[MUD-Dev] Evil coders from beyond the grave

[Matt Chatterley]

On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Chris Gray wrote:

> [Matt, the undead:]
> 
> :What other considerations might we have to take into account for this, and
> :moreover, what would the effect of this be on the game, and other elements
> :of said game? Are there things noted herein, or hidden herein, which can
> :allude to better ways to handle other parts of the environment?
> 
> How about combat with limbs missing? In some stories I've read, the
> undead keep going until they are physically unabled to due to the
> mechanics of stuff. So, even if you hacked off an arm, they could start
> using the other one. If you hacked off legs, they could keep squirming
> towards you. How about only partially hacked off limbs dangling around?

Certainly true of the traditional zombie! About the only way to stop one
with a normal weapon might be to hack it into pieces so that it could no
longer get at you. Your typical skeleton (well fairly typical, ie: see
the original sinbad movies.. i forget exactly which one) was nastier, and
would reassemble when knocked into bits!

Noncorporeal undead (I mentioned in an earlier post) could be interesting
too - just what happens if you swipe at something immaterial with a
completely normal, slightly rusted iron sword?

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's
	mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." -George Orwell