[MUD-Dev] not about pk anymore

[Marian Griffith]

On Wed 09 Jul, Nathan Yospe wrote:

> On Fri, 27 Jun 1997, Huibai wrote:
> :Brandon Cline hath ordained:

:: The only problems I see with who lists, are that they are un-
:: realistic, and allow for generlizations like, oh so-and-so isn't on
:: the who list, he must have logged out, which people shouldn't
:: be able to tell anyways, shrug.

Maybe not, strictly speaking, but realistically it's important to the
players to know if somebody else is playing too. If only for the rea-
son you outlined above. You could easily make it a little less simple
to acquire that information.  Perhaps having a board in the local pub
that shows who signed in and out; as a public service to the townfolk
so they know which strangers are in their realm. This means that each
player can find out by strolling to this pub but can't tell once they
are out and adventuring. They also may truthfully tell the gate guard
where they are heading if they leave town and allow others to follow.
Or they may not if they need to keep that information secure.
It you do this you wull probably find a lot of players ranting at you
but your who is marginally in theme while still functional.  The same
can be said about 'tell' or 'page'. They're important conveniences to
the players and should be available, though there might be a cost for
them that keeps them marginally in theme. Probably you need an inborn
telepathy skill that ca not be acquired.  Or a sufficiently powerfull
mage to send a message by magical means or a priestly prayer that her
diety passes on to a priest in another town. NOT something like: "Hey
we're toasting the red dragon. care to help?"

:: I forgot to bring up about making stuff less game termish,
:: So that you don't have someone saying "Oh man, that 50th
:: level dragon took off 200 hit points per round, he's tough."
:: Instead you get, "Wow, we fought an elder dragon ealier today
:: and his claws sliced right through my plate armor, knocking me
:: to the ground, it was all I could to to get up and run away while
:: he was distracted by the rest of my group..." 

Definitely a much better read, but I'm afraid you'll find many play-
ers will not like it at all. They prefer the clarity of numbers over
the deliberate obscurity of phrases. In a game where combat and hit-
points mean everything I don't think I can blame them, and a sliding
bar to indicate your health is really much the same as numbers.
This gets even worse when you use local damage. I.e. when your chest
gets hit it is -only- your chest armour that deals with the blow and
only your chest that gets bruised or injured. Then you need an awful
lot of numbers or words to keep track of all those damages.  And you
get a very spammy combat because all those injuries must keep remin-
ding you of their existence (much like in reality). I don't think it
can be combined with fast paced action and still remain playable but
I'm willing to be surprised.

> Johnny Angel lopes by, his assult rifle slung over his shoulder. He grins
> at you and gestures, waving you to follow. Ira pats your shoulder as she
> runs past, and behind you Krr*ganfth growls as he straps himself into a
> combat mech. Krr*ga's mech tromps past, and Captain HarshLight turns to
> you and yells "Get a move on! This operation is important! If we pull it
> off, I might be able to pull a generalship. [mutter damn uptight
> mercenary] You mutter under your breath. HarshLight whirls around and
> glares at you. Ira winks back at you and whispers "Don't mind HarshLight.
> He's just not a very good roleplayer." Ira blanches. "Oops." [chuckle]
> You chuckle. Krr*ganfth pushes open the bulkhead door with a groan. A
> blast of heat and light blinds you and sears against your face. Someone
> screams, and HarshLight roars over the comm, "It's an ambush! Fall back!"
> You smell charred meat. Something sharp and hot tears into your left wing,
> and you smell burning feathers momentarily before the dull numbness of
> hurt penetrates, and your wing begins pulsing loudly. {note: this
> character is a tre'laeci, and their species does not feel pain in the same
> way as humans and glah*drack.} 

The above is lovely, but very hard to acquire. It also is hard to achieve.
I've not only added which commands every player must give, but also what
the game should be sending to produce this kind of atmospheric description

{seen: Johnny Angel <lopes> by <, his assult rifle slung over his
shoulder.>[john:grin ..., follow]{seen: <He> grins at you <and> gestures,
waving you to follow}[Krr*ganfth: growl, wear mech]{seen: <and behind you>
Krr*ganfth growls <as he> straps himself into a combat mech.}[Krr*ganfth:
goto ...]{seen: Krr*ga's mech tromps past}[cptn:yell ...]{seen: <, and>
Captain HarshLight <turns to you and> yells "Get a move on! This operation
is important! If we pull it off, I might be able to pull a generalship.}
.....
[Krr*ganfth: open bulkhead]{seen: Krr*ganfth pushes open the bulkhead door
< with a groan>.}!A blast of light and heat!{seen+felt: <A blast of heat
and light blinds you and sears against your face.>}<Krr*ganfth: scream>
[cptn: shout: ...]{hear: <, and> HarshLight <roars over the comm,> It's
an ambush! Fall back!}<smell: burn, charred meat>
...
Everything between { and } is what you eventually get on your screen?
everything between [ and ] is a command somebody has to give,though I
left the actual text of messages out, for clarity. Things between the
< and > are difficult as here the game must reformat the messages ge-
nerated by the commands  to string them together.  And in the case of
Krr*ganfth being hurt makes him scream as well.  Also it introduces a
couple of scenic descriptions, like the charred meat.
I wonder if  it is possible to make a game understand so much of lan-
guage that it can do this? I hope so because without it the scene be-
comes something like this:
Johnny Angel walks by.
Johnny Angel grins at you.
Johnny Angel gestures you to follow.
Krr*ganfth growls
Krr*ganfth wears combat mech.
Captain Harslight yells "Get a move on!...."
...
Krr*ganfth opens the bulkhead.
A combat mech hits Krr*ganfth.
Captain Harshlight shouts "I's an ambush! Fall back!"
...

And then I doubt anybody would ever use so many words if the entire
effect is ruined by chunky descriptions.

[about ranged combat]
> :I favor underpowered, then.  A good archer will get in a third
> :shot on a longe-range target before the ground is closed.  The
> :damage done is not more than melee damage, but is harder
> :and less common to be protected against.  The best of bowmen
> :better also carry a close-combat weapon.  Unless the target
> :refuses their natural instincts to take cover or charge, they'll
> :be in close-combat by the second volley in most cases.

Most archers did. And they were typically protected by a line of in-
fantery so they did have time to switch weapons.  But their main use
was to break up enemy charges of infantery and light cavalry who had
only light armour that could be pierced by an arrow at a distance.
Crossbows where short range weapons that took long to reload and did
not carry far, but could pierce heavy cavalry armour at close range.
Longbow was also much more accurate than crossbow.
In a game  longbows should be used for accurate firing at a distance
but do relatively light damage and slow down rather than injure. But
if you have mass combat  then they would do considerable damage when
you let arrows fly en masse.  Crossbows on the other hand would do a
lot of damage,  even through heavy armour.  But would require a long
delay between shots, unless the bowman drops his weapon and switches
to sword or mace.
In either case to use ranged weapons some changes have to be made to
the rooms as well. Everybody in a big room and let them sort out who
is facing who doesn't work well here.


:: [solo player vs. group player paragraph]
:: should balance be geared towards group players, making solo
:: players difficult, but not impossible, also, being solo, that would
:: make it harder to recover without friends, i.e. all beat up, and no
:: healer?  

Personally I would say yes. It makes the short term gaming difficult
and requires the players to invest time and effort  in acquiring not
only armour but friends as well. This would seriously hamper players
who can't make long connects to the game as they no longer can go on
a quick run to the green dragon... All in all I think it will likely
improve the atmosphere on a game, having seen the effects of changes
in the opposite direction (towards solo playing).

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey