Posts made by Alzie

@Glitch said:

@Alzie said:

To be clear, Enemies of lesser rank use down and dirty combat rules, meaning they only count their dexterity or wits as their defense. This does not include supernatural opponents or spirits of a higher rank or mortals with a template or pretty much anything you would most likely be fighting.

This is wrong. Down and Dirty is a single contested roll that resolves combat and ignores a defense roll. This applies to "most humans, spirits of lower Rank and non-supernatural animals". It further states "In normal combat, opponents count only their Dexterity or Wits to their Defense; they may not add the appropriate Skill (normally Athletics)." (WW 2.0, pg 97) So in gauru, this applies against all opponents that do not count for Down and Dirty.

I somehow doubt very much that the intention was to make any combat with a gauru werewolf resolve in a single roll of dice. If that was the intention, then all the other time they spent explaining normal combat rules and how they regenerate and what stats increase was pretty much wasted.

Edit: Nevermind, I'm being silly. It only applies to lesser opponents. So any combat is a stretch. I guess the intention was to make the fear of gauru tangible. Which is nice, it's one of the reasons I like the new Shadow Paranoia condition.

One of the main themes discussed is that for a werewolf, half of the horror/violence is not external but internal. That the damage you can wreak on those around you should be as terrifying, in some ways, to the character/player as to those that might be on the brunt end of it.

You're placing far more emphasis on this than the book does. The changing is only jarring the first few times. Afterwards not so much. Spiritually attuned werewolves change once a scene or they feel discomfort, low harmony werewolves feel no pain from shifting at all. Lunacy is a natural part of the order, there are even gifts allowing a werewolf to change the kind of lunacy he or she inflicts.

They go on mechanically at some length, to make gauru as attractive as possible. To make it a first resort. The Wolf-Man battle form in Forsaken 2.0 is vastly more powerful (on an order of exponetial magnitude) vs the Forsaken 1.0 form. You heal all non-agg damage a round. Enemies get like half their Defense. It's intense.

To be clear, Enemies of lesser rank use down and dirty combat rules, meaning they only count their dexterity or wits as their defense. This does not include supernatural opponents or spirits of a higher rank or mortals with a template or pretty much anything you would most likely be fighting. They also automatically fail any social roll not based on intimidation and any mental roll that isn't perception based or a resistance. Additionally, the rules are very clear that they have to attack an opponent or the thing nearest to them if no opponent is available. None of this spend willpower to control your rage shit like before. So it's not all sunshine and flowers like you want to present it.

But it's still undercut by the inclusion of dalu/urshul who serve very little purpose in the grand scheme of things. They are 'safe' forms, with only benefits attached and no real risk of losing self control. It encourages a more blase, toolbox like approach to one's shapeshifting. It becomes banal, and rings hollow when they devote repeated paragraphs to how storytellers should play up the bone-cracking, flesh-displacing horror of changing forms, and how players should always be reminded of how bizarre and strange it is. That's hard to do when they're changing forms 20+ times a night. Ultimately, hishu and urhan lose out. The two forms that DO have immensely strong thematic components. Why be a wolf, when you can be a big strong wolf?

Again, you're reading far too much into the shapeshifting thing. The book does not spend that much time on the shapeshifting hurts bit. It even explains that it doesn't hurt for low harmony, spiritually attuned wolves are required to shift and balanced harmony wolves only feel pain the first few times. While it's jarring, per the book, it feels right. So it's something you attune to. Dalu and Urshul have their place. Urshul can't communicate with humans but can speak first tongue and can apply tilts to physical prey. Dalu can move among humans but also gain the ability to force people protecting prey away from the prey. Hishu applies a penalty of your PU to a person's roll to track you if you're in a populated area. Urhan allows you to interrupt other people's actions by spending essence (essentially it's werewolf celerity). So get real. They all have great benefits. The fact that you are not aware of how to use them does not mean that the benefits don't exist.

In the same way, I think they undercut the conceptual theme of the werewolf's true monster being themselves, by adding a bunch of even more horrific Shadow-related monsters for them to fight.

WoD's theme has always been that there are bigger, scarier things than you out there. So no. No it really doesn't.

It's true that Forsaken 2.0 does mitigate this aspect of the game already. In fact, the Bone Shadows are the only tribe with a duty to hunt spirits and most werewolves will never enter the Shadow. In many ways, Bone Shadows are the Uratha of Forsaken 1.0. You can't even step over at loci anymore.

False. Read the book bro. All werewolves have attachments to the spirit world. In fact, the Irraka are the only werewolves this time around with a spirit gift to step sideways into the shadow. Would you like to actually read the book and come back to us?

So Forsaken 2.0 already emphasizes Wolf-Man and de-emphasizes the Shadow. I pretty much just took it to a Mountain Dew-esque extreme. So as to not clutter up my player's brain bandwidth with themes that felt already half left by the wayside, and only lingering for the benefit of veterans.

Forsaken 2.0 emphasizes the shadow to an extreme. The entire origin story is about the shadow. You realized this right?

@Chime said:

I think it was some lingering sense of basic decency. My bad. When he started posting all over unrelated G+ posts (okay, not important stuff, but pictures of cats and things for family that I had semi-public), I think I can safely say that he's not worried about these sorts of boundaries anymore.

I've given him a URI for downloading the tarball. What he does with it is anyone's guess.

This was willm (redacted again at the request of forum staff), owner of a starwars game, gundam seed, and zero. I suspect people could do business with him just fine as long as clear contracts, expectations, and boundaries are set and never crossed. I sure as hell don't want him on any of my systems though.

Again, for those who are vaguely worried about all this: his data is fine and safe, and he has full access to it. He's just been an utter jackass.

http://mudstats.com/World/StarWarsNewJediOrder
http://mudstats.com/World/StarWarsLegacy(NewJediOrder) (same game, duplicate entry)
http://mudstats.com/World/TITAN2100
http://mudstats.com/World/GundamMUSH

edit: removed name at request of staff

Oh, so that's why he sent out the giant email to everyone telling us his host had screwed him and the games were down. There were like 7 emails from him that day.

@GundamAdmin

I really enjoyed our time together and I hope you will all keep in touch. However, the server has been closed down for good. I apologize for the lack of warning, our host pulled a very shady move. After this happened, I realized I had no desire to put the game back up just to flounder.

@HelloRaptor The world just ended. Helloraptor and I agree that something is great. (Seriously though, Tasogare Otome is hella tight)

@Groth Actually, if you notice, that was something I brought up on Requiem for Kingsmouth. On one hand, the book seems indicate that it only requires a single success, but that doesn't match how contested rolls usually work. However, as you stated, if it's a normal contested roll, then that's a joke because the ritualist will basically always have more dice. I mean, the ritualist is starting with a base pool of 2 attributes and a spec while the contestant is starting with only 2 attributes.

@Cobaltasaurus said:

• Sailormoon

I have two suggestions based off this: Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love! is from this seasons and is magical guys who fight with the power of love. It is absolutely a satire and it loves to remind you that it is. On the other hand, there is Madoka Magica. A slightly more serious version of Sailormoon full of death and dealing with actual real life problems while having to save the world.

• Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is a gold standard unto itself, it's hard to suggest anime based on it for that reason. In the general theme however, there is vash the stampede. It's kind of the same animation style and kind of the same type of weird mid western technology type deal.

• Samurai Champloo (ssssiiiigggh)

This one is hard to suggest based on just because, well, it was unique. Samurai anime are a dime a dozen, but Samurai Champloo wasn't just any old samurai anime. Though if I had to absolutely give you something then you could perhaps go look at Hyakka Ryouran. If you do look at Hyakka Ryouran, please know that there is Samurai Girls which is season 1 and Samurai Bride which is season 2.

• Gundamn Wing

Another iconic classic, but not as hard to offer suggestions off of. Of course, gundam wing itself has plenty of series and I doubt you've seen them all, so you could go look at one of the many that you haven't seen. Otherwise, Aldnoah Zero could pique your interest and it even follows a very Operate Meteor esque story line. There was also M3 about 2 seasons ago that made a debut and was fairly good for a mecha anime. There is also Robotics; Notes which sometimes gets overlooked, but it is essentially one giant slice of life leading up to them building a mecha for a mecha battle. There's also always Full Metal Panic and if you want something more movie based then Vexille is really good.

• Princess Jellyfish (more like this would be awesome)

I honestly cannot think of a single anime that could even begin to come close to this lol.

• Chobits

Chobits is a good one. I miss it, but again, nothing to really suggest based on it as it was fairly unique.

• Magic Knight Rayearth (& Magic Knight Rayearth 2)

Easy suggestions here as it was made during a specific period where all shows were made the same. Revolutionary Girl Utena, Escaflowne, Tokyo Mew Mew, Tsubasa Chronicle and R.O.D The TV. All of them were pretty much the same.

• Slayers (I watched through Slayers Try, but can't get my hands on the fourth and fifth seasons. :sad: )

M3 that I mentioned above is a lot like slayers. Garo is kind of like it too. Chaika is pretty much the slayers story with some new characters. Zero no Tsukaima might as well be a slayers rip off (but it's okay, because it was a good 3 season series). If you can actually find it anywhere, Needless has the slayers feel as does Ranma 1/2.

• BLUE SEED (probably my favoritests ever)

I love blue seed. Old but good. Good and bad news. Good news: There are plenty of anime that i could recommend based on it. Bad News: They've already been recommended in my previous mentions. Most of your suggestions are alike, so i got nothing left. Blue Seed has basically the same elements as all the others you gave.

If you want more recent anime, these are the good ones from this season:
Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love! - Mentioned above. It's magical BOYS. It's a satire and quite honestly it's hilarious.

Death Parade - Some people believe purgatory is a place. Imagine if purgatory was actually a bar where you played a game of chance to decide your fate. This is Death Parade.

Durarara!x2 - Season 2 of Durarara. If you didn't watch season 1 it means nothing to you. If you did watch season 1 I don't need to tell you to watch it.

Kantai Collection - America has My Little Pony, Japan has Kancolle aka Kantai Collection. Little girls inherit the abilities of once famous ships that sailed the seas and fight enemies with those abilities. Instead of friendship is magic, you have Hard work, Dedication and Perseverance is magic.

Rolling Girls - This is going somewhere, trust me. My best guess is that this is going to end up being a coming of age story set in a very weird world where gangs control the continent of japan.

Seiken Tsukai no World Break - Imagine if you could unlock the abilities of whoever you were in your past life and use those abilities and weapons to kick everyone's ass. If you can do that, then you have a good idea of what you're going to find in this anime. Also, because of the belief that every anime needs it, there are boobs.

Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor - Exodus - Invisible island vs giant gold alien shaped like a human. Ready, fight! It has mecha!

Tokyo Ghoul Root A - Second Season of Tokyo Ghoul where Kaneki acts like he forgot how to think and becomes the biggest asshole this side of the planet. But no seriously, if you watched season 1 and like it, you'll like season 2. It's clear that they're trying to emphasize the emotional strife kaneki feels from his decision to fight instead of stay with his friends. However, if there were any more foreshadowing that he was going to return to Anteiku they might as well have just put up a giant blinking LED sign behind him in every scene.

Edit: Also, just wanted to throw up this: http://anichart.net/

@Groth Contested presents its own problem, mainly that your target gets to roll against you each turn and if you get less successes you don't accrue any towards the TN. Additionally, increasing your time for each roll means they have that much time in between to find you, another problem with contested If they know they're being targeted.

@ThatOneDude You can combine themes to create rituals by base rules.

@darksabrz thankfully, it was also noted as being anathema in blood sorcery.

@Huzuruth You are incorrect. GMC P. 187 - The unmodified Attribute + Skill + Specialty (if any) determines the maximum number of dice rolls allowed before the action fails.

Edit: So if anything my estimate was short, but in general most ST's i've seen use Attr+Skill and not Attr+skill+spec.

I would just like to address something. Specifically, the idea of 'telenuking' with blood sorcery. Allow me, if you will, to regale you with how this actually works based on the rules in the Blood Sorcery book. Let us define our situation.

First, in order for you to deal direct lethal damage with blood sorcery, you require Destruction 4. Direct Aggravated would require you to hold Destruction 5. In either case, that would require you to hold Cruac or Theban 4 or 5. So let's begin by saying that it would take someone a very long time and lots of beats/XP to get there.

Second, we will assume that you cast this ritual from 3 miles away. So your range is now at +4 successes needed.

Third, I will assume we are dealing with someone with a 5 in stamina. This makes their health 10. This means that in order to 'telenuke' you would need 10 damage for aggravated level and 20 for lethal level. I will run through it at both levels.

Fourth, I will assume this is an improvised ritual at first, then I will run through as a custom created ritual (Because there are no pre-defined direct damage rituals that would cause insta-death in the books. Wrathful judgment was axed in blood sorcery).

Fifth, I will assume that the other person has 5 in their associated skill and attribute and per the reach's rules, 3 applicable specialties. (Why am I using reach rules? Because primarily this is where I hear all the bitching from.)

Now then, as improvised cannot be changed after rolling, we must pre-define this ritual. Let us define each of these real quick.
Ritual: Lethal Telenuke
Themes: Destruction 4
Base: 4 (Total of themes)
Potency (Damage): +19 (Remember, we got 1 damage from our base sux)
Range: +4
Duration: +0
Radius: +0
Total Needed: 27 Successes

Ritual: Agg Telenuke
Themes: Destruction 5
Base: 5 (Total of Themes)
Potency (Damage): +9 (1 damage from base)
Range: +4
Duration: +0
Radius: +0
Total Needed: 18 Successes

As you can see, the agg option lowers it by a total of 9 successes. Now dice pools.

In terms of the lethal ritual, a person's dice pool would be: (Does TR even use B&S Dice pools or does it still use differentiated?)
Cruac: Manipulation+Occult+Cruac-Stamina of Enemy (Manip+Occult+Theme-Stamina if blood sorcery rules)
Theban: Intelligence+Academics+Theban-Stamina of Enemy (Int+Occult+Theme-Stamina if blood sorcery rules)

This is a standard extended roll, so at most they have 12 rolls to do it (Assuming patient bonus and 5 in skill and attribute).

So that would mean, you'd have to hit 27 or 18 successes in 12 rolls of 13 dice (Assuming 5's in skill, attribute and 3 specialties)

So basically, the point of this is:

1. Telenuking with blood sorcery is stupid and takes a lot of successes
2. Only stupid STs let it happen
3. It requires a huge investment
4. Only stupid STs let it happen
5. For the love of all that is holy limit potency in some way
   Edit: 6) Actually, limit all the factors in some way for sanity, even mage has some limits on their rituals

@Cobaltasaurus To be fair, One person is saying this. I honestly haven't seen any feedback on the game that this is happening from anyone. And we have a crap load of mortals.

@icanbeyourmuse You could go in and ask for someone who's looking for a single ghoul. I don't have any PC ghouls, Julius Archer has no PC ghouls, Hal has no PC ghouls, Heather has no PC ghouls, Ovidio has no PC Ghouls, Durante has no PC ghouls, Jack has no PC Ghouls, Mortimer, Zed, Casper, Seth, Dallas...This list continues. Seriously though, there are plenty of players without ghouls. If you talked to them, I would be willing to bet they could agree to be a one ghoul show.

@Catsmeow Or you could just tell people you don't want to be a ghoul. Even if you do pick support or political as a mortal, in my experience, unless you do something that forces you into a situation where the only outcome is ghouling or thralling, everyone will respect your decision to stay mortal.

@Chime Click the if you want to waste an hour of your life reading about how unfair this situation was. Click the if you want to skip to the claim of necessary restitution. Click the if you want to skip to the picture of popcorn.

@Bristled-Thistle Oh, the post made it sound like mortals could join to for rewards.

I think she can find a one-on-one thing. It doesn't have to be a political player. If she wants a political player, there are plenty that only want one ghoul.

@icanbeyourmuse Even if not a ghoul, his cult is open to mortals.

Not really, Clinton is a good guy. He's cool.

@Cobaltasaurus What's amusing about this is that the Formal Attire armor for a mage with Tier 4 mats ends up being one of the best armors in the game for mages at 218 armor rating.

@ganymede I liked the ideas they put forth in that one, but not the implementation. Running around looking for colored circles to eavesdrop was not the best idea I thought. At that point, it's just a tedious jaunt around a room several times trying to find spots to eavesdrop. Even more so when those spots weren't always worth anything. Meaning, they didn't always give up incriminating evidence. On the other hand, I liked the actual parts where you talked to people and they judged you for what you said, those parts were good. It was a pretty good representation of Orlesian politics with some failings.

@Thenomain Hey, I played through it. I'm more than happy to offer advice and insight. But if my advice and insight is colored with pain then just ignore it. On a more serious note, you really can't be too levelled. Also, if you're a mage, some of the best armor is the self-crafted formal dress wear. You'll know when you see it.

@Cobaltasaurus Oh, nope that's the one I found. So I did add the right person.