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

[Marian Griffith]

On Wed 28 May, Jeff Kesselman wrote:
> At 11:25 PM 5/27/97 PST8PDT, you wrote:
> >[Chris L:]

> >> >RP).  Worst of all, I feel that death not being permenant basically
> >> >cheapens the entire experience.  Death is now an annoyance, not
> >> >something to be feared.

> When judging a pen and paper game, the best judges berak danger down into
> two things... eprceievd danger and real danger...

thank you for pointing this out. I've never thought about this entire
subject. Would you mind if I eventually write something about this on
the pages for the overlord projekt? I think that more awareness about
this difference can benefit many games.

> Raal danger should be rellatively small the vast majority of the time... if
> a reasonable player plays reasonably well they shoudl coem out okaty...
> at the same time Perceieved Danger MUST peak relatively high from time to
> time. Without the perception of real and present danger there can be no
> such thing as real heroics... and you cannot reach the tension level
> necessary for a truely enjoyable experience.

> Now HOW you do thsi in an AUTOMATED session in such a way taht the player
> never catches wise is an interestign and problematic question...

Maybe you can have the perceived danger and the real danger coincide  more
or less, but give the players plenty of opportunity to back out gracefully
if they belief themselves in something over their head.
Some other post had two scenarios about  player-meeting-dragon.  The first
one was how this is typically handled in muds.  As soon as they are in the
same location the dragon jumps at the player  and proceeds to shred her to
tiny pieces. The second gave the player warning of the arrival of the dra-
gon and allowed her to crawl  into a tiny cavern where the dragon  did not
notice her and continued with its hunt.
I liked the concepts behind that second scenario very much  and I think it
does help to overcome the typical mud problem  of needing ever more power-
weaponry to be able to explore the world (and then the whine for ever more
powerfull monsters to counter the increasing power of the players). If you
can not hope to win the fight against the dragon or other similarly power-
full monsters but have a reasonably good chance of evading that fight, you
have a very real danger both perceived and actual  but you can control the
actual danger if you're so inclined.

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