Kasimir

Anyone else read this series? I absolutely love the snark--the protagonist, PC Peter Grant is just full of so many gems that I always crack up when reading the book. And the magic system is interesting enough, for all that it's basically a riff off the usual urban fantasy-type magic systems. Not Sanderson-type, but interesting in its own right. And then there's Thomas "Oops was that your Tiger tank?" Nightingale, who is so badchull that I keep waiting for Ben Aaronovitch to tell us more about what went on at Ettersberg. All we have at the moment are tantalising hints. In that regard, Foxglove Summer was a little disappointing, for all that it was another interesting episode in the Folly. But hey, I enjoyed the book anyway. I enjoy pretty much most of them.

When you believe that it's totally acceptable to put "The Church of the Stick" as your religion on Facebook.

Who knows, maybe you'll get (un)lucky this time

When you go back to all the fantasy books you used to read as a kid and realise that most of them are uninteresting to you these days--because, Sanderson.

Real Money Trade --> Manga: .hack//Legend of the Twilight --> A God Am I --> Creator: Brandon Sanderson ^ I approve of the last transition. It was clear from the beginning that he is a god

I'm going to hope you didn't actually do that and you're just saying it for kicks. When you forget to codeswitch when talking to a friend who hasn't (yet) read the Stormlight Archive and you describe your lecturer as having "flipped his chull" over something.

I'm with Joe about needing more specificity here. You mention that the team must decide "what do to with these clues, i.e. research." I want to know what you mean: is this a game where we create characters with different strengths and essentially role and make skill checks, such as in Eldritch Horror for more information? Or do you mean real-life hitting the search engine research? For that matter, what's the goal--exactly? There's a lot of vagueness at the moment.

Old Kingdom Game: WoT game:

I'd go for either that or an evil lineup of Alv, Wilson, and Awes. Not that I'm going to put any spheres on that. I'm pretty bankrupt since this game

Sounds interesting, especially if it isn't something we've got to do every single month. I'd be interested, for one. I'd just like a more specificity in this notion of a short story or a chapter--exactly what are we talking about here? (I've known people whose definition of 'short story' seemed to go to 15k words, so I'm just highly curious.)

Two sections to this post. First, some stuff I've thought about Aonar's Old Kingdom game. Aonar: - Second, I've worked on my Wheel of Time game and I think I've managed to polish it a bit more and work out some mechanics that were troubling me. This game is meant to be an MR with a conversion killer. The Tower Divided: These are dark times for the Black Tower. No one has heard word from LOGAIN ABLAR, loyal lieutenant to RAND AL’THOR, the Dragon Reborn. In his absence, MAZRIM TAIM, the M’Hael, controls the Black Tower. MEZAR KURIN, a man fiercely loyal to LOGAIN has returned to the Tower, claiming that all is well with LOGAIN and the dispute between LOGAIN and TAIM will soon be resolved. But you don’t know if you can trust him; his smile is different somehow, his eyes seem all wrong, and he has become a new favourite of TAIM. As members of the faction loyal to LOGAIN, you all meet in utmost secrecy to discuss what should be done. After all, the Black Tower is a dangerous place, these days. It’s a good plan, really, except for this: One of your number will betray you. I know that the Experimenter and the Lieutenant share the same ability. I do not consider that a bug but a feature. Thoughts?

I used to be decent at it, but that was at least ten years ago, when I was playing competitively. I haven't been playing at all in the intervening years, and when I reinstalled the Chessmaster program for fun a couple of months ago, I got thoroughly curbstomped (not that I was expecting any different...) I wouldn't mind playing but I probably wouldn't give anyone a challenge at this stage

I love the Interlude. Reminds me of one of the things a character whispers in Dragon Age: Origins. A very disturbing scene, that. I really hope Remy is fine :/ The Nuckelavee sounded scary from the first time he was mentioned in Fenris's history paper (another Interlude), and this chase is definitely beginning to pay off.

"Hey, Kaddar!" Navar yelled. "Your pet chickens just went and--" The breeze, Kaddar decided, was a good one, today. He lay on his hammock and turned words over in his head, wondering if he could create a decent riddle. A Ryshadium carries Alethkar on his back... He frowned. No. Perhaps not. It needed some working on, a better kenning for the object he was thinking of. Hulin shot towards him, flapping and squawking indignantly. She landed on one of the strings of Kaddar's hammock, causing it to shake slightly, and let out a series of increasingly irate squawks that sounded like a string of obscenities. Kaddar sighed. "Language, Hulin," he said, reproachfully. She cocked her head at him and made one, last, rude, squawk. "Kaddar!" Navar bellowed. He stormed out of their barracks, holding Nirn, who had gone utterly still, as if he knew he was now knee-deep in crem. "There's the other one! Get your storming chickens to stop making a mess of my things!" Nirn bit him, and Navar yelped, swore, and in that moment, Nirn was free. "Kelek's breath!" "Nirn," Kaddar said lazily, "We've had this conversation many times before. Stop poking among Navar's things, understand? And Hulin--the same goes for you too." Nirn made a chastised sound; Hulin defiant. "No, I do mean it," Kaddar said, "Nevermind that I paid that merchant a good number of spheres for the two of you. I'll give you to Navar if you keep poking in his things." "I'll give the storming creatures to the cook and we'll have chicken stew for dinner!" Navar declared. "Exactly," Kaddar said. "See?" Hulin finally sounded slightly resigned. "I'll handle it, Navar." "That's what you said the last ten times!" "This time, I mean it. They won't do it again, will they?" He glared at Nirn and Hulin. Hard to do, with only one eye, but Kaddar managed just fine. Way to ruin a relaxing afternoon, when they didn't even have training to do, he thought. "Besides, they're warchickens. They're supposed to do things like wrathfully peck the enemy's eyes out and s--and relieve themselves on them, not rifle through a squadmate's stuff." "Right. Warchickens," Navar said, dubiously, folding his arms across his chest. "I'll believe it when I see it." "Oh, you will," Kaddar said, confident. "Wait for it."

Signing up as Kaddar, a one-eyed veteran spearman with a fondness for riddles. Just wanted to be the first to sign up for King's game Edit: King, when will sign-ups end? General note: depending on when the game starts, I might be less active for about Cycles 1 and/or 2, due to exams. Will be able to be (hopefully) more helpful, thereafter. And, because nobody else seems to be doing it: Player List 1. Kaddar, a one-eyed veteran spearman with a fondness for riddles. [Kas] 2. Damon Shan, Worldhopper [Jasnah Damodred] 3. Kenara, a scribe for the Blackthorn [Wilson] 4. Norlav, a mercenary drafted by the Blackthorn [Alv] 5. Wok, a Horneater princess serving the Blackthorn [Ash] 6. Jain, a possibly-resurrected Shin traveller with a panda [Jain] 7. Reihmer, a bad ketek poet [Ren] 8. Newan, a failed (and failing) Envisager [Newan] 9. Odysa of Shao, a former-assassin turned mercenary [pir2h Winter Cloud] 10. Jost Joslin, a soldier who never had a Shardblade [Joe] 11. Karlin, a Jah Keved Purelaker [surgebound Rainspren] 12. Aonaran Faialen, a wannabe musician [Aonar] 13. Seth, who has hundreds of cousins [mail-mi] 13. Marand, no further description [Maili] 14. Mek, a defector from Highprince Yenev's army [mckeedee123] 15. Alinel Lenia, Horneater exile, second son [Araris] 16. Ace, a guy with an oversized mallet and a talisman [Macen] 17. Torwel, reluctant conscript, wants ale [Twei] 18. Eoldren, guy with a sweet tooth and a grudge [Eolhondras] 19. Meller, a bridge builder for the Blackthorn [Meta] 20. Tal, enthusiastic young recruit disguised as a boy [luckat] I'll update this list as people sign up. Please let me know if you'd prefer to be described some other way. Words of King: What is the Wit's personal victory, anyway? King: "They get to be smug and lord it over everyone that they achieved it. ...What else could you want?" So, how does that Shardblade work? King: "The Shardblade is an unblockable kill action. Only players loyal to Dalinar can obtain one. If that player dies, then the Shardblade is removed from the game. A player who obtains a Shardblade is publicly known, and they become a Lighteyes, though they keep their Role." Can the Messenger use old PMs from previous cycles, even while they're talking to someone else? Or does the old PM only remain open for cross-referencing purposes? King: "Originally only the cross-reference was allowed, but I have changed my mind now." Will lynches/skirmish kills reveal role and alignment? What about Shardblade kills? King: "In this case, a dead player will have their role and alignment be revealed. [...] Yes, same for Shardblade kills." Does everyone with a vote on them get lynched during a battle? And can lighteyes avoid a battle in which they'd be lynched? King: "Not quite. During a Battle, the player with the most votes will be lynched, and each player the Eliminator teams choose (one per team) will die. Lighteyes cannot skip a battle in which they would be lynched." Do things such as sending in orders count as activity? King: "You must post to be considered active. Sending in orders or responding to PMs is not enough to qualify as active. However, you don't need to vote to be considered active either, just post in the thread." •Messengers only get their PM at the end of the Cycle, in case an Officer roleblocks them. •Surgeons cannot target themselves. •Players can use all actions available to them each Cycle. This includes Roles, Spy abilities, Lighteyed Vote (which is not an action) and Shardblades (though Shardblade and Spy abilities are mutually exclusive as a Spy cannot have a Shardblade). •There may or may not be missing Roles. •The Heterochromic does not get to take part in the Lighteyed vote. •The number of Eliminator teams is hidden. •Oh, I need one Eliminator per team to send in the Sabotage order via PM. Just telling me in the doc is not enough to qualify. On the kill: King: "There will only be one kill per Skirmish due to the Eliminator teams. Each Cycle, every Eliminator team can choose a player to add to the potential deaths this Cycle. The player killed in this way during a Skirmish will be chosen at random from all the players chosen in this way. Note that if a player is chosen twice by an Eliminator team, they will have twice the chance to die. Eliminators on this list who are facing their own army will be ignored. In a Battle, all viable targets chosen by Eliminator teams will die." On the weather report and the information released upon death: King: "It isn't important, I was just curious as to how long it'd take for someone to ask . It hints towards there being a Highstorm in the future, but you all already knew there was one coming anyway. Aside from clarifications, all the rules are in the first post. And yes, the information drop on death will also include the team the spy belongs to - I classify that under Alignment." On the kill mechanics: King: "At the end of each Combat, someone off the list will die. Everyone who took part in that battle (so everyone except Lighteyes who skipped it) will then have their equipment replaced and be removed from the list of possible deaths. Surviving a death will also remove you from the list. The only time someone is carried over to the next Cycle is if they skip a combat. If a player is selected twice by Eliminators before they take part in a battle (so a Lighteyes skips a battle and is Sabotaged twice in a row, or multiple teams select the same person for Sabotage), then they will have two entries on the list, and thus twice the chance of dying in a Skirmish." •The Officer's roleblock on a Darkeyes can stop the player from being Sabotaged. Therefore, they will not be on the list from that team in the first place, and hence they won't be one of the choices, unless they skipped the previous battle or another team has it out for them. •The Officer's roleblock can stop any Role, Spy or Shardblade action. They cannot stop messages in progress. They can roleblock the Scout, and they do affect Heterochromics. •Heterochromics have a Lighteyed Role (Wit, Surgeon, Officer or Swordsman) but do not get to take part in the Lighteyed vote or skip battles. •The Wit's death in battle has no effect on the Spy who Sabotaged him. •Guardsmen cannot protect themselves. They require a Knight Radiant for that. •The army must kill all the Spies for a Good win. The Spies must collectively outnumber the other players for a joint Evil win. •There must be two votes on a player for them to be lynched, and tied votes will prevent the lynch from happening. •A tie in the Lighteyed vote will mean that Dalinar will be indecisive and abstain from voting.

Totally excited, because I love the Old Kingdom I'll have to express my thoughts about the balance another time: not really feeling well at the moment.

Chiming in to add that I've been enjoying everything that's going on so far: I find you have a way of building interesting characters: Sherry, Stian, and Hewn especially stand out, and I'd be interested to see where you're going with Remy (the idea of Primals not necessarily speaking English is both brilliant and hilarious.) And for sure, now that you're upping the stakes, I find myself very excited for the action to come.

You forgot about the God Beyond's being a being yet to come: the rumours have merely been seeded by the worldhopping Missonaria Protectiva. ...What do you mean they don't exist in the Cosmere? >>

When your dream of darkspawn (wrong fandom, I know) abruptly turns into one of the Steel Inquisition. Nobody expects the Steel Inquisition, what can I say?

Agreed: this game was really fun to watch! Thanks for GMing and the riddle game, Alv And well-played on both sides! I have to admit that I thought the Barons were a goner once Ren had laid down his plan, but that was a ridiculously awesome comeback! Additionally: #43, no. #45, yes, #48 yes

When you think Sanderson withdrawal is a legit thing.

I'm specifically trying to think of ways to make a Gambling system that works. I know King has a very elegant solution to the problem, but here's one I'm considering and would like some feedback on, if possible. The suggestion was to turn it into more of a lottery system: For each cycle, the GM uses a d16 [could be easily downgraded to a d12 or d6, depending on the player numbers and how much coin you want circulating in the system] to roll for a number. During the cycle, players can choose to gamble up to 3 coins. For each coin gambled, they get one guess. The players who guess the number correctly win. The payout for each winner will be 2x coins, where x is the initial number of coins gambled, plus one additional coin per two players gambling. The other gambling players lose their coins. The alternative to that which I can think of: leave it at guessing one number from a d6/d12/d16 or something but allow players to only make one guess. But the payout will be 2x, with x being however many coins the player bets. Thoughts on the matter?

Two things to tease apart there: (1) not to mention even continents/landmasses/countries simply aren't homogenous. This reminds me of the critique of classical economics assuming the standard picture of rationality as the self-interested individual--and then there's this issue with what they call the WEIRD people (Western, Educated, and from Rich, Industrialised, and Democratic countries). Similarly, this branch of philosophy called x-ϕ has that issue: they asked too many college students from the Anglo-American world in order to determine their intuitions, but someone went to Hong Kong to try out their intuitions and found those just conflicted with the first set of intuitions. (This matters because modern philosophy does some work with intuitions: we build on them.) It's pretty much the point of the politics of difference/identity: that to abstract away from differences and complexity, to not appreciate the world in its full, glorious messiness is to erase, rather than to achieve greater clarity. So the upshot is, yes, there is a problem if we want to extend from our own case to imagine everyone else is like us and just wipe away their differences. But (2)--is it relevant? Because that's what we do sometimes too. We focus on the correct level of resolution for our conversation/the matter at hand, and we acknowledge that we're going to lose and miss out on some aspects, but we just don't think they're important/relevant/essential to this particular case. An example is focusing on the level of the gene or on the level of the individual member of a species when thinking about what level natural selection acts on (there are many, many other levels that can be considered; these two are just an example.) To focus on the level of the gene allows us to explain some weird things that happen but then we seem to miss out on being able to explain other weird things. So I guess that while this is kind of a tangent, I'm wondering what kind of extension is going on: is it problematic to automatically assume other people are like us? Do we have similarities in terms of our mental or physical structure simply in virtue of being human beings? Are we simply abstracting away things that don't matter for our purposes, or are we erasing and leaving out important complexities that we don't have the right to? Also, sorry, yes, totally missed out Australia And New Zealand, too.

Actually, I would say the last place I naturally think of is Central Asia--I only mention it this time because of some reading I was doing on Central Asia one or two days back, but I find that just as scary because the world's a pretty big place. But yeah, from the two of us, Africa's been left out at least twice now, and so has South America (though I guess you could say I've also been conscious about leaving out South America since I specified the US rather than 'America'--which incidentally points to two sorts of things going on there: ignoring South America and conflating/ignoring the whole of North America and rolling it into 'America' as the USA.) In the same vein, there's a lot of unpacking to do in the notion of Europe: I'm willing to bet a couple of firemarks that when we say 'Europe', we think of Western Europe and less of Eastern Europe and the further east we go to Central Asia, the less likely we are to think of them at all, and that's just as huge a geographic region to omit.