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Sorry, too tired to analyze, but I do like this.

-Twistey

There are very few types of games that can get away with having no soundtrack, not even ambience or event-related music. I can't think of any, but I know they're out there, so...

-Twistey

Honestly, I'm too tired to analyze, but I do notice that it sounds very hip-hop style, which sounds about right given the game's name is Knuckle Sandwich. I do like that human voice sampling.

-Twistey

In addition to Doc and Vania, you also have access to my entire Nursery cadre. Let me know if you need more info about any of them; I have an Excel spreadsheet.

And also, that thing we discussed over email years ago is still on the table. (If this story even touches on that.)

—doctorlit, discussing that thing we discussed

If you don't mind the fact Richard only joined in December 2015, and Marina January 2016... Whoops, I just told it. :p

Do use all of Shift Twentieth - Finch, Bingle, Ninetwo, Anne, Anne's Cat - if you need them.

I can only request that you make it some form of darkly humorous irony, whatever terrible things you do.

I’m glad I could elucidate what you’ve also observed about fandom’s culture shift! It really is interesting (and a bit perplexing) that fandom’s emergence as a mainstream aspect of media consumption comes at the price of what amounts to “bite size media” being radicalised and taken too seriously, but such is the nature of microblogging sites like Tumblr, Twitter, and other content-prioritised social media becoming the hub of fandom.

I don’t know if the Board knows but there is a beta platform called Pillowfort seeking to integrate Tumblr and LJ’s strong points. And another friend of mine is working on a similar project. So we may be looking at another user base shift soon!

Transformative works is more of an umbrella/legalese term covering fanfic, fanart, fanvids, and other variants of fan-created media. The thing that distinguishes it from ye olde Anne Rice’s accusations of copyright infringement is the transformative factor because the addition of a fan interpretation ‘transforms’ the work away from its original. Like how a PPC mission is transformative of the baddie, or how badfic effect on its origin canon transforms it in the PPC universe.

And it’s specifically “Discourse” that has replaced wank, not discussion. Discourse actually started from a Tumblr meme (look up Discourse Chef) but has been used to describe wank since its memetic origins.

Nevertheless, there are definitely segments of fandom that take themselves too seriously nowadays, but hasn’t that always been the case? Srsbsns has always been a part of fandom life; most of that was relegated to closed communities, or communities dedicated to wank. People on fandom_wank knew everything there would be taken lightly; this is no longer the case on Tumblr, where joke posts can get misinterpreted all the time.

With "transformative works" replacing "fanfic," and "discussion" replacing "wank," have fanfic writers started to take themselves more seriously?

I would give Thomas Bulfinch's "Mythology" and Edith Hamilton's "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" a try, though the latter has Heracles-Bashing. It casts him as a big, dumb, brute, even though he demonstrated cleverness on many occasions.

Playstation Rules, XBox drools! :-P

Well, I did say I was a child again.

If we're talking about Civ games, I'd be remiss not to mention Christopher Tin's excellent work on the themes for IV and VI. Baba Yetu won a Grammy, and is also one of my all-time favorite pieces of music to relax to. Sogno di Volare... isn't that good. But it's good.

But that's not the idea I settled on.

-Phobos

The music for 4X games has to really build character for the game involved, since there's not a huge amount of pre-prepared story a lot of the time. Here are a few of my favourites from the wonderful world of turn-based strategy:-

Shoshone Peace Theme (Civilization V: Brave New World)
This is an emotional piece, recalling the experiences of the Trail Of Tears and the genocide committed against all of America's indigenous civilizations whilst still sounding absolutely majestic. It also makes a great companion piece to...

America Industrial/Modern Theme (Civilization 6)
Civ 6 is unique in 4X games for having music that actually shifts and becomes more complex as you advance through the game. This track is from the midpoint in the game, and is based (as are all the America tracks) on the parlor song "Hard Times Come Again No More". This is a triumphal piece of music, full of hope and optimism and sounding like the OST of the greatest Western you've never seen. For something meant to represent the United States, that's a good indicator that things've gone right.

Across The Drift (Riftborn Theme, Endless Space 2)
It has to be said that the historical 4X games have it quite a lot easier than fantasy or sci-fi ones - there's already a culture and body of work upon which the music can draw, rather than obliging the composer to come up with one or imply one exists. This theme for the transdimensional time-manipulating Riftborn sells their cold, ordered, but compassionate nature really well - the ticking metronomes and clocks in the background is a great touch.

More later, if you want.

But I didn't give you permission to use Lola, so that's off the cards. =]

Study and planning will be necessary, so it will not be soon, but rest assured the challenge will be met.

-Phobos

Other YotD standouts:

Molten Crater

Cloud Spires

Charmed Ridge

Wobbles the Clown
The Notary
Doktor Trollenfisch
Gabrielle
---
If you're going to do Terrible Things to anyone, do them to the Notary. No-one will give a toss, except to laugh.

I'm very tempted to write it myself. I wrote a little fanfiction for Disney's Robin Hood when I was a kid, but it never went very far, because I always thought the movie tied itself up very nicely and it didn't really invite addition. But this is the perfect opening for a really fascinating (and historically relevant) story! I have a lot of writing projects right now and I recently got a job so I might not have time, but in the event that I do, keep an eye out for the beginnings of Robin Hood fanfic by yours truly? If Huinesoron is okay with it, of course. After all, he was the one who did the research and picked it all apart.

I also love the fact that you picked this apart so thoroughly. It's a fascinating question: I knew from a young age that this version of Marian had a claim to the throne that potentially put her on John's radar as a rival, but I'd never stopped to think whether or not it fit with the historical facts.

And I'm really glad other people still think about this movie. It's definitely my favorite version of Robin Hood and probably my favorite Disney film and I think it's very underrated. (And I rather hope they don't remake it as a live-action flick. For one thing, it would really just be a somewhat more realistic animated movie, and I don't think it needs any updates or additions.)

I'm glad you enjoyed reading this.

A lot of the overtones you noticed (like the structure of the final thought) weren't things I set out to do when writing, so yay for accidentally doing cool stuff?

And Peregrin's stream of consciousness being logic-focused is a character trait of his, mainly arising from his being a theoretical physicist/mathematician from a cross between a monastery and a university. It sounds like I might need to work on better ways to represent his thought process, though, since it certainly isn't as systematic as a computer or clock (it's the usual jumping to possibilities and pruning out things that look like they wouldn't work).

- Tomash

I'm generally speaking the retro-gaming guy around here. So it's my job to point out all the classics. By which I mean, the ones you shouldn't avoid because they're actually good. I'll try to avoid pointing out anything I assume you all already know about (No, I'm not putting Fallout anything on the list, although I did get both the originals and a few of the new ones, and they are on sale). So... here goes.

-Baldur's Gate - Actually, don't buy this. Well, don't buy it on Steam. Baldur's Gate is a classic, and it's the game that earned BioWare its name. However, the version on Steam is the "enhanced edition" which has garnered mixed reviews because it apparently alters the writing. As of this time, there is no good way to buy the original Baldur's Gate from Steam or GoG. Pirate it, or grab a secondhand DVD copy (which is what I did: they're pretty affordable).

-Planescape: Torment - This time around, the people who did the Enhanced Edition did good. So you can buy this on Steam or whatever, nice and easy. Apparently they caught on that a game that is beloved and revered, largely for its writing, doesn't need alteration on that front.

Planescape: Torment, like Baldur's Gate, is an oldschool CRPG-type game. It's an I-hope-you-like-text sort of game, so be warned. But if you do like text, the writing is well known for its strength. Also, notably, this is one of the rare old CRPGs which you can apparently get through without ever using combat. So... that's a thing.

If you liked Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, or Fallout: New Vegas, you should probably know that Obsidian Entertainment and InXile were both formed by ex-Black Isle Studios developers, who worked on this game, Fallout, and the aforementioned Baldur's Gate. So... yeah.

-id software woooo - TL;DR, Thoth loves id software. Go buy Doom, DOOM, Quake, or whatever. Then go download a modern sourceport, and if you bought Quake 1 or 2 look up how to enable the soundtrack.

-Eidos - Basically, every single Eidos game is dirt cheap right now. That means all the Tomb Raiders, all the Just Cause games, and so on. Go go go go go.

-Looking Glass Studios - Yes, these are in the Eidos category, but they get their own listing. Because Looking Glass Studios deserves it.

Looking Glass Studios, for the uninitiated, is one of the most influential developers of the 1990s, and a pioneer of 3D games. Not all of their games are available on Steam, but their Thief series, a pioneer of first person stealth, is. As is System Shock 2, which really should need no introduction. And speaking of looking glass, $1 can also get you...

-Deus Ex - widely considered one of the best PC games ever released. It's a bit fiddly to get running on modern systems, so to recap what I had to do:

1. Select OpenGL as the renderer, no matter if the game tells you it's "unsupported". The game lies.
2. Open the game's folder on Steam, open the file DeusEx.ini in the "System" folder, and under the section "[Engine.Engine]", add a line that says "FrameRateLimit=60"

Yeah, it's a pain. But the game is good.

-Another World - A great adventure game-ey thing. But you may have to look at a walkthrough once or twice, and you will die. A lot.

-X-COM - Any of them.

-Xenonauts - It's classic X-COM with a fresh coat of paint.

-Civilization - Every Civ game is brilliant. Pick your favorite, but Civ IV is the cheapest one right now (7.50 for the full game with all expansions).

-Frozen Synapse - not a classic, but a dang good game. There's a demo, so you can try before you buy.

-FTL - Another non-classic, but it's the archetypical roguelike and if you don't own it already you should go buy it.

-Strife: An obscure Doom-engine FPS, it had RPG elements before it was cool, had an overworld you could freely explore, an actual story and quests and stuff, and was generally both fascinating and ahead of its time. The Steam version is updated for modern systems, with nicer graphics, better controls (I think), and a ton of content that was left on the cutting room floor in the original release. It's fun.

That's it for now. I'll probably think of something as soon as I post this, but whatever.