Web Serials: It remains to be seen how important Evanescence will be

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Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Ryoka learns humility and the true meaning of friendship the hard way.

lurksion posted:

Also looking at the table of contents holy hell does the numbering make zero sense.

He writes sponsored side stories and just jams them in wherever.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2017 19:48

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 13:55

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

builds character posted:

Practical Guide folks in the comments think the calamities are going to die. Why? I�m just not seeing/getting it.

The White Knight and Black Knight are destined to be mortal enemies, but there is no personal connection between Black and the White Knight, therefore he has to die so Cat can inherit the Name and avenge him.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2017 00:37

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Silynt posted:

I think there's enough foreshadowing to support it.
1. The title of these interludes is Calamity - the implication being twofold - these chapters are very important to the Calamities and there might be a calamity within them. Although it could be implying a calamity for their foes, like it usually does, my gut is that a calamity strikes them.
2. The quote at the start of Calamity I - "That�s the thing with invincibility. You have it until you don�t.� The Calamities have previously been invincible - until they're not.
3. The Tyrant and the Bard are both working to injure Black, and they've both shown themselves to be as genre-savvy as he can be, taking away maybe his greatest advantage. Nothing would injure him more than the death of a companion. I doubt they all die though - my money is on Warlock because Apprentice has transitioned so his death would open the Name up to new claimants.

As for Cat becoming the Black Knight, I personally think that there is no chance of that happening, at least permanently. If she succeeds Black, then she is just a continuation of his story, but really she's writing her own. Plus, with Hierophant we just saw how a name could transition into something unexpected with the right conditions.

4. All of Black's strategies are built around carefully studying his opponents and planning for every eventuality, but he doesn't know about Hierarch. He thinks the Tyrant is trying to transition into that Name.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2017 18:52

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

sunken fleet posted:

mol

Also, he's still bound to try to release the primordial which - if it succeeds - will apparently lead to some sort of more immediate horrible apocalypse scenario. It feels like all the win conditions for team Red Robe are actually lose conditions for team Red Robe. I just don't see what he stands to gain no matter how you spin it. He's like an embodiment of Chaotic Stupid.

The Geas forces him to release the primordial or die, everything he said is just him trying to justify his actions as something other than selfishness.

RR spent so much time in the loop that he's become detached from reality, exactly as Zorian feared would happen if he got used to doing horrible things just because they would reset at the end of the month. RR will do anything to free the primordial because he can't properly comprehend the long term consequences of his actions.

QI on other other hand, is thinking about the next 1000 years. He has to realize that while attacking one nation will lead to a feeding frenzy when the neighboring countries smell blood, attacking all the countries simultaneously will lead to the entire continent eventually uniting against Zombie Island.

I'm predicting that QI joins Team Z, or Zorian joins QI in exchange for canceling the invasion and breaking Zach's contract. Either way, getting Z and/or Z on his side would be a far better long term investment than RR who is obviously unstable, or Silverlake who is probably already past her prime. With all the simulacrum hijinks, Zorian's probably halfway to becoming a Lich already.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 03:14

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Omi no Kami posted:

Hmm yeah... when chatting with Lindon just before the phoenix popped off, didn't Eithan specifically say that he'd intentionally cut off every other route available to Jai Daishou since he knew that looting the bird armory was something that would immediately piss off every single family? I mean it worked, but it seems really, really bad. I get the feeling that the book wants Eithan to come off like a PracGuide-style seat-of-his-pants improvisor guy, and his goofy abusive mentor interactions are fun, but the more we see of him working with other families, the more I can kinda sympathize with why none of the other clans like him very much.

Also, yeah, according to... crap, I forget his name, Eithan's buddy who dropped the patriarch job like a hot potato because he's not a crazy person? That dude said that Eithan has been shoveling an absurd amount of the family's wealth down Lindon & Yerin's throats in order to train them, and I can easily believe that he's okay with using the lowest-ranking member of his family on a risky dice throw, or that he's okay with betting their wealth and future on L&Y's ability to turn into DBZ characters, but combining those two things felt like a baffling decision- pretty much the only thing that kept Lindon alive was the fact that he punched Jai Chen real hard, which is something I'm fairly sure Eithan could not have predicted or planned on? At the time he locked them into a bet Jai Long was a super-angry jerkface who had done everything he could to kill Lindon, including trying to enslave him multiple times and straight-up attempting to murder him once.

I was also about to say that it's not the best idea to try and turn your adolescent discipline into a demigod at the same time you manipulate him into getting his arm cut off and risk seriously pissing him off, but I suppose that Lindon is a pretty chill guy, so it's reasonable for Eithan to believe that he has an awful lot of rope available before he starts hanging himself.

The local branch of Eithan's family is relatively minor. Eithan is from the main branch on the other side of the world, and popped through a portal one day and took over the local branch. It's been heavily implied that Something Bad happened to the main branch, and Eithan believed that Northstrider had died around that time. I wouldn't be surprised if Eithan's situation is similar to Lindon's: he needs to gain power or accomplish some goal in a limited timeframe, and every risk is worth taking because every alternative is worse.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2019 05:53

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Anias posted:

A fair request.

I�ve been blowing through metaworld chronicles recently, feel sad now that I�ve caught up to the author. Anyone else enjoy them?

I like it. I appreciate the amount of detail the author puts into the world building and scenery, it makes the world seem more real even though we've only seen a fraction of it so far.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2019 23:17

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Stairmaster posted:

I'm seconding number none but its a problematic rec because its fan fic of a property that had one of the hardest falls from grace in the entire medium but it is pretty well written.

I quit reading Bleach just as the Arrancar showed up. When I read Number None I had no idea what was going on or who anyone was, and had to constantly refer to the wiki to keep the characters straight. I still loved it, and would recommend that people give the first couple of chapters a try regardless of their feelings on the source material.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2019 22:09

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Cicero posted:

I don't really see how that applies to what people were talking about with WtC. Of course it's somewhat "shocking" because it's a terrible crime, and in this case it's by a member of the protagonist's party, not an out and out villain, though we already knew that Bethel is really hosed up. And it wasn't really used to exaggerate a crime or tragedy either. In-universe there's a certain logic to it because Bethel isn't human, or even a humanoid species, and between that and her hosed up loner past has no sense of bundaries. While I didn't expect this exact thing to happen, it did seem like Bethel is so ridiculously powerful within her domain that the characters all walk on eggshells around her and make sure not to upset her, the whole dynamic there is super unhealthy, which probably plays into why Joon wasn't that forceful about saying no; it's gonna be harder when the person you're saying no to could easily kill you in like twenty different ways in a few seconds. I mean right now he might be safe-ish because of the combo of abilities he's trying to hang onto, but that's certainly been defining their relationship for a while now. Anyway it seemed kind of inevitable Bethel was going to really cross a line somewhere.

I haven't read WtC in a while, is Bethel the psychotic haunted house with a history of sexual trauma who has spent literal centuries inventing horrific new ways to kill people and considers casual dismemberment to be a good opening tactic to peaceful negotiations, or the soulless girl who eats demons and is completely amoral but can sort of be trusted because she's obsessed with the MC and killing all his friends would make him stop talking to her?

# ¿ Jun 21, 2019 03:00

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

practical guide to evil posted:

Huh. She’d not expected that to work. Did praying to people actually change things? She’d heard that there was talk about making the odd offering to the Crows these days, which she didn’t entirely disapprove of. The Gods Above asked for a lot, birds were probably much easier to bribe as far as deities went. Alms took hard coin, but you could get dead rats from any poorly-kept cellar.

I hope this works out for her.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 14:34

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

There's a scene where she's explaining her brilliant plan to make a lot of money and completely revolutionize China's economy to one of her college professors, and the guy is completely horrified because he realizes this will inevitably result in tons of people being killed or disappeared when things go wrong and the government starts another round of Purges to bring things back under control.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2019 03:48

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Try http://www.omnibuser.com/

edit: Just tested it, and omnibuser skips the extra chapters found here: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/extra-chapters/

Avulsion fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Jul 10, 2019

# ¿ Jul 10, 2019 08:35

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

90s Cringe Rock posted:

the litrpg with a pangolin now has an aussie shark, just thought you all should know.

Homicidal Aliens are Invading and All I Got is This Stat Menu

# ¿ Aug 7, 2019 18:31

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Omi no Kami posted:

This is probably getting too picky, but are there any XianXia novels with a) good writing, b) decent structure, and c) no creepy sex poo poo? I've heard enough about the genre that I feel like I should at least give one a try, but I tend to bounce off real hard right away, usually due to poor writing.

Way of Choices/Ze Tian Ji and Path Toward Heaven are both very VERY good. Way of Choices is complete and manages to finish its story cleanly without a thousand extra chapters of filler or a sudden unplanned ending.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2019 00:26

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Argue posted:

Does Hermione's frizzy hair ever come up as a plot point in Harry Potter or was the mention of it just pandering to frizzies

Harry Potter and the Natural 20 posted:

Make sure to stay on your toes these next few days. The early days are key�everything anyone says is going to be a clue to events that will come up later. In fact, make a list. Here," Milo said, passing Harry a sheet of parchment and a quill from his belt. "write down everyone you've met who could be described with more than two adjectives, everything anyone said in a quiet voice that was cut off before they could finish, and every named character you've been introduced to, okay? It will be relevant. There may be an exam on it later, and it will probably be pass-or-die. Have you started gathering your party together yet?"

"My�my party?" Harry asked, while he started writing down a list of names.

"Oh, you know, a quirky bunch of allies. Friends to help you through dangerous times and adventures, that kind of thing."

"I�I can't say that I have."

"Okay. The next two to three people you meet will stick with you for life�unless they're future recurring villains, of course."

The door to the compartment slid open, and a lanky (one), red-headed (two) boy came in.

"Anyone sitting here?" he asked, pointing to the seat next to Milo. "Everywhere else is full."

The boy had a black mark on his nose (three! We have a winner) and seemed to be glancing nervously at Harry.

"Hey, Ron," Harry said.

...

...

Four glowing white lights appeared in front of his hands, then flew around the compartment briefly, as the compartment door slid open again.

"Neville said, and of course I didn't believe him, that someone in this compartment could perform magic without a wand," a girl said, then gasped as she saw the lights. She had a bossy sort of voice (one), lots of bushy brown hair (two)�

"And the buck teeth make a winner!" Milo shouted happily and dismissed the spell. "Come in! Who are you?"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to comment on other people's appearance?" she asked angrily.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. Where I'm from it's actually a compliment," he said.

"What, really?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah. Dumping Charisma is a sign of great wisdom and foresight." Milo blushed slightly. He wasn't sure what he'd been thinking, all those years ago, when he'd decided his Charisma should be two points higher than his Constitution. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and now he was stuck with it.

The girl frowned, trying to figure out if she'd been insulted or not.

"Well, I'm Hermione Granger. I've tried a few simple spells for practice and it's all worked for me, but never without my wand. How did you do that?" she asked, sitting down next to Harry. Milo made frantic gestures to Harry to write her name down on the growing list.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2019 22:06

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Peanut Butler posted:

what are the current good web serials that aren't about superheroes or knights and wizards?

The Last Angel is Sci-Fi/Horror with an insane AI as the MC.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2019 19:19

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

SerSpook posted:

PracGuide: Well Tyrant is all hopped up on magic pcp and ready to die bringing Judgement to Judgement. Got his ritual all set up, Hierarch hidden away, and the White Knight trial ready to start. I can't wait to see it.

Also, anyone else wondering when the Dead King will be dropping his Bard Bombshell, that he sacrificed a fragment of his power for? Because this conference seems the place to do it, probably why he came in the first place.

Speculation: I think Kairos is planning to copy Cat's resurrection trick, only he'll accept the Angel's offer and become a Hero just to gently caress with everyone. Helike can be ruled by either a Hero or a Villain, and betraying the Hellgods is totally in character and probably on his bucket list.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2019 07:54

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

I liked the part where he got hit in the face with a shovel repeatedly.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2019 08:43

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Cicero posted:

There are tools to make your own ebooks, I did it for the first couple PracGuide books for my wife. Just don't put what you make in a publicly accessible spot to download, authors hate that.

http://www.omnibuser.com/

(Hard mode) https://github.com/kemayo/leech

There's also a Firefox plugin that covers a few sites that omnibuser won't do.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/webtoepub-for-baka-tsuki/

# ¿ Oct 21, 2019 11:38

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Cicero posted:

Some people are speculating that she's intentionally pissing him off with this offer, maybe him being pissed at her benefits her or her plans in the future. That's kind of the annoying thing when you have characters in a story who either see the future or know too much about the present. It becomes very difficult for the reader to meaningfully evaluate their actions.

Since the Church of Purity is somehow involved with the bad guys, there might be some kind of God drama that keeps Knowledge from overtly interfering with their plot. Steering Jason and his friends by pissing them off and making them distrustful of the gods in general might be her intention.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2019 20:47

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Jade Mage posted:

I'm running out of main reading material and am starting to have to go out into the weeds. I've read most of the big stuff like Wildbows works except Ward past a certain point, TWI, The Daily Grind, HWFWM, Practical Guide, Katalepsis, Worth the Candle, Threadbare (and the rest of that series), To Play With Magic, and no doubt others I'm forgetting off the cuff. Does anyone have any obscure things I can burn through in my desperate desire to have something to do? I recently read Devourer of Worlds which is a weird premise done really well, but I don't wanna have to sift through that website to hope to find something I can read without being invested in the whole 'quest' experience

Harry Potter and the Natural 20 A young genre-savvy DnD Player Character (not a Player, but the Character) gets accidentally summoned into the Potterverse by some very confused Death Eaters and ends up having to hide out in Hogwarts and pretend to be a Wizard despite having no knowledge of the local magic, history, or common sense.

Now You Feel Like Number None (Bleach Arrancar Quest) "You're an old model. Disposable. Try not to get eaten alive." I never made it past the first arc of Bleach and I had to look up pretty much every character in a wiki but this is still one of the best stories I've ever read online. Read the first chapter before passing judgement.

Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest An inexperienced young mage is sent to a struggling province to serve as the spymaster for the new lord, following the mysterious (and likely horrible) death of the previous lord.

But Doctor, I Am Pagliacci A sane Joker wakes up in a world without Batman, and sets out to fix that.

False Prophets (BattleTech CYOA) A battletech nerd wakes up a thousand years in the future and uses their encyclopedic knowledge of Battletech to build an army of big stompy robots.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2020 22:00

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

blastron posted:

It is downright cruel to recommend a story that stopped getting updates within a few chapters of it going from �good� to �really good�.

I'm hoping that if it gets enough new readers the author will remember it exists.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2020 07:18

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 13:55

Avulsion: Feb 12, 2006; I never knew what hit me

Radio Free Kobold posted:

SB has a good name, but their posts, they are so terrible
There's not a single sizable thread in Creative Writing that doesn't have the mods stepping in to shut down some internet autist being really creepy, or getting really carried away with things, or derailing the thread on some tangentally-related thing for like three pages. There's a few pretty good fanfics there, but most of them are average schlock.

Turn on Reader Mode and never turn it off. You'll only see the posts that the OP has tagged as relevant to the story.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 23:41

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