Profile for I'll Steal Your Toast
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | I'll Steal Your Toast |
| Member number | 2210 |
| Title | Agent |
| Postcount | 1084 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| Undead Valley Testing Version 9 in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Friday, March 25 2005 06:44
Profile
There are a couple of reasons to play this thing. These are probably the only reason to play this. 1) The "barmy" purple dragon is kind of funny. 2) The impossible bridge three layers of monsters -- efreet, null bug, altered basilisk. 3) The lightning pillar trap. 4) The undead gauntlet-- icy skeletons (cold field) and ruby skeletons (heat ray) combined makes for an interesting fight. 5) The vahnavoi javelineers cross fire room. Other than that-- it is a long exercise in humongous fights. Micael may be working on it again... You have to give him credit for trying... He has heart :P -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Freedom to Read H.R. 1157 in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Friday, March 25 2005 06:13
Profile
"any tangible record" includes-- medical records, store receipts of purchased goods, etc. Let some provisions in USA Patriot Act expire A legislative and grassroots effort is underway to amend a portion of the Patriot Act that allows unchecked government access to citizens' private records, just as the Bush administration is calling for reauthorization of the entire act. Section 215 is one of about a dozen USA Patriot Act provisions set to expire this year under a sunset provision built in when the sweeping anti-terrorism act was hastily passed the month after 9/11/2001. Organizations such as the American Library Association have joined with cities, senators and citizens in seeking to eliminate from Section 215 the unwarranted access and searches of library and bookstore records that the section authorizes. This year's bill is called the Freedom to Read Protection Act, first introduced in Congress by an Independent from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. Although bookstores and libraries are not specifically mentioned in the Patriot Act, the broad-sweep wording allows the FBI nearly carte blanche permission to access "any tangible record," which would include book purchases and checkouts, simply by telling the secret Foreign Information Surveillance Court that it wants to see the material in connection with a terrorism-related investigation. No probable cause reason is required, and there is no possibility of appeal or independent court review of the FISC orders. Section 215 also prohibits owners of those records - i.e., librarians and bookstore owners who have to provide access - from disclosing the record release to anyone. Sanders reasoning for the bill is compelling. "Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the person whose records are being searched by the FBI can be anyone. The FBI doesn't even have to say that it believes the person is involved in criminal activity or that the person is connected to a foreign power. This is not acceptable. The legislation we are introducing today will go a long away in protecting the basic freedoms of every American." Law enforcement officials will still be able to subpoena bookstore and library records (or any other "tangible" record) under the normal process whereby the federal courts review these requests and determine if probably cause is there for the search and seizure. The powers granted under the act now are simply too broad and there is no backstop for potential abuse. Innocent Americans - anyone with a foreign sounding name, with reading interests on guns, who write critical letters to the editor or to government agencies - should not have to worry about repercussions from unwarranted searches of personal information. And the key word is "unwarranted." Although the Department of Justice is required by the law to report the number of times the act has been used each year for such searches - which could provide valuable assessment of its use or abuse - the DOJ also has won the right to keep those specifics secret under a national security exemption of the Freedom of Information Act. How ironic. Congress needs to carefully examine changes in the law, or this provision, along with several others, should be allowed to expire. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Karma - No not that kind in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Thursday, March 24 2005 15:16
Profile
This is a strange notion. If all animals move up the karmic chain of being starting from the lowly fly to the human being, does this mean that eventually there will only be human beings and no animals left because there souls have become human. Ponder this. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Cooking an idea, to help beta testing. in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Thursday, March 24 2005 10:16
Profile
There are a few suggestions which might help with this. I created a separate email account for all all the scenarios I was play testing. A new free email account like yahoo works pretty well. It also eliminates a lot of clutter. The second thing which might help is a free homepage like geocities or something similar with a download of the latest version. Nothing else very simple. Download here. Set up before announcing test. I think Supanik may be finished with The Yedda Prophecy and is dreading the process of betatesting. Last I checked in December he said he was 90% done. I would like to test this. A separate forum sounds good, but could be impractical. All of the testers would have to sign up for the forum giving out their personal information. I know there have been some problems with betatesting. Too much sniping, people dropping out, nonconstructive criticism on scenarios, etc. One of the designers should throw in and give a set of practical tips on betaing. [ Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:18: Message edited by: Toasty Warm ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Fashion in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Thursday, March 24 2005 04:05
Profile
Anything very comfortable. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| BoA Guides and Statistical Data in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Thursday, March 24 2005 02:50
Profile
Ssamson Chelmson-- Lvl 80 Divinely Touched Slith St 19 Dx 19 Int 17 End 13 Melee-10 Pole- 15 Bows- 12 Thrown- 4 Hardiness- 17 Defense 14 Assassination 6 Quickstrike 5 Parry- 1 Blademaster- 8 Anatomy- 8 Gymnastics- 2 Resistance- 3 Lethal Blow- 8 Riposte- 5 Sharpshooter- 4 Lvl 87 Barbarian Human-- Tastie Cheesedip St 12 Dx 10 Int. 2 End 11 Melee 16 Pole 11 Bows 10 Thrown 0 Hardiness- 15 Defense 13 Assassination 8 Quickstrike 8 Parry 10 Blademaster 8 Anatomy 5 Gymnastics 7 Lethal Blow - 5 Riposte 6 Sharpshooter 6 Level 87- Cleric Coronda Mornings Human St 8 Dex 8 Int 13 Dx 11 Melee 8 Pole 2 Bows 2 Thrown 9 Hardiness 13 Defense 11 Assassination 2 Quickstrike 9 Parry 4 Blademaster 1 Anatomy 3 Gymnastics 2 Lethal Blow 5 Riposte 3 Sharpshooter 4 Trixie Mousekin-- Level 82 Nephilim Hedge Wizard Fast on Feet St 8 Dex 21 Int 15 End 11 Melee 8 Pole 4 Bows 2 Hardiness 24 Defense 10 Assassination 2 Quickstrike 5 Parry 1 Blademaster 1 Anatomy 2 Gymnastics 2 Lethal Blow 5 Riposte 2 Sharpshooter 2 Some notes-- It is possible to buy every skill in the game. Buy skills before buying items. Undead Valley skews the game completely because there is a trainer at the end where you can buy 5 points of lethal blow and 5 points of quickstrike as well as other things. You can also buy stat increases in Undead Vally-- Strength is one of them-- however it is very expensive. I really should lower the hardiness because there is a mistake in Backwater Calls that lets you get almost unlimited hardiness. Divinely touched gives you ridiculous stat increases at high level. So does the Nephilim dex bonus. There are too many knowledge brews throughout the scenarios. If characters go through scenarios more than once-- this can really skew the game. This is especially true for betatesting. There is a cap of level 100 for monsters. So after lvl 70 it becomes very hard to advance characters quickly. Thus buy as many skills as possible-- it becomes hard to advance later. Also try and get knowledge brews. I am trying to make this party into a god party using scenarios. However, I do not think it will be able to advance past lvl 150 because of the monster level cap. HLPM God Parties are lvl 250. [ Thursday, March 24, 2005 04:57: Message edited by: Toasty Warm ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Scenarios in Development in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Wednesday, March 23 2005 12:02
Profile
Made a mistake, don't have 9th version. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Sexual Orientation in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Wednesday, March 23 2005 05:55
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Sex with animals is not a good idea... Sheep gave us gonorrhea and syphilis... They were originally animal only diseases. It is believed that AIDS came from monkeys. How someone managed to mess with a monkey is beyond me, but they possibly did... They could have also have gotten it from eating the monkey but I doubt it. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| World of Warcraft in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Wednesday, March 23 2005 03:44
Profile
Nope. Too expensive. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Question about Karma in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Wednesday, March 23 2005 03:40
Profile
I am not scum, I am moldy toast. :eek: -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Data on Lethal Blow in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 16:48
Profile
I think there is a percentage chance to triple damage with an attack. I think it is 3% per level of lethal blow. To get lethal blow you have to have 8 points of anatomy and 8 points of blademaster. By the time you get it about 60th level, triple damage will often be thousands of points of damage. Also with multiple attacks at high level 2-3 it is pretty likely it will happen. Checked this out in the HLPM dragon fight. Did no lethal blow versus dragons with lvl 80 fighter 8 points lethal blow. Did lethal blow versus vengeful shade-- regular hit did 834 damage. lethal blow did 3620. The higher the level you are against an opposing creature the greater the damage multiple it does. I think it divides your level by the creatures level to determine the damage multiple. For example -- level 80 fighter versus level 20 vengeful shade= 4X damage for lethal blow. I think there is a maximum multiple -- it might be 5 x damage. I also tried out a fight against some ghouls -- my percentage of hits that were lethal blows went way up. You get a higher chance to land the lethal blow the higher level you are versus a critter. [ Friday, March 25, 2005 18:51: Message edited by: Toasty Warm ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Data on Lethal Blow in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 16:48
Profile
I think there is a percentage chance to triple damage with an attack. I think it is 3% per level of lethal blow. To get lethal blow you have to have 8 points of anatomy and 8 points of blademaster. By the time you get it about 60th level, triple damage will often be thousands of points of damage. Also with multiple attacks at high level 2-3 it is pretty likely it will happen. Checked this out in the HLPM dragon fight. Did no lethal blow versus dragons with lvl 80 fighter 8 points lethal blow. Did lethal blow versus vengeful shade-- regular hit did 834 damage. lethal blow did 3620. The higher the level you are against an opposing creature the greater the damage multiple it does. I think it divides your level by the creatures level to determine the damage multiple. For example -- level 80 fighter versus level 20 vengeful shade= 4X damage for lethal blow. I think there is a maximum multiple -- it might be 5 x damage. I also tried out a fight against some ghouls -- my percentage of hits that were lethal blows went way up. You get a higher chance to land the lethal blow the higher level you are versus a critter. [ Friday, March 25, 2005 18:51: Message edited by: Toasty Warm ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Sexual Orientation in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 12:17
Profile
Personally, I prefer to sleep with rye toast, it is better than toasted crumpets or wonder bread toast. I am into butter, jam, and honey. I especially like honey. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Nonfiction Books You Are Reading in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 09:10
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Two books which I found interesting: Descartes Error-- Emotion, Reason, and The Human Brain, Antonio R. Damasio The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved From Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans Stanley I. Greenspan and Stuart G. Shanker [ Tuesday, March 22, 2005 09:11: Message edited by: Lord Baron Von Toast ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Nonfiction Books You Are Reading in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 08:43
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Great scientists and religious thinkers use both. Augustine was very logical-- he did not believe in everything in the bible-- the books of the apocalypse particularly, but used logic to prove the existence of god. Similarly Newton was very into mysticism and deeply religious. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Terri Schiavo in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 06:16
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What makes this case especially sad is that either her family or husband drove her into the coma with bulimia or possible abuse. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| New Abortion Laws in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 05:40
Profile
Abstinence education is nonsense it promotes -- sexual disease because sex which does not cause pregnancy is the riskiest kind of sex. Thus when this is promoted we get nice doses of AIDS and other diseases. Article here The morality of no sex until marriage may sound good; but in practice it is not very realistic. Some people do not get married until they are in their 30s. It seems a lot of morality has lost all common sense when it comes to sexual and pregnancy issues. Historically, the way unwanted children were dealt with in the middle ages was to abandon them by the road sides or drown them. Very few were ever adopted. The idea that somehow we are going to adopt all the kids from unwanted pregnancies is preposterous. In the United States most people who get put up for adoption don't get adopted. What makes this further a problem is that the kids are very likely to become criminals or dangerous-- I think it is something like 30% of kids in the foster system become criminals. Make birth control more available and acceptable. That is the first step. I have no problem with offering free tubal ligations for people who do not want kids. I think people who use abortion as their only method of birth control should be offered to have their tubes tied. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Question about Karma in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 05:16
Profile
Karma is absolutely meaningful. It represents your ability to unintentionally annoy and anger people to the utmost degree. I am working on this. Some people do it effortlessly. I find it quite hard because when I try to get back at people other people tend to agree with me and up my rating. :P -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Nonfiction Books You Are Reading in General | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Tuesday, March 22 2005 03:18
Profile
I have a problem with stupid dualistic arguments. Especially science versus religion. Yes; in the absolute sense they are created by people with blinders on who remain unaware of changes in religious and scientific thought. People are stuck in a false cartesian mentality. Somehow people are run by either logic (science) or faith (religion). This is garbage. Science disproves itself here. People start out with neither logic nor faith when they are born. Science and religion are philosoophical constructs created by a fully developed mind. Child development and neurology disprove the cartesian world view. Logic develops late in life. We all start out with emotions and attachment to the world. Later this develops into the endpoints of scientific or religious philosophy-- neither of which are mutually exclusive. Newton and Einstein were believers in the absolute sense. It is even possible to complete ignore logic and religion and focus on other philosophies or senses of meaning-- for me art and literature are more important than either science or religion. This is true for some people who embrace certain moral or political philosophies like Confucianism or lifestyles like communalism. If one is aware of the later developments in science and religion there is a greater and greater focus on philosophical endpoints which destroy dualism than old arguments about Evolution and Creationism. It is no better than arguing about choice and determinism without understanding concepts like Superdeterminism, and the many worlds interpretation of physics. There are more important ideas like intelligent design which postulates that god created the universe according to the laws of physics. Something which makes creationists and scientists incredibly angry because it destroys the neat dualistic view of reality which we are taught in Sunday School and elementary school. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Scenarios in Development in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Monday, March 21 2005 15:13
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Terrors Martyr-- the party would have to be premade then. How would they be seen as Ursidae otherwise unless by some chance they were adopted by the bear beasties. :) So we would have a saved party that came with the scenario. Just curious? -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Other Realms in Avernum in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Monday, March 21 2005 07:12
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Oops. Sorry double post. [ Monday, March 21, 2005 07:13: Message edited by: Lord Baron Von Toast ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Other Realms in Avernum in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Monday, March 21 2005 07:10
Profile
I can think of two ways magical energy is used. Either it is channeled from an outside source-- a god, higher power, underlying order in the universe, etc.-- which the character fervently believes in. (priestly magic.) Fervent belief is the key. In Avernum this can be anything-- Church of the Divine Lucre, Temple of the Sacred Item, Slith Ancestral God, etc. Or the underlying magical order is shaped and focused outside the body through meditation, study, ritualistic chanting,etc. (wizardly magic). -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Other Realms in Avernum in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Monday, March 21 2005 04:40
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I think that when a creature is killed they become a spirit. This spirit either stays because it needs some kind of help or is trapped or goes on to the after life. There are numerous examples of spirits who are still here because something has not been done. The party runs into them in several different scenarios. In Canopy the spirits pull your party into the afterworld. I think there are higher realms because in Canopy you can summon angels. Although you cannot summon slith angels; there are slith avatars. The afterlife in Avernum could be very interesting. The human afterlife is not described. However, there would also be a Slith afterlife-- based on Slith gods and ancestor worship, A Nephilim afterlife-- based on Nephilim shamans, and all sorts of other afterlifes-- I wonder what goblin heaven is like. How the different afterlifes interconnect and interact with each other could make for a very interesting scenario. We may have a few visions of hell; the demons taking over Basshikava and enslaving the slith souls. However, because the party is a group of adventurers-- they would mainly run into the dark side of the afterlife-- e.g. they would be fighting evil. There are other possibilities-- a Valhalla like afterlife for the Nephilim possibly, or even an Elysian paradise for the Sliths. Just some thoughts. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Scenarios in Development in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Sunday, March 20 2005 13:57
Profile
Undead Valley is in its 8th beta version. Oops sorry. I think its detractors scared away Archmagi Michael which is too bad because although it can be terrible at points there are a lot of very interesting tricks and fights throughout the scenario. He stopped posting in November of 2004. [ Monday, March 21, 2005 02:27: Message edited by: Lord Baron Von Toast ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
| Other Realms in Avernum in Blades of Avernum | |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Sunday, March 20 2005 13:40
Profile
If you go by Robert Asprin-- a humorous fantasy writer demons are creatures from another dimension. Humans fear them and are their natural enemy. Phil Foglio one of the artists who draws for Spiderweb drew the Ahz character for the Myth Adventure series. Basically, a demon in this game is a nasty creature from another dimension who needs to use magical means to get to Avernum. This means because they are from an elsewhere they will have weird technology, evil unexplainable abilities (mung demon) , and sometimes look like science fiction nightmares (infernal trooper). It also means that because they are not from this world, they have no problem eating you for breakfast, or using you as an experimental animal. It is not exactly stated whether this dimension is hell or similar some other nether-- lower realm in a parallel dimension. [ Sunday, March 20, 2005 13:46: Message edited by: Lord Baron Von Toast ] -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |