Profile for The Immortal
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | The Immortal |
| Member number | 4 |
| Title | BANNED |
| Postcount | 6936 |
| Homepage | http://www.geocities.com/terrorsmartyr/ |
| Registered | Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| why? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 18:39
Profile
Homepage
quote:Nevermind this post. Seems like he'll be forgetting to inhale any minute now. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| why? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 18:11
Profile
Homepage
How do I fast-forward to the point where you stop breathing? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| My aMAZEing idea... in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 17:24
Profile
Homepage
quote:NO. No freaking mazes or puzzles! How difficult is this for you maggots to understand? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| My aMAZEing idea... in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 17:24
Profile
Homepage
quote:NO. No freaking mazes or puzzles! How difficult is this for you maggots to understand? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Which to buy? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 11:25
Profile
Homepage
Buy Blades of Exile. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Blades Chat in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 11:22
Profile
Homepage
I've been there since an hour ago. ~_~ -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Want to Crush Your Dreams. in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Saturday, January 7 2006 09:51
Profile
Homepage
quote:Well, it's technically 6 sentences... The idea isn't a bad one (other than I don't know what an alicorn is, though that might be my fault). But who is this mage? Why is he doing this? Is he just generally evil? Here's an idea- why not have the mage who wants the alicorns want to heal innocents? Let's say that he has a child whose disease can only be cured with the alicorn elixirs you speak of, or maybe he just wants to supply the Empire with these things to cure their mortally wounded. He'd be a much more believable villain, a much more convincing one, and the party would have a moral dillema- Kill the mage and let many innocent people die, or kill the unicorn leader and let many innocent people die. (Or just leave the valley, in which case the unicorn leader dies anyway.) -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| My aMAZEing idea... in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 22:26
Profile
Homepage
quote:DON'T DO IT. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| My aMAZEing idea... in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 22:26
Profile
Homepage
quote:DON'T DO IT. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Want to Crush Your Dreams. in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 21:22
Profile
Homepage
quote:WOW. I really, really, really like this idea. Do it. It's okay if midnight is the only time you can come- most of us will probably still be on then anyway. (And if nothing else, I'll be on AIM for another hour.) -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Want to Crush Your Dreams. in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 21:02
Profile
Homepage
Pshaw. It's not as difficult as it's cracked up to be, although truthfully, experience DOES help. Don't worry- scripting and town/outdoors design are learnable, and if you take up a really small idea, it's very doable. Plus, a first effort doesn't have to have all-that-complex scripting- there's nothing inherently wrong with just a human settlement and a dungeon that needs purging. Step 1 is "think of something neat". Step 2 is sorta a toss-up. I prefer to draw towns as I go and script the plot as I go, especially since it allows me to contol a scenario's pacing better, but that's all your choice. And heck, if you're lost, you can always ask a designer for advice. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Want to Crush Your Dreams. in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 20:18
Profile
Homepage
Four people- this is a good starting point. So far, I count: Nicothodes, Ephesos (who I hope will not give up DoK2 either!), SupaNik, Slith Lord, Arachnid ... quote:I don't want to say that it's impossible- Shyguy did it. On the other hand, Shyguys are the exception to the rule by far. (Plus, Shyguy had a lot of klunkers that come with new design, albeit very competent design in his instance.) SupaNik- The idea sounds sorta simple, and I like it. On the other hand... "The story wasn't great, so I was gonna flesh it out with cool things I picked up from films etc." Man. "Short and simple" is not equal to "inadequate". An Apology, for instance, isn't that long. Five of the top ten scenarios of all time are what you might describe as "short". Among the remaining five, only three are "epics". "They were sent to oversee it all. Poor story-wise, but they are level 1... Perhaps it's part of an apprentice, maybe a training op?" Back to the drawing board for you. Although I do like the idea of the party's being apprentices! One idea I have, then, is to perhaps give the party an "advance reward"- for all characters in the party, you could give those who aren't already magi +2 to mage spells and +2 intelligence for effect. (If you want to be perfectly fair, you can have each of these "bonuses" take away from the party's final reward- if it's 5k gold, for instance, have each character "enhanced" take away 1k from the reward.) But that's a detail that can be discussed later. My point is that you should have the party's role selected well in advance. Even if it's not very GOOD, it shouldn't be assigned randomly. "If you confront Zama, he kills all or most of the other villagers(maybe?) so at the end you are left either to abandon the valley or try to rebuild the village." I'm not liking this. I mean, I can sorta dig the crone, though I'd make it less "everyone thinks she's crazy" and more "Zama/Zag (you seem to alternate with names) had her imprisoned, and you have to sneak inside to reach her." Heck, you could have her be the author of the spellbook- perhaps even have Zama/Zag be her former apprentice. That would make for a far more interesting adventurer without adding anything in length. And Zama/Zag's "killing the villagers" doesn't make sense- why do what he's doing in general, if not for control over these people? What good does killing do? If I were Z, I'd incriminate the party and try to have my ex-teacher killed at all costs. If I were the party+crone team, I'd try to wow the townspeople with newfound "magic", challenging Zama/Zag in a duel. Now, this would make for a REALLY interesting final fight- You'd have the party, the crone, Z and the town guard. The party has to protect the crone, but ALSO not attack Z, lest they risk people accusing the crone of cheating. The party also has to protect the crone from the town guard, who are trying to kill her. To that end, I'd suggest adding the crone to the party as a PC, so the party can use Heal, War Blessing, etc. on her. You'd just have to keep her paralyzed every turn. Also, Z would have to be a monster with 1 HP, so any attack the party does instantly kills him. (You can also add calls to check for added statuses in his script in case the party decides to hit him up with slowing, paralysis, etc. And don't forget to include a check for who_last_attacked is!) After a while, the crone wins, and she explains to the people that the prophet is nothing but a lying scumbag and the people are "freed". Now that would be a good scenario. Think about it. In fact, the whole prophet scenario indeed has a nice little paragraph to it: "Prophet controls town with paltry magics. Party does task for prophet. Party finds spellbook belonging to crone. Party finds crone and learns truth. Party confronts prophet and liberates people." I'd say that it's the most complicated I want any of these scenarios to get. And I mean it- to all of you. Think about it. Think about two things: 1. What's interesting 2. What's not too complicated Now, as for chat times. We have two "american" time zones, one "british" time zone, and two people who forgot to list theirs. (Nice.) The designing "aids" all happen to be americans (who are in school, no less). So hm- how about some time around 4-6 PM EST? That translates into 9-11 (always remember) PM GST, I think. At the chat, I want all who come to have a solid idea of what they're doing with the scenarios before they leave. So okay, what's say we have it some time in the middle of next week? And really- if anyone else wants to join in, have at it. The more, the merrier. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| What is your best team of 4? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 19:41
Profile
Homepage
"I wrote the ninja thing, and even if you got such a graphic, you couldn´t use it for PCs! [Razz] " Um. There's already a "ninja" graphic for PCs. "Melee attacks are best, though, if the party is close enough and can hit the monsters." Eh- I suppose that melee is ultimately best (although the Nuclear Pistol comes Really, Really Close to the Nuclear Sword). On the other hand, melee requires putting yourself in the line of monsters' attacks, which is a relatively poor proposition: As you advance in levels, the odds that monsters WON'T hit you decrease sharply, and armor- even Zenbu no Yoroi or Blessed Mithril Plates- can't stave off all attacks. (This is especially true in Bahssikava- most of those monsters you don't want NEAR you. Fortunately, archery means that they won't get that far anyway.) Plus, archers have the added benefit of having a primary stat (DEX) that increases both damage and percentage to hit, making archery a better option than melee for taking out, say, Goblin Assassins (EM) or Galthrax (Bahss). Not only that, but their "second bonus stat" (Sharpshooter) only requires ONE of the selected missile groups, not both (like Blademaster does). -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Martial Arts? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Friday, January 6 2006 09:01
Profile
Homepage
I actually tried making a A3 game like this once! It moved very slowly. ~_~ -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Swords or Spears? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 22:19
Profile
Homepage
Kel, the major operator of Alo's moniker is the if. It's an if-then statement with a variable for the consequence. Yeah, the consequence may-or-may-not be false, but regardless if it is or not, the if-statement is guaranteed to be true. So I was wrong, but you were too- it doesn't guarantee a true conclusion, but it DOES guarantee a true statement regardless of the conclusion. My bad. (For reference, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentential_logic#Grammar ) -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Swords or Spears? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 21:47
Profile
Homepage
"No, it isn't. "Alorael or not Alorael" would be a tautology. "Alorael and not Alorael" is a contradiction." Half correct. A•~A is a contradiction, but a contradiction as an antecedent guarantees a true conclusion. Alorael's moniker is (A•~A)>x, which is a tautology. "If you want to dual-wield, two flails are almost as good as two waveblades, and much cheaper and easier to find." Okay, point. But not in Blades of Exile. quote:FYT. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Swords or Spears? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 21:36
Profile
Homepage
"If Alorael and not Alorael..." is a tautology. Anyway, in BoA, swords are superior. In Exile, swords and spears are superior. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| PnP in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 20:31
Profile
Homepage
OMG, RIFTS. That's the one where my hometown has, like, 3 dimentional rifts, right? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Swords or Spears? in General | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 20:23
Profile
Homepage
quote:EDIT: It's also true that the best one-handed sword is better than the best two-handed pole weapon. [ Thursday, January 05, 2006 20:27: Message edited by: Akai Hoshi ] -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| gremlin wine? in Avernum 4 | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 16:34
Profile
Homepage
There are barriers that are above piercing crystals or even the highest level of the spell itself. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Want to Crush Your Dreams. in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 13:38
Profile
Homepage
I'm not sure that I like the idea of three "quests" proving that the prophet's god doesn't exist. The quests, in order to do that, would have to be fairly complicated- I mean, would it just be books lying around? And if so, why? There's no simple solution to that one. Why not have ONE task from the prophet? And your ending... The vagueness isn't good. Why not have the Prophet exile the party for offending his god if they discover the "truth"? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| What is your best team of 4? in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 12:53
Profile
Homepage
(Which is why I made special spells in Canopy) -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Want to Crush Your Dreams. in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 10:59
Profile
Homepage
And revive BoA while I'm at it. From the BoA Chat yesterday... See, I've made some observations while looking at the boards, and I've concluded that: 1. People want to design. It's true- people seem to have no shortage of inspiration, always discussing unmade scenarios and how complete they are. This is a good thing. 2. Scenarios are not getting done. People are not finishing scenarios anymore. Okay, sure- the 3 or 4 remaining designers are churning out *something*, but there hasn't been an actual release (nevermind a good one) in a long time. 3. Blades of Avernum is basically going to pot. Scenarios are not getting done, thus people are not playing scenarios, thus there is nothing for the community to do. Nuts. Which is confusing- plenty of people talk about making scenarios, and yet no results. 4. People need to have smaller focuses. Much smaller. This is where I crush your dreams. If this is the first scenario you're making and you plan for it to be more than 20 towns, it will not get done. If you are a new designer and have to give "status reports" about a scenario, it will not get done. The solution is to aim for more reasonable goals. In the manual, Jeff says: "People are often surprised at how much work and concentration it takes to make adventures. It takes time to make good stuff. I strongly suggest, for your first adventure, aiming small. A few outdoor sections. Ten or twenty towns and dungeon levels. Don't try to make the world-changing epic until you really understand what you're getting into. It is better to release and share one small adventure than to make half of a huge one that nobody ever sees." He is right. Which is why I have a plan for all new designers: A. Write a paragraph that, in 2-5 sentences, describes your entire scenario. Like a good thesis, it should describe what you will be doing and nothing more. For example, an intro paragraph would be: "Party enters Green Valley to assist settlement in fending off goblins. Party goes to goblin lair and meets king. Party finds GV's mayor's seal on a note to goblin king. Mayor intends to bring military presence into GV to bolster its economy. Party kills mayor." You can play through this scenario- it is missing some details, such as the option for the party to merely kill the goblin king, not notice the note, get 100 gold from the mayor and leave the valley. It doesn't say how the goblin king fights, nor which script it uses. However, this paragraph says what the scenario will do. It outlines the scenario and gives the designer a scope that is as small as it is reasonable. I could have written introductory paragraphs for Bandits or RoR-BoA, but that would have been too complex for what I am intending. B. Make your scenario. This is the difficult part. Preferably, your scenario will be small enough to do in 1-2 outdoor sections and no more than 4 towns. One dungeon, maybe 2 floors of it. One town. I want the scope to be miniscule. A bunch of designers will be ready to help you out if you do not know what to do. Do not hesitate to ask questions. Finish your scenario. C. Revise it. The same designers who will help you will also not hesitate to help you revise your scenario. For instance, if all the mayor does is surrender peacefully, rather than summon the town guard, designers could help you make a dramatic final sequence the party has to escape the town. Maybe toss in some very high-level soldiers who the party will have to work to escape from. Perhaps have the party get less of a reward at the end from offended beureaucrats for killing the mayor. Who knows. D. Release it. The final step. Everyone benefits. My goals in organizing this effort are three-fold: I. New scenaros will be released. The most obvious result. Depending on how many people agree to follow this setup, we will have a good number of new scenarios. II. People will regain enthusiasm about the medium. If there are new scenarios, people will play these scenarios. There are enough people minimally present who would do this given the chance that, given a batch of new scenarios, a revival could be possible. (And heck, maybe they might themselves start designing! One can only hope.) III. A batch of new people will know what it means to release something. This is the most elusive but also the most important result- the number of people who do this will know exactly what it means to make a scenario to its end. When Pat Doe makes Scenario A, s/he is that much more likely to be able to finish Scenario B. If BoA has 4-8 more new designers, that is a designing base upon which things can be built. So if you're interested, let me know. Post here saying that you're interested. 4-8 people would be a nice total, but if more people are interested, that's great. Post here. (You can even post your intro paragraphs in this topic if you want, but I'd suggest thinking it over for a while.) I plan on having a chat some time soon on AOL Instant Messenger, so knowing your time zones can help with planning out a time. So far, Stareye, Ephesos, Imban and Yours Truly have enlisted their aid. (Not sure if Kel is in either- don't remember if I got his response or if he had already left.) If you're a designer and don't mind giving extensive feedback to newer designers (I'm looking at you, Ash), feel free to post here also. If you want to be a scenario designer, that's great- just have enough faith to let proven designers share some wisdom about it. (And as a sidenote, while doing this doesn't mean permanently abandoning any epic[s] you might have planned, it does mean that your skills will advance to the point where said epic[s] will look shoddy by comparison! Be forewarned.) -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| German review translation in Avernum 4 | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 10:05
Profile
Homepage
Oh, cripes. A mac games periodical. I'm biased- last time this happened was when spy.hard put a review of BoA in her city's actual newspaper. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| BoA CHAT!! in Blades of Avernum | |
|
BANNED
Member # 4
|
written Thursday, January 5 2006 09:40
Profile
Homepage
dream.esper.net -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |