Domain: ooblick.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to ooblick.com.
Comments · 11
-
Unicode input, startup stuff, and line wrapping
How to prevent long lines from wrapping: (setq truncate-lines t)
How to make Emacs do things when it starts: (add-to-list 'command-line-functions 'my-startup-stuff)
How to input a character for which you have the Unicode hex value: use the ucs input method.
-
Unicode input, startup stuff, and line wrapping
How to prevent long lines from wrapping: (setq truncate-lines t)
How to make Emacs do things when it starts: (add-to-list 'command-line-functions 'my-startup-stuff)
How to input a character for which you have the Unicode hex value: use the ucs input method.
-
Unicode input, startup stuff, and line wrapping
How to prevent long lines from wrapping: (setq truncate-lines t)
How to make Emacs do things when it starts: (add-to-list 'command-line-functions 'my-startup-stuff)
How to input a character for which you have the Unicode hex value: use the ucs input method.
-
Re:ancient text-based games
Hunt was included with 4.3 BSD, IIRC.
Looks like there's a version still out there called 'neohunt'
http://www.ooblick.com/software/neohunt/FAQ.html -
Re:Cool... but...
Why do some people still like the idea of ThAC0? It was the most broken of ideas ever put into D&D. (BTW, ThAC0 was in D&D, before the A got added, and well before 2nd Ed.) Of course, if you look hard enough at it, 3rd and 3.5 editions still have it, they just did the sensible thing and multiplied a -1 through the whole damn thing and rectified it.
Ok, just go with the fighter for simplicity, those who care to you can work out the rest.
ThAC0: each level the Fighter's ThAC0 goes down 1. (e.g. 19, 18, 17, etc.)
3rd: each level the Fighters To Hit bonus goes up 1. (e.g. +1, +2, +3, etc.)
So, at this point, we have just changed from subtracting 1 each level, starting at 20 to adding 1 each level starting at 0. So the delta is the same, but the starting point and sign has changed.
ThAC0: Naked opponent has an AC of 10, 1st level fighter with a ThAC0 of 19 hits on a roll of a 9 (ignoring Str., magic, etc.)
3rd: Naked opponent has an AC of 10, 1st level fighter with a To Hit bonus of +1 hits on a roll of a 9.(same conditions)
At this point, the mechanics work out exactly the same, the only differece is the method to get there.
ThAC0: ThAC0 of 19 - AC of 10 = 9 to hit roll.
3rd: AC of 10 - +1 To Hit Bonus = 9 to hit roll.
Again, we're arriving at the same point.
Next up, armor.
Leather armor:
ThAC0: Reduces your AC by 4 (gives you an AC of 6)
3rd: Increses your AC by 4 (gives you an AC of 14)
If you have a ThAC0 of 17 or a +3 To Hit bonus and roll a 12, what AC do you hit (do you hit the guy in leather)?
ThAC0: ThAC0 17 - roll of 12 = AC 5 (Hit)
3rd: 12 roll + 3 bonus = AC 15 (Hit)
Notice that, not only do both work out to hit the guy in leather, they both do so with the exact same margin i.e. by 1 more than was needed.
So, both work out the same, why do I call ThAC0 broken? Look back through the process and consider the average combat.
DM: Roll to hit.
Player: *rolls*
DM: What AC did you hit?
Player (ThAC0 version): ThAC0 of 17 minus 12 is....5 I hit an AC of 5
Player (3rd ed. version): 12 + 3 is 15 I hit a 15
(rest of combat)
In the ThAC0 version, the player was having to do subtraction, in the 3rd. ed. version the player did addition (and can accomplish it through counting). It's a subtle diffrence, but for many people, who are not great at math, addition is easier that subtration, primarilly because they know how to count (I've listened to players do this). This is why a very popular method of teaching people to give change is called Counting Change Up. It's easy to do for the non-math inclined.
When you get down to it, ThAC0 isn't gone. 3rd. Ed. just got rid of the subtraction. Yes, if you want to figure out the roll you need to hit something you have to do subtraction; that is not a necessary step. Telling the DM what AC you just hit is. For many players, 3rd Ed. allows them to completly avoid subtraction, and makes the game smoother and more accessible. -
Mod parent funny
Yes, I mean even a hobbit has enough sense to consult mapquest!
-
An alternative service
Not for the U.S., but check this out.
-
Is that you William Cozzano?
Yet again we see the fruits of science fiction come to life.
-
Re:Case in point:
That and Lubbock isn't a hotbed for terrorists if you know what I mean. Cow-tippers, yes. Foreign spies, no.
I guess you've never read The Cobweb by Stephen Bury (pen name for Neal Stephenson when he writes with his uncle). BTW, it's not a great book, definitely not as good as their previous book, Interface. Interface is a hoot. -
coldsync is a good example of The Right Way (tm)coldsync, a Palm Pilot synching utility, has the cleanest code I've ever seen. The design is well thought out. The source is extremely well commented. It also has a lot of documentation, which has the bonus of being informative, comprehensive, and otherwise very well written. It also has some good "meta-level" documentation; e.g., the top-level "HACKING" file, which gives some basic pointers for those wishing to, well, hack the hell out of the thing.
In other words, this application should prove to be an excellent programming how-to reference for wannabe hackers. Also, pay attention to the bibliography on coldsync's web site; there's some damn good stuff there.
(Yes, that's right: an application with a bibliography. How cool is that?)
-
Feedback both waysSpeaking as the leader on an open source project of my own (ColdSync), one of the things you might want to do after you submit a change to a project is to take a look at the next release and see what happened to your submission.
While I accept patches from all sorts of people, they rarely make it into the source as-is: I do exercise editorial control. A lot of times, the patch I receive will omit something like error-checking, or else it doesn't quite fit in with what I'm planning to do with the code.
Sometimes I get submissions from newbies with good ideas, bot who make some mistakes. When I find these, I either try to fix them, or at least add an XXX comment to the code.
In any case, of course, the submitter gets full credit for the patch.