[MUD-Dev] Alright... IF your gonan do DESIESE...

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <Marcel-1.09-0618185234-0b0Ky&5 at Gryphon.knoware.nl>, on 06/18/97 
   at 09:33 PM, Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl> said:

>On Tue 17 Jun, clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:

>> Translation:
>>   Bubba Joe as staggered out of a bar vs dragon == dragon food.
>>or
>>   Bubba Joe as suitably perpared with all possible dragon
>> killing/weakening EQ/magic/etc vs dragon == what?

>I would suggest that the second case would also be dragon barbeque
>but at least a suitably prepared fighter would have a fair chance to
>fight his way out of the confrontation.  

Precisely.  It doesn't have to be Dragon dog food, it could be just
Bubba manages to survive albeit scarred.

>Because I
>believe a game will be much more interesting if players can't hope to
>be the all powerfull characters they can be on ordinary muds.

Agreed.  I think this is a powerful force in a game: that there are
other active agents in the game (not just static barriers) which are
both unpredictable and can never be generically out-classed.

>I'm also not too thrilled about the dragon-killing, weakening,
>magical and so on equipment. From what I have seen on muds this kind
>of equipment tends to quickly overwhelm the other aspects of a game. 
>Sooner or later  it ends up with players running around  with swords 
>of ultimate destruction and wearing armour of invulnerability. 

One approach is to make the special EQ only effective on dragons. 
Sure your super dragon armour can withstand and protect you from
Dragon Breath, but let any twerp poke at you with a bodkin and a)
you'll get hurt, and b) your armour will be scratched leading to it
failing in your next dragon breath encounter.

>Skills
>and anything else for that matter become insignificant compared to
>that. The result is that the games becomes very shallow.

Its the old saw I keep harping on: simplistic equations.  If you make
or allow the equation:

  Dragons are super-tough.
  Need Super-powerful weapon.
  Get super-powerful weapon.
  Kill dragon and everything else.

You've already lost.  If you absolutely require the equation to be
detailed and special cased, then you have a chance of a game with
depth.

>> Next up is consideration of the dragon as a predator, and by that
>> view, what level of control and affect players have upon their
>> predators.

>My preference would be the same kind of control any prey has over
>their predator: hide, run or be eaten.

However, viewing man as a thinking prey, it also has the capability of
manipulating its environment and other prety species, and in that way
affecting its predators.  

cf the old ??? (author's name desperately eludes me) books where
dragons were damned near invincible and omnipitent, but also could not
abide the herb "rue" which would cause any dragon of anything but
incredible fortitude and willpower to run screaming for the hills.

--
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...