[projectaon] Re: Footnotes Galore
- From: Simon Osborne <outspaced@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:01:19 +0100
On 25/03/2014 16:34, Jonathan Blake wrote:
Can we get an executive summary? I'm stretched pretty thin at the
moment and have been focusing on 28thos when I get the chance. If we
can knock this out quickly, OK. Otherwise, it may need to wait.
Here's what I have so far:
[JR = Johan Ronn aka UrQuan]
BOOK 2
91: 2 Meals changed to "Bread, enough for 1 Meal" and "Fruit, enough for
1 Meal" [JR]
[SO: Or maybe just add: "(Each Meal counts as one item of the Merchant's
cargo)" ]
116: Section rewritten, the first paragraph changed to "Using your Kai
Discipline, it is easy for you to detect which cup holds the marble." [JR]
"you can tell which cup hides the marble, for to you, the clay is as
transparent as glass itself." -> "Using your Kai Discipline, it is easy
for you to detect which cup holds the marble."
[SO: That said, we do lose a piece of flavourful text from Joe here if
we do this.]
145: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
Text added to the end of the first paragraph: "(In this instance, do not
restore 3 ENDURANCE points as a result of eating the Laumspur as
normally would be the case. The dry leaves have acted as an emetic and
made you throw up, evacuating the poison in your stomach."
Suggest simplifying this to something like: "(As the dry leaves helped
purge your stomach, you do not regain any ENDURANCE points through
consuming the Laumspur in this instance.)"
194: Not true, unless this was for some reason incorporated in a later
release. Even in my relatively early release Mongoose book you lose your
Gold and Backpack too (which certainly makes sense thematically).
"your Gold, your Backpack, your Weapons, and all your Special Items
(including the Seal of Hammerdal) have been stolen" -> "your Gold, your
Backpack, and your Weapons, have been stolen"
"The Seal of Hammerdal is also missing (all other Special Items are
still in your possession)." -> as well as the Seal of Hammerdal,
although all of your other Special Items are still in your possession"
238: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text as
an example.
"recover your Weapons when you decide to leave." -> "recover your
Weapons when you decide to leave (do not erase them from your Action
Chart)."
CE adds: "In the game of "Cartwheel", the number 0 is adjacent to the
number 9. For example, if you bet on 9, and the silver ball falls on 0,
you win 5 Gold Crowns for every 1 that you staked." to the start of the
penultimate paragraph. I submit that the following seems less "rules-y":
"If the number you pick is immediately before or after the correct
choice, you win 5 Gold Crowns for every 1 Gold Crown that you stake."
Add: "(Note that 0 sits between 9 and 1 in Cartwheel.)"
314: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text.
Half of this footnote can go away by following the CE:
"If you do not want to eat this food, turn to 178." -> "If you do not
want to eat this food, you must eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE points
and turn to 178."
The rest of the footnote re: Hunting use is not addressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 3
16: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
"two separate items have been crushed and must be discarded here." ->
Add: "You may choose which Backpack Items to delete. If you only have
one item in your Backpack, then this single item has been destroyed."
32: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
Add: "If you have already fought or killed any of these Kalkoth in a
previous section, record the damage you have already inflicted upon them
before commencing this battle. If the earlier combat listed only two
Kalkoth because you crept up on them and managed to kill one, ignore
Kalkoth 3 in this fight."
That said, it's a bit long-winded. :-\
61: Section rewritten, adding "Your adventure is over." to the last
paragraph. [JR]
[SO: Hmm. Maybe. I actually like our footnote here more than the single
sentence, but we could possibly go this route.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 4
22: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
[so: Could reword the text slightly to, "to remove your means of
illumination" or something, but even that is a bit ugly.]
29: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
[SO: Maybe add the parenthetical footnote to the end of the initial
paragraph (PA edition). "(You need not erase any Torches from your
Action Chart in this instance.)"
117: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
[SO: Maybe rewrite the option to "If in your Backpack you have another
Torch <em>and</em> a Tinderbox, or a Kalte Firesphere, turn to 22."]
272: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
[SO: Maybe add: "(If you possess two Weapons, you may choose which one
you have lost.)" ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 5
56: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
Add: "You may record the Jakan on your Action Chart as a Weapon. The Bow
may be of use to you sometime in the future."
58: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. (the
"wrong choice" section is 156 instead of the footnote's 98, though) [JR]
[SO: However they've altered it, the PA edition makes sense here, IMHO.]
[JR: I talked about this here:
<http://projectaon.proboards.com/post/40693/thread> I'm personally fine
with any implementation, though.]
[SO: Could we incorporate the link part of the footnote into the main
body of the text? So, add the following as an option: "If you choose the
wrong combination, turn immediately to 98." Then amend "If you do not
know the number that will open the door" to "If you do not attempt to
open the door". Maybe.]
135: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
"lose this combat, turn to 161" -> "lose this combat, turn
<em>immediately</em> to 161"
"win this combat, turn" -> "win this combat, restore half of any
ENDURANCE points you lost (rounding fractions down) and turn"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 6
26: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
Add as the first option: "If you are using the Jakan and pick a 0 from
the Random Number Table at any time, turn immediately to 335."
298: Section rewritten. Footnote incorporated into the section text. [JR]
"Also, if at any time you should pick a 0 from the Random Number Table
when using the bow, the Jakan will break. If this happens during the
tournament at any stage, turn immediately to 335. Make a note of this
adventive number in the margin of your Action Chart for future
reference." -> "If, during the second part of the tournament, you should
pick a 0 from the Random Number Table when using this Jakan, it means
that the bow has snapped in two. If this happens, you must turn
immediately to 335. (Make a note of this section number in the margin of
your Action Chart for future reference.)"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 7
257: Really? Very obscure, if not superfluous, to explicitly footnote
this. [JR]
[SO: This was brought up on this very forum by a longtime fan. That
said, we should probably incorporate into the main text as errata rather
than having a footnote here.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 8
60: This is really an error. This choice has nothing to do with if you
have a weapon effective against a Helghast or not. The Sommerswerd
explicitly is needed: ("but the chill of its icy flame is thawed by the
golden fire of the sun-sword"). [JR]
[TW: I agree with UrQuan here. It is a major authorial oversight that
the player might actually be carrying a weapon that can harm the
Helghast, but what is critical in 308 and 258 is whether the weapon can
deflect the magical fireball or not - and only the Sommerswerd can do
this. Would it be possible to put a footnote [SO: or an explicit option]
in 258 stating that if you used any of the magical Special Items, it
isn't actually destroyed, but you drop it and cannot use it for the
remainder of the battle. And if the player possesses yet another magical
Special Item and tries to use it in hand combat with the Helghast, go to
the fight in 47 rather than insta-dying?]
[SO: Without rewriting the text there will be some inconsistencies
either way.]
308: Superfluous, with the section 60 footnote removed. [JR]
[SO: Depends on the above footnote.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 9
134: Very superfluous. There are several sections where you go longer
than this without eating. In any case, a Kai Master should most
certainly be able to go a single day without starving. [JR]
[SO: Parallel Section 242 where you do have to eat.]
[JR: I really disagree with this one. You don't have to eat anywhere.
The wording in that section is just a ruse to lead you astray into the
eating house to get captured. Hungry, or even ravenous =/= Starvation.
Again, the biggest point here is that there are several sections where
you go longer than this without eating. Seems like a bigger
inconsistency not to footnote every single one of those then, than to
remove this footnote?]
[SO: I don't claim to have audited all the books for parallel Meal use,
but this one seemed quite obvious when it was pointed out. I hope there
aren't too many other places in the books where Meal requirements are
inconsistent across parallel pathways.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 10
203: I can sort of see the argument for 0=10, even though the Mongoose
edition specifically does not incorporate this mechanic here like in
many other sections. However, I fail to see why there would be a minimum
of 1 EP lost. In fact, it's obvious that this was not Joe's intention. [JR]
[SO: "Despite the agony of your wounds"..."arrows tear open your
wounds"..."terrible pain is too much to bear". But you don't lose any
ENDURANCE points? The footnote makes perfect sense here.]
[JR: You use Curing to heal those wounds. That is the whole point of
Curing in that section. Also, I'm not sure how losing exactly 1
Endurance point is any less arbitrary than losing 0. It's just a game
mechanic at the end of the day. I really don't think such a minor issue
needs to be explicitly footnoted, seeing as there really was no issue to
begin with.]
286: Very superfluous. The Mongoose edition surprisingly has this
footnote incorporated. It is, however, completely superfluous as the
maximum Combat Ratio you could possibly have in this fight is +1. [JR]
[JB: The Psychic Ring is another reason that I proposed a footnote for
the Tagazin combat (TDoT:286). This is how I interpreted the Psychic
Ring - quite reasonably I believe. I made the Psychic Ring's bonus
against the Zadragon general with the restriction that the enemy must
not be immune to Psi-surge. It doesn't seem reasonable that the Psychic
Ring should cease working after this one combat. In the other combat
sections, the Zadragon is not a wimp against psychic attack since it is
immune to Mindblast, so the bonus shouldn't be due to some
susceptibility. It still seems reasonable to me. A huge bonus, but it
helps those that start mid-series with a CS booster for themselves. For
the record, I did use both bonuses: from the 'swerd and the Psychic Ring.]
[JR: I really really really disagree. If the Psychic Ring can be used in
any combat, you would really struggle to find any combats below 99% win
rate after that point, even with absolute minimum stats. Hopefully you
agree that this is not how the game is supposed to work. Also, the
Zadragon combat with the Psychic Ring is an absolutely incredibly
obscure section. I guarantee that less than 1 in 1000 people got here
incidentally. Doesn't seem right to base a game mechanic around the
wording of such an obscure section that no one even gets to, to even
have a chance to find out about the mechanic to begin with! Let alone
when the text clearly says "for the duration of the combat.". Also, I
definitely don't think we should cater to someone starting mid-series.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK 12
268: Very superfluous. Also, there is no such clarification for the
Helshezag anywhere even though the same mechanic is involved.
[SO: Not superfluous since it is possible: "any subsequent ENDURANCE
points that you may lose during the combat are permanent". That's a
variable number, not a fixed decrease by 1 per round.]
[JR: I don't understand. How are those two different? This is another
instance where I think there really was no issue to begin with, but this
footnote brought one up. Of course, it is not 100% "realistic" that you
survive only because of the EP bonus of your armor, but again, these are
just game mechanics. You do that anyway every time you take enough
normal damage. Maybe I'm completely missing something here.]
[SO: It is straightforward to keep track of permanent -1EP per round;
less so with a random amount of permanent damage. The footnote is
reminding the player that armour bonuses do not equate to actual health
(unless you discard the armour as soon as you have taken its EP bonus as
damage...). ]
--
Simon Osborne
Project Aon
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