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Messages - whitelaughter

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76
DFRPG / Re: Any ideas or advice for a Dublin/Ireland game?
« on: April 13, 2018, 12:12:04 PM »
Real world, the tale of St Patrick banishing snakes from Ireland is a reference to the Draconis, the war banner/streamers, and refers to him bringing peace to the island. But in Dresdenverse, you could well have a race of snake-demons who've been banished from their home and want to come back.

The Giant's Causeway might allow travel to Scotland; or the group might be asked to repair it - allowing invasions of giants.

Ireland is surprisingly young; when the ice retreated, Ireland was just a flat piece of rock. Winter might resent this johnnie-come-lately nation.

Ireland is surrounded by mythical nations; Hy Brasil to the west, Ys and Lyonesse to the south, Thule to the north, Cantre'r Gwaelod (and Sodor!) to the east. For that matter, the Isle of Man is important in the Arthurian myths as the home of the Fisher King.

In Britain, Arthur pulls the sword out of the stone; in Ireland, Cúchulainn drove his sword *into* the kingstone, the Lia Fáil. The Scots insist that their king stone came from ireland, the Irish that their came from Scotland - that has potential for lunacy. Suppose the stone sang again when a (n)pc approached it? How would the PCs reacted to knowing who the rightful king of Ireland was?

77
DFRPG / Re: Leprechauns
« on: April 09, 2018, 12:45:02 PM »
Would the Gold necessarily all vanish?
None of the gold would vanish, because it would be real gold taken from the core of the sun.

78
DFRPG / Re: Leprechauns
« on: March 25, 2018, 09:06:35 AM »
trust you've seen xkcd's take on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? https://m.xkcd.com/1944/
Gold isn't created by normal fusion in the Sun though, it needs a supernova.

In Dresden verse though, you'd follow a rainbow through the NeverNever, to the pot of gold. Unless you just want a pot of ectoplasm when you get home, you'd need to open a gate into the Sun - which is at least a quick and painless way to die. However, you could then (in the middle of the blasted wasteland in the Never Never) have cooling gold, which could be collected by someone else.

So a sneaky, evil Leprechaun could spread rumours of having a pot of gold, allow himself to be 'captured' by a Wizard with no Scholarship, and lead them to the appropriate point in the Never Never. One instantly fried Wizard later - massive riches! The joy of it is, they aren't lying - they *are* taking you to their pot of gold.

Leprechaun should have Mythic Immunity to Sunlight, and possibly have received a death curse or 3. 

79
DFRPG / Re: Help with two new power concepts?
« on: March 03, 2018, 07:43:36 AM »
What you're after for supernatural luck is pretty much what is described when paying for temporary items, so I suggest an IoP with a positive cost, so that you've got extra Fate when you 'pay' for it, but which brings multiple Compels afterwards.

For Inhuman Vulnerability, why not put a Catch on Skills? If Endurance has a Catch, then you don't have a Stress track against that substance, so must concede or take Consequences; ditto Conviction and Presence (I would suggest that for Presence this would be a subject that sends the individual off the deep end). A Vampire putting a Catch on Discipline would be possible - though dumb.

80
DFRPG / Re: Keeping the game balanced
« on: February 26, 2018, 12:34:44 PM »
If wizards are mechanically overpowered, that's a manageable issue. If wizards are the True Protagonists, that's a catastrophic issue.
[nods]
And the thing is - they clearly are not.
The gimmick of the game is that is written by a werewolf, with input from a pair of vanilla mortals who moonlight as Knights, a talking skull and, yes, a wizard...who repeatedly goes on about not underestimating mortals/lesser talents and so forth.
The books are really the story of "who gets to slap Dresden around this week", or possibly "humans Mouse has owned".

81
DFRPG / Re: Were-Sharks: Rulers of the Pacific
« on: February 05, 2018, 11:21:42 AM »
Thanks for pointing out the Hexenwulf belts.

IoP changed to +0

82
DFRPG / Re: Were-Sharks: Rulers of the Pacific
« on: February 01, 2018, 02:06:13 PM »
this conversation would be easier if there were more +1 IoP in the books to use for comparison...actually, are there any?

83
DFRPG / Re: Technomancy
« on: February 01, 2018, 01:49:37 PM »
okay, it's canon that hexing is mostly post WWII stuff.

perhaps that's because during WWII, wizards were constantly taking down tech, and so anything from that era has been 'hardened' to resist hexing? Whereas more modern stuff hasn't been.

Consider that if you were in Europe during the war, the temptation to take down an enemy bomber - and to know that even if you got into trouble, you could claim that it was an accident - would have been constant. And not just of the enemy; wizards would have had the contacts to work out that bombing cities was counterproductive, so blowing the engine on one of your own sides bombers is saving the lives of the crew and the lives of the enemy civilians.
That also fits with what we know of tech during the war (remembering one early raid where of 19 bombers, 17 had to turn back with engine trouble and the remaining 2 got lost, found a target by accident that they then missed).

Uboats, mines, tanks, mtbs: all would be constantly being fried. And so hardened.

So how about a technomancer whose job during the war had been to improve the machines so they couldn't be hexed? Lots of iron, running liquid (why shouldn't the coolant systems in engines also count as running water for spell purposes?), thresholds and so forth.

84
DFRPG / Re: Keeping the game balanced
« on: January 31, 2018, 11:18:50 AM »
In combat, wizards tend to be fragile unless they're specialised in crafting.
Interesting exception. Why are crafters tougher?

85
DFRPG / Re: Were-Sharks: Rulers of the Pacific
« on: January 31, 2018, 11:17:32 AM »

Neat.

thank you!

As usual I'm nitpicky, though.
And as usual, I appreciate this :)

I don't think an Item of Power rebate is appropriate for an implant. If it can't be lost or taken, what are you getting Refresh for?
Partly because when visible it is a major hassle: it reveals what you are. But also because it can be removed - painfully. Consider the number of people who cannot remove wedding rings etc; such an item is still worth points, as an opponent can take it away..by removing the finger. Similarly a pair of pliers will remove this IoP (and less painfully than from a human mouth, as shark teeth are designed to be shed. This would be no harder than removing shards of broken glass).

Mixed feelings on the idea of raising social skills with Beast Change. Not being able to do that is pretty important balance-wise. But it's kind of a neat idea, and maybe the underwater restriction can keep it in line.
were-critters live in two worlds; anything that encourages the differences appeals to me. I rather like the idea of the socially inept human who is a influential and charismatic power under the waves.  And as you've said, the underwater restriction is major.

Adding automatic extra hunger stress to a Feeding Dependency seems unwise, especially if you're not changing the rebate.
theriothropes on land and in the sky need to fear their hunger, since they can accidentally devour a human easily. Being seabound limits this threat, and makes it easy to hide the change, so I needed another way to give it teeth. It also discourages repeated changes while near a boat, bringing them closer to the legends, where they never seem to exploit the possibilities of quick changes while in the water.

86
DFRPG / Re: The Clever Men - Herbalism, Self-hypnosis and Bone Pointing
« on: January 31, 2018, 11:06:46 AM »
A rules clarification that I don't think anyone will need, but has been bugging me:

If the Clever Man casts the 'document forging' Stunt as a Spell, this will not allow him to create permanent documents, it will merely allow him to pretend to have those documents for the duration of the spell. (Don't under-estimate the effect of confidence here - during security tests I'm aware of at [classified], one of the testers got into a high security building by flashing an orange instead of a security pass. Security there was promptly tightened, but still)...

87
DFRPG / Re: Were-Sharks: Rulers of the Pacific
« on: January 27, 2018, 07:54:52 AM »
Thank you! Yes, very ocean specific, but hits the advantage that it can apply to both sides of the Pacific. The real worry is that tiger sharks swim quite slowly; crossing the Pacific would take years. You'd really want friends who could move you via the Never Never.

An Accorded cruise liner has the advantages that it can sail to contested cities to be neutral territory for peace talks; allows individuals on the run a way to get out of Dodge; is large enough that Hexers can be a mile from the engines. Certainly campaign potential. And at a cost of ~800 million dollars, they're within the price range for a starting mortal focused on wealth related Aspects. It would probably make sense to *buy* an already Accorded location and then build it into the cruise ship. Nice.

88
DFRPG / Were-Sharks: Rulers of the Pacific
« on: January 25, 2018, 08:17:11 AM »
All were-sharks claim descent from the King of the Sharks and his Hawaiian wife; thus all are of Oceanic descent. Those whose ancestry is insufficient to transform without help can have their powers enhanced by an Item of Power [+0]: sharks teeth from a full Shapeshifter can be implanted into the back of a Mundane islander; the teeth will form a shark's mouth (capable of biting) and grant the power to change. This is frequently done with crippled or aging relatives, allowing them to heal, and is partly responsible for the belief that some ancestors have transformed into sharks when they died.

Although were-sharks hunger for flesh, being limited to the oceans makes it easier for them to avoid killing people. Were-sharks will normally simply announce that they have spotted a shark before they transform, ensuring that the waters will be empty while they are a threat – tragedy only strikes if their warnings are ignored. Were-sharks guide lost ships home, and drive fish into fishing nets. In past times they were the scouts that found new islands to colonise.

Were-sharks become Tiger Sharks, and so are limited to temperate waters: mostly the seas of the Shark King – a triangle of waters bounded by California, Peru and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Within these waters they are both protected and bound by the laws of the kingdom, and expected to present themselves at Court on occasion.

During the 19thC large numbers of islanders were 'recruited' as labour by Australia, Canada, Peru and the United States: this trade descended in little more than slavery, to the embarrassment of these nations. Considerable effort was put into reforming the trade – quite successfully; there is nothing like were-sharks eating the worst offenders to reform an industry! The descendants of these workers  still live in these nations; although they often do not know their own ancestry. Very occasionally one is born with the ability to change; more commonly those with contacts in the supernatural community acquire teeth from their distant relatives and rejoin them in the seas.

The were-sharks 'Beast Speech' effect only works on species that they haven't eaten, so a restrained were-shark can easily acquire contacts throughout the Pacific, from remoras and pilot fish up to the powerful supernatural creatures who share the waters with the sharks. Most species, even non sentient fish such as Pilot Fish, are aware that of the limitation, and will use it to determine whether the were-shark is a threat. Unlike most shapeshifters, a were-shark can have improved social skills when transformed – particularly Contacts, Intimidation and Rapport – usable only within the ocean depths.

A were-shark must have an aspect related to their ancestry (although this could simply be a Trouble of an inherited tendency to obesity, common in the islands due to the historical lack of sugars).
Were-sharks improve their control as they age; a young were-shark can only use his supernatural Powers while transformed, over time these become available in human form as well. For every point of Refresh above 9, the were-shark may chose a Power to be available when human.
The exception is Feeding Dependency: a were-shark takes a point of Hunger stress every time they turn into a shark. Feeding Dependency is always in effect if the were-shark requires an item to transform (which is why the ability is only given out cautiously), those born with the ability only need worry about the Hunger while in shark form.
Aquatic, Armor and Claws only apply when a shark, with a single exception: if a were-shark using an IoP is being Grappled from behind, they can bite their opponent (tearing through their clothes to do so).
[-1] Beast Change
[-1] Echoes of the Beast
[+1] Human Form
[-1] Aquatic, [+1] Waterbound, the shark starts to 'drown' if they are not in the water.
[-1] Armour
[-1] Blood Drinker
[-1] Claws
[-1] Cloak of Shadows
[+1] Feeding Dependency, attached to:
[-2] Inhuman Strength
[-2] Inhuman Toughness
[+1] Catch: Tonic Immobility - Toughness unavailable while upside down or on your back.
[-0] Wizard's Constitution

Optional:
[+0] Item of Power - does allow a bite attack under very unusual circumstances; typically only when being grappled from behind.
[-2] Hulking Size (may be bought later, representing natural growth).

89
DFRPG / Re: The Clever Men - Herbalism, Self-hypnosis and Bone Pointing
« on: January 23, 2018, 05:09:52 AM »
Thanks!

I was slack with the description of the Rainbow Rope; Enchanted Items (YS 279) can be increased by +1 by reducing the number of uses available...up to the maximum of your Lore. Will try to rephrase.

90
DFRPG / Re: Dwarfs
« on: January 23, 2018, 05:06:23 AM »
all modified. Would be good to see it used in play before making a decision on extra Armor, so I'll leave it as is for now.

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