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What exactly are slith avatars? in The Avernum Trilogy
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #23
quote:
Originally written by Meeshka:

quote:
Originally written by Accidental Malice:

What exactly isn't explained in Jeff's universe that needs to be elucidated?
Who makes them.

Necromancers, generally. You get to meet many of them. You kill most of them, too.

quote:
Are Vampires "undead"?
Yes. I'm not sure this is ever stated outright, but the keep company with the undead, they're affected by all the anti-undead spells, and they figure prominently in Diplomacy with the Dead.

quote:
Why is it a bad idea to try to apply any issue of D&D to Avernum since there ARE Dungeons and Dragons present?
This doesn't even deserve a response, but it will get one in four words: elves, dwarves, sliths, and nephilim.

—Alorael, who realizes quite well that his last response is absurd. So is the question, though.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Taskmaster system in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #14
Grinding is just poor design (or good design that irritates anti-grinders). I just don't see how use-based skills are more appealing to the optimizers or non-optimizers than Avernum's skills by allocation.

—Alorael, who is also convinced that higher difficulty is usually better delivered by crippling characters and not improving monsters. It's usually a matter of developing such powerful party members that they shred everything but the most ludicrously overpowered enemies. Take away a few key pieces of equipment and some skill points, though, and you can make players keep sweating to keep up.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
a4 is the best game yet in Avernum 4
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #71
Check the Spiderweb site for the number. Also check Irony Central for warning signs of zealous followers with lead pipes who will extract a pound of flesh from any obnoxious customers.

—Alorael, who very much doubts that these ravening hordes will be bothered very much if some blood is extracted in the process as long as it doesn't get on their new clothes.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Another year gone by... in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #15
They're the top posters, they exchange moderator positions, and they only pretend to leave. Could the conspiracy get any more obvious?

You know what? Add to this the fact that Thuryl has a highly suspicious English accent despite his supposed Australian origins and Aran's allegedly entirely wholesome knowledge of everyone and everything on Spiderweb and I suspect great evil. No, worse, I suspect Great Evil with capital letters and conspicuously complex plans to bring ruin upon us all!

Which unlikely heroes will protect us from these two fiends?

—Alorael, who admits to no paranoia. You can laugh now, but when Thuryl giggles as he annihilates all human life with his internet-powered weapons of mass destruction you'll feel very foolish indeed. And the dingos will probably eat your babies, too.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Another year gone by... in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #13
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

It appears I have comprehensively failed to leave. :(
Appearances can be deceptive.

—Alorael, who advocates a more positive outlook. You have resoundingly succeeded at returning triumphantly!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Taskmaster system in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #10
There are any number of ways to tweak the balance on learning by doing so that it isn't mind-numbingly boring, but that still doesn't address the two questions that should come first: what's wrong with Avernum's system, and why is this taskmaster system better?

I still think Avernum's style is my favorite, in part because of my compulsive optimization and exploration. I fail to see what a system that amounts to the computer allocating your skills based on what it thinks you like doing provides in terms of enjoyment.

—Alorael, who has noticed that he in fact vastly prefers games with no change in stats at all to games with a great deal of difficult, micromanagement-requiring change. To some extent it is the designer's responsibility to make the challenge balanced: not too hard and not too easy. As long as it's balanced (and sufficiently varied) and you can pick your play style at some point, is there a need for advancement?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Native Americans in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #106
quote:
Originally written by The_Other_Guy:

I think it's hilarious how far off-topic this has become. :D Anyway, I think Kelandon is right, that progressive taxation is neccesary, that low-income families can't afford to pay as much. The real problem though is all the crap that the government is investing in, such as research to give mice partially human brains. Plus the government spends a lot more money than it takes in, now how f***ing stupid is that?
The question isn't what low-income families can afford to pay, it's whether anyone needs to pay more than low-income families. I agree that the answer is yes.

There's a matter of degree. Increasing taxes on the wealthy may affect their lifestyles to some extent, but it will not subject them to anything but an affuent or at least comfortable lifestyle. The Native Americans were dumped into abject poverty. There's also a question of results. Nobody seriously claimed that the Native Americans would be better off for being forced off their land (although cultural assimilation is another story). In the long run, it's quite possible that the money taken from the rich can create a society that is better for everyone including the rich.

Thuryl beat me too it when I was distracted while writing this post, but the rejection of basic research is crippling to scientific progress. Growing human brains is mice is not obviously something with practical applications. Growing human brains for study is, though. Being able to regenerate damaged human brains in humans is too. Understanding how to manipulate genetics to produce effects like human brains in mice could lead to important breakthroughs.

—Alorael, who will mention here that the absurd amount of money dumped on biodefense is criminal. It has been largely unable to produce results and no results have been required. In the meantime, clear and present pathological dangers go underfunded. Then again, cancer is probably just a sign that God hates you.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Another year gone by... in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #9
My Aran's new year resolution is to displace Aran and Thuryl. I'll do it even if I have to post and delete very, very often!

Heck, maybe I'll make some puppet accounts and take up the top eight spots so Aran doesn't have to be deprived of the joys of Spidweb.

—Alorael, who sadly has even less faith in this than his regular New Years resolutions. But he can hope.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The Big Club Theory in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #4
My hypothesis of cultural division:

1: I have decided to apply new nomenclature to this separated section of a tree. Because of its martial applications, it shall henceforth be known as a club.

2: Why, my dear fellow, that is preposterous. As this is but a moderately sized section of the main trunk of a tree, it is obviously more appropriate to refer to it as a branch.

1: It is a club and I will not hear otherwise.

2: Don't be silly. It is a branch.

1: It is a club, and I will demonstrate to you its proper use as well as usage if you persist in your arrant misunderstanding of the language that we are currently formulating.

2: On the contrary, sir! I shall myself engage in neologism by coining the first "pun." To wit, I believe we and our like-minded associates should branch into two separate societies, as the deep rift between our mindsets is obviously impossible to reconcile.

1: Without recourse to clubs, you mean.

2: Well, yes.

—Alorael, who thinks the real wonder of Babel isn't language but the fact that a large group of people could be induced to cooperate on a massive project.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
What exactly are slith avatars? in The Avernum Trilogy
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #21
Vampires become vampires by being bitten, not by being magically animated. Diplomacy with the Dead strongly implies that this is true in Avernum as well as mythology.

Although Avernum doesn't weigh in on the subject, zombies are generally animated flesh that keeps decaying and and skeletons are fleshless bones animated and held together by magic. As zombies decompose, they fall apart because magic isn't used to hold them together. If they reach a skeletal stage, they're effectively out of commission because they have no coherency (or ability to move) any more.

Applying D&D to Avernum is a bad idea. There are no elves, and the only race-specific undead are the vahnatai varieties.

—Alorael, who can think of plenty of games and books that don't bother to explain the undead. Even those that do usually just say that dark power keeps the dead ambulatory and leave it at that. What exactly isn't explained in Jeff's universe that needs to be elucidated?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Taskmaster system in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #7
If realism is the goal, what is the justification for declaring that low-level enemies are harder to hit with a bow than a high level enemy? I think a puny goblin would be a more difficult target than a majestic and very large dragon. Spells can't miss at all, so it seems to me that the practice would all come from the casting regardless of target. How exactly does one "practice" in skills like Endurance? Get beaten up? That seems like a recipe for enduring a great deal of pain in the beginning of the game when cave rats are able to make you into an invulnerable iron man.

Avernum's system is much simpler, much less frustrating to the player, and in the end should result in the same thing. If your character picks locks, you will assign points to lock picking anyway. If he swings swords, you'll be putting points into sword swinging. It's easier for the programmer and the end user.

—Alorael, who is not a fan of tedium. Practicing your skills on every enemy you come across to stay ahead of the competition is tedious.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Alorael have finally get a Custom Title? in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #90
You think you aren't being judged already? What do you suppose the mod board is for?

—Alorael, who has just recorded three nominations for promotion to category 223A5-blue, one demotion back down to Raddish-QU:M, and an order to have a certain member sleep with the fishes.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Rentar's Keep Problem in Avernum 4
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #6
That's normal. The shatterings happen fairly quickly and early in the battle. Then you get to slog through many more rounds of bashing a rock on a pedestal before victory.

—Alorael, who wonders if vain Crystal Souls hire jewellers to make them look pretty. No, this isn't relevant.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Post Chat Snippets Completely Out Of Context in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #31
When did English start worrying about consistent and coherent phonetics?

—Alorael, who wonders how advanced cars have to become before certain behavior becomes illegal without consent.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
What exactly are slith avatars? in The Avernum Trilogy
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #19
Undead generally come in three varieties: decaying, skeletal, and ghostly.

One decaying corpse probably looks much like another. Sure, it might have some fur or scales coming off in patches instead of bare skin, but only if you're staring. Note that the games rarely (never?) describe the zombies you encounter. They could be any race, but in fact that's irrelevant because they're undead.

Skeletons are much the same. Nephil, slith, human, and vahnatai skulls might not look the same but that's not really important when you're being assaulted by a bunch of bones with a sword.

The spiritual undead like shades tend to look like utterly generic, apparently green humanoids. The race of a shade is impossible to determine.

There are definitely a few places where goblins in graveyards become zombies (despite the Encyclopedia Ermariana's entry), and there are some nasty undead in vahnatai crypts that can only be vahnatai corpses. I vaguely recall a few undead nephils, but I'm not sure about sliths.

Hraithe and vahnavoi both seem like undead with flesh that don't suffer decay like zombies. I'm not sure what that makes them. Mummies? Is preservation the only difference between vahnatai who become the vahnatai-specific undead and vahnatai who become generic undead?

—Alorael, who concludes that if the undead only share having returned from death and slith avatars are not undead, they must not have died. Maybe especially valiant sliths are magically ascended to avatarhood before death in a ritual analogous to vahnatai and Crystal Souls.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Alorael have finally get a Custom Title? in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #77
Why limit yourself to real coefficients? Or, for that matter, constants?

I propose that 'a' be defined as the square root of the total mass of implants (in slugs) multiplied by the member's age (in seconds, but rounded to the nearest hour) factorial.

—Alorael, who wouldn't want anyone to get the idea that determining oldbiehood is easy. Then they'd start thinking it's easy to be an oldbie, and before you knew it Spiderweb would be up to its collective ears in disaster of Dikiyoban proportions.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Alorael have finally get a Custom Title? in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #63
My only objection to lol is that ha is one letter shorter and therefore both more widely accepted and more concise.

—Alorael, who also very rarely laughs out loud at things seen online. Smirk, yes. Occasionally he even chuckles a bit. But real laughing? For the record, he should also mention that he has never rolled on the floor while laughing or seen anyone do so.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Where is the third drake fang? in The Avernum Trilogy
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #1
There are only two. Someone has to go fangless.

—Alorael, who thinks it serves you right for hunting and endangered and intelligent species to extinction.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
internet connection in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #10
Telepathy.

—Alorael, who considers it one of the primary side benefits of heavy skribbane use.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Avernum V in Avernum 4
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #320
In addition, although this makes me a philistine in some circles, I think the best creative ideas are widely accepted, at least eventually. Creativity that isn't accepted is still creative, I suppose, but that doesn't make it any good.

—Alorael, who would rather exercise his creativity in a medium other than Avernum.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Alorael have finally get a Custom Title? in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #55
Leet isn't intended to be a cipher, really. It's intended to be a way for those who are in the know, meaning those who can write and understand leet, to demonstrate their superiority over the ignorant masses.

—Alorael, who would actually be impressed by a community that developed a cipher to render itself opaque to outsiders. Not highly or favorably impressed, but impressed nonetheless.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Alorael have finally get a Custom Title? in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #34
MM is a lurker, but you can't really call someone with over a thousand posts and years of presence a newbie.

—Alorael, who also can't think of any ex-mod as a newbie. Except maybe a few very brief disappearing ET mods.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The Alien Blade and Mithril Broadsword in Footracer province in The Exile Trilogy
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #16
There's only one Alien Blade, and yes, you should *cough*follow*cough*the*cough*ghost*cough*in*cough*H's*cough*M*cough*.

—Alorael, who could barely believe anyone would reject a Mithral Broadsword. Then he remembered that Avernum is not Exile.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
How hard it it to beat Geneforge or Avernum games in The Avernum Trilogy
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #3
Moving polls causes problems, so this will stay here.

—Alorael, who found Avernum easy and Geneforge extremely hard to beat without registering.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Church of the Nine-Headed Cave Cow in General
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #52
Pedantic time: The song is something of a parody of "I Am Woman," only musically preferable. Organs are nice! Also, methane is a greenhouse gas, which makes it environmentally dangerous, but it doesn't deplete the ozone layer. In fact, methane contributes to the buildup of ozone pollution.

—Alorael, who should get off his high cow now. Religious rabbles never take well to being corrected.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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