The Factory Floor

Q: A poison that only works if you know it it is there

12:41 PM

Is this story-based / off topic?

1

In the book "He Drank and Saw the Spider", a poison is talked about in a metaphorical way; A person can be poisoned by putting a specific kind of spider into their cup, but the poison only works if you drink and then see the spider. If you don't see the spider then nothing will happen. The book ...

science-based poisons

dot_Sp0T

@JDługosz wouldn't say so. The question is basically asking for a visual component that triggers a poison already imbued - I wonder though if he accepts philosophical answers?

@JDługosz The question "Could a visually triggered poison exist?" Is certainly not story based.

1:11 PM

@dot_Sp0T I'll consider any answer

I have my own idea how it could work, but I really want to see what others think

@AndyD273 Even magic?

@sphennings It does exist in that universe, but from the description it is a natural poison that exists in a specific spider

So I was leaning more toward non magical... but if you make it good enough :)

@AndyD273 Do magical creatures exist in this world? Could the spider's venom have magical properties.

@AndyD273 The problem with an answer that says "It's magic" is that the more you explain it the more it just becomes bad science.

Any sufficiently explained magic is indistinguishable from technology.

@sphennings Fantastical creatures exist (dragons are mentioned), but they aren't exactly magical.

What do you mean?

1:15 PM

That's why I used the science based tag

From what I can tell (I've only read the one book in the series) magic exists, but it's super rare, and people have to do a lot of training in order to do even small things.

It's basically a noir detective story set in a medieval low fantasy world, where the main character is a cross between a mercenary and a private investigator.

It may be hard to cast spells but it sounds like this spider just has an inherent property to only poison people who are aware of it. "How does it work? Dunno magic I guess. "

@sphennings The thought I came up before I asked the question is pretty close to what @JDługosz answered. Some of the other ones are pretty good too

The more time I spend on here the more I feel that people should try to conserve explanation.

1:31 PM

@sphennings Please explain

Ah haha, so you have spotted my trick!

@AndyD273 Explanation is telling not showing. I see a lot of people on here trying to explain things about their worlds or their super cool anime plasma spaceguns. If you have a anime where someone pulls a cool gun out of their pocket and after an impressive lightshow everything is destroyed I am going to buy into that more if you don't say anything than if you explain to me how it did all that.

@AndyD273 I was failing my own maxim of conserving explanation. My explanation was too long to post and I needed to edit it down.

I'm not saying don't explain. I'm saying conserve your explanations.

@sphennings You are of course correct. A lot of things shouldn't be explained to the reader/observer, but I really do think that it is important for the worldbuilder to at least have an idea of how it works, just so they know the rules they need to follow. Otherwise you end up with a sonic screwdriver that is essentially a magic space wand.

@AndyD273 I am ok with a magic space wand. The sonic screwdriver would be worse if they attempted to explain how it worked.

You can still have rules for your magic without explaining it for instance. Something as simple as "Everything but for a price" can be enough of an explanation to drive a magic system.

but I think making things magical and unexplained isn't worldbuilding, it's storytelling.

@sphennings That would definitely make it worse. My problem with it is that it is super OP. Need to open a door? Sonic screwdriver. Need to reprogram a computer? Sonic screwdriver. Need to find someone in a dark maze of tunnels? Sonic screwdriver. Need to get a whole turkey cooked perfectly in 20 minutes? Sonic screwdriver.

1:46 PM

@sphennings And I like books that have author’s appendix or website that goes over technical details!

@JDługosz Have you read Seveneves by Neil Stephenson?

@sphennings No. I still never finished Cryptonomicon which I started reading in 2003, and have Reamde uncracked on the shelf.

@AndyD273 what is “OP” here?

@JDługosz In this case it means over powered

@JDługosz Seveneves is one of his best. Super hard scifi, set only a couple of years in the future at the start. He describes most of the technologies in almost obsessive detail.

Hey, everyone…

Can you let me know of posts that are written “in character” or otherwise using alternative narrative structure? I've been meaning to write a meta on this and want a good collection of samples to review and analyse.

1:52 PM

The sonic screwdriver just becomes this magical device that they can use for any purpose, when it is supposed to be a screwdriver, for removing screws.

@JDługosz Still for all that. In sentence one of the book the moon explodes into seven chunks. The entire rest of the 1200 page book deals with the consequences of this event. Yet he never explains why or how it happened.

@AndyD273 I think it would bother me less if other people had them more often

like that one time, when that lady had a sonic pen or something. That was nice

A: Dragon vs Antiaircraft Artillery

@JDługosz Like this?

4

First, since approach by air wasn't successful the last time, I'd be cautious and approach by ground. A lot of people think of a dragon flying high above, and forget that we can walk, or hold our legs in close and slither like a snake. On my first foray into the camp I got a pretty good look a...

@AndyD273 I have one — the licenced item design was so nice that it was used in the next season, making it a precognitive prop replica — that I use for writing with invisible fountain pens. The IR LED it includes is actually cheaper than my photonlight brand IR lamp.

@AndyD273 Yes, that is one I would include in the catalog.

@JDługosz "invisible fountain pens"... "photonlight rqnd IR lamp"... huh??

1:57 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh Torchwood. “and spin-off media such as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood have replicated its functions in devices such as the sonic lipstick, sonic blaster, sonic pen, sonic probe and sonic modulator, and the most recent, sonic sunglasses, featured by the Twelfth Doctor.”

@AndyD273 photonlight.com/categories/led-flashlights/…

@JDługosz Ah, makes much more sense now

@AndyD273 gouletpens.com/noodlers-blue-ghost-3oz-bottled-fountain-pen-ink/…

It's remarkably difficult to write with. Especially since I grabbed a cheap scratchy pen to fill. I need to keep the IR illumination on the page while writing.

@AndyD273 While that question got no close votes, the first person format makes me, to this day, a little uncomfortable. It's so close to being story-based.

@Green I always feel bad voting to close them

@Green Maybe you should have left off the "You, oh answerer of questions, are the dragon." part... But it was a lot of fun to answer, I will say that.

2:06 PM

@Green That's one of my points, is that a first-person question is necessarily in-story and thus story based.

I could very easily take my answer and turn it into a non-first person answer, and so I think it's ok.

I can't remember, how strong is the equivalence between story-based and "actions of a single character"?

And for the record, I really don't see a problem with story based questions, seeing as all these question are meant to be the basis for some kind of story...

@AndyD273 that's not necessarily true. Worldbuilding is for the world, storytelling is completely different

From the On-topic page, I found this reference to off-topic reasons: Actions of individual characters, rather than elements of the world they inhabit

2:11 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh That's why I said basis, as in the base, or foundation, that a story is built on.

I think you could argue back and forth about whether a well defined dragon is an individual character.

Otherwise, the criteria setup in the on-topic page don't disqualify my question. That it's written in first person just makes it confusing but not off-topic.

I wonder if our phones would seem like “sonic screwdrivers” to people from 1968. General purpose tools that do everything and acquire new functions on the fly! Recall one of my favorite answers on transformative technology?

@Green I kind of look at it as a protodragon; something that other dragons can be built on, and not something that should be lifted wholesale and used in its raw form.

I don't see an issue with in-universe questions/answers, I just feel bad when they are more about entertainment than substance

if there's actually a good question or answer underneath the framing, then it's fine. Otherwise, it's a waste of time

@AndyD273 Agreed.

2:19 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh Sure. In that specific example I think it's kind of useful for exploring the nature of a dragon that you wouldn't get from the usual kind of answer. You ask "How could a dragon get around modern weapons and infiltrate a military outpost?" and it's hard to answer that in the usual way. You think "dragons fly, they breath fire, that might not be useful against 1000 soldiers with heavy weapons..."

But put it in a narrative and you can really explore the possibilities. It's more show than tell.

jeyejow

hi

@jeyejow Hi there

jeyejow

what are we talking about?

@AndyD273 I still think you could do that in a non-narrative way. My main concern with narrative posts is that it makes people think we value storytelling over useful information. It's like when you have science for kids, it turns into games and too many kids end up not learning any science

@jeyejow the relative merits of using narrative when asking questions but still remaining on-topic for WB.

2:29 PM

I've seen too many narrative questions that are just "I have this story, isn't it great?" and too many answers that are "here is a short story set in your world, enjoy". Putting useful stuff in takes effort, and a lot of people won't even notice it's there

4

jeyejow

@Green ah :v

@DaaaahWhoosh Your point is why I avoid first person writing as much as possible on WB. It's too easy to muddle up an other good question/idea.

@DaaaahWhoosh It probably could be done non-narrative, and my answer probably would have turned out mostly the same; dragons don't have to fly, they can walk and maybe even slither too. This opens a lot of possibilities for stealth. As it is a reasoning dragon, it would know the benefit of scattering the pack and sowing confusion, and then remove the major threats in the chaos. Once the soldiers are out from behind their walls and scattered to the woods, you can pick them off much easier.

@AndyD273 yeah, so the way I see it, you should have the non-narrative post first. If you want to present it in an interesting way, that can come later, but the primary focus should always be conveying useful information that addresses the question (or, if it's the question, that addresses the problem)

it's just hard, once you've added the narrative in, to remind people that it wasn't the primary focus

anyway, I think I've reached my "no more fun" quota for the day

2:53 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh So does that mean you're going to stop being a stick in the mud?

no, it just means I'll be a quiet stick in the mud

@DaaaahWhoosh Oh, that's less fun...

eh, it's the best I can do. I got meetings now, and also apparently this product doesn't export access rights, so that's going to take some concentration to fix

Q: How often must carnivorous grassland eat?

3:08 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh Ah, well, work is an acceptable reason to be quiet

Secespitus

55

Don't go into the bonegrass. Seriously, unless you want to be dead. You go in there, brush the grass with your clothes, start to feel sleepy... Before too long your limbs will go numb, then you're on the floor in a heap. Then you're dead but you don't know it yet. The grass you crush as you fall...

creature-design food

153

Q: How can a Horror from Beyond Reason reliably communicate with mortals?

Jimmy is an Eldritch Monstrosity. Jimmy has a Red Ball. Jimmy wants someone to play with him and his Red Ball. All of Jimmy's friends are busy trying to Overturn the Cosmic Order and bring Chaos to all of Existence. Jimmy thinks that humans will play with him and his Red Ball. Jimmy once ...

communication horror

64

A: Physically, how do dragons grasp and *transport* the contents of their hoards?

If you're a dragon, why are you gathering coins one at a time? If I'm a dragon, the biggest baddest dude on Middle Earth or Faerun or wherever, I'm not going to pick-pocket people. I'm not robbing local barons, I'm going to knock over a king's palace and take the Peacock Throne and the Crown Jew...

3:48 PM

Anyone: what's the saddest movie that people will have heard of?

Gee I'm Glad It's Raining

@JDługosz Ernest Goes to Camp made me cry when I was 12...

►

I don't know about movies but Bambie's mom dying and the shooting of Old Yeller are iconically sad scenes.

Up made me cry like five times, but I guess it was a 'good' kind of sad at the end

@Secespitus why do you mention those two questions and answer?

I may have missed something in the conversation.

HDE 226868

2 hours ago, by JDługosz

Can you let me know of posts that are written “in character” or otherwise using alternative narrative structure? I've been meaning to write a meta on this and want a good collection of samples to review and analyse.

3:53 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh excellent way of putting it.

@Green he did link back to that.

@JDługosz Schindler's List?

@JDługosz Oops.

Requiem For A Dream

HDE 226868

@JDługosz I'd second Andy's nomination of Schindler's List.

Yeah! I'm at 29,999!

HDE 226868

3:59 PM

The thing is, the violence and death there really isn't gratuitous, like certain movies I could mention.

cough cough Rogue 1 cough cough

The use of red in that movie too... But the ending.

I guess Requiem For a Dream is more depressing than sad...

Though I haven't seen it, apparently "Grave of the Fireflies" has been nominated as "the saddest movie ever". It is by Studio Ghibli.

From one of the reviews: "It starts with the fire bombing of Tokyo, and goes down hill from there."

Q: How can I convince the internet that my magic is real?

@Green that’s 131×229. I like to get prime numbers there.

Secespitus

4:53 PM

@JDługosz Here an example that started bad if I remember correctly (and your high voted comment indicates something similar) but went pretty well in the end, though I don't like the narrative style.

7

my name's amàlí and i'm a hyper spunky 23 yr old girl woman (lol, i guess, idk). i run a youtube channel called AMAzing (get it!?) where i talk about what's going on in my life and the world and draw for people and stuff. well, i can do magic and so i thought i'd share it with my subscribers cuz ...

magic internet

5:31 PM

@Secespitus yes, that's a motivating example.

BTW, does anybody know the proper term for alternative narrqtive structure? I do recall there is an actual word for the kind of story made up of newspaper clippings, letters, etc. but I can’t remember that and it’s difficult to search for.

@Green you ought to answer something or edit an old one, to get through 30k.

@JDługosz I'm not worried about breaking 30K. I've mostly coasted from 29K to 29999 so I'm sure I'll get above 30K soon.

6:22 PM

Hey, this is my first HQN question! Nice!

@AndyD273 congratulations!

I like the top answer. A poison that only works if you panic sounds especially devious

Secespitus

@DaaaahWhoosh "Don't panic - you are poisoned!"

@DaaaahWhoosh Yeah, that was pretty close to the answer I was going to post if no one else did. The poison isn't that harmful normally, and doesn't stay in the system very long, but will kill you if it mixes with adrenaline. So you see the spider, get the fight or flight, and keel over

There is a new one from a new user that I kinda like too; That the spider body also contains the antidote, so if you don't see it and swallow it, then you'll be ok.

I vaguely remember an episode of some hospital show where a patient had one of those deadly brain blood-clots, but they couldn't operate for some reason. So they just told her to stay calm, otherwise the blood vessel might burst and kill her.

@AndyD273 I don't really see how that would evolve, but it would be similarly interesting

@DaaaahWhoosh Well, the spider would be immune to it's own poison. Spiders routinely eat each other, so a spider that had a bit of immunity would survive and pass that on, and so on, until they contained their own cure...

6:35 PM

ah, so it's the 'dragons evolved to fight other dragons, that's why they're so big' argument again

I wonder if there's a biology term for that