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Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Ningyou posted:

"Dreams come easiest to us when we're young. Before we're taught the way the 'real world' is, we live in a state of grace, believing that anything is possible. As children, we take every opportunity we can to act out that unlimited possibility. As pirates or astronauts, ballerinas or ninjas, we turn cardboard boxes into spaceships, backyards into desert islands, and treehouses into armoured forts. Fantastic worlds are within our grasp, and fantastic creatures - like faeries, dragons, and monsters - seem like they're only a heartbeat away. We can go anywhere...do anything...be anyone.

Somewhere along the way, we lose that enthusiasm. We stop playing and start surviving. Life becomes a matter of getting by, and our idealism is replaced by realism. We seek stable 9-to-5 lives, live in quiet homes, and narcotize ourselves in front of flickering television sets. The world of imagination is set aside as our lives become banal. Inexorably, our passion for life mellows into the contentment of security or hardens into the bitterness of failure."


Behold the anthem of the dread Autumn People!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FUGzwUTN80

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Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


The Leper Colon V posted:

I think the best WoD system for "Best of Both Worlds" would probably be Vampire. You get the hierarchy and developed politics and mythology of Masquerade, and the touches of self-awareness and improved mechanics of Requiem. (Especially the reading-between-the-lines implications that a lot of the reasons things are the way they are is because almost every kindred is emotionally frozen at their mental age when they were embraced.)

I don't see how that helps with space combat, though. What kind of Disciplines would you give the Borg, anyway?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


I assume the lack of Russia and Scandinavia means they're hosed, but what happened to Japan and Korea? Did they get their poo poo kicked in like everyone else? If Mexico is doing okay, why has the total loss of the western United States not spilled over to them? Are the Rio Grande and the desert helping?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Pththya-lyi posted:

Remember, the US nuked Jormungandr and was all but destroyed by its venom - the venom blown across the Atlantic ocean. Thor has already played his part in killing Jormungandr and is now dying because of it.

That's total bullshit.

If we're not Captain America, then who is? :colbert:

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Night10194 posted:

You'd think there'd be a place for a WWI era zombie apocalypse story. You'd have powerful enough technology to have a decent shot, and the imagery of a ton of battered, hosed up corpses in gas-masks rising from a trench to charge the machine gun nests and rifles of the living seems like it'd be suitable.

Red Wasp Design kind of agreed with you.

This setting is just not set up for a TTRPG at all, like citybeatnik said. It might work for some less interactive form of media, but when there's so little room to alter anything about the setting, what's the point of holding a campaign in it, especially when all the interesting stuff outside London is completely unsupported by the rules?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


InShaneee posted:

Look at this map. Look at this goddamn map. Scroll in.

Then scroll out as far as you can.

Space owns.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


wdarkk posted:

:laffo: at the Core Route. I cannot loving believe that they named all the sector blocks along the way.

Holy poo poo you're right. To be fair I think they were using some kind of auto-generation software, but still. The Galactic Core is about 27000 lightyears from Earth, somebody figure out how many sectors that must be.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


I have a vague outline of South American history in my head, but everything between the early colonial period and the breakup of the Spanish Empire is a total blank.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


dwarf74 posted:

Oh god that show. I watched with roommates but watching Goku do nothing but power up for like a whole week was the most :allears: thing ever.

I thought about looking it up recently, but then realized I like myself too much for that.

A couple of guys have made a better, edited version over here: http://teamfourstar.com/

(Seriously all my knowledge of DBZ comes from Team Four Star- they should potition Toei or whoever to get it named an official continuity, since it frequently makes more sense than the show.)

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


That was excellent. I knew Portugal moved the capital to Brazil at one point, but I didn't know it had that much of an effect.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Holy poo poo Castle Falkenstein owns. I wonder if everything gets English names in the German version. :allears:

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


I want to say Burning Horizons, but saving the "best" for last sounds good.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Simian_Prime posted:

Has anybody taken a look at the LotFP freebie for Free RPG Day, "Doom Cave of the Crystal Headed Children?'' It would make a hilarious review because holy crap it is Peak Raggi. Imagine an adventure that desperately tries to emulate Weird Tales, but ends up coming out more like an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

I would kill for an Aqua Teen RPG.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Alien Rope Burn posted:

Ultimately Siembieda is a true heir to Gygax in writing a system that's just a mishmash of rulings he laid over a framework of ten or so attributes, skill percentages, and a to-hit rule. Palladium's system makes a lot more sense when you look at games of its time that are almost more like collections of rulings rather than rule sets. The difference is, of course, that later designers worked their darndest to try and make the AD&D rules into something that makes sense (someday, they might even succeed), while Palladium just keeps layering on house rules for their newest campaign rather than thinking about rules as a coherent whole.

Kind of like common law versus civil law.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Aw man, this is giving me flashbacks to my days with Last Unicorn's Star Trek games. System issues or not, those loving owned, and it's a real shame this got cut short.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


I'm kind of surprised Palladium is still in business despite Siembieda's insanity eccentricity.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Zereth posted:

Have you driven through Southern California? Most of it is empty desert.

He's talking about Central California, which is a grassy desert instead of an actual desert.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


James Bond films don't try to be something they're not, and that's why they work. I mean, Live and Let Die didn't try to be a Do The Right Thing-style examination of race relations, while Kojima has a story with child soldiers and people who were raised as child soldiers and other mature topics while the main female cast member is wearing a bikini and torn fishnets into combat.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Mors Rattus posted:

I picked up the Tau book they released for it and was super disappointed.

All Fire caste. You'd think Water and Air would get in for space diplomacy adventures!

No! Diplomacy doesn't involve nearly enough killing! In the grim darkness of the Grimdark 41st Grimillenium there is only dark war focused on grim humans on dark planets! :smugissar:

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Which one of you did Numenara? Because they made an... interesting supplement earlier this year.

(Seriously, this thread could survive for a year just of the stuff that comes up when you search Adult Content on DTRPG)

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


I swear I've seen that font used before in a World of Darkness book. It's probably generic, though.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


And the one that does have a high school metaphor is the Fury, which is basically a school shooter.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Night10194 posted:

The funniest part is, because they have to keep them out of Well Known Major Historical Tragedies like WWII, they always come off as not actually controlling much of human affairs, really.

I prefer the supernatural like that- monstrous and strange things should be lurking in the dark corners of the cities or wilderness, not running the world like a bored grand strategy player *cough*Godmachine*cough*.

Kurieg posted:

They controlled and comprised basically every other major party of the Nazi party. But Hitler was 100% human because the real monster is man.

I've never understood using that trope in the World of Darkness, to be honest. Every single creature you can play as was either born as a human, spent most of their life thinking they were human, or merged with a human. Of course the real monster is man- you're all men!


I'm glad to hear everything's good with you and that this review is back on because I love your writing style :).

EDIT:

Night10194 posted:

Wow. That's the most gutless half measure I've ever seen in handling WWII in one of these ridiculous settings.

"Ancient conspiracies orchestrate human history except when it's too politically or socially sensitive for them to do so." Of course, White Wolf had moments of tone deafness there, like making Himmler a vampire in an early book and the entirety of the Revised Children of Gaia sourcebook. Did they ever talk about the Yugoslav Wars?

Kavak fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Nov 11, 2014

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Germany's main concern back then was integrating and supporting the half of the nation that had spent 45 years under economic neglect and political repression, right? What the hell else could they have talked about once they ran out of VAMPIRE NAZIS!!1! to detail?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


How the gently caress did vampires build up half a century of imperial tension in Europe and abroad, destabilize the Ottoman and Austrian Empires, start the Balkan Wars, set up the Black Hand's assassination plot, then after WWI collapse the global economy and pave the way for the rise of Nazism?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Oh my God did they seriously add in "Your LARPing rival" as an actual, statted antagonist? Goddammit White Wolf why do you have to suck so much sometimes? :negative:

I wish I could sit back and laugh at how bad they used to be, but they keep dipping back into the pandering awfulness. Changing Breeds, the "Everything You Ever Wanted" section in the Werewolf Chronicler's Guide, the huge blowup with the Exalted 3rd Edition Kickstarter*- they're like a favorite musician who keeps relapsing into addiction except instead of drugs its puerile writing and creepy sex stuff.

*That wasn't really pandering but it was still shameful.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Mors Rattus posted:

In fairness, it has at least seemed to have limited itself recently to Mummy and Exalted.

Exalted I know way too well, but what's this about Mummy?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Mors Rattus posted:

Mummy is basically the nWoD game that has decided not to learn anything from oWoD. It's not terrible the way Exalted is, it just lacks self-awareness and elegance and much of the stuff I've come to expect from nWoD.

I didn't see anything really off in the core book, other than its approach to setting information. Onyx Path wanted to try something different and I can respect that- if it falls flat, oh well.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Flavivirus posted:

Nah, nothing like that. To be honest, mummy has a lot of good ideas but it's incredibly poorly organised, badly edited, and the overall management of the line is sorely lacking. Plus, they're embracing oWoD meta plot with gusto - the core book goes out of its way to avoid talking about ancient Irem where the mummies were created, but it's obvious there's an actual truth they're planning on revealing gradually as the line goes on. This means that if you're playing in an ongoing game each subsequent book is going to get more and more useless to you as it creates a canon that diverges from your own.

It's also (I think) operating on nWoD 1st Edition rules while every other line has been or will be updated to 2nd Edition rules. I feel like they're letting some of their writing staff do their "dream projects" in an effectively dead edition. It would explain why the Dark Era for Geist is 1950's New Zealand.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Mors Rattus posted:

Yeah, nWolves kinda suck. 2e seems to be planning to change that, though.

Yeah, the 180 they did with Forsaken to undo the crazy/stupid parts of Apocalypse created a great setting but mechanically gimped PCs when compared to other lines. So glad that's being worked on.

Rand Brittain posted:

The Bound are kings of the mountain at killing things, ruining lives, being bloody difficult to kill and dealing with ghosts. Outside of that they don't have much going for them.

When it comes to crossover, those first three are all you have to be to keep anyone sane from loving with you.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Cythereal posted:

An Ulgan Promethean is the stuff of their nightmares, though.

Ulgans wreck the barrier with the spirit world, not the world of the dead. They're an Uratha's worst nightmare, but at least they burn easily.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Kurieg posted:

Probably the most glaring mechanical problem with nWolves was that their power stat was renown. Meaning they had 5 separate power stats, any 3 of which you would probably not get points in because your Storyteller determines when you can level them up.

Primal Urge was the power stat, Renown was just an holdover* from Apocalypse. It's actually worse than the old system- there you had 3 categories with big long lists of what gave points towards leveling them up or down, so it was easy for the ST to devise a system where players got Renown automatically for doing stuff. There was no system like that for Forsaken, so they just ended up as giant XP sinks. I played a werewolf on a chat game for almost 10 months straight and didn't gain a single point of Renown, that's how bad it was.

*Renown makes sense for the Garou because they have this huge, structured society with a bunch of positions and legends and all that jazz. The Uratha, except for the Ivory Claws, are very asymmetrical- the only tightly structured part of their society is the pack, and that can be resolved by punching the Alpha until you're the new Alpha.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


FATAL & Friends 2014: Christ, What An rear end in a top hat

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


quote:

The workplace was Neopets.

Wait, hold the goddamn phone, are you serious? What was he doing on friggin' Neopets? I had an account there like a decade ago, when was he there?

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


PubicMice posted:

I can't write worth poo poo, so if anyone wants to review it, here is a fat-fetish rpg.

I think I found up one on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMnjF1O4eH0

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Kurieg posted:

What we really need is a die roller in the shape of Zardoz's head that just vomits up a pile of D6s

You design it, I'll find a 3D printer.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


FMguru posted:

It's really hard to overstate just how much the RPG industry treated their products as just ancillary goods to get you to buy and read the novels after the success of Dragonlance in the mid-1980s.

So White Wolf didn't invent that? I want to hear more.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Interesting, and I'm starting to finally grasp the mindset that let people think metaplots were a good idea.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


The best part of the Week of Nightmares was a story published several books later, where one Ravnos shows up at another's apartment. They are both on the edge of frenzy and want to diablerize each other, and nearly do. They have no idea why, but they can feel in their blood that something loving big is happening, and that it is very, very bad. It was like the first chapter of Call of Cthulhu- something cosmically massive is happening but you can't even see it, just the psychic waves it's making, and what might be its reflection in them. That's obviously what they were going for, but instead of building things up and moving towards the climax, they start with it and throw a bad DBZ fanfic in to boot.

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Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


I think Rein-Hagen moved to Georgia (The one on the Black Sea, not the one where White Wolf is) and started a nightclub that was involved in a sex slave ring or something.

unseenlibrarian posted:

Well, the guy running West End at the time certainly believed everything was connected. For example, he believed the profits from the Star Wars license were connected to bailing out his parents' failing shoe company, which is why eventually West End went down super-hard.

I thought Bucci Retail Group was West End's parent company? I know they went bust trying to sell the Bruno Magli shoes O.J. was wearing during the murder and I think brought West End down with them.

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