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Wed, May 14, 2025

8:43am EDT

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The Book of Masks Homepage

by Seuzz

Rated: 18+ · Book · Other · #2156493

A hub for the "Book of Masks" universe.

The Interactives
"The Book of Masks"

: A high school student discovers a grimoire that can make magical disguises.
"The Wandering Stars"

: Sequel to "The Book of Masks."
"Student Bodies"

: A high school student is turned into a blue goo that can possess people.

For non-WdC Members
"The Book of Masks: Archives"

: Dodges the "Servers Busy" barrier!
"The Book of Masks (Abridged)"

: Introductory storylines for new readers.

Community
"BoM/TWS Message Forum"

: Community for readers of the interactives.
"BoM/TWS/SB Wiki"

: Notes and documentation for authors. Spoilers!

Current Polls/Contests
5/12: "BoM Poll: The Boys to Come"

[Closes Wednesday, May 14, at 12:00pm ET]

The Latest
5/12: Interactive: "The Boys to Come"

5/12: Public: "The Boys to Come"

Special Update
4/26: Interactive: "Fröhliche Momente mit unbekannten Menschen"

and following
4/26: Public: "Fröhliche Momente mit unbekannten Menschen"

and following

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Seuzz

May 7, 2025 at 10:46am
In response to "Photofinish"

I should clarify a bit on the "one more GP vote."

The way the math works in the GP voting, you can get some counter-intuitive results. For instance, one voter sent in some last-minute GPs to support "Great idea," but because he sent so few, it actually had the effect of decreasing lead that "Great idea" had. That's because "Great idea" had a strong Free Vote lead, and this lead was bolstered by the value accorded each Free Vote by the GPs voted for it. That small GP vote had the effect of knocking down the value of the Free Votes, which had the effect of diminishing the value of the lead that "Great idea" in the Free Vote, and this diminution was greater than the value of the GPs voted for it. Hence, dropping a small GP donation onto "Great idea" diminished rather than enhanced its overall lead.

There was something similar with the "one more vote" anomaly. I thought (at first) that adding one more GP to "Weird" would push it over the top because it was so close. In fact, adding one more GP would work because it would have knocked the value of "Great idea's" Free Vote below the 50% threshold. Moreover, to affect the value of the Free Vote, that one extra GP would have had to come from a new voter. If one of the other GP voters for "Weird" had voted one more GP vote, that wouldn't have affected the outcome significantly.

I know that this makes the GP vote sound weird, and it is. But (1) the weirdness is under the hood and invisible to the voters. The only thing they should be worried about is trying to support their favored choices. And (2) the only outcome that matters is the final outcome, not the changes that occur as votes come in. The weirdness that I note above is visible and makes a difference only if you watch the dynamic vote process unfold, and the actual process of percentages adjusting as votes are added is irrelevant to the final outcome. Had the votes been sent in a different chronological order, the observed weirdnesses might not have happened.

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 6, 2025 at 12:21pm
In response to "Photofinish"

Ok folks. you need to up your bidding.

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 13, 2025 at 8:22pm
In response to "Another Upset"

Understand. Would really like to see Blackwell torment/play with Will some more. Let me see if there's somewhere else it could happen or an option added.

Seuzz

Mar 13, 2025 at 5:57pm
In response to "Another Upset"

No, the quick ending stays. Every interactive needs an instant ending somewhere near the start, as a prank on the reader.

1 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 13, 2025 at 3:54pm
In response to "Another Upset"

I would like to suggest that Slippery Sale Option Three be treated as a blank and get replaced with a new chapter that eventually finds Will being affected by the book. It was too early for a dead end in my opinion. Also it allows for anyone who is looking to start a new line early in the story.

And, no, it wasn't me this time that dropped the GPs.

Seuzz

Mar 11, 2025 at 12:54pm
In response to "Let's Have Some More Polls"

I keep forgetting to reply to the suggestion above.

I add new choices to old chapters on an ad hoc basis: usually when I am working in that branch, and I see a nearby chapter, or an earlier chapter, where I would have wanted more choices originally. I don't go looking for places to increase the number of choices.

But if someone knows of a chapter that could use more choices, and would like to see them added, just drop me a line.

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 9, 2025 at 9:55pm
In response to "Let's Have Some More Polls"

Wait! And in this poll I will be posting the entire chapter ... Doesn't everyone always go back and read the previous chapters to refresh their memories?

Question RE: "Invalid Item"

- What's your (Seuzz or anyone) opinion of adding more options to some chapters especially the very old ones that were limited before it was raised to five options? Not every chapter would work to get more, but there are some that another option may have been (still could be) possible.

I haven't gone to look for examples, but I may if I have some time.

Seuzz

Feb 12, 2025 at 3:43pm
In response to ""Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue!""

This is starting to feel like something to put in the forum. So: "Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Official Off-Topic Thread"

Nostrum

Feb 12, 2025 at 1:19pm
In response to ""Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue!""

From what I've heard from a CC at YouTube, not very good. It's basically forcing you to restart again, except you get a few advantages from your earlier progression. A change for the sake of it, not because it was necessary.

You tell me if that's the case, though. I recall "1MT'ing" with Civ1 on a SNES emulator during college almost through 4 AM, so I know the allure.

Seuzz

Feb 12, 2025 at 12:49pm
In response to ""Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue!""

I 1MT-ed yesterday for, like, 7 hours into the dead of night. I was so mad at myself.

In my defense, I was trying to get through the "Age of Antiquity" to the "Age of Exploration" because I wanted to see what this new "Age of" mechanic is like.

September 10, 2022 at 12:26pm

#1037577

Spider-Man Commentary: Outside the Box

"S02E15 "Outside the Box""

When I started writing my adaptation of The Superior Spider-Man storyline for the animated continuity, I began by outlining the entire season, then turned to outlining each episode. The plan was to have treatments for each episode in place before I began the scripting process. That way, everything would be down on paper, and I'd just have to turn the ideas into words on a page.

But no plan survives contact with the enemy. In this case, the enemy was me.

For a start, as I explained in the previous commentary, I am not the kind of writer who can work from treatments and outlines. I went awry in other places as well. For instance, after writing the treatment for {item:} I discovered I had already written a script for it -- something I had completely forgotten about. And that script looked nothing like the treatment I had just written. It felt better to me, and was a lot simpler in its content.

I muttered a lot of bad words to myself and did some thinking. And what I came up with was: Screw the treatments.

They were going to be too packed with incident, I felt. Also, they were an immense pain to write. So I decided to go straight to the scripts. My overall outline for the 13-episode arc had told me what notes I wanted to hit, and what I wanted each episode to accomplish and where I wanted each one to end. So my new plan became to rely on that crude outline and wing it as I wrote each script.

It was hard and it was slow, like feeling my way in bare feet across a dark room, but that's how I wrote this episode. The very first scene is taken from one of the Superior Spider-Man books, but the rest of it is mine. I got stuck for a couple of days in the middle, because I wasn't sure the scenes were coming in the right order, but I finally just bulldozed through.

One thing I discovered: I really don't like writing action scenes. Inventing stuff for the characters to do -- That feels like something that an animation director should come up with, and then I should fill in some dialogue.

Which, IIRC, is kind of how Jack Kirby and Stan Lee did it in the comics, right?

Comment

September 10, 2022 at 11:58am

#1037575

More and Merrier

Another day with a lot of chapters getting published.

In the Round Robin, each alternative gets a chapter, just to nail down what's been going on out of sight:

* Interactive: "Safety First"

+ "Safety Last"

* Public: "Safety First"

+ "Safety Last"

In the poll-driven branch there's a new chapter continuing things:

* Interactive: "More Equals Merrier? "

* Public: "More Equals Merrier?"

And there's a poll to go with it: [Poll completed and deleted.]

Whichever choice wins, that's going to be the last chapter in this branch. We're almost done with the Round Robin, and I want to end this branch simultaneously with that.

Comment

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