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Zoe posted:That said, I have a hard time keeping track of a lot of the details of Erfworld rules so I may be overlooking something. It came up when Parson made his dash in the portal tunnel back in book 2. http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+2/110
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# ? Apr 15, 2017 00:34 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 01:40 |
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Phenotype posted:I think now's a good time to hear more flashbacks about life back in Unaroyal. Or maybe there's another side that wants to weigh in? I'm legitimately interested in hearing more about King Dickie.
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# ? Apr 15, 2017 07:14 |
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Is executing people no one believes to be people, like, ten minutes early, really that big a deal? Everyone around was there specifically to watch them die to begin with.
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# ? Apr 22, 2017 05:42 |
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Zoe posted:Is executing people no one believes to be people, like, ten minutes early, really that big a deal? Everyone around was there specifically to watch them die to begin with. It's the ritual that is important, not the deaths of some zombies. Magic Kingdom is loosely run by consensus of a committee, beyond that there is no governance. Going up against the committee which decreed the show and dance to take place is the real problem; in doing so, Buck not only risks himself but all of Dirtamancers by association.
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# ? Apr 22, 2017 07:25 |
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They also talk a lot about the Signamancy of the thing, because Erfworld wants people to judge by appearances. If something looks ugly, it's probably wrong somehow. What Buck is doing looks ugly.
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# ? Apr 22, 2017 23:13 |
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Actually it just occurred to me, was Janis aware the executions were going to be done this way at all? Earlier she talked about killing Wanda with flower power.
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# ? Apr 23, 2017 02:39 |
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Whether or not it actually matters, Janis is doing this as a delaying action. If Buck's on trial for improper executions, presumably the executions can't proceed until that's settled. If she can drag that out until the start of GK's turn, then Wanda's goons can regain their juice and bust the survivors out. Of course, that gives Deiform Isaac and bloodthirsty Roger a chance to throw a spanner in things. Rand Brittain posted:They also talk a lot about the Signamancy of the thing, because Erfworld wants people to judge by appearances. If something looks ugly, it's probably wrong somehow. "It's all part of the Signamancy" is a really interesting line to me. Being occasionally compelled to do things a certain way because it resonates with an unknown higher reality must be a weird experience. From their point of view it must be like religious practice; from ours it's basically the definition of a fictional character's motivations, except they're aware of it on some level.
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# ? Apr 23, 2017 02:50 |
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Otherkinsey Scale posted:Whether or not it actually matters, Janis is doing this as a delaying action. If Buck's on trial for improper executions, presumably the executions can't proceed until that's settled. If she can drag that out until the start of GK's turn, then Wanda's goons can regain their juice and bust the survivors out. Do turns work like that? I thought each side continued until they ran out of juice, moves and attacks, or the ruler ended the turn deliberately.
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# ? Apr 23, 2017 02:59 |
When I saw the preview picture I was concerned that the scene shift was going to be entirely Isaac's point of view and slow the rising action to a crawl. I'm glad that the update was only a few panels and then we got this from Janis. Well done. Oh by the way, is there any rhyme or reason to text versus panel updates? I know there used to be a schedule, but I think that's been thrown out the portal.
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# ? Apr 23, 2017 03:30 |
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Galvanik posted:Do turns work like that? I thought each side continued until they ran out of juice, moves and attacks, or the ruler ended the turn deliberately. Yeah there's mentions of turns growing stale. I assume it's a deliberate anti-stalling mechanic.
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# ? Apr 23, 2017 03:36 |
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So, huh. I kind of hope this information is, at most, an incomplete perspective. The notion that Fate is actually something people create is potentially an interesting angle, but the execution is kind of wonky. Especially when it's delivered in an internal monologue, meaning that despite being huge thematically, it doesn't really change anything for anyone else.
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# ? Apr 26, 2017 23:57 |
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Otherkinsey Scale posted:So, huh. Literally every caster we've seen so far has been convinced that their discipline is the end-all, be-all of reality and that every other kind of caster is just playing with shadows. I see no reason to assume the Thinkamancers are any less arrogant.
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 00:06 |
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The Thinkamancers think they know goddamn everything, and we've seen that sometimes they just don't.Rand Brittain posted:Literally every caster we've seen so far has been convinced that their discipline is the end-all, be-all of reality and that every other kind of caster is just playing with shadows. except Sizemore.
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 00:07 |
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Otherkinsey Scale posted:So, huh. It explains what the jester was in Jillian's mind and why Charlie freaked and called it the enemy. It's clearly not the whole story but there's also clearly something to it.
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 00:29 |
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I hope the Thinkamancers have it right, honestly, because it makes for a much more interesting story
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 01:02 |
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ArgumentatumE.C.T. posted:except Sizemore. ...that's true! Sizemore is up there with Janis and Maggie as far as having a shot at being the most decent person in the comic. It's probably something like: 1) Sizemore 2) Janis 3) Parson 4) Maggie 5) immeasurably vast gulf 6) I don't know, Duncan or somebody 7) Oh, wait, I forgot about Bunny
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 04:54 |
Lillith seems like she would be on that list.
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 06:02 |
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Jed's pretty cool.
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 06:38 |
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Has it ever been explained how turns work in the Magic Kingdom? Is it one big turn for everybody, effectively realtime, or do casters belonging to a side still take turns separately from the barbarian majority?
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 07:54 |
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NihilCredo posted:Has it ever been explained how turns work in the Magic Kingdom? Is it one big turn for everybody, effectively realtime, or do casters belonging to a side still take turns separately from the barbarian majority? From what I can remember of the rules off the top of my head: juice is recovered at dawn regardless of side, the MK is a single hex so most of the rules on off-turn movement aren't applicable, and all casters are commander-type units so they are not obliged to engage other units even from hostile sides. It should be effectively realtime aside from a few edge cases (repatriated casters don't recover juice until the start of their next turn?).
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# ? Apr 27, 2017 08:09 |
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Rygar201 posted:I hope the Thinkamancers have it right, honestly, because it makes for a much more interesting story There were hints that this is how predictamancy works when they had the link-up that shifted all the odds during the fight in the Magic Kingdom. With the Great Minds dead or missing, Maggie may be able to better inform Parson of all the hidden secrets the Thinkamancers discovered, because being able to game Fate to your advantage sounds like a game winning strategy.
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# ? Apr 28, 2017 10:26 |
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nimby posted:There were hints that this is how predictamancy works when they had the link-up that shifted all the odds during the fight in the Magic Kingdom. With the Great Minds dead or missing, Maggie may be able to better inform Parson of all the hidden secrets the Thinkamancers discovered, because being able to game Fate to your advantage sounds like a game winning strategy. Well I guess we're fixing to find out a whole lot more about how it all works. Or if Fate is set in stone then conflicts between predictamancers must really suck. Not only being on the losing side, but being fully aware of it and having to go along with it all anyway. Of course that's all assuming we can take anything just said at face value. Because it was interesting to, the emphasis placed on how everyone was standing so close to the prisoners, while Janis explained exactly where the Arkenpliers were and then the predictamancer led everyone clear of the area. Zoe fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Apr 29, 2017 |
# ? Apr 29, 2017 03:01 |
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Also, what happens if Predictamancers then make contradicting predictions. Roger is clearly making assumptions that he probably understands from the perspective of a Thinkamancer on the Fate Axis, but can't possibly truly grasp the whole picture. This update was tense as gently caress, btw. And now we understand why the Signamancy was important for the execution.
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# ? Apr 29, 2017 04:53 |
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I like the idea that all the perspectives work, from within their own perspective. Like, the universe is internally consistent whether you assume fate is predetermined or predictions create fate-golems that strong-arm that prediction... whether people are formed of thinkamancy 'g-strings' or those g-strings are just the titan's puppet strings that control people-'dolls', the worldviews work for all observable phenomena, and all the arrogant casters will continue to feel they're right because all these world models are compatible. And then the fight for people like Parson and Charlie to overcome the game system can continue, whether casters accept that their -mancy is just one workable worldview of many or not. (Hi, I just binged the three comicbook-novel hybrids and the prequel novel, in order 1, 2, 0, 3. I should have taken my time more, this world is compelling enough to infect my thinking, but not something that I feel good about having spent so much of my last four days reading it. Like, I had to resist stuff like saying "signamancy" instead of "appearance" the next day after staying up til 3am reading it, multiple days in a row.)
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# ? Apr 29, 2017 10:32 |
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If this somehow ends up with the entire MK decrypted via some combination of Charlie's plans and Parson's panicked reaction to them, GK will have effectively swept the board. Portals to the main city of every kingdom, an entire loving army of casters from every discipline, including most of the best in the world, with zero upkeep, the draining of talent from every side who had casters there at the time and control of what used to be the safe haven for unaligned casters and the primary means of recruiting them.Otherkinsey Scale posted:So, huh. You'd think at some point in history someone would've tried linking a predictamancer with a changemancer, carnymancer (despite the ban) or something to see if it was even possible to change fate. Then again, this is a world where providing fresh mounts at waypoints to move commanders around was pretty much unheard of until Parson did it.
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# ? Apr 30, 2017 10:19 |
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super sweet best pal posted:Then again, this is a world where providing fresh mounts at waypoints to move commanders around was pretty much unheard of until Parson did it. Prior to the Decrypted, there weren't many sides that could afford it, much less need it. Spiraling upkeep costs keeps sides small, idle mounts still cost schmuckers, and there's very little reason to shuffle warlords constantly unless you have more armies than warlords and if that's the case you can afford to promote new ones. Parson saw an obvious loophole (reset your move with a new mount!) but it didn't do anything useful besides satisfy Stanley's ego.
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# ? Apr 30, 2017 11:01 |
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This is going to go to hell in a hand basket. There are so many balls up in this air right now
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# ? May 3, 2017 05:12 |
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Let's watch Roger trying to think-assassinate Parson, only for Jed to step in as the ultimate mindguard.
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# ? May 3, 2017 05:55 |
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isndl posted:Prior to the Decrypted, there weren't many sides that could afford it, much less need it. Spiraling upkeep costs keeps sides small, idle mounts still cost schmuckers, and there's very little reason to shuffle warlords constantly unless you have more armies than warlords and if that's the case you can afford to promote new ones. Parson saw an obvious loophole (reset your move with a new mount!) but it didn't do anything useful besides satisfy Stanley's ego. It's actually not bad if you need to cart Arkentools around, as long as they had it up Wanda could visit Basically Every Battle Site and decrypt the fallen and still make it back to the important army to provide her bonus.
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# ? May 3, 2017 07:22 |
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reignonyourparade posted:It's actually not bad if you need to cart Arkentools around, as long as they had it up Wanda could visit Basically Every Battle Site and decrypt the fallen and still make it back to the important army to provide her bonus. Yeah, which comes back to the Decrypted being game-changing because of zero upkeep. If they cost money to keep around you wouldn't be sending Wanda off to make units unless you were desperate for more. I'd also be kinda leery of sending Wanda around for handfuls of troops because there's a known threat that is Very Good at ambushes (Charlie) and sending out the lone caster that's the lynchpin to the entirety of your strategic planning seems like begging for trouble. Just have those far flung units cart the bodies to the main force, they stick around as long as you keep moving them and Decryption ignores any potential decay penalties.
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# ? May 3, 2017 11:16 |
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nimby posted:Let's watch Roger trying to think-assassinate Parson, only for Jed to step in as the ultimate mindguard. The remote string cutting requires a high-State merge of the Minds. A lone Thinkamancer needs to touch their target to kill them. Either Jojo or Charlie will try to carny-break that rule for Roger (doubtful even if it were possible, as he would have to reveal to them one of the biggest Thinkamancy secrets), or he's simply calling Parson to set up the assassination attempt.
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# ? May 3, 2017 12:29 |
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nimby posted:Let's watch Roger trying to think-assassinate Parson, only for Jed to step in as the ultimate mindguard. It would be interesting to see what happens if Roger tries the suicide assassination and Maggie bodyblocks it. Would that be every high level thinkamancer in the world dead except Charlie?
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# ? May 3, 2017 12:44 |
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Hob_Gadling posted:It would be interesting to see what happens if Roger tries the suicide assassination and Maggie bodyblocks it. Would that be every high level thinkamancer in the world dead except Charlie? Not necessarily. The Great Minds were barbarians, it's possible some sides have Grandmaster Thinkamancers still. And Charlie isn't a Thinkamancer
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# ? May 3, 2017 13:13 |
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NihilCredo posted:The remote string cutting requires a high-State merge of the Minds. A lone Thinkamancer needs to touch their target to kill them. He can't kill him, but thinkamancers have lots of "tricks to render a unit powerless". Maybe when Parson accepts he'll get hit with something as all-consuming as the thing Charlie used on him to present a claim.
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# ? May 3, 2017 18:24 |
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Roger being a little more subtle than expected. But is he forgetting he needs the permission of the guy whose girlfriend the Minds just killed?
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# ? May 6, 2017 13:54 |
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I don't think Caesar knows the Minds were responsible. Might be misremembering.
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# ? May 6, 2017 15:32 |
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Zoe posted:Roger being a little more subtle than expected. Roger knows Parson is a smart guy, so he needs to act natural in order to get close enough. Partitioning your brain helps in keeping up appearances, I'm sure.
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# ? May 7, 2017 00:20 |
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Yeah, I think Roger's whole thing is that his mind is so effectively partitioned, that he's not pretending here. He fully believes what he's acting like he believes here -- it's just that a hidden, more important part of him believes otherwise.
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# ? May 7, 2017 06:11 |
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I did not see that coming.
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# ? May 10, 2017 06:05 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 01:40 |
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Onmi posted:I did not see that coming. They're going to pop up at another portal, the free casters are going to see another Charlie incursion into the MK after his portal got blocked, this is going to be a win.
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# ? May 10, 2017 07:05 |