[projectaon] Re: Chasm of Doom Mines and Vision
- From: Timothy Pederick <pederick@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:52:52 +0800
On 16 February 2010 23:08, Simon Osborne <outspaced@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I did adapt the footnote a little, to point out that the Tinderbox is a
> Backpack Item, but the footnote is much easier. Fixed!
>
> See <http://www.projectaon.org/test/en/xhtml/lw/04tcod/sect123.htm> for
> the pre-release version with this fixed.
>
Okay, I've done a lot of digging through the sections that follow, and come
to some conclusions.
I have to disagree with the footnote as it stands. From Lone Wolf's
perspective, you *don't* need to take the Tinderbox with you, because you
can just light the new torch from the old one before it runs out. If at some
point he *lost* his lit torch, it's a different story -- as can indeed
happen in s.117. But that alone isn't reason to make them take the Tinderbox
if they take multiple torches, because pointing it out here is a spoiler.
Better would just be to remind the player that they *could* take the
Tinderbox, if they *wanted* to. (It's Chekhov's
Tinderbox<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun>
!)
The problem is, the book *does* assume (in s.281 and s.322) that Lone Wolf
has a means of relighting his Torch. Therefore we ought to force the player
to take the Tinderbox, whether they take one Torch or many!
Now, as for the Firesphere... s.117 doesn't make a lot of sense if the
player has a Firesphere, now that s.123 lets them use it *instead of* a
Torch. This is tricky. We can't merely adapt the footnote here to tell the
player to go straight to s.22, because the footnote *there* assumes the
player wasn't already holding the Firesphere, and has to fumble around to
take it out! A more consistent, but sweeping change would be to tell the
player to go to s.22, then change the footnote there to say they
*don't*lose an item, if they were already using their Firesphere.
Or, the ultimate in editorial meddling would be to add a whole new option to
section 117, like so:
You soon reach a section of tunnel that is under repair. Part of the floor
> has subsided, and a gaping hole is spanned by a rickety wooden bridge.
>
> If you are lighting your way with a Firesphere, turn to 157.
>
> Otherwise, you are tired and fail to notice...
>
I can't find any other sections to which the Tinderbox or the Firesphere are
relevant. (I'm not counting the various passages that merely talk about your
torch or your torchlight, because I think it's acceptable to let the player
mentally substitute "Firesphere", once they know -- because of the s.123
footnote -- that the book was written assuming they'd use a Torch, and our
edits opened the logical alternative to them.)
--
Tim Pederick
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