IntenseDebate - Troubletail

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Thief of T... · 0 replies · +7 points

I'm not sure I'd call the habit 'bad', but I used to be a big bookstore reader, too. Nowadays, I just collect Kindle samples, so I can do my pre-reading any time, anywhere, and use more of my bookstore time actually looking for things I'm sure that I'll want.

The only problem is that I seem to be adding samples faster than I can go through them. My unread 'hoard' is up to about 500 or so and isn't likely to start shrinking any time soon.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Thief of T... · 5 replies · +5 points

Lrnu, V xabj. Gb or ubarfg, V'q orra qrongvat jurgure be abg gb whfg fvg guvf bar bhg, ohg vs lbh'er cynaavat ba fgnlvat gur pbhefr gura V'yy fgvpx nebhaq, gbb. Jr pna or urergvpf gbtrgure.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Thief of T... · 0 replies · +14 points

I've always thought of YW-style wizardry as being more akin to Discworld witchcraft than what the pointy-hatted type of wizards get up to (or more accurately, the other way around- I first made the connection back when I first read through Wyrd Sisters along with Mark, when Magrat was reminding the dungeon door of when it used to be a tree). They don't exactly get into the headology part in the same the way Granny and company do, but there are similarities in how witching and wizardry-via-the-Speech are more about persuasion and convincing than brute force, how they prefer to work with natural forces rather than against them, and the kinds of costs they can entail.

Which isn't to say Nita and the other kids wouldn't run into trouble, but I feel like the whole Dungeon Dimensions issue would be a manageable one for them so long as they didn't have to find out about it the hard way.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Thief of T... · 7 replies · +3 points

Guvf ragver obbx vf fbeg bs n oyhe bs 'htu' va zl zrzbel, nfvqr sebz n fprar jvgu Fhfna naq gur Nhqvgbef gung V'q gubhtug jnf tbvat gb unccra va Ubtsngure.

Hc hagvy abj, gur bgure Qvfpjbeyq obbxf juvpu V'ir oynaxrq bhg ba yvxr guvf unir ghearq bhg gb or zbfgyl cerggl tbbq (Wvatb, gur Svsgu Ryrcunag), be ng yrnfg ab jbefr guna sbetrggnoyl oynaq (Gur Ynfg Pbagvarag). Guvf bar, gubhtu...

You're not the only one expecting to have a rough time with this.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Truth'... · 0 replies · +4 points

That's the one! I only just started it the other day, but it's really fascinating stuff.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Truth'... · 5 replies · +22 points

Harry King's business, whatever else it may be referencing, is also fairly accurate to London's Victorian-era scavenging professions. I'm reading a book right now about cholera and the birth of epidemiology, and the first chapter talks quite a bit about the historical squalor and the people who made a living off of it- and it's all here, from the toshers and rag-pickers to the night-soil men and the pure-finders selling doggy doo to the tanners.

This is my first time through TT, so coming across that section was kind of a fun coincidence for me.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Wizards at... · 0 replies · +9 points

Oh, man.... I have a terrible feeling about the 'bad thing which happened to Memeki' that gets alluded to toward the beginning of this section- naq gur zragvbaf bs gur Xvat'f snibe naq gur snpg gung ure yvsr fvtaf jrer qrfpevorq nf n sbt...

I don't know whether to feel desperately tempted to read ahead in hopes that I'm wrong or want to lag behind in case that I'm right, so that I can at least have company when I get to that point. The fact that I'm still scrambling to try to get fully caught up with the rest of you more or less makes the decision for me, but... poor Memeki either way. My heart hurts so much for her with every thing we learn about her life.

7 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Wizard's H... · 3 replies · +15 points

I think the idea is not so much that you need strife in order to grow and progress, but that you need the /possibility/ of strife.

It's a little similar to the concept of the 'dignity of risk', if you're familiar with that? If you're not allowed the possibility of making bad decisions, then you aren't really being afforded the right to make your own decisions at all. I don't have the book on hand at the moment to go back and see how well it maps, but I think that's more or less what DD is driving at.

7 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Wizard's H... · 0 replies · +15 points

Except that Alaalu only has a single wizard to represent the entire planet / species, at this point. Even Discworld-style wizards would be able to manage a unanimity of one. (Most of the time, anyway.)

A lot is resting on what Quelt is going to decide to do- or not to do.

7 years ago @ http://markspoils.blog... - Weekly Shenanigans · 1 reply · +4 points

I don't know if it's standard protocol, but the only Mystery Dungeon style game I've played would autosave for you if you fainted and were ejected from the dungeon.

Essentially the objective was to make as much progress as you can, use an escape item to get out with life and loot intact, and use the resources you've gathered to get a bit farther each time. (And make sure you're leaving enough backup resources at home base in case you get wiped.).

A lot of the mechanics here sound fairly similar, so I might be able to offer some general advice if this gets too aggravating?

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