The Index of the Giant's Comments VI―Making Dogma from Zapped Bananas

[Sir_Norbert]

This isn't directly connected to the current vote, but I noticed on one of the entries, "Elan and Nale's Parentage -- How did it affect their alignment? The Giant can't fully answer because of events yet to be revealed." The wording for that one might need to be updated now that we're a long way past those events.

[ReaderAt2046]

I vote to Include 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and F1 and to Exclude 4 and 7

[Jasdoif]

Looks like we're on another page!

---

In case anyone's missed it, there's a new answers post over on Patreon; and a new forum post over...here, "cleverly" labelled as F1 on the table to keep everything together:

#	Question	In Favor	Against	Disposition	Posters
1	How do you feel about OOTS remaining (D&D) 3.5? Great.	7	4	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid, LadyEowyn, Precure
2	What makes a good magic system? Lack of bad drama.	8	3	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure
3	Would you ever appear on a tabletop gaming stream? No.	7	5	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Gwynfrid, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure
4	Is the Open Gaming License an issue for the comic? No.	6	7	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Gwynfrid, Kish, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, b_jonas
5	Why is your Patreon avatar Elan? Representative accuracy.	8	4	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure
6	How did you pick which Norse Gods made it into the Northern Pantheon? Matching names to reasons.	10	2	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Precure
7	Did you know Christopher Walken was going to appear in a Dune movie? No.	7	6	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Gwynfrid, Joerg, Kish, Tzardok, b_jonas, ti'esar Against: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert
8	Why was Tarquin obsessed with Elan and Nale? He saw extremes of personality.	11	2	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, b_jonas, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Precure
9	Do you read the forums anymore? No.	9	4	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, b_jonas
10	Do you speed the plot up after reader feedback? Not anymore.	9	4	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, b_jonas
12	Does Neutrality fit death gods better than Evil? Only sometimes.	11	2	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid, Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, hroþila, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Precure
F1	Wrecan is technically a Crusader. ...yes.	13	1	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid, Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Ruck, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, b_jonas, ti'esar Against: Precure

Spoiler: Breakdown by Poster

Show

Poster	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	12	F1
Kish
Ruck
Gwynfrid
Tzardok
Metastachydium
b_jonas
Sir_Norbert
Grey_Wolf_c
Aidan
Joerg
137beth
LadyEowyn
ti'esar
hroþila
Precure
ReaderAt2046

---

This isn't directly connected to the current vote, but I noticed on one of the entries, "Elan and Nale's Parentage -- How did it affect their alignment? The Giant can't fully answer because of events yet to be revealed." The wording for that one might need to be updated now that we're a long way past those events.

Good point...Okay, so if I mention the Elan-and-Nale part of that post in the similar Elan-and-Tarquin entry, and make the "only kids" thing its own entry....

Tentative Updates
🍌Elan and Nale are Tarquin's Only Children(#8) "...Tarquin would have been highly aware of the fact that multiple children means multiple heirs...a potential threat to him."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍍🍌Elan is (Still) Chaotic Good Elan let Tarquin fall because he was using a different interpretation of Chaotic Good. See also here, about the similar situation with Nale.	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌Elan's Dune Comment in #689(#7) "...it's a reference to the music video for Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice, which quotes Dune."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌Malack (and Nergal) are Evil(#12) "He never actually says that either he or Nergal is Neutral, merely that it would be logically consistent if they were."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌On Death Gods and Neutrality(#12) "What Malack says is entirely reasonable, but so is the idea that a culture could fear death so much that they conceive its personification as inherently malevolent...."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌On Not Updating Past D&D 3.5(#1) "...I feel absolutely great about sticking with 3.5".	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌On What Makes Good Magic for a Story(#2) "I like my magic like I like my Star Trek technology: Full of nonsense terms that the audience has to infer the meaning of based on contextual clues."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍍🍌On the Forum and the Comic(#9) "I don't read the GITP forums at all anymore, either in or out of the OOTS context." See also here and here.	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌Selecting the Northern Deities(#6) "I mostly worked backwards from how I wanted the vote in the Godsmoot to shake out".	#1291	2023/11/30
🍍🍌The Comic Cannot Be Posted on a Consistent Basis(#9) "What you're suggesting is not something I can actually do." See also here(#10) ("So the remainder of the comic is going to take as long as it takes....")	#1291	2023/11/30
🍍🍌The Comic Is Not a Game Manual(#4) "...and has never had anything to do with the OGL at all".	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌The Giant Will Not Be Streaming D&D(#3) "...but I can't help consider whether or not I would have ever tried D&D if I had thought the games might be broadcast publicly. I sincerely think not."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌The Giant on Using Elan as His Avatar(#5) "...for situations where the character image is going to...possibly be interpreted by newcomers as a depiction of me, I think it's better for everyone if I...use someone who matches me demographically."	#1291	2023/11/30
🍌Wrecan is a Crusader Also, Tarquin wasn't envisioned as a swordsage.	#1291	2023/11/27

[Gwynfrid]

I like how you've woven some of the answers with older comments. This does a good job, keeping the Index a consistent and well organized compilation.

By the way, I notice that I had commented a little too fast. Answer #3, about playing RPGs in public on Twitch or other, has nothing to do with the comic, so it doesn't belong in the Index. So, I'm reversing my previous position.

[Peelee]

5	Why is your Patreon avatar Elan? Representative accuracy.

I vote we change the blurb to "Same reason Peelee's avatar is a dragon."

[TaiLiu]

I vote we change the blurb to "Same reason Peelee's avatar is a dragon."

You're a real dragon? :O

[hamishspence]

More than one person was advocating it, but where it came from I never knew. It showed up long after his last appearance in the comic.

But since more than one person was advocating it, I do urge actually including that Rich said "no" to it, not just that Wrecan is a Crusader.

Even back in November 2013 when the Tarquin arc was still going on, people were speculating that he was using Bo9S manuevers, some of which only swordsages could access by default (other classes had to spend multiple feats to gain access to high level manuevers).

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...er-Page/page14

[Jasdoif]

By the way, I notice that I had commented a little too fast. Answer #3, about playing RPGs in public on Twitch or other, has nothing to do with the comic, so it doesn't belong in the Index. So, I'm reversing my previous position.

Okay.

...it's overkill to repost tables this soon since this doesn't change any dispositions, but darn it I spent too long getting this to support multiple posts per person

Spoiler: Summary

Show

#	Question	In Favor	Against	Disposition	Posters
1	How do you feel about OOTS remaining (D&D) 3.5? Great.	7	4	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid(#1), LadyEowyn, Precure
2	What makes a good magic system? Lack of bad drama.	8	3	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure
3	Would you ever appear on a tabletop gaming stream? No.	6	6	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid(#2), LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure
4	Is the Open Gaming License an issue for the comic? No.	6	7	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, b_jonas
5	Why is your Patreon avatar Elan? Representative accuracy.	8	4	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure
6	How did you pick which Norse Gods made it into the Northern Pantheon? Matching names to reasons.	10	2	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Precure
7	Did you know Christopher Walken was going to appear in a Dune movie? No.	7	6	Vote-able	In Favor: 137beth, Gwynfrid(#1), Joerg, Kish, Tzardok, b_jonas, ti'esar Against: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert
8	Why was Tarquin obsessed with Elan and Nale? He saw extremes of personality.	11	2	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, b_jonas, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Precure
9	Do you read the forums anymore? No.	9	4	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, b_jonas
10	Do you speed the plot up after reader feedback? Not anymore.	9	4	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, b_jonas
12	Does Neutrality fit death gods better than Evil? Only sometimes.	11	2	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, hroþila, ti'esar Against: Grey_Wolf_c, Precure
F1	Wrecan is technically a Crusader. ...yes.	13	1	Include	In Favor: 137beth, Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid(#1), Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, ReaderAt2046, Ruck, Sir_Norbert, Tzardok, b_jonas, ti'esar Against: Precure

Spoiler: Breakdown by Poster

Show

Poster	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	12	F1
137beth
Aidan
Grey_Wolf_c
Gwynfrid(#1), (#2)
Joerg
Kish
LadyEowyn
Metastachydium
Precure
ReaderAt2046
Ruck
Sir_Norbert
Tzardok
b_jonas
hroþila
ti'esar

---

I vote we change the blurb to "Same reason Peelee's avatar is a dragon."

But how are potential new readers going to know you don't want to frighten them away with the soulless gaze of a cartoonist?

[Metastachydium]

You're a real dragon? :O

He is, albeit a defective one. (Or a Red with a very convincing paint job. One of those two. (Also, I'm a FLOWER.))

[Peelee]

]
But how are potential new readers going to know you don't want to frighten them away with the soulless gaze of a cartoonist?

Ya know, fair point.

He is, albeit a defective one. (Or a Red with a very convincing paint job. One of those two.

Oh sure, just reduce what i like and don't like to be based purely off what i look like. I see how it is. Thats it, I'm going blossomivorous!

[Precure]

2.) Leo Once3333: After having worked within the constraints of D&Ds magic system so long, have you considered coming up with your own? What do you think makes a good magic system?

I think he probably doesn't remember it anymore, but Mr. Burlew actually created an alternative magic system as part of his old gaming articles:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080120...kGjjviJU5.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20080120...kGjjviJU5.html

[Jasdoif]

Looks like it's time....

In case anyone missed it (or simply forgot since...March), we have new voting rules in place...including skipping the PM phase, so!

---

UPDATE COMING, VOTING OPEN

The following posters have already given posts close enough to count as votes:

Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, b_jonas, ti'esar

If any of you have changed your mind, make a new post with your new vote.

---

The vote is yes or no on whether each of these contested entries, considered individually, should be included in the Index:

Entry	Yes Votes	No Votes	Voters
(1) How do you feel about OOTS remaining (D&D) 3.5?	5	3	Yes Votes: Aidan, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure
(3) Would you ever appear on a tabletop gaming stream?	4	5	Yes Votes: Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure
(4) Is the Open Gaming License an issue for the comic?	3	7	Yes Votes: Kish, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, b_jonas
(7) Did you know Christopher Walken was going to appear in a Dune movie?	3	6	Yes Votes: Kish, b_jonas, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert

---

• Please bold your yes/no votes, it'll make it easier for me to notice.
• Votes must be posted (as in, not PM-ed to me) to be counted.
• To change your vote, make a new post with all your choices. I may not catch an edit, and one vote per person will simplify things if a vote gets called into question.
• Avoid discussing the quote itself, outside of giving an explanation for your vote in the same post as your vote. This'll make it easier to catch up after the vote, if a new quote comes along while we're still voting.
• In case of a tie, the entry will not be included.
• We still have a banana in charge. Hi. (I neither confirm nor deny a zapped status.)

Voting will be open until December 7th, 6PM PST.

---

The Index will be updated once the vote is concluded.

[TaiLiu]

He is, albeit a defective one. (Or a Red with a very convincing paint job. One of those two. (Also, I'm a FLOWER.))

I'm impressed you can tell different dragons apart. Usually I just distinguish dragons by their color.

You're a flower with a face!

Looks like it's time....

In case anyone missed it (or simply forgot since...March), we have new voting rules in place...including skipping the PM phase, so!

---

UPDATE COMING, VOTING OPEN

The following posters have already given posts close enough to count as votes:

Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, Kish, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, b_jonas, ti'esar

If any of you have changed your mind, make a new post with your new vote.

---

The vote is yes or no on whether each of these contested entries, considered individually, should be included in the Index:

Entry	Yes Votes	No Votes	Voters
(1) How do you feel about OOTS remaining (D&D) 3.5?	5	3	Yes Votes: Aidan, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure
(3) Would you ever appear on a tabletop gaming stream?	4	5	Yes Votes: Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure
(4) Is the Open Gaming License an issue for the comic?	3	7	Yes Votes: Kish, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, b_jonas
(7) Did you know Christopher Walken was going to appear in a Dune movie?	3	6	Yes Votes: Kish, b_jonas, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert

---

• Please bold your yes/no votes, it'll make it easier for me to notice.
• Votes must be posted (as in, not PM-ed to me) to be counted.
• To change your vote, make a new post with all your choices. I may not catch an edit, and one vote per person will simplify things if a vote gets called into question.
• Avoid discussing the quote itself, outside of giving an explanation for your vote in the same post as your vote. This'll make it easier to catch up after the vote, if a new quote comes along while we're still voting.
• In case of a tie, the entry will not be included.
• We still have a banana in charge. Hi. (I neither confirm nor deny a zapped status.)

Voting will be open until December 7th, 6PM PST.

---

The Index will be updated once the vote is concluded.

Votes: (1) Yes, (3) No, (4) Yes, and (7) No.

[Gwynfrid]

Votes:
(1) No
(3) No
(4) Yes
(7) Yes

[Tzardok]

Votes: 1. Yes
3. No
4. No
7. No

[b_jonas]

Please bold your yes/no votes, it'll make it easier for me to notice.

Can you please specify what yes/no means? I've always been wary voting yes/no in this thread, because at one point the default stance was to include every snippet and we voted to exclude. Can I just keep voting include or exclude, in bold, and have my vote still count?

Update: ok, good, this time you did specify:

The vote is yes or no on whether each of these contested entries, considered individually, should be included in the Index:

But I'd still be more comfortable with exclude/include votes.

[Jasdoif]

Can I just keep voting include or exclude, in bold, and have my vote still count?

You did post to "exclude" 4 and "include" 7, I did list it as a post I accepted as being a vote, and you are listed as voting "no" on 4 and voting "yes" on 7....

If it's apparent how you're voting (and that you're voting), I'll certainly represent it as such. (Strictly speaking the bold is a nicety, one much more valuable with short words like "yes" or "no")

[Bacon Elemental]

1) no

3) no

4) no

7) no

I dont feel that any of these merit inclusion.



I think 12)'s blurb missing out "Malack does not believe this and is deliberately misleading Durkon" is strange, incidentally. That's nice character motivation stuff that I'd actually missed beforehand.

[Joerg]

Votes:
1.yes
3.no
4.no
7.yes

[Rollin]

This is a work of reference.

1) No
3) No
4) No
7) No

[Gift Jeraff]

No to all.

Cataloging the poor guy's every breath is why he stopped engaging with us.

[137beth]

Yes to all.

[Jasdoif]

Looks like only the one about OOTS saying 3.5 passed the vote.

Entry	Yes Votes	No Votes	Voters
(1) How do you feel about OOTS remaining (D&D) 3.5?	9	7	Yes Votes: 137beth, Aidan, Joerg, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, TaiLiu, Tzardok, ti'esar No Votes: Bacon Elemental, Gift Jeraff, Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid, LadyEowyn, Precure, Rollin
(3) Would you ever appear on a tabletop gaming stream?	5	12	Yes Votes: 137beth, Kish, ReaderAt2046, Sir_Norbert, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Bacon Elemental, Gift Jeraff, Grey_Wolf_c, Gwynfrid, Joerg, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, Rollin, TaiLiu, Tzardok
(4) Is the Open Gaming License an issue for the comic?	6	12	Yes Votes: 137beth, Gwynfrid, Kish, Sir_Norbert, TaiLiu, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Bacon Elemental, Gift Jeraff, Grey_Wolf_c, Joerg, LadyEowyn, Metastachydium, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Rollin, Tzardok, b_jonas
(7) Did you know Christopher Walken was going to appear in a Dune movie?	6	11	Yes Votes: 137beth, Gwynfrid, Joerg, Kish, b_jonas, ti'esar No Votes: Aidan, Bacon Elemental, Gift Jeraff, Grey_Wolf_c, LadyEowyn, Precure, ReaderAt2046, Rollin, Sir_Norbert, TaiLiu, Tzardok

The Index has been updated.

---

And sure enough, we are onto four posts now...Probably a good time to say that if anyone's got reorganization ideas, I'm happy to hear them; my script keeps categories from splitting across posts and the second post is only at like 65% of maximum post size, so a good split somewhere could squeeze the Index down into three posts again.

---

Thats it, I'm going blossomivorous!

Does chamomile tea count?

---

I think 12)'s blurb missing out "Malack does not believe this and is deliberately misleading Durkon" is strange, incidentally. That's nice character motivation stuff that I'd actually missed beforehand.

Hmm. It seems like it overlaps a lot with the entry saying Malack and Nergal are evil....What's everyone else think?

In any case, you'll likely be interested in this bit from Blood Runs in the Family:

One of the things I wanted to explore with the Malack storyline was the idea that civility did not equal justification...At a certain point, that courteous tone becomes a shield being used by vile people to cloak themselves in the air of legitimacy....Also, if you read the scene where Malack tries negotiate an end to hostilities, you'll note that he never actually offers for Tarquin and the Linear Guild to withdraw. That, too, is emblematic of false civility; he is using the trappings of a compromise to request a retreat and hoping that Durkon doesn't notice.

[Metastachydium]

Thats it, I'm going blossomivorous!

THAT'S NOT EVEN A REAL WOR… Oh, damn. I just revealed my position.

I'm impressed you can tell different dragons apart. Usually I just distinguish dragons by their color.

If it has a tall crest and isn't Green, it's probably (masquerading as) a Silver.

You're a flower with a face!

It's a Form You Are Comfortable With.

Does chamomile tea count?

As EVIL MURDER? Yes. Yes, it does.

[Peelee]

THAT'S NOT EVEN A REAL WORÂ… Oh, damn. I just revealed my position.

If it makes you feel any better, I have the potential to specialize in counterintelligence. Detect Plants is a pretty basic requirement.

Does chamomile tea count?

Ya know, i actually had wild orange blossom tea just last night. With honey, obviously.

[ti'esar]

Quick question, but where is the quote from the Giant explaining that he came up with "37 million dwarf souls" (or whatever the number was) by googling the medieval population of Scandinavia indexed?

[137beth]

I think this is the post you are looking for.

[Jasdoif]

Quick question, but where is the quote from the Giant explaining that he came up with "37 million dwarf souls" (or whatever the number was) by googling the medieval population of Scandinavia indexed?

I think this is the post you are looking for.

Indeed.

I do not understand comments that boil down to, "I don't think the plot works the way the text says it works." I understand that characters can lie or be mistaken, but at a certain point you have to understand that the only way for me to communicate non-visual information to you in the strip is through dialogue.

I do not crunch numbers when writing dialogue. Do you know how I picked 10 million? I googled the medieval population of Scandinavia and made it about the same. The more important point is that you should assume that the characters are more familiar with the relevant details than you are—and if they say, "Hey, this number is the right number!" than you, as a reader, should accept that as being true within this story unless the story gives you some clue otherwise (like a character saying, "Ten million? That doesn't sound right").

I promise you that the resolution to this story will not be, "Oh, hey, Hel did the math wrong!" In fact, I promise you that the exact number of dwarves will never matter at all, for any reason, ever, and that every single character will continue to act in a way consistent with all of Hel's math being correct and true. And if that bothers you on some math-level of your brain, just pretend that the words "ten million" are a typo and it should say whatever number you would feel would be big enough to make Hel's stated plan "make sense" to you, personally. Because it really doesn't matter. It's not like I could have possibly picked a number that would please everyone anyway.

It's included as the supporting link here:

Storytelling Mistakes?
Assume Accuracy Unless Shown Otherwise "It works because I say it works, and the rest of the story will be written as if it works," and dialog is how the comic conveys non-visual information.	#1000	2015/08/30

[TaiLiu]

And sure enough, we are onto four posts now...Probably a good time to say that if anyone's got reorganization ideas, I'm happy to hear them; my script keeps categories from splitting across posts and the second post is only at like 65% of maximum post size, so a good split somewhere could squeeze the Index down into three posts again.

No idea about organization.

Hmm. It seems like it overlaps a lot with the entry saying Malack and Nergal are evil....What's everyone else think?

I think it's novel information. Being evil is different from lying. I didn't realize Malack was deliberately lying to Durkon instead of just making philosophy talk.

If it has a tall crest and isn't Green, it's probably (masquerading as) a Silver.

A green dragon pretending to be silver. :O

It's a Form You Are Comfortable With.

It is! Which is weird cuz if I saw a flower with a face outside of this forum I would freak.

[Metastachydium]

A green dragon pretending to be silver. :O

I'm mostly thinking Red, Copper or Gold with a fake crest, but that's the idea, yes!

It is!

Hah!

Which is weird cuz if I saw a flower with a face outside of this forum I would freak.

Too much Undertale or do you just want to make this flower sad:

Spoiler: Try to See the Big Picture

Show

…because if the latter, I'll politely ask you not to.