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GIFTS? in Avernum 4
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, January 13 2006 22:03 Profile Homepage #4
He lives below Spire. He's not hostile when the town above is.

—Alorael, who didn't get the dialogue option to report the GIFTS and who wouldn't have anyway. Unlike some, he felt sorry for the poor lunatic. Nobody deserves what the GIFTS can do.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Infested Chronicles OOC Thread in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, January 13 2006 22:00 Profile Homepage #2
I protest. This RP was well and truly hijacked from the word go.

—Alorael, who wishes once again that UBB had a decent way to split threads, move posts, and so on.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Pied Piper Project 3: Revenge of the Boards in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, January 13 2006 14:20 Profile Homepage #35
By fiat, it shall henceforth be decadactyly.

[Edit: Is "to" in place of "two" a typo or a thinko? You decide!]

—Alorael, who just couldn't finagle equidactyly into the right meaning. Equal to whom? What if you have two hands with the same wrong number of fingers?

[ Friday, January 13, 2006 22:06: Message edited by: Gantim ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Quake for chicks in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, January 13 2006 14:16 Profile Homepage #9
Finland supposedly has the most internet access per capita measured by standards I no longer recall. It also considers internet addiction a valid disorder that can be grounds for delay of mandatory military service.

—Alorael, who suspects that Finland also has a disproportionate number of tentacles. Its tentacle to people ratio is probably the second highest in the world. The highest should be obvious. (The Arkham area is significant, but it isn't enough to balance the millions of Americans who live far from horrible things.)
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Helping Jeff advertise in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, January 13 2006 14:07 Profile Homepage #66
I think the points about plausible and implausible static worlds are the most useful. A1 is static because things are at a standstill, and the party acts as the pebble that levels up and quests to become an avalanche that upsets the status quo. Nethergate is an obvious stalemate, and there's even a good reason for an arbitrary band of unskilled Celts to be the deciding force. Half of the deciding force, anyway.

Worlds that are static for a reason and that tap first level adventurers for important tasks are better than worlds that are static because they are and adventurers who adventure because that's what adventurers do.

As far as characters go, I don't mind cardboard Bobs. Villains and significant helpers deserve better. Erika (who is half Bob but only half) has a real background and a real personality. It matters when she gets killed. If players could see Garzahd burning down giant lizards, raping houses, and riding off on women, defeating him would be more satisfying. Seeing him return in A4 would also be more meaningful, although that was one encounter that I already thought was spiffy.

—Alorael, who places Alphonse ahead of Ambrose in his list of favorite talking bricks.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Opening .Rar for Mac. in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, January 13 2006 13:51 Profile Homepage #3
How about this list?

—Alorael, who would get StuffIt. The world more or less assumes that you have it, so you might as well be accomodating.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Holy Mac Windows Batman! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:47 Profile Homepage #40
The only advantages I can think of are Mac user elitism, which really isn't all that advantageous, and the absence of Mac viruses, which is debatable. There are claims that there are no Mac viruses because Windows is so much more popular, but that reasoning seems flawed because surely someone would target Macs. Others claim that the Mac virus-proof.

—Alorael, who thinks the truth is probably a little of column A and a little of column B. If Macs had the vastly greater market share they would have some viruses, but Windows would still have viruses because it has all the security of a hole in a bank vault. And it has Virus Transfer Protocol.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Keyboard control in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:42 Profile Homepage #11
Plugging something into a laptop to get the keypad isn't useful. If I'm already dealing with that, I might as well get a whole keyboard. It makes regular typing easier too.

—Alorael, whose household has, for reasons murky and probably immoral, twice as many mice as computers. He decided that a mouse would go nicely with his laptop and keyboard setup to make it more like a desktop when its planted on his desk. Instead, he finds himself randomly alternating between using the trackpad and the mouse. Go figure.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Pied Piper Project 3: Revenge of the Boards in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:38 Profile Homepage #29
You know, polydactyly is a strange name for the disorder. It's obvious when you think about it, but then when you think about it more it makes no sense. If you are monodactylous, you have a significant disability.

—Alorael, who now must consider whether bidactyly would give you a total of two or four fingers. Is it normal to be quintadactylous or decadactylous?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Helping Jeff advertise in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:32 Profile Homepage #51
A3 had entirely generic people in entirely generic towns. They didn't even have names, just wares.

A4 has contentless characters, but they at least get their own names and descriptions.

—Alorael, who was upset by the few remnants of characters from older Avernums who were once important or at least entertaining and who were reduced to those few lines. Ken of the Ken and Jen pair was stripped of dialogue entirely. Fort Draco lost its smelting, its grime, and its Bills. "I'm Bill and he's Bill too!" was one of the defining moments of Exile about a decade ago.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Welcome Everyone! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:30 Profile Homepage #2
I wasn't around for it, but they weren't purged when I arrived and I looked. Mostly it was along the lines of the lucky few who got in before the rush being silly with frist prosts and such. And some officious discussion of matters of import.

—Alorael, who would say that the first thread of real import was Nephils vs. Sliths, which was a legend in its time. That's something that should have been archived for posterity.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Soon I Shall Be Rich in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:23 Profile Homepage #16
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Well, after a few hundred posts, a person stops being a newb, but a person can be a n00b forever. :P
The ones who bang out a few hundred posts in a couple of days are usually the ones who stay n00bs for a long time.

—Alorael, who hastens to point out that there are always exceptions. Like himself, of course.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Colonization in Richard White Games
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 17:31 Profile Homepage #5
I hear that Apple has released an ancient language translator as part of the new and improved OS X. They call it Rosetta or something.

—Alorael, who would be happy to buy an introductory book entitled Nine Variations on Linear B. Maybe the third book in the series would be Nine Variations on Planar B?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Keyboard control in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:49 Profile Homepage #8
The cursor starts on the caster. You can move the cursor like a party member with the arrows and keypad or jump to a specific enemy by pressing the appropriate letter. Pressing enter fires the spell centered at wherever you have the cursor.

—Alorael, who can't say it's a particularly elegant solution, but it is a solution. If there weren't tiles, it would be even uglier.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Helping Jeff advertise in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:47 Profile Homepage #47
That I can understand. As I said in another, entirely unrelated post, static worlds are part of the Spiderweb way. This can conceivably be a good thing, although I could stand some variety there too.

Even inactive NPCs wouldn't be so bad if they were interesting. Go through the Exile/Avernum games and name interesting, detailed characters. They're few and far between. In fact, strangely enough minor characters often get more fleshed out as people because they have less exposition to give and less plot to drive along.

—Alorael, who doesn't think there are really many villains in Avernum at all. Enemies, yes. Major enemies, yes. But long-running, major opposition to everything that the party stands for comes from demons, Garzahd (as a one-man encapsulation of the Empire), and Rentar-Ihrno.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Level Caps... in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:35 Profile Homepage #13
Why can't Jeff program anything in a way that makes sense?

—Alorael, who would not be terribly surprised to discover that all input received by Spiderweb games is processed by a Rube Goldberg algorithm that eventually spits back out exactly what was entered, two cherries, and many wasted CPU cycles.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Soon I Shall Be Rich in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:29 Profile Homepage #8
If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing and just let the topic go quietly into the second page of General.

—Alorael, who has nothing nice to say.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Colonization in Richard White Games
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:16 Profile Homepage #2
Things are not as they seem.

—Alorael, who crypticates obfuscationally.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
exile I in The Exile Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:09 Profile Homepage #1
Asp is in Cotra.

You need a key from the Castle to get into the Shattered Fort. To get it you first have to help Patrick by providing graymold salve.

—Alorael, who can give more explicit directions to graymold if desired.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The nephilim language in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 16:03 Profile Homepage #49
Many languages are simply called by the adjective of the nationality that speaks the language. The adjective for nephil seems to be nephil, so the language should be nephil. So much for learning nephilish or nephilese!

—Alorael, who expects the nepharim to demand that the language become nephir or nephal to show acceptance of the nepharim.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Level Caps... in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 15:56 Profile Homepage #6
All Exile games have a level cap at 50. I've never gotten there except in BoE.

A1 is capped at 40, A2 at 50, and A3 and BoA have no cap. I hit the A1 level cap once while playing by trying to hit the level cap. My two times playing through to just do the quests and win I ended without reaching level 40. I never hit level 50 at all in A2.

Geneforges and A4 have no specific caps, but at a certain level there are no longer any monsters that give you any experience. I don't know what level that is for any of the games.

—Alorael, who isn't quite sure how spells were nerfed in Exile. Avernum has a significantly different set of spells, though, and it's smaller. Most claim that it's less fun, and you'll get no arguments here. Another arrow spell does not make up for the absence of wall spells, area of effect spells, and the worthless Symbiosis.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
skill level before you get into the Honeycomb in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 15:49 Profile Homepage #1
I'm not sure exactly what level I was, but Jeff definitely arranged Avernum 4's challenges in a specific order. It's a very good idea to deal with the problems in the Eastern Gallery, especially the chitrachs below it, before venturing farther south. You get nice rewards, too.

Don't get too worked up about the shades. You won't be able to stop them for quite a while still.

—Alorael, who would say that the requirement is whatever level allows you to get a very important reward from Kelner in the Tower Colony. If you can't complete his quest, you're not ready to move on.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Keyboard control in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 15:46 Profile Homepage #4
I use a mouse for those cross-country treks from, say, Fort Monastery to Silvar and the keyboard for any movement that requires any thought whatsoever.

—Alorael, who prefers to avoid the mouse in general. This forced him to purchase a keyboard to go with his laptop (numerical keypads are necessary!), and he now contemplates the engineering challenge of making some form of folding keyboard for laptops that duplicates the standard desktop keyboard.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Need Vahnati Info for new RPG idea in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 15:41 Profile Homepage #1
The lexicon of the vahnatai language

Vahnatai titles.

Drakey's page is your friend.

—Alorael, who believes a reasonable amount of information is on Wikipedia, too. Drakey's page is better, though, since Drakey is a vahnatai himself.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Holy Mac Windows Batman! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 15:38 Profile Homepage #38
Inertia is a powerful market force. Most people are used to Windows, so they buy Windows. Because most people buy Windows, most programs are written for Windows. Because most programs are written for Windows, Windows supporters can show that Windows has a larger selection of software, which means it's a better operating system.

Preferring Windows for the software is perfectly legitimate (and self-fulfilling), but it does not make Windows a better operating system. (Logical fallacy of argumentum ad populum, for the record.)

—Alorael, who prefers Macs because most of the his lab software that isn't simply the controls for some device works on a Mac. Therefore the Mac software is superior, so Macs must be the best computers for scientists. QED.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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