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017 is a very nice drop in NPC. Having colorful, memorable NPCs is always better, and this one has clear drives, a clear voice, and an interesting backstory without a lot of moving pieces.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
018 So far, these have been very well edited, well written, superbly readable. This entry bobbles that. Not badly, perhaps as far down as White Wolf's average content level, but it's noticeable (only because of high quality earlier).
So 018 describes a weapon, but spends most of the time describing a social group that uses this weapon. Hopefully, the Khangs are described later, but ideally ther entry would have come immediately before this one.
Stats for a cheap gun that works everywhere and can be found everywhere. Handy to have, especially for defaulting to.
So 018 describes a weapon, but spends most of the time describing a social group that uses this weapon. Hopefully, the Khangs are described later, but ideally ther entry would have come immediately before this one.
Stats for a cheap gun that works everywhere and can be found everywhere. Handy to have, especially for defaulting to.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
019 - Opens with Bio-babble, moves to an interesting patch for lightspeed delayed conversations. Neat. The hook is mechanically generic, but wrapped in a micro-thumbnail which is like one of these entries, but shorter.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
020 I don't know what to make of this one. It's a giant, intelligent gun in space. It's written up like it would be good as a drop-in for some other NPC, but I can't think where you might use the Mighty Bu. 017's Chain-smoking monkey could be any sort of menial labor or tradesman (janitor, engine room, plumber, etc), but what roles does a giant gun fill? Maybe an antagonist? The hook is original, but doesn't grab me.
(writing quality has returned to high).
(writing quality has returned to high).
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
021 Oh no! An obscure word used incorrectly! 'Ply' means work steadily with or on. You don't "ply your way up and down" a coast, you just "ply" that coast (or in this case, 'spacelanes' or 'interplanetary routes' or whatever).
Why is this even worth mentioning? Because this is the twenty-first entry, but the first which needed linguistic pedantry. (very occasional dropped words and grammar don't count)
So, on topic: beamsailors. pretty neat. Generally suffers from the same so-whatism, but I can see using them for an informant or something. First hook is an escort/fetch quest, second is original and enticing.
Why is this even worth mentioning? Because this is the twenty-first entry, but the first which needed linguistic pedantry. (very occasional dropped words and grammar don't count)
So, on topic: beamsailors. pretty neat. Generally suffers from the same so-whatism, but I can see using them for an informant or something. First hook is an escort/fetch quest, second is original and enticing.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
022 IT's a bar. It's a fairly original bar though, and has some nice tie-ins. I'd like to see a slightly longer writeup of it though. As is, it's the core of a good locale, but would still take work to flesh out.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
23 Futuristic Sportsteam plays sportsball! Sarcasm aside, I like this one. It hits a couple high points of the sport, and sets up a team dynamic that could easily lead to all sorts of hooks. I especially like how it's player owned, so we get to skip "competition is bad, m'kay?" Hooks are solid, though I'm not certain about how the first could work. Second is flavorful and delicious.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
024 - I wondered how I would ever use a pro athlete NPC in a game, but then this entry told me: "As something of a mercenary player, Makankana is more likely to be a living macguffin than a regular contact or antagonist—someone that the player characters are likely to kidnap, bribe, injure, play against, bodyguard, train, or babysit as the needs dictate."
Weirdly, I think this is one of the better entries so far.
Weirdly, I think this is one of the better entries so far.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
025 is cockfighting, and it's presented as local color for unspecified locales. That's ok. The first hook is beating up the bullies of math club though, so it does have that going for it.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
026 a dead space-habitat. Neat atmosphere, but no direct tie in to anything. I like these "using____" sections that have started appearing though.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
027 Gravity sickness. A for description, C for mechanics. Hooks aren't great, but the scenery's nice.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
028 is orbital burial. Neat, well explained, 2/3 hooks are good (the first is a MacGuffin).
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
I see you consistently mention that a lot of it could/should be fleshed out more. Which sort of contradicts the point of the yearblog. (As far as I understand it.)
Aside from that, this has been a pretty good read. Keep on truckin!
Aside from that, this has been a pretty good read. Keep on truckin!
Phlebotinum : fleh-bot-ih-nuhm • A glossary of RPG/Dennizen terminology • Favorite replies: [1]
nockermensch wrote:Advantage will lead to dicepools in D&D. Remember, you read this here first!
The format may preclude fleshing ideas out, but if so, that just means that those ideas are poor fits for this format.
I was going to pause around 36 and review, but here works too:
So far I like these, but they aren't real useful (caveat that I am completely unfamiliar with Eclipse Phase). When I see third party content, especially online, I want it to be easy to drop in to games. For a location to be useable, that means a map and any important characters (2 line descriptions are fine). To be actually useful, it needs to either be a drop-in replacement for e.g. $GENERIC_BAR (the plant bar does this well), or have a compelling reason for the characters to go there (The Mighty Bu kind of works there).
Characters are similar: either they replace generic NPCs or the PCs need a real reason to interact with that character. The semi-crazy monologuing probe is a good example: it's cool, and might make for good short stories, but why would PCs care about it?
At the same time, AH's writing is generally polished, and his ideas are original. That goes a very, very long way towards making even the less useful entries worth reading.
I was going to pause around 36 and review, but here works too:
So far I like these, but they aren't real useful (caveat that I am completely unfamiliar with Eclipse Phase). When I see third party content, especially online, I want it to be easy to drop in to games. For a location to be useable, that means a map and any important characters (2 line descriptions are fine). To be actually useful, it needs to either be a drop-in replacement for e.g. $GENERIC_BAR (the plant bar does this well), or have a compelling reason for the characters to go there (The Mighty Bu kind of works there).
Characters are similar: either they replace generic NPCs or the PCs need a real reason to interact with that character. The semi-crazy monologuing probe is a good example: it's cool, and might make for good short stories, but why would PCs care about it?
At the same time, AH's writing is generally polished, and his ideas are original. That goes a very, very long way towards making even the less useful entries worth reading.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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I can think of few things in Eclipse Phase that would be less important than maps. Melee combat is meaningless, network topology matters as much or more than physical locations even when physically talking to people, and some of the characters are swarms of microdrones that don't have unique locations. Topography is not even a tertiary concern, and producing maps is a waste of time and energy. A paragraph more of exposition would be in all ways more useful than a physical map of anything.
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I disagree.
Your argument makes a good case against 5' square grid maps. However, even a simple sketch goes a long way towards making a location easy to narrate.
In the bar, for example, a floorplan also shows where people cluster, how much room to move there is, whether most of the room is standing or sitting, jow many people makes the room crowded, how public your conversations are, how easy it is to eavesdrop on someone else, etc.
For the giant space-gun, it's even more clear. I assume that if the PCs can walk through investigating space funguses, they might be interested in what happens with a hull breach, or other vacuum exposure. So where are the access ports? If they block a corridor, what can they still reach? Etc.
Your argument makes a good case against 5' square grid maps. However, even a simple sketch goes a long way towards making a location easy to narrate.
In the bar, for example, a floorplan also shows where people cluster, how much room to move there is, whether most of the room is standing or sitting, jow many people makes the room crowded, how public your conversations are, how easy it is to eavesdrop on someone else, etc.
For the giant space-gun, it's even more clear. I assume that if the PCs can walk through investigating space funguses, they might be interested in what happens with a hull breach, or other vacuum exposure. So where are the access ports? If they block a corridor, what can they still reach? Etc.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Username17
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No it doesn't. Here's a bar floorplan:fectin wrote:In the bar, for example, a floorplan also shows where people cluster, how much room to move there is, whether most of the room is standing or sitting, jow many people makes the room crowded, how public your conversations are, how easy it is to eavesdrop on someone else, etc.
Now, here's the same bar, with a simple interior photo:
Now, here's the same bar, taken at a different time:
Now, which is more evocative? Which gives you more information about any of the things you claimed a floorplan was in any way useful for? More importantly: how easy is it to tell those are even the same thing? The reality is that a couple of ambiance words like "crowded," "cozy," "quiet," or "noisy" would help set the tone of what you could or could not do much better than a fucking floorplan would.
People don't experience rooms in terms of floorplans. If you ask people to guess how many square meters the businesses they frequent are, they are not very good at answering. And similarly, if you show them a floorplan, they are not very good at extrapolating what the place is actually like to be in. If the actual game isn't played in discreet meter by meter X-Com style tactical movement, the floorplans are of no use. A couple sentences explaining what a room "feels like" is worth much more than technically accurate cartography. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case it really really isn't.
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Well, from that floorplan, I see a trendy bar up front where you could see comings and goings, a bunch of cozy booths, two back rooms, and another floor. If you wanted to bug the lounge, there's a storage space and the restroom beside it. You could also use the restroom as a place to overhear discussions from that room as a hook. The back bar is sort of private, but has staff going past constantly, as well as occasional patrons heading to the restroom. If someone is discreetly keeping an eye on the back rooms or the upstairs, that's likely where from.
And so on.
Bottom line though, my reviews are going to be filtered through my particular prejudices. I try to explain each one well enough to show those biases, but the tools I find useful may not perfectly match anyone else's views. That does not bother me.
Please do continue to offer counterpoints though, and especially to call me out if I'm too vague.
And so on.
Bottom line though, my reviews are going to be filtered through my particular prejudices. I try to explain each one well enough to show those biases, but the tools I find useful may not perfectly match anyone else's views. That does not bother me.
Please do continue to offer counterpoints though, and especially to call me out if I'm too vague.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
029: House of Screaming Bricks. If nothing else, that's a great name.
HoSB is a distopian capitalist solitary confinement satellite. On the plus side, they're apparently actually professional about it. Hooray?
There's a good section on using HoSB, which opens with strongly advising that PCs not be sent there. It suggests having PCs send their enemies there, which is delightful.
First seed is "go investigate" with a potential villain. Solid. Second is a bank job. Also solid.
Overall: A- because working it in seems like it might be a bit forced.
Edit: One commenter questioned the rules viability of the first seed; Ancient responded with a polite chapter and verse citation. Nice.
HoSB is a distopian capitalist solitary confinement satellite. On the plus side, they're apparently actually professional about it. Hooray?
There's a good section on using HoSB, which opens with strongly advising that PCs not be sent there. It suggests having PCs send their enemies there, which is delightful.
First seed is "go investigate" with a potential villain. Solid. Second is a bank job. Also solid.
Overall: A- because working it in seems like it might be a bit forced.
Edit: One commenter questioned the rules viability of the first seed; Ancient responded with a polite chapter and verse citation. Nice.
Last edited by fectin on Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
030: Egobrokers: A surprisingly nuanced treatment of indentured servitude, crossed with refinancing companies. First seed (roughly, egobrokers act as agents of the court for assigning community service) is bad as a seed, great as additional nuance. Second seed reduces to a generic manhunt, but the depth of the entry saves it.
Overall: A. Generally, I'd rate it lower for not being directly usable, but its a neat social dynamic, and I am weak for nuance.
Overall: A. Generally, I'd rate it lower for not being directly usable, but its a neat social dynamic, and I am weak for nuance.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
031 Tein Tan Tanas: I like this pattern, where a broad entry pairs with a specific example.
Okay, but generic. I respect his logic for maintaining a "carefully fostered image of banality", but the whole reason to use a pregen character is to make it easier to be interesting.
The "using" section appears again (good), but reads a little weird. Apparently, he will "give the appearance of a caring boss," and similar, all worded like it's a facade. But the last bit states that it's not a charade, he does care, and he sees himself as doing good. This could have been outstanding if AH had simply owned that. Sure, it's arguably just futuristic "white man's burden," but (A) it's arguable and (B) owning it is much more interesting. No seeds, but the "using" section offers some ideas, which are reasonable there and would have been very generic seeds.
Overall: B- Saved by being easy to drop in.
Edit: I said "he" because I am more language-pedantic than sensitivity-pedantic. AH says "they." I'll probably do this again.
Okay, but generic. I respect his logic for maintaining a "carefully fostered image of banality", but the whole reason to use a pregen character is to make it easier to be interesting.
The "using" section appears again (good), but reads a little weird. Apparently, he will "give the appearance of a caring boss," and similar, all worded like it's a facade. But the last bit states that it's not a charade, he does care, and he sees himself as doing good. This could have been outstanding if AH had simply owned that. Sure, it's arguably just futuristic "white man's burden," but (A) it's arguable and (B) owning it is much more interesting. No seeds, but the "using" section offers some ideas, which are reasonable there and would have been very generic seeds.
Overall: B- Saved by being easy to drop in.
Edit: I said "he" because I am more language-pedantic than sensitivity-pedantic. AH says "they." I'll probably do this again.
Last edited by fectin on Thu Feb 06, 2014 3:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
032: Infinite Sleeves
I recognize that these mostly English words are arranged in grammatical structures, but I am unable to extract meaning from them. I think this is about future drugs? It seems pretty neat, but I think this actually needs Eclipse Phase prior knowledge to evaluate, so pass.
Overall: ??
I recognize that these mostly English words are arranged in grammatical structures, but I am unable to extract meaning from them. I think this is about future drugs? It seems pretty neat, but I think this actually needs Eclipse Phase prior knowledge to evaluate, so pass.
Overall: ??
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Ancient History
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Ancient History
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