Backspace not working across new line

[Dataweaver]

Note that Dark Ages: Mage have the Batini the Pillars (“Ubaddan”) of fate (“al-Anbiya”), minds (“al-Fatihah”), space (“al-Hajj”), and secrecy (“al-Layl”). Al-Hajj is basically Correspondence; I could see using al-Ajbiya as a guideline when decision an alternate Sphere of Fate.


I would recommend that we review Ramnesis' Alternative Traditions Origins thread....

[Dataweaver]

Apparently not; although we have no idea how long it's been since it was corrupted. It may be connected to the Wyrm; or not. It's certainly been like that for a long time. But yeah; it's entirely possible that it wasn't always like that.

[Dataweaver]

It's an interesting point. In fact, I seem to recall that one of the last books during the WoD's initial run back in the early 00s flat out said that the Sphere of Entropy had been corrupted somewhere along the line. I think it might have been in the Revised Euthanatos Tradition Book, though maybe it's was in Ascension. It involved an Archmaster of Entropy attempting to fix the Sphere....

[Dataweaver]

I would actually recommend Book of Fragments as a starting point for this: it doesn't just have none rather good minor Spheres, but it also has some solid guidelines for making them (starting with something to the effect of “the above from Revised Storyteller's Handbook doesn't work very well; it doesn't give the Spheres enough meat)”. Book of Fragments recommends that you select four Spheres and a concept, with the concept being kind of like a Sphere s Specialty except that it can apply to all four Spheres; and the idea is that each rank in the Minor Sphere in question lets you use any Effects...

[Dataweaver]

No, they aren't. As Ramnesis has pointed out elsewhere, they're basically a retroactive version of Theosophy with primarily Christian symbolism layered on top....

[Dataweaver]

That was basically what Orpheus did: the Shroud became an impassible Stormwall, and everything in the other side got consumed by the Tempest. In my more jaded moments, I tend to think that ParaWolf will end up making Wr5 as a reskinned Orpheus, jettisoning the plot that Orpheus featured but keeping the idea (from nearly every book after the first one in that series) that you're not working for Orpheus or anyone else.

That is, they're likely to take the Nature Categories, Shades, Horrors, and Vitality/Spite/Stains and Crucible systems from Orpheus, and possibly even the Laments* while...

[Dataweaver]

How about this: the Dark Kingdom of Iron did fall, and Orpheus did gain a foothold in the Underworld. But that was almost 25 years ago; and unlike the Orpheus gameline, the 6th Great Maelstrom didn't scour the Underworld clean. Likewise, unlike the first edition of HtR, ghosts weren't forced across the Shroud and into the Skinlands en mass. Since then, the Great Maelstrom has subsided and a new Hierarchy has begun to rise. It isn't yet to the same level of power as the old Hierarchy had achieved before its demise; and with Orpheus in the mix now, it has more challenges to overcome than its precessor...

[Dataweaver]

Note that the above is a rough draft. I'd also point out that some of the non-BioK/VitaK found under Biological might be thought of as the result of two Aptitudes working together, with either BioK or VitaK unlocking, e.g., a Telepathy power that wouldn't otherwise be available.

I'll revise the post to split each entry among the Modes.

[Dataweaver]

I hope this isn't too little too late.

Biological Gifts
My initial thought was that Biological Gifts should get subdivided between Biokinesis and Vitakinesis. But far too many of them as written tend to have more in common with Clairsentience or Telepathy; so I ended up dividing these more ways:

Biokinesis:
Adaptation: Darwin's Razor
Psychomorphing: Density, Made of Rubber, Mind Over Matter, Reflex Booster, Stiff as a Board, Supreme Flexibility, Telluric Enhancement, Traversing the Impassable, Treading Death's Path, Walking on the Water
Transmogrify:...

[Dataweaver]

The Nephandi might be right about the final destination, or they might be wrong about that (only those who have Ascended know for sure — or don't, if the Buddhist idea of Nirvana as you present it is right); but they're very definitely wrong about how to get there.

And the Nephandi as presented in Book of the Fallen haven't succumbed to despair. The common thread in all of the Paradigms described isnt nihilism; it's sociopathy, with the best of them not caring about the pain they inflict on others and the worst of them actively delighting in it.

If you want a “heroic”...

[Dataweaver]

The Lightkeepers have been around since at least the 1800s, which is well before Aether. So no, they can't be the product of the Aether era.

As for Aether divergence points, I think the most likely would be one where the era doesn't get unwound in the end: the Martian Invasion is part of history (or may even still be ongoing decades later, with the Martians having never been fully vanquished); and Aether continues to be a thing instead of abruptly going away at the turn of the century. The Hammersmith Event still happens; but with Gogs and Magogs still running around, stalwarts and...

[Dataweaver]

I've noticed this on my Galaxy A32 5G phone, and haven't tested it on other platforms; but when I start a new line and attempt to delete, I have to manually reposition the cursor to the end of the previous line before I can delete anything that's on the previous line.

This didn't used to be the case; so whatever is causing it has to do with something that was changed while fixing the forums....

[Dataweaver]

Considering that their position in the original blurb that sparked the idea was “gods”, I would expect the Olympians to be more like Æther's Magogs: easy access to high Scale, and outright powers....

[Dataweaver]

True. That said, D&D 5.1 is now under the Creative Commons; there's nothing that they can do to take that back. As well, the ORC is well under way; I don't see that process stopping, even with WotC backing down. This is a decisive win for the community — although part of that win is that the community isn't going to be taking WotC for granted anymore....

[Dataweaver]

Agreed on the much needed polish. The content is great; but the organization could use some work. Looking forward to picking up a polished PF2 core book....

[Dataweaver]

I just watched a YouTube video summarizing statements from people inside WotC; and apparently, the guy in charge of D&D doesn't differentiate between different kinds of gamers. In particular, it looks like his idea for One D&D is to effectively turn out into a video game: his vision of the future of D&D is a subscription-based VTT with AI DMs; and the stunts being pulled with the OGL are designed to kill competitors in the VTT market so that WotC will be able to charge everyone for subscriptions....

[Dataweaver]

The Batini didn't appear in the Book of Crafts. If I recall correctly, their first appearance was in the Book of Shadows, as the lost tenth Tradition....

[Dataweaver]

I wouldn't make it unique to the Batini; it's just that they're in the unique position of not being able to use Entropy directly, so it's worthwhile for them to use this workaround; whereas other mages find it easier to just study Entropy. To that end, perhaps go with Correspondence and Time conjunctional Effects, with the added requirement of Arcane (though I'd only require dots of Arcane equal to the Effect ranking, rather than twice it).

As a more general rule of thumb, I'm not against any Sphere's Effects being reproducible using other Spheres, as long as it's harder to do (e.g.,...

[Dataweaver]

It's an interesting idea; but I don't buy that Batini can perform the equivalent of Entropy Effects using just Correspondence and Arcane; it makes it too easy for one Sphere to do the work of two. I could see them using Correspondence in conjunction with, say, Time to produce Entropy-like Effects; though even there, I feel like there should be some restrictions on what kinds of Entropy Effects they can duplicate.

[Dataweaver]

For what it's worth, the idea works better for the Disparates, Alliance or not....