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Author Topic: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!  (Read 9730 times)

HappyDaze

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #30 on: June 17, 2021, 06:22:23 PM »
How much of those 432 pages is rules & character mechanics (including magic system)?

RPGPundit

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #31 on: June 17, 2021, 08:21:48 PM »
If you include character creation, magick and gamemaster procedures, probably somewhere over 300 pages.  With the bulk of that being magick stuff.
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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #32 on: June 18, 2021, 06:26:05 PM »
If you got the print edition from Amazon, please let me know if you found any problems of printing or condition.

Or, if on the contrary your product was fine.
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Vidgrip

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #33 on: June 22, 2021, 05:29:01 PM »
I got my softback book from Amazon today. It was in an overly-large bubble envelope which is not enough to protect a 430 page softback. I got lucky, though, no damage at all.

First impressions:

WTF. Brown type on brown paper! Granted, the paper looks like old vellum or parchment, which is cool. But the type is only marginally darker brown. Black would have been better. Page 28-29 has blue or black type which is much easier to read.

The font is nice and large. That helps a lot. Any smaller and I would be unable to read this. (Did I mention brown on brown?)

The layout is simple, clear, and uncluttered. Yay!

Art is very subjective, but I think this is perfect for the topic. It's mostly brown-on-brown of course, but nothing looked out of place. It includes both modern line drawings and old wood cuts, yet it all fits together. The color prints look great too, even on brown.

A glued binding in a book this size will obviously be a concern if it gets a lot of use. There was some excess glue between a couple of the pages, but it pulled apart ok.

I've given it nothing but a cursory flip-through, but I look forward to reading it. I see tarot stuff in the back. I'm a sucker for anything tarot-related.
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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #34 on: June 22, 2021, 05:56:47 PM »
Over on DTRPG, you can now buy Softcover Black & White and Softcover Color print editions of The Invisible College, including the PDF bundle!
The Hardcover Color edition should still be forthcoming...

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/359585/The-Invisible-College
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Snowman0147

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #35 on: June 22, 2021, 10:16:59 PM »
I am waiting on the premium paper color hardcover.  I want to sink money on a high quality book.

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #36 on: June 23, 2021, 12:32:46 AM »
Makes sense. It should be forthcoming.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


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Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
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RebelSky

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #37 on: June 23, 2021, 07:45:32 AM »
Just got the PDF seems very cool. My only recommendation so far would be a version of the PDF where the background is a layer you can turn off.

I was just looking through it too.

Looks great... But I'd agree, the background it a little distracting and it would be cool if you could turn it off or there was a black and white version without the underlay.
I wonder how that background will look on the printed version (where there obviously can't be an option to turn off that layer). Is it Secret of Ziran level of distracting?

Not that bad but that's because the font is so big so it's clearly readable.

I got the softcover color from Amazon. It'd get 5 Stars for Information, loses 1 Star for lack of Index and the not so great ToC, loses another star for the saturation of background color with the similar colored font. This is one of those rare color books I'd really prefer in black and white. If the text was the same color as the page numbers, it'd be rocking. But as a reference book, finding information on the fly during play would be a pain if you don't know the book well.

There was a couple glitches in the Amazon printing as well. There are a couple of pages where the text was printed in dark blue ink, which was super readable. Seeing the blue text next to the papyrus text was like... errr, why couldn't the whole book be blue text...?

None of that stops me from wanting to play the heck out of this game though. A hardcover black and white would be awesome.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2021, 07:48:52 AM by RebelSky »

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #38 on: June 23, 2021, 09:04:49 PM »
The publisher is talking about it with Amazon. We'll see if anything can be done; part of it is to do with the paper quality, apparently.

In any case, I'm glad that the actual content of the game is still appealing to you.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


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Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
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LORDS OF OLYMPUS
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igor

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #39 on: July 07, 2021, 03:05:26 AM »
Reading The Invisible College at the moment.
I do have a few questions.
There is a whole chapter about famous IC members.Why is there no equivalent for the Black Lodge? Or any of the other factions?
Also if any of these factions succeed in heavily influencing the government of say a mid-sized country, what would that look like on the ground?
What is the difference between the UK falling under the influence of the Invisible College, the Black Lodge, the Cult of Typhon, or the Gormogons?

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #40 on: July 07, 2021, 08:18:57 AM »
Reading The Invisible College at the moment.
I do have a few questions.
There is a whole chapter about famous IC members.Why is there no equivalent for the Black Lodge? Or any of the other factions?
Also if any of these factions succeed in heavily influencing the government of say a mid-sized country, what would that look like on the ground?
What is the difference between the UK falling under the influence of the Invisible College, the Black Lodge, the Cult of Typhon, or the Gormogons?

I didn't want to strictly define the famous membership of enemy groups, for a few reasons. Obviously in some cases I named the leadership.

A country under the influence of the Invisible College would be highly dedicated to personal liberty and freedom, individual growth (particularly spiritual and philosophical, but also in the sciences), and a general sort of optimism.

A country under the control of the Black Lodge would be authoritarian, with a very powerful ruling establishment elite, denial of personal liberties, social repression, and an emphasis on things like vapid entertainment and consumerism for the masses to keep them from worrying either about who controls them or thinking about higher ideals.

A country under the control of the Gormogons, depending on which faction of that group it was, would either be a Communist government or a Theocracy. In the former case, it would have a powerful emphasis on the Cult of the State, and spirituality would be discouraged strongly. In the latter case, it would naturally have a strong emphasis on religion, but only collective and approved religion with a heavy emphasis on (often violently) enforcing orthodoxy. In either case, individualism would be very strongly discouraged.

A country under the control of the Cult of Typhon, assuming that control was still through proxies, would be some kind of terror state, with people disappearing in the night, or mass killings of various forms (possibly under the guise of ethnic cleansings or purges), terrifying repression, and open torture. If it was more open than that I guess it might even have some kind of Death Cult religion with human sacrifice.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


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The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
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Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

igor

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #41 on: July 07, 2021, 02:00:14 PM »
Thanks for the info.  :)

A country under the influence of the Invisible College would be highly dedicated to personal liberty and freedom, individual growth (particularly spiritual and philosophical, but also in the sciences), and a general sort of optimism.
So basically Finland?

A country under the control of the Black Lodge would be authoritarian, with a very powerful ruling establishment elite, denial of personal liberties, social repression, and an emphasis on things like vapid entertainment and consumerism for the masses to keep them from worrying either about who controls them or thinking about higher ideals.
A collision of Spain under Franco, Hungary under Orban and Italy under Berlusconi?

A country under the control of the Gormogons, depending on which faction of that group it was, would either be a Communist government or a Theocracy. In the former case, it would have a powerful emphasis on the Cult of the State, and spirituality would be discouraged strongly. In the latter case, it would naturally have a strong emphasis on religion, but only collective and approved religion with a heavy emphasis on (often violently) enforcing orthodoxy. In either case, individualism would be very strongly discouraged.
Basically North Korea, or Iran?

A country under the control of the Cult of Typhon, assuming that control was still through proxies, would be some kind of terror state, with people disappearing in the night, or mass killings of various forms (possibly under the guise of ethnic cleansings or purges), terrifying repression, and open torture. If it was more open than that I guess it might even have some kind of Death Cult religion with human sacrifice.
So the best case scenario is Argentina under the junta, worst case is the Aztecs crossed with the Khmer Rouge?

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #42 on: July 07, 2021, 03:49:28 PM »
I think some of your examples are right on, some I wouldn't be so in agreement, but rather than argue about it what I will point out is that with very few exceptions (I could see a scenario of North Korea or Iran's governments being fully in control of the Gormogons, for example), almost all areas of our modern world are currently battle grounds between the factions. That is, no single faction has total control, and in most cases of the biggest institutions (governments, for example) has even got majority control.

So as the conspiracy mechanics in the appendix to the game try to convey, different factions' power will rise and wane, and groups will use their power to try to fight it out, while controlling smaller institutions and movements and moving them as playing pieces in the occult war.
So I could totally see, for example, the Peronista party in Argentina being totally controlled by the Typhonians, while other groups would still be trying to stop their total takeover of Argentina as a whole. So the Invisible College would be trying to control the pro-democracy pro-liberty movements in Argentina (like Javier Milei's movement), the Black Lodge the far-right Argentinian parties and the military that still has pro-Junta sentiments, the Gormogons control most (but not all) of the Catholic Church and powerful Catholic Lobby, the Rationalist Gormogons the Communists, the Choronzon club controls most of the drug trade and human trafficking, and of course the Order of Thule still has secret nazi bases in the border regions of the country. The Nemites might control the powerful Psychiatric profession in Argentina (Argentines go to therapy per capita more than anyone else on earth, and yet they only seem to get crazier and crazier, so that might be because the Nemites are running it as part of a plan to eventually turn everyone into bug-people).



LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

PencilBoy99

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #43 on: July 07, 2021, 05:45:19 PM »
I wonder if you could use some combination of Fronts / Sine Nomine  (e.g., Stars Without Number) Factions / Unknown Armies Faction turns to really supercharge this. This is the kind stuff I want for a Sandbox game, where the bad guys are constantly doing stuff and gaining/losing power.

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: The Invisible College: Occult Modern Conspiracy OSR is here!
« Reply #44 on: July 08, 2021, 12:43:34 PM »
It also has some similarities to Nephilim. Except the nephilim are more interested in reaching Agartha/Nirvana than influencing the course of civilization and taking over the world.