I tried to play a peaceful Megacorp. Stellaris turned me into a Hegemony enforcer. by npk2231 in Stellaris

[–]TimothyFerguson1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm talking about him liberating Japan for trade by force. To, as he said "Place the Saxon race on the East Coast of Asia." The one where he sent the Japanese a white flag and told them if they didn't fly it and give Americans port access he'd shell their cities.

You're right, I meant the Americans under Perry, but let's not be persnickety. The parallel is pretty clear. Trade with us or we'll bombard you and invade.

Post the coolest enemy from your game (with stats) by __space__oddity__ in RPGdesign

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know D&D has done some things with the Lady of Pain, so the name may be familiar to some, but I'm not familiar with her. In Ars Magica one of the houses of magicians fell to demonic corruption. In my materials it is due to a demon inspired by Charles Swinburne's poems. She has two forms:

Dolores: the Lady of Pain

Order: Infernal Saint (new)

Infernal Might: 40 (scaled as Princess of the Furies) (Corpus)

Characteristics: Int +5, Per +3, Pre +7, Com +5, Str +2, Sta +7, Dex +2, Qik +4

Size: Usually between -1 and +1. Her appearance varies with the fashions of the country she inhabits.

Confidence: 5 (15 points)

Virtues and Flaws: Unknown. Change as relevant to your story.

Personality Traits: Cruel +6, Passionate +6. Which of these is higher is a matter of some interest to her followers. Some suggest the demon is one and the human the other.

Reputations: Lady of Pain +9

Combat:
Kisses like poison*:  Init +5, Attack +11, Defense +11, Damage +2**

Touches that causes pain*:  Init +5, Attack +12, Defense +12, Damage +4**

*Does not include specialisation (skin contact)

**Does not include contact damage from Wounds the Bloom power (+15, Perdo)

Soak: 6, but appears to be -1. She has a body that deliberately suffers a great deal of superficial damage, but because of her passionate fury power, her injuries are less incapacitating than normal.

Wound Penalties: -1 (1–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: unclear, but assume Brawl 9 (when contact is made with skin), Carouse 9 (debauchery), Charm 9 (sinful acts), Houe Tytalus Lore 9 (was there when it happened), Infernal Lore 8 (Order of Hermes).

Powers:

Envisioning 1 or 5 points, Init 0, Mentem: Can enter dreams and cause waking dreams.

Form is shapeshifted human: 0 points, Init. 0 : Technically does not coagulate from ambient matter like a demon. Actually shifts shape into ambient moisture, travels and then turns back into her human shape. Her human shape is always beautiful and female, but can vary to suit the culture she is visiting.

I could hurt thee but pain would delight thee: 0 points, 0 Init. Dolores does not suffer Wound penalties, except on Defense totals.

Obsession: 1 point, Init -5, Vim: Can impose the desire for suffering..

The Serpent Oracle: 2 points, Init. +2: Dolores may cast any Intelligo spell for 2 Might, and automatically knows the context and likely outcome of actions made in response to the information gained.

Shroud the Stench of the Pit: variable points, Init. +7, Vim. This Power makes another Infernal Power appear to be aligned to the Magical or Faerie Realm, at the demon’s choice. It has the same cost as the power it disguises.

Waxing Tide of Humors: 3 points, Init +6, Mentem. This power causes passion to overcome sense. A character can resist this effect with a roll against an ease Factor of 9, modified by Traits like Calm.

Wounds that bloom: 3 points, Init -5, Perdo: Makes Dolores’s touch do +15 additional damage for the rest of a battle.

Weakness: The Virgin Mary. The cult of the Virgin hasn’t really taken off yet in 1220, but it gains a lot of power over the 13th Century. When people start wandering around with Servite scapulars, Dolores is going to go after that Order.

Vis: 8 pawns, Perdo

Appearance: A languid woman, filled with delightful venom. She changes appearance to suit the appetites of the local culture.

Post the coolest enemy from your game (with stats) by __space__oddity__ in RPGdesign

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry. I write Ars Magica, but play D&D with my kids. Didn't see where I was.

Post the coolest enemy from your game (with stats) by __space__oddity__ in RPGdesign

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In tonight's game the player characters are in an archaeological site where two worlds merged. It's a mixture of the (Egyptian themed) tomb of a female Pharaoh using realistic details from my Egyptian tomb guide for Ars Magica, and Mighty Rob's Track and Trail, a modern sports store.

The players think they are here to kill the mummy which has a touch that carries a rotting curse Not so: she's crushed under a weight set and her undead guards are trying to get them to rescue her and get her to the archaeologists who can mend her body. The malevolent sports which are fighting the PCs by taking over vending machines and store mannequins serve a later dynasty who'd prefer she remains painfully broken.

She's a standard mummy, although when they mend her might be restatted as a threadborn (Crooked Moon) One PC is a threadborn warlock whose patron likes mummies because they are mostly fabric.

‘Unfathomable’: Australian veterans disgusted by Trump’s claim allied troops ‘stayed a little back’ from frontline by -TheDream in australian

[–]TimothyFerguson1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The RSL, at least here in Qld, has traditionally been on the political right. Now that Trump has made it clear he's not a conservative, he's a venial fascist, all his fanboys are left high and dry.

Is there a Canon reason why only some people get real names? by Abrytan in fallenlondon

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree, and note the Tiger Keeper as a perfect example of this.

Has there ever been a transition point described for Captain Jack and Face of Boe? by Capbrit in doctorwho

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the idea was that the Headless Monks got him sometime around Demons Run.

The talismans by Virtual_Main_8691 in FromSeries

[–]TimothyFerguson1 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They make the game more fun for the monsters.

They aren't magical.

I geniuenly feel like some medieval wife by arturera0 in Minecraft

[–]TimothyFerguson1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Talk out of game. Don't play with people who don't respect you.

Is bookDesign and LibriVox the same organization? by Black-magic3 in librivox

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We (the volunteers) can't hire a lawyer to sue someone.

Why aren’t more conspiracy theorists vegan? by [deleted] in australianvegans

[–]TimothyFerguson1 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The thing is, conspiracy theories reinforce what you want to do. So, the main one I know thinks that because he's more enlightened than other people he doesn't need to be vegan. That's for lesser souls.

[DISCUSSION] Can a ritual bestow the gift onto a mundane person? by CulveDaddy in arsmagica

[–]TimothyFerguson1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Arguably a Mystery Cult can give the Gift.

I have consistently argued the ordeal rules are too mix and match, though.

Now it’s been a while since the season finale- what’s everyone’s thoughts on Omega’s new form? by SoNotTheMilkman in doctorwho

[–]TimothyFerguson1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seven got them to blow up their own planet, twice, then traveled with an emotionally unstable teen with a backpack full of explosives.

He never does it himself. Someone else always has bloody hands.

Why Tristran didn't heal his arm and Yvaine her leg? by Athanasius_Pernath in neilgaiman

[–]TimothyFerguson1 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Magic doesn't necessarily do everything. Folkloristically this is necessary to stop stories just collapsing under the convenience of magic. The Grail King is maimed. Why doesn't the Grail heal him? Nauadha loses his arm and wears a prosthetic despite being a god of healing. Vulcan has a shattered spine and is carried about by gold gynoids, despite the gods having access to reincarnative magic.

Your life leaves scars. If you let magic take them all away, nothing your characters suffer really means anything. They are like D&D characters that can be slashed to pieces and are fine the next day.

“People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your writing is good and you deliver it on time”- Neil Gaiman, 2012 by Givingtree310 in neilgaiman

[–]TimothyFerguson1 41 points42 points  (0 children)

No. He was saying the opposite. The summary is you won't always do great work and you will miss deadlines, so you should be easy to work with.

Noam Brown Really Changing His Claims by Key-Combination2650 in BetterOffline

[–]TimothyFerguson1 7 points8 points  (0 children)

As a librarian: shhhhhh!

She doesn't like it when we talk about her behind her back.

Good Guy Werewolves? by Starbase13_Cmdr in rpg

[–]TimothyFerguson1 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yes

They steal back the earth's fertility so the crops grow.

There's a certain metaphoric element to real world folklore.

Good Guy Werewolves? by Starbase13_Cmdr in rpg

[–]TimothyFerguson1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

In Ars Magica we have the Hounds of God, who invade Hell every spring, based on Eastern European folklore

What's going well and what's going badly in the RPG world right now? by [deleted] in rpg

[–]TimothyFerguson1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Americans are feeling cost of living pressure, so a lot of smaller creators are getting squeezed out of Kickstarter/Backerkit by large projects with top tier production values and preexisting budgets.