1. #24871
    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Dammit, I’ve written a seriously long response to some of the Anima discussion above and I can’t post it because the system thinks I’ve used too many image files.

    I’ve used zero images or image tags in the message.

    CURSE YOU FORUMS!!!

  2. #24872
    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Will you be doing that? Like, demons and stuff? Or just spirits and magical things?
    Oh, I doubt it, but I honestly don’t know. There hasn’t been enough thought gone into it yet - it was only just before the character sheet got submitted that the decision was made to go summons as well, rather than pure Invoker. It was just an off-the-cuff comment because it made an interesting contrast to the Light Sheele.

    Not so much the same thing at all, no. :) After all, it's only a sliver of her soul that links with some kind of proto-elemental; that it happens to come out Light would be odd, but not entirely out of the question. Especially since DZ emotions run deeper than human emotions, and yeah, they do feel things like happiness, love, and all of those other supposedly 'Light-based' emotions.

    I would love it because of contrast. Would make for some good drama. And surprises.
    Definitely. And no, they’re not classical pure evil Dark Elves. Lot more nuanced than that.

    So you have an artifact weapon as well? It's always hard starting a DZ character; the lack of any kind of decent weapon makes weapon-using characters difficult, considering most GM's find it hard to justify just handing off a Ghestal weapon at the start. Especially given that the standard Duk'Zarist weapon is actually a magical blade - the Zebah IS the basic DZ weapon. I don't think it's possible to find a Ghestal weapon that isn't empowered in some way, and if it were it would likely be considered 'practice tool' or 'kid's toy'. But getting an artifact weapon bypasses that issue.
    No, not an artifact. Mobius has kind of handwaved a Ghestal wood longsword using standard longsword stats. Mainly just to get round the metal allergy. I’ve just left the story hook element thing to it in the background in case that’s something Mobius wants to explore - if he chooses to reveal it’s an artifact later and unlock powers, I’m happy to bung one (or more) of my future even-level CPs into it for narrative purpose.

    It’s good to have a long-term plan for a character, but it’s even better if you can bend that plan when the narrative wind changes.

    So there's no real DZ culture to her, or that sort of thing, because of her upbringing. Personality-wise, either? How does her race translate into her personality? The nature part of it, not the nurture part.
    Well, she’s got aspects certainly. Knowledge is important to her. And strength - one of the reasons she’s stayed mainly in the Barren Icy Lands (apart from some other stuff in her background) is that she really respects their strong, unyielding nature. She’s not into gratuitous violence, but if it’s necessary… Other parts of it I’ll be exploring. She doesn’t really have any grudges yet, and only one person who she loves very dearly, but that’s mainly because of her transient existence. I’m sure those bonds and enmities will surface. And she wants to find out more about her own culture - she’s very curious. When she got caught up in Terrasanta, she was en route to the Pelegri Coast to search for Mnemosite - that’s what her father was doing when she was born. If he ever returned for her mother and her, it was after the Samael camp had packed up and moved on.

    Also curious how Mobius plays DZ. The cultural difference, the racial stuff that simply doesn't translate, the racial influence and the influence of Dark in their spirits, the fact that they're neither 'dark elves' nor (at all) humans, etc. The rules don't give a LOT about that, but between Gaia II's notes on the matter, samples of DZ culture, and what is written in the base book, there's enough for a GM to at least develop an idea of how the DZ culture is (barring GM's that go with 'basically humans but superior', which I feel is a real lost opportunity). I'm sure there's an 'official' DZ culture, but again...not entirely laid out, so I'm always curious to see what GM's make of them. Might give me ideas (though I've already got my version of their culture preeeetty nailed down).

    Sylvain are easier to figure out - more stuff, more information, they're basically elves (though they have some cultural specifics and stuff that aren't necessarily 'fantasy-elf cliche').

    If you find out Mobius's perspective on DZ, please let me know. ^_^ I find the DZ fascinating, as on the surface they look like 'generic fantasy anti-elves', but with a little bit of digging (just a little, no more) one discovers 'nope, nope, not at all the case'.

    I figure if I ever manage to play, it's either going to be a bog-standard human or (assuming I work myself up to playing a non-human) a Duk'zarist.
    I’ll try and find out his take on Duks as I go and I’ll let you know.


    Good stuff, there. Any idea if she's the kind to synch with any of the Shajads (or Beryls, not absolutely impossible, though Azrael is likely out of the question, and no great loss there)?
    Oh, we’ve talked about that. I mean from a mechanical basis, the obvious ones for a Summoner are Erebus and Jedah (because Jedah, along with Uriel and probably Eriol, is ma boi). There’s some Eriol in there as well - she’ll definitely be a risk taker, and there’s snippets of others (Raf, Gabe, Uriel, Noah maybe). We’ll see how that goes.

    But no, not Azy (too uptight and repressed anyway - seriously, you and Noah need to just get a room and get it out of your system) or any of the ones with varying degrees of batshit (Barakiel to a degree and then massively Edamiel & Zemial). And not the poseur that is Abaddon (“Ooooh, I’m so eeeeeevil!”).

    Quote Originally Posted by Cleric of Hell’s Brigade View Post
    I’m not going to lie:

    Listening/reading to the Anima stuff on the last few pages is like being a child and having the adults in the room talking in another language.

    Fascinating and terrifying. :)

    Really, it’s fairly cool but sounds hella complicated at times.
    Oh, it is. It’s not a dip-your-toe-in kind of game, but you know that - you’ve played. If you get hooked on it, you’re hooked.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh View Post
    Out of Curiosity Beadle, will the metal allergy be a problem?
    Dammit I hope so. :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Glad it's at least entertaining.

    Anima is pretty complex, even as RPG systems go (especially these days, with everyone else trying for 'stripped down, no detail' systems). But most of the complexity is in character generation. The rules are fairly deep, but not too hard to grasp if one has experience with other Table Top RPG's.
    But also this. ^

    Barring him really screwing up a Resistance roll, in a few levels it'll cease to be an issue. ^_^ Would be even less of an issue were he playing a male Duk'Zarist, but.

    Unless he's using martial arts, though, it 100% means 'Ghestal weapon' (I may be spelling that wrong, no books and I can never remember if it takes an h or not... :D). Or malebolgian, but I strongly doubt Beadle laid out enough points to start with one of those.

    Hopefully he'll be able to find some light Ramalen (sp, again) armor at some point as well.
    As mentioned above, Ghestal weapon (just a punk Ghestal weapon in terms of its stats, at least for now).

    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    I've always been a touch frustrated by Carlos (the writer) going on about how most male Duk'zarist are psychic, and most female Duk'zarist have the magical Gift, then promptly making every single Duk'zarist in the rule books (male, female, whatever) a magic-using one. -_-

    Someone once said his favorite class is Warlock, and it shows. ^_^

    ...I may have fiddled with a named-Duk'zarist's class in my own game, out of spite. :)
    He loves high-level Warlocks. Recently he’s veered towards Freelancers a bit as well (I mean we all know how he feels about Lucanor, but there are other examples) and he likes Techies (Kisidan, Killrayne etc), but he’s had a hard-on for Warlocks since forever. I mean the prominence of the likes of Gaul, Nerelas, Romeo Exxet (ironically), Ilumina, Ghost Angel, Ophiel and a ton of others is quite ridiculous. It’s a running joke in the Discord server.

  3. #24873
    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Oh, now it works. Weird.

  4. #24874
    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Beeeeaaadle...your PM box is full. ^_^
    Blarrghh. I’ll clear some space if I can.

    Edit: And done.
    Last edited by Beadle; 10-20-2021 at 09:34 AM.

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    She/Her Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Barring him really screwing up a Resistance roll, in a few levels it'll cease to be an issue. ^_^ Would be even less of an issue were he playing a male Duk'Zarist, but.

    Unless he's using martial arts, though, it 100% means 'Ghestal weapon' (I may be spelling that wrong, no books and I can never remember if it takes an h or not... ). Or malebolgian, but I strongly doubt Beadle laid out enough points to start with one of those.

    Hopefully he'll be able to find some light Ramalen (sp, again) armor at some point as well.
    I feel like it's less an "if" the roll will be flubbed, and more of a "when". At which point failing a resistance and proofing out of existence seems like it'll be one heck of a way to go...

    Quote Originally Posted by Beadle View Post
    Oh, now it works. Weird.
    Gotta curse for it to work.
    Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran

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  6. #24876
    The Weeping Mod Sharpandpointies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Beadle View Post
    Oh, I doubt it, but I honestly don’t know. There hasn’t been enough thought gone into it yet - it was only just before the character sheet got submitted that the decision was made to go summons as well, rather than pure Invoker. It was just an off-the-cuff comment because it made an interesting contrast to the Light Sheele.
    Still In Development, then. Gotcha. Well, you're starting at Level 1, right? Lotsa time to decide.

    Definitely. And no, they’re not classical pure evil Dark Elves. Lot more nuanced than that.
    They're not even elves, really. People keep saying 'they're a kind of Dark Elf', but no. That they have pointy ears is the only thing that really makes them 'like' an elf, and the Sylvain take that place nicely. They're Duk'zarist, and they're one of the more interesting creations of the writer, for my money. ^_^

    Edit: and yeah, not 'evil'.

    No, not an artifact. Mobius has kind of handwaved a Ghestal wood longsword using standard longsword stats. Mainly just to get round the metal allergy. I’ve just left the story hook element thing to it in the background in case that’s something Mobius wants to explore - if he chooses to reveal it’s an artifact later and unlock powers, I’m happy to bung one (or more) of my future even-level CPs into it for narrative purpose.
    Maybe you'll find out it's your mom's practice sword. ^_^ And that the name has something to do with 'The Damn Practice Stick'.

    But unlocking powers later from a seemingly normal item is also fun.

    It’s good to have a long-term plan for a character, but it’s even better if you can bend that plan when the narrative wind changes.
    Absolutely.

    Well, she’s got aspects certainly. Knowledge is important to her. And strength - one of the reasons she’s stayed mainly in the Barren Icy Lands (apart from some other stuff in her background) is that she really respects their strong, unyielding nature. She’s not into gratuitous violence, but if it’s necessary… Other parts of it I’ll be exploring. She doesn’t really have any grudges yet, and only one person who she loves very dearly, but that’s mainly because of her transient existence. I’m sure those bonds and enmities will surface. And she wants to find out more about her own culture - she’s very curious. When she got caught up in Terrasanta, she was en route to the Pelegri Coast to search for Mnemosite - that’s what her father was doing when she was born. If he ever returned for her mother and her, it was after the Samael camp had packed up and moved on.
    Cool. Good to have some nods to the actual blood, because yeah, it's pretty strong in Duk'Zarist. Like it or not, they all have the overly-powerful emotions (in my game, they walk around not giving anything away because - vaguely similar to another sf race - they've been trained from birth to control themselves, otherwise DZ society would be a hot mess) and the drive to succeed. I think they all tend to identify best (as a race) with Noah.

    I’ll try and find out his take on Duks as I go and I’ll let you know.
    Thank you!

    Oh, we’ve talked about that. I mean from a mechanical basis, the obvious ones for a Summoner are Erebus and Jedah (because Jedah, along with Uriel and probably Eriol, is ma boi). There’s some Eriol in there as well - she’ll definitely be a risk taker, and there’s snippets of others (Raf, Gabe, Uriel, Noah maybe). We’ll see how that goes.
    Mechanical, sure, great choices. I'm curious how she synchs with the others due to her character. ^_^

    But no, not Azy (too uptight and repressed anyway - seriously, you and Noah need to just get a room and get it out of your system) or any of the ones with varying degrees of batshit (Barakiel to a degree and then massively Edamiel & Zemial). And not the poseur that is Abaddon (“Ooooh, I’m so eeeeeevil!”).
    Azrael is such a ****...doesn't matter what your character does, Beadle, you're Dark and no truce with the darkness. Die, unclean thing, I don't care if you were helping orphans. Also, none of my people better help you or ally with you, or they'll lose Elan themselves.

    -_-

    I mean, it's pretty obvious when one sits back and looks at the actual Beryls and Shajads that no, these are not actually conceptual beings, they're just a bunch of really powerful beings that decided 'hey, we like these concepts, I think I'll try to follow that specific one' and (in some cases) massively dropped the ball.

    Azrael, Justice? *gales of laughter* She's one of the biggest hypocrites around; really, she's just about killing anything Dark, with Justice kind of as an afterthought. Barakiel is appalling, Edamiel screwed the whole thing up because she chose the wrong thing to align herself with, realized she messed up, and basically went suicidal. And Abbadon is really a joke, as you note.

    ...at least Zemiel is what he is. Funny that there's more of the screw-ups on the Beryl side of things (IMO).

    I like the 'honest' ones (Erebus, Jedah, Noah, Mikael, Gabriel, Rafael, the Chaos twins, and Meseguis), but the others.... ^_^

    As mentioned above, Ghestal weapon (just a punk Ghestal weapon in terms of its stats, at least for now).
    You should refer to it as 'mom's second-best sword' or 'mom's practice sword'.

    He loves high-level Warlocks. Recently he’s veered towards Freelancers a bit as well (I mean we all know how he feels about Lucanor, but there are other examples) and he likes Techies (Kisidan, Killrayne etc), but he’s had a hard-on for Warlocks since forever. I mean the prominence of the likes of Gaul, Nerelas, Romeo Exxet (ironically), Ilumina, Ghost Angel, Ophiel and a ton of others is quite ridiculous. It’s a running joke in the Discord server.
    Was the same back on the forums - everyone used to comment on that. He does love those Warlocks.

    I mean, you look at any Duk'zarist dudes mentioned in Gaia I (just as name people inhabiting a place) and chances are they're a warlock, rather than a mentalist.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh View Post
    I feel like it's less an "if" the roll will be flubbed, and more of a "when". At which point failing a resistance and proofing out of existence seems like it'll be one heck of a way to go...
    He'll reach a point fairly quickly where it'll only be if he rolls 01.
    Last edited by Sharpandpointies; 10-20-2021 at 10:05 AM.
    Why are we here?

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  7. #24877
    The Weeping Mod Sharpandpointies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Beadle View Post
    Oh, now it works. Weird.
    Too many happy faces or sad faces in my post you quoted. You probably told it not to make the emojis.
    Why are we here?

    "Superboy Prime (the yelling guy if he needs clarification)..." - Postmania
    "...dropping an orca whale made of fire on your enemies is a pretty strong opening move." - Nik
    "Why throw punches when you can be making everyone around you sterile mutant corpses?" - Pendaran, regarding Dr. Fate

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    She/Her Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    He'll reach a point fairly quickly where it'll only be if he rolls 01.
    So less of a 'when' but still possible. Gotta love dice rolls.

    As far as the Warlock conversation goes though, I was pretty pleased with the Warlock w/insane (for a warlock) Zeon Regen you helped me figure out for Siriel's game. Given time I would've liked to think she'd would've been pretty bonkers (dice rolls permitting).
    Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran

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  9. #24879
    The Weeping Mod Sharpandpointies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh View Post
    So less of a 'when' but still possible. Gotta love dice rolls.
    Yeah. If Beadle plays smart (redundant, Beadle will), avoids direct confrontation unless he absolutely needs to do so, and doesn't use cheap silverware, he might not need to make too many rolls through the game. One can hope.

    Taking the 'lucky' gift is another way around it, or whatever it's called - there's a gift allowing people to reroll three times a session, and that would be good for a DZ. How one would translate that to PBP, not sure...probably once per day.

    Also that Ramalan armor would help (really need to look up the spelling, again). ^_^ Or even complete leather, if one can't get the good stuff.

    As far as the Warlock conversation goes though, I was pretty pleased with the Warlock w/insane (for a warlock) Zeon Regen you helped me figure out for Siriel's game. Given time I would've liked to think she'd would've been pretty bonkers (dice rolls permitting).
    Fun character. Would have liked to seen more from her, but Siriel's game kind of died just after you joined.

    Still sad about that - it's really the only time I've gotten to PLAY Anima.
    Last edited by Sharpandpointies; 10-20-2021 at 11:16 AM.
    Why are we here?

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    "...dropping an orca whale made of fire on your enemies is a pretty strong opening move." - Nik
    "Why throw punches when you can be making everyone around you sterile mutant corpses?" - Pendaran, regarding Dr. Fate

  10. #24880
    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Yeah. If Beadle plays smart (redundant, Beadle will), avoids direct confrontation unless he absolutely needs to do so, and doesn't use cheap silverware, he might not need to make too many rolls through the game. One can hope.
    Me playing smart is FAR from a given.

    Taking the 'lucky' gift is another way around it, or whatever it's called - there's a gift allowing people to reroll three times a session, and that would be good for a DZ. How one would translate that to PBP, not sure...probably once per day.
    Oh no. She didn’t get Lucky. Far from it. She got Unfortunate, which isn’t a mechanical thing but basically means I hand over to Mobius the keys to my character at times and hopes he doesn’t crash it into a late-night fried chicken restaurant.

    Also that Ramalan armor would help (really need to look up the spelling, again). ^_^ Or even complete leather, if one can't get the good stuff.
    Ramalen would be good, but at the moment she has complete leather (but not hardened or anything of quality).

  11. #24881
    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh View Post
    As far as the Warlock conversation goes though, I was pretty pleased with the Warlock w/insane (for a warlock) Zeon Regen you helped me figure out for Siriel's game. Given time I would've liked to think she'd would've been pretty bonkers (dice rolls permitting).
    You were really unlucky with that. She was a lot of fun, but yeah, as Sharp said, you joined the game at exactly the wrong time.

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    She/Her Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies View Post
    Yeah. If Beadle plays smart (redundant, Beadle will), avoids direct confrontation unless he absolutely needs to do so, and doesn't use cheap silverware, he might not need to make too many rolls through the game. One can hope.
    Can't lie, a character simply ceasing to exist becuase they went to the wrong Tavern is kind of an amusing thought.

    Fun character. Would have liked to seen more from her, but Siriel's game kind of died just after you joined.

    Still sad about that - it's really the only time I've gotten to PLAY Anima.
    Quote Originally Posted by Beadle View Post
    You were really unlucky with that. She was a lot of fun, but yeah, as Sharp said, you joined the game at exactly the wrong time.
    It was probably for the best.

    Considering what her phobia was, the odds of her accidentally pulling a BillJack (due to the specifics of what triggered an episode) were low but never zero. Would've made for fun interactions though, certainly, as said phobia was part of how she found the group anyway.

    ... Though Siriel's game dying as it did, did kinda get me to skitter away from joining Sharp's Anima game... after going through the work to make another fun Warlock, something I regret.
    Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran

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    Batwoman's Ruby Rose Reveals Horrifying Set Conditions
    https://www.cbr.com/batwoman-ruby-ro...wbtv-berlanti/
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    E-Liter3K Scoped Headshot The MunchKING's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh View Post
    ... Though Siriel's game dying as it did, did kinda get me to skitter away from joining Sharp's Anima game... after going through the work to make another fun Warlock, something I regret.
    Well there will be other games in the future. Other chances to Warlock out.
    The MunchKING is Back! And he is AWSOME!

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    Prince of Duckness Beadle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh View Post
    It was probably for the best.

    Considering what her phobia was, the odds of her accidentally pulling a BillJack (due to the specifics of what triggered an episode) were low but never zero. Would've made for fun interactions though, certainly, as said phobia was part of how she found the group anyway.
    Pah! A psychological episode? We LIVED for those. I mean Ardy could go into catatonic mode or murder-frenzy mode if she was triggered. We even had a safe word (KITTENS!) that Tasha was supposed to say whenever she felt herself slipping into her ‘murder EVERYBODY’ state. And Corim didn’t so much have psychological episodes as an animalistic approach to human organ consumption - kind of his own personal diet plan.

    We knew how to deal with psychoses.

    ... Though Siriel's game dying as it did, did kinda get me to skitter away from joining Sharp's Anima game... after going through the work to make another fun Warlock, something I regret.
    That’s a shame too. Some great characters in that (I still want to know what Samuel’s deal was, Nik!), even if we struggled with player availability from early on.

    Really enjoyed both of those games. Would have been really good to see you more in them.

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