/tg/ - Traditional Games

Tell me about the Rapine Storm.

>>226217

The Disciples of the Rapine Storm. Founded in 2074 after the summoning of the avatar of Hastur at the Plateau of Leng, somewhere near Tibet. This was done by a Chrysalis Corporation plot called The Ruined King Project a year prior. Starting in 2077 where they begin to rampage in an area from China all the way to Indonesia. Over the course of three years south-east Asia is lost and Australia starts being threatened.

Their main forces are formed of a mix of monstrous otherworldly entities and lunatics in mecha. They don't occupy, conquer or kill: they strip bare, raze and exterminate. They practice things like cannibalism, rape, murder and bloody sacrifices, often combining them. Humans are generally low on the pecking order, located below the more intelligent monsters like Bhaki and N'athm. The Disciples have caused the deaths of billions, leveling cities and eradicating anyone not on their side, leaving the lands they leave behind barren and ruined.

The Disciples gather in warbands of up to dozens of creatures and humans. They are lead by a warchief, often the biggest and baddest of the bunch. If another member of the warband can gather support of at least half the tribe they can challenge the chief to single combat, the winner of which becomes the new warchief. The warchief receives guidance from Hastur in their dreams, steering the warbands into the direction of the NEG. While NEG forces are better equipped, entrenched and often know when the Rapine Storm is coming due to its lack of subtlety, the sheer number of attackers and the power of the monsters and cultists have overrun many a NEG battle line. Attacks are often heralded by sorcerers of the Rapine Storm summoning fog or storms to make their attacks all the more terrifying.

Lacking bases of their own and being near-constantly on the move, the Rapine Storm depends on the Chrysalis Corporation to arm and supply them as part of one of Nyarlathotep's unknowable plans, likely to keep attention away from the company. This mostly comes in the form of small arms and the occational mecha, but because of their poor maintenance mechas don't tend to last very long. Sometimes warbands get uppity when being given goods by Chrysalis employees, but the company trusts teams (often comprising of many Dhohanoids) to handle such situations as they see fit. Nobody really cares about one warband more or less: Hastur, Nyarlathotep and especially not the NEG.

Seems kinds kewl

>>226215

Ah the best part of this RPG, the Yeagers. The rest of it is kind of just tacked on, and the devs sperged out when people compared them to some Evangelion and Cthulhu crossover fanfic.

>>226215

Can you play as the cool ass looking lovecraft monsters or is this another system where the coolest option on the table is removed?

Tell me about the dead baby batteries and rape generators.

>>226330

You mean as Tagers? Sure.

>>226278

You mean the Sword-class mecha? Yeah, they're pretty sweet and a comprehensive bunch spread all over the books.

>>226330

Sure, check the second image in OP's post.

>>226278

>Not wanting to play a high tension, high risk, OIS cult-busters campaign.

Cultist detected.

>>226451

How can you NOT love this stuff? It pushes all the right buttons.

>>226335

What exactly is a Tager? The PDF describes them as a symbiote of some sort but they don't seem to look that way from the image. A symbiote would, presumably, be limited by the host and not able to twist it into these sorts of abominable shapes so what's the deal exactly?

I've got a hardcopy of this book on my shelf and I've been meaning to learn it for ages, but I don't have enough free time to start another campaign with my group and I don't think anyone would be too happy to kill our current campaign for something else.

Also, I've heard the Dice Poker system is pretty fucking awful. Someone mind explaining that whole mechanic or if there's a way to replace it with something?

>>226459

Because the system isn't particularly good, and I'm just not a fan of the setting. Future Cthulhu is fine, but mecha-fighting Cthulhu where mankind is jumping round in mecha whilst teamed up with not-Drow punching Deep One mecha and shit just doesn't appeal.

>>226464

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Void_Tech

I don't know if it ever got finished because I'm not digging through threads but the last update on this page was in 2013 so odds aren't good.

>>226461

It's more of a metaphysical symbiosis. The Tager himself becomes more attuned to the world and capable of performing supernatural feats, while the symbiont affects the Tager depending on their type. Vampires become more bloodthirsty, Spectres become morbid, Nightmares are angry and pretty much all of them gain a sense of bloodthirst. When in their human form they're impossible to determine to be Tagers. There's no physical evidence, no makers in their genetic structure, no mystical residu: they're for all intents and purposes human/nazzadi. Not even other Tagers can recognize them as being Tagers. Another downside is that a symbiont feeds on the Orgone of a Tager, halving its maximum value.

Dhohanoids don't have this: the Rite of Transfiguration leaves genetic, magical and often physical evidence. So if they were to pass government checkpoints or have to undergo blood tests they'd be found out in no time flat. Not that it's much of a problem: the Chrysalis Corporation can get its people into and out of arcologies whenever it wants to. On top of that, if a Tager studies someone for a minute they can tell whether or not someone is a Dhohanoid, making them easy prey for a Tager, who generally are more powerful than their Dhohanoid counterparts. On the downside though, on average in an arcology 0.08% of the people are Tagers, or about 800 per million. This is because fitting hosts for a Tager are incredibly hard to come by, the rituals are difficult and cannot be performed frequently.

>>226464

>Also, I've heard the Dice Poker system is pretty fucking awful. Someone mind explaining that whole mechanic or if there's a way to replace it with something?

You roll Xd10 based on your skill, adding more if you have a skill focus and/or specialization covering this particular use. You then look at you rolled instead of the total. You either pick your highest single number, three or more consecutive numbers or three or more of the same kind. Hence the name poker dice. After this you add your attribute, which can be pretty high in this game (1 to 10 with six attributes for an average of 6). This means the system is floaty as fuck and it can be pretty difficult to roll successfully.

>>226914

I guess there are worse ways to go in the setting

>>226914

We don't talk about those, because most people hold them to be terrible. But if you ask me, they're actually a genius move on the part of Ctech: how else do you blend animu-style monstergirls with mindbending horror? Hell it even adds up to Lovecraft's fear of sexuality and mixing.

>>226278

I vaguely remember that. The author claimed he hated the setting, yet wrote hundreds of thousands of words on a fanfic. I mean, there's being a autist and then there's this.

>>226469

There are three other things you should know about the Eldritch Society that they don't want to be public knowledge.

First off, Society membership is for life. You can't leave, splinter off or go rogue. In case that you're a regular agent you're dealt with by whatever means fits the bill, but if Tagers go rogue because they feel like the Society is ineffective, not aggressive enough or whatever reason. Society policy is that you cannot leave and you have to toe the line, as flexible as it is. A rogue Tager is a whole other deal, and the only way to hunt one is to send Tagers after it. Few Tagers know this can happen and even fewer have done it because they consider hunting their own kind to be wrong. As such, the few Tagers that do their kind are some of the coldest ones amongst the Society. These hunts tend to be brutal and will change everyone surviving the hunt. That this happens is kept a secret to keep unrest amongst the Society to a minimum.

Next up, potential Tagers are told that if they survive the Rite of Sacred Union the risk's gone: they're a Tager henceforth and the chance of messy death is determined by how they perform in the field. This is not true. In the vast majority of cases they end up alright, but sometimes Tagers begin to exhibit increasingly painful and spread out skin rashes. Their skin dries up and begins to flake off, turning them raw and scabby. Then the symbiont kicks in, starts to fall apart and 15 minutes later is nothing but a pile of reeking flesh. This is an incredibly ugly affair, and all recorded cases have been fatal. Packs who have a member who suffers this grisly fate get a visit from the Society and they are hushed up to stop the spread of panic. A cover story involving a heroic death is made up and the case is never spoken of again. Luckily, the disease (they're not even sure if it *is* a disease) is not contagious.

Finally, metamorphosis. The process tends to do a number on the psyche of a Tager, but aside from the risk of insanity it is thought to be perfectly safe. Again wrong. In a small amount of cases the Tager seems to somehow die while in their cocoon, with the thing opening up when it should only to reveal a puddle of organic goo and a nasty scent. This however can be prevented. A Tager in a cocoon should be regularly monitored for anomalies. If a hot cocoon suddenly cools down, an invisible one isn't anymore or a displaced one is right where it seems to be, or if there's just no movement inside when you touch it, there's something wrong. Packs tend to contact the Society when something like this happens, after which a specially trained team is deployed to the pack's location and free the Tager from its cocoon, after which it requires intense medical care to save its life. If they survive the hours after being freed (anywhere between a few to half a day) their regeneration kicks in and they'll live, but with metal scarring. Again, Packs that have one of their own go through this are requested to keep mum about this to not harm the morale of those who would otherwise try to undergo metamorphosis.