aluminiumtrioxid

Or simply make the protagonist an Inquisitor, with the party being his Dark Heresy team, it would be quite interesting to examine and use his psychic abilities, the temptations of the Warp, the presence of the Astronomicon and whatnot. I prefer vanilla DH. Just my wits, crappy stats (50% chance at my specialty!), and a flashlight lasgun against the forces of Chaos. It's basically Call of Cthulhu in SPEHSS. With even bigger balls of steel.

Well, if the game clearly communicates that this is a gamble, I see nothing wrong with that. But it didn't.

That's not a really good example. BG2 specifically mentioned that these things are rare and you won't find them lying around every corner in the skill description. Fallout, on the other hand, doesn't communicate what's useful (and even goes counter to post-apocalyptic genre tropes sometimes, so common sense isn't as useful as it could be).

Or design the game to be not-broken to begin with, or clearly separate the flavorful-but-secondary skills from the must-have ones *shrug*. Any of these approaches could work. The problem with Fallout wasn't really the fact that certain skills were less useful, but the fact that it wasn't really intuitive what these skills were. I mean, having an "outdoorsman" skill be fairly useless in a game set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland doesn't strike me as completely predictable. Also, if I remember correctly, there was a separate "repair" and "science" skill, one of which was mostly useless - and it wasn't the one that lets you, say, repair the cool stuff that was left behind by the technologically-advanced past. So, you can shoot yourself in the foot even if you go in with genre-appropriate expectations. And that is bad design.

(Bolded for emphasis.) That actually is a very cool thing. On the other hand, balancing the game in a way that the cost of these skills would be directly proportional to the benefit they offer (whether through a discount to less-useful skills, or making all skills equally useful) sounds like the prudent thing to do.

So, I've managed to get my hands on it. Does anybody have any questions?

I'd totally play that game.

I'd be perfectly content with pulp fantasy. More Moor**** and Howard, less Tolkien. Alas, DA doesn't even do that. A man can dream, though. Edit: ninja'd by Monte.

The Seven Dooms of Elysion, a nice collection of apocalyptic entities. One would think that it's hard to improve upon PST's rat-hivemind, but I have to admit, a giant kaiju corpse-golem-thing operated by a rat-hivemind is even cooler.

...Must... control... jealousy...

So, apparently there was a playtest leak. Did anybody take a peek?

And I think it would have been better if you could hear them out, go "wait a minute... this actually kinda makes sense", then shrug and let them do whatever they were planning to do

True enuff, some of them were. A pity that they were designated antagonists

Reducing female NPCs to collectible cards with boob pictures could be called many things, but "mature" and "tasteful" are not amongst them, methinks.

As long as the game doesn't feature armless, mouthless ghost monks cursed with burning desire they can't ever satisfy due to the aforementioned armless-mouthless business going on*, it's gonna be fine. Alas, trying to be cool and dark and mature has led many a soul astray. *that's totally a thing in a certain tabletop RPG which isn't FATAL (and prides itself on its handling of mature subject matter maturely, because mature mature mature). Also, bonus points for said monks begging for onlookers to **** them, which I don't really know how they do having no mouth and being incapable of using sign language (again, no hands either).

A succint summary of why I don't buy Bioware games anymore.

I just don't get why is it assumed in the cutscene that the player was originally hacking away at the gryphon with the steel sword. I mean, really, based on its efficiency vs. monsters in the previous two games, it just makes Geralt look like an idiot.

Yet still better than 80% of the dialogue spewed by "sarcastic" Hawke. Let that sink in a bit.

Slavery is bad!

Dunno about that, but certain people are making a noise about the Trail of Cthulhu ruleset being vastly superior to CoC. Never looked into it (I can do pretty much whatever I want from CoC in W40K), but maybe you should give it a try?

Aside from generally making good points as far as I'm aware, you, sir, are also obviously a man of (wealth and) taste. I approve heartily.

As the saying goes, "the best weapon against an enemy is another enemy" But yeah, I'd prefer if this type of stuff would mainly remain in the territory of conversations. Dominate as a spell is so cheap, and always makes me wonder why I can't use it out of combat.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Eh, I'll just post it in parts. So we pick up where we left off last session – Kelegh, Kationa and Lazarus go hunting zealots. "Well... That trip from the mall seemed to take unusually long." – Lazarus, puzzled. "I needed to find the perfect outfit" - Kationa, who looks much happier and more confident now that she is dressed smartly. "That's why I don't frequent the emporiums. Those shopping trips seem to take weeks." - Lazarus "I used to love going shopping" – Kationa, wistfully. - "Before... Uhh... Before everything changed." The group lurks in the streets, looking for slimy mutant trails and/or signs of end-of-the-world agitators. Slimy mutant trails could have been followed by Tracking rolls, but Lazarus, being an urban hunter, skipped this skill. They all roll Awareness instead, to search for agitators. Lazarus succeeds, while Kationa and Kelegh both score a critical failure. Of course, this means they hear the same thing from opposite directions, because splitting up the already split-up party is always a good idea. "Did you just hear that?" – Lazarus, looking to the west. - "Something out of the ordinary is going on." "Yeah, but in that direction too." Kelegh, pointing east "Take into consideration that it might be your warped senses playing tricks on you. We go west." - Lazarus The psykers shrug and follow him looking really indifferent. As they draw closer, they start to hear "Burn the unbeliever!" and "Make the heretic confess!" shouts. Also, general sounds a semi-large mob would make. The group tries to look unassuming as they approach the mob. They all roll Shadowing +30. Kelegh achieves a success, letting him simultaneously look mysterious and cool in his cloak, yet blend in with the crowd. Lazarus fails – then again, blending in with the proles while dressed really stylishly and being armed to the teeth, one can argue, was an undertaking doomed to failure from the beginning. Kationa crit fails, again – her creepy cyber-eyes definitely start to draw unwanted attention, although the mob is somewhat more preoccupied with the witch in the square yet. …Well, „witch” is perhaps a bit strong word for someone who looks like a fairly ordinary junkie. Barely 14 or so, dirty clothes, dirty hair, rotten teeth. Everyone rolls Awareness to see what the fuss is about. For a moment it looks like everyone fails (again), then we remember that Lazarus has Heightened Senses, so he manages to notice that she's holding something printed on ****ty paper. The only thing the psykers manage to notice is the mob of about 20 people standing around her, crying "witch!" and "mutant-lover!". Lazarus, for some inexplicable reason, decides he wants the thing she’s holding. He starts shouting "Down with mutants!" and elbows his way toward the child. "Look at her, clutching the vile rantings of the Heretic! I say we should take her to the Father!", cries an elderly woman as he passes beside her. "A stoning should teach her to show proper respect to the Saints!", shouts another. Meanwhile, Kationa tries to determine whether the girl has any true psychic ability, but fails her Psyniscience test. Kelegh, in the meantime, looks around for a leader-type person in the mob, and notices a large, heavy-set man who seems to be the loudest of the crowd. He doesn’t seem, however, to wield any religious authority (unless copious amounts of body fat entitle one to such). Lazarus approaches the girl and, sneering with authentic disguist, hisses at her "What is that, you filth?" "N... nothing, my Lord! I swear I don't know! I can't even read!" – girl, crying. "Give me that!" the assassin snatches at the paper, but fails his Sleight of Hand roll. At least not a critical failure, though, so he doesn’t tear it in half. "You dare hold on to it?!", the nobleman reels in disbelief. "Hand it over, now!", he holds out his hand. Meanwhile, Kationa is unwilling to stand by and let an innocent be harmed like this. "Hey!" She yells. "Let her go!" She crit fails her Command roll, though. "She's in league with the witch!", cries a voice. "A witch herself, I say!", adds another. "An arch-witch or something! Look at her eyes! You can see the devil in them!", a third one yells, pointing at her cybernetics. The crowd seems to get divided between the girl and Kationa, drawing in an ever-more threatening circle around the two psykers. "What the hell are you doing???" – Kelegh, hissing at Kationa "Trying to save a life!", she answers, but her confidence is fleeing and she starts to back away. "That's not our job here. We need to find the mutants..." - Kelegh "We can't just let them kill innocents like this" – Kationa "Why? There are billions of them dying every minute. We save more by eliminating the cause: the heretics." – Kelegh, whispering. - "... and mutants." "The witch dares to cry innocence?!", the heavy-set man protests. "Don't listen to her poisoned words!", warns another. Lazarus, meanwhile, is growing increasedly frustrated with his continuous failure to get his hands on the magazine. He looks around, then yells at the top of his lungs "This witch won't let go of her heretical scribblings! They are demonically glued to her hands!!!" He’s trying to divert attention from his teammates, which is a mighty cool thing to do, considering his psyker-phobic tendencies, and just audacious enough to make me laugh. These culminate in me awarding him a Fate regain. He also rolls Deceive +30, and succeeds. The people seem to remember the initial cause of their concern. "Unhoooooly!" – Lazarus, frothing at the mouth. "It's demon-tainted!", someone yells with apparent horror. "Cut off the arm and BURN IT", cries another. "Take her to your leader, he'll know what to do with her!" – Lazarus, trying to whip the crowd into action. It works, they kinda forget about Kat. "Yes, Father Solomon will know! He knows all that is heretical!", cries a weedy guy. People look at him weirdly. "This is insane" says Kat in horror. Lazarus unsheathes his sword and points to the magazine. "Cast off that unholy tome! Renounce your ways and be judged!" The girl throws the magazine away in apparent horror. The part about cutting off her arm has scared her enough to make it an auto-success. "The Emperor is true! The Emperor is true!", cries the heavy-set guy. Soon all start to chant it. "Where is Father Solomon?", Kat asks someone in the crowd. She gets an adress. "But... what about the demon-glue?", a voice asks timidly. "Maybe she was framed by that weedy guy who seems to know all about heresy!?" – Lazarus, while picking up the magazine nonchalantly. "Yes, he seems heretical! Burn him!" – some guy in the mob. "Death to the one renouncing the Father!" – another guy. "So let's take her to the Father, then!" Kelegh says loudly, going in a different direction from Lazarus. "Her?", a woman asks from Kelegh, confused. "Wasn't she framed by the heretic guy?" "Enough!" Kat yells again, trying to calm things down once more before someone got hurt. She rolls Command, a skill she’s untrained in, and amazingly, achieves a success. The crowd stops at once. It’s only momentary, but has gained enough space for the group to make a convincing speech. "We shall go to see Father Solomon", Kat says. "Don't hurt anyone." Stunned silence. "But... we go to the Father to burn Heretics! To smash the unholy! Why would we bother him if we don't want to hurt anyone?", an elderly woman asks, dumbfounded. "WE will take her to the Father. You WILL go home before the enforcers arrive!" - Kelegh "Save your hatred for the true heretics" - Kationa "Also, mutants." - Lazarus They all roll. Kelegh achieves a success. The crowd starts to disperse. Lazarus steals a look at the magazine. He sees the title "HERETICS' HIDEOUT" in a scary-looking font. Also, a cover illustration that's probably supposed to be a guardsman devoured by a giant xeno-thing, but doesn't really look convinving. The Xeno-worm-thingy looks more like a sad plushie snake than a genuinely threatening beast. Meanwhile, Kelegh grabs the still sobbing and shivering girl, and waits for people to go home, then asks: "What happened?" "I... I dunno... My uncle has disappeared...", sobs the girl. "After I haven't heard from him for a week or so, I've decided to go to his apartment, see if he's there... you know, with these disappearances, you can never be sure... Anyways, he wasn't there, and I've found this, and tried to ask around what it is, then they started crying 'witch' and stuff!" She starts to cry openly. Kat gives her a comforting hug, a kindness which she repays by drooling and tearing on her new clothes. She doesn’t mind much, though. Meanwhile, Lazarus is trying to determine whether he’s holding a heretical pamphlet. I have him roll Literacy, because otherwise that skill is useless. He succeeds and gains the info that It's a so-called "Penny Dreadful", which on certain planets is heavily cultivated, saying that it strikes a fear of the Enemies of Mankind into the hearts of the populace. People in other places, however, say it's peddling knowledge that is borderline heretical, and they all should be burned. „What’s your name?” – Kelegh, to the girl. He gets no answer, turns to Kationa. "We need to know if there was something amiss at the uncle's home. And we need to get out of here, before they return for another lynching. They really didn't like your eyes...." "I have Father Solomon’s address." – Kationa "Oh that's great. Then we go to this uncle's apartment first, and visit Father Solomon later." - Lazarus "What about Mordecai? Isn't he finished with looking for info? 4 is better than 3" - Kelegh "Do you have somewhere safe you can go?" – Kationa, turning to the girl. "Not really", she sobs. "He was my last living relative, y'know." ”I think we should take the girl with us. If she is untainted, she could be useful. These urchins are great at running errands and eavesdropping.” - Lazarus "What's your name?" Kationa asks the girl. "Thea." "I'm Kationa. We'll take care of you." She just looks at her with big, brown, hopeful eyes, and nods. The party decides to get back to the precinct. -

So, another session was held today! It moved surprisingly fast, compared to the last one. On the other hand, juggling a party fragmented into 4 parts has proven to be quite a challenge. Writeup coming sometime. Edit: so raw text is apparently 59 pages. Cleaning it up is gonna take a while (last one was about 23 pages and it took 4 hours or so).