Xaiya

Being a bad writer hasn't stopped a number of other scenario designers.

>.>

You can always be like Dinti and make the plot purposely bad in a way that makes it funny.

And finally the most important-the end boss fight

Geneforge is not linear.

It depends. Ice cream is a necessity for me, a favorite past-time, a sport, whatever ya call it. Im still 130 pounds so I guess something's to give. If you could give stealth as a skill on item, I'd take that. Rogue in real life much harder than in the games. The save/load part is not functioning yet.

yeah, but you could probably sell the magic item and be set on ice cream for a while, if not for life. Plus with plenty of root beer and coffee to go with it. I've discovered that rootbeer floats with a hint of coffee is quite good.

And don't true roguelikes have permadeath anyways? If they have save/load, it's to take a break for later continuation.

I'll always love rpgs games make me laugh sometimes when I see an item+2 strength or +3 dexterity. Since I was a fighter I took the strength. If this was real life I would take dexterity. Or actually if this was real life I would take a nice big bowl of ice cream.

I'm pretty sure a magic item that boosts your skills for real would be worth far more than a bowl of ice cream.

You forgot "Both", "Neither", and "Together". People exist for all of those.

I'm more of an "eat when I'm hungry/when it's there" sort of person, so I don't really actively care about snacks. Still, I do like both sweet and salty things, just not together. Cinnamon rolls are nice, but so are tortilla chips, for example. I don't lean in either direction.

:sbbook:

Calc-based physics, calc II, and cultural anthropology. Should be interesting, even with the drone of a calc professor and the Miss Smack The Table Over and Over and Over anthro professor.

I will also say that custom textbooks are evil. Near-impossible to find online, forcing you to buy at the college bookstore. I can only hope that with selling it back it won't cost me too much more than the usual.

School was fun senior year and that's about it. Graphic Arts Design was easy because the teacher didnt teach anything. We had an elaborate cheating program that was in place. 3 People did the work in the class and it was their job to make the right stuff. From there we would take assignments which were always different, and change a few things each time. I got an A- in class and I didn't do one thing. It was clutch!

That is disgusting. I, personally, do my own work and never for anyone else. I would rather fail than turn in someone else's work. Even if it is something I'm both struggling in and I don't really care about, I will do my damned hardest to succeed on my own work. Which I have.

This sounds horrifying. MMOs can be done well, yes, and there's nothing wrong with speculating on something that will almost certainly not happen, but let's not bring up the horrors of children being obnoxious on a game you're trying to relax on playing.

I'm not really much of a movie person, but I did happen to see four 2013 movies, which is strange seeing as I'm usually late to watching any. I didn't see any of these in theater, so I can't comment on that aspect, but here we go:

Pacific Rim: Awful. I personally feel it is far overrated. Obviously it wasn't meant for its story, but it doesn't even try to be decent, except for, surprisingly enough:

I am normally very good with my suspension of belief, but some elements I just could not ignore being so laughably (or depressingly) absurd. Pacific Rim is probably best seen for its action if it is to be seen at all, but even the action is really quite disappointing. The scenes feel clunky and, while destructive, are not entertainingly so.

Star Trek: Into Darkness: It's worth a watch, even if it isn't spectacular. I have not seen the original series, so I lack some context to judge it with, but overall I'd say it's ok.

Iron Man 3: Meh. Re-watching the first would be more entertaining overall, but it did have some nice elements to it. Particularly, it showed that Tony Stark is Iron Man even without his suit (In other words, not totally worthless outside of it), which was nice. The action scenes were particularly neat, even if there was very little fully suited-up Iron Man action. I'm not a fan of comic-books, but if I watch anything involving heroes from them, it's going to be with the human ones.

Kick-Ass 2: Cute. Funny. Perhaps not as crudely funny as the first, but certainly worth a watch if you're not squeamish and don't mind crude sexual innuendos. Do be familiar with the first, though. My only complaint:

Geneforge 5 is most similar to 1 and 2 in terms of multiple factions. 3 and 4 just have two sides, but they're still fun themselves. My personal suggestion is to just play all of them in order so you can follow the story. If you're not playing for story (which would be weird, since that's one of the if not the best aspect to SW games, but you also didn't list that, so 'eh), then you should still be fine going in order, but 4 and 5 may be more fun. 4 introduces new classes and creations and 3 has a couple rather annoying aspects, so it may be worth it to skip 3 if time/money is an issue and you care not for the story.

There's definitely a reference to ZKR and the first scenario from BoA at some point in the second trilogy, though I can't quite remember where or even which game.

The next time you read through your old SW topics, you should make a thread about your signature evolution (well, unless the old posts are too embarrassing to link to).

Especially if they're embarrassing.

The RP shall now be known as "From the Ashes" (FtA). The follow-up of the discussion can be found here:

https://calref.net/v...&p=24874#p24874

This concludes the business of this thread. If you're still interested in participating or in simply following FtA, it'll all be going down at CalRef. Feel free to join us on the chat or comment in the OoC thread with questions.

The chat has been postponed one day to 3:00pm/15:00 (MST) Sunday, December 15th. Apologies if this causes anyone to have to miss it.

and the only gamers that can play it is that fat, turkey-gobbler-neck loser from the simpsons.

Hmm. Turkey is ok, but I'm much more a fan of gobbling down pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream. I'm not fat, though, so this is still a paradox. I've beaten most of the games, after all.

I can't shake the feeling, though, that adding time travel to the mix won't help this paradox one bit.

I won't be able to participate in the discussion (I'm too busy with finals, and really I shouldn't even be here) but for my benefit, can the results of the conversation be posted here so I can evaluate whether or not I want to join? Thanks in advance.

Excellent idea. I'll probably post either the log and/or a summary. Also, as we figure more things out, we'll be making use of the RP wiki in order to make info easy to access.

The discussion on all things about the RP will begin at the CalRef chat on 3:00pm/15:00 (MST) Saturday, December 14th.

Sorry to bust your joke, SoT, but because you're confusing my favorite Iffy on the entire message board, I'll let him know: "Bob" is the generic, joking name for a central giver of quests in a story or video game. There are many Bobs in the BoE scenarios, of course.

...read my post again. I was talking about the way people do acronyms, "BOE" vs "BoE". I am well aware as to who Bob is.

Am I the only one bugged by people saying "BOE" rather than "BoE"? Not to say it's an issue, but more to wonder if anyone shares this peculiarity.

...or are you not talking about the BoE board, and BOE is some other acronym? If that's the case, then I've forgotten a lot about the Episodes.

A1 is awfully, awfully clunky, though, and it doesn't even have a quest log. A:EftP to A2 might not be too jarring if you've been playing games since at least the 90s. If you're a younger gamer, though, just playing the older ones at all might be more difficult depending on your tastes, so you may as well start on A1. A2 and A3 are less clunky than A1 and definitely worth a play even with having older engines and being juxtaposed by the newer SW games, in any case.

Uh, tip: if you're wondering if a particular word works, ask Diki personally instead of letting everyone know of the word in case it is valid and most likely killing it. In any case, the first letter of the first word must start with 'r'.

1. First of all I would like to see a map, the whole overview so

I can know where I am specialy on start of the game. It could

be unexplored map which get explored when you discover

unexplored areas.

Uh, isn't this already done to an extent? The later Avernum games and the Geneforge games all have an overal map, and all games have more detailed maps per area that you fill in as you explore.

2. I know this would require hard artwork but I really don't

like when I see characters cross the half of the map with

just two steps. I would like to see characters runing on the

screen. Also I know this isn't posible with you current game

design but it would be good if characters could move in all

directions (not just in 4-8). One more thing about graphic is

fire or frost bolts. It is kinda stupid for me when clouds of

fire fall down from the sky and do damage. Please make them

projectile and missle art.

There's nothing wrong with a grid design. If you really don't like it, there's Geneforge. The last comment with the sprites just sounds like a personal opinion of yours rather than a real suggestion.

3. And about food. You could make some better use of eat like

some rare food that gives random buffs, health, mana and

vitality restoration when you eat it. I don't know for other

people but it would be good if characters will have to

consume one peace of food for every 1-3 hours or their

strength will reduce. Guys seriously, add more things like

skribbane, I am adicted to that !!!

A hunger system can be done well, or it can be annoying. Most likely, it'd end up being annoying. Jeff did hunger in Exile, so there's a small possibility it might reappear, in any case.

5. Buying houses. In my opinion that is really great part of the

game. Maybe you could make whole ares with houses available

for buying. To make houses upgradeable (when you find some

rare stuff around the world, you could return to your home and

make part of it like statues beatiful lamps much more ). To

be able to aquire servants for your home that watch on farms

near the house and produce food which you can sell to NPC.

Make more options for home, like turing in into caffe where

NPC would offten come and give you some quests and gold. Nice

thing would be if you can encounter quests in your home for

whole play time like some thiefs that try to get in and steal

from you. Maybe to make some options to buy areeas on which

you can build you own house with materials you find around the

world.

Having a house where you could dump all of your crap sounds actually pretty useful, but nothing horribly elaborate like you described. Jeff is but one programmer.

8. Descriptions in game. You made a lot of that but still I have

no idea which stats I should increase to some classes...

I don't know how summones creatures or turets work, with more

inteligence they have more power or what?

Figuring things out is one of the neat aspects of RPGs. You can't have everything done for you. There's plenty of people analyzing everything on the forums if you really want help, though.

9. Level is cap is just bad, it kills all of the future funn in

the game. I don't know what others think about it but I just

hate it.

I'm pretty sure that the caps are soft rather than hard, and for the ones with hard caps, you'll probably never reach them. Of course, I might be wrong since I haven't played the newest games, but this is the case for the early Avernum and Geneforge games.

10. I am also big hater of the out/indoor style. That is why I

will allways like Avernum games more than any other SW game.

Well I really liked A:EFTP but its fight encounters where

like lets apear nowhere and fight and come back to place

where you have been. Here is the one game that Jeff and

others who works in SW could check for great ideas. Its name

is Throne of Darkness.

The Avernum/Exile games actually originally had outdoor sections, specifically 1-3/Blades. You can also see your enemies approaching, so random encounters aren't entirely random and potentially avoidable if you know how.

11. Make some damn use for those bags of meal and those sticks

I find them all around world, they have no sale value or are

used for quests... I don't remember where but in one game

I've found 30 bags in one container.

Useless items are part of the charm in the amount of detail Jeff puts into his games. Just don't pick up those unsellable trowels.

13. One thing that would make SW really popular in an online game

where players could control one character at the time and

decide their faction on start to be rebel, pact soldier,

corrution soldier, or neutral one that can work for all three.

Or all start neutral and have to chose their faction on early

levels. Well online game will require level cap or maybe not.

I don't like it story mode. Rare items can be found in high

level dungeons in which you enter only with group. Groups can

have max of 2-players. You could also make some city raids

where faction boss drop some good weapons or funny items. Raid

group can have like 10 or 15 players or also like 5 because

that would be realy long turn waiting in combat mode.

Uh, no. I'm sure there's dozens of links someone could provide that could explain no better than I could for SWOnline, so I won't. As for factions, have you played Geneforge 1, 2, and 5, by any chance?

That's pretty much all I have to comment on here, though I should add that Jeff rarely reads the forums. It's unlikely that he'll see this, so the most you'll get is discussion by other forum members. If there's something you really, really want to tell Jeff, there's a section on the website that'll let you know where you can send your suggestions so he'll actually see them.

Besides that, welcome, and leave your unneeded sanity at the door! What is your native language, out of curiosity?

This:

However, it's clear that even if we were to reboot that world, the vast majority of worldbuilding would need to be redone.

It's pretty much going to be a blank slate except for the few things we take from UtSS that we liked. The chat is to discuss it and do initial worldbuilding.

About a year ago, I made a poll to figure out the interest of people here in a written RP. There was clearly some interest, with an emphasis on fantasy, faction and player, and limited magic. For a while, myself, Sylae, and Nalyd have discussed our interest in rebooting UtSS, which is similar to the above except it only had a little of the fantasy element.

However, it's clear that even if we were to reboot that world, the vast majority of worldbuilding would need to be redone. And this is where you, the interested potential players, come in. Right now, we don't quite have a name, and though we have an idea of the setting, it is probably best left to conversation. There is lots of delicious, delicious worldbuilding ahead.

There's only two things we know for certain:

1) It will be hosted at CalRef.

2) A participant will have the option of just controlling (a) nation(s), (a) character(s), or both to allow choices in how someone can participate.

There will be a discussion on the CalRef chat to talk about the RP and to do initial worldbuilding. Registration is required to reach the chat. CalRef registration currently requires approval, so message Sylae or myself to get your account approved. Please note that the chat may not be appropriate for all ages. Additionally, the RP may explore more adult themes (No explicit gore or sex, though it may be implicitly mentioned. Most likely there will be some swearing, at least.), so be warned.

If you are interested in participating in the discussion, please use this whenisgood. If you've never heard of it, click. It'll be self explanatory. Also, there is a box with which you can write your name. Please write the name you affiliate yourself with on SW in the box. Comments are welcome, but not required.

http://whenisgood.ne...ion/UtSS_Reboot

I left it pretty open to get a good time. These days are after my own finals, and presumably the finals of others, so hopefully at least some time will be open for everyone. Joining it is not required for participating in the RP, but it's recommended so you can join in on the initial worldbuilding and provide your ideas on your character(s) and/or nation(s).

We welcome those who have a decent grasp of English grammar (don't worry, we won't yell over silly stuff like the oxford comma, just be decently educated) and are willing to work with the others. You will need to be able to keep track of lore and universal laws to be able to write, though the RP wiki should help. You don't need to be an expert craftsperson of writing (hell, I'm not, far from it), or even good--we will be as willing to work with you as you are willing to work with us. Commitment to the RP is requested. On the off chance you suddenly have to drop out, someone can take over, but we'd rather avoid this.

When I feel there are enough responses, I will post the final date and time of the discussion. Please ask any questions you may have. Thank you for your interest; I look forward to it!

Fool! If unsellable trowels truly were chatoic evil, we would all be doomed. They are actually True Neutral, and are simply watching and waiting. We should hope they do not take interest.

D&D, or at least some editions of it, actually explicitly does this. Orcs or goblins might be listed as always Chaotic Evil, for example. Depending on how you look at it, this is either fantasy racism or a setting in which different species are actually, y'know, very different from each other. It would probably have fewer Unfortunate Implications if they weren't referred to as "races".

They also tend to be extremely stupid sterotypic trash mobs. Sapience seems to be the exception, not the rule, as far as I've seen, though I could be wrong since I'm really just looking at Avernum for my interpretation of goblins and from what I've heard overall of the two. If this is the case, then really only the leaders can have an alignment. Though this point is moot since it seems all of the leaders seem to be chaotic evil anyways.