[MUD-Dev] Moving away from the level based system

[Dave Rickey]

-----Original Message-----
From: John Vanderbeck <agathorn at cfl.rr.com>
To: mud-dev at kanga.nu <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Date: Monday, December 11, 2000 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Moving away from the level based system


>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Corey Crawford" <myrddin at seventh.net>
>To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
>Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 7:54 PM
>Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Moving away from the level based system
>
>> Hmm. The first thing I want to say is... Cool Magic System :) I like
>> the idea that it actually costs the caster mana (energy, whatever)
>> to maintain the spell, not just cast it.
>
> The whole design is to make being a caster require skill as well.
> I'm a magic freak.  I love wielding spells.  The design here is that
> spells do'nt have a set "duration" like for example in D&D, but
> rather last for as long as the caster spends energy to maintain it.
> Move this to the more practical scale where you are maintaining
> multiple spells at once and the skill aspect comes in.

We've actually got something like this in Camelot.  Most buffs are
defined as "Concentration" spells, which use an entirely separate pool
of "Concentration" points to maintain (most spells use "Power Points",
a mana-type system).  It takes X number of points to maintain a buff
on a group mate (and they can only be maintained on group members),
the basic target is that 1 cleric can maintain a full set of buffs on
3 members of his party.  These spells are used for the basic utility
and combat buffs that traditionally would get recast over and over.
It's not just clerics that have these, of course, although as is
normal they have the biggest range of buffing spells so they make more
use of the system.  These spells remain until the target logs out or
the caster cancels them.

This was actually the result of efforts to eliminate a lot of the
spellcasting drudgery, the constant cycle of recasting the same spells
over and over (and the negative consequences of bad timing when they
wore off).  EQ Bards were actually something like this, if the player
used a 3rd party program to "twist" songs simulataneously (rather than
give themselves carpal tunnel syndrome doing it manually).  Clerics
seem to like the fact that they can make their strategic decisions
about what buffs to maintain on who ahead of time, and then forget
about them.

--Dave Rickey

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