[MUD-Dev] Foods (was Character evolution)

[Matt Chatterley]

On Thu, 28 Aug 1997 clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:

>    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.

Yes, and no. The change to balance is something fairly desirable, since
the veteran will still have the logical upperhand, in knowing the game
better, and being more likely equipped to cope with poisoning (magical
means, or natural, to hand). They will probably be in better shape too,
and more able to withstand milder toxins.

The newcomer should still be able to off an inattentive veteran (or even a
poorly equipped yet alert one!). Poisoning is definitely a low risk way to
go, moreso if food is used as means to an end.
 
> 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.  


I'll agree here too. Although I prefer to stretch the bounds of reality a
little in all senses (delethalising things a touch - but keeping them in
some proportion).
 
> 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.

Damn straight.

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