[MUD-Dev] Graphic MUDS/Ultima Online

[Richard Woolcock]

clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:
> 
> In <33F009A1.11AB at dial.pipex.com>, on 08/11/97
>    at 04:04 PM, Richard Woolcock <KaVir at dial.pipex.com> said:
> 
> >Matt Chatterley wrote:
> >>
> >> Yup! This is where one vital change in outlook is a key starting point.
> >> Weapons are NOT separate entities in their own right. ANYTHING you can
> >> lift and swipe with is a weapon! Just a sword is better designed for
> >> cutting than a chair you grabbed in the inn.
> 
> >Why use the chair?  If you're an 8 foot ogre, you could use the
> >innkeeper.
> 
> At only 8 feet tall, especially considering that muscular strength
> increases proportionally to muscular cross-sectional area, and NOT to
> muscular mass, but that mass increases with the cube...  Unless you're
> 8 foot ogre is built almost as wide as he is tall he's not going to be
> able to do much more than shake the Inn keeper's hand.
> 
> cf tall basketball players.  They're not into power weight lifting.

Well okay maybe that was a bad example, but generally your typical 
fantasy-themed ogre is pretty damn strong - strong enough to pick up
a human (with both hands) and 'swing' them around.

> >You swing the Innkeeper over your head, striking the drunkard hard.
> 
> Being picky and deliberately obnoxious:
> 
>   The drunkard is over your head?

I assumed an 'overhead' swing, like fishing.

>   It is possible to hit someone other than hard with an Innkeeper?

Of course, 'hard' would just be an indication of how much pain you're
likely to put the drunkard (and Innkeeper) through.

>   Isn't hitting someone with an Innkeeper somewhat equivalent to
>   having them hit the Innkeeper hard?

Yes, thus in my example the Innkeeper died also.  I suppose you could
argue the same thing about using your own body.  Does it hurt to punch
someone?  (In my mud, punching someone who has Flesh of Marble - a
vampiric discipline power - doesn't hurt the target at all....but it 
is possible to shatter your own fingers from the punch).

> >Now watch the mess you make in a bar-room brawl...
> 
> Oh lord, time for UggUgg's fight (which has many flaws in its own
> right, the most grievious being the automatic acceptance of offered
> items and the staccato statements):
> Quite messy as well.[hugely entertaining combat snipped]

Not the sort of mess I had in mind.  I was thinking more of the 
following type of brawl:

>lookYou are standing at the bar.  In front of you an attractive 
barmaid waits for you to order a drink.  Behind her, the bar
is lined with bottles and kegs, and several pictures are
hanging from the wall.  A cloaked stranger sits in the corner
of the room, watching you silently.  At another table, two
ruffians are drinking heavily.

A ruffian stands up and walks over to the barmaid, leering
at her.

>look ruffianHe is very dirty, and looks like he has been in quite a few
fights.  He seems to notice you staring at him, and glares
back at you.

The ruffian tells you "Back off, stranger"

The barmaid asks the ruffian "What can I offer you?"

The ruffian smirks, and grabs hold of the barmaid.
The ruffian states "I'm sure I can think of something".

>say let her goYou state "let her go".

The ruffian starts trying to drag the struggling barmaid
across the room with him.

>grab ruffianYou grab hold of the ruffian's arm.

The ruffian releases the barmaid, and hurls you into a 
nearby table.  The table breaks under your weight.

The ruffian pulls out a knife and leaps towards you.

>grab weaponYou grab a broken table-leg.

The cloaked stranger at the table leaps to his feet, and
hurls a chair at the ruffian's companion.  The chair
smashes apart as it strikes the ruffian, who collapses
unconsious.

The barmaid grabs a bottle from behind the bar and hurls
it towards the ruffian, who ducks.  The bottle smashes 
through a window.

The ruffian spins and hurls his knife at the cloaked
stranger, striking him in the neck.  A spray of blood
shoots from the man's neck, and he falls to the
ground with a gurgling noise, his blood pumping out
across the floor.

>hit ruffianYou stab your chair-leg into the ruffians groin, who
screams in agony and staggers backwards, the chair-leg
still impaled through his body.

>hit ruffianYou grab a chair and hurl it at the ruffian.  The chair
skims off his head and over the bar, smashing dozens of
bottles.

The ruffian hobbles towards the door, blood pouring from
the wound in his groin.

>aim ruffianYou pull your crossbow from under your cape and take aim 
at the ruffian.

>shootYou pull the trigger on your crossbow.  A bolt flies from 
your crossbow and strikes the ruffian in the back of the 
head.  The ruffian slams into the door, which smashes
under the impact, and falls face first onto the street 
outside, dead.

You hear screams from outside.

>lookYou are standing at the bar.  In front of you an attractive
barmaid gazes fearfully at you.  Behind her, the bar is
lined with broken bottles, and several pictures are hanging
from the wall.  All around you lies broken furniture, and
at the entrance to the bar you notice the door and one of
the windows have been broken.  Two bodies lie inert on the
floor, which is covered with blood stains.


Sorry if that was a bit long.  I'm very much into the idea
of players being able to affect their surroundings - one of
the things I have planned for my coord-based world is being
able to hurl people through walls (particularly affective if
you are standing on a high building at the time).  I also
have blood stains, which are caused when people bleed in
rooms.

KaVir.