Summer Updates - 038

[balder]

New one is up. There will be a fast run of updates coming, in preparation for the Book 2 launch.

[konmanrocks]

wow, i come to the website going, when will they ever update, and im rewarded with one!
great update, i love seeing jack. the guys great, makes me wonder though, shouldn't he be doing something for the war effort?

[Guurzak]

"Hi, my name is Jack, and I'm a linkaholic. It's been 22 turns since my last link." "Hi, Jack!"

Nice modification of Clarke's Law.

Interesting to see it implied that (Parson's) unit stats can be improved by training.

[Wender]

Interesting to see it implied that (Parson's) unit stats can be improved by training.

It might be why his stats aren't visible: They aren't assigned by the world's Signamancy (or whatever mechanism it is) according to the unit's role. They're what we would recognize as physical attributes, changeable by the same means available to any of us.

It's an important clue to the mismatch between Parson and the magic that runs the wargame that is Erf, and an important clue to breaking that magic. Contra Vinne, Parson's appearance is not a Sign, it's his appearance.

Also: Parson and Jack just launched what is probably Erf's first videogame. Awesome. Parson is about to become fearsome indeed. And it looks like he has finally found a caster who is as interested in his longtime project to learn about the combat system as he is.

[edit: If Maggie, Wanda and Sizemore can "modify the terrain type, like a Titan," what could Maggie, Jack and Sizemore do? A Titanic Hallucinatory Terrain type effect, with Sizemore opening a gaping crack in the ground even as Jack makes the landscape look unchanged?]

[Ambug666]

Ah, like that old Erfworld saying goes, "curiosity croaked the caster." Or something like that.

[Infidel]

I like being vindicated a bit with Parson getting more fit with all that walking about. And it's always good to see Jack, and hear him gently remind Parson how important a name can be. Parson should be able to figure that one out. At least, partially.

[DevilDan]

I knew it! My "update sense" had been tingling all morning.

I so wanted it to be called the War Room.

I love the "any sufficiently advanced riddle line."

Parson may be a stat-less unit.

[Hatu]

New one is up. There will be a fast run of updates coming, in preparation for the Book 2 launch.

No! Not more updates! Next it will be the comfy chair! Whatever will we do?!

But seriously, nice update. Curious to see where this leads, and Jack continues to be worth the price of admission on his own.

It might be why his stats aren't visible: They aren't assigned by the world's Signamancy (or whatever mechanism it is) according to the unit's role. They're what we would recognize as physical attributes, changeable by the same means available to any of us.

It's an important clue to the mismatch between Parson and the magic that runs the wargame that is Erf, and an important clue to breaking that magic. Contra Vinne, Parson's appearance is not a Sign, it's his appearance.

Interesting though, Wender. I had not considered Parson's lack of attributes in that light before.

-H

[The Sandman]

"In the grim darkness of the Erf future, there are only tabletop wargames."

Seriously, though, this seems like the first step in the establishment of the only General Staff on Erfworld. I wonder if Parson is likely to have a twoll fabricate some more minis for him?

[mhangman]

loved it. and that idea is good but maybe enemy side can detect that spell

[Gez]

Other times? Well...any sufficiently advanced riddle is indistinguishable from gibberish.

Corrolary: Any riddle distinguishable from gibberish is insufficiently advanced.

[gameboy1234]

OK, trigonometry is NOT Titanic. Important fact, remember that.

Ah, like that old Erfworld saying goes, "curiosity croaked the caster." Or something like that.

Nice one!

I'm surprised that Parson is getting "in shape" but I guess it makes sense. He's still not really a normal Erfworld unit, is he? Even if he's bound by some Erfworld rules, other rules from that place we all call "reality" are intruding on Erfworld. It must be part of Parson's natural, .... um, Fatmancy.

[Yosarian]

I'm thinking pretty far ahead here, but...

As they take more cities and their side expands, they are going to want and need more warlords, right?

They might pop them, or the Tool might go back to his habit of promoting them up from the ranks. Either way...I'm imagining a new wave of warlords, 3 or 4 of them, all being trained by Parson on tactics and strategy in their new Situation Room battle simulator.

You think one person who thinks like Parson is going to shake up Erfworld...what about 5 of them?

[MarbitChow]

"Hi, my name is Jack, and I'm a linkaholic. It's been 22 turns since my last link." "Hi, Jack!"

Yeah, I noticed that as well. Couple that with Sizemore and Maggie's statement that linking is easier once you've done it, and it's looking like it might be addictive...

[atteSmythe]

They might pop them, or the Tool might go back to his habit of promoting them up from the ranks. Either way...I'm imagining a new wave of warlords, 3 or 4 of them, all being trained by Parson on tactics and strategy in their new Situation Room battle simulator.

And then he learns...the simulation is real!

Serious comment: I never really liked Jack until today. For some reason, his character really clicked for me on this update. I'll have to go back and reread his sections to see if my new-found perspective applies retroactively.

[Leszek]

You'd think someone who plays strategy games continuously would at least have an inkling about trigonometry.

Is there any significance to there being 128 steps? Or do I just read too much into powers of two?

[atteSmythe]

You'd think someone who plays strategy games continuously would at least have an inkling about trigonometry.

Is there any significance to there being 128 steps? Or do I just read too much into powers of two?

I don't know how much to read into it, but it seems to me to be a nice extension of the city's design. 128 steps/8 flights = 16 steps per flight. Which is four squared, which is two squared. And 128 and 8 are each powers of two as well - it pleases me as an expression of the fractal squares design.

[DevilDan]

Fractals seem to have their uses. Funny how that works.

[Malanthyus]

You'd think someone who plays strategy games continuously would at least have an inkling about trigonometry.

Is there any significance to there being 128 steps? Or do I just read too much into powers of two?

I don't know how much to read into it, but it seems to me to be a nice extension of the city's design. 128 steps/8 flights = 16 steps per flight. Which is four squared, which is two squared. And 128 and 8 are each powers of two as well - it pleases me as an expression of the fractal squares design.

Asking as someone with no familiarity with trigonometry, does that have anything to do with it?

[Calemyr]

This reminds me of an old XKCD comic about a D&D group:

"You are in a tavern. What will you do?"
"I use my craft skill to whittle some dice and..."
"Hey! I thought we agreed: no recursion!"

Jack's "Getting croaked" line was enough to get me to laugh out loud, and I don't often do that. A quiet chuckle, perhaps, but rarely a loud laugh.

I can't shake the feeling that Parson represents a dramatic shift in the Erfworld from a focus on death to one on life. You know, something like that Babylon 5 movie: "We live for the One, we die for the One... but we don't die stupidly." Parson's interest in the unused non-military aspects of the world and tendency to get to know people might be among the first Signs of such a shift, just as Janice seems to be hoping for. If this is the case, how he'd do it: will he create a war so horrible that people will celebrate its end (a la Code Geass?), will he eventually try to create a real city and then be forced to defend it, or will he pull a Wulfenbach and just pick fights with troublemakers until some sort of peace is attained? Or am I going in completely the wrong direction? I dunno, but I am really looking forward to finding out.

One other thought that came to mind as I was reading this is what if this really is a battle for Parson's soul? I don't know if anyone anyone here has played American McGee's Alice, but the basic premise of it was a battle between the various fragments of a broken girl's psyche after a fire destroyed her life, all set in a twisted corruption of the Alice in Wonderland setting. In this case you have Parson, a man for whom the only source of joy in his life is the thought of battle. Now he is given what thought he desired most, a world of industry and warfare where every day was nothing more than a turn in an eternal campaign. Faced with the horrible realities that he'd always glossed over before, he eventually finds himself trying to find ways to end the war or find an existence beyond it, ultimately coming to the conclusion that a life isn't something you endure: it is something you make. Perhaps that's a bit too "after school special", but it is an interesting perspective, I think.