Profile for Or else o'erleap.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Or else o'erleap. |
| Member number | 335 |
| Title | Law Bringer |
| Postcount | 14579 |
| Homepage | http://www.polarisboard.net |
| Registered | Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Article - Designing Quality Towns in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 15 2004 14:11
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BoA does make town design a real investment of time, but I still prefer towns that feel like towns to towns that feel like they were put in by a scenario designer for a purpose. Whether it's the hub of all the plot or just a waystation with a few shops, people should have things to say or reasons not to say them. A town doesn't need to be central to the scenario, but it should feel alive. —Alorael, who does agree that in certain cases towns can be distracting. That's almost always in very short scenarios, when any distraction at all will leave a major impression in the mind of the player and create a feeling of aimlessness. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Article - Designing Quality Towns in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 15 2004 14:11
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Homepage
BoA does make town design a real investment of time, but I still prefer towns that feel like towns to towns that feel like they were put in by a scenario designer for a purpose. Whether it's the hub of all the plot or just a waystation with a few shops, people should have things to say or reasons not to say them. A town doesn't need to be central to the scenario, but it should feel alive. —Alorael, who does agree that in certain cases towns can be distracting. That's almost always in very short scenarios, when any distraction at all will leave a major impression in the mind of the player and create a feeling of aimlessness. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| My apologies in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 15 2004 14:04
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When TM's writing begins to look like it was copied and pasted from an AOL chatroom, you can tell that he's being heavily sarcastic. Don't be taken in! ?Alorael, who hardly thinks that TM is only recently becoming odd. If he was on good behavior, it's only to soften his victims up for some mind-bendingly terrible remark and/or brainwashing and pro-Rakshasi propaganda. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Living in the past? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 15 2004 13:52
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Smart people can enjoy entertainment that the more snobbishly enlightened among us deem idiotic. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you can stomach the awfulness. Actually, it's best to enjoy as many things as possible. There's no real benefit to turning up your nose at the latest horrible addition to television programming. It just gives you more ways to beat boredom and keep yourself happily fascinated as long as you can handle jibes from all your friends and relations. ?Alorael, who does suppose that enough exposure to truly abominable forms of entertainment may well cause permanent neurologic damage and/or subconsciously induced suicide out of self loathing. Sadly, lawsuits against Fear Factor are still few and far between. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Experience in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 15 2004 13:43
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In terms of actual strength in a fight, the advantage depends on the specific circumstances. Generally speaking, the more characters you have, the easier fighting will be, so those who play smaller parties are looked on with awe and wonder. Well, maybe not, but at least they can boast. —Alorael, who still can't manage any party smaller than three, and even that causes problems unless he liberally abuses the fight/bless/wait trick to get a starting advantage. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Turns out.... in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 15 2004 13:32
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The posse proudly marches on! ?Alorael, who welcomes Paterick back dead or alive. Spiderweb does not tolerate vivist discrimination. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Did Jeff know about this while creating Exile/Avernum series? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, April 14 2004 13:45
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Yes, I come on the light of God. My secret it out! Now forget all about it, lest some serious smiting come and all that. ?Alorael, who doesn't think kibbutz is such a good example. It isn't really an English word at all, just a Hebrew word recently adopted because there is no English equivalent. Hm, okay, maybe it is an example. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| More classical music and such... in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, April 14 2004 13:24
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I'm still a fan of Bach, Telemann, and Vivaldi, but I love far too many composer and pieces to list them all. Handel deserves a nod as well, as do Mozart, Beethoven, and... I'm not going to keep listing. ?Alorael, who is still one of the few, the proud, the recorder players. Don't laugh, please! Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Experience in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, April 14 2004 12:28
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Experience is split equally, but it is then modified by the bonus or penalty your characters have for races and traits. If your casters are not gaining experience, it is probably because they have higher experience penalties than your fighters. —Alorael, who can't think of any other reason for uneven experience distribution. Well, unless your casters spend most of their time dead, but that always prevents experience gain. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Did Jeff know about this while creating Exile/Avernum series? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, April 13 2004 16:05
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Yes, but there are some Hebrew words that have made it into English. Seraph, seraphim. Cherub, cherubim. I'm sure there are more, but for some reason I'm stuck on the angelic words. Anyway, Jeff may have just absorbed the -im pluralization and used it without thinking. That's the most likely cause for subliminal word recycling anyway. ?Alorael, who would like to know how Jeff decided to make races end in -ai in both singular and plural. Once is standard fantasy naming weirdness, but twice is a conspiracy! Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Decency Question in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, April 13 2004 16:00
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Must all scenarios be vehicles for propaganda? I mean, you don't even need our cooperation! You have the Black Mark Cabbages for that! —Alorael, who is sure some careful innuendos and self-censoring can convey all the necessary brothel feel without offending any kittens or puppies. Not that kittens or puppies play BoA, come to think of it... Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Dungeons and Dragons? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, April 13 2004 11:10
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Roleplaying or lack thereof is more a matter of the players and GM than the system. Heck, Spiderweb is proof that there are powergamers and would-be minmaxers even in freeform RP's. ?Alorael, who still thinks AIM PnP games have problems. Namely the background chatter if you have a large group and the utter lack of ways to transmit anything but written information. Pen and paper gaming without maps is very hard. [ Tuesday, April 13, 2004 11:11: Message edited by: Alorael ] Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Did Jeff know about this while creating Exile/Avernum series? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, April 13 2004 10:44
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I would guess that Jeff came up with the name "nephilim" thinking it was original. Those subconscious memories can do funny things. ?Alorael, who has found no nepharim anywhere but in Exile/Avernum. If Jeff thought the nephilim were entirely his own, he could easily have altered the word to create a mutant subspecies. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Playing through the included campaigns... in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 16:54
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It can be and has been done. Some people swear by their singletons, as such one character parties are known. I think it takes someone much more skillful than I am to pull it off, but giving it a try is a lot of fun. —Alorael, who gave up after goblins handed his singleton's intestines to him of a silver platter. Some people were just meant to have multiple personalities. Four of them, to be precise. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| General Editor Question in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 11:50
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Gender is entirely a cosmetic decision, and it can be changed on a whim. There's no way to check for it at all. You can check for race, and if you want to you can put scripts that block the player from progressing if they have (or don't have) characters of a certain race in their party. —Alorael, who would say the scripts are much easier to use if you are familiar with C/C++. That said, they're not terribly difficult, although the complicated scripting tricks may take longer. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| General Editor Question in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 11:50
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Homepage
Gender is entirely a cosmetic decision, and it can be changed on a whim. There's no way to check for it at all. You can check for race, and if you want to you can put scripts that block the player from progressing if they have (or don't have) characters of a certain race in their party. —Alorael, who would say the scripts are much easier to use if you are familiar with C/C++. That said, they're not terribly difficult, although the complicated scripting tricks may take longer. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Article - Bob in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 11:45
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But players are people, and they do have feelings. Their feelings towards your scenario will likely be improved if you upgrade your Ugly Bob to a Decent Bob, or if you're willing to work at it, an Extraordinary Bob. —Alorael, who agrees that hiding the Bob under a better facade is a great step. One Anaximander is quite enough, thank you very much. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Article - Bob in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 11:45
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Homepage
But players are people, and they do have feelings. Their feelings towards your scenario will likely be improved if you upgrade your Ugly Bob to a Decent Bob, or if you're willing to work at it, an Extraordinary Bob. —Alorael, who agrees that hiding the Bob under a better facade is a great step. One Anaximander is quite enough, thank you very much. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Dungeons and Dragons? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 11:25
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There are places you can play D&D online, but I don't think it's likely to work well. The game was designed to be played in person, and I can't imagine trying to work out the mechanics without actually being able to speak and sit down together. ?Alorael, who would say that it's easy to dislike D&D when you're just getting started, especially if you have a bad person running the game. Once you get past that initial phase it can be a lot of fun. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Living in the past? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, April 12 2004 11:18
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I agree with parts of both your views. There is absolutely no reason to any of the movies coming out now. I don't, and I think my life is fulfilling and happy and all that. On the other hand, there's also no reason to love classic cinema. They're different, but not necessarily better than each other. ?Alorael, who agrees that old movies, like old anything, have the advantage of being filterede through years and years of attrition garbage. The really awful stuff just doesn't survive. Well, the moderately awful stuff doesn't survive. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and its ilk will live forever. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Happy Easter in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Sunday, April 11 2004 17:15
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Call me crazy, but wasn't it Romans who killed Jesus? ?Alorael, who also doesn't think that saying that Jews killed Jesus is a useful phrase. Nobody says that Americans killed Kennedy and Lincoln. Of course Jews killed Jesus. Everyone around him was Jewish, except for the ruling Romans who were more literally involved in the killing. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Differences between BoA and BoE, what's Nethergate in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Sunday, April 11 2004 17:07
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Nethergate isn't scenario based. There is one storyline, and that's it. The nice part is that you can play through it from both sides, either as Romans or as Celts. You get to hate yourself for outsmarting you. —Alorael, who thinks Nethergate certainly deserves recognition as Spiderweb's original and intereseting game concept. Its engine is a bit rougher than Avernum's, but not terribly so. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| How crap can you get? in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Sunday, April 11 2004 08:59
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Nobody gets free codes here. Jeff works hard on the games, and we're not going to aid and abet in thievery. —Alorael, who can't think of any better game bargains than BoE, and probably BoA once people start churning out scenarios. But if you can't afford them, you can't afford them. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Avernum new Ideas in Blades of Avernum | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, April 10 2004 19:56
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The towns, monsters, plot, and dialogue all vary by scenario, of course. The GIFTS will probably figure prominently in very few. —Alorael, who would like to see more entirely unforeseen plot twists. More specifically, he'd like to see them only in hindsight. They're unforeseen, after all. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Remember the Alamo in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, April 10 2004 19:53
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I've seen neither, but I've heard much grumbling about Hellboy. Since I've seen it get good reviews, I remain firmly convinced that movie critics' opinions are generally opposite to those of the average viewer. ?Alorael, who sees very few movies. These two will likely go on his "didn't see and don't particularly care" list. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |