• LogrusMage

Introduction: Hmmm... I'v been involved in gaming, computer and otherwise, most of my life. I'm trying to get into designing RPGs for a living, but so far i'v not made any money off it. In person, I answer to several screen names as readily as to my given name, which isn't surprising as i spend more time going by them... Actually, if you really want to know something about me, listen to the Arrogant Worms' song 'Its Great to be a Nerd.' They did a much better job of describing me than i'm doing.

I'v started work on a Module, which i'm calling Themeless, mostly because it is. The changes are all over the board, with no unifying theme. So far, i'm just collecting ideas; I'l start coding once 3.0.0 reaches a stable release, or at least has a sufficiently completed game to act as a baseline for the mod. I'm not doing it in 2.x.x mostly because i don't want to have to do most of it all over again for the new version, plus several of my best ideas won't work on the current engine without hardcoding in C, which is beyond my ability at this time.

Got bored, drafted the following. Additional questions welcome. working on fixing the formatting. anyone who wants to save me the effort, go right ahead, and thanks. seeing how you did it will hopefully help me learn.

In the spirit of the famed "Nerd Test", presenting...

the ToME Addict Test (my answers in parens)

Have you ever played ToME? (yes, obviously)

• for more than 4 hours continuously? (yep) more than 8 hours? (yep) more than 16 hours? (yep) more than 32 hours? (nope)

Have you ever chewed firestone? (nope; by the time I started, firestones were still in the game, but only as relics)

Have you ever missed a class while playing ToME? (yep)

• missed an examination? (nope) missed a wedding? (not one i'd have attended anyway) missed your own wedding? (nope)

Have you ever played while intoxicated? (yep)

• Did your character's configuration/situation make sense the next day? (no less than usual)

Have you ever modded a flight simulator for T-Engine? (not yet)

Ever change the XP value of Phoer? (Themeless will have a unique by that name, just so i can do this)

• unintentionally? (not yet) in a mod other than Themeless? (nope)

Have you ever named a computer after the ToME char you run on it? (nope)

Do you complain when a "feature" you use gets fixed? (nope; there's always more where they came from.)

Can you recite the inscription on the One Ring? (yep)

• in both English, and the original Dark Tongue? (yep) backwards? (need more practice)

Do you know what ASCII stands for? (yep)

• Do you know what in-game entity *every* ASCII character stands for? (not yet, but i'm close)

Have you used ASCII graphics so long, you "don't even see the code anymore"? (oh, yeah.)

Do you know the game's rollover points for AU, XP, Pt, HP, SN, and AC? (3 out of 6)

Have you ever empirically tested the rollover protection on the game's AU counter? (yep)

• Exp counter? (on the to-do list) Piety? (yep) Max HP? (about to)
• Min* HP? (yep, and it failed spectacularly) Max SN? (nope) Max AC? (about to) Without using wizard mode? (yep)

Ever define your own artifact to get better precision? (not yet)

Can you name the XP values of dragons up to mature adult in arbitrary order? (no)

• up to ancient? (no) up to great wyrm? (no)

Have you ever patched a mod? (yep)

• while the program was running? (not yet)

Have you ever talked to your character? (yes, frequently)

• did he/she/it answer? (nope)

Do you have a J.R.R. Tolkien calendar? (yep)

• Is it out of date? (yep)

Do you have a line-printer picture of a ToME screenshot? (not yet; my line-printer's in for repairs)

• Is the resolution good enough you can actually tell what the tiles are pictures of? (it will be)

Do you know what the following stand for?

• FF? (y) EPS? (y) GWoP? (y) ToME? (y)
  • both of them? (y)
  PDSM? (y) GWoMC? (y)

Have you ever used

• a longsword? (y) Sting? (y) Nimthanc? (y) The dagger, "Thanc"? (y) The Demonblade of Gothmog? (y) Mormegil? (y) Mage Staff of Eternity? (n)

Does your gaming interface come in "designer" colors? (no)

Ever interrupt a UPS while playing ToME? (not yet)

• Did you fail to notice the power outage until the computer died? (not yet)

Have you ever killed a swan? (yes)

• Intentionally? (yes) Do you still have that character? (not the intentional one)

Do you have any defunct ToME documentation? (yep)

• Do you still read it? (occasionally)

Ever had your ToME character mentioned in the newspaper? (give me time...)

• did you get away with it?

Ever write program comments in a Tolkienish language? (yep)

• For a program that wasn't directly ToME-related? (yep)

Have you ever killed Saurie? (yep)

• Morgie? (yep) In the Void? (not yet) Accidentally? (not that i remember) While holding down keys to run? (again, not that i remember) With a character that had never worshipped aule? (working on it)

Have you ever tried to improve your score on the ToME Addict Test? (yep. can you guess which ones? hint: the lvl-2-off-morgie is for something else)

Ever create an unkillable monster? (no)

• Unintentionally? (no)

Ever been asked for a mushroom? (yes)

Have you ever estimated the Tolkienish date for the end of an Ardan era? (yes)

• Have you ever had the in-game calendar exceed such a date? (yes) Did you notice the change in which features were anachronistic? (yes)

Do you know Bree's layout? (yes)

• Can you navigate it without looking? (most of it)

Do you have ToME versions more than 3 years old? (yes)

Do you have difficulty focusing on three-dimensional objects? (no)

Do you dispise mice? (yes)

Do you ignore the CAPS LOCK key? (yes)

Do you believe that tiles belong in restrooms? (yes)

Have you ever seen the dawn? (yes)

• Twice in a row? (yes)
  • Had you not gone to bed yet because you were playing ToME?

Do you have problems allocating horizontal space in your house in Bree?

Do you read the Silmarilion in bars to pick up women?

Is your license plate ToME-related?

Ever spend 10 minutes scumming for a single piece of equipment? (y)

• more than an hour? (y) more than a day? (y) more than a week? (y) Did the first person you showed it to find one immediately?

Have you ever posted to the forums a bug report that resulted in a code fix? (yep)

• A combat strategy that resulted in a code fix? (yep) A quest monster nickname that resulted in a code "fix"? (sadly, yes. EPS "fix" is pending)

Have you ever made level 2 off the exp from quaffing an unidentified potion? (yep)

• Was it the Blood of Life? (nope) Was it with a non-Lost-Soul? (yep)

Have you ever made level 2 off an apprentice mindcrafter? (yep)

• A young red dragon? (i think so, not certain) A GWOP? (nope)

  Morgie? (about to; http://forum.t-o-m-e.net/viewtopic.php?t=6934) Tiki? (nope)

Do you have ToME installed on more than one OS? (yep)

• More than 2 OSs? (not currently) More than 5 OSs? (nope) More than 15 OSs? (nope) Is one of them an Amiga? (nope) Is one of them PalmOS, not running on a palmtop? (nope)

Have you ever tried to install ToME on a sewing machine, vcr, coffee maker, or the ECM in your car? (yep)

• Did it work? (not yet, but i'm still trying) Did your first character on the system die after the Check Engine light invoked Hand of Doom on BD1?

Have you ever run ToME off an install that wasn't on a hard drive? (yep)

• Was it on a quickdrive? (yep) A ramdisk? (yep) A ramdisk physically located in another computer? (on to-do list)
  • In another room? (on to-do list) In another country? (not yet) Offplanet? (not yet)

Do you have a line-printer picture of a ToME screenshot? (not yet; my line-printer's in for repairs)

• Is the resolution good enough you can actually tell what the tiles are pictures of? (it will be)