Hey, look:

QuoteFor mature audiences only. Most of the sorcerous rituals described in Supplement V: CARCOSA include the murder, torture, and/or rape of persons of all ages (from infants up to the elderly).

He's an everythingphile!

Quote from: JimLotFP;257337My copy should arrive any day now... and I'm not sure what's going to be more entertaining... the book itself... or the shitstorm that it's going to cause.

And thanks for the plug!

Hey Flame Princess, here's a nice edgy avatar you can use while working your way through your new 'role-playing' material:

You know, I think sorcerers as depicted in this supplement would be cool villains in a campaign (the freakish rituals for the spells could, in fact, end up giving cool ideas for clues - "this girl wasn't just strangled, she was strangled *with her own hair* - I'm telling you, this is the work of Zaramand the Dreadful!"), but I'd balk at having them as PCs.

Shame, because the basic idea behind the supplement sounds awesome. I kind of dislike "the PCs are all eeeeevil" campaigns and I suspect that the fact that this supplement seems to have sprung from such a thing will contaminate it for me - there'll be a fundamental incompatability of attitude and approach, aside from the content issues. I might look at the free PDF once it's out, but my expectations are not high.

Calling it Supplement V is more than a little grandiose -talk about putting yourself on a pedestal. Unless Mr. McKinney had something to do with the first four supplements, that is.

Also, aren't we past the stage now where we have to use idiotic shibboleths like "a book of rules options for the original fantasy role playing game made in 1974"? I thought Kenzer had blown that one out of the water long ago: Nobody's going to sue you for producing a product 'compatible with Original D&D'.

Send me a copy, I'm on my last toilet roll.

What a fuckstick. This is what comes of not excluding people from the hobby.

Quote from: noisms;257470Also, aren't we past the stage now where we have to use idiotic shibboleths like "a book of rules options for the original fantasy role playing game made in 1974"? I thought Kenzer had blown that one out of the water long ago: Nobody's going to sue you for producing a product 'compatible with Original D&D'.

Wasn't the whole point of OSRIC the idea that you could put out a product "compatible with OSRIC" and not get sued, while you were supposed to know that really meant compatible with AD&D? Turns out there was no need to do it, as nominative use is perfectly OK under trademark law.

Quote from: The_Shadow;257474Wasn't the whole point of OSRIC the idea that you could put out a product "compatible with OSRIC" and not get sued, while you were supposed to know that really meant compatible with AD&D? Turns out there was no need to do it, as nominative use is perfectly OK under trademark law.

Exactly - so the author needs to grow some balls and just come out and say 'This is an unofficial Supplement V for Original D&D'.

So if it's NPCs commiting sick twisted rituals it's OK and if it's PC it's not OK...?

Quote from: Kyle AaronThis is what comes of not excluding people from the hobby.

And what are you going to do about it... Burn their rulebooks, DDoS their sites, kick their faces, sacrifice them to Satan?

Actually I would rather have the type of discussion that went on in the DF thread linked to - disclaimer warnings and people commenting they would not mind playing this type of game if members of their crew were agreeable to the idea -instead of the juvenile "vibeing off players" and deep discussions about dysfunctional family units that went on in the Poision'd threads.

Regards,
David R

Knowing Geoffrey for an intelligent and very well-educated poster, I guess I can safely say that his motivation was producing a work of pulp fantasy in the vein of M.A.R. Barker's Tékumel (c.f. the Book of Ebon Bindings), and not gross-out for its own sake. What I find relevant is that he seems to play games with very little player-PC identification - seeing characters as playing pieces that get discarded and battered instead of being emphasised with (see his Gamma World report on DF).

However, I strongly agree that important lines have been crossed which I personally would never even have come near, and that this, for all intents and purposes, will sink the work, no matter how great it is otherwise. And that is a pity. But no matter how clinically approached and authentic, some subjects are not for exploration.

Quote from: Melan;257482What I find relevant is that he seems to play games with very little player-PC identification - seeing characters as playing pieces that get discarded and battered instead of being emphasised with (see his Gamma World report on DF).

I find this very interesting Melan. I have not come across this type of play (?) motivation of play (?) before. Do you have the link to the Gamma World AP on DF ? Or is it easy to find ?

Regards,
David R

Quote from: droog;257459Anybody read that chapter in Salammbo where they sacrifice all the kids for rain?

Did it work?

I think this thread was it (scroll down a bit). Although I recall a lengthier report, so there may be another one elsewhere.

Quote from: Zachary The First;257487Did it work?

Yes, it did.

QuoteThe Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell.

It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; it was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being now fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven's heights. Sometimes she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions of cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she were still too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all believing that water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her travail easy.

The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in the courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed as though whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed temple-roofs shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents descended from the Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave way, and small beams, plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in streams which ran impetuously over the pavement.

Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of the Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their mouths to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their arms into them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly with water that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness gradually spread; they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and in the happiness of their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All their miseries were forgotten. Their country was born anew.

They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the extravagant fury which they had been unable to employ against themselves. Such a sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt no remorse they found themselves carried away by the frenzy which results from complicity in irreparable crimes.