The Loquacious Lord Grimm

I own exactly three games that I have not played: Empire: Total War (because it was on steam sale, I had gotten some good word-of-mouth on it, and my poor computer simply couldn't handle all of the processing), Assassin's Creed (again, steam sale, seems to run fine, but I have yet to have had a weekend to spend alone with it since I bought it.), and Call of Duty (which came bundled in with a new video card many years ago, and I have had no interest in playing.) Mostly, between time constraints (I work six to seven days a week) and budget (I'm self-employed and my primary client nearly went bankrupt this year), I don't buy anything that I don't plan on playing, finishing, and playing again later. So... the list of games that I haven't yet finished: Avernum 4 (bought it several years ago, and am still slogging through it in small doses), Avernum 6 (don't remember why I stopped, but at this point, I'm waiting to finish A4), Skyrim (not so much an inability as I'm enjoying it too much to bring it to an end), Fallout: New Vegas (ditto), Fallout (it's on my field computer and only gets pulled out if I'm bored on the road, Minecraft (in progress), and the latest Avernum release (in progress). Suffice to say, I've got enough on my plate that not having the money or time to pick up Dishonored is not bugging me too much. The Silent Assassin left his phone at home, it seems, when he went to protest Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm at our local library's sci-fi section last night. The Library's phone is still out from the storm, and I haven't had time to run over and check on him. This spells almost certain disaster.

I haven't tinkered with the windows editor in a few months, but I've always felt that the reason why BoA slumped in comparison to BoE was the lack of user friendliness in terms of built-in design interface. BoE came with an all-in-one design tool that even I, as a completely inexperienced teenager, could understand. BoA, while exponentially more powerful, requires more work outside of the provided editor than it does in it, and while 3rd-party tools have been phenomenally useful in making scenario design more approachable, the fact stands that without that all-in-one tool, a fair amount of could-be designers are scared away. Doesn't matter that it's just different interfaces for creating the same scripts, as BoA's approach merely cuts the GUI middleman, people are more comfortable and more ambitious if they feel guided. I believe that the Steam Workshop is an excellent tool for expanding the Blades community and its influence, a centralized official hosting system that could coordinate not only scenarios, but scripts, graphics, and other presets as well, precluding the need for intimate knowledge of community and satellite resources before jumping in. Our third-party sites would still be excellent grounds for advanced users, without scaring off casual beginners. However, I fear, given the age of the program, the necessity to change file types between operating systems, and its graphical differences from Spiderweb's current Steam offerings, that it would not be well-accepted in its current condition, even if an all-in-one editor is ever developed. But the Workshop idea is strong. Perhaps it is more prudent to pester Jeff to start a long-term project of adapting the current engine towards the goal of Blades, with a beta open long enough to give the established community a chance to adapt and port our best works, thus giving the new installation a strong repertoire when it hits the market, instead of just A Perfect Forest and Roses of Reckoning. Just saying. This, of course, assumes that Jeff wasn't too burned by BoA to ever think of such a thing again.

You can still do it. You just have to do it manually. This was done by hitting the "multiquote" button on each of the appropriate quotes, and then a little copy-pasting to nestle appropriately. So yeah, it is possible, but not nearly as easy, nor as much fun. Also, does anyone else get this weird thing where the cursor randomly jumps back several characters when backspacing? I'm using Chrome. See the previous post for the current Silent Assassinism, or check out our sporadically-updated blog to read his opinion on American Football.

Testing... This was done by drag-selecting and copying the desired post, and then pasting it into the framework provided by the "quote" button. edit: and it doesn't quite work the way I'd hoped. Let's try multiquoting the various posts: You can still do it. You just have to do it manually. This was done by hitting the "multiquote" button on each of the appropriate quotes, and then a little copy-pasting to nestle appropriately. The Silent Assassin still hasn't returned from last night's protest at the library. On the bright side, I haven't gotten any calls from the police or fire departments yet, so I'm not quite in a panic.

I'm not gonna lie, before (and somewhat during) the time that the Prequels emerged, part of me had hoped that Lucas would take on the expanded universe while the original actors and staff were still capable of doing so. I haven't read too much of expanded universe material, but feedback from friends over the years suggests that it is too splintered and extended to incorporate every fanboy's wildest dreams into good film. The Star Wars film franchise is built on simple plot, easy-to-understand archetypes, and a freaking ton of spectacle. Good directing helps, and a solid, balanced script is preferable, but not necessary. It would therefore stand to reason that any first films created by this new alliance would focus on an easily-digestible chunk of Star Wars lore: either inherently new material with references to established canon, or the digest version of a longer serial from the expanded universe. I remain a holdout for the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, as I have for many years, but my reading on the interwebs suggests that we might first be exposed to adaptations from Timothy Zahn. Not a bad thing, I'm told. We hope that the prequels were a learning experience, we understand that film as a medium has evolved since Lucas made his start, and with Disney's funding and producing power behind it (I'm praying that John Lasseter winds up involved somehow), we could be looking at a very interesting continuous push at the film-making envelope. Or we could be looking at Disney's next Tinkerbell franchise. Time will tell. In either case, nothing can change the fact that Star Wars completely revolutionized the way films are both made and examined. The Silent Assassin has not yet returned from his protest at the library, and therefore has nothing to contribute to this post.

Disney acquires Lucasfilm. Discuss. The Silent Assassin has gone off to protest by blocking off the sci-fi section at our local library with duct tape.

Reports are in. The shore got torn up pretty badly. I have family that lives five blocks from the beach in a little town due east of Trenton. The ocean came up to about a block from their house, and parts of the local boardwalk and retaining wall have since washed away. Around here, the biggest complaint is downed power lines and trees, and the emergency crews have been fixing things at a pretty good pace. I wouldn't say that we're lucky, just far enough inland that hurricanes and nor'easters don't pound us too hard. The Silent Assassin has been going door to door, offering his services in yard cleanup and water removal. So far, he's made forty cents!

We live just on the Jersey side of the Delaware River from Philadelphia. We've gotten about four inches of rain, which is kinda high for a storm around here, but we've had worse. It's the wind that's doing the real damage. Power's been flickering all night, and I have no doubt I'm going to be cleaning up busted branches come tomorrow afternoon. The coast has taken it the worst: I'm sure you've seen some of the pictures. The Wildwoods were practically underwater even before the rain started last night, and there are some excellent photos of waves breaching all sorts of man-made barriers. Most people aren't too worried about the flooding: every seaside community has flood plans, and most are actually designed with flooding in mind. The issue is, again, the wind. Power's been out for a fair portion of the coast throughout the day because of wind damage, and the flooding is obstructing repair crews. The rain has stopped already, but we're expecting the wind to continue through tomorrow. The Silent Assassin's makeshift wind turbines worked very well until they blew down the street. He's spent the day working out a solution: dirigible turbines.

I have no idea how I missed that. Shame on me. The Silent Assassin wants me to remind you that the last hurricane to come through our area got us trapped in the bunker for two weeks after a false alarm and a security mishap. In the event that you need to contact him and he doesn't know, please be patient: he's packing a supply of plastic spoons this time, just to be safe.

Not to mention free online sounds (check the credits, Jeff cites a few in the latest Avernum), and lots and lots and lots of sharing. Digital recording made life sooo much easier. To my wife's chagrin, I constantly point out sounds that are in my library when we watch TV. Also, Wilhelms, which annoys her because she still hasn't figured out which one he is yet. The Silent Assassin is outside right now, preparing for the hurricane by attempting to convert some lawn decorations into wind generators. Hey, as long as it keeps him away from the valuable stuff inside, right?

Dumb question: what time zone? The Silent Assassin's Explosive Kittens of Doom have been put into a temporary production delay due to the anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. Most of you who ordered any should have already received notification and a complementary pie, the rest of you now know, and will be further warned, if you receive a package labeled "Cherry Pie", please send it back immediately without opening it. That package was mislabeled and actually contains some of the explosive components.

This is the Prologue. It tells of what came before. 1 She turns from the portal site swiftly, unconsciously straightening the mess that the teleportation ritual has made of her hair. While her research and scry-scouting has been thorough, and the magical precaution to push the adventurers through the enemy wards even more thorough, there is always the risk of something going wrong on the other side. Time is of the essence, and there is still much to be done. Her focus is now on her scrying pool, preparing the brief set of spells that will give her a clear view of her emissaries miles above and lands away. With the magic ready, her deathly pale hand touches the darkened waters of the pool, and in the ripples emerges an image of the four who had stood in front of her but a moment ago. She allows herself a hesitant breath of relief. So much rides on the next few moments. So much planning, so much effort, and now the fruit of her labors, oh, the very act for which she has dreamed for decades rests in the very capable hands of the four she watches in the pool. She would be doing the deed herself if she could; indeed she would have done it long ago. The old rage simmers beneath her calm surface, as she watches her emissaries pass through familiar halls. Damn him and his toadying minions. Damn them all! This should be hers! For years, the one moment that has haunted her dreams is the one in which she clutches his lifeless husk by the throat, and throws him down in front of her enemies, victorious without question. But even in her dreams, she knows that it will never come. She turns away from the scrying pool towards the closest window, forcing herself to focus for a brief moment. Tonight is only the beginning. Perhaps, after he is dead, she can take out what is left of her rage on the minions that cursed her. The magic of the artifacts used for this teleportation will be used up in the return trip, but there are other ways... always other ways... Garzahd might be first. She had always liked seeing him squirm. But there is no time to consider this. Not yet. She returns to the scrying pool renewed from the brief departure. Already, her emissaries have encountered the Empire's finest troops, and are dispatching them with ease. Would she expect any less of them? Her agents had been watching them for weeks before they did something even she could not expect to do: this team of exiled misfits had actually managed to destroy the corporeal form of the Demon Lord, and banish him back to the hell from which he came. How could she not summon them to her after that? How could they not turn down the opportunity that she had offered? A flicker of light from one of her experiments briefly illuminates her pale, ageless face in the scrying pool. She has spent nearly half of her life damned to these cursed caves: decades that she can never recover, decades devoted almost exclusively to survival, and to tonight. Tonight, these heroes will bring the crowning act of her vengeance upon the man who ruined her life. Tonight, they will deliver justice for themselves and the rest of the tens of thousands that the Empire has exiled under the earth. Tonight, the nation of Avernum will send a message to the monsters who deemed them unworthy of the sky above: We live. We thrive. We remember. Tonight, they will kill a king.

In response to SoT: I know I'm not the average person, but I upgrade an Operating System to improve efficiency and to learn firsthand how to fix what all of my friends and relatives think that they've broken. Granted, yes, there are a few aesthetic customizing options in Windows 7 that I wouldn't mind using. But I do want to point out that I went from Windows 2000 Pro to XP kicking and screaming. Also: Please tell me this was sarcasm. Please. The Silent Assassin has a certain Linux installation on one of our laptops just so that he can flip between desktops to suit his mood. I've been seeing a lot of pictures of Disney's Hades of late.

I have yet to fully move to Windows 7 from XP, and will probably only do so when my motherboard craps out... likely within the next year. Windows 8... the one-OS-for-all-platforms concept sounds ok, but after the whole Longhorn/Vista/7 fiasco, it really really seems too soon for another full OS. The Silent Assassin still has Microsoft Bob running on one of the computers in Engineering Lab 2. He says that it's for inspiration.

^ What Rowen said. Also, I really like this new "there are XX new posts" feature. The Silent Assassin will now be taking donations for the Feed Pie to Hungry Kitties fund. Remember, your gifts are tax-deductible, and go a long way to preventing the cat from getting stuck in his lab experiments.

Thank you for serving, sir. Due to the more serious nature of this thread, there will not be a Silent Assassinism. Instead, I'm going to break character completely and let you all know that in the time that I was gone, the young man who inspired and sometimes plays the Silent Assassin joined the Marines, and is currently, as he puts it, fighting the War on Terror with his tuba.

I concur, though the trick with varying the flavor and texture in meat is as much in the preparation as it is in the cut itself. Better yet, combine the two: I have yet to find a meat that hasn't been enhanced when cooked alongside fruit. The missus and I stick to mostly beef and chicken for budgetary, and in my case, allergy, reasons. Beef, Pork (though not so much of late... I had a bad experience with a freezer full of rotting cuts), lamb (every Easter we can actually get our hands on it. With such a large Jewish population around here, you'd think stores would carry it in excess around Passover, right? still can't find an acceptable mint jelly.), horse, venison, rabbit (the latter two we occasionally get from a friend who hunts), quail, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, ants, alligator, white and oily fish (hate the oily stuff), scallops, oysters, clams, octopus, squid (I love calamari), crab, lobster, and shrimp (alas, Anaphylactic shock is not fun. especially when caused by one of your favorite foods.). There are two items on the list that I have been trying to find an excuse to try: bison and pheasant. While I do occasionally see the former at the local wholesale warehouse, it's still just a hair too expensive. The Silent Assassin has it on good authority that it tastes delicious when lightly seasoned with nutmeg.

. Alas, the great Spamfest strikes only the fourth-highest peak. [/nostalgia] I can't remember offhand, when did Spiderweb start on Steam? Late 2010/early 2011? Would explain the rise in the base posting quantity shortly thereafter. The Silent Assassin wants you all to know that the Great War against All Things Puce is proceeding on schedule. Be very sure which side you're on.

I've recently discovered that E.S. Posthumous has some tracks that make for interesting dungeon crawling. That is probably the biggest obstacle to creating a proper soundtrack for the open, large-scale games that Jeff is inclined to make. With no truly random encounters, lots of backtracking to specific hubs, and a wide range of characters and attitudes, in a game that can easily take over 40 hours for a single playthrough, the soundtrack needs to be both extensive and versatile in order to remain both relevant to the in-game situation and fresh (or at least, comfortable) to the player. Consider Skyrim: The average player devotes around 75 hours to the game; and while I couldn't find any information on average playthrough time, let's assume for sake of convenience that it's around 60 hours: do the main quest, end the civil war, handle two or three factions, get an artifact or two, crash and reboot countless times, the whole experience. In that 60 hours, the player is exposed to a soundtrack of only 55 unique tracks spanning about three hours, not counting the stingers for ending music suddenly, musical sound effects, and multiple renditions of a silly little ditty about Ragnar the Red. In addition to this, there are a wide variety of musical parts, varying by leitmotif, tone, and instrumentation, that are layered in with the standard atmospheric tracks to help differentiate various regions and areas. And this doesn't even begin to consider that the music has to be internally consistent in tone, style, and genre, and likable on top of that. It is no wonder that only the highest-end games get the best soundtracks: between composing, orchestrating, recording, mastering, and CONSTANT communication with the project director and sound director, the creation of such a harmonious compliment to atmosphere and gameplay takes notably longer than Jeff's annual production cycle. I have considered the possibility of writing a soundtrack for the Avernum series many times, and have actually written a handful of tracks inspired by it and meant to play along with it over the years. Breaking it down by game, here's how I think it would work best (spoiler tags added to reduce page congestion): The Silent Assassin, on the rare occasion that I have caught him playing an RPG, favors highlights from Mozart's Don Giovanni His other exploits for entertainment tend to involve the works of John Phillip Sousa, and not just his marches. Indeed, if I hear excerpts from El Capitan, my gut reaction is to fear for the kitchen.

I do get a few pixels cut off on the top and bottom, but it generally isn't enough to notice. It could be, and this is just speculation as I don't know much about it, that the resolutions that I have are result of the very restricted OS and the Dell-provided interface that I have to use to manage display settings. The older programs, to my knowledge, don't concern themselves with what resolutions the OS reports as available, so... they're not blocked by that middleman? And, thanks. I hope I stick around, too. Funny, how the day I go looking for help is the day the forum migration happens. The Silent Assassin has already had one embarrassing fact about him posted in this thread, and is threatening to beat me with his pink bunny slippers if I do anything like it again. But I feel like tempting fate: One of his favorite movies is A Walk to Remember... and he cries every time.