Describe
Shas O Fish here.
I'm is an Eagle Scout, as well as a Vigil Member of the Order of the Arrow. I'm a sophomore at (some college), and is working on my BSME.
I'm a slight bit of a gamer, and love movies and television and the like. Huge Star Wars fan. Love my Firefly. Love my frakking BSG.
I'm clinically depressed, partially due to some chemical imbalances in the fleshy box on top of my neck, partially due to
the death of my grandfather and dog a few months apart, but at this point largely because I am a
Hopeless Suitor.
Tropes that apply to
Shas O Fish:
Shas O Fish is also running a seafaring campaign in
Dungeons and Dragons.
It has so far featured the following tropes:
- Appropriated Appelation: One of the Tau officers that the players encounter has earned the honorific "Grimjaw;" part of his face was crushed, and the Tau (lacking magical healing) were able to save him, at the cost of part of his jaw (replaced with a crude prostetic), and a good deal of his former exuberance and optimism.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: All over the place in the setting. Several cultures from the main setting have aristocrats lead their troops, some more competently than others. Others are more typical, but still vary. Tau officers only achieve their status by rising through the ranks and surviving their Trials By Fire, which means the high-ranking officers are very competent.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Deliberately avoided and lampshaded with the Tau; their vessels and larger vehicles are monitored and partially run by difference engines (mechanical computers). At one point, one of the Tau technicians was asked by the players if they've had any problems with the computers turning against them:
"That depends: Are chairs rebelling when you fall off of them? These things are no smarter than a switch or a steering wheel."
- Badass Normal: The Tau military. Because of the nature of the storms keeping them separate from the rest of the world, there are only two races in their empire that have any magic potential at all, and the Tau themselves are very much incapable of using magic.
- Fantastic Caste System: The Tau Empire. Of course, that's their hat.
- Fantastic World Map: Big one too; the current full size one takes up most of a ping-pong table. Yes, I had a lot of free time, and a really big sheet of paper.
- Fantasy Gun Control: Avoided. Guns are still relatively expensive and unreliable, but they are common enough that the low-level players in the group are able to afford them.
- Genre Savvy: The Tau. Justified, in that that, being The Remnant, they had to in order to survive.
- No Conservation of Energy: Avoided with the Tau; it takes a lot of effort, and a very long time to pressurize their ship's batteries so that they can function at full effectiveness. Even then, the range is much more limited compared to more traditional vessels if running all out, and rely on fleet tenders and the pressure generation capabilities of their larger vessels for longer journeys.
- Magic from Technology: The Tau
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Most of the setting is original... at least, as original as such a thing can get. But when the rebelling over-deity is Sargatanas, the exiled race beyond an impenetrable storm is the Tau Empire, and many of the "new" races are derived from various pictures I've found over the years... it's hard to even say that a lot of this is remotely original. But the stuff I use the group has never seen before, and is almost always changed in some fundamental way as to be very much different from the original (not quite In Name Only), but still have the same taste and flavor
- No Man of Woman Born: "The Veil of Tears shall never be pierced by ship afloat or above the clouds." Played with slightly, in that that people have tried getting through it with underwater vessels, which were destroyed just like any other. Except it wasn't the storm that destroyed them.
- Plot Technology: Played straight with the Tau, who have tiered their innovations, letting their allies and trading partners have access to them based upon loyalty and past experience. Justified, in that they are Genre Savvy enough to know that their technology is one of the few advantages they have.
- Railroading: This Troper got some members of his group upset for not doing this enough. Apparently, subtly isn't appreciated anymore.
- Recycled In SPACE: Flipped with the Tau Empire; they're just as land-bound as everyone else. Though the whole setting itself could be argued as EVERYTHING with PIRATES.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Deliberately avoided; the random encounter generator used for naval encounters only has a 1-in-20 chance per day of having something happen, and its only that good if the group sticks to the trade lanes. The "world" map used covers roughly 5.0x10^6 square miles, which the group learned on the first day is a lot of empty space. The group also only has a map of an area that big because they spent the money to get the maps to cover said area. There is much, much more they haven't found yet.
- Starfish Aliens: Encountered with the allies of the Tau Empire; aside from the Tau, the Kroot, and the handful of people from the Trevani races that end up joining them, all the allies are very much non-humanoid.
- The Alcatraz: The western edge of the world map (known to Trevalyne) ends with the "Barrier Storms" (known also as the "Veil of Tears" and the "Sword of Damocles"), a veritable wall of hurricane-force winds, hundred-foot waves, and all sorts of other nasty things which immune to magic of any kind,
- The Remnant: The Tau Empire and their allies are the last surviving creations of Sargatanas, and are very much outnumbered by the rest of the world.
- Universal Ammunition: Largely avoided. Guns can't fire arrows, sling bullets are different from gun pellets. Referenced slightly and justified with the Tau "Insurrection Rifle," which is designed specifically so that it can be used with non-standard ammunition, albeit at reduced range and effectiveness compared to standard ammunition.
