Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
What is this sleep thing of which you speak?
I vaguely remember it before Tizzy showed up on my doorstep.
He’s busy during the day, when I am “expected” to write. I guess he’s doing the stuff I am writing about.
He then shows up around my bed time and hovers over my bed telling me his adventures and/or haranguing me to write faster.
Thankfully, I pass out before too long due to second hand smoke…this lasts until the smoke alarm wakes me in the morning and I get up to open some windows and doors.
Unfortunately, passing out due to second hand demon weed is not conducive to restful sleep because I end up wandering around the astral plane all night and that is not as fun as it seems.
Needless to say, that is Book I Tom.
Not Book II or later.
And look, I forgot to list his tail, non-magically. That’s a 3rd attack and also a blade weapon.
So here is Tom in game terms (which don’t make a lot of sense if you don’t have the rulebook)
He was created in the rulebook as a far end example of a demon. Tom in the Book came first and I created the character in game based on the book.
CLB is Combat Level Bonus, DT is basically hit points. Knowledge, Cleverness, Will power, Magnetism, Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Stamina, Constitution.
AF is Attack Factor (bonus to attack) DF is Defense Factor (subtracted from opponents AF)The Demon Tomasedwordpurkinjay:
Class IV: Level: 44
KNO: 54 CLE: 50 WIL: 49
MAG: 50 STR: 60 DEX: 46
AGI: 41 STM: 58 CON: 53CLB: +176 DT: 261
MANA: 1716 (Animage based)Description:
Height: 10′
Gargantuanly Muscular (+25 STR, +15 STM,
+15 CON) -20% opponents RRs.
Tail: Whipcord like with large spade tip.
Wings: Large bat-like 20′ span.
Arms: Demon standard arms and claws.
Legs: Bull-like double jointed with cloven
hooves and texture the same as upper
body.
Horns: Large goat-like, 6″ long.
Skin Color: Dark Red.
Skin Texture: Finely scaled, bald head, fine
scale hairs and hair in nether regions
only. +2 AP
Eyes: Cat-like.
Ears: Large sharply pointed..
Face: Short snout, large fangs and pointed
teeth.ADJ DEX: 46 ADJ AGI: 41
COORD: 44 MV: 66ACTIONS/ROUND: 7 (2 attacks/action)
ARMOUR: stops 6 DT (skin)
ATTACKS: (with claws, 2x per action)
each claw is treated as bastard
sword, +4 AF and +4 DT.
Also +8 DT damage due
to STR.
AF: (with claw) +226 (club +8 DT each).
DF: 221Magical Abilities:
Standard demon magical abilities.
[quote]
All demons radiate a Fear spell to every being in a 200 combat square line of sight. This fear is equivalent to the 3rd level wizard spell Fear, as if cast by a wizard of level equal to the demons.
All demons also automatically have Demon Sight at no cost at will. Demon Sight is identical to Wizard Sight, except that in addition, the demon can see and detect animus concentrations as well as mana concentrations. Demons are hard to affect with magic. Demons get +5%/class added to their RR on all spells not specifically designed to affect demons. Thus a class III demon gets +15% on his Resistance Rolls. Further demons are immune to all charm and beguilement spells not specifically designed for demons.
All demons regenerate DT at a rate equal to their class level per minute. Further only certain spells actually kill demons. If a demon gets to 0 DT it is simply banished to the Abyss. There it will regenerate normally, and can be summoned back by its master.
All demons have the wizard spell Wizard War and can engage any wizard they are not bound to, or expressly forbidden (by master) from engaging. Of course since many non spell using demons have little mana, this is often not useful. If a demon does not have sufficient mana to start a Wizard War (16 points) it may still do so for no cost, once per month. If the demon should win the wizard war, the demon may excercise the wizard spell Robotomy (no mana cost) over the defeated wizard. If the demon fails, he or she is unable to do anything but rest for 6d4 minutes. This is the only time a demon may use the Robotomy spell, if it does not have it by other means.
Shadows, while of low level are some of the most intrinsically magical demons. They have no true body as one normally thinks of bodies. Rather they are amorphous regions of darkness. Technically they have no physical attributes (STR, CON, etc.) however, these are rolled normally. While they do not have true physical attributes, their magical nature mimics these attributes. Thus they have strength and can lift things that they engulf. Further they can do damage (like normal demon claws, to things beings they engulf). If they were to wield weapons, they would have to be inside the demon and attack creatures inside the demon’s body.
Finally, and sometimes most troubling. Shadows and demons of class IV, V, and VI can only be affected by magical or silver weapons. All non-magical or silver weapons simply pass right through them, even iron ones. Monsters of level equal to 1/2 the demon’s or higher may successfully attack the demon with claws.
[/quote]
Demon’s tail gives off electric jolts, 4d6 damage (4 mana cost)
Demon can shoot energy blasts from claws. 12 DT damage/claw.
Laser eyes, dual laser beams do 12 DT damage each.
Demon can cast wizard Firestorm at will (normal mana cost)
Demon has the spell casting ability of an Animage of equal level.
Demon has 4 lesser demon servants. (Rupert, Boggie, Tizzy, Antefalken?)
Demon can shape change at will. (20 mana pt cost).Yeah, squirm as much as they want, that was really a flub in the original movie.
They had to do a lot of head scratching to come up with a scientifically correct interpretation in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and I admit, the way they justify the expression there is correct…but it was a flub in the original movie.
Oh,
And to be clear, no wizard in their right mind would even ever think of dealing with an arch-demon.
So if Tom is an arch-demon. Any sane wizard would stay away. (OK, then there is Vaselle…)
T-A0G
What I like about this–very influential to me movie–is that it’s one of the very few places where you see both old school wizardry, and an animage…
Good question.
I think the operative point has been, Lenamare is uncertain himself.
They bring this up in book 2. Lenamare (and others) seem to have the sneaking suspicion that he’s been played by someone greater than a type IV.
In fact, this is a question that is key to a lot of ruminations in Book 4.
As more and more people realize that this greater demon is actually a demon prince, Orcus. (and Lenamare doesn’t know this yet) they feel that Orcus had some plot that required Lenamare to do what he did (OK, so this is actually where Maelen is going in his thoughts). He needed to be brought into the frey this way.
Lenamare has similar suspicions, just not that it’s Orcus. The general consensus in Freehold is that “Lenamare’s Demon” is possibly more than a type IV (given what he did with the mana streams etc). Given they knew there were archdemons, I am pretty sure they are all paranoid that “Lenamare’s Demon” was at least an archdemon if not more.
This is why, quite frankly, Lenamare is rather paranoid to even touch Tom again. He doesn’t know if he’s been played.
And…
This is a major plot point going forward.
🙂
So I think, Lenamare, even though he would never admit it. Is not YET, willing to even try his luck.
T-A-G
An ascendable/worthy D’Orc “orc” would probably be a 25th level barbarian. An actual several thousand year old D’Orc would be much much higher (probably–although not all are—this is actually something that will start to be discussed in the coming books, including OOA)
[biggrin]
You think Universal is a bit weird?
You’ll find it is far, far, far more “weird” than you think now in OOA:ITN.
Simplest answer is: Just because you can speak Universal, doesn’t mean you can’t speak other languages if you want.
[SPOILER]
Rupert, I am sure (maybe), was (in theory) speaking Trade and or possibly some other local languages in Astlan. When he went to the Abyss, of course, he was with me and others, including Tom so Universal carried over to him.Right now, he’s with Fer Rog who speaks Universal and can translate.
All highly plausible, but no, he can speak Universal, the concept of a half demon is a bit weird anyway.
Rupert, up until Tiernon killed him was (theoretically/or so he claimed) fully mortal (meaning “incarnated” in the terms of the avatars and in fact Antefalken), however, he is/was “half demon” or something like that [flapper]
He went to the Abyss as a mortal, maybe that “grounded him to the Abyss” However, he did not need an air conditioner as you recall, even though as a mortal he would need one. Don’t get me started on Rede, I forget, but there are differences between mortals in the Abyss and demons in the Abyss. As you shall find out.
Anyway, once he was slain by Tiernon (or anyone–doesn’t need to be a Knight Rampant), and went to the Abyss, as a half demon he would then be fully a demon (meaning no incarnated body, only his mana body), his mortal part would have been killed. [SPOILER]Although, one might have thought his “incarnated” body (which is “meat” that’s what the word means incarnate is “in meat form”) would have stayed there–and actually it’s odd how easily he as a “mortal” or “incarnated body” could shape change. Shape changing a mana body is relatively easy compared to shape changing a material/incarnated body. But I digress, and so shall repeat: [flapper]
[/SPOILER]
Perhaps the easiest answer is that he is Dis Pater???? Or is he???
[/SPOILER]
As for D’Wargs, they are just like wargs in that they don’t speak any traditional languages, meaning of course, they don’t speak.If you don’t speak, how would you translate?
[SPOILER]
Also, Rede will have some commentary on this as pertains to his own experience.[/SPOILER]
Speaking of Darkness
Laughter to get some idea of color palette
[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/VdasbLKm4s0[/YOUTUBE]To get a feel for the character..
(ignore picture quality as it’s a bad DVR transfer)[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/a3J91bPrW9A[/YOUTUBE]
I have been thinking about it, and need to get with the other author on it.
The big difference between now and then is that Amazon exists, and self-publishing a game is far easier than it was when we wrote the game.
That’s also what got Book 1 out the door. When I started Book 1, Amazon did not exist. Actually, when I started Book I, the Web did not exist (the Internet/DARPA net did).
Sort of just after the peak of game development work, the early web existed and the first version of http://www.astlan.net showed up as a MS Frontpage website. That version of this site was all about the game and lasted for years sort of in limbo as game development took a back seat to real world work.
The book, volume I was also on hold with everyone stuck inside the wards, unable to get out. I knew that Tom etc needed to get out to fight Talarius, but couldn’t figure out.
Then about 4 months before it was first published, I’d been writing on other books and said, before I publish any other book, Into The Abyss must be released.
I then spent more nights trying to figure out how to get outside, when it suddenly hit me “Just fess up and tell Lenamare what’s going on, and he’ll know what to do.”
So that did it, Tom etal. went to Lenamare and told him about the demon infestation and he knew immediately how to get rid of them. And the book “Demons of Astlan” finally continued.
I mean, it’s a little creepy, I, T-A-G didn’t know how to get them outside, I basically had to go into character as Lenamare and say “What Would Lenamare Do?” WWLD.
And I want to take it!
Things are moving, but slowly. One big difference was that for the last 3 books I took time off (or more precisely had contracts end and didn’t look for a next contract until book was done) and so could dedicate myself to getting the books done. I’m an IT consultant and basically work on contracts for something between 20 to 80 hours per week depending on the job and circumstances. So if I need time off, I just hold off on looking for a new contract when one ends.
For example it was 18 months between book 1 and 2. For book 1, I took time off, went in debt and released book 1, got money for that to pay debt, then worked full time for 9 months, then took 9 months off to write and release book 2. Still had some money from book sales, worked half time, then took about 6 months off and released book 3.
Picked up more work after book 3 and that still goes, it’s about 3/4 time so have 1/4 time plus free time to work on book 4 and other books. Trying to avoid the “debt” thing because zero percent loans are disappearing fast. Plus the 3/4 time work just keeps coming and I don’t want to quit it in the middle of work someone is paying me for…
But that’s doable, however, this time around I am writing 3 books at the same time, which word wise should be about 2x the length of the previous books (i.e. book IV same length, other 2 books half length) and I am doing them with fewer hours in the day.
Gotta admit, probably shouldn’t have done the spin offs right now, but they do cross over with the main story line so one way or the other, some of the stuff in them would have to be told–which means more POV and storylines and I think I am pushing that about as far as people can follow.
T-A-G
Ah hah!
You’ve hit on one of the great under reported mysteries! =d>
In book 1, Tom is told that dragons are an alien race that when summoned to the Abyss turn into “dragons” like the one Tom evicted/killed.
However, there are definitely dragons in Astlan/Nysegard etc and since they can be reanimated, they are obviously not demon dragons or D’ragons because you can’t infect a demon with antimus.
So the dragon that Tom killed is not the same thing/species that the Storm Lords reanimated.
So what I mean by “under reported” is that, there is something fishy going on there between D’ragons on the Abyss and dragons in Astlan and other worlds and very few people bring it up. Or seem to notice. E.g. Tizzy is obviously aware of mortal dragons (fought the Liches on dragons in book II) and was there after Tom killed a d’ragon. But he’s not said anything on it, so he either knows what’s going on, or is too “Tizzish” to notice/think about it. (But given he knows a lot about the Abyss–my bet is he knows)
And there is even more going on with dragons and d’ragons that hasn’t been revealed yet. I am not actually sure when it will come up in the main story line, but it should at some point.
In principle, I can do the references. Certainly on my kindle I can. Not sure if I can with the PC or CloudReader which would be ideal because then I can do that and type in Word at the same time rather than juggling the kindle.
I should look into this because one can share annotations with other users, and I actually see some bookmarks/highlights that others have done. Not sure how to control this at all. I’d think that would be a nightmare for someone like GRRM with a billion readers….
But the Murga* error is something huge/great as a report. Things that I can search on are really easy to fix. So telling me that “I found this misspelling in book X” is very useful because I can search on wrong spellings.
I’m actually going to double check that one in 2, 3 and 4 today. I think 4 should be safe since it doesn’t pop up that often, the place really is a dump and people were quite happy to get out of town, so it’s only referenced as in “if it’s anything better than Murgatroy…”
The real problem, for me, is that in my mind I conflate it with purgatory and thus get Murgatory for some reason. It was originally a play/conflation with “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” and someone from Murgatroy would be a Murgatroyd…referencing Snagglepuss from Yogi Bear here.
T-A-G
Yeah, but I’d have to port the history and then integrate it with the rest of the website content or port that somewhere as well.
I just wasted a couple months of non-work time completely rebuilding a couple of other hobby sites of mine and thus got no writing done on the other three books.
So right now I am having my routine morning anxiety attacks about how far behind I am on the three books I have promised….
At some point, I will need to redo this site and forums, the main site is a CMS and I am stuck on a very old version because the new version uses a very different technology (MVC vs webforms) and the theme generator I use doesn’t work well with MVC (works great for php/bootstrap and lots of other stuff, but not MVC) So porting my theme(s) would be enough of a pain that I’d want to migrate everything to new platform—
I actually want to get it to something like joomla, drupal or worst case WordPress, but the content migration is something I don’t want to spend the time on yet, I’d rather be writing…so I don’t have readers with pitchforks chasing me around the web…
