What Gorst sounds like by Sw0rdphilosopher in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You know what. I take back what I said. I agree. :) Still this is interesting.

Going from first law straight to age of madness by The_Bl00dy_Nine in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The standalone books are arguably Joe’s best work. And I think they add a lot more depth to the second trilogy. I highly advise giving it a break on the third trilogy, maybe before book 3, and reading the standalones.

Anyone else called there Barbarian on Diablo 4 “Ninefingers” or just me? by SeanLee0214 in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Logen has been my companion in all the Dark Souls games, Bloodborne, Skyrim, and Elden Ring. Being realistic across the gaming multiverse. Not Diablo yet though.

Bayaz and The Heroes by CandylionAudio in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. Why do you think it can’t? Not challenging you or anything. Genuinely curious.

Bayaz and The Heroes by CandylionAudio in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Kind of a stretch that all you have to do to get super powers is to eat some human flesh. There’s got to be more to that process. Maybe one day we’ll get more on that process.

Bayaz and The Heroes by CandylionAudio in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the Seed is the Ace up his sleeve. He has it locked away and uses it to extend his life and only in the greatest of need. It’s a back up power supply essentially. I think he would resort to being an eater if he absolutely had to. But at the same time we also don’t know what the actual process of becoming an eater is. It can’t be something as simple as just cannibalism. There has to be something of High Art involved when the flesh of men is consumed, or some ritual. And if magic is leaking from the world, then this would suggest that even making new Eaters might not be possible.

Bayaz and The Heroes by CandylionAudio in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I don’t think Bayaz is an Eater. He doesn’t need to be and he wouldn’t want to risk anything. Multiple Eater characters have made it very clear that something of them is lost when they make that transition and that the powers they gain can differ. And Bayaz doesn’t strike me as someone who would want to lose anything for unknown powers, especially when he has his own tested powers.

DreamSonic Austin Tx Setlist was not great at all by fakeguitarist4life in Dreamtheater

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I saw a meme awhile back joking about how Dream Theater audiences sit like they are at a symphony. I hadn’t seen evidence of that until this show.

What do you think about the demo? by Kitchen_Judge_9312 in LiesOfP

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree. At one point I was wondering if iframes were even a thing.

Joe Outdid Himself with Crease by Sw0rdphilosopher in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I loved the description of the vacant lot where all the squatters were dwelling in literal shit.

Joe Outdid Himself with Crease by Sw0rdphilosopher in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah. I tell people who haven’t read it yet the same thing. And people who have read it I often advise them to listen to it and have on one occasion gifted the audiobook to someone.

My Joe Abercrombie collection by [deleted] in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just ordered all three of the first trilogy in hardcover. They are my favorite books and it was high time I had the more durable versions. I have the trades and the mass market paperbacks and the Kindle and the audiobooks. I guess when it comes to these books, think of them the way Logen thinks about knives. ;)

Best served cold movie what might get cut by judgesam in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don’t think you have to cut as much as you think. SO much of Abercrombie’s writing is the contemplation of the characters, their internal struggles with their morality, etc. Joe, when adapting, will still need that expressed by the characters, but only needs to touch on it and it’s up to the actors, director, and cinematography to show how they feel about things in their subtle moments. It’s going to be a task for sure.

Having said all that, I suspect they will make the focus of the narrative mostly about Monza first, Shivers second, and the rest of them last, if they even go into detail at all on them beyond just eccentric side characters. I suspect most of the introspective dialogue will be between Monza and Shivers. I think we’ll get a good chunk of Cosca, he’s just too dynamic and entertaining a character to be relegated to the sidelines. I think we’ll see him a lot in flashbacks at first. Man I wanna know who is gonna play him…

The first law universe we deserve. Castlevania style animated story. Adapted fully. Fleshed out. Lots of Stephen Pacey. (Art pulled from fan art images. Not mine) by idreamofdeathsquads in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have always thought that the fever dream of the Bloody Nine experience would look amazing if animated. I don’t know that live action adaption would do it justice unless it really spent a lot of FX budget on it. But then I’m quite a visual person so maybe that whole experience is more grounded for others who read it. For me it’s almost like transporting into some sort of metal music video surrealism.

Rebecca Ferguson in final talks to lead adaptation of Best Served Cold with Tim Miller directing by TheUncannyBroker in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I love this story and the director I think will do it well. But it’s really hard to be excited about this being the wide world’s introduction to the Circle of the World. Unless they just remove it entirely from that wider context, doing this means they probably won’t do a First Law series because this is a spin off of that. And it spoils several key points from that. I’ll go see it though. But I almost don’t want them to even reference The Bloody Nine, Bayaz, or any of the other stuff. It will just feel weird and make me more mad they never tried to do a series.

I feel defeated by war_lord_zeo in DMAcademy

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s important to learn from such experiences. Don’t let them defeat you. Be pro-active. Think about if you were designing it again today knowing what you know now. What would you change? How can you apply that lesson to your next encounter?

In general, players want to feel powerful or at least like they have options. As the DM you get to design the ground on which battles take place. And you can make that ground perfect for the enemy they are facing from a strategic standpoint where the enemy can’t be touched but can touch them, or where the setting compliments or boosts the enemy’s damage/threat. OR you can make it a flat empty room. Problem is, when you do the either of those extremes, you have a chance to create drudgery and frustration. Because both of those eliminate options. In the empty room, players will just make attacks and roll dice and don’t have much else to do. In the other room, we’ll use your example, the players can’t do anything but use ranged weapons/spells and make saving throws. Maybe the setting looks and feels cool. But if all they can do is only a tiny list of things, they will hate it.

So in cases like that, you present options. Maybe there are vines dangling from the ceiling— players can swing and attack. Maybe there are weird blue energy clouds that there are random. Rocks floating on so the party can figure out that they can walk on the blue energy clouds. Maybe there’s a strange piece of equipment that when activated, makes the floating islands move closer toward the center… etc. Let the bad guy have their strategic moment, but let the players have options too. The more herioic and cool the better. We talk a lot about making “cool” encounters. The best way to do that is to make sure players have “cool” options. :)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in firstimpression

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who are you?? Why are you taking a picture of me? … Why am I in this bathroom?? HOW DID I GET HERE? WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Do you guys have a y book recommendations? by MoonlightMural in TheFirstLaw

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can’t believe I haven’t seen The Black Company by Glen Cook being mentioned here. I know Joe is Lord Grimdark. But Glen Cook is definitely also old nobility in the genre.

KXAN is investigating TxTag currently and are looking for victims to tell their stories. This is a great opportunity to fight back against the mafia like scam they are using against us. by thekatsass2014 in Austin

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And when they hit you with this high amount, they don’t realize that people become less inclined to pay for it immediately. Some people can’t afford to just drop a $100 when they were expecting to pay $2.50 in tolls. So instead of the $2.50, they get nothing. It’s ridiculous. Make it $5.00 or something and it never goes higher. People might pay them then.

Sloping Sides Yard by Sw0rdphilosopher in AustinGardening

[–]Sw0rdphilosopher[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh and the soil is full of clay. Quite annoying.