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Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Palladium called out specific cars by name in their equipment sections too, including such commonly seen vehicles as the Delorean.

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Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Kellsterik posted:

If you're ever wondering how to represent the Occult Underground, read any biographical information at all about Church of Satan types.

Most "occultists" wish they were Aleister Crowley but they tend to be more like our pal Derrick there.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



pkfan2004 posted:

A Manual of Ambition was an...interesting read, to say the least. A game where you have a project to do and can keep getting more and more corrupt in body, mind and soul by deviating from the more noble goals of the project would be interesting, especially in UM. I didn't wholly understand the rules for it, though, and if you were to put those rules into UM I'm pretty sure you'd just bore your players to death. Interesting but needs heavy polish and also should probably be run separate.

That idea could work in a better world's version of CthulhuTech too.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



GimpInBlack posted:



I love these. They're very Leonardo da Vinci/Voynich manuscript, and the symbolism is actually decipherable once you have a decent idea of what's really going on. In fact, you know what?

:siren:It's contest time!:siren:

First person to figure out the hidden meaning behind all the text and images on a page of the Usher Codex gets a pdf copy of Aletheia, delivered via DrivethruRPG. If you already have it, I'll buy you one of Abstract Nova's other weird-as-hell RPGs. Stick to one page per entry, and no duplicating pages--if a previous entrant gives up on completing a page, someone else can claim it. If it looks like fewer than five people are going to enter, I'll let people try for multiple pages. Good luck!

3 and 5 appear to be the same page.

EDIT: They don't all appear to be loading in this post but check the original post.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Wikipedia says the divergence point of Twilight:2000 version 1 was a Sino-Soviet hot war that turned NBC. Germany took advantage of the distraction to reunify, the Soviets moved in on them, and Germany asked NATO for help. Events proceeded similarly after that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_2000#Original_setting

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Tasoth posted:

Riddle me this, riddle me that, whose hand in that?
How are you supposed to see dice rolls? Or character sheets?

Glow in the dark dice. Finally, a use for them.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Lynx Winters posted:

This has reminded me, though, can we write about games that never got released if we have the material that was going into it? Because I'd love to write some words about Capcom World Tournament, a cancelled d20 Street Fighter & Friends RPG.

The old title was obscure and/or mockable and it doesn't get much more obscure than unreleased! :justpost:

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Erebro posted:

Cold Hard World. You've piqued my interest.

Yes.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Dungeons and Discourse sounds annoying as hell to actually play but I can see it being a smash hit with the high school Advanced Placement crowd.

EDIT: I can see it being a smash hit with the high school AP crowd.

Midjack fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Mar 1, 2014

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Saguaro PI posted:

Player skill :smaug:

Oh I'm sure that first group through the Tomb of Horrors, who allegedly got all the treasure without anyone in the party dying, could knock this one off like it ain't no thang.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Alien Rope Burn posted:

Wait, nuclear war caused the Rifts? It's been implied, but never that explicitly stated, as far as I can recall. Also Indra is an rear end in a top hat to him for being a tubby, what a shock. Oh, and he's uncovered another world filled with mutant animals that blah blah blah it's the After the Bomb setting! It turns out he's a patron of furries and other animal-people hybrids.

I thought they flat out said it in one of the earlier books you reviewed, but I can't find the citation either.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Asimo posted:

Despite the RPG never getting a release, the Null Foundation eventually got folded into Rein·Hagen's new company "Atomaton, Inc" and in 2001 they released Z-G (as in, "zero gravity"), a game very loosely based on the concepts and setting.

Specifically, a "collectible action figure game" which let you snap pieces onto the figures and collect... power cards and stuff to use them in not-quite-miniature gameplay.



Honestly, it wasn't a horrible idea... but considering it came out after the initial CCG rush when stores were already loaded with unsold merchandise it just didn't have a prayer. Not helping matters was the rise of collectible miniature games like Mage Knight that offered much more value for the money. To the best of my knowledge the company only ever released the initial two figures and the card booster pack, and Atomaton finally folded in 2003.

They put out 3 figures, a green one, a red one, and a blue one. I got them at DragonCon in 2001 and chatted with R-H himself for about an hour about the game before ultimately buying the three figures and some additional cards. The most prominent thing about the game was that all the ranges were in card-lengths so you didn't need a ruler, just the cards themselves. College me thought it played OK, and I was waiting to see them in stores but never did. :(

I actually have all that stuff in a box that I'm looking at RIGHT NOW.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Alien Rope Burn posted:

Yeah, it's weird. I remember hearing about Exile but have no idea where I heard about it. Probably through newsgroups or something at the time? Hard to say.


I just put up an relevant update to make sure it doesn't fall into archives yet. I don't know how long it takes for a thread to fall off, though.

Since archives are down I think threads are just piling up in the active forums.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Asimo posted:

:woop:•Thanks for Reading!•:woop:
If anyone does actually own one of the Z-G figures and the related cards and accessories, could you do a quick review of the material for the thread? I recall it having almost nothing in common with Exile beyond the theme of the Ulsters, but I vaguely remember the small rulebook having some basic setting information and I'm curious just how much was actually kept.
Thanks for writing that!

I've threatened to review a couple of things, but so far never made good. Once I return from traveling I'll break the ZG stuff out and see what I can do.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Humbug Scoolbus posted:

That's the one I have (1st ed) I've never seen a copy of 2nd Ed actually.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0916211150/ref=cm_cr_dp_cust_img_see_all_img0

The Gun Bunnies scenario that was talked about in System Mastery is also present in the 1E AtB - I suspect the scenarios in 2E were copy/pasted wholesale from 1E.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Grab Disney's old TaleSpin cartoon for some setting and scenario ideas. Warbirds looks pretty cool, actually.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Night10194 posted:

Goddamn, all of this really makes me want to play Monsterhearts, but in my group, one of our longtime players hates the idea of it and always vetoes it when it comes up. :negative:

So he gets a vacation if literally everyone else wants to play it.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



theironjef posted:

Yeah, that's on me. I was speaking broady about how Rogue Trader was the original grandfather of what 40k is now. After all, it used to have a three-player format since someone was supposed the GM of every battle.

You see some crazy stuff in the very first Rogue Trader too, like a hovertank made from a deodorant stick and a plastic spoon. GW didn't always take itself Chapter ApprovedTM seriously.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



For any game, has there ever been a game or supplement focused on love/romance/sex that hasn't been completely loving terrible?

NO GUYS I GOT THIS! I KNOW WHAT EVERYONE ELSE DID WRONG!

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Evil Mastermind posted:

Apocalypse World, because it deals with sex as just "when two characters have sex, here's how it affects their relationship". Likewise Monsterhearts.

Not coincidentally, neither of those games have love and sex as their main point.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Gazetteer posted:

AW is not really about sexuality, but trying to argue that MH is not kind of requires some serious pretzel logic that ignores both what the mechanics say and what the game is literally billing itself as. Sexuality, sex and how the characters relate to them are major themes. Emotional intimacy is something that the MC is literally meant to deny you or make come conditionally.

It seemed to me that Monsterhearts was focused more on adolescent emotional turmoil and growing up than it was boning ghosts. Admittedly sex and emotional intimacy are major parts of that, but getting your dick out doesn't appear to be the game's point. Running Monsterhearts as Twilight is lazy and shallow.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Gazetteer posted:

You know, at least that discussion is like... an area with a degree of subjectivity involved? Like at this point we are arguing that no, man, this game is not literally about the things it deliberately states it is at the beginning of the book.

Welp, looks like I am in fact full of poo poo and had the wrong idea. Sorry folks!

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



ZeeToo posted:

You won't find any real support here to let you adventure with (or after) Jesus.

That's a shame. I would think half the reason of playing this thing is so you could roll out the old "Jesus saves, all others take 2D6 damage" joke with a totally straight face.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Night10194 posted:

I suppose so. Sorry, I'm more familiar with the biblical texts themselves than anything else. Basically, the Book of Job is my primary wheelhouse, but I cannot possibly see THAT coming up in the context of a half-baked RPG supplement for d20.

Job would be like a solo Tomb of Horrors for this game. :v:

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



The very first 40K rulebook, subtitled Rogue Trader, was in fact a RPG first with a miniatures rules module, but the miniatures system (and figures themselves) rapidly eclipsed the RPG. I don't know anyone who played 1E 40K as an RPG.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



NGDBSS posted:

I'd never actually seen it and I wasn't certain how much was TRPG and how much was miniatures combat. Care to expand?

Let me see if I can find the old book. If it's at mom and dad's house I'll just have to go off memory.

I also have that Z-G CCG/figure game for Exiles that I need to write up.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Kurieg posted:

I get the feeling this is going to be a bit more literal than it would otherwise be.

It's amazingly 80s.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Night10194 posted:

Like, 'Hey, players, how would you like to play a game where the secret conspiracy is the Jedi are actually terrible and you have to unmask them before they take over the New Republic and complete the master plan they started with Luke' is the sane, rational way to check interest in that kind of game.

It wouldn't be as much fun if I knew the secret conspiracy before even rolling up characters - just warn them that some of the core assumptions will be altered. Or if you had a really long-running campaign, subtly lead up to that as the capstone of the whole thing without irrevocably committing until near the end.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Carrasco posted:

What? Even by the standards of the rest of this advice, what?

Method roleplaying.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Tasoth posted:

"Do they call you Flounder because you're from Innsmouth?"

I just don't know what system you would use for it.

IOU in GURPS 2E supports this.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Zereth posted:

Except that it explicitly mentions that sometimes you can end up off-cycle, which by the logic given for the 125-year jumps would mean you end up jumping from that point in time instead. Rather than "whoops you're hosed" like it actually says happens.

There was a tacit assumption throughout the book that the player characters would only ever encounter other time travelers who were in synch with the PC's 125-year set of Twists and/or Time Lords who would fiat whatever (and who had some kind of code of conduct about restoring time travelers to their home times). If I remember right they have a lot of doom and gloom about what happens if you end up off the Twists, but the only way for player characters to actually get off them without help is by a magic spell that lets you jump in smaller intervals (that are in some really arbitrary sizes), and they caution you in that spell to only ever jump right back to the Twist rather than make a second smaller jump to a different off-Twist time.

The location of Twist Null is always supposed to be the campaign''s present (an Absolute Now) and the other Twists in Cycle Prime are at 125-year intervals calculated from that Absolute Now, which was 1988 when the book was written. If you were running a game set today (Twist Null 2014) then its Twist A would be 1889 and its Twist 1 would be 2139. People in a campaign set in 2000 would have access to 2125 and 1875.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Tulul posted:

You can get it for the low low price of $0 at the author's site.

And I would love to hear someone talk about Bliss Stage, it's a bad game, but in a pretty interesting way, I think.

Bliss Stage got reviewed in one of the earlier threads here.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007




Holy cow. I wondered what happened to them. I thought they just wound down when the Star Wars license expired but I didn't know it was such a trainwreck.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



inklesspen posted:

Nah, it's Numenera (with all its stupidities). I oughta do a quick runthrough of it, though. There is some stupid poo poo in there.

Tulul started one but the last post he made on it was over a year ago.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Count Chocula posted:

All this talk of RIFTS, TORG, and evil bunnies is giving me Sluggy Freelance flashbacks.

Fallout was originally a GURPS license, so Exodus is a D20 hack of a modified GURPS?

Didn't Interplay completely drop GURPS and did their own thing fairly early in development?

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Living Land, let's crescendo.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



The zombie tits halfway down the page are a nice touch, it's good to see that Mark Hagen-Daas hasn't forgotten his roots.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Doresh posted:

And you hone your senses by finding satanic pagan NWO symbolism everywhere.

The artwork makes it hard to tell whether that thing is armor or just a freakish furry dude getting himself some weird body paint.

The bottom right corner says "Mars Private Studio Hardskin Artist" so I think she's just pimping someone's ride there.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Lynx Winters posted:

It's been a while but I think the way Silhouette works is that you rolls D6s equal to your skill, take the highest result, and add or subtract your attribute (it's a zero-as-average system). Extra 6s in a roll add +1 to the total result. I think the way Heavy Gear explained it was that someone with low skill and high stats could get great rolls inconsistently, while someone with higher skill but closer to average stats would get more consistent results due to having more chances at a higher roll.

You are correct, looking at the SiliCore book 3.1 right now.

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Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Young Freud posted:

Yeah, even though the Coalition has a Rifts Control Group in their hierarchy, they never seem to really do anything except surround them with military units.

As far as I remember there was only the Close Rift spell that took a ridiculous amount of power to pull off (and permanently drained a small amount from the caster) that could actually do it. And there was at least one (the Gateway Arch HAR HAR HAR) that the book flat out said could not be closed by any means. Surrounding and blasting anything that comes out is probably one of the best tactics.

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