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veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

syphon posted:

I liked the structured magic system. There are other series where there are no rules or limitations to the magic, which leaves things very open for the classic Deus Ex Machina of 'a wizard did it' (I'm looking at you, Feist or Eddings).

This was illustrated pretty well with the few big fights there were in the Mistborn series, where the hero can't just cast some spell that shoots green poo poo at the enemy to save the day.
I love Magic Science settings.

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veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Xyrael posted:

I agree. I can't believe we've got 9 more books, though. At least we can count on him to put them out at a good pace. I remember him saying he was shelving it until he finishes the last Wheel of Time book, unfortunately.

At the rate the man goes that'd probably be some time next year.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Something I wondered about. The notes in the Way of Kings illustrations(like say, the sketch of the fabrial), any idea what they say? Some of them are written in english but others are basically soundwave graphs.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Yeroc2 posted:

Someone managed to translate them. There used to be pictures with a more detailed overlay, but they seem to have vanished. The text is available here though: http://coppermind.17thshard.com/wiki/Navani%27s_Notebook

Thats pretty nifty. Wish I could see the overlay but it just takes a bit of cross referencing with the book illustrations to work out what goes where I suppose.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Cartoon Man posted:

He started work on Scribbler (Now called The Rithmatist) but had to set it aside for other commitments, most likely this will get finished. The Rithmatist is Young Adult and is something like a cross between Harold and the Purple Crayon and Harry Potter. Aparently you draw poo poo with chalk and magic stuff happens. He may choose to work on another secret project after that (a Necromancer Pizza delivery boy concept has been tossed about) or he may dive head first into Stormlight Archive number 2.


Of course you never know, Brandon may decide to take a vacation and write 2-3 Mistborn adventure books while sipping a corona on some white sand beach in the tropics.

My To-Read list has just gotten a whole lot more awesome!

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Kreeblah posted:

Well, maybe we'll see Marsh with 256 spikes or whatever at some point

That is a lot of spikes and places to put them.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Nice Parshendi

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

wellwhoopdedooo posted:

Craaaaaaaaaaaaab people

The beards make them a bit like alternate dwarves.

I'm now going to put gemstones in the beards of all future dorf mental images!

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

404GoonNotFound posted:

Kaladin gets over the :smithicide: eventually, just stick with it, and keep in mind it's meant to be like 12 600-800 page books by the time it's over.

Probably one of the harder parts for me to get through personally. It paid off though, boy did it pay off.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

omnibobb posted:

Yeah, his FB updates are like "Stealth signed 3 copies of Alloy of Law in (store) in Terminal 3"

Man, if he gets caught I wonder what the reaction would be.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

MisterFuzzles posted:

Been a bit since I've read this, but I do not believe its said outright. She doesn't say anything by name iirc. The key to remember is How its summoned. I believe maybe twice? she talks about the 10 heartbeat thing.

Really need to go about Rereading this again after I finish my current book.

I checked,it was before Shallan was even accepted as Jasnah's ward. She had a flashback when she went to the Palanauem. "Memories attacked her. Nan Balat bruised, his coat torn. A long silvery sword in her hand, sharp enough to cut stones as if they were water."
Also when panicked by the symbolheads, "She began the process anyway. Ten heartbeats, to bring forth the fruit of her sin, the proceeds of her most horrific act."

I guess most of us just dismissed it? The first one was already a giveaway, theres only one kind of sword that cuts stone like water.


EDIT: Wasn't Shallan's Soulcaster broken in the same event that killed her father? I think we might have the reason why it can't be repaired here.
EDIT2: Oh there it is
Shallan fished in the safepouch inside her sleeve, bringing out her father's broken Soulcaster. It had been sheared in two places, across one of the chains and through the setting that held one of the stones. ... The link in the chain had been replaced perfectly and the setting reforged equally well. Even knowing exactly where the cuts had been, she couldn't find any flaw. Unfortunately, repairing only the outward defects hadn't made it functional.

veekie fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Dec 10, 2011

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Her role would probably be to deliver the shardblade to the people over at the warcamps who happen to be short one.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

keiran_helcyan posted:

This part really confused me, because in the flashbacks shardblades were the Knights Radiant's defining weapon. They were bigger back then though. Maybe Syl didn't like that a non-Radiant was holding one? Or maybe they've been corrupted over the years?

Given that Syl is Honorspren and the way most of those blades have been used in anything BUT honorable acts, they probably stink to high heaven for her.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

senae posted:

Alternatively, it's a way to let Feruchemists collect the various magics they can do (which,like Aons, would normally only work on their world).

Or, a Mistborn Feruchemist storing his allomancy and then burning it. Then add duralumin. Fwoosh.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Amarkov posted:

I think that's really the problem. He's not a horrible character, but his flashbacks were so soul-crushingly boring and predictable that my hatred of them transferred to him. When that reveal happened, I was thinking "oh god finally the flashbacks are over".

Likewise, the flashbacks are basically stealing screentime from the 'current' plot, which made them feel worse than they were.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Wolpertinger posted:

I find Starcraft Chalk Battles to be extremely hard to visualize.

Lots of micromanagement between drawing new effects and controlling existing ones?

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Well, from the description alone, you can already derive several components:
Detail - You can only draw so much detail in quickly.
Speed - I'm not sure how fast Shallan draws, but it sounds about as fast as a Polaroid. Could be a factor.
Space - You have limited area to sketch in(unless it floats off the board), does size matter? Detail and Space probably determines power/accuracy, unless it comes out of some metaphysical.
Effect - What can you do with it?
Control - Is it mental command of the effect, or do you have to draw commands.
Chalk - At some point you're going to need to reload or the thing breaks, or it gets too stubby.

So if you treat it like a sketch based computer interface, with tradeoffs between spamming small vague effects to get speed on your side, or you can focus on one of the other details. Your primary resources are practically speaking, time and space management. Not much different from any RTS, except there your measurable resource is usually cash.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
3B is fantastic.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Algid posted:

Pretty sure your can if you try hard enough, use duralumin, is aided by god-mist, etc. Wasn't that how Vin ripped off those bracelets from the Lord Ruler even though it was pretty much attached to his body as implants?

More a factor I think, of embedded metal being resistable, likely similar to Koloss and Inquisitors being resistant to mental Pushes and Pulls. I figure first generation allomancers could probably have done it, but later generations needed duralumin or god-mist to pull it off.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

404GoonNotFound posted:

Oh god, the voice of Harmony in Marsh's head will be replaced with Kelsier.

The poor bastard.

Well I'm sure Sazed wouldn't let him have the mic the WHOLE time...would he?

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

ConfusedUs posted:

How the hell did I never catch that the Lord Ruler spiked Kelsier like that?

That is A Thing with capital letters.

A spear would be Steel or Iron right? Would only carry one allomantic power then, and given that its Kelsier it's probably Steel or Iron burning ability.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
I suspect he wrote that on his plane trip thing.

arioch posted:

Alternatively, what if it went the other way? What could the spear have taken from the Lord Ruler and given to Kelsier before his death?

Don't work, you need to kill the Lord Ruler to do that. However, Vin did spear the Lord Ruler later on as well.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Ran across this interview thing

quote:

Remember that the tables--and the ars Arcanum--are 'in world' creations. (Or, at least, in-universe.) The knowledge represented in them is as people understand it, and can always have flaws. That was the case with having atium on the table in the first place, and that was the case with people (specifically the Inquisitors) trying to figure out what atium did Hemalurgically.



Their experiments (very expensive ones) are what determined that atium (which they thought was just one of the sixteen metals) granted the Allomantic Temporal powers. What they didn't realize is that atium (used correctly) could steal ANY of the powers. Think of it as a wild card. With the right knowledge, you could use it to mimic any other spike. It works far better than other spikes as well.

Huh, I wonder what Larasium spikes would do.
EDIT: For the matter, what would the god metal alloys do in hemalurgy/ferruchemy

veekie fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Apr 15, 2012

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

quote:

has been hanging around making trouble
Well, thats Kelsier alright.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

BananaNutkins posted:

I hope Kelsier stays dead, or at least does nothing more than influence things from behind the scenes as a spirit-y thing. Brandon really does not need to verge into the resurrection rut that kills a lot of fantasy.

The problem is that resurrected characters are very hard to give decent character arcs, especiallly characters who have already progressed through a decent arc. The one exception I can think of is Buffy season 4, I think, when she's forcibly pulled from heaven.

Well, hes intervened before, but he doesn't really have power to do much more than drop in a few words at the right time and place I think?

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Hmm, thinking on Compounding, what happens with a Copper Twinborn? You store memories...then burn them to release more memories than you put in?

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Well, we know Gold compounding gives you health for free, so I figure it would give you the Feruchemical attribute, available as an Allomantic metal. If it simply boosted the allomantic aspect of the metal you'd have basically the same effect as Duralumin after all.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

404GoonNotFound posted:

Oh right, I was thinking about a Copper Spike then. Whoops :doh:

Yeah, just wondering what the Compounds did, Iron would give you unlimited weight(handy when you can Pull as well, but you probably rather be a full Mistborn to survive), Steel makes you The Flash. Still can't figure out what Compounded memories would give.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Hmm, a Soulbearer Mistborn would sure be interesting if it does what I think, Allomancy has "The metal is a catalyst, that begins an Investiture and keeps it running", so I'm thinking you could store up a charge of whatever you're burning(possibly with a Duralumin boost), and then Compound that to give you the Duralumin boost power without running out of power like you normally would. Should give you a Mistborn that effectively can't run out of fuel and can produce allomantic effects of arbitrary strength.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Macdeo Lurjtux posted:

So I'm finally sitting down with Way of Kings (reading Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker and White Sand in quick succession kinda burned me out on his stock characters) and I'm just wondering, this is his Exalted campaign isn't it.

I thought the exact same thing then.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Giant swords and armor, everything runs off Essence Stormlight, holding a ton of it makes you glow, you can use it to boost your capabilities...yeah pretty much.

Reference

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Quantum Toast posted:

I'm pretty sure Tindwyl had the same reaction.

Yeah, it's probably intentional on both parts I think. Neither Vin nor Elend are any good with the situation they are in during Well of Ascension. Their entire life up to then is more or less defined by what they are rebelling against, and now it's suddenly reversed.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Something that occurred to me about the Preservation/Ruin setup.

Hemalurgy is fairly straightforward Ruin, as it takes power through killing the donor.
However, it seems to me that Feruchemy and Allomancy could be reversed. Allomancy obtains great power by consuming an external source(burning metal to release power), while Feruchemy is entirely to do with storing/preserving power for later.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

OneTwentySix posted:

Maybe he'll manage them better now that he's a decent author, or the kids are older?

Sanderson has a good track record there. He knows his flaws with humor and characters, so he does try to work on the problem.


Doesn't seem to be doing much for the humor though. I guess you either have it or you don't.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

404GoonNotFound posted:

I dunno, Alloy had its moments. Like Marasi realizing that sometimes people just really want to blow up Wayne. Or Miles continuously getting his hand blown off, and when he finally starts complaining about it someone blows off his face. And my personal favorite, everything involving High Imperial.

I'd almost say he's finally starting to realize that not everyone loves puns as much as him, but then you realize that the main characters are named Wax and Wayne :shepface:

I dunno, explosions make everything awesome. He knows that.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

HeroOfTheRevolution posted:

I like how Sanderson gets cut off by someone while driving and in his road rage writes a superhero novel.

Its certainly the first case of rage-writing I've ever heard of.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Jorenko posted:

I didn't really like him at all until his last 3 or 4 chapters.

Well, he was sorta lukewarm until then as well for me.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

toanoradian posted:

So does he spend every single second of his life putting words into paper or something? Incredible.

Onto paper or into people it seems.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Its decent, if a bit heavy handed writing. It does distract from the core stories of WoK though.

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veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Mortanis posted:

Burning the metal mind has to restore what's in it. Otherwise the system doesn't work. Vin notes when she tries some of Sazed's metal that there IS power there, just that she can't tap it.

From the Mistborn Wiki:

By burning a metal containing a stored attribute, such as burning atium which contains youth, the user effectively makes a profit on the attribute stored in the metal due to allomancy's property of drawing power from the metal. Thus the user gains more of the attribute than invested. An example of this is the Lord Ruler's immortality which is achieved through periods spent aged, storing youth in atium which he later burns and stores in the main atium minds which sustain him. Note that the attribute stored must have orignated from the user, hence Vin's inability to use the power in Sazed's pewtermind.

The term for a Twinborn who can burn the same metal as their Feruchemical ability uses is called a Compounder. A Compounder can store that metal, and tap it later at tenfold the power of a normal Misting.

I think Sanderson also mentioned somewhere that the process for compounding age isn't perfect. The Lord Ruler needed more and more compounding for the same gain in time as he went along.

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