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Azuth0667 posted:Butters got a power up from making magic gizmos. There's a precedent set for magic weapons with Luccio making magic swords so I think Murphy could get away with a power up from Harry in the form of magic items. Magic items basically feed off of the user for power from my understanding. Harry was shocked that Butters was able to keep it all going until he realized Butters was using Bob as a battery. All murphy really needs to do us up her weaponry game. She keeps bringing pistols and batons and a lovely little bullpup to monster battles, when what she needs is an M203 and a mix of steel/silver flechette rounds/high explosive and she'd be good to go.
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Nov 19, 2014 20:58
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Rhymenoserous posted:Magic items basically feed off of the user for power from my understanding. Harry was shocked that Butters was able to keep it all going until he realized Butters was using Bob as a battery. All murphy really needs to do us up her weaponry game. She keeps bringing pistols and batons and a lovely little bullpup to monster battles, when what she needs is an M203 and a mix of steel/silver flechette rounds/high explosive and she'd be good to go. I think it's theoretically possible for Harry to make "permanent" magic items, it's just a lot easier for him to make ones that he has to "charge up." I'm not sure why I think that. Feel like I read it somewhere along the way. Also he specified in Fool Moon that it has to be inherited silver so Murphy only has so much ammunition on that front. Maybe she inherited a silverware set?
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Nov 19, 2014 21:14
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Rhymenoserous posted:Magic items basically feed off of the user for power from my understanding. Harry was shocked that Butters was able to keep it all going until he realized Butters was using Bob as a battery. All murphy really needs to do us up her weaponry game. She keeps bringing pistols and batons and a lovely little bullpup to monster battles, when what she needs is an M203 and a mix of steel/silver flechette rounds/high explosive and she'd be good to go.  or  also acceptable alternatives
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Nov 19, 2014 21:41
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This is why humans are the "nuclear option" in this kind of series. They may die easy and not be much of a threat individually. But if they become aware of these things? Well no one wants to be on the receiving end of a modern army. Unless you bring actual night omnipotent beings into play. But then. Who stands to win in this kind of situations? Only eldricht abominations that just want the world to burn. You can only amp Murphy so much as an individual human. As much arsenal as she packs unless you put her into an iron man suit she's just a squishy human.
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Nov 19, 2014 21:48
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Rhymenoserous posted:Murphy killed Maive. Maive killed Lilly. What the gently caress does Fix have to get revenge on? IIRC Thomas said something at the end of Cold Days about Fix potentially blaming Harry for what happened to Lily. Somehow.
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Nov 19, 2014 21:53
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Rhymenoserous posted:Murphy killed Maive. Maive killed Lilly. What the gently caress does Fix have to get revenge on? Butcher, Jim (2012-11-27). Cold Days: A Novel of the Dresden Files (p. 513). Roc. Kindle Edition. posted:He snorted. “You joke around . But I can’t help but think that Fix is going to hold you responsible for some of what happened last night,” he said. “He might show up to explain that to you.” “He shows up here, there’s nothing he can do,” I said quietly. “I can take him on neutral ground. Here, it won’t even be a fight.” “Still,” Thomas said. “Out here, alone?” Fix doesn't have to target Murphy directly to end up killing her. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Nov 19, 2014 |
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Nov 19, 2014 21:54
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What Murphy's actually got, that none of Harry's other allies in the series with the possible exception of Marcone (and calling him an ally stretches the term a bit) has, is the ability to organize and lead people. Between her time in charge of SI and the year or so she spent successfully organizing Chicago's defense against the Fomor while keeping both Marcone's organization and the White Court from just gobbling her up, I think it's clear that this is where her strength lies. I don't think she's going to end up as another foot soldier or superpowered badass. I think she's going to end up as a general. And I think that's a story I'd much rather read than Humans Are Useless Without Magic Superpowers, which has never really been a line this series has taken.
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Nov 20, 2014 04:12
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I think it's theoretically possible for Harry to make "permanent" magic items, it's just a lot easier for him to make ones that he has to "charge up." I'm not sure why I think that. Feel like I read it somewhere along the way. Artificing is pretty wonky in the Dresdenverse. Some of Harry's 'magic items' are just focuses to let Wizards do things more easily/quickly (Staff, blasting rod, shield bracelet) and would be useless to a vanilla mortal. On the other end of the spectrum, the Force Ring stores (a lot of) an external energy source and releases it, and his duster doesn't seem to require any energy intput at all. Potions seem to require a precise recipe and then an investment of energy, after which they're thaumaturgy in a bottle. Can minor talents like paranetters create and use things that require 'an effort of will' but no vast magical talent, like the ring, potions, or duster? Who knows. I started listening to my audiobooks again on the train to kill the time, going through Summer Knight again after having started the series in the middle and listened all the way through to Cold Days. I had forgotten that Marsters breaks character for a minute when he realizes that Dresden was being held by the BACK of his neck, it made me laugh.
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Nov 21, 2014 09:48
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I'm pretty sure in Changes that Harry remarks about how he has to re-apply magic to the spells on his duster every few months or so when comparing the Leanansidhe's armor to his own work.
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Nov 21, 2014 13:23
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Wade Wilson posted:I'm pretty sure in Changes that Harry remarks about how he has to re-apply magic to the spells on his duster every few months or so when comparing the Leanansidhe's armor to his own work. Also in Skin Games Butters had to ask Bob to power the duster's spells when he used it in the end fight, so those kinds of items may depend on the wizard's magic too. I'd imagine potion makers and the like exist among the lesser talents (potions apparently being the only magic item regular people can use on their own) but most magic items seem to be wizard-specific, or you'd think Harry would have geared up Murphy by now.
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Nov 22, 2014 23:30
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I think there are mentions in Death Masks that Harry lacks the time and/or skill to make permanent magical items that can function wherever (but he can make his cringeworthy unicorn-hair bondage rope because it only functions in his apartment). In Blood Rites, Bob mentions that Harry has to do the spells on his staff and blasting rod every so often, as opposed to making permanent stuff out of gold or other expensive materials. I believe there are other mentions in the series that the staff and blasting rod are enchanted to some degree, along with being physically shaped (as opposed to the non-magical focus items in the Alex Verus series, for instance). EDIT: I'm surprised that Butcher hasn't expanded on the notion of the enchantments tattooed into Harry's coat. Is there anyone who has tried tattooing similar spells into their flesh? Or is that just not done because it inevitably goes terribly wrong (like you suddenly need an enchanted vorpal blade to shave, or you can no longer shed dead skin cells and you get Magical Super Acne, or something)? Slanderer fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 05:23
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... Something bizarrely mundane being the limiting factor, like magical super-acne, seems kind of in-character for the series.
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Nov 23, 2014 10:09
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Finally read and finished Skin Game. Any hints about the next book yet?
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Nov 23, 2014 17:00
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Snipee posted:Finally read and finished Skin Game. Any hints about the next book yet? Next book is called Peace Talks, and I think end of next year is the earliest timeframe for its release.
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Nov 23, 2014 19:08
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Early 2016 is my guess. Unless he pulls out peace talks in record time I wouldn't expect it to be fully written until late 2015, and then it will go in for editing and stuff. Gone are the days when he can write write two books a year. Dresden is way more complex and each book more dense than it was in the early days.
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Nov 23, 2014 19:49
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I think he also just finished writing his first steampunk book, so he's going to do one of one, one of the other for a while now.
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Nov 23, 2014 19:59
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Should we retitle this thread now that it's more of the general urban fantasy thread? I feel like with the fourth and fifth books of the Rivers of London series and the other stuff that's come out in the past year or so, Dresden isn't so alone at the top of the genre any more, and I want to make sure new people coming to the forum know this is the general urban fantasy thread and not just for Dresden. edit: hope it was ok 'cause I did it
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Nov 23, 2014 22:17
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Might as well. I don't suppose there's enough urban fantasy (and enough to say about it) to keep both a Dresden Files-thread and a UF-thread alive, so might as well discuss it all here.
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Nov 23, 2014 22:26
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Fine with me
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Nov 23, 2014 22:29
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A few thoughts on Foxglove Summer: Timeline thoughts: Timelines in this series are getting a little weird/interesting. He says it's been a year since he started at the Folly, and looking back over the series, that roughly fits -- each book seems to take about four months / a "season" of in-universe time. The problem is that he's making contemporary references as things go along, so that (for example) in Foxglove Summer there are references to "that Hobbit movie" and to Blurred Lines, which would date the events to Summer 2013. But if the series started in 2011, when the first book came out, there's like a lost year in there somewhere! And if the remaining five books last, roughly, another "year" of in-universe time, as Lesley's comment seems to indicate, that will bump events only up to 2014, so he'll be five years behind current! MAJOR spoilers, basically going to discuss the whole plot in detail, so don't read if you haven't read: AS to the plot, we never really find out exactly what happened in the Fae side of things. My theory: 1) back when, the little girls are switched. 2) The changeling girl grows up in our world, but retains some degree of Power (which lets her see and speak to Princess Luna, etc.) since she's not fully human. 3) The night the girls are "abducted," they go out to play with the horses, but the horse is stoned after raiding Stan's stash and acts strangely/aggressively/weirdly or does something it shouldn't, pulling the girls back into the Fae world. 4) At this point, the Queen decides she prefers the changeling girl again, since she's now more "human" after having lived in our world for all of her childhood. 5) Peter starts being annoying and hunting for the girls with magic, spooking her unicorns, etc. So Queen decides to trick Peter into taking back the (actual human) girl she doesn't want anymore and the unwanted extra girl (Hannah?) 6) rest of the book happens. I think that makes sense as far as the Fae's motivations and explains some of the partially inexplicable parts of the plot, like why the Fae took back their changeling. Thoughts?
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Nov 26, 2014 15:57
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Is Kincaid supposed to be black? For some reason, when I read him, I was imagining a younger Denzel Washington.
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Nov 27, 2014 21:45
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Benny the Snake posted:Is Kincaid supposed to be black? For some reason, when I read him, I was imagining a younger Denzel Washington. He's got shoulder length blonde hair. So he probably doesn't look like Denzel
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Nov 27, 2014 21:53
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Well I also imagined Morgan as black (before the show mind you) and Kincaid also seemed like a black man.
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Nov 27, 2014 22:03
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Error 404 posted:Well I also imagined Morgan as black (before the show mind you) and Kincaid also seemed like a black man. Despite being set in Chicago there is actually very few black characters in the Dresden Files. It's basically Martha Liberty, Sanya, and Rawlings.
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Nov 27, 2014 22:17
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KellHound posted:Despite being set in Chicago there is actually very few black characters in the Dresden Files. It's basically Martha Liberty, Sanya, and Rawlings. And the EMT guy from Dead Beat.
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Nov 28, 2014 00:35
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KellHound posted:Despite being set in Chicago there is actually very few black characters in the Dresden Files. It's basically Martha Liberty, Sanya, and Rawlings. Thunderfinger posted:And the EMT guy from Dead Beat. So then I vote that, as fans, we just declare that Morgan (posthumously) and Kincaid are black, were always black, and go forward from there.
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Nov 28, 2014 00:53
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Error 404 posted:Well I also imagined Morgan as black (before the show mind you) and Kincaid also seemed like a black man. I always imagined Morgan looking like an older Terry Goodkind. The association with Sword of Truth made it even easier to dislike the character. 
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Nov 28, 2014 01:18
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Grundulum posted:I always imagined Morgan looking like an older Terry Goodkind. The association with Sword of Truth made it even easier to dislike the character. He did have the thinning yeard. And the ratlike features. ...and the severe focus on objectivity. And a magic sword? I think we're onto something here.
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Nov 28, 2014 02:43
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:A few thoughts on Foxglove Summer: I'm not sure how your theory is a theory instead of what happened? It's basically what happened, with the odd inference about motives which we never discovered. I would guess that the series will remain set 'about a year ago' to when each book comes out without worry TOO much about being exactly accurate to timelines of pop culture. Pop culture references work a lot better when the pop culture is reasonably current without trying to be accurate to pop culture from a few years ago,
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Nov 28, 2014 18:27
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thespaceinvader posted:I'm not sure how your theory is a theory instead of what happened? It's basically what happened, with the odd inference about motives which we never discovered. Yeah, I'm just trying to infer motives. Also, this may have been mentioned, but "Little Crocodiles" is a reference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Doth_the_Little_Crocodile
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Nov 28, 2014 18:31
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Slanderer posted:I think there are mentions in Death Masks that Harry lacks the time and/or skill to make permanent magical items that can function wherever (but he can make his cringeworthy unicorn-hair bondage rope because it only functions in his apartment). It's throughout the whole series that this is mentioned, really. Most of it is just practice and time which he is constantly improving. Teaching Molly helped him out a ton with fine control, so I wouldn't doubt the next items he makes will be way better than his previous stuff. Things like the summoning circle he had in his basement show a decent amount is also in straight cash. He bought the last one, but the ones before it I always got the impression he did most of the enchanting on those. He just doesn't have that much money usually to get something real fancy.
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Nov 30, 2014 03:00
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Jim Butcher also said in an interview that magic items take maintenance. Simply keeping his magic stuff in working order is like a part time job for Harry.
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Nov 30, 2014 03:18
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Grundulum posted:I always imagined Morgan looking like an older Terry Goodkind. The association with Sword of Truth made it even easier to dislike the character. Morgan has to me always been this Frank Castle like character. More scarred and worn, but the same kind of person, who'd paint a skull on his jumper and go on a killing spree, given the chance. I've never thought about Kincaid. Hugh Jackman, perhaps...
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Nov 30, 2014 21:21
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Decius posted:It's not exactly Urban Fantasy, since it doesn't take place in our world, but it has the same feel to it: Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence is really great. Every book features different protagonists (which tend to come up as side characters or even antagonists in other books), and they are really well written, regardless of gender (which is partly very fluid in the first place in this world). I think it was recommended a few pages ago, which I can only second. I'll second the Gladstone recommendation, those books have some excellent ideas and they're well written too. I'd also like to recommend Simon Green's Nightside series. It's a lot like the Dresden Files, but cheesier and with a lot of reused tropes. Still a great read though.
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Nov 30, 2014 23:34
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I always pictured Kincaid as Brock Samson complete with Patrick Warburton voice.
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Dec 1, 2014 01:57
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TenaciousJ posted:I always pictured Kincaid as Brock Samson complete with Patrick Warburton voice. I always pictures him as Ron Perlman from early 2000's. Ebenezar has always been Jeremy Irons in my mind.
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Dec 1, 2014 04:36
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TenaciousJ posted:I always pictured Kincaid as Brock Samson complete with Patrick Warburton voice. Except for the bit where Brock Samson thinks guns are for pussies. Someone on another forum said the description of Murphy makes them think of Emily Procter, which actually doesn't seem that far off base given some of her actual roles. Father Forthill would be Pete Postlethwaite and Johnny Marcone would be Ray Stevenson.
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Dec 1, 2014 13:35
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Oroborus posted:I always pictures him as Ron Perlman from early 2000's. Ebenezar has always been Jeremy Irons in my mind. Huh. I always figured The Merlin to be like Jeremy Irons. Ebenezar is Lorne Greene in my mind because every time he calls Harry "Hoss" the Bonanza theme starts playing in my head.
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Dec 1, 2014 13:50
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Wade Wilson posted:Father Forthill would be Pete Postlethwaite and Johnny Marcone would be Ray Stevenson. It's a major cop-out but I always picture Marcone as Andy Garcia straight out of Ocean's Eleven.
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Dec 1, 2014 15:14
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I always had Ebenezar as sort of Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. Marcone is Eric Roberts.
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Dec 2, 2014 01:50
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