[MUD-Dev] Level abstractions - Realism vs Game Issues

[Matt Chatterley]

On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, Nathan Yospe wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> :On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, Adam Wiggins wrote:
>
> :Egad, this was quite a while ago.
> 
> Heh. I just realized this only came in yesterday. So much for "going way
> back and replying to a bunch of stuff"...

Heh. I try to read everything I receive here at the time I receive it (I
put aside 30 - 45 mins each morning for this, at 7 am :P ).
 
> :> We have a lot of different stats for general physical stalwartness.
> :> The one which is not changable is constitution, which basically represents
> :> your body's actual resistance to damage - the traditional example being
> :> that dwarves have high constitutions due to very strong bones, thick limbs
> :> (relative to their height), and are very 'meaty' in general.  All
> :> the other stats can vary dramatically during the character's life, and
> :> include:
> 
> :I suppose constitution would equate to metabolic stability (or somesuch)
> :in my world. The Physical stats (say, Strength, Agility and Endurance) are
> :workable - by physical exertion, you can probably add upto 20% of your
> :inital value to them.
> 
> Nicely integrated into my skill web, at least in terms of the mental
> portions. The physical ones (like strength) I center in the limbs
> themselves... physical memory, unfortunately, for design reasons, is
> inbued into the mind, not the body. It made up for itself by creating a
> "ghost limb" effect when limbs go missing... this system is sooo cool that
> way.

Very nice!
 
> :> Mobs also take advantage of this when relating events to players:
> 
> :> You ask the shopkeeper, 'What happened?'
> :> The shopkeeper says, 'Buffy KILLED Bruno!  It was terrible!'
> :> You ask Boffo, 'What happened?'
> :> Boffo says, 'Buffy killed Bruno.'
> 
> :This is a truly excellent premise for handling things - it gives a really
> :good reason why experience in gory combat gives an advantage over an
> :inexperienced fighter (or rather, one of a set of reasons).
> 
> This is an advantage I hadn't thought of. I wonder if acclimation works in
> my system? With the stats in the middle layer of a neural net, you never
> can tell...

Heh. I'm pondering a way to allow for this - it fits in nicely with an
idea someone raised briefly (but did not yet post to my muds list for
extensive debate) as to phobias, and things that make you go 'Euuurgh!',
like the sight of blood (which could be a major handicap in combat!).
 
> :I'm pleased with it; I dislike the notion that each object contains a
> :finite amount of magical, which can be so strictly measured.
> 
> Heh. Reminds me of the sentivores of... geeze, what was that book? One of
> Hambly's... they homed in on thought, so the only way to survive them was
> to stop thinking.

Heh. Heh. Heh. There are also places where magic is stronger/weaker (due
to the current flowing, dependant on distance from source), and where
magic simply does not work, unless you bring some with you in a suitable
container, or keep a 'wire' to the real world (the alternate planes of the
elements are examples, there are the same magical leakages there, but
conflicting charges, which react to eliminate one another).
 
> :> So is mana also a stat 'contained' in characters?  We currently have it
> 
> :Yes. The 'mana' stat is a representation of your AMC (actual magical
> :capacitance), and MPs reflect your mental state. If you are mentally
> :exhausted, although you may have a very high AMC, you cannot control the
> :flow of mana through yourself to conduct any magics. You will recover
> :faster mentally if you have a high AMC (its a side effect of the sort of
> :build up of magical static).
> 
> This is funny. When we wrote Singularity 1, we replaced mana with energy,
> in joules, and players would always be searching for better capacitors for
> their gear. Eventually someone realized that the rate of recharge of these
> capacitors was inversely proportional to the amount of charge already
> present, and started popping capacitors into a charger at half charge, and
> switching them with the ones in his laser... he became a holy terror (he
> was a hitman for the most unpleasant social organization in the game) and
> noone else caught on to his weapons never running low on power. So I
> implemented consequences for weapon overheat.

Arf!
 
> :Nog. This works too - the theme of my world illustrates magic as a sort of
> :cross between electricity, radiation and perhaps light.
> 
> Theme of my world illustrates it as fast wrists and pockets in the
> sleeves. *grin*

:)

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"Speak softly and carry a big stick." -Theodore Roosevelt