[MUD-Dev] Supporting RP+PG

[Marian Griffith]

On Tue 01 Jul, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Jun 1997, Huibai wrote:

> Yeah - gradual increase seems to be thought of as the way to go now, and
> is certainly very attractive over a jagged set of increases, pretty much a
> smooth, exponential approach (or a parabola, or normal distribution).

The good part about it is of course that it allows you to hide
the details from the players. If the changes are gradual there
is no way to point at exact moments  where the change occurse.
There isn't one after all.  It distracts players from the game
of levelling and allows them to concentrate more on playing it
as a game rather than as a point (kills ?) scoring contest.

> Is 50/100 HP exactly half dead? Would being poked in the tummy hurt more
> if you had several cracked ribs? Ie: Will a hit of the same strength
> always hurt the same amount, no matter how close to being dead you are?

It took me a good long time to understand that hitpoints in the
traditional mud do not mean healt, but your ability to continue
the fight. As you fight you get tired, you get cuts and scrapes
and so on.  All this wears out your ability to fight,  until at
one point you are too hurt+exhausted to avoid the killing blow.
Of course  the fact that the being hit messages describe every-
thing as a veritable carnage  do not help to bring this message
across to the players. It also isn't exactly necessary to do it
this way. You can simply keep track of wounds and exhaustion in
separate numbers.  And have a more or less realistic effect for
wounds.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey