Re: [spoon-discuss] Re: [Spoon-business] The Infinite Improbability Drive

["Glotmorf" <glotmorf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/14/02 at 9:54 AM Baron von Skippy wrote:

>> >I propose:
>> >
>> >{{
>> >__The Weirdest Speeder Upgrade You'll Ever See__
>>
>> >}}
>> >
>> >You know, that seemed like a good idea an hour ago... damn, I'm tired.
>> >
>> >                                                   [[BvS]]
>>
>>Oboy.  A chaos bomb.  Just what this game needs.
>-You mean in addition to the players, some of whom (Wonko) are essentially
>chaos tactical nukes?-

Yes.  The minority of players willing to try to destroy the game is bad enough, without letting everyone else buy the capability at K-Mart prices.

>>First of all, it can do too many bad things to too many people, so I
>would
>>vote no.
>-That can be altered. This was one reason I shot it off so fast instead of
>sitting on it for a week- it's rather... hmm... I'm not sure that there's
>a
>single word that means "I started writing it after midnight and it's a
>translation of Douglas Adams into the nearest Game equivalent." Maybe
>"FUBAR." One thing to note: It does bad things to random players, that's
>your complaint. Okay, then, is that better or worse than it doing bad
>things
>to the player who uses it? Because you know, that can be easily arranged.-

That would at least contain it a little better.  It's the Jerry Pournelle approach then: "Think of it as evolution in action."

>>Secondly, it talks about setting random grid squares to type void...I
>>assume that includes surface squares, so that the void is no longer a
>>bottom barrier, it can also be tunneled under.  Um.  I would vote no.
>-I've never fully understood Void, really. Would it be better phrased to
>say
>that random squares have their elevation decreased to whatever they'd need
>to go down to to become Void?-

In other words, a deep, narrow crater to the bottom of the world?  Very dramatic, but what would happen to someone in a tunnel in that location?

You know that by the current definition a "square" is a 3D location?  Do you perhaps mean a grid location?

The Void is, I believe, supposed to be the "bottom edge" of the little pocket universe that is the grid.  Imagine space didn't go on forever...that, after a while, you ran out of space.  This isn't to say that there's something in front of you, or that there's something beyond the location you're at, since, after all, it's a universe...there just isn't any more space to go into.

There.  Food for your hangover.

>>Third, since the whole die roll thing comes after the actual movement
>>thing, it appears the die roll thing overrides the movement thing, so all
>>these ugly things happen when one uses the drive, and one doesn't even
>get
>>to move.  So I would vote no.
>-How do you figure? Movement comes first. "When a speeder moves via IID,
>1d100 is rolled." Not until you have moved does the die roll happen.-

I suppose.  It's the whole "nothing happens" thing that happens if the roll is low.  I was thinking that would include the move.

>>Finally, even if I *were* to vote yes, I'd probably CFI that, even if
>it's
>>technically a prose prop, it should earn zero prose prop points since the
>>Baron didn't actually, like, you know, whatcha call, write the prose.
>>Perhaps we can give points to Douglas Adams' estate instead.
>-Ah, got you there. That's the bit at the beginning, where I say "The
>following is an excerpt from _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ by
>Douglas Adams, specifically the entirety of Chapter 9 of that book.
>Although
>the sections in comment brackets should be removed as though this were a
>Literary Proposal, that text is not original and Baron von Skippy will not
>be given Prose Form points for the passing of this proposal." Although I
>could counter-CFI that nowhere does it say in the rules that a Prose Prop
>(or a poetry one, for that matter) has to be original.-

Or any prop.  Still, there is the matter of international copyright...Should there be some rule that says the game itself and the playerbase as a whole isn't responsible for the RL crimes of individual players?

						Glotmorf


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