Life in a Spiderweb Game

[Questionably Legal]

If you were to be teleported without warning into the world of Avernum, Geneforge, or Avadon, without any special advantages, which one would you prefer to go to and what would you do there?

 

I'd go to Avadon, because I harbor no illusions about my ability to master magic or shaping, and Avernum food is intolerable. I'd become a warrior fighting for whoever equpped me the best, a mercenary perhaps, and experience the thrill of battle, while amassing wealth for my eventual retirement.

[Ohsky]

Geneforce. Because there is something beyond the shapers. Sholai as the example. Maybe similarly in Avadon, you make it an island and there is nothing beyond.... as it hasn´t been explored. In Avernum you kill evertything by just saying all surface belongs to the empire.

 

the real planet of spiderweb is the one in wich all of those coexists as civilizations of the same planet. You know, a planet is just too [censored]ing big to make it property of one world empire, no matter how magical it is. Mystara, is a wonderful example of this; D&D, i love it.

[Dikiyoba]

I would go to the original Avernum Trilogy and join the group that must exist to track adventurer reputations. Whenever an adventurer party came into my area, I'd follow their every move, and then pass along the details of every heroic exploit (and occasional evil act) to everyone I'd meet. Or I'd be a messenger, who carries the knowledge gathered by the adventurer-followers to every corner of Avernum, including to some normally hostile groups.

 

The network must exist in Geneforge too, only following young Shapers and lifecrafters everywhere instead of adventurers. Dikiyoba doesn't want to join that network, though, because watching Shapers/lifecrafters slaughter whole villages and betray their own side isn't nearly as fun as watching adventurers slaughter bandits and rescue prisoners. Also, the accuracy of the Geneforge messengers isn't nearly as good.

[Callie]

I'd just hang out in the library at Formello.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

I refuse to go to any places where you have acid sprayed on you every second fight.

[Cairo Jim]

If it wasn't for the fact I don't like eating mushrooms, I'd definitely go to Avernum. Quite the fun, adventurous, industrial sorta place I wouldn't mind going.

[Student of Trinity]

I think I'd go for Avernum, but in the era between A5 and A6, when you can go back out to the surface after a while. I'd like to explore the caves. I like caves. I'd like to figure out some way of not worrying about monsters, though. Hire a high level party as porters, for instance.

[Trenton.]

Geneforge. I'd have the least chance of dying there.

 

You all go into battle if you want. Screw that.

[Cairo Jim]

But battles are one of lifes many wonders and enjoyable things!

[Lauren CW]

Hm... Tough choice between Avernum and Geneforge. I like the avernum scenery and critters more, but I would also like to fight for servile rights as a sane(ish) leader for the rebellion. I have confidence in my abilities enough that they would find a useful leadership position for me.

[The Almighty Doer of Stuff]

I've always thought Formello was pretty (as far as I'm concerned A4-6 are non-canon and never happened so pooh-pooh to them) but I don't think I could live without the sun.

 

I've often daydreamed about life in the Realm of the Spheres, from Brett Bixler's Spheres trilogy of Blades of Exile scenarios. The first two are well worth playing and I recommend them to everyone.

[Death Knight]

If you were to be teleported without warning into the world of Avernum, Geneforge, or Avadon, without any special advantages, which one would you prefer to go to and what would you do there?

 

I'd go to Avadon, because I harbor no illusions about my ability to master magic or shaping, and Avernum food is intolerable. I'd become a warrior fighting for whoever equpped me the best, a mercenary perhaps, and experience the thrill of battle, while amassing wealth for my eventual retirement.

 

I'd get into a debate about republicans and democrats with Redbeard and see what he thinks. Even though Redbeard has no idea what they are, after explaining a bit, I'm sure he'll start to hate both of them equally.

[Alorael at Large]

I'd go for Geneforge, go straight for the Nodye Coast, and live a happy if somewhat oppressed life. Or maybe Ermarian, Pralgad, and a somewhat oppressed life.

 

—Alorael, who has no desire to give up the sun and a fair amount of willingness to not practice illicit magic or rebel in exchange for a monster-free life.

[Earth]

Avernum = dangerous, easy to get killed or injured badly or kidnapped or robbed (adventurers or bandits).

 

Avadon = bit same things as above but bit safer.

 

conclusion = difficult choice.

[Goldengirl]

The world of Avadon (Linnaeus, right?) is falling apart at the moment, and according to the codex has been for a while. Political instability and war between the Pact and the outer nations has been a mainstay of life there for a while. I don't think anywhere, therefore, is really all that safe there.

 

Ermarian would be nice. If I get sent down the portal and end up in Exile, I can deal with that. Like others, I'd go to Formello and study. I might sojourn for a while at the Tower of Magi (or Tower Colony) to study there, but given its propensity for disaster I could probably wait. If possible, though, I'd head up the portal right away to live in Upper Avernum, or Dawn on the Surface. The town of Redmark is supposed to have a college there, so I've heard, so that would certainly be an option. Plus, aside from X3, the Surface is by far the safest of the places to live.

 

Terrestia would be enjoyable too. In the glory days of the Shapers, there wouldn't be an issue at all to deal with concerning actually staying comfortable, presuming one isn't in a backwater like Drypeak. However, there's a heavy deal of ethical guilt I'd deal with living in a slave society. However, the lands of the Rebellion would be extremely dangerous to live in due to the constant warfare. In addition, they tend to be pretty miserable lands overall - the freezing Grayghost Mountains, the blasted desert of the Forsaken Lands (lovely name), the disease-infested Fens of Aziraph... Illya and Burwood Province are pretty firmly in Rebel hands by G5, and there are some decent landscapes in the Ashen Islands, though, so I could make do there.

 

Ultimately, I'd have to say that the world of Exile/Avernum would be the best choice. I don't want to get transformed by the Geneforge or using canisters, I don't want to fight in any wars or support slavery, and I don't want to deal with the world war that seems like it could break out in Avadon.

[Randomizer]

I prefer Patrick's Tower where I could sit around in the library studying and doing useless research. Formello faces the possibilities of attacks and Tower of Magi keeps getting Triad members summoning Haakai.

 

Food isn't as great as Avadon or the Empire, but maybe someday the chef will get the ingredients to make a decent pizza.

[Cairo Jim]

I do believe after X3 (I could be wrong), that the Empire actually started sending some reasonable food down

[Questionably Legal]

Geneforge. I'd have the least chance of dying there.

 

You all go into battle if you want. Screw that.

Least chance of dying? With the endless fighting between rebels and shapers, not to mention rogue creations? I 'm pretty sure life in the Empire is safer than that.

[Trenton.]

Alright, fine, I would preferably be dropped in Avernum 5

[Cairo Jim]

Until the vahnatai decided to exact their revenge on them, the Empire was generally quite safe. They did after all kill anything even half threatening. So no monsters there.

[Dikiyoba]

the Empire was generally quite safe. They did after all kill anything even half threatening. So no monsters there.

Before Hawthorne was assassinated, the Empire could and did banish anyone at any time for any reason to Avernum. Get on the bad side of a politician? Banished. Getting too popular? Banished. Don't fit in? Banished. Accidentally interact with someone who might be a rebel? Banished. You're hardly safe when the threat of being tossed into a cave filled with demons and other monsters constantly looms overhead.

 

(Is there any canon on what happened to outcasts and the like between Hawthorne's death and Prazac becoming an effective ruler? With Garzahd as the de facto ruler, the Empire probably wasn't any less threatening than it was under Hawthorne. And of course, if you choose to live in the Empire, then you are complicit in all of the Empire genocides to non-humans.)

 

Dikiyoba.

[Lilith]

(Is there any canon on what happened to outcasts and the like between Hawthorne's death and Prazac becoming an effective ruler?

 

Presumably the same thing that happened before Avernum was discovered.

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

Geneforge, as a shaper I would devote my whole life to making creations to solve the world's problems, not wage wars.

 

Of course I would have to climb my way into the shaper ranks for that.

[A less presumptuous name.]

The best way to climb through the Shaper ranks, as we all know, is to create hordes of "rogue" creations to attack nearby. Then go out and "pacify" them before absorbing them. Tadah! Instant hero! and nothing could go wrong. nothing at all.

[Aran]

Since you haven't specified a time period, I think Avernum during the time of Avernum 3 would be great. No wars or significant threats for years, and only a short time until the surface explorers save Valorim and people can return to the surface if they want. Just make sure you're nowhere near the Tower of Magi.

 

"No special advantages" implies I'd be about as good in a fight as in reality, so I'd probably settle somewhere and become a sage or an alchemist. Ideally somewhere quiet, but still interesting enough to have adventurers coming in dropping lots of gold on potions or item identification.

[Rowen]

I would live in Avernum and set up a shop selling unsellable trowels.

[Earth]

I would live in Avernum and set up a shop selling unsellable trowels.

 

some collector adventurer would steal all of those.

[Student of Trinity]

I would live in Avernum and set up a shop selling unsellable trowels.

I think your business plan may need some work.

[The Reverend]

Avernum ... I've always wanted to see what's so great about that Almarian wine.

[Cairo Jim]

Before Hawthorne was assassinated, the Empire could and did banish anyone at any time for any reason to Avernum. Get on the bad side of a politician? Banished. Getting too popular? Banished. Don't fit in? Banished. Accidentally interact with someone who might be a rebel? Banished. You're hardly safe when the threat of being tossed into a cave filled with demons and other monsters constantly looms overhead.

 

 

The fact that there isn't that many people in Avernum and still lots of people on the surface, I'd say, even though that would e the biggest threat, that it's chances of happening are minimal.

[Juan Carlo]

It'd have to be Geneforge for me because I'm lazy and get bored easily. Geneforge is the most technologically advanced society. Most of the other games would be like being transported back to the middle ages (albeit, with magic), which would be awful.

[Rowen]

On second thought, what are the bathrooms like in these worlds. I want to go to the world with the best bathrooms and sell unsellable trowels there.. (Gets priorities strait.)

[Earth]

Since all 3 games happen on somewhat medieval age I guess toilets are non-existant so you'd need to use pot to make your "needs", rich ppls might have outdoor wc-closet. No plumbing anywhere.

[The Reverend]

Since all 3 games happen on somewhat medieval age I guess toilets are non-existant so you'd need to use pot to make your "needs", rich ppls might have outdoor wc-closet. No plumbing anywhere.

Maybe this is something X could work on, rather than his silly anvil-flinging spell - it seems that the people of Avernum would be much more appreciative ...

[keira]

I beg to differ. The people of Exile have mushrooms to feed, and 'hole in the ground' doesn't do much in the way of moving fertilizer. In any case, iirc there was a city in Valorim that had a comprehensive underground sewer?

[Student of Trinity]

True fact (unlike the miserable false facts that you read in those other posts): dyes used to be big business. Humans didn't have a lot of ways of producing durable colors in cloth until the later 19th century. One of the few good dyes available in medieval Europe was woad, which produced a decent blue color. Woad is a little weedy plant with yellow flowers, and the process of turning it into blue dye involved a lot of urine.

 

I've visited a town that was rich from woad in the middle ages. Somehow they cornered the trade. I don't know whether they grew especially good woad plants, or whether they jealously guarded some secret of the production process. One possibility, though, is that everyone else was content to leave the woad-making to them. They collected every citizen's urine in huge vats, throughout the year, and stored it in warehouses until the woad harvest. The tour guide assured us that the whole town used to stink unrighteously. I don't know how he would have really known that for sure, but as historical reconstructions go, it sounds like a good bet.

[The Reverend]

Wasn't woad an item in Nethergate?

 

Speaking of which, I'm surprised nobody chose that for the OP's question ...

[Goldengirl]

I beg to differ. The people of Exile have mushrooms to feed, and 'hole in the ground' doesn't do much in the way of moving fertilizer. In any case, iirc there was a city in Valorim that had a comprehensive underground sewer?

 

You're thinking of the city of Shayder, capital of the Isle of Bigail and home to the Church of the Anama. Their sewage system is falling apart, though, not the least bit due to the roach plague.

[Dikiyoba]

I beg to differ. The people of Exile have mushrooms to feed, and 'hole in the ground' doesn't do much in the way of moving fertilizer. In any case, iirc there was a city in Valorim that had a comprehensive underground sewer?

Shayder on the Isle of Bigail, at the very minimum. A few cities in the prepackaged BoA scenarios have sewers too, and so does pretty much every city in Avernum by A4 or A6.

 

(Also, tanneries from all three series would have needed urine as well.)

 

Dikiyoba.

[Ohsky]

I have just met the surface world in Av 3 whoa!.

 

Even if im there in this plato´s cave im right now, i felt the sun in the head of my adventurers. in this little small budgeted indie game more than i feel my own in this open world reality i live in. Wtf 35ºC here right now. Don´t judge so fast about that. You all know reality is not that easy to deal with to just feel things that way.

 

Im on my way to exploring that surface world, fun, i found caches i found first in AEFTP. a dryad stomped on my head, i have to get her a woman´s thing, dumbfounded wth; i saw my first pears an apples; unicorns, are retarded horses evil that die one hit under this paradigm! i thought them light beings due to other fantasy settings, wtf?. Wathever.

 

erika is still a *******

[nikki.]

Wasn't woad an item in Nethergate?

 

Speaking of which, I'm surprised nobody chose that for the OP's question ...

 

It wasn't an option. Which is why I haven't responded in this thread yet.

[The Reverend]

A sewer system does not necessarily mean they had toilets - many older sewer systems were initially created to carry storm and flood waters (storms would not be an issue in Avernum, but perhaps river flooding was, depending on the source of the underground rivers). Chamber pot contents that were tossed out the window might also get washed down the storm drain at the next heavy rain fall (on the surface) or flood ....

 

As for mushroom fertilizer, I would imagine (and hope) that they utilize cave cow and lizard manure, rather than human manure.

[Aran]

The tour guide assured us that the whole town used to stink unrighteously. I don't know how he would have really known that for sure, but as historical reconstructions go, it sounds like a good bet.

 

If I remember my history lessons, that was true of all medieval towns, woad or not.

[Questionably Legal]

It wasn't an option. Which is why I haven't responded in this thread yet.

Oops..

Didn't mean to exclude Nethergate fans, I just forgot to include it.

[The Reverend]

This has got me thinking about Nethergate, and inspired me to try another playthrough of N:R. Maybe I'll try to actually finish a playthrough as the Romans this time (previously the only playthroughs I completed were as the Celts).

[Merteuil]

I don't like sharp, painful things touching my skin too much. Soooo, geneforge I think? That's the one were civilians have the highest survival rate? Maybe Avadon, seems like there are a number of regions where people aren't dying left and right. Or the surface word in Avernum at any point that wasn't Avernum 3. That should give me a pretty high survival rate. I really don't know, I suppose if I'm in any position where I'm not being stabbed or exploded I'd die of disease. Disease doesn't seem to be a problem in Terrestia, maybe. Point is, painful things hurt. I'm not an adventurer. In real, non-turned based combat with HP, a stray arrow is the end of the line. Very relevant towards your decision when everything can kill you instantly

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

ya know, shopkeepers never die.

 

Learn a few spells to defend yourself(it's not that hard, apparently), make a nice little house somewhere remote, and set up a shop with some rare items.

 

Just make sure that none of the items are displayed.

[Xaiya]

It really doesn't matter which world I, and a number of other people, would go. With no time to prepare, you would be out in a very hostile world, out on your own, with no identity, insufficient knowledge of the surrounding area, foreign plantlife and bacteria, and even if there were people around for when you inexplicably show up, there would be a language barrier, the fact that you are a nobody, and that most of us are far too used to vastly superior technology, all in nothing but the clothes you brought in and whatever else happened to be on you.

 

In other words, have fun dying, unless you want to cheat and say that there's no language barrier and that you wouldn't get horribly sick if you lived past the first couple days. The truth is, while some of us have the know-how to survive being plopped inexplicably in some random part of this world, none of us would actually know how to survive in the worlds of Avernum, Geneforge, or Avadon. It would require quite the stroke of luck.

 

Now, pretending like everyone else that I could survive, I would say that I'd go to Geneforge, become a shaper, shape a kitty army, and establish the Realm of Kittens.

[Earth]

Even if Valorim cities (some) have sewers and maybe working (somewhat) plumbing it doesn't mean that they have anything close to modern toilet, some Avernum cities have sewers (we have killed tons of rats etc in those) but still most likely nothing related to modern toilet.

[Goldengirl]

I don't think it's cheating to say there isn't a language barrier. After all, that's how the games are presented to us. Some of the specific terms might throw us off, of course, specifically those relating to magic. In addition, there are a few languages that actually are foreign. None of us can communicate natively with the Vahnatai or the Sholai, for instance. However, if you take G1 literally, it's apparently quite easy to learn a language.

 

As for foreign organisms, I'd wager a guess and say that they wouldn't pose too much of an issue. Disease rarely actually shows up in any of the games. I'm sure there are others, but G3 being the only example I can think of off the top of my head; there's a side quest to cure a villager of a Shaper-made fungi. Even if they were an issue, healers and magical infirmaries are relatively abundant and seem to be very good at their job.

 

The real issue, as you've identified, is that we'd be showing up as nobodies. Of course, we always start the games as nobodies cleaning up basements full of rats. The critical difference is that most of us aren't actually combat-trained in any suitable way to become adventures. Then again, given how easy it is to gain those skills, as shown in the games, maybe that wouldn't be too difficult. Personally, I'm going to say that's just mechanics and that it would actually be a lot harder in any of the worlds. However, we do have knowledge of skills and technology at our hands.

 

I remember there was an RP a while back where a handful of modern people got stuck in a medieval town. They decided to build a windmill - basic technology to understand and develop, but something that the society hadn't yet done. I think the RP fell apart as they were gathering materials to actually construct the thing, but it is possible to advance in such a manner. Moreover, there's always a place for unskilled labor in technologically-lacking societies.

 

It's problematic to say that any of the three game worlds are particularly technologically lacking. The Shapers are technocrats that have highly specialized knowledge in genetic magic, and colleges devoted specifically to that as well as general magic; in Ermarian, they are better at general magic and have a lot of mages running around doing whatever they please, such that there are specialized careers available as portal technicians, for instance; in Avadon, each nation has their own specialty, either in a way of combat or else magic, and they have some impressive magical feats such as the scarabs and the portal network in the Black Fortress.

 

Realistically, though it sounds odd, the best place for any of us to get dropped off at would probably be Exile, around the time of the first game (if not a little earlier). Just walking through the portal, everyone is presumed a nobody until otherwise proven, and are given an equal allotment of supplies to start their new subterranean life. That starting supply, as well as all available background knowledge, would be our best bet at actually making a decent life for ourselves, even as Avernum is going through some of its most dangerous times (the first Slith War, a nephil castle, demons at the tower and Grah-Hoth, and the inevitable war with the Empire coming soon; I'd say only A6 has Avernum in a comparably bad spot). It can't be too hard getting an apprenticeship studying magic, given how lax Avernum was about it at the time; the Avernite military would be begging to pick people up and train them to fight the manifold problems, especially the war; and there must be all sorts of other positions desperately needing work, too, since the country is still trying to build itself out of nothing.

 

As for the toilet, I'd assume that the sewer systems work like they did in ancient Rome. That is to say, there's a current of sewage flowing underneath, and one does one's business over a latrine. The current flushes it away. It's not the modern toilet, no, but it's workable and relatively sanitary.