In some of these places, magic and miracles can supplement the economy.

Or tech.  Orrorsh and Nile Empire local populations I think would in the worst situation overall.  Aysle has high magic and pretty high odds of miracles keeping the pre-war population alive (still a bit mass death but more to feed the gospog fields).  But there's places on Core Earth that could be very bad as well even if they weren't touched directly for the simple fact some of those major shipping lanes and transportation networks are defunct.

At least Orrorsh isn't sitting astride the world's major sea lane gaps in Torg Eternity.  What's left of Europe is screwed for energy though with the Nile Empire sitting on the Suez canal and I can't imagine they are getting much from Russia in the scenario.  Orrorsh though... a death scenario I could easily see around 250 to 500 million people until things reached an equilibrium of sorts.

Pan-Pacifica could be very bad in total as well but they edited out the virus due to current events.  I sort of liked the zombie horror thing though.  I mean in general I do like semi-post apocalyptic games but Torg was intended to go lite on those themes.  Still hate Skippy though;-)

It is my intention that the only Skippy you will run into comes in a jar and has only a small chance of Disconnection in the Living Land. ;-)

I'm thinking now maybe the Nile Empire uses weird science to produce enough food.  And Doctor Mobius, as a super genius unfucks the food distribution issue.

Just a little background, Nasser moved a lot of Egypt's food processing into the cities for political control reasons.  The dictators that followed (yeah they have elections;-) kept it because it serves their purposes.  But Egypt has to pay extra fuel prices (which it has to import) to move the food from where it's grown (resulting in more spoilage) to the cities for processing, then ship the processed goods out again.  Imported food is the stopgap for the inefficiency.

Edit- I don't see a way for Orrorsh not to go into major mass death mode though.

And now you have me thinking about Skippy peanut butter and where most of the peanuts are grown;-).  Though iirc a part of that area canonically becomes what-ifs.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Tue 07 May.

"Fear is the Mind Killer"...People can get used to a lot of things. Monsters ate your neighbor? I forgot it was Tuesday already. Your daughter became a demon because her teddy bear corrupted her? Again? But one thing is scarry even when you know it's there and has been there since your grandfather's great-grandfather's time: Hunger. Not knowing if you will get to eat again, ever, let alone when or what, scares the daylights out of people who have never known food stability. So, for Orrorsh, what you have mentioned is a feature for the Gaunt Man, not a bug; and he can always use the occult to make food* for people if it suits his purposes.
*Eat at your own risk to your immortal soul.

Nile is at its heart a superhero world. "Good triumphs over Evil" world laws will have kicked in to make sustenance easier to provide. Pluss, the Guy built an artificial sun for gossake as you mentioned is a genius who needs people to spread his reality. He won't even have to try hard to Weird-Science up some 1950s Hydroponics with Miracle Controlled delivery systems. Imagine, if you will, "Mom, there's a crocodile on our front doorstep...delivering grocieries?..."

In the Cosm, Aysle's entire economy is Magic Driven. Their Horseless Carriages are actually carriages moved by magic. The one thing I miss most from Classic is the interlude in the original Aysle sourcebook explaining how magic works, because it is still the Best Magic System Of Any Game Ever™ so far (and yes, I have played Ars Magica(2 editions), Mage, ...[how'd that soapbox get under me?] Point is any breakdown in services in the Aysle realm will be corrected in short order once Ardinay gets involved.

Living Land, "Economy? Do you cook that or eat it raw?"

Tharkold, "The world is a bleak and hopeless landscape where the best you can hope for is the pain hits someone else. And that's the upside"

Cyberpapacy, "God is watching you. If he wants you to eat, he will provide. Maybe you should repent and submit yourself to the inquisitors, Hmmm?" They may be the worst set to restore a normal economic structure of those who would try, but the whole "God will provide" thing actually works there. Even the witches use it, on Earth anyway. On Magna Verita they don't have access to a deity, but WE have supplied them with a multitude who are REALLY unhappy with this upstart Pope.

Pan Pacifica: There is no Pan Pacifica, they don't exist, like the Original TORG's Ninja, Just ask anyone of them and they will tell you without hint of deceipt that you are falling for a conspiracy threory‡.
‡See Core Earth

Core Earth: the situation you have described is how the invaders work. In their domains, people are as well off as the HighLord allows. This is USuaLLY significantly better off than the neighbors who have been invaded and don't even know the rules of engagement for their war for survival. The disparity in living conditions funnels people to the invader's side escalating the invasion process. Two major world laws have worked agains this process in this invasion: The Law of Hope, and the Law of Intrigue (which doesn't exist, remember that). The Law of Hope has kept Core Earthers from giving up, and the traitor among the highlords certain Kanawa um Megacorporations from the technologically driven Asian lands have delivered solutions to these production, shipping, and distrobution problems across the globe. After all that Non-Ninja Japanese Business man with his Korean wife just gave a speach about how this invasion has brought even the oldest of core</c>Earth enemies to each other's side and those among <s>Kanawa the technological powerhouses have a duty to spread their reality help wherever they can so we Coreearthers of Earth can drive the other invaders away.

Man, did I really just write all that?

Yes, yes you did;-)  I think it's interesting to think about it and every time I look at how badly the Living Land really limits the major export market of a lot of nations (cutting down their GDP) and then the Nile Empire and Aysle by their nature hitting those vital sea lane chokepoints...

The big limiter I see for Pan Pacifica are resources.  It still needs oil (a lot of it) and for Asia that's the Gulf states.  All of which are either conquered or under immediate threat.  China sucks for natural resources (except lower quality coal) and Japan...;-).  Modern container ships & tankers can't operate in Nile Empire waters so Pacifica is going to be scrambling to seize other oil markets in CE (driving up the price of oil for most nations).

North Korea has some good natural resources (it got the lion's share in the split) but well Best Korea is a hole;-).  Canada's Atlantic sea access is gone so even more of it's resources are likely monopolized by the interior US.  Geographically Mexico is as isolated as Afghanistan but fortunately borders the US.  It does lose it's major port for trade (Veracruz) do to the LL blocking the Gulf of Mexico.

Still a lot of death and destruction on Opening Day in a few realm- Pan Pacifica's zombie outbreak, LL- 'nuff said (very few people escape NYC which is a few million right there), Orrorsh- probably eventual death toll in the hundreds of millions tho, Aysle gets nasty on Day 1, Tharkold where nukes are used... IIRC the estimated initial death toll for full nuclear attack WW3 was around a 300 million estimate.  I think the Invasion beats that imo even if it is 'apocalypse lite'.  Not sure folks that lived through that will make the post-9/11 crowd/vibe seem like a happy bunch/goldentime;-).

That said, I think Will Blackwell is an interesting concept.  Possibility rated folks I'd figure would eventually replace the mortally wounded old political order...possibilities would be a tremendous advantage for a Pol on the campaign trail or just dealing with any political obstacle really (whether they were Storm Knights or Stormers).  And interesting enough I think we're seeing that process in game with Copenhagen.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:34, Wed 08 May.

Sorry. Just finally finished watching Mysteries Incorporated and between the incredible TORGishness at the end (multiple Supporters, and other cards, played to boost an epic Dramatic Skill Resolution.

I wish there was a 'like' button for post on rpol.  Really enjoy essentially 'color' posts because they make the backdrop feel alive.  Like the newsclipping epilogues that you'd see in Call of Cthulhu handouts etc.;-)

Sure, leave me to do my best work while Case is asleep... ;-)

Case had a busy day and it's very late;-)  Plus he has a belly full of food and a little bit of alcohol.  Figure the only reason it wasn't night night time before now was his will and mild paranoia;-)

Case will catch the next one, I promise;-)  Maybe even a call-in show...granted since we're headed into Aysle that's probably at least months away and he might be sleepy after running some realms;-)

In reply to Gamemaster (msg # 117):

Are you saying there a limits to a Frenchman's charm?! Hold my beer, I have 32.9 million guys I have to go set straight! And possibly one skunk!

More like a cat that got its spine fur bleached, to be honest... (heheh)

Ha:-)  As I'm sitting here reading this I have a book within arms reach titled Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...chmen_Can't_Be_Wrong

Not a bad read but I wonder what a 2024 update would have to say;-)

 I may be offline for the next five/six days. A couple of tornadoes have swept through this area (northwest Arkansas) and have thousands without power or even cell service. If I can find a way here and there I will check in, but it may get expensive if wife, kids and I grab hotel rooms for a week…. lol

If you like, you can always set up "standing orders" for such circumstances. But thanks for the heads up.

Finally have (semi-)reliable cell service, internet and power. LOL

Working on catching up on all my games and getting something posted ASAP.

I have been getting a lot of "Bad Gateway" errors lately. Is this happening to anyone else? It's caused some weird glitches in terms of posting and die rolls on the system. I think I have them sorted out, but it's still annoying.

Why is this the case? From my understanding of multi-attack, I can choose the order in which I perform actions. And nowhere in the interaction attack rules does it state they don't take effect immediately. So if I choose to have the Trick action occur first, shouldn't I receive the benefit on my second attack?

This was clarified in the FAQ: http://torg-gamereference.com/index.php/faq.html


This message was last edited by the GM at 17:10, Fri 31 May.

AH, okay. Thanks for the clarification, and it makes sense.

I do still get another Destiny card though, right, since it was an approved action.

Yes, sorry I didn't do that right away. I have people in trying to find what's causing my bathroom ceiling to drip. Let me add that to your hand now.

Ooh, yeah, that's definitely more important!

In reply to Gamemaster (msg # 302):

Yes. It's been bad.


Also, at a Con this weekend. Be back Sunday afternoon.

Happening on my end as well.

Some reminders about your personal "Destiny and Cosm Card" threads.

1. The first message is listed as having come from you, so you can edit it. This allows you to, among other things, delete cards you use and colorize card listings for purposes. I normally colorize cards that are currently in your Action Pool, but if you want to use other colors for other purposes, go for it.
   
2. When colorizing a formatted entry like a card, make sure the tag that adds the color and the tag that removes the color are on separate lines by themselves. Doing so keeps the format intact.
   
3. I originally envisioned trading as having both people post on their thread what they wanted to have happen, but in practice that is extra work. As long as it is clear both players agree to a legal trade, we are good.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:21, Yesterday.

I think the reason the site has allowed the problems to linger is...
...many of us here survived AOL and dialup modems, (curse you whoever tried to make a call in the middle of my game!)

We have suffered worse hells than this and will survive the terrors of the now as we play against the terrors of the Near Now.