Re: MUD essential features (fwd)

From: Fredfish (E. Harper) (oxford_thames@on.aibn.com)
Date: 08/30/00


>        I've heard that the Aliens vs. Predator mud (http://avp.dhs.org/
>or avp.dhs.org 4444) has a well developed ranged weapon system.  Go ahead
>and download the code base and look.

Well, I'm even worse with C++ then I am with C, but I'll struggle through it... gotta learn somehow :)

>        You want no one style of combat to be predominant, and you'd like
>to achieve that by always providing a weakness that can be overcome by
>another (similarly flawed) style.

Bingo. Give the man a gold star.

>        Wouldn't it be more like the 1 person playing 8-10 games?  A two
>on one battle in a sword fight is much more difficult than simply fighting
>two people at different times, even if those two are not actively trying
>to help eachother out.  If they are trying to help eachother, and worse,
>they have experience in it, it could be 3,4,5x more difficult to beat
>them.

Certainly, sorry if I didn't make this clear enough. Mutual support - exactly what I've been talking about.

>        As an aside though, it appears that there would be more
>opportunity for a sort of high-adventure, fantasy, etc, many sterotypical
>roleplaying elements, via conflict.  Players will quickly get bored with
>computer controlled enemies - you can't make a storyline like you can in
>a single player game.  The only really dynamic and challenging thing in
>the game is the other players.  Sure, nothing whips up 12 flavors of RP
>(you take your pick) more than a good war (religion, race, clan..etc).
>Not that it's necessarily a roleplaying game, but look at Quake - almost
>no one I know actually plays that game unless it's vs other people on the
>internet.

Whoah, NO WAY am I suggesting MUDs are more fun when everyone gets along perfectly. I mean, co-operation would be even more neccesary and beneficial on a completely brutal game. Using the example of a war. There's a very good reason why soldiers aren't dispatched will-nilly into the field. An infantry section - or its fantasy equivalent, a group of player characters, is much more effective at combating the enemy together then apart.

And, if you must know, there are already big plans for my MUD in terms of warfare... *evil grin* Muahahahahaa...

>        The idea was that gods were less players, and more like...
>players in a different game.  [snip rest]

Sounds very interesting, I may consider implementing this when my MUD gets big enough. For now, I've got enough worrying about keeping the mortals happy...

>        It means 'to become used to'.  It should be spelled with one n.
>People are used to it, so they see it as a given, and will cry and moan if
>you don't allow it. At least at first.

Ah. Well, there's one way of dealing with crying and moaning *hefts broadsword*... seriously though, people may not love the idea at first, but I think over time it could become appreciated as pretty cool.

>        Unique items - even just changing the description are great.
>They're hard to manufacture though.  I would look on the mud-dev list for
>rather indepth discussions of this, though I can regurigitate them here if
>need be.

Well, you don't, but it would be helpful if I had the adress for the mud-dev list :) What is it?

>        That would be cool - i wouldn't mind some discussion on bleeding
>systems... A while ago, I wanted to put a system in with things like blood
>loss, individual limb damage, etc...In the end though, I thought that
>while great for a paper RPG, it's hard for a computer game char to deal
>with the fact that a dragon is attacking, and both his arms are broken.
>Is this realistic in a system where you have to write code for each
>possibly innane thing that a character can be allowed to do?

Well, IMO, having a system whereby characters get severe, semi-permanent damage like broken arms is a bit extreme. Sure, it's realistic, but that doesn't neccesarily equate with fun or suitable for an admin's concept of his world. As you said, it's awfully difficult to make this work in a CRPG setting.

On the other hand, I'm rather against the concept of ever-increasing HP, to the point of absurdity. I mean, really, if Joe Average has 100hp, how is it that Bob Superman has 1500hp? Do we really believe that if you can kill Joe with two shots from your M16, you need to empty the magazine into Bob before he dies?

In the D&D system which Diku and thus Circle combat is based on, the mega-increasing HP is explained with a number of claims that really amount to - 'sure, we could make it more realistic, but D&D is enough of a die-roll fest already, OK?' Of course, in a MUD where the die-rolls are 90% transparent to your players, this is not such an objection.

Great, now I've talked myself into re-writing the entire combat system. The more I plan, the bigger this MUD gets :)

>> Fredfish <<

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
-Antoine de Saint Exupery


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