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2012-03-12, 02:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-12, 02:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-03-12, 07:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-13, 03:08 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
Official Incense Aroma Specialist for the Vaarsuvius Fan Club!
English isn't my primary language, so please let me know if something I'm saying doesn't make sense!Continuation of ThePhantasm's awesometacular post
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2012-03-13, 06:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-13, 08:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
Each additional click violates the “don’t make the user work” principle of usability just a little more.
And in this case, it isn’t just one click. Once you have read the post it will take another click to close out the tab you opened it in. And that is not getting into the fact that it winds up adding to a possibly already tab-cluttered window in the first place.The Future just ain’t what it used to be.
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2012-03-13, 08:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
Uh... but this is the index of the giant's commentary, it is ALREADY set up to merely refer to them and you ALREADY have to click on them to read his actual words...
And pretty much any case where you would ever be referring to them, you would need the direct link to the post anyway.Official Incense Aroma Specialist for the Vaarsuvius Fan Club!
English isn't my primary language, so please let me know if something I'm saying doesn't make sense!Continuation of ThePhantasm's awesometacular post
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2012-03-13, 09:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
How about just noting that it was post-Familicide (and other timing-relevant posts)? I'm not sure most casual readers know specifically when any given strip was published.
To find out, they would need to search the archives to find that Familicide was cast in #639. The comics aren't dated, so they would then have to search the forum for that discussion thread. If the search function messes up, they would then have to dig waaaaay back to page 87, to see that Familicide was cast on 3/20/2009.Kaedanis Pyran, tai faernae.
The LA Assignment Threads: Attempting to Make Monsters Playable Since 2016
My Homebrewer's Extended Signature
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2012-03-13, 09:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
For the (relatively) few people who actually know exactly when, say, the Familicide comic came out, I think they can suffer a few extra clicks to open a tab, rather than Phantasm suffering having to do around a kabillion (rough guesstimate) clicks to copy and paste every time-stamp from every post that the said Familicide-date-knower person would be looking at anyways. If clicking the green button to find out the time the post was posted then pressing the X on the top right is too hard, then what isn't?
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2012-03-13, 09:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
It seems like a lot of work to do with a very small benefit. I'd be willing to do it if the majority of users in the thread want it, but I'm not here to eliminate the number of clicks you have to make. I can't predict how everyone is going to use each quote, or what they'll be wanting to argue from each quote, etc.
Let me clarify too that you should always click through to see the Giant's exact quote. If you go just by the summary / excerpt, you're bound to miss some nuances and further explanations. I've already seen a few instances of folk in other threads misunderstanding a Rich comment because they only read the index summary and nothing more. I don't want the index to ever be putting words in Rich's mouth. The summary is there to remind you what the quote is about, so that you can find it in the index faster. That's all. The summary isn't there to do all your work for you. This is a resource, not your research assistant.
I think adding the date to each quote would be just overdoing it. For one thing, most of the quotes don't really need their dates to be shown to be useful or understood properly. What I am willing to do is alter the summary a bit for a quote like the "V is True Neutral" one. So here's what I'll do. If someone is willing to find out which comic was last online when the Giant made that comment, I'll alter the link / summary to: "V Is True Neutral, as of #000". Does that sound reasonable? And for any other comments that need this treatment, just leave a post here describing why you think it is important and giving me the exact details of the summary alteration that you want. And then we can all discuss it further."And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-14, 09:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
I came here to comment that I'm definitely bowing out of transcribing the rest of the interview for at least 2 weeks.
So if anyone wants to pick it up, in my last post with a transcription is noted the interview time left to finish the work, so that's were you should pick up.Nothing to see here, move along.
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2012-03-14, 10:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
I'm on it.
SpoilerJESSE: Yeah, I certainly enjoy the alignments for the same reason that you do, I agree that it doesn't have to be super simple. I don't know if you've done this, but have you ever sat around talking about characters in stories and what their alignments were or your friends for that matter?
RICH: Yeah, back in the day. We used to -- it's usually a good way to try to explain to new players of D&D how it works, you pick the sort of archetypical characters. But one of the problems with that is that those characters will be associated forever in that mind with what that alignment is. And I also think there's some naming flaws with the alignment, I think by calling one of the alignments "lawful" they've created thirty years of people thinking it means you have to obey every last "keep off the grass" sort of law. And that's not really what it's supposed to mean, it's supposed to mean sort of an ordered way of thinking, having a personal code, having a set of tenants that is greater than yourself.
JESSE: I think that may come from Elric, and Michael Moorcock having the whole...
RICH: It absolutely comes from Elric. He did Law and Chaos, those were his two. And you know, he didn't have to worry about a billion people trying to interpret what he meant by that, he just needed to present it in the context of his stories. So no negative to him for doing so, but I think it was adopted and has been argued and debated ever since by people playing the game.
JESSE: As someone who works pretty hard at keeping your story twists shocking and such, do you have anyone that you've brainstormed with, or is it just something you keep completely secret until you're ready to do the big reveal?
RICH: I keep a lot of it internal. I write down notes, I think of things, and sometimes I think of things and change them later. Not deeply, I think my main plot points have been the same since I started really thinking about the plot and sort of sketched out things that would happen, but there are certainly minor details that change at the time I'm writing the scripts. Certainly moment by moment actions can change, twist or whatever in a way if I think of something more interesting at the time that I'm writing it than I did five years ago. Then I go with that, but really the big moments have all been pretty close to how I pictured them a long time ago. Sometimes, some of these things are where I would be, I would write down a note like "and then they go to the desert." And I knew that when they got to the desert, Tarquin would be there, and they would do some desert-ey stuff with him before going back, before finding out what they needed to find and then go back out. But I didn't really get too worried about what happened in his empire until I was starting to plot this story arc, because it didn't really, it affected them personally but it didn't change the plot with Xykon and Redcloak so I had the sort of freedom to put that on the shelf until I got to it. Now I would think from here we'll sort of flow more from what I just did than it would have previously, sort of work that back in.
JESSE: The current arc seems to be a lot about family.
RICH: Sure.
JESSE: Actually... I've bounced this theory around, but I wanted to ask you if this was something you intended or if it's just my imagination. For the most part, a lot of the conflicts in the book have been about good and evil, but I felt like in the current arc, it's been more about conflicts between law and chaos, would you say that was intentional?
RICH: Absolutely intentional. I mean, I think good and evil are easily grasped, and I think it's a little less intuitive for people to really understand law and chaos as they are -- if they exist -- as concepts. Because here you have Tarquin, for most of the first part of the story, is evil, is just straight up evil. But he loves his son. He cares about family. He likes his empire running orderly. He doesn't just sort of go around slaughtering people for kicks. He has a plan, he has a goal, which he's sort of executing step by step. He's not Xykon. He's not this sort of crazy force of evil. You can almost picture Tarquin existing in the real world. So I think yeah, absolutely -- and then Ian, Haley's father Ian, is sort of the opposite. He's a good guy, but he's abrasive, paranoid, a little bit crazy, a little bit off the deep end, not really together because he's sort of so chaotic that he kinda can't detach from that. He can't be not chaotic for a moment and see the way things are really kinda going on around him. So yeah, I think there's definitely that undercurrent.
JESSE: Yeah. And I noticed sort of the idea of Girard Draketooth and his real hatred of Soon Kim, the two of them being very lawful and very chaotic.
RICH: Right, exactly. Where you would, I think most people would immediately go "yeah, but-but Soon Kim was a paladin, he wouldn't do something bad," and you have to see that to Girard's point of view, just the sort of organiz-- that a man doesn't create a secret organization of warriors unless he plans to use it for something. You know what I mean, the sort of... expecting the worst in human nature at all times pessimism that says that if Soon Kim is gonna make this sort of legion of magical warriors and keep them secret from his populace that clearly he's up to something. And there's also, I mean there are certain events that happened in that history between Girard and Soon Kim that have not been revealed that will certainly maybe make him seem a little less paranoid than he does right now, but not not-paranoid. But yeah, there's more there going on with what happened with the Order of the Scribble than has been revealed. But that's all gonna be unwound as the story comes towards its conclusion, there's more to learn, I mean there had to go find Girard right now, so some pieces will be found then, I'm sure.
JESSE: Do you think you may do a prequel book about the Order of the Scribble someday, or is that not something you're sure about?
RICH: I wouldn't rule it out, but I don't currently have any plans to and I wouldn't know what I would do with it. I think the main thrust of their story needs to be included in the online strip. You need to know exactly what happened all that time ago that made them so angry at each other in order to understand the main story. So therefore I wouldn't want to shunt it to a side book. When it needs to be told, it needs to be front and center, and then once it's been told, it'll influence what people think about the characters after that. So I wouldn't want it to be I had told much of the story, much of the things that Redcloak revealed to Tsukiko in the recent strip about how he was tricking Xykon was already known by people who had read Start of Darkness. But it didn't sort of change what was going to happen next for them to have known it separately. But anything about the Order of the Scribble isn't really like that. It's important in a way that would change things, and therefore it can't be let out of the bag early. But by the same token I wouldn't object to writing a story of them just fighting Baron Pineapple, or something like that. Certainly wouldn't have any problems with that, but I think the main conflict between them is gonna be in the main comic at some point.
JESSE: Okay. Well, speaking of that, I'm gonna take it back to the kickstarter for just one second.
RICH: Sure.
JESSE: Which was that several people bought stories about characters that they wanted you to write about. And I know you said for a while those had not been revealed to you yet. Has that come about yet, do you know who those characters are going to be?
RICH: Three people have bought them, I've only been contacted by two of them so far. I contacted all of them and have only heard back so far from two of them, they both gave me sort of a spectrum answer of, "I like this character and that character but I wouldn't mind if it was this character." So I haven't nailed down the final list for them, I'm waiting for what the final third person says, because if two of them both pick the same character, then I'm definitely gonna do that one, but otherwise I might pick some of the ones that appeal more to me. So far the ones that have been floated are Therkla, the assassin, the half-orc, the Cliffport police department, do a detective-spoof sort of something like that, and the demon roaches... which I've no idea what I would do, but maybe I'll come up with some idea and throw that out there and then some other options beyond that. But then again, it's that I still haven't heard from the third person, so that could be something totally in left field still coming our way.
JESSE: Cool, cool, cool.
DAVID: I know a lot of webcomics authors say, "well I have a very specific end and that's it." Is Order of the Stick actually gonna have a conclusion, or do you just wanna keep on writing it?
RICH: No, no. It has a conclusion. I know exactly how it ends. I think every single plotline that I've introduced has a definitive conclusion to it that will be in the main comic, it's not gonna be ignored or just left hanging forever. There's definitely gonna be a final book of the main storyline. But that being said, one of the reasons I've been sort of experimenting with some of these side projects is that there's plenty of room for these characters to keep doing stories. I think they're well-defined characters, and I can always go back. That's why I've been doing things like the Stick Tales and which is the characters telling the story of a famous work but using themselves, sort of like what the Muppets used to do. Then things like Julio Scoundrel spinning off sorta into his own crazy land of comic book type of and that kind of stuff will let me create even when I've moved on to what I'm gonna do next in the world, after the Order of the Stick. I can still come back and do an Order of the Stick related project, even though the story, the plot, has reached its proper conclusion and so on. So I guess I'm sort of setting up now for what will happen next.
JESSE: And I think I've read in interviews or in things you've written that the comic is more than halfway done at this point?
RICH: Oh yeah, definitely more than-- well, I say that, but you should take it with a grain of salt because I run long. Things are always longer than I plan them out to be because I always think of things in the middle that need to be addressed, either they're logical concerns or a character moment that needs to happen in order for it to be emotionally realistic. So then there will be an extra strip here, an extra strip there, and it'll add up. So it's definitely more than halfway done in terms of number of books, but the number of strips left, I don't even have a clue what that's gonna end up being. Some people are all "he's gonna plan to end it at strip 1000", absolutely not. It will go way past strip 1000 because we're already at 833 and we're not done with this book yet, and there's at least two more books left. So yeah. It's to go. If you're not a reader, there's still plenty of time to jump on.
JESSE: I personally have all the books. No big surprise there considering as I've told you I have the poster on my wall. So I think we're gonna wrap it up, but I just wanna ask you, do you have anything else you'd like to add, or anything you'd like to plug or mention?
RICH: Kickstarter's still running at http://www.kickstarter.com, you can find it by typing in "Order of the Stick." My website's http://www.GiantITP.com, and so on and so forth.
JESSE: But I wouldn't ask you to spoil the comic even though I want to be like, "what's gonna happen next?" But I understand that would be unfair.
RICH: I am proud of you for not asking me either Vaarsuvius' gender, or what the Monster in the Darkness is, or how Belkar's gonna die. Those three questions everyone asks.
JESSE: Yeah, I figured you keep those things a secret for a reason, and it would be lost if you were to just blab it out. So I tried not to ask those.
RICH: Two of them are really important and one of them is so not important that it doesn't even need to be answered.
JESSE: Exactly.
RICH: I'll let you figure out which ones are which.
JESSE: Exactly. All right, well then I think that's all the time we have, but I would like to thank Rich Burlew one last time for being on with us.
RICH: Thank you for having me.
JESSE: Of course. I'm Jesse Baruffi.
DAVID: And I'm David Lawrence. And you can reach us at [email protected].
JESSE: And go to our website at http://non-productive.com/geekademia. And that's it.
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2012-03-14, 10:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
Can I just say that you guys rock? I just did an interview and not one, but two of you picked it up and worked to transcribe the whole thing. That's really awesome.
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2012-03-14, 10:55 AM (ISO 8601)
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2012-03-15, 04:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
The whole interview. Thanks Xapi & B. Dandelion. I multiquoted it here so that I can copy and paste it into the main index. I'm going to do a little reformating as well, nothing major. I'll post another update when it is all done and added to the index.
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-16, 06:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
The Future just ain’t what it used to be.
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2012-03-16, 10:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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2012-03-16, 12:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
Agreed. If you want to search simply by date, well, the Giant has a post history here.
I don't see how the actual words of the posts wouldn't count. This isn't an index of dates. Its an index of content. Only occasionally is the date of a comment in the index even that important.Last edited by ThePhantasm; 2012-03-16 at 12:41 PM.
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-16, 01:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
For what it's worth, I'd be more interested in reading by post date than by topic. It certainly provides a bit of context, as well as letting me easily remember which ones I have and haven't seen.
That said, I don't want to volunteer someone for extra work. ThePhantasm's link would probably be sufficient for me, if it actually worked instead of returning "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms."I don't actually play D&D. I do play:
Magic: the Gathering Online (with FREE tournaments at Gatherling)
DC Universe, my surprisingly good CoH replacement
Planetside 2, MMO-meets-FPS (and the first shooter I've liked in ages).
Simunomics - a massive multiplayer Business Simulation Game. Browser-based, free to play.
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2012-03-16, 02:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
That's not what an index is. An index isn't a Table of Contents provided in chronological order. An index is a topically organized tool pointing you to specific citations about specific things. The only difference between this and a book index is that this isn't alphabetically organized (mainly because there is no good way to do that - none of the topics can really be summed up in one word).
The link I provided works just fine for me. However, you can get to the same thing by clicking on the Giant's profile and then clicking the "read more posts by the Giant" link."And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-16, 05:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-03-16, 05:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
No one is denying this, as far as I can tell. Please read comment #280 further up the page.
On another note, the Geekademia Interview is up on the index! I had to move the TOC to a different post... the interview almost maxes out the 50,000 character limit.
I had to have a massive fight with the server just to get it all up but it finally worked. ThePhantasm: 1, Server Problems: 0.Last edited by ThePhantasm; 2012-03-16 at 05:32 PM.
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-16, 06:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-03-16, 06:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
The point is that if you are only interested in posts made the Summer of 2010, because, say you were on a nostalgia trip from when you first started reading the strip that year, you do not want to bother reading posts from before then or after then. The goal is to check the date before you read.
But unlike this index, that includes a lot more cruft posts. Especially the ones that just say “New strip is up.”The Future just ain’t what it used to be.
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2012-03-16, 08:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
You feel nostalgia for... Rich's comments?
"Nostalgia trips" aren't what the index is for. I'm not going to go to that amount of trouble for someone's momentary nostalgic entertainment. This is for informational content purposes only. Besides, are there really that many people who are going to want to go on a "nostalgia trip" through Rich's comments? I find that hard to believe.
EDIT: It does seem quite a few posters want this. Can you guys give me a more solid reason than personal preference? If it comes down to it I guess we could put it to a vote. Before that I'd like to hear everyone's reasons (not just Shhalahr Windrider's).Last edited by ThePhantasm; 2012-03-16 at 08:12 PM.
"And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand." - St. Augustine
The Index of the Giant's Comments | Thanks, Bradakhan, for the avatar!
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2012-03-16, 09:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
Of course it does, it's your search. (vBulletin archives the search by user, probably so you can go back to it without the board having to re-search. But it's specific to you and doesn't work for others.)
A generalized search would look like this:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/searc...nduser&u=14856
the difference being that the URL gives the criteria instead of the search #.
As for adding dates, if you don't want to do it then don't. You certainly don't owe anybody. I'm just saying that for my part, let's say I'm only interested in story/plot posts. I would A) like to check every month or so to see what's updated in that section. And B) if I see that posts on similar-ish topics are made around the same time, I'm more likely to read them together. But I don't think either of those are any stronger than personal preference, so don't put yourself out if you don't feel compelled.I don't actually play D&D. I do play:
Magic: the Gathering Online (with FREE tournaments at Gatherling)
DC Universe, my surprisingly good CoH replacement
Planetside 2, MMO-meets-FPS (and the first shooter I've liked in ages).
Simunomics - a massive multiplayer Business Simulation Game. Browser-based, free to play.
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2012-03-16, 09:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2008
Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
For what it's worth, some of us agree with you that the dates don't seem that useful unless you're motivated to click on the actual quote. I do think that comic numbers would be useful in at least some instances, like the Vaarsuvius alignment quote, especially as it seems to have changed:
Everyone in the party is of Good alignment except Belkar as of strip #11 (unholy blight) (Alignment)
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showp...&postcount=308
The most recent strip thread before the "Vaarsuvius is true neutral" quote appears to be strip #800, so there was plenty of time to change alignment in between, if that's what happened.
While we're at it, let's add my favorite,
Killing evil creatures isn't evil (Alignment)
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showp...&postcount=311
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2012-03-16, 09:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
That has been specifically not included as it no longer reflects the feelings of the author
Edit: Or, more specifically, would be grossly mis-utilized without its proper context, which Rich has made later quotations which directly counters the arguments it would be used for.Last edited by FujinAkari; 2012-03-16 at 09:25 PM.
Official Incense Aroma Specialist for the Vaarsuvius Fan Club!
English isn't my primary language, so please let me know if something I'm saying doesn't make sense!Continuation of ThePhantasm's awesometacular post
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2012-03-16, 09:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments
I don't see a whole lot of value to it, but it doesn't seem like it should be difficult to collect all the dates.
Which made me think maybe I should do it.
So I did. (With a couple of minor formatting changes, like moving a colon or line break that was out of place here and there, and removing a highlight term from one of the links)
SpoilerAlignment -
SpoilerV is True Neutral! (August 17, 2011)
Durkon is Lawful Good! (July 27, 2011)
Belkar is Chaotic Evil! (December 1, 2005)
Tarquin is Lawful Evil! (December 7, 2010)
Nale, Sabine, and Thog are all Evil! (January 20, 2005)
Enor & Gannji are True Neutral! (October 24, 2011)
Redcloak is Evil! (January 23, 2012)
Alignment and Environment (October 25, 2011): Enor and Gannji were not operating wholly outside the ethical framework of the Empire of Blood. This doesn't change the nature of their acts but does mean that the acts are not as indicative of their overall alignment as some might suppose.
Elan and Nale's Parentage (November 18, 2011): How did it affect their alignment? Giant can't fully answer because of events yet to be revealed. Elan spared Nale's life because of Elan's understanding of what it means to be good.
D&D, Alignment, and Morality (February 14, 2012): Rich on the comic's criticism of the way D&D has been played for over three decades. "D&D cannot and should not begin and end at black-and-white, and indeed already doesn't, if everyone would just learn to look at things a little more complexly." See also here (D&D "racism" and alignment; February 14, 2012) and here (the real world applicability of Redcloak's story; February 14, 2012).
D&D's Alignment System (February 18, 2012): Thoughts on how it could be improved.
Art -
SpoilerCharacter Appearances & Forum Speculation (October 6, 2009): Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. For example, just because two persons have similar hairstyles doesn't mean they are related.
Why the Strip Titles Aren't Above the Strip (November 20, 2010): The titles are "bonus" jokes. Rich prefers not to put them above the strip itself.
Black and White Books (March 16, 2011): They are unlikely to ever be colorized, and were not originally in color. Rich drew them in black and white.
The Oracle's Location on the OOTS Poster (September 5, 2010): Don't read too much into it.
True Subjective View In #843 (March 7, 2012): V gets cornered.
Characters and Merchandise (November 22, 2011): The presence, absence, position, or style of any character on any piece of merchandise has no bearing on any future (or past) plot points.
Art and Magic:Spoiler
Invisibility (March 15, 2010): Why the art for invisible characters isn't consistent (utility trumps consistency).
Counterspelling (January 23, 2012): The Giant doesn't use different art to differentiate between counterspelling with Dispel Magic and counterspelling with the same spell.
Spell Colors (June 28, 2010): The colors come from the spellcaster's choice or personality, and not their alignment or the types of magic.
D&D Rules and Explanations -
Spoiler
Rules Accuracy In The Comic (August 17, 2011): "If you are looking for moment-to-moment rules accuracy from this comic, you probably should stop reading."
Rules Accuracy In The Comic, II (January 10, 2012): Case in point: Rich avoids the D&D term "calling" for the sake of non-D&D OOTS readers, who probably would not understand its meaning.
Acid-Born Shark (April 6, 2011): Rich created it, and made fun of himself in the comic.
Character Items:
SpoilerElan's Rapiers (May 13, 2010): He has 2. His original, and one from Julio Scoundrel.
Haley's Boots of Speed (May 29, 2011): Yes, she did get them dyed to match her brown / tan garb.
Durkon Throws Diamond Dust into the air in #844. (March 9, 2012)
Character Stats -
SpoilerOOTS' Stats (April 10, 2010): Rich hasn't written them down, and everything is up in the air until they need a specific ability.
Tsukiko Breaks The Rules (August 14, 2011): Tsukiko has too many schools. Rich doesn't make character decisions based on common player trends.
Durkon's Mass Death Ward (September 19, 2011): Rich did not even know Mass Death Ward existed when he wrote the strip. He pegged it at 7th level instead of 8th.
Elan and Nale are Twins (May 3, 2004): So Nale has the same Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution as Elan.
A Piece of Straw (January 3, 2006): Haley used a piece of straw to get out of the jail cell. Info on Haley's Dexterity, Level, etc.
Combat Scenes and Explanations -
Spoiler
Miko's Fight (November 30, 2005): How Miko defeated the OOTS off-panel and captured them.
Roy's Arena Fight With Thog (October 6, 2011): Roy's strategy to taunt a dungeon-crashing Thog into breaking the pillars.
Zz'Ditri's Break Enchantment (August 7, 2011): Rich didn't read the casting time while making the strip.
Story / Plot -
Spoiler
General / Uncategorized -
Familicide (March 7, 2012): How it works.
Some Thoughts on Visuals and Story (February 18, 2012): People get invested in the story, not the art, of a comic.
Chronology & Timeline (May 26, 2010): Anything that states a numbered, dated year references the Northern calendar. The Oracle uses the Southern calendar. Further details on timeframe of Belkar's death prophecy included. Some time references in the strip (like the deva's chart) should not be taken too literally.
More Prequels? The total number of planned prequel stories is "pretty much fixed." (September 1, 2011)
OOTS Age Range (July 2, 2010): Intended to be early to mid 20s. Durkon is the "dwarf equivalent" of this age range, in his 50s.
Map of the Western Continent (September 12, 2010): It is constantly changing.
Not everything needs a backstory, or even has an interesting one worth telling. (July 23, 2010)
Prequels (SPOILER ALERT) -
SpoilerSoD Paladins & Miko's Fall (March 15, 2010): Only the crayon pages are narrative by Redcloak. Not every event is necessarily "seen." Certain scenes are largely shown from Redcloak's perspective. Details of why the paladins who killed Redcloak's people may or may not have fallen, why it doesn't matter, and how showing it would have cheapened the effect of Miko's fall later.
Right-Eye's Family (June 15, 2008): They weren't raised because Redcloak doesn't control Team Evil's finances to pay for resurrection, Xykon does. Evil characters are not discouraged / prohibited from raising the dead in OOTSverse.
Dragon Magazine Alternate Panel (August 3, 2011): What didn't show up in Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails.
The Crimson Mantle (January 12, 2012): Generally it is not known by non-goblins that the mantle is the source of power.
Redcloak's Little Sister was not irredeemably evil, and certainly did not deserve execution. (February 14, 2012)
Reading Too Much Into It -
Spoiler
Hidden Meanings (July 2, 2009): Not everything in the comic has one.
Current Politics (July 2, 2010): There are no references to current politics in the strip beyond those which readers invent themselves.
Belkar's Jokes (April 11, 2011): Belkar making a joke about something does not make it so.
TV Tropes (March 4, 2010): Rich is aware it exists. No, he doesn't use it for ideas or reference it in any way in the comic.
Pratchett (October 26, 2009): Rich hasn't read Pratchett.
Orrin Draketooth's Daughter (November 21, 2011): She's not Haley.
Soon's Gate Backstory and Explanation
SpoilerSoon's Gem and Gate (August 21, 2011): Details about Soon's rift and how it is protected. The gate / rift could not be moved. You can shift a gate to another plane, but not another place on this plane.
Soon's Castle (September 1, 2011): Soon built the castle, but did not build Azure City.
Storytelling Mistakes? -
SpoilerSurprises Are Not Deus Ex Machinas (September 19, 2011)
No Purpose? "As a general rule of thumb, no one should say the sentence, 'There's no (or no other) possible narrative purpose for Rich to have done X!' until the story is completed. Because there's always a narrative purpose, you just haven't thought of what it is." (January 10, 2012)
Typo in #597? Nope. It is a joke. (September 30, 2008)
Racism and Sex in OOTS (May 2, 2009): Rich answers two separate concerns: One, whether there is some correlation between skin color and promiscuity, and two, whether there is too much promiscuity among the women portrayed in the comic. The short answer to both is no.
Plot Holes:
SpoilerGiant's Response I (November 29, 2011): Including - why Haley was surprised that Miko was killed, info on Nale's self-delusion and ego, how the rift got so close to Xykon's Tower (it grew), and what is and isn't a plot hole.
Giant's Response II (November 30, 2011): A character thinking one thing instead of another thing is not a mistake, it just is. The rift grew according to Redcloak's predictions, but he was measuring the actual hole, not the cracks.
Writing Process and Story Development
SpoilerV's Gender History (May 29, 2011): Why Rich made V's gender ambiguous and what discussions about it were like in the early days. Roy's 'V-man' comment is not necessarily indicative of V's true gender.
Dungeon of Dorukan History (June 20, 2005): Originally, Dorukan was not even necessarily a person.
The Dwarven god Thor (July 12, 2004): OOTS Thor is not based off of D&D Thor. Until referenced in the comic, the Nordic legends / mythology does not exist in OOTSverse.
Character Development / Backstory:
SpoilerParental Problems (November 18, 2011): Background info on the parents of various characters like Elan and Haley, including character / plot development history.
Miko and Shojo (November 18, 2011): Shojo was the "tape" that held Miko's character together for so long. He was responsible for much in Miko that was good / positive.
V's Splices (August 21, 2011): There won't be a prequel book about them, and Rich hasn't developed a backstory for them. Just 3 evil souls.
Worldbuilding vs. Foreshadowing (August 18, 2011): "Say hello to your boss for me."
Character Names:
SpoilerMalack's Name (October 10, 2010): Not based off of Darth Malak. Originally was going to be named Malachi.
Tarquin's Name (October 11, 2010): Named after a Roman King, not the Grand Moff.
The Story as a D&D Spoof:
SpoilerD&D Spoof (January 22, 2012): The Giant on the comic's shift in focus from D&D gag-a-day jokes to a story that might appeal to a broader fanbase.
D&D Spoof Part II (January 29, 2012): More on the above topic.
Geekademia Interview Table of Contents
Spoiler
Part 1: Kickstarter and the Fans
- 1A: Introduction
- 1B: OOTS Kickstarter Project
- 1C: OOTS Fandom & GiTP Forums
- 1D: OOTS Soundtrack Thread & OOTS Animated
- 1E: OOTS & Social Networking
Part 2: The Comic and Role-Playing Games
- 2A: On Whether Rich Has Time For Role-Playing
- 2B: Will There Ever Be an OOTS World Created for a Gaming System?
Part 3: The Comic's Storyline, Part I
- 3A: The "Darkness" of the Storyline
- 3B: On Behind-The-Scenes Story Commentary In Interviews and Books
- 3C: What Is The Comic About?
- 3D: On The Comic & D&D Rules
- 3E: Creating the Character Wall Poster
- 3F: On Fanart & Whether Roy Wears Pants
- 3G: Putting an End to the Crack Pairings Thread
Part 4: Modern Fantasy and D&D
- 4A: On Keeping Fantasy New & Interesting
- 4B: TVTropes & Lazy Criticism
- 4C: Public Perception of D&D
- 4D: Jack Chick & Tom Hanks
Part 5:The Comic's Storyline, Part II
- 5A: Rich's Favorite Characters to Write Jokes For
- 5B: Rich's Favorite Characters to Write Drama / Character Struggles For
- 5C: Vaarsuvius' Moral Conflict
- 5D: The Storyline & the D&D Alignment System
- 5E: On Keeping Plot Twists Secret
- 5F: The Desert Plot Arc & Law vs. Chaos
- 5G: The Possibility of an Order of the Scribble Prequel Book
- 5H: The Kickstarter Donor's Choice Stories
- 5I: The Conclusion of the Storyline
- 5J: How Much Story Is Left To Tell
Part 6: Outro and Ending
Special Thanks to Xapi and B.Dandelion for transcribing the interview. Reformatted for the index by ThePhantasm. Original interview by Jesse Baruffi and David Lawrence of Geekademia.
eBooks (April 11, 2011): Yes, Rich has considered it. Digital PDF's are not in the works. Rich prefers to sell physical copy books.Last edited by Jasdoif; 2012-03-16 at 09:57 PM.
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The Index of the Giant's Comments VI―Making Dogma from Zapped Bananas
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2012-03-16, 10:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2008
Re: The Index of the Giant's Comments