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[Bluecho]

I wouldn't say Chaos Magick presupposes the mental patterns are false. Rather, they are artificial. Constructed. They exist, but only because people made them and then empowered them through mental focus.

A Dreamspeaker who accepts "the American Spirit" in this way understands that America is an idea founded centuries ago and then developed over time. But it's such a widespread idea, it has plenty of life unto itself. The American thought form, or Egregore, has power because people give it power. This, in turn, can provide the Mage with power if they know how to interface...

[Bluecho]

The Followers of Set are a lot of things. It depends on which of the Clan's many, MANY cults you're talking about. Some are Luciferian gnostics who "free humanity with sex, drugs, and rock n' roll". That doesn't mean all of them are. (Just look at the numerous sub-groups found in, say, Lore of the Clans). Some that never adopted modern trappings or philosophies that the Clan uses, and instead are much more like their Robert E. Howard progenitors: primordial snake cultists. Not to mention all the secret heresies that are beyond even "acceptable" Setite deviations.
...

[Bluecho]

I recall a while back, there was discussion about Bahari or Setite cults who could potentially know rituals to create Fomori. I forget the thread, but I remember talking about it.

[Bluecho]

131) Lt. Giles Forest, Army Druid Dragoon [Human, Wildfire Druid]:
Drafted from an uneventful life into the military, Giles Forest's unusual affinity for the natural world (read: a Wisdom score in excess of 13) caught the attention of his superiors. Always in need of magical expertise, Forest was fast-tracked for basic training in their country's natural Druidism. The necessity to take him away from more involved infantry training, coupled with the need to spread the army's magical resources around, landed him as part of a company of Dragoons (essentially, supplemental mounted infantry)....

[Bluecho]

While we're on the subject, there's a notable difference of attitude between Revised and M20, when it comes to Mages who play into the pageantry and tropes of the archetypes they follow. In Revised, the assumption was that every Mage was being as low-key as possible, and that the 90s-00s era Mages were too cool to "look the part". Whereas M20 enshrines playing into the traits classically associated with their archetypes, by emphasizing the mechanical advantages to adhering to "Mythic Threads". Any Hermetic Wizard could go around in a leather jacket and discreet wand/ring, but...

[Bluecho]

Problem: Sun Worshipers tend to expect their cult leader to perform rites while the sun is up. Preferably outside, where the sun can shine down on all of them....

[Bluecho]

At least, until the Sleepers decide they've overslept long enough, and no amount of frantic sacrifices by the panicking Molochim will stop them from waking up. If Gehenna came, THAT is the "pull the rug out from under you" moment I would want to see....

[Bluecho]

Been a while since I read the section, but the Book of Madness explains it as Qliphothic Spheres being metaphysically destructive. As in, regardless of Paradigm, Reality is made tangibly damaged by a Nephandi simply doing magick at all.

Qliphothic Correspondence, for instance, doesn't bridge two locations when the mage teleports. It erases the space in between (or perhaps gouges out a passage is a better description). Qliphothic Mind doesn't rearrange or suppress memories, it annihilates them.

Functionally, Nephandi cast spells the same as any other. On a metaphysical...

[Bluecho]

My headcanon is that the Molochim aren't keeping the Sleepers asleep, except in the sense that the Sleepers don't need to get out of bed for sustenance. The Baali are delaying their rise, but they're also feeding them. Making them stronger.

There's even the possibility that the Sleepers would have risen long ago, but would have done so in a weaker state. In prior millennia, they might have even been "take-able" by those on Earth. Although in the relative sense that civilizations would probably be annihilated and massive ecological damage would result, and only with great...

[Bluecho]

[I feel like making another adventure set in Ravnica. As with many of these, I set the events happening in the period described in Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, prior to the events of War of the Spark.]


9) Sands of Yore [DnD, Ravnica; Medium Dungeon]:
Coinciding with the breaking of the Guildpact (the first time), a host of monsters called Nephilim - sealed 10,000 years ago - were released upon Ravnica. Naturally, these abominations from the old world were destroyed, and in time a tenuous peace was reforged between the Guilds. But not entirely. Unbeknownst to the Guilds,...

[Bluecho]

Also, Aim helps melee Rogues too. Note the description says nothing about attacks made at range or melee. It's ANY attack. That it turns off movement keys into the idea of the Rogue standing their ground.

Another thing explained in the Crawford interviews is that Aim is meant just as much for Rogues stuck in melee, as it does for Rogues at range. Especially if the Rogue is fighting alone, without any allies to key their Sneak Attack off of. (It does happen, whether because the party has no other melee fighters, or because the Rogue is away from the rest of the group for any number...

[Bluecho]

^This.

Regardless of what individual Camarilla vampires thought of Hardestadt, he was a major leader of the sect. Letting his murderer get away with killing him - both for sectarian pride and sectarian survival - is simply unthinkable. The Camarilla MUST pursue Theo Bell to Final Death, to set an example to any other Kindred who would consider taking the fight directly to the sect's leadership. To remind them that such violence cannot and will not be tolerated, and that the Ivory Tower will met out reprisal with extreme prejudice.

To do otherwise would be to display that...

[Bluecho]

With the Pact of the Talisman, I see it as a more variable form of the Bard's "Jack-Of-All-Trades" feature (add half Proficiency bonus to any ability you don't have proficiency with), but you have the added benefit of giving it to anyone in the group, not just you. It's part of what I see in the latest UAs of having more class/subclass features that benefit the whole party, not just the character in question. As for the effect itself, it's a passive, always-on Guidance for anything the wearer isn't already good at.

It's certainly not as flashy or impressive as three free...

[Bluecho]

We've had a load of Unearthed Arcana articles in the last few months, but this most recent one is kind of significant. Not just potential new subclasses, but variant rules for the classes themselves.

Interested in seeing what everyone thinks. Some initial thoughts:

-Various iterations of "Spell Versatility" and "Cantrip Versatility", letting characters change what spells and/or cantrips they know, either at a long rest (for classes with Spells Known) or when gaining a level (for Prepared Spells). A very solid quality-of-life improvement, and I was...

[Bluecho]

Small aside: Remember in Force Awakens when we were introduced to Snoke, and it turned out it was just a big hologram? Was anyone else disappointed that he wasn't a giant?

Because as goofy as it would be, a Giant Sith Lord would also be kind of cool. At least I think so.

[Bluecho]

And guess what? The Midichlorians/Force Jesus bit was also stupid eugenecist shit. Are we really dipping into the well of the SW prequels for justifications for this?...

[Bluecho]

No problem. It was honestly quite fortuitous, that the video got released at this time....

[Bluecho]

So, uh, this episode of Renegade Cut just dropped: "The Problem with Rick and Morty".

I thought it was pertinent to the discussion, RE: the difference between a creator's intended meaning and the work's textual meaning. And how that can teach dangerous lessons, when there is a segment of the audience receptive to the lesson.

[Bluecho]

Well, if we're talking about Kylo Ren, I would be remiss if I didn't link to Folding Ideas's video "Kylo Ren as a Compelling Villain", from 2015.

(Seems like I'm just in the mood to cite sources directly to make my arguments today, rather than going to the effort of making them myself. Oh well.)

[Bluecho]

A facet of a text does not need to be consciously crafted for it to exist in the text. Unconscious bias and preconceptions can inform decisions in the creative process. See also Coding.

The exaggerated way in which a woman is killed in a film may arise from the filmmakers working on preexisting patterns. We see this more specifically in the frequency with which specifically Lesbians are targets of death in narratives. A pattern going back to earlier government mandated standards and practices within media, that compelled filmmakers to denounce and punish moral offenders within a narrative...