[MUD-Dev] Skills in RP games

[Adam Wiggins]

> 1) Having such a system, with a range of skills/talents/and so forth
> (similar to the system seen on many WoD games), where some skills are
> social, some mental, some physical.. isn't really worthwhile, because you
> will probably never roll against your 'conduct' skill to see if you're
> polite to someone you meet, or not. (Example skill only), and players who
> put a lot of points into a skill like this are at a disadvantage to others
> who spent their points on things that will do them more good.

Making social skills is pretty silly.  At best you can have charisma affect
interactions with NPCs (bargaining with shopkeepers, convincing NPCs to
teach you things) but I can't think of any non-contrived method of
making them work with PCs.  Therefore, I find the idea of a conduct skill
to be out of the question.

> 2) A game with such an intense RP focus should have no skills in any way,
> shape, or form at all. It should be completely freestyle, with a set of
> suggested guidelines for resolving combatative situations. It's important
> to note that in this particular scenario there is no combat coded into the
> game, and nothing else of the ilk.

Okay, that's a MUSH.  Since the purpose of this list is to develop
*new* muds, what's the point in this sort of dicussion?
I'm interested in having a mud be a world in and of itself, into which
the players are placed.  To allow for RP, the world is a fixed setting
with mood, tone, and climate that makes the players feel like they are
a part of a real and interesting world, as opposed to a bunch of bytes
being shoved around in interesting ways.  If you want 'pure' RP, as you
suggest, then make a channel on irc and start a group story.