Enoch

Potentially related: The reddit comment I noted in this thread a few days ago from an Obsidian marketing guy about the release date: "We may have some news on this very soon. Stay tuned to Obsidian's channels." Of things that they could potentially be teasing in code, the release date would be my first guess.

So, here's a weird teaser from the official @WorldofEternity twitter account. "w6Pdzu"? I looked back at the previous Bestiary tweet on Imps, and there appears to be a similar string of digits that I can't quite make out in the top center of the .gif. (Looks to me like it starts with a "2" and ends with a "W," but I can't read the rest.) Maybe I'm seeing things, but I think we've got a new MYSTARY on our hands.

17 days. The Constitution requires that no funds be drawn from the Treasury except in consequence of an appropriation made by law. The laws providing a substantial portion of the appropriations that fund ordinary operations of federal entities have expired, and Congress and the President have not enacted an extension or replacement. It's hard to plan around that, outside of electing people who are more willing to compromise with each other.

Oh, it's a budgetary loss, too. All these special arrangements take staff time to work out, it makes planning future operations really hard, and they've always gone ahead and paid salaries for furloughed employees after the fact. There's some basis for optimism that this one should be short-lived, but nobody really knows anything. I'll stop there, as I don't want to risk the politics thread spilling over into this one.

This is the only reasonable take.

I'm furloughed. The U.S. federal gov't "shutdown" means that I can show up at the office tomorrow to perform "orderly shutdown procedures" and no more. The challenge this time around that wasn't an issue during the last shutdown is child care. The boys are both in the daycare facility in my building. The center is funded by tuition, but it relies on building maintenance, security, etc., so it shuts down when the (bulk of the) agency does. They'll be open until midafternoon tomorrow, but then not until an appropriation of some kind is enacted. Which means that I'll be finding some way to entertain two kids under 4 all day, by myself, while Mrs. Enoch goes to her private-sector job as normal. I'm sure we'll survive and all, but this is not exactly going to be relaxing time off. The 2013 shutdown was a lot less scary. All I had to deal with then was a pregnant wife who was a little cheesed because I got to stay home and goof off while she worked all day. What to do tomorrow is my present puzzle. "Orderly shutdown procedures" probably won't take me more than a half-hour, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to take advantage of paid-for childcare while I can. So, I drop the boys off, do my minor work stuff, and then what? Probably isn't worth commuting home and back. The movie theater near the office doesn't open until noon. The museums are closed. I guess I bring a book or two and find somewhere to hang out?

Eric Neigher, whose Twitter bio lists his avocation as "Assistant Waste Disposal Coordinator for Obsidian Entertainment," but who appears to actually do marketing stuff, posts the following on Reddit, with regard to Deadfire's release date: "We may have some news on this very soon. Stay tuned to Obsidian's channels."

Calling it now: Tekehu's stance has nothing to do with sexuality. It has everything to do with him being the walking parody of everybody who complained that Pillars 1 didn't sufficiently acknowledge how super-special their Godlike character was.

Ooh-- new David Byrne single. Co-written with Eno, no less.

He also added chipped in some hype during the crowdfunding campaign. When Deadfire hit the "double the voiceover budget" stretch goal, the update included this:

A rare tease from somebody who isn't Josh: Some kind of announcement related to Deadfire voiceover plans is coming "soon."

"thank you to everyone who participated in the PFIGS/Polish/Russian poll re: ship names as well as to everyone who offered feedback (yes, including people on the obsidian forums, i do actually read them)."

I thought Edér is fond of animals... Well, if he ended up one, it'd be sort of a retcon wouldn't it? I mean, i remember him mentioning some milkmaid who 'knew what she was doing' back in Gilded Vale, when you enter the Salty Mast. Hiravias also asks Edér if he ever smoked something (was it Dyrcap?) with a girl and Edér says "is there any other point?" Still, wouldn't be a difficult retcon at all. Ed's just a deeply closeted country boy, who knows how to go along with the "locker room talk." In a rural community like Gilded Vale, it probably is a little unusual for such a funny, buff, and strikingly handsome dude to be a bachelor well into his 30s. Religious isolation, fear of the Legacy, and his whole emotional situation re: the war and his brother might explain that, but maybe there's another factor, too... Anyhow, Josh had a pair of Deadfire-related Tumblr posts yesterday. Nothing too earthshaking to report. On multiclass ability progression, and On MIG/STR/RES and a common martial ability pool.

Tumblr post on relationship-y stuff.

It'd surprise me if it were part of the core crafting system, but I could see this as a one-time late-game quest reward. Maybe if you get in good enough with one of the Archmages (and decide not to murder them for their own Grimoire), they can guide you through the process?

You can. Here's the best semi-official (Josh on Reddit) account that I know of on this topic:

Why would you get the car washed just before a long drive? Seems rather like making one's bed at 10PM. Anyhow, safe travels. That's a long trip to attempt on limited sleep.

Googoly-eyed "Guard"

One of the very few things we know about this project is that it's a new IP. See, e.g., here. So, no. (Also, Arcanum was not a good game.)

If nothing else, it'd be useful from a disclosure point of view. Alert us to which posters have a financial stake in the commercial success of the game, so that we can appropriately discount any opinions that they post.

Odd... I feel, like wizards, a few classes could lean on a trinket-like item. Certainly not all need to. I think having partially fulfilled layers of classes that differ is what makes things interesting in class based systems. I don't see it as that odd. Grimoires were central to the Wizard class from day 1, providing a significant portion of the class's power and flavor. The other classes (so far) aren't structured around an item like that. What class functions do you take away and ensconce instead in an item? And, if you do make the trinkets that powerful across-the-board, then you have the problem of ensuring that each class (and, in some cases, each flavor of each class) has access to appropriately leveled trinkets throughout the game. If, on the other hand, you make the effects of non-grimoire trinkets comparably small, well, why bother with all that extra work? If it's just another equipment slot that you can fill with a +5 Deflection item (or whatever), well, you can get similar class-flavor effects just by having some exclusive hats or belts (soulbound or otherwise). It would've been nice and neat to have the classes all have parallel equipment slots, but I get why they decided that this was a lower-priority feature.

Trinkets for non-Wizards have been cut.

This was my approach until this very thread. But once I clicked on it, I realized that I knew this song, that I thought it was really cool when I was a much younger dude, but I never actually learned the name/artist until today. So all this kirottu spamming nonsense actually turned into a worthwhile learning experience for me. *themoreyouknow.gif*

I'd argue that coloring between the lines is exactly what he was trying not to do. TFA colored within the lines; TLJ sought to scribble all over the page.

Thinking a bit more about this,