Profile for Kelandon
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Kelandon |
| Member number | 4045 |
| Title | Off With Their Heads |
| Postcount | 7968 |
| Homepage | http://home.sanbrunocable.com/~tommywatts03/ |
| Registered | Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Are fantasy RPGs inherently conservative? in General | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Tuesday, April 11 2006 07:06
Profile
Homepage
I think that this aspect of heroic fantasy demonstrates how much imitation plays a role. All modern heroic fantasy of the sort described in the first post is directly or indirectly influenced by Tolkien (or D&D, which was influenced by Tolkien). There are those who try to break off from the Tolkien model, but one of the first things that they do, usually, is introduce moral ambiguity and greater realism. Tolkien was working from epic predecessors, and the interesting thing is that he was not primarily working from Greco-Roman predecessors. Think about how that story would've turned out: there are no bad guys in the Homeric and Vergilian epics! The Aeneid has a more sympathetic side (Aeneas) and a less sympathetic side (Turnus), but it would be hard to make the case that Turnus represents evil. Tolkien was instead working from Germanic sources, and these Germanic epics do have bad guys. (Interestingly, D&D apparently drew from the same sources at first, which may have been equally influential.) Beowulf, for instance, has Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon, all of which are pretty distinctly evil monsters and need to be killed. As far as I know, the Germanic sources generally have a definite sense of evil and represent that evil in monsters and villains. Ultimately, modern heroic fantasy is imitating imitations of imitations that eventually trace back to these Germanic sources. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| How did you discover Avernum? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Tuesday, April 11 2006 06:44
Profile
Homepage
He made it up. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Is this Plot Overcliche? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Tuesday, April 11 2006 06:42
Profile
Homepage
Thralni, read my post again and see if you can figure it out. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Is this Plot Overcliche? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Tuesday, April 11 2006 06:42
Profile
Homepage
Thralni, read my post again and see if you can figure it out. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Satanism in General | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 18:19
Profile
Homepage
Not being an expert on this, I can't say conclusively that Mesopotamians had a religion that forced its moral code upon its followers, but, given that the Greeks and Romans did, I can say it's a pretty safe bet. Ancient civilizations tended to get their ethics ipse dixit from religion, and, if they wanted to create new ethical systems, they'd create new religious justifications. The Jews may have been the first people to worry about orthodoxy, though. Ancient practices of which I am aware were almost entirely inclusive — "You have a god I've never heard of? Tell me about him or her, so that I may worship him or her too!" — so it was very easy to get the religion to back the ethics rather than forcing the ethics to adapt to the set religious beliefs, which is vaguely like what has been said. But I can't say definitively that it's true that Jews were the first not to be like this. That's odd: that implies a thesis that monotheism forces religious rigidity in a way that polytheism doesn't. I wonder if that holds water at all. [ Monday, April 10, 2006 18:46: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Slithy, Slithier, Slithzerikai - a grammar question in The Avernum Trilogy | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 12:43
Profile
Homepage
I guess it's worth mentioning that, in my Bahs/Exodus continuity, the goddess at that altar is Legare's Goddess, such as she is, and the word "slithzerikoss" (of which "slithzerikai" is a form) is the less complimentary word for a slith — slithzerikoss = homo/anthropos, ksevoss = vir/aner. This is not proven in the games anywhere. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| BUGS! in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 12:36
Profile
Homepage
Rough diamonds are supposed to be that way. I'll look into the rest later, though. The good news about corescendata errors is that they're fixable by the designers. Eventually I intend to create another few custom objects script bases that fix these errors. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| BUGS! in Blades of Avernum | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 12:36
Profile
Homepage
Rough diamonds are supposed to be that way. I'll look into the rest later, though. The good news about corescendata errors is that they're fixable by the designers. Eventually I intend to create another few custom objects script bases that fix these errors. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Is this Plot Overcliche? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 12:33
Profile
Homepage
Because Bahs exists, I advise others not to create another Bahs. I like it for what it does, but we already have a high-level scenario with combat primarily against demons and undead, and it would be annoying to have several more. Some people liked the first one, but it would get old very quickly. In any case, one can have demons villains but not demon combat opponents: a demon commands an army of nephilim or something, for example. [ Monday, April 10, 2006 12:37: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Is this Plot Overcliche? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 12:33
Profile
Homepage
Because Bahs exists, I advise others not to create another Bahs. I like it for what it does, but we already have a high-level scenario with combat primarily against demons and undead, and it would be annoying to have several more. Some people liked the first one, but it would get old very quickly. In any case, one can have demons villains but not demon combat opponents: a demon commands an army of nephilim or something, for example. [ Monday, April 10, 2006 12:37: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Which spiderweb software game is best? in General | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 07:09
Profile
Homepage
This brings us back to the original question I alluded to in the second post on this thread: what are we considering when we talk about BoE and BoA being good? If we're considering the third-party scenarios in existence — "Which is, at the moment, a better buy?" — then BoE trounces BoA without question. If we're considering future potential — "Which is a better buy if you're going to be a part of the community for a while?" — then BoA wins. If we're considering only the Jeff-made parts, well, that's an interesting question, isn't it? -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Slithy, Slithier, Slithzerikai - a grammar question in The Avernum Trilogy | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Monday, April 10 2006 06:45
Profile
Homepage
I was under the impression that "slithzerikai" was both singular and plural, like "fish," although I can't point to a particular part of the games in which that is proven. I was also under the impression that "slith" was a nickname, and its plural was "sliths." When you pray at the altar in the southeast corner of Gnass in A1, a disembodied voice (described as "small" and "soft") tells you to kill Sss-Thsss. There is no proof that it is a divine entity, and there is no proof that it is female, although both are reasonable guesses. [ Monday, April 10, 2006 06:46: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Graphics Sheets in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 20:28
Profile
Homepage
LP does this. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Graphics Sheets in Blades of Avernum | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 20:28
Profile
Homepage
LP does this. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Is this Plot Overcliche? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 20:24
Profile
Homepage
Having demons as your primary villains will make some people scream in anger. I'm not one of them. I think that it's okay, as long as they have personalities and motivations like everyone else (and as long as you have mostly non-demon foes for the combat in the scenario). Be sure to keep your ambitions modest, though. It sounds as though you've bitten off a plot that is larger than you can chew in a small scenario. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Is this Plot Overcliche? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 20:24
Profile
Homepage
Having demons as your primary villains will make some people scream in anger. I'm not one of them. I think that it's okay, as long as they have personalities and motivations like everyone else (and as long as you have mostly non-demon foes for the combat in the scenario). Be sure to keep your ambitions modest, though. It sounds as though you've bitten off a plot that is larger than you can chew in a small scenario. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Registration Problem. in Avernum 4 | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 20:20
Profile
Homepage
*jedi hand wave* This isn't the double-post you're looking for. :P Only moderators can delete posts, so do your best not to double-post in the first place. [ Sunday, April 09, 2006 20:20: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| School of Hard Knocks in Geneforge Series | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 14:05
Profile
Homepage
Every religious text ever written has been open to interpretation. Just not here, in the game forums, where the question that was asked has been answered. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| What is the best spell? in Avernum 4 | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Sunday, April 9 2006 10:28
Profile
Homepage
A4 Files -> Scripts -> av4itemschars.txt Put it at the very end. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Editors' Bugs in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Saturday, April 8 2006 20:25
Profile
Homepage
You mean the terrains, not the floors, I assume. There have been problems reported with reading signs in-game. This is known. As far as why the editor crashes, though, I have no idea. I have placed the signs — probably with an older version of the 2D editor — and had no problem. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Editors' Bugs in Blades of Avernum | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Saturday, April 8 2006 20:25
Profile
Homepage
You mean the terrains, not the floors, I assume. There have been problems reported with reading signs in-game. This is known. As far as why the editor crashes, though, I have no idea. I have placed the signs — probably with an older version of the 2D editor — and had no problem. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| What is the best spell? in Avernum 4 | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Saturday, April 8 2006 05:53
Profile
Homepage
As far as wand-making goes, Divine Retribution seems like your best bet. Spray Acid is very cheap to begin with, so there's no point making a wand of it. Divine Retribution does a lot of damage and is very spell-point expensive, so a wand of Divine Retribution makes a lot of sense. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| 15,000 Coin Limit? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Saturday, April 8 2006 05:50
Profile
Homepage
Systematic listing usually isn't so bad as far as figuring out individual probabilities: 4 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 5 1 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 After a certain point, though, using a computer program — one exists, but I'm not sure which one it is — is probably better than listing out probabilities, though. Especially if you ever have to work with, say, 6d6. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| 15,000 Coin Limit? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Friday, April 7 2006 18:11
Profile
Homepage
That's binary. The question is how many bits (ones and zeros) Jeff allotted to store the numbers. If he allotted 16 binary spaces, the numbers can go up to around 64,000. If he allotted 17 spaces, the numbers can go up to around 129,000. This makes a little more sense if you think about it with fewer numbers. If you've got two spaces allotted, your numbers can go up to (2^2)-1=3. 00 = 0 01 = 1 10 = 2 11 = 3 If you've got three spaces allotted, your numbers can go up to (2^3)-1=7: 000 = 0 001 = 1 010 = 2 011 = 3 100 = 4 101 = 5 110 = 6 111 = 7 The pattern continues. [ Friday, April 07, 2006 18:11: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
| Which spiderweb software game is best? in General | |
|
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
|
written Friday, April 7 2006 16:46
Profile
Homepage
That is, all of Jeff Vogel's Spiderweb games (distinct from, say, Richard White's Spiderweb games). I will say immediately that it's rather hard to compare BoE or BoA with any of the others. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |