[MUD-Dev] Foods (was Character evolution)

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <Pine.LNX.3.96.970826071126.126B-100000 at mpc.dyn.ml.org>, on
08/25/97 
   at 11:18 PM, Matt Chatterley <root at mpc.dyn.ml.org> said:

>On Mon, 25 Aug 1997, Marian Griffith wrote:

>> > Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:

>> > > On Sun, 17 Aug 1997 05:01:44 PST8PDT, Richard Woolcock
>> > > <KaVir at dial.pipex.com> wrote:

>While there are many forms of Toxin, one designed to kill a member of
>your race quickly and efficiently will do so with no qualms, so if
>you have reason to suspect food may be dodgy, you'd better get it
>tasted (and if you don't suspect it, you deserve to get killed off)!
> 

Note that you have effectively reinvented the single-blow kill, or an
easy way for a newbie to off veteran characters with little to no risk
to themselves, or of the source being traced back to them.  This is
not necessarily a bad thing, let alone a Bad Thing, but it does change
your game balance significantly.

This echoes to a much more intersting point which I hope to explore
more in response to Kirsten's post.  It is pathetically easy to kill
someone in RL.  Introduction of poisons or rapdily fatal diseases,
toxins which rapidly result in incapacitance allowing unhindered
disposal or futher damage to the body, low force/impact blows which
kill or incapacitate quickly etc are all easily accomplished with
minimal training and readily available.  This echoes for those not
willing to do as much research, in that as long as they attempt to
guarantee their own survival after the death, it actually becomes
extremely trivial.  

Consider the case of the chap who blow-guns the toxin into the
near-death body of the deer the hunter just transfixed with his arrow,
the ambush in the gorge with archers above, the hidden trap above the
lime pit, the deadfall, the accidental jostle at the bar which drops a
tasteless poison in your beer, etc.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...