I mean scythe arms are great, but what if I gave it rat hands while keeping the mantis shaped arms instead? I'd give it the triangular mantis head too, and while it'd mostly be a furry body, it'd be segmented like a mantis with random chitinous bits of "skin". I love weird monsters lol
Here's what this immediately made me think of: Roll on Table 1 to select mesh. Roll on Table 2 to select texture.
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I actually think "paracausal" kind of specifically means "outside causality," which kind of means "I don't understand probably magic" but also means e.g. it exists outside the normal flow of time entirely.
It’s half-joked that a system which makes your shots more accurate is opening the magazine and removing the bullets that are going to miss. That kind of goofy stuff. Or Goblin hacks that technically just make your systems believe a solid surface exists where one does not, but said solid surface is very much there for blocking bullets until touched.
The space magic is diverse in its weird sources, from defying the nature of cause and effect to travel instantly across massive distances to ontological entities that grants its worshippers powers to post-singularity intellects folding space onto itself to create dreamscapes where pathos has replaced logos.
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
I actually think "paracausal" kind of specifically means "outside causality," which kind of means "I don't understand probably magic" but also means e.g. it exists outside the normal flow of time entirely.
More or less, yeah
Like paracausal ammunition is described as ammunition that hits the target when fired, without regard for anything that might occur inbetween.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
The term gets thrown around in Destiny lore a lot.=
I actually think "paracausal" kind of specifically means "outside causality," which kind of means "I don't understand probably magic" but also means e.g. it exists outside the normal flow of time entirely.
More or less, yeah
Like paracausal ammunition is described as ammunition that hits the target when fired, without regard for anything that might occur inbetween.
A medium-sized knuckle-walking reptile critter.
a medium-sized lean-quadruped feline
a huge rex-style ursine
a large, low to the ground quadruped avian with a long thick tail.
a medium sized serpentine oozeslime
a gargantuan chimera built like a rhino or similar, with traits of both ursines and deep sea creatures.
Combining these with the special spice system:
The knuckle-walker biped reptile has acidic blood, and a ruff of reversed scales it can fire off as projectiles.
The cat monster can breathe fire like a blowtorch, as well as release a thick, ink like smog.
The huge trex bear has an addtional set of wings growing out of it's back. It's got thick armored carapce, it's howls freeze water... oh and it can shrink itself down to a small size if it feels like it. (Man, the mental image of this one)
The avian quaruped can dislocate it's jaw to swallow prey whole, grow up to huge size if pressed, and has magnifcant antlers.
The slime serpent can spit sticky webbing, and has no eyes - but can instead detect stuff via echolocation.
The chimera bearabyssal thing has huge wingpaws for it's front limbs, and an additional set of crushing pincers . It can shift it's body into a much lower to the ground stance, with a long, thick tail sprouting in the process. It has multiple heads, like a hydra and thick armored plating.
The last one is just... well, that's an abomination alright.
Still, i'm digging that the system can produce pretty "Sensible" monsters and... whatever the hell the hydra-flying bear scorpion is.
A couple of weeks ago my players had a good laugh in my Mage game over my "five stages of grief" when they were trapped in a mindscape created by an Astra (super duper magical artifact created by archmages/supernal gods/fallen gods/etc) that called itself Phantasos and the Moros Tul-Val completely invalidated the main boss of the area (well one of two). It was a nightmare version of a Nosferatu ancient vampire they were currently in a cold war with, made of living blood in a dark cave shaped from one of the npcs deepest fears. The round starts, Tul-Val goes, and uses Matter and Life magic (four dots in each) to turn the vampire into a tree. I bluster and look at the spell he used, which does not allow resistance (essentially what it sounds like, a chance to resist the spell). Then another pc, Ember, catches the tree on fire.
I bluster for a moment, look at the notes I had, and just mutter for a couple of moments about all the work I put into him.
A couple of minutes later, as the players are all laughing and bantering, I legit had to stop and just kind of walk myself through the next step of the world they were in.
It was great, but damn if it didn't catch me off guard ( I would later be caught off guard again when they managed to talk down Phantasos into letting them out without fighting the artifact in a session where every player got to shine).
A couple of weeks ago my players had a good laugh in my Mage game over my "five stages of grief" when they were trapped in a mindscape created by an Astra (super duper magical artifact created by archmages/supernal gods/fallen gods/etc) that called itself Phantasos and the Moros Tul-Val completely invalidated the main boss of the area (well one of two). It was a nightmare version of a Nosferatu ancient vampire they were currently in a cold war with, made of living blood in a dark cave shaped from one of the npcs deepest fears. The round starts, Tul-Val goes, and uses Matter and Life magic (four dots in each) to turn the vampire into a tree. I bluster and look at the spell he used, which does not allow resistance (essentially what it sounds like, a chance to resist the spell). Then another pc, Ember, catches the tree on fire.
I bluster for a moment, look at the notes I had, and just mutter for a couple of moments about all the work I put into him.
A couple of minutes later, as the players are all laughing and bantering, I legit had to stop and just kind of walk myself through the next step of the world they were in.
It was great, but damn if it didn't catch me off guard ( I would later be caught off guard again when they managed to talk down Phantasos into letting them out without fighting the artifact in a session where every player got to shine).
This is pretty classic Mage. So much so that the 1st edition players guide had a section subheaded "Turning Vampires into Lawn Chairs and Other Works of 'High' Magick".
I got it in a bundle (just the files, not a real book), and I’ve gotta say it’s a very evocative and fun looking game. I don’t know that I’ll get to play it, but even building a mech is enjoyable.
I think it's kind of wild that it took seven years for anyone to grab the torch of 4E D&D and when someone finally did it was a comic book writer/artist.
'Paracausal' is a good descriptor for "I dunno how this works it's basically magic?"
Since most of my circle is reasonably into anime, I just think of Lancer's Gae Bulg. Basically, in Fate, Gae Bulg is a spear that, when thrown, reverses the order of causality - first it hits the target's heart, and then reality figures out what the fuck happened to get it to hit the heart and makes that happen. This seems about the kind of stuff Lancer paracausal stuff does.
Personally, I've been considering trying Lancer, but it looks like a serious ask to GM, given this is not a game that can be realistically run without proper battlemaps. I'm kind of used to running things very by the seat of my pants, think up a few NPCs and scenarios and just go with it. And that can't really be done here - much less online.
I say this with all the kindness I can muster, and without a hint that it shouldn’t be played as is: one day there will be a fantastic LANCER video game, because it needs a level of predefined map beyond most people’s ability to set up, with enemies that have unique abilities you’ve got to understand and plan around to really get into it. That said, when it all comes together it looks like a tonne of fun! It’s one of the better turn based war games I’ve seen.
I’d consider running a one shot some day, but high level play every week? What am I gonna need? A 50 by 50 square map of well thought out terrain with 10 unique enemy mechs for one encounter perhaps? Other units too maybe. Then you’ve got the more free form roleplaying in between (more my style, but it’s still more content to deal with on top of the war game).
A quandary, no doubt.
It’s just hit me now that LANCER needs a D&D style module up to high level play, just so I can begin to visualise what I need to do a full campaign.
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GrogMy sword is only steelin a useful shape.Registered Userregular
A couple of weeks ago my players had a good laugh in my Mage game over my "five stages of grief" when they were trapped in a mindscape created by an Astra (super duper magical artifact created by archmages/supernal gods/fallen gods/etc) that called itself Phantasos and the Moros Tul-Val completely invalidated the main boss of the area (well one of two). It was a nightmare version of a Nosferatu ancient vampire they were currently in a cold war with, made of living blood in a dark cave shaped from one of the npcs deepest fears. The round starts, Tul-Val goes, and uses Matter and Life magic (four dots in each) to turn the vampire into a tree. I bluster and look at the spell he used, which does not allow resistance (essentially what it sounds like, a chance to resist the spell). Then another pc, Ember, catches the tree on fire.
I bluster for a moment, look at the notes I had, and just mutter for a couple of moments about all the work I put into him.
A couple of minutes later, as the players are all laughing and bantering, I legit had to stop and just kind of walk myself through the next step of the world they were in.
It was great, but damn if it didn't catch me off guard ( I would later be caught off guard again when they managed to talk down Phantasos into letting them out without fighting the artifact in a session where every player got to shine).
Tree Transformation should probably be Withstood by Stamina, but even then they'd probably be able to pump Potency enough to overcome it.
I say this with all the kindness I can muster, and without a hint that it shouldn’t be played as is: one day there will be a fantastic LANCER video game, because it needs a level of predefined map beyond most people’s ability to set up, with enemies that have unique abilities you’ve got to understand and plan around to really get into it. That said, when it all comes together it looks like a tonne of fun! It’s one of the better turn based war games I’ve seen.
I’d consider running a one shot some day, but high level play every week? What am I gonna need? A 50 by 50 square map of well thought out terrain with 10 unique enemy mechs for one encounter perhaps? Other units too maybe. Then you’ve got the more free form roleplaying in between (more my style, but it’s still more content to deal with on top of the war game).
A quandary, no doubt.
It’s just hit me now that LANCER needs a D&D style module up to high level play, just so I can begin to visualise what I need to do a full campaign.
They have a module like that out for play testing purposes. Not sure what state it’s in as I haven’t planned on running it, but it’s called “No Room For a Wallflower.”
I always find it kind of funny in the 1st edition WoD stuff that big bad predators of mankind Vampires all had basically the same plan if they ran into another supernatural: Get the fuck out. Pretty much all of them would ruin a vampires day. Their best plan was to point some mortals at them and go take a nap.
I think it says a lot about the absurdity of Lancer's fiction that one of the funniest/vaguely scary bit of flavour text is just on a gun whose traits is that it shoots good. By good I mean it breaks reality to never miss, ever:
Ushabti Omnigun
“– funny thing. See, right now, this weapon technically doesn’t even exist. You’re shooting them with a gun that isn’t real, and yet it is! Don’t worry about it. RA’s like that. Just, here, know that because it exists at some point, we’ve made it. That’s causality, and causality is a –"
[ERROR]
[range 15][1 AP kinetic damage]
Your mech’s omnigun is a piece of experimental hardware so advanced that it defies physics: it doesn’t require a mount, nor does it have a weapon type or size – meaning that it can’t be modified or benefit from your talents.
You can’t attack normally with this weapon. Instead, 1/round, as a free action during your turn, you can use it to deal 1 AP kinetic damage to a character within Range and line of sight. This doesn’t count as an attack, hits automatically, ignores cover, bypasses Immunity, and its damage can’t be reduced or ignored in any way. No rule in this book or any other supersedes this.
The Omnigun Is Not Real, not a gun and can hurt you.
I'm reading the lancer book right now, and i want to play a Noble with a big ol Punchy mech. Sort of Seivarden without being a drug addicted jerk, but similar "what happend to my house, exactly?"
I'm reading the lancer book right now, and i want to play a Noble with a big ol Punchy mech. Sort of Seivarden without being a drug addicted jerk, but similar "what happend to my house, exactly?"
Not sure if you're looking for suggestions, but for punchy mechs there is the Zheng from The Long Rim supplement. Could also go with the power knuckles from the Nelson license. If you combine that with the Hunter talent you can give yourself rocket fists essentially.
Not sure if you're looking for suggestions, but for punchy mechs there is the Zheng from The Long Rim supplement. Could also go with the power knuckles from the Nelson license. If you combine that with the Hunter talent you can give yourself rocket fists essentially.
Oh man i havent even got that far, it's just the character concept that popped in my head - Noble who's all fuck swords, fuck guns, i am goign to beat things apart with my mech, proper old school combat style.
I'm in the middle of taking it. It's pretty comprehensive. You state the year you first played D&D, what editions you've played, what editions you've played within the last year, how often you play, your top three favorite campaign settings, what your main motivations are in playing D&D (group planning, char op, miniatures, etc), what you believe are qualities of a good DM (rules mastery, wit, challenge, setting lore knowledge, etc), and so on.
EDIT: Man, this survey is VERY thorough.
Hexmage-PA on
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
I say this with all the kindness I can muster, and without a hint that it shouldn’t be played as is: one day there will be a fantastic LANCER video game, because it needs a level of predefined map beyond most people’s ability to set up, with enemies that have unique abilities you’ve got to understand and plan around to really get into it. That said, when it all comes together it looks like a tonne of fun! It’s one of the better turn based war games I’ve seen.
I’d consider running a one shot some day, but high level play every week? What am I gonna need? A 50 by 50 square map of well thought out terrain with 10 unique enemy mechs for one encounter perhaps? Other units too maybe. Then you’ve got the more free form roleplaying in between (more my style, but it’s still more content to deal with on top of the war game).
A quandary, no doubt.
It’s just hit me now that LANCER needs a D&D style module up to high level play, just so I can begin to visualise what I need to do a full campaign.
Not to argue with your core point, but it is still an RPG and not a tactical war game, which means if you realize your terrain is fucked or your enemy composition is weak/broken/boring you can just... change it. A ship can strafe the battlefield and create a trench of soft cover, enemy reinforcements can arrive or the dull HP-sponge enemies can retreat or be pulled away to another battlefield. Also, not that it necessarily makes things easier but I think rather than one huge map with 10 enemies the general design is a series of smaller maps with one enemy (or grunt squad)/player, which gives you even more opportunity to adjust things on the fly rather than hope you get the one encounter exactly right.
That said, part of why I haven't pitched LANCER to anyone is because I'm concerned I won't be able to manage it with my current prep style, which is mostly just thinking about stuff in the shower, panic typing as much as I can an hour before the game, and then wining it. The other part is that putting together a group of players that would fully engage with the system and tactics would be challenging, even though I play RPGs with 14 different people on a regular basis.
All this Lancer talk made me go and dig through the itch.io bundle for the book to read.
Then I became aware there is pilot/mech builder to go alongside it and there went three hours of my evening.
It looks neat. I do agree about the sheer size of the maps you would need, the A3 grids I use for 4e are I think 10x14 and plenty of weapons are 15 range.
Although if you were in a space station or something you could chain them all together.
I’d probably get a big A1 sheet laminated and use that if I was going to try it.
Kinda seems like this is the perfect time for Lancer's map sizes, what with everyone needing to use VTTs right now anyway. Personally I can't wait to run a Lancer PbP here. Just gotta get through enough of the book first.
Honestly, I only made it 13 pages into the book before I discovered the builder and lost my evening. I was building robots instead of reading rules.
Most of it was self explanatory other than I probably need to read up on electronic attacks.
I noticed in that D&D survey they don’t even give an option for offline DM tools, it’s strictly online and mobile for choices.
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
That's fair! I mean you'd still need a fairly larger than normal play space, since 10 range will be fairly more common and you presumably don't want everything being within range of each other at all times
Kinda seems like this is the perfect time for Lancer's map sizes, what with everyone needing to use VTTs right now anyway. Personally I can't wait to run a Lancer PbP here. Just gotta get through enough of the book first.
Honestly, I only made it 13 pages into the book before I discovered the builder and lost my evening. I was building robots instead of reading rules.
Most of it was self explanatory other than I probably need to read up on electronic attacks.
I noticed in that D&D survey they don’t even give an option for offline DM tools, it’s strictly online and mobile for choices.
Makes sense. They don’t care if you use excel. If they can get D&D beyond to add campaign management tools like world anvil/obsidian portal/google docs and make the subscription value proposition sweeter, or charge extra? Thats what they want to do.
Im sure they are looking at all these third party tools and wondering what percentage of their player base uses them.
That is probably my biggest stumbling block if I wanted to get into 5e is having to fork out the money for the physical books I’ve already bought.
Physical books and digital tools seem to be the best combination that works for me, but it was such a laggy broken train wreck when they swapped to online tools back in 4e it kind of soured me on the whole thing.
Which is a shame, because it is so quick and easy to put together encounters for it.
My first thought it I wanted to play a charge axe/shotgun mech in lancer. But the rail gun on Barbarossa looks so cooooool both from an aesthetic and mechanical point of view.
With a feat in the Pathfinder 2 Advanced Player's Guide my cleric is now even more ridiculous at healing out of combat. Don't need to roll dice for how much healing Treat Wounds does anymore, they are automatically maxxed. So with all these feats that's 42 hp to up to four targets every 10 minutes. As long as I roll a 2 or higher on the skill check of course.
A couple of weeks ago my players had a good laugh in my Mage game over my "five stages of grief" when they were trapped in a mindscape created by an Astra (super duper magical artifact created by archmages/supernal gods/fallen gods/etc) that called itself Phantasos and the Moros Tul-Val completely invalidated the main boss of the area (well one of two). It was a nightmare version of a Nosferatu ancient vampire they were currently in a cold war with, made of living blood in a dark cave shaped from one of the npcs deepest fears. The round starts, Tul-Val goes, and uses Matter and Life magic (four dots in each) to turn the vampire into a tree. I bluster and look at the spell he used, which does not allow resistance (essentially what it sounds like, a chance to resist the spell). Then another pc, Ember, catches the tree on fire.
I bluster for a moment, look at the notes I had, and just mutter for a couple of moments about all the work I put into him.
A couple of minutes later, as the players are all laughing and bantering, I legit had to stop and just kind of walk myself through the next step of the world they were in.
It was great, but damn if it didn't catch me off guard ( I would later be caught off guard again when they managed to talk down Phantasos into letting them out without fighting the artifact in a session where every player got to shine).
Tree Transformation should probably be Withstood by Stamina, but even then they'd probably be able to pump Potency enough to overcome it.
Adepts will Fuck Shit Up.
I kind of agree. It's one of those things that make sense, based off of the logic the game is set up with, and that the spell it's closest to in the book, shapechange, does have withstood by stamina. However, the spell, transubstantiation, does not give a withstand option, and the adding of Life 4 to the spell does not suddenly give it a withstand option (which other spells do call out when they have it as an affect). And I'm of two minds about it, because most spells with a patterning practice that do something that drastic do require a resistant trait, but also that spell requires you to have essentially sunk 40xp into getting that affect, which is a shit ton. And trying to find transubstantiation errata about the spell or to see if other people have had a discussion on it has turned up nothing. So like, its hard not to read it as the intent of the spell. And its not like the Mage couldn't have probably fucked up the dude by doing aggravated damage via any of the three Adept damage spells he knows.
I also got posited the question that I don't think I found a clear answer on: do Vampires leave ghosts in Chronicles of Darkness? They have souls still (thats why diablerie is so fucking horrifying for them), and nothing seems to stop them from being able to leave behind a ghost if they die violently. As well, I feel like I've read flavor stuff about Auspex that allows Vampires to essentially see imprints of dead vampires or vampires last moments, which fits kind of like a ghost. Thoughts?
15 range or greater is generally going to be for very long range weapons
10 is going to be roughly "standard rifle range", if that makes sense
15+ is generally limited to sniper rifles, missiles, heavy cannons, that sort of thing
The range/scale thing is honestly one of my pet peeves. Where a railgun goes like 300m.
Also on the note of maps it's a pain to do but when I tried to run Lancer (a wargame was not to my groups tastes) I just used actual satellite photography:
Kinda seems like this is the perfect time for Lancer's map sizes, what with everyone needing to use VTTs right now anyway. Personally I can't wait to run a Lancer PbP here. Just gotta get through enough of the book first.
See, I'm kind of at the opposite end. I could reasonably sketch some rectangles very fast in physical space in a piece of paper, use, like, parcheesi pieces to place enemies, and that'd be okay. But on a virtual tabletop, everything takes long enough that it needs to be all already set up beforehand anyway, and if I'm setting things up I probably should have like an actual background, and probably, like, graphics, and suddenly I'm spending two hours on a battlemap and another on finding sprites for the enemies.
Posts
Any sufficiently advanced technology, etc.
Only works in one direction.
The space magic is diverse in its weird sources, from defying the nature of cause and effect to travel instantly across massive distances to ontological entities that grants its worshippers powers to post-singularity intellects folding space onto itself to create dreamscapes where pathos has replaced logos.
More or less, yeah
Like paracausal ammunition is described as ammunition that hits the target when fired, without regard for anything that might occur inbetween.
Oh, you mean it's a hitscan weapon.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Combining these with the special spice system:
The knuckle-walker biped reptile has acidic blood, and a ruff of reversed scales it can fire off as projectiles.
The cat monster can breathe fire like a blowtorch, as well as release a thick, ink like smog.
The huge trex bear has an addtional set of wings growing out of it's back. It's got thick armored carapce, it's howls freeze water... oh and it can shrink itself down to a small size if it feels like it. (Man, the mental image of this one)
The avian quaruped can dislocate it's jaw to swallow prey whole, grow up to huge size if pressed, and has magnifcant antlers.
The slime serpent can spit sticky webbing, and has no eyes - but can instead detect stuff via echolocation.
The chimera bearabyssal thing has huge wingpaws for it's front limbs, and an additional set of crushing pincers . It can shift it's body into a much lower to the ground stance, with a long, thick tail sprouting in the process. It has multiple heads, like a hydra and thick armored plating.
The last one is just... well, that's an abomination alright.
Still, i'm digging that the system can produce pretty "Sensible" monsters and... whatever the hell the hydra-flying bear scorpion is.
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Switch: 0293 6817 9891
I bluster for a moment, look at the notes I had, and just mutter for a couple of moments about all the work I put into him.
A couple of minutes later, as the players are all laughing and bantering, I legit had to stop and just kind of walk myself through the next step of the world they were in.
It was great, but damn if it didn't catch me off guard ( I would later be caught off guard again when they managed to talk down Phantasos into letting them out without fighting the artifact in a session where every player got to shine).
This is pretty classic Mage. So much so that the 1st edition players guide had a section subheaded "Turning Vampires into Lawn Chairs and Other Works of 'High' Magick".
Well now I have to take a look at it.
Since most of my circle is reasonably into anime, I just think of Lancer's Gae Bulg. Basically, in Fate, Gae Bulg is a spear that, when thrown, reverses the order of causality - first it hits the target's heart, and then reality figures out what the fuck happened to get it to hit the heart and makes that happen. This seems about the kind of stuff Lancer paracausal stuff does.
Personally, I've been considering trying Lancer, but it looks like a serious ask to GM, given this is not a game that can be realistically run without proper battlemaps. I'm kind of used to running things very by the seat of my pants, think up a few NPCs and scenarios and just go with it. And that can't really be done here - much less online.
I’d consider running a one shot some day, but high level play every week? What am I gonna need? A 50 by 50 square map of well thought out terrain with 10 unique enemy mechs for one encounter perhaps? Other units too maybe. Then you’ve got the more free form roleplaying in between (more my style, but it’s still more content to deal with on top of the war game).
A quandary, no doubt.
It’s just hit me now that LANCER needs a D&D style module up to high level play, just so I can begin to visualise what I need to do a full campaign.
Tree Transformation should probably be Withstood by Stamina, but even then they'd probably be able to pump Potency enough to overcome it.
Adepts will Fuck Shit Up.
Typically.
That said yeah Adept level magic basically turns vampires into lawn furniture
They have a module like that out for play testing purposes. Not sure what state it’s in as I haven’t planned on running it, but it’s called “No Room For a Wallflower.”
Ushabti Omnigun
“– funny thing. See, right now, this weapon technically doesn’t even exist. You’re shooting them with a gun that isn’t real, and yet it is! Don’t worry about it. RA’s like that. Just, here, know that because it exists at some point, we’ve made it. That’s causality, and causality is a –"
[ERROR]
[range 15][1 AP kinetic damage]
Your mech’s omnigun is a piece of experimental hardware so advanced that it defies physics: it doesn’t require a mount, nor does it have a weapon type or size – meaning that it can’t be modified or benefit from your talents.
You can’t attack normally with this weapon. Instead, 1/round, as a free action during your turn, you can use it to deal 1 AP kinetic damage to a character within Range and line of sight. This doesn’t count as an attack, hits automatically, ignores cover, bypasses Immunity, and its damage can’t be reduced or ignored in any way. No rule in this book or any other supersedes this.
The Omnigun Is Not Real, not a gun and can hurt you.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
I love the Imperial Radch trilogy 💚
Oh man i havent even got that far, it's just the character concept that popped in my head - Noble who's all fuck swords, fuck guns, i am goign to beat things apart with my mech, proper old school combat style.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
I'm in the middle of taking it. It's pretty comprehensive. You state the year you first played D&D, what editions you've played, what editions you've played within the last year, how often you play, your top three favorite campaign settings, what your main motivations are in playing D&D (group planning, char op, miniatures, etc), what you believe are qualities of a good DM (rules mastery, wit, challenge, setting lore knowledge, etc), and so on.
EDIT: Man, this survey is VERY thorough.
Not to argue with your core point, but it is still an RPG and not a tactical war game, which means if you realize your terrain is fucked or your enemy composition is weak/broken/boring you can just... change it. A ship can strafe the battlefield and create a trench of soft cover, enemy reinforcements can arrive or the dull HP-sponge enemies can retreat or be pulled away to another battlefield. Also, not that it necessarily makes things easier but I think rather than one huge map with 10 enemies the general design is a series of smaller maps with one enemy (or grunt squad)/player, which gives you even more opportunity to adjust things on the fly rather than hope you get the one encounter exactly right.
That said, part of why I haven't pitched LANCER to anyone is because I'm concerned I won't be able to manage it with my current prep style, which is mostly just thinking about stuff in the shower, panic typing as much as I can an hour before the game, and then wining it. The other part is that putting together a group of players that would fully engage with the system and tactics would be challenging, even though I play RPGs with 14 different people on a regular basis.
Then I became aware there is pilot/mech builder to go alongside it and there went three hours of my evening.
It looks neat. I do agree about the sheer size of the maps you would need, the A3 grids I use for 4e are I think 10x14 and plenty of weapons are 15 range.
Although if you were in a space station or something you could chain them all together.
I’d probably get a big A1 sheet laminated and use that if I was going to try it.
10 is going to be roughly "standard rifle range", if that makes sense
15+ is generally limited to sniper rifles, missiles, heavy cannons, that sort of thing
Most of it was self explanatory other than I probably need to read up on electronic attacks.
I noticed in that D&D survey they don’t even give an option for offline DM tools, it’s strictly online and mobile for choices.
I made specific mention of my use of Dungeon Tiles, poster maps, minis, and monster tokens in the "Describe how you as a DM prepare" section.
@Me when you do, i wanna play a punch mech noble
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Makes sense. They don’t care if you use excel. If they can get D&D beyond to add campaign management tools like world anvil/obsidian portal/google docs and make the subscription value proposition sweeter, or charge extra? Thats what they want to do.
Im sure they are looking at all these third party tools and wondering what percentage of their player base uses them.
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Physical books and digital tools seem to be the best combination that works for me, but it was such a laggy broken train wreck when they swapped to online tools back in 4e it kind of soured me on the whole thing.
Which is a shame, because it is so quick and easy to put together encounters for it.
My first thought it I wanted to play a charge axe/shotgun mech in lancer. But the rail gun on Barbarossa looks so cooooool both from an aesthetic and mechanical point of view.
I kind of agree. It's one of those things that make sense, based off of the logic the game is set up with, and that the spell it's closest to in the book, shapechange, does have withstood by stamina. However, the spell, transubstantiation, does not give a withstand option, and the adding of Life 4 to the spell does not suddenly give it a withstand option (which other spells do call out when they have it as an affect). And I'm of two minds about it, because most spells with a patterning practice that do something that drastic do require a resistant trait, but also that spell requires you to have essentially sunk 40xp into getting that affect, which is a shit ton. And trying to find transubstantiation errata about the spell or to see if other people have had a discussion on it has turned up nothing. So like, its hard not to read it as the intent of the spell. And its not like the Mage couldn't have probably fucked up the dude by doing aggravated damage via any of the three Adept damage spells he knows.
I also got posited the question that I don't think I found a clear answer on: do Vampires leave ghosts in Chronicles of Darkness? They have souls still (thats why diablerie is so fucking horrifying for them), and nothing seems to stop them from being able to leave behind a ghost if they die violently. As well, I feel like I've read flavor stuff about Auspex that allows Vampires to essentially see imprints of dead vampires or vampires last moments, which fits kind of like a ghost. Thoughts?
The range/scale thing is honestly one of my pet peeves. Where a railgun goes like 300m.
Also on the note of maps it's a pain to do but when I tried to run Lancer (a wargame was not to my groups tastes) I just used actual satellite photography:
See, I'm kind of at the opposite end. I could reasonably sketch some rectangles very fast in physical space in a piece of paper, use, like, parcheesi pieces to place enemies, and that'd be okay. But on a virtual tabletop, everything takes long enough that it needs to be all already set up beforehand anyway, and if I'm setting things up I probably should have like an actual background, and probably, like, graphics, and suddenly I'm spending two hours on a battlemap and another on finding sprites for the enemies.