Miscellaneous Chatter > RPG Discussion

Occult Investigators in the Bakkerverse?

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sciborg2:
Transporting some discussion about this from the Discord ->

Athjeari:


--- Quote ---Is anyone into the SCP Foundation universe?  If so, I’m trying to identify what portions of tSA that could be transferred over to the D&D 5e rule set in a believable manner.
This specific group of players I DM for played my patchwork version of tSA, but I think they would really like an adventure version where they are essentially SCP agents and all of the SCP’s they are called to investigate are out of the Bakkerverse
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Shulgi the Innkeeper:


--- Quote ---SCP is great
Used to read articles before, haven't checked it in more than a year though.
If you combine the technological anomalies, such as the ones made by Anderson Robotics or perhaps Prometheus Labs and use them as technology for the Consult, I think it will make a fun mixture. I doubt the lores are compatible in any way though, even the horror atmosphere is different.
Flesh that hates and Consult abomiantions could work together I guess
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Sciborg:


--- Quote ---Regarding the RPG idea I think you can combine elements of Neuropath - use tech to fuck with people's brains in Seven-movie fashion w/ elements of the gods and Outside
The Hundred can be archetypes, hiding behind angels of the monotheisms and gods of the polytheisms.
The Hundred, are, arguably, akin to AIs
The Trickster seems like a friend, helping you navigate these horrors, but in truth seeks a way into the world could be a campaign.
Ciprhang - I assume 5e has the Tanar'ri, the demons of the Abyss
Those seem to be inspiration for the Ciphrang we get in the books.
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--- Quote ---5e Ultramodern - I think that's the title - prolly has enough modern rules for stuff like guns to help blend the fantasy and sci-fi elements.
You don't even need to read Neuropath, you can just ask yourself what happens when the worst people in the world - many of whom are in power - get access to tech that can fuck with brains....
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--- Quote ---Chorae would need to be toned down, tho Aporetics could be how Ciphrang are harmed...like you scribble some Word of God onto bullets, blades, etc.
just use magical weapon rules, maybe with some "ignoring defensive magics"
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Wilshire:


--- Quote ---The all/nothing nature of Bakker's magic is likely untenable for an rpg.

It works on the scale of armies, but for small groups it doesn't make sense. Either all encounters simply end with a handwaive, or the wizard does nothing.

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SmilerLoki:


--- Quote ---it's pretty much like the real world - who lands the first hit, wins
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Sciborg:


--- Quote ---Aporetics actually gives a reason for the sci-fi tech

The mechanic is already in the Modern / Urban-Fantasy rules for 5e
Ah you just tone down the efficacy of Aporetics
Like how you need a +1 magical weapon to hit most demons, elementals, etc
It give the opportunity, not victory outright

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H:


--- Quote ---Brutal Rock, Paper, Scissors balance there.
I mean, it can work, you just better watch each other's asses.  But, yeah, maybe they were going for a real D2 Hardcore-style.  It does make for some real "stakes."  In a Heideggerian Being-Towards-Death way, I guess.

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Sci:


--- Quote ---Yeah a lot of the Old School Renaissance stuff is pretty hardcore
But if the goal is Occult Investigation into Bakkerverse type horror
Seems like you need to either up the power of science and/or lower the power of magic
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Wilshire:


--- Quote ---Permadeath is not something I have ever felt I had time for.
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Sci:


--- Quote ---permadeath based on a die-roll especially is hard if you were 3/4ths of the way into an X-files style case
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Wilshire:


--- Quote ---Closest I've come is Xcom2 where your soldiers can die. While great fun in its devastation, i don't have the hours to lose an entire game.
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Sci:


--- Quote ---heh i was just thinking of how it could be done Xcom style
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Wil:


--- Quote ---Yeah feeling the loss of a mistake that kills a character you've been grooming is nice in that way, as you kind of get the best of both..

You still keep playing the stakes are there to lend weight to decisions.

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Sci:


--- Quote ---Plus the agency itself has more of a character. Sorta like Men in Black

You select agents for the job, possibly separate investigators from "SWAT" back up

So your "main guys" aren't dying every time

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Pail:


--- Quote ---Sorcerer vs Sorcerer battles still get a back-and-forth, where wards get worn down and reinforced
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Smiler:


--- Quote ---that's assuming no one's blindsided, which is a pretty big assumption
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Pail:


--- Quote ---they still have reflexive and incipient wards though

and it's hard to be blindsided due to the mark

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Wil:


--- Quote ---Akka gets ambushed a number of times
Manages to live.
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Smiler:


--- Quote ---I would assume those can be overwhelmed with a precision strike, given time to aim/concentrate
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Sci:


--- Quote ---Akka has warning Wards, it's why he wakes up in the library
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Smiler:


--- Quote ---and I mean blindsided in a skirmish, when too much stuff happens, and you can get attacked from any side at any point, while you yourself are attacking someone in the same way
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Wil:


--- Quote ---Kellhus teleporting around and killing all the primaries.

Where were their skin wards lol.

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sciborg2:
well i do have one RPG question - would you play it so (almost?) everyone is ultimately damned?
that would be rather interesting as the "Consult" equivalent turns out to be right. "Truth belongs to the Enemy"

Rich people would also have an interesting role, if we go by some curious lines from the TUC gloss


--- Quote ---    “Temporal fortune,” we are assured, “is naught but the shadow of eternal damnation …” In his Annals, Casidas contends that Hintarates was what drove the powerful to incessant war, “to leap to Gilgaöl lest falling deeper still.” Later in the Annals, he writes that “contention is the greatest curse of our religion. If the powerful are not waging war to save their souls, their people are waging war against them for being damned,” a passage that has been, not surprisingly, redacted in a great many copies.

    Bakker, R. Scott. The Unholy Consult: The Aspect-Emperor: Book Four (The Aspect-Emperor Trilogy) . The Overlook Press. Kindle Edition.
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Pacts could seemingly be made with the Hundred, as Kelmomas put it to shovel souls into the jaws of Hell.
Prolly what they were doing in the Bohemian Grove anyway ;)

I say "seemingly" b/c it isn't clear the Hundred have human-type intellects, though a DM could play it that way if they want.

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