the stats aren't complicated. Autofire is a little clunky, but it's also the main reason to use guns. Edges work the same way. Like, a Werewolf rolls their Lycanthropic Form Edge to transform, and uses the same Edge as their skill to attack in wolfman-form. Not sure if your Alter Form Edge is fooling a guy into thinking you're his wife? Roll your Alter Form Edge. It's very elegant that way. Flaws are, likewise, a unified and clear set of rules. A Vampyre's vulnerability to wood works the same as a Werewolf's vulnerability to silver, with rules that you don't need to look up. I'm impressed with the way that most of the "Other Kin" are playable, and it doesn't take up a ton of space. Put a gun to my head and make me use either Nightlife's Humanity rules or Vampire's, and I'm going with Nightlife. The encounter tables are good. There should be more of them. Because d20s are just squashed d100s, it would convert pretty easily into most D&D/OSR rulesets. I know I'm praising the system, in part, for what's not there. But it's seriously impressive. It took a supreme act of willpower to design a roleplaying game in 1990 that wasn't loaded down with pointless D&Disms and gun porn. Getting into some of the bad stuff: The worst thing about the rules is the skill system. I hate, hate, hate, hate huge skill lists, and no, I 'm not Jon from System Mastery. But the thing is, too-long skill lists are usually very easy to fix. Just throw out most of the list. Strength is a weird almost-vestigial stat. It's kind of weird in that several Kin types get a +20 or +30 bonus to STR when the bonuses to other stats top out at +10. But STR doesn't really do anything but add to your melee skills and melee damage. This has some weird cascading effects. For example, the huge bonus Werewolves get in their Lycanthropic Form doesn't really help them, because Lycanthropic Form, Wolf Form, and Claws are all based on Fitness! The Strength bonus just adds a few more points of melee damage. If I were converting this to anything else, I'd combine STR and FIT and make the bonuses more modest. Luck is in the same boat. Before the mid-90s or so, lots of games had basic ability scores that just didn't work the way the other ones did, particularly games with a basic stat for Magic or Luck. Attractiveness also needs to go. The basic stats should be pared down from 8 to 4 or 5. LUCK is more of a leveling mechanic than anything else, so it should be replaced with levels or exist as a special stat with its own rules, like Humanity.
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Apr 6, 2022 20:52
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Halloween Jack posted:Paging Humbug Schoolbus! I agree 100% with all these statements. I also think that at its core Nightlife is stupefyingly better than the Storyteller system
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Apr 6, 2022 21:02
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The system in Nightlife is also used in other Stellar Games systems and it's a reliable and useful baseline they use that they keep stapling other things to, and it's funny to see some of the complaints apply to like ACE Agents which has its own problems with gun porn and other ideas but also its skill system needs to be cut to a third (108 skills!).
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Apr 6, 2022 21:17
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:I agree 100% with all these statements. I also think that at its core Nightlife is stupefyingly better than the Storyteller system
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Apr 6, 2022 21:21
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Oh also chargen needs to be a lot less swingy and have a lot more baseline competence. Warhammer's 2d10+20 is solid and reliable, Stellar's 4d10 is just clownshoes especially because they inform skill baselines which you can then add d10 results to each skill and just slowly build a dollar out of grabbing change and praying you don't get pennies. That's pretty loving easy to fix though.
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Apr 6, 2022 21:30
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Halloween Jack posted:Say what you will about d20 or percentile-based games, but I can eyeball a skill test and immediately know what the odds are, which is not true of almost every die pool system. I don't believe that players are always entitled to know the exact % chance of success before they make a roll, but for someone GMing or creating adventures, it's vital. Dice pool systems exploded in the 90s, no pun intended, and it seems that most of these companies' approach to playtesting was "Don't, that's not for Real Roleplayers."
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Apr 6, 2022 21:40
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FMguru posted:There is a lot that is old and clunky about BRP but man is it nice to be able to look at character sheet that says "Read Hieroglyphics 74%" or "Dodge 38%" and instantly know exactly what your chances are of accomplishing that particular task. Except you never knew for any given Keeper/GM how seriously they took the default competence for skill ratings. "Driving to the library to research the town's history...missed your Drive Auto skill roll? You got into an accident!" "So with my Drive Auto of 60%, I get into an accident 2 out of every 5 times I get behind the wheel?" "Them's the rules." I've wasted more than one four hour chunk of my life at bad Call of Cthulhu con events, can't you tell?
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Apr 6, 2022 21:53
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I think most games, whether from the 1990s or the present day, could do with some skill and ability score consolidation. The latest editions of Delta Green and CoC have come a long way since the early BRPs, but there's still fat to trim. Do we really need Artillery as a distinct skill from Heavy Weapons? In what circumstances would Archaeology be useful but not Anthropology? I also agree with combining Strength and Fitness. I think most games don't really need STR and CON as separate scores, when STR is usually a dump stat for anyone besides primary melee fighters. D100 dice systems are great as long as you don't force the players to constantly roll against their unmodified skills (which is an easy trap to fall into if you're raised on d20 and rolling dice plus modifiers versus task difficulty). If everyone is constantly being tested on their 40% chance of success, it creates a miserable situation for everyone at the table. The players feel useless because their characters can't do anything, and the GM can't "advance the plot" because the player characters are struggling to accomplish basic tasks. Modern systems try to get out of this paradigm in a couple ways
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Apr 6, 2022 22:01
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The Konosuba game seems interesting. I would also be interested in arianrhod for the differences.
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Apr 6, 2022 23:12
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Hostile V posted:Oh also chargen needs to be a lot less swingy and have a lot more baseline competence. Warhammer's 2d10+20 is solid and reliable, Stellar's 4d10 is just clownshoes especially because they inform skill baselines which you can then add d10 results to each skill and just slowly build a dollar out of grabbing change and praying you don't get pennies. That's pretty loving easy to fix though. Also, Humanity is the only form of XP, and can't be spent on Basic Abilities or Skills. (Until you get to be Elder Kin, which is practically impossible.) It could actually be kinda neat if skill increases were something you could earn from completing goals--it could, for example, be an incentive to make friends among different factions or explore the Wormholes. But it's not a thing. Admiralty Flag posted:Except you never knew for any given Keeper/GM how seriously they took the default competence for skill ratings. "Driving to the library to research the town's history...missed your Drive Auto skill roll? You got into an accident!" "So with my Drive Auto of 60%, I get into an accident 2 out of every 5 times I get behind the wheel?" "Them's the rules." The guideline I follow is that skill rolls are goal-based. Meaning that if you you're trying to e.g. sneak into a building, you're not rolling to sneak down the alley behind the building, rolling again to sneak up the fire escape, and rolling again to climb in the window. (If accomplishing your goals really should require multiple rolls, then it's some kind of "combat" or long-term project and needs a subsystem.) mellonbread posted:D100 dice systems are great as long as you don't force the players to constantly roll against their unmodified skills (which is an easy trap to fall into if you're raised on d20 and rolling dice plus modifiers versus task difficulty). If everyone is constantly being tested on their 40% chance of success, it creates a miserable situation for everyone at the table. The classic example of what not to do is WFRP2e, where PC skills start at 25-40% and the GM is encouraged to hand out -10% penalties for shits and giggles. In my mind, if a PC has Profession: Cartwright and wants to fix the party's wagon during downtime, they just do it. It only makes sense to roll if there's at least one Significant Complication. They've got to be figuratively or literally under fire, as Apocalypse World puts it. As for the 100% thing, it's odd to me how in e.g. some versions of BRP, combat skills will regularly climb well above 100% while other skills rarely do. To me 100% means the PC is so good that they'll never fail except in an incredibly difficult situation (i.e. one where there are multiple major complications and stacking penalties would be justified).
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Apr 7, 2022 00:33
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Halloween Jack posted:Say what you will about d20 or percentile-based games, but I can eyeball a skill test and immediately know what the odds are, which is not true of almost every die pool system. I don't believe that players are always entitled to know the exact % chance of success before they make a roll, but for someone GMing or creating adventures, it's vital. Dice pool systems exploded in the 90s, no pun intended, and it seems that most of these companies' approach to playtesting was "Don't, that's not for Real Roleplayers." Funny, I hold the opposite opinion. With a dice pool system, you know that the probability curve will be a bell curve, rather than a flat distribution. This will save your rear end when you're doing something risky. But I got my start with Exalted, and I'm used to handfuls of dice, too.
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Apr 7, 2022 01:01
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I feel like the difference is where you are in the game. Bell curves are great in the early game because they prevent you from constantly whiffing and loving up, they suck in the later game because they prevent you from consistently succeeding.
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Apr 7, 2022 01:06
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Halloween Jack posted:The classic example of what not to do is WFRP2e, where PC skills start at 25-40% and the GM is encouraged to hand out -10% penalties for shits and giggles. In my mind, if a PC has Profession: Cartwright and wants to fix the party's wagon during downtime, they just do it. It only makes sense to roll if there's at least one Significant Complication. They've got to be figuratively or literally under fire, as Apocalypse World puts it.
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Apr 7, 2022 01:52
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Halloween Jack posted:Because d20s are just squashed d100s, it would convert pretty easily into most D&D/OSR rulesets. Maybe that's why the Nightcrawlers RPG (which is a small no serial numbers Nightlife-esque that came out recently) is OSR-adjacent although I do dislike it's 'roll and assign stats in order.' It's pretty good, by the by. All the Kin are there except for Inuit because good heavens.
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Apr 7, 2022 02:17
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Halloween Jack posted:It's a common problem with percentile systems: not having a clear understanding of what an unmodified skill roll means, and as a corollary to that, not having a clear idea of what a Skill 100% means. The weird thing about this is both that it's indecisive about it (The actual rulebook is clear on 'don't roll if you have a skill unless something could go wrong, you only always have to roll if it's a Basic Skill you don't actually have' but the adventures are full of those 'roll your 35% base skill at -10 to continue plot' idiocies) and that Dark Heresy somehow decided the solution was to make PCs worse at everything. To be clear, the adventures being written how they are says more about how the writers of those adventures felt the system should be used than the corebook saying not to do what they do, unfortunately.
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Apr 7, 2022 02:31
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PurpleXVI posted:I feel like the difference is where you are in the game. Bell curves are great in the early game because they prevent you from constantly whiffing and loving up, they suck in the later game because they prevent you from consistently succeeding. (Or really any effects.)
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Apr 7, 2022 04:59
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