Mea Tulpa

Astoria and Alwan both come off rather more caring in the ending, than in the game.

Quentin and Xerxes. That was Gorey's solution anyhow.

Cordelia the character predates Cordelia the infant, though. (I think. Right?)

Wait -- it *accomplishes* all three quests, or it just makes all three disappear, because some are completed and some are removed? I would be very surprised if releasing the Agent fulfills the 2 quests to destroy it.

Sounds kind of like the Mao Te Ching.

That's all detailed in G1 in the hidden area, btw.

Lance of Fire sucks anyway :-D

Curses, Thuryled again.

Jeff put in a cheat code designed specifically to fix the shredbug issue.

So in the course of googling groups of names from the same town together, I think I've discovered the major source Jeff uses for random names. News. Despite the fact that I've never googled anything but names, I frequently get in the top 5 results an article from a Seattle newspaper that mentions all of the names I am searching for at some point. They may be first or last names, they may be together or seperate; frequently they are part of a list. This happens with other news sources too, but the fact that Seattle comes up more often than any other location can't be a coincidence. It also makes sense given the number of names we see, that immediately call up a strong association to a particular celebrity or historical figure, but which we aren't used to hearing otherwise. Winslet. Tycho. I haven't recorded any of these instances because the name sources are essentially random and uninteresting. This method does not seem to have been used much in the Exile days, which makes sense; most of the random, whitebread townspeople had random, whitebread names. Some of the more memorable characters seem to have come from the talk.bizarre usenet group. Finally, major characters appear to have mostly unique names. This is obvious for, say, Khyryk or Litalia, but it appears to be true of older ones also. Exile 1 is unclear here, as Solberg and 'X' come from usenet and some others, like Linda, are suspicious. Take a look at the first post if you haven't lately -- LOTS of updates.

Originally Posted By: Uberdhizon I still think that a rotghroth doing 1-9 damage is a glitch; I've never seen anything doing that much. Where did you hear this? It's baloney! Rots do the same melee damage as almost every other creation, 1-4 per level. They do slap acid on, but the acid damage is applied per round and maxes out regardless of how much there is or how many times they are attacked. 1-9 is nonsense. A number of creations do 1-8, 1-9, or 1-10 per level before resistance is applied _with their missile attacks_. War Tralls, Drayks, Drakons, Ur-Drakons, Gazers, Wingbolts, etc.

Do they really de-fang enemies completely? Everything I've looked at has suggesting cursing just gives up to a -4 penalty to levels of damage (& -20% to hit) which isn't much when we're talking about, say, a rotghroth which will have 30 or more levels of damage per hit at minimum. But I haven't experimented with vlish much so I could be wrong about this.

Last month you argued against this kind of build. Honestly, DV, your romanticizations of builds are wonderful and compelling but they are not strategically compelling. Vlish are nothing like they were in G3. They are still powerful, because creations are the most powerful mechanic in G5, bar none. And they are better costed than in G4, now that they are at 30 with 2 Intelligence rather than 41. Remember how much you whined about the supposed fragility of wingbolts? Well, guess what -- vlish are even more fragile. If you make any 7 creations with reasoning shaping skill, and either keep them around or update creation types, you will roll over everything just as you are experiencing here! It's not the vlish.

Awesome work Milla! Year 4133-Fyora 103rd Generation, 17th Design Year 4133-War Trall 5th Generation, 2nd Design Year 4133-Kyshakk 23rd Generation, 5th Design

Given the rather massive list of names that have appeared in SW games, it doesn't seem very unlikely at all.

Bjorn Lynne's earliest SW credit is G4, which was released 11 years after the Halls of Chaos were created. So this seems unlikely.

Yes, she mentions it several times in multiple games, as recent quoted in several threads.

Monoroe is fairly obvious after Krizsan. I suspect that somebody noticed those two, posted about them which specifying "two", and then somebody else leapt to the conclusion that it applied to all six and posted it. I mean, "Bigail"? That's a crappy name.

Drypeak is very tiny compared to the G4/5 maps. It's right around Gazaki-Uss, as the similarity to Gazak-Uss implies.

Not Gale, Monroe.

Name Cameos in Jeff's Games and other sources of names 1. talk.bizarre personalities talk.bizarre was a newsgroup frequented by Jeff in the years leading up to the first Spiderweb games, and was the single largest source of names in Exile I. It was also used quite a bit in Exile II. At least a few of these folks served as beta testers as well. Exile I: Andrew Solberg Ron Echeverri Mr. X of X Industries (a.k.a. Xian) Tom Boutell Blair P. Houghton Elspeth Ty Nance Starcap'n Ra Crisper Than Thou Sunshine on Leith Yong-Mi Kim Markian Gooley C.J. Silverio Zed Kevin "Chevyn" McAuley Gypsy Miles O'Neal Diane Wilson Caitlin Burke Josh "Doc" Hayes Billbill (Bill and Bill) Zvi Gilbert J. Eric Townsend Ken Johnson (Captian Johnson?) Exile II: Tom Limoncelli Julian Waldby Johnathan Vail Paul Egli Jenine Abarbanel Nathan Torkington Genevieve Williams Kevin Schnitzius Avernum: M. Legare Avernum 4: Soren Ragsdale (Sorengard) 2. Rutgers math colleagues A number of characters, mostly in Exile I, were named after grad school colleagues. Jeff quit his program after Exile I turned out to be a commercial success. Exile I: Tor Gunston '98 Carol Hamer '98 Rita Cskany '98 Aimee J.R. Tom Bohman '96 Marco Lenci '99 Exile II: Marie-Cecile Vidican (Rutgers-related connection) 3. Society for Creative Anachronism friends Source for several noteworthy names in Exile I. Patrick Padraig Hathwisa Bevan Anastasia 4. Television and film Beginning in Exile II, Jeff has taken sets of NPC names from TV shows and occasionally movies. Comedy Central receives thanks in many readme's and shows up all over this list, especially early on. Exile II: Absolutely Fabulous Eddy Monsoon, Patsy Stone, Saffron Monsoon, Justin, Oliver (Blosk) Saturday Night Live Gilda Radner, Dan Ackroyd, Lorraine Newman, Jane Curtin (The Castle) 3rd Rock from the Sun Kristen (Kirsten) Johnson, John Lithgow, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jane Curtin (The Castle) Felix the Cat Felix (Patrick's Tower) Exile III: Kids in the Hall Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinley, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson (New Formello) Babylon 5 Ivanova, Londo, G'Kar, Delenn (Golddale) Laverne & Shirley Laverne, Shirley, Carmine, Lennus (Lenny), Squiggus (Squiggy) Trainspotting Spud, Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy (Shayder) Irvine Welsh (author of the book, also in Shayder) Blades of Exile: The Daily Show Craig Kilborn, Lizz Winstead, A. Whitney Brown, Beth Littleford, Felix Unger (Blinlock) South Park Eric Cartman (Zaskiva); Kenny (added in BoA) Titanic James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet Geneforge: Sports Night Dan Rydell, Dayna (Dana) Whitaker, Isaac Jaffee (Jaffe), Natley (Natalie) Hurley, Jeremy Godwin (Goodwin), Pixley, Aaron Sorkin (Pentil) Geneforge 2: Black Books Manny, Bernard The Office (UK) Brent, Gareth, Dawn, Finchy (Gheth) The Wire Kima, Macnulty, Bunk (Loyalist Encampment) Blades of Avernum: The Daily Show (again) Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Steve Carrell, Samantha, Corddry, Helms, Walls (Seleucia) Geneforge 3: Arrested Development Michael Bluth, Gob Bluth, Tobias Funke, Maeby Funke (Dhonal's Keep East Docks) Avernum 4: Lonesome Dove Pea Eye Parker, Lorena Parker, Woodrow F. Call, Bolivar, Augustus McCrae (Silvar) Horror/suspense film characters Carrie Jason Vorhees Gunderson (innkeeper) Geneforge 4: Veronica Mars Veronica Mars, Duncan Kane Geneforge 5: Mythbusters Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman Avernum 6: Mad Men Joan Halloway (Holloway), Roger Stirling (Sterling), Freddy Rumson (Rumsen), Peggy Olssson (Olson) (Fort Draco raiders) 5. Girlfriends Some or all of the provinces (and possibly other locations) in Exile III were named after Jeff's girlfriends. This was apparently stated by Jeff someplace. To wit: Mariann Krizsan Monoroe (Shirley Monroe) Sharimik (Shari Moskow?) Karnold (K. Arnold?) Bigail (Abigail?) Shayder (Shaynee Snider?) Footracer (Tracey?) 6. Authors and editors It's unclear if these were intended as a deliberate tribute, or whether books and other written works were simply a convenient source of names that had just the right ring to them. Exile I: General authors Christopher Marlowe, Samuel Johnson (Bargha) Arthur Leo Zagat (Spire), Roberta Rogow, Cynthia Felice (Bargha; all three are SF authors) Bill Maher, John Cleese (Bargha; comics but also authors of books in 1993-1994) John Calder, publisher of some Nathaniel Hawthorne works (Bargha; see fictional characters below) Exile II: General authors Thomas Gibbon, Tom Stoppard, Orson Welles, John Locke Blades of Exile: Kurt Vonnegut DC Comics Bigwigs, Editors, Artists, and Writers Paul Levitz, Richard Bruning, Lillian Laserson, Dave McKean, Dorothy Crouch, Bruce Bristow, Axel Alonso (VoDT); Robbin Brosterman, Lillian Laserson, Joan Hilty, Stephano Gaudiano, Chuck Kim, Ray Houlihan, Michael Zulli (ASR); Jenette Kahn (both); Abe Ocampo, Sheldon Mayer, Kimzahn (Timothy Zahn) (ZKR) Geneforge 2: Philosophers John Maynard Keynes, J.S. Mill, Henri Wald Geneforge 3: SF authors Michael Swanwick, Mike Resnick, Connie Willis Avernum 4: New York Times writers Paul Krugman, Joe Conason Geneforge 4: New York Times writers Jay Mouawad, Louis Uchitelle, Kate Zernike, Martin Fackler, Michael Barbaro, Kirk Johnson, Rachel Swarns, Ian Urbina, George Vecsey, Lynn Zinser, Sabrina Tavernise, Randal Archibald, Manohla Dargis Geneforge 5: The Onion A.V. Club writers Tasha Robinson, Genevieve Koski, Josh Modell The Seattle Stranger contributors A. Birch Steen, Megan Seling, Brendan Kiley, David Schmader, Charles Mudede, Dan Savage 7. Literary characters Books became a consistent source for characters, alongside TV and film. Exile I: Nathaniel Hawthorne's works Hester Prynne (Bargha), Eustace Bright (Spire) Samuel Johnson (Bargha; an author as well as a character in a Hawthorne book) Exile III: Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace The "Unspecified Services" organization name Blades of Exile: DC Comics, mostly involved in Crisis on Infinite Slarties Earths Maria [several possible], Penelope Black, Bradley Covington (VoDT); Stone [family], Smith [several possible], Maya, Caroline Dean, Eric O'Grady, Helena [several possible], Luna Nurblin (ASR); Vale [several possible], Edward [several possible] (ZKR) Note: the Crisis event involved a massive number of characters, so name overlaps would be expected; I consider these likely only because they are in the same context as the clearly evidenced list of DC editors in the above category. Geneforge: Chekhov's plays Maria "Masha" Kulygina, Vassily Solyony, Nikolaj Tuzenbach, Aleksandr Vershinin, Ferapont (The Three Sisters) Konstantin Treplev (Treplyov) (The Seagull) Mikhail Astrov, Aleksandr Serabryakov, Sofya Serabryakov, Ilya Telegin (Uncle Vanya) Anya, Varya, Leonid Gayev (The Cherry Orchard) Nikolai Ivanov, Michael Borkin, Avdotya, Gavrila (Ivanov) Geneforge 3: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange, Arabella Strange, Gilbert Norrell, Susanna Clarke Avernum 4: Wicked Elphaba Emperor of Ocean Park Kimmer Madison, Talcott "Misha" Garland, Mariah Garland, Oliver Garland Geneforge 4: Watchmen Dave Gibbons, Adrian Veidt, Fred Motz Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle Jack Shaftoe, Eliza of Qwghlm, Moseh de la Cruz Avernum 5: The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder George Antrobus, Lilly Sabina, Maggie Antrobus Kurt Vonnegut's novels Kilgore Trout, George Pefko, Norman Fuller Geneforge 5: Bleak House, by Charles Dickens Harold Skimpole, John Jarndyce, William Guppy, Richard Carstone Hyperion, by Dan Simmons Lenar Hoyt, Brawne Lamia, Martin Silenus Anathem, by Neal Stephenson Erasmus (Erasmas), Orolo, Sammann Avernum 6: Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett Vladimir, Estragon King Lear, by Shakespeare Regan, Edgar, Edmund (Almaria) possibly also Noam and Tardiff, critics who wrote about Lear The Stand, by Stephen King Nick Andros, William Hapscomb, Stuart Redman, Frannie Goldsmith (Fort Duvno) Avadon: Les Miserables Cosette, Eponine, Varoche (Gavroche) 8. Musicians An occasional but clear presence. Jeff frequently gives shout-outs to the bands he listens to while programming in his readme's, so it seems possible there are more references we haven't caught. Exile II: Tori Amos Melissa Ethridge (Etheridge) Avernum 4: Sleater-Kinney Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss, Sleater-Kinney Avernum 6: Neko, Case (Webbed Woods) Avernum EFTP: The New Pornographers Carl Newman, Neko Case, Kurt Dahle, Dan Bejar, Kathryn Calder 9. Comedians The Exile I entries are questionable, since Jeff did not use very many produced-content sources for names in that game, but they are comedians who seem to fit perfectly with Jeff's sense of humor (as well as the Scorched Earth Party). Exile I: Bill Maher John Cleese Avernum 4: Dave Chapelle Redd Fox David Cross Patton Oswalt Sarah Silverman Terry Gilliam 10. EverQuest (and the Chaos Justice guild) A major name source around the Avernum 4 era. Jeff gave us a lead on this one. There are a surprising number of trails for this on the web, despite the timeframe being a decade ago. Most of these names came from other characters in his guild, or who raided with his guild, though there are a few from raid targets as well. Geneforge 3: Meraia, Tuona, Muram Barxt (raid target) Avernum 4: Kabraxaz, Nociduas, Abisynthe, Trysbrina, Lyun, Uggluk, Imiriel, Sinedin, Tuona, Kasaz, Zarbonn, Kragg Keldovan, Hanvar (raid targets) 11. World of Warcraft Jeff has talked about WoW even more than EverQuest, and mentioned it in more readme's. Many names, especially in Avernum 4 and beyond, sound like they could easily have come from WoW characters. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find reliable googleable material the way I was for Chaos Justice, but it's a safe bet that this was a prodigious source for names for a number of games. 12. Nearby locations Mainly a source in Exile III, which of course required naming more small friendly towns than any other SW game. Exile III: Golddale (Silverdale), a town Jeff was once associated with Port Townsend Bremerton Poulsbo Colfax Gorst Geneforge 5: Zoka, a Seattle donut shop (also has a readme callout) 13. Spiderweb affiliates Hat tips to people who've been there for Spiderweb. Exile III: Jordan Bojar of Foglio studios Nethergate: Phil Foglio Kaja Foglio Various: Mycroft Foglio, son of Phil and Kaja Geneforge: Brent Heustess, beta tester Geneforge 4: Reiner, tileset creator Paul Ellsworth, beta tester 14. Family The first was stated by Jeff; his immediate family receives frequent use, but he has said sometimes that he just likes the names. Exile I: Elmer, Jeff's grandfather Various: Mariann Krizsan, Jeff's radiant wife Cordelia, Jeff's daughter, but also a favourite name of his Miranda, Jeff's daughter, but also a favourite name of his Queen's Wish: Queen Sharyn, Jeff's mother Sharon 15. Other friends Some of these are simple Facebook speculation, but the source of one rather important name, Erika Redmark, was supplied by Jeff. Exile I: Erika, a high school friend Jennifer Rippel (?) Shaynee Snider (?) Exile II: Prazac, a high school friend Tina Mancuso (?) Avernum 4: Lark Griffin (?) Geneforge 4: Sharon Crowley (?) 16. Miscellaneous Name sources that don't fit into the above categories, but seem likely due to unusual similarities (Zanthia) or Jeff's background (Sylow, Moon). Exile I: Sylow, a Norwegian mathematician Zanthia, the alchemist protagonist of The Legend of Kyrandia 2 Exile, name of a one-way transport mechanism in Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile (cited by Jeff as inspiration; related inspiration from Robert Silverberg's short story "Hawksbill Station") Exile III: Moon, a town in Ultima 3 Malloc and Calloc (towns), C functions Blades of Exile: Newsworthy figures of the time Steve Forbes, Chelsea Clinton, Michele Aboro, Welde, Madeleine Albright (ASR Willow) Geneforge 3: Galileo Galilei's family Maria Celeste, Vincenzio Galilei, Sestilia Bocchineri Alcholic beverages Sauza tequila, Macallan single malt whiskey, Maker's Mark bourbon, Bailey's Irish cream, Captain Morgan rum, the Aunt Agatha mixed drink Avernum 6: Djokov and Baghdatis, pro tennis players Avernum 2 CS: Morrigan, Celtic warrior goddess Venus Castinan, aspect of goddess related to non-male-performing men 17. Names from the news In the Geneforge and Second Trilogy years, googling a set of names from the same town often turns up a newspaper or magazine of the appropriate era, and it's sometimes one local to Seattle. It's unlikely that this is always a coincidence, but in many cases the names are so common that it's not really possible to establish a definitive tie, either. 18. Name generators You may have noticed that the Avadon and Avernum Remake series do not show up on this list very much, even though the Avadon games involve a real slew of new names. Googling those names doesn't turn up much. However, googling those names often turns up name generator name lists. I'd wager Spiderweb is using a relatively nice name generator, and probably one that generates names of particular linguistic backgrounds, as we've seen a few clusters of names that closely resemble common Slavic names, to take one example. 19. Kickstarter contributors More recent Spiderweb games have been funded in part by generous contributions on Kickstarter. Some of the reward tiers include the ability to contribute a name (and sometimes a concept) to content like items, quests, and NPCs. There are quite a few of these, many more than have been identified here. Geneforge Mutagen: Sudanna, Sudanna, by Brian Herbert Hiley Geneforge Mutagen, Infestation: "Geneforge Comic Dub" by ACat animation Thrackerzod, Arixy, Kevin This document is not complete -- it is a work in progress, and we'd love your help in continuing to expand it! If you have any ideas or see names that look familiar, please feel free to post in this thread. Some other names we are currently suspicious of, but don't feel confident enough about to include in the main list, are below. OTHER CHARACTERS WE EYE SUSPICIOUSLY Linda (Linda Strout? no -- most likely predates her) Strout (G1 Servile, A4 Fort Monastery resident -- Linda Strout? -- unclear) Micah Bernie ("the Chart") Mairwen Karzoth Skunky Joe Etunimdiam (G4 gazer) -- sounds like "et unum diem", Latin for "and a day" -- has an xbox live account listed under Seattle, WA Skarp (A5 Exodus) -- Seattle WA band. Elinor, Klivans, Haedrich (ASR Selathni) -- cookbook authors; Vonnegut in same town Commander Wallace and Craftmaster Pynchon in Zhethron's Keep (Av3) -- see thread Potential Slithzerikai inspiration in the Sleeth of Gamma World (tabletop RPG) SIMS (F. Paul Wilson novel) as potential inspiration for Serviles Default character names: Aldous Huxley (Brave New World has obvious thematic relevance for Avernum), Thissa from Exile vs Hissssa from Dungeon Master

Jeff didn't actually change the mage's name. There is at least one place in Exile 3 where the mage's full name is given as "Jordan Bojar". A handful of other characters changed names in a similar way between Exile and Avernum. Exile 2's "Gilda" became Avernum 2's "Radner", making clear the reference to Gilda Radner. It would be interesting to compile a list of all the name cameos in Jeff's games -- there are an awful lot. In E2, E3, and BoE there were entire towns of NPCs named after TV shows (Absolutely Fabulous, The Kids in the Hall, Babylon 5, etc.). Solberg was probably named after Andrew Solberg, a friend of Jeff's, which has always made me wonder if Linda is named for Linda Strout, who was a friend before she became an employee.

Seriously, everybody wanders around Drypeak, including the entire cast of G2 and a number of major NPCs from the later games, including Ghaldring and Litalia.

They link to different attack abilities, the relevant difference being that shortswords do 1-4 per level and broadswords do 1-5 per level.

Which makes a good point: G5 is an indictment of the Shaper Council. In previous games, particularly through G3, Shapers always described the Council in very high regard, wise and free of corruption, etc. The loyalist endings to G1 and G2 certainly imply this to be true. So in G3 and G4 when you were forced to choose it was possible to believe that the Shaper Council really was wise and noble and well-meaning, if imperfect. G5 lays this bare as a fraud. If I had seriously sympathized with the Shaper factions in G3 and G4, I would probably feel betrayed and upset over that.