Results 91 to 120 of 489
-
2020-07-03, 06:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
For the record, on a reread, I noticed that the Goblins received a Red Letter early on in the story. For "experimenting with powders." It's pretty clear that they're working around the limitations that the gnomes set, and also a reason no one else has gunpowder for their rich alchemical traditions.
So if the fundamental nature of reality changes, Procer will not be affected. This is a brilliant argument.
Procer's army relies very heavily on the crutch of the nobility. If the nobility vanished overnight, the First Prince has no direct authority over peasant levies, and no state-wide apparatus to collect taxes. Also, of course, there's the fact that they are heavily reliant on a crutch of a First Prince, because without one, there is no unified army—the nobles will immediately descend to infighting. All it takes is one assassin against an unNamed ruler and the entire army falls apart. At least Old Callow could be plug-and-play with the Heroes they relied on.
On that note, I'd rather argue that Old Callow would be the most crutch-dependent army, being reliant on both Named and Callow's Knights in addition to masses of untrained conscripts. No other nation has the rune-carved full plate, for it is a plot device. Procer doesn't use heroes in their army, because plot device, despite them being an obviously efficient force multiplier.
Let's think for a moment of the Colonial period of our world. When Conquistadors used guns that couldn't be replicated by native populations and slaughtered everyone involved. Where the largest and most powerful nation in the world, China, got carved up into 'spheres of influence' because of technology that kept blowing up when they tried to replicate it.
Guns, we must conclude, are plot devices.
Let's not even get into the Roman Legions and how they worked. Those dudes using advanced technology like siege engines on local populations who didn't have a technology budget? Come on, pure plot device.
Oh, and the mongols. We're not even talking about how one plot device let the Mongols take over. Yeah, no, basically everyone had horses and bows at that point, and yet only the Mongols were really able to combine them? Pure, unmitigated bologna. Devs, this is completely unrealistic.
We're not even going to talk about how 13 ships were able to be beat the entire Japanese armada at the height of their power by a complete amateur at naval warfare who never lost a ship in his entire career. The less that's said about Admiral Yi and his obvious plot armor, the better.Last edited by Fable Wright; 2020-07-03 at 06:10 PM.
-
2020-07-03, 07:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Only the goblinfire, as I recall - it's probably what gives it that ability to burn/feed on magic. Catherine stopped using it when she discovered that little factoid. The sharpers and flashbangs do not, so far, appear to be anything other than good chemistry and engineering. They probably could be replicated, if some other nation was dedicated to doing so; I'm sure substances that explode or burn rapidly with a blinding light are not unknown to the alchemically-inclined community of Calernia. But there is a rather large distance between knowing that there are substances that do this, and turning them into a weapon that is 1: stable enough to be transported in an army and carried by a soldier without going off unintentionally, 2: can still be triggered reliably when they need to, 3: can be manufactured economically enough to outfit armies with them, and finally 4: can fit into a container or delivery device that both contains enough active component to be useful and is still small enough to reasonably be usable by infantry.
Also I could speculate that 'all attempts to replicate goblin munitions have ended up in exploding the researchers' might be a nod toward something sabotaging them, and not just because the very nature of the weapons requires experimenting with things that make lab accidents very easy. The goblins are very jealous of their secrets and already pretty good at cloak-and-dagger stuff, and they might be supported by Praes' top-class spy network. Black would have a strong interest in maintaining the tactical advantages the Legions get from being the only army with munitions support, and we already know they're not at all shy about arranging 'accidents' or straight out murdering people they consider to be harming Praes' interests.
-
2020-07-03, 07:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
- Location
- Earth and/or not-Earth
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
I made a webcomic, featuring absurdity, terrible art, and alleged morals.
-
2020-07-03, 08:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Huh. Went searching for the quote reference, this appears to be correct. I only remembered the Goblinfire mention. Well, yes, that would provide another explanation why nobody but the Goblins has this stuff - you need to be willing and able to bind devils, you need to know how to turn devil bits into bombs, and you need the reckless disregard for safety to do so on an industrial level.
-
2020-07-04, 03:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2016
- Location
- UK
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
For the last 20 years Procerans have been killed in droves because half of Procer's royalty was in the pay of a Villain - and those that weren't got assassinated by Assassin, another Villain.
So, while it's nice that the Barrow Botherer got eviscerated and the Dogbreath Mutilator got put down (thus saving a couple of small villages), it's more than a little disappointing that Providence couldn't even arrange for a chance meeting between Assassin and the Saint of Swords.
I like both Tariq and Laurence personally but the truth is that Good has been losing badly on the surface of Calernia for decades (including in Procer), and millions have died as a result. The people turning this around were Cordelia and Agnes, at least until Alaya and Catherine invited the Dead King to the slaughter.
Writing this makes me appreciate why Frederic is such a loyal member of Team Cordelia.
The Wandering Bard had another spin on it though (of course she did :-). She argued that the Villains were winning through the dark arts of good governance and constructive effort; which was good news in the long term:https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpre...-prise-au-fer/
“These are some of the most successful villains in the history of the Empire,” she said. “And they became that by going through the motions of being Good.”
...
“Day by day,” she said. “Year by year, century by century – we’re making Creation a better place. Even the bottom of the barrel is pulled up when you hoist the whole thing.”
Agreed on both points. Amadeus put up with an incredible amount of trouble from Catherine because a Callowan Villain ruling Callow could permanently flip Callow's character and stories to Below, a danger Tariq recognised when he saw Catherine.
On the dwarves I would add that, for example, it took the Levantines a few days to come up with their first counter to the Drow and start fighting back. The dwarves had the measure of the Drow several thousand years ago and have spent the lull in the war expanding their kingdom, improving their magitech and refining their tactics (Amadeus eat your heart out). The Drow spent that time eating each other in the dark.
Spoiler: Random thoughts while reading CampaignAww, now I want to meet the Affable Burglar and the Forgetful Librarian.
Good on Indrani for admitting that the Silver Huntress can shoot Unravellers when she can't.
Catherine is still the bad idea fairy, the Red Axe gambit shows hilariously bad judgement IMHO.
So some of the undead can stroll across the lake bed but others can't? The living can march quicker than the dead in general or only through the Twilight? It's still not clear how logistics work for any and all of the Dead King's forces.
Did Nessie intentionally create a Death Star for the coalition to attack or does he think the bridge is a boring but useful piece of civic infrastructure?
-
2020-07-05, 09:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2019
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
They weren't really "in the pay of" Malicia. She had to use cutouts and plausible deniability to get them to take the money, and they could have stopped if they wanted to. The issue was, fundamentally, that Procer was entirely willing to tear itself apart if given the opportunity.
Spoiler: Random thoughts while reading CampaignSo some of the undead can stroll across the lake bed but others can't? The living can march quicker than the dead in general or only through the Twilight? It's still not clear how logistics work for any and all of the Dead King's forces.SpoilerBasically, the Dead King has his crappy horde zombies (Bones), which have crappy gear, and they can march across the lake bed because their gear is crappy enough not to suffer much from water damage. But he also has elite troops (Binds), which have better gear, and have to go over the lake. Normally they go by turtle ship, which is low-volume and can be sunk by such measures as Unravelers or throwing the Mirror Knight at one. So he's building a bridge so they can march over in force.
At least, that's my recollection from the chapter where the bridge was first mentioned.
Twilight is like Cat's fae gates from when she had Winter, they have some kind of dimension magic that lets you cover a large real-world distance in a shorter time. And the Dead King's forces can't enter Twilight.Last edited by NigelWalmsley; 2020-07-05 at 09:41 PM.
-
2020-07-07, 10:20 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Charlatan IV is up in Extra Chapters, btw, if you haven't thought to look.
Spoiler: Charlatan IVAnd of course Olivier is the Rogue Sorcerer, who came into his Name when he found it necessary to put down his own brother.. well, mostly. He couldn't find it in himself to actually kill him. So we have a Hero who is driven by his own guilt over not being quite good *enough*, who thinks everything could have been avoided if he'd just made slightly better choices, and whose formative experiences involve herding cats to try to find good solutions for everybody until somebody regrettably has to be put down because they just won't play nice with the plan.. no wonder he works with Cat and the Practical Evil agenda so well. Her vision for reigning in the extremes of supernaturally-powered bad behavior and providing a framework for Named to live in relatively peace with the non-Named community is basically his whole Role, and they have similar frustrations about getting the people they're trying to lead to stop effing it up.
-
2020-07-07, 02:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Spoiler: Chalatan IVThe first comment really nails the tragedy of Oliver's story the most. Oliver didn't really make some obvious mistake that led to disaster or trusted the wrong person. I mean, it basically comes down to is that he didn't take his brother fully under his wing and raise him himself. Which I feel is a pretty high expectation for someone to put on himself.Spoiler: I'm a writer!Spoiler: Check out my fanfiction[URL="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7493788/Forum-Explorer"here[/URL]
]Fate Stay Nano: Fate Stay Night x Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
I Fell in Love with a Storm: MLP
Procrastination: MLP
Spoiler: Original FictionThe Lost Dragon: A story about a priest who finds a baby dragon in his church and decides to protect them.
-
2020-07-10, 08:29 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Spoiler: Charlatan IVYeah, agreed. Are there things that he could have done differently and maybe averted the disaster? Sure, probably, with the benefit of hindsight. And of course that's a possibility that will always bother him. But he didn't do anything ragingly stupid or incredibly unethical, he was just a relatively normal dude trying to balance personal fulfillment and responsibility in tough circumstances. It's nice to see a Hero that's actually a decent person (Hanno's still borderline, in my book. :P).Last edited by Eurus; 2020-07-10 at 08:33 PM.
Avatar by araveugnitsuga.
-
2020-07-11, 08:38 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2014
- Location
- Death realm
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
another chapter is out >.>
-
2020-07-14, 11:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2013
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Didn't see this to respond prior to today's chapter.
On that note: If I were writing this, I would use the next chapter as an epilogue to see what was happening with Praes, the Proceran plot, and Mirror Knight joining with the Pilgrim and end the book. Then you have a book that's really the gathering storm before the final push. The next book is the final assault to push back the dead, with bands of 5 taking on the various sub plots. Perhaps Cat uses Twilight like Gandalf with Shadowfax to keep the groups coordinated.
-
2020-07-14, 12:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2012
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Based on writer’s prior comments this is already the final book although based on size of the prior books we should be quite close to midpoint in this book so this is the breather between the early pivot (around Arsenal) and final assault. Interesting to see if we will be served another time skip.
-
2020-07-14, 12:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
We'll cut through the preparation and travel time to the Hainaut offensive, would be my bet, possibly with a couple more Interlude chapters to fill the time. A look in on what happens with Red Axe in Procer or what's going on with Praes, Black, Ranger, and the pretender Dread Empress (..completely forgot what name she assumed. The High Lady in charge of that one Praes city that didn't get completely exploded yet.)
Last edited by tyckspoon; 2020-07-14 at 12:33 PM.
-
2020-07-14, 08:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2013
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Last edited by Mith; 2020-07-14 at 08:50 PM.
-
2020-08-07, 04:36 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2014
- Location
- Tron Spacetime
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
What is Rapacious Troubadour about? Is it rape? He seems very... predatory.
-
2020-08-07, 04:51 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2018
- Location
- Seattle, WA
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Originally Posted by Darths & DroidsOptimization Trophies
Looking for a finished webcomic to read, or want to recommend one to others? Check out my Completed Webcomics You'd Recommend II thread!
Or perhaps you want something Halloweeny for the season? Halloween Webcomics II
-
2020-08-07, 03:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Spoiler: I'm a writer!Spoiler: Check out my fanfiction[URL="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7493788/Forum-Explorer"here[/URL]
]Fate Stay Nano: Fate Stay Night x Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
I Fell in Love with a Storm: MLP
Procrastination: MLP
Spoiler: Original FictionThe Lost Dragon: A story about a priest who finds a baby dragon in his church and decides to protect them.
-
2020-08-11, 07:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2019
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Does anyone know why cat feels guilty for hakrams injuries? I mean its not like she intended for him to be crippled.
-
2020-08-11, 09:01 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
She sent him off to babysit Mirror Knight and he was crippled while in the safest place in the world. Not to mention survivors guilt over her dying and coming back largely unharmed several times and her best friend becoming more and more ruined over time, he is lack hand for a reason.
-
2020-08-11, 11:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2019
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Sure, but thats what Commanders do, they send people into the fight. She even fought herself. Really, hakram would have been insulted if she had kept him in safety.
And unlike other times, this was not a battle for vanity nor glory nor petty revenge, it was a defense against serious attackers.
-
2020-08-11, 11:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- California, USA
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Do you remember Cat playing Affray with the Wandering Bard (Interludes Set Them Up and Knock Them Down)? Cat placed Hakram in the affray revolving around Severance, conceded the affray to WB after the Fae were about to break in and tried to save Hakram, but WB played out the Maddened Keeper, doubling down on the affray and turning Hakram's retrieval into triage. Cat feels guilty because she put Hakram in that position. He was a pawn in her game against WB (OK, probably more of a Rook, but still).
And since when does logic have anything to do with feeling guilty and blaming yourself for a loved one's suffering?Last edited by MammonAzrael; 2020-08-11 at 11:31 AM.
-
2020-08-11, 11:38 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
On one hand, I am deeply saddened by Robber's ageing. On the other, it'd be nice if at least one of Cat's friends manages to die of old age instead of warfare and/or assassination.
Grey WolfInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
-
2020-08-11, 11:38 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Spoiler: Association
If Hakram loses Stand, what might his Name create in its place that better suits his new support role?
NOW COMPLETE: Let's Play Starcraft II Trilogy:
Hell, It's About Time: Wings of Liberty
Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat: Heart of the Swarm
My Life For Aiur? I Barely Know 'Er: Legacy of the Void
-
2020-08-11, 11:39 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Thank goodness they are ants lacking in personal affections and not people then, eh? Cat's whole worldview is about her feelings, it's why she is set on punishing Akua instead of seducing/forgiving her and why she wants the common people to do better out of this instead of being satisfied just winning.
-
2020-08-11, 11:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
SpoilerIsn't the whole point here that he's hoping to guilt Cat into strengthening it back up so he can use it to support himself in combat? That's the kind of foreshadowing that should work, too, so I'd imagine that, if antyhing, he's going to get ghost limbs from it.
GWLast edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2020-08-11 at 11:42 AM.
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
-
2020-08-11, 11:50 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
SpoilerYeah I think part of it is she doesn't want him to be in combat anymore, which is subconsciously blocking him from recovering. They could make a story about him coming back with all ghost limbs driven by his devotion to her, but she has to really believe/want it.
-
2020-08-11, 03:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2016
- Location
- UK
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
It's what commanders do. It's what story weavers do. It's not what the leader of a Band of Five does. Catherine spends that scene lecturing the Bard on the subject while the latter sneers at her naivety.
And yes, Hakram wants to be on the frontline, particularly when the odds are desperate.
Observation: The only survivors out of the frontliners who were part of Catherine's circle at War College have a Name or are an Ogre - apart from Robber. This is despite him taking insane risks: playing with devils at Marchford, infiltrating Liesse - twice, ambushing the Binders etc.
Observation: Robber is visibly ageing.
Deduction: Robber must have a Name and a Story to have survived as he does but he cannot be a Villain; so logic compels us to admit that he must be a Hero. He obviously needs to keep this quiet for the sake of his reputation.
-
2020-08-11, 06:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
Spoiler: I'm a writer!Spoiler: Check out my fanfiction[URL="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7493788/Forum-Explorer"here[/URL]
]Fate Stay Nano: Fate Stay Night x Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
I Fell in Love with a Storm: MLP
Procrastination: MLP
Spoiler: Original FictionThe Lost Dragon: A story about a priest who finds a baby dragon in his church and decides to protect them.
-
2020-08-11, 06:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
What, he can't be a Goblin Hero? Going on the kinds of stories and acts his culture values he can absolutely be a Hero.. it's just a Goblin Hero would probably be considered a Villain in any other part of Calernia.
But part of the culture he would be exemplifying is 'hide stuff from the Matrons so they don't kill you for being too powerful', so.. I guess that still works?
-
2020-08-11, 06:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: A Practical Guide to Evil II: The Last Thread's On Fire, But It's Not Our Fault
They have implied that Names can change from hero to villain or otherwise based on circumstances. The various Independence names are shady at best when their country is fighting their independence wars, but if they own the country they would be heroes. Likewise the White Knight would probably be a Villain if conquering a country but a hero defending the system imposed by the conquerer (see Grey Pilgrim flashback previously.)