completed Reaper Bones 4: Enthusiasm and Commentary Thread

[Doug Sundseth]

47 minutes ago, amuller33 said:

I have heard the "snakes don't have mammalian glands" too many times. We can suspend disbelief for  2 ton Lizards with wings that can fly, breathe Fire, talk and cast spells cuz ... MAGIC. But have one FANTASY race violate our  real world evolution and its an its a ridiculous outrage....  

 

There's a concept in fiction that "the first chapter is free". Generally that means that you can include any sort of absurd combination of things as the premise of the story. But the corollary of that is that after that first chapter, you need to actually explain weirdness that doesn't obviously arise from your premise.

 

"The world includes magic" does not constitute such justification for everything without explanation.

[amuller33]

good point you need some consistency ...but as we have discuss why isn't all humanoids share traits on shared evolutionary track as opposed to the strict interpretation of one (earth's) evolution  not in the first  chapter? as a practical matter I agree you cant just change laws of physics as a DM cuz Magic... I had a DM like that irritated me no end. Like i said this is an aesthetic with a piratical purpose not a game altering decision.

Edited August 6, 2017 by amuller33

[Dirty Ape]

I really like the snakes. They work for yuan ti which in some of 5he earlier write up started out as snake worshipping humans, but the also look good as the snake people from early edition snake people from gamma world. 

For my wish list I would like a stand in for demogorgon. 

[trappleton]

This is tangential, but: The stoneskull expansion from B3 is being sold retail. That's awesome. Is it something that will continue to be available, or is Reaper just burning through excess stock?

[Sylverthorne]

7 minutes ago, amuller33 said:

good point you need some consistency ...but as we have discuss why isn't all humanoids share traits on shared evolutionary track as opposed to the strict interpretation of one (earth's) evolution  not in the first  chapter? as a practical matter I agree you cant just change laws of physics as a DM cuz Magic... I had a DM like that irritated me no end. Like i said this is an aesthetic with a piratical purpose not a game altering decision.

 

I can come up with explanations all day long, if I have to. But the more I change, because magic, the more I /have/ to change, if you get where I'm going. When I GM, even magic has consistent rules; especially when someone is taking the laws of physics out behind the woodshed. It has to, or people get their whole pizza out of whack.

 

. .. I swear, GMs and world creators don't think about the side effects of saying, 'because magic'. :/

[Wyvernfire]

29 minutes ago, Harrek said:

 

And an almost fanatical devotion to the Space Pope ....

 

And our nice purple and teal uniforms.

 

 

[strawhat]

3 minutes ago, trappleton said:

This is tangential, but: The stoneskull expansion from B3 is being sold retail. That's awesome. Is it something that will continue to be available, or is Reaper just burning through excess stock?

Just burning through extra stock.

[amuller33]

1 minute ago, Sylverthorne said:

 

I can come up with explanations all day long, if I have to. But the more I change, because magic, the more I /have/ to change, if you get where I'm going. When I GM, even magic has consistent rules; especially when someone is taking the laws of physics out behind the woodshed. It has to, or people get their whole pizza out of whack.

 

. .. I swear, GMs and world creators don't think about the side effects of saying, 'because magic'. :/

BUT... Wait are we agreeing now?  As for gameplay players have to feel there is consistency. i had a good session ruined as a DM put is in a dream realm. Where you cou;d count on your spells o have an certain effect.... made sense as a story but as a game Meh!! people forget  the game aspect sometimes

[Disciple of Sakura]

1 hour ago, strawhat said:

Well, there are some snakes that give birth to live young.  Two classes of such according to the internet.

 

The first (of which I was aware) is not actually live birth, but the "shell" is basically nothing and is destroyed immediately upon birth.  This includes garter snakes and some vipers.

 

The second (of which I have only just become aware) are actually considered "true" live births and deal with things like placental sacks.  This includes snakes like boa constrictors and anacondas.

 

 

(FWIW, I generally prefer my snake people more like Deis from Breath of Fire.)

Edited August 6, 2017 by Disciple of Sakura
added extra commentary.

[Caffiene]

The Yuan-ti here seem to be pretty consistent with widely used "rules" of magic to me. Across minotaurs, harpies, sphinxes, centaurs and many other magical creatures the vast majority of representations are pretty consistent in showing that magical hybrids with humans/humanoids have humanoid upper torso and mammary placement rather than that of the other hybrid part.

 

Even apart from backstory of them being originally human, to my mind having the Yuan-ti not have breasts would be less consistent with typical fantasy creatures and how magic appears to "work", not more.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Caffiene

[Thes Hunter]

1 hour ago, Ratmaster2000 said:

Man Thes Hunter, and I thought I had "too much time on my hands"  Really though, much appreciated, this helps justify my need to buy core set

 

Took me ~7 minutes. Shift click Clt-D and then a couple formulas and wham-o. We have data. 

 

Spreadsheets run the world, yo.

[Bane Of Humanity]

Wonder if there is any chance of getting a larger sized Yuan-ti Abomination.  As WOTC and Wizkids releases are just terrible....

[Pegazus]

So... since we had the Greybeards unlock in the first update, which if we assume concludes the first chapter of the Bones 4 story, that gives us the Evil Wizards that are to blame for everything after that, per Xena, Warrior Princess. Thus, the snake people aren't evolved snakes, but cursed humans who appear as snake-like human hybrids.

 

Yet again, The Simpson's come through with an explanation for everything!

[Ratmaster2000]

You know, why do I feel like keeping the PM open (for me at least) is a bad thing. I am probably not going to be able to kick a lot in before September 2nd (maybe?) even though I wish I could, but I can just see myself between now and july 2018 saying "you know, I just sold something on Ebay and now that money is sitting there doing nothing, I think i'll add those trolls/hill giants, [insert whatever else is unlocked] and add to my pledge. Heck if I have a good month, after getting the core set, I may even get the chronoscope expansion:( Man this may get expensive, and I have zero self control:(

[DMAgamus]

Yoooo, Yuan-Ti like snake people? I'm loving it. This KS feels less Hero/PC focused and more Monster/NPC focused (so far), but I might just be viewing it wrong. As I said, initially I wasn't sold on the core set, but the things they are adding are hitting the right notes for me.