[MUD-Dev] A flamewar startingpoint.

[Adam Wiggins]

[Derrick Jones:]
> On Fri, 14 Nov 1997, Adam Wiggins wrote:
> > Right.  Well, there's a certain amount of unpredictibility that I like
> > to keep players on their toes, but on a broad scope the above is
> > very applicable.  For instance, Arctic is well known for being a wickedly
> > designed mud, which is what IMO makes it as good as it is.  For instance,
> > the lock on the front gate to Silvanesti has a trap that paralyzes anyone
> > that touches it and then teleports them someplace randomly in the area.
> > The first time we did it my buddy (who boldly tried to pick the lock)
> > got teleported in front of Cyan Bloodbane, a particularly nasty dragon
> > who is regarded as possibly the most dangerous creature on the mud.  It's
> > wicked because it's unexpected and harsh.
> > This example is particularly harsh, but still within reason.
> 
> Why wouldn't your character expect some of the most powerful creatures in
> the game to protect themselves with just such a trap?  Don't feel its all
> that harsh either, assuming that if the players were careful (i.e. used a
> Detect Traps spell on the gate) the trap could have been avoided.  Now if
> you _had_ to trigger this trap to enter the area (only way in), or decided
> to put this in a den of simple-minded ogres, that would be (to me) just as
> bad as giving a character a heart attack.

Absolutely.  This goes right along with the "don't stick a deadly
dragon in an area specifically designed for newbies" thing we were
chatting about a few months back.  With an extremely static game world
such as is found in most games (including muds), this isn't difficult
to do.

Another devious trap that I simply *loved* for its wickedness was
from another, now defunct mud.  The entire area was extremely well
written - very large, nasty and creative traps, varied creatures with
great special abilities, etc.  Anyhow, partway through the area you
came to the entrance to the main keep where most of the really
good treasure was located.  Immediately inside the door was an invisible,
hidden wraith who, upon the parties entrance, randomly chose one
character who was not the leader, teleported them to a prison cell,
and then turn themselves into an exact clone of that character and added
itself to the party.  The victim of this little trick was now locked
in a cell which damped all sound, to the point that no communication
in or out of the room was possible, by any means.  The only way out
was to have the door unlocked from the other side.  In the meantime,
the doppleganger was now a member of the party.  Since the parties that
attempted to tackle this area were usually about 20 people strong and
certainly not less than eight, one person being especially quiet
was usually not noticed right away.  In the meantime, the wraith
set itself to stealing everything it could out of the pockets of all
the party members.  Attacking the wraith caused it to teleport away to
someplace nearby in the keep, where it would go invisble again and
sneak up on the party in order to pull the trick again.

Needless to say, this nasty little episode was the cause of much confusion
and in many cases the eventual demise of many a large party new to the
area.  This is what I consider 'wicked' design - very nasty to the
characters, but challanging and interesting for the players.