|
Klaives! It's the knife that's also a glaive! I'm being told that's an impossible combination.
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2023 23:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 00:55 |
|
|
DalaranJ posted:Klaives! It's the knife that's also a glaive! Maybe with that attitude
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 02:02
|
|
|
koblin with a klaive-kuisarme
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 02:18
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:koblin with a klaive-kuisarme
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 02:57
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:Well we made it despite your directions. Oh, egads! My First Change is ruined! But what if I were to get werewolf skin and disguise it as my own? [chuckles] Delightfully devilish, Samuel…. (appears with silver tray moments later) Garou Nation, I hope you’re ready for some mouthwatering vampire Clans! Gatto Grigio fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Sep 15, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 04:34
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:Do Klaives still look like this in W20? That's actually a baneklaive! that's from a black spiral dancers Key art. The general artist consensus for Klaive design is "Very elaborate silver spearhead bound with leather to a knife hilt"   Grand Klaives are basically just like, ornate greatswords that happen to be made of silver alloys.   but more to your point, this is the W20 key art for Klaives/Grand Klaives, which interestingly includes a loving labrys.  Gatto Grigio posted:Garou Nation, I hope you’re ready for some mouthwatering vampire clans! And you call them clans despite the fact that this is obviously a bloodline. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Sep 15, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 04:40
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:
Oh no, I said “Skinned Clans.” That’s what I call dead vampires. *offers what is clearly werewolf meat* It’s a regional dialect. Gatto Grigio fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Sep 15, 2023 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 04:47
|
|
|
The best part about this whole thing is that there's no reason why the rite of second skin couldn't be sanctified to Gaia, if the 'donations' as it were were willing. The main reason it's not is the spirit who taught it to Haight told him that the betrayal and murder really sealed in the werewolf juice.Gatto Grigio posted:Oh no, I said “Skinned Clans.” That’s what I call dead vampires. You know these skinned clans look remarkably similar to a harmony sin.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 04:58
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:The best part about this whole thing is that there's no reason why the rite of second skin couldn't be sanctified to Gaia, if the 'donations' as it were were willing. The main reason it's not is the spirit who taught it to Haight told him that the betrayal and murder really sealed in the werewolf juice. Hohoho, no! Patented Child of Gaia Rite. Old Haight family recipe!
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 05:06
|
|
|
Gatto Grigio posted:Hohoho, no! Patented Child of Gaia Rite. Old Haight family recipe! This entire thing had been  no notes.Kurieg posted:The best part about this whole thing is that there's no reason why the rite of second skin couldn't be sanctified to Gaia, if the 'donations' as it were were willing. The main reason it's not is the spirit who taught it to Haight told him that the betrayal and murder really sealed in the werewolf juice. I may have to go back and reread the flavor text of the ritual but I don't think the Rite of Sacred Rebirth had any specific Banes or anything associated with it, it was just bad because..well stealing Garou skins. If you mean the fetish in this adventure, yeah it could probably be done for Gaia, it just happens that Tick is being a poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 05:21
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:This entire thing had been Sam Haight is an odd fellow, but I must say… he skins a good clan. (Thanks!)
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 05:30
|
|
|
I know it’s not a CofD game, but the Skin Dancers also give off major Deviant vibes, and that’s a good thing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 07:20
|
|
|
DalaranJ posted:Klaives! It's the knife that's also a glaive! Whaaaats… sharp as a shank and strong as a tank and can be used to shave What kills all your foes Lets you pick all your toes It’s Klaive Klaive KLAIVE! It’s Klaive! It’s Klaive! It’s silver, it’s heavy, it burns! It’s Klaive! It’s Klaive! it’s… great for trimming ferns? Everyone wants a Klaive! You’re gonna love your Klaive! C’mon and get your Klaive! Everyone needs a Klaive, klavy klaive, gravy klaive, etc. KLAIVE! (tm)… from Pentex! (bound spirit not included)
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 11:36
|
|
|
I'm glad Steamed Hams transcend all time, space, and setting.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 12:20
|
|
|
Gatto Grigio posted:Whaaaats… sharp as a shank Kylorenmore.gif 
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 13:57
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:This entire thing had been
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 14:29
|
|
|
Like a frequent buyer club card, but somehow dirtier when they're stuffed in your wallet.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 14:47
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Presumably most war-like septs are killing the occasional Black Spiral Dancer: this would let you collect their hides and when you have five, you can find your most promising Kinfolk and give them a field promotion.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 14:51
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Presumably most war-like septs are killing the occasional Black Spiral Dancer: this would let you collect their hides and when you have five, you can find your most promising Kinfolk and give them a field promotion. Don't they have to be of the same breed? Most Dancers are Metis which, you know, those are already automatically Garou. Also what Jack said.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 15:02
|
|
|
You'll never make it in the Bone Gnawers if a little pollution injury and parasite infestation turns you off. Might as well rite name as Calls-The-Manager.Dawgstar posted:Don't they have to be of the same breed? Most Dancers are Metis which, you know, those are already automatically Garou. Also what Jack said.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 15:14
|
|
|
Nessus posted:You'll never make it in the Bone Gnawers if a little pollution injury and parasite infestation turns you off. Might as well rite name as Calls-The-Manager. The rite only requires the pelts be A. Garou (other changing breeds apparently don't work) and B. Preserved and collected under the same moon So you gotta get 5 skins under whichever phase the moon is in, but they can be collected at any time so you could in theory stockpile pelts as long as they're tagged with the right moon phases and then when it's time to do the rite, grab all your full moons and bing bong, now your Garou, so easy. Many such cases. Skinner touches on the suggestion of "What if the Rite of Sacred Rebirth fell into the hands of the Black Spiral Dancers?" towards the end of the book as part of the "Ideas for fall out from this adventure" bit. Which you know, would be really loving bad for the Nation.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 16:21
|
|
|
Joylessdivisions World of Dorkness Presents: Haighters Gonna Hate #7: Skinner Part 2 -Minotaur has fallen to the sway of Tick’s advice, that he should be angry at his lot and his children’s lot, increasing his susceptibility to the whispers of the Wyrm. Currently, Minotaur wants his children to carve their own path in the world, but through intervention of the players, he could realize that survival is a more noble ambition. -The final piece of the puzzle is the Kinfolk of the sept willing to betray the Garou they know to the Vultures and Samson’s plan. Whether using an original Kinfolk or Walter Foss, their motivation is to become a Skin dancer, and they plan to achieve this by aiding Samson and the Vultures. First, however, they want to survive and if things start going to hell, they may have to do whatever it takes to save their own skin. So that brings us to the end of the opening half of this adventure book. I don’t want to harp on how much better written this adventure is, and especially when remembering that it’s been 20+ years since Werewolf first debuted and this adventure was released in 2013 (unintended 10th anniversary review!), but it’s really hard not to point to this book and say “Holy poo poo, can you believe how well put together this is!?” The provided NPC’s are all well written and have interesting and believable hooks for why they’re running with the Vulture Walkers, and despite my mild disappointment that the adventure didn’t take the most ridiculous direction it could have (which would have been the Haight clone), I’m still impressed with the set up for this story. When I first read the back of this book, I assumed (wrongly) that Sam’s clone would be the “resurrected” Skinner of the story, something silly like a pack of Skin Dancers found Haight’s clone on ice somewhere and revived him to wreak new havoc on the Garou. Instead, we get what feels like a much more appropriate continuation of the Haight legend, with a nice parallel to Haight’s past as the Skinner by resurrecting him via a piece of his skin that’s been magically grafted to one of the Dancers, and the threat of Haight fully possessing his host and being reborn. While I miss the traditional black and white character portraits, I do like these full color images, and as I said earlier, the full color throughout the book really makes the whole thing pop in a really wonderful way. For the sake of clarity, I’ve numbered each scene as they appear in the book, though as noted in each scene, there are typically a couple of different scenes that can potentially follow a scene, so while this may be presented as a linear 0-9 fashion, as written, it’s totally possible to jump from Scene 1 to Scene 3 and things will still make sense. So, let’s begin looking at the scenes of this adventure with Scene Zero: Opening Hostilities  Mental 1/Physical 3/Social 0 Overview The Vulture Walkers are drawn to by the prospect of plentiful Garou corpses to skin, and the aftermath of a battle between rival tribes is just the place to do it. Ideally, this optional scene will work naturally with your chronicle, giving context to the fight as well as focusing on the players as the dominant protagonists of the story. If you intend to run this adventure as a stand-alone, then you can skip this scene if you suspect your players will assign more importance to the fight with the BSD than is necessary. The scene should feel like a natural part of your game, and not gratuitous. The BSD should have a valid attack plan as well as stakes that the players would care about. While there should be consequences for losing, the difference is this is also secretly the introduction for the Vulture Walkers into the story. Description This scene should be a vicious battle, with the BSD hellbent on killing the players and vice versa. It should also take place in some isolated location on the outskirts of the sept in a neutral space, preferably away from civilization, and by default, takes place in a wooded area. ST’s can change and adapt the setting as needed, but ideally, the location will be some place where humans aren’t likely to come looking for a few days, so that the players do not feel the need to clean up the bodies immediately. The BSD plan is to use a false flanking maneuver to break up the players with expendable troops (aka: BSD Kin), then make a drive down the center to overwhelm the players. The two flank groups are made of both human and wolf Kin to confuse players into overcompensating for the greater number of attackers. The other element of the scene is the arrival of the Vulture Walkers post battle. If a player stays on guard, they may notice Jerrick attempting to creep up on the fringes of the battlefield to survey the damage. If the Walkers have a chance to drag away the bodies of fallen Garou, likely BSD as victorious players would be more focused on collecting their own fallen, they will, so long as it’s not too dangerous. The Walkers will avoid conflict if there are more than two sentries Garou watching the battlefield, but if a single sentry is left, they may try to kill them. If the players or Kin from the players sept are sent to collect the dead, the Walkers will watch carefully and may try to recruit some of the Kin. Of course, if the prize is too good to pass (3 or more corpses) they won’t hesitate in making a small group of Kin “Disappear”. Storyteller Goals If you’re using this scene as a prelude to Skinner, then the goal is simple, giving the players a taste of the sort of battle that’s common to the Garou, and to give the Walkers a reason to prowl the edges of the players sept, as well as establishing context for what is to come. Character Goals Simple: Defeat the enemy  Action Combat is the focus of this scene, though the BSD are ferocious warriors, they will not fight to the last if it becomes clear they have no chance of killing at least one enemy, however, they will fight without regard for their safety until they are reduced to half their numbers. If they believe they have the chance to kill a Gaian or two, however, they will fight to the end. We’re provided with stats for a BSD Kinfolk as well as a quick list of BSD names and personalities that can be used with the “Veteran Werewolf” stat block from earlier. -Eurghak’ll: Lupus Ahroun. He has a nasty cough and spits blood but is otherwise quite hearty. Venerates and emulates the Beast-of-War, -1 difficulty to frenzy but gains a +1 to Strength when frenzying. -Oth: Homid Theurge. Behaves as if constantly frightened, shivering constantly and with chattering teeth when speaking. Wears a string of bones and teeth as totem jewelry. -Scab: Metis Philodox. His blood clots incredibly quickly, and his skin is covered in scabs and old scars. Slightly lame because of blood clots in his veins, -1 to movement, +1 to soak rolls. -Song-of-Agony: Metis Galliard, sadistic and mimics the cries of her victims in a sing-song voice. Bat eared and blind but uses echolocation to find targets. -Virulence: Homid Ragabash, she’s practiced in passing for Human or Gaian. Dresses in punkish street clothes with elaborate tattoos of the Four Horsemen across her body, she shaves her fur in Crinos so that her tattoos stay visible. Like all the scenes in this kit, we’re given a quick description of the events and their significance to the plot without scripting out a full encounter and “If/then” statements. While it is not completely necessary to tell this specific story, I do like that we’re provided with this bit of introduction to seed the Vultures into things, even if their presence is mostly in the background. If I were running this adventure, it would likely be a few months after I’d already run the players through a version of the extended Samuel Haight adventure beginning with Skins and ending in a heavily modified version of Chaos Factor, letting the death of Haight stand as a triumph the players can hang their hats on while focusing things on something else for a time before either taking this opening scene as a transition point into Skinner, or simply skipping over it and moving directly into the events of the next scene. Scene One: Skin and Bones  Mental 2/Physical 0/Social 1 Overview Someone has discovered the flayed corpse of a Garou ally. The players are given the first chance to investigate the scene for clues. Description Word comes to the sept from a contact near the local landfill (Bone Gnawers, Kin or even Ratkin will work) that a body has been found that smells like a Garou. After the elders take count of the sept, they realize that a young cub is missing and has not been seen for a couple of days. According to the contact’s description, the corpse fits the age, gender and build of the missing cub, but they couldn’t tell before, on account of the whole being skinned thing. By default, the corpse is Noah Harris, a young male Homid who was set to take his Rite of Passage on the next full moon, who was still training in combat and survival, but making satisfactory progress. If you intend to kill off an existing ST character (or player character for that matter) choose one who's not only expendable but would also have credible reason to trust the Kinfolk traitor. Depending on how the players feel about the deceased will have an effect on the roleplaying as if the character was well loved, they will be sorely missed and the players will likely be more inclined to investigate, while if the victim was a rival, the players may have more mixed feelings, and if the victim was simply a background character, it’s possible the whole thing will be downplayed and ignored. Here’s what happened: The Vultures killed Noah by ambush, catching him in the woods alone one night as he worked on his scavenger hunt in a “Safe” area he’d learned about from Walter Foss. Foss told the Vultures where to find Noah, and Jerrick surprised the cub, holding him down and slitting his throat with a silver knife. Noah’s body was then loaded into a van and taken to Bromfeld and Sons funeral home to be drained of blood and skinned. After being skinned, the body was wrapped up and taken to the landfill before being unwrapped and left, as their leader intended the body to be found to remind the sept leaders of the Skinner. The players are then asked to investigate the scene, either because other packs are busy with the BSD or because the players had a connection to the deceased. The contact who found the body brings the players to the location and then leaves them alone to run interference on anyone who may come snooping around. The players have carte blanche to investigate the scene and body, and ultimately decide what to do with it. Storyteller Goals  This scene should be where you hook the players into the adventure, and the scene should invoke a sense of “Savage Horror” as the flayed corpse of a Garou sends a very clear message. The players should have an opportunity to learn much from their investigation, while the tension of the scene should come from the unanswered questions: Who did this? Who might be next Let the players deduce what they want about the killer, but don’t give away everything. This isn’t a whodunit however, as the climax doesn’t come when the players have all the answers, rather when they act on what they have learned. Character Goals Discover as many details as possible about the murder. While the killers have gone to great lengths to cover their tracks, nobody is perfect. Action -Gathering clues from the body requires a Perception + Investigation roll at difficulty 7. Heightened Senses will lower difficulty to 5. Players should be free to ask whatever questions they want about the body, and ST’s should answer to the best of their abilities, based on the success or failures of the players’ rolls. -Noah died from the wound to the throat, which bears the telltale searing of Silver, and there is no other serious trauma done to the body. This does not require a roll to notice. -Whoever did the killing does not have a scent of their own. Players may deduce this implies a Ragabash or other Garou with the Scent of Running Water gift. If they don’t, success can fill the blanks for them. -The body was wrapped in a sheet before being dumped, and the killers took the sheet with them when they left. A search roll at difficulty 8 will show bits of thread clinging to the body. While they will of course smell blood, use of Heightened Senses will give a player the faint scent of formaldehyde. -Learning where Noah was last seen will take a few hours of asking around the sept and his known hangouts, as well as successful Wits + Streetwise (difficulty 8). Once the patch of woods is found, the players can then follow Noah’s scent to the murder scene. -Obviously, there’s a lot of blood on the ground, all of which is Noah’s -While there are no scents linked with the attackers, a successful Perception + Primal-Urge roll (difficulty 8) will show that tracks that Jerrick didn’t cover, which the players can help the players figure out that the victim was attacked by a Garou who took Glabro form to carry the body away. -Following Jerrick’s tracks from the murder site requires an extended Perception + Primal-Urge roll at difficulty 9. If 12 successes are gained without a botch, they’ll find that Noah’s body was carried to the roadside where it was seemingly loaded into a vehicle. Consequences There aren’t enough clues for the players to solve the mystery, but there should be enough information to get them asking around for further leads. If they already suspect that Noah was betrayed by someone in the sept, you can continue the story with the Turncoat scene, otherwise move on to Second Skin where the next victim is found. I think this is a pretty well done scene, with enough obvious clues to tip off the players that Haight is involved (so long as they’ve encountered him before), but enough mystery as to what the hell happened that even if they don’t catch the obvious hints, there’s still the questions to explore regarding the death of the cub. Scene Two: Second Skin  Mental 2/Physical 0/Social 1 Overview A second corpse is discovered, this time more prominently placed for discovery. It seems the killer is sending a direct message to the local Garou. The players investigate once more, searching for ties between the two gruesome murders. Description Our default victim is Smokepaw, a young female Lupus who recently had a bitter argument with her packmates and needed some time alone. If using an original ST NPC, they should also have reason to trust the traitor Kinfolk, and preferably, they should be a Lupus without much contact with the outside world. Smokepaw died at night on a lonely stretch of road. She wasn’t sent there by Foss, but he knew it was an area she liked to wander to get used to the smells of humans in small doses. While the Vultures tried to ambush her, she perceived them before they could attack, and was pursued over a mile before being caught and killed. Monica went Crinos and snapped Smokepaw’s neck before they slit her throat with the silver knife. The Vultures then carried the body back to their vehicle, covering their tracks as best they could before returning to the funeral home to drain and skin the corpse. Then they dumped the body on the very edge of the sept, just before dawn. If the players don’t discover the corpse themselves, they may learn about the victim through a local news broadcast, where the corpse is described as a skinned dog carcass, and that it was either a prank or potentially a threat. Tracking the body through public works channels is simple, and ultimately will lead back to the landfill. Unless they have a reason, the workers won’t examine the corpse closely and simply dispose of it believing it to be a dog. Storyteller Goals  Things are getting worse, and there should be a clear escalation. One dead and skinned Garou is a problem, but two is clearly a pattern. This scene, like the previous one, gives the players more clues about the killers, but should also show the growing dread within the sept. If you’re running Skinner as part of a larger ongoing chronicle, you may want to playout some unrelated events between Skin and Bones and Second Skin, as running them back-to-back will keep the focus and tension high, while moving on to other events before the next attack will emphasize the unpredictability of the killers. Don’t let this scene bottleneck things. The clues the players find may lead them to the conclusion that someone in the sept is a stooge, but if they don’t come to this conclusion on their own, feel free to have an NPC suggest it. Character Goals Like the earlier scene, the players are trying to gather clues, particularly clues that imply a pattern that could link the two murders. Action Gathering clues from the body once again requires a Perception + Investigation roll at difficulty 7 or 5 with Heightened Senses active. -Smokepaw’s neck was broken, but there are cuts on her body that suggest claws. The killing blow however is the same silver seared wound as Noah. -Like Noah, Smokepaw was wrapped in a sheet that smells faintly of formaldehyde -Smokepaw did not die under the same moon as Noah. Those who know about the Rite of Sacred Rebirth may realize that the Skin Dancers must harvest their skins under the same moon phase. Some may see this as the proof that Haight has returned, as he’s not collecting the skins because he needs them, but because he can. (The truth is the Vultures are simply collecting skins as the opportunities arise, not with a specific transformation in mind) -Smokepaw, much like Noah, was training for her Rite of Passage. Investigating the murder scene will turn up some clues, and a Manipulation + Streetwise roll at difficulty 7 is needed to learn that Smokepaw had a penchant for this particular back road. However, only members of the sept can provide this information, as Smokepaw had no human contacts, or at least any who would know her habits. -Smokepaw’s lack of contacts outside the sept should be a big clue for the players, but not one you should explicitly draw attention to. -She was pursued for a mile in wolf form, and unlike Noah’s death, it seems there were multiple wolves or wolf-form Garou chasing her. Consequences With two bodies and two murder scenes investigated, the players should have enough information to start making some connections between the two deaths. The next likely scene would be Turncoat, to find the mole or track them down if the players have enough clues. If the players have determined the likely next victim, then jump to Trophy Hunting instead, where they can plan a potential ambush for the killers. If the players are coming up dry on ideas however, let a day or two pass in story time as the sept considers the possibilities. An ST NPC could suggest the possibility of a traitor which would direct things towards Turncoat, which will then turn the mood of the sept far darker, which could affect further investigations. Whatever happens, the sept is becoming nervous, as the legends of the Skinner begin to surface again, and the name Haight is whispered around the fires. The revelations of other Garou being involved in the killings might stir the sept to believe that the BSD are involved, and other packs may be delegated to pursue this lead. Scene Three: Turncoat  Mental 2/Physical 0/Social 2 Overview The players have either learned or suspect that there is a Skin Dancer mole in the sept. They must figure out who is providing this information and then how to punish this individual, though making a grotesque example of a Kinfolk might end up furthering the Vultures' cause among the Kin population. Description The death of Smokepaw indicates that the killer, or killers, are either spying on the sept with exceptional skill, or they are getting information from someone. Some members of the sept are ready to go roaming outward, looking for targets to tear apart, but while they’re on the right track as far as targets, they're not looking in the right places. Asking around about Smokepaw and Noah will trigger this scene, as young cubs before their Right of Passage need instruction. When they weren’t training with the Garou sponsor, they were not allowed to wander much. It was only during their time training with the Kinfolk that they were allowed to roam a bit more (and get themselves into trouble). This scene can be as elaborate and drawn out as you like, and if you have ST NPC’s the players enjoy interacting with, this provides a handy opportunity for social roleplay. If the players are ready for a bit more action, however, you can move things along more quickly towards the common link that is Walter Foss. Once Foss finds out the players are talking with the other Kin, he immediately expects the players are coming for him, and retreats to his cabin where he does most of the training. He realizes he’s not yet earned his place in the Skin Dancer tribe and the realization that he’s got nowhere to run is beginning to set in. Storyteller Goals This scene should highlight one of the recurring themes of the Skin Dancers, the starkly unequal relations between the Garou and their Kin. Some Kin will gladly help the players, but even with these NPCs you can hint at the subtle tension of the player packs loved ones being careful not to anger them, while other Kin will prove less helpful, not through defiance but sullen declarations of “Not knowing anything.” The players should realize that by negotiating with the Kin about a possible traitor, that they are acting as “The Man,” even if they are benevolent. Remember it can be easy to stir up the feelings that drive a Kin to the Skin Dancers even without playing things heavy handed. For many Kin, anything coming from a Garou’s mouth is “Pulling Rank” with fills the relationship with danger. Character Goals The players need to find and interrogate the person who is betraying the sept. The connection to the killers could provide valuable information, such as who they are, where their lair is, and who may be their next target. Action The first half of this scene should be largely social, as the players ask around about the dead cubs, who they were training with, and who they saw them with last, etc. The other Garou of the sept can provide some of this information but won’t know what would have sent the cubs out to where they died. Canvassing the Kinfolk While the Kin of the sept are generally cooperative, they’re not going to want to tell the players everything they know, and some won’t be as forthcoming specifically out of fear of the punishment they may receive, even if they’ve done nothing to the pack. Dice Pools: Wits + Intimidation or Manipulation + Persuasion difficulty 7 Action: Extended (12 successes) Obstacles: Bad pre-existing relationship (-1); word has gotten around the sept of a possible traitor (-1) Assets: Good pre-existing relationship (+1), Truth of Gaia gift (+1) Roll Results Botch: All successes are lost, and the players aggrieved or intimidated one of the Kin severely, damaging their reputation with the rest. Good pre-existing relations temporarily lose their die bonus. If the players had a neutral reputation amongst the Kin, it adds the “Bad pre-existing relationship” obstacle for the rest of the extended action. This penalty is only applied once, even if the players alienate multiple Kin. Failure: No successes gained Success: If the players reach 12 successes, one of the Kin steps forward to admit that both the dead cubs were training in survival with Walter Foss, who encouraged them to practice what they’d been taught in isolated areas. It’s common knowledge that he fears the coming Apocalypse, and he’s been known to fret aloud about whether he’ll be strong enough to save his family. The Minefield Finding Walter is the next step. His family hasn’t seen him in 12 hours, and it’s likely he’s retreated to his cabin. Foss knows he’s no match for the Garou, though he has a few tricks of his own to keep them at bay. The woods around his cabin have been seeded with explosive devices that have been hidden with the triggers near dummy tripwires and false pitfalls. As the players move through the woods to the cabin, they may encounter some of these devices. The players will have to be actively looking for such devices, they don’t have to scour every square meter of forest floor, but they also can’t expect to just pick out the devices by glancing. A Perception + Alertness or Perception + Survival roll at difficulty 8 will allow them to spot the devices. Failure means a player has accidentally triggered the device. Who gets hit can be random or whoever took point. There are 5 of these devices hidden, though the players are likely to only encounter two on their way to the cabin. Any detonated mine does 10 dice of aggravated damage to the person triggering it. This is largely impact and incendiary damage, as he may be a turncoat, but Foss hasn’t crossed the line into using silver against the Garou. Questioning the Turncoat Once pinned down, Foss isn’t hard to interrogate. He’s tough and stubborn, but no match for a pissed off werewolf…or five. He’ll start by trying to cut a deal for his or his family's safety, but won’t push his luck, as the enormity of what he’s done begins to sink in during the interrogation, when he breaks down and tells the players all he knows: -He was contacted by a white-haired man named Caldwell who represented a pack of Skin Dancers called the Vulture Walkers -Caldwell did most of the talking, though he met Samson, who he can vaguely describe as terrifying and that he too wanted to be terrifying. -The Vultures set up a dead-drop where he could leave messages for them. His next message is expected in two days, and he can name the location: under the door of a gas station toilet in one of the less prosperous parts of town. Consequences Successfully interrogating Foss gives the players the lead they need to intercept the Vultures during their next hunt, moving things to Trophy Hunting, or they may convince Foss to use the dead-drop to set up a target, or stake out the drop site to tail whoever picks up the message, which could lead to Closed Casket Funeral. Failure to gain any information from Foss means the Vultures will be able to strike again, though likely not without Foss’s help. This is another solid scene, and I like that the interrogation of the Kinfolk is an extended action with modifiers for potential pre-existing relationships as well as for botching. I also like that there’s a couple different directions you can go from the Foss interrogation. I also dig the narrative element of this scene’s focus on the power dynamics and the disparity between the Garou and the Kin. Scene Four: Trophy Hunting  Mental 3/Physical 3/Social 3 Overview The Vultures are on the hunt, targeting either an ally or relative of the players, or possibly even one of the players themselves, if they decide to lay a trap for the Vultures. The players need to move quickly to defend their charge, and with a little luck, they may be able to track the Vultures to their lair. Description The Vultures are on the move when they get word of another isolated target. Depending on how things have played out to this point, the target may be someone Foss has targeted, or it could be a deliberate bait target they have set up. While the Vultures can’t keep an eye on Foss all the time, they’re still cautious. Foss will willingly help set up a trap if he has been offered leniency by the players, and he’ll likely do it even if they don’t, considering he doesn’t have much choice in the matter. This third hunt takes place in a trainyard where Foss has informed the Vultures their target goes to practice parkour. The many train cars offer cover for both the players and the Vultures (making all stealth rolls a +1). The Vultures arrive in force with Jerrick taking the lead, Savage-Heart and Monica flanking and Caldwell bringing up the rear. More members can be included if necessary to fill out the formation, while Samson watches from a safe distance, and does not show himself (unless circumstances force him) and will sound the retreat if it becomes obvious this is a trap. Storyteller Goals The hunt should be the focus, as hunting is a core aspect of the Garou experience, and part of the appeal of the Skinner as a villain is that he’s a predator himself, turning the tables on the Garou and putting them into the unusual position of being prey. Focus should be put on the uncertainty of the hunt, with questions like Which way are they coming from? Are they already here? How many of them are there? What if they scent us first? Character Goals The players have two primary goals, the first is making sure their friend/bait isn’t killed and either catching or following the Vultures. Action  The players actions are largely opposed by the Vultures through this scene. If the players arrive first, they’ll need to make Stealth checks to conceal themselves near the bait, and Perception + Awareness checks to try and scent the approaching Vultures. If they’re trying to catch up to the Vultures, then it’ll be more about detecting the concealed enemies and driving them out of hiding or just saying gently caress it and going full combat mode. When combat breaks out, the Vultures are cagey and on the defensive, protecting each other and not focusing on attempting to fight to the death. If they have a clear advantage over the players they may stand and fight to the end, but otherwise they’ll try and make a run for it. If one of the players gets too far ahead of their pack while pursuing the Vultures, they may take the opportunity to attempt to take down the lone player with what time they have before the rest of the players catch up. Should the Vultures flee, the players can attempt to follow them back to their lair. If they make it to their minivan (clearly the transport of the evillest of beings) they’ll try to use it to escape, believing that the players won’t be able to follow in wolf form once the van gets closer to human packed areas. If they get separated from the vehicle however, they’ll split up and head back to the funeral home on foot. Tracking the Vultures by scent has a +2 difficulty because of their use of Scent of Running Water, while running a trace on the van won’t be immediately helpful in finding the funeral home due to out of state plates, a good look at the vehicle will grant the players a +2 bonus to Streetwise checks related to the van, which will yield the information that the van has been seen around the Bromfeld and Sons funeral home. Capturing one of the Vultures will allow the players to attempt to interrogate them (negotiating and interrogation rules are listed in Closed Casket Funeral. Consequences If the players were successful, they'd likely either bested most of the Vultures or managed to track them to the funeral home, leading to the next likely scene to be Closed Casket Funeral. If the Vultures managed to take their target down, however, add another Vulture Recruit to the pack. This is another good scene and broadly speaking I like that there’s a nice flow of different kinds of action through these scenes, with a nice blending of investigation, social and combat elements. While I’ve certainly had my own ideas as I’ve read through this adventure for how I would approach it, I think the general default version of the story that’s presented here is good and open ended enough that no matter what the players do (short of just not participating), there’s a way to keep things moving along in a logical way that doesn’t feel railroading. Scene Five: Closed Casket Funeral  Mental 1/Physical 3/Social 3 Overview The players tracked the Vultures to their lair at the funeral home. Now they must move in to confront the Skin Dancers and attempt to keep them from escaping…or taking the players hides. Description The Bromfeld and Sons Funeral Home is in a rundown part of town where most of the storefronts bear weathered “For Lease” signs in their dusty windows. The funeral home is run by the Bromfeld family, though Bromfeld Senior is dead, while his two brothers Issac and Roger have little interest in the business. When the Vultures came to town and inquired about renting the place, the brothers had a feeling something was off, but the money being offered was far better than what they were making running the funeral home, so for the last few weeks, the home has not been accepting business and the Bromfeld brothers are not around. The funeral home itself is not that large, housing three viewing rooms, a small chapel, a showroom for caskets and a pair of cramped offices. The mortuary itself is in the basement, and this is where the Vultures have been doing their dirty work. Once the players arrive at the funeral home, the Vultures must make a choice, fight, or flight, and considering their secondary rendezvous would compromise Samson, fighting is the answer. All the Vultures except Samson are present, as the Theurge has sensed trouble on the air, and has retreated to a safe location to try to process his tangle of memories. Down in the basement, the players will find the tools the Vultures have been using, as well as the stench of blood, raw meat and formaldehyde, as well as the skins of the Vultures victims. They may find the skins of the BSD or even the recent murder victims from their sept, or they may find that there are less pelts present if the Vultures have recently recruited. Each of the pelts represents the breed of their former owners, and the ST should play this detail up, such as a Crinos pelt from a Metis BSD or a Lupus wolfskin or two, and even the cured flesh of Homids. Storyteller Goals If the players didn’t manage to fight the Vultures in Trophy Hunting, this is likely their first chance to smack these guys around, and this is the perfect time to showcase what Garou on Garou violence is like, the mix of bestial fury and human intelligence, savage grudges and the conflict of wanting revenge and not wanting to lose any more Garou. If the players want to negotiate, then let the focus be on the differences in goals between the Gaian Garou and the Skin Dancers. Remember, that if combat does break out, the scene takes place in a funeral home, which opens opportunities to make the combat more interesting as there’s nothing quite like Garou bodies being tossed through the air and crashing through a casket or shattering stained glass in the chapel. Like the previous scene, this is another good opportunity to flesh out the Vultures with additional new recruits or even Kinfolk who have not undergone the Rite yet. Character Goals The players are likely to want to take down the Vultures, either out of revenge or outrage at what they’ve done. They may want to take them prisoner to stand trial before the sept and potential redemption, or the players may just want to kill every motherfucker in the funeral home. Action Stealth checks are needed to enter the funeral home without being noticed, as charging in to one of the various doors to the building will alert the Vultures. While the Vultures don’t keep up a constant watch, they’re still Werewolves and will notice people openly crossing the parking lot or walking up to a back door. The focus of this scene should be combat, unless the players want to negotiate, but it should be noted at this point that the Vultures don’t take prisoners. So, the players are going to have a challenging fight ahead of them if they choose to go straight combat, but if they manage to take a prisoner or try to open with negotiations, they’ll find an entirely different kind of challenge. Negotiations and Interrogation Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion, Manipulation + Subterfuge or Manipulation + Intimidate vs Target’s Willpower Action: Extended (12 successes) Obstacles: Asking the pack to betray Samson (-1) Assets: Pledges of mercy (+1), convincing displays of understanding Kinfolk issues (+1) Roll Results Botch: All successes lost, and target refuses to talk, even when threatened with pain or death. The interrogator likely struck a nerve, reminding the target exactly why they became a Skin Dancer in the first place. Ex: Botching while questioning Monica may put the idea into her head that the questioner is the kind of Garou who got her daughter killed. Targets may even frenzy if the line of questioning was sufficiently aggressive. Failure: No successes gained, and if the target gains 12 successes first, the interrogation ends and the target refuses to speak. Success: If the players reach 12 successes, the target will grudgingly cooperate providing the following information: -The Vultures know that Tick promised to make Samson the second coming of the Skinner, and that she stands to gain something from this promise. They’re unaware of the details of this bargain, however. -They can describe the Supplicants Compass fetish they use to visit Tick. They know it can be attuned to any totem that has a tie to the blood of the doner, and that with a drop of Vulture blood the person using the fetish can visit Tick’s realm or the realm of Minotaur, their “Tribal” patron. -If the players do exceptionally well in their approach with the right target (such as a Lupus treating Savage-Heart as if she were pure Lupus) the Vulture may mention the Sacred Peace cemetery as a location where Samson has hidden something. Even without the Vultures' help, the players can find the Supplicants Compass, as it's lying on one of the countertops in the basement. Success on an Intelligence + Occult roll at difficulty 8 will tell the players what the fetish is, and isn’t that handy, it’s still got some of Samson's blood on it, so if the players activate the fetish without attuning it to themselves first, they will be able to access Tick’s realm. Consequences Assuming the players kept at least one of the Vulture alive and successfully interrogated them, they will have enough information to either travel to Tick or Minotaur’s realm, which lead into either the Tick’s Bargain scene or Minotaur’s Lair scene. If they’re especially lucky, they may have learned about the cemetery which will lead them to Samson directly. Either way, they should now have the Compass as well as any spoils of war taken from the dead Vultures (such as Caldwell’s fang dagger). If the players wiped out the Vultures, then things are a bit more linear, as they will only be able to use the Compass to enter Tick’s realm, and if they don’t recognize the fetish, someone at the sept likely will, and the assumption would be that the Skinner has run off to his patrons side. I like this scene quite a bit, because the visual of Crinos form werewolves beating the ever loving gently caress out of each other in a funeral home is exactly the kind of B-movie nonsense that I love about the WoD, while also leaving plenty of space for the social elements of the interrogation of one of the Vultures, as long as the players didn’t wipe them out, which is also a valid solution to the problem considering they’ve killed at least two cubs of the players sept at this point. Scene Six A: Tick’s Bargain  Mental 3/Physical 3/Social 3 Overview The players have chosen to track down Tick in the Umbra after learning that she is the patron of the Vultures. Now it’s up to the players to either play along with Tick’s plans, convince her to abandon her ambitions or beat her into submission. Description With the compass, getting to Tick’s lair is trivial, as the fetish opens a direct, safe path to the realm. Tick’s tiny realm is a horribly pocket of the Umbra, and a good example of something that is revolting, but not necessarily of the Wyrm. quote:“The small realm appears like a cave in a forested hill: but all the ground is warm, living skin and all the trees have scaly trunks like hair. The cavern is deep and warm, the cavern’s walls and floor hairless and dry but repulsively smooth and yielding underfoot. Large veins break from the ceiling like roots, and you see blood pulse through them” Meeting Tick requires the players to descend into the cave. quote:“She crawls into view - a parasite grown to the size of an elephant. Her legs and head are grotesquely dwarfed by the bloated sac of her body, but they pull her along at remarkable speed. ‘Hello, my darlings’ she croons. ‘How pleasant to have visitors. How may I assist the Fangs of Gaia?” Tick is straightforward in her opening negotiation, sure of her strength, but aware that her plan is likely to help others more than herself (though it ultimately benefits her the most). If the players are willing to talk, she’s open about her hand in Samson’s rise. quote:“I have no need to lie. Yes, I gave a small rag of skin to an ambitious young man and taught him how to feed it. If he’s to cut away the diseased limb from his would-be tribe, he will need a sharp knife. The limb? Why, Minotaur, of course. You must know that he’s not well. And the Skin Dancers are likely to suffer from his ills all the way down the Spiral if something is not done.” Storyteller Goals Tick is a totem of Cunning and like all tricksters, difficult to trust. But similarly, tricksters often find useful novel solutions to problems that lack conventional solutions. Tick is somewhat revolting, and the secondary goal of this scene is revulsion on the players part, but she is not irredeemably corrupted, and her goals make a sort of sense. ST’s are encouraged to play up the ambiguity, portraying Tick as honest and forthright, she’s not hiding that she’s a bloodsucking parasite, nor does she hide her reasoning for attempting to overthrow Minotaur and becoming the patron of the Skin Dancers. While the players should be disgusted by the thought of bargaining with her, they should also be aware that just because she’s a gross parasite spirit, she’s not necessarily their enemy. The scene should have a decisive ending, either the players commit to putting Tick back in her place or accepting her bargain and moving forward. If the players are being indecisive and the momentum is starting to slip, have Tick lay on the flattery, which should sway the players one way or the other. Tick won’t attack the players unexpectedly, but she’s not above threatening the players or their loved ones if she thinks it will get the reaction she wants. Character Goals By default, the player's goal is to stop Tick from further interfering with Samson and Minotaur. How the players choose to deal with her is ultimately up to them. They could try to proposition her to transform the Skin Dancers into a full Garou Tribe. While this idea will likely make a Philodox character lose their mind at the impropriety of such a thing, don’t discourage the players if this is the path they want to follow. They can deal with the fallout later. Action  There are three ways for the players to try and resolve this scene, negotiation, brute force or use of rituals, gifts or other Theurge tricks to bind Tick as they would any other spirit. Social: Bloodsuckers Bargain Pointing out the flaws in Tick’s plan and asking her to put an end to it before it gets out of hand is an option, as Tick is stubborn, but not so clever that she can’t be shown the error of her ways. She’s also an opportunist and is happy to bargain in good faith. Her bargaining points are: -She believes she could be the totem that brings the Skin Dancers to more prominence, potentially even into the Garou Nation, though some rebranding would obviously be necessary. She’s fond of the tribe being renamed “Blood Hunters” but is open to suggestions. -Minotaur is less likely to bring the Dancers into the Nation as he’s still got a grudge against the Black Furies and Pegasus. -Despite the attacks on the Gaian Garou, Tick is not aligned with the Wyrm. -If the players were to lead the Skin Dancers into being the 14th tribe, they could be heroes -The Rite of Sacred Rebirth can be used with BSD skins, and Tick suggests that this could be a tool of war instead of murder. -If the players seem to be ignoring her words and instead attack her, she’ll threaten to send her brood after their loved ones. It may piss off the players further, but it’s not like it’s the worst idea she’s had recently. Tick ultimately wants the opportunity to establish herself as a new tribal totem for the Skin Dancers, and she has various tasks she can ask of the players. If the players seem more interested in loyalty or honor, she’ll ask for something more conservative like opposing Minotaur, however if the players are more ambitious, she may be more brazen in her requests. -If Tick is to be the new patron of the Dancers, Minotaur must go. Whether that’s through beating him into submission, destruction or simply falling to the Wyrm, it doesn’t matter to Tick so long as Minotaur is gone. -Tick also needs to feed on the blood of a totem spirit to transfer some of its power, and potentially status to herself. She’ll suggest a totem that doesn’t seem represented by the players, so if there are no Silver Fangs, but a Shadow Lord or two, she might suggest Falcon. Persuading Tick is an extended action where the players need to accumulate 20 successes before she abandons her plan. Various social actions can be taken such credibility, fast talk, performance, and oration and should be at a base 8 difficulty. Intimidating suggests that their arguments are weak and thus must rely on fear (bumping the difficulty to 9) -Appealing to her “Enlightened Self-Interest” is effective, and a soft persuasion approach will likely be more effective than outright threats (-1 difficulty to the related roll) -Tick can be flattered, though whoever is doing so must keep a straight face while praising Tick’s swollen beauty or intelligence (-1 difficulty to the related roll if the player succeeded on a prior Wits + Etiquette roll as a free action. If that roll failed however, the difficulty is a +1) Botching wipes all successes and Tick grows irritated. The players can try again, but base difficulties should rise by 1. If the second chance also ends in a botch, Tick ends negotiations angrily and the players will have to rely on their spiritual or physical power. Mental: Binding the Parasite Binding Tick with spirit magic is possible, though using gifts or rites to compel her to obey will piss her off, but once bound, she will obey as any other spirit would. Remember that some rites require the target to be subdued, so some physical struggle may be needed. Alternatively, if the players took some time to research Tick before heading into her lair, it’s possible they learned her secret bans, and a mixture of vinegar and kerosene, if poured in a line causes her to lose 10 essence each time, she crosses it until it’s absorbed into the floor (two turns). If used as part of a rite, add 2 dice to the relevant dice pools. Physical: Bloodshed Sometimes the best way to make your point with a spirit is to just beat the ever-living hell out of it. It’s a tried-and-true tactic of the Garou after all. Tick is more than willing to fight in her lair, as she knows she can consume some blood from the veins in the ceiling to get a quick recharge if necessary. She’s fond of using Umbraquake (where she hammers her bloated abdomen on the ground) or biting opponents (using Rage as a standard melee attack). She can spend an action to drink from the blood vessels, which restores 15 essence, but she loses a die from all her pools for the next turn due to the head rush. If a player can trick her into drinking vinegar or kerosene (by lacing the blood with it) she loses 15 essence and two dice for two turns. If she’s beaten to 10 or less essence, she quickly capitulates. Tomorrow: The rest of Tick's Bargain
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 16:42
|
|
|
Another idea is that some pack got the ritual and they go all out on BSD hunting and converting sympathetic kinfolk in the name of winning against the Wyrm. I'm sure such a scenario will threaten to split the Garou Nation apart.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 16:45
|
|
|
I love that they added "Defeated" quotes to the NPCs. It's a nice touch.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 16:46
|
|
|
MonsieurChoc posted:I love that they added "Defeated" quotes to the NPCs. It's a nice touch. I don't remember if I mentioned it in the review but I dug those quotes too, especially the defeat ones
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 17:01
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:The best part about this whole thing is that there's no reason why the rite of second skin couldn't be sanctified to Gaia, if the 'donations' as it were were willing. The main reason it's not is the spirit who taught it to Haight told him that the betrayal and murder really sealed in the werewolf juice. I don't think anything prevents you from using werewolves that died from other causes, either? As long as you could retrieve their bodies, that's basically just recycling.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 18:07
|
|
|
I remember thinking the funeral home had great potential to pad out the “investigation” aspects of the story; go full grindhouse and make the owner a gross red herring weirdo - have the players wondering “he’s a creep, but is he a creep that thinks they’re using the space to make meth, a creep that’s in on it, some third but also bad kind of cultist??” I want to add Alpha Protocol’s gelato shop man to the WoD, basically
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 18:22
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:I don't remember if I mentioned it in the review but I dug those quotes too, especially the defeat ones It's a shame I think this is the last thing Ethan ever wrote for Werewolf. He did good work but after dealing with CCP is pretty burnt out on game developing in its entirety as one might imagine.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2023 19:56
|
|
|
Joylessdivisions World of Dorkness Presents: Haighters Gonna Hate #7: Skinner Part 3 Consequences If the players reject Tick’s bargain, and persuade or compel her to back off her plans, she will at least remove her influence, and warn that none of Minotaur’s children are likely to understand the danger he’s in. If they interrogate her fully, they may learn that Samson is on his way to becoming Samuel Haight, as well as his hiding place. This opens up Minotaur’s Labyrinth as well as potentially The Skinner Reborn scene. If the players accept her bargain and agree to remove Minotaur, she’ll show them the way to his lair which leads to Minotaur’s Labyrinth. If the players agree to help her get the blood of a totem, things potentially spin out into an entirely new chronicle, and as the potential paths that story could take are too numerous to provide here. The gist however is that Tick wants blood from a tribal totem (either through persuasion or subterfuge) or if the players are feeling especially sneaky, they can help her figure out a way to attach herself unnoticed to a totem host. If the players wish to follow this path, Minotaur’s Labyrinth and The Skinner Reborn are both still available if dealing with either of these characters is still part of the players agenda. Scene Six B: Minotaur’s Labyrinth  Mental 3/Physical 3/Social 0 Overview The players have learned that Minotaur is teetering on the edge of a fall to the Wyrm. To prevent this or to eliminate the Skin Dancer’s totem, the players must navigate his Umbral Labyrinth to the center. Of course, as previously noted, the realm is being subsumed by the Black Labyrinth, making the journey especially treacherous. Description Whether guided by Tick or the compass, the players pass through the Umbra to the maze sub realm where Minotaur resides. Thankfully, the realm is not a madness inducing, ever shifting nightmare like the Black Labyrinth, though it very much runs the risk of becoming such a place as the Black Labyrinth has begun to spread like a cancer through Minotaur’s realm. Of course, reaching the center won’t be easy. quote:“You step onto cool stone. Skillfully placed blocks form the walls, floor and ceiling of the corridors that stretch into dusk before you. They might have looked like sandstone in a warmer light; now they seem less familiar. Columns and archways of unknown design seem crafted long ago by a civilization that never was, or one that is remembered only by Minotaur. One of the nearby arches leads into gray darkness – but as you watch, the darkness turns a deep void-black. It seeps into the joins of the archway like tainted blood pushing into veins. As you watch, the eroded stones fall away into nothingness. No, not nothingness…something worse.” It should be quickly clear that the Wyrm’s corruption is absorbing the realm, not destroying it; however, as walls fall, they are replaced with new ones. Minotaur is sure to go with his realm unless something can rouse him back to sanity. Storyteller Goals The labyrinth should be forbidding and dangerous to the players, with empty stone halls stretching into darkness to convey the sense of isolation. It is this sense of isolation that should be emphasized to the players, as their shouts and howls echo down into the darkness with no one to hear. But that doesn’t mean they’re alone, as they are being pursued by the corruption of the Black Labyrinth itself as it devours parts of the realm. You can use the damage done to the stones around them to emphasize the urgency of the situation. As this is a supernatural labyrinth, the sense of unreality and unreason should be on full display with architecture that seems to serve no purpose to a rational mind. Character Goals Find a way to Minotaur without falling prey to the hazards of his collapsing realm. Some of the corruptive forces can be opposed, but players must be careful that their actions bring more stability to the realm instead of quickening the collapse. Action Players have two specific challenges they must face in this scene: navigating their way to the center to find Minotaur and avoiding and surviving the environmental hazards that erupt as the Black Labyrinth consumes the realm. Oh, there are also Banes running around in the labyrinth. While most will be too hesitant to challenge the players, if a bit of combat is needed to spice up the scene, feel free to pull a few low-level Banes from the Werewolf 20 corebook that would be bold enough to rise from the shadows, like Wyrm Elementals or Scrags. Navigating The Maze Finding a way through the labyrinth is more a visual riddle than navigating a traditional labyrinth, and takes careful observation and logic to puzzle out, like analyzing an Escher painting. Dice Pool: Perception + Enigmas difficulty 8 Action: Extended (15 successes) Obstacles: Possess no portable light source (-1) Assets: Axis Mundi Gift (+2), portable good light (+1) Roll Results Botch: All successes are lost, and the players have made a dire wrong turn, or a particularly large deadfall imperils them. Failure: No successes accumulated. The players encounter an intrusion, which targets them at random. Success: Successes are gained, and the pack encounters an intrusion but are prepared to bypass it. Intrusions The corrupting touch of the Black Labyrinth is causing environmental hazards to appear. Each turn a portion of floor falls away into darkness, a column collapses or a cold wind stinking of Balefire flies down the corridor. For every roll made on the extended navigation roll, an intrusion erupts, and the longer it takes the players to find the heart of the realm, the more dangers they face. Dice Pool: Dexterity + Athletics difficulty 8 Action: Standard Obstacles: Encountered with failed navigation roll (-1) Assets: Encountered with successful navigation roll (+1) Roll Results Botch: The characters go the wrong way at the wrong time. The portion of the labyrinth they dodged to falls into darkness. Unless the player or their nearest packmate can succeed on a reflexive Dexterity + Athletics roll, the falling player is lost to the Black Labyrinth. Failure: The player takes damage from the environmental hazard, for 5 dice of agg damage. Success: The player eludes the hazard. Consequences The speed with which the players navigate and avoid danger in the labyrinth will have an effect on their ability to deal with Minotaur. However, if they make it through unharmed, each player regains a point of Willpower. Holy poo poo, we have a good dungeon crawl here! Unlike the disastrous one that was included in Chaos Factor, this one isn’t full of bullshit deaths, though there is still the danger of potential death due to botching, which feels relatively fair, considering that another player can make a reflexive roll to try and save their falling comrade. I also appreciate that the threat of Banes is there, but totally optional for the ST to add if they think it will enhance the scene. Scene Seven: Raging Bull  Mental 2/Physical 3/Social 3 Overview The players have reached the heart of the labyrinth and must now face down Minotaur who is being driven mad with corruption. It is up to the players to either attempt to cleanse him, push him over the edge or put him out of his misery. Description The heart of the realm is a wide chamber with an eighty-foot-high ceiling, supported by concentric rings of tall pillars, which are beginning to erode, causing parts of the ceiling to fall and reveal the encroaching blackness of the Black Labyrinth beyond. quote:“Hooves strike the stone like falling iron, and the sound of labored breathing is like an immense bellows. A massive hulk, part naked olive flesh and part ruddy fur, paces slowly around the innermost ring of columns. He nearly walks on all fours, as if the weight of his immense bullhead and monstrously thick neck and shoulders is becoming too much. Then, that massive head looks up and stares at you with watering, milky eyes” Minotaur is clearly not himself, and the players can plainly see long tendrils of manifested corruption extending from the cracks in the walls that have attached themselves to Minotaur. He walks like a shackled prisoner, and drawing closer the players notice that he reeks of Rage. Storyteller Goals When the players have won their way into the heart of the realm, it should be clear that they are in an effectively closed space with a sick, maddened beast. While Minotaur still has his intellect, it’s been obscured by flashes of rage that keep pulsing through his mind. This poisoned wrath should be unsettlingly familiar to the players, and while they are usually the ones feared as near rabid monsters, now they get to experience what others feel when in their presence. ST’s should be impartial in this scene, as even at the best of times Minotaur is an angry totem with a brutal hyper-masculine aspect, commanding his children to injure and kill Black Furies partially out of his rivalry with Pegasus and partially out of pure hatred. Cleansing and redeeming Minotaur should not be the “obvious” solution, though putting him out of his misery should be a tempting solution as well. Character Goals The players need to intervene one way or another. They could try to cut the tendrils to pacify Minotaur, then use some form of Wyrm-taint cleansing to put the spirit onto a narrow path of redemption. Simply destroying Minotaur may be the fastest solution, however, it is likely more difficult. Action  There are two major actions players can take in this scene, either cutting the corruption and attempting a cleansing, or simply putting Minotaur out of his misery. Once he becomes aware of the players, he becomes aggressive instantly and will attack them as best as he is capable. Lucky for the players, Minotaur is at a one die penalty to all actions thanks to the shackles of the Wyrm. -Straight combat would play out as usual, however there is still danger of more eruptions occurring in the chamber. Whenever Minotaur misses an attack, his anger and frustration causes another eruption, threatening a player at random. -The strands of corruption are difficult targets, requiring an attack roll at difficulty 9, and each has 4 soak dice and four levels of health. Taking the tendrils out may require careful teamwork. With all five cut, Minotaur falls to his knees in a state of exhausted delirium. This is the time when a Rite of Cleansing can remove the corruption, however he will retain his flaw of rage that made him vulnerable in the first place. -If the players try to negotiate, then a successful Manipulation + Persuasion roll (at difficulty 10) will cause Minotaur to pause for a turn, fighting back to temporary lucidity. The difficulty of severing a tendril at this point drops to 7 for the turn. Once he’s been cleansed however, normal negotiations may take place through roleplay, as Minotaur is extremely proud, but also in the player's debt. Conclusion The events of this scene don’t have a significant effect on the events of The Skinner Reborn, as Minotaur made his pact with the Skin Dancers after Haight’s death, and the reincarnated Skinner has no reason to care if the players aided Minotaur or let him fall. Once this scene concludes, Minotaur’s role in the story is over as he does not have the strength to influence events while he heals (or worsens). That’s not to say there aren’t consequences for the actions of this scene, as they are more likely to be long term effects. Even if the players skip this scene, there are still consequences, as leaving Minotaur to his own devices leads to his fall to the Wyrm, and the damage caused by Tick and the corruption on the realm won’t heal on their own. Full consequences for this scene are detailed in the Aftermath section. This scene and the dungeon crawl through the labyrinth feel like a solid ending to the story, but I also like that even if the players don’t interact with these two scenes, things could theoretically be wrapped up with Tick, assuming the rest of the Vultures are dead, and the players could go directly from the Tick scene to chasing down Samson, if they learned where he’s hiding. My god it’s amazing what happens when you write an adventure that’s deliberately open ended in how it flows while still keeping a structure. Scene Eight: The Skinner Reborn  Mental 3/Physical 3/Social 0 Overview With his pack scattered or dead and no good way to quickly contact Tick, Samson decides his only option is to invoke the power of Samuel Haight. He retreats to the cemetery where he invokes the power of his fetish one last time. Either the pack stops him here, or the Skinner will be back on the hunt. Description The players know where Samson is hiding, a cemetery a mile from the funeral home. He likely knows trouble is coming and has little choice but to act. If the players do not act, however, the Skinner will rise. quote:“A fog too thick to be natural hangs over the Sacred Peace cemetery. You can make out the vague forms of tombstones and unmoving angels close by, but not much else. Even your senses of hearing and smell seem muted in this wet, oppressive mist.” The first attack against the players comes not from Haight, but from shadowy Unseelie fae creatures, pseudo-solid shock troops that have been called to even the odds. quote:“They appear like vague humanoid outlines, their forms blurred more than can be accounted for by the fog. Their features are indistinct but familiar, like meeting someone from a dream that you think you remember, only to find out when you wake that they never existed at all.” Once the prey is sufficiently distracted, the Skinner makes his first attack. If the players can be separated, it's all the better. The hobgoblins are meant to overwhelm the players, allowing the Skinner to move stealthily into a position to strike one of the stragglers. quote:“A searing pain shocks you, down to the bone. Silver! You can see the attacker now, looming out of the fog. Your blood runs down the edge of a Grand Klaive, held easily in the Crinos hand. ‘Should have left well enough alone’ he growls. ‘I already didn’t need an excuse to take your hide.” Storyteller Goals This is where the legend of the Skinner is either reborn or ends finally (probably…. maybe……can you ever really keep a good villain down?) The players should understand even if Samuel Haight himself is dead and gone, his disciples are capable of resurrecting enough of his memories to affect a rebirth of sorts. But because this isn’t Haight, they should feel some uncertainty as to just what this new incarnation wants. At the moment of the rebirth, the new Skinner is not entirely lucid, though he’s fully functional. Some of Nicholas' memories remain, but the controlling personality is that of Samuel Haight, or what’s left of him, forged together. The Skinner still hates Garou with every ounce of his broken and glued back together soul, but he’s still not quite ready to die for revenge (because as always, Samuel Haight is not an idiot. Batshit nuts and a psychopath, sure but not an idiot.) If he can snag a smaller or weaker enemy, he’ll take his shot, but he’s not a berserker, and he’d rather escape to hunt his prey properly. He’s expecting the arrival of the pack who's been hunting the Vultures, and his first order of business is to meet them somewhere he has the advantage. If he can’t wipe them out, at least he can hurt them, hopefully enough to make them retreat and gain a head start. He’s looking forward to hunting some Garou. The Skinner should play dirty at every opportunity in this scene, as the players would easily shred him if he attempted to take the pack head on, hence the fog and the hobgoblins. Of course, if the players are interested in more than just killing the Skinner, they can attempt to capture him and exorcize him, or if they took Tick’s bargain, they could potentially try to convert him into a more benevolent messiah figure to help bring the Skin Dancers around as allies. Character Goals If the players are dedicated to eradicating the Skinner for good, then the stakes of the scene are simple: Samson must die. The question is of course, how vulnerable is he. Even at the height of his power, Haight would have had a challenging time surviving an entire pack of angry, veteran Garou, and considering the players have likely killed the son of a bitch once, they’re not likely to leave anything behind this time. Action  The new Skinner isn’t planning to make his final stand here, he just wants to cause a little suffering before he has to retreat and begin his hunts again. He wants the Garou to fear him again, but he’s not willing to die in the process. Because of the numerous potential gifts, skills and weapons the players can bring to bear in this fight, it is impossible to try and predict the events of the fight. The Skinner and his hobgoblin friends will attempt to separate and cut down the players one at a time, and the numerous headstones, statues and mausoleums offer plenty of cover for them to make their approaches or to defend against ranged attacks. Remember that the battlefield is covered in fog summoned by the Curse of Aeolus, and players Perception pools are halved (round up) as well as their Willpower rolls being at a -1 die. The Skinners movements are also difficult to track due to Scent of Running Water giving him an effective 9 die Stealth pool in Crinos, 10 in Hipso or Lupus and 8 in Glabro. As for the hobgoblins, the Skinner has used his gift Faerie Kin to summon a roughly equal number of hobgoblins to the number of players. This number can be adjusted as the ST sees fit to make the challenge presented appropriate to the group. Note that both the hobgoblins and Skinner can see through the fog. Unseelie Hobgoblins Creatures that aren’t entirely real, more nightmares made solid, partially sentient and malicious. Their semi-phantasmal weapons (swords, spears, knives and cleavers) pass through armor, and targets can soak these hits with Stamina only. A successful Intelligence + Occult roll at difficulty 8 will reveal they are Fae entities, likely summoned by gift or rite. Hobgoblin Initiative: 6 dice Dodge: 5 dice Soak: 2 dice (bashing and lethal only) Willpower: 4 Weapons/Attacks: Phantom Weapon (difficulty 6, 7 dice, 5 agg damage) The Skinner’s Tactics With the gifts available to him, the Skinner has a few tricks up his sleeve to even the playing field. Provided are suggestions for actions he may take when an opportunity arises. -Lengthy Gifts: Haight is likely to activate his Wyrm Hide and Razor Claws as part of his preparations, though he prefers to use the Grand Klaive, Razor Claws are good insurance against potentially being disarmed. -Spirit Summoning: If he has the time and reason to risk it, he can attempt to call upon a spirit aid, specifically a Bane with his Bane Protector gift. Because he lacks actual standing with the Wyrm, he can’t call up a Nexus Crawler or the like, but he could summon an Oolaranth or Scrag. -Deadly Claws: Haight can combine Razor Claws, Open Wounds and Rending the Craft into a single attack that does damage, causes bleeding, and destroys any magical blessings that may have been used to enhance the player. Negotiation If the players try to talk to the reborn pseudo-Haight, they’ll find it a difficult task. He’s convinced that any werewolves looking for him are doing so with the intent to destroy him a second time. If the players claim to be on Tick’s side, they may have a better chance at negotiation. He’s naturally suspicious of pure born Garou, but if they can present themselves as having genuine reason to assist the Skin Dancers, he’ll be more likely to take them at their word. Note that even if he can be swayed a bit, social rolls are still at difficulty 9. Of course, any negotiations that require a sacrifice on his part for his tribe or for the “Greater good are doomed (difficulty 10) And that is all for The Skinner Reborn. I appreciate that Haight’s Faerie Kin finally got used, even if it took twenty years to finally appear in an adventure. I like this scene as presented, though there are aspects I would change if I were running it, especially within the context of having previously run the players through a version of the Haight adventure, I wouldn’t bother with the “pseudo-Haight” bit, I’d have Sam fully reincarnated and in control of Carver. Now, whether or not my players would succeed in ending Haight for a second time or if he escaped to be a recurring, resurrected pain in their asses would be something I’d have to weigh out for myself as I was planning my chronicle, but if I intended to use Skinner as the capstone of the Haight adventure as a whole, I’d let the players kill him and make absolutely god drat sure that Samuel Haight never resurrects again. How they would achieve this of course, I would leave it up to the players, and whatever sufficiently interesting or funny solution they came up with would be the “Canon” of my games going forward regarding Haight. We’ve still got a little more of this adventure to cover so let’s take a look at Aftermath Depending on the players actions, the status quo has been rattled. At minimum, even if Tick was thwarted and Haight put in the ground…again, the Skin Dancers around the world are going to be affected by the events surrounding Minotaur. Minotaur If the players cleansed and aided Minotaur, the Skin Dancers patron has good reason to tell his children to cut the poo poo. If, however, Minotaur fell to the Black Labyrinth, either through inaction, failure, or destruction by the players, then the Skin Dancers need a new totem, which could be Tick, or it could be something far worse. Either way, the players have a chance to influence the surviving Skin Dancers, whether encouraging reform or spreading fear. The worst possible outcome is Minotaur falling to the Wyrm, though it’s likely the players won’t see the effects of this until much later in the chronicle. Once Minotaur’s fall is complete, he will counsel his children to ally with the Black Spiral Dancers, which is bad, because they’ll likely learn the Rite of Sacred Rebirth. Tick’s Pact If the players accepted Tick’s bargain, then they must decide if they are going to betray their pact with her, which would have negative effects on their Renown in the spirit world, or if they’re going to help her ascend to tribal totem. Either way, Tick will come knocking soon, and the answer they give could lead to an entirely new story. If the group has a Philodox, they’ll have a hell of a time convincing the other Garou of the legality of the decision the pack has made. The Traitors Fate If the Kin who betrayed the sept was spared, the pack now has a new ally with every reason to show his appreciation and gratitude. However, sparing the traitor will likely spark dissent among the entire sept and potentially open the Kinfolk of the sept to further resentment. Kinfolk Relations The actions of the players throughout the story will influence the Kinfolk linked to their sept, and it’s possible with the knowledge gained from Skin Dancers about where they came from and why, the players may gain a better understanding of the significance of how their sept treats its Kin. Experience and Renown Skinner can be played out over multiple sessions, with one to three sessions being average. XP should be awarded as usual at the end of each session as directed in the corebook. Additionally, once the story is complete, bonus XP can be given to all players for notable goals the pack achieved. +1 Success: Simply taking on the events of the adventure and resolving them in a way that matches the character's goals merits a bonus point. +1 Influencing Minotaur’s Fate: If the players took an active part in dealing with Minotaur’s corruption, one way or another, also merits a bonus XP point. +1 Redemption: The curse of the Garou is their penchant for violence, not only against their enemies, but against potential allies. If the players manage to put an enemy onto the path of redemption, especially if it would be faster to just kill them (like the Vultures or the traitor) they should gain a bonus point of XP for the effort. There are also many opportunities to gain Renown through the story. For example, besting the Vultures would be considered “defeating a formidable supernatural threat not of the Wyrm” which is worth 2 Glory. Renown can also be given for specific story events such as the follow: -Purifying Minotaur: 3 Wisdom. While a higher-than-normal reward for purifying a Wyrm-tainted character, considering Minotaur’s status and influence over the Skin Dancers justifies it. -Returning the Grand Klaive, Thunderous Howl to the Shadow Lords: 1 Glory, 2 Honor. This award does not apply if a Shadow Lord player decides to keep the weapon, it must be relinquished to their tribal elders. (Who might decide to let the player keep it but will come with a few extra responsibilities or favors owed.) And that brings us to the conclusion of Skinner, all that’s left in the book are the scene cards I mentioned earlier, as well as fully filled out character sheets for the NPC Vultures that have the same information that was provided earlier in the book. While I understand why this wasn’t the standard back in the day, I really appreciate that completed character sheets for the NPC’s are provided, as it saves ST’s the time of having to fill out NPC sheets themselves. Which isn’t difficult, but it is time consuming, and anything that makes the ST’s job easier is good in my opinion. I feel it’s a bit unfair to call this the best of the Haight books, because I do think there is some quality material in the other books, but Skinner is certainly the best laid out and written of the six Haighters books I’ve covered. The default story has a solid flow and interesting hooks that make it ideal to run straight from the book, something I’ve never said should be done with a WoD adventure ever, while also giving good suggestions to ST’s while also leaving plenty of room for that individualized touch that the good ST’s bring to their games. Hell, I really like the way that Haight is brought back in this story, and as presented, there is absolutely room to go either full on “Samuel Haight is back!” or just “This dude is possessed by Haight” and both options offer potentially interesting story elements. Though as said previously, for my money, Sammy Haight would fully reincarnate and you better believe he’s gonna be villain monologuing like a son of a bitch in that graveyard, especially when it’s those same sons of bitches who killed him the first time!? Does Skinner redeem the Samuel Haight character into something better than what he was? Yeah, to a degree I think this does a lot of heavy lifting in bringing Haight back in line with the monster he was in Skins and even In Dreams, In Nightmares and away from the overpowered goober he was in basically every book that didn’t have Werewolf on the cover. So, now that we are truly at the end of Haighters Gonna Hate, I come away from this series of books feeling much the way I do in general about the WoD as a setting, there are some really great ideas that are fun and interesting, and then there’s the absolute garbage that annoys the hell out of me and makes me want to slap people. Of course, 30+ years of game design changes and advancements have had a positive impact on this book specifically, and while I highly doubt that Samuel Haight will ever officially return to the WoD in 5th edition, it’s at least nice to see that his final appearance (for now at least) is here in an anniversary book and not his inglorious end as an ashtray. And speaking of ashtrays in the underworld, now that we can officially close the book on Haighters Gonna Hate, we cast our gaze towards the upcoming spooky season, and what better way to celebrate the spookiest time of year than to delve back into the spookiest game of the World of Darkness? That’s right friendos. When next we meet, we’ll be looking at Haunts for Wraith: The Oblivion 1st edition. As always, thank you so much for joining me on this journey, and I hope this journey across the World of Darkness chasing Samuel Haight was as fun for you as it was for me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2023 17:26
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:And speaking of ashtrays in the underworld, now that we can officially close the book on Haighters Gonna Hate, we cast our gaze towards the upcoming spooky season, and what better way to celebrate the spookiest time of year than to delve back into the spookiest game of the World of Darkness? That’s right friendos. When next we meet, we’ll be looking at Haunts for Wraith: The Oblivion 1st edition. Haunts is a fun collection of, er, haunts. I think you'll like at least some of them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2023 23:59
|
|
|
Dawgstar posted:Haunts is a fun collection of, er, haunts. I think you'll like at least some of them. Yup, I had a delightful time with it. A little uncomfortable with how many raped and murdered Wraiths there were, though a couple of them did make sense to the stories. Also there's god drat Blackbeard and pirate ghosts! that was a fun chapter
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2023 00:05
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:Blackbeard
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2023 20:38
|
|
|
UNKNOWN ARMIES 3E BOOK FIVE: MINE PART 11: FACES PART 3: NPCS While I was writing this, I realized that I skipped an entire chapter of the book. The NPCs and factions are in part 5, but part 4 includes some new locations to explore. Going with the plan from last update, we’ll get the NPCs out of the way and then deal with the new locations next update. So this won’t be the final chapter of Book 5 after all.  DETECTIVE ERNESTO “NESTO” CASAVETES Detective Casavetes is a police officer who hates wizards. He had a bad experience with a thanatomancer (a magick school from previous editions that didn’t get a 3e writeup) who stalked and killed prostitutes. Now he hunts magick users down and kills them. That’s it, that’s the NPC. ANALYSIS The obvious use for this NPC is to hunt down player characters who commit occult crimes that normal law enforcement doesn’t have any hope of solving. Magick doesn’t produce admissible evidence and the obvious response from a police officer is to kill you and plant a gun on the body. Thing is, we’ve already got a faction that does this. One of the new cabals in 3e is the Blue Line, a Delta Green style coalition of police officers who investigate supernatural crimes and kill mages. This isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Detective’s bio, despite having the exact same modus operandi. All it would take is one sentence saying he’s a member of the conspiracy. I’d appreciate it because there’s only one other Blue Line NPC in UA3: Jada from the Maria in Three Parts quickstart. But there’s no mention of Blue Line here. This lends more credence to my hypothesis that the Book 5 authors did not familiarize themselves with the 3e setting writeup, and are just working off their memories of 2 and 1e. ”MAD DOC” ARSON Mad Doc is the slimmest writeup in the book, clocking in at one page including stat block. He was a Taxi Driver style obsessive who killed a politician in California after a trip in the desert that radically changed his worldview. He got away with it, and now his objective is to destroy everything. He likes to kill people and blow stuff up, but his favorite tactic is to kidnap victims and subject them to a Clockwork Orange style torture that converts them to his own casting school. Doc is a Motumancer, a mage who gets charges by destroying social bonds and loses them if they ever constructively participate in society. My understanding is it’s a new school introduced in 3e, and I suspect it’s supposed to replace Annihlomancy from the earlier editions. ANALYSIS This guy might be a returning NPC from previous editions. I don’t recognize him, but the text digs into the specific 1e/2e era slang the character uses, dating him to somewhere in the nineties. This character is almost identical to Gerri the Sword, an NPC we already got in the 3e core set. She’s also a Motumancer who wants to destroy everything, because of a backstory connected to the Sect of the Naked Goddess and the UA metaplot. Once again, I doubt the author bothered to read UA3 book 2.  MOONGLOW Moonglow is an elderly hippie burnout with an erased memory, a sack of strange items, and vague divination powers. His objective is to wander around and potentially figure out what happened to him during the 26 years that disappeared from his perception. Moonglow is a returning NPC from the UA 1e splat Lawyers, Guns and Money. He was one of the sample NPCs for The New Inquisition. The New Inquisition was one of the very first things created for Unknown Armies, back when it was a comic John Tynes wanted to write. At its height, TNI was the most powerful conspiracy in Unknown Armies, with billions of dollars in resources, hundreds of operatives, and branch offices on every inhabited continent. Its head, Alex Abel, was the Arnold Rothstein of occult crime. A gangster capitalist who ran his illegal enterprises like the CEO of a billion dollar corporation - which he was. Like the Sleepers, TNI had an ostensibly prosocial mission - control of magick by an enlightened board of directors, who would brand, packaged and sell it for the benefit of all humanity. Also like the Sleepers, they were much more interested in hoarding power than using it responsibly. And also also like the Sleepers, they were taken apart in the ‘03 war. Present day TNI (the New New Inquisition?) s a small cult of personality that worships Alex Abel. They don’t have global reach or squads of assassins or death wizards at their command. Moonglow isn’t a member of the updated conspiracy, that’s just a bonus for people who recognize the character from the old game. ANALYSIS Why write this guy up? Moonglow doesn’t do anything. Uncovering the mystery of his backstory might be interesting to him personally, but it’s not interesting to the players. It’s not interesting to anyone who read the old book and already knows what it was. His powers are mechanically classified as a vague supernatural inform, which is a hint dispenser not much more useful than the gutter magick the players are already carrying around if they have even a single supernatural identity. His personality is not going to make the players want to interact with him, he’s annoying and they’re going to get rid of him as soon as possible. I understand that part of game development is falling in love with your own NPCs. That’s great. But you need to give other people a reason to care too. I’m not in love with any of these NPCs. The Detective is okay, but Moonglow is useless and Doc is redundant. I’ve elided a lot of detail about their personalities because it isn’t interesting. Doc wants to destroy society because it’s a lie. The Detective is driven to solve occult crimes because he’s got the fire in the belly and a nose for a good case and a bunch of other cliches. Moonglow, like, believes in karma, man. It’s all just bland. The next update will take us to the final stretch of Book 5, for real this time. We’ll cover some stuff I accidentally skipped in a previous chapter: Otherspaces and Paragon Places.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2023 18:27
|
|
|
oriongates posted:So...is there anyone who is roughly approximate to a starting PC? Yes. Yes there is: Being worse than Joxer is extremely egregious because Joxer is totally incompetent at fighting. Like, in the kind of 90s genre costume drama that Xena is, you'd expect a comedy relief sidekick like Joxer to occasionally get a punch in. Like, Xena's fighting off 6 mooks at once and Joxer punches the one sneaking up behind her. Or a mook is reeling from Xena's punch and Joxer breaks a flower pot over his head. Or he does some stupid stunt that fails and makes him look like an idiot, but it inconveniences the bad guys more than the good guys. Nope! In a fight, he's only good for distracting one mook for as long as it takes that guy to punch him out. His actual usefulness to Xena and Gabrielle consists of moral support, making camp, and running errands. In the entire series, he managed to kill one named guy by accident. And they want you to play characters who are, on paper, even worse. Why do WEG games make starting PCs so lousy?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2023 18:31
|
|
|
 Part 9: Supplements Awful log: supplemental Since my original set of Sword World 2.5 reviews, several more books have been translated by the Sword World Translation Project. Collectively, these books help mitigate what I thought was the biggest problem in the original rulebooks: useful information split up among several rulebooks. Now, with these supplements, useful information is split up in a different way among several other rulebooks. That’s progress. Of course, these supplements do more than re-Balkanize the rules. They also offer more. More spells, more items, more monsters, more options, more feats, more classes, more races. More. More.  This time I’ll be doing an orbital review of five of these supplements: Magus Arts (MA), Epic Treasury (ET), Monstrous Lore (ML), the Character Building Book (CBB), and the Outlaw Profile Book (OPB), plus how they synergize with the original rulebooks. The Compendia Ooh, five-dollar word MA, ET, and ML are primarily books of listings, which take up about 50% of each volume. MA, for instance, contains lists of every spell for every magical tradition that had been released at the time, including all the extra divine spells for all the gods of Raxia. That’s something like 480 spells in total! All unique! It’s enough to make you puke! MA also tries to mitigate a problem with the Artificer class. Y’see, Artificers are the only class that can fire guns, since bullets are Magitech items. However, guns are effectively useless without the Marksman minor class. So there was always an “Artificer tax” in that you also had to grab a few levels of Marksman or else ignore half your spells. In response, MA expands the Artificer spell list to give them extra utility without guns. The downside is that most of these new spells are a bit … lame. For instance, [Sound Bomb] lets you throw a ball of magic that makes one loud sound of the user’s choice. Oh joy, a less useful version of the Minor Illusion cantrip. I mean, it's nice when you need it, but it’s not really a bread-and-butter spell, you know? Oh well. They tried, bless ‘em. In the same vein, ET contains every published weapon, plus a big ol’ encyclopedia of potions, accessories, and adventuring items, magic and otherwise. ML has nearly 400 distinct monster listings, many brand new to the system. And they’re all right there, in single volumes, top to bottom, without the original rulebooks’ level splitting. No more trying to remember which book Basilisks are in. It’s a completionist GM’s wet dream. Each book also contains a world-building chapter or two. Magus Arts has several pages of information about magic: where the different magical traditions came from, how the common people tend to feel about them, how the Barbarous monsters have integrated magic in their society, and so on. Epic Treasury discusses adventurers’ social status, what the Adventurer’s Guild does exactly, and deep dives into the origins of each character class and how they synergize with each other. Monstrous Lore examines the history of Humanoid/monster interactions and how non-human intelligences generally fit in the world. I’m a lorehound, so naturally I love these chapters. If you aren’t, they’re definitely skippable. The huge data chapters are the meat. This is the mustard. New Classes A new pleasure, a new pleasure ET and ML together introduce four new classes into Sword World. Tactician (Minor Class): Shout orders at people. Tacticians use Stratagems to provide minor bonuses to their own side or hindrances to their enemies. Each successful Stratagem builds up a resource called Edge, which you can then spend on Maneuvers which give the caster a bigger bonus on their own actions. This class synergizes very well with Bard, to the point of including Stratagems specifically intended to power up Bard Spellsongs. Druid (Major Class): Not quite what you’re thinking. Druids use Nature Magic to summon spirits of the wild to attack their enemies. The way it’s described, I get the mental image of the Druid calling up giant glowing 1980’s-style special effects versions of eagles and tigers and stuff. Druids can also create Symbols of Beneficence for other characters, which allow them to cast extremely powerful boosts or protective spells upon their friends.  And I shall call him “Rearprojectiony” Warlocks (Major Class): Sword-World-brand Warlocks have made a contract with a mostly harmless Daemon called a “Gate Imp,” who can open a portal and summon bigger badder Daemons to fight for you. A Gate Imp will constantly look for ways to break or at least change their contract to their own benefit. Warlocks should also either have special sacrificial items ready to banish the Daemons they summon, or be prepared to fight them if their Banish check fails. It’s also possible (with several very bad rolls) to lose control of the summoning portal itself and unleash a new Shallow Abyss on the world. As mentioned in an earlier review, this class is extremely frowned upon in polite society. Probably not a great idea to go advertising. Summoned Daemons are very effective in a fight, though, so other adventurers are generally more tolerant of the class. Geomancer (Minor Class): All right, let’s get weird. Geomancers can deploy a magic item called a Geograph, which accumulates essential Qi from the surrounding area. They can then expend this energy to cast Aspects (essentially spells). Using a Geograph doesn’t require MP, can be used as a Minor Action, and can confer some fairly powerful buffs/debuffs … Randomly. Yes, nearly every Aspect affects one randomly chosen character within range, friend or foe. This makes the Geomancer’s exact position on the battlefield extremely important, and sometimes requires playing the odds. Thankfully Aspects can be canceled if needed, but the spent Qi is still lost, and the Geomancer can’t cast another Aspect that turn.  Stand back, I don’t know how it works! The Geomancer class is good for gamblers and people who like serendipitous results. It doesn’t use up your own resources, which is a bonus. Since it only uses a Minor Action, it doesn’t really get in your way if you want to try something else. Yeah. Ehh. Not for me. New Races We don’t much cotton to your kind ‘round here The Outlaw Profile Book (OPB) adds a handful of new races to Raxia. Alv: Pale-skinned Goth Elf-types who must occasionally absorb a handful of MP from people around them or die. Possibly vampires reincarnated by the grace of the goddess Harula, the Guiding Star, for a second chance at a decent life. Rare enough that normies often confuse them with Nightmares or Undead. Abilities include Darkvison and Spirit Drain. Shadow: Tall Humanoids with gray skin and white or silver hair. Their defining feature is a small third eye in the center of their foreheads, and all three of their eyes glitter like a cat’s in the dark. Historically, Shadows were often used as assassins, and they still carry that reputation. Their language is so complex as to be nearly impossible for non-Shadows to learn, so they’re good couriers for secret information. Abilities include Darkvision and Moonlight’s Protection, giving them a permanent +4 bonus to Willpower. Soleil: My guys. My guys. Soleils are big bronzed muscular himbos (even the women). They hate to wear a lot of clothes and tattoo sun imagery all over their bodies. Their big ability is Radiant Physique, whereby they can make their bodies glow dazzlingly once per day to blind enemies. They can also recover HP by laying out in the sun for a few minutes, and gain a big bonus to Willpower and Fortitude checks during daylight hours. Unfortunately, they also receive a big penalty to those same checks at night. The Soleilian language is made up entirely of poses and gestures.  Huh hah HYAH! Weaklings: You may recall that the Humanoid races of Raxia can literally get scars on their souls. Soulscarred beings will become slowly more twisted and monstrous until they hit 5 Soulscars and become Undead. The Nightmare race is born with one Soulscar, which makes them pale-skinned and horned. So since it’s possible to be born with more Soulscars than usual, what happens when the rare Barbarous is born with fewer Soulscars? Well, they become Weaklings.  Hey hey, we’re the Weaklings! People say we Weakling around! Weaklings have a more Humanoid appearance than their parents. That doesn’t mean they look Humanoid; Garuda Weaklings have small wings, Tannoz Weaklings have a claw on one hand, Minotaur Weaklings have big ol’ horns, etc. But they’re not instantly recognizable as monsters and can disguise themselves with minimal effort. Weaklings know first-hand what it’s like to be really oppressed by society, and tend to be motivated to help Humanoids change things for the better. Or at least not let things get worse. Each variety of Weakling gets a healthy one-stat bonus and a weakness to an elemental type. They also get special powers depending on their species, like the Basilisk’s Poisonous Blood or the Minotaur’s Herculean Strength. New Ways to Make Friends And influence Tabbits The CBB and OPB add a table-based way to create new characters. All you have to do is choose a Course (Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced, each of which opens up more races and classes), then a race based on the Course you chose, then a character category (Warrior, Spy, Remote Support, or Magic Warrior). Then you just start rolling on tables. So. Many. Tables. I think the idea behind the CBB character generator is to provide role-playing prompts and give your character an actual background. Which is a fine idea. However, this method has so many tables that even the flowchart that describes the procedure is pretty intimidating.  Ye gads Once you decide on your race and category, you’ll receive the character’s basic ability scores just like during regular character generation. Just for grins, I’ll create a Dwarf Warrior. Looking on the Warrior page, I see that nets this new character a Skill/Body/Mind of 4/11/5. I’ll add that to the character sheet.  Then we get to rollin’. Many of the tables are d66, giving numbers from 11 to 66. The Environment table (of which there’s one per race) describes the circumstances of your birth/origin. I roll 34 on the Dwarf Environment table, netting me “Blacksmith’s Family (Weapons)”. The description is “You were born and raised in a family of armorers who make swords, axes, spears, hammers, and a variety of other weapons. You were raised in the blacksmithing environment. Whatever path you choose, you will know a certain amount about weapons.” All right! Role-playing hooks, gotta love them. Now for my Childhood Experience roll. I had to flip through the book to find the table for Dwarves, discovering that there are FOUR tables, one for each character category. The amount of data in this book is seriously impressive/daunting. Anyway, I rolled 31 on the Dwarven Warrior table: “An Eye for Value (Generic Search): As an artisan and armorer, it is important to have an eye for things. You have been trained or blessed with the opportunity to see the fine works and treasures of your ancestors and predecessors.” The roll also gives me my adjusted ability score values, which I shall duly enter.  Looks like a fairly prosaic “Dwarf raised by weaponsmiths to take over the family business” background so far. Let’s see if we can interject some drama with the First Happening. This time I just roll 1d on a simple forking table: “1-2: roll on the Tragedy Table, 3-4: nothing, 5-6: roll on the Fortune Table.” Aaand of course I roll a 2. One quick roll on the Tragedy Table later, and   Okay, but life goes on, right? Next we roll on the Juvenile Experiences Table. In this case there’s just one table for all Warriors, Spies, and Magic Warriors, which simplifies things. I rolled 15, which gives me “Learned the Adventurer’s Basics” and one level of Scout, costing 500 XP. “Hearing the sounds beyond the door, avoiding unexpected dangers, and finding what is hidden. These are true qualities of an adventurer.” Ehh, Scout’s a worthwhile class to have, I’ll take it. I still have 2,500 XP to spend, plenty to build whatever I want. Okay, Second Happening, and I roll … 1. Another Tragedy. Great. I roll 15: “Caught in a Disaster.” This kid’s life, I swear. For Adolescent Experiences, there are three tables to choose from, including one that mentions “Generic Search” from my Childhood Experiences, so I should use that. I roll “Conviction to Meet Expectations,” which gets me the [Power Strike] combat feat. This is an excellent first feat for a Warrior, so I’m good with it. Third Happening! What horrors await me now? Roll … another 1! Excellent! I am Wednesday’s child. So I roll 32: “Spent Time as a Slave.” Just a wonderful life I’m leading, here. Now let’s get out of here with the “Why I Started Adventuring” table. Roll 46: “Your hometown was destroyed.” … figures. But now, finally, I’m beyond all that. Sure, I’m fleeing the burning, collapsing hulk of my previous life, but that’s no reason to be downcast. I’ll pick up a couple levels of Fighter, grab some gear, and my character is ready to go work out their aggressions by kicking Barbarous rear end. Oh! There’s also a character name generator at the back of the book. So let’s roll to name our tragic Dwarf: Nismo Yurtrum. No wonder his life was crap. So how is this process? Tedious, to be honest. Your character comes out of it full of role-playing hooks, which is good, but you have to jump all around in a book and roll a lot of dice, which is bad. There’s also the whole deal with “giving up your character-building autonomy,” though all it really does is push one class level and your first feat on you. Even then, it’s more a suggestion than an edict. The OPB has this entire process over again, but adds the new races and classes. The characters it creates are a bit rougher around the edges, too, since the book describes a wilder, more lawless campaign at the frontier. In Sum Dim sum If you already liked Sword World, this is just more to love. It’s a great convenience to have all the spells/items/monsters in single lists, and the new races and classes are (mostly) worthy expansions on the game. There’s plenty of lore subtly added as well. The CBB/OPB character building method is an interesting way to toss together a character already seething with angst. Or it can make characters who have pleasantly bland upbringings, depending on how you roll. It may be fun for the sort of people who like to be handed pre-gens and enjoy busting out their improv chops at the table. If you already have a concept in mind, stay away. Review Index Part 1: Intro to Sword World Part 2: Races and Classes Part 3: Combat Part 4: Character Creation Part 5: Fellows Part 6: Monsters Part 6.5: More Monsters Part 7: Gods and Spells Part 8: Conclusions Part 9: Supplements < you are here
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 02:20
|
|
|
One for jcdent and Last Transmission, F&F favorite Degenesis is getting a board game courtesy of CMON: https://cmon.com/news/cmon-smv-strike-deal-for-degenesis-clan-wars
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 17:34
|
|
|
Mirage posted:
There are no less than three pretty decent forum avs you could extract from this one image
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 18:19
|
|
|
Shall we take a look at TIME Stories? TIME Stories is yet another attempt at a “revolutionary” combination of RPG and board game. It came out in 2015, was very heavily hyped at Essen that year, had a bunch of expansion packs and then disappeared almost instantly. This is because a) it wasn’t revolutionary, and b) it wasn’t very good. It’s also French. That isn’t to say anything bad, but TIME Stories does remind you of that a great deal by its choice of words. See, throughout the rulebook and many of the cards, all the English words used are those with romantic roots, which makes it read a bit strangely if you’re a native English speaker. The basis of the game is that you’re a “temporal agent”, who uses a temporal “caisson” (not a pod) to transmit their mind to different periods of time where it inhabits the body of a “receptacle” (not a host) in order to resolve an “enigma” (not a mystery) that has attracted the attention of the time agency for some reason. You are provided with a “plan” (not a map) of the area you are being sent to, and can explore the area together and interact with it. You have a limited number of TU (Time Units) in which to complete the mission, but since you have time travel, if you run out you can potentially go back and try again a limited number of times, or even just optimize the amount of time you take. If you run out of tries then the mission is a failure and you lose the game.. and you then.. play again.. with exactly the same results.. so, um, ok, nobody pay attention to that particular curtain, because the designers sure didn’t, as we will see. So, reading this you might think this sounds an awful lot like Tragedy Looper, in which you come into a dynamic scenario where people move around and interact autonomously according to fixed rules, and you gradually discover those rules and learn first how to predict the scenario and then how to manipulate it based on them. Tragedy Looper was a neat game, wasn’t it? But no, it’s not like that at all. It’s much worse. The core set of the game starts off with the message that you and your fellow Agents are being sent to a 1920s psychiatric hospital to “prevent the creation of a temporal fault”. If you are sufficiently grognardy, you already groaned when you heard that. Mysteries set in asylums have a couple of rather negative tropes, and this one is no exception. Our first step is to choose our character, er, “receptacle”. And this is already an uninspiring start, because the available receptacles are all asylum inmates and have a bunch of restrictions. Which stats characters have can vary between characters and different scenarios, but in the starting scenario they all have the same five: Agility, Charisma, Strength, Resistance, and Life. (Oh, sorry. The first three are actually “Deftness”, “Glibness”, and “Combat”.) Your stats are used with custom dice when rolling characteristic tests; we’ll see how they work when we get to them. Eugene Bosquet, has 3 Agility, 3 Charisma, 1 Strength, 2 Resistance and 3 Life. But he has delusions of being paralyzed, which means he has to always have another player in the same space with him or he costs the group an extra TU. This is ridiculously bad. His only balancing factor is that he can flee from combats others can’t, which of course is only useful if he’s the only one in the combat, so everything’s a gamble. Edith Jolibois is a Scary Little Girl, has 2s across the board, and believes she can eat human flesh. Whenever she finishes an enemy, she heals 1 life. Which means that, er, she’s actually right about eating human flesh and it appears to be much better for her than regular food. Mademoiselle Doume A2 C1 S2 R4 L1 has no special abilities whatsoever and isn’t even crazy. She’s just here because she’s so bitter and miserable this is the only place she gets on with anyone. Ferdinand Meunier C2 S3 R4 L2 has.. um, no agility stat. Remember how I mentioned they aren’t all universal? Anyway, he’s a former soldier with PTSD and he can’t face finishing off an enemy who only has 1 or 2 health. Vasil La Fouine A2 C2 S1 R2 L3 is addicted to cocaine. He has 3 doses of cocaine, and can spend 1-3 of them before any dice rolls to add extra dice on tests, or to heal an agent for 1 life point per dose. But if he uses all 3 doses, he permanently loses a life point. Madeleine du Tilleul A2 C1 S2 R2 L3 loses a dice from all tests if nobody is with her, but gains one if everyone’s with her. As with Eugene, this is pretty bad. Marie Bertholet A2 C3 S1 R2 L2 can turn any failing dice on a Charsima test into a success. Felix Bonnenfant A1 S3 is incapable of talking to anyone, but whenever he rolls a failure on a dice in combat, he takes a point of “stress”, and when he reaches 3 stress points, he randomly hits another agent present or himself, which costs them 1 life. Once we’ve made our picks, it’s time for us to get our time allocation (which is 25 TU in a 4-player game) and head off to the first location. The locations are represented by creating tableaux of cards from a provided deck. Here’s the first one:  Now, if you’re an old gaming nerd like me, can I ask - does this remind you of anything? Because at least to me, it smacks heavily of the Amiga adventure game series Chrono Quest, a computer game with similar tableau-based exploration and a time-travel theme (although not quite the same as TIME stories). Each player gets to choose one of the cards as the location their agent arrives. They can choose the same card as another player. Each player gets to turn over the card they chose and learn what is on the back or follow the instructions there. The agents are telepathic, so they can share information with each other, but “to preserve the narrative” the rulebook asks players not to simply read out the text on the card but to paraphrase them. Er. So, maybe, if you’re really into it. But let’s just sod it and turn all the cards face up. With 4 agents this wouldn’t be possible in an actual game, but heck, this’ll show you a simple location.  So, the nurse confirms that the asylum is exactly as miserable as any place with a “day room” inevitably is; and the other people are spouting nonsense that might turn out to be correct or might turn out to be nothing but none of it needs to be explained because they’re cray-zee, right? Even if they turn out to be right, we don’t have to explain it or anything, because they might just be saying random stuff that you interpret correctly.. Yea. Ugh. This is why you’d groan when you read that the mystery is set in an asylum. A couple of the cards on the right did give you item cards, though, which you pick from a second deck. Item 24 is a key. Item 22 is a newspaper which seems to be a scan of a historical newspaper with one section obviously pasted over with modern word-processed text saying that 5 inmates recently disappeared from Beauregard Asylum. In an actual mystery, the alteration of the newspaper might be a clue, but we all know it’s just cheap production. So, we now have a choice. We can spend 1 TU as a group to let the entire party take actions here, or we can move to another location. Technically this decision is down to one player, the “Time Captain”, but there’s unlikely to be conflict. If you are playing this in real life, you probably also have the problem that four agents went to four different locations, and now they want to spend 1 TU to send one agent to visit the fifth location while the remaining 4 either mooch around aimlessly or dogpile that one location. The group had a big laugh imagining the situation as the 4 inhabited hosts all walked around the room interviewing people calmly and then all abruptly lunged straight for the piano as it was the only interesting thing left in the room.. And yes, you can see the other issue. This isn’t a game of learning rules and interactions. This is a bloomin’ CYOA. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but the idea of “replaying the scenario to use less TU” loses a ton of appeal as a result. Of course you use less TU when you already know what the choices are going to do, and that’s the main and only thing you can learn. You can’t do anything cool like learning that if you give the key to X then you can meet him at Z and that saves the time taken to smuggle the key past Y. If you want that, go play Tragedy Looper or Hadean Lands, not this. So, if you still have a playing group after that immensely exciting and potential-filled start (the first time I played this IRL I nearly didn’t), then it’s time to take the other action, which is to move to a new location. We can do that any time we decide as a group to do so, and we need to look at our map, er, “plan”..  Any of the rooms with names are available to us. To move, we simply gather up the tableau for the current location, lay out the new location, and roll a custom dice with values 1-3 TU for how long it takes. Yes, that’s the other exciting way you get to save TU when replaying a scenario. Roll better! So, let’s go look in the “promenade”. Or just the freakin’ garden. Come on.  Aha! Something new. Those funny symbols on the backs of the cards? “State tokens.” To reveal the card, you must have the corresponding token or otherwise be told to reveal it. This means that there are only 3 locations available, so the players immediately set one agent to each one, and the fourth player just guesses randomly. Either way, they all end up face up within a few seconds.  Our first cards with actual rules on them, and the need to make tests! So, our 1 TU-per-round actions don’t just let us move agents to other cards. They also let us roll towards tests. Agents who move to join us can contribute to rolls. There’s a couple of tests here, for a croquet game and for persuading the guards to let us out (let’s bear in mind, we’re just regular inmates using the stats of those regular inmates, so it’s pretty weird we’d be able to do that at all, but hey). Oh, and the guy who thinks he can use a toilet plunger to create a time portal? Yea, if you explore his interactions it reveals two of the state-locked cards and goes pretty much as you’d expect. That little circle symbol on the second card means TU, by the way.  See the nutter was just a nutter ha ha we can pull this on you any time because we set a mystery in an asylum aren’t we clever. Third exciting and interesting way to use less TU on a mission: know about the obvious traps and don’t do them. Anyway, the key we got from Mr. Plague in the dayroom wasn’t the right key, so the one thing we have left to do here is to play croquet. This test has 4 regular shields (which represents the difficulty) and is an Agility test (that’s what the green icon means). Let’s suppose that we are Mademoiselle Doume, the bitter old lady, who has Agility 2. We roll 2 dice. The dice are custom dice which are marked as follows: skull, skull, 2 hit, blank, 1 hit, 1 hit. For every hit we roll on the dice, we remove one shield from the test, in the order they are listed on the card. After that, we may suffer penalties based on the icons on the remaining shields, but as a croquet game isn’t that dangerous, there aren’t any icons on the shields, so it just comes down to time. So, in the first round Mademoiselle Doume rolls 2 dice and gets 2 hits. That eliminates two of the shields. Edith Jolibois, who was just talking to the nutter who wanted the toilet plunger and was seriously considering eating him, moves over to the croquet game in the same round. We spend 1 TU. In the second round, both Doume and Edith can combine their stats to roll 4 dice. They get 2 hits and 2 skulls. Since there are no icons on the shields, skulls don’t do anything, and the remaining 2 hits polish off the 2 remaining shields. We get to flip the remaining covered card, which tells us that the croquet players start brawling with each other in fury at being defeated, and that we can get item 20, which is a croquet mallet that lets us roll one extra die in a fight. Edith takes it, because a scary little girl armed with a croquet mallet is just far too St. Trinian’s to not be a thing that happens. Somewhat nonplussed, our group decides to head off to the infirmary.  4 fully unlocked cards, none particularly better than the others, so the 4 players just dump their four agents on the cards in random order and they’re turned face up for everyone in a few seconds.  Aha! We pick up a state token from the assistant nurse. Bear in mind that our receptacles are supposed to be regular inmates at the asylum who’ve been here for a long time, so it sure is weird that this one particular day was the one when the assistant nurse decided to opn up to them. Josephine mentions that Doctor Hyacinthe has a small group appointment, which apparently we are a member of, and apparently we can go to at any time because an appointment does not by definition mean being somewhere at a particular time. We can’t open the cabinet. .. And the poor scary little girl who attempted to talk to the orderly is being molested and she has no choice but to talk her way out. Not just hit the bugger with the croquet mallet with her adjusted combat score of 3. It’s not too difficult a challenge and has no negative consequences, but really? Even worse, even if her buddies come over to her, they can only talk too. That’s a hell of a fail, guys. We did get to take item 8, though. Item 8 is not an item. Item 8 is a replacement map card, which gets slotted on top of one of the cards making up the map, to unlock a new location.  It’s the doctor’s office. Slightly peculiar that this was unlocked by that conversation, since she rather conspicuously didn’t actually tell us where the office is, but hey. Rather than head to the office, though, the group decides to visit one of the remaining starting locations. The dorm.  Three random cards and one state-locked card that we actually do have the token for - we got it from speaking to the assistant nurse in the infirmary. Usual drill with the players just sighing and immediately turning everything face up.  So here’s a little secret: almost everything in this room exists to screw us over. Item 5 is a letter referring to gathering five patients which will “fulfil the conditions for our plan” and mentioning a secret passage to the park from the doctor’s office. Item 8 unlocks the catacombs, which is location 17. It.. would be better not to go there yet. The view of the greenhouse? That’s some pretty obvious foreshadowing. Oh, and we get to loot the lockers, for a random choice of items 2, 3, and 4. Item 3 is a fake ruby. Item 4 is the toilet plunger for the “time portal” guy in the promenade. And item 2?  As you can guess, this is an item we absolutely have to find. So you might find it on a random draw, or you might not. And lastly, what about that poor chained-up fellow? Shall we free him? It’s a pretty easy test..  Remember how I said that everything is this room exists to screw the players over? So, this is our first encounter with shields with icons, which can impose penalties on us. Skull shields mean that if we roll any skulls on our dice when testing against this guy, he’ll “riposte” with a strength equal to the number of skull shield he has left plus the number we rolled. If that’s less than our resistance, we lose a life point. In our case, our 3-combat St. Trinian’s psychopath receptacle rolls 2 hits and 2 skulls. That knocks off 2 skull shields, leaving one left. The two skulls rolled plus the one skull shield remaining add up to 3. Our resistance is less than 3, so she takes a point of damage. Next TU, she rolls 5 hits and 1 skull, which polish him off; since he has no skull shields (or any at all) left, the riposte doesn’t matter. We also promptly grab a handful of his flesh and eat it to go back to 2 life points. I would like you to consider, at this point, a serious weakness of the tableau system and the way it represents characters. In particular, consider the poor assistant nurse. It is tricky to imagine her calmly standing by, maybe smoking a cigarette, as we released an inmate who she presumably knew to be dangerous and then beat him to death with a croquet mallet and ate his flesh, then looted the lockers at the back of the room, and then decided it would be a good idea to trust us with her knowledge about the crazy doctor and the catacombs exit. This happens a lot in all of the scenarios. Still, we still have another starting location to visit. The Kitchen. There’s only three locations and they have no locks, so let’s just stick them face up right away.  Item 12 is some meat. You can eat it for 2 life points, but if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve spotted the foreshadowing that the “cats in the park” aren’t just cats. If you didn’t bring along the one receptacle who’s got cocaine, you can only negotiate here. And item 6 is the key we needed back on the promenade to open the main gate. As you see, we only get one chance to get it. Let’s suppose that we get lucky and snag the key, then head back to the promenade, convince the guards, and get item 9. Item 9 is another map card which unlocks the Park as a visitable location. Here’s the park:  IF we beat the guy in the shack, we can take his pistol, which gives us two bullet tokens each of which knock a shield off an enemy. If we talk to him, we can instead convince him to join us, as it turns out the “sorcerers” were actually the asylum director and staff. His help, oddly works.. pretty much like the pistol, except he has 3 ammo instead of 2. Item 13 is a letter which talks about finding an “entrance to the crypt”, and the note that it was protected by a riddle “hidden in that damned gate”, and in order to solve it, they needed to “subtract its number and not add it”. The hidden trapdoor, which is opened by using key 21, is actually the alternative way to get here if we screwed up stealing the chef’s key. And the greenhouse.. well, you can guess that’s the big foreshadowed encounter, right? Item 11 unlocks the greenhouse on the map, and there..  Item 1 is another pentagram clue, this time with the number 8. Item 21 is the key to the trapdoor in the park, which also has a pentagram clue with the number 7 on it. And the third card is, yes, there’s a loving manticore in the greenhouse. This is the point at which almost all of the players started groaning. All the foreshadowing about a “big cat” left them thinking about a tiger or something, and there was a mention of a manticore earlier. But seriously, there’s a manticore in the middle of a greenhouse of an asylum near a city and nobody noticed? The time agency are worried about the “temporal fault” that’s going to be created, and not about this thing having been summoned into the 1920s? Anyway. Assuming that we have been paying attention so far, we can unload the pistol and/or the guy with the pistol into the manticore, then fight it. It’s actually nowhere near as bad as you might think, because its only way to deal damage is its riposte, and although it’ll break everyone’s resistance, it still only does 1 damage. Anyway, if we beat Mr. Manticore, we get to take item 26, which is an amethyst. We can then head back into the park and through the trapdoor, which puts us into a fight with a bunch of “chanters”. They have 5 skulls - so they’re almost as bad as the manticore was - and we then unlock a new location, “under the kiosk”, with 3 unique exits.  Well, that’s ominous. We only have three pentacles so far, so that’s not an option. Following the tunnel to location 17 puts us into the catacombs, which is the same place we unlocked by speaking to the nurse in the dormitory. Technically, this gives us an easy way to return to the asylum, except it doesn’t really because we could have just moved there in a single dice roll’s worth of TU anyway; it just means we have to do a bunch of fights in the catacombs. Finally, there is location 14. Location 14, the tomb, is a complete screw-job. The item is just the map card that makes the location visible, and when you get there, you get this:  Three of the hardest fights in the module, and passing all of them unlocks the final card, which is.. nothing. Nothing at all. Now, ok, the excuse for this is supposed to be that the nurse told you to escape via the catacombs, but escaping is exactly what you weren’t supposed to do, since you’re supposed to be stopping the distortion in the asylum. But this isn’t the catacombs, and the catacombs didn’t actually lead outside, and the arch didn’t look obviously different from the other ones that were correct, and.. oh, sod it. Let’s just go to the doctor’s office.  We’ve got two options. Go with the doctor, or beat him up. Beating him up isn’t too bad - with only one skull shield, it’s going to take multiple skulls rolled to make his riposte meaningful. It gets you access to location 12, the “secret passage”, which is a odd special location - essentially, it’s a visual puzzle where you have to place four cards into combination to create a route between two locations in order to find your way through a maze. Alternatively, if you just go with him, he does the maze for you and drops you in the park. Either way, you end up in the same place - in the park, and you also get another pentacle clue, with number 2. Ayup! That’s four pentacles we have. 5 from the dormitory, 8 from the clue in the greenhouse, 7 from the trapdoor key, and 2 from the park. Remember back under the kiosk? That showed the final pentacle, with the number 3. And now remember the letter? That said that the number on “the gate” should be subtracted, but the others should be added. 5 + 8 + 7 + 2 - 3 = 19. Grab item card 19?  If you didn’t guess we’re supposed to take item 19, the fact that the letters on the pentacles can be arranged to spell RE-AD-IT-E-M might clue you in. Oh, and the weird painting in the dayroom? That basically gave away all three of the major secrets. By the way, though, if you don’t think to subtract the final 3 but add it instead, that’ll get you item card 25. That’s the map card that unlocks the tomb - and remember, the tomb is where you get completely screwed over by a series of fights and then nothing. So if you miss that clue, it’s quite possible you’ll hit a complete damp squib and have no idea what’s going on. So, we’re finally led to the climax. Location 15. Where this happens:  The item we get for having both gems is a cube with some weird latin about “temporalis” about it which doesn’t do anything. So, we have a choice. Do as the lady instructs, or refuse. If we do as she instructs, she completes the ritual and we successfully help her open the temporal fault and get sent to a special mission failure card that tells us how terrible we are. If we refuse, though, it’s time for our final fight. The state token here comes down to whether we have already beaten up the doctor or not, which determines whether or not we have to fight him here.  As you can see, the doctor is much worse here than he was in his office - his ripostes are much harder. But the real show here is the priestess. Not only does she riposte drat hard, she has a shield with a heart icon. As long as she holds onto that shield, anyone fighting her automatically loses a life point after each combat round, in addition to anything from the riposte. Fortunately, it’s her first shield, so even one hit knocks it off her. Item 10 isn’t an item. It’s the “hey, you win!” card. Even though there’s still presumably a bunch of horrific monsters around in the tomb. Now, having read through the story in this way, you might think it’s quite fun. And yea, that potential would be there. But what it doesn’t do is to work in play, for several reasons. First of all, there’s the hobson’s choice of what areas to explore initially. But the real deal breaker is the bit we left out. See, if we took too longer on any of those tests? We’d have run out of TU. And what are we supposed to do when we run out of TU? Why, box everything up and start again, and lay out all the cards again, and do all the things where we already know what’s going to happen again. Just like, remember how in a CYOA book you were supposed to start the entire book from the beginning if you lost a combat, and make all the choices you just made? Or we could just do what everyone did after one or two tries, which is to just imagine they’d restarted then played through to get to the point where they currently are, and ignore the entire TU system. So it did kind of work as a CYOA, but in no way as a board game. And since it was sold as a board game, it was horribly expensive for a CYOA. Nonetheless, it did manage to get a large number of expansions, each with an additional adventure, and none of them as good as this one, which is really saying something. And those we may look at later.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 23:46
|
|
|
Mirage posted:
I'm pretty sure your character grew up in Boatmurdered. Godamn.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 23:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 00:55 |
|
|
Hattie Masters posted:I'm pretty sure your character grew up in Boatmurdered. Godamn. Looking back at previous posts, the SW monster manual DOES include this guy:  So yeah, Boatmurdered kinda tracks
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 23:57
|
|