01-04-2019, 08:56 AM | #11 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
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It does mean that you probably don't have to worry too much about these villains, though, as you evidently were capable of dealing with them at any point you chose, which does bring up some questions as to why you even allowed things to get this far.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
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01-04-2019, 09:03 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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01-04-2019, 09:37 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
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I'm sure there are less evil options too, though a lot hinges on what other than theft the curse will regard as a transfer of ownership.
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01-04-2019, 11:08 AM | #14 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
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On the subject of PC evil, one of my players designed a sympathetic, merciful, Charitable Monster Hunter motivated by religion. Not a Knight Templar, but a Good Shepherd type, concerned with saving everyone, not punishing evil. Then he started playing and couldn't understand why everyone was fairly nonplussed with his brutality and ruthlessness. He was upset that anyone would interpret Charitable as preventing the instant and merciless execution of anyone who might hurt another person, whether now or in the future. The PC was docked character points when experience was awarded, for explicitly choosing to use Intimidation instead of Diplomacy to disarm a confused young man holding a sacrifical knife and axe, both of which he's tried to use on the PC, at defaul, with his eyes closed, while crying "Death! Death!" in the least manly voice since Pee Wee Herman. The player had wanted to use the stock of his shotgun instead of social skills and the use of Intimidation was a compromise because he got some disapproving looks. The literal justifiaction for choosing Intimidation: "I want to make the little **** cry. I think I can make him **** himself on a good roll." He did. After that, I had a talk with the player and removed Disadvantages he had never once displayed any sign off in three sessions, except when prompted by others at the table, like Charitable and Guilt Complex. Added On the Edge and a Quirk that the PC is a real ****** when threatened. Retcon makes the character sheet match the PC being played, rather than the tragic and heroic figure created. And I think it's official. This player, nice as he is in real life, simply cannot play virtuous people. The available range is from utterly amoral psychopath to ******s on the side of good. The Punisher, through Dexter on to Jayne in Firefly or Titus Pullo in HBO's Rome. If they can't casually commit acts of mayhem and at least low-grade comedic sociopathic villainy without violating a Disadvantage, the player is evidently not on board. I guess some people just want to raise a family, love and provide for them the lifelong day and then, every week or so, eat fast food and pretend to be someone who wants to see the world burn. Or at least bully weaklings into bladder failure and uncontrollable crying, while saving the world through ruthless murder and one-liners.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-05-2019 at 03:05 AM. |
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01-05-2019, 03:11 AM | #15 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
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A lot of diamonds come from this general part of the world. If the right parts fit into the area I settle on for this particular Vile Vortex, it adds a compelling reason to be very wary of anyone who collects huge diamonds. Checking a map of diamond mines, I think that there is a reason to assume that Kimberlite diamonds, just as a general rule, are not to be trusted. Are they even native to Earth or have they 'always' been in the earth as the result of something bleeding over from another world in the past? Look at how they cluster at that particular Vile Vortex!!! Are all concentrations of Kimberlite diamonds outside this Vile Vortex somehow conneted to it? Or at least to another Vortex? Are they Places of Power?
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-05-2019 at 03:20 AM. |
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01-05-2019, 03:36 AM | #16 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Random Fact About the Bahia Emerald
From Wikipedia about the Bahia Emerald
The Bahia Emerald is one of the largest emeralds and contains the largest single shard ever found. The stone, weighing approximately 752 lb (341 kg) (approximately 1,700,000 carats) originated from Bahia, Brazil and is emerald crystals embedded in host rock. It narrowly escaped flooding during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 during a period of storage in a warehouse in New Orleans. It was subsequently reported stolen in September 2008 from a secured vault in South El Monte in Los Angeles County, California. The stone has been valued at some $400 million, but the true value is unclear. Say, what, now? What is the true value? What being, magician or band of magicians needs this much power? What kind of rituals does emerald help? Also, love the wording in a linked Wired article on Wikipedia: "Fourteen individuals or entities, plus the nation of Brazil, have claimed the Bahia emerald is theirs." Heh. Entities. Edit: It just gets better! A house burned down. Three people filed for bankruptcy. One man alleges having been kidnapped and held hostage. Many of the men involved say that the emerald is hellspawn but they also can’t let it go. As Brian Brazeal, an anthropologist at California State University Chico, wrote in a paper entitled*The Fetish and the Stone: A Moral Economy of Charlatans and Thieves, “Emeralds can take over the lives of well-meaning devotees and lead them down the road to perdition.” Ahahahah! Then, according to some (apocryphal) tellings of the emerald’s history, the mule team dragging it through the rain forest was attacked by panthers—or some other animal—and the miners themselves had to carry the 752-pound emerald the rest of the way to civilization.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-05-2019 at 04:05 AM. |
01-05-2019, 04:29 AM | #17 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
Would diamonds from the Canadian diamond mines be especially attractive to the cold entities? Two of them look like they are north of the Arctic Circle.
The Jericho Diamond Mine was the third diamond mine in Canada and the first in Nunavut territory. It is located about 250 miles northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The mine was opened by Tahera Diamond Corporation and produced diamonds from 2006 to 2008 but the company lost money. In 2010, Shear Minerals, Ltd. acquired the property with the intent of bringing the mine back into production. https://geology.com/articles/canada-diamond-mines/ |
01-05-2019, 05:10 AM | #18 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
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And, oh, any suggestions for famous or valuable diamonds that are owned by someone on the West Coast or stored there would be great. The PCs discover that there have been a lot of diamond thefts in the US in the last couple of months, some reoported in the media, most not appearing in open source publications, for one reason or another. I'll need to drop names of famous stones and/or famous people who've been victims. *My as-yet-not-used-in-play term for the villainous cult associated with the Lords of the Last Waste. Until actually discovered by the PCs in play, I can change it, so if it sounds cheesy or someone has a better idea, chime in. The image I want to convey are men clustered around a small campfire, burning low, surrounded by endless darkness. I considered using 'embers' and 'hearth' as part of the title, but haven't found anything that pops. The most evocative thing the concept made me think of iunfortunately doesn't seem suitable for the title of their organisation, it's a phrase from a poem by Dylan Thomad and the title of a G.R.R. Martin story, 'The Dying of the Light'. The villains' title should be interpretable to infer that their organisation is maintaining the last campfire, not seeking to douse it. They can use the phrase as a recognition signal, though, and one of the antagonists is carrying a credit card with a name that appears in Martin's story.
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01-07-2019, 02:05 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Diamonds Owned by Hollywood Stars
Does anyone know who among Hollywood stars or other rich (and probably famous) California people might own a collection of diamonds or perhaps just a single very valuable one?
Without any evidence, I assumed that the area around LA was substantially above average in the world in terms of how many really valuable diamonds could be found in private collections there. But perhaps diamonds are too classy for Hollywood and it's mostly European old-money people who own the top thousand most expensive stones in the world? Even then, there have got to be some notable diamonds in the hands of Hollywood stars? Where might I start to look?
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01-07-2019, 03:34 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
Googling biggest diamonds in Hollywood led me to https://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/cel...nt-rings-14812
and http://www.capetowndiamondmuseum.org...s-of-all-time/ which might have some other useful articles and https://www.pinterest.com/hancockjew...-in-hollywood/ https://www.worthy.com/blog/for-what...-diamond-ring/ from the last article sounds like you want Quote:
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Tags |
diamond, gems, ritual path magic, rpm |
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