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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

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Bahssikava released! in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 21:05 Profile Homepage #70 quote: Originally written by ef: I thought that if I brought this up and expressed myself, it would subtly change what Kel does with the next sequel, without him even thinking much about it. No. -------------------- 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
BoA Editor Remake in Blades of Avernum Editor
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 18:41 Profile Homepage #83 Ah. Nifty. -------------------- 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
BoA Editor Remake in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 18:41 Profile Homepage #83 Ah. Nifty. -------------------- 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
BoA Editor Remake in Blades of Avernum Editor
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 18:09 Profile Homepage #81 What is this "parser" thing? (In general terms; I don't need details.) -------------------- 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
BoA Editor Remake in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 18:09 Profile Homepage #81 What is this "parser" thing? (In general terms; I don't need details.) -------------------- 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
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 18:06 Profile Homepage #45 quote: Originally written by Drakefyre: And we've got a rather small willy. -------------------- 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
Bahssikava released! in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 18:01 Profile Homepage #67 Thuryl, let me say that when I talk about fruitless conversations with beta testers, I'm not talking about you. I did have a little bit of a debate with myself about how obvious to be and how blunt a point to make. I never really came to a final answer; thus the degree of subtlety throughout the scenario varies wildly. The adapted Our Father prayer in the Deeps (gone for the next version) and the bit about fighting one's own closest friends in Kass's speech right after the altar fight in Tunnels were examples of me being less subtle. The total lack of interaction with Legare during the scenario is an example of me being more subtle. I haven't ever come to a conclusion about how to achieve the right balance, really. And I suppose I should say that I am not sure to what extent it is possible (or desirable) to re-write Bahs in order to tie the plot and the action closer together and flesh out more details. I think it would be better to leave Bahs mostly alone and make a new scenario with the lessons that I learned from the old one. -------------------- 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
Special skills question in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 13:02 Profile Homepage #1 The most useful effect of Natural Mage is the ability to cast spells when encumbered. I don't know about anything else, but I'm sure someone else does. -------------------- 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 to develop a scenario? in Blades of Avernum Editor
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 12:47 Profile Homepage #8 Ah yes, walls. Placing walls in BoA still annoys me a bit. I know exactly where I want them to go, but switching between the dozens of potential walls gets annoying after a while. Not of immediate concern, but eventually, a better wall-placement system would be nice (as Khoth's BetterEditor was moving towards, I think). -------------------- 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 to develop a scenario? in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 12:47 Profile Homepage #8 Ah yes, walls. Placing walls in BoA still annoys me a bit. I know exactly where I want them to go, but switching between the dozens of potential walls gets annoying after a while. Not of immediate concern, but eventually, a better wall-placement system would be nice (as Khoth's BetterEditor was moving towards, I think). -------------------- 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
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 12:24 Profile Homepage #34 I think the difference between role-playing and a role-playing game can be summed up in one word: game. If you're role-playing but not playing a game (ie prepping for an interview), then you're not participating in an RPG. If you're role-playing and are also playing a game, then you're playing an RPG. It is worth noting that Gygax himself didn't want the rules of D&D to be perfectly clear. From what I've heard, he wanted each game of D&D to be customizable to the particular group's needs, rather than setting forth a single set of rules to standardize all D&D everywhere. Some other people didn't like this, which is part of the reason for the later editions and the abandonment of the various levels of D&D in favor of straight AD&D. Some people may prefer one format over another, but I think the most interesting thing here is that no one view is inherently right. If someone wants to make a scenario like what SkeleTony wants, then that person is free to do that, and some will like it and some won't. If others (like myself) want to make a scenario in which you have very little choice by the very nature of the job that you signed up to do, then I can make it, and some will like it and some won't. You can make the kind of scenario that you like. Getting someone else to make the kind of scenario that you like is harder, though. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 12:24: 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
Backwater Calls submitted. in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 12:10 Profile Homepage #11 My guess, twokids, is that you didn't put it in your scenarios folder. -------------------- 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
Backwater Calls submitted. in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 06:17 Profile Homepage #7 No scenario is ever only for PC. I took the liberty of converting the graphics so that Mac players can play -- download the PC version, then download this, unstuff, and put the resulting .cmg into the scenario's folder. -------------------- 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
Hi, new here, compelling game ! in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 06:00 Profile Homepage #11 If you're interested in endless hours of playing and like the way that Exile looks, you might want to get BoE also. As you observed, BoA is fairly new, so it only has a handful of scenarios made for it (four by Jeff, ten by others), while BoE is eight years old and has ~250 scenarios. BoA has a better (but harder to learn) scenario design capability, but if you're interested mostly in playing, that doesn't matter much, and even if you want to make scenarios, making one in BoE first might actually be a good way to get practice. Anyway, welcome! It's always good to see a new person interested in Blades. Hope you stick around. And since no one has provided it yet, here's a link you may want: the Lyceum, where most of the serious Blades activity gets done, particularly for BoE. -------------------- 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
Bahssikava released! in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Monday, February 28 2005 05:46 Profile Homepage #64 Given that the narrative has already been described as bloated, what answeres would you like and where would you like them? EDIT: This reminds me a bit of a few conversations that I had about the combat. People kept telling me, "Make it interesting! Make it interesting!" I'd ask, "What wasn't interesting, and how could I make it interesting?" They'd reply, "Make it interesting! Make it interesting!" :P EDIT 2: Not that it's gotten that bad yet, just that I could see it getting that bad. EDIT 3: Gah. Let me try this another way. You suggest the following things: how about reflecting that the mythical proportions of the Sliths' longing for their homeland become so understandable, if this remarkable culture is what they were expelled fromhow about wondering what the city may have been like, when it was still full functioningWhat did he strive to achieve? Destruction or a last desperate attempt to dominate what he felt separated from?something more with the significance of N-KWhy is this region so deserted? Where are the slith armies? Why does Ithik's town get no supportShould it not now be dawning on my party that the Sliths' return from exile may set them on a path much longer than and different from the one they initially meant to tread?A few of these are genuinely beyond the scope of this scenario. On the third point, no one is left either in any part of the scenario that remembers Thsss or knows what he was like specifically. Those questions cannot be answered in this scenario. Similarly, with regard to the fifth, the ending hints at why these areas of the homeland are abandoned, and the very geography itself is a clue: the slith empire that once made up the homeland has fallen apart. The details of that must wait, though. And on the final point: this is already there, albeit in short form. As soon as they walk through the doors into the Guardpost, the narrative introduces something like this. I admit I don't do much with it, but what more exactly do you want? And are there more things that you would like the scenario to address? [ Monday, February 28, 2005 06:37: 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
Bahssikava released! in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 22:35 Profile Homepage #62 If there are unanswered questions in Bahssikava, that's because the story isn't over yet. Bahs does stand on its own, but it is not meant to be completely satisfying by itself. There were a number of questions that I didn't answer deliberately. Among them: Who is the Goddess? Is she even real? What happened to the homeland sliths that caused the Guardpost to be cut off and caused Vasskolis to be destroyed? Who was Thsss, really? What did he really do to get exiled? What did he really do once he was exiled? You hear Kass's version, but how accurate is that? One of the assumptions that I made in Bahssikava is that the Darklings lost the ability to write almost immediately upon exile. Thus, the difference between groups of sliths is vast: the Bahssikavans were the sliths who broke from the Darklings from the moment they passed through the steel doors -- these sliths would remember the homeland vividly, since they lived there. The histories that they wrote would be relatively accurate, since their writings would trace back to the time right before The sliths of Gnass, on the other hand, broke from the Darklings much later. By my chronology, they broke from the Darklings more than one-hundred fifty years after the Bahssikavans did. That means they spent a hundred and fifty years without written records. They forgot much about Bahssikava and the homeland during this time. Now, every slith in Avernum (save Legare himself) is descended from Darklings or from those of Gnass, who know little more about history than Darklings. That's why so much of the information in Avernum about Bahssikava and the homeland is missing important details. I could go on about this at great length, but I'll spare you (unless you really want more details). :P Suffice it to say that I very deliberately didn't give precise answers because there's more to come and didn't tell the whole story because, well, the scen took a year to make as is. The sequel (if it ever gets made) will be much more satisfying in terms of plot, I promise. EDIT: At some point, a couple more articles and a few revisions and probably some sort of general statement are coming, so that as I digest what I learned from the experience of making Bahssikava, I can pass on some of the lessons to others. [ Sunday, February 27, 2005 22:41: 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
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 22:16 Profile Homepage #19 quote: Originally written by VCH: Though I will say cut scene dialogue should be displayed in larger sized font if that's possible. Possible on Jeff's end, but not on ours. Designers don't get to control the size of text bubbles. quote: voices for cut scenes would be even better While this could in principle be done even now, the scenario download size would grow exponentially out of control very quickly. (I think that's quite redundant, but you get the idea. :P ) [ Sunday, February 27, 2005 22:38: 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
Who are you??? in General
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 20:30 Profile Homepage #47 Awwww... kitty! Well, I might as well share a picture of mine, then. This picture is probably five years old now, but Orange Cat still looks a lot like this: -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. 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
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 20:26 Profile Homepage #15 Certainly not all of Al's scenarios are linear, but some (An Apology, as far as I know) are. And I've always found that any trend of any kind in the Blades community is directly related to Al, one way or another. (And I think I'm only slightly exaggerating.) I thought to myself about Bahs and its cut scenes, and as far as I can tell, only three are both unavoidable and more related to the history of the situation in Bahssikava than related to the action of the scenario itself: the first two at the beginning narrated by Kass, and the last one at the very end (and even that one, I'd argue, is related insofar as it explains where the party ends up and why the scenario is over). The first cut scene explains why you should care about the sliths and the steel doors, but it doesn't directly help you defeat any monsters, so it could be considered superfluous. The second one (coming back up from the Deeps the first time) explains why you can't leave Bahs to the outdoors anymore and what you should do next, but it goes rather far afield in doing so -- it could have been a dialog box if I had wanted to keep it slim. Every other cut scene that I can think of is skippable, albeit with some disadvantages (the one narrated by Khassper in AB, the one at the end of the N-K sidequest) or ties directly into the action (the one going from the Deeps to the Guardpost -- this is the doors being opened, the guardpost explained, although I admit the poetry at the beginning isn't purely necessary). I floated with at least one or two beta testers the idea of making all the cut scenes skippable via the same "Set Cutscene Speed" ability, and I may still implement this for the next version (coming soon to a web site near you), but I always thought that the cut scenes in Bahs were the best part, and I didn't get much of a positive response to this from the ones to whom I mentioned this. If at least a few people think it's a good idea, though, I'll do it. [ Sunday, February 27, 2005 20:32: 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
Bahssikava Laser Puzzle 3 in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 20:10 Profile Homepage #6 Ah, I see the problem. A memory cell is set wrong on both outside sources that require power (for the doors to the first and second puzzle). Easy enough to fix. EDIT: By the way, if anyone figures out a way to get Windows to spit out coordinates or finds other excessive power-up zaps occuring (one every turn while you're near a source), let me know. [ Sunday, February 27, 2005 20:11: 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
Bahssikava Laser Puzzle 3 in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 18:32 Profile Homepage #4 quote: Originally written by VCH: Though the sound effect when all were powered slowed the game considerably. I tried to get rid of all of these and thought I had. Where did you experience this? Which sources were at fault? -------------------- 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
Bahssikava Laser Puzzle 3 in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 18:16 Profile Homepage #1 Hopefully by the "third" puzzle you mean the same thing as I mean by the "third" puzzle, the one in the northeast. The way I dealt with it was was like this: bring in one character in combat mode; push the one available mirror to the southeast until it redirects the first beam immediately to the south; run over to the next mirror and push it one space southwest; then push that mirror farther and farther west until it is up against the projector; grab the mirrors from the room in the southwest corner; and set those up to redirect the first beam into the source. Boots reports that you can use the lever in the room in the far southeast to turn on a beam that goes into the northwest corner of this puzzle and redirect that beam using mirrors to power the source, also. I haven't checked this, but I think it's possible. [ Sunday, February 27, 2005 18:16: 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
The Dingoes Ate My Baby! in General
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 14:14 Profile Homepage #76 Kelandon is pronounced just like the first name of Landon Donovan, from whom the name comes. I've always wondered how to pronounce Djur. I've been pronouncing it much like the French "d'jour," but with a schwa instead of a long U sound. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. 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
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Sunday, February 27 2005 05:38 Profile Homepage #3 quote: Originally written by DreamGuy: I'd hazard a guess that it's because that mindset is more typical of younger and less experienced designers. This is outright wrong. I think it might have something to do with Alcritas, who designed a number of spectacular and fairly linear scenarios -- and he's older than you think, and as experienced a designer as just about anyone you can name. Your opinions are not better than anyone else's opinions. I wish you'd realize 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
E4? in The Exile Trilogy
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Saturday, February 26 2005 20:51 Profile Homepage #3 Generally At the Gallows is referred to as Exile 4. -------------------- 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

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