Shaking some Trees at Charlie

[Ambug666]

I had a thought a while back when Charlie and Parson were first communicating via eyebook.

Sizemore couldn't understand Parson's leet-speek, but Charlie understood it immediately. Now this could be Charlie's thinkamancy at work, but I suspect that this is a clue that Charlie is also from "our" world, like Parson. Opinions?

[Ludicrity]

I think Charlie is just a lot smarter and more experienced with multiple languages and stuff than sizemore

[Darkside007]

A lot of people think Charlie is another player, or at least that he gets satellite TV and internet. I dunno.

[Kreistor]

Others understand his leet-speak, including Wanda. It's not a certainty.

[gameboy1234]

At first I didn't, but now I think you are right about Charlie. There's a chance that he's also a player like Parson.

Hint: I believe that Wanda is a player as well. She's not under a loyalty spell, she's effectively her own side. She just chooses to co-operate with Stanley. Spoiler if I'm right:

[spoiler]I think Wanda is played by Ashna.[/spoiler]

[Lawence of Awabia]

When Parson first makes contact with Charlie, the Archon receptionist says "Your mind is important to us. It may be monitored for Quality Assurance purposes"

http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F088.jpg

I took that to be a joke, but a joke that was making a subtle reference to Parson's mind being scanned when he made contact. Charlie understands Parson's leet-speak as a result of this brain-scan; it's just one of the useful nuggets he pried out about Parson I'm sure.. Charlie probably knows a lot more about Parson's role in Erfworld as a "special" than Parson himself does.

[Mikalyaran]

That could be an explanation for the characters with real world eyes. Perhaps they are the characters meant for Parson's gaming group before he got plotted away. But if that were the case you think he would have recognized them. So for this theory to be right they "PC's" would have had to be created after Parson was plotted away. Interesting...how wierd would it be if his gaming group were playing and the actions he was taking in erfworld were still playing out on the table top. If one of the players is Wanda. Intersting idea yes?

[Darkside007]

That could be an explanation for the characters with real world eyes. Perhaps they are the characters meant for Parson's gaming group before he got plotted away. But if that were the case you think he would have recognized them. So for this theory to be right they "PC's" would have had to be created after Parson was plotted away. Interesting...how wierd would it be if his gaming group were playing and the actions he was taking in erfworld were still playing out on the table top. If one of the players is Wanda. Intersting idea yes?

Doesn't work. There wouldn't be fog of war for Ansom's side if it were tabletop, and FoW almost cost him the battle (and his life) at the very beginning of the game.

[gameboy1234]

Doesn't work. There wouldn't be fog of war for Ansom's side if it were tabletop, and FoW almost cost him the battle (and his life) at the very beginning of the game.

I think it works. The table top that Parson had laid out was Gobwin Knob -- but nothing else. Parson recognized Gobwin Knob, but not rules or troop types. These were totally unfamiliar to him. Thus, there is more going on than just Parson's gaming group.

I think Parson's group could be involved, but they aren't the only ones. "Battle Space" happens when things go on and off the map that Parson had there on the table.

Parson is a Titan and one of the creators of the world but not the only one. There's more gaming groups involved than just Parson's.

[Mikalyaran]

There is no evidence for it either way really. Its just a wild guess which I particularily like. Any number of explanations, for which their would still be no evidence that I've noticed, could explain the fog of war issue. For instance, if erfworld is actually an entity capable of fulfilling its own wishes it could make the map back in Parson's basement start functioning like an eyemancer table but with the apprioprate fog of war. More simply you could say that the players are choosing to act in character and ignoring any ooc info they have. Besides, Ansom doesn't have earthworlder eyes so how does does this theory impact him and fog of war?

Oh, heres a thought, This idea sort of makes Erfworld the GM doesn't it? They could be supported, though only in a teeny tiny way, by Parson declaring himself a player rather than a GM like he would have been were he not plotted away.

[Darkside007]

There is no evidence for it either way really. Its just a wild guess which I particularily like. Any number of explanations, for which their would still be no evidence that I've noticed, could explain the fog of war issue. For instance, if erfworld is actually an entity capable of fulfilling its own wishes it could make the map back in Parson's basement start functioning like an eyemancer table but with the apprioprate fog of war. More simply you could say that the players are choosing to act in character and ignoring any ooc info they have. Besides, Ansom doesn't have earthworlder eyes so how does does this theory impact him and fog of war?

If he could see the table, then he could see the nest was a ruse. I think the Jumanji is way out there.

Oh, heres a thought, This idea sort of makes Erfworld the GM doesn't it? They could be supported, though only in a teeny tiny way, by Parson declaring himself a player rather than a GM like he would have been were he not plotted away.

GMs are totally players too, man.

[Mikalyaran]

If he could see the table, then he could see the nest was a ruse. I think the Jumanji is way out there.

I'm confused. What about anything I said implies Ansom could see the table? Myabe I wasn't clear. I'm suggesting that Parson gets plotted away. His friends think "maybe if we play through the scenario Parson will return" and play through. The characters in the comic with real eyes are the ones that Parson's friends create and use to play. It has nothing to do with Ansom. In my first related post he refers to Parson.

GMs are totally players too, man.

Playing and GM'ing are very different experiences.

[Bobby Archer]

GMs are totally players too, man.

This needs to be on a t-shirt.

[Maldeus]

According to the chronology presented to us in the comic, Wanda exists before Parson is plotted away. It's possible, however, that Parson's group came prepared with characters and didn't have the chance to inform Parson about them before he was plotted away, thus Wanda existed in Erfworld as part of the backstory Ashna cooked up the night before. However, in this case, who's playing Ansom and why are they playing him with fog of war?

[Varmus]

I think our initial assumptions are wrong. Who says that time is the same in Erfworld and in the real world? Heck, given the existence of turns, I say it certainly isn't so.

If that is the case, then Parson may spend years in Erfworld and when/if he repops in the real world, discover that only a few minutes passed there.

Besides - maybe I'm repeating an argument from GitP forums, can't recall right now - who says Parson created Erfworld? Maybe, through a cosmic coincidence / fate he just designed a game ridiculously similiar to actual Erfworld, which made him the Perfect Warlord?

[Secret]

Erfworld is not a game.
Efrworld is an actual world with some game like physics and stuff.
Now maybe some of the people in Erfworld came from our world but it is not a game and isn't being 'played' by anyone.

[Mikalyaran]

However, in this case, who's playing Ansom and why are they playing him with fog of war?

No one is playing Ansom. Central to the idea is those with earth eyes have "players." Ansom doesn't have earth eyes. He has Erf eyes. As to the other two arguments regarding Wanda and Erf not being a game I would say this. Lots of explanations could explain the time frame issue. Varmus bring up the most relevant. Regarding Erfworld not being a game...I dont think this theory is entirely incompatible with that. If Erfworld can plot Paron away it should be able to reach out and bring his other friends in through other means. Something like them playing a erf like "game" could easily explain it. Thirdly I would say this. The theory has neither anything to support it or oppose it based on the comic that I'm aware of. Its just a kooky idea that I kinda like.

[kwotski]

Hi,

There's a few posts here and on the giantitp forum dwelling on the similarity between GK and Parson's tabletop setup. Just a personal opinion here (and I'm prepared to be proved wrong!) but I think the causality runs this way:

While Wanda is busy trying to cast the summoning spell in #17, Stanley is laying on all sorts of extra conditions. Apart from his initial demand for dashing and handsome physical appearance, etc. in panel two, which he relinquishes later in panel 8 ("Just make him BIG, okay"), Stanley pretty much gets his demands catered for.

Panel 4: Parson's gaming obsession, and his eating habits shown in #15. Stanley's specification that the warlord "kills his foes for fun" is backfiring on him a little, perhaps. The spell/Wanda takes him quite literally and picks a gamer rather than a "real" warlord (who presumably will pretty much have other reasons for killing foes).

Panel 5: "someone who wants to be summoned" - Parson soliloquizes on his desire to "be summoned" in #16, 6-7.

Panel 6: Here's the rub. Stanley wants someone to whom "Everything should seem familiar and safe". Out of all the available universes in which there's a gaming obsessed guy who eats "marbits", and wants to teleport into a turn-based universe, it seems maybe there's just Parson who is primed up on his own table-top game scenario based on a defensive position in the caldera of an extinct volcano packed with twisty little tunnels underneath, just like Gobwin Knob. In #23 panels 9, 10 and 11, we see Parson guess the volcano and tunnels based on this similarity, as is explained in the start of #24.

So it's the (coincidental) similarity between Parson's tabletop model and GK that selects Parson as the one to be summoned, rather than some eerie pre-summoning connection between Erfworld and Parson's game creating the similarity. That's how I see it, anyway.

[Darkside007]

Hi,

There's a few posts here and on the giantitp forum dwelling on the similarity between GK and Parson's tabletop setup. Just a personal opinion here (and I'm prepared to be proved wrong!) but I think the causality runs this way:

While Wanda is busy trying to cast the summoning spell in #17, Stanley is laying on all sorts of extra conditions. Apart from his initial demand for dashing and handsome physical appearance, etc. in panel two, which he relinquishes later in panel 8 ("Just make him BIG, okay"), Stanley pretty much gets his demands catered for.

Panel 4: Parson's gaming obsession, and his eating habits shown in #15. Stanley's specification that the warlord "kills his foes for fun" is backfiring on him a little, perhaps. The spell/Wanda takes him quite literally and picks a gamer rather than a "real" warlord (who presumably will pretty much have other reasons for killing foes).

Panel 5: "someone who wants to be summoned" - Parson soliloquizes on his desire to "be summoned" in #16, 6-7.

Panel 6: Here's the rub. Stanley wants someone to whom "Everything should seem familiar and safe". Out of all the available universes in which there's a gaming obsessed guy who eats "marbits", and wants to teleport into a turn-based universe, it seems maybe there's just Parson who is primed up on his own table-top game scenario based on a defensive position in the caldera of an extinct volcano packed with twisty little tunnels underneath, just like Gobwin Knob. In #23 panels 9, 10 and 11, we see Parson guess the volcano and tunnels based on this similarity, as is explained in the start of #24.

So it's the (coincidental) similarity between Parson's tabletop model and GK that selects Parson as the one to be summoned, rather than some eerie pre-summoning connection between Erfworld and Parson's game creating the similarity. That's how I see it, anyway.

This is actually a really solid theory.

[Maldeus]

Alright. According to the theory that people with Earth eyes are other players that have been ported in, Ansom is played by no one. However if we go with the theory that Parson's game set-up is somehow linked to Erfworld, and the actions of book one happened in both Erfworld and in the real world game, then someone must be making Ansom's tactical decisions. There is no computer player in a tabletop game.