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Snake is apparently a child, but they asked a question that gave them a distinct advantage at the cost of the other players. Either their handlers are good, or they are a very dangerous individual. Their mask indicates the latter, I think. Doe asked the most important question by far, while bending the one-question rule nearly in half; how would that mask relate to her apparent intelligence? Or is it not her most important asset? Spider seems like an incredibly poor candidate. There's something important there, but nothing yet to go on. Owl doesn't seem very wise at first blush. What kind of ability would seem appropriate to slap a sheep mask onto? As far as I've ever read they're not notable for any innate strengths  I think the masks' securing points probably double as a connection point to the brain; this is mostly going off of Wes's observation that he is seeing through the eyes of his mask, not his own.
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Dec 7, 2013 12:36
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I don't like that we're only going to be able to read past the first three chapters with one of these stories.  I want to read them all!
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Dec 7, 2013 21:22
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Face is getting very interesting, at first I was worried it would be a hunger games/battle royale ripoff but it seems to have some meat to it.
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Dec 8, 2013 06:10
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Wildbow is skipping Face 3 and has posted the first chapter of Boil. It's the most interesting so far, IMO.
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Dec 10, 2013 09:18
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Yep, really interesting so far. He got things going pretty quickly.
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Dec 10, 2013 11:10
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Fellwenner posted:Yep, really interesting so far. He got things going pretty quickly. I enjoyed the story also. I haven't read much steampunk or "biopunk" as Wildbow calls it. Is there a default series that everyone should read as their first read of the genre?
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Dec 10, 2013 14:32
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It's not steampunk. This isn't a story set in a dystopian industrial age of steam, this is a story set in an alternate timeline where mad science of the wet variety actually worked. The story is about biotechnology and the dystopian society that depends on it. Basically any good *punk is about X and the dystopian society that depends on it. Steampunk was co-opted by idiots who want to dress up as the ruling class of the setting and I am still angry about that  If you want to read punk stuff check out William Gibson, he's pretty much a founder of the genre. Most of this stuff is cyberpunk, but The Difference Engine is steampunk. Also I read a decent book called The Windup Girl a while back, it's biopunk set in a future Thailand.
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Dec 10, 2013 14:39
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Tollymain posted:It's not steampunk. This isn't a story set in a dystopian industrial age of steam, this is a story set in an alternate timeline where mad science of the wet variety actually worked. The story is about biotechnology and the dystopian society that depends on it. Ok thanks, I'll check some of those out.
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Dec 10, 2013 14:42
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Tollymain posted:It's not steampunk. This isn't a story set in a dystopian industrial age of steam, this is a story set in an alternate timeline where mad science of the wet variety actually worked. The story is about biotechnology and the dystopian society that depends on it. Language changes, steampunk is just "GEARS AND STEAM, generally in a Late 1800s setting" now. Get used to it.
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Dec 10, 2013 15:14
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NEVER The new definition of Steampunk sucks 
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Dec 10, 2013 15:41
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Boil is pretty good. I like how it doesn't downplay how sexist and classist the Victorian mad scientists are. (Worm had some similar themes, although they became less important over time.) There's a bit too much technobabble, though.
Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 23:34
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I like Boil better than the first two story attempts.
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Dec 10, 2013 23:48
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withak posted:I like Boil better than the first two story attempts. I like it better than Peer, but I'm not sure about Face. They're different kinds of stories, I suppose: Face has an essentially closed setup, while Boil is much more conceptually open-ended, maybe too much so; Bonesaw's powers were obnoxiously do-anything at times, and this is basically a world of Bonesaws, albeit ones that work on more realistic time frames.
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Dec 11, 2013 00:56
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Silver2195 posted:a world of Bonesaws Well when you put it that way 
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Dec 11, 2013 08:04
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New multiplayer game, World of Bonesaw. I think it would be fun as hell.
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Dec 11, 2013 09:26
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I'm just joking around I thought it was pretty obvious that the biopunk concept would have a lot of unpleasantness running around. World of Bonesaws sounds like a freaky strategy game.
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Dec 11, 2013 17:14
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I think it's likely Wildbow is going to pick one of the later two stories. He admittedly didn't like Peer and he skipped out on writing chapter 3 of Face, so...
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Dec 12, 2013 09:30
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He said that chapter 3 of face wouldn't have really added anything new except a teaser he wouldn't be able to deliver on but that he would go back for two more chapters if there's time before the new year. That said, I think boil is the clear front runner at this point but who knows how good the last one will be.
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Dec 12, 2013 09:45
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One of my friends put me onto Worm a couple of weeks ago and gave me an epub with all of the chapters. It started out as something light and entertaining I read at work and after spending 50 hours on planes this week I have gotten up to 12.2 and found out it is less light and YA than I thought. It is also really awesome. I find it particularly cool how a lot of powers which in a comic format you'd think of as being very meh are pushed to their limits to make the supe in question a credible threat (although to be fair I think of the setting as being a bit low-powered compared to the types of capes you run into in the major comic settings, so in those settings the powers might in fact be meh). According to my Kindle I am only 25% in so I expect this to only get better. I think the only thing I've found weak is that I haven't found Taylor particularly interesting compared to some of the other viewpoints. She's not terrible or grating and serves a purpose as the protagonist, though, so it's not horrible. Well, other than the Brian attraction. That is odious.
Neurosis fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Dec 14, 2013 |
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Dec 14, 2013 05:34
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Boil is def. the best of the samples so far.
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Dec 14, 2013 18:06
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I was more interested in Face when we got the twist that everybody goes out and lives their normal lives during the day and then is in the Battle Royale situation at night, which seemed like a fun way to mix up the BR/Hunger Games/Saw formula that was shaping up. But I'm a huge fan of private detective stories so I'll probably cast my vote for Boil, unless the last one blows me away.
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Dec 14, 2013 20:35
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Neurosis posted:One of my friends put me onto Worm a couple of weeks ago and gave me an epub with all of the chapters. It started out as something light and entertaining I read at work and after spending 50 hours on planes this week I have gotten up to 12.2 and found out it is less light and YA than I thought. It is also really awesome. I find it particularly cool how a lot of powers which in a comic format you'd think of as being very meh are pushed to their limits to make the supe in question a credible threat (although to be fair I think of the setting as being a bit low-powered compared to the types of capes you run into in the major comic settings, so in those settings the powers might in fact be meh). According to my Kindle I am only 25% in so I expect this to only get better. I think the only thing I've found weak is that I haven't found Taylor particularly interesting compared to some of the other viewpoints. She's not terrible or grating and serves a purpose as the protagonist, though, so it's not horrible. Well, other than the Brian attraction. That is odious. I don't see why Taylor's feelings toward Brian are particularly odious. He's probably the least evil of the other Undersiders.
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Dec 14, 2013 22:18
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Silver2195 posted:I don't see why Taylor's feelings toward Brian are particularly odious. He's probably the least evil of the other Undersiders. Probably because I find that part of the story by far the least interesting part so reading about it is a chore.
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Dec 15, 2013 12:34
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I thought it was just mostly going on in the background for the most part. Mostly a minor subplot.
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Dec 15, 2013 12:45
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Yeah it's minor, that's why I find it kind of annoying but it doesn't colour my overall impression of the serial much. I'm recommending it to other friends. Of the main characters, I must say that so far Tattletale is the best. She is craftier than a shithouse rat... Although I get the sense she's loving nuts under the surface and look forward to finding out more!
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Dec 15, 2013 18:51
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People new to Worm are adorable.
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Dec 15, 2013 19:34
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It's a long serial so it will be a long time before I am enlightened as the rest. Feel free to laugh at my posts until then. Regent is cool in addition to Tattletale because he is such a beautiful oval office. What he did to Shadow Stalker when he first possessed her felt completely appropriate and I found it hard to feel too disgusted.
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Dec 15, 2013 20:40
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Boil is shaping up nicely.
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Dec 16, 2013 16:47
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Neurosis posted:One of my friends put me onto Worm a couple of weeks ago and gave me an epub with all of the chapters. It started out as something light and entertaining I read at work and after spending 50 hours on planes this week I have gotten up to 12.2 and found out it is less light and YA than I thought. It is also really awesome. I find it particularly cool how a lot of powers which in a comic format you'd think of as being very meh are pushed to their limits to make the supe in question a credible threat (although to be fair I think of the setting as being a bit low-powered compared to the types of capes you run into in the major comic settings, so in those settings the powers might in fact be meh). According to my Kindle I am only 25% in so I expect this to only get better. I think the only thing I've found weak is that I haven't found Taylor particularly interesting compared to some of the other viewpoints. She's not terrible or grating and serves a purpose as the protagonist, though, so it's not horrible. Well, other than the Brian attraction. That is odious. It gets a LOT more high-powered at the end.
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Dec 16, 2013 20:25
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A new Ra update has been posted, Direct Sunlight, in which the Wheels must ask for help, and we learn what Ra really is.
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Dec 17, 2013 05:58
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gently caress. Don't know if I want Boil or Pact more. Both come off really strong.
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Dec 17, 2013 07:23
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I gotta say I prefer Pact. Boil had a really neat setting but it lacked any real tension which is where Wildbow really shines as an author. That doesn't preclude tension from developing farther along Boil's timeline, but judging from what we have I think Pact is the winner so far. I guess it helps that the whole urban fantasy genre is a favorite of mine.
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Dec 17, 2013 08:11
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Yeah, I like Pact the best (though Boil is a close second).
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Dec 17, 2013 09:53
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I'll wait for the second Pact to choose, but right now I like Boil more.
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Dec 17, 2013 10:27
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Grouchy Fish posted:I gotta say I prefer Pact. Boil had a really neat setting but it lacked any real tension which is where Wildbow really shines as an author. That doesn't preclude tension from developing farther along Boil's timeline, but judging from what we have I think Pact is the winner so far. I guess it helps that the whole urban fantasy genre is a favorite of mine. I haven't read pact yet. But, I don't really see how there is mo tension. She's setting herself up to be a terrorist. I was getting a lot of vibes similar to the first mistborn book.
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Dec 17, 2013 16:55
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I agree that she is setting herself up to do cool things in Boil, but I was really just referring to what actually happened in the first 2 chapters. I mean, we could speculate all we want about what could happen in any of the previews and I have faith that all of them would be fun reads given the quality of Worm. In Boil, we knew that it was fairly common for students to get expelled and that they routinely set up shop in the city. This made it seem like the protagonist's escape from prison was unnecessary, especially when they didn't find her smuggled tech. The whole thing just felt a little forced to me. I feel like there are real stakes in Pact and at the end of the first update I found myself wanting another much more than with Boil. At the end of the day, I think they would all make good stories but Pact has my vote so far.
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Dec 17, 2013 22:25
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I think it was explained pretty well why she was in prison and carried out an escape plan to leave that prison. They were likely going to turn her into some kind of thinking machine, which sounds like a pretty horrifying fate. Right now I'm kind of undecided in general though. Wildbow noted in the comments that they felt the most comfortable with this story so far, so that's probably going to be the thing that tips my opinion. Happy writers create better stories v  v
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Dec 17, 2013 22:48
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The reason why she went to prison made sense (they wanted to check her for smuggled tech), it was her justification for escape that didn't sit well with me. We have to believe the protagonist with the whole imminent thinking machine fate, but given the apparently booming black market made up of dropouts, the rationale felt forced.
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Dec 17, 2013 23:00
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Thoughts on Pact so far:
It's not exactly bad, but I'm not sure where the enthusiasm is coming from. I prefer Face and Boil. Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Dec 18, 2013 |
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Dec 18, 2013 03:06
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I am okay with anything that is not Boil, but I'd prefer Face. Boil just left me completely cold for some reason, which is kind of depressing. It'd be nice to like it as much as everyone else.
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Dec 18, 2013 05:32
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