Forums of the Megaverse®

llywelyn

one all-powerful, all-knowing and incomprehensible being who controls everything and can never be challenged is boring and uncreative. it lends nothing to the game. It isn't boring or uncreative, but it does deprotagonize the player. One problem is that it's unrealistic the Rifts would marginalize ...

llywelyn

Perfect excuse for using those U-Rounds.... I had hoped some folks would get a laugh out of this thread. Must then add a new skill to German soldiers' training; 'Nad Targeting(used in conjunction with a successful Lore: Demons and Monsters roll, this skill gives the soldier an added +3 to strike ce...

llywelyn

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:You shouldn't be reading its against CS law

And yet in all the pictures of the CS, there are always posters everywhere.

Wonder if there's a scanner they use that reads it out for them?

llywelyn

Sorry but you're just wrong, ... If you're born and bred somewhere you're a native, that's what makes you a native. The CS has no magical right or ownership over anything especially what other people have owned for generations. If you want to make up your own morality, that's fine, but it's not goi...

llywelyn

flatline wrote:So if the D-bee's ancestors met some humans when they came through the rifts and those humans said it was okay for them to settle there, then the CS has no right to antagonize them, right?

Are the humans still running a sovereign country over the territory recognized by the CS?

If yes, then sure.

llywelyn

:roll: God should ... require[] an entire planet/dimension to war against them and then still only be able to put him to sleep at great sacrifice. It's up to the GM and I understood the point you were making, but personally I'd make Him a great deal harder than the Old Ones. Like I mentioned before...

llywelyn

I do think it's funny so many people say G-d instead of God but that aside. Did someone do that aside from me? And it's a nervous tic I picked up from the Jews and the opposite of disrespect, in fact. Same way some people can get tetchy about writing Christian as "Xian", when it's a perfe...

llywelyn

Just because human ancestors lived on Earth before the rifts came doesn't give the CS any special claim to Earth. Sure it does, just as it automatically qualifies alien residency as invasion right up until the humans allow them to immigrate. Anything else is a fail on a logical reasoning roll (fals...

llywelyn

flatline wrote:Is this cannon?

No.

This is cannon.

I know that's a really common mistake here, so nothin' personal. Still, bears pointing out.

llywelyn

flatline wrote:
llywelyn wrote:The earth is not their home

Please explain how them living here on Earth yet the Earth isn't their home.

Sorry if that's confusing. I know they have questionable loyalties, but of course the writers' home is earth.

I was talking about the Dbees, whose homeland is elsewhere by definition.

llywelyn

Excellent point.

llywelyn

Akashic Soldier wrote:...dirties....

llywelyn

A terrorist who blows up a bomb in the middle of a crowded street doesn't become good because 'well he thought it was justified'. No. But the context for it never being good (and it isn't) depends (a) upon the fact that terrorism is a horribly ineffective way to correct injustice and (b) all of us ...

llywelyn

The problem with the CS, in my opinion, is that there's no counter-movement within it that is more reasonable. This is unquestionably true. Internal dysfunction was handwaved away, but there are no fascist states that actual work in the short term, let alone the long one. Really good article at For...

llywelyn

They don't teach this in traditional biblical teaching because it's a difficult concept to grasp for many. I appreciate your very thorough post (& again as long as we're respectful to each other, you can relax about the lock), but you rather missed my point. Of course, G-d is good. In the Abrah...

llywelyn

Fwiw, I (and the CS!) completely understand the point of view of aliens who want to protect their species and fight back or build their own kingdoms. That's their business, just like it's the CS's business to oppose them. But inasmuch as all of us are humans, it's somewhat questionable that you woul...

llywelyn

Minding their own business not hurting anyone just trying to survive and make a living for their families. You know, INNOCENT. People that didn't do anything to the CS beyond exist. Except (a) you only know that through writer's fiat and (b) that's not true. The earth is not their home and their &q...

llywelyn

@Generally you lock threads where people are obviously on a path to misbehaving, and there's no evidence of it yet. I don't think there's any worry of it. We're grown-ups (and, judging by the stat-yourself thread, all super-geniuses ). With all due respect, I do wish they'd stop spamming such an in...

llywelyn

Someone asked why evil and gods of chaos endow their minions with more power. Well, I thought it was obvious... they're cheating. Cheating works as an explanation . Not really. If anything, the evil ones would be cheating to get the souls and keep the power for themselves. The Gods of Light would b...

llywelyn

Then you haven't read the material on the CS, as they most definitely torched entire villages of innocent aliens. Define innocent. all the propaganda even says 'if it's a D-bee don't be fooled, no matter how innocent it looks it's a monster to be killed just for existing!'. And Tarn and Mr. Siembie...

llywelyn

They're the brains of the operAtion, they have a PMC, that is over a billion strong, that's consists of a whole bunch of different types of races, even a few angels ... oh ... ... you were serious. :D More or less my reaction. Well, as long as you and your friends have fun at the table with the cam...

llywelyn

It goes to show that the pattern of behavior he exhibits is NOT the kind of pattern that includes your theories of him covering his butt in the main book... Except it's not a theory. As above, he did in fact do it. Of course, you still don't see that all, but thought I'd come in and remind you agai...

llywelyn

That sounds pretty out of character for the kind of careful person that you describe, yet it is the standard of behavior for him. I'm not saying careful person. It was an inspired dodge b/c he absolutely knew he didn't want to box himself in too much. And you're absolutely completely right about SB...

llywelyn

#45 A nondescript wooden box. Under the dust is stenciled: TOP SECRET ARMY INTEL 9906753 DO NOT OPEN! Inside is the Ark of the Covenant.* If it is opened, it is found to be empty except for half of a 6000-year-old lobster. The lobster communicates telepathically and could really use a drink. It is s...

llywelyn

Myself: A fleshed out and interesting description (some posters above have good ideas, I think) that neither ties the place firmly to the CS yoke OR breaks free in a moment of glory, but shows the players the different wheels and gears that are turning and the effects of adding grease or monkey wren...

llywelyn

The problem is that thanks to the tolkeen war fubar, its pretty much been written that nobody will band together for stupid reasons. If anybody bands together against the CS now, I think all the dead of tolkeen (not to mention the pb fans) would come back as ghosts and scream "NOW?!?! NOW YOU ...

llywelyn

No he shouldn't. Why? This is a boring idea, personally I don't see how this would balance anything. You don't see it as a positive development tool? For a person to grow in character, they need to suffer loss. A nation is no different. ⋅ The Ninjabunny is right: it's a boring idea. Playe...

llywelyn

Not only not going to happen, but going the other way.

By Sourcebook 1, the transfer of power was only a few decades away. After Lone Star, the CS - and especially Prosek - are now looking at 200 year life spans again. You have another century with him.

llywelyn

Hsien this is where the fairy part came from though hsia but this one is confusing I'm not sure where that came from but I don't think it could possibly be right. 贤夏 ( xiánxià ) would be "virtuous summer" (and only that). The "Hsien" is almost certainly 仙 ( xiān , "immortal...

llywelyn

[Is it wrong for a GM to make his character a NPC?] I'm just wondering cuz I've been in a campaign were it's happened before. I was going to say, sure it's fine within reason, but hey, you're bothered enough to ask about it - obviously go talk to him. ...he cheats to give his guy EXP. Just so he co...

llywelyn

Yes, kinda. There isn't much need for a tricks-of-the-trade unless you're just trying to munchkin (in which case you should totally use the optional rules to get Snake Style or T'ai-Chi Ch'uan for your cosmoknight, then have him use his high willpower to fend off the Lord of the Deep, granting him t...

llywelyn

It's like how somebody might say in reference to their travels in the US, "I've never been west of the Mississippi." When in the course of their life, they did at one point travel to Japan, which is west of the Mississippi. JAPAN is EAST, the FAR Far EAST Land of the Rising Sun Silly Cybo...

llywelyn

Me, I'd like a list and description of the actual common races a traveller would encounter in abundance, as opposed to saying, eh, let's write something cool and if they turn out to be too unusual or overpowered just say there's only a few hundred of them. Or 12. Or none known to be on Earth. If the...

llywelyn

KS thought about Japan one way (some small wilderness islands) in RMB and changed his mind on it when the Rifts: Japan World Book concept was pitched to him. ... Simply, Kevin changed his mind. You're right to call out the other poster on forgetting which side he was supposed to be arguing, but KC ...

llywelyn

Is there a lot of Coalition hate? The books are written to make them the big baddie, but I see a lot of pushback on the boards. I myself have never seen any accounting of the actual common Dbees in North America. The majority of the books are filled with pretty highly powered races (or godlike AutoG...

llywelyn

Guanyin, wasn't that the one who sent the Priest on the mythic Journey to the West? Yeah, it was really the Taizong Emperor and a real story, but she was a big part of the mythy retelling. I was amazed they didn't stat out her or the Great Sage Equal to Heaven . Kinda hard to do fantasy China witho...

llywelyn

Here's something I'm curious about, though. Rune swords are old hat in RPGs, but no one ever really thought they had all that much power in real life. The real power were in the holy relics that inspired pilgrims to trudge all over Europe & are still there, and in huge abundance in Rome. Would p...

llywelyn

@Allah It's a really common mistake, but Allah is the exact same G-d. No difference at all. It's just the Arabic name for Him (etymologically linked to El and Elohim, His Hebrew names) and Jews and Xians who pray in Arabic use that name just the same way the Muslims do. When the Torah and New Testa...

llywelyn

@lock I don't see any reason we can't talk about it civilly. @question It's pretty obvious given the way Pantheons was written that in-universe the Abrahamic G-d was the most successful (and therefore by far most powerful god) on this plane. Whether that means you go the traditional route (He's com...

llywelyn

No to swimsuit issues except every few years, if that.

On the other hand, ridiculous German cheesecake art of "Erin Tarn, adventurix," should be mandatory with each installment of her commentary.

llywelyn

What happens when the typical character isn't dependent on equipment to do/receive md/mdc? Can sd/sdc remain the norm? You're defining your own answer aren't you? If you want SDC to remain the norm, simply employ it. Juicer? Dragon hatchling? Elder God? Who cares. Just convert to SDC (or go full Pa...

llywelyn

frankly, i suspect that you would have used what Erin Tarn had said about Japan as canon. i further suspect that is exactly what Kevin intended for people to do when he wrote it, is to interpret that as canon Except it's not. He didn't write it ex cathedra . He didn't even write it from the POV of ...

llywelyn

Didn't they retcon Japan in the RUE? No. As KC already admitted, her first-hand knowledge of Japan was left uncertain (with second- or third-hand reporting strongly implied). The RUE wasn't a retcon at all. It was an official update 9 years after the original, where she stated boldly what was impli...

llywelyn

Dustin Fireblade wrote:The city creation rules are in the Rifts Adventure Guide. Since many kingdoms are just individual city-states, they should work fine.

I don't have that, but just saw that Australia has some guidelines on p. 40 for doing small independent towns.

llywelyn

CS State and Cities of course. The area around the great lakes, lazlo, new lazlo, old bones, tolkeen. Also, she'd already been to Texas at least once (when she turned back & the knight went on) and possibly twice ("20 years before") and spoke clearly of personally visiting the Canadia...

llywelyn

Interesting theory. How few locations would you wager? I get it that it was important to you in some vital way that Japan be an ashen pile (although you mistook quiet for destroyed), but I really don't get why it sticks in your craw decades after Japan was published or why you're fighting this. She...

llywelyn

It converted Chi into ISP btw. As a side note. Sry. You're right that that's what the book said. Aside from personal dislike of ISP in favor of PPE (I see the martial arts effects as magic, not psionics), the fact that it then went on to make dragon tracks and geomantic flows ISP was just crazy in ...

llywelyn

Darkmax wrote:"Hsien Hsia" = Fairy Hue.

If you know what they're talking about, what are the characters (汉字)?

Seems to have been made up just for the book.

llywelyn

How do you keep MD/MDC rare once the campaign starts? It's military tech similar to machine guns and cruise missiles. Confiscate everyone's who isn't wearing a uniform and have any MD-packing AWOLs chased down fast. Australia already does this. Just impliment it worldwide. What incentives do mages,...

llywelyn

Lab-created gems are structurally identical to natural ones, this is true. I saw no reason for them not to be usable. Then I got Rifts' Australia (One) and read about the Songjuicer. Then it all clicked. Assuming you're not going in for the handwavium the setting is actually built with, This. There...

Search found 256 matches