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[Ragitsu]

https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2018/04/Full-Sized-Area-Map-TIS-Extractions-Infinity-Engine-Baldurs-Gate-2-Icewind-Dale-2-Planescape-Torment.html

[Ragitsu]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/ots63k/pet_peeve_of_the_week_characters_raised_in_a/

[Certified]

Animal Powered 13: Tiger
From Black Panther to White Tiger, there's a long history of great cats in comics. This week's creature future focuses on the biggest of the big cats, the tiger! 
https://housedok.com/animal-powered-13-tiger/

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#Metahumans #Superheroes #RPG #TTRPG #Animal #CreaturePowers #Tiger

[tkdguy]

 

[Certified]

[Ragitsu]

 

[tkdguy]

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fpm/archive

[Ragitsu]

1 hour ago, tkdguy said:

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fpm/archive

 

I was searching that archive a few weeks ago as part of a quest to collect elf pictures. Spooky.

 

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[Ragitsu]

 

[tkdguy]

 

[Ragitsu]

tkdguy, during my absence, I have been collecting AD&D 2e era (1989 to roughly 2000) material. While I can't classify the aggregate as universally superb, I can attest to the fact that the authors/writers of old were less influenced by at least three factors ->

 

1. Video games. The modules/supplements read more like fairy tales, legends and myths instead of video games/MMORPGs.

2. Balance. While most scenarios have a rough notion of "fairness", there isn't an overarching principle that mandates forced "balance".

3. Subversiveness. One will note that subversions of expectations in regards to the fantasy genre are used sparingly by comparison to today's fantasy games that feel as though they must constantly be unpredictable or even "edgy".

 

It is refreshing to have adventures whose baselines are properly, well...classic. Should I wish to throw in a twist or introduce some modernization, I feel comfortable knowing that I can work towards such a goal through piecemeal additions instead of having to strip away preexisting modern tropes that I find hold little if any appeal.

 

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Encounter: 20 pixies playing tricks and leaving fake footprints all over the woods (Valerie Valusek, The Book of Lairs for AD&D by James Ward and Mike Breault, TSR, 1986)

[tkdguy]

 

[Ragitsu]

 

 

[Certified]

Got to join Mildra for their Amazing Artifice series, we model 10 random powers using Metahumans Rising. From Jotun to Kitsune, the powers get a bit weird. Click the link. Get weird with us!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T23REQGQ5u0

 

#Superheroes #RPG #TTRPG #Podcast #YouTube

[Ragitsu]

Certified, “A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.”

 

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Celtic family life, by Tim Truman from Katherine Kerr’s article “The Real Barbarians,” Dragon 72, April 1983
 

 

Niall of the Far Travels wielding Blood-Drinker against the bandits of the desert (John Barnes, from Gardner F Fox’s story “The Cup of Golden Death,” Dragon 38, June 1980)

 

 

 

 

 

 

How About Demons? by Felicitas Goodman, 1988.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ragitsu]

[Ragitsu]

In 1902 the US had literally 100 miles of paved road in total. It was just dirt everywhere else which was subject to erosion during wet seasons etc. When you traveled cross country it was literally cross country. There were no maps as we have today either. It was again literal go to this big ass tree then make a left. Travel till you get to Old Man Peter's farm then make another left.

 

Private enterprise never on its own built roads for general use. Why would you build a road that your competition can benefit from? The US Govt would contract out to Corporations for building projects such as roads and canals. All of this was to better commerce. There never was anything stopping any company from building roads before. So why didn't they? Sidewalks are also public property so if this and the street were private property then it creates other complications such as how do you get your dwelling hooked up to the sewage/water and electrical grid? It creates another level of complication.

 

Would the sidewalks be separate than the roads thus the sidewalks could be owned by one entity while the road itself is owned by another and if this is block by block how much would it cost to drive to the store and get a gallon of milk? How much more would delivery cost? Eventually many of those owners would belly up not making enough money and sell to another road owner. Eventually that road owner would become the only road owner in the entire city. Competition would not really work since the people on the roads you do not own have to go down those roads to get to your cheaper roads and all you would be doing is making it cheaper for them on your roads and not undercutting competition causing them to go under. Again, no competition because you cannot built a parallel road so the SAME customers of the other road could use instead.

 

This is why some things should be done in a collective manner. This way we ALL benefit.

[Ragitsu]

 

https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Aerie's_Baby

[Ragitsu]

[Ragitsu]

Kresselack's advice is spot on.

If you don't know where your enemy is not, you could end up fighting with people who could otherwise be friends.

That's what Kresselack was trying to express. Given his history as a conqueror, he probably made precisely that mistake, losing an ally in his search for his enemy.

In the U.S. back in World War II, we were afraid Japanese Americans were actually sleeper agents. We put them in internment camps and confiscated their property. In the end, there wasn't a single spy among them. The government has since apologized and reimbursed the victims, but if we had known where the enemy was not, the internment camps would never have happened.

The same principle applies elsewhere in international affairs. For the U.S. at least, alienating potential friends was especially costly during the Cold War, when we sided with anti-communists but alienated anti-colonialists, the more numerous and popular group, in the process. The results were mixed--we had success stories like our relationship with South Korea, and failures like in Vietnam.

China more recently has suffered the same problem, accidentally making foes out of its otherwise placid neighbors by moving aggressively in the South China Sea, because China thought those countries were American puppets out to get them. They, too, alienated people because they didn't know where their enemies were not.

It's actually very common for folks to look for enemies everywhere, find enemies everywhere, and in the end, make enemies everywhere.

[L. Marcus]

17 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

"... Final orders, please."

[Certified]

Steel Aces Intrude 3
We hope you have been enjoying watching Frankie interpretation of the Steel Aces. Today we see the full team, in a line up, colored and ready for action! 
https://housedok.com/comic/steel-aces-interlude-3-now-in-color/

Enjoying our content? Want to support independent RPGs and Comics? Join our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/Metahumans
($2 a month unlocks all bonus content, including content polls, expanded monthly adventures, and Steel Aces making of videos.)

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Print: https://studio2publishing.com/products/metahumans-rising?_pos=2&_sid=145b3fa95&_ss=r

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#Metahumans #Superheroes #RPG #TTRPG #Comic #SteelAces

On 8/6/2021 at 12:54 PM, Ragitsu said:

 

 

 

This was one of my favorite covers. No way was I going to believe that D&D was going to allow a bard to charm a black dragon in those days, and it had their weird effect of making me think about system versus subject material. This desire to have the rules facilitate the game play the images depicted. 

[Ragitsu]

1 hour ago, Certified said:

This was one of my favorite covers. No way was I going to believe that D&D was going to allow a bard to charm a black dragon in those days, and it had their weird effect of making me think about system versus subject material. This desire to have the rules facilitate the game play the images depicted. 

 

That topic is one I consciously revisit every so often. Many years ago, I switched to GURPS/HERO because I wanted precision and because I wanted the freedom to create characters with "contradictory" skillsets (e.g., the gunslinger that knows a spell or two). Presently - however - I am on AD&D 2e because the "looseness" of its rules carries its own appeal and the unabashed embracing of "absolute effects" is part of the system's design principle. Ultimately, putting aside personal preference, there isn't anything innately wrong with either approach.

 

As for the bard serenading the black dragon? There could be magic at play or the bard is in possession of a high Charisma score or the player of the bard knocked their roleplaying out of the park.

 

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[Certified]

2 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

 

That topic is one I consciously revisit every so often. Many years ago, I switched to GURPS/HERO because I wanted precision and because I wanted the freedom to create characters with "contradictory" skillsets (e.g., the gunslinger that knows a spell or two). Presently - however - I am on AD&D 2e because the "looseness" of its rules carries its own appeal and the unabashed embracing of "absolute effects" is part of the system's design principle. Ultimately, putting aside personal preference, there isn't anything innately wrong with either approach.

 

As for the bard serenading the black dragon? There could be magic at play or the bard is in possession of a high Charisma score or the player of the bard knocked their roleplaying out of the park.

 

 

What I think is at the crux of the issue: Does the framework of play allow for these situations to emerge? And, when encountered how well do the rules accommodate the situation? 

 

With regards to the first question: Does the framework of play allow for these situations? Narratively, there are dragons, and there are bards so in that sense, yes. However, when we look at the second part of this, do the rules accommodate the situation we see that they bend towards combat.

 

Bards do pick up Charm Monster as a 4th Level Spell (2nd Ed) Against a creature of 12HD or more there is a 10% chance of that working. Black dragons begin with 12 HD.  Then, starting at age category 5 and up they also have a magic resistance ranging from 10-45% depending on age. Which based on it's size, and the size of their horde, the dragon is likely on the older end of the scale. So, can it be done? Yes. With the cavort that the rules really don't want you doing it. 

 

Now, we can talk about more narrative means to reach this goal, maybe the bard is a slave, or bargaining for their life. Black dragons being inherently evil at the time. However, this shifts us to, the system must be largely ignored to make this work. Especially when it comes to black dragon behavior.  There's nothing wrong with that, well, maybe, depending on one's group, but that image was enough to make me start wondering if D&D should really be our go to system. 

 

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can you gives us a rere? https://www.facebook.com/MetahumansRising

[Ragitsu]

1 hour ago, Certified said:

 

What I think is at the crux of the issue: Does the framework of play allow for these situations to emerge? And, when encountered how well do the rules accommodate the situation? 

 

With regards to the first question: Does the framework of play allow for these situations? Narratively, there are dragons, and there are bards so in that sense, yes. However, when we look at the second part of this, do the rules accommodate the situation we see that they bend towards combat.

 

Bards do pick up Charm Monster as a 4th Level Spell (2nd Ed) Against a creature of 12HD or more there is a 10% chance of that working. Black dragons begin with 12 HD.  Then, starting at age category 5 and up they also have a magic resistance ranging from 10-45% depending on age. Which based on it's size, and the size of their horde, the dragon is likely on the older end of the scale. So, can it be done? Yes. With the cavort that the rules really don't want you doing it. 

 

Now, we can talk about more narrative means to reach this goal, maybe the bard is a slave, or bargaining for their life. Black dragons being inherently evil at the time. However, this shifts us to, the system must be largely ignored to make this work. Especially when it comes to black dragon behavior.  There's nothing wrong with that, well, maybe, depending on one's group, but that image was enough to make me start wondering if D&D should really be our go to system. 

 

-----------------------------------

 

can you gives us a rere? https://www.facebook.com/MetahumansRising

 

Chaotic Evil? Yeah, that's rough. Lawful Evil (e.g., a Blue Dragon) would have been a better fit when it comes to bargaining with intelligent malevolence. That said, dragons are long-lived with lengthy memories to boot and almost assuredly have a network of minions/allies in place long before they're first encountered. Letting someone go may not be the lopsided deal (lopsided in favor of the quietly distressed humanoid, that is) it appears to be. Personally, I don't see pure roleplay being used to escape a situation necessarily "ignoring the system"; with old school pencil-and-paper RPGs, honing the skill of arbitration to a higher degree than those with built-in social interaction rules is a must.

 

In terms of mechanics, well...I'm sure there are supplements with spells that can help. Off the top of my head, I know of at least four spells that lower saving throws and two spells that decrease Magic Resistance. A ring of spell storing is very handy for such tactics. Also, there could be an oddly shaped bottle amidst the treasure...a potion of black dragon control or invisibility, maybe?  A bard - with their near-encyclopedic knowledge of the arcane - may recognize something that the black dragon (Int 8-10) looked over or only prizes for its ornamental value.

 

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The Linden Way Militia are an emergency guard of townsfolk from Meledir, 25 unarmored men with pikes and swords, with just 5 longbows between them (Gary Chalk, Blood Bath at Orc’s Drift, GW, 1985)