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There's also the possibility that Alden is just inherently something of a Special Boy, given that he resisted Hannah's stasis back in his childhood. Unless there was an explanation for that somewhere that I missed.
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Dec 7, 2023 00:35
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Haystack posted:There's also the possibility that Alden is just inherently something of a Special Boy, given that he resisted Hannah's stasis back in his childhood. Unless there was an explanation for that somewhere that I missed. No explanation as yet. But it's rather strongly suggested Alden isn't special. If he was, he wouldn't have affixed as a B, but as a special S or at least an A. Unless... Unless Gorgon sacrificed the majority of Alden's authority to improve it's quality. Since the way Gorgon's people use authority is by sacrificing it and Gorgon didn't sacrifice any of his authority or life like Gorgon's people usually do, doesn't seem totally impossible to me. We even know it's possible to do that because that's what Kibby wanted and Alden could tell that there wasn't enough Authority to do it. Crucially, Alden didn't think it was impossible, just that Kibby didn't have enough Authority.
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Dec 7, 2023 03:38
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Cicero posted:Great Thresholder chapter (79) today discussing the ethics of shooting a baby. Honestly if one comes through a portal, I say go hog wild, but it looks like Perry might be opposed. Marchand is the best character in Thresholder. I also love Perry's repeated attempts to convince March that magic is real.
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Dec 7, 2023 03:46
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Haystack posted:There's also the possibility that Alden is just inherently something of a Special Boy, given that he resisted Hannah's stasis back in his childhood. Unless there was an explanation for that somewhere that I missed. There was! At least a suggestion of one from Hannah herself. Six: Gorgon posted:Alden shrugged. He knew it was a long shot. Hannah wasn’t a scientist who studied power acquisition. She’d just mentioned in passing, one single time when he was thirteen, that she’d used her Bubble of Patient Waiting on hundreds of people and animals, trying to refine her understanding of the spell.
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Dec 7, 2023 04:17
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Yeah, like mentioned in the part Nitrousoxide quoted, it's not really a *huge* deal, and Hannah was even able to find a couple other people who could resist her stasis. I kinda hope it's just a coincidence. edit: Just read Skill Thief 33. I'm incredibly curious about where this is going. Not a lot specific to say, but it's just great as always. I suspect that Eric stole Adam's painting with the specific goal of getting to go to the Painted World, rather than out of artistic jealousy or desire for the monetary reward. I also think Eric is semi-genuine in wanting to get along with Adam, but in a superficial way where it needs to be on his terms. I think he probably actually half-believes the lie that he partly did what he did "to protect Adam." Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Dec 7, 2023 |
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Dec 7, 2023 05:05
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I'm a big fan of using future knowledge to your advantage but I'm thinking Re: Trailer Trash talking about EV training and the Pokemon meta at length is maybe a bit too much
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Dec 7, 2023 08:07
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Argue posted:I'm a big fan of using future knowledge to your advantage but I'm thinking Re: Trailer Trash talking about EV training and the Pokemon meta at length is maybe a bit too much lol Is this the same story where Evanescence is a big deal still or was that another one?
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Dec 7, 2023 12:35
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Argue posted:I'm a big fan of using future knowledge to your advantage but I'm thinking Re: Trailer Trash talking about EV training and the Pokemon meta at length is maybe a bit too much https://countercraft.substack.com/p/your-novel-should-be-more-like-moby
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Dec 7, 2023 12:43
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Fajita Queen posted:lol
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Dec 7, 2023 15:18
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Ytlaya posted:Yeah, like mentioned in the part Nitrousoxide quoted, it's not really a *huge* deal, and Hannah was even able to find a couple other people who could resist her stasis. We know that Alden is a special boy in that he's avowed. Being selected by the system is extremely unlikely. The other people Hannah found who were conscious in her bubble were kids of Avowed, right? I think the implication is that the Alden specialness which kept him awake is the specialness that led to him being selected as Avowed. I don't think he has any other inborn super special traits.
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Dec 7, 2023 16:58
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Alden's had a few encounters that have made him progressively more of a Special Boy His encounter with Body Drainer which may or may not have had any impact on him from a magical perspective early on - Body Drainer was presumably stealing people's authority, like a reverse Gorgon, so who knows what happened with all that stolen authority when he died. Gorgon's Gift His affixation with one of the original 300 avowed skills. Extended exposure to low-level chaos and kinder-wizard training from Kibby. Nitrousoxide fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Dec 7, 2023 |
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Dec 7, 2023 17:10
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For sure. Crucially, he has more and more ownership of those subsequent events. He chose to treat Gorgon with kindness and generosity. He chose to trust Gorgon's skill selection advice. He chose to be on that moon, and he saved Kibby. I think the story strikes a satisfying balance between chance and the impact of the character's choices.
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Dec 7, 2023 17:17
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Fajita Queen posted:lol Today's chapter also goes more into how big Evanescence is gonna be
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Dec 7, 2023 18:06
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Wittgen posted:We know that Alden is a special boy in that he's avowed. Being selected by the system is extremely unlikely. The other people Hannah found who were conscious in her bubble were kids of Avowed, right? I think the implication is that the Alden specialness which kept him awake is the specialness that led to him being selected as Avowed. I don't think he has any other inborn super special traits. Yeah, he's that kind of special, but not inherently "special" in the way that usually makes someone special in a progression web serial. I also just interpreted it as "a thing that's common in people who go on to become Avowed." Nitrousoxide posted:Alden's had a few encounters that have made him progressively more of a Special Boy I guess one possibility is that Alden was able to become Avowed partly due to something happening with the Body Drainer incident that jacked up his authority. But that just seems kind of unnecessary since "random people become Avowed" is still a thing that happens in this setting.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:50
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Argue posted:Today's chapter also goes more into how big Evanescence is gonna be 
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Dec 7, 2023 21:45
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the evanescence thing is turning out to be actually plot-relevant as a way to prove the reality of the time travel i think so i can forgive it
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Dec 7, 2023 21:53
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Evanescence makes such good music that even a 14-year-old with no musical training singing their song is a transcendental experience.
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Dec 8, 2023 00:46
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Tagichatn posted:Evanescence makes such good music that even a 14-year-old with no musical training singing their song is a transcendental experience. Lol, Trailer Trash is so good/stupid
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Dec 8, 2023 00:50
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Tagichatn posted:Evanescence makes such good music that even a 14-year-old with no musical training singing their song is a transcendental experience. it's true
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Dec 8, 2023 01:21
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Can someone tell me which Practical Guide is which?
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Dec 8, 2023 03:52
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The Lone Badger posted:Can someone tell me which Practical Guide is which? Practical Guide to Sorcery is the magic school one. Practical Guide to Evil is the heroine becomes apprentice to the Black Knight epic scope one. Both are good. Sorcery should be getting book four in a month or two.
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Dec 8, 2023 03:54
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Velius posted:Practical Guide to Sorcery is the magic school one. Practical Guide to Evil is the heroine becomes apprentice to the Black Knight epic scope one. Both are good. Sorcery should be getting book four in a month or two. I disagree that these two stories are on the same level. Evil is far better though it suffers from lots of spelling and grammar issues, and Sorcery is okay with one of the dumbest/luckiest protagonists I have seen in fiction.
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Dec 8, 2023 04:12
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I've finished A Practical Guide to Evil and it's fantastic. An absolute A+ read.
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Dec 8, 2023 04:18
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Thanks to everyone for the SupSup magic breakdown. It actually really helped and answered some questions. I might go and re-read the Moon Thegund bits to when he gets back to Earth to see if it really clicks.
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Dec 8, 2023 04:27
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Fajita Queen posted:it's true Digging up an old post from this thread. 7c Nickel posted:Wasn't there a thing where people made fun of a webserial using Evanescence as their example of incredible timeless music?
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Dec 8, 2023 05:06
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navyjack posted:Thanks to everyone for the SupSup magic breakdown. It actually really helped and answered some questions. I might go and re-read the Moon Thegund bits to when he gets back to Earth to see if it really clicks. The big, "This is how it works" chapters are Joe's lesson right before Alden gets stranded on Thegund and then the chat with Mother afterwards.
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Dec 8, 2023 06:01
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Player Manager continues to be very good and fun reading. Do I think max is a fully sympathetic character? Not really. Is he a Mary Sue? A bit. But it's fast paced and the dialogue is fun and it's good. You should all read it.
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Dec 8, 2023 15:52
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Both Max's extravagant wankery and his Mary Sue-ness work because you can tell the author is very aware and intentional with both. Yes, Max is a bit of a wanker, that's on purpose, you're supposed to think he is a flawed lad with personality issues*, everyone calls him out on it every other chapter; yes, he's a Mary Sue who gets to be extra all the time and get away it, that's the other side of the coin. * as contrasted by HHFWM, where the MC acts in a very similar manner, but it reads like you're supposed to just go "oh yeah, this is so cool, this is how cool dudes do things" and it's cringe
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Dec 8, 2023 16:48
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I feel like Thresholder’s author likes to put the protagonist in the way of poeple with godlike abilities, seemingly just to reinforce how small a fish they still are and how little agency they have, especially after a bunch of powerup chapters. It feels really mean spirited in a wildbow sort of way. Since there’s no rhyme or reason to the power in the threshold worlds it just feels really deliberate in this story.
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Dec 8, 2023 18:41
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i resubscribed to super supportive patreon, mostly cos I ran out of everything else to read. it reads much better in bulk than as a serial, for me at least, because if you've got more chapters to read then it doesnt matter that nothing really happens in this one so I find it easier to sit back and enjoy the prose. I enjoy it a lot more this way. also, (very very mild patreon spoilers) there are 28k words in lute's flashbacks (approx, excluding most of the current day alden commentary). It took alden 29k words to get to the same point.
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Dec 9, 2023 05:25
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Nitrousoxide posted:I've finished A Practical Guide to Evil and it's fantastic. An absolute A+ read. I'm at 92% of Volume 7 and kind of making GBS threads myself about finding something to read next. I definitely would have bought these as 7 novels if it was available in paperback.
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Dec 9, 2023 08:23
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Oh yeah, while we were recommending stuff, The Gods are Bastards is on RR now and seems to be updating again. Good if you're looking for something long to read after Worm or TWI. I'm up to book 2 on TWI now, the rewrite seems good, if still a little rough at the start. Poor Toren, and they put a Flos chapter early on now which I don't know why I hated so much, maybe just due to association with how sluggish they get later.
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Dec 9, 2023 14:38
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Aware posted:I'm at 92% of Volume 7 and kind of making GBS threads myself about finding something to read next. I definitely would have bought these as 7 novels if it was available in paperback. If you're looking for something big to read, and haven't read The Wandering Inn yet, that will keep you busy for quite a while.
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Dec 9, 2023 15:05
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Fajita Queen posted:If you're looking for something big to read, and haven't read The Wandering Inn yet, that will keep you busy for quite a while. 
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Dec 9, 2023 15:08
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Fajita Queen posted:If you're looking for something big to read, and haven't read The Wandering Inn yet, that will keep you busy for quite a while. TWI is bad though.
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Dec 9, 2023 15:24
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Since when has that stopped any of us?
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Dec 9, 2023 16:17
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Nothingtoseehere posted:TWI is bad though. Compared to what?
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Dec 9, 2023 16:21
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I found most of the viewpoint characters in Gods are Bastards to be either unlikeable or uninteresting.
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Dec 9, 2023 16:24
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Finally finished First Contact and oh no, the story continues in dark ages. More reading.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:07
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LLSix posted:I found most of the viewpoint characters in Gods are Bastards to be either unlikeable or uninteresting. That just sounds like pro-Gods propaganda to me.
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Dec 9, 2023 18:52
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