Katarack21

Those charts actually exist because the pain cannot be measured, or verified. It's all subjective--what you say is an 8 might be a 5 to somebody else, etc. There is no "pain unit", no discreet measuring system. There is no way to objectively quantify pain. Yep. This is, incidentally, a large part of why people with chronic pain issues have such a hard time getting the regular medication they need without meeting with suspicion that they're junkies or the like. It's a pretty serious problem that leaves many people suffering needlessly when their doctors won't believe them on what they're experiencing. This is true. My fiance has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome; her main symptoms, beside dislocating joints and such, is simply severe chronic joint pain. I have a badly healed boxers fracture on my right hand and chronic arthritis in all of those knuckles, along with migraines. Both of us have real problems getting the pain medication we need because of this very issue.

It seems to be more about the lingering after-effects of colonialism and rebellion rather than racism and such in the present. These things--like racism against Orlans--show up more in the way the society is structured than in personal day-to-day interactions. I do wish this was much more represented; the lore book, for example, says that most Wild Orlans in the Dyrwood are indentured servants who are slaves in all but name. But I don't remember encountering that.

One guy said something about my Godlike in Gilded Vale. That's it so far, but I haven't gotten my Godlike far past that yet, either.

Yup. Once you do this process you can jump between the beta patches and your normal game no problem. We actually use this same process to distribute QA builds to people around the world (and in the office). This is pretty awesome. I loaded the beta just now; I'll be playing it later tonight to check things out. I'm hoping the save/load times will improve. Thanks for the opportunity!

Yeah, it would be a pain, but I'm not a developer I'm a player. I *want* that kind of reactivity! It's also not entirely unprecedented--VtM:B has an entire different dialogue script for the entire game *just* for Malkavian characters. I imagine it was a ridiculous amount of work, but the end result is fantastically amazing. Malkavian is the *way* to play that game.

My point is I never said it does as a rule. I said it makes sense, and I said there's a friggin' interview with Avellone where he directly states agreeing with Ulysses on multiple fronts. Even that is besides the point, because again, I never said it does, hence why I said "I feel strawman'ed." Well I'm sorry that you feel like that. You said directly that you are surprised that they reacted in such a way because you would expect, based on their stories and characters that they have written, that they would think and behave differently. All I was trying to do was enter into a debate and argument based on that statement. What debate dude? xD I said "it was a little surprising to me cause" and I got like 4 people jumping on me for it, making hyperbolized responses like "DO U THINK CHRISTIAN BALE KILLS PEOPLE?" This is a stupid meaningless internet "debate" where people want to prove their right for absolutely no reason at all, made especially annoying by the fact it's repeatedly been stepped over that I state "Avellone has gone on record saying he agrees with Ulysses' philosophies on several things" as the claim "you're assuming he agrees with all characters he writes" when it's like wtf no, I'm a broken record here that's really sick of being strawman'ed for the sake of a meaningless "debate" that accomplishes nothing at all. I think I'm done here. All I was doing was talking to you about stuff. The rest of this....whatever.

My point is I never said it does as a rule. I said it makes sense, and I said there's a friggin' interview with Avellone where he directly states agreeing with Ulysses on multiple fronts. Even that is besides the point, because again, I never said it does, hence why I said "I feel strawman'ed." Well I'm sorry that you feel like that. You said directly that you are surprised that they reacted in such a way because you would expect, based on their stories and characters that they have written, that they would think and behave differently. All I was trying to do was enter into a debate and argument based on that statement.

Race is also a scientific term, and it's exactly why it bothers me. Race is a classification below species. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28biology%29 Even the article you linked to call it "an informal taxonomic rank", meaning it's not actually a scientific word or idea but just something taxonomist's use among themselves.

In those settings race is used in place of species. Race fits better as well since "species" is a scientific term while "race" is not. So if in a fantasy, sci-fi or whatever setting race can still fit while species may not. Not saying you're wrong about the different races being different species, it's just terminology. In real science, different species can't bang and make babies; only subspecies can, and only sometimes. So in a lot of ways "race" actually makes more sense.

I don't quite see how citing completely different people with completely different writing styles furthers this discussion. They're mere examples that show it can happen, which I never said it couldn't. I never even said "Obsidian agrees with the philosophy of Caesar's Legion because they wrote it." I expressed surprise at how quickly they went against a philosophy they've actively opted to explore at least thrice in a row now, and one that Avellone has openly expressed admiration and approval for. (Ulysses) I never even said "they've opted to do this, so that's how they think." I said "they've opted to explore this, so I kinda expected a bit more reflection on the topic before making a decision." I gotta say I just feel like I'm being strawman'ed really hard right now and like my claims got exaggerated to lengths they were never even close to. :U Because this isn't a discussion about Chris Avellone; this is a discussion about writing and authorship using Chris Avellone as one example. At least that's how I've been rolling with it. What I was pointing out is that simply having a character who advocates a particular philosophy doesn't indicate anything about the author of that character. The author may not even know anything about that philosophy and may only have done it to create flavor, as an example. The author may simple be interested in it, and created a character who follows it as a way to explore themes and ideas they find interesting without any personal opinion (this is one I think Chris Avellone often does). In an RPG like this it's often simply a way to create a character who is unique and different from other characters. My point is that it doesn't directly reflect the thoughts, ideas, views. opinions, or beliefs of the author. An authors story is not a mirror, directly reflecting everything the author is. It's a creation that the author controls; therefore it can reflect the author directly or it can simply be things he chose for any of a number of ulterior motives.

Yes, exactly as I said: divorcing the author from the meaning and intent of his work, not divorcing the author from all association and influence on the work. If you feel that this blue window shade put in this room in this scene indicates the people in this scene are shallow and cold, then regardless of what the author actually intended the "death of the author" says that it's a perfectly valid interpretation; the authors intention doesn't matter. It doesn't completely divorce the author from all impact on the work they created; it never really has, it just allows for each individual to create "perfectly valid" interpretations of it.

If I've understood this correctly, you seem to have this confused. Death of the author is advocacy to disassociate the author from the creation, which I'm doing the opposite of. No, "death of the author" is the idea that an authors ideas, concepts, subconscious thoughts, etc. are reflected in their work regardless of the authors intentions, and that these things reflect the "real" themes and ideas regardless of whether the author meant them to or wanted them to. It's divorcing the author from direct control of the meaning of the work.

I will admit I find it a tad odd and surprising to see that Obsidian chose to censor the limerick, seeing as how this is the company that produced Caesar's Legion and Durance. Both of them preach about how conflict or "fires" can make you stronger while burning away the weak and unworthy. With stories like that, you think they'd have a mentality of how the world is harsh and you need to be willing to face that some people can and will offend you, but you need to be able to carry on. But again I'm a realist and I'm sure this was a decision made (decision to even ask Firedorn) moreso in the interest of marketing. Companies are notorious for being a place for ideologies to die. Do you find it a tad bit odd that Christian Bale is not actually Batman or a serial killer? I find that analogy a little weak. He played a part that was handed to him. Obsidian wrote and constructed those things themselves. You're better at writing about concepts you're passionate about, so it's odd to see writings about "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" on one hand and then a desire to protect someone's feelers in the next. As I said though, the realist answer is of course that marketing would never allow such potential drama like that limerick existing post-complaint. Writing is a creative process and the passion to create fuels the process. That passion will always trump the material. Obsidian has also written and constructed many stories that are full of manipulation, darkness and murder. Do you expect them to live their lives like Sith Lords because they created the most realistic Sith Lords? The difference being that the characters that are murderers and manipulators are not painted in a neutral light, but a purely negative one. No one who plays New Vegas like Dermont and Saint James, because those characters are afforded no sympathy, because they're murderers and manipulators. And yet sympathetic villains who are no less villainous for their tragic orgins are a thing that exist. Jon Irenicus, for example; he's presented with a sympathetic, even tragic, backstory but his nature as an evil villain is never questioned. Creating a character with a sympathetic PoV can be as much about manipulating the readers as anything else; controlling their emotional reactions, subverting their expectations to heighten drama, all of these things and more can go into it. Understanding and manipulating tropes like these, in a rational and logical way that has nothing whatsoever to do with ones personal opinions and ideas, is a powerful tool for any author.

Good authors write about things they know, not things they agree with or think are awesome. Chris Avellone, to continue the example, writes very philosophical characters and stories. Nietzschean philosophy is not all he writes; PS:T is an excellent example. Different characters in that game espouse many and various philosophies and ideals, many of them directly contradictory. If I were to take a guess, I'd say the man has spent a lot of time thinking about things like ethics, morality, the impact of choices, etc. I think it's very wrong to point out one particular character and say "He's written this before; this must be his chosen philosophy and viewpoint." You seem to be advocating the "death of the author" concept, which I've always personally found insulting and demeaning to authors.

I can agree with that. There is a discrepency between how Orlan NPC's talk about being treated and how other NPC's discuss orlans, and how an Orlan PC is treated within the game world. This is a reflection of issues with reactivity in general within the game. Nobody in the game world makes a peep about you being a Priest of Eothas, either, as far as I can tell.

I will admit I find it a tad odd and surprising to see that Obsidian chose to censor the limerick, seeing as how this is the company that produced Caesar's Legion and Durance. Both of them preach about how conflict or "fires" can make you stronger while burning away the weak and unworthy. With stories like that, you think they'd have a mentality of how the world is harsh and you need to be willing to face that some people can and will offend you, but you need to be able to carry on. But again I'm a realist and I'm sure this was a decision made (decision to even ask Firedorn) moreso in the interest of marketing. Companies are notorious for being a place for ideologies to die. Do you find it a tad bit odd that Christian Bale is not actually Batman or a serial killer? I find that analogy a little weak. He played a part that was handed to him. Obsidian wrote and constructed those things themselves. You're better at writing about concepts you're passionate about, so it's odd to see writings about "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" on one hand and then a desire to protect someone's feelers in the next. As I said though, the realist answer is of course that marketing would never allow such potential drama like that limerick existing post-complaint. No. Just because Chris Avellone wrote a character like Durance does not mean Chris Avellone is anything like Durance at all. It's called creativity and imagination; your characters don't necessarily reflect anything that you are. I mean, come on; do you really think every author whose ever written a serial killer go off on a villain rant is secretly a psychopath inside?

Those charts actually exist because the pain cannot be measured, or verified. It's all subjective--what you say is an 8 might be a 5 to somebody else, etc. There is no "pain unit", no discreet measuring system. There is no way to objectively quantify pain. Well to be fair it's my understanding that it is indeed possible, albeit extremely impractical to measure the activity in the pain centers of someone's brain. And although you are technically correct in saying that what I consider to be a nine, you might call a seven, or even a three, physical pain does cause physical reactions that can indeed be verified ... for instance, it's fairly difficult to walk into a clinic (that is doing their due diligence and isn't simply a RX Mill) and walk out with pain meds simply by pointing at the chart and claiming a ten. None of those physiological signs correlate directly; different people with the exact same symptoms can show different rates of acitivity in the "pain sensors", for example. A doctor or hospital judges your pain the same way you would somebody else, by looking for the signs of distress and emotional reaction, checking your physical symptoms to see if something could be causing the pain you claim, etc. They tend to be very cautious because there are laws about controlled substances; in general they will always err on the side of not giving you controlled drugs because of this. There really is absolutely no way to objectively measure pain. They're working on it, but it doesn't exist.

Those charts actually exist because the pain cannot be measured, or verified. It's all subjective--what you say is an 8 might be a 5 to somebody else, etc. There is no "pain unit", no discreet measuring system. There is no way to objectively quantify pain.

It feels like an accident that you survived the biawac and became a watcher. That's probably the weakest part of the beginning in that they just glance over that and push forward. That's because it is an accident that you survive the biawac and became a Watcher.

A big problem right is is this societal shift of not taking personal accountability for being a ****ing ****, which leads to finger pointing and excuses like "it's just a joke". When did people become such hypocritical ****s?

1986. I was three. I didn't complete it, of course. First RPG I beat was a console game. First crpg? Castle of the Winds, 1988.

So commenting on all the trolling is trolling? Wonderful. I'll bet people love you at parties. I'm done here.

A better solution would be to keep the stash as a separate file next to the save file. Yes, this opens up for easy duplication/cheating, but honestly, who gives a ****? You want to cheat, you're going to iroll20s anyway. Who gives a **** if somebody cheats in a single-player game? Not me, that's for sure. I'll say this much: I'll take 21 second load times over BG-style encumbrance management any day.

Congratulations, I was fooled. Good job.