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Well, on the whole that series wasn't good. But it could have been at least decent if the author had spent literally any time at all on editing. There are still some design problems, particularly in that there's a lot of trial and error and few actual choices to make that aren't "make the correct one or die", but they really don't make much impression compared with all the typos, mispellings and terrible grammar. It would also really have helped for him to have another person read it and give some feedback, and gone back and reread/rewritten a lot of it, because there's a bunch of bad writing. I was actually wrong earlier when I said we had to go through Dessi to get to the neutral ending; we didn't, but it was a fun diversion anyway. As you can see, this is another one where you can just skip most of it. Go straight to Sommerlund, use the key you picked up in a previous book, fight the boss, win the game. I think we'll take a break here because I do have another book lined up, but it's not available yet. They haven't actually said when it will be out, but I've already pre-ordered the collector's edition of The Hunger of Sejanoz, so look forward to both the extended version of that, and a new bonus adventure. The original version of the book had only 300 sections (a mandate from the publisher, according to Ben Devere - who seems to have changed the spelling of his name for some reason - although that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, since the number of sections is not tied to the number of pages, which seems like the actual thing they'd care about) so Devere and Lazzari have taken it upon themselves to "fix" that. As I recall, the original wasn't great to start with and I'm not a big fan of Devere's writing, so I don't have high hopes. But we're going to play it anyway!
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 05:31 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 23:35 |
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well, that was horrible to read, maybe, if the author didn't use so many commas, it would have been more tolerable, but, as it was, it was painful, and, even if there weren't so many, and, aside from the typos and grammar, the flowery prose was terrible, even by fantasy standards, but, thank you, anyway, tiggum, i appreciate you running this, for us, and suffering, with us, while we wait, for the final book
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 07:35 |
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Wafflecopper posted:well, that was horrible to read, maybe, if the author didn't use so many commas, it would have been more tolerable, but, as it was, it was painful, and, even if there weren't so many, and, aside from the typos and grammar, the flowery prose was terrible, even by fantasy standards, but, thank you, anyway, tiggum, i appreciate you running this, for us, and suffering, with us, while we wait, for the final book Basically yes. Also amused at the 'yeah the story sucked but BIBLE!' clarification, as if we couldn't all have guessed that was the source of the heavy handed message here. If you're going to write a villain story you need to go all out, not make it fizzle out in a wet fart so evil doesn't win. Can't wait for the next book of arbitrary blind choices and bad writing. I mean that sincerely, these are fun in a sad sort of way.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 08:43 |
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I actually don't think blind choices are so bad in a gamebook, so long as you aren't punished for choosing one. A bit of flavour so they're not just "left or right" is ideal, but from a design perspective, as long as they're just different paths with different dangers and/or rewards, they add replayability. If a whole book was just obvious choices with a clearly telegraphed wrong answer that would hurt or kill you every time, that would be almost as bad as a bunch of blind choices with instadeath for choosing the wrong one.
Wafflecopper fucked around with this message at 09:02 on Aug 26, 2022 |
# ? Aug 26, 2022 08:58 |
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Oh, yeah, I meant blind instadeath choices specifically. Or blind choices that put you into dead man walking and you don't find out until later that it killed you.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 09:42 |
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lmao the ending and author's note I enjoyed the novelty of the first book, but it was already not good and I feel like the books gotten worse over time.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 11:57 |
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It's over, for good. I stood out of this because the "villain quests" always tend to fall in two categories: so edgy that you cut yourself only by reading the text, or go completely bonkers. Apart for that, being a villain is more often than not is written as being an a$$hol€, and that is NEVER funny.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 19:09 |
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I thought this series had a somewhat decent start, if only for the novelty of being an evil Lone Wolf, but it did really start to fall apart. Despite having a clear goal (as far as conquering the world can count as clear) the story started to feel pretty aimless with us just wandering around.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 19:31 |
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I thought the premise of the series was ok, even liked the evolution aspects and the bonkers abilities that could be acquired (sometimes mid-adventure). Also liked the multiple endings. But the author ruined it with his attempt to shove evangelism down our throats. Soured the entire thing for me.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 19:56 |
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I detest evangelism. I also don't like it when you get things like multiple arms or eyes and it doesn't do anything but create a mental picture in the mind. This was a mildly entertaining diversion, that's all.
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# ? Aug 26, 2022 21:38 |
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I liked the multiple endings of the last book personally.
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# ? Aug 27, 2022 04:28 |
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No new book yet, but here's the latest update (for what it's worth): Also, some news about future books:
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# ? Oct 5, 2022 07:29 |
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Well, better than radio silence, I suppose.
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# ? Oct 5, 2022 08:47 |
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Based on the apparent size of the book, it seems they haven't expanded it too much - for which I'm thankful. I wouldn't have put it past Ben to basically stick an entire novel's worth of extra content in there, but I'm guessing he's mostly just added the "missing" 50 sections as a semi-standalone side-quest. And an unnecessarily antagonistic answer to a reasonable question:
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# ? Nov 8, 2022 12:54 |
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One thing Hunger of Sejanoz has is a new puzzle in the bandit lair where you retrieve your Kai Weapon. If you solve it, you get a substance you can use twice on non-special item Steel weapons and armor. That adds 2 CS to weapons and 2 EN to armor. Including the ang'sei armor and chai spear/kirumsami
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# ? Nov 29, 2022 01:00 |
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My copy should be arriving within the next few days. In the meantime, here's some more news: I not optimistic about these "exciting plans" for the bonus adventures. Hopefully they won't be altering them to any greater degree than the Project Aon versions of the books, but who knows? I wouldn't put it past them to "improve" them by writing a whole lot of new content that no one asked for, and never release the original versions. And Q3 2024 is a fair wait before we get Light of the Kai (which apparently they haven't even started writing yet?).
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# ? Nov 30, 2022 08:07 |
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Whatever happens with LW32 and other bonus adventures, I will probably only experience them here. Thx for the news and your LP efforts.
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# ? Nov 30, 2022 12:58 |
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The book is here! The Hunger of Sejanoz The Hunger of Sejanoz posted:The Story So Far … Just some very minor changes so far. But now it's time for our first decision: Do we
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 02:38 |
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Tiggum posted:[*]roll up a new character, as though we were playing this book as a stand-alone adventure; let's do this and die horribly a whole bunch of times
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 06:54 |
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New character, stand alone adventure. We are… uh, Braveheart’s brother Frostfox.
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 11:16 |
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achtungnight posted:New character, stand alone adventure. sure, why not
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 15:27 |
achtungnight posted:New character, stand alone adventure.
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 16:08 |
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achtungnight posted:New character, stand alone adventure. Well, that could be interesting...
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 20:12 |
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achtungnight posted:New character, stand alone adventure. This, except we're Braveheart's fuckup cousin, Bravebutt. Let's experience the inevitable cavalcade of bullshit as it was intended, like we're a grade schooler in the 80s.
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 20:45 |
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Wafflecopper posted:let's do this and die horribly a whole bunch of times Yeah, let's go for that Fresh Start cheevo.
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# ? Dec 6, 2022 21:18 |
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All right, fresh start it is. So first thing we do is roll for Combat Skill and Endurance: CS: 2 + 25 = 27 EP: 8 + 30 = 38 That is... bad. Next, we must decide our Kai Name:
As a new character we get all the Kai and Magnakai disciplines, most notably:
Next we have our Grand Master Disciplines, of which we get to pick five:
Next is equipment. First we get some Gold Crowns: 5 + 20 = 25. Then we get to pick up to five options from this list:
And finally, our Kai Weapon. Every Kai weapon grants a +5 CS bonus, with an additional bonus under particular circumstances. If we choose Weaponmastery, the weapon type we master will be the same as whichever Kai Weapon we end up with. So do we want:
So there are our choices. We need votes for name, gender, Disciplines, equipment, and Kai Weapon. Tiggum fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Dec 7, 2022 |
# ? Dec 7, 2022 03:24 |
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Frostfox, male. Grand Weaponmastery, Animal Mastery, Deliverance, Magi-magic, Kai Alchemy Bow, quiver, 2 meals, Potion of Laumspur, Rope Spawnsmite
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# ? Dec 7, 2022 04:00 |
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Frostfox, male. Grand weaponmastery, deliverance, assimilance, magi-magic, Kai alchemy Bow, quiver, Laumspur, rope, meals Valiance
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# ? Dec 7, 2022 09:35 |
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Black Robe posted:Frostfox, male. This.
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# ? Dec 7, 2022 12:12 |
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Black Robe posted:Frostfox, male. Good starting kit.
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# ? Dec 7, 2022 21:54 |
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<random name>, <random gender> Grand Weaponmastery, Kai-surge, Kai-alchemy, Grand Huntmastery, Bardsmanship () Bow, Quiver, Flute, meals, Laumpsur <random Kai weapon>
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 02:18 |
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Ofecks posted:<random name> nelson posted:male. achtungnight posted:Grand weaponmastery Guy Fawkes posted:deliverance Black Robe posted:assimilance Ofecks posted:Kai-surge nelson posted:Animal Mastery Guy Fawkes posted:quiver Black Robe posted:Laumspur Ofecks posted:Flute nelson posted:2 meals achtungnight posted:Valiance
Name: Wise Hawk Gender: Male Rank: Kai Grand Master Senior Combat Skill: 41 (27) Endurance Points: 0/38
Tiggum fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jan 29, 2023 |
# ? Dec 8, 2022 03:50 |
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The Hunger of Sejanoz posted:An electric hum fills the throne room of the Khea-khan’s palace as the chosen courtiers and guards make swift preparation for the evacuation to Tazhan. In the midst of all this frantic activity, the aged ruler of Chai sits upon his ebony throne and confers with his trusted advisor, Kau-Doshin, the head of the Imperial Palace household. The lines etched deeply upon their faces convey the gravity of the hushed words that pass between them. A couple of minor modifications to the text, here. I wonder if they've made all references to the protagonist gender-neutral? It's the only reason I can think of for that second change. Not sure why they got rid of the word "almond"; is that considered a racist description or something?
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 04:02 |
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Accompany him, free stuff is free stuff after all.
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 08:20 |
Accompany him, let's start out by looting. Regarding "almond", while it may not be as racist as some words it's a trite and reductive description. It's certainly othering, the books don't really spend any time talking about the particular roundness of anyone else's eyes.
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 08:57 |
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I bet as soon as we’re alone he’s going to try to kill us and steal the blade, possibly after turning into a Helghast. Let’s take care of the obvious traitor. Accompany him. If we completed this book already I have no memory of it btw.
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 09:31 |
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achtungnight posted:If we completed this book already I have no memory of it btw. We began the original version on Feb 5, 2019 and finished on Feb 27.
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 10:13 |
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Tiggum posted:We began the original version on Feb 5, 2019 and finished on Feb 27. Ah, back in the Before Times.
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 10:18 |
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Black Robe posted:Accompany him, free stuff is free stuff after all.
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 17:25 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 23:35 |
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Gear up. Can I get a TLDR version of the backstory for this? What I think I remember is Claw of Naar: very bad trinket, and we stole it last book (Vampirium), and now Sejanoz and his entire evil army are invading Chai to get it back? Hey Tiggum, how are you getting the words from the printed page to forum post? Are you scanning the book?
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# ? Dec 8, 2022 17:36 |