Subject: The problem with something like Commissars...
Author:
Posted on: 2012-11-05 21:23:00 UTC
... is that they're human, and 'Hi, I'm Agent Candelabra, and this is my midget pet!' is a bit... well. Yeah.
This has led to endless 'fun' trying to come up with minis for continuua which don't /have/ non-human characters...
hS
This is not only my first post on the board but also my first foray into the realm of virtual communities in general (to the point where I don't even have a Facebook) so I'm kinda freaking out writing this. I stumbled onto the original series on TV tropes in august, loved it, and have been wandering the wiki and the stories ever since. Earlier today, or given that it is technically tomorrow at this point, late yesterday, I wandered onto the unclaimed fics page and saw the summery for "Codex Alera Mask of the Titan" which instilled in me the rage-hates and the brain-hurts. I mean really, Codex Alera crossed with Teen Titans? What the Creative Profanity!? So I came here and take the first steps to killing it, or at the very least beg someone else to do it for me.
Hello, and welcome to our glorious board! I'm sure you'll love it here! And no, I will not trick you into reading Celebrian. I'm not that evil.
Jaunty, not rakish. Key distinction.
I do wear a battered bowler hat, but that's dapper at most.
Here, have some muffins and a conical hat!
The muffins are chocolate, while the hat is made of tin foil and duct tape!
Also! You should hang out in the chat! It is quite a fun place.
Welcome aboard, Pinefresh! Have a glass of enchanted water that will become the beverage of your choice!
I daresay, the PPC was certainly my first foray into reading fanfiction. If you're anything like me, it took a bit of braving up to introducing yourself here, so congratulations!
First of all, thank you Cyba for your generous and useful gift (if I could just find a duplicator and a Hip-flask of holding I'd be set). On the much less pleasant subject of the subject of my subject (namely Pinefresh calling for aid) I have run out of shows to watch, books to read, Webcomics to archive binge, and I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to fanfics. I'm not completely helpless, I recently started replaying the Mass Effect games. Unfortunately I'm going to be away from my Xbox for a week with far too much free time on my hands so if people could make suggestions in any of those catagories I would be grateful.
Okay. Here goes:
I would absolutely recommend reading Sir Terry Pratchett's very awesome Discworld series. It's comprised of several different several story arcs with each story being a more-or-less standalone piece featuring colourful characters such as Rincewind the cowardly "wizzard" (and his Luggage, a sapient homicidal trunk), Samuel Vimes the watchman, the Unseen University wizards (and their female counterparts, the witches), and so much more. I suggest starting by the City Watch arc featuring Vimes in Guards! Guards!
Awkward Zombie is a video-game themed webcomic that I particularly enjoy.
Team Fortress 2 is quite possibly the best FPS I've played recently and it's free to play (unbelievingly so; it's the only F2P game that is actually balanced for players who don't want to spend a penny) on PC. Using the slightly outdated Source game engine, it actually runs on older PCs just fine. Just ignore the Tomilsav and Dead Ringer whiners and you'll be set. Also, hats.
If you're willing to spend 25-ish dollars, buy the Orange Box on PC. It contains the Half-Life 2 (+ expansions) series, Portal, and the bought version of TF2 (more backpack space and a nifty Tommie helmet hat right off the get-go). You will not regret this.
Well, there are plenty of missions around here, of course. I have some new ones further down the Board, and my first is set in Mass Effect. KittyNoodles did a couple of good ones recently, too, and Lily Winterwood, I believe.
I also recommend Suedom (http://www.misssandman.com/Suedom/index.html), the Official Fanfiction Universities (many found here: http://www.misssandman.com/LOTR/ofum.html, although not all) and the Original Series, naturally. Hermione of vulcan also runs a Star Trek OFU here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8528580/1/The-Official-Fanfiction-Academy-of-Starfleet.
If you don't already have the game Skyrim, I thoroughly recommend that on PC (because on PC you can get mods - yay for free new content). If you like D&D type RPGs at all, the Icewind Dale games are really cheap now - old and low graphics, but challenging and quite fun. They also run with minimal prodding even on newer Windows versions (though you might need to turn on compatibility mode).
Hope this helps!
For fanfiction, we have the PPC Rec Center, wherein you will find lists of various PPCers' fanfic recommendations. There's also our list of Legendary Goodfic, which contains such perennial Protector favorites as OFUM and HFA, "Don't Panic!", "The Very Secret Diaries," and "The Shoebox Project."
As for webcomics, I recommend the highly under-appreciated fantasy romp Unsounded. The author is on break until November 21, so you have some time to catch up before she starts updating again. She has never missed an update, which makes a comic with amazing world-building, superb storytelling, and eye-popping art even MORE awesome.
And finally, I wouldn't be me if I didn't take the opportunity to plug the sci-fi TV series Farscape. I believe you can find it on Netflix, and there is quite simply nothing like it. It's intelligent, funny and serious, dramatic and silly, deep and low-brow—and its aliens come from the Jim Henson Creature Shop. In a word, it's quality.
~Neshomeh
Nesh: I don't know if it's fallen too far down the Board now for people to notice, but I just posted something for your attention on my mission thread, regarding the Mary Sue pages. When you get the time, please have a look.
Just did, actually. I like to keep an eye on things. It's only a couple threads below this one, anyway. {= )
~Neshomeh, who is always watching. Muahahah!
Welcome a-Board, newbie! If this is unfashionably late, blame hurricane Sandy for knocking out my power. You never realize the importance of central heating until it's gone and the temperature drops twenty degrees (Fahrenheit).
Anyway, it's good to have a new person eager for action but don't be too hasty. The Permission Givers don't usually grant power to those that have just shown up, so get comfortable and feel free to have fun.
To celebrate your initiation, I give to you this dusty old necklace that I found in a castle. It shines sometimes during the full moon, but other than that it hasn't done much. Maybe it will grant you eternal wisdom or something like that.
I'm just realizing now how similar that gift was to SingingTheThunder's. Have a miniature roller coaster instead.
As a Newbie gift have this myserious pentacle necklace. It glows under moonlight, but beyond that I haven't the foggiest.
Welcome to the Board! Have a piece of bubble wrap with extra big bubbles for a more satisfyingly loud popping sound. I sympathize with you about being freaked out about virtual communities. It took some pestering from my sister to have me introduce myself here. We don't bite, at least I don't.
Glad to have you here - we love having new people, as you've already seen from the enthusiastic welcomes you've already had. Have a bag of pebbles and a Random Shiny Object! :D
Permission first, killy teh hurts on teh brains later. Unless you decide to Co-write it with somebody. Not sure how that works, myself...
Anyhow, welcome and have this dusty old sword I found. I think it says "Caledfwlch" on the blade...
Thank you for the sword Specs. I had no intention of getting ahead of myself on the writing front.
I'm silently waiting now for somebody to come along and ask what Caledfwlch refers to.
So that I can show off my wiki knowledge.
Because I'm one if those guys.
:3
I think it's old Welsh.
To be honest, I've never had the mind for word scrambles and the like. I'm better at memory stuff.
That's not even a word scramble! That's an English interpretation of an Old Welsh word!
I've got it in Latin and one other language, too:
Caliburnus - Latin
Caladbolg - Not Certain.
This came from me getting bored one day and just deciding to bump around and read up on random mythology.
(By the way: after reading about the spear Gae Bolg, it's suddenly a lot less majestic than what I had always thought of it being.)
Um. Caliburn and Excalibur are two different swords, mate.
Caliburn was the Sword in the Stone, Excalibur the sword Nimune gave Arthur.
I know. But, because the two stories are so often changed out for the other, it could be said that both are the same blade with a different name.
But, as it stands, I do fully understand that they are separate weapons from each other. I was merely making a point that there was a Latin interpretation, is all.
Thanks for letting me know, though.
Blame historians, they mucked the two stories up anyhow.
Thankfully, wikipedia is good about untangling messes.
Just a quick reminder to stick to proper English on the Board, that's all. Some of us are seasoned Grammar Natzees.
In any case, welcome to the Board, and have a graduated cylinder!
My darling Intel's keyboard is broken but she wants to say hi, welcome to the PPC Board, and have an Awake, which is this blob of pure caffeine, and you should feed it only caffeine.
Hi, have some fudge!
I had to block Facebook e-mails because I had so many "friend me" requests from people I don't know very well (if at all). And since I don't have a Facebook account, I have no idea where they were getting my e-mail address from.
I do have a Google+ account, that's used solely for a couple online time/resource management games. (Well, and Google Docs, but I had a login there long before I let some friends talk me into helping them out in Zombie Lane.)
Have some chocolate, won't you?
Ah, I remember my first time joining an online community - trust me, you're handling it much better than I did!
As you are a newbie, Im'ma give you twenty bottles of bleepolate milk and a huggle. -proceeds to give you a giant bear hug-
Looks like you've already made some new friends, or at the very least acquaintances. If you are looking to get Permission to write PPC missions yourself, this might be helpful: http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/Permission
I'm sure the Flowers would love to have more agents.
I'm something of a newbie myself. I don't much like online communities either (I have a Facebook against my will), but I like the PPC. Everyone here is really nice.
Here, for a welcome present have a cute fluffy Tribble. Just don't feed it.
Welcome to the Board! Have some of my world-famous hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Contains the essence of the internet!
If you haven't done so yet, you should really check out The Original Series featuring Jay and Acacia.
Another must-read is the Board Constitution that can be found here.
There are also some pretty handy-dandy FAQs on the wiki to answer any questions you might have about the PPC. If you can't find an answer, don't hesitate to speak up on the Board.
...aaaaaaaaand with all the formal stuff done, might I ask what you favourite fandoms are?
I'm pretty much a newbie myself, so I'm always happy to see other newbs.
Here, have a chocolate bar. It'll come in handy later. :D
Hello and welcome! We're glad to have you aboard!
Thanks for the friendly comments and interesting things! I realize that I did a decent job explaining how I found my way into this wretched hive of scum and villainy, but failed to really introduce my self. I live in Portland Oregon, am 18 years old, and of the Male-type gender. my fandoms include the Dresden Files (the books, not the show) and Codex Alera, Tales of The Nightside (although I am not caught up with the more recent books) the Ciaphas Cain books, most of the games by Bioware, Mass Effect in particular. I also used to play a lot of Warhammer 40k. I still have my army and my 'bitz box fulla flash gubbens', so eventually I plan to go back the game store and 'Stomp dem zoggin pansy Tau good' (in case you can't tell, i play Orks). I have many other fandoms but due to it being an ungodly hour to be awake on a Sunday (namly noon), and the complete and utter lack of coffee in front of me, I cant seem to recall them. I shall return once I have rectified the coffee situation.
We've got Riese here who is also a fan. I'm not super-into it but I really want to get around to reading the books.
From the little that I know of the factions, I vouch for the Imperial Guard. Non-special humans with rice paper armour armed with flashlights versus Chaos-infused world-destroying abominations, hive-mind creatures, and space elves?
Normal humans all the way.
Coffee makes everything better. But as to faction preferences, the reason I like orks is that they are just so much fun, their tech is all crude, ramshackle, and only works in the first place because their too stupid to know better. Plus they have some really fun toys and crazy rules.
Their character design is also really cool.
Plus, those accents.
I was looking at the 40K continuum page and it didn't have a mini listed. As of yet there are also no 40k missions yet, but if I do start writing missions I might just try to change that. Ooh! idea! It could be a mini titan!
Lielac and I do have a mission in-progress. I don't think there are any minis, though...
Mini-Kommando? Or Commissar?
It seems like minis usually take the form of the biggest, most intimidating monster or villain in a continuum. Thinking about it further, the biggest problem with finding a 40K mini is the over-abundance of big intimidating things. As an Ork player, Ghazghkull springs to mind, but if I played IG I would probably want a Commissar or something.
Less 'biggest/scariest' and more 'funniest if made tiny and powerless.' Which is why I mentiones Orks and Commissars - the Orks would go around whacking at people's knees and shouting waaaagh! in little, helium-sounding voices, and the Commissars would rage about not being able to blam anyone.
But eh. Your mission, your call. Use your imagination!
... is that they're human, and 'Hi, I'm Agent Candelabra, and this is my midget pet!' is a bit... well. Yeah.
This has led to endless 'fun' trying to come up with minis for continuua which don't /have/ non-human characters...
hS
"Who's a cute little abomination? Yes you are. Who wants to grow up to be a kaiju? Yes you do."
Say I'm wrong.
Now I'm confused. But I see your point. Admissibly the big powerful things tend to fall into that category, but I missed an important layer of thinking.