Gromnir

admission: am not the least be interested in the novella. our pov is colored by the fact that we care not at all 'bout the novella or tim cain's recipes or enforcement o' chrisA promise to play through arcanum. nevertheless am gonna make an observation... take it for what it is worth. we got no idea what chrisA submitted for editing, but there is little motivation for obsidian to delay the release o' such a thing. no doubt some posters will posit ridiculous theories, but such conspiracy theories is more appropriate for other boards... or perhaps rt. that being said, obsidian, for obvious reasons, has not risen to numerous chrisA baiting attempts via interviews n' such since his departure from the developer in question. taking the high road can be tough and usually it involves keeping your gob shut. regardless, until obsidian has been given an option to say something encouraging or positive, we expect continued silence. eventually, if a satisfactory product is not forthcoming, obsidian will need address their failure to meet a kickstarter promise, but for now, silence don't surprise us. HA! Good Fun!

see what we mean? we get that you wanted more than an expansion, but the folks that complained of linearity o' tob then hold up totsc as a superior alternative? am getting that some folks got the rose-hued glasses problem when it comes to bg, but as you stated, tob were, "a metric ton better than almost any expansion pack out there." for an expansion it were enormous, and frequent had very clever content. the homage to text-based games via watchers keep level 5 were, all by its lonesome, more creative than anything from totsc. *shrug* we wanted bg3 and not an expansion. am in agreement with you on that point. but to compare tob to totsc or heart of winter... or "almost any expansion pack out there," is a ridiculous exercise. HA! Good Fun!

take fingerling potatoes that has been cleaned and dried and individual wrap 'em with 1/2 piece o' bacon apiece. light salt and pepper. bake 50-55 at 400 degrees. oh sure, they is ridiculous simple and delicious, but am pretty sure each one you eat increases your chance o' a heart attack by 1%. pure evil. HA! Good Fun!

if anybody got advice for catfish gumbo, let us know. am a one-trick pony when it comes to catfish. we gut/clean the fish w/o removing the head and after scoring 3-4 times vertical along length, we light egg and dredge and throw whole into an enormous deep fryer pot. honestly have not prepared catfish any other way in years. so, if anybody got advice on catfish gumbo, we will listen attentively. HA! Good Fun!

folks do recall that tob were an expansion, yes? criticize linearity is always a bit silly in our estimation 'cause we suspect that folks don't actual mean what they says. wanted more optional and tangential sidequests available in a sandbox kinda game setting? fine. "linearity" is not what folks is actual railing 'gainst. nevertheless, complain 'bout lack o' the optional side-quest content or sandbox for an ie game expansion is silly or misguided or just plain stoopid-- take your pick. as to gaider, am thinking that like so many immediate recognizable crpg writers/developers, he takes too much blame from critics, and likely gets too much credit from fans... and am certain that the work he is most proud of is not the stuff that is most often discussed by fans or critics. *shrug* am suspecting that one thing that made gaider so well liked is also the reason why other folks hate his writing. "boiler-plate"? no. that being said, gaider always were responsive. gaider listened to fans. heck, you could see how his romance characters (which Gromnir loathes regardless o' who wrote 'em) evolved. gaider clear listened and responded to feedback between writing anomen in bg2 as 'posed to fenris in da2. gaider cared 'bout fan opinions and wanted to give 'em what they desired. 'course Gromnir has always warned that giving folks what they want is a mistake. as a writer you gotta surprise folks to make 'em appreciate you. give 'em what they actual ask for and many/most will complain that you is offering boring and cliché. nevertheless, gaider were responsive. strength and weakness. HA! Good Fun!

more validation o' how belief in this conspiracy is a meaningful litmus test. HA! Good Fun!

poe did indeed have features that were less than fun, but sadly such stuff were necessitated to appease the reactionary and vocal element that wanted poe to more closely resemble bg. with each build poe lost some fun in favor o' conciliation. poe fighters made sense as durable front-line combatants, and paladins were ideal suited to be a low-maintenance support class. unfortunately, the bg fans wanted more dps from fighters and paladins. why? is not that paladins were bad support or that fighters were bad as a tanky class. sadly, the irrational but predictable expectations o' the fanbase forced the developers to incrementally skew the game towards something more closely resembling bg and its offspring. token xp grants to appease bg and ie game fans were an utter waste o' time and resources. the inexplicable anger regarding the developer goal o' eliminating dump stats were a comical but constant obstacle. the poe elimination o' pre-combat layering o' immunities that made so many bg/ie game combats a forgone conclusion were a positive change that unexpected drew ire o' bg purists. etc. poe lost some o' its fun 'cause the developers were responsive to fans. one wonders what poe mighta been like if the developers had been able to build their best game rather than weighing it down with ie game trappings. is 'cause for regret, but am understanding why the developers felt the need to mollify the grognards. that being said, we will once again note that beamdog coulda' motivated Gromnir to pay $100 per game if they had done the ee games with the iwd2 rules. that "single" improvement woulda' been worth a franklin. black isle's implementation o' 3.5ish for iwd2 were such a vast improvement over the other ie game mechanics that we woulda' paid considerable money play a bg2 with 3.5e... which were kinda an incremental step towards rationality o' poe rules. HA! Good Fun!

with a level 7-8 party, Gromnir is functionally barred from progressing any deeper than level 7 as last night we ran into the meatgrinder battle you identify. on second try, we managed to kill 1/2 foes before wiping. with healthy use o' scrolls and food, we might be able to survive this battle with luck and a half dozen more attempts, but am not seeing the point. will level a bit before trying again. we have not noticed any major changes or increases in difficulty for particular battles previous to this point. HA! Good Fun! ps we don't mind the increase in difficulty, but the brobdingnagian scale o' the change comes w/o warning and is complete disproportionate to other combat encounters on the same floor of the cad nua endless paths.

y'know, particular for a catfish gumbo, am thinking we would go with crayfish heads (or shrimp heads) and catfish parts for the stock. next week will experiment. HA! Good Fun!

give the catfish a go, though catfish is a bloody fish and blood is bad for the stock. our biggest mistake when making stock o' any variety is that we tend to overdo all the secondary elements. am needing to remind self that we ain't making soup or gumbo or whatever. for stock we need mirepoix, a bit o' white wine, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, parsley and thyme (typical we do a cheesecloth herb bag for peppercorns, parsley and thyme and simple pick out the 4-5 bay leaves we use) but we is always itching to add... more. *shrug* HA! Good Fun! ps we only use the herb bag 'cause we is lazy. the stock is gonna need be strained with a fine mesh given all the little fish bits that is gonna in the liquid. what is point of herb bag if you is straining anyways? 'cause you is also gonna wanna skim the fish foam whilst simmering w/o removing too much o' your herbs... which is harder than it sounds. thyme leaves, in particular, float on top o' the foam.

haddock for heads. split the heads open lengthwise. cod or even sole is worthy replacements for heads. haddock seems to give us most flavorful head goo. 2 big heads should be good... use additional heads if smallish... less than 5". use an additional 4-5.5 lbs o' flatfish bones/tail cut into 2-3" chunks. am not too picky with our flatfish choice. usually whatever they got available: turbot, sole, flounder or whatever the guy behind the counter suggests when we ask for 6lbs o' flatfish bones. again, am making a gallon o' liquid gold, so it only seems like a considerable amount o' fish remains. get as much o' the extraneous blood globules cleaned from bones and heads before adding to your pot. HA! Good Fun! ps your house should not be too fishy after you is finished. this is fish stock rather than chicken or beef. time simmering is reduced. pps oily fish such as salmon is bad for obvious reasons. or 'least, the reasons should be obvious. weren't obvious to Gromnir til after the firstest time we tried with salmon.

in a non-fantastic show, such elements would remove folks too far from the realm o' the plausible. unbelievable were hardly a damning criticism o' the adams family. am thinking it is obvious why removing family drama from any tv drama would be crippling, though am understanding the seeming irony. that being said, we has suggested more than once that if all children in the world were raised by loving and supportive parents, all o' humanity's social problems would disappear in a generation. more than anything else, the world needs more o' gomez and morticia. HA! Good Fun!

Gah. I was going to beer braise mussels yesterday but my fish market ran out. Used clams instead. Still pretty good but not the same thing. there is one decent fish market in sacramento. one. if sunh were located in the bay area, it would not even deserve mention, but there simple ain't another genuine option for us. customer service is inconsistent, though typically excellent. o' more serious concern, while has only happened a very limited number o' times in the past decade, Gromnir has been disappointed with the quality o' their product. am making our monkfish gumbo tomorrow and friday. is two days 'cause we got no fish stock on hand. today we will be picking up from sunh what is essentially fish garbage to make a gallon o' stock. we feel no guilt over freezing stock, so we always make extra. unfortunately, our extra is all gone. am having fingers crossed in hope that we get good crayfish and monkfish. first friday after ash wednesday/carnival, we always makes monkfish gumbo. ... y'know, given how predictable is Gromnir, we would be extreme easy to assassinate. HA! Good Fun! ps the key to good fish stock is quality fish heads... which we suspect sounds a bit odd. the white-grey goo that leeches outta the fish heads as they steam is what makes for a flavorful fish stock, and good fish stock is the most underappreciated element o' good gumbo. so, don't forget the fish heads. haddock heads, properly cleaned and de-gilled (is "de-gilled" correct? sounds wrong in our head) is our 1st choice for our fish stock. if you want a less... fishy(?) stock, just use flatfish bones. pps don't forget to de-gill heads. *shudder* made that mistake once. am not sure what exactly is in gill, but it makes the stock foul.

Situation D: It's "working" but can't get past the Van Allen belt, though we will tell everyone that it can. Situation E: It's "working" but we know that micrometeorites will make Swiss cheese out of it. Situation n: It's ''working" but we can't get past some problem so will stay quiet about it. I don't know how the moon landing program worked but it wouldn't be a stretch to say that it was compartmentalized, going by previous operations done by the US. Everyone would do their part and know about their part only. I thought we had put the radiation exposure from the Van Allen belt to rest already. *sigh* Explain to me how the International Space station has survived for 15 years (and counting) but the Apollo missions lasting less than 12d and 13 hrs were doomed? Or how the New Horizon spacecraft has managed to survive for nine years after launching in 2006 and take pictures of Pluto? Or any other of the myriad of space probes launched in the last 50 years. Surely all of those space probes should have been utterly destroyed by now, right? Edit: And that would mean that the Chinese, Indian, Russian and Japanese lunar probes would be destroyed as well. 'cause the conspiracy theory videos claimed otherwise. all conspiracy theories tend towards weird, but the moon stuff is the strangest from our pov. videos and blogs makes largely unsubstantiated claims that some small handful o' folks find believable 'cause they don't have the science to be rightfully dismissive regarding such theories. is ok to not understand the science, 'cause so few folks do... which we suspect is why this utter ridiculous conspiracy theory has lasted so long. the conspiracy theory appeals to the folks that already have a firm held belief that the government would lie about a moon landing if they could get away with it. 'course, continuing to believe the theory ignores the actual scientists who near universal disagree with the conspiracy... 'cause they is either government puppets, or they were simple tricked by sleight o' hand? is the litmus test. this is one o' the easiest conspiracy theories to refute given the mountains o' evidence that the conspiracy theorists cannot hope to explain. it persist nonetheless. HA! Good Fun!

Fun fact, if we did it now we'd be able to do it cheaper, and get a LOT more stuff up there. fun fact: in 2004, President Bush recommitted the US to serious space exploration along with a 2020 goal o' a return to the moon. Obama took the moon off the table in 2010. am knowing it is ez to dislike Bush, but it were democratic Congress getting stingy with nasa money that functional disabled any return-to-the-moon plans, with the final deathblow being delivered by Obama. HA! Good Fun!

governments do lie to folks. we get that. people is suspicious o' governments, and the race to the moon were a scientific, economic and political battle being waged by cold war superpowers. am getting why folks would be suspicious o' the soviets and americans claims circa 1969. moon landing, however, were not some kinda covert black ops mission. ... is funny, but if there had never been a moon landing and some handful o' conspiracy nutters were arguing that the US had actual been to the moon and had a secret base there along with a the moon is a harsh mistress style space catapult that could be aimed at moscow, that is the kinda conspiracy we could understand enduring. "prove that it doesn't exist," kinda nonsense? sure. not hard to show that US had rockets capable o' reaching the moon, but they sudden, and for no good reason, stopped trying to do so? why? show documents revealing inexplicable and massive government expenditures... 'cause such always exists. show articles explaining the feasibility o' space catapults. then hypothesise that the real reason the soviets gave up the cold war is 'cause they knew o' the lunar space weapons. whatever. that is the kinda stuff we expect from conspiracy, 'cause it thrives best in the absence o' proof. start with very reasonable suspicion, then imagine a nightmare into reality? sure. but the moon landing were different. too much bad understanding o' science is needed to make a fake moon landing plausible. HA! Good Fun!

... if you can't see the difference 'tween believing moon landing conspiracies and recognizing negative proof problems, then am having no basis to start a correction of the mistakes. *shrug* honest. o' all the popular held conspiracies, the manner in which this one endures is perhaps the most inexplicable to us. is not as if this were a surprising or inexplicable event. is not as if we lack tangible evidence and is arguing backwards looking for the explanations o' how and why. you got the best minds from many nations watching and observing an event that were carried out in most public way possible. the moon thing baffles us. to make the moon landing conspiracies work, you needs have nasa in possession o' super-science bordering on magic AND you need many scientists and engineers to be in on the conspiracy. we s'pose that part o' the problem is that modern science is too close to magic. so many amazing things is achieved with such ordinary regularity w/o average people genuine understanding how such stuff works. turn on your flat screen tv and you get pictures displayed in full hd or even 3d, but how many o' us actual understand the science and engineering required to make such magic happen? also, MODERN visual chicanery is commonplace. surely the best and brightest o' 1969 could manufacture a visual hoax capable of fooling onlookers, no? ... but even so, the Faithful congregation o' moon conspiracy belief is either complete ignorant o' the science, or too lazy to look for answers. HA! Good Fun!

Oh, I'm not convinced it was faked, this is simply a discussion. As for your answer, well they could have done all of that and launched the rocket, to have it just stay in the orbit around earth. That would still mean that only the astronauts, the people who helped fake it and the people who ordered it would need to be in on it. you have no idea how much more complicated is your solution. load rocket with fuel needed to get to moon and back, but then go elsewhere is gonna be difficult to fool any number o' engineers. fake trajectory o' rocket that would otherwise take to moon rather than put in orbit (is a rocket, not an airplane) then somehow hide the giant arse rocket from international tracking capability? is a famous quote that sir isaac newton were the guy flying the apollo 11 rocket. within moments o' the rocket lifting off from launch pad, physicists the world over knew exactly where it had to be headed, but nasa fooled 'em all? etc. HA! Good Fun! ps but again, am not telling you anything you can't discover easily for yourself. is a test.

*shakes head sadly* 10,000 scientists and engineers. is not simple the astronauts. these folks all worked together and needed share information. load up a rocket with exact amount o' fuel needed to get to moon and Back. have the rocket launch and be tracked by international sources. somehow come up with a hollywood sound stage w/o benefit o' cgi that can recreate light sources that is functional infinite remote and fool the folks who understand the way light actual behaves. dust trajectories. retroreflectors behaving exact as a scientist would predict. and so on and so on. fool the fumbducks requires little, but to expend ridiculous amounts o' money to stage a moon round trip and fool the 10,000 scientists and engineers working on the project requires a whole different scale o' conspiracy. rather than ask here, and convince self with youtube videos, do a little leg work and try and refute the conspiracy. once you have information from reputable sources as well as the conspiracy theorists, compare. all your questions will be answered. HA! Good Fun! ps the only way to be convinced by the conspiracy videos is if you watch and then quit. is a litmus test.

again, rather than arguing from a place of ignorance, look for the folks who refute and answer the nonsense and then compare. upwards o' 10,000 scientists and engineers woulda' needed to be in on the conspiracy? HA! Good Fun!

"But does the presence of the mirror really mean that it was placed there by a human hand?" ​am not sure you are considering just how complex a task it is to calibrate such a mirror given the distances and relative motions o' the heavenly bodies involved. is a litmus test. look at the moon landing conspiracy theory videos and is convinced, in spite o' all the data, evidence and global expert opinions that refute such videos, is litmus test o' fumbduckery. serious. honest, why not look for credible sources that refute such nonsense, then compare. sheesh. HA! Good Fun!

aloth is having the non-firing issue similar to our priests. the issue began after using wall of fire for the first time. am suspecting that the non-firing issue for aloth is related to wall o' fire. HA! Good Fun!

"Gorecki used the words etched into the walls of a Gestapo prison by an 18 year old girl." HA! Good Fun!

well, the onion is the vegetable that has made more folks cry. am suspecting that it is a potato. the spud is almost nothing but starch and they turn green and poisonous when exposed to sunlight. you sure it ain't a leprechaun? tv and movie crazy is typical more amusing that the real thing. HA! God Fun!

-- apologetically altered to match Gromnir's pov. am suspecting that aod were actual written by the south park goth kids. HA! Good Fun!