Search where?

This Portfolio (seuzz)

All of Writing.Com

◄ August ► 2022
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31
Archive				RSS

Create New Item

Read & Review

Community

Browse By Type

Browse By Genre

Writing Resources

Wed, May 14, 2025

5:47am EDT

Members: 560

Guests: 2,537

Total Online: 3,097

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.

August 1, 2022 at 12:21pm

#1035970

Some Ginger and Mary Jane

First of all, see the entry "Plot Plinko: Everybody Wins!"

for an update on the poll I posted yesterday.

In other news, today brings the final chapter in the branch I've been publishing:

Interactive: "The Tracker, Trapped"

Public: "The Tracker, Trapped"

I think I mentioned at the start that it evolved out of a commission, but then I decided to make it a freebie. The idea I was pitched (in case you can't tell) was to switch Gordon Black and Jack Li. Gordon is moody and anti-social, while Jack is a confident extrovert with lots of friends, and the idea was to find out how Gordon deals with Jack's life. It's a tricky situation, because given the branch it has to be observed from without by someone who supposedly doesn't know about the switch. That means that Gordon can't express himself openly. His reactions have to be written and read, as it were, between the lines. But I really liked the idea and the challenge, and I spent a LOT of time imagining how Gordon would react, and how he'd try to act as Jack. I don't know how it came across on the page. I do know Gordon's reactions go a lot deeper than what I wrote, and I have already written more chapters in this branch and will be returning to it again. But this is enough for now.

Anyway, tomorrow I start publishing a short branch, something that's been sitting in the pile for a very long time but which I've decided to put out there.

It starts with "Some Ginger and Mary Jane"

. Will took the book in to school and wound up selling it to Spencer Osborne in exchange for some marijuana, which Will is going to put into the time capsule. And that seems to be that. As chapter ends, Will's friend Keith is asking him to go buy some weed, in order to help Keith win a bet. There's already a branch where Will does help Keith. Tomorrow we'll find out what happens when Will turns him down.

Comment

August 1, 2022 at 10:28am

#1035956

Plot Plinko: Everybody Wins!

Change of plans. I've closed the latest Plot Plinko Poll early, and the result is ...

Everyone's a winner!

I was looking at the post I made yesterday, and it occurred to me that it was ambiguous. What I meant to write was that the next time I started a Plot Plinko Poll, I would be reweighting the Free Votes. But I think some people must have thought the reweighting would start with yesterday's poll. If so, that wouldn't be fair to those who sent in GPs.

So I've decided to go with both choices. I will be composing a sequel for the unwritten choice "Continue helping these girls", and will also be writing a sequel to the alternate branch, "Assertiveness". It will be awhile, though, before either one gets published. I have a very fat and happy backlog now.

"Assertiveness", though, still needs a poll, so here it is: [Poll completed and deleted.]

Also, to make it absolutely clear, I am going to reweight the Free Votes starting with the above poll After playing with some values to get a better sense of the weight that I want, I'm setting so that in this poll the Free Votes will be worth 1/5 of the average of the GPs sent to me. This will make it easier for GPs to change a result.

Rule of thumb (this isn't absolute, only a rough guide): If Choice A has 150% of the votes of Choice B, but Choice B has twice as many GPs as Choice A, then Choice B can narrowly nose out Choice A for a victory. But there will be other factors (such as the number and size of the GP gifts) that will complicate this calculation.

This should make the voting more unpredictable and hence more fun for everyone. In the poll leading up to this point, a small lead in the Free Votes tended to outweigh even large GP bequests.

Comment

Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2156493-The-Book-of-Masks-Homepage/day/8-1-2022