[MUD-Dev] Supporting RP+PG

[Miroslav Silovic]

> In <199706230514.TAA02643 at mail.pixi.com>, on 06/22/97 
>    at 10:21 PM, "Huibai" <ashen at pixi.com> said:
> 
> >- hiding all statistics. (HP,skills,levels,etc.)
> >  health is a graphic % bar.  they've got no idea
> >  what their absolute points are, only how hurt
> >  out of the whole.
> 
> This loses the ugliness of numbers while avoiding the chancy
> interpretation of adjectives (just how hurt is "in agony" as vs
> "moaning with pain"?)  Essentially you now have a percentage value. 
> The problem which it chares with all the other general systems is in
> evaluating what 20% damage (or whatever) really means in game
> functionality.  
> 
> ie given a stat at XXX level, what can and can't I do because of that
> stat?

Assuming that you insist on keeping linear scaler. Now let's tackle your
example from another viewpoint: let's completely ditch the idea of
hit points. Instead, give attributes to each would: pain level, bleeding
level, location on the body, exposure of the flesh. Use only discrete
values for each: low, medium, high for bleed/pain/exposure. Then expand
the idea of location to include not just torso/limbs, but specific organs
and muscle groups. Now keep lists of the wounds. 

Result is that you can TELL that player can't do something because his
biceps is hurting too much because of the would he got from serrated
orcish sword, which while nonvital hurts like heck and tends to reopen
and bleed. And healers would have to treat each wound separately, applying
procedure according to the wound. Of course, this would enlarge the player
objects, but... it'd do so far less than tracking who-knows-who that some
LPMUDs do.

Incidentally, this wound-tracking system has an advantage that player
would have VERY specific idea that his character is in pain, and would
think twice before getting into any sort of combat - remember, while
you don't have to die, incapacitating wound can kick you out of the
loop for days.

Also, I think that player should /not/ necessarily know whether his
character can or can not do something until he tries it - you don't know
in RL, either.

	Miro