Author Topic: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers  (Read 14863 times)

Offline Rougarou

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #30 on: May 01, 2015, 09:36:05 PM »
I don't think Warden Chandler's specialization pyramid works. He's got four +2s and only two +1s on his evocation.

I seem to recall seeing this too, but if I'm not mistaken, the pyramid works if you throw his thaumaturgy specializations into the same pyramid. I found it interesting because it implies that I've misunderstood the rules on specializations this entire time... I also thought they had to be balanced entirely within evocation and thaumaturgy separately.
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #31 on: May 01, 2015, 11:18:53 PM »
I also thought they had to be balanced entirely within evocation and thaumaturgy separately.

They do. Your Story page 183: "when you're calculating, look at Evocation and Thaumaturgy separately".

It's not an important mistake, but it is a pretty pointless one. The sort of thing that makes me wish I'd gotten an earlier look at the book.

Offline black omega

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #32 on: May 03, 2015, 04:08:56 PM »
Finally got a chance to start going through the book.  Most of what Sanct says still applies.  I think the weird threat by Murphy against Butters got moved to page 28.  Though I would take Ice Queen's Weapon: 7 'fae forged longsword' over Brianna's Weapon: 4 bow unless Bri can run fast enough to stay away. Not sure why Ice Queen (much more a manipulation type than fighter) would have the best weapon in the book.  She should have goons for stuff like that.

So, what DID happen to Herbert Plainfield.  It's almost like the Dragon passed his position on to Herbert instead of letting the demon pick.  The intelluctus over Las Vegas would match this.  Herbert's comment about how he would use the knowledge differently than the Dragon also draws parallels.  Maybe this was a last strike by the Dragon against the Demon with him sensing his death was imminent.

The idea that the demon is holding the door closed on something even worse is ok, though about the only thing worse is mass slaughter.  Indications are that the ritual using the demon to seal that away had to be a long time ago.  But Sin City is a recent invention, so why did it suddenly need this, when it went centuries in the middle of the desert just fine?  If Dresden has doomed the city then something has changed.  These questions are asked later but there is no answer.  This is a limitation of the format, since the GM for the game won't know any more than the characters in the rule book.

Las Vegas really does seem like a great hunting ground for vampires of all types.  Especially White Court since there is so much intense emotion.  I wonder why Las Vegas is just for the losers in the white Court.  With the sheer wealth that passes through as well as all the power people that visit, it seems like a natural place to want influence.

I don't quite get the Followers of Ishtar.  Ishtar classically was a goddess of war and fertility (in various ways) including prostitution.  So having the Hand of Ishtar as the warrior who's against prostitution and the balding horndog who doesn't need roofies because he put four points into incite lust as the representative of the lust side seems strange. Can gods change their character significantly?  Odin in the books is pretty close to the Odin in the myths.  Maybe a little more trustworthy, but I have a feeling he knows Harry's importance against the Lords of the Outer Dark.  The way Butcher has described mantles of power makes it sound like they are very clearly defined.  I wonder if Ishtar got a new mantle from someplace, thus adding to her areas of interest.

Unseelie Accords not binding?  Really?  This is never explained and doesn't seem like it would work.  Based on the books cities or places don't sign the accords, groups or people do.  The White Court and White Council are part of the accords.  If Warden Ramirez blows up the Ice Queen like Harry did the Red Court Vampire I'm pretty sure there is nothing in Las Vegas that would make Lara Raith say "Oh, it was in Vegas?  We can't do anything then."  The idea the city is free of Mab's influence is pretty much invalidated by the presence of the Ice Queen.

Fortunato's picture so reminds me of a modern take on the Mad Hatter, appropriate for the head of Wanderland.

The Uccisori della Umbra funded by the mafia should be past tense on page 20, since Tommy's write up makes it clear they used to be, but are currently freelance.

I like the Hard Way Squad, that seems tailor made for PCs.  They sound like a Vegas version of the Untouchables.

"miserable White Court vampires have been ejected from the food chain by their more powerful brethren, and addicts hopelessly dependent on the Red Court’s saliva will do anything for another fix. "  This feels like it should be past tense.  The White Court's more powerful brethren were wiped out by Harry and while i'm sure the addicts are still hopeless there are no more red court vampires to give a fix.  Maybe some one bottles and stored their saliva?  Eewww.

I wonder how many cities have tunnel systems beneath them.  Probably more than I'd ever imagine.

I think they missed a chance by not spending more than two lines on how gambling can be done in Dresden.  It's not just social skills, as the Ice Queen will say while going over the odds of making her straight on the river.  So a little more idea of how to work Deceit, Rapport, Empathy, Scholarship, etc into contests in games of chance would have been nice.

Wait.  The demon has a hold on Las Vegas because if anyone came in with force it could just drop the seal.  But every indication is no one knows the demon is there (outside of this game book).  Unless we go all meta and assume this book is what's revealing to everyone the demon is there, so stay away.

Overall, Las Vegas is good for a brightly glittering game with a heart that is grim and potentially apocalyptic. Which does seem to fit the image of Las Vegas with the bright lights, the entertainments and gambling, as well as the despair, the poor and the dark side of things.  A little like a top winding down things are starting to become unstable, power players are ready to make their moves and the adult in the room (the Dragon) is no longer around to keep order.   Add in possible White Council interference and that could push things over the edge.  Strangely, you can just remove the Demon and the threat beneath Las Vegas and the game runs the same.  Since the demon is just watching he's not an active part in what's going on, and we don't have any clues to his motivation aside from the recent need to feed on corruption.  This is the weakest part of the city write up, IMHO, the rest of it can be a lot of fun.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #33 on: May 03, 2015, 09:27:29 PM »
Though I would take Ice Queen's Weapon: 7 'fae forged longsword' over Brianna's Weapon: 4 bow unless Bri can run fast enough to stay away.

Given that Brianna has Supernatural Speed, she can stay away pretty easily. But of course in an actual fight the Ice Queen would probably use magic to attack.

Thing is, Brianna will always win initiative. And since the Ice Queen's Athletics is Average to Fair, and she's only got 3 physical stress boxes, Brianna can very easily hit her and put consequences on her. Once that happens, Brianna has a pretty crushing advantage.

Offline Jebm

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #34 on: May 05, 2015, 12:07:41 PM »
Having finally bought a pdf of the paranet papers, I'd say overall, I really liked it, but it kind of like they started rushing, half way through hence all of the spelling errors and write up problems.

The Las Vegas, and Russia start off pretty strong, the NeverGlade was interesting, if somewhat confusing with a few of the characters and powers they chose, and the Red Lands was okay, while the Road Trip Chapter was a mix of meh and just plain weird

For some of the character updates, it really seems like some of the new character's abilities were kind of undersold or put into the "Pointless to write stats for" category which is something that the first two books did as well, that really annoyed me

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #35 on: May 06, 2015, 02:22:44 AM »
You really didn't like The Ways Between?

I thought that was the best chapter. Maybe it's the Nevernever fan in me.

Offline Chee

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #36 on: May 06, 2015, 02:28:26 PM »
Working on a full review myself. I love pretty much all the new setting stuff and the updated magic rules. I got the physical book last week and, boy, it is pretty. I do wish we had had time to proofread it for them.

A couple of disappointments for me were that we still didn't get any examples of non-casting powers in play. It would've been super helpful to see some play write ups of Incite/EmoVamp, Demonic Co-pilot, running a supernatural sense (like 'Nothing''s Sonar),etc. Not to mention maybe some updates on those. Demonic Co-pilot has got to be the worse, since it murders you to use it, it would've been cool to see it get a stress track like Soulfire or Hunger.

The stat blocks were a bit of a let down. There was a huge opportunity to throw in all kinds of new stunts and methods for making them from Fate Core. Plop. There is a severe lack of stunts across the board. Thomas should/could have them for stealth/investigation/weapons/guns/resources, Susan should have had some spy and reporter stuff, Martin was a master spy and sniper (could have had two straight from YS at least), and so on. Also, all these caster types and not one of them makes neat foci, its all specs and Enchanted items.

Speaking of that, all those magic types, they could have put together some new spell examples for each of them to put in the example magic area. Things like summoning ghost protectors, tossing curses at channeling speed, some of Dresden's blasts powered with Soulfire, and...so on, I guess.

Makes me want to go back and restat the characters myself. Really hope there is a vol. 4 and maybe have it cover less of the magic stuff and more of the rest.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #37 on: May 12, 2015, 12:44:52 AM »
Just went poking through the book again, and now that I'm not so focused on the text I'm starting to pay attention to the layout and graphic design. It's really excellent.

Three cheers for Daniel Solis.

I think. He's the one listed in the credits for "layout and graphic design", anyway.

The stat blocks were a bit of a let down. There was a huge opportunity to throw in all kinds of new stunts and methods for making them from Fate Core. Plop. There is a severe lack of stunts across the board. Thomas should/could have them for stealth/investigation/weapons/guns/resources, Susan should have had some spy and reporter stuff, Martin was a master spy and sniper (could have had two straight from YS at least), and so on.

I would've preferred more stunts too. Might just be my (or our) personal taste, but I find that a stunt or two really adds personality to a Power-heavy statblock.

Offline Chee

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #38 on: May 12, 2015, 04:13:25 AM »
Not that there is anything wrong with the powers themselves, in most cases. Just a couple of stunts thrown on top would have filled them out a little more.

Offline black omega

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #39 on: May 12, 2015, 04:21:01 PM »
I was working on comments for Russia but a crash ate them.  I have Lazarus now, but that's after the fact.  Overall the history nerd in me really liked the Russian section.  The history info dumps combined with the more personal touch of Simon's story and the trouble he got in was enjoyable.  It's fun to read between the lines, and the notes do a good job of pointing these parts out and speculating what was really going on.  I'm not sure how many games will actually use this information, but it's well written.  The Russian Revolution was a fascinating and scary time.  The write up gets across alot of the bleak desperation of the time.  If the Bolshies don't get you, the supernatural will.  If winter doesn't starve or freeze you, Winter may.  The two versions of Koschei the Deathless were nice.  Baba Yaga is possibly the mantle of the Winter Mother but that information may not have been known at the time theyh wrote her up.  Baba Yaga's knights really should be scions, not plot devices.  Aside from that my only complaint is we needed a write up for Rasputin and I wanted one for Simon as well.  Rasputin was so involved in what was going on that not using him in a game based on this would be a shame.  He's also the most recognizable character from this period. 

Offline Lawgiver

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #40 on: May 12, 2015, 07:04:06 PM »
Overall the history nerd in me really liked the Russian section.
I have the same positive reaction to the historical accuracy of Las Vegas. Wifey and I love the place and go as often as we can wrangle. I've learned tons about the city over the years (I'm creeping up on 58 very soon). I'm not bashful in saying that the designers not only captured a goodly amount of the place's 'essence' in their write up, they managed to put a very interesting 'spin' on it to fit it into the DV.  Good job, guys.
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Offline Chee

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #41 on: May 12, 2015, 10:04:31 PM »
The Neverglades was my favorite. I think they did very well with the side boxes. The stuff on the culture, like vocabulary and proper manners, is spot on.

Offline jeditigger

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #42 on: May 15, 2015, 12:34:03 AM »
Just went poking through the book again, and now that I'm not so focused on the text I'm starting to pay attention to the layout and graphic design. It's really excellent.

Three cheers for Daniel Solis.

I think. He's the one listed in the credits for "layout and graphic design", anyway.

Yep. Daniel is the man.
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #43 on: May 21, 2015, 02:05:37 AM »
Got my physical book a couple of days ago. It actually arrived before the notification email, surprisingly enough.

Today I had time to look through it, and...it's a very nice book. No surprises in sight, so if anyone reading this is worrying about printing problems they should stop doing that now.

I feel like I should add more to this post. I guess...it has a nice new-book smell? And it's really heavy?

Offline blackstaff67

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Re: Where I Read: The Paranet Papers
« Reply #44 on: May 21, 2015, 03:24:53 AM »
Hope the binding holds up.
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