Hi Dark, Yeah, now that you mention it I do remember the comment in It where after Bill, Ben, Ritchie, etc encounter It for the first time there was a comment to the effect once they had seen It as it truly was, with all its masks thrown aside, it was not so terrible. I only vaguely remember the comment in question, but I do recall something to that effect. In any case it is true that no matter how horrible something may seem in the dark its not quite as bad when you can see it and describe it.
As for the origins of the Grue interesting stuff. I'm pretty sure Infocom borrowed the idea or the name at least from Jack Vance as well. A lot of authors and game developers did just because he was such a prolific fantasy writer. That said, everyone has taken the concept and made it their own such as Dungeons and Dragons, Infocom, Mutants and Masterminds, and while they share a name in common to me they aren't the same thing at all. Sure, I like the concept of the Grue as being mysterious and hiding out in the dark. In that case they can be anything a person wants them to be as it is based totally in the mind of the gamer. At the same time I make a distinction between the Grue from the Zork universe and these other so-called Grues because they are often different concepts of what a Grue is and is not. For instance, in Mutants and Masterminds you mentioned the Grue is a race of aliens from the moon or something like that. In the context of Mutants and Masterminds I'd accept that as belonging to that universe. However, since the Zork universe has a totally different concept of the Grue I would totally reject the notion of a Grue being from the moon in a Zork game because they are mysterious and unknown monsters, or at least were until Infocom decided to bring them out into the light and describe them which was a disappointment. They were more fun as an unknown rather than a known monster. Cheers! On 8/13/14, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > If I remember rightly the comment in It comes just after Bill and company > meet up with the title character, and Bill remarks that though he'll never > feel the same way about spiders, at least knowing that the monster behind > all the disguises is a spider is a lot better than what he imagines. > > As regards grue, well interestingly enough i believe Infocom got the name > from some books by Jack vance. This wouldn't surprise me sinse Vance's > books have been the source for a lot of ideas in modern rp and other games, > > for example the D&D magic system where by wizards need to first memorize a > spell to absorb it's energy each morning, then speak the encantation to > release the energy when they want the spell is apparently from Vance's dying > > earth series. > > Interestingly enough however, the term "grue" actually occurs in a problem > of philosophy of science from the mid 60's, (my friend had a good laugh when > > we had a lecture on the Grue problem). > > Broardly speaking the problem is to do with observable properties that > resemble another property at one point in time, but are entirely different > at another and comes from putting the words "green" and "blue" together, > sinse a "grue" object would appear green at one point, and blue at another, > > so it would be impossible to know at any given time whether the object was > actually green or blue, or was grue. > > The point to all this is that the word "grue" and it's association with > things that change and are a bit mysterious at least for me, goes slightly > further than the Zork universe. > > I personally like the idea of "Grues" being completely unseen and unknown > creatures that only appear in darkness, but that is just a preference, > similar to Tolkien's preference for dipicting elves as noble, wise and > artistic rather than capricious and fairy like as they occur in some > legends. > > so, as far as I'm concerned, conceptually the grue is up for grabs! :D. > > Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the Zork > games (which is probably odd for someone who likes grues so much), so it's > likely my respect for their universe boundaries is slightly less than > someone who is a major fan. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
