On a whim...

Q & A

From Alteration 101 lecture with Tiesse and Abasha.

"Do you have plans for describing stuff like heartstones, Xibar topazes, etc?"
Tiesse says, "I personally don't, no. However, I might have to ask about serpent's heart ruby now that it's in that shop."

"What’s up with fire-gilding? Why is it and any metal derived from the process, like vermeil, banned? Especially when you do "silver-gilt" which is the same thing as vermeil. I'm curious about the why, especially since there appears to be a loophole."
Tiesse says, "Well, there's stuff weddings won't do but that live alterers can do. I honestly couldn't tell you offhand, the ultimate rule is that alterers are allowed to use their discretion."
Abasha says, "I don't know the specific deal about flame gilding and fire-tempering, but I'm pretty sure it's left over from a 'bad guy's crest' from an event."

“All of these purple-as-all-goodness ways of describing colors I keep seeing pop up. Discouraging horrible purple prose in alterations is a good thing, because half the time you don't know what the item actually LOOKS like. Like, say, nightmare black. What's that color actually look like?"
Tiesse says, "Perhaps it is the color of nightmares. It's a steed. There was one auctioned off at the Chris' Mass auction in 2007."

“Is there a place I can find that information if it's specific to Dragonrealms?"
Tiesse says, "An elaborately detailed form of fillet-crochet, Albarian lace is distinguished both by its design topic and by the nearly translucent silk thread used to create it. When left undyed the lace seemingly takes on the colors that it rests against. When dyed, it becomes delicate, fragile and/or airy. The patterns reflect the natural surroundings (e.g. wildlife, birds, forest or mountain scenes). Border-work is by far the most popular theme for this lace and is formed of tree or plant leaves or flowers. This border-work is sometimes used to frame scenes from nature on larger pieces such as over-skirts and home decorations."

"What's the difference between nightsilk and nightstalker silk, or is it the same thing? And Elven silk?"
Tiesse says, "This fabric is ethereal and wispy, looking like the intricate web of a spider. Elothean lace is stitched without parchment or cushion, but into the air. Tiny buttonhole stitches form a frame, and then that frame is filled with pattern stitches. Perhaps it is our nimble fingers that allows us to work this way, or perhaps it is our experience with embroidery. The nightweaver, nightreaver, nightfever, beegee and nightstalker silk is essentially the same I gather. Since they are both unyns. Nightsilk is basically regular silk, it's just made from the wormies found in the Forest of Night."
Abasha says, ""Elven silk is silk made by Elves. Nightsilk is basically spidersilk made from the spiders in the Forest of Night. But is otherwise the same."

"So I got a cowl, wanted to wear it with a fluff hider robes, but I didn't specify that. The wedding GM's made it worn, most likely to accommodate me so it could be worn with armor. But I don't care about that, so will I have to use an alteration visit to get my cowl worn on the head instead of just 'wherever'?"
Tiesse says, "Generally, we can't change where an item is worn unless it's broken. I'm not really sure if we have any alterers who change where items are worn. Mainly because some regulations on things like containers are really strict. I'm sure you could probably ask the next time you were at a live alterer if they'd be lenient, but that really isn't something we like to mess with. Certain items are approved with specific settings only."

"Who would be the best person or people to contact if we want help getting a racial translation right?"
Tiesse says, "Well, it depends. Is it for an LTB scroll or for a live alteration? Well, LTB scrolls, you can usually just put what you want in there and we can figure it out for you if you don't have a translation. Otherwise, you can try emailing dr-events@play.net. Our official language guru is GM Bartlebee. He's a very helpful sort. You can always post in the racial forums, too."

"There are some materials that can only be worked with by specific merchants, right?"
Tiesse says, "Yes. For example, chakrel. That's only alterable by Vishlan. Merchants also have their own quirks, too."

"What happens when you have two different things that you want to put together that are owned by two different merchants?"
Tiesse says, "It honestly depends on what they are. Usually merchants are pretty flexible. Unless you're trying to say, get a jewelry alterer to use some gem's belonging to her competition. But really, that usually isn't a problem in my experience. An alterer will amost always be able to tell you if he can work on something or not. Often times, they will specify in advance what materials they can or will work with."

"I was curious as to why when wearing fluff-hiders, that a waist-worn sheath or thigh-worn bag would be hidden whereas belts would not. Not sure if it were unintentional or if there's some method behind it that I'm not seeing. I tried with a rabbit-fur robe from horse clan. Would hide everything from neck down except for hands and last fluff item worn, but not belts."
Abasha says, "Next time try sort auto headtotoe. Sometimes belts just plain go on over the robes."
Tiesse says, "There's always another way to hide fluff. Don't wear it. Honestly, that stuff was all coded long before our time. I don't really know what the original intention was. Yeah... keep in mind that we're 11 years into the game now."

"Are there merchants that can change properties of an item, its verbs, and the noun as long as it relates to the original object, its capabilities to hide things and add atmospheric properties?"
Tiesse says, "Adding verbs and atmos are LTB options. Regular alterers will not do those. And for things like fluff and feature hiders, you need to provide the base item for those with those already present. Noun can be fudged a bit. But it's very rare that we can change nouns. Sometimes it's possible, but most of the time it isn't."

"Is looking at the show of another person's worn item still in the works? Without them showing it."
Abasha says, "I don't think anyone's working on anything like that, no."
Tiesse says, "Okay, well if someone said they were looking into it, they might be. I personally am not."

"My question is about home alterations. Basically I'd just like to know about general availability as well as a general idea of what can and can't be done."
Tiesse says, "The easiest thing to alter in a home is the thing that goes on the wall. Or on the table and such. Mainly because that can be most anything. There are certain alterers that can do alterations on furniture. While it's POSSIBLE to do things like floors and walls and doors... Keep in mind that it all shows up in the room text when you look at it."

"What about exteriors?"
Tiesse says, "Exterior customization is very rare. Usually reserved for auction. Aside from the little doodads you can put on your house to make trees and bushes and windchimes appear. Those can be altered, yes. I know an alterer made my PC a doorharp before. Those should be done before they are in scroll form though. That is, before you've applied them to a home and then removed them. Those need to be done via live alterers, too. Not LTBs. They SHOULD be able to be done. But I'll check with Zadraes."

"Can horses be altered?"
Abasha says, "Tack we usually don't recommend you do, because if the game crashes the stuff on your horse goes away. If you DO get tack altered, make sure you register it."

"When we register something at the town hall. Item registration. It save the tap and all that fun stuff?"
Abasha says, "It saves everything, yes."

"My question is may we have items altered that support in game lore. I am not talking relics n such but more on the order of supporting our local royals?"
Tiesse asks, "Sure, like a plate with Vorclaf's face on it? Yes, usually that is okay. Honestly, we probably can't call it "a vorclaf plate. But we can describe how he looks in the look and put his name in the read. If it's a famous figure, it's different."
Abasha says, "Dolls are kinda different too."

"I have an altered home, a formidable great hall set back amidst stacks of barrels and casks ... I wanted to know if the later part of the description can be removed for moving or storing and how to do such. I heard it was in two parts. If I fall out of premium a couple months, the home is lost?"
Tiesse says, "I don't think so, no. But I can ask Zadraes. Generally, alterations like that are a one time deal. Usually stuff like that has to stay with the house. You can try to deed it to a friend."

"I have questions about altering shimmer items via normal alterers. Where in the TAP can the shimmer bit be, does it have to come first? How complicated can it be? If I wanted a neat haircomb with ____ enamel would that be possible? Or would I need to have the color changing part be the first thing in the tap?"
Abasha says, "The haircombs that change colors aren't the same as the shimmer items. Those have to be 'a {color} {something} haircomb'. The look can be changed."
Tiesse says, "That's something that's likely hard coded."

"Can the haircombs or shimmer items be altered via LTB?"
Tiesse says, "We can do regular haircombs. I'm not sure about those. I'll investigate."

"What defines a shimmer item then if its not the color change? What's the proper term for a color changing item then?"
Abasha says, "Well, just because the item changes color doesn't necessarily make it the same as everything else that changes color. Basically it has to be "a shimmer {color} {thing}" or "a {color} {thing}"."

"Can any altered item be registered?"
Tiesse says, "Sure, they can be registered."

"Hauberk can become armor?"
Abasha says, "That depends on the alterers final judgment. Especially since we already have things called armor in the game."
Tiesse says, "That are likely a different profile."

"Just things that should obscure features. If they don't, can they be made to? Is that a valid request?"
"Let's say, as part of a Queen's Wedding package, you have something made and it is made as a worn item. How possible is it to change that to, for instance, head worn? I have something I like to wear with fluff hiding robes, but it is worn so it is always covered."
Abasha says, "Both of those are up to the alterer. I don't think you can do either of those things with LTBs but I'll let Tiesse answer that. For individual alterers, it's entirely up to them."
Tiesse says, "No, we won't add any special features to items through LTB scrolls. Like fluff or feature hiding. The items will only be altered in their current state. If you want something to hide your features, you need to submit a feature-hiding item as the base noun. Not only does it need to make sense in the TAP, it needs to be accurately described in the LOOK as to why this particular item is characteristic of one owned/used by that profession. As long as you follow those rules and meet those qualifications, your use of a title should be fine."

"By translation (for racial phrases or anything like that) do you mean just us telling you, or supporting documentation?"
Tiesse says, "Both. If you have it. We don't always have our language guru on hand."

"Will you recommend something else if we have a bad alteration idea? I know alot of us like the help."
Tiesse says, "Certainly. We are ALWAYS willing to help. That being said, we want you to TRY."
Abasha says, "How much help you get depends on how grumpy we are."

"How many marnets to make a marnet-fur cloak?"
Abasha says, "About twenty."

"Will you ever offer feature alterations outside of 'con prizes and King's alteration packages?"
Tiesse says, "We've tossed it around as an LTB option."
Abasha says, "We get asked that about King's weddings a lot... basically, we only work on one King's wedding at a time. When the current one finishes, we'll probably do another."

Posted by Rajara | 08.08.09