Messages

571

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Skills/Spells Distribution

« on: March 29, 2008, 04:03:06 am »

As far as I know magic items cannot be tinkered, which would mean a valid reason to use detect_magic, before you destroy a perfectly good weapon.
(I'm not sure if this is still the case, of course, things tend to get changed without notice, and it's been long since I actively played. Perhaps some of you could check?)

Otherwise I agree with Prom; if a skill/spell is useless, it should be pulled out and replaced with something better, especially since we reached a cap with skills/spells.

572

General Discussions / Re: Advanced Notice...

« on: March 29, 2008, 03:55:03 am »

Feeding a vampire stakes sounds... ominous.

573

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Skills/Spells Distribution

« on: March 26, 2008, 06:46:44 am »

How about something like this?

Thanks Erwin, thats definitely a good start.
Good trainer suggestions for the main list too.

Couple of questions: (I know, I should know this, but concentrating on building has made me lose track of the active game)

- Do all the Classes get the Tier 1 skills/spells at the same level?
- And what about the Tier 2, 3 and 4 skills/spells for each Class?
- Which of the skills/spells from other Classes do you keep as GM? (apart from the ones you keep from previous Class)

Heh, I'd probably want them rearranged in alphabetical order too, to facilitate search for a spefific skill/spell, but that's something for later.
I guess next step would be to replace the Y with T#/L# .

574

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Skills/Spells Distribution

« on: March 25, 2008, 12:23:28 pm »

Okey, I still have some small issues with this, the main one being what skills and spells the 'generic' Guildmasters get. (I've discussed this with Viri a bit, and he's already moved the mount and riding skills in the main list of post1 to the Stable Masters and Racecourse trainer, and given the Spellcaster GMs some actual spells to teach). I still think that it would be nice if each of the spellcaster GMs had at least one class-specific spell to teach, however - (as it is they are all similar).

Generally I think the IC element of who teaches what should be given just as much weight as the tier/level of the skill/spell, not just for the 'Specialist' Trainers, but for the 'Generalists' as well.

The 2 most powerful skills/spells for each class should also need a quest to get.
Suggestions of which spells that are considered best by the players would be helpful here.

I also want the system to be presented already in Mud School. The Governess in Mediaval could explain the system (which would give her a purpose) and then Gondolf could teach manifest and the Newbie School Stable Master the riding skills, to give an early introduction to how the Specialist Trainers look.

I added some suggestions to the list, but several skills/spells are yetnot filled, so please those of you that know the realms well, get a bit creative here!
Time's running out fast, we want to toe this feature to a global RP event that we are planning for mid April, and there is a lot of work to be done.

One thing that might be really helpful, when we make the final decisions, would be a list that showed all the skills/spells/class info on the same sheet. As it is you have to clip back and forth between the Class skilllists to compare them.

I know this means a bit of work to set up, but it would be very useful for other things too, and a nice ting to have on the webpage.
So if anyone would like to contribute to the mud, please volunteer in this thread.

The heading would look like:
Skill name :   Warrior    Hunter    Thief    Ranger    Gypsy    Mage    Priest    Esper 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
And  then each line  in the list would look something like this :
chill touch         -          -           -           -          -          T1/L2     T1/L5    T2/L14
(or whatever tier/level each class gets the skill/spell at).

575

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Skills/Spells Distribution

« on: March 17, 2008, 06:00:37 am »

Although I basically love this concept, I have a couple of concerns. Basically I think the suggestion, as it stands now, is a bit too overwhelming, and that it would be better to limit the ambitions a bit.

I think that by dividing almost all skills and spells on various mobs, and even setting most on them on a lot of different mobs, you are not only making things a bit hard for the new players, you are also creating a lot of extra work for the Builders. I am not quite sure about who you think will be doing all this work, or how much time it will take to get it all implemented.

I'd like to see a more limited concept, where we concentrate the efforts on the skills/spells from tier 2 upwards.

Personally, I really think that the 'basic' Trainers, (the ones at Recall, Mud School and all the Clan Trainers) should teach all Tier 1 skills and spells, at least up to level 30, so as not to make it too hard on the Newbies.
Whereas the 8 Guildmasters (which are still easy to reach) should also teach Tier 1 skills and spells above level 30 in their respective class.

The rest of the skills/Spells (above Tier 1) should be divided on 'specialists', and the most powerful ones should also need a quest to practice.

This is my opinion, but I am still open to discussion, and if overruled, I'll bow to a majority.

576

General Discussions / Re: !Swearing script on that damn cane/necklace :p

« on: March 16, 2008, 03:34:49 am »

The script is the builder's choice, and I respect that.

If you don't like the item, don't use it.

You could of course talk to Amber and ask her to modify the script.

Personally I don't see 'bitch' as a swear word, for instance.
As for 'gosh' nobody ever uses it, so I fail to see why that would be a problem.

577

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: KOTM

« on: March 16, 2008, 03:28:28 am »

It's fine by me.
Go for it!

You can also run a Gladiator Arena, if the balance of the chars is fixed by now.
If so, we'll change the password, so that the general accessibility to the Gladiator chars will be taken off.

578

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Items for RP groups

« on: March 16, 2008, 03:24:44 am »

As long as all RP groups get the same opportunities, and the items have limited affects, I guess it would be OK by me.

I suggest similar rules as for Clan items, i.e. a total of 10 points, and no item can have all 10 points; they have to be divided on 3 items.

And note that I say POINTS, not affects.
For instance 1 hit or damroll = 3 points, 1 str/dex/con etc = 2 points.
Check in the Equipment guidelines for what goes.

Also the usual rules for house items apply:
You have to pay in tokens for the mob, the script, the shop, etc according to what is stated in the Price guide.

579

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: The Art of Punishment

« on: March 15, 2008, 05:52:42 am »

Umm, I see that Point 2 under Punish1 should be revised, since it applies to an older time, when non PKillers could still get attacked and you'd get a Killer flag for doing it. I'll get along to fixing that when I have a spare moment.

Otherwise my comment is this:

We are generally pretty tolerant on this mud, since we believe that people should be regarded as innocent, until proven guilty (which sometimes can be hard on a Mud where player privacy is respected). Some say that we are too patient, that we wait too long with inflicting the punishments, and that once we do punish, it sometimes get excessive.

However, we do expect our players to show some maturity, and also think that player conflicts should best be dealt with by the players themselves. The number 1 rule: 'Behave like a jerk and you'll be treated like a jerk.' pretty well sums it up. Consequently there should be no need for imm interference at every petty episode.

Some players definitely come out as bad eggs though, and all problems and conflicts seem to center around those. If you are one of them; don't expect - just because we are patient - that the patience will last for ever. And remember that bad actions pile up against you each time.

You can regard it as a rubber band. Each time you cross a border, the rubber band is stretched out too far, and each time this happens it weakens the material a bit. One day it will be weakened to the point where it snaps. And when this happens, it means that you have crossed the final border, and that everybody, including the Staff, are totally fed up with your antics. The end result may see a bit harsh to some, but don't forget that there is usually a long history of bad behavior preceding it.

580

General Discussions / Re: Heys Molls

« on: March 11, 2008, 04:19:53 pm »

In case somebody wonders why Nanukimo was banned, I think that his own words in this post explain it  better than anything I could say.

And if someone still has doubts, I suggest you type HELP BEHAVIOUR in the game, and pay specific attention to point 2.

There is no way I'd ever let any player blackmail me into having their way. RL threats are totally unacceptable, and threats against the game makes me more angry than anything else, because by threatening the game you also threaten every one that plays it, and every imm that has put countless hours into making it a good game that we allow people to play for free.

581

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: PK

« on: March 11, 2008, 06:20:33 am »

As much as I personally dislike looting and junking, I don't think that the possibility should be removed. That would just reduce PK to another variation of the Arena.

As it is, non PK players are totally protected by the code. Going PK is a conscious choice you make, and it should have its risks as well as its benefits. That doesn't mean that you have to loot and junk everyone that you kill. And, in particular, it doesn't mean that you have to attack players who are AFK at Recall, or busy helping Newbies along.

The PK culture is set by the players themselves. There used to be an honour codex about PK in 4D. It seems to have been dragged in the dirt lately, due to the actions of a minority.
Lionheart and Alpha had the right idea in that log, posted on the Roleplayers board. It shows how PK can be done in an IC manner, and how it actually gives the opportunity for some roleplay both before and after the actual PK fight.

Of course it only takes one jerk to destroy any system - in fact it sometimes only takes one jerk to harm an entire Mud.

Violence breeds more violence, and what you do to others is usually done back to yourself, sooner or later. But generally PKillers are experienced enough players to be able to retrieve their own equipment without too much effort. The exception of that is the perzes, which can be reloaded against a fee, but only if they aren't already loaded in the game. This is why I find it particularly despicable to nick the perzes before you junk, and then keep those indefinitely in a chest in your house, to prevent them from being reloaded. But despicable as it is, I don't think that is enough reason to code away the looting option.

Pkillers will just have to learn to type 'sit', before going AFK at Recall. And my prediction is that most PKillers will add a script to all their perzes, that makes them go poof, when touched by anyone but the owner.

Of course, that means that all Pkillers will have to pay the extra fee for that script. And it also means that the 'normal' Pkillers, who might have chosen to take a perze from the corpse, with the intent of collecting the silver token for the retrieval themselves instead of the imms, will lose the opportunity of that extra income.

But that's how things usually work in a Mud. The actions of one jerk usually have repercussions on the majority of players, whether intentional or not.

My personal opinion is that you shouldn’t go PK if you lack social skills, take yourself or the game too seriously, use to antagonise half the Mud, cannot handle your anger, or don’t know how to use the IGNORE command. And that is a serious meant advice to all of you. Try to apply some self insight before taking the decision to register.

582

Roleplay / Re: RP Session 27/02/2008

« on: March 08, 2008, 02:44:04 pm »

There is one particular reason why I really like this log.
Not because of the Roleplay, which is good enough, but not spectacular.

No, the reason why I like it, is because it shows how PK can be carried out in a mature and  ICly way, and how you can use it as an opportunity to roleplay. So instead of one gloating 'victor', one junked corpse and one pissed off victim, we have two players that both end up as winners. Both had a good RP session, both got some Award points from it, and both will respect each other more in the future.

I just wish all PK in 4D would be carried out ICly - that might bring back the old PK culture, which actually had a 'code of honour'.

583

General Discussions / Re: Favorite Areas

« on: March 02, 2008, 09:09:34 am »

Well, I knew you were being sarcastic, Virisin, but that's mostly because I know you pretty well by now, and know what you like and dislike.

But sarcasm is always risky, especially in a text based environment, because so many people will take what you say at face value. And also because the sad fact is that the majority of mudders tend to focus on maxing their own power, rather than savoring the finer nuances of the game.

Also I think you picked bad examples to prove your point, Or maybe the saddest thing of all is that the examples you picked were good ones.

Victorian England is a totally awesome zone. It has just about everything, atmosphere, depth,intrigue, humor, grit, some very nice quests and one of the evilest mazes I've seen so far. But why do people talk about it and go there? Not because it is an awesome zone, but because of the overpowered equipment and some potent potions. Pretty much the same can be said about Punt.

I think it is sad, and it is one of the things that makes building a bit of a thankless task. People appreciate our zones for the wrong reasons, and are to quick to bitch about minor flaws while forgetting basic qualities.

584

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Things the players would like to see changed or implemented. (Recovered)

« on: March 02, 2008, 07:53:44 am »

I rather think you should tweak the equation that calculates the amount of gold you get from mobs dependent on their level.  Leave the 'normal' mobs as they are, for the newbies to survive, and reduce the amount you get from ubermobs considerably. Dark Planet is not the only zone with lots of high powered mobs.

There is of course also the option to set more mobs as type exotic in OLC, and define the gold they drop to zero, which might be something more Builders could think about when creating their zone.

If Builders generally would think more about balance and what is good for the Mud in general than how best to lure more players into their zone, we'd have less of these problems. If the players like your zone simply because the equipment is overpowered and the mobs drop too much gold, you should be ashamed of yourself, not proud.

585

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Race Balancing And Character Balancing

« on: March 02, 2008, 04:48:22 am »

I'd make the Deity of Medieval some kind of religious order for the Crusaders, for instance the Temple Knights, which did exist. Possibly we could also have some Muslim ordery, (not Allah or Mohammed directly, since that might offend real Muslims), but something historic, maybe Follower of Saladdin. And possibly you could worship the devil too.
You could also choose to follow any of the existing Barons and Knights as a Squire, (like Arthur, Lancelot, Galahad or the Robber Baron).

In Pre, we could just use the existing Greek and Egypt Gods - all of them already have their temples and properties, so that would be an easy adaption. There are both good and bad deities to choose from, but most of them were a bit... ambiguous.

Old West, hmm... I think Cthulhu is a 19th century goth fantasy, if you want to go for evil. Or maybe Dracula or Mirkheim, for vampires.
The 'good' ones could just be common, god-fearing Republicans and follow the local preacher. :-P
Otherwise the deputy/sheriff, versus outlaws idea works fine for me. You could for instance follow the Wild Bunch in Hole in the Wall, or any of the existing marshals. (i actually had a quest for this planned in the past, that I never got around to implement.
And wasn't the Indian deity called Manitou?

Future I am not so sure about. Jedi and Dark Jedi would have the been natural choice, if we hadn't already got the DJ Clan.
We could of course invent some obscure local deities for various planets. The only one I know of so far is Herbie, on Yudore. I'd rather like him as a deity, he's a funny guy.
Or you could follow the Robert Young Space Cadets, I already have a quest for that in the making for other things. Then there could be a band of Space bandits, for the evil.