Erfworld 93 (Page 84)

[SteveMB]

No way--they look more like Mickey Mouse ears to me. Is Parson a Mouseketeer?

Odd -- wasn't the post you're responding to on a different thread?

[Freederick]

Odd -- wasn't the post you're responding to on a different thread?

It was, but it didn't fit the subject of that thread, so I thought it better to put my comment on the general thread. Nice avatar, anyway--with or without Mickey ears.

[Freederick]

For that matter, Parson forfeited his claim to "innocence" as soon as he decided that he would willingly help "the bad guys" win, knowing what Stanley was like. (Yes, I'm aware that he's still at least half treating Erfworld as a game and not thinking about what he's actually doing. That explains his actions; it doesn't justify them.)

"I like to play the bad guys..." That's pretty much a requirement for being a GM, right?

[The Old Hack]

Hello, Girl Wonder. Good to see you again. I'll celebrate finally meeting you again by promptly disagreeing with you:

My prediction is that at some point, capital 'E' Evil will play its role, and be an antagonist to Parson.

I personally don't think so... I almost hope it won't. I would much rather have evil stay small 'e' and be distributed across sides, even if the distribution is uneven. I cannot say that I believe any side remains untainted by it at the moment. Ansom may appear heroic and he certainly does his best to be so, but he remains flawed and makes errors in judgment that derive from these flaws. Evil (small 'e') can and almost inevitably will result from these errors. In the case of Jillian, it is even plainer: she is driven by vengeance and raw bloodlust.

Conversely the GK side: Wanda was utterly ruthless in her ambition, Maggie is completely unfeeling of anyone save herself; Parson, while human enough in his emotions, is driven by desires for military excellence.

Maybe the only really good person in the entire Erfworld is Bogroll. It would almost be fitting, he is after all also horribly screwed in all other ways.

My prediction is based solely on my thought that Parson's quote from #15 is inadvertently prophetic regarding himself (much as the game he was speaking of presaged the battle for Gobwin Knob):

"You are about to command armies in a desperate final struggle for survival... between all that is noble and decent, and all that is vile and unholy, not to mention unspeakable."

And yes, at this point, if you wish, you may say 'Well, he said 'unholy', not 'Evil', just like Stanley said. And I shall say 'Be that as it may, I think Parson was talking about Evil, and Stanley (much as I love him) is still a tool

Well, you may yet turn out right. Personally, my main reason for not seeing Stanley as purely or even mostly evil is that he is frankly too childish and stupid to fit the bill. A tool, yes, an annoying PHB, certainly, but an Adolf or Joe he ain't.

[BarGamer]

LOL, Lord Bunny!

Of course, it means that instead of the hilt popping out a blade of Light, it's a carrot, or cawwot. And that Stanley is Elmer Fudd. "Shhhhh... Be vewy, vewy, qwiet. We're hunting Awkentoows." *ROFLOLs*

[SteveMB]

Something just occurred to me.

Wanda crashed after Jillian recovered from her crisis, contacted Ansom, and headshotted Leeroy -- she was still able to argue against the "croak, not capture" order.

Either the suggestion spell didn't fully break until then, or something else is going on.

Continuing on this train of thought a bit, Jillian's crisis seems more like an emotional reaction to being forced to confront a difficult situation than it does like a simple whack to the brain from her share of the "backlash". If so, that suggests that the spell might not have truly broken until a bit later, consistent with Wanda taking the brunt of the backlash and mentally checking out as a result.

Perhaps the last straw that caused Jillian to definitely throw off the spell was the arrival of Ansom to the rescue. (People inclined to cheer at this thought, stand over here; people inclined to gag at it, stand over there; maybe we can work up a four-part round or something.... )

[The Old Hack]

Perhaps the last straw that caused Jillian to definitely throw off the spell was the arrival of Ansom to the rescue. (People inclined to cheer at this thought, stand over here; people inclined to gag at it, stand over there; maybe we can work up a four-part round or something.... )

Or alternately a 12-step program? "Hello, my name is the Old Hack, and I am an Erfworld fan..."

[teratorn]

Conversely the GK side: Wanda was utterly ruthless in her ambition, Maggie is completely unfeeling of anyone save herself; Parson, while human enough in his emotions, is driven by desires for military excellence.

Wanda was not utterly ruthless. She was not willing to sacrifice Jillian, even after she chose Ansom.

[The Old Hack]

Wanda was not utterly ruthless. She was not willing to sacrifice Jillian, even after she chose Ansom.

Part of her ambition was to gain Jillian for herself...

She was ruthless enough to attempt to subjugate Jillian's mind to achieve this. And desperate enough to cling to this part of her ambition even in the face of total failure.

[fendrin]

Part of her ambition was to gain Jillian for herself...

She was ruthless enough to attempt to subjugate Jillian's mind to achieve this. And desperate enough to cling to this part of her ambition even in the face of total failure.

She may not have had a choice in the matter. Wanda was, after all, under constant threat of being disbanded by Stanley. Give that if he ever go clever (or lucky) he could force her to reveal a lie, she may have cast a suggestion spell on Jillian without actually giving 'suggestions'. It would not have had any measurable effect on Jillian, and she could tell Stanley that she had cast such a spell.

Of course, we still don't have any clear evidence that there was a spell.
Occam's Razor cuts both ways: it only determines what is probable, not what is true.