Profile for PoD person

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Recent posts

Pages

AuthorRecent posts
BUGS! in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #33
Well, if one were to recoil in terror from the cutscenes in Undead Valley and move on to another scenario...

[ Thursday, April 21, 2005 14:14: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
BUGS! in Blades of Avernum Editor
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #31
It was, in fact, accidentally triggered many times in Undead Valley. Of course, that's Undead Valley.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
BUGS! in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #31
It was, in fact, accidentally triggered many times in Undead Valley. Of course, that's Undead Valley.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
The International Contest of Spider Games shall now commence! in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #11
BoA. I don't own BoE, though.

I do, however, think that Jeff made a better system with BoA, especially the open-source editor. It's got a higher learning curve, but I think that's why all the scenarios released have been at least decent. Now if only he would fix the bugs in the app itself...

So, the community's done a lot with BoE, but Jeff himself did a better job with BoA, and the community's gonna do that same stuff with BoA, ...right?
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Your favorite ten images from the Louvre in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #4
The PC graphic of a crudely drawn penguin.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #143
That's interesting, because I only have two priorities when picking clothing:

Does it chafe? - If it restricts my motion or rubs me raw, no go.

Will I be ridiculed?

Of course, a small amount of chafing is okay to forestall a large amount of ridicule, and vice versa. I guess I went off half-cocked earlier, assuming that clothing is degrading just because I don't yet understand how to derive any pleasure from it. That said, I abhor the idea of a "fashion statement." I'll decide who I want to pretend to be when I get there, not when I'm getting dressed, thank you very much.

Ef: Another thing I was getting at was, where do you think your whims come from regarding clothing? I pretty much only care about it insofar as it prevents ridicule, so I'm interested.

Aran: You forgot the people who feel the need to chastise the actual participants for going off topic.

[ Saturday, April 16, 2005 04:52: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Goal or Rushed Behind? in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #19
They're talking about Australian Rules football, actually, which I am pretty sure has a much larger endurance/general running component than American football. Thus, monstrous size and strength aren't prerequisites in the same way as in American football, to which you seem to be referring.

I like American football, because stocky, clumsy people like myself are made for the offensive line, and every other sport requires some sort of coordination, speed, or endurance.

[ Friday, April 15, 2005 11:35: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #136
You know, if the discussion was actually about Phaedra, it wouldn't be six pages long. Some discussions start out as being about one thing and then move on to (Gasp!) more interesting things. This one just happened to have a bit of an ugly transition period.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Most Notorious Weapons in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #5
Yes, TM, your weapons are by far the most powerful.

Adlerauge does good damage at range, but I like it mostly because I hate worrying about ammo. The ooh-ing and ah-ing over it at this forum makes it a clear number 1.

Maximillian is just utterly ridiculous.

I remember using the Halberd of Calindor before switching to the Spear of Kalthass and a shield and doing good damage, and two-handed weapons are just plain more intimidating.

You did, however, forget the hidden city spear. ;)
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #130
The questions I'm about to ask aren't in an argumentative spirit at all; I'm genuinely curious.

Ef, spy.there, or whichever girl (or guy, I suppose) wants to answer:

How do you choose what looks "good" and what doesn't? Do you think the pleasure comes from simple satisfaction with the way you look, i.e an aesthetic sensation, or are you more interested in the concept of being good looking? In other words, do you take more pleasure from the image itself, or from the fact that you look good (regardless of to whom you are doing so)?

[ Thursday, April 14, 2005 15:08: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #128
D'oh.

Um,...

A very ... sexist... process, that.

EDIT: Not to mention lopsided, because it's in the singular.

[ Thursday, April 14, 2005 13:02: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #126
Point taken.

You must admit that he has a lot of points, though. He just made Phaedra's molehill into a mountain because, let's face it, opportunities to talk about some of this stuff are few and far between.

EDIT: I think TM would have actually been better served by being more general straightaway. The only problem I have with what he is saying is that he won't let go of specifics in what is essentially a generalized debate. Well, that and the Marxism, because that's an econo-political philosophy, not an interpersonal relations one.

[ Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:57: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #124
I noticed. You just seemed awfully annoyed by a criticism of the present.

Let me rephrase myself. TM has not looked to the past for a positive example. No one is looking for a return to the good old days of Victorianism.

[ Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:36: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #121
quote:
Many actual women would say differently. Madonna, for one.

The pre-1960's view of sexuality that you hold up as being better was really little more than the inability to talk about sexuality at all, including for women to talk about their sexual needs and desires. As annoying as it is to have "Sex in the City" on TV on perpetual re-run, at least now we can communicate about these issues without having to worry.

Yes, more progress needs to be made, but the simple fact is that the position of women in modern society today is better than it has ever been in any culture at any other time.
So? Last I checked, you were a liberal. Since when was that about resting on your laurels? Also, I don't think anyone has said that previous attitudes were better.

quote:
Also, a women who dresses in a certain way to look good primarily for others has certified problems. A woman who dresses in a certain way to look good primarily for herself is strong, and I really don't think the two can be distinguished based on what she's wearing. (Phaedra, for the record, is strong.)
What "looks good" on women almost always tends to sacrifice the appearance of strength or competence, as well as comfort, in favor of insubstantiality - diminuitive, sheer pieces of clothing, skirts/dresses, high heels, etc. Although I'm not sure if it's possible to want to look good "for oneself," I think that, even if it is, a woman looking good by today's standards, for whomever, implies weakness, and, which is perhaps worse, shallowness.

Of course, men's fashion isn't that much better, seeing that its primary purpose seems to be intimidation, whether through conspicuous consumption or the more old-fashioned emphasis on the potential for violence, i.e. focusing on the broadness of the shoulders, etc.

quote:
I mean, you can take two approaches to this: the fact that some men judge a woman by her clothing means either that a woman needs to control what she conveys by how much skin she reveals, or that those men need to change the way they look at women. I'd favor the latter.
The trouble is, this whole debate is really representative of more than clothing. Before the whole sexual revolution, interaction with other human beings was a bunch of formalized rituals. Rather than use their newfound freedom to have authentic relationships, however, the flower power generation simply invented a more licentious and equally inauthentic set of rituals. Thus, those sexy clothes are a constant reminder to those challenged in the way of TM or, I admit, myself, that an individual human is just as alone now as he was in Puritan Boston, and that our plight is so much the worse because we all think that we are free. Add to that the whole raging teenage male hormones thing, and you've got yourself a regular old angst-fest. In other words, it's not that I can't look at scantily-clad women without getting aroused, and that I feel guilty; rather, it's that it's a constant reminder that, not only don't I belong, I don't think I'd even enjoy belonging that much.

quote:
Am I the only one that finds the description of women as "whores" and "sluts" far, far more offensive than Phaedra's costume?
Can we stop talking about Phaedra already? I am, in fact, offended by neither. No one who has said those things thinks that women are those things, just that various aspects of societal interaction put them in roles reminiscent of those things.

[ Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:21: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
science, philosophy or religion? in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #27
Philosophy, of course.

The particular philosophy known as The Scientific Method and the more Existential branch of Christian Philosophy are the most important to me, though, so what I mean is a mixture of all three. ;)

That said, each one is a different name (and methodology) for the attempt to understand the universe, and I know plenty of people who have no need of any of them, and get their meaning from a never-ending quest to have a good time, so I think that "none of the above" is a fairly acceptable answer as well.

[ Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:56: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Phaedra in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #77
I get where you're coming from, TM. At first, I thought your only interest in this topic was calling Kel an angsty liberal, but that last post struck a chord with me and impressed me as one of the most sincere things I've ever seen on the internet.

Doesn't anyone else feel a kind of dull sadness at the extent to which sex permeates our culture?

Sexy clothes seem, to me, to be a 21st-Century form of physical domination. The age of violence as an assertion of one's ability to affect the world is waning, so people turn to sex as a physical, therefore direct, means of exerting power over other humans. When a woman wears clothes to "feel sexy," she is probably actively trying to get laid only a small percentage of the time; rather, most of the time she just wants to know that she can create desire, that she has some measure of control. Men, of course, always want, however subconsciously, to get laid, but, like TM said, looks and sex are starting to overtake confrontation as expressions of potency even among our unsubtle and confrontation-driven gender. Because sex (both the physical element and the more subtle aspects) as a power-game and as an expression of intimacy are the same physical act and the same (or a very similar) set of hormones, the latter is devalued by its association with the former.

[ Wednesday, April 13, 2005 10:39: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
What Movies Are You Looking Forward To? in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #20
BSC, have you seen Bad Taste, by Peter Jackson?
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Scenarios in Development in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #42
Demonslayer, is the aforementioned Saint Brevity and the Oochie Squad for BoE or BoA (I ask because you expressed uncertainty earlier)?
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Graphics Request... in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #1
Hmmm. April 3...

I'm beginning to think that this scenario shall absolutely blow my mind.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Lord Putidus (The Darkness) Released! in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #25
It was, in the beta, possible to kill Putidus without lying, even to Putidus' guards (although at least one party member pretty much had to die), but the scenario continued on as if you had lied. Kel decided to make Putidus invulnerable in the final version because, let's face it, unqualified success for the party is not the point of this scenario.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Missile Weapons In Avernum in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #3
Actually, it's almost impossible, because there is no way to make weapons call states upon impact, so there isn't a whole heckuva lot that the designer can do except specify a number of dice and a bonus and make it do poison, lightning, or whatever.

A workaround is also impossible, based on the fact that the engine lacks calls to determine what a character did during a round (i.e., does it have the grenade launcher equipped, did it fire a missile this round), and to determine if the missile did in fact hit the target (although with the grenade example, that's not important), and to return somehow the number of the character targeted or of the space targeted.

The equip-check is possible, but the others could only be done with a usable item, and not an equipped missile.

EDIT: The idea, however, of giving missiles effects, etc. is a good one, especially as a way of making them preferable to hacking through things in melee.

[ Saturday, April 02, 2005 09:45: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Lord Putidus (The Darkness) Released! in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #22
quote:
Originally written by Mr.knowitall:

But still I would be pretty appreciated if Kel make some challenging scenario for a high level party in the future.
Like, for instance, Bahssikava ?
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
a new threat to our existence in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #20
I know you know about covalent bonds, I just felt like yanking your chain a bit on April fool's day.

What I meant with the first edit was that you still call it "oxide" in a covalent bond (or, rather, one covalent enough that chemists decide they would rather refer to it as such than as an ionic one; such things are tenuous at best, especially in a molecule which dissociates as often as water), not that it has other names when it's a different oxygen ion, which it does.

[ Friday, April 01, 2005 21:01: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
a new threat to our existence in General
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #17
Thuryl, I'm shocked! Water's bonds are covalent and polar, not ionic (although... they're damn close in a lot of ways, hence hydrogen peroxide rather than dihydrogen dioxide), so the atoms aren't really thought to be in any oxidation state. The convention for covalently bonded non-organic molecules is to always include the prefixes, so dihydrogen monoxide it in fact is.

EDIT: It's "oxide" whether the oxygen is actually in that full -2 state or not, I believe.

EDIT 2: Of course, convention could easily differ between Australia and America.

[ Friday, April 01, 2005 18:56: Message edited by: PoD person ]
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Beta Call ? Rhapsody in Blue in Blades of Avernum
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #19
The perpetrator has now confessed elsewhere on the boards, for the observant...
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00

Pages